USA > Virginia > Henrico County > Henrico County > The first century of the First Baptist Church of Richmond, Virginia. 1780-1880 > Part 14
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If you will study closely the history of the world, you will find, as I said in the beginning, that every living nation must have its ideal; that it will surely rise in those virtues with which it invests its ideal of true manhood ; that a noble people form for themselves ever a noble ideal, however, they may err in the means
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they use to bring their youth to that standard. It is an ignoble people which has a base ideal ; and a hopeless people which has none; and when the ideal is set aside or lowered it is an unmistakable symptom of national decay and death. No matter how wealthy and prosper- ous, in seeming, the nation may be, corruption . has begun; the tree of life is hollow-hearted, notwithstanding all the brave show of foliage it puts forth.
In ancient and medieval times, it is easy to see what was the object men set themselves to strive for ; and, under all this imagined ex- cellence, we find that the controlling purpose was to make humanity perfect. Man was him- self the highest end; to raise the race to great- ness and nobility was the purpose of all their effort. They differed in their ideas of what would accomplish this great purpose of human perfection. The Greek strove to make of man an Apollo ; the Roman, a soldier ; the medie- val, a monk or knight ; but the central thought with each was to make man perfect.
Now, turning our eyes from the past to the present, let us see what is the ideal before our people. What is the standard they have es- tablished for which their young men are to
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strive? I do not ask, what ideal they should have, nor what they profess to have; just as I did not take the ideals of the Greeks and Romans from the theories of their philosophers or the dreams of their poets; but what is the type of manhood, which in reality is most hon- ored in the world to-day.
The first thing which strikes us as we look into the actual lives of the nations, is that the foundation principle has been changed; the central thought is no more to make man per- fect, but to make imperfect man comfortable. There is the diameter of the moral universe between these two ideas. The more you think of them, the more closely you examine them in every point, and consider the influence they have upon the race, the more clearly you will see how antagonistic they are. Which is the grander motive for action? Which is the nobler desire-to be perfect, or to be comfort- able ? I do not contend that the ancients and medievals made men perfect-nay, they fell far short of it; but that was the object for which they strove-the ideal they placed before their youth. Neither can it be claimed that the moderns have made men comfortable,-for never was the race more restless; but only that
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is the ideal excellence for which they are striving. It is to be remembered, just here, that no nation ever rises higher than its ideal ; and imagine, if you can, the results which must follow from the change which modern practicalness has made in the object of endeavor. Observe, also, that the modern does not object to any perfection which does not interfere with comfort, nor did the ancient object to any comfort which did not in- terfere with perfection, only the primary idea of the latter was to make man perfect, and of the former to make imperfect man comfortable.
And what are the means to be used to acquire this comfort? What is the ideal man whom we must imitate? To be comfortable, one must have money ; the ideal man is he who can make it most rapidly. Everything which does not conduce to this great end is deemed visionary, impractical, and wanting in common sense. This ideal has infected the schools, and teaches the youth that education is to be made entirely subservient to "getting on in the world ;" that, no matter how much certain stu- dies may improve and' elevate the intellect, they must be omitted if they can be turned to no commercial value afterwards; for that the object of an education is not to make the mind
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perfect as is possible, but to teach the man to make money, that he may be comfortable. Is not the world to-day one race-course, in which the prize is a purse ? Here and there a man like Agassiz is found to refuse to join such a race, to answer an offer which would have brought him wealth, “ Gentlemen, I have not time to make money ;" but they are sneered at as visionary enthusiasts, as not up with the age, and as the Don Quixotes of modern society. If we were required to give a concrete form to the great ideals of the nations, would we not say, Theseus for the Greek, Brutus for the Ro- man, Hugo of Lincoln and Bayard for the medieval, A. T. Stewart and Cornelius Vander- bilt for the modern? In most sorrowful earnest- ness is not this true ? And if the nobility of the nations is tested by the ideals they follow, how in point of manhood shall we rank this generation, in spite of its material comforts and modern improvements ? Look honestly through all the smoke of the incense this age has burned to its own glorification, through the halo of vanity which surrounds its boasted progress; close your ears to the pæans it is singing to its own greatness and power, and decide calmly as to the nobility of its aims, and the true value of the comfort for which it strives.
