USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > The North Reformed Church, Newark, New Jersey : the addresses delivered in connection with the observance of the fiftieth anniversary, Dec. 10-17, 1906 > Part 1
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orth Reformed : Church : :: newark . new Jersey
1856 .. 1906
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02694 9419
300
974.902 N51nh North Reformed Church ( Newark, N.J. ) The North Reformed Church, Newark, New Jersey
1
The Golden Jubilee of the North Reformed Church
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THE NORTH REFORMED CHURCH, Newark, New Jersey.
The North Reformed Church Newark, New Jersey
The Addresses Delivered in Connection with the Observance of the Fiftieth Anniversary, Dec. 10-17, 1906
NEW YORK
THE BOARD OF PUBLICATION
of the Reformed Church in America
1907
ounty Public Library ebster Street :2270 ayne, IN 46801-2270
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction I
The History of The Sunday Schools. By Mr. Frederick Frelinghuysen 7 Address by the Rev'd Isaac Heyer Pol- hemus 35
Address by the Rev'd Joseph Rankin Dur-
yee, D. D .. 45
Address by the Rev'd Edward Payson Ter- hune, D. D. 55
Poem by the Rev'd Denis Wortman, D. D .. 75 Anniversary Sermon by the Rev'd James I. Vance, D. D .. 85
Poem by Mrs. Margaret E. Sangster 103 Greetings by the Rev'd George S. Bishop, D. D. 109
Greetings by the Rev'd David R. Frazer, D. D. II6
Greetings by the Rev'd Louis Shreve Os- borne I23
Address by the Rev'd James Demarest, D. D. 129
Address by the Rev'd Charles E. Hart, D. D. I37
Address by the Rev'd Donald Sage Mackay, D. D. 147 Hymn by Miss Mary Drummond Campbell. 159 Hymn by Mr. Thomas S. Wilson 16I
(5)
-
PORTRAITS
The North Reformed Church ...... Frontispiece
The Rev'd Abraham Polhemus, D. D.opp. p. 8
Tunis A. Waldron I6
Peter Demarest 40
Joseph P. Bradley
32
Frederick T. Frelinghuysen
24
John A. Miller
72
John C. Woodruff
56
Isaac Gaston
64
Peter Vanderhoof
80
Peter S. Duryee
48
The Rev'd Hasbrouck Dubois. 96
The Rev'd James Demarest, D. D .... 104
The Rev'd Charles E. Hart, D. D ....
II2
The Rev'd David Waters, LL.D ..... I20
The Rev'd Donald Sage Mackay, D.D.
128
The Rev'd James I. Vance, D. D .. . . .
136
The Rev'd Peter K. Hageman. I44
The Church Interior 88
(7)
INTRODUCTION
HE fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the North Reformed Church of New- ark, New Jersey, was observed with ap- propriate exercises running through the week Dec. 10th-17th, 1906.
The arrangements for the observance were in the hands of a committee appointed by the Con- sistory and consisting of Messrs. Frederick Fre- linghuysen, Peter Campbell, Peter Vanderhoof, James S. Polhemus, J. William Clark, John Alli- son and J. Henry Lindeburg. Before the arrival of the date for the celebration, one member of the committee, Mr. Peter Vanderhoof, was called to his eternal reward. His death was all the more lamented because he was the one surviving mem- ber of the first consistory still on the rolls of the church, and had served continuously as elder or deacon from the day of organization down to the time of his death.
As a preparation for the semi-centennial ob- servance, the interior of the church was refur- nished and newly decorated at an expenditure of $10,000.
The exercises began on Monday night, Dec. Ioth, with a men's dinner, served in the Lecture room of the church. About two hundred men were present. The guest of the evening was the
I
INTRODUCTION
Rev'd Henry Evertson Cobb, D. D., minister of the West End Collegiate Church of New York City, and grandson of Dr. Polhemus, the First Minister of the North Church.
At the dinner, Mr. Peter Campbell presided, and addresses were made by Justice Francis J. Swayze of the Supreme Court of New Jersey on "The Church and The Courts"; by Dr. Cobb on "The Man and The Church"; and by Dr. Vance on "The Man and The Collection". Some attrac- tive music was rendered by Miss Hood's Orches- tra, and a song "The North Church", composed for the occasion by Miss Mary Drummond Camp- bell, was sung by the men present to the tune of America.
On Tuesday evening the church was filled to overflowing at the exercises in which the Sunday Schools were represented. The history of the schools was presented in a historical paper by Mr. Frederick Frelinghuysen, and an address on "The Sunday School as a Spiritual Force", was delivered by the Rev'd John F. Patterson, D. D., minister of the Central Presbyterian Church of East Orange. A delightful feature of the exer- cises was the singing of a large chorus composed of some one hundred and fifty of the young people of the Sunday Schools.
