USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > The retrospect. A glance at thirty years of the history of Howard street Methodist Episcopal church of San Francisco > Part 3
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glorious deeds, and his name is all glittering with golden light as it stands upon the fore- most page of the Lamb's Book of Life.
Nor should we fail to mention other names whose owners were conspicuous in their labors for the interests of the church. Such men as Frederick A. Beardsley, James Harlow, and Samuel S. Sprague were ever ready to aid in the promotion of its welfare, nor did their attachment cease till the Master beckoned them to the skies. They were exceedingly efficient in that de- partment of the work that each was best fitted for. Harlow was wise in counsel as to all mechanical matters, Sprague earnest and untiring in collecting church revenues, Beardsley always on the alert to advance church interests in whatever form possible. And so they labored in the Master's vine- yard till the evening hour came, when they quit the field of toil for the sweet rest of heaven. We mournfully laid their ashes in earth's last receptacle, where they await the reconstruction touch of the resurrection morn, when they shall rise, fashioned after the similitude of Christ's glorious body.
The Conference came which ended Brother Blain's constitutional term before the church was dedicated. and it was 3
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agreed that the charge should be left to be supplied, and Brother Blain take a su- pernumerary relation without an appoint- ment, so that he might act as the supply under the appointment of the Presiding El- der. In this way he remained the pastor of the church for the third year. This was thought indispensable to the safety of the enterprise, inasmuch as there were many unpaid subscriptions that he only could collect. At the dedication all bills were brought in, and the whole account was made up. It was found that we had expended some $65,000, $14,000 of which we still owed. The people had done so nobly that we had no heart to press them further for money, and so we concluded to carry this debt till the money forces of the church had recuperated sufficiently to war- rant another effort being made. So the money was borrowed -- $10,000 on mortgage, and $4,000 on the trustees' note-and all bills were fully paid. Being treasurer of the Board through the whole enterprise, and knowing whereof I affirm, I can truth- fully say that no banking institution ever met its obligations with more promptitude than did the trustees of this church during all its building operations : nor was there
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any moneyed institution in the city that had a better credit than it for the amount it needed to borrow.
Relieved of this intense money strain, Brother Blain now gave himself fully to the pulpit and the pastorate, preaching with great acceptability, and leading on the host with large success. He retained his hold on the affections of the people up to the last of his ministry in the charge.
During the last year of Brother Blain's administration measures were taken to in- augurate a new church to the westward, whither a large population had settled. The Howard Street Board accordingly leased a lot on the south side of Mission Street, between Sixth and Seventh, and built a chapel thereon for Sunday-school and church purposes. A Sunday-school was at once organized and officered from members of our own church, and James F. Smith was its first superintendent. He was assisted by a corps of as earnest Sun- day-school workers as ever engaged in that most laudable enterprise, and it was not long before they had gathered into the school from the surrounding community a large number of scholars, so that scarcely a year of existence had elapsed before the
FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY
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school numbered its hundreds of intensely interested and earnest workers. At the Con- ference of 1864, the enterprise shaped into a church organization, and took the name of the Central M. E. Church of San Francisco, and Brother Blain was appointed its pastor. We gave to this enterprise some fifty of our membership, and a large share of finan- cial and sympathetic aid. In fact, it was our own child, and why should we not cherish and nourish it till its own strength should allow it to go alone ? That branch has since grown into a strong and sturdy tree, and is now producing abundant fruit to the glory of God. Of course, to reach its present state of prosperous usefulness, it has had many severe struggles, but its brave and sturdy ones have undauntedly carried the work forward with true Chris- tian heroism and great self-denial.
