USA > New York > New York City > The history of the Broadway tabernacle church, from its organization in 1840 to the close of 1900, including factors influencing its formation > Part 15
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Major Bright gives other interesting incidents bearing upon Dr. Taylor's connection with the Christian Work and sums up his impression of him as one always courteous, just, dis- criminating, who by the charm of his personal intercourse, the freedom with which at times he exhibited his inner feel- ing, and by his consideration for others, showed in his lov- able and strong nature "the blending of those rare qualities which made him the great preacher, the able editor, the firm friend, and the Christian gentleman that he was."
At different times Dr. Taylor filled various other positions of honor and responsibility in New York City. He was presi- dent of the Gospel Mission to the Tombs; chaplain to the St. Andrew's Society; member of the Council of the University of the City of New York; manager of the Presbyterian Hos- pital; manager of the American Tract Society; manager of the American Bible Society; trustee of Mount Holyoke Semi- nary (now college) ; director of the New York City Mission and Tract Society, and member of the Committee of the Na-
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HISTORY OF THE BROADWAY TABERNACLE CHURCH
tional Council for Ministerial Relief. In addition to what came upon him through his connection with these many benevolences and because of his position as bishop of the one Metropolitan church of its order in the United States, Dr. Taylor was in frequent, almost incessant demand for public services, for installation and dedication sermons, for memorial addresses, and for lectures. It has been said that the high water mark of his attainments as a public speaker was reached at three times, and in three different styles of oratory: in his memorized sermon on the death of the Prince Consort; in his extempore address at the Robert Raikes centenary in Exeter Hall, London, in 1880, and in the great Luther celebration in New York, when his address was read. Some of that vast audience, who looked from the speaker to the bust of Luther that was placed near him, found it so remarkably like Dr. Taylor that they questioned whether it were intended to rep- resent the preacher or the reformer. In 1876 and 1887 he delivered the Lyman Beecher course of lectures at Yale, after- ward published in book form as "The Ministry of the Word " (1876) ; and "The Scottish Pulpit from the Reformation to the Present Day " (1887). "The Ministry of the Word," says the Kilmarnock Standard, in its review of Dr. Taylor's life, was presented by a liberal member of the denomination (United Presbyterian) to all the students attending Divinity Hall at the time of publication and to the young ministers of the United Presbyterian Church. He also delivered in Princeton, in 1880, lectures on "The Gospel Miracles in their Relation to Christ," published the same year; and from that university he received the degree of LL.D., three years later. Some of these courses of lectures Dr. Taylor also gave at Union and at Oberlin.
Much has been said in these pages of Dr. Taylor as a preacher. It was from the pulpit that he spoke to the world at large, but to the smaller circle of his acquaintances and friends it was not Dr. Taylor the preacher, but Dr. Taylor the man, whom they loved and revered. He was a man greatly beloved. The several clerks of the church committee exhausted all their
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THE THIRD PASTOR, WILLIAM MACKERGO TAYLOR
power of language in attempting to express what he was to the flock he tended :
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" The world knows something of the eloquence with which Dr. Tay- lor, in his pulpit ministrations, enforces and illustrates the precepts of religion; . but to us, the people with whom he has lived and to whose spiritual needs he has ministered, the greatness for which the world admires him is almost lost sight of in our regard for him as a pastor and our love for him as a friend. He has shared our joys, he has been with us in our times of sorrow and bereavement, and day by day he has moved to and fro among us like the weaver's shuttle, carry- ing with him the golden cord of Christian sympathy that has woven us together in one family of Christian believers." *
The subscription taken up for a church building for the Bethany Mission, on Dr. Taylor's tenth anniversary, was also " a thank offering for that firmly rooted and uninterrupted mutual confidence and esteem which has prevailed during these ten years between pastor and people."t On the follow- ing evening a reception was given to the pastor, and the society and neighboring clergymen gathered to celebrate the occasion still further. The clearing of the debt on the church building was accomplished on Sunday, March 13, 1887, the fifteenth anniversary, "as a loving testimonial of the estima- tion in which he is held in the hearts and homes of his people." At the sixtieth anniversary of the church, Dr. William H. Thomson, when talking of "the old friends," said that Dr. Taylor was a friend of whom he could not trust himself to speak at all adequately :
"Dr. Taylor never could be a half-way friend. It was not in him to hide anything. He could not be artificial if he tried. His whole soul went out to any one whom he liked with a genial abandon which made him one of the most lovable men that I have ever met. There was nothing he enjoyed so much as a good joke, and as there is no such personal revealer and sometimes betrayer as a laugh, so the genuine, genial soul of that man often comes back to me as the sound of his voice still echoes in the memory of some pleasantry of his."
