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^ PRINCETON, N. J. *^ 
 
 Presented b^SrO vSoVrvX)(s\Ai vW-^D-X. 
 
 I 
 
 BX 9211 .N70462"F605~l885~ 
 
 Centennial services of the 
 Fourth Presbyterian Church 
 
/ 1 ^! 
 
 Centennial Services 
 
 pouRTH Presbyterian (]hurch 
 
 1/ 
 
 Of the City of New-York 
 
 
 ••••.............••*• 
 
 October 25— November i 
 1885 
 
1785 
 
 The Fourth Presbyterian Church, 
 
 ^l^ipt^-Foapbl^ Sstpect, 
 Vs/e^hofJRpoadv/ay 
 
 yNIevyoH^(3ih> 
 
 Joseph R, Kerr, d.d., pastor. 
 
 1885 
 
Preliminary Proceedings. 
 
 URSUANT to a notice from the pulpit, 
 a meeting of the congregation was held 
 in the Lecture-room on Wednesday 
 evening, June i6, 1885, for the purpose 
 of considering the propriety of celebrating the 
 centennial of the church. 
 
 After organization and some explanatory words 
 by the pastor, it was resolved to approve the 
 suggestions of the Session for holding special 
 public services, beginning on the twenty-fifth 
 of October, continuing through the week, and 
 closing on the first of November; and a General 
 Committee, representing, the older members and 
 families of the church, was appointed to make 
 all necessary arrangements. 
 
General Committee* 
 
 HONORARY. 
 
 Rev. John Spaulding, D.D,, Joseph G. Harrison, 
 Rev, Joseph R. Kerr, D.D,, William Eagle, 
 David Morrison. 
 
 RULING ELDERS' WIDOWS. 
 
 Mrs. John Aitken, Mrs. Samuel Kydd, 
 
 Mrs. James Allen, Mrs. William Dalrymple, 
 
 Mrs. John Kirkpatrick, Mrs. John Iverach, 
 
 Mrs. James Stuart. 
 
 ELDERS. 
 
 Archibald McLintock, 
 James Kydd. 
 
 TRUSTEES. 
 
 John L. Cameron, 
 John H. Allen. 
 
 CONGREGATION. 
 
 Robt. Marshall, Mrs. 
 
 James McGay, Mrs. 
 
 John McIntire, Mrs. 
 
 Andrew Craig, Mrs. 
 
 James Nicholson, Mrs. 
 
 Walter Stevenson, Mrs. 
 
 Thomas D. Brown, Mrs. 
 
 William A. Morrison, Mrs. 
 
 William Allan, Mrs. 
 
 Thomas T. Allan, Mrs. 
 
 William Taylor, Mrs. 
 
 Henry Paige, Miss 
 
 Duncan Macfarlane, Miss 
 
 James A, Craig, Miss 
 
 Thomas Cochrane, Miss 
 
 Robert Dinwiddie, 
 William Harrison, 
 Frederick Blume, 
 C. W. Cameron, 
 A. M. Stewart, 
 Thomas Kirkpatrick, 
 James Cameron, 
 James Kydd, 
 r. a. dorman, 
 Elizabeth Hooker, 
 J. B. Mattison, 
 Margaret F. Haggart, 
 Maggie S. Strachan, 
 Ella I. Morrison, 
 Grace L. Ritchie. 
 
 ARCHIBALD McLINTOCK, Chairman. 
 
 Andrew Craig, Secretary. John H. Allen, Treasurer. 
 
^inmtt Committee, 
 
 John H. Allen, Chairman, William Allan, 
 
 Robert Marshall, Mrs. William Harrison, 
 
 John McIntire, Mrs. Frederick Blume, 
 
 Thomas U. Brown, Mrs. Thomas Kirkpatrick, 
 
 John L. Cameron, Mrs. R. A. Dorman, 
 
 James A. Craig. 
 
 printing Committee* 
 
 James Kydd, Chairman, James Nicholson, 
 
 John L. Cameron, Duncan Macfarlane, 
 
 William A. Morrison. 
 
 Sociable Committee* 
 
 James McGay, Chairman, Mrs. William Harrison, 
 
 James A. Craig, Mrs. James Kydd, 
 
 William Taylor, Mrs. Elizabeth Hooker, 
 
 Thomas Cochrane, Miss Maggie S. Strachan, 
 
 Thomas T. Allan, Miss Grace L. Ritchie, 
 
 Mrs. a. M. Stewart, Miss Ella I. Morrison, 
 Mrs. James Cameron. 
 
 Welcome Committee* 
 
 Archibald McLintock, Ch'n, Mrs. Robert Dinwiddie, 
 Robert Marshall, Mrs. C. W. Cameron, 
 
 Thomas D. Brown, Mrs. William Harrison, 
 
 James Kydd, Mrs. Frederick Blume, 
 
 John McIntire, Mrs. J. B. Mattison, 
 
 Henry Paige, Miss Margaret F. Haggart. 
 
 SDecoration Committee. 
 
 Andrew Craig, Chairman, Mrs. R. A. Dorman, 
 John H. Allen, Mrs. James Kydd, 
 
 Walter Stevenson, Miss Maggie S. Strachan, 
 
 Mrs. Thomas Kirkpatrick. 
 
(^mttx^ of tjjc c&u«&» 
 
 lSg5. 
 ^t\i. ^ti^t^^ %* ^etr, 2D3», ^asftor. 
 
 RULING ELDERS. 
 
 Archibald McLintock. James Kydd. 
 
 Joseph A. MacDonald. Alexander Mackenzie. 
 
 James R. Cuming. John H. MacDonald. 
 
 Henry Cole Smith. Frederick Blume, 
 
 Clerk of Session, 
 
 BOARD OF TRUSTEES. 
 
 David Morrison, Pres. John L. Cameron, Sec'y. 
 
 Francis Pringle, Vice-Pres. John H. Allen, Treas. 
 
 Joseph G. Harrison. 
 
 Marcus B. Bookstaver. 
 
 Minister at the West Side Chapel. 
 Rev. W. J. Macdowell. 
 
'^hc '^nviiaiion. 
 
 ^ou are cordially invited to par- 
 ticipate in the special (Slentennial 
 -Services of this (Shurch, begin- 
 ning on Sabbath, October the twenty- 
 fifth, continuing through the week and con- 
 cluding on Sabbath, QTtovember the ^irst, 
 ©ighteen hundred and ©ighty-five. 
 
The Church at the Corner of Grand and Mercer Streets. 
 
Sabbath, October 2^, 188$. 
 
 ¥ 
 
 Divine Service at i i A. M. 
 Sermon by the J^ev. John Xhomson, D. D. 
 
 Divine Service at 4 P. M. 
 Historical SeRmon by the Pastor. 
 
 ^ 
 
 The Revs. S. D. Alexander, D. D., E. D. G. Prime, D. D., 
 John Spaulding, D. D., and the Rev. IV. J. Macdowell took 
 part in these services. 
 
Sermon 
 
 REV. John Thomson, d. d. 
 
 (3r6e 4Biorp \of)icf) (Cfiou oa\jc»"t mc 31 liatoe oiben tkm.— john xvii. 22. 
 
 T the close of His farewell address to 
 His disciples, and in full view of His 
 betrayal and approaching sufferings, 
 tthe Lord offered the prayer which 
 this chapter contains. It is commonly called 
 His intercessory prayer, as it refers mainly 
 to "those whom the Father had given Him" 
 that their number might be completed, and so the 
 glorious body that, in the eternal purpose of God, 
 they compose, be finished, and made perfect. 
 You observe that He intercedes on their behalf 
 that they may be sanctified, brought together, 
 made one, and finally that they may be made 
 
perfect in glory. In the purpose of God, which 
 was fully and absolutely known to Him, His glory 
 as the appointed Mediator was secured. It was 
 His glory. He saw it before Him, and longed 
 for its full possession. The glory of all whom 
 the Father had given Him was involved in the 
 same divine purpose. His own glory as the 
 Father's gift, and their glory in Him as the elect 
 of God, and the objects of His redeeming love. 
 Through the intervening veil of His unparalleled 
 sufferings the Lord saw this glory as all His own, 
 and as entrusted to Him for them, and set it before 
 Him as a possession so sure, so absolutely certain, 
 that He may be here understood as speaking of 
 it by way of anticipation. It hangs on no con- 
 ceivable contingency, nothing can divert it from 
 Him, nor hinder His people's participation in it, 
 and therefore He is fully warranted in speaking 
 of it as He here does, — as a possession received 
 by Him, and by Him bestowed on them. By 
 the Father's purpose it was already His. In His 
 intention it was already theirs. "The glory 
 which thou gavest me I have given them." 
 
 Let the question then be : What is this glory 
 of which the Lord here speaks as having been 
 received of the Father, and bestowed by Him 
 upon those whom the Father had given Him? 
 It can in no sense be what may be called His 
 essential glory, or the glory that belongs to 
 
15 
 
 His uncreated and eternal godhead. For of it 
 He says that it was given Him of His Father, — 
 the glory which thou gavest me. His om- 
 nipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence (e. g.) 
 are His glory ; and this He was pleased occa- 
 sionally to display ; as in turning the water into 
 wine, and in raising Lazarus from the dead, in 
 both which He is said to have manifested His 
 glory. But this glory is not a derived glory ; nor 
 one of which He could say, "the glory which thou 
 gavest me " ; for it is inherent in His very nature. 
 He may veil it, or He may hold it for a season in 
 abeyance, but He cannot even for a moment divest 
 himself of it, without at the same time divesting 
 himself of His being. The glory here spoken of, 
 then, is a glory which belongs to Him in His medi- 
 atorial character and office ; for only in this char- 
 acter is the Son subordinate to the Father. Some 
 are of opinion that the glory here referred to was 
 the power of working miracles by which His cause 
 and kingdom were declared to men ; but although 
 it did please Him to invest His first disciples with 
 this power, I am fully persuaded that this is not 
 the glory here indicated, for He prays in this chap- 
 ter for His disciples through all the ages, and we 
 know that during many ages of the past that 
 power has been withheld from the church, and I 
 see not that we have any warrant whatever to 
 expect that it shall ever again be bestowed. 
 
i6 
 
 It was not, then, His essential or inherent glory, 
 for that was never given, and it was not the 
 power of miracles, for that has long been with- 
 drawn ; but it may be referred with greater show 
 of reason to the privileges which Christ subject- 
 ively hath, and which He is graciously pleased to 
 bestow upon them that love Him. E.g. We are 
 sons of God, as well and as truly, though not in 
 the same intimacy of relation as He, yet are we 
 joint heirs with Him in glory ; with Him we shall 
 be glorified; with Him we shall be raised up; 
 with Him we shall reign ; with Him we shall sit on 
 thrones of glory, judging the world. All with 
 Him ! beloved, with Him ! Oh, why is it that we 
 go so bowed down with our temptations and un- 
 worthiness — our heads like a bulrush — amid the 
 light and hope of a divine declaration like this ? 
 Is it the infirmity only of His blood-bought chil- 
 dren that they rise not up to the true dignity of 
 God's high calling, and that they prefer, on some 
 vague ground or other, to go mourning all their 
 days, rather than in possession and exercise of the 
 joy of faith in their ever-living Head, to exhibit 
 the same in their walk and conversation before the 
 world to the praise of the glory of His grace ? Oh, 
 let as many as have this hope in Him, and have 
 been taught by His spirit to know and receive these 
 sayings of His, — let us arise, brethren, and shake 
 ourselves from the dust, and put on the beautiful 
 
17 
 
 garments that He offers from His own wardrobe, 
 and stand forth before the world as the sons of 
 God and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 To do less than this is to dishonor our Lord, to 
 pour contempt on His word, and to weaken our 
 own testimony to His grace, and to veil unwar- 
 rantably the glory which He hath given us. 
 
 What, then, is this glory which He hath received 
 of the Father and hath given to us ? Most certainly 
 the very choice and appointment of the eternal 
 Son to accomplish the redemption of men was 
 itself a glory that was given Him by the Father. 
 He saw and felt and was fully conscious of the 
 glory that enwrapped Him when He thus stated 
 broadly and distinctly the nature of His own mis- 
 sion in the world. " The Son of Man is come to 
 seek and to save that which was lost." And 
 again : " God so loved the world that He gave His 
 only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in 
 Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 
 In the position which He occupied in coming 
 into the world as a saviour and a redeemer of 
 lost sinners of mankind. He was there by the 
 Father's choice and appointment. He took not 
 upon himself the honor of the priestly office. 
 He was chosen to it, — called to it, — appointed 
 to it, — and so is He God's gift. This glory, 
 then, is conferred upon Him ; He received it of 
 the Father. In one very high and distinguishing 
 3 
 
i8 
 
 sense Christ was glorified, even when the Lord 
 made to meet upon Him all the iniquities of the 
 elect ; and when He bare our sins in His own body- 
 on the tree, — for this was done that the lost 
 might be saved, that the wanderers might be 
 restored to their Father's house. Never was 
 higher office known in the universe of God, and 
 never can there be, than that which, on the 
 Father's election, the Son undertook to fulfill. 
 About its darkest humiliations, its deepest suffer- 
 ings, even to that of the death on the cross, there 
 is a glory which no creature could have borne. 
 Even before His sufferings began, and during all 
 the years through which they were extended, the 
 glory of mediation was His by the Father's gift, 
 and given to Him in order to the salvation of 
 fallen men. It was His glory to glorify the Father 
 in the redemption of the purchased possession. 
 The end of His appointment by the Father is dis- 
 tinctly stated, and it is a glorious one for man, 
 and a glorious one for God. Just grasp it, be- 
 loved ! To save the lost, to ransom the slave, to 
 deliver the lawful captive, to storm the very- 
 stronghold of the Prince of Darkness, to hurl him 
 from his long-usurped supremacy, and to set the 
 prisoners free. What to it are all the noble 
 schemes of benevolence and mercy in which the 
 generations of men have been engaged? Bring 
 them all together, with all the resources they have 
 
19 
 
 commanded, and all the energy they have called 
 into action, and all the benefits they have sought to 
 secure for human kind ; rid them even of all im- 
 purities that may have mingled with them from 
 age to age, of human pride and ambition and self- 
 ishness ; put every one of them in its very best 
 and broadest and brightest light, and what are 
 they when set in contrast with the mission of the 
 Son of God ? 
 
 We honor the brave and the good of the past, 
 whose labors and sufferings and self-sacrifice have 
 stirred our hearts and shamed our selfishness ; 
 we sing their praises and talk of their mighty 
 deeds ; we cover their infirmities with the mantle 
 of charity, and record their virtues on the rock 
 forever ; or, if alive and laboring still in the 
 cause of humanity, we follow them in the paths 
 they are pursuing ; never more disposed to ap- 
 plaud than just when we see them suffering and 
 enduring hardship in the warfare to which they 
 have given themselves. We know all this, and 
 can enter intelligently into it. Nor would I pluck 
 one star from the crown that sits upon the brow 
 of the great and the good, nor diminish in aught 
 the glory they have so hardly won ; and all the 
 more, when I see of many of them that they have 
 renounced comfort and ease, their right to enjoy 
 which was unquestionable, and have not shrunk 
 from hard ways, and toilsome and comfortless, nor 
 
20 
 
 from neglect and reproach in order to work out 
 some good for their generation. Do but apply 
 this by way of feebly illustrating the mission of 
 Christ into the world, and His complete and ac- 
 cepted discharge of the same, and say, was there 
 ever a grander or more gracious mission to up- 
 raise the fallen, to save the lost? And where, in 
 any case, have been the sorrows like unto His sor- 
 row, or humiliation or sufferings in any sense par- 
 allel to those which He stooped to endure ? The 
 end which He came to work out is one which 
 admits of no parallel between it and any other 
 even the very highest and purest of philanthropic 
 achievements which it has been given to man 
 to work out; and the same is true of His suffer- 
 ings, in drinking the last bitter dregs of which 
 He proclaimed himself the conqueror. The end 
 proposed throws back a marvelous flood of glory 
 upon all His humiliations and sufferings, so that 
 the very crown of thorns stands possessed of a 
 glory unknown to any other of His many crowns. 
 And this glory He had received from the Father, 
 and it shone around Him, even in the darkest 
 hours of His humiliation. 
 
 From this point of view may we not inquire 
 whether there is not a glory which Christ has 
 bestowed and continues to bestow upon all His 
 true disciples ? I think, from what has been said, 
 the answer is clear. Was Paul correct when he 
 
21 
 
 wrote thus of himself and his brethren in the faith 
 of Christ, " None of us liveth to himself"? What 
 was his meaning in such words as these, but that 
 there is a wide sweeping gulf between the end 
 which the children of this world propose to them- 
 selves and the high aim which the follower of 
 Christ lives to achieve ? Time bounds the desires 
 and efforts of the one, — those of the other are 
 concerned with time only as the probation for, 
 the vestibule of, a coming eternity. The one 
 knows what self-denial for the Lord's sake is, 
 and self-sacrifice and self-mortification. Such 
 phrases as these (the crucifying of the fiesh, 
 the death of our natures to sin) are not at all 
 strange or unmeaning terms to them, while the 
 other knows nothing about them. Now whence 
 comes this ? Not certainly from nature, and not 
 from birth or blood, and not from circumstances, 
 as our own experience not less than the lively 
 oracles of God clearly shows. No, but from the 
 Lord. Not a Christian but gives all the glory of 
 his second birth, and better nature, and conse- 
 crated life, to the Lord. He it is who gives to 
 every follower of His the inclination and the 
 power to be of use to his brethren ; who puts it 
 into his heart to deny himself and to sacrifice 
 himself for his brethren's good ; who fills a man's 
 soul with that spirit which leads him to spend 
 and be spent for the advancement of the king- 
 
22 
 
 dom of God. Christ gives this spirit to His own 
 redeemed ones, and in giving it He makes them 
 partakers of His own glory. 
 
 He gave it to the holy apostle of the Gen- 
 tiles — Paul — when truly He breathed into his 
 nostrils the breath of life, and he became a 
 living soul. Not till then had Paul begun to 
 live. The very highest form of life with which 
 he had up to that time been allied was the life of 
 a religious party or sect — or perhaps we should 
 call it a national life — of a politico-religious 
 character. Beyond this his ambition had never 
 risen, and even then self was confessedly very 
 largely the heart and soul of it. But from the 
 moment of his second birth another spirit pos- 
 sessed him, the narrow bounds of time as the 
 theater of human action and endurance faded 
 away in the brightness of a near and ever visible 
 eternity. And then also when the command- 
 ment came Paul died ; but out of that death 
 sprang life — life that rejoiced to expend itself in 
 great labors which have glorified his name — life 
 that rose above the ease and the comfort of the 
 individual, that broke away from the fetters of 
 party and fashion, and spurned the still stronger 
 bands of national exaltation and glory — that 
 rose into regions of thought and of action akin 
 to those of Him who, though in the form of God, 
 rejoiced in the title of the " Son of Man." It is 
 
23 
 
 not left to us to conjecture whence so great a 
 change originated, or how it came to be wrought 
 in Paul. He himself attributed its origin and 
 preservation and power to Christ — Christ given 
 for kifn, Christ living in him. The same spirit 
 that animated Christ working also according to 
 the measure of the gift of Christ in Paul. To 
 lift up Christ Jesus the Lord as the friend of sin- 
 ners, to proclaim the great salvation procured by 
 His death, to invite the weary and heavy-laden to 
 look unto Him and be saved, — such was Paul's 
 philanthropic life. Ye know to what perils it 
 exposed him. It is enough to mark now that this 
 high and distinguishing glory was Christ's gift to 
 Paul, and not to him only, but to those other 
 brethren, the early evangelists, who, in the face 
 of opposition and at the sacrifice of every out- 
 ward comfort, proclaimed among the nations the 
 Gospel of Peace. He gave it also to that grand 
 host of confessors and martyrs who gladly suf- 
 fered the loss of all things, and counted not their 
 lives dear unto them, that they might testify to 
 God among their fellow-men. He has given it 
 to a long list of faithful servants, whose names 
 adorn the history of the church, and to whom the 
 defense and the progress of the truth from age to 
 age has been owing. He has given it to many 
 whose names are unrecorded, but who in their 
 quiet spheres have labored and endured for the 
 
24 
 
 profit of those around them, ^nd for the honor 
 of their Master and of His cause. He has given 
 it to many a pastor on whom the breath of popu- 
 lar applause has never rested — who has gone in 
 and out among the people of his charge, telling 
 to them and to their children the good news of 
 God's kingdom, till, his work at length ended, he 
 has gone down to his rest, and now sleeps in 
 peace amid the people over whose eternal well- 
 being his whole heart yearned. He has given it 
 to many a one ministering by the bed-side of the 
 poor and needy, and to many a ministering phy- 
 sician at the couch of the dying; aye, and He has 
 given it to many of those poor and suffering ones 
 who have benefited mankind by the patience and 
 meekness and holy consistency of their lives, and 
 by the depth of their sympathy and prayers. So 
 have I seen in the abodes of humble life, and in 
 the chamber of intense and long-protracted suf- 
 fering, a sunshine and sweet peace to which the 
 dwellings of the ungodly have been strangers — a 
 sunshine which has made its power felt in circles 
 far remote. 
 
 This is of the Lord. Christ has given, as it 
 were, a portion of His own glory to those in every 
 walk of life to whom He has granted His own 
 spirit of beneficence, and who are striving, ac- 
 cording to their opportunities, to perpetuate and 
 diffuse its blessings. The world may not see it ; 
 
25 
 
 but the Lord sees it, and His angels also are wit- 
 nesses of it. Those even to whom it is given 
 may not always see it in themselves. Indeed, 
 they who are most largely endowed with the gift 
 are, in general, the least conscious of its posses- 
 sion. But the bliss and the felicity of the spirit 
 of Christ they are enabled to feel within them, for 
 ** in keeping His commandments is great reward." 
 Bear in mind that grand and glorious utterance 
 concerning Christ: •* He went about continually 
 doing good." What a life was that ! Worthy of 
 all praise, and surely of all imitation. And such 
 is just the life of all that are in Christ. They 
 "walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit." 
 Yes, the very spirit of Christ, for "he that hath not 
 the spirit of Christ is none of His." And "if any 
 man be in Christ, he is a new creature"; "old 
 things are passed away, behold all things are be- 
 come new." The foot-prints of the ever-blessed 
 Lord form the path of all in whom the spirit 
 dwells. They follow Him, neither to atone for sin 
 nor to mediate with God for man. He has fin- 
 ished all that, but they follow Him in His blessed 
 pathway of beneficence, denying themselves, and 
 even gladly submitting to scorn and reproach and 
 death itself when called thereto by God. In none 
 of His incommunicable attributes and excellencies 
 can they ever reach unto Him. They can never 
 be omnipotent, omniscient, nor omnipresent, nor 
 4 
 
26 
 
 have they a desire to be so ; but In blessing 
 others, as it was His delight to do ; in doing 
 good, even the highest good, to others, as it was 
 His work and life to do ; in exposing themselves to 
 hardship and suffering, to do so the more effect- 
 ively, and to do this, in His spirit and for His 
 glory, — this is the life-work, not only of His min- 
 isters, but of all that are called to be saints. And 
 truly about such a life, how lowly soever may be 
 its sphere, there is a glory that pales the luster of 
 crowns and coronets. To be blessed of the Lord 
 with saving grace is, indeed, a priceless privilege ; 
 and only second to that is the blessing of being 
 made a blessing. They that are rich through 
 God's bounty are doubly blessed by having it in 
 their hearts to make others happy out of their 
 abundance, and they that have signal talents are 
 doubly rewarded by having it in their hearts to 
 devote them to the service of God among men. 
 Though, to fulfill this glory, it does not require, in 
 every case, either great riches or great talents ; 
 yet this it does require always — a new heart and 
 a right spirit. This it is, and no gift of earthly 
 kind, that gives to every action and utterance of 
 the Christian the true celestial ring. And this is 
 Christ's benison, and in this consists the believer's 
 likeness to the Lord. And thus it is that I under- 
 stand the words of the text, *'The glory which 
 thou gavest me I have given them." Think of it. 
 
27 
 
 then, beloved ! No disciple is exempted from this 
 God-like and glorious work. God's election of 
 them in Christ is to the end that they may bring 
 forth enduring fruit, and much of it, for ''herein 
 is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit." 
 
 God's gifts to men are manifold. None are 
 without some one gift or other, in greater or less 
 degree, which, when discovered and exercised, is 
 designed to benefit others. The grace of God 
 does not destroy these gifts, but rather develops 
 them and gives them direction and strength ; and 
 in no higher or more glorious work can any of 
 them be employed than in that of ameliorating 
 the condition of men. So in our more sober and 
 unselfish moods we think and feel, and rightly, 
 too ; for so to do is Christ-like. " He spared not 
 himself, but gave himself up for us all." How, 
 then, can we better use His gifts to us than in 
 maintaining and extending His blessed cause ? 
 Oh, that it were written over every dwelling, 
 over every workshop, over every church — " None 
 of us liveth to himself" None that enter here 
 live for themselves; we live for each other; we 
 live for our Lord ; we live to perpetuate the name 
 and memory and example of Him who went about, 
 continually doing good. We are true socialists, 
 without being communists ; we believe in the 
 communion of saints, because we rejoice in com- 
 munion with God. Partakers by His grace of that 
 
28 
 
 glory which He received of the Father, we can- 
 not, we would not, but walk in His footsteps, 
 counting it our highest honor and joy to do good 
 in His name, and to communicate of His gifts en- 
 trusted to us. Lord Jesus, help us, by Thy spirit, 
 thus to live, that we may benefit the world by our 
 presence in it, that we may bless it by our ex- 
 ample, and hasten on the day of its gladsome 
 restoration, when its kingdoms shall have become 
 the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, to 
 whom be glory, for ever and ever. 
 
 Our fathers began this blessed work in this 
 city a hundred years ago, when New-York was 
 but "a little one," and their own resources were 
 limited — when they assembled together on the 
 Lord's Day in private houses, and in prayer and 
 supplication and thanksgiving laid the founda- 
 tions of the goodly edifice in which we are to-day 
 assembled. From Nassau street to Grand street, 
 and thence across Broadway, still in Grand 
 street, and thence to this noble thoroughfare 
 and to our present location, — the enlarging de- 
 mands of business and an increasing population 
 rendering these changes desirable and neces- 
 sary. Born out of the throes of Revolutionary 
 times, OUR little one has passed through re- 
 peated strifes of war and fire and pestilence, 
 — going on from strength to strength as its 
 years were multiplied, giving forth with ever- 
 
29 
 
 increasing energy a sweet savor of Jesus 
 Christ, — holding aloft its banner of truth, 
 and receiving from the ever-open hand of God 
 the supplies that have preserved it from pan- 
 dering to popular sensationalism on the one 
 hand, and, on the other, safe from the demands 
 of money-lenders — the rocks on which so many 
 well-intentioned efforts have suffered shipwreck. 
 From the beginning of my ministry to this 
 congregation I was made to see that I was 
 surrounded by men and ministered to by women 
 who feared the Lord and spake often one to- 
 ward another of the great things and rich 
 provisions of His kingdom, and who lived 
 under the shade of mutual love, — considerate 
 one of another. I v/as privileged to mark, — 
 not only to mark the ripening graces of the 
 aged, but also the rich young verdure and fruit- 
 fulness of many young converts to Christ ; and 
 to me it is like a return to the first year of 
 my youthful ministry, — when I can look around 
 me and see my children grown now to man 
 and womanhood, walking in the truth, and their 
 children and grandchildren following in their 
 fathers' foot-prints. A blessed testimony this 
 to the faithfulness and truth of the God of 
 the covenant. " Instead of thy fathers shall 
 be thy children, whom thou shalt make princes 
 in all the earth." 
 
30 
 
 My heart goes back with gratitude and loving 
 regard to the past, and looks forward with hope 
 and longing desire to even the still more en- 
 larged and brighter visions of devoted lives, 
 and sanctified endowments that loom even now 
 out of the mists of the coming years. The 
 buds are on the spray ; the blossoms shall ere 
 long open, and the beautiful coloring of God's 
 gracious hand shall show itself ere long on the 
 sheaves that angels' hands shall gather into 
 His garner on His great harvest-day. 
 
 May the good Lord continue to bless you, 
 and His holy word continue among you, and 
 take to himself all the glory. Amen and amen. 
 
The Church at the Corner of Grand and Crosby Streets. 
 
Historical Sermon 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. JOSEPH R. Kerr, d. d, pastor. 
 
 Rememiier tbt liaj^ of otti, coniSilier tbt pearjS of ceneration 
 anb 0cnetation.— deut. xxxu. ?. 
 
 HESE words are found in the famous 
 song of Moses, a song which sweeps 
 I through his Farewell to Israel like a 
 grand national epic strewn with such 
 high thoughts and sublime conceptions as entitle 
 it to be ranked amongst the noblest specimens of 
 poetry in ancient or modern literature. 
 
 It is as full of trust for the future as of grati- 
 tude for the past, but the impassioned part of it 
 seems to have been inspired largely by the days 
 and the years that were gone. 
 
