USA > North Carolina > Craven County > New Bern > History of the Presbyterian church in New Bern, N.C. : with a resume? of early ecclesiastical affairs in eastern North Carolina, and a sketch of the early days of New Bern, N.C > Part 14
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Spiritual Building.
God's Spirit was vouchsafed to this working Church, and in these three years there were added to the communion list fifty- seven (57) members, chiefly on examination and profession of
170
SPIRITUAL BUILDING.
faith. Thus the register showed one hundred and six (106) names. But seven had died, and fourteen had been dismissed, so the actual membership was eighty-five (85).
The first meeting of the Session was in the Pastor's study, on the evening of Monday, August 20th, 1866. The first communion since the close of the war was administered by Mr. Vass on Sabbath morning, 11th November, 1866, when four members were received on certificate, viz .: Misses Harriet K. Slover, Elizabeth Slover, and Mary E. Jones, and Mrs. E. W. Bissell, and three on examination as to their faith in a crucified and atoning Saviour, Jesus Christ, viz .: Mrs. Mary J. Wallace, Mrs. Sarah K. Hollister and Miss Henrietta Dewey. During the whole history of the Church, the largest accession at one time was during a gracious outpouring of God's Holy Spirit, in February, March and April, 1867. Assistance was rendered the Pastor in this season of grace by Rev. J. Henry Smith, D. D., of Greensboro, N. C., and Rev. George D. Armstrong, D. D., of Norfolk, Va. On Sabbath, 7th April, thirty (30) publicly declared their love for Jesus, and for the first time came to feed on the emblems of our dear Lord's broken body and shed blood. At the same time four were also received by certificate, making the whole addition thirty- four (34). The total number received in 1867 was thirty-nine (39). In this period were baptized three adults and twenty- four children.
From the organization of the Church to 1861, there were only five years when more than from one to eight additions were made to the membership, viz .: in 1830, Mr. Osborne, Pastor, fifteen were received; in 1832, twenty-nine; and in 1833; fourteen, Mr. Ilurd being supply and Mr. Osborne help- ing; in 1839, fifteen, Mr. Stratton, Pastor; and in 1857, twelve, Mr. Wall, pastor.
Continuing this brief review to the present, another large outpouring of the Holy Spirit occurred in 1876, when twenty- seven (27) were added on profession of their faith. The Lord has signally blessed this vine of his own planting. Yet sometimes Christian graces have been low indeed, and Zion's
171
SYSTEMATIC BENEVOLENCE.
.
ways have mourned, while few have sought the Lord. In these sad hours what can God's children do? They are called to renew their first love and their early vows, to wrest- ling prayer, to watchfulness and earnest work, and kindling hope. Great cause of thankfulness exists, that since this pas- torate began up to the last Presbyterial Report, the total addi- tions to the Church have been one hundred and fifty-six (156), and the number of baptisms one hundred and forty-three. After deaths and removals are deducted, the register shows one hundred and fourteen members-a larger number than ever before in the church's history. In Mr. Stratton's administra- tion, its membership ascended to one hundred and two (102); but from 1848 it decreased, until it was only seventy-five (75) in 1853, and eighty (80) in 1860. It is also worthy of men- tion, that in the special services held on communion seasons, and at other times during the present pastorate, most valuable assis- tance has been rendered by Rev. B. F. Marable, D. D., Rev. E. M. Green, D. D., and other brethren in the North Carolina Synod. Especially does Mr. Marable live in the hearts of the people of New Bern, by reason of his genial manners, and his clear, tender and eloquent presentations of the claims of the Gospel of Christ, to the full and instant acceptance by lost sinners.
Systematic Benevolence.
