USA > New Jersey > Camden County > Camden > Fifty years after : or, A half century of Presbyterianism in Camden, New Jersey with biographical sketches of the Presbyterian ministers who have labored there > Part 1
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Fifty Years After or a Half Century of Presbyterianism in Camden, New Jersey
Boyd
EN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1833 02733 0494
Gc 974.902 C14BD BOYD, WILLIAM. FIFTY YEARS AFTER
CITY HALL Camdon N.J. 1840
"' bourquin Ill
FIFTY YEARS AFTER
OR A
Half Century of Presbyterianism
IN
CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY
With Biographical Sketches of the Presbyterian Ministers who have labored there
BY REV. WILLIAM BOYD
PASTOR OF THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
PHILADELPHIA FRANKLIN PRINTING COMPANY 1890
Allen County Public Library 9. 1, Webster Street F. Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
INTRODUCTION.
I T is pleasant to recall the memory and to recount the experi- ences of former generations. Frequently the best of men go down to the grave without leaving behind them any lasting trace of their existence. Their record is on high, and in the great day of final account when the history of every life shall be disclosed, their deeds of piety and benevolence, long forgotten here, shall be brought forward in the sight of an assembled universe, as evidences of their love and loyalty to Christ. Meanwhile it is a gratifying task to perpetuate, even though it be imperfectly, the remembrance of a little of that work and labor of love which God is not unright- eous to forget. It is proper, too, that the young men and women of our churches whose characters are " still upon the anvil," should feel the impact of the patient, prayerful, self-denying exertions of those who laid the foundation of their religious privileges, some of whom have turned many to righteousness and now " shine as the stars forever and ever." It is interesting to note the manner in which God, in fulfillment of His promise, is pleased to honor the faith and bless the labors of His people to their spiritual ad- vancement and growth. It is fitting that the semi-centennial of the first organized effort to introduce the Presbyterian faith and practice into a community should meet with some memorial, how- ever humble, at our hands. And it is important that any attempt to sketch the history of the Presbyterian Church in Camden for the past fifty years, if done at all, should be done now. So far as the writer knows, he is the only person who is familiar with the facts in the history of the Old Central Church, whilst most of the Missionary operations of the denomination in this city, have tran- spired within his knowledge or under his care.
It would be difficult to acknowledge, except by way of general
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reference, the uniform kindness with which all inquiries bearing upon the subject-matter of the history have been met. A partial recognition of the sources from which much of the information has been derived will be found subjoined to the body of the text. Special thanks, however, are due to Rev. Dr. Henry Reeves, of Bridgeton, to Rev. Joseph H. Dulles, Librarian of Princeton Theo- logical Seminary, and to the Camden Courier, in whose columns the sketchi originally appeared, for substantial service rendered ; to Mr. John P. R. Carney for the loan of a rare photograph of the Old City Hall as it appeared in 1876 ; and to Mr. Frederick Borquin for his generous act in gratuitously engraving a modified copy of this pho- tograph as a frontispiece for the book. The interest which Mr. Borquin has taken in reproducing the City Hall as it stood in 1840, largely from personal recollectiou and research, and partly from the suggestions of the photograph, will long be remembered and gratefully appreciated.
With a God-speed and benison to all who are of " like precious faith " with ourselves, we make this contribution to the local history of our church and city, praying meanwhile with King Solomon : " The Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers ; let Him not leave us, nor forsake us." W. B.
FIFTY YEARS AFTER.
I T may seem difficult, in the heat and hurry of the last decade of the nineteenth century, to transport ourselves back a period of fifty years, that we may contemplate the contrasted conditions of Camden history, while pondering the counsel of the wise king, "Say not thou, what is the cause that the former days were better than these?" But there are those still living in our midst-their number, alas ! too rapidly diminishing-who were . then the active players in the drama of life, and whose memories, undimmed by the march of time, love to linger in the past, while catching the richer radiance which streams from a hopeful outlook upon the future. With their assistance we may bridge the chasm of these thronging years and in imagination, at least, endeavor to recall one phase of the religious life of Camden as we might have witnessed it half a century ago.
