USA > New Jersey > Somerset County > South Branch > The fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the Reformed Church of South Branch, N.J., Tuesday, May 29, 1900 > Part 3
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After the singing of hymn 320, addresses were given by pastors whose predecessors were instrumental in effect- ing the organization of the church.
The Rev. P. M. Doolittle, of North Branch, as the suc- cessor of Rev. Mr. Campbell, spoke substantially as follows:
Address by the Rev. P. M. Doolittle.
I greatly desired to be with you to-day, and am glad that nothing prevented, as I know now what I would have missed had I not been here.
I understand that I am to speak for the Rev. James K. Campbell, deceased, my predecessor in the pastorate of your neighbor church at North Branch. He was a pre- sentable man in his day, and still very representable. Among the many good things which he did, was the service ren- dered in connection with the founding of this church at South Branch. If now permitted to be cognizant of scenes on the earth, he must rejoice with you upon your anniver- sary day, which brings his name into such honorable men- tion.
And, having discharged my part, although so briefly, as his representative, may I say something on my own ac- count? There is so much upon which you are to be con- gratulated. Your church building, neat and commodious, and so prized by this congregation, is "beautiful for situa- tion"-upon this graceful slope-in the midst of this clean
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and orderly village-with such an outlook-such a prom- inent and commanding object in the wide and varied land- scape, as viewed from points more elevated. Beautiful for situation, the joy of all who behold. You are to be con- gratulated upon your heredity. Your original constituency came, mostly from Neshanic and Readington; well instruct- ed in the gospel, and especially familiarized with the Heidel- berg Catechism. They were men and women of intelli- gence, and power, and willingness. They laid well the foundations, and what was so worthily begun, has continued and prospered to the present.
You have, as a church, been peculiarly favored with a line of competent and devoted pastors. I have known them all; I was acquainted, when a boy, with Rev. Henry Dater, when he was very young and in a business position in Paterson, N. J. Quiet, faithful, studious, he kept his Latin grammar behind the counter, and studied as he could. He long aimed at the holy office of the Christian ministry, strove laboriously for it; at length reached it, and became the first pastor of this church. He did not stay here long, but rendered a good service, which is still operative to your advantage. Then came the Rev. William Pitcher. He
was modest, quiet, true to his trust, and devoted. He was a man of great culture and strength, with modesty and sweetness of manner, under which there seemed a hiding of
power. He was sympathetic, gentle and peculiarly adapted to meet the needs of the sick and afflicted. He possessed, withal, a warm, poetic temperament, and in several in- stances expressed rare thoughts in terms of chaste rhetorical beauty; some of these are in clear recollection by those who heard them. I look upon this excellent portrait (in the rear), and it seems to me alive, as though it must speak out. He, being dead, does speak to us to-day by the lips of a dutiful son who survives him, and we are glad to have here a living monument of the deceased pastor, in the person of his granddaughter, the gracious lady of your manse.
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The Rev. William E. Davis followed in this line of pas- tors. I could say much about him, but I need not, as he is present and speaks for himself. I never could under- stand how he was able to tear himself away. You loved him and he loved you. All here was harmonious, pleasant, prosperous. There is still the same esteem and kind re- gard between you and him mutually. It seems to me that the wounds of that rupture are not yet healed.
Of the present incumbent I will not speak, lest I over- tax his modesty. Earnest, laborious, acceptable, he is the worthy successor of worthy men. I let him pass, merely avowing that he lies open to no censure, and needs no praise. May he long abide here to your mutual rejoicing.
This church is to be congratulated upon its present prosperous condition, with grand and cheering prospects. I have now to remind you that the church as a unit, a body, is but the aggregation of individual lives; also, that the church, the kingdom of our God and His Christ, is in you, his people. Know ye not that your bodies are the temples of God, by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost? Receive ye Him. Be filled with God's word and spirit. Be wholly consecrated and zealous of all good works, both in the cul- ture of personal character and the development of Chris- tian work in your own locality and abroad, even to the ends of the earth.
