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 6
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In 1823 he left Tennessee and became successively pas- tor in Louisville, and Versailles, in Kentucky, and President of Centre College in Kentucky. In 1833 he removed to the State of Illinois, where he died in 1838. His ministry in Nashville extended over a period of seven or eight years. At first his congregations gathered in the open air, in a grove near the Public Square, on the Sabbath. His preach- ing on week days was in Mr. Hume's building. The tra- ditions of his oratory represent it as overwhelming in its power and effectiveness.
His personal appearance was remarkably impressive. Over six feet in height and finely proportioned, his bearing was distinctly military. His features were prepossessing, dominated by an eye large and penetrating, which could express every emotion of the soul within. His voice was rich and, silvery and could thrill with passion or soothe with tenderness. His gestures were graceful and expressive. His sermons were carefully studied, but delivered extem- poraneously with fire and energy. His greatest power was in word-painting, so that scenes and events under his magic touch lived and moved before enraptured hearers, who forgot time, place and circumstances in looking upon the vivid pictures. Governor Brown and Colonel Ready, who had heard the great orators of the American Con- gress, Clay and Webster, Preston and Prentiss, have told me that Dr. Blackburn was the most eloquent orator they
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had ever heard. In his intercourse with others he was courteous, affable, but always dignified, even stately. Above all else he was interested in leading souls to Christ and in their living righteous lives.
REV. ALLEN DITCHFIELD CAMPBELL.
The first regularly installed pastor of this church was the Rev. Allen Ditchfield Campbell, D.D. Born in England, he came at an early age with his parents to Baltimore. where he was brought up. Graduating at the University of Pennsylvania, he studied for the ministry of the Asso- ciated Reformed Church, in which he was licensed in 1815. Soon afterward he joined the Presbyterian Church, and in 1820 he became the pastor of this church. For seven years he did his Lord's work in much suffering from frequent attacks of illness. In 1827 he resigned the pastorate. He was one of the founders of the Western Theological Semi- nary at Allegheny, Pa., and for a time taught some of its classes. He died in 1861.
Dr. Campbell was an earnest preacher of the Word, sim- ple, clear and devout. Of his preaching it could be said that "the common people heard him gladly." He was ex- ceedingly hospitable and generous in his helpfulness to theological students and to his brethren in the ministry.
REV. OBADIAH JENNINGS, D.D.
In 1828 the Rev. Obadiah Jennings, D.D., was installed pastor of this church. His pastorate lasted only four years until his death in 1832, but by his profound intellect and logical power, his sermons, although generally read, made a positive and deep impression on the members of the con- gregation and upon the men of the community generally.
Dr. Jennings, the son of a Presbyterian minister, was born in 1778 at Basking Ridge, N. J. Manifesting remark- able powers of mind, he was given a finished education. He studied law and won a high reputation at the bar in Penn-
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sylvania and Ohio. He did not unite with the church until he was 32 years old. He continued to practice law with great success, but feeling called of God to the ministry, he was licensed to preach in 1816. After serving churches in Ohio and Pennsylvania for eleven years, he was called to this church. In his brief pastorate of four years he labored with zeal and faithfulness, and his influence was felt throughout the regions around the city. In' 1830 he was un-" expectedly drawn into a public debate with Rev. Alexander Campbell, one of the founders of the present body known as the Christian Church. Mr; Campbell was a very able man and a skillful debater, but he found in Dr. Jennings "a foe- man worthy of his steel," whose legal training fitted him for the debate.
Dr. Jennings was a man of sweet and lovely spirit. In his intercourse with others he was genial, frank, witty, ani- mated and sprightly in conversation, yet never violating the proprieties which bind a gentleman and a minister. He died January 12, 1832, and the house of worship, completed in 1816, was destroyed by fire two weeks later, while draped in mourning for the beloved pastor.
His funeral sermon was preached by Rev. William Hume, who was to follow him to heaven in the next year.
REV. JOHN TODD EDGAR, D.D.
