USA > New York > Erie County > Buffalo > Manual, catalogue and history of the Lafayette St. Presbyterian Church of Buffalo, N.Y. > Part 11
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upon youthful follies, instead of being consecrated to true and noble ends.
Do not think, my dear friends, I rehearse these items of our his- tory in any spirit of self-laudation. I speak freely, cheerfully, grate- fully of all the kindly spirit of activity and labor which God has given you here. I believe it has blessed you more in the act than it can harm you in this mention and remembrance.
CHAPTER VI.
MY OWN MINISTRY.
As to my own ministry, the thirty-one full years I have passed here stand before me in such array, to-day, and ask me with such deep voices, "What have you to show for all of these rich but unre- deemable opportunities ? " that my heart sinks within me. If I were buried up in sheaves, it would not be too much wherewith to answer for all these years. If I could quadruple the results of my ministry, it would not seem too much in the covetous reckoning of such an hour as this; yet we will be grateful that the Great Master of the Vineyard has at all owned our united labors here, and be humbled to think how much more, perhaps, our lives might have yielded, with better and stronger purposes. I say united labors, for, as your prayers and efforts have aided my ministry, so I would humbly and gladly believe that my ministry has also aided your efforts, while both, I trust, have received gracious impulse from Heaven.
Results.
In repeating the round number, 1,400, recorded on the roll of our membership since my ministry commenced here, I ought again to allude to the exceptional weakness of our beginnings as a Church, and ought, also, to deduct the years that I labored here when I was too young to have undertaken any parish in a city. It wanted two months to the close of my twenty-third year, and I ought to have a full seven years deducted for the margin of my verdancy. Dear friends, pardon this poor but natural effort to cover the absence of larger results; yet for such as God has graciously given us, we give Him humble and hearty thanks this day.
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My Pastorate.
I have no complete or accurate record of my parish work. All that I can say is, that if a busy editor has thronging "recollections of a busy life," so have I; and it seems, to-day, as if I had descended, for a moment, from the weary tread of that restless wheel which has scarcely stopped or ceased, only as your considerate generosity has arrested it, its steady march for these thirty-one years.
The work of a parish is a work which can never be finished, though it may be ended. The demands of the Sabbath and the pulpit give as steady a call and strain upon nerve and brain as the ceaseless "copy" of the daily press; while the visitations of sickness and sorrow, the duties of the parish, and the multitude of extra calls upon the clergy- man, make his days often one constant round of occupation and engagement.
Often, as I go up and down these streets, the sight of familiar dwellings is like the opened page of some diary full of life's highest joys and deepest sorrows. The bridal and the burial! the sick chamber ! the chamber of the dead! the contritions of penitence ! the dawning hopes of the better life !- these touch the deepest and highest elements of human experience. I recall one of the beautiful sentences of one of the great masters of English speech. It might be called "The Memory of a Pastorate : "
"There were the faces of friends and foes, and of many that had been almost strangers, peering intrusively from the crowd; there were the faces of young and blooming girls that were now old women; there were the faces that the grave had changed and closed upon, but which the mind, superior to its power, still dressed in their old freshness and beauty, calling back the lustre of the eyes, the brightness of the smile, the beaming of the soul through its mask of clay, and whispering of beauty beyond the tomb, changed but to be heightened, and taken from earth only to be set up as a light to shed a soft and gentle glow upon the path to Heaven."
Among these memories are those more sacred, even-the blessed household countenances-father, mother, brother, children-oh! how they hallow the years !
My Pulpit.
When I think of the great company of children, when I think of the great company of souls, which, in all these years, have gathered about this pulpit, my heart is filled with a hope so great, so solemn,
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so tender, I cannot utter it. Often the sense of imperfection in, or inadequacy to, such a ministry, has suggested the thought of change to another pulpit and parish, as giving one the benefit of past accu- mulations, and, also, of freshness and novelty to a new people; but then, [the considerations that a proper and healthful use of past accumulations is permitted to an old pastor, and that the enamel of novelty is very thin, and is soon worn off, so that, unless one would undertake a perpetual itinerancy, it were better to stay and study and ask teaching of God, knowing that new things from an old teacher have a special zest, and that such an one, as the years go on, may make his ministry more large, and free, and genial, and, above all, that there remains to him that recognition and appropriation of supernatural aid which is able to make his ministry always vital and largely successful,-these considerations have made me feel that in yielding to old attachments, and loving old friends, one need not sacrifice the largest success of his ministry.
