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 5
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self-support, while on the other was only suppliant beggary. Not much time would be required to determine the question in the case of one less grounded in moral principle, or firmly rooted in his attachment to relig- ious duty. But this young man had dwelt too long in the secret place with the Most High ; he had communed too deeply with the Master, and been too fully baptized with His Spirit to hesitate for a moment in rejecting the demoralizing proffer. He could suffer the pangs of hunger longer if need be ; he could waste in flesh and pine in spirit ; he could wander about these streets in quest of honest toil, till, foot-sore and Weary, he might sink and die ; but to disobey God, to deny the blood that bought him, to sell his convictions of right for pal- try gold, or even for bread to sustain the life of her who was dearer far to him than the life that beat in his own breast, never ' Proudly did he exelaim, " God forbid that I should do this thing," and so did he tri- umph grandly in asserting his manly ad- herence to duty and to God. Soon relief came, but came in a severe manner. The man of God who had the contract for build- ing this church gave him employment in hauling brick from the wharf to the place
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where the temple was to be reared. And so he went down into the menial service of a day laborer, driving a mule and cart loaded with brick through these streets. rather than take a position for which he was better fitted by nature and education, in which was involved the necessity of vio- la ing his conscience by disobeying God.
Subsequently this man became the first superintendent of the Central Sabbath school, which institution still bears the marks of his wise oversight, and owes much of its present prosperity to the strong foun- dations for its support which he reared in the years long ago. He also was one of the first-class leaders of that church, and night and day did he labor for its success, till consumption's fang fastened upon the deli- cate frame of his saintly wife, and made their removal from this coast a necessity. But the removal did not avert the evil. It came on swift wing, and he laid her pre- cious'remains away to sleep in Jesus till the Resurrection morn. Shortly after her de- mise he gave himself to the ministry, and became a member of an Eastern Confer- ence. His race however, was short ; for excessive labor and undue exposure brought on the disease of which his wife died, and
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after lingering a few months he went to join her in the skies, where they two are forever with the Lord. He, no doubt, now realizes the extreme wisdom of uncomprom- ising fidelity to Christ, in the midst of severe temptation to deviate from the strict line of religious duty.
AN IRREPRESSIBLE.
Sometime in 1858 there appeared at our altars, with church letter in hand, a candi- date for reception into church fellowship. There was much about the man that was peculiar, and some things that were special- ly striking in his personal appearance and personal conduct. In the first place, he was greatly deformed in having no feet. These he had lost through exposure in the moun- tains ; for they had become so badly frozen that amputation was necessary to save life. And this had been performed in the rudest manner possible, as no skillful surgeon was present, when the necessity arose, to per- form the painful operation. Nor had the rude operators any delicate or refined in- struments at their command with which to remove the mortifying members. Coarse saws and heavy knives were all the exorcis- ing instruments which could be secured in
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those mountain fastnesses at that carly day ; and so these sturdy, untutored mining sur- geons used the best tools they had to relieve their suffering companion of his decayed members. Rude as were the operators, and coarse as were the instruments, still the work was done in so successful a manner as to preserve the life of the patient, and there he stood on his stumps before God's altar, pledging eternal fealty to the King of kings and Lord of lords.
But not only was this man singular in personal appearance, but he was exceeding- ly so in personal conduct, for he had many habits which were eccentric to the last de- gree. Prominent among these was the hab- it of vociferous shouting. Sudden as the lightning's flash, loud as the thunder's deafening roar, and startling as an electric shock from a full-charged battery, would that irrepressible shout come. When all was calm as a summer's eve, with not a zephyr of excitement to stir the sensibilities of the most susceptible, that shout would come-come it would in the most unex- pected manner, and at the most unexpected time. Come to shock and horrify the quivering sensibilities of nervous women ; come to disgust and outrage the feelings
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of sturdy men ; come to offend all sense of good taste and all rules of conventional pro- priety ; and yet come it would, and nothing could suppress it. Church censure was in- adequate ; Official Board pronunciamentos were ineffectual ; publie pastoral repri- mands had no effect : and so the thing went on at all social meetings ; nay more, for even on all preaching occasions that irre- pressible shout would invariably go off, to the extreme discomfort of all present.
