USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > Harrisburg > Centennial memorial, English Presbyterian congregation, Harrisburg, Pa. > Part 6
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The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is a very essential part of the history which we are recalling and celebrating. It has constantly reminded believers of the love which founded the church, it has been a badge of their separation from the world, it has been a testimony to the world of their loving loyalty to Christ, it has been the means by which a confession of Him has been made on the part of those who, through sanctified family training and faithful
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Address by Rev. George S. Chambers.
preaching, have been brought into His fold, it has kept alive the faith of the church when worldliness has come in like a flood, it has been the jubilant expression of thanksgiving when the reviving power of God's Spirit has swept over the church. With its simple symbolical presentation of the great fact of atonement, with its prophecy of a returning Lord towards the fulfillment of which every celebration of it has been a step, the Lord's Supper has been an answer to the question, What is the secret of a church's life? The church lives because Christ died for it, and rose again. Where a church lovingly holds to these facts, and repeatedly confesses them in the service which He appointed, we may expect to see it blessed with a continuity of life and a constant enlargement of life. We can give a prospective, as well as a retrospective character to this service. We can confidently predict another century of history to this church, and all churches that exalt and con- fess Jesus Christ as Prince and Saviour.
Thus making Him preeminent, we may allow ourselves to indulge in the memories of the holy men and women who have gone before us. With some of you these mem- ories are specially vivid and tender. To all of us, of course, the knowledge of the most of these saints of God is a historical knowledge. We read of the Christians of a hundred years ago and their immediate successors, and we admire their faith, and hopefulness, and courage. But there is a knowledge which is personal and experimental, of other godly ones who have been closely identified with these churches. They have been the fathers and the mothers of some of you. They have been the ministers
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and the Sunday-school teachers of some of you. They have been the intimate friends of some of you, dearer to you even than your very life. We cannot help think- ing of them at such a' time as this. If we believe (and why should we not believe) that all the saints who have entered glory, during these hundred years, from this church, and the churches that have sprung from it, are interested in the work, and the worship of the church on earth, then with what an interest must this service be in- vested. They are looking upon us to-night. They are nearer to us than we think. The limitations of our mortal vision prevent us from seeing "this cloud of witnesses." "From behind the thin veil which severs us from them, they are looking down upon us." Let us take to ourselves the comfort of that description of the church as "the family in heaven and on earth." Let us think of that part of the household which has entered into rest, as both watching us and waiting for us.
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"O Mest communion, fellowship Divine ! We feebly struggle, they in glory shine : Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine. Alleluia."
Coming back to the thought with which I began, let us exalt the Son of God, our Saviour, in this service. He made atonement for our sins. Because He lives, we live also. Through Him they who have gone before us, and we who follow after, are one. They obeyed His dying command, as we are obeying it now. Through His relation to them and to us we are their contemporaries, for He is not the God of
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Address by Rev. George S. Chambers.
the dead, but of the living. This communion table is a place for memory to do a blessed work in recalling the achievements and the fellowship of the past. It is a place for gratitude that the Lord has given us some work to do as the successors of such consecrated men and women. It is a place for hope as we contemplate the greater field of service given to these churches, and the greater responsibilities which rest upon them. It is a place for fellowship as we express our interest in one another, and assert our church brotherhood. But it is all these in a peculiar sense as we think of Him who loved us, and gave himself for us. Our fellowship is with Him. Our hope is in Him. Our gratitude is to Him. Our memory is of Ilim,as the words, never old, always beautiful, fall with a new tenderness on our hearts, " This do in remembrance of me."
At the conclusion of Dr. Chamber's address he pro- nounced the words of institution of the Supper, and Rev. William P. Patterson, Pastor of Olivet Church, led in prayer. The bread was then given by Dr. Chambers to the elders appointed for receiving it, and they distributed it to the people. In like manner also the wine was given by the Rev. George B. Stewart, D. D., Pastor of the church, to the elders appointed for receiving it, and they distributed it to the people.
After the people had all communed, the Rev. George S. Duncan, Pastor of the Westminster Church, led in the con- cluding prayer of thanksgiving.
Dr. Chambers announced hymn No. 658, verses 1, 4, 5.
