w^ i 
 
 ^T^-^C 
 
 GENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY 
 
 
 CALDWELL, N. J. 
 
 g !' 
 
^ . /o 
 
 ^'"^ 
 
 x^ 
 
 ^i X\\t ^¥oiagirui ^ 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 ^«/. 
 
 ^^. 
 
 ^^J 
 
 If 
 
 BX 8949 .M46 1885 
 
 First Presbyterian Church 
 
 (Caldwell, N.J. ) 
 Memorial exercises on the 
 
 nnr.asion of the Centennial 
 
MEMORIAL EXERCISES 
 
 ON THE OCCASION OF THE 
 
 Centennial Anniversary 
 
 First -t-Presbyteriaii-t-fc^ 
 
 OF CALDWELL, N. J., 
 
 Wednesday, December 3, 1884. 
 
 PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE CITIZENS OF CALDWELL. 
 
 NEWARK, N. J. 
 
 Press of Advi:ktiser Printing House, 
 
 1885. 
 
Tlie Sgnification and Purpose of fecred Memorials, 
 A DISCOURSE 
 
 (abridged) 
 
 ON THE OCCASION OF THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OP 
 THE CALDWELL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 
 
 BY THE PASTOK, 
 
 REV. C. T. BERRY. 
 
DISCOURSE. 
 
 . . " When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 
 What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them. That the 
 waters of Jordan were cut ofE before the ark of the covenant of the 
 Lord; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: 
 and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for 
 ever. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, 
 until ye were passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, 
 which he dried up from before us, until 'we were gone over. That all 
 the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is 
 mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God for eyer.— Joshua IV. 
 6, 7, 23, 24. 
 
 IF it had not already been done, I should embrace the 
 splendid opportunity which this centennial anniversary 
 furnishes, to bring before you the fullest history of this 
 church which can now be written. 
 
 Fourteen years ago it was my privilege to present you with 
 the record of eighty-six years of the now completed century 
 of your ecclesiastical life. 
 
 In the absence, therefore, of necessity to review again in 
 detail the items of our church's history, I have found what 
 appears to me a suitable theme for this interesting occasion 
 in the text announced. 
 
 As the reading of the Scripture lesson placed before us the 
 connection of these words, we may turn directly to the subject 
 which they suggest, viz.: The Signification and Purpose of 
 Sacred Memorials. 
 
 The divine wisdom plainly appears in this command to 
 observe a then already customary form of commemoration. 
 It met that human weakness through which it happens that 
 the most sacred impressions are prone to die. Moreover 
 it harmonized with God's usual methods hitherto. His bow 
 
6 
 
 m the cloud was intended as a sign and pledge of his faith- 
 fulness. The Sabbath was ordained to quicken in men the 
 sense of their divine relations, and their longing for the " rest 
 that remaineth." So the passover and other Icindred feasts 
 were designed for memorials ; and whea Christ said to his 
 disciples, ''Do this in remembrance of me," he asserted the 
 very same principle. Events, the most illustrious in this 
 care-and-pleasure-crowded %vorld, are easily forgotten. 
 
 Man's Creator has therefore often emphasized the need of 
 enshrining their remembrance in some permanent form, and 
 as a matter of fact, the example before us has entered into 
 the traditions and practices of almost every nation on the 
 face of the earth. 
 
 I. I remark, in the first place, that from the teaching of 
 the Scriptures it seems to be eminently fitting to commem- 
 orate in some expressive form the good things God has done 
 for us. 
 
 The Old Testament is crowded with the proofs of this 
 practice ; such as circumcision, the memorial of God's cove- 
 nant with Abraham ; the stone set up at Bethel, the mem- 
 orial of Jacob's vision ; the passover, the memorial of deliv- 
 erance from Egypt ; the Altar at Eephidim, inscribed "The 
 Lord, my Banner ; " the manna jDreserved in the Ark, the 
 memorial of Israel's miraculous food-supply in the wilderness ; 
 the Gideon altar at Ophrah ; the Ebenezer stone set up by 
 Samuel, the memorial of victory over the Philistines ; the 
 annual feasts in commemoration of national deliverances, 
 such as the feast of Purim, the memorial of the Jews' 
 escape from the exterminating designs of Haman. And that 
 the practice is not foreign to the New Testament is evident 
 from the sanction which our Lord lent to it in the institution 
 of the eucharist, and the change of the Jewish Sabbath to 
 the Christian Sunday, the weekly memorial of Christ's resur- 
 rection. 
 
 No one, certainly, can condemn the working of the same 
 principle in the erection of memorial churches, and other 
 
means of commemorating God's great mercies, or the lives of 
 good men. It will hardly be questioned that the legiti- 
 mate tendency of such memorials is to keep alive, if not to 
 foster the spirit of piety and gratitude. 
 
 It is of particular value to the young, as we see even under 
 all its perversions in the Church of Rome. The abstract 
 facts of history make but a faint impression upon the young, 
 while a stately structure or a towering monument attracts 
 their attention at once. According to an old heathen proverb, 
 " Things received through the avenue of hearing impress the 
 mind far more feebly than those which are submitted to us 
 through the medium of sight." In the case now before us 
 the twelve-stone sign was to be a stimulus to spiritual appre- 
 hension, and a help to faith. Like all such memorials it had 
 a two-fold aspect. While it was to keep alive precious mem- 
 ories, and awaken bright anticipations, it linked the spiritual 
 past with the spiritual future. It symbolized that there was 
 ever over successive generations the same God, with His loving 
 regard and delivering power — that past experiences of grace 
 were pledges of unfailing help in the emergencies yet to come. 
 Is it not an inference, absolutely fair, that God would have 
 us take special measures to remember our mercies? Do we 
 not all knoAv right well that our disappointments and mis- 
 fortunes need no memorial stones, while the memory of God's 
 mercies is very liable to be overborne by the persistent clamor 
 of life's ills? Do we not owe it to ourselves and our Divine 
 benefactor to stimulate our souls, to " Bless the Lord and for- 
 get not [any of] all his benefits?" Should we not cherish such 
 a wholesome, gracious memory, cultivating it like the garden 
 of the liord ; keeping out all noisome weeds and noxious 
 growths, that the flowers of devout gratitude and joyful 
 service may flourish in fullest fragrance and beauty? 
 
 If we are to ''keep our hearts with all diligence," then cer- 
 tainly this department of the work may not be neglected. 
 
 But our duty does not rest here. Remembrance for our 
 own sakes is not enough. Just as the memorial of the Lord's 
 
Supper is not only designed to recall to those acquainted 
 with it, but to proclaim to those ignorant of it, the great 
 deliverance wrought on Calvary, and the infinite love that 
 lay behind the cross, so these memorial stones to commem- 
 orate the miracle of Jordan's dry crossing were pre-eminently 
 for the sake of succeeding generations. They were to report 
 to others, as well as to recall to the Israelites of that day, the 
 mercies of God. They were for a perpetual publication of 
 God's gracious dealings with his people. As Bunyan would 
 say, they were set up "for the encouragement of pilgrims." 
 The Israelites were expressly forbidden to " hide God's mer- 
 cies in their hearts." They were to tell them to the genera- 
 tions following. 
 
