USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > History of the Wesley M.E. Church of Brooklyn, L.I. > Part 15
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"In the evening, Bishop E. G. Andrews preached a short and instructive sermon on Christian work in the Church and in the world. He alluded in encouraging
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THE DECENNIAL ANNIVERSARY.
words to the career of the Church, which he pronounced a most successful one. Its growth had been steady and continuous, and he urged them to put forth renew. ed endeavors in the cause of religion, trusting in God for the result. He prophesied that if they did work honestly and faithfully in the cause of Christ the re- sult could not be otherwise than one of golden success substantially, and would work good for themselves."
It is conveying a very moderate idea of the attend- ance to say the Church was "well attended." It was crowded in every part during the afternoon services, and unusually well filled both morning and evening, so that the entire services of the day far surpassed the most sanguine anticipations. The 28th of March, 1875, was indeed a jubilee for preachers and people at the Wesley M. E. Church, and one long to be remembered.
The members of the Church and congregation as- sembled at the parsonage on Thursday evening, April Ist, to pay their respects to the Pastor and his family, prior to taking his departure to a new field of labor. The meeting might be considered, in some respects, a surprise party, the matter was kept so quiet that few knew anything about it, until they were invited to be present that evening. After spending some time in social interchange of sentiment and friendly greet- ings with each other, the President of the Board of Trustees rose and addressing the company made some allusions to the object of their visit to the parsonage on this evening ; it was to take friendly leave of their beloved Pastor, who had come in and out before them for the last three years, and to whom they had looked
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up with confidence for instruction and advice in such matters as related to their souls' present and future well- being. The review for the past three years' experience inspired thoughts and feelings of a complex character -a mixture of pleasure and pain, of joy and grief. These feelings were suggested by the reflection of the small amount of good that had been accomplished by the Society, considering the numerous and exalted priv- ileges the members had enjoyed. While this was to be deplored, it was, however, a source of consolation to know, that although there had not been a large ingathering into the Church, we had reason to believe that much substantial and permanent good had been effected in the hearts and minds of many, by and through the ministry and pastoral labors of Bro. Ford ; and if the Pastor did not witness, as he would have desired, the full fruition of his work in the charge, doubtless it would be revealed hereafter. In concluding, the speaker pre- sented the Pastor with a small testimonial of respect and affection from the Church, in the form of a roll of greenbacks. Bro. Ford responded by returning thanks in a very touching and feeling manner, and expressed the happiness and satisfaction he and his family had enjoyed since he accepted the invitation, and during the period he had been connected with them as their Pastor ; and he bids them now adieu with some degree of regret, but with a pleasing assurance that, should they never all meet again below, they would by and by assemble in their Father's house above, where parting will be no more.
The following testimonial was presented to the Pas- tor by the officiary; the document speaks for itself, and was received by him with grateful acknowledgments :
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THE DECENNIAL ANNIVERSARY.
" BROOKLYN, N. Y., April 3, 1875.
"Inasmuch as the pastorate of our dearly beloved brother, Rev. C. B. Ford, is about to close with the Wesley M. E. Church, we, the official members, for our- selves and as representatives of the Church and con- gregation, desiring to give some expression to our senti- ments with respect to him and his pastorate, therefore declare: That his ministry among us for the last three years has been that of a faithful messenger of our Lord Jesus Christ ; that his personal and social intercourse has exemplified the qualities of a cultured Christian gentleman ; that his pulpit and prayer-room efforts have been most earnest and evangelical ; and that his labors have been a blessing to the Church and this com- munity.
" We part with him with unfailing regret, and desire that he carry with him the assurances of our sincere respect for him as a man, of our profound confidence in him as a Christian minister, of our earnest prayers for his increased prosperity and usefulness in his future fields of labor, and of our joyous hope that we shall not only meet again on earth, but shall spend an eternity of bliss with him and his dear family in the mansions which our blessed Lord has gone to prepare.
GILBERT E. CURRIE.
D. W. MCLEAN.
ROBERT BENSON. HENRY TIPPENS.
THOS. C. NOSTRAND. JOHN R. CURREN.
GEO. W. LUSH.
CHAS. D. WADSWORTH.
GEO. E. CLARK.
