History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 85

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340

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George W. Elliott. On the same day Benjamin W. Raymond, William H. Brown and Sylvester Willard were chosen elders and Rev: Robert W. Patterson was called to the pastorate. He remained with the Church until 1873. The following extract from the pen of Hon. William Bross is instructive and interesting, showing the condition of the Church, and giving a de- scription of Mr. Patterson in 1846:

" It was just after having taken his breakfast in Chicago, when a tall young man, made apparently taller by a cloth cloak, in which his gaunt figure seemed in danger of losing itself, and whose reserved, modest manners, were the very reverse of what we had had expected to find at the West, called on the clergy of our party and invited one of them to preach and the rest of us to attend services in the Second Presbyterian Church. That cloak would now be well filled by its owner, the Rev. Dr. Patterson, who has grown physically as well as ,intellectually and morally, with the growth of the city, to whose moral welfare, he has so largely contributed. Of course we all went to what by courtesy, as we thought, was called a church. It was a one-story, balloon, shanty-like structure, that had been patched out at one end to meet the wants of the increasing congregation. It stood on Randolph Street, south side, a little east of Clark. It certainly gave no promise of the antique but splendid church that before the fire stood on the corner of Washington Street and Wabash Avenue, or that still more elaborate and costly building. the Rev. Dr. Gibson's church, at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Twentieth Street."

The "antique but splendid church that before the · fire stood on the corner of Washington Street and Wa- bash Avenue," was dedicated January 24, 1851. The corner-stone was laid with imposing ceremonies in 1849. At this time some enthusiastic persons predicted that the church would stand one thousand years, to which it was replied by some one equally enthusiastic as to the growth of the city of Chicago, that it would be displaced by business within fifty years. In a trifle over twenty years it was destroyed by the great fire. At the time of its completion this church was the most imposing and inviting church edifice in the city, but it was thought to be too far out of town. It was soon provided with a superior bell and a fine organ, and when the whole enterprise was accomplished, the con- gregation was left without any considerable debt. The architectural designs were by John JI. Van Osdel. The building was seventy-three feet wide by one hundred and thirty feet long. There were two entrances; the main entrance on Wabash, the other fronting the pub- lic square on Michigan Avenue, at the east end of the building. The first floor contained a session-room and the second story a semi-circular lecture-room. The south side of the building faced Washington Street. The interior was lofty, the walls being fifty feet high. There were galleries along the sides and a gallery for the choir and organ facing the pulpit. A clock was erected in the church. The cost of lots, edifice, bell, organ and clock, was about $50,000, and of the edifice alone about $40.000. The body of the church would accommodate eighteen hundred persons, and was lighted by stained glass windows. Immediately after the organization of the society, a weekly prayer meeting was established, which was for a long time attended by a number equal to the entire membership of the church, and was evi- dently largely tributary to its success. Communion services were regularly held once in two months, and at each communion, with only two exceptions, during the first twenty-five years of the Church, accessions were made to the membership. Generally these were the re- sult of quiet influences, but there were several seasons of special religious revival, when there were exception- ally large additions to the roll. These revival seasons were in the springs of 1847-50-52-55-58 and in 1864. That of 1858 was of especial interest, there having been large numbers of converts both among the adults and

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children of the congregation. During the first twenty- five years there were added to the Church nine hundred and nine members, three hundred and thirty-nine of whom were by profession of faith, and five hundred and seventy by letter. Previous to 1858 the additions by letter were considerably more numerous than those bv profession. During the year 1842, in addition to the twenty-six original members, seventeen others joined, making a total membership for the first year of forty- three. Up to 1857, inclusive. there were only three years in which this number was exceeded, viz .: 1843, . 1850 and 1852, when there were added fifty-seven, forty- six, and sixty-four respectively. In 1844. forty-three joined the society. The smallest number added in any one year was nineteen, in 1857. The total number added from 1842 to 1857 inclusive was five hundred and eighty-seven, and the average number added annu- ally for the sixteen years was nearly thirty-seven. In 1843, Dr. Willard removed from the city and on April 5 John C. Williams and Captain Seth Johnson were elected elders. On the removal of Captain Johnson from Chicago, Thomas B. Carter was chosen ; April, 1848, J. Ambrose Wight was elected, and in April, 1856, when Mr. Wight was ordained a minister of the gospel, three additional elders were elected, Reuben D. Jones, Elihu Baker and Devillo R. Holt. after which there were no further changes in the session until 1862.