 So in a sin-sick world, the Christian, the church, must tell 
 of hopes of heaven and the way to reach that blessed abode. 
 Christ, when on earth, required mercies received to be 
 mercies related for others' good, except perhaps where thought- 
 less tattle would be an injury. Those whom lie leads across 
 the Jordan of condemnation into his promised rest of pardon 
 and acceptance he bids to erect their memorial and join the 
 rest of Israel in testifying to the greatness of their Saviour. 
 Moreover, memorials are to be as enduring as possible. The 
 one at Gilgal was built of stones, and, it is said as a matter of 
 fact, remained till probably some centuries after the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem. And through all those generations that 
 memorial served to elevate and inspire men by its blessed 
 memories. So Christian, so church memorials should not be 
 unsubstantial, transient. Those who inherit much from 
 Christ should transmit much to others, who may thereby be- 
 come His disciples. If we have been blessed by ancestral 
 testimony, let us also likewise bless our descendants. Let our 
 testimony to divine grace be strong, clear, decisive — if it may 
 be, massive. Let it be serious work, enlisting our very souls. 
 
 II. I remark, secondly. That sacred memorials are a testi- 
 mony that help and strength are to be found in the ordinances 
 of religion. 
 
9 
 
 When the feet of the appointed priests touched the brink 
 of the waters, the passageway across the tumultuous stream 
 was formed — the upper waters massed themselves above, and 
 the lower waters fled away. God has appointed his ministry 
 and the services of his sanctuary. It is (through grace divine) 
 one of the privileges of the Christian ministry of the new 
 covenant, as of the priests at the command of the Jesus of 
 the old covenant, that as their feet touch the swelling waters 
 of on-rolling worldliness these subside, they flee away, at 
 least when at the root of the individual life there lies the 
 spark, even though almost quenched, of faith. 
 
 The priests in the case now in our view, Ave are told, '' stood 
 firm," without faltering or wavering, ar.d the miracle of 
 divided waters was performed. Just at this point it was that 
 the first memorial was afterw^ard erected, commemorative 
 alike of the fidelity of the priests and the commencement of 
 the miracle. Many are the faithful servants of God in the 
 ministry, who have, like these priests of old, felt their respon- 
 sibility in the service of God in His church, and who, without 
 fainting by the way, have unshrinkingly led the sacramental 
 hosts of God's elect, unfaltering in their work of "earnestly 
 contending for the faith once delivered to the saints," whose 
 trumpet in promoting the spread of the Gospel gave no 
 uncertain sound. And many are the memorials, not only of 
 costly shafts in celebrated cemeteries, but far, far better, 
 in large, and established, and sanctified churcli constituencies, 
 and in grand and enduring church edifices, w^hich both liave 
 long borne eloquent testimony to the faithful instruction, 
 and the wise and successful guidance by these consecrated 
 servants of Christ, of pilgrims to the celestial city, who, 
 as shining stars in the crown of their rejoicing, shall con- 
 stitute everlasting memorials in the unveiled presence of the 
 ever-living God. 
 
 III. I remark again. That sacred memorials are a testimony 
 that spiritual barriers are efficient against all assailing forces. 
 
 Thus runs the narrative : " And the priests that bare the 
 
10 
 
 ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in 
 the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry 
 ground until all the people were clean passed over Jordan." 
 For the time being that restless river was, by the presence of 
 the ark, dammed as no civil engineer could have done it. The 
 swift-piling waters could not break it or find even a leak in 
 it. There was no struggling with the water; none were 
 carried down the stream ; there were no hair-breadtli escapes; 
 none were left behind ; all got safely across. And the memo- 
 rial which was built to commemorate this event was equally, 
 aye, chiefly, a testimonial that nothing can overcome purely 
 spiritual barriers. Many have been the confident prophecies 
 to the contrary, and many the Elis that have trembled for the 
 ark of God's truth. At times it has indeed seemed but a 
 slender barrier to oi)pose to the rushing and roaring river of 
 error bearing mightily down upon it. Science has been so 
 arrogant and captious ; chronology so very sure ; metaphysics 
 so proudly disputatious; and, withal, en or so agreeable to the 
 natural man, that it has seemed sometimes as if the current 
 were too swift to be withstood. But the dashing Jordans of 
 all the manifold philosophies and all the multiform heresies 
 have threatened God's truth in vain ; and to-day all over the 
 governing nations of the world the sacred memorials of Chris- 
 tian churches with their heaveu-pointing spires in cities and 
 towns and even infant villages attest the fact that the simple 
 ark of God's truth is sufficient to withstand the most violent 
 and virulent opposition. ''The weakness of God is stronger 
 than men." 
 
 IV. I remark, fourthly. That sacred memorials of past ex- 
 periences should have fruitage in large plans for the future. 
 
 The first religious act of the Israelites after crossing the 
 Jordan was the erection of their memorial about two miles 
 from the river. And we read, ''they went over prepared for 
 war." How bitter and bloody and victoi-ious their succeeding 
 conflicts were, the sacred narrative gives us full account. As 
 an elemental factor in their success, who shall measure the 
 
11 
 
 stimulating value of that Gilgal memorial, testifying, as in 
 mute eloquence it ever did, of divine help in gi-eat emergen- 
 cies. Would they not naturally reason that He who had 
 divided the waters of the Red Sea, who had daily strewed 
 bread for them over the barren wilderness, and who had now 
 held back the impetuous Jordan from opposing their onward 
 way, would still honor their Ebenezer, and enable them to 
 subdue and possess the entire land to which He had brought 
 them ? Was not the chief intent of the memorial to encour- 
 age them to far larger things, as the people of God, for the 
 glory of Him who had chosen them ? 
 
 And so, as the Church of Christ goes on its way, erecting 
 as it does ever and anon its memorial of divine interposition, 
 should it not fetch courage from its monumental past to 
 widen the scope of its future undertakings ? The Christian 
 church cannot expect exemption from conflict. The great 
 Captain declared that He came "not to send peace, but a 
 sword." Individually, as our forefathers, we have to "'fight 
 the good fight of faith.'" And collectively, as a Christian 
 church, we have to "contend earnestly for the faith once 
 delivered unto the saints." We have not been ancestrally led 
 into what may comparatively be called a " Land of Promise" 
 to be idle. Rather do enlarged opportunities demand more 
 illustrious results. Inaction now would be treason. Not re- 
 pasts of milk and honey is as yet our destiny ; but earnest 
 resistance both to the evil in our own hearts, and then to the 
 confederated evils of society, is the divine allotment. And for 
 this, as we erect our centennial memorial, let us pass over the 
 boundary line between the two centuries, as the Israelites 
 passed over the dividing and divided Jordan, " prepared," 
 i. e., literally "disencumbered." Let us resolve to put aside, 
 as did they, the impediments to activity. Whatever may lie 
 in our habits, our social customs, our recreations, our busi- 
 ness relations, or even our affectional ties, that may fetter us 
 in the conflict with the opposing forces of evil, let us reso- 
 lutely give up, " Let us lay aside every weight and every 
 
12 
 
 easily besetting sin," and with united front, as we remember 
 what great things the Lord hath done for us, meet — and, 
 trusting in our fathers' God, meet to vanquish — the serried 
 ranks of evil that interpose to prevent the beneficent march 
 of the church of the ever-living God to world-saving victory. 
 