* Annual Report of the Broadway Tabernacle for 1876.
+ Year Book, 1882.
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HISTORY OF THE BROADWAY TABERNACLE CHURCH
An incident told by Dr. Ward of the Independent throws a flash of light on Dr. Taylor's sweetness and simplicity of spirit. At an association meeting Dr. Ward defended a certain posi- tion. This Dr. Taylor opposed, making a hasty and some- what heated rejoinder. Dr. Ward said nothing further. He respected Dr. Taylor too much to wish to antagonize him. Almost immediately after this little difference Dr. Taylor was called upon to lead in prayer. As soon as he ceased praying Dr. Taylor started for Dr. Ward who was leaving the room. Hastening after him he called out, heedless of bystanders, " Dr. Ward, I want you to forgive me." Embarrassed by Dr. Taylor's sweet humility, Dr. Ward tried to silence him, but he seized his hand and repeated yet more emphatically: "Say you forgive me!" Such magnanimity would have disarmed even a foe.
In 1888 Dr. Taylor left New York for his annual trip abroad, somewhat earlier than usual, that he might attend the Ecumenical Conference of Foreign Missions, in London, to which he was accredited a delegate-at-large. After returning, for one Sunday he was prevented by illness from preaching to his people; the first time in more than thirty years that he had been absent from his pulpit on account of ill-health.
The following year the American Board held, in October, its annual meeting, a notable one, in the Tabernacle.
Fifty years after the founding of the church, in 1890, its clerk reported 1,220 members, the largest number the church had ever enrolled.
After his return from the annual meeting of the American Missionary Association, in 1891, Dr. Taylor was laid aside from ministerial duty for six weeks. During this time he was unable to study; but he soon resumed work, and March 13th, of the following year, he preached the twentieth anniversary sermon from which quotations have already been made. In this address he called by name Henry C. Hall, William Allen, Charles Abernethy, Thomas Berry, William G. Lambert, Thomas Ritter, Nathaniel Fisher, the brothers Ranney, and Thomas W. Whittemore, " whose friendly co-operation light-
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THE THIRD PASTOR, WILLIAM MACKERGO TAYLOR
ened the burdens and sweetened the cares of my pastorate." He stated that during his pastorate six hundred had been ad- mitted to the church on confession, nine hundred and eighty- two by letter, nearly sixteen hundred in all. He called their attention to the confession of faith, unaltered, up to the pres- ent, from Dr. Thompson's day. The original " statement " as to the objects of a Christian church had entirely omit- ted what Dr. Taylor considered, perhaps, the most impor- tant object of the church-" the advancement of the Re- deemer's Kingdom." He showed that the contributions of the church for missionary enterprises at home and abroad had advanced from $11,558, in 1872, to $41,881, in 1891; that is, that the church's payment for "the advancement of the Re- deemer's Kingdom," outside its own bounds, had nearly quad- rupled in twenty years. He summed up, in round numbers, that the church had raised three-quarters of a million for the payment of debt, and the support of their own home work in twenty years; and half a million for missionary purposes. The tide of liberality had risen gradually but steadily, and the pastor's heart glowed with gratitude.
About two weeks later, March 30th, Dr. Taylor was stricken with paralysis. At first he gained so notably that he hoped to be able to resume his work, but as the six months' leave of absence that had been given him drew to a close he real- ized how long it must be under the most favorable circum- stances before he could again preach, and he decided to lay down his charge. His resignation was sent October 27, 1892,* and was presented at a special meeting of the church Novem- ber 2d. There was no other course open for the church but to accept it.} They voted, however, to continue his salary un- til May I, 1893, and to appoint him pastor emeritus for life, with no responsibility or function other than that which his membership in the church involved, with an annual stipend of $5,000. These resolutions, with a minute expressing the love, gratitude, and sympathy of his people, were forwarded to him immediately. Dr. Taylor's touching letter in response
* Appendix K.
t Appendix L.
