USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > Tenth anniversary of the North Reformed Dutch Church, Newark, N.J > Part 2
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Measures were taken soon after the organization of the church for commencing the building. Mr. 'Wm. H. Kirk was
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employed as architect, and the contracts were awarded to Messrs. Kirk & Kirkpatrick, carpenters, Mr. Gec. B. Guerin, mason, and Messrs. Wheaton & Brown, stone cutters. The work was commenced early in 1857, when the foundation was laid; but was not ready for the laying of the corner stone until September of that year. On the 14th of that month it was duly laid with proper ceremonies. A box was prepared and inserted in the stone, containing a history of the organiza- tion, a list of the members of the church and the congrega- tion, the consistory and the building committee; also the constitution of the church, hymn book, bible and catechism, &c. A hymn was sung. Rev. Wm. H. Steele, (who always took great interest in the work and contributed largely to its suc- cess from its commencement,) read selected portions of scrip- ture and offered up a prayer. The company then proceeded to the church, and the box was deposited in the corner stone by Elder Tunis A. Waldron, with a few appropriate words. An invocation of blessing by Mr. Steele concluded the cere- mony. The first pastor of the church was then lying on his death-bed at Newburgh, and could not be here.
The mention of the name of Tunis A. Waldron suggests an earnest and most devoted friend to this church, without whose influence it could not have been started at that time .- He loved the Dutch Church with his whole heart. He was a faithful and zealous office bearer in its courts. Of a pure heart, and ardent piety, his influence was widely felt, and he was held in great esteem by all who knew him. He has departed from us, to join in the anthems of that Church which is not made with hands. But the memory of the just is blessed.
One of the striking features of this church, and probably one of the strongest elements of its success from the begin- ning, has been its Sunday school and Mission school. The faithfulness and assiduity with which those who are engaged in. these institutions labor, are deserving of all praise. Their history deserves to be separately considered. They foster the germ of
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Christian principle in hundreds of young hearts and attract and centralize an interest in and towards the Church in so many directions and over so wide a space, that without them we could not with safety count on any permanent and stable progress.
The first minister of this Church was Rev. Dr. Abraham Polhemus, for more than twenty years previously the beloved and popular pastor of the Dutch Church at Hopewell, in the County of Dutchess, New York. He had been in the view of some of the first originators of the church before its actual organization, and, as soon as he was named and any encour- agement was suggested that he could be procured, he became the unanimous choice of the consistory and church. He was communicated with on the 22d of December, six days after the organization of the church. On the 16th of January a call was made out; but, in consequence of the refusal of his old congregation for some time to allow him to depart, it was not formally accepted until the 3d of April. Dr. Pol- hemus was installed as pastor of the church on the 3d day of May, 1857. The installation services were held in the First Dutch Church in Market street, Rev. Dr. Riddle, of Jersey City, preaching the installation sermon-Dr. Abeel delivering the charge to the pastor, and Dr. Scott to the people. The occasion was a deeply interesting one. The sermon of Dr. Riddle was dignified, pointed, and solemn. It was an impres- sive scene to see the young church thus receive its pastor and its charge as a distinct church within those walls, and in the midst of that congregation where they had worshipped for so many years before their ecclesiastical exodus.
I need not recall to you who remember it, and it will be difficult for me to describe to those who do not, the unction which attended the ministry of Dr. Polhemus. At the first and only communion which he administered in June, the church received an accession of three on profession of faith and twenty-four on certificate. But this is hardly an indication of the
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good he accomplished. He was beloved by his congregation- perhaps too much beloved. His influence here was very great. He had that frank, open, manly and unaffected manner, which instantly won the confidence of all, and especially men of the world, who hate affectation in all its forms. His sermons were carefully prepared, and were blessed with the attention and interest of those who heard them.
But his pastorate was short-alas ! too short for his people -though perhaps not for himself. He left Newark on the 12th of August, 1857, for a few weeks of recreation, and never returned. The deep feeling evinced by his congregation in reference to his illness and death have seldom been equalled in a similar case. Inquiry after inquiry was sent to Newburgh to ascertain his condition, but hardly a ray of hope came, until at length on the 28th day of October the sad intelligence arrived that he had breathed his last.
