USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > Jersey City > History of the First Presbyterian Church of Jersey City, New Jersey : in four discourses preached in the month of July, 1876; also, the discourse preached at the close of services in the church building, Sunday morning, April 29, 1888 > Part 3
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First Presbyterian Church of Jersey City.
ginning, and now they are as the sand upon the sea-shore, and the consequences connected with them as a race, as immensely great as they are enduring. Compared with the gorgeous temple of Solomon, how small was the tabernacle in the wilderness built by a travelling people, and taken down and set up at every step and carried from place to place. And yet God was there in the beginning, just as truly as He was amidst the grand chorus of trumpets when they praised the Lord on high. How feeble were many of the early apostolic churches, and with what feeble steps did the church progress from land to land through continental Europe and in Great Britain. You see the same in Amer- ica-the log-church, the small rude cabin, the feeble and struggling congregation, and then the prosperous people and the commodious and even stately building.
2. Let us remember this, and let us remember further that the zeal and self-sacrifice expended for these early ef- forts and for this progress are gifts and graces to be emu- lated. God approves them ; God blesses them. These men work and give and pray for the generations to come after them. Let us never then despise the day of feebleness in Christ's churches here, or in our Western wilds, or in foreign lands. God blesses the spirit which can give and labor and pray in faith and hope for such enterprises. Whereas, shame be to him who can unite and sail gayly on only when the tide is strong and the wind is favorable and the company large and enthusiastic. Such religious zeal partakes largely of the flesh. It is the spirit, which in true love for God's worship will have that worship and will provide for it at great odds and with great labor and under great difficulties, that shows itself to be of Heaven.
3. And let us remember, too, that while such enterprises change, and churches change, and congregations pass away, yea, even God's own temple on Moriah crumbles to dust, the true church, the true temple is the spiritual one, the " living stones built by God for a habitation of God through the Spirit." And this lives and must live forever. And
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when all the present and all past organizations, civil or ec- clesiastical, have spent their day and done their work and passed away, then shall be the gathering of all into the one assembly of the Lord-into the heavenly city where the apostle saw no temple therein, " for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple thereof; and they shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads, and they shall reign forever and forever."
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First Presbyterian Church of Jersey City.
SERMON II.
"Unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name there, even unto His habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come." -DEUT. xii. 5.
"And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication that thou hast made before me : I have hallowed this house which thou hast built, to put my name there forever ; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually." -I KINGS ix. 3.
"In all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee."-EXODUS xx. 24.
" Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness : come before His presence with singing. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise : be thankful unto Him, and bless His name."-Ps. c. I, 2, 4.
" I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." -MATT. xviii. 19, 20.
"Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus ; likewise greet the church that is in their house."-ROM. xvi. 3, 5.
" Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering ; (for he is faithful that promised); And let us consider one another, to provoke unto love, and to good works : Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is ; but exhorting one another : and so much the more as ye see the day approach- ing."-HEB. x. 23-25.
GOD is unseen. But He is nevertheless to be worshipped by outward acts. He is indeed to be worshipped in spirit and in truth. And this is essential to all true worship of God. Without this, the costliest buildings, or the most elaborate and impressive ritual, or the most fervid service, or the most profound prostrations, are as nothing. This is all true. And yet, formed as man is with a body as well as a soul, his very spiritual exercises necessarily having their outlet (and especially during social worship) in external forms and ceremonies, there must be some such outward expression of his inward, spiritual devotions, or there can be very little social worship whatever. Now this fact makes
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it a necessity that there should be some locality for the gathering together of God's people, "that with one heart and with one mouth they may glorify God." Hence the appointed yearly feasts of the Lord's house and the special place for their observance under the Old Testament. Hence God's promise respecting it : " In all places where I record my name I will come unto you and bless you." Hence the synagogues of Israel in Christ's time, which, " as His man- ner was, He regularly attended " (Luke iv. 16). Hence the place by the "river-side where prayer was wont to be made." Hence the divine injunction under the new dis- pensation, " Forsake not the assembling of youselves to- gether, but exhort one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching." And again, "If the whole church be assembled together in one place, and all prophe- sy and there come in one unbelieving or unlearned, he is reproved by all, he is judged by all, the secrets of his heart are made manifest, and so he will fall down on his face and worship God, declaring that God is among you indeed." Sanctified human nature cries aloud everywhere for acts of social worship and a place in which together to meet God. It is true that distinct and definite places set apart distinct- ively for the service of God are not essential to the fervor or spirituality or acceptableness of either private or social worship. Our fathers, like the early Christian Church, often enjoyed the purifying communications of the Holy Spirit, and felt the sweetness of Gospel truth when gathered to- gether on the lonely shore or in the private dwelling. In times of persecution they met together and found God amidst rocks hardly accessible to their pursuers, and expe- rienced the joys of God's worship, with no canopy over them but the heavens, as truly as they could have done in the fairest of tabernacles. And yet the Church has ever found, wherever opportunity offered, the great advantage of dis- tinct places appropriated to the worship of God, and asso- ciated in every pious mind with the holy exercises of Chris- tian worship, both for the due cultivation of the Church's
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First Presbyterian Church of Jersey City.
