USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > Record of the twenty-fifth anniversary of South Park Presbyterian Church, Newark, N.J. : October 27th to the 30th, 1878 > Part 4
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VI.
Our youth is past-let us hasten on, Still looking east for the rosy dawn ; Still pressing on through the future years, Till the Resurrection morn appears; When from earth this church of ours shall rise To the Church Triumphant in the skies !
EVENING SERVICES, SUNDAY, OCT. 27TH.
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TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE INSTALLATION OF THE PASTOR.
In the evening a great congregation assembled. Every seat in the spacious edifice was filled, and chairs were placed in the aisles to accommodate the throng of worshippers. On the platform were seated Drs. Wilson, Stearns, Few-Smith and Brinsmade, and Rev. Dr. Wm. Aikman, who were the officiating clergymen at the installation of the present pastor, twenty-five years before.
The exercises commenced with the singing of the anthem, " How Lovely are the Messengers," by the numerous choir of the church, after which prayer was offered by Rev. Dr. Taylor, of Clinton Avenue Reformed Church. Dr. Wilson then read a selection from the Scriptures, after which an original hymn, by Rev. Thos. Hempstead, was sung. It commenced :
" Not the majestic hills alone,
Nor glittering worlds are made Thy throne."
These interesting services were followed by addresses from the clergymen above-named. These addresses were exceedingly eloquent, able and impressive.
It is a matter of great and lasting regret to the committee that they are not able to give the very language of the speakers in full, as it was uttered on the spot. It was their intention so to do, and arrangements that were considered to be adequate and final had been made with an experienced short-hand writer to be present and take down the words as they fell from the lips of the distinguished speakers. But an entirely unforeseen and unexpected event at the last
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DR. J. F. STEARNS' ADDRESS.
moment, greatly to the disappointment of the committee, disconcerted their plans.
The address of the Rev. Dr. Aikman, though delivered without notes, was fortunately written out, and was kindly furnished to the committee for publication. This we are happy to give in full as it was delivered. The remarks of all the other speakers we are able only to present in a frag- mentary form, as they could be gathered from the news- papers and from the recollection of the gentlemen themselves. But, after all, it is only a meagre outline, a mere skeleton of thoughts and remarks that were very rich and suggestive, and that made a deep and evident impression on the minds and hearts of the crowded assembly. The committee regret that they can not give them to the public in a complete form.
DR. J. F. STEARNS' ADDRESS.
Rev. Dr. Stearns, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, made the first address of the evening. He said that for twenty-five years the pastor of the South Park Church and himself had labored side by side, and there had never been a jarring note in their intercourse.
He spoke principally in regard to the early history of the church in which he was standing. When he first. came to Newark, in the Autumn of 1849, there were here, of the Presbyterian denomination, three well-established and partially endowed churches, viz., the First, Second and Third. A fourth (the Central Church) was self-support_ ing, but had only a very inadequate house of worship.
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DR. J. F. STEARNS' ADDRESS.
Three others were just struggling into existence-one of them already organized, having a pastor-elect and a small house of worship, built partly by donations from the mem- bers of other congregations, but not yet dedicated ; another (now the Park Church) organized, and holding service in Library Hall ; and the third worshipping in a small frame building, but not organized as a church.
There were, besides these, a church of the colored people, very weak and dependent, and a small nucleus of a German congregation, neither of them having a permanent house.
All the pastors in active service, and on the ground, except one, were new men, strangers to their congregations and the community, and strangers, comparatively, to each other. Yet, the speaker said, he could bear witness that they, including himself, saw eye to eye, and acted hand in hand
It was shortly after this that the proposal to attempt the founding of another new Presbyterian church began to be considered. Some people thought that the condition of the feebler churches hardly justified the establishment of an- other. It seemed like a dangerous experiment, for the population of Newark then was less than 40,000. The at- tempt was made, however, to meet the prospective wants of the community, especially of the great population crowding and forcing its way into the limits of the city.
The first step was the formation of the Newark City Mission Society.
