USA > Washington DC > History of St. Paul's English Lutheran Church : and of the work of the church and Sunday school for the semi-centennial year, including additional reports to June 30, 1893, with a synopsis of the semi-centennial services of the church and Sunday school, April 16 and 17, 1893 > Part 5
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The platform meeting at 7. 30 P. M. was attended by a crowd that more than filled the church. The order of services was as follows:
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Organ voluntary.
Anthem by the choir.
The evening service in the Book of Worship, con- ducted by the pastor.
Reading of the 46th Psalın.
Prayer by Rev. W. H. Gotwald.
Offertory "Praise ye the Lord," by the choir.
Announcements by the pastor.
The pastor, Dr. Domer, announced the reception of greetings from Rev. Dr. Conrad, of Philadelphia; Rev. Dr. Barnitz, our Western Secretary of Home Missions; Rev. H. B. Belmer, a former pastor; and also from the Rev. H. S. Cook, of Waynesboro, Pa .; H. C. Grossman, of Anna, Illinois, formerly the associate pastors in the pastorate of Dr. Butler; also from Rev. H. Baker, D. D., of Altoona. These communications, for want of time, could not all be read. They appear in their order, as will be seen on the following pages.
Addresses followed first by J. E. Graeff, of Philadelphia, who was the second pastor 45 years ago; by Rev. J. G. Butler, D. D., the third pastor, and by Rev. W. E. Par- son, D. D., pastor of the Church of the Reformation, and formerly an associate pastor of St. Paul's. These addresses were full of interest, and were received with great satisfaction and pleasure by the large audience present.
The hymn 217, "Watchman, Tell us of the Night," was sung with great earnestness by the choir and con- gregation. The benediction was pronounced by Rev. W. H. Gotwald.
All these addresses are given in outline and brevity, with the written greetings, in their order at the services, morning and evening.
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ENGLISH LUTHERAN CHURCH.
Rev. J. G. Morris, D. D., LL. D.
OUTLINE OF SERMON ON SUNDAY MORNING OF THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL SERVICES.
Matt., 21 : 28. Son, go work to day in my vineyard.
The preacher introduced his subject by the ideal rep- resentation of a Jewish country gentleman ordering his two sons, who were idly loitering about the farm, to go to work in the field. They were vigorous, stalwart young men, who should not have been spending their time unprofitably. The father had claim on their ser- vices; he had reared and educated them, and he properly thought they should repay him by their personal labor; neither did they deny his claims or offer to hire substi-
tutes to do the work. They did not plead sickness nor other pressing engagements, nor inexperience, nor physical inability. The vineyard was in a condition requiring cultivation; the weather was favorable; 110 time was to be lost, and the work must be done or the crop would suffer, and the father held his sons respon- sible.
The theme of the sermon was DILIGENT AND IMME- DIATE PERSONAL WORK IN THE CHURCH OF THE LORD.
The preacher then drew an analogy between the church and a vineyard, which illustration is employed by Isaiah, chapter V, in which the prophet gives us a word picture of surpassing beauty. The book of Can- ticles, 1:6, employs the same figure to set forth the kingdom of God upon earth; and our Lord, in Matt., 21: 33, and other places, compares his church to a vineyard in which all his disciples are called upon to labor dili- gently. It is that beautiful first-born daugliter of heaven coming down to earth in the majesty of her un- spotted bridal robes-the impersonation of truth and
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righteousness-and she calls upon us all to work in her interests; to maintain her purity; to defend her against assaults; to spread abroad hier principles; to magnify her sacraments; to honor her ministry; to instruct her peo- ple, and glorify her Lord.
No one is exempted from this call, and though we inay not all be able to perform every kind of labor, yet each is bound to do all as the Lord hath given us ability.
The command is "Son ! go work !"-endearing name-it is not slave, nor hireling, nor menial, but a tender and paternal epithet, showing the close relation we sustain to the owner of the vineyard, and the order given implies activity, energy, and personal effort. It is not to go and see how others work and admire their exertions, or find fault with their labors, or employ others to go in your stead, and you stand idly looking on, but it is go yourself ; and you need not go far to find a field; you have it in your own heart, your family, your church, your Sunday school, your mission socie- ties, your neighborhood, the poor; the field is wide and you can enter it from your own house-door.
