USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > Harrisburg > Centennial memorial, English Presbyterian congregation, Harrisburg, Pa. > Part 5
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Mr. Miller read the report of the Intermediate depart- ment. This department had on its roll during the year 1893 seven officers, twenty-eight teachers, and two hundred and sixty-eight scholars, a total enrollment of three hundred and three.
The contributions of the department during the year amounted to $1,065.98, which were given to various mis- sionary and benevolent causes.
The Superintendent, Mrs. David Fleming and one teacher, Miss Sarah C. Cowden, were present every Sabbath during the year. Eighteen scholars were present every Sabbath : Gertie G. Carnes, Rhoda M. Bell, Jenny Brookens, Minnie E. Snoddy, Carrie Speise, Bessie Stephens, Laura McCord, Alice E. Gingher, Blaine Fry, David Wingeard, Willie Rein- del, Jolm E. Swanberry, Milton W. Swanberry, M. Frank Bishop, Joseph Hogentogler, Charley Taylor, Frank Dwyer, John Dwyer.
Eleven scholars were absent one Sunday : Clarence P. McCoy, Harry Bradigan, Boyd E. Morrow, Frank Kittner, Robert Ehrisman, Cora W. Anderson, Annie Malseed, Viola Bell, A. Mabel Bishop, Mabel V. Chester, Cora E. Shertzer.
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Exercises of Intermediate Department.
Seven scholars were absent two Sabbaths: Annie Spicer, Mary Arnold, Irene S. Loudenslager, Bertha M. Meredith, Mary E. Wager, Edward G. Hershman, Ronald Harvie. .
The SUPERINTENDENT. We will now be interested in at- tending to some exercises by the Intermediate department.
The Intermediate department, with Mr. Fleming leading, sang :
COME SING WITH GLAD VOICES. Come children, and sing with glad voices, The praises of Jesus our king ! The world in his coming rejoices, And we will adore him and sing !
Chorus. We'll sing of the Saviour who loves us, And carol with gladness our lay, We'll sing of the little child Jesus, And praise him, and praise him to-day.
O dearly we love the sweet story Which comes thro' the centuries long, Of the shepherds beholding his glory, And hearing the wonderful song !- Cho.
The wise men who follow'd the leading . Of Bethlehem's beautiful star, Were guided to Him they were seeking O'er mountain and river afar !- Cho.
O could we but kneel at that manger, And lay our best offerings there, How gladly we'd hail the sweet Stranger, With hearts full of worship and pray'r .- Cho.
Mrs. David Fleming, Superintendent of the Intermediate department, led her school in the following responsive ser- vice:
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God the Ruler.
Supt .- Who rules all worlds?
School .- God rules all worlds. Supt .- Whom does God rule in heaven? School .- God rules all spirits in heaven. Supt .- Whom does God rule on earth? School .- God rules all people.
Supt .- What does God give us to obey? School .- God gives us good laws to obey. Supt .- What is God's law about love and worship? School .- We must love and worship the one God. Supt .- What is God's law about idols? School .- We must not worship idols.
Supt .- What is God's law about the Sabbath?
School .- We must remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
Supt .- What is God's law about our father and mother? School .- We must honor our father and mother. Supt .- What is God's law about stealing? School .-- We must not steal. Supt .- What is God's law about lying? School .- We must not lie. Supt .- What is God's great law? School .- We must love God and one another: God is the ruler.
Obedience. Supt .- Why should we obey God?
School .- We should obey God, because He is our creator; He is wise; His laws are holy, just and good, and He loves us.
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Exercises of Intermediate Department.
Supt .- What does God want us to be? School .- God wants us to be good and happy like himself. Supt .- Is it a little sin to disobey God? School .- If we disobey God, we sin greatly.
Supt .- Where cannot we go if we continue to disobey God?
School .- We cannot enter heaven.
Supt .- Whom can we see when we talk with them? School .- Our parents and friends.
Supt .- Whom can we not see when we talk with Him?
School .- We cannot see God, but we can talk to Him; He sees us, and knows all we think and hears all we say; when we talk to God we pray.
Supt .- What must we ask God to do for us? School .- We must ask Him to forgive us our sins, to help us to be good, to give us the things we need.
Supt .- For whom must we pray?
School .- We must pray for our parents and friends; for our teachers and schoolmates, and for the poor, sick, ignor- ant and wicked?
Supt .- When must we pray?
School .- We must pray every day-at home and away from home, and in the house of God.