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Sweet the moments, rich in blessing, Which before the cross I spend, Life and health and peace possessing From the sinner's dying Friend.
Here it is I find my heaven, While upon the Lamb I gaze ; Love I much ? I've much forgiven ; I'm a miracle of grace.
Love and grief my heart dividing, With iny tears his feet I bathe ; Constant still in faith abiding, Life deriving from his death.
At the conclusion of the hymn, which the congregation sang while standing, Dr. Chambers pronounced the Bene- diction. The organ postlude, The Hymn of the Apostles from "The Redemption," by Gounod, concluded the service. This service, with all of the Ministers, most of the Elders, and many of the People of the seven Presbyterian churches laid beautiful and solemn emphasis upon the unity of our church and the goodly fellowship of the saints.
TUESDAY EVENING, February the 13th, 1894, at 7.30 o'clock.
MUSICAL FESTIVAL.
The harmonies that filled the souls of Israel's prophets, priests and people with divine transports are the same which wake "the echoes of Paradise in the soul" of God's people to-day. Never so much as now has the church made use of music. Never so much as now have men thought of music as a note in "the universal concert of God's love." Thoughts such as these were in the minds of some, at least, of the great throng that crowded every available space in the auditorium, vestibule, gallery and rear hall and stood in the snow on the street to hear the musical festival on Tuesday night.
Promptly at the hour, Mr. David E. Crozier, the accom- plished organist of the church, began the service with Wagner's " Vorspiel to Parsifal." As the last strains of this jubilant overture died away they mingled with the first notes of Dudley Buck's "Festival Te Deum." The large choir of the church, augmented by several voices from the Pine Street Presbyterian Church choir, sang this and the other anthems of the evening with precision, sympathy and spirit. The Rev. David M. Skilling, who presided through- out the evening, introduced the Rev. Harris R. Schenck, Pastor of the Falling Spring Presbyterian Church, of Cham- bersburg, who led the audience in prayer. The Rev. James Fraser, Ph. D., Pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Spar-
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row's Point, Md., was then introduced and read the 150th Psalm as the Scripture lesson. Mr. William G. Underwood took Miss Rachel T. Briggs's place in the programme and sang with fine expression "Glory to Thee My God This Night." Mozart's "Andante in F" followed as an organ interlude by Mr. Crozier. The choir then sang "Lo! It is I," as adapted by Shelly to a chorus by Faure. Miss Reba Bunton delighted the audience with her rich contralto voice in "Eye Hath Not Seen," a solo from Gaul's "The Holy City."
Mr. Skilling then announced hymn No. 456, vs. 1, 2, 4. The congregation rising united in singing this hymn of Charles Wesley, so dear to the fathers.
A charge to keep I have, A God to glorify, A never-dying soul to save, And fit it for the sky.
To serve the present age, My calling to fulfill, Oh, may it all my powers engage. To do my Master's will.
Help me to watch and pray, And on thyself rely, Assured, if I my trust betray, I shall forever die.
Mr. and Mrs. Edward Z. Gross followed with a duet, "Forever With the Lord," in which their voices blended perfectly, Reinberger's "Pastorale from Sonata in D Flat," as an organ solo, and Dudley Buck's "Oh, Clap Your Hands," as an anthem by the choir, followed.
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The Musical Festival.
The PRESIDENT OF THE EVENING. No anniversary, and certainly not the centennial, of this church could be com- plete without a festival such as this one to which you have accepted an invitation this evening.
From the very beginning of this church music has had an important place in its worship. During the hundred years that are past this church has witnessed and partici- pated in the various stages through which church music has developed.
From the period ante-dating the introduction of music books into the pews, when the hymms were "lined out," onward through the era of orchestral music, when the flutes and violins and violoncellos sounded the notes for the singers, to the introduction of the melodion and with it the "Carmina sacra ;" and then to the present era of congregational singing, led by a choir so efficiently directed, accompanied by the music so skillfully brought forth on the large organ, and augmented by the anthems which we enjoy to-night, this church has sung its praise to the King of Glory.
And, therefore, it has a history of music to tell.