The annual reports to the General Assembly make manifest the liberality of this Church, as a body, in contributions to all the general operations of Christ's kingdom. Since our resus- citation, Davidson College and Union Theological Seminary, Virginia, have each had a room fitted up by this Church, and have also received contributions to their funds. A scholarship has been bought in Davidson College, giving the privilege of free tuition for a student "in perpetuo," but it has never been used. Under a proposition made by Rev. J. Leighton Wilson, D. D., Secretary of Foreign Missions, the Sabbath-school has regularly given, besides its other offerings, $40 annually since 1867-'8 to sustain and educate a scholar in China; and according to the
172
OLDEN RECORDS.
records of the Foreign Mission office, this school and that of Prytania-Street Church, New Orleans, are the only ones in the whole Church which have maintained their contributions with- out a break to the present time. Many others have given, and some more largely, but there have been lapses. The children of the Sabbath-school, numbering seventy-five, are trained to contribute regularly in the school to the great causes repre. sented by the committees of the Church, and to other worthy benevolencies. While they are instructed carefully in the nature of the cause before them, and taught to give on prin- ciple, there is a landable spirit of emulation among them, and many have denied themselves some gratification, or have worked diligently, that they might be able to give to the Lord. Effi- cient and loving effort has been devoted to accomplish this re- sult by the two elders, who have been its Superintendents since 1865, viz., George Allen and William Hollister, the latter of whom is now in office. For the year 1885, the school raised (omitting cents) $156; and gave for the Chinese Mission School $40; Sustentation, $8; Publication, $6; Foreign Missions, $10; Invalid Fund, $11; Evangelistic, $4; Education, $6; and Thorn- well Orphanage, $23; i. e., about $108 for outside benevolent work of the Church. Here is evidence of what can be done by littles, and how children can be induced to engage cheer- fully in the noblest schemes of the Church by a little prayer- ful, persistent, and painstaking endeavor.
Olden Records.
In 1813 New Bern has the first credit of a contribution, viz., $10, for Missions. In 1820 the Assembly's Minutes re- port $5 for Missions and $15 for Commissioners' Fund. No Church gave more than this last sum, and few as much. In 1822, $3 Missions; $22 Commissioners' Fund ; and $50 for Princeton Theological Seminary, given by the Ladies' Society, who in their holy zeal began thus early their noble work, and set a notable example for their daughters in succeeding generations. In 1823, $150 was given to "Education," which probably was to make, with the preceding gift, $500 for South-
173
RECENT RECORDS.
ern Professorship in Princeton Theological Seminary. From this year to 1835, the contributions, so far as recorded, ranged from $2 to $38 to Commissioners' Fund, Missions, Education, and the Theological Seminary, each, but not with regularity. In 1836, Missions received $90, and Education $110; and in 1837, Missions $130, and Education $130. From 1838-1854, $10-$17 are credited annually to Commissioners' Fund, and $10-$65 each to Domestic and Foreign Missions, with some breaks; and $82 in two years to Education. In 1855, Domes- tic Missions, $68; Foreign Missions, $70, and special for Edu- cation, $700, and $154 more for the same the next year. For Domestic and Foreign Missions, each $100, in 1858; and the following year, $200 for the former, and $241 for the latter; and in 1860, $72 for the first, and $711 for the last object. All the causes were not remembered. The data for the con- gregational expenses are not at hand, except for 1857, when they were $1,025. The two large contributions of $700 and $711, arose partly from legacies left by Mrs. Janet Hollister, who devised $500 to each of the following societies, viz., Bible, Education, Colonization and Home Missions. Mrs. Hollister also left the interest of $1,000 annually for the Pastor of the New Bern Presbyterian Church; but this last sum was lost by the late war, as also was $1,000 bequeathed to the Church by Mrs. Lucretia Jones, at her death, August, 1860.
Recent Records.
According to the official statistics of the General Assembly, the advance of this Church in its liberality and its general effi- ciency since the late war, with all its necessarily disorganizing and distressing results, has been both extraordinary and exem- plary.