This church, he said, was in a measure the outcome of that society which had erected the Mulberry Street Chapel. That chapel, by agreement with the subscribers to the building fund, reverted to the South Park Church when it was established. The Doctor spoke of some of those who first took an active interest in the organization of the new church, and of the grief with which he parted from those who went from his church to establish this. In this con- nection he mentioned the names of John P. Jackson, Sam'l
1
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DR. J. F. STEARNS' ADDRESS.
P. Smith, Aaron Carter, Jr., Asa Whitehead, Ira M. Har- rison, Captain Ezra Nye, and others, who had been members of his congregation. In all twenty-nine members left the First Church for the new one, and among them he could not refrain from paying a tribute to the memory of Mrs. Eliza Armstrong, long since passed away, whom he spoke of as one of the noblest women in the community.
Dr. Stearns produced the original pencil draught of the form of organization, saying he little expected to be able to show it to such a congregation as this so many years after. He said twenty-nine members went from his church, twenty- one from the Third Church, four from the Sixth Church, four from the Central Church, and two from others.
The South Park Church was organized on the 20th of March, 1853, and of those who took part in the services all but one, the late Dr. Eddy, were present at this twenty-fifth anniversary.
Doctor Stearns spoke of his experience during the inter- vening years since he took part in that organization, and when his remarks were ended many tearful eyes were no- ticed in the congregation. He spoke with evident emotion, the anniversary recalling many circumstances in his career as a minister in this city which were naturally calculated to touch the tenderer feelings of his audience. When the church whose twenty-fifth anniversary was being celebrated was born he was a pastor in this city, and ever since he has been identified with the religious movements connected with its growth.
Dr. Stearns' whole address was touching and highly in- structive, and will not be readily forgotten.
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DR. J. FEW-SMITH'S ADDRESS
Rev. Dr. Few-Smith spoke eloquently of the history of the South Park Church, and of the good feeling and pure motives with which it was started. The speaker " well remembered the installation services, which took place in - the First Presbyterian Church, and the trepidation with which he delivered the charge to the pastor, the learned Professor Wilson."
After recalling other incidents, the Doctor referred to the long pastorates in Newark, which, he said, reflected credit alike on pastors and people, and for which he gave the fol- lowing reasons :
1. These pastors have faithfully preached the simple truths of the Gospel of the grace of God ; and this has been the sum and substance of their pulpit services.
2. They have been remarkably free from the exciting and injurious sensationalism of the times on the one hand, and from an ultra-conservatism on the other.
3. They have also been wide awake to passing events, to current discussion, and to the spirit of the age. They have adapted their preaching to the necessities of their people, and have brought the great and ever-changing phases of re- ligious thought, public morals, and social life, to the test of the Word of God.
This has been true of other denominations also. (Here the Doctor paid a graceful tribute to Rev. Drs. Scott, Pol- hemus, Rowland, Cookman and Fish ; and also to Arch- bishop Bailey and Father Moran of the Roman Catholic Church.)
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DR. J. FEW-SMITH'S ADDRESS.
4. The pastors have been sustained in their labors by con- gregations who appreciate all this, and who are willing to work ; by excellent elders, deacons and trustees, and by a stable and church-going people.
Dr. Few-Smith closed his admirable address (of which we are able to give so meagre a sketch) by a glance into the future and a glowing picture of what this church would yet accomplish for the kingdom of Christ and the salvation of souls.
REV. DR. BRINSMADE
Spoke of the memories which the occasion revived, and thanked heaven that he had been permitted to be pres- ent, little as he anticipated that he would be. He said he was "glad to be permitted to say a few words, and to speak of those persons who were either of the board of trustees or of the session, who have gone from among us and ' do rest from their labors.' I knew them, perhaps, as intimately as any one here to-day, and I am happy to pay a tribute to their memories, and also to give thanks to God for His goodness and grace so richly bestowed upon the church from that time until the present, and ask for the continuance of the same rich blessings." The ten- der words and touching reiminiscences of the aged and ven- erated speaker deeply affected many of the audience. He seemed to stand ready and waiting his departure, which indeed was much nearer than any at that moment antici- pated ; for in less than three months his spirit winged its everlasting flight, and he had entered into rest.