GEO. G. LYON." .
The following summary of Rev. C. B. Ford's pastoral labor exhibits the state of the Society at the time he entered upon the charge, what has been effected dur- ing the period, and the condition in which he leaves it :
-
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HISTORY WESLEY M. E. CHURCH.
Members on the roll, April 1, 1872 .. 167
Members removed with certificates 51
Members removed by death .. 6
Members removed without letter 3
Members withdrawn from the Society 5
Total removals in three years 65
Total members remaining 102
Members received by probation 26
Members received by letter 75
Total members received during the term 101
Total number on the roll, March 31, 1875. 213
Absent from the city, March 31, 1875. 13
Aggregate Church membership, April 1, 1875 . . 200
During three years, have baptized infants. 33
During the same period, baptized adults 35
Celebrated marriages. 34
Attended and conducted burial services 36
Made pastoral visits and calls, about. 1,200
The Pastor reserved his farewell sermon to the Church and congregation until Sunday evening, April 4, 1875, when he selected as the foundation of his remarks, Acts xx. 7: "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow, and continued his speech until midnight." And Acts xiv. 27 : "And when they were come and had gathered the church together they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened
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THE DECENNIAL ANNIVERSARY.
the door of faith unto the Gentiles." And also Luke iii. 18 : " And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people."
At the close of the service, many of the hearers gath- cred round Bro. Ford, and bid him farewell ; but with- out any marked exhibition of grief or tender-hearted- ness, which sometimes we have witnessed on former occasions when a separation between Pastor and peo- ple was about to take place. These periodical removais have become, with Pastor and people, a matter-of-course event, so that neither the one nor the other think or feel as keenly as they used to do about the parting.
CHAPTER XI.
IN MEMORIAM.
Obituary Notices of Deceased Members.
CATHARINE DARBY, died May 3, 1865 :- The first breach made by death in the M. E. Society at Tompkins Ave- nue, was that of Catharine Darby, the beloved wife of W. G. Darby, one of the members of the Board of Trust. ees. She had been in delicate health for some consid- erable time prior to the formation of the Church, and consequently was able to attend the public services of the sanctuary but very seldom. Although deprived of the privilege of attending the stated means of grace, yet she enjoyed a lively and happy Christian experi- ence, arising from a well-grounded assurance of her acceptance in the Beloved. Sister Darby was earnestly solicitous for the spiritual well-being of her five chil- dren, three sons and two daughters ; while she also was deeply concerned for the prosperity of Zion. At her special request, the class which was led for some time by Bro. C. M. Turner, met at her house in Franklin Avenue, and these social meetings and religious privi- leges proved wells of salvation to her pious, thirsty ยท soul. Finding her strength rapidly failing, and having a presentiment that she was nearing her journey's end, she summoned the members of her family around her bed, and after commending each to God, she requested them all to meet her in heaven, and shortly afterward sweetly fell asleep in Jesus.
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IN MEMORIAM.
MARY G. GILBERT, died July 1, 1865 :- The amiable, devoted, and much-beloved wife of Rev. G. S. Gilbert. Very soon after the family had got comfortably settled in the new parsonage, the period of her accouche- ment drawing near (an event about the result of which, for some time previous, she had been much concerned, and expressed her serious apprehensions to some of her most intimate friends), she was taken to bed alarmingly ill. Convulsions and insensibility followed, and the family physician was immediately summoned. Upon observing the symptoms becoming rapidly more alarming, he suggested the propriety of calling in additional medical assistance, which was at once done, and everything that science and skill could suggest was brought into requisition, but with- out any salutary effect. At length, after much trouble and anxiety, she was delivered of a fine male child. After this event took place, intervals of consciousness returned, but these were of brief duration ; she con- tinued gradually to sink, and while hopes were enter- tained of her recovery, she passed away in the prime of life and vigor of womanhood, to the better land. The mother was taken, and the child was spared,-a me- morial pledge of the undying love of the departed wife, to comfort and cheer the heart of her sadly bereaved and disconsolate husband. Mrs. Gilbert was no less beautiful in person than she was gifted and accom- plished in mind. She was esteemed and beloved by all who knew her, for the sincerity of her piety, her disinterested benevolence, Christian charity, and heroic virtue. Her intense sympathy and devotion to her husband in the darkest hours of his trouble and disap- pointment, and her unwearied endeavors to promote his
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comfort and happiness, challenged universal admira- tion. As her death was peculiarly painful, unexpected, and much deplored, so her memory will long continue green, and be affectionately cherished by the mem- bers of the Tompkins Avenue Church. Her end was peace. Her mortal remains were taken for inter- ment to the family burying-ground in the city of New Haven, July 4, 1865.
