USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > East Liberty Presbyterian Church : with historical setting & a narrative of the centennial celebration, April 12-20, 1919 > Part 18
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chance to don a uniform, but fought the fight of freedom where they stood-heroes and heroines in the dress of common life."
Yet since the cast has been made and the letters set, we can do no more than bow before your kindness which has ever been in remembrance of us and forgetful of yourself.
We accept it with the deepest feeling of gratitude and only wish that we might have done more to merit it.
"Stand Men!" while I speak these last few words. May it be to us an inspiration to greater achievement. I am quoting from Lowell :
"New occasions teach new duties ; Time makes ancient good uncouth, They must upward still, and onward Who would keep abreast with Truth, Lo, before us gleam her camp-fires! We ourselves must Pilgrims be,
Launch our Mayflower and steer boldly Through the desperate winter sea,
Nor attempt the Future's portal With the Past's blood-rusted key."
Let it not be the stopping place of our endeavors but inspired by the achievement it represents, press on.
To others who may see it now and in the future may it stand as a monument to freedom-a glorious record of the price this church not only paid but was willing to pay.
After this impressive service, the comrades of three wars, fol- lowed by the congregation, marched to the church lawn, where appropriate exercises incident to the planting of a tree on the Penn avenue side of the lawn in honor of the members of the congregation who served in the World War were conducted. Comrade D. C. Shaw was chairman of the committee of ar- rangements ; Comrade Roseman Gardner acted as commander ; Comrade S. E. Gill made the presentation address; Captain Wm. Duckham responded for his comrades. Comrade Gill spoke as follows:
Comrades of the Civil War, of the Spanish-American War, and the World War: We are assembled here this afternoon on historic ground upon a historic occasion. One hundred years ago there was established upon this spot an organization
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the influence of which has been broadening and increasing through all the intervening years, and which we trust will continue to grow through all the ages. One hundred and forty- three years ago our nation had its birth. It was born in war, its foundations were laid in liberty-loving patriotism and cemented with the blood of the heroes of the Revolution.
A period of peace and national growth was broken by the War of 1812, when our nation was again called upon to sacri- fice her sons in the cause of liberty. Again victory crowned our arms and peace prevailed. None of the soldiers of those early wars remain to be called comrades. All have answered the roll call of the Great Commander. Three decades of peace rolled by when again the tocsin of war was sounded and our citizen soldiers rallied to the defense of the Lone Star State which had sought and obtained admission to the Union after separating herself from the Republic of Mexico. Here, too, success crowned our arms, although it is at least questionable whether that victory was one of which to be proud.
For years prior to that time other storm clouds had been appearing upon the horizon of our national life and following the election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency in 1860 war between the states burst into flame April, 1861. It was no foreign foe we were called upon to face, but our brothers- men of the same lineage, of the same faith, of the same tradi- tions, with a common heritage, but divided on moral and eco- nomic questions. They of the Southland cherished slavery and the doctrine of State sovereignty. We of the North believed in freedom for all men, and that the Union was one and indi- visible. Four years of bitter warfare ensued; millions of men were called to arms, brother against brother. A million men laid down their lives for their faith in their cause. Out of this terrific conflict the Union forces emerged victorious-the Union was preserved and disunion forever laid to rest.
The cause of justice and liberty had again triumphed and peace reigned till 1898, when the cruelty of Spain to our island neighbor, Cuba, so stirred the hearts of our people that war ensued. Short, sharp and decisive was the conflict, with victory perching upon Old Glory and a new nation was born into the community of liberty-loving peoples.
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And last of all came the great and unparalleled war in Europe in 1914, which gradually drew into it nearly all the nations, including our own in 1917, so that it has become known as the World War. So fierce was the conflict and so great were the issues at stake that more than four million of our young men were called to the colors, some to camp, some to high sea duty, some to the trenches and the field of battle, while others plowed the heavens in that new engine of battle -the flying machine. That war is now happily over. It was fought in the interest of humanity and liberty against an un- scrupulous and ambitious tyranny which aimed at the domina- tion of the world.
