USA > New York > Orange County > Montgomery > The Goodwill memorial, or, The first one hundred and fifty years of the Goodwill Presbyterian Church : Montgomery, Orange Co., N.Y. > Part 5
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The Rev. Dr. Robert W. Condit-for about twelve years ago the Trustees of Hamilton College conferred upon him the honorary title of D.D .- was born at Stillwater, Saratoga County, in this State, where his father, who was a native of New Jersey and a minister of the Gospel, was settled a short time. He was brought up at Hanover, N. J., where his father was pastor thirty-five years, and in the same house where Rev. Ashbel Green, D.D., was born and brought up, as his father, Rev. Jacob Green, was pastor at Hanover pre- viously to Mr. Condit.
He prepared for college at Bloomfield Academy, N. J.,
denham, preached occasionally to this people, during these troublous times, at the Montgomery Academy. The names of supplies appointed by Presbytery have not been ascertained.
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under the Rev. Humphrey Perine and Rev. John Ford, and completed his literary and theological course at Princeton in 1818, having been tutor in the college there during two years. As we have said, he was ordained and installed pastor of this church, and remained about ten years, after which he was called to his present charge in the city of Oswego, N. Y., where he has continued laboring with earnestness and suc- cess during the last thirty-three years.
He was young when he was settled here; but as he was earnest, judicious, and eminently conciliatory in his charac- ter, gentle, kind, and winning in his ways, he, by the blessing of God, soon succeeded in harmonizing the hearts of all those who remained true to Christ's cause and covenant, as main- tained in this branch of Zion; and such large additions were made to the church-membership that before long the place of the large defection was filled up by others, and the church still maintained her position with uncrippled powers and undiminished usefulness. The Head of the Church owned and blessed the labors of his young servant to the conversion of many souls and the edification of his people. A savor of a sweet smell surrounds his ministry and name to this day, after he has been gone for a period of nearly thirty-five years -a full generation of men. No man perhaps is more rever- enced and beloved in the Presbyterian Church to which he has always belonged, and in which he still faithfully labors, than is Dr. Condit. Through all his long ministry of forty- five years he has ever maintained the crown rights of King Immanuel, even amid prevailing errors, and when he was for many years left almost alone in his advocacy of the truth in the region where he has so long been privileged to labor in his Master's cause. All his life has the blessing pronounced on Asher been the portion of our beloved father and prede- cessor in the ministry of this church. "And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be accept- able to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil. Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be." (Deut. xxiii. 24, 25.)
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But as Dr. Condit "still lives" *- and long may he live and labor in his Lord's vineyard-we are restrained from say- ing many things which would otherwise be appropriate here ; his humble and sensitive spirit might feel pained by utter- ances which all others who know him would feel and acknowl- edge to be only the simplest justice.
Why he resigned his pastoral charge here I have never been able very distinctly to learn. There was no trouble, no dissatisfaction on the part of the congregation ; as a pastor and as a man he was respected and beloved. I have heard it stated to have been in consequence of an effort about being made to remove this ancient and venerable church from its position to the village of Montgomery, which had grown up long after the church was established here. The members of the church that resided in and around the village were natu- rally anxious to have a church established there for con- venience ; and as some of them were wealthy and influential, it was probable they would accomplish their object. Had they merely desired to establish another church in the village. no objection would likely have been made to the undertaking. But those men formed the idea of breaking up this church, selling out the church property, including the parsonage farm, and with the proceeds erecting the new edifice.
Such a proposition found no favor in the eyes of the veterans who loved their ancient heritage-this ancient vine of the Lord's planting. It is also stated that it was proposed to call Mr. Condit to the new church, or rather, perhaps, that he should continue to be the pastor in the new location. Whether this state of affairs had any influence in leading Dr. Condit to resign, we do not know; but he did resign. The church was left once more without a pastor, and a large num- ber of the members withdrew and formed a new church organization in the village, of which Dr. Condit did not become pastor, as he was called to the new, rising village now the large and prosperous city, of Oswego.
* Written in 1865.