32 
 
 And this is reasonable ; for who can view to- 
 morrow as he views yesterday ? We seekers after 
 revelation may be looking too long in the wrong 
 direction when we keep our eyes only in front. 
 The vision of new things is ever hazy, while the 
 vision of old things may be clear and cheering as 
 they are reviewed in the light of retrospect and 
 amid the gracious dealings of a covenant God. 
 
 It is therefore not so much the "hereafter" as 
 the "hitherto" which prompts our psalm to-day, 
 and moves us to build with wayside stones the 
 memorial of a vanished century. 
 
 When this church-century began, the Revolu- 
 tionary war was closed. The independence of the 
 colonies was a recognized fact, but there remained 
 yet to be accomplished the organization and de- 
 velopment of the Republic. As the enthusiasm 
 of success began to subside, the exhaustion and 
 sacrifice of the struggle became known and felt, 
 so that between 1 783 and 1 789 was one of the 
 most trying periods of our early national history. 
 
 The city of New-York was then in its infancy. 
 It had experienced the hardships of the war, but, 
 with its natural buoyancy and great commercial 
 instinct, was already stirring with thrift and grow- 
 ing with the new life. 
 
 Churches had been organized, and church-edi- 
 fices erected by the Reformed Dutch, the Episco- 
 palians, and the Presbyterians ; while a Society 
 
33 
 
 of Friends and a Jewish congregation were also in 
 existence. 
 
 The Presbyterians had two churches, — the 
 First, which was founded in i 716 ; and the Scotch, 
 which was formed in 1756. The First occupied 
 two places of worship, one on Wall street, near 
 Broadway, where the Rev. Dr. John Rogers 
 ministered, and the other at the corner of Beek- 
 man and Nassau streets, with the Rev. James 
 Wilson in its pulpit, as the colleague of Dr. 
 Rogers. The Scotch Presbyterian Church was 
 on Cedar street, near Broadway, and its minister 
 was the accomplished and beloved Dr. John 
 Mason. It was then known as the " First 
 Associate Reformed Church in New- York." 
 
 The ** Associate Reformed " denomination was 
 the result of a union of two bodies, which origi- 
 nated in secessions from the Established Church 
 of Scotland. This union was not as complete as 
 the hearts of its promoters had hoped. Indeed, it 
 had not been accepted at all by some parties who, 
 after making a formal protest and entering an 
 appeal to the Synod in Scotland, refused their 
 fellowship, declaring that they considered them- 
 selves, on good grounds, to be the true Associate 
 Presbytery, with all the powers thereof inhering 
 to them. 
 
 By these distractions and divisions, the cause 
 of the Associate Church was brought very low, 
 5 
 
34 
 
 and an account of the situation, with a petition 
 for help, was sent over to the mother country. 
 The Synod unanimously approved of the course 
 taken by the protestants, and resolved to send the 
 asked-for help without delay. 
 
 In the summer of 1784, Mr. John Foster, a 
 ruling elder in the Associate Church at Salem, 
 New- York, wrote a letter to the Rev. William 
 Marshall, in Philadelphia, Pa., who had been 
 foremost in refusing to abide by the union which 
 had taken place. 
 
 This letter speaks of the circumstances of the 
 friends of the Secession cause in New- York, and 
 asks for information concerning the affairs and 
 prospects of the Presbytery of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Mr. Marshall, although replying with an evi- 
 dent feeling of solicitude and a sense of discour- 
 agement, rejoices at the same time in the fact 
 that there were those in America who were 
 standing firm by their convictions of truth and 
 duty. 
 
 Then, as a bit of news, he says: "Last fall, a 
 probationer arrived from Scotland for our help, 
 who is pious, learned, sensible, but of a weak 
 voice; this spring, the Synod has sent us an 
 actual member, possessed of every gracious and 
 acquired qualification suited to this country." 
 That licentiate afterward became the distinguished 
 Dr. Anderson, and the other was a young minis- 
 
35 
 
 ter who had been granted ordination, with the 
 special view of his crossing the Atlantic to help 
 on the work here ; and he was the Rev. Thomas 
 Beveridge, the founder, but not the first pastor, 
 of this our beloved church. 
 
 The letter of Mr. Marshall, already quoted 
 from, concludes with this suggestion : "I think 
 the friends of Christ with you should form them- 
 selves into a praying society ; that you should be 
 much employed in representing the cause of God 
 at His throne ; that you should be steady, pointed, 
 and consistent in your profession." 
 
 The date of this was July 15, 1784; but there 
 is a paper bearing the date of July 15, 1779, 
 which embodies the precise idea suggested by 
 Mr. Marshall. This document is in the form of a 
 covenant, drawn up and signed by 
 
 John McFarland, John McAllister, 
 George Gosman, Andrew Wright, and 
 
 James Craig, Robert Gosman. 
 
 The original draft is still preserved, and is, in 
 its way, a curiosity as well as a treasure. It is 
 distinguished by strong religious fervor, admira- 
 ble discernment, and much practical wisdom. 
 
 By this covenant these six godly men formed 
 themselves into a praying society, which con- 
 vened at stated times in private houses, for social 
 worship, growing slowly in numbers and gra- 
 
36 
 
 ciously in usefulness, until the arrival of the Rev. 
 Mr. Beveridge in the spring of 1 785. He had been 
 laboring throughout the previous winter in Penn- 
 sylvania, also in various parts of the State of New- 
 York, and finally, being sent to this city, he found 
 this praying society ready to be organized into a 
 church ; and, the way being clear, he proceeded, 
 in due time, to constitute the " First Associate 
 Presbyterian Church of New-York City," remain- 
 ing with it as stated supply for four or five years, 
 doing good service, and greatly beloved by all 
 the people. 
 
 The act of incorporation does not appear 
 until the year 1803, when Peter Fenton, Samuel 
 Milligan, William Robertson, George Cleland, 
 John MacFarlane, and John McKee were duly 
 elected trustees. The records show, however, 
 that in 1787 ground was purchased on Nassau 
 street, near Maiden Lane, and a church edifice 
 was erected upon it for the uses of the Society. 
 This was while Mr. Beveridge was supplying 
 the pulpit. The lot cost two hundred and 
 fifty pounds, and the building three hundred and 
 fifty pounds, all of which was in a short time 
 subscribed and paid. The property was held 
 in private names, there being as yet no incor- 
 poration. 
 
 The church was a small frame structure, se- 
 verely plain as to its exterior, having a window 
 
7>1 
 
 on each side of the front door, no vestibule 
 within, and but two ranges of cushionless pews 
 on either side of a narrow aisle that led from the 
 door to the pulpit. The floor was sanded, and 
 candles in tin sockets hung around the walls 
 whenever an evening service was held. 
 
 In the oldest Record Book that I have been 
 able to reach there is a long list of " subscribers," 
 but to what or for what purpose is not stated. It 
 is probable that some of the money went to the 
 building fund of this first church on Nassau 
 street, and also to the usual church expenses 
 of later years. Evidently the pew-rentals would 
 not of themselves furnish sufficient income, and 
 hence regular subscriptions were added. 
 
 In the August of 1 789 Mr. Beveridge accepted 
 a call from Cambridge, N. Y., in which charge he 
 continued until his death in 1798. He was a man 
 eminent for personal piety, and he was " much 
 countenanced in his ministry." His ashes lie in 
 Barnet church-yard, and his biographer writes, 
 '* Few in this age possess an equal assemblage 
 of gifts and graces, with as few imperfections." 
 After Mr. Beveridge's retirement from this pulpit, 
 it was supplied for nearly three years by ministers 
 either sent from neighboring congregations, or 
 who, happening to be in town, were glad to serve 
 it on the Sabbath ; and it was not until October 
 12, 1792, that the first pastor was ordained and 
 
38 
 
 installed in the person of the Rev. John Cree. 
 Mr. Beveridge presided on the occasion and 
 preached the serrnon from 2d Timothy, ii. 2, 
 "The same commit thou to faithful men, who 
 shall be able to teach others." 
 
 The afternoon and evening of this day were 
 spent by the members of the Associate Presby- 
 tery, together with the elders and other members 
 of this church, in solemn humiliation and prayer, 
 after which they all with uplifted hands entered 
 into what was called The Solemn Engagement to 
 Duties. 
 
 It is to be regretted that we have neither the 
 names nor the number of these early officers and 
 members, and that we are without any particulars 
 of the pastorate thus formed, save that it ex- 
 tended over only two years, when it was termi- 
 nated by the removal of Mr. Cree to Ligonier, in 
 Pennsylvania, where he died. 
 
 During the subsequent eight years there was 
 no pastoral settlement. It was at a period in the 
 history of the Associate Church in America when 
 ministers and preachers were not abundant, and 
 all the available force was in demand for apostolic 
 work in planting and strengthening congrega- 
 tions over the country ; — here, in part at least, 
 may be the explanation of this very long inter- 
 val. In it, however, the people enjoyed the 
 ministrations of some superior and well-known 
 
39 
 
 men. Among these was the Rev. WilHam Mar- 
 shall, the writer of the letter from which quota- 
 tion has been made, and the leader in the 
 opposition to the union between the Associate 
 and Reformed Churches, a man full of conscience 
 and zeal for the truth as he saw it ; also, the 
 Rev. David Goodwillie, of blessed memory and 
 extensive usefulness, whose earnest piety, sound 
 judgment, and cheerful disposition made him a 
 benediction to all who knew him and who sat 
 under his preaching ; also, the Rev. Francis 
 Pringle, who was afterward settled for thirty 
 years in Carlisle, Pa. He occupied our pulpit 
 for the entire winter following the summer of 
 1799, and his work was so rich and strong that 
 many in the congregation began to think of him 
 in connection with the pastorate. 
 
 But before anything was done in this direction, 
 the Rev. Thomas Hamilton was sent by the 
 Presbytery of Pennsylvania to minister to the 
 church for a few Sabbaths. He was a native of 
 Washington County, Pa., where his father was a 
 highly respected citizen and at one time in the 
 shrievalty. His mother was a devoted Christian, 
 and her touch visibly molded the youth's future. 
 He graduated at Dickenson College, studied the- 
 ology under the Rev. Dr. Anderson, and was 
 licensed to preach about the year 1801. When 
 he came here the church was ripe for settlement, 
 
40 
 
 and the impression made by him was so favorable 
 that in a short time he received a call to be its 
 pastor, which he accepted, being ordained and 
 installed in the summer of 1802. 
 
 Thus ended that long interval of eight years 
 — years of fidelity and perseverance on the part 
 of the Lord's people, many of whom cannot be 
 identified at this late day, but whose names are 
 written in heaven. 
 
 Under the ministry of Mr. Hamilton the little 
 church became too small, therefore a larger and 
 more pretentious frame structure was erected, 
 partly on the site of the old building and partly 
 on ground adjoining, which was leased from the 
 Dutch Church. 
 
 While the new edifice was going up, the regu- 
 lar services were held in a neighboring room, 
 at the corner of William and Fulton streets, prob- 
 ably occupying the site of what is now so widely 
 known as the Fulton Street Prayer Meeting. 
 
 Let this fact go indelibly into the record, for 
 who can tell how much this old covenant and 
 praying society of ours has had to do with mak- 
 ing that locality such a stair-way of holy light 
 and peace to the wandering and the weary ! 
 
 With pleasant church accommodations ; with a 
 roll increased in numbers and wealth ; with its 
 pulpit filled by a cultivated, spiritual, and zealous 
 minister ; without a penny of indebtedness ; with 
 
41 
 
 generally prevailing harmony, — sixteen happy 
 years came and went. God had once more 
 proved himself the hearer and the answerer of 
 prayer. 
 
 But at the expiration of this time disease at- 
 tacked the beloved Hamilton, and in the month 
 of August, 1818, he resigned his church and his 
 spirit into the hands of God, dying just in his 
 prime, just when the Lord's pleasure was prosper- 
 ing most by his labors. He left a widow, two 
 sons, and a daughter to mourn his departure, in 
 company with an afflicted congregation and a 
 saddened community. 
 
 The pulpit, thus made vacant, remained so for 
 four years, when it was filled by the calling of the 
 Rev. Andrew Stark, D. D., a native of the parish 
 of Slamanan, in the county of Sterling, Scotland, 
 a graduate of the University of Glasgow, and 
 honored with the degree of Doctor of Laws by 
 the University of London. He was a man well 
 versed in the Scriptures, of strong convictions 
 concerning the truths of revealed religion, and 
 unusually wise in winning souls. Exactness and 
 punctuality were among his leading character- 
 istics. His coming to be Mr. Hamilton's suc- 
 cessor proved highly favorable to the prosperity 
 of the church, healing some divisions which had 
 sprung up, and increasing its power for good in 
 many directions. 
 6 
 
42 
 
 He had about him, in the ruling eldership, 
 such men as the Pattersons, Wrights, McFar- 
 lane, Fenton, Geery, Clendenning, Edwards, 
 Highet, McNab, Miller, Irwin, Boyd, Chalmers, 
 John Duncan, William Whitewright, and Edward 
 Mackenzie ; while in the congregation were such 
 rising and influential men as John Aitken, David 
 Morrison, Joseph and James Stuart, and others 
 with them who followed his leadership into much 
 that concerned the life of the church. Of course, 
 now and then there were differences in views, and 
 in some cases decided independence of action, but 
 Dr. Stark was always able to guide and decide, 
 so that the integrity of his work kept on, un- 
 broken and blessed. 
 
 In May, 1822, and two years after his installa- 
 tion, the congregation resolved to change the 
 location of the church, and move up-:town. The 
 property on Nassau street was sold, and lots were 
 purchased on the corner of Grand and Mercer 
 streets, where a good brick edifice was erected, 
 which was first occupied in August, 1824. The 
 cost, including the site, was about $14,000. 
 
 This pastorate lasted for twenty-six years, — 
 the longest in the history of the church, — and 
 represents more than a quarter of a century of 
 precious Christian life and power. 
 
 In the year 1 830, a colony went out to form a 
 
43 
 
 new organization, and, under the care of the 
 Rev. James Irving- as the first pastor, estabHshed 
 itself in a new building at the corner of Thomp- 
 son and Prince streets. Mr. Irving died after 
 only four years of service, and was succeeded 
 in the pastorate by the well-known and great- 
 hearted Hugh Henry Blair. But the new venture 
 was embarrassed with debt, the house of wor- 
 ship had to be sold under foreclosure, disagree- 
 ments arose among the membership, until at last 
 the church divided, and the part of it that re- 
 tained its original name, " The Second Associate 
 Church," after removing several times to other 
 places and remaining for a season without a 
 pastor, at last secured the Rev. William J. 
 Cleland, and shortly after purchased a house of 
 worship at the corner of Houston and Forsyth 
 streets. 
 
 The other portion of the people who adhered 
 to Mr. Blair constituted the Third or " Charles 
 Street Associate Church," ultimately building the 
 substantial brick structure in which they still 
 worship, and where the Rev. Dr. Blair labored 
 and prospered up to the time of his death. The 
 present pastor of the church is the Rev. James 
 White, D. D. It appears that there were other 
 offshoots from this parent stem, but of a less 
 formal and distinct character than the ones just 
 
44 
 
 indicated ; and thus the strong life of the 
 Grand Street Church was throwing into the com- 
 munity from time to time healthful influences and 
 consecrated forces for the advancement of the 
 kingdom. 
 
 At last Dr. Stark's health began to break. 
 Although never very robust, yet he stood up 
 long and well under the heavy strain of his 
 official duties, but finally had to yield to medical 
 advice and cease temporarily from labor. He 
 sailed for Scotland on the 3d of July, 1849, fully 
 expecting to return in a few months and take up 
 again his parish cares. But soon after arriving 
 on the other side, his symptoms became more 
 unfavorable, and his little remaining strength 
 commenced to waste away, until the i8th of the 
 following September, when he passed into his 
 eternal reward at Dennyloanhead, Scotland, at 
 the house of his cousin, the Rev. Andrew Stark, 
 who was also a Presbyterian minister. 
 
 The tidings of his demise and the sense of its 
 own loss plunged the church into profound dis- 
 tress. When the remains arrived in this city 
 they were received with tears and every mark 
 of affection and respect by a people who had 
 known and prized the man and the minister for 
 over twenty-five years. His funeral sermon was 
 preached by the Rev. Peter Bullions, D. D., and 
 his grave was made in Greenwood Cemetery, 
 
45 
 
 where surviving friends could often come to read 
 the writing on the memorial stone and sigh for 
 
 " The touch of a vanished hand, 
 The sound of a voice that was still." 
 
 What memories are stirred by such names as 
 Marshall, Goodwillie, Pringle, Stark, and Bul- 
 lions — memories which droop like ivies across 
 the history of the old Associate Church ! Upon 
 the present church walls are perpetuated the 
 names and virtues of Hamilton and Stark, and so, 
 they being dead, still speak to us whenever we 
 are in the house of God. 
 
 After the death of Dr. Stark, the pulpit re- 
 mained vacant for nearly two years, when, in 
 1 85 1, a call was extended to the Rev. John 
 Thomson, D. D., at that time minister of St. 
 David's Church, St. John, New Brunswick. 
 
 This call was accepted, and on the 9th of June, 
 185 1, another pastoral relationship was formed, 
 which included all but a score of years, and that 
 lies to-day upon our affection like an unclasped 
 chain of gold. 
 
 About a twelvemonth from the new pastor's 
 installation, it was decided to change again the 
 site of the church building. At the corner of 
 Grand and Crosby streets stood a large white 
 marble church, remarkable for its beauty, and 
 considered at that day one of the most elegant 
 
46 
 
 ecclesiastical edifices in that part of the city. It 
 was the " Scotch Presbyterian Church," and its 
 pastor was the Rev. Joseph McElroy, D. D., the 
 successor of the Rev. Dr. John M. Mason and the 
 Rev. Robert McLeod. 
 
 This society, desiring to go up to West Four- 
 teenth street, offered its handsome property for 
 sale, and our people buying it were given pos- 
 session at the expiration of two years from the 
 date of purchase ; and with this possession they 
 also received some valuable accessions from the 
 membership of the other church, in those who 
 were disinclined to follow it to the new location. 
 
 But before this removal there occurred a still 
 more important change, affecting the name, the 
 customs, and the life of our organization. 
 
 A restlessness had been growing on the part 
 of some, which at last found controlling expres- 
 sion, in the demand for a different denominational 
 fellowship ; and upon formal application being 
 made to the Presbytery of New-York, the church 
 and its pastor were admitted into the communion 
 of the Presbyterian Church of North America, on 
 the twentieth day of June, 1853, with the name 
 of " The Grand Street Presbyterian Church of 
 New-York City." 
 
 Under the wise and able management of the 
 pastor, the comfort and growth of the congrega- 
 tion suffered no real interruption by this transfer; 
 
47 
 
 and when the marble edifice was entered, it was 
 but to advance along the line of a gracious and 
 lasting success. Dr. Thomson remained in charge 
 until 1 86 1, when he felt it to be his duty to accept 
 a call which had been extended to him from 
 the Knox Church, Gait, Ontario. The decision 
 caused profound regret among his people and 
 his friends in New-York, who found themselves 
 unable to alter it. After his withdrawal, the 
 pulpit was tendered to the Rev. Samuel R. Wil- 
 son, D. D., now of Louisville, Kentucky, who 
 came to it just before the opening of our Civil 
 War. Those days were full of trembling anxie- 
 ties, and as the conflict burst and raged, both 
 Church and State were searched as by fire. 
 
 It was a most unfavorable time in which to 
 begin a new pastorate, but Dr. Wilson took hold 
 with energy, and endeavored to carry on the 
 Lord's work as it had fallen to him. With a 
 vigorous mind and much power as a public 
 speaker, he soon made himself felt, but the great 
 political excitements, and the distractions in com- 
 mercial and social life, were so disturbing and 
 confusing that he seems to have become dis- 
 couraged, and we find him tendering his resig- 
 nation and retiring from the pulpit in February, 
 1863. 
 
 But it must be said, and here is the place to say 
 it, that the loyalty and patriotism of this church 
 
48 
 
 throughout that long national crisis were of the 
 stanchest and noblest character. It was no 
 neutral camp ; its sympathy with the rightful 
 government was anything but lukewarm. It had 
 no patience with secession ; its prayers, its money, 
 and its blood were ever ready for the defense and 
 preservation of the Union. 
 
 That struggle is now far past, and it is delight- 
 ful to observe how the scars are growing out like 
 the letters in the bark as the tree thickens and 
 spreads ; but we cannot forget, and we ought not 
 to forget in this era of forgiveness and restored 
 confidence, who stood fast and strong by the 
 national standard in the hour of its greatest peril. 
 
 It was not long after Dr. Wilson's withdrawal 
 that the thoughts and affections of the people 
 turned once more toward their former pastor, the 
 Rev. Dr. Thomson, who was rendering good 
 service in Gait, Ontario. 
 
 The appeal for his return was so hearty and 
 unanimous that he could not put it aside, and he 
 was soon installed a second time over a church 
 of which he had every reason to be proud, and 
 that rallied again about him with the old enthu- 
 siasm and success. 
 
 Four years after this reunion another change 
 of location was agreed upon. The city was 
 rapidly pushing northwards, the pressure of busi- 
 ness was converting residences into offices and 
 
49 
 
 stores, and business men were locating their 
 homes in the upper wards. It was therefore 
 thought best to exchange Grand street for West 
 Thirty-fourth street, although the latter was 
 considered to be then in the outskirts of the 
 town. 
 
 The corner-stone of the present edifice was laid 
 July 7th, 1866, in the presence of a large assem- 
 bly, composed of the church officers, members oi 
 the congregation and their friends, together with 
 the teachers and children of the Sabbath-school. 
 The ceremonies were conducted by the pastor, 
 with the assistance of the Revs. Drs. Scott and 
 Krebs, and the Revs. Messrs. Adams and Mingens. 
 
 The Lecture Room was ready for occupation 
 on the 6th of May, 1867, and the entire church 
 was finished and dedicated, free of debt, in Octo- 
 ber of the same year. The pastor was assisted in 
 the dedication services by the Revs. W. T. Mor- 
 rison and D. M. Quackenbush, and by Revs. Drs. 
 Gardiner Spring and John Rogers. The cost 
 of the building and the land was upward of 
 $140,000. 
 
 The removal from Grand street necessitated 
 another name for the church, and, with the per- 
 mission of the Supreme Court of the State, it 
 assumed the historic title to which by birth in 
 the Presbyterian family of this city it was 
 entitled. 
 7 
 
50 
 
 The First Church being organized in 1716, the 
 Scotch Church in 1756, and the Brick Church hav- 
 ing been part of the First Church up to 1809, ^^^ 
 so properly ranking third, we came next in order, 
 and from that day onward have been known as 
 the Fourth Presbyterian Church of the City of 
 New-York. 
 
 The next important step was the planting and 
 developing of the West Side Mission. 
 
 Toward the close of the year 1869, an Asso- 
 ciation was formed in the congregation for the 
 originating of spheres of Christian usefulness, in 
 which the working power of the church might 
 be actively engaged. This society is still in 
 vigorous existence, and is known as " The Social 
 and Benevolent Association." Its first President 
 was Mr. James Robertson, now a leading ofBcer 
 in the Regent Square Presbyterian Church of 
 London, England, the Rev. J. Oswald Dykes, 
 D. D., pastor. Through a special committee, 
 West 33d street, between the Ninth and Tenth 
 Avenues, was selected as a convenient and needy 
 center for mission work, and a small hall over a 
 stable was rented at the rate of $400 a year, in 
 which a Sabbath-school was begun, and occa- 
 sional preaching provided. Mr. Robertson was 
 the first Superintendent of this school, and it 
 must ever be greatly indebted for his zeal and 
 generosity in its behalf. In April of 1870, Mr. 
 
51 
 
 Henry C. Cronin was appointed the first mis- 
 sionary in charge, at a salary of $750 per 
 annum, which was afterward increased to $1200 
 per annum. 
 
 Three years of self-denying effort and genuine 
 progress were spent in this old hall, the neighbor- 
 hood changing perceptibly for the better, and the 
 accommodations becoming at last too small and 
 inconvenient. 
 
 The building of a chapel was then undertaken, 
 a valuable lot having been secured on the oppo- 
 site side of the street. 
 
 On Sabbath evening, December 14, 1873, ^^^ 
 new and handsome rooms were dedicated to the 
 worship and service of God ; the whole property 
 having cost the church fully $20,000, all of which 
 was paid. The enterprise from its inception 
 has never had a debt to embarrass it. Its 
 friends have been good, and the work done has 
 been attended by the rich blessing of the Master. 
 
 Among those who were especially interested in 
 it, and who were prompt to show it at every 
 opportunity, was that devoted Christian man and 
 elder, the late Mr. John Aitken. Remembering 
 it in his will with a bequest of $5000, the Asso- 
 ciation has inscribed his name in memorial brass 
 upon one of the chapel walls. 
 
 Mr. Cronin retired from his position as mission- 
 ary in 1877, and was succeeded by the Rev. 
 
52 
 
 Edward Pratt, who remained in charge until 1881, 
 when he resigned in order to settle in the West. 
 Mr. Pratt was followed by the Rev. Alfred Blew- 
 ett, who labored until 1883, when he went to a 
 neighboring charge, and the Rev. W. J. McDow- 
 ell, the present incumbent, was invited to take the 
 vacant place, which he is filling with fidelity and 
 success. 
 
 Once and again Bible-readers have been em- 
 ployed to cooperate with the missionary in the 
 cultivation of the field. The last one was person- 
 ally employed by Mrs. John Aitken, who thus 
 perpetuates and extends with her own interest 
 the cause so dear to her lamented husband. 
 
 The Mission Sabbath-school has always been 
 a marked feature of this work, and there have 
 been but two Superintendents besides Mr. James 
 Robertson, — Dr. D. H. Goodwillie, who gave 
 much of his valuable professional time to promote 
 its interests, and Mr. James Kydd, who is now in 
 charge, and whose services are becoming more 
 indispensable with each succeeding year. 
 
 The first Secretary of the school was Mr. John 
 W. Aitken ; the second and only other, Mr. John 
 H. Allen, who still serves in this capacity with 
 unwearied zeal and great efficiency. 
 
 No better corps of teachers has been found 
 anywhere, and there are no better behaved or 
 more studious pupils than those who have 
 
53 
 
 been and are still identified with our West 
 Side Chapel. 
 
 In May, 1873, a Juvenile Missionary Society 
 was formed in the school, and it is still in exist- 
 ence. The money collected has been devoted to 
 missionary work mostly outside of the local field. 
 Up to the last Report the gifts of the children in 
 this way have amounted to $1614. 11 ; and only 
 those who have been in the homes of some of 
 these children can appreciate how much of self- 
 denial this means, and how loudly it speaks for 
 the desire of the little ones to do good unto others. 
 In addition to this they have sewing-classes, and 
 literary and musical entertainments carried through 
 by themselves under proper direction. 
 
 This enterprise may well distinguish the sec- 
 ond part of Dr. Thomson's pastorate. He it was 
 who called the meeting for the formation of the 
 Association, and by his sympathy and encourage- 
 ment, with the aid of such men as Joseph and 
 James Stuart, John Aitken, James and David 
 Morrison, and others, carried it prosperously into 
 the permanent building and toward an assured 
 future. 
 
 His and their policy was evidently an aggres- 
 sive one ; the fine position on Thirty-fourth street 
 was not to be a place of selfish ease or narrow 
 ideas. The congregation had come up-town to 
 spend and be spent for Christ. 
 
54 
 
 In the ruling eldership of this second term the 
 pastor had with him James Stuart, John Aitken, 
 John Kirkpatrick, William Dalrymple, Alexander 
 Edwards, James Allen, John Morrison, Dr. Ed- 
 ward F. Parsons, Samuel Kydd, James Morrison, 
 James Robertson, Frederick Blume, John Strachan, 
 Joseph A. Macdonald, Archibald McLintock, James 
 Kydd, and John Iverach, elected and ordained in 
 groups at different dates. And along with these 
 was a company of men and women who were 
 truly fellow-helpers in every good word and 
 work. 
 
 Will it be deemed invidious if Joseph Stuart is 
 named again, and Robert Marshall and David 
 Morrison and William Eagle ? 
 
 The last three are still alive, and Mr. Morrison, 
 although advanced in age, holds the presidency 
 of our Board of Trustees with the grace and use- 
 fulness of a much younger man. 
 
 And then there are other names which link 
 both the ministries of Dr. Stark and Dr. Thom- 
 son in one long term of membership and fellow- 
 ship : Charters, Warnock, Bryson, McCrea, Scott, 
 Hutton, Elder, Legget, McClellan, Chalmers, 
 Cameron, McGay, Little, Harrison, Dinwiddie ; 
 and there are others yet which represent warm 
 friendship and personal comfort to Dr. Thomson 
 in the closing years of his service : Taylor, Craig, 
 Nicholson, Robert Allan, A. M. Stewart, Turn- 
 
55 
 
 bull, Mclntire, Anderson — and the list is not yet 
 exhausted ! 
 
