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 6
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to right, and as each passed, a certificate bearing the picture of the church and giving the date and fact of admission into full church membership was placed in the hands of each one by J. K. Jones, the S. S. Super- intendent, who had given full and hearty co-operation to the revival movement from the first. All who saw it admitted that it was a scene rarely exhibited in the life his- tory of any church organization.
AN OLD FASHIONED CONVERSION.
An incident of the revival illustrating the depth of conviction produced by the pun- gent utterances of this phenomenal preach- er and revivalist, attended by the power of the Holy Spirit, occurred in one of the eve- ning services. The invitation had gone forth for seekers to come to the altar, and the singing was in progress, when a pleas- ant looking lady of about thirty years, evincing much feeling and evidently strug- gling to resist her convictions of duty, arose from her seat, and came rapidly along the aisle until she reached the altar, and immediately dropped on her knees and be- gan to pray. Her frame convulsed with emotion, and there seemed pent up within her heart a Niagara of penitence seeking
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for repression, when suddenly she seemed to sink into a swoon, and anxious friends standing or kneeling near her seeing it, be- came alarmed. She was borne into the " study," which opened near the altar, and placed in a position where the anxious friends could minister to her, and use prop- er means for her restoration to conscious- ness. One proposed one thing, and one an- other, while the third proposed to call a physician without delay. This last coun- sel seemed likely to prevail, and some one was about to do so, when an old member of the church, one whose conversion occurred in the earlier days of Methodism, and had produced memories which seemed to give her tranquility, while the others were anx- iously puzzled with the phenomenon at hand, said in assuring tones : "Never mind about calling a doctor ; let her alone. She will come out all right. She is in the hands of the right physician now. She will recover. Let her alone, I say." A few moments of anxious waiting and watch- ing followed, when the lips parted, the eyes gently opened, and first in whispers was heard what afterwards broke forth in au- dible and even in voiceful tones : "Glory to Jesus." " He saves me." " Glory, glo- ry." She was declared convalescent, and
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there was rejoicing that human practition- ers had not taken her out of the hands of the only One who can do helpless sinners good.
As a reminiscence, I furnish the address made by Hon. Chas. Goodall at my fifth reception as an appointee to the Howard Street Church pastorate, held at the church parlors, October 5th, 1883.
DEAR BROTHER AND PASTOR : I have been requested by members of the church to say a word of welcome to our new pas- tor. They seem to have an idea that I am ac- quainted with you, and should introduce you to them, who are strangers. But it cannot be so, for let me assure you, my dear brother, that it was with one accord they asked the Bishop to appoint you to this charge.
And it must be said they had good rea- son for making such request. They had heard how well you succeeded in your charge last year.
The story goes that the church where you labored last year was mortgaged for $10,000, and that under your administration it was paid off, and that all other expenses, includ- ing your own salary (alas ! too small) were also paid up, and that you came to Confer- ence with the largest collections for the benevolent institutions of the church of any charge represented.
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That the people flocked to hear your preaching like doves to the windows. That you visited the members at their homes, talked and prayed with them, encouraged them in the difficulties and disappointments in life, and pointed them to the goodly land where troubles and sickness and sorrow never come. That you tenderly took the little children in your arms and blessed them. That you joined the hands of them together whose hearts but beat as one. That you laid reverently and gently away in the tomb the remains of the loved and honored dead, and comforted the mourning ones with the blessed assurance that it was their blessed privilege to meet their depart- ed friends, "where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest."
No wonder, then, that our people hearing of all this, unanimously asked the Bishop to appoint you to this charge. And I do assure you that I speak the sentiment of each member of our society, when I say : "Inasmuch as you did it unto the least of these my brethren, you did it unto me."
Again, in the name of the church and congregation, I welcome you, our new but well known and dearly beloved pastor of the Howard Street Methodist Church.
REV. J. D. BLAIN.
BLAIN MEMORIAL.
ADDRESS BY R. MCELROY.
" Death rides on every passing breeze, and lurks in every flower "; and yet, in the midst of his untiring industry, most kindly has he dealt by the pastors of this church. During her existence of some twenty-six years, but three who have ministered at her altars have been stricken down by his ruth- less hand.
