USA > New York > Ulster County > Kingston > Semi-centennial celebration of the Rondout Presbyterian Church, Kingston, N.Y. 1833-1883 > Part 2
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Rev. Benjamin T. Phillips became pastor November 30, 1847, and continued such till April, 1861. This was a period of very marked development. For fifteen years the little congre- gation had worshiped here in simplicity, and, if we may judge from the fruits, in faith and love also. Here they toiled, if we may gauge the toil by the results, with busy hands and hearts, with vigilant thought and glowing zeal; for great ele- ments are only fused by warmth, and only when they are melted can they be moulded, and moulded only by strong en- deavor. The city grew and new people flowed to the sanc- tuary. With the stimulus and guidance that the new, vigorous, aggressive, determinate leader knew well how to give ; with the larger zeal and energy that the people now rejoiced to ren- der, a new era dawned. There were wider plans and finer
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Historical Discourse.
execution. During the second year of this pastorate the par- sonage was built, a fine edifice for thirty-five years ago, and the church for the first time had its own corporate seal. Theswell of the new and busy life was too great for the little church build- ing and in 1853 it was greatly enlarged and beautified within and without. The improvement cost $3,000. It was, essen- tially, a new church.
Then came the Rev. William Irvin, D.D., to carry on the work. He was ordained and installed February 18, 1862, and was dis- missed in May, 1867. He was in every way a rare and most capable man and carried forward the affairs of the congregation with a method so fine and a spirit so of the Master, that his deeds remain as a lustre about his name never to be forgotten by a grateful and loving people.
Then followed Rev. Edward D. Ledyard, who was ordained and installed August 29, 1867, and dismissed January 13, 1874. A right lovable man, possessed of great refinement and won- derful gentleness, a character that wins every one and holds all that it attracts. The people flowed to him and the church was again too small. That was a splendid twenty-five years that culminated in this pastorate. During all that period the people had been pouring into the church who make narrow plans and meagre enterprise impossible. They came from all parts of the continent and had felt the contact of great events, the happening of which had made this nation and themselves what otherwise they could not have been. In their bosoms they brought Christian hearts and they were eager for achieve- ment. They brought what the sturdy elements that were here before them needed, so that together, with a common fervor and a common faith, they constitute a church which for en- ergy, capability and Christian zeal, and all holy efficiency, is hardly surpassed by any of the splendid churches that line the banks of this beautiful river.
The real active working membership of the church at this time was about three hundred. It was for them to build the new church. They did it, and have done it well. After
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Semi-Centennial Celebration.
careful thought it was decided to abandon the site of the old church and to occupy the lot bounded on three sides by Abeel, Wurts and Union streets. A subscription of $25,926 was se- cured. A Building Committee was appointed, consisting of Edward Tompkins, Chairman ; David B. Abbey, Secretary ; Charles Bray, Treasurer ; Walter B. Crane, Abel A. Crosby, Roland Otis, James McCausland, Rev. Edward D. Ledyard. Lawrence B. Valk, of New York, was employed as architect. The contractors were Henry W. Otis, mason, and Henry W. Palen, carpenter, both of Kingston.
June 4, 1873, the corner stone of the new church was laid with appropriate ceremonies, Rev. E. D. Ledyard, Pastor, Rev. Dr. F. B. Wheeler, of Poughkeepsie, Hon. James G. Lindsley, mayor of the city, Rev. James O. Denniston, of Kingston, Rev. Wm. Irvin, D. D., of Troy, taking part in the exercises.
At this critical moment the health of the young pastor com- pelled him to leave the work. It was a great blow to the hopes of the people. But God permits no man to be abso- lutely indispensable. The congregation went on with the work, and in about three months this edifice was completed.
On the first Sabbath of April, 1874, this church was occu- pied by the congregation for the first time for divine worship.
The estimated cost of the building was $44,000; the actual cost, owing to some change in the plan, was $51,280.
In furnishing the church the ladies did their part nobly. They paid for the organ, built by Hook & Hastings, of Bos- ton, and costing $3,100. For carpets, cushions and furniture they paid $5,121.40 ; in all $8,221.40. What they did is a sufficient pledge for the future. It is what they always do.