THE THIRD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH .- This Church was organized July 1, 1847, with thirty-five members. The first action was taken in February preceding, when a meeting was held at the house of Lawrens Kent. At this meeting Thomas Cook, a member of the First Presbyterian Church, offered to the new organization a lot on Desplaines Street, the proceeds of which when sold should-be devoted to this purpose, provided the nei church should be Presbyterian in polity. It was suggested by Rev. J. B. Walker, as an additional reason for the new Church being Presbyterian rather than Con- gregational in character, that as the former it would be more likely to receive assistance and sympathy from other . Presbyterian churches here. At a subsequent meeting at which were present officers and leading members of the First and Second Presbyterian churches, a subscription paper was prepared of which the follow- ing is a copy

" The subscribers hereto agree to pay the sums affixed to their respective names, for the purpose of building a Presbyterian church on the West Side of the Chicago River, to be under the pastoral charge of the Rev. J. B. Walker."

By the circulation .of this paper and by donation, $1,530 was raised, $896 of which was subscribed and paid by members of other Presbyterian churches, $196 by those who afterward joined the First Congregational Church ; $124.50 by those who continued to be mem- bers of the Third Presbyterian Church, and $313-35 by members of other denominations and by persons not members of any Church. Formal organization was effected by a committee of the Ottawa Presbytery, con- sisting of Rev. R. W. Patterson, Rev. Flavel Bascom, ByJ. B. Walker, Rev. J. Wilcox, and Rev. Mr. Hen- derson. There were thirty-five original members, among whom were Philo Carpenter, Henry Smith. Lawrens Kent, Gustavus W. Southworth. Henry Mc. Arthur. Mrs. Ann Carpenter, Miss Augusta Kent, Mrs. Lawrens Kent, Mrs. G. W. Southworth, Dr. Eriel McArthur, Mrs. Harriet McArthur, Mrs. Mehitable Graves, Mrs. William Stow, Mrs. Sarah Saltonstall, Mrs. Sarah Aiken, John Sheriffs, Mrs. Sarah Sheriffs, Mrs. James Curtiss, Nathaniel Norton, Mrs. Sally Ann Norton, Nelson Mason, Mrs. Desire E. Mason, and others. Philo Car-

penter, Henry Smith, Lawrens Kent, and Gustavus W. Southworth were chosen Elders. A small frame building standing on Union Street, between Washing- ton and Randolph, together with the lot upon which it stood, was purchased for the sum of $1,322 47, and the house of worship dedicated on Sun- day, July 4, 1847, Rev. J B. Walker preaching the dedi- catory sermon. From this time until November. 1849. Mr. Walker remained the regular supply of the Church. but was never installed. In this month a call was ex- tended to Rev. Lewis H. Loss, of Rockford, to become the pastor of the Church. Mr. Loss preached his first sermon on the second Sunday of November, 1849, and was regularly installed by a committee of the Presby- tery of Chicago, May 12, 1850. It was during his pas- torate that the difficulties hereafter detailed with refer- ence to the relations of the Church to the General As- sembly arose and culminated, resulting in a division of the Church, and in the dissolution by the Presbytery of the pastoral relations between him and the Church June 10, 1851. Mr. Loss was succeeded by Rev. Ed- win G. Moore, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Franklin, Ohio, in the following October. Being regularly called to settle as pastor on November 5, 1852, he was installed on the 14th of the same month. On account of the troubles arising out of former differences not having subsided, Mr. Moore's pastorate was short. He re- signed in the autumn of 1854, and in the spring of 1855 was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Ferris, of the Dutch Re- formed Church, son of Chancellor Ferris, of New York, who supplied the pulpit until the call of Rev. Asahel L. Brooks to the pastorate. Mr. Brooks was installed June 12, 1856, and remained until November 17, 1859, when his ministry was closed at his own re- quest. Mr. Brooks was an active, earnest man, and while the Church was under his charge, its member- ship rapidly increased. A summary of the results of his labors will be found in the second volume of this History.