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For a time this church severely felt this last exodus, and many of the members were much discouraged; but before long the recuperative powers and the innate life of the church were demonstrated. She revived from her partial and tem- porary paralysis, and ere long regained her native vigor ; and she remains to this day " Laus Deo," flourishing with all the vigor of youth, and foremost in all works of beneficence and labors of love. No church in all this region -few churches anywhere-contribute more than this one, in pro- portion to her means, for carrying forward the work of evangelization on the earth. It is true she has not done all she should, nor all she could; but, compared with others, she has always done well. The repeated prunings she has received seem to have caused her, like the vine, only to bring forth better and more abundant fruit ; and whatever may the feelings which her daughters who have set up for themselves may entertain towards her, she has always felt for them good-will. *
But Dr. Condit has now finished his labors and gone to his reward. The judgment of the church and of the world has been pronounced upon him, and both unite in declaring him a noble man, while the fellowship from which he has been taken mourns the loss of a devoted Christian-an eminent herald of the cross. On the 13th of February, 1871, he entered into rest, having served the First Presbyterian Church of Oswego in a forty years' pastorate. One who could speak of him from a long personal acquaintance says : " Dr. Condit's ability lay not in any one striking talent, but rather in the symmetry of his character, the sincerity of his convictions, the complete- ness of his consecration, and in his rare discretion." Another says : " As a minister of the Gospel he took rank with the most earnest and faithful." And still another: "During nearly half a century he labored with earnestness and zeal for the upbuilding of the church of Christ, and he lived the life that he preached."-Through the kindness of one of his
* Dr. Maclise.
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daughters, we have the following extracts from his private journal :
"Having preached more or less of the summer in the congregation of Good- will (Orange County, N. Y.), I received from them a call to settle as their pastor, which, after mature deliberation, I accepted, and was accordingly ordained by the Presbytery of Hudson and installed pastor of said church on Wednesday, the 13th of December, 1820. The exercises of the occasion were peculiarly solemn and interesting, rendered so specially to me by the circumstance of my father making the ordaining prayer. I was married on the 20th of December to Miss Harriet Whittlesey, daughter of Elisha Whittlesey, Esq., deceased, of Dan- bury, Ct."
" April 22d, 1830. This day, at my request, the Presbytery dissolved the pastoral relation between me and my people. I resigned my charge because of the discouraging state of things in the congregation, and because I seemed not to have sufficient health to give the people those kinds of laborious services which their circumstances seemed to require."
"Sabbath, May 2d, 1830. This day took my leave of my people, and if I had been aware of the trial, I would scarcely have had resolution to resign. Hope that I may never have such a trial again. The Lord pardon the defections and unfaithfulness of my ministry passed."
"August 31st, 1831. This day installed pastor of the Presbyterian church, Oswego, N. Y. The exercises of the installation were very solemn and interest- ing to me, because souls were committed to my charge."
The following, written to a member of his church after his death, shows that the Lord set his seal to his ministry from the first, while it has in it encouragement to improve all opportunities for good. The incident occurred just after he left the seminary. "Permit me to name an incident in the early ministerial life of your late beloved pastor. In a mis- sionary tour at the West, he noticed a youth by the wayside felling the trees of the forest. He stopped and spoke a few kind words to him. They proved words in season. As the result, that young man became a devoted minister of the Gospel, and president of one of our colleges."
" His well-beloved and like-minded wife," whose spirit of liberality and of large-hearted hospitality has been dwelt upon in connection with just eulogy of him, went home to her reward some years before him. His only son, Robert A. Condit, is in the ministry. Of his five daughters who sur- vived him, in all of whose lives the faithfulness of a covenant-
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God has been manifested, one, the wife of Rev. W. W. Eddy, D.D., belongs to the Foreign Mission field in Syria. In our cemetery lie the remains of a daughter, Harriet W., who died in tender infancy.
Our present parsonage was built for him and his family in 1821. " If any ask for his monument, let them be pointed to his church [here as well as at Oswego]; if they would read the inscriptions to his memory, they will find them in the hearts of his people below, or above in the ' Book of Remem- brance,' by whose entries the rewards shall be distributed at the last day." It is greatly to his praise that, after almost half a century, his name is still fragrant in this the field of his early labors.