Wednesday evening was devoted to Reminis- cences, and appropriate addresses were delivered by two sons of the church, the Rev'd Isaac Heyer
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INTRODUCTION
Polhemus and the Rev'd Joseph Rankin Duryee, D. D., and by the Rev'd Edward Payson Ter- hune, D. D., for fifteen years the pastor of the First Reformed Church of Newark, and closely associated with the North Church during the first quarter of a century of its history. A poem was read by the Rev'd Denis Wortman, D. D., inspired by the dying words of Dr. Polhemus ; and a song, composed for the occasion by Mr. Thomas S. Wilson, was sung by the congrega- tion, to the tune "Scots wha hae."
On Thursday evening a reception was given under the auspices of the Reception Committee of the Ladies' Benevolent and Missionary So- ciety, attended by about eight hundred members of the congregation.
Friday evening, services preparatory to com- munion were held; and Sunday morning Holy Communion was observed. The preacher was the Rev'd Hugh Black, recently of St. George's Free Church, Edinburgh. The church would not accommodate all who sought to attend, and the administration of the Sacrament to a body of communicants who packed the body of the church, filled all the aisles, and overflowed into the galleries, was most impressive. At this ser- vice fifty-six new members were received, and a Jubliee Offering of $4,350.00 for Foreign Mis- sions was gathered.
Sunday night the anniversary sermon was de-
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INTRODUCTION
livered by Dr. Vance, and on Monday night the anniversary exercises proper were held.
Dr. Vance called attention to the large num- ber of letters received extending congratulations and expressing the regret of the writers to be present. Among those thus heard from were President Theodore Roosevelt, the Presidents of various Colleges and Universities, a large num- ber of ministers of the Reformed and other churches, former members of the North Church, and others interested in the occasion.
Greetings were brought from the Reformed Church in America by the Rev'd George S. Bishop, D. D., minister of the First Reformed Church of East Orange; from the Presbyterian Church by the Rev'd David R. Frazer, D. D., Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Newark; and from the Protestant Episcopal Church by the Rev'd Louis Shreeve Osborne, Rector of Trinity Church, Newark.
A poem, dedicated to the occasion, was read by Mrs. Margaret E. Sangster, and addresses were delivered by all the living former pastors of the church, the Rev'd James Demarest, D. D., minis- ter of Bethany Reformed Church, Brooklyn; Prof. Charles E. Hart, D. D., of Rutgers Col- lege; and the Rev'd Donald Sage Mackay, D. D., minister of the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas, New York City. Despite inclement weather on some of the evenings, the exercises
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INTRODUCTION
were attended by large and enthusiastic congre- gations, and the celebration was marked throughout by a reverential gratitude to God for His great favor and by a sincere and growing attachment to the church and a profound interest in its welfare.
5
a
HISTORY OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOLS
BY
FREDERICK FRELINGHUYSEN.
.
REV. ABRAHAM POLHEMUS, D. D., First Minister, 1857.
HISTORICAL PAPER
BY
FREDERICK FRELINGHUYSEN
O be selected to give the half century his- tory of a Sunday School in thirty min- utes is to receive no easy task; and to be selected because you are supposed to be the oldest living inhabitant, rather than because of any peculiar qualification, is no great compli- ment. To give dates and facts if records existed, would of itself require a research far beyond the amount of time I have had at my disposal for the purpose ; and to give the real internal, spirit- ual history would if possible be far beyond the bounds of propriety and would be an intrusion into the sanctum sanctorum of life and I should have to portray facts for which my humble pen is quite unequal.
To write the history of a Sunday School for fifty years would, with propriety, comprise a list of all the teachers and all the scholars who have attended during all these years; for while office gives prominence before us, the humble workers are as well known on high.
To write the history, we might omit all of these if we could record the more valuable inci- dents of the spiritual life of the school, if we could tell of the souls born into the Kingdom, of
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GOLDEN JUBILEE-NORTH REFORMED CHURCH
sinners redeemed, of young men and women who found their redemption here, who early in life found that the fear of the Lord was the begin- ning of wisdom.
Our schools cannot be said to be up to date in modern advanced Sunday School methods with charts and prizes and exhibitions. The same spirit which controlled the founders of the church in deep serious devotion, has prevailed and controlled throughout the history of the schools. The study of the Word and the remod- elling of the life, the serious attention of the scholars, and the prayers and study of the teach- ers have been the prevailing tone of our school.
