USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > The past and present of St. Andrew's : two discourses preached in St. Andrew's church, Philadelphia, on the 12th and 19th of September, 1858 > Part 2
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No system could long sustain such efforts ; and finding, after various attempts, that he could not fulfil the duties of his office, he resigned the rectorship of the church on the 28th of February, 1843; and, on the 27th of November following, he heard and obeyed the Master's voice, " Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." He sleeps, like his predecessor, under the shadow of the walls of St. Andrew's. His record is on high.
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It would not be just to Dr. Clark to place him in comparison with Dr. Bedell. Dr. Bedell was the founder of the church. Dr. Clark came here to " build on another man's foundation." Dr. Bedell was the first pastor, drawing around him the virgin affections of a youthful congregation. Dr. Clark was their second rector, and came hither when laments for Dr. Bedell, and tears for his loss, still fell on the ear, and wet the cheeks of his people. Dr. Bedell began his labors here in the vigor of youth and health. Dr. Clark had already the seeds of disease, and was comparatively feeble and worn.
They were men of different temperaments, different experience, different styles of thought and delivery, and disciplined in different schools of affliction.
Here I would remark, that there were few men who were made so often to drink the cup of sorrow as Dr. Clark. A true branch of the true vine, the Dresser of the vineyard had pruned him again and again, but only to pro- duce the effect which the great Husbandman desired, to bring forth more fruit; for these repeated family afflictions, where six of the lambs of his home-fold were transferred from
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his care to the arms of the Good Shepherd, together with his own bodily sufferings, gave to his personal intercourse and preaching great solemnity of manner, and a depth of personal experience and spirituality, which made him emphatically a heart-probing and soul-awakening preacher. Hence, under his ministry, though the outward aspect of St. Andrew's and its financial affairs seemed less prosperous, its inner spiritual state was strik- ingly thriving. During his ministry, of less than eight years, and those years interrupted by at least two years' absence from his post, no less than three hundred and sixty-six per- sons were presented by him for comfirmation; and when we know the care which he took in preparing his class for that apostolic rite, his extreme vigilance, lest he should present un- worthy candidates, and his ripe religious ex- perience, enabling him to judge of Christian character, we feel assured that this was no mushroom growth, that it was the legitimate, healthful results of God's blessings on his faithful, prayerful labors. God thus signally honored him above the great majority of his brethren in making him "wise to win souls."
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Dr. Clark was a man of untiring industry. He was ever busy about something connected with his work. Idleness found no harborer in him; each hour had its allotted duty, and his relaxation consisted in turning from one sub- ject to another, by which a different set of mental muscles were called into action, thus relieving the tension of one part of his mind by throwing the strain upon another. Besides his pulpit and parochial duties, which were enough and more than enough for such a feeble man, he edited, as Dr. Bedell had done before him, the Episcopal Recorder; edited for several years, some religious annuals ; pub- lished many interesting and valuable volumes of tracts and sermons, and also a work in two volumes, replete with keen observation and discriminating judgment, entitled “Glimpses of the Old World," a record of his travels in Europe. His published works have all been highly popular. His " Pastor's Testimony" is invaluable in its teachings as to the meaning and responsibilities connected with confirma- tion, while his " Walk about Zion," by its en- lightened statements, its thrilling facts, its cogent reasoning, its lovely spirit, has done
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more to recommend our Church where it is not known, and to do away ill-founded prejudices, than any work of its kind in the English lan- guage. By these, his works, Dr. Clark “being dead, yet speaketh." No extended memoir of him has ever appeared. Yet a truthful biography, that should photograph his cha- racter, would be a valuable contribution to the biographies of Churchmen. He was so re- tiring, so unaffected, so secluded, by reason of repeated chastenings from the world, so much a dweller in the house of mourning, rather than in the house of feasting, that he who would pen aright the life of Dr. Clark, must do it, not like a geographer, passing over the surface of things, and pointing out now a mountain, now a volcano, now a majestic river, now a sleeping lake, now a broad plain; for Dr. Clark's character and life did not ex- hibit these diversities; but he must write it, as a geologist writes the life of the earth: go down into the depths of his heart, mark the upheavings and displacements of his soul's strata by the throes of affliction, trace the ore- veins of his rich thought, and observe the action and reaction of counter and struggling
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forces, in producing those mental phenomena which marked his life. If his name shines not so bright as some on earth, it is not that there was in him no light, but because of the shadow which God's often upraised hand of affliction cast upon him here ; but that shadow is now removed, and among the names which shall hereafter shine, not comet-like, wander -. ing and fearful; not meteor-like, flashing and explosive; but planet-like, clear, steady, and serene, because it reflects the light of the Sun of Righteousness, will be . the name of John Alonzo Clark.
