USA > Tennessee > Davidson County > Nashville > The First Presbyterian Church, Nashville, Tennessee : the addresses delivered in connection with the observance of the one hundredth anniversary, November 8-15, l9l4 > Part 13
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Calvinism spoke in the days of the English Common- wealth as it raised the English people from a king-ridden and nobility-enslaved nation to one of the purest types of democracy in the world. In the Westminster Assembly of 1641 it gave voice to the most sharply defined Calvinistic confession of faith ever written by man. And it is from those days of the Commonwealth, so generally slighted by English historians, that the steadily growing ascendency
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dates of the Commons over the king and the House of Lords, which in our day has culminated in a supreme vic- tory.
And that in a state where the church in her thirty-nine articles had only in part accepted the Calvinistic theology, where in this half-hearted way, in a place all its own, it maintained itself as the religion of the land, and where its every step was marked with aristocratic aspirations and anti-Calvinistic social ideals. What, then, is the solution of this secret? This, that not Anglicanism but Independent- ism had imprinted itself on the political life and conscious- ness of the nation.
And did the course of history run different in the New World, the land of hope, our own marvelous Common- wealth, where the long dream of the world's democracy was finally realized and that on a gigantic scale ?
What did the Pilgrim Fathers bring to these shores but purest Calvinism? What else did the Dutch and Walloons bring to New Amsterdam, now New York? What was the character of the people who settled on the James River ; who were their preachers? Anglicans though they were, does not history tell us that practically all their leaders were Puritans in spirit? What was the endless stream which, in the eighteenth and in the beginning of the nineteenth century, uninterruptedly flowed from Great Britain to these shores? Who settled the mountain slopes and valleys of Virginia and the Carolinas, Tennessee and Kentucky, but sturdy Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, who laid the strong foundation stones of the republic, so strong that the whelm- ing flood of the later immigration from central and southern Europe was unable to overturn them or to change the na- tional character thus established? What we are politically and nationally we owe to the man of Geneva, whom his own fellowtownsmen used to call "ce Francois," or "cette homme." Bancroft, our great historian, was a Unitarian
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Deacon 1873-1904.
JOHN HILL EAKIN, Treasurer of the Church. Founder of the Eakin Fund.
and therefore not given to fulsome praise of Calvinism. But as a historian he is faithful to the truth and this is what he has to say of it: "Calvinism was revolutionary, wherever it came it created division ; its symbol, as set upon the 'Institutes' of its teacher, was a flaming sword. By the side of the eternal mountains and the perennial snows and the arrowy rivers of Switzerland it established a religion without a prelate and a government without a king. Forti- fied by its faith in fixed decrees, it kept possession of its homes among the Alps." Then he tells us of its onward sweep through the lands of Western Europe and Scotland, and continues thus: "It infused itself into England and placed its plebeian sympathies in daring resistance to the courtly hierarchy, dissenting from dissent, longing to intro- duce the reign of righteousness. It invited every man to read the Bible and made itself dear to the common mind by teaching, as a divine revelation, the unity of the race and the natural equality of men. It claimed for itself free- dom of utterance, and through the pulpit, in an eloquence imbued with the authoritative words of prophets and apos- tles, spoke to the whole congregation. It sought new truth, denying the sanctity of the continuity of tradition. It stood up against the middle ages and their forms in church and state, hating them with a fierce and unquenchable hatred."
Bancroft was right, in part, but the subject having gripped him, he devoted a separate essay to Calvin, and in it he uses this language: "It is intolerance only which would limit the praise of Calvinism to a single sect or re- fuse to reverence his virtues and regret his failings.
We may, as republicans, remember that Calvin was not only the founder of a sect, but foremost among the most efficient of modern republican legislators, more truly be- nevolent to the human race than Solon, more self-denying than Lycurgus. The genius of Calvin infused enduring
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elements into the institutions of Geneva and made it for the modern world the impregnable fortress of popular liberty, the fertile seed plot of democracy. He that will not honor the memory and respect the influence of Calvin knows but little of the origin of American liberty."
And who will doubt it, who has the faintest acquaintance with American history, that in the new world Calvinism, as a political dynamic, exerted its greatest force till now in the history of the world?
