USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > The North Reformed Church, Newark, New Jersey : the addresses delivered in connection with the observance of the fiftieth anniversary, Dec. 10-17, 1906 > Part 4
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and of action determine for many of us the lines of lifelong association. We move more easily and effectively in the grooves in which our course was first directed. The Founders of this Church accepted without question the doctrines and polity of the Reformed faith. Through the medium of the truth, as presented in these stand- ards, had come to their souls the light of divine knowledge, the vision of Jesus as their personal Saviour. In the church of their birth or adop- tion they had realized a spiritual home. The de- sire to continue in that communion and to ex- tend it was the incentive of those who having found a path of safety and of comfort for their own feet, would secure the benefit to coming generations.
A second characteristic :
To an eminent degree the Founders of this Church were men and women of affairs. By this I refer to a matured and trained capacity for the parts they would be called to bear in the organi- zation and conduct of the Church. God has a place for all faculty in his work,-the mind quick to perceive, the judgment accurate to determine, the hands facile to perform. I do not know an- other field in which there is larger demand for such capacity. There is nothing else so demo- cratic, nothing else in which the right of indi- vidual judgment, the individual prejudice is so assertive. In the political world we consent to
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THE FOUNDERS
the authority of leading minds, we recognize the rights of knowledge and experience. In the con- duct of nearly every public enterprise we yield to the judgment of the expert. The church is the one body which by the nature of its constituent elements, by the common ground of its fellow- ship cannot be forced. It has the weakness that generally attaches to institutions in which individ- ualism demands an equal respect for all. The Master displayed an infinite insight when, send- ing forth his disciples to the ingathering for the church, he said: "Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves." That is, win by yielding : recognize human nature in its variations and idiosyncracies.
I have already referred to the participation by the Founders of this Church in the professions and varied callings of the community. To an unusual degree a majority of them were men of mark in the departments in which they served. They were recognized as intelligent, energetic, capable. They were deemed sufficient for what- ever enterprise required these qualities. They had their places of trust and influence in the commercial and fiducial institutions of the city, and did their part in making these successful. Several of them have served as Trustees of Rut- gers College; another was for years the Presi- dent of the General Synod's Board of Foreign Missions ; others occupied positions of loftier re-
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sponsibility in the estimation of the world; all had the respect and confidence of the communi- ty.
Such reference is not to exalt to the disregard of others equally consecrated and earnest in his or her sphere. Fidelity in service is the Master's order of rank. "Thou hast been faithful !" is the verdict of equality. If we inevitably revert in our thought to certain who were peculiarly en- dowed to lead, it is not to disparage the co-work- ers with these, who as earnestly and devotedly responded with heart and means to the Master's call.
The humble armorer at the forge, fashioning the sword or the bayonet, or moulding the can- non, may not be reckoned among the heroes who saved the land. Nevertheless, it was the fidelity of that grimy and unrecognized workman that told in the effectiveness of the charge or defence, equally with those who were permitted in the more open arena of honor. He it was who helped to make the victory possible, and the great Cap- tain of all the hosts recognizes the part he bore. To God, it was the thunder of his cannon that was roaring across the field, the flash of his skill that gleamed in those blades upon the heights. His innate honor was there in demonstration.
So is it for all who in the measure of their ca- pacity serve for God. It was so in these in- stances. There was equipment for each depart-
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ment, for planning and construction, for uniting in a complemental body the elements required in building up a spiritual edifice. How well they met the responsibility to which Providence called them, the record of this Church for the fifty years of its existence testifies. What it is to-day in efficiency in every sphere embraced in the work of a Church of Christ, in maintaining in such numbers and effectiveness its own com- munion; in the instruction of the young,-rec- ognizing the obligations of that covenant the promise of which rests upon the fidelity of the church to her children; in the outreach of help- fulness to other fields; in standing a power for sacred influence in this community,-all this is a tribute to the godly men and women who in those early days saw their opportunity, and in the spirit of a devout consecration, accepted it.
