USA > Washington DC > The centennial of the beginning of Presbyterianism in the city of Washington > Part 9
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document, when some of the members seemed to hesitate, he made this appeal: "Of property, I have some; of reputation, more. That reputa- tion is staked, that property is pledged, on the issue of this contest. And, although these gray hairs must soon descend into the sepulchre, I would infinitely rather they should descend thither by the hand of the public executioner than desert at this crisis the sacred cause of my country."
Of such stuff was the contingent which the Pres- byterian Church furnished to gain our indepen- dence and found a nation. But the influence of Calvinism upon public affairs did not end with the triumph of the Revolution. The genius of the Genevan divine did not content itself with dissem- inating a religion which in its spirit assailed mon- archy and developed democracy ; but it framed for the government of the church a republican or rep- resentative system. And this system, more than any other form of government, was taken as the model for the Constitution of the United States. When the Constitutional Convention assembled in Philadelphia, Princeton College furnished more than double the number of delegates from any other college and at their head was James Madison, the special protege of President Witherspoon. His compeer in that assembly, Alexander Hamil- ton, was the offspring of Scotch and Huguenot parents ; and his wife tells us that during the con- vention he always kept on his study table the "Form of Government" of the Presbyterian Church.
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In this hasty review of familiar history, I trust I have answered the question propounded at the beginning of my remarks, why Presbyterianism was established in this city even in advance of the coming of the Federal Government ; why at the end of a century it shows great growth and vitality ; and why with renewed zeal and united energy it is entering upon even more rapid growth and pros- perity. It is natural and eminently proper that a faith, which in all its history has stood for the rights of man and in its spirit is essentially demo- cratic, should be strongly entrenched in the greatest of all republics, and that a Church which has done so much to achieve the independence of the nation and frame its government, should find in its capital a congenial home and a great field of usefulness. And I think I have the authority of history to warrant the declaration that so long as the Church of John Calvin, of John Knox and John Wither- spoon remains strongly rooted in this Capital and throughout the country, there need be no fear for democratic principles and republican government.
I venture to add one thought more. There appears to be abroad in the world a spirit falsely styled liberalism, which is especially hostile to what are termed the antiquated doctrines of Calvin .. That spirit would question the sovereignty of God in relation to the conduct of His earthly creatures; it would obscure His justice with an exaggerated theory of His love; it would ignore the existence of a devil and utterly deny future punishment; it
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would take away from man the incentive of reward in the other world for a blameless and holy life. Renan scoffingly says : "Paul begat Augustine and Augustine begat Calvin." We gladly accept the parentage. The Pauline exposition of the Gos- pel of Christ is the product of the greatest intellect, the largest heart and the bravest and most tireless worker among the servants of the Great Master. It has stood the assault of ages ; it has brought hope and life to the downcast and oppressed the world over ; it is as true and vital to-day as in the first century of its existence. In the presence of this spirit of liberalism, the Presbyterian Church does not falter in its devotion to the old faith. It is as loyal to Calvinism as was the Covenanter of Scot- land or the Puritan of England two and three cen- turies ago. With a glorious history behind it, with a ripened harvest of golden opportunity before it, and with the blue banner of Calvinism always un- furled, it girds up its loins for a new century of labor in this capital city of the nation.
And in this work it challenges a comparison with the disciples of liberalism, in all that makes for the good of the human race. It believes with Car- lyle that "a man who will do faithfully needs to believe firmly ;" but steadfastness in the faith does not make its adherents intolerant or exclu- sive. In this city the Presbyterian Church is among the foremost in its co-operation with other churches in the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion, in the Sunday School Union, the Christian
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Endeavor, the Central Union Mission, and in all movements for evangelization. Its members will be found as numerously represented as any sect or school on the hospital boards, the charity organiza- tions, the scientific and philosophic societies and bodies of advanced thought and research. It labors with the Catholics for Sabbath observance and temperance reform ; with the Jews and Gentiles, the agnostics and infidels in all movements for a higher standard of morality ; with men of all ranks, color and conditions for good government and civic reform.
