giiiiii HIA ill" HI ill!' iPlitfl!!!! liliiiP ;hntennial celebration ii ill ill iliiillliiiiliiiiM^^^^^^^^ ^' INGORPORATEP ■'^ 3H ^B <' 18 29 ''■ !> IP' • ^r BETH EDEN '^^. ^ CONSOtlDATION /<^ .V Iti'liillitill I tl! FROM THE LIBRARY OF REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON. D. D. BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO THE LIBRARY OF PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Srctloa /O'"^ y ^r 1698 THE BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION , MAY 16 1932 "^ .^ FOUNDING FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA 1898 EDITED BY . WILLIAM WILLIAMS KEEN, M.D., LL.D. s ^i INCOftPORATEO \'* J Is; ^«" 1-^ '. ^\ BETHtDEN Jr-c f\%'\ COMSOUOATION y^ /, "'.^ffi — ^-^y PHILADELPHIA AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY 1899 COPVRICHTKD, 1S99, BV TH1-: FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF THE CITV OF PHILADELPHIA. PRESS OF WM. F. FELL & CO. 1220-24 S«NSOM Street, PHKADELPHIA. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGK Notable Events in our History, 7 List of Pastors, Officers, and Calendar, 8 Preface, . n Historical Address ky W. W. Keen, M.D., LL.D., 13 I. Period of Foundation, 17 n. Period of Development, 39 HI. Period of Contention, 85 IV. Period of Progress, 97 V. Early Manners and Customs, 149 Biographical Sketches of the Pastors, 201 "Our Indebtedness to the Fathers." Address by Henry M. King, D.D, 21; '■ American Christianity in its World Relations." Address by Henry C. Mabie, D.D., 231 " The Church of the Past." 'Sermon by George Dana Board- man, D. D., LL.D., 251 " The Church of the Future." Sermon by Kerr Boyce Tupper, D.D., LL.D., 271 Program of the Bi-centennial Celebration, 295 Reception, 311 Women's Meeting, .... 315 Greetings : Institutional, . 329 Ancestral, 336 Denominational, 340 Interdenominational, 349 Filial, 357 Bible Schools, History of, 369 History of the Organizations in the Fir.st Baptist Church, . 389 History of the Organiz-^tions in the Beth Eden Church, . 399 History of the Organizations in the Im.manuel Mission, . . 403 5 6 J ABLE OF CONTENTS. Ai'i'KNDix A.— Summary of Faitli, Covenant, Charter, and By Laws, . 409 Ai'i'KNDix H. — Pennepek Church, 437 AlM'KNDlX C.— The Presbyterians, 439 Ari'ENDix 1). — The Episcopalians, 444 Ari'KNDiX E. — The Keithian Quakers, 449 AiM-KNOix K. — Deed for Lagrange Place Lot 453 Ai'i'KNDix (■.. — Declaration of Trust of Wardens of Christ Church, . 456 Ai'i'KNDix IL — (Origin of the Philadelphia Baptist Association, . . . 460 Ai'i'KNDix J.— Origin of the First Baptist Church, 466 AI'I'KNDIX K.— Ordination of Rev. Samuel Jones, 471 Ai'i'KNDix L. — Churches in Philadelphia, 47^ AI'I'KNDIX M. — Opinion of the Supreme Court in the Spruce Street Diffi- culties, 480 Al'riiNDiX N. — The Baptisterion, 49^ Api'kndix O. — The Branson Deed, 5<^o Ai'i'KNDix P. — The Councils of 1825, 5°! ERRATA. Page 32. — Legend of figure 9, for Deed of Trtist read Declaration of TniU. Page 91, line 5, for Revs. Liichts BoIIes, Henian Lincoln, etc., read Heiiiaii ■ Lincoln, Rev. Lucius Bolles, etc. [Mr. Lincoln was not a clergyman.] Page 182, line 24, for Thomas S. Wattson read T/ioiiias U'ai/son. motablc JEvcnts Conncctc^ witb ouv Cburcb *JHi9toi\\ 1698. The Church was founded. 1707. Philadelphia I'.aptist Association formed in our Church. 1746. The Church was formally constituted. 1764. Brown University originated in our Church. 1781. Sunrise meeting of the Association on the surrender of Cornwallis. 1789. Roxborough Baptist Church founded. 1803. Second Baptist Church founded. 1S04. Blockley Baptist Church founded. 1809. First African Baptist Church founded. 1809. Third Baptist Church founded. 1811. Sansom Street (Fifth) Baptist Church founded. 1S14. "Triennial Convention" (later the American Baptist Missionary Union) formed. 1815. Our Sunday-school formed. I 818. First Baptist Church, Camden, founded. 1829. The Church was incorporated. 1832. Central Union Association formed in our Church. 1837. American and Foreign Bible Society formed in our Church. 1839. Pennsylvania Baptist Ministerial Etlucation Society formed in our Church. 1846. Bucknell University assisted. 1856. Removal to Broad and Arch Streets. 1858. North Philadelphia Baptist Association formed. 1865. Boardman Mission (now the South Broad Street Baptist Church) accepted. 1868. Immanuel Mission founded. 1869. First Meeting of Board of Managers of Baptist Home in our Church. 1874. Baptist Orphanage founded. 1874. Philadelphia Home for Incurables assisted. 1879. Women's National Indian Association originated in our Church. 1882. Young People's Baptist Union organized. 1888. Baltimore Avenue Church founded. 1890. Narberth Alission (now the Church of the Evangel) founded. 1895. Consolidation with the Beth Eden Church. IRoll Of pastors. Tlic years indicate the diuation of their ministry. For three of the earlier pasliirs the dates are not exactly known. A. JOINT PASTORS OF PENNEPEK AND OUR CHURCH, I 698-1746. 1. John \V.vrT.s, 1690-1702. 2. Evan Morgan, 1706-1709. 3. Samuel Jones 1706-1722 (?). 4. Joseph Wood, 1 708-1747 (?). 5. AiiEL Morgan, 1711-1722 (?). 6. JKNKIN Jones, 1725-1746. B. PASTORS OF OUR CHURCH ALONE. 6. Jenkin Jones, 1746-1760. 7. Morgan Edwards, A.M., 1761-1772. 8. Wii.i.iAM Rogers, D.D., 1772-1775. 9. El, HANAN Winchester, 1780-1781. ID. Thomas Ustick, A.M., 1782-1803. 11. William Staughton, D.D., 1806-1812. 12. Henry Holcombe, D.D., 1812-1824. 13. William Theophilus Brantly, D.D., . . 1826-1837. 14. George Barton IDE, D.D., 1838-1852. 15. James IIazzard Cuphkert, D.D., 1855-1861. 16. George Dana BoARDMAN, D.I)., LL.D., . . 1864-1894. 17. Frederic Foye Briggs, AM., 1894-1896. 18. Kerr BoyceTupper, D.D., LL.D., . . . .1895. l-'rom 1746 to 1894, one liundred and forty-eight years, there were eleven pastors. Omilting Mr. Winchester, who only served one year, the average length of the pastorates would be almost fifteen years. PASTORS OF BETH EDEN CHURCH. 1. James Wheaton Snhph, D.D., 1S70-1882. 2. John WiGNEY Ashworth, 1882-1883. 3. John Tustin Beckley, D.D., 1883-1894. OFFICERS, 1898. PASTOR, REV. KERR liOVCE TUF-'PER, D.D., LL.D. HONORARY PASTOR, REV. GEORGE DAN.A BOA RUM AN, D.D., LL.U. PASTOR'S ASSISTANT, MRS. ALMENA H. BOSSON. DEACONS, William A. Levering, Charles T. Miller, William W. Keen, Lowell Shumwav, T. Seymour Scott, Benjamin Githens, Augustus Thomas, George Dukes, Samuel J. Clevenger, . John H. Geyer, B. Ogden Loxley, Frederick VV. Hutchinson. TREASURER, L H. OHarra. CLERK, ASSISTANT CLERK, W. Clifton Geyer. Howard B. Martin. TRUSTEES, President, Matthew Semple. Secretarv, James F. Hagen. Treasurer, L H. O'Harr.a (ex officio member). Terms expire Jan., 1S99. Terms expire Jan., 1900. Terms expire Jan., igoi. Benjamin Githens, Wm. G. Hopper, John H. Geyer, James F. Hagen, B. Ogden Loxley, William S. Haines, William W. Keen, Howard B. Martin, David A. Hunter, William A. Levering, T. Seymour Scott, Matihew Shmple, Ernest L. Ti stin. Aigusius Thomas. Carter S. Thompson. HmmanuGl flDi^elon. TwentN-tliird and Summer Streets. PASTOR, REV. THOMAS A. LLOYD. Winfield S. Elliott, Henry E. Lincoln, Harry J. Moore, Mrs. A. B. Bosson, Rev. Thos. A. Lloyd. D^acoi/s, Clt'i I;, George W. Wolfe, James Michie. HARR^■ J. Moore. Treasurer, Harry J. Moork. 9 Church (Ialcn^al^ I'uiil.ic WoRMiii', Sunday, 10.30 A. AI. and 7.45 P. INI. IloMK ]?ii{i.K School, Sunday, 2.30 P. M. CiiiNESK BiULK School, Sunday, 2.30 and 7.30 P. M. MoLY Communion, first Sunday morning in each month. Girls' Guild, Monday evening. * Young Picori.ic's Christian Endeavor Skrvick, Tuesday evening. BoARDMAN Boys' Guild, P"riday evening. I'.APTIST Boys' Brigadk, Thursday evening. Dorcas Society, Wednesday afternoon. Church Devotional Service, Wednesday evening. Inquiry .Service (for candidates for baptism), second Monday evening of each month, and second Monday evening before Communion. Monthly Church Covenant Service, Wednesday evening before Holy Communion. Monthly Missionary Meeting of Woman's Missionary Societies, last Wednesday afternoon of each month. Monthly Trustees' Meeting, last Monday evening of each month. Quarterly Business Meeting, first Monday evening after second Sunday in January, April, July, and October. Quarterly Rental of Pews, January, .\pril, July, and Octolier. CHiLr:)REN's Day, Easter and Christmas. Annual Business Meeting (for the election of officers, etc.), first Monday evening after second Sunday in January. Annual Church Day for Prayer, last Wednesday in January. Annual offering for Our Dorcas Society, first Sunday in January. Annual offering for Home Missions, third Sunday in January. Annual offering for Publication Society, third Sunday in February. Annual offering for Foreign Missions, third Sunday in March. Annual offering for State Mission Society, third Sunday in April. Annual offering for OrI'HANAGE, third Sunday in May. .\nnual offering for OuR Sunday Schools, third Sunday in October. .■\nnual offering for CiTY Missions, third Sunday in November. Annual offering for Ministerial Education, third Sunday in December. * Uegiiming IJeceniber 7, 1S97, the meetings of the Young People's Society for Christian Culture look the place of the Young People's Socielv of Christian Endeavor. PREFACE I was appointed Historian by the Church, and have also acted as Editor of this volume. As my Historical Address was never submitted to the Church for its approval and indorsement, I alone am responsible for any errors it may contain and any opinions it expresses. Only a portion of it was read at the celebration. In preparation for the Address every word of our exist- ing Minutes, from 1757 to 1 898, was read, and also the Minutes of the Trustees and the Deacons. These make up eighteen volumes, some of them very large. In addition to this, a very large collection of loose papers, reports, etc., was read, and a few valuable grains of wheat were found among a great amount of chaff. Evidently, no person could accomplish this task alone. Abstracts of all that was worthy of notice were made by Messrs. Henry E. Lincoln, Dr. Howard B. Martin. Isaac H. O'Harra, W. Clifton Geyer, Mrs. William M. Wilson, and Miss Dora Keen, who divided this work among them. Besides con- sulting these abstracts (which I have carefully placed in our archives for 1998), I read a very large portion of the Minutes myself, and on all important points I read and often re-read them carefully. I owe many courtesies to the Librarians of Brown Uni- versity, Crozer Theological Seminary, the Baptist Historical Society, and the Pennsylvania Historical Society ; to Rev. Drs. L. Moss and T. V. Griffiths, and to Mr. E. R. Siewers, and many others, who lent books, portraits, photographs, 12 PREFACE. relics, and otlier material of value. There are still lacking portraits of all the pastors prior to William Rogers, and pictures of the two brick churches of 173 1 and 1762. A diligent search has failed to discover any of these. Besides the chronological history of the church, I have added, in Part V of the Historical Address, a sketch of the manners and customs of the times, without which, it seemed to me, we should miss much of the flavor of such a history. I hesitated for a time as to the propriety of portraying faithfully our grandfathers and great-grand- fathers with all their defects, some of which were very glaring; but on consideration, I decided that the whole truth was what was expected of a historian worthy of the name, and was due to the church of the present. Only by this can we determine our progress and find meet encouragement. I have also placed on record our Charter, By-laws, Con- fession of Faith, Histories of our church Organizations, Lists of Officers, etc. In the Appendix are reprints of a number of original papers from our archives, together with full quotations of interesting extracts from Morgan Edwards. Following the Historical Address, the sermons, ad- dresses, greetings, etc., which added so much to the interest of our Bi-centennial Celebration, are published in full. Several of the papers on the program — especially the Reminiscences — are necessarily omitted, in order to avoid repetition. William W. Keen. HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY WILLIAM WILLIAMS KEEN. M.D., LL.D. In America an existence of two centuries for a churcii is very exceptional. Only ten Baptist Churches antedate 1698, viz.: The First Baptist Church of Providence, 1639. The First Baptist Church of Newport, 1644. The Second Baptist Church of Newport, 1656. The First Baptist Church of Swansea (Mass.), 1663. The First Baptist Church of Boston, 1665. The First Baptist Church of Charleston, S. C, 1683. The Pennepek Baptist Church, 1688. The Middletown (N. J.) Baptist Church, 1688. The Piscataway (N. J.) Baptist Church, 1689. The Cohansey (N. J.) Baptist Church, 1690. The First Baptist Church of Philadelphia, 1698. The First Baptist Church of Philadelphia is, therefore, the eleventh in rank of age in the United States. It has been sometimes debated whether we should date our existence from 1698 or 1746, when we were first ecclesiastically " constituted " as a separate Church. A few minutes' consideration of — A. The peculiar position of the Philadelphia Church ; B. Our recognition by the Philadelphia Association ; and — C. The statements of authors, it seems to me, will quite justify the assumption of the earlier date. 14 I'JRST BAPTIST CIU'RCIl. A. I. The Mother Church, even in 1688, was suburban. Our church was established in the town in which the Proprietary, William Penn and his official Representative, lived, and it very soon became not only the Metropolis of Pennsylvania, but later the Capital of the entire country. Our church acquired, therefore, very early a metropolitan importance which could not belong to the Mother Church. Practically it assuiitcd all of the duties and rights of a separate Church. Thus, even before the formal organization in December, 1698, in the correspondence with the Presbyterians who occupied the liarbadoes Storehouse with them, they speak of themselves as " the Church of Christ, baptized on confession of faith, over which John Watts is pastor," etc., without an)' reference to Pennepek ; and the Presbyterians reply " to the Church of Christ over which John Watts is pastor," etc. (Appendix B). And, again, in the correspon- dence with Thomas Clayton (Appendix C), on March 11, 1699, they sign the letter thus," Subscribed by us members of the General Meeting in behalf of the rest." 2. While ministers at Pennepek frequently served the branch in Philadelphia, }'et, upon the whole, as will be seen later from Morgan Edwards, the Philadelphia Church was served by many ministers other than those of the Mother Church. From 1698 to 1746 Pennepek had but seven ministers, whereas Morgan P2dwards mentions six- teen ministers by name, and adds "and others," who served the Philadelphia Church during the same period. In 1723, indeed, George Eaglesfield was chosen to preach, "contrary to the sense of the Church of Pennepek,"' and thus for two years we had our own separate Pastor. • Morgan Edwards, "Materials towards a History of the American liap- lists, in twelve volumes, by Morgan Edwards, A.M., Fellow of Rhode Island rdlege, and Overseer of the Baptist Church of Philadelphia. Printed liy James Crukshank and Isaac Collins, MDCCLXX," vol. i, p. 44. BI-CEXTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 15 3. In 1746 the question was raised whether Philadelphia was not a branch of Pennepek, thus implying a quasi- independence. The reason for raising the query was that some legacies had been left to the Philadelphia Church, showing that our independence was thus practically recog- nized. But to make it legally operative we were definitely "constituted" as an independent church, so that the lega- cies should not be shared by the people of Pennepek, for whom they had not been designed.' B. The Philadelphia Association repeatedly recognized the "church at Philadelphia" during its earlier years. Thus, in 17 12,' when a disturbance was made by Thomas Selby, the committee appointed to judge the same writes " with respect to the differences between members and others, some time belonging to the Baptist Church of Philadelphia." In 1729 is a query from "the church at Philadelphia," and again, " agreed to the request of the church of Philadelphia.""' The ministers of the church of Philadelphia were repeatedly appointed to preach the annual sermon, and the Association itself, with one exception, met annually in our church in Philadelphia for sixty-two years (1707-1769). C. The expressions used by Morgan PLdwards and other authors point in the same direction. Thus, Morgan Edwards says : " This is the eighth Church in order of constitution; but in reality is within ten years as old as Pennepek." ^ And later he says : " The church of Philadel- phia did. May 15, 1746, formally incorporate, which had only been done implicitly on Dec. 16, 1698."' Among other authors may be named Fisher,'' who says : " In 1698 a Baptist church was formed in Philadelphia." ' Edwards, loc. cit., p. 44. - Gillette's " Minutes of the riiiladelphia Association," pp. 26, 32. 3 //)/(/., p. 30. * Lot. cil., p. 41. •■* Loc. d/., p. 44. •^ " History of the Christian Church," p. 563. l6 I-IRST BAPJISr CHURCH. Vedder, in liis " Short History of the Baptists," 1 891, says:' "The first cluirch of Philadelphia was founded in the following year."- In his later work, published in 1898, he varies the phrase to " has been in existence from 1698," Armitage'^ says they " formed a church." Spencer' is very explicit, saying: "Having had, and exercised in reality, all the functions of a church from the first estab- lishment, in 1698, that year is certainly the proper one to date the commencement of their history." The actual date of the foundation of the church was the second Sunday in December, 1698. This is erroneously stated by Morgan Edwards as December i6th. My friend, Winslow Upton, Professor of Astronomy in Brown University, informs me that the second Sunday in Decem- ber, 1698, was December iith. As Great Britain did not adopt the modern chronology until 1752, the actual date corresponding to December 1 1, 1698, Old Style, would be December 21, 1898, New Style ; but the church considered that, to say nothing of the proximity of Christmas, it would be better to take the second Sunday in December, which is December nth in 1898 as in 1698, as the time for our celebration. The history of the First Baptist Church may be divided into four periods : First, the Period of Foundation (forty-eight years) — from 1698 to 1746. Second, the Period of Development (seventy years) — from 1746 to 1 8 16. ' p. 160. ^ This should not be the " following " year, — that is, 1699, — but ten years later. Evidently, Prof. Vedder overlooked the errata at the end of Morgan Edwards' book. ' " History of the Baptists," p. 712. "* " I'^arly ISaptists of I'liiladelphia," p. 69. BI-CENTENXIAL CELEB RATI ON. 17 Third, the Period of Contention, involving our good friends of the Philadelphia Association and of the Spruce Street Baptist Church (nineteen years), — from i8i6to 1835. Fourth, the Period of Progress (sixty-three years) — from 1835 to 1898; a period which happily is not yet ended. I. The Period of Foundation — 1698 to 1746. The first Baptist church south of New England, except Charleston, was founded in 1684 at Cold Spring, between Bristol and Trenton. It was served by the Rev. Thomas Dungan, who had come from Rhode Island in 1684, and in the same year had gathered a church about him. This church, unfortunately, broke up in 1702. The first permanent Baptist church to be established in Pennsylvania is that now called Lower Dublin, from the township in which it is situated, in the Thirty-fifth Ward of the City of Philadelphia, about eleven miles northwest from Independence Hall. The early name by which it was known was the Pennepek Church, an adapta- tion from the Indian name of Pemmepaka, from a small stream near the church. It was the Mother Church not only of our own, but of all the Baptist churches of Penn- sylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, and Maryland. Morgan Edwards, in noting the various churches origi- nating from that historic church, adds : ^ " By these detach- ments Pennepek was reduced to narrow bounds, but yet abides among the churches as a mother in the midst of many daughters," — an honorable precedence which we all gladly yield to our venerable yet vigorous Mother Church. In 1770 Morgan Edwards describes it (Appendix B) as a " neat stone building, 33 ft. by 30 ft., with pews, galleries, and a stove." The absence of the last was a direct means of considerable discomfort in man)' of the churches. Even i8 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. to this day, in Holland, few churches are heated, and con- sequently the worshipers are provided with foot-warmers, consisting of little wooden boxes in which are placed earthenware cups for glowing coals. I have the pleasure of showing you one of these (Fig. i), which I obtained last summer from the Protestant church of Delftshaven, in which the Pilgrim Fathers worshiped just before they started for America in 1620. This building was erected in 1 707. Figure 2 shows the orieinal building after a later enlargement. It is still Fig. I. — A Holland Church Foot-warmek. standing. I owe the photograph of it to the courtesy of Rev. T. P. Holloway, the present pastor. In January, 1688, Rev. Elias Keach and eleven other persons "did by mutual consent form themselves into a church " at Pennepek. Its origin is thus strikingly told by Morgan Edwards •} " Elias Keach was the son of the famous Benjamin Keach, of London. Arrived in this country a very wild spark [he was only twenty years old] about the year 1686. On his landing he dressed in black and wore a band in order to pass for a minister. The project succeeded to his 1 " Materials," p. 9. BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRA TION. 19 wishes, and many people resorted to hear the young London divine. He performed well enough till he had advanced pretty far in the sermon. Then, stopping short, looked like a man astonished. The audience concluded he had been seized with a sudden disorder ; but, on asking what the matter was, received from him a confession of the imposture with tears in his eyes and much trembling. Great was his distress though it ended happily ; for from this time dated he his conversion. He heard there was a Fig. 2.— The Oli> Lcwi.r \)\ m.in i I'lnm.iliv / lihuiu.a;, I^nlarokd from the Church of 1707. {Froiii a photograph kiiuUv fitniished by Rev. Thos. P. Holloivay, the present Pastor.} Baptist minister at Coldspring in Bucks County between Bristol and Trentown. To him did he repair to seek counsel and comfort; and by him was he baptized. The minister's name was Thomas Dungan.^ From Coldspring 1 " Of this venerable father I can learn no more than that he came from Rhode Island about the year 1684. That he and his family settled at Cold- 20 I-lRSr BAPTIS'J' CHURCH. Mr. Keach came to Pennepek and settled a church there as before related. * * * " The records of Pennepek give the following account of the establishment of the church in language as simple as it is eloquent : "Sometime after, about the nth month, (January, 1685-),' by the advice of Elias Keach and with the afore- said Baptized persons' consent, a day was set apart to seek God by fasting and prayer, in order to form ourselves into a Church state. Whereupon Elias Keach was accepted and received for our Pastor and we sat down in commu- nion at the Lord's table. Also at the same time Samuel Vans was chosen and by Elias Keach with laying on of hands, ordained to be a Deacon." As early as the spring of 1688 Elias Keach held several meetings in Philadelphia, but from 1695 onward, upon the request both of the Baptists and of the Presbyterians, John Watts, who in 1690 had succeeded Elias Keach as Pastor of Pennepek, consented to preach in Philadelphia every other Sunday ; the Presbyterian minister, whenever there was one in town, preaching on the intervening Sundays. Up to September, 1698, all went smoothly. At that time the Presbyterians, having obtained a settled minister, desired to oust the Baptists from their place of worship. This led to a spicy correspondence, and resulted in the suc- cess of the Presbyterians (Appendix C). At the recent celebration of the Bi-centennial of the First spring, where he gathered a church, of which nothing remains but a grave- yard and the names of the famiHes which belonged to it — viz., tlie Dmigaits, Gardners, Woods, Doyls, etc. Tliat he died in l6S8, and was buried in said graveyard," etc. ' The year tlien began on Marcli 251]), hence September was really the seventh month, as its name indicates, and the eleventh month was January. Englan 1 did not adopt the modern chronology until 1752. BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 21 Presbyterian Church our own church sent the following greeting by the hands of our Pastor, Rev. Dr. Tupper: " The First Baptist Church in Philadelphia sends most cordial Christian greeting to their beloved brethren of the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. " In 1695, when both of us were few and feeble, we met in joint worship in the store-house on Barbadoes lot. You profited by our minister John Watts on alternate Sundays, and we by your occasional supplies. " On December 1 1, 1698, nine persons ' coalesced into a church for the communion of saints,' whose bi-centennial we shall celebrate next month. With true Presbyterian push you organized into a church three months earlier than we ; just as in 181 5 the Second Presbyterian Church stole a march upon us by founding the first Sunday School in Philadelphia less than a month before we did. We have been trying to keep up with you in good works ever since then, but we find that it taxes all our strength. "As it would seem by good old Morgan Edwards' account, you ' in a manner drave the Baptists away,' two centuries ago. We have long since forgiven you, and welcomed you into our hearts, and know no rivalry other than in love for our common Lord and in service to our fellow men." Moreover, not only were we assailed by our Presbyte- rian friends, but also by the Episcopal minister of Christ Church. In Appendix D, dated March 11, 1699, will be found our reply to the Rev. Mr. Clayton, a reply which must have convinced Mr. Clayton that he had undertaken a hopeless task. The founding of our own church is thus described by Morgan Edwards : ' " In the year 1686 one John Holms" arrived and settled in the neighbourhood : he was a man of property arid learn- 1 Loc. fit., p. 42. 2 We owe to him a part of our original lot in Lagrange Place. See page 41, foot-note. He is also referred to in the account of the Keithian Quakers, Appendix E. 22 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. xw'g ; and therefore we find him in the magistracy of the place in 1691. He died Judge of Salem court. In 1696 John Farmer and his wife arrived : they belonged to the church of Rev. Ansard Knollis, in London. In 1697 one Joseph Todd and Rebecka VVoosencroft came to the same neighbourhood, who belonged to a baptist church at Lim- mington in Hampshire whereof Rev. John Rumsey was pastor. The following year one William Silverstone, Wil- i /< X[:s / g ^- — 1' Y' IfJE " '!^"" " I. or,,'. >v/V /...