Supt .- What can you say about God? School .-- God hears and answers prayer.
Worship.
Supt .- Where are the angels? And what do they do?
School .- The angels are in heaven; they bow before God and worship Him.
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Centennial Memorial.
Supt .- What is a church?
School .- A church is God's house; people go into it, sit still and think about God : they should worship Him as the angels do in heaven, should listen and learn from God's servant as he preaches God's truth. God is a spirit, and we must worship Him in spirit.
Jesus Christ the Lamb of God.
Supt .- When was the temple of God in Jerusalem built? School .- Long before Jesus came from heaven to earth. Supt .- What was a table in the temple called? School .- The altar.
Supt .- What was the altar for?
School .- To offer sacrifices upon. A man brought a lamb to the priest; he laid the lamb by the altar, as God had told him to do.
Supt .- About whom did the lamb help the man to under- stand?
School .- Helped him to understand about the Christ.
Supt .- When the man brought the lamb from his home, what did he remember about the Christ?
School .- He remembered that the Christ would come from heaven to carth.
Supt .- What should we do if we would live forever in heaven?
School .- We must repent of sin, love, obey and serve God.
Supt .- Because Jesus Christ died for us, what is He called?
School .- The Lamb of God.
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Exercises of Intermediate Department.
Glory to God on high, Let praises fill the sky ! Praise ye his name. Angels His name adore, Who all our sorrows bore, And saints ery evermore, " Worthy the Lamb ?"
At the close of the responsive service this department sang :
LIFT UP THY VOICE.
Lift up Thy voice with strength, O Zion that bringeth good tidings, Lift up, lift up thy voice with strength, for God, the Lord is here, The fullness of the earth and the people are the Lord's,
And ev'rywhere o'er sea and land, His goodness doth appear.
Refrain. Lift up, lift up thy voice, and cry aloud, O Zion ! Arise and shine, let all rejoice for God the Lord is here.
Lift up, be not afraid, behold your God, O Judah,
The Lord shall come, His arm shall rule with power from above, He calls the stars by name by the greatness of His might,
He giveth power to the faint ; behold his name is Love !- Rq.
O wait upon the Lord, and ye shall not be weary ;
The youths shall faint, the young men fall who know not God, the Lord,
All nations are as nothing before the Lord of Hosts,
But we are all His people, He sustains us by His word. - Ref.
All of the exercises of the Intermediate department made a marked impression upon the audience and the school was justly praised.
Mr. McCarrell announced verses one and three of hymn No. 48, in Winnowed Songs, and the audience, having risen, joined heartily in the singing.
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Centennial Memorial.
Joy bells ringing, children singing, Fill the air with music sweet ; Joyful measure, guileless pleasure, Make the chain of song complete.
Chorus.
Joy bells ! joy bells ! never, never cease your singing ; Children ! children ! never, never cease your singing ; List, list the song that swells. Joy bells ! Joy bells !
Earth seems brighter, hearts grow lighter, As the tuneful melody Charms our sadness into gladness, Pealing, pealing. joyfully .- Cho.
The SUPERINTENDENT. It is a rare pleasure to have with us him who for thirty years was the Pastor of this church, and who by his active interest in everything relating to the welfare of the school, contributed largely to making the school what it is to-day. I am sure he is glad to be with us, and I know you will be more than glad to hear him. Dr. Robinson has been with us on so many anniversaries that a formal introduction is unnecessary. He will now address us.
REV. DR. THOMAS H. ROBINSON'S ADDRESS.
This is the seventy-eighth anniversary of the Sunday- school. When people are seventy-eight years of age they look old. This school does not look older than when I came to it forty years ago, probably not any older than when it was born in a little frame house down on Market street, seventy-eight years ago. What will it be when it is one hundred years old, as this church is to-day ? If it keeps on growing as it has grown during the last few years, then
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Address by Rev. Dr. Thomas H. Robinson.
this room will not be large enough to hold it all. Not every one that looks old, however, is old. Old people can keep young just as schools keep young, even though they cannot keep young in appearance. We have here to-night a lady * who was a member of this school in very early days. She was not one of the first scholars, but she joined the school when it was not more than four or five years old. She remembers very well how the school looked and what it was then. It was a very small affair to what it is now. Though she is now more than eighty years old, yet she is as young in heart as any one.
