USA > Ohio > Mahoning County > Youngstown > History of St. John's Episcopal Church, Youngstown, Ohio : with part of the history of St. James Church, Boardman, the pioneer parish of Ohio > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
-57-
Easter Day. The seed scattered here some forty years ago has grown; the Church, with its Apostolic ministry, its grand liturgy, its historie creed, its blessed sacraments, has been growing slowly and surely. Like her blessed Lord, the Church here has been active in good works. She has been shedding her beauty and fragrance, her influence has been felt even beyond the congrega- tion, and she is now budding more and more. The petals are opening, and soon we shall enjoy the beauty of full bloom. This Easter Day shows us what activity and energy can do. We have taken a long step as we have come into our new building. As the resurrected life of our Lord and Savior meant newer activi- ties, as it brought joy and gladness out of doubt and almost despair to the Apostles, and awakened them to the grandeur and beauty,- yes, and to the responsibility,-of the better work and growth, so this glad Easter Day brings the same to us. We, too, have reared a building beautiful in its arches and tower. Self- sacrifice and devotion have brought the stones together; archi- tecture has lent her aid, and the builders have acted upon her plans; a wise, untiring committee has superintended the work, and today we rejoice, and soon our hearts will be even more tuneful with the glad thanksgivings that we have risen to a newer and a stronger life. As the resurrection was the keystone of the arch of life of our Master, so is our new Church, with all its beauty, its symmetry, its opportunities for grander, more solemn service, the keystone of our Church life here. We, too, are building an edifice not made with hands eternal in the Heavens. The souls we bring to God are the stones that shall raise this building to greater and grander proportions. The great Architect of the Universe has given us the plans to work with. God the Holy Ghost is directing and guiding the builders. Self- sacrifices, devotion, convictions, the certitude of our right in the Apostles' doctrine, the Creed, the Apostles' fellowship, the his- toric Episcopate and ministry, the breaking of bread, the
-58-
1
blessed sacrament, and the prayers, the grand liturgy and true love for God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost,- all these have and will have their influence in making the temple of God grander and greater than the former temple. As the Church of Christ has grown and developed since that first resurrection morn, when darkness and death were dispelled, and the angel announced the rising of Jesus from the dead; as the whole world has been reanimated and vivified by a new life under a new covenant sealed by the shed blood of Christ on Calvary's Mount; as the individual life has been started into new resolves and impulses; as it has proclaimed its belief in the risen Christ, so must this branch of Christ's Church, inspired and vig- orated, enlightened and enthused by the glorious lesson of Easter's hope, thrill and expand, grow and develop, and show the beauty of holiness in this greater temple of God. We have passed through our chrysalis stage; we have burst out from the shell that has held us, into a fuller, more glorious life. But this must not be a mere transitory life; it must be sustained and continu- ous, it must have growth and development. The animating life of our Master must have taken such a hold upon us that we will never relinquish our endeavor, but shall go from strength to strength. This means much striving, much endeavor, sometimes heart-aches and disappointments, but still endeavor. But so was it with our Master before the crucifixion and death, so was it with the Apostles and Saints and Martyrs after the resurrection. And yet the blessing has come, and will come. We have entered into their work, and more shall enter into ours. The animating principle of life never dies; that is why we have the resurrec- tion; and so, if it is implanted in us, we must live up to it. And here another thought occurs. We must live up to the full- ness of life. Our building here is the fullness of our hopes, even though at times those hopes were deferred, and we must live up to it. Its beauty and symmetry must make us strive more for
-- 59-
the beauty of holiness and the symmetry of life. Its arches must resound with the fervor and spirit of our true worship; its altar must be that upon which we are to place the sacrifices of our hearts and minds, our gifts to God for God's uses, consecrated and holy, and from which we are to receive God's gracious and loving gifts to us, brought by the sacrifice made once for all in the broken body and shed blood of our dear Lord. It is not to be the tomb of a dead Christ, or of dead issues and promises, but the living temple of the living God, out of whose depths must go the hopeful, animating message, "Christ is risen from the dead." We must be God's messengers to bear the glad news to sin-sick, troubled and doubting hearts, but we must first re- ceive the message from God's throne and in God's temple, and then go out with the strength of the risen Christ, and take the strength and life to many people. It is a glorious life, this risen life of Christ,- pure, true, holy, manly, as it comes from Him who is the resurrection and the life,-and it is ours, ours this day and forevermore. It is ours to make this life felt in the world; it is ours to show its beauty and its power, its activity and growth. Think what God hath wrought for us, how glori- ously His promises have been fulfilled for us. And now Easter Day brings to us words to remember. He is risen. He is alive forevermore. Life is growth, and activity, and development. Let these be our words and ideals for all time to come. Let nothing daunt us, let nothing hinder, but let us press onward and upward past the disappointments, doubts, despairings, past the Cross, past the grave, into the light that shines with immortal and unending brightness upon the great temple of God, whose foundation is Christ, capping the towering arch of His glorious life with the resurrection, whose stones laid upon it are the Saints, Apostles, Martyrs through the ages, truly a building not made with hands, but glorious in its beauty of holiness and worship.
