USA > New Jersey > Somerset County > Raritan > Forty years at Raritan : eight memorial sermons with notes for a history of the Reformed Dutch churches in Somerset County, N.J. > Part 12
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village in our immediate vieinity, already almost equal to our own, and destined, at no distant day, perhaps, to outstrip it, was planned and completed after this period commenced.
The agricultural community around us was just beginning to awake to a sense of their advantages, and to the importance of improving their condition and their lands. Two bushels, and in not a few instances three bushels, of grain, are now gathered where the land then produced only one; and the farm-houses, and all the appointments of the farmsteads, have been advanced in an equal proportion. The wealth and com- fort of the whole community have even been bettered to more than a corresponding amount. All the former evidences ot rudeness and discomfort have disappeared from the prosperous farmer's home, and a commendable refinement and taste have taken their places.
At the time of which we are speaking, Somerville was a small village of some sixty-two dwellings, with the addition of the court-house, church, and academy. It had three taverns, three stores, and perhaps five mechanic shops. There were sixty-two families living in it, embracing about four hundred and fifty souls. It had a single newspaper, and its academy had, in former years, proved a very great advantage to it, in the edneation of its young people, and in the diffusion of some taste for reading and mental culture. The inhabitants of Somerville were noted for their intelligence, the high social position which many of them occupied, the pure morals which prevailed among them, their excellent religious character, and their general prosperity and happiness as men and citizens. There was no village in the State which claimed more of all these social advantages, and none which enjoyed them in a larger and fuller measure. .
And yet, how different from the Somerville of to-day ! It had been built along the public road, afterward the turnpike ; and had but one street, on which all the houses, except per- haps six, stood. It had no sidewalks, no shade-trees besides the few single ones which had been planted as fruit-bearing trees ; and in winter the mud was sometimes literally fearful for pedestrians to encounter. The passage across the publie square in front of the church would become, in certain states
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of the atmosphere, a veritable " sloughi of despond ;" females dared not attempt it.
The old church stood on this very ground. It was a mode- rate-sized briek-building, which had been enlarged by an addition of twenty feet in the rear, with a small cupola and a fine-toned bell. Internally it was exceedingly plain. The pews had straight high backs ; the wood-work around the pulpit was unpainted, the ceiling formed of pine boards ; and it had long been so crowded that the consistory had given up their places and consented to sit on chairs in front of the pulpit. Efforts had been made to have this building repaired, enlarged, or a new house erected, but had proved in vain. Every body saw and felt the inconvenience and insufficiency of the house for the proper accommodation of the people who assembled in it for worship, but all the remedies were in succession nega- tived by the popular vote. It was a strange infatuation, a wonderful want of a proper spirit ; but it was unconquerable. This unwillingness to enlarge and refit the church edifice finally led, in connection with another feeling existing at the time, to the division of the congregation and the formation of the second church. It was a providential influence, but cer- tainly no such idea was taken into account in the action had by the people.
In this house, in 1832, there worshiped a congregation of at least two hundred and seventy families, with three hundred and twenty-eight members in communion, and thirteen hun- dred souls. On pleasant Sabbath days it was completely filled-even the galleries were crowded ; and the state of re- ligious sentiment was more earnest, active, and fervent than it has been at any time since. Many who had experienced convictions during the season of the great revival, were ma- turing as Christians, and at every communion season uniting with the church. This continued to increase our numbers for several of the first years of my ministry, and seemed like the gleanings of the great harvest.
The organization of the second elmurch was effected entirely out of individuals who had been attached to this congregation, and at the end of the first year they reported seventy-six families as belonging to their communion ; and yet our church
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was not really affected in any permanent way by such a loss. It had in it still abundant wealth and strength of numbers. and it went on prospering. The strength in the number of families was less in one aspect, but its ability was quite equal . in another; and this the future has demonstrated. In 1832 we reported one hundred and seventy families, and four hun- dred and thirty-four in communion; in 1862, one hundred and ninety families, and four hundred and fifty-six in com- munion ; and this year, two hundred families, and five hun- dred and twelve in communion.