REV. GAD SMITH GILBERT, died August 1, 1866 :- The first Pastor of the charge did not long survive his dearly beloved and lately departed wife, whose sudden and painful demise caused him such intensity of sorrow and grief, which served in some degree to hasten his own. At the time of his wife's death, Mr. Gilbert was suffering from a complication of diseases, so that he was obliged to relinquish his ministerial work and retire to the bosom of his family, the home of his venerable, pious father and mother, at New Haven, Conn. During the few months he resided under the paternal roof, surrounded with loving friends, who ministered to his personal comfort and physical necessi- ties, it became more and more evident to them, as well as to himself, that the sands of life were ebbing fast away. But as his bodily health declined, his spiritual strength increased day by day. Presiding Elder Mer- win, who visited him frequently during his last illness, and was present when he died, reports that he never wit- nessed a more joyful sick bed, or more triumphant death, than that of Bro. Gilbert. The ecstasy of joy experi- enced by the dying Christian minister and beloved son, made the very heart of his aged parents to rejoice, so that they could chant a song of praise ; and thus "the
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IN MEMORIAM.
chamber where the good man meets his fate," instead of being a house of mourning, was changed into one of joy-a banqueting hall "quite on the verge of heaven ;" and amid hymns of praise and shouts of hallelujahs the emancipated, blood-washed spirit entered triumphantly through the pearly gate into the city, there to be forever with the Lord.
GEORGE WESLEY, died March, 1867 :- Was a young man about 25 or 26 years of age, a carpenter by trade, and the eldest son of a widow. His affection for his mother and younger brother, and great solicitude to provide for them to the best of his ability, induced him to labor with indomitable energy and perseverance, until he succeeded in building a dwelling-house for their comfort, economy, and convenience. While en- gaged at this work, he caught a severe cold, which settled upon his lungs, and ultimately developed into consumption. After nearly a year's protracted sick- ness, his medical adviser gave him little hope of re- covery. While on his sick bed, he earnestly sought and happily found the Savior, to the joy of his soul, and was baptized by the Rev. F. C. Hill, and afterward received at the Pastor's hands the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Without a struggle or a groan he fell asleep in Jesus, leaving a widowed mother, brother, and a married sister to mourn their sad bereavement.
FANNY JACOBS, died March 23, 1867 :- She was the only daughter of John M. and Louisa Jacobs. She was a precocious child, in the strictest sense of the term. While young in years, she displayed a remarkable intuitive perception, and an intelligent appreciation of
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divine truth. Possessing a retentive memory, she soon learned and stored away large portions of Script- ure, which she repeated to her Sabbath school teacher, together with many of our standard hymns and other pieces of sacred poetry. She was always ready and happy to take part in any exercises connected with the Sabbath school exhibitions and other religious and social entertainments. But, alas ! consumption had early marked her for its victim. Notwithstanding all that parental care and medical skill could suggest or apply, she continued to droop, and at length sickened and died. Thus she passed away,-a fragrant, rose- bud plucked in dewy morn, to be transplanted from carth to blossom and flourish in the paradise above. She was in the twelfth year of her age at the time of her death.
