USA > Pennsylvania > Carbon County > Summit Hill > A history of the sabbath school of the first Presbyterian church, Summit Hill, Carbon county, Pa., and a narrative of the diamond jubilee > Part 1
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History of the Sabbath School of the First Presbyterian Church
Summit Hill, Pa.
From
A.J.
A ). Michala, c/2
LIBRARY OF PRINCETON
NOV 27 1912
THEOLOGIC
FRAMABY
Division al.
Ser tion ale.
SCC 6250
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library
http://www.archive.org/details/historyofsabbath00nich
-
Memory Sketch of the First Church (1846) Made by Mr. Charles Storch.
1835
1910
A HISTORY
OF TIIE
NOV . 1912
SABBATH SCHOOL
THEOLOGICA
SE
OF
THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
SUMMIT HILL, CARBON COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA
AND
A NARRATIVE OF THE DIAMOND JUBILEE
SEVENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE
SABBATH SCHOOL
H. I. Nicholas.
Sabbath
October 9
Monday October 10
Tuesday October 11
1910
PRESS OF ALLEN, LANE & SCOTT, PHILADELPHIA.
CONTENTS.
FOREWORD
PAGE
3
PROGRAMME, DIAMOND JUBILEE 9
ANNIVERSARY SERMON BY REV. HENRY IRVIN NICHOLAS.
15
A HISTORY OF THE SABBATH SCHOOL,
BY MISS JANE ALLEN KLINE
19
SEVENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
SABBATH SCHOOL,
BY JAMES MCCREADY
41
SOCIAL EVENING.
57
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
MEMORY SKETCH OF THE FIRST CHURCH Frontispiece
DUNBOE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, IRELAND Facing page 7
HENRY IRVIN NICHOLAS Facing page 15
CHURCH BUILDING, REMODELED 1872 Facing page 19
JAMES MCCREADY Facing page 41
NATHAN PATTERSON Facing page 55
PRESENT CHURCH BUILDING
. Facing page 57
FORE-WORD.
The glory of the great Presbyterian Church as a body is three-fold, and consists of its stability, its doctrine and its membership. As to its stability its glorious history is a sufficient attestation to it; its virility has permeated em- pires and statesmen, philosophers and poets, princes and peasants. A Cromwell, a Milton, a Knox and a Wither- spoon are only the types of the great and enduring strength of the Church.
As to its doctrine, it is simply Scriptural, and Scripturally simple. Its doctrine stands for the five points of Calvinism, because they are the five points of Scriptural doctrine and likewise the five points of Christian optimism. The doctrine of Predestination must be optimistic, because it refers your destiny to God, and while God is a consuming fire to the wilfully wicked, God is love to His obedient children.
Original Sin surely is not optimistic, you will say, but the antecedent doctrine of Original Righteousness precludes despair as to this doctrine.
Particular Redemption, Irresistible Grace and the Perse- verance of the Saints being the very terminology of Christian optimism and the Atonement as taught in the Bible and in our Westminster Standards, needs no apologetics in defining it.
The people, the tried veterans as teachers and its splendid young womanhood and manhood as learners and inspirers to
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THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
enthusiasm, are the crowning splendor of the glory of the great Presbyterian body.
This volume goes forth with the assurance that its defects will be charitably dealt with, and its humble merits appre- ciated, because it goes into the hands, the minds and the hearts of the worthy representatives of our great and beloved Presbyterian Church and their friends, all members of the one Church Militant, Triumphant and Eternal.
This compilation is not intended to be a complete history of the First Presbyterian Church of Summit Hill, Carbon County, Pennsylvania, but as a memento of the Seventy- fifth Anniversary, or Diamond Jubilee, of the Sabbath school connected with the Church, which is the nursery of the Church and an integral part thereof.
The compilers of this brief history are aware of all its imperfections, but also conscious of its importance as a part of the history of our beloved Church. This brochure is offered not as a model, but as a motive and incentive to continued Sabbath-school effort.
