USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > Harrisburg > Centennial memorial, English Presbyterian congregation, Harrisburg, Pa. > Part 15
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blackboard .* He used it to make a point, to fix a truth, to deepen an impression, to make a lodgment in the memory, and he succeeded most admirably. His intercourse with the school was most genial and sympathetic. He was always thoughtful of others and the master of himself. His journal of the school, seen only after his death, reveals how thoroughly he gave his heart and thoughts and powers to the spiritual and eternal welfare of the school. Even in his last hours it showed itself to be the master passion of his heart to care for the Sunday-school of this Church. It was in his own mind at the moment of his departure from earth, and the last utterances that fell from his lips were concerning it.
Some further record should bemade of the Infant Sunday- school. As nearly as can be ascertained, the resignation by Mr. Samuel W. Hays of the superintendeney, took place in 1854. During the period intervening between 1854 and 1858, the superintendency was held by Mrs. Sarah E. Dixon for a part of the time, and a brief season by Miss Simonton. After the destruction of the church building, March 30,
* It was the custom of the Assistant Superintendent, Mr. MeCar- rell, to prepare the blackboard after each session of Sunday-school for Mr. Weir's use on the following Sunday. On the last Sunday Mr. Weir was in the desk, Mr. McCarrell was absent from the city, and hence the weekly text written by Mr. Weir for that day remained upon the board. Before the next Sunday he was in his grave. The text which was thus left undisturbed, as his last word to the school, was, " Leaving us an example that ye should follow in his steps," was singularly fitting as the lesson of his life. The portion of the board containing the text was framed and still hangs upon the wall in the room of the upper department of the school. - EDITOR.
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1858, Mr. John A. Weir took charge of the school and directed its affairs with great success. Mr. Weir was a friend and lover of children, never more at home than when he was surrounded by them, and busy in their instruction and entertainment. His love for them was returned in bountiful measure by the children who were charmed by the methods of his teaching. Failing health compelled him in 1869, to resign most of the work of the school to Mrs. Matilda Feeman, retaining for himself only a general superintendency. He continued to be a welcome visitant at the school until his death.
On December 5, 1875, the school was divided into classes. On May 7, 1876, Miss Julia W. DeWitt was appointed superintendent and took charge with Miss Anna C. Weir as assistant superintendent. Miss De Witt held the position with great acceptableness until October 12, 1882, when her place was filled by Mrs. David Fleming. Mrs. Fleming and Miss Weir still retain their positions after years of devoted and successful service, for which the Church is most deeply grateful. On May 13, 1883, the school was divided on account of the large numbers attending it into the Inter- mediate and the Primary departments, Mrs. Fleming and Miss Weir retaining their positions as superintendents of the former, and Mrs. G. M. McCauley and Mrs. Helen F. Bruner being appointed superintendent and assistant superintendent of the latter. The year 1883 was a memorable one in the history of the whole school. The new building so finely adapted to all the wants of the Church, and so elegant in its architecture, was dedicated on January 28th of that year. In March, the Intermediate department was formed into a
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Missionary Band, called the Macedonian Band, and its record of gifts to Home and Foreign Missions and to Freed- men for the past eleven years has been a splendid one. On November 4, 1883, a library was presented to the Inter- mediate department by Mr. and Mrs. David Fleming in memory of a beloved son, Charles Mowry Fleming. The building in all its departments is beautiful and made sacred by the memorials to beloved and honored ones who were once connected with the school. The large and choice memorial windows to the two brothers and beloved superin- tendents, James Wallace Weir and John Andrew Weir, will continue we trust to speak for many years of their worth, and of the unfailing love of the Church. The stained glass windows, the clock presented by Mrs. I. S. Kerr, the speaking portrait, and the grand words, "Leaving us an example that we should follow his steps," the last traced by the "vanished hand" of our dead leader. Nay, may it be said, the whole building is a memoral of Christian love and unity.