We come next to Rev. John Todd Edgar, D.D., clarum et venerabile nomen. In my youth he was my ideal of a true minister of Jesus Christ, and in my old age my memory holds his image as primus inter pares of all the great preach- ers I have known. With him begin my personal recollec- tions of the pastors of this church, and I must crave par- don if the remainder of this paper shall take the form large- ly of reminiscences of that noble company with whom I was associated in the work of the Lord in this city.
Dr. Edgar was wonderfully eloquent in the pulpit; in the pastorate he was tender and gracious. In all his rela-
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tions with the world he was the accomplished, genial gentle- man; in his personal life he was the humble and devoted Christian.
For twenty-seven years he went in and out before this people, winning the love and commanding the respect, yea veneration, of all classes in this city from the highest to the humblest.
He was born in Delaware in 1792 and was taken with his father's family to Kentucky in 1795. He studied theol- ogy at Princeton, graduating in 1816. He served churches in Kentucky with increasing reputation. After a six years' pastorate in the capital city, Frankfort, he accepted the call of this church in 1833. Here his lifework was done, ending with his death on November 13, 1860, at the age of 68 years and 7 months. The elements which went to make the success of Dr. Edgar as a minister of the gospel were distinct and marked of all men. Physically he was a splen- did type of symmetrical, virile manhood. His body was finely proportioned, being somewhat above the average height. His face mobile and quick to respond to every change of feeling, with an eye of dark hazel that could flash with enthusiasm or melt in tenderness, was one of the most potent aids to his oratory. His voice of extraordinary compass and sweetness by its witchery and melody at once gained and held attention. When he was a young minister at Frankfort, Ky., Mr. Clay, prince of American orators, was asked who of his contemporaries was the greatest ora- tor. His answer was, "Go to the Presbyterian Church of Frankfort and you will hear him." -
In 1860, just a few months before his death, he was commissioner with Hon. Henry Cooper to the General As- sembly in Rochester, N. Y. When the Assembly adjourned, Mr. Cooper invited the doctor to take a trip with him through New England and Canada. They spent Sunday in Boston, and the doctor was asked to preach in one of
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DR. PAUL F. EVE, SR., Elder 1860-69; 1870-77.
the largest churches of that city. Mr. Cooper told me that the "Old Man Eloquent" was at his best, and as he stood before that large audience and without notes poured out the treasures of the gospel in tones of silvery sweetness, the people were literally spellbound. And when he preached at night, in the same place, not only was the church packed, but the street in front and the windows were crowded with eager listeners.
I had known him from my boyhood, for occasionally he took a vacation of a few days and spent it with my father in deer hunting. On these occasions he would preach on the Sabbath in the courthouse, for the village church could not contain the congregation. I remember the profound im- pression made on me on one of these occasions. My father's associate elder, Major Strong, a soldier of the Revolution, then 90 years old, sat in the judges' stand by the preacher, and the doctor, speaking of the frailty of life, laid his hand on the "good gray head" and repeated the words of the Psalmist, "The days of our years are threescore years and ten, and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away." It was done so gracefully and so graciously that the whole congregation was moved to tears.
He was noted for his reading or reciting of hymns The last time I heard him preach he repeated the lines-
"In that lone land of deep despair No Sabbath's heavenly light shall rise,"
with thrilling effect. The desperate loneliness of that dark world seemed reproduced in the mournful cadences of his voice. Indeed, I have heard of some of the congregation saying that the choir should not try to sing a hymn after he had read it. And Dr. Robert Breckinridge stated that when a committee was preparing a new hymn book they had to appoint another reader, for Dr. Edgar's reading made the
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most commonplace hymn beautiful. In every service when I have heard him he read the whole hymn, and the congre- gation sang it then with the spirit and the understanding.
Dr. Edgar's piety was of the robust type and he was apt to call things by plain names. On one occasion a man who was already ready to report unpleasant things met the doc- tor on the street and said, "I heard one of your brethren in the ministry say that Presbyterians believe that there are infants in hell not a span long. What do you say to that?" The answer came with energy, "It is an unfeathered lie and nobody but a fool would believe it."