It was not unfrequently amusing in the extreme, to witness the effect of these ex- plosions on that part of the congregation in his immediate vicinity. Everything would be going on orderly, and the sermon apparently producing a salutary effect on the attentive and interested listeners, when, sudden as the earthquake's tread, would come that awful shout, as shrill and shriek- ing as the calliope's most startling scream. Then would timid ones spring from their seats in frenzied fright, as though pierced by an electric shock, and their efforts to re- cover their self-possession, after the spasm, would give the whole matter such an air of the extremely ludicrous as would almost convulse the congregation with laughter. Of course it needed not many such perform-
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ances to put an end to all devotion, and render that special service of no effect for good. The nuisance was finally abated by sending the misguided, though no doubt really religious, man to his friends in the East, where, for all we know, he may be still shouting his way to heaven; as doubt- less he regarded this lusty lung exercise as indispensable to his getting there. Or per- haps the dear man has ceased from his earthly toil, and gone into those beatitudes the contemplation of which so ravished his extremely impressible soul while sojourning among us. If so, his discordant notes have been changed into sweetest harmony, and his shrill, shrieking shout has rounded out into the richness of angelic melody. No more the nerve-rasping scream of the wild bird of this desert world, but from his spirit-voice there sounds forth the swelling symphony of heavenly music. And the Hallelujah comes as softly and as sweetly from him now as from any of the white- robed choristers in the grand orchestra of heaven. So does the putting on of immor- tality and the entrance into the glory land make all things new. So does it bring har- mony out of discord, and freshness and beauty from hideous deformity.
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LIGHT FROM DARKNESS.
In the winter of 1866 San Francisco was visited by Rev. Mr. Earl, a Baptist Evan- gelist, who came to this city in response to a call from the Ministerial Union. Of course he came to hold union meetings, and therefore, his visit was non-denominational, but was in the interest of Christianity in general, and no church or denomination in particular. His meetings were held in Platt's Hall, and were attended by large masses of all classes of the community. It is enough to say that these meetings were wonderfully successful in increasing the spirituality of the churches, and in adding many hundred new converts to their folds. But it seemed both to the pastor and Board of Howard St. church a waste of force to confine their efforts to the promotion of these meetings, inasmuch as not half the community could possibly be brought un- der their influence, for the want of room. Hundreds would be nightly turned away from these meetings, from the impossibility of wedging themselves into the dense mass who had already packed the Hall to suffo- cation. And so it was determined to hold a series of revival meetings at our own
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church, so that the overflow might have an opportunity to hear the Gospel call, and perhaps some would accept its tender plead- ing. Not many days elapsed before our al- tars were crowded with those who would see Jesus, and not a night passed without witnessing the conversion of souls.
One evening as the meeting was in pro- gress, and the tide of religious power seem- ed to swell to a volume of irresistible pow- er, an aged man was seen in the back part of the room to leave his seat and approach the altar. His hair was white as the driv- en snow, but his wardrobe bore evidence of long wear and scanty means. Tears were streaming from his sunken eyes, and run- ning in brooklets down his furrowed cheeks. He was a perfect stranger to all present, and none knew from whence he came; but all saw at a glance how intensely earnest he was after the pearl of great price. His whole person was convulsed with intense feeling, and his whole being shook and throbbed like the leaves of the forest under the pressure of a mighty wind. Down on his knees he fell, and in the agony of an in- tensely felt want, he pleaded for Divine mercy, but seemed to plead in vain. Ev- ery eye in the vast congregation was upon
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him, and every Christian heart in the as- sembly beat with deepest sympathy for the suffering penitent. Prayer the most fer- vent, and pleadings the most imploring, arose in constant succession from many a devout heart in his behalf, but all to no pur- pose ; for the intense gloom that pervaded his mind seemed impenetrable, and no ray of light could pierce the darkness so pro- found. And yet his insatiate desire drove him onward to a state of desperate, unyield- ing determination to find the object of his search or die in the attempt before leaving the place where he knelt ; and when the meeting was formally dismissed, nothing could induce him to relinquish the struggle. He seemed seized with the conviction that if he went from that altar as he came, in his sins and in his blood, he would so remain to all eternity. This conviction was so deeply riveted upon his inmost thought that he pleaded in the most piteous tones to be al- lowed to remain where he was, that he might spend the livelong night in praying for Divine mercy. Such importunity the world never saw since the days of the Syrophe- nician woman. And it seemed another at- tempt on the part of Jesus to bring out an- other exhibition of that faith which laughs
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at impossibilities when all around is as dark and dense as Egyptain night.