Monuments have been erected in all ages to the memory of the heroes, living and dead, who in times of stress and danger willingly laid their lives upon the altar of their country, loving right and liberty better than life. Today, comrades of the World War, we are assembled here to place a memorial in honor of those who from East Liberty Presbyterian Church, went forth to meet the Huns, to overthrow autocracy and to demonstrate once more that America stands for liberty, for humanity and for the right. Three of your noble band "have given the last full measure of devotion," James D. Paull, Clar- ence Kahle and Alvan Clements. We come not to erect a monument of granite or marble or bronze, but to place here a living memorial which shall grow as the years roll on and un- der the shade of which you may take repose in days to come and here recite to each other and to your children the stirring scenes from the call to arms in 1917 to the days of victory in 1918.
It is fitting that this church, founded one hundred years ago, called East Liberty, in a liberty-loving and liberty-promoting land and which has lived and grown through all these years, should honor you with this living memorial of our appreciation. So, on behalf of the congregation, I present to you, Captain Duckham, as the representative of all your comrades, this beautiful young Oriental Plane tree with our love and grati- tude, and we pray that our gracious Master may accord to it and to you and all your comrades long, useful and happy life. Captain Duckham, on behalf of his comrades, responded brief- ly in a gracious and appropriate address of acceptance.
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LIEUTENANT JAMES DANA PAULL
LIEUTENANT ALVAN M. CLEMENTS
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
In memoriam
"Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends."
James Dana Paull
James Dana Paull, the only son of Joseph Rogers and Annie R. Johnston Paull, was born in Pittsburgh, April 19, 1896. A baptized child of the church, he was from infancy connected with this church and Sabbath School, and in March, 1908, he publicly professed Christ and became a member of the East Liberty Presbyterian Church. He was educated in Pittsburgh Schools and Lawrenceville, N. J., and graduated from Prince- ton University in the School of Science, intending to complete his course in Hydraulic Engineering at the Boston Institute of Technology.
During his college course he was an active member of the Philadelphian Society (the Y. M .C. A. branch at Princeton) and interested in all religious movements and all that stood for the highest Christian ideals in university life, and held a prominent place on the Princeton Crew.
He enlisted in the service of his Country April 30, 1917, in the Aviation Section of the Signal Reserve Corps. After training at Essington, Pa., with high standing, he was commis- sioned First Lieutenant, Aviation Section, Signal Officers Reserve Corps, September 21, 1917.
Lieutenant Paull sailed for France, October 27, 1917, in command of one hundred Aviation Cadets, and after less than two months "over seas," he was killed at Issondun, France, December 20, 1917, in an airplane accident while "in the line of duty." He was buried in the American Cemetery at Isson- dun with full military honors, French and American Aviators flying overhead placed a wreath upon his grave, inscribed "To our brother in arms."
Alvan m. Clements
Alvan M. Clements was born at Madison, Wisconsin, March 28, 1895, the eldest son of Mrs. Frank S. Gardner, who with Mr. Gardner was among those who represented our church in Army Y. M. C. A. service during 1917 and 1918.
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After some years in Wisconsin, he in 1908 removed to London, England, where for three years he attended school.
Coming to Pittsburgh in 1911, he became a member of East Liberty Presbyterian Sabbath School and congregation. He graduated from East Liberty Academy in 1912, and in 1916 received his diploma from Carnegie Institute of Technology. After graduation he was with the Standard Steel Company at Canonsburg, Pa., from June, 1916, to April, 1917, when he entered war work as a chemist for the English Government (at Smithton, Pa.) in the manufacture of Acetone, a very valuable high explosive. Of forty chemists thus employed, Alvan was the only one who did not claim exemption, but felt it his duty to enter the United States Service, September, 1917, in the Chemical Warfare Division. Owing to his proficiency, he was assigned to special duty in the A. D. Little Laboratories, Boston, Mass. His personality, ability and work were of the highest order, and his position one of great importance. His Colonel considered his service so valuable that upon his receiving orders to report elsewhere, a special command was given retaining him in the Boston Laboratories. It was here he contracted pneumonia and died October 18, 1918, on the day on which his Lieutenant's Commission was issued. Thus, after thirteen months of faithful service for his Country, he, too, laid down his life "in the line of duty."
