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 6
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Lewis F. Stelle, son of Deacon Drake F. Stelle, united with the Church by baptism in 1840 ; was licensed to preach, September, 1843; ordained at Piscataway, May 28, 1846, having in the meantime pursued his studies at Hamilton Literary and Theological Institute. He was pastor successively of the churches at Herbertsville, Branchville and Bloomingdale. In all these places he was faithful in the Master's service. He died in 1863, aged forty-four years, leaving three young sons who early in life became God's children, and a widow who, only a few months since, died in faith, lamented by a large circle of friends.
" None knew her but to love her, None named her but to praise."
In the month of April, 1844, Hezekiah Smith, a youth of eighteen years, son of Deacon Peter Smith, was encouraged, after trial of his gifts, to commence a course of preparatory study, He entered Hamil- ton with high hopes of future usefulness, but being suddenly arrested by disease he returned home and died in June of the same year.
56
THE PISCATAWAY BAPTIST CHURCH.
Warren Randolph, D. D., was licensed May 26, 1847. He gradu- ated at Brown University in 1851, and the same year was ordained as pastor of the High Street Baptist Church, Pawtucket, R. I. After remaining there one year he became pastor of the Eighth (now Jeffer- son) Street Church, Providence, R. I. Since this pastorate of five and a half years, he has been pastor successively of the First Church, German- town, Pa .; of the Harvard Street Church, Boston ; of the Fifth Church, Philadelphia ; of the First Church, Indianapolis ; of the Central Church, Newport, R. I., where he now is, and has been for the last ten years. From January, 1877, to April, 1879, he was Sunday School Secretary of the American Baptist Publication Society. In 1872, at its formation, . he was elected a member of the International Bible Lesson Committee, re-elected in 1878, and again in 1884, and has been Secretary of the committee from the beginning. Dr. Randolph has been so long and prominently before the denomination as to supersede the necessity of further remark.
Bergen Stelle, a brother of the above named Lewis F. Stelle, was licensed November 29, 1848. His first pastorate was at George's Road; his second and last at Cherryville. He died August 9 , 1864, in the forty- ninth year of his age, greatly beloved by all, particularly his brethren in the ministry.
Augustus Pawley was licensed March 24, 1860, but soon retired from the ministry.
Charles C. Smith was licensed October 2, 1860. He graduated in the collegiate and theological departments of Madison University; in the latter in 1869, and was ordained in March, 1870, as pastor of the Baptist Church at Cooperstown, N. Y. His next pastorate was that of the Hannibal Baptist Church, in Oswego County, N. Y. After remain- ing there about two years, he removed to Branford, Ct., and was pastor of the church in that place eight years. He is now pastor of the church at Hempstead, L. I. As a brother so well known and beloved by all, nothing more need he added.
HOUSES OF WORSHIP.
Mention has been made of the first "meetinge-house " built in Piscatawaytown. It does not appear from any documents now in exis- ence, or from traditions, that the Church made any attempt to build a house exclusively for worship and religious purposes, or any movement in that direction until April, 1731, when, with a wise forecast for the
57
THE PISCATAWAY BAPTIST CHURCH.
future-the settlements extending further back from the village every year-the Church bought a lot of 4 6-10 acres from Alexander Mc- Dowell, about a mile to the west of Piscatawaytown. This was eight years before the death of the first pastor. Not until 1748 did the time come to arise and build. In the tenth year of Rev. Benjamin Stelle's pastorate, a house 46x36 was erected on this lot. Morgan Edwards, who visited this parish during Mr. Runyon's ministry, and from him and old citizens gathered his data concerning the Church, speaks of this structure as a " well-finished house, but wanting the necessary con- venience of a stove," from which statement it appears that for forty winters the congregation had worshipped without this "convenience," for, at a church meeting held May 30, 1798, " it was carried by vote that the Trustees devise means to procure a stove against next winter." In the month of October following, this "convenience " again came under grave consideration, and it was found that "such was the encourage- ment to proceed, that the Church requested the Trustees to procure it and what was necessary to put it up, and to fix a pulley to the door of the meeting-house." Let it go down to posterity that Brother Lewis Fitz Randolph had the honor of presenting this motion for the intro- duction of the first stove into the Piscataway meeting-house. The Clerk himself appears to have thought that the name should be embalmed in history, inasmuch as out of scores of resolutions passed by the Church during a long series of years, the name of no mover of any one of them appears save in the case of this stove. In climes farther towards the North pole than this, and in times later than 1798, the introduction of a stove into a meeting-house was regarded as a useless if not an impious innovation on established customs, and a reflection on the piety and dignity of the fathers and mothers of Israel of the olden times.
