USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Fiftieth anniversary service, First Friends Church : June 4, 1905 > Part 4
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While progress in the arts, or science, or invention may change the physical habits of the race, remolding the hab- its of thought, revealing new forces and lines of energy, they are in themselves absolutely powerless to change the inward life of humanity. As the laws of nature are un- changing, so the citadel of the human heart, garrisoned by sin, never yields, except through the energy of the one divinely planned remedy-the cross of Jesus Christ.
We are, and ever have been, in a transition period in every department of human life. It is as true in the de- velopment of the church as in any other field of activities. Each generation writes its own definition of duty. Chris- tianity is constantly being analyzed and the terms of our
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faith are ever being restated. This, however, does not touch the fundamental facts of sin and its remedy; but the method of applying the remedy to the disease. With new light comes new responsibility. With new responsi- bility comes new power, which, when rightly applied, yields progress. It surely was never intended for the church to stand still and every other line of human ac- tivity be in ceaseless, surging effort to reach a higher plane of effectiveness. This leads up to a clearer viewpoint from which to measure what the future church should be.
Every agent on this earth with a mission to perform should have the best equipment for accomplishing its mis- sion; and it should strive to master every detail of its work and thus assure a more rapid conquest of its prob- lem. The church of the future should be one that "has understanding of the times and knows what Israel ought to do." It will avail us nothing if we devote ourselves to the problem of other centuries, and "thresh over again the old straw" that has been so effectively rent in the white heat of the conflict, when such problems were live issues. There was a time when cannibalism, dueling, widow burning and human slavery were practiced and stood across the high road of progress. These issues have been met by the church and have been vanquished. In their stead we have the saloon problem, the labor problem, the war problem and other kindred questions that have risen up and challenge the progress of Christianity, just as earnestly as did those other problems in other cen- turies. What ought Israel to do is a question that should be determined by the church of each generation.
Having determined what Israel ought to do, then the church of the future should be imbued with courage to accomplish the task assigned to it. Every element of strength should be employed to reach the desired result, and every brother should gladly say to his fellow worker, "Be of good courage." The church of the future should be resourceful and lay tribute on every agent that will yield an ounce of power for the final conquest. We are just now learning better how to utilize the element of strength that exists with the young people. The church of the future should lay firmer hold of this power and
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with its splendid organization direct its activities along suitable lines, so as to make them more and more ef- fective. Let the earth be more completely girdled with Christian Endeavor Societies, Epworth Leagues, Baptist Young People's Unions, and other kindred organizations, which have been organized by the church, and whose strength may be hurled with tremendous effect in the con- flict. The church of the future should make full prepara- tion for the thorough training of its young people in all the phases of Christian work. There is no one fountain that yields such rich results in this line as the study of the "Old Book." It is here that we may learn what God's thought is. It is here that the Christian may find food for the soul. The terse saying of U. S. Grant in his brief message to the Sabbath school department of the Cen- tennial celebration held in 1876, is a message worthy of the occasion and of the man, "Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet anchor of all our sure liberties."
The church of the future should be aggressive. We are just now learning, as never before, that when a pastor enters a new work, that this congregation is not his field. The world is the field, and the church is the force through which the Gospel message is to be carried to the field. This will give the church a world-wide conception of its mission. Much is being said in religious periodicals about the "New Evangelism." Whether the church of the future shall adopt the old or the new evangelism may not be very material, but that it should be evangelistic is all im- portant. This evangelistic spirit should permeate the en- tire membership. How often has the pastor yielded to dis- couragement when he has sought to advance along evan- gelistic lines and finds so many members of his church inactive. If they have an evangelistic power, it is latent. "All at it, and always at it" is a truism to-day as really as when spoken more than one hundred years ago. What excuse has this or any church for its existence. unless it should fill the mission intended by the Master? "To bring souls to Christ and to build souls up in Christ" is the high mission committed to our hands, and the church of the future should keep an eye single to that high mission. The church of the future should, above all things else, be
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Rev. MORTON C. PEARSON.