ELIZABETH MELVILLE, died June, 1867 :- An aged wid- ow and mother in Israel, was the next person whose death the Society was called to mourn. Her sympathy and love for the Rev. G. S. Gilbert and his noble Chris- tian wife, led her to cast in her lot with the Tompkins Avenue mission. In doing so, she had to take up a cross, not merely in severing her church relationship with many old and dear friends, but by sacrificing the good-will of some members of her own family, who were dissatisfied on account of the step she had thus taken. Mrs. Melville's religion was of a decided char- acter. It was founded upon clearly defined and well- understood principles. She loved and reverenced the word of God, and made it the man of her counsel and the guide of her youth. Next to the sacred Scriptures, she highly prized and daily perused the Methodist
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IN MEMORIAM.
hymn-book, which proved to her a constant source of comfort, encouragement, and delight. Her religious experience was rich, broad, deep, and interesting. Dur- ing her last sickness, it was a privilege to visit and hear her speak of her hopes and prospects of soon reaching the better country,-the land of . Beulah. Having suffered long from a tendency of blood to the head, she had for years entertained an apprehension that the messenger of death when he came to her would come suddenly ; and consequently she was striving daily to live so as to be ready to obey the welcome summons which calls the pilgrim home. Dur- ing the summer of 1867 she was prostrated by a stroke of apoplexy, and after a brief sickness, died in the triumph of faith, with a blessed hope of a glorious immortality.
SARAH JANE FISHER, died August, 1867 :- Was the eldest daughter of Dr. John Van Ness, and beloved wife of Mr. James Fisher. She was one of the most amiable, ardent, and loveable young ladies, whom everybody delighted to honor and respect. In the spring of 1867 she removed with her husband (who was a practical druggist) to New Orleans, La., where he procured a lucrative appointment in the city hospi- tal. Mr. Fisher had been in his new situation only a few months, when the yellow fever broke out with great virulence all over the city, and the hospitals were soon crowded with patients suffering from this malignant disease. Mrs. Fisher, instead of being frightened or dismayed at the appearance of the terrible malady, insisted upon remaining at the hospital, and helping her husband in discharging his onerous duties. While visiting from ward to ward, and administering
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HISTORY WESLEY M. E. CHURCH.
physical relief to the suffering, she spoke words of in- struction, comfort, and consolation to the dying, by pointing them to the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world. She was at length stricken down with the fever, and in less than forty-eight hours afterward her gentle, happy spirit took its flight from a world of sin and sorrow, pain and death, to realms of endless day. A few days after the death of his wife, Mr. Fisher was also taken down by the ter- rible scourge, and died, leaving behind him a helpless little daughter, scarcely three years old, alone in a distant land, far away from home, and among stran- gers, and surrounded by the ravages of disease and death. But a merciful Providence, doubtless in an- swer to a dying mother's prayer, took care of the orphan child, and shortly afterward she was intrusted to the care of a faithful colored servant, who brought her safely back to the home of her grandparents, in Brooklyn, with whom she now resides, and constitutes a bright and cheerful light in the family circle.
JEREMIAH JOHNSON, died October, 1867 :- Was among the first to espouse the cause and sympathize with the late Rev. Gad S. Gilbert and the friends of Tompkins Avenue M. E. Mission. He was ready and willing on every occasion to help forward the work by his liberal contributions. Having attained to the allotted period of three-score years and ten, and feeling the infirmities of age coming rapidly on, he was solicitous to settle his worldly affairs and set his house in order prior to his departure to the promised land. He had long en- joyed the comforts and consolations of practical relig- jon, and he soon succeeded in arranging his temporal
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IN MEMORIAM.
affairs, shortly after which he took to bed, and died in peace, rejoicing in Christ his Savior.
GERTRUDE A. BROWER, died February 15, 1870 :- She was the wife of Abram L. Brower, and daughter and only surviving child of Robert and Catharine Benson; her father being the worthy and esteemed Treasurer of the Board of Trustees. Gertrude when quite a little girl gave her heart to the Savior, and being carefully instructed and religiously trained by pious parents, she united with the Church in the days of her youth, and became a faithful member of the same, and a devoted laborer in the Sabbath school. Possessing naturally a modest, retiring disposition, united to a sweet, ami- able temperament of mind, with an affectionate, lov- ing heart, she became the beloved idol of the family, and the center of attraction of a large circle of Chris- tian friends. While yet young, the devoted wife and happy mother of one child, and soon to become the mother of another, she was taken down with violent sickness, accompanied with convulsions, during which she was safely delivered of a babe,-another infant daughter. For a short time after this event, the life of parent and child was suspended in the balance, and the gravest apprehensions were aroused respecting the ultimate result. When the crisis in her sickness appeared to be reached, and all immediate danger past, and hopes began to be indulged of her speedy re- covery, she was seized with scarlet fever. The disease attacking her brain, delirium set in; the fever con- tinued with increasing violence, till the turning point had been reached, when a favorable change was antici- pated. That night a change did take place, but not
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HISTORY WESLEY M. E. CHURCH.
