USA > Indiana > Johnson County > Franklin > History of the half century celebration of the organization of the First Presbyterian church of Franklin, Indiana > Part 6
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The next speaker introduced was Rev. Alex. Parker, pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Columbus. Mr. Parker said :
The question has come into my mind if any of these children that are here to-day should live fifty years from this time and join in celebrating the hundredth anni- versary of this church, what kind of men and women will they be ? And that will depend very much upon the answer to the question, What kind of boys and girls are you? Dr. Morris has just been telling you of the little boy who wanted a " charm to 'kape' him from being hurt by evil spirits." You may all have something better than a "charm." "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom ; a good understand- ing have all they that do his commandments." And the answer to the question, "What kind of men and women will you be, should you live to see the hun- dredth anniversary of this church?" depends upon whether you have this " fear of the Lord." Sometimes when speeches are made to children, it is the custom to tell them that "some of them will be lawyers, and some doctors; possibly some governors, and may be the future President of the United States is among you." Now I don't care so much whether any of you get to be any of these things that the world calls great or not. The men whom the world calls great are not always the ones whom God calls great. Over yonder among the hills in Ohio where I lived when a boy,
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there were two other boys grew up and left home at nearly the same time. One of them went to West Point to study military science. For some years after he left the school the world heard but little of him. But when the war broke out he became a colonel, then a general, and to-day he is the President of the United States.
The other went to college ; then to the Theological Seminary, at Cincinnati. His heart became interested in the subject of Foreign Missions. He consecrated his life to that work. He started for Africa to tell the people there of Jesus. Just after he reached the coast of Africa he took the fever and died. A good many people are ready to say such a life is wasted. But, though President Grant has done a good work for his country, I believe that John M. Campbell, called away thus just as he entered on this work, has done more for the world than President Grant. He stirred up an interest on the subject of missions that has lived after him. The influence of his life is felt yet. So was the love of Jesus in his heart that made him what he was, and helped him do what he did for the world. You may not be called to go to Africa as he was, and yet some of you may be. You may not be called to die early as he was, and yet some of you may be. But if you have "the fear of the God, which is the beginning of wisdom," you will have lived well, whether you are called away soon, or live to see the hundredth anniversary of this church. The shortest life in God's service is well spent; the longest life without God is wasted. Have Jesus with you and you will need no " charm" to keep you from harm.
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God will be your keeper, and make your life a suc- cessful one, whether it be long or short.
Mr. Morey was then introduced to the children as one whom they had always been delighted to hear. He said:
In looking over the roll of this church I am glad to see so many who came into the Christian life when young. With very few exceptions, these who have thus begun their life with Christ have been the best Christians. The history of this church tells us that out of you children more Christians and better can be made than out of grown-up men and women. I bless God that he often brings the old into this new life, but more and more do I believe that he is going to replenish his Church from these mountain rills- from these little beginnings of life. A nursery man was grafting a tree, and a friend standing by said: "Why, sir, how strangely you do this. You are grafting down almost into the root." "Yes," said the gardener, "that is the way we graft now; we used to graft higher, but we graft low now." The Church is beginning to learn to do that, too. We want to graft low. The little heart in its very start in life, as soon as it begins to know anything, ought to be engrafted by the Divine Spirit. Low grafting is our great work now. There is a great saving of time and strength in being Christians right off. There is a vast waste of real vital force on the follies of youth. If all the misspent force that is here to-day could be turned from the service of Satan to the service of the Savior, a new strength would be given to this church in its
L. OF C.
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great struggle with wrong. Every young soul won over to this side of Christ is one less enemy for the Church to battle with, and a far better accession to the Christian ranks than any older soul could be. Not that any of your souls can be more precious than older persons, but so far as this world is concerned, your conversion is much more important than that of any of these men or women. You are to live longer and exert a much wider influence than these who are far along in life. There is a very great difference be- tween letting Christ have the whole life, or merely the worn-out end of it-the mere snuff of the candle. Every one of you who will be a Christian will have an immense advantage over those who enter the list later in life. So I feel like urging you to be Christians to- day. That is what this gathering of Christians are saying to you.
After a few remarks by the pastor, urging the chil- dren to consecrate themselves to Jesus, in application of Mr. Morey's address, the meeting was closed.
The communion service of the evening was largely attended, every available inch of room in the church being occupied. It was not designed that a formal sermon should be preached; but a programme had been arranged for short addresses.
The service was introduced by the singing of the anthem : " IT IS FINISHED."
The Scriptures were read by Rev. Eliphalet Kent, of Shelbyville, when the congregation joined in sing- ing the hymn :
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Awake, my soul, to joyful lays, And sing the great Redeemer's praise ; He justly claims a song from me: His lovingkindness, oh, how free !
