THE STORY 
 
 .. iHlRTlETH 
 ANNIVERSARY 
 
 NORCROSS 
 
BX 9211 .P472 N67 1899 
 Norcross, George, 1838-1915 
 The story of a thirtieth 
 anniversary 
 
^:r7^s^/^-^;j^ 
 
:S^ OF PRIivTif^ 
 
 THE STORY 
 
 OF 
 
 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 HEV. GEORGE NORCUOSS, D. D, 
 
 IN THK 
 
 SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 
 
 CARLISLE, PA. 
 
 Published by the Board of Trustees. 
 
 CARLISLE, PA.: 
 
 Heuald Steam Print, 
 1899. 
 
" But in his duty prompt at every call, 
 He watch'd and wept, he pray'd and felt, for all ; 
 And, as a bird each fond endearment tries 
 To tempt its new-fledg'd offspring to the skies, 
 He tried each art, reprov'd each dull delay, 
 AUur'd to brighter worlds, and led the way." 
 
 — Goldsmith. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 A record like the following needs no apology and 
 I tut little explanation. It was quite in the historic 
 spirit that this ovation was tendered and accepted. 
 The pastorate whicih is here honored has one feature 
 that is unique: it is the only pastorate in the his- 
 tory of the Presbyterian Church in Carlisle that has 
 reached the tigure of thirty years. 
 
 At a meeting of the Board of Trustees, Second 
 Presbyterian Church, Carlisle, Pa., November 14, 
 1898, it was noted that " our beloved pastor. Rev. 
 Dr. Norcross is about completing thirty years of 
 service in this Church," and it was declared " fitting 
 that this event should be observed and celebrated 
 by the congregation." A committee was then ap- 
 pointed to secure " the proper and suitable obser- 
 vance of said anniversary. 
 
 To carry out the considerate purpose of the Board, 
 the co-operation of the Session and all " the different 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 societies of the Church " was sought and ohtained. 
 The following pages will remain the permanent 
 memorial of these historical services, and they are 
 now given to the public at the unanimous request of 
 the Board adopted January 23, 1899. At the same 
 meeting " A. G. Miller and D. M. Graham were 
 appointed a committee to act in connection with Dr. 
 Norcross in editing the book." 
 
 To carry out the purpose of the congregation a 
 circular letter of invitation and a programme of 
 exercises were prepared, copies of which may be 
 found on the following pages. 
 
 Carlise, Pa., March 8, 1899. 
 
rilUECH OFFICERS. 5 
 
 The Secoud Presbyterian Church, 
 
 Carisle, Pa. 
 Rev. George Norcross, D. D. Pastor. 
 
 ELDERS. 
 
 Joseph A. Stuart, Andrew Blair, 
 
 John A. Means, John C. Eckels, 
 
 George McMillen, Wm. B. Beitzel. 
 
 DEACONS. 
 
 ^\'ln. Scott Coyle, Dalbert W. Houston. 
 
 BOARD OF TRUSTEES. 
 
 Duncan M. Graham, Esq., President. 
 
 Robert C. Lamberton, Secretary. 
 Walter Stuart, T. J. Parmley, 
 
 W. Scott Coyle, Geo. M. Bosler, 
 
 W. Chalmers Stuart, A. F. Bedford, 
 
 Dr. Thomas Stewart, Robert B. Weaver, 
 
 James R. Means, Wm. Graham, 
 
 A. G. Miller, Esq., E. J. Gardner, 
 
 W. Duncan Green. 
 
6 . GENERAL INVITATION. 
 
 You are cordially invited to attend the 
 
 ANNIVERSARY SERVICES ' 
 
 to be observed 
 in connection with the celebration of 
 
 THE THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE 
 
 of the 
 
 Rev. GEORaE Norcross, D. D., 
 
 in the Second Presbyterian Church, 
 
 Carlisle, Pennsylvania. 
 
 These services will be held on Sabbath, 
 
 New Year's Day, 
 
 and on Monday, January 2, 1899. 
 
 Signed on behalf of the Congregation, 
 
 By order of the Committee, 
 
 A. G-. Miller, 
 
 Chairman. 
 Carlisle, Pa., December 15, 1898. 
 
1869. 1899. 
 
 PROGRAMME. 
 
 SABBxiTH, JANUARY 1, 11 A. M. 
 Anthkm — "No Shadows Yonder," 
 
 — GauVs Holy CUij. 
 Historical Sermon — Rev. Geo. Norcross, D. D. 
 Anniversary Hymn — " The Pilgrim Host." 
 
 Now rest, ye pilgrim host 
 
 Look back upon your way, 
 The mountains climbed, the torrents crossed. 
 
 Through many a weary day. 
 From this victorious height, 
 
 How fair the past appears, 
 God's grace and glory shining bright 
 
 On all the bygone years. 
 
 " How many at His call, 
 
 Have parted from our throng ! 
 They watch us from the crystal wall, 
 
 And echo back our song. 
 They rest beyond complaints, 
 
 Beyoud all sighs and tears ; 
 Praise be to God for all His saints 
 
 Who wrought in bygone years. 
 
 " The banners they upbore 
 
 Our hands still lift on high ; 
 The Lord they followed evermore 
 To us is also nigh. 
 
S A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 Arise, arise, and tread 
 
 The future without fears ; 
 He leadeth still, whose hand hath led 
 
 Through all the bygone years. 
 
 " When we have reached the home 
 
 We seek with weary feet, 
 Our children's children still shall come 
 
 To keep these ranks complete ; 
 And He, whose host is one 
 
 Throughout the countless spheres, 
 Will guide His marching servants on 
 
 Through everlasting years." 
 
 SABBATH, 2.30 P. M. 
 
 Anthem — "Hark, Hark, My Soul." 
 
 — H Rowe Shelley. 
 
 Historical Address — John Hays, Esq. 
 
 Subject, " Civil Liberty and Presbyterianism." 
 
 SABBATH, 7 P. M. 
 
 Pv,EV. Wm. a. West, President of Metzger College, 
 
 Presiding. 
 
 Addresses. 
 
 Pev. J. Agnew Crawford, D. D., Chambersburg, Pa. — 
 
 " The Ministry, the Glory of Christ." 
 
 Rev. William H. Logan, Princess Anne, Md. — 
 
 " The Advantages of a Long Pastorate." 
 Eev. W. T. L. Kieffer, Milton, Pa.— 
 
 " What I Know About This Church and Pastor." 
 
PROGRAMME. 'J 
 
 MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2.30 P. M. 
 
 Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, D. D., Presiding. 
 
 Anthem, By tho Choir. 
 
 addresses. 
 Rev. Wm. A. McCarrell, Shippensburg, Pa.— 
 
 " The Ideal Cliureh." 
 
 Rev. H. G. Stoetzer, Mooi'edale, Pa. — 
 
 " The Pastor'.s Band." 
 
 Pvev. Mervin J. Eckels, D. D., Philadelphia, Pa.— 
 " The Comparative Advantages of Country and 
 City Pastorates." 
 Rev. Sheldon Jackson, D. D., LL. D., Washington, 
 D. C— 
 " Outlook of the Church for the 20th Century." 
 
 MONDAY, 7 P. M. 
 
 Duncan M. Graham, Esq., President of the Board 
 
 of Trustees, Presiding. 
 
 Musical Selection — " Was it Angels ?" 
 
 // ]]'. Pnrlrr. 
 
 Short Addresses of Congratulation by Hon. R. M. 
 
 Henderson, Dr. W. M. Frysinger, Dr. H. B. Wile, 
 
 Rev. A. N. Hagerty, Rev. Geo. H. Bucher, Rev. 
 
 Robert F. McClean, President Reed and others. 
 
 RECEPTION. 
 
 For Dr. and Mrs. Norcross, given by the ladies of 
 
 the congregation in the church parlors. 
 
10 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 COMMITTEES. 
 
 Committee from Board of Trustees — D. M. Gni- 
 ham, Esq., Chairman; A. G. Miller, Esq., W. 
 Chalmers Stuart, James E,. Means, T. J. Parmley, 
 E. J. Gardner and Pl. B. AVeaver, Secretary. 
 
 Committee on Programme and Invitations — A. 
 G. Miller, Esq., Chairman ; Major Pi. H. Pratt, 
 W. Chalmers Stuart, James R. Means, E. J. Gard- 
 ner, George McMillan, A. F. Bedford, D. W. 
 Houston, R. A. Bucher, Rev. W. A. West and W. 
 Linn McCullough. 
 
 Committee on Finance — Dr. W. Z. Bentz, Chair- 
 man ; W. Scott Coyle, James R. Means, Frank 
 C. Bosler, T. J. Parmley, W. B. Beitzel, Max 
 Cochran, Dr. S. S. Bishop, Robert H. Pioyer and 
 Robert M. Stuart. 
 
 Committee on Music and Decoration — Mrs. J. S. 
 Bender, Chairman ; Mr. John Pv. Bland, Choir 
 Master; Mrs. John Hays, Mrs. E. W. Biddle, 
 Mrs. Walter Beall, Mrs. Jas. W. Dale, Miss Jean 
 Piichards, Mrs. Thos. A. Harper, Mrs. Wm. Ken- 
 nedy, Mrs. Jos. McKeehan and Miss Lizzie Hal- 
 bert. Organist. 
 
 Committee on Reception and Entertainment — 
 Mrs. 8. A. McDowell, Chairman; Mrs. S. J. 
 Beetem, Mrs. Ellen Parker, Mrs. Annie E. Zag, 
 Miss Virginia H. McClellan, Mrs. Wm. Graham, 
 Mrs. John Heber Murray, Mrs. Daniel S. Craig- 
 head, Miss Mary E. Bosler, Miss Mary Stuart, 
 Miss Fleta Bosler, Mrs. A. H. Colwell, Mrs. A. 
 A. Thomson, Mrs. Mary L. Biddle and Mrs. E. 
 J. Gardner. 
 
HISTORICAL SERMON 
 
 BY THE PASTOR, 
 
 REV. GEORGP] NORCROSS, D. D. 
 
 " That which we have seen and heard de- 
 clare WE UNTO YOU." — I. John i : 3. 
 
 The religion of the Bible is historical. It is 
 founded on great facts and the testimony of eye- 
 witnesses. Though enemies without and traitors 
 within the Church are doing their best to discredit 
 the historical basis of the Old and New Testaments, 
 these efforts will end in defeat, because the founda- 
 tion of our holy religion is historic truth. " We 
 have not followed cunningly devised fables," said the 
 great leader of the Apostolic College ; and the be- 
 loved disciple, John, echoes the same sentiment when 
 he declares in the words of our text, " That which 
 we have seen and heard declare we unto you." 
 
 It is true that some men have imagined that a re- 
 ligion disentangled entirely from all historical asso- 
 ciations, and commending itself immediately to the 
 soul by its mere intrinsic beauty and excellence. 
 
12 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSAKY. 
 
 would be an ideal . system of devotion. But, what- 
 ever might be thought of such a scheme, it would 
 be a gross abuse of words to call it Christianity. 
 That holy religion which was taught by Christ and 
 His apostles was certainly an historical religion — a 
 religion made up of matters of fact, and propounded 
 as historical verities by men who, at the risk of life 
 itself, declared, " We cannot but speak the things 
 which we have seen and heard." 
 
 As the cycling ages roll away this testimony of 
 experience is ever increasing. The myriad host who 
 have died in the triumphs of the faith have gone to 
 swell the list of " infallible proofs" that the Church 
 of Christ, which was originally founded on facts, is 
 ever growing more and more by the increase of facts 
 into the divine ideal of that mystical temple of God. 
 which will contain every " living stone" in the eter- 
 nal plan. 
 
 It is the privilege of every worker to add his mite 
 to this ever-increasing collection of facts. To have 
 lived and wrought in the last half of the nineteenth 
 century is no common privilege ; to let it pass in 
 " dumb forgetfulness" would be a failure to give God 
 the !j:;lory that is due unto His name. 
 
HISTORICAL SERMON. 13 
 
 In this spirit of thanksgiving we are hero this 
 morning ; and, as we raise our stone of El^enezer, 
 we say devoutly, " Hitherto hath the Lord helped 
 us !" We recall all the way which the Lord our 
 God hath led us, and would say reverently, " That 
 which we have seen and heard declare we unto 
 you." 
 
 Five years ago to-day we tried to put on record 
 the history of this particular Church for a quarter 
 of a century. It would be quite useless to repeat 
 the story now. By your courtesy it was committed 
 then carefully to the sure keeping of " the art pre- 
 servative," and there let it rest. But we have other 
 relations to the Church and the world around us 
 which we must not forget. Let us make a study of 
 these wider relations to-day. Let us recall the his- 
 tory of our times, and see, if possible, what God is 
 teaching by the fast-hurrying events of this nine- 
 teenth century, now grown grey and old. 
 
 '• For 1 doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose 
 
 runs. 
 And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of 
 
 the suns." 
 
 In the affairs of human life there is a time-hon- 
 ored distinction of sacred and secular, or of the holy 
 and profane ; and while it may be seriously ques- 
 
14 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 tioned whether the division is very exact, yet, in a 
 general way, .it must be confessed there is, and 
 ought to be, a wide distinction between the Church 
 and the world. The Church as an indwelling, in- 
 spiring influence, has much more to do than men 
 generally suppose in shaping the history of the 
 world. Who of us doubts that a reformed Church 
 and an open Bible have given the Anglo-Saxon race 
 for the last two centuries a predominant influence in 
 the politics of the world ? Who cannot see that 
 during the same time a corrupt and apostate Church 
 has been like a millstone hanged about the neck of 
 unhappy Spain ? 
 
 But, without making a digression into the burn- 
 ing questions of the hour, let us follow the lines al- 
 ready indicated, and study 
 
 I. The Experiences of the Church during the last 
 half-century. 
 
 It is true that this is only a Thirtieth Anniver- 
 sary, but if we would really understand this period, 
 we must go back a little and estimate the influences 
 already at work. 
 
 1. Naturally our first concern is with our own 
 denomination — the Presbyterian Church. 
 
HISTORICAL SERMON. 15 
 
 It will soon be two hundred years since the 
 mother Presbytery of Philadelphia was organized. 
 Scattering churches had existed for thirty or forty 
 yeai^ before that time. There was one division of 
 the Church during last centuiy, which was healed 
 after a few years of separation. But the saddest 
 division our Church has experienced occurred about 
 sixty years ago. 
 
 It so happened under the good providence of God 
 that for a few years my family were connected with 
 the New School branch of the Church ; but when in 
 1844 we removed to the West our lot was cast in 
 the midst of an Old School Church, where I grew up 
 to manhood. Perhaps this personal experience has 
 enabled me to understand the spirit of the two sides 
 better than as though all my relations had been 
 with one party. 
 
 The diiference of opinion in the Presbyterian 
 Church was not so much over doctrine as polity. 
 It is true that the patience of the Church was sorely 
 taxed by some men who rushed into print with loud 
 professions of improvements in theology and the re- 
 pudiation of the systems in which they had been 
 taught; but since the smoke of controversy has 
 cleared away this loud outcry seems to have indica- 
 
16 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 ted ebullitions of personal conceit rather than seri- 
 ous and general differences in doctrine. The un- 
 wise course of such men helped greatly to distract 
 the Churchy and they were responsible for the spirit 
 of distrust which so widely prevailed among con- 
 servative people. 
 
 When, however, the time for reunion came both 
 parties claimed that they accepted the Westminster 
 system in good faith. Honest Presbyterians could 
 hardly have done that, if there had been really 
 much difference of doctrine between the two branches 
 of the American Church. 
 
 The real difference had been one of polity or 
 church administration. There had always been a 
 close bond between the Puritan Churches of New 
 England and the Presbyterian Churches of the Mid- 
 dle and Southern States. They both accepted the 
 doctrinal system of the Westminster fathers, but 
 they differed in their methods of church govern- 
 ment. The Independent system became dominant 
 in New England, and finally absorbed almost all the 
 Presbyterianisra which at one time had settled in 
 that region. We know that a Presbytery of Lon- 
 donderry existed for forty years, and so numerous 
 were Presbyterians in New England that a Synod 
 
IMSTOIIICAL SERMON. 17 
 
 was organized, and continued for some time, but 
 was finally absorbed in the State establishment of 
 Congregationalism. 
 
 When the streams of influence bei2;an to move out 
 toward the West, Independency and Presbytery be- 
 gan to touch in New York, Ohio and other west- 
 ern fields, and then came a curious blending of in- 
 terests, and often a union of incongruous methods. 
 The New England man had been accustomed to 
 one way of doing things in the church and the 
 Presbyterian had been accustomed to another way. 
 Both knew they were right ; neither one w^ould 
 yield much, and so the " conflict of opposing and 
 enduring forces" began, and who could tell where it 
 would end ? 
 
 In the interest of peace and amity a " Plan of 
 Union" was adopted by the Churches of New Eng- 
 land, represented by the Association of Connecticut 
 and the General i\.ssembly of the Presbyterian 
 Church. This proved to be an effort to mix oil and 
 water — only a mechanical union resulted. In the 
 end the " Plan" was repudiated by both parties. 
 But a large number of Churches came into exist- 
 ence, which in polity were neither Congregational 
 nor Presbyterian. They were, however, nominally 
 
18 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 in the Presbyterian Church, and sent " Committee- 
 men" instead of Elders to the General Assembly. 
 
 The Congregational Churches of New England 
 had a system of "■ Voluntary Societies" for the pros- 
 ecution of Home and Foreign Mission work. Men 
 who had either grown up in New England, or been 
 educated there, looked upon these societies with 
 favor, but the Presbyterian party came to regard 
 them all with suspicion, as gradually working the 
 disintegration of the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 These conditions in the Church developed two 
 pretty clearly defined parties. They began to be 
 known as the New School and the Old School, and 
 as these two parties were nearly balanced there was 
 a sharp struggle for the ascendency in every Gen- 
 eral Assembly. '' During seven years, " says Dr. 
 Stearns, ''from 1831 to 1837, inclusive, the New 
 School held the majority in that body five times, 
 and their rivals, the Old School, only twice." 
 Threats were made by what seemed to be the domi- 
 nant party that they had the upper hand, and they 
 were going to keep it. 
 
 In this emergency the leaders of the Old School 
 party felt that the Presbyterian Church must be 
 purged of what in their estimation were alien ele- 
 
HISTORICAL SERMON. 19 
 
 merits. They regarded the " Plan of tTiiion" as the 
 source of all the incongruous matter which had 
 come into the Church, and therefore they thought 
 it not only ill-advised, hut an unconstitutional 
 measure. As they mused over the situation they 
 were prepared for heroic treatment of the Church 
 at the next General Assembly. 
 
 When the Assembly of 1837 was convened it was 
 found that the Old School party had a majority, and 
 they proceeded to declare the " Plan of Union" un- 
 constitutional, and therefore null and void from the 
 beginning. This action brought out a violent pro- 
 test, which received an elaborate answer. 
 
 The votes on test questions in that Assembly 
 showed that the minority was nearly as large as the 
 majority. As the existing discord between the two 
 parties was felt to be intolerable, it was next pro- 
 posed to make an amicable division of the Church. 
 Both parties consented to the proposal. An able 
 committee was appointed to devise a plan, but fail- 
 ing to agree as to methods, they asked to be dis- 
 charged. 
 
 The time for radical measures had come. To save 
 the life of the Church the General Assembly decided 
 to amputate the limb that could not be cured, and 
 
20 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 the four Synods of Western Reserve, Utica, Geneva 
 and Genesee were declared to be " no longer a part 
 of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of 
 America." 
 
 The action certainly seemed very severe at the 
 time and there was a loud outcry against it ; but 
 the subsequent experiences of the New School 
 party when they were left to work alone with the 
 New England societies showed that it was the only 
 way to peace and safety. For quite a number of 
 years the New School brethren tried loyally to 
 work in the way they had honestly defended, but 
 finally they practically adopted the Old School pol- 
 icy and organized their own boards for Home Mis- 
 sion work,, and about the same time the Congrega- 
 tionalists repudiated the "Plan of Union." A good 
 many Churches that had been called nominally 
 Presbyterian dropped all connection with the Pres- 
 byterian Church and became Congregational, and 
 so the way was gradually cleared for the reunion 
 in 1869 and 187t) of all the Churches in the North 
 which were in doctrine and polity Presbyterian. It 
 is certainly creditable to both bodies that after ma- 
 ture deliberation this reunion was consummated be- 
 
HISTORICAL SERMON. 21 
 
 tweeii them on the basis of the " Standards pure 
 and simple." 
 
 The story of this schism in the Presbyterian 
 Church and our recovery from it reminds us of an- 
 other division which still remains a sad reproach to 
 our Presbsterian name. One of the unfortunate 
 consequences of the slavery agitation was the rup- 
 ture which it wrought in the Church oi Christ. The 
 Methodist Church was divided over the question as 
 early as 1845. The New School branch of the 
 Presbyterian Church divided on the question of 
 slavery in 1867, and the Synods of the South form- 
 ed themselves into a body called the United Synod 
 OF THE Presbyterian Church." 
 
 The division of the Old School Presbyterian 
 Church came with the bursting of the bonds which 
 had held the North and the South together as one 
 united country. For some time it had been the 
 boast of the Old School men that their church was 
 one of the strong ties which hol[)ed to maintain the 
 national unity. There was truth in that claim ; 
 but how could men remain in one church when they 
 were fighting each other the whole length of the 
 Mason and Dixon's Line ? The secession came at 
 last, and so intense were the animosities and pre- 
 
22 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 indices of the time that to this day the unhappy 
 l)reach has never been healed. 
 
 On Dec. 4, 1861, the first General Assembly of 
 the Presbyterian Church in the South was convened' 
 at Augusta, Ga, This secession drew off first and 
 last about 700 ministers and 1,200 churches from 
 our connection. A union was formed in 1863 with' 
 the New School Synod of the South. This added' 
 to the Southern Church about 120 ministers and 190 
 churches. Since the closeof the war there has been 
 steady growth in this Church. It is steadfast for 
 the truth, intensely conservative, full of missionary 
 zeal, and ardent in its attachment for all the old 
 Presbyterian ways. It now numbers 1,448 minis- 
 ters and 2,873 churches. It is in fraternal relations 
 with our Church, but every eff'ort at reunion has 
 hitherto failed. We know not what surprises the 
 future may have in store for us, but it does seem 
 that a reunion with these brethren in the South 
 must be inevitable in the end. 
 
 A matter of peculiar interest to our Church is the 
 system of Pan-Presbyterian Councils^ which has been 
 established during my ministry among you. For 
 nearly a quarter of a century there has been a world- 
 wide union of all Presbyterian Churches for mutual 
 
HISTORICAL SERMON. 23 
 
 encouragement and support. In 1876 the General 
 Assembly entered into the "Alliance of the Ke- 
 formed Churches throughout the world holding the 
 Presbyterian system." 
 
 The first General Council on this basis was held 
 in Edinburg, Scotland, the next year, and your pas- 
 tor had the honor of being an " Associate Member" 
 of that notable assembly. It was, indeed, an in- 
 spiring sight. Here were men from every conti- 
 nent of the globe and from nearly every island of 
 the sea. The castle of Heidelberg was once thought 
 to be the capital of the Reformed Faith, but here 
 were the men of Heidelberg feeling more at hom.e 
 in " Auld Reekie" than they would have done on 
 their own crag overlooking the Neckar. 
 
 The Huguenots were once thought to be the lead- 
 ing supporters of their own brother, Calvin, but 
 here was the best that remains of the Huguenots 
 sitting quite at home in Old St. Giles, and uncover- 
 ing reverently at the grave of John Knox. The 
 world of thought is beginning to realize what it 
 owes to " brave little Holland," whom siege and 
 famine and death could not daunt, in the days when 
 the cruel Spanish Alva sought to crush her to the 
 earth. Manv of the brave sons of Dort were there, 
 
24 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 and held an honored place in this, the first Council 
 of the Pteformed Faith. 
 
 It was more than three hundred years since Cran- 
 mer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote to John 
 Calvin, proposing a union of all the Eeformed 
 Churches. In this letter he said : " Our adversa- 
 ries are now holding their Councils at Trent, for the 
 establishment of their errors ; and shall we neglect 
 to call together a godly Synod, for the refutation of 
 error, and for restoring and propagating the truth ?" 
 
 To this proposal Calvin replied most cordially, and 
 declared that to accomplish such a purpose he 
 " would not grudge to cross ten seas." Poor, short- 
 sighted men'! They did not think that after three 
 hundred years the English Church would not be re- 
 formed enough to be interested in such a gathering 
 met for the promotion of a Scriptural faith and 
 polity ; but would be looking back mournfully to the 
 good old times when the Church was not reformed 
 at all. 
 
 But all this recalls some intei*esting events in the 
 history of the English Church during this last half 
 century. After being one of the great bulwarks of 
 Protestantism for more than three hundred years, 
 many of her most illustrious sons seem to be ashamed 
 
HISTORICAL SERMON. 25 
 
 of her past record. A wonderful revolution has 
 been going on in the life-time of some of us here 
 present. The Erastianism which once satislicd at 
 least the High Churchman now satisfies him no 
 longer. There is a loud cry for Church reform. By 
 that one class means changes that would approach 
 Presbyterianism, but another class means the imita- 
 tion of Romanism. The average Churchman has 
 waked up to the fact that the English Estal)lish- 
 ment has long been dominated over by the State in 
 a way thait- is dishonoring to Christ and His cause. 
 
 But to a loyal Presbyterian the Churchman's zeal 
 on this subject often takes an amusing form. Wo 
 can hardly understand how a man in this ago of the 
 world could be willing to go to jail for the privilege 
 of conforming his worship to a fashion set by the 
 Roman apostasy. At this time in the world's his- 
 tory, it seems rather amusing to find a young min- 
 ister honestly considering whether a clergyman is 
 not bound to be a celibate, whether monkery would 
 not be a good thing after all, whether the Reforma- 
 tion of the 16th Century was not a mistake, whether 
 it would not be advisable to strike the word " Pro- 
 testant" out of the name of the Church of England. 
 Can vou imagine the amused interest or in<lignin)t 
 
26 A THIETIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 scorn with wkicli John Calvin would have regarded 
 Mr. Gladstone's act of interviewing the Pope to 
 know whether the orders of the English Church 
 were valid or not ? I think the little tractate 
 which the great reformer would have written on the 
 subject would have made very interesting reading, 
 
 "Well, well, it is not our affair, but in taking a 
 glance at all the world we can hardly be blamed for 
 noticing an institution that looms up as large as the 
 Established Church of England, After all we can 
 not believe that the sturdy sense of the English 
 people will succumb to the follies of these reaction- 
 ists. The sensible people in the establishment will 
 find themselves helped by the strong evangelical 
 spirit of the Dissenters, and England will never lose 
 her place as the bulwark of Protestantism. 
 
 But surely this hasty review of the Church would 
 not be complete without noticing the singular fort- 
 unes of that venerable system which accepts as its 
 Head the Pope of Rome. To the theologian or the 
 student of Church History, the Church of Rome has 
 in our day made two conspicuous advances in that 
 downward course which began with the subtle move- 
 ment of " THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY " which the 
 
 Apostle Paul noted as already working in his day. 
 
HISTORICAL SERMON. 27 
 
 One of these new departures for the worse was the 
 adoption by the Church of an old specuhition con- 
 cerning the '' Immacuhite Conception of the Virgin 
 Mary, " the other was the adoption of the dogma 
 concerning "the Supremacy and Iiifallihility of the 
 Pope." 
 
 The doctrine of the TmmacuUite Conception of the 
 Virgin Marv, which means that she was born per- 
 fectly free from the taint of Ol-ig-inal Sin, was much 
 debated from the 12th to th-e 14th Century. In oth- 
 er words, it was an open question, even among the 
 fiiithful, and it remained so until the 8th of Decem- 
 ber, 1854, when this new artick' was added to the 
 creed of the Roman Church. St. Bernard, St. 
 Thomas Aquinas, the Dominicans, and many more 
 had opposed the doctrine as unscriptural and un- 
 reasonable; but Pope Pius IX having sent a circular 
 to all the bishops of his Church throughout the world,- 
 and having obtained the assent of a large majority 
 of them, publicly declared this monstrous heresy to 
 be a doctrine of the Church, and every good Cath- 
 olic must believe it now on pain of dam-nation. 
 
 The dogma of the Pope's Infallibility was also an 
 advance on the former position of the Pv.oman Church' 
 on this subject. She had novcr cl aimed mon^ than 
 
28 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 that the Church was infallible. Some held tha.t this 
 infallibility resided in a Council, some that it was 
 in the Pope, while others thought that it was in both 
 united. But in 1870 the Vatican Council promul- 
 gated the doctrine of the Pope's Infallibility in all 
 its bald ofFensiveness, though it was opposed by many 
 at that time in good standing in the Church. It re- 
 sulted in a schism in the Roman Communion, and 
 the formation of the "Old Catholic Church," under 
 the lead of the great scholar, Doellinger. 
 
 To many Protestant minds this dogma filled the 
 cup of that Apostasy which St. Paul predicted would 
 come in the Church of God, and completed the pic- 
 ture of " the man of sin" who would exalt himself, 
 " so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, 
 showing himself that he is God" (2 Thess. ii. 4). 
 
 Students of prophecy had long predicted that the 
 latter part of this century would witness overwhelm- 
 ing changes in that great Apostasy foretold as com- 
 ing in the Church of God. It is a curious fact that 
 as soon as this dogma of the Pope's Infallibility was 
 promulgated, the Emperor of the French was com- 
 pelled to withdraw his forces from Pi,ome, where they 
 had kept the Pope on his throne of temporal author- 
 ity. As the French went out, the army of united 
 
HISTORICAL SEKMi'tN. 29 
 
 Italy, under Victor Emmanuel, came in, and the 
 Infallible Pope retired before his loving children to 
 the Vatican, where he has been playing at " pris- 
 oner's base" ever since. 
 
 It is also interesting to note that the cause of 
 haste on the part of the Emperor, Louis Napoleon, 
 in withdrawing his troops from the support of the 
 " Holy Father" was the threatened avalanche from 
 Protestant Germany, where the Lutheran King of 
 Prussia was furbishing his sword for that conflict, 
 which, in a short time, crowned him in the palace 
 of Versailles the Emperor of United Germany. 
 Surely he must be blind who cannot see in all this 
 the finger of God. 
 
 Did time permit, it would be very interesting to 
 review more at length the progress of the Church at 
 large. Even the very conservative Greek Church 
 has been considerably modified by Evangelical mis- 
 sionaries from the West. 
 
 The Lutheran Church of Germany has in a 
 measure recovered from the palsy of Rationalism, 
 which rested like an incubus upon it during the first 
 half of this century. Our brethren, the Waldenses, 
 have entered on a career of evangelization through- 
 out the whole extent of Italy, and are now as much 
 
30 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 petted as they were once persecuted by the House 
 of Savoy. 
 
 The Evangelical Churches of this country are 
 striving with generous emulation to take the land 
 for Christ, and are more than ever inclined to mag- 
 nify the fundamentals in which they agree and to 
 minify the non-essentials in which they differ. A 
 spirit of missionary zeal has taken possession of 
 every branch of the Church, which promises the 
 speedy evangelization of our lost world. The signs 
 that " the morning cometh" are so bright that we 
 seem to hear the Spirit of G-od saying to a tempest- 
 tossed Church, " Look up, and lift up your heads ; 
 for your redemption draweth nigh." 
 
 II. But now turning to the more secular aspects 
 of histoiy, let us review the events which have 
 crowded the last half of this Century. 
 
 Some of you will remember the rejoicings in 1850 
 over the Compromise Measures by Congress, which 
 it was hoped would bring peace to the country then 
 dangerously agitated over the question of slavery. 
 The history of the next ten years showed that the 
 subject of slavery could not be kept out of politics. 
 The national conscience was not at ease, and could 
 not be quieted by any kind of compromise ; while 
 
HISTOKICAL SERMON. 31 
 
 tlie friends of " the patriarchal institution " were 
 defending their practice of slave-holding by the ex- 
 ample of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as the cham- 
 pions of polygamy in Utah are doing to-day. These 
 fiery spirits at the South were getting more indig- 
 nant every day over their imaginary wrongs, and 
 finally the Presidential election in 1860 was made 
 the pretext for precipitating on the country all the 
 horrors of a civil war. 
 
 The people had become accustomed to sectional 
 threats, but many thought them idle vaporings only 
 intended for political effect. The apathy of the 
 country under the reports of treasonable movements 
 in the South now seems almost incredible. But all 
 this was suddenly changed when the infatuation of 
 treason fired on Fort Sumter. Suddenly the North 
 rose up like a young giant awaked out of sleep. The 
 indignation at this insult to the national flag knew 
 no bounds. It swept like a flame from Maine to 
 California, and all party ties were consumed before it. 
 
 This generation can never forget the anxieties, 
 the sufferings, the sorrows, the awful bereavements 
 of the next five years culminating in the tragic 
 death of him whom the great mass of the })Cojile had 
 come to trust and love as the father of liis couutrv. 
 
32 A THIETIETH ANNIVERSARY, 
 
 It will be impossible to follow the fortunes of the 
 fight during all those weary years. But what need 
 is there ? You can read them to-day in the scars 
 which those events cut deep and during on your own 
 hearts. 
 
 To the people of Carlisle, however, the struggle 
 assumed an awful significance when finally the tide 
 of war came sweeping near their homes. Many of 
 you remember the alarms of that quiet summer 
 when the storm of conflict burst in upon your peace- 
 ful valley and the thunder of artillery demanded 
 the surrender of this ancient and honorable bor- 
 ough, and the time-honored buildings at the Gar- 
 rison were wrapt in flames, and the flying shells 
 were screaming high in the air over homes that had 
 never known the fright of war before. A few of 
 you can remember the far awa}^ boom of that ter- 
 rific cannonade, which around the neighboring town 
 of Gettysburg was settling for us all the uncertain 
 question of national destiny. Who of you then liv- 
 ing can ever forget the agony of those days ? You 
 did not know then, as we do now, that the waves of 
 rebellion had reached their highest water mark that 
 fateful summer. But so it was, and as we stand on 
 the summit of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg 
 
IlI.STOr.ICAL SERMON. 33 
 
 where President Lincoln pronounced his immortal 
 eulogy over those dead heroes who had given their 
 lives for the unity of the nation, we see in imagina- 
 tion the crest of that wave of frantic rebellion as it 
 rises in Pickett's desperate charge, and breaks .at 
 the feet of the boys in blue, and sinks awav in hope- 
 less repulse. 
 
 There was serious work still to be done, for the 
 demon of sectional hate was hard to cast out. But 
 the Federal forces had found a leader in " the great- 
 est Captain of the age." It was said of the reticent 
 Von Moltke that " he could hold his tongue in nine 
 languages." General Grant was undoubtedlv the 
 equal of the great German both in genius and reti- 
 cence. In the deep dark shades of the " Wilder- 
 ness" the fight went on for awdiile ; but at last even 
 the gallant leader of the " Lost Cause," Gen, Eobert 
 E. Lee, the darling of the South, gave the signal 
 for surrender — the two great chiefs met with every 
 mark of courtesy and consideration at Appomattox 
 Court House, such terms of capitulation were agreed 
 on as even the South pronounced generous and hon- 
 orable, and the War of the Great Ptebellion Wiis 
 over. 
 
34 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 In the awful heats of that conflict were melted the 
 shackels of a race of bondmen, and God solved the 
 problem of slavery, which had proved too hard for 
 our statesmen. It is His prerogative to overrule 
 evil for good, and it is quite remarkable how the 
 whole country has recovered its sense of unity, and 
 how the men, who once stood glaring at each other 
 in the deadly strife of battle now sit around the 
 same camp-fires in friendly converse, and live over 
 again the stirring scenes of that awful time. 
 
 We have scarcely heard the sound of fife and 
 drum again, except in gala day procession, until that 
 dull, heavy explosion under the Maine in the 
 treacherous harbor of Havana aroused the nation 
 from its selfish lethargy, and reminded us all that a 
 people capable of such a wanton act of cruel perfidy 
 could not be trusted in the commonwealth of nations 
 with the care of a subject people reduced to the 
 point of starvation by oppression and misgovern- 
 ment. 
 
 Perhaps never in the history of the world was an 
 army gathered in such hot haste. Men needed no 
 urging to enlist ; for their blood was up, and even 
 the children wanted to fight the Spaniards. In a 
 Summer of unusual heat, men were eager to invade 
 
HISTORICAL SERMON. 35 
 
 the tropical climate of Cuba, and face the dc^adly 
 malaria of festering swamps and dare the poisonous 
 breath of the yellow fever, and fight the dastard 
 race who, from the days of the Spanish Armada, 
 had sought the downfall of Anglo-Saxon civil and 
 religious lil)erty. 
 
 Suddenly, like thunder-bolts out of heaven, the 
 vengeance of a free people fell on the forces of Spain, 
 where they hovered like eagles gathered about the 
 carcass of a dying people half the world apart. 
 Certainly, never before in the history of the world 
 were two such naval victories won as that in the 
 Bay of ]\Ianila, which has made the name of Dewey 
 iamous forever, and that which crowned the exciting 
 ehase and capture of Cervera's fleet as it escaped from 
 the narrow-mouthed Harbor of Santiago de Cuba, 
 only to be sunk and destroyed in the blue waters of 
 the Caribbean Sea. 
 
 The wisest of all our publie men cannot tell ex- 
 actly what the outcome of all this will be. But the 
 treaty of peace has been signed at Paris, and the 
 heel of the opjn-essor and the thumb-screw of the 
 Inquisition have heen removed forever from these 
 prostrate Islands, and the door is opened wide foi; 
 the entrance of light and liberty to these benighted 
 
36 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 people, whom the Lord has thus brought out of the 
 darkness, and the shadow of death, and has broken 
 their bands asunder. May God give to the Ameri- 
 can people the wisdom which is needed in these 
 high affairs ! 
 
 But wars are by no means the most important 
 events in national history. They have a wonderful 
 power to arrest the eye, to quicken the pulse, to fire 
 the imagination, and they are often used as God's 
 hammer to shatter hoary abuses ; but after all, 
 war plays but a small part in the real story of na- 
 tions ; let us turn, then, to the triumphs of peace. 
 
