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 6
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AUXILIARY ORGANIZATIONS.
The auxiliary societies and departments in our church are evidences of the progress made toward completer organization for aggressive and progressive work along the lines of christian activity. We need to cherish them with special care, as we recognize their helpful value in the upbuilding of the church. The Sunday school must take a leading place in any just estimate of the relative importance of church agencies.
Our Sunday school, with its present organization and equipments, is greatly in advance of past years. Our semi-centennial year is confessedly the "star" year in
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our entire history. Under the management of its pres- ent officers and teachers, much prosperity has crowned their labors. For fifteen years the present superintend- ent, L. D. Alden, has been in charge, and I would bear a loving testimony to-day to the helpfulness of all the officers and teachers who have so faithfully with the pastor aided in advancing the cause that is so dear to all our hearts St. Paul's Church must be congratulated on the efficiency and prosperity of the Sunday school with which it is so greatly blessed. As a pastor I feel an amiable pride in our school, and rejoice greatly on account of the advancement which has been made since my pastorate commenced here. Only sixty present the first Sunday after I came to Washington-no superin- tendent, and only a few teachers. Now we have three departments, three superintendents, 31 classes, and an enrollment bordering on 500. At first we found only about 80 active members remaining in the church ; now we have 145 active church members in the Sunday school alone. Our Sunday-school offerings at first were of necessity at a minimum, with so small a number in at- tendance ; now the Sunday-school offerings, total re- ceipts during the last year of the semi-centenary, were $1,266.06 ; direct class offerings, $1,000.99-an average of .07. 10-17 per member for every session of the year. Our benevolence in 1875 amounted to $142.95 ; in 1892 it amounted to $739.20-an increase of more than 500 per cent.
With similar gratification I refer to the other helpful societies which make up our organization as a church, and which have all been developed during the last twenty years of our church life. Each in its sphere performs a helpful mission, and all working together as a unit in the common interest makes the galaxy of stars that swing around the central sun of the church's hope and life. These are our weekly prayer meetings, the Ladies'
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Aid Society, the Woman's Home and Foreign Mission- ary Society, the Y. P. S. C. E., the Junior Endeavor Society, the King's Daughters, and our Church Choir, so efficient in the song service. And last, but not least, our energetic, generous, and enterprising Church Council. I am glad to be able to speak in strong commendation of the present official board, and of the former councils which have served the church since I became pastor, almost nineteen years ago. Our relations have, with very few exceptions, been of the most cordial and pleas- ant character. They have been very helpful to mne in all my responsibilities and work. Brethren of tlie council, and all you earnest workers in the church, whether in one of the several bands or not, accept my grateful greetings to-day for your helpful cooperation amid the toils and cares which we have been sharing since first we met long years ago.
THE 400TH ANNIVERSARY OF LUTHER'S BIRTH.
One of the most notable events in the history of St. Paul's was the great celebration of the 400th anniver- sary of Luther's birth. This anniversary was observed in many lands and by many people of many nationali- ties. St. Paul's would not fall behind in honoring the great reformner's name, when all over the world chris- tian people were emphasizing his place in history and bringing into review his wonderful achievements in the reformation of the church and the great spiritual renais- sance of the sixteenth century.
