USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > The Old stone church; the story of a hundred years, 1820-1920 > Part 17
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Loyal souls have looked ahead and anticipated future needs, and the endowment began by Elder George Mygatt has grown till we found a month ago that we prospectively possessed resources which will put us on vantage ground. Is it not a call to broaden our work right here, and to put ourselves as wisely and lovingly as we can into helpful relations to the people of this central district? I so in- terpret the call of providence to us, for I do not believe that we are to have a fund of one hundred thousand dol- lars, which will yet be increased, that we may sit down at ease and think only of ourselves. My gratitude for the past, with all its labors and trials, is unbounded, while I thank God that these ten years lie behind and not before me. May He keep us all in His love. Truly, truly, "in the Cross of Christ I glory, towering o'er the wrecks of time." Truly do I say and mean it; I am determined not to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. To Him be glory the livelong ages through.
One of the most faithful members of the Stone Church, the Honorable George H. Ely, passed away in the early part of 1894. He had come to Cleveland in 1863, when he was thirty-eight years of age, from Rochester, N. Y., where he had been engaged in large business ventures. To the end of life he was inti- mately connected with the Lake Superior iron ore trade. So keen became his knowledge of the industry that he was the natural spokesman on all occasions for those engaged in that line of business. Mr. Ely served as state senator, and prominent charitable in- stitutions sought his aid, knowing that public confi- dence could be secured if it were known that he had assumed responsibility for the execution of their trusts. He was president of Lakeside Hospital and
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a trustee of Adelbert College and Western Reserve University. The Stone Church received long and devoted service from this trustee and elder, and his daughter, Mrs. George R. Garretson, remains one of the most active members of the old church.
The Reverend B. F. Shuart, who before ordination served from 1877 to 1880 as a lay assistant, was re- employed on December 26, 1894, to assist Dr. Haydn for six months, and on February 25, 1895, Dr. Haydn "spoke to the trustees of the work of Mr. Shuart, also outlining the work that he thought ought to be done and saying that Mr. and Mrs. Jackson would come for a few months if considered expedient." The clos- ing words of Dr. Haydn were, "The time has come to consider deliberately the call of a man to look to the front." This was the first intimation from the veteran pastor of the Stone Church that he was contemplating the inevitable closing of a strenuous ministry. This did not come, however, for a number of years.
The seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Stone Church was observed October 20 to 24, 1895, by a week of carefully planned exercises. For- mer members, as well as living communicants, were invited to the celebration by a committee composed of Dr. Haydn, W. P. Stanton, Reuben F. Smith, Edwin C. Higbee, Herbert E. Brooks, Mrs. George W. Gardner, Mrs. L. Austin, and Mrs. S. P. Fenn. The committee on program consisted of Dr. H. C. Haydn, Richard C. Parsons, Reuben F. Smith, Sereno P. Fenn, Charles L. Kimball, Mrs. H. Kirke Cushing, and Mrs. George W. Gardner. The members of the
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committee on finance were Samuel A. Raymond, Frank Herrick, Mrs. W. S. Tyler, and Mrs. J. V. Painter. The intense interest of Dr. Haydn in this anniversary was evidenced by the delivery of a ser- mon in July designed to awake general attention to the coming event.
No adequate history of this church and society should fail to tell our relation to higher education in this city and elsewhere, of which it suffices to say that within seventeen years we have put into this cause two million nine hundred and nine thousand dollars. Into our church we have received from the first members and pew-holders three thousand nine hundred and ninety-one; and the present enrollment is nine hundred and forty-seven. We are not as numerous as we were, and the stated income from pews is less than once it was, and the workers are fewer, but the audiences morning and evening are up to the average of former years; the bulk of our charities has not dwindled, and the work in hand was never greater or more necessary to be done, or more immediately fruit- ful of desired results.
In closing this anticipatory address Dr. Haydn said : Let us determine that this anniversary year shall be used, not mainly in retrospect and vain regrets, but in a resolute and courageous grappling with the work to be done, with not a thought but that the next twenty-five years that round out a century for this old church may be the best of the hundred. We shall not go to the end of this period, but God willing we can help to make it such; and, more- over, make it in our time possible for them who live to see that day come to it with songs of rejoicing and the trophies of war.