Just before the lease expired to the Mis- sion Street lot, the northeast corner of Sixth and Minna Streets was purchased for its permanent habitation, and the chapel was moved to this lot. It was a magnifi- cent selection, as the lot was eighty feet front and one hundred feet deep, and being on a corner afforded very fine lighting facilities. Its frontage was also on a pros-
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pective business street, and needed only time to develop into a magnificent property, which should not only form ample church accommodations for the society above, but also afford a grand opportunity to line its front below with a row of stores, whose revenue for all time could have been used for church extension or other evangelizing movements. But, as is generally the case with church enterprises, the society was too poor to wait for this surely coming financial opportunity, and so the lot was sold for the same amount that it cost, and its present site was purchased for a smaller price, and the little chapel again put on wheels and removed to the new purchase. Here it remained till the present edifice supplanted it. And so has this society moved onward and upward in the increase of its church appliances, and the magnitude of its glorious career of human elevation and human salvation. And so has the How- ard Street Church supplemented its own (lireet efforts by the wonderfully energized industry of this its most queenly daughter. And who can tell the magnitude of its use- fulness by founding this new evangelizing agency ? None till the books are opened at the last assize, when the sum of human weal and woe shall be revealed.
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Among those who greatly aided us in this work were some outside friends-out- side so far as actual church membership is concerned, but outside in no other sense, for they were in the congregation as regularly as any of us; they were also at all social and devotional meetings of the church ; yea, they were members of the Board of Trus- tees, and participated most fully in all our plans for our material advancement. They were foremost in the extent of their sub- scriptions, and lavish in the fullness of their contributions. And so did William H. Gawley labor in the outer court to build the temple. And so did Robert G. Bixby furnish a large share of counsel and of cash. And in later time William H. Howland gave us much valuable aid. These names will remain emblazoned upon our record as those who evinced by their noble acts a great love for our Methodist nation, and a great disposition to assist in building us a sanctuary.
The Conference of 1864 gave us Rev. Dr. J. T. Peck for our pastor. His first year was quite successful, and resulted in canceling the floating debt of $4,000. It also added to the church over one hundred probationers as the result of a gracious re-
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vival. He was reappointed in 1865, but did not remain in the charge more than half the year, his wife's health necessitat- ing his return to the East. After his de- parture, the church was placed in my charge, and the pulpit was mostly supplied with what ministerial help we could con- veniently secure. The social meetings were well attended, and the spirituality and prof- itableness of those meetings were matter of universal comment. During this year the organ was purchased and placed in the gal- lery, at a cost of some $2,500. But the money was not raised to pay for it, and therefore the debt was increased by that amount.
After the departure of Dr. Peck, it was thought by some that the salvation of the church depended upon the importation from the East of some distinguished Doctor of Divinity, who should be able to cope with the giant evils of this coast, and so a com- mittee of correspondence was appointed by the Board. One of our trustees was going East at that time, and he was requested to visit the centers of population and see what could be done. Suffice it to say, that after much correspondence with various parties, the Bishop took the matter in his own hands
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and sent us one whom we had no previous thought of. And so at the Conference of 1866, Rev. Dr. Cox was announced as our pastor. He met with a warm reception on the part of the church, and was awarded a larger salary than any man who had pre- viously served this people. He entered upon his labors with much vigor, and pros- ecuted them with great industry and suc- cess. His prayer meetings soon became the rallying point of Israel's hosts, and the lecture-room was thronged to its utmost capacity at every weekly meeting. He re- mained in the charge three years, and dur- ing that time increased the membership largely, added the basement to the parson- age, paid the entire debt that existed when he came, both funded and floating, frescoed the walls of the auditorium, and filled the windows with stained glass, so dark that one on entering the edifice imagines it more a Mausoleum than a Christian temple, where the light of the living God is shin- ing.