His life was a sermon :- his last sickness was a sermon :- his death was a solemn and impressive sermon to us all.
During his illness his thoughts ran constantly on his absent charge-the infant church which he had taken under his care.
I cannot do better here than to repeat what his people have caused to be written on that marble tablet-every word of which is literally true. After stating the dates of his birth and death and installation over the church, the inscription reads as follows :
" He laid the foundation of this edifice, but his voice was never heard within its walls. When the time of his departure was at hand, in faith he exclaimed : 'That Church will be erected-souls will there be con- verted to Christ, and I shall rejoice over them in Heaven.'
Of a noble nature, embelished by culture and grace, frank and disin- terested as a man, sagacious and prudent as a counsellor, eloquent and scriptural, exemplary and devoted as a minister of Christ, he was very dear to his people and beloved by the church at large. His brief ministry here will not be forgotten. His memory is arich legacy. Called hence in the vigor of manhood, surrounded by all the attractions of life, he received the message with joy; and as heaven was opening to his view, exclaimed : "I see Jesus, and my soulis ravished with the sight."
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Bowed down and humbled with sorrow by this early and severe bereavment, the church for a long time had not the heart to think of another minister, and remained without one for nearly two years ; being occasionally supplied by appoint- ments of the Classis, or by the voluntary aid of various friends of the enterprise.
As before stated, Oraton Hall was left and this edifice was publicly dedicated on the 17th of April, 1859. The dedicatory sermon was preached by Rev. Dr. Campbell of New Brunswick, from the text "They shall prosper that love thee."'
A few more words must complete what I have to say. I have touched more particularly on the origin of the church, deeming the later events too recent and too much in the ordi- nary routine, to be dilated upon minutely.
On the 25th of May 1859 a call was made out on the Rev. Hasbrouck Dubois, who was duly installed as our pastor on the 16th of June, 1859, and resigned on the 26th of Novem- ber, 1861, after a pastorate of a little over two years and five months. The church increased under Mr. Dubois's care, to the number of 200 communicants. It then suffered a further vacancy of nearly two years more, the Rev. James Demarest, Jr., having received a call on the 27th of July, 1863, and being installed in October following. Mr. Demarest continued our pastor for about two years and a quarter. Having resigned his charge to go to the West, he preached his farewell sermon on the 14th of January, 1866, and our present pastor, Rev. Charles E. Hart was installed on the 3d day of June following. May his services be long continued to this people and blessed to their edification, and the building up of this church.
It is wonderful when we look back at the many discourage- ments with which we have had to contend, being for so many years of our existence as a church without a shepherd-and knowing the fact that sheep without a shepherd are ever wandering from the fold-that we have met with the degree of success which we have, now numbering a membership of
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over three hundred communicants. We ought to believe and hope that we are watched and cared for by the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls-for surely without His blessing our enter- prise must long ago have failed. May His blessing continue and may this church be the nursery and centre of deep christian influences, going forth to bless and sanctify the families that come up hitherto to worship, and the society in which it is planted.
FINANCIAL REPORT
BY
PETER S. DURYEE, EsQ.
When a great enterprise achieves success after long labor, those interested enjoy the heartiest satisfaction in looking up- on the result of their toil. Thus do we of the North Reformed Dutch Church feel to-night. We rejoice together, and call upon our brethren to rejoice with us, as we recall the blessings which have attended our efforts to erect, in this part of our community, another temple for the worship of the Triune God Only those who have experienced how much such a work de- mands of faith, of endurance, of patience, with its constant trials and discouragements, can fully appreciate our feelings on this closing of our first decade. These years are few enough in the life of man, and yet sufficient for a great undertaking carried forward by faith and prayer and earnest labor.
