USA > New Jersey > Hunterdon County > Readington > Historical discourse and addresses delivered at the 175th anniversary of the Reformed Church, Readington, N.J., October 17, 1894 > Part 6
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the basement were expected to learn it, though they often discour- aged the heart of their teacher. At the present time and during recent years we have heard a great deal about the mistakes of the Bible. Higher criticism has weakened the faith of many in the Word of God. One has tried to show the mistakes of Moses, and science and learning have proven the mistakes to be those of the other party. Yet with a great many their faith in the Word of God has been lessened. Now this may explain the longing one sometimes has for the good old days when the Bible had a power over the heart and life. The water in the well of childhood days we long for because it was a pure, unadulterated gospel.
Still one other fact comes to mind concerning this mother church which sometimes creates a longing for old scenes, viz. : The charac- ter of the men and women who composed the working force of this church. As a boy I always had the greatest admiration for their sterling worth. There were those who like Saul stood head and shoulders above the rest of the people. They were Christians through and through. There was no questioning about their reli- gion. Their lives-their faces showed it. Many of them have gone home triumphant in the gospel. They are a part of the cloud of witnesses watching us to-day. A few of these older ones re- main to bear the burdens a little while longer and then to enter upon their rest and reward. This church may well thank God for these Christians of such sterling worth. They showed it in their their daily work. They showed it in their attendance at the prayer meeting. They showed it in their contributions. Their consecration was as another has said " coinsecration," They were converted, pocketbook and all. They showed it in their families. As Dr. Campbell once said, "I love to think that grace when it once enters a family never dies out." So there are here many families where the work of grace has gone on, generation after generation the sons of the church come from godly homes. In
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all thank God that He has blessed us with pious, sanctified pa- rents. There are these godly lines which have given this church a peculiar, fascinating charm. They have made this church what it has been, a power and a blessing. And to many of these the words have been spoken, " Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
And now a thought in closing. The work of the church goes on, and ought to go on grandly. A glorious legacy has been left you, even those things we held dear and precious. Now your lives ought to be broader and more energetic than ever your fathers' were. For you start life, not where your fathers began, but where they left off. 1" Instead of the fathers shall be the children." Un- less the work of the fathers has been a failure, you are to labor where they laid the work aside. Therefore let every one do his best in his day and generation.
I pray God that he will so qualify you all that the next twenty- five years of this church's history shall be the grandest of all the grand years of the past, and when we come to celebrate the close of the second century of her existence-for which time God spare our lives-may we be able to say that the years that intervene be- tween then and now have been the grandest years of all.
Address of the Rev. Elias CO. Thompson.
It is right a son or daughter should come to the mother once in a while, and tell of the love they have for her who bore them. It is still more fitting that a baby boy, provided he can talk, should come and tell his mother how glad he is to hear others speak well of her, especially when he has always thought her to be the very best mother in all the world. As the youngest son of this church, I want to add my congratulations to those already offered, and say that I am proud that it is my mother church whose history is so grand, and whose influence is so wide.
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A prominent author of modern days has written that there are some old places which are destined to be forever new. True it is that the more we study about old places and things, the more there is yet to learn about them. Time brings to old age an ever-increasing and everlasting novelty. Of Readington, to-day this is doubly true. "Poor old Readington " in New Jersey has now become New Readington in Old Jersey. We have heard of her past achievements ; of her relations with her sister churches that call her their mother. What about her future ?
Tennyson writes in the opening verses of " In Memoriam " :
" I held it truth with him who sings To one clear harp in divers tones, That men may rise on stepping-stones Of their dead selves, to better things. But who shall so forecast the years And find in loss a gain to match, Or reach a hand through time to catch The far off interest of tears."
Shall we now rise to better things on the stepping stones of the past? The history of the fathers who are now no more shows us that the past had its losses. Is there in the influence they have exerted, and in that which we can exert, a gain to match ? The past is gone. Present opportunities are now ours. By attending well to these do we make the future safe? Am I to be the last of the ministerial sons of this church? So far as I know, there is now no member of this church who has the ministry in view. Are there no parents who would call it the highest honor to have their sons in the ministry ? Fathers and mothers, are you train- ing your children to make the preachers of the future ? As ye present your babes in baptism do ye consecrate them to the Lord, and bring them up with this in view. I once heard one of the leading preachers in our church say that the theology of the future
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was dependent upon the influence of the mothers who are now teaching their boys to pray at the knee. Is there not much that we can do along this very line ? As we love this church, let us do all we can to widen her influence. It can be done in no better way than by making her through her sons a glory not only to the community, but also to the denomination, and above all, through these to the great head of the church. May we all be awakened to a new life, and may the mantle of the fathers fall upon the sons, who in true devotion shall ever sing of this church here,
" For her my tears shall fall, For her my prayers ascend. To her my cares and toils be given Till toils and cares shall end."
