1856. 
 
 5r. 
 
 ^' 
 
 .^ 
 
 v^ 
 
 
 'M 
 
 y 
 
 lest Spmce Itrest Iresliiteriatt llmli 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 

OF PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 1856—^^1881 
 QUARTER CENTURY ANNIVERSARY 
 
 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH 
 
 PASTORATE OF REV. WM. P. BREED, D.D., 
 
 The First and Only Pastor. 
 APRIL 3 and 4, 1881. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 SHERMAN & CO, PRINTERS. 
 i88i. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In view of the approaching Quarter Century Anniversary of 
 the organization of our church and its coincident pastorate, a 
 special meeting of the Board of Trustees was held at the residence 
 of Gustavus S. Benson, Esq., to devise some measures for the 
 appropriate celebration of these events. At this meeting all the 
 Trustees were present, and, after a full interchange of opinion, it 
 was resolved to call a congregational meeting of the church for 
 further consideration of the matter, and final decision as to what 
 action should be taken in the same. 
 
 This congregational meeting was large and enthusiastic, and 
 resulted in the appointment of the following committees by the 
 chairman, Gustavus S. Benson, Esq., to carry out the unanimous 
 desire of the congregation that the coming Anniversary should be 
 appropriately celebrated and a testimonial of affection presented to 
 the Pastor. 
 
 GEISTERAL COMMITTEE: 
 K. DALE BENSON, Chairman. 
 
 FINANCE COMMITTEE: 
 Charles O. Abbey, Miss Ella McCord, 
 
 Mrs. Joseph Storm Patterson, W. Atlee Burpee, 
 Louis F. Benson. 
 
 COMMITTEE ON DECORATION OF CHURCH: 
 Geo. B. Collier, James Laws, M.D., 
 
 Robert Scott, Mrs. E. Smith Kelly, 
 
 Miss Mary Sherreed. 
 
 RECEPTION COMMITTEE: 
 Henry D. Sherrerd, J. Ealston Grant, 
 
 Harold A. Freeman, Severo M. Prevost, 
 
 James Johnston. 
 
MUSIC COMMITTEE: 
 Joseph De F. Junkin, Miss Louise W. Juxkix, 
 
 Charles B. Grant, James Aull, 
 
 Miss Scott. 
 
 SPEAKERS' COMMITTEE : 
 
 Edavarb p. Borden, T>. Flavel Woods, iSI.D., 
 
 James Spear, J. IIilborne West, M.D., 
 
 Charles S. Boyd. 
 
 PKESS, ETC., COMMITTEE: 
 
 Robert Stewart Davis, Chairman, Frank K. Hipple, 
 Jos. Storm Patterson. 
 
 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: 
 
 E. Dale Benson, Chairman, George B. Collier, 
 
 Joseph De F. Junkin, Secretary, Henry D. Sherrerd, 
 Chas. O. Abbey, Treasurer, Edward P. Borden. 
 
 How well these several committees and those W'hose services 
 they enlisted performed the work assigned them this pamphlet 
 abundantly testifies, as well as the pleasant memories we all have 
 of everything connected with the celebration. It was the uni- 
 versal opinion that all was so w^ell done nothing could have been 
 better done. The sermons, the addresses, the guests, the audi- 
 ences, the music, the decorationsj and the programmes — nothing 
 more could have been desired to complete the happiness of the 
 occasion. 
 
 For the services of Sunday our handsome church had assumed 
 an aspect of holiday freshness and beauty, in appropriate taste to 
 the joyful event which it commemorated. Bright in vesture of 
 the greenest foliage, adorned with blooming plants and rare 
 exotics, tlie auditorium looked like a Paradise in miniature — as 
 indeed it was. 
 
 The pulpit, with its desk and gas standards draped in smilax, 
 was- beautifully outlined in living flowers. In the background 
 
gracefully waved the pendant leaves of the rare Palm Areca 
 Lutescens. On either side of the sacred desk were Sago, Date, 
 and Leaf Palms, flanked by Camellia Japonicas of several varie- 
 ties, Calla Lilies, Stock Jellies, Cinerarias, White Hydrangeas, 
 and Pelargoniums; and to complete this picture of blooming 
 loveliness, Azaleas of every hue, from clearest white to deep ma- 
 roon, stood forth on the lower platform in clustering blossoms, 
 rich and full, hiding the rostrum in an embankment of flowers. 
 Nor was this all. Along the gallery fronts, from which waved 
 two Presbyterian banners, laurel leaves, thickly linked, were hung 
 in pretty festoons and wreaths, while here and there depended 
 rustic baskets filled with Spirea Japonica, Authericum, Palms, and 
 miscellaneous plants. 
 
 Such were the lovely and artistic decorations for the services of 
 Sunday. For the congregational celebration on the following 
 evening additional flowers and plants were grouped about the 
 pulpit, while above it was raised in blazing letters of light, with 
 glittering star, the legend : 
 
 GREETING 
 
 OUR FIRST AND ONLY 
 
 1856 PASTOR. 1881 
 
 With this brief introduction we submit the following pages. 
 In them will be found a complete account of all the proceedings 
 of Sunday and Monday, April 3d and 4th — days forever memor- 
 able in the history of our happy and prosperous church. 
 
 The Editor. 
 
lOlIIIi SllflOli, 
 
 -"-"'i^-^s^^^-^'iz'z^jyt-^ a 
 
 10.80 O'CLOCK. 
 
 "LIFT UP YOUR HEADS, O YE GATES." 
 JOHN L. HOPKINS. 
 
 BY THE PASTOE. 
 
OUR ZION. 
 
 Isaiah 33 : 20. — " Look upon Zion, the city of om- solemnities." 
 
 The name Zion, in itself not unmusical, lias, through association, 
 acquired for the Christian ear an exquisite sweetness. There is in 
 it a sunny radiance which well corresponds with its literal signifi- 
 cation. It means the "Sunny Mount." 
 
 Zion was the highest of the hills encompassed by the walls of 
 Jerusalem. The pinnacles of palace and tower upon its top caught 
 the first rays of the sun as tliey came streaming over the crest of 
 Olivet on the east, and clung to his last rays as he sank out of 
 sight beyond the Pillars of Hercules in the west. For a long 
 period Zion was the citadel of Jerusalem. After its capture from 
 the Jebusites it became "The City of David." And because it 
 was high, and because it was strong, and because it was sunny, its 
 name came gradually to be applied to the Church of God. God 
 himself thus applies it when he says: "Yet have I set my king 
 upon my holy hill of Zion." This king is the Messiah, and the 
 hill is the Church on which the Messiah sits as prophet, priest, 
 and king. 
 
 And surely the Church is a mount, a sunny mount, illumined, 
 the twenty-four hours round, with the smile of a reconciled God; 
 its clefts "a hiding-place from the wind, a covert from the tem- 
 pest;" the source of " rivers of water in a dry place, and the shadow 
 of a great rock in a weary land." 
 
 But if the whole Church is a Zion, so is each particular church. 
 There was a Zion at Antioch, a Zion at Thessalonica, a Zion in 
 ancient Philadelphia, and, thanks to God, the pinnacles of many 
 a Zion glimmer in this Philadelphia Avhere we dwell, with one of 
 which we are now assembled. 
 
 Our Zion is a city. It has its Mayor, the pastor; its Board of 
 
10 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 
 
 Aldermen, its eldermen, the Euling Elders ; its laws, duties, and 
 immunities. 
 
 It is a "City of Solemnities." Every true citizen within its 
 walls has been under the hand of the Holy Ghost, and by him en- 
 dowed with a new life — the life of God in the soul of man. Here 
 the sinner has believed. Here the prodigal has said : " I will arise 
 and go to my father." Here the sacramental oath has been taken, 
 and here for nearly one hundred times the communion table has 
 been spread, and hundreds have vowed themselves away forever 
 to their God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
 
 Yes, this is a city, a "City of Solemnities," and we are here at 
 this time to look upon it, marked as it is by the footfall and finger- 
 touch of a quarter of a century of experience and service. 
 
 How like a dream when one awaketh is a quarter of a century! 
 It seems but as yesterday when I first looked into the doors of this 
 edifice— the floor covered with rubbish; the galleries nought but 
 rough timbers projecting from the walls and supported by other 
 upright timbers rough as they; the pulpit a huge unsightly mass 
 of unplaned lumber; no stained windows; no soft, bright frescos 
 on walls or ceiling. 
 
 In our Presbyterian pulpits in this city twenty-five years ago 
 were Albert Barnes in the venerable First Church on Washington 
 Square; Kev. Charles W. Shields in the Second Church; Dr. 
 Thomas Brainard in the "Old Pine" Street Church; Dr. Lewis 
 Cheeseman in the Fourth Church ; Dr. Charles AVadsworth in the 
 Arch Street Church; Dr. Joseph H. Jones in the Sixth Church; 
 Dr. Alexander Macklin in the. Scots Church; Dr. Henry Steele 
 Clark in the Central Church; Dr. Henry S. Darling in the Clinton 
 Street Church; Dr. Thomas J. Shepherd in the First Church, 
 Northern Liberties; Dr. John McDowell in the Spring Garden 
 Church; Dr. John Patton in the Logan Square Church ; Dr. J. G. 
 Butler in the West Walnut Street Church; the Rev. Robert Watts 
 in the Westminster Church ; Dr. E. P. Rodgers in the Seventh 
 Church ; Dr. John Jenkins in the Calvary Church ; the Rev. William 
 O. Johnstone in the Kensington Church; the Rev. William Black- 
 wood in the Ninth Church ; and last, but not least, the Rev. Dr. 
 Henry A. Boardman in the Tenth Church. Of these nineteen 
 pastors only three remain in the pulpits they occupied twenty-five 
 years ago, viz. : Dr. Blackwood, Dr. Shepherd, and Dr. John- 
 stone. Of the others, seven, absent from the body, are present 
 
HISTOEICAL DISCOUESE. 11 
 
 with the Lord. The rest are either laboring in other fields, or, 
 honorably retired, still serve God by their steady adherence to the 
 faith, their wise counsels, their godly example, and their prayers. 
 
 Let us now look upon our Zion. 
 First. In its Parentage. 
 
 It lacks but little of being half a century since the hour when 
 the attention of passers by was attracted to the spot, now so sacred, 
 at the corner of Walnut and Twelfth streets, by a company of 
 people engaged in laying the corner-stone of a house of worship. 
 
 To quote from the Quarter Century Discourse of the Rev. Dr. 
 Board man : 
 
 "The merit of proposing the erection of a church on this spot 
 is due to the late Furman Leaming. Mr. Learning associated 
 with himself five other gentlemen, viz.: Messrs. John Stille, of 
 the Second Church ; George Ralston and James Kerr, of the First 
 Church; and William Brown and Solomon Allen, of the Sixth 
 Church. Through the liberality and energy of these six Christian 
 men the M^ork was accomplished. The corner-stone was laid, with 
 appropriate ceremonies, by the late venerable Ashbel Green, D.D., 
 on the 8th of August, 1828. On the 24th of May following, the 
 first sermon was preached in the lecture-room by the Rev. Dirck 
 C. Lansing, D.D. The building was completed on the 7th of De- 
 cember, 1829, and opened for worship on the ensuing Sabbath." 
 
 The first pastor of the Tenth Church was Dr. Thomas McAuley. 
 Its second pastor was the Rev. Henry A. Boardman, D.D., his 
 pastorate extending from November 8th, 1833, through a period 
 of over forty-seven years; a pastorate which, — for ability and true 
 manly dignity in the incumbent, for fidelity to sound doctrine, for 
 richness of pulpit instruction, for purity and felicity of literary 
 style, for persuasive eloquence, and for reach of healthful influ- 
 ence, — left nothing to be desired, whether on the part of the church 
 at large or of the congregation to which he directly ministered. 
 
 Second. Look upon our Zion in its Origin and early Progress. 
 
 The origin of our Zion, like that of our country, is one to which 
 we can ever look back with gratitude unmingled with regret. 
 Sometimes disruptive forces rending a congregation have angrily 
 ejected a colony, but our Zion came forth as a flower from the bud 
 
12 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 
 
 gently swelling and opening nnder the genial rays and rains of 
 devout gratitude and holy, self-denying zeal. The birthplace of 
 this church was undoubtedly the mind and heart of Dr. Boardman. 
 
 The records in the case read as follows: 
 
 "On the 20th January, 1852, a number of gentlemen connected 
 with the Tenth Presbyterian Church met, by invitation of the pas- 
 tor, the Rev. Henry A. Boardman, D.D., at his house. 
 
 "The object of the meeting was to confer upon the duty of erect- 
 ing an additional Presbyterian church in the city of Philadelphia. 
 The Tenth Church itself was the result of a peaceful colonization 
 in 1829. Originating in the benevolence, foresight and enterprise 
 of only six persons, it had become a large and prosperous congre- 
 gation, numbering more than five hundred communicants. For 
 many years its pews had been filled, so that it had become difficult 
 for strangers any longer to obtain sittings. It numbered nearly 
 seven hundred scholars and teachers in its Sunday-schools; it was 
 free from discord and from debt; it had been blessed for a much 
 longer period than is granted to most churches with the ministra- 
 tions of the same beloved pastor; and it was felt to be only a fitting 
 expression of gratitude to the Author of all mercies that the con- 
 gregation thus favored should, in its turn, build another church 
 and send forth a colony to occupy it. 
 
 "For the purpose of carrying these views into effect a committee 
 was appointed, consisting of the following gentlemen, namely: 
 James B. Ross, Singleton A. Mercer, Morris Patterson, James 
 Murphy, Thomas Hoge, and James Imbrie, Jr. 
 
 "The committee soon came, to the conclusion that the proper 
 location for such an enterprise was in the southwestern part of the 
 city, and in June, 1852, a suitable lot was secured on the corner 
 of Seventeenth and Spruce streets. Several cities were visited for 
 the purpose of inspecting church edifices, particularly those recently 
 erected, and finally a plan for the building was adopted in accord- 
 ance with a sketch furnished to the committee by John McArthur, 
 Jr., Architect. In reference to the means for carrying the plan into 
 effect, the committee, after numerous efforts in other congregations, 
 found that if the new church was built at all, it must be mainly 
 as a Tenth Church enterprise." 
 
 While from a variety of causes the wheels of the enterprise were 
 dragging heavily along, an event occurred which threatened to be 
 its "Beuoni," the son of its sorrow, but which proved to be its 
 
HISTORICAL DISCOUESE. 13 
 
 '' Benjamin/' the son of its right hand. The General Assembly, 
 iu the year 1853, appointed Dr. Boardraan to a professorship in 
 the Princeton Theological Seminary, made vacant by the death of 
 Dr. Archibald Alexander, thus threatening the Tenth Church with 
 the loss of its pastor. 
 
 One result of this alarm was a congregational meeting, at which 
 it was 
 
 "Resolved, That under the promptings of the pastor, the congregation had en- 
 tered upon a plan for forming a new church and congregation, that tliis plan 
 was now nearly mature and about to be consummated by the erection of a suit- 
 able edifice, and that his removal would undo what had been already done and 
 extinguish that important prospective church." 
 
 They added that his determination to remain with them would 
 make them feel distinctly called upon, as a memorial of God's 
 goodness, to engage with renewed zeal in the important work be- 
 fore them. 
 
 Dr. Boardman decided to remain, the enterprise received a fresh 
 impetus, and on the 29th of March, 1854, a charter was obtained, 
 in which the following gentlemen were named as a Board of Trus- 
 tees, to act until May, 1856, viz.: Moses Johnson, Morris Patter- 
 son, Singleton A. Mercer, John R. Vogdes, James B. Ross, James 
 Murphy, William Brown, William Goodrich, Theodore Cuyler, 
 James Imbrie, Jr., Maurice A. Wurts, J. Engle Negus, John 
 McArthur, Jr., John S. Hart, and Anthony J. Olmstead. 
 
 The 26th of April, 1855, saw a large company of people gath- 
 ered upon a spacious open lot where this edifice now stands, sing- 
 ing, praying and listening to the story of the enterprise thus far, 
 and engaged in the formal ceremony of laying the corner-stone of 
 the new building. That stone was laid by Dr. Boardman, assisted 
 by the Ptev. Dr. Jones, the Rev. Charles W. Shields, and several 
 clergymen of other denominations. The box in the corner-stone 
 contains a copy of the Holy Bible and of the Confession of Faith ; 
 a copy, also, of Dr. Boardman 's works, — The Bible in the Family, 
 The Bible in the Counting-house, and The Great Question ; also, 
 the Minutes of the General Asseiubly of the year 1854, the Report 
 of the Sunday-school of the Tenth Church, the Presbyterian Maga- 
 zine, the Home and Foreign Record, The Presbyterian, the Chris- 
 tian Intelligencer, and the secular papers of the day ; coins of the 
 
14 III^^TO^vICAT- mSCOUKSE. 
 
 Vn\U\\ Statojs, aiul :i ninnusoript copy of a narrative of the origin 
 of the ontorpriso. proparoil bv Profesj^or Hart. 
 
 As the Kvturo-nH^ni approaohoil completion, it Mas thought 
 ndvisjihlc to open it for ]nil>lic worship without waiting six or 
 nine months for the comphni.Mi of the maiu editice. 
 
 Aiwrdingly application was maile to the Pi^sbyterv of Phila- 
 ilclphia. at its nuvting. April id, 1S5G, to organize the new 
 rhnrclu and the Pivsbytery appointcii a Committee for this pur- 
 pose. The Si\-v<ion of the Tenth Chmvh also granted, to such of 
 their memlxM-s as had asktxi for it, a letter of dismission to the' 
 AVest Spru^v Stiwt Chuivh. On the evening of April 3d, 1S56, 
 the nuMnlvi-s thus dismissal met in the lectnre-i\x>m of the Tenth 
 Chuivh, and were duly tvustiiuteii a church, as will appear from 
 the following minutes of their proceedings : 
 
 '• Phiuldklphia, April 3d, 1S56. 
 '' Minutes of a meeting held at the leoinre-nx>m of the Tenth 
 rtv^hyierian Churvh of Philadelphia, April 3^1, 1S56, in aecord- 
 anee with notice given tWra the pulpit for the purpise of organ- 
 iting the new ehntvh at the corner of Spruce and Seventeenth 
 stnvts in the city of Philadelphia, 
 
 "The Kev. Dr. IV^alman, 4»rt^iding, announced that the 
 PKsbyterv had ap|xnnted the following Committee to organize 
 the ohuivi, vit : 1>. Engles, Rev. Mr. Shields, Paul T. Jones, 
 James Dixon. am\ Pr. iw«rdraan. All these gentlemen were 
 pn^nu exe^^fvt Dr. Engles, who \«ras prevented frem anending by 
 hKlis|x>siiion, 
 
 *'Atter reliirioiis s^^vioes. Dr. R^aiviman stated that it was 
 iK\x^5S4rv- tv» ap^xvau a secretary; wherenpon, on modoo ci M.^rris 
 raiiei^Mi, Eilx^^iad Miller \ras ap ~ x-maiy of this meerii^. 
 
 .. >^_ 1? ,^rvinwn then siauxi :.- -^ :Jode preseiibed by the 
 vv - ot* the PK^yremn Chureii f«r wr^aniiii^ a congre- 
 
 jpitiott xras to oiKXW niling elvfers. He then read a minate of the 
 Sossiv^n of the Tenth Prvsiyre^utt Chureh of this dtte, approving 
 ot" the pTv^x>«<xl s^^xiiatioo, and a^xtiemt^ dismisu^ thirty- 
 four uteml:^ to the new chureh. The swd minute, tc^edier wiih 
 the naww^ are appended hereoRWV and are to he coaadered as 
 l^vniii^ a pMt of this reiwtd. Other persote inKodii^ to join 
 the new ehnreh whv« sums w«« ws on the list jn=« le^ w«re 
 Ulvi^^i to irtv* in their nuii^ and oke pan in the proceedi^^ 
 
HISTORICAL DISCOUESE. 15 
 
 "On motion of Mr. Mercer, the meeting proceeded to elect three 
 Ruling Elders and a Deacon. 
 
 " Messrs. Ross, Tilford, and Cash having been appointed tellers, 
 took the ballots, and reported that James Imbrie, Jr., John S. 
 Hart, and Morris Patterson had each received seventeen votes for 
 Ruling Elders, and John Mc Arthur, Jr., the same number of votes 
 for Deacon, being the whole number of votes polled ; whereupon 
 these brethren were declared to have been unanimously elected, 
 and were installed according to the constitution of the Presby- 
 terian Church. The questions having been affirmatively answered 
 bv the elders elect and the cono-reo-atiou, the rioht hand of fellow- 
 ship was given and the exhortation pronounced by Dr. Boardman. 
 
 "On motion of Mr. Mercer, the congregation proceeded to the 
 election of a pastor. The same tellers having received the votes, 
 reported that the Rev. William P. Breed had received twenty- 
 eight votes, being the whole number polled. Mr. Breed was 
 accordingly declared to have been unanimously chosen. 
 
 "On motion of Mr. Vogdes, the Ruling Elders elect and the 
 president of the Board of Trustees were appointed a committee to 
 prosecute the call for Mr. Breed. 
 
 "The meeting concluded with prayer by Dr. Coleman; hymn 
 and benediction by !Mr. Shields. 
 
 "Edwaed Miller, 
 
 [Signed] "Secretary." 
 
 The following are the names of the thirty-four original mem- 
 bers of this church : 
 
 Mr. Singleton A. Mercer, Mr. "William L. Mactier, 
 
 Mrs. Maria Mercer, Mrs. Anna G. Mactier, 
 
 Mr. James Imbrie, Mrs. Catharine T. Wendell, 
 
 ^Irs. Caroline F. M. Imbrie, Hilborne West, M.D., 
 
 ;Mr. Morris Patterson, Mrs. Susan E. West, 
 
 Mrs. Mary Patterson, ]Mrs. Martha Bullock, 
 
 Mr. John S. Hart, Miss Anna L. Bullock, 
 
 Mrs. Amelia C. Hart, Mr. John Bayneton, 
 
 Mr. John R. Vogdes, Mrs. Cornelia Bayneton, 
 
 Mrs. Susan B. Murphy, Mr. Edward Miller, 
 
 Mr. John McArthur, Jr., Mrs. Jessie P. Miller, 
 
 Mrs. Matilda P. McArthur, ^Mrs. Caroline Elizabeth Lind, 
 
 Mr. Benjamin P. Hutchinson, Miss Helen Chambers, 
 
16 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 
 
 Mrs. Phoebe Ann Hutchinson, Mr. Joseph P. Cooper, 
 
 Miss :Mary M. Hutchinson, Mrs. Mary Jane Cooper, 
 
 Mr. William Watt, Mr. John A. Black, 
 
 Mrs. Maria Black, Mrs. Emeliue E. Heist. 
 
 On the 4th of April, 1856, the Presbytery of Philadelphia met, 
 and Mr. Morris Patterson appeared as commissioner from the con- 
 gregation of the West Spruce Street Church. The call for the 
 pastor was presented, and the congregation obtained leave to prose- 
 cute the same before the Presbytery of Steubenville, Ohio. 
 
 In the meantime great was the perturbation of spirit in that 
 beautiful amphitheatre on the western shore of the Ohio River, 
 formed by the hills as they recede just far enough to allow the 
 little city of Steubenville to pitch there its smoky tent. The 
 centre of the perturbation was the parsonage of the Second Presby- 
 terian Church, from which it overflowed into and through the 
 cono-rei^^ation. For over eight years the pastor had occupied that 
 field. It was his first charge. 
 
 While still at the Theological Seminary at Princeton, a letter 
 was put into his hands from the Rev. Charles C. Beatty, D.D., to 
 the venerable Dr. Archibald Alexander, asking that one of the 
 students then about to be graduated be invited to visit Steuben- 
 ville with a view to settlement over the Second Presbyterian 
 Church of that place. It was, of course, entirely unexpected. 
 And though deeply interested in foreign missions and member 
 of a circle that met statedly to talk and pray over that great and 
 glorious cause, and almost ready to offer himself to the Board for 
 the foreign service, the dropping of this letter into his hands, as it 
 were from the clouds, led to the decision at least to visit the church 
 at Steubenville and take a look at that field. 
 
 The result was a residence there of upwards of eight years. 
 Never was there a kinder people. Not a jar of discord was ever 
 heard ; except perhaps when the organ was introduced, at the 
 first sound of which an excellent old lady of true Caledonian blue 
 started up in her pew, as if a thunderbolt had fallen, listened a 
 moment to assure herself that the abomination had actually in- 
 vaded the sanctuary, and then walked with head erect down the 
 aisle, 'never again to grace with her presence that desecrated spot. 
 
HISTOEICAL DISCOUESE. 17 
 
 After a year or so gracious clouds began to gather, and the 
 good hand of God set before us that precious luxury, a young 
 pastor's first revival. It was a heavenly shower, and from that 
 time, at intervals, other like showers fell. During the eight years 
 there we received to the communion in all 382 souls, 254 of them 
 on confession of faith. 
 
 Of course then, the call to Philadelphia produced no small com- 
 motion in the hearts of people and pastor. And on the 18th of 
 April, 1856, at a meeting of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, Dr. 
 Board man laid before it the following letter from Dr. Beatty, of 
 the Steubenville Presbytery, announcing the action of that Pres- 
 bytery in the case : 
 
 " A call from the West Spruce Street Church, in the Presbytery 
 of Philadelphia, was taken up and fully discussed, when, after 
 mature deliberation, it was resolved that the West Spruce Street 
 Church be requested to desist from prosecuting the call, and that 
 INIr. Breed be earnestly advised by this Presbytery to remain in 
 his present most important, interesting and encouraging field of 
 labor." This resolution passed in Presbytery with only one dis- 
 senting voice. 
 
 Dr. Boardman now stated that the cono;reo;ation, on learnino; of 
 this action of the Presbytery of Steubenville had unanimously re- 
 peated the call, and the Presbytery at once authorized the congre- 
 gation again to prosecute it before the Presbytery of Steubenville. 
 
 By the charter of the West Spruce Street Church the subscribers 
 to the application for an Act of Incorporation were invested with 
 the duty of calling the first pastor. And on the 12th of February, 
 1856, the Board of Trustees unanimously resolved that Mr. Breed, 
 of Steubenville, be recommended to them as a suitable person for 
 their choice. On the 14th of February, the corporators met in the 
 lecture-room of the Tenth Church, and after a statement by Mr. 
 Singleton A. Mercer, it was, on motion of William A. Porter, Esq., 
 resolved to proceed to the election of a pastor. The candidate was 
 unanimously chosen. This election was followed by a unanimous 
 election and call by the people at the time of the organization of the 
 church ; and this, after the action of the Presbytery of Steubenville, 
 by a unanimous repetition of the call. It is very evident, therefore, 
 that the people were determined that, so far as their action was 
 concerned, this should be a case of effectual calling. 
 
 2 
 
18 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 
 
 As to the motives that aHowed the sundering of ties so many, 
 so tender, and so sacred, I have never had one question. The sus- 
 picion was perfectly natural that ambition or a desire for more 
 ample pecuniary provision was at least among those motives. And 
 it may be doubted whether we are always competent to tell what 
 motives do actuate us. They are so subtle, and we are so blind, 
 that we are often moved by motives other than those in conscious 
 operation. But on this point, with reference to this action, I 
 never had a doubt. 
 
 I always had rather a dread of than a desire for a luxuri- 
 ous pastorate. And as to ambition, a desire to occupy the pas- 
 torate of what is called " a leading church," I may say to you 
 now, as we are communing together at the last quarter-century 
 service we shall ever participate in, that when I arrived in this 
 city and became fully aware of the precise nature of the enterprise, 
 my emotions were not free from a tinge of disappointment. 
 Knowing that this church was to be a colony from the Tenth 
 Church, I naturally thought of a sort of Church Mission en- 
 terprise. And among the tirst questions I asked Dr. Board- 
 man in my correspondence with him was, " Will the labors there 
 be among the poor ?" He simply answered, " The rich and the 
 poor meet together." Having been brought up mostly in the city 
 of New York, and having been for years a tract distributor there, 
 going from house to house, into garrets and cellars, and up lanes 
 and alleys, and having seen with my own eyes, for years together, 
 the mass of neglected sin and misery that hovels itself in the 
 hidden places of great cities, whenever, in my Steubenville work, 
 the thought was suggested by letters from abroad or otherwise 
 of a change of field of labor the reply to my own heart ever was, 
 "No; if ever I leave this field voluntarily, it will be to go to 
 some great city and labor among the poor." But when I reached 
 Philadelphia and sav,' the field to which I had been drawn, I ex- 
 claimed : " Well, man proposes; God disposes. But here I am, 
 and now to the work that lies before me." And I can here testify 
 to my own conscience and to my God that while few pastoral fields 
 include homes of wealth fuller of all that can delight a pastor's 
 heart, your pastor has enjoyed no other portions of his service more 
 than those which have taken him into the homes of the poorest of 
 the flock, his only grief being that time and strength do not allow 
 
HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 19 
 
 much more of such service. And thank God, we have never in 
 this church been without a goodly representation of those of whom 
 Jesus sent word to the imprisoned John as the chief mark of his 
 Messiahship : " The poor have the Gospel preached to them." 
 
 Recurring now to a record made at the time, I read : " April 
 7th, 1856. A most trying day. Presbytery dissolved the pas- 
 toral relation between me and the Second Church of Steubenville. 
 Having been led along step by step, I seemed to see that I must 
 go to the West Spruce Street Church in Philadelphia. But Presby- 
 tery having once refused, was still wavering, and I, having decided 
 the matter in my own mind, let them know fully and plainly how 
 I felt, and they acted at last with no great lack of unanimity. It 
 is painful, but if it prove happy for this church and for that, I 
 shall never recall the pain with any regret. May the good S2)irit 
 of God send his smile upon all concerned." 
 
 Accordingly, on May 26th, 1856, as the records of the Presby- 
 tery of Philadelphia show, '' Mr. Breed appeared in Presbytery and 
 produced a certificate of dismission from the Presbytery of Steu- 
 benville ; he was then examined on experimental religion and his 
 views on theology and church government, in which he was ap- 
 proved and was received as a member of this Presbytery." 
 
