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 16
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In 1893 the Sunday-school work of the church was divided, a morning school being established, which met for an hour's session at 9.45 and has been continued to the present time. A society of Christian Endeavor was organized, October Ist, with fifteen members, and numbered forty before the year was out. A junior society was undertaken on November 8th, and in May the observance of Children's Day was introduced with a presentation of infants for baptism, and a gift of Bibles to such children of the church as had reached the age of seven years.
Changes in the order of admission to the church were adopted in 1893 at the annual meeting, and a new hymn book was introduced when the church came together after the sum- mer vacation.
For many years there had been a Home Missionary Society sustained by women of the church; there were also a Young
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Women's Foreign Missionary Society, and other forms of associated work in connection with Bethany Church. All these were working independently of each other and inde- pendently of the Woman's Board of Missions and the Wom- an's Home Missionary Union. Under Dr. Stimson's guidance these missionary societies were united in one organization, the Society for Woman's Work, and became allied to the societies of the State.
In 1893 Dr. Stimson was made a member of the Execu- tive Committee of the Congregational Home Missionary So- ciety on which he served until 1896, in which year he was made president of the Congregational Church Building Society. He was again elected by the latter the following year, but de- clined to serve.
Dr. Taylor, the beloved pastor emeritus of the church, died on Friday, February 8, 1895. On Sunday morning, February roth, the pastor preached the memorial sermon. The funeral service was held in the church on the following Tuesday. The sermon was preached by Dr. Storrs, of Brooklyn, and Professor Marvin R. Vincent, D.D., Dr. John Hall, and Dr. A. H. Clapp took part in the services. In addition to the anthem and hymn sung by the choir, three hymns were sung selected by Dr. Taylor several years before in anticipation of his death, as expressing his personal faith. They were: " How sad our state by nature is," "O could I speak the matchless worth," and "The sands of time are sinking." The pall- bearers were the deacons and trustees of the church.
A Memorial Service was held in the church on the follow- ing Sunday evening. After a few introductory words by Dr. Stimson, tributes of affectionate appreciation were offered by the Rev. Dr. John Hall, President Thomas S. Hastings, D.D., Rabbi Gustave Gottheil, D.D., the Rev. Dr. J. M. Buckley, and the Rev. Dr. Henry M. Sanders. These addresses by clergy- men of various faiths, with the memorial and funeral sermons, were published under the title "William Mackergo Taylor," by the committee of the church.
In May, 1895, in response to a memorial from Bethany
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Church, the following resolutions were adopted at a meeting of the Broadway Tabernacle Church :
" Resolved, That we recognize the good beginning which Bethany Church has made under the organization of 1877 toward the object of that organization, viz .: a condition of progressive self-reliance with a view to ultimate independence.
" Resolved, That the Board of Missions of the Broadway Tabernacle be reorganized by the establishment of a board of five members; with the same powers and duties as the Board of Missions now existing ; and that one member of such board be elected by Bethany Church; and whenever two-fifths of the current expenses of any year shall be borne by Bethany Church and Sunday-school and so certified to us by the Bethany Board, two members of the board shall be chosen by Bethany Church for the ensuing year. Meanwhile the remaining mem- bers shall be elected by the Broadway Tabernacle.
" Resolved, That the designation 'Mission' be henceforth discon- tinued, and to that end the board be designated simply Bethany Board.
" Resolved, That as soon as in the judgment of Bethany Board the church and Sunday-school are able to raise three-fifths of their current expenses the board report the fact to the Tabernacle Church."
Dr. Stimson interested himself in the various forms of work in and for Bethany Church, and it was his initiative that in- stituted the kindergarten department.
Before the close of 1895 considerable friction was manifest in the management of the affairs of the church and society. When good men disagree much may be attributed to tem- peramental differences, but the date is too recent to write judicially of causes over which the church was divided. More remoteness is necessary for a true perspective. On Wednes- day, April 8, 1896, at a meeting of the church called for the pur- pose, Dr. Stimson offered his resignation, which, after discus- sion, was accepted.