At this time came the recent beloved pastor, Rev. Isaac Clark, around whom twine the tendrils of many a fragrant memory still. He was installed October 13, 1874, and dis- missed January 10, 1882. A strong, fibrous, noble man ; who knew well how to build strong and deep; who laid foundation so securely and organized so well, that the feet of his succes-
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Historical Discourse.
sor step with confidence upon the structure of his rearing, and his lips delight to testify to the thoroughness of his work.
He was restive, as were the people, under the pressure of the great debt resting upon the church, and they were bur- dened too. There was but one thing to be done ; it had to be paid.
The people marshalled themselves for the struggle. It had in it the elements of heroism. The debt was $43,000. On a rainy Saturday evening a handful of reliable men met at the house of Elder Crane. They had no hope; it was bleak de- termination. Mr. Roswell C. Smith, of New York, had come to help them. He cheered them and fanned their courage ; and courage is life. They all prayed. They walked home with their faces turned towards heaven, and waited for the morning.
The morning of the Sabbath dawned. The congregation gathered in the temple to worship. The strong man of faith called the people to come and lay their gifts upon the altar. The whole church was bowed with emotion. Men trembled, and women hushed their breath under the overmastering influence of that intense moment. But it was the stirring of the mighty forests when the leaves shiver and lift themselves at the touch of spring. There was a moment's pause; then the pledges be- gan to fall like the white blossoms of June. When the fringed curtains of that night were draped about them $23,000 had been pledged. Success was within their reach. One other day like it under the leadership of Rev. Edward P. Kimball com- pleted the work. The victory was achieved. It was snatched from the very chasm of defeat. The intervening years have witnessed the redemption of nearly all the pledges; not quite all. And so it was done.
The just tribute to the pastor at the time of his depart- ure, says : "that largely through his personal efforts, and the stimulus given to others by his own liberality has the heavy debt with which the church was burdened been cleared away." He would have said : "by the generous liber-
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Semi-Centennial Celebration.
ality and the self-denying sacrifices of this people continuing through years was it cleared away." And in this connection must be mentioned Mr. Henry M. Crane, who with unflagging zeal and unwavering energy devoted himself to the work of getting the pledges. None did more than he in this hard work, which the congregation will always remember with great gratitude.
This doubtless was the finest accomplishment of the church. But there is a joy in sacrifice. This was the congregation's solemn sacrifice of itself unto God. It was a great work. It was like that great day at Jerusalem, when King Hezekiah revived the faith and worship of Jehovah, and the people offered a great sacrifice. And it is written that, " When the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began with the trumpets." With bursts of jubilant music and songs of tri- umphant joy, which rang down through the crowded courts fragrant with incense, the hosts of the Jews claimed for them- selves anew a place among the obedient children of God. The act of sacrifice was done amid a chorus of delight.
Thus this courageous people are experiencing the joy to-day, and shall be through all days, of the beautiful sacrifice made unto Him who gave his life for his brethren and offered the great sacrifice of the cross.
The present pastor was installed Oct 26, 1882. One blessed year has past. In it ninety-six true souls have been added to the communion of the church. But the work, which is rendered with so much delight, and accepted with so much kindness is only just begun. It is not yet history ; and of it nothing more needs to be said.
The following persons have served or are serving the church as Ruling Elders :
Thomas Young. ordained October, 1833.
Phineas Terry . ordained October, 1833.
Stephen Osterhoudt. ordained August 1834.
Walter B. Crane. ordained January 8, 1842.
Peter M. G. Decker ordained January 8, 1842.
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Historical Discourse.
Tyler H. Abbey . ordained January 8, 1842.
Gideon Ostrander . ordained September 7, 1847.
William H. DeGroff . ordained June 20, 1850.
John P. Hill. ordained June 20, 1850.
George DuBois ordained June 20, 1850.
John McCausland
ordained April 11, 1858.
Henry W. Couplin ordained April 11, 1858.
Francis Powley .
ordained September 20, 1868.
Jefferson McCausland ordained September 20, 1868.
David F. More ordained September 20, 1868.
David Brainerd Abbey ordained July 2, 1871.
John H. Deyo ordained July 2, 1871.
Augustus W. Brodhead. ordained May 7, 1876.