The obligations and thanks of the compilers of this book are due to the former and present members of the Sabbath school for their kindly assistance in furnishing historic data. We also acknowledge the kindly interest and fraternal spirit of the local and Presbyterial clergy, represented by the Revs. James Robinson, Irwin P. McCurdy, L.L.D., James Cattanach, T. C. Stirling, G. Archibald Humphries, Charles F. Freeman, Frank Mack and William J. Mewhinney, the Moderator of Lehigh Presbytery;"also the kind services of
5
SUMMIT HILL, CARBON COUNTY, PENNA.
the Senior Elder of the Lehigh Presbytery, Mr. Charles Stewart, of the Lansford Presbyterian Church. Thanks are also due to the Rev. John Mark, of the Dunboe Presbyterian Church, Ireland, for the picture furnished of the church at Articlave, County Derry, Ireland, which was the foster mother of the present church at the time of its foundation, furnishing many members for the Sunday school and Church from the flock of the Dunboe Church, then presided over by the venerable Dr. Lyle, of blessed memory.
Thanks are also due to Architect Mr. Charles Storch, for the excellent sketch of the original church, of which an en- graving is furnished with this book. No picture being extant of the original church, the sketch was very accurately made on the testimony and recollection of the older members of the Church and Sabbath school, and it was only after a careful verification of its accuracy by veterans of the com- munity that the sketch was finally submitted to the engraver. The compilers also heartily thank the ladies of the Church and the organizations of it-the Ladies' Aid Society, the Christian Endeavor and Missionary Societies-for their valuable assistance in making the Diamond Jubilee a suc- cess. Also the members of the local and city press for kindly words and announcements are gratefully remembered.
The Historical Committee consisted of Messrs. James Smyrl, Robert Ross, Thomas Lynn and Miss Jane Kline. This book is an attestation of the merit of their services.
If any one has been omitted in these acknowledgments it is because every one was of service who attended the ser-
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THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
vices and because some who were of great service preferred to serve anonymously, but none the less acceptably.
And, finally, one of the clergy, who playfully asseverated he could positively not be present at the next Diamond Jubilee of the school, will agree with us all that this Jubilee has the better prepared us for participation in that Ever- lasting Jubilee of the General Assembly of the First Born in Heaven above, where there will be a complete reunion of all the Sabbath schools of all the churches and of all believers who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and have proved faithful unto the end unto our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
SUMMIT HILL, PA., July 12th, 1911.
H. I. N.
r
II
The Mother Church of the Summit Hill Church, Pa.
Dunboe Presbyterian Church, Articlave, Londonderry, Ireland.
7
SUMMIT HILL, CARBON COUNTY, PENNA.
"WHERE MOTHER WENT TO CHURCH." (Articlave, Ireland, 1610-1910.)
'Twas here that mother went to church, 'Twas here she shed for joy a tear, That Christ her Lord had conquer'd fear, Nor left his lov'd ones in the lurch.
'Twas here she plight'd troth to him Who captive led her, heart and mind, Made her to all beside quite blind, And here she raised the tuneful hymn.
And when she came with laughing boys And meekly placed them by her side, And upward gazed with mingl'd pride, Giving such thanks the saint employs.
O, then, a benediction came From Heaven on her quiet brow That angels knew full well, I trow, While mortals watched the same.
'Twas here, too, father raised his voice, And sister, sweet, sang in the choir, While pastor preach'd with sacred fire, All nature seeming to rejoice.
'Twas here one day a vacant pew Seemed strangely sad, and out of place, While all our praise gave no solace; The boys had gone with ship and crew.
'Twas here an aged couple prayed; 'Twas here in silence oft they wept, While months and years, apace they crept; They wonder'd where their boys had stray'd.
'Twas here a pilgrim came one day, Of rugged mien and look; A trembling hand reach'd him a book- His lips could neither sing nor pray.