The scholarly Bannister, who had no peers in the realm of seience or literature on this coast-a man of grand intellect, of finest culture, of purest Christian character ; a valiant soldier of Christ, abounding in every good work at all times and in all places ; one who seemed never to have known guile, the very soul of honor ; one whose mien was saintly, whose inmost thought was pure as the virgin snow, whose aims and ambitions in life were of the most lofty and ennobling character;
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whose every wish was to glorify his Maker and benefit his fellow men; a man who seemed only ignorant of the meaning of selfishness, and was continually absorbed in the luxury of living for others ; such was he who was suddenly halted in life's weary march, and his itinerant journeyings abruptly ended when his sun had scarcely reached meridian. Peacefully the broken casket sleeps on the banks of the Yuba, while the jewel, bright and sparkling, adorns the Master's crown in the land of everlast- ing sunlight and beauty.
Geo. S. Phillips, after much toil and suc- cessful labor, fainted by the way, and was compelled to seek health in an Eastern trip ; but that precious gem never again came into his possession, and his weary head lies pillowed beneath the soil of his native state of Ohio, while his sainted spirit has entered upon its wonderful life of never-ending fe- licity.
And now has the busy destroyer visited our altars again ; for the tidings come to our ears from the distant city of Newark, N. J., that Rev. John D. Blain has lan- guished into life by passing through the portals of death.
In the year 1861, this society was wor-
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shipping in a small wooden building on Folsom street. The congregation was mea- ger, and the membership but a handful. The location of the church was in the midst of extensive sand dunes, and but little pop- ulation surrounded it. It was, in fact, but an outpost on the skirts of the rising city. Nobly had the little band struggled to main- tain its existence during the ten years of its then history. Good and true men had filled its pulpit, but all had comparatively failed to elicit much interest in the general community, in reference to this feeble vine. To reach the church one was compelled to make a Sabbath day's journey through drifting sand and howling winds. To crowd the little temple under such forbid- ding circumstances was a task of no mean accomplishment. And yet the newly ap- pointed pastor, from the Conference of that year, was adequate to the task. No sooner had he entered on his work, but he began, from house to house, to seek out the lost sheep of our Israel. And this la- bor was not long in manifesting itself in the crowds which came flocking from every quarter of the city to his ministry. It now required more than drifting sands, or howl- ing winds, or isolated position, to keep the
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people away. Brother Blain had somehow made them feel that he was their friend and brother : that he was interested in all their joys and sorrows; that he knew the heart of a stranger, and could sympathize with all who were enduring the pangs of desolate loneliness. And the number of these in the primitive days of American California his- tory was legion. No man knew his neigh- bor. Every one was in the midst of a Sa- hara, although surrounded by myriads of human beings ; for they had come from the east and the west, from the north and the south. Every nationality was represented. Every clime under the whole heaven here revealed its peculiar type of humanity. And yet for each the pastor of the little sand-hill church had a kind word, a pleas- ant smile of recognition, and a hearty God speed. But a little time elapsed before every body knew Brother Blain, and every body as fondly loved him.
Nor was this admiration confined to any particular sect or any particular peo- ple. Both Jew and Gentile, both Catholic and Protestant, both saint and sinner, the godless as well as the godly, merchant princes in their purple and fine linen, and paupers in their penury and rags, alike re-
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spected and honored him. For all knew that he loved them and desired to do them good, not because of their outside surround- ings or their peculiar station in life, but be- cause they were men, and all belonged to one common brotherhood. No wonder, then, with this universal sentiment in his favor, that his influence became as broad and far reaching as the community itself. No wonder that every man and every wom- an about entering the sacred portals of wedlock wanted their nuptials celebrated by Brother Blain. No wonder that all who had the remains of a loved one to be con- signed to the tomb, desired the burial ser- vices to be performed by him. No wonder that when the little wooden temple became too small to accommodate the ever-increasing throng which came to listen to words of consolation and cheer drawn from the Book of God, the people came forward and pour- ed out their money like water to provide him a more spacious edifice.