As we have seen, the pioneers of the new Commonwealth were practically all Calvinists or at least Calvinistic.
But let me take some concrete examples from our his- toric records.
The "Mecklenburg Declaration" foreshadowed the Dec- laration of Independence. It was adopted in a popular con- vention on May 20, 1775. Three months later this instru- ment lay on the table of the Continental Congress and it was signed by men who were largely Scotch Presbyte- rians. Who was its author? It was drawn up by a Pres- byterian minister, one Ephraim Brevard, at Charlotte, N. C.
Jefferson himself declared that the Declaration of Inde- pendence a year later was inspired by the memorials of Hanover Presbytery.
And when this instrument, drawn up by the committee ad hoc, finally lay on the table of Congress, and when every one of the leaders hesitated to be the first to sign his name to the document, since the act might well prove a death warrant, it was a Presbyterian minister who broke the spell and steeled the courage of all by approaching the table and setting his name on that fatal and epoch-making paper. The name spelled John Witherspoon. And to whom did Washington point in his extremity, in the dead of that dreadful winter spent at Valley Forge, as his last hope. when gloom filled every heart and all seemed lost, but to the stern Calvinists of his home county, when in answer
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to the question whether surrender were not the better part of valor, he replied, "I will fight and retreat and retreat and fight till I get back among the Presbyterians of old Augusta County ; when they stack their muskets I will re- turn my sword to its scabbard."
Our entire Constitution is fashioned after the model of the "Union of Utrecht," of 1579, the first republican con- stitution ever drafted in this world, and as Douglass Camp- bell has abundantly proved, it was in the hands of the drafters of our own. And it gave birth to the Dutch re- public, the very incarnation of political Calvinism.
Our entire social fabric is shot through and through with the spirit and principles of Calvinism. Here, as no- where else, in this wide world, the rights of the individual are guaranteed, and here, as nowhere else, we find the reflex of the principles of Calvin in our National and State Consti- tutions. God is recognized as the "divine ruler," the "divine protector," and the "supreme judge" in these instruments. In the "Articles of Confederation" He is called "the Great Governor of the world." Always and everywhere a recog- nition of the rights of God in the government of this world leads to a recognition of the inalienable rights of the indi- vidual. The final application, therefore, on an ever-growing scale, is of the principles of the man of Geneva. Consti- tutional government flourishes only on this soil. Wherever Calvinism either directly or indirectly asserts itself, a hap- pier and brighter day has dawned for oppressed humanity, for tyranny and Calvinism are logical and historical an- titheses.
He knows little of Calvinism who has not studied it in its wider and deeper aspects, or followed its trail through the mazes of history. But whoever does so will feel the thrill of endless vistas. Strange as it may seem, the recog- nition of the sovereignty of God leads to the largest possible view of the sovereignty of man, who, conscious of an im-
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mediate contact with God, feels the reflected glory of that presence in his own heart and in his own life, and stands without blanching before the face of man, whoever he may be.
Calvinism has not yet run its course. In ever-widening circles its power will be felt as the world's history unfolds itself, because, based on immutable principles, it forms a dis- tinct view of life, of the world and of God. Wait and see whether on the ruins of the now tottering powers of Europe, God, through these principles, will not build a new and greater continent.
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CHAPTER IX.
GREETINGS FROM OTHER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES.
From the Second Church.
By REV. A. S. ALLEN.
Honored pastor and beloved members of the First Pres- byterian Church, I count myself happy in being privileged this evening in bringing you the greetings of your first- born child, the Second Presbyterian Church of this city. She was seventy-one years old yesterday, and therefore you became her mother at the age of twenty-nine years.
We bring you greetings of good will, love and admira- tion. We extend you the joyous hand of loving fellowship. We love you because you are our mother. We love you for what you have so unselfishly done for us down through the years past. We love you for what you are today to us in good will and sympathy. We honor you because of your splendid minister. Of all the men whose pathways have crossed my own in life few stand so high as he in my own estimation, and no one stands higher. I honor him because his views are so kindred to my own way of think- ing. True this might be said of a fool, but surely no one would so class himself.
