USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > Piscataway > History of the First Baptist Church of Piscataway : with an account of its bi-centennial celebration, June 20th, 1889, and sketches of pioneer progenitors of Piscataway planters > Part 4
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THE PISCATAWAY BAPTIST CHURCH.
DANIEL DODGE, SIXTH PASTOR. 1818-1832.
Mr. Dodge, whose parents were natives of Massachusetts, was born in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, in 1775. Of his early life we know but little. At the age of eighteen we find him at Woodstock, Vt., and there and then consecrating himself to Christ and uniting with the Baptist Church under the charge of Rev. Elisha Ransom. In 1797, at the age of twenty-two, having been licensed to preach, he traveled as far south as Maryland and Virginia, and after preaching in various places he was ordained in 1801 in Anne Arundel County, Md. The next year he became pastor of the Church at Wilmington where for nearly seventeen years he labored abundantly, the Lord working with him and crowning his labors with a rich harvest of souls. While there he baptised two hundred and fifty-nine converts. His name is pro- nounced with reverence and his memory is fragrant there to this day.
He entered upon pastoral duties here October 1, 1818, on a salary of $600 per annum. He was now about forty-three years old, in the full vigor of his intellectual and physical powers, ripe in Christian and ministerial experience, thoroughly established in the doctrines of the Gospel and as firm as a rock in maintaining them.
Mr. Dodge, like his predecessor, lived in New Brunswick. The divine blessing attended his labors, preeminently during the first three years of his ministry, nearly sixty souls having been baptized and added to the Church within that time. And no succeeding year passed without the accession of one or more by baptism. Eighteen were baptized in the last year of his ministry here. Nevertheless, fidelity to history compels us to record that the Church never passed through a more troublous and painful period than that covered by the first nine years of Mr. Dodge's pastorate, not because of any moral or ministerial shortcomings in him, nor because he did not conscientiously seek the edification and prosperity of the Church, but because of a difference of sentiment or opinion between him and a number of prominent members regarding Church polity, and the lawfulness or unlawfulness of marrying a deceased wife's sister. Mr. Dodge held, and had held before his settlement here, that " the laying on of hands after baptism was a Gospel ordinance and necessary to be practiced."1 This was contrary to the practice of the Church, that form having been laid aside more than thirty years.2 Its reintroduction was
1. Quoted from the old Minutes.
2. Old Minutes, p. 66. It thus appears that the laying on of hands after baptism had been, in a former time, the practice of the Church.
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grievous to certain brethren. The difficulty was finally compromised by leaving to the option of the candidate whether to be received with or without the imposition of hands.
The question whether deacons should be ordained also came under discussion ; first, at a church meeting held in May, 1820, at which time the pastor spoke strongly in favor of their ordination. No decision of the question being reached, the discussion was resumed in November following and closed with the adoption of the following resolution :
"RESOLVED, That notwithstanding the practice of ordaining deacons had been abandoned by a decision of the Church in 1789, we dissent from that decision, and agree that it is a practice fully authorized by Scrip- ture and ought to be adhered to."
In accordance with this resolution we find under date of June 2, 1821, this item : " Peter Runyon, John F. Randolph and William F. Manning were this day ordained deacons by the prayers and laying on of the hands of Elders Jacob Randolph, Daniel Dodge and G. S.Webb."1 Thus this vexed question was, for the time being, laid to rest.
.
The marriage question was not so easily disposed of, and for a long time it greatly disquieted the Church. In 1827 the Church sent up to the Association this query : "Whether the Scriptures did not prohibit marriage between a man and a sister of his deceased wife?" As the Association gave no direct answer to the query, but simply left it " for each Church to determine the lawfulness of such marriage in the light of the Holy Scriptures," the Church at Samptown renewed the query the following year. This was referred to a committee of seven, Elder Parkinson, Chairman, who reported at the same session that " though they were unanimously and decidedly of the opinion that there is nothing in the Holy Scriptures forbidding such marriages, nevertheless, con- sidering the importance of the question and its bearings on the Christian and civil community, they advised the appointment of a committee of three to prepare a more full report upon the subject at the next term." From this opinion Elder Dodge, who was Moderator, expressed his "solemn dissent, as tending, in his belief, to sanction incest." This committee of three having failed to present such report, the following year (1829) the Association "cordially and affectionately recommended to the churches not to make a difference of opinion respecting the matter in question any bar to Christian fellowship and friendly intercourse between them, to an exchange of pastoral labor, or to the mutual dis- mission and reception of members." It appears that this judicious advice