 Yes, though a pastor of eight years' service within the bounds 
 of a Presbytery more Presbyterian than even the mother Presby- 
 tery of Philadelphia, the newcomer was passed through that ex- 
 amination preparatory to his enrolment as a member of the latter 
 Presbytery. And we insist that it is the right and the duty of 
 every Presbytery to satisfy itself by formal examination, no matter 
 what papers one may bring from another Presbytery, that the new- 
 comer is in harmony with them on the great principles of doctrine 
 and church government. The principle that a certificate of one 
 Presbytery is mandatory over another destroys Presbyterial equality 
 and puts Presbytery in subjection to Presbytery eveu as to the 
 doctrine that is to be preached within its bounds. 
 
 Right willingly, therefore, did your pastor submit to the ques- 
 tionings of the venerable Dr. McDowell upon the various points 
 involved in such examination. 
 
 The lecture-room was opened for worship on Sabbath, IMay 
 18th, 1856. Mr. Breed preached in the morning and Dr. Board- 
 man in the afternoon. On the same day two large Bible classes 
 
20 HISTORICAL, DISCOURSE. 
 
 were organized, — one for gentlemen, under tlie care of the Rev. 
 Lyman Coleman, D.D., and the other for ladies, under the charge 
 of Mr. Hart. 
 
 A Sabbath-school was organized in June, 1856, and placed, by 
 a vote of the session, under the superintendence of Mr. Hart. 
 
 At a meeting of the Presbytery of I'hiladelphia, held on 
 Wednesday evening, June 4th, at the Tenth Church, the installa- 
 tion of the pastor elect took place. Rev. G. W. ISIusgrave, D.D., 
 the moderator, presiding, and putting the constitutional questions, 
 Dr. Coleman giving the charge to the pastor and Dr. Board man 
 to the people. 
 
 During this same month the sacrament of the Lord's Supper 
 Avas administered for the first time in the lecture-room, twelve 
 persons being admitted to membership, four of them on profession 
 of fiiith. 
 
 On the first Sabbath of 1857 this house was dedicated to the 
 worship of the Triune God. On that day the Tenth Church was 
 closed, that the congregation might participate with us in the 
 solemn services of the occasion. The pastor preached morning 
 and evening, and the Rev. John M. Krebs, D.D., of New York, 
 Mr. Breed's former pastor, in the afternoon. Dr. Boardman, to 
 the great regret of all, was detained at home by sickness. 
 
 Such was the origin of the West Spruce Street Presbyterian 
 Church, and such the auspices under which it set out upon its 
 career. It was born of the spirit of thanksgiving and self-sacrifice. 
 Those who left the old home did so through a severance of ties 
 which bound them to persons and scenes which were very dear to 
 them, and they took upon them burdens not easily but very cheer- 
 fully borne. 
 
 Of the original thirty-four members but fourteen were men, and 
 of this iburteen a very small portion bore the heavier end of the 
 pecuniary load. 
 
 And what sort of an offering it was that that handful of men 
 designed fov their God and his cause you may see by looking 
 about you. ''Walk about this Zion, and go round about her; 
 tell the towers thereof, and mark her bulwarks !" A'^isit that 
 lecture-room, and say if you have elsewhere seen its superior for 
 beauty and thorough attractiveness as a place of social worship. 
 Ascend the stairs and look in upon that Sabbath-school room, and 
 
HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 21 
 
 you will acknowledge that greater completeness in furniture, cheer- 
 fulness and beauty were superfluous. Look at these graceful 
 arches, that spring from column to column; at that richly frescoed 
 ceiling, and these sumptuously furnished pews; listen to the notes 
 that come in such fulness of melodious flow from yonder organ ; 
 send your eyes upward along the lines of that lofty sj)ire, that 
 now, for twenty-five years, has pointed like a great finger, up to 
 our final home, and you will see that those who gave this church 
 to God were full of the spirit of David, when he said to Araunah, 
 the Jebusite, " I will not ofler to the Lord my God of that which 
 costs me nothing." Nor did it cost them nothing. One,* whose 
 form we see no more among us, gave tens of thousands of dollars 
 to the enterprise. And among the good providences of God to us 
 has been his guiding into our spiritual household others from other 
 churches and congregations, to whose zeal, talents, and liberality 
 we have been indebted for the liquidation of claims upon the 
 church to the amount of many thousands of dollars, as well as 
 large and generous aid in keeping the edifice in repair and adding 
 richly to its attractiveness. It requires some self-denial to refrain 
 from naming one, who, coming among us subsequently to the 
 period of our organization, has repeatedly laid the whole congre- 
 gation under obligation to his spirit of enterprise and his unstinted 
 liberality.f 
 
 OjfiGe-bearers. — From the organization of our church to the year 
 1857, John McArthur, Jr., was our only deacon. On November 
 18th of that year George Junkin and William L. Mactier were 
 elected deacons, and ordained and installed on the 9th of December. 
 
 Our ruling elders up to December, 1860, were James Imbrie, 
 Jr., John S. Hart, and Morris Patterson. On Wednesday evening, 
 December 12th, Daniel L. Collier, George Junkin, and Henry D. 
 Sherrerd were elected ruling elders, and Charles O. Abbey was 
 chosen deacon, and they were ordained and installed in oflice on 
 Sabbath afternoon, January 27th, 1861. 
 
 In our sessional records of jSIarch 16th, 1855, the name of Mr. 
 Imbrie appears for the last time, he having removed from the 
 city; and toward the close of 1862, Mr. Hart also removed; and 
 on the 30th of March, 1869, Mr. Collier left his place at our com- 
 munion table to take his seat at the marriage supper of the Lamb. 
 
 * Mr. Morris Patterson. f Mr. Gustavus S. Benson. 
 
22 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 
 
 At a meeting of the congregation, held September 28th, 1870, 
 Gustavus S. Benson, John D. McCord, and Lucius Barrows 
 were elected ruling elders, and on Sabbath afternoon, October 2d, 
 they were ordained and installed in office. 
 
 On Wednesday evening, March 18th, 1874, at a meeting of the 
 congregation in the lecture-room, Charles H. Grant, Albert G. 
 Heyl, and Frank K. Hippie were elected deacons, and on Sabbath 
 morning, March 29th, they were duly ordained and installed. 
 
 Third. Looh upon our Zion in its organization. 
 
 The title of our church is "The West Spruce Street Presby- 
 terian Church." And from the first it has been Presbyterian in 
 doctrine, in organization, in government, and in worship. 
 
 Doctrine. — Presbyterian ism insists upon clear, positive, definite, 
 doctrinal statements. It maintains that the Holy Scriptures are 
 the very word of God ; that they teach what man is to believe 
 concerning God, and what duty God requires of man ; that com- 
 mon sense, guided by the spirit of God, is competent to find out 
 what those truths are which man is to believe, and what those 
 duties are which man is to dischai;ge, and that of these the promi- 
 nent and dominant may be grouped together into formulas, and 
 set before the world as its view of the mind and will of God upon 
 these points. 
 
 It has no sympathy with the vague indefiniteness that professes 
 to believe the whole Bible without professing faith in any given 
 doctrine of the Bible, and none with that no-system that, rejecting 
 and decrying all creeds, exacts of the Christian world an adherence 
 to its creed that man should have no creed. 
 
 Presbyterianism insists upon a creed. It does not demand of 
 others an acceptance of that creed, but it claims the right to have 
 a creed ; and it has little patience with the disingenuousness that 
 retains the Presbyterian name and place in a Presbyterian pulpit 
 while disregarding, innovating, or even decrying its doctrine, 
 government, or worship. 
 
 It finds in the word of God certain doctrines, and among these 
 that of the sovereignty of God, of whom, to whom, and through 
 whom arc all things ; and it holds that it is enough for one uni- 
 verse if God be glorified. It finds there the doctrine of man's free- 
 
HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 23 
 
 clom. The world's a stage, and human beings are the players; but 
 God wrote the play, and he determines the entrances and exits of 
 the actors, and he overrules all their free actions to his own gloiy. 
 It finds in the Holy Scriptures a Triune God, a vicarious atone- 
 ment, and the final condition of men set forth in the words of 
 Jesus : "These shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the 
 righteous into life eternal." 
 
 And may this house of worship sink in ashes ere the people 
 worshipping here either cease to have a creed, or give acceptance 
 to a creed that is not in accordance with the word of God ! 
 
 Government. — We are persuaded, from no little observation and 
 experience, that very many of the disorders that here and there 
 afflict congregations are due to the want of thorough-going Presby- 
 terianism in their government. 
 
 When, on the one hand, the pastor, by neglect of the ruling 
 elders, takes into his own hand the government of the church, 
 and thus induces upon our system a kind of semi-prelacy, or 
 when, on the other hand, the Session, by frequent appeals to the 
 people, refer to them the settlement of questions which it ought to 
 decide, it will not be surprising that troubles arise. 
 
 A Presbyterian church is a Representative Republic, In this 
 republic the authority, which, under God, vests in the people, is, 
 by his ordination, to be exercised by certain officers elected by them. 
 
 By our constitution the Session, composed of the pastor and the 
 Ruling Elders, is charged with the spiritual oversight and control 
 of the church. 
 
 Accordingly, in this church, not only the ordinary routine of 
 church affairs, as the admission of members and the like, but the 
 music and the Sabbath-school have been kept under strict sessional 
 supervision and control. 
 
 The superintendent of the Sabbath-school is appointed by the 
 Session. When he withdraws from office he offers his resignation 
 to the Session, and while in office he is held responsible to the 
 Session for whatever is done and taught in the school. 
 
 By this means the excitement, the partisanship, and sometimes 
 the sad divisions which we have known to attend the nominations 
 and canvassing of frequent elections in the Sabbath-school are 
 avoided. For twenty-five years there has been scarce a ripple of 
 
24 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 
 
 unpleasant excitement in our Sabbath -school. And thus we assert 
 and keep in view the great principle that the Sabbath-school, 
 instead of being a voluntary association, co-ordinate with the 
 church, is an integral portion of the church, a living arm of the 
 church, to be used by the church in leading its lambs through the 
 green pastures and by the still waters of life. 
 
 Worship. — In this also our church has maintained its Presby- 
 terian character. Two systems of worship are ever struggling for 
 the mastery: the one direct and intellectual, the other indirect and 
 symbolical ; the one a worship through the senses, the eye, and the 
 ear, the other a worship through the mind and heart. The one 
 seeks to excite devout emotion by means of the imagination, the 
 other by means of truths clearly apprehended by the intellect. 
 
 Even under the old preparatory dispensation no authority but 
 God's was competent to institute a rite, appoint a ceremony, or 
 ordain a symbol. And, for observance under the New, God has 
 appointed but two services of a symbolical nature; these are Bap- 
 tism and the Lord's Supper. To these Presbyterianism carefully 
 adheres, rejecting all others as intrusions, human and unauthorized. 
 
 The record respecting Christian worship in the times of Jesus and 
 the apostles shows it to have been almost exclusively, and more and 
 more exclusively, not a temple worship but a synagogue worship. 
 This worship consisted in reading and expounding the holy Scrip- 
 tures, and in singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. 
 
 And precisely such is the worship of a Presbyterian church. 
 
 Accordingly we have steadily avoided the tendency that in some 
 cases has resulted in a sort of combination of the religious opera 
 and the horticultural exhibition. And we trust that the day is 
 yet a good way off when our ])eople will be found decking their 
 worship with any of the ribbons of a fantastic ritualism, or stray- 
 ing into the flower-fringed path that so often terminates at Rome. 
 
 Nor have we yielded up our singing gallery to the musical 
 artiste, according to whose creed the chief end of a church is the 
 organ loft, and the chief end of the performers there is to display 
 their accomplishments, sing their own praises, and gratify a culti- 
 vated musical taste, and the effect of which is to fritter away the 
 attention, thought and emotion due to the stupendous themes of 
 righteousness, temperance and a judgment to come. 
 
HISTOEICAL DISCOURSE. 25 
 
 Our aim has been to make our music a part of our devotion. 
 Our choir is, and has been, composed ahnost exclusively of mem- 
 bers of our church, who contribute their time and voices as a free 
 gift to God. And while we do not aim at artistic perfection, we 
 are persuaded that few devout minds will fail to find comfort and 
 spiritual satisfiiction in the music that reaches the ear from our 
 singing gallery. 
 
 The Deacons. — We have already noticed the election of a deacon 
 at the same time that elders were chosen. And if we read our 
 standards aright, a Presbyterian church is imperfectly organized 
 until deations are found amono; its officers. According to our " form 
 of government," " the ordinary and perpetual officers of the church 
 are bishops or pastors, the representatives of the people usually 
 styled ruling elders and deacons." 
 
 It is one of the most significant and touching facts of tlie New 
 Testament history, as recorded in the sixth chapter of the Acts of 
 the Apostles, that the first officers ordained after the apostles were 
 deacons, whose one great duty it was to take care of the poor. 
 Jesus was poor; he had not where to lay his head. He cared for 
 the poor. Accordingly, his spirit richly pervading the early 
 church, before mention is made of the election and ordination of 
 elders, we have a detailed account of the institution of the office 
 of the deacon. 
 
 And while, as the centuries rolled on, every other office of the 
 church was modified and distorted almost beyond recognition, the 
 office of deacon retained unchanged its original form, signification, 
 and function, and there was even a superstitious clinging to its 
 original number, seven. 
 
 Fabianus, Bishop of Rome, in the year 236, appointed seven 
 deacons to take oversight of the poor in the fourteen wards into 
 which the city was divided. 
 
 And it is a law of the Presbyterian Church that no one of its 
 members be allowed to suffisr for want of the necessaries of life, 
 and that they shall not be thrown upon the charities of others. 
 
 For the sake then of organic symmetry, of conformity to the 
 pattern showed in the mount, and of the beautiful significance of the 
 office, we would that every Presbyterian church connected with our 
 General Assembly could show among its officers a band of deacons. 
 
26 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 
 
 Fourth. Looh upon our Zion in the external circumstances that 
 attended its outsetting. 
 
 Two public events, freighted with weighty results, and by no 
 means leaving us untouched, followed closely ujwn the launching 
 of our Sacred Bark. 
 
 One of these was the terrible financial revulsion of 1857. The 
 failure in the month of xVugast, 1856, of the Ohio Life and Trust 
 Company, the chief office of which was in the city of New York, 
 coming as it did like a thunder-clap out of a clear sky, was the first 
 explosion of a series, whose echoes at length reverberated through 
 the land till scarce a financial institution, manufacturing establish- 
 ment, or railway company but had its flag at half-mast, and mul- 
 titudes of families turned pale with sudden penury. The decline 
 in the values of stocks was sudden and ruinous. On the 13th of 
 October a wild panic swept the country. AVall Street was choked 
 with panic-stricken crowds endeavoring to force their way to banks 
 and banking-houses, which were compelled to close their doors and 
 announce suspension of specie payments. Their example was fol- 
 lowed throughout the country. Trade was almost annihilated. 
 "Whole tribes of working-people were suddenly cut off from all 
 means of winning bread for themselves, their wives, and their little 
 ones. The distress was almost like that of Egypt when the wail 
 went up, " There is not a house in which there is not one dead." 
 
 Philadelphia had her full share of suft'ering, and some of those 
 on Avhom our Zion relied for the means to meet its heavy pecuniary 
 liabilities were stripped of their pecuniary all, thus adding heavily 
 to the burdens of the already heavily burdened few. This wild 
 gale met our bark as she went out of port, straining her timbers, 
 tearing her sails, but her flag brave hands had nailed to the mast ! 
 
 The other event, in some respects the echo and antidote of this, 
 was the Great Religious Awakening of 1857 and 1858. As has 
 been already said, the first intimation of the coming tempest was 
 the great failure in August, 1856. By the middle of September 
 the disturbance had reached the point of distress, with the sky full 
 of black, angry clouds. On the 23d of September the Fulton 
 Street Union Prayer-meeting was o})ened in New York, and so 
 rapidly did interest in such services develop, that Dr. S. Irenreus 
 Prime assures us that at an e:irly period as many as one hundred 
 
HISTOEICAL DISCOURSE. 27 
 
 and fifty such prayer-meetings were held daily in ±sew York and 
 Brooklyn. 
 
 On the 3d of February, 1858, the first Union meeting was held 
 in this city, in an anteroom in Jayne's Hall. For some days only 
 twenty, forty, or sixty persons attended. Suddenly the number 
 went up to three hundred, and it was resolved, riot without trepi- 
 dation, to hold the next meeting in the large hall. The hall, with 
 seats for twenty-five hundred people, was filled. The next day 
 the curtain was drawn away from the stage and it and the galleries 
 were filled. The next day the partition between the smaller and 
 larger rooms was taken down and the hall from street to street 
 thrown open. " The meeting," wrote a clergyman, " was unpar- 
 alleled in the history of any city, in any age, wave after wave pour- 
 ing in from the closet, from the family, from the church, until the 
 great tidal or tenth wave rolled its mighty surge upon us, swallow- 
 ing up for the time all separate sects, creeds, denominations, in the 
 one great, glorious, only Church of the Holy Ghost !" 
 
 The wave spread from one end of the republic to the other. In 
 the State of New York two hundred towns reported six thousand 
 conversions. In Chicago more than two thousand people were at 
 the various noonday prayer- meetings. The whole harvest of souls 
 garnered for the Lord must have numbered nearly or quite four 
 hundred thousand ! 
 
 It was under the gathering clouds of this terrible financial dis- 
 tress on the one hand, and amid the answering glory and joy of 
 this unprecedented religious awakening on the other, that our 
 spiritual bark set forth on its voyage twenty-five years ago. 
 
 Fifth. Looh nov; upon our Zion in its services and agencies. 
 
 Besides our Sabbath services we have had a Wednesday even- 
 ing Lecture and a Friday evening Prayer-meeting, the j)astor con- 
 ducting the exercises in both. The suggestion has at times been 
 made to combine these two meetings into one, and hold only a 
 midweekly service. But the affections of the people have clung 
 too warmly around the social prayer-meeting to allow of its dis- 
 continuance. 
 
 Our communion service is observed once in three months, on 
 Sabbath morning, after a sermon appropriate to the occasion. 
 Just before the administration of the sacrament, those who come 
 
28 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 
 
 to it for the first time rise as their names are called and stand in 
 the pews assigned tlieni near the pnlpit, while the pastor reminds 
 them of the obligations involved in their application for and admis- 
 sion, by a vote of the Session, to a place at that table ; gives them 
 a word of welcome and admonition, and also reminds the people 
 already at the table of their duty to these newcomers among them. 
 
 This service is brief and solemn, and not unfrequeutly fraught 
 with spiritual benefit to all. 
 
 The Ilonthly Concert is observed on the first Wednesday evening 
 of every month. At this meeting standing committees report upon 
 different missionary fields, and these reports have often been ex- 
 ceedingly interesting and instructive. 
 
 The Sabbath-school. — Every Christian church is a band not 
 only of worshippers, but of workers also. And of the many fields 
 that lie befoi-e the members of the congregation few are more in- 
 viting than the Sabbath-school. In our day it concentrates upon 
 it much of the richest talent and ripest thought in the Christian 
 world, and as often as the Sabbath Sun drives his golden chariot 
 across the heavens, he looks down in our land upon some seven 
 millions of Sabbath-school scholars grouped around some seven 
 hundred thousand Sabbatli-school teachers. 
 
 In June of the year 1856, ou*r Sabbath-school was organized 
 with thirty-four members, and placed under the superintendence 
 of Professor Hart. This office he continued to fill until September 
 21st, 18G0, when, constrained by labors increasing beyond his 
 strength, he offered his resignation to the Session. His resignation 
 was accepted, and Mr. George Junkin was appointed in his place. 
 
 On November 21st, 18G6, Mr. Junkin resigned, to take charge 
 of the young ladies' Bible class, which service he has since eon- 
 tinned to render, and Mr. Henry D. Sherrerd was appointed super- 
 intendent. November 10th, 1875, Mr. Sherrerd offered his resig- 
 nation, and Mr. Frank K. Hippie was appointed in his place. 
 
 During the quarter of a century there have been in our school 
 four superintendents, one assistant superintendent, 267 teachers, 
 and 2148 scholars. Of the teachers twenty-seven have come from 
 the classes. Of the 61 scholars in the school at the close of August, 
 1856, one* is now a teacher, and one other,f who entered the 
 school two or three sessions after. 
 
 * J. Howard Breed. f Gustavus S. Benson, Jr. 
 
HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 29 
 
 The school has never been in a more flourishing condition than 
 it is at the present time. It embraces 46 teachers and officers, 318 
 scholars — 364 in all. 
 
 The collections in the school for twenty-five years have amounted 
 to more than $7000. This money has been appropriated partly 
 to the support of a child in a mission school in India, partly to 
 assist in the support of Mrs. Nevius, in China ; partly to aid a 
 student for the ministry in our own church, and partly to other 
 benevolent purposes. 
 
 The number of additions to our church from the Sabbath-school 
 since the year 1875, before which we have found no statistics on 
 the subject, has been seventy-three; besides which a considerable 
 number have united with other churches, with which their parents 
 were connected. 
 
 INIany of the Sabbath-school classes are organized into " Bands," 
 under various names, some of them working for some poor family 
 in the church, others collecting money for various benevolent 
 causes, thus at a very tender age learning how much more blessed 
 it is to give than to receive. 
 
 The fact deserves special mention, that the infant class in our 
 Sabbath-school has enjoyed for twenty-five years the services of 
 the same faithful, efficient, and beloved teacher, Mr. Charles O. 
 Abbey. 
 
 During that period some 900 pupils have been under instruc- 
 tion in this class. For fifteen years the class met in a room high 
 up in one of the towers of the church. But in the year 1871, the 
 zeal and liberality of a number of the members of the church 
 built for this class a beautiful and commodious room adjoining 
 that in which the Sabbath-school assembles, and another room 
 which the Young Ladies' Bible Class now occupies. 
 
 The one great want yet remaining to make our Sabbath-school 
 complete in its appointments is a room on the same floor with the 
 rest of the school for the Young Men's Bible Class. Such a room 
 would be a very appropriate " Ebenezer," with which to mark our 
 entrance upon the second quarter-century of church-life. 
 
 An efficient Sabbath-school association, of which the superin- 
 tendent of the Sabbath-school is president, holds stated meetings 
 to discuss the interests of the Sabbath-school, and urge forward 
 measures for the increase of its efficiency and usefulness. 
 
30 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 
 
 It has established a Sabbath-scliool Mnseuin for tlie collection 
 of objec^ts from Syria and Palestine which may illustrate the word 
 of God, and also from the great missionary field, to awaken and 
 foster the interest of our young people in the conversion of the 
 world to the blessed Saviour. 
 
 The Dorcas and Missionary Society. — Within a few years the 
 church at large has come to the consciousness of a force long resi- 
 dent within her, the energy of which was unsuspected, even the 
 existence of which was almost unknown. This is the brain-force, 
 heart-force, and sanctified will-force of her devout womanhood. 
 The disclosure and practical employment of this force has formed 
 almost an era in the beneficent work of the church, and promises a 
 harvest of results, the richness and magnitude of which our arith- 
 metic cannot compute. 
 
 One of the first forms in which it embodied itself and entered 
 the field of action was that of the Dorcas and Missionary Society. 
 
 The object that called it into play was one peculiarly adapted 
 to evoke the sympathies and arouse the energy of woman. This 
 was the family of the home missionary, in its toils and self-denial, 
 and not uufrequently its cruel hardships. To relieve those hard- 
 ships, and to cheer the missionary household, women have assem- 
 bled week by week in bands scattered through the church, to pre- 
 pare clothing and other articles of comfort, and send them to 
 the needy, with their prayers and benedictions. Work more kindly 
 and Christly could not be. And in blessing others they have them- 
 selves been blessed. Co-operation in such societies cultivates social 
 intercourse and kindly feeling among members of the same church, 
 and thus leads to a most hapj^y and heaUhy development of the 
 true spirit of our holy religion. 
 
 In this church the Dorcas and Missionary Society was organized 
 November 13th, 1857. The records of the society in its earlier 
 years are not sufficiently full to enable us to present complete and 
 accurate statistics of work and contributions. But during the 
 quarter of a century this society has sent to the toilers in the home 
 mission field sixty-nine boxes filled with clothing, and a great 
 variety of other things conducive to the comfort of a missionary 
 family. Some of these boxes have contained goods to the value 
 of .^00, and the value of all the gifts of this society thus far can- 
 not be less, is probably considerably more, than §17,000. 
 
HISTOEICAL DISCOURSE. 31 
 
 In addition to this, thousands of garments have been given to 
 children in the Sabbath -school, and for several years contributions 
 of money and clothing have been sent to the Presbyterian Hospital. 
 
 The Woman^s Missionary Society. — While the domestic mission- 
 ary has been remembered, the foreign missionary has not been for- 
 gotten. 
 
 The West Spruce Street Auxiliary to the Woman's Foreign 
 INIissionary Society of the Presbyterian Church was organized 
 December 12th, 1870. 
 
 The object of this society is to aid the Board of Foreign Missions 
 in spreading the gospel among the women and children in heathen 
 lands. The society selected for its missionary Mrs. John L. 'Ne- 
 vius, of Chefoo, China, pledging her a salary of $350 a year. This 
 it has always been able to raise. Any surplus above this sum has 
 been sent to Mrs. Nevius for her special work in schools. 
 
 The aggregate collections of this society since its organization 
 have amounted in all to §4634.03. This includes .$420 contributed 
 in twelve years by the "Infant-school Band" and §20 by the 
 "Perseverance Band." 
 
 The Sewing-schooL — In addition to our work among the children 
 on the Sabbath day, a sewing-school was organized in 1871. It 
 meets during the winter on Saturday mornings in the Sabbath- 
 school room. 
 
 The main object of the school is to instruct the pupils in needle- 
 work, and thus fit them for usefulness in homes where the struocffle 
 for bread leaves the mother too little time for woi"k upon the gar- 
 ments of the household. 
 
 The school is opened with prayer, and attention is given at every 
 session to the singing of gospel hymns and to the memorizing of 
 passages from the word of God. Thus we have here another of 
 the many happy devices of our day for serving the Master and 
 beguiling souls to him. 
 
 The Young People^ s Prayer-meeting. — This is another means of 
 grace which deserves special mention. It is held through most of 
 the year in the evening, one half-hour before the hour of church 
 service. It affords an excellent opportunity for the cultivation 
 among our young men of the gifts and graces of speaking for 
 Christ, and of leading others in prayer, and thus growing into 
 fitness for more public work in the cause of the Master. 
 
32 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 
 
 And not nnfrequently has the heart of the pastor been cheered, 
 ju.<t before the opening; of service on a Sabbath, by a message from 
 that cluster of praying ones : 
 
 "We have had an excellent meeting, the number in attendance 
 large, and the spirit of God powerfully with us." 
 
 Happy is the church that has in its bosom any considerable 
 number of zealous, consistent, praying young men ! 
 
 The Young Mcn^s Association. — This association numbers over 
 thirty members. It aims to secure the co-operation of all the 
 young men in the church and assign them to committees for such 
 branches of church work as may suit their several tastes and abili- 
 ties. Among these committees are the Committee on the Young 
 People's Prayer-meeting, the Committee of Ushers, etc. The re- 
 sult has been the secureraent of at least twenty young men to lead 
 in the prayer-meetings who did not before engage in this service, 
 a large increase of interest in the young people's prayer-meeting, 
 and also of that kindly social feeling so favorable to the best in- 
 terests of a church. 
 
 The City Missionary. — One more agency remains to be men- 
 tioned. The one great duty of the Church of Christ is expressed 
 in the command of Jesus, uttered on the eve of his ascension : 
 "Go ye into all the world and preifch the gospel to every creature." 
 
 Facts, numerous and startling, testify that fulfilment of this 
 command is by no means reached in the sending of missionaries 
 into distant fields, at home and abroad, and in the erection of 
 church edifices and organization of churches, and in clustering 
 about them the agencies above enumerated and described. For, 
 when all is done that can be done through these agencies, hundreds 
 of thousands remain unreached. Nor is there any prospect that 
 the gospel will be preached to every creature except through some 
 agency that goes from door to door, from household to household, 
 from person to person. 
 
 To multitudes of these neglecters of religion the minister of the 
 gospel has no access; and, were access easy and free, he neither 
 possesses the strength nor could he spare the time for the task. 
 This work, if done at all, must be done by persons fitted for and 
 entirely given to it. 
 
 Such is the work done in our cities by the city missionary. His 
 heart full of love for souls and zeal for the Master's glory, the 
 
HISTOEICAL, DISCOURSE. 33 
 
 Bible in one hand and the reli<2:ious book or tract in the other, 
 self-denying in spirit, resolute of will, persistent in season, out of 
 season, he goes from door to door to preach the truth, invites to 
 Jesus, and kneels in prayer for the blessing of God upon the 
 household. 
 
 For a little upwards of eight years Mr. John Potter was em- 
 ployed by this church in this kind of evangelistic labor. 
 
 From records kept by him we learn that during that period he 
 made 25,920 visits, preaching the gospel from house to house. 
 More than 24,000 prayers were offered with the members of these 
 families. In each an appropriate tract or book was left. Bibles 
 and testaments were furnished to those who were without them. 
 Large numbers of the sick were visited and many funerals at- 
 tended. Cottage prayer-meetings were also held. 
 
 Some 400 persons were hopefully converted, who united with 
 different evangelical churches. Many households were induced to 
 set up family worship. About 250 scholars were led to attend 
 one or another of different Sabbath-schools. A considerable num- 
 ber of men were reclaimed from drunkenness. 
 
 In the meetings held by Mr. Moody, our missionary conversed 
 in the inquiry room with 120 persons. Often he followed the 
 inquirers to their homes and there conversed and prayed with 
 them. 
 
 At the request of the laborers in the Gas Works, at Twenty- 
 third and Market streets, for ten weeks, every day at noon, he met 
 with and conducted worship among them. 
 
 The value of the service thus rendered to the cause of our blessed 
 Jesus we have no means of computing. For ourselves we regard 
 it as one of the most valuable agencies employed by our church. 
 
 Mr. Potter continued to labor in this field till the year of his 
 death. During one of his visits in July, 1878, he fell to the floor, 
 and for a considerable time lay insensible. The month of August 
 found him at the house of his son in Darlington, Beaver County, 
 Pa., where, on the 28th of the month, he breathed his last, full of 
 years and ripe for heaven. 
 
 Sixth. Looh upon our Zion as a Giver. 
 