For I should leave out the most important fea- ture, if that which has already been noted should not be crowned with the third characteristic of the Founders of this Church :
Their Personal Religious Quality.
I have no hesitation in speaking of this, and in passing to a particularization of it as illus- trated in the Founders of this Church. They were, as you know, men who bore their part in the public arena, and necessarily in its rivalries and contests. They had the ambitions to which their talents and service for the general good en-
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titled them. There was none of the effeminacy that would suggest a retreat from civic duties and responsibilities. They honored the world as God's world. But for all this, their religious life was as evident as if their entire sphere were in the contemplation of sacred mysteries. They were known to be Christians, devoted to the work and offices of the church. In such lives the division between the secular and the sacred fades into indistinctness. In Emerson's words, they recognize that "Right ethics are central, and go from the soul outward!" The religion of the sanctuary becomes the religion of the streets, of the office. "The earth is the Lord's and the full- ness thereof." All the kingdoms of the world are "the kingdoms of the Lord and of His Christ."
Persons thus divinely illuminated do not need to seek opportunity or place: opportunity and occasion seek them. It is the gravitation of the metal to the magnet ; of plants to the light. So the offices these men and women sustained came to them in the appreciation of their fitness. That influence is still here to-day. We feel its inspir- ation as we review the conduct of their lives.
This it is that makes the church one in all the periods of its existence. But three of those who were in the organization of this Church are in its visible communion to-day. Two or three others survive in connection with other folds : the flight
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JOHN A. MILLER, Deacon in First Consistory.
THE FOUNDERS
of the fifty years has borne one by one, to the bo- som of the Eternal Love. Yet their identification is still with this church, and will be through the coming years of its history. The identity of an institution is not that it is localized in the same neighborhood in which it began its life; that it remains constant to its beliefs and to the modes of its activity. It is not even that the sons and daughters loyally assume the places the fathers and mothers held. The church of fifty years ago is the church of to-day because that which the fathers gave it-their own personality, so much of themselves-is still here in vital influ- ence. The day, the yesterday, may be dead ; but "the tender grace," the beauty and strength that were in it are the forces of to-day. The sun has set upon its bustling activities, but no sun will ever set upon its products. Yesterday lives in to-day in garnered sheaves, in imperishable results.
Every man's work, in whatever he contributes, is to that extent the gift of himself. The hum- blest mechanic's work represents so much mus- cle, so much physical energy expended, so much man. In its ultimate analysis the product of the scientist's mind, of the student's brain, of all mental and moral effort, is so much vitality, the man himself. The fabric may perish; that re- mains : death cannot remove it. It has gone into the thought-force of the world, that volume
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which in its ever increasing momentum is push- ing forward to the conquest of the world for Christ. The worthiest commemoration of those we loved and now honor, is that we give them immortality, now and here, by making our lives illustrate and perpetuate their influence.
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THE FIRST PASTOR
5
POEM
BY
THE REV'D. DENIS WORTMAN, D. D.
I deem it a peculiar privilege, my friends, to pay my tribute to the Rev. Dr. Polhemus, the first Pastor of this noble church. Before reading my verses, may I indulge in a few personal reminis- cences ? I have known and greatly esteemed all the pastors this church ever had; but they will not begrudge that special personal interest a long- time member of his first and only charge, save this, yet specially cherishes for him. Dignified and courteous, a man of society and a man of af- fairs, he would strike you at once as the Christian gentleman ; and you would soon learn he was the Christian pastor, and an eloquent preacher of the Gospel. In person he was magnificent, six feet five inches tall, an erect form built out into suf- ficient breadth without heaviness, a face open as the day, like Dr. Vance's here, with a good ca- pacity for humor, but ever maintaining a courte- ous dignity, affable, obliging, kindly and through all, liked just the same by the wealthy and by the poor, fond of seeing children, almost wild at a frolic at the old donation and other parties ; and indeed he and his gracious wife often pre- sided when the children of the congregation
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would play "Pillows and Keys," and kindred pastimes.
