USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > Centennial volume of the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, PA., 1784-1884 > Part 7
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6. Continuing with these more internal characteristics, note the faithfulness of the church to discipline. This has not been
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without many extensions of long suffering and patience, and perhaps not (in later years,) without some undne leaning to mercy's side, but in the general course of the history its adminis- tration has been faithful and its just principles have never been abandoned. Cases of discipline for lewdness have been very rare, those for drunkenness comparatively frequent. The selling of liquors was made disciplinable in 1834, and the first case prose- cuted to suspension, and since that time (notwithstanding repeated applications) no liquor seller has ever been admitted to con- munion. The discipline of the church sought out sins of speech and conduct, and even of business. As early as 1818 the token at communion was withheld from a gentleman with a military title until his " behavior on the evening of the last general election " could be investigated. Two women who fought each other in 1819, were reconciled by a judicious committee of the Session. One who had neglected communion was readmitted in the same year "after admonition." A member was warned, in 1826, not to appear at the presentation of his child for baptism-the mother must present it alone. An exhibitor of a museum was dealt with in 1832, for certain exhibitions in it, professed repentance and was admonished. And there is one administration of discipline for sending a challenge to fight a duel, so late as 1836. The fretting question always was, of course, that of amusements. Very early it became apparent that even the judgment of the world was decidedly against the worldly amusements. Of the days in which the card-parties and dancing were freely indulged in, it was often said by those who saw the change afterwards, and by one who was a contemporary-the First Church "had no re- ligion " then. That was not said when the church took a definite and uncompromising stand upon such questions. About 1817 Presbytery [possibly Synod,] issued an affectionate and serious testimony against the participation, by Christians, in balls and fashionable amusements. It was called "a solemn and interest- ing period of conflict of the church of God against the ensnaring spirit of the world." Christians are appealed to not to "be found among the enemies of the Saviour, frustrating by their opinions and practices the labors of His ministers, weakening their hands and promoting the cause of the 'god of this world,' instead of coming forth to the 'help of the Lord against the mighty.'" Such practices were declared "censurable, and church Sessions
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were enjoined to act accordingly." The struggle against the felt and bemoaned incursions of sinful amusements has been kept up always from the pulpit and through the Session and in the gen- eral opinion of the congregation. But as to the other disciplin- ary power there have been changes. In 1834 two persons are remonstrated with for "irregular attendance on divine ordinanees and attendance on a theatrical exhibition." A signal prophecy that wherever the theatre would come in, regular attendance on the services of the house of God would go out. That conjunction has not failed in later days. From 1860 to 1867 what was known as the "Amusement Rule" was in force. In the latter year, after careful consideration by the Session, it was abrogated and the reasons given in full to the congregation. It seemed, under the circumstances of inequality as to the practice of different churches, impossible to preserve our own unity. Moral force alone was to be relied on ; but candor compels the admission that indulgence in cards and theatre- going and dancing has increased, and the results have been noticeable-as a rule-in a lessened interest in spiritual things, to say nothing of other injurious effects. The crisis will come again and the battle once won will be won again. The lesson of the century's history is too plain to be denied or forgotten. Our best periods have been those in which there was least compro- mising of the church's purity and spirituality by indulgence in questionable amusements.
