USA > Ohio > Washington County > Marietta > The history of Saint Luke's Church, Marietta, Ohio > Part 18
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From the 10th Sunday until the 17th Sunday after Trinity (Sept. 19) inclusive, the church was closed for repairs. The church and rectory were painted and the interior of the church painted and frescoed, the reredos repaired, and the Rector's study handsomely papered and painted.
The frescoing was done by Butenschoen of Columbus. The first frescoing, when the church was built, was done by Wrampelmeier of Cincinnati.
The timbers in the roof are imitation of black walnut with red- brown edges; the spaces between are blue with center pieces of gray and red; the walls are stone color. The texts are in scarlet. with blue initials. Over the prayer-desk we read :
"Ye shall ask in My Name."
"I will pray with the Spirit and I will pray with the Understanding also."
Over the pulpit we see the great fact announced by Christ himself: "I am the Way, and the Truth and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me."
Over the Communion Table upon a white scroll laid upon a broad scarlet band in the same lettering we read : In "Remembrance of Me."
The expense of the work on the interior of the church was $500, $200 of which was paid with a check for that amount presented by Mr. J. W. Conley to the Ladies of the Circle who had it in charge.
The Parish was represented in the Convention of 1880 by the Rec- tor, and M. P. Wells and Wilson Waters. John Kendrick, also a dele- gate, was not present.
1881. Easter Monday, April 18. John Kendrick and Chas. R. Rhodes elected Wardens, and M. P. Wells, C. B. Hall, I. R. Waters, D. B. Anderson, W. H. Buell, C. G. Fell, R. L. Nye and Wilson Waters, Vestrymen.
The "envelope system" was discontinued.
September 26. Memorial Service after the death of President Gar- field.
From the Parochial Report of 1881: Money receipts from all sources .- Communion alms, $15; other collections in the church, $77; Pew rent, $1217.28; Subscriptions, $726.26. Total, $2035.54.
Expenditures and appropriations .- Current expenses (including sal- aries, $1644.54; Repairs and improvements, $840; Support of S. S. of the Parish, $45; Relief of needy, $15; Convention fund, $100. Missions. -Domestic, $212.10; Diocesan, $62. Total for missions, $274.10. Total, $2918.64.
The Parish was represented in the Convention of 1881 by the Rector and John Kendrick and Chas. R. Rhodes. R. L. Nye, also a delegate, was not present.
1882. February 1, Wednesday, "in St. Luke's Church, the Rev. W. W. Lovejoy, M. D., of Ironton, was ordained to the Priesthood by the Right Reverend the Bishop of West Virginia, acting for the Bishop of Southern Ohio.
192
EVENTS OF 192.
There was Morning Prayer at 8 o'clock, and the Ordination Service took place at 11 o'clock. The Rev. R. A. Gibson, Rector of Trinity Church, Parkersburg, W. Va., read Morning Prayer to the Creed, Dr. Boyd following him.
Bishop Peterkin preached a very able and energetic sermon from Phil. 3:13.
Dr. Boyd then pre-ented the candidate.
The Bishop read the Litany, and the Rev. Mr. Gibson, the Ante- Communion (the Bishop reading the Gospel , and assisted the Bishop in the administraton of the Sacred Elements.
It is usual to remark on such an occasion that "the services were impressive"; this was no exception to the rule, and those present were perhaps the more impressed, because we so seldom have an Ordination in this little Parish.
The Rev. Messrs. Wood and Brittingham of Parkersburg. by a mis- understanding as to train time, arrived too late to take part in the Or- dination. All, however. dined together at the Rectory."
Easter Monday, April 10. C. R. Rhodes and M. P. Wells were elected Wardens, and D. B. Anderson, C. G. Fell. C. B. Hall, Wilson Waters, R. L. Nye, I. R. Waters, James R. Hall, James I. Wilson, Ves- trymen.
Jas. R. Hall was chosen Treasurer and C. B. Hall continued as Secretary.