///// y rs.y-i Fig. 3. — The Barbadoes Store-house as it Appeared Just Before it was Demolished in 1832. \Reprodiicrd lliioiigh the kindness of Mr. John C. Brotctie.] liani Elton and wife, and Mary Shepherd were baptised by Rev. John Watts.' These 9 persons did, on the second ' In Appendix E, relating to the Keithian Quakers, an account of certain ijaplisms by them is given. Among those mentioned is " one Henry Bernard Koster" and others in 1697 and later. Mr. Julius F. Sachse, in his " History of the (German I'ietists," has given a full account of KiVster's administration BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 23 SUNDAY IN Dec. 1698 ASSEMBLE AT A HOUSE IN BaRBADOES LOT AND DID COALESCE INTO A CHURCH FOR THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS, HAVING ReV. JoHN WaTTS TO THEIR ASSIST- ANCE." This Rev. John Watts was the second pastor of the Pennepek church, succeeding EHas Keach in 1690. " He composed a catechism or Httle System of Divinity, which was published in 1700," which was the earliest attempt in America to set forth the doctrines of the Baptist Church. He ministered to both churches, but there was no regu- larly settled pastor in the Philadelphia church until 1746. " They increased," says Edwards, " partly by emigrations from the old country and partly by the occasional labours of rev. messieurs Elias Keach, Thomas Killingworth, John Watts, Samuel Jones, Evan Morgan, John Hart, Joseph Wood, Nathaniel Jenkins, Thomas Griffiths, Elisha Thomas, Enoch Morgan, John Burrows, Thomas Selby, Abel Mor- gan, George Eaglesfield, William Kinnersley, and others." Of the sixteen specifically named, seven — Keach (1688-9), Watts (1690-1702), Evan Morgan (1706-9), Samuel Jones (1706-22 (?) ), Joseph Wood (1708-47 (?) ), Abel Morgan (171 1-22 (?) ), and Jenkin Jones (1725-46) — were the first seven pastors at Pennepek ; the others were visiting clergymen, except Eaglesfield, who was our own minister from 1723 to 1725. It will be seen, therefore, that the tie which bound the Philadelphia church to the parent church, though fragile, was never broken, albeit in consequence of the distance from Pennepek many other ministers preached for us from time to time. of the ordinance of baijtism by immersion in the autumn of 1696. This would make the first baptism by immersion in Pennsylvania neither by a Baptist nor of a Baptist, but by a German Evangelist of a Keithian Quaker. Mr. Sachse tells me that Morgan Edwards is in error in stating that Thomas Rutter baptized Koster, but that Koster baptized Rutter, a fact which is borne out by ample documentary eviilence in his possession. BICENTENNIAL CELEBRA TION. 25 When the Presbyterians under Jedidiah Andrews had driven the Baptists away, our church worshiped at An- thony Morris's Brew-house, " near the draw-bridge," now the east side of Water Street, near Dock Street, and con- tinued to worship there until 1 707 — a gratifying evidence of Quaker Hberality. On March 15, 1707, by invitation of the Keithian Quakers, or Quaker Baptists, who were greatly reduced in numbers and were threatened with extinction, we occupied the Keithian meeting-house on Lagrange Place, O *%-' Fig. 5. — Anthony Morris's Brew-house. {Rcpyoduced by the kindness of Dr. Robert C. Moon and Mr. T. Mor-iis Perot. Second Street above Market, just north of Christ Church, where we remained until the removal to Broad and Arch Streets in 1856, a period of one hundred and forty-nine years. The oldest deed in our church archives is the deed for a portion of this property "twenty feet and an half" by three hundred, by John Moore to Nicholas Pearce. The consideration money was " seven pounds," and the " yearly rents henceforth are to become due to the chief Lord of 26 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. the soil." It is curiously dated, accordin<^ to the Old Style Calendar: "This indenture made the second day of the eleventh month called January, 1694," etc. Its irregular or indented edge also shows well the origin of the term "indenture." Duplicate agreements having been written on one parchment, they were cut apart by a wavering line, one copy being given to each party. In case of any doubt of their authenticity, both being produced, the identity was easily established by their ready fit at the cut edges. Figure 6 is from a photograph of this deed. Its text is given in full in Appendix F. The meeting-house which they first occupied was a small wooden building erected by the Keithian Quakers in 1692 (Fig. 7). This was pulled down in 1731 and a neat brick building forty-two by thirty feet was erected in its place. In Appendix E will be found a full account of the Keithian Quakers as given by Morgan Edwards. The first noteworthy event after they had become settled in their new home in 1707 was occasioned in 171 1 "by the turbulent spirit of an Irish preacher that was among them, along with Mr. Burrows. His name was Thomas Selby. When he had formed a party he shut Mr. Burrows and his friends out, who thenceforth met at Mr. Burrows's house in Chesnutstreet. This was the situation of affairs when Mr. Abel Morgan arrived in 171 1. But his presence soon healed the breach, and obliged Selby to quit the town, which he did in 1713, and went to Carolina."^ The matter was brought before the Baptist Association in 1712, and, both parties consenting, was referred to a com- mittee to hear and determine their differences. The report of the committee may be found in Gillette's " History of the Philadelphia Association " for the year 171 2. Abel Morgan, to whom Morgan Edwards attributes the 1 Edwards, loc. cil. , p. 46. A ("N , rji /' •• t..c' I m '/,* A l^^-*"*"- ^/-^''i ^//.//<.- ,hi I '*^' /•rofti ■ /\ //lit /«-.■//«. '' / uf/ .inh . 'i»tf/ /)€^ iMy -T^' ','•*« t / ' •?''' "'' '* '' "' ' ' %[/rf(i'c i-)- ^f '■'^A'f yj* ■\ Fig. 6. — Deed Dated the "Second V>\\ ov i he Ei.kvent 7T^. ^■jtiiSlij(y>fcm'Jih ^( Cf \'~, »t// XiKt -■ ■ .. J. no itzki ; / Jf7all t^UitM •■7. ^fliXCjldm^- l^aJfx J^f 77^ fini \ ■fidC( iD January," 1694, for a Part of the Lot in Lagrange Place. BI- CENTEiYNIAL CELEB R A TION. 27 allaying of the quarrel, does not appear to have been a member of the committee. This Abel Morgan was the immediate predecessor of Jenkin Jones, the first separate pastor of the Philadelphia Church. He was a man of great parts and influence, and an author, compiling a folio con- cordance of the Welsh Bible, printed in Philadelphia in 1730, and translating the Century Confession into Welsh. Fig. 7. — The Keithian Quaker Meeting-house on Lagrange Place.' His body now lies in our cemetery at Mount Moriah, and the headstone was removed, with those of the other pastors, 1 This picture has been kindly furnished by Mr. Julius F. Sachse. He informs me that it is a copy of a sketch made toward the end of the eighteenth century and afterward published as the first building of Christ Church, by Watson, in his "Annals of Philadelphia." According to the best evidence (Sachse's " German Pietists of Pennsylvania," p. 288) there never was a wooden Christ ChurcJi. The only foundation for this story was the statement of an old negro, Black Alice, who in 1802 was said to be one hundred and sixteen years old. She evidently confused the first Keithian Meeting-house with Christ Church itself. 28 I' IK ST BAPTIS'J' CHURCH. from the old burying-ground on Second Street, first to Mt. Moriah Cemetery, and thence to the vestibule at Broad and Arch Streets, and is shown in Figure 8. Fig. 8.— Tomusioni': oi- AuiiL Morgan, Originally in the Old Burialcroind IN Lagrange Place. [Kindly photographed hv Mr. Thornton M. Lynch.] BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 29 Moreover, Abel Morgan was the first mover in education among the Baptists. At the October meeting of the Phila- delphia Association in 1722, two months before he died, the Association proposed to the churches "to make in- quiry among themselves if they have any young persons hopeful for the ministry and inclinable for learning and if they have to give notice of it to Mr. Abel Morgan before the first of November that he might recommend such to the academy on Mr. Hollis^his account" — a worthy prede- cessor, surely, of Morgan Edwards, the founder of Brown University, and the second after him in the pastorate of our church. In November, 1733, occurred apparently the earliest stand taken by the Baptists of Philadelphia in favor of religious freedom. I take the account from Spencer's " P2arly Bap- tists of Philadelphia," page 63. He gives no reference to his authority. No Minutes of the church at this time are extant. " A few families of the Roman Catholic faith, had arrived and erected a small chapel in Philadelphia. The colonial 1 This was Thomas Hollis, a London Baptist, who founded a I'lofessoisliip of Theology in Harvard University, with a salary of ^So a year ; an "exhibi- tion " of ^10 a year to ten scholars of good character, four of whom should be Baptists; ^10 a year to the Treasurer ibr his trouble ; and £\o more to supply accidental losses or to increase the numljer of students. In spite of this theological liberality, — as generous as it was then unusual, — when he proposed Mr. Callender, the pastor of the Baptist Church at Boston, as an Overseer, the latter was refused the position. Mollis' liberality, however, did not cease upon this rebuff, for six years later he founded a Professorship of Mathematics and Experimental Philosophy at Harvard, with a salary of ;/^20 a year, and gave ^150 worth of apparatus and books for the library. He died in 1731, and up to that time was the most liberal iienefactor of the College. The Hollis family continued to enrich the college for a century, the sum total of their gifts being over ^6000, a large sum in those days. Thomas Hollis also was the first to establish a library for the ministers of Philadelphia and vicinity who were too poor to purchase books (Newman's " History of the IJaptist Churches in the United States," p. 276). 3° FIRST BAPTIST ClfLRCII. officers were alarmed at this movement, and Governor Gordon brought the matter before the Council, and in- formed them that ' a house had been lately built on Walnut street, in Philadelphia, wherein mass was openly celebrated by a Catholic priest, contrary to the laws of England.' The citizens of the Baptist persuasion and others claimed that Catholics and all other sects were protected by the laws which had been established by William Penn, and all were equally entitled to religious liberty. The Council, there- fore, wisely refrained from any interference." This was a stand worthy of the ecclesiastical descendants of Roger Williams and of John Holme, and is in accord with the principles of " Soul Liberty " for which Williams stood so zealously in Rhode Island and Holme in Penn- sylvania, and for which the Baptists have ever striven as a denomination. The next year (1734) came near giving a grievous blow to the First Church property, in which they had worshiped since 1707. It belonged originally to the Keithian Quakers, but as they were not an incorporated body it had to be held by trustees, of whom there were four — Thomas Budd (an ancestor of my mother), Thomas Peart, Ralph Ward, and James Poulter. Of these trustees, in 1723 the only surviving one was Thomas Peart, and as the Keithian Quakers had practically ceased to exist, — some having gone to Christ Church, some back to the regular Quakers, and the remnant in Lagrange Place had united with the Baptists, — he quietly deeded the property to Christ Church. He died in 1734, and "the Vestry [of Christ Church] demanded possession. The Baptists re- fused. A lawsuit commenced, which brought the matter to a hearing before the Assembly. The PLpiscopalians being discouraged offered to give up the claim for ^^50. The offer was accepted ; and contention ceased." ^ ' Morgan Edwards, loc. cit., p. 46. BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 31 The following is the account given in Spencer's " Early Baptists of Philadelphia," pages 64 and 65, but without any reference to his authorities: " In January, 173 1, the Assembly of Pennsylvania had a bill before it, enabling religious societies to purchase lands for churches, meeting-houses, and the like. The members of Christ Church took exception to this bill as it would injure the right which they considered certain of their number possessed in the lot on which the Baptist meeting- house stood. But the bill passed. The Christ Church people then tried to induce the Governor to withhold his signature from the bill. This opposition was really aroused because the Baptists, who had held their property for twenty-six years, still claimed it. The Keithians had con- veyed the lot to Thomas Budd, Thomas Peart, Ralph Ward, and James Poulter, in fee, to hold it for the Chris- tian Quakers, for a meeting-house, and for such use or uses as the major part of them should appoint, allow or approve of. It was averred by the Episcopalians that a majority of the Keithians became members of Christ Church, par- ticularly Thomas Peart and Ralph Ward, and that they had been granted the use of the Keithian meeting-house. The Baptists replied that they had occupied the property by invitation of the Keithians for twenty-six years, and that the Keithians had become Baptists. As to the occupancy of the property by Christ Church, the Baptists said : '"Before the Church of England had any public place of worship, the Society (Keithians or Christian Quakers) did, at their request, grant to the said church the use of the house and lot, now in controversy, between the hours of twelve and three, on each Sunday, the said Society them- selves assembling there at other hours, both before and after, in the same day. This permission graciously given could not by any ingenuity be tortured into a conveyance of the title to the property.' " In the archives of our church I have found the origi- nal Declaration of Trust executed December 21, 1723, by Thomas Tresse and William Eraser, Church Wardens of FIRST BAPl'lST CHURCH. Christ Cliurch, declaring that Thomas Peart had deeded to them on December 20, 1723, the property occupied by V i { vj c^« ^- ^ ^ > ^ "^ >^ ^'^ (HIT I I ^ us on Lagrange Place — not to them personally, but in trust for such uses as might be determined by the Vestry of Christ Church. This origrinal document confirms in Br-CENTEXNIAL CELEBRATIOX. t,2, every particular (save the date) the statement of Morgan Edwards. It shows that the deed for the property was executed by Thomas Peart December 20, 1723. In Dorr's " History of Christ Church " there is no allusion to this transaction. This Declaration of Trust is reprinted in full in Appendi.x G. Figure 9 is a facsimile of the third (last) page. The seals, as Mr. Sachse informs me, are the first seal of Christ Church — a coronet, a heart and arrows. The most notable event in the first period of the history of our church occurred in 1707, when the Philadelphia Baptist Association was formed. The fullest account of this event is given in Morgan Edwards' " Materials," etc., page 121 (Appendix H). In the formation of this Association the mother church at Pennepek deserves the credit of initiating the move- ment, as appears in the extracts from her records as quoted by Edwards. Up to that time it was the custom of the Baptists to hold meetings both in May and Sep- tember at Pennepek, Philadelphia, Sale, Cohansey, Chester, and Burlington, though only the Pennepek and Cohansey churches were constituted; but in the year 1707 they met definitely in Philadelphia as an Association. The initial step was taken by the Pennepek Church, but the meeting was held in the old Keithian Quaker meeting-house of the Philadelphia Church. Five churches constituted the Asso- ciation— namely, the Pennepek (including the branch church at Philadelphia), Piscataqua, Middletown, Cohan- sey, and the Welsh Tract Churches. Though ecclesiastically we were not recognized as a separate church, yet by holding meetings not only for that year, but, as already stated, continuously up to 1769. our position as virtually a separate church was well recognized. It is beyond the province of this Address to detail the history of the Association, but it is proper to note a few facts in reference to it from 1707 until 1752, when the 34 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. second Association in America was formed at Charleston. For forty-five years it stood alone as the sole Association of Baptist Churches in America. It included the churches as far as Dutchess County, N. Y., on the north, Green- wich, Conn., on the east, and Ketocton, Va., on the south. One meeting in our church is well worthy of notice. At midnight, October 24, 1781, the sleeping citizens were startled by the news of the surrender of Cornwallis. The Association was then in session, and on the following morn- ing they met in our church at sunrise to give thanks for the " Recent signal success granted to the American army, in the surrender of the whole British army, under the command of Lord Cornwallis, with the effusion of so little blood."' A number of old letters to the Association are preserved among the archives of our church. They show, in con- trast with the more modern letters, the extraordinary vigor and exactness of theological belief, which was then deemed not only a test of orthodoxy, but a belief to be reiterated on every suitable occasion. I give one of them in full. It is curious to see that their peculiar Baptist tenets are appar- ently subordinated to the Calvinistic points of doctrine by being included in a parenthesis. "The Church of Christ meeting in Upperfreehold, in the County of Monmouth, New Jersey. Holding Eternal Elec- tion, Perticular Redemption, Irresistable grace in Effec- tual Calling, and final persevereance in grace, (also the Baptism of professing Believers only, by Immersion only.) " To the Elders and Messengers of the Several Churches of Christ, in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and States adjacent, of the same Faith and Gospel order with us, meeting annually in association, who by appointment were this year to have met in the city of New York, but by the over-ruling providence of God, who worketh all things after the Councel of his own will, are now Expected to be met in association, at the Scotch-plains in the Burrough 1 Gillette, pp. 174 and 175. BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 35 of Elizabeth-Town, in the County of Essex, New-Jersey, October 15th &c. 1776. " Honoured and Beloved Brethren, as we think it becomes us with the Church in Lamentations, 3d. 22 to acknowl- edge that it is of the Lords mercys we are not consumed, so we would hereby contribute our mite, towards your united thanksgiving, that we are yet favored thus to asso- ciate, and may the Lord the holy Spirit, Preside in your assembly; guiding you in Councel and Directing your Determinations, to his glory and the good of the Churches, the State of our Church is such, we are yet Destitute of a Settled minister ; our Honoured and well Beloved Brother Mr. Abel Morgan, hath and we trust will yet suppl}^ our Communion Seasons, which are the Second Lords Days in Decem, Feb, April, June, August, & octob, at any other times we should be glad of visits from any of our other Brethren in the ministry, hereby also giving a General Invi- tation to our ministering Brethren to visit us at our annual meeting, the first Lords Day in June as according to turn, it is to be at our Place this next June. " We are through Divine goodness in peace and unity among ourselves, and although deadness much prevails, yet the Lord hath not left us without witnesses; to the power and efficacy of his grace accompanying his word, as we have had thirteen persons added to us by Baptism since Last association, one hath been removed by Death, and one Dismissed to Pennepeck. the appointed Days of fasting and Prayer, we have attempted to observe ; and as the ground and cause continues, and in part increases, we hereby recommend their Continuance, we hereby appoint our Beloved Brethren Thomas Cox Jr. & Edward Taylor as our messengers to associate with you ; and now Brethren, we commend you to god ; and subscribe your Brethren in the Bonds of the Gospel Signed October Jo>^athan Holmes William Tapscott c^j^ j„„g Thomas Parr p^ 4.'r^^4-l ASHER Cox PeTER SeXTON rart tor the ,. „ r ,- , , Peter Porrnan ames Sexton whole -; ^ t ,. James Cox, Junr. Somewhat similar to this in tone is the license of James 36 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. Manning, first President of Brown University, which is dated December i, 1762, and begins as follows: " The church of Jesus Christ, meeting together at Scotch Plains, in the County of Essex, Province of New Jersey, professing Believer's Baptism, Laying on of Hands, Eternal Election and P'inal Perseverance," etc' An amusing evidence of the violence of religious belief of those days, even in a Quaker colony, maybe seen in the graveyard of Trinity Church, Oxford, a suburb of Philadel- phia, in the inscription on the tombstone of Elizabeth, wife of John Roberts, who died May 6, 170S, aged forty-one : " Here by these lines is testified No Quaker was she when she dy'd So far was she from Quakerism That she desired to have baptism," etc. No Association of the Baptist Church has exerted for so long a period so powerful an influence, which, on the whole, has been eminently for good. In 1742 they issued the " Philadelphia Confession of Faith." This was practically the same as that of the ancient Baptists of Poland and Bohemia, of the Mennonites in Holland, and of the early English and Welsh churches, and as the " Century Confession," so called from its being published by one hundred English and Welsh Baptist Churches in 1689. To it were added Articles xxiii and xxxi, on the " Imposition of Hands and On Singing of Psalms in Public Worship." It was printed in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin, in 1743, and I have the pleasure of showing you an original copy of this edition. On the title-page is written : " Jenkin Jones his book." He was the first pastor of our church after the separation from Pennepek. I owe this copy to the courtesy of its present possessor, Mr. Dana Boardman Gaskill, of Philadelphia. Before proceeding to the history of our constitution as a separate church I should mention one of our most dis- 1 Guild's '■ ISidwii I'liivcrsilv ami Manning," p. 33. BI-CENTEXNIAL CELEBRATION. 37 tinguished early members, Ebenezer Kinnersley. He was the son of William Kinnersley, and was born in Gloucester, England, November 30, 171 1. He arrived in America in 17 14, was ordained in 1743, and from time to time assisted Jenkin Jones. " He was one of the few, in Philadelphia, who had doubts in regard to the character of the preaching, which was in- troduced by Whitefield ; nor did he hesitate to enter a solemn protest against it from the pulpit of the Baptist church. This happened on the 6th of July, 1740, and the excitement produced by the sermon was so great that he was absolutely forbidden the privilege of the Communion. For some time he attended the Episcopal church, but ere long the difficulty was settled, and when the Philadelphia Church was organized as a distinct society from that at Pennypack, he was one of the constituent members, and remained connected with it to his death." ^ In 1746 his attention was first directed to the "electric fire," as it was then termed, and this soon brought him into touch with Benjamin Franklin, with whom he was inti- mately associated in researches which made both of them so famous. He was chosen a member of the American Philo- sophical Society, and was elected Professor of the English Tongue and Oratory in the University of Pennsylvania in 1755, holding this position for eighteen years. He died July 4, 1778. In the College Building of the University of Pennsylvania his name and fame are perpetuated by a beautiful memorial window. The church in Philadelphia had slowly increased from the nine members who had coalesced into a church in 1698 to fifty-six in the year 1746. Jenkin Jones, who was born in Wales in 1686, arrived in this country in 1710, and united with the Welsh Tract Church, by which, in 1724, he was called to the 1 Spencer, loc. cit., p. OS. 38 ministry. FIRST BAPTIS'I' CIILRCII. " He became minister to Pennepek in the year 1725 * * * and had Mr. WiUiam Kinnersley to his assistant." About the year 1746 the question arose whether Philadelphia was not a branch church of Pennepek, and consequently whether the latter had not a right to part of the legacies bestowed on the former. " For fear the design of their benefactors should be per- verted, tlic Church of Philadelphia did, May /j, 77^^, form- ally incorporate, ivhich had only been done implicitly in Decem- ber 16, i6g8. The number of persons that did incorporate was fifty-six. Their names were : Jenkin Jones Ebenezer Kinnersley William Branson Andrew Edge Thomas Pearse Stephen Anthony Augustin Stillman Samuel Ashmead Mathew Ingles John Perkins John Standeland Robert Shewell John Biddle Joseph Crean Henry Hartley John Lewis Joseph Ingles Samuel Burkilo John Catla Thomas Byles John Bazeley Samuel Morgan Lewis Rees Mary Standeland Hannah Farmer Mary Catla Ann Yerkes Mary Burkilo Mary Prig Hannah Crean Ann Davis Hannah Bazeley Jane Griffin Edith Bazeley Alee Clark Lavinia Greenman Mary Ball Usiaw Lewis Jane Loxley Ester Ashmead Hannah Jones Sarah Branson Catherine Anthony Jane Pearse Mary Edge Mary Valecot Elizabeth Shewell Mary Middleton Frances Holwell Elizabeth Sallows Mary Morgan Ann Hall Phebe Hartley Ann White"'' In a paper published in " Boogher's Repository" for ' The full account of the origin of our Church given by Morgan Edwards (" Materials," etc., p. 44) is republished as Appendix J. In it will be found a numljer of the facts already i,nven. The whole account is most interesting. B I- CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 39 March, 1883, the late Horatio Gates Jones published another list from a manuscript volume given to him by a daughter of Thomas Ustick, a later pastor, in which the number of constituents is given as fifty-eight. It is curious, however, that both authors seem to have mis- counted. While Morgan Edwards states that the number of incorporators was fifty-six, only fifty-four names appear in his list. Mr. Jones' list, instead of containing fifty-eight names, gives only fifty-seven ; the three names not con- tained in Morgan Edwards' list being those of Ruth Hovvse, Elizabeth Biles, and Sarah North. Among these names (and still more true is it of the later list of 140 members in 1770, given in Appendix J) appear many with which we have been familiar in the history of this church, — Branson, Ingles, Lewis, Rees, Davis, Loxley, etc., — all representing names remembered by us either for their gifts to the church or through their descendants even to our own time after one hundred and fifty-two years. In the records of Pennepek, the following is the account of the action which led to the constitution of our church in 1746 : " April 5, 1746 ; the members of the church at Pennepek, residing at the city of Philadelphia, petitioned to the monthly meeting at Pennepek for a separation for them- selves and for Mr. Jenkin Jones, the pastor of the church also (his residence being among them), to answer which the church at Pennepek took a month to consider, " May 3, 1746: The church at Pennepek having con- sidered their brethren's reasons for a separation, and finding them to be of weight, a dismission was granted, and they were soon after constituted and settled a regular gospel church, and their messengers were received at the next annual Association at Philadelphia." II. The Period of Development — 1746 to 1816. Jenkin Jones, who had been joint pastor of Pennepek 40 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. aiul Philadelphia for twenty-one years, but who had re- sided chiefly in Philadelphia, left the parent church and became tlie sole minister of the Philadelphia Church upon ^ Tlu- Ui'x' ^H M'- JEN KIN JONES ^H lioic Mmi'ii^)- r,r \\\\ U.iimli Church ^^H ii) ^^H h. wliic!'. X.iiion In: tpriW ^^| ^H III cii'lt .i\ i>ill'.s tut lh<' |ii'<>n\i)lioi) ^^H ■ ' !(.• Clirifthin Hfi/i^ion ^^H \iiil iiKiH Uilui\<.' H.'in|)ni>'l> ^^H ^H III. ^^k ' IM'-^ H \ \ >>.\ll JON r. S ^1 Willi wKuMi Ik Itail lived ^H III iiKiKini !,i>il .il' ^H 1 _\i! iilferfldiuile l''i/i ^H A ..i,».'l !V.;yA/»,w/r ^1 \],A ,-, Ini..! /'ri^n.d H Di^d M.-.v iIm; .■'.()"' \ 1) 1 /.■■. N ■ III ll.. ^:r"' \c:>r nl llr, ■ 1 '11 1(1 lV|;nl>lt IS eieclHil H In iiu'iiiur^ <>t tlieir ituituiil AlV(i(:;ti(in ^^k I'ltal tNnfi; wliii \Mire '])> lifr unite;! ^| Nhi^4i' (Hit W'! !c|>r I'.it, (i iH H I ■v-^p^H^^^^B ''^H F:g. :o. — Tombstone of Jenkin Jonks, Originally in the Old Bi rial-ground IN Lagrange Place. [Kindly photographed by Mr. Thornton M. Lynch.] BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 41 its constitution in 1746. Here he served as pastor for fifteen years. He died in Philadelphia July 6, 1760, and lies in our burying-ground at Mount Moriah. Figure 10 is from a photograph of his tombstone. His services to our church are thus enumerated by Morgan Edwards: ^ " I. He secured to them the possession of their valuable lot and place of worship before described.^ "2. He was the moving cause of altering the direction of licenses so as to enable dissenting ministers to perform marriages by them. "3. He built a parsonage house partly at his own charge [for which John Swift bequeathed ^^50 additional]. "4. He gave a handsome legacy towards purchasing a silver cup for the Lord's table, which was worth upwards of £6or ■' After the death of Jenkin Jones the church sent a letter to London to Dr. Gill, the celebrated Bible commentator, asking that a minister be recommended to them. Mr. John Gano, in his autobiography, says that our church " had been so particular in the requisite qualifications for a minister that it had given offense to the preachers; so that they were entirely destitute." In this dilemma they applied to Mr. Gano, asking him to visit them, and also to Mr. Miller, from Scotch Plains, and to Samuel Stillman, a native of Philadelphia, who had removed to South Carolina, and later was so distinguished in Boston. Mr. Gano visited them, and at the same time supplied the Baptist Church in ^ P- 47- 2 Two of the deeds are : (l) For a lot, 37 feet 6 inches north from From- berger's Court (the earlier name of Lagrange Place), from John Holme to Jenkin Jones, William Branson, and Andrew Edge ; seventeen feet 6 inches by 300 feet; dated March I, 1731 ; recorded in Deed Book 56, p. 53. (2) The adjoining lot, 25 feet 6 inches, from Mary Broadway, Joan Lee, and Jane Taylor to Jenkin Jones, John Holme, and William Branson; dated June 23, 1727 ; recorded in Deed Book 56, p. 338. See Minute Book B of the Trustees, p. 332, January 5, 1S52. ^ See later, under Communion Service. 