USA > Indiana > Ohio County > Rising Sun > Historical sketch of Rising Sun, Indiana, and the Presbyterian church : A fortieth anniversary discourse, delivered Sept. 15, 1856 > Part 4
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THE SABBATH-SCHOOL ENTERPRISE
Has been the second chief agency in the work of moral culture, and of spiritual progress. In this congregation there has been, for the past thirty years, a praiseworthy appreciation of the importance and benefits of the institution that takes care of the children and youth of our land. As early as 1823, a Sabbath-school was organized in the Church under the superintendence of Philemon P. Baldwin, and in which Col. A. C. Pepper, Major Samuel Jelley, Shadrach Hathaway, and other leading citi- zens, were teachers. It has grown in interest and numbers, and multiplied its good fruits with every succeeding year. The effective force and strength of the congregation have come from the Sabbath-school. Of the one hundred and one who have been added to the Church since April, 1844, seventy-six of them have been trained in the Sabbath-school. Its results have been beneficent and extensive, on the Church, on home, and on the general interests of society and the Country.
THE BIBLE SOCIETY
Was formed in 1817, by Rev. Mr. Derrow, in the house of Major Jelly, and has been vigorously sustained by the co-operative efforts of all the Christian denominations of the place. It has, at regular periods, explored the town and county, and supplied the destitution, and thus kept the Bible in every family, as the corner-stone in the structure of all society.
In the spring of 1831, the first organization in this place to promote the great Temperance cause, was effected through the labors of Rev. Lu- cius Alden .. He circulated a pledge, obtained a large number of names, -four-fifths of whom were females,-and thus put into existence the first organized effort to suppress intemperance. Each succeeding pastor, in union w th the pastors of other churches, was active in pushing onward the Temperance reformation. The labor of the various Churches in this great moral reform movement has been mainly instrumental in procuring you our pre-eminence as a community distinguished for temperance and its kindred virtues.
In January, 1833, a Tract Society was organized in the Church by Rev. Moses H. Wilder, Agent of the American Tract Society. Rev. William
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
Lewis was President, and the Elders were officers and distributors. The object of this organization was "To promote the interests of evangeli- cal religion and sound morality, and the circulation of religious tracts." After the first month, the female members of the Church engaged in the work, and the tracts were, generally, thankfully received.
Here it is appropriate to pay a tribute to the Christian influence of one who has done much for the cause of Christian Churches and benevolence. His scholarly attainments, wealth, and labors were consecrated to the Re- deemer. The Bible, Tract, Education, Sunday School, Seaman's Friend Societies, and various institutions of learning, and the poor, received from him liberal and constant aid. Regarding himself as a steward of God, he gave from principle and without any ostentation. Though a Presby- terian, he built a comfortable church on his farm, on the banks of the Ohio, six miles below Rising Sun, where various evangelical de- nominations worshiped, and which was the means of extensive and last- ing good to the neighborhood. Here and in other parts of the county, and the world, he went about doing good. If the widow's mite was recorded in the imperishable records of sacred annals, it is appropriate and right that the name, and Christian labors and influence of Mr. Ralph Turner should have an honorable place in this Historical Discourse.
THIS HISTORICAL REVIEW
Has its suggestive lessons, impressed by the commemorative services of this Christian jubilee.
1. It presents the practical nature and workings of the Presbyterian Church, the fruitage of which has passed before us in the review of the forty years which the Lord has led the Church. We propose not to mag- nify the Presbyterian system of doctrines and government. Let forty years of existence and ceaseless activity, attest the noble nature and forces of Presbyterianism here, and its adaptation and effectiveness in building up all the true interests that enter into the noble structure of society. Her bulwark of Biblical doctrines ; the philosophical harmony with which she blends Divine sovereignty and human activities; the republican structure of her ecclesiastical government; her co-operative sympathies and Christian labors with other Churches; her noble purposes to extend and establish every where the institutions of Christian education ; her care of the chil- dren of the Covenant; her labors to create and extend the blessings of civil liberty, and the rights of conscience, and her practical success in the spiritual kingdom of God, to prepare men for the grander activities of eternity ; all demonstrate the nature and value of a Presbyterian or- ganization to create, expand, vitalize, direct and make effective the ele- ments that give progress, order, ornate beauty, and solid strength to the structure of all society, and to save the souls of men.
