USA > Virginia > City of Staunton > City of Staunton > The First Presbyterian Church, Staunton, Virginia > Part 10
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I. In order that the church may do the work which the Lord has given it to do, it must have money.
II. In order that the church may do the work which the Lord has given it to do, it must have a great deal of money.
III. The church of to-day has money enough to do the work, if it were only consecrated to that end.
IV. The church has not properly consecrated its money to this work.
V. A desirable plan for bringing the church up to a proper standard of consecration will embody the following features :
1. It will result in a sufficient supply of money to do the work.
2. It will distribute the burdens of church support equitably among the members.
3. It will work with the smallest possible degree of friction.
4. It will relieve the deacons of the unscriptural task of collecting.
5. It will establish a community of interests between a pastor and his congregation and draw them into a fuller sympathy with each other.
: 6. It will promote the spirituality of the church.
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VI. At one time in the history of the world a system of religious finances was in operation which embodied these features. It was instituted by divine command, and it is the only system that we are sure God ever appointed. I refer, of course, to the tithe law of the Israelites.
VII. There are those who claim that the tithe law is still binding, and they present a strong argument in sup- port of this claim.
VIII. Whether this argument is conclusive or not, Christians should not be satisfied to give less than a tenth.
IX. Tithing brings a blessing both spiritual and material.
I prefaced these propositions with the statement that I would not announce one leading proposition to which I did not feel sure of securing your assent. I thought it would serve to arouse your attention, if I would tell you what great confidence I had in these positions and in the prospect of securing your concurrence in them. Now have I fulfilled the opening promise and are we fully agreed as to the truth of these propositions ? If you believe the positions are not tenable, I do not ask you to adopt them. If you are in doubt as to the correctness of them, the sub- ject is one of too much importance to every interest you hold dear for you to rest in that uncertainty. You owe it to your temporal welfare, you owe it to your spiritual and eternal interests, you owe it to your family for their in- struction in divine things, and you owe it to the church you have promised to serve, to remove the doubt by continu- ing to investigate the subject till you reach a satisfactory view of it. But suppose you do not occupy either of these attitudes toward the subject. Suppose that instead of having any doubt on the question and instead of being convinced that I am mistaken in my views, you are fully persuaded of the truth of every one of these nine proposi- tions, permit me to press the question, "What will you do about it ?" Will the opinions so formed have any effect on
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the life, and if so, what will that effect be ? From an ex- perience of several years I might forecast some of the possi- ble results. I have presented these views before a congre- gation, where some in it who had been my very warm personal friends, became highly incensed and left the church in a towering passion, manifesting their anger in about the same way that children would do under the circumstances. While that is about the silliest way to treat the matter, it is not always the most barren of re- sults. Sometimes a little warmth of resentment like that ends in a complete surrender and an enthusiastic discharge of the duty that had caused the feeling. So in that case, while these friends never renewed their friendship for me with the same ardor, I have observed with great delight their increased devotion to the church and their more liberal support of all its enterprises. I can always be re- signed to the sacrifice of a personal friendship for such results as these. On one occassion, when I had preached about these things, one member of the church approached another and asked, "What are we going to do about that ?" He replied, "That was a good sermon." "Ah ! but," said his friend, "What are we going to do about it ?" He answered again, "That was a good sermon." Now there are a few things that are as delicious to a min- ister as the praises of the people of God when they are accompanied with evidence of their increasing love for the Master, but a minister should not want any praises which he cannot lay as a tribute at the Master's feet. When the applause is not accompanied by a renewed consecration of the hearer, it is a dangerous indication and one which every faithful minister must deplore. No sermon is "a good sermon" except in the light of its results.