42 I-IKST BAPTIST CHURCH. New York, preaching two Sundays in each place. He spent the winter here, and was followed by Mr. Stillman. In I76i,in response to their letter, from Great Britain came Morgan Edwards, a man who was to fill a large place in the history not only of this church, but of the entire Baptist Church in America, leaving a mark both in letters, education, executive ability, and personal influence such as few have ever made. His is one of the most illustrious names in the line of distinguished men who Fig. 11.— Coat ok Arms of Morgan Edwards. The Motto in Welsh rkads "God's Will be Done." [Rrprodiiced thrungh the kindness of Mr. E. R. Siewers, his great-s7-andsnn.] have ministered to this church. " In his day," says Cath- cart, " no Baptist minister equaled him, and none since his time has surpassed him." Figures ii and 12 are from photographs of his coat of arms and other relics.' ' AH of these are due to the gre.at kindne.si of Mr. E. R. Siewers, of Phila(iel])hia, his great-grandson. I have specially sought -for a portrait of Morgan Edwards, but so far without success. I should be under lasting obligations to any one who can assist me in finding it if in existence. Brown University is equally desirous of obtaining a portrait of her founder. I am B I- CENTENNIAL CELEBRA TION. 43 In 1756 a second attempt at providing education especi- ally for Baptist clergymen was made when Jenkin Jones, Fig. 12. — Green Spectacles, Seal Ring, Watch-key, and Cane. Relics of Morgan Edwards. \Photographed by the kindness of E. R. Siewers, Esq., his gi eai-grandsou.] our pastor, was Moderator of the Philadelphia Association. It was — "Concluded to raise money towards the encouragement also very anxious to procure a portrait of Jenlvin Jones, our first separate pastor. These two portraits are the only two lacking from 1746 to 1898. There seems to have existed a portrait of Elias Keach, the founder of Pennepek, for Mor- gan Edwards (" Materials," etc., p. 109) speaks of "a book of his containing a confession of faith, a church covenant, treatise of discipline, etc. To this book is prefixed his ejigies,'''' etc. Any reader who may help to find this portrait would confer an especial favor. 44 FIRST BAPTJSr CIIUKCIL nieiit of a Latin Grammar School for the promotion of learning among us under the care of Brother Isaac Eaton and the inspection of Brethren Abel Morgan, Isaac Stella, Abel Griffith, and Peter Peterson Vanhorn." It is also the more to their credit that this was done at a meeting at which charitable contributions toward the relief of one Mr. Daniel Eaton, who was " driven from his position by the Indians," were solicited. This school was established at Hopewell, N. J., and as soon as Morgan Edwards arrived in this country he quickly lent his powerful aid to the school. P>en before he came, our Minutes note, on April 12, 1760, that " Mr. Talbot preached with great warmth. He was the first fruite of Hopewell School." Moreover, James Manning, the first President of Brown University, and Samuel Stillman — both of whom supplied our church for a time — were pupils of the Academy, and the brethren appointed to inspect it had all preached repeatedly for us. This Abel Morgan was the nephew of the other Abel Morgan, who had been the predecessor of Jenkin Jones at Pennepek. In 1757, and again in 1758, the school was commended to the churches of the Association. The records show that on September 15. 1760, Mr. Edwards was invited to become pastor of our church, and on July I, 1 76 1, he was received into its fellowship. The educational impulse which his arrival gave was very notice- able. He was an apt Greek and Hebrew scholar, and was one among only about seven or eight Baptist clergymen supplying the sixty churches then existing in this country, who were liberally educated. In 1762 the University of Pennsylvania bestowed upon him the degree of Master of Arts, which perhaps accounts for the following Minute, made April 30, i "j^i : " Mr. Edwards desires to know the sense of the church relative to his wearing a master's gown in the common Bl- CENTENNIA L CEL EBRA TION. ^ 5 services of the church ; for as to wearing of it abroad, and on special occasions (he said) he intended to use his right and own discretion. The church desired him to use his liberty, and that wearing or not wearing it would give no ofence to the church." In 1769 Brown University conferred upon him the same degree. Even in those early days, with a small church, but with the necessity for traveling over a large area of our country, Mr. Edwards did not feel himself able to carry on the work alone, and, accordingly, Mr. Stephen Watts was chosen as his assistant, July 2, 1763. Moreover, on Septem- ber 3, 1763, " Mr. Edwards observed that it was not in his power to prepare three discourses a week; upon which he was desired to use sermons that had been delivered before " — a privilege our ministers now sometimes take without a vote of the church. No sooner did Mr. Edwards arrive in this country than the denomination showed the results of his restless intel- lectual activity. He was received into the church July I, 1 76 1. On the following October, with Peter Peterson Vanhorn, he was appointed to take care of the Associa- tion's books of records and to keep the Minutes, the book- to be kept safely in Philadelphia. Mr. Edwards and Isaac Jones were appointed Librarians, to receive the books sent by Mr. Thomas Hollis and to loan them out. Mr. Edwards and Peter Peterson Vanhorn were appointed a Committee to conduct a correspondence with the Board of Baptist Ministers in London, and to Mr. Edwards each church was asked to send a memorandum of the number of cate- chisms they desired, so that the proper number could be printed. As soon as he arrived, he collected our minutes back to February 4, 1757, copied them into a large book, and him- self continued to record them down to 1769. They are all 46 FIR ST BAPTIST CHURCH. most neatly written in his beautiful and legible chiro- graphy. He provided at once a large, parchment-bound marriage book, in which all the marriages have since been recorded. Both of these books are described below, and one page of each is reproduced in facsimile. In 1763 he preached a sermon " in the College of Phila- delphia at the ordination of Rev. Samuel Jones, A.B.," of which a copy has been kindly lent me by E. C. Heritage, of the Lower Dublin Church, through Rev. T. P. Holloway. To it is appended the full formula of the Ordination, which is so different from what now obtains, and in many respects is so quaint that I have reprinted it in Appendix K. Moreover, this year, for the first time, the Minutes of the Association have a table showing the " State of the Churches," which was added by Edwards. This is inter- esting as showing that Pennepek had 50 members and 300 hearers ; Philadelphia, 82 members and 700 hearers. Six churches exceeded Philadelphia in the number of mem- bers, but only one — the Scotch Plains Church — exceeded Philadelphia in the number of hearers, it having 800. In 1762 Edwards was appointed Moderator of the Asso- ciation. Owing to the rebuilding of our church, then going on, the Association met at the Lutheran church, on Fifth Street between Arch and Race, " where the sound of the organ was heard in the Baptist worship." Though it does not appear in the Minutes of the Asso- ciation, yet under the inspiration of Morgan Edwards, and almost immediately after his arrival plans were begun for the establishment of a Baptist College.' I have spoken of the lack of education among the ministry of the church at that time. This was one of the principal motives which led Morgan Edwards and his co-workers to 1 Newman's " History of the Baptist Churches in tlie United States," p. 276. BI-CENTENXIAL CELEBRATION. 47 the foundation and fostering of Hopewell Academy, and from that to Brown University. It was a bold and brave thing to establish a college for Baptists chiefly, when there were in the entire country less than seventy churches and only 5000 Baptists.^ In 1764, largely through the instru- mentality of Mr. Edwards, the charter of Brow^i Univer- sity, then called Rhode Island College, was secured, and in the following October the Association, noting that the charter was already obtained, urged the churches to be liberal toward carrying the same into execution. Similar action was afterward repeatedly urged, on one occasion going so far as to ask that each member give " sixpence sterling" toward sustaining it. The beginning of the college was as modest as its pro- jectors were bold. Edwards says : " The first mover of it was laughed at as the projector of a thing impracticable, and many promised not concurrence but opposition." In 1765 the first student of the college entered, and graduated in 1769 at the first Commencement. He was a boy of fourteen, named William Rogers, later destined to become the immediate successor of Morgan Edwards in the pastorate of our church and one of the distinguished men of the Revolutionary period. It is curious to note the constitution of the college at this time. The Corporation, consisting of the Fellows and the Trustees, numbered forty-eight.^ The entire Faculty consisted of one person, James Manning, and the entire col- lege for nine months and seventeen days consisted of this one student, William Rogers. Other students, however, soon followed, and Morgan Edwards himself sent one of his sons to the Grammar School connected with the col- 1 Guild's " Brown University and Manning," pp. 19, 20. 2 This was the charter number, but the actual number qualified was some- what less. 48 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. lege. At the second Cominencement, in 1770, Mr. Ed- wards' son is thus mentioned : " The members of the Grammar School joined in the procession. Before the assembly broke up a piece from Homer was pronounced by Master Billy Edwards, one of the Grammar School boys, not nine years of age."' Poor Billy Edwards ! " On February 2, 1767, the church granted Mr. Edwards leave to go to Europe in aid of Rhode Island College. He remained abroad two years, and collected in ELngland and Ireland about $5000 for the infant college, of which he was a Fellow from 1764 to 1789. While Brown University owes its origin to this church, this church in turn owes a large debt to the University. Not only was James Manning, its first President, one of our preachers, but its first graduate, William Rogers, and four later pastors, Ustick, Holcombe, Brantly, and Board- man, were all graduates of the University, to say nothing of the individual members of the church who have there received their education. Edwards was not only a prominent mover in education, ' Sears' Historical Discourse at the Centennial Celebration of Brown University, 1S64, p. 8. 2 Through the kindness of E. R. Siewers, Esq., of riiiladeliihia, a great- grandson of Morgan Edwards, I am allowed to quote the following from a brief autobiography of his grandfather, Joshua, the younger of the two sons of Morgan Edwards, who survived to adult life. It is most interesting as showing the educational customs of the times. It shows that Jo-^hua, as well as his brother " Billy," had a pretty hard time in his early schciol days : "Owing to either his father's settled opinion that education can not be commenced too soon, nor too actively carried forward; or to tlie influence of a very cordial friendship that subsisted between that careful guardian and a Rev. Mr Kinnersley, who then occupied, with great reputation, the Professor's Chair of the Academical department of the Philadelphia College, — the narrator was, at the dawning of his seventh year, placed in that classical seminary, the rules of which were absolute; its discipline rigid, its exercises measured out by a liberal scale and exactness of performance insisted upon. . . During Summer two extra hours of attend.mce, from six to eight in the morning, and even the holydays had their prescribed tasks." BI- CENTENA'/AL CELEBRA EI ON. 49 but also in the physical condition of the church. The old brick meeting-house, erected on the site of the wooden Keithian building in 1 731, in its turn was pulled down, and another brick church, 42 by 60 feet, erected. While these alterations were being made the meetings of the church were held in the College of Pliiladelphia (now the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania) during a part of 1762-63. In 1770 Edwards again manifested his literary activity by publishing his "Materials toward a History of the American Baptists," in twelve volumes, of which I show you a copy of the first volume, kindly loaned by Deacon Clevenger. The materials for this work he collected on his numerous journeys as far north as New England, and as far south as the Carolinas. It is remarkable how accu- rate and how full all his statements are. In fact, this work is a storehouse of knowledge from which all later his- torians have drawn. Had this volume never appeared, the history of our church down to the time of Edwards would scarcely be known. In 1770 a striking event occurred in his life. On January i, 1770, he preached a sermon on the text "This year thou shalt die." ' It arose from his strong presentiment since March 9, 1755, that March 9, 1770, was to be the 1 A copy of lliis sermon in the Philadelphia Library reads : '■ A New Year's Gift " IJeing a sermon delivered at Philadelphia on January 1st, 1770 and pub- lished for rectifying some wrong reports and preventing others of the like sort, but chiefly for the sake of giving it another chance of doing good to them who heard it. By Morgan Edwards, A.M., Pillow of Rhode Island College, and Minister of the Baptist Church in Philadelphia. Printed by Crukshank, in 2nd Street, two doors below Chestnut Street." In this sermon he alludes to a gentleman (himself) who "on the 9th day of March, 1755 was seized with a persuasion that at the end of full fifteen years from that time he should be dead. The impression was sudden and strong ; so strong as not to leave a doubt respecting the issue and has continued the same to this day." . . And again: " It is certain, morally^ that someone of us will die this year. . . There is among you one who firmly believes that he is the man." 4 50 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. last day of his life. So vivid was his sermon that every one was on the tiptoe of expectation lest every breath should be his last. He was, however, of large frame and in Bt.v.MORGA.\ EDWARDS A.M. PAslor oi' tVvc first Tl^xplist church nf Ph ilci clejp h ici V or ole-vnn ypnrs Aoo,i 7:; voM.. Fig. 13.— Tombstone of Morgan Edwards, Originally in the Old Burial- ground IN Lagrange Place. IKindly photographed by Mr. Thornton M. Lviich.] BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 51 vigorous health, and in spite of his fears these carried him through hfe for twenty-five years longer, as he did not die until 1795. The latter part of his life was much clouded by two misfortunes. He was the only Baptist clergyman in America who sided with the mother-country in the Revo- lutionary War, and one of his sons, " Master Billy," became a colonel in the British army.' The Committee of Safety ordered him to be secured as a dangerous person, but one of our fellow-members, General Miles, — an ancestor of the late Colonel Chas. H. Banes, and a very prominent Baptist at that time, — Chairman of the Committee, and later Mayor of Philadelphia, hid him in his own house, and then ex- pedited the officers on their way. On August 7, 1775, how- ever, Edwards signed a recantation of his Tory principles, as follows : " At a meeting of the Committee of White Clay Creek, at Mr. Henry Darby's, in New York, August 7th, 1775, William Patterson, Esq., being in the chair, when the Rev, Morgan Edwards attended and signed the following recan- tation, which was voted satisfactory, namely : " Whereas, I have some time since frequently made use of rash and imprudent expressions with respect to the con- duct of my fellow-countrymen, who are now engaged in a noble and patriotic struggle for the liberties of America, against the arbitrary measures of the British ministry ; which conduct has justly raised their resentment against me, I now confess that I have spoken wrong, for which I ' As ail offset to this, the younger brother, Joshua, served in the American navy. Mr. Sievvers, Joshua's grandson, has a certificate from the Bureau of Pensions showing that this son, Joshua, served in 1782 for a year as surgeon's mate on the " Ilyder Ally" (sixteen guns) and the "Due de Lauzon " (twenty guns) of the American navy, for which service he received a jiension in 1832, when sixty-eight years of age. He died February 9, 1854, at ninety years of age, having received his pension until his death. Mr. Siewers, then a boy of nine, remembers him very well. Morgan Edwards lived at No. 40 North Second Street, in the immediate neighborhood of the church. 52 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. am sorry and ask forijiveness of the public. And I do promise that for the future I will conduct myself in such manner as to avoid givinij offense, and at the same time, in justice to myself, declare that I am a friend to the present measures pursued by the friends of American liberty, and do approve of them, and, as far as is in my power, will endeavor to promote them. • Morgan Edwards." ' In 1781 (July 2d) our Minutes show that char<;es were preferred against him for" Imorral Conduct, and Disorderly walk," the specifications being " Inatention to publick wor- ship. Joining yourselfe with Drunkards, Frequenting Taverns, Being often Intoxicated." On December 3d Mr. Edwards, in a public meeting of the church denied entirely the first charge, and as to the second " Replyed that for 2 years and 6 Months past he haid not ben Any way Intoxicated with Liquuer, Except one time that he had ben Deceived in taking Bark quallifyed in Spirits, for a faver, by the Docter's Direction ... he Acknowledged that some time before that already Men- tioned, he had ben overtaken with Liquer, that he was sorry for it, and had prayed for forgiveness . . . and that as to the Company he kept, they were by no Means Drunkards, But on the Contrary they were men of the Best Reputtation in that part of the Countray." After much discussion of the evidence taken, on July 4, 1785 (it will be noticed that the national holiday was not observed), he was finally excluded from the church because of his persistence in his use of spirituous liquors. The Minutes show that remembering his great services this was done most regretfully, but under a painful sense of duty, and was unanimously agreed to. The Minister was re- quested to read and execute the same on the afternoon of the Lord's Day, July 24, 1785. From that time he made repeated efforts to be restored. The church always inves- 1 Cliiild's " Brown University and Manning," p. l6. BI-CENTEXNIAL CELEBRATION. 53 tigated his conduct, but finding that he had not been repentant for a sufficiently long time, or that unfavorable accounts had been received, or that his testimonials of good conduct were not deemed sufficient, his request was refused until October 6, 1788, when he was again received into the church. I have detailed this at some length in spite of its un- pleasantness, for the reason that, although the use of ardent spirits was then almost universal, it shows that the church as a body early took a stand in favor of temperance, and did not hesitate, even in the case of by far her most dis- tinguished clergyman, to carry to a logical conclusion the discipline of the church in cases of drunkenness. Not only were they strict disciplinarians as to intoxica- tion, but, on occasion, they spoke their mind very freely. For instance, on September 4, 1762, we find the following minute : " Dr. G. Weed proposed to preach for us occasionally. The thing was considered and this answer returned. ' The church return our Brother Weed thanks for his desire to serve the church ; but would defer the proposal until they see it necessare to invite Mr. Weed thereto.' The doctor was not pleased and said y' was like a trick which Dr. Faustus played with the Devil." Later, April 2, 1763, the church found fault with Weed for preaching in the hospital as a minister when not ordained, saying they " knew our Bro. Weed well, yet are not willing to know minister Weed." They reminded him also of his former invidious comparison ; but still later, they made him two presents oi £\2 and £\^ respectively to help him in the study of divinity. On July 8, 177 1, Morgan Edwards, in view of his declin- ing age (though he was not quite fifty), proposed to the church "that they should look out for a popular preacher," and that he would resign half his salary in order to enable 54 FIRST BAI'TIST CHURCH. the church to pay him, and offered to aid them to find one either in Europe or America, and meantime he would con- tinue to serve them — a very generous offer in view of the fact that on the 19th day of August a committee reported that the church was indebted to him in the sum of /"392 5s., for which he generously agreed to take £2\6 13s. 4d. as full payment, provided it was met within six months. The committee recommended that his salary should cease from this date, and that a subscription should be raised in order to pay him, which was done October 7th. The preponderance of the Welsh element in the early history of the Philadelphia Association, and especially of our own church, is worthy of note. Of the first six joint pastors of Pennepek and Philadelphia, three — Samuel Jones and both the Morgans — were Welshmen, to whom are to be added their immediate successors, Jenkin Jones and Morgan Edwards. Their force of character counted for far more than their mere numbers. To this fact is due the sturdy Calvinistic faith, which was characteristic not only of our own, but of nearly all the churches of the Philadelphia Association. P2ven so late as February 14, 1 83 1, separate services in the Welsh language were held in our church. The Welsh names at present so familiar on the line of the Pennsylvania Railroad bear witness to the many Welshmen who settled in this vicinity. On January 6, 1772, a committee was appointed to ask Rev. Samuel Stillman (a Philadelphian by birth) to supply the church as their stated minister, and in a letter they refer " to the populousness of this great city " as " well known to him." In view of the fact that at that time the population was not much over 30,000, it naturally causes a smile when we recall our present population. It is noticeable, also, that in this same letter to Mr. Stillman they carefully specify the exact means of support, as follows : BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 55 '' Our Funds for the support of a Minister are the per- sonage, or £\o p. ann. in lieu thereof if more agreeable, the nioney arising from the pews w"'* if all let as we doubt not they soon wo'' be on your Settlement amongst us amo' to upwards of Two hun'' and thirty pounds a Year, ;^io p. ann. from the legacy of W" Branson & Six pounds from Sarah Smith Donation, this is all apropriated for the Minister." Mr. Stillman, unfortunately, declined to come, and on November 7, 1771, a call for " the trial of your gifts for the winter season " was sent to Mr. William Rogers (Fig. 14), though he was then not twenty-one years old and had only graduated from Brown University in 1769, at eighteen years of age. His visit having proved satisfactory, on March 4, 1772, a large number of the brethren of the church and the " well wishers," as the congregation very frequently were called, met to extend a call to him "for three years certain from this time, and as long afterwards as he, and the Congregation may in future agree," It is a strange custom that the early ministers often seem to have been called for a very specific short time. But Rogers was unwilling to bind himself for three years, and on May 4, 1772, " Mr. Rogers, being present, said that he willingly accepted the call of this Church and Congregation for oiie year certain from the 4th of March last and as long after- wards as he and the Church and Congregation may agree." Although there were other neighboring churches, yet it is noted that — " Isaac Jones by special appointment of the whole Church and Congregation gave the right hand of fellowship to Mr. William Rogers admitting him a member and minister of this Church and Congregation agreeably to the terms above mentioned." On December 5, 1774, Mr. Rogers gave notice that he had " determined to leave us at the time Ids year is up which will be on the 4th of March next." This was due to the 56 FIRST BAPTIST ClILiRCH. fact that he was about to enter the service of his country ; for in March, 1776, he was appointed sole chaplain of three battalions of foot raised by the General Assembly of Penn- KlG. 14. — Re\'. WlM.IA.M RoGKRS, D.U. \From Rippon's "Baptist Annual Rfgistcr,^' ijgS-iSoi, I'ol. III. Kindly lent by Broivii Vnivei'sily.\ sylvania, and in January, 1778, he was appointed brigade chaplain of the Continental army, which office he continued to hold until June, 1781, when he retired from the military service. BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 57 During Rogers' pastorate the congregation largely in- creased, and he drew men like Dr. Benjamin Rush to the church. Naturally, he was thrown into intimate and cordial relations with Washington. Even while in the army he still occasionally preached for us, as we find in a note, March 28, 1780, as follows: " Resolved to give Mr. Rodgers Eight Silver Dollars or the Exch° thereof, he having preached four Sabaths, the Next Sabith Included, the Exch^ to be Cumputed at 60 for one." As nearly as we can estimate their purchasing power, certainly eight silver dollars for preaching eight, if not twelve, sermons on the four Sundays he spent here were not calculated to encourage extravagance in his family. The disturbance of the currency is strikingly shown in this and other Minutes at that time. When Mr. John Gano spent five weeks and two days with us the church paid his board-bill, amounting to $1056, at the rate of ^200 a week; and Mr. Aldrich, who brought back from Trenton the horse which Mr. Gano rode, was paid at the rate of ^70 a day. This small Minute Book No. 3, of 250 pages, cost $16 in 1780. The ministers in those days were also accustomed to very plain speaking. Thus, on March 8, 1780, " It was resolved that ;^200 be paid to the Rev John Gano for his services during his present visit." Mr. Gano, two days later, informed them that he " Conceived the Sum of Two hundred pounds which they had Alowed him for his present visit, was by no means sufficiant. And Signified to the Committee, that if there was to be Difficultys in Money Matters, he would be glad to have them Explained now." Then follows a very odd statement, which seems to indicate that it was the custom sometimes to purchase clothes for the Minister. He said — 58 FIRST BAPTIST CllURCJI. " That he had Considred The £6yg.2.6. Laid out, in Clothes for him, as a free gift, for which he held himSelfe Bound to Make Returnes in gratitue. He Also Said, that upon his Recolecting, that the Committee Might probably have Intended the Two Sums Jointly, to be a Compensation for his visit. That Even in this point of view he Could not Conceive them in any ways Sufficiant, or Equall to what they proposed Making up for him by the year. [He had been offered for the year /"250 "hard money."] Where upon the Committee Imediately Agreed to Reconsider the Resolve of the Last Meeting, for giving M''. Ganoe Two hundred pounds, and Resolved that inas- Much as M^ Ganoe was Dissatisfied, they would give him as Much more as would Make up the Two hundred pounds, and the Six hundred and Seventy Nine pounds 2/6 paid for the Clothes, to one Thousand pounds." On May 4, 1 781, is a similar vote. "Thomas Shields Treasurer, is requested to pay Benj'" Shaw his Acco' i^6. 12 specie for Making a Suite of Clothes & Sundrie Trimings, for M"" Hughs ... he is Also Requested to pay John Mc Kim his Acco* for 2 y*^" Black Cloth & Sundries for M"^ Hughs . . . Am' /:9.3.9 specie." In 1780 Yale, and in 1786 Princeton, made Mr. Rogers a Master of Arts ; and in 1790 the University of Pennsyl- vania made him a Doctor of Divinity. In March, 1798, Rogers was appointed Professor of English and the Belles- Lettres in the College and Academy of Philadelphia. He remained in the Faculty for twenty-three years. He died April 7, 1824, at the age of seventy-three; and on April 1 2th the church erected a tombstone, of which figure 15 is a facsimile. In Rippon's "Baptist Annual Register" for 1798 to 1801, volume III, page 202, 1 found a curious note among the various publications of the" Rev.William Rogers, D.D., Philadelphia. The Prayer delivered on Saturday the 22d of February, 1800, in the German Reformed Church, Phila- BI-CEXTENNIAL CELEBRA TIOA'. 