USA > New Jersey > Essex County > East Orange > Bethel Presbyterian Church, East Orange, N.J. : an historical discourse preached at the twenty-fifth anniversary of its organization, November 10th, 1895 > Part 1
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Bethel Presbyterian Church East Orange, N. J
Twenty-fifth Anniversary November 10th, 1895
PASTOR: DAVID O. IRVING
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02712 3360
Gc 974.902 EA7721 IRVING, DAVID O. BETHEL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, EAST ORANGE, N. J.
Compliments of Who Said O Pring
A
BETHEL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
BETHEL
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH EAST ORANGE, N. J. AN
HISTORICAL DISCOURSE
PREACHED AT THE
Twenty-fifth Anniversary
OF ITS ORGANIZATION
NOVEMBER 10th, 1895
BY THE
PASTOR
REV. DAVID O. IRVING
"These temples of God's grace How beautiful they stand ! The honors of our native place The bulwarks of our land."
Allen County Puulfe br 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
Thistle Stationery Company So1 Broad Street Newark, N. J.
"Ye are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner- stone ; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord."
Ephesians, 2: 20-21.
HERE are multitudes who go in and out, who count the Church as theirs, who gather from her thought, knowledge, the comfort of good company, the sense of safety ; and then there are others who think they truly, as the light phrase so deeply means, 'belong to the Church.' They are given to it, and no compulsion could separate them from it. They are part of its structure. They are its pillars. Here and hereafter they can never go out of it. Life would mean nothing to them outside the Church of Christ."
REV. PHILLIPS BROOKS, D.D.
TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY
BETHEL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
EAST ORANGE, N. J.
Psalm IIS : 15. "The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous."
NNIVERSARY occasions should be times of great joy. Songs of praise and grati- tude should be heard as we celebrate our religious birthdays. Although the sorrowful is mingled with the joyful, as we regret our mistakes and mourn over the beloved fellow-workers now gone to their reward, yet we can rejoice in the Lord as we meditate upon His loving kindness and tender mercies toward our Church. This retrospect should also strengthen our trust in God as we trace His leadings and blessings, for we become more assured that He who has guided us in the past will not neglect us in the coming days. Our history can also be read for encourage- ment and inspiration, as we trace the humble beginnings of religious work in this community up to our present attainments. Our eyes are so often turned to the future that we sometimes forget that much can be learned from the past. Every church
ought to have its history clearly and fully written so that every member may make no mistake by overlooking certain well defined facts which enter into the individual character of that particular church. As we, therefore, glance over the past and trace God's goodness in our Church's growth, may this view increase our trust in God, our regard for each other and our zeal for the future.
But let us turn the pages of our history with a sense of humility rather than of self-glory. We are not to bring before us figures and comparisons to feed our pride and conceit, for our progress has been owing to Divine grace and goodness, and not wholly dependent upon our faithfulness and zeal. God often uses the weak things of this world to confound the mighty, so that there is no need of boasting. As we become somewhat encouraged over the retrospect and prospect, let us remember our own mistakes and neglects. If we, as members of this Church, had been more faithful, liberal, devout and earnest, would we not have accomplished greater results than we now behold? But we cannot alter the past. We can only read the facts as history-" time's slavish scribe"-records them, and allow them to make their own impressions upon us.
Compared with some of the larger and more venerable churches in our vicinity, we seem to be a sort of Benjamin in the family of Israel. When we think of the one hundred and seventy-seven years of the old First Church of Orange, or the ninety-seven years which rest upon the First Presbyterian Church of Bloomfield, or the sixty-four years which belong to both the Brick Church of East Orange and the First Presby- terian Church of South Orange, we begin to realize that our twenty-five years of Church life are but a short period. But while our Church's existence may be comparatively brief, yet our Sunday school can show a considerably longer life. A review of our Church, therefore, would be incomplete without considering the history of the Sunday school. Although the latter is often called the nursery of the church, in this case " the child is father to the man," for the school is the parent of the Church. This is only one of other similar instances where
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churches have had their beginnings in the Sunday school. With such a fact before us we are constantly reminded of the Church's debt to the school.