On Sunday morning, October 13, 1895, a week prior to the formal celebration, Dr. Haydn preached
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on "The Continuity of Life and Influence," showing how deeply he had imbibed the spirit of the approach- ing occasion, and how thoroughly he had searched church annals for historical material. The inter- dependence of reaper with sower, or the interlinking of the generations, was the theme of this second pre- liminary discourse.
The anniversary week commenced with the Sunday School session held on Sunday morning, October 20, 1895. This consisted of short talks from Messrs. Tru- man P. Handy, Francis C. Keith, Reuben F. Smith, Henry N. Raymond, Edwin C. Higbee, Dr. C. F. Dutton, and Dr. Hiram C. Haydn. These speakers were seven of the sixteen known superintendents who until that time had served the Stone Church Sunday School. The other nine were Elisha Taylor, John A. Foot, George Mygatt, George H. Ely, F. M. Backus, William Slade, Jr., Thomas Maynard, Henry M. Flagler and Charles L. Kimball, at the time of the celebration the acting superintendent.
The text of the seventy-fifth anniversary sermon delivered by Dr. Hiram C. Haydn at the morning hour of worship was Isaiah 60 : 23:
The little one shall become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation; I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time.
The closing lines of this discourse were:
The fathers have fallen on sleep, but they fell in their tracks, they fell face forward; some of them put into our hands treasure to be used for them right here, and said, "By this would I live on and work with you and them that come after you." These speaking windows, these
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tablets on the wall, these portraits, the pealing notes of the new organ - let us have more of such things, remem- bering how they who sow and they who reap are to re- joice together - builders all, the work of all gathered up and carried along in the unbroken line of this historic church. After all, as one has said, "It is better to live than to write about life." Oh, dear church of God, gird thyself afresh. Renew your vows, oh ye who have grown weary, or lost heart, or been turned aside. Pray, pray, every one of you that this day, this week, may not go by without leaving with us signal blessing of the Al- mighty - Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
The text of Dr. Haydn's Sunday evening sermon was Job 8 :7 - 10:
Though the beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase. For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of thy fathers (for we are but of yesterday, and know nothing because our days upon earth are a shadow). Shall not they teach . thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?
The theme was, "Then and now - a Contrast." This historical address drew comparisons between the later and the earlier years.
At three o'clock Sunday afternoon the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was observed, the Reverend David O. Mears, D.D., pastor of Calvary Presby- terian Church; the Reverend Paul F. Sutphen, D.D., pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church; the Rev- erend James D. Williamson, D.D, pastor of Beckwith Memorial Presbyterian Church, and others partici- pating.
The Monday evening service was devoted to ad- dresses by various pastors. Dean Williams of Trinity
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Cathedral spoke on "The Church and the Com- munity." "The Church and Religious Progress" was the theme of an address by the Reverend L. L. Tay- lor, pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church. The Reverend Levi Gilbert, D.D., pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, spoke on "The Church as a Witness for the Truth;" while the subject of an address by the Reverend A. G. Upham, pastor of the First Baptist Church, was "The Church in her Fel- lowship."
On Tuesday afternoon various addresses were given by lay workers: "The Founders of the First Church," Elder Truman P. Handy; "Our Work with the Young," Mr. Charles L. Kimball; "Our Young People," Mr. Giles R. Anderson, and a paper, "Per- sonal Recollections of Bygone Times," by Mrs. Mary M. Fairbanks.
Three addresses formed the program for Tuesday evening, "Our Spiritual Leaders," the Honorable Richard C. Parsons; "Men of Mark in the Church and Society," the Honorable Samuel E. Williamson; "The Cleveland Sisterhood of Presbyterian Churches," the Reverend Samuel P. Sprecher, D.D.
Wednesday afternoon of the week of celebration was devoted to "Woman's Work." The following papers were presented: "In the Inner Circle - the Ladies' Society," Mrs. H. Kirke Cushing; "In the Outer Circle - Missions," Mrs. Edwin C. Higbee; "Leaves from the Goodrich Society Annals," Mrs. Samuel Mather.