But a man may go and still do nothing, as some may travel and read and yet learn nothing; he may be inat- tentive, careless, forgetful ; but going here implies working. Our Lord usually appends a word of momen- tous import after his use of the word go, for example : "Go and see "-" go and learn "-"go tell my breth- ren "-and here it is, "go work "-there's something to be done. Thus religion is not devout inactivity, pious meditation, monastic seclusion, nor mere Bible reading, nor church going, but it is working for God in his open vineyard; it is devoting our energies to his cause; it is consecrating ourselves to his service in the world, and in every department of church service in which we can be most efficient.
This is a working age of the church, and that indivi-
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dual person or congregation that is not active in the vineyard is going backward in personal piety and true religious enjoyment. Men are fast giving up the notion, once popular, that spasmodic excitement, intense feel- ing, and clamorous worship was religion ; they have found that it was evanescent, unproductive, and in many cases delusive. The rivulet that noisily rushes over the stony bed dries up in the summer, but the stream of greater depth flows uniformly on; there inay be rain storms, or fervid heat and drought, and yet it gently glides through the meadows, watering the parched earth or affording nourishment to the trees growing upon its banks.
Such religion is not a soap bubble that glitters in sparkling colors for a moment and then bursts, or like the apples of Sodoin which at a touch fall into a pile of ashes in your hand ; but it is real, active, permanent, enduring, eternal. My son, give me thy heart ! and what does this mean ? Not the feelings only, but the will, the governing purpose of life, the determination to think, believe, speak, and do what is right.
But what kind of "work " are we to do ? We can not all preach, nor teach, nor govern, nor give much ; but we can all pray; we can let our light shine; we can all exemplify our profession; we can give a penny a week, if not a dollar; we can relieve the wants of many of the suffering poor, if we can not pay their house rent for a year; we can all aim at receiving the precious encomium of the Lord, she hath done what she could.
The preacher here enlarged upon the various fields of church work in which the humblest member may usefully engage.
But when are we to work ? "To-day." How long ? Till sundown-the close of life.
The work may be hard and the results may be dis- heartening, but that is the experience of workers in
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every age from the days of our Lord to the present time.
This position was illustrated by scripture texts and historical incidents.
It was also demonstrated that some kinds of "church work " may be unprofitable and even harmful, such as undertaking an enterprise which can not be carried out; spending money on a costly house of worship and en- tailing a debt upon the congregation, and thus cripple its energies for years; devoting time and labor and money in the execution of some favorite scheine or the support of some society which was begin without system or judgment ; establishing new congregations or erecting churches where there was no necessity for them, and in various other ways frittering away the resources of the congregation without profitable results.
The preacher stated the fact that he assisted in laying the corner-stone of this church fifty years ago. He recited some interesting incidents connected with that event, such as the presence of the Hon. John Quincy Adams, ex-President of the United States, but who at that time was a inember of Congress from Massachu- setts.
He also stated that four years after he participated in the consecration of the church, on which occasion President James K. Polk and his wife, with James Buchanan, Secretary of State, and other notabilities, were present.
The preacher concluded his discourse by reciting several stanzas of the well-known and inspiring hymn:
" Work, for the night is coming- Work through the morning hours,
Work while the dew is sparkling, Work 'mid opening flowers ; Work when the day grows brighter, Work in the glowing sun ;
Work for the night is coming When the work of inan is done."
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ENGLISH LUTHERAN CHURCH.
Ministry of Rev. S. Domer, D. D., the Present Pastor Since November 5, 1874.
PRESENTED AT THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY.