"At a meeting of the Vestry elected Easter Monday, there was pre- sented to the Parish. through the Vestry, a fine portrait of the Rev. J. T. Wheat, D. D .. first Rector of St. Luke's, which he had caused to be sent to a member of the Vestry with the wish "that it be hung in the vestry room, if the Rector and Vestry care to have it so disposed of." There was appointed a committee to have made a suitable frame for it, and to prepare a letter to be signed by the Vestry in behalf of the Parish, thanking Dr. Wheat for his highly appreciated gift. The portrait, be- sides being a very pleasing picture, is a fine work of art by James Hart, done in 1846. Several who have seen it recognize the features of their former Rector with pleasant recollections."
For several weeks during the spring Dr. Boyd was so unwell as not to be able to attend to any parochial duties, and to recruit his health accepted an invitation to visit Mr. and Mrs. Conley in Chicago. During his absence there was lay-rea ling."
June 12. Certificate of qualification of Mr. J. Milton Boyd pre- sented and signed by the Vestry.
The St. Luke's Day issue of the Chronicle says:
"Several Vestry meetings of a very interesting character were held recently, in which were discussed the general condition of thing- in the Parish, and the best way of increasing the geneneral interest in matters pertaining to the Church. The Vestry agreed individually to be pres- ent (except when impossible, at all services of the Church, and to do what they could to have others there also, by personal invitation and persuasion. . They also agreed to visit and take a personal interest in the Sunday school. The effects of their efforts were manifest the Sun-
* Those who have acted as lay-readers besides Mr. Wheeler, during Dr. Boyd's rectorship, are Dr. John Kendrick, Mr., now Rev .. W. G. Andrews, while tutor in Marietta College, Mr. M. Hodkinson, Mr. Wilson Waters and Mr., now Rev., J. Mil- ton Boyd,
193
DR. BOYD'S THIRTY-THIRD ANNIVERSARY.
day following this resolution, but it will require continued efforts to make lasting effects-faithful prayer and hard work."
It also gave an account of the Bishop's visit and, in condensed form, his addresses to the children in the afternoon and to the candi- dates for Confirmation in the evening. .
In 1882 the Parish was represented in the Convention by Reuben L. Nye. The other delegates chosen but not present were John Kendrick and M. P. Wells.
1883. Easter Monday, March 26. C. R. Rhodes and M. P. Wells were elected Wardens and D. B. Anderson, I. R. Waters, C. B. Hall, George Rice, R. L. Nye, C. G. Fell, E. R. Dale and Wilson Waters, Ves- trymen; D. B. Anderson, Treasurer and C. B. Hall continued Secretary.
From St. Luke's Chronicle, Easter number :
At a Vestry meeting on Friday in Easter week, business of various. kinds was accomplished. All the Vestry were present except one, who was out of town, and the meeting was a spirited one. By a unanimous vote it was resolved to have a quarterly meeting the first Monday in January, April, July and October, and that any member who shall be absent, not being sick or out of town, shall pay a fine of one dollar to the Treasurer, the fine to be the same for all called meet- ings, notice of which shall be duly given.
On the Fifth and Sixth Sundays in Lent the Rev. J. Milton Boyd, Deacon, took part in the Service and preached in the evening. He spent two or three weeks in Marietta.
On Septuagesima Sunday the Rev. Mr. Woods of St. John's, Pleas- ants Co., W. Va., was present and assisted in the Service and preached at St. Luke's, morning and evening.
For some weeks during the summer, the Rev. J. Milton Boyd as- sisted regularly in the Sunday Services, and the Rev. J. Mills Kendrick occasionally on week days and once on a Sunday.
September 9. Sunday. Thirty-third anniversary of Dr. Boyd's first Sunday in the Parish.
The Parochial report for 1883 gives the number of families in the Parish as 50; whole number of individuals, 180.
Property and Financial Condition .- Buildings-Church, 1; Sittings, 324; Number of free sittings, 85; Parsonage, 1. Aggregate value of property of the Parish, real and personal, $15,000. Indebtedness, $700.
Money Receipts from all sources .- Collections in church, $222.27; pew rents, $1175; subscriptions, $124.73; other sources, $334.32. Total, $1856.32.