 One hundred years ago last Wednesday "The First Pres- 
 byterian Church of Horse Neck " was organized, with a con- 
 stituency of forty members, viz. : eighteen men and twenty- 
 two women. The day of the week was Friday. Let those who 
 look upon Friday as an unlucky day on which to begin an 
 undertaking remember liow their forefathers regarded it. 
 
 (For the precise record of the formal commencement of 
 your ecclesiastical existence see "Hist. Survey," p. 17. For 
 the conditions out of which it took origin see same "Survey," 
 pp. 13, 14, 15, 16.) 
 
 The first pastor of the church was the Rev. Stephen Grover. 
 (See " Hist. Sur.," p. 22.) Under Mr. Grover's labor, though 
 no special awakening occurred for eight years, yet considerable 
 additions, to the number of sixty-eight, were made from time 
 to time to the communion of the church; while the regular 
 and faithful ministrations of the Gospel and its ordinances 
 produced a decidedly happy reformation in general manners 
 and morals. 
 
 In January, 1792, a church, at an estimated cost of $3,000, 
 was projected by the earnest and faithful pastor. This, after 
 four years of great labor and sacrifice and patience, and sub- 
 stantial assistance from eleven contiguous parishes, was com- 
 pleted, and dedicated April 6, 1796. (See "Hist. Survey," 
 pp. 27, 28.) This year was besides memorable for the com- 
 mencement of a powerful work of grace, which continued 
 through half of the following year, and resulted in the addi- 
 tion of one hundred and sixty-six souls in all to the church. 
 This was surpassed, however, in the year 1808, when one hun- 
 dred and fifty-two at the June communion were received at 
 one time. (See " Hist. Survey," pp. 27, 28, 29.) In addition 
 to these two large revivals Mr. Grover was privileged to enjoy 
 
13 
 
 two others — one in 1814, fruiting in sixty-one conversions, 
 and one in 1835, yielding thirty-three additions to the church. 
 
 In the years 1826-7 the Kev. Eobert Campfield spent his 
 two seminary vacations here in assisting Mr. Grover, and 
 after graduating spent six months likewise, from July, 1828, 
 to January, 1829. While the church seems to have been con- 
 siderably awakened under his labors there are no records of 
 any special ingatherings. 
 
 In May, 1830, the Eev. Baker Johnson was settled as 
 assistant pastor, and continued here three years. There were 
 two revivals under his ministry, one which added thirty-seven 
 to the church roll, and the other forty-two. In all ninety- 
 seven joined under his ministry. 
 
 In October, 1833, after Mr. Johnson's departure, Mr. 
 Grover, in his seventy-sixth year, and after having served the 
 church forty-six years, was honorably retired upon a fixed 
 annuity, and, greatly beloved and venerated, deceased in a 
 little less than three years thereafter. 
 
 The next pastorate was that of the Eev. Mr. Cleveland, 
 which continued six years and a half from May, 1834. After 
 three years Mr. Cleveland called in the assistance of an evan- 
 gelist, a Mr. Clark, who labored here several weeks, the 
 result of whose efforts was the addition of seventy-five to the 
 church roll. During Mr. Cleveland's ministry ninety-seven 
 in all were received into the church. 
 
 The next pastor was the Eev. Mr. Tuttle, whose settlement 
 continued eight years and a half, from the spring of 1841 to 
 the fall of 1849. Under his genial, gentle, yet efiicient min- 
 istry, occurred two normal revivals, in which respectively 
 thirty and forty-four hoj)eful conversions took place. In all 
 ninety were added to the church during his ministry. 
 
 The fifth pastor was the Eev. Dr. Sprague, whose term of 
 service extended through nineteen years, from January, 1850, 
 to January, 1869. He came as a pronounced revivalist, and 
 several times during his pastorate, called in to his help 
 such revival evangelists as the Eevs. Mr. Underwood, 0. 
 
14 
 
 Parker, and E. P. Hammond. He was permitted to enjoy 
 eight seasons of ingathering, ranging in numbers from nine- 
 teen to seventy, in all three hundred and thirteen. In four 
 of the remaining years he received a total of thirty-three, and 
 in the other seven a total of only four; in five of these there 
 being no additions whatever. 
 
 My own ministry dates back sixteen years ago next spring. 
 During that time it has been my joy to welcome two hundred 
 and forty-one upon confession into the communion of the 
 church, and one hundred and eight by letter. During these 
 years, the church has, in the use of no extraneous aid, enjoyed 
 four special effusions of the spirit, the resulting ingather- 
 ings ranging from eighteen to seventy- three; the latter being 
 the largest number received at any one time since the revival 
 of 1808 under Mr. Grover. 
 
 The church has received in all 2,144 members upon confes- 
 sion of faith during the century ; 1,103 as the result of twenty- 
 one revivals, and 1,041 under the customary means of grace. 
 (Since Mr. Grover's pastorate two hundred and thirty-one 
 have been received by letter, nearly one-half of these during 
 my own ministry; this is a significant fact, as to the recent 
 trend of outside population. ) 
 
 So much only by way of historic review. What of it in 
 connection with the preceding part of the discourse? I answer: 
 this church's history has been one of conspicuous blessings 
 and consequent memorials. 
 
 When your forefathers lived isolated, in rude log huts, on 
 mountain paths, by springs, or anywhere that some trifling 
 advantage presented itself, with scarcely one dwelling among 
 them all that could keep out an ordinary storm, and the land 
 was so densely covered with timber that it was a struggle to 
 provide even the simplest means of subsistence, the God-fear- 
 ing portion of them gave themselves in serious attention to 
 matters of religion. 
 
 This, like the prayers of the centurion, Cornelius, came up 
 as a "memorial" before God, and He thereupon inclined to 
 
15 
 
 come unto them godly men from neighboring churches to 
 break unto them the bread of life. 
 
 The church-that-was- to-be then erected its next memorial 
 by securing the parsonage lands for the purpose, as expressly 
 stated, to "■ promote the public worship of Almighty God, by 
 making decent provision for the support of a minister of the 
 Gospel, and of erecting a convenient house for public wor- 
 ship." 
 
 This was followed by the building of the manse. Upon 
 this memorial, even while yet unfinished, God poured out his 
 further blessing in a very considerable revival of religion. 
 