On the resignation of Dr. Clark, in February, 1843, Doctor, now Bishop, Whitehouse, was elected; on his declining the call, Dr. Stone, then of Brooklyn, was chosen; and when he declined, the Rev. Thomas March Clark, then rector of Grace Church, Boston, now Bishop of Rhode Island, was elected, and entered upon his duties on the first Sunday in No- vember, 1843. With that courtesy which marks the high-toned gentleman and the true Christian, Mr. Clark paid his first visit, on his arrival here, to Dr. Clark. The scene was touching. Dr. Clark, then within a few days
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of his death, was seated in his study, weak, emaciated, scarcely able to speak, yet with an eye undimmed in its brightness and penetra- ting power; and the youthful rector, hale, stout, flushed with vigor, a mental and phy- sical athlete, ready for the arena in which he was to "fight the good fight of faith," stood before him. Dr. Clark received him with great sweetness and tenderness of manner, and Mr. Clark replied : "I would, sir, that I had come to be your assistant rather than your successor."
Almost the first official act of the new rector was to stand by the dying bed and by the open tomb of the Rev. Dr. Clark. It was a solemn sight, that churchyard scene. Twice in that same yard, had the congregation been called to gather round the bier on which lay the body of their rector. Each had run his race well, each was now to be buried beside the church of his affections and his ministry ; and as their eyes turned to the strong and robust man who now stood among them, in the flush of youth and health, they promised themselves a long enjoyment of his ministe- rial labors, and put far off the day when they
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should be called to stand by his coffin and hear a stranger's voice say over him, "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust."
During the period when the church was without a rector, it sadly declined, but no sooner did Bishop Clark begin his services than the scattered congregation returned, the. vacant seats were taken, the revenues of the church increased, and everything conspired to fill the hearts of the people with hope and joy.
It does not become me to speak of his minis- try here; he yet lives, and I pray God that he may long live to bless the diocese over which he presides with so much zeal and power, and to adorn and illustrate in his private life the doctrine of God his Saviour; but this I can say, that as a genial friend, as a warm-hearted pas- tor, as an eloquent preacher, as a popular clergyman, he had, aye, he has, few rivals.
During the three years and six months of his ministry, one hundred and sixteen were con- firmed, and the church was raised to its former eminence and prosperity.
With almost the suddenness of a white squall striking a ship under full sail, burst upon his loving parishioners, the news that he was to leave them for Boston. With a full church,
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a united congregation, an undivided vestry, acceptable as a pastor and as a preacher, on the advancing wave of popularity, and with nothing to make the position irksome or un- pleasant, why should he go? and strong was the opposition which his determination to re- sign called out. But he read differently the providences of God, and acting upon the deep, conscientious convictions of his heart and mind, he placed his letter of resignation into the hands of the vestry, and on the 1st May, 1847, dissolved his connection with this church, to become " the associate minister on the Green Foundation," in Trinity Church, Boston ; and St. Andrew's was again without a rector. Though the removal of Bishop Clark was a source of intense grief to the parish, yet his name and services are most affectionately che- rished, and the minutes of the vestry and the records of the church bear ample testimony to the power of his ministry, brief indeed, but bright.