Certainly to us all Dr. Polhemus was the em- bodiment of the pulpit Christian gentleman. So I have frequently said that, next to Dr. Thomas Guthrie, of Edinburgh, I think Dr. Polhemus had in high sense the finest form and face I ever knew. We felt very rich and very proud in that country church, one of the two or three finest country congregations in our denomination, to have this Christian pastor and true nobleman so long ; turning a deaf ear to the importunities of other peoples.
We felt broken-hearted when the beloved Pol- hemus left us. No, not quite so bad as that ; we felt he might here find a wider field for service. In all our grief we felt it must be all right; and we bade him God-speed, though with a heavy heart all round. And much as he admired and already loved the cultured and noble homes, and the greetings of the plainer ones as well, that saluted him in Newark, I feel he, too, on leaving us, was as broken-hearted as were we.
To say that there was disappointment in Hope- well, to say the men as well as women wept, to say that at the prayer-meetings we could hardly get through our prayers for the breaking of our hearts ; even this hardly expresses the situation ; for underneath was the feeling that so God was willing it and so it would be best. I am sure that
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looking back now on those sore days, it all was right. It was all right; right that we loved him so and wished his continuance, if but for him; right that Newark should want him; right that Classis on broad grounds of public polity de- cided he should leave us; right that himself should feel uncertain about it all, when love seemed to pull against him, and duty against duty ; no question it was right, right and for the best that he should come; but, oh, such love and prayers and benedictions as swept down the Hudson with him and his other new home and duties here! Yes, and God knows we were right in feeling so heart-broken as we were!
Then that so short pastorate here! Only three months of affectionate, spiritual, uplifting preach- ing; then ten weeks of sickness and pain, fol- lowed by his passage through the Valley, though at the end illumined by The Vision! For us all, it was hard. In the midst of a heavy medical practice, my father, just from love for his long time Pastor and his family, drove twelve miles and crossed the Hudson to Newburg, every oth- er day for those ten anxious weeks; oh, it was hard to have him die and right in his prime; and his pastorate here so brief, only three short months !
But was it all a mistake? Shall we so say? Never. Providence never makes mistakes. Do you not recall another strangely shortened minis-
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try? Ages upon ages had predicted it. Ages up- on ages have looked back to it in wondernig grat- itude. And yet the ministry of the Son of Man was cut short, so short, down to three short years ; while Buddha preached sixty years, Con- fucious over fifty, Mohamed half of fifty; yet, Jesus only three. But, no failure of the incom- parable ministry. Nor of this, the deed, so much humbler one, but beautiful, has there been fail- ure! No, it has not been even short. It has lasted through those fifty years in more or less of spiritual puissance. Only three months of an ac- tive pastorate ; but the moral sensation that shook Newark, the sense of loss we felt, the way we here in Newark and we up in Hopewell gath- ered up our faith and waited upon God, and took new hold of the promises, and aimed at loftier ideals! Yes, and who shall say your own ideals were not lifted higher, through your pitifully lov- ing remembrance of Polhemus, and that for such reason you never could be satisfied with any in- different successors to him, but have insisted on ability, fidelity, and high ideals.
When nearing death he seemed to have a very vision of his Lord; and, his face kindling with delight, he cried out : "I see Jesus! Did I not tell you? I see Jesus, and I'm ravished with the sight !"
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3
PETER VANDERHOOF, Deacon in First Consistory.
DR. POLHEMUS
"I tell you I see Jesus! and I'm ravished with the sight !"
So cried a Christian nobleman along the Hud- son's height ;
But glory of the landscape, nor fever's vision- pain,
Nor tears of weeping kindred round, might hush his glad refrain.
Across the river, o'er a score of years this man of God
The hills of joy and vales of pain and mountain tops had trod,
To gather to the fold the lambs that wandered in the night : , One cry now, "I see Jesus! and I'm ravished by the sight !"
In near and distant lands he'd trod, and seen their splendid art;
In many a battle royal he had fought his loyal part ;
The love of Christ had stirred him and nerved him for the fight ;
No wonder he saw Jesus and was ravished with the sight !
