USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Luzerne > History of the Presbytery of Luzerne, state of Pennsylvania > Part 4
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PRESBYTERY OF LUZERNE.
division made both Presbyteries more homogeneous, if it did not subsequently promote fraternal co-operation with each other as Presbyteries.
The action of the General Assembly in 1837 resulted in making the division line between the Presbyteries of Susquehanna and Montrose more distinct, and in enlisting champions on both sides of it to defend all that it implied to them respectively. Prominent among these were Judge Jessup of Montrose and the Rev. Dr. John Dorrance of Susquehanna.
The next division of the territory of the Susquehanna which was made necessary by the development of the coal trade in Luzerne county, especially its southern part, and in Carbon and Schuylkill counties, we have already noted in the organization of the Presbytery of Luzerne. We have introduced here the above statements with regard to the Presbytery of Susquehanna, and its an- tecedents in order to a better understanding of the Providential manner in which the way was prepared for the work of the Presbytery we are endeavoring to portray. We have not, of course, been able to do ample justice to the devoted and useful men and struggling churches to which we have referred, and to some of them we will have occasion to turn our attention again as we proceed. The writer is indebted for most of the facts given above to the excellent History of Susquehanna Presbytery by the venerable Mr. Corss, whose work is well . worth perusal; for while it is not a complete history of the Presbytery of Susquehanna, it is a good outline and is very suggestive.
VI.
MAUCH CHUNK AND THE REV. RICHARD WEBSTER.
W HILE it might be a more natural method to take up the different individual churches of which the Presbytery was composed in the order of their church life and importance, there seems to be a propriety in beginning with the pastor to whom his brethren have accorded the appelation, "the father of the Presbytery." The Rev. A. B. Cross says in the funeral sermon which he preached at the burial of the Rev. Richard Webster: "At his instance, the General Assembly was memorialized, and in 1843 constituted the Presbytery of Luzerne, and appointed him to preach the opening sermon at its formal organization." Soon after the departure of Mr. Webster to his heavenly rest,- he being the first of its members to cease from his earthly labors,-the Presbytery was called together in Scranton "to take into consider- ation matters connected with the death of Rev. Richard Webster, stated clerk of the Presbytery and chairman of the committee on Domestic Missions." Presbytery recorded "its grief at the loss of our greatly beloved brother, valued co-presbyter and stated clerk, an able and judicious counselor, a warm hearted and zealous fellow-laborer, and the founder of this Presbytery."
In view of these considerations, and the additional fact that, in no merely nominal measure, the care of all
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the churches rested heavily upon Mr. Webster, we, therefore, following the example of the Assembly of 1843, place his name at the head of our list of those who were associated in the new Presbytery in loving fel- lowship.
The two more prominent centres of growth, in the earlier days of the Presbytery of Luzerne, were Wilkes- Barre on the north and Mauch Chunk on the south of the Presbytery. The vitality of the latter centre we trace to the man in the pulpit, and not originally to the large and influential congregation to which he preached. Not his circumstances, but his devotion, his spirituality and his love for lost souls, constrained by the love of Christ, fired his vigorous intellect and called forth his self-denying labors. This it was which made Richard Webster a power for good among all classes of men.
The man of whom we write had antecedents preparing him for his life work. We may not reap without sowing. He had received a Christian education, culture and care, in the admonition of the Lord. He was the youngest child of Charles R. and Cynthia (Steele) Webster, born July, 1811, in Albany, N. Y. His father being a prominent bookseller and publisher of an in- fluential paper, his love for, and extensive acquaintance with literature was early acquired and was doubtless carefully directed by his godly parents, especially by his amiable mother, whose culture was received in the refined and pious household of her own favored parentage. His academic education was completed at Union College, N. Y., 1829, where he formed the acquaintance of such men as the Rev. F. D. W. Ward, D. D., who ever cherished a warm friendship for Mr. Webster and who
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has borne strong testimony to his excellence of heart and life since his departure to his home above.
