USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > First church in Newark : historical discourses, relating to the First Presbyterian church in Newark; originally delivered to the congregation of that church during the month of January, 1851 > Part 21
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* The following minute in the records
take such other steps as he thinks proper, of the Trustees of this congregation, serves and apply the money to his own use." to illustrate this point. "Whereas, a 11 March, 1778. (Records, p. 1.) quantity of wood has been cut off the par- + Dr. Griffin states that in the month of June, 1778, he received an application for his services from the Congregational Church in the city of Charleston, S. C., and a few months later, a regular call from that congregation. (See Funeral Sermon, p. 19.) sonage for the use of the troops, and no regular account kept thereof, and whereas the high price of every article of life ren- ders it very difficult for our worthy minis- ter to subsist, it is agreed by this board, that the Rev. Dr. Alexander Macwhorter be authorized to agree and compound with į Charlotte Academy, the quarter-masters for the said wood, or
237
RESETTLEMENT IN NEWARK.
left the place in the autumn of 1780, and made his way back as far as Abington, where he engaged to preach for the winter.
Meanwhile, the congregation here had remained without a pastor. A. Mr. Fish,* as I have been in- formed, supplied the pulpit for a time, but he was not settled, and the attachment of the people to their old shepherd remained unabated. By special invitation, he made them a visit in the month of February, 1781, and before the end of April, he was back with all his family, and reinstated in his pastoral rights and priy- ileges.+
1
The question has been raised whether Dr. Macwhor- ter was the pastor of the Church, or only a stated supply, during the succeeding years of his ministry. A brief statement of facts will suffice, I think, to set that question at rest. Dr. Macwhorter's testimonials of dismission and recommendation were voted in the Presbytery, at a meeting held in Newark, June 11th, 1779, but were not furnished by the Clerk till the order was renewed, on the 19th of October following. On the 9th of May, 1781, he again appeared in the
* The records of the Trustees contain some notices of an order to pay Mr. Fish, just after Dr. M.'s return.
t The following extract, from a letter of the Hon. Wm. Peartree Smith to his son, is at least amusing. It is, I believe, with- out date.
"I send you a letter from your friend, Dr. Rogers, bro't hither by Mr. Fish. Pray, do you know that old Parson Mac- whorter, with his hopeful flock, are all got safe to Abington, a place not far from Philadelphia? The good old folks here now talk of recalling him. My economic
lady, who is wiser in her generation than the children of light, declares it will be as impracticable to maintain his wasteful se- raglio as to keep the light house in forage ; and though I really have the charity to
think she would open her purse
with proper Christian prudence, to feed the Gospel minister, yet she can by no means brook it, that the pious morsels she offers on the altar, should be immediately gobbled by his group of insatiable ungos- pelled gossips." The whole letter is full of fun, and probably answered its intent to provoke a little good natured merriment.
*
*
*
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RESETTLEMENT IN NEWARK.
Presbytery, when Mr. Baldwin, his elder, made the statement that the congregation in Newark had invited Dr. Macwhorter to re-settle with them, and Dr. Mac- whorter himself declared that he had accepted the invitation .* The minutes of the same meeting contain the following entry : "Dr. Macwhorter having been driven from his congregation in North Carolina by the enemy, and now residing in our bounds, the Presby- tery do receive him as a stated corresponding member, · till he receive a regular dismission." A few days later, viz., on the 17th of the same month, Dr. Macwhorter appeared in the Synod, and stated that the distressing circumstances of North Carolina, arising from the war, had rendered the objects of his removal abortive, and prevented him from obtaining a regular dismission from the Orange Presbytery." "Whereupon, it was ordered that Dr. Macwhorter be re-united to the New York Presbytery." Before the next meeting of that body however, he had obtained his credentials, and was enrolled accordingly.+
The only doubt about his pastoral connection, has arisen from the fact that he was not formally re-in- stalled. But, for this omission there were sufficient reasons. He had been absent from his old people less than two years, and meanwhile they had had no other pastor. A formal installation would naturally appear to them almost superfluous. Besides, the distracted state of the times made it difficult for that body to assemble; and it is extremely doubtful, whether they
* Minutes of the Presbytery of New York.