An Ecclesiastical Council, consisting of the same churches that had been present at the installation, was convened on April 28th. In its "Result " the Council recognized with re- gret and declared the termination of the pastorate; it referred to Dr. Stimson's prosperous work in St. Louis; his hesitancy in responding to the call of the Tabernacle Church; to what he had accomplished in New York, and the confidence in him
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of other pastors in the neighborhood, and it gave him warm commendation as an able and honored pastor and preacher, " devoted to his spiritual work and full of rich enthusiasm for it," "greatly endeared to the ministers and churches of the Council."
The society voted that a sum equal to a year's salary from the date of his retirement should be paid him at once, and assumed the lease of his dwelling house, relieving him from all further responsibility on that account.
During the year sixty-six members of the Tabernacle Church received letters of dismissal and recommendation to the Manhattan Church, organized October 23, 1896, with Dr. Stimson as pastor. This colony, strengthened by the acces- sion of fourteen more at later dates, constituted a strong nucleus for the new church which, after worshipping for nearly five years in Leslie Hall on Eighty-third Street and Boulevard, is now erecting its fine house of worship at the corner of Broadway and Seventy-sixth Street. '
Church services during the summer of 1896 were held in the Tabernacle chapel while repairs and painting were going on in the church auditorium. A committee to nomi- nate a pastor was appointed consisting of Dr. William H. Thomson, Messrs. Joel E. Fisher, Charles L. Mead, Hamilton S. Gordon, Isaac D. Blodgett, Edward J. Brown, and Dr. Wil- liam L. Stowell. During the following year Messrs. Blodgett and Brown resigned from this committee, and power was given it by the church to fill these vacancies. The committee, as it finally stood, consisted of Messrs. William H. Thomson, Charles L. Mead, H. S. Gordon, William L. Stowell, George L. Leonard, James E. Corsa, and Charles E. Mitchell.
Rev. Andrew V. V. Raymond, D.D., President of Union College, was engaged as regular supply during the winter of 1896. His services were so highly valued that he was engaged to supply the Tabernacle pulpit during the following year, so far as his duties would allow.
Rev. Frederick B. Richards had been for two years pastor of Bethany Church. Being known to the people of the Tab-
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ernacle, and being, himself, much at home with them, they naturally turned to him for pastoral service out of the pulpit. He was appointed, in 1896, assistant pastor, and continued to fill the office until September 1, 1898, when he resigned in order to assume the pastorate of the Fourteenth Street Presby- terian Church. At his departure the Tabernacle Church passed a vote recording their appreciation of the ability and fidelity with which he had fulfilled his duty in both churches. Decem- ber 15, 1896, Mr. N. Miller Pratt, who had been an effective worker in the Bethany field while pursuing his studies in Union Theological Seminary, was ordained to the Christian ministry and appointed associate pastor of Bethany Church. To carry on still more effectively the pastoral work of the Tabernacle, Miss H. M. Rowe was employed as church visitor.
November 18, 1897, Rev. Charles E. Jefferson, pastor of the Central Congregational Church of Chelsea, Mass., preached in the Tabernacle. He was not before the people as a candi- date, as there was a general impression at that time that Dr. Raymond would eventually become the pastor of the church. In January the committee waited on Dr. Raymond to ascer- tain whether he would take a call into consideration, but were informed that his college obligations were paramount, and would preclude his removal to New York. Their minds then turned naturally to Mr. Jefferson, and on February 2, 1898, the joint committee, appointed by church and society, made a unanimous recommendation that a call be given to him, and a salary of $10,000 offered. This recommendation was adopted by a vote of one hundred and six to one. The call which was accordingly given included a clause, suggested by The Con- gregationalist and probably here used for the first time, as follows :
" It is understood and agreed that if, at any time, either party shall be convinced that the pastoral relation thus established should be ter- minated, three months' notice shall be given (by vote of the church transmitted to the pastor by its clerk, or by letter from the pastor to the church), and the matter shall be referred to a mutual council for approval and advice."
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A committee waited upon Mr. Jefferson in Chelsea and brought back the following acceptance of the call they had presented :
" To the Broadway Tabernacle Church and Society:
" DEAR BRETHREN :-
" Your call to me to become your Pastor and Teacher is received; and I accept it. If agreeable to the church which I am now serving and also to you, we will begin our work together on the first Sunday of the coming month.
