USA > Ohio > Stark County > Canton > History of the First Reformed Church, Canton, Ohio > Part 14
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During the "new measure" excitement (1838-1846) the two congregations began to draw apart. The denominational distinctions were still more emphasized after 1846, when, as a consequence of the adoption of a new constitution by the Ohio
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THE CONSTITUTION AND THE INCORPORATION
Synod, Rev. Peter Herbruck worked out a distinctly Reformed constitution for the Canton congregation. He introduced, however, a number of unique articles which have been retained to the present time, although the constitution has been several times revised and frequently amended. A careful reading will disclose these odd features without further comment.
The last revision occurred in 1897, when the congregation was incorporated under the laws of the state of Ohio. At that time the name and nature of the church was legally changed by the adoption of the following resolution, "Resolved, that this congregation be changed from an association under the name of the First German Reformed Jerusalem's Church, to a corporation under the name of, The First German Reformed Church of Canton, Ohio; and that all the rights, title and interests in and to, any and all, real and personal property which it now owns, pass to and vest in the church under the new incorporated name, and that the title to the real estate be legally transferred by the trustees of the association to the new- ly elected trustees of the corporation."
The constitution as revised and adopted in 1897 will here be given in a free translation from the German. Later amend- ments will be indicated in brackets.
THE CONSTITUTION AND CHURCH RULES OF THE FIRST GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH, CANTON, OHIO.
As it is a commonly accepted proposition that no social organization or union of individuals for attaining a common goal, can exist without order and laws, we, the undersigned members of the First German Reformed Church, here in Can- ton, Stark County, in the State of Ohio, have found ourselves persuaded to draw up the following Constitution and Church Rules ; and obligate ourselves by our own signature to precise- ly follow and support the same.
ARTICLE I.
The First German Reformed Church in Canton recognizes no other foundation for its faith and life than the Gospel of
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our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, as it is contained in the Holy Scriptures.
ARTICLE II .- THE CONSISTORY.
1. For managing the affairs of the church a mass meeting of all the members of the church shall be held on the first Sun- day of each year, [amended as follows : "On a Sunday in De- cember"] on which occasion a consistory shall be elected by ballot, consisting of four elders, eight deacons, [amended De- cember 1900 to read: "Six elders and twelve deacons"] and three trustees. [When the new constitution of the Reformed Church in the United States went into effect in 1908, this arti- cle was interpreted in accordance with Article 9 of the general constitution of the church, and the consistory was declared to constitute the board of trustees of the congregation.]
2. The day of the election shall be announced each year by the minister of the congregation, fourteen days before the day determined upon for the election.
3. It shall herewith be perpetually established that the minister of the congregation is and remains a member of the congregation without interruption, so long as he serves in his official capacity ; he shall also, whenever present, be chairman at every meeting of the consistory.
4. Whenever a member of the consistory dies or moves away, the vacant office shall be filled at a special, general elec- tion, which is to be announced, fourteen days before, to the congregation by the minister.
ARTICLE III .- THE DUTIES OF THE CONSISTORY.
A. The Duties of the Preacher.
1. It shall be the duty of the preacher to preach the Gospel pure, unadulterated, and free from human additions or arbi- trary perversions; and to administer the holy sacraments ; wherein, at the sacrament of the Holy Supper, he is to adhere strictly to the directions as given in I Cor. 11 : 23-29.
2. It shall be the duty of the preacher to prepare the youth and the adults for reception into the church and partaking of
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the Holy Supper, by instructing them in the essential truths of the salvation of the Christian religion. He shall also visit the sick and constantly labor to the end that the members of the church shall lead a Christian life.
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3. The preacher shall go before his congregation in a truly Christian manner of life. If he should cause offense, or- which God may prevent-be guilty of gross sin or vice, he shall be warned and admonished by the other members of the consistory in a brotherly manner; and if he gives no heed, and incorrigibly becomes a stumbling-block and offense to the church, the consistory has the right to accuse the preacher before the Classis to which he belongs, and to deny him all official duties in the congregation until the matter has been definitely decided by the Classis or the Synod.