 God, as Creator, is absolute proprietor of all things. And with 
 
 3 
 
34 HISTORICAL. DISCOURSE. 
 
 articulate voice does lie clmllcnge liis right of proprietorship. 
 "All the earth is mine," saith the Lord. "All souls are mine! 
 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine." And one of the effects 
 of religion on the heart is to work a recognition of this proprietor- 
 ship of God and induce men to give back at least a part to him of 
 ■what is his own. 
 
 During the past twenty-five years the congregation worshipping 
 in this place has paid into the treasury of the Lord as follows: 
 
 Home missions, ........ §46,785 
 
 Foreign missions, 24,222 
 
 Education, 21,476 
 
 Publication, ......... 11,336 
 
 Church erection, 22,047 
 
 Freedmen, 8,885 
 
 Ministerial relief, 1,749 
 
 Sustentation, 1,132 
 
 Presbyterial, 3,823 
 
 Congregational, 220,845 
 
 Miscellaneous, 58,215 
 
 Total, ^426,515 
 
 To this is to be added the princely legacy of Mr. INIorris Patter- 
 son of 1^30,000 to build, at the discretion of our trustees as to time 
 and place, a memorial church in memory of a beloved and only 
 daughter, INIary Patterson. 
 
 The original cost of this edifice was about $88,000, and with 
 subsequent additions and improvements has demanded an outlay 
 of over $100,000. All pecuniary claims upon the church have 
 been met, and it rejoices in an entire freedom from debt. 
 
 Now, while on the one hand I have no right to say of any one, 
 "You have given as much as you might have given and ought to 
 give/' on the other, knowing what I do of the trials and struggles 
 of men under the financial embarrassments of the times, and of 
 the process of incessant giving on the part of so many, I promise 
 you that my voice will never be heard in stigmatizing God's people 
 as close-handed and penurious. 
 
 Seventh. Loolc upon our Zion in its Harvestings. 
 
 While the history of our church thus far has been marked by 
 
HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 35 
 
 none of those mighty spiritual movements that remind us of the 
 clay of Pentecost, yet these years have not passed without seasons 
 of intense spiritual interest. 
 
 The following narrative from the records of our Session tells a 
 story, many points in wliich some of you will quickly recognize: 
 
 "At our communion, December, 1869, but one person appeared 
 upon profession of faith to acknowledge our Lord at the feast. 
 That service had been preceded by a prayer-meeting in the session- 
 room. It was very solemn, and there, as we afterwards found, 
 impressions were made which ripened into hopeful conversions. 
 That very day Mr. H. D. Sherrerd, one of our most faithful and 
 efficient elders, was taken sick, and for a long time lay in a very 
 critical condition. Previously one of our elders and one of our 
 deacons had each lost a beloved child, and now cases of sickness 
 came thick and fast. Another of our elders lost a darling child, 
 an only daughter, wdio, however, before being taken sick, expressed 
 faith and hope in the Lamb of God, The people began to feel 
 that the Lord was sorely chastising them, and prayer was multi- 
 plied for relief and spiritual blessing. Under these solemn cir- 
 cumstances we appointed a series of meetings for each evening of 
 the week, beginning February 21st. The Rev. J. L. With row 
 preached the first sermon on 'Christ Seeking the Lost Sheep.' 
 The Rev. Dr. Wiswell, the second, ' When He Saw Him Afar Off.' 
 The Rev. Dr. Alexander Reed, the third, on 'One Thing Thou 
 Lackest.' The Rev. Dr. Herrick Johnson, the fourth, on the even- 
 ing of the day of prayer for colleges, on 'The Spirit and the Bride 
 say Come.' The Rev. R. M. Patterson, the fifth, on 'He Made 
 Haste and Came Down.' These sermons were followed by others. 
 One, on the evening of the 28th, by Rev. J. W. Dale, D.D., of 
 Media, on 'Remember Me when Thou Comest into Thy King- 
 dom.' 
 
 " March 1st, we held a prayer-meeting profoundly solemn, at 
 the close of wliich we kneeled and prayed in silence, during which 
 sobs were heard in many parts of the house. 
 
 " March 2d, a sermon was preached by Dr. Willits. On the 
 7th, Dr. George D. Boardman preached on 'Jacob at Bethel.' 
 Friday, 11th, was spent in fasting and prayer. A meeting was 
 held in the morning at 11 o'clock, and another in the evening 
 at 7.30. 
 
36 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 
 
 "March 14th, Dr. J. AVheaton Smith preached on 'Almost 
 Thou Pcrsnadest me to be a Christian.' March 15th, a sermon 
 was preached by Rev. Dr. J. B. Dales on * Salvation is from the 
 Lord.' On tlie 16th, the Rev. A. D. L. Jewett, of New Bruns- 
 wick, preached on 'Lovest thou Me?' and on the 18th, the Rev. 
 W. E. Schenck, on 'How long halt ye?' 
 
 " These services were attended by large and deeply solemnized 
 audiences. Each service was preceded by a prayer-meeting of 
 half an hour for a blessing on the preacher and the congregation. 
 Our Christian people were deeply moved, and, in frequent in- 
 stances, visited their unconverted friends and neighbors, and con- 
 versed with them about their souls' salvation. Earnest and 
 frequent prayers went up for the unsaved. 
 
 " The pastor received several notes from church members 
 pledging a more faithful service. The calls of inquirers at the 
 'study' were numerous. The young men, of their own accord, 
 began a prayer-meeting, whicli increased its numbers from nine to 
 upwards of thirty. Profound interest attended their meetings, and 
 deep impressions were made. 
 
 "On Sabbath, March 20th, 1870, our regular communion day, 
 bright without and bright within, thirty persons, most of them 
 yonng men and women, stood up and confessed their Saviour 
 before angels and men. One of the most cheering features of the 
 occasion was the closing up of at least four of our family circles 
 in faith around this Christian family table. The hour was one 
 lono; to be remembered. In the evening the lecture-room was 
 crowded with a warm-hearted throng, and profound feeling was 
 visible in the prayers, exhortations and songs of praise. 
 
 "The Session records with profound gratitude its appreciation 
 of the kind services of our brethren in the ministry who brought 
 to us those warm, loving and powerful messages from the Lord. 
 May other communion days yet come to us which shall eclipse 
 even this in the fulness and intensity of its harvcstage. Amen." 
 
 In Dr. Boardman's quarter-century discourse we learn that 
 during the twenty-five years of his pastorate one thousand and 
 sixty-eight members were added to the communion-roll of the 
 Tenth Church, or an average accession of nearly eleven at each 
 one of the one hundred communions. How it would gratify his 
 heart to know that so closely had the blessing enjoyed by the 
 
HISTORICAL DISCOUHSE. 37 
 
 mother followed the daughter, that almost precisely the same 
 number had been added during a period of equal length to the 
 communion-roll of our Zion! To our original thirty-four there 
 have been added at our ninety-nine communions ten hundred and 
 forty-eight, — five hundred and forty-eight on examination, and 
 five hundred by certificate. 
 
 Of those admitted to the church on confession of faith, some 
 were young, and some old and gray-headed, and many of them in 
 middle life. Some were fathers going home from the communion- 
 table to assume the headship of their households at the family 
 altar, and day after day to plead with heaven for blessings on all 
 the members. Some were mothers; and if ever the air gleams 
 with flashes from the silver wings of the rejoicing angels, it is 
 when a woman goes home to her children from the house of God 
 and enters her doors for the first time a Christian mother. Some 
 were ]3recious children, each one adding another to the praying 
 forces in the household in behalf of the rest. In quite a number 
 of instances the convert has been the last one of the circle out of 
 Christ, the keystone let into the arch of family bliss and glory. 
 
 Of those at one time or another in communion with us Rere, 
 five have been ordained to preach the everlasting gospel, and are 
 now doing good service in the cause ; and one of them has heard 
 the sigh from fixr off India's shores, and has answered : 
 
 " Yes, I will go ! I may no longer doubt 
 To give up friends and idol Iiopes, 
 And every tie that binds my heart 
 To thee, my country. 
 
 And if one for whom 
 Satan hath struggled, as he hath for me, 
 Should ever reach that blessed shore ! Oh, how 
 Tills heart will flame with gratitude and love !" 
 
 And to-day, while we worship here at the junction of the Dela- 
 ware and the Schuylkill, our beloved brother, the Rev. Francis 
 Heyl, is laboring efficiently and cheerfully at the junction of the 
 Ganges and the Jumna. 
 
 Three of our present number are under the care of Presbytery 
 as candidates for the ministry, and I trust, and am sure, that there 
 are in our families other sons consecrated by parental prayer to the 
 glorious work of preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ. 
 
38 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 
 
 When the pinnacles of our Zion began to glimmer with the rays 
 of the morning, they were first swept by a financial tempest, and 
 then gilded by the great religious awakening. Years rolled on, 
 and the thunders of an awful civil convulsion rent the air; and 
 during its continuance we met, time and again, in this church under 
 a nightmare of distress and apprehension. Early in the struggle 
 one of our noble-spirited young men, Edwin F. Scott, was 
 brought home in his cofifiu. Another, a brave officer, Boyd Cum- 
 mings, Lieutenant-Commander of the Steamer Richmond, struck 
 with a ball as they were passing the batteries of Port Hudson, was 
 brought home in his shroud to his young widow, who followed 
 him broken-hearted to the grave. And all through the war 
 more or fewer of our choice young men were away on the field, 
 and we knew that any moment the word might reach us that bay- 
 onet, bullet, or rending shell had laid them among the slain. And 
 there, too, was the country of our love and pride, in jeopardy of 
 disruption into antagonistic fragments, with "Ichabod" written 
 over its portal, the mockery of all who hated us. Again and 
 again, and still again, during those dark years, did we assemble 
 for fasting and prayer to God that he Mould save the Union and 
 save our boys, and silence the horrid din of war ! 
 
 Following the close of the civil war and the firm compacting 
 of the National Union came another event in which our church 
 most heartily participated, — the Reunion of the two great branches 
 of the Presbyterian Church. Preceding and heralding that union 
 came that memorable convention in the church of Dr. Wylie, in 
 Broad Street near Spruce. Sweet are the memories of that con- 
 vention. Some of us well remember how bright the sun shone on 
 that Noveuiber mornino; when the convention first came too;ether. 
 Representatives from all the various branches of the Presbyterian 
 Church in the land were there. The most indifferent could not 
 but see by the crov/ds that swarmed along the sidewalks toward 
 the place of meeting that some great event was casting its shadows 
 before. 
 
 When the convention met, the end of tlie movement was a matter 
 of profound uncertainty. Very serious misgivings were enter- 
 tained by many of its M'isest and ablest members as to any happy 
 outcome from the meeting. Flowever, during a meeting for de- 
 
HISTORICAL DISCOUESE. 39 
 
 votional exercises, Ruling Elder Robert Carter, of New York, 
 leading in prayer, was so obviously moved by the Spirit of 
 Holiness, his utterances were so full of unction, and such was the 
 effect of the prayer upon the people, that, at its close, it is 
 hardly too much to say that the question of union was virtually 
 settled. The powerful influence of the Rev. Dr. INlusgrave in 
 bringing the union to a consummation no one Avill question, and 
 he himself tells us that before the meeting of the convention he 
 had very little hope of any practical good from it ; " but," as he 
 frankly said, " at the close of R<ibert Carter's prayer I found my- 
 self filled with joy and hope, and I believe we now see the way 
 clear to a glorious union in our Presbyterian Zion." 
 
 These words were spoken at the closing meeting of the conven- 
 tion held in this church, — a meeting not to be forgotten by those 
 who participated in it. It was pervaded with a fervency and an 
 unction that gave a foretaste of what we shall enjoy after the final 
 Reunion of all the ransomed around the throne of God and the 
 Lamb. 
 
 As the one-hundredth anniversary of the Republic drew near, the 
 Presbyterian Church resolved to signalize the occasion by recalling 
 to the attention of their own peoj)le, and as far as possible of the 
 people of the land, the part that Presbyterians had taken in creat- 
 ing and in giving character to the Republic. So prominent was 
 that part that Mr. Galoway, in the House of Commons, denounced 
 the Avhole revolution as a Presbyterian movement. The " Sons of 
 Liberty," in the city of New York, went by the name of the 
 "Presbyterian Junto." Mr. Bancroft writes: "The first voice 
 publicly raised in America to dissolve all connection with Great 
 Britain came, not from the Puritans of New England, nor from 
 the Dutch of New York, nor from the ^jlanters of A'^irginia, but 
 from the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians." In the Congress that created 
 this republic there was just one clergyman, a thorough going Pres- 
 byterian, who in his person ably represented the combined Presby- 
 terianism in the land. It will not be questioned that in that hour 
 when the fate of the colonies was trembling in the balance, his elo- 
 quent voice told mightily for the cause of independence. Nor will 
 it be questioned that in the even more solemn and difficult question 
 of national organization his influence was of incalculable value. 
 
40 HISTORICAL DISCOUESE. 
 
 When then the one-hundredth birthday of the Republic drew 
 nigh it was tliought a just and wise thing to remind the world of 
 these services rendered by Presbyterianism. Dr. Henry C. IMcCook 
 suggested in the Presbyterian a statue to the great Presbyterian 
 advocate of independence, John Witherspoon. That suggestion 
 caught the eye of your pastor. He called the attention of the Rev. 
 Dr. Boardnian to it, whose earnest and warm response settled the 
 success of the project. But for his cordial interest in the matter 
 and his influence as the months rolled on, that work had never 
 been done. However, without any seeking of his own, the whole 
 of the loorh fell upon your pastor. By exchanging pulpits on 
 Wednesday evenings and on the Sabbath days, and working during 
 his summer vacations, he presented the subject in more than 
 seventy pulpits from Roslyn, Long Island, on the east, to Steuben- 
 ville, Ohio, on the west, and in ten Synods and Presbyteries. Ex- 
 cepting the First Presbyterian Church in New York, of which 
 the Rev. Dr. Paxton is pastor, this church, besides through its 
 pastor, doing all the work, contributed also by far the largest 
 amount of money to this enterprise. The closing discourse on the 
 life and character of Witherspoon was delivered in this church on 
 Sabbath evening, the 22d of October, 1876, by the venerable and 
 now sainted Dr. Plumer. And that great statue stands in that 
 beautiful park as chiefly the work of this West Spruce Street 
 Church. 
 
 One more memorable public event is in no small degree asso- 
 ciated with our Zion, I mean the, late Council of the Presbyterian 
 Alliance. Yearnino;s for such a council had been felt in the 
 Presbyterian heart for generations. Scattered coals blaze when 
 they are brought together. More than three hundred years ago 
 the great Calvin wrote that he would readily pass over ten seas to 
 meet in council with representatives of the great churches of re- 
 formed Christendom. And in the autum n of last year there gathered 
 in this city a council representing some twenty or thirty millions 
 of Presbyterians, from all the continents and many of the islands 
 of the sea, in an assemblage that for talent, sound doctrine, and 
 piety has hardly had its superior since the First Great Council in 
 Jerusalem. The success of that council was a theme of universal 
 delight and admiration. In it our Zion was represented by two 
 
HISTOEICAL DISCOURSE. 41 
 
 members appointed by the General Assembly; on the committees 
 intrusted with its most vital interests this church was represented 
 by three members ; in contributions this church far exceeded any 
 other, as it did also in the number of guests it entertained, and by 
 far the largest individual donation to its funds came from the 
 princely liberality of one of our ruling elders;* and it is only saying 
 what is not only universally but most cordially acknowledged, that 
 in no small degree the golden success of the council was due to the 
 wisdom, personal influence, self-sacrificing and untiring diligence 
 of another of its ruling elders, George Jimkin, Esq. 
 
 In conclusion : Since the organization of this church, twenty- 
 five Decembers have flung their frost over the land, and as many 
 Junes have hung the rose-clusters around us. On we have come 
 through financial panic, and into and through the nightmare of a 
 dreadful and protracted civil war. 
 
 The spirit of harmony which presided at the birth of our church 
 has ever since hovered over it as the angel of peace. I believe I 
 am not in error when I say that, as yet, neither in the board of 
 trustees nor in the session of the church, has there been a divided 
 vote. Not that there has not been decided difference of opinion, 
 but such has been the dominant spirit of conciliation, that the mi- 
 nority has always been willing to yield to the majority and make 
 the vote unanimous. And the same spirit has marked the his- 
 tory of the congregation. From some cause or other, discordant, 
 mischievous, wrangling spirits have instinctiv^ely avoided us, and 
 those we have been permitted to receive from other churches have 
 come breathing the same spirit of kindliness and affection that 
 has from the first nestled among us. 
 
 Nor has the choir that has led us in our songs of praise proved 
 any exception to the general rule. 
 
 We have heard that discords sometimes occur even amono^ musi- 
 cians, and we have heard of schisms between the choir and the 
 pulpit, and between the choir and the congregation. 
 
 But if in our choir, during these twenty-five years, there has been 
 any trouble, it must have been of a very quiet sort, for rumor of 
 it has never reached this end of the church. 
 
 And I must be permitted to say, and in saying it I speak the 
 
 * Gustavus S. Benson. 
 
42 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 
 
 deep convictions of a grateful heart, that Trustees of greater intelli- 
 gence, zeal, and efficiency, Ruling Elders of purer motives, higher 
 aims, judgment more sound and fidelity more true, and Deacons 
 better fitted for their office in kindliness of spirit and untiring dis- 
 charge of duty, than those who have held place in our church from 
 the beginning until now, have seldom, if ever, blessed any church 
 in our land. 
 
 Of the 1082 members at one time or another seated at our com- 
 munion tabic, 104 are seated now on the steps of the throne of 
 God and the Lamb. 
 
 Of the nine Ruling Elders who in the course of years have as- 
 sisted in distributing the bread and the wine at our communion 
 table, four have put off the mortal to put on immortality. The 
 first to be called from us was Daniel L. Collier, Esq. He had 
 been one of the first to take me by the hand on my arrival at 
 Steubenville, Ohio, and a truer friend no one ever had. Coming 
 to Philadelphia almost at the same time with myself, he became 
 an elder in this church. He was an able lawyer, the law-j)receptor 
 of the distinguished Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, an ac- 
 complished gentleman, and a devout Christian. His death was 
 
 one of those of which the poet sings: 
 
 * 
 " How blest the righteous when he dies ! 
 When sinks a weary soul to rest ! 
 How mildly beam the closing eyes, 
 
 How gently heaves tlie expiring breast ! 
 So fades a summer cloud away ! 
 
 So sinks the gale when storms are o'er ! 
 So gently shuts the eye of day ! 
 So dies a wave along the shore ! " 
 
 The next to leave our world was Professor John S. Hart, a man 
 of fine natural gifts, of high intellectual culture, of great adminis- 
 trative powers, and an efficient church officer. The tliird to be 
 taken was Mr. Morris Patterson, a man, take him all in all, whose 
 like we do not often see. Polished in manner, devout in spirit, 
 regarded with affectionate respect by the whole communit}^, he was 
 taken from us in the twinkling of an eye. His death was a trans- 
 lation, and a whole community mourned for him. The last to go 
 was one much less widely known, Lucius Barrows. Those, how- 
 ever, who did know him knew that few better, purer, more godly 
 
HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 43 
 
 men ever blessed our world. We can still, in fancy, see him in 
 his accustomed place in that lecture-i'oom and hear the quiet flow 
 of thought "issuing from a heart that had fed upon and digested 
 the M'ord of God. 
 
 From the number of our Deacons, also, God has taken one, Mr. 
 Charles Henry Grant. I was with him to counsel him during the 
 earlier days of a somewhat remarkable religious experience. I 
 was with him as he faded away on the bed of death. I had abun- 
 dant reason to esteem and love him as a man, as a wise father, a 
 faithful husband, and a sincere Christian. 
 
 It is a glory to any church to be represented in heaven by five 
 such church officers. 
 
 Of the thirty-four members composing our church at the time 
 of its organization, fifteen have gone to their long home. Two 
 yet remain in our circle, Dr. llilborne West and his wife, Mrs. 
 Susan E. West, and long may they be spared to us. 
 
 Singleton A. Mercer, Mrs. Martha Bullock, 
 
 Mrs. Maria Mercer, Mr. John Bayneton, 
 
 Mrs. Caroline F. M. Irabrie, Mr. Edward Miller, 
 
 John R. Vogdes, Mrs. JNIaria Black, 
 
 Benjamin Hutchinson, Mrs. Emeline Heist, 
 
 William Waft, Mrs. Catharine E. Lind, 
 
 Mr. John S. Hart, Mr. Morris Patterson, 
 
 and Mrs. Mary Patterson. 
 
 Of these, the one without whom this church had hardly been 
 built was Singleton A. Mercer. How definitely his fine figure, 
 crowned with that snow-white head, lies pliotographed upon many 
 of our memories. He was among the first with whom I became 
 acquainted in this city. He pledged to me his personal friendship, 
 and with characteristic fidelity he kept his word. Of purest integ- 
 rity, of loftiest aims, of large liberality, he, with a few kindred 
 spirits, responded to the suggestion of his pastor to build a house 
 to the Lord, and rested not until this pile lifted its walls and 
 pointed its spire toward the skies. 
 
 But many are the afflictions of the righteous. Crushing sorrow 
 over the loss of an only son broke him down, and on a foreign 
 shore, whither he had gone in cjuest of health, he laid him down 
 and died. Peace and honor to his ashes ! 
 
44 HISTOEICAL DISCOURSE. 
 
 A scene in the last hours of one* of this cherished Thirty-four 
 was too remarkable and touchingly suggestive to be omitted in 
 this record. The end was drawing near. Night came, and often 
 during the night the daughter, watching by her side, noticed her 
 arm extended and her hand lying open on the pillow, and once or 
 twice drew the arm gently beneath the cover, only to see it soon 
 replaced in its former position. In the morning, when questioned 
 for the reason of this, she replied that she had wished to pray, but 
 feeling too feeble to control her thoughts, she held out her open 
 hand to her Heavenly Father, well assured that he would know 
 her meaning. 
 
 Of those who came to us after the period of our organization 
 and left us for the church above, one or two must be mentioned. 
 One of these was Mr. John E. Gould, so long the leader of our 
 music, and author of some of the sweetest music we yet sing. 
 
 Well do I remember the communion season, at the close of 
 which I grasped his hand as he stood close to that pillar weeping 
 and shaking with emotion, and heard this vow from his lips: "If 
 God will, this shall be the last communion I will allow to pass 
 without taking my seat at that table;" and he kept his word. 
 
 Warm of heart and generous of spirit, he not only freely gave 
 to the church years of service as organist and leader of our music, 
 but his purse was ever open at the call of the church, whether for 
 contributions to her benevolent and missionary enterprises, or to 
 meet necessary congregational expenses. 
 
 But shall we mention the lofty and forget the lowly? There 
 was that poor hunchbacked German girl in our Sabbath-school, so 
 feeble as to be unable to reach the school without repeatedly stop- 
 ping on the way to rest awhile on this or that doorstep, yet almost 
 invariably there. In that school she found sorrow for sin, and 
 there she found the peace that passeth understanding ; and then, 
 in that lone chamber, upon that narrow bed, after a most painful 
 sickness, accompanied, however, by a religious experience so rich 
 and brilliant as to draw from her wealthy and accomplished teacher 
 the expression of a willingness to change places with the poverty- 
 stricken sufferer, she left that poor deformed body and went to 
 heaven to bless God that this church vine had been planted here. 
 
 * Mrs. Martha Bullock. 
 
HISTORICAL DISCOUESE. 45 
 
 And shall we, can we forget the infant jewels unclasped from 
 our breasts to be clasped to the breast of Jesus in the skies? 
 
 " A babe in glory is a babe forever, 
 Perfect as spirits and able to pour forth 
 Their glad liearts in the tongues which angels use. 
 These nurslings gathered in God's nurseiy 
 Forever grow in loveliness and love." 
 
 Heaven wanted them, though the earth could hardly spare them. 
 
 And now if God has made this church organization his steward 
 to put into his treasury more than four hundred thousand dollars ; 
 if, led by his Holy Spirit, work has been prosecuted in the Sunday- 
 school, Dorcas, Missionary, and other societies, has he not made 
 our Zion a Sunny Mount? 
 
 And if over those five hundred and forty-eight souls, each one 
 of them of more value than ten thousand times this world, were it 
 one entire and perfect chrysolite, the angels have exulted as truly 
 converted to God; and if each of the remaining five hundred has 
 at one time or another received some upward impulse; and if 
 many a transient worshipper has borne away impressions that have 
 ripened into a better life, has not God made our Zion a Sunny 
 Mount? 
 
 And if one hundred and four emancipated spirits have gone to 
 heaven from our communion table, and there exult in joy unspeak- 
 able and full of glory, hath not God made our Zion a Sunny 
 Mount? 
 
 And in those hundreds of seasons of worship in this place, where 
 consolation has poured balm upon wounded hearts, doubts have 
 been removed, hopes burnislied, and joys intensified, and in those 
 ninety-nine communion seasons in which we have bowed in solemn 
 consecration and re-dedication of ourselves to God, has not God 
 made our Zion a Sunny Mount? 
 
 Profoundly conscious of our weakness, our sin, and our unfaith- 
 fulness, yet profoundly thankful for all the goodness and mercy of 
 God, we can sing with full hearts : 
 
 " I love thy kingdom, Lord, 
 The house of thine abode, 
 The church our blest Redeemer saved 
 With his own j)recious blood." 
 
46 HISTORICAL DISCOUESE. 
 
 And the future, how well we know it. A brief period of alter- 
 nating work and rest, peace and anxiety, sorrow and joy, health 
 and sickness, pleasure and pain. 
 
 "And wlien tlie work is done, 
 When the last soul is won, 
 When Jesus' love and power 
 Have cheered ihe dying hour; 
 Oh ! then the crown is given, 
 Oh ! tlien the rest in heaven ! 
 Endless life in endless day, 
 Sin and sorrow passed away." 
 
 The following are at this time the officers of our church : 
 
 Pastor.— The Eev. William P. Breed, D.D., 258 South Sixteenth Street. 
 
 Ruling Elders. — George Junkin, Henry D. Sherrerd, Gustavus S. Benson, and 
 John D. McCord. 
 
 Deacons. — Charles O. Abbey, Frank K. Hippie, and Albert G. Heyl, M.D. 
 
 Clerk of Session. — Gustavus S. Benson. 
 
 Treasurer of Session. — Henry D. Sherrerd, 1934 Spruce Street and 5 Exchange 
 Building. 
 
 Board of Trustees. — Gustavus S. Benson, President. Charles O. Abbey, Secre- 
 tary. Henry D. Sherrerd, Treasurer. Edward P. Borden, James Spear, George 
 B. Collier, Henry C. Fox, John D. McCord, Henry Maule, Albert F. Damon, 
 Geoi-ge Junkin, Joseph S. Patterson, Frank; K. Hippie, R. Dale Benson, Eobert 
 S. Davis. 
 
 Officers of the Sabbath-school Association. — Frank K. Hippie, President. Henry 
 D. Sherrerd and Gustavus S. Benson, Vice-Presidents. Louis F. Benson, Treas- 
 urer. Charles I. Junkin, Secretary. Frank K. Hippie, Sabbath-school Superin- 
 tendent. R. Dale Benson, Assistant Sabbath-school Superintendent. 
 
 Teachers— Male: George Junkin, Charles O. Abbey, R. Dale Benson, Charles 
 S. Boyd, Gustavus S. Benson, Jr., Louis" F. Benson, Charles B. Grant, James 
 Ealston Grant, W. Atlee Burpee, James Johnston, Eobert Scott, John II. Black, 
 William Henry Grant,WiIliara P. Breed, Jr., James McKinley, J. Howard Breed. 
 
 Teachers— Female : Miss Ellen A. McCurdy, Miss Susan D. McCord, Miss Ella 
 McCord, Miss Mary B. Smith, Miss JMattie E. Heyl, Miss E. Anna Breed, Miss 
 Caroline T. Embley, Mrs. Virginia Laws, Miss Lizzie Elliott, Miss Sophie B. 
 Grant, Miss Emily C. Gratz, Miss Ella Gratz, Miss Nettie N. Scott, Miss Lidie 
 D. Stuart, Miss Lizzie L. Stewart, Miss Louise W. Junkin, Miss Lutie G. Dale, 
 Miss Annie M. Grant, Miss Margie D. Abbey, Miss Mattie Johns. 
 
 Charles I. Junkin, Secretary. George Junkin, Jr., Librarian. Frank B. Ab- 
 bey and Alexander Scott, Assistant Librarians. 
 
CHILDREN'S CELEBRATION 
 
 OF THE DAY, 
 
 3.30 O'CLOCK, P.M. 
 
CHILDREN'S CELEBRATION OF THE DAY. 
 
 At the celebration in the afternoon the Sabbath -school, in whose 
 behalf this portion of the anniversary services had been specially 
 set apart, occupied the pews in the front centre of the church, on 
 either side of the main aisle. 
 
 Frank K. Hippie, Esq., Superintendent of the Sabbath-school, 
 presided and conducted the exercises. 
 
 At 3.30 o'clock P.M. the programme was initiated with the 
 " opening sentence :" 
 
 The Lord is in His holy temple : 
 
 Let all the earth keep silence before Him. {Ileh. 2 : 20.) 
 
 Supplication, Chant, Recitation, and Hymn. 
 
 The Rev. Prentiss De Veuve, in an earnest prayer, supplicated 
 the divine blessing, after which the Lord's Prayer was chanted 
 by children and congregation, and the programme proceeded with 
 in the following order : 
 
 THE lord's prayer. 
 
 1. Our Father, wliich art in heaven, | 
 
 hallowed | be thy | name.|| 
 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in | 
 earth,. ..as it | is in | heaven. || 
 
 2. Give ns this | day onr | daily | bread. || 
 And forgive us our debts, as | 
 
 we for- I give our | debtors. || 
 
 3. And lead us not into temptation, 
 
 but de- I liver | us from | evil.|| 
 For thine is the kingdom, and the power, 
 and the glory, for- | ever. | A- | men || 
 4 
 
50 children's celebration of the day. 
 
 RECITATION. 
 