Evangelistic Work.
My preaching, for you have not been ungenerous, has not been confined wholly to this pulpit. I have been permitted to "range," as Whitefield calls it, with all the freedom which was consistent with my special duties to you. I have, therefore, been privileged to assist in precious revivals of religion in more than half a score of neighbor- ing parishes-in Springville, Warsaw, Attica, Alden, Lockport, Ber- gen, Rochester, Suspension Bridge, Niagara Falls, Hamilton, Clarkson, Dunkirk, Westfield, and other places; and the promise, "He that watereth shall be watered, also, himself," has been fulfilled to us in many precious seasons of special religious interest in this congrega- tion. We were not afraid of the odium of such seasons, when the Kingdom of God comes in power, and all the elements of the world's opposition are roused against it. We believe that there is nothing which will accomplish, in great cities, the results, especially among the poor and neglected, and which will give to religion such a hold upon the popular intelligence, as these seasons of the Divine power and presence in revivals of religion ; and that they are to attend and enrich the history of the Church to the end of the world, the Word of God seems most plainly to teach.
Reforms.
Another feature of the ministry, which we have endeavored to con- duct here, has been, I think I may truly say, its sympathy with all
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the interests of humanity. If a Roman slave could say that nothing which was dear to man was alien to him, how much more impera- tively does such a sentiment become the Christian pulpit. This pulpit, therefore, was not silent, in view of that great wrong and crime-the system of domestic slavery, as it existed in our country- a crime and a shame, now, happily, in God's good providence, swept from the face of the land. Nor have we hesitated to give the great woes of intemperance a voice in this place, though both of these monstrous evils may have been supported by power and wealth and the mild compliances of men who "did not want trouble." We thank God that the impulses of either nature or grace (we hope there was something of both in the work, and both are of God) urged us to faithful and unsilenced remonstrance with these gigantic crimes against man and society.
Patriotism.
We rejoice, also, that we had learned and practiced the faith before we had learned the form of that beautiful creed, "that the religion of the flag is second only to the religion of the altar; " that he that is true to God will also be true to man and his country ; and that, during the darkest days of "the war for the Union," we never ceased to encourage your faith that loyalty and freedom were sure to triumph over treason and slavery.
How absurd the clamor, my brethren, that the Christian pulpit could have any selfish ends in its testimony on the great moral and political questions of the day. When that pulpit shall, in this land, cease to be such a light on such questions, midnight will have fallen on the nation. Through all our history as a people, that voice has been a voice of inspiration and courage to all that has been most heroic and pure in our national and social life.
The True Idea of the Church.
If there has been one hope of my life more eager than another, it has been to see the Christian Church the far-advanced leader of all the moralities and humanities of society and the world. I could not bear that any should be purer or more proficient than she in the acquisition and illustration of all the highest and chiefest of virtues. Her Great Master had called her "the light of the world, the salt of the earth," and I desired she should nobly vindicate her high mission. Perhaps my zeal has been excessive here, and has led me into meas-
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ures of error. Even an angel, descended here to do the world's work, would acquire some of its stains; and the tares are to grow with the wheat till the harvest. Oh, Church of the sinless Christ! I could not bear that any should falsely or weakly prate of thy imperfections, much less mark thy deficiencies in contrast with the mere institutions of men. Yet it is, perhaps, well for us to drink of this cup of needful humiliation, lest the cursed root of Phariseeism should choke our hearts as it has others. In our sober second thought, the true idea of the Church doubtless is, that it should contain the strong and the weak-some of the truest and noblest types of Christian manhood as well as the weak, the feeble and the doubting; and we must never forget "that the best of men are but men at best," and that there is nature with grace in the holiest of saints.
Sabbath Evening Services.