Let us consider the history of
I.
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
- T is to the credit of this neighborhood that a Sunday school was begun as early as in other parts of Orange, and almost as soon as in other places in this country. The modern revival of the Sunday school in America dates from about the year 1816. We are told that "a local union for Sunday school work was organized in New York in 1816; another in Boston the same year, and another in Philadelphia in 1817. These societies became the nucleus of the American Sunday School Union, a national society organized in 1824."*
The earliest record we have of any religious movement of a distinctively local nature was in 1817. Only a brief account exists of the minutes of a meeting of the Sunday School Com- mittee, as follows : "Monday evening, September 8th, 1817. The managers of the Sabbath School Society met to make arrangements for procuring books for the use of the school when it was found necessary that there should be a half dozen catechism primers and a half dozen spelling books got, which were wanted for immediate use, and four dozen religious tracts or such other books as are made use of to distribute among the children belonging to Sabbath schools as premiums. The Board authorized Mr. C. Dodd, treasurer of the society, to purchase the above mentioned books. Adjourned to meet again on Saturday evening next at seven o'clock, at the house of J. F. Crowell.
"Saturday evening, September 13th. The Board of Man-
* " Yale Lectures on the Sunday School," by H. C. Trumbull.
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agers met and adjourned to meet again on Saturday evening next at the house of Calvin Dodd at seven o'clock."
All further record of this religious movement in this locality has been lost, but the facts have been substantiated by those who remember that there was such a school and by one who attended it, having had in his possession one of the tracts referred to above. The school was not a large one, and it was probably of a mission character. The place of meeting is not definitely known, although tradition says that it was in one of the cooper shops near our present Church. This community was then largely engaged in the manufacture of cider, and cooper shops were a necessary adjunct to the apple orchard. With our modern temperance ideas, such places would not be selected as the best in which to train the young in moral and religious truths. But people in the good old days were not so fastidious about their places of worship. The two members of the Board whose names were mentioned were Mr. Calvin Dodd, afterwards one of the first elders of this Church, and Mr. J. F. Crowell, who kept a large store on North Park street from 1813 to 1816, and for several years after had a woolen mill for fulling and carding wool, in connection with Mr. Zebina Dodd.
The reason for starting such a religious work in this place and at that time was a great revival which spread over all this part of the country. The only church then in Orange was the First Presbyterian, ministered to by Rev. Asa Hillyer, D.D. I his locality was one of his preaching stations. In the Autumn and Winter of 1816 and 1817 this revival of religion spread through Newark, Elizabeth, Bloomfield, Caldwell and Orange. Dr. Hillyer was assisted in his work by two young men from Princeton, who frequently preached and held meetings for prayer in this neighborhood. One result of that revival was that the First Church organized its first Sunday school in 1817. The school in this locality was established at the same time and was probably a branch of the First Church school. How long this school continued we have no means of knowing, but it did exist for several years.
The next authentic record of any religious work of a local
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FRANKLIN SCHOOL, 1825
LL
but
nature was in 1825. In the Spring of that year the people, realizing the need of a day school for the instruction of their children, called a meeting for March 13th at the house of Mr. Zebina Dodd, when the following resolutions were adopted :
" Resolved, That we, the subscribers, build a school house twenty feet deep by thirty-four in length and two stories high.
2. " Resolved, That there be seven trustees appointed to take charge of said house for the present year.
3. " Resolved, That the house be known by the name of the Franklin School of North Orange."*
The trustees took charge of the school April 25th. 1825, and adopted the American ten-cent piece as the common seal. The school was built during May of that same year at a cost of two hundred and thirty-three dollars and ninety-one cents. The upper room was not finished until 1832. The Sunday school used this building for its meetings and adopted its name, being known as "The Franklin Sunday School," which was afterwards changed to "The Franklin Union Sunday School." Weekly preaching services were held every Sunday and the people maintained a prayer meeting every Thursday evening. In 1830 the first Bible Class was formed, taught by Rev. Asa Hillyer, D. D., of the First Presbyterian Church, and afterwards by Rev. George Pierson, the first pastor of Brick Church.