Expenditures and Appropriations .- Current expenses (including sal- aries), $1361; repairs and improvements, $111; support of Sunday Schools (of the Parish), $50; Convention fund, $100. Missions-For- eign, $16; Domestie, $142.32; Dioceson, S76. Total for Missions, $234.32. Total for expenditures and appropriations, $1856.32.
The Parish was represented in the Convention of 1883 by M. P. Wells; John Kendrick and Chas. R. Rhodes were also delegates but were not present.
In the following table the amounts under "Parochial Purposes" do not show the current expenses but only extraordinary expenses.
-
194
ABSTRACT OF PAROCHIAL REPORTS.
ABSTRACT OF PAROCHIAL REPORTS.
RAP- TISMS.
Confirmations
Marriages
Burials ..
Added
Lost
Present No.
Scholars
Teachers
. Contingent ......
Episcopate and
Education
Missions and
Parochial Pur-
Benevolent Pur-
1820
$
$.
1821
1824
?
1828
+1 00|
123 00
$5 00
1833
1
1
20;
1 00
1834
10
+
1835
3 00
18 75
3500 00
1836
5
1837
3
1838
·2
1
43
2
94 00
1839
15 00
1840
5
10
221
52
1
10
1842
10
122
=
2432
7
1
3
48
16
3
61
30
18 00:
12
2
7
61
3
7!
57
30
21 00
65 05
1854
3
2
57
19
71
40
8.
39 00
65 001
1855
3
7
5
51
71
8
75
64
63
60
10 24 001
23 00
27 00 82 00
1859
9
2
63
12
11
6-4
70
50
10
130 00
30 00
7
1
2
70
78
9
9
17
5
901
70
12
20 00
5875 00 18 00
1
3
1-
7
7
90
15
5
881
70
10 163 00.
119 70
2640 28
45 85
1866.
3
24
7
5
7
...
6
95:
19
9
105
60
8. 150 00
1
5
11
3
1
105
13
10:
108
7.
10
140 00
182 00
41 00
1871.
3
1
4
99
5
102
120.
14
160 00
269 &
1872.
1
101
2 102
3
10
9
91
180
15'
160 00,
172 35
150 00
82 00
1874.
5
1
7
91
7
1
2.
82
10
8
92
110
12
125 001
41 00
1878
6
8
27
1
92
29
1
1220
100
12
100 00'
100 00
88 12
1880
2
1
4.
119
115
15
1
123
25
11
100 00
274 101
220) 52:
16 18
1883
2
9
17 11; 7
231
131
128!
1251
100 00;
231 321
161 00
1
48
18
4
48
1
491
25
34 62
1851
6
27
40 00
46 00
860 00;
5
1856
1
3
1
1
*2
63
3
3
60
10
23 00:
36 00.
67 00
42 57
58 50
1860
1
4
1
64
7
1
1
78:
12
45 00;
228 00
1862.
13
12
36 00
10 00
4032 59
1863
9
2
1
78
1
14
781
70
108
50
80 00
96 00
109 001
42 68
1867.
6
1868
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8
3
108
10
99
·)
14
100 001
91 00
102 00
1875.
1
1
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2
100 00
23 00
1877
2
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89
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119:
123
== 11
100 00
201 44|
653 55
15 00
1882
=
1
5
123
118
125
1 1822.
# 1830.
...
Last Reported
COMMUNIC'TS. | 'S. SCH'L
AMOUNT OF CONTRIBUTIONS.
YEAR.
Infants
Adults
2142240 4
3 001
10 00
6 00
28
6
8 00
1841
68 00
5 00
42 001
22 00
150 00} 110 00;
28 6212
25 50
8 00
268 481
41 84
1815
4
260 00
1846
10
120 00
6
1
1
2
53
30 00
38 38
72 00
1848
30 00
1849
8
30 00
52 73
1850
1
6
1
1:52
1
1853
20 00
179 00
16 00
54 00
1857
1
1858
7
...
:= x0 11 9
2
1864
12
12 62 00
59 00
161 00
1873
9
2
..
2
3
125
80 00:
15 00
134 92
1879
1 1
1881.