In 1869 Dr. Cox was succeeded by Rev. L. Walker, a young man of brilliant parts, so far as his intellectual status was concerned. He continued to do efficient service in the charge for two years and a half, when he
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was turned aside from his appropriate work by his love for fast horses and financial speculations, and so was his power for use- fulness blasted and his ministerial life made a wreck. His stranded bark lies beached on the sands of time, a fearful warning to those who would come down from the lofty pinnacle of the Christian ministry to toy with the world's baubles. During the last half of the third year of Mr. Walker's term we were again left without a pastor. The working force of the church, however, had now gained such completeness of dis- cipline and such strength of labor that no material damage came of the deprivation. The tribes of our Israel went on with the battle against sin and her cohorts, with only the Lion of the tribe of Judah as our leader, and the Lord of hosts was with us, and the God of Jacob was our refuge. Prayer and class meetings were well at- tended, and the people grew mightily in the fellowship of the Spirit and the com- fort of the Holy Ghost. The Word was preached by invited guests, and so the pul- pit was made attractive by variety. Mean- while, our former pastor, Rev. Dr. Peck, who had now become one of the Bishops of the church, was looking sharply for a :*
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man who should be fully furnished in all respects to be an ensample to the flock. He was stimulated in this service, not mere- ly by an impulse to do his duty as a general superintendent of the church, but by the great special love he bore this people. He was, therefore, the more intensely solicitous that no mistake be made in the selection that had been confided to his hands.
We trusted him and were not disappoint- ed, for at the Conference of 1872 Rev. Frank F. Jewell was announced as the chosen lead- er. He came to us in the vigor of robust physical health, and in the fullness of the gos- pel of peace. At once all the appliances of the church felt the spring of a new enthusi- asm, and all departments of our Zion bounded into more intense activity. Crowds began to throng our aisles, and sacred fire burned upon our altars. The three years of his sojourn were years of ever-increasing pros- perity to this Zion, wherein both the ma- terial and spiritual interests of the church were wondrously advanced. Ten thousand dollars' worth of improvements had been added to the property in a new organ-loft, and certain changes in basement and Sun, day-school room. This amount, together with the previously accrued debt of $4-
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000, made us again in need of $14,000. The whole amount was generously sub- scribed, but for the want of sufficient vigor on the part of the collectors, some of it re- mained unpaid, and so about $3,500 debt was carried over to the next pastorate. Dr. Jewell left the charge under a full tide of prosperity, his congregations filling every nook and cranny of this spacious auditorium even up to the hour of his departure.
The Rev. Thomas Guard came to us in 1875. Long before his arrival his great reputation as a pulpit orator had reached us, and public expectation was on the qui vive. He had previously occupied the pulpit of the finest church in American Methodism, and his fame was in all thoughts and on every tongue. We need not deny that we, as a people, felt some vainglory in having such a star-nay, such a sun to shed its refulgence athwart our way. We were not a little surprised when he came, to find him the simple, childlike man that he was, for his was a nature of the finest sensibility and most guileless character. Like a nicely attuned instru- ment is adjusted to the most exquisite har- mony, so every fiber of his being thrilled and teemed with eloquence. And then
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this was not so much the eloquence of rosy words as the beautiful and forceful expres- sion of most massive and sublime thoughts. But Dr. Guard lived in too high a sphere, moved in too vast a mental and spiritual realm, to be thoroughly appreciated by this sordid, muckrake-loving world. His was not, therefore, a ministry of every-day practical life, but was one of great ideal beauty to those who could follow him in his flights of fancy, or linger with him on those supernal cliffs whither his peerless imagination continually soared. And so during the three years of his ministry, the people were instructed and delighted rath- er than that the material interests of the charge were advanced. Money was too material for such an administration, and yet money was a desideratum, and had to come, if not from legitimate resources, still come it must even from the Shylock's coffers. So this edifice was again mortgaged, and we were again within the iron grip of the interest-gatherers.
The Conference of 1878 sent baek the first pastor again, and Rev. M. C. Briggs, D. D., was once more installed. When he taught us the way of life some twenty-six years before, he was only plain Brother
·
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Briggs, as Doetors of Divinity were un- known to California Methodism then. But now the D. D. came with him, and we stood in awe of it, but we soon learned how little titles affect character, after all, and were not long in realizing that the same Brother Briggs of other years was here- here to preach the same old gospel of the grace of God, here to tell the old, old story of redeeming love, here to pray and sing and shout and crowd on the column of the Lord's advancing host. His three years were years of incessant labor and vigorous toil. Well done will the Master say when the reckoning comes.