Hence it is that when we come together as Pres- byterians to rejoice with our mother Church in a century of growth and labor, and recall what our Church has accomplished and what it has stood for in the past, like our great exemplar, when after a long life of heroic service he was about to enter upon his work in the capital of the Roman Empire, we "thank God and take courage."
ADDRESS OF-
Rev. J. G. BUTLER,
AT THE
Presbyterian Centennial,
First Presbyterian Church.
Washington, D. C.
At this late hour, Mr. President and Christian friends, it would be ungracious in me to tax the patience of this interested audience to the length of time assigned me in the program. The paper of our distinguished friend and brother, Mr. Foster, has interested us greatly, whilst that of my young brother, Dr. Bittinger, so exhaustive and sugges- tive, floods my memory with reminiscences not easily restrained. The Doctor has a wholesome dread of water, and is evidently in no mood to question the validity of his own, nor our predes- tined ordination to the gospel ministry, striking hands with all the rest of us whom God has called, setting His seal by giving Apostolic success to our work. The question of Apostolic succession does not disturb us. After awhile, may we not hope, that all whom God has ordained may grow to the alti- tude of Christian life, which excludes from the pulpit none called of Heaven to the work, nor from
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the table of our common Lord any whom He accepts. That is the Scriptural, Catholic, Fra- ternal position of a vast majority of the churches which I have the honor to represent in your interesting centennial program. This is the day of your family reunion, and it is by your Christian courtesy that my voice is heard.
You honor your elder brother in greetings from the family of churches, not because he is a Centenna- rian, but because, with your esteemed and beloved pastor, he has stood for almost a half century, a fellow helper and builder in our great capital city. Coming an inexperienced youth in 1849 from the Theological school, welcomed by none more cordi- ally than by my Presbyterian brethren, there has never been a ripple to disturb the harmony and peace and love, which have followed us to the present, as laborers together with God. The great success that has attended the work of the Presbyterian Church, and as portrayed in the interesting paper of Dr. Bittinger, does not excite our envy. It but ยท stirs us to emulate your activity on all lines of Christian work, and inspires our gratitude to God Whose servants we all are, and Who alone gives the increase to our sowing ?
Whilst you rightly magnify Calvin and Knox, in whom we also rejoice, we do not forget that but for our Luther-the world's Luther !- you had not had this noble record, as followers of the French and Scotch Reformers. It is the immortal protest of Lu- ther at Worms, still ringing down the ages, that gave
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birth to our common Protestantism, making it yet the world's only hope of deliverance from all au- thority, save the authority of God's Word, the rev- elation of Himself through the Christ, in Whom and for Whom we stand shoulder to shoulder, as we go forth conquering the world, not to Luther nor Cal- vin, but to Christ, Whose servants they and we alike, are.
Standing in this city through all these years, it has been my joy to number among my friends the long line of faithful pastors and elders, to whom allusion has been so appropriately made to-night. The younger Dr. Balch Iknew well, whilst the then venerable Dr. Laurie, of the old F Street Church, was one of the first to welcome me to his love and to his pulpit. The Drs. Ralph R. and P. D. Gur- ley-the great P. D., as we familiarly and lovingly called him-with Drs. Eckhart and D. X. Junkin, Mason Noble, the aroma of whose sweet life will never leave this city ; John C. Smith, the tact- ful, faithful, model pastor, with other intervening names down to the founder and long faithful pastor of your Metropolitan Church, Dr. John Chester; and Dr. Bartlett, who recently retired from our city, together with the present corps of faithful and true and able men of whom my beloved brother, Dr. Sunderland, with whom I have stood through fair and through stormy weather, is now the senior, and is yet the beloved pastor of this First Pres- byterian Church. He and I have seen the rising and the falling again of many in pulpit and in
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public life, during the almost half century to whose end we may both hope to abide. The service of the people, whether in the pulpit or in the high places of the nation, tries men and shows of what sort we are.