7. Another marked characteristic of the church has been the simplicity which has been preserved in its houses of worship, its services, and, to a commendable degree, in almost everything. It has seemed to be easily satisfied with substantials and to have had little craving for novelties. No difficulty was experienced with regard to the psalmody which was so fruitful a source of contention in other churches. Denominational deliverances were made very early. A committee on selections was appointed by Presbytery in 1785, and their action approved in 1787. Liberty was given to all in the whole matter in an action for which Messrs. Finley, McMillan, Power, and our first pastor, Barr, voted in unison. The eminent Judge Addison introduced hymn books before the close of last century. Others were brought out after the 1804 building had been erected. The service of song has been always cared for, and invariably conducted by those who
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were in sympathy with its spiritual meaning. As early as 1803 the trustees put on record that "twenty-four dollars annually be paid in quarterly payments to a Clerk, whom the Session may ap- point for service in psalmody in publick worship, and that the President draw orders on the Treasury, to be paid out of the con- tingent money for this purpose." They began right in principle as to the Sessional supervision of the service of song, and that principle has never been abandoned. The salary was in propor- tion to the size of the log church. In 1807 a committee was appointed to wait on Mr. James B. Clow (an elder) to know "on what terms he will engage to Clerk for the church." A petition of twenty members was presented to him and $50 offered him again in 1808. In 1818 Mr. Chute resigns as Clerk and is thanked for services and requested to continue until other ar- rangements can be made, and a committee is appointed to "report a plan for obtaining a leader of psalmody for the congregation." It was an important affair, you see. The salary was now about $75 per annum. Excellent resolutions about church singing were passed in 1829. Instruments were ordered out in November, 1833, by the trustees, but the matter was soon after left to the Session, and in 1846 it was noted that $50 were voted to "pay the bass viol." At one time the " young men of the congregation who compose the choir" asked that the salary of a chorister "he devoted to benevolent purposes," they proposing to "conduct the singing." It is a little singular that concerning no other partic- ular of the church life have we so full and particular a record from the opening of this century. The large chorus-choir for so many years conducted by that true son of Asaph-who praved as fervently as he sang-Mr. John Wright, was a source of pride and satisfaction, and edification too, to the congregation. The organ was introduced in 1862, changed for a better one within ten years from its introduction and improved again a few years later. It has spoken to us through many scenes of sacred joy and sorrow by the skillful touch and gifted perceptions and reverent style of Mr. C. C. Mellor, for all these years. The later arrange- ments have all been satisfactory in a high degree. The intro- duction of our present enlarged and carefully edited book of hymns, accompanied with music, has helped us to keep this service simple by the regular use of the adapted music, and to
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develop its usefulness by many new and noble hymns, and by acquaintance with their authorship and date.
The communion method of the church is peculiarly illustrative of its adherence to the simplicity of old customs. The sacraments have always been marked with special seriousness and impressive- ness. Only one effort has ever been made to change the custom now in use. In 1834 it was resolved to sit together in the front pews, that communion be held in the afternoon, the exercises all to be appropriate to that service. No tokens were to be distributed. The experiment was soon abandoned and the old observance restored, except the tokens .* For a long time early in this century, Mr. Clow seemed to be the only elder to officiate at the communion (Mr. John Wilkins not engaging in this duty until very late in his life). Elders of other churches would often assist, and Father Patterson and Dr. Swift were often present.
There is something of extreme interest in looking over a century of such simplicity in church customs. The spiritual has always been confessedly the first interest ; the merely pleasing has been wholly subordinate and the spectacular never considered at all. How undisturbed the access of these worshiping souls has been to God! What seasons of hallowed communion, with no dream of interest derived from novelty, and yet with the varying experiences of life and the marked occasions of ingathering and refreshment, giving a never-ending and genuine variety. Ah ! nothing is so interesting as life ! And with the simplest instru- mentalities spiritual vitality will create an interest which the highest appliances of art can no more furnish than a grain of sand can produce a stalk of wheat. Long may simplicity of form and spirituality of soul reign in the First Church. If ever lost temporarily, may it speedily return. May it prevail in plainness of speech in the pulpit, of adornment in the house, of dress in the pew, of ritual in worship, and in directness and honesty and spiritu- ality of approach to God in His house ; to be followed, as it will surely be, by directness and honesty and sincerity in business- life and speech. All the success of the past has been won under
* This matter of tokens came even before Presbytery, where Dr. Herron, pleading for their disuse, mentioned the case of a lady so embarrassed in finding the token that she arose in tears from the table. Dr. H. kindly reseated her, but always thereafter felt the token to be undesirable.
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simple methods of worship and the sincerity they tend to preserve. And this great city can be won for Christ under no other condi- tions. "Singleness of heart" before God will aid in singleness of aim to glorify Him in converting the masses about us. Excess of ornament in church building or church worship invariably waves away from the doors of the sanctuary, though it may be with an invisible hand, those whom it is the church's first mission to reach, because they need her most.