Address of the Rev. Jacob . Craig.
Brothers and Sisters :- It gives me great pleasure to be pres- ent at this anniversary, and be permitted to look into the faces of so many of my former companions and acquaintances and friends on this 175th anniversary of the Readington Church.
It occurs to me that you have left this church a long time with- out an anniversary. If we as a Nation had left the celebrating of our National Independence for 175 years, we should have little to celebrate now. I do not come to represent one of the ministerial sons of the church, for at my conversion I cast my fortunes with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and while my father and two brothers are members of this to-day, we are still brethren and striving for the Kingdom. I came rather to bear you the greetings and congratulations of a sister denomination, who much younger in years than your church, yet has to-day over a million communicants that gather at her altar. We have blazed our way through forest and
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plain, until to-day there is scarcely a land that the sun shines upon where the stirring hymns and prayers, and exhortations are not heard, urging the people to repentance and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. I am proud to belong to a church that is to-day raising twelve hundred thousand dollars to spread the gospel throughout the world.
If the exact number could be ascertained throughout the land it would reveal the fact that thousands upon thousands who have passed over the river, and thousands more here on earth date their conversion to the faithful and earnest preaching of the gos- pel as proclaimed by Methodist preachers. I do not say it boast- ingly, but to the glory of God. God speed you, in the work of lifting up the cross of Jesus, and when we shall strike glad hands on the other shore. We'll give all the glory to him who has re- deemed us with his own precious blood.
At the conclusion of these admirable addresses the pastor stated that while Readington was proud of her many sons in the ministry, she had also some sons who had chosen the law as their profession in whom she was exceedingly interested. One such he would introduce as the closing speaker, John L. Connet, Esq., of Flemington.
Address of J. L. Connet, Esq.
As the years go flitting by so rapidly that we can scarcely take note or keep account of them, we are all engrossed in our various avocations, seeking to advance ourselves in knowledge, or else to secure for ourselves and those who shall come after us a compe- tency of this world's goods, and this is right, so long as it is not done to the exclusion of a greater good. But aside from our busi- ness, and the duties to which we devote our lives and our
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strength, our time and our energies, it seems to me there are three things which go to make up in large measure the sum of human existence : The associations and attachments we form in this life, those memories we cherish of the past, and the hopes we build for the future; whether of this life, or that greater life which knows no ending.
Unconsciously, perhaps, the lives of others, and sometimes in- animate things grow into our own lives before we are aware, and the severance of them seems like taking away a part of our own persons. Even a favorite horse or dog gets a hold upon our af- fections oftentimes, which it is hard to break, and we know that when a friend dies or parts from us, a thread is broken, and a blank comes into our lives, so that we are never again quite as we were before. So, I have always had a strong attachment for this people and this church. And why should it not be so? It was here that my feet first trod the sanctuary, and it was here that I first heard from the sacred desk the words of eternal life. "Tis true I was young, and could not comprehend the full import and meaning of those words so well as in later years, but the seed was sown, and what the harvest shall be, eternity alone can reveal.
Sabbath after Sabbath my brother brought me with him to this sanctuary.
It was here that I received the first lessons in spiritual things ; and even after I left here I was not wholly severed from this con- gregation, for after a few years my lot was cast with Rev. Henry P. Thompson, with whom I lived for three years. He was also a son of this church. And it was in his church, also of the same denomination as this, that I first publicly avowed my allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then, too, in the church I now attend there has been and still is a number of persons, who are children of this same church. So you see the association has never been entirely broken. And when
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I look over these seats and call to mind the faces that used to be here, and think of the friends of my boyhood days, and remember that now so many of them are in that land whose shores are washed by the river of Life, the thoughts grow tender and the at- tachment becomes the stronger.
Then, again, my heart is united to your interests because in " the low green tents" on yonder hillside, where the morning sun kisses the verdant mounds, and the nightly dews fall gently on them, sleeps the sacred dust of my little brother and sister, and of my venerable father, awaiting the resurrection morn. How can the attachment ever be broken?
And recollection is busy to-night. Back over all the years that lie between runs the memory and links the past with the present. Memory is like an electric cable, and connects the empire of yes- terday with the empire of to-day.
Again I see myself in the old schoolhouse over there, conning the lessons of the hour, waiting so anxiously for the noon spell to come when I could play knife, tag or ball, or dabble with bare feet in the cooling waters of the brook.