S
8
3
7
6
115
125
-1
150 00;
130
15
125
100
12
4
50
40,
8 21 00
40
8
-
151
13
95
50
90 00
1869
1870
3
61
81
11
..
# 1827-8-9.
+ 1829.
3
...
68
5
12
61
6
10
52
22 88
183
1
1844
5
12 12
47
52
30
53
5
54
..
poses ..
poses ..
S
$5 00
......
*10)
1832.
1847
53
......
2
1
78
60
54 50
1865.
8
35
5
SI
95
1876
..
.
...
61
8
.. ...
100 00
1861
-
195
SEMI-CENTENNIAL SERMON.
The following is a portion of the sermon preached by Dr. Boyd on Sunday, January 2. 1.76. January 1 being the semi-centennial anniver- sary of the organization of the Parish. The text was from Zechariah 4,10: Who hath despised the day of small things ? After rehearsing the early events in the history of the Parish and giving some statistics, he said :
I am hurriedly rimming over these items, but there are memories here which will not thus be hurried. These memories clothe this skele- ton, and fill it with life. Each item touches springs of association : and joys and sorrows are moving back in review. A stranger is talking to children about their fathers : while he is giving dates and names, they are recalling images, and are sitting again in the old-time seats, and be- side them are sitting the forms that have passed away.
We run over these figures quickly: but they represent time and labor; represent heart joys and heart aches. In the book of Remem- brance the Angel of the Record made note of things that conie not into Parish Registers.
September s. Isso, your present minister officiated here for the first time. Of the fifty years of the Parish he has been identified with it twenty-five-one half of its history. He has baptized 169, presented for confirmation 142. married 116, buried 91, and preached to you over three thousand six hundred times. Two incidentsstartlingly remind him that time is pas-ing. One who was an infant when he came here. he has since taught in the Sunday school. pr-ented for confirmation, presented for Deacon's Orders, preached hi- ordination sermon, presented for Pres- byter's Orders, and married. And one, born two years after he came, he baptized in infancy. presented for confirmation, married, and has baptized her child.
Of the twenty-five years preceding and the twenty-five years fol- lowing the coming of your present minister these are the comparative figures :
Baptisms: before. 112: since. 169 : in all. 2-1.
Confirmations: before, +: since. 141 : in all, 1s9.
Marriages : before. 29: since. 116: in all. 145.
Burials: before. 45: since. 91: in all, 136.
Communicants : before, 136: since. 215: in all. 351.
Besides the 215 communicants added during the present rectorship, there are several others, whose names were not enrolled, because thex came and went in the intervals between two annual reports and were therefore not put in the returns. Others, also. not a few, here found ('hrist as their Saviour. but appear not in the Register, because they re- moved before a visitation of the Bishop.
The numerical results are scon tabulated.
But these years have their unwritten histories :- histories of inner- life secrets : of strugglings out of darkness into light : of burdens lifted from bowed hearts and laid on Jesus: of sorrows turned into joy : of visions of the King in His beauty.
The question is often asked : Why do not our parishes grow more? If there were so many communicants twenty-five years ago, where is the increase? A few figures will suggest the answer. Of the one hun- dred and thirty- ix communicants of the first twenty-five years, only seventeen still live and commune with us; so that the communicants of
196
SEMI-CENTENNIAL SERMON.
to-day are almost all incomers since. Of the two hundred and fifteen added in the last twenty-five years, only seventy are now here. We were once the West, and the wave of emigration left its drift upon our soil. But the West is far beyond us now. The wave sweeps over ns, and instead of leaving us anything of all that it bears, it takes up from us our own population, conveying it to the prairies and the mines. Thus we are constantly losing without receiving any equivalent. Our growth is necessarily within ourselves, and even this growth is checked by the continual removals. Of all those confirmed in the last quarter of a cen- tury, more than half have moved away; and besides these, many who here found the Saviour and were waiting to unite with us, left before the opportunity offered.
