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 16
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Hence it is that modern tyrants have with one consent recognized that Presbyterianism was their natural enemy. and have hated and feared it accordingly. Charles the First of England, whose inability to tell the truth and keep an oath cost him his head, did tell the truth once at least when he said, "The doctrine (of the Presbyterians) is anti-monar- chical," and he added that "there was not a wiser man since Solomon than he who said, 'No bishop, no king.'" James the First, born and reared a Scot. spoke what he knew when, at the Hampton Court Conference, he said, "Ye are aiming at a Scot's Presbytery, which agrees with monarchy as well as God and the devil." History has demonstrated that the views thus expressed by the Stuart kings were absolutely
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correct. Presbyterianism has not only placed a premium on self-culture by its doctrine of personal liberty and its estimate of the worth of the individual ; it has not only placed a premium on general intelligence by its republican polity, which rests the power of government in the people them- selves and administers it through representatives of the people, but, as a natural consequence, it has in every age been a chief educator of the people in the principles of civil liberty and has in every land reared heroic champions of human freedom-Admiral Coligni in France, William the Silent in Holland, John Knox in Scotland, and William the Third of England, whose victory at the battle of the Boyne saved the British Empire and America, too, from the blight- ing rule of Rome. As to our own struggle for national in- dependence, it is well known that the revolt of the Ameri- can colonies was spoken of in England as a Presbyterian rebellion. When Horace Walpole said, "Cousin America has run away with a Presbyterian parson," he was doubtless referring particularly to Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon, Presi- dent of Princeton, whose speech in the Colonial Congress swept the waiverers to a decision in favor of the Declaration of Independence, and who was the only minister of any denomination who signed that immortal document; but Walpole's remark might well have been made with the whole body of American Presbyterian ministers in view. They instructed the people in their rights. They called them to arms in defense of their liberties. They sat in the councils of state. They endured the privations of the camp and the fatigues of the march, and they fought beside their parishioners on the fields of bloody strife. It is not too much to say that the American Revolution could not have suc- ceeded but for the Presbyterian ministers. While some denominations were opposed to war under any circum- stances, and therefore preferred submission to armed resist- ance, and while the clergy of some other denominations sup-
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ported the crown and bitterly opposed the movements for independence, the Presbyterian ministers throughout the whole country, from New England to Georgia, gave to the cause of the colonies all that they could give of the sanction of religion, and wherever a minister of that denomination was settled, the people around him were Whigs almost to a man. This is now gratefully recognized by our brethren of all denominations, and whatever the indifference or short- comings or hostility of their own ministers to the people's cause in the Revolutionary struggle, they all now alike honor the Presbyterian ministers who denounced the op- pression of the mother country, and fired the hearts of the people to resistance, and fought and suffered to secure the freedom in which all alike rejoice today.
In speaking of Presbyterians it is generally quality that is considered rather than numbers; when the world esti- mates their services it does not count, it weighs. Bishop Candler, of the Methodist Church, says: "There is only one objection to the Presbyterians, that is, there are not enough of them." Yet in mere bulk and number, as well as in influence. they contributed more than any other strain of our people to the Revolutionary army. One-third of the whole population of the colonies at that time was of Pres- byterian stock and they were then, as always, the kind of people who did not put their hand to the plow and look back.
The Presbyterian polity, then, has been a mighty pro- moter of the intelligent and steadfast type of Christian pa- triot. By its fundamental principle of personal liberty and the worth of the individual it has strongly stimulated self- culture ; by its fundamental principle of representative gov- ernment, with its inevitable demand for general intelli- gence, it has strongly stimulated popular education ; and, growing out of these two as naturally as a tree springs from its roots, it has developed a strong type of manly
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character, hatred of tyranny and love of liberty in the state as well as the church, and, we think, has become one of the best promoters of ideal citizenship that the world has ever seen.
THE PRESBYTERIAN WORSHIP.