A few months only elapsed after his resignation before the Rev. William Blain was called to fill his place. He was in- stalled July 27th of the same year. His name is still with many of you a household word, and although mention has been made to me of the peculiar acceptability of his ministra- tions in the sick-room and to the afflicted, and of his unusually happy manner in addressing communicants at the table of the Lord, I do not feel at liberty to add one word to the account of his useful life and the eulogy paid him by his sometime co-pastor and successor, except to record, as in the case of Mr. King, his domestic relations. He was twice married-first to Miss Sarah Tucker of Schenectady; to them were born five children, only two of whom, Henry Rutgers and Mary, survived childhood. The former died at the age of twenty-one shortly after Mr. Blain came to Good will. In Mr. Blain's second marriage he was united to Miss Sarah Maria Hildreth, of Johnstown. Of their two children one died young. The other, William James, entered the ministry, and has for years faithfully served the First Presby terian Church at Amsterdam. It may also be of interest to notice the fact that in 1830 the church was repaired at ar expense of "$1230.99." The resolution to proceed with the repairs "on the spot where the church now stands" wa adopted at a meeting of the congregation before the resigna
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tion of the former pastor, and notwithstanding his resignation the work went steadily forward.
The building committee was specially " instructed to allow the use of no spirituous liquors in or about the house while undergoing repairs." The committee reported the repairs accomplished January 22d, 1830.
" Mr. Blain was born at Fishkill, Duchess County, N. Y., September 30, 1784. After preparing for, he entered Union College, and graduated there in July, 1811. In August of the following year he entered Princeton Theological Seminary. His name stands first on the list of the matriculated students of that eminent school of the Prophets. After completing the course, and delivering the valedictory to the graduating class, as the manuscript of the address in my possession shows, he was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Presbytery of Alba- ny in August, 1815. In October 1816, he was ordained and installed, by the Presbytery of Hudson, pastor of the united churches of Deerpark and Ridgebury, where he faithfully labored till the spring of 1820, when he was called to the Con- gregational church at Middletown in this county, where he remained four years. Thence he was called to Malta, Sara- toga County, N. Y., where he labored four years more as a stated supply. From Malta he went to Cold Spring, Putnam County, N. Y., where he labored with zeal and success for two years. From Cold Spring he was called to this church, and was installed as above stated. Here he labored during a a ministry of twenty-five years, during which, as one result of his labors, 152 members were received on examination and 60 on certificate ; a total of 212. Under his ministry here, the church was blessed with two precious revivals of religion ; the first being soon after his settlement, when encouragement was greatly needed ; and the last just before he was laid aside, by the prostrating hand of disease, from the work he loved. He was an earnest and evangelical preacher, a faithful and consistent pastor, and in both departments he was successful in winning souls.
At the time doctrinal errors and other evils agitated and
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finally rent asunder the Presbyterian Church, Mr. Blain stood up nobly for the right, and took a prominent part in the dis- cussions of that unhappy epoch. Having been a commissioner to the General Assembly in 1836, the Presbytery, being aware of the importance of having the right man to represent them, elected Mr. Blain as commissioner also in 1837, when the di- vision took place *- a very unusual mark of confidence. This arose doubtless from his known character, as being distin- guished for prudence and wisdom in council.
For many years he was senior member of the Presbytery of Hudson, and was always looked up to as a father, able and willing to direct aright; and it was generally found that his judgments were correct. He was often Moderator of Presby- tery, and was for a long time President of the Orange County Bible Society and President of the Board of Trustees of the Montgomery Academy.
A man without pretence, straightforward, honest and un- compromising when principle was involved, he called things by their right names : sin he called sin ; to hypocrisy and de- ceit he gave their appropriate designations. By some men he may therefore have been deemed rude, when he was really only truthful and candid. Men call John Knox rude because he had the honesty and manliness to speak of the sins of his day without sugar-coating the unpleasant medicine which, by his noble utterances, he administered. And so have many since him been maligned.
Mr. Blain was what the poet has called God's noblest work, "An honest man."