Two things were apparent in this man's pleading. First, his intensely felt want, and second, his unwavering faith that the Man of Calvary could bring relief to his crushed and agonized spirit. And so he held with firm and unrelenting grasp the promises of God, and reckoned that however great the emergency or desperate the situation they could not fail. Sublime, indeed, was the conflict ! Puny man ; sin cursed and sin covered man ; man whose whole life of many years had been given faithfully to the Evil One : man with naught to recommend him to the Divine favor but his helpless, dire necessity : and yet with sufficient power left to lay hold of the Divine promises and plead them fully and unyieldingly in the Divine presence. How could Christ, the sympathizing Christ, the pitying Christ, the Christ who laid down his life to redeem man and bless him when in just such an emer- gency, resist such an antagonist and turn a deaf ear to such pleadings ? Impossible ! and yet the conflict continued, and the long weary hours of the night wore away. A magie spell bound us to the spot as we knelt in the presence of this awfully sublime
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spectacle, and yet we doubted not the final result of this mighty conflict. The delay; however, was incomprehensible, for has He not said : "Before they call, I will answer them ?" We know not, nor shall we know till the revealments of eternity dawn upon our vision, the reason of this delay. Nor can we comprehend why the tender and sympa- thizing Jesus allowed the deep anguish of this suffering penitent to continue so long. But perhaps it was to furnish us with another wrestling Jacob, and show us how mighty is puny man in the strength of his determination to prevail with God. For prevail he did : for just before the morning dawned the light from the Excellent Glory streamed into his darkened soul, and filled his anguished spirit with delight the most rapturous, and peace the most profound. Like a prince did he prevail, and a prince indeed did he become, as with his conversion passed away all low and groveling views of manhood, and his life from that day took on the noblest type of Christian devotion. He lives still to evince the power of redeeming grace to elevate and dignify the soul and life of man. And he is calmly waiting down by the river's edge till the angels come to bear him across the stream where the Man
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of Calvary, his best beloved, reigns. Mean- while he is instant in season and out of sea- son in laboring for the Master and doing what he can to promote His glory upon the earth, for he has fully learned by his own experience that "he that winneth souls is wise " beyond all the wisdom of this world. " Let him know that he which converted the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins."
CHIPS.
BY REV. F. F. JEWELL.
WHOSE FAULT IT WAS.
At an official meeting some time in 1873, as the business was nearly at the end of the docket, a somewhat seedy and battered looking subject opened the door of the room where the Board was in session, and then half closed it again and stepped baek into the hallway. Some one stepped to the door and asked him what was wanted. He was encouraged by the kind looks and tone of the self-constituted usher, and advanced to mutter in suppressed tone, " I want to be prayed for." He had assumed that all meetings were or ought to be " religious," which shows how benighted his mind was in such matters, and how long he had wan- dered from churches and church associa- tions. He, however, was tolerated, and his " sin of ignorance winked at," and the pas- tor was informed that a candidate for the
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benefits of church and clergy was in wait- ing. He was asked to take a seat and wait but for a moment until the items of business on hand were disposed of, and then he should be encouraged in his healthful im- pulses of seeking the right way. After the matter in hand was completed, the stranger was asked to indicate his needs, and the special phases of his case which we could bear before the throne of grace in prayer. He seemed to hesitate, as if in doubt where to begin the catalogue of sins and wants ; when he reached a point of de- cision, and dropping upon his knees, he be- gan a prayer for himself. He acknowledged his aberrations and deflections, divergences and wanderings, in such language as he could command, until he reached the point of negotiation, when he said : "O, Lord, if you will take me back again into your favor, and forgive me for going away, if I ever backslide again it will be my own fault." Then we reflected ; how represent- ative, after all, was this somewhat amusing implication that the burden of responsibil- ity was somewhere else than on the sinner's own head, for all the sins and follies of a bad life.