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" For we throw acclamations of self-thanking, self-admiring, With, at every mile-' run faster-oh, the wondrous, won- drous age !'
Little thinking if we work our SOULS as nobly as our iron, Or if angels will commend us at the goal of pilgrimage.
" If we trod the deeps of ocean, if we struck the stars in rising,
If we wrapped the globe intensely with one hot electric breath,
'T were but power within our tether, no new spirit power comprising,
And in life we were not greater men, nor nobler men in death."
There is the ideal for which we should strive -to be greater men in life and nobler men in death. But we can never be great or noble, until we place before us a noble standard of manhood, and strive with our might to bring ourselves and our race to that standard. Here is the great work which the churches owe to the world to-day ; it is a work which must be done if the life of the nations is to be saved, and there is no power, save in the churches of Christ, from which there is any hope of health. Men must be given a higher ideal ; it were far better that they go back to those former ages than continue to follow the ideal now set before them. If we must be idolaters, Apollo and Mars are nobler divinities than Plutus. But
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there is no need to return to those imperfect standards, deep as is the need of quitting the worship of Mammon and ceasing to find our highest type of manhood in Dives, Demas, and Simon Magus. We have in the Bible an ideal, . as far above the money-making one, as heaven is above the earth-"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is per- fect." The ancients were right then in their central thought ; the Scriptures side with them, that it is better and nobler to make man perfect than to make imperfect man comfortable; but they tell us, as Greek wisdom and Roman law could not do, how to make man perfect.
" As your Father which is in heaven is per- fect." There, brethren, is the ideal to place before ourselves and the world. We shall never reach it,-it is a poor ideal which can be reached,-but what, think you, would be the effect upon the world if every man strove hon- estly to become like God ? Man was made in God's image, is the finite representation of his infinite qualities. God made man upright, and the perfection of manhood is to abandon the "many inventions" man has sought out, and seek again to be a true image of the Al- mighty. This is the ideal, brethren, which we
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must substitute for the ignoble one men are now striving to reach. And we must impress upon the world that to seek this resemblance to God is not only the duty of the Christian, but the glory of him who is striving for true manhood ;- that to be a man involves neces- sarily this resemblance to God. Begin in your own hearts and in your own homes. Do not let your children grow up thinking they may indulge in sin and pursue selfishly this modern ideal of the money-loving world, till they be- come Christians, and that then the Holy Spirit will change them. Teach them that all sin and . all selfishness degrade their manhood; that apart from religion, all that is highest and noblest in them calls on them to be honorable and truthful, pure and self-sacrificing.
We boast of the wonderful progress the world has made in a century ; of our ma- chinery; our inventions and discoveries ; and of our improved facilities, which our fathers lacked. During the past two days you have heard, told in eloquent language, of the great progress this Church has made in the hundred years of its history, and I would join my thanksgiving with yours for all that God has done in and through this noble band of Christians ; but, after all,
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the question comes-Are we better men and women than those who lived a century ago? Do all our improved processes and facilities give the world nobler and holier people than those who laid the foundations on which we are building ? This is the great question before us ; it is the one measure of real progress.