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spiritual. Three years of training in the school of Christ by the Great Teacher, training by example and by precept, by parable and by miracle, in the public discourse and in private, and by the most tender and patient teacher and teaching was not enough to equip the disciples for their life work as witnesses. It was still essential that they tarry for the enduement of power, the promise of which should follow the baptism with the Holy Ghost. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of the Holy Spirit?" not only was addressed to those to whom Paul wrote, but it will still come with peculiar emphasis to the church of the future. Vital union with Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, has been, and still will be, the one essential to spiritual life. This alone can impart to the church the aggressive spirit with which the church of the future must be imbued. This alone can clothe us with the spirit of love that so abounded with the disciples and found its fullness in the gentleness and love, and yet aggressive spirit, that permeated the life of Jesus. It was this alone that led Paul to say that "I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood; unto Him be glory and dominion forever and for- ever. Amen."
Remarks by the pastor :
"We are nearing the close of this anniversary service, and yet we have some other interesting exercises-greet- ings from some of these friends who are on the platform with us to-night, and who have been here so long. I am sure if we should all express our feelings, we would say that we should like to hear from these friends at more length than will be possible at this late hour. We trust they can each bring into a compass of about five minutes each their message of greeting for us to-night. I should like to introduce at this time our dear aged mother in Israel, Drusilla Wilson, whose name has been mentioned
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here so often to-night, and ask her bring to us her greet- ings now."
Drusilla Wilson :
"I am very glad to be here this evening. As I have looked over the congregation and have heard the very interesting paper that we have just had read in regard to the progress of this meeting, I have remembered the time when I first attended the Indianapolis meeting, my hus- band and myself, when the meeting was held in Robert R. Underhill's house. We had a good little meeting there, and I did not then expect, after this length of time, to have the opportunity of meeting such a congregation as this at this place; and then, again, at the dedication of the new-old meeting house, there on Delaware street, when Eleazar Bales preached the dedication sermon. I believe I never heard a better sermon than that was at the dedi- cation of a meeting house. I suppose at that time they would hardly have been ready to say he was dedicating the house, but he was sent for to come there, and he preached the sermon in that house, and we had a very good meeting. And now, to-night, as you have heard the paper in regard to the gradual up-building of this church, and, as I remember, it spoke of the seats getting very un- comfortable in the old brick meeting house on Delaware street, so that some said they could hardly go to meeting because the seats were so uncomfortable. I remember when my husband and I went from Indianapolis meeting down South to Columbus, Mississippi, on a mission to the freedmen and held services, we sat on rude slab benches, and we forgot that we needed better seats than we had there then. We were so interested in seeing those poor slaves who had been so recently set free, who had been slaves all their lives until just then, and who seemed to be so eager to acknowledge the truths of the Gospel-that we should tell them the "old, old story of Jesus and His love," and we forgot that we were tired and sitting on slab benches. So I feel that it is the best thing we can do, if we get tired of our old churches because they are not quite as we would like to have them-while I believe in the progress and upbuilding all the time to send out
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some of our missionaries into other fields where they have not our opportunities, and that they will become so in- terested that they will forget the need of these great com- forts. So I want to encourage us all. There are so many things which come before my mind, that it is very difficult just in two or three minutes to say what one would feel like saying under other circumstances. It would not be well for me at this late hour, and with so much better speakers here, to keep this audience longer. May the Lord bless us and keep us, that we may every one en- deavor to do unto others as we would that they should do unto us under like circumstances.
Remarks by the pastor :
"For a long time this meeting has been looking into the face of our brother, William Pyle, for years a member of this meeting. We are glad to introduce him now for his greeting to us upon this anniversary occasion."
William Pyle :
"Friends, it seems to me at this late hour and warm as it is, it would be better to adjourn the services very soon. As this was to be reminiscences, I consulted Webster, and he says reminiscences are recollections of things in the past that come to the mind. Well, now, this paper that has been read to us produced so many recollections in my mind that I am lost. I hardly know where to start, and I cannot occupy much time.