 This again your pious ancestors followed by organizing 
 themselves into a church. Upon this came and continued the 
 baptism of heavenly impulses, until, in response, your fore- 
 fathers called and settled over them a man of God for a pastor. 
 This memorial God blessed in the ingathering of sixty-eight 
 souls, and the overcrowding of their humble place of worship. 
 They thereupon enlarged their memorial by the erection of a 
 church, which for those times was indeed large and honor- 
 worthy. Immediately thereafter God's responsive blessing 
 came in great power, adding within two years nearly two 
 hundred to the communion of the church. 
 
 Then continued fidelity in His worship as a memorial of 
 devout gratitude, God blessed for ten years with the saving 
 of seventy souls more, emphasizing the closing of that epoch 
 by the never-to-be-forgotten revival of 1808, which added. 152 
 at one time to the church's strength, crowding the capacity 
 of the church edifice with thankful and grace-developed 
 worshipers, who thus continued their memorials to the divine 
 goodness. 
 
 In six years the Great Head of the church again sent his 
 copious blessing in a large and gracious revival. Then from 
 time to time churches began to build in adjacent neighbor- 
 hoods, deriving of course from this ecclesiastical center their 
 inspiration, as also much of their strength. And so, recipro- 
 cal blessings and memorials, memorials and blessings which 
 
16 
 
 there is not time to particularize, continued, during succes- 
 sive pastorates till twelve years ago, the 29th of November, 
 1872, when God furnished you the opportunity to undertake 
 yet larger things, in the removal by fire of your time-honored 
 and beloved sanctuary, whose smouldering ruins drew honest 
 tears from many eyes. 
 
 Enlarging the memorial of your faith, and again crowning 
 it "Ebenezer," — "hitherto hath the Lord helped us," — you 
 confidently went forward, and ere long this beautiful, sub- 
 stantial, and capacious structure up-sprang from the ashes of 
 the first. 
 
 But unforeseen obstacles arose, which, though you have 
 manfully coped with them, find this second structure, nine 
 years after its completion, unliberated from debt, and undedi- 
 cated to God. What time more opportune, dear friends, for 
 me as your pastor, recalling to your notice, your past enviable 
 history, to urge you, under its stimulating and inspiriting 
 lessons, as you tread upon the threshold of a new century, to 
 imitate the apostle Paul, and "thank God and take courage." 
 If God has so faithfully guided you in the past, through the 
 Red Sea of the beginnings of your church history, through 
 the wilderness of your protracted and toilsome joui-neyings, 
 and across the swift and swollen Jordan of your recent emer- 
 gencies, set up, rather, complete this your memorial and 
 then press on to the victories, that, as a valiant church, are 
 yet awaiting your faithful fighting. 
 
 In the absence of earlier data, compare the past fifteen 
 years alone with the feeble beginnings of this church's his- 
 tory, and "What hath God wrought?" Your benevolent con- 
 tributions for the period named, without the unrecorded ones, 
 are just about a round $15,000, while your contributions 
 for church purposes for the same time are a trifle over $100,000, 
 besides $10,000 realized from the sale of land. 
 
 Is not He, who enabled you to begin and rear this already 
 renowned church-building as a suitable advance in "memo- 
 rial " raising upon the deeds of a century past, and which is 
 
17 
 
 far, far more within the scope of 3'oiir means than the dear 
 old wooden church was within the reach of your forefathers, 
 is not He waiting for you, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, 
 to " co77iplete the doing also," "that as there was the readi- 
 ness to will, there may be the completion also out of your 
 ability"? Is there a more suitable way to remember Him, 
 who " giveth you the power to get wealth "? Is it not emi- 
 nently fitting in this opening of your second century to com- 
 memorate in this expressive form your gratitude for the over- 
 flowing abundance of the divine mercies towards you hitherto? 
 
 What an important page in your church history does it now 
 lie within your province to contribute ! What an illustrious 
 time is now yours to consummate your memorial ! It is 
 yours to send it down to history for the successive generations 
 of your children to read with unmixed reverence for your 
 memories and delight in your deeds, that under the stimulus 
 of a review of your manifold mercies for a completed century 
 you gratefully and piously released your church from the 
 thrall of its indebtedness that it might enter with freedom 
 and gladness upon a second century of far more liberal and 
 glorious achievement than that which makes its past to-day 
 so renowned. 
 
 At one time it looked as if God were not going to require 
 any sacrifice of this generation in the line of church erection. 
 But since He has blessed you with the opportunity for its expe- 
 rience — and burden-bearing has great benefits — I entreat you 
 furnish to your children and to theirs, the evidence of your 
 consecration to Christ a.nd your testimony to the help and 
 strength that are to be found in the preserved ordinances of 
 religion, which would be shown by your arising and breaking 
 off the church's financial fetters. 
 
 Nor am I asking anything impossible. There is no want 
 of ability. Is it not, then, idle to suffer the leeches of interest 
 to suck any more of the life-blood of the principal ? Waiting 
 for the advent of the railroad has been the most delusive ignis 
 fatuus. Is it worth while to be lured on any longer by such 
 2 
 
18 
 
 a siren ? Is it economy by postponing the debt-payment to 
 pay it twice over ? It is staggering to think how much 
 money has been devoured already by the hungry and insatiable 
 wolf of interest. Is it not wiser to dispatch the ravenous 
 animal altogether ? 
 
 It is to me a heavy drawback from the anticipated enjoy- 
 ment of this long-anticipated day not to be able to unfold to 
 your view the cancelled mortgage which so oppressively 
 blankets this church. Nor could I have spoken otherwise 
 than I have without being recreant to you, to myself, to the 
 memory of your ancestors, to the interests of the church here 
 and at large, and to the Great Head of the church, the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. I beg of you now, as you raise the new banner 
 of your second century's battling for the Lord, to inscribe 
 upon it in clear and conspicuous lettering, " For the sake of 
 our forefathers' Saviour; for the sake of our own dear Lord; 
 for the sake of our children's Redeemer, our first and fully 
 recognized duty is — and with God's help we will meet it at 
 once — to free our beautiful Zion from its monetary bondage." 
 Trusting in Him who led his people through the Eed Sea, and 
 the wilderness, and the Jordan, soon may we hear, as a voice 
 from heaven, "■ The day of deliverance draweth nigh," aye, 
 the actual shout of victory over the vanquished demon of debt. 
 