He saw me ruined in the fall, Yet loved me, notwithstanding all; He saved me from my lost estate : His lovingkindness, oh, how great!
Though numerous hosts of mighty foes, Though earth and hell my way oppose, He safely leads my soul along : His lovingkindness, oh, how strong !
When trouble, like a gloomy cloud, Has gathered thick and thundered loud, He near my soul has always stood: His lovingkindness, oh, how good!
Prayer was offered and the people sang again :
If human kindness meets return, And owns the grateful tie ; If tender thoughts within us burn, To feel a friend is nigh ;-
Oh, shall not warmer accents tell The gratitude we owe To him, who died our fears to quell --- Who bore our guilt and woe !
While yet in anguish he surveyed Those pangs he would not flee, What love his latest words displayed, "Meet and remember me !"
Remember thee-thy death, thy shame, Our sinful hearts to share !- O memory ! leave no other name But his recorded there.
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Rev. Dr. Morris, of Oxford, Ohio, addressed the communicants as follows :
As you gather around this communion-table, this evening, please bear in mind, Christian brethren, that the Church of God has ever been composed of be- lievers and their children. This is the Bible Church and has been in every age. The Old Testament and the New are full of it. It was with Adam and his family ; it was with Noah and his household in the ark, when all else perished; and so with Abraham, through whose faith we and all the children of God in every age shall be blessed wonderfully and glori- ously. Remember the inspired words of those great servants of the Lord Jesus, on that night of earth- quake and the mighty power of God, when the trem- bling jailer cried for salvation : " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." There it is, Christian brethren, in all its fullness and glory. It is the old doctrine and the new; it is one forever. "And thy house." That was put there for a meaning. These words are often omitted in the quotation of this passage. Alas for such blunders. Yes, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Oh, that we under- stood it and felt its amazing grace and mighty power !
Now you gather on this joyous occasion to render thanks to God for his gospel and for his mercy and grace to your fathers and their children. You come to prepare for eternal glory and endless communion in heaven. But where are your children ? Are they all here? What are your thoughts and the heavings of your hearts for them this night ? When you
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gather around your table at home your first thoughts are for your children. If any are absent you earn- estly inquire for them; if any are sick you see to them at once. Your parental love will not be satis- fied until they are answered for and attended to. And yet, Christian brethren, you are now gathered at a table of vastly more significance and importance. Here are the emblems of eternal life. You are com- manded to do these things in remembrance of him who bore our sins on the cross of Calvary. If we love him we will joyfully keep his commandments; and if we love our children, with the love of Christ in our hearts, we will never be satisfied until our chil- dren shall gather with us at this antitype of the marriage supper of the Lamb in glory.
Oh, Christian brethren, think upon these things deeply, seriously and prayerfully ! The Lord has entered into covenant with you on behalf of your- selves and your households. He will remember his covenant and his promise; but will you remember him and his great salvation? This is the object and the end of all the means of grace. A failure here is
vital and irreparable. The Church of God was founded in the family. Were parents but faithful, the blessings of grace would be coextensive with the people of God. "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." This is the command and the promise of God, and God never makes any mistakes. We are all living illustrations of the power of instruction and the force of example. For good or for evil, this is
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everywhere the fact. The Bible is full of this doc- trine, from the beginning to the end.
We may neglect and be unfaithful, but never the Lord. In token of our faith and ratification of the covenant, we bring our children to God in baptism. They need the regenerating and cleansing power of the Holy Ghost, through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. The sprinkling of the pure water illustrates the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, and the purifi- cation and sanctification of the Holy Spirit. We give them to God for this high and holy purpose. It is no empty ceremony. It is the seal of the right- eousness of faith. We promise, most solemnly, to " bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord ;" we promise to pray with and for them, and to do all in our power to save their souls. Oh, what a far-reaching and glorious theory this is! It is stamped with divinity and love. No wonder the Lord Jesus said : "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God." Yes, "and he took them up in his arms, put his hands on them, and blessed them." And, parents, had we all been faithful to our holy vows, would not all our children be the children of God? We all know the power of parental influence and example. Our children readily take us to be the wisest and best people in the world. And then we have the promise, absolute and explicit, of God him- self, that he will be a God to his people and their children after them. What, then, is our spirit and influence at home, as we live and move among our households? Our children insensibly and irresistibly