Twenty-five years ago last February I received a request, signed by a large number of my congregation, to commence a regular Sabbath evening service. Till that time our Churches were only opened on Sabbath evening for occasional services, the second public service of the Sabbath being usually held in the afternoon. Since that time we have sustained a regular Sabbath evening service; and this has become the common custom of the Churches of the city.
As to the character of these services, I have endeavored, though with often repeated failures, to popularize them, and make them attractive to all classes, especially the young. There is, of course, a bound, beyond which a true taste and a just Christian feeling will not pass in this matter; but because excess and extravagance are possible, shall nothing be done to win the feet of the multitudes, who throng our streets on the evening of the Sabbath, to the sanctuary ? Many have been thus drawn to hear, who, we believe, have remained to pray.
The importance of the Sabbath evening hour in great centers of population cannot be doubted. Whether that hour shall be spent in the cheerful and elevating services of Christian worship, is a question which involves much of the blessing and profit of the Sabbath to our whole people. I believe Christian men, therefore, should make an earnest and chivalrous stand on this point, determined to lend, by their presence and efforts, the highest interest to these services. No matter how well we may have led our people to begin the Sabbath, if its close is not hallowed by the high and holy influences of Chris-
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tian and cheerful worship, but is left to the frivolities of gossip and social visiting and amusement, we shall drift far onward toward the evils of the continental Sabbath. The Christian Church has in its hand, in its Sabbath evening services, an influence which it can wield with great power, and yet with no spirit of exaction, over all our people, and especially the young-an influence kindly, genial and Christian. Perhaps, however, it ought to be considered now, in the general prevalence of Sabbath evening services, whether at least one of the Churches in each of our denominations might not be profit- ably opened for a Sabbath afternoon service, for the accommodation of the aged and infirm and the very young.
Three times, during my long service here, in addition to my usual vacations, I have had a more lengthy respite granted me by the gen- erosity of the congregation. In 1859 I made a three months' tour in Europe; again, in 1869, through your kindness, I was permitted to spend three months in California, the congregation, in the mean time, generously supplying my pulpit and continuing my salary ; and again, in the fall of 1872, you granted me nearly a two years' absence in Europe, continuing my salary and supplying my pulpit. For such generosity and consideration I have no words to thank you. They have given to me, under God, the years of restored health and strength which I now enjoy. It is proper that I should here acknowledge the success and interest with which you were served, during my absence, by my excellent brother, Rev. C. P. H. Nason, now of Chelsea, Mass., whose memory will long be gratefully cherished among you. I have taken the liberty of printing in this volume (see B. and C.)* the two grateful "welcomes" you gave me after my two last absences, believing that to you, as well as myself, they will be pleasant memo- rials of our history as pastor and people.
And now, my brethren, when I consider what varieties of gifts, of genius, of learning and of utterance, are found in the Christian min- istry of this day, I say to myself, "What warrant have I to stand among this gifted company?" And then I think again, oh! the glory of the message shall hide a thousand defects in the messenger ! And so I gather courage; and so you, too, humbled, perhaps, when you think of the richer gifts and graces of other laborers, are to remember that it is the work you do which outrivals all the glory of gifts, all the wealth of graces !
* See General Index.
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CHAPTER VII.
OF GRATITUDE, ETC.
As to whatever there may be in this record which calls for grati- tude and joy, I wish to unite, dear brethren, my own with yours. For any measure of success which has attended our labors here ; for any souls which may have been brought, here, to the knowl- edge and love of God; for any good we may have received; for any help we may have been enabled to communicate to those that are near and those that are afar off, we here to-day bless the name of our God; and, never forgetting that "the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit," we would acknowledge that anything which God has done by us, or through us, has been done amid much of imperfec- tion and unworthiness on our part. I desire, also, to express my own personal sense of gratitude to you, my brethren : steadfast through all these years; patient and unchanged through many trials; for- bearing toward all the imperfections of my ministry; so generally ready to aid my special labors; so generous and considerate to all my needs. I desire to express to you my gratitude for your con- stancy and aid in all my ministry and labors here. I know well, and deeply feel, that had that ministry been more Christ-like, its results would have been larger and more blessed.