The severance of pastoral relations where those re- lations have been satisfactory and pleasant, and mutual confidence and good will have obtained, is always a painful and trying experience. Such in an eminent degree was the situation when we bade "good-bye" to the people of our former charge to accept the cour- teous call from St. Paul's eighteen years and a half ago. This is our fourth charge since we entered the ministry in 1855. The first, our first love, and still tenderly cherished, the English Lutheran Church at Selinsgrove, Pa. The second, St. Matthew's Church of Reading, Pa., fron 1869 to 1872. A more cordial, warm-hearted, and loyal people to the pastor and the church than the people of St. Matthew's were it would be hard to find. Overwork and impaired health compelled us, regretfully to leave the city of Reading and the many kind friends there.
After a short vacation and rest, the only interim in a ministry of nearly 38 years, we accepted the invitation to Trinity Lutheran Church, Shamokin, Pa., three months after our-resignation at Reading. This was in October, 1872. After a pastorate of two years in this place, the call from St. Paul's, of Washington, was placed in our hands, and after mature consideration was favorably entertained. But the making of this change was not without peculiar trial and reluctance. We had been in the pastorate of this church only two short years, and had become mnuch attached to the people. They were so kind, so faithful, and the prosperity of the church was so manifest, that it seemed almost imprac- ticable and unwise to think of making a change. How-
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ever, after having taken into account all the factors and considerations which properly entered into the question of transfer to the new field of activity, and of the pos- sibilities of usefulness there, we finally ventured to make the change, in reliance on the blessing of the Master, and in the hope of accomplishing a use not less important in the vineyard of the Lord along the lati- tudes of opportunity thus opening up before us. Ac- cordingly we left a flourishing, a united, a kind-hearted, and pleasant people, and ventured to come to a new and strange people, with elements and surroundings very different from the former, hoping and believing that new associations and friends might presently be found to take the place of the old, and that the joy and satisfaction of labor should not be wanting in the new sphere of Christian and pastoral endeavor.
We removed to Washington November 5, 1874. Preached the first sermon November 8, 1874, on the text, "Having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come," I Tim., 4: 8. First meeting with the church council November 10, 1874. . We look back over the years of this last pastorate witli a special interest on this occasion, not only because it is thus far our last pastorate, but especially because it closes the semi-centennial history of St. Paul's English Lutheran Church, and becomes a part of our glad jubilee.
On our arrival in Washington we were very kindly received, and the cordial welcome extended by the friends who had gathered in the parsonage that evening made us feel quite at home at once, and gave us reason to believe that there remained an earnest band of Chris- tian men and women in St. Paul's who would sustain and encourage the new pastor in every possible way. That hearty greeting the first night at the parsonage has not been forgotten. Dr. Young voices a tender theology when lie says :
"Heaven gives us friends to bless the present scene; Resumes them to prepare us for the next."
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Still in our human fondness our hearts can not fail to appreciate the force of Shakespeare's counsel :
"The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel."
I want to put on record here, and now, my profoundest appreciation of the kindnesses shown to the pastor and his family during the years that have passed away since first we met. I love the old friends. I love the new friends. If I have, unfortunately, failed to merit and to receive the continuous favor of any among my parish- ioners, I shall but regret my infirmity and misfortune, while remembering tenderly the beauty and fragrance of that friendship which like a flower of the early spring- time bloomed only for a little time and then faded away before the summer of our common work had fully come.
Almost nineteen years of the present pastorate have been fulfilled. How like a dream these years now seem as we look back and see how quickly they have vanished away! Yet not entirely as a dream, for they have been filled with facts and events, with purposes, plans, and experiences, whose record has gone into the eternal years. Successes and failures ; expectations realized, and yet many not realized; work done and work not done; growth and advancements made, and yet many a step not taken; enlargements projected and lioped for, and yet not wrought into fruition. The shadows and the lights of these years both press for recognition in any estimate that should be made. Causative elements and forces come into view as explanations of things accomplished and of things not accomplished ; but they have passed beyond our control, and we are left to the results as we now find them. And if from these results, mixed as they may be, we shall move into the future with firmer steps, stronger faith, and a higher wisdom, then these vanished years may yet be a " scala sancta,"
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a holy ladder from whose topmost round we may look out into brighter skies and take in a larger horizon than our eyes have ever scanned before.