I shall reserve until Sunday next, a sketch of the last ten years of St. Andrew's Church, and also postpone to that time a general sum- ming up of its influence, upon this city and this nation. In the meanwhile I call upon
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you to adore the goodness of God, in putting it into the hearts of the founders of this church to say, " Let us arise and build," and in strength- ening their hands for this good work ; to praise Him for causing it to be established upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone; to thank Him for giving you such zealous, godly, and eloquent men to watch over you as your first three rectors; in making you so to abound in liberality and untiring effort to build up the kingdom of the Redeemer; in keeping you peaceful, united, and fruitful in every good work, and giving you a name and a praise throughout the land.
These blessings are however of God's gift, and not of your deservings. He has made you to abound out of the riches of his own in- finite fulness, and while you rejoice, let it be with trembling, and let your jubilate Deo be so blended with the non nobis, Domine, that, while you " go your way into his gates with thanks- giving, and into his courts with praise," you also lift up your hearts to God and say, " Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give the praise ; for thy loving mercy, and for thy truth's sake."
SERMON II.
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O God, Holy Ghost, Sanctifier of the faithful, visit, we pray thee, this congregation with thy love and favor ; enlighten their minds more and more with the light of the everlasting Gospel ; graft in their hearts a love of the truth ; increase in them true religion ; nourish them with all goodness ; and of thy great mercy keep them in the same, O blessed Spirit, whom with the Father and the Son together, we worship and glorify as one God, world without end. Amen.
Collect in Office of Institution.
SERMON.
" Of Zion it shall be said, this and that man was born in her, and the Highest himself shall establish her."-PSALM 87 : 5.
IN my discourse last Sunday morning, I brought down the history of this parish to the period of my election, giving you hurried and imperfect sketches of the life and labors of my predecessors, Dr. Bedell, Dr. Clark, and Bishop Clark.
I purpose this morning to give a brief ré- sumé of my own ministry among you, together with such other topics as may be relevant to the place, the time, and the occasion.
On the 4th of October, 1847, I was unani- mously elected the Rector of this church. I was then happily settled over Emanuel Church, Athens, Georgia, a church which, under God, had been built up by my humble
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instrumentality from its foundation, and was also occupying the important post of Professor of Belles Lettres, Oratory, and History, in the University of Georgia. The call thus ten- dered me I felt constrained to decline, which I did in a letter, dated November 23d, 1847.
On the 28th March, 1848, the call was again renewed, and a committee waited upon me in my distant home in Georgia, to solicit its ac- ceptance. In the letter which they bore, and which was signed by all the members of the vestry, they were pleased to say, " In addition to the reasons which we have already adduced in favor of your coming, we may here state, that, in accordance with your suggestion, our church did set apart a day for the special call- ing upon God by prayer and fasting; since then, we have used all our endeavors to find a suitable man upon whom we could unite. All our efforts have been in vain ; the hand of Providence still seems to point to you, and our people are almost unwilling that we should even think of any one else; and, if we are un- successful in our present effort, we know not where to look, or upon whom we should be able to unite. We, therefore, place the rec-
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torship of our parish again in your hands, under the deepest conviction, that should you find it to be your duty to accept our call to this important field of labor, that, with God's blessing, you would be the instrument of a sufficient amount of good to justify the pro- posed change." I have introduced this quo- tation simply to show under what circum- stances of urgency and solemnity this third Committee of the Vestry visited Georgia.
To their communication it was felt, under all the circumstances, that but one answer could be given. The call seemed to be of God, and as such it was obeyed. I began my duties here on the 1st August, 1848, and was formally instituted into the rectorship on the first Sun- day of September following, by Bishop Potter, Mr. (now Bishop) Clark preaching my insti- tution sermon. I was received, as all your rectors have been received, with loving hearts and outstretched hands. The congregation had indeed been somewhat thinned off during the fifteen months in which they had been as sheep having no shepherd, and much was to be done to bring things back to a vigorous and healthful condition.
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Ten years have now passed since I came among you, and what do I now see ? My humble efforts, generously seconded by the vestry and congregation, have been blessed of God. The financial condition of the parish is better than at any period since the erection of the church. The large debt of over twenty- one thousand dollars, which I found upon the building when I came here, together with an additional expenditure of about nine thousand dollars for recent repairs, has been paid off.