The trembling hand was mother's hand, The vacant seat was father's place; The stranger bow'd with rev'rent grace; This pilgrim from a foreign land.
The benediction came with joy, On mother's heart and on her son, Who seem'd like one from Heaven won, While mother clasp'd her long lost son.
This is the place where she, and I, Walk'd slowly through the graveyard there, And mark'd the graves with flowers fair, Humming "In the Sweet Bye and Bye."
HENRY IRVIN NICHOLAS.
1835. DIAMOND JUBILEE. 1910.
SEVENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE
SABBATH SCHOOL (MR. JAMES MCCREADY, SUPERINTENDENT, 1878 - - ) OF THE
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (LEHIGH PRESBYTERY, HENRY IRVIN NICHOLAS, MINISTER) OF SUMMIT HILL, CARBON COUNTY, PENNA.
PROGRAM.
SABBATH, OCTOBER 9TH, 7.00 P. M.
ORGAN PRELUDE.
ANNIVERSARY HYMN.
TUNE: Bera (598, Church Hymnal), L. M.
This is the day we celebrate,
This is the day we consecrate;
This is the Word we magnify,
And Christ the Lord we glorify.
We love the mem'ries of the past,
We love our school while life doth last
We love those enter'd into rest;
We love Thee, Lord, of all the best.
We breathe our prayers benison, On Fathers White and Patterson.
May in our school Christ's grace and love Prepare us all to meet above.
And may this day each soul inspire Of matron, maid and youth and sire, To love our blessed Sabbath School,
That Christ may in, and through it rule. HENRY IRVIN NICHOLAS (1910).
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THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
SCRIPTURE LESSON.
PRAYER.
HYMN-"The Church's One Foundation."
The Church's one Foundation Is Jesus Christ, her Lord: She is His new creation By water and the Word; From heaven He came and sought her To be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her, And for her life He died.
Yet she on earth hath union With God, the Three in One, And mystic sweet communion With those whose rest is won: O happy ones and holy! Lord, give us grace that we, Like them, the meek and lowly, On high may dwell with Thee.
OFFERTORY.
ANNIVERSARY SERMON
Pastor.
PRAYER
Superintendent.
HYMN-"How Firm a Foundation."
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word! What more can He say than to you He hath said, You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled ?
Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dis- mayed,
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid; I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.
The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes; That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no, never, no never, forsake.
11
SUMMIT HILL, CARBON COUNTY, PENNA.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 10TH, 7.30 P. M. HISTORICAL EVENING.
ORGAN PRELUDE.
HYMN-"Nearer, My God, to Thee."
Nearer, my God, to Thee, Nearer to Thee!
E'en though it be a cross That raiseth me; Still all my song shall be,
Nearer, my God, to Thee, Nearer to Thee!
Though like the wanderer, The sun gone down, Darkness be over me, My rest a stone; Yet in my dreams I'd be Nearer, my God, to Thee, Nearer to Thee!
Or, if on joyful wing Cleaving the sky, Sun, moon, and stars forgot, Upward I fly, Still al! my song shall be, Nearer, my God, to Thee, Nearer to Thee!
SCRIPTURE LESSON.
Superintendent.
PRAYER.
Pastor.
HYMN-"I am Safe in the Rock that is Higher Than I."
I am safe in the Rock that is higher than I: This my refuge through storms e'er shall be; Though my frail bark is tossed on the billows' mad foam, Yet I'm sheltered forever in thee. CHORUS.
I am safe in the Cleft that was riven for me;
From the power of the tempter I'm free; Though my pathway be dark and the storms sweep the sky, Yet securely I'm sheltered in thee.
Sheltered in thee. Sheltered in thee, O thou blest Rock of Ages, I am sheltered in thee.
I am safe in the Rock let whatever betide, Death and hell have no terror to me; I can walk without fear through the shadowy vale, For securely I'm sheltered in thee.