DR. WM. AIKMAN'S ADDRESS,
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MY BROTHER AND MY FRIENDS :
I feel that when I bring to you my warm congratulations to-night that I must also congratulate myself on having the privilege of being present on an occasion so rare and so delightful. When your letter of invitation, after some wandering in the mails, reached me a few days ago inviting me to be here, I read it with a glow of pleasure, both because such an event as this was at hand, and also that I had been thought of in connection with it. Had there been nothing else, my friends, the friendship of more than a quarter of a century which I have been permitted to have with your pastor would have brought me here. As the years go on we find that among the many precious things which God's providence kindly permits us to have, not the least sweet and blessed are our friendships. He who can clasp the hand of a friend and feel the electric touch of the old affec- tion, as it is softened and deepened with the lapse of years, is rich indeed.
So it was that when I received your invitation to be here on so joyous a day, there was nothing for me but to come.
We stand and talk to-night of twenty-five years of pas- toral and church-work. Happy the pastor and blessed the people-and few such there are-who are able to hail such an anniversary as that which you celebrate ! I bring you my warmest congratulations, and I join with you in thanks to the Great God who has measured the years so graciously to you both.
Twenty-five years of pastoral and church life! We speak the words easily, but what a wealth of meaning is in them ! Consider them in the view of the intellectual work
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DR. WM. AIKMAN'S ADDRESS.
which they have witnessed. Whatever some other men may think of the work of a preacher and a pastor, I know well that your minister has never looked upon his work as an easy or a simple one. These years have been to him years of work-I will use the stronger word-they have been years of toil.
To have been for twenty-five years abreast of this age, amid all the discoveries and advances of science, amid all the overflowing abundance of books, in a time when the literature of every subject is on the table and in the hands of every hearer-to be able in such a time to lead the thought of a congregation such as has gathered within these walls-ah ! my friends, that has not been achieved easily or carelessly. It has been paid for by toil. Your minister has gone up to great outlooks and seen vast prospects with mountain ranges and cloud-covered domes, forests and smiling fields, with glimpses into unfathomable skies ; he has come back and told you of it all; but that has cost labor of climbing, it has meant steps often weary with the journey. He has brought trophies and spoils to you, but they have been from hard-won battlefields, where difficulties and doubts have been met and vanquished ; you have enjoyed the spoils, but you have not seen the sweat of the conflict. He has rolled treasures at your feet, but it has been because he has gone down into deep mines and toiled sometimes in darkness for them. He has spread feasts before you, but only because he has sown and reaped with Spring and Summer toil.
So the years in their rich fruitage have come to you, but all the while they have had work for him, and who can measure their priceless value for that ?
And how much these twenty-five years mean when you remember what they have done for you in the domain of thought and spiritual experience ! What new vistas they have opened before you, what new insight into God's word, what new views of Christ and His salvation ; what new
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DR. WM. AIKMAN'S ADDRESS.
hopes have they awakened, what fears have they quelled, what fountains of love and joy have they opened ! Some of their influence you have seen and understood, and have been grateful for ; but probably their largest and best power have never been by you appreciated or even known ; it has touched you so gently and noiselessly, it has been so con- tinuous and regular that you have not perhaps recognized it. But it has been none the less powerful for that. Twenty- five years of influence from a thoughtful ministry (aside from its spiritual forces) upon individual minds and hearts and upon family life as it touches them not only in supreme moments, but in the walk of ordinary days, may well chal- lenge our profoundest consideration.
These twenty-five years, too, have an intense meaning when you remember that they have been for you twenty- five years of love and sympathy. During them all you have been the object of his perpetual solicitude and care. You have been carried in the heart of this pastor. Few, I am persuaded, understand what this is. Here is a part of a minister's work that many people never think of. You will recall a scene related by more than one of the Evangel- ists, where, at the close of a day of labor, as the sun went down, they brought the devil-possessed, the sick and the sorrowing, the accumulated suffering of a whole city, and laid it upon Christ the Saviour. I think it was an eye-wit- ness that narrated it. He saw the look of mingled pain and weariness that came over the face of Jesus, and the old . words of the prophet suggested themselves : " Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses." A true pastor un- derstands this. It is his work to sympathize with his peo- ple, to take upon him their griefs, and to have his heart wrung with their sorrows. This tells upon a man. Many a time he comes home, all weary and heart-sore, from some scene of suffering, and would fain in sleep find relief. It has been a drain upon his nervous power, upon his life power. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
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DR. WM. AIKMAN'S ADDRESS.