9. Yet another characteristic of the church is found in its real and honest use of the means of grace. As to prayerfulness, the very foundations of the church seem to be laid in prayer. The mother of the first pastor had an "apartment in her house con- secrated to purposes of private devotion where she retired regu- larly and steadily to hold communion with God, and where she took her children, one by one, to instruct them in the principles of the Christian religion, praying with them and for them, and dedicating them over and over again to the God of the covenant." Who can doubt that she followed her eldest son with earnest prayer through his educational career, then across the trackless ocean to the home of his adoption and afterwards to his chosen field of labor ? Perhaps much of the harmony and prosperity of the First Church to the present day, may be attributed to the fervent prayers of this Christian mother, for "are they not all in God's book ?" (Miss Jane Barr's reminiscences.)
During the first quarter-century of our history this element did not appear with any prominence; but about 1815 Dr. Herron, (assisted by the Rev. Thomas Hunt, of the Second Church,) ap- pointed special meetings for prayer. This was the point of greatest interest to the then struggling pastor, and this has been called later (by Dr. Howard, ) the turning point of the spiritual history of our churches in this city. It was a light kindled in darkness by the attrition of earnest hearts against the deelension and wickedness of the times. It was a stir amid indifference and a venture of faith even against opposition. Six praying women and one elder, with the two pastors, were all. "For eighteen months that little company continued to wrestle in faith and prayer with- out a single addition to their number." [Memorial of Dr. Her- ron, p. 43.] It was a bit of spiritual bravery to meet for prayer, when the church buildings were closed against it, and it was called fanaticism, and even when it was formally said,
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"this extravagance could not be endured and a stop must be put to these meetings at once." But they "endured" as "seeing Him who is invisible." They prayed on and won the victory. They gave aid-the aid most needed-at the critical time. Charges were answered by well-doing. Interest grew. Conver- sions 'followed and the course and character of the church were settled. But even later it was true. As Mr. Daniel Bushnell has said-"I remember when the prayer meeting was held in the church building, one corner of which was lighted up a little, but it was a cheerless place and few were there to worship." After the building of the additional room in 1818, there was a larger attendance. The interest grew gradually until the revival of 1827, which came through prayer, gave the people an impulse to pray never since wholly lost. The prayer-groups around the stove in the lecture room, and continued from evening to evening, and that prayer meeting at the house of Mother Irish, gave life to the great movement of 1827-8. Sunrise prayer meetings came on later, and one of our precious dead-dying above eighty years of age-told me that she has gone to such meetings carry- ing one child and leading another, and then returned to get breakfast for her boarders. Every second Sabbath a sunrise prayer meeting was held for the children, and a most admirable contemporary description of them from the pen of an eye wit- ness, will be found preserved in Mr. David McKnight's Sabbath School History. A long succession of men and women whose lives were specially characterized by prayerfulness was main- tained. Let me mention no others than Michael Allen, the elder who "prayed on horseback ;" Alexander Laughlin, whose pray- ers were remarkable even after other speech had become inco- herent by reason of weakness, and Elders Bailey and Beer, the one praying in all the houses of the congregation once a year for twenty years, and the other praying "all night" just before a wonderful revival. Ah! here is the secret of what has been good and strong in the life of the dear old church. There were never wanting some who " stirred themselves up to take hold on God." Certain evenings and seasons of prayer among our young men also, which have wonderfully consecrated the little room in the rear of the pulpit, have shown, too, that this spirit has not been confined to those advanced in life. Far from it, as shown again by the fervor and success with which our young men have
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within the last two decades sustained cottage prayer meetings and conducted prayer services in hospitals and charitable institu- tions. This spirit may be, and may it become a universal and unfailing characteristic.