own graces, and also for the most advantageous training of her young children in the ways of God's truth. Social worship, in a word, is, in its way, as truly a necessity for men's best spiritual welfare as is private worship. And it is no unmeaning phrase which the Psalmist utters when he cries : " In the midst of the congregation I will give thanks to Thy name"; or again, "I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the courts of the Lord's house, in the presence of all His people." Nor was it all a superstitious feeling which in the new-born church in the earliest days prompted " all that be- lieved to be together," " continuing steadfastly, day by day, with one accord in the temple "; " all gathering together in Solomon's porch." For in these appointed places the Lord meets with His people, and in the joy and grace of true social worship, the earthly houses of His service become, as Bethel to Jacob, the places where heaven is opened and where we see, with spiritually anointed eyes, the ladder which reaches from earth to heaven, whereon the angels of God ascend and descend to bring blessings to the heirs of salvation.
Oh, it is joy for those to meet, Whom one communion blends, Council to hold in converse sweet, And talk as Christian friends.
'Tis joy to think the angel train, Who 'mid heaven's temple shine, To seek our earthly temples deign, And in our anthems join.
But chief 'tis joy to think that He To whom His church is dear, Delights her gathered flock to see, Her joint devotions hear.
Then who would choose to walk abroad While here such joys are given ; " This is indeed the house of God, And this the gate of heaven !" ;
I have already traced the origin and progress of the First Presbyterian Church of Jersey City from its feeble begin-
3
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nings (soon after the incorporation of the Jersey City Asso- ciates, in 1804, and their purchase of the island known as Paulus Hoeck), in their early assemblages for divine worship in the old Academy about the year 1805, up to the time of the church's organization by the Presbytery of New York and the ordination of the first two elders by the hands of the Rev. Samuel Miller, D.D. (then pastor of the Wall St. Pres. Church in New York), Jan. 10, 1809; from this point onward in their continued worship in the Jersey Academy, on alternate Sabbaths with the Episcopalians, through min- isterial supplies from the Presbyteries of New York and of Jersey, up to the year 1824, when they received their first settled pastor, the Rev. Mr. Olcott, from the Presbytery of Newark. Then followed their legal incorporation, in 1825; their erection of their first house of worship on Grand Street, in 1826; the dissolution of Mr. Olcott's pastoral relation, in 1829; and the final transfer of the congregation and the property, by general consent, to the Classis of Bergen, in 1830. We have also seen that for fourteen years subse- quently the Presbyterian Church in Jersey City was extinct, Presbyterians, with the Reformed Dutch, worshipping har- moniously together in their old home on the south side of Grand Street.
We have come now to the fourth important period in our history; the time when a successful effort was made to revive and perpetuate the Presbyterian Church in Jersey City. The prominent movers in this scheme were generally attendants at the Reformed Dutch church. The Rev. Dr. Miller * states that the movement was prompted by a num- ber of individuals who had opposed the transfer of the con- gregation to our Reformed Dutch brethren (adding, “for on the vote of transfer there was a respectable minority "), to- gether with other Presbyterians who had joined them. The first part of this statement I regard as an error. Their own official statement, already referred to, gives only two in the
* In his address at the dedication of the new building in 1845.