Unless you have had personal experience yourself you cannot understand and appreciate the keen, the very keen recollections I have of attendance in that old school house.
Why, although years have rolled away, and passed into the ob- livion of the gone forever, so far as human knowledge goes, and one would think that the passing years and the changes made by time, would blot those scenes from one's memory, yet it seems to me that sometimes I can feel the sting of the master's rod still. Yes, those recollections are keen.
But 'tis not of these things that I am thinking most now, but it is of this church. If there is any one thing of my earlier years that I remember with greater distinctness than another, it is my
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attendance upon the service and Sabbath School of this sanc- tuary.
From my earliest infancy I might say, my mother brought me here to church. Don't I remember the cakes she used to bring with her, with which to keep me quiet, when the sermon was too long for my non-comprehensive mind ? How I call to mind how she used to find the text, and when she had read it, pass the book to me. I would follow it with the minister as he repeated it, but then when he went on to preach, I could not find the rest in the scripture, and got lost in a maze of uncertainty.
Dr. Van Liew was the first, and for a long time the only minis- ter I ever knew. I saw him almost every day, for he often came to my father's house to talk politics or something else, and I thought him one of the best men who ever lived, as he most assuredly was.
I was a boy and I did not know all the good people of the con- gregation very well, nor did I know just how good it was neces- sary for one to be to entitle him to a place in Heaven. The im- pression I had was that one had to be very, very good, and for a long time, I knew of only two persons who I thought were abso- lutely sure of a home in the realms of eternal bliss. I was not one of them. They were Dr. Van Liew and George Washing- ton ; Washington, because he never told a lie, and Mr. Van Liew, because he was so absolutely good. I supposed there were others, but I did not know them, and I thought I would rather go with the larger crowd.
Dr. Van Liew's pastorate was an exceedingly long one, and one blessed of God. I doubt not that many of you sat under his ministry. He baptized you in your infancy, married you in your young manhood and womanhood, and at the soul's new birth, re- ceived you into the communion of this church; and when the shadows fell, he officiated at the burial of your dead. Thus the
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memories of the past come trooping up, and to me those memor ies are precious and sweet, though touched perhaps with a tinge of sadness, when we see how far we are drifting away from our earlier years. But-
"When time, which steals our years away, Shall steal our pleasures, too, The memory of the past will stay, And half our joy renew."
For a century and three-quarters, this church has been as a fountain of living water to thousands who have had the privilege of drinking therefrom ; the truths taught, the promises repeated, and the instructions given, have been the means of giving a hope of eternal life to those who have heard them. Wide has been the scope of her power and influence, and to her many daughters have been born. From her have been sent out more young persons to pro- claim the gospel of the Son of God to a lost and ruined world, than from any other congregation of its size of which I have any knowledge.
Proud is her prestige and great her power for good.
All of her pastors, some of whom are known to me, Van Liew, Van Slyke, Smock, and the present pastor, have been earnest, devoted workers, and lovers of the souls of men. Short as has been the pastorate of the present guardian of this flock, he has endeared himself to his people, and great good has been accom, plished by him.
And as we stand upon this dividing line between the past and the future, it seems to me that the years of success which he has had here, are but a brief foretaste of what God will vouchsafe to him in the years that lie ahead. He has many things upon which he can congratulate himself and for which he is to be congratulated. He is a vessel chosen of God for good. His past is fraught with
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the consciousness of duties faithfully performed, and of souls saved through his labors. And his surroundings are full of en- ·couragement and promise for the future. He is young and full of hope, and by his side stand many ready and willing to give him a helping hand. The older members are strong and conservative. The youth are active and enthusiastic. In the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor he has a most powerful auxiliary. And surrounded and supported by them, he travels down the Christian pathway, a pathway illumined by the radiance that streams from Calvary, and the gems that shall adorn his diadem, will be the souls that through his ministry, have found and will find "the peace of God that passeth understanding."
After Mr. Connet's address hymn 375 was announced and sung, the congregation standing. At its conclusion the Rev. A. J. Hage- man, of Somerville, offered a brief prayer and pronounced the benediction.
List of Relics and Antiquities
on Exhibition at the Anniversary.