"I arrived in this city on the first day of the third month, 1863, a young man 33 years old, with my family, wife and three children. On the First day morning after I was here-we called it First day then-I hitched up the carriage, as we had done in Ohio where I came from, and set out to find the Friends Meeting. Calvin Lindley told me where I would find it. He was a brother of Mary Carter's. I found it readily. It was Sabbath school time -First day school we called it then-at 9 o'clock, I think, or something like that. We entered, strangers, and they took us in and gave us a hearty welcome, and we enjoyed their little season of Sabbath school teaching under Wil- liam Hadley. William Hadley was teacher and superin-
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tendent of the Sabath school. And pretty good, too, I tell you. There was nothing but what was good about it. We stayed to the services, and I recall to-night as I stand here looking into the faces of the Friends who occupied the gallery of that time. I see only one here who was there then, and that is our dear sister, Drusilla Wilson. There was Jacob S. Willits, whom we revered as an elder, a man of God, strong in his day and generation. David Tatum sat next to him, and then came Jonathan Wilson, Jesse Taylor and Abijah Taylor, Sr. About the same time Samuel Adams came here, and Nathaniel Carpenter, my wife's father, and they were sitting on the top seat, as we called it. It was an elevated seat, with a railing all the way from south to north, and there was a little bench along the back of the other seats for the ministers to kneel on. We do not have them now. It was elevated about four or five inches. Some of you older people have seen them in the old Friends Meeting Houses. It was expected that the praying would all come from the gallery and be- tween the aisles, where the ministers would be seated. On the other side was Hannah B. Tatum, Jane Trueblood, Ester Willits, the wife of Jacob Willits, and Drusilla Wil- son and Deborah Taylor. They had their costumes on- plain bonnets and broad brim hats; and the men sat with their hats on. We always sat with our hats on in meet- ing, and when anyone prayed-it was not announced that a certain person would lead in prayer, but we would find them laying off their bonnet or hat and kneeling down; that meant that the congregation should rise and stand, the men taking their hats off while the person prayed. That was the custom. The great contrast between that day and this is remarkable in so short a time. It is only forty-three years that I have been connected with this church. It is remarkable. On the next seat sat Stephen Brown and Hugh Smith, William Hadley and Abijah Taylor, Jr .- John Carter, I think, and Mary faced the gallery at that time. They were young-like people, about like I was and my wife. On the other side was Hannah Hadley and Ruth Lindley and others whom I cannot now remember, but they were a nice, substantial looking body of people, such as I felt I was glad to worship with and
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take an interest with. I came from the farm, have been a farmer almost all the time, and a great deal of the time the only farmer belonging to this meeting; and the city meeting was something new to me, but ! fell in with them. I found that there was a good spirit there, and through all these changes that have come about in our church there were many things that were a little in advance of my ideas, but, still, as I could see the spirit of the Lord and the loving harmony manifested among Friends, I could not do otherwise than to say amen and go along with the movement, whatever it was. So I have enjoyed this church exceedingly, and I have admired the harmony and unity that has prevailed in this Monthly Meeting since it was established, and to-day I praise the Lord for the meeting that we have, and as long, dear friends, as the spirit of the Lord prevails with us, and we can harmonize and worship under His blessing, we can depend on the bless- ing and power of God to keep and protect us and develop us, but no longer. We must not get away from the true spirit of worship. While the changes have been so great in the manner of worship and in our appearance and every way, yet, if the Lord is with us, we are safe; but no long- er are we safe than while we maintain the spirit of our blessed Redeemer in our hearts and allow it to permeate our lives and our actions to our fellowmen. ! praise the Lord for this occasion, and for the many people I see here that have been associated-some that are associated with other churches at this time. We would be glad to hear from them to-night. I know their hearts are full and they would like to speak if we had time to hear."
Remarks by the pastor :
"Now we shall listen for two or three minutes longer to our brother, Alfred Johnson, of Richmond, Indiana, who, we learn this morning, was one of the charter mem- bers of this church, and was here fifty years ago to-day."