Through all the years of its history since its early organization, September 26, 1816, the school has been the object of the warm affection of the Church. Its roll of teachers is a grand one. The piety and talent of the Church have here found a place to pour out their wealth of devotion to Christ. It has not been an uncommon thing for teachers to spend from twenty-five to forty years in the work of the school. Children have come up from the infant school to stand at length in the church, stalwart men and consecrated women, doing Christ's work, and passing away with the ripeness and honors of age.
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WILLIAM RADCLIFFE DEWITT. 1818-1867. FROM PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT THE AGE OF 70 YEARS,
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THE first quarter of a century in the life of the Church has nearly passed. The trials of the wilderness are over. The community has grown into a borough of twenty-five hundred inhabitants. There are four churches in the town : the Reformed, the Lutheran, the Presbyterian and a small Methodist Church which had just sprung into being. There were but two pastors, the Rev. George Lochman of the Lutheran Church and the Rev. John Rauhauser of the Reformed Church, popularly known as the German Pres- byterian.
The burial ground of the Presbyterian Church was for the first half century in its history on ground now occupied by the Pennsylvania Railway Station. An old subscription list signed by eighty persons in the congregation of the date 1818, still exists, providing for the purchase of additional ground. About the middle of this century the bodies of the dead buried there were removed to the present cemetery.
In September 1818, William Radcliffe De Witt, a licentiate of the Presbytery of New York, who had been preaching during the summer months, his first sermons to two small congregations in central New York, visited this church on invitation of some of its members and preached to the people for two consecutive Sabbaths and during the week. He met a very hearty reception, and on the fifth of October he was unanimously called to the pastorate. He accepted the call, came on and took up his residence here. The call was signed by the four elders of the Church, Moses Gilmor, Samuel Weir, William Graydon and John Stoner, Adam Boyd having died May 14, 1814, and by sixty-one members of the congregation. Mr. De Witt was ordained by the Presbytery
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of Carlisle on the 26th of October, 1819 and on the 12th of November following he was installed. This was Dr. DeWitt's first and only charge. He continued- in the pastorate until December 23, 1867, the day of his death, a period of over forty-nine years of actual service, and over forty-eight years as an installed pastor. For thirty- six years he was the sole pastor and for the remaining thirteen he had a colleague. Of the sixty-five persons who signed his call but one outlived the youthful pastor. Among them were men who in subsequent years filled high positions in civil life or were called to offices in the Church. The following may be named. Chief Justice Gibson of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, William Findlay and Francis R. Shunk, governors of the Commonwealth. Messrs. Sloan, Agnew, Neilson and MeJimsey in later years Ruling Elders in the Church and other men who became prominent in their professions. The Board of Trustees composed of noble men, all preceeded Dr. De Witt into the other world.
According to a roll made out by William Graydon, one of the elders, the Church membership at the opening of Dr. De Witt's ministry was seventy. This number was small compared with the large size of the congregation. The young people were not generally communicants in the church. They were not expected to make an early profession of religion. There were few, if any young people's organi- zations of any kind. The day of societies had not yet dawned upon the Church. There was very little to attract youth in the institutions of religion and very little for them to do. The Church had not yet learned the art of Christian Work and the joy of service. Dr. De Witt has left on record
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the testimony that it was only after some persuasion that the elders and other lay members were induced to hold meetings for prayer which could be attended by all, indis- criminately, who desired to come. When these elders and laymen took hold of Christian work and prayer, under the leadership of Dr. DeWitt, they soon developed into remarkably gifted men. The godly, praying women were however then as they have always been the ornament and glory of the Church. The prayermeeting first established was held originally in private homes, until no private dwelling could hold the numbers who desired to attend. The log school house which stood at the foot of Capitol Hill on the corner of Third and Walnut streets was then obtained. It soon became too strait for the gathering crowds. The Spirit of God was among the people. The heart of the young pastor was cheered by a revival at the opening of his ministry and the church sprung forward into new life and unwonted activities. It grew rapidly. The power of God was in it. It became influential in the community and through all the years of Dr. DeWitt's ministry it was the home of intelligence. The men of the professions very largely attended it. It continued to be the leading English Speaking pulpit, as the pulpits of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches were divided between the English and German, in their Sunday services for several years. The executive officers of the State Govern- ment, the Legislators and the Judges of the Courts generally waited upon the services of the Presbyterian Church. Of the sixteen Governors of the State from 1790 to 1870, the following were Presbyterians, and were attendants upon the
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Sabbath worship of this Church : Thomas Mckean, Simon Snyder, William Findlay, George Wolf, David R. Porter, Francis R. Shunk, William T. Johnston, William Bigler, James Pollock, William F. Packer, Andrew G. Curtin and John W. Geary. The last was a member of the Church for some years before his death.