In the year 1785 a house for the sexton was ordered to be built on the meeting-house lot, 16x18. The minutes do not state whether it was really built. We find soon afterwards that the care of the meeting- house was assigned to different brethren from year to year. In May, 1793, the brother in charge declined to act any longer, the sum allowed for his services being deemed inadequate, whereupon, for the ensuing year, the person taking charge was " allowed forty shillings." Brother John F. Randolph acted as doorkeeper until 1798, when Deacon Pyatt was appointed, who was to have "two pounds, York money, for his services." His successor, the following year, was Brother John Dunham, at a salary of forty shillings. The next year Deacon Pyatt was appointed to "get some one to serve for $5." It may here be stated that the office
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THE PISCATAWAY BAPTIST CHURCH.
of sexton from the earliest times until the present has been filled by brethren of the Church, some of whom have been the most prominent members of the Church and community, and that the salary has been for long years past largely in excess of " forty shillings."
The meeting house built in 1748 stood until 1825, the sixth year of Mr. Dodge's ministry, when, on account of its insufficient size and age- it had withstood the storms of seventy-seven years-it was taken down and a new and more spacious one-a frame building modeled after that of the Plainfield Baptist meeting-house-but two feet longer-was erected on or near the same site, at a cost of about $3,000. Its size was 52x42 feet. On the Ist day of January, 1851, during Mr. Jones' pastorate, as the people were gathering for worship and business, this house took fire from a defect in the stovepipe, and burned to the ground. This was a grievous trial to the Church, not only because it involved outlays of money in addition to those that had already been incurred in building a parsonage, but because the house was dear to them by many tender associations, God having so often manifested himself to them therein in the sanctifying and saving power of his Spirit. Cast down but not destroyed, they at once resolved to rebuild, subscribed much of the money needed on the spot, and, within the same year (Decem- ber 31) the present house, occupying the site of the former, was com- pleted at a cost of about $7,000, and dedicated to the Lord. The sermon on the occasion was preached by Rev. Dr. Hague, then of Newark. While the Church was houseless it was invited by neighboring churches to hold services in their houses of worship. Such courtesies were ex- tended by the Baptist Church in New Brunswick, the Samptown Church, the Seventh Day Baptist Church at New Market, and the Presbyterian Church at Metuchen, and were gratefully accepted and duly acknowl- edged.
The spire on this house was erected in 1870 according to the original design of the architect at a cost of $1,537. Its height is 130 feet from the ground and 94 feet from the top of the house. In the year 1874 the annex in the rear of the meeting-house was built-designed for robing rooms on baptismal occasions and for social meetings, the whole being so constructed as to be thrown into one room if occasion requires. About the same time an acoustic apparatus was placed in the church by private contributions.
The ladies of the Church in Piscatawaytown and vicinity, feeling the need of a chapel in that village for permanent religious worship and for Sunday-School purposes, took energetic measures towards erecting a
59
THE PISCATAWAY BAPTIST CHURCH.
suitable building. Money was freely subscribed by members of the Church and congregation in general, and in the summer of 1875 a taste- ful and commodious house, known as the "chapel," was opened with appropriate exercises, the dedicatory sermon being preached by Dr. Warren Randolph, of Newport. The ground on which the chapel stands was given by Mrs. Nancy Martin, a beloved sister of the Church. The house cost about $2,500. A vigorous Sunday-School is maintained there under the superintendency of Mr. William H. Stelle, and the pastor statedly preaches there three Sunday evenings in each month of the year. The deed for this property was conveyed to the Church in March, 1878.
Previous to the settlement of Mr. Jones, the Church, which hitherto had owned no parsonage, took measures to provide a home for their future pastors in the parish. A house and lot of 20 acres, adjoining lands of Furman Stelle and Augustus Stelle, were bought, about two miles from the meeting house. The old house, in the process of remodel- ing, gave way virtually to a new and more commodious one. The lot, together with the new building, cost about $4,000. This house was occu- pied by the pastors till 1869, when, owing to its distance from the meet- ing-house and the amount of land attached to it, which was deemed by many an encumbrance rather than a benefit, it was sold at twice its original cost, and a new and tasteful dwelling was erected on a lot of one acre (bought of Deacon J. D. Stelle, for $600) within a few rods of the meeting-house, at a cost of $7,700.