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imbibe our spirit and temper, and follow our conduct. We may have the form of godliness, but be destitute of the power of it; perhaps we are fitful and incon- stant in our life; may be we are not loving, and gen- tle, and firm in our government; religious duties are sometimes slighted or neglected altogether. Many a nominally Christian household has no family worship at all-and then the spirit is work, work, or fashion, show, frivolity and worldly indulgence. How can religion flourish in such a family? Is it wonderful that the children of professors of religion sometimes wander away from the fold of God and are lost? The human heart naturally hates grace and salvation. Long ago the prophet exclaimed : "The heart is de- ceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" Truth, and gentleness, and love com- bined, with the mighty power of God, can alone change this wicked heart of man. The greatest ob- stacle in the way of salvation is inconsistency and unfaithfulness. This is a wonderful comfort to the poor sinner. But oh how his conscience is troubled, and sleep departs from his eyes, when he remembers the holy scenes at family worship, the reading of the Bible, the songs of Zion, and those heartfelt prayers and tears-it may be now of some sainted father or mother gone to glory! These are the kindlings of the Holy Spirit that bring many a wandering prod- igal back to his Father's house with joy and rejoicing. Oh, the prayer of faith and the holy life, who can estimate this heavenly power? Sometimes we are at a loss to interpret the providences of God. We see children of good people wander off and die in sin
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and rebellion. We exclaim, Can it be possible! But, Christian brethren, the best of men are but imperfect, while God is just and holy. We are compelled to conclude that such parents have fallen short, have failed in that deep earnestness of heart and life, de- manded of those who would secure the salvation of the souls of impenitent children. God can never fail on his part. Should the separation come-even an eternal separation-the Judge of all the earth must do right. Man has been at fault. But next to his own salvation, the highest and holiest object for which a parent can live and labor is the salvation of his children. Everything else must be subordinate to this holy result. Then religion becomes a living reality. The home is full of joy and gladness. Then the Sab- bath-school is a Bethel, and the house of God the house of prayer, and the table of the Lord Jesus radiant with his presence, while over all is the banner of his love. This is religion. Religion is every- thing, and a foretaste of the glory that shall be re- vealed.
Permit me, Christian brethren, to speak to you freely on this subject this evening, for I feel it deeply and strongly. Everything else shrinks into nothing- ness in comparison with this theme. "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in ex- change for his soul?" You seek education and po- sition for your children, and that is all very well ; but when you and your children come to die, they can carry nothing to the eternal world but the love of God in a renewed soul. This is everything. With-
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out it they had better never have been born. Then let no love, no prayer, no effort be too much to se- cure the temporal and eternal welfare of your chil- dren. Oh what a joy it will be at that great and final jubilee, at last, to be able to exclaim : " Behold, I and the children which God hath given me!" This indeed will be "joy unspeakable and full of glory."
To your speaker, Christian brethren, this is a theme of the tenderest interest. All that he has for this life as a minister of Jesus, and all that he hopes for in the eternal future, he owes, under God, to the prayers and covenant faith of a sainted mother.
More than fifty years ago this mother lay upon a dying bed, on the southern bank of the Ohio, in Ken- tucky. She had just been converted. She, too, was of your old Huguenot and Holland stock. Her hus- band was a man of the world and skeptical. She sought admission to the Church of Christ. Some impressions had led her to favor immersion. But this was impossible, though a full river flowed at her side. She could not think her divine Lord would make a form of admission to be impossible, unless at the sacrifice of her few remaining days. Besides, she had called to her assistance that famous Presbyterian minister, William L. McCalla, then pastor at Augusta, Kentucky. This able man of God expounded unto her the word of the Lord more perfectly. The Spirit had been applied to her soul, and she wanted the em- blematical water applied to her person, and not· her person to the water. And so she was baptized in faith and hope. But there were two little children, too small to know their irreparable loss, and about
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to be left in the midst of a sinful world. Her moth- erly heart yearned over these children, and she ex- claimed: "What will become of my poor little chil- dren when I am dead and gone?" She determined to give them to God in covenant, as she had given herself to him. She asked for their baptism, on the faith of a dying believer, and over her coffin, after her funeral sermon from this man of God, these children were baptized, on the faith of that sainted mother. Enough is remembered of that tender scene to leave an indelible photograph on the mind and heart; and that sainted mother, though dead these many years, yet speaketh. Soon that little sister was transplanted to glory. Then that strong-willed, unbelieving father bowed his head in faith and became a sterling and devoted Christian. He loved that child with un- wonted affection, and the Lord graciously drew him to himself. And what an eminently godly man he became! Such faith, such zeal, according to knowl- edge, and such success in winning souls for Christ! Yet there was one who resisted it all and hardened his heart. His mother's faith and dedication, and his father's prayers and tears were ever before him. He felt that he must be a Christian and a minister of Jesus. But he detested being dependent upon other people for a support. He wanted to be a lawyer and a politician ; he wanted to come to your young and rising State and become a great man. A few more years and that future died in the triumphs of faith, winning many souls to Christ, even on his death-bed. Then, at last, this proud and rebellious youth, after days of mortal agony, yielded his heart to the Lord,
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and at once determined to preach Christ, though for the future he should have to live on bread and water. But God has always provided for him; and here he is to-night, pleading with you, Christian fathers and mothers, as you love the Lord, as you love the souls of your children, to remember the covenant of God and never give over your faithful instructions, and your prayers and tears, until all your children shall become converted and be gathered with you around the table of the Lord Jesus. Be encouraged to a holy life, both for yourselves and your children. And then, oh how vast your influence for good, when you thus live for eternal glory !