The present officers of the church are : Pastor, Rev. Irving Magee, D. D .; Ruling Elders, Walter B. Crane, William H. DeGroff, Francis Powley, Jefferson McCausland, David Brainerd Abbey, Augustus W. Brodhead.
The Trustees are: Walter B. Crane, President ; Edward Tompkins, Vice-President ; J. B. Alliger, Secretary ; H. M. Crane, Treasurer; John R. Stebbins, L. B. Van Wagenen, Edgar Van Etten, Samuel Coles, Charles M. Preston.
The total membership of the church from the beginning has been nine hundred and seventy-nine. Present active member- ship four hundred and eighteen. Absent whom we know of, forty-six. Many others are entitled to membership if they should come and claim it, so that our total membership at present, as most churches would reckon it, would exceed five hundred,
It would be interesting to note the amount of money ex- pended from the first, but this cannot be ascertained for any of the earlier years. During the year ending in May last, there were raised for all purposes six thousand four hundred and eighty-seven dollars.
I need not speak of the Sabbath school as that will be fully treated hereafter by its superintendent, Mr. Walter B. Crane.
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Semi-Centennial Celebration.
But we cannot look adown the slope of fifty years without seeing many a grave-mound upon which the years have planted their flowers and shed their fragrance. The graves lie all behind us. We may pass away from all, except our own, where we shall ere long lie. We cannot pause to read the lettered scroll, nor scan the enchanting blazonry. For a moment we stand and uncover in the presence of the dead. Upon their graves we lay the garlands of loving memories, and go forward.
Men die, institutions live on. This church of God, founded with such toiling, and carried forward with so much sac- rifice and with such splendid energy, shall possess the ages. Each generation is the inheritor of the past and the almoner of its bounty for the future. It is established here to bestow the benefactions of the Almighty upon all who may ever dwell within the circuit of its radiating warmth and light. Its influence can never die. Time and its ruthless hand may disintegrate the monumental marble and scatter the pyramids back again to mingle. with the golden sands that drift at its base; time may "pluck the stars from their courses," and jar the sun and moon from their orbits, and dis- solve the earth and roll back the heavens as a scroll, but amid all this desolation and decay, time will leave the influence here exerted untouched. That influence for good or evil is inde- structible. The years assail it in vain ; it survives life, death and the grave; it goes to the presence of God, and lives eternally. Oh, be it ours to kindle here a flame of influence so pure and bright that it shall flow out streaming along the track of men and mingle at last with the effulgence that beats about the throne of the universe.
Here we stand to-day. The present is the one bright spot between the long past and the long, long future. In this we must act. Never were such incentives and opportunities offered to any generation of the race of man. We live in the most splendid period of all time. The most glorious four centuries the world has ever known are drawing to a close.
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Historical Discourse.
The pen of history flashes as it has never flashed before. The pages gleam. With true rhetorical climax its most glittering period is the last.
This is your period ; in it your work must be done. To your keeping is committed the mighty and complex interests of your times with dazzling prospects in full view as the reward of your fidelity.
Remember life is not an empty dream. It is a stern reality. It never ceases to have a momentous meaning. Full of inspir- ing hopes, inextinguishable desires and stupendous conse- quences, it never occurs but once. Let that once be lost and the tides of a universe and the law of God hold the soul at an im- measurable and returnless distance from lost opportunity. It is man's mortal trial. Oh, be true ! And your consummate bliss shall be as fair as the promises of the gospels of Christ. 4
ANNIVERSARY SERVICES.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1883.
At 5:30 the congregation with visiting friends, consisting of former members of the society, eminent men, and many others, assembled in the church parlors, and luncheon was served. Then a pleasant hour was spent in a social reunion of great interest to all who participated.
After this there followed a number of informal speeches by several of the gentlemen present, not all members of the con- gregation, but with whom and the society there exist the most friendly and delightful relations. The pastor presided .*
AFTER DINNER SPEECHES.
