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 6
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30
57
MEMORIAL SERMONS.
It would seem as if the past also admonished us. Is it gone ! Has it been wasted ? Does the thought of it bring regrets ? Let the time past of our lives suffice ns to have wrought the will of the flesh ; henceforth let us live soberly, and righteous- ly, and godly. Unprofitableness ought to induce repentance, and repentance wisdom, zeal, and diligence. The time is short : the work is great. We have no more days that we can afford to lose. Another may be the last ; and to lose it may be to in- eur the loss of all things. May God make us wise and success- ful in working out our salvation while it is called to-day !
THE FOURTH MEMORIAL SERMON. PREACHED OCT. 31ST, 1852.
AN IMPROVEMENT OF THE PAST.
"I WILL remember the years of the right hand of the Most High."-PSALMS 17:10.
THE Psalmist is recording a struggle which he had in his mind with unbelief. He sought the Lord in his trouble; his sore ran in the night and ceased not; his soul refused to be comforted. All around him was gloom and discouragement ; but when he communed with his own heart, he found strength and hope. He advanced in his inquiries, he made diligent search, and said, "Will the Lord cast off forever? Will he be favorable no more? Is his merey clean gone forever ? Doth his promise fail for evermore ? Hath God forgotten to he gracious ? Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies ?" No, this is " an infirmity;" to believe so is .sin. It is in fact a denial of all God's care and kindness as they are shown in his providence; because the obvious and necessary inference from the past is, that he is "long-suffering and abundant in merey, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin." It is, there- fore, instructive and important to "remember the years of the right hand of the Most High."
God's "right hand " is the emblem of his power-" the years of his right hand " are therefore those years in which any event of providence displaying God's power has occurred; and "re- membering" them, is not only impressing their recollection on the mind, but making a memorial of them for the purpose of instruction and encouragement ; and our text is a scriptural warrant and example for us to doso. Perhaps we ought to do it more frequently than we have been accustomed.
To-day it is twenty years since I assumed the responsible charge of the pastorate in this congregation, and it has seemed
59
MEMORIAL SERMONS.
to me to be necessary to make a memorial of it-to erect an Ebenezer here, and remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.
The text suggests our method. We shall group together some of the occurrences of this period with a view to our en- couragement and improvement in faith and piety.
Twenty years is almost one third of the period allotted to man. It is a "seore," and he has but "threescore and ten." When they are numbered, his strength is gone, his sight dimmed, his head bowed and blanched, and his tottering steps admonish him of the grave. One third of a life is no small thing to give to any cause or any object. To have given it, supposes an obligation as to the effect of its devotion of no small magnitude. I came here in comparative youth and inex- perience. I had indeed but little, besides an honest purpose to be useful, and some fortitude and courage in following the opening path, to bring here and devote to yon, as a return for the confidenee which you expressed in calling me. I came, however, " as soon as I was sent for," and at the close of a score of years, can only adopt the language of an apostle and say, " 1 have been with you in weakness and fear, and much trembling. and my speech and my preaching has not been with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." If any thing has been effected, the glory is the Lord's. His spirit has given strength to weakness, made the foolish wise, and pulled down the strongholds of the enemy in the heart. Withont feigning humility, we own his hand in all, and render praise to his name. ITis goodness has been far greater than our deserts, and his mereies have exceeded in number the most sanguine expectations we have ever felt it right to cherish.
Twenty years! Will you go back with me in memory to that Sabbath morning-some of you can do it ; and let us first mark the things as they were, and then the changes that have been induced. You remember the old walls and seats-they were narrower than they are now, they were plainer, they were less comfortable, they were not worthy of yon as a people, they did not indieate either your respect for God or your zeal n his service; and they were soon made to give place to others."
60
MEMORIAL SERMONS.