The first church building, already mentioned as having been dedicated July 4, 1847, during its early history stood in a cornfield. It served its purposes until 1858, when a new building was completed at the north- west corner of Washington and Carpenter streets. During the progress of the work on this edifice occurred the panic of 1857, which well-nigh prevented its com- pletion. Business failures were numerous. Many of the principal members of the church found it impossible to redeem their pecuniary pledges, and a meeting of the trustees decided to discontinue the work ; but through the efforts of Elder William Osborne this decis- ion was reversed, and the building was completed in 1858. In order to carry the enterprise through, great individual sacrifices were made. Sanford Johnson, not then but afterward a member of the Church, mortgaged his house for $2,000 to supply necessary means. Of the church members five stood firm through all the troubles, and bore the principal part of the financial burden-William Osborne, Sylvester Lind, 1). J. Lake, Jacob Beidler and Nathaniel Norton. The church cost $50.000. It was built of Athens stone. The walls were rock-faced and the towers and trimmings of dressed stone. The main tower, steeple and spire were models of taste and symmetry. The audience-room was spacious, admirably arranged and neatly and con- fortably furnished. A fine organ was put into the church and it had a superior choir.

Early in the year 1850, during the pastorate of Rev. Lewis H. Loss, a division of sentiment manifested itself among the members with reference to fellowship-

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ping with slaveholders, which finally led to a schism, and to the organization of the First Congregational Church. This movement, so far as it relates to the ecclesiastical history of Chicago, was so peculiar to itself, so entirely unique and important, that a detailed account of it is required in order to set forth its true character. For many years the New School Presbyterians, or at least the Congregationalists scattered through the New School Presbyterian churches of the North, had felt dissatisfaction with the attitude of the Presbyterian Church toward American slavery. They were desirous that the Church should take strong ground against the institution, and they were urgent for the General Assembly, which met at Detroit in 1850, to give them relief by emphatic denunciation of the system, and by such action as should disfellowship all slaveholders and slave-dealers. When the General Assembly met, how- ever, its utterance on the subject was so equivocal as to cause wide-spread disappointment. The majority of the members of the Third Presbyterian Church of Chicago keenly felt the inconsistency of the position of that Church, arising out of its connection with the General Assembly, and were anxious that it should assume an attitude consistent with their convictions of duty and truth. During the year 1850 this question was uppermost in their minds. Numerous meetings were held to discuss it. At one of these meetings, held at the First Presbyterian Church for the purpose of appointing delegates to a " Christian Anti-slavery Con- vention," to be held in April, in Cincinnati, Philo Car- penter was appointed delegate to the Cincinnati Con- vention, and a series of five resolutions was passed, the principal ones, for the purpose of this History, together with the preamble, being as follows :

" Whereas, Having seen with deep solicitude and regret, a disposition in some of the judicatories and boards of our churches, to recede instead of advance, from the position taken by them in years past; and that in order to carry forward the benevolent re- forms in which God has called His people of this age to engage, against the open and covert opposition which all efforts to expel sin from the world and the Church, will meet vigilant, concerted and prayerful effort is necessary-therefore,

4. " Resolved, That while we rejoice in the progress of free principles in connection with civil institutions of our country, and among the masses of the people, yet there is reason to fear that slavery. driven from favor in the State, may find apology and peace for its abominations in ecclesiastical judicatories and in the churches of Christ ; and that in view of such indication every Christian should maintain firmly the ground assumed in the past progress of the anti-slavery reform, and continue to advance, trusting in Christ, to the point where the demon of slavery shall be expelled from confidence and communion in our churches.