 Thau this there is now no memorial so clamorous for erec- 
 tioQ. Then — and methinks I see already the dawn of the 
 glorious day — then will we gather in massy numbers and with 
 consecrated and joy-swollen hearts unreservedly dedicate this 
 goodly structure to the worship of the triune God. Then, 
 too, as did our fathers eighty-eight years ago, shall we bear 
 our accentuated testimony to the unpriced value of unham- 
 pered church privileges to heaven-bent pilgrims — our testi- 
 mony to the necessity and efficacy of spiritual barriers, of 
 which church structures are the symbols, against the Jordauic 
 forces of evil. Then shall we prove ourselves worthy inheri- 
 tors of the ancestral, prayer-blessed legacy which has been 
 bequeathed to us, and also fitly recognize the lesson, that 
 
19 
 
 increased opportunities and privileges bring with them en- 
 hanced responsibilities ; that we mean by our memorial 
 greater things for times to come. So shall Ave, as did our 
 fathers, testify our faith in the efficiency of this Christ-owned, 
 Spirit-blest church to promote the prosperity of secular indus- 
 tries, the happiness of families, tlie peace and security of 
 society, and the salvation of souls. So, if God's providence 
 shall preserve from elemental destruction this stately pile, 
 constructed like the Gilgal memorial, of enduring stones, 
 shall, long after we have been laid to our final rest, be pro- 
 claime:!. as children's children continue to ask, "What meant 
 our fathers by these goodly stones ?" the answer. They meant 
 chiefly to testify their loyalty to God, and assert the hope, 
 that as He alone held the first place in their hearts, as He 
 had also done in the hearts of their fathers, so He would like- 
 wise in yours. They meant to testify their loyalty to the 
 material church of Christ— the birth-place of souls— which 
 the former church had been to their fathers and to them, and 
 which they fervently prayed this second temple might become 
 to you, even the gate of heaven. They meant to testify their 
 deep and devout gratitude to the Great Head of the church, 
 for all His distinguishing and manifold mercies to their own 
 and the preceding generations, and to incite you, their chil- 
 dren, to avail yourselves of the impetus given by your fathers 
 to the great work of God in this church of such singularly 
 hallowed memories, and to urge it yet more vigorously for- 
 ward than did they, and, ever broadening the scope of your 
 faith, ever increasing the fervor of your prayers and the eager- 
 ness of your zeal, to inscribe upon your banners, " The whole 
 township of Caldwell for Christ." With an animating his- 
 tory ; with the stimulating promises of a covenant-keeping 
 God, whose word is that He will be with the childi-en as He 
 has been with their fathers ; with the assured aid of an ever- 
 present Redeemer, to whom His church stands in the near 
 and dear relation of bride ; and with the life-giving influences 
 of the Holy Spirit ever at hand, 1 close with the inquiry, 
 
50 
 
 Shall we, or shall we not, signalize the entrance upon the 
 second century of our ecclesiastical existence with the sug- 
 gested and suitable memorial of our beloved Zion's emancipa- 
 tion from the slavery of enshackling debt ? 
 
 AFTEENOON SESSION. 
 
 In the afternoon a very extensive and interesting programme 
 was followed. After " All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name," 
 the vast congregation was led in a fervent and appropriate 
 prayer by the oldest member of the sesfjion, Mr. Wm. Lane, 
 in his 81st year. A quartette then rendered Holbrook's 
 ** Thou, who art enthroned on High," after which a poem 
 was read by Mr. C. M. Harrison on the history and struggles 
 of the founders of the church. Interesting communications 
 were presented from Lewis C. Grover, Esq., Rev. Eobert B. 
 Canipfield, Eev. I. N. Sprague, D. D., a former pastor, Eev. 
 William N. Cleveland, whose father occupied the pastorate 
 from 1834 to 1840. A review of the inner life of the church 
 from the pen of a lady connected with the church, was 
 received with much pleasure. A brief and genial address of 
 congratulation from the Eev, Mr. Thomas, pastor of the 
 Baptist Church, followed. Mr. A. A. Eaveu, of BrQoklyn, 
 made the closing address. 
 
 A letter was read as follows from President-elect Cleveland: 
 
 Executive Mansion, Albany, Dec. 5, 1884. 
 
 Rev. C. T. Berry. Dear Sir: I have your letter, informing mc that on 
 the 7th of the present month the centennial of the church at CaJdvvell, in 
 which my father once preached, will be celebrated. Though I remember 
 almost nothing of the village where I i^pent a few very early days, I can 
 sincerely say that the spot is dear to me— as the place of his bii-th should 
 be dear to every man. The name brings to mind scenes in the family 
 circle, when the incidents of Caldwell life were recalled and dwelt upon 
 with pleasure and gratitude. And when I remember that there my sainted 
 
21 
 
 parents had their home, and there my godly father wrought and struggled 
 in his Heavenly Father's mission, the place to me seems hallowed and 
 sacred. The Caldwell church, built up and prospered by the labors of 
 such pious and devoted men as ha^ e been its pastors, has much in its cen- 
 tennial year to chasten and consecrate its history. In the days to come, 
 may it always remain true and steadfast in the work committed to its 
 charge, faithfully teaching the pure doctrine of the gospel, and avoiding 
 all malice and uncharitableness. Yours very truly, 
 
 Grover Cleveland. 
 
 Of the addresses, two are reproduced iu the following pages. 
 The services had begun at 2.30 o'clock, and as it was now 
 growing dark, the great assemblage, after a brief exhortation 
 by the pastor and singing the Doxology, ''Praise God, from 
 whom all blessings flow," were dismissed with the benediction. 
 
A PO EM 
 
 DESCRIPTIVE OF THE EARLY SETTLERS WHO BECAME THE 
 
 FOUNDERS OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN 
 
 CHURCH OF CALDWELL. 
 
 BY C. M. HARRISON, A. M. 
 
POEM 
 
 CHURCH of the highland plain, queen in unique 
 And beauteous design, fair child of art, 
 Our village pride, to thee, to-day, we turn, 
 And in the lines of thy perspective, read 
 The lessons of the far-off times ! 
 
 Our church and plain, so wedded in the past, 
 
 On this occasion, must their themes conjoin. 
 
 Then let us gather up again the threads 
 
 Of hardships, perils past, and tell, once more. 
 
 The story of one hundred fifty years 
 
 Or more ago. For richly blest are we 
 
 In church, and in her history, replete 
 
 "With tender memories of the ancient years. 
 
 And blest by nature in our rare plateau. 
 
 Its skirting hills, long undulating slopes. 
 
 And clear, bright vistas opening to the west. 
 
 What grandeur here have we! Beyond outspread. 
 
 What bright and varied scenery greets the view! 
 
 Below, Passaic's valley, studded o'er 
 
 With rustic homes, and meadows large and fair. 
 
 Half hid from view by intervening groves. 
 
 And far to northward still, 'mid Pompton's mines. 
 
 Where Mount Wynockie* marks the hour of noon, 
 
 Behold again a matchless landscape scene; 
 
 While past the hills that skirt Passaic's stream. 
 
 *This mountain is due north from Caldwell, and is often used as a noon 
 mark by the workmen m the fields. 
 
36 
 
 The morning sun, on Boonton's eastern slope, 
 Keyeals the mountain town in flashing light, 
 A blaze of morning glory. The rapt eye 
 Long lingers 'mid the changeful shades and lights 
 That play in splendor 'mong the rifted hills 
 Of Morris; thence turning southward still, scans 
 The clear, blue hights, that circle round the plains 
 Beyond historic Morristown. 
 
 On this plateau, so rich in varied scenes, 
 
 Our ancestry their homes and fortunes sought. 
 
