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 7
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At the same time that the church elected its Board of Deacons, its first Church Committee was chosen, consisting of five members: Messrs. David Hale, Marcus Hurd, Samuel C. Hills, Leonard Crocker, and George Dryden. The follow- ing articles, adopted by both the church and society, defined the duties of this committee, as well as the basis of union and co-operation of both organizations:
" I. The Congregation shall hold the property, and receive the income, and make all pecuniary engagements, appropriations and payments.
" II. In calling a Pastor the Congregation and Church will act as con- current bodies-a majority of each being necessary to constitute a call; the Church nominating and the Congregation confirming or rejecting the nomination.
" III. The Committee of the Church will provide for the supply of the pulpit when there is no settled Pastor; make the necessary arrange- ments for singing, and, in general, for the orderly celebration of religious worship; and the Congregation will liquidate all reasonable expenses thereby incurred. Provided, That if the Congregation choose to do so, they shall always have the right to make the Committee a joint committee, by putting on it as many members of the Congregation as have been elected from the Church."
* Joseph P. Thompson, Memoir of David Hale, pp. 104-107.
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In reference to this committee Dr. Thompson says :
" A committee was agreed upon in order to fix responsibility, not to confer power, the Church having always retained that entirely in their own hands." *
-
Mr. Hale was most anxious to avoid the pitfalls into which the former Tabernacle Church had been betrayed. This, as Dr. Thompson points out, was largely effected by the Con- gregational Church polity where matters are determined openly by a majority vote rather than by the decision of a few individuals who control the affairs of the church. But in addition to this it was thought wise to lay down at the first certain principles which should govern the church's action when questions arose for settlement in regard to its relation to specific measures of reform. Accordingly Mr. Hale se- cured the adoption of the following declaration, the first of the Permanent Rules + of the church :
" The design of a Christian Church we understand to be the enjoy- ment of Christian ordinances and the maintenance of the worship of God."
In regard to this declaration Dr. Thompson says : }
" Such a declaration was of great importance at a time when there was a strong tendency to transform churches into societies for particular reforms, and even for political action. The working of this principle in the Broadway Tabernacle Church has been most happy. Though some of the prominent members of the church are zealous for par- ticular measures of reform, the church itself has never been agitated by these subjects, for since every brother is left at liberty to advocate any reform, and to join or to organize any reform society, all are satisfied with this unrestricted personal influence without demanding church action in their favorite cause. Prayer and remarks, with ref- erence to such subjects, are unrestrained; personal action is free; but legislation in the church upon subjects so foreign to the design of a church is not desired by any. Each member of the church is re- sponsible to his brethren for his general walk and conversation, but
* Joseph P. Thompson, History of Broadway Tabernacle Church, etc., 1846, + Appendix C.
p. 13.
# Joseph P. Thompson, Memoir of David Hale, pp. 102, 103.
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HISTORY OF THE BROADWAY TABERNACLE CHURCH
may appropriate his efforts to any department of benevolent labor to which, in his own judgment, he is called by the Master, to whom he is directly responsible for the use of all the talents which have been com- mitted to his hands. At the same time any member of the church, in voting upon the reception of a candidate into church fellowship may make the opinions and practice of the person with regard to the use and sale of intoxicating drinks, slaveholding, dancing, and any other act of questionable morality, a test of piety, and the whole church may have a common moral sentiment upon such subjects which shall express itself as occasions arise, while they avoid the dangerous expedient of legislating on specific moral questions in the abstract.
" These fundamental principles of church organization stand in the Broadway Tabernacle Church as a monument of the wisdom and fore- sight of David Hale, who derived them not from books nor from men, but from the study of the rudiments of church polity contained in the New Testament."
Having organized its forces, the church proceeded to choose a pastor, and on November 30th the Rev. Edward Warren Andrews, of West Hartford, Conn., was unanimously elected to minister to the church, at a salary of $2,000, and on the same date the society approved the nomination of the church. Mr. Andrews accepted the call and entered upon his pastoral duties the first Sabbath of January, 1841.