It is fitting that that history should be told at this time ; and it is especially appropriate that it be told by the speaker whom it is my pleasure to introduce this evening. The committee could have selected no one better suited to the task. A son of the church ; his father and brother for many years elders in this church; himself dedicated to God in infant baptism at its altar ; in early youth received into its communion upon the public profession of his faith in Christ; a member of its choir from 1842 to 1858; and
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subsequently for a number of years the director of music in the Pine Street Church, he comes to us, I know, with a fund of information which shall be not only interesting but instructive. I take pleasure in presenting our brother churchman, our fellow-citizen, our friend, Mr. H. Murray Graydon ; his subject is, "The Hymnology of the Mother Presbyterian Church of Harrisburg, with Some Reminis- cences of Choirs and Choir Days."
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THE HYMNOLOGY OF THE MOTHER PRESBYTE- RIAN CHURCH OF HARRISBURG, WITH SOME REMINISCENCES OF CHOIRS AND CHOIR DAYS.
By H. MURRAY GRAYDON, ESQ.
I have been asked to prepare a paper upon the hymnol- ogy of the Presbyterian Church in Harrisburg during the last hundred years. This will necessarily involve sketches and reminiscences, so far as they can be obtained, of the singers and choirs who flourished during that period, and led the congregation in their Sabbath service of song. Of course information in regard to the early part of the century must be meager in the extreme, as the memory of no living person reaches quite that far back. My own recollections of the music and musical personages connected with the church extends no farther than a year or two before the pulling down of the old and the erection of the new edifice on the corner of Second street and Cherry alley. But some few records remain, and I am indebted to Mr. A. Boyd Hamilton and to a paper prepared by the late Alexander Sloan, a short time before his death, for some facts relating to the subject under consideration, which take us back to the early part of the present century.
It is said that John Wyeth, the father of the late Francis Wyeth, was the leader of the choir before the erection of the first church building. About the year 1809, Thomas Smith became the leader, and his choir occupied the space in front
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of the pulpit, there being as yet no gallery constructed. This defect was remedied about the year 1820, and the singers then took possession of that part of the gallery which was allotted to the choir. James Wright seems to have succeeded Mr. Smith, then James Whitehill, and he was followed by the late John A. Weir. Of the singers of that carly day, who led the praises of the sanctuary, no record remains. It is probable that Mr. Weir continued to lead the choir down to the building of the new church, when he was succeeded by Mr. R. J. Fleming. A short tine before the year 1840 I can recall a few names of those who occupied the choir gallery, I presume, under the lead- ership of Mr. Weir. These are Mrs. J. A. Briggs, then Miss Todd, and Mrs. John J. Pearson, then Miss Mary Briggs, both of whom were, I think, soprano singers, and Alexander Sloan and Andrew Graydon, who dealt out the bass.
In the paper prepared by Mr. Sloan it is stated that the first regular choir was organized about the year ISIS, and that he became a member of it about that time. This may be the fact, and the earlier singers may have been only the skirmish line, or advance guard. Congregational singing must have been at a low ebb, as it has sometimes been at a much later day, for Mr. Hamilton is responsible for the statement that the Rev. Mr. Buchanan, one of the earliest pastors, once said from the pulpit that if the con- gregation would not sing he would not preach.
Mr. Sloan says, in the paper referred to, that in the year 1821 or 1822 the first musical instrument was introduced in the shape of a bassoon played by a Mr. Holt, a school
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. Address by H. Murray Graydon, Esq.
teacher of Harrisburg. Before that time the leader prob- ably used a pitch pipe to get the proper key, as I have a distinct recollection of seeing an old wooden instrument of that kind in my childhood, not then in use, but kept as a relic. It was regulated by moving a slide up and down until the proper pitch was obtained.
In the month of February, 1812, the congregation occu- pied the new church edifice, and the choir became a more pretentious body. Mr. R. J. Fleming was then the leader, and assistance was given by an orchestra composed of Col. John Roberts, with his violin; Alexander Roberts, and afterwards George B. Ayres, on the flute; and Dr. James Fleming, with a violoncello. The flute, if I remember aright, took the soprano, whilst Col. Roberts aided the alto singers, and Dr. Fleming played the bass. Mr. Fleming, the leader, whilst not gifted with a voice of much power, was thoroughly skilled in the science of music, and took great pains to make his choir proficient in both musical science and art. It was during his leadership that an Englishman, who happened along about that time, was permitted to introduce a trombone into the choir gallery, and this materially aided the bass singers. In order to conceal the instrument from the congregation below, some of whom might have been scandalized by its introduction, a screen was erected, attached to the upper pew, behind which the player sat and performed his part of the musical exercises.