In conference with the church council the determi- nation was soon formed fittingly to observe this anni- versary. A. F. Fox, I. N. Kalb, and L. D. Alden were appointed anniversary committee. The pastor prepared a series of some twelve or fourteen lectures on different phases and events of the reformation. These were de- livered on successive Sunday evenings, and were re-
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ceived with much favor by the church and the com- munity. Outlines of these lectures were published in several of the city papers, and they were subjected to sharp but respectful criticism in some of the Catholic papers, thus showing the extent of the impressions made by their presentation. But the culminating ser- vice took place in the great platform meeting held Sunday evening, November 11th, 1883. The pastor had charge of the arrangements for the great meeting, and had invited prominent and leading men of different churches and denominations to take part in the exer- cises. General Eaton, Commissioner of Education, was appointed to preside at the meeting, and made the first speech, after having been introduced by the pastor. The speakers of the evening were Pere Hyacinthe, the old Catholic reformer of Paris, who happened to be on a visit in Washington at this time ; the Hon. Simon Wolf, a Hebrew, and formerly U. S. Consul in Egypt; Mr. B. H. Warner, a prominent business man of the city, and Dr. David Wills, of the Presbyterian church and chaplain U. S. A. The following report of the meeting is taken from the National Republican of No- vember 12th, 1883:
" Looking down from the choir gallery in St. Paul's Lutheran Church upon the vast audience below, one was impressed with the beauty and solemnity of the occasion. The building was filled to its utmost capacity, and then against its people-closed doors surged the waves of a dense crowd eager to get within. The main aisles of the church had columns swathed in ever- green, typical of the great reformer's influence. The space around the pulpit was built up in a platform, every available foot of which was occupied by dis- tinguished individuals. In the center was deeply banked with a mass of flowers filling the air with heavy fragrance, and throwing back the light of the gas jets in many colors and perfumed radiance. The black and orange flag of the German Empire, side by side
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with the stars and stripes, covered the wall back of the flowers, showing off the legends of 'Wittenberg, Wart- berg, Worms,' and 'Eisenach, Eisleben, and Erfurt,' those monuments in the life of Luther that stand out prominently against the back-ground of the ages. The church wore a triumphal look, and in the centre of the banks of flowers the portrait of Luther looked out upon the scene, revealing the source of its inspiration, the fountain-head of its triumphal air.
"It was indeed a triumphal scene which the peasant monk had wrung from posterity to grace the glory of his naine and fame. The fourth centennial anni- versary of the man who was born in the wilds of Ger- man Saxony in the Teutonic marshes, on the borders of hostile and foreign Slavs, had brought together this vast assemblage to do him honor in a country then un- known to civilized inan. All grades of society and almost all races of men were represented in that audi- ence. Largely Teutonic, there were present Irishmen, Scotchmen, Italians, Englishmen, Frenchmen, and Scandinavians. High officers of the government, dis- tinguished clergymen, famous scholars, artists, me- chanics, patricians and proletarians; men of blood kindred to the great reformer; and men of an alien race, with beautiful women of many nations-all united in an homage of song, of oratory, and of praise to the champion of free thought. The situation was intensely dramatic.
"The president of the meeting was a descendant of the Puritans, who had overtoppled throne and beheaded king and abandoned civilization for the howling wil- derness to carry out the great principles successfully championed by the Saxon monk. A Gallic priest, carrying on to-day in the greatest of the papal capitals the same conflict of reform within the church first started by Luther, had crossed the seas, and in a strange language, with passionate eloquence, bore testimony to the brilliant genius of the German reformer. And to crown all, a Jew was there in a christian church, type of the persecuted race, foremost among the Gentiles in laying a Hebrew lily with the Gentile roses that blos- somned on the votive wreath of him who had made such a spectacle possible by breaking the chains that held
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human thought in bondage. In all the impassioned oriental dreams of his race no wilder flight of fancy had been reached than this, that a Saxon peasant should create a language, a literature, and a religion, and raise up the despised and persecuted Jew to a level with the sovereign princes of the holy Roman Empire.
" After a hymn by the choir and prayer by Rev. Dr. Wills, chaplain U. S. Army, the president of the meet- ing, General Eaton, delivered an interesting address. He reviewed the early life of Luther, briefly but picto- rially sketched the incidents that led to the memorable conflict with Rome, analyzed the character of the re- former and the political character of the times, and closed with a glowing tribute to the genius and influence of his subject. To him the true christian church, the State, the family and popular education were more in- debted than to any other man. A cornet solo followed. General Eaton created a little breeze of excitement by gracefully alluding to the struggle now going on inside of the Roman Catholic Church, and introducing to the audience Pere Hyacinthe. The famous French reformer took the audience with him at his first movement. With a graceful gesture, a melodious voice, and a rapid play of expression upon his face, he kept his hearers perfectly silent for perhaps twenty minutes of impassioned elo- quence. The