The Reverend Henry E. Elliott Mott, D.D., pastor
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of the Central Presbyterian Church, Buffalo, N. Y., and the Reverend Wilton Merle-Smith, D.D., pastor of the Central Presbyterian Church, New York City, delivered inspiring addresses on Wednesday evening; while the evening of Thursday was given to a "Social Reunion," limited to the then present and former members of the Stone Church and invited guests. After the seventy-fifth anniversary had been cele- brated a book entitled "Stone Church Annals" was published, containing the sermons and addresses de- livered upon the occasion, and in addition Dr. Haydn's discourse, "The History of Presbyterianism in Cleve- land," delivered on January 1, 1896. Many of the facts presented in the addresses and sermons deliv- ered and in the papers read at the seventy-fifth anni- versary celebration have naturally been incorporated in this centennial history.
In a communication to the trustees on January 29, 1896, Dr. Haydn wrote:
Being fully persuaded that our church needs for its best estate a service that I am not fully able to render; needs also the touch of a comparatively young man, and that I need a measure of relief from the care which the parish imposes, and more freedom to go and come, as the years go by, now I, Hiram C. Haydn, pastor, tender the half of my salary, $2,500, for the purpose of enabling the parish to pay a copastor, and pray your acceptance of the same, and your cooperation in the securing of such a man as from experience will be able to meet the needs of the work, and be likely to be acceptable in the pulpit and out of it, the same if providence favors to take effect June 1, 1896. In this connection I wish to say that my son Howell graduates in June, and I desire to be free to
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take him to Europe for the summer with your approval. If the parish work could go forward without detriment, my wish would be to be free for a longer period, but this and all other measures I desire to subordinate to the good of the parish. If it should be thought more for the advantage of the parish to have me go altogether and a new man come in, I will acquiesce in that. My wish is that through your prayers and wisdom the will of provi- dence, the Head of the church, may be made known. A similar statement I make tonight to the session.
The trustees acceded to Dr. Haydn's request and the elders invited the trustees to cooperate in the securing of a copastor. Messrs. G. E. Herrick, Joseph Colwell, and Samuel E. Williamson were appointed as trustees to act with Elders Francis C. Keith, Edwin C. Higbee, and Reuben F. Smith in securing a new pastor.
At a joint meeting held by the elders and trustees on October 24, 1896, it was decided to extend a call to Professor Henry W. Hulbert, D.D., of Lane Theo- logical Seminary, who accepted and was installed associate pastor on February 14, 1897. President Sylvester F. Scovel, D.D., of Wooster University, delivered the sermon; the Reverend Paul F. Sutphen, D.D., charged the pastor; the Reverend Samuel P. Sprecher, D.D., charged the people; the Reverend Ebenezer Bushnell, D.D., propounded the constitu- tional questions, and the Reverend H. C. Haydn, D.D., offered the prayer of installation.
As the year 1899 drew to its close Dr. Haydn felt impelled, on account of ill health, to ask release from pastoral cares and sought to have his resignation ac-
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cepted, but the trustees voted a six months' vacation with full salary, and declined to accept the proffered resignation.
At this time the steeple of the church having been removed after the second fire, the east tower, or base of the former steeple, not having been ornamentally finished, Mrs. Samuel Mather proposed to complete the work, and at a cost of six thousand dollars the towers were made more beautiful.
The six months' vacation so generously granted Dr. Haydn did not change his longing for pastoral release, and on July 30, 1900, the resignation was again pressed. In a communication to the official boards he said :
I think it must be obvious to us all that I am not to be counted upon to do a man's full work, and the church cannot afford to look to me as heretofore and be dis- appointed. I desire to put myself wholly in the hands of the session and trustees, and beg them to do what is best for the church as the Lord may give them to see it. Accept my resignation and let me find some place to be helpful as I am able. I shall seek no other field; I wish to be accounted as one of you, but in any capacity that the exigencies of the church may require and my strength allow, only let me not be in the way.
To this request the session responded :
It is the judgment of the session that Dr. Haydn's resig- nation be not accepted, but instead that at such time in the not distant future as the session may deem wise, a meeting of the congregation be called, to which shall be submitted the recommendation that the senior pastor, in accordance with his earnest request, be retired from active service and released from the obligations and re-
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sponsibilities of his installation vows, with the title of pastor emeritus.
At the time this action was taken the Reverend Henry W. Hulbert, D.D., associate pastor, presented a communication stating his unwillingness to under- take a copastorate under other conditions than those under which he came to be associated with Dr.Haydn, thus offering his resignation in order that the con- gregation might be entirely free to seek Dr. Haydn's successor. The official boards expressed their appre- ciation of the four years' service rendered by Dr. Hulbert and the fine spirit in which he sought to give the utmost freedom to the congregation in planning for the future. The trustees voted an additional twelve hundred dollars to be paid the associate pastor for the extra service rendered by him while the senior pastor had been abroad; they also voted an addi- tional sum of fifteen hundred dollars to be paid to Dr. Hulbert for whatever extra service he might be called upon to render prior to June 1, 1901. Pro- fessor Henry W. Hulbert's pastoral service closed on April 13, 1901.