From 1832 to 1842 John Condit Wilkinson was superin- tendent of the Franklin Sunday School. The services were held in the upper room, which was void of furniture, as boards were first used for seats in truly primitive style, until more com- fortable ones could be provided. The people brought lath and plaster and worked at night to finish the upper room. The school also had no Sunday school library. Accordingly Mr. Wilkinson went through Bloomfield, West Bloomfield (Mont- clair), and Orange to raise a subscription of fifty dollars to purchase books for a library. In 1832 there was another blessed revival of religion. Special meetings were held in the old
* From the Book of Records and Accounts of Franklin School.
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school house at five o'clock in the morning, in addition to those held in the evenings. It was a time when the cholera prevailed in New York, and Mr. Elias O. Meeker, one of the earnest workers in this place was stricken down by this dreaded disease. The work of the Holy Spirit was widely felt throughout this region and many found peace in believing in Christ.
The weekly meetings for prayer in the old school house during those years were not amidst the greatest comforts. We can borrow Emerson's description of a similar building and call it, "The old, cold, unpainted, uncarpeted meeting-house." There was a deficiency of the bright light from gas or even lamps, for every one furnished his own candle. There was no organ or piano, but the precentor, tuning fork in hand, raised the tune. They had no music books and none of our modern hymns, but the old psalms, set to metre, were freely used. We can imagine some of those prayer meetings as the little assemblage of parents and children gathers in the old school house. A dim light is cast by the flickering candles. A mur- muring sound of conversation arises as neighbors interchange kind inquiries and answers. Presently the leader arises and gives out a hymn, the psalm books are brought out and the chorister, candle in hand, starts the tune. The scripture lesson is read, a few prayers are offered and exhortations are given and the meeting is dismissed. But that dingy, uninviting and dimly lighted room was often lighted by a spiritual flame. Those meetings were sources of religious power, for many earnest prayers were put up to God from that place. There souls found their Saviour, and more than one blessed season of revival was enjoyed in that room. Some of our Church's faithful workers can remember the devout meetings which were held in that old building and their lives are evidences of the good which was there accomplished. Their wishes could be truly expressed by the poet :
" Here may we gain from Heaven The grace which we implore, And may that grace, once given, Be with us evermore."
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The gatherings for worship were not large, as this neigh- borhood consisted principally of farms. Besides the inhabitants in this vicinity, some people came from Watsessing and West Bloomfield, as Montclair was then known. In 1830 the total population of Orange was only three thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven, and in 1834 it was described in Gordon's History of New Jersey as "A straggling village and post town, extending about three miles above the turnpike from Newark toward Dover, containing two Presbyterian Churches, one Episcopal and one Methodist; two taverns, ten stores, two sawmills and a bark mill, and from two hundred to two hundred and thirty dwellings, many of them very neat and commodious. A large trade is carried on in the manufacture of leather, shoes and hats." "In those days," said one of the early settlers, "Orange looked out for the head and the feet of a great part of the population. We made nothing else, but we had the satis- faction of knowing that our place was necessary for those two important points."
All record of the history of the Sunday school for a few years is lost. It probably had a changeable and fluctuating experience between the years 1842 and 1848. In the latter year Mr. David Riker assumed control as the superintendent for about four years, when, owing to lack of workers and interest, it again seemed to wane in power. The members fell off and the sessions were held only during the Summer months for a year or two. About 1854 some of the people came together again and reopened and reorganized the school. One of the workers at that time said: " We met in the upper room of the old Franklin schoolhouse and opened the school with singing, as there was no one who could open it with prayer. Soon after Mr. David Riker was elected superintendent and the school grew rapidly in numbers." Among all these teachers there was only one professing Christian, and the newly elected superintendent was the only one who was willing to pray in public. The exercises of the school, according to our modern ideas, were by no means attractive, which may account for the falling off in attendance from time to time. The services were very plain. There was
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no organ. In place of the bright hymns of our time the scholars sang from a psalm book several times, but always to one or at most to but few tunes. There was a monotony about the services which must have been wearisome at times even to the most zealous. Prayer was offered and a portion of Scripture read to the school. The catechism was recited, some texts of the Bible were learned, and a lesson, announced the previous week, was taught. There were no lesson helps nor Sunday school papers and a poor apology for a library ; but the teachers were faithful and God blessed the feeble efforts.