Again, there are those who plainly say that they are convinced that it is their duty to pay tithes, but who flatly refuse to do it. One Monday morning, succeeding a Sabbath on which I had preached on this subject, I met a
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gentleman on the street who had been in the congrega- tion. He was such a gentleman, in every best sense of the word ! One could not but be attracted by his pleasant bearing and his genuine character. He came out of his way to speak to me and to refer to the sermon. He con- cluded by saying, "I regard the argument as absolutely unanswerable, and all that I can say is that we do not always do what we know to be our duty." He shook my hand, bowed politely and passed on. I thought he sighed. His face certainly wore an expression of sadness. Well he might be sad! There are not many things fraught with so much spiritual disaster as the deliberate refusal to do a known duty. Once when I had preached on this subject to a congregation, I concluded by making an estimate of the funds that they could control if they would adopt these suggestions. I showed how it would extricate the church from its embarrassment, and what they could ac- complish for the Master besides. My estimate was a safe one and I challenged them to show that it was not. Some of the best business men in the congregation met casually that week and they concluded to review my figures and they unanimously agreed that my estimate was far too small. When I heard it, my heart leaped with expecta- tion, and I eagerly asked my informant what they were going to do about it. He answered with a shrug of his shoulders, "Nothing." I will tell you what the subse- quent history of that church has been, and leave you to judge of its connection with that incident. From that day to this, the financial strength of that church has steadily wasted away. Some of their best men have died, many have moved away and some who were left and most willing to help it, have lost their property. Now it is with the greatest difficulty that they can supply them- selves with preaching twice a month.
When, therefore, I stand up to-day once more to pro- claim the truth as I see it, I realize that it is a critical
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time in the spiritual history of many of you. I feel sure that many agree with me fully, and they are then brought face to face with what is to them a clear command of the Master, and if they deliberately refuse to obey that com- mand, a baneful blight may settle upon their lives, such as falls upon the sinner who is almost persuaded to accept Christ but will not yield and who lapses into a deadly indif- ference. When the children of Israel stood on the very border of the promised land and would not obey God's command to enter it and possess it, they were doomed to their forty years of wandering in the wilderness. Every duty is a privilege, and when God causes us to stand up before a duty by clearly revealing it to us, it is like stand- ing on the verge of a new Canaan of spiritual happiness and power and glory, and only woe and wandering can result from a refusal to enter in. God help you in this critical hour and save you from such a mistake. May He kindly lead you to surrender at discretion and, gladly bowing at his feet, to say, "Lo! I come, I delight to do Thy will, Oh! My God."
I am done. I am grateful for the patient attention you have given me through two sermons of unusual length. I bring this offering and lay it at the Master's feet and pray that He may make it a blessing to you. "Bring all your tithes into the store-house and try me now herewith." See if I will not make you grow in grace and knowledge. See if I will not convert your sons and daughters. See "If I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it."
THE DOORS THROWN WIDE OPEN, INVITING ALL TO COME; PEWS DECLARED ABSOLUTELY FREE
The following was adopted by the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church, at a meeting held March 4, 1894:
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"Voluntary contributions 'as the Lord hath pros- pered' is the literal scriptural mode. If each gives as he thinks right as between him and the Lord, and as the Holy Spirit may direct him in answer to prayer for guid- ance, irrespective of what his neighbor may give, we shall doubtless have all the money the church needs.
"The Session fully recognizes the importance of having families seated together in public worship, and therefore recommends that although the pews shall be absolutely free, families continue to occupy their present pews (un- less more desirable ones are or shall become vacant, in which case the first family applying to the Deacons will be assigned to such vacant pew) and that the right of family occupancy be fully recognized among members, but that the ushers shall be authorized to seat strangers and others at their discretion."
Receipts from pew rents for the year ending March 31, 1894 $2,710 80 Free-will offerings for pastor's salary and ex- penses during the year ending March 31, 1895 4,236 72
Increase for the year ending March 31, 1895 . . $1,525 92
During the year ending March 31, 1895, $1,127.54 was applied to the payment of the church debt from the sur- plus from contributions for pastor's salary and current expenses.