Of the eldership of your churches, from the days of the senior Nourse through the long line, to the excellent David M. Wilson, to whom the meet- ings were always "good" if but himself and one other were there, because he said, "The Lord was there," down to my friends, Wight and Ballantyne, now in this audience, honored of all who know them, it has been my privilege to be with many of them in the most fraternal relations.
The period covered by the venerable pastor of this First Church has been the most eventful in our nation's history, since Bunker Hill and Yorktown. It was in this church that we met daily for united prayer in the years preceding the War of the Rebellion, and for which the nation, North and South, was in some measure prepared by the wonderful revival wave that swept over our country. Soon the baptism of fire and blood came, by which human slavery was blotted out. God save us evermore from fratricidal war! The memories of these precious days and months of prayer are vividly before me tonight. I am quite sure that no pang troubles the breast of your pas- tor as he reviews the history running from '61 to Appomatox, and which makes the First Presby- terian Church historic, by reason of its loyalty to
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freedom and the Flag. Today we together rejoice in a reunited country-all free, and occupying the first place among the Powers, because first loyal to Christ, the Unseen Leader. Amid the ambitions and strifes among the nations, we shall continue free and united until " the Church without a bishop and the State without a king" shall have come into all their fulness and power, with Christ only ex- alted as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Dr.
Arnold's definition of the Christ is the best I know, -" The society for making men like Christ, earth like Heaven, and the kingdoms of the world, the kingdom of Christ." I congratulate you, Mr. Pres- ident, because the Presbyterian Church is measuring up to this simple, sensible and Scriptural defini- tion of the Church which Christ loves and for which he gave Himself. Shall we not give our- selves ?
We cherish no hope of any organic Church union which obliterates the denominations. That the number of denominations, with their friction and wastes, should be reduced, there is no question. But these great historic churches growing out of tem- perament and taste, education and environment sustain the relation to the one Holy Christian Church which God's bow in the clouds sustains to the colorless light, separated by the prism rain drops. Nor could we dispense with the blue- always true in the Divinely-appointed symbol of promise and of peace. After awhile, in the New Jerusalem, the Capital of the eternal Home of God's one family in Christ, these colors will be
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resolved into the colorless light, for there is no darkness at all. John saw no Temple in that City. It needs none, for the Lord God, and the Lamb are the Temple of it.
But, Mr. President, whilst I bring you greetings and enter with your joy upon the review of the first hundred years of Presbyterianism in this city, we do not forget that we stand upon the threshold of the twentieth century. We thank God for the unnumbered blessings of the past. What of the future ? How your own church and the whole Church of Christ have grown in numbers, in wealth, in resources, in agencies, in influence and in power ! What a mighty army the Christian Church of the United States is to-day ! What is our greatest need ? Toward what should our labor and heart and prayer focalize, standing as we do among the tremendous responsibilities of this hour, as we look into the future? I feel that I voice your heart and the perplexed, troubled, earnest, sincere heart of the whole Church of Christ, when I answer my question and say, that the touch of Heaven, the baptism of fire, the quickening of God's Holy Spirit, is the need of all needs in all our Churches. It is not antagonism that now confronts God's army of conquest ; but is it not indifference, lethargy, luke- warmness, worldliness ? The age is one of religious activity, second to none since the days of the Apostles. Yet the breath of God put into the multitude of disciples, would burn the wood and hay and stubble. that too often make us separate and even warring camps, and convert us into a well organized, well equipped and enthused army, soon carrying the blessed Gospel, with its saving power to the ends of the earth. All hail beloved, in the review of the past. God give us courage and faith for the days to come.
Friday Evening, November 22, 1895.
RECEPCION,
7.30 to 10.30 P. M.