After the retirement of Mr. Fleming, Mr. Silas Ward became the leader of the choir, and remained in that posi- tion for a number of years. It was during his occupancy
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of the post that the first reed organ, in the shape of a small instrument, then called a melodeon, was used to assist the choir. After that the flute and stringed instruments gradu- ally gave up the service, the violoncello lingering the long- est. No pipe organ was ever used in any of the Presbyte- rian churches of Harrisburg until after the separation in 1858, when first the Pine Street Church, and afterwards this church, introduced the instruments which are now in use. The original organ first placed in the gallery of Pine Street Church is now transferred to the Sabbath-School room, whilst a new one takes its place in the audience chamber. This church still retains the one first introduced, the gift of the late James W. Weir, of happy memory. A larger reed organ succeeded the melodeon in the church on Second street, and this instrument was rescued at the time of the fire, and is probably still used in some part of this building.
After the congregation moved into the new church, in the year 1812, the old choir dropped out, and a younger set of singers occupied their places. Among these were Miss Sarah Carson, now Mrs. Wyeth; Miss Isabella Tod, now Mrs. Kerr; Miss Lucia Simmons, afterwards Mrs. Wilson, now deceased; Miss Susan Ayres, afterwards Mrs. Jones, also deceased; Miss Margaret Carson, Miss Elizabeth Boyd, Miss Kate Emerson, the Misses Nancy and Lill Shunk, daugh- ters of Governor Shunk ; Miss Mary E. Graydon, now Mrs. Sharpe, of Indianapolis; Miss Susan Mowry, now Mrs. Fleming, and Miss Eliza Roberts, now Mrs. Given. The last four of these sang alto, whilst the others were soprano singers. Among the bass were Alexander Sloan, who kept
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Address by H. Murray Graydon, Esq.
his old place for a time; David Fleming, Joel Hinckley, Patterson Johnson, Lucius V. Parsons, and after an absence of some years, Alexander Roberts. The tenor singer was Dr. C. N. Hickok. A still younger set were gradually in- troduced into the choir at a later day, and they continued there until the destruction of the church edifice in the year 1858. Some of them are to-day matrons in both of the large Presbyterian churches, and as it is impossible to give the names of all, I refrain from mentioning any.
But as this paper is supposed to be a dissertation upon the hymnology of the Church, I must not omit to notice the hymn and music books in use in the church during the period of which I am writing. Mr. Hamilton, in an article recently published, speaks of a hymn book called the " New Haven Collection," which he says was the first book used by the congregation. It contained only seventy hymns. The first hymn book which I remember was the authorized version of psalms and hymns, the former being kept sep- arate from the latter, and placed first in the book. The combined hymn and tune book, now so common, was unheard of in the church at that day, the music book, which was used only by the choir, being an entirely sep- arate work. It contained the tunes ordinarily sung to the psalms and hymns, and in the end of the book was gen- erally a collection of anthems and set pieces, to be used by the choir as voluntaries. The first two musie books which were in use after the new church was occupied, were the " Boston Academy " and the " Carmina Sacra." At a later day the " Psaltery " and the " Mendelssohn " were intro-
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duced, and a short time before the destruction of the church, a new book, called " The Harp of David."
A lady friend residing in the West, who was a member of the choir for a year or two, sending me some reminis- cences of choir days, speaks of some of the favorite tunes then in use. She mentions " Rothwell," "Cephas," " Har- well," "Oliphant," "Lischer," " Ariel," " Oberlin," "Ezra," " Ceylon," the last three being copied into our manuscript books, not being found in any of our own collections. And then the anthems, with which the morning service was generally opened, "Jerusalem my Happy Home," "Plunged' in a Gulf of Dark Despair," " Wake the Song of Jubilee," " The Lord is my Shepherd," " Come unto me all ye that Labor," &c., "I will wash my Hands in Innocency," and many others. As pertinent to my mention of the anthem last named, let me here introduce a brief extract from a letter received recently from George B. Ayres, of Philadel- phia, whose old flute, played by him in the choir over forty Years ago, is now on exhibition in the adjoining church parlor. He says : " You may notice in ' The Psaltery ' the anthem, 'I will wash my Hands in Innocency,' has two passages (in small notes) for the instruments alone. Well, I remember what a MAGNIFICENT thing our people used to think that was-when the instruments played those pas- sages ! I suppose you recognize the bass part."