1. Old Minutes, p. 73.
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had not been practically anticipated by this Church. Controversy on the question waxed more and more warm and resulted in alienations and divisions. By request of the Church, presented at the session last named, a Council, consisting of seven persons, was appointed by the Association to aid in the restoration of harmony to the Church. This Council, of which Elder Parkinson was Chairman, and A. R. Martin, Clerk, met with the Church on the 10th day of June, 1829,1 and after a session of three days succeeded in healing every difficulty and effect- ing a formal reconciliation between the Church and its disaffected members. At the same time (June 12, 1829), and in accordance with the advice of the Council, the Church voted that "in future, candidates be received exclusively by the imposition of hands."
None can doubt that the excellent pastor felt bound, by his own con- victions of divine teaching, to take the course he did throughout this pro- tracted controversy, however painful it was to a number of good and honored brethren. To establish all in what he believed to be the faith of the Gospel was his sincere and persistent aim-an aim from which no earthly considerations could make him swerve a hair's breadth. Men of positive convictions, united with the ability to advocate and urge them, have always been liable to the charge of obstinacy, and Mr. Dodge was not exempt from the charge. But in him it was not obstinacy, but rather the power of conscience urging him onward to the accomplishment of his purposes. It is not to be implied, however, that he was always fault- less in spirit and word in his controversy with the minority part of the Church. To err is human, and the human was manifest in him. Yet was he one of the excellent of the earth, and so honored of God in his work that through all these years of controversy sinners were brought under the power of the truth and added to the Church, in all, one hun- dred and five souls.
Having noticed the passage of resolutions that involved painful dis- . cussion, we cannot pass by one that was introduced in the year follow- ing that of Mr. Dodge's settlement, which seems to have been unattended by any important discussion, although one of broad bearings even in this day. At a stated meeting of the Church held February 4, 1819, " Brother Peter Runyon observed that he was ' difficultied ' in his mind because the Church debarred the sisters from voting in the church." The matter " was held over to our next stated meeting, for considera-
1. The Church appointed Mr. Dodge and eight others to attend the said Council and represent the Church in the investigation of the difficulties, as follows: Rev. Daniel Dodge, Peter Runyon, Isaac A. Stelle, William F. Manning, Justus Runyon, Daniel Runyon, Isaae Dayton, Jonathan Dayton, Benjamin Stelle.
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tion whether they have a scriptural right in all cases to vote ; if not, in what cases they should have the privilege." At the next stated meet- ing held May 12, "it was carried by a large majority that the sisters have an equal right, in all cases with the brethren, in voting, speaking and governing the Church." It is a fair inference that this resolution met with the full concurrence of the pastor. Nor does it appear from the minutes that it has ever been rescinded.
Mr. Dodge remained with the Church three years after the meet- ing of the Council. Nothing occurred in the meantime to affect its peace and prosperity. Mr. Dodge purchased a farm 1 near the meeting-house and resided thereon till his resignation as pastor, which took effect August 29, 1832, when he was dismissed to the church at Newark to which he had been recently called. There we are told that he was eminent as a peacemaker-"restoring harmony and confidence among members."2 During his ministry there of six years the membership increased from one hundred and twenty to two hundred and thirteen. From Newark he removed to Philadelphia, and from 1838 to 1850 he was pastor of the Second Church. He died in that city, May 13, 1851, in the triumphs of faith, respected and honored by all who knew him. He was a grand old man. Time and grace had mellowed his feelings and made him yet more beautiful and saintly in character. His goodly physique, his dignified carriage, his hoary head, his grave yet benign expression to- gether with the recollection of his long and useful ministry commanded the loving and tender regard of his ministerial brethren who sponta- neously assigned him the chief seat in Associational and other meetings, and, when he spoke, listened to his words as those of a man who walked with God, and in whom was the spirit of wisdom.
DANIEL LEWIS, SEVENTH PASTOR. 1833-1849.
From the dismission of Mr. Dodge in October, '32, until the follow- ing June, the Church was without a pastor, though not destitute of supplies nor of candidates for the pulpit. The only item of interest recorded in the minutes previous to the election of a pastor was the setting apart of Mr. Drake Stelle as deacon by prayer and imposition of hands by Elder James.