We honor you because of your splendid official boards and your level-headed and non-arrogant membership. It has been my happy privilege on several occasions to supply this pulpit, and I always found kindness and cordiality ex- tended me.
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الكتبهلاك ..
We sincerely trust that the strength, beauty and activity of youth may ever abide with you. May your hair never grow gray, your eyes dim nor your step tottering.
May your digestive power for a hearty meal of gospel truth ever remain perfect, so that you may be immune to all dangers arising from poor assimilation. May you never be afraid of that which is high, nor your desires fail, nor the grasshopper to you be a burden. May old Father Time deal gently with you, never putting a stoop in your shoulders nor chiseling a gloom in your fair face. And finally, as the evening shadows lengthen, and the twilight fades, may you hear, ere the silver cord be loosed, the Master say, "Well done, thou good and faithful church, since you have so nobly done your part in my vineyard on earth, enter ye into my glorified church above."
From the Woodland Street Church. By REV. W. L. CALDWELL, D.D.
It is rather an unusual thing for a lady to invite guests to her birthday party and then call on them to say nice things about her, and to her face. But as you are a century old, I guess we are to allow you certain liberties, and especially with those so near and dear to you as we are, most of us your own children. In the Orient it is quite the fad to get old. There they speak of the accumulated years with pride. As a rule our ladies are not overfond of tell- ing their ages, but you seem to have caught the Eastern fad, you are not only not ashamed to tell your age, you are actually glorying in it! And well you may, for it is honorable. Your hoary head is a crown of glory; it is found in the way of righteousness. You have grown old gracefully, a thing not easy for some of us to do. . For, like youth, old age has its perils and temptations. Some whose lives were prophetic of a beautiful old age have
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disappointed us. They have lost the sweetness and gentle- ness of former days. The aggravations of the world, its cares and perplexities, have dulled the splendor of life as it moves toward the setting sun. If life has been full of dis- appointments, it is easy to become crabbed and sour. Or if it has been full of successes and achievements, there is dan- ger of vanity and self-consciousness. Then old age will become garrulous, full of self and past attainments. But you have steered clear of both these rocks. You are to- day a hundred years young ! And you carry your age well. You have not settled upon your lees, you have kept abreast the times, and so kept your heart young. You have not been satisfied with past achievements, your attitude has been that of reaching forth to the things that are before. Your prayer has been :
"O for man to arise in me,
That the man that I am may cease to be."
(Ladies said "woman.")
There is a tradition that the eagle dies when he reaches the century mark. At the end of ten years he soars into the sun, and his pinions are scorched and he falls into the sea, where they are renewed and he comes out with the dew of his youth. This he does for ten decades, when he falls to rise no more. It may be to this that the Psalmist refers when he says, "Thy youth is renewed like the eagle's." I am thinking that you will go the eagle one better. With- out these periodical slumps into the sea you have soared con- tinually upward, and today you are younger and stronger than ever. You have renewed your strength by waiting on the Lord, and so can mount up on wings as eagles, or run and not be weary, or walk and not faint. You seem to say to us :
"Grow old along with me, The best is yet to be."
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I am a litle bit wary about claiming kin with people, but as your character is well established, I am tempted to claim kin with you tonight. It is this way. On the fair page of your history among the pioneers stands the name of Thomas B. Craighead. He was the pioneer preacher of Presbyterianism in Middle Tennessee. He was also an educator and, together with Andrew Jackson, laid the foun- dation upon which rests the great educational system of our city. Out of his work grew Cumberland College and the University of Nashville. His ashes rest near the Her- mitage. not far from those of the great "Old Hickory." whom he loved and trusted. Now, he was the son of the famous Alexander Craighead, author of the first Declara- tion of Independence. Rachel, Thomas' sister, became the wife of David Caldwell, and my father's grandmother, Now, if this doesn't make me kin to you it certainly ought to make me a Daughter of the American Revolution! But if this claim does not appeal to you, I come in a closer rela- tionship, as pastor of the Woodland Street Church, your own daughter, who loves you for your splendid history, and, together with your other children, rises up to call you blessed.