It is not possible for humanity to stand still; placed as it is, between the beasts and God, it must either become more beastly or more god- like. And nothing is more beastly in its ten- dency than the ideal of comfort, or, as it is sometimes put, " to have a good time," as the object of life. This ideal is debasing and de- grading beyond the power of language to ex- press. There is not a swine wallowing in the mire in all the earth that is not doing all he can, " to have a good time;" and if this is the aim of a man's life wherein is he essentially better than a swine, for all the greater variety of food and occupation within his reach? Oh! brethren, let us rise above the swine, who care nothing for the perfection of swinehood, so their food is abundant and their sty comforta- ble. And I beg of you as a Church, to take this perfection of the Father which we are bid- den to imitate-take his justice, his mercy, his
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wisdom, his truth, his holiness, and his love, as revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord, and hold them up as an ideal before the world, so that all men may strive to reach that standard, be- cause it is the embodiment of all that is great and noble and lofty within the reach of hu- manity. A grand work this, for the Churches of Christ, but a work we can never accomplish -never !- by simply telling men "here is a noble ideal for you to follow." Greek and Roman, monk and knight, did not simply advo- cate their ideals for the rest of the world; they would only have excited contempt, and no one would have believed that their pretended ad- miration was anything but a farce ;- but they strove themselves to reach their ideals. And men will never be moved, save to derision for our hypocrisy, if we plead with them to be per- fect as our Father in heaven is perfect, and are not ourselves putting forth every exertion to reach as near as possible to that perfection. Oh! brethren, if we fail to do this; if our lives show that our words are empty mockery ; if God receives our lips and Mammon our hearts and hands; if we too honor the man who is successful in business, and look with contempt upon such men as Agassiz who have no time to make money; if we agree that the great object -
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is not to make man perfect, but to make him comfortable, giving gain the preference over nobility, heroism, and self-sacrifice, what will be- come of the world? If the light that is in the earth be darkness, how great is that darkness!
You stand a band nine hundred strong. If Christ's words abide in you, with greater strength and better opportunities than your fathers had, your achievements will be more glorious and far-reaching. Go forward then, brethren, step by step; so do armies march, so are victories won. This whole Church fighting bravely for Jesus would be a grand, soul-stir- ring sight. Take courage to-night, from the past God has given you,-from the opportuni- ties that are present,-from the promises for the future which the Bible offers you. Resolve that every year, till you lay your armor down, shall see you living nearer to God, growing purer and purer, truer and truer, stronger and stronger in his service; and this Church ever advancing, ever victorious, shall look forth over the strongholds of sin cast down, the walls of error fallen, the powers of darkness beaten, and she shall be seen, by all who look upon her forward march in her strength and beauty, " fair as the moon, clear as the sun and terrible as an army with banners."
EXTEMPORE ADDRESSES.
BY THOS. HUME, JR., W. H. WILLIAMS, J. WM. JONES, J. B. HAWTHORNE, Pastor.
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ADDRESS.
BY THOMAS HUME, JR.
I AM happy to answer this unexpected call and pay the unstudied tribute of a grateful heart amidst the common rejoicing. A " declaration of love" is nothing, if not per- sonal. I need not, then, ask your indulgence for saying that, when, a boy of fifteen, I left my home for Richmond College, this Church and its school were the chosen haunts of my soul. I found a warm place in the family of the de- voted man of God (Dr. Robt. Ryland), who is here, crowned with our reverence and love, the same serenely brave, patient, single-eyed cham - pion of truth and righteousness he ever was ; and afterward the tender watch-care of another household of faith (Deacon Richard Reins') cheered my heart and steadied my steps. Your cordial hospitality everywhere took me by the hand. God blessed and strengthened me
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through the rich associations it was my privi- lege to form, and many a noble type of charac- ter stamped itself on the sensitive young nature.
Such a training-school was it for many of us, in Christian experience, in church duties, in general religious plans, that no wonder we "rise up and call you blessed" in having blessed those who are to minister to others. All about us are humble workers who have accepted your generous invitation to this high festival, and who thank you for the inspiration it imparts. We will go back to our narrower fields of duty re-animated against depression ; and, when tempted to grow weary in well-doing, the mem- ory of your victorious review will keep off the sense of isolation and breed a healthful esprit de corps in the worn soldier. We feel that you belong to us as Christians, as Baptists, that we too are of that vast sacramental host of which you form so honorable and useful a part. We turn our believing gaze to the shining height on which your enterprise and devotion have planted our standard and struggle upward with undampened ardor.