Brother Jewell was returned to us in 1881. The first year of his present term resulted in a great ingathering of souls through the assistance of that wonderfully efficient evangelist, Rev. Thomas Harrison, and the refurnishing and replenishing of the church throughout, at an expenditure of some $3,000; all of which was paid when the work was done. This second year of his administration has canceled the en- tire debt of the church, and we are onee more free from the death-grip of the mort- gage. We surely have cause for gratitude, and do rejoice most heartily that our year of jubilee has fully come.
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And now, had we such power of discern- ment as would enable us to look back along the track of all these years, and gather up the results of all this labor; could we take in the good that has been done and the evil that has been prevented; could we see the tide of life that has been invoked and the torrent of death that has been stayed ; could we realize the number of hearts that have been comforted, the number of bright- est hopes that have been inspired, the num- ber of straying feet that have been turned from the broad to the narrow way ; could we know the extent and power of influence that has been exerted on the public senti- ment of this community during all these years of strange and stirring history-we would then be thoroughly furnished with factors sufficient to solve the problem, whether this labor has been in vain, and whether the organization of this society was not an event of the most stupendous magnitude. Nay, more : could we look out on the on-coming ages, and behold the future of this church in the scope of its evangelizing movements along all those re- volving cycles, until the millennium shall dawn ; could we see the trophies it shall win, the laurels it shall bind on Imman-
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uel's brow, the victory on victory that shall be inscribed on its banner as it floats grandly in the midst of all moral conflicts- yea, could we go further and push our raptured gaze beyond the confines of time into the vast mysteries of eternity ; could we look into the holy city where the many mansions be, and where the white-robed throng is before the throne ; could we listen to the harpers harp and the chanters chant : could we gaze on the bespangled multitude which no man can number, and behold among those shining ranks those who have gone up from our midst, and who were our companions in labor and sacrifice ; could we see hundreds upon hundreds who were converted at our altars, and sanctified in the midst of our solemn feasts; could we be- hold them there so free from sin, so filled with rapturous delight, so safe forevermore in the presence of him who redeemed them and made them joint-heirs with himself to the inheritance of the skies-we would then have some faint idea of the grandeur of our investment and the magnificent outcome of our toil. Nor would we fail to realize the immensity of that glorious sea of results which began in the triekling rill of 1851, and, thrilled by the rapturous vision, in the
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fullness of our joy would we exclaim, " Halleluiah, for the Lord God has done wonderful things for our Zion."
SENECA JONES. First Superintendent Sunday School.
PASTORAL REMINISCENCES.
A vast congregation assembled at the church in the evening to continue the Jubi- lee services. The interest was intense and the services extremely entertaining, as sev- eral former pastors were present, who would convey to the audience something of the days of Auld Lang Syne. . First among these was introduced the Rev. D. A. Dryden, who said :
My pastorate in connection with this church, over a quarter of a century ago, when it was known as the Folsom St. Church, was a brief one. I shall claim the privilege of making my remarks correspond- ingly brief. The inner-heart history of this church during that time will never be written. It was anything but a time of jubilee. It was a struggle for life rather than a time of triumph ; there was more of Gethsemane than of the Mount of Trans- figuration. Like individuals, churches have their birth, childhood, and maturer growth. Like individuals, some are born healthy
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and strong, with all the potencies of a rap- id, vigorous growth, and sturdy maturity, and favored with all the conditions of such growth. Such Folsom St. Church was not. It was born feeble-some thought prema- turely-had a sickly childhood, environed by adverse conditions which often threaten- ed to cut short its career. During the year 1855 was perhaps the severest strug- gle for life, at least it was severe enough. Congregations were very small, member- ship few, rather poor. Income from every available source sadly below even the most rigidly economical expenses ; crushed down under a heavy debt, with constantly accumu- lating interest. The heart struggles of pastor and a few noble souls are known only to the Good Master. Surely there were no visible signs then of the powerful manhood into which the feeble child has grown. And who knoweth to what extent, under the brooding providence of God, the baptism of these days of trial may have con- tributed to this growth ? Not always in prosperity does life take its deepest roots, either in the church or the individual.