We seldom hear anthems like those I have referred to nowadays. The modern voluntaries are generally more highly artistic, and relegate those of a simpler character to the rear. And yet I may be permitted to say that, in my judgment, the average congregation, even in these days,
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would appreciate more highly and enjoy more thoroughly some of these old anthems, than many of those which are " executed " in their hearing in perhaps the majority of our Presbyterian churches.
I know of no hymn book in use in the lecture-room, at the Wednesday evening service, until after Dr. Robinson was called to the pastorate, unless it was the one used in the church on the Sabbath. Possibly the hymns were " lined out," as was the custom in early days. Dr. DeWitt, who had a fine voice, generally started the tunes on Wednesday evening, and the range on these occasions was not a very extensive one. I remember that on one occasion a strange clergyman, who was conducting the service, gave out the hymn commencing " Now I resolve with all my heart;" and sang it to the tune " Rockingham." Dr. De Witt was greatly pleased with the music, which was then new to us, and from that time on we had it on nearly every Wednes- day evening. So surfeited did I become with the tune that to this day I dislike to hear it sung.
After Dr. Robinson became co-pastor a small book was introduced into the lecture room, called " Parish Hymns," which was used thereafter and contained many very good selections. One beautiful hymn became a favorite, and was
* The records of the Session contains the following item under date of March 10, 1853, more than a year prior to Dr. Robinson's coming : "Whereas many members of the church having expressed a wish that a suitable hymn book should be used in the meetings for lecture and prayer, and the Session having examined several compilations extant, it was resolved unanimously to recommend the . Parish Hymns' for the uses proposed."-EDITOR.
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often sung at a Saturday evening prayermeeting. Its open- ing verse was :
When the worn spirit wants repose, And sighs her God to seek, How sweet to hail the evening's close That ends the weary week."
The same hymn has since been arranged to appropriate music in one of the music books, as a hymn anthem, though I have not heard it sung for many years.
These reminiscences must close with the year 1858. From that time two organized Presbyterian churches existed, and with the musical arrangements of the mother church since that day, the writer is not familiar. The constituent elements of the choir in Pine Street Church have varied greatly in the passing years, as have doubtless those in this church. In both churches the combined hymn and tune books are now in use, and there is less excuse than ever for a neglect of congregational singing. Choirs, too, have become more ambitious, and claim a much larger share of the musical part of the service than did their predecessors. Within proper bounds, this is not perhaps to be deprecated, especially if the music is entirely appro- priate. Possibly too little account was made in days past of the praise element, but we may be in danger of running too far to the opposite extreme. I confess to a feeling of misgiving when I see whole programmes published on a Saturday evening in the newspapers, including even the names of the composers of the pieces to be performed by the choir, inviting the congregation seemingly to a concert of sacred music, rather than to a meeting with the Master for
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worship, and the hearing of his message from the pulpit. Let me be understood here, as objecting to the advertising and not to the praise service itself.
But this is treading upon what some may consider debatable ground. I give only my own opinion. It is my province in this paper to narrate, rather than to moralize, and I therefore leave the subject, commending it to the calm reflection of all Presbyterian hearers.
The concluding anthem by the choir was Farmer's "Qui Tollis," this was followed by a soprano solo, " Jerusalem," sung by Miss Helen Espy with sweetness and expression. Rev. Dr. Thomas H. Robinson read hymn number 394, verses one, two and four, which the congregation having risen sang "as in the days of the fathers," to the solemn majestic tune of " Windham."
A broken heart, my God ! my King ! Is all the sacrifice I bring : The God of grace will never despise A broken heart for sacrifice.
My soul lies humbled in the dust, And owns thy dreadful sentence just ; Look down, O Lord ! with pitying eye, And save the soul condemned to die.
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