You remember how we praised them for the good they had (lone, and tlien bade them farewell with tears, as we would have done "old friends." They had been witnesses of many solemn hours, and were copiously baptized with the Holy Spirit. God has never wrought for himself and for your souls in this house as he did in that. Three hundred and sixty-eight as the fruit of one outpouring of the Spirit! It was like Pen- tecost. And some of you are yet here who enjoyed it, to weep over it, rejoice in it, and pray to have it repeated. May God in his merey hear those prayers !
Ah! the recollection of that morning comes up in my memory as fresh as if it were only yesterday. I can recall dis- tinetly many faces whom I shall see no more ; the warm pres- sure of many hands, and some tears, (were they of joy ?) which fell there. I recollect the text and tlie sermon; and I remember a pledge which I gave you. I have sometimes almost thought the time would come for me to redeem it, but not quite. It was something like this: " If the time ever comes that I shall cease to have the prayers and cooperation of Christians here, that day will be the last to see me in this pulpit." I hold it good yet to-day; and will be as ready to re- deem it at any future time, as I have been always in the past. I will not for a slight canse break the ties which bind us; but I would not remain a day, if I thought that I had lost your regard and your prayers; if there was even a respectable mi- nority cherishing such feelings.
But when I bring that first Sabbath in connection with to- day, and mark the changes, it almost appalls me. Among the dead sinee, I reekon some of the best, the kindest, the truest friends I have ever had, or ever expect to have in this world. Some of them were great men in their day, and they stood in this sanctuary like pillars with wreathed capitals for ornament and for strength. They were " good men and full of the Holy Ghost ;" or they were " mothers in Israel " like Jael, Deborah, and Abigail. Women who knew how to pray, and who knew how to aet. They had hearts and hands both. We might re- cite their names, but they do not need any enlogium. Their memorial is in heaven, and there they are reaping their reward. Ilappy if we can make sure of the same rest, by imitating
61
MEMORIAL SERMONS.
their patience and their faith. Let ns strive as they did to enter in at the strait gate.
On that morning, there was but one place in which to wor- ship God in this village, and even within miles of it. Then the whole strength of Christian influence and example centred in one point ; and from this pulpit went forth the only warning to a sin-enthralled world. How they have multiplied! How various too the denominations, where all were one! In the midst of the present variety, it is at least to be hoped that all may be pleased and profited. May it appear in the end that in the diversity of gifts there is one spirit. May that spirit be Christ's; and may the work of Christ's grace be promoted.
There is but one " clinreh redeemed with blood," and but one " company of the saints around the throne ;" but some do not seem to think so, and seem to hope in a change of forms and ereeds to find an easier way to heaven. What chance of success they have it is easy to determine.
The whole number of professing Christians in this church at the time of my settlement (and it was the whole number in the community) was about three hundred and fifty. Our two churches now contain about nine hundred. This one faet is sufficient to show what an extension of visible Christianity, . at least, there has been as the effect of the means of grace; and proves conclusively the necessity of more churches, if not of so many denominational divisions. The strength of no one man could have proved adequate to the labor connected with their instruction and edification; and every Christian will rejoice that they have found in other com- munions what they could not have enjoyed so fully in ours, and will pray that they may be "built up in faith and good works," and "sanctified for heaven."
To the original number of three hundred and fifty, there has been added since, four hundred and thirty-five-of which two hundred and fifty-three have made a confession of faith, and one hundred and eighty-two have been received on certificate. The largest number added at any one communion is forty- one-in the autumn of 1837-and during the whole period there has been but one communion season when none were re- ceived on confession-and on that occasion two were added by
62
MEMORIAL SERMONS.
certificate. There has been only a single communion season when but one came forward to testify of the grace of God in its regenerating power. The highest number received in a sin- gle year is sixty-three, and the smallest is four ; which occurred in 1834, when the congregation was divided by the organiza- tion of the second church ; and during which year, in conse- quence of being without a convenient place of worship, con- fined to the old lecture room, there was but one communion season observed by the church.