Clarence Courtney Kable
Clarence Courtney Kahle was born in Franklin, Pa., March 18, 1894, son of Attorney Frederick L. and Mary Galbraith Kahle. In 1904 he moved with his parents to Pittsburgh, and in 1906 united with the East Liberty Presbyterian Church.
After attending the Public Schools, he graduated from the Shadyside Academy, and in 1916 from Washington and Jeffer- son College, Washington, Pa., having been an active worker in the Y. M. C. A. and prominent in athletics during his college life.
June 17, 1917, during his second year as a student in the Law Department of the University of Pittsburgh, he enlisted for Aviation Service, and was first sent to Essington, Pa., and later to Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.
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August 7, 1917, he was sent to France, having been one of ten chosen out of a class of one hundred thirty-two from Cornell, other leading colleges having equal representation. After a course in the French Aviation Schools at Toul, France, he was commissioned First Lieutenant on March 2, 1918, in the 99th Aero Squadron, American Expeditionary Forces, France.
Lieutenant Kahle was at once assigned to active duty, making a brilliant record of one hundred sixty-nine flights, of which one hundred twenty were at the front and over the German lines.
October 2, 1918, he was killed in action at Varennes, France. Of the many recognitions of his valor, skill and faithfulness during nearly fourteen months' service in France, we present the Distinguished Service Cross Citation.
"I am the Resurrection and the Life."
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EASTER APRIL 20, 1919
ASTER Sabbath marked the close of the Centen- nial Celebration, replete as it was with spiritual, ecclesiastical and social profit.
The usual devotional exercises of the Morning Worship were interspersed with musical features, the fine tone of which contributed largely to the enjoyment of the Centen- nial services throughout, our own quartette being augmented for the occasion. The anthems, "As It Began to Dawn," "Christ Our Passover," and "Behold, Ye Despisers," were ren- dered with true Easter spirit and feeling.
The Rev. A. W. Halsey, D.D., one of the secretaries of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, delivered a striking and eloquent sermon on the century's development along the line of Foreign Mission work, toward which East Liberty Church has been an important contributing force in effort, in talent and in financial support.
We are happy to be able to record this very instructive sermon.
For the evening worship another musical privilege was en- joyed in the rendering by the choir of Shelley's Easter Cantata, "Death and Life."
The Rev. George Mackinney Ryall, a son of the church, whom we always rejoice to have with us, brought the fine and helpful message of the evening, which we are glad to append.
Mr. Ryall, in response to the welcome extended him in his presentation by the pastor, expressed his pleasure in being able to take part in the Centennial exercises of this, his old church home. He said that, ecclesiastically, Saltsburg Church is older than the East Liberty Church, but organically younger. Its centennial will be celebrated five years hence, having had but five pastors in the ninety-five years of its history, of whom the Rev. Ryall is the only one now living.
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With the closing exercises of the evening, the Centenary Celebration of the congregation came to a close in the blessed consciousness of the joyous Easter message of faith and hope and immortality.
"Now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept."
"Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
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FOREIGN MISSIONS EASTER, 1919 THE REV. A. W. HALSEY, D.D.
N 1893 the Rev. James S. Dennis, D.D., delivered a course of lectures and afterwards published them in a volume, on the theme "Foreign Missions After a Century." It was an inspiring subject, treated in a scholarly way by one who was eminently prepared for such a task, having spent twenty years on the mission field, and for many years having been a close student of missions. A quarter of a century has gone by since the lectures of Dr. Dennis were published. I do not hesitate to state that in that quarter of a century greater and more momentous changes have taken place in the non-Christian world than in the pre- vious hundred years. Easter morning, 1919, looks out on a world vastly different not only to what it was in 1819 or even a quarter of a century ago. Events have been moving with startling rapidity since Dewey's guns were heard in Manila Bay, the Boxer Outbreak, that marked a distinct epoch in the history of China and of the Orient, the overlordship of Japan in Korea and its aggressive policy in Manchuria, the great World War, whose happy ending we are able to celebrate on this Easter morning.