 It is difficult to speak in sober terms of the dis- 
 coveries, inventions and improvements of the last 
 fifty years. They have silently changed the intel- 
 lectual and social life of the civilized world. To the 
 men of a former generation, the stor}^ of these tri- 
 umphs of physical science would have sounded like 
 the tales of the Arabian Nights ; to the spirit of the 
 Middle Ages they would have seemed the work of 
 the Black Art. It is not wonderful that their suc- 
 cess has sometimes turned the heads of scientists 
 and made them dream that man is independent of 
 God. Men have not always had the reverence of 
 Joseph Henry in approaching the thunder cloud of 
 
HISTORICAL SERMON. 37 
 
 natural forces, who said to his assistant in electrical 
 experiments, " Uncover your head now, for I am 
 about to ask God a question." 
 
 But already the lever of excitement seems to have 
 passed, and many of these men are acknowledginij; 
 " the sweet reasonableness" of religion, and verify- 
 ing the wise opinion of Bacon, that while a little 
 philosophy inclines men to Atheism, depth in phi- 
 losophy brings them back to religion. 
 
 We can hardly trust ourselves to speak of the 
 development of our own country. We look on with 
 amazement, and can only say, What hath God 
 wrought ? Who lifted the veil from the vista of the 
 misty future, and showed the prophet that the time 
 might come when a nation should be born in a day ? 
 
 Those of us who are in the afternoon of life can 
 remember when the Mississippi river was the some- 
 what indefinite boundary of our Western settle- 
 ments, and all beyond was the Great American 
 Desert and the Rocky Mountains. This was before 
 Whitman stayed the hand of our diplomats at Wash- 
 ington, and saved to the Stars and Stripes the land 
 which the poet of that day described as 
 
38 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY, 
 
 "The continuous woods, 
 Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound 
 Save his own dashings -yet the dead are there ! 
 And millions in those solitudes, since first 
 The flight of years began, have laid them down 
 In their last sleep — the dead reign there alone !" 
 
 AVell, the wand of the magician, or, better still, 
 the breath of God, has passed over the scene, and 
 the reign of death has been invaded, and now the 
 living are there. 
 
 Some of us can remember the day when Thomas 
 H. Benton stood in the United States Senate urging 
 on his somewhat incredulous hearers the claims of 
 his scheme for the construction of a railway to the 
 Pacific Coast. In mind's eye now, we can see the 
 old hero as, with dexter finger pointing toward sun- 
 set, he exclaimed dramatically, " There lies the 
 East !" How little did he dream that before the 
 century would close a half-dozen lines of steel rails 
 would bind the Pacific Slope to the Atlantic Coast. 
 
 But the time fails me to tell all tl\at I intended 
 along these lines of material progress. The mind 
 of man has been busy with the problems of nature 
 in the heavens above and the earth beneath. We 
 have seen space shortened and time annihilated. 
 We have seen the liffhtnins; cauo;ht and harnessed to 
 the car of man, fastened at the crossinas of the 
 
HISTORICAL SERMON. 39 
 
 streets to turn his midnight into day, or sent, like 
 swift angels, to carry his message over river and 
 mountain and down through the awful depths of 
 " the sounding sea." 
 
 And finally, pei'haps most v/onderful of all, by tho 
 mysterious circuits of this unseen agent, man hears 
 the voice of his brother half across the continent, 
 and thus the possibilities of human utterance are 
 multiplied ten thousand fold. 
 
 But, during these later years man has not been 
 satisfied with triumphs over nature ; he has also set 
 about recovering as much as possi])le what has been 
 lost through the ravages of time. The spirit of his- 
 torical research has been very much quickened by 
 the discovery of priceless manuscripts, the decipher- 
 ing of lost languages, and the uncovering of buried 
 cities. The spade of the archaeologist has been 
 richly rewarded l)y the spoils of lost art, the clear 
 record of old inscriptions, and the pompous details 
 of dead empires. How happy is the antiquary as 
 he turns over the stone leaves of this ancient his- 
 tory, deciphers the clay tal^lets which have survived 
 the ruin of empires, and thus rescues from the maw 
 of oblivion the story of the past. 
 
40 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 Many other events of the past few years crowd 
 upon us as worthy of honorable mention, but I may 
 not tax your patience longer in this direction. How- 
 ever, before we close the book, you may Ije ready to 
 ask, What do you think the most impressive lessons 
 of our period ? What has Grod been teaching us by 
 His providences ? Well, to that I would say, 
 
 1. The most impressive lesson of our times is, that 
 the Christian relitrion carries with it the blessina; of 
 God. 
 
 The Christian nations stand in the forefront of 
 national power and progress ; and all the world be- 
 gins to see it. The domination of the world has 
 fallen into the hands of three or four great powers, 
 and these powers are all Christian ; and all the world 
 is saying, What made these lands so great? 
 
 Japan, for example, wants to know the secret of 
 the progress in the Western nations. She begins to 
 see that it is the religion of these nations that lays 
 the foundation for their masterful greatness. She 
 sends her bright young men to America, to England, 
 to France, to -'Germany, that they may learn the 
 secret of our Western civilization. In the great 
 universities noisy skeptics try to put them on the 
 wrong trail, but all in vain. These young men see 
 
HISTORICAL SERMON. 41 
 
 that the Code of Moses and the Sermon on the Mount 
 are the foundation stones on which alone national 
 greatness can be built, and they go back to tell the 
 story. 
 
 Even China, with all her stupid conservatism, be- 
 gins to see it — yes, and to hear it, too, in the roar 
 of the guns which her smart young rival, Japan, so 
 audaciously has trained upon her ports. Egypt and 
 Palestine, India and the Isles of the Sea, are all 
 waking up to the idea that the mighty God of bat- 
 tles is with the Christian nations. 
 
 In the long run, a nation governed by the princi- 
 ples of the Koran cannot cope with one saturated 
 with the truths of the Bible. The lazv quietism of 
 Buddha cannot compete with the tireless activity of 
 the Son of the Carpenter. The car of Juggernaut 
 is not the car of progress. Even a nation which 
 gives half its days to the veneration of the Saints is 
 found to be no match for one that accepts as the law 
 of God, " Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy 
 work ; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the 
 Lord thy God : in it thou shalt not do any work." 
 
 In other words, pure religion has the promise not 
 only of the future life, but of that which must be 
 lived in this work-day world. Man mav imagine 
 
42 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 that he can improve on the law of God, but the issue 
 shows that he is badly mistaken. God is teaching 
 by the fate of nations what He has ordained as the 
 everlasting principles of sound religion for the human 
 race ; and one of the hopeful signs of a coming Mil- 
 lenium is, that the world is beginning to see that 
 the blessing of God abides with those who honor 
 His Son, Jesus Christ. 
 
 2. Another important lesson wdiich God is teach- 
 ing in our day is, that the Church is most successful 
 when independent of the State. 
 
 In those early days of apostolic fervor and sim- 
 plicity, to which all the Church looks back as upon 
 the whole the most successful period of her history, 
 the Church expected no help from the State, and 
 was most happy when she was left alone, even iu 
 contemptuous neglect. It was then that, full of 
 faith and the Holy Ghost, she swept over the known 
 world and planted the cross in every corner of the 
 Roman Empire. 
 
 But with her great success came entangling alli- 
 ances with the State. It was a proud day for the 
 Church when the Emperor Constantine espoused her 
 cause, and called the Council of Nice to settle her 
 faith. But imperial favor was by no means an un- 
 
HISTORICAL SERMON. 43 
 
 mixed good, and the Church has been slow to learn 
 that when she is weak then is she strong, that she 
 cannot safely accept any Head Imt her Adorable 
 Redeemer, and that though kings may be her " nurs- 
 ing fathers," their help may be given in such a way 
 as to palsy her noblest testimony for her Divine 
 Lord and Master. 
 
 One of the great lessons which God is teaching in 
 our land seems to be that the Church not only does 
 not need the help of the State, but is far more suc- 
 cessful without it. Many plausible arguments may 
 be made in favor of political patronage for the 
 Church. It sounds very pious that kings should be 
 "nursing lathers," and that the State should make 
 a profession of religion, and that a Christian nation 
 must support the Christian Church ; liut sad expe- 
 rience has taught us that tlie conquering chariot of 
 Christ cannot be "hitched" to the "star" of any 
 earthly power, however imperial it may Ite in glo- 
 rious majesty. 
 
 The experience of America has shown that the 
 Church is best served by the State when she is left 
 free from political patronage, and dependent on those 
 who accept hei' teaching, love her worship, and de- 
 sire the extension of her beniy;n influence. 
 
44 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 This old question is one of importance, even at 
 the present time, for, though a pure American 
 Church does not ask for State help in any way, a 
 corrupt Church is not only ready to take it, but is 
 constantly plotting raids on the public treasury, and 
 seeking to extend her power through corrupt, politi- 
 cal influence. 
 
 The Roman hierarchy indeed makes loud pro- 
 fessions of only wanting " an open field and no 
 favor;" but the fact remains that E,ome is as ready 
 as ever to take public money to support her schools 
 and her charities, to say nothing of her imposing 
 temples which she loves to exhibit in conspicuous 
 places in every city. All our public men are beset 
 with her cajoleries and threatened with her ven- 
 geance if they fail to do her bidding. May the 
 American people never forget that " the price of 
 liberty is eternal vigilance !" 
 
 3. Now closely related to all thi^ is another les- 
 son which God is teaching, — and that is the need of 
 toleration and charity. 
 
 By this I do not mean that pseudo-charity which 
 is ready to take the devil under its patronage, and 
 allows the altars of Moloch to be built '' fast by the 
 oracle of God," but the charity which is quick to 
 
inSTORICAL SERMON. 45 
 
 note the lineamonts of Christ and is ready to receive 
 all those who bear His divine likeness. 
 
 One of the most lirilliaiit writers of oui- day has 
 called attention to the fact, that God \>y His Provi- 
 dence has compelled the modern world to learn the 
 lesson of toleration by making human existence in- 
 tolerable while Catholic and Protestant sought to 
 exterminate each other. It is not that now they 
 mutuallv accept each other's systems, but that they 
 have learned to tolerate each other, and live to- 
 gether as good neighbors. 
 
 If I rightly judge the signs of tlir timt's, (.Jod in 
 His Providence is compelling this kind of toleration 
 along many different lines. He is making it more 
 impossible every day that any one branch of His 
 Church can ever again dominate the world. It does 
 not seem to be His plan that any one denomination 
 like Aaron's rod should ultimately swallow up all 
 the rest. God is working out a wonderful jn'oljlem 
 for His Church and the woi'ld in this miii|ue land of 
 ours, and one result will be the discovery of what 
 true church unity is. Men will learn in the end 
 that spiritual unity is the divine ideal, and this has 
 always been consistent with considerable diversity. 
 Long ago the apostle assured us that " there are 
 
46 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY, 
 
 differences of administrations, but the same Lord," 
 and when the Church accepts that as true, the dream 
 of outward organic unity will end. 
 
 As Christians we all expect a brighter day to 
 dawn for the Church of God; but the more success- 
 ful the Church is and the larger she grows, the more 
 absolutely unwieldly will be the body if it must all 
 be compressed into one outward, visible organiza- 
 tion. For one I do not believe God ever intended 
 anything of the kind. I look for unity in diversity, 
 and the American Church springing from many 
 historical germs is working out the problem for 
 the world. 
 
 In one sense the Church never seemed so divided 
 as in our land, but the division is more seeming 
 than real. In many cases our separate organiza- 
 tions are little more than a division of the labor to 
 be done for the kingdom of God, We do not repu- 
 diate each other. We do not war against each other 
 as the devil is constantly asserting. On the con- 
 trary we publish it from every pulpit that the Church 
 of God is one. We show it in all our union work ; 
 we confess it by pulpit exchanges where the Church 
 is truly reformed ; we mingle our tears and prayers 
 around the common table of our Lord, and then rise 
 
HISTORICAL SERMON. 47 
 
 Up and tell the reviler of the sacramental host oi 
 God's elect that all Christians are one. 
 
 4. Another lesson which God has been teachin;j; 
 impressively in our times is^that He has the control 
 over all the forces of nature, and all the hearts of 
 men to carry out His own plans. 
 
 It is not hard for theists to believe that 1 lack of 
 all the stellar worlds and behind all the forces of 
 nature there is a first great Cause, who is not only 
 unsearchable in His judgments, but inscrutable in 
 His ways of working. Even Matthew Arnold be- 
 lieved that this world is so organized as to " make 
 for righteousness." But the thoughtful Christian 
 may go farther than this, and say with the firmest 
 conviction of faith, — " All things work together for 
 good to them that love God." 
 
 Those who believe in the promises of divine reve- 
 lation expect a glorious future for a redeemed world. 
 There is an optimism of faith which, with a divine 
 warrant, expects this poor, sin-cursed earth to be 
 filled with the knowledge and glory of God as the 
 waters cover the sea. The people who entertain 
 such high hopes are not surprised when they find 
 God so overruling in past history that gunpowder 
 is discovered when it is necessary to put the serf on 
 
48 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 an equality with his feudal lord ; and the mariner's 
 compass is invented, when God is ready to have the 
 New World uncovered as an asylum for His perse- 
 cuted Church ; and the art of printing is exploited, 
 when He means to have His Word distributed and 
 studied at every hearth-stone ; and steam navigation 
 comes, when He means that " many shall run to and 
 fro, and knowledge shall be increased ;" and new ex- 
 plosives of more deadly power are discovered, when 
 He intends to make the enginery of war so deadly 
 that even the greatest war-captains of the age shall 
 begin to cry out for peace. 
 
 Now we can see that it is along such lines as these 
 that God works and unfolds His plans. In all this 
 we can see the hand of God in the past ; but the 
 same is true in our own times. Every labor-saving 
 machine, every economic device, every crafty inven- 
 tion, every scientific discovery, will be found in the 
 end to hasten on the blessed day of Peace which God 
 has promised. 
 
 It is hard for men to believe it ; Init God is gov- 
 erning the world on a prearranged plan, of which 
 He is the author and the finisher. It is not that 
 man is left with nothing to do — quite the reverse. 
 God's plan is that the holy temple of His Church 
 
HISTORICAL SERMON. 49 
 
 shall be built by the men of His own choice, and 
 that the work shall be done even in troublous times, 
 and that men shall have the privilege of carrying 
 on this holy enter})rise with grand heroic sacrifices, 
 which shall give them fellowship with Christ in His 
 suflerings. Every private that struggled up the 
 hill in the face of shot and shell to take the defences 
 of Santiago last Summer had the consciousness of 
 comradeship and fellowship with the Commander-in- 
 Chief of all our armies. And so it is in the con- 
 quest of this world for Christ. Every private in 
 the army hears the gracious words of his great Cap- 
 tain assuring him " Ye are My friends, if ye do 
 whatsoever I command you." He is the great Cap- 
 tain of our salvation, and all His true followers feel 
 themselves honored to be called by His name, and 
 they would go to the death for Him. 
 
 But it is hard for men to believe that the man 
 who allowed himself to be crucified between two 
 thieves now sits on the mediatorial throne of the 
 universe, and is upholding all things by the word of 
 His power, and is working out the problems of re- 
 demption according to the counsel of His own will, 
 and that His kingdom at last shall fill the earth and 
 embrace the race. 
 
50 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 But now God is teaching just this impressive lesson 
 to those who have ears to hear. He is showing us 
 that He is abundantly able to take care of His own. 
 He assures us in His Word that He is overturning 
 and overturning in the affairs of this world until He 
 shall " come whose right it is," and then '' He shall 
 have dominion frem sea to sea and from the river 
 unto the ends of the earth." The silver and the gold 
 are His, and the cattle on a thousand hills. When 
 they are needed they are brought and laid down as 
 tribute at His feet. The doors may seem shut and 
 bolted, but when the fullness of time has come the 
 doors fly open wide and the King of glory marches 
 in, not, indeed, to the sound of drum and trumpet, 
 for His kingdom cometh not with observation, but 
 in the person of His humble missionaries, who begin 
 the task of uplifting the lowliest, knowing that if we 
 elevate the lowest strata of society we shall lift it all. 
 
 Our blessed Lord blamed the men of His day be- 
 cause they did not study the signs of the times. 
 God forbid that we should fall into the same con- 
 demnation ! We must not only study the Book of 
 Nature and the Book of Providence, but the Book 
 of Divine Revelation, to know what God has in store 
 for His Church. Let us be careful that we are not 
 
HISTORICAL SERMON. 51 
 
 taken by surprise as were His people of old when 
 the greatest glory of their race " suddenly came to 
 Ilis temple." We are rapidly sweeping on to the 
 consummation of all things, to that 
 
 " One far-off divine event, 
 To wliiih the whole creation moves " 
 
 May the Lord open our eyes, that we may under- 
 stand His Word, and hear Him saying, " Can ye not 
 discern the signs of the times ?" 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS, 
 
 CIVIL LIBERTY AND PRESBYTERIANISM, 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN HAYS, ESQ. 
 
 The invitation to address you came with the right 
 to select a subject. The subject should accord with 
 the purpose of these services. They are to show 
 our appreciation of a pastorate over this Presbyte- 
 rian church for nearly the one-half of its sixty-six 
 years of existence. It would seem appropriate, 
 therefore, to consider, from a Layman's standpoint, 
 some of the great steps leading up to the Establish- 
 ment of Civil and Religious Liljerty, as shown by 
 the Form of Government of the United States and 
 of the Presbyterian Church, with a glance at any 
 distinguishing feature in this Church, its Founders, 
 and its local prominence and influence. 
 
 In these closing years of the nineteenth century 
 it is imjiossible to form a just conce})tion of the con- 
 dition of the peo})le at the time Europe began to 
 
54 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 emerge from the darkness of the Middle Ages. One 
 writer says of it : 
 
 " It shoukl be known that there are three condi- 
 " tions of men in this Avorkl : the first is, that of 
 " gentlemen ; and the second is, that of such as are 
 " naturally free, being born of a free mother ; * * 
 " * * the third estate of men is, that of such as 
 " are not free ; and these are not all of one condi- 
 " tion, for some are so subject to their lord that he 
 " may take all they have, alive or dead, and im- 
 " prison them whenever he pleases, being account- 
 " able to none but God ; while others are treated 
 " more gently, from whom their lord can take noth- 
 " ing but customary payments, though at their death 
 " all they have escheats to him" (1). 
 
 This subjection to temporal lords was bad enough, 
 but there was another which was far worse. It em- 
 braced all three of the classes named, and it was the 
 subjection of all to the power and exactions of the 
 so-called Church and Ministers of God. 
 
 A writer says of these Ministers of God : 
 
 " Practically they alone baptized and married peo- 
 " pie (though unmarried themselves). They had the 
 
 (1) Beaumenoir— as quotecl by HaUam in "Middle Ages," 
 Vol. 1, pp. 196-198 and 199. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 55 
 
 " charge of men on their death beds ; they alone 
 " buried, and could refuse christian burial in the 
 " churchyards. They regulated the disposition of 
 " the goods of deceased persons. When a man 
 " made a will it had to be proven in their Eccle- 
 " siastical Courts. If men disputed their claims, 
 " doubted their teaching, or rebelled from their doc- 
 " trines, they virtually condemned them to the 
 " stake, by handing them over to the civil power, 
 " which acted in submission to their dictates (1). 
 
 A Catholic writer says : 
 
 " I see that we can scarcely get anything from 
 "Christ's ministers but for money; at baptism, 
 " money ; at bishoping, money ; at marriage, money ; 
 " for confession, money ; — no, not extreme unction 
 " without money. They will ring no bells without 
 " money ; so that itseemeth that Paradise is shut up 
 " from them that have no money. The rich is bur- 
 " ied in the Church, the poor in the churchyard. 
 " The rich man may marry with his nearest kin, 
 " but the poor not so, albeit he be ready to die for 
 " love of her. The rich may eat flesh in Lent but 
 "the poor may not, albeit fish perhaps is much 
 
 (1). V. Seebohin,— " The Protestant Kcvolution,"p. 9, in"Epochs 
 of Modern History." 
 
56 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 " dearer. The rich man may readily get large in- 
 " dulgences, but the poor none, because he wanteth 
 " money to pay for them." (1). 
 
 Still another writer says : 
 
 "They have their tenth part of all the corn, 
 " meadows, pasture, grass, wood, colts, calves, lambs, 
 " Q-eese and chickens. Over and besides the tenth 
 
 o 
 
 " part of every servant's wages, wool, milk, honey 
 " wax, cheese and butter; yea, and they look so nar- 
 " rowly after their profits that the poor wife must 
 " be countable to them for every tenth egg, or else 
 " she geteth not her rights at Easter, and shall be 
 " taken as a heretic." (2). 
 
 They held the learning and the learned of the 
 world, — binding unto themselves and for their own 
 purposes those who were not of their own number 
 ]>y the privileges and protection accorded them. 
 Thus they required that criminals against the law 
 of the land, who could read and write, should be 
 turned over to their Ecclesiastical Courts where 
 they could be set free and defy the law. All leam- 
 
 (1) .3uiui De Valdez quoted by F. Seebohm in " The Protest- 
 ant Revolution," in "Epochs ot Modern History," p. 57-8. 
 
 (2) Quoted by F. Seebohni In "The Protestant Revolution" 
 in " Epochs of Moden\ History," p. .58. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 57 
 
 ing, including the Word of God, was covered up in 
 the Latin language that the people might not com- 
 prehend it. (1). 
 
 These ecclesiastics " became the lawyers and dip- 
 " lomatists, ambassadors, Ministers, chancellors and 
 even prime ministers of princes." (2). 
 
 A long line of Cardinal Dukes ruled in the name 
 of Kings and Princes over almost every country in 
 Europe. They encouraged their nominal masters, 
 and shared in their sinful pleasures, in defiance of 
 all laws, — civil or religious. They oppressed the 
 people and waxed mighty in wickedness. 
 
 And yet from this cruel oppression, as we look 
 back, from our present standjioint, over the teeming 
 years as thev rolled by, it seems to have been the 
 <livine purpose to lead the people out of and up to a 
 Ilepublican form of Government in the State and in 
 the Church as surely as the children of Israel were 
 led out of the oppression of Egypt and up to the 
 promised land. 
 
 It required the boldest and most adventurous of 
 many lands to form the admixture known as the 
 
 (1) F. Seebolnii in " The Protestant Revolntion'" in" Epochs 
 ot Modern History," pp. Hand 12 
 
 (2) F. Seebohni.in "The Protestant Revohition " in " Epochs 
 ot Modern History," p. 10. 
 
58 A THIRTIETH ANmVERSARY. 
 
 Anglo-Saxon race. It resulted from successive con- 
 quests, and not from design on part of the mixing 
 elements. The oppression of the people was like 
 unto a grinding between the upper and the nether 
 millstone. To the Anglo-Saxons it was intolerable. 
 They rebelled, and under the leadership of their 
 Barons, as the " Army of God," (1) they wrested, in 
 1215, from their King, for the "community of the 
 whole land," " Magna Charta" (2) — the Great Char- 
 ter of Liberty — whose principles are today embodied 
 in the Constitution and laws of every English- 
 speaking people, and furnish sure protection in the 
 " enjoyment of life, liberty and the pursuit of happi- 
 ness." 
 
 This was the first yreat stej) in the advance to- 
 wards Civil Liberty. 
 
 A century later — in 1315 — some of the Swiss 
 Cantons successfully rebelled against their rulers, 
 and in time formed a confederacy for mutual protec- 
 tion, w^th the motto inscribed upon its flag, " Each 
 for all and all for each" (3). 
 
 It seems now as if that confederacy had been ex- 
 
 (1) History of the EngUsli People -Green, Vol. I. page 24.S. 
 
 (2) History of the English People— Green, Vol. 1, page 244. 
 
 (3) r. Seebohm, in " The Protestant Revolution'Mn " F.pochs 
 of Modem History, pp, 58 and 59. 
 
UrSTORICAL ADDRESS. 59 
 
 pressly designed as a future liaven of refuge for the 
 persecuted and exiled Anglo-Saxon reformers, and 
 where, in perfect safety, the most complete " Insti- 
 tutes of the Christian Religion " could be puVjlished 
 to the world (1). 
 
 There were universities throughout Europe — some 
 thirty or forty of them — in more or less close con- 
 nection with each other. They were the great cen- 
 tres of the learned world and the oldest and most 
 celebrated of them were Oxford and Cambridge, in 
 England. Students passed from one to another, 
 and wherever they went, carried with them the la- 
 boriously written books considered new and import- 
 ant (2). But the learning and the books were in 
 Latin. The scholars were controled by the Eccle- 
 siastics. They were bound to them by self interest. 
 Yet in little more than half a century after the 
 haven of refuge had been provided for in Switzer- 
 land, an honest, learned and fearless man, who had 
 passed through the University of Oxford, had be- 
 come a Professor of Theology and was there lectur- 
 ing to and writing: for thousands of students. 
 
 (1) Geneva did not come into the confederacy until 181.5 but 
 achieved freedom in 1530. 
 
 (2) F. Seebohm, in "The Protestant Revolution" in "Epochs 
 of Modem History," pp. 13 and 14. 
 
60 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 He was, as a late writer says, " the first Reformer 
 " who dared, when deserted and alone, to question 
 " and deny the creed of the Christendom around him, 
 " to break through the tradition of the past, and 
 " with his last breath, to assert the freedom of relig- 
 " ious thought against the dogmas of the Papacy.(l). 
 
 His students carried his teachings and his writ- 
 ings, in Latin, of course, to other Universities in 
 Europe. Their doctrine was unknown and astound- 
 ing to the Ecclesiastics of those days. They were 
 subversive of their power over the people, and opened 
 the way for a religion of the heart and conscience. 
 The better to reach the people, he threw aside the 
 Latin language and taught and wrote in the Mid- 
 land dialect of England. He set on foot a body of 
 poor Preachers, called " Simple Priests," whose com- 
 mon dress, bare feet and coarse sermons accom- 
 plished a work that no other means could have 
 effected (2). 
 
 To some extent, perhaps, the " Peasants' Revolt," 
 under Wat. Tyler in 1381, is attributable to their 
 teachings. Terribly suppressed as it was after a 
 promise to comply with the demands made, yet it 
 
 (1) '• Uistoiy ol the EngUsh People," Greeii-Vol. l.p. 446. 
 
 (2) " History of the English Feople," Green— Vol. 1, p. 474. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 61 
 
 accomplished its purpose, for slavery of English peo- 
 ple quietly died away (1). 
 
 Certain it is, however, that the teachings of this 
 Doctor of Theology and his " Simple Priests," pro- 
 duced the '' Lollards " as they were derisively 
 called, who, as Hallam says, " aided by the conflu- 
 " ence of foreio-n streams, swelled into the Protest- 
 " ant Church of England." (2) 
 
 As life drew to its close, an earlier translation of 
 the Bible, made with the assistance of one of his 
 scholars, was revised. Numerous copies of it were 
 written and distributed. Chaucer, his friend and 
 contemporary, the father of English Poetry, wrote 
 in the same dialect. " These two," as a modern 
 writer says, " little knew that they were laying the 
 "foundations, as it were, of the strongest and most 
 " vigorous language ever used by human beings for 
 " the expression of their thoughts, but it has become 
 " the English language of the nineteenth century, — 
 " the language of liberty." (3) 
 
 With his life work done, this Doctor of Theology, 
 — John WycklifF, — was, in 1384, laid away in the 
 
 ( 1) "History of the En<?Hsh People," Green— Vol. l p. 486. 
 
 (2) HaUam's "Constitutional History of England," vol. i page 
 
 ro. 
 
 (3) Coffin's "Story ol Liberty," page .54. 
 
62 A THIRTIETH A^^NIVERSARY. 
 
 grave, and the first great step towards relig- 
 ious FREEDOM had been taken. The people had 
 gotten hold of the truth and the learning of the 
 Universities was thenceforth to be used for their 
 good and to the glory of God, Yet, in childish 
 spite, the maddened Ecclesiastics, forty-four years 
 after the death of WyckliiF, dug up his bones, burned 
 them and cast the ashes upon a stream running 
 down to the sea, as if in that way they could drow]i 
 out the everlasting truths he taught. 
 
 Events after Wyckliff's death, in the opening out 
 of the advance towards republicanism in Church and 
 State, followed each other in rapid succession, John 
 Huss, in far-off Bohemia, was then only eleven years 
 old. He became a learned scholar in Theology, an 
 eloquent preacher, and a prolific writer. Thoroughly 
 conversant with the teachings of Wyckliff, he not 
 only believed them, but gave publicity to their doc- 
 trines in his writings and sermons. He ranged 
 himself on the side of truth, and because he would 
 not yield up the faith that was in him he was burned 
 at the stake in 1415. Jerome, but little younger 
 than Huss, distributed throughout^Bohemia Wyck- 
 liff 's writings, bece^me the friend and follower of 
 Huss, and in 1416, like him, was burned at the 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 63 
 
 stake. A crusade was proclaimed against their ibl- 
 lov/ers, and from that crusade, as Motley says (1), 
 " Many Netherlanders came back, feeling more sym- 
 pathy with the heresy which they had attacked than 
 with the Church for which they battled." 
 
 The sympathy thus brought back from Bohemi:i 
 prepared the Dutch to receive the truth gladly, and 
 to hold fast to it throughout the butchery they were 
 to be subjected to. What is true of the Dutch is 
 true also to some extent of the French and Germans. 
 The seed that Wyckliff sowed was swelling into life 
 and growth. 
 
 Thus the " Simple Priests"— Wyckliff 's publish- 
 ers — and the followers of Huss were circulating 
 the new doctrines and scriptural knowledge in the 
 West and in the East. Intolerance and persecution 
 were given a new impetus. Prior to that time they 
 had nothing to feed u})on 1)ut the handful of Wal- 
 denses, whose faith with themselves was locked up 
 in the northern mountains of Italy. But now the 
 income of the ecclesiastics, as well as their power, 
 was threatened. True, they had, as it is said, one- 
 third of all tlie lands, and their revenues were 
 princely, apart from the tithes given them by law. 
 
 (1) The Dutch Republic, Nol. 1, page 71 — Iiitroductioii. 
 
64 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 and the donations extorted tlirough fear, but if these 
 pernicious doctrines prevailed, there would be an 
 end to revenue from selling indulgences, from bap- 
 tism, marriage, confession, death, burial, prayers for 
 the dead, and the numerous sources of income to the 
 crowds of minor ecclesiastics — there would be an end 
 to their ownership of human souls. 
 
 Judgment was therefore passed upon the holders 
 of the new doctrines. They were adjudged to be 
 heretics — enemies of God and man — and sentenced 
 to death in all the horrible ways that cruel ingenuity 
 ^ould devise. Fiercely and brutally that sentence 
 was carried out against the Lollards, the Hussites, 
 and those who followed after them. History is 
 blood-red with details of it. 
 
 But the publishers and the laboriously written 
 books of that day were inadequate. Then, as al- 
 ways, the needed instrument in the Lord's work 
 was provided. In 1423, — eight years after John 
 Huss was burned and before the ashes of WycklifF's 
 bones were cast upon the water, — Lawrens Coster, 
 of Haarlem, carved letters upon wood, tied them 
 together in words and printed from them. (1) Jo- 
 hann Gutenburg, a workman, is said to have derived 
 
 (1) Coflan's "Story of Liberty," p. 70. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDEESS. 65 
 
 his idea from these wooden letters and experiment- 
 ing with them, after some years, with help from 
 Johann Faust, perfected a metal and mould for type 
 in 1450 (1). Six years thereafter "he completed 
 " the printing of the Bible in Latin" (2). It was for 
 the learned and the learned used it. The instru- 
 ment was provided and the second great step, in 
 
 THE UPWARD ADVANCE, TOWARDS CIVIL AND RELIG- 
 IOUS LIBERTY, had been taken." 
 
 But the little haven of refuge in the mountains of 
 Switzerland, designed, as it se.ems, for some future 
 leaders, will never answer for the hosts to follow 
 their leadership, and a place must be found where 
 the coming army of people can find a refuge, and 
 wdiere great problems can be worked out and their 
 principles applied. Accordingly, Christopher Colum- 
 bus, with his three little vessels, sailed westward, to 
 go to the east, and found an unknown continent. 
 Others, like Cabot, Vespucci and Hudson, followed 
 his course, and some dim knowledge was gained of 
 this western land. It seems now as if it had been 
 concealed from the world until the time should come 
 
 (1) Coffin's "Story of Liberty,"!). 73. 
 (2) American Encyclopedia, Applcton, Vol. 13, p. 846, second 
 column. 
 
66 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 for the establishment of a new order in civil and re- 
 ligious government. 
 
 The THIRD GREAT STEP HAD BEEN TAKEN. A 
 REFUGE FOR THE OPPRESSED OF EVERY CLIME HAD 
 BEEN PROVIDED. 
 
 And now the world had come to the sixteenth 
 century — a century crowded with events of the ut- 
 most importance to the human race. Time forbids 
 more than a most rapid sunima-ry. Gutenberg's 
 Bible had done its work. The learned knew it, and 
 the time had come fgr them to use it. Then how 
 those learned Bible students went trooping to the 
 front to lead the advance ! There, in the forefront, 
 were Tyndale and Coverdale, Luther and Melanc- 
 thon, Zwingle and Gustavus Vasa (1), Calvin and 
 Knox, all born within the short space of twenty-six 
 years, ending with the year 1509. The youngest 
 was John Calvin, and next to him stood John Knox, 
 and these two were the last to lay down their arms 
 
 (1) Gustavus Vasa is put in this list because, while in Lubeck 
 for six months, he heard Luther preach, corresponded with him, 
 and then, after he became King of Sweden, had the Lutheran 
 adopted as the State Religion. He was instrumental in bringing 
 over to Protestantism the Scandinavian countries. Hisgrandson, 
 Gustavus Adolphus— the Lion of the North -became the great 
 Protestant Leader in the Thirty Years' War. 
 
 American Encyclopedia -Appleton, Vol. 8, p. 339, 2d column 
 American Encyclopedia— Appleton, Vol. 8, p. 340. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 67 
 
 and report in person to their great Captain — the one 
 in 1568 and the other in 1572 — the great fight they 
 liad made. 
 
 The Bible was translated into English, into Ger- 
 man, Helvetian, French, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, 
 Italian, Spanish, Russian, Welsh, Hungarian, Ice- 
 landic, Polish and Bohemian (1), and edition after 
 edition was printed and greedily sought after. 
 Catechisms, Confessions of Faith, Ptules of Discipline, 
 Principles of Theology and Institutes of the Chris- 
 tian Religion were formulated, published and used. 
 Congregations were gathered. Churches were built 
 and sermons were preached daily, even to the hun- 
 dreds of refugees who had fled from England to the 
 safe haven in the Swiss Mountains (2). 
 
 The young were taught in schools and the more 
 advanced in academies, where they were trained in 
 theology and to preach the gospel (3). Systems of 
 Church Government — one based " on the civil power 
 of the Prince;" the other "on the republican basis 
 of the congregation ;" — the Lutheran and the Cal- 
 vinistic — were introduced (4). 
 
 (1) ZeU's Encyclopecli.i, Vol. 1 , p 305. 
 
 (2) " Life of John Knox"— McCrie's Abridged, 1839, p. 80 
 
 (3) -'The Protestant Revolution"— Seebobni, p. 198. 
 
 (4) " The Protestant Revolution"— Seebohm, p. 197 " Life of 
 John Knox," p. 161. 
 
68 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 Tlien througli the Highlands and the Lowhinds of 
 Scotland went the ringing declaration of John Knox, 
 '■'■ who never feared the face of 7nan:" Pbulers mi/si 
 govern according to laws the people have consented 
 to, and, failing in this, they must be tried and pun- 
 ished, even with death if their crimes require it (1) 
 — (a principle afterwards embodied in our Declara- 
 tion of Independence). 
 
 And throughout those Highlands and Lowlands 
 he established Congregations, Presbyteries, Synods, 
 and, over all, a General Assembly, which first met 
 in 1560, and in 1567 the Parliament made this re- 
 publican form of Church Government — Presbyterian 
 — the established Church of Scotland (2). 
 
 Meanwhile, that free lance among Kings — Henry 
 VIII. of England — unable to longer use for his own 
 selfish purposes the Koman Catholic Church he had 
 served so well as to be called " Defender of the 
 Faith," defied and cast off" its supremacy, and had 
 himself declared head of the Church in England. 
 With the aid of able and learned men, its govern- 
 ment, faith and form of worship were modified and 
 
 (1) "Life of John Knox"— McOrie's Abridged, pp. 148 and 
 218. 
 
 (2) "Life of John Knox"— McCrie's Abridged, p. 219. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 69 
 
 reformed, and the Established Church of England 
 took its place among the Protestant Churches of the 
 world. 
 
 Meanwhile, too, a German army, composed mainly 
 of Lutherans, at the call of the Emperor Charles V., 
 crossed the Alps, joined the Spanish troops of the 
 Emperor, and marched upon Rome. That city was 
 taken and sacked, almost as the Goths and Vandals 
 had sacked it a thousand years before. In contempt 
 for the ecclesiastics, by whom they had been op- 
 pressed so long, the Germans stabled their horses in 
 the church of St. Peter until it was full, and 
 it was sure death ibr an ecclesiastic to appear on 
 the streets unless disguised as a soldier (1). 
 
 Amid dire persecutions and slaughterings, the 
 century drew to a close. But, " Rome had forever 
 ceased to be the capital of Christendom" (2). " The 
 principle of the old Roman civilization — the good of 
 the few at the expense of the many" — had been ex- 
 changed for " Christian civilization, whose aim is to 
 attain the highest good for the whole community" 
 (3). To this civilization the nations of Teutonic 
 
 (1) "The FrotestantHevolution"— Seebohm, pp. 154andir>5. 
 
 (2) "The Protestant Revolution"— Seebobin, pp. 164 and ift6. 
 
 (3) " The Protestant Kevolution"— Seebohni, p. 278. 
 
70 A THIETIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 origin — Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, 
 England, Scotland and the Netherlands — had given 
 their adherence, while the nations of Latin origin 
 " remained in allegiance to the Pope" (1). 
 
 The FOURTH GREAT STEP HAD BEEN IRRESISTIBLY 
 
 TAKEN. A religion of the heart and conscience, 
 based upon the Bible, had been established, and a 
 foundation for republicanism in Church and State 
 had been securely laid. 
 
 And how that work was consecrated ! The blood 
 of hundreds of thousands of men, women and chil- 
 dren — infants even — burned at the stake and in fur- 
 naces, flayed alive, buried alive, impaled, torn to 
 pieces on the racks of the Inquisition, killed in the 
 heat of battle or butchered by frenzied cruelty, so 
 consecrated it that freedom of religious thought can 
 never "perish from off the earth." 
 