59 delphia: before the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincin- nate, Published by particular Request. 8vo, pp. 12." I Fig. 15.-T0MKSTONE OF Rkv. William Rogkrs, D.D., Originali v in the Old Burial-ground in Lagran(;e Place. {Kindly photographed by Mr. Thornton M. Lynch. \ 6o FIRST B.IFTIS'J- CHURCH. must confess that tlie patience of the " Cincinnate " may well have been exhausted by twelve pages of prayer. It must have rivaled a long prayer I once heard described by a bright woman as " historical, biographical, and miscella- neous." Another portrait of Rogers as a young man is in the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The troublous times of the Revolution, heralded by the resignation of Mr. Rogers, are now frequently manifested. Our Minute Book No. 2 terminates May 8, 1775, and Minute Bjok No. 3 does not open until August 16, 1779. In "An Address from the Baptist church of Philadelphia to their Sister Churches of the same Denomination through- out the Confederated States of North America. . Philadelphia, Printed by Robert Aitken at Pope's Head Three Doors above the Coffee House in Market Street. M.DCC.LXXXI " (Fig. 16.) (this was before there was any " United States of America "), and dated May 14th of that year, they mention — " With real sorrow, that, for several years past, we have been destitute of a fixed minister among us. Our dependance for supplying the pulpit has chiefly been on those, who are settled in the adjacent churches, and such as occasion- ally, in the course of their travels, visit the city." Among others who served them were two brothers-in- law, who repeatedly appear both in our own and in Baptist history: John Gano and James Manning. On July 5, 1779, the Committee reported to the church that Mr. Manning " was disposed to spend some time amongst us," and resolved that " some plan be fallen upon to render him comfortably supported during his stay." Four persons were appointed to " hand about the subscription." He spent some months with the church at that time, certainly from jLme until August, and possibly longer. On September 25, 1779, two letters were "forwarded with the utniost expedition to Mr. John Gano, one to the BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 61 A N ADDRESS FROM THE BAPTIST CHURCH, I N PHILADELPHIA, TO THEIR SISTER CHURCHES OF THE SAME DENOMINATION, THROUGHOUT THE CONFEDERATED STATES O F NORTH AMERICA. Drawn up by a COMMITTEE of the CHURCH, APPOINTED FOR SAIU PuRPOSE PHILADELPHIA: Printed by ROBERT AITKEN, at Pope's Head, Three Doors above the Coffee Hou3E, in Market Street. MDCC.LXXXJ, Fig. 16.— Facsimile of thk Titlk-page of the Pamphlet Issukd by the Church after the Winchester Troubles. [jFrofi! a copv kindly lent by Brow>i L'7iiversity.] 62 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. army the other to his family in the Jersey." They urged, among otiier reasons for him to accept the call, that he " would be spared the dangers of the field " and have a happy home " with the wife of his bosom and tender off- spring." Mr. Gano, however, declined the call. I present the correspondence entire (Minutes, Sept. 25) as a speci- men of English composition and a portraiture of the trou- bled times. The church clerk is responsible for the spelling and grammar: " Letter to Mr. Ganoe. " Philad^ 1779. " Dear Sir " You May Rember that Last year, you Rec' a Call from this Church and Congregation — In Consequence of which you paid us a visit — But your Stay was too Short to Cindle the Dead Coals in a flaime — we are Sensible at that time things had a gloomy Apearance, which had no Doubt a Tendency to Discourage you from setling Amongst us — But we Can with pleasure Informe you, things ware a Differant Aspect, with us at present — Some Months ago M" Still Spent Some time with us, he not only Colected the people together. But was Instromentall, in Some good degree, of knifing their hearts, as the hearts of of David and Jonathan, and though Javlins of Discord has ben throne amongst us, they have only Served to Increase our Zeal, for the promoting the Redeemers King- dom— Soon After we were fav'' with a visit from M"^ Man- ning, whose presence and preaching was very Reviving, and During his Stay with us there Apeared more Love and unity then we have Seen for Some years past — Before M'" Manning Left us the Church and Congregation were Called together to Consult on ways and Means to Suply the pulpit, a number of persons were Nominated, as pres- ent Suplys — But the unanemous voice was for M"" Ganoe to be the Settled Minister — at this Meeting a Committee were Chosen, for Suplying the Pulpit, Calling a Minister (to setle amongst us) Superintending the Leting of Pews, and Carrying about a Subscription paper, to which Bus- ness they have Stedely Attended — We have frequent BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 63 Aplications for Pews, and the Subscription fill' up fast So that with those, and the Several Donations Left for the Suporte of a Minister we Doubt not but we Shall be able to Raise a Cumfortable Suport for yourSelfe and famely — The Committee therfore being Deeply Concerned for the Intrist of True Religion in generall, and the pros- perity of that particular Religious Society to which we Belong, do in the name and Behalfe of the Church and Congregation, Earnestly Repeat our Call to you hoping you will not fail to Come and Settle amongst us — And there are Many Concuring Circumstances that gives us Reason to hope that you will Determin in our favour — in the first place we are Sensable that you are a Real friend to the Baptist Intrist — Therefore flatter ourselve, that you Cannot withstand the Repeated Calls of a people that are, and have ben for a Long time, as Sheep having no Sheeperd — Especily when you Consider the force of our Lords Command, to his Disciples Feed my Sheep, says he, feed my Lambs — another Circumstance that Incurages our hope is the Disagreeable Consequences that must attend your present Situation, Being Absent from your Family — Those that have Experinced Simmelar Circum- stances Can truly Simpathise with you. — What Ancious thoughts must arise in the Mind of an Affectionate Hus- band and Tender Parent, about the well fare of of the wife of his Bosom, and Tender Offspring — And on the other hand what Distressing Sensations must fill the Breast of the Dear partner of all your Joys and Sorows, when Con- templating on the Man)'- Dangers to which you you are Exposed — Every Report Must be Like a Dagger to the heart — But Delecasy forbids Inlarging on this head — And from the whole, would Draw this Conclution, that a fixed, Setled place, would be More Agreeable to one of your Age, and More pleasing to your Family — you Cannot be Insensable Sir, of the uncomfortable Prospects which will present them Selves to us. if we are not so happy, as to be Suplyed verry Soon with a pastor to Administer the ordinances, which are as Breasts of Consolation, and to Dispence the gospel, to us, in a Stated Manner — As there is two much Reason to Aprehend that in a City Like Philadelphia the people will wander from place to place. 64 FIRST BAPTIST CIIUKCH. many of them paihapes, Never to Returne — And as Luke- warniness will folovv, or perhaps, a totall indifferancy to Religion may Ensue — We do therefore again Intreat that you will Accept of our Invitation, Not for our Sakes only. But Also for the Sake of the Rising generation, whose welfare and Religious Improvement we trust will plead in their Behalfe — you know that Devine Inspiration Informes us that faith Comes by hearing — and how Shall we hear without a preacher — To Conclude we trust that you will take our Circumstances in to Serious Consideration, and Informe us as Speedely as you Can, of your Determina- tion— May it be fabourable to our Requeast and in the forming of it, May you be Derected by that wisdom which is from above — with unfaigned Esteem we Subscribe our Selves Sir your Affectionate Brit" — N. B. The Church and Congregation have Agree'' to pro- vide you with a house, and Defray the Expence of Moving your Family to Philadelphia, previous to which Should be glad you would favour us with a visit. — " To this letter Mr. Gano replied as follows:' " I have received your call — have considered its con- tents, feel for and simpathise with you and the cause you are pained for the permotion of in this place — I thank you for the respect exprest there in, and think the more of it as you have long known me — Nineteen years ago I serv'd this Church stiddely for a season — my defects and the Expences of my family was then known and born with, the time being expird and your Expected Suply cumming from a broad you had no farther need of my services — Then I excepted a call to New York — Christian frendship has continued — yet suffer me now to remark without fained humility, I was then in my own esteem unequal to the place altho then in the Prime now in the declines of Life, my family then small now Large and more P^xpen- cive, the Church probably from its late Political difficulties, 1 Minutes, Fet). 21, 1780. B[-CEXTEXNIAL CELEBRATIOX. 65 the death and removal of members, the heavi taxes of the times, may be less able to bair the charge of a family like mine who having been long unsettled and flying from place to place which with Losses and expences without the advantage of replasing are reduced to an apearance however nabourly like, in a Back place, yet reather reproachfull in this place to a Church like this. Neither is the sum mentioned in your Call at the present exchange any way adiquate to a present support all of which I could leave to God did I satisfactorilly know his will and conse- quently my duty — in the present case — I do not. I am obliged to compair my present standing in the army, the mear Providence that put and has preserved me there, the ways and means of a former and present Support for my family with this call to learn my duty — and that you may be better Judges with me I must be Explecit in Stating the contrast in my own breast as I in some measure Sen- sably feel it at present — I have said providence put and has continued me in the army for these reasons — I neaver sought it I neaver did neither did I ever expect to like the life — many things I have (and must) see and hear in the army very abhorrant, but little Christian, conversation, no retirement or study, discoraging prospects of convencing or convarting siners or quickning and edifying Gods chil- dren, and having no disposition to court the hardships and fatteagues of Campaining, and had not the contest apeared to me Just and of so much importance to my Country both in a Sevil and Religious Sence as to render me incap- able of refusing any Servises or Suffering I might be called to in it — at the same time knowing that there were poppelar men of Carector in the Ministry that left the City also, and some in the state beside, that by there tem- porary exceptance manifested a rediness to a servis — that on the whole I have not known but God ment to keep me ready as an instrument in some futer day when the Enimy shall leave New York City to assist that broken Church where so much of the best of my time has been spent (and leave it they will or come here again) and should I leave the army Contrary' to the desire of not only those of the first Milatary Carrectors in the State as also some eminant in the Sivel I should probably in a 66 FIRST JiAPTISr ClJbRCH. late day flinitu«i>i>i 1 In li)(;)i)itl\\ ol" * liei failliful ftiihsjlifeiie.laiul I.plaveil PnWoi*^ HKjNHY HOLCOMCIMyD I Mo ivaJ l.oiii III Hi iiiiuKdwai-.l i:....,.iv V,v.,,„V,i .iJxOr.l:....,-,! |„ tl,,. X.,,, K .,1 il |.,1 .,.,,,..|i-.v '•" '!-<■ II "' „.■ >,.|, I.., ,,!.,', Us, 1 i..l .--r. P-. IV,., I I..1 r,.i In k ,-.,,,• V, nil il I- 111,., ml. ■' ■• •'' -I'l'i'v ..IMJ -■,„..., -. II,,. ,,,,,,,,,,■,,,,,„ ■ '■- •"'"•'"•I •••nl I ,,,...,1 Inn, Vs llu '■■•' •■' ',■ ' •'>' ■" I" .n.lin.. Il, ,,,!, , , ,. .,,■ immi, .,,,, I, K,,,,:,i.,,,, "■■ "■■•"■ Oil,. ., ,,, II, ,, ,,\ „, II,, 1;, ,, 1,,,, ,, '"' ' "" '"' I '111, s, ,iii, ( ,, . 1,,, , I .,,, ,,,, , ' '' -IT' -•■•I 'I,-: I ,1. , 1 , ,, ,, ,, "■ ■•'■■■ ■• 'I' "->-.. I. • , : ' • li. 1., . :...i " 1 .Ml ,|. , ,, t ■ '< . ..1 II,, I ,, , - I ( ..I !. ,,.!,., 1.. . I I'l' ^ < I,,,,, I, .,, ,1., "I '"1"' : ^ I I . . ..I ;1, l\ ,,,,.s| >•" ' 1^ ..I...I, I, 1-..,,,,,|. .1 ,,, !>■>•> "■' •''--' '" .1,!. , ,,., , ..,,,,,.„,„..::• 'I I' ">..i., „.i il... .•,>'„, \i ,^ Is- , ,,, |„.,_; I Ml 111 ,< 1 I I I I ( \ 111 iii'iiii.rx ..1 1 . 1. < ..I III,, n,., n: ii..i. o^ni,,- 1 .; 1, Viirili ( .ir..lii,,i .1,,,,, '.'s 17(57 )ii..l .1 riiil,Mjpi|,i,,i, Ui-i. •it». |>;v7, rOr>sfiK>i> il,( Demi Mlio iTip in iltf I.ov.l Fig. 23. — ToMusToNK ok Rkv. Hknrv Hoi, combe, D D., Originally i Burial-ground in Lagrange Place. {Kindly photographed by Mr. Thornlon M. Lynch.] N THE Old BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 79 his courage was proportionate to his size. In 1802, when one John Rice had been executed in Savannah for stealing a gun, Dr. Holcombe took Rice's children to his own home, and through a Memorial to the Georgia Legislature he secured the passage of a law inflicting a milder punishment for such petty offenses. It is perhaps worthy of special note that on June 3, 18 16, Dr. Holcombe had desired to resign and return to his old charge in Savannah, largely on account of his wife's health, but that the Committee drafted a reply, which was unanimously adopted, urging upon him to remain, and that in it they laid especial emphasis upon his opposition to " Northern and other theological errors." Also it is to be observed that in the two or three years before 18 16 sev- eral members were disciplined for Arminianism. The period from 1746 to 18 16 was one of remarkable growth in numbers and influence. During that period six new churches were formed in Philadelphia, as offshoots from the First Baptist Church. Thus, on August 3, 1789, thirty-two members were dismissed to form a new church at Roxborough (Centennial Memorial of the Roxborough Baptist Church). On February 7, 1803, twenty members were dismissed to form the Second Church in the Northern Liberties. On May 28, 1 804, three members were dismissed to form with others the Blockley Church. On May 13, 1809, thirteen colored members were dismissed to form the First African Baptist Church, and on June 19th the use of the church was given them for a meeting, at which they were constituted as a church. On August 7, 1809, twenty- eight members were dismissed to form the Third Baptist Church at Southwark. On January 7 and 22, 181 1, ninety- two members were dismissed to form the Sansom Street Church. Though it belongs strictly to the next period, yet it may as well be noted here that on February 2, 1818, 8o FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. seven members were dismissed to constitute the First Baptist Church of Camden. Not only were new churches formed, but in i8o8, as ah-eady stated, the meeting-house was enlarged, during which time our church worshiped in the State House. On July 9, 1810, a two-story brick building 32 ft. by 18 ft. was ordered to be erected on the Schuylkill lot at a cost of $1100. During this period, also, the exact date of which I have not been able to discover, a three- story school-house was built on the ground adjoining the church, in which the business and prayer meetings were held and in which the Sunday-school met — the infant school, the girls and the boys on the first, second, and third floors respectively. Not only, however, was this period noticeable for such growth as led to the formation of a large number of new churches, but as the first period is noted for the founda- tion of Brown University and the formation of the Phila- delphia Association, the second is equally noted for the foundation of other educational organizations and the for- mation of the American Baptist Missionary Union in our church. In 1812 the " Baptist Education Society of the Middle States " was formed through the influence of Dr. Staugh- ton and of Dr. Holcombe, and under its auspices Staughton began to instruct students for the ministry. In 1 8 17, at the second meeting of the Triennial Conven- tion, the Board was authorized to " institute a Classical and Theological Seminary." In July of the same year the "Education Society of Philadelphia" "offered to the Board their cooperation in accomplishing the objects con- templated by the Convention." In August, 1818, Dr. Staughton, who was elected President of the proposed institution, and Rev. Irah Chase, Professor of Languages Bl-CEN7'ENNIAL CELEBRATION. 8i and Biblical Literature, commenced instruction in Phila- delphia in a private house hired for the purpose.' In 1821 Columbian College was incorporated, and the theological institution, of which Dr. Staughton was Presi- dent, was then removed to Washington, as the Theological Department of Columbian College. But the crowning event of this period occurred during Dr. Holcombe's ministry in 1 8 14. This was the organiza- tion in our church of what afterward became the Mission- ary Union. It is not without significance perhaps that its foundations were laid during the Second War with Great Britain, and its Semi-centennial Anniversary was celebrated in 1864 in our church during the height of the Civil War. In 18 1 2 the Rev, Adoniram Judson, Mrs. Judson, and the Rev. Luther Rice went to India as Missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. By the time they reached India their views on baptism had changed, and all three were baptized at Calcutta by the Rev. William Ward, of Serampore. Mr. and Mrs. Judson remained to carry on their missionary work, but Mr. Rice returned to America to lay before the Baptist Churches the wants of the heathen world. Though our people, and especially Drs. Rogers and Staughton, had been greatly interested in the English Baptist Missionary movement, there had never been a single American Baptist Foreign Missionary until in God's good Providence these three were thus unexpectedly thrust upon us. With dramatic suddenness we were bidden to arise and provide for their wants, while they preached the good news to millions. No wonder that the picture of one devoted, fearless man and one woman worthy to stand beside such a husband, alone, in the midst of hostile myriads to whom they were preaching a strange religion, aroused an interest as intense as it was wide-spread. 1 " Missionary Jubilee," p. 336. 82 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. Finally thirty-six delegates were appointed from eleven States and the District of Columbia to meet in Conven- tion and devise a plan for united work in answer to the call of God. Of the thirty-six delegates, the following thirty-three met in the old First Baptist Church in La- grange Place on Wednesday, May i8, 1814: Massachusetts.— ^&vs. Thomas Baldwin, U.D., Lucius Bolles, A.M. Rhode Island — Rev. John Gano, A.M. New York. — Rev. John Williams, Mr. Thomas Hewitt, Mr. Edward Probyn, Mr. Nathaniel Smith. NeTt< Jersey. — Revs. Burgiss Allison, D.D., Richard Proudfoot, Josiah Stratton, William Boswell, Henry Smalley, A.M., Mr. Matthew Randall, Mr. John Sisty, Mr. Stephen Ustick. Pennsylvania. — Revs. William Rogers, D.D., Henry Holcombe, D.D., William Staughton, D.D., William White, A.M., John P. Peckworth, Horatio G. Jones, Silas Hough, Joseph Matthias. Delaware. — Rev. Daniel Dodge. Maryland. — Revs. Lewis Richards, Thomas Brooke. District of Columbia.— ^^v. Luther Rice, A.M. Virgi7tia. — Revs. Robert B. Semple, Jacob Grigg. North Carolina. — Rev. James A. Ronaldson. South Carolina. — Rev. Richard Furman, D.D., Hon. Matthias B. Talmadge. Georgia. — Rev. W. B. Johnson. As a result of their deliberations, the " General Mission- ary Convention of the Baptist Denomination of the United States for Foreign Missions" was established, but on account of its cumbrous name, and as the Convention met only once in three years, it was always known as the " Tri- ennial Convention." The Executive Board of twenty-one Commissioners organized with the Rev. Dr. Baldwin as President, the Rev. Doctors Holcombe and Rogers (the first the active, the other a former pastor and still a mem- ber of our church) as Vice-Presidents, and the Rev. Dr. Staughton (also an ex-pastor) as Corresponding Secretary, an office which he held until the removal of the Board to Boston in 1826. BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 83 The Convention retained its name until 1845 when, owing to an amicable separation of the Northern and Southern Baptists, due to the slavery question, the present Foreign Missionary Society of the Northern Baptists was formed, and went into operation in May, 1846, under the name of the " American Baptist Missionary Union." It is strange, when we look back over the enormous amount of good work done all over the world by the Trien- nial Convention and the Missionary Union, to see the sharp opposition which was manifested to the noble idea. "The Missionary enterprise was deemed by many pious persons as chimerical and Utopian.^ " A Rhode Island editor said : " I think it my duty to crush this rising missionary spirit."^ Fortunately for the world and for the Baptist Church a wiser spirit prevailed, and the evangelization of the heathen has gone forward at a steady and accelerating pace from then until now. Our church has had a vital connection with the Union, not only at its inception, but also later through our Honor- ary Pastor, who was President of the Union for four years, Samuel Smith, the veteran missionary to Siam, and other missionaries and active managers, and Dr. Tupper and two other members (Mrs. E. W. Bucknell and Dr. W. W. Keen) are members of the Board of Managers at the present time. But not only were Foreign Missions aided by our church, but in October, 1800, on the invitation of the First Church, plans were laid for a Home Missionary Society, and in 1810 Dr. Staughton, then our pastor and Secretary of the Society, announced that there were seven missionaries in the field. In 1810 (November 9th) sixteen women, with Dr. Staughton's aid, formed a Missionary Society in our own church and entered upon active work.^ In 18 1 8 the" Baptist Society for City Missions " was estab- 1 " Missionary Jubilee," p. 9. 2 //,/,/, ^ p_ i6_ ^ " Life of Mary Plallman," p. t^t^. 84 FIRST BAPJIST CHURCH. lished, the forerunner of the later Baptist Church Exten- sion Society and of our present admirable and efficient City Mission Society. In 1815, also, another movement of untold value was begun in our church. This was the organization of the Sunday School. The first Sunday School had been estab- lished in England by Robert Raikes in 1780. The move- ment soon extended throughout all England, so that in 1789 there were over 300,000 scholars enrolled. As early as 1791 the " Philadelphia Society for the Support and Instruction of First Day, or Sunday, Schools," was formed. In November, 1804, the Second Baptist Church of Baltimore organized its Sabbath School. One week before our school was started, the first Sunday School in Philadelphia — that of the Second Presbyterian Church — was inaugurated. At first teaching in the Sunday Schools was deemed a secular occupation, and the teachers were paid a shilling a Sabbath, and later as much as $100 a year. Indeed, the object of our own school, as set forth in the Constitution of the " Sunday School Society of the P'irst Baptist Church and Congregation of Philadelphia " in 18 19, is stated to be — " To instruct children in the first principles of an English education and endeavor with a divine blessing to impress on their young and tender minds the important truths of the Gospel." On September 21, 1815,' Mrs. Ann Rhees, Miss Mary Hallman, Mrs. Sarah Ogden, and Miss Emily Ramage opened our school, with doubtful words from Dr. Hol- combe, the then Pastor, and hearty encouragement from my grandfather. Deacon Joseph Keen. The school was ' The exact date is doubtful. Mary Ilallman's account only says "the fall of 1815." Dr. Wanen Randolph, " Baptists and the National Centen- ary," p. 231, says "Sept. 21, 1815," and in a personal letter to me states that he had this date from Mrs. Eliz. W. Moore, who was a child in the school and was connected with it for seventy-eight years. The general tradition is that llie school liegan on the second Sunday in October. BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 85 limited to 200 scholars in two divisions, male and female, in six sections, from those of the first who could read the Bible well to those of the sixth who were learning the alphabet. A full history of the school is given later in this volume. But this period also saw the final extinction of an earl)^ educational effort, which even in its death made an honor- able record. The full history is to be found in a Report of a Committee on the " Grammar School Fund " presented to the church on September 27, 1875. This fund, the report states, was originally raised in 1756. The Minutes of April 16, 1822, state that it was begun November 12, 1760. It was incorporated April 19, 1797. It was started by contributions from the Baptist Churches in this vicinity "for the support of a Latin Grammar School for the bene- fit of young men studying for the ministry." Its cor- porate title was the " Society for promoting Learning among the Baptist Churches holding Believers Baptism by Immersion and Annually meeting in Association in Phila- delphia." It seems to have been discontinued before the end of the Eighteenth Century. But the " Grammar School Fund" continually reappears on our Minutes and upon the Treasurer's Book even up to 1875. In 1838-39, however, the existing " Funds " were returned pro rata to the contributing churches, our church receiving 32030.34. Its principal was used for building the stores on Second Street. But our church religiously paid the interest, $121.82, every year to the Poor Fund of the church. In 1875, however, the obligation was finally canceled. III. The Period of Contention— 1816-1835. I shall condense the history of this period into a very few words, reciting only the facts as briefly as is consistent with clearness. I shall make no comments except upon ourselves. 