When I was examined for licensure, the Presbytery took time and had me on the grill for three hours a day for three days. Dr. Edgar examined me in theology and he was so clear in his questioning that I could answer nearly every question in the words of the Shorter Catechism. But one of the ministers seemed anxious either to expose my ignorance or show off his learning, so he plied me with all sorts of difficulties, much to the doctor's disgust. At length the question was put, "If I were to say to you that if God predestinates men to salvation, then a man is not respon- sible for his acts, and God is unjust to condemn him, what would you answer?" Dr. Edgar, out of patience, spoke up, "He ought to answer, 'Who art thou, O fool, that re- pliest against God?'" When the examination was con- cluded the doctor moved that it be sustained, and that the Presbytery vote its thanks to this boy's mother as his best teacher of theology.
He was a strenuous Calvinist, and stood for the Biblical order that the man must rule in the church and in the home. Yet he rendered the most chivalrous deference to woman as the most devoted follower of Christ and the queen of the home. Man the head, woman the heart.
I remember a piece of practical advice he gave me when I was licensed. "My boy, the women will be your most
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efficient helpers in the church, so pay them all respect, but remember you are to be the head, and don't kiss any female between six and sixty unless she is close kin to you." a rule I observed for nearly fifty years, but now so many of those whom I baptized and received into the church and married, gather about me with their children and grandchildren that they seem close kin as my own children. But I must not take up all the time on this grand old man. He was dig- nified yet genial, witty, approachable and the very soul of hospitality.
On the evening of November 13, 1860, he conducted a service in this church, and returning to his home was sud- denly stricken by the messenger of death and entered into the presence of the Lord. So great was the sense of public loss that the law courts suspended their sittings and the business houses were closed by proclamation of the Mayor during the funeral service. In 1842 he was Moderator of the General Assembly.
REV. JOSEPH BARDWELL.
In 1859 Rev. Joseph Bardwell was called as associate pastor with Dr. Edgar and became sole pastor after the death of the doctor. But after the occupation of the city by the Federal forces he went South and his connection with this congregation ceased. Dr. Bardwell was a strong preacher of the gospel, inclined to be metaphysical in his presentation of the truth but earnest, clear and deeply spir- itual. He was afterwards Professor of Theology in the Southwestern Presbyterian University.
For three years the church building was used by the Federal Army for hospital purposes.
REV. ROBERT F. BUNTING, D.D.
After the close of the Civil War the Rev. Robert F. Bunting D.D., was called to the pastorate of the church and he continued his labors until November 15, 1868. He
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was a man of intense energy and specially adapted to the work of gathering and reorganizing the members of the First Church, scattered by the war. He had been Chaplain of a noted Texas cavalry regiment and had shared the hardships and dangers of his men in camp, on the march and on the field of battle, and he brought the same zeal and activity into the service of the church. He was indefati- gable in visiting and in looking after the temporal interests of the church. He was a good preacher, but it was in organizing the activities of the congregation that his genius was manifest.
As an example of the impression made by his activity, when the General Assembly met in this church in 1867, an old brother from a rural congregation, who had been accus- tomed to amble along at an easy pace, was anxious to have an interview with Dr. Bunting, but could never find him at home nor in the study. Finally he wearily asked another brother how to get Dr. Bunting. The answer was, "Stand on this corner half an hour and you will see him." "Why, does he make this corner a special stopping place?" "Oh, no, but he passes every corner in the city every thirty min- utes."
The Texas people were devoted to Dr. Bunting because of his ministry to their soldiers during the war, and so he was called to the church in Galveston in 1868, where he remained until he had built up a strong church. He was afterwards financial agent of the Southwestern Presby- terian University, and finally was pastor at Gallatin, Tenn , where he died suddenly.
REV. THOMAS VERNER MOORE, D.D.
The Rev. Thomas Verner Moore, D.D., pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Richmond, Va., was Mod- erator of the General Assembly that met in this church in 1867. He made so profound an impression on all our peo- ple that when Dr. Bunting resigned he was called to this
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pastorate. He had been pastor in Richmond for over twen- ty years, but he accepted the call to Nashville and began his work in December, 1868, continuing until his death in August, 1871. A great deal of the time he was in feeble health, and had to spend the winters in Florida, yet I have never known a brief ministry to exercise so wide, perma- nent and beneficent an influence. His personality impressed all who came in contact with him. He seemed surrounded- by an atmosphere of holiness, yet there was nothing sancti- monious or puritanical about him. He was genial, compan- ionable, warm-hearted, sympathetic. He seemed to have the spirit of the beloved disciple John, gentle, patient, gra- cious.
