Production Note Cornell University Library produced this volume to replace the irreparably deteriorated original. It was scanned using Xerox software and equipment at 600 dots per inch resolution and compressed prior to storage using CCITT Group 4 compression. The digital data were used to create Cornell's replacement volume on paper that meets the ANSI Standard Z39.48-1984. The production of this volume was supported in part by the New York State Program for the Conservation and Preservation of Library Research Materials and the Xerox Corporation. Digital file copyright by Cornell University Library 1994.IX FIRST ANNUAL ADDRESS TO THE CONGREGATION OF ST, JAMES’ FREE CHURCH, SYRACUSE. DELIVERED SEPTEMBER 25th, 1859, BY THE RECTOK, REV. J. M. CLARKE. SYRACUSE: STEAM PRESSES OF THE DAILY JOURNAL. 1859. ' %#» .5 '* * . > *v y 4 ' . Church is emphatically a missionary church. With that intent it was projected by its honored Founder,* (whom we are glad to see among us here again to-day,) and in that spirit it has been carried on by those who were the confidants of his purposes, and the liberal furtherers of his plans. We receive this Church as a sacred trust. Its foundation has been laid in prayer. Its walls have risen in labor and self-sacrifice. Its every stone been set in zeal for the cause of Christ, and love for the souls of men. Let us accept its charge in the same spirit, and let us, one and all, attendants of St. James’ Church, labor together to promote the ends for which it stands. We hold it then as a Missionary Church. Besides and beyond any pleasure or profit it may fur- nish to ourselves; besides its yielding us religious privileges and bringing us “the means of Grace, and the Hope of Glory;” besides all this, we administer it as the instrument of advancing God’s Kingdom in this portion of His Universe—as a church, not of man, but of the living God ; destined, in the gathering in of more and more of our fellow-men, to promote God’s Glory and advance His Cause. It is with this view of our Parish that I shall give you some account of its progress during the past year, and offer some suggestions in regard to its future adminis- tration. It is because this Church was started as a good work, raid a Missionary Church, that it was organized as a Free Church. If you wish to draw fresh people to the banquet of the Love of Christ, you must at least cordially invite, if not compel, them to come in; you must not with one hand beckon an invitation to them and with the other close a bolted door against them. This Church was founded on the free system, because that is the best system for a Missionary Church. I am not an advocate, exclu- sively, of the free church system. I believe there are places where, for the present, the other will work as well. I do not consider the members of pewed Churches in the wrong because they do not immediately change the mode in which their *Eev. Henry Gregory, D. D.5 Churches have hitherto been managed. All reforms must, and ought to, progress slowly. It would not be well to push them faster than people can be prepared for their effective introduc- tion. It does not follow because I would make every new Church free (at least in our cities) that I would, therefore like to revolutionize every old Church. We do not mean to put our brethren in the wrong because we think we have “a more ex- cellent way.” Yet sure I am that our principles cannot be faulted, and equally sure that ours is the best system for mis- sionary work (especially in cities) for the growth and extension of Christ’s Church. In the first place there is the greater in- ducement for all to attend it. It is the crowning glory of Christ’s Kingdom that “to the poor the Gospel is preached.” And it is the principal evil of the pew system that many of this class in our cities and towns are, under that system, practically excluded from the privileges of the Church. The pew system presupposes that men love the Church well enough to pay well for its privileges. If they do not, it offers no facilities for mak- ing them such that they will. Unless men have either money or unusual piet}?- they stay away from a pewed Church. The Free Church attracts them. Again, a Free Church will accom- modate a larger congregation than a pewed Church of the same size. No one appropriates more room than he occupies. There is no necessity of empty benches. We reserve no seats for those who stay away, for occasional comers, for people out of town. Our whole space can be used by actual hearers of the Word, and worshippers of Almighty God. It is true there are individual inconveniences in our system. They are not so great, however, as strangers are apt at first to suppose. People sometimes at their first coming to our Church, complain that they do not know where to sit, or that they do not have the same seat at every service. But, if they come reg- ularly, they will soon have a prescriptive seat by the courtesy of their fellows, and not be intruded upon. I find that the dif- ferent families of our congregation do for the most part occupy6 the same seat Sunday after Sunday. I always know where to look for any particular family or individual in the Church. But, were this inconvenience greater than it is, it would be abundant- ly atoned for, to a Christian heart, by the increased facilities of our plan for good. Suppose one sometimes loses his or her fa- vorite seat, the inconvenience ought cheerfully to be borne in consideration of the large attendance which has caused it, or for the sake of the stranger who, coming here to worship, occupied that vacant place. A Christian would not wish, in order to pre- vent such an occurrence, to fence off a place reserved for one’s self, at the risk of keeping others entirely out of the house of God. Our Church was built, not as a Church for the poor; God for- bid ! we would not so insult the poor; but as a Church from which the poor should not be excluded—where rich and poor might meet together, and feel that “the Lord” was “the maker of them all”—where all should be free to come, simply giving in propor- tion as God had blessed them, and all be equal in the Church, as in the sight of God. The larger gift does not