The glory of his armor, the radiance of his face, His majesty of courage, his matchlessness of grace,
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Such knightliness, such kindliness, did in his eye unite,
We knew that he saw Jesus, and was ravished with the sight.
The Son of God this earth hath trod, our cham- pion Son of Man;
To make us, too, the sons of God appears His stately plan ;
He joys to see how one day we, clad in His princely white,
Like stars shall shine, and He, with us, be rav- ished with such sight.
O Grave, where is thy victory? O Death, where is thy sting?
Not of defeat, but victory, through Jesus Christ we sing !
What of the valley's darknesses when all the hills be bright
With sunrise? There stands Jesus, and we're ravished with the sight!
Yes, we shall all behold Him upon that fateful day,
When in the Judgment pageantries the Earth shall pass away ;
Shall see Him in His splendor, His holiness, His might !
My soul, thou shalt see Jesus! Shalt be ravished with the sight?
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Aye, aye, that Wonder Day of God must prove no day of sadness.
But with that reverend saint, and Christ, and us, a day of gladness,
When he shall cry: "My people ! ah, my people ! clad in white !
I see them all-with Jesus! and I'm ravished with the sight !"
O, not to us alone shall be such ravishment of joy ;
The Son of Man hath kindred joy in His divine employ :
"I see My brethren, through their stress of ser- vice, with delight ;
Brave victors in their fight! I, too, am ravished with the sight !"
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ANNIVERSARY SERMON
ANNIVERSARY SERMON
BY
THE REV'D. JAMES I. VANCE, D. D.
Text: "Wherefore, seeing we also are com- passed about with so great a cloud of witness- es, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus theauthor and finisher of our faith ; who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Heb. 12: 1, 2.
In the annals of a movement, whose history is endless and whose destiny is eternal, the story of fifty years of a single organization is a small item. It seems insignificant and lacking conse- quence. When we recall the fact that "all history is His story," and that everything which tran- spires in this and all worlds is a part of the pro- gram of God, to pause for a week to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of one church in one com- munity, is like dropping a tiny pebble in an ob- scure eddy.
But the glory of the thing is not in the years we count, nor yet in the character and deeds of the people we recite, but in the holy cause we
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espouse and the divine Leader we follow. It is in the fact that every church is a part of Christen- dom in which God operates, and through which the purposes of His grace march unalteringly forward to their matchless fulfillment.
The story of a church's life therefore is never a minor chapter in a people's history. It is thick with events. It rides on the crest of things. It is the movement to which all other movements, sooner or later, must relate themselves, and in its record flames the shekinah which lights and guides mankind.
During this blessed week, we have heard from the lips of those who had a right to tell it, for they were a part of it, the story of the former days. We have seen how this church went out from the port of promise fifty years ago and with what manner of success it has progressed thus far on the voyage. We have heard a little of the gales that have tried its timbers, the tide-rips that have tossed it, the sunshine and shadow, the wind and billow of its log book. And now that we are on the high seas in mid ocean, with the ship never in better condition, and with the bigger part of our business before us, it must be no part of our pur- pose to furl sail or slow down.
I am anxious that this anniversary occasion may be an inspiration, and that in our Golden Jubilee as through an open door, this church may pass to a larger, ampler, and if possible more de-
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$
ILUSTRO ENG
INTERIOR OF CHURCH.
ANNIVERSARY SERMON
voted service; that every sainted name on our long roll may from its place in the invisible ranks of the church triumphant, call to us and speed us forward toward the goal; and that our retrospect of half a century may give us stout hearts and clear minds and keen vision and generous plans for the coming century. Thus shall we make our Golden Jubilee both golden and jubilant.
It is for this reason I have chosen as an anni- versary text these verses from the epistle to the Hebrews. The text names five things which hov- er on the track of every church, and having named the five things, it declares a person whose inspiring and sustaining presence hovers over and hallows all the way. The five things are the cloud, the weight, the race, the cross, and the throne. The person is the Christ. I have a word to say of each of these to-night.
Let me speak first of the cloud. "Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses."