2. A second thing which has contributed to the staying power of Presbyterianism is its type of worship. As Dr. McPherson says, its forms of worship, like those of the New Testament, are usually simple and non-ritualistic. In view of the dangers of formalistic and spectacular services the common Presbyterian custom has been to follow an order which is plain and reasonable, and perhaps occa- sionally austere. Often defective in beautiful ceremonies which appeal to the aesthetic instincts, sometimes deficient also in the enthusiasm which warms the feelings, Presbyte- rianism has steadily made its specific impression upon the mind rather than the tastes or the emotions, appealing to ideas and convictions more directly than to the sentiments or the external senses. Accordingly, Mr. Froude, who was certainly no Presbyterian, has said, "When emotion and sentiment and tender imaginative piety have become the handmaids of superstition, and have dreamt themselves into forgetfulness that there is any difference between lies and the truth, the slavish form of belief called Calvinism in one or other of its many forms has ever borne an inflexible front to illusion and mendacity, and preferred rather to be ground to powder like flint than to bend before violence or melt under enervating temptation."
This is, in great part, a result of the robust thought- fulness of Presbyterian worship. "In particular, Presbyte- rianism has always exalted the sermon as a leading part of worship, and thus emphasized the teaching function of the minister to the extinction of the priestly. The high themes of the Christian pulpit in the hands of trained and earnest men have supplied a measureless educational force. Popular
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ignorance scatters like mist before the sun in the presence of able, convincing and persuasive sermons.
"In view of this uniform importance which Presbyterian- ism has attached to the didactic vocation of the pulpit, it naturally produces a peculiar type of experience and character in its worshipers. If they are reserved in the expression of passionate fervor, if they come short in ar- tistic sensibility, they are as a class highly developed in the substantial elements of intellect, judgment and conscience. They are trained to think, to reason, to weigh and to decide for themselves. They can generally give a reason for the hope that is in them. They follow common sense and ap- point themselves detectives of humbug, and they are re- markably free from visionary whims, caprices and vaga- ries." They have staying power.
THE PRESBYTERIAN CREED.
3. The third reason for the staunchness of the Pres- byterian type of religion is its creed or system of doctrine.
There is not time to amplify this point, so I will simply cite the testimony of three eminent witnesses, neither of whom is a Presbyterian.
The Rev. Dr. Curry, an able and distinguished leader of the Methodist Church in America, says of the Westminster Confession of Faith: "It is the clearest and most com- prehensive system of doctrine ever framed. It is not only a wonderful monument of the intellectual greatness of its framers, but also a comprehensive embodiment of nearly all the precious truths of the gospel. We concede to the Calvinistic churches the honor of having all along directed the best thinking of the country."
Ralph Waldo Emerson laments in the following lan- guage the effect of New England's lapse from Calvinism to Unitarianism: "Our later generation appears ungirt, frivolous, compared with the religions of the last or Cal- vinistic age. The religion seventy years ago was an iron
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belt to the mind, giving it concentration and force. A rude people were kept respectable by the determination of thought on the eternal world. Now, men fall abroad, want polarity, suffer in character and intellect."
Henry Ward Beecher, Congregationalist and extreme liberal though he was, says: "There is no system which equals Calvinism in intensifying to the last degree ideas of moral excellence and purity of character. There never was a system since the world stood which puts upon man such motives to holiness, or which builds batteries which sweep the whole ground of sin with such horrible artillery. Men may talk as much as they please against the Calvinists and Puritans and Presbyterians, but you will find that when they want to make an investment they have no objection to Calvinism or Puritanism or Presbyterianism. They know that where these systems prevail, where the doctrine of men's obligation to God and man is taught and practiced, there their capital may be safely invested. They tell us," he continues, "that Calvinism plies men with hammer and chisel. It does, and the result is monumental marble. (Some) other systems leave men soft and dirty. Calvinism makes them of white marble to endure forever."
Such, my brethren, are some of the facts in regard to the value of the Presbyterian polity, worship and doctrine in the making of strong Christian character and in the doing of substantial Christian work. Let no one suppose that these facts are mentioned in a spirit of mere self-praise. There is surely no harm in recognizing gratefully any gifts and graces God may have bestowed upon our branch of the church. Nay, there is positive spiritual advantage in doing so, for the contemplation of such a record is fitted to hum- ble us for our own shortcomings, and to fire us with a new zeal for the great scriptural system which enabled our fathers to render so mighty a service to the Kingdom of God.
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That system is our heritage. But there are some omi- nous signs in our time that we are not all holding this heritage intact and that the proper attitude for us is not self-complacency, but self-examination. For instance, if the people choose the church officers whom they wish to have charge of their organized religious work, and if we allow all manner of voluntary and irresponsible societies to virtually displace the session and other church courts and to determine the method by which our work shall be carried on, regardless of the chosen representatives of the people, are we protecting the people in the rights which belong to them under our Scriptural republican polity, and will not both officers and people suffer loss of power?