Of the three hundred and fifty in the communion of the church at the time of my settlement, there are now only about fifty remaining in actual attendance on the spiritual ordinan- ces. All the others have either departed this life, or removed to other places. Such has been the effect of the lapse of time, and so rapid the changes which it has produced. Can you wonder that I feel this morning almost as if I were standing in the midst of another generation and ministering to another peo- ple ? The circumstance originates mingled emotions in my bo- som. It brings to my heart the memory of past joys, sweet and pleasant to the soul. With many who are gone. I had formed pleasant associations, and often walked with them to the house of God. With others friendships were only commenced, destined to endure but for a little while and then pass away like those gleams of sunshine which break from a clouded sky. The recollection of the pleasure is saddened by regret 'for the lost. I see in it a picture of human life, with its transitory joys, its fading hopes, its failing promises. It is at best but a journey in which we become acquainted with various passengers, and thien at its different stages part with them again, each one to pursue his own course and seek after his own interests. It is a troubled sea, navigated with a frail vessel, from which one and another is continually falling, to disappear forever beneath the foaming waves. We inquire for them, but the answer is, They are gone. Gone ! Ah, where? Gone many of them to a long eternity. They shall not return to ns, but we must go to them. Oh ! if we can only meet them on the happy shores of immortality. There, there will be no partings nor farewells, but associations such
63
MEMORIAL SERMONS.
as spirits form with spirits, and enjoyments such as flow from that higher life the full glory of which they taste !
But all is not sadness, that this memory of the past, as it mingles itself with the present, produces. In place of the fathers here are the children. Individuals and families have happily perpetuated themselves, in many instances, in the communion and support of the church ; and the sad remem- branee of the departed mingles itself with the joyful recog- nition of those who remain. Ties in many instances have been severed with the one, only to be re-formed more pleas- antly and hopefully with the others. It has in this way been our privilege to see the covenant of God faithfully perpetuated and its blessings descending from fathers to sons, and from mothers to daughters, to become a witness to the truth of the promise, "to you, and to your children, and to them that are afar off-even as many as the Lord our God shall call ;" and many a dying patriarch has been comforted concerning the church and the altars of his God, by the reflection that the place which he left vacant in his holy house would be filled after his departure by one brought up upon his knees, and his falling mantle, like Elijah's, come upon the shoulders of some Elisha to carry on and complete the work which he com- menced. Nor is the fact without its interest in this point of view-that notwithstanding all the changes, there are so many of the fast and tried friends of the church who have perpetua- ted themselves in its communion in their children. It ought to be so. The place where our fathers worshipped is rendered more sacred to us by that association. Is it not pleasant to think, and does it not add to the impressiveness of our worship, that these very walls which witnessed their joy and heard their prayers, witness ours ? Does it not make the scene more holy to us to refleet that at this very communion table they also, who are now in heaven, sat down and were fed with living bread ? Can we ever consent to wander from these sacred ways where they found so much peace, and were so effectually sanctified for the enjoyment of everlasting bliss ?
The whole number reported as having been dismissed in good standing, and at their own request to become connected with other churches, is one hundred and sixty-two. Of this
--
64 .
MEMORIAL SERMONS.
number fifty-six went into the second church, either at the time of its organization or immediately afterward; and at least thirty more have been separated from us for the purpose of effecting the organization of the different churches built up around us. The whole number is not large ; and the interest in these statistics is in the fact, that they so clearly demon- strate a warm feeling of attachment on the part of our mem- bers to their own communion. It is not a small thing that detaches from us any one who has once thrown in his lot here. The members of this church have not been given to change. The majority of them at least, certainly, have never been troubled with itching ears. The force of circumstances alone has taken those from us who have come to ask for dismissions. There is hardly an instance where dissatisfaction with the church or the pastor has been the moving cause of a separation. May it always be so. Such bonds ought not to be easily or rudely sundered. Passion certainly should never furnish the motive ; and it is no commendation to any Christian to have been given to change, or to have belonged to many churches. He is seldom benefited by it; and more seldom still better satisfied after the changes have been made.