 Here on the hills and slopes and village plain. 
 
 Beside the gushing springs and rippling streams 
 
 Devotedly their rude log cabins built. 
 
 Strong, earnest men were they, scarce swayed by doubt, 
 
 But ever trustful of their strength and plans; 
 
 And for their rough and rugged times, they were, 
 
 In purpose, wisdom, faith, full well equipped. 
 
 They were a type of knightly pioneers, 
 
 Disdaining gain by dint of force or fraud. 
 
 Who held the aborigines the lords 
 
 Of these fair lands. From Loantique, Taphow, 
 
 And Manshun, Indian Kings, their title came. 
 
 Long after, Tischewomakin, Sha2:»hoe, 
 
 Quiehtoe, Yaupis, Indian princes true. 
 
 Their deed* confirmed. Our fathers bought from these, 
 
 And held the red men's title sacred and secure. 
 
 But there were letters patent from the Crown, 
 
 Then held by divers lords imperious. 
 
 Who, boastful of proprietary rights. 
 
 Harassed the yeomen and their lands enjoined. 
 
 Confusions and revolt quick following. 
 
 The titled landlords had recourse to law. 
 
 With costly litigation did they vox 
 
 The rustic holders, blighting well laid plans. 
 
 And robbing fields of careful toil and tilth. 
 
 ♦The original deed was destroyed by the burning of Mr. Jonathan Ker- 
 son's dwelling, 1744. 
 
27 
 
 The doughty yeomen, who, in faith had bought 
 Their lands from those to whom the laws of right 
 Had given just possession, held the claims 
 So vaguely formulated by the king, 
 As void, denjdng that discovery 
 Gave right to sell the soil. With dogged will 
 Our fathers battled for their homes and lands; 
 For these had they not bought and much improved? 
 To yield them were to give from out their lives 
 Long years of anxious care. Demanding right, 
 They clamored, jails broke open, laws defied, 
 And, for a season, held the lords at bay. 
 
 At last, the long and costly suit was closed. 
 
 And judgments entered 'gainst their well-earned fields. 
 
 To these hard mandates they were forced to yield, 
 
 And buy anew, against their sense of right. 
 
 Their holdings from the agents of the king. 
 
 Those early years with pain for them were rife. 
 Hard was their lot in battling forest wilds; 
 But resolute their minds and strong their limbs. 
 The virgin forests fell beneath their blows, 
 And cumbrous boulders yielded to their might. 
 Their widening, wood-girt fields kind nature blessed, 
 And bounteous crops their homely garners filled. 
 Plain, honest thrift their rustic comforts won. 
 While trust in God sublimed their stubborn tasks. 
 
 Slight records have they left us of their lives. 
 Tradition, blending the few scattered facts 
 With simple legends, weaves the meagre web 
 Of ancient rustic industry and faith, 
 Unsullied honors and abiding loves. 
 Full fifty years before the great event. 
 We gather here this day to celebrate, 
 The struggling settlers toiled amid these hills. 
 Young Sanders was among the first to come, 
 And by ihe village brooklet built his hut. 
 
His thrift was slow, but emigration's tide, 
 
 Then westward setting, brought him traffic's chance. 
 
 So briskly to his wish, the home of logs 
 
 Gave place to Sander's Inn, " The Old Stone Fort." 
 
 Here squatters gathered, resting from the chase. 
 
 And village gossij?, with abuse of worth. 
 
 The long, weird winter nights were wont to till. 
 
 E'en this old friend our charity invokes. 
 
 'Twas oft the church and inn stood side by side; 
 
 For rigid churchmen, in those early days. 
 
 Would tipple with their neighbors, bandy jests, 
 
 With badinage would e'en their pastors greet. 
 
 Who like the rest, sometimes, their glass would sip. 
 
 But Sanders brought a friend, unlike himself, 
 
 A man of larger brain and keener sense, 
 
 Who, wrestling with the forests, won fair fields; 
 
 Who, loving love and truth, the right maintained. 
 
 In him, our first much honored pioneer, 
 
 Eeligion found a dauntless advocate. 
 
 To Thomas Gould we give full meed of praise. 
 
 For he was princely in his deeds and gifts. 
 
 His peers came later, brave and true as he. 
 
 With him through hope and fear, and loss and gain, 
 
 The infant church, with tireless care, they nursed. 
 
 In Samuel Crane and Joseph Harrison, 
 
 Who tilled the fertile sloping lands below. 
 
 And westward from these heights, yoke-fellows true, 
 
 In all good works, he found, whose word was bond. 
 
 No-e, and Joseph Baldwin, Personette 
 
 And Caleb Hetfield — these must added be 
 
 To that bright galaxy of worthy names 
 
 That grace the opening records of our church. 
 
 Mark well the zeal of these devoted men — 
 
 Their gifts, their works, their faith, their trustful prayer! 
 
 For them the Sabbath was a sacred day, 
 
 A day of labor for the cause of Christ. 
 
 They met in private houses, anywhere, 
 
29 
 
 In barns, or, weather favoring, in groves. 
 And, to their gravely reverent souls, the Word 
 Was like to seed upon the mellowed soil. 
 Which yields the husbandman an hundredfold. 
 
 Their fervor hither drew, from time to time, 
 
 Staunch missionary pioneers, who came 
 
 And taught, with yearning zeal and fervent speech, 
 
 The rudiments of that theology. 
 
 Which, rock-like, made their faith's foundation sure. 
 
 Sometimes good, worthy Doctor Darby came ; 
 
 And still from distant fields, whene'er they could, 
 
 Came Jedediah Chapman, Jacob Green, 
 
 And Joseph Grover— these good pastors all. 
 
 And one of saintly memory, who lives 
 
 In our afEections, and whose noble life 
 
 All lustrous gleams in those heroic years. 
 
 Was often with our fathers, counselled them, 
 
 Inspired their zeal, and wedded them to Christ 
 
 By his persuasive eloquence. 
 
 James Caldwell, scholar, pastor, patriot, friend, 
 
 Was peer to all the bravest of this land ! 
 
 He loved his God with might, and loved God's gifts. 
 
 And, next to God, his country loved he best. 
 
 When war's dread clarion startled all the land, 
 
 His blended force as soldier, statesman, priest. 
 
 In peril's straits, a saving leadership 
 
 Became ; in liberty's defence, a wall 
 
 Of dauntless will no traitor pleas could move. 
 
 For liberty and home and God he preached, 
 
 He prayed, he fought; and thus to foes he was 
 
 But target to their hate. They foully shot 
 
 His queenly wife, whilst in her arms his babe 
 
 Was nestling. Friends, what sacrifice was here! 
 
 He, after, while on mercy's mission sent. 
 
 Was basely killed. Hoav dearly Caldwell gave ! 
 
 His name a crown of honor to our town. 
 
 This " Caldwell Church " must ever proudly bear. 
 