Deacon Lambert had served but three months when he removed to Brooklyn, relinquishing his office, and on January II, 1841, Mr. Albert Woodruff was elected deacon, in his stead. On January 25th, a few days before Mr. Andrews's installation, the following resolutions, presented by Mr. Hale, were adopted by the church:
" Resolved, That the Church of Jerusalem by whom, at the suggestion of the Apostles, Deacons were first chosen, did present the brethren chosen to that office before the Apostles that they might receive ordina- tion, and that it is expedient for this church to follow that example.
" Resolved, That the Brethren who have been elected as deacons in this church be affectionately requested to present themselves for the purpose before the Council to be convened for the installation of our pastor."
Of this Board of Deacons the first to be elected, the only one who received all the votes cast, was Mr. Samuel Pitts,
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SAMUEL PITTS Deacon 1840 to 1853
THE FIRST PASTORATE
who, for the first decade of its life, devoted his time and strength to the spiritual growth of the church. Deacon Pitts * was at this time not yet forty years of age. He had been converted when a school-boy in Litchfield, Conn., under the preaching of Dr. Nettleton; but on returning to his home in Ontario County, New York, had gone into hotel service, mar- ried, and when twenty-four years of age was proprietor of a hotel in Canandaigua, with every prospect of pecuniary success. His life at this time, though exemplary, was not avowedly religious; but a revival began in Canandaigua in connection with the labors of Mr. Finney, and Mr. Pitts was reconverted and consecrated his life anew to Christ and His service. As the keeper of a hotel upon a stage route Mr. Pitts had been accustomed to sell liquors at his bar; but in the new light of Christ's love his conscience would not permit him to promote drunkenness among his customers, and he at once destroyed the stock of intoxicating liquors he had on hand and closed the bar, thus establishing the first temperance hotel in Western New York. This occurred in the beginning of the temperance movement, and his action was considered most quixotic. It cost him the custom and support of the community, and resulted in the total loss of property and business. Though legally discharged from the indebtedness which his property could not cancel, " he lived scantily for years until he had paid to the creditors, with whom he had compromised, the full amount of their claims." +
On leaving Canandaigua, Mr. Pitts, after devoting some time to revival work, began a course of study for the ministry which he was obliged to relinquish on account of ill-health and seek more active employment. In 1835 he came to New York, where he filled the position of steward on a steamboat running from New York to Amboy. His former interest in Mr. Finney drew him to the Broadway Tabernacle when that was opened, and he united with the first church of that name, retaining his connection, as has been seen, until the new
* Joseph P. Thompson, The Good Man's Memorial. t Ibid., p. 20.
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church was formed in 1840. Soon afterward, at the urgent solicitation of Mr. Hale, on the small salary of $500, Mr. Pitts began his work as steward of the church, looking after the renting of the pews and other temporalities of the church. He was deacon, from the first; trustee, from 1842; steward, young men's Bible class teacher, and pastor's assistant until failing health in 1852 forced him to dissolve his connection with the Tabernacle and remove to Tecumseh, Mich., where he died, January 20, 1855. At the sixtieth anniversary cele- bration of the church, Deacon Richard A. Dorman, a mem- ber of the Bible class which Deacon Pitts conducted for twelve years, recalled his memory, on the Reminiscence Even- ing, as follows:
" Nearly fifty years ago I was a lad in the Sunday-school of the old Broadway Tabernacle. At that time Deacon Samuel Pitts was a prominent figure in the Tabernacle Church. He was a pastoral helper, giving his entire time to the work, but more especially to look after the young men. In an ante-room, opening off from the main auditorium, he held every Sunday morning a Bible class of some forty young men. The exercises were always commenced with prayer, and, after a half hour study of the lesson, a brief prayer followed in time for a few minutes general conversation before leaving the room. It was an impressive scene to see thirty or forty young men file out of that room as the organ struck the note of preparation for service, and find their respective places in the audience. Many close and lasting friendships were formed there. It was there that I met Alex. Anderson, long since gone to his reward. We became firm friends, boarding together in the same house for many years. Where one went, the other went also. Dr. Thompson dubbed us Peter and John. So far as I know, no one that belonged to that class ever went wrong, but all developed a sturdiness of character which, by the grace of God, carried them safely through the quicksands of a great city, to usefulness and honor. No less than three deacons in this church received their early training there. Another member of that class, Mr. Charles Stewart Smith, is one of the fifteen gentlemen who are now endeavoring to re- claim this city from the shame and degradation made possible by the intrigues of a few scheming politicians."
