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 4
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gustinians or Pelagians, but I do ask that you should adopt, in their length and breadth, the grand, solid, heaven-revealed doctrines which Paul teaches, and Peter teaches, and John teaches, and James teaches; those eternal verities which underlie the scheme of man's redemption, which the natural man can neither receive nor understand, but which God hath revealed unto us by his Spirit, and which can be spiritually discerned only by him who is taught by the Holy Ghost to sit as a little child at Jesus' feet and learn of him.
Since this church was founded, there has grown up that whole system of Tractarian and Sacramental theology, which, both in England and this country, has so ravaged and desolated the heritage of the Lord. It has been a test- ing-time of faith and piety. Those ministers and churches which were "built up on the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone," have stood firm amidst the blowing winds and the sweeping floods of error and deceit, because they were founded on a rock ; but many, whose moral superstructure was built upon the sand, who had no underpinning of living faith, were
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easily " carried about with every wind of doc- trine, by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive," and thus made perverts to a sacramental theology and a super-ritualism, which soon landed them into absolute Popery. Amidst this shaking of old systems, and attempts to introduce a new and soul-destroying one, this church has stood unmoved. It has main- tained, inviolate, a strict attachment to our devout liturgy ; it has held firmly to our Apos- tolic ministry ; it has cherished, decidedly, the distinctive features of our holy catholic Church; but it has never put sacraments, liturgy, ministry, ritual in the place of Christ; never, with them, obscured or kept back the pure doctrines of Christ; never substituted them for repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ first, Christ last, Christ always, Christ everything, has ever been the utterance of this pulpit; and most emphatically do I say, "If we, or an angel from heaven, preach unto you any other Gospel than this, let him be accursed !"
3dly. IT BEHOOVES US TO CHERISH AN ENLARGED MISSIONARY SPIRIT .- This has been in past years
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a characteristic of this church. The first money which was contributed towards the establish- ment of the Mission schools in Greece, came from this church. The money which sustained Bishop Southgate in his earlier missionary labors, was pledged for three years by this church. Two of its members have gone to Africa with their lives in their hands, and there laid them in the grave ; and one other is now laboring most zealously in China ; while the means which enable the Bishop of Africa to purchase and make habitable a new and healthy missionary station, away from the malarious coast, came from the thoughtful be- nevolence of one of our dying communicants. Thus let it ever be. God will bless no church which keeps back from him "part of the price." He expects and requires not only our bodies as living sacrifices, but our wealth also. We must regard ourselves as his stewards, holding our property as trustees for him, and using it to promote his glory, if we would enjoy his pre- sence in our heart or in our church. A miserly church can never be a thriving church. A church which doles out its pittance to the Lord with a begrudging spirit, will ever be weak
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and famished. For what is a missionary spirit ? It is a sending out spirit, a sending out of Christian truth, Christian ministers, Christian salvation, Christian churches ; and just in proportion as you value these, by the experience of your own hearts, will you yearn to send them out to others. It is when churches do most for Christ, that he does most for them. The gifts which are laid at his feet, are returned to us in spiritual bless- ings, which make us grow as the corn and spread abroad like the vine; and the history of Christianity proves that the most liberal and self-sacrificing churches are those which most shine as lights in the world.
Would you be a strong and vigorous church, send out your energies, work lustily, give libe- rally, pray fervently, live holily, fold not your arms, stint not your efforts, hide not your Lord's money, but give as God hath blessed you, and labor where God shall guide you, at home or abroad, and you shall find that the glory of the Lord will arise upon you, so that "Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising."
4thly. IT BEHOOVES US TO CALL OUT AND USE
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THE LAY EFFORT OF THE CHURCH .- It was one of the secrets of the success of Dr. Bedell and Dr. Clark, that they set in motion so much lay instrumentality. Nearly up to Dr. Bedell's day, laymen had done but little by way of personal effort or influence for the cause of Christ. Dr. Bedell gathered around him a band of warm-hearted, earnest-minded, and working men; and, like Ezra, he set each man in his appointed place, in repairing the walls of our then imperfectly defended Zion. The spiritual health and vigor of a church depend not so much on its contemplative and sedentary piety, as upon its active and operative Christianity. We want the strength and grace derived in secret in the closet, put forth in public; and where there is always kept before the congregation some one or more objects of special interest to engage the energies and call out the benevolence of the people, there will ever result increased har- mony, piety, and power. It was a fearful anathema denounced upon Meroz : "Curse ye Meroz; curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against
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the mighty." It was a fearful record which Christ made concerning Sardis, "Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead."