On Friday evening the general reception by the three pastors, to which all Presbyterians were invited, was held in the church under the auspices of the Ladies' Beneficent Society.
Very many of the ministers and members of the sister churches were present, and a most cordial interchange of greetings, congratulations and hand- shakings occupied the time in the lecture room below, while under the supervision of Mrs. Bessie Linden, Dr. G. F. Johnston and some of the most noted organists of the city discoursed delicious and stirring music to a delighted assembly in the audi- torium above. Later in the evening, it being Nov- ember 22d, the anniversary of the birthday of Dr. Sunderland, an affecting incident transpired. The people had proposed a surprise for him, which well nigh deprived him for the moment of the power of speech.
The ladies seated him in a chair upon the dais and an introductory address was made by Dr. Tal- mage, and then Mr. Allen in a brief address, pre-
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sented him in the name of the church with a purse containing seventy-six gold dollars-thus literally tipping with gold every year of his whole life. To this Dr. Sunderland responded, acknowledging the kindness which he had uniformly received from all his friends, both ministers and people, and express- ing an earnest wish that all prosperity might at- tend them.
A large number of letters had been rceived from persons who had once been members of the congre- gation, but have been scattered far and wide through every section of the country. Some of the most interesting were read by Elder Theo. F. Sargeant, a member of the committee of arrangements.
After this a plentiful collation was served by the ladies through Mr. Jarvis, the caterer, of which hundreds partook in the freedom of social converse and joyous congratulation. It was a re- union long to be cherished by all present and to mark a memorable event in the history of the church.
APPERDIX.
The following tables are made up as fully as we have the means of knowing the names at the present date ; but they may be some- what defective.
THE SUCCESSION OF PASTORS.
There have been nine settled pastors and in the interval of these pastorates more than forty stated supplies for a longer or shorter time, and among them some of the most distinguished preachers of their generation. The following is the-
REGISTER OF PASTORS.
NAME.
WHEN INSTALLED.
DISMISSED.
John Brackenridge, D. D
1813, July 4 ....
1817.
Reuben Post, D. D.
1819 .
1836.
William McLain, D. D.
1836
1840.
Charles Rich.
1840
1843.
William T. Sprole, D. D
1843
1847.
Elisha Ballantine ...
1847
1851.
B. Sunderland, D. D.
1853
Adolos Allen
1894, April 17.
1896.
T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.
1895, Oct. 23
Among the supplies and assistants we find the names of Rev. Messrs. John X. Clarke, McKnight, Mines, Bingham, Smith, Wood, R. C. Clarke, Moore, Gurley, Knapp, Patterson, Gallaher, S. H. Coxe, Samuel V. V. Holmes, and doubtless there were others of equal distinction, whose names have not been preserved.
THE ELDERS.
There have been thirty-one elders, to-wit: Messrs. John Coyle, Caldwell, Blagden, Stillman, Moore, Patterson, Young, Andrew Coyle, Kennedy, Shackford, Whitwell, John Coyle, Jr., D. Camp- bell, William H. Campbell, Leonidas Coyle, Miller, Speer, John- ston, Douglas, Carter, Du Bois, Sutphin, Patch, Frost, Smith, Wight, Knight, E. G. Church, Dalrymple, Lockhart and Sargent. Messrs. Wight, Knight, Dalrymple, Lockhart and Sargent consti- tute the present Session of the church.
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REGISTER OF ELDERS.
NAME.
INSTALLED.
DISMISSED.
DIED.
George Blagden.
First Board
June 3, 1826 .....
Elias B. Caldwell
First Board.
June 1, 1825 .....
John Coyle ..
First Board.
Henry Hillman.
1816, March 5.
Dismissed.
Thomas Patterson
1819, Sept. 26 ..
James Moore .
1819, Sept. 26.
Ezekiel Young.
1822, Sept. 29 ..
Dismissed.
.1855 ...