+ Minutes of the Synod of Philadelphia and New York.
239
RESETTLEMENT IN NEWARK.
held any regular meetings for a year or two previous to Dr. Macwhorter's dismission. The whole body was almost constantly absent from the Synod, and, from the same causes, Dr. Macwhorter's dismission from the Presbytery of Orange could not be obtained till he had been actually officiating as minister in his old sta- tion for a considerable time.
On the other hand, it is well known that Dr. Mac- whorter always regarded himself as the regular pastor, and so speaks of himself repeatedly in his writings ; and the people likewise so regarded him, and so spoke of him and addressed him .* The Presbytery too, recognized him as the pastor, in the most explicit terms; and his colleague, Dr. Griffin, was settled ac- cordingly, as the " co-pastor of Dr. Macwhorter."
Nor is this the only case on record, in which a pas- toral relation has been constituted without a formal installation. The Rev. John Murray was removed from Booth Bay to Newburyport, Mass., by a simple vote of his Presbytery, sitting at a different place ; and, in the early Minutes of the Synod of Philadel- phia, then the highest judicatory of the Presbyterian Church, there is a formal judgment pronounced on a case directly in point. I refer to the case of the Rev. William Tennent, senior, of Neshaminy, a portion of whose people attempted to deny him pastoral rights, because he had not been formally installed. That judgment is, "That Mr. Tennent, having in all respects acted, and been esteemed and looked upon, not only
* See an address to Dr. M., prefixed to the published volumes of his discourses.
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NEWARK RECOVERS ITS PROSPERITY.
by this Synod, but also by the congregation of Ne- shaminy, and particularly by the appellants them- selves, as the pastor of that people, that he is still to be esteemed as the pastor of that people, notwithstand- ing the want of a formal installment among them"- an omission which the Synod goes on to declare, "is far from nullifying the pastoral relation."* The question may perhaps be regarded as of little moment, but as it has been raised recently, in some of the pub- lic papers, it seems due to historic verity, to say nothing more, that the true state of the case should be exhibited.
The town of Newark suffered severely in all its in- terests during the war, but when the war closed, Dr. Macwhorter tells us, "it soon recovered from its dam- ages, increased fast in its population, and quickly began to flourish, especially in manufactories."+ Just at the close of that period, in 1783, says Dr. Griffin, "the trustees of Washington Academy in Somerset county, Maryland, ignorant that Dr. Macwhorter was permanently settled, offered him the Presidency of that institution with a salary of 300 pounds a year." But though the principal object of the institution was the education of pious youth for the gospel ministry, and though the neighboring county opened an ex- tensive field for his ministerial labors, his attachment to the congregation, which had so recently given him such generous proofs of affection, rendered it impossi- ble for him to accept the invitation."} He was heart-
* Minutes of the Synod of Philadelphia, p. 125.
+ Manuscript History.
Į Funeral Sermon, pp. 21-22.
241
REVIVAL OF 1784.
ily glad to get back among his old friends, and the people were quite as glad to bid him welcome and to retain him among them.
The next year, viz., the year 1784, was distinguished by the commencement of a very great and lasting re- vival of religion in this congregation. Among the seasons of special encouragement, which had distin- guished the earlier period of Dr. Macwhorter's ministry, was the one which occurred just before the breaking out of the war. But the troubles which so soon fol- lowed, seemed to turn the thoughts of the people away from their spiritual interests, and a large part of the supposed converts, it is said, went back and walked no more with Christ's followers. But the effusion of divine influences experienced at the period now re- ferred to, surpassed, as the aged people who remember it say, all that went before during their memory, and all that has followed. It was at a time of great reli- gious declension every where, and especially in this congregation. Dancing, frolicking, and all sorts of worldly amusements absorbed the thoughts of the . young, even in the most respectable and religious fam- ilies ; and among the lower class, vice and dissipation, the bitter dregs of the long and demoralizing war, which had but just ended, prevailed to a frightful extent. At this juncture, a stranger preached at an evening service. There were no pews in the old church, but the people sat upon long benches-the men on one side and the women on the other-while in the gallery sat the young people, distributed on opposite sides in the same way. In the midst of his
16
242
REVIVAL OF 1784.
sermon the preacher paused, and looking up to the young people in the gallery, referred to what he had learned respecting their habits, and asked in a solemn and earnest manner, "Will you go dancing to hell ??? The countenances of two or three fell immediately, their heads dropped, and it was soon evident that the bow thus drawn at a venture, had sped an arrow of the Almighty, destined to slay the enmity of many a wicked heart.