-60-
0
Rt. Rev. Wm. A. Leonard, D. D., 1
Bishop of Ohio.
Address of Rt. Rev. William A. Leonard, D. D., Bishop of Ohio.
AT DEDICATION OF ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, MAY 22, 1898.
1 HARDLY know how, my dear friends, to express my apprecia- tion of what you have done, for what God has permitted you to do, and for what He has helped you to do. My heart is very full today with fair remembrances, and with an appreciation of the advance that has been made, and with anticipations for the future of things which I believe our Lord has in store for you in this city and Parish.
I am very thankful, indeed, to my brother, the Rector of this Church, and I know that his heart, too, is overflowing today, as yours must be, with gratitude for the benediction that has come; because of the answers to many prayers, and because of the ful- fillment of our earnest desires.
I am thankful to this congregation, its Wardens and Vestry- men, for their vigor, for the unity of their effort and its purpose. I am thankful to every man, and every woman, and every child in this Parish for the carrying forth of this great undertaking in the name of the Lord; and it is in His name, and it is for His glory, that we built these strong foundations and uplifted these
-61-
noble walls, in order that this may be, as we know it is and will be, a "Sermon in Stone."
It is a peculiar venture, and it is an unusual experiment, in this country, to build a Church like this, but the experiment is a perfect success; and I feel so thankful to our Father, and I feel so thankful to His children, and to those who have from day to day had relationship with it; who have watched the placing of every stone, the placing of every timber, and the induction of every feature; and I am so thankful to my Father, and to you, for that which is this day permitted in His holy name. And now may I ask you to listen for a few moments to a few words which I trust may not be inappropriate at this time.
The second chapter of the Prophet of Haggai, seventh verse, is a great promise of good concerning His temple: - "I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts." Same Prophet, ninth verse: - "The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts."
The venerable Prophet, beholding from afar the coming of the Prince to His Kingdom, announces the hope that was set before the Hebrews, and the ultimate accomplishment of all that they and their forefathers had prayed for and anticipated.
It was at least five hundred years before the incarnation of the Son of God, and, in order that he might comfort the people, and inspire them with fidelity and hopefulness, Haggai utters these words of brightness and of precious promise.
They had rebuilt the broken walls, and upreared the pillars, and opened the porches, and erected again the altars of Jehovah in old Jerusalem. Wars and captivities and national depressions had distressed and disciplined them. The great and glorious Fane which Solomon had built had been overthrown and demol- ished. The fires upon the tables of sacrifice had long been quenched; the Priests and Levites had been without a proper
- 62-
sanctuary for their ceremonial rites and splendid worship. Re- ligion itself had failed to exercise its benignant force, and God had visited His children with merited punishments. But now the new temple was completed, and the expectant multitudes, with earnest desires, besought the nearer relation of God to themselves. And then it was that the white-haired seer, commissioned of the Most High to make known His will, gives forth this prophecy of the Divine Presence, and of the indwelling glory, and of Peace. And I doubt not but that, with the completion of the sacred ceremonies attendant upon the opening of this Temple of Zeru- babel, the Governor of Judah, that the radiant Shekinah came within the Holy Precincts and filled the whole place with its heavenly light, just as it did when Solomon's Temple was dedi- cated, hovering over the new mercy seat, indicating to the Israel- ite, by its visible refulgence and luminosity, the immediate con- tact of God and His continued association and indwelling, if they would but obey His commandments and accomplish His behests.