In the mean time, besides the second church organized in 1834, the church at Boundbrook beginning in 1846, the third church in Raritan village in 1848, Branchville in 1850, each in turn took away from us some of our important families ; while the Methodist church organized in 1833, the Baptist church in 1845, the Episcopal church in 1831, either drew away from us or were the means of preventing some from uniting with us. Indeed, when we consider all the circum- stances, our constant growth and prosperity is not a little wonderful. It shows us that diligence, carefulness, prayerful- ness, with a study of " the things that make for peace," will never fail in obtaining a blessing from the Lord. We have given from our own to increase the strength of every church around us, while we have been growing in strength ourselves ! The one fact that in 1832, with two hundred and seventy families, and after the wonderful ingathering of the great re- vival in 1822, bringing into the church more than three hun- dred members on confession of faith, there were only three hundred and twenty-eight in communion, but now, with two hundred families, we have five hundred and twelve members on our records, is, in itself, a sufficient warrant for all that we claim ; and, if we add to this number the three hundred and ninety-eight members of the second church, and also the two hundred and seventy of the third church, in all fourteen hun- dred and eighty, we shall have the fact of the general prospe- rity of our denomination in this favored community most abundantly confirmed, The blessing attendant upon the dis- pensation of the Gospel has been great indeed in all these churches.
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There is another fact which demands our recognition. This church has been a gushing fountain from which the Christian ministry has been generously supplied. We find on our records the following names :
John Leydt. 1745
Ferdinandus Frelinghuysơn.
1752
Rynier Van Neste. 1753
Elias Van Benschoten 1769
Matthew Leydt. .1778
Isaac Blauvelt .. 1778
Conrad Ten Eyck. 1792
Abraham Brokaw
1193
Isaac Van Doren
.1795
Jehiel Talmage.
1813
Isaac N. Wyckoff.
1814
Brogun B. Huff. 1814
SamneI K. Talmage ISIS
Jonathan F. Morris
.1819
Ferdinand Vanderveer. .1820
Frederick F. Cornell
1822
Garret J. Garretson. 1822
James R. Talmage. 1823
Alexander M. Mann. 1823
IIngh G. Hedges 1839
Abel J. Stewart
1840
John A. Todd. 1840
Jolin Simonson. .1840
John Steele.
1842
George J. Van Neste 1813
Nathaniel Conklin .18-13
1843
Jolin Gaston.
.1813
Augustus F. Todd. .1846
Peter Stryker Talmage
1846
David K. Vandoren
1855
A. M. Quick
1801=33
Warren Taylor.
There are other facts requiring notice. The whole number of members in communion of this church, from the beginning on the 9th of March, 1699, as now recorded on our minutes, is fifteen hundred and twenty-nine (1529), and the whole num- ber received since October 29th, 1832, when I began my ser- viees here, is seven hundred and sixty-four, which is only four less than one half of the whole number received from the be- ginning ; that is, the church has gathered from the world as
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many, lacking four, in forty years, as it had done in one hun- dred and thirty-three years previous. I leave this fact to inake its own impression.
It is necessary also that we should state another fact. The proportion between those who have entered our church on certificate and on confession of faith has been as follows: Of the former there have been two hundred and sixty-seven, of the latter four hundred and ninety-seven. These numbers show a large preponderance of special spiritual influence in the pro- gress of the church. And, adding to this another fact, we have the evidence of the constant presence of the Holy Ghost in our Sabbath-day assemblies ; and that fact is, that in our various communion seasons, during all these forty years, there has been but one without any one uniting with the church on confession of faith ; and even on that one occasion there were two who united on certificate. When I have mentioned this faet to other ministers, it has always been received with surprise. Indeed, I believe there are few churches in our land of which it is true, during such a protracted series of years.