"I fully realize, I think, the vast responsibility which I take upon me in assuming the leadership of your church in the great work which the Lord has given you to do. But the chain of circumstances leading up to your calling me was so extraordinary and apparently so provi- dential that I cannot help feeling that the Holy Spirit has been working both in your hearts and in mine to bring us together at this important hour in the history of the Tabernacle Church. I am coming then, in the full assurance that it is God's will that I should come; and with His promised grace and benediction our work for Him cannot be in vain.
" Sincerely yours,
" CHARLES E. JEFFERSON. " Chelsea, Mass., February 10th, 1898."
Rev. Charles Edward Jefferson, son of Dr. M. Jefferson, was born in Cambridge, O., August 29, 1860. His grandfather on the Jefferson side came from Virginia. On the mother's side, his ancestors were from the Isle of Guernsey and had in their possession the estate which has become famous in recent times as having been the home of Victor Hugo. Mr. Jefferson gradu- ated from the high school of his native town in 1877, the valedictorian of his class. He entered the Ohio Wesleyan Uni- versity at Delaware the following year, and, after gaining dis- tinction among his fellows as a writer, taking the highest hon- ors at the Ohio State oratorical contest, in 1882, and filling the position of editor-in-chief of the college paper during his Senior year, he graduated in 1882. He became superintendent of public schools in Worthington, O., that autumn, filling the position for two years. The second year he was also study- ing law under the direction of Mr. James E. Wright of Colum- bus. In the fall of 1884 he went to Boston and entered the
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middle class of the Boston University Law School; but, fall- ing almost immediately under the influence of Phillips Brooks, he gave up the law for the ministry and entered the School of Theology of the same university in the winter of 1884, and graduated in June, 1887. He married Miss Belle Patterson, of Cambridge, O., August 10, 1887. On September 4th, of the same year, he became pastor of the Central Church of Chelsea, Mass., where he continued until his removal to New York.
Mr. Jefferson had various opportunities, which he did not embrace, to change his field of labor. But he had decided, after some years in Chelsea, not to remain there longer than ten years. Chelsea is overshadowed by Boston, and its chance of growth is small; and the Central Church, it seemed to him, had been developed nearly to the limit of its possibilities. In his letter of resignation he gave some further reasons for this decision :
" After a decade of hard work in the same field I cannot help feeling that I ought to avail myself of the relief which a change of pastorate affords. The life of a city minister is exacting and exhausting, and it refreshes and enlarges a man to give him occasionally the advantage of a change of problems and the stimulus of a new environment."
Meantime the Piedmont Church, of Worcester, Mass., had made overtures to Mr. Jefferson which had not been discour- aged, and an official call was given him from that church on January 2Ist, while the Tabernacle committee were considering the matter of recommending his name for their pastor. Mr. Jefferson stated the case frankly to the committee of the Pied- mont Church; the Tabernacle committee hastened their deci- sion ; the call to Worcester was declined January 29th ; resigna- tion of the Chelsea pastorate offered February 2d; and the whole complication managed with so much despatch, tact, cour- tesy, and Christian forbearance that, though one church was bereaved and another disappointed, no one was aggrieved.
Mr. Jefferson's relations with his church in Chelsea had been unusually happy. They had given him large liberty, en- thusiastic co-operation, and love; and the public prints of the
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day assert that no man had done more for the city during the ten years of his life in it than had he. He led and engineered the movement which had made Chelsea for eight years a " No- License " city, besides doing much for the good name of the town in other ways. His influence was recognized through- out the whole region, and when a farewell reception was ten- dered the pastor and his wife, in the two hours between eight and ten in the evening, more than 1,200 persons took them by the hand; and the Mayor and Board of Aldermen, who had been in session all the evening, dropped their work long enough to come to the church a few moments before ten o'clock that they too might add their word of appreciation and good-will.
Mr. Jefferson was dismissed from his charge in Chelsea by a council held on February 28th, then, followed by the love and prayers of the church from which he had parted, he be- gan work in New York on the Sunday appointed.