Who was not comforted as he listened to the roll-call of worthies who " fought a good fight and kept the faith, "traveling on life's common
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way in cheerful godliness ?" We saw that every kind of work and workman is needed and used by the Master, and the beautiful record of de- voted laymen, some of them with no great fame in the outer world, but whose names are in the Lamb's book of life, both challenges our admi- ration and nerves us to take fresh heart of grace. Amid the apathy of professed followers of Christ, and the coldness and despair of a sneering materialism, their springing hope, their exceptional purity, their fidelity to principle, their deathless influence, gleams forth as the indestructible evidence of our Christianity ; and we say, as we study their career : " This is the victory that overcometh the world, even faith."
" Oh, though oft depressed and lonely, All our fears are laid aside, If we but remember only Such as these have lived and died."
It is well, honored Pastor and friends, that the key-note of to-night's services was struck by the noble sermon on the Christian Ideal. Memory is dear, but Hope still dearer. You have been reciting your history. You are to go forward now to make new history. The life of the believer and the Church has more to do with that which is to come. " It is good," as
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Robertson says, " to have had a glorious Past ; far better to have a glorious Future." This hundred-year old mother is vigorous and flour- ishing. The fresh life-blood pouring into her
veins is ever renewing her youth. With a new Pastor you take a new departure, and will win new fruitful fields for Jesus, our King. Amongst the swelling tide of congratulations bearing prayer and hope to the Centenary feast, amongst your smiles and tears, I thank you that I am permitted to pour my libation on your shrine and bid you good cheer.
ADDRESS.
BY W. H. WILLIAMS.
T HE Pastor has just announced that the clos- ing exercise of this interesting occasion would consist of "declarations of love" from some of the young men. I thank him for this manner of introduction. Had I been thus un- expectedly called upon for "a speech," I should have felt it my duty to decline. But it would be ungrateful in me to hesitate to declare my af- fection for my Mother Church.
No man living has greater reason to love her than I. Here, in early childhood, I first heard the sound of the preacher's voice. When too small to understand scarcely anything that was said, I was brought here. Well do I remember that when my mother sometimes quietly re- strained me from whispering in church, my childish spirit rebelled, because the preacher, Dr. Jeter, could talk as much as he chose, while
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I was not permitted to say a word. From that time onward this church has been interwoven with many of the most sacred experiences of my life. Around this building do the sweetest and saddest memories cluster.
In a little room, in what was then the rear of the church, on a certain Saturday night, at a Young Men's Prayer Meeting, conducted, I think, by John McCarthy, I first found peace in believing. I recall the new delight with which, on the next morning, I worshipped in this very room, while with happy heart I repeated a thou- sand times, the passage, "the love of Christ con- straineth us." Here I was baptized by our brother, B. Manly, Jr., who is now with us. On the spot where I now stand, I was solemnly ordained to the work of the gospel ministry. The charge, solemn and impressive and still remembered, was delivered by our lamented Dr. Jeter, whose speaking portrait is here be- fore you.
As I look over the congregation to-night, memory fills many of these seats with loved forms which are no more. Just there is the family pew. In imagination I see it occupied by father, mother, and other dear ones, who are now sleeping in Hollywood.
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remember, too, the young men of the I church. There was true and noble George Leftwich, who cheerfully sacrificed the brightest prospects and even life itself at the call of duty. And there, too, was Harrison Watkins, who not long since exchanged the active duties of a vigorous Christian manhood for the rest of heaven. Ah! how would these, and many others who might be mentioned, rejoice in these sacred festivities !
We have been charmed with the delightful music rendered during this Celebration. But even now sweet melodies of other days come stealing back to my ears. You well remember how, at the close of our communion seasons, when new members had been received, James C. Crane used to step out of his pew over there, and with hymn-book in hand, and tear in eye, would walk down the aisle to the front, and, giving his hand to every newly-received member, sing :
" Come in thou blessed of the Lord," with the chorus,
" We welcome thee with one accord Our friends, our brethren."