In a recent volume written by Dr. Cornelius H. Patton, of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, entitled "World Facts and America's Responsibility" it is stated that the latest figures indicated that 38 per cent. of the popu- lation of the world is nominally Christian. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of these figures, nor are any statistics germane to the theme which this morning I wish to call to your atten- tion on this happy anniversary occasion. Rather I wish to point you to the great advance which has been made along those ideals for which Foreign Missions has stood, not only for the hundred years, but through all the Christian centuries. I would call your attention to three or four distinct advances which it seems to me have been made, which have to do rather with fundamental principles than with statistical enumeration.
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1. The growing dominance of Christian idealism. In 1897 it was my privilege to deliver an address on the subject "The Most Neglected Missionary Corner of the Globe." After careful examination of the mission fields I chose the Philippine Islands as the one spot hermetically closed to the teachings of the Gospel as enunciated by Protestant Christianity. Not even a Bible colporteur was allowed to enter the Islands, or if by chance he escaped the vigilance of the guard he was arrested and deported, or, in some cases, killed. Today a group of Filipinos are in this country, two of the leading men being pro- nounced followers of Jesus Christ, and are asking from our government complete independence. Each year of the twenty since the United States took over the government of the Philip- pines has shown a rapid development on the part of the Filipino people in all that makes for government. The finest bit of colo- nial work ever undertaken by any nation is that done by Uncle Sam during these recent years. Whether the Filipino is ready for full and complete independence may be an open question, but there can be no question that, through the splendid idealism of the American government and the magnificent co-operation of Protestant Christianity, the Filipino people have made more progress in twenty years than in all the 300 years preceding under the reign of autocratic and hierarchical Spain. Christian idealism is permeating the Islands with a rapidity and an effi- ciency that is difficult to realize.
It is but a trifle over thirty years since the first missionary of the Presbyterian Board went from Shanghai, China, to Seoul, Korea. A week ago Dr. Syngman Ree, the secretary of state for the Provincial Revolutionary Government of Korea, pub- lished a statement in which he declared that it was the inten- tion of the leaders of the movement to make a Christian coun- try out of Korea once it was free from Japan. "This," said he, "would make Korea the first independent country in Asia to become Christian." This may be a day dream. The Ko- reans are passing through fire and blood. Thousands are being slain. It may be only a rash uprising of the people; but if we are to believe the reports even from Tokio the entire 16,000,000 people are seeking independence from what they regard as a pagan civilization. Already charges are made that it is the
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Christian constituency of Korea that has produced this revo- lution. A generation ago a famous volume on Korea had the proper title, "Korea, the Hermit Nation." Today it is no longer a hermit nation, neither is Thibet, nor Baluchistan, nor Afghanistan. The hermit nation has gone forever. The spirit of Christian democracy is pervading the world. Much else goes with it, much that is dangerous, but it is an alluring thought that already throughout the world on this Easter Day hermit nations no longer exist.
The Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions on the 31st day of March closed the eighty-second year of its history. It will report to the next General Assembly that receipts on the field, which include tuition fees, sums from the sale of medicine, contributions and the like, all that has come from the wares that the missionary has to sell, amounted to $1,147,569. Wages do not average over twenty-five cents a day. This sum, there- fore, is equivalent to $5,000,000 or more-probably $6,000,000. There has been created an appetite for things physical, intel- lectual, spiritual, missionary wares, which is little less than phenomenal.
I have on my study table a pamphlet from the Syrian Na- tional Society. It is entitled "Syria for the Syrians," and a sub-title "Under the Guardianship of the United States." Orig- inally written in Arabic, it is translated into English "To Inter- est Americans in Syria." The request is significant, a free Syria, the first in 1900 years-a democratic Syria. But its thoughtful men realize it needs guardianship for the present, and the guardian they ask is Uncle Sam; a clear recognition of a great desire for a self-determining government, but an equally sure indication of a fear lest Syrians themselves are unable to carry out the wishes of their government and turn to America, the land of great Christian ideals. No factor of greater sig- nificance do I present to you on this Easter Day than that the Syrian is asking for the guardianship of the United States over his land whence came Him whose resurrection from the dead this day is the world's hope.