Of the events that occured in the history of this Church during Dr. De Witt's pastorate I must speak briefly.
On January 4, 1819, a charter was obtained from the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania for the congregation under the name of The English Presbyterian Congregation. That is still its legal title. The application was signed by seventy-one members of the congregation and the grant is approved by William Findlay, the Governor of the Com- monwealth. The charter is still in the possession of the trustees of the Church.
The following additions were made to the Ruling Eldership of the Church during the sole pastorate of Dr. De Witt :
On February 20, 1820, Dr. Samuel Agnew, Robert Sloan and Joseph A. MeJimsey were ordained and installed to the office; and on September 11th, 1825, John Neilson, Richard T. Leech and John C. Capp were also ordained and inducted into the same office. In 1834 James W Weir, Alexander Sloan and Alexander Graydon were added to the noble band of Ruling Elders and leaders of the Church. In 1840 Samuel W. Hays and Alfred Armstrong, in 1845 William Root and William McClean were also ordained and installed. During the co-pastorate, Mordecai Mckinney, John A. Weir and Robert J. Fleming,
ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. SECOND STREET AND CHERRY ALLEY. ERECTED 1841-42
Historical Sermon of Rev. Thomas H. Robinson. 239
in the year 1855, were added to the roll. Twenty intel- ligent, earnest, God-fearing men served the Church. as members of its session and as its spiritual leaders during Dr. De Witt's ministry. Rarely has a Church been honored with such a body of consecrated and irreproachable men.
During these early years in the pastorate of Dr. De Witt, the church edifice, though enlarged by a gallary and other- wise altered, became too contracted for the numbers who desired to worship in it. In the spring of 1841 the old church was torn down, and the erection of a new one was begun on the site of the old one and of some ground added by purchase. During its construction the court house was occupied both for the regular Sabbath service and for the Sunday-school. The contractor for the new building was Mr. Peter Beruheisel, and it was opened and dedicated to God on the 13th of January, 1842. It was constructed of brick covered by white cement, and was universally regarded as a structure of peculiar neatness and beauty. Its dimensions were eighty-four feet by sixty-three. In front it was very tastefully adorned by a portico, supported by pillars of the Corinthian order, an exact copy, it was said, of a celebrated temple front erected on the street of the Tripos at Athens in the year 335 B. C. to commemorate a musical victory. The church was a two-story building. The basement story was above ground and contained a lecture room, a Sabbath-school room, and a studio designed for the pastor. The latter was also adapted to the uses of the original infant school of the Church. The audience chamber above was a fine large room, and with its three gallaries would accommodate fully a thousand persons.