5. "Resolved, That when the judicatories and boards of our churches refuse to apply the laws of Christ's house to those who hold their fellow-beings in bondage ; when their action recognizes those as in good standing who voluntarily hold and treat men as property ; when such organizations tend rather to prolong, than to destroy the existence of slavery ; in such circumstances it is the duty of those who support these organizations immediately to re- form them, and if efforts to reform have proved hopeless, duty to Christ, the Divine Reformer, requires that Christians should cease to co-operate with those whose measures tend to sustain rather than remove a system, the principles and practices of which are in direct hostility to that Gospel which we are required to love and propagate in the world."

The series of which these two resolutions formed a part was moved by Samuel Brooks, and seconded by Rev. Lewis H. Loss, pastor of the Church. At the Cincinnati Convention, held in due time and attended by Philo Carpenter as delegate from the Third Presby- terian Church, the following resolution was passed :

" That the friends of pure Christianity ought to separate them- selves from all slave-holding churches, and from all churches. ceclesiastical bodies, and missionary organizations, that are not fully devorced from the sin of slave-hokling: and we who may still

be in connection with such bodies, pledge ourselves that we will, by the aid of Divine grace, conform our action in accordance with this resolution, and come out from among them, unless such bodies shall speedily separate themselves from all support of, or fellowship with slave-holding."

This resolution had considerable influence on the members of the Church, whose sentiments were in accord therewith. Throughout the remainder of the year the question of the propriety of dissolving all connection with the General Assembly was industriously discussed. In July a meeting of the Session was called, but a quorum not being present, no action was taken. On August 12, a full meeting of the Session was held, and the subject fully discussed, when it was found that the pastor and three of the five elders regarded the proposed action as unscriptural and unwise. This re- sult caused great dissatisfaction to the remaining two elders; and also to a majority of the Church members. In November a call was signed by many of the min- isters, among them Rev. L. H. Loss, and members of the Presbyterian and Congregational churches, for a convention to be held at Peoria, November 21, with the view of uniting the New School Presbyterians and Or- thodox Congregationalists into an organization for the State of Illinois. The fourth article of this call was as follows :

4. But above all it will deliver those of us who are Presby- terians from our ecclesiastical connection with slave-holders, through the General Assembly and enable us to withdraw Christian fellow- ship from them without incurring the charge of violating eccle- siastical constitution by so doing.

But nothing was done beyond the expression of sentiment until about the Ist of December, when a meeting called at his request was held at the pastor's house. At this meeting the subject of the relations of the Church to the General Assembly, and through that to slave-holders, was introduced and the views requested thereon of each member present. A large majority was in favor of severing all connection with the General As- sembly and of uniting with some ecclesiastical bodies having no sympathy with slavery. To this bold and extreme measure the pastor and a portion of the mem- bers could not yield their assent. While not averse to a united movement in northern Illinois for the estab- lishment of an ecclesiastical convention distinct from the General Assembly, provided such a convention could be formed without producing discord and division, they could not conscienciously participate in a movement of secession from the General Assembly, such movement embracing only their own individual Church. This the pastor characterized as an attempt to "rend the body of Christ," and not a scriptural remedy for the evils which all acknowledged to exist. Thus the two por- tions of the Church were brought into open conflict. 'This was the beginning of the schism, and the subject was thus fairly introduced into the Church. A series of meetings resulted for the further discussion of the ec- clesiastical relations of the Church. A majority of the members favoring and a minority opposing with- drawal. At a meeting held February 3, 1851, the fol- lowing resolutions were passed:

I. "Resolved, That this Church holds, in the language of Script- ure that, 'God hath made of one blood all the nations of the earth.'

2. "Neselied, That chattel slavery is blasphemous toward Conil, inhuman and cruel to our fellow-men, and that Christians are espe- cially called on to discountenance it, and have no fellowship with those who participate in its abominations.

3. "Resolved. That this Church are dissatisfied with the present condition of our General Assembly on the subject of disciplining those guilty of holding their fellow-men in bondage: That their lost acts at Detroit have been construed to represent black or white, as snited the different sections of the Church.

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4. "Resolved, That this Church, so long as this vacillating policy is pursued, hereby declare their determination to stand aloof from all meetings of Presbytery, Synod and Assembly, and thus as they believe free and relieve themselves of all responsibility."