 Do you wonder that the people fled from such per- 
 secution ? Do you wonder that, in the providence 
 of God, this continent was held, undiscovered, until 
 required as the place to which the persecuted could 
 flee ? And the persecuted for Christ's sake fled to 
 it all through the seventeenth and a great part of 
 the eighteenth centuries. They sailed over unknown 
 
 (1) " The Protestant Revolution"— Seebohin, p. 158. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 71 
 
 waters, to unknown clangors, in an unknown world. 
 They sailed from Switzerland, from France, from 
 Germany, from the Netherlands, from Sweden, Irom 
 England, from Scotland and from the north of Ire- 
 land, and they carried with them their Bibles, Cate- 
 chisms and ideas of Church government. They 
 settled along our sea-coast, from Maine to Georgia, 
 and formed governments of themselves, for them- 
 selves and bv themselves. Their ideas grew and 
 expanded, and voluntarily blending themselves to- 
 gether, after the manner of the forceful commingling 
 that made the Anglo-Saxons, they became strong 
 and self-reliant, awaiting the fullness of time, when 
 necessity should weld them into a new nation on the 
 order of the Anglo-Saxons, v,-ith their language, their 
 laws and their best characteristics. 
 
 But there was work yet to be done in the lands 
 whence these people had fled, and it was done. 
 
 In 1603, James the Sixth. King of Scotland, b(^- 
 came James the First, King of England. (3n Jan. 
 14, 1604, he " summoned the leading Puritan Min- 
 isters to meet him at Hampton Court, in the pres- 
 ence of the principal Bishops, in order that he might 
 learn what ecclesia.'^tical changes were desired bv 
 
72 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 the Puritans" (1). Very little resulted from the 
 conference beyond the action taken by the King, on 
 a suggestion of Dr. Reynolds, of Oxford, who was 
 considered " nearly, if not altogether, the most 
 learned man in England" (2). That was the ap- 
 pointment of a large number of divines to revise the 
 English translation of the Bible, and to publish an 
 authorized version. The work began in 1606 and 
 appeared in 1611. Of it a modern writer says : 
 
 '' The simplicity, terseness and power of the Eng- 
 " lish version, to which the taste of England, after 
 '' frequent wanderings, again and again returns as 
 " to its best classical model, we owe, and this should 
 " not be forgotten, to the poor, persecuted, but noble- 
 " minded, English reformer, William Tyndale, who 
 " in his English New Testament set a type which 
 " others in completing the whole Bible loyally fol- 
 '' lowed." 
 
 Charles the First succeeded his father, James the 
 First, in 1625. The Stuarts believed in the " di- 
 vine right of Kings." They therefore insisted upon 
 
 (1) " The Puritan Revolution"— Gardiner, in " Epoclis of Mod- 
 ern History," p. 12. 
 
 (2) " The Constitutional History ot England"— Hallam. Vol. 
 J, p. 294, Note 3. 
 
 " The Westminster Assemhly"— Mitchell, p. 69. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. ( •) 
 
 autocratic rule. Civil lil)erty had taken a strong 
 hold upon the English people, and was growing. 
 A friction, therefore, that became acute, occurred 
 between King and Parliament. The necessities of 
 the King rendered the assem])ling of Pai'liament 
 necessary, and on Nov. 3, 1(340, the Long Parlia- 
 ment met at Westminster (1). The struggle for 
 supremacy began. There was a great desire for 
 further religious reform, and, to appease it, the 
 King, on Feb. 14, 1G41, referred the reform of the 
 government and liturgy of the Church to the wis- 
 dom of Parliament, which he desired " th<Mn to enter 
 into speedily" (2). 
 
 By June 1, 1642, Parliament i)assed an act re- 
 ferring the subject to an assembly composed of 
 Peers, Members of the Commons, and Divines, l)Ut 
 the King would not approve it. A second and a 
 third shared the same fate and then on June 12, 
 1643, it was passed as an ordinance not requiring 
 the King's approval (3). It recited that Parlia- 
 ment had declared the Church Government to be 
 evil and offensive and that such a n;overnment as 
 
 (1) " The Puritan Revolution'"— Uaidiuer, in " Epochs of Mod- 
 em History," p. 110. 
 
 ('2) "The Westminster Assembly"— Mitchell, p. 107- 
 
 (3) "The Westminster Assembly,"— Mitchell, pp. 108 and ill- 
 
74 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY, 
 
 may be " most agreeable to God's holy word and 
 nearer agreement with the Church of Scotland and 
 other reformed churches abroad " shall be settled, 
 and empowered the assembly to confer upon such 
 matters concerning the Liturgy, Discipline and Govr 
 ernment of the Church of England or the doctrine 
 of the same, as might be proposed by either House 
 of Parliament (1). The assembly was to meet July 
 1, 1643 (2). About June 22, 1643, the King pro- 
 hibited the meeting by proclamation (3). It met, 
 however, at the time named and met nearly twelve 
 hundred times thereafter, and of the members named 
 for the Assembly, the records show that nine Peers, 
 twenty-five members of the Commons, and one hun- 
 dred and eight Divines were present at different 
 times and composed the great Westminster Assem- 
 bly. It reported a form of Church Government 
 which never received the sanction of Parliament (4), 
 though some portions of it were passed, in 1645, by 
 the General Assembly of the Scottish Church and 
 approved, but not ordained to be observed, by the 
 Scottish Parliament. 
 
 (1) "The Westminstei- Assembly'"— MitcheU, Ordinance, pp. 
 IX and X. 
 
 (2) "The Westminster Assembly"— MiteheU, p, 128. 
 
 (3) "The Westminster Assembly"— Mitchell, p. 129. 
 
 (4) " The Westminster Assembly"— Mitchell, p. 264. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 75 
 
 On Dec. 14, 1646, the Confession of Faith was 
 finished and reported to Parliament, and again, on 
 April 29, 1647, with Scripture proofs added. (1). 
 With the exception of Chapters XXX. and XXXI., 
 and portions of Chapters XX. and XXIV., it was 
 approved by the Parliament. 
 
 The larger Catechism, suhstantially as it is now, 
 was reported Ly the x\sscml)ly to Parliivment on Oct. 
 22, 1647. It was never approved by Parliament, 
 but it passed the Scottish General iVssembly on July 
 20, 1648 (2). 
 
 The shorter Catechism, with proofs, was reported 
 April 16, 1648 ; approved by both Houses of Par- 
 liament by Sept. 25, 1648 ; by the Scottish General 
 Assembly on July 28, 1648, and, with the Larger 
 Catechism, ratified Ity the Scottish Parliament on 
 Feb. 7, 1649 (3). 
 
 That shorter Catechism, taken regularly, makes 
 the young grow into strong men and women. It 
 never loses its power, however bad the patient may 
 grow. In the system once, it stays for life, and, 
 though it may fail of a cure, still it checks the 
 
 (I) "The Westminster A.sscmljly"—>Jitchen, p. 307- 
 (•2) "The Westminster Assembly"— MitcheU, p. t?5. 
 (3) "The Westminster Assembly'— MitcheU, p. 43». 
 
76 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 course of sin at every stage of the disease. Car- 
 lyle said of it : 
 
 " The older I grow — and I now stand upon the 
 hrink of eternity — the more comes back to me the 
 first sentence in the Catechism, which I learned 
 when a child, and the fuller and deeper its meaning 
 becomes : What is the chief end of man ? To glo- 
 rify God and enjoy Him forever" (1). 
 
 The fifth great step had been taken. With 
 a complete translation of the Bible, a Confession of 
 Faith, a perfect Catechism, and a thoroughly-con- 
 sidered Form of Government submitted, Presbyte- 
 rianism was ready for further advance. 
 
 The Haven of Refuge on this Continent, however, 
 was in danger of being lost. A Latin race — the 
 French — had numerous settlements on the St. Law- 
 rence in Canada, a line of strong forts on the river 
 and on the great lakes, Fort Duquesne in Pennsyl- 
 vania, where Pittsburg is now, and strong positions 
 on the New York lakes. They had made allies of 
 the Indians, were ably commanded, and were ex- 
 tending their possessions down the Ohio and the 
 Mississippi. They were warring with the Colonies, 
 and the English Government was weak. England 
 
 (1) Quoted in "The Westminster Assembly"— MitcheU, p. 44 (• 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. I I 
 
 was losing ground everywhere, when William Pitt 
 — afterwards the great Earl of Chatham — said to 
 the Duke of Devonshire : " My Lord, I am sure that 
 I can save this country, and that nohody (^Ise can" 
 (1). He was given " supreme direction of the war 
 and of foreign affairs" (2). In 1758, he made a 
 treaty with Frederick the Great, one item of which 
 was the payment to Frederick of a subsidy of 
 £670,000 a year (3). This was to enable Frederick 
 the Great to keep the French forces engaged in 
 Europe so that the English might gain control on 
 this continent. The subsidy was paid for three 
 years, and aggregated about $10,000,000. The 
 colonial forces ably supported the English soldiers. 
 Louisburg fell, then Ticonderoga, then Niagara and 
 then Quebec. By 1760 " the whole province of 
 Canada was subjugated" (4). The French retired, 
 and, with this Continent preserved for the Anglo- 
 Saxons, THE SIXTH GREAT STEP WAS TAKEN. 
 
 This brings us to Presbyterianism in this coun- 
 try. Mr. Justice Kennedy, of the Su])reme Court 
 
 (1) •' MacauUiy's Essays," Vol. 2, p. 75. 
 
 (2) " Macaulay's Essays," VoL 2, p, 75. 
 
 (3) "Frederick the Great"— Longman, in "Epoclis ot Slodern 
 Ilistory," p. 140. 
 
 (1) "Macaiilays Essays," Vol. 2, pp. IS and 7!). 
 
iQ A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 of Pennsylvania, in an opinion filed in Presbyterian 
 Congregation vs. Johnson, in May, 1841, and re- 
 ported in 1st. "Watts. & Sergeant's Keports, pp. 51 
 and 52, gives the following short history of it : 
 
 " The first Presbyterian Church in the United 
 "States consisted of a single congregation, formed 
 *' in the City of Philadelphia, about the year 1700, 
 '■ which is known now by the name of the First 
 " Presbyterian Church in that city. Increasing, 
 " however, in number and strength, several congre- 
 " gations were formed shortly afterwards. In 1704 
 " the first Presbytery was organized ; and in 1716 
 " the first Synod consisting of four Presbyteries. It 
 " was called the Synod of Philadelphia ; but in 1741 
 " a division took place, which gave rise to a second, 
 " called the Synod of New York. In 1758, however, 
 " these Synods became united again under the title 
 " of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, and 
 " governed the Presbyterian Church in the United 
 " States until 1788, when the Presbyterians having 
 " increased greatly in number, and being dispersed 
 " over a great extent of territory, it was deemed 
 " expedient, in order to promote and preserve purity 
 " and prevent error from creeping into the Church, 
 " to increase the number of Synods, and to establish 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 79 
 
 "a General Assembly in imitation of that estalj- 
 " lislied by the Church of Scotland under the West- 
 " minster Confession of Faith, invested with execu- 
 " tive, legislative and judicial power over the whole 
 "church. The form of Government adopted l)y the 
 " Church of Scotland and given in Westminster 
 " Confession of Faith, was ever looked to by the 
 " Presbyterians in the United States as their guide 
 "and was followed and adopted by them, with the 
 "exception as to the power given to the Civil Mag- 
 " istrate in matters of religion, from time to time, 
 " as their numbers increased and rendered it expe- 
 " dient, if not necessary, to do so. They began first 
 '' by forming themselves into a single congregation ; 
 " next into a Presbytery, as soon as the requisite 
 " number of congregations were formed to compose 
 "it. Then, as the number of Presbyteries was in- 
 " creased, a Synod was organized; after that several 
 " particular Synods and ultimately the General As- 
 " sembly, or what in other words may be called the 
 "National Synod." 
 
 It is generally conceded, however, that Presbyte- 
 rianism had an earlier date in the United States 
 than Judge Kennedy assigne<l to it. 
 
80 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 The Eev. J. E. Rockwell in 1854 wrote : 
 
 " About the year 1690, Francis Makemie, from 
 " the north of Ireland, and John Hampton, from 
 " Scotland, who were laboring as Missionaries on 
 " behalf of a Society in London, succeeded in organ- 
 " izing Churches after the Scottish model in the 
 " eastern part of Maryland, A company of Scotch 
 " emigrants also were organized as a Church at the 
 " same time, who came in a body to this country 
 "with their pastor, Rev. Nathaniel Taylor, and set- 
 " tied in Upper Marlborough. 
 
 " The Churches of Snowhill, Rehoboth, Monokin 
 " and Wicomico were formed by Mr. Makemie, 
 "whose name and memory are still cherished as an 
 " able and devoted servant and minister of Christ. 
 
 " In 1698, the first Presbyterian Church of Phil- 
 " adelphia was formed by a number of English, 
 " Welsh and French Protestants, who united under 
 " the pastoral care of Rev. Mr. Andrews, of Boston" 
 
 Gabriel Thomas, who came in 1681, on the first 
 ship that was bound from England for this country 
 after it was called Pennsylvania, and who lived here 
 for fifteen years, wrote, in 1697, " An Historical and 
 
 () ) " Sketches of the Presbyterian Chnrch"'— RockweU, p. 225. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDEESS. 81 
 
 " Geographical Account of the Province and Coun- 
 " try of Pennsylvania and of West New Jersey 
 "in America," which was published in London in 
 1698. He says : " But it remained with very little 
 "improvement till the year 1681, in which William 
 " Penn, Esq., had the country given him by King 
 " Charles the Second. * * =<= Since that timr 
 " the industrious (nay indefatigable) inhabitant.^ 
 "have built a noble and beautiful city, and called ir 
 " Philadelphia, which contains above two thousand 
 " houses, all inhabited, and most of them stately and 
 " of brick, generally three stories high, after the 
 " mode in London, and as many as several familie.- 
 " in each (1). 
 
 " They pay no tithes, and their taxes are incon- 
 " siderable ; the place is free for all persuasions in 
 " a sober and civil way ; for the Church of England 
 "and the Quakers bear equal share in the govern- 
 " ment ; they live friendly and well together ; there 
 " is no persecution for religion, nor ever likely to 
 "be" (2). 
 
 " The way of Worship the Swedes use in thi.'^ 
 " Country, is the Lutheran ; the English have four 
 
 (1) "Thomas's Pennsylvania and Sew Jersey, 1698," pp. > 
 and 5. 
 
 (2) Idem, pp 35 and 36. 
 
82 A THIETIETII ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 " sorts of Assemblies or Religious Meetings here ; 
 " as first, the Church of England, who built a very 
 " fine church in the City of Philadelphia in the 
 " year 1695 ; second^, the Ana-Baptists ; thirdly, 
 " the Presbyterians, and two sorts of Quakers" (1). 
 
 Speaking of the Quaker George Keith's writings 
 and sayings, he says : 
 
 "And he tells the Presbyterian Minister that he 
 " must go to the Pope of Rome for his call, for he 
 " had not Scripture for it," and he adds : " this was 
 " in the year 1693 in Pensilvania." And again, he 
 says : " and his letter also in Mary Land against 
 the Presbyterian Catechism, Printed at Boston in 
 New England in 1695" (2). 
 
 This is newly discovered evidence of the early 
 existence of Presbyterianism in this country and 
 proves that it existed here considerably over two 
 hundred years ago. It grew rapidly and, as stated 
 by Justice Kennedy, its Church affairs were ruled 
 over by the Synod of Philadelphia at first, after- 
 wards of New York and Philadelphia, until after the 
 Revolution and down to 1788. It was the only 
 Church in the country, prior to the Revolution, 
 
 (1) Idem, pp. 61 and 82. 
 
 (2) Idem, pp. 62-3 and 4. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 83 
 
 whose affairs were so ruled over by a Legislative 
 and Judicial body, composed of Ministers and Elders, 
 from Georgia to New England, annually chosen by 
 the people tlicy represented, and they were imbued 
 with the spirit of liberty and in favor of a republi- 
 can form of government in civil affairs, such as they 
 had in their own Church. The churches of the 
 Congregationalists and the Baptists were separate 
 and distinct units. The churches of England were 
 controlled by the parent Church in England (1). 
 The Methodists had no class, as it is termed, or con- 
 gregation in this country until 1766, and their first 
 Conference was held in 1773 (2). The Reformed 
 Dutch Church was restricted in its limits, had no 
 English preaching until 1763, and was without a 
 Church Judicatory until 1771 (3). The German 
 Reformed Church was governed from Holland until 
 1793 (4). The Catholics then were insignificant in 
 numbers, and the Quakers were non-combatants. 
 It is apparent, therefore, that the Presbyterian 
 Church was the only Church in this country, prior 
 
 (1) " Westminster Anniversary Addresses, 1898," pp. 336-7-8. 
 
 (2) "New American Encyclopedia"— Appleton, Vol. 11, p. 464. 
 
 (3) "New Ameiicun Encyclopedia"— Appleton, Vol. J4, pp. 
 256 and 6. 
 
 (4) "New Aujerican Encyclopedia"— Appleton, Vol. 14, p.25S 
 
84 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 to the Ptevolution, governed by a representative 
 body — a body that had then existed for sixty years, 
 from 1716 to 1776. It would be interesting to trace 
 the influence of those representatives in moulding 
 opinion, and directing it towards free government, 
 culminating in the Declaration of Independence in 
 1776. Time, however, forbids. Certain it is, that 
 their influence controlled. It was the vote of a 
 Presbyterian — a lawyer from our own town — James 
 Wilson — that gave a bare majority in the vote of 
 the Pennsylvania Delegation cast for the Declaration 
 of Independence (1). It was Dr. John Witherspoon, 
 a lineal descendant of John Knox, President of 
 Princeton College, and head of its Presbyterian 
 School of Divinit}^, who declared in Congress " that 
 in his judgment the country was not only ripe for 
 Independence, but was in danger of becoming rotten 
 for want of it, if its Declaration were longer de- 
 layed" (2). It was not delayed, and its assertion 
 that Governments derive their just powers from the 
 
 (1) " History ot Cumberland and Adains Counties," p. 87- 
 "History of tlie United States" - Bancroft Centenary Ed., 
 
 Vol. 6, p. 320. " First Presbyterian Church, Carlisle"— Wing. p. 
 93. 
 
 (2) " History of the United States"— Bancroft, Centenary Ed., 
 Vol. 6, p. 318. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 85 
 
 consent of the governed was made good when a 
 treaty of peace with Great Britain was ratified in 
 1783. 
 
 Then came the formation of a National Constitu- 
 tion, to bind the States together under one Govern- 
 ment, deriving its powers from the consent of the 
 governed. Time again forbids tracing Presbyterian 
 influence in its accomplishment. Suffice it to say, 
 that Madison, called the father of the Constitution, 
 although an Episcopalian, received his education 
 under Dr. John Witherspoon, the head of the Pres- 
 byterian College at Princeton (1), that James 
 Wilson, the Presbyterian lawyer, formerly of Car- 
 lisle, was on the committee that reported the Con- 
 stitution to the Convention, and he secured its 
 adoption by Pennsylvania (2), and that Gouverneur 
 Morris, then of Pennsylvania, who corrected ant] 
 arranged the final draft of it, was a lineal descend- 
 ant of an oflScer of Oliver Cromwell's army (3). 
 That Constitution, on June 21, 1788, was ratified by 
 
 (1) " Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biogniphy," Vol. J, 
 p. 165. 
 
 (•2) " History of the Constitutioa ol the United States"— Ban- 
 croft, pp. 271 :ind 38 4. 
 
 (3) " Appleton"9 Cyclopedia of American Biography," Vol. J, 
 pp. 414 and 416. 
 
86 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 the required number of States (1), and became the 
 fundamental law of the land. 
 
 In keeping with this advance to Civil Liberty in 
 our form of GTovernment, the Presbyterian Church 
 in the United States went forward to its larger de- 
 velopment in the same direction. Beginning in 
 1786, the work was completed in May, 1788, by the 
 adoption of the E.eport of the Committee in favor of 
 a General Assembly, similar to that of the Church 
 of Scotland, the Westminster Confession of Faith, 
 with all mixture of civil with Church matters elimi- 
 nated therefrom, the Directory for Worship and the 
 Catechisms (2). At the head of the committee was 
 Dr. John Witherspoon, and a member of it was a 
 Presbyterian minister — -Dr. George Dufiield — who 
 had been for some years pastor of the Church in 
 Garlisle — 'and to whose congregation James Wilson, 
 the signer of the Declaration of Independence, and 
 one of the framers of the Constitution of the United 
 States, belonged (3). These Constitutions, in Civil 
 
 (1) " Appleton's Cyclopedia ot American Biogxapliy." 
 
 (2) " Sketches of the Presbyterian Churcli"—Rockwen, 1864. 
 p. ?4(). 
 
 (3) " Sketches ot the Presbyterian Church"— RockweU, p. 240. 
 The American Cyclopedia— Appleton, Vol. 13, p. 8i3. 
 Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol. 1, p. 
 
 248. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. »7 
 
 and ill Church affairs, were adopted by the respective 
 powers here in our own State of Pennsylvania. 
 
 The first Congress of the United States met on 
 March 4, 1789. The first General Assembly of the 
 Presbyterian Church in the United States met on 
 the third Thursday in May, 1789. 
 
 The seventh great step had been taken. A 
 Republican form of Government in Civil and in 
 Church affairs, entirely separate and distinct from 
 each other, had been put in operation in a land set 
 apart for freedom. 
 
 The unit in the State is the Township or 
 Town. In the Church it is the congregation. A 
 number of townships and towns form the County. 
 A number of churches form the Presbytery. A 
 number of Counties make the State. A num- 
 ber of Presbyteries constitute the Synod. The 
 States make the General Government. The Pres- 
 byteries through the Synods make the General As- 
 sembly. State and Church alike derive all power 
 from the governed, whose consent is required to 
 change the fundamental law. Each has its own 
 sphere and conflicts not with the other — in fact 
 they harmonize. Thus Chief Justice Tilghman, of 
 Pennsylvania, in Riddle vs. Stevens, a Presbyterian 
 
88 A Thirtieth anniversary. 
 
 Church case, decided in 1816, and reported in 2nd 
 Sergeant & Rawle's Reports, says on page 543 : 
 
 " Every Church has a disciphne of its own. It is 
 " necessary that it sliould be so, because, without 
 " rules and discipline, no body composed of nu- 
 " merous individuals can be governed. But this 
 "' discipline is confined to spiritual affairs. It oper- 
 " ates on the mind and conscience, without pretend- 
 " ing to temporal authority. No member of the 
 '' Church can be fined or imprisoned. But be he 
 " minister or layman he may be admonished, re- 
 " proved and finally ejected from the Society. So 
 ^' he may retire from the Society at his own free 
 " will. Under these restrictions religious discipline 
 *' may produce much good, without infringing on 
 " civil liberty." 
 
 From 1789 on each has advanced side by side 
 Until to-day the population of the country is 70,- 
 000,000, while the Presbyterian Church and its 
 Calvinistic Allies, with their constituencies, amount 
 to one-ninth or more of the entire people — a larger 
 proportion than that possessed by any other church 
 in the country. 
 
 It remained to demonstrate that a Republican 
 form of Civil Government was strono;. It resisted 
 
lltSTOUICAL AiiDUKSS. 89 
 
 lues t'roia without. Could it overcome fnes withiu 
 itself? The war of the llebellion tried it. Terrihle 
 a.s it was the State emerged from it purified from 
 shivery and with a strength that astonished] the 
 world. There the parallel ends. In the State the 
 individual is subject to the will of the majority, 
 while in the Church the conscience of the individual 
 controls meml)ersliip. 
 
 From oar present standpoint, looking backward 
 over the course of events, it would seem, therefore, 
 that there has been a steady unfolding of some great 
 plan for the human race. Each movement led to a 
 <lefinite result not intended by the actors in it. All 
 thus far have culminated in establishing in a coun- 
 try, unknown before, civil and religious lilterty 
 based upon personal responsibility of the individual 
 to the laws of the majority on the one side, and on 
 the other, to the laws of the Creator as made known 
 in the Bible. The movement originated in a nation 
 which resulted from the commingling of various 
 races and its continuation is in a nation produced 
 by a commingling thus far of a much greater num- 
 ber of human races. It was caused by a growing 
 knowledge of the Bible, an absolute belief in its 
 teachings and an indestinictiltlc iaitli in its promises. 
 
90 A THIRTIETH ANN'lVERSAP.y. 
 
 Surely it has been, and is, part of some great plan- 
 working out under divine direction, and it behooves- 
 each individual to work for, and not against, that 
 plan. 
 
 This church is one of the professedly working, 
 ttnits. It is a member of the leading Presbyterian 
 body in the world. Has it been working for, or 
 against, the Lord's plan? It has lived thus far 
 sixty-six years. Take a rapid survey of what the 
 years disclose, and then answer the question for 
 yourselves. 
 
 The Px,ev. George Duffield was the pastor of the 
 Presbyterian congregation in Carlisle when, early in 
 1832, he published a large volume entitled "Spir- 
 itual Life, &c" (1). Dr. Wing artlessly says : 
 
 " He had, in his congregation,, a number of per- 
 *' sons who were capable of appreciating theological 
 " statements, iand whose minds were not satisfied 
 •' with his explanations. They were ardently at- 
 " tached to those views which he so zealously as- 
 " sailed as injurious to souls." (2) From these " per- 
 sons who were capable of appreciating theological 
 statements," a petition was presented by Mr. An- 
 
 (l. The First Presbyterian Church of CarUsle— Wing, p. i80. 
 (2) The First Presbyterian Church of Carlisle— Wing, p. 182. 
 
HTSTORICAL ADDRESS. 91 
 
 •arew Blair on Nov. 28th, 1832, to the Carlisle? Pres- 
 bytery which then met at Newville in this county, 
 asking to be formed into a separate society, under 
 the care of the Presbytery, from and alU'r Januan' 
 1st, 1833 (1). 
 
 The Presbytery, by a unanimous vote, granted 
 the prayer of the petitioners, and appointed a com- 
 mittee of two ministers to organize the present 
 Church. 'That committee met witli the petitioners 
 on Satunhiy, the 12th day of January, 1833, in the 
 "County Hall, at Carlisle, and organized the Ghurclk 
 One of the committee was the father df the present 
 senior Senator from Pennsylvania — Mr. Quay — and 
 one of the petitioners to he organized into a Church 
 was the grandfather of the present junior Senator 
 from Pennsylvania — Mr. Penrose. The petitioners 
 were 77 in number — 65 communicants and 12 non- 
 communicant pew-holders. Of the communicants, 
 three were Elders, four wore Deacons, and eight were 
 Trustees — a majority of the Board of the Old 
 Church. All of the four Deacons were also Trustees, 
 and are included in the eight.. The three Elders 
 were Ptobert Clark, ordained in October, 1816 ; (2) 
 
 (1) Record of Sessions, Second Presbyteriiin Church, Carlisle, 
 Pa.," p. 1. 
 
 (2) " First Presbyterian Church, ot Carlisle "—Wing, p. 154. 
 
92 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSAKY. 
 
 John McClure and Andrew Blair, ordained Dec. 25, 
 1825 (2). At the meeting for organization, Mr. 
 Quay preached the sermon from Verse 7 of Psalm 
 62 — " My refuge is in God." It might be well for 
 his talented son, the Senator, about this time, to 
 look up that sermon and study it. 
 
 The organization was effected by the election of 
 Andrew Blair, John McClure and Robert Clark to 
 be Ruling Elders, and Peter B. Smith, Pk,obert Irvine, 
 John Proctor and Robert Giffen to be Deacons — all 
 having held the same offices in the Old Church. 
 
 At the meeting three committees were appointed 
 ' — one of five members, including Charles B. Penrose 
 and George Metzger, neither of whom was a com- 
 municant, to procure a charter ; one of twelve mem- 
 bers, " to superintend the tinancial affairs of the 
 congregation for one year, or until a charter be 
 procured, if that be obtained within the year;" and 
 one of fifteen members, " to procure subscriptions 
 * * * for the purpose of aiding us in purchasing 
 a lot of ground and erecting Jt suitable house of 
 worship," with authority " to purchase a suitable 
 site for said buildins;." It was resolved also that 
 
 ('2) "First Presbyterian Church, of CarUsle"— Wing, p. 160. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 93 
 
 there should be pubUc worship of ami preaching to 
 the congregation every Sabbath, and Rev. Daniel 
 ]\IeKinley was invited to preach on the Sabbaths 
 liot provided for by the Presbytery. The congrega- 
 tion had begun its life as a member of the greatest 
 Presbyterian body in the world. 
 
 The old congregation had a fund of twenty-five 
 hundred dollars remaining from the sale and con- 
 veyance, on January 30, 1827, by deed recorded in 
 the Recorder's Office of Cumljerland County, in 
 Record Book " KK," Vol. 1, page 1C3, to Phihp 
 Weaver, of the Glebe farm, at Meeting House 
 Springs, of 143 acres 85| perches, for $^3,500. At 
 a congregational meeting held in that Church, after 
 Presbytery had taken action upon the petition for a 
 .-:eparate church organization, it was ordered that 
 this twenty-five hundred dollars be turned over to 
 the new Church, and on December 17, 1832, the 
 Board of Trustees, under the action of the congrega- 
 tion, directed that sum to Ije paid to Robert Clark 
 and Andrew Blair, in trust " for the conOTegation to 
 V»e set off, to enable them to Ijuild a house of wor- 
 ship" (1). 
 
 (1) "First Presbyteiism Clmrch, of Carlisle"— ^ing, p. 188. 
 Corrected by Rev Dr. J. A. Murray, in " C'lirlisle V'olun 
 teer,"ot Jauuiiry lo, 1878. 
 
94 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 The cammittee to purchase a suitable site, on 
 April 1, 1833, took a conveyance, recorded in the 
 Recorder's Oifice, in Book " 00," Vol. 1, page 252, 
 from Alexander Oliver to John Hays, Charles B. 
 Penrose, George A. Lyon, James Thompson and John 
 Agnew, for and in behalf of the Second Presbyterian 
 Church, of Carlisle, of the lot on the southeast cor- 
 ner of Hanover and Pomfret streets, in Carlisle, of 
 63 feet in front on Hanover street, and 160 feet 5 
 inches on Pomfret street, for the consideration of 
 |2,200. The grantees in this deed, by Deed Poll of 
 September 16, 1839, recorded in the Recorder's 
 Office, in Record Book " WW," Vol. 1, page 223, 
 conveyed this lot to the Church corporation. Later 
 on the Church sold a portion of it fronting on Pom- 
 fret street, and subsequently re-purchased it. 
 
 John C. Trautwine, Esq., was employed to prepare 
 plans lor the church building, and a Mr. Holman 
 was given the contract for its erection. Time has 
 not permitted the ascertainment of its cost, but on 
 April 7, 1834, it was estimated that a sum not ex- 
 ceeding $1,400 would pay in full any balance to be 
 paid on the contract, as well as the furnishing of the 
 Church. Bv Mav 3, 1834, subscriptions lor the pur- 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 95 
 
 pose, amounting to $1,461.50, were reported (1). 
 Mr. Trautwine would accept no compensation for his 
 services, and on Septeml)er 29, 1834, it was ordered 
 tliat a silver cup, of the value of thirty doHars, with 
 a suitable inscription, " Ix; presented to him, with 
 thanks, for the elegant plan of a church edifice." 
 At the same time it was ordered that Mr. Holman, 
 the contractor, be informed " of the entire satisfac- 
 tion and gratification * * * in the construction 
 and completion of the Church edifice. The lot had 
 been purchased^ and the Church had been built and 
 paid for. 
 
 The committee appointed for the purpose obtained 
 a charter of incor|)oration, which was approved by 
 the Governor on April 8, 1833, and is to be found 
 in " Laws of the General Assembly of the State of 
 Pennsylvania" for 1832-3, page 302. The full cor- 
 porate name is "The Second Presbyterian Church, 
 in the Borough of Carlisle and County of Cumber- 
 land." Fifteen incorporators are named in the Act, 
 in the following order : Peter B. Smith, John Proc- 
 tor, John Huston, C. B. Penrose, G. Metzger, Esq., 
 James Hamilton, Esq., Alexander Gregg, Robert 
 Irvine, John Stuart, John Williamson, Es([., (leorge 
 
 (1) Minuted, pp. lliaiul 14. 
 
96 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 A. Lyon, Esq., Robert GitFen, Andrew Holmes,. 
 Abraham Lamberton, John Hays ; five of whom 
 were lawyers, and four, including three of the law- 
 yers, were non-communicants. They met on April 
 12, 1833, at the house of George A. Lyon, Esq., — 
 the stone house now of Mr. William Barnitz, on 
 the north side of East Main street — and organized 
 by the election of George A. Lyon, Esq., as Presi- 
 dent, James Hamilton, Esq., as Secretary, and Wil- 
 liam Irvine, Esq., as Treasurer (1). 
 
 The orjwratimi had come into life. 
 
 On June 5th, 1833, the congregation, by a unani- 
 mous vote, elected the Ilev. Daniel McKinley as 
 Pastor, and on Aug. 7th, 1833, at two o'clock p. m., 
 the Presbytery met with the congregation in the 
 College Chapel, and duly insta,lled him. 
 
 Thus the congre'jation was duly organized^ with 
 Pastor, Elders and Deacons, with a charter of incor- 
 poration, ayid an organized Board of Trustees, iviih 
 a Church property of its own and 2mid for, and it 
 was ready to proceed on its career after " Glory and 
 Happiness." 
 
 The charter of the church provides : "That all 
 " elections to be held in pursuance of this Act shall 
 
 (1) Minutes, p. 3. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 07 
 
 "be by ballot * * * that no persons shall Ixi 
 " entitled to vote at said elections, nor shall any one 
 " be elected as trustee, who is not a stated worshi])- 
 "per in said congregation, and whose name has not 
 " been entered on the books of the cono-reffiition at 
 " least one year immediately preceding any of said 
 " elections as a contributor to said Church in a sum 
 "not less than one dollar and fifty cents, and who 
 " shall be in arrears for such or any part thereof for 
 "the space of thirty days; * * * ^|^.^|- ^j^,. 
 " Pastor of said Congregation and ruling Elders shall 
 "not hold any other office, and said Pastor shall be 
 "disqualified from the right of voting." A com- 
 mittee, consir^ting of Charles B. Penrose, Peter B. 
 Smith and George A. Lyon, appointed April 12, 
 1833, reported By-Laws for the corporation on June 
 3rd, 1833, which were unanimously approved by 
 the Board, and, on June 5, 1833, unanimously 
 adopted by the congregation (1). The charter qual- 
 ifications of electors were incorporated in By-Law 
 No. 5. 
 
 These provisions separated the charter of this 
 Church from all other church charters that have 
 
 (1) Minutes, p. 7. 
 
98 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 been examined, and absolutely cut oif the spir- 
 itual matters and officers of the congregation from 
 its temporal affidrs and their management. That 
 there might be no mistake as to their effect the ses- 
 sion of the church on Nov. 21st, 1835, addressed 
 a very carefully prepared overture to the congrega- 
 tion asking " that By-Law No. 5 be altered so as to 
 " restrict its operation to elections for Pastor and 
 " Trustees, and to questions which relate to the 
 "pecuniary affairs of the congregation, "and "that 
 " in all elections for Elders or Deacons, no person 
 "shall be entitled to vote who is not a member of 
 " the church in full communion, over the age of 
 " twenty-one years, and who does not contribute 
 ''his just proportion according to his own engage- 
 '' ments or the rules of the congregation to all its 
 " necessary or benevolent expenses." The congre- 
 gation on Dec. 3rd, 1835, in response to the over- 
 ture, made the changes requested (1). 
 
 Thus again and finally the line was drawn be- 
 tween the temporal and spiritual affairs of the con- 
 gregation. The larger body — the Corporation — 
 includino; communicants and non-communicants — 
 
 (1) Minutes of Session, p 17. 
 Minutes of Trustees, p. £7- 
 
IHSTORTCAL ADDRESS. 09 
 
 has exclusive control over temporal matters and the 
 election of Pastors and Trustees, while the smaller 
 body of communicants has just as exclusive control 
 over spiriUial atl'airs through its representative — 
 the Session. It is a smaller body within a larger 
 one — like a State within the Union — each having 
 its separate and distinct powers and neither inter- 
 fering with the other. It thus becomes apparent 
 that a Presbyterian Constituency exists and is com- 
 posed of non-communicants who are stated worship- 
 pers in and contributors to the Church. It makc-s 
 these non-communicants members of the Church in 
 the larger sense of the term and gives them a voice 
 in the selection of Pastors and in the business man- 
 ao-eaient of the Church. It adds to the Church a 
 strong element, and these constituents, from them- 
 selves and their families, furnish recruits to the 
 ranks of the communicants. In this the Presby- 
 terian Church stands almost, if not entirely, alone 
 among the churches of this country. 
 
 Over the Church thus constituted, its chosen 
 Session ruled. In length of services as an Elder, 
 Mr. Robert Clark led. He was ordained in October, 
 1816, and died in January, 1856, having served in 
 the First Church seventeen years, and in this Church 
 
100 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSAEY. 
 
 twenty-two years, in all somewhat over thirty-nine 
 years. Mr. Andrew Blair was ordained on Dec. 25/ 
 1825, served the First Church seven years, and this 
 Church twenty-eight and a half years to his death, 
 in July, 1861, in all thirty-five and a half years. 
 His service to this Church was the lono-est. Mr. 
 John McClure was a brother-in-law of Mr. Andrew 
 Blair, was ordained at the same time with him, and 
 served the First Church for the same period. He 
 last appeared at a meeting of the Session Aug. 19, 
 1839, resigned as its Clerk, because of continued ill- 
 health, September 10, 1840, and died in April, 1841, 
 having practically served this Church six years and 
 a half, which made an ascaireo-ate service as an Elder 
 of thirteen and a half years. These gentlemen ruled 
 as if they had ever before them the Declaration, 
 found in the 8th section of the 1st Chapter of " The 
 Form of Government" of the Presbyterian Church 
 in the United States, as follows : " The vigour and 
 strictness of its discipline ivill contribute to the glory 
 and happiness of any GhurcK^ — and which deserves 
 to be written in letters of gold upon the walls of 
 every Church. They divided the territory within 
 their jurisdiction, and assigned one of their number 
 to each district, so that the members of the Church 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. lOl 
 
 could be regularly visited. In this way, and with 
 Pastoral visits, the members of the Session became 
 familiar with the conduct of every member of the 
 Church, and if it did not accord with what they in- 
 terpreted the standard of Christian behavior to be, 
 they unhesitatingly, but with the utmost kindness, 
 advised, reproved, and, if necessary, summoned be- 
 fore them and dealt with the party according to the 
 rules of the Church. They set their faces like flint 
 against theatre going, Ijalls and dancing parties, 
 even attendance at the latter, and against every 
 species of fashionable amusement, and through tlieii- 
 Pastor, made a deliverance on the subject, which was 
 heartily approved by the Presbytery. From time to 
 time other members were added to the Session, and 
 one by one dropped out again, but the ruling con- 
 tinued the same through the pastorates of Mr. 
 McKinley, Mr, McGili, Mr. Moore. Mr. Lillie, Mr. 
 Johnston and Mr. Eells, down to the death of Mr. 
 Blair, because Mr. Blair dominated the Session and 
 the Pastors. 
 