famous Pere is a pictorial and dramatic speaker, with a clear, distinct enunciation by which every word he speaks is heard. He has a rich, ready voice, very pleasant to hear, whose smoothness never de- generates into harshness nor breaks into shrillness. His voice, like his face, admits of a great variety of expres- sion, which he skillfully and pleasantly exercised. He has the rare faculty of identifying himself with the emo- tion of the moment, and hence adds the charin of grace- ful novelty to everything he says. He began by saying: ' It has been a habit of my ultramontane antagonists to call me by the opprobrious epithet given to Martin Luther-that of "Apostate Monk." I should like to be his disciple-not in all of his opinions, but so far as these opinions are great and immortal in the work of reformation. I salute in him the first old Catholic. He wanted to reform according to his ideas, inside and not outside. He wanted, in fact, no division, no schism. I
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should like to accomplish what Luther began, a thorough reform in the Latin Church, for Luther would have kept within the church lines in a regularly consti- tuted episcopate if he could have done so.' Continuing, the Pere said, in substance, that Luther was animated by these principles : first, he was to break off connection with Rome, with its errors and abuses ; secondly, at the same time he was to remain loyal to the faith as taught in the Bible and faithful to Christ as the very Son of God. In following these two principles he traced two lines of demarkation, one of time and one of space. That of time was a new era in the church and in society. The renaissance was only a preparation for this reforma- tion, as of the renaissance the French revolution was only a consequence. Neither created a distinct era. That was done by the reformation inaugurated by Luther. The reformation drew a line of demarkation both in Europe and in America between the people who were emancipated by Luther and those still holding allegiance to Rome. As regards these it was not a ques- tion of race, but of a religious system. For example, the Irish Kelts, the Slavic Poles, the Austrian Germans, all of whom are Romanists, are as surely in a state of decadence as the Latin nations. Thirdly, to practice what he preached was Luther's aim. He was coura- geous enough to do this, in private as well as in public and ecclesiastical life. The Pere closed his address by hoping that in 1983 the whole world would be neither Protestant nor Romanist, but that humanity would be united in one great christian church.
" The Hon. Simon Wolf, a Jew, followed in a burst of fervid eloquence, wherein he paid a glowing tribute to the genius and character of the great German who had emancipated human thoughit. He looked upon Luther as the greatest man born to humanity since time began.
Mr. B. H. Warner and Chaplain Wills followed in stirring addresses, and after closing remarks by Dr. Domer, the pastor, the choir closed the services by singing the famous Luther hymn, 'Ein Feste Burg ist Unser Gott.' "'
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This was certainly one of the most remarkable and interesting services, in all respects, of any that have ever taken place in any church of the city. Those who were privileged in being present will not fail to carry with them the remembrance of that occasion to the end of life It was somewhat singular that Pere Hyacinthe should have been on a visit to this country and to Washington City just at the time of our Luther celebra- tion; and it was a matter of great pleasure and gratifica- tion to myself, as pastor of the church, when, on per- sonal call, I invited him to make the address, and re- ceived from him such a cheerful and hearty acceptance of the invitation. He addressed the audience in the French language. Our reporter understood the French, and gave us the English rendering in his admirable report of the exercises.
LETTER TO EMPEROR WILLIAM II.
A reference has elsewhere been made to the gift of a silver chalice by the King and Queen of Prussia in 1845. This chalice has been used in our communion services ever since, and is greatly valued because of the source from which it came. When we were getting ready for our semi-centennial celebration, it occurred to mne that it would be well as an event in our history to send a memorial letter, with greetings of regard and honor, to the present Emperor of Germany, who is the grandson of the King and Queen of Prussia, afterward the first imperial house of consolidated Germany, from whom our communion cup was received when the con - gregation was yet in its infancy. Other considerations also entered into the account to prompt such a letter, especially the great interest which both Emperor and Empress were taking in church movements in the " Fatherland " and elsewhere. The restoration of the "Schloss Kirche " in Wittenberg, and its dedication
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on the 31st of October, 1892, attracted attention throughout christendom. The crowning feature of the dedication was the address of the Emperor, which in its admirable christian spirit and church loyalty was everywliere received with demonstrations of favor, and especially in the Lutheran churches of both hemi- spheres. On the Sunday following the great dedica- tion I used the Emperor's address in my discourse at our morning's services. Soon after this I made inen- tion of writing a letter to the young Emperor as we were in Sunday school session, and by a unanimous vote' of the school I was instructed to convey their warmest greetings of love to the illustrious Lutheran Emperor of Germany and his equally illustrious wife, the Empress. I wrote him on the 13th of March, directing my letter to him in the imperial palace at Berlin. On the 9th of May, 1893, through the courtesy of the German Minister at Washington, Baron Von Holleben, I received the Emperor's gracious reply. It is as follows:
WASHINGTON, D. C., May 9th, 1893.