How, my friends, you have gone to your pastor ; you have taken your cares, your troubles, your anxieties, your bereavements ; you have taken them freely, because you . knew how welcome you were to do it; you have laid them all and many a time upon him, with little thought what it cost him to receive the burden. It has sometimes been an inexpressible satisfaction to him, but it has made an expen- diture of which possibly you may not have dreamed. How shall we estimate twenty-five years of affection and sympa- thy ? Shall I take jewels and spread them in glittering beauty before you to pay you for them ? You would smile at the meaningless return.
But I will not pursue these thoughts. I am aware that I am here not simply because I am an old friend of your pas- tor, but because, providentially, I had a part in the organi- zation, by the Presbytery, of the church. It was an humble part, simply, if I recall it rightly, the reading of a passage of Scripture. But I remember the passage which I read. It was that in Genesis (12 : 1-9) where Abraham is called by Jehovah to leave his country and his father's house and go to a land that he should be told of, and where it is said that " Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south." The Scripture seemed to me appropriate to the hour when some of you were leaving, with many a regret, your old church-homes and going southward to make a new one.
I knew then, and I know now, what it cost you to leave the place where your fathers worshipped, near which your revered dead were sleeping, where you yourselves had been baptized, and where you had publicly confessed the Saviour before men. But I know well that you have not a single regret. No-no ! you have only joy that twenty-five years ago you went southward. The altar of sacrifice has become a temple, where songs and hallowed memories are ringing like an anthem in your ears to-night. The new home in the south country has been blessed to you and yours all along the years.
By one of those subtile associations which are often diffi- cult to trace, another Scripture comes into my mind. You
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DR. WM. AIKMAN'S ADDRESS.
will remember a pleasant story of some thirty-three hun- dred years ago. Canaan had been conquered and the allot- ments had been made. Caleb had received his portion, but in it was Kirjath-Sepher, a stronghold that defied him. " And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjath-Sepher and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah, my daughter, to wife." (Jos. 15 : 16.) Othniel, the son of Kenaz, took it, and Achsah became his own. The young wife at once identi- fied herself with her husband's interests, and with her wifely devotion and womanly tact, she comes to her father. It was the time of her wedded joy and his triumph-a good time to make a request- and she said : " Give me a bless- ing ; for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper and the nether springs." So I think that in your south-land and besides this husband there has been walking a presence that has had the same wifely devotion and that has been a per- petual petitioner to another and a Heavenly Father for other springs of water; and the fountains have flowed forth as the years have gone in blessings for you.
Those of us who mark the sometimes hidden forces of this world have some appreciation of woman's power. A few days since, a friend of mine whose wife had a little while before passed into the silent heavens, was speaking in my hearing of the work which nowadays women are taking so much upon themselves, and, expressing the fear that it was not all wisely done, was warning us not to be carelessly putting upon them the burdens of the Church. Lest any should mistake his feeling, he said: "The strongest thing that I have ever leaned against was a woman, and," he softly added, as he looked half-dreamily upwards, " I lean against her still, though she has passed beyond my present sight." Here among you have been twenty-five years of gentle ministrations, and they have been a benediction to you all.
I stand here with peculiar emotions. If there are times when we conceal how old we are, it were useless to attempt it to-night. I am reminded that I am not the almost boy
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DR. WM. AIKMAN'S ADDRESS.
that I was when I took part in the service which we now commemorate. I have found myself, as I have been walk- ing your streets, looking into the faces of the middle-aged and the old for the friends of those days when I had my home here. I glance at the houses as I pass and I remem- ber those who had their homes in them, and whose pleasant hospitalities I was privileged to enjoy in the by-gone time ; but other and stranger faces look from the windows. I miss the old and honored faces that once benignantly greeted me. I miss the dark and lustrous eyes and forms that walked in their womanly beauty. I know that they have vanished from the earth. So my thoughts have a southward turning to the land of more than tropic beauty-
" Where everlasting Spring abides, And never withering flowers-"
to the land where we do not grow old and where we gather the harvest of God's grace and glory. Blessed be God ! our steps are turned thither, and the swiftly-flying days bear us nearer to it. We will not be despondent, but joyous only to-night. A few more days of work, and then the cloudless land !