It is now nearly fifteen years since the change went into effect. "More money for current expenses of the church has been collected within that time than was ever collected from pew rents in any like period under the old plan. But better than that there has been literally no friction or unpleasantness in collecting money and best of all the plan is RIGHT."
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THANKSGIVING AT THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, SUNDAY, JUNE 19, 1898.
At the First Presbyterian Church on Sunday morning June 19, 1898, a thanksgiving service was held to com- memorate the liquidating of the church debt, which had been hanging over the church for twenty-six years. Rev. A. M. Fraser, D. D., the pastor, amidst thunder and lightning and a heavy rain storm outside that almost dark- ened the inside of the church, preached an earnest and thankful sermon from a passage in the 84th Psalm that will never be forgotten or fail to be appreciated by his hearers. He gave a short sketch of the church, which he interspersed with tender references to the sacrifices and trials of the members of the church, many of whom have . been gathered to their fathers, and all of whom groaned under the burden of the debt.
CORRECTION-The two sermons by Rev. A. M. Fraser, D. D., subject : "The Worship of God with our Substance," were delivered in February, 1894, and not in February, 1904, as stated on page 84.
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CHAPTER XII
MISS MARY JULIA BALDWIN
T HE Augusta Female Seminary was incorporated by an act of the General Assembly of Virginia, passed January 30, 1845, designating as trustees thereof the following persons:
Francis McFarland, James Crawford, William Brown, Adam Link, John McCue, David Fultz, Addison Waddell, Solomon J. Love, J. Marshall McCue, William Frazier, Alexander S. Hall, William M. Tate, James A. Cochran, Benjamin M. Smith.
By an Act of the Legislature of Virginia, passed dur- ing the session of 1895-'96, at the request of the Board of Trustees, the name of this institution was changed from Augusta Female Seminary to Mary Baldwin Seminary as an acknowledgment of their high appreciation of the valua- ble services and unparalleled success of the principal for thirty-four years.
Endowed with wonderful business talent, fine execu- tive ability, and clear judgment in management, she has made the Seminary one of the foremost institutions in the land for the higher education of women, and from it have gone forth many noble, brilliant daughters to various spheres of usefulness ; some to labor as missionaries in foreign fields, and others as principals of educational institutions. The Seminary now stands a great monument to her untiring energy, arduous labors, devotion to her profession, and the Master's work. Si monumentum quaeris circumspice.
The estimate of Miss Baldwin by the Trustees of Mary Baldwin Seminary is set forth in the following Memorial
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prepared by Judge Grattan, and adopted at the first meet- ing of the Board after her death:
"After nearly half a century of earnest, faithful and successful labor, Mary Julia Baldwin passed to her rest at 8 a. m. July 1, 1897, in the 68th year of her age.
"The time of her departure was appropriate. The fields around her native city were yellow with the golden harvest, the orchards of her loved Valley laden with ripening fruit. The flowers in every yard and garden exhaled incense. A fitting time for this faithful life to end, for this mortal to put on immortality, for this tired reaper to lay down her well-used sickle and take up her golden harp.
"She was the daughter of Dr. William D. Baldwin and Margaret L. Sowers. Left an orphan in her seventeenth year she was reared by her maternal grandparents, John C. Sowers and his wife, and while she was the recipient of all the care and love that could be bestowed upon her by these good people, she must have sadly missed a mother's tenderness and pined for a mother's love. May we not see the hand of a wise Providence in this, which fitted her so well to fill the place of mother and guide and friend to the lonely girls who left their happy homes to come to her ? She knew the sorrows of their hearts and how to win them to love and truth. Is there one of them in this fair land upon whose ear this mournful news shall fall, who will not feel a mother's loss in her ? Unmarried and childless she passed away, and yet in all the borders of this Southland her daughters will rise up and call her blessed.