And we may as well in this place introduce the other statistics which belong to our subject. We have baptized seven hundred and twenty-three individuals ; of which num- ber six hundred and seventy-five were infants, and forty- eight adults on confession of their faith ; and we have eon- firmed the matrimonial vows of three hundred and sixty- nine couples. We have had in our eonsistory, not a few times, individuals whom we had first baptized and then welcomed to the communion of the church. We have married persons, baptized their children, received tliem into the communion, and again baptized their grandchildren ! In this way strong ties have been formed with many families, and as the effect of their existence, we have found here ever strong and faithful friends.
Again, my pastorate in this church has been the longest of all who have preceded me. The first Frelinghuysen could not have ministered more than twenty-eight years, perhaps only twenty-six, as the date of his decease is not accurately ascertained. The second John Frelinghuysen died when he had been pastor only about three and a half years. Jacob
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Rutsen Hardenburgh continued his ministry for the space of nearly twenty-three years. His successor, Theodore Frelinghuy- sen Romeyn, lived to preach here only a little more than ten months. John Duryea, his successor, was pastor twelve years and some months. John S. Vredenburgh continued to serve the church twenty-one years, and died, leaving to his people a most fruitful legacy in the glory of his memory and in the power of his piety, which blossomed and matured in a great harvest over his grave. He was succeeded, after an interval of nearly five years, by Richard D. Van Kleek, who continued his labors less than five years. The whole period comprehend- ed in these seven pastorates embraces ninety-four years ; and, deducting from the whole period of one hundred and thirty- three years the first twenty, which elapsed before the Rev. Theodore J. Frelinghuysen came here from Holland, it leaves as vacant years less than nine in the whole remaining period. This fact indieates a strong love for the ordinances of Christian worship as having prevailed among the people always, leading them to seek for another pastor as soon as death or other causes had removed the one who had before gone in and out in the midst of them. Strange as it may be, the longest vacancy was during and after the great revival.
We may also remark how seldom their pastors have left this church for other fields of labor. Theodorus J. Freling- huysen, John Frelinghuysen, Theodore Frelinghuysen Ro- mneyn, and John S. Vredenburgh, all died in the harness in the full tide of their success ; only Hardenburgh, Van Kleek, and Duryea left for other fields of labor. And why should they ? IIere was enough to be done; here work was appre- ciated when done. They were treated kindly, as pastors ought to be, and their wants were properly supplied by those to whom they ministered, and they had the enjoyment of seeing " the pleasure of the Lord prospering in their hands." The church was at peace with itself, and able to com- mand so much of the regard of the world as to control more or less the forms and customs of society, mal:ing it a pleasant field to labor in. It is an acknowledged fact that religious sentiment is more general, and religion is more universally respected, in Somerset County, than in almost any other part
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of our favored land. It is the effect of the carnest and evan- gelical ministry which the churches have enjoyed, and of the blessing which has rested upon their labors. In its character, this ministry, too, has been highly devoted and pure. The great discriminating doctrines of the Gospel have been fully and faithfully preached, and a high tone of piety has, from the beginning, been insisted on, as alone sufficient to give a good hope of life eternal. "Christ, and him erneified," has been the burden of all the preaching to which the people have been called to listen ; sensationalism has had no countenance here. Every one of my predecessors in this pulpit have been godly . men, faithful men, and earnest men ; and their ministry has had a blessing resting on it, making their memory precions to many when they had ceased from their labors and entered into their rest.
But I am forgetting. My theme is "forty years," and the help of God during all that time; and in a dying, changing world like this, there is much to say of what has been, but is not now. The whole of one generation, and nearly one third of another, have passed away ! When I think of what was here on the first Sabbath when I began to preach to this con- gregation, and then look to see what is here now, I am almost overwhelmed. I remember them all, many of them affection- ately, but I do not see them. They were among the living on that day ; they are among the dead on this day ! Some of their children are here, but many of them have no repre- sentatives among ns. Whole families are either extinct or scattered ! I believe I am correct in saying that there are only five or six men living who, as heads of families, were concerned in making ont my call and effecting my settlement as pastor of this church. There are some who were not heads of families, and some who were not with us then ; but with these exceptions, I am preaching to-day to a people who have come to take the places of those who were here when I began my work.