In twenty years, only sixty-three communicants are report- ed as having died. This number is unquestionably lower than the reality, but there are no means of correcting it, and we are therefore obliged to take it. It is to be accounted for in two ways. The deaths have not always been all reported, and some liave died elsewhere, but not called for their dismission previously, so that we have had no means of ascertaining it until it was forgotten. In this way it becomes necessary every few years to correct the lists of communicants in order to preserve accuracy in numbers.
The number, however, is sufficient to originate many solemn . reflections. In some instances, whole families are gone; in others, there are one or two left ; while in others still, the " strong staff was broken and the beautiful rod ;" and yet in others, " the desire of eyes" has been " taken away with a stroke." The place of the dead has had to be enlarged, from the multitude crowding into it. In all these scenes, so mournful and moving, I have shared a part-into these habitations, filled
65
MEMORIAL SERMONS.
with lamentation and wo, earried the consolations of Christ's blessed Gospel, the balm of wounded hearts. Some of these seenes can never be effaced from my memory. They will live in vivid impressions among its records of the past, as long as conseionsness remains. I count them jewels of the heart, and hope to derive from them a chastening power and a sanetify- ing influence ever while I live. I would not forget them if I could. I should regard the wish to do so as traitorons to myself, and a derelietion of a most sacred duty. But not- withstanding all our losses and all the changes going on around us, we have been able to preserve and gradually to increase our strength-at least in numbers. The communion has at times exceeded four hundred ; but this year it falls a little short of it. One thing ought to be remarked as an cn- couragement-no more church organizations seem to be ealled for, and the increase of population will therefore, in a very short time, cven with an ordinary blessing, restore all our wastes and elose up all our brcaelies. Only the fathers who are gone ean not return to us; and yet God, who has power to raise up children unto Abraham out of the stones, may give us those who will be miglitier in prayer, and faith, and good works than they were, to fill their places. It is a pleasing hope that it will be so ; let us indulge it.
From this view of the changes we pass naturally to the labors of the past twenty years. In speaking of them, I feel it necessary to estimate them as Paul did his at Corinth, as being performed "in weakness and in much fear;" and to avow that I am sensible of very many imperfections-probably more than any of you have ever observed. In preaching I have not studied to please men, but to speak " in demonstra- tion of the spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." No one ean form a lower estimate of the quality of my services than I do; and a review of them gives occasion at least for humiliation if not for self-reproach. All I can say is this : I have done what I could; I have not sought yours but you ; I have endeavored more to edify and instruet than to seek your applause ; I have not kept baek the counsel of God, but by alarming the sinner and attraeting the self-righteous, sought to
.
66
MEMORIAL SERMONS.
draw them to Christ and humble them at the foot of the cross. If some have occasionally felt that I was too earnest, and search- ing, and exclusive in preaching a salvation only through grace and not by works, my answer is, that it is " so that I have learned Christ." I know of no other trust or foundation to rest upon " than Christ in you the hope of glory ;" and knowing of no other, I ean not preach any other to the lost and ruined. For me to do so, would be to invent another Gospel ; and this I would not do to gain the undivided applause of the whole world. I have yet to learn how the cross can be preached and the offense of it avoided. I do not wonder, therefore, that some have been found who could not endure such a eross, and have sought relief either by absence, or by adopting other denominational distinctions and another theology; or else forming other connections in the hope of being better pleased. For their satisfaction I now say, that it was always my aim to push them to such extremities as to force them to become Christians or to do something else. I know of no condition more pregnant with evil, than the state of a self-satisfied, un- godly man, and I have therefore labored to make all sueli men entirely dissatisfied with themselves. My study has been to knock from under them in succession every prop they were leaning upon. I know of no Gospel which will make an un- renewed man satisfied with himself, and I have never preached with such an aim-those who do are welcome to their success. I might have daubed with untempered mortar, and been lauded to the skies. I could not purchase their smiles or their support at the price demanded for them, and experience therefore no disappointment in the result. May they be happier and holier where they are ! In a very few instances, we might say, " I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you. in the Gospel."