 A nd He led tlieni forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habi- 
 tation. {Ps. 107:7.) 
 Q uiet habitations — a tabernacle tliat shall not be taken down. (7s. 33: 20.) 
 U ntil now I have sojourned and stayed there. ( Gen. 32 : 4.) 
 A cconiplishiiig the service of God. {Heb. 9: 16.) 
 R ejoicing always before Him. (Prov. 8 : 30.) 
 T wenty-and-five years in Jerusalem. (1 Kings 22 : 42.) 
 E stablished in the faitli, and increased in number daily. (Acts 16:5.) 
 Remember ye not tlie former things, neither consider the things of old? {Is, 
 
 43:18.) 
 C ontinue Thy loving kindness unto them that know Thee. {Ps. 36 : 10.) 
 E stablish the work of our hands upon us ; yea, the work of our hands establish 
 
 Thou it. (Ps. 90:17.) 
 N ow therefore, O God, strengthen ray hands. {Neh. 6 : 9.) 
 T ake not Thy holy spirit from me. ( Ps. 51 : 11.) 
 
 U phold me according unto Thy word that I may live. (Ps. 119: 116.) 
 R emember Thy congregation which Thou hast purchased of old. (Ps. 74: 2.) 
 y ield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into His sanctuary which he hath 
 sanctified forever, and serve the Lord your God. (2 Chron. 30: 8.) 
 
 TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY HYMN. 
 
 (Written for the occasion by Louis F. Benson.) 
 
 Shepherd of this flock, how loving 
 
 Hath Thy tender guidance been ; 
 By so stilly waters leading 
 
 Througli Thy pastures stretching green: 
 Now to Thee, the ever faithful 
 
 And unchanging for so long, 
 We would lift our thankful voices 
 
 In this Anniversary Song. 
 
 Beautiful this day, and holy. 
 
 With the thought that we have come 
 Five-and-twenty marches onward. 
 
 By a road that points toward home. 
 Here we rest. Thy flock enfolded 
 
 In Thine arms, our wayside inn ; 
 And each heart to each gives greeting 
 
 Ere to-moiTow's march begin. 
 
 Some have fallen, they the weary, 
 
 Fallen down beside the way : 
 Lord, we loved them, and we miss them 
 
 From our company to-day. 
 Thou wast by them. Thou the Shepherd, 
 
 On Thy bosom Thou didst bear 
 Our companions who were weary, 
 
 To Thy fold, and hast them there. 
 
childeen's celebratiox of the day. 51 
 
 They are with Thee, and their foces 
 
 Like the stars are smiling down : 
 They are with Thee ; we shall find them 
 
 "When like them we gain the crown. 
 Then to Thee, the ever loving 
 
 And unchanging for so long, 
 We shall join with them in singing 
 
 Some new Anniversary Song. 
 
 The Chairman (Superintendent Hippie) — Children : In respect 
 to the next order of the programme I need only say you will need 
 no introduction whatever to him who has been, as well to our 
 school as to our church, "our first and only pastor." 
 
 Dr. Breed promptly responded to the call in the following 
 remarks : 
 
 Address by the Pastor. 
 
 When the eye of a pastor rests upon the Sabbath-school, he 
 always sees two very interesting objects, the band of teachers and 
 the clusters of scholars. In the persons of the teachers he always 
 sees those of whose sympathy he is thoroughly confident, and this 
 partly because his and their offices are so much alike. The Sab- 
 bath-school teacher is a preacher and a pastor. Pie takes the word 
 of God and opens it to the mind and the heart of the class. Thus 
 the Sabbath-school teacher is a preacher of the Gospel, and a 
 preacher to a congregation that can hardly fail to take the mes- 
 sage home to themselves. Ordinarily, in a large congregation, 
 people distribute the lessons among their neighbors, and say this 
 is for that man, and that is for this woman, but in the little con- 
 gregation before the Sabbath-school teacher, each hearer must take 
 the matter to himself or herself. 
 
 Then there is a pastoral work connected with the Sabbath-school 
 class which, when ])roperly pressed, is very effective. Those visits 
 that teachers make to the class are highly appreciated, and they 
 produce a marked impression. Not unfrequently I go into a 
 family and hear it said, with sparkling eyes, " The Sabbath-school 
 teacher was here yesterday." Thus the work is that of the preacher 
 and the pastor. 
 
 I repeat that among the laborers of the Sabbath -school the 
 pastor knows that he has sympathy ; and, speaking from my own 
 experience, I can say I know that in any work that is to be done 
 
52 children's (CELEBRATION OF THE DAY. 
 
 and wliich teachers can do, I am sure of their co-operation when- 
 ever the call is made. 
 
 Then there is the great band of children in the Sabbath-school, 
 to each of whom the pastor's heart is necessarily and powerfully 
 drawn. How he loves to see the children comino- earlv, — comins; 
 when they are little, — and offering themselves to the Saviour ! 
 
 In looking over the Sabbath-school now before me, and remem- 
 bering some of the marvellous things of the quarter century just 
 closed, I am thinking of what may come to pass in the course of 
 another twenty-five years in the lives of the dear children here' 
 assembled. Twenty-five years hence — 1906 I think that will 
 be, — it is not impoasible that one of these boys before me will be 
 standing in this pulpit preaching the Gospel to this congregation. 
 Certainly that is not impossible nor improbable. So to is it quite 
 possible that, twenty-five years from this time, some of these boys 
 may be away off in India, preaching there the unsearchable riches 
 of Christ. So too it is possible that in twenty-five years, from 
 among those boys whom I now see before me, there will be some 
 away out in those western lands, in some region where they have 
 hardly as yet heard the Gospel, toiling for and building up the 
 church of the living God. Why anything and everything that 
 pertains to individual advancement and greatness is possible here, 
 in this America of ours, in the course of twenty-five years. Indeed 
 I do not know but that I am now addressing some future James 
 A. Garfield. How can I ignore the possibility that twenty-five 
 years hence or at some more remote period one of these boys before 
 me this afternoon, may be sitting in the chair in yonder White 
 House, and ruling, as President over a nation of sixty or seventy 
 millions of people ! 
 
 My friends, I think we ought to bear these things in mind when 
 we are before these little ones, for in them we have the future in 
 the present. We may have a Mayor of this city, a Governor of this 
 commonwealth, and a President of this land, in the multitudes 
 now gathered within these Sabbath Schools. And I say to you, 
 children, you will find twenty-five years hence, if you live until 
 then, that the ruling power in the State and the ruling power in 
 the nation is constituted from among men who are not infidels, who 
 are not atheists, who are not the bad or the wicked of the times, 
 but who are those who in this day, and at the present time, were 
 
children's celebratiox of the day. 53 
 
 in our Sabbath-schools, in our churches, and in our congrega- 
 tions. There is a good deal of wickedness in the world, but 
 God is stronger than wickedness, and God's people rule the world 
 to-day ! 
 
 I must not occupy much of your time, but I rose to say that 
 now, when we are upon the threshold of a new twenty-five years, 
 we can hardly help looking forward, and looking around us, and 
 looking backward over the twenty-five years that have just elapsed. 
 The occasion, I suppose, would be a proper one for me to give you 
 some reminiscences connected with your school in the period just 
 ended, to tell you how many have come to confess the Saviour 
 before men ; how many have gone from beds of death up to 
 thrones of glory, but I will not detain you with more than two or 
 three passing allusions to incidents of interest, which carried wdth 
 them practical lessons of great value. Some yeai^s ago it was the 
 custom in the school, as you know, to issue tickets to the scholars. 
 We gave, for instance, one blue ticket every Sabbath for attend- 
 ance, so many blue tickets for proficiency in a lesson, and so on ; 
 a certain number of these entitling the holder to one red ticket, and 
 then six, or ten, or twenty red tickets, as the case might be, secured 
 the gift of a book. In one of the classes was a little girl, who 
 needed one more blue one to entitle her to a red ticket ; and this, 
 with what she had, would entitle her to a book. Looking rather 
 uneasy upon coming to the school on Sabbath morning, her teacher 
 asked her : " What is the matter, Annie ?" " Well, teacher," she 
 replied, "you said if we asked God for anything, and asked him 
 again and again, in faith. He would give it to us. Now, I wanted 
 another blue ticket, and I knelt down by the chair in my room, 
 and prayed, and prayed, and prayed to God, that he would turn 
 one of my blue tickets red, and he did not !" " Well," the teacher 
 replied, " God answers prayer in the way that he thinks will be the 
 best for us. He has led you to pray that one of those tickets may be 
 turned into a red one, and he has led you to tell me of it. Now, 
 give me one of those blue tickets, and I will give you a red one for it. 
 Now your prayer is answered. We are not to expect God to perform 
 a miracle, when he can do what we ask for in this simple way." 
 Thus the child learned a beautiful lesson of the way, in which God 
 answers prayer. He gives us not what ^ve think we need or desire. 
 
54 children's celebration of the day. 
 
 but what we would desire, if we knew what we did need, in just 
 his own way, and it comes all the better for us, when it comes in 
 God's way. 
 
 Another of the many incidents that occur to me was that of a 
 teacher who was in terrible spiritual distress. I never saw greater 
 darkness of mind than that under which that teacher was suffering. 
 She came to me in the study there, where we had a long talk, and 
 then knelt in prayer. As she took her departure she said, " I am 
 going home and am going to pray until the light comes, if I do not 
 rise from my knees until the morning," On the next morning T 
 received a note from her, saying, " I prayed all night long, and my 
 heart is as dark as ever," By and by I received another letter 
 from her in which she wrote, " Ah, victory ! I feel as did Napo- 
 leon at Austerlitz. That little boy from a Roman Catholic family, 
 who was sick, of whom 1 told you, whom I visited and with 
 whom I have prayed and talked, has gone to heaven with clear evi- 
 dence that he is saved, and I have been the means of his conver- 
 sion — the darkness is gone!" God did not answer her prayer 
 when she prayed all night for that blessing, but He put it into her 
 heart to go and be His instrument in saving that boy, and the 
 light came! It is a very interesting and instructive lesson, withal. 
 Don't think too much about self pr about your own condition. 
 Go and save a soul ! Having done that you will feel that in 
 having made you an instrument for the salvation of a soul God 
 has recognized you as one of his own children. 
 
 In conclusion I would simply make two observations, one 
 directly to the teachers, the other directly to the scholars. To the 
 teachers I would say. Be willing to work away, to toil and labor 
 on, even though you do not promptly see the result of your 
 labors. You may be very sure that God knows what you are 
 doino;. God wants these souls, and God will take care of the seed 
 you put in the ground. You have often, I have no doubt, heard 
 of that woman in Strasburg, who, in her quiet room, laboriously 
 worked away with a chisel at a piece of stone until she had given 
 it the shape of a beautiful ornament, and then she brought it 
 to the architect of the great cathedral in course of erection there 
 and charged him to work it into the masonry of the cathedral 
 steeple, specially enjoining him to place it high up towards the 
 
childeen's celebration of the day. 55 
 
 stars. " Wliy," the architect said, " nobody will ever see it up 
 there. The people cannot see a beautiful little object like that if 
 it be so far away up in the air." " I know that," she replied, 
 "but God and the angels will see it." So, too, I would have you 
 reflect when you are doing this good work, that no matter who 
 may or may not see it, God and the angels see the work you are 
 doing, and they will appreciate the value of the beautiful stone 
 that you work into the wall of His beautiful cathedral. 
 
 Upon you, ray children, there is one thing that I would urge, 
 and that is, whatever is given you to do, do it well. If it be 
 a lesson at school, try to get it thoroughly. Sometimes your 
 teachers may assign you more lessons than you ought to be 
 taxed with, and in such cases I do not see how yon can master 
 them all perfectly, but if you are able to study only one or two 
 of them, get that one or those two thoroughly. That old artist, 
 Joshua Reynolds, I think it was, when painting a picture to go to 
 China, was remonstrated with for expending upon it as much care, 
 deliberation and skill as if it were destined for the palace of a 
 king, and he was told that his work would not be appreciated in 
 a country like China. His answer was, "I cannot do anything 
 but my best." His rule of action was the proper one and is one 
 that should be adopted by each of you. In everything you un- 
 dertake, do "your best." Then again, among those messenger 
 boys dressed in uniform whom I have noticed on the street, I re- 
 member one who was hurrying on as if anxious to get his letter 
 delivered. I remember another who, with message in hand, was 
 loitering along, though his message may have been a telegram 
 telling that somebody was dying. I said to myself " that first boy 
 will make his way in the world, while the other may be likened 
 to a discarded machine that is good for nothing." Those boys 
 and girls whose chief object is to get their work off their hands 
 with as little labor as possible turn out generally to be good for 
 nothing. Resolve, then, in everything you do, to do the very 
 best and resolve to be everything that you are capable of being, 
 and by God's help you will by and by be more than you ever even 
 dreamed of being. You know not what is in you. You have 
 been created in God's image. No one can tell the depth of the 
 powers of mind and heart that are capable of development in one 
 
56 cniLDREX's CELEBRATION OF THE DAY. 
 
 of these little children. May God bless you, keep you and smile 
 on you, my children, and bring you happily to the end of the 
 quarter of a century that now opens before you. Some of us 
 here now will not see the end of that period, nor can we foresee 
 who will then stand in this pulpit or who will then occupy these 
 pews; but no doubt many of you children will be here. God 
 bless you and conduct you on ; and, when the end of another 
 twenty-five years has been reached, may no boy or girl now here 
 have to say, " I have wasted my time, I have thrown away my 
 opportunity ; " but may God give you grace to so live that you 
 may then say, " I have done what I could in God's name and 
 with God's strength helping me ! " 
 
 The next order of the programme ^yas the following: 
 
 TE DEUM. 
 
 1. Cho. — We praise Thee, we bless Thee! Thou who only art divine; 
 
 No name is worthy such homage as thine ; 
 Our hearts' adoration forever we will gladly bring 
 To Thee, our Creator, Eedeemer, and King. 
 p /To meet the glad echoes our voices we raise, 
 
 I And join with our souls in the anthem of praise ; 
 We praise Thee, we bless Tltee ! Thou who only art divine. 
 For no name is worthy such homage as Thine, 
 q / With angels in glory, we herald the story, 
 
 I Glad tidings of joy and peace, through our Saviour and King. 
 Cho. — We praise Thee, we bless Thee ! Thou who only art divine ; 
 No name is worthy such homage as Thine ; 
 Our hearts' adoration forever we will gladly bring 
 To Thee, our Creator, Redeemer, and King. 
 
 2. Cho. — We praise Thee, we bless Thee, etc. 
 
 For mercies unnumbered, for tenderest care, 
 . For blessings Thy children so bount 
 We praise Thee, we bless Thee, etc. 
 
 \ For blessings Thy children so bounteously share ; 
 
 Q / Now joyfully blending, with rapture ascending, 
 
 I Our tribute of praise to Thee, Blessed Saviour and King. 
 Cho. — We praise Thee, we bless Thee ! Thou who only art divine ; 
 No name is worthy such homage as thine ; 
 Our hearts' adoration forever we will gladly bring 
 To Thee, our Creator, Eedeemer, and King. 
 
 Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Amen. 
 Hallelujah, Amen, Amen. 
 
children's celebration of the day. 57 
 
 Upon being presented by Superintendent Hippie, Mr. Macintosh 
 spoke as follows : 
 
 Address by Rev. John S. MacIntosh. 
 
 Dear young Friends and Christian Teachers : You will 
 permit me just to say at the opening, that my tardy arrival was 
 not through any undue procrastination on my part, but was owing 
 to my delivering an address at Tabor ; and as soon as that neces- 
 sity had been complied with, I came straight here. I like to be 
 punctual, and when I am not, I like to have you and others know 
 the reason why I come in late. 
 
 There is to me, in occasions like this, something that is peculi- 
 arly tender, touching, and tlirilling. There is in it all the tender- 
 ness of a family union ; and indeed I know not of any family union 
 that is more close and sacred and precious than the union that 
 grows up between a pastor and the children of his flock. That 
 thought impresses me with peculiar force just at present ; for of all 
 the ties that I was compelled to break, in coming away from that 
 church and congregation where I had been laboring for some 
 years, the most difficult for me to sunder was the tie that bound me 
 to my Sabbath-school ; and as I went before the children of that 
 school, on the last evening of my stay with them, and spoke to them 
 with difficulty the last closing words, and, after the school was 
 over, the children gathered about me, I realized something of the 
 rich tenderness of that precious occasion. 
 
 It is wondrously touching, my dear teachers, as you think of it, 
 to realize that in a few years these dear children for whom we 
 think and pray, — as I know your beloved pastor does think and 
 pray, and has prayed and thought for them during these long years 
 wherein the Lord has blessed him, and through which He has 
 brought him with such superabundant goodness, — are to scatter to 
 and fro. There is something marvellously touching in the thought. 
 As I stand here, children, and look at you this day, I think of my 
 lads and lassies, those whom I taught for a few years in the Sab- 
 bath-school, and hoped, with the blessing of God, somewhat to 
 influence. And now they are scattered over this broad Union, 
 and scattered to the four ends of the earth, — some away down in 
 the Australasian Islands, some in the far North, while sotoe have 
 
58 children's celebration of the day. 
 
 gone home before me. There is something strange and thrilling 
 in it all as we, pastors and teachers, reflect that God is putting into 
 our hands these youthful hearts just when we can most easily draw 
 from them the new song of INIoses, that old servant of God, and 
 of the Lamb. Oh, how thrilling it is for us to think of the blessed 
 opportunities that God is giving to us in the persons of these His 
 dear ci'eatures ! 
 
 But some peculiar thoughts suggest themselves as I look across 
 this school this afternoon and remember that this is an anniversary 
 time. What do I mean by that? You know what your review 
 days arc in the school. They are days when you mentally retrace 
 your steps, and think of the work you have done, and of what it 
 means. Is not that largely the idea of this happy gathering ; one 
 in which I joy and rejoice with you all, and with none more than 
 with my dear friend here [turning to Dr. Breed], who is the centre 
 of the occasion, and "may the king long live!" What, then, is 
 the mcanino; of this review? The thought suo-crostcd bv the 
 query is, I think, one that finds most forcible expression in 
 likening the occasion to a retrospect of the work of the gardener in 
 producing a valuable garden or beautiful landscape. In front of 
 the old parsonage in which I spent some years of hard labor but 
 of great joy, there was spread crut, as I used to think, the 
 brightest bit of green earth that ever greeted mortal eye, and one 
 that could not have been surpassed even in the Emerald Isle itself. 
 There Avent murmuring and meandering through it a sweet-look- 
 ing stream that seldom froze in winter, even in the hardest, which 
 sang its rippling songs all through the hottest days of summer, 
 and was ofttimes in sleepless nights a comfort and a joy. One of 
 those who had gone before me in the pastorate of that congrega- 
 tion had planted the banks of that stream full of violets and hardy 
 odorous plants, and had studded all across the green of that par- 
 sonage early spring flowers and beauteous plants that came up and 
 bloomed in the summer and the autumn time. As from time to 
 time, in the morning and in the evening, a breath odorous, laden 
 with sweetness, was blown from those banks of violets, and 
 especially wlien, after a sultry day of summer, there came the 
 sweet fragrance of a thousand flowers, fresh breathed upon you from 
 the bright lips of those tender products of the green earth, I men- 
 tally exclaimed, " Here we have indeed a picture of what a pastor's 
 
children's celebration of the day. 59 
 
 or a teacher's life ought to be." The teacher, like the pastor, ought 
 to leave behind him, for those who may follow after him, sweetness, 
 beauty, joy. That is exactly, as it seems to me, what your dear 
 pastor has been striving for, and I know, in some measure at least, 
 — for such has been the result of my observations even during the 
 few days I have been here, — he has not striven ineffectually. I 
 want you, my dear young friends, to think of this (for you are 
 growing up full of the sweetness of Christian children), in order 
 that, wherever you are, the sweet breath of Christ's love and 
 Christ's untiring, tender sympathy may be going out from you ; 
 that you may ever exhibit the fresh, bright beauty of those who 
 have been made new creatures in Christ Jesus ; and that every 
 spot whereon you may be found shall be brighter, more cheery, 
 more homelike, more Edenic, more like the paradise of God, be- 
 cause some of Christ's bright-growing flowers are found there. 
 Oh, how I long that you may be made new by the Spirit of God, 
 and, having the sweetness of God's love in your hearts, may be 
 witnesses to others that one of Christ's gardeners has been planting 
 this spot of the Church's garden with the sweet violets, the pure 
 snowdrops, and the sunny, fragrant flowers of God's own children ! 
 I sometimes think of the pastor's work from another standpoint. 
 There lay right above my old parsonage a knoll that formerly, by 
 reason of its location, was the most wind-swept and barren spot 
 along a fine old roadway, and yet that knoll had been changed into 
 one of the most beautiful, one of the most productive, one of the 
 best sheltered and most delightsome of any along the whole road. 
 What had wrought the change ? The change was the direct result 
 of the planting of some trees. These w^ere trees of a pastor's plant- 
 ing. In looking out upon the roadw^ay, this pastor reflected how 
 useful as well as ornamental it would be if that hill was crowned 
 with trees ; that while adding to the picturesqueness of the view 
 from his own windows, this would be a good thing as affording 
 some shelter for the weary carters on the road on wintry, windy 
 nights, as they came exposed to this breezy sweep, and moreover 
 that as a few fruit trees there would be near a school and inside 
 the school inclosure, the children attending that school would be 
 provided with free fruit. The pastor's trees were, therefore, planted 
 and they grew and bore fruit. They became strong and hardy, 
 and while their luxuriant foliage in summer insured a refuge from 
 
60 childeen's celebration of the day. 
 
 the sun's hot rays, their strong breasts and stout limbs were an equal 
 guarantee of protection from the blasts of winter. The old Scotch 
 fir, strong and mighty, stood right along the front line to break 
 the force of the wind, while on the inner side were ranged the 
 fruit trees. As I looked upon the spot and realized how com- 
 pletely that bleak knoll had been transformed, how it had been 
 made productive, bright and attractive, how it had been sheltered 
 and made beautiful; when I saw how, in the autumn-time the 
 boughs bent heavily down with the rich clusters of ripening fruit, 
 I thought that here was typified precisely that memorial that a 
 pastor ought to yearn to leave behind him, — trees of the Lord's 
 right-hand planting — trees which the Great IMaster of the vine- 
 yard had employed him to plant. I would have children, espe- 
 cially you, Sabbath-school scholars, to remember there are bleak 
 spots in life where there are weary souls that have little shelter, 
 where there are hungry souls that have little sustenance. 
 
 What has your pastor been laboring here for ? He has been 
 laboring to grow you into stalwart trees of God, he has been labor- 
 ing to grow you into fruitful trees, trees that shall bring forth the 
 sevenfold fruitage of the Spirit. Pray for him that, when he has 
 passed out of the view of men, there shall remain these sheltered 
 and fruitful spots, where you shall continue to grow as trees of a 
 vineyard planted by Jesus himself, heavy laden with the golden, 
 glorious fruit of Christ. 
 
 And now, with one other remark, I will have stated the thoughts 
 suo-o-ested by the inspiration of the moment. I sometimes think, 
 as I walk through my library and. recall the names of some of the 
 good men whom God has given to us, that the pastor's life should 
 be like the memorial which a great and good author leaves behind 
 him in his books and writings, or, in other words, in his epistles. 
 You remember that that was the idea that was before the mind of 
 the Apostle Paul: for, as he writes his second letter to Corinth, 
 he says in substance : " I do not need any letter of introduction : 
 wherever I go, I have living letters that introduce me and make 
 the people know precisely what I am and what I have striven to 
 do ; ye are my epistles, written not with pen and ink but written 
 on the tables of the heart." What were they whom he thus ad- 
 dressed? They were in themselves gospels of Christ. Paul had 
 written them over, within and without, as it were, filled them full 
 
children's celebration of the day. 61 
 
 from the beginning to the ending of Jesus Christ ; so that, wherever 
 they went, they spoke of Christ ; they witnessed for Christ. And 
 when it was asked how it came to pass that they had grown, as it 
 were, into living gospels, the only answer that could be given was: 
 " it was our pastor's work." It was the work of Paul, the apostle 
 of the Gentiles. Dear young friends, from that pulpit, through 
 the lips of your pastor, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in its richness 
 and fulness, in its transforming power, in its sanctifying glory, has 
 been poured into you — with what end ? That you should be his 
 epistle, and, above all, Christ's epistles ; that as you go to speak or 
 to preach to others, it may be seen what sort of a gospel God, by 
 His Spirit, enabled your pastor to preach to you ; that if you go to 
 bring the weary sinner to Jesus, it may be known how Christ, 
 through your pastor, comforted you ; and that, if you speak of rest 
 for the people of God, it may be known how your pastor filled 
 your heart full of the joy and hope of heaven until the Gospel of 
 gladness sang its continual song of joy from out of your rejoicing 
 spirit. 
 
 I pray that this field of labor may be more and more a garden 
 which the Lord God has blessed ; that more and more ye may be 
 the pastor's trees of the Lord's right hand planting; and that 
 everywhere ye may be the epistles of Christ known and read of 
 all men. 
 
 Upon the conclusion of the address, the tiny voices of the 
 Infant School gently blended in the following sweet strains : 
 
 Hymn by the Infant School. 
 
 Hark, the gentle voice of Jesiis falletli 
 
 Tenderly upon your ear ; 
 Sweet his cry of love and joity calleth ; 
 Turn and listen, stay and hear. 
 
 Chorus. — Ye that labor and are heavy laden. 
 
 Lean upon your dear Lord's breast ; 
 Ye that labor and are heavy laden, 
 Come, and I will give you rest. 
 
 Take His yoke, for Pie is meek and lowly, 
 
 Bear His burden, of Him learn. 
 He who calleth is the Master, holy ; 
 
 He will teach, if you will learn. 
 Chorus. — Ye that labor, etc. 
 
62 children's celebratiox of the day. 
 
 Then, His loving, tender voice obeying, 
 
 Bear His yoke. His burden take ; 
 Find the yoke His liand is on you hxying 
 
 Light and easy for His sake. 
 
 Chorus. — Ye that labor, etc. 
 
 Address by Eev. Joseph R. Kerr, of New York City. 
 
 Upon being presented by Superintendent Hippie, the speaker 
 said: 
 
 After two such speeclies as those to which you have been privi- 
 leged to listen, I think it almost presumption on my part to con- 
 sent even to accept the courtesy of an invitation from your super- 
 intendent to proceed with what I may have to say. I fear to take 
 up this harp which has been playing so sweetly under your pastor's 
 tender touch, and whose chords have been struck so responsively 
 by others. 
 
 However, I really know of no words which I may use with 
 more ^^ropriety this afternoon, in greeting you, than the words 
 made use of by Moses when the children of Israel were upon the 
 plains of Moab, after they had taken their long journey from 
 Horeb, and when Moses's life was nearly done and he must soon 
 pass out from this earth. The shadow of the mountain seemed to 
 be already upon his head when, looking downward and seeing six 
 hundred thousand of the children of Israel, mostly a young gener- 
 ation, crowded together, he looked, he listened, and, stretching forth 
 his hands, he said : " The Lord God of your fathers make you a 
 thousand times so many as ye are, and bless you." That is my 
 greeting to you, dear children ; and in that connection I M'ill ask 
 you to let me say a word to you young people about your fathers' 
 God. Our fathers' God ; he is the immutable Godhead. My 
 father's God and my God ; he is the same God. Unlike the 
 things of the earth, all that pertains to the Godhead is the 
 same now and evermore. We usually prize very highly any 
 article that once I elonged to our parents. I have in my 
 study an old-fashioned red hickory chair in which, they tell 
 me, my grandfather sat, years ago, in his little study on the 
 banks of the Allegheny Iliver, in Western Pennsylvania, when 
 preparing his sermons for the people. I have taken that old 
 chair into my study, and when preparing my sermons for my 
 
CHILDREN S CELEBRATION" OF THE DAY. 63 
 
 people, I sit in it ; and because it was my grandfather's and ray- 
 father's chair I prize it and I love it. When a gentleman, who 
 came into my house a few months ago, exhibited to me an old- 
 fashioned watch (one of those bull's-eye watches), which he cas- 
 ually pulled from his pocket, I remarked to him : " Why, dear 
 me, you ought to carry a better-looking watch than that." In- 
 stantly his countenance lit up and a moisture came about his eye 
 as he replied : " No, I wouldn't give that old watch for all the 
 American watches you could offer me ; my father carried it until 
 he died." A friend of mine had on his little finger a ring of 
 gold which had been worn very thin, indeed one edge of it was 
 quite ragged, and when noticing its condition I said to him : 
 " That is a peculiar-looking ring ; there must be some mystery 
 about it." As he replied his voice grew husky as he went on to 
 tell me : " That is the ring my father put on my mother's hand 
 years and years ago. When that hand was cold and still he slip- 
 ped it off and put it on his own finger, and he wore it until his 
 own hand was waxen like hers. Now it is mine, and I am going 
 to wear it to the grave." Ah, but we all have " our ftithers' 
 God." My father's God is not worn, scarred, and bruised like 
 my old study chair ; nor is He defaced, old-fashioned, and out of 
 date, like my friend's watch; nor is He ragged and very delicate, 
 having served his day, like that dead woman's ring. He is the 
 same yesterday, to-day, and forever. The eternal throne — God's 
 white throne, your fathers' God's throne, and my father's God's 
 throne — is as bright and strong to-day as ever. It is not all broken 
 down by time, like one of the old castles on the Rhine, with the 
 ivy or the wild vines trembling o'er it. 
 
 Our fathers' God! Out there at Laurel Hill some of you chil- 
 dren in the summer-time have seen, right at the gateway, the statue 
 of Old Mortality. Very likely you are familiar with the history 
 of the statue, and with the very sweet and tender story of which it 
 is the reminder, — of the old man going through a grave-yard, 
 with mallet and chisel trying to pick out in the marble the names 
 that had become all blurred with time and overgrown with moss. 
 " Our fathers, where are they ?" Old Mortality seems to ask, as he 
 bends his head and looks curiously over the fallen tombstones. 
 But our fathers' God ! Aye, He is still by our side ; ever the same 
 in all His j)erfection, beauty, and excellence; just as fresh for you, 
 
64 children's celebration of the day. 
 
 boys, as He was for your fathers. How then is it with the elderly, 
 with those of you here to-day who are far advanced in life? Dear 
 friend, you are not so strong as you used to be ; you are standing 
 at life's west window; you feel that you cannot get to church as 
 often as you would like to ; you feel often, when you come, you can 
 hardly join in the service, your voice is thin and weak. Ah, me, 
 while I have been talking about this God of our fathers being the 
 the same, you say to yourself, " Oh, yes, lie is the same to me to- 
 day, sir; and tell the children for me, — for the old man and the 
 old woman here to-day, — He is just the same blessed, precious God 
 that He was years ago, when we put our hand up into His, and 
 there fell upon our anxious face His forgiving smile." 
 