READING OF HISTORICAL SKETCH BY THE PASTOR. (WRITTEN BY MISS JANE KLINE.)
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THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
HYMN-"As a Christian Band, Forward Hand in Hand."
As a Christian band,
Forward hand in hand, To the Master's work we go;
To a ruined race
We declare His grace, And endeavor His love to show.
In our task agreed, Taking for our creed,
All the blessed word of God,
We together meet,
And in union sweet, Seek to walk where the Master trod.
CHORUS.
To the work, hand in hand,
To the Master's work we go;
To a ruined race
We declare His grace,
And endeavor His love to show.
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
James McCready, Superintendent.
HYMN-"One Sweet Hour Alone With Jesus."
One sweet hour alone with Jesus,
One sweet hour alone with Jesus,
Where no eye but His can see,
When He bids my weary heart
When my soul to Him is lifted,
Come awhile and rest beside Him,
What a calm it brings to me!
From the cares of earth apart.
CHORUS.
One sweet hour alone with Jesus,
Then on wings of joy ascending,
When I climb the mountain's height,
Holding fast His hand divine;
And behold as in a vision,
Oh, the joy, the bliss of knowing
Yonder world of pure delight.
I am His and He is mine!
PRAYER AND BENEDICTION.
The Moderator.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11TH, 7.30 P. M. SOCIAL EVENING.
ORGAN PRELUDE.
HYMN-"Jesus, Lover of My Soul."
Jesus, Lover of my soul, Let me to Thy bosom fly, While the nearer waters roll, While the tempest still is high; Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, Till the storm of life is past; Safe into the haven guide, O receive my soul at last.
Plenteous grace with Thee is found, Grace to cover all my sin; Let the healing streams abound; Make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the Fountain art, Freely let me take of Thee; Spring Thou up within my heart, Rise to all eternity.
Bless the work begun, And until 'tis done, May we faithful, Lord, be found;
May our ranks increase,
And in grace and peace More and more make us to abound.
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SUMMIT HILL, CARBON COUNTY, PENNA.
SCRIPTURES.
PRAYER.
GREETINGS BY PRESBYTERIAL COMMITTEE.
REV. WILLIAM J. MEWHINNEY, Moderator of Lehigh Presbytery.
REV. JAMES ROBINSON, REV. IRWIN P. MCCURDY, LL.D.,
REV. JAMES CATTANACH, REV. G. ARCHIBALD HUMPHRIES,
REV. T. C. STIRLING, REV. J. F. NICHOLAS.
GREETINGS BY LOCAL CLERGY AND OTHERS.
REV. CHAS. F. FREEMAN, REV. PAUL NEFF,
REV. J. W. WATTS, REV. FRANK MACK, REV. SAMUEL SMITH.
ANNIVERSARY HYMN-"This is the Day We Celebrate." (See Program, page 2.)
DOXOLOGY.
PRAYER AND BENEDICTION. The Moderator.
SOCIAL HOUR AND ANNIVERSARY BANQUET. REV. JAMES ROBINSON, Toastmaster.
-
Suryorvin toholas
Pastor, 1903 -
ANNIVERSARY SERMON.
By Rev. Henry Irvin Nicholas.
The pastor took as his text the following :-
And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise ?- Matthew 21: 16.
The following is an abstract of the Sermon :-
The Great Lover of Children quoted these words from the Psalms in order to silence and reprove the Pharisees who were annoyed at the enthusiasm of the children.
There is something touching about the observance of an anniversary. It quickens the memory, it fosters reverence and cultivates gratitude. Christ Himself observed the anni- versaries of the Jewish dispensation. Every Sabbath day is an anniversary day to Him, the hallowed day with good deeds and tender messages of love. Above all persons Christ loved children; His great lessons on conversion, on faith and on humility are based on the teachings of childlikeness.
Wordsworth has beautifully said :-
"Heaven lies about us in our infancy."