An aged resident of this city, whose memory is singularly reten- tive and bright, describes her experiences upon the first Sunday which she spent in Camden. Her parents had come across the river to pass the summer months in rural quiet, and had located in the vicinity of Sixth and Kaighn Avenue. With the dawn of the day of rest, accompanied by her father, she started out in search of a place of worship. They had heard that Divine ser- vice, after the Presbyterian fashion, was statedly conducted in Camden, but how to reach the city limits was a problem. The well-paved streets which go dipping north and south, east and west, toward creek and river, were then covered with vast stretches of cultivated fields and luxuriant meadows. No railroad train ploughed its way through these fertile fields and through the fourth commandment. No omnibus or car, upon mercy bent, rat- tled its weekly round through populous thoroughfares, picking up the wearied worshiper and depositing him at the gates of Zion. The Sabbath quiet was undisturbed by the shrill cry of the news-
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boy or the shriller shriek of the iron horse. The melody of sing- ing birds and the sweet chimings of church bells, wafted across the river, alone broke the prevailing silence. One can scarcely realize the change which " has come over the spirit of Camden's dream " in the short period of fifty years. It seems incredible that as late as 1842, upon the summit of Cooper's Hill, not far from the inter- section of Broadway and Berkeley Street, stood a stately grove of virgin oak and pine, flanked upon the east by a magnificent apple orchard, or that, in passing from the southern section of our city, fences must be climbed, stiles surmounted, marshes avoided, and numerous inquiries instituted, before an opening could be discovered which led directly to the town.
Arriving at Federal Street, the strangers were surprised to find that the place of worship was the Court House. As they stood beneath the gloomy building, with its barred windows, the father quietly said, " Well, this will be the first time that I have been in prison." Their surprise was intensified, however, when they entered the Court House and found an army chaplain, clothed in martial uniform, seated upon the platform. As the old warrior, his gray locks streaming down his shoulders, arose to preach " to these spirits in prison," two of his auditors mentally said, " we will not get much of a sermon this morning." But as he opened up his text, and with logical force developed and applied its doc- trine, they sat entranced beneath the bewitching spell of his oratory. For several Sabbaths they attended with increasing delight upon his preaching before they learned that they had been listening to William L. McCalla, the uncompromising antagonist of their beloved pastor Albert Barnes, in those remarkable dis- cussions which attended the separation of the Presbyterian Church into Old School and New. But a few years before they had seen him enter the lecture room of their own church, and depositing an armful of books in the hollow of an old iron stove, blaze out into a violent attack upon the heresies of Mr. Barnes. And when the saintly victim of the attack, under a charge more unfounded than the others, arose and modestly addressed the presiding officer with : " Mr. Moderator, if I had said that of which I am accused I would have been guilty of a palpable falsehood. I deny ever
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uttering it," they had seen the very preacher to whom they had been listening with rapt attention, regardless of the remonstrance, pursue the uneven tenor of his way like some erratic comet, the very eccentricity of whose orbit carries consternation into the breast of the observer, lest it violate the laws of harmony or dis- turb the right relations of things. Yet such was the personal magnetism of the man, and such the eloquence and fervor of his preaching, that the prejudices of my informant and her father passed away, and during their stay in Camden they were among his most faithful hearers and his most constant admirers.
THE OLD FIRST CHURCH.
The history of that little congregation in the Court House may be briefly told. Upon the 27th of September, 1840, a committee appointed by the Presbytery of West Jersey, to look after the des- titute places within its bounds, organized a church of twelve mem- bers, in Camden, which shortly afterward extended a call to Rev. Alexander Heberton, of Salem, to become its pastor. Mr. Heber- ton declining the call, Rev. William L. McCalla, of Philadelphia, was, in the month of April, 1841,* invited to act as stated supply for the term of six months. To this action Presbytery was un- favorably disposed, for when the elders of the congregation requested the Committee on Destitutions to make an application to the Board of Missions for a commission for Mr. McCalla, and the request was referred by them to Presbytery for instructions as to the proper course to pursue, that body unanimously resolved, " That it was inexpedient for the committee to make such applica- tion, and that the committee be directed to convey to the elders of the church at Camden the resolution of Presbytery." The church, however, persisted in its desire to secure the settlement of Mr. McCalla. "It may not be uninteresting to many of our readers," says the Camden Mail, under date of July 14th, 1841, "to know that the Presbyterian congregation of this city hold regular mect-
* Upon Sunday afternoon, April 18th, he preached a discourse, commemora- tive of the life and labors of President Harrison, who had just died.