86 FIRST BAPTIS'J- CHURCH. Those who took part in the unfortunate and acrimonious quarrels of three-quarters of a century ago are long since dead. We may well let their quarrels be buried with them, and regard them only in the light of History. This is the most Christian course and the one which makes for peace and harmony. I have read and re-read all of the voluminous Minutes, pamphlets, reports, and papers relating to these years, and I must confess they are dreary reading. Our fathers on both sides were often quick-tempered, ready to take offense and to give vent to their feelings in strong words and un- wise deeds. Let it be our part to show that we can rise superior to them. The trouble with the Philadelphia Association began in October, 1816, and originated from the case of the First African Church. Two bodies, each claiming to be the First African Church, applied for admission to the Associa- tion. Dr. Holcombe and the members of our church be- lieved most earnestly that the Association decided unwisely, and had admitted to membership a body which was not the true African Church, and was a disgrace to the Baptist denomination. So strong was the feeling that an energetic protest against the proceedings of the Association was made by our church. In addition to this a personal quarrel arose between Dr. Staughton, who had been our pastor, and Dr. Holcombe, our then pastor, over the case of Rev. William White, the pastor of the Second Baptist Church, who had been ex- cluded by that church. The personal dispute between these two leaders was carried into the Association, thus further involving our church. The Association quarrel became still more acute in 1818. Our delegates failing to procure specifications of what the " palpable misrepresentations " were which the Association asserted existed in the protest, withdrew from the Associa- BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 87 tion. Thereupon the Association withdrew the hand of fellowship from our church. Our church then remained as an unassociated church until 1832, when they united with others in forming the Central Union Association, as stated below. In 1895, as will be related later, we rejoined the Philadelphia Association. But the period of contention was not yet over. The formal official severing of the ties between our church and the Association was accomplished, but the passions aroused by the controversy were not allayed, and broke out anew in 1824. When once Pandora's box is opened, what multitudes of afflictions are let loose ! Dr. Holcombe, though a man of deep piety, seems also to have been a man of quick temper and rather arbitrary conduct, and probably his Deacons were quite as quick to take offense. Dissensions between them broke out in 1824. In 1823 he had published the second edition of a book called " Primitive Theology." Some of the chapters had been preached in our church as sermons, but the book was his own personal publication. Lecture VII had shaken the belief of many in the hyper-Calvinism of the day, and it was claimed that it was heterodox in that it asserted that Faith was attainable by human means. This last allegation both Dr. Holcombe and the church repeat- edly denied, and said that he held that Faith was attainable, *' but only as the free gift of a Sovereign and unchangeable God.'" 1 In order that an opinion may be formed as to this lecture, I reprint the portion on the "Attainability of Faith." This was the only evidence ever adduced to support the assertion that either Dr. Holcombe or the Church had been guilty of any departure from the faith. On January 8, 1899, this extract was incorporated into his sermon by Dr. Tupper, and excited not the least unfavorable comment (see also "The Heresy of Yesterday the Orthodoxy of To-day," in the " Commonwealth " for January 19, 1899) : "Secondly, from Scripture and experience we hope to show that faith is 88 FIRST BAJ'Jlsr CHURCH. This charge of heresy I find was prominent only at the beginning of the controversy, and again at the end, when attainable. I'he authors of our most approved dictionaries, all inform us, that to attain fs to obtain, or procure, an object of desire, whether as wages, or a gift, by merit, or by grace : so that from their definition of the word attain, its kindred word, attainable, must mean obtainable, procurable, or that which by some means, may be obtained, or procured. For illustration, a sight of London, or Paris, by an American savage, who never saw the Atlantic, is attainable: though he cannot swim across the ocean, nor accomplish the voy- age in his canoe, yet he may see either of those cities by other attainable means. But a residence, by any inhabitant of this globe, in the moon, is not attainable, it is obviously unattainable. To effect it is beyond human power, and is not a revealed object of the divine : and were faith unattainable, as the gift of God, to urge the necessity of it, for any purpose, would be as gross an insult as could be offered to an audience. And this view of the point in ques- tion, we shall find, accords with the Scriptures. Speaking of omniscience, David says, ' Such knowledge is too wonderful for me ; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.' But what inspired writer says of faith, ' I cannot attain unto it'? Much less can it be supposed that any of these holy men would say, ' Faith is not attainable.' This would be virtually saying, divine testimony is so perfectly incredil)le, that no rational creature can possibly believe it I '• Hosea, speaking of the wicked Samaritans, exclaims, ' How long will it be ere they attain to innocency ? ' Now to attain to innocency, which is to cease to do evil, is impossible without previously attaining to faith ; so that this prophet is a witness to faith's attainableness. Paul was striving, pressing forward, that, ' If by any means,' said he, ' I might attain unto the resurrec- tion of the dead.' This apostle, therefore, believed in the attainableness of a glorious resurrection, evidently the resurrection of the just, which certainly presupposes faith's attainableness. Besides, ' The Gentiles have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.' And, indeed, the foundation of faith, in the lowest as well as in the highest acceptation of the term, is deeply laid in the constitution of things. There is an inquisitive propensity in all children of sound minds : and before their unsuspicious confidence is abused, they implicitly believe, as soon as they understand, those intrusted with the direction of their ideas : and when impressions, even the most erroneous, are once fixed, they are with difficulty, if at all, eradicated from their minds. In many lamentable instances, the greatest and most dan- gerous errors and absurdities, imbibed in early youth, are pertinaciously ad- hered to through every sulisequent stage of life. Under the influence of educational prejudice, and example, family liroils, national antipathies, legend- ary tales, and savage customs, have descended from remote antiquity to our own times. And as the human mind is brought from the dawn of its existence, to unfold susceptible, retentive, and imitative powers in believing every s]3ecies of falsehood, we may fairly infer its capacity, through divine influence, to receive the truth of the Scriptures. But facts prove, beyond debate, that sav- ing faith is found in all descriptions of rational adults, and consequently is attainable. '• It is written in the projjhets they all shall be taught of God : and every one that heareth and learneth of the Father, believeth in Christ. On these grounds we may as rationally expect, if we sincerely endeavour, to believe with Chris- tians, as we can expect, by exertion, to obtain any other blessing of life. It is, indeed, said that many shall seek to enter in at the straight gate that leadeth BI- CENTENNIA L CEL EBRA TION. 89 our trouble was brought once more into the Association, which naturally was in no very friendly attitude toward unto life, and shall not be able : but may it not be said, with equal truth, that many shall seek health, learning, riches, honours, and shall not be able to obtain either of these objects ? And it is not less evident, that many seek these, or at least one of these things with their whole hearts, as well as from their youth up, without success : but none will venture to affirm, that any have ever so sought faith and found it unattainable. Who among you will venture to contradict Jesus Christ in the assertion, ' If any man will do his will,' the will of God, ' he shall know of the doctrine,' preached by me, ' whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.' But, if you doubt the truth of what is here affirmed, test it by determining to do according to your abilities, if you can but know, the will of God : and if, in the result, you should be able to say that you cannot, for want of evidence, know nor even believe, that the doctrine of Christ is of God, there will, for once, be a new thing under the sun. And surely faith must be sufficient to reward any exertion, or countervail any sacri- fice, which can be made in seeking it with success. This cannot be questioned, as thousands, whose intelligence and veracity are unimpeachable, are ready to rise up, and solemnly affirm, that they would not exchange their faith for the full enjoyment of all the pleasures of sense for ages of ages : and what highly aggravates the sin of neglecting, which is to despise, this precious grace, if it were possible unavailingly to pursue it through every stage of life, the pursuit itself, would realize far greater advantages than the world bestows on its most favored votaries. You may suppose, after all, that faith, acknowledged, with boundless gratitude, to be the gift of God, cannot be an object of our rational endeavours : but why not ? Bread is the gift of God : yet we are not only taught to pray, ' Give us this day our daily bread,' but commanded to labour for it with our hands. Nothing but a compound of ignorance and vice, can say, ' If God has determined to give me faith I shall have it : but if not my efforts can have no tendency to procure it.' What! is there no connexion established betwixt means and ends ! Seed time and harvest shall continue, according to an unalterable decree : but does it follow that we shall reap without sowing? It was declared as immutably determined, Ilezekiah should live fifteen years from a given time ; but did it follow that he was under no necessity, for that term, to use either food or medicine ? A blind man was to be restored to sight by the power of God ; but did divine wisdom prescribe no MEANS for the accomplishment of this lienevolent purpose? Does a farmer say if God has decreed to give me a plentiful crop, I shall accordingly have it: but if not vain would be my labour? In a word, does common sense infer from the fact, faith is the gift of God, that he has instituted no medium through which he will ordinarily bestow it? Do you not know that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God ? Turn away your eyes from beholding, and your ears from hearing vanity; be temperate in all things: search the Scriptures: fast awhile occasionally: keep your hearts with all diligence : spend at least a few minutes alone, once or twice a day : pray as well as you can : with or without a form ; if peradventure you may get rid of those traits of character which exclude from heaven, and obtain the faith, the filial fear, and holy love, without whicli you cannot see; not even see the kingdom of God : and in a course of careful and candid examination of the grounds of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, you will, probably, to say no more, by happy experience, be convinced that this indispensable prerequisite to eternal salvation is not unattainable." 90 FIRST BAPTIST CJJURCJI. our churcli after the former dispute. Otherwise the whole trouble was a personal one between the Deacons and their adherents on the one side, and Dr. Holcombe (and after- ward Dr. Brantly) and the majority of the church, who adhered to the pastors, on the other. This is well shown by the opinions of the Supreme Court (Appendix M). I have not found, either in the Minutes of the church or of the Association or in any other document, any evidence what- ever, beyond mere general assertion (which is so easily made and so easily believed), that the church ever indorsed or held any doctrines at variance with the Philadelphia Confession of Faith. Attempts at reconciliation were made on several occa- sions, but though temporarily successful, they all failed, and the dissensions were renewed with greater bitterness than before. The Sunday after a seeming reconciliation on May 4, 1824, Dr. Holcombe preached what proved to be his last sermon, for he fell ill immediately afterward, and died broken-hearted May 22, 1 824. Dr. William T. Brantly succeeded him December 7, 1825. During this year the Deacons had been first deposed, then suspended, and later excluded, together with their adherents. In October, 1826, the excluded members, seventy in num- ber,^ applied for admission to the Philadelphia Baptist Asso- ciation under the name of" The First Baptist Church," since, as they asserted, the majority had departed from the faith. Our church, however, reaffirmed their continued adher- ence to the doctrines set forth in the Philadelphia Confes- sion of P'aith. A Council to settle the differences was reconmiended by the Association and accepted by our church, provided it should be composed of unprejudiced persons. The Asso- ciation added that the adjustment must be effected within 1 Souvenir Program, 150th Anniversary Spruce Street lSa]5tist Cburcli, P- 13- B [-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 91 a year, and if either party refused such an adjustment, it would be rejected by the Association. The personnel of the Council was the rock on which the Association's proposal was wrecked. Our church pro- posed Revs. Lucius Bolles, Heman Lincoln, Elon Galusha, Leland Howard, William Gammell, and President Fran- cis Wayland. The others proposed Dr. Staughton, and Revs. Thomas B. Montayne, H. G. Jones, J. P. Peck- worth, Daniel Dodge, and Joseph Mathias. Four of those last nominated — viz., Montayne, Jones, Dodge, and Mathias — had been members of a former ex parte Council of Octo- ber 6, 1825 (see Appendix P), Dr. Staughton, a fifth, had been involved upon the opposite side in our prior trouble with the Philadelphia Association, and the sixth, Peck- worth, was also alleged to be unfriendly to us. In a letter dated July 18, 1827, to Mr. Walter, Dr. Brantly formally declined to submit the matter to a Council so composed. In October, 1827, the applicants (the excluded members) were admitted to the Association under the title of the " First Baptist Church," on the ground that they had fully complied with the recommendation of the former }-ear and adhered to the Philadelphia Confession of Faith. Meantime the excluded members, fifty-nine in number, had also applied for a charter under the name of the " First Baptist Church." Our church — " Not having notice of the application no objection was made at the time, and the Court gave it allowance. Before the Charter was signed by the Governor, the Counsel for the Church obtained information of its allowance and the rule was granted by the Court to show cause why it should not be revoked " (Appendix M). Four hundred and thirty (430) members of the Church protested against the granting of the charter (Appendix M). The case was argued January 7, 1828, and the judges divided equally, two to two. As there was a vacancy in 92 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. the Court, it was reargued in 1829 before a full bench. While we had, in fact, existed as a religious body since 1698, and as a regularly " constituted " church since 1746, we had never been legally incorporated, though the desira- bility of doing so had been repeatedly considered. All our own property and all our trust funds were held, not by the church as a body, but by individual trustees. In law, therefore, there was no such " corporation " as a " First Baptist Church," though in fact it had existed for one hundred and thirty-one years. The Court, by three to two, granted the charter to the minority. The opinions of the majority and minority of the Court are given in full in Appendix M. This ended the controversy. Each church went on its way doing much good work. Even during the troubles in 1827-28, there were constant additions under Dr- Brantly's able and efficient preaching. Our number in- creased from 419, recorded in 1828, to 459 in 1829 and 635 in 1835 ; a remarkable result in view of the turmoil and confusion naturally attending such turbulent times. To their honor be it said that the first advances for a reconciliation came from our Spruce Street brethren No- vember I, 1830. They proposed that they should take the " Schuylkill lot," and we all the rest of the church property and the Trust Funds. This attempt, and another in 1831, failed of success. On October 15, 1833, our church passed resolutions looking toward a final settlement, by a vote of 83 to I (strange that one member could have been so stubborn!). The Committee from our church proposed in brief: 1. The delivery of all deeds, books, papers, etc., in the hands of the Executors of Levi Garrett, to our church. 2. The relinquishment of all claim to our property upon receiving ^5000 in cash, in addition to the funds in the hands of our late Treasurer Levi Garrett (about $iOOo), Bl-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 93 " as a donation to aid them in defraying the expenses in- curred in the erection of their house of worship." 3. The formal relinquishment by them of the name of "The First Baptist Church." 4. Each party to erase all censures upon the other from their Minutes. December 26, 1833, the Committee reported that the Spruce Street delegates had proposed that we pay them $7500 (in addition to the ^1000 in the hands of Mr. Garrett's executors), and that finally the joint committee had agreed to split the difference, making our payment (in cash) 36250. Here matters stood until May 8, 1835, when the final agreement to settle the dispute was formulated as follows. The original is in our archives, and a facsimile of the last page, with the signatures, is given in figure 24 : Final Agreement with the Spruce Street Church. — " Articles of Agreement entered into this 8th day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five By and Between the Baptist Church whereof the Members meet for public worship in North Second Street in the City of Philadelphia and whereof the Corporate Seal is hereto affixed Parties of the first Part, and the Baptist Church whereof the Members meet for public worship in Spruce Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets in the said City and whereof the Corporate Seal is also hereto affixed, Parties of the Second Part. " The Parties of the first Part agree to relinquish any sum of money which may have been in the hands of Levi Gar- rett in his life time, and is now claimed by them from the Executors of the said Levi Garrett as Treasurer of the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia, and to pay or satisfactorily secure to, or to the use of, the said Parties of the second Part, the sum of Six Thousand Two Hundred and Fifty Dollars, bearing Interest payable half yearly from the time the conditions herein set forth are complied with by the party of the second part, and if secured the payment of the Capital not to be postponed beyond Seven Years. 94 FIRS J- BAPTIST CJIUKCU. " The Parties of the second Part agree to deliver forthwith to the Parties of the first Part all books, papers, deeds, ac- counts, muniments and evidences of title, records entries, vouchers, documents and all other things whatever the pos- session of which has at any time heretofore been claimed by the Parties of the first Part or been the subject of con- troversy or difference between them and the Parties of the Second Part, and which are at this time in the possession or keeping or in any way under the direction or control of the Parties of the second Part or any agent, officer or other person or persons acting for them or in their behalf, and they also agree to release and forever discharge the Parties of the first Part and all their Members from all claims and demands whatsoever except only the sum of Six Thousand Two Hundred and Fifty Dollars to be paid or secured as hereinbefore mentioned. And they also agree that they the said Parties of the second Part shall forthwith cease to use the name by which they were incorporated and shall formally assume and adopt forthwith and henceforth use and stile themselves and be known and called " The Spruce Street Baptist Church." And to that intent and in order to be the better enabled to effectuate this part of their agreement shall without delay apply to the Supreme Court of this District for leave and take and use and employ all lawful ways and means to obtain leave and authority to alter the articles and conditions of their Incorporation in respect to their said name accordingly. " The said parties to these presents do hereby mutually acknowledge and declare that the said Churches are sin- cerely affected by an anxious desire to terminate the dif- ferences which have heretofore subsisted between them, and to restore, as far as it is in their power so to do, har- mony, good will, and cordial co-operation in Christian effort to the whole Baptist Denomination. "The Parties to this agreement respectively do hereby mutually acknowledge the said Churches to be Independ- ent Churches of the same faith and order, and do agree that all censures that may be entered or written upon the minutes or records of the said Churches respectively whereby the Members or any of them of the other of said Churches are effected or implicated shall be cancelled BI- CENTENNIA L CELEBKA 71 ON. 95 and erased and be rendered null and void to all intents, purports, and purposes whatsoever. In Witness whereoff the said parties have hereto respectively set their seals the day and year above written. Jos. S. Walter 1 For and in behalf of the Parties of the Silas W. Sexton J 2nd Part Wm. S. Hansell ^ .William W. Keen (^ For and in behalf of the Parties of Wm. Ford John Mulfor D, Jr. ] the First Part." ./^ . c^^^t<^ 7^T^ ^2>t-e-^2:> C^ /ca.i^-^^^i^-^/''^-^ Fig. 24.— Facsimile of the Last Page of the Agreement with the Spruce Street Church, Terminating the Difficulties. Dated May 8, 1S35. 96 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. In accordance with this agreement, the Spruce Street Church promptly applied for a change of name, and their present name was granted them February 12, 1836. As early as October, 1834, their name was so changed on the Minutes of the Association. Upon our part, I regret to say that, by reason of pecu- niary embarrassment and through irritation over the date which the Spruce Street Church claimed as that of their origin (1746),^ not only was the interest not fully and promptly paid, but the principal, which was due in 1842, also was allowed to remain unpaid. At last in 185 i the matter was forever settled by our deeding to them the " Schuylkill lot " for $4000 (subject to a mortgage of ^5000) and our certificate of loan for ^^2250, thus giving them ;$6250, the original amount agreed upon. The Spruce Street Church generously abated ^1875, for five years of unpaid interest. March 11, 185 i, as re- lated later, the lot was deeded to them and rebought by us the next day (to make a clear title), we giving" three notes of John C. Davis, indorsed by Thomas Wattson, amount- ing to ^4000, and two scripts of the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia, amounting to ;$2250, also guaranteed by said Wattson." - I have thus given the facts very briefly. It is a sorrow to me, and I am sure to our entire church, that there ever was any "period of contention." It is now only History and can be related without passion and judged without prejudice. Let the only future "contention" be who shall do the most and the best work for the Master and for Mankind. ^ The dates of constitution of the Churches are not given in the Association Minutes until 1843. The assumption of this date {1746) by the Spruce Street Church led to a correspondence, which is recorded in our Minutes of October 9, 1843, and January 15, 1844, and in their Minutes for January li, 1844. ^ Souvenir Program of the Spruce Street Church, p. 18. BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 97 In conclusion we may well remember the advice of the judicious Franklin, who, when he was asked to take part in a family quarrel, wrote to his sister: " What can I say between you, but that I wish you were reconciled, and that I will love that side best that is most ready to forgive and oblige the other," ' and the admonition of a greater than Franklin, who said : "If thou bring thy gift to the altar and there remem- berest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way: first be recon- ciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift."^ IV. The Period of Progress — 1835-1898. On October 18, 1824, Dr. William T. Brantly (Fig. 25) was called to the pastorate of our church. He accepted the call, but on March 7. 1825, he resigned on account of the unsettled difficulties in the church. After the general reconciliation of October 24, 1825, he was again called, and in December, 1825, he finally accepted. It is worth notice that on his letter of acceptance, covering four pages of foolscap, the postage from Augusta, Ga., was fifty cents, and that it was paid in cash, there being no postage stamps in use until many years later. His relation to the diffi- culties of our church has been already noted. Like Staughton, he also conducted a school for the first three years of his ministry. During his pastorate he baptized 600 persons into the fellowship of the First Church. This fact alone indicates his usefulness and his ability as a pas- tor. While he was pastor, in 1833-34, extensive improve- ments were made in the church and school-house at an ex- pense of ^10,000. On May 16, 1829, the church became incorporated as "The First Baptist Church of Philadelphia, meeting for 1 " Century Magazine," November, 1S9S, p. 35. 2 Matt, v : 23, 24. 7 g8 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. worship in Second Street between High and Mulberry Streets"; this cumbrous title being selected in order to distinguish us from the present Spruce Street Baptist Church, then also known as the First Baptist Church. On April 2, 1853, by an amendment to the Charter, the name was changed to " The First Baptist Church of the City of ¥\c,. 25. — Rev. William Theophili's Br.a,ntlv, D.D. {From a photograph kindly furnished hv Mrs. Martha A. Mliitehead, of Pittsburg, Pa.'X Philadelphia," the difficulties with our brethren of Spruce Street having been amicably settled. This is still our cor- porate name. On November 10, 1837, Dr. Brantly resigned on account of his health, and removed to Charleston, S. C. Before leaving, however, he was asked to nominate a successor, and Bf-CENTENNIAL CELEBRA TION. 99 upon his recommendation the Rev. Dr. George B. Ide, of Boston, was invited to visit the church, and on November 19th he was called to the pastorate by a large and unani- mous vote. On Dr. Brantly's death, in March, 1845, a resolution, which sounds rather strange to our ears, was passed, requesting "our present pastor, Bishop George B. Ide, to preach a funeral sermon on the death of our late pastor, Dr. William T. Brantly." During Dr. Brantly's pastorate, on October 15, 1827, the church issued a call for the formation of a new Associa- tion, and the delegates were asked to convene on Decem- ber 25th. This would now be an unusual date, but I find that in the early days meetings of the church were occa- sionally held for business on Christmas Day, New Year's Day, and the Fourth of July. No final action was taken toward the formation of the new Association until July 31, 1832, when the Central Union Association was organized in the First Baptist Church. The Association was made up of seven churches: Pen- nepek (then, as now, known as Lower Dublin), the Frank- ford, Holmesburg, Mariner's, Seventh Street, and Camden Churches, and our own. Our first delegates were Rev. William T. Brantly, D.D., William Duncan, David Johns, Thomas C. Teasdale, William W. Keen, Joseph Keen, Elijah Griffiths, John Davis, James W. Bird, Henry Benner, William Ford, Jesse Miller, William S. Hansell, Joseph M. Eldridge, Benjamin R. Loxley, and John Mulford, Jr. " The brother who stood foremost in the organization of this body, to whom all looked for counsel and direction, and upon whom all eyes were turned in all its progressive moments, was the ever to be revered William T. Brantly, the pastor of the First Baptist Church. In temper and judgment, in character and influence, in zeal and devoted- ness, he was only equalled by his co-worker, David Jones, loo FIRS7' BAPTIST CHURCH. who, before the second meeting of the Association, left his Master's service ' for fairer scenes on high.' " ' Another event of prime importance occurred during Dr. Brantly's pastorate : the formation of the American and Foreign Bible Society in our church in 1837. In 1836 differences over Bible translation led to the with- drawal of the Baptists from the American Bible Society. " A provisional organization was immediately after formed in New York, called the American and Foreign Bible So- ciety; and the next Spring in Philadelphia a very intelli- gent Convention of /1.20 Baptist Delegates representing 2/f States met for full deliberation and action on the Bible question. After four days deliberation and ample discus- sion a Society was formed with great unanimity under the same name as the provisional organization above men- tioned." " Dr. Ide (Fig. 26) and his wife were received on October 15, 1838. He came from Boston with a large reputation as a preacher, and during the fourteen years that he re- mained as pastor he well sustained his reputation. Miss Ann Semple, one of the few now living who often heard him preach, states that during a sermon on " Madness in Your Hearts," so great was the excitement that many men rose from their seats gesticulating. I can well remember as a child seeing him in the pulpit, with its vertically plaited red drapery as a background, his sonorous reverberating voice, and impressive oratory. In 1843, ^'^ ^ powerful revival under his preaching, 1 10 persons were baptized. Dr. Ide published two volumes of sermons, besides a Sunday School book, a number of missionary sermons, and other publications. On September 18, 1839, a meeting was held in our 1 Minutes of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Central Union Association. - " The Missionary Jubilee," p. 359. f UU- /m J^ A.H: Printed tiy T- 5. Dux BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. loi church to consider the expediency of concerted action in behalf of Ministerial Education. Our pastor, Dr. Ide, offered a resolution stating the need for a " well-trained and efficient ministry," and advocating the formation of "The Philadelphia Educational Society," which a year Fig. 26. — Rev. George Barton Ide, D.D. [From the "Baptist Encyclopedia " by the courtesy of Rev. Dr. Cathcart, the editor, and Mr. L. H. Evarts, the publisher i\ later was changed to the " Pennsylvania Baptist Minis- terial Education Society." In the sixty years of its existence it has helped to edu- cate over 800 students, who have baptized 100,000 con- verts. No other tribute is needed as to its value, and to the far-seeing men who organized it. The removal of the church to the westward, whither FIRST BAP'lIST CHURCH. many of our members had removed, had been debated for a number of years, but it was not until October 25, 1852, I-iL.. 27. — First Baptist Church, Broad and Arch Streets. \^Kindly pholograt>hed by Mr. Robert G. lVilsoHi\ BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 103 that the lot at Broad and Arch Streets — 147^2 ^eet on Arch Street and 188 feet on Broad Street — was purchased for ^55,000. A considerable part of this lot on Arch Street and a part on Broad Street were, most unfortunately, sold, or we might have still remained there, with a noble lot equal to all our needs. The Lagrange Place Church was sold June 30, 1862,' for ^19,104. The removal and sale, Fig. 2S. — Audience Room, Broad and Arch, 189S. \From a photograph by Mr. Robert G. IVilson.] especially of the Burying Ground, were the cause of much dissatisfaction among many of the older members. The corner-stone of the new church (Figs. 27. 