During the previous year of 1900, before the close of the associate pastorates in the Stone Church, a young ministerial helper secured directly from Auburn Theological Seminary was employed especially to work in the Sunday School. This was the Reverend Paul R. Hickok who had been recommended by Dr. Haydn, after Mrs. Samuel Mather had offered to pay the expense of such a helper, not only in Sunday School service, but also to assist the pastors.
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The Thanksgiving service of 1900 was made a union event, Calvary and Bolton Avenue congregations uniting with the mother church, not only to observe Thanksgiving day, but also to commemorate a modest eightieth anniversary of the founding of the Stone Church. Dr. Hulbert spoke upon "The Eighty Years' History of our Church; the Reverend John S. Zelie upon "The Thanksgiving Theme;" while the subject of Dr. John N. Freeman's address was "The Completion of our Towers."
So happy was the selection of the Reverend Paul R. Hickok and so successful his first year's service that he was employed for a second year at increased remuneration, and under the leadership of Dr. Haydn, who did not become pastor emeritus until the installa- tion of his successor, the work of the church was con- ducted steadily through the transitional period which led to the settlement of the Reverend Andrew B. Meldrum, D.D., the present pastor of the Stone Church.
The formal action upon Dr. Haydn's request did not come until a congregational meeting was held on November 29, 1901, when a call was also extended to the Reverend Edgar W. Work, D.D., of Dayton, Ohio. This was at first accepted, but afterwards de- clined, thus causing delay in the settlement of a pastor until June 1, 1902, when Dr. Meldrum was installed. During these changes in leadership in the Stone Church the official boards set resolutely to work to raise two thousand five hundred dollars for the pay- ment of the Glenville Presbyterian Church debt, and
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an additional sum of three thousand dollars for Wooster University.
The crowning service rendered by the Reverend Hiram Collins Haydn, D.D., LL.D., to the kingdom of Christ cannot be described in this chapter. This will come in the portrayal of the remarkable educa- tional service rendered during his second pastorate, and in the brief narrative of the closing days of his life, when this tireless servant of Christ fought against nature, not to be classified with those who "only stand and wait."
X. GOOD MEASURE PRESSED DOWN AND RUNNING OVER
The life and influence of a Christian church can be estimated neither by the number of worshipers attending Sunday services nor by published statistics. Many churches are as potent without ecclesiastical bounds as they are within denominational lines. Fur- thermore, those Christians often denominated "Blue Presbyterians" are perhaps more liberal than any body of believers in the outgo of their practical sym- pathies.
If the Presbyterian church had confined to its own pale more of the financial support freely contributed to undenominational agencies, that church would be numerically greater than present tabulated figures show. Theologically conservative Presbyterians have ever been extremely liberal in their support of every institution that has sought the welfare of the race. Fear of appearing in the slightest degree sectarian has often prompted such liberality toward unde- nominational institutions that the advancement of Presbyterian interests has suffered for lack of ade- quate support.
During the century of its existence the Old Stone Church of Cleveland has had a remarkable record for an overflow of influence into charitable and educa- tional institutions of every kind, as well as a splendid history in the work of denominational upbuilding.
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The first city directory, published in 1837, two years after the settlement of the Reverend Samuel C. Aiken, D.D., contained in addition to a list of churches the names and officers of various associations then exist- ing for the general welfare of Cleveland. In the offi- cial lists of those guiding the pioneer associations the preponderance of Stone Church members can readily be discerned. The Cleveland City Temperance So- ciety on the teetotal plan was officered by Alex- ander Seymour, Samuel Cowles, David Long, Dudley Baldwin, Samuel Williamson, William Day, Buckley Stedman, A. W. Walworth, S. W. Crittenden, and John A. Foot; while probably a large proportion of the two hundred sixty members of this temperance organization were Stone Church communicants.