The school met at half past one every Sunday until 1859 when the hour of opening was changed to two o'clock. The election of officers was held at first every three months until two years after they were chosen to hold office for six months. Under the new management the school increased rapidly in numbers and interest, until there were enrolled fourteen teachers and seventy scholars. The amount of money raised by the school at that time was between thirty and forty dollars every year.
Soon after the school was reorganized Mr. H. L. Wilson, then one of the teachers and leading workers in the cause, arranged with the different clergymen to hold preaching services every Sunday. The undenominational character of the work is seen from the list of ministers who preached in turn. They were Rev. James Hoyt, of the First Presbyterian Church ; Rev. John Crowell, of Brick Church ; Rev. James Williams, rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, and Rev. James S. Bush, of Grace Church ; Rev. Mr. Freeman represented the Methodist denomination, and the Baptists were represented by Rev. Mr. Smith, of the Bloomfield Baptist Church. These ministers also organized and took charge of a weekly prayer meeting. The interior of the building was improved, and the luxury of having lamps with shades for the pulpit was obtained. About twenty dollars were raised annually from these Sunday services, but as the ministers labored without charge, the amount contributed was used to defray the current expenses needed in maintaining these religious services.
Such a spirit of unity and Christian fellowship among the
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different denominations could only result in great good, so that we are not surprised to read that in 1858 a gracious revival of religion again spread over all this region. "It was a time of great financial crisis, which was spreading anxiety and gloom over the whole country." But Christians came together with one accord, to pray for the blessing. In the First Presbyterian Church a daily morning prayer meeting was held which con- tinued from January until June. In March a union noonday prayer meeting was held by all the denominations in Willow Hall, which lasted for more than two months. The old school- house in this place was also opened in which to hold these gracious meetings. On Wednesday and Friday evenings of each week and every day at noon the people came together to pour out their souls in prayer to God. All classes were reached, even the children and those indifferent to Christ's claims and calls were recipients of the blessing. The meetings were conducted quietly and without excitement. The effect was very extensive and lasting. About forty from this community, including those who had reorganized the Sunday school, united with the dif- ferent churches.
The Sunday school soon after this showed its increased inter- est in the Lord's work by raising money for the home mission cause. For a few years between ten and fifteen dollars were con- tributed annually to the missionaries of the American Sunday School Union. This amount was increased until, in 1864, fifty dollars was sent to that cause. The amount of good which was accomplished at that time can be seen by referring to the many interesting letters which the missionaries sent to the school. One sum of twelve dollars was divided into two parts and used in assisting two schools in Ohio, one containing ninety and the other seventy members. "I assure you," wrote the missionary, "the donation was very acceptable. Most of the men have gone to the war, the country is new, the people are poor and the children are anxious to go to Sunday school. They made up some money among themselves and by your help they can get along quite well." Aid was given to schools in Kentucky, Mich- igan, West Virginia, Illinois, Indiana and other needy places in
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the Home Mission field. Sometimes the gifts were used to secure a library for some poor school, and at other times to assist in starting a new school or to revive an old one. In many ways these contributions from the Franklin Sunday School were blessed by God in the destitute portions of our land. The patriotic spirit of the school was shown in October, 1865, when twenty- four dollars and twenty-three cents were raised as a contribution to the National Lincoln Monument at Springfield, Illinois.
On the resignation of Mr. David Riker from the position of superintendent, Mr. Crane was chosen to fill that office on January 3, 1859. He remained in that position until the Autumn of 1865, when he resigned and moved away for a time. and was succeeded in September of that year by Mr. I. H. Gerry. In October considerable religious interest was manifested. "Deacon" Calvin Pierson, as he was universally called, took a class of young men, and all in his class, consisting of eight or ten, were converted during that revival and became earnest Christian workers. It is fitting that special mention should be made of this devoted seeker after souls, who, although an elder in Brick Church, always showed considerable interest in the religious welfare of this place. No one was more faithful in attending the prayer meetings or in taking part in them. He did not confine his efforts only to the religious services, but in private conversation he would seek to press home to the hearts of friends and acquaintances the claims of Christ. More than one is indebted to his quiet zeal and consistent Christian life for their entrance into the kingdom of God. This example is a standing proof of the wide influence which a single earnest soul can exert.