Ten years ago the Davis mansion, a relic of the olden time, marked this place. It had stood for a century, and answered its purpose for four generations. This was purchased, with the ground around it, by a number of gentlemen, and on a portion of this property our edifice now stands. These lots were so conveyed, by the beginners of the work, that none of their successors can divert them to any other purpose than that to which they are now applied. The founders of this church, with faith in the sustaining promises of their Saviour Lord, then began their work. At first a simple hope was entertained that a lecture room could be built, but the zeal and liberality
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of those who became interested, worked out a far greater re- sult. On the 6th of April, 1857, our subscription books were first opened. The following agreement headed them : " We, the undersigned, hereby agree with the consistory of the North Reformed Dutch Church of the city of Newark to contribute the snms opposite our respective names, toward the erection of a church edifice and lecture room, for the use of the congrega- tion of said church, on the lot belonging to said church in said city; it being understood that we are not to pay more than one-third of said subscription in six months, nor more than two-thirds in one year, and shall have eighteen months from the date hereof for the balance of said subscription. But we will give our notes, without interest, if required at any time, reserving the credit on our subscription above stated." Thus we started, giving plenty of latitude to subscribers. And yet for a business man to hope to negotiate on such terms the raising of forty thousand dollars, required a good deal of faith in the ultimate success of the undertaking. Having had the honor to be appointed treasurer, I have found that law and trade worked well together, as has been amply proved in meet- «ing the demands of the last ten years. And now let me bring forward the results accomplished by the efforts of the noble men and women, who by God's blessing, rendered our under- taking a success. The list of the first subscriptions ran as follows :
Two subscriptions, each $3,000. $6,000.
Two 66 66 each 2,000,. 4,000.
Three 66 each 1,000, 3,000.
One subscription, of
750,. 750.
One 66 66 of
700,. 700.
Five subscriptions, each
500,. 2,500.
Six 66
250,
each 1,500.
Two 66 66
each
200,. 400.
One 66
of
150,. 150.
Four 66 ..
of
100,. 400.
Two 66
66
of
50,
100.
One
66 66
of . 25,
25.
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There were afterwards added by the same parties,
One subscription of $5,000,. . $5,000.
Two 66
each 2,000, 4,000.
Three 66 66
each 500, 1,50C.
One subscription of 312, 312.
Making a total amount of about $31,437, contributed by only thirty subscribers. In addition, there were some seven thousand dollars afterwards invested in pews. The Treasurer received of this about $37,000, mostly in notes, carried along by discounts through the State Bank for about three years, and finally paid with interest. In relation to this subscription I would mention some facts. Five gentlemen outside our de- nomination helped us-Messrs. Beach Vanderpool, Silas Kitch- ell, H. W. Duryee, H. H. Jaques and Abraham Hedenburgh ; all the others were connected with our branch of Christ's church. We were led to believe we should succeed in obtain- ing some aid from the Collegiate Church of New York, but this attempt failed in the time of our sorest need. We cannot but mention with sincere gratitude the names of Messrs Heath, P. Ballantine, Crane, Adams, B. C. Miller, John Rodman, Edgar Farmer, Dr. J. F. Ward, Jacob Stucky, and Daniel Demarest, who, in behalf of our mother church in Market street, aided us to the amount of $4,750, and whose generosity our church will ever remember.
The audience will bear in mind that our corner stone was laid early in the Summer of 1857, while our first pastor, Rev. Dr. Polhemus, stimulated, by his influence, the liberal action of his people. By God's mysterious providence he was laid on the bed of sickness and death in the fall of that year, and we were left to struggle alone. The commercial disasters and bankruptcies of that time are fresh in all our minds. Our un- dertaking had assumed a magnitude of which but few in our consistory dared to bear the responsibility. Yet, by the help of God, we never failed to respond to the demand of our con- tractors, excepting on one occasion, on a bleak day of Novem-
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ber, the work stopped, and we were not aware of the fact till late at night. But the party contracting was found, and by the personal pledges and promises of two members of the consistory, he was induced to resume the work. In the spring of 1859 the church was dedicated to the worship of God. The memorial tablet you see, to the memory of Dr. Polhemus, was contributed by the children of our Sunday-school. Mr. Stephen Young, not a member of our church, generously do- nated the beautiful lamp over the door of the lecture room. When the lecture room and Sunday-school room were nearly completed, an additional octagonal end was added for the use of our infant class. And our payments to contractors for this work were as follows, up to the closing of my account as Treasurer :
To George Guerin-Mason. $12,514. To Messrs. Wheaton & Brown-stone cutters 8,150.