The Church has not been slow to catch at the meaning of Christ's attitude toward childhood, and the hope of the Church
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THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
has been found and fostered in the children of the Church. Dr. Lyman Abbott has recently spoken about the methods of teaching the Bible to our children. He calls attention to the fact that teaching about the Bible will impart facts, teaching from the Bible will give us the thoughts of the teacher, but teaching in the Bible will make us mighty in the Scrip- tures, both as to knowledge of God and living the life of godliness. If the Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man, then do we stand face to face with the facts of God, Man, Sin, Salvation, and Eternal Life; now let a teacher for one moment contemplate the task of so teaching these facts to children, that the fact of God inspires reverence, the fact of Sin repentance, the fact of Salvation peace, and the fact of Eternal Life joy unspeakable, and you con- template a task, at the thought of which Angels might tremble, while at the same time they might desire the exalted privilege of the task. Now, if faith be "the assent of the head and the consent of the heart," then the teacher of children begins with one of the basic principles of Chris- tianity, the gift of God Himself. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God."
We are to speak of this as a great anniversary occasion, too. In the historical exercises of this week you will have cause to revere the names of the founders of this Church and her Sabbath schools, by the recital of the roster of hallowed names from the rolls of the Sabbath school, which
17
SUMMIT HILL, CARBON COUNTY, PENNA.
has furnished preachers and missionaries, teachers and tutors, but above all men and women of hallowing Christian influences. We are proud to remember this day those who have gone to the uttermost parts of the earth as heralds of the Cross: a Dr. Margaret Hughes Bynon to China, and a Rev. John Kolb to South America; we revere those who have gone forth into the Ministry of the Gospel at home, like Rev. George Mott Doremus and Rev. John Fleming; we revere the memory of the list of the departed teachers who have gone to sit at the feet forevermore of the Great Teacher of teachers, our Saviour, the blessed Lord Jesus Christ.
We have Scriptural warrant for the keeping of sacred an- niversaries. There is not, perhaps, in all the range of Sacred Writ a more profoundly wise warrant for the keeping of a safe social level and equality than the chapter on Jubilees in the 25th of Leviticus. Its key-note is Gospel Equity. The principles of all Gospel truth are involved in this great chapter, which I earnestly commend to your study and understanding.
It is remarkable that the text for our greatest Civic Anniversary is found in the tenth verse of this chapter, which exalts also the greatest of religious anniversaries. If students of Social and Spiritual Economics would study this chapter instead of the deliverances of a Nietzsche and a Marx only, they would be surprised to learn that the most modern principles of Christian Sociology, as accepted to- day, are found already in the most ancient and most sacred of books, the Word of God, which can not be broken. I
18
THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
quote: " Most significant and full of instruction, no less to us, than to Israel, was the ordinance that both the Sabbatic and the Jubilee years should date from the day of Atonement. It was when, having completed the solemn ritual of that day, the high priest put on again his beautiful garments and came forth, having made atonement for all the transgressions of Israel, that the trumpet of Jubilee was to be sounded. Thus was Israel reminded, in the most impressive manner possible, that all these social, civil and communal blessings were possible only on condition of reconciliation with God through atoning blood; atonement in the highest and fullest sense, which would reach even to the Holy of Holies, and place the blood on the very mercy-seat of Jehovah. This is true still, though the nations have yet to learn it. The salvation of nations, no less than that of individuals, is conditioned by national fellowship with God, secured through the great Atonement of the Lord. Not until the nations learn this lesson may we expect to see the crying evils of the earth removed, and all the economic, social and religious questions justly and happily solved on the basis of the Fatherhood of God, the Brotherhood of Man, and the Saviour- hood of our Lord and our Redeemer, Jesus Christ."
42
៛
Church Building, Remodeled 1872.
A HISTORY OF THE SABBATH SCHOOL.
By Miss Jane Allen Kline.
Oh! a wonderful stream is the River of Time As it runs through the realm of tears, With a faultless rhythm and a musical rhyme, And a broader sweep and a surge sublime, As it blends in the ocean of years!