 When, in 1875, by reason of personal and fam- 
 ily ill health. Dr. Thomson felt compelled to ask 
 once again for a dissolution of the pastoral rela- 
 tion, his request was only acceded to because it 
 seemed imperative that he should have an entire 
 and protracted rest from all official care. 
 
 He left the church strong and united, free from 
 debt, and well furnished to fill a yet larger place 
 in the metropolis of the nation. 
 
 One of the benedictions of this centennial sea- 
 son is in having him and his daughter present 
 with us all the way from the manse beyond the 
 sea. And it is a privilege to say to him that in 
 the time to come, as in the time that is past, the 
 prayers and affection of this church for him and 
 his will be as the night stars which shine upon 
 the Grampians, and as the heather when it blos- 
 soms beside his door. 
 
 The pulpit, being once more vacant, was ten- 
 dered to the present pastor, then of Philadelphia, 
 Pa., and in charge of the North United Presby- 
 terian Church of that city. It becomes him only 
 to say that ten years have come and gone since 
 that November invitation was accepted. Coming 
 together as total strangers, believing that the 
 Great Head of the Church called us in His 
 providence, it was very much like an oriental 
 
56 
 
 wedding, where the contracting parties never see 
 each other until the nuptial day. We have wept 
 and rejoiced together ; we have worked and 
 rested together ; we have lost and won together ; 
 and it is but right that we should together attest 
 the fact that the Lord God has been with us as He 
 was with our fathers, and that He keeps His cove- 
 nant unto all generations. 
 
 And now permit me to rapidly sketch some of 
 our more prominent organizations and societies, 
 in addition to the one already noticed in connec- 
 tion with the chapel. 
 
 At a meeting held in the church, June 28, 1827, 
 Alexander Christie, John Edwards, and others 
 agreed to form themselves into a society, and to 
 invite the cooperation of their brethren, for the 
 purpose of organizing a Sabbath-school in con- 
 nection with the congregation. 
 
 A committee was appointed, with the Rev. Dr. 
 Stark as chairman, to prepare a constitution for 
 the regulation of the school, and the constitution 
 presented and adopted at that time remains the 
 law of our present Morning Sabbath-school Asso- 
 ciation. 
 
 Messrs. Middlemas, Highet, Paterson, and 
 Smith interested themselves deeply in this effort 
 in behalf of the young. 
 
 Religious instruction had previously been given 
 to the youth of the church on week days, by 
 
57 
 
 means of catechism classes held in the houses, 
 and conducted partly by godly women, who thus 
 aided the parents in caring for the spiritual welfare 
 of their children ; but now it was proposed to 
 open a school on the Lord's Day in the church for 
 regular Bible and catechetical study. The first 
 officers and teachers were : Mr. John Highet, 
 superintendent; Miss Catherine Wood, assistant 
 superintendent ; John Patterson, secretary. Male 
 teachers : Messrs. Christie, John Edwards, Will- 
 iam and John Smith, James McNab, and Thomas 
 Dennistown ; female teachers : Misses Eliza and 
 Mary Smith, Ferguson, McCready, Welsh, Stod- 
 dart, and McClure. 
 
 It was early resolved that the lessons should be 
 uniform, and, from the very first, meetings of the 
 teachers were held for prayer and preparation for 
 the work of teaching. In addition to these, there 
 were meetings of a more general character, at 
 which papers upon Sabbath-school interests and 
 claims were read and discussed. 
 
 The visitation of the scholars at their resi- 
 dences was not neglected, special committees being 
 appointed for this purpose. Nor was the pleasure 
 of the children overlooked ; and the first entertain- 
 ment offered to them seems to have been a visit to 
 the Mechanics' Institute at Castle Garden in 1836. 
 
 In 1828, a Sabbath-school Library was opened, 
 and formed an important help in imparting 
 
58 
 
 religious instruction. Only the best literature was 
 admitted to its shelves, and the use of it was 
 freely allowed to the members of the congrega- 
 tion as well as to the pupils, — a privilege contin- 
 ued unto this day. 
 
 In 1844, a Sabbath-school Missionary Society 
 was organized, and a missionary spirit has been 
 a feature in the work, as carried on by different 
 hands. Especial interest has been manifested for 
 helping to establish schools in the southern and 
 western sections of our land, while the cause of 
 Foreign Missions has become a part of the yearly 
 thought and provision, especially since the Rev. 
 William T. Morrison, son of Elder John Morrison, 
 prepared himself here for work among the Chi- 
 nese, and subsequently educated a class of Chinese 
 boys, who were supported during their course by 
 this school and members of this church. 
 
 Of these youth, two were converted, and one, 
 entering the ministry, has for a long time been an 
 earnest preacher of the gospel among his own 
 countrymen. He is a member of the Presbytery of 
 Ning Po, is pastor of two native churches, and has 
 interested the school in a Presbyterial Academy at 
 Ning Po, at which two of his own sons have gradu- 
 ated, and where some of the students are profess- 
 ing and praying members of the Christian church. 
 
 Then something was done in the way of aiding 
 to establish the first Sabbath-school in the city of 
 
59 
 
 Rome, and contributions have gone from time 
 to time into the treasuries of the Waldensian 
 churches as their needs were presented. 
 
 This old and honored school has had fourteen 
 superintendents — John Highet, John Miller, 
 David Irwin, William Boyd, Humphreys Miller, 
 Robert McClellan, Alexander Edwards, Sylvester 
 PatuUo, John Aitken, Dr. Edward F. Parsons, D. 
 C. Tiebout, James Kydd, the Rev. Dr. Thomson; 
 and Frederick Blume, who has been faithfully 
 and ably discharging the duties of his office for 
 the past thirteen years. 
 
 The longest term is that of Mr. John Aitken, 
 who aggregated twenty-two and a half years. He 
 was exceedingly fond of the young, and that fond- 
 ness was most heartily reciprocated. So he was 
 kept in leadership for all that long period ; and 
 more than once when he actually retired, it was 
 only to be reinstated by the appreciation of his 
 fellow-workers and the earnest wishes of the 
 children themselves. 
 
 On this noble roll blazes the name of Sylvester 
 Patullo, who was Superintendent for only eighteen 
 months, and who died in England, June 7, 1856. 
 He was a man of special gifts and with such a 
 rapture in his faith that he was literally a burning 
 and shining light amongst old and young. 
 
 A third school in connection with the church 
 was organized on the 17th of April, 1876, and its 
 
6o 
 
 sessions appointed for the afternoon of every 
 Lord's Day. 
 
 This appeared to be needed because many of 
 the youth who attended the morning school were 
 going elsewhere in the afternoons for their in- 
 structions and fellowships. While the chapel was 
 open at that part of the day, and its teachers 
 ready to welcome all who might attend, yet it 
 was a fact that quite a number of our children 
 did not go there ; and so this new provision was 
 made for them at home. 
 
 The result has more than justified the experi- 
 ment, and from the opening day until now this 
 school has flourished. It is not a duplicate of the 
 older ones ; it has its own officers and teachers, 
 its own tastes, its own methods, and its own life. 
 This, of itself, creates for it a special place with- 
 out interfering with the fields of the other two. 
 
 The first Superintendent was Andrew Little, so 
 long and prominently identified with our church. 
 He gave the best attention to his office until 
 warned by failing strength that he must stop. 
 The next was Joseph G. Harrison, whose gen- 
 erous life has been in and of us all, and whose 
 terms of service were valuable and honorable to 
 the end. 
 
 Elder John Macdonald came next, conscientious 
 in the routine duties of his position ; he also greatly 
 stimulated the missionary spirit in the school. 
 
6i 
 
 Thomas M. Stewart is the present Superin- 
 tendent, a former Vice-President of the Brooklyn 
 Sabbath- school Association, and trained in his 
 knowledge of the interests and wants of the 
 young. 
 
 Associated with him, as Vice-Superintendent, is 
 James R. Cuming, a man in whom the heart 
 of his pastor trusts, and whose care of the Young 
 Men's Bible Class is as tender as it is gracious. 
 
 The teaching staff is earnest and devoted, and 
 while lately afflicted in the death of one of its 
 brightest ornaments, it has been cheered by 
 seeing the vacant chair filled by one who was as 
 dear to the dead as she is an inspiration to the 
 living. 
 
 The number of children and young people in 
 attendance upon these schools, as reported to the 
 last Assembly, is between four and five hundred, 
 and usually there are more classes than teachers. 
 
 It must surely be that great and constant 
 blessings shall come forth upon that church which 
 looks properly after the rising generation. And 
 we have learned since those early catechetical 
 meetings and the founding of our first church- 
 school that heaven's sweetest dew-fall is upon the 
 faces of those who watch for the morning ! 
 
 The Rev. David McC. Quackenbush, of the 
 Reformed (Dutch) Church, Yorkville, and the 
 Rev. John Reid, the successful pastor of the First 
 
62 
 
 Presbyterian Church, Yonkers, had their early 
 reHsfious training: in our communion. There are 
 others, baptized at this font, who have become 
 prominent in merchantry and trade, who have 
 reached high positions in their chosen profes- 
 sions, whose success in life reflects in luster the 
 o-odly training and religious knowledge furnished 
 within these walls. 
 
 And it is a pleasant fact in connection with 
 members of the old families still surviving, and 
 also with many of their children and children's 
 children, that this church holds the deepest place 
 in their hearts as a spiritual home. The local 
 attachment is as remarkable as it is beautiful, 
 and I think it argues for the long, faithful care 
 of the church for its households "in generation 
 and generation." 
 
 The oldest society in connection with us is 
 known as " The Benevolent Society." It was 
 organized in 1795 for the purpose of relieving 
 the poor, assisting the needy and distressed in 
 the congregation. 
 
 The old Minute Book furnishes some curious 
 reading, and amid all the quaintness there is the 
 glow of a fervent charity. In the opening pages 
 there is notice of a grant of ten pounds toward 
 the support of two ministers lately come from 
 Scotland and on their way to Nova Scotia. And 
 there were other ministers with their families 
 
^3 
 
 assisted out of this treasury, — for the country 
 was new and the times were not always pros- 
 perous. Case after case of need is briefly noted 
 and marked as reheved, while at nearly every 
 meeting of the Society the dues of members 
 were received and acknowledged. 
 
 The first president was Samuel Milligan, the 
 first treasurer was John Scotland, and the secre- 
 tary was George Thomson. The initiation fees 
 collected at the first meeting amounted to ^22 
 i2s. 6d. 
 
 It is impossible to estimate all the money 
 which has gone through this channel during the 
 past ninety years ; but the stream was steady 
 and strong, for it came of a spirit that grew not 
 weary in well-doing. The Society is still in 
 active existence, and has a full treasury. 
 
 Next in age comes " The Ladies' City Mission 
 Society," which was organized in 1824 as an aux- 
 iliary to the American Tract Society, with Miss 
 Warnock and Miss Wright as managers. 
 
 The work was shortly after changed to provid- 
 ing clothing for poor students who were prepar- 
 ing for the ministry under the instruction of the 
 Rev. Dr. Banks, in the city of Philadelphia. In 
 1852 the Society began to contribute for the sup- 
 port of the gospel in various places by aiding 
 feeble churches and by donations to the mission- 
 ary fund of the Synod. It also agreed to pay a 
 
64 
 
 certain amount to the " New- York City Tract 
 Society " for the support of a missionary in 
 the Fourteenth Ward. This last arrangement 
 continued until 1870, since which time the So- 
 ciety has given annually out of its funds $500 
 toward the support of our West Side Chapel. 
 
 In 1866 its name was changed to that of " The 
 Ladies' City Mission of the Fourth Presbyterian 
 Church." This identified it fully with the church, 
 and its auxiliary character ceased. 
 
 It has been greatly indebted to the kindness 
 and liberality of Mr. David Irwin, who at differ- 
 ent times donated sums of money, amounting in 
 all to $5000, the interest of which is applied to 
 the aid and furtherance of the Society's work. 
 It has also been remembered with legacies by 
 other friends who knew of its aims and rejoiced 
 in its endeavors. Its great object from the begin- 
 ning until now has been the advancement of 
 Christ's cause among the careless and churchless 
 multitude, and it has reason to hope that during 
 the sixty years of its existence as a society the 
 favor of Heaven has rested upon its efforts to the 
 winning of many souls. 
 
 The next society to be formed was " The Bible 
 Society," which was organized June 14, 1843, for 
 the distribution of God's word, particularly in 
 this city. It is an auxiliary to the New- York 
 Bible Society, and at its annual meetings has 
 
65 
 
 reports and addresses showing the progress and 
 needs of the work in a great seething commu- 
 nity like our own. 
 
 The first officers were, the Rev. Andrew Stark, 
 D. D., President; WilHam Boyd, Vice-President; 
 J. F. Clarkson, Secretary, and David Morrison, 
 Treasurer. The money collected and paid over 
 by this society since its formation aggregates 
 $6130.04, and there is a small balance to-day in 
 the treasury. 
 
 "The Ladies' Sewing Society" was formed 
 in i860, having for its object the providing 
 of suitable clothing for the poor of the church 
 and the chapel, and also the assistance of needy 
 missionaries and their families in this and other 
 lands. Although death and removal have made 
 many changes in this circle, there are a few of 
 the original members still present to unite with 
 others in keeping up the weekly meetings, which 
 are held throughout the winter season. Parcels 
 and boxes are constantly being made up and 
 sent out by these faithful women, and their 
 generous diligence is not without its rewards. 
 
 "The Social and Benevolent Association" has 
 already been referred to in connection with the 
 inauguration and development of the chapel 
 enterprise. 
 
 It is wholly distinct from the old Benevolent 
 Society, and confines itself to the mission needs 
 9 
 
66 
 
 and calls as well as the partial support of the 
 minister at the chapel. In addition to this it 
 holds sociables in the lecture-room every few 
 months, where the members of the church can 
 meet together for agreeable fellowship and enter- 
 tainment, and where strangers may be introduced 
 and made welcome among us. 
 
 **The Silver Link Society" was organized 
 November i, 1878, and is composed entirely of 
 young ladies, who meet from week to week for 
 missionary and benevolent purposes, Mrs. Joseph 
 R. Kerr being the permanent Superintendent. 
 Although in formal connection with the Woman's 
 Board of Missions of the Presbyterian Church, 
 and a contributor to that important agency, this 
 society engages also in much outside work, and 
 sends annual donations to the McAll mission in 
 Paris, under the care of the Rev. W. W. Newell, 
 Jr., and to the Home of the Friendless in this city. 
 
 It has also furnished two ship-libraries through 
 the American Seaman's Friend Society, pur- 
 chased a scholarship in Hamadan, and supports 
 a Bible reader in Petchaburi, Siam. The first 
 officers were Miss Harrison (now Mrs. Dr. Ed- 
 ward Parsons), President; Miss Valentine, Vice- 
 President ; Miss Ritchie, Treasurer, and Miss 
 Mattison, Secretary. 
 
 The active membership numbers twenty-eight 
 and there is a good list of honorary members. 
 
67 
 
 In May, 1885, the young ladies organized a 
 branch with the name of " Pansy." The age for 
 membership is from four to fourteen years ; and 
 its present membership is twenty-three. 
 
 This is but a glimpse at some of the ways by 
 which this old church is trying to fulfill its mission 
 in the world. 
 
 Its financial record has been clean and bright. 
 Such men as Joseph and James Stuart were ex- 
 ceedingly jealous of its honor, and by their wise 
 counsel and liberal deeds, seconded by others in 
 the church, debt has never lain upon the roof, and 
 every obligation has been met honestly and fully. 
 
 The income during the first year of its exist- 
 ence was ^51 2s. id., and the expenditure about 
 £1 less than that amount. Over $720,000 have 
 been collected and paid out for various church and 
 benevolent purposes, and this does not include 
 many handsome gifts from leading members to 
 local and public charities — gifts of which there is 
 no trace upon our books. 
 
 The present membership is a little over 450 on 
 the Active Roll. There are many more names 
 on the Reserved Roll, of those who have dropped 
 away from our sight and of whose decease we 
 have not heard. 
 
 The Session is a model of harmony, canvassing 
 the congregation with the pastor once every year, 
 and frequently taking part with him in every form 
 
68 
 
 of church work. The present members are Archi- 
 bald McLintock, Frederick Blume, Joseph A. 
 Macdonald, James R. Cuming, John MacDon- 
 ald, James Kydd, and Henry C. Smith. 
 
 The Board of Trustees is composed of David 
 Morrison, Francis Pringle, Joseph G. Harrison, 
 John Cameron, John H. Allen, and Marcus B. 
 Bookstaver ; and in the execution of their trusts 
 these wear worthily the mantle of the fathers. 
 
 Throughout the church there continues to be a 
 spirit of mutual confidence and fraternal regard ; 
 the ordinances are well attended, especially when 
 it is remembered that the people are very much 
 scattered ; and on the days in which the Lord's 
 Supper is dispensed, there is a gathering from 
 even remote places, as if all wanted to be to- 
 gether when the blessed King comes in to see his 
 guests. 
 
 But as the years pass familiar faces are missed, 
 for God is calling the household one by one into 
 His heavenly presence. 
 
 A ruling elder, Alexander Mackenzie, a good 
 man, full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, went 
 from us only last month. He expected to have 
 been here to participate on this occasion, but 
 God had provided some better thing for him. 
 Other precious graves we have had to make this 
 autumn ; one, that of Joseph A. Macdonald, Jr., 
 a bright lad of only sixteen summers. And there 
 
69 
 
 are those yet with us who are beginning to walk 
 slowly under the weight of years, while the end of 
 the pilgrimage is almost in sight. But their faith 
 fails not, their hope grows brighter as the shadows 
 fall, and their tones are soft and tender as we 
 bend our heads for their evening blessing. 
 Among these is one greatly beloved whose min- 
 isterial life has been long and rich ; whose ripe 
 experience and wise counsels are always ours for 
 the asking ; whose hymns we sing to-day ; and 
 whose "good gray head " seems to carry, not the 
 snows of his eighty-five winters, but the dawnlight 
 of a happy eternity. May the Lord God of our 
 fathers keep and bless us every one ! I cannot 
 call every one, but He knows us all, just as He 
 remembers those names that have faded out under 
 the rain and moss of the departed century. 
 
 It but remains for me to repeat the expression 
 of the profound and adoring gratitude with which 
 we recognize the good hand of our God upon us 
 in all the days that are gone ; and then to voice 
 our united entreaty that He would continue to 
 have respect unto "the covenant," hear and an- 
 swer our prayers, making us a name and a praise 
 unto all generations. And to Him shall be the 
 glory for His loving mercy and for His truth's 
 sake. Amen and amen. 
 
Monday, October 26, 188^.-7.^0 P. M. 
 
 i^ddresses by the 
 
 Rev. "W'lliam ORI^'ston, D. D., LL. D. 
 
 Rev. Howard Crosby, D. D., LL. D. 
 
 Rev. John Hall, D. D., LL. D. 
 
 ¥ 
 
 The Rev. John Thomson, D. D., presided, and was assisted 
 by the Rev. Henry J. Van Dyke, Jr., D. D. 
 
Address 
 
 Rev. William Ormiston, d. d., ll. d. 
 
 T affords me unspeakable pleasure to 
 be present on this occasion of Christian 
 rejoicing, on many accounts, and first 
 of all, that I can see you, Mr. Chair- 
 man, in your venerability and freshness, with 
 eye undimmed and strength unabated, sitting, 
 presiding over the present gathering, surrounded, 
 as you are, by your former parishioners and 
 friends of other years. And it must be pecu- 
 liarly gratifying, I think, to meet with them, 
 many of whom you have guided and admitted 
 to the fellowship of the Christian church ; whose 
 
72 
 
 nuptial vows you have consecrated and blessed ; 
 whose deepest sorrows you have sympathized 
 with, and by the death-bed of many of whose 
 friends you have ministered consolation. It is 
 almost an enviable position for you to have to- 
 night, and I congratulate you upon it very 
 much, and especially when all the memories of 
 other days are likely to be evoked, and all the 
 bonds of Christian fellowship brightened and 
 strengthened, and the hopes of future fellowship 
 joyously assured. I congratulate, also, the con- 
 gregation on the completion of a century of 
 church life, and on all the manifest tokens of 
 the divine favor which have rested on them dur- 
 ing more than three generations. The pillar 
 of cloud by day and of fire by night has hovered 
 over you to direct your way, and whether by 
 the bitter waters of Mara, or the green palm 
 trees and crystal fountains of Elim, whether on 
 the mount or in the valley, the promised pres- 
 ence has been ever with you, and the daily 
 manna has not failed to fall around your tents. 
 To-day you are in the land of corn and wine ; 
 your blessings greatly abound ; your candle 
 burns brightly, and your hearts rejoice, and you 
 are prepared to say, "The Lord has done great 
 things for . us, whereof we are glad " ; and we 
 that are here to-night rejoicing with you can 
 gratefully and joyously in Christian sympathy 
 
n 
 
 say, "Truly, the Lord hath done great things 
 for you." 
 
 I greet you right heartily in my own name, 
 but I rejoice especially in the privilege and high 
 honor of bringing to you the joyous greetings 
 and sincere congratulations of the church I repre- 
 sent, the Reformed Church of America, your 
 oldest sister church in this land, one with you 
 in doctrine and discipline, and in the earnest 
 maintenance of Christ's crown and covenant; 
 and bring you the hearty greetings, in addition, 
 of the Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church of 
 the City of New- York, the oldest Protestant 
 church in America, so far as I know. Through 
 one of her youngest sons by her kindly adop- 
 tion, she sends you her, not to say sisterly, or 
 even motherly, but I may say grandmotherly 
 salutations. A hundred years is a respectable 
 age for a maiden church, and certainly furnishes 
 ground for high hopes of matronly usefulness 
 and housewifely service in after days. But seven 
 years ago we celebrated, not our centennial, but 
 quarter-millennial anniversary, at which some of 
 you were present. When your church was organ- 
 ized in 1785, the then venerable Collegiate 
 Church had attained its hundred and fifty-seventh 
 year, and she has watched with kind and sis- 
 terly affection over your cradle, your infancy, 
 your girlhood, and your maturity ; and once 
 10 
 
74 
 
 again most happily I greet you on what may be 
 regarded as the period of your attaining your 
 majority. The Collegiate Church, the oldest 
 congregation in the city, wishes you all pros- 
 perity and abundant usefulness, and expresses 
 the hope that your noble achievements in the 
 past may be only an earnest of your greater 
 and more extended successes in the future. 
 Your peace and prosperity are our joy. We 
 rejoice with you. And as you have once already 
 changed your ecclesiastical relations, should you 
 at any time, for any reason, wish to make 
 another change, we extend to you the arms of 
 cordial welcome and are ready to receive you ; 
 but be assured there is no feeling of jealousy 
 or envy, or anything else than that of zealous 
 cooperation in accomplishing the work which in 
 common has been assigned us to do. Whatever 
 cheers you shall gladden us, and whatever tries 
 or grieves you will surely sadden us. We will 
 joy and rejoice with you as we do to-day when 
 things go well with you, and we will weep with 
 you if a time of trial or adversity should over- 
 take you. 
 
 I congratulate you upon the facts of your past 
 history, and upon the succession of able, gifted, 
 zealous, godly men who have ministered unto 
 you, from the earnest, devout, and saintly Beve- 
 ridge, who organized the congregation and 
 
75 
 
 supplied its pulpit for six or eight years, to the 
 genial, brilliant, eloquent, and effective preacher, 
 and assiduous and sympathetic pastor, my highly 
 esteemed and truly beloved brother, Dr. Kerr, 
 who is not more acceptable to you, his people, 
 as a pastor, by reason of his eminent gifts and 
 great diligence and obvious success, than he is 
 endeared to, and esteemed by, his brethren in 
 the ministry for his unaffected simplicity and the 
 true manliness of his character, as well as the 
 affability and courtesy of his manners. 
 
 The first pastor of this church, Mr. Cree, had 
 a very brief pastorate, and soon passed away. 
 After an interval of some years, Mr. Hamilton 
 came, and left his impress on the young congre- 
 gation, rendering faithful service for some six- 
 teen years, greatly beloved. His memory dear 
 is fresh with some of the elder members still. 
 Then came Mr. Stark, a man of iron will, of 
 strong and vigorous intellect and determined 
 purpose, whose ministry covered a period of more 
 than a quarter of a century. During his pas- 
 torate, the congregation moved from Nassau 
 street to Grand. These men have passed away 
 to their rest and their reward. 
 
 In 185 1 the honored guest of the congregation 
 and chairman of this meeting took charge of the 
 congregation, and soon after his coming, the 
 congregation, which had hitherto been connected 
 
76 , 
 
 with the associate body of Scotch Presbyterians, 
 united with the great Presbyterian body, a 
 change which has been found advantageous and 
 is now loyally maintained. It was in 1858 that 
 I first heard Dr. Thomson in his church in 
 Grand street. I was a stranger to him then ; 
 shortly afterward, however, I made his acquaint- 
 ance on a visit to a dear common friend, now 
 at rest, on the banks of the Hudson — a visit 
 peculiarly rich to me as the beginning of life- 
 long friendships, and of very warm and tender 
 memories. And ever since that time, both in 
 Canada, where Dr. Thomson labored for a 
 time, and in New-York, I have had frequent 
 fellowship with him. Long may he be spared 
 to serve the Master and the church in the land 
 of his nativity and mine ; though I hope he will 
 pardon me if I say I wish he had remained here, 
 and even if he had gone home, that he had not 
 given his adherence to the theory of the State 
 Church. He did not always like it any better 
 than I do, to my certain knowledge. 
 
 With the present pastor my intercourse has 
 been most intimate, and very delightful and 
 refreshing. He is a brother of the heart. We 
 have not only frequently exchanged pulpits, but 
 mutual affection and sympathy and brotherhood 
 as well. May his pastorate be extended till it 
 shall far exceed that of his predecessors, and 
 
n 
 
 until his raven locks shall rival even yours, my 
 dear sir (turning to Dr. Thomson), in snowy 
 and venerable whiteness. 
 
 I am personally acquainted, also, with not a few 
 of the families in this congregation, and there- 
 fore I can rejoice all the more heartily with 
 them. I always feel myself perfectly at home 
 in their pulpit or by the ingle-sides in their 
 homes. 
 
 I congratulate you still further upon the peace 
 and harmony that now exists so largely among 
 you. May it ever continue, till every heart 
 and home shall beat as that of one man, and 
 its fruits abound to your enlargement and use- 
 fulness. 
 
 I congratulate you still further on the large 
 increase of your membership during these last 
 years, and on the amount of missionary work 
 which you have done in aiding evangelistic work 
 in this great city. 
 
 And now, on entering the second century of your 
 existence as a church, may you receive a fresh 
 baptism from on high, and pastor and people 
 alike rejoice in a time of great refreshing from 
 the presence of the Lord. May you so build 
 that your work will remain, and when another 
 century shall have passed by, which it is not at 
 all likely any of us will live to see, your descend- 
 ants shall have abundant reason to give God 
 
78 
 
 thanks for the noble ancestry whence they have 
 sprung. May this beautiful house stand till then, 
 a memorial of your love and zeal, and be even 
 more hallowed than now as the birthplace of 
 thousands of souls, and by the accumulated 
 associations of seasons of felt communion with 
 each other and fellowship with the Father and 
 with His Son. 
 
 I gather up all the hearts of my congregation 
 and put them into one single hearty congratu- 
 lation and good wish for your present joy, your 
 future prosperity, and your eternal felicity. 
 
Address 
 
 Rev. Howard Crosby, d. d., ll. d. 
 
 R. CHAIRMAN AND DEAR 
 CHRISTIAN FRIENDS: I do 
 not know exactly what I represent 
 here to-night beyond myself. I 
 come as belonging to the great Presbyterian 
 Church to which you belong. I cannot talk to 
 you as an outsider or a foreigner, but as one of 
 your own people. Perhaps I represent the city 
 of New- York, for I believe, as I look upon my 
 brethren upon the platform, I am the only one 
 who was born in the city of New- York. 
 