such as her physician and friends had hoped for ; it was a fatal and final change, which put an end to her physical sufferings. She calmly and imperceptibly breathed her last, and thus sweetly fell asleep in Jesus, in the twenty-sixth year of her age, on Feb- ruary 15, 1870. Concerning the dear departed, it can be truly said :-
" Her toils are past, her work is done, And she is fully blest; She fought the fight, the victory won, And entered into rest."
To the bereaved husband, sorrowing parents, and weeping friends we would say :-
" Now let your sorrow cease to flow ; God has recall'd his own ; And let your heart in sad woe, Still say,-' Thy will be done.'"
MATILDA ABERLE, died March 2, 1870 :- Was the beloved wife of Bro. J. G. Aberle, and one of the orig- inal members of the Church, and an active and cheer- ful co-operator in every plan proposed for the advance- ment of its material and spiritual interests. Sister Aberle was endowed with a naturally warm and cheer- ful disposition, and was always ready to engage in every good work. She proved a valuable and indefatiga- ble worker in organizing and conducting ladies' fairs and festivals, and no less zealous and useful during revival seasons and protracted meetings, in pointing mourners to the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world. While in middle life, and apparently enjoying. a good degree of health, after attending a revival meeting held in a neighboring church, she re- turned home later than usual, but rejoicing in what she had seen and heard, and telling her family about
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IN MEMORIAM.
the prosperity of the work of God ; she went happy to bed, and in the morning when her husband awoke he found, to his great sorrow and surprise, that his wife was lying a corpse beside him, having expired during the night from an attack of heart disease, in the forty- fifth year of her age. Of her it may be said," She ceased at once to work and live."
CHARLES JACKSON, died April 16, 1870 :- He was the son of Sister Jackson, one of the members of the Church, and a young man of great promise, to whom his parents looked up with the liveliest assurance of confidence and hope that he would be a source of comfort and happiness to them for many years to come. While following his occupation and enjoying usual health, he was suddenly prostrated by sickness, which proved somewhat protracted in duration, and ultimately re-
sulted in his death. During his illness he was fre- quently visited by the Pastor, Rev. F. C. Hill, and several members of the Church, who spoke to him about his soul's salvation and prayed with and for him. Being thoroughly convinced of his sinful and dangerous condition, penitent and contrite in spirit, he was pointed to the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, whom he was enabled by faith to embrace, to the joy of his heart ; shortly after which he died happy in the Lord, leaving a testimony behind him that he had gone to be with Christ.
OLD FATHER WANDELL, died June, 1870 :- He was an aged pilgrim of the Cross. On coming into the neighborhood to reside with one of his granddaughters and her family, he immediately associated himself with the Church. Although upward of ninety years of age,
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HISTORY WESLEY M. E. CHURCH.
and nearly blind, he was wonderfully regular in his attendance upon the public services of the sanctuary, and was sometimes present at the weekly prayer-meet- ings, on which occasions his little great-granddaughter would lead him by the hand to and from the house of God. He enjoyed the means of grace exceedingly, and though his steps were feeble and tottering, and his eyes becoming dim, yet his hearing continued remark- ably good, so that he could hear the preached word. While protracted meetings were in progress, he felt very happy, and not unfrequently would manifest the joy he experienced by an emphatic, audible "amen " and " glory be to God." The entire membership of the Church felt sorry when the good old soldier of the Cross removed from the neighborhood of Tompkins Avenue. He carried with him always the spirit of his Master, and rejoiced continually in the peace, comfort, and con- solation of the gospel. Shortly after his removal to another part of the city, he was taken sick, and for a short time was confined to bed. This sickness proved to be unto death. His pilgrimage was ended ; he had fought the good fight and finished his course, and there was laid up for him a crown of life, which the righteous Judge shall give him in that day. He died about the middle of June, 1870, in the ninety-eighth year of his age.
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