2. This review developes and demonstrates the origin and growth of all the Humanitarian interests of society. It is not in the opulence of ma-
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terial elements, but the moral and spiritual means that are in the Christian Church. The life, power, and the achievements of all that is good or great in society, are in the forces of the Christian system, made practical by the Christian Church. " Glorious things are spoken of thee, O City of God. All my springs are in thee. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shineth."
3. This review is a grateful remembrance of the goodness and care of a covenant God. To you, brethren, to all our fellow-citizens, there is a meaning in our motto : "These forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee : thou hast lacked nothing." The good-will and the constant blessings of Him who dwelt in the Bush, have ever been with you these forty years, and in the midst of this Christian Jubilee, all of you can gratefully erect a memorial of gratitude and on it inscribe, " EBENEZER ! HITHERTO HATH THE LORD HELPED US."
4. Ilow impressively are we to-day reminded of the toils, patient per- severance, and faith necessary to establish, on a permanent basis, a Christian Church ! How many able and faithful ministers of God have been sent among you ! How many sermons have been preached ! How many prayers offered ! How much means expended ! How much faith, labor, anxiety and watching have been put forth to establish among you this, and the other Christian Churches of the city ! and done without the hope of earthly reward. All those godly ministers came, not to seek honor or wealth, or worldly ease, but to plant, water, and make fruitful in faith and works this Zion of our God. It is planted on the Rock of Ages, and will stand to all coming generations, as a monument of the labors of Christians, and as a fountain of rich blessings to all who are to succeed you in this city and region.
5. This review inspires hope for the future. God, who hath led you the past forty years, will lead and keep all the interests of this Church for the next forty years, and on through coming time. " He is the same yes- terday, to-day, and forever." "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." What results will be evolved in the next forty years! Who will be here to witness them ! Nearly all who have participated in the scenes of this Anniversary will have gone to the grave, and a new generation will have risen in your places. Yet faith in God, and the results of the past, assure you that when you shall be sleeping with your fathers, Christian churches and schools, and all the agencies of Christian civilization, will be here producing richer and more extensive results in the future than in the past.
6. The closing lesson touchingly impresses us, with the ravages that time and death have made in your midst. All the first band of pioneers have passed away. Not one lingers to tell us of the times " fifty years ago." Chambers, Avey, the Fultons, the Browns, and all their contempo- raries, are dead ! How many, too, of the later class of pioneers are gone, James, the proprietor, his wife, and eldest son Pinckney, Decoursey, Mil- ler, Craft, Hayden, Moses Tapley, and others have passed away !
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The Church, too, has been thinned by death. Stewart, McCord, Espey, Baldwin, Warnock, Lareu, and their wives, have ceased to labor in the Church below. Isabella Jelly, Mary, James and Samuel Fulton, Mary Reedc:, Sarah Morrison, Susan Morrison, Sarah Mille:, Noah Miller, Martha James, Elizabeth Clarke, Eleanor McKnight, Betsey Hastings, Lydia Loring, Hannah Mead, Mary Gibson, Jane Walker, John Yonge, sen., Emma L. Yonge, Elcanor Marble, Margaret H. Rabb, are dead ! be- sides many others once connected with the Church.
Ministers, too, have fallen. Of those who ministered to this Church during the last forty years, Wilson, Duncan, Welch, James M. Dickey, Lyle, Hayden, Campbell, Craig, Dobbins, Thomas, Cushman, Bullard, Lewis, and the pioneer ministers, Kemper and Riske, have all gone to their reward.
These memorials of the dead show the instructive fact, that " one gene- ration gocth and another cometh." "Our fathers where are they ? And the prophets do they live forever?" Let us remember how short time is, and when we close life, hear the " Well done," and enter into the joy of our Lord.