The accompanying tabular exhibit will clearly present the progress and state of the Church's financial life during this period. Much of this headway has sprung from the hearty adoption by the Church of the envelope system of contributing, which was first introduced into Orange Presbytery by the New Bern Church, and also through the thoroughly business man-
-
174
RECENT RECORDS.
agement of the new plan by Mr. Geo. Allen, who has been the Church's treasurer and financial factotum since 1860.
Financial Summary from 1866-1886,
YEAR.
SUSTENTATION.
EVANGELISTIC.
INVALID FUND.
FOR. MISSIONS.
EDUCATION.
PUBLICATION.
TUSKALOOSA
INSTITUTE.
PRESBYTERIAL.
TOTAL.
CONGREGA-
1866
$84
$1942
1867
125
$47
$202
3676
1868
100
$100
$25
I6
20
261
2060
1869
88
105
IOI
30
20
344
2237
1870
98
$35
I22
173
50
435
197I
IS72
55
81
145
175
50
55
1874
4II
5I
I35
IO6
107
20
668
1959
1876
53
73
46
152
53
52
25
454
2160
1877
50
99
50
162
48
43
25
477
1913
1878
63
50
91
100
65
55
60
484
1992
1879
60
57
48
180
37
43
35
460
1618
1880
65
57
49
163
43
44
52
473
I622
1881
66
67
48
I66
53
39
72
5II
1708
1882
69
63
49
I3I
54
46
56
468
1671
1883
58
42
44
144
54
36
$4
85
467
2316
1884
52
35
44
105
35
43
5
65
384
1802
1885
58
43
49
123
155
40
5
47
520
1678
1873
I73
52
196
145
50
20
432
1746
1871
55
621
1623
1875
92
$50
53
158
240
55
The "Total" in the next to the last column indicates the whole sum given each year for general benevolent church work.
The amounts under "Congregational" embrace Pastor's salary and all other money spent.
Collections for "Tuskaloosa Institute," for the education of a colored ministry, were only begun recently as a separate cause; hence that col- umn i's not filled up.
A new spirit, too, seemed to be infused into the membership, and they were zealous to devise liberal things. Especially have the female members exerted themselves to be forward in good works, and so have been worthy inheritors of the zeal of the early "Ladies' Society" of 1822. . All the various en- terprises of the Church are remembered, as well as the Thorn-
₹
TIONAL.
a
506
1676
8IO
1636
153
III
$30
·
175
RECENT RECORDS.
well Orphanage, S. C., Oxford Orphan Asylum, N. C., and other casual appeals. It will be manifest from the table, that there has been a steady and reliable regularity in general work and the benevolent contributions of the Congregation as a whole. Its numbers have never been very large, neither has this city been a growing commercial centre. Yet the exhibit can be pointed at, not in any boastful or Pharisaic spirit, but with commend- able thankfulness to God, and reasonable satisfaction that so much has been done by the Church in its situation. It can be hailed as a happy augury of larger future usefulness, under the stimulus of past success, and the hoped-for sunshine of in- creasing membership, commercial advance in our city, and richer blessings from the covenant-keeping God of our salva- tion. If all in any Church will do what each can do and ought to do, every organization would accomplish far more. Besides the lack of true Christian consecration, one signal impediment oftentimes is, that some who do or give nothing, or very little, argue that the Church gives too much, and sends too much away for the Lord's work, when the money ought to be spent selfishly at home. These critics forget the sin of withholding tithes from God to whom all things belong; that large annual results are due to open-handed liberality of others, who bear the burden, if burden there be, while they receive no honor from men for the grace given to them; and further, that great things can be done, as was illustrated by our Sabbath-school report, by everybody doing something, however little. Wes- ley's motto, "All at it, and always at it," and the apostolic in- junction to be "diligent in business, fervent in spirit, always serving the Lord," enshrined in the heart with our Saviour's parables of the pounds and the talents, and a thankful memory of the precious blood that saves lost sinners, will hush every selfish thought, and elevate every individual and every Church into wider spheres of heavenly endeavor, and nobler and loftier aspirations after the honor and reward of a "good and faithful servant."