Sheds for horses and conveyances were built on the church lot in the rear of the meeting-house by individual members of the Church and congregation in the year 1872.
The cost of the chapel, the spire, the baptistery, all accomplished between 1869 and 1876, was about $7,000. This period was one of marked progress in all the temporal and material interests of the Church, and not without tokens of the presence of the quickening Spirit.
FAITH, DISCIPLINE AND GOVERNMENT.
We do not know what Confession of Faith, if any, was adopted by the Church at the time of its organization. The probability is that it adopted some form of " creed-statement," our denomination having been among the earliest, if not "the earliest of the dissenting bodies of England in the issuing of Confessions."1 From the time of its con -
1. See Cuttings Vindication, p. 85.
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THE PISCATAWAY BAPTIST CHURCH.
nection with the Philadelphia Association in 1707, the Confession then or soon afterwards adopted by that body, and known as the Phila- delphia Confession of Faith, was generally adopted by the churches in the provinces now known as the Middle States and by some in New England. This Confession was a reprint of " The Confession of Faith put forth by the Elders and Brethren of many congregations of Chris- tians (baptized upon profession of their faith) in London and the country, A. D. 1689," the very year that this Church was constituted. This Confession having been "owned " by the Association, there can scarcely be a question that it was " owned " by this Church.
In the time of Mr. Dodge's ministry a Confession prepared by him was adopted by the Church. Briefer than that of the Philadelphia Confession, it contained the substance of its fundamental Articles. This Confession was still further abridged in the year 1836, during the pastorate of Mr. Lewis, but just how far we are left only to conjecture as it does not appear in the minutes. We may naturally infer that it was purged of all articles requiring the imposition of hands after baptism, and of all prohibitions of marriages within the fourth degree of consanguinity. In the year 1854, at the suggestion of Brother Augustus Stelle, a Committee was appointed to revise and amend this Confession, or report one " more satisfactory in some points." The committee, consisting of the pastor, Mr. Jones, and deacons Henry Smalley and Alexander Dunn, together with Brethren Samuel Smith and Augustus Stelle, reported in September, 1854, that they had "agreed to present for the adoption of the Church the Articles of Faith as adopted by the South Baptist Church of Newark, being in doctrine the same as our old Articles, only differing mainly in manner of expression, and proved by numerous quotations from scripture." These articles together with a Church Covenant were " adopted unan- imously as expressive of our views of Gospel Truth and Christian fel- lowship " at a stated meeting of the Church, held March 24, 1855. They are the same in substance as those of the New Hampshire Con- fession. Hence the orthodoxy of the Church and its claim to abide In the faith of their fathers and of the Apostles and Prophets cannot be held in question. The Articles and Covenant are written in pages I to 5 of the New Book of Minutes, and are styled ARTICLES OF FAITH AND A CHURCH COVENANT OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF PISCATAWAY.
It is in place, therefore, here to state that while the corporate name of this Church was from 1781, and probably from its origin,
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THE PISCATAWAY BAPTIST CHURCH.
" The First Day Baptist Society " of Piscataway, it was, in the year 1874, under a general act of the Legislature appertaining to the incor- poration of Trustees of Religious Societies, so changed as to read and be known henceforth as the FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF PISCATAWAY. 1
A few words with regard to discipline may suffice. The Church, holding in common with Baptist churches the world over that none but a regenerate people has a scriptural right to the two ordinances of the New Testament, has, from the beginning, been careful to admit no others to membership. The utmost care, however, does not always avail to keep out either the self-deceived or deceivers, nor render any untemptible by the world, the flesh and the devil. When members have been found walking disorderly, or not according to the Gospel, they have been kindly admonished, reproved, rebuked, and if they still remain incorrigible, they have been put away as unworthy of a place in a Gospel Church. Intemperance and every other vice, and every species of immorality has incurred the highest penalty a church can inflict-exclusion. But with firmness in maintaining discipline, there have been united the utmost forbearance and tenderness, and sometimes a long suffering almost without a parallel. The early records reveal a case of discipline that was before the Church for six years and eight months before a decision was reached ; so scrupulous was it lest the least injustice should be done to the offending member. Indifference to the means of grace as manifested in forsaking the as- sembly of the saints or in withholding for the support of the Gospel, has never been winked at, or regarded as a trivial offence. On the contrary persistence in this wrong, in despite of all kindly efforts to induce a return to the fold, has been followed by exclusion. By rule, members who remove to the vicinity of other churches are required to remove also their membership to such churches unless peculiar circum- stances make it inexpedient for them to do so. But the mere plea of attachment to the dear old mother, the Church of their first love, is not deemed an adequate excuse for remaining in her bosom.