28, and 29) was laid by Dr. Ide, October 7, 1853, and the building was completed in 1856. Its then surroundings were any- ' Trustees' Minute-book, C. I04 1-IKST BAPTIST CHURCH. thing but attractive. The Columbia Railroad existed on Bro^d Street, and brought with it warehouses, coal-yards, lumber-sheds, and shanties. " Where Dr. Seiss's Lutheran Church now stands had been the site of the Arch Street Prison, with its plagues and horrors of former years." Now the locality is one of the most attractive in the city. What changes a single life may see in a great city! Fit;. 29.— Sunday School Room, Broad and Akch, i'^9S. [From a photoi>:iat>h by Mr. Robt-rt G. ll'ilso}!.] An event of the greatest importance in the educational history of the denomination occurred in 1846 — the found- ing of the University of Lewisburg, now Bucknell Univer- sity. The movement originated in the Northumberland Association in 1845, but the aid lent by our Pastor, Dr. Ide, and our church was a potent factor in its establishment on a firm basis. The meeting of the brethren in Philadelphia BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 105 to consider the advisability of the enterprise was held in our church. Eighty members of our church contributed to the first Endowment Fund of ;^ 100,000 in sums of from ;^2000 down. Our Deacon, Thomas Wattson, was the first President of the Board of Trustees, serving from 1850 to 1874, while many members, both of the Trustees and the Curators, were from our church. Professor Francis W. Tustin, the honored father of our present Superintendent of the Sunday School, Ernest L. Tustin, and my own class- mate in the High School, was, for thirty years. Professor of the Greek Language and Literature in the University, and twice served as President ad interim. The influence of the University in giving to our Church and to the denomi- nation an educated and consecrated ministry and laity is simply incalculable. On September 13, 1852, Dr. Ide resigned to take charge of the First Baptist Church at Springfield, Mass. After an ineffectual attempt to secure William T. Brantly, Jr., the son of the former beloved pastor, William T. Brantly, senior, on January i, 1855, the Rev. Dr. James H. Cuthbert (Fig. 30), of Charleston, was called. A more gentle, Christ-like, lovable man never occupied our pulpit. His whole ministry is redolent of faithful, earnest, pastoral work which brought many to know the love of Christ. During his pastorate a call was made, on May 10, 1858, to form a new Association, and our church withdrew from the Central Union Association, and on June 24, 1858, with others formed the North Philadelphia Association. The delegates from our church were Rev. Dr. Cuthbert, Joseph Belcher, B. R. Loxley, Thomas Larcombe, Richard Gar- diner, Thomas Wattson, S. M. Hopper, and Thomas M. Davis. This new Association was organized on account of the amount of contention introduced into the Central Union Association on" subjects not calculated to improve spirituality and to increase the love of its members." io6 FIRST BAPTIST CUIRCH. This referred more especially to the subject of slavery, which at that time was a burning issue all over the coun- try, and as Dr. Cuthbert's affiliations and sympathies were very largely with the South, and Philadelphia was very near to Mason and Dixon's line, this was naturally highly objectionable to him and to many other members. In the stirring days preceding the Civil War it was thought by many that it was a mistake to introduce such semi-political Fig. 30.— Rev. Ja.mes Hazzard Cuthkkri, D.U. {FroDi a pliotogiaph kindly fin uisJwd by his daughter, Mis. Sophy de A. Aspiiru-all, of IVashiiigton, D. C] matters into a religious assembly, and many sought to heal the inevitable breach by ignoring it as far as was possible. But the specter would not down, and finally, on April 29, 1861, two weeks after the guns of Fort Sumter replied to the challenge of South Carolina, Dr. Cuthbert resigned his charge. The church requested the withdrawal of his resig- nation on May 7, 1861, but though the letter reached him, owing to the war no reply had been received up to September ii, 1861, and the resignation was accepted. BI- CENTENNIA L CEL EBKA TION. 107 From this time until 1864 we had no settled pastor, but the pulpit was supplied by the Rev. Benjamin R. Loxley and others. On February 26, 1864, a call was extended to the Rev. George Dana Boardnian, of Rochester, N. Y. (Fig. 31). This call was unanimously indorsed by the congregation Fig. 31.— Rev. George Dana Boardman, D.D., LL.D. on March 3, 1864. Dr. Boardman accepted the call on May 15, 1864, and entered on his pastoral duties on October 2d (the longest pastorate m the history of the church). He found the church with 481 members and left it, in spite of losses by the organization of the South Broad Street and Narberth Churches, with a membership of 667. I trust that the day is far dis- lo8 FIRST BAPl'ISl- CHURCH. tant when a suitable eulogy may be passed upon the life work of Dr. Boardman, which, as Pastor, extended over a period of thirty years, and as Honorary Pastor is happily not yet finished; but a few facts may not inappropriately be stated at the present time. On March 24, 1865, soon after Dr. Boardman became our pastor, Mr. Loxley, who had been for thirty years con- tinuously in the service of the church as assistant minister, missionary, and deacon, passed away. When he died, one of the best and most faithful men in the long line of the Loxley family, whose membership covers not far from two entire centuries, was called to his reward. His place was not filled during the remainder of Dr. Boardman's pastorate, except for a short time in 1881 by the Rev. Henry Brom- ley, and in 1882 by the Rev. J. E. Sagebeer. In 1869 the church was nearly destroyed by fire. In 1870 Dr. Boardman was granted leave of absence for a year, and in company with Dr. E. T. Darby visited the Holy Land, the desert of Sinai, Asia Minor, etc., and replenished his already well-stored mind with exact knowl- edge of the sacred places of the P^ast. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in recog- nition of his learning, on April 16, 1880. During his pastorate four different missions were started, three of which have become independent churches. On January 2, 1865, the Boardman Mission, at Broad and Reed Streets, was accepted as a Mission School, and named after our honored pastor. It met first at the Jackson School- house, southeast corner of Twelfth and Federal Streets, and later at the engine-house at the the corner of Eleventh and Anita Streets. Its success is due chiefly to the energy and devotion of two of our most honored members, Stand- ish F. Hansen and George W. Allen. The Chapel was dedicated free from debt November 28, 1869. In 1870 Rev. Philip L. Jones was elected pastor, and on January BI- CENTENNIAL CELEBRA TION. lOQ 20, 1876, one hundred members, of whom ninety-three were dismissed from our church, were constituted as the South Broad Street Baptist Church. In 1881, chiefly through the liberahty of our church and the Baptist Church Extension Society, the property was conveyed to them free of all encumbrance. In 1886 they erected the church building (Fig. 32). Dr. Jones resigned in January, Fig. 32. — Soi'TH Broad Stkeet Baptist Church. 1889. Since then they have had an uninterrupted career of prosperity and usefulness as a Church of Christ. On March i, 1868, the Immanuel Mission was estab- lished in a carpenter-shop near Twenty-third and Summer Streets. The first superintendent was William E. Burke. On his resignation, in 1870, James S. Moore succeeded him, and for twenty-one years he bore a burden, personal, finan- cial, and educational, that would have weighed down less robust shoulders. In 1892, after Mr. Moore's death, in September, 1891, Samuel J. Clevenger became superin- no FIRST BAPTIST CIII'RCII. tendeiit, and in 1896 Winfield S. l^lliott. During the thirty years of its existence nearly 300 conversions have occurred, a tribute of no mean order to the zeal and faithfulness of its pastor and teachers. On March 9, 187 1, they occupied their new brick build- ing at the corner of Twenty- third and Summer Streets, a building now totally inadequate to their pressing needs (Fig. 33). Their pastors have been : E. D. Staler, 1874. William Entwistle, January i, 1875, to April 22, 1876. George Croft, May i, 1877, to May i, 1878. N. C. Fetter, October 27, 1878, to Julv 31, 1879. Joseph E. Perry, Aii,i2;ust 3, 1879, to March 26, 1881. Henry Bromley, April i, 1881, to August 4, 1881. H. F. Stillwell, August 1 1, 1881, to January i, 1884. T. R. Hewlett, November i, 1884, to July i, 1885. J. E. Sagebeer, November 24, 1885, to Manh 28, 1890. Charles A. Soars, May 27, i8go, to June 28, 1891. R. N. West, November 29, 1891, to June 19,1892. Thomas A. Lloyd has been the Pastor since November i, 1892 (Fig. 34). These frequent changes are to be explained by the fact that most of their pastors were students in Crozer Theo- logical Seminary. That the Mission has had such success amid such constant changes is no less remarkable than gratifying. On March 9, 1888, the Baltimore Avenue Mission, which had been carried on almost single-handed for eight years by the Rev. Dr. H. L. Wayland, was accepted as a Mission of our church. I can not avoid, in passing, saying a word in reference to the great loss which this church has met with in the recent death of our dear Dr. Wayland. No member of the church was more beloved than he. Though so full of knowledge and so willing and wise in the expres- sion of it, no man ever bore in his heart a more simple, childlike spirit as a Christian than Dr. Wayland. His life is at once an example and a benediction for us all. That so really great a man should devote himself to this BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. iii self-sacrificing life among the poor is a testimony to the humble piety which was so dominant throughout his life. The Mission began in the hospitable home of Mr. A.J. Mosley, an esteemed Methodist layman, who was its first Superintendent. It was continued in a house on Baltimore Avenue beyond Fifty-second Street, w^hich Dr. Wayland Fig. 33. — The Immanl'f.l Mission. YFroin a photograph kindly furnished by iSlr. Harry J. Moore J\ himself rented, until in a few years, through the efforts chiefly of Dr. Wayland and other members of the First Church, and Rev. James French, a lot at Fifty-second Street and Baltimore Avenue was purchased. The Chapel was opened December 27, 1883. In January, 1891, Joseph A. Bennett, a teacher in the Immanuel Mission, and a student at Crozer Theological Seminary, became the Chapel 112 1-IRST BAPTIST CIIUKCII. Pastor, the Mission being under the direction of the First Church. They grew in numbers so that the chapel was inadequate to their needs. On May 19, 1897, Mr. Bennett and sixty- seven other of our members were dismissed by our church, and, with nine others, organized the " Baltimore Avenue Baptist Church" on May 26, 1897. In the following October they began the erection of their beautiful and Fig. 34.— Rkv. Thomas A. Li.ovd. commodious chapel, which was opened on April 3, 1898 (Fig- 35)- No body of Christians has made greater sacrifices or met with more deserving success. Though no longer members with us, they are borne in most affectionate remembrance, and well deserve our earnest and efficient assistance. In the autumn of 1890 union services were begun at BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 113 Narberth,then Elm Station, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, seven miles from Philadelphia. May 18, 1 891, a prelimin- ary meeting was held at the house of Mr. Thomas C. Trotter, and on May 25, 1891, the Mission was finally or- ganized and the First Church was requested to accept the Mission. Mr. and Mrs. Harry S. Hopper, of our church, but residing in Narberth,had taken an active part in its or- ganization from the first. Our church accepted the Mis- sion on June 26, 1891. A lot at the corner of Elmwood Fig. 35.— Baltimore Avknl'p: Baptist Church. and Narberth Avenues was purchased, and the temporary building was opened June 28, 1891, Dr. Boardman preach- ing the sermon. The basement of the new building was occupied on the first Sunday in 1892, and the house formally opened April 14, 1892 (Fig. 36). November 17, 1892, a formal call was extended to Rev. Harold Kennedy, and he entered upon his pastorate December i, 1892. October 13, 1893, the Mission took the first steps to be- 114 FIRST BAP'JISl' CHURCH. come an independent church, and on November 3, 1893, eighteen members were dismissed from the First Church, who met with others from six other churches, and on No- vember 14, 1893, organized as the Church of the Evangel, and was recognized by a Council on November 28, 1893. Since its organization it has been noted for its active interest and participation in missionary and educational enterprises, and it bids fair to become one of the strong suburban churches. FiC. 36. — Cm RCH OK THE EvANGEL, XaRBKRTH. But the most striking feature of Dr. Boardman's ministry has been not so much the in-gathering of converts as the up-building of the church in knowledge, faith, and life. Beginning with October 5, 1864, and ending with Decem- ber 29, 1889, thus covering more than twenty-five years, in his Wednesday evening lectures Dr. Boardman has made an exposition of every verse of the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. When it is remembered in addi- tion to this that, in 1878, for fourteen consecutive weeks he delivered in Association Hall, which was crowded BI-CENTENXIAL CELEBRATIOX. 115 with hearers, a course of free lectures on the " Creative Week," and in 1880 another course on the "Mountain Instruction" (both of which have been pubhshed), and that he has pubhshed, in addition, his " Studies on the Model Prayer," twelve " University Lectures on the Ten Commandments," a course on the " Minor Prophets," and an elaborate study entitled "The Kingdom," and 150 other books, sermons, addresses, lectures, and papers, it will be seen what a fertile mind he has and how much he has done toward the development of Baptist literature. His " Problem of Jesus " has gone through five editions. His call for the disarmament of nations was issued in 1890, eight years before that of the Czar. It is no wonder that he has been sought, not only by his fellow-citizens, but also by many universities throughout the land, both as an occa- sional preacher and as a regular lecturer. Nor is it any wonder that he, the son of sainted Baptist missionaries, and the stepson of the very first American Baptist missionary, should have been four times elected President of the Mis- sionary Union, the highest honor in the gift of the Baptist Church. While he published a number of papers during his entire ministry, yet his chief activity has been from 1869 to the present time. Not a single year has passed in all that time without one or more books and numberless individual articles being issued. Well did he deserve his degree of LL. D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1 889. In addition to this he has been honored in many other directions, as President of the New England Society; Chap- lain and Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania; Presi- dent of the Christian Arbitration and Peace Society; Delegate to the Conference of the Evangelical Alliance, at Florence, Italy, in 1891; Delegate to the World's First Missionary Congress, London ; etc. His paper, entitled " Christ the Unifier of Mankind," made a fitting close of the Parliament of Religions during the Columbian World's Fair in Chicasfo. Ii6 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. On January 26, 1894, Dr. Boardman resigned the pas- torate of our church, to take effect May I5th\ On Feb- ruary 23d he was elected permanent Honorary Pastor, and on May 2d is recorded a Minute, of which any one might well be proud, expressing our sorrow at his resignation and our appreciation of him as a man, a Christian, and a pastor. "Minute on the Resignation of Rev. George Dana Boardman, D.D., LL.D. " During his extended pastorate of thirty years we have learned to honor Dr. Boardman for his untiring industry, for his fidelity to his convictions, for his purity of life and character, for his large generosity, for his courtesy and sweetness of spirit, for his magnanimity, as well as for the eminent ability, the abundant learning, and the eloquent speech which have made him known far beyond the bounds of the Church, and of our denomination, and of the nation. " As an expositor of the Scriptures he has been conscien- tious, independent, suggestive. The great feature of Dr. Boardman's pastorate with this, our Church, has been his extended series of expository lectures, traversing the whole of the Scriptures. His course on the New Testament, be- ginning October 5, 1864, continued until April 6, 1882. The lectures on the Old Testament immediately followed, clos- ing December 29, 1889. " The 288 expositions of the Old Testament, with 643 of the New Testament, including the treatment of every chapter and every verse, amounted in all to 931 lectures, averaging fifty minutes in length, given usually on Wed- nesday evening, being in addition to the ordinary prepara- tion for the Sabbath. " If stenographically reported, these lectures would make si.xty-four duodecimo volumes of 350 pages each [or 22,400 printed pages]. " We believe that this achievement of continuous labor devoted to the exposition of the Bible is without parallel in the history of the modern pulpit. The lectures consti- tute Dr. Boardman's sufficient and fitting monument, on which may well be inscribed his own truthful but too modest words, ' He tried to unfold the Word of God.' " We have listened to his preaching with delight and BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 117 instruction, and have carried away lessons which we shall always remember and cherish. His broad sympathies, his enlightened Christian philanthropy, have made him the champion of Missions at home and abroad. " He received in the year 1880, while at home, the high- est honor in the gift of the Baptist denomination, the Presi- dency of the Baptist Missionary Union, which he held for over four years. He has been the constant advocate of uni- versal peace and unity, and of every movement for the glory of God and the good of mankind. We shall retain as long as memory lasts the recollection of the instructions of the preacher, of the kind offices of the friend, of the example of the man and the Christian. In addition to these abundant labors in the immediate sphere of his pastorate, he has given copiously to the community the result of his studies. " His series of fourteen free noon-day lectures, delivered in as many successive weeks in 1878, upon the 'Creative Week,' to audiences more than filling the spacious Asso- ciation Hall, recall the celebrated series of astronomical discourses given by Dr. Chalmers on week-days in Glasgow. "A second similar course of lectures, twelve in number, was given in 1880, entitled 'Studies in the Mountain Instruction.' "During the fall and winter of 1888-89, ^^ gave a course of twelve lectures on Sunday afternoons at the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania upon the ' Ten Commandments.' In 1890 he gave a similar course on Sunday afternoons at the University upon the ' Minor Prophets,' bearing especially upon their ethical teachings. In 1890, as President of the ' Christian Arbitration and Peace Society,' he delivered at Washington an address on ' The Disarmament of Nations.' "In 1 89 1 as a delegate to the Evangelical Alliance, meeting in Florence, Italy, he read a paper on ' The Coming Ideal Church.' In 1892 he gave a series of ad- dresses to the students in Philadelphia attending upon the various schools of literature, science, technolog-y, business, art, law, medicme, and theology. In 1893, during the Peace Congress in Chicago, he gave an address upon ' Nation- alism and Internationalism.' " Later in the same year there was given him the honor of pronouncing the closing address of the memorable Ii8 FIRST BArriST CHURCH. Parliament of Religions, upon ' Christ, the Unifier of Man- kind,' "Three of these courses of lectures have formed the material of three volumes of permanent value, in addition to which he has issued ' The Model Prayer,' ' PLpiphanies of the Risen Lord,' and ' The Divine Man.' " His discourse on ' The Problem of Jesus ' presents the rich fruitage of a long-continued and professional study, and is a most devout impression and loving tribute to our risen Lord. " He has also given a great number of occasional dis- courses called out by memorable events or eras in history, as his addresses upon Lincoln, Garfield, William Penn, Luther, and Columbus, and his patriotic address on the ' Reestablishment of the National Flag' (April 14, 1865), delivered on the same day and hour simultaneously with the occurrence of this notable event. He has pro- nounced discourses before many of the Universities, Semi- naries, and learned Societies of the Country. Few men have so largely contributed to the sound, progressive, in- tellectual, moral, and religious thought of the world. " The Church having already by formal vote conferred upon Dr. Boardman the title of Honorary Pastor, carrying with it no duty or obligation, and leaving him fully master of his time, and having also provided for a pecuniary ex- pression of affection and gratitude, it does not come within our province to make further suggestions on these points. " We however recommend that the Church assign to Dr. and Mrs. Boardman for the remainder of their lives the free use of a pew. to be selected by themselves. " We beg Dr. Boardman to be assured of our lifelong affection and our prayers, as we also ask that he will remember in his supplications the Church to which his eminent powers have been devoted for so large a portion of his life, during which he has seen almost an entire genera- tion pass from among us and another generation rise to take the place of the fathers. " Resolved, That this minute be entered in full upon the Church Records, and an engrossed copy be prepared for presentation to Dr. Boardman and copies printed for dis- tribution among our Church members." BI- CENTENNIA L CELEB R A 7 'ION. 1 1 9 The influence of the church during Dr. Boardman's long pastorate was felt in many important enterprises collateral to the work of the church itself, but all embodiments of that Christian philanthropy which he has so deeply im- pressed upon our minds. I may name the following as among the most important: The Baptist Home. — While the first proposal for a Home for Aged Baptists of slender means was made by Rev. Dr. Kennard in 1865, and resulted, some years later, in obtaining a charter for the " Baptist Home," yet our church has had an efficient part in its establishment and prosperity. The first meeting of the Board of Lady Managers was held in our church, December 8, 1869, and in 1873 the fine lot at Seventeenth and Norris Streets, now valued at about ;$30,ooo, was presented to the Home by one of our Deacons, Joseph F. Page. Its beautiful, helpful work toward the end of life, as the Orphanage helps others at its beginning, is beyond all praise. The Baptist Orphanage. — In 187- Miss Mary Weath- erly, a member of our Church and a teacher in the Im- manuel Infant School, received the following note, without either date or signature : '"Dear Miss WcatJierly : The little coins contained in this paper are the childish treasures of one who was a pupil in the infant school under your care, but who is now, we believe, gone to be with the Lord. The objects of especial and dearest interest to this child were poor, homeless children, and though of little commercial value, they are given for that purpose, and may the Lord of little children bless them in your hands." The coins w^ere two quarters of a dollar, one dime, four half dimes, three three-cent pieces, and one cent — in all, ninety cents. The recipient of this little legacy felt that she had committed to her a sacred trust, which she was I20 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. bound to employ so as to pcriiiauciitly bcucfit the " objects of especial and dearest interest " to the child in heaven. The Managers of the Baptist Home, though then (1874) engaged in an effort to extinguish their debt, encouraged Miss Weatherly in her project. By October, 1875, she had raised ^268. Soon after this she was taken very ill, and feeling that her life was drawing to a close, she com- mitted to James S. Moore, the Superintendent of the Immanuel Mission, the note, the original coins, and the money she had gathered, and on October 7, 1876, she joined in Paradise the little giver of the Fund which started the Baptist Orphanage. Two days before her death the Philadelphia and the North Philadelphia Asso- ciations had cheered her heart by appointing committees to establish the Baptist Orphanage. Soon afterward a charter was obtained, and the Orphanage became a fact. Go to Angora and see the result. Like a pure little spring bubbling out of the earth, which grows into a brook, and finally becomes a mighty river, these few coins have grown into a blessed and magnificent charity, whose influ- ence will continue for all time. The Philadelphia Home for Incurables. — Another philanthropic work in which the First Baptist Church has had a large part and an active interest is the Philadelphia Home for Incurables. It had its birth in the heart of a young invalid. Miss Annie C. Inglis, who was a faithful attendant on the ser- vices of this church during the years 1873 to 1875, and its treasury consisted at first of one single little gold dollar which she had given. The organization was effected by a few ladies. Of the number, nine were Baptists ; four, mem- bers of this church. In addition to this, the Annie C. Inglis Memorial Band was formed in our Pastor's Study in 1877. It consisted in the beginning of the members of the l^ible Class taught by BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 121 Miss Carrie T. Bancroft, who became the first President of the Band. They composed the first Auxihary to the main Board ; have continued in the most active service in the work; and are to-day its most efficient helpers. The first Annual Report of the Treasurer of the Band, in 1877, reported $382.24, but the work so grew and prospered that the Report for 1 897 shows a total of $4546.50 raised for this worthy object. Generous donations of food, clothing, etc., have been constantly sent to the Home ; weekly visits have been made ever since its organization, and frequent entertainments have been provided for the inmates. The members of the Band were the founders of the Chil- dren's Building, and since its occupancy have been its main support. While the Home maintains its undenominational char- acter, yet the old First Church will ever stand as a mother to the auxiliary work of the Home, and also to the Board of the Home itself. All of the annual meetings of the Band were held in the church until the Children's House became its special care. Rev. Dr. George Dana Boardman, our pastor, when in this country, has taken part in the service of each annual meeting, and one of our Deacons has been deeply interested in the work, and was the earliest medical friend of the Home. The Young People's Baptist Union. — On June 7, 1882, the Young People's Baptist Union was organized in our church. Excepting that in Brooklyn, it is the oldest Union in the United States. The initiative was taken by the Young People's Working Association of our church, and among its most faithful friends from our church have been Dr. G. Byron Morse, Mr. George L. English, and Dr. H. B. Martin. Their work consists in public discussions of various phases of young people's work, including Working Men's Clubs, Temperance and Missions ; and devotional meetings, especially in weaker churches and Missions. The whole 122 FIRST BAPTIST CJJUKCII. city has been districted, and thus the work has been thor- oughly done. A knowledge of Baptist principles has been diffused among its members. For two years a monthly paper was published and distributed gratuitously. Its motto is, " To encourage organized religious activity " ; and none better could be chosen. The Women's National Indian Association. — Another work whose beginning had a vital connection with our own church work was that now known as " The Women's National Indian Association." The President of our Home Mission Circle, Miss Mary L. Bonney (afterward Mrs. Thomas Rambaut), in the spring of 1879 became deeply interested in the wrongs of the Indians, and brought the facts to the notice of the Circle. Its members shared her interest, and a popular petition was prepared to be pre- sented at a Baptist Anniversary, but pressure of business prevented its consideration. A month later, however, after our Home Mission Circle had adjourned for the summer, another member of our church, Mrs. Amelia S. Quinton, took up the Indian work, Miss Bonney providing wholly for its expenses at first, and largely for years afterward. During two years of this joint work the members of our Home Mission Circle, with many others in Philadelphia and in other cities, personally aided in circulating the petitions and literature prepared by Mrs. Quinton ; and though the movement had already become an interdenominational one, the first Committee of Four to aid the movement originated by Miss Bonney was composed of two of our own mem- bers, Mrs. George Dana Boardman and Mrs. Marine J. Chase, and two others. The work went forward. Miss Bonney was the first President of the Association ; Mrs. Boardman was its first Treasurer, and Mrs. Quinton the General Secretary and Organizer for the first eight years. Mrs. Quinton was made President of the Association in 1887, and still holds that office. BI-CENTENIVIAL CELEBRATION. 