30 
 
 Through God-like men, who peril, hardship knew. 
 Yet never feared, our church to life was called. 
 The fathers, oft perplexed, worked on with will. 
 Their unction grew apace — the more increased, 
 Because endeavor was so girdled round 
 With keenly felt solicitiides. Their cause, at first, 
 Seemed hopeless; and, 'tis true, their way was dark, 
 And would have trended into darkening night, 
 Had not celestial light illumined hope, 
 And faith, blest angel that upholds and saves, 
 Where choice and will work in the grooves of grace, 
 Inspired their hearts, while patient charity, 
 Which, from a seeming nothing, something gives, 
 Transformed their weakness into glowing strength. 
 
 In seventeen hundred sixty-five 
 
 They toiled and gave of timber, to the end 
 
 Of building for themselves an edifice 
 
 Devoted to God's worship. All too soon. 
 
 Though long delayed their plans! For, now, from out 
 
 The East came fretful rumors, dire portents 
 
 Of coming storm, which madly broke, ere long. 
 
 And whelmed the land in sorrow and in blood. 
 
 All enterprise, except in war, stood still. 
 
 Fire swept the land ; decay and death held sway; 
 
 For hope and energy to tented fields had flown. 
 
 They who remained at home, as "minute men," 
 
 When not in camp, with ardor worked the soil, 
 
 As soldier-farmers, feeding those who fought. 
 
 Involved were sacred honor, fortune, peace — 
 
 The usufruct of freedom's toil and skill, 
 
 God-giv'n, and, except immortal hope, 
 
 The all-in-all this earth to mortals yields. 
 
 Such good, the noblest guerdon man may gain, 
 
 Evoked sublimest purpose, Avhicli prevailed 
 
 At last, and liberty was won. 
 
31 
 
 The church, meantime, these years of gloom and doubt. 
 
 Had lost; yet still, had gained; her spark of life 
 
 Not dead, but glowing into brighter flame. 
 
 Her offering made to freedom's sacred cause 
 
 She'd yielded freely, both her means and men— 
 
 In service, Campbell, Gen'ral William Gould, 
 
 The Harrisons, the Canfields, and the Cranes. 
 
 And with war's close, a score of patriots came; 
 
 Josiah Steele and Lane, among these braves, 
 
 To Avhom, for seven long years of war endured, 
 
 Is due an honored mention on this page. 
 
 The parish grew in numbers and in strength ; 
 
 Ere long, a parsonage, in dimensions large. 
 
 And, for that epoch, in design advanced. 
 
 Was building. People flocked to hear the Word; 
 
 Truth couquered wish; grace, with her saving might, 
 
 Found open hearts, receptive to her gifts; 
 
 And faith sublimed in deed the work of grace. 
 
 When forty persons, loyal, loving, true, 
 
 Enrolled their names, " embodied as a church," 
 
 December third of seventeen eighty-four. 
 
 This signal day in our church calendar 
 
 Enfolds the triumphs of that steadfast trust. 
 
 Which, through the first sad days of penury. 
 
 And through the gloom of after years of pain. 
 
 Oppression and of war, our fathers led. 
 
 To consummate their long design. 
 
 To men and women of this noble type. 
 
 What honors shall we render? How extol 
 
 Their strong, intensive hopes and energies! 
 
 To say that it were but the'iv fear of God 
 
 Tliat moulded hope and shaped their faith and works. 
 
 Would be but taunt and insult in the face 
 
 Of love they bore the right for Christ's sweet sake. 
 
 Nor can we say that their environments 
 
 Were virtue's cordon, keeping them from wrong. 
 
 There was not dearth of chance for craft and crime. 
 
 The laws were few and lax; and, in the midst 
 
32 
 
 Of these true heroes in the cause of right, 
 
 There dwelt adventurous and godless men. 
 
 Whose crafty vaunts were basest heresies. 
 
 These they withstood, nor deemed it worthy praise. 
 
 Their lots were cast upon the rocks of need. 
 
 And oft the soft impleadings of a voice, 
 
 That bated resolution, loading wish 
 
 With ill desire, would break the good men's peace. 
 
 To such seductive ministries as these 
 
 Their hearts were flint. Truth, vitalized by faith. 
 
 Saw but the narrow way and followed it. 
 
 Saw but the narrow way! No craven fears 
 
 Impelled their following; 'twas love of truth, 
 
 And love of Christ, and fellow-men; and God, 
 
 In kindest mercy, fed the flame of love; 
 
 Enkindled frotn celestial rays, it poured 
 
 Its roseate light upon their brightening path. 
 
 To Him, who, through that ever sturdy band, 
 
 Reveals to us His steadfastness iu all 
 
 His wise and kind designs for all mankind, — 
 
 To God and to His Christ, who blessed our sires. 
 
 And vision gave to scan the far-off years. 
 
 We render praise this day with grateful hearts! 
 
 What happened after, — how the " Old Frame Church" 
 
 Was built, — the sacrifices made, — the debt, 
 
 How paid^ — these were but sequences, the fruits 
 
 That ripened on the branches of the tree 
 
 Of God's implanting, which strong, pious hands 
 
 Had early nourished m this wilderness. 
 
 Of these, my time forbids that I should speak. 
 
 And still my thought constrains a further word; 
 
 This church, as an inheritance, evokes 
 
 To life again, emotions, which, within 
 
 The deeps of hearts now stilled, were wont to dwell 
 
 The quiet Joys of trustful piety, 
 
 And ecstacies of hope. Then may we say 
 
 That now, on this occasion, ages past 
 
 Are speaking with these present hours as face 
 
33 
 
 To face, and, in their rich and ripened tones, 
 
 In pleadings tenderly enforced, are we 
 
 Not called ourselves to heed the ancient ways, 
 
 And, deaf to sophistries, rededicate 
 
 Our love and service to the King of Kings! 
 
 Our Church must gain in influence, — not lose 
 
 In prestige, or in moral leadership. 
 
 It will not! Christ is with it to the end! 
 
 But, friends, in these poor fleeting lives of ours, 
 
 How do we, bravely working for the world. 
 
 Both lag and grudge in service and in gifts, 
 
 Wherein we have embodied highest types 
 
 Of duty, whose returns are not for self, 
 
 Nor limited in time, nor yet in place, , 
 
 But which are contributions to the end 
 
 Of " Peace on earth; good will to men." 
 
 But on our church, in our unthinking moods. 
 
 We lay the burden of our blinded hopes. 
 
 Expecting walls and furnished pews to teach 
 
 The mass of men and lead to grace and God. 
 
 The church is heaven's true gift, whose power for good 
 
 Is measured by our faith expressed in acts. 
 
 If what of Heavenly truth we feel and hope. 
 
 Have counterpart in that we say and do. 
 
 Then will the church stand forth sublime indeed, 
 
 God's power omnipotent to save the lost. 
 