" We live in deeds, not years ; in thoughts, not breath ; In feelings, not in figures on a dial- We should count time by heart throbs. He most lives. Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.
Fellow citizens and Brethren ! from unselfish motives these interesting annals of the pionceer history of Rising Sun, and of the Presbyterian Church, have been gathered and woven into this narrative. I feel a grateful pleasure that, through a kind Providence, I have been permitted to preserve these memorials from oblivion, and to transmit, to a coming age, the men and the scenes of the generation who first laid the founda- tion of this place and region. May you and your children continue to build on these foundations, and finish a superstructure worthy of Christianity and your country ; and may you all have a perfect and an eternal Christian Jubilee in heaven. AMEN.
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APPENDIX.
ARTICLES OF FAITH, AS ADOPTED AND RECORDED BY THE SESSION OF THE CHURCH, READ AND ASSENTED TO ON THE RECEPTION OF MEM- BERS.
ARTICLE I, We, as a church, believe that Jehovah, the true and eternal God, who made, supports and governs the world, is perfect in natural and moral excellence, and that he exists in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, who possess the same nature, and are equal in every divine perfection.
ART. II. We believe that the seriptures of the Old and New Testament were written by holy men, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and are the only infallible rule of doctrine and duty.
. ART. III. We believe that God has made all things for himself, that known unto him are all his works from the beginning, and that he governs all things according to the counsel of his own will.
ART. IV. We believe that men are immortal and accountable; that the law of God is perfect, and his government just and good; and that all rational beings are bound to approve, love and obey theni.
ART. V. We believe that in consequence of the apostaey of Adam, sin and misery have been introduced into the world, and that all men, unless renewed by the Holy Spirit, are destitute of holiness, and under the curse of the divine law.
ART. VI. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ assumed the nature of man, and by his mediation and death on the cross, made atonement for the sins of the world.
ART. VII. We believe that men may accept of the offers of salvation freely made in the Gospel; but that no one will do this, except he be drawn by the Father.
ART. VIII. We believe that those who are finally saved, will owe their salvation to the mere sovereign merey of God, in Christ Jesus, through repentance and faith in him, and not to any works of righteousness which they have done.
ART. IX. We believe that a conscientious discharge of the various duties, which we owe to God, to our fellow men, and to ourselves, as enjoined in the Gospel, is not only constantly binding on every Christian, but affords to himself and to the world the only decisive evidence of his interest in the Redeemer.
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ART. X. We believe that any number of Christians duly organized, constitute a Church of Christ, the special ordinances of which are baptism and the Lord's supper.
ART. XI. We believe that all mankind must hereafter appear before the judgment seat of Christ, to receive a just and final retribution, accord- ing to the deeds done in the body ; and that the wicked will be sent away into everlasting punishment, and the righteous received into eternal life.
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ARTICLES OF FAITH, AS ADOPTE. THE CHURCH, READ AND ASS BERS.
ARTICLE I, We, as a church, God, who made, supports and g moral excellence, and that he ex and the Holy Ghost, who po. every divine perfection.
ART. II. We believe that the s were written by holy men, as th). are the only infallible rule of di . ART. III. We believe that G. known unto him are all .his wor all things according to the cour
ART. IV. We believe that me law of God is perfect, and his rational beings are bound to ap
ART. V. We believe that in &. and misery have been introduced renewed by the Holy Spirit, are of the divine law.
ART. VI. We believe that the man, and by his mediation anc the sins of the world.
ART. VII. We believe that mer freely made in the Gospel; but t drawn by the Father.
ART. VIII. We believe that tho salvation to the mere sovereign repentance and faith in him, and r they have done.
ART. IX. We believe that a duties, which we owe to God, enjoined in the Gospel, is not o but affords to himself and to the interest in the Redecmer.
ART. X. We believe that an constitute a Church of Christ, the and the Lord's supper.
ART. XI. We believe that all the judgment seat of Christ, to rece ing to the deeds done in the body ; into everlasting punishment, and the
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