Again, if we substitute for our simple New Testament forms of worship an elaborate ritual which appeals to the senses and the artistic sensibilities rather than to the mind and the conscience, and which relies on ceremonies rather than ideas, can we hope to continue to produce the staunch and thoughtful type of piety which has been the glory of our past ?
Again, if we substitute for the strong theology which teaches that there is one far-off divine event to which the whole creation moves, that there is a sovereign God of absolute power to help, to save, to perform, to carry out His will-if we substitute for that the idea of a God in- capable of foreseeing the future, subject to mistakes, wrest- ling with an unmanageable universe, whose providence, in- stead of moving with the definiteness of Omnipotence, is "like a drop of water trickling down a window pane," un- certain where it will run next *- do we not dim the inspir- ing vision of faith and weaken the uplifting assurance of victory-do we not cripple high endeavor and render pa- tient continuance in well-doing almost impossible ?
No, my brethren, if we would still continue to make
*Biblical World, xliv., 238.
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Christians who can not only mount up with wings as eagles, and who cannot only run and not be weary, but who can also walk and not faint, then we must still stand by our free polity, our simple worship and our stalwart creed.
Dr. Charles E. Jefferson has said with truth that "we have today flocks of flying Christians, quite too much in the air. We have also racing Christians, a breed who run with fury and raise a deal of dust and disappear. The Christian man most needed is the man who will quietly walk through the years, day by day loyally doing his task, loving the church with a passion which does not sputter or die down, and serving the church with a fidelity which knows no shadow of turning. He is the man who is a pillar in the temple of our God, and he shall go no more out forever."
In this flighty, hasty, superficial age of ours there is surely need for the solid, staunch and persistent type of Christian character and work. There is need for it in your city as well as elsewhere. And I pray God that this ven- erable church which for a hundred years has stood for these ideals in this community, may abide by them steadfastly through the years to come. Wait on the Lord. Mount up with wings as eagles. Run without weariness, Walk with- out fainting. God give you this uplift of the soul, this readiness for His service, this patience in His work!
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CHAPTER XII.
SUNDAY, NOV. 8.
II :00 A.M. CENTENNIAL SERMON. By the Rev. James I. Vance, D.D.
7:30 P.M. Address. By the Rev. Egbert Watson Smith, D.D. Subject : "Our World Obligation."
MONDAY, NOV. 9.
7:30 P.M. Greetings from other churches-
REV. PROF. THOMAS CARTER, D.D.
REV. CAREY E. MORGAN, D. D. REV. H. J. MIKELL, D.D.
REV. T. A. WIGGINTON, D.D.
REV. RUFUS W. WEAVER, D.D.
RABBI I. LEWINTHAL.
BISHOP BYRNE.
Paper. By Mr. William E. Beard. Subject : "The History of the First Church."
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7
TUESDAY, NOV. 10.
7:30 P.M. Greetings from the Synod of Tennessee. By Prof. G. F. Nicolassen, Moderator.
Address. By the Rev. James H. McNeilly, D.D. Subject: "The Ministers of the First Church."
WEDNESDAY, NOV. II.
7:30 p.m. Address. By the Rev. Wm. M. Anderson, D.D. Subject: "Personal Reminiscences of My Nashville Pastorate."
THURSDAY, NOV. 12.
7:30 P.M. Paper. By Dr. James D. Plunket. Subject : "The Church Officers and Their Work."
Address. By Prof. Henry E. Dosker, D.D.
Subject : 'The Place of Calvinism in His- tory."
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FRIDAY, NOV. 13.
7:30 to 10:00 P.M. Church reception under the auspices of the Women's Societies.
Greetings from the Pastors of the other Presbyterian churches in Nashville-
REV. A. S. ALLEN, Second Presbyterian Church.
REV. W. L. CALDWELL, D.D., Woodland Street Pres- byterian Church.
REV. L. E. McNAIR, D.D., Moore Memorial Pres- byterian Church.
REV. W. S. BARR, Cottage Presbyterian Church.
REV. T. H. HARRISON, Adams Presbyterian Church.
REV. W. C. ALEXANDER, D.D., Glen Leven Presby- terian Church.
REV. G. B. HARRIS, West Nashville Presbyterian Church.