Never until I reach heaven do I expect to hear music which shall thrill my soul more thoroughly than did that.
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One element of strength in the Church has not been mentioned. She has ever given her young men cordial sympathy, and she has been wonderfully successful in awakening their en- thusiastic attachment.
I remember seasons of perplexity when my burdens were lightened and my duty made plain by the sympathy and counsel of older brethren. In many of our churches there is an impassable gulf between the older and younger members. It was never so here. There has always been in this Church a number of breth- ren, more advanced in life, whom the younger members have regarded with filial confidence and affection. To this fact I attribute largely the success of the Church. God grant that this state of things may continue.
At this very hour there are men all over the face of the earth, who, because of past delight- ful association, turn with tender interest to this Church. For her they never cease to pray. When she weeps their tears flow, and when she rejoices they are filled with delight.
I beg you brethren, do not forget, in your prayers the young men you have sent forth. Surely, the mother will not be unmindful of her sons.
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With such memories crowding upon me, my heart overflows with love to this dear Church, and my tongue refuses to utter all I feel.
I love to think of the future of this Church. A hundred years of her history have been com- pleted. I cannot tell her coming struggles, but I may forecast her final triumph. The " Old First Church," with her long line of sons and daughters, shall join with the heavenly host in the grand chorus, " Worthy is the Lamb." Should I be numbered among that blessed as- sembly, not least of all will I thank God for such spiritual ancestry as he has given me, and while I live on earth I shall never cease to pray, "God bless my dear old Mother Church !"
ADDRESS.
BY J. WILLIAM JONES.
I HAVE been quietly enjoying the exercises of this grand Centennial, with no expecta- tion that I should be honored with even the humblest part in the programme.
But since I am thus called on I esteem it a privilege to be permitted to stand on this plat- form to express the very great pleasure I have had in all of these exercises-to congratulate this noble old Church on the splendid success of her Celebration-and to express the fond hope, and fervent prayer that her glorious past may be but the earnest of a yet more glorious future during the century she has just entered.
While it has never been my lot to be in any way connected with this Church, it has been my privilege, within the past few years, to minister somewhat frequently in her pulpit, to join in her worship, and to mingle with her member-
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ship. Having thus some opportunity of know- ing the Church, I have been struck by the har- mony of feeling-the unity of purpose-the concert of action-which seems so pre-eminent- ly to characterize the membership. They some- times differ, of course, as to measures, and have in their meetings warm discussions, in which each individual expresses his opinion with the emphasis and independence which is the glory of our Baptist faith. But, when the Church has once decided, it is beautiful to witness the spirit of concession and fraternal kindness in which the opposing parties come together, and stand together, and work together "in the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace"-for the good of the Church and the glory of God.
And this same is true of the Baptists of Richmond and of Virginia. It has been long a subject of remark, that among the Baptist Pas- tors of Richmond and of Virginia there has been no petty jealousy, no unseemly rivalry, no discordant differences, but a personal affec- tion, a loving sympathy, and a hearty co-opera- tion, as beautiful as it has been promotive of the advancement of the cause we love.
In his able address on the "Deceased Pastors of the Church," Dr. Thomas remarked on the
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harmony and affection which existed between old Father Courtney and his Assistant Pastors. And in his admirable address last night Dr. Hatcher remarked on the power and influence which the old First Church has always had in giving tone to the spirit, and shaping the policy and plans of the Baptists of Richmond and of Virginia. Now who shall say how far this spirit of harmony is due to those grand old men who struck the key-note years ago, and left an impress on the Church which has influenced the Baptists of Richmond and of Virginia, and brought about the state of fraternity which we witness, and for which we thank God to-day ?
Blessed spirit of harmony and peace! Blessed Church that has promoted it ! May it continue, and widen, and deepen, as the years of the next century go on !
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