The Cuyahoga Anti-Slavery Society extended be- yond Cleveland, but among the officers were John A. Foot, Samuel Williamson, S. L. Severance, and other Presbyterians. To the Western Seaman's Friend So- ciety such Stone Church members as Samuel Cowles, Alexander Seymour, Alonzo Penfield, the Reverend S. C. Aiken, John A. Foot, Jarvis F. Hanks, and Truman P. Handy gave special care. The Anti- Slavery Society of Cleveland had for president Dr. David Long; for secretary S. L. Severance, and for treasurer John A. Foot.
In charge of the Cleveland Mozart Society were Truman P. Handy, J. F. Hanks, T. C. Severance, and other Presbyterian brethren. Another musical organi- zation was the Cleveland Harmonic Society, com- posed of seven amateur instrumental musicians,
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among whom were T. C. Severance and J. F. Hanks. The musical influence of Mr. and Mrs. Truman P. Handy continued many years after their service of song in the Stone Church, for in 1853 Mr. Handy was president of the Cleveland Mendelssohn Society, among whose officers were also J. L. Seymour, O. P. Hanks, and T. C. Severance. J. P. Holbrook, later a composer of note, was director of the chorus of one hundred twenty voices, and from time to time ora- torios such as "Creation" and "David" were ren- dered.
The Bethel Church, an undenominational mission enterprise, was built by liberal citizens. The first chaplain was the Reverend D. C. Blood, a Presby- terian minister, and the most generous support was given by Stone Church members. The first free day school was held in the basement of the Bethel Mis- sion by Miss Sarah Van Tyne in 1830, and was com- posed of children who could not afford to attend pri- vate schools. The city council afterwards voted funds for its maintenance and in 1837 ninety male and forty-six female pupils were in attendance.
Another early society was the Young Men's Liter- ary Association, with Charles Whittlesey, president, and S. W. Crittenden, secretary. To the Cleveland News Room, free to strangers, and the Cleveland Reading Room Association, Stone Church people such as John M. Sterling and S. W. Crittenden gave guidance. The Cleveland Maternal Association, founded in 1835, was composed of mothers interested in the religious education of their children. In 1837
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twenty-six mothers, largely Stone Church women, were studiously concerned for the religious nurture of ninety children. About the only literary society, judged by its name, in which Stone Church members had no interest, was the Shakespeare Saloon on Water Street.
Thus at the beginning of church life in Cleveland there was this overflow of influence into every unde- nominational project, and this marked character- istic of the Stone Church has never waned.
At the formation of the Young Men's Christian Association in 1854 Dr. Aiken, of the Stone Church, presided; while the preponderance of Stone Church and other Presbyterians was marked. Prominent among the earliest supporters of the organization were Solon L. Severance, Joseph B. Meriam, Joseph Perkins, William M. Meriam, J. E. Ingersoll, Chas. J. Dockstader, S. H. Mather, Dan P. Eells, T. P. Handy, E. W. Sackrider, and E. H. Merrill. Elder J. B. Meriam's later gift of ten thousand dollars was the first substantial contribution toward the securing of a suitable building. The reorganiza- tion after the Civil War was almost a Presbyterian movement. In 1867 Chas. E. Bolton, a young gradu- ate of Amherst College who attended the Stone Church, agitated among the young men of that con- gregation the necessity of founding an association. At the first formal meeting held in the Stone Church Elder George H. Ely presided; while John J. Wilson of the same church acted as secretary. Of the com- mittee of five appointed to draft a constitution four
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were Presbyterians. At a later meeting held in the Stone Church eighteen young men signed the con- stitution, and of that number at least twelve were attendants of the Stone Church, namely Samuel E. Williamson, Chas. E. Bolton, John J. Wilson, John A. Foote, Jr., J. H. Cogswell, S. P. Fenn, John W. Walton, George T. Williamson, Charles L. Cutter, William Downie, Edgar B. Holden, and George M. Spencer. The first four presidents were Presbyterians, namely Dr. J. H. Herrick, Mr. H. S. Davis, Elders Dan P. Eells and F. M. Backus, two of them prominent in Stone Church activities. The above facts emphasize the remarkable support accorded the Cleveland Young Men's Association by Presbyterians throughout the history of the association. Elder S. P. Fenn, of the Stone Church, has been officially con- nected with the Young Men's Christian Association work for fifty-three years. From 1892 to 1917, a quarter of a century, he was president of the board of trustees, and since 1917 he has been honorary president.
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