Mr. Webster's theological education was acquired at Princeton. To his diligence and proficiency there his seminary friends, the Rev. Benjamin J. Wallace and the Rev. Dr. C. Van Rensselaer bear strong testimony; the former speaks of his peculiar mental characteristics and poetic nature. To the sketch of Mr. Webster's life, given so fully and lovingly by Dr. Van Rensselaer in the introduction to Mr. Webster's History of the Presbyterian church in this country, which he edited after Mr. Webster's death, the present writer wishes to turn the attention of all, especially that of our younger ministers and candidates for the ministry, as said introduction cannot be reproduced bere, and no abridgement can do it justice, or convey the salutary impression which a perusal of the whole sketch must leave on the mind of every interested and careful reader. Mr. Webster completed the full course at the Seminary in the spring of 1834, after which he offered himself to the American Board of Foreign Missions, and was accepted as a Missionary to India. But hindrances arose to his entrance upon that desired work, which, interpreted in the light of subsequent events, are now plainly seen to have been a part of the Master's leadings, wiser than his own plans or the policy of the American Board. God had other work for Richard Webster, in our own land.
Through the influence of the late Judge Porter, of Easton, Pa., Mr. Webster, after graduating at the Seminary, was induced to undertake missionary work in south Easton, where David Brainard, whose spirit he imbibed, had labored so successfully among the Indians
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nearly a century before ; but the Master designed him for another field, and soon led him fifty miles up the Lehigh to a little dell where the Mauch Chunk creek runs swiftly down into the Lehigh, making its way through the gorge of the Mahoning mountains. In this narrow defile, traversed by the above named tributary on its rapid course to the larger stream, surrounded on all sides by overshadowing mountains, to the little hidden village on the Mauch Chunk creek that was there struggling into existence, Providence was directing the steps of Richard Webster; not to extinguish his light, or repress his energies; not to make his life a blank or shut him out from any worthy place in the church he so ardently loved. Far from it, as the event proved; for God had given him that which would enable him to overleap the mountains and call forth the admiration of all who realize "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things !"
Without seeking or even desiring fame, but con- strained by the love of Christ to labor for the good of others and the glory of the Master, he built his monument so high, and made it so bright, that it has become alike conspicuous in the secluded valleys and over the mountains which shut them in by their towering height.
We have already seen that the coal trade on the Lehigh dates from about 1820, but its development was not rapid, for Miss Webster, in her History of the Mauch Chunk Presbyterian church, quoting from Dr. Edsal Ferrier, gives the population of that village in 1830 as nearly 700. Up to this time the population of this part
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of the Lehigh was largely confined to those who were engaged in the production of coal, which was principally in the hands of enterprising Philadelphians.
The valleys on this part of the river were very narrow, and the uplands not regarded as productive, therefore not inviting to farmers. The settlements south of Mauch Chunk were principally German, so not of Presbyterian proclivity. This may account for the fact that considerable time elapsed after coal operations began before our church entered this field. The attention of Presbyterians in Easton and its vicinity was not at once attracted to Mauch Chunk, notwithstanding the two places were connected by canal. The attention of the church at Easton was finally called to Mauch Chunk by a letter addressed to its pastor by a citizen of the latter place, asking for counsel with reference to his personal
salvation. The Rev. Dr. John Gray, pastor at Easton,. responded, and in addition to such advice as his letter contained, invited the gentleman to visit Easton. This he did, and during that visit made a public confession of Christ as his Saviour, and was received into the church. Returning to his home, he at once interested himself in looking up the Presbyterians of the place, and soliciting them to unite with him and his wife-who had previously been a communicant-in a church organization, for the establishment of which in that important field the providence of God had been so manifestly preparing the way. The zealous work of this new disciple of the Master resulted in a petition reaching the Presbytery of Newton, which body at its full meeting, 1835, appointed a committee to visit Mauch Chunk and answer the prayer of the petitioners if they found all the requisite
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conditions. On the last day of October two members of that committee were on the ground; viz., the Rev. D. X. Junkin, chairman, (who had expressed his willingness to go into that general field as a missionary two years earlier, but at this time had charge of one of the churches of the Presbytery,) and with him Elder Enoch Green, of the first church of Easton.