CHURCH PSALMODY.
At the period of Baptist history when this Church was constituted, the propriety of singing in public assemblies was in much dispute. In England the celebrated Benjamin Keach, a contemporary of Bunyan,
1. While this is, geographically, a misnomer, the House of Worship being now in Raritan Township, the corporate title is not thereby affected.
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THE PISCATAWAY BAPTIST CHURCH.
and Kiffin and Hanserd Knollys, 1640-1704, had great difficulty we are told, in introducing the practice of singing in the Church under his care. He wrote a book in defence of his views, entitled " The Breach Repaired in God's Worship, or Singing of Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, proved to be a Holy Ordinance of Jesus Christ." This work brought on him much trouble and ill-will. For years some of his brethren opposed the practice, and finally seceded and founded a church upon the same principles, singing only excepted.1 In this country the Second Baptist Church at Newport was founded in 1656, by twenty- one persons who seceded from the First Church on account of the use of Psalmody to which they objected, and to some other points, one of which was the indifference of the First Church to the laying on of hands at the admission of members.2 At Cohansey, singing psalms met with opposition. Morgan Edwards thinks that "the Welch Tract Church, founded in 1707, was the principle, if not the sole means of introducing singing, imposition of hands and church covenants among the Baptists of the Middle States.3 If Edwards' opinion be correct we must not conceive of the constituent members of this Church as sing- ing psalms and hymns in their religious assemblies, but as refraining from making melody, except in heart, to the Lord. At what precise time the practice of singing was introduced, the recovery of the lost minutes could alone enable as to determine.
The first minute in regard to singing on the existing records reads thus : March 27, 1793: " Brother Oliver Stelle appointed a Clerk for the Society to raise the tunes in public worship, and Bro. Hezekiah Smith to supply occasionally." Under June 25, 1794, we find that Bro. Hezekiah Smith was promoted to the place of chief chorister and " the second appointment was taken under consideration until our next meeting of business." As the years roll on the number of assistant singers is increased. Thus, under date of May 24, 1826, we find it "ordered that Peter Smith, Samuel Smith, James Martin and James Dunham be invited to assist Bro. Thomas Randolph in singing." In 1832 there must have been a famous choir though not so designated ; the following persons "being requested and appointed to assist in singing : Robert Walker, Samuel Smith, Peter Smith, Justus Runyon, Runyon Walker, Stelle Runyon, Abel S. Runyon, Drake Stelle Samuel Stelle, James Dunham, Daniel Runyon, Isaac A. Stelle. Isaac Stelle
1. See Cramp's History, &c., pp. 387, 388.
2. Cramp, p. 463.
3. Morgan Edward's Materials, (Del.) pp. 232, 233.
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THE PISCATAWAY BAPTIST CHURCH.
Jr., and Joseph Sutton," fourteen male voices ! The music was con- gregational, and of course the beautiful voices of the sisterhood chimed in with those of their brothers, all in harmony swelling. We can only imagine how the music of that time must have sounded and resounded within and around the courts of the Lord's House. If, per- chance, that of the present time is more artistic, will any be bold enough to say it is more fervent, more devotional, or more in harmony with the spirit of true praise ?
The minutes have been searched in vain to find out the hynin book that was used a hundred or even seventy-five years ago. Nor do any who are now living seem to remember what book was used as late as the time of Mr. Dodge. Most likely it was Parkinson's collection, or possibly, that of Dr. Watts, Soon after this period " Watts and Rip- pon " was introduced, and continued in use until 1872, when, there being no more copies to be had, the Baptist Hymn and Tune Book was adopted, and is still in use.
A choir was organized, probably not more than forty or forty-five years ago. But the leader has always been appointed by the Church. The first instrument of music, a cabinet organ, was introduced in r866. This and its successors have just given place to the pipe organ, the sweet tones of which have fallen on our ears to-day.1 Thus the church, abreast with the spirit of the age, enters upon its third cen- tury of existence by praising God, like holy men of the olden time of Israels' greatness with sound of voice and organ. Ps. 150 : 4.