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ings for public worship at the City Hall, and that they have invited the Rev. William L. McCalla to become their pastor." A pro re nata meeting of Presbytery was accordingly held in Wood- bury, August 9th, 1841, at which Mr. McCalla presented a letter of dismission from the Presbytery of Philadelphia, requested to be received and enrolled as a member, and to be installed over the new church ; the church, through its elder, Henry Lelar, Jr., at the same time presenting a call for his services. Presbytery, thereupon, resolved, " That it is inexpedient to receive the Rev. Mr. McCalla as a member, and that he have leave to withdraw his papers." The yeas and nays were called for, and the ministers and elders present, with the exception of Mr. Lelar, sustained the resolution.
Mr. McCalla was not the man to submit to an imaginary, much less to what seemed to be a real grievance. As one of his biogra- phers good humoredly says, " He was a man of war from his youth." From the time of his reception into the Presbyterian Church as a candidate for its ministry, when, during his examina- tion, he had entered into an altercation with Dr. Blythe upon a matter of politics until, in his dislike for Catholicism, he found his way to Louisiana and died " fighting the devil upon his own ground," his ministerial life is covered with the scars of many con- flicts. It is not surprising, therefore, to find him petitioning the Synod of Philadelphia, at its next meeting, to redress his griev- ances, inasmuch as the refusal of the Presbytery of West Jersey to entertain the call from Camden had injured the cause of Christ in that city, and had affected his own ministerial usefulness. It is surprising, however, to note the action of Synod in the case. An exception was taken to the minutes of Presbytery on the ground that " the application of Rev. William L. McCalla to be received as a member was rejected without any statement of reasons which led to this act. This is regarded as an act of injustice to the applicant." The Synod, moreover, by a recorded vote of 52 to 20, detached " Camden and the parochial vicinage " from the jurisdiction of the Presbytery of West Jersey and annexed it to the Presbytery of Philadelphia, and directed the congregation of Camden, if it still
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desired to prosecute a call for Mr. McCalla's services,* to present it to the Presbytery of Philadelphia to be issued by them: Mr. McCalla had given no notice of his intention to appeal to Synod. Only a small representation of Presbytery was present to defend its action, but these, in conjunction with those members of Synod who doubted the regularity of the proceedings, drew up a formal com- plaint, and gave notice that it would be presented at the next meeting of the General Assembly. Presbytery at its spring session in Greenwich, April 20th, 1842, unanimously approved of this action of its delegates on " all points in which the constitution of the church had been violated."
In the meantime the church which had been the cause of the dispute had been transferred to the Presbytery of Philadelphia. This Presbytery, however, did not seem anxious to retain it. January 5th, 1842, Elder Lelar being present, by a vote of 9 to 5, with 5 persons excused from voting, it was resolved to ask Synod to rescind its action. The application was regularly made October 21st, 1842, and upon motion of Dr. Breckinridge, Camden and the parochial vicinage were retransferred to the Presbytery of West Jersey. Was it about this time that the hap- less waif expired ? It is usually said that the church disbanded December 1st, 1841, having existed fourteen months, but the fact that Elder Lelar represented the church at the meeting which the Presbytery of Philadelphia held in January, and also that the matter came up for final settlement in the month of October fol- lowing, would seem to make the date of dissolution, December 1st, 1842. On the 30th of January, 1842, the congregation vacated the Court House and commenced worshiping in " Miss Turner's
* The sentiment of the congregation is doubtless voiced by the Mail, where it says, November 10th, 1841: " The reverend gentleman had endeared himself to many of our citizens by his amenity of manner and Christian deportment, and the extraordinary exercise of power by the Church judicatory in his case was generally looked upon as harsh, uncalled for, and tyrannical. It is with unfeigned pleasure, therefore, we learn of his restoration to pastoral duty among us, satis- fied as we are that his devout example as a Christian instructor is calculated to do much good in our community. The City Hall was opened again for public wor- ship on Sunday last, and we understand that Mr. McCalla will preach there regu- larly hereafter the morning and afternoon of each Sabbath."
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school-room near the market," and as late as the month of April, when the last of three articles upon the "Evils of the Race- Course " appeared in the columns of the Mail over the signature of Mr. McCalla, he was still preaching in this city.