The next day, Sabbath, Nov. Ist, the following persons, the charter members of the church, were formally organized, viz., Mr. and Mrs. James Bigger, James Lesley, Mr. and Mrs. Abiel Abbot, Mr. and Mrs. Merrit Abbot, Mr. and Mrs. George Washington Smith, Mrs. Thomas Patterson, Mrs. John Wilson, John Simpson, Mrs. Margaret Youngs, Miss Agnes Youngs, Mrs. Daniel H. Connor, Miss Susan Hartz, Miss Mary Hartz, John Nichol, Alexander M'Lean, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Craig, John Lile, John B. Butler, Mrs. George Adair, and Nathan Patterson. At the same time three elders were elected, ordained and installed, viz., John Simpson, James Bigger and George W. Smith. When our church entered this important field, it found the Methodists already intrenched in Mauch Chunk. They generously opened the doors of their house of worship for the new ally, and between them and the Presbyterians there has always been maintained the most fraternal relations. Both organizations then found abundance of work among those already on the ground, and among the ever increasing numbers carried back upon the cars and boats which conveyed the coal to market, so adding to the toilers and to those who increased the capital and business of the region. Thus additional solitary places among the mountains would soon be made to blossom as
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the rose, and upon them would be seen the beautiful feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things to come.
About a month after the organization of the Mauch Chunk Presbyterian church, Dr. Junkin returns. He is accompanied by a cherished Seminary friend whom he introduces to his recently made friends there. He is a man of slender frame, but commanding bearing, with an impressive eye, a thoughtful and benevolent mien. He had been in training to do an important work for that new community, and for others that soon were to be gathered in the region round about it, a work which, perhaps, no other man could do so well.
This man Dr. Junkin introduced to the Presbyterians of Mauch Chunk and proposed to them to accept his friend as a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, to carry forward the work which -had been inaugurated in their organization as a church.
He is presented to them as a man consecrated to the service of Christ, first by his godly parents in the covenant of baptism, and by his personal re-consecration when he voluntarily made the parental act his own. This was done early in life, but intelligently and heartily done, when he devoted himself to the gospel ministry. After years of preparation, aided by the most devoted and wisest men in the Presbyterian church, he had offered himself to the American Board of Missions to go to India, and now that he is providentially hindered from going to India, he is found offering himself to a depart- ment of ministerial work calling for still greater self-denial in some respects than would have been demanded of him if he had been sent to the Orient-viz., foundation work in our own land.
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With such an introduction of such a man, no obstacle could be raised. Mr. Webster entered upon his work. At first only a part of his time could be given to the newly organized church; for there were already on the mountains, here and there scattered sheep away from the shepherd's care. These must be found; folds must be constructed and porters appointed for their protection, and for the nurture and increase of the flock. For this work no man in modern times had keene instincts, because none have more fully imbibed the Spirir of the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep.
The care so lovingly bestowed on the scattered sheep did not lead to the neglect of the partially folded flock. For, from the day that Dr. Junkin introduced Mr. Webster to the only church to which he sustained the relation of pastor to the day and hour of his release from earthly cares, that people was ever before his eyes and in his heart, from which daily petitions in their behalf arose to the Father of mercies.
At the first, Mr. Webster's pastoral charge was regarded as embracing Summit Hill, which is nine miles west of Mauch Chunk. Regular services were given to the people in this elevated part of his field. These were so productive of good fruits that in the year 1839 the members of the Mauch Chunk church residing in Summit Hill were organized as a church. One year earlier, that part of Mr. Webster's original field embracing the village of Beaver Meadow, had been accorded an organization. In the mean time Mr. Webster had, in April, 1837, received a formal call to the pastorate over the little flock to which he was introduced in 1835. It was for one
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fourth of the time. The installation services took place in July, conducted by a committee of the Presbytery of Newton. Of the services on this occasion the newly installed pastor said: "Everything was appropriate and solemn, and we may well exclaim, 'Blessed be the Lord, for he hath showed me his marvelous loving kindness.'"'
The labors of the young pastor were not only given with promptness to his home field, to Summit Hill, where 23 of the former members of the Mauch Chunk church had the gospel regularly preached to them, and the sacrament of the Lord's Supper administered twice a year, and at Beaver Meadow, where like services were rendered up to 1839, but in addition to these points, Tamaqua, in Schuylkill county, and Port Clinton, were served as frequently as possible; also Conyngham valley. This does not mean occasional sermons only, but general pastoral visitations, reaching every family and individual accessible, giving to all and every one kind and faithful personal instruction and appeals, ending with prayer.