How the winters are drifting like flakes of snow, And the summers like birds between; And the years in the sheaf, how they come and go On the river's breast, with its ebb and flow, As it glides in the shadow and sheen!
There are hands that are waved when the fairy shore By the fitful mirage is lifted in air, And we sometimes hear through the turbulent roar Sweet voices we heard in the days gone before, When the wind down the river was fair.
-BAYARD TAYLOR.
INTRODUCTION.
A good old age is a beautiful sight. When we look at a ship at anchor, we think how many a thousand miles it has come with the sun for a guide, the sea for a path, and the wind for its speed.
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THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
How much more beautiful is a life as it approaches its three score and fifteen years! It began in the century before the present; it has lasted through storm and sunshine; and it has been guarded against many a rock. Its course has been guided by Christ, that Day Star from on high, showing that it is the fulfillment of the Scriptures as found in 2 Tim- othy, 2:19: "Nevertheless the foundations of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His."
Our lives are a succession of changes: infancy, youth, manhood, maturity, decline, old age and death; and what we are and what we will be depends largely upon ourselves. "We are architects of our own fate." Our to-days and yesterdays are the blocks with which we build, and, like the ancient builders, we must remember that The God sees everywhere, and do our work thoroughly and well.
This must, assuredly, have been the motto of our ancestors, when, three-quarters of a century ago, they braved hardships, suffered defeats, and enjoyed successes.
As time goes by, it brings changes; new friends, new scenes, new duties. When it shall have bleached the hair, dimmed the eyes' lustre, and made the face look aged, one supreme source of enjoyment will be the pleasure of memory.
And when those who scan these pages wander back through the maze of memory and see the forms and faces of those "Whom they have loved long since and lost awhile," may it be with the consciousness that they will live lives of up- rightness so that generations to follow may refer to their memory, even as they do to these pages.
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SUMMIT HILL, CARBON COUNTY, PENNA.
HISTORY.
We have in our town, on the summit of this hill, a church, which is a spot of beauty to all of its members. The cycle of years has rolled around until seventy-five have been counted, and since God, in His all-wise providence, has been so gracious to us, is it not fitting that we should recount the mercies and blessings which He has bestowed upon those who obeyed His commands and labored in His vineyard?
But little is known of the earliest worship in our town, yet, in "Book One, Session Reports," dated Port Clinton (then a part of this congregation), September 8th, 1842, we read: "The Session of the Presbyterian Church of Summit Hill and Tamaqua respectfully invite the attention of the Presbytery of Newton to the following memorial :-
"This church was organized by a Committee of Presby- tery in April, 1839, and then consisted of twenty-four mem- bers residing in Summit Hill, then in Northampton County, and four members in Tamaqua, Schuylkill County. It now consists of thirty-four members at Summit Hill, eight at Tamaqua, and three at Port Clinton. At Summit Hill there is, and has been, for the last twelve years and more, a con- gregation consisting of from fifty to seventy men over the age of twenty-one, natives of Ireland, and brought up, nearly all of them, under the ministry of Rev. William Lyle, of Dunboe."
On April 19th, 1897, Rev. James Robinson preached a memorial sermon, in which he said: "Can we think of Pres- byterians brought up so strictly in the faith of their fathers in those days, drifting so far from their moorings as that
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THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
for nine years or more they did not unite in reading the Bible, or in the capacity of a Prayer Meeting?"
Rev. J. H. Doremus, who preached a fifty-year memorial sermon in 1884, says: "God had wrought wonders in the earliest history of Presbyterianism in Summit Hill by the faithful labors of a private citizen who had only a Bible and a book of Psalms." This was the equipment of one Robert Henry, when he called his fellow workmen in the coal mines on these hill-tops to meet him in the sitting-room of his boarding house, one Alexander McLean, of Pump Street, directly southwest of where the Catholic church now stands, for the study of God's word.
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