"She was educated at the Augusta Female Seminary, then in charge of the Rev. Rufus W. Bailey and her whole life was spent in the city of her birth. Modest and retiring, it was with difficulty she was induced to under- take, in conjunction with Miss Agnes McClung, the con- duct of the Seminary in 1863; but having entered upon her duties all doubts vanished and these two, complements
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of each other, moved on from adventure to success. Since 1880 she had the sole conduct of the school, now in honor of her named, by act of the Legislature, Mary Bald- win Seminary.
"It is difficult to analyze the character of one so well rounded. She was modest without timidity, tender with- out effusion, firm without severity, kind but true, her justice was nice and discriminating and so tempered with mercy as to lose its sting. Her judgment was clear; her convictions strong; her faith firm; her will determined. She never strayed from the paths of duty to walk in ways of pleasure, but flowers sprang under her feet and bless- ings attended her progress. Her great generosity was without ostentation, guided by wisdom, and neither bound- ed by sect nor continent. She loved her friends without dissimulation and never had an enemy. She was often- times bold to audacity in the conduct of her school, but the secret spring of her conduct was an unfaltering faith in her Heavenly Father and the efficacy of fervent prayer. An atmosphere of purity and holiness seemed to surround her, which repelled the coarser things of the world, while it mellowed and fathomed the higher and more refined.
"Her place in the hearts of this people will never be filled.
She scattered bounty o'er a naked land And read her history in its grateful eyes, Servant of God, well done.
By the will of Miss Mary Julia Baldwin, which was recorded in the Corporation Clerk's office of this city on July 8, 1897, it is recited that the late Miss Agnes R. McClung having by will given her interest of one-third in two pieces of ground, purchased from the estate of the late Judge L. P. Thompson, to the trustees of Augusta Female Seminary to take effect at the death of Miss Bald- win, she, Miss Mary J. Baldwin, devises her interest of two-thirds in said property to the Trustees of said Augusta
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Female Seminary; also that property known as "Hill-Top," as well as the personal property belonging to her and in carrying on said Seminary, such as furniture, musical instruments, apparatus, books, etc.
After the payment of sundry legacies to friends and the bequest of $3,000 to the First Presbyterian Church and of $2,000 to the Second Presbyterian Church; of $10,000 to Foreign Missions and $5,000 to Domestic Missions, and a clause providing that the daughters of the succes- sive pastors of the First and Second Presbyterian Churches of Staunton be instructed free of charge by said Seminary in all branches of education and accomplishment taught therein, she gave all other property belonging to her, both real and personal, to the Trustees of said Augusta Female Seminary.
UNVEILING OF THE MARY BALDWIN MEMORIAL WINDOW
The following address was delivered by Rev. A. M. Fraser, D. D., on the occasion of the unveiling of the Mary Baldwin Memorial Window in the Chapel of the Mary Baldwin Seminary, May 24, 1901:
REV. DR. FRASER'S ADDRESS
On behalf of the Mary Baldwin Seminary, its trustees, its officers, its teachers, its pupils, its employees, every one of whom has a proprietary interest in the memory of Miss Baldwin, I accept this window which has been placed here as a memorial of the honored woman for whom the school is named. On behalf of the City of Staunton, which feels a maternal pride in her most distinguished daughter, I accept this tribute from the alumnæ, a noble band of matrons and young women, scattered abroad throughout the United States and in foreign lands, makers of homes, of communities, of churches, and missionaries of the cross on the frontiers of civilization, who themselves have been molded by the gentle but powerful influence of this great, modest spirit.
We receive the window as a monument, that will not allow to perish the memory of our benefactor and friend. When the Israelites passed dry shod over the river Jordan, they erected on the other side a" monumental pile of the stones they had gathered in the dry
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bed of the river, that in the years to come when their children should ask, "What mean ye by these stones ? " they might answer, "This Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord." As successive classes of young ladies come into this institution and ask, "Why is it called the Mary Baldwin Seminary ?" they will be told it was named for the woman whose genius made its walls to rise and whose philanthropy gave it a permanent endowment. But when they enter this chapel and see that window, they will know without being told not only that Miss Baldwin was great and good, but also that there was a grace and a charm in her life, because her pupils loved her and they have risen up to "call her blessed."