1. Now owned and occupied by Nelson B. Runyon.
2. History of the Church, prepared by I. Peckham, published in Minutes of the East Jersey Association, 1876.
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On the 23d day of June the Church extended a call to Rev. Daniel Lewis. This call was for one year, with the promise that he should receive all the funds accruing from the rent of pews. Before the year expired he was called for another year, on a salary of $400 and the pew rents. Both of these calls, limiting the pastoral relation to one year, were a departure from the usual practice of the Church. At the expira- tion of the second year the minutes contain no account of any action in regard to his continuance in the pastorate, probably because by this time the bonds between pastor and people had become so strong as to make both alike feel that nothing but death could break them, and that any formal action in the matter would be a work of supererogation.
Mr. Lewis was born in Barnstable, Mass., July, 21, 1777, married to Mary Dyer, May 13, 1798 ; ordained as pastor of the church at New Gloucester, Me. The Rev. Mr. Boardman, father of the distinguished missionary, George Dana Boardman, preached the ordination sermon. Subsequently he became pastor of churches at Ipswich, Mass., Provi- dence, R. I., Fishkill, N. Y., Frankfort, Pa., Wilmington, Del., Patterson, N. J., 1 lastly Piscataway.
When Mr. Lewis was called to this Church, it was found that he, also, was a man who had some opinions. His views respecting the impo- sition of hands after baptism being the reverse of those held by his esteemed predecessor, he objected decidedly to the practice and hesitated about accepting the call. Whereupon, in the month follow- ing (July 7), the Church met and rescinded its resolution of June 12, 1829, which forbade the reception of newly baptized persons except by the imposition of hands, and left the mode of reception to the option of the candidates.2 This being satisfactory to Mr. Lewis he at once accepted the call and entered upon pastoral duties.
At a special meeting held January 1, 1834, it was also voted that the resolution passed August 29, 1827, respecting incestuous marriages, 3 be rescinded. It does not appear from the records of the Church that the motion to rescind met with any opposition or was even regarded as of questionable propriety. By these two motions, both secured by the
1. The dates of ordination and of pastorates (save that of Piscataway), cannot be given, Mr. Lewis's papers having been consumed in the great fire at Paterson.
2. Old Minutes, p 124.
3. The preamble and resolution read as follows :
" WHEREAS, There has been much disputation among the members of this Church on the subject of incestuous marriages, and a query by the Church having been presented to the Association for their advice, and the same returned unanswered and the matter left to each church to decide the case for themselves ; therefore, we-
RESOLVE, That all marriages that are within the fourth degree (in a direct line), either in consanguinity or affinity, are contrary to our Confession of Faith and the Holy Scriptures."-Old Minutes, p. 87.
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influence of Mr. Lewis, the Church was brought back to its practice from 1789 to 1820, and every old sore was healed. Those.members who had, during the pending difficulties, left the Church and united with other churches, returned home ere long, their sorrow turned into joy, and all could sing :
" Blest be the tie that binds Our hearts in Christian love."
Nothing of marked interest occurred from this time until the close of the year 1836, when, after a long season of spiritual apathy, the Church was awakened to fervent and importunate prayer. The Lord heard, and in the years 1837-8 forty persons became the subjects of His saving grace. The effect of this revival on the benevolence of the Church was marked, its contributions being larger than ever before, while interest in all evangelical work both at home and abroad was greatly quickened.
In the year 1841 the Church united with thirteen others in New Jersey in organizing the East New Jersey Baptist Association, after a connection with the New York Association of forty-nine years.
After the subsidence of the revival of '37 there was no especial religious interest in the Church for several years, and only a few were added to the Church. But harmony and brotherly love prevailed and the prayers of pastor and people for yet larger displays of saving power and grace were unceasing. In the year 1843, God, in his great mercy, again visited the Church, and there was a great awakening. Nothing like it had hitherto been known in the Church's history. It pervaded the whole community and embraced all ages ; many that were heads of families and prominent citizens. The voice of weeping in tender con- trition was heard on every side, followed by songs of thanksgiving in praise of the riches of redeeming grace. The pastor's hands and heart were full. Elders Webb and Hires came to his help and helped him much. His brethren, too, held up his hands, for all felt the power of the Spirit upon them. This work of grace continued for many weeks and even months, and within a year the number of souls added to the Church was one hundred and one. Brother George Drake, a licenti- ate of the Samptown Church, but recently united with this Church, rendered the pastor invaluable service throughout these meetings. He continued to preach the Gospel gratuitously wherever a door was opened, till his death in March, 1851. His name is held in grateful remem- brance.