 Tall and massive in frame, with a big square head, 
 well set on his broad shoulders, he was stalwart in 
 mind and body. Of a Scotch family, which for two 
 generations before him resided here, he was imbued 
 
102 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 with all the Scotch reverence for religion, and with 
 all the Scotch intolerance of sin. Utterly fearless, 
 he denounced in scathing terms every form of sin, 
 but with a glowing smile that lighted up all his 
 rugged features he was ever ready to welcome the 
 repentant sinner. He was a close student of the 
 Bible, and, thoroughly conversant with the doctrines 
 and government of the Church, he ruled his own life 
 by them. For many years, and until his death, he 
 was the Superintendent of the Sabbath-school, and 
 he regularly conducted the Friday evening prayer- 
 meeting. Until a few years before his death the 
 " Thunders of Sinai" seemed to be sounding in his 
 ears, and he passed them on to all the sinners around 
 him, then those thunders almost entirely ceased to 
 sound for him, and the quiet ^peace of perfect love 
 seemed to pervade his whole being. This was most 
 apparent when the great religious wave of 1857 and 
 1858 passed over the country. Everywhere noonday 
 prayer-meetings were held and joined in by all Pro- 
 testant denominations. They were held in this town 
 in a room in Marion Hall, and in his addresses and 
 prayers in those meetings Mr. Blair was happier, 
 more eloquent and more effective than he had ever 
 been ; and the main-spring of it all was the intense 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 103 
 
 overflowing love that sounded in his words and shone 
 upon his countenance. Shortly thereafter he was in 
 the grasp of disease. Then, slowly and painfully, 
 but serenely, that " grand old man" went down to 
 his grave and up to his Lord. 
 
 Mr. Robert Clark was a shorter man than Mr. 
 Blair, broad, heavy shouldered and with a large 
 head. His whole person indicated unyielding deter- 
 mination. He, too, was of Scotch descent, and his 
 Presbyterianism was ingrained. Living some miles 
 out in the country, no one was more constant in 
 church attendance and at the meetings of Session. 
 He was willing and ready to go anywhere and do 
 anything in the line of his duty. He was kind, 
 warmhearted, but strict and positive in his views. 
 Of rather a retiring disposition, he shunned, but 
 never shirked, public leadership. His high sense of 
 duty made him obedient to its calls and he re- 
 sponded to every demand made upon him. He 
 stood side by side with Mr. Blair. With him he 
 was the friend and confidant of his Pastors and with 
 him he ruled wisely and well. 
 
 Another of those old time worthies was Mr. James 
 Hamilton, who lived and worked in this Church for 
 forty vears, until he too joined the great majority, in 
 
104 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 January, 1873. Almost painfully deficient in self- 
 confidence, although morally brave, he could never 
 be induced to be ordained as a Ruling Elder, to 
 which office he was three times chosen. He was 
 peculiar in many ways, but never so when it was a 
 matter of Church work, and in his own modest, re- 
 tiring way he did as much as any Ruling Elder 
 could ever hope to do. He was slow in forming a 
 conclusion but when once formed there was an end 
 of the matter. He too was a Bible student and a 
 thorough Presbyterian. For many years he had a 
 Bible class for young ladies in Sabbath-school, and 
 after the death of Mr. Blair became Superintendent 
 of the School until early in 1869 he suggested that 
 the Superintendent should be annually appointed, 
 and in that way he was enabled to retire. He took 
 great personal interest in the young who came 
 under his teaching — made parties for them at his 
 house or took them on picnics to one of his farms. 
 On the inner side of his oflace door were written the 
 names of his young lady scholars and the years of 
 their scholarship, so that at the time he died there 
 iinust have been over two hundred names there. To 
 each one he gave some little token of regard — a 
 Bible or a hymn book, a Confession of Faith or some 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 105 
 
 otlior l>o()k, and in each was written over his sio;na- 
 tare some words of admonition or of Scripture. 
 Now, many of those young ladies are wives and 
 mothers and grandmothers scattered all over the 
 United States, but wherever they are they have a 
 kindly feeling for peculiar, genial and warm hearted 
 Mr. Hamilton, and are instilling, into the minds of 
 children and grandchildren, the words of wisdom he 
 taught, so that they too may become living monu- 
 ments of his work on earth. 
 
 How memories of those old worthies come throng- 
 ing upon us ! These few are but types of the 
 others. They were forceful, strong minded, posi- 
 tive men and women, and they laid the foundation 
 of this Church deep and strong. They passed it on 
 to their successors, and when in time, after the pas- 
 torate of Mr. Bliss, it came to be placed under a 
 pastorate that has now seen thirty years of life, it 
 had become so great that it could afford to expend, 
 for a parsonage and for this larger place of worship 
 that its needs required, nearly sixty thousand dol- 
 lars. During those thirty years the work has been 
 carried forward and upward, and looking back over 
 the sixty-six years that have passed since that little 
 knot of men and women were formed into a Presby- 
 
106 A THIETIETH ANNIVEKSAKY. 
 
 terian Congregation, we can see, all along the years, 
 the potential influence its men and women exercised 
 in this community and in this county. It has been 
 an influence exceeding any other, and it sprang from 
 the lives and the character of the members of this 
 Congregation. For almost sixty years the Presi- 
 dent Judg3s of your Courts have been of your num- 
 ber or have owed their appointment, nomination and 
 election to their families or their friends among you. 
 So long as Associate Judges sat upon the Bench, 
 almost without exception, a Second Presbyterian 
 was one of them. A long line of eminent lawyers, 
 beginning with Metzger and Penrose and ending 
 with Sharpe, added ability and force, while, through 
 Banks officered and controlled by your people, the 
 financial aff"airs of the County have been ruled. 
 Good old Presbyterian ladies, among you, originated 
 the Ladies' Benevolent Aid Society, that has done 
 and is doing such good work among the poor of the 
 town. Missionaries in foreign lands, Ministers of 
 the Gospel, prominent men and rising young men, 
 everywhere^ have gone out from you, and the teach- 
 ing and the training they received here are helping 
 to better the world. 
 
 What has been done in the past can be done in " 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 107 
 
 the 3'ears that the future contains, and, under the 
 leadership of your thirty-year old Pastor, the work 
 can be so advanced and increased that your suc- 
 cessors can look l»ack with greater i)ride than you 
 do, and can see how this Church has worked in har- 
 mony with the divine plan, in the establishment of 
 civil and religious liberty upon this continent, as 
 shown in our form of Government and in the Pres- 
 byterian Church. 
 
ADDRESSES, 
 
 Sabbath Evening, January 1, 1899. 
 
 EEV. WILLIAM A. WEST, 
 
 President of Metzger College, Carlisle, 
 
 Presiding. 
 
 President West expressed his liigli appreciation of 
 the honor conferred upon him by the invitation to 
 preside at a service which would help to mark an 
 occasion so interesting and memoral)lc as this anni- 
 versary. He referred in feeling terms to the very 
 close relations which he sustained alike to this pastor 
 and people, and having spoken of the honorable 
 record which had been made by many of the pastors 
 in the Presbytery of Carlisle as to the matter of long 
 periods of service, he introduced the first speaker of 
 the evening, Dr. Crawford, as one who had helped 
 to install the pastor of this Church thirty years ago, 
 having given him, at that time, by appointment of 
 Presbytery, the solemn and official charge of fidelity 
 to his trust in the sight of God. 
 
110 A THIRTIETH ANNIVER>?ARY. 
 
 " THE MINISTRY, THE GLORY OF CHRIST." 
 
 BY 
 
 EP]V. J. AGNP]W CRAWFORD, D. D. 
 
 " Our brethren * * are the glory of 
 Christ" — II Cor. viii. 23. 
 
 There is a mellow light that lingers yet on ancient 
 Greece, and a winsome charm in that classic land, 
 not less for the Christian than for the unbelieving 
 .scholar. Our religion has hallowed much of its soil, 
 and of its water-ways as well. It has made Athens 
 and Achaia, and Philippi, and Corinth, and Cen- 
 chrea, the ^Egean and the Cyclades, immortal for lis 
 all, and not less so the narrow Isthmus which joins 
 Greece proper to the Peloponnesus, and upon which 
 the city of Corinth sat like a queen. It was said of 
 it, that it was in a military point of view the eye of 
 Greece, as Athens was intellectually. Yet no moral 
 soil could have been less promising for the planting 
 of the truth of God. For Corinth was so unclean 
 and so voluptuous that " to Corinthianize" meant to 
 be utterly bad. Yet a Christian Church was founded 
 there, to which the Apostle Paul sent two of his 
 
DR. CRAWFORD. 
 
 11 
 
 most important Epistles. Titus the P]vaiinvlist l.y 
 his request was making a visit to the Church there, 
 accompanied by several of the hrethren. And wi'it- 
 ing to the Corinthians, Paul says, " If any inak*^ iii- 
 <|uiry in regard to these ministers, they aie tlu! 
 messengers of the Churches and the glory of Christ." 
 It is to this clause I now (h'aw your attention, " Our 
 brethren are the glory of Christy 
 
 Our friend, and associate in the ministiy, your 
 worthy pastor, is one of these. He has served this 
 church for thirty years standing all this time at his 
 post sentinel, counsellor, teacher, pastor, ImsIioji, 
 friend, and we are here to-night to congratulate him 
 on the good Providence of God which has thus 
 ordered, and upon important work done here for the 
 Master. He has tai\ght, and warned men. seeking 
 ''to present them at last perfect in Christ Jesus." 
 He has cried aloud of the coming doom, and pointed 
 to the refuge, and urgeil men to run to it. He has 
 been in charge of your high spiritual affairs, giving 
 you the best of his brain and heart, of his time, of 
 his acquisitions, of his ripest years. It cannot all 
 have been in vain, — nay rather may we not believe 
 you will be his crown on the coronation day- 
 Let me call vour att(uition to this remarkable 
 
112 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 phrase of Paul, " Our brethren — the glory of Christ," 
 The common explanation of it is that " the ministry 
 is an honor to the Gospel, and are greatly instru- 
 mental in promoting the glory of the Saviour " — 
 that they are the glory of Christ just as all Chris- 
 tians are, in this that they aim to honor Him by 
 their holy living, by their diligence and success in 
 duty, and by their love and loyalty to Him. 
 
 But I cannot think that this account of these 
 remarkable words exhausts their meaning. They 
 make a special statement not in regard to the Church 
 at large, but the ministry. Whatever the words 
 mean, they affirm it of the men whom the Son of 
 God has sent to preach His Gospel, and I do not find 
 that they are used either of the Old Testament 
 levites or prophets, or priests— ^but of the Christian 
 ministry. We are speaking now not of the men, 
 but of the order taken as a distinct and separate 
 class, and the assertion is that " they are the glory 
 of Christ." 
 
 I. In this that they make actual in fact, and 
 historically for all time the Saviour's own ideal of 
 the way in which the world must be reached by His 
 Gospel. 
 
 There are other ways conceivable by us in which 
 
T)i;. r'RAWFORD. 
 
 113 
 
 He could have reached His end. He might, for 
 example, have sent the seraphs who would gladly 
 and with swiftest feet have run on such an errandry. 
 Or He might have ordered an inspired commission 
 to sit in the city of Jerusalem through the years, to 
 whom from far and near men might have come to 
 learn the truth; or He might have put forth a 
 secret influence on the minds of men by His Holy 
 Spirit so that they could have been saved. 
 
 But of all the possibilities that were present to 
 His mind to secure His end, Jesus fixed upon this of 
 the human ministry, and certainly for some sufficient 
 reason. It is remarkable that He limited Himself 
 to this, and that He gave no leave to His Church to 
 adopt any other ])lan, whatever her condition might 
 at any juncture or crisis seem to demand. Ht* 
 would risk all — if I may so put it — on this. Then 
 He disappeared, going away to the sky, and having 
 in fact said to the apostles — I leave in your hands 
 this great affair ; I depend upon you ; my commission 
 to you is beyond recall ; this lost world must be 
 reached even to the last man before I can return to 
 close the affairs of My Kingdom here and to settle 
 the destinies of all men. You may not lean on any 
 human arm, nur make any league with earthly 
 
114 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 kingdoms to secure your success. " I will give you 
 a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries 
 shall not be able to gainsay nor resist," and you 
 shall receive such an enduement of power as shall 
 make you equal ^to your great task, and men shall 
 know Me through you. Nothing like this, nothing 
 approaching this, was ever said to any but to the 
 apostles, and so through them to the line of the 
 '' Ministry of Reconciliation," as Paul calls them. 
 
 Now, for men, mere men, to stand in any such 
 relation to the Son of God as this, to have Him fall- 
 ing back, if I may so say, on them, the Infinite upon 
 the finite, this is indeed for them to be " the glory 
 of Christ." One would think that man could hardly 
 be pushed to such prominence, even with God be- 
 hind him. How can anything so dark, so limp, so 
 much in disarray as even sanctified manhood is, be 
 relied upon for a task so " huge" * as this ? If 
 you lift the ministry into a priesthood — if that would 
 even be lifting it — or if you sink it into a mere as- 
 ■ sociation of good men, who with no authority but 
 simply fired with zeal go out to reclaim and save 
 this wandering and fractured humanity of ours, you 
 have shorn it of its strengh, and made it other than 
 
 * The adjective is Archbisliop Leighton's. 
 
DR. CRAWFORD. llo 
 
 the Lord Jesus made it. It is doul)tfiil if it couM 
 do the work to be done, and whether it would in- 
 deed realize the Saviour's ideal. 
 
 II. The Christian ministry is the glory of Christ 
 in that they serve in this which is His own Economy, 
 and carry a special commission from Him so to do. 
 
 In this very Epistle, and in that to the Hebrews 
 as well, Paul argues the temporary character of the 
 former dispensation, giving the reasons why it could 
 not continue : "It waxed old ;" it was cut con- 
 stantly by the tootn of Time. It made nothing per- 
 fect. It could not purify the conscience of any 
 worshipper. It was the ministration of condemna- 
 tion. Outwardly it was decked and fair. The 
 pattern of it all was shown to Moses on the Mount. 
 There was blue, and purple and scarlet fine-twined 
 linen. The cloud of fragrant incense was ever going 
 uf), and through the years the ground round about 
 the altars was red and wet with the blood of sacri- 
 fice. If any religion whose glory lay in externals 
 bade fair to stand, it was that old Economy. But it 
 did not. It could not. It was not in vain. To say 
 that would be to reflect upon God himself. It did 
 not die before its time, and it was no dishonor for it 
 to die then. It is no shame to the ephemera that 
 
116 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 they dance in the sun for a day only, and that they 
 
 have no yesterday and no to-morrow. The things 
 
 which God has made, and which touch tlieir goal, 
 
 may not be rated low. And so the Mosaic system 
 
 is to be reverently conceived of, for it fulfilled its 
 
 mission. But the kingdom of the Son of God rose 
 
 upon its ruins, never to know decline. 
 
 " Deem not the irrevocable past 
 As wholly wasted, wholly vain, 
 If rising on its wrecks at last 
 To something nobler we attain." 
 
 For He Himself whose are the everlasting years 
 is its base, and corner stone, and cap-stone as well. 
 His is this new era which nearly two thousand 
 years ago dawned upon our globe, and the Chris- 
 tianity which shines now in its splendor, original as 
 it is, and radiant with spiritual beauty as it is, is 
 His. It is the working out of His own divine 
 thought, the product at once of His wisdom and of 
 His mighty power. The mystic force which is so 
 pilainly in it, and before which nothing that was in 
 its way has been able to stand, all tells of Him. It 
 has all the elements of a world's religion. In its 
 author there was nothing narrow nor limited. Jew 
 though He was. He had no distinguishing marks of 
 the men of His nation. Nothino- was more remark- 
 
DR. CRAWFORD. 117 
 
 able as a feature of His divino-human character than 
 its univer.saUty. He was not representative of any 
 class or nation. He was not oriental in any pecu- 
 liar way in His teaching. Indeed, He drew all men 
 to Him, and all this was His glory in view of the 
 errand which brought Him here. His thought em- 
 braced humanity. He stood central amid the univer- 
 sal wreck to rescue, to lift up, to build into the dark 
 interstices which men call ruins, to restore that 
 which He took not away. 
 
 This present Economy of Grace is His in a very 
 special and real way. Jesus, says the apostle, is 
 the author of our faith. And in this the Christian 
 ministry is appointed to serve. x\nd that, not in 
 any merely tentative way or as an experiment, and 
 as being one of several agencies that might have been 
 tested, but as the one and only agency preferred by 
 the Lord Himself, and relied upon by Him for reach- 
 ing the whole world with His salvation. And for 
 this purpose they carry His personal commission, 
 and so they are indeed His glory, as our verse de- 
 clares. Back of them is He, the authority that 
 sends, and sanctions, and supports. Our Church 
 refuses the notion of what is called the "Apostolical 
 Succession," as that phrase is usually explained. 
 
118 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 At the same time it is certain that in all the past 
 there has been a plurality of Presbyters who have 
 been the historic channels through which the minis- 
 terial power and authority have come. If the chain 
 which unites the ministry to the Lord Jesus be 
 broken in fact, so that we are historically cut off 
 from Him, the divine authority is lost to the minis- 
 try. But the chain cannot be broken. It has never 
 been a-wanting. The Master Himself, the author of 
 our faith, still lives, and the ministry serves under 
 Him in this His own preferred economy. The sound 
 of His feet is heard behind them. They do what 
 He would be doinii; were He here, blowinii; the trum- 
 pets of alarm, lifting up their voice for God, publish- 
 ing the good news from the far-away country, looking 
 for the lost. 
 
 iVnd it is a special feature of their official work 
 that they speak to men on His behalf. Preaching 
 is the thing in chief in this Economy, not ritual, not 
 studied scenic eifect, not the blare of sound, not 
 architecture, not any complicated machinery, not 
 guilds and brotherhoods, but preaching. It has 
 '■ pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save 
 them that believe." 
 
 And this is a point of contrast between the min- 
 
DR. CRAWFORD. 119 
 
 istry of tlie religion of the Son of God and the prie.^ts 
 of the past. Theirs were the smoking altars, and 
 the knives of sacrifice, and the swinging censers, and 
 the endless routine, all of which belong to the reli- 
 gion of the outward. The functions of this later 
 dispensation of the Spirit are other than theirs. 
 Now, we are commissioned to plead with our fellow- 
 men on God's behalf, to use the tongue which is the 
 glory of man in an effort to win them all for Him. 
 "As ye go, preach," is the command. We speak, 
 and we are the only animal that does. Our God 
 speaks, and He is the only Deity that does. Jesus 
 spake on the mountain-top, trom the stern of the 
 boat, to the men on the road, in the synagogue, in 
 the Temple. This was His method and His glory, 
 and the ministry is His glory in that He is heard 
 through them. And His line is nearest to parallel 
 with that of the Son of God, who, with the equip- 
 ment of the Holy Ghost, and with the oil of His 
 formal anointing upon Him, runs to this lost world 
 with the messages of mercy. 
 
 There never has been an Economy like this under 
 which we are. There never was a now like this, 
 never such a full-tide glory as this noon of this Gos- 
 pel day. Indeed, it makes the greatest matter under 
 
120 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 which king we serve, under what conditions we play 
 our part and do our life-work. No Jewish priest, 
 even though mitred, and though attired in the holy 
 garments, filled any such niche as he fills under the 
 Gospel, who is the glory of Christ, and who serves 
 amid these stately sanctities of the New Covenant. 
 The ancient priest stood in the shade and wrought 
 in the twilight, and saw almost nothing that lay be- 
 yond that near, wide rim which fenced Judea off 
 from the dark-wide world without. It was, indeed, 
 a long line in which He registered, and it had noth- 
 ing as its equal or its like in the earth anywhere. 
 And it may well be that but for that ancient priest- 
 hood, and that religion with which it was interwoven, 
 the Church of to-day would have been impossible. 
 It was all of God, and had a splendor and a use of 
 its own, so that we owe it much. But it is better to 
 l>e now, better to serve now as a minister, and to be 
 in so serving the " glory of the Son of God." 
 
 III. The Christian ministry is the glory of Christ 
 also in this, that they serve in the last Economy of 
 all. 
 
 We have received " a kingdom which cannot be 
 moved," says the apostle. Whatever view be taken 
 of the coming of the Lord, whether it will be before 
 
Dll. ClIAWFolU). 121 
 
 or after the ]\Iillennium, it i.s certain that at th(! 
 close of the present era of grace Jesii!* will appear. 
 So that the ministry is His in an important sense, 
 His forerunner, heralding Him, hivaking nj> His 
 way, saying to the people that they should believe 
 on Him who is coming after, that is on Christ Jesus. 
 We, unworthy we, limp, limited, naught in our- 
 selves, are serving Him under th(> urgency of the 
 last times with a globe upon our hands, for the evan- 
 gelization of which we are res})onsible, not reached 
 yet by at least eight hundred and fifty millions of 
 its immortal tenantry. All the lack of the old Mo- 
 saic Economy can be easily made good by this 
 which has followed it. It carried in itself the 
 seeds and pledges of its own decay. The moths, 
 God's moths, which had waited so long for the 
 priestly robes of glory and beauty, came at last to 
 fret them away. But lack now in us who ai'e at 
 work in this crowning Economy is final lack, so far 
 as we can see. So that the pressure upon the evan- 
 gelical ministry of to-day is great indeed. And they 
 are the glory of Christ largely in this very fact. 
 
 We are just now upon the edge not of a new year 
 only, but of the new century. The much that has 
 been already done, and of which your pastoi- made 
 
122 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 such admirable mention this morning, suggests the 
 more that remains to be done. Everywhere, in these 
 later years, the haste and push are very great along 
 all the lines. And who shall say how far all this 
 may be indicative of the quick coming of the end. 
 
\VM. M. LOCAN. 
 
 123 
 
 "THE ADVANTAGES OE A LONG PASTORATE." 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. WM. H. LOGAN. 
 
 I am verv happv to be with you on this interest- 
 ing occasion, and congratulate both [tastor and people 
 on having lived together for thirty years in ecclesi- 
 astical bonds, which are almost as sacred as the 
 marriage tie. Having been acquainted with this 
 Church nearly all my life ; my sisters being con- 
 nected with it, and my wife having been a member 
 of it three different times, and being very intimately 
 acquainted with the pastor for thirty years, it is only 
 natural that I should feel a very deep interest in this 
 celebration, and gladly add what I can to the general 
 rejoicing. 
 
 It was also my })rivilege to preach the last sermon 
 in the old church before it was taken down to give 
 place to this handsome and convenient edifice. 
 
 My first recollection of Carlisle was in being taken 
 by my mother to the old Seceder church, on West 
 street, and trying to peer over the high-backed pews 
 at Rev. Mr. Simpson before my feet could touch the 
 
124 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 floor. Being born and bred in the deepest-blue 
 Presbyterianism, and taught to sing the Psalms in 
 Rouse's version (though it would bother me now to 
 line them out), I have come by inheritance, as well 
 as by mature judgment, to the firm conviction that 
 Presbyterianism is the best form of Church Govern- 
 ment and Polity on earth. 
 
 By the way, the Seceder Church in this town dis- 
 appeared long ago — its members either going to 
 Heaven or to the Old School Presbyterian Church ; 
 but there is a tradition that many of them thought 
 Mr. McGill was " a little off color" when he left 
 them to become pastor at the corner of Hanover and 
 Pomfret streets. 
 
 As the pastorate of Dr. Norcross has been such a 
 long one — covering nearly half the years of the ex- 
 istence of the Second Church — perhaps an appro- 
 priate topic for me to discuss in the short time allotted 
 me would be " The Advantages of a Long Pastorate." 
 
 While permanency is so desirable, the fact is that 
 in all the Churches adopting the permanent pas- 
 torate, the average pastorate does not much exceed 
 the term limit of five years, which obtains in some 
 of the Churches which adopt the itinerancy. 
 
 Many things conspire to render the pastorate in- 
 
WM. H. LOGAN. 125 
 
 secure. Insuffieient su})|)i)rt is perhaps the chiel' 
 source of this unrest. Youno- men who begin with 
 small churches want to do better for themselves. 
 When a man has preached three or five years in a 
 place he often feels that he has about exhausted his 
 mental resources on that pe()[)li', and that he has 
 presented all the chief heads of theology, and in 
 another field he can use his acquired capital with 
 freshness and added experience. Then the easy 
 facilities of travel ; the long vacation ; the desire of 
 novelty ; the constand trend of population to the 
 large towns and cities, where so many social, literary, 
 musical and aesthetic advantages are to be enjoyed, 
 all tend to render men discontented with what seems 
 the slow and steady grind of three new addresses 
 every week, with little apparent result, and scarcely 
 ever a fellow-minister to come to their relief. 
 
 No profession demands such a constant and steady 
 drain on the intellectual resources and sym[)athies 
 of a man as the ministry, when, at least, three times 
 a week he must appear before the same audience 
 with something new and interesting. The lawyer, 
 the physician, the lecturer, the teacher, has a new 
 audience frequently, or a concrete subject, but the 
 
126 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 minister generally addres.ses the same audience and 
 has to preach on an abstract theme. 
 
 It is easy to get both subjects and abundance of 
 matter, and it is a joy and delight to preach when 
 there is a lively religious interest in the congrega- 
 tion ; but when weeks and months go by, and there 
 is not an inquirer, and the minister hears no word 
 of comment on his preaching, except perhaps criti- 
 cism, it is not surprising that his courage flags, and 
 he looks with longing eyes to another field. Then, 
 with most men, there is the limitation of abilities to 
 interest and instruct the average congregation for a 
 long time ; and the recognition of this fact is doubt- 
 less the principal reason for the adoption of the 
 itinerancy. Education greatly aids a man's intellec- 
 tual resources, but it does not wholly supply his 
 natural limitations. 
 
 In addition to all this, there are the defects of the 
 people. After all. Churches are human, and some- 
 times more human than humane with their ministers. 
 They set a standard both for the man and his abilities 
 far higher than actually exists, and expect him to 
 come up to it. Then, when they are so unrespon- 
 sive to preaching ; often divided among themselves ; 
 give him so little spiritual help; are not punctual 
 
WM. H. LOGAN. 127 
 
 in his temporal support, and make his [)aticnt ear 
 the receptacle of so many complaints, and expect 
 him to a[>prove their side of all contentions, is it any 
 wonder there are so many short pastorates ? Paul 
 was burdened with the care of all the churches, and 
 Moses shrank from the labor of leading Israel to the 
 Land of Promise. 
 
 Of course, there are splendid compensations in the 
 honor, respect and love that is so generally accorded 
 to ministers, and, al)ove all, the consciousness that 
 he is serving a blessed Master, and engaged in the 
 noblest and most exalted calling, and in the joy of 
 turning many from sin to holiness. P>ut ministers 
 are only human, and do not always live, as they 
 ouccht, in the hi<i-li, clear atmosiihere of faith. 
 
 Many other causes might be mentioned which tend 
 to shorten the pastorate, one specially, the general 
 law that the strong and aggressive men gravitate to 
 the more influential churclu\-<, but any way you take 
 it, frequent changes are an injury to a church. The 
 permanent pastorate has decided advantages both to 
 minister and people. 
 
 The men who have had the greatest [)ennanent 
 influence have been those who remained longest in 
 one charge. Manv nien have done good work, and 
 
128 A TIIIETIETH ANNIVEESARY. 
 
 been popular, who only spent a f^hort time in a place ; 
 but their influence and work has not been perma- 
 nent and conserved like those who remained longer. 
 Carlisle^ Presbytery has had a notable list of long 
 pastorates. Rev. James Snodgrass, of Hanover 
 Church, was perhaps the longest, 1788 to 1846, 
 fifty-eight years — his whole ministerial life. Hano- 
 ver Church has disappeared from the list of churches, 
 because the whole congregation emigrated. James 
 Sharon, of Paxton and Derry, thirty-six years. Dr. 
 Creigh, of blessed memory, Mercersburg, forty-nine 
 years. Dr. Davidson, First Church, Carlisle, 1785 
 -1812, twenty-seven years. David Denny, Falling 
 Springs, Chambersburg, 1800-1838, thirty-eight 
 years. Dr. DeWitt, Harrisburg, forty-seven years. 
 John Elder, Paxton, iifty-three years. Ptobert S. 
 Grier, Tom's Creek and Piney Creek, fifty-one years. 
 James Harper, Shippensburg, thirty years. Rev. 
 Dr. John King, Mercersburg, 1769-1811, forty- 
 two years. Robert Kennedy, Welsh Run and Pres- 
 bytery, forty years. John Linn, Upper and Centre, 
 forty-two years. Dr. McConaughey, Gettysburg, 
 1800-1832, thirty-two years. Amos McGinley, Path 
 Valley, 1803-1851, forty-eight years. John Moodey, 
 Middle Spring, 1803-1854, fifty-one years. Robert 
 
WM. II. LOGAN. 129 
 
 McCachren, Newville, 1831-1851, twenty years. 
 George Morris, Silver Spring, 1840-1860, twenty 
 years. Jos. A. Murray, Monaghan, 1841-1858, 
 seventeen years. A. D. Mitchell, Paxton, 1850-1874, 
 twenty-four years. Wm. Paxton, Marsh Creek, 
 forty-nine years. T. H. Kobinson, Harrisburg, 
 thirty years. John Steel, of Carlisle, " the fighting 
 parson" of the last century, 1759-1779, twenty 
 years. Joshua Williams, Big Spring, 1802-1829, 
 twenty-seven years. James C. Watson, Gettys- 
 burg, 1832-1849, seventeen years. N. Grier White, 
 McConnellsburg, thirty years. C. P. Wing, First 
 Church, Carlisle — pastor, twenty-seven years ; pastor 
 emeritus, twelve years — thirty-nine years. Ptobert 
 Cathcart, York, fifty-six years. John Craighead, 
 Rocky Spring, 1768-1799, thirty-one years. 
 
 Among the ministers still living there have been 
 many long pastorates : Dr. S. C. Alexander, fourteen 
 years in Upper Path Valley and twelve years in Mil- 
 lerstown. Eev. Dr. J. A. Crawford, Falling Spring, 
 twenty years pastor and thirteen pastor emeritus — 
 thirty-three years, Dr. Geo. S. Chambers, Pine Street, 
 twenty years. Dr. E. Erskine, Newville, twenty- 
 nine years. Rev. J. Smith Gordon, Lower Path 
 Valley, forty-one years. Rev. Dr. Jas. F. Kennedy, 
 
130 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 ill the Presbytery, fifty years. Rev. Wm. McCar- 
 rell, Shippensburg, twenty-three years. Dr. George 
 jSTorcross, thirty years. Dr. S. W. Reigart, Me- 
 chanicsburg, twenty-one years. Rev. W. S. Van 
 Cleve, Marsh Creek, thirty years. Rev. W. A. 
 West, Upper Path Valley, twenty — Westminster, 
 seventeen — in Presbytery — forty-five years. Rev. 
 S. S. Wylie, Middle Spring, twenty -seven years. 
 
 This is a list of forty names, and perhaps others 
 could be added of men who have served single 
 churches from seventeen to fifty-eight years within 
 the one-time bounds of Carlisle Presbytery. With 
 a few exceptions, the churches they served, or are 
 serving, are the strong, substantial churches of to- 
 day. 
 
 Just here I would call attention to an article in 
 The Presbyterian .^ of December 7, 1898, entitled " A 
 Worthy Record," in which the writer refers to the 
 long pastorates in the Southern Church of men still 
 living, and mentions among others Dr. Armstrong, 
 of Norfolk, Va., who has been pastor for forty-seven 
 years ; Dr. Moses D. Hoge, of Richmond, Va., fifty- 
 three years ; Dr. Palmer, of New Orleans, forty-two 
 years ; Dr. Burgett, of Mobile, thirty-nine years ; 
 Dr. Jas. R. Graham, of Winchester, Va., forty-seven 
 
\VM. H. LOGAN. 131 
 
 years; Dr. Jcs. B. Stratton, of Natchez, Miss., fift}- 
 five years; Dr. Ch. H. Ptead, of Piichmond, Va., 
 forty-nine years, and many others. 
 
 Ministers of national and lasting reputation liavc 
 remained a long time in one church. Dr. Talmagc 
 was twenty-five years in the Brooklyn Tabernacle ; 
 Henry Ward Beecher preached for forty years in 
 Brooklyn ; Dr. Richard S. Storrs has been fifty-three 
 years in the Church of the Pilgrims, Brooklyn ; Dr. 
 John Hall was thirty years in the Fifth Avenue 
 Church, New York ; Dr. Cuyler was about thirty 
 years pastor, and is still a vigorous preacher and. 
 writer ; Albert Barnes was nearly forty years pastor 
 of the First Church of Philadelphia. This list could 
 be greatly increased, but enough has been men- 
 tioned to show the influence of the long pastorate, 
 both upon the minister and the church. 
 
 While some men of very moderate ability and in- 
 tellectual attainment have remained a long time in 
 a single church, yet they have generally been dis- 
 tinguished for some other traits of character which 
 go to make up the successful pastor, such as personal 
 worth, and acknowledged piety, and great kindness 
 of heart and gentleness. But there is no doubt that 
 the great major-ity of those who held or are holding 
 
132 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 these long pastorates are far above the average in 
 abilities — men who stand in the very first rank for 
 intellectual power and consecration to their calling, 
 and who are the peers of any men of the land. 
 
 Many of them were exceedingly able men — of 
 large mind and heart, profound scholars, and some- 
 times of surpassing eloquence — not only distin- 
 guished a.s theologians and ecclesiastics, but men of 
 great literary attainments and true statesmanship, 
 and th-eir influence has long survived them, and is 
 being perpetuated in the men and women trained 
 under their preaching. Their greatest power, how- 
 ever, lay in their fidelity to the Word of God, and 
 in their desire and ability to instruct men in the way 
 of life, rather than in sensation or desire for fame. 
 The closer they kept to the great Commission to 
 preach the Gospel the more lasting the results. 
 
 Now, what is there in a long pastorate that helps 
 to make men great and successful preachers ? 
 
 1. First, we may mention competent support. 
 These men were not serving mission churches, or, at 
 least, they soon came to self-support. They either 
 had their own homes and private means, or their 
 congregations gave them such a support as kept 
 them free from worldly care and avocations. Min- 
 
\VM. 11. LOCxAN. 13-3 
 
 hicvH nowhere in this country receive princely 
 t^ahxries, but the poorest policy the Church ever 
 adopts is to require an educated ministry to live 
 on a beggarly sahuy. Poor support accounts for 
 most of our weak or vacant churches. But when 
 men have been enabled to live in modest comfort — 
 for that is all they have expected or asked — they 
 have worked along contentedly. The very sense of 
 security in their position has stimulated them to 
 give their people the best product of their brains and 
 hearts — to feed them on the finest of the wheat from 
 God's storehouse. 
 
 This sense of security also gave them the feeling 
 that their life-work w^as to be done in one church 
 and community. It identified them with the church 
 until they very naturally spoke of the church and 
 people as my church and my people — a sense of real 
 possession. And in the same way the church be- 
 came identified in the minds of the people with the 
 pastor, until it was known not so much as the First 
 Church of Carlisle, or the Second Church, but 
 was called Dr. Wing's Church or Dr. Norcross' 
 Church. There is great gain in such an identifica- 
 tion. The minister's pride in his people is awakened, 
 and he is anxious that they should be worthy of him, 
 
134 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 and he of them. Such a pastoral relation is not 
 shaken loose by every wind of difficulty that blows, 
 but patience, and tact and charity are exercised, 
 which in the end confirms the relation more securely. 
 Such a minister comes to know the true circum- 
 stances of his people by long acquaintance and more 
 frequent opportunities to gain their confidence. He 
 rejoices in their prosperity, or sympathizes with them 
 in losses and troubles. It takes a long time to gain the 
 confidence of some people, until you know their real 
 circumstances — their temptations or their excellen- 
 cies. Ministers seldom come to really know their peo- 
 ple until they have been with them in some great joy, 
 like at a wedding, or at some great heart-break, as 
 at a funeral. If, on such occasions, he is tactful and 
 sympathetic, the minister finds an open door to their 
 inmost hearts. He can then influence them as he 
 never could before. But years often go by before 
 such opportunities are afforded him. In a ten years' 
 pastorate, however, there will scarcely be a family 
 in the congregation, or in small communities, where 
 the minister will not be at least once, and often fre- 
 quently the most highly prized friend, because he 
 has brought to them the consolations of the Gospel 
 in their extremest need. 
 
WM. ir. LOGAN. 135 
 
 Ministei'ti are specially interested in those who 
 have come into the Church through their ministry 
 — especially if they have frequently consulted them 
 about their spiritual state of mind. It has been a 
 matter of great interest to watch the growth in 
 grace ; or of anxiety if there is danger of falling 
 away. And the convert, too, has a special tender 
 spot in his heart for the man who first awakened 
 serious thoughts in his mind, or led him to Christ. 
 Thus there is a mutual interest which leads the min- 
 ister to set forth the doctrines of saving grace in 
 their greatest simplicity and beauty, for their fruits 
 and results appear to his very eyes. 
 
 2. A long pastorate tends to make a minister a 
 broad student of God's w^ord. Naturally, every one 
 preaches what he supposes are the most important 
 doctrines, and if his stay in a place is brief he has 
 not time to set forth all of them. In his next church 
 he will go over practically the same truths ; but if 
 he is staying indefinitely he has time to set forth the 
 whole counsel of God. Thus many precious truths 
 are presented to both pastor and people which other- 
 wise would have been overlooked. 
 
 The very necessity of bringing forth some new 
 thing from the storehouse of God's word widens his 
 
136 A THIRTIETH AXNIVERSARY. 
 
 conception, and increases his delight in obtaining 
 the unsearchable riches of Christ. This is the reason 
 that a man can sustain himsell", and be an interest- 
 ing and instructive preacher to the same congrega- 
 tion for a long term of years. 
 