If you will turn with me for a while and study the details of the design of the window you will see, what the excellent poem just read has already led you to anticipate, how fittingly the ornamental execution makes it serve the purpose of a memorial.
The pretty device at the top is an emblem in heraldry. It is the coat of arms of the Baldwin family. It was not by accident that Miss Baldwin was a rare woman. She was a descendant of that family, honorable in history and all of its associations, whose unsullied name she bore. Lower down in the design we see a spray of flowers on either hand, roses on the left and lillies on the right. These flowers are the emblems respectively of the royal houses of England and France. I am told they are put here to perpetuate the information that Miss Baldwin, like Queen Victoria herself, was descended from both Alfred the Great and William the Norman. Lower down still, on the stem of the torch of knowledge and near its base, is the device of a spinning wheel. That is the official seal of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Near ancestors of Miss Baldwin were among the heroes of that struggle for the independence of America. She felt great pride in that fact and took a deep interest in the Daughters of the Revolution. For these reasons that official seal has been given a place in the design. Clear perception, a strong grasp of facts, lofty purpose, bold enterprise, daring execution, tireless energy, purity of heart, honesty of mind, unselfish benevolence, exquisite modesty, profound and simple piety were some of the traits which she gleaned from all the generations of her people who had gone before her on both sides of the house, and bound them in the single sheaf of her own character.
Consider also the torch of knowledge which is so prominent in the foreground. For thirty-four years she held the torch of knowledge in her hand in this institution. The Seminary was her torch of knowl-
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edge. How brightly it shone, and how far, and how long its rays will linger and illumine and bless, the alumnæ themselves are the best testimonial.
But mere secular learning was no object with Miss Baldwin and it was no concern of her heart. Knowledge transfused with the grace of religion and sanctified by it was the consuming zeal of her life. Long after money ceased to be a consideration with her, long after she discontinued the active work of instruction, long after she was compelled by failing health to relinquish the reins of administration, she held on to the school with a marvellous tenacity, in order that she might gather young girls about her and by the influence of her person and by her prayers might win them for Jesus Christ and for the service of religion. It was, therefore, a happy thought to spread against the stem of that torch of knowledge and make the central object in the whole design, an open Bible, inscribing upon its pages those words from the Latin version Dominus illuminatio mea, "The Lord is my light." For her, there was no light in any knowledge if it was not according to this light.
Next, inscribed upon a scroll comes the name Mary Julia Bald- win, a name which in this community, at least, we believe will be immortal.
Following the names are the dates of her birth and death. It is a singular fact that while Miss Baldwin's life was a long one, just one half of it was spent in comparative obscurity and inactivity, and her special gifts were not suspected by herself or any one else. We often hear one say, "I am of no use in the world." Miss Baldwin's life was a complete refutation of that error. At the age of thirty-four she might have said with as much reason as most people who say it, "I am of no use in the world." And yet all unknown to her there lay before her and opened to her a career of extraordinary usefulness and renown. Truly "We know not what a day may bring forth," and truly "There is a tide in the affairs of men which taken at the flood leads on to fortune."
At the foot of the window is the modest recital that this window is "Erected by the Alumna Association." It is that fact which lends its peculiar value to the tribute. It would not be the high enconium that it is if it had been erected by any other hands. While it speaks most eloquently of Miss Baldwin's worth, it speaks no less eloquently, though unconsciously, of that of the alumna. It is because the alumnæ are what they are that we hold our high opinion of Miss Baldwin who made them what they are. It is because they appre- ciate her that we know them to be what they are. So in receiving
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this memorial window at your hands we dedicate it to the double office of commemorating at once the virtues of the great teacher and those of her pupils.
Once more, may I direct your attention to the two substan- tial columns flanking the design on either hand. May they not serve to suggest the two pillars on which rests the whole fabric of Miss Baldwin's work: her moral character and her intellectual ability.
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