Rev. Mr. Kent followed in an address, making touching reference to the early scenes of Christian work in the State, having participated in those labors when the churches were feeble and widely scattered.
Rev. Mr. Parker spoke of the similarity of strug- gle and of embarrassment of the church at Colum- bus, and of this church, in early days. He referred also to the recent affliction of this church, in the de- parture to his glorious reward, of Elder Harvey Sloan, and the bereavement of the Columbus church in the death of Elder Griffith, who had just passed into rest, after a faithful life service.
After these addresses* Rev. A, B. Morey, for many years pastor of the church, and Rev. S. E. Wishard, the present pastor, came forward to the table .. Mr. Morey administered the bread and Mr. Wishard the
* We regret that a copy of these addresses could not be obtained, as it was our desire to have published in full all the addresses of our brethren who were with us. S. E. W.
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cup. At the conclusion of the administration of the ordinance, Mr. Morey addressed the company of Christ's people. He said:
I can not tell you how my soul is drawn out to this scene. I have sat down here with you many times, and always with feelings that stir the soul, but this time it is with a strange feeling that enters into my very inmost life. I feel like the tourist, who, in a city of many sights, was so attracted by one pic- ture that he did not care to look out for any other. Day by day, for many months, he returned to the gallery and sat spellbound before the wonderful vision, drinking in the soul and beauty of it, and his eyes sometimes tingling toward a tear, as a new thought came floating to the surface. When at last the day arrives for his departure, and his luggage was packed, and his carriage was ready at the door, he ran back to take another and the last look of what was henceforth to be, though he knew it not, only the shadow of the living form of a life-long compan- ion, for as he went on his journey he saw face to face the very person of whom that picture was only the picture ; and they two made one ever after in heart and home. And so have I come again and again to this portrait, which shows forth Christ till he come. I have stood with you before this golden frame, through which his blessed face looks forth upon us. It seems as if there was no need of looking for any other joy as we looked upon this, for all that is true and good in all others were here. Oh, what sweet, swift, strange thoughts have sprung up in our minds
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as we have come again and again, and looked and looked upon this picture of our dear friend, and knelt, and mused, and wept before it, and, gazing again and again, have said within ourselves: "And he is my brother, and I am to be like him, and I shall be with him, where he is, in glory!" But now it may be the time is come for some of us " to depart and be with Christ." I miss dear Father Sloan here. I have un- consciously looked among your faces for the face of our beloved Bro. Terrill; but he, too, is gone. Per- haps the messenger is at the door for some of us to go on our long journey. I have felt as if I wanted to come back here once more and take another look at this face of my Savior, as it shines out in this sacrament, before I go to see it in the clear light of God's glory; for, though we may little think of it, we are going to see him soon and be ever one with him.
Is not this the place and time to reconsecrate our- selves to him "who loved us and gave himself for us ?"
Mr. Wishard followed with a few brief words, saying :
From my life and my toil there comes just one ad- monition this evening. There (pointing to the in- scription above the clock ) it is : "THE TIME IS SHORT." Those words are the more impressive to me because the letters composing them were wrought out by the young people of the congregation and placed there to speak to us this evening; as if the young, in the early vigor and strength of life, were rising up to ad- monish us. Fifty years of the life of this church
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have gone. It is now the last day in the evening, and this the closing service, the closing thought of those fifty years. "The time is short." Yes, fifty years, though long in the experience, long to those who toiled, prayed, wept, and went forward under burdens, yet are short. To the spirits of those who have gone from us, and who look back upon those years, they are short. As a dream when one awaketh, as a watch in the night-just a moment-as a soli- tary tick from that clock. And for all our coming work the same is true-" The time is short." Let us gird ourselves, step to the front, seize upon the golden opportunities which God is placing in our hands. And may the Master strengthen every soul for his work, and lead us all through labor to glory. Amen.
At the close of Mr. Wishard's remarks the congre- gation rose and sang the hymn :
Blest be the tie that binds Our hearts in Christian love : The fellowship of kindred minds Is like to that above.
Before our Father's throne We pour our ardent prayers ; Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, Our comforts and our cares.
We share our mutual woes, Our mutual burdens bear ; And often for each other flows The sympathizing tear.
When we asunder part, It gives us inward pain ; But we shall still be joined in heart, And hope to meet again.
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From sorrow, toil, and pain, And sin, we shall be free, And perfect love and friendship reign Through all eternity.
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