BENEVOLENCE.
Reference has been already made to the interest of the Church in missions. Missionary societies were formed as early as Mr. Dodge's time, and from thence onward to the present time the Church has been in sympathy with the evangelical and educational enterprises of the age. Institutions of learning, temperance societies, missionary and Bible societies, feeble churches, the State Mission and Education socie- ties, receive yearly contributions. In addition to collections in the church and congregation at stated times through the year for these various objects, there are, and have been for years past, three mission- ary societies, viz : The Judson Band, the Cheerful Workers and Light Bearers. The first or Judson Band, is composed of ladies of the Church
1. This instrument, with the alterations in the house required for its erection, cost about $2,600 -- including cost of refurnishing about $500.
1879
1880
1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
1887
1888
A. B. M. Union
$34 00 $137 06
$118 44
$147 42
$104 50
$182 76
$197 58
$159 82
$146 86
$165 46
A. B. H. M. Society.
54 39
105 87
122 28
230 00
198 85
290 46
247 26
199 97
192 27
201 96
A. B. Pub. Society
56 70
76 00
101 37
64 08
110 55
116 22
95 38
87 96
74 14
177 00
Bible Cause.
29 20
30 00
105 32
87 42
N. J. State Convention. ...
59 51
110 00
110 00
236 00
163 00
160 00
199 75
168 17
128 00
143 00
N. J. Education Society . .
46 00
57 85
43 00
61 62
71 83
72 00
64 20
63 80
60 00
56 25
Feeble Churches
59 08
39 00
11 00
Sundries
362 03
238 29
572 00
215 57
116 00
139 31
271 43
299 85
Women's Foreign Mission,
200.00
200.25
211 83
200 00
230 00
255 00
235 00
281 00
265 50
293 49
Home Mission ...
36 25
85 00
86 00
139 00
106 00
56 63
103 56
142 00
203 80
Total for each year ......
$ 841 83
723 28 1,089 29 1,666 12 1,028 73 1,503 33 1,299 22 1,203 59 1,280 20 1,540 81
Total for ten years,
1 -
$12,176.40
From this table it appears that the contributions of the Church for the last ten years for Foreign Missions, have been Of the Societies for the same object,
$1,393.90 2,372 07
Making a total of
$3.765.97
Contributions during the same period for Home Missions :
By Church, By Societies,
$1,843.31 958.24
Total,
$2,801.55
Contributions of Sunday-Schools during the last eight years for Home and Foreign Missions, N. J. State Convention, Education Society, Publication Society, Bible work and Miscellaneous objects,
$1,263.21
years by the Church, the societies and Sunday-Schools :
The table that follows will show the amounts that have been con- tributed for missions, education, and sundry objects for the last ten
ter.
The young people are thus being trained to benevolence.
THE PISCATAWAY BAPTIST CHURCH.
and congregation, the second of the young people-organized by that faithful worker in the Church, Miss Anna F. R. Smith-the third of the juvenile members of the congregation, mostly connected with the Sun- day-Schools. These three societies collect on an average over $300 per annum for mission purposes. Another missionary society called Band of Hope, was formed in 1887 and has raised $30 per year. In the Sun- day-Schools collections are taken at every session for some evangelical object, the specific object being designated at the end of every quar-
64
1
65 .
THE PISCATAWAY BAPTIST CHURCH.
In addition to the several societies of a missionary character, before named, there is also a Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor, the object of which is to promote an earnest Christian life among its members ; to increase their mutual acquaintance, and to make them more useful in the service of God. The Society was organized October 26, 1887.
MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS.
Reference has been made to the grave-yard at Piscatawaytown in which lie the remains of the early pastors and many other members of the Church and congregation. By a deed of the Lord Proprietors in 1695 (now on record among colonial documents at Perth Amboy), a large tract of land was conveyed by them to the township for a burial place and a training ground for the militia. No other objects are spe- cified. The boundaries are clearly defined in the deed. The ground now fenced in äs a grave-yard, together with the adjacent common, is but a small part of the tract bounded and defined by the deed. An Episcopal meeting-house stands in the enclosed part, another build- ing, a school-house, stands on the commons just outside the enclosure. When and by whom the other part of this tract of land defined by the deed was, in the course of time, gradually encroached upon, to the perversion of the purpose set forth by the Lord Proprietors in this noted instrument, let those who are curious inquire.
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