"Mr. Blain, our immediate predecessor, and for over a year our collegiate pastor," continues Dr. Maclise, "died in the full hope of the resurrection of the just on the 9th of June, 1857, aged 72 years, 8 months and 9 days. He too rests from his labors and his works do follow him. He rests in peace, and enjoys the fulness of his God and Father's comforting promise, 'This is the rest wherewith I cause the weary to rest,
* This church adhered to the "Old School " party, to which Mr. Blain was de- votedly attached.
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and this is the refreshing, saith the Lord.' The Jordan is passed ; no need now to contemplate its black rolling billows, nor recoil from its dark depths; sin and death are both slain ; the battle is fought, the victory won. But we, brethren, we remain, and are still laden with flesh and blood ; oppressed by a body of sin and death, we are toiling on in a vale of tears, struggling amid a sinful ensnaring world; we have the battle still to fight, the final agonies to endure. 'Let us not then be slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience are now inheriting the promises. Especially let us remember those who have spoken to us the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day and forever.'"
June 17th, 1856, the Rev. David M. Maclise was installed as colleague of and successor to Mr. Blain, who had now, through age and infirmity, become incapacitated for the labors of the parish.
Dr. Maclise (for in 1864 he received the honorary title of D.D., from Hanover College, Indiana) was born in County Antrim, Ireland, of Scotch-Irish parentage-farmers-members of the Presbyterian Church, Finvoy, of which the venerable Rev. James Elder was pastor, and by whom he was bap- tized.
He was educated in his native land, graduating at Belfast Royal College, and was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Comber on the 28th of May, 1847. He arrived in New York in July of the same year, and after spending the inter- vening time in teaching and in supplying various missionary churches in Canada, he accepted a call, in 1852, to the church of Norwood and Hastings, Peterborough County, Canada West (now Ontario), in connection with the Free Church. About the same time he was married to Margaret, only daughter of Hugh Beattie, M.D., deceased, of Comber, County Down, Ireland.
June 17th, 1856, he was installed pastor of this church, where he remained till the spring of 1869, when he resigned to take charge of the Alexander Presbyterian Church, New York
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City. He is now the successful pastor of Calvin Presbyterian Church, St. John, N. B.
In addition to his historical sermon of this church, from which lengthy extracts appear in these pages, other of his dis- courses have been published, among which are "The War, its Causes, and the Christian Patriot's Duty in Reference thereto," delivered September 26th, 1861, and "Lectures on Heaven," in 1875. His ministry here is still fresh in your minds. To his pulpit power I have often heard reference made ; and when he had been your pastor for nine years, it was said with your approval that his " relations to the church had been both pleas- ant and profitable, and that a good measure of prosperity had been granted by the Head of the Church since his settlement;" and further, " the congregation never was more prosperous than it is now; it never before contributed so much for the support of the Gospel, both at home and abroad, as it does at the present time."
Some difficulties afterwards arose which probably led to his resignation. What they were I have never taken the trouble to investigate. " I tried to do my duty," is the doc- tor's own language in regard to his whole ministry here. The sad truth must be acknowledged, however, that in keeping with church difficulties generally, these troubles greatly hindered the progress of the Gospel and sadly broke the church.
" Pray for the peace of Jerusalem." "Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee."
About the same time two trusted elders, Nathaniel Brew- ster and James Van Keuren, M.D., were removed by death, greatly augmenting the already existing discouragements.
In this state of things your present pastor was called, Oc- tober 13th, 1869, and the indications of Providence were such that, notwithstanding the advice of friends to the contrary, the pastorate of the Sixth Presbyterian Church, Newark, N. J., was resigned, your call was accepted, and pastoral work was begun among you on the Ist of November. Your mem- bership at the time, exclusive of some who had removed to a
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distance, and to whom, in the course of a few weeks, formal dismission was granted, was not above ninety-five. But God was gracious to us. The installation services were not ob- served till the 15th of February, but the Master was with us, and we were enjoying in the meantime a season of precious refreshing from His presence. A few Sabbaths later, we wel- comed to the church thirty-eight on profession of their faith and three by letter ; others united afterwards, and the spirit of the revival has continued with us. During the present pas- torate, to this date, ninety-two have been received on profes- sion of their faith and sixty by letters from sister churches. Our present membership, exclusive of those who are probably permanently absent, is upwards of two hundred.