 Then I want to say that the Lord God of your fathers is a tried 
 God. You know that David protested when Saul put the armor 
 on hini and gave him the spear M'ith which he was to go out and 
 fight the giant, "No, I cannot wear nor carry anything like that; 
 it is very clumsy." AVhen Saul urged him to wear the armor as 
 his only means of defence in the conflict, the stripling said, "No, 
 take it off me; give me the sling, give me a pebble from the 
 brook ; I have tried that and I know what I can do with it." 
 Then -while we know of different degrees of friendship, we know 
 that that of Jonathan's was a tried friendship. But I must hasten 
 on in bringing this point out to you more clearly. Young people 
 are confiding and they want to grow up with confidence in some 
 one Avho has been tried, who has been found true, who has been 
 found efficient, who has been found faithful in all love and beauty 
 and power and grace. This God of your fathers has been tried 
 and has never, never been found wanting. 
 
 This day a week ago I attended the funeral of a lady, in New 
 York, of whom I had known nothing until a few days before that. 
 I think it was on the previous Wednesday or Thursday, that one 
 of my lady friends came to me and said : 
 
 " Mr. Kerr, will you go up on the avenue and see a sick lady ?" 
 
 " Does she belong to my church ?" I queried. 
 
 " No, sir." 
 
 " Does she go to any church ?" 
 
 " No, sir ; she does not go to any church." 
 
 " What kind of a woman has she been ?" 
 
 " Well, her life has not been very white, sir." 
 
children's celebeation of the day. 65 
 
 " Has she any friends here ?" 
 
 '' N^o, sir ; but she wants to see a minister, and I came down to 
 yon. Will- yon go?" 
 
 " Certainly I will go," I replied, and accordingly started for 
 up-town. I was finally shown into a room very comfortably, if 
 not luxuriously furnished, and went to the bedside of the invalid. 
 The poor sufferer was lying there helpless and scarcely able to 
 speak, and as gently as I could I said to her : 
 
 " Madam, I am here. I understand that you sent for me. 
 What can I do for you ?" 
 
 " Oh, sir," she exclaimed, " I want to be saved — I Avant to be 
 saved !" 
 
 I inquired: "Do you know anything about the Saviour?" 
 
 Her eyes filled up, and the big tears ran down over the sunken 
 cheeks, as she replied : 
 
 " I used to know about him." 
 
 I said : " If you are able to talk just for a few minutes longer 
 will you tell me about that which used to be ?" 
 
 She responded : " If you will inquire of some of the old resi- 
 dents of New York, you will know that when I was a girl there 
 was a Sunday-school in a frame building down on such and such 
 a street. My mother used to take me there and she used to tell 
 me that the Saviour was the best friend I could possibly have, and 
 she told me she had tried Him." 
 
 I asked : " Did you never try Him yourself?" 
 
 " No," she answered. 
 
 Ah, the poor thing had been trying other friends and other 
 helpers. The supports on which she relied had broken tinder her 
 weight, and the splinters were piercing her dying heart. Oh, how 
 her trembling lips repeated to me the cry : 
 
 " I want to be saved !" 
 
 I repeated to her again the testimony her mother had given, assur- 
 ing her that He was a tried Saviour of myself, that He was a tried 
 God, and advised her just to cast her whole weight upon Him, and 
 she would be saved. I was not privileged to be present when she was 
 called away, but they told me that just before she died, when the 
 cold waves of the Jordan were washing about her, she exclaimed : 
 " Jesus, my all, to heaven is gone," as though she had become 
 sincerely penitent. 
 
 5 
 
66 children's celebration of the day. 
 
 Let me just give you crudely the points of the rest of my ad- 
 dress, for I am trespassing upon the hospitalities of the occasion. 
 
 The Lord God of your fathers is the same God, and he is a tried 
 God, and part of my prayer to-day is that you may increase and 
 multiply a thousand-fold, having the fear of God and the love of 
 His Bible in your hearts. Now let me call your attention to two 
 of God's exceeding great and precious promises. The first is this : 
 " They that seek me early shall find me." This dear boy whom I 
 see before me has been repeating those precious words. They re- 
 mind me of an interesting incident which occurred in my experi- 
 ence yesterday. Upon entering a bank which adjoins my residence 
 I was impressed with the fact that the cashier, whom I met there, 
 seemed to be in an unusually happy mood. Upon my calling at- 
 tention to the fact, he replied : 
 
 " Yes, I feel splendid to-day." 
 
 I observed that my supposition was that the cause was due to 
 the fine bracing weather, and in response he called me aside and 
 stated the reason for his buoyant spirits. He said : 
 
 " My boy Willie, who is only twelve and a half years old, and 
 who is our only boy, told his mother and me last night that on 
 Sunday next he is to partake of the communion. He has been 
 to see his pastor." 
 
 This was the fulfilment of the promise: " They that seek me 
 early shall find me." Think it over, my dear children. And now 
 will you not repeat it with your own tongues that it may find more 
 secure lodgment in your hearts : 
 
 [The suggestion of Dr. Kerr was here promptly and heartily 
 responded to by the little ones, who repeated audibly and impres- 
 sively the words of the promise.] 
 
 Now I make a like request with regard to the second promise, 
 and I address that request to the elderly members of the great 
 assemblage before me. I ask them to repeat these words: "Go 
 ye out from among them and be ye shepherds, saith the Lord, and 
 touch not the unclean things; and I will be a father unto you," — 
 our fathers' God, — "and ye shall be my sons and daughters, .saith 
 the Lord Almighty." That is too long a response for you to 
 make, is it not? I will not insist u])on my request. Isly prayer 
 is that the Lord may bless you through these promises. 
 
children's celebration of the day. 67 
 
 Let me add that I am delighted to be here to-day. I deem it 
 quite a privilege and quite an honor to be here and to lift my 
 voice, even in this disconnected way, in honor of what I may term 
 the coincidental anniversary of the formation of this pastorate and 
 of the organization of this church twenty-five years ago. The 
 twofold character of the occasion forcibly reminds me of what I 
 saw in a forest last summer. Two trees had grown together, in- 
 tertwining their branches and their foliage above the spot where 
 years before the seed had germinated. When but a few feet above 
 the surface the two young trees had inclined toward each other, 
 and, as they increased in growth, had gradually developed their 
 natural tendency until their relation toward each other had all the 
 appearance of a mutual dependence upon each other for support. 
 Another peculiarity of the picture was the growth of a beautiful 
 vine which had wound itself around the blended trees, and, strength- 
 ening with their strength, had extended itself to the uppermost 
 branches of both as if to catch the first rays of God's enriching 
 sunlight. I think that that picture typifies most beautifully this 
 pastorate of twenty-five years, this quarter-century of the organi- 
 zation of this church and this Sabbath-school. You are one tree, 
 and around about that tree, growing up toward God's Son of right- 
 eousness, the young people are the vine. Stability and safety are 
 emblemized there. My dear children, young people like yourselves 
 are disposed to be a little unstable, 'to go from one church to 
 another, from one Sabbath-school to another, oftentimes finding 
 attractions outside the church, being led away, and, in many in- 
 stances, ultimately bringing sorrow to their own homes as w^ell as 
 to the heart of the pastor. Let me urge you, as you value your 
 own character, your own peace of mind, your own enjoyment, to 
 cling around this twenty-five year old tree. There is safety for 
 you in it and there is beauty in it. As the vine beautifies the tree, 
 so do you wdth all your graces and all your excellencies beautify 
 this place. In saying to you that I love your pastor, I do not 
 utter any mere idle words, for if you could look right down into 
 my heart you would realize how sincere is the declaration ; and I 
 am not at all jealous that you love him too. He is big enough to 
 go all around. God bless him, God bless you, and may he and 
 you be as bright and happy in the years to come as you both 
 appear to be now. 
 
68 children's celebration of the day. 
 
 The next order of the programme was a hymn, in the singing 
 of which the school joined, as follows : 
 
 Hymn. 
 
 1. Girls — We are marching on with shield and banner bright, 
 
 Boys — We will work for God and battle for the right, 
 Girls— We will praise his name rejoicing in his might, 
 All — And we'll work till Jesns calls. 
 Chorus — {Girls) Then awake, — (Boi/s) Then awake, 
 {Girls) Then awake, — {Boijs) Then awake, 
 [Girls) Happy song, — {Boys) Happy song, 
 ( Girls) Happy song, — {Boys) Happy song, 
 (Girls) Shout for joy, — (Boys) Shout for joy, 
 (Girls) Shout for joy, — (Boys) Shout for joy, 
 
 (All) As we gladly march along. 
 We are marching onward, singing as we go, 
 To the promised land where living waters flow; 
 Come and join our ranks as pilgrims here below, 
 (vome and work till Jesus calls. 
 
 2. Girls — We are marching on and pressing toward the prize, 
 
 Boys — To a glorious crown beyond the glowing skies. 
 Girls — To the radiant fields where pleasure never dies, 
 All — And we'll Avork till Jesus calls. 
 Chorus — Then awake, etc. 
 
 The Chairman (Superintendent Frank K. Hippie, Esq.), having 
 stated that that point in the programme had been reached at which 
 remarks impromptu were in order, said : 
 
 Remarks by the Superintendent. 
 
 Five years ago, when our school was twenty years old, we had 
 all our four superintendents upon the platform at our anniversary. 
 Our first superintendent, John S. Hart, has since gone to his re- 
 ward, but you have the other three here this afternoon, and they 
 will each say a few words to the school. Mr. Junkin, our senior 
 ex-superintendent, whom I now present, is known to you all. 
 
 Mr. Junkin promptly responded as follows: 
 
 Address by George Junkin, Esq. 
 
 Well, children, it always makes me feel sad to think that I 
 should be called the senior superintendent of this great school ; but 
 when I look over it and recognize that those who were scholars, 
 
children's celebration of the day. 69 
 
 when I had the honor and the pleasure of presiding over that 
 school, are now teachers in it and leaders in this great army of 
 children, I realize that I am perhaps getting old. And yet, if I 
 am indeed growing old, it is in a service in which, I trust, I shall 
 find myself when called, like my predecessor, to lay off the weapons 
 of warfare and to lie down in peace. That I was for six years the 
 superintendent of this school was to me a happy experience. I 
 followed in the footsteps of one who was a Prince in this sort of 
 work, so that when I came to it I found the work organized and 
 ready to my hand, and had but to follow on in the footprints which 
 ■ he had left. To one and all of you I now address myself, when I say, 
 that it is my privilege and duty to return you tlianks for the kind- 
 ness, the love, and the consideration that I always received at your 
 hands. It was a joy and a pleasure to preside over the school ; 
 and I was supported, as ray predecessor had been, and as my suc- 
 cessors all have been, by the ardent co-operation and aid of every 
 teacher in the school. 
 
 But this is the anniversary of our twenty-five years of existence, 
 and, as has been beautifully said, it is the joint anniversary, the 
 coincidental, — it was a very long word that Brother Kerr made 
 use of, — "the coincidental" anniversary of the pastorate also; and 
 it becomes me here to say, that our dear pastor has been to this 
 school a loving and tender shepherd of the sheep. He has led us 
 by the still waters and in the green pastures, and it has been a joy 
 and a delight to us all to follow him as he has preceded us in the 
 way. How well do I remember that, in the afternoon service, 
 when, upon his coming up those stairs and opening that door, I 
 would be at my desk, not noticing that the door had opened, I 
 would instantly see a ripple passing over the school, just as you 
 sometimes see a flash of sunlight glancing over a landscape when a 
 cloud has lifted. I knew instinctively what it meant ; the Pastor 
 had come in, and every child's face sparkled with joy as the Pastor 
 passed from seat to seat, and spoke to each class. 
 
 But I must not detain you with a long speech, as we are to have 
 two more speeches, and it would be rather an impertinence for me 
 to occupy your time in making a speech after the three we have 
 listened to. I thank my friend, jNIr. Hippie, the Superintendent, 
 for having given me the opportunity of looking once more in your 
 faces, and the opportunity of looking once more in the faces of 
 
70 children's celebeation of the day. 
 
 those whom I remember were little children like yourselves when 
 I took charge of the school, who have grown to be men and women, 
 while ray own sons and daughters occupy places as teachers in the 
 school, and it will be only a short time ere I shall hope to see my 
 grandson occupying a like place. I am indeed growing old, but, 
 as was remarked to me in conversation this morning, "Sixty years 
 of age may seem to leave but a very short time to live, but it de- 
 pends altogether from which side of sixty you look at it, whether 
 you affirm or reject that view of it." As I get nearer home, it seems 
 to me to be as far away as before, and I cannot realize that I am 
 growing old. If I pass the rest of my years, as heretofore, among 
 these teachers and these scholars, and among those who compose 
 this church, I hope that, although the frosts of winter may fall 
 upon me and the shadow of the grave dim my vision, I shall never 
 feel that I am old, but shall feel that I am continually renewing 
 my youth. And I shall be rejoiced if my exit from this world be 
 as peaceful, as joyful, and as glorious as was that of my predeces- 
 sor from the scenes of time to the glorious realities of a blissful 
 eternity. 
 
 The Chairman next presented his immediate predecessor in the 
 superintendency, and Mr. Sherrerd* responded as follows: 
 
 Address by Henry D. Sherrerd, Esq. 
 
 It was hardly necessary that I should be called upon to say a 
 word save by way of indorsement of all that my beloved Brother 
 Junkin has said. Following him in the superintendency, as I 
 did, I had no trouble to contend with, such as that to which he 
 has referred in connection with the superintendency of his prede- 
 cessor, Professor Hart. The pathway had been laid out, and all 
 that I had to do was to follow therein. My service of eight years 
 as a teacher in this beloved school was followed by a superin- 
 tendency of nine years, and those seventeen years were to me 
 years of happiness. And how could it be otherwise? With a 
 school so docile, so teachable, with teachers so faithful and so sus- 
 taining, my heart would be that of a stone if I could not stand up 
 here and indorse all that has already been said, and express the 
 satisfaction and gratification I feel in the recollection of the joys 
 
CHILDREN S CELEBRATIOX OF THE DAY. 71 
 
 which I experienced throughout the period of my tutorship and 
 superintendency. As my Brother Junkin has truly said, those 
 who were then boys and girls in this school have since risen up to 
 be teachers and heads of families, and I can repeat for myself the 
 assertion which that brother has made for himself, that I do not 
 think I feel any older than I did on the day on which I first came 
 into the school. I trust the Lord will permit me to enjoy this 
 feeling as long as He allows me to occupy a place upon this, his 
 footstool. 
 
 But, dear friends, we would have you realize that it is the de- 
 sire of all of us that you should be in the army of the living God. 
 Allusion has been made to some of those noble men of God who 
 became illustrious in their generation by reason of their having 
 learned and kept the commandments of Him who sat on high. 
 Moses was mentioned by one of my learned brethren who pre- 
 ceded me. Do you suppose that that noble sister who watched the 
 cradled infant as he lay in the bulrushes along the Nile did not 
 feel apprehensive of the dangers that threatened him ? Little did 
 she imagine that he was destined to arise to be a great prince, to 
 lead the great family of the Israelites through their eventful journey, 
 and to be the great counsellor of his people. Who here before me 
 may not be a great leader in Israel ? There was Samuel — a weak 
 little boy. How he grew in wisdom ! Though Eli did not seem 
 to command his own people, yet the Lord commanded them for 
 him until little Samuel rose to be a priest and a prophet in the 
 service of the Lord. So it was with David when he was a boy. 
 You know how it came to pass that he was sent for to superintend 
 a momentous event. Who then would have imagined that David 
 would be King of Israel, a great statesman and warrior and a 
 man after God's own heart? And then, as you follow along 
 down the line of David, you come to Him Avho was a little 
 child, obedient to his parents, who grew in knowledge and 
 in wisdom, and who became a sacrifice for you and for me, 
 and for the whole world. Yea, when we were in our sins He 
 manifested His love for us, and died upon the cross that you and I 
 should be reconciled unto God, the Father. Oh that you may all 
 embrace this delightful religion, which we all profess. It is to me 
 a delight to see to-day so many in the way leading to Zion. Oh, 
 that we may sincerely embrace the cross of the Saviour, and thereby 
 
72 children's celebration of the day. 
 
 receive that delightful assurance that was vouchsafed to the peni- 
 tent malefactor who hung alongside the Saviour when He died. 
 " To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." Oh, how many 
 of this dear school have gone up to glory, where they are to-day 
 on tlie right hand of the ^Majesty on high. Let us cling unto the 
 cross and not depart from it. Let us obey the commandments — 
 that which says : " Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," 
 and all the others — for if you depart from them, dear children, 
 there is no knowing what your fate will be. Choose the narrow 
 path and embrace the Saviour to-day that you may ultimately be 
 made soldiers in the army of God, and be among those who shall 
 gather around the great white throne, rejoicing in the love of the 
 Saviour, and sit with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all the 
 redeemed at the marriage supper of the Lamb. 
 
 Frank K, Hippie, Esq., the present superintendent, then arose 
 and said : 
 
 Address by Frank K. Hipple, Esq. 
 
 In view of the exceedingly interesting addresses which you 
 have heard this afternoon my reAiarks will be brief. The few 
 words I have to say will not be addressed to these children (they 
 hear my voice often) ; they will not be addressed to these friends 
 who have gathered here to join us in our celebration (those friends 
 have already heard words far more eloquent than any I could 
 hope to use) ; but what I may say shall be addressed directly to 
 our pastor. We have heard from his lii)S this afternoon words 
 full of love, full of feeling ; tender, touching words, which found 
 an echo in our hearts ; and now, as representing this school, I 
 will say a few words that may reach his ear, and, as we trust, 
 may reach his heart also. 
 
 (Turning towards Dr. Breed) : In the name of the school, sir, 
 I give you greeting ; I wish you joy. With the cares and anx- 
 ieties incident to the ])osition which I hold, there are at all times 
 mingled joys and pleasures. The communion and fellowship 
 of these teachers, the hjving regard of these scholars, the co-opera- 
 tion and association of the pastor, and the blessing of the Master 
 all afford joy, pleasure, and rejoicing. But, sir, not among the 
 
children's celebration of the day. 73 
 
 least of my pleasures as superintendent of these schools is that of 
 representing, on this joyous occasion, these scholars, whose bright 
 faces and brighter eyes shine upon their dear pastor from these 
 pews, and, in doing so, to try to say what is in their hearts. It 
 devolves upon me to utter their congratulations to you upon this, 
 your silver loedding; but I confess words fail me I know not what 
 to say. I know not how to say what we all feel. Our hearts are 
 open to you. Look into them and see all the love they bear for 
 you. For five and twenty years you have been these scholars' 
 ftither, and they the children of your love and of your care. Now, 
 on this Sabbath afternoon, this present generation, in behalf of 
 themselves and those who preceded them, come here and lay in 
 your hands the tribute of their affection. They say to you : " True 
 we are small, but our hearts are large, and they are filled to their 
 utmost capacity with affection for and devotion to you." 
 
 It is not an easy thing to secure the affection of the little ones. 
 They intuitively know who love them and whom to love, and 
 their instincts seldom mislead them. 
 
 But you, sir, have done this ! Such love, such affection from the 
 deepest depths of these young hearts is yours; yours inalienably! 
 
 In the Book of Proverbs we are told there are four things that 
 be little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise : and to the 
 ants, and the conies, and the locusts, and the spiders, I would add 
 these children. They are little, but they are " exceeding wise." 
 While some of our older heads questioned the advisability of pre- 
 senting you with a testimonial this afternoon, the little ones took 
 it out of our hands and manifested that " exceeding wisdom " by 
 resolving to do it : and they have done it. 
 
 [The testimonial, consisting of complete sets of Macaulay's and 
 Hawthorne's works (20 volumes), in half turkey binding, was here 
 deposited upon the table in front of Dr. Breed by four bo^^s, by 
 whom it had been conveyed to the platform.] 
 
 Now, sir, in the name of these lambs of your fold, these who 
 have grown up under your loving eye, and under your tender care, 
 in the name of these children, and in their behalf, I present you 
 with this modest expression of our love and of our affection for 
 you. These books mean much more than we can say. They speak 
 volumes of love. And if, in your hours of relaxation, when you 
 
74 children's celebration of the day. 
 
 look at these pages, written by the grandson of a Presbyterian 
 clergyman of good old Scotland, or at these other pages written in 
 the "Old Manse" at Concord, with whose "mosses" you are fa- 
 miliar, you find one-half the pleasure that we have in presenting 
 them to you, the gift will have been well worth our giving. As 
 you scan those leaves may you ever read between the lines, written 
 in "scarlet letters," that throb with the heart-blood of these your 
 children, the one grand old Anglo-Saxon word "love" — love 
 from them; love from all of us; love for you. From these 
 hundreds of hearts, from their lowest depths, there wells up one 
 common wish ; from these liundreds of throats there arises one 
 common prayer, that God may bless you and yours. May He 
 grant to you many more happy and glorious years for your labors 
 of love. May He reward your patience of hope with many soul- 
 jewels for your crown of rejoicing. And when your work and 
 our work is over, may you and we find rest and perfect peace in 
 God's bright eternity of love. 
 
 Dr. Breed, whose voice evidently betrayed the emotion he could 
 not wholly suppress, responded as follows : 
 
 Response by the Pastor. 
 
 I may not say that the expression of affection to which the lips 
 of the superintendent have given utterance is to me a surprise 
 (because we all know when we are loved and when we are not), 
 but I do say to tliese dear children who have proffered this beau- 
 tiful testimonial, one so appropriate and one which, in hours of 
 relaxation, will be to me a source of great delight, and all the 
 greater because of those from whom it comes, — I do say to them 
 that the love of the young is one of the choicest of all gifts. I 
 remember that when men hated Christ and were ready to crucify 
 him, I remember that when all the world was turning against him, 
 the children in the temple in their hearts were true to him and 
 shouted, "Hosanna in the highest." Oh, I have no doubt that 
 our blessed Saviour rejoices in the love of children with a heart 
 full of delight; and for myself I can say that no more precious 
 treasure do I enjoy than tliat of the affections of these young people. 
 It is hard to speak upon such an occasion, and the simple difficulty 
 
children's celebration of the day. 75 
 
 of speaking prevents my talking to you at further length. Your 
 superintendent suggested to me that at the close of these services 
 you should come up and let me take you by the hand, but I inti- 
 mated to him that perhaps it would be better, in view of the im- 
 pediments in the way of a convenient passage around this platform, 
 if we should accomplish the same end in another way. Just let 
 all of you, each for himself or herself, put one hand in the other 
 and give that other a good hard squeeze, as hard as you can, and 
 then you will not squeeze it half so hard as I should if I had hold 
 of it. 
 
 The schools then united their voices in the following: 
 
 Hymn. 
 
 Holy Father ! Thou hast taught us 
 
 We should live to Thee alone; 
 Year by year thy hand hath brought us 
 
 On through dangers oft unknown. 
 When we wandered, Thou hast found us 
 
 When we doubted, sent us light; 
 Still thine arm has been around us, 
 
 All our paths were in thy sight. 
 
 We would trust in thy protecting, 
 
 Wholly rest upon thine arm, 
 Follow wholly thy directing. 
 
 Thou our only guard from harm ; 
 Keep us from our own undoing, 
 
 Help us turn to Thee when tried; 
 Still our footsteps, Father ! viewing 
 
 Keep us ever at tliy side. 
 
 Supt. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy 
 
 mercy and thy truth's sake. (Ps. 115 : 1.) 
 School. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that 
 
 we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him 
 
 be glory in the church by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, world 
 
 without end. Amen. {Eph. 3 : 20, 21.) 
 Supt. To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. 
 
 {Rom. 16 : 27.) 
 All. Now unto God and our Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. 
 
 (P/«7. 4:20.) 
 
 The celebration of the afternoon was here concluded with the 
 benediction by the pastor. 
 
8 O'CLOCK. 
 
 THE LORD IS LOVING UNTO EVERY MAN," - G. M. Garrett. 
 
 Ii^rmcitt, 
 
 By Rev. William Henry Green, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 Of Princeton Theological Seminary. 
 
 CALL TO REMEMBRANCE," - - - Vincent Novello 
 
SERMON. 
 
 EoMANS 1 : 15-16. — " So, as mucli as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel 
 to you that are at Eome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; 
 for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that helieveth ; to the Jew 
 first, and also to the Greek." 
 
 It required no small amount of courage in Paul to make such 
 an avowal as this. He writes, as it would seem, from Corinth, 
 not daunted by his encounter with the philosophers at Athens, who 
 mocked at him and his message, and whose contemptuous greeting 
 was. What will this babbler say ? nor by the scorn with which 
 Gallio, the Deputy of Achaia, drove both him and his accusers 
 from the judgment-seat, caring for none of those things, and re- 
 fusing to be a judge of such trifling matters; nor by the tumultu- 
 ous fury which raged against him at Ephcsus, in the zeal of the 
 populace for their great goddess Diana. Paul had had abundant 
 experience of the hostility, the ridicule, and the persecution which 
 the doctrine of the cross encountered everywhere. And yet, well 
 knowing what he said, he here declares his unhesitating readiness 
 to preach the gospel alike to the Jew, the Greek, and the Roman, 
 the three several populations which then divided between them the 
 civilized world. 
 
 The Greek, who sought after wisdom, looked down with undis- 
 guised contempt upon the preachers of this new doctrine, coming 
 as it did from a despised quarter, not based upon the tenets of any 
 of the prevailing or accredited systems, not suj)ported by the 
 authority of great names recognized in the world of letters, nor 
 accepted by such, not defended by eloquence or learning, not rest- 
 ing upon reason and argument, while controverting all accepted 
 systems of belief. Should they turn their back upon Pythagoras 
 and Plato, and all the famous teachers of antiquity and of the 
 present age, and all the stores of wisdom gathered from sages of 
 the East and of Egypt, and discard besides the religion of their 
 fathers at the bidding of a few outlandish Jews? It was too pre- 
 
80 SERMON. 
 
 posterous to be thought of; the case was not even one for serious 
 consideration. 
 
 And all the more, as it was discredited by the body of the Jews 
 themselves, among whom this doctrine, at once so unintelligible 
 and so incredible, originated. It not only failed to enlist those 
 Jews who held somewhat loosely to their ancestral faith and were 
 disposed to accommodate the teachings of Moses to the prevailing 
 Pagan taste and philosophy; but it was even more indignantly 
 repelled by those who were thoroughly Jewish, who were most 
 tenacious of their national faith and institutions. How could they 
 accept as their long-promised and expected Messiah, the son of 
 David and the King of Israel, a crucified Galilean, ignominiously 
 executed as a felon ; abandoning thus all their national hopes and 
 expectations ; consenting to the abolition of their splendid and 
 venerable ritual, given by God to Moses ; yielding up the prerog- 
 ative, in which they gloried, of being the peculiar people of God, 
 which had sustained them through long ages of oppression and 
 dispersion, and which had the sanction of miracle and prophecy ; 
 allowino; the kingdom of God to be taken from them, the children 
 of Abraham, the friend of God, and given to Gentiles, whom they 
 despised as dogs? And all for the sake of a Nazarene of no re- 
 pute, whom the chief priests and rulers and Pharisees combined 
 to condemn, and Avliose ignoble sect was everywhere spoken 
 against ! 
 
 And what was thus scorned by the Greek and rejected by the 
 Jew met the stern resistance of the haughty Poman. What could 
 be more ridiculous in his eyes than the pretensions of obscure ad- 
 venturers from a remote and petty province, who, destitute of 
 power, prestige, or numbers, without arms and without resources, 
 aimed at the subjugation of the world; professed to be founding 
 an empire mightier than that of the Ceesars, and destined to outlast 
 the eternal city? Or if this frenzied sect grew into proportions to 
 provoke attention, must they not be dealt with as disturbers of the 
 public peace ? Shall they be permitted to foment dissension ; to 
 overturn the established order ; to slight or denounce the religion 
 of the state and the recognized divinities; to come into open 
 collision with the authorities, persuading men to worship God 
 contrary to the law, and teaching customs which are not lawful for 
 Romans to receive neither to observe ? 
 
SERMON. 81 
 
 Paul was thus braving universal contempt and scorn as well as 
 positive maltreatment, the ridicule of the Greek, the hostility of 
 the Jew, and the coercive power of the Roman State, when he 
 stood for the defence or the proclamation of the gospel of Christ ; 
 and beneatli all these varied forms of opposition, and lending vigor 
 to them all, lay the native and inappeasable hostility of every hu- 
 man heart to doctrines so pure, so uncompromising, and so hum- 
 bling. Yet, in the face of it all, he has the courage to say, "■ I am 
 not ashamed of the gospel of Christ ; for it is the power of God 
 mito salvation to every one that believeth." 
 
 We admire the heroic manliness of the apostle in thus uttering 
 his convictions without being deterred or intimidated by the mighty 
 odds against him. But what is of much greater consequence than 
 any personal tribute, we have in these words the testimony of a 
 competent and impartial witness, uttered under circumstances 
 which afford a sure guarantee of its truth. The statement of the 
 text that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation finds an 
 unimpeachable confirmation in the fact that Paul affirms it so to 
 be. Paul was or claimed to be in possession of unquestionable 
 supernatural evidence of the divine power of the gosi)el, in the 
 miraculous facts attending his conversion, in the miraculous pow- 
 ers which had been granted to himself, and which he had freely 
 exercised from that time onward, and in the miraculous endow- 
 ments likewise possessed by others, who were associated with him 
 in the preaching of the gospel. These facts were open and palpa- 
 ble, and subject to the test of the senses in every possible manner. 
 He could be under no delusion or mistake. He must have known 
 beyond the possibility of a doubt, whether the gospel was or was 
 not attended with divine and supernatural ])ower, as he declared 
 it to be. 
 
 He further claimed to have evidence beyond this of outward 
 sense; to have inward personal experience of the divine power of 
 the gospel unto salvation in the spiritual change which it had 
 wrought upon himself, in the renewal and transformation of his 
 nature and his whole inner life. And that this was no empty pro- 
 fession is apparent from his entire hisiory. His whole course, sub- 
 sequent to that bright revelation at Damascus, was the complete 
 reversal of what it had been before. The proud, self-righteous, 
 self-seeking Pharisee became the humble, penitent, self-denying 
 
 6 
 
82 SERMON. 
 
 follower of the Xazarene ; and the manifold and unremitting laLors 
 of his life were given with a zeal that never flagged to build up 
 the faith which once he destroyed. 
 