Grateful to God for the past, gird yourselves anew with His strength, and hope for a future still more blessed.
The Rev. John Hart, of Neshanic, spoke as pastor of one of the mother churches.
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Address by the Rev. John Hart. (Extract.)
It seems strange to me that the South Branch Re- formed Church is only fifty years old. Judging by the work it has done it would appear much more reasonable to call it a hundred years of age. But we must abide by the declarations of the celebration and believe it to be only fifty.
It has been my privilege to be acquainted with all of its pastors but one-the first one. I can testify that they were all good men.
I bear to you, my friends, the congratulations and good wishes of a church which may be thought of by you very appropriately as the mother church to this organization, since the largest number of members at the beginning of your existence came from her. I am happy to say there are no jealousies between us, and my God-speed to you to-day is the sincere wish of brothers and sisters interested in and laboring for the common prosperity and welfare of the family.
I congratulate you on the inside beautiful renovation of your house of worship. But let not the temporal exceed the eternal in your aims, and seek diligently that inward adorning of the Spirit which in the sight of God is of great price.
I would suggest to you that the church of our Lord Jesus Christ stands.
First-For the exhibition of a common faith in Christ. Hence,
Second-The exercise of a common spirit of personal consecration which will result in
Third-The united cultivation of spiritual power, and
Fourth-In diligently seeking the propogation of Gos- pel truth.
The Rev. B. V. D. Wyckoff, of Readington, also spoke as pastor of one of the mother churches.
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Address by the Rev. B. V. D. Wyckoff.
There is one subject that no one has referred to to-day. I am surprised to think that, in the multiplicity of good things that have been spoken, no one has said a word about the eclipse: We had an eclipse yesterday. The sun was darkened and the sky grew strangely ominous in appear- ance, and we became conscious that we were suddenly brought face to face with one of nature's most remarkable phenomena. I was afraid last evening, as I saw the every- where-abounding tokens of rain, that these exercises were to suffer some sort of an eclipse. But God has been good
to you. The clouds have withdrawn from the sky, and all the world is as bright and pleasant as if it had been specially ordered for your benefit. I cannot but feel, however, as if you had in some manner eclipsed your neighbors in the carrying out of this celebration.
This beautifully-renewed church, these interesting ex- ercises, and this abundant and toothsome repast to which you have treated us, leave little to be desired in the way of success. Then there was the historical address of the morning. That was grand. It gave us a bird's-eye view of these fifty years of your history, and at the same time it seemed to take us by the hand and lead us down into those years, and suffer us to see a great many of the lesser inci- dents that have gone to make them so memorable. I could not but think that that address resembled the view that one gets from the hill-top just to the south of the parsonage, on the road to Neshanic. There one may behold one of the prettiest landscapes in all this region. Ahead stretches the beautiful valley of the South Branch, with its broad meadows and fertile uplands; while, as one turns he dis- covers your neat little village, nestling among its trees, with its newly-painted churchspire occupying the centre of it all. Yes, I think your church has always occupied the chief
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place in this community. Dearer than all else has it been to your hearts, and richly has it ever repaid you for your devotion. As a neighbor I am glad to add my word to-day in praise of those who have occupied your pulpit. Your first pastor, Mr. Dater, I knew only by name, as one of the ministry of our denomination. "Father" Pitcher, too,
I knew only by reputation. But that reputation is so great, not only here where he wrought, but in all the surrounding country as well, that I am compelled to acknowledge him as one of the most potent forces for righteousness in this locality.
The rest of your pastors I have known personally. Mr. Davis had served you, and taken his flight to Lebanon the Autumn before I settled at Readington, in 1884. But though the Cushetunk Mountain lies between us, it has never sufficed to greatly separate us. Over it we have gone again and again, in works of helpful ministry for each other. I count him one of the best of my many good neigh- bors.