 This tends to make him a student. Men are nat- 
 urally indolent. Intellectual labor is the hardest 
 kind of labor. The average man is only impelled to 
 work by stern necessity. Ministers are not excep- 
 tions to this general characteristic. The reasonable 
 expectation of an intelligent people, and the desire 
 to appear creditably before them, are incentives to 
 diligent preparation, as well as the sense of respon- 
 sibility to the Great Head of the Church, for fidelity 
 in the discharge of his great office. Therefore, he 
 must read and study, and diligent habits must be 
 cultivated. He must be constantly acquiring if he 
 would bring; forth thino;s both new and old. His 
 studies, too, will take a wide range. A new book 
 that helps him to interest his people will be read 
 with delio;ht. 
 
 Just here it may be said, that one of the best 
 ihings the Second Church of Carlisle ever did was 
 to begin the collection of a " Pastor's Library" when 
 Dr. Norcross was installed, and take up a collection 
 
WM. II. LOdAN. 137 
 
 for it every year since then. Tiiis is now, jk'1'1ui])s, 
 the choicest library in the Presbytery. It gave tlie 
 pastor the means and incentive to buy the books he 
 needed and desired at the time, and in which he was 
 then specially interested. For if you do not read ;t 
 book when you greatly desire to see it, or if you read 
 when you are not interested in it, it does you little 
 good. This library, and the stimulus to private 
 purchase, has [)Ut much of the best thought of the 
 age within his reach, and this Church has reaped the 
 great benefit of his studies in the model sermons he 
 has given you, and it has made him one of the most 
 scholarly, accomplished, forceful and interesting min- 
 isters in the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 It would be a great blessing and gain if all our 
 churches would establish and maintain pastor's 
 libraries. It would do much to lengthen the pas- 
 torate, by giving the minister tlu; means of bringing 
 much fresh, interesting and timely matter into his 
 pulpit ministrations. Then, too, it widens his scope 
 of subjects for conversation in pastoral and social vis- 
 iting. We naturally talk about things that are fresh 
 in our minds, and which arrest attention. He can 
 often |)ut a good book in the hand of a friend, and 
 cultivate a taste for readina:, and make him a more 
 
138 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 interested listener to his sermons. It is far more 
 satisfactory and stimulating to preach to attentive 
 and intelligent people than to the dull and ignorant. 
 3. Another advantage of the long pastorate is, 
 that the minister watches the growth and develop- 
 ment of the children. He feels a special interest in 
 those he has baptized. As they grow up and come 
 to the Infant Class, and into the Sunday-school and 
 to church, he calls them by their first or pet names, 
 and they associate the .church and religion with him, 
 for they really have never known any other pastor, 
 and, in many cases, seldom hear any other minister 
 preach. He becomes interested in their studies, and 
 the choice of a profession, and is often consulted by 
 parents as to the school or college to which they 
 should send their children. Many men and many 
 women owe it to their pastor that they received a 
 liberal education, and hold the honorable position 
 in society they now enjoy. When the minister recog- 
 nizes a bright boy or girl in the family, and speaks 
 of them approvingly, a gentle hint to parents has in- 
 duced them to send them to school and start them 
 on the road to wide usefulness or fame. Ministers 
 have ever been the chief promoters of higher educa- 
 tion, and there can be no successful common school 
 
WM. n. lo(;an. 139 
 
 c'ducalion without the High School :\ud the College. 
 
 People do not appreciate how much of their edu- 
 cation and refinement, and of the amenities of life;, 
 they owe to the educated, conscientious ministers. 
 Why, to listen regularly every Sabbath through a 
 course of years to a minister of ability and thorough 
 scholarship, is in itself a liberal education. 
 
 4. The development of benevolence is another 
 great advantage of the long pastorate. If you will 
 examine the statistics of the General Assembly you 
 will find that the churches which make the largest 
 contributions to the various Boards and Agencies of 
 the Church are the ones which seldom change pas- 
 tors. This is notably so in Carlisle Presbytery. 
 When a church is vacant, or frequently has a new 
 pastor, the revenues and benevolence fall off. It 
 usually takes a church at least a year to get a new 
 pastor, and that means a great deal of uncertainty 
 and irregularity. Whereas the regular pastor has 
 stated times or methods for gathering these benevo- 
 lent offerings. He feels interested to develop the 
 spirit of benevolence among his people. Frequently 
 calls their attention to it, and stimulates therii to do 
 better from year to year, and thus the aggregate 
 contributions increase, and his church becomes a 
 
140 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 perennial fountain of benevolence. Under this long 
 and faithful instruction the charity of many a saint 
 has been developed. Few people remember their 
 Lord's work in their wills who have not been cheer- 
 ful contributors to it while living. 
 
 5. Another advantage of the long pastorate is, 
 that the people reap the benefit of the ripened learn- 
 ing, observation and experience of their pastor. 
 People generally want an old and experienced law- 
 yer, physician and general, but it is remarkable how 
 many prefer the young and callow preacher. Ex- 
 perience is just as valuable in the preacher as it is 
 in any other calling or profession. Trials, failures, 
 successes, teach us a great many useful lessons. The 
 pastor of observation, experience and prudence 
 avoids or overcomes many a difficulty, where the 
 rash man would simply butt his head against a stone 
 wall. " Old men for counsel, young men for action." 
 
 What relief it is to a church to feel that it has not 
 periodically to select a new minister ! Churches do 
 not thrive well on novelty. Brilliant and sensa- 
 tional men never stay long in one place. Neither 
 do men who are technically called revival preachers. 
 They cannot long sustain the high tension of that 
 kind of preaching, and when the special interest or 
 
\VM. H. LOGAN. 141 
 
 excitement abates, and the affairs of the ehureh 
 move only in the normal way, they g-et discouraged, 
 and seek another field. 
 
 It is only men of endurance — men of equitable 
 temper, who are capable of plodding ; who can sow the 
 seed, and be content to wait God's time for the harvest; 
 who are not easily discouraged ; who do not need 
 to call in the Presbytery to settle their difficulties ; 
 who have not such a high and mighty opinion of 
 their own judgment that their resignation will be 
 tendered if the congregation does not always do 
 what they want done ; but who have tact and dis- 
 cretion to bear and forbear — it is only such men 
 who are either fitted by nature or grace to remain 
 long in one church, and render acceptable service. 
 Dr. Jas. L. Valandingham, of New Castle Presby- 
 tery, preached at the Head of Christiana church for 
 forty years, during which time three self-sustaining 
 churches grew out of his charge. When he resigned 
 a few years ago it was very truthfully said of him, 
 that the Lord had endowed him with a double por- 
 tion of good, common sense, or he never could have 
 stayed so long in one place. 
 
 It speaks well for the scholarship, industry, fidel- 
 ity and good sense of a man when the people will 
 
142 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 bear with his human weaknesses, and listen to him 
 patiently through a long course of years, and it is 
 just as complimentary to a congregation and to 
 their credit that their minister is willing to spend a 
 life time with them, and bear with their murmur- 
 ings, and neglects, and follies. 
 
 It is not to the credit of a congregation to fre- 
 quently change pastors — they did not make a wise 
 choice, or have not treated him well. On the score 
 of human weakness '' honors are very easy " between 
 pastors and people. It is usually well for both to 
 remember the wisdom of Hamlet and 
 
 rather bear those ills ue have, 
 Than My to others that we know not of. 
 
 Among the sisterhood of Churches the Presby- 
 terian stands conspicuous for the formation of char- 
 acter, for the development of individual liberty, 
 responsibility and personal worth. A man has no 
 better passport to confidence and respectful consider- 
 ation than to have it said of him, " He is a consistent 
 member of the Presbyterian Church." Though Pres- 
 byterians are not the largest body numercially 
 (standing perhaps 5th or 6th), yet they are doing 
 more than the fourth part of all the Foreign Mis- 
 sion work of the world, and are by far the largest 
 
W.M. H. LOilAN. 143 
 
 contributors to the general benevolence of the world. 
 
 The doctrine of Divine Sovereignty ; the educated 
 ministry, and the permanent pastorate have been 
 the chief factors in developing and sustaining such 
 a character. No other church can show such a gen- 
 eral high average character of her individual mem- 
 bership. The influences are mutual. The doctrine 
 and polity tends and aims to build ii}) such a char- 
 acter, and people of clear heads, who do their own 
 thinking, are drawn to such a church. Thus it 
 comes to pass that Presbyterians everywhere have 
 their denominational stamp, and they are proud of 
 it, and it is no small privilege and honor to be a 
 member of such a church, or to lie permitted to 
 minister to them. Men like Dr. Archibald Alex- 
 ander and Dr. Samuel Miller, who were each forty 
 years, and Dr. Charles Hodge who was fifty years, 
 instructors in Princeton Seminary, have left an in- 
 delible impression on the ministry and membershij> 
 of the whole Presbyterian denomination. 
 
 '6. Did time permit, we could speak of the value 
 of the long pastorate to the Presbytery. As a rule, 
 the men who have given character and reinitation 
 to the Presbytery have been those who have been 
 longest in service. Their laces beciwne familiar to 
 
144 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 the churches. They were honored and respected^ 
 and the community accepted their deliverances as 
 wise and prudent. Amid the constant changes go- 
 ing on in Presbytery, how often we hear people say, 
 " We don't know many of the ministers now." The 
 familiar faces and voices of the fathers are gone, and 
 it is said, " We don't know the new men." Thus 
 the social power of the Presbytery declines, and 
 doubtless this is one reason why churches are not 
 more anxious to entertain the Presbytery — it is not 
 like a meeting of old friends. 
 
 The Christian ministry is the most exalted and 
 responsible office among men. Paul regarded it as 
 the greatest grace of Christ to him ; and his con- 
 suming desire was to be found faithful to his trust. 
 His reward was the approval of his Master, and the 
 conversion of many souls. So the man who, through 
 many years, has been the religious guide and in- 
 structor of his people ; who has " allured men to 
 heaven, and led the way," is worthy of all congratu- 
 lation and honor. Happy in doing good, and imi- 
 tating his Master, "he ne'er has changed or wished 
 to change his place." Men gladly rise up and do 
 him honor. 
 
W. T. L. KIEFFER. 145 
 
 "WHAT 1 KNOW ABOUT THIS CHURCH AND PASTOR: 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. W. T. L. KIEFFER. 
 
 My personal acquaintance with this church dates 
 back to 1867. I was then a timid youth, with strong 
 innate Presbyterian procHvities, which caused me 
 occasionally to play truant from the Reformed 
 Church, where my family belonged, and drop into a 
 rear pew in the old Second Presbyterian Church to 
 hear Dr. Bliss preach. Personal acquaintance with 
 the pastor, whose thirtieth anniversary we are now 
 observing, began in the winter of 1873 ; and during 
 the summer of that year I transferred my member- 
 ship to this church while a student at Princeton 
 Theological Seminary. This church and pastor have 
 thus been most intimately associated with my min- 
 isterial life ; and it is with the greatest pleasure that 
 I now bear filial testimony to their worth to me. 
 Our acquaintance and friendship cover almost the 
 period made prominent by this anniversary service ; 
 and supply some sort of warrant for me to hint at 
 
146 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 •' What I Know About this Church and Pastor" — 
 the theme which has been assigned me. 
 
 I am glad this is not a funeral; and tliat I am 
 not this evening in the position of the minister I re- 
 cently read of, who had been engaged by an eccen- 
 tric man to preach his funeral sermon in his presence 
 while still living. The man wanted to know what 
 would be said about him, and declared it to be his 
 intention to demand strict honesty of the preacher, 
 and if he should either overstate or understate the 
 truth about him, he would then and there rise and 
 contradict him, as he could not if he waited till he 
 was dead ] He had heard so much unwarranted 
 panegyric at funerals that he wanted no lying at his. 
 Though I neither desire nor intend to exaggerate or 
 minify, and have not been threatened with instant 
 correction in either case, yet I am glad this is not a 
 funeral, not even by way of anticipation. The happy 
 circumstances of the occasion are such as would dis- 
 parage overstatement, and atone for understatement 
 of fact. 
 
 One is strongly impressed with the mutual influ- 
 ence of church and pastor on each other during so 
 prolonged association. The old adage, " Like priest 
 like people," finds its counterpart in its own reverse, 
 
\V. T. L. IvIEFFEE. 147 
 
 " Like peo})lG like priest." They are imitually 
 aifected. In the present instance we find marks of 
 strong individuality on both sides. This chnrch was 
 born with a positive temperament ; and has retained 
 it. So, too, the pastor. And whilst the pastor ha& 
 contributed much towards making this church what 
 it is, the church has done its share in developing the 
 pastor. This double-acting relationship must not be 
 forgotten as we look for points. I know not what 
 this church might have become under another pastor 
 or pastors, nor what thirty years in another church, 
 or in other churches, might have made this pastor ; 
 but I know this, that together these two have grown 
 to splendid character, service and honor in the Mas- 
 ter's kingdom. It is much to the credit of both that 
 they have mutually appreciated each other's merits, 
 borne with their faults, loved and been loved, helped 
 and been helped during these long years. This 
 harmony of two positive temperaments is an object- 
 lesson to all churches and pastors in these days of 
 unrest, when the lack of forbearance causes so many 
 needless pastoral changes. 
 
 Among the things I know about this church and 
 pastor are these, and such as these : 
 
148 A THIRTIETH ANjN'IVEESARY. 
 
 1. They have been religiously aggressive. 
 
 They have stood for something. This pulpit has 
 given no uncertain sound on the issues that differen- 
 tiate the Church from the world. The pew occu- 
 pants have had no occasion to rate the Church of 
 Christ a mere social club ; but have been faithfully 
 taught to align themselves with the Gospel. This 
 is a church, not a philosophical, nor theosophical, 
 nor scientific society ; but a church, whose mission 
 is the religious culture of souls. It is a church, 
 not a social entertainment agency, without spiritual 
 intent. 
 
 Consequently, it has been aggressive and pro- 
 gressive in its religious life. Worldliness has left 
 its soiled finger-marks on it, to be sure, as on others ; 
 Ijut, in spite of it, the tone and effort of the church 
 have been in the direction of positive religion. This 
 is an important fact and factor. For many churches 
 and ministers are spiritually inefficient, because they 
 stand for nothing, and do nothing distinctively reli- 
 gious. Such has become the terrorism of worldliness 
 in the church over the pulpit that many pastors fear 
 to insist on religion ; and so the church loses its 
 power, and degenerates into an ambiguity. 
 
 I know that whatever may be the measure of sec- 
 
W. T. L. KIEFFER. 141' 
 
 ularity hereabouts, it has not been permitted to 
 consume the vital energy of this church, because 
 the leader has set too agressive a step for its reliu- 
 ious life. Witli excellent tact and fidelity the fun- 
 damental principles of practical religion have been 
 declared, and real godliness has been inculcated. 
 The result shows the value of such steadfastness 
 and agressiveness. It is a sign of disease and de- 
 cline when ministers lose their spiritual caste and 
 yield themselves to irreligion. The church has a 
 great work to do ; and should be about it. 
 
 2. I know this church and pastor have been 
 
 ORTHODOX. 
 
 No theological fungus has had a chance to grow 
 around the edges of this pulpit. The " New 
 Theology" has not been able to get in edge- 
 wise or otherwise. Higher Criticism has not been 
 able to cast a cloud over the minds of the people. 
 The old light has burned too brightly for that. The 
 " fads " have come and gone ; but the old story has 
 been told in the old way. The heresy-hunter has 
 had no call hither. This pulpit has been rockribbed 
 in its orthodoxy. 
 
 I cannot think of a better thing to say than this 
 on this occasion. Loyalty to revealed truth is a 
 
150 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 noble quality. It is needed now as much as it was 
 in the martyr-days, around which gathers such a 
 halo of glory. There has been such a persistent 
 packing at the foundations of our belief, during re- 
 cent years, that the timid have been alarmed and 
 the unsteady have faltered. Men have almost, if 
 not altogether, mocked at those who have dared to 
 adhere to the old doctrines. They have claimed all 
 the scholarship worth naming ; and have relegated 
 to antiquity's dusty shelf the doctrines and beliefs 
 that made our forefathers strong and brave and suc- 
 cessful in the Master's work. 
 
 But none of such nonsense has obtained here. 
 This Church has appreciated the high scholarship 
 of its pastor ; and has no need to hanker after the 
 theological autocrats who would make them dis- 
 satisfied. Here the Gospel has been proclaimed to 
 sinner and saint with that clearness of interpreta- 
 tion and that fulness of faith and boldness of utter- 
 ance which could not foster anything else than loyal 
 allegiance thereto. This pastor is a scholar, and 
 knows how to think ; and this church knows it. 
 Who could doubt his Presbyterian ism ? Know we 
 not all how true he has been to our Standards? 
 "Doctrinal Sermons" have not brought hvsteria 
 
W. T. L. Kri-:FFER. 151 
 
 nor dyspepsia to the people awake, nor nightmare 
 to the people asleep, as seems to be the case in some 
 other churches. Nor have the sermons always been 
 short, daudy-likc affi\irs. They have been prea(;lu'<l 
 whenever required and in such way as indicated 
 that the preacher himself had a good grip on the 
 truth and must tell it. His own knowledge and 
 faith and loyalty have therefore been im|)arted to 
 the people ; and that is why this church has had 
 and has such goocT "stuff" in it. The people have 
 been fed on the Gospel and have grown on the diet. 
 The strong meat has made them strong. 
 
 Who doubts this pastor's Protestantism? Does 
 any follower of Leo XIII hereabouts question his 
 evangelical fibre ? There is no ground for the least 
 suspicion as to his alignment with the Reformation ; 
 and this church, magnanimous withal towards all 
 beliefs and methods, cannot be indifferent to the 
 issues that demarcate Protestantism from its his- 
 toric opponent. Presbyterians here at least have 
 no reiison to be ignorant as to why they are Pro- 
 testant. 
 
 The same loyalty to Gospel principles is seen in 
 all moral questions that the day brings forward. 
 Temperance and social order have had no braver, 
 
152 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 more earnest, or more prudent advocate than that 
 occupying this pulpit. And it could not be other- 
 wise than that the predominant sentiment of this 
 church should be set in the same direction. This 
 pulpit, strong, clear, and brave in its own beliefs, 
 has helped shape the opinion and practice of its 
 adherents. Not that every one always thought as 
 the pulpit taught ; for that would be impossible. 
 But the caste of opinion and belief has been given 
 by the pulpit in the direction of orthodoxy in both 
 belief and practice. And there is great honor in 
 that. 
 
 3. I know this church and pastor have been 
 
 BENEVOLENT. 
 
 Anyone who glances over the Assembly Minutes 
 for all these years will quickly see that this church 
 has been liberal in its benevolences, and has steadily 
 advanced therein, according to its current financial 
 ability. Though church and manse have been built 
 and practically rebuilt at great outlay, yet all the 
 Boards have been generously and continuously sup- 
 ported ; and this church's record need bring it no 
 blush of shame as it confronts it. When we minis- 
 ters wish to know something about a strange church, 
 we first look at its record in the Assembly Minutes ; 
 
W. T. L. KIEFFER. 153 
 
 and not infrequently we find churches with hirge 
 enrollment making a very shabby report on the be- 
 nevolence question ; and we conclude that something 
 is wrong with said church or it would show larger 
 benevolent contributions. Usually this is the key 
 to the character and efficiency of the church. Any 
 one making this search would at once decide that 
 the Second Church of Carlisle is a good church, 
 whose machinery is well oiled and in excellent work- 
 ing order. If ever it becomes vacant — and mav that 
 day be remote — an inrush of applicants may be ex- 
 pected, which will sweep the Elders off their feet, if 
 they do not properly brace themselves against it ; 
 for all the restless preachei's in the kingdom will 
 jump at so good a place. That is one of the conse- 
 quences of being a wide-awake church in these im- 
 portant matters. 
 
 But here again we see that this church couM not 
 well help being liberal. For has not this pastor for 
 thirty years been teaching, exhorting and leading 
 the people in all the lines of Gospel beneficence ? 
 Missionary to the core — Scriptural in method — fear- 
 less and persistent in service, he has made it diffi- 
 cult and uncomfortable for people to lag l:)ehind. 
 Years ago one of his parishioners was wont, in a 
 
154 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 jocular way, sometimes to remark on Sabbath morn- 
 ing, about church-time, " Well, I guess we must go 
 down and listen to another sermon on Giving, or 
 Missions." The oft-preached themes may not have 
 been any too attractive to him ; but faithful, strong, 
 tactful preaching inevitably filtered through to the 
 quick of the heart, and so reached the purse. 
 
 It is not given to every minister of the Gospel 
 thus to provoke and direct the benevolence of people. 
 There is some special endowment required for it. 
 This pastor has the gift, and he has used it with 
 excellent effect. The quickening has been whole- 
 some ; and this church, rejoicing to-day in its 
 strength, owes much to this very stimulation it has 
 received from the pastor in all works of benevolence. 
 The story is told of a boy who accidentally swallowed 
 a silver coin. Alarm instantly seized the family. 
 The cry sounded, "Run for the doctor; quick, run 
 for the doctor." But a lad who was present said, 
 " No; run for our preacher, for I heard pop say he 
 cuuhl 'jet money out 'if anybody . " So characteristic 
 of our pastor is this eminent ability as a money- 
 extractor that the suspicion grows on me this 
 story must have originated in the Second church. 
 Anyhow, God be praised that His people here have 
 
W. T. L. KIHFFER. 155 
 
 followed their leader, and have not withheld their 
 substantial offerings, but have freely given them in 
 tribute to His grace. Thus have they been blessed, 
 and been made strong and happy in His service. 
 
 4. I know this church and pastor have been con- 
 tent with the Gospel ordinances as the means of 
 growth and advancement. 
 
 This })ulpit has not had to resort to any of the 
 various devices of sensationalism, which have become 
 common in some places. " Picture-Sermons," whose 
 familiar advertising circulars we oft receive, have 
 not been required here to gain patronage. Fancy- 
 concerts, with a sermonette attachment, have not 
 figured as the church's hope of good standing and 
 usefulness in the community. Reliance has been 
 placed upon the faithful preaching of the Word, the 
 straightforward and earnest telling of " the old, 
 old story." This is in direct conformity to Gospel 
 counsel and precedent, and here the blessing of God 
 has attended this means and method of work. 
 
 There is no substitute for preaching. Due recog- 
 nition and place must of course be given other parts 
 of public worship and other associated agencies. 
 But after all this remains the hoi)e of the church's 
 progress. Attempts at substitution have come to 
 
156 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 grief. Churches fed on the husks of sensationaHsrn 
 have narrowed and failed. It is said that in a cer- 
 tain city many of the churches are resorting to va- 
 rious ingenious devices in the way of sacred concerts, 
 and similar appliances, to attract people to the 
 evening service, small allowance of time and interest 
 being given the sermon. But it is also said that 
 the greatest number of additions to the membership 
 is found in those churches, in that same city, whose 
 main reliance has been on the plain Gospel ordi- 
 nances, and which have honored preaching as GTod's 
 appointed means and method of grace. They may 
 not have had the crowd nor the hurrah ; but the 
 savor of the Gospel was with them, and souls were 
 reached by the truth, the only thing that can quicken 
 them. Salvation, not entertainment, is the watch- 
 word of the honest pastor and church ; and the Word 
 only can make " wise unto salvation." There is 
 room for the exercise of the best gifts in making 
 preaching attractive, as it ought to be made, that it 
 may address the intellect, appeal to the heart, and 
 move the will. The best preacher must oft say, 
 " Who is sufficient for these things ?" But it is 
 noteworthy that the preachers who have risen to 
 lasting honor have been devoutly evangelical, and 
 
W. T. L. KIKFFER. 157 
 
 have trusted in the divine Word to work that spir- 
 itual sensation which lost souls require. 
 
 Our congratulations and rejoicings today are ac- 
 centuated by the fact that here again the old Gospel 
 has been honored and that its saving efficac}'- has 
 been demonstrated. How cheap and foolish all 
 species of ecclesiastical claptrap must seem beside 
 this ! We honor our brother as a preacher, rev- 
 erent, intellectual, warm-hearted, unwearying ; and 
 we rejoice this day to do him honor. Blessed indeed 
 are they whose privilege it has been and is to sit 
 under his ministrations ; and be led into the know- 
 ledge of God's truth. May the day never come to 
 this beloved Zion when faithful Gospel preaching 
 shall be depreciated or become the occasion of dis- 
 content and unrest. 
 
 Such are some of the things I know and you 
 know about this church and pastor, — things which 
 deserve to be said on this occasion. I know how 
 conservative both are ; but that very conservatism 
 is excellent ballast and assures the progress of the 
 work. They are both up to the times in all that 
 affects the kingdom and cannot stand still or go 
 back. 
 
 I know the influence of this pastor has gone out 
 
158 A THIRTIETH ANNIVEESARi. 
 
 from this church far hence. We who have enjoyed 
 his love and confidence and counsel, and have gone 
 into the ministry — even to foreign lands — have car- 
 ried with us the impress of his training and have 
 thus extended his influence. The fact is worth noting 
 that eight young men have entered the ministry 
 from this church during this pastorate. Of these 
 two have been Foreign Missionaries, and two Home 
 Missionaries. This church has also in this time 
 supplied seven minister's wives, three of whom are 
 Presbyterian, three Methodist Episcopal, and one 
 Protestant Episcopal. The Bible says " A good 
 wife is from the Lord." But I doubt not the other 
 favored ministers will join me in adding the words 
 — " and from the Second Church !" Nor will there 
 be dissent from the opinion that our matrimonial 
 fortune has been simply patterned after that of this 
 church's pastor, or that to his excellent helpmeet 
 we are indebted for much of the v/ise helpfulness 
 brought us by our own. We are only giving honor 
 to whom honor is due, when we credit much of the 
 success of this church and pastor to the cultured 
 and prudent wife who has shared the lights and 
 shadows of the pastorate with him. Both directly 
 and indirectly she has been a factor in the glad 
 
W. T. L. KIEFFER. 159 
 
 success we celebrate today. Surely none of us 
 would, if we could, ever forget the helpful fellow- 
 ship of this church and pastor in days agone. 
 Speaking for those who are not here, I would pay 
 this affectionate tribute to him and you. Wherever 
 we go and among whomsoever we live and labor, 
 we shall ever appreciate the Providence that linked 
 our lives with yours in religious fellowship and ser- 
 vice : and our prayer is that we may never be a 
 dishonor to you. 
 
 It was said this afternoon, " The Past is secure ; 
 what of the Future ?" For this we have no anx- 
 iety. The principles and practices which have made 
 the Past will abide and mould the Future. Social 
 conditions may change and bring new difficulties 
 into the work ; but this church and pastor have the 
 requisite power of adaptation to conditions which 
 will issue in success. The Scotch-Irish element may 
 wane, and others, not historically Presbyterian, may 
 take its place ; l)ut I believe this power of adjust- 
 ment and assimilation will continue to mould diverse 
 materials into the one distinctive congregational 
 life. In that lies the outlook of our churches 
 through this region ; and that will assure this 
 church's perpetual vigor. 
 
160 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 The sociologist is often perplexed over the dis- 
 posal of the complex multitudes that come to 
 America for settlement ; and is often worried 
 lest overdone immigration work ultimate ruin to 
 our national institutions. But he is a dull stu- 
 dent who does not observe the unique power 
 of assimilation possessed by America. We look 
 abroad and see that in England a native is always 
 an Englishman ; in Scotland a Scotchman ; in Ire- 
 land an Irishman ; in Germany a German ; and so 
 on. Who thinks of anything else than this ? But 
 behold them all, and other nameless hordes, coming 
 here, and thrown into the national hopper, with the 
 result of a grist in a generation or two that is dis- 
 tinctively American ! True, it is a trifle hard on 
 the hopper at times ; but the grist is always a suc- 
 cessful blending of the antecedent types. In that 
 lies the hope of our country. And in that power of 
 assimilation of other than hereditary Presbyterians 
 lies the future success of this church. Pride of an- 
 cestry and achievement can only be mischievous, if 
 relied on for future advancement. Faithful and 
 indefatigable work alone can and will assure the 
 future. 
 
 Thirty years ! How rich their memory ! How 
 
W. T. L. KTEFFER. 161 
 
 strong and far-reaching their influence for good ! 
 What augury of great things to come ! We, who 
 have long been away, are practically strangers among 
 you to-day ; but we remember the past, we trust the 
 futurf. This is the tirst thirty-year pastorate Cai- 
 lisle has had ; and Carlisle Presbytery has now only 
 one pastor in service with a longer term to his credit, 
 viz. : Rev. J. Smith Gordon, of Lower Path Valley, 
 who has been forty years in that charge. As the 
 years roll on, may they be as fruitful of good as these 
 thirty have been ; and when the end comes, mav 
 the victory of faith be ours, and we rejoice with un- 
 speakable joy in the great coronation, toward which 
 we all look and work, in that eternity where the 
 years are not counted, and anniversaries are only a 
 pleasant memory ! 
 
ADDRESSES. 
 
 Monday Afternoon, January 2, 1899. 
 
 REV. EBENEZEE EESKINE, D. D., 
 
 Newville, Pa., 
 
 Presiding. 
 
 Dr. Erskine expressed his personal appreciation of 
 the spirit in a congregation which observed such an 
 anniversary as this. He hoped it might catch in 
 other churches, and come nearer home. He had 
 known the pastor of this church before his settle- 
 ment in Carlisle. They had been members of the 
 same Synod in the West. The first time they met 
 as members of the same judicatory was in the fall of 
 1865, when the Synod of Chicago was convened in 
 the city of Galena. Dr. Erskine was then ju.st 
 establishing the " North- WeaLern Preshylericur in 
 the great Metropolis of the West, a Church paper, 
 which was afterwards changed to the " Interior " 
 The pastor of this church was at that time a young 
 
164 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 man, who had been recently ordained and installed 
 in his first charge at North Henderson, Mercer 
 county, 111. 
 
 The attention of Dr. Erskine was first called to 
 the young man by an earnest speech which he made 
 in this meeting of Synod on one of the burning ques- 
 tions of the day. As the young man agreed with 
 Dr. Erskine, the latter naturally concluded that he 
 was a man of promise, and one that ought to be en- 
 couraged. Subsequently he desired to have him 
 .settled in Chicago as pastor over what has since 
 become the Fifth Presbyterian Church of that city, 
 and he was instrumental in procuring a call for him 
 to that new enterprise, a fact which is here grate- 
 fully recorded. But the young man preferred the 
 call to Carlisle, and here he began his work thirty 
 years ago. 
 
 It is idle to guess wdiat would have been the result 
 of his going to Chicago at that time ; he might have 
 had a more active and conspicuous life ; he might 
 nave been in his grave long ago. We do not know 
 what "might have been," we only know what the 
 kind Providence of God has brought to both. By 
 His m-eat loving; kindness, Dr. Erskine and his 
 " young friend" have been called to work side by 
 
DR. EESKINE. 165 
 
 side in this delightful valley for almost all these 
 thirty year.-^. Their ministerial exchanges have 
 been very pleasant and profitable, and when in 1886 
 the Presbytery of Carlisle celebrated its Centennial 
 they were associated in the labor of preparing for 
 and carrying out that important anniversary. The 
 occasion resulted in the publication of " The Cen- 
 tennial Memorial " which is a complete History 
 of Carlisle Presbytery, — a work of permanent value 
 not only in this locality but to the Church at large. 
 In this labor of love were associated the three 
 friends, West, Erskine and Norcross, who wrought 
 patiently together until their work was accom- 
 plished and given to the world in 1890. 
 
 The speaker said he was very happy in being 
 present at this anniversary, and he extended his 
 hearty congratulations to both pastor and people on 
 the work that had been accomplished in this con- 
 gregation. He then introduced the speakers in the 
 order of the programme. 
 
166 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 "THE IDEAL CHURCH: 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. WM. A. McCAERELL. 
 
 Before coming here I did not know exactly what 
 the nature of this service was to be — especially did 
 I not know what the character of the addresses was 
 to be — whether grave or gay, pathetic or profound. 
 
 I certainly shall not make the last mentioned 
 kind. The only limitation put upon me, however, 
 was by our good brother, Dr. Norcross, who told me 
 that I was to say very little about him. Why this 
 \vas, I do not know. It may be that he was afraid 
 to trust me. Certainly he will not object to my 
 congratulating him on the grand record he has made 
 here, and, he will not object to ray congratulating 
 this church on the grand record it has made during 
 these thirty years of happy pastoral relation. 
 
 So far as Dr. Norcross is concerned, I am free to 
 confess I feel towards him very much like that 
 Spanish Senorita, with whom the celebrated Tom 
 Corwin is said to have come in contact several years 
 ago in Havana. According to the story, he was 
 
v;m. a. m'carrell. 167 
 
 taking dinner in the then fSpanie^li capital of Cuba. 
 He happened to be sitting beside a Spanish lady of 
 the first rank. ^Vllen the coffee was brought to the 
 table, the Senorita proceeded to pour molasses into 
 it. Mr. Corwin begged her to stop pouring as she 
 would have it too sweet for him. " Ah," said she 
 with her blandest smile, " If it were all molasses it 
 would not be too sweet for //'".'." So I feel that if 
 this service were to be all congratulation it would 
 not be too sweet for this pastor and this people. 
 They both deserve to be congratulated. But I foi'- 
 bear, remembering the injunction laid upon me. I 
 am to say a lew words this afternoon concerning the 
 " Ideal Church." 
 
 This is an important subject, and very much 
 might be said on it. It is, however, an ideal which 
 seems to elude one as he tries to grasp it. The first 
 remark I would make, however is, that there /.s an 
 " Ideal Church." 7'//t' Ideal Church is the church 
 — and I am now speaking of individual churches — 
 is the church composed not only of truly converted 
 men and women, together with their children, but 
 of men and of women who are so nearly sanctified 
 that there is but one remove between them and 
 angels. I know tliat such a church has never as 
 
168 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 yet been fully realized on earth ; it is only seen in 
 " the Church of the First-Born in Heaven ;" but I 
 have sometimes thought that in these days of rest- 
 lessness and desire for change, there are some min- 
 isters who are on the look out for such a church. 
 There is always something wrong with the churches 
 where, it is to be taken for granted, the Lord put 
 them. And, on the other hand, there seem to be 
 churches who are on the constant look-out for the 
 " Ideal Minister," i. e., the perfect minister. I have 
 often wondered what such a church and such a min- 
 ister would do if thev were to be brought together. 
 There would be nothino; for the minister to do, for 
 the people would already be perfect, and, there 
 would be nothing for the people to do, for there 
 would be nothing about the minister that any one 
 i^ould criticise. 
 
 But, while the absolutely ideal church is not at- 
 tainable in this world, at least before the Millenium, 
 .there is an ideal church which is attainable — at least 
 it so seems to me. What is it, then ? Let me de- 
 fine it as nearly as I can. The ideal church is a 
 Itody of professing Christians, banded together, ac- 
 cording to God's appointment, for two things : 1. 
 The worship of God, and 2. The service of God. 
 
WM. A. m'carrell. 169 
 
 This may not seem to be, at first thought, a very 
 good definition of the ideal church as attainable in 
 this world ; but the more you will think of it the 
 more comprehensive, I think, you will find it to l)e. 
 
 Take the first part of the definition : The ideal 
 church is a body of professing Christians, banded 
 together for the worship of God. There is a vast 
 deal comprehended in that. 
 
 1. First of all, in such a church, the honor, 
 the glory of God wouM be uppermost in the 
 minds of the great majority of the membership. 
 8uch a church would not be a mutual admira- 
 tion society. It would not be a social club — 
 although the highest kind of social)ility would exist. 
 The church Ituilding would not bo a place of fash- 
 ionable resort, where the milliners and the tailors 
 would get a weekly advertisement. " The rich and 
 the poor would meet together," recognizing the fact 
 that " the Lord was the Maker of them all." When 
 the people came to God's house, it would not Ite to have 
 their intellectual or aisthetic natures ministered to 
 l)y deep-rolling organ, operatic singing, or eloquent 
 or dih'tlanie preaching, in the ordinary acceptance 
 of those words. The peoi)le would come to God's 
 house for the purjiose of rendering thanksgiving to 
 
170 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 Him for all His goodness to them personally and 
 collectively ; for the purpose of confessing sin, and 
 imploring mercy through the grace which is in 
 Christ Jesus — they would come to hear what God, 
 the Lord, had to say to them out of His Word and 
 by the mouth of His ministering servant. And here, 
 in this ideal church, the place of the ideal minister 
 would be evident. He M'ould come into the pulpit, 
 not to receive the applause of men for his literary 
 and eloquent dissertations ; not to be flattered by 
 the world for his grace and eloquence, or for the flow 
 of his pulpit robes ; but he would come as the mes- 
 senger of God, as the "ambassador of Christ," to 
 declare the " whole counsel of God, whether men 
 would hear or whether they would forbear." 
 
 2. Then, in the second place, in such a church, 
 the great end aimed at by the membership would be 
 a higher spirituality. Like the apostle of old, they 
 " would count themselves not to have already at- 
 tained, neither to be already perfect, but forgetting 
 the things which are behind, and reaching Ibrth to 
 those things which are before, they would press 
 toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of 
 God in Christ Jesus." Listead of judging one 
 another, the members would, first of all, judge them- 
 
WM. A. m'carrell. 171 
 
 selves. Instead of busying themselves with pulling 
 the motes out of their brother's eye, they would first 
 pull the beams out of their own eyes. Their con- 
 stant prayer would be, " Create in me a clean heart, 
 God, and renew a right spirit within me." 
 
 A.\\ of these things, and more, would necessarily 
 flow out of a church thus banded together for the 
 worship of God, i. e., where the worship of God was 
 one of the great ends sought after. Then, take the 
 second part of the definition of the ideal church — 
 " A body of professing Christians, bandetl together 
 for the service of God." How much is embraced in 
 that ! 
 
 1. In the first place, the membership of .such 
 a church would ever be possessed of the idea " that 
 they were not their own, Init that they had been 
 bought with a price ;" not their will, but God's will 
 was to be done. There would then be the hearty 
 consecration of the person and of the substance to 
 the Lord. Doing something for God would be a joy 
 and a privilege, and not a task and a burden. Each 
 one would feel that he was " Christ's bond-servant." 
 
 2. Then, in the second place, in such a church, 
 each one would feel that he was l)Ound not 
 to look on his own things merely, but also have 
 
172 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 a regard to his " brother's welfare." Each one 
 would strive to help his fellow in the Christian 
 life. There would be the bearing of one anoth- 
 er's burdens, and so there would be the fulfilling 
 of the law of Christ. One of the great ends of the 
 Church visible would thus be attained — the help- 
 ing of one another in the divine life. 
 