 His perfect sincerity in all this is transparent. His language 
 and life are those of a man thoroughly lionest and in earnest. This 
 stands conspicuously out in every word he utters and every action 
 that is recorded of him. Xo man can read his epistles or trace his 
 career, however suj^erficially, without being impressed by this. 
 Paul was all aglow with the earnestness of his convictions, which 
 laid every energy of his nature under contribution; He set at 
 naught every consideration of selfish interest or ambition, of per- 
 sonal ease or comfort, of power, rank, wealth, or good name. He 
 unshrinkingly encountered opposition, obloquy, the loss of every 
 earthly prospect and possession; and all for what? for no worldly 
 reason that can be named ; for a reward in heaven to be given him 
 by the Searcher of hearts, to whom he made his daily appeal. 
 Every purely temporal consideration would have determined him 
 never to link himself with the maligned and persecuted followers 
 of the Lord Jesus. Every worldly motive would have urged him 
 to abandon so desperate a cause as speedily as possible. He had 
 the strongest inducements at every step of his course to expose the 
 delusion and break away from it^ if it was one. And no man ever 
 had a fairer opportunity to know the gospel thoroughly and with- 
 out disguise than he had. That under these circumstances such a 
 man as Paul affirms the gospel to be the power of God unto salva- 
 tion, is proof which cannot be intelligently gainsaid that it is what 
 he says. 
 
 Tlie world has not meanwhile stood still, and the gospel of 
 Christ has not been hidden in a corner. It has drawn to itself 
 alike the gaze of friends and foes. It can no longer be set aside 
 as an ephemeral novelty not worth regarding. If despised or 
 opposed now, it must be for some other reason than the recent 
 obscurity of its origin or the feebleness and inconsiderable number 
 of its adherents. The gospel has a recognized position in the 
 world and a history which is known and read of all men. It is 
 one of the forces in human affi\irs whose potency is everywhere 
 confessed. No one now questions that the gospel of Christ is a 
 power. The humble teacher of Nazareth has set a force in opera- 
 tion which has revolutionized opinion, shaped the i)olicy of em- 
 
SERMON. 83 
 
 pires, impressed itself upon the laws and institutions of powerful 
 states. It represents an authority to which millions bow with 
 profound reverence. It has introduced new and influential ideas 
 amongst men. It has overthrown huge systems of superstition 
 and falsehood. It has broken the chains of the oppressed and has 
 mitigated or removed moral and social evils. It has stimulated 
 free thought and free inquiry. It has contributed to tlie increase 
 and diffusion of intelligence. It has scattered its benefits broadcast 
 not only over them that believe, but over all that come within the 
 reach of its influence, so that its very opposers own their indebt- 
 edness to it by stocking their armory with weapons which it has 
 supplied them, and make tlieir assaults upon it from a vantage- 
 ground upon which it has placed them. If the adversaries of re- 
 vealed religion were limited to such methods of attack as paganism, 
 ancient or modern, can suggest, they would indeed have but little 
 that is formidable about tliem'. 
 
 Men do homage to power, and they reverence the gospel for the 
 power which they are compelled to acknowledge that it possesses, 
 which they are further constrained to admit is a power for good. 
 They confess its purity and beneficence. They laud the excellence 
 of its moral precepts. They will go to almost any length in esti- 
 mating the benefits which it has conferred upon the world. But 
 they are no more ready now than they were in the days of Paul 
 to acknowledge that it is the po\ver of God in any special or super- 
 natural sense, much less that it is the power of God unto salvation; 
 that upon its acceptance or rejection hinges for all men the question 
 of salvation or perdition; that it is accordingly absolutely essential 
 and indispensable. Yet this is what it is. 
 
 And tliat it is so further ai)pears from the elements which con- 
 stitute it. The gospel of Clu'ist is a scheme for effectually recon- 
 ciling God and man. This naturally suggests its division into: 1, 
 its doctrine concerning man; 2, its doctrine concerning God ; 3, its 
 doctrine concerning the reconciliation of God and man. Each of 
 these will reveal it to be the power of God unto salvation to every 
 one that believeth. The theme before us is the gospel, not in the 
 instruction which it imparts, its capacity to enlighten, guide, and 
 give proper direction to the mind and heart and faculties of man; 
 nor in the vastness and variety of its motives and the unrivalled 
 stimulus which they afford, leading to the putting forth of effort 
 
84 SERMON. 
 
 and the vigorous employment of all the powers M'hich man pos- 
 sesses; but in the new and positive accession of strength which it 
 brings and the achieving of results which man, unaided from above, 
 never could have attained. And the first element of this power we 
 may find in the gospel doctrine concerning man. It teaches man 
 what he is and what he may become, and thus lifts him into the 
 possession of powers and faculties to which he was previously a 
 stranger, giving him the use and mastery of forces which may be 
 said to have had a potential existence before, but whose energy 
 could never otherwise have been evoked. The word of the gospel 
 is not sim})le instruction. It is a word of power, a formative Avord. 
 It makes man what it declares him to be. It brings him to the 
 conscious possession and active employment of powers and energies 
 which else Avould have slumbered unknown and unused, and to 
 any practical and valuable purpose non-existent. The savage tribes 
 which once roamed over this continent never possessed it. They 
 wandered through its mighty forests, trod upon its virgin soil teem- 
 ing with productive power, passed and repassed over its inexhaust- 
 ible stores of coal and its rich veins of precious ore, gazed at its 
 waterfalls, skimmed the surface of its navigable waters with their 
 bark canoes, but had no inkling of the vast resources which nature 
 had prodigally lavished everywhere around them, and they never 
 actually developed them. They may have handled lumps of coal, 
 but they could not unlock the power latent there which, converted 
 into steam-pressure, is driving the machinery in ten thousand manu- 
 factories and propelling its swift-wheeled trains along every avenue 
 of trade and travel. Gold and silver ore may have served them 
 for ornaments and gewgaws, but it yielded none of the power of 
 money and accumulated wealth, that mighty spring which sets all 
 the complicated machinery of modern life in motion. It is thus 
 that each advance in civilization, all the progress made in science 
 and the arts, has been putting fresh power in men's hands. It has 
 not merely communicated knowledge to inform the mind ; it has 
 not merely set forth additional objects of desire to stimulate and 
 waken effort; it has imparted power to achieve results which no 
 hand or arm of untutored man with his rude implements could 
 ever accomplish. Thus the power which God has bountifully stored 
 up in the world is placed at man's disposal and converted to his 
 use. 
 
SERMON. 85 
 
 What scienoe tlms achieves with regard to the natural forces of 
 the world, God's revelation accomplishes in respect of spiritual 
 power. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every- 
 one that believeth in its disclosures respecting man, bringing out 
 into conscious existence and exercise what was latent and inactive 
 before. This might be insisted on in regard to the whole round 
 of gospel teaching respecting man, his nature, condition, and rela- 
 tions. 
 
 Reference shall be made to but one point, the immortality of man, 
 the eternal life which is his inheritance, as revealed in the gospel. 
 What new dignity and greatness, what unimagined enlargement of 
 soul docs it bring to every one that believeth ! ISTot that it was 
 altogether unknown or unsuspected before that the existence of 
 man was prolonged beyond the present life. But the philoso})hical 
 disputations of Socrates, Plato, and Cicero, the shadowy future of 
 the Greek and Roman religions, the retribution expected by' the 
 Egyptian, and the transmigration and final absorption into the 
 infinite credited by the Oriental, still leave the eternal life of the 
 gospel unique and unanticipated. It even outdoes all the glimpses 
 and intimations of the Old Testament revelation. This belonged 
 to the prophetic teaching of Christ and the preparation for his 
 gospel, as the morning twilight and the reddened dawn proceed 
 from the sun below the horizon. But this twilight is greatly infe- 
 rior in distinctness and power to the blaze of day. Suspended 
 animation only then bursts into fulness of life when the sun 
 appears. 
 
 It was a wholly new idea that the true life was the life with 
 God ; that the future was the thing to be desired and longed for 
 and struggled after; that present afflictions and labors were light 
 and momentary compared with the unending glory, and were 
 even to be welcomed as enhancing it ; that an unfading crown was 
 just at hand, and was the prize to be sought above all things else. 
 A new value attached to human life when it came to be estimated, 
 not as containing in itself the end to be aimed at, the sum and 
 total of human possibilities, but as the starting-point, the hinge of 
 ■ everlasting issues. This lifts man into a totally different sphere, 
 and makes of him quite another being, not the mere child of earth 
 with a prospect of threescore years and ten, but with an illimitable 
 future opening before him and with capacities and activities worthy 
 
86 SERMON. 
 
 of such a destiny. Tliat conception of man, wliicli, confounding 
 the outer shell with the inner life, links liira with the lower 
 animals and regards him as a mere animal of a somewhat hi";her 
 type, actually degrades him into that which it represents him to 
 be. It takes from him every object upon which his powers can be 
 worthily employed and every opportunity for their legitimate 
 exercise. Thus dealt with, he is like a tree of the forest planted 
 in a flower-pot, cramped and hemmed in, with no room for expan- 
 sion, his life hopelessly stunted, if not absolutely stifled. He is 
 incessantly forming plans which outreach the limits to which he is 
 doomed; his budding hopes are blasted one by one; he can send 
 down no depth of root to sustain him M'hen the chilling blasts of 
 calamity sweep over him. He must have an open field to attain 
 an expanding vigorous life. The doctrine of immortality gives men 
 something worth living for, something that deserves the noblest 
 exertion of all their faculties. It evokes every dormant power. It 
 raises man immeasurably in the scale of being. The gospel which 
 reveals it is the power of God ; and it is the power of God unco 
 salvation. For eternal life is not mere continued existence. It 
 is a pure, holy, ideal life, and it is necessarily formative of character 
 from the conditions of attaining it, from the need of conformity to 
 it in order to enjoy it, and from* the educating effect of having it 
 before the mind. He that hath this hope in him purifieth him- 
 self. 
 
 Consider again the power that there is in the gospel doctrine 
 concerning God, which stands in absolute contrast with the im- 
 potency of paganism on the one hand and of materialism on the 
 other. It is not merely that the gospel instructs and enlightens 
 the mind on this most important of all subjects. But the knowl- 
 edge of God which it imparts is eternal life. It is vital, trans- 
 forming, energizing. And it is not merely that there is a stimulus 
 of incalculable power to all that is right and good from this dis- 
 closure of the holy nature of God in its innate attractiveness, in 
 the desire which it enkindles for His api)robation, in the dread of 
 His displeasure. But there is besides the direct effect produced 
 on the soul by devout, believing intercourse with God, by intimate 
 and personal communion with Him. There is the quickening, life- 
 giving contact with Him who is infinite and infinitely perfect, and 
 who infuses His own divine strcnirth into them that trust in Him. 
 
SERMON. 87 
 
 He who believes the gospel is thereby privileged to walk with 
 God; he is lifted into companionship with the Most High. What 
 a power there is in association with the wise and good and great of 
 the earth ? How it elevates and expands the soul, enlarges its 
 conceptions, places new possibilities within its reach, leads to 
 attainments never dreamed of before? And what is it to have 
 God for a friend, guiding our thoughts, instilling His sacred in- 
 fluence, pouring into us His ow^n life ! How mightily shall we be 
 wrought upon by every object that surrounds us and every event 
 that befalls us, if we really meet with God at every turn, see Him 
 in all things, are dealing with Him every day and every hour, 
 subject ourselves to His training and loving discipline, and from 
 the ability which He imparts learn to do and learn to bear. What 
 an enfeebling, deadening contrast is offered by that speculative 
 philosophy or that practical unbelief which empties the world of 
 Him who made it, and leaves only the contact with chance or fate, 
 with what is lifeless and meaningless, and leaves the soul as torpid 
 as it found it! The gospel is here again the power of God unto 
 salvation. 
 
 See once more the power that there is in the gospel doctrine of 
 the reconciliation of God and man. This implies that they were 
 at variance; hopelessly so, so far as man himself is concerned, and 
 that they can be brought into harmonious union in this way alone. 
 This ruin of man and alienation from God, the gospel discloses 
 but does not produce. It exists independently of the gospel 
 wherever man is found ; only without the gospel there is no cure 
 for it. It is not removed by denying or refusing to confess its 
 reality. The stubborn fact is not set aside because men shrink 
 from looking it in the face. No form of false religi'm can heal 
 our disordered nature; no human training or culture; no good 
 resolutions or efforts ; no penances or self-inflictions, and no rites 
 of expiation or ablution. The one only and effectual remedy is the 
 gospel of Christ. In Christ's atoning work it has provided an 
 ample satisfaction to the broken law and the offended justice of 
 God. The infinite merit of this divine substitute secures pardon 
 and peace with God, deliverance from guilt and from the everlast- 
 ing consequences of sin, and gives a solid title to the favor of God 
 and eternal life. And the renewing and sanctifying energy of the 
 Holy Ghost transforms the soul into the very image and likeness 
 
88 SERMON. 
 
 of God, confers inward holiness, and makes the man meet for the 
 inheritance of the saints in light. 
 
 This gospel doctrine is not mere instruction as to a method by 
 which men can attain salvation. It not merely enlightens their 
 darkness, it is life from the dead. It actually imparts what it 
 reveals. It is the power of God unto salvation to every one that 
 believeth. 
 
 But may this not be only a splendid illusion after all ? It has the 
 power over the mind and heart of grand ideas, of a magnificent 
 conception. It holds out the most enchanting prospects ; it is pre- 
 cisely adapted to human wants ; it meets every craving of the soul ; 
 it solves that pressing, but, as it M'ould seem, insoluble problem. 
 How can the sinner be saved from sin and from wrath? It is a 
 scheme at once most ample and minute, which offers a supply for 
 every individual need, and which surpasses imagination itself in the 
 largeness of its bountiful provision, which j)ro})oses to do exceeding 
 abundantly above all that we can ask or think. But is it real ? is it 
 solid fact? Can we commit ourselves to it in the unshaken confi- 
 dence that it can accomplish all that it proposes ? Is it the verit- 
 able power of God? or is the only power that it possesses that 
 which it exerts upon the imagination and the soul of man ? Every 
 instinct of our moral nature cri^s out that what is so true and so 
 good, so worthy of God, so suited to the necessities of man must 
 be true. Still the ultimate and decisive proof that the gospel is the 
 power of God is to be drawn, not from the mere inspection of the 
 gospel itself, bat from seeing it in operation. Power produces 
 effects, and the reality and amount of the power is shown by ex- 
 hibiting these effects. It is all very well to study the construction 
 of an engine, to observe the adjustment of its parts and learn the 
 theory of its working, but the conclusive test is the practical one. 
 What does it actually do? Is the gospel not merely a system of 
 fine ideas, but is it mighty through God to accomplish results ? 
 Is it the power of God unto salvation ? This is the question 
 which speculative opposers force home upon us, and which the 
 practical unbeliever needs to feel to rouse him to embrace its blessed 
 provisions. 
 
 It will not be sufficient for us here to make our appeal exclu- 
 sively to the past, to the supernatural evidence which attended the 
 original comnmnication of the gospel, those miraculous works 
 
SERMON. 89 
 
 which gave divine attestation to the truth that Jesus was indeed 
 the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. Nor will it be suffi- 
 cient to make our appeal to the future, to the vindication at the 
 bar of God and the endless glory there adjudged, that blessed hope 
 of the gospel, armed with which the believer triumphs over death 
 and can calmly meet the last of foes confident of victory. 
 
 The point before us is not merely that the gospel was the power 
 of God many centuries ago ; nor that it will be the power of God 
 in the unseen hereafter. Skeptical misgiving might plead in re- 
 gard to the former the dim obscurity which overhangs remote 
 agps; and in regard to the latter that the future is beyond the 
 reach of human sense. But the declaration of the text remains 
 unchanged. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. It 
 is so now, as truly as it was when these words were originally 
 penned. And the experience of its power to save in your own 
 case is the only thing that can give you that thorough persuasion 
 of the truth of the gospel, that firm adherence to it in the face of 
 all opposition and that intense earnestness in its defence and prop- 
 agation, which so characterized the apostle Paul. 
 
 This inward personal experience of the salvation of the gospel 
 is the only thing which can make you a partaker of its present and 
 everlasting benefits. Great as are the temporal advantages which 
 the possession of the gospel has brought you, you fail to secure 
 what is most essential to yourself, and what is the real end for 
 which it was given you unless you gain a practical acquaintance 
 with its saving power. Believing it, you shall find it the power 
 of God unto salvation to yourself. 
 
 And if you have in truth embraced the gospel and experienced 
 its healing efficacy, you still have need to apply to it afresh. You 
 are still compassed with infirmities ; you have your daily sins, and 
 temptations, and tasks, and difficulties, and doubts, and fears. 
 Here is precisely the help that you require. Dip yourself not once, 
 but like ISTaaman seven times in the Jordan. You have not yet 
 learned all that the gospel can accomplish on your behalf, nor ex- 
 perienced its full power to save. There is more efficacy in it, and 
 more adaptation to your ever-pressing necessities than you have 
 ever felt or imagined. 
 
 And as it is by faith in the gospel and in that blessed Saviour 
 who is himself the sum and substance of it that you come into the 
 
90 SERMON. 
 
 experience of its divnne power to save, so again this experience of its 
 saving power will lend new confirmation to your faith. This prac- 
 tical acquaintance with the power of the gospel upon your own 
 heart is the surest defence against the assaults of skepticism and 
 infidelity. The most unanswerable of all arguments is that of the 
 blind man, whom Jesus had restored to sight, " Why herein is a 
 marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he 
 hath opened mine eyes!" He is most surely entrenched against 
 all subtleties of opposition, who has found Jesus to be in his own 
 case a divine Saviour. 
 
 This church celebrates to-day the completion of a quarter of a 
 century, during which the gospel has been faithfully preached 
 among you. You have seen what it has acconiplished here. You 
 are witnesses of its power to elevate, to purify, and bless. The 
 record of these years adds its testimony to that of all the ages that 
 have passed since the first proclamation of this word of heavenly 
 truth. It has reclaimed transgressors. It has planted the seeds 
 of holiness in the uncongenial soil of human hearts and has warmed 
 them into a viijorous p-rowth. It has refined and ennobled char- 
 acter. It has fed the life of many an humble child of God, It 
 has shed its fragrance over many homes, which it has made happy. 
 It has stimulated to generous ^eeds of beneficence, to unselfish 
 labors for the good of others, from whom no return is sought or 
 expected. It has given cheerfulness in adversity, resignation under 
 affliction, triumph in the hour of death. 
 
 Encouraged by these tokens of the manifest power of the gospel 
 amongst you in the past, you uplift your banner to-day thankfully 
 saying, " Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." And you enter upon 
 the new period in the life of this church, which now opens before 
 you, confiding in the gospel in which you have trusted hitherto. 
 This gospel you are to hold up before men in its purity, precious- 
 ness, and power; not merely affirming that it is the power of God, 
 but showing it to be so by being yourselves living epistles of the 
 Holy Ghost that may be known and read of all ; making that con- 
 viction of the saving energy of the gospel, which it has produced 
 in you, appear to others for their conviction and salvation; mani- 
 festing it to be in its effect upon you what it truly is, and proving 
 by its practical working in your own case its adaptation to every 
 human need. Thus shall you be preaching the gospel to all around. 
 
SERMOISr. 9 1 
 
 j^ou in the most effective manner, convinced tliat it is for all men, 
 as it has been for you, life and salvation; and that even they who 
 are now indifferent and care for none of these things, and they who 
 deride and oppose the gospel and in their blind unbelief reason, as 
 they suppose, conclusively against it, are nevertheless in the deepest 
 need of this very gospel which they despise and reject; a need of 
 which they may now be unconscious, but which, nevertheless, exists 
 and is patent to you, and may by God's grace, and the demonstra- 
 tion of his Spirit accompanying the faithful exhibition of his truth, 
 be shown to them and awakened in them, so that they shall be 
 brought to crave just what you bring them and to be sensible of 
 wants which this can satisfy and this alone; and thus they, too, 
 shall be brought to believe and be saved. And in this way you 
 will learn never to distrust the power of the gospel, but to possess 
 the readiness, whicli the apostle expresses in the text, as much as 
 in you is, to make the gospel known to men of every race and of 
 every grade, and never abandon hope in regard to any living man, 
 however hopeless his case may be to human view, for the gospel 
 is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. 
 
ilonk^ Attuning ^r^rmi$. 
 - — * • • ■ > — 
 
 WEDDING MARCH, 
 
 jMr. Frederick T. Baker, Organist of the Church. 
 
 ANTHEM.— "O Lord, our Governor," Gadsby. 
 
 PRAYER, 
 
 Rev. Charles A. Dickey, D.D. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS, 
 
 GuSTAVus S. Benson, Esq., President of Board of Trustees. 
 
 ANTHEM.— "The Lord is Great," Righini. 
 
 PRESENTATION OF TESTIMONIAL TO THE PASTOR, 
 
 George Junkin, Esq. 
 
 RESPONSE BY THE PASTOR, 
 
 Rev. William P. Breed, D.D. 
 
 "GLORIA," Mozart. 
 
 ADDRESS BY THE PASTOR OF THE PARENT CHURCH, 
 
 Rev. John De Witt, D.D., Tenth Presbyterian Church. 
 
 ADDRESS FROM THE PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 
 Rev. J. Addison Henry, D.D. 
 
 " HALLELUJAH CHORUS," Handel. 
 
 ADDRESSES, 
 
 William Allen Butler, LL.D., New York, 
 
 Rev. O. H. Tiffany, D.D., Arch Street M. E. Church, 
 
 Rev. p. S. Henson, D.D., Memorial Baptist Church. 
 
 HYMN.— By the Choir and Audience. 
 DOXOLOGY.— By the Choir and Audience. 
 
 RECEPTION BY THE PASTOR. 
 
MONDAY EVENING EXERCISES. 
 
 Upon the extended platform, in front of the pulpit, were seated 
 the officers of the church (its elders, deacons, and trustees), the ora- 
 tors of the occasion and invited guests, among whom were the Pres- 
 bytery of Philadelphia, and the Session of the parent church. 
 
 The music of the evening was artistically rendered by the choir 
 of St. James Church, led by Professor Giles, whose efficient ser- 
 vices and those of the choir were kindly volunteered. 
 
 At the appointed hour Dr. Breed arrived at the church, under 
 the escort of a committee appointed to attend him from his resi- 
 dence to the church, which consisted of Messrs. John D. MeCord, 
 Henry D. Sherrerd, Isaac S. Sharp, Frank K. Hippie, and Doctors 
 Albert Heyl and Hilburn West. The joyous notes of the " Wed- 
 ding March" pealed forth from the organ as the honored pastor 
 was accompanied to the seat assigned him on the platform. 
 
 The meeting was then called to order by Gustavus S. Benson, 
 Esq., President of the Board of Trustees, who presided. 
 
 The anthem, "O Lord, our Governor" (Gadsby), was sung with 
 fine effect, and then Rev. Charles A. Dickey, D.D., of Calvary 
 Church, addressed the throne of grace in the following 
 
 Prayer. 
 
 Oh, Lord ! Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all genera- 
 tions. Before the mountains were brought forth ; before thou 
 hadst formed the earth, from everlasting to everlasting, thou art 
 God. Our lives, O God, are in thy hands, and in thy hands we 
 would wish them ever to be ; for thou art God thyself alone, and 
 away from thee there is no safety. We adore and bless thee as 
 God over all and blessed forever more. We adore and bless and 
 praise thy wondrous name for all the glorious works of thy 
 hands. Above all else do we lift our hearts in gratitude and joy 
 
96 MONDAY EVENING EXERCISES. 
 
 lo-niglit for the wonderful plan of redemption thou hast wrought 
 out through Jesus Clirist, thy Son, our Saviour. 
 
 Lord, we bless thee tliat thou didst in the beginnings of the sins 
 of men reveal to them a gracious Saviour. We bless thee that 
 in the be<'-innings of the world thou didst establish thy church. 
 We thank thee that thou didst call the faithful to thyself and 
 bestow upon them grace and blessing. We thank thee, Oh God ! 
 that thou didst fill the hearts of thy chosen ones with the joys of 
 many promises. We bless and praise thee that thou didst keep 
 thy waiting church, and fill it with hope and expectation. We 
 bless thee that in the fulness of time Christ came. 
 
 Lord, we bless thee that He hath laid so firmly and fixedly and 
 eternally the foundations of the church in Himself. AVe thank thee 
 that this goodly temple, in which we dwell and of which Ave are 
 living stones, hath the apostles and prophets for its foundation. 
 And, above all, we bless thee that it hath for its chief corner-stone 
 Jesus Christ himself. We bless thee for the assurance that this 
 temple shall grow, fitly framed together, into a glorious temple for 
 thy praise and for our everlasting abiding-place. We bless thee, 
 Oh God ! for all thy mercies shown to this church universal. We 
 thank thee for the fathers and for the reformers. We thank 
 thee for the martyrs and for alb the examples of the past. We 
 bless thee that the gates of hell have not prevailed against thy 
 church. We bless, thee, oh, God ! for thy goodness to the whole 
 household of faith; and to-night, in our own joys and in our 
 own blessings and promises and gifts, we desire to reach out 
 our hands in sympathy and in love to all who love the Lord 
 Jesus. Oh, fill us with the spirit of catholic charity, and may the 
 whole world, through the instrumentalities thou hast appointed, 
 by the ministry of men, through the power of the Sj)irit, come 
 unto thee according to thy wish. 
 
 We bless thee for thy goodness to the church with which we 
 are most intimately connected. We thank thee, Lord, for the 
 memories of the past, for the men that are gone. We thank thee 
 for all the history that is so precious, for all the saints who have 
 been so full of power and have gone to glory. We thank thee, 
 Oh God, that thou art granting unto us as a church so many as- 
 surances and so many blessings. We bless thee for thy goodness 
 to this particular (church. Lord, we thank thee that this vine of 
 
MOXDAY EVENIXG EXERCISES. 97 
 
 thy planting hath had such good growth. We thank thee that it 
 hath grown to thy praise and honor and gh^ry. We thank thee 
 for all that this Christian household hath been, for these many 
 years, to those who have enjoyed it and shared its privileges. We 
 thank thee for the memory of their own dead. ^Ve thank thee 
 for all that is blessed in their histoiy. We thank thee for all 
 that there is in their present position that is hopeful. God, our 
 Father, we bless thee for thy goodness to thy servant, the pastor 
 of this church. We thank thee that thou hast spared his life ; 
 that thou hast filled him with labor ; that thou hast given 
 him many blessings ; that thou hast given him the joy of many 
 crowns, the crowns of tiiose whom he hath led to Christ, and 
 the crown of gratitude of the people to whom he has ministered. 
 We thank thee to-night that thou art willing to put upon his 
 head this crown of which he is worthy, this symbol of the 
 service of a quarter of a century. The Lord bless him and 
 keep him, and make His face to sliine upon him and be gracious 
 unto him and give him peace. May he and his people take 
 hands more warmly, and gain great strengtli in the service of this 
 night and of yesterday that shall abide with them many years. 
 Water them with the dews of thy grace. When thy servant 
 hath finished his labors, give him entrance into his reward, and 
 may he have that blessing, which is above all other blessings, that 
 crown that is brighter than all other crowns, and the joy that ex- 
 celleth all other joys of meeting in thine own presence at last 
 those whom he hath led by the spirit of thy grace. 
 
 And now the Lord grant us his blessing. Give us grace to 
 enjoy and grace to share one another's joy ; and at last, O 
 Lord, bring us with thy glorious church, and with thy ransomed 
 and redeemed ones, to an eternal rest and reward ; and the glory 
 and the praise shall be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the 
 Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen. 
 
 Introductory Remarks by Gustavus S. Benson, Esq. 
 
 Mr. Benson (the Chairman) briefly addressed the audience as 
 follows : 
 
 I have been requested, in a very few words, to tell you why it 
 is that we have gathered together. JS' o elaborate explanation is 
 needed, for the cause of this meeting is before you in letters of 
 
 7 
 
98 MONDAY EVENING EXERCISES. 
 
 living fire (indicating the words formed by gas jets overhead) : 
 " 185G-1881 — Our first and only pastor J" You are therefore 
 here to-night to celebrate the silver wedding of the pastor to the 
 pastorate of your church. 
 
 When we called to mind that this day was approaching, the 
 Session of this cliurch very properly prepared the church for a 
 service on Sabbath day, the 3d of April, to commemorate a re- 
 markable coincidence. Twenty- five years ago, thirty-four persons 
 were organized by our l*resbytery into the AVest Spruce Street 
 Presbyterian Church, at a meeting in the lecture-room of Dr. 
 Boardman's church, and twenty-eight of those persons were at tliat 
 time present. At the same meeting this newly organized church 
 called the Rev. Dr. William P. Breed to be its pastor, so that the 
 first day of the life of the church and the first day of his pastorate 
 were the same. In talking of this approaching event among the 
 congregation we found that our people had made up their minds 
 to have something to do in the way of a celebration of it. The 
 Board of Trustees accordingly held a meeting, at which fifteen 
 members were present, when, without a dissenting voice, it was 
 determined to hold a congregational meeting to decide upon what 
 measures should be taken to celebrate the remarkable occasion. 
 This was done, and the meeting Vhich followed, with entire unan- 
 imity, and, moved by a spontaneous and all-pervading impulse of 
 affection for their pastor, determined to carry out the plans then 
 projected. As the result of the execution of those plans we be- 
 hold this great assembly, this ornamented church, these speakers 
 and these services which are intended to honor this day. 
 
 That which impresses us in all this is the fact that there must 
 be some moving principle in it all, that there must be something 
 not apparent which has stirred up these people, as with one heart, 
 to come forward and show their love and affection for their pastor. 
 Himself of a loving and sympathetic nature, the most ardent desire 
 of his soul to save souls, he has brought into this church, since he 
 has been the pastor of it, some six hundred people, whose conver- 
 sion under God has been brought about through his instrumentality. 
 His example has made this a working church. The names of those 
 of its members who have worked the hardest in their own church 
 appear upon the rolls of managers of our benevolent societies, of 
 
MONDAY EVENING EXERCISES. 99 
 
 our hospitals, of the boards of our church. Indeed, I might almost 
 say that wherever in this city good works are to be done, there you 
 will find the names of the members of this church. 
 