FIRST OFFICIAL ACTS.
Among my first official acts in this congregation came several marriage ceremonies-not at all an unpleasant way of beginning a pastorate. The first of all in this list was the marriage of the young secretary of our church council, Mr. G. W. Linkins, to Miss Carrie E. Reiss, and soon afterward Mr. Allen S. Johnson to Miss Jennie Stoaber. They are beloved and honored members of our church to-day, and I now renew iny congratulations of eighteen years ago. Not less inter- esting to me on this occasion is the fact that I have had the pleasure and privilege of receiving into the com- munion of our church, within the last few years, by the rite of confirmation, two sons from each of these two young families. Four young men these first mar- riages have given to the church. May these young men ever honor their parentage, their church, and the Lord, to whom they have been consecrated in their early years, by a noble christian manhood and useful lives. Including the first marriages thus mentioned, three hundred and forty-eight couples have been united in marriage since my pastorate in St. Paul's commenced.
But it would be a very great mistake to imply by such reference as this that all our affairs had always moved along as lovely as a marriage scene, or as merry as a marriage bell. This congregation has had to bear heavy burdens and to pass through many tribula- tions on its way to present strength and establishment. Such, in fact, is the history of most churches. Like Norway pines, they are rocked into maturity and strength by the storms that beat upon them ; they push their way upward through the winters which whiten the
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mountains and the hills on which they stand. The beginnings were small and made in the face of many difficulties. Along the lines of endeavor and advance- ment many a crisis period pressed into the history of St. Paul's English Lutheran Church. From the organ- ization in 1843, through the five pastorates which have filled the first fifty years of this congregation, inany alternations of trial, doubt, conflict, and tears, with successes, joys, and triumphs, crowd into the pages of its history. The earlier trials and crisis periods have been elsewhere considered in the accounts presented during our anniversary exercises, and I confine myself chiefly to the experiences and events which belong to my own pastorate since 1874.
My predecessor, Rev. H. B. Belmer, found that the processes in the organization of the Memorial Sunday school and Church had become an exhaustive strain on the strength and resources of the mother church. The Sunday school was largely transferred in officers, teach- ers, and scholars. A large number of the members withdrew from time to time to join the new movement and enterprise-from 80 to 100 during the first year. Mr. Belmer says "fully half of the most vigorous working force went with the Memorial colony." Others took their letters of dismission and joined churches of other denominations. From twenty-five to thirty thou- sand dollars of the money of St. Paul's had gone into the property of the new church. An old indebtedness remained for the mother church to carry with a reduced membership and a depleted treasury. An old church building, which stood in great need of renovation and improvement, was left to them in mnute appeal for generous consideration. The question of continued self-support under the circumstances of so many reduc- tions caine to the front as a vexing problem; and, con- sequently, discouraged by the situation of affairs, after
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a pastorate of fifteen months Brother Belmer resigned in April, 1874. This resignation, with the "assurance of confidence in the pastor and hearty cooperation with him," was not then accepted, and he continued in the pastorate until october 1, 1874, and then closed his labors in St. Paul's English Lutheran Church.
Such was the unpromising situation of affairs when the present pastor took charge in November, 1874. The ranks diminished to less than a hundred active members, and these, of course, depressed in spirit ; only sixty persons, old and young, in the first session of the Sunday school; the financial ability of the con- gregation greatly weakened, and some expressing doubts of the possibility of any speedy reconstruction. The question of the sale of the church property had even been under discussion at various times during this transi- tion period, and its transfer to the Memorial suggested.
The outlook for successful work was not a radiant one at this time, excepting only that there was work to be done, and that no "labor in the Lord is in vain." Had all the circumstances of doubt and fear been fully known by the pastor elect, perhaps his faith and courage would not have measured up to the gravity of the situ- ation, and his apprehension of failure might have turned his thoughts and purposes into a more hopeful direction. But the providential ordering was otherwise. "We know in part, and we prophesy in part "-Paul gives best explanation of the facts of life with its human conditions and environments-and so we walk in the twilight until the sunburst and the flash of the morning light bring in the golden day.