During this revival period many other churches in East Jersey enjoyed similar manifestations of God's presence. The church at New
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Brunswick, of which the beloved and revered G. S. Webb was pastor, reported to the Association in the same year 37 baptized ; Samptown, 115 ; First Plainfield, 62 ; Second Plainfield, 99 ; Rahway, 110 ; Middle- town, 76 ; Northfield, 96. It was emphatically a year of blessing-of gathering in of sheaves.
The Lord prospered the ministry of Mr. Lewis and, through him, gathered into the fold one hundred and sixty-five souls. What was the character of these converts, and did they add real strength and lasting prosperity to the Church ? Let us call the roll, only in part, and the question will be answered : Henry Smalley, Samuel Smith and Evalina, his wife ; Henry Lupardus and Cornelia, his wife ; Peter Smith, Noah Runyon, John Drake, Sarah Smith, Insley Boice, Runyon Walker, John Frantz, Reuben Drake, Augustus Stelle, Samuel C. Stelle, Isaac Stelle, David C. Dunn, Alexander Dunn, David Smith, William M. Drake, Richard Smith, Samuel R. Stelle, James D. Stelle, Jeremiah D. Stelle, Fitz Randolph Smith, Lewis F. Randolph, James T. Dunn, William F. Randolph, Peter A. Runyon, and many others, including honorable women not a few. Of those named here, seven or eight have served the Church as deacons-men who purchased to themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. As to the rest of these newly added members they have been burden-bearers and the bone and sinew of the Church. A few of them yet live. The greater part have crossed the stream and are now among the spirits of the just made perfect, and many there are here to-day to whom Heaven is all the dearer because they are there. The writer here ventures the opinion that rarely does a revival occur in any church that results in the addi- tion of so many intelligent, stable and influential citizens, whose mould- ing influence on church and community is more after "a godly sort." To the praise of God's sovereign grace be it spoken and written.
Mr. Lewis continued to watch over these new-born souls with all fidelity, and over the whole flock of which the Lord had made him overseer, until the 25th of September, 1849, when he fell asleep in Jesus. His work was done, and well done.
" Servant of God, well done ; Rest from thy loved employ, The battle fought, the victory won, Enter thy Master's joy."
The Church, in grateful appreciation of his faithful service and Christian worth, met all his funeral expenses, erected a stone to his memory, and presented to his widow, the following Spring, $200. This lady was herself a beautiful specimen of Christian womanhood, and
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lived until August 17, 1876, when she passed away in full assurance of faith, having attained the ripe old age of nearly ninety-five years. Her remains were brought from Philadelphia and placed by those of her revered husband. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis had eleven children, of whom three died in early childhood. The eldest lived seventy-seven years, the youngest sixty-five. Two are still living, namely : Mrs. Caroline P., widow of Mr. William Farson, and Mrs. Charlotte Lee, widow of Franklin Lee, a deacon of the Second Baptist Church, Philadelphia, and for many years a member of the Corporation of the Philadelphia Associa- tion, and held in high esteem by that body. The memory of Mrs. Lee's active service, during the ministry of her father in this vineyard, no less than her many Christian virtues, lingers gratefully among her old friends in Piscataway. The excellent brother who briefly described Mr. Mc- Laughlin speaks of Mr. Lewis as " a plain man who made no preten- tions to either learning or eloquence, diffident and retiring in his manners, yet sound in the faith and earnest in his delivery of truth, seeking the honor of his Divine Master, and the peace and harmony of his people in which he was eminently successful ; faithful in warning sinners of their danger and pointing out to them the way of salvation."
HENRY V. JONES, EIGHTH PASTOR. 1850-1856.
After the death of Mr. Lewis, the Church, recognizing the need of divine guidance in the choice of a pastor, voted, November 28, 1849, " to hold a special meeting on the last Wednesday in every month for conference and prayer on the subject of obtaining a pastor, until the good Lord provide us one." These prayers were answered. Rev. H. V. Jones, of Newark, having been invited to visit the Church, accepted the invitation, and after preaching a week on the field he was unani- mously called to the pastorate, January 30, 1850. This action of the Church was confirmed on the following Lord's day by the combined vote of the Church and congregation, and at a special meeting held February 5, it was voted that Mr. Jones should receive as salary $550 per annum in regular quarterly payments together with dwelling rent free, and the advantages of all the rents of the pews which might be received over and above the sum of $550.