 He has made this people a liberal people. It is said of the 
 celebrated Dr. Adam Clark, a great Methodist commentator, one of 
 the most learned men of his day, that when one of his cong-reration 
 came to his study and told him with great glee a certain man, noted 
 alike for his wealth and his parsimony, had been converted, the 
 doctor very quietly turned around and asked, " Have you converted 
 his purse?" Knowing the man, as he did, and having little confi- 
 dence in the genuineness of the professions of one whose illiberality 
 was proverbial, the doctor believed that the surest test of such a 
 man's conversion was the one which involved a tax upon his purse. 
 But in the present instance, our pastor is one of whom I may safely 
 say that, in making conversions of his people, he has converted 
 their purses. No church other than this responds more quickly to 
 any appeal that is made to them for benevolent or religious pur- 
 poses ; and the records of the General Assembly will show that in 
 point of liberality, considered with respect to its proportionate size 
 and wealth, this church has not been behind any of our sister 
 churches. 
 
 He has made this a loving church. Perhaps, in a larger degree 
 than is generally the case in a city church, this church is like one 
 great Christian family. The attachment of its people to their 
 church and to their pastor is so pronounced as to be remarkable; 
 and I was never more impressed with this fact than when, in the 
 preparations for what I may call this family celebration, the entire 
 unanimity and enthusiasm of the church gave evidence of the love 
 of its people for their pastor and of their love for one another. 
 
 In view of the many exercises to follow, I will not detain you 
 further. My object was merely to tell you why we are gathered 
 here together, why this large assembly has been convoked, and 
 why the members of this church are to-night such a happy people; 
 and I will now only add that w'e say to you who are not members 
 of this church, " We give you a most cordial and a most hearty 
 welcome to this, our love-feast." 
 
 The anthem, " The Lord is Great " (Righini), was rendered by 
 the choir and followed by the 
 
100 monday eyenixg exercises. 
 
 Presentatiox of Testimonial to the Pastor. 
 
 George Junkin, Esq., who had been deputed to perform this 
 duty, said : 
 
 We commemorate the formation of this Christian church and 
 its first and only pastorate. 
 
 Twenty-five years have glided swiftly by since these both had 
 their being. And now, on the summit of this height of progress, 
 we stand, as upon the top of some towering hill, and turn, and look 
 back over the way the Lord has led us. 
 
 Surely goodness and mercy have followed us during all these 
 years. And, whilst we have cause to regret that our progress and 
 success have not been as great as our opportunities, yet, in the 
 retrospect, we have reason to thank God, that so mucli has here 
 been accomplished in His name and by His power. 
 
 We look back across this \vide sea of twenty-five years, and can- 
 not fail to discern His form ever near us, Whose voice alone has 
 stilled the waves of human commotion and strife, and made our 
 voyage as calm as was the sea of Gennesaret when He said, " Peace 
 —Be still." 
 
 How small was the little company of thirty-four noble men, 
 and no less noble women, who gathered together and went forth 
 from their old church home to build a house for themselves. It 
 was hard thus to sunder ties, whose tendrils had been the growth 
 of years, and to leave the sacred communion table, where many 
 had first confessed, and to hear no more the words of him, who, 
 for so long a period, had been .the Pastor of their early choice, and 
 a Prince among the ministers of the glorious gospel. But, urged 
 on by his tender, yet commanding voice, and heeding the higher 
 call of duty to Him, Whose they were and Whom they served, they 
 went forth; and here, on this spot, where we now stand, they laid 
 the foundation of a Church of Christ, which will be their monu- 
 ment until the end of time. 
 
 Two of these are still of us, thank God ; and some, although 
 called to other locations, have felt the drawings of their early love, 
 bringing them back here to-night, to mingle their rejoicings with 
 ours upon this commemorative day. We give them most hearty 
 welcome. And may it be long before the survivors of this origi- 
 nal band exchange the cross for the crown. 
 
MONDAY EVENING EXEECISES. 101 
 
 But, as I gaze back, I seem to miss the forms of many who were 
 here w^hen this first Pastor was called, and this church began its 
 existence. Is it the mist that grows out of the lengthening vista 
 of years, or the dewyness of tears, which hides them from my eyes? 
 In the dimness I think I see the silver-haired Mercer, the classic 
 brow and head of Hart, the noble, generous-hearted Patterson, the 
 sage Vogdes, the skilful Miller, and many more whose forms were 
 so familiar and so loved. 
 
 Ah! I dream. They all are not, for God has taken them. 
 Some, like them of old, were translated. And while we cannot 
 but gaze wistfully after them, and almost mourn that we see them 
 no more, yet we must not, we should not, when we remember how 
 well they wrought out their life's work, and especially when we 
 remember, how they labored here, and with what glorious results. 
 
 But sad memory makes me linger too long over the early rem- 
 iniscences that crowd upon the mind. Let us hasten on. 
 
 Organized twenty-five years ago with so small a number, this 
 Church has steadily grown and gone forward. It is not needful 
 that I should here give its statistics. These have already been 
 furnished by our Pastor in his usual careful way. All the ordi- 
 nary services of a working church have been kept up with un- 
 flagging interest. The lecture and weekly prayer-meeting, the 
 Sabbath-school with all its usual concomitants, the Dorcas and 
 Missionary societies, and the social receptions, all have held their 
 places in the hearts and affections of this people. Year after year 
 the various Boards of our beloved Church have been generously re- 
 membered; and whilst our whole duty has not been done, before 
 men, we have no cause to be ashamed. 
 
 Almost twenty-five years have gone since on May 18th, 1856, 
 the first religious service was held in yonder beautiful and home- 
 like Lecture-room, and the first gathering of the children and youth 
 in the large and commodious Sabbath-school room in the second 
 story. 
 
 More than twenty-four years have glided by, since this splendid 
 House of God was dedicated to the service of the Most High. 
 
 And jnstly are we satisfied in these most comfortable and ele- 
 gant church homes. Here have the solemn services of the sanc- 
 tuary been statedly and unremittedly held during these years. In 
 all their appointments they are complete. The graceful spire lifts 
 
102 MONDAY EVENIInG EXERCISES. 
 
 its head nearest to the sky of all the edifices of any kind in this 
 great city. This blue-vaulted ceiling- and these graceful arches 
 are unique and a joy to look ui)on. These pews are the most de-. 
 lightful and comfortable of any in any church, here or elsewhere. 
 And its grand organ, first touched by the skilful hand of my dear 
 friend and that gifted musical genius, John E. Gould, and mel- 
 lowed by twenty years' service, is unexcelled for quality and sweet- 
 ness and richness of tone, by any similar instrument, in this or in 
 foreign lands that I have been privileged to hear; and I have sat 
 enchanted at Fribourg, Geneva, and Lucerne. 
 
 And better than all this, upon this splendid Sanctuary, with all 
 its accompaniments, there exists no debt. No ground rent is be- 
 neath this church and lecture-room, with its gnawing and ever- 
 recurring instalments to swallow up this splendid superstructure ; 
 and no mortgage, like a wet blanket, rests upon this vaulted roof, 
 to muffle the organ's sweet tones, and stifle out the Christian life that 
 here grows hard by the oracle of God. 
 
 This Christian congregation has given all this cheerfully, gladly, 
 and with grateful hearts, and they have held back nothing of all 
 its cost from Him, Whose they are and Whom they serve. From 
 pinnacle to foundation stone all is His. 
 
 Nor have we been prospered merely in temporal affairs. If this 
 were all in which we had been blest, then the results would scarcely 
 equal the outlay of labor and money. But in spiritual matters 
 God has indeed been in our midst. Year by year the Gospel has 
 been here faithfully proclaimed, and saints have been built up, 
 and many souls have been saved. Scarce a communion service has 
 been held when converts have not come, and on more than one 
 occasion this aisle has been filled with many, who, for the first time 
 acknowledged Christ before men. And, M'hcn I look over the 
 conffretration, I see more than one household, all of whose mem- 
 bers have been brought into the church, so that they became bound 
 to each other, not only by the bonds of earthly and human affec- 
 tion, but by the stronger cords woven of Christian love, whose 
 strands will outlast the tension of every earthly trial. 
 
 It Avere a pleasing duty to recount all the experiences of our 
 Christian home-life here during the past quarter of a century. 
 How the sweet memories of the loved ones who have been with us 
 and are not, crowd upon the thoughts ! But I cannot trust myself, 
 
MONDAY EVENING EXERCISES. 103 
 
 nor will I tread upon this too sacred ground in such a large and 
 public assembly. Joy, and peace, and love, have here been, with 
 them and us, our constant guests. And, so far as I can now re- 
 member, we have no cause to mourn over any one who has ever 
 been a member of, or a worshipper in, this Christian household, as 
 a prodigal or a lost one. 
 
 In one respect our history has been most remarkable. In our 
 Session, our Board of Deacons, our Board of Trustees, our Con- 
 gregational meetings, our Bible classes, our Dorcas Society, our 
 Missionary Society, our Sabbath -school, our Sabbath-school Asso- 
 ciation, our Sewing School, our Choir (and it has always been a vol- 
 untary one), and in our whole congregation we have never had 
 a division, a quarrel, a discord, a strife, a scandal, a divided vote, 
 a sense of alienation ! The current of our whole life has flowed 
 on like a river, unbroken by a storm, and unchecked by an ob- 
 struction. 
 
 God's peace has been upon us. " My peace I leave with you." 
 How truly have these words of our dear Master been fulfilled in 
 our experience during all the weeks, and months, and years of this 
 quarter of a century ! 
 
 And to what shall we attribute this blessed experience? Not to 
 us, who have composed this church, in the various departments of 
 church work and organization to which I have alluded. The 
 weaknesses of poor human nature have existed among us, just as 
 everywhere; and some of us are about as good specimens of 
 crooked humanity as exist ! 
 
 Why, then, this blessed experience of unbroken harmony? 
 
 I will tell you. Under God, it is due to him to whom the Prince 
 of Peace from the first committed the care of this flock. His lovely,- 
 unselfish, self-sacrificing, tender, Christly spirit, with its indescrib- 
 able, yet subtile and controlling influence, has pervaded all this 
 people. Unconsciously to ourselves, his has been the almost unseen 
 and unnoticed hand which, with its magic and unfelt power, has 
 guided all these elements of our natures, so that the entire Psalm 
 of Life which this Congregation has been singing down these years, 
 has been a harmony, and not a crashing discord. 
 
 I am not here as a eulogist. But still, I cannot forbear to say — 
 that in all the qualities that constitute a faithful Shepherd and 
 Bishop of the Flock of Christ, our Pastor, The Rev. William Pratt 
 
104 MONDAY EVENIXa EXERCISES. 
 
 Breed, if not peerless, is tlie peer of any and all ; and lie has done 
 his whole duty to the charge committed to his care. 
 
 The gospel he has proclaimed, has been no newfangled inven- 
 tion of his own, or of any other human brain. It has been "the 
 old, old story of Jesus and his love." 
 
 Sabbath after Sabbath, Wednesday after AVednesday, Friday 
 after Friday, in season and out of season, has he come to us in the 
 fulness of the preparation of the gospel of peace! And while he 
 has held fast to the old landmarks, and stood firm upon the fun- 
 damental principles of truth as the Presbyterian Church under- 
 stands them, yet has he ever kept fully abreast with all the recent 
 investigations of science and all its discoveries. He has been and 
 is familiar with every art of modern infidelity, and has championed 
 the truth against all the assaults of recent atheism, deism, evolu- 
 tion, and other kindred errors. History has yielded to him its 
 treasures. Art has been his spoil. Literature has paid him tribute, 
 and, to-day, his panoply for service in the Christian warfare is as 
 conijilete as that of any of whom m'c have knowledge. 
 
 How seldom, in these modern days, does a Pastorate reach the 
 limits of a quarter of a century ! Yet here we see one, whose 
 happy existence we this night hail with unmingled joy. 
 
 May it long continue! And a^the years of its life go on and 
 down to the horizon, may the setting be more quiet, peaceful, loving, 
 and glorious than even its rising has been ! 
 
 It were strange, if with such a church history and experience, 
 and with such a Pastor, and with such a Pastorate, the people of 
 this congregation should not be filled with thanksgiving and grati- 
 tude. To God first, and always, and ever, world without end ! 
 Amen and Amen ! 
 
 And it had been passing strange, had they failed to recognize the 
 debt of gratitude which they owe to the Dear Pastor of this flock. 
 Nor have they. 
 
 They love the whole Presbyterian family throughout the world, 
 and they have but recently shown this love by their works, in 
 the glad welcome they gave to the representatives of that Church 
 as they came here from every clime and nation. They love our 
 own Presbyterian Church, as it stretches from the Atlantic to the 
 Pacific, and from the frozen North to the Great Gulf, as they 
 
MONDAY EVENING EXERCISES. 105 
 
 have, year by year, been showing by their devotion to all its varied 
 interests. 
 
 They love " the Church that is in Philadelphia," as their uni- 
 form kind intercourse and relations with all its various member- 
 ship fully attest. 
 
 But, above all these, they love this, their own dear home, and 
 you, sir, their own Dear Pastor. 
 
 You have been with us in all the various vicissitudes of our 
 lives for a quarter of a century. Many of us, — oh, how many! — 
 you have been the instrument in God's hand in bringing to the 
 Cross of Christ, and to a public confession of faith in Him. In a 
 number of instances it has been your joy and crown to see seated 
 at His table every member of the household. You have here, and 
 in our homes, joined us and our children in the holy bonds of 
 matrimony. Many of these have been by you baptized into the 
 name of Christ. And some of these dear lambs of our flocks, 
 you have gone with us to " God's acre," to lay them away until 
 the Resurrection Day, sleeping sweetly with Jesus in the conse- 
 crated grave. The fathers and mothers of many of us, — ah, how 
 many ! — have you, also with us, buried out of our sight, until we 
 awake with them in the likeness of Christ, satisfied. In all of our 
 homes, in joy and sorrow, in our social gatherings and in our more 
 public assemblings, you have ever been to us, to all of us, our com- 
 panion, our guide, our counsellor, our sympathizing friend, our 
 Christain brother and father, the anointed of God to do us ser- 
 vice. And how willingly, cheerfully, patiently, unselfishly, none 
 but we and God can ever know. May He reward you abundantly 
 for all your work and labor of love. 
 
 For all these years thus devoted to your Master's service and ours, 
 this people desire to make you some slight testimonial. We cannot 
 give you our services and our devotion. These you already have. 
 We cannot give you our hearts. These long have been yours. 
 
 It was suggested that you might desire, at some no distant day, 
 to visit the land where our Saviour lived and died, and that we 
 might help you to go and there reillumine your faith and zeal on 
 that sacred ground. And some of our thoughts took us to that 
 wonderful scene in Cresarea, when the great Apostle stood in the 
 presence of the King and his splendid court, in that grand recep- 
 tion-hall, and expressed the wish, that the King and all present 
 
106 MONDAY EVENING EXERCISES. 
 
 might be, altogether such as he was, "save these bonds ;^' and we 
 lieard, that you had a bond wliich shackled you as uncomfortably 
 as did his, and we thought that we might help to unloose from 
 your hand this bond. And as our House of Worship was clear of 
 all mortgages and the like heavy burdens, it was suggested, that a 
 miserable blanket mortgage upon your house and hearth was giving 
 no warmth to you and yours, and we might take oif this unorna- 
 mental and useless addition to your dwelling-place. 
 
 These suggestions needed only to be made to be acted upon ; 
 and, without personal solicitation in any instance, the money came 
 flowing in from young and old, rich and poor, high and low, male 
 and female, the children and those in later life, until we were almost 
 compelled to cry, " Hold, enough." Permit me to hand you this 
 miserable legal document, called a mortgage, but made eminently 
 a beautiful piece of paper now, for it is indorsed with the name of 
 a Presbyterian elder, who signs himself Louis Wagner, Recorder 
 of Deeds for the City of Philadelphia, and he says : " Satisfied of 
 Eecord," April 4th, 1881. 
 
 And this other hard, cruel, exacting bond. It, too, is made 
 radiant now with a writing, which reads as follows : 
 
 " Philadelphia, April 4th, A.D. 1881. 
 "Eeceived from the Elders, Deacons, Trustees, and People of the West Spruce 
 Street Presbyterian Church, in the City of Philadelphia, the sum of $5000, being 
 the balance of the within debt of $G000, in liquidation and cancellation of the 
 within bond or obligation of the Eev. Dr. William P. Breed, the Pastor of said 
 church, and of all interest thereon to date, being §65.83." 
 
 And this is signed by W. L. Dubois, Treasurer of " the Philadel- 
 phia Trust, Safe Deposit and Insurance Company," duly attested 
 by its seal. 
 
 I also hand you two bonds for $2000 of the Philadeli^hia and 
 Erie Railroad Company, costing $2120. These are to you much 
 better than your bond, and will, I am sure, be of more use and 
 gratification to you. 
 
 I also hand you the check of Mr. Charles O. Abbey, the Treas- 
 urer of this fund for $795.82, and, like himself, it is as good as 
 gold. 
 
 These aggregate the sum of $8000. 
 
 It is my high honor and my great pleasure, on behalf of the 
 Elders, Deacons, Trustees, and People of the West Spruce Street 
 
MONDAY EVENING EXERCISES. 107 
 
 Presbyterian Church of the City of Philadelphia, here and now 
 assembled, to present these to you, our Dear Pastor, as a slight and 
 inadequate expression of the love we all bear to you. Sonic friends 
 have joined us in this testimonial, for we could not refuse them 
 this privilege which, unsought, they begged from us. 
 
 And now, may our future relations, Dear Pastor, be but the 
 full development of the same Christian and brotherly love, which, 
 without a shadow across its brightness, has made these jiast twenty- 
 five years radiant with joy and overflowing with happiness! 
 
 Response by the Pastor, Rev. William P. Breed, D.D, 
 
 (The pastor's response, the initial sentences of which were uttered 
 in tones tremulous with emotion, was as follows) : 
 
 Words are well enough in their way, but sometimes their way 
 is not that of very ready utterance. Words are said to be vehicles 
 of thought, but if I should attempt to load any of those vehicles 
 with the thoughts and emotions that have stirred my heart during 
 the last two or three days and nights, both the vehicle and myself 
 would break down. 
 
 Until I saw it in the newspapers the other day I had not the 
 slightest impression that any testimonial was to be presented to 
 me, and until this moment I had not heard the most remote inti- 
 mation as to the form which that testimonial would assume. I 
 simply saw that there was to be one, and that I was to respond to 
 the presentation speech, and thus I had not only to prepare the ser- 
 mon after I reached this place, but had to anticipate the text. I 
 feel and have felt for two or three days a twofold throb of grati- 
 tude, beating, swelling, surging in my heart — a pulsation of grati- 
 tude first, of course, to the great God of all, " from whom all 
 blessings flow," and next to this people. 
 
 Certainly it has been not through accident, but through the 
 kindly providence of God for wise purposes that material of such 
 quality as that which came to us crystallized around this church. 
 It is often said that God sifted the old nations to find a seed 
 wherewith to plant our own. I would not dare to say that 
 God sifted the other churches to find the seed wherewith to 
 plant our own church, for after the sifting only the bran is left, 
 
108 MONDAY EVENING EXERCISES. 
 
 and the parallel would not hold good, for I am sure there is some- 
 thing besides bran in the Old Tenth Church from which we sprang, 
 and in the Old Central Church that has given us some of our most 
 precious treasures, and from which Mr. Junldn came, and he is 
 a specimen of them. No, it was not so much a process of sifting 
 as of selecting the materials that came to us in this period of 
 twenty-five years, which have so entirely coalesced and, like kin- 
 dred dro[)s, so thoroughly mingled in one harmonious whole ; and 
 I have never been able to account for it except as a special mani- 
 festation of the wonderful goodness of God. It is true that we 
 have at times been called upon to exercise a little wisdom in the 
 matter. At the outset, when our church Avas but a mere hand- 
 ful, I had a peculiar experience in that regard. A lady came 
 to my study, of whom it is saying very little to say that she 
 was eloquent. If there are tongues hung in the middle and that 
 play at both ends, she had such a tongue. I do not know that 
 she had ever read Junius's letters, but she was strangely fluent 
 in denunciation, and in the use of epithets of vituperatioiu She 
 came from Mr. Barnes's church, and she abused Mr. Barnes, his 
 elders and his people, and indeed she had not gone very far before 
 I said to myself: " Well, my good lady, we can get along without 
 you," I took her certificate, rept)rted it to the Session, and they 
 unanimously refused to receive it. She was very anxious to know 
 the reason of this, and I told her if she would write to the Ses- 
 sion it would, if it chose so to do, make the explanation. She 
 went away and became a member of another denomination, and 
 — we escaped that mercy ! (Appreciative merriment.) But with 
 that one exception all who have come to us thus far have come 
 with Avarm hearts. And I repeat, I have never been able fully to 
 understand that unity and kindly feeling which has ever distin- 
 guished the intercourse of the members of our church and its offi- 
 cers, and especially do I fail to fully understand that revelation of 
 it that has been made to me here within the past few days. It is 
 indeed a revelation. I knew very well there was kindness here 
 and kindness there, but I never dreamed of all this wealth of 
 kindly feeling that has now been developed. We are in our na- 
 tures bad enough, it is true, but after all there is a great deal in 
 human nature that is to be commended, and one of the evidences 
 of the fact is before our eyes in the record of this night and of the 
 
MONDAY EYEXIXG EXEECISES. 109 
 
 past few days when, upon so slight a pretext as the arrival of this 
 twenty-fifth annniversary, the people have rushed to do these mag- 
 nificent things. 
 
 As Mr. Junkin has said, it has not been this little coterie or that 
 one that has done this; the work has been that of all the church, 
 from my young friend who occupies the chair here (alluding to 
 Gustavus S. Benson, Esq.) clear up to the oldest member of the 
 infant class ! I could not understand yesterday why the eves of 
 the children, always bright, were glimmering and glistening 
 when mine met theirs as we sat here. I knew that I Avas to 
 pronounce my benediction upon them, but I did not know until 
 the close of services that they had been M'aiting to pour their 
 benediction upon me. Every little heart was beating high with 
 interest in the offering of that beautiful tribute. And so it has 
 ever been. I feel very grateful to God, and I feel very grateful 
 to this people and to this community. It has been well demon- 
 strated in the course of these proceedings that this people are a 
 people of large hearts; that they are a people who shut their eyes 
 to imperfections; that they are a people who put the best interpre- 
 tation upon things that might be misinterpreted; that they are 
 everything that any pastor on this planet could desire. I have 
 always felt it to be so, and I am more than ever impressed with 
 the fact to-night. I do not pretend to say it is by any means a 
 surprise to me to find the members of a church entertaining kindly 
 feelings toward the pastor, because I have occupied the place of a 
 member of a congregation myself and have known what it was to 
 have a pastor. In the home of my widowed mother, in New York, 
 I knew very well, and all there knew very well, that if there was 
 ever need of sympathy, if there was ever need of counsel, if there 
 was ever need of service, there was one man on Manhattan Island 
 who coLdd always be appealed to with the certainty of a prompt 
 and favorable response, — our dearly beloved pastor. Dr. John ^NI. 
 Krebs. It is not surprising that such a feeling should exist be- 
 tween pastor and people, because, as they advance in years, the 
 pastor necessarily becomes associated with the people in a great 
 variety of relations. I have seen a young man in my congregation 
 on the very edge of the abyss of drunkenness, of profanity, and of 
 everything bad, and I have seen him revolutionized, turning his 
 back upon sin, becoming wealthy, becoming influential, taking a 
 
110 MONDAY EVEXIXG EXERCISES. 
 
 lofty position in society; and that young man knows this day, and 
 he is always ready to acknowledge it, that it was the influence of 
 his pastor, through the blessing of God, that gave him everything 
 he has had in life, Tliese things occur in every congregation. It 
 is not wonderful, tlicrefore, tliat at the end of a pastorate of twenty- 
 five years there should be found those who look toward a pastor, 
 who has been the instrument of serving them thus, as toward a 
 dear friend. Especially is this true in conversions, where souls 
 have been brought from darkness to light through the minis- 
 trations of the pastor. I am reminded here of a minister of 
 our church in other days, a strong man in it, perhaps in many 
 respects the strongest, who was not ovcrtender of the infirmities 
 of his brethren. If he had an object to secure, he did not 
 stop to see whom he trod upon on his way to the goal. But 
 there Mas one man who, whether opposed to him in debate 
 or in any way opposed to him, was always treated by him 
 tenderly and kindly. This was one day the subject of com- 
 ment and he was asked: "Why do you make this exception? 
 Why is it we never hear from your lips a word that might 
 disturb the feelings of that man?" "Ah," he answered, "when 
 I was a poor lost sinner on the way to hell that was the man 
 who took me by the hand and brought me to Jesus. God 
 paralyze my tongue if I ever speak unkindly of him whatever he 
 does." I can understand that feeling. I remember how I used 
 to look upon my pastor, Dr. Ivrebs, and particularly the counsel 
 he gave me on that day when I stood up in the old Rutger Street 
 Church and took the vows of fidelity to God upon my soul. I do 
 not wonder that associations such as those, connected as they are 
 with spiritual blessing and with secular blessing, with scenes of 
 sickness and of death, should arise in the minds of a congregation. 
 The one hundred and four resting-places that lift their little 
 mounds in yonder cemeteries contain the remains of those whom 
 I have follow^ed thither after ministering to them in their suffer- 
 ings, the little child and the aged parent, and I know well that it 
 is possible I should be associated in the memories of many of the 
 members of the families there represented with the most ten^ler 
 and touching scenes of their family history. It could not be other- 
 wise, i can understand all this, but I cannot understand the 
 
MONDAY EVENING EXERCISES. Ill 
 
 breadth, the depth, the length, and the richness of all the kindness 
 I have experienced in Philadelphia. 
 
 Mr. Junkin has strangely said that the harmony of this people 
 and their love of one another has been the work of the pastor. I 
 reply to that, ''Like people, like pastor," and that the influence 
 has come from the other direction. I must not detain you lono-er, 
 and therefore will only add what is thoroughly well known to 
 you, viz., that a band of Ruling Elders superior to those with 
 whom God has blessed this church (call over their names and 
 see who they are), or of Deacons and Trustees more intelligent, 
 more judicious, more kind and loving than those of this church, 
 never were and never will be until the millennium. 
 
 I will not attempt to express my gratitude for this gift. I 
 could not do it. It is to me an utter surprise, and all that I 
 say or can say is, that I accept it and thank you with all my 
 heart. May the Lord bless you, each and all of you. May the 
 Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. 
 INIay the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you 
 peace, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. 
 Amen. 
 
 The "Gloria" (Mozart) having been sung by the choir, 
 The chairman (Mr. Benson) said : We have with us, on the 
 platform, the pastor of the Tenth Presbyterian Church, the foun- 
 tain and source from which sprang this prosperous church. We 
 would be glad to hear from the Rev. Dr. John De Witt. 
 Dr. De Witt responded. 
 
 Address by the Pastor of the Parent Church, Rev. 
 John De Witt, D.'D., Tenth Presbyterian Church. 
 
 Mr. Chairman : I have had occasion, during the last two or 
 three days, to explore the writings and to study the eloquence of 
 John Chrysostom, the golden-mouthed. But this evening I 
 have had the satisfaction of listening to and enjoying the elo- 
 quence of an orator not only golden-mouthed but golden-handed. 
 How were it possible for me to make a speech after such a 
 peroration ! Of course, the services of this evening have reached 
 
112 MONDAY EVENING EXERCISES. 
 
 the zenitli, and must now pass forward and downward toward the 
 nadir. 
 
 I have profound regret that my poor voice must take the place 
 of a voice now silent in death, that Dr. Breed aptly described, 
 some time ago, as "the sound of silver chimes." But such as it 
 is, I have very great pleasure in raising it, first of all to thank you 
 for the opportunity you have given to the Tenth Church to be heard 
 upon this most joyous occasion. We congratulate you upon the life 
 that you have lived. The Tenth Church, I may be permitted to say, 
 with due modesty, as its pastor, has done many noble things, but it 
 is our opinion that never was anything done more worthy of praise 
 by the Tenth Church than when, at the suggestion of its distin- 
 guished pastor (Dr. Boardman), it sent these thirty-four godly men 
 and women out to establish this Church. We rejoice in your 
 success, in your devotion to the truth of God, in your large benev- 
 olence ; and we pray God that as you have begun so He will make 
 you to abound more and more. 
 
 Here, perhaps I ought to close; but I cannot take my seat 
 without congratulating you upon your noble, revered, honored, 
 and beloved pastor, though that is superfluous after what has 
 taken place to-night. Hather let me congratulate you that you 
 have the intelligence, the goodi>ess, and the generosity to appre- 
 ciate him, and in so noble a way to manifest your appreciation. 
 I pray that the spirit of this good hour may be perpetual. 
 I trust that nothing, certainly not old age, — though I pray 
 that God will grant him twenty-five years longer,— that noth- 
 ing, certainly not old age, will be suffered to sever the relation 
 that now exists between him and his people. T trust that he 
 shall stand here when silver hairs shall crown his head; and 
 that he shall continue to be what he is to this people, until the 
 call shall come that shall summon him from his abundant labors 
 to his heavenly reward. 
 
 The Chairman : The Presbyterian Board of Ptiblication, as 
 you know, is the publication house of the whole Presbyterian 
 Church of the United States, and our pastor. Rev. Dr. Breed, is the 
 President of that Board. An invitation to attend this, our festival, 
 was conveyed by me to the Board of Publication ; it was promptly 
 
MONDAY EVENING EXERCISES. 113 
 
 accepted and, witli a burst of enthusiasm, the Board unanimously 
 appointed Dr. J. Addison Henry, of the Princeton Church, West 
 Philadelphia, to be their spokesman in conveying their congratula- 
 tions on this occasion. Dr. Henry will now address you. 
 
 Address froini the Presbyterian Board of Publication, 
 BY Rev. J. Addison Henry, D.D. 
 
 I do not know, my friends, why the Board of Publication 
 should have appointed me with such a "burst of enthusiasm" to 
 represent them upon this occasion. Perhaps, however, I may 
 think of the reason. That is a ponderous institution — we publish 
 no light literature — and therefore it is perfectly in keeping that 
 the heaviest member of the board should have been appointed 
 to represent the board here this evening. (Merriment.) I was 
 perfectly willing, Mr. Chairman, to be present, although I should 
 have been glad if some other brother had taken this place. It was 
 whispered to me, as I was leaving the board that afternoon, after 
 my appointment, that, before that, the session of this church or the 
 committee of arrangements had thought of me to represent the 
 Central Presbytery of Philadelphia. I think I must mention the 
 Central Presbytery of Philadelphia here, and therefore I refer to 
 that fact. AVe are across the line — north of Market Street. It is 
 not true of us, as it was of the Jews and Samaritans of old, that 
 we have " no dealings," and yet we are not altogether one. We 
 have amicably separated, and we feel as though we are sisters. 
 