From that time one after another became deeply anxious about their soul's safety. The alarm spread from heart to heart, and from house to house. Worldly gayety was abandoned. Religion became the theme of conversation in all companies. Praying circles and conference meetings were held in different parts of the town; an almost universal reformation of outward habits was effected ; large numbers were converted and gave evidence of a radical spiritual change, among them some of the most desperate characters in the place, and for two years the whole face of society became entirely changed.
I state these facts on the authority of three or four aged people, who remember them well, and all of whom tell substantially the same story. Dr. Griffin states that " at no period of Dr. Macwhorter's ministry was he observed to be so laden with a sense of ever- lasting things, and so ardent in his desire to win souls to Christ. Besides his labors on the Sabbath, he preached several times in the week, and spent a part of almost every day in catechizing, exhorting from house to house, or attending religious societies." "In
243
IMPROVEMENT IN DISCIPLINE.
this precious season," he adds, "more than a hundred souls were added to the Church." But it was not so much the number of the converts, as the deep and universal influence of the heavenly impulse, among a people then comparatively few, that gave distinction to this remarkable effusion of the Divine Spirit.
It appears from a statement of Dr. Griffin, that one of the results of this revival was an important change in the mode of administering the government of the Church. The "half way covenant," to which we have already had occasion to advert as a measure particu- larly repugnant to the views of the first settlers, had in process of time, no one knows how or when, found its way into the Church and become confirmed in the habits and prejudices of the people. Dr. Macwhorter found it here, and knew not how to banish it. As early as April 16, 1764, in one of his letters to Dr. Bellamy, we find him expressing his dissatisfaction in the following explicit terms: "You ask me what is the practice in Churches our way ? Much the same as you represent it in the Churches your way. Almost every body has their children baptized, but few come to the Lord's Supper. Some of our best ministers hold that persons may have the sacrament of baptism who are not fit to come to the Lord's Supper. Some are in Mr. Stoddard's scheme that unbelievers ought to attend both ordinances. And some few, but very few, are of the sentiment I have meant to express in this paper, and we can't act up to our sentiments. I have been struggling to act upon principle, but I can't, in hardly any thing, get matters brought to my mind.
244
IMPROVEMENT IN DISCIPLINE.
Our Churches I look upon in a most ragged, shattered condition. May God pour out His Spirit, and grant us a reformation, both in discipline and doctrine."* At the period to which I now refer, Dr. Macwhorter began a vigorous effort to produce a reformation. " One evening," says Dr. Griffin, "in the autumn of 1785, when the Dr.'s mind was deeply impressed with divine things, he expressed to two of his friends in a private conversation, in which he was unusually tender and communicative, his concern for the want of disci- pline, and the looseness which prevailed in the Church, which he attributed to what has been called the half way practice. It is still in the recollection of those persons in what a solemn and indignant manner he deplored this practice, which he averred was contrary to the usage of the primitive Church and the opinion of the best fathers." In this conversation, Dr. G. adds, "he proceeded in a distinct manner, to sketch the plan which he approved; which was precisely the same that the Session afterwards sanctioned."+
Meanwhile a similar dissatisfaction had been awakened in the minds of a portion of his people. Remonstrances and resistance followed and the im- patience of a few, who could not wait for the tardy movements of reform, created difficulty, and even led to secession, and finally with some other causes resulted in an attempt to found a separate religious society .; The
* Extract of a letter furnished by Rev. worth and many eccentricities. Among Richard Webster.
+ Funeral Sermon, p. 28.