Brother Loucks and his good wife were warm friends and fellow-workers. Together we planned and wrought, and one substantial result of our co-operation was the es- tablishment of your Society of Christian Endeavor, whose good work may, I trust, long continue. And what shall I say of the last pastor, Mr. Sperling? I could tell you a. great deal about him if I chose, for I have known him ex- ceedingly well ever since he was just a little more than knee high. I recall the very first time that I saw him. It must have been about 1866, I think. I can see him now, the little, ruddy-faced, quiet lad, who had not much to say for himself, but who had the better gift of being able to do some very serious thinking.
The fruit of those quiet years you are now receiving, as he stands before you in this pulpit, Sabbath by Sabbath, breaking the bread of life for the nourishment of your souls. God bless him and his work, and may both long abide to
REV. JOEL LOUCKS, Fourth Pastor-1884-1892.
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cheer and strengthen you in your Heavenly way. Dr. Charles Cuthbert Hall, the President of Union Seminary, in concluding a noble address as chairman of one of the im- portant committees of the recent General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church at St. Louis, said that he had noticed on one of the streets of that city an old cathedral, on whose front there were three tablets, one in Latin, one in French, and the other in English, and all bearing the same inscrip- tion, "The tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them." That, brethren, has been your happy condition. Good pastors you have had. A good people they have reared in this vicinity. But this has ever been, and is now, your chief distinction, that the Lord God Al- mighty was with you. I come to you to-day in the name of your mother church at Readington, a church which may not have given you quite as many members as one other, but which, nevertheless, gave you of her best. The names of Amerman, Vosseller, Quick and Dalley are names that have always been highly esteemed by us; and I am sure that, had they been omitted from your annals, your story would not have proved nearly so interesting as it has to-day. In the name of "Old Readington" I congratulate you on these fifty memorable years that are past, and wish you a hearty God-speed for the way that lies before you.
The Rev. Charles T. Anderson, of South Bound Brook, spoke as President of the Classis of New Brunswick.
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Address by the Rev. F. J. Anderson.
It is a great pleasure for me to be present on this oc- casion, and to extend to the pastor and people of the church of South Branch my hearty congratulations. I imagine I am here as a speaker, because of an accidental circumstance, rather than on account of any particular fitness to represent the Classis of New Brunswick.
It is very important for an infant that is expecting to be born to choose a good father and mother. The church of South Branch showed exceeding wisdom and prudence in choosing to come into existence through the Classis of New Brunswick. The Classis of New Brunswick is the great Classis of the Reformed Church. It has under its benefi- cent care and supervision the institutions of learning at New Brunswick, from the Theological Seminary down to the Rutgers preparatory. It even arranges for the annual alumni dinners. Indeed it bears upon its shoulders the burden of the whole denomination. If the Classis of New Brunswick should cease to exist, the Dutch Church would doubtless begin to disintegrate.
I do not say all this because at a special meeting of the Classis called to prescribe what I should say on this occa- sion, it was insisted I should lay aside the usual modesty of the Classis and tell the plain truth. I say it to help your joy. I want to give you another reason, (if I can possibly find one which the breathren who have preceded me have not already used), why you may congratulate yourselves on this happy day. Indeed the Classis of Raritan, with which you have been so long and happily connected, is simply an offshoot of the Classis of New Brunswick. The executive ability of the older members of the Classis of Raritan, and the eloquence of the younger members, is due to the fact that this Classis is an offshoot of the Classis of New Brunswick.
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I am exceedingly sorry that I was unable to be with you this morning. I am sorry that I missed hearing the historical discourse. I am quite as sorry that I missed getting my dinner with you all. I know it was a good din- ner, and I imagine it was hot for some of my brethren were still smoking when I came on the grounds.
I imagine you have had your ups and downs as a church. Perhaps a few years ago, when oats was twenty cents and corn thirty, you began to wonder how you would meet the pastor's salary and keep things going. As I look at these new pews and other renovations, I think that the price of oats and corn must have gone up. Providence came to the rescue. He always does. You can't kill a
church. I have seen the undertaker invited to bury a church, but the corpse suddenly became too lively for im- mediate interment. I know a church composed of about a dozen black people.