Take, my friends, an inspiration from this anniversary. You look back for a few moments (and it is well) from this sunlit height at the past, and you give thanks ; but look for- ward, too. To many of us there are far less than twenty- five years of earth. The sun has over-passed the meridian, the afternoon is upon us. It is well-only well. We will, by His grace, make the coming days more full of work for Him to whose home and rest yonder we go.
After singing the hymn, " Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken," a collection was taken up, and then the anthem, " Oh ! be Joyful in the Lord," was effectively rendered by the choir, at the conclusion of which the benediction was pronounced and the great assembly was dismissed.
THE HISTORICAL EXERCISES.
MONDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 28TH, 1878.
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Another very large audience convened, crowding the building in every part. The presiding officer of the evening was Mr. Ira M. Harrison, who has been most intimately identified with the church from its origin, being also one of the original members.
The exercises opened with a duet and chorus, " By Thee with Bliss," rendered by the church choir in an able manner. Prayer was then offered by Rev. Dr. Samuel Hall, after which Mr. John P. Jackson read the history of the church. It was elaborate, and exact, and exhaustive, and satisfied every one that the task could not have been assigned to better hands, both for its literary excellence and historical accuracy. The numerous incidents worthy of note in the church's life of twenty-five years were related with great skill, and ingen- uously woven into the thread and philosophically commented on. The attention of the great audience was closely re- tained to the end, and favorable expression was universal.
At the close of the historical narrative the choir and con- gregation sang " Zion Stands," and a brief address followed by Mr. S. P. Smith, now a resident of Orange, in this State, one of the original elders of the church, and the largest contributor of funds to the erection of the edifice, recalling incidents in the early history of the church known to but few, and worthy of remembrance. An interesting and com- plimentary address was also made by Hon. Nehemiah Perry, whose connection with the church dated back almost to its
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MR. JOHN P. JACKSON'S ADDRESS.
earliest history, and who has ever been one of its most ardent and consistent supporters.
At the conclusion of these addresses the anthem, "Et Resurrexit," (Mozart) was sung by the choir. Other brief addresses followed. Mr. John Brisbin, being called for by the presiding officer, rose, and after premising that he had little to say, added that when the members of the church had paid two-thirds of the debt on the church building ($7,000) he would be glad to pay the remaining third. Mr. Brisbin's speech, though short, was evidently considered by the audience a very effective one, loud and long applause following the noble and munificent offer.
After Mr. Brisbin's pointed and available speech, the audience united with the choir in singing " I love Thy king- dom, Lord," &c., and were dismissed with the benediction.
HISTORICAL ADDRESS OF JOHN P. JACKSON.
The nineteenth day of April, 1852, may be assigned as the date of the first formal action taken for the constitution and organization of the South Park Presbyterian Church of Newark. On that day a public meeting was held in the Mulberry street chapel, and in pursuance of a previous con- ference which had been held early in the Spring, at which there were present five individuals (Asa Whitehead, Samuel P. Smith, John P. Jackson, Rev. Wm. Bradley, Aaron Carter, Jr.,) who for a long time had taken deep interest in the formation of this enterprise, and who had become impressed with the sentiment that immediate effort should be made to establish another Presbyterian church in the southern portion of the city. It was resolved in the meet-
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MR. JOHN P. JACKSON'S ADDRESS.
ing at the chapel, after a full discussion, that it was the sense of those present that the erection of a church edifice in the vicinity of the South Park, as a place of worship for a Presbyterian congregation, was greatly needed, and that the time was favorable for commencing the enterprise. A large committee was appointed to solicit funds and to com- mend the object, confidence in the project at one time being so depressed as to threaten an abandonment. After several months of labor they felt authorized to report an amount of subscription which they regarded as sufficient to insure the success of the project.
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