 This church was born one hundred years ago, 
 just one year before my own father was born, 
 
8o 
 
 and my father has often told me that when he 
 was four years old, and under the care of a nurse, 
 he was lost in the woods where the City Hall 
 now stands ; so that you see in the century of 
 your church's life-time, how this church itself has 
 moved three miles out of the old town where it 
 originated. And then, when I look back fifty 
 years, in my own life-time, I remember when 
 Bleecker street was the last paved street in the 
 city, north, and you are two miles outside of that 
 town of fifty years ago ; and yet you are a down- 
 town church now. And that is the way this great 
 city has grown, spreading not only to the north, 
 but, as it came northward from its original little 
 peninsula down by Wall street, spreading out 
 east and west on its way, so that the little town 
 of about fifteen thousand inhabitants when your 
 church was born is now a metropolitan city of 
 nearly one million and a half inhabitants. What 
 a change ! What a marvelous development ! 
 And when the Christian looks at that history his 
 first thought is, with regard to this great grow- 
 ing city of the West, How has the kingdom of 
 Christ prospered in it ? I like very much that 
 reference that Dr. Thomson made a few minutes 
 ago to the witnessing of those that have gone 
 before. I believe it from the bottom of my heart. 
 I believe the words "Wherefore, seeing we are 
 compassed about with so great a cloud of wit- 
 
8i 
 
 nesses " mean something. The past worthies are 
 here. They see us. I beHeve that our fathers 
 and mothers of this church of New- York, of the 
 Christian Church in the city, are witnessing what 
 we are doing, how we are living for the Lord and 
 His cause. The Church is one ; it is a living 
 Church, from Adam down to the last believer, 
 always living, either in heaven or upon earth, and 
 always united, the same family, below and above, 
 surrounding the throne, or lifting up their prayers 
 and their praises together to Him who is their 
 life. Ah, it is a glorious thing to look back and 
 feel that our pious ancestry are still with us, 
 though we may not see them with the mortal 
 eye. Yes, your fathers and mothers, dear friends, 
 are here with us to-night, and they take part in 
 our joy in commemorating the centennial anni- 
 versary of this Church of Christ. It is a glorious 
 thought, and a very proper and appropriate 
 thought. It makes our hearts more solemn, more 
 courageous, more faithful, when we think of those 
 now glorified standing by us in sympathy in all 
 the work and conflict in which we still are placed. 
 Brethren, there is a conflict, and it is not only 
 with the great world — that is the least conflict, 
 after all. Of the two that I mention, the greatest 
 conflict is with the devices of Satan within the 
 Church of God. Read the epistles of the apos- 
 tles, read the Book of Revelation, and you will 
 II 
 
82 
 
 find the direst enemy the truth has to contend 
 against is the enemy within the pale of the 
 church. Satan gets into the church and there 
 works his evil. Now I believe the Presbyterian 
 Church has been most free of all the denomina- 
 tions of Christendom from this internal power of 
 corruption. And, under God, while I may see 
 various causes for this, I believe one grand rea- 
 son is its strong Scotch ribs. I believe that this 
 church of yours represents that element in the 
 Presbyterian Church in a most marked way, 
 quite as much as when dear old Dr. Stark was 
 your pastor, with all his strenuous earnestness. 
 I remember him well in my boyhood. I believe 
 that you as a church, coming right out of the 
 Scotch parentage, are conspicuously a conserva- 
 tive church, conservative of God's Bible truth. 
 And we want such churches nowadays. We want 
 to contend against the enemy that is within us. 
 
 It has become fashionable nowadays to assimi- 
 late Christianity to human philosophy — make it 
 all one ; so that it does not make much differ- 
 ence whether you are a pious Buddhist, or a 
 pious Shintoist, or a pious Greek of the old 
 classic period, or a pious Christian ; it is all the 
 same, you have got the essential Christ in you. 
 And that is the doctrine that is now spreading 
 within the Church of Christ — within the Church 
 of Christ. And in this great desire to break 
 
83 
 
 down the separating wall between Christ's gospel 
 and the world and bring all men on a level, there 
 are four grand heresies, — I call them heresies, 
 with capital letters all the way through, — FOUR 
 GRAND HERESIES that are now started in 
 the Church of Christ. Let us look out that this 
 doctrine does not get into the Presbyterian 
 Church too far. It is like the camel that has 
 got his head in. Don't let the camel get his 
 body in. 
 
 The first error is this : Sin is not so bad a 
 thing, after all. Sin is a misfortune, but it is 
 not so bad. That abominable thing that God 
 hates is not so bad, after all. That terrible lost 
 condition of the human soul, alienated from God, 
 is not so bad a thing,, after all. It wants a little 
 rubbing here, a little setting up there, and it 
 will be all right ; sin is not so bad a thing, after 
 all. Well, when we have got to that pass, we 
 don't want a Saviour. We want a helper, per- 
 haps, a good example to encourage us in mend- 
 ing our ways, and to get us all right ; and so 
 Jesus Christ will be a very good example, a 
 "monument of love" — we get some very nice 
 terms to express what He is: He is a "monu- 
 ment of love"; He is an "example of beauty"; 
 He is esthetically charming to the soul. That 
 is what Jesus Christ is. And the whole sacri- 
 ficial element of the old church means nothing 
 
84 
 
 at all. The cross of Christ, the blood of Christ, 
 mean nothing at all. It is the life of Christ, 
 not His death, that is now emphasized ; and the 
 death and the blood that the apostles empha- 
 sized, and that the Holy Ghost emphasized, all 
 that is put aside, and now we are taught that it 
 is the life of Christ that is so beautiful — and 
 the life of Socrates and Confucius too. Well, 
 so we come to two errors. 
 
 Now comes the third error: If sin is not so 
 bad, and we don't want a Saviour, what is the 
 use of a hell ? Oh, hell was invented by Dante, 
 or Milton, or somebody else. There comes the 
 third error. Canon Farrar says (he is good 
 authority just now) we are all going to be con- 
 signed to eternal hope. We read the twenty- 
 first chapter of Matthew, third verse ; after 
 describing the wicked, it says : " These shall 
 go away into eternal hope, and the righteous 
 into life eternal." That is the way we read it now. 
 
 Then we have got another trouble, when we 
 look at the New Testament. We cannot find 
 these things. We find that sin is awful — worse 
 than we can possibly describe or imagine. We 
 find that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is the expi- 
 ation for sin, and His blood cleanseth from sin, 
 and so on. We find there is a hell here. 
 
 Then we will add a fourth error: We don't 
 believe the Bible ; the Bible is not inspired any 
 
85 
 
 more than Milton was. That is the fourth error 
 that comes along. Strauss began forty-five years 
 ago to upset the New Testament. He did not 
 succeed. He brought out the grand apologists 
 who proved so clearly every jot and tittle of the 
 New Testament as the word of the Lord, that 
 Satan has now begun at the Old Testament. 
 The cunning arch-deceiver knows that if the 
 Old Testament goes, the New Testament goes, 
 and Christ goes, for Christ is responsible for the 
 Old Testament. Then they go to upsetting 
 Moses : there never was any Moses, but some- 
 body after Ezra's time invented the whole story 
 commonly attributed to Moses. And if that is 
 so, then what Christ said about Moses and the 
 prophets is all wrong. 
 
 So Satan is working in the midst of the 
 church to upset the Bible in that way. Now, 
 brethren, it is your grand prerogative and your 
 glory that you stand by the Old and the New 
 Testament, that you stand by the truth as it 
 has been delivered to the Saints from age to 
 age. And this miserable new theology, which 
 is a very old theology, — very old theology, — as 
 old as Clement of Alexandria, as old as those 
 first heretics who started out with Clement, as 
 old as those heretics who tried to rope in Greek 
 philosophy with the revelation of God — this 
 new theology is just so old — do you stand 
 
86 
 
 as a strong tower against it. God bless you 
 for it. God give you length of days and still 
 greater strength in the mighty work. You have 
 been a pillar of strength in this city for a hun- 
 dred years. You are going to be for a hundred 
 years to come, yea, to the millennial day; and 
 that is the grandest wish I can have regarding 
 you, that you will be faithful to the Word of 
 God, that you will frame your lives according 
 to that Word, and not according to all the 
 philosophers and eloquent preachers, even if they 
 be archdeacons or reverend doctors. God give 
 you a future still more glorious than the past. 
 
Address 
 
 REV. John Hall, d. d., ll d. 
 
 Y DEAR CHRISTIAN FRIENDS: 
 I was laboring under a slight 
 mistake as to the hour when this 
 meeting was to begin, and so I 
 came in a little late, a circumstance for which 
 I have to apologize, for I like to be at the 
 beginning of every good meeting. Then I 
 found that my brethren were under the same 
 misapprehension, I presume, and it was suggested 
 to me by my brother, the pastor of the church, 
 that I should change places and make the first 
 address, and I confess I accepted that idea with 
 
 87 
 
88 
 
 a little secret satisfaction, from the feeling that 
 I would then have the responsibility lifted from 
 me, and be able to listen without any reserve 
 or anxiety about what I was to say myself, 
 after the admirable addresses that I knew 
 would be delivered by my brethren. They have 
 come in, however, and taken their places, and 
 so I come to be at the close of this very pleasant 
 and very significant meeting. 
 
 There is one little drawback to my enjoyment 
 in being here. I had a letter this morning 
 from Mr. George H. Stuart, of Philadelphia, 
 whose name is known to all of us, and who 
 was pleased with the prospect of taking some 
 part in these exercises ; but I regret to say 
 that the state of his health is such that his 
 friends and medical advisers at Clifton, where 
 he is sojourning for a time, did not approve of 
 his coming. If he had been here, you can 
 most of you understand, in some degree, how 
 much heart and how much hope he would have 
 put into the address that he would have made 
 to you. 
 
 I have various personal reasons for being 
 very happy in this meeting. I had the pleasure 
 of knowing Dr. Thomson many years before I 
 came to live in this city. I had the pleasure 
 of having him under my roof when I was a 
 clergyman in the capital city of my native county. 
 
89 
 
 Armagh, in Ireland. Then it is rather a sin- 
 gular coincidence to me that in this church for 
 the very first time I had the privilege given to 
 me to speak a few words upon American soil. 
 I sometimes think that I must have spoken 
 remarkably well, for there has not been a year 
 since when the people have not insisted upon 
 my coming and speaking again, and it has been 
 a very great pleasure, I am bound to say, to 
 do it. There are other reasons, however, that 
 lie nearer the heart, for my taking a deep interest 
 in this congregation. I knew about it long 
 before I saw this building; I knew about it 
 from relatives, dear and valued kindred, who used 
 to write to me and speak to me of the good 
 work that was being done, and the high evan- 
 gelical tone that was being maintained. I 
 remember very well, on that first night when I 
 came and met with the people here, being deeply 
 impressed with the group of Elders to whom I 
 had the pleasure of being introduced. I have 
 rarely seen a more venerable and thoughtful - 
 looking body of men. I think most of them, 
 like the relatives to whom I have alluded, have 
 finished their course, having kept the faith, and 
 have entered into the rest that remaineth for 
 the people of God. But their memory still lives, 
 and I am glad to see that their children still 
 live. You can understand how, therefore, with 
 
 12 
 
90 
 
 these pleasant associations with this church and 
 with this people, I feel no common interest in 
 being with you here to-night; and with all my 
 heart I join every good wish that has been 
 already eloquently expressed for your continued 
 unity in the faith, your continuance in Christian 
 living, your activity in Christian work, and your 
 maintenance of that spirit you have attained, 
 through which God's people are prepared on 
 earth for enjoying the felicities of the life to 
 come. 
 
 Allusion has been made to the large infusion 
 of Scotch blood and character that entered into 
 the formation, and I presume long continued in 
 the maintenance, of this congregation. I have 
 a very exalted idea of the many good qualities 
 of that Scottish blood, perhaps I should say 
 more especially after it has been carried over 
 into the adjoining island of Ireland for five or 
 six generations, or mingled, with wisdom and 
 prudence, with a portion of the blood of other 
 and kindred nations. There is no race of men 
 upon the earth that, in view of its numbers 
 and position, has made a more illustrious mark. 
 There is no race that has secured a higher 
 place in the judgment of all honest-minded and 
 thoughtful men. 
 
 It has sometimes been alleged that there are 
 weaknesses in the Scottish character. Well, the 
 
91 
 
 Scottish people are human, and it may be ex- 
 pected that there will be weaknesses, but even 
 these weaknesses can be defended if we will 
 only take the trouble to look at them can- 
 didly. There, for example, is the statement 
 that has gone all round the world, again and 
 again, on very high authority, that it takes some- 
 thing like a surgical operation to make a Scotch- 
 man understand a joke. I think a very good 
 reply was made to that by a Scotchman to a 
 Southern friend who repeated that stale insinu- 
 ation, and the Scotchman said quietly : " Yes, 
 an English joke." There is no difficulty in 
 understanding the Scottish wit, to Scottish men. 
 In the same way it has sometimes been alleged 
 that Scottish people are a little too persistent, 
 the persistency amounting occasionally to obsti- 
 nacy. Well, there is very much in the angle of 
 observation at which you stand, and the standard 
 that you have adopted in your own mind, when 
 you are trying to judge of the character. I say 
 that it is eminently to the credit of the Scotch 
 people that they have such tenacity of purpose, 
 and that, having taken hold of a thing (and they 
 do not do it quickly), it will take a good deal to 
 compel them to let go. Look at Scottish stu- 
 dents. Hundreds and hundreds of them have 
 gone to Glasgow and to Edinburgh in their 
 poverty, entering the University, struggling with 
 
92 
 
 difficulty Jiving upon oatmeal, dressing plainly, not 
 ashamed or afraid to work when work can be 
 done, so as independently and upon their own 
 resources, and without any sacrifice of self- 
 respect, to take their places in the learned pro- 
 fessions, in which, in so many cases, they have 
 commanded distinguished positions. 
 
 And I am glad to say that not merely have 
 they this tenacity of purpose, but they carry with 
 them the religious influences under which they 
 have been brought up. I have crossed the sea 
 many times, and almost invariably I have found 
 that the men who are trusted with the manage- 
 ment of the costly machinery of our great ocean 
 steamers are Scotchmen, whose skill and per- 
 severance can be depended upon for the man- 
 agement of some of the greatest interests ; and 
 you will find the majority of them God-fearing 
 men. I lived for some years in the western 
 portion of my native land, where there were 
 comparatively few Protestants, but here and 
 there you found a Scotchman, who was a gar- 
 dener, or in some position that implied superior 
 taste and education, and you found these men 
 everywhere lights in the place, standing up for 
 the truth that they had been taught in the land 
 where they received their birth and training. It 
 is a perfectly conceivable thing that men here 
 and there may carry a trait to that extent that 
 
93 
 
 it becomes open to criticism. I remember the 
 late Dr. Stuart Robinson, a remarkably able and 
 genial man, a Scotchman, but whose blood had 
 come through Ireland, telling me this illustration 
 of the very truth that I am bringing to your 
 notice now. A Scottish man and his family 
 moved from Scotland and went down into Ken- 
 tucky ; naturally the head of the family looked 
 around to see where they would go and unite 
 themselves for worship on the Lord's Day. They 
 attended various churches in the neighborhood 
 so as to try the spirits and know what was being 
 taught there. He did not think where was the 
 most fashionable church, or where was the church 
 that would give him the best set-off, or anything 
 of that sort ; he wanted to know where they 
 taught the truth, and would edify him and his 
 family ; and at last he heard a man who seemed 
 to have just the gifts, on the whole, that would 
 be to his comfort and instruction. But before 
 putting in his name or doing anything to make 
 an arrangement of a permanent sort, he respect- 
 fully requested an interview with the minister 
 and the elders. They gave him the interview, 
 and he told them of his history and how he had 
 come to be there, and what his motive was in 
 seeking this interview. ** Now," he said, "I want 
 to know this, whether are you in this congre- 
 gation Burghers or Anti-burghers ? " They 
 
94 
 
 explained, modestly, that they didn't even know 
 the meaning of those words. "Well, no matter," 
 he said, " I will tell you now what these words 
 mean " ; and then he explained, as only a verita- 
 ble Scotchman could do, the distinction between 
 these two sects of opinion in Scotland. And 
 he said, " Now, brethren, suppose these issues 
 should arise here ; with which side would you 
 array yourselves ? because I want to be on the 
 right side." I admit that that will provoke a 
 smile on the part of almost any one; and so it 
 should, but it is unspeakably better than that 
 class of thinking to which Dr. Crosby has made 
 eloquent allusion. It is unspeakably better than 
 that carelessness, recklessness, and indifference 
 to the things that are taught to us and to our 
 children, provided only that they be fashionable, 
 and that they give us a decent show of religious 
 life as we are passing through this vale of tears. 
 
 I like the Scotch people among other things 
 for this; that they have all along maintained 
 such just conceptions of the real character of 
 worship before God Almighty. I hear men talk 
 as if the Deity were to be accounted an amateur 
 in music. I hear men talk as if esthetics con- 
 stituted the sum total of His attributes. I hear 
 men talk as if they thought that their mere 
 appearance in God's house on His day must 
 necessarily be the thing which will please Him, 
 
95 
 
 who is a Spirit, who searches the heart, and who 
 tries the reins of the children of men. The 
 Scottish people have had a better idea of wor- 
 ship than that which we all too frequently see 
 illustrated round about us. Of course I can 
 understand how that conviction may be carried 
 into regions where it will be called prejudice or 
 bigotry. Some of you have heard the story of 
 the good Scottish woman who was employed in 
 the service of a very rich English lady who 
 was in the habit of attending the cathedral, 
 while the Scottish woman insisted on going to 
 her own place of worship. The English woman 
 was very anxious that her Scottish maid should 
 once see the grandeur and beauty and irresist- 
 ible charm of the cathedral service. She per- 
 suaded her one day to go and attend it, and the 
 maid went, feeling, of course, that she was for 
 the time doing her duty and obeying her em- 
 ployer. She heard the intonations and saw the 
 procession, listened to the overtures and to the 
 music, without saying much about it. Her em- 
 ployer was anxious to know what impression had 
 been made, and she said: "Well, Janet, did you 
 like it? What did you think of it?" "Well, 
 ma'am, it was very nice, it was very nice," — 
 that was kindly to her mistress ; then she 
 began to think of what was due to her own 
 conscience, — "But, ah, ma'am," said she, "that's 
 
96 
 
 an awful way to spend the Sabbath day." Yes, 
 I like these conceptions that the Scottish peo- 
 ple have about plain worship ; and if it be one 
 of the great purposes of the services of God's 
 house to make people intelligent, to make them 
 self-reliant, to make them manly, to make them 
 courageous before their fellow-men, and meek 
 and lowly before God, then I say these Scottish 
 services have not failed in the purposes that 
 Christian services contemplate. Let any one 
 that is acquainted in any degree with Scottish 
 history look at the influence that the people of 
 that small and barren portion of a not very large 
 island have exercised. Go to India — the bravest 
 and the noblest men that have secured and held 
 India for Great Britain have been Scottish men. 
 I remember, when a comparatively young man, 
 making occasional trips over to Edinburgh on 
 church business, and in Edinburgh there lived 
 what was called the Indian Colony. It consisted 
 of retired officers who had served their time in 
 India and been pensioned off. They were among 
 the finest men that you could find in that beautiful 
 capital. Look at the number of Scotchmen in 
 Great Britain, and though the numbers are small, 
 in some instances, the proportion of influence 
 wielded by them is out of proportion to the num- 
 ber of Scotchmen that are there. Go over the 
 border to Canada, in which the Scottish people 
 
97 
 
 have Impressed their character in a great degree. 
 You don't read the Sunday newspapers there; 
 you don't find cars traveUng on the street on 
 Sunday. You are conscious, the moment you go 
 into the Protestant portion of Canada, that there 
 is an atmosphere pervading it that is only ex- 
 plained by the fact that the Bible has taken such 
 hold on the conscience and thereby molded to 
 such a great extent the habits of the people. 
 
 I like the system that the Scottish people 
 fell upon through the study of God's word for 
 managing the affairs of the church, and pro- 
 moting great spiritual interest, and I would like 
 to see you Protestants — I do not speak for 
 myself; I speak for one of the great historians 
 of England, who was by no means a particularly 
 religious or spiritual man, who says, in effect, 
 that the ways of dealing with any religious 
 question in Scotland are very remarkable ; they 
 have their General Assembly, and they have 
 their Synod, and they have their Presbytery, 
 and they have their Kirk-session, and they have 
 their Congregation ; and when any great question 
 arises, it is discussed in the Assembly, and it is 
 discussed in the Synod, and it is discussed in 
 the Presbytery, and it is discussed in the Kirk- 
 session, and it is discussed all over the parish. 
 "And what is the consequence?" he said. 
 **Why, these Scottish people know with aston- 
 13 
 
98 
 
 ishing intelligence the merits of every great ques- 
 tion of this kind." And he adds (and this is the 
 point that I would emphasize) : " Hence the re- 
 markable distinction between England and Scot- 
 land." England has an established church, with 
 great wealth, with the universities and kindred 
 institutions under its control; with prestige, with 
 power, with authority, with everything that might 
 make up the church of the masses of the people. 
 But what is the consequence ? What is the 
 effect? Why, more than one-half of the popula- 
 tion of England have gone out of that estab- 
 lished church. And where have they gone? 
 Have they gone to get a purer Episcopal church ? 
 A better hierarchy ? Nothing of the kind. Al- 
 most without exception they have gone as far 
 away as they could from everything that was 
 distinctive of the national church, — away from 
 the bishops, away from the hierarchy, away 
 from the ritual, away from everything except 
 what they accounted spiritual freedom. Go into 
 Scotland, on the other hand. Scotland, to-day, 
 has dissenting bodies. There have been United 
 Presbyterians, Associate Presbyterians, Reformed 
 Presbyterians, Free-church Presbyterians; but 
 in every case where these people have left the 
 establishment in Scotland, it has been, not to 
 get as far away from Presbyterianism as they 
 could, but to get, as they believed, a better 
 
99 
 
 Presbyterianism, free from the faults and errors 
 and mistakes into which they believed the 
 mother church, for the time, had been led. And 
 as to the tenacity of belief, we know, as a 
 matter of fact, that the people of consequence, 
 the gentry and land-owners, almost to a man, 
 have associated themselves with the church that 
 is in power in England, and they have many 
 times been a little unscrupulous in the effort to 
 push the interests of their church ; and with 
 what results? About two hundred congregations 
 of that order is the whole amount of what they 
 have been enabled to secure in Scotland, and 
 some of these congregations are extremely small. 
 Now on these grounds I say I cannot but have 
 a strong preference for Scottish thought and 
 Scottish ways, and for the distinctive features 
 of the Scottish character, and I do hope that 
 these features will never be totally obliterated 
 in this Christian congregation. You have round 
 about you the varied tints of autumnal leaves, 
 beautiful in decay. They are not to repre- 
 sent this congregation. If they do represent 
 anything, it will be the hoary heads that I see 
 in numbers scattered over this flock. But if 
 you want something here that is to represent this 
 congregation, let it be these evergreens on the 
 right hand and on the left, that through all 
 seasons keep their color, that through all sea- 
 
lOO 
 
 sons have the look of vigor and prosperity about 
 them. 
 
 Allusion was made in a very genial way (Dr. 
 Ormiston never does anything that is not in a 
 genial way) to the greater antiquity of the breth- 
 ren of the Reformed Church, of which he is a 
 brilliant and honored, as well as useful, pastor; 
 and he even suggested that if we of the General 
 Assembly should want to make a change again, 
 or, at least, if this congregation should want to 
 make a change again, there will be a pleasant 
 home within the borders of our brethren of the 
 Reformed Church. It is like his greatness of 
 heart ; it is like his magnanimity. But there is 
 another way of looking at it. Call that church 
 the mother church, if you like, and this, and even 
 the whole general assembly to which it belongs, 
 a daughter ; call it so, if you please. I have 
 known many happy cases where the dear, vener- 
 able, aged mother, become a grandmother, has 
 gone into the dwelling of the daughter and been 
 cared for with as much sweetness and love as 
 ever she had in her own home. And if anything 
 like this should ever transpire here, it will be a 
 common joy and gladness to all of us. 
 
 The truth is (and this is the last word that I 
 want to say, because it is not proper to detain 
 you too long), we are reformed Christians : We 
 are a Reformed Church, thank God, and I hope 
 
lOI 
 
 we shall stand fast by the reformation. My 
 brother Kerr and I are United Presbyterians. 
 There used to be an old school and a new school; 
 but we are United Presbyterians, and I should be 
 delighted if the so-called United Presbyterians 
 that are in this city and round about us would 
 take us into their ranks, and the General Assem- 
 bly include these different bodies of practically 
 the same church. It would be a great deal 
 better for them to come and join with us, than to 
 be divided into so many branches. I remember 
 many years ago meeting a most brilliant United 
 Presbyterian minister, who came over to visit us 
 in Dublin, and in the course of a genial speech 
 that he made there, in which we were alternat- 
 ingly laughing and weeping, he made this state- 
 ment, which I never forgot. He said: "For the 
 sake of brevity, the people call us United Pres- 
 byterians, ' U. P's,' and we must take care never 
 to divide up again, for if we did, they would be 
 sure to call us 'split peas' ever after." 
 
 And there is another branch, the Covenanters. 
 Brethren, I am a Covenanter. I adhere in the 
 main to the distinctive principle of the so-called 
 Covenanters of the ancient days. I love their 
 memory ; I revere their spirit. I am proud of 
 having hereditary union with them. I am glad 
 to think that members of my own household are 
 among their ranks to-day. And I shall be glad 
 
I02 
 
 when all this general assembly, when the General 
 Assembly of the Southern Church, Dutch Re- 
 formed, United Presbyterians, and Covenanters, 
 joined in one, shall be found bearing testimony 
 heartily and unitedly to that great evangelical 
 truth which is the glory of the church, which it 
 is our business to maintain, and by the procla- 
 mation of which issues a blessing continually to 
 the wide world. 
 
Tuesday, October 2y, iSS^.—j.^o P. M. 
 
 ^Addresses by the 
 
 I^Ev. Henry y[. Field, D. D. 
 
 Rev. R. R. Booth, D. D. 
 
 Rev. W. M- Taylor, D. D., LL. D. 
 
 ^ 
 
 The Pastor presided, and was assisted by the Revs. S. B. 
 Rossiter and T. W. Chambers, D. D., LL. D. 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 REV. HENRY M. FIELD, D. D. 
 
 Y DEAR BRETHREN: When 
 you listen to such a ringing voice 
 as that of your pastor, you need 
 few words from others. But certainly 
 it is a privilege to me, and a privilege to all 
 these brethren who are here to-night, to come 
 in and look in your faces, and join in your 
 hymns, and listen to the prayers that are 
 offered ; to give united thanks to Almighty God 
 that He has preserved this church for a hundred 
 years. A hundred years ! a century ! That is a 
 long stretch in the life of man, or in the life 
 
I05 
 
 of generations. We are accustomed to reckon 
 thirty years as the Hfe of a generation, since that 
 on the average is about the active period of a 
 man's Hfe ; and hence he who keeps watch of 
 the current of human activity, who keeps his 
 eye on the column as it is marching on, will, 
 in the course of thirty years, see one genera- 
 tion of workers pass off the stage, and another 
 come up upon it. And so we may reckon that 
 in the last hundred years three generations have 
 passed off the stage ; those that were children, 
 yea, those that were not born a hundred years 
 ago, have come into life, have been children, 
 have been young men and women, have per- 
 formed the duties of manhood and womanhood, 
 have grown to old age and passed away, to be 
 succeeded by others ; while this Church of 
 Christ has remained the same. Here the altar 
 has stood, here the fire has burned, from gener- 
 ation to generation ; and here we hope in God 
 the fire is to burn for a hundred years to come. 
 We rejoice, my dear brethren, in all the 
 memories of the past, the memories of the liv- 
 ing and the dead. You recall, as you sit here 
 in these seats, those honored fathers and mothers, 
 who "have all died in faith, and have inherited 
 the promises." You remember the tender and 
 sacred beauty of those characters which were 
 patterns to their children ; you mark them, as 
 14 
 
io6 
 
 they pass through all the stages of life till its 
 close, preserving the same serenity and sweet- 
 ness and peace unto the end. When they 
 passed away, they left to you, their survivors, 
 the rich inheritance of their example. 
 
 How much there is in the review of a hun- 
 dred years to encourage our faith in God, our 
 faith in that overruling providence which con- 
 trols all the affairs of men, of churches, and of 
 nations ! How we see the hand of God in the 
 history of our country! A hundred years ago 
 this nation was just emerging from the long 
 eight-years' war which ended in independence. 
 The country was poor, thinly settled, weak, 
 with everything yet to be done ; and yet how 
 wonderful has been its career ! Within a hun- 
 dred years it has passed through periods of 
 adversity, through financial distresses, through 
 wars with foreign nations, and, worse than all, 
 through the greatest civil war of modern times ; 
 but all these trials have come and gone, and still 
 the nation lives. And so may we say, with more 
 emphasis still, the Church lives, in spite of all 
 attacks upon her; and so the Church will live 
 in the hundred years to come. 
 