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The gallaries were called into use only on grand occasions, save that for the choir. The pulpit, constructed of . finely polished Italian marble, was regarded as the cynosure for for all eyes, and unrivaled for chasteness and beauty. The whole structure was one of great beauty and fitness. After sixteen years of service it was totally consumed by fire on the evening of March 30th, 1858, the fire originating in some adjacent buildings. During the ministry of Dr. De Witt the Church was visited by repeated and signal out- pourings of Divine grace, by which many were brought into its communion. The most noted of these seasons were in the years 1819, 1824, 1827, 1830, 1834 and 1843. While Dr. De Witt largely devoted his thoughts and labors to train up around him a body of sound, intelligent and earnest Christians, and to develop the piety of Christian homes, and so secure a permanent and growing state of religious life as the best means of insuring a stable and progressive Church, he was thankful to God. for these extraordinary tokens of Divine favor. The most noted of these revivals was in 1843, and it is well remembered still by a few in the Church who then found the Christ of their hopes and of their lives. The congrega- tion was stirred to its foundations. The entire community was awakened. For the space of two or three months all except necessary labors were laid aside that men might give themselves to the matter of salvation for themselves and for their fellowmen. The places of business were often closed. Religion was the theme of talk upon the streets. Men in the Legislature, then in session, left the halls of legislation that in the meetings for prayer they might seek the face of
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a forgiving God. Two senators were among the converts, one of whom subsequently became a minister in the Epis- copal Church. Several young men came into the Church who have since that time served here and elsewhere as ruling elders. One hundred and thirty made a public profession of their faith on the same day and the member- ship of the Church reached its highest numbers under Dr. De Witt's pastorate. The incidents of that happy period were often rehearsed in subsequent years by those who had shared in them. They were the more cherished in memory because they had followed so closely upon another series of events that threatened to be disastrous to the well being of the Church, and of which a brief record must now be made, as they had their bearing upon its history.
In 1838 the Presbyterian Church of the entire country was divided into two great branches, known as the old and the new school. The division continued for thirty-two years, or until 1870, when a reunion took place, which we trust will become more thorough and happy and strong until the second coming of the Great Head of all believers.
Into the causes and the history of that unhappy division it is not necessary to enter. It would involve very lengthy statements, too lengthy for a discourse on an occasion of this kind. It would also involve the expression of personal opinions and judgments upon the matters that had for years agitated the Presbyterian Church and that led to the disruption. The immediate occasion for the separation of the Church into two bodies may be found in the action of the General Assembly of 1837 that met in the Central Church of Philadelphia on May 18th. By a vote of one
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hundred and thirty-two ayes to one hundred and five nays, the Western Reserve Synod, with all its churches, was declared not to be a part of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. Four days later the three Synods of Utica, Geneva and Genesee were also by a vote of one hundred and fifteen yeas to eighty-eight nays, "declared to be out of the ecclesiastical connection of the Presbyterian Church" and to be " not in form nor in fact an integral portion of said Church." By this action of the General Assembly of 1837, four Synods, containing about thirty Presbyteries, several hundred churches and nearly one fifth of the entire membership of the Presbyterian Church of the country were exscinded from the Church. They were declared to be no longer a part of the Church of their birth, their training, their sympathies and their solemn vows. It was a very summary procedure, to say the least, to cut off, without impeachment and without trial, so large a number of ministers and elders and Church members from the Church which they loved and honored.
The Assembly of the next year, 1838, also met in Philadel- phia. Commissioners appeared from the exscinded Presby- teries and claimed a right to seats in the Assembly. Their claim was denied and seats were refused them. A new Assembly was then constituted of the friends and sympa- thizers of the exseinded Presbyteries, whose members then withdrew to the First Presbyterian Church, of Philadelphia. This body was the first of the so-called new School Assem- blies. The two Assemblies continued in session for several days, each claiming to represent the Presbyterian Church of the United States. This Church was called upon to decide
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with which of these two bodies it would cast its lot. A full history of the action taken by the congregation has been preserved in the handwriting of Rev. Dr. De Witt, the pastor of the Church .* Three propositions were brought before the people and fully considered, namely, (1) To recognize and acknowledge as the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church that body of commissioners who met in the Seventh Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, or the body subse- quently known as the Old School General Assembly; (2) To recognize and acknowledge as the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church that body of commissioners who met in the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, or the body familiarly known subsequently as the New School General Assembly; or (3) to decline the jurisdiction of either body and also of all the subordinate Synods and Presbyteries, and to assume the position of an independent Presbyterian Church. On July 2, 1838, the Church with- drew from the control of all the higher ecclesiastical courts and became an independent Presbyterian Church.