SIR: Referring to the communication you addressed to His Majesty the Emperor, under date of March 13th, I beg to inform you that His Majesty has graciously directed me to convey to you his best thanks for the kind attentions conferred on him and the Imperial family through your letter, as well as for the expres- sion of interest and devotion contained in the same.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
HOLLEBEN, His Imperial German Majesty's Minister.
REV. S. DOMER,
Pastor of St. Paul's English Lutheran Church, Washington, D. C.
THE SOCIETIES
Which make up the working organizations of our church have already been referred to, but a few ad- ditional words may here be allowed.
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The Ladies' Aid Society,
Organized in May, 1873, constitutes one of the most helpful and faithful bands of workers in the church. Total receipts from date of organization to the present time, $4,629.99; disbursed during the same period, $4,521.60; balance on hand January Ist, 1893, $108. 39.
The Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Society, Organized April 28, 1884, is quietly yet earnestly at work. It is not so large a society as it will be by and by, and as it is hoped it will be before long. Tliese women, however, are earnestly pressing forward, and have already accomplished fine results. Amount of missionary offerings since the organization started, $686.07.
The Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor, Organized a few years ago, is in a prosperous condition and fulfilling noblest uses. Its meetings are usually well attended, its services very interesting and helpful, and its methods effective in calling forth the latent powers of its members and in training them for greater efficiency in the devotional and evangelistic work of the church.
The KING'S' DAUGHTERS and the JUNIOR YOUNG PEOPLE'S SOCIETY are additional agencies which help to make up the general working forces of the church.
THE CHOIR.
No pastor, no congregation, should fail in a just ap- preciation of a faithful choir. The service of song is a most important part of worship; and those who are put into leadership of this department of service should themselves thoughtfully remember how they are to lead and mould and move the swelling chorus of praise and adoration in sympathy with the great congregation;
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and then these leaders of song deserve to be mentioned with warmest commendation for their helpful ministry in the temple of God. It is thus that we mention our own choir. They are with us in all our public services; and as they are faithful and efficient, serious and wor- shipful, so they command our favor and disarm our criticism. To our singers now, as well as to those who have been with us in this service in days gone by, we would convey our high appreciation and regard.
CONCLUSION.
A brief summary may be in place as I close my pastoral review. Have baptized 362 children; have re- ceived 530 members into the church; have married 347 couples; have attended within the congregation, in- cluding men, women, and children, 80 funerals; out- side, or not belonging to our church, a still larger nun1- ber. Our aggregate enrollment of church members at present, about 400; our Sunday school enrollment almost 500. We have not a dollar of church debt remaining against us .. We have a glorious member- ship of young people who, by the blessing of God, will presently be the forceful power in carrying on the work when the older ones among us shall have gone to rest.
Fifty years have passed away since the first songs were sung in St. Paul's. Most of the voices of that early morning are silent now. Only a few of the founders of the church and actors in her early struggles yet remain with us. We greet them with profoundest tenderness and respect. They are the links that connect us with the beginning-the present with fifty years ago. God bless you as you linger with us to-day. It is towards evening now. We are pausing to consider results which you have helped to bring about, and which we are now in the endeavor to hand over to the
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generations that are to follow. Nearly half a hundred who were in the church eighteen or twenty years ago have joined the earlier ones on the other shore. And so the tide rolls on.
" What is this passing scene ? A peevish April day : A little sun, a little rain, And then night sweeps across the plain."
THE ROLL OF THE DEAD.