The white ministers of the town in which it is located, thought that it ought to be buried, espe- cially since if it stayed above ground they would have to help feed it. They sent a petition to the African M. E. body, asking it not to re-appoint a minister for that peo- ple. But the preacher was appointed and the church still lives. Doubtless some old black mammy in that church has hold of the horns of the altar, and the church will not die. If there be but one praying man or woman in a church it will live. "God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved. God shall help her and that right early." The church of God has the power within to perpetuate itself, and so has every individual church. We are not ignorant of your history if we did not hear the historical discourse. We know of your tranquility and dignified maintenance of all the ordinances of religion, and that your contributions to the benevolent operations of the church are large in pro- portion to your membership. We rejoice that you have to- day an able and conscientious pastor. He doesn't run down to Somerville every week to put his name into the county
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papers. There is no "fuss and feathers" about him. He sticks to his work. You cheerfully support him in all his efforts.
May the next fifty years of your history be more glori- ous than the past.
"Fifty years have run their round, Since first you met on hallowed ground. A little church here still you stand, Watered and blest by God's own hand. A little vine a chosen few, So small at first, how fast it grew. Till at the last it shall appear, That crowds were born for glory here."
The Rev. T. Walker Jones, of Bedminster, President of the Classis of Raritan, brought greetings from the historic: church of Bedminster.
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Address by the Rev. P. Walker Jones.
I congratulate you upon this semi-centennial anniver- sary. It makes an epoch in your history. The services of this occasion have been pleasantly and profitably ar- ranged. The excellent historical discourse by the pastor is replete with interesting and suggestive reminiscences. I am happy to bring the ecclesiastical greetings of the historic church of Bedminster. We feel a special interest in your prosperity. One of my predecessors assisted in the or- ganization of your church. Another aided you in a series of meetings designed for the spiritual elevation and enlarge- ment of your people, soon after the formal organization. Both men were excellent ministers. Their impress, I doubt not, was lasting in its effect. It is delightful to re- call the spirit of help and hope that passed from old Bed- minster to young South Branch in the days of the latter's ecclesiastical childhood.
Sometimes the old suppress the young, instead of stim- ulating and strengthening them. A feeling akin to jealousy at times gets possession of one church in its relation to another. How unseemly such a disposition. But we are glad to realize that from the very outset the best feelings have been entertained by the church I represent towards this Zion. Some of my predecessors, as has been already stat- ed, have given you willing and valuable services. And some of our former members are now on your roll of mem- bership. All this causes us to feel a deep and warm inter- est in this impressive anniversary.
This occasion is doubly profitable. It is a recognition of the work done by those who have preceded you. Grati- tude does not always accompany heirship. Sons do not always appreciate the good deeds of their fathers. Fifty years of faith and prayer and labor on the part of the men and women of God who have worshipped and worked here
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have made this church what it is to-day. This fact is prom-
inent in your well-arranged exercises. Every reference made to the virtues and deeds of the past is your tribute to those "into whose labors you have entered." The heir should fondly cherish the memory of the testator. The heritage of righteousness is the best that can be conveyed. True saintship leaves sacred influence to successors.
Then, too, this anniversary shows what you are doing for those that shall come after you. There is exhibited the worthy purpose to preserve and perpetuate this ecclesi- astical inheritance for the benefit of those that shall suc- ceed you. You emulate the worthy deeds of your ancestors, expecting that your children will copy and carry forward yours. Nor is your hope vain. Example is a potent factor everywhere. The teachings of the life go deeper and farther than the utterances of the lips. Deeds are the creators of other deeds.
Thus does this anniversary and the attendant improve- ments of this edifice over which you rejoice, mark an ad- vance in your progress. You have taken a step forward. You will feel a fresh impulse and influence in your Zion. Three years ago Bedminster church erected a new edifice for their work and worship. It gave fresh vigor to our peo- ple. Thus, doubtless, you will find it to be in your experi- ence. I trust the coming fifty years will, by reason of the influences of this happy occasion, be marked by a history, if possible, even brighter and greater than that of the last fifty years. The living church, like the living Christian, increases in brightness and blessedness. Re- ceive, therefore, the cordial congratulations of my church and myself, respecting what has been, what is, and what shall be. May the covenant-keeping Jehovah impart rich bles- sings, continually and abundantly.
