USA > New York > Onondaga County > Pompey > Addresses delivered at the centennial anniversary of the First Congregrational Church, Pompey, N. Y. June 21st-23rd, 1896 : together with a historical sketch of the church > Part 3
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POMPEY CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES.
united church. There is no time for a weakening of forces. Christianity declares that we do not belong to Paul, Appollos or Peter, but that they belong to us, and all divine in them ministers to the divine in us so that our life superabounds by means of theirs.
All Christendom is coming to stand on a common platform and why should they not? I have quoted in another place from the covenant of this church and what is there contained in it to which every Christian cannot assent ? We are surely getting back to first principles, to the fundamental doctrines taught by Christ and his disciples and from those there is no appeal. God's door of mercy stands wide open and all the influences are at hand to lead every soul into life. To preach redeeming love as shown in the death of Jesus Christ, to point men to this same Christ as their Redeemer is the work of every Christian of every church. This has been the work of this century of church history. Redeeming love has been the burden of the message, and as it is brought to us anew today it is full of inspiration. We look back over these years and endeavor to become sharers in the triumphs and defeats of those who have gone on before; but duty is in the present time not in the past, and the summons is forward not backward. To us is entrusted the re- sponsibility of opening the second century. To some but a few years of earthily service remain, to others perchance a longer period, but to all alike there is the demand of faithfulness. Well may we be proud of the old church whose graceful spire for so many years has pierced the clouds and pointing heavenward has been symbolic of the
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HISTORICAL SERMON.
divine teaching within her walls. Twenty-two pastors have here broken the Bread of Life. More than one thousand names inscribed on her roll; and who can esti- mate the great influences that having been generated here and have permeated every department of public and private life.
Ministers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, statesmen and others, who first learned the lessons from God's truth within these walls, have gone forth bearing the precious seed into other fields of sowing and in that great beyond "where from the east and the west, from the north and the south they shall come and sit down in the Kingdom of God," who can doubt but that "they will come rejoic- ing bringing their sheaves with them." Rightly indeed do we glory in the past. It is our rightful heritage but equally so ought we to glory in the present and in the boundless opportunities by the future. If the work of the past has been great, that of the future may become equally great. A great cloud of witnesses surrounds us this morning and the finger-point is directed toward the open doors of the twentieth century.
As the eagle wing smites the upper air in its buoyant strength, and the eagle eye, catching a radiance unknown1 in the thick atmosphere of earth, commands the scope of a vast horizon, so on this mount of privilege today the divine fullness of Christ, and the sublimity of humanity in Christ kindles into rapture the heart of this church, and opens a new field of vision for our exploration. Twenty-five years ago the sons and daughters of old Pompey met to renew the ties of love and kinship .
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POMPEY CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES.
Since then many of them have passed into the great be- yond. To-day the old church extends a hearty welcome to all that still tarry on this side of the river, and in our season of rejoicing, we would all look up and beyond where, in the pleasant pastures and by the still waters, there shall be the final rejoicing, the final recompense, and the church militant shall become the church tri- umphant.
Truly
""Our cup runneth over our life is so bright So brimming with mercy and love,
It seems just a springtine of sunshine and light, Blest foretastes of better above."
Pure as sunlight, inspiring as a strain of sweet music is our glimpse of heaven and of the triumph of the church.
"And on that joyous shore
Our lightened hearts shall know
The life of long ago;
The sorrow-burdened past shall fade forever more."
Standing as a landmark in the pathway of life the old church speaks to us today. Precious memories cluster around these scenes and with hearts full of gratitude and - praise to God, the listening ear catches this message of the century:
"So live that you each year may be,
While time glides softly by,
A little farther from the earth And nearer to the sky."
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1771707
Pioneer Influence.
BY THE REV. J. PETRIE.
This is a happy auspicious hour and I congratulate myself upon the opportunity of taking part in this cen- tennial anniversary. I congratulate myself that for a quarter of a century since I first formed your acquaint- ance I have had the opportunity of dwelling pleas- antly among you. I congratulate myself upon the happy memories of my pastorate for a period of twelve years, and if pastor Ball has a warmer place in the hearts of the people, then I have had during all those years, then I congratulate him.