Yet the Church Catholic has them. And then, as an additional fact in our case, this is an okl town: three generations have been born here. Church lines are drawn: fow ever eross them. In a growing young town, a town of manufacturing activity, society is in a ferment, the ele- ments waiting to be crystallized. There is a transient population from which churches get their increase. It our city there is no such element. When the Gospel goes into a community it soon gathers such as will be gathered. Not only are believers soon fixed, each in his own church, but those without are fixed in their indifference-in their withdrawal from Christian influences. And between those who are confirmed in unbelief and the removal of such as are won to the faith, our churches are left with but few worshipers. Of all the communicants on our roll from the beginning only twenty-one per cent. now commune with us. Thus names fade from our record and forms evanish from our Table. Were there no lists of deaths and removals, our house would not hold our communicants. But they are not lost. The living are in other par- ishes, and the Church is one; the Communion of Saints goes right on across all parish lines. They are bearing elsewhere the same burdens that we are bearing here. And over and anon Jesus takes one to Him- self. The inner life being builded into a holy habitation for the Lord, the scaffolding is taken down. And of the many who have left us, #three have gone forth as husbandmen to sow in other fields the harvests they have reaped here ; ministering to others that which had here been ministered to them. This little Church has been the nursing mother to three Evangelists, and congregations that never heard our names have had broken to them the Bread of Life which was broken to their minis- ters here. And this is the uniform law; the daughters of yesterday are the mothers of to-day. And those who to-day sit as listeners in our pews, tomorrow from our pulpits tell the story of grace; and the living communicants that we miss from our Table, have gone to minister at other Tables; and from those who leave us other parishes are formed and grow. And we shall never know the reach of our ministries until we can look into the hundred Parishes, and see there those who were quickened here-see them in the Mission Sabbath schools; see them in the meetings for prayer; see them in the pulpits ; see them bearing all the burdens, secular and spiritual, of Churches like our own. What marvellous revelations will be made, what surprises await us, when the Registry of Saints shall be read.
The first six years of your present minister were passed in the ordi- nary routine of Parish life. But Wednesday, September 9th, 1856, the corner-stone of the new church building was laid, in the hope and prayer that it would mark a new era in our spiritual history. In the stone was placed the BIBLE, significant of our faith, "built upon the
See Note VII in the Appendix.
.
197
SEMI-CENTENNIAL SERMON.
foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief Corner-stone; also the Prayer Book, as our distinctive, in which the substance and spirit of the Bible are assimilated for the purposes of devotion.
Standing on the corner-stone, your minister thus spoke :
In the spiritual temple, of which this house is to be the symbol and the instrument, we recognize but ONE GOD-Father, Son and Holy Ghost; One Gospel-that which Paul preached, and if an angel from heaven preach another let him be anathema; One Object-the glory of God in the salvation of men ; One Day of Grace in which to accomplish it-this life only ; One Name given among men whereby alone they can be saved-JESUS OF NAZARETH ; One Fountain opened for sin and un- cleanness-the blood of the covenant; One Altar-the Cross of Christ ; One Sacrifice-the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, of which the Sacrament is the memorial; One Priest-He who made one offering of Himself once for all ; One Incense-the sweet savor of Christ's merit; One Book-the Bible, as our sole rule of faith and prac- tice; One Interpreter-the Holy Ghost, who "teacheth us all things"; One Doctrine-JESUS CHRIST and Him Crucified; One Church- "the mystical body of His Son, which is the blessed company of all faithful people"; whose oneness in Christ is the Communion of Saints; One Bap- tism-the baptism of the Holy Ghost, symbolized in the baptism of water; One Confessional-the mercy-seat of Christ; One Absolution- "Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and forgiveness of sins:" One Assurance-the witness of His Spirit with our spirit that we are the sons of God; One Motive Power-the love of God constraineth us; One Song for Church militant and Church triumphant - Thou has redeemed us unto God by Thy blood; One Heaven-the inheritance of holiness in the Presence of Jesus.
These words were buried in the corner-stone of the new Church, and each Sabbath their spirit, in resurrection-form, comes forth winged from the pulpit and desk.