It is a cloud of inspiration. The galleries of the skies are packed with spectators. It is a friendly audience. They are looking down from their seats in glory and watching us as we work for Christ. If we could hear them, cheer after cheer from that great multitude would greet all done in His name. In that audience are all those who while here on earth were a true part of the North
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Church. Their forms and faces have faded from our vision, but they have not left us.
We are not alone to-night. An invisible cloud of glory hovers in the air around us. Part of the host have crossed the flood but they are watching us from the farther shore.
Memory runs back to that quiet autumn after- noon when in the little house of Tunis Waldron, at 22 Park Place, a few people gathered to draw up a petition to Classis for the organization of a church, and when a witness was needed, a young girl, Amanda Waldron, was summoned from an adjoining room and tremblingly affixed her sig- nature to the document. Most of the participants in that transaction have gone through the silent gate into the great beyond, but they have not left us. They are here to-night in the air around us.
Memory reverts to that significant seventeenth day of December, 1856, when in the home of Justice Bradley, still standing on Broad St., half a square south of the Church, the committee of the Classis met and organized the North Dutch Church of Newark with thirty-five charter mem- bers. Of the thirty-five, only three names remain upon our roll at this present. They are Anne E. Brown, known to us as Mrs. Robert F. Ballan- tine, Mrs. Peter Vanderhoof, and Mrs. Catharine Penovie. With a few exceptions, the others have passed to their eternal reward, but they have not left us. They are looking on to-night, listening,
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ANNIVERSARY SERMON
watching, sharing in our Golden Jubilee, and they have the right. Along with them, I love to think, are all the others whom God has called home, but who when on earth, toiled and prayed and loved and gave and were a part of the North Church. The old fellowship abides. They have entered the larger brotherhood of "the General Assembly and Church of the First Born," but I love to think that the ties which bound on earth are not severed in heaven.
This is our cloud. Those of our number who have passed from the church militant to the church triumphant are around us. What would they say could they speak to us to-night? I think their message would stir us to increased devotion to Christ's cause. I think they would tell us that we are enlisted in a glorious movement, and bid us count nothing too good for the Saviour. The thing which has impressed me most as I have tried to get into the inner life of the early years of this church, is the spirit of prayer and devotion and the striking generosity of the founders and early members. Among those who greatly helped the church with counsel during those early years was the Rev. William H. Campbell, D. D., Pres- ident of Rutgers College. He delivered the clos- ing address at the exercises incident to the cele- bration of the tenth anniversary of the church. In his concluding words he summed up his message by saying : "Be thankful, be prayerful, be faithful
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and be humble." It seems to me that if the cloud of loving interest which hovers over us to-night could become vocal, the message would be some- thing of the same at our fiftieth anniversary. "Be- thankful, be prayerful, be faithful, and be hum- ble!"
Let me speak next of the weight. "Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us."
There are some things for a church to lay aside at its Golden Jubilee. There are some things which weigh it down, handicap it, and interfere with its usefulness, changing such an occasion as this to one of empty parade and worse than meaningless self-glory. What is the weight?
It is a sense of our importance. It is the feel- ing that the church exists for itself, that it is the end and not merely the means. It is the opinion that the church is an elect coterie of the privi- leged class for the maintenance of respectability, and the defence of dogmatic orthodoxy. Any church that gets this notion of itself is weighed down. It has a millstone around its neck and its career of usefulness is at a standstill.
The church exists for the good it can do, the souls it can save, the imperilled it can deliver, the famished it can succor, the homeless it can house, the wayward it can reclaim. It is not here to glor- ify itself, but like its Lord, to seek and to save the lost. Over the entrance of a church in this
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ANNIVERSARY SERMON
city is this sentence: "This church exists for those who are outside of it." That is not all of the mission of a church to be sure, for it exists equally for those who are inside of it. It has a ministry to its own communion. But we must not forget that the Church also exists for those who are outside, and in order to reach them, we must slay pride, stifle selfishness, demolish the barriers of caste, thaw frigidity, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."
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