The people of Pompey are elevated as the world about us has had occasion to know, elevated in location, elevat- ed in character and I trust also elevated in aspiration for the future. Pompey has had a magnificent past and may its coming years be still more worthy and glorious.
Pioneer influence is a very congenial theme. I can go back only a quarter of a century but during my ministry here I followed to his last resting place Mr. Ebenezer Butler, one whose life covered the entire history of the town up to the day of his death; but my friend Dr. Hay- den, born among you, can go back half a century and knew many of the pioneers who have left their indelible
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POMPEY CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES.
impress upon this community, and there are those of the second generation yet living whose life with that of their fathers spans the whole century.
Pioneer influence has its basis in character and charac- ter rules the world. We do not know how much we and this whole community owe to it. Some of the early set- tlers lie sleeping in yonder beautiful hillside cemetery, and they have long since taken their departure; but they are not dead; their influence lives and is a very active factor in the character and forces of the present. If we had only kept up their standard, if we had only more worthily emulated their lives this would prove even a more auspicious hour. What noble men and women in the past! I love to think of their virtues and sterling qualities of character. They have risen to eminence in every profession and in all the walks of life.
I once asked Dr. Stearns why Pompey had produced so many persons of distinction and I shall never forget his reply: "Mr. Petrie you would not be surpried if you had known the early settlers; they were men of the most remarkable physique of any class I ever knew." That was the foundation, a well developed and vigorious manhood, and then the influence of the church and of the Academy, of the pure air and fine scenery made a magnificent superstructure.
Pioneer influence has its germ in the stock from which it springs. There is something behind the men and women who first came to Pompey to make it their per- manent home. If you wish to know the character of the stream there is nothing better than to go to its source.
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PIONEER INFLUENCE.
1
The early settlers were mainly of New England origin. They were God-fearing men and women as were the generations before them. Their qualities of character were inherited no less than cultured. It was compara- tively easy to lead them in obedience to the God of their fathers. They expected to enter upon such a life as they saw it exemplified before them. It was their ideal of a wise, correct and happy life.
How different from other sections of the country which we can all call to mind, where the first impressions were irreligious and where the influence still lingers. Have any of you ever lived in a community settled by an irre- ligious ancestry and where the trend of society was in that direction. How marked the influence upon every- thing about you. Some good people have come in who have had a religious training and they are the salt that saves it. They rally Christian influences around them, establish and sustain churches and become the nucleus of the best elements and forces in the community. But when you get away from the immediate vicinity of the churches where irreligion has descended from father to son, you will find people uncouth, uncultured, untrained and will wonder where they have lived and how it is pos- sible for humanity to grow up in such a shape. If you have watched the passing throng on some attractive public holiday, you can hardly fail to be amused in spite of the sadness which you witness. The hardest battle that has ever been fought in our world, is to redeem such a community from the trend of an early irreligious life. There is about every ism known to the world and the
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POMPEY CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES.
intrenched fortifications of evil are bristling with weapons. And some of these weapons handled with skill and long experience exert quite a local influence.
Education and training can do much for our fallen hu- manity but there must be some foundation on which to build. A friend of mine told me of an experiment where the waifs of society were picked up early and placed under excellent religious teaching and influence with the idea of preparing them for the Christian ministry. In itself it was a very commendable idea to take children from the wrong end of society and put them at the head of its highest and best forces. As they were at play one day, one little fellow was heard to say, "I tell you what it is boys when I grow up I am going to be a horse minis- ter," and this was very largely the result of the experi- ment which after satisfactory trial was abandoned.
Education and training are doubtless illimitable bless- ings and accompanied with proper moral influences are in the highest degree salutary, but blood will tell. There is such a thing as heredity and even the grace of God cannot make oak out of basswood.