The regular steps, the infant school, the senior school, teaching in the senior school, then officers and workers in the church, mark the life of many. Never, it can almost be said, has the school been without a deep religious feeling, sometimes in enthusiastic revival results, but al- ways bearing fruit for the Master.
Pursuant to the action of the Classis of Bergen held in Jersey City on Nov. 25, 1856, appointing a committee to organize the North Reformed Dutch Church, which committee consisted of Rev. Dr. Scott, Rev. Dr. Abeel, Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage, and Elders Sebastian Duncan and Benj. C. Miller, the committee met on the 17th of Dec., 1856, in the presence of persons desiring such organization. The following persons pre-
IO
THE SUNDAY SCHOOLS
sented themselves with their certificates of mem- bership :
From the First Reformed Dutch Church, of Newark :
Tunis A. Waldron, Mrs. Amanda Waldron, Miss Amanda Waldron, John C. Woodruff, Mrs. Julia J. Woodruff, Isaac Gaston, Mrs. Mary E. Gaston, Anna Thompson, Joseph P. Bradley, Mrs. Mary Bradley, Peter Demarest, Mrs. Mary Demarest, Jacob A. Debaun, Mrs. Catherine De- baun, Mrs. Catherine Penovie, Mrs. Ann Am- drichs, John A. Miller, Anne E. Brown, Isaac S. Miller, Frances Hanson, Joseph Robinson, Mrs. Violet Robinson, Violet Robinson, Peter Vanderhoof, Mrs. Margaret Vanderhoof, Mrs. Mary Waldron, Mrs. Sarah Dees, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, Mrs. Matilda E. Frelinghuysen, Mrs. Fanny Steele.
From the Second Reformed Dutch Church. of Newark :
Tamar Garrison, wife of Stephen Cadmus, Mrs. Mary Jane Austin, Newell Ransom, Mrs. Mary Dunn Ransom.
From the First Reformed Dutch Church, New Brunswick :
Rev. Wm. H. Steele.
The following officers were elected: Elders, Messrs. Tunis A. Waldron, Joseph P. Bradley, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen and Peter Demarest ; and Deacons, Messrs. John A. Miller, Isaac Gas-
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GOLDEN JUBILEE-NORTH REFORMED CHURCH
ton, Peter Vanderhoof and John C. Woodruff. Mr. Waldron was elected President of the Con- sistory and Mr. Woodruff, Treasurer and Secre- tary.
It was so early in the life of the church as Dec. 22, 1856, five days after the organization, that a call was extended to the Rev. Dr. Polhemus, and on the same date, Dec. 22, 1856, that it was de- cided to form a Sunday School under the com- mittee named of Messrs. Waldron, Frelinghuy- sen, Miller, Gaston and Woodruff ; Mr. Freling- huysen was at the same time requested to organ- ize a Bible Class. A Sunday School Society was then formed. The officers of the Sunday School were a President and a man and a woman Super- intendent. "The duties of the President shall be to call and preside at all meetings of the Society, whether for religious exercises and improvement or for business, to supervise the financial and lib- rary departments, to conduct a Bible Class and to co-operate with the Superintendent in the ex- ercises of the School as occasion may require; the duties of the Superintendent to divide the school into proper classes, select teachers, etc .; the Secretary to be also Treasurer and Librarian ; and any person becomnig a teacher in the school to become a member of the Society, and any other person on application and election."
As if it were a forerunner of the success which was to attend our Sunday School, there had been
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THE SUNDAY SCHOOLS
started some few years before, a Sunday School in a little white schoolhouse at the Northwest corner of Orange and Plane Streets, not far from here, which was directed by Mr. John A. Miller and John B. I. Robinson. This school was transferred to and formed a fine nucleus for the Sunday School.
Our School was organized and held its first session on the second Sunday in January, 1857, in Oraton Hall nearby. The officers were Presi- dent, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen; Superintend- ents, Jno. A. Miller and Mrs. Amanda Waldron. Among the names of teachers (of which no record is extant) are Anne E. Brown, better known at this time as Mrs. Robert F. Ballantine. Another name was Miss Mary O. Duryee. These two ladies in all these years have remained constant in their active and ardent de- votion to the school. Other names were those already read as original members of the church ; for the zeal and courage which embarked on that enterprise of building a church were untram- melled by personal comfort, but night and day they worked and prayed and met and strove in every way for the advancement of the cause. One name, still in the flesh, appears on every active record of the Church's school; that is John C. Woodruff. He was Secretary and Treasurer of the Church, and Chorister, and Secretary of the Consistory, and Secretary and Treasurer of
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GOLDEN JUBILEE-NORTH REFORMED CHURCH
the Sunday School. His zealous character and ardent devout nature made him a great power in the organization and history of the Church.