 I am not going to say much, because here 
 behind me sits my brother. Dr. Booth, who has 
 just returned from the East, who has seen what is 
 going on there in that old world, which is becom- 
 
I07 
 
 ing the new world. We are accustomed to say, 
 in our vanity : *' Westward the star of empire 
 takes its way." So it does, but in time the star 
 of empire may go down in the West, and rise 
 again in the East. He who looks toward the 
 dawn will see the curtain rise on great events, 
 and that before many years. Such events are 
 already transpiring. To-day the attention of the 
 whole world is attracted to Turkey, that border- 
 land between Europe and Asia, where, even at 
 this very moment, there are wars and rumors of 
 wars, the signs of great changes both in the 
 political and the religious world. Dr. Booth has 
 just passed through that country, and can de- 
 scribe it with all the vividness of a recent witness. . 
 Only yesterday I was at a breakfast given to 
 Archdeacon Farrar, to which were invited repre- 
 sentatives of the press, and beside me sat the 
 editor of the Evening Post, who, twenty years 
 and more ago, was the correspondent of the 
 London News in the Crimean war; and he said 
 to me as we talked of the East, "One day that 
 I was at Belgrade, I saw a courier ride into 
 that city, who had come all the way from Constan- 
 tinople, riding nine days and nights ; for the rule 
 was that he should never dismount from his horse, 
 except to eat — not to sleep ; for he was to sleep 
 on horseback. When horses were to be changed, 
 he did not dismount, but was lifted from one 
 
io8 
 
 horse to another, so that his feet should not 
 touch the ground till he had passed over that 
 immense distance from Constantinople to Bel- 
 grade!" Nine days and nights ! and now soon the 
 iron horse will carry all the . couriers and all 
 the travelers over that immense distance within 
 twenty-four hours! So the ends of the world are 
 coming together. 
 
 And there are great changes going on in the 
 religious world. One of the most gratifying 
 things to the traveler in the East is to see what 
 has been done by missionaries, and by American 
 missionaries ; how their little churches and their 
 schools dot all European and Asiatic Turkey, and 
 how they have built great colleges on the Bos- 
 phorus, and at Beirut, overlooking the Mediter- 
 ranean, and at Aintab and Kharpoot, in the 
 interior of Asiatic Turkey. 
 
 But I must not stop to speak of this. The 
 hand of God is in all this pressing, moving tide. 
 The world is going on ; the Church is making 
 progress ; and it is a blessed thing for us all to 
 live in this time and to have some part, however 
 humble, in this great work that is to be done for 
 the world and for our divine Lord and Master. 
 
 A hundred years to come ! Long before that 
 period shall arrive, all of us will have passed 
 away ; the youngest child that is here will be 
 numbered with the dead; but the Church will 
 
I09 
 
 live. It will live from generation to generation, 
 for centuries and millenniums, and the cause of 
 Christ will spread over America, over Africa, 
 over Asia, till the whole world shall be filled with 
 the knowledge of God, as the waters cover the 
 sea. 
 
 My brethren, I congratulate you with all my 
 heart on this anniversary ; I rejoice with you, 
 and join in your thanksgivings to God for all that 
 He has done in you and by you in this city. 
 And I pray for God's blessing upon you, not only 
 in the happy services of this week, but in all the 
 future of your lives, in your homes, and in this 
 church where you commune and labor together ; 
 I pray that as you increase in years you may 
 increase in all wisdom and virtue, abounding in 
 every good work ; and thus doing, as individuals 
 and as a church, more and more for the honor of 
 your Lord and for the salvation of the world. 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 REV. R. R. BOOTH, D. D. 
 
 :EAR friends : I feel like Joseph's 
 jbrethren, in respect to penitence, as 
 I stand here to-night. They said, 
 when they were in trying circum- 
 stances in the matter of Joseph, that they remem- 
 bered their misdeeds that day; and I am in a 
 measure afflicted and humiliated as I stand before 
 you, to realize that really this is the first time 
 that I have ever stood in this pulpit, or looked 
 into the face of this noble congregation. I don't 
 know how it has come to pass, certainly not in 
 the years gone by for the lack of cordial invita- 
 
Ill 
 
 tions, — several, at least, from your pastor, — but so 
 it was. And I feel especially grateful and gratified 
 for the welcome given to me in such kind words, 
 as I now stand in this beautiful edifice, and be- 
 hold so many evidences of the prosperity of the 
 church, aside from this centennial anniversary. 
 This is indeed, I believe, a unique occasion in 
 the history of the Presbyterian Churches in our 
 city. Our brother. Dr. Chambers, tells me, with 
 that sense of self-possession which becomes a 
 son of the Reformed Church, that they have 
 celebrated their quarter -millennial — their two 
 hundred and fiftieth anniversary. But we Pres- 
 byterians have never aspired to any such lon- 
 gevity as that; at least, we are very far from 
 having attained it. I do not remember that the 
 First Presbyterian Church, which is the mother 
 of us all, celebrated the event when it reached 
 its centennial year. What has become of the 
 Second and the Third Churches, I don't know ; it 
 has been a matter of inquiry among us here upon 
 the platform. The surmise is, that the Second 
 Church is that which is known as the " Brick 
 Church," and the Third is the Scotch Church in 
 Fourteenth street. Whether they have observed 
 a centenary, I don't know. But I think you have 
 done well on this occasion in bringing to remem- 
 brance the years gone by : '* I have thought of 
 Thy loving-kindness, O God," said the psalmist, 
 
112 
 
 " in the midst of Thy Temple." And I especially 
 realize the gladness and the interest of this 
 occasion, in looking upon two of the forms that 
 are present with us to-night, who have, doubt- 
 less, been present on former occasions during the 
 week — our honored friend. Dr. Thomson, who 
 was here when I came into this neighborhood 
 many, many years ago, and who has not only 
 favored his own former congregation, but has 
 shed a benignant light upon all his ministerial 
 brethren of New- York, in coming across the sea 
 from "old Scotland" to see us all again. May 
 he return in health and in prosperity, and may his 
 days be long and happy in the dear old mother- 
 land which every Presbyterian loves. And we 
 are happy, also, in the presence of our beloved 
 brother, Dr. Spaulding, whose face is always 
 radiant with a benediction for those who love 
 the Kingdom of God, and whose songs, as you 
 have sung them here, make one wonder at the 
 fertility and at the readiness with which his 
 thought flows into these sacred verses. 
 
 Brethren, it is a good thing to be a Presby- 
 terian. I don't know that it is the best thing; 
 the best of all is to be a Christian ; but to 
 be a Presbyterian intelligently, with clear con- 
 victions, is, I think, the best form of being a 
 Christian that this world in its present state 
 knows of. 
 
113 
 
 Allusion has been made to the fact that I have 
 been moving to and fro upon the earth, and 
 looking at different peoples and at different in- 
 stitutions in many lands. I hope I have been 
 learning from my experience in these past two 
 and a half years, as I had learned, somewhat 
 before, to exercise a spirit of charity toward 
 those who differed from me. The Christian 
 world is full of many differing churches. When 
 we look at our own church and our own system, 
 we should value ourselves overmuch, if we 
 should imagine that we were the whole or that 
 we were a very large part of the whole ; and 
 one must in all Christian charity realize in the 
 presence of those churches of the East, and in 
 those churches of southern Europe, where there 
 is such devotion, such self-sacrifice, such earnest 
 religious zeal according to their light, that we 
 should do ourselves and our Master wrong if 
 we should assume to be the only church. And 
 yet that we are a church of which we need not 
 be ashamed is certainly true. Some four or five 
 weeks ago, I had the opportunity of being pres- 
 ent in the city of Edinburgh and joining in the 
 worship of some of the congregations, and in 
 visiting again, not for the second or the third 
 time, some of those historic spots. I don't know 
 that I have felt more proud of our Presbyterian 
 record than when I stood in Greyfriar's Church- 
 15 
 
114 
 
 yard and looked upon the graves of the mar- 
 tyred Scotch ministers and noblemen who, to the 
 number of one hundred and fifty, lie buried in an 
 inconspicuous corner, the ground that holds their 
 honored remains marked only by a monument 
 of recent erection, telling the story of their life 
 and of their death, and how they perished in the 
 strife for the Church of God, and for his cove- 
 nant, under the blue Presbyterian flag. I feel 
 that in all our history as a church we have much 
 to rejoice over and to be proud of, and especially 
 in our connection with the dear Scottish breth- 
 ren. My heart has always warmed toward the 
 Scottish men wherever I have found them. It 
 was my privilege during this winter to act as a 
 kind of minister at intervals to a section of the 
 Scottish Presbyterian nation that was assembled 
 for warlike purposes in the city of Cairo, assist- 
 ing, by a curious coincidence, as it has been 
 suggested to me by Dr. Thomson, one of the 
 boys from his Scottish parish, Rev. Mr. Robert- 
 son, who is the chaplain of the " Black Watch," or 
 42d Highlanders. And there they gathered, in 
 our chapel services in Cairo, Sabbath after Sab- 
 bath, and even during the week, those stalwart 
 Scottish soldiers, clad in the Highland costume ; 
 and one felt in looking at their faces that any 
 cause that was intrusted to their hands was safe 
 as far as human courage could make it so, and all 
 
115 
 
 the safer because they were so largely men of 
 God. 
 
 One's mind during the past winter in that 
 part of the world to which I have alluded has 
 been very much turned to Scottish interests, 
 not only by the regiments, but also by the 
 number of noble men who have played their 
 part, and many of whom have fallen a sacrifice 
 in that ill-fated expedition in the Soudan. How 
 many of them I saw during the early months 
 of this year passing southward toward the 
 Soudan or the Red Sea — noble men, beginning 
 with Gordon, the leader, and the hero of Khar- 
 toum. I was sitting one evening in the 
 house of an English officer in the Khedive's 
 service, when this last letter of General Gordon 
 was placed in my hands. I don't know that it 
 has ever been made public — the last lines that 
 fell from his pen : 
 
 " My Dear Watson : The game is up, and I write 
 to make my adieus to yourself and to your wife and to 
 some other friends. This would not have happened, if it 
 does happen, if our people had taken pains to let me know 
 of their plans, and had been a little earlier. As it now 
 seems, the catastrophe cannot be delayed longer than 
 ten or twelve days. But this is spilt milk. Good-bye." 
 
 This is the last word that came to us from 
 that Scottish Presbyterian, Gordon, who has 
 been worthy of his clan and worthy of his 
 
ii6 
 
 record. But now our minds turn back to a 
 hundred years ago, when this church was founded 
 on its narrow foundations. How great the 
 change since then ! George the Third was on 
 the throne of England. Napoleon Bonaparte, 
 a young lieutenant in Paris, was playing chess 
 on the table that still stands, with the inscrip- 
 tion recording the fact, in the Cafe de la Regime. 
 All Europe was in the night of the middle ages. 
 Practically, the Holy Inquisition was in full 
 sway in Spain and in Rome, and the ambassa- 
 dors of the European courts, as they presented 
 themselves at the Sublime Porte, went humbly 
 upon their knees and kissed the dirt, as became 
 envoys from an almost unknown world. How 
 changed these things are at the present day ! 
 Allusion has been made to the Turkish Empire, 
 and to American enterprise in connection with 
 it. It is an illustration, and therefore I speak 
 of it, of what is accomplished sometimes by the 
 influence of a single church, moving through a 
 variety of avenues, working out results which 
 at the time of their inception are often hard to 
 understand or to anticipate. On the banks of 
 the Bosphorus there stands an institution that 
 bears the name of Robert College, the name of 
 a not now living, but once honored merchant 
 of this city, who was a member of the Ses- 
 sion in the Brainerd Church, a church that 
 
117 
 
 was founded long after this church took its 
 rise. Traveling in the East for purposes of 
 recreation, his mind was struck with the need 
 of education, as well as missionary effort and 
 instruction, in the Turkish Empire. The out- 
 come of his interest was the founding of Robert 
 College, which it was intended should furnish 
 missionaries and ministers from the native pop- 
 ulation. Robert College was founded some 
 twenty years ago, and among the first students 
 who came to it was a company whose presence 
 and whose interest in the institution was entirely 
 unexpected, — a company of Bulgarian youth, 
 whose language at that time was strange to the 
 missionaries, and whose appearance was most 
 uncouth, betokening social degradation and the 
 lack of cultivated manners. It so turned out, 
 in the providence of God, that Robert College, 
 which was intended especially for the education 
 of Greek and Turkish youth, became the cen- 
 ter of a Bulgarian educational system, which in 
 the course of time sent back hundreds and hun- 
 dreds of Bulgarian young men into that province, 
 who gradually entered into prominent places, 
 first as school-masters, then as teachers, and 
 then, by their administrative skill, as prefects 
 and sub-prefects in the State under the Turkish 
 establishment. These men were educated in 
 Protestant evangelical ideas, and from the Amer- 
 
ii8 
 
 ican social and political point of view. Now 
 the presence of these men in Bulgaria gradually 
 caused the uplifting of the people to a higher 
 standard of education and to a larger estimate 
 of that which was necessary for the liberty and 
 well-being of the people. As the result of 
 this restlessness came the terrible massacres 
 of which you all have heard. Out of these 
 massacres came the intervention of Russia, 
 and the Turko- Russian war, the issue of which 
 was the practical sundering of the Turkish 
 Empire, the establishment of the kingdom of 
 Servia and the kingdom of Roumania, and the 
 virtual enfranchisement of Bulgaria, which has 
 now been consummated by the addition of the 
 southern section, the province of Roumelia, which 
 the treaty of Berlin took away. Nothing is more 
 certain, in the line of direct result following 
 cause, than that the establishment of Robert 
 College and the gifts of Christopher Robert, a 
 noble member of a Presbyterian Session in 
 this city, led to the breaking up, so far as it 
 has been accomplished, of the Turkish Empire, 
 and the beginning of a new day throughout the 
 East. It is worth while for a minister to have 
 a well-trained Session, and to give it scope, 
 and in our Presbyterian system a faithful elder, 
 blessed with means and heart, may be expected 
 to devise great things for the Kingdom of God. 
 
119 
 
 I give you another illustration. As one 
 travels farther East, he comes to that most 
 beautiful of Oriental cities for situation, the 
 city of Beirut, a city of a hundred thousand 
 people, lying on the slopes of Lebanon, and 
 largely civilized, according to our American con- 
 ception of civilization ; and there, on one of the 
 heights that overlook the sea, stands a college, 
 not a whit inferior to Robert College in its 
 equipment, in the staff of instructors, and in all 
 those influences that work upon a nation's life. 
 That college, too, was founded by another 
 member of the Session of that same Brainerd 
 Church, in association with other men. And 
 so, from that single point of view, from the 
 developed life of the single church of which I 
 speak, there have arisen two institutions that 
 under God are doing more to change the face 
 of that dark Eastern world than all the diplo- 
 macy of Europe put together. I saw a letter 
 the other day from Dr. Washburne, of Robert 
 College, describing a visit which he was making, 
 in a quiet way, into Bulgaria just before the 
 recent outbreak, when the people thronged about 
 him and followed him from town to town, and 
 at last took the horses from his carriage and 
 drew him in triumph through the streets ; so 
 heartily did they recognize what they owed to 
 that man, and to the institution which he rep- 
 
I20 
 
 resented, out of which had come their liberties 
 and their hopes. 
 
 Brethren, the greatest thing in this world, 
 as one may look upon it with a sympathetic 
 Christian eye, is the Church of Christ, in its 
 onward, its aggressive movement to overcome 
 the world for the Redeemer. The church that 
 lives a hundred years, and holds its own, and 
 does a work that reaches far away beyond its 
 own circumference, has great cause to thank 
 God, and to take courage for the hundred years 
 to come. We have been living in the grandest 
 century of the six thousand years or more of 
 our world's history ; and in the life of those 
 who have made the successive generations of 
 this church, all the great institutions that are 
 changing the face of society and uplifting the 
 world have been born. Less than a hundred 
 years ago, Carey and his associates went to 
 India — Dr. Taylor asks me not to steal his 
 thunder; but he is a busy man, and I am an 
 idle man, and I must take what comes to me 
 just as it occurs. Less than a hundred years 
 ago, Carey and his associates went to India, 
 and Sidney Smith (that witty English prelate) 
 said that " they were a handful of maniacs go- 
 ing out to convert a hundred millions of men." 
 It is true they have not all been converted, but 
 the civilization that has reached beyond these 
 
121 
 
 missionary efforts is a product of which the 
 thoughtful Christian man must constantly take 
 cognizance. Less than a hundred years ago, 
 the young men of Williams College gathered 
 around the haystack under which they found 
 shelter in a thunder-storm, and planned the 
 great American missionary enterprise. Less 
 than a hundred years ago, Dr. Taylor and 
 brethren, of Scotland, the burghers of Inver- 
 ness, coming together for a friendly talk, said 
 one to another, that they had heard of a town 
 named Dingwell, away up in the mud and among 
 the rocks, fifteen miles to the north of them, 
 and sent out a deputation to search it out. Less 
 than a hundred years ago, the world was large 
 because communication was so difficult and 
 long ; now the world is small ; and, dear breth- 
 ren and friends, the omnipresent person in the 
 world is Jesus Christ, our King, moving on in 
 the mighty path of His salvation. All the ad- 
 vantages of our time are associated in some 
 way with the uplifting and civilizing and sanc- 
 tifying work of His dear church ; and those 
 whose hearts are united unto Him and to His 
 blessed work, while they cannot trace the di- 
 verging and extending lines of the influence 
 that they put forth, may be sure that He who 
 reigns above will use these influences, if they 
 are put forth in loyalty to Him, so that the little 
 i6 
 
122 
 
 one shall become a thousand, and the small one 
 as a strong nation. 
 
 Dear friends, I had many things to say, but 
 Dr. Taylor's interruption shows me how eager 
 he is to get to his feet and speak. On occa- 
 sions like this he is irrepressible, and I shall 
 not long restrain him. 
 
 The pastor asks me to speak of a single in- 
 cident, or of a single phase that presents itself 
 to one who travels in the northern part of Italy. 
 God's hidden ones are spoken of in the Bible. 
 Some of us discovered a year or two ago, just 
 where the northern part of Italy meets the 
 southern part of Switzerland, a half a dozen 
 churches that had been buried for two hundred 
 and fifty years in isolation because there were 
 no roads, no communication, no travel. They 
 were churches of the Reformation, that had 
 been formed in the Presbyterian order, and they 
 had lived in loneliness, and maintained their 
 faith and order until they were excavated by the 
 visitation of some who came on the roads while 
 civil-engineering, and they have begun to live a 
 new life, and are doing good things in missionary 
 effort all over that region. And so, if I had time, 
 I might speak to you of that great realm of 
 Italy, next to Great Britain and our own, the 
 most progressive land, I think, on earth, where 
 the old Waldensian Church, one of the sister 
 churches of the Reformation, is girding itself 
 
123 
 
 anew with power and reaching far and wide with 
 wondrous evangelical efforts. But I must tell 
 you of a single thing, in the way of a mere inci- 
 dent, as indicating what a sympathetic look or 
 word sometimes accomplishes. I happened, a few 
 months ago, to be passing through Verona, a city 
 lying between Valencia and Milan, on the Sab- 
 bath day, and it occurred to me to visit the 
 Waldensian Church, to attend the church and 
 speak with the people. The pastor, at the close 
 of the service, said to me, when I told him I was 
 a Presbyterian minister from New-York, and my 
 wife was a Presbyterian Church member : " I 
 have heard of such persons ; I have heard of 
 Presbyterian ministers and members ; but I never 
 saw one in my life before." And they were pass- 
 ing through Verona by hundreds and almost by 
 thousands every year. And he, in the sense of 
 contact with a living embodiment of something 
 Presbyterian from the other side, seemed to take 
 upon himself a new stature, and his face shone with 
 a new joy, and so, brethren, in a thousand ways, 
 a sympathetic word is a word that tells for God. 
 
 The continuance of the church on earth in 
 itself is a perpetual shining of a light that spreads 
 out into the darkness. May your light long con- 
 tinue to shine, not as in the past, but brighter 
 and brighter, to the perfect day ; and may un- 
 numbered benedictions rest upon you, and upon 
 your beloved pastor, always. 
 
Address 
 
 Rev. W. m. Taylor, d. d, ll d. 
 
 AM always glad to be neighborly, for 
 I have good neighbors about me, and 
 " a man that hath friends must show 
 himself friendly." 
 This church has been a good neighbor to me. 
 In the days of my friend, the predecessor of your 
 beloved pastor, when there was no roof over our 
 heads on the opposite corner, you opened your 
 door for us, and we had evening service here, for, 
 I think, two or three months. That was a neigh- 
 borly act that I have never forgotten and never 
 can forget. And I feel that anything that I can 
 
125 
 
 do for this church and for its pastor is little in 
 comparison to that great favor which was ren- 
 dered by the church here to us in our circum- 
 stances of need. It has been my good fortune 
 to live on terms of brotherhood and love with all 
 my brethren here. I think never a man, coming 
 as I did among entire strangers, received such a 
 royal welcome from his brethren in the ministry 
 as I did. And even if some of them were a little 
 inclined to be offish, they by and by turned out 
 to be my most affectionate friends. So that I 
 should be one of the most ungrateful of men if I 
 did not willingly put myself about, if that were 
 needed, to show my brotherhood to those who 
 took me by the hand when I was an utter stranger 
 in this city and this land, and came to a congre- 
 gation, only one or two members of which had 
 ever seen me in the flesh until I stood in their 
 pulpit. I shudder sometimes when I think what 
 I did then. As I said to a brother of mine to- 
 day, nothing but the firmest persuasion, that in 
 taking the step which I then took I was follow- 
 ing the clearest command of my Master, would 
 have sustained me in the sacrifices which I made 
 and the experiences through which I passed. 
 When I was half-way across the Atlantic, it 
 dawned upon me that I had burned the boats be- 
 hind me, and that I was going to a place I did 
 not know. Who was to meet me on the wharf, 
 
126 
 
 I could not tell, I never had seen them ; and if 
 it had not been for one little sentence of the book 
 of Genesis, that came to me, as I have no doubt 
 now, by the suggestion of God's Spirit, I do not 
 know what I should have done. That sentence 
 was : " I being in the way, the Lord led me." 
 That has held me all these years. That keeps 
 me yet ; and the welcome which I got, not only 
 from my own people, but from the brethren of the 
 city generally, makes me think that I should be 
 the most ungrateful of men, if I did not on all 
 occasions, whenever it is possible, hold myself 
 at their disposal to render them whatever service 
 they may require. Some people say that it is 
 easier to weep with them that weep than to re- 
 joice with them that rejoice. I question whether 
 that is true in my case. I am sure that my heart 
 to-night is full of joy and gratitude for you, when 
 in the retrospect of a hundred years you have 
 come here to raise your Ebenezer as a Christian 
 church, and to say : " Hitherto the Lord hath 
 helped us." 
 
 Now in settling what I should speak about 
 to-night I thought it would be well just to look 
 at two or three things in which we have made 
 extraordinary progress in the Christian church 
 during the last hundred years. One of these 
 was that to which my brother. Dr. Booth, was 
 referring when I rather improperly interrupted 
 
127 
 
 him. I mean activity in the cause of foreign 
 missions. Some ninety years ago, I think in 
 the year 1796, there was a famous debate on 
 missions in the General Assembly of the Church 
 of Scotland. Perhaps some of you may be 
 familiar with the incidents and individuals of 
 that discussion, as they have been described by 
 the master hand of Hugh Miller, in the sketch 
 which has been preserved in one of the volumes 
 of his collected works. It is rather singular 
 reading in these days. Two overtures came 
 up — I need not explain to a Presbyterian Church 
 what an overture is — from different Synods, 
 one asking the Assembly in general terms to 
 give its approval of the work of foreign missions, 
 and the other asking the Assembly to do some- 
 thing specific in entering upon a foreign mission 
 of its own. These overtures were brought 
 before the Assembly in due form, and the adop- 
 tion of one of them was moved by a man 
 whose name comes into prominence in Robert 
 Burns's poems, not entirely to his credit, for in 
 after-life he did not shine very brightly. He 
 was there in the Assembly as an elder ; his 
 name was Robert Heron. The motion was 
 seconded by the Reverend Dr. John Erskine, 
 who was prevented, however, at that time from 
 making his speech by some form of the House ; 
 and the rejection of the overture was moved by 
 
128 
 
 no less a person than Dr. George Hill, the 
 Professor of Divinity in St. Andrew's, and the 
 Principal of St. Andrew's University, whose 
 " Lectures on Theology " was one of the text- 
 books of Chalmers at a later day in his class. 
 Even such a man as Hill, who was the leader 
 of the Moderate party of the house at that time, 
 moved the rejection of the overture, and Hamil- 
 ton of Gladsmuir seconded its rejection. After 
 they had said some very strong things about 
 the proposals, — had, in fact, called them the 
 schemes of hare-brained enthusiasts, and the 
 most absurd things that had ever been put upon 
 the table of the house, — Erskine rose. There 
 was a Bible on the desk in front of the Mode- 
 rator, as there always is at a meeting of the 
 General Assembly in Scotland, and he said, 
 " Moderator, rax me that Bible " ; and, with the 
 Bible open, he began to expound to them the 
 duty of entering on the missionary enterprise. 
 But such was the weight of prejudice and igno- 
 rance in that Assembly, that — it is hardly 
 possible to believe it now — the overtures were 
 rejected by a most overwhelming majority. And 
 that was not quite a hundred years ago. 
 
 As I have just spoken of John Erskine, let me 
 say that he was the colleague of Robertson the 
 historian, who was himself a very strong Mode- 
 rate. The colleague, however, was a man of a dif- 
 
129 
 
 ferent type, and you will find a most admirable de- 
 scription of him given by Walter Scott in his novel 
 of " Guy Mannering." But more to the present 
 purpose, and more interesting to us on this side 
 of the Atlantic now, is the fact that this John Ers- 
 kine was the first Scotchman who lifted up his 
 voice In indignant protest against the conduct of 
 the British government toward these American 
 colonies ; and his pamphlet, entitled " Ought we 
 to go to War with our American Brethren ? " is a 
 production of very great power, filled, too, with 
 scathing indignation, and not without its interest 
 even in the present day. He had good reason to 
 love these American colonies, for he was a close 
 friend and constant correspondent of Jonathan 
 Edwards, of New England ; and in the memoir 
 of that great man you will find that some of the 
 best letters which it contains are those which he 
 wrote to and those which he received from John 
 Erskine. Now, only think, that was but about 
 ninety years ago. Since then, what has Scotland 
 done in the great missionary cause ? I recall, for 
 example, the names of Morrison and Legge, who 
 went out to China in connection with the London 
 Missionary Society ; those of Moffate and Living- 
 stone, who went to Africa in connection with the 
 same society, and that of Duff, who went out 
 some thirty or forty years after from the very 
 Church of Scotland in the Assembly of which that 
 17 
 
I30 
 
 great debate was held. And as I repeat those 
 names, and bring up before you all that is asso- 
 ciated with them, you will understand what im- 
 mense progress we have made in this matter of 
 Christian missions during these hundred years. As 
 Dr. Booth has said, it is only seventy-five years 
 since the American Board was formed, — we were 
 holding its seventy-fifth anniversary just a few 
 days ago in Boston, — and to-day its missionaries 
 are all over the world. There are besides, Eng- 
 lish and Scottish missionaries in Japan, China, In- 
 dia, South Africa, Central Africa, Western Africa, 
 in the West India Islands, all along down the 
 eastern coast of South America, and up the west- 
 ern coast. Now, that is something to be thankful 
 for, proving, as it does, that we are living in one 
 of the greatest and most progressive of the cent- 
 uries that the world has seen since the days of the 
 apostles. 
 
 But not only in connection with foreign mis- 
 sions have we seen such wonderful advance. Equal 
 progress is conspicuous in the activity of the 
 churches at home. In the memorable debate to 
 which I have referred, there was one brother — I 
 am ashamed to say his name was Dr. William 
 Taylor, of Glasgow — who stood up and said, 
 " We cannot entertain this proposition, because 
 there are heathen enough at home to work for, 
 and it will be time enough for us to go abroad 
 
131 
 
 when we have evangelized those at our own 
 doors." Well, we have heard that a great many 
 times since then, but if that were a valid excuse 
 for neglecting foreign missions, then surely, be- 
 fore the foreign missionary enterprise was entered 
 upon, we might expect to find a great deal of 
 activity at home ; and that the churches were ear- 
 nestly at work for the elevation and evangelization 
 of those around them. But was that so ? Go back 
 a hundred years : Were there any Sunday-schools 
 then ? Perhaps you might have found a few, for 
 the centenary of the Sunday-school was observed 
 in London and on this side of the water in 1880, 
 but they were few and far between. Would you 
 have found any city missions? Not one. City 
 missions were the creation of the early part of 
 this century, and the name of David Naismith 
 comes into prominence in connection with them ; 
 not the Naismith that is famous for the invention 
 of the steam-hammer, but he who went down into 
 the depths of London slums and brought up 
 thence precious souls, that he might set them 
 as jewels in the coronet of the Redeemer. And 
 from London the city mission enterprise spread 
 over all the large cities and towns of England and 
 Scotland, and we have had the benefit of it here 
 also. Were there any Scripture-readers in those 
 days ? No, none at all. Were there district 
 visitors ? None. Was there any tract distri- 
 
132 
 
 bution ? Not at all. All these enterprises of 
 Christian benevolence and activity which we now 
 see so earnestly at work, and to which we of the 
 present generation have been accustomed almost 
 from our earliest days, are themselves the fruits 
 of the revived Christianity of the churches during 
 the last hundred years. That is a great thing to 
 be thankful for, and it becomes us to see that we, 
 on whom the latter part of the century has fallen, 
 shall not allow these works to fail. We ought to 
 pledge ourselves by the memory of our fathers to 
 carry forward to yet more glorious triumphs the 
 enterprises of Christian aggressiveness both at 
 home and abroad, with which so many of them 
 were so conspicuously identified. 
 