From the Moore Memorial Church. By REV. L. E. McNAIR, D.D.
The greetings I bear upon this happy occasion to the pastor and members of this church are more than words of congratulation.
During the week now closing many have been reading the account of this very unusual celebration and, as they have read, have greatly admired the accomplishments of the one hundred years of splendid history about which so much has been said. The wide influence of this old church upon the life of this community has produced a profound impres-
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BYRD DOUGLAS, Deacon 1873-1899. Elder 1899-1911.
sion upon all who are familiar with this glorious record. There are many others whose expressions have been more than words of mere admiration. They have been praising God for the years of faithful service in His Kingdom.
But I come tonight to speak for a congregation bound to this church in ties of very intimate relationship. This is a relationship which leads me to speak in words of grati- tude, tenderness and love. I represent a church which is more than a sister church. We are the child of a great and glorious mother.
The mother was born, as you know, in the month of November, one hundred years ago. You have just been told that her first child was born in the month of November, seventy-one years ago. The Moore Memorial Church, another child, was also born in the month of November, forty-one years ago.
I have noticed that all good things have come into exist- ence in the month of November. I was born in the month of November.
The child I represent reaches her forty-first birthday this month, and though mature in her own strength and well established in her own work, she yet reverently acknowledges the debt of gratitude and love she owes the mother, out of whose life she sprang and whose faithful labors in the years that have passed have largely made pos- sible the maturity to which the child has come.
And now we are rejoicing over the splendid age of the mother church.
To this age you have come, not in a lifeless spirit, not in infirmity, limping up to be pitied, as one whose life has been spent; not to years of restful inactivity. This, for you, is a period when, rising from the precious memory of the great years that are over, the church now girds herself with more youthful vigor for the years that are to come.
Glorious as has been the past, I cannot believe it has been the better time of this church.
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In the mythologies of most people and religions there exists the tradition of an age called "Golden." The Greeks and Romans placed this age under the rule of Saturn, and some of the poets, as, for example, Virgil, in the first books of the Georgics, have turned their poetic material into splendid account as they hold out the hope that the pristine state of things will one day return. In our own time there are those who look forward anticipating in the future the promised goal. For this church the present time is "golden."
The conditions surrounding this church are more favor- able than ever before. This church is grander than ever. Under the superb leadership of your present great and beloved pastor you are now rendering the most efficient service your church has ever achieved.
I take this opportunity to say, while we honor the great men who have served in this historic church, we recognize no superior to your present much-beloved pastor, Dr. Vance. My association with him in the work we share in this com- munity warrants me in speaking very feelingly of him and of his great service. I regret the occasion is such I cannot say more about him.
But now, O church of God, you are yet at the beginning of an endless destiny. The counting of the milestones you have passed urges you to look forward and to press on. Be- fore you is the untraversed plain and beyond it are the everlasting hills. Unto these hills lift up your eyes for strength.
I now assure you of our respect, honor and love. Very tender ties bind us together in our work for our Lord. May He strengthen these ties and keep us faithful together for our great work.
I am sure I have more than consumed the five minutes' time given me. I am reminded of the story they tell on one of our local, well-known "after dinner speakers." On a
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certain occasion he was on the program with several other speakers and was informed he could speak for only ten minutes. After speaking for thirty minutes, he turned to the toastmaster and said, "Mr. Toastmaster, I do not know how much of my ten minutes remains, but I gladly yield the remaining portion to the speaker who is to follow me." So I gladly yield my remaining time to my friend who is to follow me.
From the Cottage Church. By REV. W. S. BARR.
Dr. Vance, Officers of the First Presbyterian Church, and Friends:
It is one of the highest honors and also one of the great- est pleasures for one of the daughters to bring greetings to the mother who is celebrating her one hundredth birth- day.