This " great revival," as it was then called, was said to have "emanated in and from this centre." One who was present and participated in its blessings writes : "From late in the month of November on to the first of January, I think we never experienced before so fully the manifest power of God's Spirit in our midst. We were praying and laboring week after week, holding special meetings for prayer during each week, and notwithstanding up to the last days of the year and to the eve
I7
of the New Year, on which we held a meeting, the room filled with anxious souls, many deeply anxious for the salvation of their souls and praying that God in Christ Jesus would lead these troubled hearts to Him, yet at the close of that meeting not a soul had expressed himself as having found the Saviour or any relief for his burdens. We resolved to appoint a meeting for next morning at nine o'clock. We obtained through Brother C. D. Pierson the attendance of Rev. James H. Taylor, of the Second Presbyterian (Brick) Church. He came over and took charge of the meeting. We held a service of full one and a half hour and yet it was manifest that no peace was found for a single soul. Mr. Taylor said that we had been together a long time and advised us all to go home to our closets, and dismissed the meeting with the benediction. But not a person left his seat, for every one sat down again. And now the time had come through God's blessing when many were willing to yield and open their hearts to the blessed Saviour who entered and said ' Peace' to many of those burdened hearts. Such rejoicing as there was only a newly saved soul can experience."
One result of that revival was to lead the people to take measures to procure a larger and more suitable building in which to hold their Sunday school services. The school had grown to a membership of one hundred and thirty-four. It was the only school in the vicinity, and the time was felt to be ripe for the erection of a building which would be devoted exclu- sively to religious worship. Accordingly a lot was purchased, in the Spring of 1866, from Mr. Reuben Dodd, adjoining his residence on the west, for five hundred dollars. The Franklin Union Sunday School was then incorporated. In June of that year subscriptions were received for the erection of a chapel. These were contributed mainly by the people of the district who were interested in the movement. Some of the contri- butions were also given by members of other churches, of all denominations, in Orange, but by none of the churches as an organization. It may be well to emphasize this fact, because the idea is prevalent in some places that the Franklin Sunday School was a mission of the old First Church, while others have
I8
FIRST BETHEL CHURCH BUILDING, 1866
¥
regarded it as belonging to Brick Church. Some of its workers were prominent members of both churches, but from the first it was an independent work, and was supported wholly by local contributions. Although it was at the close of our Civil War, when everything had an inflated value, when coal could be purchased for seven dollars for half a ton, so that it was a most expensive time in which to erect a building, yet the people contributed liberally. The building cost, when completed, five thousand five hundred and twenty-two dollars and forty-three cents, which, when added to the lot, brought the total to six thousand and twenty-two dollars and forty-three cents. Of this amount about thirty-three hundred dollars were raised by subscription, about sixteen hundred dollars were the proceeds from a fair, and twelve hundred dollars mortgage was placed upon the building. The size of the structure was about fifty feet by thirty, and was considered sufficient for many years to come. Into this new building, beautiful and stately in contrast to the old, marched the school on the Sunday of its dedication. The old schoolhouse had answered its purpose, and the old had to give way to the new. But many blessed associations clus- tered around that dingy old building, and some now living, while more who have passed into God's kingdom above, retain sweet memories of that sacred place, where they found the Saviour and received His pardon and peace. But these hal- lowed places grow more blessed as time goes by, so that probably all entered the new chapel with feelings of hope and joy, while the desire for comfortable surroundings took away all regret at leaving the old building where God's Spirit so often manifested Himself. The old schoolhouse continued to be used as a public school until the new building was erected, in 1872, and it was afterwards used as the meeting place for the Congregational and the Ferry Methodist churches. It was torn down in 1891 to make way for needed improvements.
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