At this point the congregation stood up and joined in singing hymn 490.
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Addresses then followed by ministerial sons of the church. The Rev. A. J. Quick, of Baltimore, Md., and the Rev. John Scarlet, of Newtonville, N. Y., were unable to be present.
But the Rev. Charles W. Pitcher, of Midddleburgh, N. Y., the Rev. George W. Scarlet, of Havana, Ill., and the Rev. Theodore A. Beekman, of Jerusalem, N. Y., were present and gave addresses in the following order:
Address by the Rev. Charles WO. Pitcher.
Progress is the watchword of the hour. Progress is not movement but improvement. Two children are gath- ering flowers in a garden. The first runs eagerly from one beautiful form to another, dropping the last as soon as the next is reached, and at the end of his quest has only one flower, the last one he plucked. The other selects the most beautiful and desirable, dropping all the false and unworthy, and at the end has a beautiful bouquet.
The first child makes what is too often in these days called progress, but is only movement. The last makes the real and worthy progress. In Christian thought, pro- gress is bringing forward into to-day all the best of yester- day, and advancing into to-morrow with this and the most worthy of to-day.
All true Christian theology has its root in this Scrip- ture : "God so loved the world that He gave His only be- gotten Son to die, that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish, but have eternal life." Christ as a person, the inspiration to loyalty and to consecrated service. This is the keynote to all the preaching which has been so gener- ously referred to by the brethren who have spoken. My father's preaching was thoroughly orthodox, and was sum- med up in an expression in one of his sermons: "As all colors are manifestations of solar light, so all virtues, excel-
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lencies, graces of character are manifestations of Divine love."
There was a divineness of purpose in those old clergy- men whom I so well remember in my childhood days, that was most impressive and inspiring which gave a weight and dignity and power to their grand ministries of undying in- fluence. It seems to me this was expressed in a well-re- membered utterance by my honored father: "I went into the ministry under the impulsion of this feeling, woe is me if I preach not the gospel."
I bear record to-day unto the almost terrible zeal and devotion of his ministry. Often have I found him with head in hands agonizing in his study over some sermon for this pulpit. His study was his workshop, and his pulpit was his throne.
Looking over the church to-day, how many memories rush over me. I see the old sanctuary as it was in the days of my boyhood. These beautiful new pews are gone, and the old ones restored, and I can locate each of the old fa- miliar friends, hear their voices in prayer and singing, and verily it seems as though we were surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.
What then shall we bring forward from those days into this present time? I answer: First, brotherly love. Never in all my experience have I known a more thoroughly united people than this. Not a serious trouble in all those twenty-five years of Father Pitcher's ministry. Followed by Brother Davis, the same spirit was manifest. His un- selfish devotion to the great cause, and to his friends, con- served this great interest, and made it more marked. I learned in the days of Brother Davis' ministry in this place, to appreciate him through many never to be forgotten acts of brotherly kindness, and self-sacrificing thought. Here, too, I came to know the secret of his successful ministry in the church of God. My memory of Brother Loucks, who succeeded Brother Davis in this pastorate, may be
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summed up in a single incident. It was a conversation held one day about communion time, concerning those I longed to see in the membership of the church, and the earnestness of his speech and manner, the whole-hearted love of souls expressed; the things done of which he told me, all impressed me with the sincerity and loving zeal of the minister of Christ. Well do I know also of the kindly appreciation in which he was held, and the love of many here for him for his work's sake.
Brother Sperling is the ideal pastor for the time, a worthy successor of men like these who have preceded him. The best I can say of him is that in much he reminds me of him whose pastorate covered the larger part of this church's history. To say it is a great joy to me that this ministry is connected with that by marriage, is simply to state what is most natural. I see only prosperity in the future, and wish with deepest sincerity for you in the days to come, a still larger measure of blessing and peace.
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