The first division of labor, in addition to what, from the beginning, he sought to secure from the members of his session and members of his church, was brought about by the coming of the Rev. Daniel Gaston, a licentiate, who had been a student in Lafayette College and Princeton Theological Seminary. Mr. Webster had prepared the way for his taking hold of the work at Beaver Meadow, and he is there regularly inducted into the pastorate. Mr. Webster, as Rev. Dr. Benjamin J. Wallace testifies of him, "was passionately devoted to the Presbyterian church, holding our order and faith to be the very primitive form and mold of apostolic truth; he could conceive of nothing more noble and venerable than
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Calvinism and Presbyterianism. Around the church he poured the wealth of his reverence, his imagination, and his affections," and yet, as it seemed to the writer, no man had a more Catholic spirit. But he wisely believed in preaching sound doctrine and carrying out our tried and approved order. Therefore we find the Presbytery of Newton ordaining and installing Mr. Gaston, and two years later, after having followed up Mr. Webster's work in Conyngham valley for a year, Mr. Gaston was installed pastor of the church there, which had been organized Dec. 19th, 1841, with 18 members.
The Conyngham church consisted of 18 members, most of whom had previously been regarded as members of the Beaver Meadow church, viz., Philip Winterstene, William T. Rhoads, Archibald Delsney, James Gilmore, Mary Winterstene, Amy Rhoads, Letitia McCarty, Jane Sterling, Martha Shelhammer, Mary Muncey, Keziah Brundage, Cornelia Godfrey, Martha Kan, Mary Sterling, Margaret Winterstene, Sarah Ann Miller, Jane Miller, Elijah Cramer.
Philip Winterstene was installed a ruling elder. The Rev. Daniel Gaston continued in charge of this church in connection with Beaver Meadow till 1844, in the mean time, viz., 1843, the Presbytery of Luzerne was constituted and these churches became constituent parts of the same. Mr. Gaston's work in them had been prospered to their enlargement. He afterwards built up a respectable church in the suburbs of Philadelphia, and has been honored in having the organization he effected bear his name. His earthly labors ended April 28th, 1865, and "his works do follow him," for he was a good man and a faithful minister.
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The Rev. James G. Moore, born near Johnsburgh, N. Y., 1813, a graduate of Lafayette College and a Princeton Seminary student, was ordained by the Presby- tery of Luzerne April 16th, 1845, and installed pastor of the Beaver Meadow church, which had, in its report of 1844, shown a large increase in its membership, the number of members reported being 68. Mr. Moore's field does not seem, as Mr. Gaston's did, to embrace Conyng- ham valley, but by the direction of Presbytery he took into his field some other of the places which shared the earnest attention and labors of Mr. Webster. He gave more time to Hazleton, the growing importance of which he duly appreciated, as he brought fully before his brethren the wants of the whole of the southern part of the Presbytery. His knowledge was personal, and his interest in all the destitute parts of his wide field was hearty and practical.
That part of Mr. Webster's original field known as Conyngham valley (entire) and more recently a part of Mr. Gaston's charge, was, after Mr. Gaston's relinquish- ment of it, occupied by Mr. Darwin Cook, a licentiate of the new Presbytery. Mr. Cook had been prepared for college under the direct supervision of the Rev. John Dorrance, at the Wilkes-Barre Academy, and it was through the ministry of Mr. Dorrance in Bradford county that he probably had been led to seek preparation for the gospel ministry. He graduated at Lafayette College and Princeton Theological Seminary with the same class (1845) of which Mr. Moore was a member. Mr. Cook was directed by Presbytery to give one Sabbath each month to missionary work in White Haven, a point to which the attention of both Mr. Webster and Mr.