4. Furthermore it shall be left to the preacher without restraint, to conduct a Christian devotional hour, on some even- ing of each week, in no other way, however, except that the preacher begins the devotional hour with singing and prayer, and then reads and explains [in the constitution as originally adopted the words "Hermeneutically and exegetically" fol- lowed here] a chapter from the Old or New Testament. In case it is impossible for the minister to conduct the devotional hour himself, it is permissible for any member of the congre- gation having the ability to conduct the same.
B. The Duties of Trustees .*
1. They shall seek by the grace of God to preside over their own home and also the congregation, and go before them in the way of a Christian deportment.
2. They shall see to it that the property of the congrega- tion shall be secured against loss and injury, and the buildings be kept in good condition.
3. That deeds and other important documents belonging to the congregation are safely preserved.
4. That all debts which may exist, are reduced and can- celled in the manner most advantageous for the congregation.
* The entire consistory now constitutes the Board of Trustees.
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C. Duties of Elders.
1. They are to go before the congregation with a Christian deportment.
2. They are to see to it that evangelical doctrine, and Christian discipline in the congregation are maintained and continued.
3. To visit the school on occasions and make provision that good order is observed therein, and the children are right- ly instructed.
4. Should quarrels and disagreements exist in the congre- gation, they shall seek as much as possible to reconcile the quarreling factions in order to restore peace.
5. When the preacher requests it, they shall go with him to visit the sick.
6. They shall see to it that the account of all expenditures and receipts of the congregation are correctly kept, and finally, aid in carrying out all further measures for advancing the wel- fare of the congregation.
D. The Duties of Deacons.
1. They shall go before the congregation with a pious ex- ample.
2. At public and private services and in particular at the distribution of the Lord's Supper they shall extend all neces- sary assistance.
3. They shall gather the offerings, and keep a record of the same, and hand them over to the treasurer or the financial secretary.
4. They shall see to it that the laborers in the word of God are supported, and provided for, and kept according to the command of Christ; and finally, they shall secure good dis- cipline and order, and promote the same.
ARTICLE IV .- CONSISTORY MEETING.
1. The consistory shall regularly meet once a month, to consider all matters that will advance the welfare of the con- gregation.
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2. A mere majority of the members of the consistory shall constitute a quorum, which shall be authorized to open the meeting and dispose of the business on hand. [Amended, No- vember 15, 1896 to read, "Seven members of the consistory shall constitute a quorum, and shall be authorized to open a meeting and transact business."]
3. The proceedings of the consistory shall be entered into a record designated for that purpose, and it shall be a stated duty, to announce the most important resolutions to the congre- gation, on the following Sunday.
ARTICLE V .- GENERAL DUTIES OF THE CONSISTORY.
1. It shall be the duty of the consistory to see to it that every member of the congregation leads a Christian life; and in case any member should be guilty of an opposite act, the consistory shall cite him to appear before it; and if the error is proved, the consistory shall admonish him once or several times; if no amendment ensues, the consistory has the right to suspend such a member from partaking of the Lord's Supper until such a time that amendment of life is shown; or even to exclude him from the congregation.
2. Two members of the consistory are empowered to call a meeting of the consistory.
ARTICLE VI .- RECEPTION OF CHURCH-MEMBERS.
1. No one shall be confirmed who has not begun or attend- ed the instruction of the minister, unless the minister and the consistory consider that the applicant has a sufficient knowl- edge of religion, or are satisfied that he is receptive and qual- ified thereunto.
ARTICLE VII .- ARRIVALS.
1. Applicants for membership who cannot present a good recommendation from the congregation from which they have departed, and are entire strangers to the consistory, shall be received only on six-month's probation. If they prove them- selves during this period as good members, their names shall be entered upon the roll of the regular church-members.
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2. When members of the Protestant-Evangelical church of Europe or other countries come into the local congregation, and abide here permanently, it will be their duty, if they desire to become members of our church, to make application to the consistory or a member thereof; the consistory shall then acquaint such newcomers with our constitution and church laws; if they express a willingness to abide by the church laws thus brought to their attention and to support the same, then, their names shall be entered into the church-record, and they shall be considered as members of the congregation. Recep- tion of members shall take place before the assembled congre- gation.