This action was taken with three or four voices dissent- ing. This action of the Church was without doubt mainly due to two causes. First, the Church by a very large majority sympathized with the new school branch of the Presbyterian body in the country and especially regarded the acts of the General Assembly of 1837 in the excision of the four Synods, and the proceedings that grew out of them as unconstitutional and unjust and unkind; and second, the Church was unwilling to have the pastoral relation
* See Appendix, Note IV .- EDITOR.
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between it and Dr. DeWitt dissolved, as he declared it would be necessary for him to withdraw from the pastorate should.the congregation decide to acknowledge the juris- diction of the Old School General Assembly.
The independent position assumed by the Church was maintained until November 5, 1840, when it was received into the Presbytery of Harrisburg, in connection with the New School General Assembly, and so remained until all divisions were lost in the happy re-union of eighteen hundred and seventy. It was a severe trial to this Church to be severed from the great body of the Presbyterian Churches in Central Pennsylvania. It had walked with them in happiest harmony for nearly half a century. Two other churches, the First Presbyterian Church of Carlisle and the Presbyterian Church of York had preceeded this Church in recognizing the New School General Assembly. The Presbytery of Harrisburg was a very small body, made up of widely scattered churches. It required no small amount of courage and fidelity to principle for these few scattered congregations in the midst of a large body of churches to take and maintain for over thirty years the stand they had assumed, and that put them out of fellow- ship with old friends. The little Presbytery of Harrisburg was like a small but very happy household and this Church felt for about one third of a century the power of its attrac- tiveness.
Within a few years after the remarkable revival of 1843, a spiritual re-action occurred. It is no uncommon thing in the history of our fickle human nature. The Church be- came cold in its religious life and lost its power upon the
Historical Sermon of Rev. Thomas H. Robinson. 245
world. There were but few conversions and the member- ship of the Church decreased by death, by removal to other communions and by a few defections from the faith. The heart of the pastor became discouraged. The burden of years was coming upon him and he determined to withdraw from most of the active duties of the pastorate and commit the work to such a colleague as the congregation might call to co-operate with him in the care of the Church. On February 6, 1854, his request that a co-pastor be associated with him was presented to a meeting of the congregation, and after resolutions expressive of regret and of their con- tinued confidence, his request was granted. In pursuance of this arrangement Mr. Thomas II. Robinson, who had just finished his studies at the Western Theological Seminary, Allegheny, Pa., was invited to preach in the pulpit on the last Sabbath in June and the first Sabbath in July of 1854. He preached on those Sabbaths and the Wednesday evening intervening, and on July 5th was called to be a colleague with Dr. DeWitt in the pastorate of the Church. He ac- cepted the call and entered upon the work on the first Sabbath of October of the same year. He had been licensed by the Presbytery of Ohio a few days before his visit. He was ordained to the ministry and installed in the pastorate on January 21st, 1855. It was his first pastorate as it had also been that of his three predecessors, and it proved to be his only pastorate as it also was that of Dr. De Witt. The terms of service in the Church of the third and fourth pas- tors amounted to nearly eighty years, thirteen of which were in common. The relations between the pastors were most fraternal and kindly in character.
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During all his ministry, Dr. DeWitt had proved to be a fast friend and supporter of missions, home and foreign, and the Church fully sympathized with him. His elders were greatly interested in these fields of labor. Both Dr. DeWitt and one of his elders, James W. Weir, were made corporate members of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The interest in foreign missions was stimulated by the many years of service of one of the mem- bers of the Church as a missionary in the Sandwich Islands, Miss Mary Ann Mckinney, sister of Honorable Mordecai MeKinney, and wife of Rev. William Patterson Alexander. She spent twenty years of devoted service on the Islands. One of her sons, William DeWitt Alexander, late a com- missioner of the Provisional Government of the Sandwich Islands to the United States, has for many years been prom- inent in public affairs in those Islands.
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