 3. Then, in the third place, in such a church, 
 devoted to the service of the Lord, those outside of 
 the kingdom would be looked after. There would 
 be earnest prayer for the unsaved. There would be 
 the constant endeavor to get those who do not come 
 to God's house to do so. The membership would be 
 constantly saying to those outside, " Come thou with 
 us, and we will do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken 
 good concerning Israel." For their own spiritual 
 good, for the encouragement of their pastor, for the 
 purpose of drawing others, the membership of such 
 a church would always be in their places in the 
 sanctuary on the Lord's day and in the weekly 
 meeting for prayer, unless providentially hindered. 
 There would be none of the modern " oncers" in such 
 a church. 
 
 Then, in such a church, banded together for 
 worship and service, there would be much prayer, 
 
WM. A. I\['CARRELL. 173 
 
 hoth public and private. There would be much 
 prayer for the pastor, that all of his ministrations 
 mig-ht be blessed of God ; that lu^ mio-ht 1)e streno-th- 
 ened and upheld by the power of God. A minister 
 once said to his Deacons, who had complained to 
 him that his work did not seem to prosper as it once 
 did, " The recison is, that I have lost my prayer- 
 book." When his officers wondered at this, he ex- 
 plained : " Once, said he, my people prayed earnestly 
 for me, that I might Ite prospered in m_v work ; that 
 saints might be edified, and that sinners might be 
 conTerted ; but now, very little or no prayer is made 
 for me, and I can do nothing." Is this not the 
 secret of many a church's deadness ? 
 
 Then, such a church, devoted to the service of 
 God, will remember that its commission is world- 
 wide. It will remember the great command of its 
 Master, " Go ye into all the world and preach the 
 Gospel to every creature." I cannot conceive of 
 an ideal church which is not a missionary church. 
 The narrow cry of '' Heathen enough at home!" 
 will never be heard in such a church. On the other 
 hand, its cry will be, " The world for Christ and 
 Christ for the world !" 
 
 In such a church, jiastor and people will be bound 
 
174 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 together by the ties of mutual love and forbearance. 
 The people will look up to their undershepherd as 
 their God-appointed teacher and leader, remember- 
 ing that he is responsible, not to them^ but to the 
 Great Head of the Church. Pastor and people 
 will alike seek- the glory of God the Father and 
 the honor of Jesus Christ His Son, and striv- 
 ing to serve God here below, they will look for- 
 ward to that glad day when the worship and 
 service of the Church on earth will give place to the 
 higher worship and service of the Church in Heaven ! 
 Is this ideal attainable here and now ? I fully be- 
 lieve it is. All our churches need is a fresh and 
 mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit, and all I have 
 spoken of may be and will be attained. 
 
 May that baptism come speedily ! And may you, 
 my dear brothei', and you, his devoted people, re- 
 alize as never before the "Ideal Church." That 
 picture presented by Longfellow in his " Children 
 of the Lord's Supper," comes as near, as it seems to 
 me, " The Ideal Church " as anything on earth can be. 
 We can only quote a few Vv^ords. Having described 
 the church and the surroundings, he goes on to 
 describe the service. He says : 
 
WM. A. m'carrell. 175 
 
 " Loud raiifj the bells already ; the throngintj crowd was 
 
 assembled 
 Far from valleys and hills to list to the holy preaching, 
 Hark! then roll forth at once the mighty tones from the 
 
 organ, 
 Hover like the voices from God, aloft, like invisible spirits, 
 Like as Elias in heaven, when he cast oft' from him his 
 
 mantle. 
 Even so cast oft' the soul its garments of earth; and with 
 
 one voice 
 Chimed in the congregation, and sang an anthem immortal 
 Of the sublime Wallin, of David's harp in the North-Land 
 Tuned to the choral of Luther ; the song on its powerful 
 
 pinions 
 Took every living soul, and lifted it gently to heaven. 
 And every face did shine like the Holy One's face upon 
 
 Tabor. 
 Lol there entered then into the church the Tlevorcnd 
 
 Teacher. 
 Father by right, and he was in the Parish; a christianly 
 
 planiness 
 Clothed from his head to his feet the old man of seventy 
 
 winters. 
 Friendly was he to behold, and glad as the heralding angel 
 Walked he among the crowds, but still a contemplative 
 
 grandeur 
 Lay on his forehead as clear, as on moss-covered grave- 
 stone a sun beam . 
 As in his inspiration (an evening twilight that faintly 
 Gleams in the human soul, even now, from the day of crea- 
 tion) 
 Th' artist, the friend of heaven, imagines saint .Tohn when 
 
 in Patmos, 
 Gray, with his eyes uplifted to heaven, so seemed then the 
 
 old man; 
 
176 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 Such was the glance of his eye, and snch were his tresses of 
 
 silver. 
 All the congreation arose in the pews that were numbered. 
 But with a cordial look, to the right and to the left hand, 
 
 the old man 
 Nodding all hail and peace disappeared in the innermost 
 
 chancel." 
 
 What a picture of the Ideal Church this is ! 
 Pastor and people bound together in the bonds of 
 Christ's love ! The people reverencing and looking 
 up to the Pastor as the minister and messenger of 
 God ; looking up to him as their counsellor and 
 friend ; reverencing him more and more as the days 
 go by, and, when his locks begin to whiten, seeing 
 in them that crown of glory which comes to a godly 
 old age, and which is a type of that "Crown of 
 Righteousness " which fadeth not away. 
 
 And so may you, my dear brother, and you his 
 faithful people be bound together until the Great 
 Head of the Church Himself shall loose the bond 
 and bid this pastor, " Come up higher !" 
 
ir. G. STOETZER. 177 
 
 "THE PASTOR'S BAND:' 
 
 BY 
 
 EEV. H. G. STOETZER. 
 
 Scripture, history and recent events teach the 
 great truth, that God. is marching on, and in tlie 
 beautiful lines of one, 
 
 " He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call re- 
 treat ; 
 
 lie is sifting out the hearts of men before the judgment 
 seat : 
 
 Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him I be jubilant my feet ! 
 Our God is marching on." 
 
 " And there went with him a l)and of men, whoso 
 
 hearts God had touched." This band refers to a 
 
 band of men who went with Saul, just anointed 
 
 King of Israel. They followed loyally the King 
 
 when others deserted. They served and upheld the 
 
 King, when the sons of Belial sulked and said, 
 
 " How shall this man save us ?" 
 
 It does no violence to the truth, nor to this occa- 
 sion, to apply these words to a " Pastor's Band." 
 
 This occasion is made possible as much by the 
 loving loyalty, the kindly forbearance and the godly 
 life of the band of men and women, whose hearts God 
 
178 A THIRTIETH ANNIVEESAEY. 
 
 lias touched, as by the matchless manhood, the unques- 
 tioned scholarship and the undoubted devotion of 
 the pastor, whom we this day delight to honor, for 
 his stainless life, for his unselfish labors, for his wise 
 and tender leadership, and for his faithful exposition 
 and fearless, yet loving, deliverance of GTod's message 
 to men. Hobson would never have been immor- 
 talized without Hobson's heroic crew. There would 
 be no hero of " Plough Riders" without the rugged 
 manhood that bravely followed. Were it not for 
 noble bands of men and women, whose hearts God 
 has touched, long pastorates would be impossible. 
 Were it not for such a loyal band in this church, the 
 pastor, if among the living at all, would likely be 
 laboring in another field. 
 
 It is a sad thought to any pastor that this noble, 
 godly band remains uncrowned, unhonored and un- 
 sung, but not unknown, either in this world, or 
 by the recording angel, who faithfully notes the 
 lovely lives and unselfish deeds of all those whose 
 hearts God has touched. 
 
 Would it were possible to sing the song of their 
 sacrifices, and tell the story of their devotion, but 
 one must be content with the insufficient record of 
 
H. G. STOETZER. 179 
 
 some general characteristics of this and similar 
 l)ands. 
 
 Notice, then 1, their Godly Character ; 2, their 
 Unity of Purpose ; 3, their Progressive Spirit. 
 
 I. They are Godly in Character, because God 
 has touched their hearts, and having touched their 
 hearts, 
 
 1. They have life, since God in Christ is Life. 
 "When King Midas touched a twig of oak, a stone, 
 or an apple, they turned to gold. We have a K ing 
 as far above King Midas as the soul is higher and of 
 greater worth than oak or stone or apple. He 
 touched the lifeless form of a poor widow's son and 
 life returned. He touched sin-sick and sufFerinii; 
 humanity and made it whole. He laid His loving 
 hand on the frail frame of a feverish woman and the 
 fever left her. One touch of His magic hand clothed 
 the demoniac in his right mind. The poor, despised 
 leper, separated from home and the haunts of men. 
 He touched and restored to home and happiness. 
 At His tender touch the water " blushed," and 
 bread multiplied. The ears of those to whom music 
 had been a stranger opened to His gentle touch, the 
 dumb expressed their gratitude in melodious tones, 
 and the lame leaped for joy. Under the soothing power 
 
180 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 and presence of the Great Physician and Healer of 
 all hurts, diseases of body and soul flee, and infirmi- 
 ties depart to return no more. 
 
 His work, however, is not simply negative, to dis- 
 pel weakness, want and woe ; He came for the very 
 and only purpose of giving life, which is more than 
 mere living, life at once abundant, joyous and vic- 
 torious ; a life filled with the highest ideals of char- 
 acter and the loftiest aspirations for unselfish 
 service. This life He not merely gives, but sustains 
 by His personal presence, so that each can say with 
 Paul, " I am crucified with Christ ; neverthe- 
 less I live; yet not I, but Christ, liveth in me." 
 And the life wdiich He began He also completes ; 
 for we are complete in Him, and only in Him, and 
 Christ in us is the hope of glory, and the only hope 
 of a present spotless character and final crowning. 
 
 2. The Lord of Life gives also Light. 
 
 One characteristic of light is to dispel darkness. 
 Since God said : " Let there be light," light has 
 unceasingly chased and vanquished the darkness. 
 And the Light which came, on the blackest night of 
 the world's history, in the form of the seemingly 
 helpless babe of Bethlehem, has been growing 
 greater and brighter in power and splendor ; so that 
 
11. (;. STOF/L'ZKR. 181 
 
 to-day tluTO are few lands indeed where there are 
 not some women and men whose hearts have been 
 touched by the spirit of Christ and His Gospel of 
 glad-tidings. He touched with light those nighest, 
 at Jerusalem, and they carried the Light of the 
 world to the candles of the Lonl in the uttermost 
 parts of the earth. He has been the Light of the 
 lowly and the lofty, so that from His day until now, 
 there has been a light to cheer the weary and poiiit 
 out the way to the lost, and that light will be a 
 beacon until man shall cease and time shall be no 
 more. 
 
 As light dispels darkness, coldness, and impurity 
 from the hearts of men, it at the same time reveals 
 duty and purity ; and unveils the way men should 
 walk ; and discloses new and higher conceptions of 
 life — that gain and enlargement come by losing ; 
 increase in knowledge and abiding wisdom Vjy teach- 
 ing; and growth in greatness through humble ser- 
 vice. But Christ demands of those whose hearts 
 have been touched more than service. He demands 
 self, surrendered and consecrated ; and the zeal of 
 such souls is mighty and matchless, when they think 
 of the time misspent, the privileges abused, the 
 opportunities neglected, when they remember the 
 
182 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 judgment with the horror or glory of unending 
 ages, the myriads of dead and dying, with few to 
 wake the dead and rescue the perishing. 
 
 Light besides dispeUing darkness and unveiling 
 duty beautifies. Without light all would be dull 
 and dark monotony. If God had not enrobed Na- 
 ture with a a;arment of lio;ht, there would be no 
 blue above us and no green beneath, no " crimson 
 streak on ocean's cheek," no forest as beautiful as 
 an army victorious with the banners of fallen foes, 
 no songsters with many-colored coats, and no flowers 
 to greet the weary wanderers with blushing smiles 
 and refreshing frao-rance. 
 
 Without the Light among men there might be a 
 stoical rit>;hteou3ness, but no love to neia!;hbor as to 
 self, kindness to the weak would be unknown, mis- 
 sions of mercy to far oif lands undreamed of, school- 
 houses would be few and hospitals and asylums 
 fewer still ; there would be no cradle songs to close 
 infant eyes, and music if made at all would be to 
 incite the savage heart to war, or celebrate the de- 
 feat of adjoining tribes. 
 
 3. He furthermore gives power to bear and dare. 
 He vitalizes, illumines and energizes every faculty 
 and function ; and transforms a fickle Simon into a 
 
H. G. STOETZER. 183 
 
 Rock, whom tlie threats of a synagogue could not 
 move. Fo]' the God of Israel giveth strength and 
 power unto His people. Daniel says, when there 
 was no strength in him, and breath had left him, 
 then there came aQ;ain and touched him One like the 
 appearance of a man, and He strengthensd him and 
 said, " man greatly beloved, fear not ; peace be 
 tmto thee ; be strong, yea, be strong. And I was 
 strengthened, and said. Thou hast strengthened me." 
 When God touched the sons of Gad, men of the wil- 
 derness and men of might, the least was equal to a 
 iiundred and the greatest equal to a thousand. For 
 they that stand ready and obedient in His presence 
 shall change their weakness for His strength ; they 
 shall mount up with wings as eagles ; they shall run, 
 and not be weary ; and they shall walk, and not 
 faini. This sentence, dropped from the li})S of an 
 unknown speaker, " The world has never yet seen 
 what God can do with a man wholly possessed by 
 God," is said to have changed the life of the most 
 distinguished Christian worker of our age. 
 
 The simple condition of such transforming power 
 is a surrendered life in living touch and communion 
 with the Son of the living God ; then, 
 
184 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 " Weak as you are you shall not faint, 
 And fainting, shall not die ; 
 Jesus, the strength of every saint, 
 Shall aid you from on high." 
 
 II. This Band is United in Purpose. 
 
 1. The best and most effective union demands, 
 "first, separation. This Band separated itself from 
 the sons of BehaL Paul has in mind a similar 
 thought when writing to the Corinthians, where he 
 says, What concord or agreement hath Christ with 
 Belial? Wherefore come out from among them, 
 and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch 
 not the unclean thing ; and I will receive you, 
 and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall 
 be My sons and daughters. Some one said to a 
 sincere child of God, " I would give the world 
 if I had your faith," and he replied, " Well, that is 
 just what it costs." To be influential in the world 
 one must not conform to the world. Abraham out 
 of Sodom had more influence in and over Sodom than 
 Lot, who abode there. The Spirit of God must first 
 separate Paul and Barnabas from among men, and 
 then send them to the Gentiles. Without this defi- 
 nite and separating experience life will be feeble and 
 effort powerless. 
 
 2. Separation for the purpose of isolation is ruin. 
 
H. Cr. STOETZER. 185 
 
 l)ut separation for the purpose of combination is 
 power. Charcoal, saltpetre and sulphur are quite 
 harmless, but combined form gunpowder ; and car- 
 bon, oxygen and hydrogen produce nito-glycerine. 
 Christians are to be separated, and then formed into 
 bands and an army, with Christ as Captain, going 
 forth conquering and to conquer, with His banner 
 over them — " Love." Wesley said, with a band 
 of twelve, who hated nothing but sin, and loved the 
 Lord only, he would convert the world. We need 
 such l)ands in every church, with a motto over its 
 entrance, " All at it, and always at it." Then would 
 the Church be edified, and the Kingdom of our Lord 
 extended. 
 
 3. The bond of this liaml is Love, which is the 
 bond of perfectness. Li an age when all are tempted 
 to seek their own, and not the things of Jesus 
 Christ, love is needed to melt the hardness and the 
 coldness, and drive away the bitterness, and fuse 
 into an irresistible and irrepressible band ; and when 
 God touches hearts love to one another and Him 
 will follow, for He is Love, and first loved us. 
 " One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." 
 One touch of Jesus Christ makes all men brothers. 
 It is said that Lincoln's favorite verse was this : 
 
186 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 I live for those who love me, 
 
 For those who know me true, 
 
 For the Heaven that smiles above me 
 
 And awaits my coming to. 
 For the cause that needs assistance, 
 For the wrongs that need resistance, 
 For the future in the distance. 
 
 For the good that I can do." 
 
 Touched by the spirit of Jesus one can say with 
 Him, when hated and persecuted, " Father, forgive 
 them ; tor they know not what they do," and with 
 Paul, " I am made all things to all men that by all 
 means I might save some." This is the purpose of 
 every godly band and Jesus is the power and bond, 
 and every member a bound-servant to Him. 
 
 III. This band was progressive in spirit, because 
 it went with Him. 
 
 1. In harmony with Him : they as Enoch before, 
 walked with Him in the same direction, having the 
 same tendencies, the same object and purpose. His 
 Word will not be searched for texts to sanction 
 questionable conduct, nor will He be petitioned in 
 prayer to bless selfish schemes, but His Word will 
 be read and He himself will be sought to find the 
 way, and the spirit in which they should walk. 
 They pray not that He might meet with them, but 
 that they might move with Him, while He is march- 
 
H. G. STOKTZER. 187 
 
 ing on; and that He, and He through them may 
 cast shadows of healing on the hopeless, and give 
 liope to the helpless. 
 
 2. This daily walking l)y our Savour's side will 
 heget Mutual Trust. Company and Captain may 
 agree and move against a common enemv, vet there 
 may be lacking mutual confidence and heart-har- 
 mony. On one occasion when the Jews saw the 
 miracles Jesus did many believed in his name, but 
 Jesus would not commit himself unto them, be- 
 cause he knew all men, and needed not that any 
 should testify of man, because he knew what was in 
 man. On the last Great-Day, when the angel Ga- 
 briel shall summon with his golden trumpet all the 
 children at men for each to give an account of himself 
 for the deeds done in the body ; there will be many 
 in that multitude to say, Lord, Lord, have we not 
 prophesied in Thy name ? cast out devils, and done 
 many wonderful works ? And Jesnis will say, I 
 never knew you as a member of the band whose 
 heart God touched. One must possess as well 
 as profess ; one must have a godly character as 
 well as a goodly name ; God-likeness as well as 
 the form of godliness. The lives of myriads 
 are poor and puny, suidess and songless, because 
 
188 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 Jesus could not trust His Word, His Spirit, 
 Himself to them. Trust Him truly and He will 
 trust you, " With a love that shall not die, till the 
 sun grows cold, and the stars are old, and the leaves 
 of the Judgment day unfold," and He will love you 
 as He did the disciples unto the end. 
 
 3. And lastly, the band of men and women whose 
 hearts Jesus touches, purifies and inspires, must keep 
 step with Him, and must be content to take but one 
 step at a time. Not ahead, as Peter was when he cut 
 off Malchus' ear, nor behind, when he followed the 
 Lord afar otf, and denied Him. We, too, like Peter, 
 are sometimes ahead of Jesus, and sometimes behind. 
 Our feet are swift to run into evil, and slow on 
 missions of mercy ; the hands are quick to strike 
 and tardy to give ; the tongue of many is in haste 
 to rob of reputation, to plunge a " dagger" into 
 hearts, and divide homes, but slow to cheer and en- 
 courage the desponding and despairing ; the eyes 
 are quick to see, and even magnify motes into beams, 
 but are to graces and virtues very blind. The only 
 c«ure for going too fast or going too slow is walking 
 .with Jesus, belonging to the band whose body, soul 
 and spirit God has touched, who possess Jesus, and 
 are possessed by Him, and are willing to go into the 
 
H. G. STOETZER. 180 
 
 highway and hedges, and, with a love that never 
 tails, compel men to come into an inheritance in- 
 corruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. 
 
 And the pastor needs to stand by him, and u]i- 
 hold his hands, and to go with him, a band of men 
 and women, whose hearts God has touched, and 
 trained and inspired, who will lift burdens from 
 breaking backs, wipe tears from weeping eyes, drive 
 away sighing and sorrow from suffering saints, and 
 ]>luck the pallor from pale cheeks, and clothe them 
 with a smile. 
 
 The pastor, your pastor, needs in the futui'e, as 
 there has gone with him in the past, such a band to 
 chase away the gloom of declining years, cheer his 
 heart with the joy of your presence and personal 
 work, prolong his days to bless your children as he 
 has you, and crown his life with unfading flowers 
 and fragrance, and make him rich in the jewels of 
 ransomed souls. 
 
190 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 [In the absence of Eev. M. J. Eckels, D. D., Pas- 
 tor of the Arch Street Church, Philadelphia, who 
 was providentially detained from coming to Carlisle 
 for these anniversary services. Rev. George S. 
 Chambers, D. D., Pastor of the Pine Street Church, 
 Harrisburg, was called out from the audience, and 
 made a very happy impromptu speech of congratu- 
 lation. If he had been able to furnish a copy of his 
 admirable address, it would have been printed in its 
 place in these proceedings. Though prevented by 
 sickness from appearing in person, Dr. Eckels has 
 kindly furnished his address in manuscript, and it is 
 presented herewith.] 
 
 " THE COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES OF COUNTRY AND 
 
 CITY pastorates: 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. MERVm J. ECKELS, D. I). 
 
 Good People of the Second Presbyterian 
 Church of Carlisle : — I appear among you on this 
 happy occasion as one of the " Sons of this Church," 
 and the son of one whom you all honored as an Elder 
 of this congregation for many years. Having been 
 invited to speak to you, I chose this topic, not so 
 
MEKVIN J. KCKELS. lOi 
 
 much because of '' what I know" about city and 
 country pastorates generally — although I shoubi 
 know something by experience, having spent eleven 
 years in the pastorate in country or town chun-hes, 
 and five years of pastoral service in the heart of a. 
 great city — but I chose this topic because it was 
 suggested by the experience of our beloved pastor of 
 thirty years, whom we meet to honor to-day. Thirty 
 years ago he came to this quiet country town, and 
 began his ministry among us. The whole land was 
 then before him as a young man. Some of us will 
 remember how frequently, in his earlier ministry, 
 our pastor was invited to preach in city pulpits, and 
 what complimentary things were said aliout him on 
 those occasions. 
 
 I am sure he could not contradict me if I should 
 say, that in those days the doors of some very de- 
 sirable city churches seemed ready to open at the 
 touch of his friends, had he so much as " winked at" 
 it. Dr. Norcross chose to abide in the countrv, and 
 feed his flock, which scattered far and wide over 
 these fertile fields of our peaceful valley. I have 
 often wondered at this ; for, though, like myself, 
 country-bred, he seemed to me possessed of all the 
 tastes and habits of a city man. Our pastor has 
 
192 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 ever been a lover of libraries and assemblies of " the 
 brethren," such as abound in the city. To-day, as 
 we meet to review these thirty years, I find myself 
 wondering whether he could have been more useful 
 or more happy in a city pastorate than here in Car- 
 lisle. As to some things, I can only speculate ; as 
 to other matters, experience enables me to speak 
 with confidence. 
 
 T am persuaded that had he gone early to the 
 city, he could scarcely have become the ripe scholar 
 that he is to-day. The scholar is nourished, not so 
 much by the great public libraries as by his own 
 well selected library. I am confident that few Pres- 
 byterian pastors in Philadelphia to-day possess such 
 a library as hides the walls of the study in our 
 Manse in Carlisle. If they do own so many of the 
 best books, they have not been able to read them as 
 he has. The scholar needs not only books, but 
 quiet hours — protracted, undisturbed periods for 
 thought. This is almost impossible in a great city, 
 where a prominent pastor is subject — not only to 
 the demands of his own people, but of a great pub- 
 lic, ever bent on robbing him of the time that 
 belongs to his own congregation. " By their fruits 
 ye shall know them." What Presbyterian pastor in 
 
MEP.VIN J. ECKELS. 193 
 
 the city of Philadelphia — save Dr. McCook, who is 
 simply a " wonder " as a worker — has, during these 
 thirty yeai's, put into permanent form so many 
 addresses and chapters of history as our pastor ? 
 To the Church at large, I am sure he has been more 
 useful in the country than he could have been in 
 the city pastorate. 
 
 Perhaps there is another reason why our country 
 pastor has always been a scholarly jireachcr. Lyman 
 Abbott, early in his pastorate in Plymouth Church, 
 where he had surprised himself as well as his peo- 
 ple by developing into a popular speaker, told them 
 that they, by their manner of hearing, had made 
 him what he had become. So I may say of the 
 people of this Second Presbyterian Church of Car- 
 lisle. This is a " College town." The place has a 
 traditional Jove of learning. I know that the aver- 
 age man and woman of this congregation — as I 
 knew it, twenty-five years ago — did more reading 
 and thinking on historical, philosophical and theo- 
 logical subjects, than the average man and woman 
 as I know them in our city churches to-day. They 
 had more time and, perhaps, more taste for it. 
 Great commercial and social centres may be con- 
 ducive to " high living," but not to " high thinking." 
 
194 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 Perhaps our pastor is what he is, as a preacher, 
 because his people have made him so. 
 
 Concerning another thing I am quite sure, Dr. 
 Norcross, as a city pastor, could not have known 
 his people, or been known by them, as he has been 
 in Carlisle. No man can know a congregation of a 
 thousand people as he needs to know them. Even 
 our lamented Dr. John Hall, of New York, a rare 
 exception in this respect, could not do it. The 
 amount of personal intercourse possible with each 
 individual is, necessarily, too limited to permit 
 intimate acquaintance with many. If I may be 
 allowed to introduce personal experience, I would 
 simply refer to the fact, that, when pastor in a 
 country town, it was m.y privilege to receive into 
 the church, upon confession, scores of men. In my 
 city pastorate the number of men thus received has 
 been small in comparison. The difference in result 
 has been chiefly due to the difficulty of securing 
 personal intercourse with men, who can rarely be 
 seen at home and never in their places of business 
 without the presence of others. A city pastor is 
 supposed to be well known, while a country pastor 
 is regarded as obscure. On the contrary, any stranger 
 coming into Carlisle might enquire for Dr. Norcross 
 
MERVIN J. ECKELS. 195 
 
 of any man whom he might chance to meet, with 
 the assurance that he would be able to point him 
 out; but you would encjuire in vain for your 
 speaker, in Philadelphia, except in the vicinity of 
 his own church. And again, I may ask, how many 
 of our city pastors are so well known throughout all 
 the churches as our country pastor here in Carlisle ? 
 Nevertheless, the city pastorate has its advan- 
 tages. Whether a man can be as happy there as in 
 the country will be determined by his personal tastes 
 and habits. That he can be as useful, I fully be- 
 lieve. If he communes less with books and with 
 nature, he comes more into contact with persons of 
 all classes, and learns to adapt himself to an ever- 
 changing environment. If in the country lie can do 
 more for a few persons ; in the city he can do some- 
 thing to help more persons. He, if accessible, be- 
 comes a bureau of information to pastors seeking 
 entrance to vacant pulpits, to a procession of young 
 men and women seeking employment and companion- 
 ship in our great city, to keepers of boarding-houses 
 and those going to sojourn where they may find a 
 place. There are more " lonely hearts to cherish" 
 in the city than the country, more discouraged ones 
 to be heartened and more " lost sheep of the house 
 
196 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 of Israel" to be gathered into the fold. The city 
 pastor finds more opportunity to minister to those 
 in Hospitals and Homes for the Aged and Friend- 
 less. The whole field of city missions and public 
 charities lies about him, and, like his Master, he 
 may constantly go about doing good. The conclu- 
 sion of the whole matter is this : The best place for 
 every pastor is where God wants him — whether in 
 city or country. In this, too, we, who meet to greet 
 and honor our pastor to-day, with true hearts that 
 are loyal yet, after thirty years, are agreed ; that 
 we have wanted him and God has wanted him all 
 these years in the country pastorate, in this good 
 town of Carlisle, and this has been the best place for 
 him. 
 
DR. SHELDON JACKSON. 197 
 
 "outlook of the church for the twentieth 
 century: 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. SHELDON JACKSON, D. D., LL. D. 
 
 For the past two days we have been upon the 
 mount of privilege. We have met in spirit with the 
 noble men and women who, sixty-six years ago, 
 established this Church, and their successors who 
 have carried it forward so efiiciently until the pres- 
 ent. We have been encouraged by the united testi- 
 mony of those wlio have spoken upon this occasion 
 with regard to the sound orthodoxy that is the 
 heritage of this people, and the liberality with which 
 they have sought in the past to obey the divine com- 
 mand to " disciple" all nations, beginning at Jeru- 
 salem. 
 
 The missionary spirit, home and foreign, exhibited 
 by this Church in its history is known throughout 
 the earth, and I have no doubt the feeling in all 
 hearts present is, that it is good to be here, and that, 
 like Peter, James and John upon the Mount of 
 Transfiguration, we would fain erect altars of thanks- 
 
i9S A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 giving and joy, and rest here from our labors. But 
 this cannot be. The early disciples descended from 
 the Mount of Transfiguration to meet their baffled 
 associates, who could not heal the demoniac ; and 
 we likewise will pass from this mount of privilege 
 and these days of special enjoyment to again take 
 up our life-work, again to struggle with temptation 
 and sin, and ay-ain engao'e in the battle of life. As 
 
 ' O DO 
 
 doubtless the scene on the Mount of Transfiguration 
 was a special preparation to Peter, James and John 
 for their great prominence as " pillars in the Church" 
 and leaders among the apostles ; so we have in the 
 good Providence of God been brought to this joyous 
 occasion as a preparation for further work. We 
 cannot live in the past ; it is but a preparation for 
 the future. The memor}^ of past achievements 
 should strengthen our faith to attempt stil] greater 
 things for the Master. 
 
 The times in which we live demand more heroic 
 living on the part of Christians ; there has perhaps 
 never been a time in the history of the world when 
 there was so great unrest among all classes of people 
 in all civilized lands ; there has never been a period 
 in the history of the world when great changes 
 have been so rapid ; when the demands of the King- 
 
DR. SHELDON JACKSON. 199 
 
 (iom upon the children of God have been so great. 
 The adidt portion of this audience can remember 
 when large portions of the earth were closed against 
 the missionary, and the united prayer in ^Monthly 
 Concert and in Christian homes and hearts was for 
 an "open door." Then nation after nation was 
 thrown open to the Gospel, and the cry went up for 
 more men and women to enter the work. The men 
 and women were supplied, and now the great cry of 
 the Church should be for such a baptism of the 
 Holy Spirit as will enable all Christians to recog- 
 nize their stewardship so that the treasuries of the 
 House of the Lord may be filled to overflowing, and 
 thousands of men and women who are oifering 
 themselves for work can be sent. The orthodoxy of 
 this Church in the past is a grand foundation for 
 enlarged work in the future. Its well-known liber- 
 ality in the past is but a training for Church-giving 
 and greater consecration in the days to come — the 
 preparation for better coming up to the help of the 
 Lord in a time like this. We cannot without sin 
 drop back ; we cannot do less than in the past ; we 
 cannot remain where we are ; we must go forward. 
 We stand before a future vast, momentous, a})- 
 palling; vast in its possibilities, momentous in its 
 
-200 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 opportunities, appalling in its results. As we face 
 this unknown future, I do not wonder that the poli- 
 tician and the statesman shrink back ; but I can 
 not conceive how the Christian, with the promises 
 of God behind him foreshadowing the complete tri- 
 umph of good over evil, resting upon the everlasting 
 arm for strength, and following where infinite wis- 
 dom leads should hesitate or hold back. 
 
 All progress is life, "expansion." When we cease 
 to press forward, we do not simply stand still ; we 
 go back. To the Church of the Living God there is 
 no going back — there is no standing still ; if the 
 Church is faithful to her divine Lord and Master 
 she must press forward in both religious and civil 
 matters. There must be ceaseless effort to purify 
 the Government. Unflao-o-ing work to leaven the 
 masses with Christianity ; heroic attempts to take 
 possession of the world for Christ. And if, in the 
 Providence of God, lands are unexpectedly brought 
 under our flag, it is simply an indication of the 
 divine will that we are to have the protection of that 
 flag, and its assistance in Christianizing and civiliz- 
 ing these populations unacquainted with our Chris- 
 tian civilization. It is to give us better vantage 
 o-round for Christian work. 
 
DR. SHELDON JACKSON. 201 
 
 At such a time not only the whole body of believers 
 .should press forward, but each individual church 
 should realize more and more that they have been 
 created and blessed for church work and church giv- 
 ing, and more fervent prayer for a day like this. 
 
 Let us then, with the opening of the new year 
 and the commencement of a new period in the his- 
 tory of the life of this church, hail the future with 
 joy, and " forgetting those things which are behind, 
 and reaching forth unto those things which are 
 before," let us " press toward the mark for the prize 
 of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Let 
 the one burning thought of our hearts day and night 
 V»e the speedy triumph of the Eedeemer's Kingdom. 
 Let our own study and thought and prayer day by 
 day be that we be found faithful in our places in 
 securing this triumph. Let us see to it that thus 
 we do our whole duty as good soldiers in Christ's 
 army. 
 
 I congratulate you on the past, I bid you God 
 speed for the future. 
 
ADDRESSES. 
 
 Monday Evening, January 2, 1S99. 
 
 DUNCAN M. GRAHAM, ESQ,., 
 
 President of the Board of Trustees, 
 
 Presiding. 
 
 MR. GRAHAM: 
 
 When the Chairman of the Committee of Arrange- 
 ments informed me that I had been selected by the 
 Committee to preside to-night, I felt keenly the 
 honor conferred, but I felt it was not so much a 
 personal compliment as a compliment intended for 
 the lay side of the Church — to the Board, whicli I 
 have the honor to represent, and to the Congregation 
 at large, that it might be recognized on this joyous, 
 occasion. 
 
 Perhaps there was some desii'e on the part of the 
 Committee to connect those of us who bear the bur- 
 den and heat of the day with tho.-o worthies, of whom 
 we heard so eloquently and ably yesterday, a ven- 
 
204 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY, 
 
 eratecl lather having occupied for nearly thirty years 
 the position, which the partiality of my fellow- 
 members of the Board has conferred upon me ; and 
 I would be unfaithful to myself, unfaithful to the 
 earnest convictions of my heart, did I not bring to- 
 night to our Pastor, from the lay element Oi this 
 church, the esteem and love of a loyal and united 
 congregation. 
 
 Thirty years of ministerial life ; three decades of 
 human effort in the most exalted position that can 
 come to man, — that is the occasion we are celebrating 
 here to-night. 
 
 We of the laity are proud, modestly proud, of 
 some things ; we are proud of our Church organiza- 
 tion ; we are proud of our Church itself ; we are 
 proud of our educated ministry ; we are humbly 
 proud to think that, since its organization, the 
 Presbyterian Church has been the bulwark against 
 infidelity in all of its forms — at all times. The 
 grosser forms of infidelity are easily met and van- 
 quished, but the subtler forms of infidelity — those 
 forms which require a cultivated intellect — and the 
 strong cultured intellect of manly men to combat — 
 have been met by the educated ministry of the Pres- 
 byterian Church and vanquished upon a hundred 
 
rONGRATULATIONS. 205 
 
 l)attlefields. We are proud of the part that our 
 educated ministry took in the formation of the Con- 
 stitution, wliieh governs and controls this Union of 
 States to-day. Yesterday we heard how the men of 
 our church took jxirt in the formation of that instru- 
 ment ; how it was modeled after the organization of 
 the Presbyterian Church ; how it has stood the 
 storms and stress of time. It resisted the efforts of 
 the contractionists in 1861, and under the Provi- 
 dence of God it will be equal to all the requirements 
 of mistaken expansion in this the morning twilight 
 of the Twentieth Century. 
 
 For the lay side of the Church, I may say this : 
 I can say that the Pastor of this church has tln' 
 loyalty and the devotion of a united people. I can 
 say, furthermore, that there never was a time in the 
 history of the Church when the Church was stronger 
 and more able, nay more willing to contribute to all 
 those charities, to all those boards which go to make 
 up the active work of a Christian Church. 
 
 We are happy in this occasion ; glad of the oppor- 
 tunity it gives us to say to our );)astor and to the 
 people of the Church that we are firmer and stronger 
 in the faith. The learned gentleman who addressed 
 you yesterday said that the past is secure. I .say 
 
206 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 to y'ou that the future is no less secure. To doubt 
 the future is to discredit the thirty years of teach- 
 ing of the man of God who has wrought so faithfully 
 during all that time ; it is to discredit the teachings 
 of the fathers and the teachings of the mothers at 
 whose knees we learned our prayers and our Shorter 
 Catechism. We are ready now as our forefathers 
 were to maintain the teachings of the Church in all 
 their purity and in their strength. As I stand in 
 this Church to-night, beneath this beautiful Gothic 
 arch it seems symbolic of our faith ; one span founded 
 upon this Book, between which and us no mere man 
 shall ever come ; the other founded upon the right 
 of private judgment, and that founded and bottomed 
 upon an educated conscience, and meeting together 
 at the top in beauty and grace, complete the arch 
 of our royal Presbyterian faith. I believe that the 
 young men of the Church will maintain it as strong 
 and pure and beautiful as it was handed down to us 
 by those who have gone before, and who rest in the 
 shade of the trees on the other side. 
 
 And now our friends have come to-night to rejoice 
 with us on this occasion. It has been stated by a 
 learned writer that the first lawyer in a community 
 should be and ought to be and generally is the first 
 
CX^NGRATU LATIONS. 2U7 
 
 citizen of that community, and there is good reason 
 in this. When he combines character and integ- 
 rity and purity of life ; when he has the respect and 
 love and esteem of every one, one to whom the 
 widow and orphan turn in time of deepest distress 
 and woe, surely such a citizen is a blessing to any 
 community. We have such a citizen with us to- 
 night. He is of our faith, although not in our 
 church, and I take pleasure in introducing to you 
 one to whom your thoughts will instantly turn, — 
 Judge Henderson. 
 
 HON. R. M. HENDERSON: 
 
 I thank you, Mr. Chairman, foryoar introduction. 
 When I was first asked to be present upon this occa- 
 sion, some five or ten minutes were allowed me. Sub- 
 sequently it was kindly suggested that I might make 
 a short speech. I assure you that I shall not trespass 
 upon the time or patience of this audience, for I will 
 keep within the limit first suggested — five or ten 
 minutes. 
 