As the result of this influence and this generosity, we stand this day within the walls of this magnificent temple, for had it not been for John D. Blain this temple had not been here. He conceived the idea of its erection, he planned all its appointments,
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he solicited the funds to execute its build- ing, and many a weary hour, both of body and mind, he gave freely and cheerfully to its service. In fact, so many were those hours, and so heavy were their toils, that his nervous system received its death wound in the midst of them. Never was John D. Blain the same vigorous, robust man after his departure from this pulpit, as he was before he entered it. And al- though he has lingered on the shores of time, some ten or twelve years since, yet his was a shattered, painful existence, which gave him but little comfort or joy.
Work, however, did he till the last, for work was his normal nature ; and his high- est bliss consisted in trying to build up the Redeemer's Kingdom on the earth. But he rests now. The feverish dream of life is over with him, and among the beatitudes of the skies he has entered upon a life of ever expanding, ever increasing glory.
'Life's labor done as sinks the clay, Light from its load the Spirit flies, While heaven and earth combine to say, How blest the righteous when he dies."
REV. THOMAS GUARD.
GUARD MEMORIAL.
ADDRESS BY J. M. BUFFINGTON.
Dr. Thomas Guard was born in Galway County. Ireland, on the 3rd of June, 1831. His father, Rev. William Guard, left four sons, three of whom became ministers : Wesley Guard, a prominent clergyman in county Cork, Edward Guard. of Omagh, county Tyrone, and Dr. Thomas Guard- the subject of this sketch.
Dr. Guard was educated in his native county, and entered the Irish Conference at the age of 21. Six years later he mar- ried a Miss Isabel Barrett, of Dublin, by whom he had seven children-five sons and two daughters. About four years after their marriage, his wife's health being very delicate, they left Ireland for South Africa, where they remained for nine years. Dr. Guard labored earnestly in the colonies there until 1871, when he came to this country with the intention of raising money
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sufficient to build a church in Africa, and then of returning.
His lectures, delivered in nearly all of our principal cities, showed such power of oratory as to attract great interest. He re- ceived calls from several churches, and finally accepted that of the Mount Vernon Church of Baltimore, Md. The congrega- tion was then known as the "Charles Street," and Dr. Guard preached in the New Assembly Rooms of that city several months before the completion of the church. At the end of three years he came to San Francisco, and accepted the pastorate of the Howard Street M. E. Church, where he re- mained from Sept., 1875, to Sept., 1878, meeting with marked success and making for himself staunch friends. While in this city he met with a great bereavement in the death of his wife.
At the expiration of his term with this church he moved to Oakland. From there he was recalled to Baltimore, and on the 14th of October, 1882, while yet in the prime of life, and surrounded by loving friends, his Master called him home.
The Rev. Robert Crook, LL. D., states " that from the first he was a man of great promise, distinguished as a preacher and
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lecturer ; that he was a great reader, pos- sessed a very retentive memory and did not take much interest in the business affairs of the church."
His intellectual gifts were remarkable. His command of language was inexhaust- ble, and his memory, apparently, never failed him. His articulation was rapid and rather indistinct ; this, with his foreign ac- cent, made it difficult for those unaccustomed to him to catch his words, but when once at- tention was attracted, his audiences were invariably impressed by his remarkable flow of words, the brilliancy of his ideas, and his own enthusiasm in his subject. He was a brilliant conversationalist, although some- times abrupt.
" Mr. Guard's spirit was one of the most childlike simplicity; he was without tact, and could never understand our ways of doing things. If he desired to awaken the most uneducated sinner, he would appeal to him by considerations drawn from every field of thought, and expressed in language of elaborate finish and beauty.
pastor. Though tender and sympathetic as a sister, systematic calls he knew not how to make, and records were an inscrutable mystery to him.
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Like many other men, his defects were the excess of his qualities. He was ever and under all circumstances, first, middle, and last, an orator. With a practical man for a colleague, every one would have said : ' With Thomas Guard to preach, and his colleague to attend to everything else, the church is thoroughly furnished unto every good word and work.'"