A little historical sketch prepared by Rev. Harris E. Kirk, D.D., while pastor of Cottage Church, would be of interest at this time:
"The Cottage Church Bible School was organized June 22, 1850, in St. Cloud Grove, corner of Ewing Avenue and Bass Street, by Messrs. W. G. Hunter, James Gould, A. W. Putnam, H. H. McAllister, Alfred Hume and others of the First Presbyterian Church. The first building was erected on the northeast corner of Bass Street and Stevenson Ave- nue. Alfred Hume was the first Superintendent and was succeeded, respectively, by A. W. Putnam and H. H. Mc- Allister. The building was taken by the United States Army in 1862 and the school discontinued.
"In 1865 the school was reorganized by H. H. McAllis- ter, who again became its Superintendent. Bradford Nichol succeeded him in 1879 and served until 1883, when Mr. McAllister again took charge. Messrs. Baxter Smith, S. O.
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Merrill, W. S. Hill and Bradford Nichol served consecu- tively up to 1896.
"The present building, located on the southeast corner of Bass Street and Stevenson Avenue, was erected in 1881, chiefly through the efforts of Messrs. H. H. McAllister, Bradford Nichol and Byrd Douglas. Mrs. Ann Pope con- tributed $1,000 to the building fund, and at her death gave the church enough money to build the manse."
The Cottage Presbyterian Church was a mission of the First Presbyterian Church from June 22, 1850, to May 3, 1891, on which date its organization was effected.
May God bless the mother who has done so much for the daughter, and may the daughter grow more like the mother.
From the A. G. Adams Church.
By REV. T. H. HARRISON.
Dr. Vance, Officers and Members of the First Presbyte- rian Church:
What I shall say tonight will be extemporaneous. Words fail me and are inadequate to express my profound gratitude to you on my behalf as well as on behalf of the people of the A. G. Adams Church, whom I represent, for the gifts that you are constantly bestowing upon us. Of course the ministers representing the other Presbyterian churches of the city who have spoken before me have graduated. You have not got to care for them now. The congregations they represent have become able to take care of themselves, but I and my congregation you still have on your hands. We are still in your care, but we are hop- ing and praying that the day will soon come when we can care for ourselves. Nevertheless, we appreciate your care of us, for you are taking good care of us. We are your baby, still crying for help, and with much appreciation we
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are glad to say that you are constantly supplying our needs.
Dr. Vance, these boys who have just spoken ahead of me have referred to the church as "she," and they have well said this church is the mother church of all the Presbyterian churches of Nashville. I was just wondering, while they were speaking, why they did not refer to you as "Father." I think it would have been very appropriate for them to have addressed you as such. As for myself, I like to think of you in this way, because you are a father to me and the people of the A. G. Adams Church, whom I represent. Yet in my referring to you as father I do not mean to reflect upon your age. Now, while these boys were speak- ing, my mind went back into the past, and I began to think of the origin of this church. We are told that through the faith of six women and one man, God laid the founda- tion of this institution one hundred years ago. I think that this should be a great week to the citizenship of Nashville from the very fact that they have within it a church that is one hundred years old. No doubt since the beginning of this church here in Nashville there have been other insti- tutions brought forward ; no doubt there have been all kinds of commercial enterprises put forward; there have been banks with tremendous capital ; there have been institutions of learning that started with a name, but by the death of some one some have failed, others have changed their names, in the short period of one hundred years. If you were to try to find some of the many things that have taken place in the way of institutions being brought forward in the past one hundred years in this city you would have to hunt the records of the city. Some you would find have passed out and are no more, but here is an institution that had its be- ginning with only seven in the company. It has constantly grown. Financial failures have made no change in its growth. While many manufacturers have "gone broke," and institutions of learning have failed and banks become bank-
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rupt, here is an institution that has continued to increase in numbers and in wealth. The reason for this is plainly ex- plained in the Bible. It is because your wealth is in heaven. You belong to a God who has never become bankrupt and there is no chance for you to fail. Your institution will never go broke, neither will there ever be a time but what there will be a sufficient number in the organization to keep it going, for it has at the head of the institution the Lord Jesus Christ, who emptied himself of the wealth of heaven on the cross of Calvary that your wants might be filled with an abundance of His matchless gifts. So you will never be in poverty, neither will there ever be a time that your institu- tion will fail, for your wants will never be great enough to exhaust the source of God's supply. That was fixed in the gift of Christ.
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