Į The leader in this movement was Moses N. Combs, a man of considerable
the good enterprises which he attempted, was the forming of an association for "relieving the immediate wants of the poor, schooling poor children, and to con-
245
IMPROVEMENT IN DISCIPLINE.
pastor, though he did not approve of these measures, pursued the object in a more regular way, with equal resoluteness. He reasoned against the offensive prac- tice, both in public and private, and at length, although many were strongly attached to the old custom, and many were fearful of an innovation, the Session came unanimously to the decision, that, "from that time no persons should own the covenant with a view to offer their children in baptism, and to neglect the Lord's Supper; and that the examination of candidates for admission to communion, which had been left to the minister only, should in future be conducted before the Session."*
I have already spoken of the deficiency of Dr. Mac- whorter's means of support during the continuance of
verse about the things that concern the kingdom of God." Zealous for the re- formation of the Church, this association sent a committee to the Session, praying them to take measures to abolish the of- fensive practice ; but not succeeding as they wished, a portion of them withdrew from communion. For a time they at- tended worship and were admitted to oc- casional communion with the church in Orange, and afterwards commenced sepa- rate worship in Newark. One of the com- plaints they made against the Church was its uniting with those who were not church members in supporting public worship,. building meeting houses, &c., all which they regarded as being "unequally yoked with unbelievers." Mr. Combs was a tan- ner and shoemaker by trade, and at one time was very successful in business, and became rich. He erected a wooden build- ing for the use of his society, and became their preacher. "Silver was showered upon him," he said, " so plentifully that he did not know what else to do with it." The society did not keep together many years, and several of its members at length
applied for restoration, and on proper ac- knowledgments, were restored to member- ship in the church.
See Dr. Griffin's Funeral Sermon, p. 24. The vote, as it stands on the Min- utes of the Session, is not as explicit on the first point as Dr. Griffin states it, though it may be presumed, the effect of it was in accordance with his representa- tion. It bears date March 28, 1794, and is in the form of a series of resolu- tions, recommended for the adoption of the Church. Among them are explicit provisions for an examination of candi- dates for sealing ordinances before the Session, the exclusion of immoral men and unbelievers from both sacraments, the determination to exercise discipline more faithfully than before, and the dec- laration " that (baptized) children are members of the Church, and that parents shall be accountable for the behavior of their children till they shall arrive to the years of maturity ; then the children shall be dealt with for immoralities as other members of the Church." (Records, vol. i, pp. 47-48.
246
DEFICIENCY OF FUNDS.
the war. The precise amount of his nominal salary at that time, I do not know; but it seems to have been irregularly paid for some years after. The mode of gathering it was chiefly that of voluntary subscription. But though various methods were adopted to quicken delinquents, the subscriptions often fell far into ar- rears in respect to payment. Twice, viz., in the years 1785 and 1786, the Trustees adopted the somewhat singular expedient of requesting the minister to call a meeting of the congregation, and "preach a sermon on that day," "that a state of the funds may be laid be- fore them, and some mode fallen into to increase the same." Partly as a means of eking out a scanty in- come, Dr. Macwhorter was in the practice of teaching a small school. But on the 16th of March, 1786, the day, as a comparison of dates shows, on which the Trustees had requested the sermon to be preach- ed, the congregation after desiring Dr. Macwhorter "to leave the chair and go out, as there was some bu- siness to be done which referred personally to him," voted "that Dr. Macwhorter's salary be raised to three hundred pounds a year, and that he be requested to give up his school, or get an usher, that he may be enabled to visit his congregation more." To avoid irregularities in future, it was also then voted, "that this salary be raised by tax."*
* See Records of the Trustees. The sup- ply of firewood, probably from the par- sonage land, seems to have been a sepa- rate matter, and to have been provided still in a voluntary way. At a meeting called for the purpose of consulting about it on the 8th of November, 1793, I find a vote appointing a particular day, "next
Thursday, to provide the said wood," and it is further on record, " that a motion was made and seconded, that a vote should be taken whether a supper should be fur- nished on that day for those who assist in getting the said wood. It was accordingly taken, and it passed in the negative."
247
HOUSE OF WORSHIP REPAIRED.