Rev. Henry V. Jones was born in Welshpool, Montgomeryshire, North Wales, February 14, 1808, and left an orphan when four years old. He was baptized into the fellowship of the Dean Street Baptist Church, London, by the pastor, Rev. Benjamin Lewis, and was the
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next day disowned by his uncles with whom he had his home, and driven from their house for this act. He came to this country in 1831 ; commenced speaking in public while a member of the church in Lyons, N. Y., in 1834 ; was ordained at Williamson, N. Y., April 8, 1835, while supplying the church there. He became pastor successively of the churches at Palmyra, Milan, and Fabius, all in New York State, and in September, 1843, took charge of the First Baptist Church of Newark, N. J., where he remained till he came to Piscataway, April 1, 1850.
Mr. Jones' pastorate in Newark had been "eminently successful." Thus has it been characterized by Mr. Isaiah Peckham, writer of the history of that church, published in the Associational Minutes for 1876, and who proceeds to say : "Mr. Jones baptized nearly one hundred, and received into the Church three times that number, leaving it at length harmonious and highly prosperous." The same writer, after speaking of that Church's growth and increased benevolence from year to year, gives honor to whom honor is due in the statement that "the secret of this advance was a more correct idea of the mission of a church. It was when this body, particularly under the ministry of Rev. H. V. Jones, in the colonizing of the South Church in February, 1850, really apprehended and began to act upon the Gospel idea of enlargement by activity, that it began to grow." These are words fitly spoken of a man, who, if he was not the actual father of the Newark Baptist City Mission, contributed more than any other man to its formation. The germ of the plant was in his heart.
The ministry of Mr. Jones in this parish was greatly honored by the Lord, both in the winning of souls and in the up-building of the Church. Full of the spirit of missions himself, the Church largely partook of the same, and responded heartily to all his propositions for securing systematic contributions to the various benevolent societies of our denomination. Missionary societies had long existed in the Church, but as they had become more or less inefficient they were suspended, and, in stead, the parish was divided into seven districts with solicitors and collectors in each, with the design of awakening a yet greater interest in evangelical effort and securing something from every member towards sending the Gospel into all the world.
About a year before the close of Mr. Jones' pastorate, his health so greatly declined as to disqualify him for much of the labor incident to so large a field. The Church, cherishing a warm appreciation of his ministry, granted him from time to time indefinite periods of rest, in
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the hope that he might recover his strength and for many years go in and out among them; but in this hope both he and they were disappointed, and in the month of March, 1856, he bade a tearful farewell to a deeply attached people. With respect to this event, he himself writes in a brief autobiographical paper : "I closed my labors with this beloved people after six years' service among them, during which period I received innumerable tokens of their affectionate esteem, and in no instance received from any person in the Church or congregation an unkind word or look ; but, broken down in health, and feeling utterly unfit to do the work in my opinion necessary in so large a field, I obtained a reluctant discharge to try the effect of sea air, and accepted the call of the Baptist Church in Noank, Ct., commencing my labors there, June 19, 1856." From Noank he removed to West Troy, April 1, 1864, to become pastor of the church there. In March, 1866, he returned to Noank, in answer to the earnest entreaty of that church which was now in so divided a condition as to require a man of his wisdom and prudence to bring order out of confusion. He remained there till December, 1869, when he accepted the pastorate of the Baptist Church in Princeton, N. J., trusting that his wife's health, now impaired, would be benefited by the change. In February, 1871, he accepted the position of Financial Secretary of the Board of Managers of the New Jersey Classical and Scientific Institute, at Hightstown. Having accomplished his assigned work, he gave up the books, and January 1, 1872, entered upon his duties as District Secretary of the American Baptist Home Mission Society for New Jersey and Delaware. In April, 1874, he engaged for a short time as Financial Agent of the Board of the South Jersey Institute. Then, to meet some exigency or special demand, he served the Institute yet another year. In every field he occupied as a pastor he served the Master according to the full measure of his strength, and in every trust committed to him was scrupulously faithful.
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