The Church of God is always expectant; and the conscious presence of the Most High within her tabernacle is the assurance of her advancement, increase, and final vietory. Under an earlier dispensation, this sign and testimony was like unto the pillar of cloud and smoke-ever leading on, ever pointing forward to something better, some land of promise, some larger outlook, some advancement and conquest that would bring comfort and rest. And the temple itself was but the visible type, the material prophecy and parable, reminding the pious Prophet and the rev- erent Jew of a greater Kingdom, of an extended dominion, of an universal empire of truth and righteousness- a haleyon time and a golden age-when the glory of Heaven should fill all the spaces with its atmosphere of beneficence, as the lapsing days of spiritual triumph should move on in gladsome processions of vie- tory ; when God's peace should be abounding among men, and
-63-
the knowledge of the Lord should cover the earth, as the whelm- ing waters fill and cover the seas. And the light has never gone out, because it is an undying light, and the promise and prophecy have ever remained to encourage and buoy up the faithful; and the seer continues to ery from his vantage ground of penetrative vision, and the Church is expectant and militant, -pushing for- ward her legionaries, eager for her spoils; and her hostages, beholding the light of God, confident of the outcome. And though it change its phase, or be obscured because of sin and disobedience, yet, I repeat, the Light shines for those whose eyes are undimmed, - a burning bush, a column of supernal glow, a lightning fire on Sinai's top, a mellow flush of Shekinah near- ness, a star hanging lustrous over Bethlehem, a manifestation of the fullness of the Godhead on Mt. Tabor, or tongues of lambent flame at Pentecost. The Light never dies out, but shines, and its inerement of heat and illumination, and life, is ever more and more, even unto the perfect day of God's own millennial consum- mation.
I do not know of any better thought to bring to you, my dear friends, on this joyous day of Parish festal and Parish jubi- lation, than the thought that present advancement is the future assurance of growth and larger increase of spiritual life, secured from contact with the Divine indwelling.
This scripture read in your ears does not intend to make com- parisons between the past and present so much as to point you gladly to the possible future, and to your part in the making of that future. The theme is big with promise, and buoyant with God's hope, as it confidently announces that He who hath begun a good work in faith yet shall continue it, adding glory to glory, and granting the peace which passeth understanding. And yet, we may predicate somewhat upon the story of the past. We may go forward into our duty, and our conflict, stimulated by the example of the wise and good who have preceded us, and we
-64-
may start where they (the Fathers) left off; and remembering what they did for Christ, and also remembering them today at the altar before God in humble thankfulness, we may seize upon our inheritance as children of the Kingdom, and so become par- takers here of the revealed glory, and enter ultimately with them, into its warmth and satisfying light.
We are gathered together here today as children of a common - household. We stand on holy ground, as from this point we look backward into the past, replete with hallowed memories and crowded with visions of saints, and of pilgrims, and of disciples of our Christ, whom we admired and loved, while we hear the Prophet's cry of promise, and look forward to the blessed and full harvesting of souls that shall under His oversight be gath- ered in. And the wondrous enlightenment of the ancient servant of Jehovah is in a sense being repeated for us, as we behold the mountain side thick with the ranks of the hosts that will fight God's battles of truth with us; or we feel the stronger throbs of our pulse beats, as with St. Paul we realize that we are sur- rounded in this Parish today with such a cloud of witnesses - such a great congregation of holy men and devoted women, of blessed children and rejoicing youths and maidens, in the amphi- theatre of rest Christ hath granted them, -that we fain would gird up the loins of our endeavor and "run with patience the race that is set before us," "looking unto Jesus," as they did when they struggled for holy masteries, looking ever unto Him who is the author and finisher of the Christian's faith.