The church has not been lacking, either, in devotion to the word of God. It shared in the results of the earliest Bible distribution on this soil-that by the Commissioner of the Mason and Dixon line survey. It took part in the first Bible society at its formation. It furnished the earliest schools, both pastoral and congregational, for the study of the Bible. It heard the lectures of Dr. Nevin in the interpretation and defense of the Scriptures. It established Bible classes for young people, and occasionally for adults also. Latterly the church entered heartily into the pastor's plan for reading the Bible through in one year, and twice a considerable number accomplished the task and enjoyed the reading and the results. Then followed congregational reading in concert for three years, according to a system in which many churches were united ; and for some years past the concert reading has been in the passages selected for daily readings in connection with the Westminster Series of Sabbath School lesson-preparations. The church has never received an encomium of which it may be more justly proud, than the remark of the lamented Mrs. Professor Wilson-" I love the First Church, because it is such a Bible Church." No discourses were ever more warmly welcomed than those which either expounded large portions of Scripture, or opened a whole book or defended the inspiration of God's word. The amount of difficulty or doubt at this point during the whole century has been an absolute minimum.
In general terms the same may be affirmed concerning that other means of grace-the day of God. There was early staunchness, and the church did its part to make and keep the Sabbath of Pittsburgh, which, until within say fifteen years, was a distinguishing honor of our city. Dr. Herron's appeals for its observance were long remembered. The voice of the church has never failed in remonstrating against violation of the just civil restrictions which go to preserve the day of rest from the sins and the greed of men. The opinion has been steadily in favor of a spiritual as well as restful day. There has been a general silence in the manufactories under the control of the church-
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membership. If here and there complications have arisen in matters of conscience concerning the Sabbath-keeping, the church has been true, as a whole, to the day of God; and will remain so. May it be without any yielding to the growing temptations to laxity.
In the attendance upon the sanctuary services, there has been a good degree of earnestness and constancy. Men have always attended at this church. The congregation has not been man- worshiping, staying away when not just satisfied with this or that ministration. To an exemplary degree, church-going has been a matter of principle and not of mere preference, and there have been many cases of special faithfulness. There was always more to be desired, and the pastor ventured to say in 1871, that his New Year's present, (could he make one to the membership,) would be "cloaks for the ladies and boots for the gentlemen, which should be water-proof on Sundays;" having noticed that the "sort now used are proverbially insufficient for Sunday rains ;" but there was always such an attendance as evidenced some gladness in the worship and instruction of God's house. And when here, the congregation has been attentive. This feature has been marked by every pastor and by many supplies, (as for example by the late esteemed Dr. Hornblower.) A most excellent trait indeed ! No one ever occupied this pulpit, I think, who did not recognize the air of serious thoughtfulness pervading the congregation. It has become the custom of the place and the thoughtless, even, have generally conformed to it. The people have been ready to demand serious and thorough work in the pulpit, rather than to cultivate any striving for mere titillation of "itching ears." They seemed to say-"We are all here present before God, to hear all things that are con- manded thee of God." (Acts x: 33.) By such earnest and reverent use of the means of grace it has come to pass that they have never been wholly in vain. The generations successively have felt their power. The Holy Spirit has breathed through them. Sacred song, and the whispers of prayer, and the sug- gestive beauty of the ordinances, and the rich treasures of the word, all enjoyed with prepared hearts on a sanctified and conse- crated day, have wrought their just results and increasing numbers have worshiped here the God of their fathers. That makes the duty of the present and the hope of the future abso-
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lutely plain and assured. Only persevere and grow in a hearty, honest and constant use of the house, the day, the word of God, and in clinging close to the mercy seat, and all will go well.