His preaching was very attractive. He wrote his ser- mons, and yet his reading was apparently as free as extem- poraneous speech. His style was highly rhetorical, a model of clear, beautiful English. He sought to edify by careful exposition of the scriptures and these expositions were deeply spiritual in application. He had published valuable expositions of scripture.
While his physical health was delicate and his body frail. yet his face was bright with a heavenly beauty and this congregation loved him devotedly.
I was impressed by his wisdom in counsel. He would listen patiently, advise gently and bear the burdens of others with deep sympathy.
He was a thoroughly manly man, and like all Johanine men, he was capable of sudden flashes of indignation. As an example, when he came he was put on the Committee on Home Missions, of which I was Chairman. I confess I looked up to him, not only with reverence, but with awe. We had been anxious to secure a city missionary, and I had secured the salary and had it in bank. I wrote to a young man just about to finish his course in the seminary, who had worked for us during his vacation, and who knew the
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field. I urged him to answer at once. I received a long letter saying he would consider it as an indication of providence and would prayerfully consider the matter. Then he took up four pages exhorting me to pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into His harvest. I was angry, and just then met Dr. Moore, and asked him to go to his study with me. I handed him the letter and he read it slowly with growing wrath. Then he gave it back to me with the remark, "That is the kind of letter to make a preacher swear. Drop that fellow at once and let us get somebody with more sense and less gush." I understood him better after that interview.
At last this saintly man lay for weeks slowly fading away into the eternal glory and his sick chamber was a center of love and prayer from which went forth gracious influences to comfort and bless his people.
For several months after Dr. Moore's death the pulpit was supplied by the Rev. J. E. Wheeler, of Vicksburg, Miss., a young man of fine culture and ability.
REV. HENRY J. VAN DYKE, D.D.
In 1872 the Rev. Henry J. Van Dyke, D.D., was called from Brooklyn, N. Y. He began his labors in February, but after a few Sabbaths the condition of his wife's health made it necessary for him to take her to Europe, and as she did not improve, he resigned and went back to his former charge. He was never formally installed over this con- gregation.
REV. THOMAS A. HOYT, D.D.
In 1873 the Rev. Thomas A. Hoyt, D.D., was called, and he began his work here on February I, continuing pastor until May, 1883. He had been pastor of the First Presby- terian Church in Louisville, Ky., but during the Civil War he was sent away by the Federal authorities and was for- bidden to preach. Going to New York he engaged in
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business, and when he was permitted again to preach he did mission work in the city, while continuing in business . to support his family, all the while anxious for a church in the South that could give him a living. For ten years he did his work here with distinguished ability, finally giving up on account of failing health. He afterwards became pastor, serving for many years the Chambers Church in Philadelphia.
Dr. Hoyt was a man of splendid presence, being six feet three inches in height and large in proportion. He was an impressive speaker, a gifted orator. His sermons were carefully prepared but delivered without notes. His preach- ing was largely theological, strong, clear, logical and ele- gant in diction. He spoke with energy and zeal. He was popular as a pastor, especially with the plain people.
Dr. Hoyt was a man of fine and extensive literary cul- ture. In 1880 he was Moderator of the General Assembly that met in Charleston, S. C.
REV. JERE WITHERSPOON, D.D.
After Dr. Hoyt's resignation the pulpit was supplied for nearly a year by the Rev. Dr. Fitzgerald, of the Methodist Church. In March, 1884, the Rev. Jere Witherspoon, D.D., came from Jackson, Tenn., and began his work in this church. For over ten years he was in labors most abundant and won the devoted love of the whole congregation. He accepted a call in 1893 from the First Presbyterian Church of Baltimore, Md. Afterwards he was pastor of the Grace Street Presbyterian Church, of Richmond, Va., until his death, a few years ago.