September 20th, 1857, your present rector, after a ministry in it of seven years, preached the farewell to the old church from Ps. XLVIII, 9. "We have thought of Thy loving kindness, O God, in the midst of Thy temple."
The corner-stone of the old church was laid August 20th, 1833; the first service was held in it November 22d, 1834. It was consecrated Oc- tober 17th, 1835; we bade it farewell September 20th, 1857, having wor- shipped in it twenty-three years. In that time it saw seven rectorships, 10 visitations of the Bishop, 125 baptisms, 68 persons confirmed, 47 mar- riages, 66 funerals, and 129 added to the roll of the communion. To strangers, to the eye of sense, it is but a meeting place of worshipers. To the eye of faith, to us, it is a chamber in Christ's Gallery of Grace, filled with living images of Himself, set in framework of sinners saved in Him. That old building is sacred to sacred memories. In it many hearts ached : many rejoiced ; around it are the sweetest and the saddest associations of many a life. It holds records of wail and song, of Te Deum and Miserere, baptisms of sorrow and baptisms of the Spirit. Bridal parties have joyously entered it; funeral trains moved heavily out of it: "Till death us do part" (choed back by "dust to dust." He who consecrated it, and one who ministered in it, are walking together in white.
But the outer form is valuable only for the life which it protects. Shall the mother-bird flutter and ery over the broken shells when her fledgelings have flown? The Church is not built of the stones in the
198
SEMI-CENTENNIAL SERMON.
walls, but of the living souls in its communion. The Holy Ghost dwells not in the material, but in the mystic house. Let all the old scaffoldings give way to new ones, if only the Temple of the Spirit be ever buikdied up and adorned.
The artist of this city took a photograph of the new church, and, without himself knowing it, his instrument was so placed that, far in the background, is the distinct picture of the old church. It is a parable in art. Even when of necessity this new church is in the foreground of our thoughts and toils, still in the background, transfigured in the per- spective, is the church of the first love, with all its hallowed memories and associations. All the things that in passing were painful, are now dissolved in the haze of distance, and the heart holds only the endear- ments ; the rose remains in full fragrance, and without the thorns.
To one portion, a large portion, of the old congregation I have not yet spoken ; nor could they hear me now. But though dead, they still speak. Their lesson of Grace learned, their work of Faith finished, they are gone up from our coninumion to the fellowship on high. The old church had a stairway to the skies, and one by one, as the night came down to each and the angel called to rest, the tired ones went above into the beatific Presence, where He giveth His beloved sleep. Most of you here have kindred there; some a parent, some a sister or a child. Many of your families are represented in the Father's family above, knowing as they are known, loving as they are loved. Some who sang with us our faint anthems, often in minor key, now joyously swell the chorus of the just made perfect. In due time may our voices join with theirs in the new song which none can learn but the redeemed from the earth (Rev. XIV, 3).
September 24th, 1857, the new church was consecrated by Bishop McIlvaine, who preached from John rv, 24. "God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."
We call it new, and so it is relatively to the old one. Yet it is old enough to number among its young men and women some who were baptized in it in their infancy; old enough to reach back over 132 bap- tisms, 12 visitations of the Bishop, by whom 114 were confirmed; back over 95 marriages and 66 funerals, and 170 new communicants. The dead over whom its anthem has been chanted on their way to the grave would, if living, almost equal in number its present communion. And the parties joined in marriage in its rites outnumber the present entire congregation. Eighteen years ago the church was conserrated in cerc- monial form. Since then it has been undergoing one continuous spirit- ual consceration in fact; consecrated in the baptisms of the Holy Ghost ; in the souls new-born to God; in the sighings of contrite hearts; in the concert of penitential confessions; in the songs of captives delivered from bondage into the glorious liberty of the sons of God; consecrated ever anew in the refreshings from the Presence of the Lord; consecra- ted in our memories: in our assured hopes; in the fountains of joy and song springing up all along in our Sabbaths-sabbaths of the week, sab- baths of the soul; consecrated in our home associations, of birth and death, and of the new birth of that which dieth not; of friendships formed in Christ, never to be sundered ; of hours of communion of saint with saint, and of saints with the Saviour.
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