here secure the larger privilege. The gift of God cannot be purchas- ed with money. We desire that with us, as with God, the small contribution, so that it is really the fair proportion of the means of him who gives it, should be looked upon with as much favor as the equally proportional larger alms of the rich. All that is received here is a free gift to God. All that is bestowed here is a free gift to men. There is nothing of bargain or bar- ter or sale. Each man’s gift we expect to be regulated by the amount of his income, not by the market value of his pew. We do not expect equal sums from all who have equal privileges, for they do not buy their priviliges. Men pay not for what they get here—that is free—but for what they have received else- where. It is not for religious,—but for temporal blessings that men give in God’s Church. They do not pay for the Word and Sacraments. They pay for the occupation of their houses, for the rental of their farms, for God’s sunshine and His showers,7 for His blessing on their business, for the prosperity of their estates. They pay according as God hath blessed them. The poor man pays less than the rich, and yet is equally entiled to the privileges of the house of God. The house of God! not the house of man, if man did build it. He built it for a gift to God, unless he built it for an insult to Him. . The consecration ser- vice is a perfect transfer of the title, or else it is an impious mockery. How, then, are not all men equal in the house of God ? Now, if this equality of men, this freedom of privilege, this practical carrying out of true principles in the Church of God, if this is to keep some people from coming to us, why then let it frankly be spoken, we shall rather lose those persons than give up these principles. I would fain treat people’s feelings tenderly, their habits and their predjudices. But I would be- seech all to rise above personal feelings and personal prejudices, and calmly to weigh the truth of our principles and the general advantages of our system, and then see if they will not resolve to endure slight personal inconvenience with us for the growth and good of the Church, and the gathering and salvation of their fellow-men. Where poople have marked and pondered these things, there I say this system tests them “what manner of spirit they are of.” I say that, other things being equal, those who resolve to cast in their lot with us and help our missionary work —those who will aid in giving prestige and character to our So- ciety, and labor in the field this Church occupies in our city, will show their own characters as noble, and do a work as ac- ceptable to God, as if they embraced the advantages offered them by any religious organization different from ours. And, further —I say that, if an enterprise, begun and founded like this, dp not succeed, the fault will be, not in our principles or in our founding, but either in the want of interest or of capacity in the leaders of the movement, or in the worldliness and pride, the dullness to truth and principle, the indifference and inaction, of Christian women and Christian men.8 But I believe in God we shall—may X not say we do—suc- ceed. Already is our Church (which holds five hundred) two- thirds filled with a devout and attentive congregation. We number upwards of 100 families, as many communicants, 400 individuals. If we have seen but few (15) additions to our com- munion, it may be because this year has been so wholly spent in sowing the seed, of which hereafter we may reap the fruit. We have had no visitation from the Bishop during the year, and, of course, no Confirmation. I learn that both may be expected in the course of the coming winter. I have admitted to-the Church by baptism, 25 infants in the course of the year. The marriages have been 10. The burials (including 5 for St. Paul’s parish) 21. Financially, the year has been a complete success. This has been owing partially to the system we have adopted, and par- tially to the exertions and the liberality of the leading members of the congregation, and the efficiency of the Treasurer, to wdiom especially our sincere thanks are due. The system, as you know, has been that of a subscription, payable weekly at the Offertory; a system adopted in most of our new Free Churches, and hith- erto, X believe, with uniform good success. X regard it as a sort of educational process, very useful to those who have been brought up under the prevailing system of the country, in order to prepare them properly for the full carrying out of the Free Ohuch system. It is an apprenticeship to the great art of giv- ing, designed for the gradual formation of correct principles and right habits in this important matter. The man is led to reflect with himself—to answer the question of the parable, “ How much owest thou unto thy Lord?” “ What is my income ? How much have I received ?” In proportion to this he sub- scribes and afterwards pays. We have two subscriptions each of $2.00 a week—one of $1.75—four of $1.00 per week—twelve of half a dollar each—and many of all the smaller sums. It has been the wish, in order fully to carry out the system, that all the regular attendants of the Church should put down their names, with the sums, however small, which they could afford9 to contribute on each first day of the week. Our income from subscription is reported by the Treasurer at about $1,000 ; oth- er receipts from the morning Offertory, $235—making $1,235. When to this is added the amount of the evening collections for missionary and other charitable objects, $278, the whole offer- ings of the parish during the year for the service of Almighty God, amount to $1,510. After paying all existing demands against the parish, there will remain a small surplus in the treas- uary. When it is considered that, in addition to usual current expenses, there has been about $150 expended this year in re- pairs of the Parsonage and Church, I think this is a result at which we have cause to feel both thankful and proud. As regards the morning collection, I need only hope the congregation will do as well this next year as the last. As regards the evening service, both in attendance and