How frequently this unworthy concep-
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tion is cherished, is seen in the apologies and explanations which are so frequently found on our lips. Listen to these apolo- gies and explanations for a moment. This man pleads a constitutional excess of pas- sions. He was born charged with such impetuous desires that no one could reason- ably expect him to resist them. Another talks of the environments of life, and the social difficulties which hedge up his way to life eternal : while a third talks of the seductiveness of worldly things : and thus all seek to transfer the responsibility of their sinful practices to the Infinite Father who has created, surrounded, and endowed us in mercy and love. It is ever "our," as it was " his," own fault when we sin.
WEDDING INCIDENTS.
Upon returning to the parsonage one day, I found in waiting a pair whose errand was indicated by the relation the chairs they occupied had assumed to each other. The young woman, the bride elect, was first to speak : which fact may find an explanation in what afterwards appeared, in arranging the preliminaries to the important event. Among the usual questions in the catechism
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in such cases made and provided, as the language of the statute would have it, came the inquiry whether either of the parties had been in matrimonial bonds before. The bride, whose age was given at twenty, with a careless toss of the head, and a free and easy air, replied : " You ought to know. You married me yourself in this room less than a year ago." I said: "Indeed ! and what has become of the groom on that oc- casion ?" Her answer was : " He was no good. I got rid of him." I said : "How, by drowning or chloroforming ? " She answer- ed : "Oh, not so bad as that. I got a divorce." I wonder if this was the case spoken of by the wife of a divorce lawyer in the city, who said she asked for the grounds, when her husband informed her that he had just procured a divorce for a young " twain " of this neighborhood and acquaintance, and her husband replied : " There were no grounds, only they wanted it. I forget now what the grounds stated in the suit were ; we only use what prom- ises to be the most effectual in gaining the point aimed at." What a commentary upon the facility with which divorces may be ob- tained under the laws and in the courts of California. And California is not singular among the State sisterhood in this matter.
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Is it not reasonable, upon other consider- ations than the regulation of family matters in Utah, that Congress should have and exercise the right to regulate this great question, and protect that institution that furnishes to American society the real safe- guards, and supports ? The facility above referred to, existing in so many States of the Union, is a standing temptation to selfish, dissolute and licentious men and women all through the land, and just to the extent the temptation is felt even, the family is endan- gered and the nation menaced.
AFTER MANY YEARS.
Another, with an entirely different moral, and indicative of a genuine affection, which did not fade from the heart even when the rose had faded from the cheek, occurred about the same time. A man of mature years, with threads of silver glistening among the locks that clustered around a brow somewhat bronzed and beaten by the vicissitudes which had been met in the journey of life, stood before me to arrange for the ceremony which was to place him in possession of what every sensible man at that age desires, a wife. He remarked :
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"She is on the Panama steamer expected to-day, and as soon as convenient after her arrival we would like to come to the parson- age for the marriage ceremony."
He lingered a little after all necessary arrangements were made, and upon a little encouragement given, perhaps, by some slight questioning, he proceeded to tell the story ; first, of an early courtship in Brook- lyn. N. Y., where more than twenty-five years before, "soft eyes spake love to eyes that spake again. As has been true in the experience of others "the course of true love did not run smoothly "; and social ambition on the part of the parents of the girl interfered with the plans of the young lovers, and paternal authority for- bade her encouraging his bounding hopes and cherished desires of making her his wife.