3. No one can be considered a member of the congregation who does not support the church and minister according to his ability. A neglect of this duty without sufficient cause shall be considered as though such a member had withdrawn from the church of his own accord, and his name shall be erased from the roll of members of the congregation.
ARTICLE VIII .- CONCERNING ELECTIONS.
1. No election shall be counted as legal which has not been announced fourteen days beforehand, according to Article II, Section 2.
2. When a minister resigns the congregation, it shall be the duty of the consistory to advertise the vacant charge, and as soon as one or more candidates apply for the position of pastor, the congregation shall vote for one of the candidates recommended by the consistory, on a day announced before- hand; and if the candidate receives a two-thirds majority of all the votes cast by members in good and regular standing, he shall be considered the choice of the whole congregation in view of which a call shall be extended to him.
ARTICLE IX .- ITINERANT AND VISITING MINISTERS.
A minister who is a stranger coming into the congregation and desiring to preach in the place of the minister stationed here, must apply to the consistory or a member thereof; and
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shall be permitted to preach with the permission of the consis- tory or the regular minister.
ARTICLE X .- CONCERNING THE LANGUAGE.
Both languages shall be used in this congregation. The sermon in the morning shall be in German and in the evening in English. [By a vote of the congregation taken on Sunday, June 30, 1907, this article was changed by a majority of 270 to 116, so as to hold German services only every two weeks in the morning.]
ARTICLE XI .- IMPROVEMENTS OF THE CHURCH PROPERTY.
When repairs are necessary on the church or parsonage which shall exceed a cost of $50.00, the consistory shall call a congregational meeting to consider the matter. No improve- ments shall be started, however, until sufficient funds are in hand or have been subscribed.
ARTICLE XII .- THE GENERAL CONSTITUTION.
All questions which cannot be decided by this constitution, shall be determined according to the general constitution of the Reformed Church in the United States.
In 1897, the congregation decided to be legally incorporat- ed under the general corporation laws of Ohio as a "corpora- tion not for profit," in order "to provide a place of worship for its members, to be conducted, according to the rules and discipline of the Reformed Church in the United States; to promote the interests of the Christian religion, and to receive and hold donations and bequests and funds arising from other sources for the benefit of said corporation."
The articles of incorporation were filed with the Secre- tary of State on November 29, 1897, and are recorded in Vol- ume 73, Page 228, of the Records of Incorporation.
CHAPTER XXII REV. THEODORE P. BOLLIGER AND THE FIRST CHURCH
D URING July of 1907, Rev. F. C. Nau, who had just re- signed the Canton pastorate, wrote to Rev. Theodore P. Bolliger, who was then serving the New Philadelphia church, inviting him to supply the Canton pulpit some Sunday during August. Now it happened that Rev. Bolliger had been grant- ed all of August as his vacation, but that he could not leave New Philadelphia until after the first Sunday of the month, so he promptly informed Rev. Nau that the only Sunday on which he could preach would be the first, and that he was will- ing to come only with the express understanding that he was not a candidate for the pulpit, and would not consider himself as being placed under any obligation to the congregation, if he preached.
With this understanding Rev. Bolliger spent Sunday, August 4, in Canton. He taught the German class, made a lit- tle speech to the Sunday School, preached morning and even- ing, and talked to the Christian Endeavor Society. In the morning he preached on Luke 19: 41, in the evening on Eph. 3: 14-16. The subjects were, "Die Traenen unsres Heilan- des," and "The Christ Dwelling Within." He was received most cordially, but not a word or hint was given that might have been construed as indicating that the sermons were looked upon as "trial sermons." Two days later, Rev. Bolliger went west for a month and gave no further thought to his Canton visit.