The ecclesiastical council called for his installation, which included all the Congregational churches in the Manhattan- Brooklyn Conference together with the churches in Montclair, N. J., and the Central Church, of Chelsea, Mass., convened on April 19th. The council approved the action of the church, and the installation ensued. The clergymen who took part in the service were as follows: Rev. R. J. Kent, D.D., Lewis Avenue Church, Brooklyn, Prayer of Invocation; Rev. Franklin Gay- lord, Trinity Church, New York, Scripture Lesson; Rev. A. Huntington Clapp, D.D., Prayer of Installation; Rev. A. J. F. Behrends, D.D., Central Church, Brooklyn, Sermon; Rev. R. R. Meredith, D.D., Tompkins Avenue Church, Brooklyn, charge to the pastor ; Rev. A. J. Lyman, D.D., South Church, Brooklyn, Right Hand of Fellowship. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon Mr. Jefferson, in 1898, from Union and Oberlin Colleges.
Dr. Jefferson is a master of English, an artist in words. He has a keen incisive style, and he holds his audience to the last word. In a quiet way, without haste, without rest, he carries on the work before him, the cure of souls.
A gain of membership began the first year. The work be-
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gun by Mr. Richards before his departure, of sending letters to pastors of churches in New England and elsewhere, was continued in 1898. A circular letter was sent to 2,500 Con- gregational churches inviting them to give letters of introduc- tion to any young men or women who were intending to make New York City their home, in order that they might more easily find their way to the Tabernacle and receive a more prompt welcome. Among other new methods introduced were a class for the study of present-day problems as related to the church, meeting Sunday afternoons, led by Dr. Philip W. Ayres; a church monthly publication, The Broadway Taber- nacle Tidings, edited by the pastor ; and a service of song held each Sunday afternoon. Collections at Sunday morning and evening services were also introduced for the payment of cur- rent expenses, except when otherwise designated for specific objects.
The Wednesday evening prayer-meetings took on a new in- terest, and the seats filled until it has now become a live and delightful mid-week service. Besides this, during his short term of service, Dr. Jefferson has substituted the observance of Holy Week for the Week of Prayer in January; has intro- duced the keeping of watch night and an after meeting Sunday evenings, from January Ist to Easter ; has organized an effort to reach students ; has presented yearly a valuable pastoral re- port; and has magnified Bible study so that now the name " Sunday-school " has been superseded by the more definite " Bible school."
During the winter of 1900-1901 Mr. G. Andrew Gordon, a post-graduate student in Union Theological Seminary, ren- dered useful service as pastor's assistant, and has been engaged to give his whole time to the church after his ordination in June.
The celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the church must be credited to Dr. Jefferson. The fiftieth anniversary had passed without special notice, and when the sixtieth arrived the church was none too ready to believe that a celebration could be made a success. Dr. Jefferson, however, knew that inertia
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could be overcome, and he held fast to his purpose until the tide of interest began to swell and the whole congregation was swept along in a wave of enthusiasm, to make ready as noble a church celebration as the city has ever seen.
In a masterly sermon preached January 27, 1901, after the celebration was over, Dr. Jefferson took occasion to map out what in his judgment the Broadway Tabernacle Church of the future should be. In response to that sermon, by Easter morn- ing enough pledges had been given to wipe out the floating debt of the church, and the beginning had been made of a fund, the income of which shall be used for the employment of assistants in church work.
But Dr. Jefferson has done a better work for the church than this: he has united and welded together the separate atoms of church membership, promoted fellowship, created a general confidence and harmony. And as it is the glory of the Con- gregational churches to magnify the preached word in the public assembly, as was the custom of our Lord, His apostles, and the early church, so he has taught the people righteous- ness, and has preached so as to warn sinners, comfort saints, and has done both for the glory of God.
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CHAPTER IX.
CHURCH ACTIVITIES.
THE temporal affairs of the Tabernacle Church and Society, according to the custom of Congregationalists, have been in the charge of a Board of Trustees. Their work is responsible, burdensome, and too often unappreciated. The list of those who have thus given their best business knowledge and skill to this service is found with other lists of officers upon another page.
DEACONS, CHURCH COMMITTEE.