May God endue the years that shall remain of it more fully with His grace, with more singleness of aim, and with larger blessings.
To the women of this Church and congregation, whose aid has been so effective here, whose labors have contributed so largely to our funds, whose taste has beautified our sanctuary; to the laborers in our Sabbath School, Bible class and mission work; to our faithful Elders; to our honored Board of Trustees; to the memories of the good who have departed from the earth; to those afar off and before the Throne; in a word, to all our helpers and benefactors, living or dead-to one, to all, and to God over all, blessed forever, the Fountain of all grace, blessing and strength, we here render our glad and grateful tribute.
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When we thank God, we thank all; for He is the Source and Fountain of all. We therefore tune our voices to-day to the imper- ishable refrain of that old Doxology :
Praise God from whom all blessings flow ; Praise Him all creatures here below ;
Praise Him above, ye Heavenly host ; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Think not, my dear brethren, that these, your Christian labors, are excessive or vain.
We spend millions of money, and the labors of tens of thousands of men, to kindle and keep burning the rock-lifted beacons along the line of our sea-coasts. Oh, Churches of the living God ! ye are beacons, uplifted along the shores of that great ocean which all must traverse. Shall it be thought a vain or idle thing to keep bright those lights-to feed with oil those ever blazing lamps-to burnish those mirrors which reflect their beams far out upon life's traversed and troubled sea? Oh, no; only the blind waves or the blinder tem- pest would, in their mad fury, seek to dash out those lights. The pirate prowler of the deep, or the grim wrecker, watching like a harpy for the stranded ship-these, only, could wish those lights to be darkened. Let us then, in God's name, in the name of Him who came to kindle these lights with the light of His own life, in the name of that blessed Spirit who feeds, with secret oil, these holy lamps, in the name of all the myriad and imperiled wanderers on life's great ocean-let us keep these beacons bright and burning, and may God give it to be said of us:
" Steadfast, serene, immovable, the same, Year after year, through all the silent night, Burns on, forevermore, that quenchless flame, Shines on that inextinguishable light."
MEMOIRS.
PREPARED AND ARRANGED BY
WILLARD M. KNIGHT.
THESE MEMOIRS, the fullest of them prepared, and all of them arranged, by his - own hand ; together with that most patient and laborious work, the preparation of the Historical Catalogue and our Annual Directory, we owe to the long, unwearied and painstaking care and toil of our brother, W. M. KNIGHT, of this Church ; and I desire here, on my own behalf and on behalf of the officers and members of the Church and Congregation, to express our deep and grateful appreciation of this most valuable, yet most toilsome work, which he has accomplished for us.
Signed on behalf of the Church and Congregation,
G. W. HEACOCK.
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[A.] DEDICATORY EXERCISES.
REMARKS OF THE PRESS.
LAFAYETTE STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH .- On Sabbath last, the Lafayette Street Presbyterian Church-Rev. Dr. Heacock, pastor-held their last service in the old edifice. Workmen are already engaged in removing the structure preparatory to the erection of a new one, of more ample proportions and elegant architecture. At an expense of $4,400 the trustees have secured an addition to their lot of 40 feet in depth, and extending laterally to Washington street. On the portion of the lot fronting on Washington street, the new Lecture and Sabbath-School room will be located.
The new building is to be enclosed, the tower completed as far as the roof, and the Lecture room finished for use, by the first of October next. The cost of the building thus far will be, we understand, about $13,000. On or before October first, the trustees will elect as to whether the builder shall or shall not go on with the work until the whole building is completed. It is now hoped that the whole may be finished by the first of May, 1863. The entire cost exclusive of spire and windows, is fixed at $16,500. The windows will probably cost $1,000 more. H. Rumrill, Esq., has the contract for the building; Hemphill is the architect.
We congratulate both Dr. Heacock and his congregation, on the actual inaugura- ation of the movement which is to secure them a beautiful and suitable house of worship .- Christian Advocate, June 19, 1862.