The very genius of Christianity is aggres- sive and assimilative activity, grace in action ; and if we would be like our Divine Master, we must work while it is day; work with our. hands, our tongues, our feet, our minds, our money, being instant in season and out of season, as faithful laborers in the vineyard of our Lord. In sustaining, vigorously and gene- rously, the ministry, in keeping up the secular affairs of the parish, in supporting the Sunday- schools and Bible-classes, in organizing and fostering missionary efforts, in opening their purses to the calls of Christian benevolence, in standing on each side of their pastor, and holding up his hands, as Aaron and Hur stood with Moses, as he prayed upon the Mount, that the Israel of God may prevail over the Amalekites of sin, the laity have a great and responsible work. They have the power of prayer, the power of money, the power of co-operative effort, the power of sympathy, the power of worldly wisdom ; and when these are brought to bear on any scheme of Chris-
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tian benevolence or duty, it becomes almost a resistless might, and can bear along in tri- umph the ark of the Lord.
I make these remarks, not to the men of my congregation only, but to the women also. In the Old Testament God made honorable mention of what women did towards erecting and furnishing the Tabernacle in the wilder- ness. Our blessed Lord often alludes to women as his helpers and succorers, and so respected them as to communicate to them first, some of the sublimest doctrines of his grace. The Holy Apostles speak of women as most faithful co-laborers in every good work; nor can you read their epistles without being struck with the frequent mention of pious and noble women, whose labors were owned and blessed of God. Women are among the best and most efficient laborers in the Church of God. They cannot minister the sacraments, they cannot fill the pulpit, they cannot guide the Lord's flock, they cannot legislate in the councils of the Church ; but they can sway the minds of children and youth; they can, by their godly conversation, win their husbands to the faith of Christ; they can illustrate, in their lives,
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the most beautiful effects of piety ; they can be in all places where gentleness and purity and mercy are needed; they can labor as man cannot labor, in the domestic circle, in the sick room, in deeds of quiet benevolence, in the unostentatious works of mercy. Like Hannah, they can bring their young sons to the courts of the Lord, and dedicate them to his service. Like Deborah, they can stir up some Barak to lead forth the Lord's hosts to battle with the Lord's enemies. They can
sing with Mary the grand magnificat, " My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour;" or with the aged Anna, give thanks unto the Lord for a Saviour born, and speak of him "to all who look for redemption." Like Dorcas, they can
be "full of good works and almsdeeds," making coats and garments for the poor widows of Israel. Like Eunice and Lois, they can in- struct some youthful Timothy in the Holy Scriptures. Like Lydia, "whose heart the Lord opened," they can shelter some perse- cuted disciple ; or, like Phœbe, be " a succorer of many;" or, like "the beloved Persis," " labor much in the Lord;" or, like the elect
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lady of St. John, cause their children to walk in the truth. Woman's work and agency are fully and specifically acknowledged in the Bible ; and the past and present history of this church attests that its prosperity, its spirituality, and its efficiency, are largely due to the devout and honorable women who, in the Sunday- schools, the Dorcas, the missionary, the sewing circles, in the visitation of the sick, and the alms-giving to the poor, have, like the women of Galilee, ministered to the Lord of their substance, their service, and their love. It was by a woman that our blessed Lord became incarnate; it is by the lips of woman that the story of this incarnation is most touchingly and effectively told from age to age; it is in the elevation of woman that the blessings of this incarnation are strikingly seen; and it is in the moral heroism of woman that the Gos- pel finds its richest trophies and its loveliest disciples.