John Kennedy
John Shackford.
1833.
John Coyle, Jr ....
1834.
John G. Whitwell
1834.
1838.
William H. Campbell
1840.
May 21, 1881.
Daniel Campbell
1840 ..
Demitted.
Aug., 1857
Leonidas Coyle
1841 ..
Dismissed ..
Oct., 1863 ..
1854.
John Douglass.
1853, Nov. 13
Dismissed.
Otis C. Wight
1853, Nov. 13 ..
Thomas J. Johnston
1853, Nov. 13.
Dec., 1855.
Horace J. Frost
1863, Jan. 4.
Oct. 21, 1890
Francis H. Smith
Octavius Knight.
1863, Jan. 4.
George B. Patch
1868, June 2.
Nov. 1, 1875 ..
Richard W. Carter
1873, Nov. 30
Feb. 6, 1884
William A. Sutphin
1873, Nov. 30.
Jan. 14, 1878 ...
Nicholas Du Bois.
1873, Nov. 30
Aug. 14, 1879 ..
Frederick B. Dalrymple ...
1881, Oct. 9.
Edward G. Church
1882, Jan. 28
Oct. 4, 1883
Alfred Lockhart ..
1888, May 13 ..
Theodore F. Sargent.
1888, May 13.
REGISTER OF DEACONS.
NAME.
INSTALLED.
DISMISSED.
DIED.
Richard W. Carter
1868, Jan. 4 ....
William J. Ellis
1869, Jan. 4 ..
Claudius B. Jewell.
1867 ..
Edward Champlin
1868, Jan. 21
Oct. 14, 1880
L. E. Ross ..
1868, Jan. 21.
Elected Elder ...
J M. McNair
1868, Jan. 21
Elected Elder ...
Frederick B. Dalrymple
1873, Nov. 30.
1873, Nov. 30
Jan. 15, 1876
John E. Carpenter, M. D .
1873, Nov. 30.
George R. Milburn
1873, Nov. 30
April 7, 1892
William B. Donaldson
1879, Dec. 20
James G. Patterson
1881, Oct. 9 .
Edwin D. Tracey
1881, Oct. 9 .
Moses S. Gibson ...
1881, Oct. 9 .. 1893 ...
Samuel W. Curriden
1888, May 13
Thomas J. Johnston
1888, May 13.
Hervey S. Knight
1888, May 13.
...
.1853 ...
Andrew Coyle
1827, July 8
.1837
.1838
Isaac S. Miller
1841.
Alexander Speer.
1847 ....
1863, Jan. 4.
Dismissed ..
1827, July 8.
Dismissed ..
1831 ...
Edward G. Church
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THE DEACONS.
The Board of Deacons was not orgunized till 1867 and since then fifteen persons have been ordained to the Diaconate, to-wit : Messrs. Carter, Ellis, Jewell, Champlin, McNair, Sutphen, Dal- rymple, Ross, Milburn, Patterson, Carpenter, Gibson, Donaldson, Tracy, Curriden, Hervey S. Knight and T. J. Johnston. Messrs. Donaldson, Gibson and Tracy constitute the present Board.
THE TEMPORAL COMMITTEE.
Until 1868, the temporal affairs of this church were managed by a Board called the Temporal Committee. The records show that fifty-three different persons were, for a longer or shorter term, members of this Board and that for more than a quarter of a cen- tury Dr. William Gunton was its president.