DEDICATION OF THE NEW LAFAYETTE STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH .- Last evening the new, large and beautiful church edifice, belonging to the congregation of Rev. Dr. Heacock, on Lafayette street, was formally dedicated to the worship of Almighty God. A large audience was present, and the services throughout were deeply interesting. They were begun by Rev. Dr. Chester, who pronounced the Invocation. Rev. Dr. Lore (Methodist) followed with reading of the Scriptures, and prayer was again offered by Rev. Dr. Clarke, of the First Presbyterian Church.
The dedication sermon was then preached by Rev. Dr. Fowler, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Utica. He chose as his text II. Chronicles, vii. I :
Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and con- sumed the burnt-offering and the sacrifices ; and the glory of the Lord filled the house.
The sermon was a strong and practical discourse, showing the manner in which God, in the present dispensation, manifests himself to his people, as compared with the visible manifestations vouchsafed by God to His people in the Jewish theocracy. At the close of the sermon the following "Dedication Hymn," written for the occa- sion by Prof. S. M. Hopkins, was sung by the whole congregation :
Lift up, O builded house, thy gates ; Spread wide the portals of thy door ; Thou art henceforth a place of prayer- . A House of God for evermore.
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Let in the holy word of truth, The hallowed rites, the sacred lays : Let in the voice of age and youth, To swell the volumed sound of praise.
Let in the Gospel of our hope, The balm of grief-the cure of sin ; Lift higher still your heads, O Gates- Let the bright King of Glory in !
Come, as Thou camest, Lord, when words Of grace, distilled with every breath, When love to God, and love for man, Filled all the air of Nazareth.
Repeat to us that heavenly strain, The fetter broke, the captive freed, The darkened eye illumed again, And binding up of hearts that bleed.
Cast out, O Lord, from every mind, The hate of race, the love of clan ; Teach us the love of human kind,- The sacred brotherhood of man.
Here let the tide of pity flow, From Christ the source thro' every breast ;
Nor Priest, nor Levite dare forbid To bless the suffering and oppressed.
O Thou, who fill'st the heavens above, And dwellest in the contrite heart, Enter, with all Thy truth and love, Make this Thy rest, and ne'er depart !
The Dedication Prayer was then offered by the pastor, Rev. Dr. Heacock, and after singing the Doxology, the congregation was dismissed with benediction by the venerable Mr. Howcutt.
The structure which is thus opened for public worship was begun a year ago last spring. Its site is that upon which, for a number of years previous, stood the small and inadequate Lafayette Street Church building. A large lot of land in addition was purchased, and thus space was obtained for one of the handsomest church edifices in the city. The size of the audience room is sixty by eighty-two feet inside, exclusive of the large vestibule ; it contains one hundred and forty pews, and is capable of holding about twelve hundred persons. This room has openings both on Washington and Lafayette streets. At the rear of the audience room, and con- necting therewith, is a beautiful lecture room, one hundred feet by twenty-nine, which will seat five hundred persons. This room is on the same floor with its larger neighbor, and is altogether the most comfortable, best lighted and commodious apartment of its class in the city. It opens on Washington street.
The building is semi-Gothic in its architecture, and outside presents a substantial and exceedingly comely appearance. Inside it is furnished in the same style, and with admirable taste. The contractor for the building was Mr. H. Rumrill, and the wood work, under that contract, was done by Mr. C. S. Chapin. The windows, which are of stained glass, very beautiful, were furnished by Mr. Burns. Altogether, the church is a credit to its builders and proprietors, and worthy of the pastor who is to occupy its pulpit.
The cost of the building, including the price paid for additional land, is $25,000 .- Courier, Oct. 16, 1863.
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[A.] TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY EXERCISES.
PRELIMINARY.
THE Rev. Grosvenor W. Heacock, D. D., commenced his ministry with the Lafayette Street Presbyterian Church, Buffalo, on the eighth day of June, 1845. Its twenty-fifth anniversary fell, therefore, upon the corresponding date in the year 1870. This being a week-day, it was decided by the Society to celebrate the fol- lowing Sabbath, June 12th, as the anniversary, and preparations were made accord- ingly. The programme included an anniversary sermon in the morning by the pastor ; a Sabbath School reunion in the afternoon; and addresses in the evening by six brethren, who at different periods had gone out from the Church as minis- ters of the everlasting Gospel.
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