123 The movement thus originated in our Home Missionary- Circle in 1879, at the close of 1881 had grown into a National Society, having, soon after that date, twenty State Auxiliaries, and since then members and workers in forty States and Territories of the Union. It has established missionary and industrial work at forty-six stations among wild Indian tribes ; has done a wide work for Indian home- building; has given, in whole or in part, a professional education to various capable Indians ; and has several other departments of efficient work for the civilization and Chris- tianization of our native tribes. This Association began the modern popular appeal which in 1887 opened to all United States Indians land in severalt}', the protection of the common law, and the acquisition of citizenship and of a common school education. Of this Society Senator Dawes said that the new Indian policy of to-day, every- where approved of, " was born of, and nursed by, the women of this Association"; and all the features of that policy, which has already given us 35,000 tax-paying Indian citi- zens, are seen in the early petitions of the Women's National Indian Association. This latest and most successful effort for the Indians is but the continuation of a vote fourscore years ago. On January 20, 18 19, I find that the Church sent the following Memorial to Congress: MEMORIAL. From the First PjAI'tist Church and Congregation in the City OF Philadelphia. To tJic Honorable tJie Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled : Your Memo- rialists being very sensibly affected with the deplorable condition of the various Savage tribes within the limits of the United States, feeling an ardent desire to see them civilized and instructed in the English language, and find- ing that there are many and great impediments which lie 124 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. in the way of the accomplishment of these desirable objects, have been induced to present a petition to your honorable body, respectfully praying for the adoption of such regulations respecting the Indians as shall appear best calculated to promote their welfare and civilization, and give them confidence in our government and citizens. Your memorialists beg leave in a particular manner to call the attention of Congress to the case of the Indian traders. They are, generally speaking, men who have no object but gain, and being at a distance from the restraints of civilized life, give full scope to their corrupt propensities for gratifying these, they defraud the Indians of their property, corrupt even their morals, consequently increase the miseries of those people, prejudice their minds against our government, citizens, and manners, and lead them to the most contemptible ideas of civilization and religion. Your memorialists therefore respectfully request, that Congress would establish such regulations, as they may deem best calculated to secure to the Indians a supply of such articles as they need, by fair and honorable trade, and effectually to prevent the continuance of this base and corrupt intercourse. Your petitioners further pray, that Congress would make such further provisions and appro- priations for educating the Indians, and instructing them in the arts of civilized life, as the importance of the case demands. Your memorialists humbly conceive, that in presenting this petition to Congress, they ask for what will tend ultimately to promote the interest, as well as the honour of our Country, and for what will have a more beneficial effect than forts and Armies, on the security and welfare of the frontier settlements. Influenced by the motto " Peace on earth and good will to men," one of the warm- est desires of our hearts, and fervent prayer to GOD is. that he may bless you, as individuals and as a body, and direct all your measures to the promotion of the peace and prosperity of our beloved country. Signed by order and in behalf of the whole Church and Congregation, consisting of 1500 citizens. ,c s Henry Holcombe, Moderator. (S'GNEO) ^^^^ McLeod, Clerk. BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 125 Consolidation with Beth Eden. — The relations be- tween the First Church and the Beth Eden Church have always been those of a deh'ghtful comity. In 1873, during our own extensive alterations at Broad and Arch Streets, the Beth Eden Church invited us to occupy their house while deprived of our own; and on January 31, 1881, when the Beth Eden Church was burned, the hospitality of our church was offered to them in turn while they were without a home. Owing to the fact that both of these churches, as well as the Tabernacle Baptist Church, at Eighteenth and Chest- nut Streets, were central in location, all three began to feel the disintegration which always, in time, attacks a central city church. The members move into the suburbs, busi- ness encroaches on the resident area around it, and so, by an inexorable law of city development, all three churches were waning from a gradual but steady loss of membership. About January, 1894, Dr. Boardman, when Chaplain of the University of Pennsylvania, invited the Rev. Dr. J. T. Beckley, Pastor of Beth Eden, and the Rev. Dr. George E. Rees, Pastor of the Tabernacle, to meet him confidentially at the Chaplain's office of the University of Pennsylvania, where he proposed a consolidation of these three central churches. The later steps leading to the consolidation are fully set forth by Mr. Hagen in his " History of the Beth Eden Church " {i.\ John Giibbitigs.l On May i, 1882, Rev. John W. Ashworth (Fig. 40), of England, was called to the pastorate of the Church, con- tinuing for about a year, when he was succeeded. May 1 1, 1883, by Rev. John T. Beckley, D.D. (Fig. 41), the last Pastor. Dr. Beckley 's term of service, covering eleven years, was characterized by devoted, earnest work on the part of Pastor and people, coupled with the exercise of a 138 FJRSy BAPTIST CHURCH. most generous benevolence, and the church was pervaded by a spirit of harmony and fellowship which made it as one family, united and loyal in the service of the Master. With the year 1894 we approach the events which culmi- nated in consolidation. In May of that year Dr. Beckley resigned the pastorate, and, the resignation being subse- quently accepted, the church, in July of 1894, was once Fig. 40. — Rev. John Wigney Ashworth. more without a pastor. On August 24th a communication was received by the church from the Philadelphia Baptist City Mission, asking that the church — "Appoint a committee of three, to meet a like committee from the First Baptist Church, the Tabernacle Baptist Church, and three individuals at large, to be appointed by this joint committee — to constitute a general committee to informally consider the denominational interests in the center of the city." BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 139 The names of those composing the committees appointed by the several churches, as well as those called into consul- tation with them, will be found in their joint Report below. Meanwhile, however, from the termination of Dr. Beck- ley's ministry, the church had been fortunate in securing the services of Rev. Frederic Foye Briggs (Fig. 42), then a recent graduate of Crozer Seminary, as a regular supply, and his preaching and pastoral worlc were alike so satisfac- FiG. 41. — Rkv. John Tustin Beckley, D.D. tory as to result in his being unanimously called, on Octo- ber 1 2th, to become the Pastor of the church. Inasmuch, however, as the work of the joint committee mentioned above had developed in such a way as to suggest the serious possibility of the consolidation of Beth Eden with one or both of the other churches, Mr. Briggs felt con- strained to accept the call only as stated supply for a period of six months, beginning November i, 1894. 140 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. The church meeting held on December 28, 1894, was a most important one, as the Committee, consisting of Messrs. Hunter, Githens, and Shumway, then submitted the following Report : "To THE First, Tabernacle, and Beth Eden Baptist Churches: " Your Joint Committee, appointed to consider the re-ad- FiG. 42. — Rp;v. Frederic Fove Briggs, A.M. justment of Baptist interests in the central part of the city, beg leave to report as follows : " Since their appointment, they have held prolonged weekly meetings, and have considered fully and earnestly the best methods of perpetuating and enlarging the work- in the field now occupied by the three churches "They invited in consultation with them Rev. Dr. George Dana Boardman, Honorary Pastor of the First Church ; Rev. Dr. George E. Rees, Pastor of the Tabernacle BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 141 Church ; Rev. B. MacMakin, Secretary of the Philadel- phia Baptist City Mission; and J. Howard Gendell, Esq., who has advised us as to the legal aspects of the plan of consolidation. As Mrs. Bucknell, of the Beth Eden Church, owing to absence from the city, was not able to meet the Committee, they requested Deacon Shumway to fill her place. " It is their unanimous judgment that the work now carried on by the three churches could be more efficiently accomplished, and also other work in line with the forward movements of our day could be undertaken, if a union of the forces and means now employed in sustaining the three churches were concentrated by establishing one central church, well equipped with workers and other agencies for aggressive Christian service, and also, that in anticipation of the rapid changes taking place in the center of the city, through the removal of families to the newer parts of the city, and through the encroachment of busi- ness, provision could be made for laying aside a sufficient sum of money as an endowment, whereby this central church would be financially insured against the contin- gency of coming years, and our Baptist witness to the truth be perpetuated in the central portion of the city, as well as strengthened in other parts where it is greatly needed. The Committee desire to state that, throughout this movement, Rev. Dr. Rees, who has been its prime mover, has exhibited the utmost degree of foresight, magnanimity, and self-forgetfulness. "The Committee recommend the following articles of agreement for adoption — viz. : " Articles of Agreement. ''Article I. — The three churches shall, by proper legal proceedings, be consolidated into one corporation, under the name of ' The First Baptist Church in Philadelphia,' for convenience in this paper called the ' Consolidated Church.' Each of the three churches shall instruct its Board of Trustees to join in proper proceedings in the name of the Church, and under its corporate seal, and for that purpose shall authorize its Board to agree with the other Boards of Trustees, representing their respective 142 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. cluirclie.s, on the details of the petition for consolidation — such, for instance, as the powers, duties, etc., of the Board of Trustees of the Consolidated Church, etc. ''Article II. — The Board of Trustees, whose names are to be stated in the petition for consolidation, shall consist of fifteen persons. They shall be selected, one-third from each of the present churches, each church selecting five. These Trustees shall serve until the first election by the Consolidated Church. '''Article III. — Each church shall select three Deacons. The nine thus selected shall serve temporarily as the Dea- cons of the Consolidated Church until the first election after consolidation. "Article IV. — At the first meeting for business of the Con- solidated Church, which shall be held as soon as practic- able after the decree of consolidation, a Church Clerk and a Treasurer shall be elected, and action shall be taken, by the appointment of a committee or otherwise, toward the formulation and adoption of by-laws and rules. "Article V. — The Consolidated Church, by its Board of Trustees, shall proceed as promptly as possible to sell so much of the property, real and personal, as it may appear desirable to sell. One-fourth of the actual proceeds of so much of the real and personal estate at Broad and Arch Streets, Eighteenth and Chestnut Streets, and Broad and Spruce Streets, as may be sold, together with one-fourth of the estimated value of any one of these properties, which may be retained for the use of the Consolidated Church, shall be set apart as an Endowment Fund, to be invested and the principal thereof to remain intact, not to be used even temporarily, but the income only to be applied toward the work of the church. The estimated value above referred to shall be fixed by the Board of Trustees of the Consolidated Church. "Article VI. — Inasmuch as, for various reasons, a number of members of the three churches may not be able perma- nently to attend the Consolidated Church, it is agreed that after the consolidation has been effected there shall be appropriated, from the proceeds of the church properties sold, ^100,000 for the use of that portion of the members of the Consolidated Church, not less than seventy-five in BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 143 number, who may desire to form one new church under the leadership of Rev. Dr. George E. Rees. It is agreed that this $100,000 sliall be paid to the Trustees of this new church when legally organized, and shall be used only for the erection of buildings and the support of this new Baptist Church. This new body shall be a colony from the Consolidated Church. Such a new church seems very desirable from a broad view of the best interests of the denomination at large. ''Article VII. — As soon as practicable, the Consolidated Church shall take the necessary steps toward obtaining a pastor. Until a permanent pastor is secured, it is agreed that the Rev. Dr. Rees and the Rev. F. F. Briggs shall be the temporary pastors of the Consolidated Church. ''Article VIII. — After the consolidation is completed, the meetings of the Consolidated Church shall be held in any one of the three church buildings or elsewhere, as shall be decided by the Consolidated Church. All pew rents shall then cease and determine, and, unless otherwise ordered, the pews shall be free. The expenses of the church shall be met by contributions, and the income from the Endow- ment Fund when it is formed. "Article IX. — As soon as practicable, the Consolidated Church shall provide the necessary church buildings, to be located as nearly central as possible in the west-central part of the city, in the field now occupied by the three churches. It is intended to carry on the work of the church as an In- stitutional Church, and the buildings shall be constructed accordingly. The changes necessary to develop work of that character shall, however, be made without awaiting the construction of the new buildings, by such gradual steps as may be found practicable. "Your Committee, therefore, in order to carry out the plan above outlined, recommend that each church shall adopt the following resolutions, to wit: " Resolutions. " First. — Resolved, That the l^oard of Trustees of this Church be and hereby is authorized to join with the repre- sentatives of the [here insert the names of the other two 144 FIRS']' BAPTIST CHURCH. churches] Baptist Churches, upon the details of a petition for the consolidation of the three churches and, having agreed thereon, is directed to join in such petition, and, by its proper officers, execute the same in the name of the church and under its corporate seal. " Second. — Resolved, That this church hereby appoints [here insert the names of five persons] as Trustees to be named in the petition for the consolidation of the three churches. "Third. — Resolved, That this church hereby appoints [here insert the names of three persons] as the three Dea- cons, specified in Article III of the 'Articles of Agree- ment.' (Signed) H. L. Wayland, Wm. a. Levering, W. W. Keen. {First C/iurcIi.) Lowell Shumwav. ^ .,, / Benjamin Githens, David A. Hunter. {Beth Eden.) Levi Knowles, Matthew F. Hamilton, Aaron E. Carpenter. ( Tabernacle.) " There was also submitted a set of resolutions adopted by the First Baptist Church, inviting the union of the Beth Eden, Tabernacle, and First Baptist churches, under the charter of the latter. The church, after considering the matter, adopted the following resolution : "Resolved, That Brethren Lowell Shumway, Benj. Gith- ens, David A. Hunter, John H. Geyer, Edwin W. Dukes, Charles F. Morrison, and James F. Hagen be a committee to meet with a similar committee from the First and Taber- nacle Baptist Churches to consider the subject of the invita- tion of the First Baptist Church in regard to consolidation with them, and to report at a future meeting." BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 145 The Committee of Seven reported at a meeting held on January 25, 1895, when the church adopted the Commit- tee's report, which follows : To THE First and Beth Eden Baptist Churches: Your Joint Committee, appointed to consider the re- adjustment of Baptist interests in the central part of the city, beg leave to report as follows : Your Committee met, in conjunction with a Committee appointed by the Tabernacle Baptist Church, and, after mature deliberation, unanimously passed the following Resolutions : " Resolved, That the two churches (the Beth Eden and First Church) shall, by proper legal proceedings, be consolidated under the Charter of the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia. Each of the two churches shall instruct its Board of Trustees to join in proper proceedings in the name of the church and under its Corporate Seal, and for that purpose shall authorize its Board to agree with the other Board of Trustees on the details of the Petition for Consolidation — such, for instance, as the powers, duties, etc., of the Board of Trustees of the First Baptist Church. " Resolved, That the Tabernacle Church be requested to dismiss to the First Baptist Church such as wish to join the new enterprise, and to contribute to it such funds as they deem best." That your Committee subsequently considered the matter of consolidation, and, as a result of their delibera- tion, it is their judgment that the work now carried on by the two churches could be more efficiently accomplished, and also other work in line with the forward movements of our day could be undertaken, if a union of the forces and means now employed in sustaining the two churches were concentrated by establishing one central church, well equipped with workers and other agencies for aggressive Christian service ; and, also, that in anticipation of the rapid changes taking place in the center of the city, through removal of families to the newer parts of the city, and through the encroachment of business, provision could be made for laying aside a sufficient sum of money as an endowment, whereby the central church would be finan- cially insured against the contingency of coming years, and our Baptist witness to the truth be perpetuated in the cen- 146 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. tral portion of the city, as well as strengthened in other parts, where it is greatly needed. The Committee, therefore, recommend the following Articles of Agreement for adoption, viz. : Ar'J'icles of Agreement. Article I. — The two churches shall, by proper legal pro- ceedings, be consolidated into the Charter of " The First Baptist Church of Philadelphia," Each of the two churches shall instruct its Board of Trustees to join in proper pro- ceedings in the name of the church, and under its corpo- rate seal, and for that purpose shall authorize its Board to agree with the other Board of Trustees on the details of the Petition for Consolidation — such, for instance, as the powers, duties, etc., of the Board of Trustees of the First Baptist Church. Article II. — The Board of Trustees, whose names are to be stated in the Petition for Consolidation, shall consist of fifteen persons. They shall be selected, eight members from the First Baptist Church, and seven members from the Beth Eden Church. Article III. — The Deacons of the Beth Eden Church shall become Deacons of the First Baptist Church. Article IV. — At the first meeting for business, after con- solidation, which shall be held as soon as practicable after consolidation, a Church Clerk and a Treasurer shall be selected, and action shall be taken, by the appointment of a committee or otherwise, toward the formation and adop- tion of By-Laws and Rules. Article V. — As soon after consolidation as practicable, the Board of Trustees shall proceed to sell the two prop- erties at Broad and Arch Streets and Broad and Spruce Streets, either at public or private sale. From the pro- ceeds, $150,000, or more if possible, shall be set aside as an Endowment Fund, which shall be safely invested, and the principal thereof remain intact forever, not to be used even temporarily, but only the income thereof to be applied toward the work of the church. The Board of Trustees shall also, as soon as possible, obtain the refusal of a new site in the central part of the city sufficiently large for a church and Guild House, and, if practicable, also for a BI-CENTEMNIAL CELEBRATION. 147 Parsonage, which shall be purchased, after approval by a majority of the adult members of the church. Article VI. — As soon as practicable after consolidation, the church shall take the necessary steps toward obtaining a pastor. Until a permanent pastor is secured, it is agreed that the Rev. F. F. Briggs shall be the temporary pastor. Your Committee, therefore, in order to carry out the plan above outlined, recommend that each church shall adopt the following Resolutions, to wit : Resolutions. I. — Resolved, That the Articles of Agreement, as sub- mitted by the Joint Committee on Consolidation, be and are hereby adopted. II. — Resolved,Th.Ai the Board of Trustees of this church be and is hereby authorized to join with the representatives of \_here insert the name of the other chnrcli\ upon the details of a Petition for the consolidation of the Beth Eden Bap- tist Church into the Charter of the First Baptist Church, and having agreed thereon, is hereby directed to join in such Petition, and, by its proper officers, execute the same in the name of the church, and under its corporate seal. III. — Resok'ed,'Y\\-3itW\Q Tabernacle Church be requested to dismiss to the First Baptist Church such as wish to join the new enterprise, and to contribute to it such funds as they deem best. 'Joseph F. Page, William H. Ford, W. A. Levering, Ernest Leigh Tustin, B. Ogden Loxley, Augustus Thomas, W. W. Keen. /- -.. / (First C/iurcli.) Lowell Shumway, David A. Hunter, Benjamin Githens, John H. Geykr, Edwin W. Dukes, James F. Hag en, Charles F. Morrison. {Beth Eden C/iiirck.) 148 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. The church subsequently chose the following Trustees to represent the Beth Eden interest in the Board of Trus- tees of the consolidated church : Benjamin Githens, David A. Hunter, John H. Geyer, Edwin W. Dukes, William S. Haines, Charles F. Morrison, and James F. Hagen. At a meeting held on the twenty-sixth day of February the church formally approved a Petition to the Court of Com- mon Pleas, No. 2, for consolidation with the First Baptist Church, upon the terms set forth in the Report of the Com- mittee of Seven, and a decree formally consolidating the Beth Eden Church with the First Church, under the name "The First Baptist Church of the City of Philadelphia," was entered by the Court on April 13, 1895,— bringing to a close the history of Beth Eden Baptist Church. In concluding this sketch it may be proper to add that, while not possessing a very large membership, the church participated earnestly in philanthropic work, and fulfilled its mission in the community. For several years religious services under its auspices were held at Durham's Hall, Seventeenth and South Streets, and earnest work done, largely through the consecrated efforts of Mr. John Bunt- ing, now deceased ; the meetings being finally discontinued, however, most of those connected with the movement came to Broad and Spruce Street Church. In other directions also the church extended its usefulness, but of the good accomplished, or of the influence on the lives of men and women exerted by the church, it is not given us to know; the record is on high. B I- CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 149 V. Manners and Customs of our Church, especially in its Earlier Days. Some peculiar features in the history of our church are disclosed by reading the Minutes, the Marriage Book, and the many other records of bygone times. They are of in- terest especially in contrasting the morals, manners, and customs of our own times with those of earlier days. Minutes. — Unfortunately, no Minutes are extant until February 4, 1757. This was toward the end of the minis- try of Jenkin Jones, when his health was so precarious that his services were irregular. The first three Minutes are of interest. (See Fig. 43.) The third Minute is completed on the page following that illustrated in the cut, as follows: ■' S. Burkloe on the other, were amicably adjusted, each promising to forgive and forget. N. B. — This, and the pre- ceding Minute by Dr. Weed." Evidently, the Minutes have been copied from some pre- vious blotter. Our Marriage Book shows that they were written by Morgan Edwards, for the handwriting is unmis- takable. (See facsimile from Marriage Book later.) They are most beautifully written and exactly kept. In fact, this may be said of all our church clerks, not excepting the present one, Mr. W. Clifton Geyer. The business meetings were often held at 9 a. m., 2, 5, or 6 p. M., and sometimes at "early candle light"; but very rarely in the evening until 1817, when evening meetings for business began to be frequent. The business of the church, it would seem, took precedence even of their own private affairs. The frankness with which the Minutes deal with personal offenses, as will be seen, is quite extraordinary, especially in contrast with our own more careful methods. In the ISO FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. >T!J %c chuicVi met T«lv , 'I>\>: v>V>)(\i\\tiCn tn itt". S>T«Ui tf bi dtW,x\)ir>4 'V^'- f«nLv>ct» ck rtca^imaS vmiti Won «fi^iVc\iTnvy witVi ^vxm All McnfoMf* • ^ utiKiticm iTfcniUWT u^mit" ^Nimuil TVie cWvikcVa mti Y^,.'