 I am here without exordium, and I have no apology 
 to make, for I am a volunteer, not a regular. It is, 
 however, with unfeigned pleasure that I arise to say 
 a word upon this most interesting occasion — the an- 
 
208 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 niversarv of a pastorate of thirty years. Think of 
 it — a full generation has come an and gone out be- 
 fore him whom we honor to-night. This at once 
 brings into view the pulpit and the pew — the preacher 
 and the people. We are told that this Church — the 
 Second Presbyterian Church — is sixty-six years old, 
 and that the present pastorate covers almost half of 
 that period. How suggestive ! Who has gone be- 
 fore ? I recall the learned and scholarly McGill. 
 The eloquent and incisive Moore. The quiet, patient, 
 lovable, saint-like Johnston. To follow in the foot- 
 steps of these men of mark, and to hold the people 
 down to the work inaugurated by them for so long a 
 pastorate, is an honor that cannot be measured by 
 any words of mine. I simply place upon his brow, 
 " Well done." 
 
 But what of this congregation ? Whence comes 
 it? Your lathers and your mothers, now looking 
 down upon this hallowed scene, point to the gray 
 walls of the old First Church and proudly claim that 
 as their first resting place in the pilgrimage of life 
 here below. 
 
 But you tell me there has been a separation, and 
 speak of the New School and the Old School. And 
 this formed part of the historical discourse to which 
 
CONGRATULATIONS. 2()9 
 
 we listened with so much attention and profit. And 
 now historically speaking, the line of demarkation 
 has grown so thin, failing even to rest in the most 
 vivid imagination, that it, like Mason and Dixon's 
 line, has become a thing of the past. And your 
 historian does not fail to tell us that it was only a 
 finger point of Providence to a higher, broader and 
 more enobling re-union of hearts and of hands in 
 the Presbyterian fold. All to the glory of God ! 
 
 There is one thing of significance, pointed out 
 yesterday. When this people went out to new pas- 
 tures, you left us the property, but you took all the 
 money, and have been living on fat things ever 
 since. I may say, however, you divided the grace. 
 You did leave us the pastor and some of the sainted 
 elders. I believe it was Dr. Sprole who said, or is 
 reported to have said, of these noble men of the First 
 Church, that there never would be peace in his 
 church till one of his elders was in Heaven, and the 
 other at Oberlin. We know that the one reached 
 his destination upon earth, and grounded in the 
 faith, we believe that the other was registered on 
 High. 
 
 I congratulate you people of this congregation 
 upon wdiat has gone before, I congratulate you 
 
210 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 upon the.^e days and upon this house, I congratulate 
 you upon the strength and beauty of these walls. I 
 congratulate you upon the manna which has sancti- 
 fied your lives since you went out from the old First 
 Church. 
 
 But I hear the cry, "Watchman, what of the 
 niajht ? " The morninp:; cometh, the morning of 
 opportunity, the morning of preparation ; the morn- 
 ing of victory, for the enemy are without on hill 
 and in valley thirsting for the blood of your people, 
 your lands and your cattle. But fear not ; led by 
 your great Captain against the enemy, fighting 
 under the Kino- of Kino-s, when the nis-ht cometh, 
 your banner will sweep over the ramparts. 
 
 But, my dear sir, I would be unjust to my own 
 feelings if I failed to bow in reverence to your life- 
 work here ; your manhood in the pulpit, and in the 
 community, ever abreast with reform, loved as a man, 
 respected as a citizen. I congratulate you upon the 
 possession of this people who sit at your feet and 
 strew your pathway with flowers ; this wall of sep- 
 aration between us — these flowering plants and beau- 
 tiful evergreens which decorate this platform — is a 
 loving tribute of true devotion from your people. I 
 congratulate you upon days and months and years of 
 
CONGRATULATIONS. 211 
 
 peace and joy and happiness among this people. 
 
 But, ah, sir, your paths are not always strewed with 
 
 roses. In all the wide range of humanity, if there 
 
 is deep soitow, it comes to the pastor of a loved and 
 
 and loving people. The unljidden tear may dim the 
 
 manly eye, for the dearest ties of affection have been 
 
 sundered time and time again. Tears may furrow 
 
 the blanched cheek. The pain of anguish may fill 
 
 the heart of pastor and of people, 
 
 But remember : 
 
 "Brief life is here our portion, 
 Brief sorrow, short lived care : 
 The life that knows no ending — 
 The tearless life is there." 
 
 ME. D. M. GRAHAM: 
 
 When we Presbyterians think of the founder of 
 our faith, the great Calvin, our thoughts almost al- 
 ways turn to that other great Reformer, and almost 
 cotemporary of Calvin, Luther, and we feel that the 
 roses which clamber over the very low wall which 
 divides us in doctrine shed their fragrance alike on 
 Lutheran and Presbyterian. I have the honor to 
 present to you Dr. Wile. 
 
212 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 DE. H. B. WILE: 
 
 I very much appreciate the reference which the 
 
 honored Chairman of- this meeting has given to our 
 
 great Reformer, Luther, in connection with your 
 
 Calvin ; and although I think that we may differ on 
 
 some points of doctrine, nevertheless the little couplet 
 
 comes to my mind which runs something like this : 
 
 " We are not one, and yet not two, 
 But look alike as sisters do." 
 
 When the good pastor of this church asked me to 
 take a place on the programme this evening, accord- 
 ing to his usual modesty, he suggested that what 
 I might say should be very moderate, that I 
 should not be at all extreme in my remarks of con- 
 gratulation. The request reminded me of a story 
 that is told of Dr. Bethune, whom some of you may 
 have known. 
 
 He was asked on a certain occasion to officiate at 
 the funeral services of a man who had been a mem- 
 ber of the Society of Spiritualists. The wife of the 
 man had been brought up a good, strict Presbyte- 
 rian, but had finally been persuaded to go with her 
 husband to his society. After his death, the brothers 
 of the man who had died insisted that there should 
 be no minister there. The widow, however, recalling 
 
CONGRATULATIONS. 21 3 
 
 the good training of her girlhood days, insisted upon 
 having a Presbyterian minister, and Dr. Bethune was 
 asked to conduct the services. The day after the 
 funeral one of the brothers met the Doctor, and said, 
 ''Doctor, we didn't like that sermon that you preached 
 yesterday." The Doctor said, " I am not surprised, 
 sir, because I know your faith, and I can readily 
 understand that you would not agree with what I 
 said." " But," the brother added, " that is not all, I 
 want to say ; the widow is not any better pleased 
 with the sermon." " AVell," said the Doctor, " I 
 can't help even that ; if I were asked to do the same 
 thing again, I am sure I would talk in the same 
 way." Then in a storm of indignation he said, 
 " That is not the worst, sir; last night we called up 
 the spirit of our departed brother, and he said that 
 he was not at all pleased with your sermon." 
 " Why," said the Doctor, " the impudent fellow ! I 
 have been preaching funeral sermons for fifty years, 
 and that is the first corpse that has ever had the 
 audacity to speak back at me." Now, I am some- 
 what in the same situation. I am very much afraid 
 that if my congratulation does not suit Dr. Norcross, 
 he may speak back at me. 
 
 The greatest compliment that can be given to any 
 
214' A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 minister of the Gospel can certainly be given to Dr. 
 Norcross, and that is, that he preaches Jesus Christ. 
 •To be good, and to be constantly trying to make 
 others good, to be giving one's whole life-work in 
 trying to make men perfect in Christ Jesus, is the 
 highest ideal of the ministry, and I feel assured that 
 Dr. Norcross has been doing that here among you 
 lor the past thirty years. 
 
 Not very long ago I heard of a man who happened 
 to become the pastor of a very prominent church in 
 Chicago, and after being there a short time, he gave 
 evidence that he was not orthodox, and so was dis- 
 missed from the congregation. A fevv^ years later he 
 happened to be in Chicago over Sunday, and asked 
 the privilege to preach once more to these people, 
 whom he had served in former years. The pastor 
 of the church, knowing the man and his creed, hesi- 
 tated, and finally, though with great reluctance, 
 consented. The church was crowded to the doors. 
 For one hour the man denounced the idea of the 
 necessity of an atonement, and ridiculed the need of 
 a Saviour. The pastor of the church waited pa- 
 tiently till he was through, and then, without a word 
 of comment, he turned to the congregation and an- 
 announced the 249th Hymn. The great organ 
 
CONGRATULATIONS. 215 
 
 commenced lairly to throb as if her pipes knew what 
 it all meant. Stop after stop was added, as if the 
 organist realized that even the great organ could not 
 quite do itself justice. Then the wdiole congregation 
 rose to its feet, and every man, woman and child 
 joined in the service, and with a fervor such as they 
 had never known before, sang : 
 
 " All hail the power of Jesus' name, 
 Let angels prostrate fall ; 
 Bring forth the royal diadem, 
 And crown Him Lord of all." 
 
 It was enough of a rebuke. They gave evidence 
 that they still believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. I 
 feel very confident that if you should ever be so un- 
 fortunate as to have such preaching as that, you as 
 a congregation would be so well instructed that you 
 would at once be aroused, and expel from your pulpit 
 the man who would not follow after the blessed 
 Christ, whom Dr. Norcross has preached to you so 
 faithfully for the past thirty years. 
 
 Dr. Norcross, I congratulate you. I congratulate 
 you that these good people have recognized your 
 true worth ; that they have recognized the charac- 
 ter of the preaching which you have done for these 
 many years, and have ever been glad to uphold you 
 and cooperate with you and love you. My dear 
 
216 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 friends, I congratulate you as members of the Second 
 Presbyterian Church of Carlisle, that for thirty years 
 Dr. Norcross has been willing to stay with you, and 
 has been able to endure you, for I am sure that 
 in his estimation there is no other congregation 
 quite as nice and quite as desirable as this con- 
 gregation which he has learned to love so dearly. 
 
 A few months ago in New York City, when our 
 " boys in blue " came back from the scenes of war, the 
 whole city was out to meet them. Great throngs 
 lined the entire route from the Battery to the Ar- 
 mory. You remember that as soon as the men 
 touched our shores, the bands played " The Star 
 Spangled Banner " and the chimes on old Trinity 
 sang out " Home Sweet Home " and the great mass 
 of human beings, the great mass of eager, anxious, 
 loving hearts that had gathered about the Armory, 
 .sang, 
 
 " Praise God, from whom all blessings flow, 
 Praise Him, all creatures here below: 
 Praise Him, above, ye heavenly host, 
 Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." 
 
 That is about what you people have been doing 
 for these two days, and you have great reason for 
 gratitude and thanksgiving. To-night you are prais- 
 ing God, from whom all blessings flow, because He 
 
CONGRATULATIONS. 217 
 
 has watched over you and l)lessed you so alAindantly 
 as pastor and people. 
 
 Dr. Norcross, again I congratulate you, and pray 
 very sincerely that when your course is run, and 
 the goal is reached, you may have sparkling in your 
 crown many precious souls whom you have led by 
 the aid of the Holy Spirit to our blessed Lord. 
 
 MR. D. M. GRAHAM: 
 
 If I were to ask Dr. Norcross to-night who, 
 amongst the pastors of the town, had been his 
 strongest allv in his warfare against that old com- 
 mon enemy we heard of in one of the sermons of 
 yesterday, I am sure that he would speak the name 
 of one who is here to-night, one who is strong in 
 disputation and able in |)olemics, yet possesses all 
 the lovely graces of character that make up the 
 ideal pastor and Christian gentleman. I present to 
 you Dr. Frysinger. 
 
 DR. W. M. FRYSINGER : 
 
 When I came to Carlisle in the Spring of 1870 to 
 take charo;e of what was then the Emorv Church, I 
 found here as genial and scholarly a body of preach- 
 ers as I have ever had the good fortune to meet 
 
218 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 with. Dr. AVing was then pastor of the First Pres- 
 byterian Cliurch. A man as firm as a rock in prin- 
 ciple, and yet as gentle as a woman in manner. I 
 do not think that it detracts in the least from the 
 nobleness of his character to say that he was one of 
 the most motherly men I have ever known. Dr. 
 Swartz was Pastor of the First Lutheran Church; 
 a man whose voice was music and whose speech was 
 poetry. Dr. Foulk was pastor of the Pteformed 
 Church ; a solid, sensible, good man. He was my 
 next door neighbor, and he was very fond of garden- 
 ing. The fence between our lots was as low as the 
 denominational fence between us, and he would now 
 and then hand me over a bunch of his famous cel- 
 ery, and at the same time some of his practical 
 remarks, as acceptable and as palatable as this lus- 
 cious vegetable, which expressions I would store 
 up and often use in some of my own sermons. 
 
 I learned a great deal from Dr. Norcross also in 
 those days. He preceded me by about two years, 
 and we were the youngest pastors in the city at that 
 time, and I think he feels as I do that we are 
 the two youngest pastors in the town now. Under 
 the imperative rule of our Church, I was compelled 
 to leave this pleasant community at the end of three 
 
CONGRATULATIONS. 219 
 
 years, and it was twenty-one years more before I 
 returned to take charge of the Allison Memorial 
 Church. In this interval, I filled four different 
 positions, which, with my first and [)resont term of 
 service in Carlisle, makes six terms of service, dur- 
 ing: all of which Dr. Norcross has remained with 
 these same people at this same Church. As a loyal 
 Methodist, subscribing to the polity of our Church, 
 which prescribes an itinerant ministry, I am placed 
 in an anomalous position this evening, as I presume 
 I am expected to congratulate Dr. Norcross and his 
 people on the advantages of a settled pastorate, 
 nevertheless I can do this conscientiously and hear- 
 tily. 
 
 Each system has its advantages and disadvan- 
 tages. "John," said the country mother to her 
 boy, who had made up his mind to leave the old 
 farm and go out into the great world and seek his 
 own fortune, "a rolling stone gathers no moss." 
 " Yes, mother, that is true," replied the boy, " but 
 a setting hen lays no eggs." I am just now con- 
 fronted with the fact that in three months 1 must 
 leave my present field of labor and go out like Abra- 
 ham " not knowing whither," and I confess a settled 
 
220 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 pastorate would have at this time some charms for 
 
 me. 
 
 In a lengthy term of service such as your Pas- 
 tor has rendered here, I recognize some great 
 advantages. One is, that it compels a minister to 
 be on his good behavior ; he must necessarily be an 
 example lor both believers and unbelievers, for the 
 eyes of the entire community are upon him. He 
 must pray very earnestly and faithfully while so 
 many are doing the watching, and must walk as he 
 prays. Of all men, a pastor must walk most cir- 
 cumspectly. A brother of my own Conference was 
 once an innocent illustration of this. Screams were 
 heard coming Irom the parsonage, and a number of 
 persons rushed to a window and looked in. To their 
 surprise they beheld his wife running about the 
 room, while he was striking at her excitedly with a 
 cane. Although this couple were as amiable and 
 affectionate as any married pair I have ever known, 
 it took them months to convince their congregation 
 and community that the husband was not a wife- 
 beater, but in this instance was heroically trying to 
 kill a mouse which had taken refuge in the folds of 
 the lady's dress. Dr. Norcross, should one of these 
 dreadful animals ever attack your good lady, take 
 
CONGRATULATION.^. 221 
 
 my advice, — do not run for your cane, but run after 
 the members of your Session, and call them in for 
 her protection, and thus save your own reputation. 
 
 Seriously, I congratulate you, Doctor, on having 
 gone in and out before this community all these 
 years, and sustained an unblemished reputation. It 
 is a great moral achievement for a minister, under 
 the trying events of ministerial life, to be looked 
 upon as above reproach for so long a time, and to 
 maintain the appreciation and good-will of a congre- 
 gation like this. I see another great advantage in 
 60 long a pastorate, in that it compels a minister to 
 do his best. "We Methodist ministers, being com- 
 pelled to go from one place to another, can preach 
 our famous sermon on " Simon's wife's mother lay 
 sick of a fever" as often as we move, without com- 
 plaint from our hearers ; but if a settled pastor were 
 to venture upon as many diagnoses of this celebrated 
 case, it would not be long before both sul)ject and 
 preacher would be i)ut in quarantine. I am about 
 concluding a term of five years of service, and in 
 that time my people have heard five hundred ser- 
 mons or more ; but when I recall the brain-sweat 
 these sermons have cost me, and the nervous chills 
 that thev have given me in their delivery, I stand 
 
222 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 aghast at the thought that during thirty years these 
 solemn talks would be modified just six-fold ; and as 
 I look at Dr. Norcross, and think he has gone through 
 all this, I feel like repeating the first line of the 
 hymn which we sang at- our New Year service yes- 
 terday, " And are we yet alive, and see each other's 
 face ?" 
 
 I congratulate you, Doctor, that you have endured 
 all this, and yet preach with a freshness and vigor 
 which cause you to be in greater demand for special 
 occasions than ever. In twenty-one years from now 
 I hope to come back to Carlisle again (that is the 
 nearest I can calculate it according to the orbit in 
 which I have been moving), and I expect to see Dr. 
 Norcross looking just as hale and hearty as he does 
 now, and find him preaching with just as much vigor 
 as ever. Should I not be so fortunate as to return 
 to Carlisle again, I have " good hope through grace," 
 which is a Methodist as well as a Presbyterian 
 phrase, to get to a better place than Carlisle, and, 
 Doctor, let me say in Methodist parlance, 
 
 "If I get there before you do, 
 I'll shout to see you coming too." 
 
 You will find me in the New Jerusalem, on the cor- 
 ner of Hallelujah street and Glory avenue, and when 
 
CONGIlATrLATIONS. 223 
 
 you come along, walk right in, without knocking, 
 and while my wife accompanies us on her golden 
 harp, we will sing, '' We'll never say good-l»ye." 
 
 MR. D. M. GRAHAI^I : 
 
 Sixty-six years ago our fathers left the old home- 
 Btead over on the Square, and started out to make 
 a new home for themselves. In their new home 
 they grew and prospered, but the love and esteem 
 they had for the old place never left them, nor their 
 children. We are one in the faith in which we be- 
 lieve ; we may be " distinct as the billows," yet we 
 are "one as the sea." The memories of those who 
 established the Presbyterian faith in the Cumber- 
 land Valley, in the old Church on the Sqnare, are 
 just as dear to us as to those who remain in the old 
 homestead, and the names of Steele and Dufheld, 
 Nisbet and Davidson, and the saintly Dr. Wing are 
 part of our heritage, of which we are truly proud. 
 
 The pastor of the old homestead, of the old Church, 
 is here to-night, and we shall be glad to hear from 
 Mr. Hagerty. 
 
 REV. A. N. HAGERTY. 
 
 My Dear Brother : — We are here to extend 
 our congratulations to vou, this evening, not because 
 
224 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 you have lived so long, as pastor of this church, but 
 that you have lived so well. The life of the pastor 
 of a great congregation, like this one, over which 
 you have so graciously and successfully presided, 
 during this long period of happy yeare, is not meas- 
 ured by time, but by deeds. A person may occupy 
 a great deal of space or time in this world, only to 
 waste it. Such has not been the record of your life 
 during these years. As the Apostle John com- 
 mends Demetrius, " There is good testimony from, 
 every one, and from the church, and from the truth 
 itself," (3 John, 12. Syriac V.); so do we com- 
 mend you. 
 
 This church, with its splendid history, standing 
 for the Truth immovable, zealous for the spread of 
 the Gospel in every mission field of the world, is 
 your imperishable monument, It will " give good 
 testimony " to you and your work, while it remains 
 "one stone upon another." 
 
 But it is the Truth, the Word, the Christ, mir- 
 rored in your own life, that "sounds forth" your 
 praises this night. After all has been weighed, man 
 is the " greatest thing in the world." For man the 
 Church is in the world. While the ultimate and 
 supreme purpose of the Church is the glory of God, 
 
CONGRATULATIONS. 22o 
 
 yet her direct and immediate reason for existence is 
 the redemption of lost man. Within her walls 
 man is to be redeemed by the Blood of Christ, com- 
 pleted in Him, for the " Everlasting Habitations." 
 It is when the Apostle of Love sees in Demetrius as 
 in a mirror one walking like unto the Son of Man. 
 that he holds him in the very highest esteem. 
 
 So, My Dear Brother, as these people of this 
 church and community have seen in you, as you 
 walked among them, the living Christ manifested, 
 have they held you in all honor. 
 
 But, sir, while we gather here to congratulate you, 
 and bestow upon you the fullest measure of credit 
 due you for the splendid work you have been per- 
 mitted to accomplish as the Lord's minister to this 
 people, yet we cannot lay all the crowns at your feet, 
 nor would you accept such a tender. * 
 
 There is a great deal in blood. Li fact, the divine 
 word says that, " Li the blood is the life." This 
 Church is of nol;)lc ancestry. Great things were 
 doubtless expected of you by the worthy fathers who 
 sent forth this nursling congregation. They gave 
 you a good dowery, and expected you to keep the 
 blood clean. That you should have kept it up to 
 the standard is greatly to your credit. 
 
226 A TPIIBTIBTH ANNIVEESARY. 
 
 To change the figure. As the stream cannot rise 
 higher than the fountain, neither did the Old Stone 
 First expect that you would be greater than you 
 have been. Nobly have you done your work. A 
 " Good man, full of the Holy Ghost," stood at the 
 altar when you were consecrated and sent forth, and 
 of that same Spirit you have grown rich in good 
 works, and strong in numbers and resources. 
 
 "We felicitate you on the occurrence of this happy 
 event. To both pastor and people we bear the 
 hearty congratulations of the Old Mother Church, 
 and devoutly pray that you may long be spared in 
 efiicient labors for our common Lord and Master. 
 
 MK. D. M. GRAHAM: 
 
 One hundred and sixty-six years ago there came 
 into the Cumberland Valley a set of men, sturdy, 
 manly men, driven from home, in search of that 
 liberty which was denied them there. They were 
 Scotch Highlanders and Scotch Lowlanders ; they had 
 stayed for a short time in the north of Ireland, hence 
 the term " Scotch-Irishmen ;" they came on and up 
 into the Cumberland Valley ; they brought with 
 them that love of home, that love of learning, that 
 love of God, which all the bloody dragoons of Cla- 
 
CONGRATULATIONS. 227 
 
 verhoiise could not take from them. They founded 
 schools ; they built churches ; and believing in an 
 educated ministry, they founded Dickinson College. 
 It prospered for a time, and then for l-easons which 
 I need not state here to-night, that institution wa.^ 
 turned over to a strong sister denomination, under 
 which it has flourished and grown strong and power- 
 ful. 
 
 Our interest as a Church in the old Colles-e has 
 
 O 
 
 never waned or lessened, and the noblest and most 
 beautiful specimen of architecture that adorns the 
 old campus is a gift of a member of this church, in 
 memory of a devoted husband and father ; and the 
 ground upon which the beautiful Denny Hall stands, 
 which has just been completed through the energy 
 and effort of the present head of the institution, wa.« 
 donated by a Presbyterian family. Therefore, our 
 interest in the old institution is still as strong as 
 ever, and we are glad and proud of the fact that it 
 has grown in strength and might and power, although 
 we regret that it is no longer a Presbyterian insti- 
 tution. We have with us to-night the head of that 
 institution, and we shall be glad indeed to hear from 
 the able and scholarly President, Dr. Reed. 
 
228 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSAEY. 
 
 m. GEO. EDWAED KEED : 
 
 Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : — It 
 is a very great pleasure for me to respond to the 
 kind invitation of the committee having in hand the 
 arrangement for this anniversary, and to join with 
 the many friends of our honored brother, the Kev. 
 Dr. Norcross, in hearty congratulations on the 
 auspicious event now being commemorated. I am 
 to speak, as I understand, in the first place as the 
 representative of the old college in whose fortunes 
 our Presbyterian friends have taken such great 
 interest in the hundred and more years of its event- 
 ful history. 
 
 Speaking for the college, I cannot forget its deep 
 obligations to those men of Presbyterian stock who 
 were interested in its foundation and early develop- 
 ment during the first seventy or eighty years of its 
 eventful history. It is a great thing in this world 
 to be well born, and that Dickinson was well born, 
 of course, goes without saying ; for as you all 
 know, it had its origin very largely under Presby- 
 terian auspices. Up to 1833 it was very largely 
 under Presbyterian control, and during the years 
 of its subsequent history the kind feeling of the 
 Presbyterians of the country toward the old college 
 
CONGRATULATIONS. 220 
 
 has undergone no change. Very much of its ma- 
 terial growth, as your honored President has inti- 
 mated, has come to us through Presbyterian chan- 
 nels ; and as gratitude has been defined as " a lively 
 expectation of favors to come," we beg you all to 
 believe that we are most sincerely and profoundly 
 grateful for the favors which have been received — 
 a clear intimation of our large expectations of our 
 Presbyterian friends for the coming years. 
 
 It is a matter for congratulation that the students 
 of Dickinson College have had the opportunity dur- 
 ing so many years of hearing not onlv the men of 
 the religious body under whose general auspices the 
 college now exists, but also the discourses of the able 
 and distinguished men who have filled the pulpits of 
 the churches of Carlisle. The requirement of Dick- 
 inson is that each student shall attend the church 
 which he may elect as his church home once upon 
 each Sabbath. They have full liberty of election, and 
 are privileged to attend the services of churches other 
 than those elected during the remaining portion of the 
 day. Some of them keep this regulation, it is true, 
 in the spirit far more than in the letter. But the 
 large numbers in attendance at the various churches 
 of the city attest the attractive power of the manv 
 
230 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. ■ 
 
 able men who adorn the pulpits of the town of Car- 
 lisle. I am sure that Dr. jSTorcross has, during all 
 these years, seen very many of the students of the 
 college in attendance upon the services of this 
 church ; and I, as the President, have had profound 
 satisfaction in the fact that the opportunity of hear- 
 ing so able and earnest and accomplished a minister 
 of the Word as is Dr. Norcross has been the privi- 
 lege of our young men. Quite a large number of 
 our students also have been Presbyterians in faith, 
 and members of this Church, and from these I have 
 heard frequent expressions of the deep and abiding 
 interest taken Ijy Dr. Norcross in their welfare. 
 The services of Dr. Norcross have been of invaluable 
 assistance to hundreds of our men. So, on behalf of 
 the old college, I desire to congratulate this eminent 
 minister of the Gospel upon the successful comple- 
 tion of thirty years of ardent service, and to wish 
 him a fervent God-speed for years to come. 
 
 Having now spoken briefly from the standpoint 
 of the college, allow me, in conclusion, to say a word 
 for myself. Sitting here to-night and listening to 
 the continued eulogies pronounced upon my eminent 
 brother, I have been asking myself, " How is Dr. 
 Norcross feeling under all this outflow of apprecia- 
 
CONGRATULATIONS. 231 
 
 tion, all these expressions of congratulation, oi 
 esteem and of respect?" He must, I am sure, feel 
 very proud and I feel like saying to him, as my 
 good mother used to say to me so frequently — in- 
 deed, almost every day of the week : " George, I 
 hope that my boy will keep humble." I am sure that 
 Mrs. Norcross to-night and for many days to come 
 will have to say to her excellent husband, " George 
 be sure that you keep humble." Still, for all that 
 has been said about you, my dear Doctor, I fear 
 that she must feel even prouder than yourself, and 
 so perhaps the best advice that I can give is, be 
 sure that both of you keep humble. 
 
 We have been hearing!; a o-reat deal about Dr. 
 Norcross. Very much as to his character as a citi- 
 zen, his standing as a man, his orthodoxy of doctrine, 
 his wonderful success as the expounder of Scripture, 
 of the vigorous way in which he contends for the 
 faith once delivered to the saints ; so much, indeed, 
 that I have been wondering if anything would 
 remain lor me to say when my turn to speak should 
 come. One thought came to me which perhaps i.« 
 my salvation. During all these anniversary services 
 Dr. Norcross has been the continual theme; as if 
 there were no one remaining worthy of mention in 
 
232 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 connection with liis work. But, my dear Doctor, it 
 occurs to me, that in all this outflow of good feeling 
 they have ignored the person who more than any 
 other has made your success possible, who has been 
 back of all your triumphs and without whose smiles 
 and zeal, companionship and co-operation, you would 
 not have accomplished one-half of what you have 
 been able to accomplish. By your side sits a beau- 
 tiful, modest and accomplished woman — the woman 
 who has practically made you, and still, so far as I 
 know, not one word has been said about her — the 
 woman whom everybody loves and esteems. What 
 would you have been without her, the constant 
 rfharer of your joys and your stay and abiding sup- 
 port ? All must have been impressed by the remark- 
 able neatness of the Doctor's appearance. Always 
 he looks as though fresh from the hands of his 
 tailor. Whoever saw him when he was not as it 
 were "spick and span." How many have stopped 
 to reflect that he poses before his wife and passes 
 the ordeal of her examination before he appears in 
 public ! 
 
 x\gain, he has been preaching sermons here for 
 thirty years. Think of it ! Two sermons a day for 
 thirty years. But did you ever stop to think that 
 
CONGRATULATIONS. 233 
 
 for Mrs. Norcross there has practically been twu 
 sermons every Sabbath for sixty years ? Do you not 
 know that every sermon that the Doctor has preached 
 has been rehearsed before Mrs. Norcross prior to its 
 public delivery, and that she has been compelled to 
 hear them twice over each week ? Sixty years of 
 preaching for her from Dr. Norcross, while you have 
 had but thirty, and still no gray hairs are visible. 
 All hail and all honor to the pastor's wife, beloved 
 by every one in Carlisle privileged with her ac- 
 quaintance. Seriously speaking, it is in the power 
 of the pastor's wife ordinarily to make or unmake 
 him so far as his success is concerned. No duty, 
 therefore, can be more im})ortant than for a man in- 
 tending the pastorate, to select a competent and 
 helpful companion. Dr. Norcross, allow me, there- 
 fore, to say with all sincerity and truth — and in 
 uttering the words I am sure I am but expressing 
 the sentiments of hundreds of people who have known 
 her during these vears, and loved her — that much 
 of your success as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus 
 Christ has been due to your noble and etfective 
 help-mate. May God's blessing be upon you both, 
 therefore, and may you long l)e comrades, to work 
 
234 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 tot^ether for the glory and honor of our common Lord 
 and Master, Jesus Christ. 
 
 I remember hearing the late William Evarts tell 
 of a woman who, at thirty years of age, married a 
 man of sixty, A friend, calling upon her a short 
 time after the wedding, found the lady dissolved in. 
 tears. "Are you unhappy?" said the friend. 
 " Very unhappy, indeed," was the reply. " Has 
 your husband been unkind to you?" " No, no man 
 could be kinder." " Have you had any differences, 
 such as are common sometimes between husbands 
 and wives?" " There has never been the slightest 
 unpleasantness between us." " Then, why do you 
 appear to be so distressed ? What are you worrying 
 about?" "Well, you must remember that I am 
 thirty years of age and he is sixty, and while that is 
 all right now, I am worrying myself to death when 
 I think that when I will be sixty he will be one 
 hundred and twenty." That is what has been 
 worrying me. I have been thinking that Dr. Nor- 
 cross has officiated in this Church for thirty years, 
 and you have not had any candidate for this Church 
 for thirty years, and consequently, you do not know 
 the pleasure there is in selecting a candidate. I am 
 thmkm^ what on earth will become of you after Dr. 
 
CONGRATULATIONS. 235 
 
 Norcross has celebrated his sixtieth anniversary, and 
 you have to go a-candidating. Some time ago, in a 
 neii>:hborin<i' Presbyterian Church, a committee was 
 appointed to select a new pastor. Time elapsed, and 
 the cono-reeration desired information as to how the 
 committee were succeeding in their task. Finally, 
 the following report was read, and I had the pleasure 
 of doing the reading : " Your committee begs to re- 
 port that during a period of nine months we have 
 heard and examined seventy-five men. We have 
 not made any selection yet, but we are hoping that 
 in a few weeks we shall be able to report to you that 
 we have selected a man who will possess all the 
 t|ualities which the various members of this congre- 
 gation have intimated to us they desire their future 
 pastor to possess." When we think that in that case 
 seventy-five men were examined, how many will 
 have to be examined, Doctor, to fill your place when 
 it shall become vacant ? 
 
 I am rejoiced that for thirty years we have had in 
 the pulpit of this noble church a man of broadest 
 scholarship, of largest humanity, of profound and 
 reverent faith, one familiar with all the questions 
 and shifting opinions of the age, one who has not 
 hesitated to examine very thoroughly every theory 
 
236 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 which has been propounded, but who has in all the- 
 storms of skepticism which have swept over the 
 Church, stood loyally and squarely by the Word of 
 God, and by the principles of that glorious faith, of 
 which he was the consecrated defender. 
 
 I must not delay you longer. There are other 
 speakers upon this programme. May the teachings 
 of this noble minister of God reach the hearts of all I 
 May the fires of piety and of pure devotion to God 
 and His truth ever burn brightly upon the Presby- 
 terian altar, and may the gracious blessing of God 
 the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost rest upon 
 this eminent and accomplished minister of the Word 
 and upon his devoted and loving wife ! 
 
 MR. D. M. GRAHAM : 
 
 We have with us to-night one of the descendants 
 of that Scotch-Irish race, whose name indicates his 
 bii'th and descent. We shall be glad indeed to hear 
 from R,ev. McClean to-night. I see him sitting in 
 the audience before me. 
 
 REV. R. F. McCLEAN: 
 
 After sitting here for almost two hours, I shall 
 add but few words to the many eulogies and con- 
 
conCtRatulation.s. 237 
 
 gratulations that you have ah^eady hoard, ainl noth- 
 ing but the sense of gratitude and friendship would 
 lead me to thrust myself upon you now. A- year 
 after your pastor came to you, I made his acquaint- 
 ance under rather trying circumstances, for I was 
 to be subjected at his hands to a severe though 
 kindly examination in Greek preparatory to being 
 received as a candidate for the ministry. Ever 
 since that time until n-jw I can testify to his kindly 
 and unfaltering friendshi}). In the early days he 
 was a brother to us. and we always felt that we had 
 his sympathy. It was from his lips and on this 
 consecrated spot that I received with the lamented 
 Green — who spent his saintly life in Japan — the 
 solemn charge at our ordination. 
 
 Dr. Norcross was helpful to us from our admis- 
 sion into the ministry, and I can corroborate emphat- 
 ically all that has been said of his al)ility and faith- 
 fulness as a pastor, of the faithfulness with which 
 he has preached the word of God and the Gospel of 
 Jesus Christ ; for it has been my privilege at two 
 periods, with my family, to be members of his con- 
 gregation, and during the latter period, extending 
 about a year and a half, he has been our friend 
 indeed. From this pulpit we not only get the Pres- 
 
238 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 bvterian doctrines stated in modest but emphatic 
 terms, but we hear the word of God in its fullest 
 degree, and the gratefulness which I feel for him 
 wells up from the depth of my heart. 
 
 The faithfulness of this pastor can not be ques- 
 tioned ; he has not only endeared himself to thi,« 
 congregation but to the people of this community. 
 Not only have the cultured heard him gladly, but 
 our 'little children have received from his hands the 
 Word of God in its plainest terms. That is a subject 
 of eulogium. The success of this long pastorate hai:= 
 been due to his labor and fidelity to the welfare of 
 the Church. We know that he has had the happi- 
 ness of his people at heart, and for them we believe 
 he will devote his best eiforts in the years to come, 
 for they are people worthy of their pastor. We 
 have felt it a privilege to have been a part of this 
 congregation, and we have received many tokens of 
 kindness at the hands of our beloved pastor, and 
 our hearts' best wish and earnest prayer is for a 
 I'ontinuation of this union that has so successfully 
 lasted for thirty years. 
 MR. J). M. GRAHAM: 
 
 It has been the pride of Dr. Norcross' ministry of 
 thirtv vears that eight of his boys have gone into 
 
CONGRATULATIONS. 239 
 
 the ministry of the Church, One of these boys is 
 here to-nisrht. We shall he a;lad to hear from Rev. 
 < reorge Bucher. 
 
 REV. GEORGE BUCHER : 
 
 It is a pleasure for me, Doctor, to add my congrat- 
 ulations to the many words of eulogium of the gen- 
 tlemen who have gone before me. I can endorse 
 every word of congratulation that has been tendered 
 here to our beloved pastor. It is a great pleasure 
 for me to be here to-night, and to bear testimony to 
 the wonderful work and to the patient kindness of 
 my pastor and ray friend. Something has been 
 mentioned, I believe, almut the boys who have gone 
 out from this church in the ministry, who have taken 
 up the work of Jesus Christ, to preach the glorious 
 Gospel of the Son of God to the world. I belong to 
 that group. I am one of the boys of this church, 
 and I feel proud that I can be here to represent the 
 boys who are not so fortunate as I am in being pres- 
 ent. My connection with this Church only dates 
 from the time I came to live in Carlisle, but my con- 
 nection with this congregation is in one sense far 
 longer. I can go back not only to my father, but 
 to my grandfather*, who, when a student in Dickin- 
 
 *Dr. Robert G. Young, tor iiianv years aw Elder in tlie Presby- 
 terian Church ut Mechanicsburg, P:i. 
 
240 A THIETIETH ANNIVEKSARY, 
 
 son College, was with this Church, and took an active 
 part in its early history. I can therefore offer my 
 beloved pastor our congratulations, because I stand 
 as it were in a special relation to this Church. 
 
 Perhaps there is another reason that I have been 
 selected by the boys to offer our congratulations to 
 our pastor, and that is, all these boys have gone out 
 from Carlisle into the world preaching the Gospel, and 
 enforcing the doctrines that they were taught in this 
 Church. I have been compelled to come two thou- 
 sand miles to be here, and I am very glad to be here 
 to participate in these glorious exercises, and to say 
 to our beloved pastor that it is my privilege and my 
 pleasure to tender to him the congratulations of his 
 boys ; to tender to you our thanks, and to give you 
 some evidence of our appreciation. Therefore, to 
 you, to your loving wife, and to your family, we give 
 our hearty thanks for the many kind things you have 
 done in our behalf. 
 
 And now, finally, let me say, I feel so proud, as I 
 stand here, that I received my interpretation of the 
 Gospel of Jesus Christ from Dr. Norcross ; I feel 
 proud that I have been here to see our pastor com- 
 plete his thirty years of noble service in this church, 
 and may God bless him, his home and his family, 
 
CONGRATULATIONS. 24 1 
 
 and keep him here for many years to come, in ordcu- 
 that he may continue in his noble work as a minis- 
 ter of Jesus Christ, ami a faithful pastor of this be- 
 loved Clmroli. 
 
 ME. D. M. GRAHAM : 
 
 Our pastor wishes to say a word for himself, and 
 we are always glad to hear him. 
 
 DR. NORCROSS: 
 
 I shall not trust myself to say all that is in mv 
 heart to-night, but I must say at least, I thank you ! 
 Words are very inadequate things at such a time as 
 this. I am truly grateful to you all I'or helping to 
 celebrate this anniversary, which means so much U> 
 both pastor and people. 
 