To William H. Kirk & Co .- builders 18,518.
These amounts include the kind contributions of Messrs. Kirk & Co., in amount $450, of Mr. Guerin $200, and Messrs. Wheaton and Brown $200, in aid of our church. After all al lowances, the total amount paid to these parties was $38,544 98 which covered the building. The furnishing cost nearly $5,000, which amount covered furnaces, plumbing, gas fixtures, flagging, cushions, carpets, and organ, and other necessary ap- pendages. An additional piece of land was bought for the sum of $200, bringing the total cost of our church up to March, 1850, to the amount of forty-four thousand, five hundred and ten dollars. As the subscriptions did not fully cover this amount, for the purpose of meeting the deficiency, the sum of $5,800, was borrowed for a time of the State Bank, which through all our struggles has afforded us assistance again and again. And thus from the first payment in September, 1857, up to March 30, 1860, our engagements were promptly met, and I received and disbursed nearly fifty-thousand dollars in the progress of the good work. Our church was carefully
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watched through all its building, perhaps more so than any private edifice. The entire roof is covered with felt cloth, and up to this time not a crack, crevice, or settling has appeared in the walls, giving proof how faithfully the contractors performed their obligations. At the close of March 1860, the building completed and furnished, was committed to the consistory, the financial burden since then being assumed by our energetic and reliable church treasurer, Mr. John C. Woodruff.
We now come to the last five years of our church existence. Additional land was purchased for about $5,570, and it was thought best to consolidate this with our bank debt, raising the amount to $11,500, by giving a mortgage on our church property. The company from whom we took the loan required also the personal guarantees of Mr. Frelinghuysen and myself for the payment of the bond, which so stimulated the Dutch pride of our members, that an effort was made in 1864, and by June 1866, the whole amount, principal and interest, was paid by the generous contributions of our people, two subscriptions of $2,000 each beginning the list, and then running in various sums down to five dollars. In some cases pews were taken for the money given. Counting in, therefore, the sum paid for extra land, the whole amount contributed reached the total of $50,865-without including the value of the ground originally given. And we would here specially mention that, by the generous liberality of Mr. Peter Ballantine, Sr. the full front of our lot on Broad street was increased from eighty to one hundred feet.
Since then we have raised for repairs, damages, &c., about $1,304, more than two-thirds of which, was spent in repairing the injuries inflicted by the tornado, which swept over this part of our city, some eighteen months ago. We have at the present time a floating debt of about twenty-five hundred dollars.
For our congregational expenses, including those which were accidental, the ten years show a total of twenty-
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seven thousand two hundred and fifty dollars [$27,250.] For benevolent objects there have been raised nearly seventeen thousand dollars, [$17,000] including in this sum about $7,000, which on the call of our good friend Rev. Dr. Campbell, was raised by the effort of our members for the endowment of Rutgers College. In these last contributions there has been a steady increase, and during the current year to our Board of Foreign Missions, we shall have paid nearly $1,700, which is one-third of the whole sum paid by us to that Board for the whole preceding nine years.
This has been a pleasant duty, my friends, for the figures are on the right side, and the result is very satisfactory. A brief recapitulation, without aiming at perfect exactness, may thus be given :
Land first purchased. $20,000.
Church building and furniture 44,510.
Extra land purchased. 5,570.
Repairs, damages, &c. 1,304.
Making a total of over seventy one thousand dollars. .$71,384.
Present valuation. $115,000.
Our contributions are as follows for these ten years :
Congregational objects. $27,250.
Benevolent purposes 16,000.
Making a total of over forty-three thousand dollars .$43,250.