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First Presbyterian Church of Jersey City.
minority. Dr. Taylor heard only one loud No. Besides, it was nearly sixteen years afterward when Dr. Miller's address was delivered. As to the second part of the statement there is no doubt. Many other Presbyterians had come into the city. The population was growing rapidly and there was every prospect of success for the new movement. From 1830, when the church had passed to the Dutch Reformed, the population had grown in 1845 from 1, 100 to 4,258,* or nearly fourfold. One authority gives the population as 5,700.+
Prominent among the promoters of this movement were the late David Henderson and Dudley S. Gregory. Indeed we may say that it was mainly owing to the energy and liberality of these gentlemen-both now gone-that the en- terprise was indebted for its successful and speedy accom- plishment. Let us now trace the steps taken to realize their plan.
. As early as the year 1843, I find, by a careful comparison of dates, that there had been regular Presbyterian worship in Jersey City, continued for, at least, five or six months. This had been instituted by a number of Presbyterians who had come to the place from the north of Ireland and from Scotland. The meetings were held in the Lyceum on Grand Street. I believe that the chief leaders in that movement did not usually attend at the Reformed Dutch church in Grand Street. At the same time, it is known that some of those who were afterward prominent in the undertaking to establish our church were among those worshippers in the Lyceum. Mr. Henderson was. So was Mr. Gregory. So was Mr. Isaac Paterson, who presided at the first meeting to prepare the way for this church of ours. So were a num- ber of others who identified themselves afterward with our church as soon as it was organized. Some of these yet live among us. One lady tells me that she attended these
* Winfield's History.
+ Article by Hon. D. S. Gregory published at the time.
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meetings, to which I have referred, through a whole sum- mer. And this has been clearly ascertained to be in 1843. I was at first inclined to believe, from report, that these meetings took place in the "Temperance Hall " or " Wash- ington Hall," as it was then called, a building yet standing * near the Police Station; and, as almost the only public building existing at that time, was used for public purposes generally. But I have been convinced that the meetings in the " Temperance . Hall" were those held by the Baptists, although they were sometimes attended by Presbyterians, and among others by some of those who were early identified with our own church. The place of the Presbyterian meet- ings, therefore, was, as I have already stated, in the Lyceum on Grand Street, and the services were held on both Sab- bath mornings and afternoons.
The pulpit was supplied by several persons. But the regular stated supply was the Rev. David Sims. Mr. Sims was a native of Scotland,t an ordained minister, and taught school at Douglass farm on Long Island. He came regular- ly over from New York, and was, for the most part, enter- tained by Mr. Isaac Paterson, who then lived in Morris Street, below Washington Street, in a house which has long since been removed to give place to the brick dwelling num- bered until recently No. 49. I have diligently searched the records of the General Assembly in New York to find out Mr. Sims' ecclesiastical connection, but without success. He probably belonged to the United Secession body. Nor do I know why he withdrew from this enterprise or why the meetings came to an end. End, they did, however. But they were not without their result. For they afforded an additional proof of the growth of the Presbyterial element in Jersey City and helped to prepare the way for the move- ment which followed early in the next year. It began to be
* In 1876. Since removed, about 1886.
t The account of Mr. Sims is from a lady still living in Jersey City who attended the services,
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First Presbyterian Church of Jersey City.
evident to those interested that the time had arrived for a more decided effort and for concerted action. And this led to the first meeting to bring about a regular Presbyterian organization.
The first meeting for this purpose was held in the month of February, 1844, at the house of Dr. William F. Clerk, and his brother, Mr. Andrew Clerk, in Morris Street, the fourth door from Hudson Street, on the north side. The object, as expressed in the invitation issued, was to take into consideration " the propriety of forming a Presbyterian Church, and erecting a house of worship in this city." Mr. Isaac Paterson, who still lives among us, though now very ill and failing,* was called to the chair, and Dr. William F. Clerk was appointed secretary. A free interchange of views was held, and it was at length " Resolved, That it is expe- dient to form a Presbyterian Church and to erect a building." Immediate measures were then taken to obtain organiza- tion from the Presbytery of New York, and to secure the stated services of a minister. The Presbytery of New York was chosen, rather than that of Newark, because it was more convenient, and because a number of those who would join the enterprise were in churches connected with that Presbytery.+ There was living at that time in New York the Rev. John Johnstone, then preaching, for a short time, to the United Presbyterian Church in Jane Street. Mr. Johnstone was a native of Scotland, and had been settled as pastor over the Eglinton Street Church, in Glasgow, in con- nection with the United Secession (now U. P.) Church .; He had been an early friend of Mr. David Henderson (I believe that Mr. Henderson's father had attended on his ministry), and had come to this country in 1844, and was at this time, and when called to this church, a member of the Second
* 1876. Since deceased.
t Notes in MS. prepared by Hon. B. F. Randolph.