 Then, again, this century has seen wonderful 
 progress in the matter of Christian brotherhood 
 and love. I think the previous century was 
 perhaps, at least among Presbyterians, — I sup- 
 pose I may speak about that, because I am two- 
 thirds of a Presbyterian at least, perhaps more, — 
 I think the last century among Presbyterians 
 may be called a century of divisions. There was 
 a tendency to magnify points into principles, and 
 if these points were not all conceded, an imme- 
 diate division was the result. When my friend 
 Dr. Booth was speaking about the Burghers of 
 Inverness, I did not know whether he meant 
 simply the citizens of Inverness or another kind 
 
^33 
 
 of Burghers altogether. I wonder how many 
 of this congregation know about Burghers and 
 Anti-burghers. There were five towns in Scot- 
 land that had connected with them an oath which 
 had to be taken by every burgess. Every one 
 who had conferred upon him the freedom of the 
 town, as it was called, had to take an oath which 
 bound him to do nothing that was contrary to the 
 interests of the Protestant religion as by law 
 established in the land. Well, you would not 
 think that there was much about that to discuss ; 
 but controversy over it got into the Secession 
 Church in the early years of its history, I sup- 
 pose before it completed the first twenty years 
 of its history, and although there were very few 
 of the members of the Secession Church in these 
 five towns, yet the contest waxed hot and heavy, 
 whether it was proper for one who was a member 
 of the Secession Church to take that oath. Some 
 said it was warrantable enough to take it. They 
 said that it meant simply that they were not to 
 favor Roman Catholicism. Others said it was 
 wrong to take it, because it meant that they were 
 not to do anything against the Scotch Established 
 Church, from which they had seceded. And so 
 the controversy waxed grievous, until at length 
 there was a division of the denomination over it 
 into two, and those of them who thought there 
 was no harm in taking the burgess oath were 
 
134 
 
 called Burghers, and those who thought it was 
 wrong to take the burgess oath were called 
 Anti-burghers; and the conflict was very, very 
 bitter between them. Members of the same 
 families, arrayed on different sides of the ques- 
 tion, would be so bitter that they would not 
 speak to each other on the subject. My grand- 
 father was on the one side and my grandmother 
 on the other. And when the minister of my 
 grandmother, who was on the Burgher side, 
 came to the house when my grandfather was ill, 
 the sick man was so strong and rigid, so con- 
 scientious in his adherence to what he thought was 
 principle, that he would not consent to see him, 
 even although he believed him to be a Christian 
 man. And the children learned from the parents 
 the same kind of feeling. A very good story used 
 to be told in illustration of that. One Sacramental 
 Sunday evening, when the preaching was in the 
 open air, the boys who were on the outskirts 
 of the crowd were somewhat noisy, and the 
 minister of the church (it was a Relief Church), 
 whose place was being occupied by a brother, 
 thought he would go round and restore quiet. 
 As he approached the disturbers of the peace, 
 the boys took to their heels, but one poor fellow 
 fell, and as the minister caught hold of him, the 
 other mischievous fellows, standing at a safe 
 distance, cried out : " Lick him weel, sir ; his 
 
135 
 
 fayther's an Anti-burgher." That story well illus- 
 trates the temper of the time, and will help you 
 to understand what I mean when I say that 
 Presbyterians a hundred years ago were a great 
 deal more given to breaking up into fragments 
 over little points than they were to coming to- 
 gether. But now for the last sixty-five years 
 or so the tide has turned, and the wave is flow- 
 ing in the direction of brotherhood and love and 
 union. Those two fractions, as we may call them, 
 of the Secession Church came together in the year 
 1820, and the union came about because they 
 had got to praying together, first, in little fellow- 
 ship prayer-meetings. Then, in the year 1847, 
 the Relief Church went in and formed with them 
 what is now in Scotland the United Presbyterian 
 Church. And the same thing has been going on 
 elsewhere. We have had a rising tide of Chris- 
 tian union during all these years, and a very 
 blessed thing it is ; and very much of it has been 
 the result of the activity of Christian churches 
 of all denominations in foreign missions and 
 in home effort. Almost all the Presbyterian 
 Churches and the Congregational Board have 
 missionaries now in India; many of them, or most 
 of them, have missionaries in Japan and China 
 and elsewhere. Those brethren out there in the 
 front, among the heathen, could not help coming 
 close together. It is a very close communion 
 
136 
 
 out there, but It is not a close communion that 
 excludes ; it is a close communion that embraces, 
 because the heathen are round about them ; and 
 coming thus into close communion and close 
 cooperation with each other, they learned thereby 
 the good that is in each other. If you go to 
 Europe, and a person who lives in the same 
 street with you, to whom you have never spoken 
 before, and who has never spoken to you before, 
 should see you walking in the streets of London, 
 I will venture to say that he would make straight 
 for you, and say, " How do you do ? What are 
 you doing here ? " because distance from home 
 and isolation has led you to appreciate each 
 other. I remember once going into the Lang- 
 ham Hotel in London, when a man came up to 
 me and said, " Dr. Taylor, how do you do ? I 
 am glad to see you. I have seen your wife since 
 you did." " Yes, but I do not know you." 
 "Why," said he, "I live in your street. I have 
 never spoken to you before, but I could not well let 
 you go past here." Well, it was just similar with 
 our missionaries of different denominations in the 
 high places of foreign heathenism. There they 
 were thrown together and learned to love each 
 other, and the influence of that came home and 
 the brethren here began to look into each other's 
 faces and into each other's hearts, and the Evan- 
 gelical Alliance was the result. The same thing 
 
137 
 
 is true in regard to our cooperation at home. 
 Brethren of all denominations sit together on the 
 committees of the Tract Society, and the Bible 
 Society, and the City Mission Society, and they 
 cannot meet there without seeing the good that 
 is in each other ; and thus there has been during 
 these last eighty years a very great increase in 
 the spirit of Christian union. We may not have 
 gone into each other's churches and said, this is 
 just as good as my own ; but we have conversed 
 with each other over the partition walls, and the 
 partition walls are not nearly so high now as 
 they were years ago. By and by, perhaps, they 
 may be lower still; but, at any rate, it is a great 
 thing to say that the churches, as a whole, are 
 growing in the spirit which the Redeemer prayed 
 for when He said : " That they all may be one, 
 as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee ; that 
 they all may be one in us." 
 
 And then (this is the last thing that I will 
 refer to) we have come to see more clearly, dur- 
 ing these hundred years, the difference between 
 essentials and non-essentials in religious matters. 
 That is just stating in another way what I have 
 already said, but it is important enough to be 
 emphasized. Now I don't see it, but I know 
 it is up there [pointing to the organ]. A hun- 
 dred years ago that would not have been there, 
 and much less than a hundred years ago the 
 i8 
 
138 
 
 attempt to put it there would have been met by 
 a storm of opposition. But we have now come 
 more than before to regard it as not a matter 
 of great moment. We have come to see that the 
 one great scriptural rubric in regard to praise 
 is : " God is a spirit, and they that worship 
 Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." 
 Give us these two things, and wherever you 
 have these, organ or no organ, the worship is 
 acceptable to God. Then there is another point : 
 you have here what I am delighted to see, these 
 hymns. Well, I am old enough to remember 
 when there was only one Presbyterian denom- 
 ination in Scotland, and that the Relief Church, 
 that sang hymns. I remember the introduction 
 of the hymn-book into the United Presbyterian 
 Church of Scotland. It is only within the last 
 few years that hymns have been introduced into 
 the Established Church of Scotland. The Con- 
 gregational Churches, I believe, from the very 
 beginning of their history in Scotland, under the 
 Haldanes, sang hymns ; but the Presbyterian 
 Churches, with the exception of the Relief Church, 
 had no hymns, save the paraphrases. Now we 
 have got to see that just as we pray in unin- 
 spired language, so we may sing uninspired 
 hymns. And yet, let me say this : although 
 it is a great thing to have these hymns, and 
 
139 
 
 although there are things in the New Testa- 
 ment which I want to sing about, and for which 
 I cannot always find an appropriate psalm (for 
 instance, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and all that I owe to that — except the Sixteenth 
 Psalm, I think there is not any one that refers 
 to that, and I want to sing about that very often), • 
 still, although that is the case, it is a great regret 
 to me that in my church hymn-book we have 
 few metrical psalms. And I am delighted to 
 know that in the front part of your hymn-book 
 here you have selections from the old psalms. 
 Ah, they have done a great deal for me, and I 
 love those old psalms. English people laugh at 
 them, and I believe there are some of our Amer- 
 ican friends who make themselves a little merry 
 over them; but they are very close to the He- 
 brew, and there is a great deal of strength and 
 beauty in their old rhythm. I used to say to 
 my English friends, that the reason they did not 
 like them was because they did not know how 
 to read them ; and I believe that is true of some 
 of our American brethren. Just think of these 
 four lines : 
 
 " Their blood about Jerusalem 
 Like water they have shed. 
 And there was none to bury them, 
 When they were slain and dead." 
 
140 
 
 What a fine old ballad-like cadence there is 
 in these lines ! Then take these others: 
 
 " The waters, Lord, perceived Thee, 
 The waters saw Thee well, 
 And they for fear aside did flee ; 
 The depths on trembling fell." 
 
 Where shall we find grander poetry than that? 
 Or take that one that comes to me with the sound 
 of trumpets and the trampling of horses, as a 
 battle-cry : 
 
 " In Judah's land God is well known. 
 
 His name in Isr'el 's great, 
 In Salem is His tabernacle, 
 
 In Zion is His seat. 
 There arrows of the bow He brake, 
 
 The shield, the sword, the war ; 
 More glorious Thou than hills of prey, 
 
 More excellent art far." 
 
 Why, set me to singing that, and I would fight 
 in any battle, and I do not wonder that the Cov- 
 enanters conquered at Drumclog when they made 
 their onset to the glorious' sound of that martial 
 song. I say that I am very sorry that these old 
 songs are disappearing from among us. I like the 
 psalms. I think it would have been better if they 
 had not been pushed so much out by the hymns ; 
 and in my church, if we could not have the old 
 Scottish psalms, which, perhaps, would be asking 
 
141 
 
 a little too much, I would rejoice to have the 
 prose psalms chanted by the whole congregation. 
 I think we have the right to sing with Cowper, 
 Newton, Montgomery, Bonar, Lyte, and with 
 Palmer and others here on this side of the Atlan- 
 tic ; but we must not forget David, the sweet 
 singer of Israel. As an Old-Light minister once 
 said to me, " There is nothing like a good hard 
 psalm." I was preaching in his pulpit in the 
 earlier years of my ministry, and I was going to 
 give out a paraphrase, but when I turned to that 
 part of the book I found its leaves stitched up, 
 and at the close of the service I said to him, 
 " Why have you got the paraphrases stitched 
 up?" He said, "There is nothing like a good 
 hard psalm." I said, "I have no fault to find 
 with the psalms, but sometimes I like a para- 
 phrase too." Occasionally even the precentors 
 ventured on a similar protest. I remember a friend 
 giving out a paraphrase, when he was preaching 
 for a brother, and the man who was in the box 
 did not make any attempt to open the book, so 
 the preacher leaned over and said, "It is such 
 and such a paraphrase." The precentor replied : 
 "We don't sing paraphrases here, sir, but I will 
 sing the same number of a psalm." 
 
 Now I am thankful to say that we have got rid 
 of a great deal of that ; but at the same time I 
 don't think we have done well in so largely omit- 
 
142 
 
 ting the psalms from our books of praise, and I 
 congratulate you in retaining so many of them 
 in yours. 
 
 I have said a good deal more than I meant to 
 say when I arose, but I may fitly bring my re- 
 marks to a close by quoting from the psalter, as 
 my earnest prayer for you and my dear friend your 
 pastor, the familiar words, " Peace be within thy 
 walls and prosperity within thy palaces. For my 
 brother and companion's sake, I will now say, 
 Peace be within thee. Because of the house of 
 the Lord my God, I will seek thy good." God 
 bless you. 
 
The Church in Thirty-fourth Street, West of Broadway. 
 
IVednesday, October 28, iSS^.—y.^oP.M. 
 
 ^ 
 
 Xhe Sabbath- School Meeting. 
 
 The three Sabbath-Schools completely filled the body of the 
 Church, and the galleries were thronged by parents and 
 friends. 
 
 The Rev. fohn Spaiilding, D. D., presided, and interest- 
 ing addresses were made by the Revs. John Thomson, D.D., 
 James D. Wilson, D. D., George Alexander, D. D., and 
 Edward F. Parsons, M. D., a former Superintendent. 
 
 The exercises were varied bv the singing of appropriate 
 hymns by the children, and refreshments were served to them 
 in the Lecture-room, at the close of a most enjoyable evening. 
 
 ^ 
 
 Many of the former officers and teachers were specially 
 invited, and by their presence added greatly to the interest 
 of the occasion. 
 
Thursday, October 2p, i88$. — 7.^0 P. M. 
 
 Reminiscences and Social Reunion. 
 
 a/Jfter introductory devotional services, led by the 
 Rev. James White, D. D., 
 
 <tAddresses were made by the 
 
 Rev. John Spaulding, D. D. 
 
 Rev. Andrew Shiland, D. D. 
 
 Rev. John X^omson, D. D. 
 
 Mr. Robert (^arter. 
 
 Some fine solos were rendered bv Miss Josie McPherson 
 and Mr. Charles Renwick. 
 
 ^ 
 
 A sumptuous Collation was arranged in the Lecture- 
 room, which had been elegantly fitted up for the Reunion. 
 The intermingling of old and new members, the exchange 
 of memories and hopes, congratulations and good wishes, 
 protracted the large assembly until past the midnight. 
 
Address 
 
 Rev. John Spaulding, d. d. 
 
 THE ELOQUENCE OF AGE. 
 
 HAT more instructive, more impres- 
 sive, more elevating than the elo- 
 quence of age, when that age has 
 )been spent in the line of truth, duty, 
 and usefulness ! Especially when that age meas- 
 ures the life of a venerable church ! Thus far this 
 week we have listened, and been deeply moved by 
 the eloquence of the pulpit; this evening we listen 
 to the eloquence of the church, speaking from the 
 pews, and giving reminiscences of a century. 
 19 14s 
 
146 
 
 Is it not written, " Days should speak, and 
 multitude of years should teach wisdom " ? Days 
 should speak, because they have so much to 
 say, and years should teach, because they have 
 wisdom to impart from their accumulated stores 
 of practical knowledge. Let, then, days and 
 years express their strong emotions, so as to 
 excite corresponding emotions in others. There 
 is eloquence in the tones of their voice, in the 
 force of their language, and in the depth of their 
 impressions. 
 
 On the old homestead stands a venerable oak. 
 It was an acorn when your grandfather, or 
 father, was a boy. Every year has added a con- 
 centric circle to its growth till it now numbers 
 five score. It has lifted its head high, and higher 
 a hundred summers, and battled with the storms 
 of a hundred winters. It sprang from its acorn- 
 cell two years after the close of the Revolution- 
 ary War, and was only the size of a walking- 
 cane when General Washington was inaugurated 
 the first President of the United States. But now, 
 strong in its roots, strong in limbs, and majestic 
 in trunk, it stands the venerable and eloquent 
 teacher of three and a half generations past, and 
 many generations to come. We gather about 
 the old oak as loving pupils salute an old 
 teacher ; as dutiful and dear children kiss the 
 wrinkled cheeks of an aged parent. 
 
147 
 
 That venerable oak is the emblem of this 
 venerated Fourth Church. 
 
 To-day it is our privilege to gather in its 
 courts, and feel the eloquence of its age. It was 
 " built upon the foundation of the apostles and 
 prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief 
 corner-stone." On such a foundation there has 
 been eloquence in its stability. 
 
 During these hundred years, how many is7ns 
 have clamored for attention and recognition ! — 
 skepticism, socialism, communism, Arminianism, 
 Socinianism, unitarianism, old-schoolism, new- 
 schoolism, spiritism, higher criticism, lower gnos- 
 ticism, and as many other is7ns as there are 
 degrees of latitude between Cape Farewell and 
 Cape Horn. But it has given place to them, by 
 subjection, no, not for an hour. While to the Jews 
 Christ crucified has been " a stumbling-block, and 
 to the Greeks foolishness," to this church it has 
 been the " wisdom of God, and the power of 
 God." The old doctrines of the Bible, as im- 
 bedded in Christian experience, and formulated 
 by the Westminster Assembly of divines, have 
 ever been its substantial and satisfactory creed. 
 So doctrinally and eloquently it has stood, 
 
 " Like some tall cliff, that lifts its awful form, 
 Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm ; 
 While round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, 
 Eternal sunshine settles on its head." 
 
148 
 
 And there has been eloquence in its unity. 
 
 Different as may have been its opinions on 
 matters before it on various occasions, and 
 earnest as may have been its discussions, the 
 hour of decision has generally brought conces- 
 sion, concurrence, and a practical unity. Seldom 
 has so long a chain had so few broken links. 
 Its unity has been its past strength, and is 
 to-day an eloquent pledge of growing strength 
 with its increasing years. 
 
 And how eloquent has been its sympathy ! 
 
 When one member has suffered, all the mem- 
 bers have suffered with it ; when there has been 
 sickness in the family, how honest and earnest 
 the inquiries ! How suggestive and comforting 
 the fragrant flowers or delicate token sent to the 
 sick one ! When death has drawn the sable cur- 
 tains, and summoned to the funeral, how many 
 have found it better to go to the house of mourn- 
 ing than to the house of feasting ! In a city like 
 this, where the black or white badge so often 
 hangs from the knob of the door-bell, where the 
 daily hearse is no stranger, and the indifferent 
 multitude passes by with no care or inquiry about 
 the departed, how kind and Christian is the sight 
 of a house full of mourners ! Such expressions 
 of sympathy have characterized this old city con- 
 gregation beyond any I have known. Eloquent 
 
149 
 
 tributes are they to the best feelings and consola- 
 tions of human hearts. 
 
 And what shall we say of the eloquence of its 
 charities and contributions? If they have not 
 been so large and proud as some others, they 
 have been perennial. If they have not been the 
 babbling mountain brooks, dry more than half the 
 year, they have been the silent flowing springs, 
 keeping their banks verdant and fruitful the whole 
 twelve months. 
 
 Its Benevolent Society, now ninety years old, 
 has raised and expended for the relief and com- 
 fort of its worthy church members over $6000, 
 while its estimated public and private charities 
 have exceeded $720,000. Besides what it has 
 given for other church edifices, it has recently 
 built a Mission Chapel at an expense of $20,000, 
 and this house of worship at a cost of $140,000. 
 Thus, while it has cared for its own household, 
 it has generously, may I not say eloquently, con- 
 tributed to the welfare of others. 
 
 Then there is the outspoken eloquence of its 
 pulpit during these ten decades. An average of 
 two sermons on a Sabbath aggregates 10,400. 
 What shall we say of the instructive, impressive, 
 and persuasive power of these more than ten 
 thousand sermons and other addresses adapted to 
 various occasions ! How many darkened minds 
 
I50 
 
 have thereby been enlightened ; how many sad 
 hearts comforted ; how many consciences quick- 
 ened to the discernment of right and wrong ; how 
 many brought to the obedience of the truth, as it 
 is in Jesus ; how many feet turned from the broad 
 into the narrow way ; how many, now in heaven 
 and on the way there, are enabled to say, through 
 the eloquence of the truth uttered from this pulpit, 
 by the grace of God we are what we are ; all we 
 now are, and all we hope to be ! 
 
 And what of the about two hundred and fifty 
 communion seasons during the ten decades of this 
 church, where, from far and near, the tribes have 
 come up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testi- 
 mony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name ol 
 the Lord ! Is there nothing eloquent ; nothing 
 deeply emotional, and producing deep emotions ; 
 nothing strengthening the principles, motives, and 
 purposes of faith ; nothing sanctifying and mold- 
 ing character for usefulness and heaven in all 
 these seasons of partaking the memorials of the 
 broken body, and shed blood of the Lamb of 
 God ? Also in the some five thousand meetings for 
 prayer and praise; where the "eyes of the Lord 
 are upon the righteous, and His ears are open 
 unto their cry"; whence the hands of faith have 
 reached heaven, and brought down blessings to 
 gladden both earth and heaven. Moreover, in 
 the thousands of Bible-class and Sabbath-school 
 
151 
 
 lessons given the children and youth ; is there 
 no eloquence in the entrance of the words 
 that give light and understanding to the 
 simple? Ask Robert Raikes, who founded the 
 institution of Sabbath-schools four years before 
 this church was born, and who has been in heaven 
 seventy-four years ; ask the children and youth 
 who have studied and learned these lessons under 
 this roof- tree, — some of them are already in that 
 bright world, and others are on the way there, — 
 ask them whether there is anything enlightening, 
 subduing, and saving in the words of Him who 
 spake as never man spake ? 
 
 Our hearts rejoice, our bosoms glow : 
 This hour, what cheering visions rise ! 
 
 These children, nurtured here below, 
 Shall swell the assemblies of the skies ! 
 
 Then, to crown all, the eloquence of the silent 
 power, the unconscious influence, and the prac- 
 tical religion in the private lives of the pastors, 
 officers, and members of this church. 
 
 Enoch's private walk with God in the presence 
 of his contemporaries 300 years, and its influence 
 5000 years since God took him, speaks even more 
 eloquently to-day than the public, excellent sacri- 
 fice of Abel. So with the piety of the men and 
 women who have walked with God here. The 
 dead yet speak. It is the still small voice that of 
 
152 
 
 old spake to the people through His prophet, and 
 now speaks to us through His people. So much 
 for this century oak. Such is the eloquence of its 
 age. Eloquent in its stability ; eloquent in its 
 unity ; eloquent in its sympathy ; eloquent in its 
 charities ; eloquent in its sermons and public 
 addresses ; eloquent in its communion seasons ; 
 eloquent in its meetings for prayer ; eloquent in 
 its Bible-class and Sabbath-school instructions ; 
 eloquent in the godly lives of its pastors, officers, 
 and members ; eloquent in all these aspects, may 
 this centennial oak live many centuries to come ; 
 like the Psalmist's tree planted by the rivers of 
 water, 
 
 Ever fruitful, ever fair, 
 
 As any trees prospered where 
 
 God created trees, and men. 
 
 To make His grace and glory shine. 
 
Address 
 
 Rev. Andrew Shiland, d. d. 
 
 N Monday evening, listening to the 
 (eloquent addresses, I was greatly in- 
 'terested and delighted. Especially 
 was I pleased with Dr. Hall's glow- 
 ing description and analysis of the Scotch and 
 Scotch- Irish character; and while enjoying his 
 remarks, so excellent and so pertinent, I confess 
 I felt a little elated that there was Scotch blood 
 running through my veins, though of the second 
 generation. I claim to be an American, and 
 yet, strange as it may seem, I have sometimes 
 been taken for a Scotchman or Scotch-Irishman. 
 
 20 IS3 
 
154 
 
 Many, many years ago, when I preached for 
 Dr. Stark in Grand street, shortly after leav- 
 ing the Seminary, as I came down out of the 
 pulpit, an old Scotch lady came up to me, took 
 me by the hand most cordially, and said, " How 
 do you do? I am so glad to see you. How 
 long since you came over ? " 
 
 Your worthy pastor requested me to give some 
 recollections and reminiscences of Dr. Stark this 
 evening. My knowledge of this church and my 
 acquaintance with its leading members extends 
 back more than a third of a century. Most of 
 those men whom I knew long years since have 
 gone to their reward. They have left the Church 
 Militant for the Church Triumphant. Being dead, 
 however, they yet speak, and their memory is 
 still fresh in the minds of those who knew them. 
 We cherish with gratitude the recollection of the 
 excellency of their Christian character. They 
 were noble-minded men, large-hearted, open- 
 handed, liberal, and active in their support of the 
 church and in their endeavors to advance the 
 interests of Christ's cause and kingdom. I have 
 known all the pastors of this church, from the 
 time of Dr. Stark down to the present pastor. 
 
 My acquaintance with Dr. Stark goes back to 
 my boyhood days, and I remember his appear- 
 ance very well when I was a little boy. He 
 used to visit Cambridge, and was called upon to 
 
155 
 
 assist the venerable Dr. Alexander Bullions at 
 his communion. How often have I heard him 
 there in that church on those memorable occa- 
 sions, which I can never forget. My impressions 
 of Dr. Stark at that time are as fresh now as at 
 that very hour when I first saw him. His high 
 forehead, his bright piercing eyes, his well-formed 
 mouth and chin, indicative of decision and deter- 
 mination, and his pleasant face beaming with 
 intelligence and benevolence, made their impres- 
 sion on my mind ; and when I heard him in the 
 pulpit preaching the word of God and at the 
 communion table making his address, young as 
 I was, I still retain a vivid remembrance of his 
 sincerity, his deep earnestness and solemnity of 
 manner. When I came to years of maturity and 
 became connected with his family, I became 
 acquainted with him not only as a minister of the 
 Gospel, as a preacher, and in church courts and 
 councils ; I knew him also intimately in his own 
 household, at his own fireside, as a husband and 
 as a father. 
 
 Dr. Stark was a man of more than ordinary 
 intellectual ability. No one could be in his pres- 
 ence and enjoy his conversation for any length 
 of time without being impressed with the fact 
 that he bore the unmistakable marks of a scholar 
 and a Christian gentleman. By his learning, as 
 well as by his natural gifts, he was fitted to honor 
 
156 
 
 any profession in life which he might have chosen. 
 He had a wonderful skill, if I may so speak, in 
 discerning men and discriminating character. He 
 knew how to read men, how to manage men, and 
 never at any time was he embarrassed or con- 
 fused in any position in which he might be placed. 
 I remember that, when I was a pastor in Phila- 
 delphia (and I may say here in this connection 
 that he laid his hands upon me, with the other 
 members of the clergy, when I was ordained, 
 made the ordaining prayer and preached the ser- 
 mon), he was summoned to Philadelphia as a wit- 
 ness in an important civil suit involving a large 
 amount of church property. He was placed in 
 the witness-chair, and the lawyer tried his best 
 by cross-examination to confuse and embarrass 
 him, and put question after question, so as to get 
 him to answer the question just as he wanted it, 
 to suit his side of the case ; but Dr. Stark sat 
 there in the witness-chair, perfectly composed, 
 and answered the questions in a most courteous 
 and dignified manner, and never for one single 
 moment did that astute lawyer gain the advan- 
 tage over his witness. After the trial was over, 
 or at the close of this meeting, a lawyer present 
 asked, " Who was that old gentleman who sat in 
 the witness-chair, who proved himself too much 
 for that lawyer ? " " Oh, that was Dr. Stark, of 
 New- York, the pastor of a Presbyterian church." 
 
157 
 
 " What ! he a minister ? " said he. " Why, he 
 never should have been a minister. He ought to 
 have been a lawyer." 
 
 In the accuracy and extent of his learning, in 
 the wide range of his reading. Dr. Stark had few 
 superiors. In theology, in philosophy, in his 
 knowledge of history and of poetry, both ancient 
 and modern, he excelled. Indeed, he was heard 
 to say to a friend of mine on one occasion, that 
 if Homer's "Iliad" were blotted out of existence, 
 he supposed he could restore the most of it from 
 memory. In early life he had given his heart to 
 God, and all his faculties and acquirements he 
 consecrated to the service of Christ, used them 
 for the service of his Lord and Master and the 
 building up of His cause and kingdom in the 
 world. As a preacher he was impressive and 
 instructive. He made thorough preparation for 
 the pulpit. He did not write out his sermons in 
 full, it is true. I have a small volume of his ser- 
 mons, six inches by four or five, and in that are 
 contained the sermons of a whole year. The 
 outlines of each sermon occupied about two 
 pages of that small volume ; but it was a matter 
 of conscientious duty with him to go before his 
 congregation with beaten oil. As a minister and 
 as a pastor he was thoroughly furnished, and I 
 never knew a more sincere, devout, and devoted 
 minister of the gospel. He was a man, too, of 
 
158 
 
 wonderful wisdom and prudence. By this I mean 
 that he seemed to know on every occasion just 
 the right thing to say and do at the right time. 
 To illustrate this, let me give you a little incident. 
 In his congregation there was a woman who was 
 considered, to say the least, a little queer, and 
 some thought her a little crazy, although she was 
 harmless. Dr. Stark, when he was preaching, 
 often had his eyes upon the open Bible, and this 
 queer old lady thought that he read his sermons. 
 She had a great contempt for sermons read in 
 the pulpit ; but she couldn't find out whether he 
 had his manuscript there and read it or not, and 
 she was determined to know. Consequently, one 
 Sabbath morning she went early and took her 
 place in the pulpit, desiring to find out whether 
 her pastor read his sermons from manuscript or 
 not. When Dr. Stark came into the pulpit, he 
 saw this woman sitting there, and said very 
 quietly, "What are you doing here?" "Oh," 
 said she, " I came up here to see if you read 
 your sermons." Well, Dr. Stark didn't get into 
 a furor and hustle her out or call for a policeman. 
 Instead of that, he said to her very gently, "Well, 
 ma'am, there is no need of us both being here. 
 If you are going to stay here, I will go down." 
 He reached to get his hat, and she shot out of 
 that pulpit like an arrow, and he had no more 
 trouble with that woman. 
 