176
REV. L. C. VASS.
Rev. Lachlan Cumming Dass, A. m.
Mr. Vass was born in Fredericksburg, Va., 20th March, 1831. His father was James Vass, a native of Forres, Scotland, and a grandson of the Laird of Sluis, belonging to the historic High- land clan of "Cumming." His mother was Elizabeth Braine Maury, daughter of Col. Abram Maury, of the Revolutionary army, and lineal descendant of the Huguenot families of De La Fontaine and Maury, who escaped from France on the re- vocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685. John De La Fon- taine was a commissioned officer in the Royal military house- hold of Francis I. of France, and of Henry II., Francis II., and Charles IX. He was a staunch Protestant. Incurring the hatred of the enemies of God and true piety, because of his exalted position as a Protestant, he with his wife and valet were brutally murdered in the night, on his paternal estate in Maine, in 1563, by armed assassins sent from the City of La Maus. His descendants suffered terrible persecutions, and found refuge in Great Britain and America. His great-grandson, Rev. James De La Fontaine, escaped from France in 1685, and his family emigrated to America ; one daughter marrying another refugee Huguenot, Rev. Matthew Maury, of Castel Mauron, Gascony. Mr. Vass from his birth was dedicated by pious parents to the Gospel ministry. He was graduated from Princeton College, . N. J., after two years' study, in a class numbering eighty-three, in 1850, with the English Salutatory, or second honor ; then studied law in Fredericksburg, Va .; made a profession of reli- gion and united with the Presbyterian Church in Warrenton, Va., in 1857; was taken under charge of Winchester Presby- tery as a candidate for the Gospel ministry, and went to Dan- ville Theological Seminary, Ky., the same year ; went thence to Union Theological Seminary, Va., in the Fall of 1858, and was graduated there in 1860; was received from Winchester
yrs. Fraternally L.b. Vaso,
.
NELIATVDE DOINTINA AM MARCALI ... ..
177
REV. L. C. VASS.
Presbytery, and examined and licensed as a probationer for the ministry by West Hanover Presbytery, in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, 2d June, 1860, and went by invitation to Amherst Church, Va., as Stated Supply, on a salary of $800. At the session of West Hanover Presbytery, at Trinity Church, New Canton, Va., 22d August, 1860, a call to the Amherst Church as Pastor was accepted, and he was examined by the Presbytery at Amherst Courthouse, and ordained and installed over that Church on Friday, 19th April, 1861. He was appointed by the Confederate Government Chaplain of the Twenty-seventh Virginia Regiment of Infantry, in the Stonewall Brigade, in the Winter of 1862-'3, and joined his command in winter- . quarters at Moss's Neck, near Guiney's station, below Fred- ericksburg, before the battle of Chancellorsville; and continued in the army until the war closed ; was left with three surgeons by Gen. Early, after the battle of Monocacy, in charge of six hundred wounded Confederates in the hospital at Frederick City, Md., but returned in a few months under flag of truce to duty, and was ordered to Petersburg, Va., as Chaplain of the Post, serving in the hospitals both Federal and Confederate wounded and sick. This was only a few months before the fall of Petersburg, and the close of the war.
The pastoral relation with the Amherst Church was dissolved 15th April, 1864. After the fall of Petersburg Mr. Vass preached a short time for the Second Presbyterian Church in that city; and then for one year supplied Tabb Street Church in the same city, until June, 1866, on a salary of $1,500. During this year there were seventeen additions to the Church. He entered on his work in New Bern in July, 1866; was re- ceived from West Hanover Presbytery by Orange Presbytery at Wentworth, N. C., 6th October, 1866; accepted the call of the New Bern Church, and was installed in New Bern as Pastor, at 11 A. M., on the first Sunday in December (2d instant), 1866. Rev. J. H. Smith, D. D., preached the sermon, charged the Pastor, and proposed the constitutional questions; Rev. H. G. Hill, D. D., charged the people. The congregation was large, and deeply interested, although the services were unusually protracted. Al-
178
REV. L. C. VASS.
ready this pastorate has continued nearly twenty years, and is by far the longest one in this Church's history ; the next longest being that of Mr. Stratton, which was about fourteen years.