In the spring and summer of 1871-" the memorial year"- the church edifice was enlarged, remodelled and refurnished, at an expense of nearly nine thousand dollars. The credit of this is, under God, greatly due to John A. C. Gray, Esq., of New York .* though the whole congregation came nobly for- ward and did their part-even outdoing what was considered
* Mr. Gray is a member of the Protestant Episcopal Ghurch, and has two sons occupying positions of honor in the Episcopal ministry; but in his parentage and early years he is intimately associated with this church. Here on the Ist of December, 1814, John Gray, who was connected with the Clintons, and Catherine Lydia Scott, a member of one of Montgomery's first families,| were united in marriage by the then venerable pastor of this church, the Rev. Andrew King. To her own people, bringing her letter from the church at Little Britain, Mrs. Gray returned, after the death of her husband, with her only son John A. Clinton, and here she resided until she entered into rest, August 23d, 1868, aged 71 years, 2 months and ro days. Here her son spent his boyhood, and here he first publicly professed his faith in Christ. While on a brief visit to the scenes of his early years, he first suggested the improvement, and in carrying it forward we had the benefit of his cultured taste and characteristic benevolence.
t The Scotts were from Long Island, descended from John Scott, who came from Hartford, Ct., to Southampton, previous to 1667. The line of descent is as follows :- John-Jekomiah- Jackson-John, who was born on Long Island, August 29th, 1762, and who came with his brother James to the precinct of Montgomery about 1783. August, 18tl1, 1788, he married Abigail Chichester, who also was born on Long Island, February 26th, 1769. Their house was on the hill just south of Coldenham on what is known as "The Ridge Road." Their children were : I. Elvira, born February 19th, 1790-(1) Mrs. Samuel Monell. (2) Mrs. William Sayer. 2. Fanny, born June 26th, 1792-Mrs. Johnathan Gidney. 3. Samuel Thomas, born January 26th, 1795-married Isabella Beatty. 4. Catherine Lydia, born June 13th, 1797-(1) Mrs. John Gray, (2) Mrs. Samuel Haines. 5. John Fell, born June 13th, 1799; graduated at West Point ; ranked as Major in U.S. army-married Isabella H. Fowler, daughter of Dr. Charles Fowler-died August 5th, 1837. 6. Ellison Chichester, born July 4th, 1801-married (1) Sarah Jane Slaughter, (2) Harriet Slaughter, (3) Jane McDowell. 7. Alexander McLeod, born May 17th, 1804-married Margarct Miller. 8. Oscar Howard, born January 12th, 1807-married (1) Sarah J. Weeks, (2) Mary Allison. 9. James Hervey, born Sept, 12th, 1810-a minister of the Gospel-married Jane Rosencrans. 10. Harriet, born July 27th, 1813-afterwards Mrs. Dr. John L. Foster. Abigail Chicester Scott died February 14th, 1826. John Scott died July 21st, 1840.
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at the first possible. The excavation for the foundation of the new part was begun about the first of March, and on the 27th of the same the corner-stone was laid with appropriate services. The main building was then placed in the hands of the carpenters, under the direction of D. J. Deyo of New- burgh, and the work carried forward as expeditiously as pos- sible-the congregation, in the meantime, by special invitation, holding a Sabbath afternoon service in the Berea Reformed Church, the two congregations, half a century after their bitter strife, mingling together in the worship of God as though there had never been a difficulty between them ; an illustration of the controlling power of Christian love, and the overruling of God's providence.
The dedication of the renovated house, which internally was entirely new, took place on the 20th of July, and brought together a large concourse of the friends of the church, among whom was a good representation of the ministerial members of the Presbytery and of the neighboring ministers of other denominations. In the afternoon an appropriate sermon was delivered by Rev. Wm. D. Snodgrass, D.D., of Goshen, after which your pastor gave, as briefly as possible, an outline of the work, commending specially the spirit in which it had been carried forward, and offered the dedicatory prayer. In the evening a fine audience again assembled to listen to a sermon by Rev. J. R. Graham, D.D., of Winchester, Va. The day throughout was one of joy and thanksgiving-a day long to be remembered.
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