 I said the other day to a friend that I had never 
 been called to a field I wanted. I have had three 
 charges, and I did not desire any of them. I went 
 out to my first charge, not that I wanted it, but he- 
 cause the Lord opened the way for me to begin work 
 there. I was called to a much smaller church from 
 my first one, and at a little more than half the 
 salary. I did not want to go, Init my brethren of 
 the Presbytery voted that I should go, and so I went . 
 
242 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 I wondered for a Ions; time what the Lord intended 
 by that change, but when I found my wife in that 
 charge, then I knew. You do not know, and can 
 never know, what a blessing that wife has been to 
 me. 
 
 I was invited to visit this field, and twice declined 
 to come. When the invitation came the third time, 
 T thought the Lord was in it, and I came, and it re- 
 sulted in my settlement here. At first I was home- 
 sick, and longed to go back to the West, but I soon 
 found that there was a great work to do, and I be- 
 came interested and happy as the work opened up 
 ))efore me, and so here I have remained all these 
 years. 
 
 Some one has said that a long pastorate requires 
 much mutual patience between pastor and people. 
 Well, the people have been very patient with me, 
 but I have never felt myself very much tried with 
 them. They have always been kind to me ; and I 
 am sure I have been as happy here as I could have 
 been anywhere. 
 
 As to the place where we shall work, it seems to 
 me, we may well leave that to the will of the Lord. 
 Our old college President once said in my hearing, 
 " If we commit our wav unto the Lord, He will 
 
CONGRATULATIONS. 248 
 
 guide us as certainly as though a pillar of cloiul 
 went before us by day and a pillar of fire by night." 
 I think it is true, and though he leads us by a wav 
 we know not, it proves in the end the right way. 
 God only knows how I love this church, and God 
 only knows how hard it would be for me to leave it ; 
 and yet, I am sure, if it were the Lord's will for me 
 to do so, there would be something better in store 
 for me some where, and I could trust Him. I think 
 as we grow older we find how faitlil'ully He leads, 
 and how surely we can trust Him. He always 
 takes care of His people, and if we put ourselves 
 into His kind care and keeping, we shall be cared 
 for. 
 
 Once more, I want to thank you all, dear friends, 
 for all the graceful and gracious words you have 
 spoken here during these anniversary services. I 
 hope I shall not be unduly exalted by what you have 
 said. I know my own failures too well to be flat- 
 tered. I know I am only a poor sinner saved hv 
 grace. I am not so foolish as to believe that it is 
 anything but the kindness of your hearts, and your 
 love for me personally, that has inspired all your 
 kind congratulations. May God bless you all, and 
 reward you a thousand-fold for all your kindness to 
 me and mine ! 
 
L'44 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 Mr. D. M. GRAHAM : 
 
 And now, I wish on behalf of the ladieB of the 
 congregation — God bless them ! — to extend a cordial 
 invitation to you all, every one here, I except none, 
 to come with ns to the church parlors, and we will try 
 to make it pleasant for you. They have prepared 
 a collation, and we wish to extend to our beloved 
 pastor and his good wife our best congratulations, 
 and I ask you all to come with us and we will try 
 and make you glad. 
 
 THE RECEPTION, 
 
 Immediately after the conclusion of the exercises 
 in the church a most delightful reception was ten- 
 dered Dr. and Mrs. Norcross in the church parlors 
 under the auspices of the ladies of the congregation. 
 The receiving party was composed of Dr. and Mrs. 
 Norcross, Eev. Sheldon Jackson, D. D., and wife, 
 and the Elders of the church and their wives. It 
 ■seemed as if the entire membership of the church 
 was present to extend to their beloved pastor and 
 his esteemed wife the most cordial assurances of 
 their personal affection and regard. Not only was 
 
THE RECEPTION. 24/") 
 
 the church fully represented, but a large number of 
 the membership of other churches in the community 
 and those outside of any church connection were 
 present to extend their hearty congratulations. It 
 was indeed a most joyous and happy occasion and 
 the warmth and heartiness of the spirit manifested 
 by all showed how deep and sincere is the regard 
 entertained for Dr. Norcross not only by his own 
 people but by the community wherein he has s<i 
 long labored. A splendid collation prepared by the 
 ladies was partaken of and with cheery social inter- 
 course the hours glided all too swiftly away and 
 brought to a close an occa.sion that will never be 
 forgotten in the history of the church. 
 
 D. -M. G. 
 Carlisle, Pa., April 17, 1899. 
 
HYMN OF JUBILEE 
 
 Oompased for the Thirtieth Anniversary of 
 REV. GEORGE NORCROSS, D. D. 
 
 BY ELIZABETH L. HALBERT. 
 
 {Tune Webb.) 
 
 Our hearts are glad and joyful 
 
 As on this day we meet, 
 To offer loving tribute — 
 
 Our pastor dear to greet. 
 Full thirty years of service 
 
 Have swiftly passed away, 
 And yet our loving pastor 
 
 Is spared to us to-day. 
 
 The growth of tender childhood 
 
 To manhood's riper years. 
 With joy for all our pleasures, 
 
 With sympathy for tears. 
 His watchful eye has guarded 
 
 Each step along the way ; 
 And we with loving tribute 
 
 Do honor him to-day. 
 
 Young men and maidens also, 
 
 Unite in cheerful strain, 
 Together with the aged 
 
 Re-echo it again ; 
 
HYMN OF JUBILEE. — A TRIBUTE. 247 
 
 Friends far and near assemble 
 
 To celebrate the day, 
 Which marks a golden mile-stone 
 
 Along the heavenly way. 
 
 Thro' sunny days and cloudy, 
 
 Dear Pastor, you have come, 
 Thro' paths both smooth and rugged, 
 
 You bravely traveled on. 
 The thirty years have vanished 
 
 Like other years before ; 
 We pray that God may spare you 
 
 For many, many more. 
 
 A TRIBUTE 
 
 TO REV. GEORGE NORCROSS, D. D.. 
 
 On the Occasion of His Thirtieth Anniversary as 
 
 Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church. 
 
 BY J. WAKKEN HARPER. 
 
 As one, some mountain height to gain, 
 
 Stops, wearied by his rugged way, 
 And looks far out upon the misty plain, 
 
 Whence he had started at the break of day, 
 
 And resting thus, perchance to break his fast, 
 While round him falls the mellow set of sun, 
 
 Adown the vale his wandering eye is cast. 
 Then up and on, ere yet the day be done ; 
 
 So we to-night upon life's quiet steep, 
 
 While jovous acclimations smite our ears, 
 
 Stop for awhile, our festal here to keep. 
 
 And backward look across the stretch of vears. 
 
248 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 Across the stretch of years, when thou did'st stand, 
 Our strong young leader with thy brow aglow, 
 
 And we, a remnant now, of goodlier band, 
 Thou led'st forth from out the lono- aaro. 
 
 When thou, full armored, stood, son of thy Lord, 
 Among thy people, so to guard and bless, 
 
 Within thy hand the Spirit's two-edged sword, 
 Upon thy breast the plate of righteousness. 
 
 And so we started forth along life's road, 
 
 Some lig;ht of heart and some with bleeding:; feet 
 and torn, 
 Thy word to cheer as heavier grew the load — 
 Life's path no smoothness knows save where by 
 duty worn. 
 
 If any, fainting, by the wayside fell. 
 
 No pen shall write, no tongue shall ever say. 
 
 Thou led'st not thy trusting people well. 
 Nor pointed where the danger pit-falls lay. 
 
 And when, with bleeding hearts, we mourned our 
 dead. 
 
 And lips to brazen heavens dumbly prayed. 
 So, then, with ours, thy mingling tears were shed, 
 
 On us thy quiet, gentle touch was laid. 
 
 Vv^here other leaders smoother pathways sought, 
 On fairer plains where bloom'd the lust of pride. 
 
 Thou walk'dst the " narrow road " our fathers 
 taught. 
 Strong in their simple faith, nor turn'd aside. 
 
 When lesser minds assail 'd thy Church's faith 
 And thunders shook its portals ; in their track, 
 
 Thy ringing battle cry was hurl'd, " Thus saith 
 'The Lord thy God ! " it thundered back. 
 
A TRIBT^TH. 24") 
 
 And so a1)0ve the tunuilt and the brawl, 
 
 Above Dissension's voice, one voice we heani, 
 Thine own ! sharp as the bugle's clarion call 
 The simple preaching of the Word. 
 
 For thee no beacon on some lesser hill, 
 No false torch on the shadow'd meads, 
 
 ''On ! On ! Straight On !" thy watch-word still, 
 For thee no shifting lights of later creeds. 
 
 Beyond, the calm and quiet mountains lay. 
 
 High on their clear-cut peaks God's altars burned, 
 
 Straight as the eagle flies, thou kep'st thy way, 
 With steadfast gaze press'd on, nor turned. 
 
 Lead on !• Time hath not touch'd thy sword 
 
 With tell-tale rust, though furrow'd be thy bi-ow ; 
 
 Lead on ! Stronu; arm of the stronsr Lord, 
 
 And as we loved thee then, we love thee now. 
 
 Beyond and up, with thee we turn our eyes. 
 Beyond lie higher steeps as yet untrod, 
 
 Beyon<l ! the dawn of Canaan waits ! Our Paradise ! 
 Beyond ! the quiet stars, and home, and 'rod ! 
 Lead on ! Lead on ! 
 
 Hartford, Conn. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 A large number of letters full of regrets and con- 
 gratulations were received. The Committee on 
 Publication regret that they cannot all be printed, 
 but they have been compelled to make a selection. 
 This was a very difficult task, and as they look over 
 the letters which remain unpublished they observe 
 many they would gladly have given to the public. 
 These letters will all be preserved and cherished by 
 the pastor and his family, to whom they are pecu- 
 liarly sweet and precious. 
 
 The first in the series is from Eev. Dr. Radclifi'e, 
 Moderator of the General Assembly in the U. S. A., 
 and the honored pastor of the New York Avenue 
 Church, Washington, D. C. : 
 
 Washington, D. C, December 29, 1898. 
 
 Mr. a. G. Miller, Chairman Anniversary Services, 
 Carlisle, Pa. : 
 
 My Dear Brother: — It would give me special 
 pleasure to accept the invitation to the anniversary 
 services of the thirty years' pastorate of my friend 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 251 
 
 and brother, Rev. George Norcross, T). D., but im- 
 perative duties here will prevent. I am glad that 
 you are giving public expression to such an inter- 
 esting and significant event. In these days of short 
 and restless pastorates, it is a compliment, lioth to 
 the pastor and to the congregation, when they work 
 and live and love together for more than one gen- 
 eration. Dr. Norcross has stood in his place against 
 many a solicitation, and no doubt manv a tempta- 
 tion. He has built himself personally into the life 
 and history of all your noble region. Long after his 
 pastorate has ceased, he will speak in the regen- 
 erated lives and institutions of your community with 
 vivid and increasing effectiveness. I congratulate 
 you both. The day will be beautiful and bright 
 with many a joyous memory and manv an inspiring 
 hope. Cordially yours, 
 
 Wallace Radcliffe. 
 
 The following letter is from Rev. Dr. Wm. Henry 
 Roberts, the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly 
 in the United States of America. It was with his 
 personal encouragement that the " Centennial Me- 
 morial" was undertaken in 1886, and h.^ pronounced 
 
252 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 that History the most " unique and complete work'' 
 of the kind in the whole Church. 
 
 Philadelphia, December 22, 1898. 
 Mr. a. G. Miller, Chairman. 
 
 Dear Sir: — Your kind invitation to attend the 
 Anniversary services in connection with the cele- 
 bration of the thirty years' pastorate of the Rev. 
 George Norcross, D. D., is cordially acknowledged. 
 I regret, however, that other engagements will pre- 
 vent my being present on the happy occasion. Allow 
 me to tender to the congregation through you, 
 hearty congratulations upon the auspicious event. 
 The Second Presbyterian Church of Carlisle, Pa., 
 has had in Dr. Norcross a pastor of high qualifica- 
 tions for the care of souls under the great Shepherd 
 of the sheep. A gentleman, a scholar, an admirable 
 preacher, he has united with these qualities that 
 friendliness of manner and that true sympathy 
 which gives a minister of Jesus Christ to be in some 
 measure, " a workman not needing to be ashamed." 
 While however, rendering admirable service in and 
 to the Second Church of Carlisle, Dr. Norcross has 
 also been an efficient Presbyter, and in the wider 
 lines of Church work in Synod and in General As- 
 sembly, has been faithful and successful in many 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 253 
 
 things. He is one of the pastors whose intluence is 
 as wide as the Church, and whose life, under God's 
 hlesssing has been instrumental for good in many 
 <lirections. 
 
 With best wishes for the prosperity of the church 
 in all the future, and for the further growth in use- 
 fulness and influence of its beloved pastor, I am, 
 Yours in Christ, 
 
 Wm. Henry Roberts. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Samuel J. Niccolls, formerly pastor of 
 the Falling Spring Church, Chambersburg, Pa., and 
 now for more than thirty years pastor of the Second 
 Presbyterian Church, St. Louis, Mo., needs no in- 
 troduction to the Church at large : 
 
 St. Louis, December 27, 1898. 
 My Dear Dr. Norcross : — I have received an in- 
 vitation to attend the thirtieth anniversary of your 
 pastorate. I wish it were possi1)le for me to be 
 present on that happy occasion. Having passed 
 through a like experience some years ago, I can 
 sympathize with you in the joy of the occasion, and 
 in all of the hopes it inspires. I rejoice that you 
 have been spared so long to the Chundi. and that 
 
254 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 you have stood so well the severe test which a thirty 
 years' pastorate in one place brings to a minister. 
 Inertia or obstinacy may keep a man a long time in 
 a pastorate, but to remain for thirty years in a 
 place, holding the affection and esteem of the people, 
 a.nd all the while to be growing in usefulness and 
 power, furnishes an evidence that the pastor has not 
 l)een negligent in his duty, and that God has been 
 with him. You have not only grown in the affec- 
 tion of your people, but in influence and power 
 throughout the Church. I would fain join with 
 others in bringing to you on your anniversary my 
 testimony of affectionate regard. May the coming 
 years of your service, whether they be long or short, 
 l)c as bright and as full of happiness and usefulness 
 
 as the past. 
 
 With best wishes, I am, 
 
 Fraternally yours, 
 
 Samuel J. Niccolls. 
 
 The two following letters are from old classmates 
 at Princeton Theological Seminary. Dr. Wines has 
 been at the head of State Charities in Illinois for 
 many years: 
 
 Springfield, III., December 19, 1898. 
 
 My Dear Norcross : — I am glad to be so pleas- 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 255 
 
 aiitly remiii(ied of you once more, \>y the kind invi- 
 tation sent me to attend the anniversary .services to 
 he observed in connection with the cok^])ration of 
 your thirty years' pastorate on next New Year's <hiy 
 and the Monday following. I wi-^h very much that it 
 were in my power to attend. There is no man in 
 the class to which we both belonged in the theolog- 
 ical seminary at Princeton, whom I rememlier with 
 more respect or affection, although circumstances 
 have prevented our meeting during all these years. 
 I hope that you may live to serve your present 
 charge twenty years more, and then to celebrate 
 your golden wedding as [)astor. I am. 
 
 Sincerely and cordially your friend and brother, 
 
 Fred. H. Wines. 
 
 Blairstown, N. J., Decemher 2G, 18*)8. 
 Dear Bro. Norcross : — I was much pleased to be 
 invited to participate in the festivities and congrat- 
 ulations connected with vour thirtieth anniver- 
 sary. We have seen each other so seldom, during 
 these later years, that it was very pleasant to be 
 remembered. For I have always been drawn to 
 you and count you one of my congenial fricmls. 
 To have kept a large congregation togftlxn- without 
 
256 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 friction or dissatisfaction for so long a time is a rare- 
 experience, in these days, and shows a rare man. I 
 venture to say that it were easier to do it in the 
 Cumberland Valley than in many other regions : 
 yet, even there, it reveals ability, grace and perse- 
 verance. 
 
 Please accept my regrets that I cannot be pres- 
 ent, and my heartiest wishes tor highest usefulness 
 in the remaining and riper years of your ministry. 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 Henry S. Butler. 
 
 The three letters which follow are all ii'ora Theo- 
 logical Professors. Dr. Px^obinson is so well known 
 in this region as to need no introduction. Dr. 
 Beecher has been a professor all his public life. Dr. 
 Lowrie was one of the successors of Dr. Norcross at 
 Galesburg, 111., and later accepted a professorship 
 in the new Theological Seminary at Omaha : 
 
 Western Theological Seminary, 
 x^llegheny, Pa., December 22, 1898. 
 Dear Dr Norcross : — With my most sincere re- 
 grets that I shall not be able to be present at the 
 thirtietli anniversary of your pastorate over the Sec- 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 257 
 
 ond Church of Carlisle, I wish to send my brotherly 
 iind very hearty congratulations that you have 
 reached so happy and honorable an occasion. It 
 speaks very definitely and very positively of the ties 
 that have bound you and the people of the Second 
 Church together, of the harmony of spirit and aim 
 that has governed you, of the will of God that has 
 directed your ways. What a tender history do those 
 thirty years contain of personal and family and 
 church life ! What o'racious dealino;s of God with 
 you all, what touching memories of commingled 
 sorrows and joys, of common burdens borne for 
 " the name's sake," of new lives started and of 
 saintly lives ended, amid tokens of coming glory ! 
 
 One cannot but wish he had apprehended the 
 beauty and glory of the ministry of the Gospel when 
 he began it a.s when its holy opportunities are nearly 
 gone. 
 
 I will not write you congratulations on youi' own 
 fidelity, for the day is dawning on me when I shall 
 be so glad to cast all that I have done at the Savioui-'s 
 feet, and find my vision filled by Him alone. 
 
 Yet I do rejoice in your pastorate at Carlisle. I 
 rejoice that your dear wife has been permitted to 
 share it all with you. 
 
258 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 lyirs. Robinson joins in Christian love to you both 
 and to your family. 
 
 Yours most sincerely, 
 
 T. H. Robinson. 
 
 Theological Seminary, 
 Auburn, N. Y., December 29, 1898. 
 My Dear Dr. Nnrcross : — I appreciate the honor 
 •of being invited to the service in connection with 
 the thirtieth anniversary of your pastorate. It 
 would give me pleasure if I could attend. As I 
 cannot, I send my warmest greetings. I assure 
 you, my dear brother, that our acquaintance, begun 
 before your present pastorate began, has served to 
 deepen the feelings of esteem and love which I have 
 always cherished for you. 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 Willis J. Beecher. 
 
 Theological Seminary, 
 Omaha, December 28, 1898. 
 My Dear Dr. Norcross : — I am gratified to re- 
 ceive the invitation to attend the anniversary ser- 
 vices to be held in celebration of your thirty years' 
 pastorate. I would be very much pleased if I might 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 259 
 
 be present on so memorable an occasion, but as that 
 is impossible, I must be content with sending you 
 my most hearty congratulations upon a record so 
 notable in these changeful days. I remember when 
 your tenth anniversary came around, good Mother 
 Jackson expressing to me her surprise that you had 
 then been there so long, and had broken what 
 seemed to be the prevailing rule in the length of 
 modern pastorates, — and here it is thirty years ! 
 That makes a big slice out of a man's life, if I may 
 be allowed such an expression. We are not as 
 young as we once were ; we are better off, not 
 worse, isn't it so ? 
 
 Grow old alon^ with me ! 
 
 The best is yet to be, 
 The la.st of life, for which the first was made ; 
 
 Our times are in His hand 
 
 Who saith, " A whole I i)lanned, 
 Yoi:th shows but half ; trust God ; see all, nor be afraid !" 
 
 But, of course, no one can call you old yet, and I 
 trust you may have many more years of usefulnesf^ 
 and happiness in the work of the ministry. 
 
 With best regards, in which Mrs. Lowrie joins, 
 to yourself and wife, I remain, 
 
 Very truly your friend, 
 
 Matthew B. Lowrie. 
 
'260 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSAEY. 
 
 Rev. Henry Niles, D. D., has been the honored 
 pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, York, Pa., 
 since 1865. He is a man greatly beloved by all who 
 know him. His £i;ood wishes follow : 
 
 York, Pa., December 29, 1898. 
 Dear Bro. Norcross: — Across the intervening distance 
 I extend you my hearty felicitations on this your 
 thirtieth anniversary. However hard to realize the 
 fact, you and I are reckoned among the " fathers" 
 - — I trust not fossils ! — of the ministry in this part of 
 the country, and on that account, perhaps, I have 
 special right to salute you. 
 
 You have been richly blest at Carlisle. With 
 the manifested favor of the Great Head of the Church, 
 and the confidence and loving co-operation of an in- 
 telligent, earnest-hearted and affectionate people, 
 yours has been a very successful pastorate. 
 
 I should love to join with the multitude who, on 
 Monday, will greet you and yours in person ; but 
 circumstances seem to forbid the hope of doing so, 
 and I must be content with saying again — Congrat- 
 ulations and all good wishes ! 
 
 Yours fraternally, 
 
 H. E. NiLES. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 261 
 
 The following letter is from Rev. Dr. Dixon, As- 
 sistant Secretary of the Board of Home Missions, 
 New York city : 
 
 ^ 156 Fifth Avenue, New York, 
 
 December 22, 1898. 
 
 My Dtar Dr. Norcross : — First of all permit m* 
 to offer my heartiest congratulations upon your 
 thirty years' pastorate in the 2nd Church of Car- 
 lisle. I am sure that as the years of time and 
 the ages of eternity roll on you will be more an<] 
 more convinced that there was a nobility and a 
 blessedness in thirty years' pastorate at Carlisle, 
 which will fill your heart with an abiding thankful- 
 ness. May the coming days and years bring you 
 increased favor with God and W'ith His people. 
 
 I am much pleased with the appeal which you 
 have sent out to the pastors and sessions of the 
 Presbytery. I am sure that it will bring forth fruit 
 and I trust to such an extent as will fill up the 
 measure of our expectation with regard to your 
 Presbytery, 
 
 With kindest regards and sincere respect, 
 I am, Fraternally Yours, 
 
 John Dixon. 
 
262 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 The following responses are from two beloved pas- 
 tors in the Synod of Pennsylvania : 
 
 Pittsburg, Pa., December 28, 1898. 
 My Dear Dr. Norcross: — I have received the kin^i 
 invitation from the committee having in charge the 
 anniversary services celebrating the thirty years of 
 your pastorate. It would give me great pleasure to 
 be present if it were possible, and I think that so 
 long a term of distinguished service is worthy of 
 celebration. I send you my heartiest congratula- 
 tions, and desire to express'my good wishes for your 
 continued usefulness, and the blessing of GTod upon 
 you and your Church. 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 William L. McEwan, 
 Pastor Third Church, Pittsburg. 
 
 The Manse, First Presbyterian Church, 
 Mount Carmel, Pa. December 19, 1898. 
 Mr. a. G. Miller, Chairman : 
 
 Dear Sir : — Please accept for the congregation, 
 and convey to Bro. Norcross, my regret that the 
 way does not seem clear for me to attend your ser- 
 vices of January 1st and 2nd. I should be glad by 
 
COERESPONDENCE. 263 
 
 my presence to add my congratulations to both Pas- 
 tor and people upon the testimony that a thirty years' 
 pastorate has given to the world of their faithfulness 
 to each other and to the cause of Christ. May the 
 Lord continue to bless his servant and people with 
 peace, to multiply their seed sown, and to increase 
 the fruits of their righteousness. My family join 
 in congratulations and good wishes. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 Stuart Mitchell, 
 
 Dr. Jeffers is always able to speak for himself. 
 We only regret that we could not have had his fun 
 and wit at the anniversary services. His letter will 
 be appreciated by all : 
 
 York, Pa., January 2, 1899. 
 A. G. Miller, Esq., Carlisle, Pa. : 
 
 J/y Dear Mr. MiUer : — I thank you and your 
 congregation for the invitation to the anniversary 
 services of your esteemed pastor. Dr. Norcross. If 
 it had been possible, I should have been there yes- 
 terday, or would go to-day, to give my personal 
 congratulations to my friend and class-mate on his 
 successful completion of a thirty years' pastorate. 
 
264 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 Such things are rare enough to be celebrated when 
 they occur, and good enough to deserve all the con- 
 gratulations that friends of pastor and people can 
 give. Both parties to a thirty years' co-partnership 
 deserve credit. It bespeaks, excellence, patience 
 and piety in both people and pastor when they work 
 together in harmony for a score and a half of years. 
 So I should like to congratulate pew and pulpit on 
 this happy tinniversary. I'm sorry I cannot be 
 there to compare the veteran Presbyter with his 
 student self of thirty-five years ago. He is not so 
 sprightly as he was when I knew him in Princeton, 
 but how much handsomer he is — due, no doubt, to 
 long association with fine-looking people in his home 
 and parish. Then I should enjoy telling how he 
 startled Dr. Green with his grasp of Hebrew, and 
 how, in reciting to Dr. Moffat, the Professor of 
 Church History, he had difficulty in restraining him- 
 self from telling more than had been given in the 
 lecture — the historical genius even then giving 
 promise of the valuable contribution he has since 
 made to the history of his denomination. It would 
 be interesting also to recall his perfect familiarity 
 with the whole subject of Pastoral Theology — due, 
 evidently, to the predestined fact that the pupil was 
 
CORRESPONDENCE, 265 
 
 to exercise his gifts in the same town where the 
 Professor, Dr. McGill, had delivered his Addisonian 
 sentences in the little Seceder church, that has since 
 seceded to something else. Many other reminis- 
 <^ences come to me when I recall the earl_y days, but 
 I cannot be there to tell them, and this hasty note 
 must convey all my good wishes and greetings. But 
 I cannot close without putting my whole heart into 
 a hope and a prayer that the good work done in 
 Carlisle by my good brother may continue while life 
 and streno;th are his ; and that not one of hi.^ faith- 
 ful words mav fall unblest or unfruitful. 
 Very cordially, 
 
 E. T. Jeffers. 
 
 Eev. Robert Mackenzie, D. D., has for many 
 years held the most important post of our denomi- 
 nation in San Francisco. He has declined repeated 
 invitations to city churches in the East: 
 
 First Presbyterian Church, 
 San Francisco, Cal., December 29, 1898. 
 Dr. Norcross : 
 
 Dear Brother: — Permit me to add my echo to 
 the congratulations that sound about you these New 
 Year days. Long pastorates are so rare in these 
 
266 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 days, unhappily, that we who follow in the path you 
 have made are fain to salute you. 
 
 You are the richest man in Pennsylvania. The 
 accumulations of friendships you have laid up in these 
 thirty years are with you and waiting you. Neither 
 moth nor rust can corrode the-m. The Cumberland 
 Valley is parent of a goodly host who have wan- 
 dered far, even to these distant shores, but the dye 
 of its principles defies the washing of years and dis- 
 tance and alien circumstances. It is much to have 
 added your quota to a generation of such stalwart 
 men and sensible women. 
 
 I wish you a happy New Year and many of them 
 with a people who love you. 
 
 Fraternally, 
 
 EoBT. Mackenzie. 
 
 The strong personal attachment of Dr. Keigart for 
 the pastor and people of the Second Church must be 
 his apology for the warm commendations expressed 
 in the following letter : 
 
 Salisbury, Md., December 27, 1898. 
 A. G. Miller, Esq., Chairman : 
 
 My Dear Sir : — It is a sore disappointment to me 
 that, owing to my pastoral duties, I shall be unable 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 267 
 
 to accept your kind invitation to help to celebrate 
 the thirtieth anniversary of Dr. Norcross' settlement 
 in the Second Presbyterian Church of Carlisle. 
 Having been for over a score of years one of the 
 Doctor's nearest neighbors — in the ministry — and 
 for thirty years one of his best friends, I shou!d like 
 to tell " what I know about the pastor and people 
 of the Second Church of Carlisle." Everybody who 
 knows anything about the people of the Second 
 Church knows — as I do — that they are not, like the 
 Galatians of old, fickle-minded, easily turned aside 
 from the faith, nor like the Athenians, keen in the 
 pursuit of " new things," nor like the people of 
 v\diom Paul warns Timothy, " who will not endure 
 sound doctrine, but having itching ears heap to 
 themselves teachers after their own lusts," but 
 rather like the Christians of the Apostolic Church 
 who " continued steadfastly in the Apostles teach- 
 ing," putting in practice and illustrating the precept 
 of Paul to the Corinthians : " Be ye stedfast, un- 
 movable, always abounding in the work of the 
 Lord." Like the phalanx invented by Philip of 
 Macedon, which no enemy could penetrate, the 
 Second Church of Carlisle has presented an unbroken 
 front to the assaults of the rationalism and ritualism 
 
268 A THIRTIETH ANNIVEESARY. 
 
 of the limes. In these restless, changeful days, u 
 thirty years' pastorate is a remarkable thing, and is 
 a strong testimony to the stable character of the 
 people, and their attachment to the truth — for if the 
 truth had not been faithfully preached to the people, 
 this pastoral relation- would have been dissolved long 
 ago. It is not because sensational topics have 
 been introduced into the pulpit, or sensational meth- 
 ods adopted in Church worship or work, that Dr. 
 Norcross has held his pulpit so long, but because he 
 has preached the truth — the truth as it is in Jesus 
 — and his people have appreciated that truth. 
 
 The people of the Second Church of Carlisle have 
 been well trained and well fed. " Strong meat" has 
 been given them, and they have been able to digest 
 it. Few congregations are the equals of the Second 
 Church in intelligence and education, and no pulpit 
 has excelled in scholarship. The people of the 
 Second Church did a wise thing in putting a pastor's 
 library in the Manse, and then putting a student and 
 scholar in the study. And this student has put his 
 books into his head, and his head into his sermons, 
 and his sermons into the hearts of his people, and 
 this explains the stability and durability of this pas- 
 torate. It is the minister who studies who holds his 
 
CORRESrOXDEN(:E. 2(30 
 
 pulpit in these days when " many run to and fro, 
 and knowledge is increased." No people who are 
 "' edified" by what they hear from the pul[)it will Ije 
 very desirous of a change. Dr. Norcross has never 
 catered to the prejudices of men. He has never 
 trailed the blue banner of Presbyterianisni in the 
 dust. He has dojie a noble work, not only in the 
 advocacy and defense of the doctrines of Calvinism, 
 but in the honoring of her heroes and exponents. 
 When the detraction of Calvin and Calvinism is so 
 (Common and popular, he does the cause of truth a 
 noble service who vindicates the character of the 
 men who have held to the truth, and suffered perse- 
 oution in its defense. 
 
 Much is made in these days of "evangelistic" 
 work, as it is called. Its importance cannot be over- 
 estimated, unless it is made the sole function of the 
 ministry. But it must not be forgotten, that the 
 training of Christians is as important as the bring- 
 ing of men into the Church. A minister is a pastor 
 and teacher, as well as an evangelist ; anrl it is be- 
 cause the pastor of the Second Church has taught 
 his people that he has continued so long " in one 
 stay." 4 
 
 But the ministry needed bv the Church must not 
 
270 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 only be an " educated" ministry, but a spiritual- 
 minded ministry, a sympathetic ministry. Brains 
 without heart have little power. Dr. JSTorcross is a 
 man of large heart, as well as large head. He is a 
 man of warm sympathies, able to enter into the ex- 
 periences of joy and sorrow of his people, and there- 
 fore he has been able to win their hearts and to hold 
 them. 
 
 Dr. Norcross is a most genial companion, a most 
 entertaining talker. His visits to my home when I 
 lived in the Cumberland Valley (and these were fr^ 
 quent, for no two pastors in the Presbytery, I sup- 
 pose, exchanged pulpits oftener, or assisted each 
 other oftener,) were greatly enjoyed by every mem- 
 ber of my family ; and my visits to his home were 
 always occasions of great pleasure and profit to my- 
 self, whilst there was no church in which I preached 
 with more satisfaction than the Second; and one 
 of my great regrets in leaving the Cumberland Val- 
 ley was that it took me from the fellowship and 
 society of the pastor and people of the Second Pres- 
 byterian Church of Carlisle. The loss of this com- 
 panionship I greatly feel. 
 
 Singularly suited to each other have been the 
 pastor and people of the Second Church, so that it 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 271 
 
 is hard to tell which was the more fortunate, Dr. 
 Norcross in being called to so congenial a field, or 
 the Church in securing so able and worthy a pastor. 
 
 Of the results of a pastorate of thirty years no 
 estimate can be made ; eternity alone will show its 
 fruit. The record is one of which any man may be 
 justly proud. The blessings of the Head of the 
 Church have rested upon the union entered into 
 thirty years ago, and this is properly made a season 
 of thanksgiving to God, and of gratulation by all the 
 friends of this important Church. 
 
 Adding my heartiest congratulations to those of 
 the many who shall take part in this auspicious occa- 
 sion, I would also join my most earnest prayers for 
 the long continuance of the relation so firmly ce- 
 mented between pastor and people, eagerly desiring 
 and hoping that the pastor of the Second Church 
 may stand many years to come in his lot, doing the 
 Master's work, and adding jewels to His crown. 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 S. W. Reigart. 
 
 Rev. James A. O'Connor, the accomplished editor 
 of the '^Converted Catholic,'' is doing a noble work 
 in New York City in furnishing a home and coun- 
 
272 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 sel to priests of the Ptoman Church, who are sick of 
 her false pretensions. We are glad to print his 
 hearty congratulations : 
 
 Christ's Mission, New York, 
 
 December 31, 189-8'. 
 Rev. Geo. Norcross, I). D., Carlisle, Pa. : 
 
 My Dear Doctor : — It would give me great pleasure- 
 to be able to accept your cordial invitation to the 
 t;elebration of your thirty years' pastorate in Car- 
 lisle ; but as I cannot be present in body, believe me, 
 my spirit, breathing good-will, love, success, pros- 
 perity, and many more anniversaries, even to the 
 fiftieth, will be with you. 
 
 What good you have done ! I know you will say 
 that you have not done half the good you wished. 
 But I believe you will hear by and by the blessed 
 Master saying, " Well done, thou good and faithful 
 servant!" The only title to which a preacher should 
 aspire is to be " a good minister of Jesus Christ,'" 
 and that should be his eulogy. I think it applies to 
 you, and so thinking, I Sity so without reserve. 
 With all my heart I rejoice with you and your peo- 
 ple, and pray that this New Year may be the best 
 
 of all foi' you all. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 James A. O'Connor. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 273 
 
 Rev. John C. Bliss, D. D., began his ministry in 
 the Second Presbyterian Church. He is now the 
 beloved pastor of the Washington Heights Church, 
 New York city. He writes : 
 
 New York, December 28, 1898. 
 
 Dear Mr. Miller: — Accept my thanks for your 
 invitation, on behalf of the congregation, to attend 
 the services next Sabbath, in celebration of the 
 thirty years' pastorate of the Rev. Dr. Norcross. 
 
 Most gladly would I be present and a participant 
 on this occasion, .did not my duties here prevent. 
 
 It seems scarcely possible — indeed, almost dream- 
 like — that so many years have gone since I bade 
 adieu to the Second Church, as the predecessor of 
 Dr. Norcross. How many and how great are the 
 changes which have occurred in this period of time ! 
 I suppose that if I could look into the faces of those 
 gathered in the church next Sabbath, there would 
 be but few familiar to me. Inquiring for one and 
 another whom I used to see before me in the old 
 church, it would be told me, " They are no more," 
 and trying to recognize those who remain, who were 
 then children and youth, I should have a difficult 
 task on hand. 
 
 There is, however, this blessed consideration, that 
 
274 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 whatever changes have been wrought during these 
 years, there has been no change in the word of 
 truth which has continued to be preached to you, 
 nor in the spirit of Christian Hving engendered by 
 that ministry of the unfaiUng Gospeh 
 
 When I preached my parting sermon to you, over 
 thirty-one years ago, it was from precious words, 
 which now may be well recalled — those in II. 
 Cor. xiii. 11 — " Finally, brethren, farewell. Be 
 perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in 
 peace ; and the God of love and peace shall be with 
 you." 
 
 I rejoice to know that these divine injunctions 
 have been so fully and so beautifully carried out 
 among you, and that thus the presence and blessing 
 of God have been so manifestly with you. 
 
 May His richest benediction rest upon pastor and 
 people in the days and years to come, and may the 
 Second Church abound more and more in the love 
 and service of Him who loved us and gave Himself 
 for us ! 
 
 Yours affectionately, 
 
 John C. Bliss. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 275 
 
 The two following letters are from men who hav<^ 
 <lone good service both east and west. The first is 
 a veteran in years and a hero in spirit : the seeoiul 
 is a man of brilliant gifts and unflagging iiidnstrv. 
 He is pastor now of the largest church in Kan-^as 
 Oity, Mo. : 
 
 Florence, Arizona, December 26, 1898. 
 
 My Dear Bro. Norcross : — An invitation hasjjeen 
 received to attend the anniversary services of your 
 thirty years' pastorate. This little Home Missionary 
 extends his "Briarean arms" of congratulation nearly 
 across the continent. Happy pastor ! Blessed peo- 
 ple, who have enjoyed his precious services for three 
 decades ! What memories cluster around such an 
 event ! How many marriage altars ! How many 
 funeral sermons performed with rich and balmy 
 consolation ! How many souls won to Christ ! One 
 generation passed and another coming on the stage ! 
 How many baptized children and children's chil- 
 dren ! How many have crossed the flood, and wait 
 to greet those who 
 
 " A little longer wait, 
 
 But how little none can know." 
 
 Yes, my dear brother, I bless God that He luis 
 
 spared you to your dear people so many years, and 
 
276 A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY, 
 
 may He spare you another, and if possible two more 
 decades, and you continue to bless and be blessed, 
 God give thee many more souls as a reward of 
 faithful toil, and crown thy labors with abundant 
 success. 
 
 For all thou didst for me in the dark days of be- 
 ginning labors on this hard field, to lighten my 
 labors and bring light out of darkness, and for all 
 that thy people gave may the Lord reward both ! 
 
 Again I say, God bless thee and thy rejoicing 
 Hock on this sweet anniversary occasion. 
 Very fraternally thine, 
 
 I. T. Whittemore. 
 
 Philadelphia, Pa., January 4, 1899. 
 Dear Dr. Norcross : — My hearty congratulations 
 on your anniversary ! You have had a delightful 
 and successful pastorate, and the Master has given 
 you here great reward. May you continue long in 
 your work and may each year be to you a crown of 
 glory. Wishing you for 1899 a happy year, 
 Sincerely and fraternally, 
 
 H. G. Mendenhall. 
 
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