On the 9th May, 1867, Mr. Vass married Miss Mary E. Jones, daughter of Mr. Frederick J. Jones and Mrs. Hannah A. Jones, of New Bern, and granddaughter of Mr. John Jones, one of the original members of this Church. In 1877 three children of this marriage, all girls, and the eldest nearly eight years old, died at short intervals, from violent diphtheria. He has now two boys, Lachlan Cumming and Edward Smallwood, and one girl, Sadie Green.
Four times Mr. Vass has been sent by Orange Presbytery as Commissioner to the General Assemblies, meeting in Mo- bile, New Orleans, Little Rock and Augusta, Ga. He was a delegate from the New Bern Branch Alliance to the World's Evangelical Alliance in New York, Oct., 1873; the represent- ative of the North Carolina Presbyterian at the Presbyterian Council in Philadelphia, Sept .- Oct., 1880; a Commissioner from the Southern Presbyterian General Assembly to the ŒEcumenical Presbyterian Council in Belfast, Ireland, June, 1884; and one of the representatives from the United States Evangelical Alliance to the World's Evangelical Alliance, that convened in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sept., 1884. With great liberality the Church granted him a vacation of four months, to attend the last two European Assemblies; and during the inter- val between the meetings, he made a tour in Great Britain, France, Switzerland, and Germany.
Mr. Vass is the Agent for Sabbath-schools in both the Pres- . bytery of Orange and the Synod of North Carolina; and the author of a volume on " Amusements and the Christain Life, in the Primitive Church and in Our Day," published by the Presbyterian Board of Publication, Philadelphia; and other smaller works.
,
179
PROPERTY DATA.
Property Data .- Church Lot.
The lot No. 309 on the Plan of New Bern, and upon which the Church is built, was bought from Mr. Edward Graham, for the sum of $1200. In 1825 he executed the deed according to an agreement entered into in 1819, and the last payment of $120 was made by Charles Dewey, Treasurer of the Trustees of the Church. From the original deed the following list of the Trustees is copied, and these are probably the ones originally elected in 1818, or with few changes; viz. Elias Hawes, Ed- ward Graham, Isaac Taylor, John Jones, William Hollister, Vine Allen, Robert Hay, Stephen M. Chester, Robert Prim- rose, Silvester Brown, E. C. King, and Charles Dewy.
Manse.
During the incumbency of Mr. Stratton, on 21st April, 1842, the present manse was purchased from John R. Green for $1,800, and was conveyed to the Trustees, who were then as follows; William Hollister, Isaac Taylor, Robert Primrose, Robert Hay, Thomas Sparrow, Martin Stevenson, Jr., Charles Slover, Edward E. Graham, Jeremiah N. Allen, Amzi Ayers, and Richard N. Taylor.
Session House.
March 12th, 1856, in Mr. Wall's time, the lot, No. 308, upon which the present Session-house, or Sabbath-school and Lecture-room stands, was bought of Wm. G. Bryan, Clerk and Master in Equity, from the estate of Edward Graham, for $905. The building was erected in 1858, and cost $1,500. Changes had taken place in the Trustees, who were then as follows: Robert Primrose, Charles Slover, Fred'k J. Jones, Edward E. Graham, Alex'r Miller, Richard N. Taylor, J. Graham Tull, Emmet Cuthbert, William G. Bryan, George F. Fisher, and Jeremiah N. Allen.
12
180
DEACONS, ETC.
Present Trustees.
In January, 1886, the Trustees are Charles Slover, W. G. Bryan, William Hollister, George Allen, Alexander Miller, Jr., Claudius E. Foy, Ami R. Dennison, Asa Jones, John B. Lane, Samuel W. Smallwood, Daniel Stimson, Dr. John D. Clarke, David N. Kilburn, Thomas A. Henry, and Dr. George Slover.