 How to the church you look as part of home! 
 Here have you come to learn the way of life; 
 Here have you broke your stubborn wills and found, 
 Within the promises, true treasure stores 
 Of all that soul can crave— peace, pardon, rest. 
 Here have you richly gained m chastened hope, 
 And happily purged the longings of desire; 
 And when the sombre shade of death has fall'n 
 Upon your homes, here have you borne your griefs, 
 And found assuagement in the blessed Word. 
 3 
 
34 
 
 Here have your souls to ecstacy been stirred, 
 By spirit music, pulsing through the sense, 
 While sweetly, through its soft, rich melody, 
 Has swelled the glorious anthem of rapt hope, 
 "I am the resurrection and the life." 
 
 As with our fathers, let there he with us. 
 The unction of an earnest faith in God. 
 And may the hundred years that are to come. 
 Be rich, as those now passed, in garnered fruits. 
 
ADDRESS: 
 
 CHRISTIAN DUTIKS, 
 
 BY MR. A. A. RAVEN. 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 IT is common to reserve the best wine for the latter part of 
 the feast, but the order seems to have been reversed on the 
 present occasion. Surely, in the progress of these interesting 
 services we have enjoyed a rich feast^ and we might now bring 
 them to a close with entire satisfaction. But inasmuch as I 
 have been asked to say a few words, permit me to suggest 
 one or two thoughts. Your pastor has truly said that, 
 although not a member of this church, I am interested in its 
 welfare; all true Christians should be interested in the church 
 of Christ irrespective of denominational distinctions; because, 
 if the great Head of the Church be indeed the great object 
 and centre of the Christian's affection, the church must also 
 draw out his most ardent love and intense interest, no matter 
 by what name it may be known. As we stand to-day on the 
 dividing line between the past and the future, what memories 
 crowd upon the mind; the comparatively little we have heard 
 of the achievements of the past thrills us and fills us with 
 admiration for those noble and heroic men who have gone be- 
 fore us; how forcibly they appeal to us, and were it possible 
 to have presented to us even in part, their sufferings, their 
 self-denial, their sj^irit of consecration and devotion in their 
 Master's service, it would be an incentive to us to greater 
 activity and more earnest effort in carrying on the work they 
 so nobly commenced a century ago. That they suffered much 
 and were devoted men we cannot doubt, for the records abund- 
 antly testify. There is one feature of their work that is spec- 
 ially worthy of notice. They laid foundations deeper and wider 
 
38 
 
 than they conceived; and is it not ever so with God's children? 
 Every effort sincerely made in the Master's name, every sacri- 
 fice for the furtherance of His kingdom, no matter how feeble 
 and small in the incejotion, will assuredly be followed by His 
 blessing, and be productive of far greater results than the 
 most sanguine could possibly anticipate; indeed, it is one of 
 the grandest characteristics of our Divine Sovereign, be it 
 reverently said, that He specially selects the humblest means, 
 and apparently the most unattractive agencies through which 
 to display the most signal evidences of His favor. In grace 
 as well as in nature and providence the beginnings are often 
 small indeed, even as a grain of mustard seed, but who can 
 determine the possibilities of such beginnings? The Psalmist 
 recognized this when he said, " Out of the mouths of babes 
 and sucklings hast thou ordained strength." 
 
 In the fourth chapter of Zechariah the prophet recounts 
 his interview with the angel who was designated to communi- 
 cate with him in respect to the rebuilding of the Temple 
 by Zerubbabel. In the figure of a golden candlestick with a 
 bowl upon the top of it and seven lamps thereon, and two 
 olive trees by it, one on either side, distilling the oil into the 
 bowl to feed the lamps, the prophet is represented as being 
 taught by questions and answers, that notwithstanding the 
 skill, energy and persevering efforts of Zerubbabel and the 
 means at his command, the great work he had commenced 
 could be brought to a successful termination only by the aid 
 of the Spirit of God, for ''It is not by might nor by power, 
 but by my Spirit saith the Lord of hosts." Zerubbabel was 
 thus encouraged not to trust in the arm of flesh but in the 
 Spirit of Jehovah hs manifested in the providential ordering 
 of the world; and this important lesson should be forcibly 
 brought home to our own hearts to-day. 
 
 If we become, as we really should be, the temples of the 
 Holy Ghost, there can be no doubt of the success of this 
 church and of the great things to be accomplished by it in 
 the future; no obstacles, however great, will impede your on- 
 
^9 
 
 ward course. Irresistibly will you go on conquering and to 
 conquer. Can you for a moment doubt the effect of your united 
 effort if every member of this church were possessed with the 
 spirit of consecration and actuated by the spirit of the living 
 God? Would you not, under the leadership of your pastor, 
 seeing eye to eye and having but one aim, show forth the 
 power of the truth so that this whole community would be 
 transformed? Your own souls would be aglow with the 
 warmth of His love and its benign influence will be extended 
 to all with whom you are brouglit in contact. 
 
 Even the humblest and the most despised may take c urage 
 in the assurances that God gives us, as the apostle saith, "God 
 hath chosen the fooli.sli things of the world to confound the 
 wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to 
 confound the things which are mighty." If therefore, my 
 brother, you deem yourself weak and devoid of influence you 
 little know what God designs you to accomplish. Seek the 
 aid of His spirit and it will be revealed to you; and in the 
 measure in which you realize your own weakness His omni- 
 potent strength will be yours, for you will feel as the great 
 apostle felt, " when you are weak then are you strong." We 
 have not been placed here by chance. Every one has been 
 assigned his and her place, hence the duty devolving upon us 
 is to perform here the work specially assigned to us in the 
 sphere in which we are placed. There is a tradition in connec- 
 tion with the building of Solomon's Temple which I think 
 forcibly illustrates this truth. It will be remembered that all 
 the stones were specially prepared and made ready before, so 
 that there was no sound of hammer nor ax nor any tool of 
 iron heard in the house while it was in building, but every stone 
 was brought and fitted in its place noiselessly. The place de- 
 signed for one of the stones thus brought could not be discov- 
 ered, every effort failed to determine the 2)osition for which it 
 was specially designed, and finally the stone was rejected and 
 placed among the rubbish of the temple. On the near com- 
 pletion of the building the workmen announced that one 
 
40 
 
 stone was missing; direction was given to make diligent 
 search for it, but it could not be found. At length on look- 
 ^'ng through the rubbish of the building a stone was seen all 
 covered with dirt, and ujjon its being taken out, cleaned and 
 raised to the vacant place it was found to be the missing 
 stone, desigTied as the head stone, and when placed in position 
 the exultant exclamation went forth, " The stone which the 
 builders rejected is become the head stone of the corner." 
 
 You may even be despised and rejected of men, but quietly 
 and patiently wait until the opiDortunity occurs and your place 
 will be assigned. If you are indeed the Lord's, He has his eye 
 upon you. In view therefore of the great and signal mercies 
 we have experienced, let us on this centennial occasion recon- . 
 secrate ourselves to His service and do our part in making 
 the future fruitful of even greater results than the past has 
 been. I close with the admonition of the apostle, " I beseech 
 you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, .that you 
 present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable with 
 God, which is your reasonable service."