Still another of this class, William D. Russell, converted through the prayers and influence of his teacher, removed to
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THE FIRST PASTORATE
Newark, N. J., where for many years he devoted much time and strength to the building up of the Belleville Avenue Con- gregational Church, of which he was a leading member. It would be impossible at this date to enumerate the multitude of young men whose lives were influenced for good by Mr. Pitts. He always refused to give any estimate of the number of persons whose conversion, humanly speaking, was due to his Christian efforts; but others have computed the number at not less than two hundred. When he left, after twelve years of faithful service, the church resolved
" That the many offices of Christian kindness and love performed by our Brother Samuel Pitts during his long connection with the church, his cordial assistance to, and co-operation with, the pastor in visiting from house to house, his ready sympathy with the sick and afflicted of every name, and his eminent success in laboring for the cause of Christ and the conversion of souls, his untiring devotion to the spiritual welfare of young men and especially his labors in the Bible Class, merit the heartfelt gratitude and never-ceasing remembrance of the members of this church."
The young men themselves expressed their sorrow for his loss in a resolution in which they said " his direct instrumen- tality in leading many of us into the fold of Christ merits our never-ceasing and grateful remembrance and commends to us an example eminently worthy of our imitation," adding to these appreciative words, as a testimonial, a purse containing $350 in gold.
Dr. Thompson's short sketch of his life has this dedica- tion :
To the ' Pitts Bible Class' this brief memorial of their beloved and honored teacher, prepared and published at their request, is affectionately inscribed."
Looking back to the short period between 1840 and 1852, during which Mr. Pitts labored for this church, and remem- bering that Mr. Hale's life closed in 1849, more than half a century ago, it may seem that undue stress has been laid
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HISTORY OF THE BROADWAY TABERNACLE CHURCH
upon the services of these two men; but Dr. Thompson, when recounting the history and work of the Broadway Tab- ernacle Church in his farewell sermon * preached November 12, 1871, pays them this noble tribute:
" In its beginning, this church received the impress of intellectual freedom and of spiritual fervor from two men who were, each in his way, among the most remarkable men that I have ever known. David Hale would have gone to the stake for the right to speak; Samuel Pitts would have transformed the fires of martyrdom into a seraphic column of prayer. When a question came up in the Church, Hale would talk it out, and Pitts would pray it out; and if it provoked controversy and threatened division, Pitts with an irresistible fervor of devotion would pray it down, and Hale with a magnanimity of concession that marked his real strength would give it up! These twin spirits shaped our history."
Mr. Andrews, the minister-elect, belonged to a distin- guished ministerial family. His father was the Rev. William Andrews, Congregational pastor at Windham, Danbury, and South Cornwall, successively, all of whose sons, save one, be- came ministers, widely known by their writings, their educa- tional and ministerial work, or for activity in connection with the Catholic Apostolic Church. Edward Warren Andrews was born at Windham, Conn., July 15, 1811. His preparation for college was interrupted, and though he spent two years at Union College he did not graduate. At nineteen he was employed by the American Sunday-school Union at the West, where he spent nine months most usefully. After a course of legal study, he practised law for three years in Litchfield, Conn. When he abandoned the law for the pulpit he felt that he could have made no greater sacrifice. He was licensed to preach by the Litchfield North Association, May 23, 1837, and in November was ordained and installed as colleague to
* Rev. Joseph P. Thompson, D.D., Broadway Tabernacle Church; Its His- tory and Work, P. 33.
+ In this Chapter I have drawn freely from a sketch of the first pastor of the Tabernacle Church written by his nephew, the Rev. Wm. G. Andrews, of Guil- ford, Conn., as well as from a portion of Rev. E. W. Andrews's Manuscript Autobiography .- S. H. W.
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REV. EDWARD W. ANDREWS Pastor 1841 to 1844
Likeness taken late in life.