Alfred Johnson :
"I think silence would be best, but I will indulge in a few words. I hope to be different from a brother who was called on, who said he was going to give a scrap of
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his experience and who spoke for a solid hour. I told him I was glad he did not come across a speech. So I did not come across any speech, and I shall make it short. I knew a boy who was a very close observer, and he liked Robert Douglass to talk, because he kept looking at his watch. There was always hope that he would, quit. Now, I will lay my watch right here, and you shall see that I will watch it. I was called early to the service of God and to leave home. I was converted in the woods, and then God called me to go among the Indians. I left father and mother and five brothers and five sisters when I was 25 to go West to be a minister. I saw many things there. The Indians are very apt, very sagacious. They could commit to memory remarkably well. We often had a contest in committing Bible verses. I said one day in the Shawnee Sabbath school that I could commit more verses in an hour than any Indian in that school Charles Desheen said, 'You cannot do it,' and I said 'I can do it.' So we raced, and I beat him two verses.
"I want to interest you little folks. I remember I said one day in the class there that I was taught by a good man that the long hairs on a cat's mouth proved there was a God. The Indians would ask, 'How do you know there is a God? Did any of you ever see Him ?'
"They were smart, and we had to get answers to their questions. I had been taught by Barnabas C. Hobbs that the long hairs on a cat's mouth prove there is a God. I will tell you how, and I want you to remember the story. They are called feelers. Cats have no judgment about the size of a hole, whether they can go through or not. So they put their nose in the hole they are going into, and if these hairs hit either side they won't try to go through, because that tells them they will be caught fast. How does that prove there is a God? Why, there never was anything designed but what there was a designer. There was a design in the long hairs on the cat's mouth, and that pointed to God. The eyebrows of every one of you are a witness for God. They are a little roof built over your eyes to keep the sweat out of them. If you had no eyebrows, your eyes would be put out; so that is another evidence.
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"I said I was going to be very brief. I will tell one more story, and then I will close. There are many young men in prison who want to talk about religion, and do not want a drunken guard to hear it; so I have gotten the consent of the chaplain and warden to talk to them. There were thirty-seven one day wanting to talk religion, and I remember going to one and, taking his hand in mine, I said, 'Brother, what do you want?' and the poor young man, with tears on his face, said, 'I want to know what the unpardonable sin is, for which a man need not pray.' Nearly every one asked that question. It told a great story ; and that was, the power of God upon the mind of our prisoners, shut up there alone. Another, I remem- ber, said to me, 'I was an orphan boy. I never remem- bered father or mother. They died when I was young, and I was cast on the cold world without any protection. An old aunt took me to Sabbath school. The teacher wanted us to commit the Lord's prayer, and I said I had no book. "Well," she said, "I will give you a book."' So she gave him a Bible about the size of an old-fashioned hymn book, bound with leather, and wrote her name in it as presented to him by his Sabbath school teacher. He took it and ran away and never went back. He said he got into bad com- pany by smoking and swearing and playing cards, and one evening when he went to a ball, having a lady friend with him, and being too drunk to be decent, he offered her his hand and she refused it. He pulled out a revolver and shot her cold in death. Now he is a life-time prisoner ; a young man but 20 years old. He had the Bible in his hand, and there was the handwriting in it. He said, 'I have learned the Lord's Prayer, and I say it every night and morning, but it does me no good.' I said, 'Brother, that is not the prayer for you. That is the prayer for the Christian; Our Father who art in heaven.' 'Well,' he said, 'Why did not somebody tell me?' I said, 'The prayer for you is, "God be merciful to me, a sinner."' That young man said to me, 'You tell every boy and girl that if I had not left the Sabbath school I never should have darkened the cell of the prison.' "
"The Lord bless you."
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Remarks by the pastor :
"We have a visitor with us to-day from the city of Chi- cago, one whose name has been mentioned in the reading of the 'Historical Review' to-night as one of the two men who were the founders of one of the private schools of early Friends in this city. I want to introduce Thomas Charles to this audience."