Among the deaths and funerals of the 5th pastorate, the following are in the list. The list is arranged alpha- betically and without reference to the date of death:
Mr. Isaac Angney, Mrs. I. Angney, Mr. C. Atz, Mrs. Caroline Acker, Mrs. Mary Schneider Adams, Rev. J. N. Burkett, Miss Nora Behrens, Miss Susan J. Bond, Mr. John Brady and wife, Mr. William S. Davis, Mrs. Carrie B. Eichelberger, child of Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Eck- hart, Mr. E. C. Eckloff, Mr. Samuel Freas, Miss Henri- etta Farquhar, Mrs. Louisa Farquhar, Mrs. Jacob Fink, Mr. John Green, Mrs. Catherine Gardner, Mr. Ed. H. Getz, Mr. H. Gonzenbach, Captain Hoff, Mr. Saville B. Hall, Mr. Emrick Hansell, Mr. Henry Ingle, Mr. J. F. Kelly, Mrs. Margaret Kelly, Mrs. Mary Kraft, Mr. F. W. Koss, Miss Columbia Kelly, Mr. I. N. Kalb, Mr. William Linkins, Mr. and Mrs. John Lewis, Mr. Willie C. Lacoe, Mr. David F. McLean, Mr. John F. Mankin, Mrs. Mary L. Moore, Mr. Leonard J. Myers, Mr. Lewis S. McCormick, Mr. John F. McCormick, Mr. Charles Miller, Miss Grace Muth, Prof. G. A. Matile, Mr. Andrew Noerr, Mrs. Cath. Noerr, Mrs. Augusta Otto, Mr. Ulrich Opperman, Miss Mabel Pendel, Miss Emma Pendel, Mr. Joseph Roemmele, Mr. Benjamin Reiss, Mr. Henry Reiss, Mrs. Eliza A. Reiss, Mr. Edmund Rheem, Mrs. Mamie R. Raby, Mr. M. Sprague, Mr. Henry Seiffert, Mrs. Rosanna Seiffert, Miss Permelia Sinn, Mrs. Emma
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Weaver Stevens, Miss Lizzie Southall, Mr. E. Z. Steever, Mrs. Louisa Schneider, Mr. G. W. Schafer, Mrs. Ella Chauncey Snyder, Miss Maggie Slyer, Miss Mary C. Slyer, Rev. J. J. Suman, Mrs. Harriet Sage, Mrs. Jane Sydnor, Miss Kate Treadway, Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Utermehle, Miss Lizzie Weber, Mrs. Harriet Weigle, Mrs. Ida C. Weaver, Mr. John G. Weaver, Mr. Selby Wilson, Mr. J. W. Young, Mrs. E. Yerkes.
During a pastorate of eighteen years in St. Paul's we have had two deathless years, and only two-not a single death in the congregation or Sunday school. Since 1886, the second one of these remarkable years, not, however, in consecutive order, we have had no such record. Shall we ever have another ? Some sweet day is coming when life shall have the victory.
"There everlasting spring abides, And never withering flowers. Death like a narrow sea divides That heavenly land from ours."
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REMINISCENCES AND GREETINGS
FROM ASSOCIATE PASTORS AND OTHERS AT THE
ANNIVERSARY EXERCISES.
Rev. J. E. Graeff, Second Pastor.
Soon after graduating at the theological seminary of Gettysburg, through the influence of my life-long friend, the Rev. F. W. Conrad, D. D., I received a call to be- come pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Washing- ton City.
After prayerfully considering this invitation for some time, I visited Washington, looked carefully over the ground, preached to the handful of people who were still loyal to the church, and with fear and trembling I accepted the care and became the regular pastor.
Without experience I did not realize the troubles, anxieties, and disappointments that were before me. The reputation of the Church had suffered so much that a large number of former attendants and sympa- thizers had withdrawn and gone elsewhere. The base- ment only was finished, the towers reached but to the roof, the windows were boarded, and, worse than all, a large debt was pressing for payment. So low had the church funds been reduced that even the old-fashioned settees which stood in the lecture room had not been paid for. Measures had been taken to have them removed by the cabinet-inaker in default of payment, but this was fortunately averted by the timely action of some of the members of the church council.
With everything to discourage us we reorganized the Sunday school, gradually collected some of the scat- tered membership, and found our congregation increas- ing slowly but surely Sabbath after Sabbath.
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A more hard-working, loyal, and sympathetic board of trustees never gathered around a pastor. We made slow but sure progress, feeling that if we could finish our church without too great an incumbrance resting upon it, our success would be assured. In this crisis Mr. George Uterinehile promised to advance the money to finish the upper part of the building, and the pastor agreed to go out among other churches to collect the sum needed to repay this loan.
Supplying his pulpit during his protracted absence, he canvassed for weary months in the large country charges of Maryland and Pennsylvania, riding hundreds of miles on horseback, during winter storms and sum- iner heat. With the hearty cooperation of the pastors of the different churches, he visited from house to house among these rural parishioners, and was successful in collecting a large amount for those days. This sumn aided largely in liquidating the pressing obligations resting on the church.
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