How shall we keep young? That is a very important question. The school keeps young by bringing new scholars into it, "new blood," as they say in other organiza- tions. We keep young by keeping the heart young, and the heart is kept young by bringing new affections and sym- pathy and interests into it. The heart is kept young by love. It may be that the day will come when I will need a cane to walk with, but I do not mean that the day shall come when my heart grows old. I hope we will all keep young in the same way by loving God and loving good. We can keep ourselves young and bright though we may live to be very old.
Mr. Miller read the report of the Senior department. The number enrolled in this department during the year 1893 was thirteen officers, sixty teachers and five hundred and ninety-nine scholars, a total enrollment of six hundred and
* Mrs. Harriet J. Agnew, daughter of Dr. Samuel Agnew, an elder in this church from 1820 to 1835, and the widow of the late Rev. John R. Agnew, of Greencastle, Pa.
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Centennial Memorial.
seventy-two. The contributions for the year were $1,077.64, which sum was used for the support of the school and for benevolent and missionary purposes.
Three teachers were present every Sunday in the year, Mr. George W. Boyd, Mr. Peter K. Sprenkel and Mr. Sharon Stephens.
Twenty-five scholars were present every Sunday : Bertha Unger, Carrie McCord, Annie C. Wager, Carrie P. Michael, Bella Jones, Carrie Tippett, Bessie Ehrisman, Bertha Tippett, Maud Tippett, Harry Zeiter, George Deisroth, Charles W. Hartwick, Daniel Crutchley, Edward Hogentogler, William H. Shindler, William Taylor, Luther R. Kennedy, George Ehrisman, Harry Hilton, Frederick H. Stephens, Mrs. Samuel Fortney, William Steinmeier, C. Ross Colestock, Albert Metzgar, Mrs. Samuel Briggans.
Seven scholars were present every Sunday but one: Bessie L. Eckenroth, Lydia Minning, Ira Bishop, Charles Fry, John Kelker, Harvey M. Taylor, William McCord. Four scholars were present every Sunday but two: Richard M. Morrow, William Hoke, Lewis H. Carpenter, John Arnold.
Mr. MeCarrell, while all were standing, read responsively with the school, the scripture lesson printed on the pro- gramme as followeth :
SCRIPTURE LESSON.
Supt .-- Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
School .- Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick ; it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 1
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Exercises of Senior Department.
Supt .- Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
School .- Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal :
Supt .- But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal :
School .- For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Supt .- Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
School .- For every one that asketh receiveth ; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
The choir of the senior department sang the anthem, " Thee Will We Worship." Mr. Miller read the reports of the Chinese department and of Calvary Chapel school, and the summary of all the reports. These were as follow : In the Chinese department were enrolled during 1893, one officer, eleven teachers, and thirteen scholars ; total, twenty- five. The contributions amounted to $36.93, given to benevolent causes. The enrollment of Calvary Chapel school during 1893 was six officers, nineteen teachers, and four hundred and twenty-six schslars, a total enrollment of four hundred and fifty-one. The contributions amounted to $255.34, given to church and benevolent causes.
The summary of the reports showed that during the year here were enrolled in the church school, deducting dupli-
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Centennial Memorial.
cates on account of transfers from one department to another, and in Calvary Chapel school, thirty-one officers, one hundred and seventeen teachers, and one thousand five hundred and twenty-two scholars; a total of one thousand six hundred and seventy; and that the contributions amounted to $2,531.25.
After the senior choir sang " Rest for the Weary," Mr. McCarrell said: "No session of the Sunday-school is entirely complete without the presence of the pastor, and no Sunday-school anniversary programme would be properly made up which did not provide for an address by the pastor, and I know that you will now be very glad to hear from Dr. Stewart.
THE PASTOR'S ADDRESS.
I am reminded to-night that though I have been pastor of this church something over nine years, yet this is the tenth anniversary of the Sunday-school which has occurred during my pastorate. This is the one hundredth anniver- sary of the church. There is not very much difference, for you know one hundred is only " nothing " more than ten. The fact that I have been present at ten such gatherings as this gives me my text to-night. Take the word TEN and make an acrostic of it, and you have the three heads of the sermon.