Brethren, there has been something very solemn to my mind, in thus reviewing the thirty-five years' history of this church. As I stand in this pulpit, I feel that the sainted dead have stood here before me. As I gaze
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at this font, I recall the fact that nearly five hundred adults have here covenanted in the sacrament of Baptism, " to be Christ's faithful soldiers and servants, unto their lives' end." As I range my eye along this chancel, I see class after class coming hither, until nearly one thousand have here, at the hands of God's chief minister, received the apostolic rite of Confirmation. As I view this table, there rises before me a body of more than fifteen hundred communicants, who here have fed, in this their spiritual home, on the memorials of a Saviour's death. Before this desk have stood four hundred men and women to plight their troth each to the other, in the holy estate of matrimony ; and in that aisle have been seen, more than a hundred times, the bier and the coffin, and the group of muffled and weeping mourners, bringing their dead here to receive the last rites of the Church, and then to bury them out of their sight. And as I strive, in imagination, to marshal all these groups in one long procession, headed by your former pastors, followed by the train of clergy who have gone out from our midst, succeeded by
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the candidates for baptism, the classes for con- firmation, the ranks of the communicants, the bridal throngs, the burial groups, filing through that door, marching up this aisle, coming to this altar, leaving here their several vows, and then passing away; some of them to labor in other fields; some to attach themselves to other churches; some to keep bright their lamps of profession ; some to let their lights go out in darkness ; but nearly half of them to drop into the grave: I am filled with solemn awe at the amount and momentousness of the business which man has here transacted with God, at the eternal interests which here have been shaped for weal or woe, at the precious privileges which God has here vouchsafed to the soul, and at the vast responsibility which rests upon those who have been permitted to sit for years under the droppings of this sanctuary, and to hear from lips now sealed in death, the warnings and invitations of the Gospel.
For these privileges we must give account.
You who have here heard the thrilling tones of the godly Bedell as he called you to Christ, and yet have thus far refused that call, must
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meet him at the day of judgment, and before God answer for your neglect.
You who have here listened to the tender beseechings of the holy Clark, as he pointed you to the open grave and cried, " Prepare to meet thy God," and yet have not prepared yourselves, must meet him at the bar of God, and there answer for your neglect.
You who have here been stirred by the moving eloquence of the present Bishop of Rhode Island, as he sounded in your ear the Gospel call, must meet him before the great white throne, and answer why you have neglected the great salvation ; and ere a few more years shall have passed away, you who now sit before me, and I who now preach to you, shall stand together before the Judge of quick and dead, I, to give an account of my ministry, and you, of the use which you have made of these privileges of grace. And oh, beloved, what shall that account be ? on which side of the Judge shall it find you ? It lies with you now to say. It is not yet too late, though soon it will be. It lies with you now to say whether you will reject the offers of grace, and rank yourself among those to whom the Judge shall
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say, "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels;" or whether you will accept the proffered salva- tion, and through faith in Christ, and "clothed upon" in the robe of his justifying righteous- ness, will take your place among those " who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb," and to whom the King shall say, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."
And now I drop the curtain of the past, and turn my face to the unraised curtain of the future. The curtain of the future, hands of earth cannot lift up! Yet as I stand, like a priest in the olden temple, before the veil which hides from my eyes the future, let me fill my censer with the frankincense of prayer and thanksgiving, and light it with coals from off the golden altar of the sanctuary, and as its fragrant clouds roll up against the unlifted curtain, let them float heavenward these prayer breathings of my soul for the members of this church : " Behold, O God, this, thy Zion, the vine of thine own planting, the Israel of thine own choosing! Guide them in their wilder-
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ness-march by the cloud-pillar of thy presence ; feed them with manna from heaven and water from the smitten rock, that bread of life and that water of life found in Christ alone. Let thy Urim and thy Thummim be with these thy holy ones; fight for them against their soul's foes; open a way for them through death's cold stream into the heavenly Canaan, that there each of this beloved flock may walk in thy light, dwell in thy love, share thy glory, and bask forever in the beams of thy counte- nance, whose presence in heaven makes eternal day."
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APPENDIX.
I.
THE CORNER-STONE.
THURSDAY afternoon, at 5 o'clock, the laying of the corner-stone took place, with the ceremonies usual on such occasions, in the presence of the Bishop, the Rev. Mr. Bedell, the Episcopal clergy generally, of this city and its vicinity, and a large company of citizens.