159 
 
 Let me say to you here, that the intelHg-ence 
 of his congregation, their knowledge of Christian 
 doctrine, and their zeal in every good word and 
 work, their adherence to the truth, their walking 
 in the truth and doing all they could to dissemi- 
 nate the truth, were the best testimonials of the 
 faithfulness of Dr. Stark as a preacher and min- 
 ister of the gospel. Many a family in his con- 
 gregation were made wiser, better, and richer for 
 his judicious and prudent counsels. In his own 
 family he was a model for household order and 
 parental instruction. To instruct his children in 
 the statutes and commandments of God, to have 
 them thoroughly indoctrinated in the grand truths 
 of the Bible, and to impress upon their minds and 
 upon their hearts the blessed doctrines of the 
 Gospel, he conceived to be of the utmost impor- 
 tance. And not only did he believe in this Bible, 
 from Genesis to Revelation, but he believed in 
 the Shorter Catechism, and he taught it to his 
 children as long as he lived. And let me tell you, 
 he took them through that catechism once every 
 three weeks, taking one-third of it every Sabbath 
 afternoon. Now some of you may think that this 
 was altogether unnecessary. Some think nowa- 
 days that that Shorter Catechism is not, after all, 
 of great consequence ; but I maintain that it is 
 the most compact expression of Christian doc- 
 trine to be found anywhere in the world, — a vade 
 
i6o 
 
 mecum of theology. Some people do not believe 
 in teaching that catechism to small children, be- 
 cause they do not understand it. Well, if they do 
 not understand it at the time, they will under- 
 stand it afterward; and when it is impressed upon 
 their minds early they do not forget it easily. A 
 few years ago, when I was pastor at Mt. Kisco, 
 Dr. S. Irenseus Prime, lately deceased, spent the 
 Sabbath with me, preached for me in the morn- 
 ing, and talked to the Sunday-school in the 
 afternoon ; and in talking to the Sunday-school 
 children he made this proposition : that he would 
 give a beautiful gilt Bible to each one who would 
 recite, without any mistake, the Fourth Com- 
 mandment. Several of them volunteered to re- 
 cite that Fourth Commandment, and they thought 
 they knew it, but not one of them said it per- 
 fectly ; they all left something out or put some- 
 thing in. Not one of them got the Bible. When 
 he came back to the parsonage, my wife said to 
 him : " Dr. Prime, I think I can repeat that com- 
 mandment." He said, " I don't believe you can. 
 Now, recite that Fourth Commandment, without 
 putting in a word or leaving out a word, and I 
 will give you a Bible." She began, and recited 
 it verbatim et literatim, — did not leave out or put 
 in a single word. Said he, " You shall have the 
 Bible." When he went back to New-York he 
 sent her the Bible, with his name on the fly-leaf. 
 
i6i 
 
 Now that catechism was so thoroughly impressed 
 on her mind by regular recitation when she was 
 a child, that if she had lived to be as old as 
 Methusaleh she could never forget it. So I can 
 tell you, if you want to impress the catechism 
 upon the minds of the children, teach them when 
 they are young. 
 
 Dr. Stark never neglected the homes of the 
 poor, and was a welcome guest wherever he went. 
 Perhaps many of you, I do not know whether all 
 of you, know that in 1849 he went to Scotland 
 for his health ; he had been laboring a long time, 
 was very much run down, and it was thought 
 that an ocean voyage and a visit to his native 
 land would be beneficial. He was a guest of his 
 cousin. Rev. Dr. Stark, of Dennyloanhead. None 
 of his family thought him seriously ill when he left 
 his home. While at Dr. Stark's, at Dennyloan- 
 head, Scotland, he retired to rest and woke up in 
 heaven. He was found dead in his bed, and it 
 was observed by the members of the family that 
 when he conducted family devotions that evening 
 it was with unusual solemnity and impressive- 
 ness ; he seemed to be at the very gate of heaven, 
 and they all remembered the last prayer made 
 by Dr. Stark on that night, just before his spirit 
 ascended to the throne of God who gave it. 
 There was mourning in his church and among 
 his people when the sad news came of his death — 
 21 
 
l62 
 
 the bereavement was deeply lamented, from the 
 oldest to the youngest member of his congrega- 
 tion. They felt it as they would feel the loss of 
 a father. They laid his remains in Greenwood, 
 and erected over the place where he sleeps a costly 
 and beautiful monument to his memory. 
 
 And now, my dear friends and brethren, allow 
 me, in conclusion, to congratulate you on this 
 centennial of your church life. Although you 
 have been so often congratulated as to this 
 already, may I not also do the same ? I con- 
 gratulate you on having had, in succession, such 
 able, such devoted, such pious and godly men to 
 minister among you and to break to you "the 
 bread of life. I also commend you for the esteem, 
 the respect, the affection, and the love which you 
 have always manifested toward your pastors, from 
 the very beginning, I believe, to the present hour. 
 I commend you for this, and I congratulate you on 
 having had your church work and your church life 
 in this century of the world's history, the most 
 eventful and fruitful of all the centuries, in dis- 
 covery, in invention, in art, in science, in literature, 
 in missionary work and enterprise, in aggressive 
 and progressive Christianity ; in short, in every- 
 thing that pertains to the elevation and salvation 
 of men. I congratulate you upon living in this 
 time of such unspeakable blessings, of such un- 
 paralleled opportunities for getting and doing 
 
1 63 
 
 good. And let me say to you, do not be alarmed 
 because of the great hue and cry nowadays about 
 skepticism and infidelity. Do not be alarmed 
 because there are those who talk against this 
 blessed volume and tell you that it is becoming 
 effete and worn out. Do not be alarmed because 
 there are those who tell you that Christianity is 
 declining, and the ancient faith is becoming de- 
 crepit and soon will disappear. I tell you there 
 is nothing of the kind. There was never so 
 much Christianity in the world as to-day. There 
 never were so many followers of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ as to-day. Why, a hundred years ago 
 there was only one church member, or professor 
 of Christianity, to fourteen; and in 1880 there 
 was one professing Christian, or church member, 
 to five. Do not be alarmed, I say, for all this 
 talk of infidelity and skepticism. There are to- 
 day six millions of Sunday-school children, and do 
 you not think, with these six millions of Sunday- 
 school children, and with all the professed fol- 
 lowers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be able 
 to triumph over the world, the flesh, and the 
 devil ? I think we will. Do not be alarmed, and 
 do not think infidelity is going to triumph, when 
 there are at least eight or ten churches of the 
 different denominations of Christians, taking them 
 altogether, erected for every day of the year. 
 Their spires and their towers point heavenward. 
 
164 
 
 inviting men to the house of prayer, directing 
 them to the many mansions of rest and of glory. 
 
 And now, in the language of the apostle, I 
 beseech you, brethren, that you increase more 
 and more as a church, as individuals, increase 
 more and more in your faith, in your knowledge, 
 in your piety, in your self-consecration to Christ, 
 and in every good word and work. Be of good 
 comfort, be of one mind ; live in peace, and the 
 God of love and peace shall be with you. Amen. 
 
Address 
 
 Rev. John Thomson, d. d. 
 
 Y dear friends : I think it is a 
 jgood thing for me that the clock points 
 a Httle beyond the time appointed 
 ,for the refection so kindly provided 
 for us in the lecture-room. This hour has very 
 pleasantly and profitably passed ; indeed, in such 
 a way as to lead me to think that it is not within 
 my power to add anything to the reminiscences 
 of those dear brethren to whom you have been 
 listening. I cannot, at this late hour, go back to 
 other holy memories, but I may, in a sentence or 
 two, put some of my brethren in mind of how and 
 when I came to be pastor of this church and suc- 
 cessor to that worthy and excellent man, the Rev. 
 
 i6s 
 
i66 
 
 Dr. Andrew Stark. I had come from a poor 
 provincial city, on what I may call a privateering 
 expedition to rich New- York, of which expedition 
 I may just say this, that it was successful. Good 
 Robert Carter, on the platform beside me to- 
 night, had heard me conduct the service at the 
 weekly prayer-meeting in the Scotch Church here, 
 and he knew my errand. He was applied to at 
 a late hour on the Saturday evening for supply 
 for the Associate Presbyterian Church in Grand 
 street for the following day. I happened to be 
 sojourning in what is now, I believe, or was then, 
 West Washington Place ; and between nine and 
 ten o'clock that night one of the elders, on his 
 suggestion, called and asked me whether I would 
 meet the congregation on the following day. He 
 told me nothing about any specialty in the occa- 
 sion, and nothing about the people ; but it was, 
 nevertheless, a day of deepest and saddest inter- 
 est to them, for during the preceding week the 
 remains of their beloved pastor and spiritual 
 father had been brought from Dennyloanhead, 
 in Scotland, to New- York, and laid in their final 
 resting-place in Greenwood. Having consented 
 to occupy the pulpit, I found that a number of the 
 members of the church were comforted exceed- 
 ingly by the message which, in total ignorance 
 of their circumstances, I had received of the Lord 
 for them. The words of my text were : " Sing 
 
i67 
 
 ye to her a vineyard of red wine. I the Lord do 
 keep it; I will water it every moment; lest any 
 should hurt it, I will keep it night and day." 
 The theme was God's care of and interest in the 
 prosperity and peace of His people. Well, very 
 soon thereafter, early in the spring of 1850, an 
 invitation was sent to me to become their pastor. 
 I could not, however, see it to be my duty to 
 accept it, for the congregation to which I was 
 ministering in the city of St. John's, New Bruns- 
 wick, was a recently organized one, and not as 
 yet strong or vigorous. The congregation in 
 New- York were, I had reason to believe, vexed 
 and disturbed by my refusal ; but only for a sea- 
 son, for at the close of a year they renewed the 
 invitation, which, after consultation with friends, 
 and prayer to our Heavenly Father, I accepted. 
 The condition of the church at that time was fine ; 
 men of shrewdness and probity managed its 
 finances, and men of deep piety superintended its 
 spiritual concerns. They were ready to welcome 
 a leader among them, and they did give me a 
 hearty welcome, and I entered upon the charge 
 full of hope. Throughout all the years that suc- 
 ceeded, I have no recollection of any dark shadow 
 resting upon us, so far as their interest in me and 
 my work as God's servant was concerned — not 
 one. We met inwardly. Those years passed in 
 mutual affection, which showed itself then and 
 
i68 
 
 shows itself now. They attended the ordinances 
 of God's house with regularity, and manifested 
 the spirit of true piety in their outward lives, and 
 in their homes. I remember no instance in which 
 I could not approach any one of their families 
 with the fullest, heartiest consent on both sides. 
 They were to me, mine ; and I was to them, 
 theirs. Many of you remember the old church at 
 the corner of Grand and Mercer streets. Many 
 a time I have gone over that church, when far dis- 
 tant from it, in thought, and even with quickened 
 vision, tracing every occupant of every pew from 
 the front of the pulpit to the door, knowing full 
 well that if still alive in the providence of God, 
 they were there on that day in their accustomed 
 places, from the youngest to the oldest, worship- 
 ing the God of their fathers with all the piety and 
 steadfast adherence to our simple forms of wor- 
 ship which they had learned from their fathers 
 and rejoiced to maintain. The elders of that time 
 were earnest men, and men of profound piety and 
 sound common sense. Of one of them in particu- 
 lar it was wont to be said by those who knew him 
 intimately: "William Boyd is an elder that rules 
 well, and nobody knows it"; and of another, "In 
 none of our churches is there a more Nathaniel- 
 like man than James Chalmers." These were 
 typical men in our session ; their brethren were 
 like them, though not to the same degree — 
 
169 
 
 "diversities of gifts, but the same spirit." Of two 
 others it was my privilege to watch the spiritual 
 growth, and to give God thanks for what He was 
 pleased to work both in and by them, both in and 
 for the church. John Aitken was a man whom 
 God greatly blessed, and not the least in this, 
 that He was pleased to make him a blessing. In 
 like manner was it with David Irwin, and James 
 Stuart, and Edward Mackenzie, and Joseph Pater- 
 son, and William Whitewright. 
 
 As to the trustees of the church, I can only say 
 of them all, that they were men "who feared God 
 and hated covetousness." They were God's men. 
 Only one of them survives now ; the others have 
 gone home ; and in their track my dear old friend 
 David Morrison follows hard. Yet he is spared 
 to us all, and with his soul and strength and mind 
 more strongly devoted than ever to the best 
 interests of our Zion. And having mentioned 
 these, I cannot but mention two others, one in 
 the eldership, and one on the Board of Trustees, — 
 James and Joseph Stuart, whom all Christian 
 men who knew them esteemed very highly in 
 love for their works' sake. I know you will join 
 with me when I say, that to no four men in the 
 church have we been so largely indebted as to 
 John Aitken, David Irwin, and James and Joseph 
 Stuart. Of these it may be truly said, that "they 
 
 have done exploits." On two occasions I was 
 22 
 
170 
 
 personally a witness to their liberality : First, 
 when the Mission-house in Thirty-third street was 
 opened for home missionary work, very largely 
 at their expense ; and second, when, a few years 
 before that, this magnificent edifice was dedicated 
 to the service of God, and a sum of $40,000, in 
 addition to the sum then in the hands of the 
 Board of Trustees, was required and was sub- 
 scribed in the course of one week, that it might 
 be opened and dedicated free of debt. We were 
 prosperous in those days, and our prosperity has 
 continued unto this day. There are those around 
 me to-night who will attest what I say, that addi- 
 tions of thirty, forty, and on one occasion over 
 sixty, were at communion seasons made to the 
 church. 
 
 In 1 86 1 it was my duty to sever my connection 
 with the church. It was a trying season not less 
 to the church than to myself. Yet during the 
 three succeeding years our intercourse as friends 
 and brethren suffered no interruption. To join 
 the young in holy wedlock, and to baptize the 
 children of those to whom I had ministered, my 
 presence and services were frequently required. 
 These and other proofs of holiest interest show 
 the feeling of unity and love in the divine fellow- 
 ship that continued to follow me even after I had 
 relinquished the formal charge of this church, and 
 that only reached maturity when the old pastoral 
 
171 
 
 tie was once more formed and blessed for added 
 years. 
 
 A second time the pastoral tie had to be loosed, 
 and now about eleven years have passed since 
 that time. Ten of these I have spent in my native 
 land. Often, oh, how often my heart goes back 
 to the scenes of my earlier ministry, and to you, 
 my dear youth, whom I left as children, — I dare 
 not tell you how fondly loved, — and whom I now 
 find, instead of your fathers and mothers, walking 
 still in their fellowship, and in living communion 
 with God ; and to you, my beloved brethren and 
 sisters who yet survive, and who, bearing the bur- 
 den of a few more years, and a few more heavy 
 crosses, rendered all the more heavy for want of 
 that stronger arm on which you were wont to 
 lean, or that more gentle heart in unison with 
 which you passed along the checkered valley, no 
 fears dividing you, and no alarms creating distrust 
 between you, and now looking forward in hope to 
 be united with them again, when He shall appear 
 "to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired 
 in all them that believe." Of many a token of 
 your continued affection have you made me dur- 
 ing these last years the recipient. Each returning 
 season has been made by your kindness to minis- 
 ter to my comfort, and to that of my family; and 
 now, as if to crown my warmest wishes, you have 
 made me and my daughter partakers with you in 
 
172 
 
 these grand and successful services. The only 
 regret is the absence of her whom, next to the 
 supreme gift of the Lord Jesus our Saviour and 
 Redeemer, I gladly hail as the light of our humble 
 mountain home, and as the desire of my heart. 
 In spirit I know she is with us here to-night, and 
 sustained by her prayers, and strong in the grace 
 of our one ever-living Head, and resolved on con- 
 tinuing through His grace even to the end, as 
 being heirs together of the grace of life. I offer 
 you, old and young, her love and ever fond 
 regards for you all. 
 
 With these few pleasing reminiscences I have 
 already taken up too much of your time, so let me 
 only say that, God willing, I shall carry with me to 
 my dying day the ever sweet recollection that I have 
 been once more by your generous kindness in the 
 midst of my old flock. Yet I cannot stop here. 
 For I see many of God's witnesses before me, 
 whom, though not associated with my earlier pas- 
 torate, I should yet be a most ungrateful man 
 not to recognize as very dear to me, because now 
 joined as friends and brethren to my friends and 
 brethren, and as such joined also to me ; and 
 without formally naming you all, let me select a 
 few who have been known to me for a longer 
 time than the others, many of such the followers 
 or successors of those who were my first acquaint- 
 ances and brethren in this dear hundred-year- 
 
173 
 
 old church. Few of you, I am sure, will be 
 surprised when I mention the name of one dear 
 old friend of yours and mine who, ever since his 
 connection with this church, has proved himself a 
 right trusty and most earnest friend ; who has 
 laid us all under a heavy bond of obligation by 
 the consecration of himself and his large experi- 
 ence in the Lord's vineyard to our service in the 
 Lord. Of course, I can but mean the Rev. Dr. 
 John Spaulding, whose gifts and graces are the 
 crown of a long and venerable age. I do 
 not need to commend you, beloved friends, to his 
 great prayers. I know they rise before the Lord 
 daily for you, and I know that I join you in the 
 responding prayer on behalf both of that dear 
 good man and his venerable wife, that the God 
 of the covenant may bless him still more and 
 more abundantly, and continue His work in him 
 and by him to His church, both by sea and land, 
 till, ripe and ready for the better land, he shall 
 welcome the approach of the voice that shall 
 summon a willing son to its fullness of joy and 
 everlasting delight. 
 
 And only one other will I name now, because 
 I have long known him, even from the first years 
 of my residence in this city. I can see him in his 
 early manhood with his young wife in their seats 
 in the old church at the corner of Mercer street. 
 I can trace his career from one position to 
 
174 
 
 another — never ambitious, save to do in every 
 duty only and always the right ; the fear of the 
 Lord ever before his eyes, and the love of God in 
 his heart — sometimes sorely tried alike in his 
 personal and family life, yet never overborne by 
 the strokes of his Father's rod, and ever disposed 
 to glorify God even in the fires that eternal love 
 so often kindles for the fuller purification of God's 
 elect. So has my early friend, and I can add my 
 tried friend, Archibald McLintock, an elder in our 
 beloved church, grown during these last thirty 
 years. The honest, modest youth of nearly thirty 
 years ago, under the mighty blessing of the living 
 God, has grown to be what I believe he will con- 
 tinue to be — a faithful witness of the Lord Jesus, 
 alike in joy and in sorrow, and to all young men 
 a steady compass, by the aid of which they may 
 shape their course alike through the entangle- 
 ments and temptations of youth and the trials of 
 manhood. 
 
 And now with one other name I close these 
 truthful but desultory remarks. I commend to 
 your prayers my beloved friend and successor in 
 the ministry of the Fourth Church, the Rev. 
 Joseph R. Kerr, whom may the Lord continue 
 long to strengthen and support in his arduous 
 though much-loved work. He and I have not 
 often met; indeed, but twice — once for a few 
 brief and hurried hours in Scotland, and again 
 
175 
 
 here in New- York, for a few too brief but most 
 pleasant weeks. Having heard much about him, 
 I esteemed him before I saw him ; and now that 
 I have seen and heard from his pulpit and amid 
 the sanctities of his home, I have come to "esteem 
 him very highly in love for his work's sake." I 
 trust you will endeavor to cheer and encourage 
 him by your diligent attendance on the services 
 which I know it is his heart and his life to con- 
 duct. And now I must really stop, for the hour 
 is late. 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 Mr. Robert Carter. 
 
 EAR FRIENDS: At this late hour it 
 
 [Would be very improper for me to 
 
 spend five minutes in addressing you. 
 
 I have felt a deep interest in this 
 
 church for fifty-four years and more. I have 
 
 watched pastors and people ; many of them I 
 
 have accompanied to the river side and bade them 
 
 an affectionate farewell. I have seen the power 
 
 of divine grace by the dying bed of, oh, how many 
 
 who occupied the pews in this church. The first 
 
 person I took by the hand when I reached this 
 
 city on the i6th of May, 183 1, was a member of 
 
 this church, and he stood by me for more than 
 
 176 
 
177 
 
 forty years. The pastor of this church at that 
 time, to whom I had a letter of introduction, re- 
 ceived me as a son who had come back after a 
 long- absence. I owed a debt to that good man, 
 and came expecting to pay it, however feebly ; 
 but I cannot do it now. He is yonder, and, oh, 
 how many whom I loved so dearly are with him. 
 Oh, my brethren, it is a thin veil that separates 
 the seen from the unseen world. We long with 
 heart-sickness and home-sickness to see these 
 dear brethren that left us and went on to their 
 reward. I thought I should say something about 
 the great work they did, but I cannot do it to- 
 night, my dear friends. In a little while I shall 
 step across that stream that separates this world 
 from the next ; and, oh, what a scene it will be, 
 when those whom I love so well and who did so 
 much to help me on in my humble work shall 
 appear in glory, their robes washed in the blood 
 of the Lamb, singing the praises of our Father 
 in heaven forever and forever. God bless you 
 all and keep you all, make you true followers of 
 those who through faith and patience are inherit- 
 ing the promises ; carry you safely through the 
 storms and tempests of this narrow world ; and 
 when the night comes to which there shall be no 
 morning, then may the everlasting arms be under- 
 neath you and an entrance be administered into 
 the glories of our Father's house. Amen. 
 23 
 
178 
 
 Mr. Carter has kindly furnished the following 
 reminiscences : 
 
 New-York, Oct. 30, 1885. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Kerr. 
 
 Dear Sir: Fifty years ago I became acquainted 
 with a member of your church in whom I felt a deep 
 interest. He was a native of Banff, in the north of Scot- 
 land, and in early life emigrated to New- York. He was 
 industrious, economical, and acquired some prop- 
 erty, but the clouds gathered over him. He lost his 
 property, his wife and his children. Broken in health 
 and crushed in spirit he struggled heavily on. After 
 some time he became almoner of the St. Andrew's 
 Society, and there his Christian character developed 
 wonderfully. He was one of my constant visitors. He 
 filled his pockets with the "Crook in the Lot," and 
 other good books, and dropped one here and another 
 there. He counseled the sick and prayed with them. 
 He often caused the widow's heart to ring for joy. But 
 his strength gave way, and he came to me and said, " I 
 feel I cannot do as I have done. I must give up my 
 work. I have three sisters in my old home whom I 
 have not seen for fifty years. I want to go to them — 
 will you lend me the money I need ? " I agreed, but after 
 he left me I called upon some of the liberal members of 
 the society and three thousand dollars were raised and 
 invested by the president for his behoof He reached 
 his native village on a beautiful summer day. The 
 doors of most of the cottages were open, and many of 
 the women and children were seated outside enjoying 
 the balmy air. He came to his own door and walked 
 in. The arm-chair, where his father sat long ago, was 
 empty, and he sat down in it. Three gray-haired 
 
179 
 
 maidens were sewing, and none spoke. After a little he 
 looked at one and asked, "Are you Janet?" "Aye," 
 was the answer. Again he asked another, "Are you 
 Mary ? " " Aye." And a third, " Are you Elizabeth ? " 
 " Aye." The wonder grew. At last one hastily rose 
 and said, " Are you John ? " "I am." The three seized 
 him, and held him in close embrace, " Will you stay 
 with us ? " " By the help of God, I will. We shall live 
 together, and when we die we shall sleep together in 
 our old grave-yard." 
 
 A friend of mine visited him when he was nearing the 
 Jordan. His end was peace. The everlasting arms were 
 underneath him. May our last end be like his. 
 
 Yours affectionately, 
 
 Robert Carter. 
 
Sacramental Hours. ^ 
 
 Friday, October ^o, i88^, at 7. ^o P. M., the Preparatory 
 Communion Service was held. Prayer was offered by the 
 Rev. Erskine N. White, D. D., Moderator of the Presbytery 
 of New -York; and the Rev. S. M. Hamilton, D. D., preached 
 an impressive sermon from the text, fohnv. i-g, " The Im- 
 potent Man at the Pool of Bethesda." 
 
 ? 
 
 zAt a meeting of the Session, fourteen new members were 
 welcomed into church fellowship. 
 
 ^ 
 
 On the following Sabbath morning the Rev. John Thomson, 
 D. D., delivered an able discourse upon "The Bread of 
 Life." In the afternoon, at four o'clock, a great congrega- 
 tion gathered for the celebration of The Lord's Supper, many 
 persons coming from a distance to participate once more in 
 the Communion as administered in the old home church. 
 
 Hearts melted and eyes overflowed as the one hundred 
 and third Psalm was sung, in the Scotch version, without 
 the organ accompaniment. The tune was " Balerma," and 
 the Past came softly down through the familiar stan:{as 
 and the tender addresses of Rev. Drs. Thomson, Spaulding, 
 and the Pastor, awakening fresh affection and trust toward 
 that Saviour who is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. 
 
 The benediction dismissed more than one communicant 
 who felt that such a season could never come again this 
 side of heaven. 
 
11 II 1 1 Hill I III I uiniuiimuiiii 
 
 The West Side Chapel. 439 West Thirty-third Street. 
 
The Covenant of the Praying Society 
 
 OUT OF WHICH THE CHURCH GREW. 
 
 NEW-YORK, JULY 4TH, 1779. 
 
 We, the under-subscribers, taking into serious con- 
 sideration the great loss our souls sustain by being, in 
 adorable providence, deprived of the stated ordinances 
 of the gospel in a witnessing way, for the glory of God, 
 and the mutual advantage of our spiritual interests, 
 have agreed to form ourselves into a praying society, 
 according as we are warranted and commanded by the 
 word of God. Heb. 10 & 23. 24. 25, ^^ Let us hold fast 
 the profession of our faith without wavering: and let 
 us consider one another, to provoke unto love, and to good 
 works : not forsaking the assemblijig of ourselves together, 
 as the manner of some is," &c. And as we are com- 
 manded by the precept ; so we are encouraged by the 
 promise of the Lord's presence being with us : As also, 
 by the example of the saints of old. Mai. 3 & 16, 
 
l82 
 
 " Then they that fear the Lord spake often one to another: 
 and the Lord hearkened, and heard it : and a book of re- 
 membrance was written before him for them that fear 
 the Lord, and that thought upon his name." As likewise 
 the dispensations of providence, at this day, call loudly 
 upon us to consider our wayes and to turn unto the 
 Lord, with weeping and with supplication, pleading for, 
 and believing that he will yet return again and have 
 compassion upon us, and cast all our sins into the 
 depths of the sea. 
 
 As it will be more for our mutual good and advan- 
 tage to be of one heart and one way in the matters of 
 the Lord; we have concluded to draw up a short speci- 
 men of our principles and the rules of this Society. 
 
 First. That none can be admitted into this Society 
 but such as believe the word of God to be the only rule 
 of faith and practice ; and profess an adherence to the 
 Reformation standards of the Church of Scotland con- 
 tained in our confessions of faith, Larger and Shorter 
 catechisms. The Presbyterian form of Church Govern- 
 ment, worship, and discipline, as it was received, ap- 
 proved, and established by the foresaid Church of 
 Scotland, betwixt the years 1638 & 1642; witnessed 
 for in the secession testimony and the acknowledgment 
 of sins prefixed to the bond for renewing our solemn 
 covenants, to which we all profess an adherence. 
 
 Second. That no person lying under any scandal, 
 without acknowledging the sin thereof, can be admitted 
 as a member of this Society. 
 
 Third. That as the strong ought to bear the infirmi- 
 ties of the weak, and not to please themselves, so no 
 member is to go before another, but every one is to go 
 about duty as it comes his turn ; and in our mutual con- 
 ferences every one is to speak his mind freely, and those 
 who have any scruples, with respect to what any mem- 
 ber of the Society hath said or done, shall faithfully lay 
 
i83 
 
 such scruples before the meeting, that they may be 
 satisfied thereabout. In this way studying to agree 
 together, that our prayers be not hindered. 
 
 Fourth. That all carnal and worldly discourses are 
 to be avoided. When met together, we are to consider 
 ourselves in the presence of God ; who is at all times 
 our witness, and will, in a little, be our impartial and 
 unerring Judge. And in this, as in all other things, we 
 will study to have a single eye to his glory. 
 
 Fifth. That curious speculations, and debates, about 
 points of religion, are to be avoided as much as possible. 
 That each member is to study the spiritual advantage 
 of the others ; our furtherance in the wayes of God, and 
 in the knowledge and love of his truth, and of a testi- 
 mony thereto, in this Day of awful Back Sliding. 
 
 Sixth. That we shall meet at such a place as we can 
 agree upon and continue so long as we think will serve 
 the purpose of edification. 
 
 Seventh. That no member is to absent himself from 
 the meeting without a sufficient reason, which he is to 
 satisfy the meeting after his return. 
 