 "We seem not one, 
 And yet not two ; 
 But look alike, 
 As sisters do." 
 
 (Renewed merriment.) 
 
 I do not know how sisters act when they are together in the family, 
 but I take it for granted they are always peaceable and harmonious. 
 I have had but one sister, and therefore have not had the oppor- 
 tunity to observe. But we are very harmonious ! There is one 
 thing, however, I wish to say about these presbyteries. If an over- 
 ture comes down from the General Assembly to be ratified by the 
 presbyteries, and if it passes unanimously in the Presbytery of 
 
114 MONDAY EYEXIXG EXERCISES. 
 
 Philadclpliia, you may be sure it is going to be lost in the Central 
 Presbytery — that you may be sure of ! (General relaxation.) Now 
 to-morrow we are going to act in the Central Presbytery upon the 
 Overtures on the reorganization of Synods ; I do not know what 
 action will be taken, but I am willing to surmise that that over- 
 ture will be lost in that presbytery. I do not suppose it is because 
 of any spirit of contrariness, but perhaps because of this feeling, 
 that it is necessary to keep up the balance of power somehow, and 
 that, as the world is taking notice of us, if they notice tlie Presby- 
 tery of Philadelphia they must notice the Central Presbytery. 
 
 To-night I do not know whether I am in a solemn mood or not, 
 I rather think I am not in a solemn mood, and therefore you will 
 excuse me for these remarks. I heard of a lady who had a gentle- 
 man friend, but one who, though a little tardy, finally made his 
 proposal ; and upon being asked how she felt about it, she replied 
 that "she felt as if every nail in the house was a jewsharp," she 
 was so happy. I can understand that in some degree. Now, why 
 should not we all be happy ? I suppose you, sir (addressing Dr.- 
 Breed), recollect the time when this bride came to you on the Ohio 
 and proposed to you and you accepted the proposal, and I think that 
 after these twenty-five years of labor you ought to be happy. You 
 are not situated as I was yesterday when, upon commencing my 
 sermon, I observed a bat circling around the church. I noticed him 
 for awhile, but my sermon being written, I had to keep my eyes 
 upon that, and only caught sight of the bat occasionally but, un- 
 fortunately, in his career, he constantly made his circles around my 
 head. Now, sir, you have not a bat after you to-night but a whole 
 battery, and they are firing bouquets at you. Every gun of the 
 battery fires a bouquet. I am sure you are ha]>py to-night after 
 all these years of labor. And for the most of the time I have been 
 at your side laboring in the city of Philadelphia. You were here 
 a little before me, but we represent forty-six years of labor, and I 
 think we have stood it pretty well. We have heard of those men 
 who go from church to church because they think their health is 
 improv^ed by it, but here we are; you are a little thinner than I 
 am, but I have always noticed that thin men are better for a long 
 race, and I am a little afraid of you after all. (Increased merri- 
 ment.) Old General Finley said on one occasion, "Give me an 
 old minister and a young doctor, and I am well fixed." I suppose 
 
MONDAY EVENING EXERCISES. . 115 
 
 he meant by that not exactly that he wanted an old man for a 
 minister, but that he wanted one who understood the spiritual 
 wants of his family and who was intensely interested in him ; while 
 he preferred a young doctor because such a one would be very care- 
 ful. It was proper for him to make use of an expression such as that' 
 
 But there is one thing to be borne in mind, my friends. While 
 you talk of your minister and make him out such a perfect exem- 
 plar, you must know it is possible for him to teach doctrine that is 
 not consonant with the teachings of our Confession. Before I came 
 here, just four hours ago, a lady in West Philadelphia told me that 
 on one occasion she had a little grandson in an infant class, and 
 that Dr. Breed, being called on to deliver an address to that infant 
 class, said among other things : " If you have an old habit that 
 is of no use, discard it. If I had a watch that would not go, I 
 would take it to a jeweller, and if then it would not go I would 
 almost break it up." She added that that little boy had a short 
 time before borrowed a watch from his father, that it would not 
 go, and that a little time afterwards his mother heard a noise up- 
 stairs and found it was the child smashing up the watch. " What 
 do you think of that?" she asked. 
 
 My friends, this is a grand occasion, and I am gratified to hear 
 that the people of this church are always ready to meet their en- 
 gagements. They are not like the Baptist church in Baltimore 
 that I heard of, that was in very deep water, very much embarrassed 
 with debt. The minister was asked why the church was shut up, 
 and he said " it was because they could not keep their heads above 
 water." But that is not the case with you. I want now to show to 
 you, as briefly as I can, what has been accomplished by this church 
 in the last nine years. In looking over the minutes of the Gen- 
 eral Assembly in my possession for the years from 1871 to 1881, 
 I found that I had mislaid the year 1874, and therefore I cannot 
 report as to that year, but in the remaining nine years of the decade 
 I find that 191 persons joined this church on profession and 146 on 
 certificate, making a total of 337. That is equal to 37 plus per year. 
 It may be true this church has not as large a communion roll as 
 some of the other churches, but do not tell me how large a church 
 is, but tell me how they have given of their means. This church, 
 in that time, has given to home missions $26,096 — an average of 
 $2899.50 per year — so that they have been keeping, for the last 
 
116 . MONDAY EVENING EXERCISES. 
 
 three years, three missionaries all the time upon our frontier. They 
 have given to foreign missions $15,031 — an average of $1670 per 
 year, sufficient to sustain two foreign missionaries. They have given 
 to education $11,489, or $1 270 plus per year, enough to assist eight 
 young men all the time for these years, in their studies for the min- 
 istry. They have given to publication $8458, or $939 plus yearly. 
 The next highest church on the list — I will not mention the name of 
 the church — gave to publication in those nine years $2349. This 
 church, as appears here, gave to publication $8458! They ha.ve 
 been able all the time to keep two colporteurs in the field; so that 
 while they have been working here, while they have been building 
 up this church, freeing it of debt, sustaining their minister and giving 
 their money to Presbyterian councils, they have all the time been 
 supporting fifteen workers out in the field. Now, my friends, if you 
 can point me to any other church in the city of Philadelphia that 
 has a history of twenty-five years, and has had but a single pastor, 
 and that has done anything like as well as that, then, as my friend, 
 Dr. Nevin, would say: "I will submit the question." 
 
 (Turning to Dr. Breed): My dear brother: I congratulate you 
 to-night. These anniversaries are pleasant. I passed through one 
 of them last summer, when my dear people gave me the funds 
 wherewith to go to Europe. I wish these anniversaries could be 
 repeated every year! (Good humor.) 
 
 The Hallelujah Chorus (Handel) was grandly rendered by the 
 choir. 
 
 The Chairman then said : The gentleman who will now address 
 you was a college-mate of our pastor. After sitting side by side 
 for four years, they have since met yearly at a class-meeting. I 
 present to you William Allen Butler, Esq., of New York, the 
 author of many poems, at least one of which, " Nothing to Wear," 
 many of you have read, and who therefore, to many of you, will 
 doubtless seem like an old friend. 
 
 Mr. Butler responded as follows : 
 
 Address by William Allen Butler, LL.D., 
 
 OF New York City. 
 
 i)/r. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen: It is seldom that an 
 
 entire stranger is made at home in a family gathering, and it is 
 
 perhaps still more seldom that a New York lawyer has the oppor- 
 
MONDAY EVENlXCt EXERCISES. 117 
 
 tiinity of vouching for a Philadelphia clergyman. The Philadel- 
 phia lawyer we know all about, — we Ijave heard of him for a period 
 during which the memory of man runs not to the contrary, — but 
 I have learned a great deal to-night about the Philadelphia clergy- 
 man that I never knew before. You have heard the larp;e salaries 
 which are said to be paid to clergymen in New York (and they 
 are none too large) accounted for on the theory that it is harder 
 work to convert people in New York than anywhere else. I 
 should judge that it was the easiest work in Philadelphia from 
 what I have heard to-night. But what has puzzled me as I sat 
 here has been to know why my excellent friend, Dr. Breed, who 
 celebrates with you so happily to-night the twenty-fifth anniversary 
 of your union, should not have been content to let well enough 
 alone, to prove up his record of twenty-five years, without wanting 
 to go back into a period which is covered by all the statutes of 
 limitations and call a witness to testify to what he was forty years 
 ago. I have always had the greatest faith in his absolute Presby- 
 terianism. That he should engage in a work of supererogation 
 is something I did not expect, and I have asked myself why it is 
 that I should be brought from a distant city, after so many attesta- 
 tions here in respect to his character, his services, the w^ork he has 
 done, and the estimation in which he has been held, to give my 
 testimony as to what happened, as I say, in that remote past. 
 
 But I am called upon and presented by your excellent chairman 
 as a sort of prehistoric character. (Merriment.) I am brought 
 here from a remote antiquity, and I am called upon to give what 
 account I can in reference to the early history of my friend and 
 your pastor. If I could get the young people together somewhere, 
 I have no doubt I could entertain them for some time with a sketch 
 of his early life and surroundings; but that is impracticable. I 
 accept the situation just as it is, — the only thing, I believe, that 
 can be done with a situation when it is offered, — and I will say, 
 in regard to him, that I sat by his side, owing to the coincidence 
 in the initial letters of our names, upon the hard benches of the 
 New York University, his alma mater and mine — an institution 
 which, though not as conspicuous, perhaps, as some other educa- 
 tional institutions in the country, yet gave to him an education 
 which seems to have sufficed pretty well in Philadelphia, and gave 
 to me and to some others an education which has enabled us to get 
 
118 MONDAY EVENING EXERCISES. 
 
 along in tlie city of New York; an institution in whose building, 
 I may say in passing, the first experiments ever made in this 
 country in the science and art of the electric telegraph took 
 place; in whose building the first human countenance that the 
 sun ever printed here upon any surface was taken; an institu- 
 tion which has numbered among its professors, and those who 
 have presided over it, some of the most distinguished scliolars 
 of the country; and which has sent forth not a few faithful labor- 
 ers in different walks of professional life. During that four years 
 of course I had an opportunity of setting your pastor a good ex- 
 ample. (General good-humor, which was renewed with many of 
 the sentences which follow.) How he profited I leave for you to 
 say. I will say that if he was engaged in any violations of duty 
 or breaches of decorum, he had the rare faculty of not being found 
 out. And I M'ill say further that he began, at a very early period 
 of his career, the practice of that art at which he seems to have 
 become a perfect adept here, of winning golden opinions from all 
 sorts of men. He has often translated some hard passages for me. 
 He says there is something here to-night that he cannot under- 
 stand — that he cannot understand the love and affection of his 
 people for him. I think I can translate that. "The child is 
 father of the man." The pure virgin gold, beaten and hammered 
 and melted in the crucible, comes out always the same i)erfect 
 metal that it was at the beginning; and I am only too happy to 
 assure him, — knowing as I do the absolute sincerity with which 
 I speak, and testing by that the sincerity of those who, though 
 strangers to me, are speaking., a common language with me to- 
 night, — I am happy to assure him, and I say it from the depths 
 of my heart, that I find in all the words of praise and of satisfac- 
 tion that have been uttered here to-night only the echoes of those 
 memories which belong to our early friendship of twoscore years 
 ago. 
 
 I am most happy to be able to be with you to-night and with 
 my old friend, your pastor, and with his friends of a quarter of a 
 century, and I have been deeply impressed with what I have heard. 
 It has seemed to me that to any one coming in, as I have done, 
 from outside your happy circle^, taking a place here upon the plat- 
 form, looking into his face and into yours, and listening to all these 
 evidences of your happiness, of your satisfaction, of your mutual 
 
MONDAY EVENING EXERCISES. 119 
 
 congratulations, there could hardly be a stronger or a more satis- 
 factory proof of the reality, and the power of that religion 
 which binds us together in these ties of church relationship. 
 "What is the secret of this harmony, of this happiness, of this or- 
 ganized force for Christian work? It is not alone adherence to 
 the same doctrines however firmly held. It is not alone adhesion 
 to the same form of church government, or to the same creed, or 
 to the same methods of worship. Xo, I think we find the secret 
 of it in that personal trust and devotion to the ond" divine-human 
 friend and Saviour, whose sacrificial death and whose living love 
 binds his followers together in these sacred relations, of which the 
 highest consummation shall be the fulfilment of his own ]n'omise, 
 that there shall be "one fold and one shepherd." And, in its 
 measure, this Christian church, through these last twenty-five 
 years, has realized upon earth "one fold, one shepherd." What a 
 wealth of association and what a divine energy are wrapt up in that 
 thought! There are joys here with which a stranger cannot inter- 
 meddle, and there is also a power which, it seems to me, we should 
 take note of, not only as it expresses itself in your labors of love 
 and in your mutual congratulations to-night, but as it affects the 
 world without and society at large. It is the Christian church, as 
 we see it represented here, an organized living force, united by faith 
 to its omnipotent head, which is the real conservator of society 
 and of everything which makes life valuable; and I think the 
 world knows and recognizes this fact perhaps far more than we 
 are willing to suppose. ISTo matter how they may be led astray 
 from time to time by those influences that are adverse and disin- 
 tegrating, I think that men in general feel that it is well the Chris- 
 tian church, as an organized body, should mark the boundaries of 
 sacred times and seasons. I think they believe that it is well 
 that it should stretch out its arms of mercy to the poor and the 
 neglected, and that if should call the little children to its heart. 
 I think they believe it is well that the marriage tie should have 
 the sanctions of religion, and well that the minister of the gospel 
 should stand with authority by the bed of the dying, and at the 
 bier of the dead, and utter there the only words that can bring 
 consolation and hope. I believe that to-day our English- 
 speaking race, which is on tiptoe to catch the changes and vari- 
 ations that have been made in the New Testament in the recent 
 
120 MONDAY EVENING EXERCISES. 
 
 emendations of the scholars of Christendom, who are v/aiting and 
 watching, I say, to see what changes have been made in tliat 
 sacred volume, regard the church as an element of preservation, 
 of safety, and of succor to a far greater degree than in the pre- 
 cincts of ecclesiastical bodies, or in our church organizations, we 
 are willing to admit to be the fact. I think the proof of that 
 you will find to be manifest if you will look into it. I have 
 been impressed to-night with the influence which such a gather- 
 ing as this, for such a purpose as this, upon such a record as will 
 be made up here to-night, ought to have upon the community 
 around you. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, I thank you for the privilege you have given me 
 of speaking in this presence to-night. I know that while language 
 is very inadequate at times to express the feelings which a speaker 
 desires to utter you will accept the testimony I have given as a 
 simple expression of a friendship which began at a past day, and 
 which no divergence of professional pursuits and no lapse of time 
 have been able to disturb. 
 
 My friends, as the chairman has said, I have met your pastor 
 from year to year except when unavoidable circumstances prevented ; 
 and while college friendships are often strong and permanent, I 
 doubt whether any stronger or more permanent have survived than 
 those which have existed between the members of the class to which 
 he and I belonged. For thirty -seven years we have been in the 
 habit of meeting together yearly and exchanging our congratula- 
 tions, and in that way, — although only once during the whole time 
 ha^'e I heard your pastor preach here, we have kept our early 
 friendship unbroken and unmarred. And I am sure his devotion 
 to his church, his devotion to the sacred calling to which he has 
 committed himself, and in which he has attained such high dis- 
 tinction, will be unremitting. According to the story told by the 
 last speaker (Dr. Henry), your pastor's faith in a watch depends 
 on its works ; you need not fear to apply the practical test he has 
 thus given to himself in every sphere of duty and service. I be- 
 lieve that nowhere will be found one who fulfils in a higher degree 
 that spirit of devotion which should characterize not only its min- 
 istry but its members, to a church like the Presbyterian Church. 
 The name of George Herbert is dear to all of us as that of the 
 church poet of England, but it was reserved for a New England 
 
MONDAY EVENING EXERCISES. 121 
 
 divine, of greater repute, perhaps, as a theologian than as a poet, 
 in simpler strains than those of Herbert, but in lines familiar and 
 dear to all of us, to express that spirit of loyalty and devotion : 
 
 " I love Tliy kingdom, Lord, 
 The house of Thy abode, 
 The churcli our Blessed Redeemer saved 
 With His own precious blood. 
 
 " For her my tears shall fall. 
 For her my prayers ascend ; 
 To her my cares and toils be given, 
 Till care and toil shall end." 
 
 This is the spirit that seems to breathe through this assembly 
 to-night. I see it in the glad faces of your children. I know that 
 its lights of memory and hope play upon the experiences of those 
 who best know the history of this church, of those who are best 
 acquainted with all it has gone through in these twenty-five years 
 and of those who look forward with the most tender interest to 
 its future; and I can only join in the hopes, that have been ex- 
 pressed here to-night, that its future may be bright and joyous as 
 the past has been, and, above all, that it may always retain that 
 divine likeness which has the promise of this world and of that 
 which is to come. 
 
 The Chairman : We expect now to have a greeting from the 
 grand old church of John Wesley, the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, in the person of Rev. O. H. Tiffany, re])resenting a de- 
 nomination which has the reputation "of building a church every 
 day. 
 
 Dr. Tiffany responded : 
 
 Address by Rev. O. H. Tiffany, D.D., of Arch Street 
 M. E. Church. 
 
 It is ray great pleasure, Mr. Chairman, to participate in these 
 services, and I desire to express my thanks to the committee for 
 the privilege of presenting in person my hearty congratulations 
 to both church and pastor. The occasion is one to which, as a 
 Methodist, I am unaccustomed ; for by reason of the peculiar polity 
 of our church it is not given to any one of us ever to celebrate a 
 
122 MONDAY EVEXIXG EXERCISES. 
 
 silver anniv^ersary of pliglited pastoral vows. But it is given 
 to us to have hearts large enough to rejoice with those who do 
 rejoice under such realizations. It is to me a great satisfaction to 
 be able in this presence to know, and to express the knowledge, 
 that the recognition, in kindness and in fraternal expression, of 
 Christian brotherhood is reciprocated wherever it is made manifest 
 ill the church of the present day. While it is specially delightful 
 to you all to review the successes which have marked the past five 
 and twenty years in your experience, it will also be exceedingly 
 wise if we shall take advantage of the occasion to recognize the ad- 
 vancing catholicity of the Avhole Christian world, — which on the 
 occasion of a local celebration like this sends greeting to its 
 friends, — that the world as it looks on may say, " Behold how 
 good and how pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together 
 in unity." 
 
 But if I am not much mistaken, Mr. Chairman, I am not the first 
 Methodist who has had to do with the history of this West Spruce 
 Street Presbyterian Church, for as I heard you allude so familiarly 
 to Adam Clarke, our first great commentator, and invite these 
 people to your love-feast and speak of the class-meetings which 
 your pastor had enjoyed in all these years, I said to myself, 
 " Methodism has had something to do with this Presbyterian 
 church and with this chairman, for his speech bewrayeth him." 
 
 I am glad to be here to-night and to assert that however differ- 
 ently our creeds may be ])h rased, and however differently the 
 forms in which we worship God may seem to those who only look 
 upon and observe them, I am a brother in Christ with the dear good 
 man whose life and influence have wrought such good among you 
 all. As a brother in Christ I can say to him, out of my heart to- 
 night, " God-speed," and I can say to you, his flock, " The Lord 
 God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as 
 ye are, and bless you as He has promised." I can do this because, 
 underneath all these differentials of creed and of form, there is in 
 every Christian heart an integral binding principle of life. The 
 world does not see this ; the world fails to discover it, and so the 
 world accounts mere separation as antagonism, for it does not dis- 
 tin*ruish between the eternal and universal church and that tem- 
 porary denomination or sect to which you and I and all of us 
 belong. But wc who have been touched by the spirit of Christ 
 
MONDAY EVENING EXERCISES. 123 
 
 and who have been permitted to look upon events with Chris- 
 tian thonghtfulness, we understand well the infinite dignity of 
 the Rock of Ages, and the absolute littleness of the temporary 
 homes we build against its giant breast, and we know full well 
 there is place and room enough for us all. These separate churches, 
 after all, what are they but divisions of God's militant hosts? We 
 are all enlisted under one banner. We all obey the voice and the 
 command of the one Captain. We all exult in each other's success. 
 We shall all shout in the final triumph and shall all join in singing 
 unto Him who has loved us and washed us from our sins in His 
 own blood. " Unto Him be glory and honor and domination and 
 power forever;" for we all exjject to join the General Assembly of 
 the first-born in Heaven. 
 
 The Chairman : We expected to see the Baptist Church 
 represented to-night by Dr. Henson, but an unavoidable engage- 
 ment has prevented him from coming. His letter of regret will 
 now be read to you by R. Dale Benson. 
 
 Colonel R. Dale Benson complied with the call upon him as 
 follows : 
 
 Mr. Chairman, the letter receiv^ed from Dr. Henson is addressed 
 to the Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Speakers, and reads as 
 follows : 
 
 Letter from Rev. P. S. Henson, D.D., of the Memorial 
 Baptist Church. 
 
 Philadelphia, April 4th, 1881. 
 
 My dear Brother: I grieve exceedingly that imperative business requires 
 nie to leave the city to-day, so that I shall be deprived of the greatly coveted 
 privilege of participating in the high festivities of your " Quarter-century 
 Anniversary." 
 
 In these restless, changeful days a quarter-century pastorate is alike phenom- 
 enal and beautiful. It is a fact more eloquent than any eulogy that could be 
 framed in words. It is a demonstration that he who laid tiie foundations of the 
 West Spruce Street Presbyterian Church was a wise master-builder, and wrought 
 into the structure not straw, and wood, and hay, and stubble, but gold, and silver, 
 and precious stones. It is a beautiful illustj-ation of the "survival of the fittest." 
 
 During the last quarter of a century the country has been swept by the wildest 
 sensationalism, and in deference to the demands of "advanced thought," not a 
 few of our supposed-to-be foremost men liave thought it necessary to forsake the 
 simplicity that is in Christ .Jesus, and to preach another gospel, which is yet not 
 another. The pastor of the West Spruce Street Presbyterian Church, unmoved 
 by the clamor for novelties, and relying upon the plain Word of God and the 
 
124 MONDAY EVENING EXERCISES. 
 
 mi^litv power of the Spirit of Gor], has swerved not a hair's hreadtli from the 
 "old paths," and now, as a consequence, after a quarter century of pastoral 
 experience, stands in the midst of a rejoicing people in the fulness of unwasted 
 strength, and of undecayed popularity. 
 
 Let the rising ministry lay to heart the lesson which this anniversary teaches. 
 Having been myself a pastor in Philadelphia for more than twenty years, and 
 dm-ing this score of years having been more or less intimately associated with 
 the happy groom of this silver wedding, I am not surprised at the strength of his 
 hold upon the confidence and aflfections of his people. 
 
 May the Lord long spare him and give to the cluirches many more like him. 
 
 Fraternally, yours, 
 
 P. S. Henson, 
 Pastor Memorial Baptist Church. 
 
 The Chairman : I would state to the meeting that the Presby- 
 tery of Philadelphia, at its session held to-day, upon receiving an 
 invitation from the committee of this church to be present on this 
 occasion, appointed a delegation to extend to us their congratu- 
 lations. That delegation is now present, and will be represented 
 by Rev. R. M. Patterson. The time, therefore, which would have 
 been allotted to Dr. Henson, if he had been present, will now be 
 given to Dr. Patterson. 
 
 Dr. Patterson responded as follows : 
 
 Greeting from the Presbytery of Philadelphia — Ad- 
 dress BY Pev. Pt. M. Patterson, D.D. 
 
 3Ir. Chairman: My words shall be specially few because it is 
 late and I am not on the printed programme. I am the bearer of 
 a missive from your Presbytery to the church. 
 
 The Presbytery, at its Quarterly Meeting this afternoon, re- 
 ceived an invitation from the committee in charge of these exer- 
 cises to be present to-night ; and, upon the announcement of its 
 receipt, adopted a minute, which I will read. The minute is as 
 follows : 
 
 " The Presbytery has, with peculiar gratification, received and 
 entered upon its records the invitation of the West Spruce Street 
 Church to attend the interesting services which are to be held this 
 evening in commemoration of the organization of that church 
 twenty-five years ago. Under a standing rule a popular meeting 
 with the congregation of the Hope Chapel was arranged for before it 
 was known that these services were to be held. As, therefore, it 
 will not be possible for the Presbytery to accept the invitation in 
 
MONDAY EVENING EXERCISES. 125 
 
 a body, a committee of three members is hereby appointed to con- 
 vey to the West Spruce Street congregation an expression of the 
 deep pleasure with which the Presbytery witnesses the prosperous 
 completion of the first quarter of a century's existence of that 
 church under the unbroken ministrations of their first pastor, — a 
 brother greatly beloved ; and an assurance of its earnest prayer tliat 
 the tie between pastor and people may be severed only by a far- 
 distant death, and that their union may continue to be one of 
 abundant and ever-growing usefulness and joy." 
 
 In pursuance of that minute, I was associated with the Rev. 
 Robert Adair and Samuel C Perkins, Esq., as the committee to 
 represent the Presbytery here to-night. • 
 
 I will only say to you, Dr. Breed, in the name of your Presby- 
 tery, that that body has, with the most intense satisfaction, fol- 
 lowed this church. This is one of its children. The parent is 
 proud of the child. And I will say to you, members of this 
 church, in the name of your Presbytery, that no man on our roll 
 is more deeply beloved than is your ])astor, nor is there one more 
 highly esteemed or more trusted by h.is brethren in the ministry. 
 We love him; we admire him ; we have found him one of the 
 most faithful of Presbyters in every way. He has been one of our 
 hard-working ministers ; and very frequently he has represented 
 the Presbytery in the General Assembly — always with credit to 
 himself and to the honor of the Presbytery. 
 
 I am specially happy to be able to say to you that at its 
 meeting this afternoon Presbytery again appointed him the first 
 of its three representatives to the General Assembly, which meets 
 next month in Buffalo. We thought this a very pleasant tribute 
 to pay to him just at this time. One who for twenty-five years 
 has been the pastor of one of its most prosperous churches will 
 be a worthy representative of the body in the General Assembly. 
 
 I will only add that our hope is that the future will be like 
 the past — that the years to come will be like the years that have 
 gone. I saw it stated recently that an old minister gave, as 
 the reason for never having left his church, that when he felt 
 out of humor with the people, the people would not let him go ; 
 and that when the people felt out of iiumor with him he would not 
 go. 1 know. Dr. Breed, that you have never felt out of humor 
 with this people ; I know that you, my friends, will tell us you 
 
126 MONDAY EVENING EXERCISES. 
 
 have never felt out of humor with your pastor; we feel asssured 
 that such will continue to be true of both of you. The Presbytery 
 hopes that it will never be called upon to dissolve the pastoral re- 
 lation which it constituted twenty-five years ago, and as you, my 
 good brother, invoked upon the people, so, in the name of that 
 Presbytery, would I, upon both pastor and people invoke, the old 
 benediction : " The Lord bless you and keep you ; the Lord make 
 His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you ; the Lord lift 
 up His countenance upon you and give you peace." 
 Several voices : " Amen !" 
 
 CLOSING EXERCISES. 
 
 The Chairman : I am sure you will all join me in an expression 
 of thanks to these brethren who have given us their greetings to- 
 night in such affectionate and eloquent terms. 
 
 These exercises are drawing to a close, and we will now join the 
 choir in singing two verses of the well-known hymn, as follows: 
 
 Blest be the tie that binds 
 
 Our hearts in Christian love ; 
 The fellowship of kindred minds 
 
 Is like to that above. 
 
 When we asunder part, 
 
 It gives US inward pain ; 
 But we shall still be joined in heart, 
 
 And hope to meet again. 
 
 Upon the conclusion of the hymn, the Doxology, sung by choir 
 and audience, ended the formal services: 
 
 Praise God, from whom all blessings flow ; 
 Praise Him, all creatures here below ; 
 Praise Him above, ye heavenly host ; 
 t Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 
 
 Reception by the Pastor. 
 
 The regular order of exercises was followed by a reception by 
 the pastor, during which all the audience improved the opportu- 
 tunity afforded them to clasp the hand of the honored guest of the 
 evening, and personally to assure him of their appreciation of and 
 affection for him. 
 
To THE Session and Members of the West Spruce Street 
 Presbyterian Church, Ppiiladelphia : 
 
 Dear Brethren: ^Ye have received your kind and welcome 
 letter, announcing to us the fact that you purpose celebrating the 
 twenty-fifth anniversary of your church's organization by special 
 services, to which you invite our congregation. We thank you cor- 
 dially for the invitation, and we wish that we might close our 
 house of worship on the morning of the 3d of April and listen 
 with you to the historical discourse, then to be delivered by the 
 Rev. Dr. Breed. But, though circumstances prevent this, our 
 pastor will have great pleasure in announcing on next Sunday the 
 fact that such a discourse will be delivered, and doubtless many of 
 our congregation will avail themselves of the opportunity of lis- 
 tening to the narrative of the career of a sister church, in which 
 the Tenth Church must always be profoundly interested. We 
 shall have great pleasure in being present at the other services. 
 
 Meanwhile, in our own behalf, and in behalf of our congrega- 
 tion, we give thanks to God for the special favor which he has 
 shown to you as a church, and for the large opportunities for use- 
 fulness which the present and the future open to you. And we 
 pray that as you have begun so the Lord will make you abound, 
 more and more. 
 
 Especially do we rejoice with you in the fact that you have still 
 with you your first pastor, as laborious and as fluthful as at the 
 beginning of his ministry in Philadelphia, deservedly enjoying, in 
 a larger measure than ever before, the affection and respect of the 
 church of Christ, and the confidence of the city in which we dwell. 
 We unite with you in the fervent prayer that he may be with you 
 for many years, and that the great Head of the Church will con- 
 tinue to crown his labors with the Divine blessing. 
 
 AVishing you grace, mercy, and peace, we are, dear brethren, 
 Faithfully yours. 
 The Session of the Tenth Presbyterian Church of 
 Philadelphia, by John De Witt, Moderator. 
 
 Philadelphia, 24tli March, 188L 
 
/ 
 
 /