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HISTORY OF THE BROADWAY TABERNACLE CHURCH
to this action was read at the service on Sunday, Christmas morning, and cannot be omitted from this chapter :
" LAKEWOOD, N. J., 22d December, 1892. " WILLIAM IVES WASHBURN, EsQ.,
" My dear Sir :- I ought, long ago, to have acknowledged the receipt of the beautifully illuminated copy of the Resolutions adopted by the Church in the matter of my letter of resignation, but whenever I have tried to concentrate my thoughts on that subject, the tumult of emotion within me has become so great as to unfit me for any kind of mental exertion. Nor will you be surprised at this when you remember that I had given up what I may call the ruling passion of my life, and after thirty-nine years of active service in the pulpit had at the bidding of my Master sunk into silence. It needed some time for me to find out that He had not dismissed me in disgrace, but that as a special favor he had given me a holiday at the week-end preparatory to my entering upon the fuller rest of the eternal Sabbath. Accordingly I delayed communicating with you until in the spiritual calmness of this restored faith I could write with an unruffled heart.
" Tell the members of the Church that I thank them unfeignedly for the affection and appreciation so eloquently and so touchingly expressed in their resolutions. It is good to receive such kind words at any time, but when one has been laid aside from active work they are to him as ' Cold water to a thirsty soul,' nay, almost as the prelude and prophecy of the ' Well done!' of the Lord Himself. As such I value them be- yond all price; but where to them is added the great honor of being continued in the relation of Pastor Emeritus to those of whom I was so long the shepherd; and the generous and thoughtful provision which the Society has made for my temporal comfort, my admiration of my people is swallowed up in gratitude for their kindness. I accept their generosity as heartily as they have given it, and pray that 'a full reward may be given them of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings they have come to trust.'
" Wishing for them that God of his grace may soon send them a pastor according to his own heart, and with all kindest regards for yourself, I remain,
" Yours faithfully, "WM. M. TAYLOR."
Just at the time Dr. Taylor was stricken, an effort was making to draw him back to Scotland, to succeed Dr. John Cairns, as principal of the Divinity Hall, in Edinburgh, in which he had graduated forty years before. The offer was a tempting one, which, had he been well, though at a good deal
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THE THIRD PASTOR, WILLIAM MACKERGO TAYLOR
of pecuniary sacrifice, it would have been hard to refuse. He wrote to Professor Calderwood:
" But just at the moment when your letter came I was, in the good Providence of God, in circumstances which took the whole matter out of my hands."
Still, " by the good Providence of God " he rallied suffi- ciently to do some more work during the three years he re- mained with his household and friends. There were frequent and trying relapses, but he wrote, or dictated, many letters, treasured by his friends. He put through the press " The Boy Jesus and other Sermons," followed by "An Address to Young Men." This labor was a great comfort to him, but gradually he was forced to relinquish all service save that most difficult of all, to " stand and wait." When he at last realized that this was the will of God concerning him the sweetness of his resignation was a lesson in Christianity to all who visited him. Said Dr. Storrs :
" Though I thought I knew him to the centre I did not understand that power of sovereign, conquering, God-given patience which he ex- hibited in the closing years of his life. . I wonder how many of us can say : 'That was a strain which I could bear!' I say for myself frankly : 'I could not then and there have borne it.'"
And Dr. William H. Thomson pays him this loving tribute :
" It was my sad duty to be with him through many months of the heaviest trial of spirit which could have been sent to one of his char- acter and temperament. To a man of his aspirations, as well as quali- fications, there could be no greater calamity or keener disappointment than to be stricken down in the midst of his days of power and of action and left for many a weary month to realize the nature of the blow more and more. Then it was that the Lord appeared behind him though he knew it not. Unconsciously Dr. Taylor showed the very picture of Christ himself in his sweet trusting resignation to God's will; and to some, at least, proved the reality of the Christian life as a gift from above more than did his greatest sermons."
And he kept his power of loving and awakening love unto the end-that power which his successor, Dr. Stimson, in his
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beautiful memorial sermon, calls "the best gift that God has sent us." In almost his last return of consciousness he smiled and said, " Those dear people; how good they have been to me!" "Then," said the preacher :
" he stroked my face with his hand as though he were stroking yours each in turn. 'How good they have been to me!' His thoughts were taking in the whole congregation-the strong men, and the little chil- dren whose faces he loved and whose names he had given in baptism, all were present to his mind and held their place in the wealth of that love which remained undisturbed to the last."
He passed away peacefully at midnight, February 8, 1895.