Dr. Witherspoon's preaching was largely emotional. He was a man of tender sympathies, warm in his affections, earnest and zealous in his love for the Saviour and for the souls of men. One of his gifts that made him effective as a pastor was his remarkable memory of faces and names. He seemed never to forget any person, however casual the
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meeting might have been. In sickness or distress of any kind he was Barnabas, the Son of Consolation. And so his sermons, delivered in a voice of sweetness and mel -. ody, brought comfort to weary hearts and encouraged them under life's burdens and warfare.
One feature of his character that aided in his work was his exquisite sense of humor. He not only saw the bright side of things, but he could laugh off imaginary troubles in view of their comic side.
He was quickly responsive to the sympathies of his brethren, and was absolutely free from envy or jealousy. Once, after a very exhausting winter's work, I saw that he needed a period of rest before his regular vacation in the summer, so I went to several of the elders and told them they must send him away for a while. With generous lib- erality they consented and provided for all expenses. When I told him what was done, and also told him that we all felt he had done a great work for the church, his eyes filled with tears and he said, "I didn't know my brethren felt that way about me." It encouraged him wonderfully. One more incident to show how dependent he was on the love of his people: In going to Baltimore he was anxious as to whether he could win the love there which enveloped him here, and he said in his family, "I am afraid that I can't win their love." His little son replied, "Why, father, if you should go to Lapland they would gather about you to get warm." 'So he lived loved and loving to the end.
REVS. DRS. VANCE AND ANDERSON.
After Dr. Witherspoon's resignation in 1893 this pulpit has been filled by two great preachers, Drs. Vance and Anderson, who are here to speak for themselves. It would be ungracious in me here to characterize their ministry fur- ther than to say that they have worthily maintained the great traditions of this pulpit, and to wish that they may live long to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ's gospel.
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REV. JOSEPH BARDWELL, Pastor 1861-1864.
CHARACTERISTICS.
May I call attention to some special marks of the Pres- byterian preachers of the earlier days which are not so emphasized today ?
I. Their abounding hospitality. They kept open house. Dr. Edgar spent his own and his wife's patrimony largely in entertaining guests and in charity.
2. Their solemn sense of their responsibility for souls. Spiritual and eternal verities were very real to them.
3. Their personal dignity. It was not unbending and austere, but they were genial in social intercourse, still their constant engagement with spiritual interests lifted them above the frivolities of the day. Now, changed conditions make the old-time hospitality impossible, and there has been introduced into the pulpit a levity that often lowers its tone.
There was, especially in the South, in those days a rev- erence and respect for the ministry as a holy calling that tended to promote personal dignity. If I may be pardoned a personal reference. I was associated for four years with Confederate soldiers. I camped with them, marched with them and went into battle with them. I was hungry with the hungriest, ragged as the raggedest, yet I was always The Parson, and the profanest soldier would not allow an oath in my presence, and the whole regiment would have resented any personal disrespect to me. Respect for woman- hood and reverence for the ministry of the gospel were in the fiber of the Southerner's makeup.
I would just as soon have slapped General Wash- ington or General Lee on the back and call them "Old Fellow," as to have attempted the same familiarity with Dr. Edgar or Dr. Moore. They knew how to be companionable and gracious and yet maintain respect for their calling.
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CHAPTER VI.
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF MY NASHVILLE PASTORATE.
By REV. WILLIAM M. ANDERSON, D.D.
My friends, it is with deep and commingled emotions that I stand before you tonight on this platform of one of the historic churches of North America. I am standing in the capital city of my native State. My mother, my father and my wife are all native Tennesseans. Three of my seven sons were born in Tennessee.
"Breathes there a man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said
This is my own, my native land."
My father graduated here about sixty years ago, with the degree of A.M. from the old University of Nashville, presided over by that princely and distinguished scholar Dr. Philip Lindsley. I gave nine of the best years of my life to the pastorate of this church. My sixth son died dur- ing my pastorate here. My seventh son was born here at the manse at the rear of the church. I repeat my opening sentence, that I appear before you tonight with deep and commingled emotions.
I hope you realize that I confront a very difficult, delicate duty. If I say too much I will be accused of bragging ; if I say too little you may conclude I did nothing during my nine years' stay in this city. I therefore ask your patient, kindly attention while I recount some of the reminiscences of my work.
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