The number of bona fide communicants is larger than at any previous time. I have bap- tized eighty-one adults, presented two hundred and forty candidates for confirmation, and four hundred and thirty persons have been added during my ministry, to the church. Thirteen young men of this parish have been ordained to the work of the ministry ; two of our female teachers have gone forth as missionaries to the heathen. The Chinese youth, whom I baptized some time since, and who has deve- loped a singularly interesting Christian cha- racter blended with great intellectual ability, has been examined and approved by the Bishop of China, and is about to proceed
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to the mission at Shanghai as a candidate for orders in that now open empire; and three other members of this church are now candi- dates for holy orders. Our Sunday-school ope- rations have been expanded by the starting of a new mission school; and unity and harmony pervade the church, the vestry, and the con- gregation.
I make this statement not boastingly, but gratefully ; for when I look at what I ought to have done, and what I might have done had I been as faithful as it was my duty to be, and compare it with what has been effect- ed, I am humbled in view of my remissness, and would rather take to myself shame and confusion of face than glory in my imperfect labors.
The generous proffers of friendship made to me when I first came here, have been fully met. My relations to the vestry have not had a single shock or check, and while I have had, since I have been your rector, no less than twenty-two calls and overtures to labor in other fields, in thirteen different States, yet I have thus far steadily refused each, and though I dare not say, as Ruth to Naomi, " The Lord do so to me and more also, if aught
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but death shall part thee and me," yet I can say, that nought but the voice of God, speak- ing through providences with almost the pe- remptoriness of death, shall break the ties which now bind us so lovingly together.
In summing up, on this occasion, the influ- ence which this parish has exerted during the thirty-five years of its existence, we must re- member, that, compared with many others, it is still young, and that much of its fruit is necessarily yet in the bud; yet, even with these disadvantages, we rejoice that God has so highly honored this church as its present position and influence declare.
To make this more apparent, I shall endea- vor to group under several heads the work- ings and results of labors in this parish, as the best exponent of its multifarious and suc- cessful efforts.
First. Let us mark the influence of St. An- drew's, through the example and labors of its former rectors.
Dr. Bedell began his ministry in this city, at a time when the Church, though not actu- ally depressed, was yet languid in spiritual life, and with but little aggressive energy. Within the city and liberties of Philadel-
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phia, as now incorporated, there were but nine Episcopal churches in connection with the Convention, Christ's Church, St. Peter's, St. Paul's, St. James's, St. John's, N. L., Trinity, Southwark, St. Luke's, Germantown, Trinity, Oxford Township, All Saints, Lower Dublin. Three of these were small and feeble churches. Now there are fifty-six churches within the same limits.
It is not pressing a claim too far to say, that much of the life and vigor which has so eminently marked the progress of the Church in this city, is due, in a great measure, to the zeal and efforts of Dr. Bedell and Dr. Clark, through the aid and co-operation of the money and services of the laity of this parish.
Dr. Bedell inaugurated a new state of things here, in reference to the style and cha- racter of pulpit exercises, in the evangelical tone and boldness of his sermons, in the zeal with which he threw himself into the great schemes of Christian benevolence, in the energy which led him to be ever planning new means of doing good, in the method in which he pressed on and made prominent Sunday-schools and Bible classes, in the ardor with which he
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made the press subserve his Master's work, in the care which he exercised in preparing can- didates for confirmation, and in instructing with a deeper spiritual teaching than usual, those who united themselves to the Church of Christ. These things told with a wonderful effect not only here, but abroad; the timid were encouraged by his example ; the waver- ing were made firm ; his example was copied ; his labors were repeated by others, and in nearly every instance, with signal blessing. Dr. Clark carried on the system of his prede-
cessor. His faithful spiritual sermons, his edi- torial efforts, his instructive and valuable vo- lumes, his private and personal labors, were directed to the same great end ; and probably no one church has been the centre of such widespread and blessed influences as was St. Andrew's, under the rectorship of its now sainted dead.
The ministry of Bishop Clark, though brief, was yet vigorous and healthful, upholding the evangelical character of the church, and build- ing it up in numbers and influence, so that it still continued one of the leading churches of the diocese.
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What it is now, your own eyes can see and your own knowledge declare.