I have passed over in my memory the homesteads of that day, and find on the south side of the river only three which have not passed into other hands; on the east side of the village there are only two ; north of it there are none; west
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of it there are none; and, in the village itself, only two, and one belongs to a member of the second church. Such is time ; such are the changes which a few gliding years produce ; sneh are the changes which are coming in the future! When I think of it all I am almost in despair. The fathers, where are they ? and the children, where are they ? The promise is that " they' shall be in the place of their fathers ;" but, alas ! alas ! how many of them are not! In not a few instances, parents and children both are not; in others, they have re- moved from among us to dwell elsewhere. But God's cove- nant has not failed, nor has his church been deserted. In his wise providence he has provided for all this. The church lives . even when her members " are gathered to their fathers." God is not dependent upon one generation, or one set of men, to do his work. He holds the hearts of all men in his hands, and moves them when he requires them to do what has been appointed to be done. This is our confidence; and yet there is a duty inenmbent on every generation. It requires them to do the work of their calling in an earnest, manful spirit -to support the church, to provide for its enlargement, to maintain its ordinanees, to secure it all the means necessary to enable it to do all its work effectually, in preaching Christ and converting sinners to God. Promptness in meeting all these responsibilities is not duty alone, it is also economy and wisdom. Procrastination and sluggishness are hindrances, and sometimes as ruinons in the church as in the business affairs of human life.
In the families who worshiped in this church when I came here, there has been as much of a change as in the other things around us. All of them have had breaches made in them by death, except one or two; all of them are broken up, except some five or six. There are representatives of some; and in a few, one of the heads remains ; but the names even of many are no more spoken among us! They have mingled with that great erowd which has passed through the gate of death into the spirit-land. We have the impression of their character and the fruits of their life, and hold them in honored remem- branee as good men and true, the friends of truth, the pillars of this sanctuary, and the honored examples of practical godli-
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ness ; but they are not among the living. We have known no better men than some of them were, and we shall honor their memory until our last hour has come. They were helpers in our work and in our joy.
Our village has changed as much as the other things around ns. Instead of the sixty-two dwellings of which we have spoken, there are now nearly four hundred, of which fifty-seven are the habitations of colored people. Instead of three stores, there are now forty-three stores and shops ; and the four hun- dred and fifty inhabitants of forty years ago have become at least two thousand.
And, then, Raritan has grown, ont of two houses, into a prosperous village containing more inhabitants than Somer- ville could boast then. So, too, the surrounding country has almost everywhere two houses where there was then only one, while the value of the lands is three times what it then was.
Customs and habits of life have changed as much as thie people. There were only three conveyanees which came to our church-door which were any thing more than the common red farm-wagon with its linen cover, and these could hardly be called carriages. They had springs, indeed, and enshions, and caleshi top, but otherwise were very plain and unimposing vehicles. The dress of the people was good, but simple. Fashion had very little influence in Somerville in those primi- tive but sensible days ; and its grand absurdities, since so con- spicuous and obtrusive, were almost unknown. The people were social and met frequently, especially the ladies, at each other's houses in the afternoon. We have memories of many "tea-drinkings" of those days, which are refreshing yet ! They seemed to us to be just what such social gatherings among Christians should be-hearty, without restraint, and pro- motive of good-fellowship and Christian affection without show or expense. There may be a little of the weakness of age in all this, saying " the former days were better than these ;" but if there is, we are sure there was much in those days to praise, and not a little the loss of which is to be regretted. Advance- ment is not always improvement, or progress toward the good and the true; and there is a good deal of what is now called culture that needs cultivation. I am sure our society has not
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increased in godliness, and I am not sure that it has really attained very much in any other desirable excelleney.