His death came as a sudden blow to his friends. Though for four years he at times suffered great pain, he worked with much energy until the end. His last lecture was delivered a little more than a week before his death, which was caused by acute gas- tritis, attacks of which he had been subject to for many years.
The funeral took place from Mount Vernon Church, which was appropriately draped for the occasion. Among those present were a delegation of Methodist min- isters from Philadelphia, and a number of ministers from other denominations.
At the memorial service held in the How- ard Street M. E. Church, October 22, the following address was delivered by Rev. Dr. Wythe, a warm personal friend of Dr. Guard, which gives an excellent description of his character.
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Dr. Wythe said :
"The duty assigned to me is not only sad but difficult, since the subject on which I am desired to address you is one of such magnitude, and so many- sided, as to require ability more than I possess. A week ago the telegraph flashed the news across the continent, that the Rev. Thomas Guard, the eloquent preacher, was dead. Few heard the tidings without a shock ; they were so unexpected and un- heralded. This sad event has brought us together for memorial services-a token of our respect for exalted ability and great usefulness. I have been requested to speak of the character and life of our deceased friend. It is not easy to do this, for Dr. Guard was an extraordinary man. He was like a gem covered with sparkling facets. His genius and oratory were of more than usual brilliancy. It would require his own descriptive powers, with a keener insight into character, to do him justice. Yet, as our relations were intimate, it is deemed fit- ting that I should speak, however imper- fectly, upon this theme. I bring only a simple tribute of sincere appreciation of one who honored me as a friend, and always recognized me as a fellow-minister of the 6*
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gospel of Christ. The tender sympathy in my own recent affliction is brought into strong relief by his death, and makes his removal a personal loss. 'The memory of the just is blessed.' for it proves the super- iority of spiritual reality .to all material good. I desire to consider our brother as a man, as a Christian, and as a Christian minister.
I. As a man : The most striking trait was a certain warmth and buoyancy of dis- position which rendered him companionable. There was no assumption of dignity and superiority, nor sourness or asceticism in his manner. The Celtic fire of his heart shone from his eyes, and won to him friends from all classes of society. He seemed to live in continued sunshine, and as if he enjoyed the sunshine too. There appeared about him nothing of constraint, nothing assumed. The words and actions were natural and spontaneous ; the ontgushing of a nature in harmony with God's universe. His sim- plicity and frankness were obvious to all who knew him. He united the heart of a child with the mind of a man. Although guileless and unsuspicious of wrong designs. he was utterly incapable of policy and de- ceit. He could not favor, and would not
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stoop, either to gain the favor of the rich, or to escape from the strife of tongues. This characteristic was sometimes shown by its reaction. His contempt of duplicity in others was the very perfection of scorn- He had such a quick recognition of moral rectitude. and such a spirit of repudiation for what he deemed wrong. that he would not treat as a friend one who appeared morally unworthy. He was far more an- tagonistic to spiritual sins, like envy, and malice, and guile, than to others ; for if sen- sual sins make a man a brute, spiritual wickedness renders him a fiend. What failings were seen by the eye of friendship in our brother's life seemed to spring from his artless simplicity and guilelessness, and his antipathy to anything of an opposite character.
Although lacking the drill of early and profound scholarship, he found a compen- sation in being an industrious and omnivar- ous reader of books. He had a remarkably quick perception, a most retentive memory, a poetic sensibility, and artistic power of comparison. These qualities combined to form the special bent or genius of his mind. These characteristics form the stuff of which orators are made. Had the energies
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which led him to soar above the common sphere of thought been harnessed and con- fined by sterner scholastic discipline, he would have shone as a beautiful planet, with clear, steady light. There might have been less brilliancy, less scintillation, but perhaps a wider orbit and a longer life. As a man, he had interest in every human- itarian enterprise. No good cause appealed to him in vain. No narrow groove of thought or creed confined his sympathies. Whatever touched the heart or liberties of mankind found a corresponding vibration in his nature. As he had traveled exten- sively, he had opportunity of studying the condition of many people, and the forms of government best adapted to the conform- ation of liberty and law, and the free choice of his mind was on the side of American institutions. By nature and by choice he loved the principles of American represen- tative government.