Secondly. Let us mark the influence of St. Andrew's, in the contributions which it has made to the ranks of the ministry.
During the thirty-five years of its existence, forty-four clergymen have gone out from this congregation, twenty-seven of whom were con- firmed in this church, and there are now three of our young men who are candidates for orders. Many of these clergymen have be- come eminent and successful; among them are the Rev. Dr. Bedell, New York, Rev. B. Claxton, D.D., Rev. Dr. Henderson, Kingston Goddard, and others, and the Missionary E. J. P. Messenger. Some have entered into their rest, but most of them are still faithful la- borers, whom God has honored as his true ambassadors. It is impossible to estimate the amount of good which these ministers have accomplished, the churches which they have built, the Sunday-schools which they have es- tablished, and the souls they have guided to the Saviour. Each church established by them has become a Bethesda to hundreds of souls, and the Sunday-schools have brought
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under their influence thousands of pupils and teachers. The aggregate time which these brethren have spent in the ministry has been over five hundred years, i. e., this church has furnished five hundred years' ministration of Divine truth to a lost world ! If we take the low average that but ten souls have been con- verted to God each year of such ministry, we have, even at this low estimate, five thou- sand immortal souls born anew of the Holy Ghost, outside of these church walls, through influences emanating from within the congre- gation of St. Andrew's. Truly, this has been a well-spring of life, sending out streams which have made glad the City of our God.
Thirdly. Let us look at some of the great things which God has done for us, through our Sunday-schools.
The first Sunday-school was begun on the morning of the 21st of September, 1823. The following is an extract from the records of the schools at that time.
"This being the first day of the school, the male and female schools met in the vestry- room of St. Andrew's Church, when prayer was made by the rector, after which the male
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school adjourned to the church, and the fe- male school commenced its duties in the ves- try-room." " Teachers, male five, female four- teen. Pupils, male thirty-three, female fifty-
six. Male teachers, Asheton Claxton, John McCall, Joseph Davidson, William V. Bowers, and Hugh De Haven." The names of the female teachers, much to my regret, are not given. Miss Phœbe W. Thurston was the first directress, in which position she continued to labor with eminent ability and fitness for the post, until she removed to New York, several years after.
The schools gradually increased, until, in 1831, there were fifty-nine teachers, and one thousand and one scholars, directly connected with the church, besides four hundred other children taught in the suburbs, from Commis- sioners' Hall, Southwark, to the House of Re- fuge, by forty teachers, who were members of this church ; so that St. Andrew's then fur- nished a corps of ninety-nine teachers, and gathered to its instruction over fourteen hun- dred children. In looking over the early minutes of the Berean Society, under whose charge the Sunday-schools then were, we find
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many interesting records. Thus, under date of October 12, 1823, is the following minute : " The Rev. Mr. Bedell this morning brought his son (G. Thurston Bedell) to be entered as a scholar. May this example lead others, who have heretofore felt themselves above sending their children to the Sunday-school to go and do likewise."
Under date of January 30, 1825, it is re- corded : " Mr. Hare (George Emlen Hare) visited our school, and bade us farewell; he is about departing for Yale College, to prepare for the ministry."
March 30, 1828 : "We were, this afternoon, called upon to take leave of one of our youth- ful charge, George P. Hopkins, one of the scho- lars of the first class, who is about leaving the city for Pittsburg, to be educated by his cousin, the Rev. Mr. Hopkins (now Bishop Hopkins, of Vermont). He has now passed from under our care, and although he has not manifested that he knows anything experimentally of the Lord Jesus Christ, yet we would cherish the hope, that labor has not been bestowed on him in vain. After an address to him and the school, by the superintendent (the Rev. Wm.
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C. Russell), he was committed to God by prayer; he then bid farewell to his teacher and his class. The labor bestowed on this youth was not in vain ; he is now a faithful and self-denying minister of our Church."
September 17, 1837 : " Took leave of Bro- ther Franklin (Rev. Thomas L, Franklin), who has been with us for some time as a teacher. He has been a faithful and efficient coadjutor, and we part with him with great regret. He removes to Hartford, to pursue his studies preparatory to entering into the ministry."
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