Rev. Dr. MAGEE: - We think it would be pleasant, as we assemble here in social gathering, to hear a word from those from whom we have not asked very formal speeches. From the clergymen who have served this congreation on previous occasions we expect, later in the evening, the most delightful speeches that have been listened to in the church. Still there are delightful speeches that can be made aside from those brilliant speeches that they are to make by and by. It is necessary always to have a first man and a last man. And that any occasion may be well opened it needs a pattern in the line of speech-making. We have with us to-night - what I count a chief and particular pleasure of the occasion - a jurist to whom the highest in the land have turned, who is the son of
* In giving the speeches which follow, it was necessary to depend wholly upon the notes of the stenographer. We trust, therefore, that all imper- fections incident upon extempore speaking, and even all the homely and familiar forms of speech, will be pardoned, and accepted as the most graphic reproduction of what was said and done.
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Theodoric R. Westbrook.
a clergyman of the oldest denomination of any in the county and in the State. With that strain of blood and with his own kindly regard for us in appearing here, I feel that the words he chooses to say will be listened to with great pleasure. I have the pleasure of introducing the Honorable Judge Westbrook.
Judge THEODORIC R. WESTBROOK spoke as follows :
Dr. Magee, Ladies and Gentlemen, Christian Friends : - I feel it is scarcely right to interrupt this pleasant social gather- ing, this pleasant social chat which you are enjoying, one with another by any speechmaking. I promise you, however, that the speech which I shall make to you will be a very informal one, for I have come hither to-night with no set words or phrases to speak, but to greet you, as friend greets friend in every-day life, with the hearty shake of the hand and my own heart going out to yours on this auspicious occasion. My friend who introduced me to-night has spoken of me as being the son of a clergyman, a father who belonged to the oldest Christian sect of America, and in that he spoke the truth. And when I greet you here to-night with the hearty hand-shake and hearty heart-throb of which I have spoken, I thus greet you with feelings inherited from him because he sympathized with your church as with all churches, and with the work of all religious denominations. I am sure a Dutchman can greet a Presbyterian at all times with pleasure. Your faith is our faith ; your church government, though differing in name from ours, is, after all, substantially the same. While you have a pastor and trustees or elders ; we have a pastor, deacons and elders. They make a consistory in our church as your elders
and pastor make a session in yours. If you have a Presbytery ; we have a Classis ; if you have a Synod, we have a Particular Synod ; and if you have a General Assembly as the great gov- erning body of your church, we have a General Synod, all these different bodies having the same powers and differing only in name. I greet you then to-night : first, because I believe as you do ; your faith is my faith, and your faith is the
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Semi-Centennial Celebration.
faith of my father, and my father's fathers for many gener- ations, but secondly I also desire to meet and greet you upon broader and higher grounds than that to-night. I greet you by that endearing name, first applied by way of reproach, as Christian Friends ; and as you have assembled to-night to con- gratulate yourselves, as you may well do, upon your Christian work for the past fifty years, as a Christian man I congratulate you upon that work. What a record you have ! Fifty years of honest, unceasing work for the Master, and bringing forth rich fruit through all the years that are past. Beginning with a membership, as I see upon your Order of Exercises, of eighteen, numbering now over four hundred, and having had within your fold over nine hundred members. What a work this is ! In the face of this fact what are the possibilities for good which the maintainance of this church organization has. Have you thought of the great molding power of the church upon the community in which it lives ; how much it does as a conservator of the public peace ; how it elevates and preserves the public morals, and how much, if I may allude to it, it saves in taxes to be gathered from the people ? Why, the business men in a community can afford to maintain a church as a measure of economy, and they will save largely by so doing.
I have spoken of your work in the past, but as I look upon your faces to-night, and as I look abroad upon the land and all over the field of Christian labor, I cannot but be impressed with the power the church is exerting.
I am not one of those who think that the times which we have fallen upon are evil times, nor that the church is to succomb before the assaults which are now being made upon it, for never has the church exerted a greater power than it is doing to-day. There are assaults, but they are like the waves beating upon the shore or upon the rock, making no impression. Greater, stronger to-night than ever before is the church, and why should it not be so ? Has not the Master said " If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto myself,"
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A. T. Clearwater.
and with this promise as our motto, and this promise as our belief, why need we fear ?
I congratulate you again, Christian friends, upon the attain- ment of your fiftieth anniversary. What the future of your church will be we can judge in part from the past. With a united membership, with a pastor able to present " The Word " clearly, forcibly and eloquently, your future cannot but be triumphant, and to-night my prayer to God is that he will keep you together, working as one for "The Faith," with the blessed hope that that faith will in the end triumph.