The past history of this Church and congregation is the pre- sage for its future. It has stood here on these green hills, over- looking your winding river, in the midst of a great toiling and industrious community, ministering to the poor and the rich alike. It has been a religious center and home, in which the ancient verites have been regularly and faithfully taught, and the holy sacraments have been rightly ministered. Its children today rise
-65-
up and call it blessed, and this entire community will, I am con- fident, pay its tribute of gratitude. This Church has reared noble sons and loving daughters, and, whether they be in the flesh or in the Land of Light, this festal is one in which all join as in a full-voiced Te Deum. This Parish, too, has been singu- larly fortunate in its Pastors; they have been men of pious con- versation and consistent living, and they have been faithful as stewards and diligent as Priests. And they, too, this day,-one in Paradise (Rev. Mr. Maxwell), some in other parts of the earthly vineyard, with our brother beloved (would that I might with propriety speak in this presence of his loyal, patient, steady, loving labors),- these shepherds of this flock, are devoutly rejoie- ing in the approval of the Great Shepherd and King. For the light that illumined the pathway of the past has taken on new brightness and enlarged the circumference of its radiance, and it is burning with the increased glory of the Most High, who hath condescended to have His dwelling among men. And, beloved people of St. John's, my well-tried friends and helpers, I am mak- ing no empty prognostication, when I assert that your future accomplishment for God, and for man, through your Parish agen- cies, will perforce be nobler, and wider reaching, and more loving, than ever before. Because I know the reason for your present gladness. I know that all your prayers, and anxious endeavors, and ingenious methods, and never flagging work, and your gener- ous self-denying gifts for the building of this beautiful House of Prayer, this Gate of Heaven, are laid at your Master's feet gladly, in order that you may do Him the greater honor. Not for a mere civic ambition, not simply to have a larger or a bet- ter structure, but for God's glory; for the more effective instruc- tion of the people; for the more acceptable machinery with which to do pious work; for the blessing of those who are to succeed you ; for the symbolizing, here in the eyes of the world, the per- manency and stability of your beloved Church; for these reasons
-66-
have you struggled and labored, and let us praise God that He hath given you such a good mind and will. And the glory of the Most High is come into this House. He will increase its forceful power, and these latter days will be glad with His pres- ence and His peace. And, my brethren, this rebuilded Temple, with its manifest improvements, its added convenience, its more substantial and stately edifice, its more ornate and beautiful be- holdings, is illustrative of the present status of our Catholic heritage in this land of intelligence, and, I think, prophetic of the days that are nigh at hand. The outlook of the Parish is typical of the outlook of the Church. I say this not in the spirit of criticism, but in the mind of love, because the extended inves- tigation that is now being given by the unprejudiced,' and by the thoughtful Christians of all sorts and names, to the Church's claim . to Apostolicity, her careful guardianship and unwearying interpretation of Holy Scriptures, her stern, unyielding hold on the unchangeable faith, her pure sacramental teaching and prac- tice, must eventuate in the acceptance of her gracious care for the souls of the multitudes who look for peace.
The story of the Church's struggle in this country, against the political embarrassments that followed the Revolutionary War, and with the strong Puritan and Dutch constituencies in New England and New York, is a page of most interesting and instructive history.
From 1776 to 1830 this branch of God's Church seemed to be but a despised sect of Nazarenes, and it has taken each of the years since 1830,-years of quietness, and confidence, and faith,- to bring her life into that kind of touch with the general life of our great land, that will approve to all men the superior beauty and value of her system, when so many rival systems have four- ished. I believe that I am correct in stating, that in our great Eastern cities and centers of power and thought, it is not Roman- ism, nor Methodism, nor Presbyterianism, whose masters and whose
-67-
influences predominate, but that the Anglo-Catholic Church - our American Episcopal Church -is the most potential factor in con- trolling and in molding public and private opinion. So that today, rising into the rich and strong glow of this elosing cen- tury and standing against the background of the past, our previous Church is found in the presence of all the religious communities,-calmly, majestically, lovingly,-with her hands stretched out, offering a bond of unity and of peace, which already is bringing to her the approval and the glory of her God. And I see this leaven of Catholic truth and order, work- ing in the seething heterogeneous mass of our Western life. No soil could have been more suitable for sectism; rich and alluvial, the seeds of separation and of independence found in it a warm, congenial place for their prolific working, until at least one hun- dred and fifty opposing ecclesiastical bodies are reported by our Bureau of Census. Into that restless, almost uncontrollable civili- zation our Church has quietly made her way. She stirs up no unwholesome excitements. She has no mission of fanatieism or of radicalism, but as a conserver of truth, and a peace-giving, ten- der, helpful friend. She has been, and is, content to patiently labor, ever presenting the faith and sacraments, and never falter- ing in her walk and work. I can see what the outcome will be, - nay, more, what it is already, -and, with no optimistic vision, can readily foretell for the West the latter glory of this Church's service; "in quietness and confidence shall be your strength," and sometimes it is even "strength to sit still," and you and I must be content with the fact of our own duty well done, leaving issues unto Him who sitteth over all, our God forever.