For many years and until called away to the United States Senate in 1867, Mr. Frelinghuysen conducted a Bible Class, which was the successor of a similar class conducted by him for years previously in the old First Reformed Church in Market Street. This class was composed of 200 men and women who met at the close of the Sun- day School in the afternoon. After it was dis- banded Mr. Frelinghuysen every Sunday, when in town, addressed the Sunday School, explain- ing and applying the Bible lesson of the day.
The same courage and generosity which in- duced the founders of this church to select one of the most costly sites in the city for the church, led them in seeking a pastor for the church to select one of the noblest of men, Abraham Pol- hemus. Few now living remember the incidents connected with his coming to Newark, but some few recall the important event. His presence is constantly recalled by his worthy son, our own Sunday School Superintendent. He came from a quiet village pastorate to a new metropolitan charge. No one was ever more heartily received and no one in the very short time of service of three months here ever made a more favorable impress on the community at large nor ever en- deared himself to his people more thoroughly.
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THE SUNDAY SCHOOLS
Though but a little child at the time, I remember to-day the apparently inconsolable grief of my own people. His large family left desolate by his loss, devoted themselve to the church of his choice and their names in the fifty years of the life of this church have ever been conspicuous in de- votion to the interests of the church and zealous in advancing its interests.
From the start of the Sunday School to the present time the interests of the Sunday School have been most carefully fostered by the church. The founders of the church old and young, al- most without exception, were active in the Sun- day School work and in return in no church has the fact that the Sunday School is the nursery of the church been more forcibly proven.
Waldron, Miller, Frelinghuysen, Cadmus, Brown, now Ballantine, Hanson, Robinson, Demarest, Penovie, Woodruff, Vanderhoff, were all identified with not only the early history of the Sunday School, but down to the present or so long as their advancing years would allow. Two names it seems proper to emphasize, Miss Violet Robinson and Miss Jennie Browning. These two young ladies took charge of the infant school at the start and with devotion to their work, strengthened by the loveliness of their characters and personalties, built up a large school. They served faithfully and as long as their health and residence in this city allowed.
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GOLDEN JUBILEE-NORTH REFORMED CHURCH
They were followed by Miss Mary O. Duryee, who from 1864 to 1899 directed the afternoon infant school with a devotion of rare quality.
The first Superintendent of the Sunday School, which met at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, was as I have stated, Mr. John A. Miller, who occupied that important office for many years, and until he yielded the leadership to Mr. John C. Woodruff, taking then a class in the school which he retained until the time of his death on Easter Sunday, 1887.
Mr. Miller was very active in the organization of the church and for many years in the work of the school and church, and his family succeeded him in his good work. His daughters have been conspicuous in their self sacrificing devotion to the Sunday Schools and to all church work.
In 1870 there was started the Morning Sun- day School, under the guidance of Mr. Caleb G. Crane, as a mission school originally, but it soon became as important a school and as representa- tive of our church people as the afternoon school. It has been greatly blessed of Heaven.
Cottage prayer meetings were started by mem- bers of the North Reformed Church in 1871 in the northern part of the city, during the pastorate of Dr. Hart. These meetings continued for nearly two years, and then for a few months were held in a small hall on the corner of Clark Street and Belleville Avenue. In 1873 the second
I6
TUNIS A. WALDRON, Elder in First Consistory.
THE SUNDAY SCHOOLS
floor of the building, No. 37 Belleville Avenue, was leased and there the meetings were con- tinued for many years, until Mr. Clark pur- chased the old Belleville Avenue Congregational Church property and allowed the church to use it for its Mission meetings. The meetings were continued in this place until its destruction by fire. The mission did its greatest work and met with most pronounced success in No. 37 Belle- ville Avenue. Every worker in the old mission was connected with the Sunday School, either as a scholar or teacher, and great blessings resulted from this work.
Mr. Frank R. Van Nest followed Mr. Miller as Superintendent of the afternoon school and he in turn was followed by Dr. Arthur Ward, and he by the author of this sketch, who was Super- intendent of both the morning and afternoon Schools for about fifteen years and until 1890, when he resigned and was followed by J. Wilbur Smith, of blessed memory. No more beautiful influence was ever exerted over a school than that of Wilbur Smith's, and it was only his seem- ingly untimely summons to higher fields of ser- vice which terminated his work in our schools.