We could multiply these examples. The great ideals of the Gospel are making their way to earth's remotest points.
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II. One of the outstanding difficulties a hundred years ago was that Christianity was exotic in non-Christian lands. The missionary in China up to the Boxer Outbreak was called a "foreign devil." Men were stating, "We do not want a for- eigner's religion." In India the East India Company refused to permit the missionary of the Cross to proclaim the Gospel, it being considered something alien to India. Today the out- standing fact in practically every non-Christian land where the Gospel has gone is the gradual nationalization of the teach- ings of Jesus. In China the Gospel has become a part of the national life. The literati, the leading men of China, the diplomat, the statesman, the thoughtful seer, is turning to the Gospel as possibly China's only hope. The leading men who represent China in Paris, Mr. Koo and Dr. Wang, both of them have spoken strongly regarding Christianity, and Dr. Wang is an elder in a Presbyterian Church. The various branches of the Presbyterian Church in China have become the Chinese Presbyterian Church. Steps have been taken to amal- gamate all denominations in China into one Chinese Church. This is true of Korea and of India. Possibly the most strik- ing example of this was given last fall, when the twentieth anniversary of the Hackett Medical College for Women, the first of its kind in China, was celebrated. A twentieth cen- tury miracle play, entitled "Every Sick Man on His Way to Health," was given by the students. The sick, a group of nine, rich and poor, sought health and happiness. They tried incantation, drugs, knowledge, science, sunlight, surgery, nurs- ing, but fear and sorrow and sin dominated, and finally it was only at the call of Christianity that every sick man on his way to health found the object of his search. And this miracle play, wherein ninety Christians participated, ended in singing "Joy to the World; The Lord is Come." Apart from all others, the significant feature of this entertainment was its na- tionalization. The pupils, the audience, the learned statesmen and rulers who were present, recognized the Hackett Memorial Christian Medical School as a genuine product indigenous to the soil of China.
It is only three-quarters of a century since Japan was opened to the world. It is worthy of note that within a few weeks
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the Japanese Christian Church, manned by Japanese, has sent a letter to President Wilson expressing "Its sincere gratitude for his untiring efforts to establish and maintain throughout the world justice, righteousness, humanity and peace." At the same meeting at which this letter was sent to the President a resolution was passed commending the missionaries who for more than twenty-five years had helped the Japanese to estab- lish their own church. Seventy thousand Christian Japanese among 70,000,000 non-Christian seems a small number, but their influence is out of all proportion to their numbers. With- in a few years the Japanese government itself has recognized Christianity as an indigenous religion, and appealed to the leaders of the Church to assist the government in the over- throw of immorality which had grown so rapidly in the last few years.
It did not seem at all out of place that a group of Assyrians should petition Christian men in America to send their request for losses sustained at the hands of the Turks and Kurds and repatriation to their country, to the Peace Congress. This petition, signed by Bishop Brent, Cardinal Gibbons, Bishop Wilson, Mr. Speer and others, set forth the needs of these persecuted Assyrians, and the evident expectation and hope that their people would be heard because it came through Chris- tian sources.
In no respect has there been greater advance in the last hun- dred years or the last twenty-five years, than in the development of a native church, adapted to native needs. If we take a single example, the church in Cameroon, West Africa, war-swept . for eighteen months, where devastation and death has reigned, shows in the year 1918 a remarkable growth. Think of a church so strong, in a non-Christian land like Africa, that it pays for all its licentiates, Bible readers, preachers, that it builds all its own churches, that in the past year 91 per cent. of its educational work was paid for by the natives themselves. Or, to put it in a way that you will easily remember, $29,000 was spent on the education in the village schools outside of the sta- tions, and $27,000 of that amount was received from the na- tive peoples. A remarkable example, not merely of liberality and development of an idealism, but of a love and loyalty to a
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