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IN MEMORY OF WILLIAM MACKERGO TAYLOR DD LLD.
FOR TWENTY YEARS (APRIL 9 1872-NOVEMBER 2 1892 THE FAITHFUL AND BELOVED PASTOR OF THIS CHURCH AND FOR TWO YEARS PASTOR EMERITUS. HE WAS BORN IN KILMARNOCK SCOTIAND OCTOBER 23 1829 AND DIED IN THIS CITY FEBRUARY 8 1895
A PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
MEMORIAL TABLET TO DR. TAYLOR Placed in the Church in 1897
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CHAPTER VIII.
THE FOURTH AND FIFTH PASTORATES.
ON the acceptance of Dr. Taylor's resignation a special com- mittee was appointed by the church and society, to nominate his successor. This committee consisted of Messrs. Cornelius N. Bliss, Caleb B. Knevals, Henry C. Houghton, J. Howard Sweetser, Bradford K. Wiley, Irving R. Fisher, and William Ives Washburn. The work of the church went on quietly but uninterruptedly. A student in the senior class of Union Theo- logical Seminary, Mr. J. Winthrop Platner, was engaged to aid the church committee in pastoral work, and his assistance was valuable in the weekly prayer and conference meeting, the Sunday-school, and the Young Men's Association. The pulpit was supplied by the Rev. Marvin R. Vincent, D.D., and other well-known clergymen.
On January 1, 1893, the committee presented, at the annual meeting of the church, the name of the Rev. Henry Albert Stimson, D.D., of St. Louis, Mo., and the church and society thereupon extended to him a unanimous call to the pastorate. Dr. Stimson had interviews with the committee in St. Louis, and before deciding to accept the call he came to New York and occupied the pulpit on two Sabbaths.
Dr. Stimson was born September 28, 1842. His early home was in New York City, and before going to college he was for some years in business with Morton, Grinnell & Co., of New York. He entered Yale University as Sophomore, grad- uating in 1865. He studied for one year in Union Theo- logical Seminary, 1866-67, and graduated from the Andover Theological Seminary in 1869 after a year and a half of study abroad. He was called, the same year, to the Plymouth
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HISTORY OF THE BROADWAY TABERNACLE CHURCH
Church of Minneapolis, Minn., where he served as acting pas- tor for a year. In 1870 he was ordained as pastor, and re- mained in charge of that church until 1880. He married, April 19, 1877, Alice, daughter of President Samuel C. Bart- lett, D.D., of Dartmouth College. He has received from Yale the degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Divinity; the latter degree also from Ripon College.
During the eleven years of his service with Plymouth Church, Dr. Stimson became an efficient member of the State Board of Home Missions, an active member of the Board of Trustees of Carleton College, and he was energetic in pro- moting every form of benevolence and church work in the city, and prominent, as a citizen, in supporting whatever the interests of the community or the State demanded. All sorts of affairs, from the color of a new bridge to the founding of a library, were referred to him. At one time, when the city was under the shadow of unrestrained immorality, Dr. Stim- son proposed a general meeting to arouse the public conscience. He was met with the assertion, "You cannot get a baker's dozen to attend such a meeting."
" We will not only fill the Academy of Music," was his re- ply, "but we will have an overflow meeting." Dr. Stimson knew no discouragement. He enlisted the superintendent of public schools, the leading Catholic priest, the Protestant Episcopal rector, engaged the Academy of Music, and, after due preparation, announced the meeting. Not only was the great building filled and the overflow meeting held, but another large meeting followed, and good citizenship took a long step forward. His indomitable energy commanded success.
From his connection with the State Board of Home Mis- sions, Dr. Stimson was in close touch with the weaker Con- gregational churches of the Northwest. He stimulated and encouraged their pastors to new efforts in strengthening and establishing their struggling enterprises. Thus he began in Plymouth Church the work of building around him new Con- gregational churches, a work which he has continued to the present.
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REV. HENRY A. STIMSON, D.D. Pastor 1893 to 1896
THE FOURTH AND FIFTH PASTORATES
In 1880 Dr. Stimson became pastor of the Union Church in Worcester, Mass., where he labored for six years. Here he introduced new and interesting methods, and soon, instead of a scattered audience on Sunday evenings, the house was filled, and ten new Congregational churches were organized or started through the city missionary society which he was in- strumental in forming. The following year he was made re- cording secretary of the American Board, which position he has occupied to the present time.