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9. The church has always been considered conservative and staid in demeanor and method, yet its history has been marked as a revival history. This feature was not early developed, but the contrary. From 1781 to 1787, was a period of extensive revivals in the country surrounding Pittsburgh. Cross Creek, Upper Buffalo and other churches were the seats of continu- ous influences, marked by very deep convictions. The spring of 1787, while our little log church was building, was the point of greatest interest. All night meetings were held in many places. Then in 1795 and until 1798; and then again in 1802-3. But all this time the little church in the centre that would seem to have been planted so opportunely, had no share in the gracious shower. And so it continued until nearly thirty years had gone. Not before the revived interest which began in 1814, and lasted into 1816, could it enter upon its course of greatest usefulness. But the results of that season were gracious and permanent. The era of organized activity may be said to have begun with that movement. By Sabbath School work, and other means, effective helpers were trained up to the winning of souls. In 1822 and 1823 another season of ingathering came. Details with regard to these earlier revivals have not, unfortunately, been preserved ; and perhaps on that account the larger and more aggressive life.of the church has been ordinarily dated from the movement of 1827-8. There are a very few still living who can tell us of those scenes of power. It was in December, 1827, (a December spiritually also,) that the pastor and a few spiritually minded members of the church gathered after prayer meeting about the stove and talked quietly, but earnestly, about the state of religion. Then they prayed over it as earnestly, parting to meet again for more prayer on the ensuing Saturday evening. The hearts of godly women were much touched in their prayer meeting, and on Sabbath evening the Spirit was evidently present in power. The text : "(), Lord, revive thy work," and the sermon aroused intensest interest, and the after meeting filled the lecture room. The services were continued, and all obstacles of "dark streets and deep mud" were overcome. Other churches
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were refreshed and large and permanent fruits were garnered. A fourth revival came in 1832. Fifty-four were added on ex- amination, and the next year saw the birth of that most vigor- ous colony, the Third Church. At this time the church experienced the value of communion with the country, as it had been in assisting brethren there in revival meetings, that Dr. Herron seemed to catch the glow with which others were warmed when he returned. The fifth baptism came in connection with the labors of Mr. Gallagher, in 1834-5. Though there may have been objectionable methods and some measure of disap- pointment with final results, there can be no doubt that much good was accomplished. So Richard Lea describes it. The letters of Mrs. E. F. Denny to her husband, (then absent at Congress,) which speak of 1827, tell us also of 1834. Writing on Decem- ber 12th, she says : "I had a delightful day yesterday. In the morning we had a sermon from Father Herron, that gave me much comfort. In the afternoon, we all communed in Mr. Riddle's church, where we had the joy of beholding a great number for the first time join the church-fifty-eight of them. I expect great numbers will join our church this week." On December 14th, she writes: "Last night eighty or ninety went forward and took their seats separate from the congregation ; among whom were - -, etc. A great number of very genteel young men that I do not know, are determined to join the church. I took tea at Dr. Herron's last night. He is so elated and thinks a larger addition will be made than ever to the church." There did follow a sort of chill during the period of 1836-1839; but that was the period of disruption of the de- nomination, and searcely any other state of things could be ex- pected. Yet from 1818-1839, there were four hundred and eight additions upon examination, and only two hundred and eighteen by certificate. Considering the large growth of the city within those two decades, and the position of attraction oceu- pied by the church, these figures show that conversions were sought, and that spiritual life steadily grew and prevailed. In 1840-41 and '43, there were further displays of divine power to save. This may be called the sixth gracious season. At this time " new measures" were most vigorously discussed. [See dis- cussion between the Rev. Mr. Davis and Dr. Nevin. Denny Theolog. Pamphlets, vol. 2.] In #1851, just after Dr. Paxton's
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accession, a most welcome and powerful work of grace began. This, as that of 1857, are too recent to need detailed description ; as are those in the last pastorate of 1867 and 1876 and 1879, [under the labors of Messrs. Wishard and Johnson.] These re- vivals were all, (if we leave out of view some things of 1834,) simple in method, scriptural in spirit, moderate in tone and healthful in results. Some were general revivals, and others, as 1867, in young men, and 1876, in children and strangers, were characterized by special features. In the latter year the addi- tions were, on profession, seventy-three, and by certificate, forty- nine. From this total of one hundred and twenty-two, thirty- one dismissions and one removal, by death, are to be subtracted, leaving the net gain of that year at ninety, the largest of any year, I believe, in the history of the church. Besides these seasons of revival, there was gradual and sometimes large growth, as in 1872 and 1874, without special meetings. In the latter year there were one hundred and ten additions, of which forty- seven were on examination. Subtracting a loss of forty-four, there remains a net gain for that year of sixty-six. What abundant reason for gratitude ! How God has watched over this vine of His own planting !
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