Such is a general statement of the money received and dis- bursed through the agency of this church during the first ten years of its existence. We struggled along, while these walls were going up, through a bitter financial crisis ; we were de- prived, at the very outset of our labor, of a most beloved pastor ; we have been for half of these years without a settled min- ister, and yet God has kept us from depression and conduct. ed us into great prosperity. For His great goodness we would thank Him and take courage. We have a church property, whose market value to-day is fully one hundred and fifteen
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thousand dollars, and it is paid for. The total valuation of our pews in 1859, was $35,000, and of these but a few have been sold, whose valuation amounts to about $9,500 the remainder being rented to an increasing congregation. Our trifling floating debt can be cancelled any moment And as the Proverb tells us " there is that giveth and yet increaseth," so has it been here. Not a member of this Church is to-day poorer by his benefactions to our loved Zion. I can answer, from my own experience, that for every dollar appropriated, the dividends returned have been far better than from any worldly investment, for what by me is valued more than silver and gold has been given back by my Lord, as here father and sons have confessed Christ before men. Verily I can say, that this house has been to many the " very gate of heaven."
ADDRESS
BY
HON. FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN, LL.D.
Ten years ago, my friends, a little company of professed followers of Christ met and organized this church. The motives that moved them, I believe, were as pure and unsel- fish as ever exist in these surroundings of sin. Regret at sev- ering the associations with a church where some first came to the knowledge of the truth, (associations among the tenderest of earth,) an appreciation of the toil and sacrifice, and a sense of the responsibility of the undertaking, cast a suppressed feeling of sadness over the assembly. But yet the ear of faith could hear the Holy Spirit whispering, " where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them," and the ear of faith conld hear those other words of encouragement and truth uttered to the young christian church, just as its Divine Master was about ascend- ing, "Lo I am with you alway, even to the end of the world."
And as we have seen that promise accomplished until the church, founded by fishermen, filled first Judea and then the world with its doctrines; and as we have seen that promise accomplished in the triumphs of the church over heresy, in- fidelity, ignorance and persecution, until now the church has a commanding influence on the earth such as it never before possessed ; so that promise. has been fulfilled towards the church which on that night was organized.
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Has not the Master of the church been with us? The three hundred communicants gathered within this beautiful temple, during a period in which we were suffering under the depressions of the most gigantic war the world has ever be- held, attest His presence. Let that company of young con- verts who here first resolved that they would "stand up for Jesus," let all those who have here grown in grace, and all who have received consolation from His word and from this pulpit, say whether His promises have not been fulfilled in the last decade of years to this congregation.
God's dealings with the church at large were mysterious, and so have they been with us. With the church at large, the early and very general corruption of christianity, and the unlooked for uprising of the papacy after the reformation, are mysteries which we will understand when heaven is reached, but not till then. And with this infant church, why was it that one, in the vigor of manhood, whom every member loved, and per- haps idolized, was, in a few months after his settlement, taken away ? We shall know hereafter. Perhaps we placed in that niche of our hearts which belongs alone to the Creator, one who was his mere creature. Perhaps it was that we might be brought to rely less on human and more on divine power. Perhaps it was that, as his mission on earth was nearly ended, its closing days might win our hearts, and thus, by the sepa- ration, we might be chastened to our profit. Perhaps it was that the fruit, being ripe for Heaven, he was gathered as the first fruits from this garden, and as an earnest of the abundant harvest here yet to be garnered. Whatever be the solution of the providence, I know and feel, as you do, that it was right and just and good. This affliction, though grievous, has yielded its peaceable fruits. A common sorrow knit us to- gether, and in our unity, has been and is our strength.
It was no ordinary energy which, in the severe financial depression of 1857, enabled us to meet our payments and erect this church. It was by no common zeal that for nearly
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two years, without a pastor, the church was not only mnain- tained, but kept in a constantly growing condition. The Sab- bath school, the Bible class, the mission school, the prayer meeting, were effective instrumentalities in furthering the interests and prosperity of the church. And we will never forget the disinterested and valuable service, in those days of our destitution, of our friend,* who is so appropriately with us this evening. When the winter of life is over and the summer of heaven comes, he, rejoicing, will behold the beautiful fruits of his labor of love.
And let us not forget that faithful, generous man, Dr. Mc- Kee, who never forgot us; who, though weary, was never too weary, who, though feeble, was never too feeble to minister to us in the things of God. In a familiar lecture in the chapel yonder, I once heard him, in four words, define experimental religion in a manner that fired my heart. " It is," he said, " a sublime passion for Jesus"-a beautiful statement of the im- pelling motive of his own godly life.
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