The Presbytery of Philadelphia justified its request for a re- transfer, upon the ground that the Synod had taken its former action " on the petition of an individual not connected with the church of Camden." In 1852 Mr. McCalla published his " Argument for the Cleansing of the Sanctuary," in which he advocates the exclusion of non-communicants from the office of trustee, and also from the privilege of voting in church meetings. Alluding to his troubles in this city he says : (p. 142) " On both sides of the Delaware, and on both sides of the Mississippi, con- gregations have solicited my services, and these secular usurpers (meaning non-communicant trustees and voters) and their repre- sentatives have refused to hear their call, or to hear my petition or complaint. This was done upon pretexts false and foul, in irre- concilable opposition to Presbyterianism and Protestantism, Christianity and Civilization." This was Mr. McCalla's explana- tion of his Camden difficulties .*
The story of the "Old First" Church would be incomplete without some reference to the life of Mr. McCalla,
CAMDEN'S PIONEER PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONARY.
This remarkable man was born in Kentucky, November 25th, 1788, at a time when that State was still a county of Virginia, and so wild that a panther was among his first playmates. He dedicated himself to God in early youth, and as a young man had many drawings toward the ministry, but was for a while deterred from entering upon the sacred office by the fear that faithfulness would lead to poverty and persecution. He pursued a partial course of study at Transylvania University, but was prevented from gradua- ting by an almost fatal illness. By special permission of Presby-
* History of Camden County ; Minutes of Presbytery of West Jersey, and of Synod and Presbytery of Philadelphia; Nevin's History of Presbytery of Phila- delphia.
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tery he studied theology at such times and in such ways as his shattered constitution would allow. He was appointed army chaplain by General Jackson in 1815; in 1819 became pastor of the church in Augusta, Ky .; from 1824-35 was settled over the Eighth or Scots Church, Philadelphia ; in 1835 traveled in Texas and again served as chaplain in the army; in 1837 returned to Philadelphia and labored successfully in the Fourth, Tabernacle, and Union Churches ; spent the spring and fall of 1840 in Texas, returning in time to become stated supply in Camden ; in 1854 performed missionary work in St. Louis among the boatmen, and afterward among the slaves of the South. He died in Louisiana, October 12th, 1859, in the 71st year of his age.
Nature had endowed Mr. McCalla with many of the elements which go to make up an effective platform speaker. He was of a tall and commanding presence, with piercing eyes, jet black hair, and a clarion voice. He was a good linguist, having a wonderful command of English and more or less acquaintance with seven other languages. In private life he was a warm-hearted and genial companion, gifted with rare conversational powers, and with an inexhaustible fund of anecdote and wit. He especially excelled in debate. His Kentuckian instincts led him largely into the field of polemics. He was accustomed to say that there was nothing in which he took greater delight than in breaking a pair of spirited colts, a statement which his friends might have qualified by add- ing, " unless it was the excitement of a hot and thrilling debate." " He had an uncommon power of self-control and could say the most diverting and cutting things without changing a muscle. In all his contests he remained perfectly cool." As Dr. Miller, of Princeton, said of him, " he was as smooth as oil, but it was the oil of vitriol." He held remarkable discussions with the Arian Baptists, William Lane, of Milford, Del., and Frederick Plummer, of Leiper- ville, Pa. ; with John Hughes, afterward Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church ; with Abner Kneeland, the Atheist, and Joseph Barker, the Infidel. In the controversy which rent the Presby- terian Church asunder in 1837, he sustained his reputation for " pugnacity, ability, and power of sarcasm." His most celebrated encounter was with Alexander Campbell, who was assisted in the
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debate by the notorious Sidney Rigdon, afterward a leader of the Mormons.