We may therefore congratulate ourselves today that the early pioneers of Pompey were men of principle, in- tegrity, character, God-fearing men who lived for a pur- pose and accomplished more than they ever dreamed for their posterity. 'There is no inheritance which is so pre- cious as the inheritance of a good name, the in- heritance of a Christian home, the inheritance of a pious mother's example, of her tender, touch- ing prayers and of her deep solicitude in everything that
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PIONEER INFLUENCE.
concerns our present and future welfare. Inherited blessings. Who can weigh them? Who can appreciate thein in all their fullness and preciousness? The influence of the early pioneers will live long as this town shall live. God bless their memory.
Now let us look more particularly at the elements which entered into their character.
What hardy toil was before them! The farms orig- nally purchased were an unbroken forest. The first set- tler, Mr. Jesse Butler, erected his cabin and cleared a plot of ground for a garden, to supply the wants of his family. In 1792 he brought his family. The second year after he occupied his cabin there came three other tenants with their families in this one cabin until they could build one for themselves. The lines of division and occupation must have been largely imaginary and could not have been any more formidable than a chalk mark across the floor. Four families with children in one house, yes in one room, was decidedly neighborly, and yet for the few weeks it was necessary for them to remain together they enjoyed themselves and had a good time, and when they separated they doubtless had an affection- ate parting.
Think of a pioneer with his wife and first born con- ing into a cabin with two chairs, one bed and an old fash- ioned chest. If they had only two visitors they occupied the chairs as posts of honor, but if there were more the chest and the bed supplied the lack. If there were more than two at the table, blocks of wood supplied the extra guests with seats.
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POMPEY CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES.
And there was an unbroken forest to clear and wheat to raise at 50 cents per bushel at Albany, the only farm produce that sold for cash. This pioneer owned no team but was dependent upon his neighbor for a team to put in his crops, giving two days work for one. And when his wheat was harvested and threshed, ready for market, he was obliged to hire this neighbor to carry it to Albany to realize 50 cents per bushel, and yet that pioneer at such a disadvantage paid for his farm and there were doubtless many like hin.
Ah that meant manliness and manhood. The man who could fall a forest to make a farm has my profound admiration, and then what sacrifice and self-denial they must have endured! Their clothing was almost wholly of their own manufacture. There was always a patch of flax for summer wear and sufficient sheep for winter clothing and warm bedding.
But there was the closest and most uncompromising economy. Money was only spent for absolute necessities. The boys were not furnished pennies to buy candies at will and the girls did not have wax dolls; but no boys and girls were ever more happy. They enjoyed life to the brim. Industry, economy, sacrifice and self-denial were the elements which made them strong and noble men and Wolle11.
And yet with all their poverty they were not penurious. The gospel was sustained from the beginning and it was only possible to build the Academy by mortgaging their farms to raise the necessary funds. Such an ancestry is an untold blessing and benefaction to any community.
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PIONEER INFLUENCE.
They clearly fore-saw the advantage of the best mental as as well as moral developement and left nothing undone to secure it.
Let us again look at the fruit which this influence bore.
The pioneers did wisely to locate on the high ground of Pompey. They found a fruitful soil to reward the labors of the husbandman. They found a healthful cli- mate free from chills and fever. Good health is one of the essentials for the best developements of character and this they enjoyed. Neither body or mind can do its best without it.
The church and school house were not only side by side but for quite a while in the same building. During the week it was school and during the Sabbath it was worship. And what teachers they had in the olden time! They were men of talent and ability, of learning and piety. Many of them would have adorned a professor's chair in college. What thoroughness of drill, what development of mind, and what debates the students used to have. With many the germ of future eloquence was born there. The lyceum was an attraction to the community.
We do not now realize the early fame of Pompey Academy. It was the most distinguished school in all this section of country. And on commencement occa- sions the patrons of the school far and near filled the church to overflowing. Many of the citizens of the place denied themselves the privileges of the entertain- ment to make room for strangers out of town. Pompey Academy in those days had a name and a history.