THE FIRST PASTORATE
the Rev. Nathan Perkins, D.D., of West Hartford, then near the close of his beneficent pastorate of almost sixty-six years. Here Mr. Andrews was successful and happy. Because of his unusual gifts as an orator his services were in demand for special occasions in the neighborhood. The oration which he gave in Middletown, Conn., on Washington's birthday, 1839, is still remembered in that township as "a splendid effort." He had only closed the third year of his ministry in West Hartford when he was summoned to New York. The call to the Broadway Tabernacle was a tempting one to a young country minister, yet he seems to have hesitated. But men of weight in his neighborhood like Dr. Porter, of Farming- ton, and Drs. Hawes and Bushnell, of Hartford, convinced him that it was his duty to lead the most hopeful Congrega- tional enterprise in New York.
The great multiplication of Presbyterian churches in New York, in connection with Mr. Finney's evangelistic labors, has already been noted. The casting out by the General Assembly of the presbyteries that had been formed under the Plan of Union, awakened in Congregationalists a new sense of the fitness and adaptability of their own church polity, and though other denominations shared in this awakening and had like assurance of faith, probably none felt more keenly the neces- sity of asserting itself. A dozen or more Congregational churches had been gathered, in New York and vicinity, by 1840. Four of these were represented in the councils for recognizing the Tabernacle Church and installing its pastor, but they led a struggling existence, most of them hardly sur- viving their infancy. There was a Congregational church in Newark, N. J., in 1837; but the oldest now existing in that city was organized in 1851. The First Congregational Church of Brooklyn was formed April 14, 1838; but the Church of the Pilgrims, instituted in 1844, is the oldest Brooklyn church now entered in the Congregational year-book.
According to his own recollection, Mr. Andrews began his ministry in October. He certainly preached more than one Sabbath before receiving his call-a unanimous one, though
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HISTORY OF THE BROADWAY TABERNACLE CHURCH
there were two candidates-but he was not formally dismissed from West Hartford until December; and, though his pastoral work began with the New Year, he was not installed until January 31, 1841.
At the opening of the enterprise the prediction had been made that "a Congregational church formed at the Broadway Tabernacle would become a home for dissatisfied, restless, ungovernable spirits from other churches, and would soon develop into a hornets' nest, involved in civil war, and sting itself to death." At once Mr. Andrews was made sensible of the prejudice with which Presbyterians regarded all attempts to establish Congregationalism in the metropolis. Even those of the New School showed some natural jealousy at the pros- pect of a flourishing church that was already gathering in many New Englanders in the very heart of the city. The New School churches had been accustomed to welcome all such to their fold and transform them into stanch Presby- terians. After so many abortive attempts, for Congregation- alists to set up a successful church of their own order seemed almost intrusive. A distinguished Old School minister, the Rev. Gardiner Spring, D.D., not an extreme man, and a New Englander by birth and training, told Mr. Andrews that he was sorry to see him in New York on such a mission; that his efforts must fail; that Congregationalism was an exotic in New York, and would never flourish.
The service of installation was held on Sabbath evening. Be- sides three neighboring Congregational churches-the Provi- dence Chapel (New York), the New York Congregational and the New York Mission Churches-and the Third Presby- terian Church of Brooklyn, four more distant churches were represented on the council-the Beneficent Church, Providence, R. I .; the North and Third Churches of New Haven, and the Congregational Church of Kent, Conn. The Rev. W. W. Andrews, of Kent, the new pastor's brother, a man of rare intellectual and spiritual gifts, preached the sermon. Dr. Tucker, of Providence, gave the charge to the pastor; Mr. Dutton, the right hand of fellowship; Mr. Cleveland, the
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THE FIRST PASTORATE
charge to the people; the two latter being noted New Haven clergymen. Mr. Hale wrote of the services:
" Mr. Andrews was installed on the last Sabbath evening of January. The exercises were excellent, the house full. Even Presbyterians pres- ent were filled with admiration. Prime Yankees are now joining us from all the churches round about. About thirty are now propounded. Everything has been ordered admirably in Providence. Never did God prosper anything more. I bless His name and am happy, and have been from the day I bought the house. Our pastor, we think, is just the man -of the Connecticut Old School-and now if God will add the blessing of His Spirit, sinners will be converted."