In twenty years I have preached not far from two thousand sermons to my people ; one half of which have been written every word with this right hand. I say nothing of the toil and thought which have been required to perform such an amount of labor, because it has been a pleasure to me. I have loved this kind of employment, and been cheerful and happy nnder it. My estimate of what is the duty of a minister of
67
MEMORIAL SERMONS.
Christ's word has been such as to make this course necessary. I could have preaelied with far less study-perhaps with equal, if not greater acceptance, by preaching without the labor of composing ; but I have never dared to ntter crude thoughts and " words without knowledge," or to bring husks to those who were hungering for the bread of life. At the conclusion of such a protracted course, I am ready to avow my convie- tions of it being the best ; and, therefore, if it was again to be undertaken, I would not change my practice, at least in this respect.
Besides sermons, I have preached some five hundred weekly lectures. In these I have studied freedom from logical order and restraint-endeavoring to bring in as wide a range of sub- jects and remark as was consistent with attention to the mind of Christ. The substance of many of these has been repeated more than onee ; but the words, rising to my mind as the oe- casion and circumstances prompted, could never be recalled. In this way, even though the text were the same, it has often happened that almost an entirely new discourse has been ealled fort. Indeed, in all cases the natural variation pre- vented sameness.
I have kept no account of the number of funeral sermons and catechetical lectures, and therefore ean not estimate them except in general terms. They must, however, have amounted to five hundred or more. So that during the course of my ministry among you, I have at least on three thousand different oeca- sions commended the Lord Jesus Christ to your regard, and urged you to accept of his mercy.
There have been in all this time five hundred and sixty-four children admitted to the ordinance of baptism-and thirty- three adults on confession of their faith-making in all five hundred and ninety-seven baptisms. There have also been two hundred and twelve marriages, at which we have been present and officiated in confirming the sacred union. In these vari- ous services, joy and sorrow have often been brought in close proximity ; and I have been called even from the grave of my father to the festive circle to mingle in the joy of the marriage supper. Human life is in many respects a strange seene, verg- ing rapidly from one extreme to another ; but how inneh stran-
68
MEMORIAL SERMONS.
ger is the life of a minister of the Gospel ! IIe is often called from the house of mourning to the house of feasting. He sees life in all its various phases, from high to low-from the grave and solemn and serene to the extremes of joy and sorrow. IIe is present with all as a friend, a counselor, a helper; and seems to be equally necessary to each one. To enable him to meet all the calls thus made upon him, he needs an iron frame and untiring perseverance : nerves capable of enduring the pressure of the most various circumstances ; the purity and love of an angel mingled with the prudence of the most perfect wisdom ; and yet all these high qualities and gifts would not suffice to save him from becoming the occasion of offense to some, falling under the reproach of others, and doing acts of kindness to many, from whom he receives no acknowledgment or gratitude .. It is not a soft pillow upon which a minister lays his head, and if he makes his calculations of finding ease and pleasure, there is no one man more certain of being disap- pointed. 1
Nor have the vicissitudes, of which we have been speaking, all been witnessed in your habitations. In my own, too, joy and sorrow have been interchanging guests. Sickness onee laid its sore hand upon me ; and twice has death come knock- ing at my door ! My beautiful, my angel child sleeps where so many of your parents and children sleep ; but I mourn not as those who have no hope. "God hath done all things well." I often see her among those who wear white robes in heaven, one of those "little ones" of which the Saviour has said, " of such is the kingdom of God ;" and when faith is elear, rejoice that I have one child in Paradise enjoying the beatitudes of immortality.
The twenty years which I have spent in the service of this church, constitute the best portion of my life. I have gather- ed, it is true, a larger experience than I brought here ; and have accumulated stores of knowledge while pursuing the duties of my calling. The advantage of these you may expeet to enjoy ; but I can not promise any greater activity, any increase of ardor. any higher vigor. Like many of those who now constitute " the bone and sinew" of this church, after a few more years, my life will pass into the sear and yellow leaf, and the autumn
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.