After an appropriate address by the Rt. Rev. Bishop White, the following articles were deposited in a copper box, and placed in the corner-stone : A splendid edition of the Bible and Book of Common Prayer, a plan of the ele- vation of the church, a copy of the address delivered on this occasion by the Rev. Mr. Allen, American coin of the various denominations, together with a plate, on which the following inscription was engraved :
"Saint Andrew's Church, built in Eighth Street, between Spruce and Locust Streets. This stone was laid on the 5th day of September, 1822. The Rev. Gregory T. Bedell, A.M., rector. Wm. Thackara, Cornelius Stevenson, Trus-
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tees, and with John Haviland, Building Committee ; John Haviland, Architect; John Toy and John Kempton, Master Masons ; James Clark and Benjamin Robbins, Builders. This corner-stone was deposited by the Rt. Rev. Bishop White, D.D., Bishop of the Pennsylvania Diocese, and Senior Bishop of the American Church.
II. CONSECRATION.
ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH was consecrated on Saturday morning, the 31st of May. The Rt. Rev. Bishop White preached the sermon, and was assisted by the Rev. Dr. Aber- crombie, the Rev. Mr. Montgomery, and others of the clergy.
Order of Music for the Consecration of St. Andrew's Church, May 31st, 1823.
Venite. Gloria in Excelsis. Te Deum. Jubilate.
Sixth, seventh, and eighth verses of the twenty-sixth Psalm. One hundredth Psalm. After the sermon, An- them. The words chiefly from the one hundredth and seventh Psalm. Music by Hasse, of Saxony.
Chorus .- O give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. Glory ye in his holy name, for his mercy endureth forever.
Duet and Chorus .- O that men would praise the Lord, for his mercy endureth forever. For his goodness praise
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the Lord, and for his wonderful works to the children of men, for his mercy endureth forever. Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.
Duet .- That they would exalt him also in the congrega- tion of the people, and praise him in the seat of the elders. Chorus .- O give thanks unto the Lord, &c.
The rapidity with which this structure has been carried up, is remarkable. The corner-stone was laid in September last ; nine months ago the stone which forms part of the fabric was unquarried ; the bricks were unburnt; the wool, out of which the lining of the pews has been made, was on the backs of the sheep ; now the interior, though all the decorations are not quite completed, is prepared for the accommodation of a congregation ; the gallery pews will, we understand, be lined in the course of the next two weeks, after which, the workmen will proceed immediately to erect the portico; and it is thought the steeple will be raised this season as high as the octagon. The church, when finished, will be the most elegant sacred edifice in the United States ; it will not, however, be the most costly. By adhering to one plan, and by appointing men to superintend the building who to a theoretical added a practical know- ledge of architecture, economy has been consulted and elegance attained, without the imputation of extravagance being incurred. Great credit is due to Mr. Haviland, the architect, and to the gentlemen of the Building Committee. We are indebted to a friend for the following particular account of this edifice :
St. Andrew's Church is situated in Eighth Street near
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Spruce. Its front is to the east, and its main entrance from Eighth Street. Its length, including the portico and vestry-room and base of the spire, is one hundred and thirty feet, and its breadth sixty-five feet. The front is one of the most perfect specimens of the Grecian Ionic order, taken from the Temple of Bacchus at Teos, formed of six fluted columns in enstyle, with a strictly copied entablature, charged with all the enrichments and members of the original. The proportion of the tympanum is one-sixth part of its triangular base. The entrance is by a flight of six marble steps (extending along the whole front), through a central door fourteen feet wide and twenty-five feet high, subdivided into seven horizontal compartments of four panels each. The facias of the panels are bold, and en- riched with the egg moulding; the stiles and rails are studded with rivets, giving the whole the character of strength. The nave is sixty-one feet wide, and sixty-nine feet long, and is planned with a middle aisle six feet six inches wide, and two side aisles, each four feet six inches wide. The pews are disposed in simple parallelograms, running east and west, three classes of four, five, and six seats each, allowing eighteen inches to each sitting. The back is inclined, and the seat made at right angles with the back; the general appearance of the pews is that of a Gre- cian lounge. In the west end of the church, facing the main entrance, are placed the rostrum and chancel; the whole inclosure is seventeen by twenty-five feet. The principal feature in this design is two large columns with their pilasters and entablature of the Grecian Ionic order, taken from the Temple of Minerva Polias at Athens, and here executed with its enrichments in full, without the
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slightest deviation from the proportions given us in Stew- art's Athens. In the frieze of the entablature is inserted, in gold letters, " Holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, forever."-Extract from one of the newspapers of the day.