Thomas Charles :
"Only a word. I have been taking the 'American Friend' ever since it was published, almost. Yesterday, when I left Chicago, not having had time to read it, I put it into my valise, and just before I got into the city I saw on the last page that you were to have this celebration here to-day. That notice brought up before the eye of my mind a picture of the meeting held on Delaware street, which I began to attend in 1864, and continued to attend until 1869, when I left Indianapolis. As that picture came up before my mind, I remembered Barnabas C. Hobbs, Drusilla Wilson and Jane Trueblood, and the pic- ture that William Pyle has given was fully in my mind, and I thought how many of these can I see? I saw a friend last night, and asked him, 'Is William Pyle still living?' 'Yes, he is living.' 'Then I can see him.' 'Is Drusilla Wilson still here?' I heard something of her a few months ago. 'Yes, she is here.' I am glad to look on their faces again, and I shall be still more rejoiced, I hope, in a few years to come, when I shall meet them and a host of others of the good and great of all times and all races."
Remarks by the pastor :
"We have with us to-night.a number who are not mem- bers of this church, and I want our dear aged sister, Mary Carter, to stand to her feet. I want you to see her, for she and Alfred Johnson are the only charter members of this church who are present, she being the only one now a member of this particular church. Mary, will thee please stand, and then, if thee has just a word, we would be glad to hear from thee."
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Mary Carter :
"I do not know that I can say anything which will add to what has been said. Our family came here the last week of 1853, when the meeting was held in Robert Under- hill's house. As we did not often have ministers with us, he would read a chapter from the Bible about the middle of our hour of worship. While holding our meetings in William Hadley's home. Eleazer Bales and Samuel Spray often came and preached for us, and, as stated in paper, we had traveling ministers then more than now. William took pains to invite any Friends who came to the city, and the meeting grew too large for their parlor.
"It was in the spring of 1855 that we met in the Luth- eran church, on Pennsylvania street, a half square north of St. Clair, and it was then and there that we first held our preparative meeting. As they had a smaller com- pany than we, they allowed us the use of the church in the morning, they using it in the afternoon. This church had no partition, of course, so we had a canvas put up to draw across, and in that way separating the men and women during our business meetings, the men and women always holding separate business sessions, this being the custom for many years.
"It was after our meetings were held in this church that Thomas and Hannah Pearson came from Lockport, New York, Hannah having a sojourning minute for religious service. With us she found a hearty welcome and open field, which she most earnestly entered into and occupied to our edification.
"The old church, corner of Delaware and St. Clair streets, finished in 1856, was built with second story, so as to have the first floor for private school. I think Emma Trueblood, now Dixon, of Kokomo, was the first teacher. After this, her sisters, Amanda and Rebecca and Mary B. S. Wright taught. I cannot name all the teach- ers now. There are several men and women among us, one lately gone, who went to that school, among them Rosa Brown, Eva Taylor and her sister, Elva T. Carter, now of Plainfield ; Lawson M. Harvey, Horace M. Hadley and our two oldest sons.
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"The Lord has been with me in blessing all these years, and, as Elizabeth Cox said in her 'Historical Review,' we have just heard, this is a sad reunion for some of us, espe- cially for me, being the only one of our charter members left."
Anthem, "Sing Alleluia Forth."
Remarks by the pastor :
"We surely thank you, dear friends, for your attend- ance here during the day, and as we shall now close this eventful service, we most earnestly pray God's blessing to rest upon us all. As I said in the opening of the morn- ing service, I want still to repeat, that this day should mark a new epoch in the life and history of the First Friends Church in Indianapolis. May it be realized in the next half century, and if any of us shall be permitted to be held here when that celebration shall be held may we be able to see great progress in all lines of Christian work and service, which we may be partially instrumental in bringing to pass in the years which lie before us."
Benediction by Drusilla Wilson :
"We thank Thee, our Heavenly Father, for Thy care over us during the past fifty years; for guidance and di- rection. To Thee we commit our future, beseeching Thy protecting care.
"And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with us and abide. Amen."
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