I. Time Flies.
How it does fly ! Here is Mrs. Agnew with an experi- ence stretching back to the fourth or fifth year of this Sun- day-school, and yet how rapidly the years have gone for her! This Sunday-school is seventy-eight years old, the
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Address by Rev. George B. Stewart.
church is one hundred years old, and yet how short these periods seem as we look back over them. The official life of our present Superintendent, Mr. MeCarrell, and of his revered predecessor, Mr. Weir, cover sixty years of the life of this school, Mr. Weir being Superintendent for forty-four years, and Mr. McCarrell for sixteen. May you, Mr. Super- intendent, live to round out your forty-four years of service in this office which you so adorn, and in which you are such a great blessing to the school. It will not be long until you, children, are men and women, until you, young men and maidens, are old men and women. Time is going very fast. It does not wait for anybody. Ifyou get behind in your work, if you neglect your opportunities, if you idle away your days, you cannot hope to make up the loss. Lost time is never found. Time past never returns. Be up and at your work to-day and now, for time is going rapidly.
II. Eternity is the Measure of our Life.
This school is seventy-eight years old, and no matter how long it may last it will be so many years old, and it must come to an end some day. This school cannot live forever. But we will live forever. We never die. These spirits and bodies of ours will be separated some day by what we call death, but it is not death in the sense that we come to an end. We live on forever. Time is the measure of the life of organizations here in the earth, but eternity is the measure of our life. We who are living to-day will always live. The most blessed and solemn fact is that we can never get away from ourselves, we can never get away from God. Hle and we must live on together throughout all the ages that are yet to come. How important it is that we have
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Centennial Memorial.
our hearts right with him, that we should be at peace with him, since we are to live together forever. What misery it means for us if we do not love the things he loves, and do not the things he wants us to do. We sometimes hear people say, " I mean to be different some day, I do not mean to live this way always." Yet we must live always, and if we are going to be different we ought to begin at once. For what we are now and what we do now are going to tell much on what we are to be in the hereafter.
III. Now is the Accepted Time.
This word now is the word that is underscored and em- phasized throughout the whole Bible. All duty is written in the present tense. It is very pleasant to think of the past. It is inspiring to dream of the future. The past is gone and we can never change it. The future is not here and we cannot yet have its blessings. But the present is here and it is here with all its possibilities, with all its treasures, with all its work, and with all its duty. If we are to get what it has we must get it now, because the present is rapidly becoming the past, and as soon as it is gone it is gone forever. You have a work to do, do it. You have lessons to learn, learn them. You have duties to perform, attend to them. You must not wait, you cannot delay. Now is the time. Now is the accepted time. Take hold of the present moment. Do the work that is just before you. Ileed the old Scotch proverb, " Do the next thing." Do not waste your time in thinking of past deeds, or dreaming of coming honors. The past is beyond your control, and the future is yet to come into your hands. Seize the present moment, do your duty now, and you will
Exercises of Senior Department. 83
find your life being filled with good things, and your life work being fully accomplished.
Now, you have my sermon. I do not think it will be hard for you to remember the text and the divisions. TEN: T-time flies. E-eternity is the measure of our life. N-now is the accepted time.
The SUPERINTENDENT. The distribution of prizes for unbroken attendance during the last year should be made at this point. The hour, however, is growing late, and the crowded condition of the room makes it almost impossible for the librarians to reach the scholars who are entitled to the prizes. The books will therefore be handed to the scholars entitled to them upon their coming to the platform after the benediction shall have been pronounced. In connection with this distribution, I desire to call attention to the fact that these books are the gift of a former Superintendent of the school, whose love for his scholars prompted him to provide in his will a fund, from the income of which this annual distribution of gifts might be made. We are grateful for his kindness and liberality, and the school should never fail to remember him, of whom Dr. DeWitt this morning so appropriately and eloquently spoke when he characterized him as that man of God and friend of man, James Wallace Weir. These books, as they go into the hands of the scholars who have earned them, bear the inprint of the James Weir Fund, and I trust that those who are to receive them may be imbued with the spirit of the generous donor. We will now sing the first verse of hymn No. 104.
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Centennial Memorial.
We are marching on with shield and banner bright, We will work for God and battle for the right, We will praise His name, rejoicing in His might, And we will work till Jesus calls. In the Sunday-school our army we prepare, As we rally round our blessed standard there, And the Saviour's cross we early learn to bear, While we work till Jesus calls.
Chorus.
Then awake, then awake, happy song, happy song, Shout for joy, shout for joy, as we gladly march along.
The Rev. Mr. Skilling pronounced the Benediction and while Mr. Crozier played as an organ postlude Guihnant's Chorus in D Major, the prize books were distributed to those who had maintained an unbroken attendance at Sunday- school during the year.
MONDAY EVENING, February the 12th, 1894, at 7.30 o'clock.
UNION COMMUNION SERVICE.