During the next weeks the Canton people heard several other ministers, and by the beginning of September, the consis- tory had come to a decision, for at the meeting held on the third, the following resolution was unanimously passed, "That the committee composed of Brothers Seemann and Daberko interview Rev. Bolliger and see if he would accept a call from
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this church if it were extended to him." This committee met with Rev. Bolliger and very frankly discussed with him cer- tain needs and problems of the Canton church; but had to be content to wait a week before he could give them a definite answer. At the end of that period he consented to have his name go before the congregation as a candidate for the pulpit. The next communication that he received was the official noti- fication that he had been unanimously elected on Sunday, Sep- tember 29.
On Sunday, November 17, the new pastor conducted his first services. The first services are always of peculiar inter- est to both pastor and people and many of the members will be glad to be reminded of the themes and the outlines of the first sermons. In the morning the text was Acts 4: 12, "Es ist in keinem Andern Heil, ist auch kein andrer Name den Men- schen gegeben, darinnen wir sollen selig werden." The sub- ject was, "Der Weg zur Seligkeit." Erstens, Der Weg der Menschen; zweitens, Der Weg Gottes. In the evening the text was I John 4: 16, "God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God." The subject was, "God is Love." First, the Meaning of these Words ; secondly, the Obligations of this Wondrous Truth. These were given as the obligation of con- fession, of loving others, and of abiding in God. Though the au- diences were not large, the new pastor felt like a stranger in a strange land, being gazed upon by the curious natives who were wondering how he would "pan out."
At this point the author somewhat reluctantly must inter- rupt the story of the Canton pastorate to talk about himself a bit. The previous pastors all had to submit to the embarrass- ment of furnishing personal details of their lives, and so to be consistent, and not show himself undue favors, it will be neces- sary for him to go through with it also. For the paragraphs dealing with himself, the author prefers to speak in the first person.
In the little village of Newville, Ind., now known as Vera Cruz, I was born on Friday, the thirteenth of December, 1872. Much of the primitive forest was still standing, the swamps
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had not yet been drained, and during the summer everybody had the maleria or the ague. My earliest recollection of apple- butter is that it always had a bit of quinine hidden beneath the surface. We got it during summer as regularly as our meals. My second earliest recollection has to do with the mysterious sounds in the tree tops, and the nuts under the trees. These seemed to lure me on; and one day the lad of four became the most talked-of personage in the village by following the voices into the woods, becoming lost, falling asleep and not being found until many hours later. The next clear recollection has to do with the desire of some day preaching, even as my father did. When nearly six years of age, my father for the sake of our health moved to Kansas. There my boyhood was spent at Hiawatha and New Basel, where I attended the public schools. I learned to read German as early as I learned the English, and a wonderful acquisition it was to me. At New Basil, we lived twelve miles from the nearest railroad, in a community largely of Swiss people, with conditions raw and primitive. Every- body was poor. There were no luxuries and few of the neces- sities of life. My father had a salary of $400 a year which frequently was not paid in full, and in addition had a neat par- sonage and received all the meat and flour that the household of ten required. Spending money for children was unknown. About twice a year father would give each one of us a nickel. It was often a matter of days until all the various de- sires of childhood had been weighed and the best purchase decided upon. All about us were the great prairies rolling in unbroken majesty as far as the eye could see. It seemed a wonderful life; it was in fact a life of simplicity and poverty. The country schools were fine for that day. Through slush, mud, snow and Kansas blizzards I tramped one and one-half mile, morning and evening. But the school-term lasted only six months of the year, and I had a keen passion to learn and a voracious appetite to read, while there were but few books in English in my father's library; so, perforce, I literally learned my schoolbooks by heart. Then I turned to father's German books, and took up history, theology, poetry, some of the great
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dramas, and even the doctor-book. I shall never forget the tremendous upheaval of soul that Schiller's poems and dramas brought me. Before I was sixteen, I had read and knew inti- mately more German literary masterpieces than are now taken up in an ordinary college course. The German Bible also passed into my very life's blood. I learned all its precious stories, could repeat hundreds of verses by heart, and knew scores of the old German hymns and songs. My love for Ger- man literature, history and genius dates from those years.