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Dorrance had been directed, and in which they had become mutually interested. In Feb., 1846, the Presby- tery of Luzerne ordained Mr. Cook as an evangelist, and as such we find him doing earnest and faithful work, not only in Conyngham valley, but on the Lehigh at White Haven, and on the Susquehanna at Nanticoke, where the people invited him to give them half his time and promised one hundred dollars salary. Mr. Cook also labored in the Schuylkill valley from Tamaqua almost to Pottsville during his six years, after which he returned to his native county, Bradford, and became pastor of the Rome church in 1851, and in 1858 of the Wyalusing church, retiring as pastor . emeritus 1885. He died at Stockton, Sept. 13th, 1888, much esteemed as a man and minister of sterling devotion and integrity. One of his sons became a minister, viz., the Rev. Milton Lewis Cook. The Rev, Philip B. Cook, M. D., was his brother.
Summit Hill church, after its organization, May, 1839, was regularly supplied by Mr. Webster till the spring of 1842, when William E. Schenck, a licentiate of the Presbytery of New Brunswick, was engaged for a season to do missionary work at Summit Hill, Tamaqua and Port Clinton. In the narrative to the Presbytery of Newton, April, 1843, Mr. Webster says, "The missionary col- lection" (in the Mauch Chunk church) " has been larger than in any previous year. With a portion of it we sustained for three months a preacher at Summit Hill and Port Clinton, and as a fruit, the former place is now supplied with preaching of the gospel every Sabbath, and is nearly as well able to sustain a pastor as we are ourselves."* The item just quoted is significant. The
*Miss Elizabeth Webster's History of Mauch Chunk Church.
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little church to which Mr. Webster was introduced in Nov., 1835, and from which he went forth with the glad tidings of the gospel in almost every direction, is now, in 1842, surrounded by other churches, as Beaver Meadow, Summit Hill, Conyngham valley, and other established preaching places which were soon destined to become the homes of still more influential churches, such as Tamaqua, Hazleton, White Haven and Weatherly. To properly care for the work already developed, and promptly extend it, he saw, as perhaps no one else did, the urgent necessity for a new Presbytery, and the importance of having its territory embrace, as far as possible, the entire contiguous anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania. Although the Rev. John Dorrance, pastor at Wilkes-Barre, was not so much impelled by his immediate surroundings at that time to move in behalf of a new Presbytery, and was more restrained by his association with brethren from whom the proposed movement would in a measure separate him, he yet saw the wisdom of the proposal. The erection of the Presbytery was accomplished with his co-operation, and while his life continued he was always a recognized leader in its operations.
The first report from the Mauch Chunk church to the new Presbytery gives its membership as 99. Soon after the beginning of Mr. Webster's labors in Mauch Chunk, there were evidences of the Spirit's presence, and souls were brought to Christ, whom he constantly and lovingly held up in all his ministrations, whether in the pulpit, in the family, or in personal visitations.
In the spring of 1838, Mr. Webster and Miss Eliza- beth Cross of Baltimore were married. This marriage resulted in such domestic felicity as might be expected by
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such as knew them, and were acquainted with their honor- able, intelligent Christian parentage and education, their own attainments, principles and habits, especially their Christ-like temper. The public testimony of one who knew them intimately, through their entire domestic career -a testimony confirmed by many others,- was one that might well be expected. He says of the husband in his relation to the home established by this marriage: "In a home of more than usual affection and felicity, Mr. Web- ster found rest amid his toils, and solace in his trials. A fonder, happier, or wiser husband and father the writer has rarely known." It was, and continues to be, a model home with all its inmates alike its ornaments. The only survivor among the original ministers and their wives, who consti- tuted the late Presbytery of Luzerne, Mr. Webster's imme- diate successor says with regard to Mrs. Webster's influence beyond her own household, "Mrs. Webster, of whom I would love to speak, but who would not be willing that I should say what I owe of gratitude and love,-of all my helpers she was the most faithful and wise; she saved me from many a mistake and helped me when no one else could have been of any assistance. Much of my success in my ministry at Mauch Chunk I owe to her." Many other young ministers received aid from her helpful suggestions, while enjoying her hospitality.
As Mr. Webster was from time to time relieved of the ministerial care of the more distant parts of his field, he gave special attention to intermediate points, many of which he regularly visited and supplied on Sabbath afternoons and during the week, frequently walking to and from these places. +
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