In the Tabernacle the deacons, as well as pastors, are per- manent officers of the church. They not only are a component part of the church committee but they perform special duties, among which is care of the needy sick and poor of the church. During the past twenty-five years the deacons have distributed from the fund entrusted to them, in behalf of brethren and sisters of the church, in money and the cost of coal, medical service, funeral expenses, etc., an amount averaging about $1,204 yearly. Besides this and ordinary expenses of the fund they paid for Centre Street Mission $1,200, for Armenian relief $100, and for a hospital-bed fund $2,772.56.
For a long course of years a clerk, treasurer and four breth- ren, all annually elected by the church, together with the per- manent officers, constituted the Church Committee. After 1889, when the election of the superintendent of the Sunday- school was put in the hands of the church, " a superintendent of the Sunday-school " was added to the committee, and in 1893 the Permanent Rule read "Superintendents of the Sun- day-schools of the Church." In 1899 the number of elected members was made nine, as the rule reads at present. The general oversight of the interests of the church devolves upon
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this committee, and for many years they appointed and planned the church sociables or pastor's receptions with aid from the Young Men's Association. The names of those trusted breth- ren who have been elected to this service of the church are given with the lists of officers.
SEXTONS.
The first sexton whose name appears in the records was Mr. Savery, probably Mr. John S. Savery, who was one of the sixty-six original members. He was in office until 1842. At that time his salary was $300 and house-rent (in the build- ing). The following year Mr. W. H. Snow was appointed. He united with the church that year. At first the sexton had charge of renting the pews; but when Deacon Pitts was ap- pointed steward that work devolved upon him. In 1849 the sexton received $250. At what time Mr. Walter Reid was appointed is not known. "Mr. and Mrs. Reid, kind, excel- lent people," lived in the building. He was employed prob- ably as early as 1846, and in 1852 he was sexton with salary of $500. May 31, 1854, Mr. Frederick Boyd was engaged and filled the position for forty-two years until his death, March 3, 1896. On taking up the work in the new Tabernacle his salary was fixed at $2,000, and remained about the same until it became necessary to supply more assistance for him, when he received $350 less. Mr. Boyd was succeeded by Mr. W. R. Fearn, who has continued to fill the office until the present. From the first, all the sextons have been members of the church.
Since 1893 there has been a committee on pews, who have charge of renting seats. The committee of 1900 consisted of Messrs. Irving R. Fisher and Robert B. Fleming.
THE CHOIR.
From its organization, the Broadway Tabernacle has rec- ognized more fully than have most churches, the honored place of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs in Christian service. Dr. Finney found music to be the handmaid of religion; Mr.
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Hale, with his household, aided and built up the choir. Dr. Thompson's versatile gifts included a keen appreciation and love of the best music the age afforded, and the service of music, in the public worship of the church, has always been entrusted to the church committee as a religious charge, rather than to the Board of Trustees. Said Dr. Thompson :
" It has been the policy of this church to sustain a large and well- trained choir, composed as far as possible of those associated with the church, and thus to render the singing a prominent part of the worship of God. By this means hundreds have been attracted hither who have received the preached word into good ground and brought forth abun- dant fruit." *
Church music in New York at the date of the organization of the Tabernacle Church was much influenced by Dr. Thomas Hastings, who was strenuous in his efforts to have the praises of God in the church sung by Christian men and women. The choir of the Tabernacle was under strong religious con- trol; its leading spirits were devout men and women, and many young people came, by way of the choir, into the church.
The choir was organized in 1840 by Mr. George Andrews, who joined the church by certificate in 1842. His services at first seem to have been voluntary, but by 1843 he received $400, raised by subscription. The following year a regular salary of $200 was paid him. This may have been increased by sub- scription. He continued as leader until May 16, 1848. Dur- ing his temporary absence in 1842, Mr. Stephen Conover con- ducted the choir "in a highly creditable manner." Mr. W. Alpers, a fine musician, was organist until his resignation in 1845. One } who was an occasional attendant upon the Tab- ernacle services during the first years of its history writes that he has "forgotten who the minister was, but not the organist, W. Alpers." When Mr. Alpers missed a service his seat at the organ was occupied by Mr. Hale's daughter, Lucy, who played the piano for choir rehearsals. An organ was placed in the choir gallery back of the pulpit in 1844 by * Last Sabbath in the Broadway Tabernacle, p. 51.
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