In the year 1835, in connection with William J. Hedges, Leonard Bunn. and William B. Gaston, and others, I com- menced a weekly prayer-meeting on Saturday evening. At first it met in the houses of the citizens. It began at once by being well attended, and during a season of more than ordi- nary religious interest in 1837 and 1838, the rooms were often crowded, and a deep solemnity pervaded all the exercises. That prayer-meeting has continued until the present time. It has had no interruptions, except occasionally from stormy weather, during all this period; and I sincerely hope it may never be given up. It has been a fountain of life to this elirch. There are yet a few living who were present on the first evening when it met, and have almost always been present ever since. I know they feel, as I do, that it has been one of the great blessings of their life to have been able always to attend its sessions. When it fails, if it ever is allowed to fail, many other things will have failed, and the end of the greatest good of this church be near. Nothing has so much to do with the real prosperity of a church as the devotional spirit kept active and glowing among its members. When the pastor's hands are not held up by the prayers of his people, he soon comes to feebleness, and resembles the sower whose seed falls by the wayside or among thorns. Nothing else ean compen- sate for the loss. Ilis people may be active, charitable, and even zealous, but the blessing will not come down from heaven. There may be full houses and eloquent sermons, but the renew- ing and sanetifying Spirit will not rest upon the sermon or the assembly. I feel, every day I live, more and more the encouragement which I have received, and the assistance which has been rendered to me in my work, by " the praying band," who have never ceased to stand by and help me in my work. Blessings on them ! They have been a comfort to me, and they have done much good.
One pleasure I am providentially denied, the presence here to-day-and he desired so much to be here, but could not- the presence of that one man who had more to do with my coming than any other one, and whose friendship and kindness
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has been one of the perpetual comforts of my life. He advised my call, signed it, urged its acceptance, and, though living apart, has never felt as if he could suffer himself to be sun- dered from us. If he had been able to be with us, my gratifi- cation would have been increased greatly. I refer to ex- Governor Vroom. May he live long yet to enjoy his works of Christian devotion, and, when called to his rest, be joyful in the vision of glory ! A forty years' close friendship is almost a rarity in such a changing world' as this, and I feel all the obligations of it every day more and more.
I have, indeed, many obligations to acknowledge, and many pleasant memories to cherish, as the result of these forty years. In the associations which have been formed, in the social in- tercourse of my ministerial life, in the kindness done to me by my people here, I feel that I have laid up a treasure which will be pleasant to me even in the other life and in the heavenly state. I have always loved to dwell upon these memories, and expect to cherish them more and more, until the end of my days has come. I have never intentionally offended any one. I have tried to be courteous and to do good to all, and I have therefore no apologies to make and no offenses to acknowledge. . I have not been able to please all, and therefore have never been obnoxious to the woe pro- nonneed upon the man of whom all men speak well. I could not do otherwise than I have done, and abide therefore in the consciousness of having intended right when others considered me in the wrong.
In conclusion, I have nothing special to announce as to the future. I am willing to preach the Gospel as long as God gives me strengthi to do it. It has been the work of my life, and I have loved it. I have tried to preach it simply, com- prehensively, and efficiently. It has been the Gospel as I have learned it and understood it, that I have preached. No one can say that I have ever held back the truth, or modified it, to please men. Honestly I can say that " I have not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God." My study has been more to find things to profit thian to please; and I have preached nothing but the Gospel. Upon the whole, in look- ing over my past life, and the course which I have pursued,
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I find regrets only in that I have not been able to abound more, and not in what I have earnestly tried to do. I have not made myself a standard for others, and I have not suffered others to be a standard for me. I have felt that there was a sphere marked out for me, and I have been constrained to fol- low it, sometimes even in the midst of gainsayings.
I have no idea to-day how much longer I shall continue to serve in my pastorate here. It depends upon Providence, and not npon me, to say when the service should close. When Providence indicates his will, I shall obey it. I have expressed a desire to continue and to see this day, and I have seen it ; and now I am in the hands of my Master, and I desire to have no will of my own, but only to follow his will with a cheer- ful, trusting heart !
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