He was as sensitive as a woman, as patriotic as a veteran, as loving as a child, and as impetuous as a torrent. Such men are rare. Only a few such are met with in a century. Such will always be attractive. They may have enemies, for all patriotic men-all who are worth anything-will
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meet with opposition ; but they will have also troops of friends, and friends who will be as true as steel. The grandeur of such characters rises above the forces of all ad- verse circumstances.
" As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm, Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head."
II. As a Christian, our brother was well established in the truths of evangelical reli- gion. His faith was no blind adhesion to a mere intellectual ereed, but heartfelt trust. with a clear vision of the object trusted. His reason was fully satisfied with the intel- lectual revelation of truth made in the Bible, and he was a student of the Scrip- tures above all other books. This study brought him to the spiritual revelation of the truth as it is in Jesus. A spiritual rec- ognition of personal sin, an appropriation of the redemption made by Christ for the forgiveness of sin, a personal knowledge of actual salvation, and a constant dependence upon the sanetifying power of the Holy Spirit made our brother a real Christian. Yet he did not ignore the book of Nature, also written with the finger of God, but
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delighted to trace the accordance of its teaching with that of the Bible.
His piety was sincere, experimental, ar- dent. Though unobtrusive and not boastful, yet there was a manly vigor in his religious experience which made. him ready at all suitable times to acknowledge Christ as a personal Saviour. His public prayers showed to the Christian consciousness of the church that he was a man who held communion with God. Some of his friends even preferred his prayers to his sermons. They were sometimes wonderful for unction and touching simplicity. A Presbyterian minister told me he should never for- get the influence of one of his prayers, in which he referred to all the mercies of our Father as tender mercies, and to all his kindnesses as loving kindness. No man could pray as he prayed who did not live near the heart of God.
III. As a minister, he regarded the pul- pit as his sphere. His personal character- isties rendered it peculiarly appropriate to him. Whatever he may have been outside the pulpit, there he was an ambassador from God, a herald of the sovereign King. The splendor of his oratory and the wealth of his mind were made there garlands for
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the cross of Christ. He wielded the sword of the Spirit with such incisive discrimina- tion that it often became a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The love manifest on Calvary, and the supreme glory of Christ were themes which fired his soul with almost seraphic ecstasy.
His sermons showed careful preparation and a most remarkable memory. Many of his most brilliant passages were very care- fully studied ; yet inspired with his theme, he sometimes soared far beyond all pre- vious thought. The style was antithetical and ornate, but he often required an elab- orate introduction to bring him into sym- pathy with his subject, so that his mind could have full play. To some persons this was tedious, especially to those who love to recline at their ease in church. and have the Gospel diluted and strained in fifteen-minute sermonettes ; but to the thoughtful and refined, the sermons of our brother were an intellectual and a spiritual feast, and the church was generally crowd- ed with such hearers.
His publie lectures, as well as his ser- mons, grappled with the religious questions of the age and left a marked impression. Few that heard will soon forget the scene
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in his lecture on the influence of the Bible on the age, which represented a skeptic trying to obliterate the marks of the Bible on civilization ; ransacking the public and private libraries to erase Christian thought from literature : going to our court-houses and halls of record to elimi- nate A. D. from all our title-deeds ; and to our state-houses to remove all traces from legal and constitutional enactments ; and even stooping down in our cemeteries, chis- el in hand, to chip all Christian references from the grave-stones of our honored dead. The public tested his oratorical powers perhaps too severely for his strength, but they were not found wanting in the cause of truth and religion. No college of learn- ing honored itself by conferring upon him the Doctorate, which in a by-gone age was the synonym for teacher ; but the great col- ege of the public recognized his worth and teaching qualities ; and to the public he is known, and will be, as Dr. Guard. He had a generous catholic spirit, and a true Christian fellowship with other denom- inations : yet he was conscientiously attach- ed to the doctrines and usages of Metho- dism, and regretted to see in his own church any variation from what he deemed the
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