In 1886 Dr. Stimson returned to the West, the Pilgrim Church of St. Louis having invited him to its pastorate. "You are not going to St. Louis but to the Southwest," was a brother minister's answer when asked for advice as to this call. Nor was he mistaken. There Dr. Stimson took up work for Drury College, he started the city missionary society, and through his encouragement and the pecuniary aid his church could give, many young churches were enabled to es- tablish themselves firmly. There lacks but one-or possibly two may be wanting-to make the number of churches he has thus built and founded a full quarter of a hundred.
Dr. Stimson was released by council from his pastorate in St. Louis, March 20, 1893, and on that day he accepted the Broadway Tabernacle's invitation. He took up the work of the church the very day he reached New York, by conducting the regular weekly prayer-meeting on the evening of April 5, 1893. His pulpit ministrations began the following Sunday.
All the Congregational churches of New York and Brook- lyn, with a few others, were invited to take part in the coun- cil called to ratify the action of the church as to the retire- ment of Dr. Taylor, the call to Dr. Stimson, and to assist in the installation services. The council met Tuesday, October 3Ist. It adopted a minute expressing the regret of the churches represented, over Dr. Taylor's necessary resignation ; their gratitude for the work he had done, and their love for him. This short extract shows its tenor :
" His character has been to us all, as well as to the members of this congregation, a constant and vast power for good. His tender affec-
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HISTORY OF THE BROADWAY TABERNACLE CHURCH
tionateness has won our hearts; while the learning and intellectual power devoted by him to the service of the Lord have charmed and commanded us."
The council approved and ratified the action of the church in retaining Dr. Taylor as pastor emeritus, and in calling to be his successor one "approved an able and faithful minister of Christ by years of labor and experience and of distinguished success in the service of the Gospel." At the installation ser- vice the prayer of invocation was offered by Rev. A. H. Brad- ford, D.D., of Montclair; the sermon preached by Dr. Stim- son's father-in-law, Dr. Bartlett; the prayer of installation by Rev. A. J. F. Behrends, D.D .; the charge to the pastor by Rev. A. J. Lyman, D.D .; the charge to the people by Dr. Storrs, all of Brooklyn; and the right hand of fellowship by Rev. S. H. Virgin, D.D., of the Pilgrim Church, New York.
Dr. Stimson was settled with a salary of $12,000, his re- moval expenses were paid, and his house furnished; the so- ciety also assumed $1,000 on his house rent.
The Tabernacle Church was now facing a number of serious problems. The question was constantly coming up whether it would be wiser for the church to remove, as it had done in 1859, to a site farther up town. Should it sell the prop- erty and rebuild elsewhere? The church expenses had been met, except when some special effort was put forth to clear off arrears, by pew-rentals; but pew-rentals had been falling off quite steadily since they reached that high-water mark of nearly $38,000 in 1881. The decrease had been gradual, but by 1890 the pew-rentals were $3,700 less, and by 1893 they were more than $13,000 less, and a debt had begun to accumu- late. The church membership also was decreasing. In 1880 the net gain in membership had been thirty-four, but in the ten years beginning with that date the net gain had averaged but twenty-two. In 1889 it was but eight; in 1890 but seven ; and from that time until 1898 the yearly loss exceeded the gain. A large proportion of the removals were to other churches in the city, most of them farther up town.
If the Tabernacle Church did not sell its property, but re-
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THE FOURTH AND FIFTH PASTORATES
mained in its present position, it would evidently be neces- sary before long for it to become less of a family church and to bring within its walls a more miscellaneous congregation, approximating more nearly to what it had been in the early years of its history. Neither church nor society was ready to decide the question, and it was of necessity left to be de- cided by time.
The new pastor was a sound preacher, especially strong when treating of missionary themes, and an able platform speaker. He was a man conservative in religious opinion but progressive in church methods. Eighteen years in the West had but emphasized his native characteristics of energy and executive ability. He had commanding bodily presence, a fine full voice, the manner and qualities of a leader, and he began work at once. The church roll had not been purged of ab- sentees for a long time, and for a year or two the committee labored assiduously to learn the actual strength of the church. In 1894 one hundred and ninety-six were reported on the ab- sentee list, and fellowship was withdrawn from four, making a reduction in the nominal membership of two hundred. This was a thankless but most necessary task.
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