 May the Lord, who, in a way of righteous Judgment, 
 scattered our Israel, gather him again as a shepherd 
 doth his flock : and Oh may the cause of truth and 
 reformation obtain the ascendancy over all opposing 
 interests in Britain, Ireland, and America, and through- 
 out the world ! and may all the publick commotions of 
 the day be over-ruled for this end. Oh may the prom- 
 ise be remembered in our behalf, and in behalf of God's 
 work-servants and people, in the aforesaid places ! viz., 
 ^'As thy dayes so shall thy strength be.'' 
 
 Lastly. As it has been our lot to fall in evil Dayes, 
 in which the Lord, in the way of a righteous judgment, 
 has scattered us, as to our church state, in consequence 
 of which, through the tumult, hurry, and confusion of 
 the day, we all, or some of us, may, through inadver- 
 
i84 
 
 tancy, weakness or fear, have formerly, or of late, been 
 left to fall, in regard to that holy, humble, circumspect 
 and tender regard that allwayes ought to influence every 
 part of our conduct ; such as rash connections, engaged 
 to by oath, inconsistent with our duty to God, to our 
 neighbor, or ourselves, or by concessions of this kind, 
 inconsistent with former ones, opposing oath to oath. 
 As this is a prevailing evil, that obtains according to the 
 different aspect of the times, we would desire to be 
 helped, to have an eye to it, as a publick evil, to be 
 mourned over, and particularly in forming our praying 
 Society, to see how far any or all of these, or any other 
 evil, mentioned or implied, are chargeable on any or all 
 of us. And to be humbled before God on account 
 of our untenderness, and endeavoring, through grace, 
 jointly, for one another, as it were, with the finger on 
 the sore, to betake ourselves to the blood of sprinkling. 
 
 This, for our mutual satisfaction, we unanimously 
 profess, and, as an evidence of our sincerity, as there 
 may be matter of scandal, unknown to us, since the 
 dissolution of our church state, in this place, each of us, 
 for ourselves, profess a willingness to submit to the Dis- 
 cipline of competent judiciary of the Lord's house 
 (uniting, through grace, at maintaining our witnessing 
 profession), on condition of the above supposed case. 
 And it is in this spirit, and under these engagements, 
 we consent to hold communion with one another as a 
 praying Society. 
 
 In consequence of which we subscribe ourselves. 
 
 John McFarland. John McAllister, 
 
 George Gosman. Andrew Wright, 
 
 James Craig, Robert Gosman, 
 
Hymns. 
 
 These original hymns were prepared and pre- 
 sented by the Rev. John Spaulding, D. D., and 
 were effectively interspersed through the several 
 services. 
 
 The memories of an hundred years, 
 Awake our joys, and start our tears ; 
 As once more at the mercy seat, 
 For praise and prayer we gladly meet. 
 
 Meet us, our Father, make us prove, 
 Thy faithfulness, and deathless love ; 
 So that with conscious sins forgiven, 
 This day may be a pledge of heaven 
 
 Let memories of beloved gone. 
 To sing and shine before thy throne; 
 Be prompters to us waiting here, 
 To share their songs and glory there 
 
 24 18s 
 
i86 
 
 Long may this church securely stand, 
 A beacon-light for sea and land, 
 A living bulwark for the truth, 
 To safely guide both age and youth. 
 
 Precious mem'ries cluster here, 
 Where they met for praise and prayer; 
 Where our fathers worshipped God, 
 Found, and kept the heavenly road. 
 
 Here an hundred years ago, 
 Springs of Hfe began to flow ; 
 Many centuries to come, 
 May the living waters run. 
 
 Blessed be the God of love, 
 For the rest of those above ; 
 Blessed be the God of grace. 
 That we there may find a place. 
 
 Bright in hope and strong in faith, 
 May we keep the narrow path ; 
 Till united there we sing, 
 Higher praises to our King. 
 
 O God, our fathers' God, and Friend, 
 
 On us thy grace bestow ; — 
 The blessing, thou didst give to them, 
 .An hundred years ago. 
 
i87 
 
 O come, thou quickening Spirit, come, 
 And make our graces grow ; 
 
 Us sanctify, as thou didst them, 
 An hundred years ago. 
 
 Praise God for memories of his love. 
 
 For all enjoyed below; 
 Praise Him, and ne'er forget above, 
 
 An hundred years ago. 
 
 Our Fathers sowed for us to reap, 
 
 The harvests of to-day ; 
 And now their grateful children keep 
 
 Their hallowed memory ; 
 We'll hold that memory ever dear. 
 
 Till we, supremely blest, 
 Shall glorious in heaven appear. 
 
 To share the final rest. 
 
 And while we gather up the sheaves, 
 
 To shout the Harvest home, 
 A hand divine for each one wreathes 
 
 A never-fading crown ; 
 A radiant crown of endless joy, 
 
 And pledge of royal power, 
 Where saints and angels robed in white, 
 
 Reign victors ever more. 
 
 Thanks to our God for daily bread. 
 
 By Him so kindly given ; 
 Our manna on the thorny road, 
 
 Up to the highest heaven : 
 
i88 
 
 Sweet comfort to us all the way, 
 To that most blessed home, 
 
 Until we hear our Father say. 
 Come, ransomed children, come ! 
 
 Let days and years their lessons teach, 
 
 In their incessant flow ; 
 And in the retrospect now reach, 
 
 An hundred years ago. 
 
 O God, let every setting sun. 
 With bright and brighter glow, 
 
 Cheer on the work so well begun. 
 An hundred years ago. 
 
 May children's children keep in mind, 
 
 God's promise on the bow ; 
 And with the present always blend. 
 
 An hundred years ago. 
 
 Our fathers sowed full hopeful, 
 
 That we should rise and reap 
 The harvest, and be faithful. 
 
 And bright their mem'ry keep; 
 So gratefully we gather. 
 
 The golden sheaves to-day ; 
 And joyful come together. 
 
 To bless their memory. 
 
i89 
 
 To God we are indebted, 
 
 For all we now enjoy; 
 And all to be expected, 
 
 In his divine employ ; 
 To Him let praise and glory, 
 
 Ever be gladly given. 
 And let the old, old story, 
 
 Be ever new in heaven. 
 
 There, children in full chorus. 
 
 Shall sing in sweetest song ; 
 Praises to Him who saved us, 
 
 And made our weakness strong. 
 To Him whose word enlightens, 
 
 And cheers our upward way ; 
 Whose very presence brightens. 
 
 Our everlasting day. 
 
 Blessed memories bright and clear. 
 Cheer and help us waiting here ; 
 
 Better when our work is done. 
 Far beyond the setting sun. 
 
 God of life, of light, and love, 
 Let our sweet experience prove 
 
 The rich fullness of thy grace. 
 Till in heaven we take our place. 
 
 There with loved ones gone before, 
 Shall we meet to part no more ; 
 
 There with angels join to sing. 
 Praises to our God and King. 
 
Letters. 
 
 The following letter is from Mr. George H. 
 Stuart, President of the Merchants' National Bank 
 of Philadelphia, Pa., and formerly President of 
 the U. S. Christian Commission. 
 
 Clifton Springs, N. Y., 
 
 October 27, 1885. 
 Rev. Jos. R. Kerr, D. D. 
 
 My Dear Brother : When I accepted your kind 
 invitation to be present and speak at the centennial cel- 
 ebration of your church, I hoped and expected to be so 
 far recovered as to be able to do so ; but, not being able, 
 I write this brief note to say how sadly disappointed I 
 am at having to miss participating in so interesting an 
 occasion. 
 
 I had looked forward with much pleasure to greeting 
 once again Rev. Dr. Thomson, of Scotland, one of your 
 illustrious predecessors, with whom it was my privilege 
 to hold a warm personal friendship. 
 
 190 
 
191 
 
 I feel a deep interest in the earlier history of the 
 church. It may interest some of the older members of 
 the congregation to know that fifty-four years ago, as a 
 boy, I attended your church with my oldest brother, 
 John. During the fall, winter, and spring of 183 1 and 
 '32, while the cholera was in New- York, I boarded at 
 the corner of John and Pearl streets, and twice each 
 Sabbath day walked to the old church on Mercer street, 
 which was then considered away up town. Your pres- 
 ent location was then farm-lands. 
 
 The pew that I occupied was five from the front on 
 the right-hand side of the aisle next Broadway. Very 
 well do I remember the old pastor's familiar face. Rev. 
 Dr. Stark ; the peculiar shake of his head and trembling 
 of the eye, as he gave out the familiar old Psalms of 
 David. I recall many precious Sabbaths, and the im- 
 pressions then made have followed me and helped shape 
 and mold my Christian character. Since those days, I 
 have retained a deep interest in the old church in which 
 were spent so pleasantly the Sabbath days of my boy- 
 hood, the teachings of which have ever remained with 
 me. My brothers James and Joseph subsequently for 
 many years were members and officers of the congrega- 
 tion, and died in its communion, thus increasing my 
 love for the old church. 
 
 It has come to my mind that the beloved pastor of 
 your church in 1854 (Dr. Thomson) entertained at his 
 house that eminent missionary of the gospel, the Rev. 
 Dr. Alexander Duff, whom I had the privilege of invit- 
 ing to our country, and that was the first house he slept 
 in in America, and your church was the first one he 
 preached in in New- York, and the last one he spoke in 
 at that memorable parting meeting on the morning he 
 left our shores. On the Sabbath when he preached 
 every foot of room in the old Grand street church was 
 occupied. My seat was at the foot of the pulpit, near 
 
192 
 
 one of the reporters, who had, during one of the Doctor's 
 bursts of eloquence, laid down his pen, at which I re- 
 minded him that we wanted the sermon fully reported; 
 and I shall never forget the rebuke he gave me when he 
 said, "I must hear that man {or myself ." Those who 
 were permitted to hear the now sainted Duff will recall 
 his visit to your church as an occasion of much more 
 than ordinary interest. 
 
 I remember very pleasantly that partly through my 
 instrumentality you were called to the pastorate of the 
 old church, and very greatly have I rejoiced over the 
 success that has attended your ministry, and the contin- 
 ued and growing prosperity of the church under your 
 kindly care. 
 
 In view of these facts, you will see how great a self- 
 denial it is to me that I am not privileged to attend these 
 meetings. 
 
 I trust and pray that the blessing of God may follow 
 these special services and continue abundantly to bless 
 you and the old church. 
 
 Fraternally yours in Christ, 
 
 Geo. H. Stuart. . 
 
 The next letter is from Mr. James Robertson, of 
 London, England, President of the Aldenham 
 Institute, and Superintendent of the Mission 
 Schools connected w^ith the Regent Square Pres- 
 byterian Church. 
 
 21 Berners Street, London, W., 
 October, 1885. 
 Dear Brethren : When I had the pleasure of see- 
 ing your beloved pastor here a few weeks ago, he ex- 
 tended to me a cordial invitation to be present at the 
 
193 
 
 centenary celebration of the Fourth Presbyterian Church, 
 in the closing week of this month. 
 
 Few things would have given me more real pleasure, 
 had it been possible for me to go. But, though neces- 
 sarily absent in person, I shall be with you in spirit, and 
 shall mingle my rejoicing and thanksgiving with those 
 of the assembled congregation, in view of the fact that 
 the Fourth Church has been for a hundred years a shin- 
 ing light, distributing with no stinted measure the glori- 
 ous sunshine of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 
 An occasion such as this invites you to examine the 
 record of these hundred years, both for the interest 
 that such an examination possesses in itself, and that the 
 experience of the past may serve to stimulate you to 
 more entire consecration to the Master's service in the 
 future. 
 
 My treacherous memory covers but a very short 
 period of the century, as it was only in 1866 that my 
 name was added to the roll, and I had the pleasure of 
 being associated with you in church fellowship for not 
 more than ten years. 
 
 It may be of interest, however, to recall that during 
 these years the congregation took three most important 
 steps, all of which indicated the progressive spirit which 
 should characterize all Christian congregations. I refer 
 first to the removal of the congregation to your present 
 place of worship, which will doubtless be fittingly referred 
 to in the resume of the church's history you will have the 
 pleasure of listening to. 
 
 The second important step was the introduction of the 
 organ so long delayed out of proper regard for the opin- 
 ion of those who could not view such a step as other 
 than a retrograde one, but which I am glad to know has 
 proved to be a real blessing because helpful in making 
 the service of praise to be more perfectly and more 
 heartily rendered. 
 
 25 
 
194 
 
 The third important step was the starting of the West 
 Side Mission, which resulted from a meeting of young 
 men called by our esteemed pastor, the Rev. Dr. Thom- 
 son, for the express purpose of endeavoring to originate 
 some sphere of Christian activity in which the young 
 energies of the congregation might profitably find an 
 outlet. It is pleasing to know that this mission still 
 exists, and that it has been instrumental in fulfilling to a 
 large extent the object of its existence. 
 
 Among the memories affecting me personally, I shall 
 never forget with what reluctance I diffidently assumed 
 the charge of a young men's Bible-class at the urgent 
 solicitation of Dr. Thomson, and how much pleasure I 
 afterward found in conducting it, though ever conscious 
 of the imperfect manner in which that duty was per- 
 formed. 
 
 Nor shall I cease to remember the impressive occasion 
 when in 1870 I was one of six who, after having been 
 duly elected by the congregation, were solemnly or- 
 dained to the office of the eldership. 
 
 Neither can I forget the indulgence and forbearance 
 extended to me, both by the office-bearers of the church 
 and my fellow-workers at the mission, during the years 
 I ventured, without experience and in much weakness, 
 to superintend the work at the West Side Mission. 
 
 I have alluded to these personal reminiscences because 
 I feel sure there are many in the congregation in whose 
 minds they will stir memories that perhaps have been 
 long dormant. There is not one of them I am not thankful 
 for, and I am free to acknowledge that the experience I 
 gained by them has in some measure fitted, or at least 
 helped me to a better performance of duty than other- 
 wise would have been possible in the much wider sphere 
 of church work in which I now find myself engaged. 
 
 The years referred to bring back to the mind's vision 
 the holy men who were then the leaders of the congre- 
 
195 
 
 gation, namely : Mr. Whitewright, Mr. McKenzie, Mr. 
 Allan, Mr. Aitken, Mr. Kydd, Mr. James Morrison, 
 James and Joseph Stuart. What memories cluster 
 round each name ! I could fill pages of detail about 
 them ; this, however, would obviously be out of place 
 in a communication of this character. 
 
 May God bless the Fourth Presbyterian Church. 
 May you enter on your second century resolved that 
 you will be more His than you have ever been, and 
 though none of you can be present at the celebration of 
 the second centenary, you can leave behind you such a 
 record of personal holiness. Christian faith, and Christian 
 activity as shall command the admiration of the gener- 
 ation to come, and serve as a pattern through the whole 
 future history of the congregation. Believe me, dear 
 brethren, 
 
 Yours in the bonds of Christian love, 
 
 James Robertson. 
 
 The following is from Robert Donald, Esq., 
 Provost of Dunfermline, Scotland. 
 
 City Chambers, Dunfermline, 
 26 September, 1885. 
 
 Rev. Joseph Kerr, D. D. , New - York. 
 
 My Dear Sir : I trust you have arrived home safe 
 and well, much improved in health by your tour on this 
 side of the Atlantic, and ready for the celebration of the 
 centennial of the church endeared to you and me by 
 many hallowed associations. I think the centennial of 
 the Fourth Presbyterian Church of New- York really be- 
 gan to be celebrated when Mr. Thomas Kirkpatrick and 
 I met you in Edinburgh last month. We were verily a 
 
196 
 
 circle of antiquaries when we sat down to dinner on that 
 memorable day. Our lively little dinner-party augured 
 well for the success of the Great Day of the Feast draw- 
 ing near. Your centennial presence was decidedly 
 patriarchal, with your son Joseph alongside of us. On 
 your right hand you had Mr. George Robertson, whose 
 position under the Crown here is custodian of the Palace 
 and Abbey of Dunfermline. The Abbey is connected 
 with the parish church. It was founded in 1070 by 
 Queen Margaret, wife of Malcolm, King of Scotland, all 
 of which is illustrated in a large window in the parish 
 church, designed by Sir Noel Paton, and it is the most 
 costly window in Scotland. On your left hand was Dr. 
 Munro, of Kilmarnock, author of the antiquarian book. 
 Lake Dwellings of Scotland. He and I went that day on 
 a pilgrimage to some newly-discovered tombs of prehis- 
 toric Scotchmen. We handled the ashes and the urns 
 of the Stone period of our country. Surely all this was 
 prophetic of the centennial day approaching. In the 
 midst of such gentlemen and such grand old buildings 
 and such relics of antiquity, a hundred years seem of 
 small account; but, for all that, the centennial of your 
 church is a most important event to you and me. We 
 say with the Psalmist, "A day in thy courts is better 
 than a thousand," etc., etc. 
 
 I was admitted a member of the old Grand Street 
 Church in the year of our Lord 1856, and well remem- 
 ber the good old times under the ministry of the Rev. 
 Dr. John Thomson, our dear old friend, and the other 
 standard-bearers in the church of those days, who were 
 "able men, such as fear God, — men of truth." As one 
 after another of them was removed, the more anxious 
 minds of the church were often afraid others might not 
 be found ready and willing to fill up the breaches ; but a 
 kind Providence brought forward men who by their 
 prayers, their money, and their influence maintained the 
 
197 
 
 integrity and efficiency of the church now prospering 
 under your own good ministry. 
 
 I trust you and those engaged with you in the work 
 of the church may be blessed in your work. 
 
 With best wishes and kindest regards for you and 
 yours, I remain, Yours faithfully, 
 
 Robert Donald. 
 
 P. S. Herewith is a draft for one hundred dollars in 
 behalf of centennial expenses. — R. D. 
 
 The Rev. Henry C. Cronin, the first missionary 
 in charge of the West Side Chapel, writes : 
 
 Parsonage, Second Congregational Church, 
 
 Hamilton, N. Y., October 23d, 1885. 
 
 Mr. John H. Allen, 69 Seventh Avenue, New -York. 
 
 My Dear Friend : I received to-day, addressed in 
 your handwriting, an invitation to attend the centennial 
 services of the Fourth Presbyterian Church, for which 
 please accept my thanks. 
 
 I regret that, owing to my church work and to sick- 
 ness in my family, I shall be deprived the pleasure of 
 being in attendance upon what will doubtless be very 
 interesting and delightful services. 
 
 The receipt of your invitation brings up many mem- 
 ories of the past in connection with the Fourth Church 
 and its Mission ; of how the Lord led us and cared for 
 us, and was better to us than our fears. I congratulate 
 you and the church, with its pastor, upon the past, the 
 present, and the outlook for the future, and pray that 
 that future may prove more glorious than the past ; 
 
198 
 
 that the candlestick may never be removed out of its 
 place, but that you who are the church of to-day, and 
 they who shall be the church of the future, may see her 
 " A quiet habitation — a tabernacle that shall not be 
 taken down ; that not one of her stakes shall ever be re- 
 moved, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken." 
 If you shall have opportunity, please remember me 
 kindly to Drs. Thomson, Spaulding, and Kerr, and to 
 all my old friends. And believe me to remain. 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 Henry C. Cronin. 
 
 The Rev. George S. Chambers, Pastor of the 
 Pine Street Presbyterian Church, Harrisburg, Pa., 
 sends this cordial greeting : 
 
 Harrisburg, October 23, 1885. 
 
 Dear Bro. Kerr : I have just received the bill of 
 fare. It will take them another hundred years to get 
 over it. For think of it ! Thomson, and Kerr, and Or- 
 miston, and Crosby, and Hall, and Robinson, and Booth, 
 and Stuart, and Taylor, and Wilson, and Alexander, and 
 Shiland, and Carter, and Hamilton, and Spaulding, and 
 Field, and Chambers, and Rossiter, and Van Dyke, and 
 Prime, and a collation ! It takes one's breath away to 
 look at it. You have evidently great faith in the appro- 
 priating and enduring power of the "old Fourth." How 
 I wish I could be there ! But with this go my heartiest 
 and highest wishes for the success of the centennial, and 
 your own prosperity and happiness. Give my warmest 
 regards to Dr. Thomson. I often think of him as the 
 first minister in New -York with whom I got acquainted; 
 who introduced me to the New -York Presbytery; who 
 
199 
 
 was such a kind and wise counselor ; who was so ready- 
 to help a young minister when in a tight place ; and who 
 always welcomed me to his home. I often have thought 
 of our fellowship, and have wished that I could meet 
 him again. 
 
 May you have a grand, good time, — and you 
 certainly will if there is anything in the hopes and 
 prayers of Yours fraternally, 
 
 George S. Chambers. 
 
 Another letter is from the Rev. Archibald 
 McCullagh, D. D., Pastor of the Ross Street 
 Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 135 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, 
 
 October 26, 1885. 
 
 My Dear Bro. Kerr : Accept my hearty con- 
 gratulations that your church has completed her hun- 
 dredth year, and under your efficient ministry is still 
 young, strong, vigorous, and progressive as at any pre- 
 vious period of her existence. I hope the centennial 
 exercises may not only prove interesting in themselves, 
 but be productive of lasting good, and tend to widen 
 the sphere of the influence of your church in the years 
 which are to come. 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 Archibald McCullagh. 
 
 The Rev. John B. Dales, D. D., Secretary of 
 the Board of Foreign Missions of the United 
 Presbyterian Church in North America, writes : 
 
200 
 
 136 North i8th Street, Philadelphia, 
 October 28, 1885. 
 
 Dear Dr. Kerr: Yesterday I was called to visit 
 your city to attend a meeting of the American portion 
 of the Commission of the Presbyterian Alliance. While 
 there I heard at length of the good time you and your 
 people are having this week; and, being in the large list 
 of your friends here and elsewhere, I would, if my hur- 
 ried time had at all allowed, have gone to your house 
 and been at some one, at least, of your meetings. You 
 are, my dear brother, to be congratulated, as I most 
 earnestly do congratulate you, upon being permitted to 
 sing so much of goodness and mercy in your pastoral 
 charge. Your people have had an honored and useful 
 history, and they do truly nobly and well in commem- 
 orating as they do this week the covenant faithfulness 
 and goodness of the God of their fathers and their own 
 God. Most earnestly do I join my prayer with many 
 others that the past may be but as the beginning and the 
 precursor of many, very many, years of still more and 
 more enriching blessing. 
 
 In his sovereign providence, God took you to that 
 charge, and I have rejoiced in hearing from time to 
 time of your having cheering and comforting tokens of 
 His favor. May that happiest of all joys for a pastor be 
 ever largely yours, viz., the joy of seeing souls saved, 
 your people love you, and the children of God edified 
 and fitted for glory through your instrumentahty there. 
 Ever yours very truly, 
 
 J. B. Dales. 
 
 From France come the congratulatory words 
 of the Rev. W. W. Newell, Jr., the devoted worker 
 in the MacAU Mission at Paris. 
 
20I 
 
 Mission Populaire Evangelique de France. 
 
 R. W. MacAll, 32, Rue Pierre-Guerin, 
 
 Auteuil-Paris, October 16, 1885. 
 
 Very Dear Dr. Kerr : Permit me to send to you 
 and to your dear people a word of greeting. You told 
 me that on the last days of October you expected to 
 celebrate the one hundredth birthday of your church. 
 So old and yet so young ; as young, as vigorous, as 
 lovely as in the days of your youth ; pastor and people 
 younger to-day than ten years ago ; literally renewing 
 your youth. 
 
 Go on, dear friends, in this mysterious life of grace, 
 adding century to century, yet adding ever force and 
 beauty, a century-plant sending forth constant blossoms, 
 bearing daily fruit. Abraham and Sarah laughed that 
 they should have a son when they were a hundred 
 years old. May you, like them, be blessed with the 
 seed the Lord hath promised you. And may those 
 born of God among you occupy the world for Christ. 
 
 Many lands bless you to-day ; many souls pray for 
 you. And France, who has felt the quickening impulse 
 of your sympathy and prayer and endeavor, begs to 
 speak to you her thanks ; and little among the multitude 
 of your friends, even I may love you and pray for you 
 and thank God for you. 
 
 Very sincerely yours in the ever-living Church, 
 
 William Newell, Jr. 
 
 The Rev. Joseph Kerr, D. D., and Church. 
 
 26 
 
Extracts of Press Notices. 
 
 The New-York Observer said : 
 
 Fourth Presbyterian Church Centennial. 
 
 The Fourth Presbyterian Church of this city, now 
 under the pastoral care of Rev. Joseph R. Kerr, is cele- 
 brating its centennial during the present week. On 
 Sunday morning the Rev. John Thomson, D. D., of 
 Scotland, who was pastor from 185 1 to 1864, with an 
 interval of four years, preached. In the afternoon the 
 Rev. Dr. Kerr preached an historical discourse of great 
 interest, giving the annals of the church from its founda- 
 tion in 1785 to the present time, and also a detailed 
 report of the work which has been accomplished by this 
 organization since its commencement. 
 
 This discourse is to be published in full, and will be a 
 valuable addition to the historical records of the churches 
 of the city. 
 
 The centennial services continue every evening of 
 the present week, ministers and laymen of various 
 denominations taking part. 
 
203 
 
 (From the New- York Evangelist.) 
 
 The Fourth Presbyterian Church is commemorating 
 the completion of its first century, it having been organ- 
 ized in the autumn of 1785, just at the close of the Revo- 
 lution. The pastor, Dr. Joseph R. Kerr, has had printed a 
 handsome, broad-paged invitation, and also programme 
 of the proceedings, which will be preserved by very 
 many as one of the souvenirs of the occasion. The 
 centennial services began on Sunday, Oct. 25th, and 
 continued through the week, concluding on the follow- 
 ing Lord's day, Nov. 1st, with the Sacrament of the 
 Lord's Supper, at 4 P. M., conducted by Rev. Drs. 
 Thomson, Spaulding, and the pastor. 
 
 The Scoiiish-Americaii Journal, the organ of the Scottish residents 
 of this country, gave a lengthy historical account of the church 
 and the centenary, from which is taken the following: 
 
 One Hundred Years Old. 
 
 The centennial exercises of the Fourth Presbyterian 
 Church, this city, commenced on Sabbath morning last 
 in presence of a congregation which completely filled 
 the large building on West Thirty-fourth Street. Old 
 friends of the church from far and near were there in 
 large numbers, and the reunion was most impressive. 
 They were warmly welcomed by the present members 
 of the congregation. The sacred edifice was very taste- 
 fully decorated with a large assortment of plants, leaves, 
 etc., and their beautiful autumnal tints had a very pleas- 
 ing effect. Over the pulpit were placed prominently the 
 dates 1785 and 1885. The Rev. Dr. John Thomson, 
 formerly pastor of the church, occupied the pulpit, and 
 preached a practical and earnest discourse from the text 
 in John xvii. 22 — " The glory which thou gavest me, I 
 
204 
 
 have given to them." His theme was the priceless 
 privilege of being blessed of the Lord with saving grace. 
 
 The church was again crowded at the afternoon 
 service. 
 
 The sermon took the form of an historical discourse 
 by the Rev. Dr. Joseph R. Kerr, the pastor of the 
 church, whose text was from Deuteronomy xxxii. 7 — 
 " Remember the days of old ; consider the years of 
 generation and generation." Dr. Kerr traced the history 
 of the church from its humble beginning until the pres- 
 ent time, when it holds an honored position among the 
 active working churches within the bounds of the 
 Presbytery of New-York. The exercises were of a very 
 interesting character, and congratulatory to the Christian 
 work done by the Fourth Presbyterian Church in New- 
 York during the last hundred years. 
 
 In all, it is a most delightful season in the history of 
 the Fourth Church. 
 
 The meetings were favorably noticed from day 
 to day by the Times, the Herald, the World, the 
 Mail and Express, and the Evening Telegram, 
 and thus public interest was sustained up to the 
 closing service. 
 
iHESE Centennial Services were largely 
 attended, business and social engage- 
 'ments gave way, while old and young 
 ^^^^ heartily united in making the occasion 
 a splendid success. 
 
 The music was conducted by Mr. W. A. Place 
 and Mr. J. H. Munro, assisted by a trained vol- 
 unteer choir. 
 
 The ushers were under the direction of Mr. W. 
 H. Harrison, and the programme-distributers 
 were lads from our Sabbath schools. 
 
 The church was elaborately decorated with 
 autumnal foliage, palms, and flowering plants. 
 In front of the desk was a large floral Bible, 
 and on the walls were the suggestive figures, 
 1785-1885. 
 
 Thus a memorable period in our history has 
 been commemorated, and it is hoped that as often 
 as these pages are perused, something of the 
 pleasure and profit of this happy week may be 
 enjoyed by the reader. 
 
The engravings of the churches at Grand and 
 Mercer streets and Grand and Crosby streets 
 were executed and presented by one of our young 
 lady members, Miss Emma S. Haslett. 
 
The preparation of this Record of the Centen- 
 nial Anniversary was referred, with power, to the 
 Pastor and the Printing Committee. 
 
THE DE VINNE PRESS. 
 
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