in offering, there is room for im- provement. Our whole Missionary Collection has been but about $75. This ought to be much increased. The Communion Alms have been about $50. Thirty dollars of the Evening Col- lection have gone to pay contingent expenses, and thirty more, besides the Childrens’ Collection of $10, making forty, have been devoted to the purchase of books for the Sunday School. I am myself indebted to the congregation for (besides my salary of $800*) the gift of a new surplice, and for money gifts, amount- ing in all to upwards of $100, besides the frequent tokens of kindness I have received from indivinuals. As I have said, the whole offering of the parish for the year is $1,510. I think that in no other way could this congregation have given so much, and felt it so little, as in the way in which it has actually been done. Our services have been 139,—104 on Sundays, and 35 on oth- er days. I have sometimes held week-day services in concert with the Rector of St. Paul’s. In this way, have taken part in 29 services at St. Paul’s. I have also officiated once at Trinity. Have held 12 services in Salina, wThere seems to be the best field for new missionary enterprise within the reach of this parish. *?he Sector’s salary has since been raised to $1,000.10 I trust you will all be disposed to aid the people there in the ef- fort they are making to secure the seryices of the Church. I have administered the Holy Communion in public 13 times, and twice in private, to the sick. I have made, as nearly as I have kept count, 375 pastoral visits, including those to the poor and to the sick. In this connection I wish to urge upon the congre- gation the propriety of more frequent week-day services. A church, as well as an individual, ought to be constantly advanc- ing in holiness. There is no legitimate stopping point, for the individual short of absolute perfection. There is none for the congregation short of the fulfilment of the whole Church sys- tem. That system is one of daily prayer and weeTdy commu- nion. Short of that we have no right to remain contented. To that we are to draw near as fast as circumstances will admit During the past year our attention has been much called to the external affairs of the Church. Let us hope that the next year may be equally marked by the cultivation of individual piety, especially by more frequent assemblings to worship in the house of God. Within the last few years much attention has been called in the Church to the subject of music in connection with the wor- ship of Almighty God. Many abuses have been prevalent in this matter, in consequence both of the debased state of ecclesi- astical, and, thence, of all music, generally, in our time, and of the ignorance of music among the majority both of the clergy and of the people. A Committee was appointed by the last General Convention to prepare a book of Standard Congrega- tional Tunes and Chants for the use of the Church. The result of their labors was published soon after my arrival here, and was adopted by us. Its adoption cost us our Chorister. But we called the people together to rehearsal, and soon succeeded in calling out an amount of musical skill sufficient for the cred- itable, and, what is still better, the animated and devotional per- formance of this part of our worship. The utmost credit is due to our faithful and devoted organist, and to the singers, whose11 zeal and perseverance have done so good service in the cause of God and His Church, and added so much to the attractiveness and devotional influence of our services. We have now the right congregational system. Our book contains the purest collection of classical Church music yet published in America. Its tunes are fast endearing themselves to our hearts, and are moulding the tastes, and, in more than one way, the characters of our children. Let us exert ourselves to supply what has long been the great deficiency in the worship of the modern Church, the want of earnest, heart-felt universal praise. Let us use* the opportuni- ties we have, and he prepared to go forward with the progress which, in this whole-matter of Church psalmody, hymnody, and music, is sure, before long, to be made. Our Sunday school has numbered about 90 during the year. I have always, when at home, attended its sessions. Have cat- echized the children about 30 times. I also conducted a Bible class after Christmas until the beginning of Lent. It is impos- sible to over-rate the importance of the Sunday School. As long as the Church baptises infants, so long it will be her duty to as- sist in their instruction, to see if the children have taught, as she directed, the “things which a Christian ought to know and believe to his soul’s health.” I estimate the zeal prevailing in a parish, and the extent of its influence, very much by the com- parative size and efficiency of its Sunday School. Ours might be indefinitely increased, if we had more earnest-minded men and women, who were willing to labor in this field, to visit the homes of the children, and to spend the Sunday hour with them instructing them in good. Those who come without any looking after are just those who need our care the least, for they are those most likely to be well taught at home. They who teach holy things to little children are doing a work acceptable to God. I thank those who have assisted in this work, and I pray you ear- nestly that it be not allowed to languish during the coming year. The latest measure that has been adopted in our parish is the formation of a Mite Society. It was intended to promote fellow-12 ship and friendly feeling among the members of the congrega- tion, and, at the same time, to aid in doing what my text re- commends—the maintaining of good works. We, as a Church, haye reason, I think, looking back upon the progress of the past year, to “thank God and take courage,” and to enter on a new year, though conscious of our weakness, yet confident in the goodness of our cause, and in the strength of Him in whom alone we trust; to whom, one God in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, be ascribed all honor, might, majesty and do- minion, henceforth, world without end* Amen.