At that time the schools had reached an aggre- gate membership of 980 members, many attend- ing both sessions of the schools. Upon the death of Mr. Smith, the morning school elected, about 1893, Mr. James S. Polhemus, Superintendent,
17
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GOLDEN JUBILEE-NORTH REFORMED CHURCH
and he has served until the present to the entire satisfaction of the school and church. Under his guidance the moring school has grown to its largest proportions. Young men's classes under the care of Mr. Peter Campbell and Mr. Arnold and Mr. Hobart have added largely to the useful- ness of the school, retaining in the school young men beyond the age when they are prone to for- sake the school. The writer of this sketch was again chosen Superintendent of the afternoon school upon the death of Mr. Wilbur Smith, and was succeeded by Mr. John Monteith, as Super- intendent, who for many years as Assistant Sup- erintendent had attended to much of the detail of the work and was well qualified for the posi- tion which he still fills.
In 1895 a Sunday School was started at our Kearny Mission under Mr. Thos. P. Thompson, as Superintendent. It was the outcome of Mis- sion meetings held there for years. It has met with great success, reducing somewhat the size of the afternoon school, but most of the scholars attending the morning church school and the af- ternoon East Newark Mission school. The num- bers of the several schools combined aggregate over 1,500 scholars.
The expense of the schools has always been borne by the church and the contributions of the scholars have always been devoted to Domestic and Foreign Missions. For many years we sup-
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THE SUNDAY SCHOOLS
ported our own missionary in the West and now for some years have given to the Domestic and Foreign Boards of the Church.
The Infant Schools have always been most fortunate in having devout and capable leaders. Starting with the two ladies named we have had in the afternoon school Miss Mary O. Duryee, Miss Anna May Miller, Mrs. Fredericka Munn, and Miss Charlotte Howell, under whose present guidance the school has prospered greatly. The morning Infant School has for years been a special object of devotion of Mrs. Robert F. Bal- lantine, appearing on our church organization rolls as Anne E. Brown, and all through the fifty years we find her ever devoted and zealous not only to this Sunday School but to every good work that either the church or school undertook, of either a religious, benevolent or charitable na- ture. Associated with her have been several faithful teachers, among them Mrs. Sarah Sloan Weeks, Miss Lillian Pullin, Mrs. Louise L. Kiersted, and Miss Ruby Earl. Miss Anna May Miller after many years of most devoted service to the Infant School passed to her reward about a year ago.
In 1883 our present new Sunday School build- ing was erected in the place of the old school building which the schools had long outgrown. It was built out of part of the income of the Eliza A. Crane fund, left to the church by a member of
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GOLDEN JUBILEE-NORTH REFORMED CHURCH
that name for such religious and educational purposes as the church was in the habit of con- tributing to. Aside from the annual donations to outside religious objects to which the church contributed, this school building is all we have to show for the fund, as the mine of which the fund was composed, long since ceased to yield us an income ; although an undeveloped tract may de- velop a mine. The increased benevolences of the church in recent years however have more than made up for the $10,000, yearly income of the Crane fund, and the church and its members give more than when the Crane fund was in full force.
The library for the use of the scholars was maintained with great care for many years by Mr. William T. Plume, who very early in our history became connected with our church and who still retains a paternal interest, as is evi- denced by occasional visits to the schools, al- though residing in a neighboring city.
For the past 25 years Mr. John Allison, as- sisted of late years by Mr. Dickerson, has cared for the library for both the morning and after- noon schools. The expense of keeping the library supplied with good and new books is met with a fund established by the late William Clark, an elder of this church, in memory of Mrs. Clark, and entitled "the Margaret Symington Clark Memorial Fund." A similar fund also provides aid for the needy poor in our church,
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THE SUNDAY SCHOOLS
prizes for recitations and attendance being also provided at our anniversary out of that fund.
The spiritual condition has been zealously and continuously considered as paramount in im- portance, and has resulted in untold blessings. Periods of revival have been enjoyed, probably the most marked was in 1888, when B. Fay Mills the Evangelist was here; but always we have been conscious of the silent working of the Spirit in the hearts of the scholars.
It was my good fortune in my childhood, in the early days of the church, to witness the seri- ous devotion of those who founded the church. I can remember their prayer meetings held at different private houses, sometimes at our house. The mysterious solemn bearing of those in at- tendance struck me with awe, but I have since realized that it was the serious consecrated work in which they were engaged which made these meetings so solemn; true to the church's motto Nisi Dominus Frustra. In addition to the bur- dens knowingly assumed by the founders of the church, 1857 experienced one of the worst busi- ness panics involving the solvency of many peo- ple, a panic which called for soup-kitchens and public meetings to provide means of sustenance for the people throughout the city. The church was not then built, nor indeed was the money raised for it. An examination of the records of the church frequently shows that an earnest ef-
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