And under all these favorable circumstances what was
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POMPEY CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES.
to hinder the very best development of character. The influence of the home, the influence of the church, the influence of the school made the best possible surround- ings and brought forth magnificent fruit. It furnished some of the most successful business men like Hon. Win. G. Fargo and Hon. Charles Hayden who were elevated to the highest place of honor in the gift of their respec- tive cities, Buffalo and Rochester, and in such an audi- ence I need not name the eminent statesmen which Pom- pey has produced * in Governors of States, United States Senators, Attorney General and Congressman, nor its eminent professional men who have adorned the bar and the bench of the Supreme Court of this state, nor of the distinguished physician who was in the front rank of his profession at St. Louis, nor of the eminent clergyman who is at the front in his own denomination in Cleve- land, Ohio. Nor does this by any means exhaust the list. Mr. Palmer a sculptor of world-wide fame, recently deceased, was a son of Pompey; Major Gen. Slocum who did such grand service in the struggle of the rebellion was a son of Pompey, and Grace Greenwood the accomplish- ed writer and charming poet, is a daughter of Pompey,
* For those who may not be so familiar with the past history of Pompey it may be well to mention the names of some of the distinguished statesmen etc. to whom reference is here made: Gov. Seymour, of this state, and Gov. Jerome, of Michigan, United States Senator Frank Hiscock and George W. Williams who was also Attorney General, Mr. Frank Hiscock was also Congressman from this district, Hon. Charles B. Sedgwick emi- nent at the bar, Hon. Leroy Morgan, Judge of the Supreme Court of this state, Dr. Charles Stevens one of the most distinguished physicians of St. Louis, Rev. Hiram Hayden, DD. LL. D., of Cleveland, Ohio, in the front rank of Presbyterian clergymen,
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PIONEER INFLUENCE.
and could she be present would fitly crown this happy anniversary.
The pioneers cleared these farms upon which we look with such pleasure and spread out before us the magnifi- cent scenery by which we are surrounded. They built the Academy which with its successor has accomplished so important a part in the education of each successive generation. They built this house of worship in which we are assembled, which has been such an inestimable blessing both in the past and present. The fruits of their life eternity alone can reveal, but eternity can never ex- haust. We cannot give them higher praise or more en- during fame.
But in this connection I cannot forbear to linger upon the memory of the noble officers of the church with whom I was associated. It would be difficult to find in any com- munity men of greater richness and ripeness of character in the virtues and graces of the gospel. Deacon Samuel Baker and Asa H. Wells who so lovingly and happily and harmoniously served the church for forty years were rare men. Born again in the same year under the same happy religious influences, associated together from childhood and bound together in the closest ties of love and service for the same dear Master they were alway one in heart and interest and cheerful devotion to the church of their fathers. Deacon Baker himself informed me that for forty years there was not the semblance of a discord or difference between them, and Deacon George Wells and Deacon I. L. Woodford belonged to the same noble band just as true in their devotion to the church and just as
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POMPEY CENTENNIAL, ADDRESSES.
worthy and noble in character. Although, with the ex- ception of Deacon Woodford, belonging to a past genera- tion, they live grandly and proudly still in their influence and memory, and may Deacon Woodford long abide with 11S.
But as I bring this address to a close I cannot forbear to say that we are the pioneers of the coming century as our fathers were the pioneers of the past century. Our influence in the future is just as important as their influ- ence in the past. We are to make our mark upon the coming century as they have made their mark upon the past century. What eminent possibilities are before us! What a grand and important work! What a stimulus should take hold of our whole nature and lift us up to our privi- leges and blessings and gird us for the mighty interests which make their present appeal. Let me plead with you that Pompey shall live in the history of the future as it has lived in the history of the past. We trust there is eminence and distinction in store for our sons and daugh- ters which shall worthily match anything which has gone before.
I miss from our circle at least one noble son of Pompey (Mr. Frank Jerome, of Denver ) in whom aspiration still lives, who in gratitude for the past desires to work out a happy future for this church in all coming time and I hope there are many like him. It was his purpose during these anniversary exercises in the largeness of his heart to secure a subscription, to which he himself would liber- ally contribute, for a fund which should be a per- maneuit endowment for this church and which with
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PIONEER INFLUENCE.
what this society should be able to raise should secure the preaching of the gospel in all its future history. According to his plan the society was always to raise a given sum, so that the endowment should not prove a crutch to lean upon, but only a stimulus to raise such a sum as would secure the effective services of an able Christian minister and secure to this community the means of grace to the latest generation. I sincerely hope that at no distant day Mr. Jerome may be permitted to come to Pompey to carry out his plan in which I am sure we would all be glad heartily to co-operate. Let us do something which shall be worthy of ourselves and which shall go down all the coming generations with cheer and blessing. What a magnificent work is before us in all the good which we may yet do and all the happy influences which we may send down to the latest time. Allow me to greet you for the coming century that you may proudly outdo all that has gone before.