Deacons.
This church has never had a Board of Deacons until recently. It has not only held its property under the law by Trustees, but has conducted its financial affairs by the same body and the Session. The Treasurer of the Trustees has usually borne the burden of the work. Upon the reorganization of the con- gregation, in 1866, there was no "deacon timber;" and there was and has continued to be such demand for the most conse- crated, active, and skillful business talent for the successful con- duct of its general monetary operations and its benevolent work, that the Church has preferred to retain the cheerful ser- vices of one of it's ruling elders, Mr. George Allen, as its Trea- surer, during the past twenty-five years. Recently, however, it has been deemed best to divide out this work, and bring the Church more exactly into full accord with our scriptural form of government. So at a recent congregational meeting, a ser- mon having been previously preached by the Pastor on the di- aconate, six worthy members were elected to the office of dea- con. Three only of them accepted the election and agreed to serve, viz .: Claudius E. Foy, George N. Ives, and Alexander Miller ; and on Sabbath morning, 28th March, 1886, they were duly ordained, by the laying on hands of the Parochial Pres- bytery, or Session, and installed into their office.
Recent Renovation.
Much care has been bestowed on keeping the Church pro- perty in nice order. When extensive repairs were made, in 1866, the old, high, and close box-pulpit was removed, and a broad platform with a handsome desk and gas pillars was sub-
181
PROPERTY DATA.
stituted ; and back of the pulpit a recess was made (which has recently been much improved by the addition of some hand- some woodwork), and the front of the galleries was lowered. A few years ago a new roof was put on the Church, perhaps the first one since it was built. In January, 1886, the active and useful Ladies' Working Society completed some necessary repairs, had the Church very handsomely repainted within, and also the inside walls of the Lecture-room, and the exterior of both buildings, as well as the front fence, so that the whole ap- pearance of these buildings, and the large and beautifully shaded grounds, is very attractive. It should always be a welcomed pleasure and desirable honor to care for the Lord's house. This recent work has been done at an expense of $905, which, together with a balance of $260 due the Treasurer (total, $1,165), has been all paid, and the Church is free of debt. This is good work, and ground of thankfulness to God for his blessing on the Church's efforts. The newly-elected deacons will thus enter on their duties under most favorable auspices.
SIT
UX
SUNDRY MEMORANDA.
Sabbath School.
A Presbyterian Sabbath-school was conducted in the East room of the Academy before the Church was built. I cannot ascertain how early it was established ; neither have I heard of any other begun before this. The name of the first Superin- tendent I have recovered is Mr. Martin Stevenson, in 1835. How long he had been in office then is unknown. He was fol- lowed in 1835 by Mr. Charles Slover. Other Superintendents were Messrs. R. N. Taylor, - Bogart, William Hay, George Allen, and William Hollister. The last named is at present conducting the school efficiently. Brief notes about the school from 1833-'37 on several Sabbaths show an attendance ranging up to sixty-two. The Baptists had a school of about the same size ; the Methodists had one somewhat smaller ; and the Episco- palians had one numbering from sixty to one hundred scholars. On Sabbath, June 16, 1833, the Presbyterian children recited the names of the books of the Old Testament; and on the next Sabbath they were to recite those of the New Testament, just as they have been recently doing.
Ministers from the new Bern Church.
The following Presbyterian ministers went out from New Bern : Rev. Messrs. Lemuel D. Hatch, John Witherspoon, Monroe Allen, William Neal (or Neil), Thomas Watson, Nehe- miah H. Harding, and John W. Primrose. Two of these are still living and preaching-Mr. Watson, in Dardenne, Mo .; and Mr. Primrose, in the Second Presbyterian Church in Wilming- ton, N. C. Dr. Harding ministered for many years most ac- ceptably to the church in Milton, N. C.
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