# Note from Rev. James Harkness, of Jersey City, formerly of Scot- land. Since deceased, 1878.
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Presbytery of New York. The attention of those engaged in the new enterprise in Jersey City was at once turned to him. And at the same meeting of which I have spoken (in February, 1844), Messrs. David Henderson, L. D. Harden- burgh', and E. C. Bramhall were appointed a committee to secure Mr. Johnstone to preach on Sabbath evenings. The report of the committee was favorable, and at a meeting, also held in Mr. Clerk's house soon afterward, it was re- solved to secure the Lyceum in Grand Street, and to fit it up for Sabbath-evening services. Mr. Johnstone preached for the new enterprise, and with so much acceptance, that at a meeting held in the same place, Feb. 28, 1844 (Mr. Leb- beus Chapman presiding), a committee was appointed to obtain subscriptions for the regular support of a pastor, and also to address a letter to Mr. Johnstone, requesting him to supply the pulpit regularly, and offering him one thou- sand dollars per annum, and holding out expectations, in the event of their being organized, that he would undoubt- edly be called to be their pastor. The committee was suc- cessful in their efforts to raise funds, and they wrote to Mr. Johnstone, who accepted the invitation to preach. A peti- tion was then prepared, under date of February 13,* 1844, requesting the Presbytery of New York to organize the young congregation. The petition is signed by forty-five names. They are: Thomas Stevenson, James Bunckle, James Morrison, Jr., William E. Smith, Andrew Clerk, Thomas W. James, Erastus Randall, Luther T. Stowell, Charles Scott, William F. Clerk, A. Gunn, Lewis D. Har- denburgh, David S. Huntington, Dudley S. Gregory, Henry J. Taylor, E. J. Stinson, Edward Stevenson, James Gopsill, Samuel Davidson, N. Sanderson, B. W. Ryder, Isaac Pat- erson, Samuel Craig, John Jelly, George Duncan, William Rhoads, John Nash, William Clerk, Daniel Baldwin, T. L. Smith, John Bell, Henry Southmayd, John Perrine, Henry Amsden, E. C. Bramhall, Henry M. Alexander, David Hen- derson, David Paterson, J. D. Miller, Alexander Wilson,
* This is, I think, a clerical error for March 13.
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First Presbyterian Church of Jersey City.
A. B. Marks, Oliver S. Strong, Lebbeus Chapman, Asa Van- dergrift, and David Easton. Many of these names are still familiar to us. Only five of them, however, owing to the changes by death and removal, are now in this congregation.
The petition was favorably received by the Presbytery on April 16, 1844, and they appointed the Rev. Gardiner Spring, D.D., Rev. William W. Phillips, D.D., and Elders Sampson and Couch, to visit Jersey City and organize the church. The meeting of the congregation for organization was held in the Reformed Dutch Church on Grand Street (the old homestead), on Monday, April 22, 1844, and then and there the committee of Presbytery already named organized the church. The Rev. Dr. Phillips preached the sermon, and the Rev. Dr. Spring delivered an address, and ordained three elders-there chosen by the congregation-viz., Oliver S. Strong, Luther T. Stowell, and Lewis D. Hardenburgh. As the nucleus of the new church there were received by the committee of Presbytery the following eleven persons, on certificate from other churches, viz .: Oliver S. Strong, Mrs. Margaret Strong, Isabella Nicholson, Lewis D. Har- denburgh, Mrs. Ellen Hardenburgh, Lebbeus Chapman,. Mrs. Eliza Chapman, Edward Charles Bramhall, Luther T. Stowell, Mrs. Mary Stowell, and B. W. Ryder. Six of these were from the Reformed Dutch Church in Jersey City, and five from Presbyterian churches in New York. On the 10th of May, 1844, the committee reported the or- ganization to the Presbytery of New York. The name of the new church was entered on their roll, and Mr. O. S. Strong took his seat in Presbytery as the representative of the new church.