REV. S. H. CHESTER, D.D.
SATURDAY, NOV. 14. (Date of organization.)
II:00 A.M. Formal Opening of the First Presbyterian Church Settlement House.
3:30 P.M. Decoration of the graves of former pastors and founders.
MINISTERS. (Buried in Spring Hill Cemetery.)
REV. THOMAS B. CRAIGHEAD
(Buried in City Cemetery.)
REV. WILLIAM HUME
REV. OBADIAH JENNINGS, D.D. (Buried in Mount Olivet.)
REV. JOHN TODD EDGAR, D.D.
REV. THOMAS VERNER MOORE, D.D.
REV. THOMAS A. HOYT, D.D.
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CHARTER MEMBERS. (Buried in City Cemetery.)
ROBERT SMILEY
MRS. MARY McNAIRY
MRS. JOSIAH NICHOL
MRS. SOPHIA HALL
(Buried on Noel Form.)
MRS. ANDREW EWING
(Buried in Talbot Burying Ground.)
MRS. TOM TALEOT
(Buried in Memphis.)
MRS. MARGARET L. ANDERSON
FOUNDER OF SUNDAY SCHOOL. (Buried in Mount Olivet.)
MRS. FELIX GRUNDY Address. By Maj. Wilbur F. Foster.
COMMITTEE ON DECORATION OF GRAVES.
MRS. PERCY WARNER
MRS. R. S. COWAN
MRS. ROBERT EWING
MRS. MARY C. DORRIS
MRS. T. D. CRAIGHEAD
MRS. ELLEN C. MARSHALL
MRS. JOHN HILL EAKIN
MRS. BRADFORD NICHOL
MRS. MARTHA FOSTER
MRS. SUE V. SYMMES
MRS. GEO. W. FALL
MISS KITTIE VAULX
MRS. W. F. FOSTER
MISS ELLA BROWN
MRS. W. G. ADAMS
MISS JENNIE HOUGH
MRS. W.M. BAILEY
MISS GEORGIA T. HUME
MISS LOUISE GRUNDY LINDSLEY
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1
SUNDAY, NOV. 15.
II:00 A.M. Sermon. By President Walter W. Moore, D.D., Union Theological Seminary. Sub- ject: "The Staying Power of Presbyte- rianism."
7:30 P.M. Address. By President Moore: "God's Method for Strong Character and Fruitful Work."
REV. JAMES I. VANCE, D.D., Pastor. MISS ELIZABETH PEARCY, Pastor's Secretary
ELDERS.
MR. R. S. COWAN, Clerk
MR. JOSEPH H. THOMPSON
MR. ROBT. G. THRONE
MR. A. G. ADAMS
DR. PAUL F. EVE
MR. C. B. WALLACE
MR. WM. H. RAYMOND
DR. J. D. PLUNKET
MAJ. WILBUR F. FOSTER
DR. WM. BAILEY
MR. W. GALES ADAMS
DR. M. G. BUCKNER
MR. CHARLES B. GLENN MR. DUNCAN MCKAY
DR. J. D. BLANTON MR. HENRY SPERRY
MR. FRANK BOENSCH, SR. MR. W. C. COLLIER
MR. GEORGE W. KILLEBREW
DEACONS.
MR. CHAS. S. CALDWELL, President MR. VERNER MOORE LEWIS DR. E. A. RUDDIMAN, V. President DR. JOHN A. WITHERSPOON MR. JOHN H. MCEWEN, Secretary MR. T. GARLAND TINSLEY
MR. EDGAR M. FOSTER, Treasurer MR. HARRY A. MYERS
MR. CHAS. E. COOPER, Asst. Treas.
MR. E. W. FOSTER
MR. GEO. M. WHITE
MR. JOHN P. W. BROWN
MR. ROBERT T. HOPKINS
MR. C. C. FOSTER
MR. T. P. KENNEDY
MR. WM. WINTER LYON
MR. A. TILLMAN JONES
MR. W. RIDLEY WILLS
MR. J. C. LUCUS
MR. FRANK BOENSCH, JR.
TRUSTEES.
MR. W. W. BERRY
COL. A. M. SHOOK MR. PERCY WARNER
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MR. J. B. GARRETT MR. LEE DOUGLAS
DR. MCPHEETERS GLASGOW
MR. LEMUEL R. CAMPBELL
MR. WILLIAM SIMPSON
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