At the time these resolutions were adopted there was a resident membership of sixty-eight. Seventeen, about two-thirds of those present at the meeting, voted for the resolutions, and afterward twenty-five other members approved of them by subscribing their names thereto. The minority of the Church now thought it time to apply a constitutional remedy, if such existed. Accordingly the day following a complaint to the Chi- cago Presbytery was circulated by the pastor and others, among those members of the Church who had not been present at the meeting of February 3d. The nature of this complaint seems not to have been sufficiently ex- plained, and so was signed by a considerable number under a misapprehension of the end to be attained. And although it was explained by the pastor when fur- nishing a list of the names signed to the complaint, by his saying; " I suppose the signers gave their names as petitioners to Presbytery only, and therefore we have no right to use them in any other way," still the complaint was used as such, and the Presbytery met to consider the difficulties therein set forth. The Presbytery was composed as follows: R. W. Patterson, pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, moderator; H. L. Curtis, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church; L. H. Loss, pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church, J. Wilcox, W. Y. Miller, Ira M. Weed, R. W. Downs, E. Clark, dele- gate from First Presbyterian Church; B. W. Raymond, delegate from Second Presbyterian Church; Philo Car- penter, delegate from Third Presbyterian Church, and Mr. Marsh, delegate from the Joliet Presbyterian Church. After discussion and deliberation, the follow- ing report was adopted:

" The Presbytery regard the action of the Church in introduc- ing and acting upon matters not embraced in the call, as irregular, inasmuch as such action conflicts with the established usages of all organized bodies.

2. " Presbytery regards the fourth resolution of the series complained of, as although not intended by all, at least, who voted for it, to be an actual and absolute secession from the Presbyterian Church, nevertheless necessarily involving such secession in its actual working, and therefore subverting the constitutional rights of those in the Church who dissented from said resolution and wished to continue in their former connection. inasmuch as it prevents their being represented in Presbytery or Synod, and withdraws them from the supervision, advice and counsel, and, if need be, judgment of said bodies, in case of difficulty or wrong done them by their brethren. For these reasons the Presbytery are of the opinion that said fourth resolution should be rescinded, and to this end direct the Session to call a public meeting of the Church for that purpose at their earliest convenience."

In obedience to this order of the Presbytery the Church held a meeting on the Icth of March, to con- sider the question of rescinding the resolution. A motion to rescind was set aside by the adoption of a resolution, offered by Philo Carpenter, " that the whole subject be deferred until after the next meeting of the General Assembly." This resolution was sustained by all who voted for it on the ground that the General Assembly would meet in a few weeks, and that, if at its next meet- ing it should take action on this subject satisfactory to them, they would then rescind the resolution, otherwise they would let it stand and abide the consequences. The minority regarded this action of the majority as a direct refusal on their part to be governed by the con- stitution of the Church and the requirements of the Presbytery, whose injunction they were solemnly bound as Presbyterians to obey, "so long as it involved nothing contrary to the word of God." But this was the very point upon which the majority and minority differed.

the former firmly believing that to fellowship with slave- holders and thus, even indirectly, to countenance the great crime of slavery was "contrary to the word of God," and they preferred to obey the word of God rather than the Presbytery and the constitution of the Presbyterian Church, when in their judgment there was a plain conflict between the two.

A joint meeting of the Session and trustees was then held, which appointed a committee to consult with R. W. Patterson, Moderator of the Presbytery, as to the propriety of convening that body to consider the pastoral relations of Rev. L. H. Loss to the Church, and the difficulties arising therefrom. The request not being properly signed, the meeing was not called. A few days thereafter a meeting of the Presbytery was called, to be held in the Third Presbyterian church, "to investigate the difficulties in said Church, and to take such order thereon as the interests of the Church may seem to require ; also to consider the expediency of dissolving the pastoral relations." At this meeting the report of a committee, consisting of H. Curtis, W. R. Downs and W. V. Miller, appointed for the purpose of drafting it, was adopted. After reciting the causes which led to the difficulties, the report concluded as follows :

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History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 85

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas Number of Pages: 1340

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340