During all my boyhood days, I secretly nursed the hope of becoming a minister some day. But during the terrible crop failures of the eighties, and the hardships and sacrifices of those years in the parental home, I despaired of ever being able to go to school; so my mind began to contemplate the ques- tion of getting into something in which I could make money. When I was about fourteen years old, Rev. E. V. Gerhart, D.D., president of the Lancaster, Pa. Theological Seminary, at- tended the dedication of the Reformed Church in Abilene, our countyseat. My father took me with him to pay our respect to the venerable old man. Suddenly Dr. Gerhart turned to me and asked, And are you going to follow in your father's foot- steps and also enter the sacred calling of a minister of the Gos- pel? In my confusion I hesitated a moment, and my father answered: I am afraid not, he wants to get into something in which there is money. The good doctor then spoke to me per- sonally for a few moments on the matter. I do not remember a word he said, but I do know when I left that room, my mind was determined, and my future was settled. About a year later my father told me one day very quietly that he was going to send me to Calvin College, Cleveland, Ohio and inquired wheth- er I had any particular profession for which I wanted to pre- pare myself. As I look back now, I see that we both had been too reserved towards one another. I had always felt drawn towards the ministry; he had prayed that I might enter this sacred calling ; but we never got together until then. So in September, 1888, I started for Cleveland, Ohio.
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By heroic sacrifices and endless self-denials, father kept me in college for five years. To this day, I cannot understand how he did it. The tears stand in my eyes as I write of it. If I have been of any use in the Reformed Church it is the love and sacrifice of my dear parents to which much of the credit must go.
Knowing the price which my parents were paying to keep me in school, I determined to give them full value by faithful application. During the five years, I stood at the head of every class, during every month without a break, graduating in June, 1893, as valedictorian. After a year spent in teaching school in Kansas, I entered the Theological Seminary, Lancaster, Pa., in the fall of 1894, taking the full three years' course. The Biblical languages and church history appealed especially to me. In Hebrew I took first honors. At the graduating serv- ices, I represented the New Testament Department by reading a thesis on the subject, "Biblical Theology the Norm of Doc- trinal Development." In a class of twenty-seven, with few ex- ceptions graduates of various colleges, I ranked with the three highest for the entire three years.
A few days after graduation, I was licensed by Lancaster Classis at Manheim, Pa., and on June 27, 1897, began my labors in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., as pastor of the St. Luke's Church. On July 25, a committee appointed by Wyoming Classis ordained me to the holy office of the ministry; and the prayers of my parents were answered at last.
The most important event of that year, next to my ordina- tion, was getting married. On November 17, I was united in marriage to Elizabeth Mohr of Burbank, Cal., previously of Haskins, Ohio, and a former student at Calvin College. In the course of the years, four children arrived to gladden the parson- age, namely, Lydia Aurelia, Louise Virgilia, Katherine Marie, and Theodore Karl.
I remained in my first field for four years and four months. During the last year, the Plymouth congregation also formed a part of the parish. Both congregations were small, the peo- ple were mine workers for the most part, and the two great
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coal strikes in the coal fields during those years prostrated in- dustries, impoverished the people, and demoralized church work. Nevertheless, 175 new names were added to the rolls.
On the first Sunday of November, 1901, I began my min- istry at New Philadelphia, Ohio, and remained there just six years to the day. During this period a church debt of several thousand dollars was paid, a $3500 parsonage was built, the church was entirely renovated, an addition for the primary de- partment was built, the benevolences were increased yearly to four times the best previous figure, and 252 new members were added to the church.
I have always given the best there was in me to my con- gregation, my classis, and my synod, and these have not been unappreciative. During my ministry I have been elected to the following church positions: President of St. John's Classis, 1903-5 ; Board of Trustees of Central Synod, 1904-7; Treasurer of Central Synod, 1905-6 ; Treasurer of St. John's Classis since 1905 ; Board of Church Erection of the three western German Synods since 1908; President of the Sunday School Board of Central Synod, 1908-9; President of Central Synod 1911-12; Delegate to General Synod, 1905, 1908, and 1914. I was also a member of the commission that issued the "Survey of the Re- formed Church," and wrote the church history section and a few other lessons for the third volume of the "Advanced Teach- ers' Training Course," besides being a frequent contributor to the church papers and other periodicals.
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