III.
SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF DR. BEDELL.
REV. GREGORY TOWNSEND BEDELL, D.D., was born on Staten Island, New York, on the 28th of October, 1793.
He was graduated at Columbia College, New York, in 1811. He prepared himself for holy orders under the direc- tion of the Rev. Dr. How, one of the assistant ministers of Trinity Church, New York, and was ordained deacon by Bishop Hobart, on the 4th of November, 1814, "within one week after he had attained the canonical age."
He began his ministry in Christ Church, Hudson, New York, on the 4th of June, 1815. Was married to Miss Penelope Thurston, of Hudson, on the 29th of October, 1816; was ordained presbyter in July, 1818; and in October of that year, moved to Fayetteville, North Caro- lina, having been elected rector of St. John's Church. He labored there with great acceptance to the people, and with an ever-ripening experience of truth in his own heart, and a clearer apprehension and setting forth of it, until the spring of 1822, when, upon considerations of health alone, he resigned the rectorship of the church, amidst the love and regret of a devoted people.
It is an interesting fact, honorable alike to the Vestry of
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St. John's, Fayetteville, and to the character of Dr. Bedell, that on the death of Dr. Bedell, the Vestry of St. John's expressed their sympathy with the Vestry of St. Andrew's by a series of condoling and affectionate resolutions.
He reached this city on the 11th of May, 1822, on his way to New York, little thinking how great a work God had prepared for him to do here. The request to remain in Philadelphia, came to him under the following circum- stances, extracted from the Parish Record of St. Andrew's Church.
May 20th, 1822. A number of Episcopalians, friends of the Rev. G. T. Bedell, met in the Masonic Hall, agreeably to previous notice. Samuel J. Robbins was called to the chair, and Thomas Walker chosen secretary.
The business of the meeting was opened by Mr. T. B. Freeman, who, after stating the object for which it had been requested, in detailing his views of the expediency and practicability of their accomplishment, concluded by a motion for the appointment of a committee to take the necessary measures for obtaining subscriptions for building a church, and for a distinct sum sufficient in amount to afford a liberal support to the Rev. Mr. Bedell, during the period that will intervene between the commencement and completion of the building.
This motion was unanimously agreed to, and the follow- ing gentlemen were appointed to act on the committee : Paul Beck, James M. Broom, William Thackara, Stephen North, Cornelius Stevenson, Thomas T. Stiles, T. B. Free- man, Dr. R. Povall, John White, E. S. Perot, George Hawkins, Allen Smith, John C. Pechin, Henry Simpson, and Thomas Walker.
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On motion, the Rev. Mr. Allen, Mr. Freeman, and Mr. Stevenson, were appointed to wait on the Rev. Mr. Bedell, and convey to him the wishes of the persons present, that he would remain disengaged from any call until after the issue of this meeting is known.
Wednesday evening, May 22d, 1822. After Divine service in the church, a number of the friends of the Rev. Mr. Bedell remained, when the following agreement was entered into :
PHILADELPHIA, May 22d, 1822.
REVEREND AND DEAR SIR :
With pleasure we inform you that it has been resolved to secure your labors to this city, by erecting a church, of which you are to be rector; and as during the time of its erection your ministerial services among us will be impor- tant, we hereby invite you to render them, and pledge our- selves to see you paid for the year commencing June 1st, the sum of twelve hundred dollars.
We are, with respect and affection, yours, &c.,
Signed, WILLIAM THACKARA, THOMAS T. STILES, CORNELIUS STEVENSON, JOHN HAVILAND, BENJAMIN ROBBINS.
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