The following are the publications which he issued from the press : "A Discussion of Universalism ; or, A Defense of Ortho- doxy against the Heresy of Universalism ;" " A Correct Narra- tive of the Affairs connected with the Trial of the Rev. Albert Barnes ;" a small collection of Psalms and hymns in French ; " Adventures in Texas chiefly in the Spring and Summer of 1840, with a Discussion," etc .; and "An Argument for Cleans- ing the Sanctuary, delivered in the Presbytery of Philadelphia, with an Introduction," in which it is said " Delicate nerves will doubtless be terribly shocked at the clangor of Mr. McCalla's refor- mation blast." His "Adventures in Texas " is a strange melange of piety, keenness of observation, and wit. He gives us a glimpse into some of the hardships of his ministry, in one place, in the form of a parable, pilloring under fictitious names, two well-known ministers of Philadelphia, and a General in the United States Army of national reputation. He is especially severe upon doctors of divinity. A most laughable allusion to an incident in the book of Kings it might be in questionable taste to quote, but his opinion of academic titles, when applied to the ministry, is easily seen where he says : " But to secure the full benefit of it, the title ought to be fully written out and translated like the Scriptures, or the common people will be in perpetual perplexity about the meaning of D. D. as they are about the letters O. K. in party politics ; and they may be as capricious in changing the meaning. At first O. K. was General Jackson's seal of approbation upon all that his suc- cessor did, and afterward, when that successor was removed from office, O. K. was turned wrong-end foremost, and interpreted kicked out. As D. D. is given to many ecclesiastics who are wrong-end foremost, their title is subject to the same vicissitude, unless its meaning is fixed, like the Hebrew words, by punctuarian additions." After enumerating the many mistaken impressions of the meaning of the letters which the common people might form, principal among which is the conviction that it may mean D-umb D-og, " a scriptural title exceedingly suitable to those who are for letting error die a natural death," he concludes by saying: "But most
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people prefer explaining a D. D. to mean Dulce Donum, a sweet bribe, which like the Regium Donum, the bait of John Bull, is intended to catch such gudgeons as may be gulled in that way."
It will be seen from this cursory review of Mr. McCalla's life that he was a man of brilliant parts, a keen and original thinker, a faith- ful and eloquent preacher. " His success in life," says the intro- duction to one of his books, " has always been impeded by his frankness in speaking out his sentiments and feelings ; his want of policy in his dealings with men ; his ready use of his irrepressible satire ; but most of all by his bold adherence to a simple, un- tarnished form of Christianity, never giving place to the influence of the world-no, not for an hour." There is something pathetic in the language of this same introduction, when intimating that he had been deserted in his old age by his Old School friends, it says, " The New School press" (which had regarded him as the " chief alarmist " in the controversies of '37, and as the " chief thorn in their side") " exhibited a generous sympathy for their fallen foe, and a proper dislike for the inhumanity with which his labors were rewarded."*
THE PRESENT FIRST CHURCH.
It is not the intention of the author of these sketches to enter into a detailed account of the history of existing organizations. He has endeavored, however, to tell with fullness and fidelity, the story of the origin and struggles of those churches which have suc- cumbed to the force of circumstances, and whose very names are in danger of perishing from the memory of men. The First Church will in a few years celebrate the semi-centennial of its existence. Its noble history, the story of its discouragements and successes, will then be sketched by another hand. In the meantime, to com- plete this rapid review of the origin and growth of the denomina- tion in our city, we will outline, in the briefest way, the history of the Mother Church.
The present First Church dates its permanent organization from
* Presbyterian Encyclopædia; "History of Old Scots Church," by Rev. J. C. Thompson ; " An Argument for Cleansing the Sanctuary ;" local memoranda.
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June 25th, 1846. The Rev. Giles Manwaring, after several months of faithful missionary labor, had gathered together a membership of twenty-one persons, who, by act of Presbytery, were constituted a church, with William Howell as its first elder. The names of these constituent members were William Howell, Elizabeth Howell, Albert Montgomery, Sarah Montgomery, Richard B. Jones, Mary Jones, Charles J. Hollis, Angeline Hollis, George W. Helmbold, Mary Anna Helmbold, Benjamin Hunt, Catherine Hunt, Cath- erine Casner, Eliza Casner, Joseph Casner, Mercy Howard, Eliza- beth Holmes, Ann Nowland, Mary Nowland, Julia L. Manwaring, all received by certificate, and Mary Horner, received upon exam- ination.
The interests of Presbyterianism were in such a feeble state when Mr. Manwaring came upon the field, that he could only find two families in the whole town who professed that faith. Calling upon these families, he appointed a preliminary meeting for 9 o'clock, March 3d, 1846, in the school-house of Miss Turner, Third Street, between Market and Arch. There the strong and vigorous church of to-day was cradled. Helen Hunt (now Mrs. Denning, of De- lanco) was the first Sabbath-school scholar. She distinctly remem- bers the circumstances of that humble gathering. Accompanied by her aunt, she entered the school-room at the time appointed, and found only two persons in waiting, Auley G. McCalla, cashier of the National State Bank, and Mr. Manwaring. The little room with its clean-scrubbed, sanded floor, and its great hot stove in the centre, made a vivid impression upon her mind. Advancing to the little girl, Mr. Manwaring said, " Well, you have the honor of being our first Sabbath-school scholar."
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