On the next day after the organization, a meeting of the Session was held and a summons of the congregation issued to call a pastor, if the way should be clear. The congrega- tional meeting was held on Monday, 29th April, 1844, at the Lyceum .* There was but one nomination. The Rev.
* April 29, 1844. The same day of the year upon which, forty-four years afterward, the closing exercises were held in the church building.
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John Johnstone was unanimously elected as pastor, at an annual salary of one thousand dollars. The Rev. Dr. Will- iam W. Phillips presided, by invitation, at this meeting.
The call having been duly presented by the Presbytery and accepted by Mr. Johnstone, the meeting for the installa- tion of the pastor was held in the Reformed Dutch Church in Grand Street on Monday, May 20, 1844. At this service the Rev. John Goldsmith, of Newtown, L. I., preached from Matthew xvi. 18-" Upon this rock," etc. The Rev. Jona- than Greenleaf, of Wallabout, Brooklyn, presided. The Rev. Edward D. Smith, of Chelsea Presbyterian Church, New York, gave the charge to the pastor, and the Rev. Jared Dewing, of Greenbush, N. Y., the charge to the peo- ple, and closed with prayer. The Sabbath-school was begun by a call on the people for teachers on Sabbath evening, May 4th, and the organization of the Sabbath-school took place soon afterward. Mr. Lebbeus Chapman was the first Superintendent. The meeting for formal organization as a corporate body had been held in the Lyceum, March 5, 1844, and at that meeting the following gentlemen were elected trustees, viz. : Dudley S. Gregory, David Hender- son, Lewis D. Hardenburgh, Oliver S. Strong, Henry Southmayd, Erastus Randall, and Henry M. Alexander. Oliver S. Strong was elected President of the Board of Trustees and Henry M. Alexander was elected Secretary .* The first communion service was held June 30, 1844, and it was ordered to be administered on the last Sabbath of each quarter. At this first communion eight members were re- ceived on certificate and two on profession of their faith. The names of these are as follows: Alice M. Johnstone, Margaret J. C. Johnstone, Nancy Scott, Emily Hubbard, Thomas H. Shafer, Isabella Stewart, Margaret Caldwell, and Harriet Randall (on certificate), and Isabella Lightbody and Erastus Randall (on profession). Thus, with a congre- gation numbering forty-five heads of families, and with a
* Notes in MS. prepared by Hon. B. F. Randolph.
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First Presbyterian Church of Jersey City.
communion-roll of twenty-one members, the Presbyterian Church of Jersey City was revived after a silence of fourteen years and sent forward on its mission.
The way was now open for some movement to erect a new house of worship and a home for the resuscitated church. Even before the installation of the pastor had taken place, plans were already well matured (in the spring of 1844) for this purpose, the result of which was the erec- tion of the building in which we are now assembled. I do not know that originally it was the purpose of those in the lead of the new enterprise to complete their design by re- erecting the old Wall Street church if it could be purchased. Yet this idea must have occurred to them ; for I find by a comparison of dates in our own trustees' records and those of the trustees of the First Presbyterian Church in New York, that before that congregation had determined to build entirely anew and to relinquish the use of the material of the building in Wall Street (which was after May, 1844), our trustees had on April 13th of that year not only con- ceived the idea of the purchase of the Wall Street building, but had appointed as a committee, Mr. O. S. Strong, Presi- dent of the Board, and Mr. Henry Southmayd to confer with a committee of the trustees of the First Church in New York, with full power to make the purchase of the Wall Street church if it could be bought. And on the 18th of April the same committee were empowered to close the purchase on whatever terms were possible. Indeed, I think that the idea of selling their building at all was first sug- gested to the Wall Street people by our trustees ; for the records in New York as late as May 13, 1844, state that the Wall Street congregation were still in doubt whether they would not build an improved edifice from the old material ; and it was not until June 20, 1844 (or over two months after the appointment of our committee), that they mark the first application from our Board of Trustees for the purchase of the building, and refer the matter to their building com- mittee.
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