On account of the violent snow-storm which prevailed at the time of the union communion service on Monday evening, and which had prevailed throughout the day, the audience was not as large as it otherwise would have been. Nevertheless the house was well filled. The Pastors and Elders of the several Presbyterian churches gathered in the lecture-room prior to the service, Several of the Elders were detained from the service by reason of illness of themselves or of members of their family. Before enter- ing the church, Rev. William P. Patterson led in a fervent prayer for God's blessing upon the service of the evening. In view of the absence of some of the Elders, the previous arrangement for the distribution of the emblems was modi- fied, and it was arranged that Daniel W. Cox, Dr. Jacob A. Miller, Jacob F. Seiler, Gilbert M. MeCauley, Francis Jordan, Matthew B. Elder, John M. Stewart, Abram L. Groff, William S. Shaffer, Sr., William Jones, J. Wallace Elder, John J. Craig and John C. Harvey should distribute the bread; and that J. Henry Spicer, Thomas J. Miller, Jacob F. Seiler, Gilbert M. MeCauley, Francis Jordan, Mat- thew B. Elder, John M. Stewart, Abram 1. Groff, William S. Shaffer, Sr., Samuel IT. Garland, David R. Elder, Alex- ander Adams and John C. Harvey should distribute the wine.
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Centennial Memorial.
After the Ministers and Elders had taken their places at the Communion Table, Mr. Crozier played as an organ prelude the final chorus from the passion music according to St. Matthew, composed by Bach. The choir sang with feeling and finish Dudley Buck's setting of John Henry Newman's " Lead, Kindly Light." The invocation by Rev. Reuben H. Armstrong, Pastor of the Elder Street Church, followed. The Rev. Albert B. Williamson, Pastor of the Paxtang Church, announced hymn No. 696, verses 1, 2, 6.
Not worthy, Lord ! to gather up the crumbs With trembling hand that from thy table fall, A weary, heavy-laden sinner comes To plead thy promise and obey thy call.
I am not worthy to be thought thy child, Nor sit the last and lowest at thy board ; Too long a wanderer and too oft beguiled, I only ask one reconciling word.
My praise can only breathe itself in prayer, My prayer can only lose itself in thee ; Dwell thon forever in my heart, and there, Lord ! let me sup with thee ; sup thou with me.
Rev. David M. Skilling, Pastor's Assistant in Market Square Church, read as the Scripture lesson the first chapter of Ephesians.
The Rev. George S. Chambers, D. D., Pastor of the Pine Street Church, delivered the Communion address.
COMMUNION ADDRESS.
By Rev. GEORGE S. CHAMBERS, D. D.
In a very special sense, the communion service which has brought us to the house of God this evening is a memorial service. It is a feast of memory ; the memory of Christ, and the memory of service for Christ by gener- ations of Ilis faithful disciples.
Primarily and pre-eminently do the great facts of our Lord's love and death for us come before our minds. Neither the tender memories of departed friends with whom we have taken sweet counsel, nor the history of the generations of Christians who preceded them, and who laid the foundations of this Christian church, and of whose piety and zeal, this week is a commemoration, should obscure the Divine Person ; or diminish the empha- sis of the Divine Word which is the warrant of this service -- " Do this in remembrance of me." Let us give Christ this pre-eminence to-night. And we can think of Him as the joy of all the communion services of this church and the others that have sprung from it, during all these years. Not a year has passed in the century which this week closes, without these assemblies of Christians around the table of the Lord. Company after company, representing all phases of Christian character and experience have thus met to magnify his atoning love. Of them we may say, varying the words of Paul concerning the witnesses of
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Christ's resurrection-" Some of them remain unto this present, but the greater part are fallen asleep."
There is an appropriateness in making a communion ser- vice a part of this Centennial celebration. It will check any tendency to man-worship, into which we may uncon- sciously glide as we discuss the fortitude, and perseverance, and intelligence, and devotion of the men and women whose work at such a time comes into review. Moreover, a communion service at this time is suggestive to us of the true principle of a church's continuity. There would have been, there could have been, no Centennial celebration this week, had there been no communion celebrations during these hundred years. The history of a church is praeti- cally the history of its communion seasons. These are the signs of its growth. Upon these depends to a very consid- erable degree the development of individual piety. These sustain a very intimate relation to family religion. If we can conceive of a church without the observance of the Lord's Supper, it is not one with the history of a century. It is, on the contrary, an ephemeral organization, inviting and hastening its own decay by neglect of, or disobedience to, the Lord's dying command.
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