The late Archbishop Taite of Canterbury was wont to say, that during his ministry he had seen the Church pass through many crises, unscathed and unharmed, and that "we have much need for something changeless, to rest upon in these changeful and ever anxious times." And this is a characteristic of the
-68-
Church; changeless, because she is the Body of Christ; not un- wieldy iron and mechanical, but changeless as to her foundations, her deposit of unvarying truth, "not blown about by every wind of doctrine," yet adaptable and accommodating to the times, and the ever-shifting, changing moods of the generations. What a solid comfort comes to the devout Churchman as he realizes this. He finds that opinions of men, and of factions and parties, vary, and are set aside as obsolete and worn out and of no further use; he sees governments rising, flourishing, decaying, and dead; he notes the remarkable diversity in literary styles and standards, all the way down from Chaucer to Tennyson; he regards the mutability of that code which in each generation attempts to criticize art and her masters and pupils; he is amazed at the constant fluctua- tions, the recurrent ebbs and flows, of the rules of science. And then he turns to the Church and finds her ever the same; just like his mother; older, it is true, than when he climbed on her knee; wiser, riper, fitter for another world, but the same dear mother, and friend, and guide; teaching the same creeds, reading the same Bible, refreshing souls with the same sacraments, and ministering by the same Apostolic hands to her loving children. It is one of her marks by which she is known and may be found, and differentiated from a community which hesitates not to add wilfully and freely to the venerable symbols of the primitive Church, on the one side, and from such schools and societies of religious thought which impatiently throw off rightful authority, and cast away essentials, on the other side. And this oneness of the Church we love, this steadiness and unswervingness that holds her, and holds us, through the ages to the ancient things "once for all time delivered to the Saints"; this it is which, perhaps more than anything else, is attracting the study and admiration of many men. Sometimes we grow restive under this slowness of our Church's development; I confess that I do, as I see her com- pelled to wait aside, perhaps humiliated, as the more brilliant and
-69-
noisier pageants go by. We are troubled with the desire for numerical power; we are prone to study columns of comparative statistics, and to reekon the value of our ecclesiastical inherit- ance by the showing of other apparently more vigorous associa- tions of religious people. But this is the nature of sin. Moses hankered after a census of Israel, and numbered the people, and found some satisfaction in it, but it cost him the joy of his soul, and God forbade his entering into the promised land. You and I, my brothers, have nothing to do with results; we have but to work and pray; you and I have no right to fret and worry over small confirmation classes, or small congregations, or meagre attendance on Holy Communions. We have but to toil, to keep the instruments of labor bright with use, to plant and to water, and to. wait for the increase from God. He it is who is responsi- ble, reverently speaking, for results, because He may see fit to withhold the harvests and the reapage of souls. For us, the arduous, never ceasing, contented, hopeful, faithful, daily round of obligation is set, and our only anxiety, our only serutiny, is to know that we are true, and earnest, and tireless, and con- stant, and unremitting. And so we must not be at all anxious about our Church's progress; we must not have a doubt on that score. We must the rather learn the lesson of "abiding God's time," and hope for an entering in upon the larger fields of oppor- tunity that are ahead. I would have clergy and laity alike so positive in their confidence as to the ultimate mission of our Church to this intelligent, strong human life all about us, so absolutely filled with a hope that is based upon a knowledge of the Church charter, her historic continuity of life, reaching back of this young American constituency, back of English transmis- sions, back of reformations, back of Papal identification, back of St. Augustine and Kent, back of Arles and St. Albans, back to St. John and to Jesus Christ, that the look forward is aglow with the fulfillment of the Prophet's vision, and resplendent with the
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.