In looking back, even from this night of jubilee, I can realize it was a privilege to have had a share in those adversities, per-
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haps realize it more now than then ; for in truth the old Adam in me did not so much consider it a privilege then.
In one important respect this church has been specially blessed. During all its years of feebleness and struggle it has had nursing fathers and mothers who have nev- er despaired or abandoned their child. Such was John D. Blain, whose memory is fresh with all of us to-day. As Presiding Elder at that time, I do remember well how I was nerved to new endeavor by the magic power of his cheerful courage, and unflag- ging zeal and energy. For every desperate extremity he seemed to evolve some new
expedient. But I believe that, under God, the church owes its continued existence and growth to present robust maturity to the persistent faith and persevering endeavor of a few noble men and women, some of whom I could name. A venerable few are here to-night, who have stood by their church through all its vicissitudes from the cradle to its present prosperous surround- ings: surely they have a right to a full cup of rejoicing in this jubilee. Others, too, I could name who are not here in bodily presence. They have passed over and en- tered the New Jerusalem. But I have felt
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to-day that they could turn aside a little, even from the glories of the church tri- umphant, to be present in spirit with us here.
Rev. W. S. Urmy said :
It is very gratifying to meet with you on this happy occasion, and I sincerely con- gratulate you on being free from the heavy burden which, as a church, you have been so long bearing. It was my pleasure to serve some of you, with others who have gone joyously on before to the better land, many years ago, and the memories of those days are full of interest; but as the time is limited, it will be possible to mention but a few of the facts and incidents of my too short pastorate over this society.
I arrived in California on the 16th of August, 1853-nearly thirty years ago, and the first service I attended in San Francisco was held in Music Hall on Bush street near Montgomery-the temporary home at that time of this congregation. The sermon was by Bro. N. P. Heath, who was then serving his first term with you. I remem- ber a little after attending a Sunday school held in a school-house, in what was then called Happy Valley, the school-house be- ing then somewhere near what is now the
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corner of Mission and Second streets. This visit was in company with Bro. W. H. Cod- dington, who was then, I think, superin- tendent, and who afterward served in that capacity with much acceptability and suc- cess during my pastorate, and for many years besides.
I joined the Conference in February, 1854, and was first appointed to Coloma, where gold was first discovered ; then to Columbia and Sonora, in company with J. W. Brier ; then to Ione, and in 1856 to Alameda, with Bro. Chas. H. Northup as my colleague. While preaching there the work was divid- ed, Bro. Northup taking the southern part of the work, leaving me to fill Alameda and Clinton, or what is now East Oakland. At that time Bro. D. Deal was at the Bethel ; his brother, Dr. W. Grove Deal being in charge of the school at Alameda. Bro. Deal wished that I should be changed from Alameda to the Bethel, so that he might fill Alameda and thus assist in the school. But Bro. Blain, who was then Presiding Elder, wished to place me at Folsom street ; Bro. Heath, who was filling his second term in this charge, having become discouraged and intending to leave.
One Monday morning, in March, 1857,
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there were a number of preachers in the Advocate office, which was then on Clay street. Bro. Deal was urging Bro. Blain to place me at the Bethel, and Bro. Blain objected to this, and said : " I want you to go to Folsom street." I think I said, " Well," and thus my appointment was fixed, and on the next week I went to work.
The members of the church were much discouraged ; though the debt, which was much more burdensome than the one you have just so wisely paid, had been removed by aid of a large missionary appropriation. There was a proposition really entertained to sell the church for school purposes and disband ; but we tried to look on the bright side of things and build up the cause, and the members taking hold with a will, we were soon out of the trough of the sea, and then had plain and pleasant sailing.
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