Reminiscences.
AN ADDRESS BY DR. R. F. STEVENS.
Friends, members of the old church, and citizens of Pom- pey :--
We have assembled here in our own hill country some to meet their early kindred, and have all, together, come up to Jerusalem to worship. A long time, one hundred years ago, when the spot now occupied by this village was a mere opening in the woods, the good people who had settled hereabouts, being religiously inclined, organized a church that they might worship together the Great and All-wise Maker and Ruler of the universe according to dictates of their own conscience. A detailed history of the their earliest proceedings falls to the lot of others, but for myself I can say that later on, in 1818, this church build- ing was standing and appeared very much as it appears to-day, with the exception of the prayer-room and tea-ket- tle addition in the rear. Not a hundred feet from it on the north a dwelling was erected, and its erection was cele- brated, even before it was finished, by the advent of the one now addressing you, whose coming was nearer to this building than that of any other boy of that time. But I shall not claim that the prosperity of the church, the wide-spread, beneficent, religious, moral and educational
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CHURCH REMINISCENCES.
influences that eminated therefrom and gave character to the then rising generation of the village and surrounding country, was in any wise due to the fact of my spending iny childhood and early manhood almost under the drop- pings of the eaves of this sanctuary. Here, with a few others who are present to-night, my early days were spent under the parental care of members of this church, and if the then family pew could speak it would tell of their and my own attendance, and the Bible teachings from the pulpit, that in those days, entered the ears of a mein- bership who as a sacred custom held family prayers mor11- ing and evening.
Those were the days of the open fire-place, of andirons, of back-logs and fore-sticks, of brick ovens and bake-ket- tles, of warming-pans and spinning-wheels, of tallow- candles and pearl-ash, and the live coal foot-stools. And well do I remember the good mothers of this church com- ing to our house and filling the pans of their foot-stools with live coals from our fire-place to keep their feet warin during the service. But this is not telling of the earlier days prior to 1818, when this edifice and the original Academy were built, when the old potash was running and wood-ashes was a commercial article at one shilling a bushel.
The early-day citizens of the village and vicinity of Pompey were not only hardy men, but the section at= tracted from the older New England states a class of a high order of ability; and scores of names might be enu- merated of those who gave to this locality the enviable reputation it has always sustained. When we revert to
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POMPEY CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES.
the bright side of the picture in our historical contempla- tions, it is pardonable that we indulge in an honest pride, and speak without vanity, of those whom Pompey has sent forth to fill the highest stations in other states. They have honored their native place and themselves in successful efforts for the good of mankind, and some have been deservedly distinguished in the arts and sciences, in law, poetry and the literary world. This is a somewhat unique event, the centennial of a church. The elements of interest differ from those which enter into ordinary gatherings of the people. There is nothing to stir up partisan, selfish or ambitious zeal. We have come to celebrate the one hundredth year of a religious body, the only purpose of which has been and is to elevate the standard of religion and morals among the people within reach of its influence. Its only aim is salvation from moral degradation in this life, and for the enjoyment of everlasting happiness in a life to come. Such purposes are the highest and most ennobling of any in which man- kind can be engaged. They lead to a genuine brother- hood that savors of kindness, love and respect for each other. We have come to take our places again in the old meeting house, to honor the old church, to revisit the old homestead, to drink from the old Oaken Bucket, and to climb the same old hill and breathe the pure exhilirating air of this one of the highest inhabited points in the great Empire state. In a recent speech the Hon. Thos. G. Alvord said the rapidly thriving and growing city of Syracuse would never have existed but for the influences of the manufacture of salt.
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