There was an interesting collection of " antiquities" on exhibi- tion. A portfolio prepared for the occasion contained pictures of the various church edifices, with diagrams of pews, prices, etc. There were bills of sale for slaves and their effects, receipts for subscriptions to The Federalist, receipted bills of doctors of the last century, autographs of the early Frelinghuysens, and one of Caspar Wistar, who founded the first glasshouse in New Jersey. There were several autograph papers of the Revolutionary patriot, Abraham Post (the nephew of Theunis Post, the official " helper " of the first pastor); as well as of his son, Henry, the elder who carried Domine Studdiford into the church that he might preach the last sermon before he died ; and of his son, John, the elder whom the
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Lord sent (as a missionary without the name) to build up churches at Oakfield, N. Y., at Raritan, Ill., and at Somerset, Kan. There was the big Dutch Bible of Altje Blauw, and the Testament and Psalms of Antje Aten, both of them with family records of the last century. There were the family records of Lucas Schermorn and Willempje Voorhees (nee Wyckoff) which genealogists have been so long looking for in vain. There was the Bible and family record of the Scotch John Thomson, who "was killed and scalped by ye Tory and Indians at Shomokem," with the commissions of his son and grandsons as judges of the County Courts, signed by various governors of the state. There was the roster of a military company of the early years of the century, with the commissions of its officers, and what remains of the flag they carried at general training. There was a picture of the village and of the man who painted it in 1847. There were girlish letters that passed between girls whose grandchildren and great-grandchildren are now minis- ters of the gospel of mature age. There was a " Breeches' Bible" with the autograph of "John Cole" and other owners. There was a copy of the treatise on language by Erasmus of Rotterdam, printed in 1523, with an appended letter of his to his father, and an edition of the letters of the younger Pliny, printed at Venice in 1501. The docket of Esquire Ezekiel Cole, and the day-book of the man who kept " the still " a hundred years ago, were full of interest. There were antique canes once carried by ancient members of the church ; and wooden shoes worn by Hollanders of more recent immigration.
Most interesting of all were the ancient records of the church itself, which, we trust, will soon be carefully rebound and placed in the fireproof library at New Brunswick.
It deserves to be added here that much is due to the patience and laborious effort of the Rev. J. B. Thompson, D. D., for the fullness of this list.
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We would also here express our gratitude to him for many sug- gestions given in the preparation of the program.
letter of Prof. H. A. Scomp.
PARKSVILLE, KY., OCT. 11, 1894. MR. AARON THOMPSON, READINGTON, N. J. My Dear Sir :- I have just received a copy of the invitation to the 175th anniversary of the founding of Old Readington Church. I wish to express my appreciation of this beautiful reminder that I am still considered a child of the dear old house where my fathers worshipped.
From that tabernacle set up in the wilderness the incense has been wafted by a thousand breezes-a savour of sweet odors for altars in far distant lands. Its members have gone forth as pio- neers to the wilds of the West; they have carried with them the sacred fire and the Penates of the old household. In them have been kept alive the devotion, the zeal and the simple faith of Huguenots and Walloons, who, for religion's sake, sought refuge long ago in the Netherlands. They, along with the sturdy Hol- landers, fought the battles of freedom of conscience and freedom of worship against the tyranny of Spain, the treachery of Valois and Bourbon, and the craft and malice of Italy ) How much the world of religious thought owes to Holland ! How much do the great principles of political freedom owe to that religious creed which tolerated neither Pope nor Bishop; which recognized one Lord and Master, but none else beside !
With them the Book was the final court of appeal in all mat- ters of conscience and duty. Absolutism can never live in the presence of such a creed. It is not wonderful that such men were patriots in the Revolution ; they could stand nowhere else. It is noteworthy that their migrations were so commonly congregational in character. Whole communities removed together, carrying their
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pastors with them. The wilderness shut in their humble camps when night or the Sabbath arrested their wanderings and the wild forests re-echoed their songs and prayers. They pitched their habitations together and perpetuated in the names of their new churches and in the mountains and forest streams the memories of their fatherland. Naught but the bond of a common faith can cement such a brotherhood. It was like the exodus of Israel, or the return of the captivity from Babylon. It was such as the sim- ple faith of the Acadians, out of which grew the beautiful story of Evangeline. Such strong faith has ever been the nucleus for or- ganizing a government of peace and justice among men. May we be worthy of our sires and able to transmit uncorrupted the prin- ciples they have bequeathed to us.
How much I should like to be with you on that auspicious an- niversary ; but circumstances will prevent my coming. I expect to return to Georgia next week. May the occasion prove to be all that the most sanguine could hope for ; and may all of old Readington's children in the gospel, far and nigh, do honor to the venerable mother from whose body they sprung.
Yours, sincerely,
H. A. SCOMP.
ADDENDUM TO NOTE ON PAGE 16.
Since going to press with the earlier portion of this book it has been as- certained that the date of the burning of the church in 1864 was March 24 -- not March 22. A newspaper clipping in the possession of John Flem- ing, of Readington, together with a minute of the event in the church rec- ord book, fully establish this fact.
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