Chagrined and half maddened by the reflections thus east upon his manhood's worth, he turned his back upon the " city of churches," and what to him was more, the home of the one he loved with all the ardor of a young and true heart, and em- barked for California. Here, amidst the excitements and varying fortunes of those early days, he was tossed hither and thith-
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er, until the " glittering bait was held aloft again, and Australia invited the young ad- venturer to try his fortunes in that far-off land of promise." There he married, and there, after a brief married life, he laid a faithful companion in the grave, and with a sad heart turned his face again toward California. Here, after years in which no word had been received from or sent to the " girl he left behind him," he chanced to meet one whom he had known in boy- hood, and from whom he learned that the object of his first love was still alive. She, too, had entered into the marriage relation, had bowed in sorrow to the stroke that left her in widowhood, and was now in the " home city," doubtless wondering, at times, if ever tidings would be borne to her of the one she had never ceased to regard as having a right to her hand.
Immediately upon learning this he wrote her, and in due time an answer came. The flame which had lain latent in each bosom kindled anew, and the rest is soon told. She came, they were wedded, and the shad- ows went back on the dial of Ahaz, and in- stead of afternoon it was morning again. May many years crown the long-delayed union of two true and loving hearts.
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PASTORAL WORK.
About midnight a vigorous pull at the door-bell of the parsonage awakened us from our slumbers, and a demoralized looking specimen of the soaker class appeared at the door, urging that his Riverence hasten with him to where a woman was said to be dying. We followed as he led the way from street to street and lane to alley, until we were ushered into the damp, dismal basement hallway leading to a rear tenement of a di- lapidated rookery, in the cellar or basement of which, by the light of a candle, which, be- cause of its companionship, or the foul atmos- phere in which it was caught, seemed anxious to " go out," we saw on a pile of rags a hu- man form, which once, perhaps, but now no longer, might be called a woman. Bloated, haggard, frenzied, in the awful horrors of delirium tremens, she was alternately shriek- ing and piteously pleading for rescue from the fiery scorpion fangs of the myriad hydra- headed demons which were piercing her very soul and kindling the flames of hell in every vein and artery of her already charred and loathsome body. The three or four at- tendants in that vestibule of Tartarus were drunk, and could only utter unintelligible babblings as we approached. We endured
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the sight as long as our heart would consent to remain, and utterly powerless to render aid, turned away to thread our way back again to the open air, and to the home where quiet slumber held our household in its downy arms of rest. That was only the obverse side of the wholesale liquor dealer's palatial home; the self-complacent wealthy brewer's luxurious couch ; the prosperous saloon keeper's well-furnished apartments : the other end of the line, whose opening portal is the fashionable wine glass offered amid the gayeties of so-called refined society, where youth and beauty flutter around the gilded margin of this maelstrom of death, to hurl contempt toward all those whose voices are lifted to warn them of their danger.
RECEPTION OF MEMBERS FROM THE HARRI- SON REVIVAL.
Perhaps no scene connected with revival work in the church at any period of its his- tory awakened more interest and delight than the reception of the Probationers, which were gathered from the meetings con- ducted by Thomas Harrison into full mem- bership in the church on Sunday, May 7, 1882, when one hundred persons stood at one time, forming a hollow square extending
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across the altar from down both centre aisles and across the rear of the audience room, until the ends of the columns thus formed met and united. The first name called was responded to by one who arose slowly, as- sisted by his cane on one side and a de- voted Christian wife on the other, whose four-score years had been spent in a morally " far country," and who had just returned from his bondage in that strange land ; and now with that Christian wife, who had long prayed for him, was rejoicing in heirship to an inheritance incorruptible, the title deed of which had but recently been placed in his possession. In that line were here and there to be seen the bright eyes and smooth brows of childhood, as well as those of ma- turer years-indeed, a large proportion of the year-dates of the present century would be found represented in the birth record of those who made up the lines of that hollow square before us. The service consisted mainly of an address by the pastor, explain- ing and enforcing the disciplinary forms of reception, which emphasize the nature of the church as "the household of God, the body of which Christ is the head "; also, the " ends," "duties," and "privileges " of the fellowship into which they were entering. Slowly the column moved forward from left
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