Rev. Dr. MAGEE - It generally falls to the lot of the Judge to give his dixit last and the District-Attorney to present his case first, but that order has been reversed for once. With right Papal dignity, the head of this church has decreed, and the decree is probably infallible, that the Judge's dixit shall be first and the District-Attorney second. I have the pleasure of introducing the Honorable Mr. Clearwater, District-Attor- ney of the county.
Mr. A. T. CLEARWATER, District-Attorney, said : - One of the first lessons the District-Attorney learns is to bow in deference to the mandate of the court, and the last lesson that the District-Attorney of the county of Ulster has learned is to bow with equal submission to the head of the church. As I look around me here to-night among this goodly gathering most of whom I thought would be strangers to me and among whom I do not think there are twenty whom I do not know well and whom I have not known long, I am reminded of that remark attributed to the great Whig pamphlet- eer of England. The present is never picturesque ; it is only when an event is viewed through the vistas of the past, that our imagination clothes it with the glamour of romance. A half century ago, Rondout was but a cluster of houses along a shel- tered strand, to-night, after the passage of fifty years, Rondout stands first among the inland ports of the country ; and among
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Semi-Centennial Celebration.
all the ecclesiastical organizations of Rondout the Presbyterian church stands abreast with any and equal with them all. Fifty years ago when that band of sixteen organized the church which has developed to the proportions, we see here to-night, it did not seem to them that there was much that was picturesque in that occasion or in what they then did. And yet after the summer flowers of half a century have bloomed and faded and the winter snows of fifty years have fallen, that band of sixteen loom up to us through the vistas of the past with pro- portions that are almost heroic.
It is the habit of men upon occasions such as this to follow the example of the preceptor of the immortal Boffin and to drop into poetry and romance. It seems to me but as yester- day, yet it is over thirty years ago, when the oldest living pastor of this church, standing in the pulpit over the way, ad- dressed a congregation, of which I was the most insignificant and most youthful, his hair was then brown as mine, but thirty years have bronght to him the hoary head of seeming old age, and have brought to the congregation that was then his pride, prosperity, wealth, numbers, prestige, standing, and as goodly a tabernacle as graces the banks of the lordly Hudson. Is there really anything that I can say, is there anything that any man can say, to add to the impressiveness of an occassion such as this. Fifty years as we look back upon it seems a long, long time; but most of us who are sitting here to-night, when another fifty years shall have rolled around, will have left the battalions of the church militant and I trust will have joined the cohorts of the church triumphant. These anniversaries bring with them recol- lections of sorrows and of sadness, as well as of joy and of glad- ness ; as we think of what has been done, we also think of what it is possible to do ; and I say to you, my friends of the Presby- terian church of Rondout, that when I say I trust that the half century that is coming will bring you more of prosperity, more of blessing both temporal and spiritual, than the half century that has gone, I only express the wishes of a full heart.
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James S. McEntee.
Rev. Dr. MAGEE - There are honors and dignities that are placed upon men by their fellow citizens, honors that we de- light to recognize, but there is an honor that is bestowed upon man only by the hand of time. I have felt that there was no glory like the coronet of white hairs laid upon man's forehead by the Divine Hand. We have with us to-night one of our most venerable citizens, who at my personal solicitation has consented to stand among us to-night and to add a few words of interest to this interesting occasion. He has builded for him- self a house upon the beautiful heights above us, from which he looks on the one hand across the beautiful river, and on the other, to the far, fair, blue mountains. But the finest temple of his rearing is the record of his life in this community, where there are thousands of hearts that love him, and in which all honor him. This man whom I delight to call my friend, Mr. James McEntee, who was of the first of this community, and is an honor to it to-day, I have the pleasure of introducing to you.
Mr. JAMES S. MCENTEE.
MY FRIENDS - I can say but little of the formation and es- tablishment of the Presbyterian church in Rondout, although I was here at the time. I moved to Roudout with my wife the 1st day of April, 1828. According to my recollection before I was assisted a little by my friend, Mr. Crane, there were four families in Rondout, but Mr. Crane reminded me of another which made five. There was no church here and no school-house, and there was but one school-house and one district school in the town of Kingston, and that was in Kingston village. Years after I came here we got a school district set off for this
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