One fact, however, which soon appeared after our arrival in the city, gave strong assurance and quickened lively hope. We found a little company of determined men and women who remained devoted and true to St. Paul's, and they nobly and bravely assumed the respon-
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sibility of support, and rallied around the new pastor with such earnestness and determination as to inspire the strongest expectations of success and blessing in the new departure. Some of those heroic souls, whose smiles and kind words were the benediction of us all in the morning of St. Paul's reconstruction nearly twenty years ago, have been transferred to the "summer land." Some remain, and are still the same true and tried ones as in the beginning. They are with us in the joy of jubilee to-day. Veterans of the cross ! We put their names in the roll of honor in the church below, while their comrades of a few years ago have been placed on the enrollment of grace and glory in the church above.
Whatever of progress we may have made in our church work and life since we have been brought together as pastor and people, I desire the credit be largely given to that faithful membership who by the blessing of the Lord have so faithfully endeavored to advance the cause of the Kingdom of Christ during these years of trial, toil, and fruition. Faithful men and faithful women alike combined in the work of rebuild- ing the temple, and in reliabilitating its altar and ser- vices. The roll call of the early morning at the empty tomb carried with it the mention of the "Marys and the women of Galilee" in worthy prominence among the disciples of the risen Lord. The old fact is equally the new one, and our earnest christian women in St. Paul's are never wanting when and where duty and religion lead the way.
Our anniversary exercises sweep a horizon of fifty years, and simply involve our own pastorate with the preceding ones. How impressive the contrasts which these years unfold! The first confirmations and the first communion took place on Whit Sunday following the Easter Sunday of April 15, 1843, on which the first
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church council was chosen and organized. Eight mein- bers in the first confirmation class-how many at the first communion I find no record. Of the first class Mrs. Win. Linkins, still a member of our church, and her brother, Wm. R. Woodward, of Chicago, Ill., are the only ones of the class that are still living. Of
the first communicants, so far as we know, only Mrs. Annie Spier, Mrs. C. Atz, and Mr. David Fowble still remain on the hither side of life. Since that time nearly a thousand have been added to the church, and our communion seasons are honored by hundreds of communicants whenever these solemn occasions come along.
Our first communion at the beginning of my own pas- torate is now recalled as having been a very small one. There was only one candidate for confirmation. The name of this first accession I record with special pleasure. She was not even a resident of Washington, but came from Pohick, Virginia, a little distance beyond the tomb of Washington, for the express purpose of uniting with the Lutheran church, the church to which the family belonged and in which her ancestors had their names enrolled for generations past. She has remained loyal to the church through all these years, although without a Lutheran church in that community. She makes herself useful in church and Sunday school of another denomination, but she remains a Lutheran christian. I mention her name with peculiar pleasure, because she has refused to transfer her membership elsewhere out of devotion to the church in which she was baptized and then confirmed in her early years. It was Miss Lizzie Kuehling, the first and only candidate for confirmation at the first communion in my pastorate at Washington. The largest accessions on any single occasion since that time numbered one hundred ; the total accessions since my pastorate began, between five and six hundred ; the
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recorded accessions during the pastorate of Dr. Butler, three hundred and twenty-seven.
The roll of honor in our church, if we had it written out, would carry a large number of cherished names. Some are over yonder ; the rest are still here. The memory of the faithful ones, who gathered with us in former years and joined in our songs and labors, we cherish as an abiding benediction. Some, alas ! ran well for a while, gave promise of great usefulness and distinction in the church at their entrance into our fel- lowship, but presently, like the seed sown in thorny ground, amid the choking weeds of the world, have failed to becoine fruitful in holy living and fidelity to the church in which they had recorded their vows. Such lapses there are in every congregation, and they are to be remembered with regret ; but divine grace inay bring the wanderers back again, and in the hope of such restorations we need to be patient and kind as the Master himself. Peter denied his Lord, but when the tender look of Jesus fell upon the erring disciple the hot tears of his penitence fell into the light of forgiv- ing love, and Peter was made to rejoice forever in par- doning grace.
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