The second house of worship had now become man- ifestly inadequate to the wants of the congregation. Dr. Macwhorter states that in less than fifty years after its erection it became too small to contain com- fortably the people. In the year 1755, a proposition was made to repair and enlarge it, but "after consult- ing various architects," the decision was only to repair it and give it a new roof, and this decision was carried into effect the following year .* The people however, were not satisfied with what had been done. Various meetings were held on the subject, especially during the period extending from 1768 to 1773. At length, in the year 1774, under the stimulus given to the spirit of enterprise by the religious improvement al- ready referred to, the erection of "a new and large
* It is scarcely to be wondered at that the people should have felt great reluct- tance to demolish this venerable edifice, associated as it must have been in their minds with so many memorable scenes. There the college of New Jersey had been cradled; there David Brainerd had been set apart to the office of his heroic minis- try; there Whitefield had poured forth his melting eloquence, and there the Spirit of God had displayed in wonderful scenes, his converting power. The building, as I have stated, was about forty-four feet square. The pulpit stood on the west side, between two windows. Before the pulpit was a seat for the leader of the singing, where for many years, tradition says, Mr. John Treat Crane, a great-grand- son of Governor Treat, presided with great admiration. On each side of the pulpit was a large square pew; one was occupied by the minister's family and the other by such families as by a kind of general con- sent were regarded as the aristocracy of the town. An aged man tells me how well he remembers the figure which the
Misses - used to cut as they passed up the aisle with rustling silks and tossings of the head, to take the undisputed place of preferment. The rest of the house was seated with long benches, and in the mid- dle aisle descended the bell rope, where the sexton stood to perform his duty in the midst of the congregation.
A tradition of the preaching of Whitefield in the old house is thus related by Rev. Ste- phen Dodd, of East Haven, Ct. "The second wife of Moses Farrand was Dorcas Prudden. She told me that once when Mr. Whitefield came there to preach she was twelve years old, and as he came up and entered the pulpit, she eyed him with dis- trust, but before he got through his prayer herself and all the congregation melted down, and the sermon filled the house with groans and tears. The next time he came, as soon as he entered the pulpit, the assembly were weeping. It was so great that the pulpit window was taken out, and he preached through the window to the people in the burying ground."
248
PRESENT CHURCH ERECTED.
church" was undertaken in earnest. The subscription agreed upon was immediately filled to the amount of £2000, a site was selected, materials brought together and trenches for the foundations actually dug. But the breaking out of the war just at that time, frus- trated the plan; it was abandoned, and the materials provided were soon scattered and lost .*
But the war was now ended; and the affairs of the congregation being once more in a prosperous state, the good design was resumed. The foundations were commenced in the month of September, 1787. Tradi- tion informs me, that when the appointed day came, the male members of the congregation assembled on the ground, and took their stations according to age and office. The pastor standing at the north- east corner made a short address and offered a prayer. Then he broke the ground, by taking out with his own hand the first spadeful of earth. Deacon Caleb Wheeler, standing by his side, took the next, and then the rest followed in their turns till the whole were at work, and the opening of the trenches was completed in a few hours. The erection of this large and beau- tiful edifice, a very serious undertaking for the people as they were then situated, was due in a great measure to the indomitable zeal and perseverance of Dr. Mac-
* It was to stand on "school-house hill," that is, as I learn, on the south side of Market street west of Broad, where was then a considerable elevation. Dr. M. says, the people were not perfectly agreed about the location. On the breaking out of the war, it is said, the Deacons,-Caleb Wheeler and Ebenezer Baldwin,-loaded all the metal which had been collected for
the bell on an ox team, and buried it in the woods known as the "short swamps," near the highway now known as Elm street, and about a mile from Mulberry street. When the peace was resto red, the good Deacons disinterred the concealed treasure and brought it to town again, and probably used it for the benefit of the new edifice.
249
NEW MODE OF ELECTING TRUSTEES.
whorter. "So zealous was he to serve and animate the congregation," says Dr. Griffin, "that during the following winter, he was daily in the forests selecting timber which had been given him, and encouraging the workmen." And when we consider how the work was carried on, namely, by joint contributions of labor and materials from the whole congregation, it is truly wonderful, that an edifice of such beauty of propor- tions and completeness of finish should have been accomplished :* Truly it stands a noble monument, both "of the generosity and public spirit of the so- ciety," and not less "of the love and indefatigable ex- ertions" of one of the most illustrious of its pastors.t. The house was ready for permanent use, and first reg- ularly opened for public worship on the first day of January, 1791.
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