It will be seen from this that Mr. Andrews was strongly conservative in opinion, and certainly he was far more con- servative in feeling than Mr. Hale. Under his ministry the church grew rapidly. It had seventy-four members that first Sunday in January when his pastorate began. During that year one hundred and eleven were added to the membership of the church, one hundred of these by letter; which shows what attraction a vigorous Congregational church had for Christians who had been obliged to seek a spiritual home else- where. They came in companies at every communion ser- vice; in March thirty-two, thirty-one of them by letter; May, eighteen, all but one by letter ; July, twenty, eighteen by letter ; September, seventeen, fifteen by letter ; and in November, when the religious interest began to awaken, which deepened as the winter went on into a spiritual revival, twenty-four, five of whom were received on confession of their faith-two of the latter being daughters of Mr. Hale. Deducting all losses by death and removals, at the close of 1841, the church numbered one hundred and seventy-six. The second year, when the fruits of the revival were gathered in, nearly as many were received on confession as by letter, one hundred and thirty in all, seventy on confession. Taking into account all losses, in December, 1842, the church numbered two hundred and seventy-three. In two years and a half the original number had more than quadrupled. Mr. Hale might well write that
* Joseph P. Thompson, Memoir of David Hale, p. IOI.
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HISTORY OF THE BROADWAY TABERNACLE CHURCH
year of the Tabernacle: "It has so far been the most suc- cessful religious enterprise ever undertaken in this city."
Were there no living witnesses to the power of Mr. An- drews's preaching, this remarkable growth of the church would be sufficient testimony, and the following entry in the records of a parish meeting, in 1841, shows plainly that he was then preaching to crowded houses:
" Resolved, That the trustees be hereby directed to take effectual measures for protecting their pews on the Sabbath, at least during the day time. Passed. Mr. Andrews expressed the discomfort in his own feelings from not seeing his parishioners regularly in their wonted places, from their seats being preoccupied by strangers. Common in- terests would be promoted by a more rigid maintenance of rights."
At this meeting the complaint was made that the seats for colored people (assigned to them at the right of the pulpit) were being encroached upon, too large a space was given up to them so that room was wasted, and it was voted that "it is desirable the colored people should regularly occupy the seats designated." In October, 1842, the order was revoked that seats should be free on Sunday evenings.
Distrust of the new Congregational enterprise began to abate. The Rev. Dr. Phillips, of the First Presbyterian Church of New York, then worshipping in Wall Street, was the first to break through the walls of denominational exclu- sion and propose to the young minister an exchange of pul- pits, and before his first year in the city had closed even Dr. Spring had preached in the " exotic." *
During the revival of 1841-42 the pastor was assisted by the Rev. Edward N. Kirk, later of Boston, who held evan- gelistic services in the church. Among the converts of that year was the very eminent Christian, the late Jeremiah C. Lanphier, founder of the "Fulton Street prayer-meeting," whose own modest, faithful labor for Christ was honored of God as that of few men anywhere has been. It is believed that thousands were led to begin a Christian life through his
* Rev. E. W. Andrews, Autobiography in manuscript. .
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THE FIRST PASTORATE
direct or indirect influence. One who was an attendant at the Tabernacle services as early as 1843, in mentioning " that devoted Christian worker, Mr. Lanphier," recalls "his sweet, sanctified face, not sanctimonious at all, but a cheerful, lovable man." * A photograph of Mr. Lanphier was found among the papers of his old pastor after the death of the latter. The story of Mr. Lanphier's conversion has been written by Mr. Andrews:
" When I went to the Tabernacle Mr. Lanphier was a member of the choir, and his rich, sweet tenor voice, which has since been listened to with pleasure by Christians from all parts of the world at the 'Fulton Street prayer meeting ' was one of the attractive features of our music. He was then associated in business, as a merchant tailor, with Mr. Geo. Andrews, the able leader of our choir during all my pastorate and from the beginning of its history one of the most devoted and efficient friends and supporters of the Tabernacle Church.
" One day, near the opening of the revival, I was out walking, and passing the store of 'Andrews and Lanphier' on Fulton Street I went in. In the course of the conversation that ensued I said to Mr. L.
"' We are under great obligation to you, sir, for the assistance you render us as a member of our choir. I trust the day is not distant when you will stand in a nearer and more sacred relation to us as a member of our church.'
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