At the meeting of Session, December 28, 1815, steps were taken to organize a Temporal Committee, and the first Board consisted of David Bates, Daniel Rapine, Thomas Young, John Kennedy, John McClelland, William E. Mack and Andrew Coyle. Succeed- ing these were Timothy Winn, James Moore, Phineas Bradley, L. H. Machin, Eleazor Lindsley, John Underwood, Samuel Burche, Matthew St. Clair Clarke, William H. Campbell, Walter Lowrie, Joseph Stettinius, J. F. Caldwell, Leonidas Coyle, Daniel Campbell,. Alexander Shepherd, Dr. William Gunton, president of the Board from 1841 ; Silas H. Hill, Harvey Cruttenden, Henry L. Ellsworth, Dr. Harvey Lindsly, Edmund Coolidge, Thomas Blagden, John F. Clarke, William Fischer, David A. Hall, Charles D. Selding, C. S. Whittlesey, Willim H. Gilmam, A. W. Russell, A. Coyle, J. Under- wood, M. W. Galt, Y. P. Page, B. Milburn, J. Shillington, J. W. Webb, J. W. Colley. W. H. Jones, A. P. Hoover, F. H. Smith, Thos. Parker, G. M. Oyster, L. C. Campbell, W. S. Huntington and Robert Brown.
During the existence of the Temporal Committee, the roll of treasurers of the church is incomplete, but the following names are preserved : Joseph E. Nourse, 1847, John F. Clarke, 1853, Will- liam H. Campbell, Chas Bradley, 1868, when the Board of Trustees was constituted.
THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES.
In 1868, this church was the first in this District to obtain a special charter from Congress for the regulation of its temporal affairs, and at that time the Board of Trustees was constituted.
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The Society of the church was more permanently organized and a series of by-laws adopted, which continue to the present time. Under this arrangement there have been six presidents of the Society or congregation, five clerks or secretaries and six treasurers, while thirty-two persons have, at different times been members of the Board of Trustees. There have likewise been seven stated clerks of Session and four secretaries and treasurers of the Board of Deacons.
From the charter of that year it appears that the following per- sons were made corporators and the first Board, to-wit: F. H. Smith, O. C. Wight, N. H. Chipman, Albert Robinson, and Zenas C. Robbins. Subsequently came Z. D. Gilman, William M. Galt, F. H. Smith, E. M. Gallaudet, Z. C. Robbins, A. D. Robinson, W. Lay, P. E. Wilson, Ed. Temple, J. G. Patterson, J. B. Lockey, H. Fowler, T. T. Crittenden, E. B. Taylor, James L. Norris, Col. J. P. Low, John Bailey, Col. John R. McConnell, Irving Williamson, Charles L. DuBois, Capt. R. W. Tyler, W. B. Bryan, William H. Fletcher, William Jardine, Dr. G. F. Johnston, Dr. H. L. Mann, J. T. Marchand, H. S. Reeside, J. B. Wight, J. B. Cralle and Dr. William M. Newell.
THE TREASURERS.
The treasurers of the church from 1868 are as follows : Cordial Storrs, O. Knight, Wolcott Lay, William B. Gurley, C. E. Church, T. F. Sargent, Lloyd B. Wight and Charles L. DuBois.
THE SEXTONS.
For the last half century of the church, there have been three sextons, John Bell, John Lee and Joseph Jones.
THE ROLL OF MEMBERSHIP.
The records show that upon the first reported number of church members, eighty-three years ago, there were thirty-five, and during the first half of the history of the church, that is, to the beginning of 1853, they had increased to 269, the number on the roll at the latter date. But we cannot tell save by approximate estimate how many persons during the first forty or fifty years of the church had been enrolled and then been separated from our membership by the changes of those times. When the present pastorate commenced, on the first Sabbath in February, 1853, there were on the roll,
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269 names. Since then there have been added 1,166 names of which number 1,051 have been removed by dismission, exclu- sion or death, leaving 361 as the number of members we have to-day. Of the 1,051 removed 170 have been removed by death, and of the number of church members who assembled in the church on that first Sabbath in February, 1853, there are only five who survive in the membership of the church at the present date-four women and one man.
Were we, upon the basis of these figures, to make an estimate of the probable aggregate number of members who have from the beginning until now been placed upon our roll it could not be far from 2,000 ; while the number of pewholders, attendants and strangers who have worshipped here would run to thousands more.
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