. jf . )j <;- fely . V^'Wui ft\t. JXtuKfa had twAviivcuiid \C ^uniXOft linvY ind. ^. "BvitKlct was ao^uiTttd diT iVvvt tinu., ^<^itcA ■S\%at t>\«. MX irvoiiwdi paidL V^ f|tr»rjt tanrv ^ciiui -5 tuvicUd 4«iCT>d ^amvul ^\o»r(Sal■> "Pu h?nviv» tl\o»^i_) or AKimWcMHv^-,, sw«airin(|, and u«- tiirtilnlnifs icniwtd a^^iniV M' ^i-iWot b^ Lcwxs Pvtti Jind 3'>V%ii TcirV.iv>s . ssVro ccrmnlai-n ttiaa. (ht. <5yc\»>\As of ihtiv that^^i - utrt. not tay\(Ud\y wti^Viti IVm. 4>it.txi«t ptliiin Saimul Eju«WIc<. dtnvtiL tvv£ cVvATi^c) , juift iecom>v»««A«^ te tVic tcnsi^Yation of iui jlku^ck^ ■«< (dlc>M\w^ uiti lev vx X. ifc Iic^ m X <. 9 iTwn.B 3 f,il-v.nr. Nan*- tV>t-U{"i BunVvlct was bUi>i«d. ivn u\i(ltviaVm(J to nuLiv^L »K nvmit «(■ sidMtTO^ticn , a»»d 1Vuv> nuJluHng it Ir ftu. Uint of Ktv"* IviAC 6nUt . One «i)vd«t\tt cf^ Wii iwtitin^ W3A tevind , but 1h» tivatdcs- of d^nnWtMnds Aid txct »i»^vc».i jiii> . TW. <;iw\e. nxisons kUntt- SajTivitl Modin fct diliaaixxt! H\{i>\ ^^^n>^ cov>m>vipv\ vvitVyivilt da'iiM; hil -icisen^ . CitVuis iVwii^fiinx nor te Hiwxt. - ^fj Aiift5tv\tx- V*- tvvfjLW J Ttnto^ , Lwvii r-\tt% , and JoV\r> 2>vddlt 0T\ -tht on* liwt ; a»«L Fig. 43- -Facsimile of the First Page of our Fikst Minute Book (IN the Handwriting of Morgan Edwards). BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 151 earlier Minutes, from 1762 until the end of i8i4,the names of all members present were recorded, and it is to be noted that only men attended the church meetings for many years. This may account in part for the extraordinary plain-speaking of the Minutes, especially in cases of disci- pline— a plainness which would be out of place in a mixed assembly. Voting by Women.— T\\^ Minutes for March 31, 1764, contain the following item in reference to the voting by women at the church business meetings : " The following reply to a query, brought the last meet- ing of business, was agreed upon by all present : " ' Whether women have a right of voting in the church ?' To which we reply, with due honour to our sisters: That the rights of Christians are not subject to our deter- minations, nor to the determinations of any church or state upon earth. We could easily answer that, in civil affairs, they have no such right; but whether they have, or have not in the church, can only be determined by the Gospel, to which we refer them. But if, upon enquiry, no such grant of right can be found in the gospel, and if vot- ing should appear to be a mere custom, we see no necessity for breaking it, except the custom should, at any time, be stretched to subvert the subordination which the gospel hath established in all the churches of the saints. I suffer not a zuonian to nsurp authority ; but command that she be in subjection, as also saitli the laiv. i Tim. ii ; i Cor. xiv. Nor do we know that this church, or any of us, have done anything to deprive the sisters of such a practice be it a right, or be it a custom only, except a neglect on a late occasion be deemed such, which we justify not. On the contrary, if the sisters do attend our meetings of business, we purpose that their suffrage or disapprobation shall have their proper influence; and, in case they do not attend statedly we purpose to invite them when anything is to be transacted which touches the interest of their souls. We depute our brother Samuel Davis to wait on the sisters, with our christian respects ; and to communicate to them this our minute." 152 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. To this on May 4th the Sisters sent the following reply : " Respected Brethren, " Tlie Sisters being informed that a query was proposed in a Meeting of Business held the 3d of March to know whether Women has a Right of voteing in that Church, that the Brethren debated it some Time, and then left it to further Consideration, they soon let the Brethren know it was a Mistake and the Sisters who had been many Years Members of that Church was well acquainted with the Privileges they Members enjoyed even before they gave their Names amongst them, and had they thought their Priviliges or their Practices contray to the Word of God they would or ought to have kept themselves separate from them, we did expect as our Query was known that they would have considered at their next meeting of Busi- ness and must confess we were much surprised to find that our Query was totally omited in their Minute to us in which they have only answered that which we had before let many of the Brethren know we never did ask being satisfyed already in that Point both from the Scriptures and the former practice of our Church but as we have not the Vanity expect we can say anything that will convince some of our Brethren who we hear are of Mr. Turnors opinion we shall only say that his Sentiments are not ours tho' we see them expresed in your Minutes we are now under the disagreeable Necessity of informing our Brethren in this publick manner that our Query was this. We know our former Rights and we beg to know who had a Right to deprive us of them as you say in your Minutes, nor do we know that this Church or any of us have done anything to deprive the sisters of such a practice be it a right or a cus- tom except omission on a late occasion we deemed such w^hich we justify we must confess our ignorance of these words. On a late occasion. Tis now about two years and a half since our brothers Westcott, Davis, and Levering were chosen deacons, and, you may remember, contrary to all our common rules of voting in that church. Mr. Edwards asked in particular the opinion of each brother, without seeming to distinguish the sisters then present from the most senseless of beings, the first instance this we ever knew of sisters being treated with such contempt in that BI-CEN'J'ENNIAL CELEBRATION. 153 church, Since which time we have heard of many particu- lars in which, according to the former rules of our baptist church sisters had a right of giving their suffrage or dis- approbation in all which they have been totally omitted. We do assure the brethren we will not attempt to teach or usurp any authority in the church of God; neither would we be so ignorant as to shut our eyes at all times, when our rights, which we never did any thing to forfeit, are denied us. Suffer us to mention one more sentence of your Minute which is this ' Wc purpose to invite them zvlien any tiling is to be transacted which to?iches the interest of their souls' We hope you will be so kind as to explain these sentences unto us who confess we do not know your mean- ing by them. As we hear we are much blamed by some of our brethren for not sending our complaints sooner, we must in justice to ourselves give some reasons for defering it so long, which are these. When we were omitted several of the sisters spoke to Mr. Edwards, who had omitted us, and he told them he did not know that it was the custom of women to vote in our church he was sorry he had given offence but he assured them he would do all in his power to give the sisters satisfaction, and it should be looked into and settled. Since which promise we have waited with all due subordination, and should have still waited longer, had it not happened to be mentioned by one of the sisters to our brother Davis which we knew nothing of till after the meeting where it was carried in. We shall be very glad if our brethren will consider seriously of these particulars, and we can say with sincerity we wish to see every branch of our church reunited in the sacred bands of christian friendship and peace. Signed in behalf of the sisters, " Johanna Anthony. May 4, 1764." " It was asked whether the women should be allowed to give their suffrace as heretofore or in some other manner. For the question 1 2, Against it 4. the four were not against the thing but the manner." Notwithstanding this very spirited reply, while on June 2d four women and eighteen men were present, the former seem to have taken no part in the proceedings ; and on 154 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. June 30tli, the next meeting, there were no women pres- ent, nor do we find a record of their presence for three years afterward. This prejudice against women taking any part in church affairs, other than religious, probably accounts for a quaint statement given in Morgan Edwards' " Materials," pages 1 15 to 121. In 1706 a young woman who had some trouble with her hip-joint was alleged to have been cured by laying on of hands and prayer. A committee of fifteen men and eight women was appointed to investigate her case, and at the end of the report is this postscript : " N. B. — The reason why we, the sisters, have signed this, is, because we have more narrowly searched her as to the hip." Small Affairs. — Very small affairs, especially in the early days, occupied the attention of the whole church, which in the present day would be settled by one of the committees of the trustees alone. It was a time when, as with the Vicar of Wakefield, " all their adventures were by the fire- side and all their migrations from the blue bed to the brown." For example, in 1762 the clerk was ordered to buy a " Minute Book of six quires of paper," and at another time it was ordered that Mr. Edwards should "bespeak a case of pigeon holes for holding the books and papers belonging to the church." October 5, 1789: " Brother McLeod presents the church with a Settee to be placed under the pulpit, and brother Ustick is requested to return the Church's thanks to brother McLeod for so handsome an accommodation." Poverty. — Their poverty is also manifested during the trials of the Revolution by a Minute of November 6, 1779, when " Joseph Watkins is desired to get the broken panes of the Baptist Church filled up with boards." Lighting the Church. — The matter of lighting the church was a very serious one. Of course, all lighting was by can- BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 155 dies at first, as we find, for instance, on November 5, 1792, a committee was appointed to procure " two branches " for the pulpit and various " sconces." But things moved slowly in those days, for the committee took from November 5, 1792, to June 2, 1794, when they finally reported that they had completed their task at a cost of ^^14 15s. In 1 8 19 a committee presented an elaborate report on the desirability of lamps as a successor to candles, and after counting up the cost of candles by the box instead of the pound, as they at one time bought them, and the cost of the lamps, oil, and wicks, they show that it would save ^19.35 a year, and by the additional light would supersede the necessity of " parsing out the hymns." Much objec- tion, however, was made to the lamps, inasmuch as it was stated that in certain churches where oil had been adopted the oil leaked upon the people. The amicable fight lasted from the beginning of 18 19 until 1822, when lamps won a partial victory. It was then resolved to place one lamp in the north aisle so that all could see and judge. So favorable was the impression that on March 4th four lamps were ordered, and in 1824, five years after the dis- cussion began, candles were of the past. On Christmas Day, 1837, at a meeting of the Trustees a committee was appointed to consider the advisability of replacing oil with gas, and it was ordered to be introduced July 15, 1839. It is only within the past year that gas in turn has given way, partially at least, to electricity. Heating the Church. — On January 25, 1824, a committee was appointed to inquire into the expediency of heating the ichurch by coal. Before that the church had been heated by large tin-plate wood stoves. Moreover, the floors were uncarpeted.and were sanded twice each month. Carpets are first noted in the Minutes in 1829, but they were probably used much earlier. Imposition of Hands. — But not only in matters temporal 156 FIRST BAPTIST CIJURCfL were minor points made much of, but in the realm s{)iritual also. As early as 1652, thirteen years after it was founded, the First Church of Providence made the " laying on of hands" a condition of communion, and in 1731-32 even communion in prayer with those who had not " passed under hands " was made a matter of discipline. So far did this go that the one difference between the so-called Six Principle Baptists and the Five Principle Baptists — the Lay- ing on of Hands — led to the formation of the Welsh Tract Church in 1701. In that year a " church emigrant," as Morgan Edwards calls them, came over from Wales and settled near Pennepek, but in consequence of the imposi- tion of hands not being observed by the brethren of Pen- nepek, the orthodox Welshmen pulled up stakes, moved in a body to Delaware, purchased 30,000 acres of ground, and from that time to this the church has been known as the " Welsh Tract " Church. In our own church the imposition of hands was the rule, but was not obligatory in the early days. The Philadel- phia Confession of Faith added to the Century Confession an article on " Laying on of Hands" (chap, xxxi), which if followed to-day would make the rite compulsory. It says : " We believe that laying on of Hands (with prayer) upon baptized Believers, as such, is an Ordinance of Christ, and ought to be submitted unto by all such Persons that are admitted to Partake of the Lord's Supper." Indeed, so rigidly was this adhered to that in 1729 the " church at Philadelphia" sent the following query to the Association : " Suppose a gifted brother who is esteemed an orderly minister by or among those that are against the laying on of hands in any respect should happen to come among our church, whether we may allow such an one to administer the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper, or no ? BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 157 Answered in the negative ; because it is contrary to the rule of God's word ; see Acts xiii : 2, 3 and xiv: 23, com- pared with Titus i : 5 and Timothy iv : 14, from which pre- scribed rules we dare not swerve." In 1783 the Association had become more Hberal in interpreting their own article, for I find that they replied to the question whether the laying on of hands is an ordi- nance of the gospel to be administered to all baptized per- sons, or only in particular cases : " We observe that imposition of hands on baptized per- sons has been the general practice of the churches in union with this Association, and is still used by most of them, but it was never considered by the Association as a bar to communion. Resolved, that any persons scrupling to submit thereto may be admitted to the fellowship of the church without it." Not uncommonly, however, as in 1770, in the case of William Rogers, persons were received into our church by laying on of hands and prayer. It has been our custom in the ordination of deacons up to the present time, but no stress is laid upon it. Ordination of Deacons. — It is interesting to observe in the records of December 10, 1763, that the full formula for this ordination of deacons is given as follows: "Dec 10, 1763. The church met this day, by way of preparation for celebrating the Lord's Supper on the mor- row : and to ordain deacons — The meeting began with prayer from the desk suitable to both designs of the meet- ing— Then was delivered a dissertation on the office of a deacon, his qualifications and duty, the manner of his elec- tion, and instalment in the office — Then the deacons elect viz Joseph Moulder, Joseph Watkins and Samuel Miles were brought to the administrator; who laid his hands on each; and prayed in the following words. ' In the name of the Lord Jesus, and according to the practice of his apostles towards persons chosen to the deaconship I lay 158 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. hands on you my brother, whereby you are constituted or ordained a deacon of this church ; installed in the office, and appointed and impovvered to collect and receive her revenues ; and to dispose thereof in providing for, and serving the Lord's-table; and providing for the table of the minister and the poor ; and in transacting other temporal affairs of the church, that the minister may not be detered from the ministry of the word and prayer, nor those con- cerns of the family of faith neglected. In the use of which rite of imposition of hands, I pray — that God will confirm in heaven what we do on earth ; and receive you into the number of them who minister to him in the civil affairs of his sanctuary — That he will fill you more and more with the holy Ghost, wisdom and honesty; that by using the office of a deacon well you may purchase to yourself a good degree, and great boldness in the faith ; even so Lord Jesus. Amen.' When each had been ordained they stood up from kneeling, and were addressed by the minister in the following manner. ' We give you the right hand of fellowship in token that we acknowledge you for our dea- con ; and to express our congratulations and good wishes.' " It is curious to note that the early deacons were chosen " on trial," as in a Minute, January 16, 1758, Henry Wood- row was chosen elder on trial and Joshua Moore deacon on trial. Moreover, before the present century, and even probably nmch later, the deacons had exclusive charge of the temporal affairs of the church as well as of the spir- itual, as is seen in the form of ordination. Ruling Elders. — I can scarcely give the precise province of " ruling elders," but they seem to have had higher authority than the deacons ; they were chosen not only in our own church, but in many others. The first notice found in our records as to ruling elders is in a Minute for July 7, 1766. " Pursuant to an agreement of the church relative to ruling elders dated Apr. 6 the church met on May loth following for their election which was done by ballotting, when the lots fell on Isaac Jones, George Westcott and BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 159 Sam. Davis ; they having accepted the office and promised to execute it to the best of their abiUty ; the 14th of June was fixed upon for their instahment when they were or- dained by laying on of hands and prayer." Communion. — In the early history of the Pennepek Church the communion was administered quarterly in Burlington, Cohansey, Chester, and Philadelphia. Later (but at what period I have been unable to ascertain), owing to the fact that we were a branch of Pennepek, the pastor held the communion service at Pennepek on the first Sunday of the month, and in Philadelphia on the second Sunday. This continued a peculiarity of our church until April 14, 1873, when by a vote of the church the communion service was changed to the first Sunday. I have always regretted the change as obliterating a distinctive historical peculiarity of our church, though more convenient in other ways. Two other peculiarities of our church I hope will not be discarded. We hold no " Watch Meeting " to watch the old year out, but at 8 a.m. on New Year's morning we meet for an hour of prayer, which ushers in the New Year. Our church " Motto " for the New Year (a text of Scripture) hangs above the Pastor's chair for the first time. While all present reverently rise and remain standing in honor of the sainted dead, the Pastor reads the church necrology for the year, using the following formula : " Members of the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia will rise, and remain standing, while we offer our mortuary tribute : " Fallen asleep during the year 18 — the following mem- bers of the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia (reading the list chronologically). " Forgetting the things wherein they may have failed and gratefully remembering the many things wherein by Divine Grace they triumphed, we, their fellow-pilgrims in the King's highway to the City of the Foundations, halt for a moment, that, as we pass the milestone of another i6o FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. year, we may lovingly and reverently recall the names and graces of these our comrades who have preceded us into the promised Rest. Let us not then sorrow as those do who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also those who fell asleep through Jesus will God bring with Him. So then comfort one another with these words." Then, while still standing, the church sings either — " Asleep in Jesus, blessed sleep." or " Come, let us join our friends above." At the conclusion of the service the Pastor shakes the hand of every one present, and gives each a card on which is printed the " Pastor's New Year's wish for his People." At 3 p. M. on Good Friday we for many years have held a service of commemoration and consecration. Both of these customs we owe to Dr. Boardman. It may be an interesting memorandum that it was Dr. Boardman's custom when pastor of our church to note the death of any illustrious citizen (on either side of the Atlantic) in the following way : The audience were re- quested to rise and remain standing while he read his tribute. Thus we paid tribute, for example, to Martin B. Anderson, Phillips Brooks, Stephen A. Caldwell, George W. Childs, James A. Garfield, William E. Gladstone, Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, Robert W. McCall, Alfred Tennyson, etc. During the eighteenth century I find very frequently in the Minutes a vote to admit certain persons to " transient communion," in case of persons making a visit to the city for a longer or shorter time. This was a very common practice among the Baptist churches, marking the inde- pendence of each church, and that the communion was strictly the service of the individual church. Manning,' 1 Benedict, "Gen. Hist, of the Baptist Denomination," etc., vol. i, p. 479. BI-CRNTEXNIAL CELEBRATION. i6i when President of Brown University, then estabHshed in the town of Warren, R. I., visited Providence in 1770, and, without a vote of the church, was invited by the minister to partake of the communion. Such a vote was passed later, but a number of members were still dissatisfied, for the reason that Manning " did not make the imposition of hands a bar to communion, though he himself received it and administered it to those who desired it." In addition to that, there was much opposition because he " held to singing in public worship." It is extraordinary to see the scrupulosity of some persons in those early days, as, for example, one of the questions presented to the Philadelphia Association in 1735 was what should be done " if members of the church grow scrupulous about matters morally indifferent to themselves, such as . . . the manner of serving the communion, the cup upon a plate or without, and refrained from the communion." The Association's sensible answer was, " The church was in no wise obliged to yield to such vain humors." If the fathers had been equally scrupulous in the matter of manners it would have been more to the credit of the church; for I find in our Minutes of June 9, 1758, the fol- lowing recorded with what would now be called brutal frankness, but was then characteristic of the times. It will be observed that several allusions to " meetings for prepa- ration " have been already met with. This was a service at 3 p. M. on the Saturday preceding the communion Sunday. Its sanctifying influence seems to have been very short- lived in this instance. " When meeting of preparation was over, and the meet- ing of business going to be concluded by prayer, M"" Woodrow stopt M'' T. Davis hands in order to propose that a meeting of business should be appointed by itself. This was seconded by J. Perkins, L. Rees and some women II i62 FIRSl- BAPTIST CHURCH. very strenuously. Then M'' Jones, M"" Branson, M"" J. L. and others went out. Upon which John Perkins locked the door — S. Burkiloe asked If they were going to be made prisoners of? S. Morgan made towards the window in order to go out, and call a constable. J. Powell prevented him. M""' Shewell snatched the key from Perkins and opened the door. Then M"" Woodrow remonstrated with S. Morgan for his arbitrary proceedings ; and bickerings ensued — T. Davis made as tho' he would conclude the meeting with prayer. Lewis Rees stayed him till the meet- ing of business should be agreed on, adding, to Tho. Davis, that he was the cause of much mischief — Davis leaves them. They propose to put the motion to the vote. Mor- gan goes out to bring M"" Jones and M'" Davis in. They come and put an end to the meeting, but not before the 23rd day had been fixed on, during their absence. The next day S. Morgan refused to give the bread and wine to H. Woodrow, L. Rees and M'"'' Woodrow. But H. Wood- row snatched the bread." Happily we may add, " Tcvipora viutcmtur ct nos niiita- rnur in Hits." On November 6, 1762, I find a Minute to the effect that each member was required to deposit a ticket at each com- munion, "that it maybe known who are absent that an enquiry be made after them." A frequent form of milder ecclesiastical punishment was to" suspend" offenders from the communion for several months, and when the offending member had amended his life he was restored by vote to the privilege. Our communion plate consists of the silver chalice for which Jenkin Jones left the legacy of £2^ in 1760 (p. 41). On July 3, 1762, the Minutes direct that this legacy should be applied to the purchase of a communion chalice, and that, should it cost more, " the old silver cup (now belong- ing to the meeting) should be sold to help paying for the new." I suspect that the silversmiths of those days were not more generous than those of to-day, for the chalice BICENTENNIAL CELEBKA TION. i6i (Fig. 44) cost not only the ^^25 and the " old silver cup," but £\2 17s. 3d. in addition.' Four old pewter plates (Fig. 45) bear the inscription : " Baptist CJmrcJi PJiUadelphia I75J-' These pewter plates have been regularly used each com- munion Sabbath for one hundred and forty-eight years, Fig. 44.— Silver Communion Chalice. and, as historic relics, are esteemed even more highly than their more pretentious silver companions. On October 6, 1794. "two silver pint canns " (Fig.'46) 1 Minutes, Dec. 4, 1762. 164 FIRST BAPTIST CIIUNCII. were bought for use at the communion at a cost of ;^20, and were to be engraved : " Tlic particular Baptist C/iiirc/i of Philada., i7Q4r The salvers on which tliey are served are engraved : " Belonging to tJic First Baptist CliurcJi of Philadelphia, Fig. 45. — Pewtkr Communion Plate. This is the earHest designation of our church as the First Baptist Church. These also, with four other cups, and two other silver salvers subsequently purchased, are still in use. The amenities of life, however, were more considered in later days, for I find on January ii, 18 11, but only after several months' discussion : " It was resolved that a collec- B I- CENTENNIA L CE L E B RA TION. 165 tion for the use of the poor members of this church be made monthly immediately after the hymn is sung at the conclusion of the administration of the Lord's Supper." In 1838 the aged members were directed " to be con- veyed from the Widows' Asylum in order that they might have the privilege of the communion." Baptism. — In Morgan Edwards' " Materials" is a picture of what was called in his day the " Baptisterioii" (Fig. 47). This was a lot at what is now Spruce Street wharf on the Schuylkill, and extended from the present Twenty-fifth (then Willow) Street down to the river. It was a beautiful Fig. 46.— Silver Communion Cup and Sai.ver. spot, covered with large oaks, which were cut down by the British during their occupation of Philadelphia. Edwards describes it (Appendix N) as being "about a mile and a half out of Philadelphia. . . . Under foot is a green, variegated with wild flowers and aromatic herbs." In the midst of this spot was a large stone, rising about three feet above the ground, upon which the minister stood, and Edwards says: " I once reckoned there 32 carriages and have often seen present from 100 to looo people, all behaving much better than in some other places." A small building had been erected before 1770, which the candidates used for dressine. FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. Our church seems to have occupied the place by a sort of "squatter sovereignty," for through the kindness of Mr. -2 S? A) M O F. W. Weightman, who has examined the deeds for me, I find that the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 167 on June 15, 1782, deeded the property on the southwest corner of Twenty-fifth (then Willow) and Spruce Streets, 107 feet on Spruce Street, and extending down to low- water mark on the Schuylkill River, to Thomas Sheilds, a member of our church.' He bought it — " At the special instance and by the direction of the church and with their moneys for a place of worship and the administration of the ordinance of Baptism according to the Tenats and Rules of the said Religious Society." May 7 and August 5, 1782, the church appointed Trus- tees for the property, to whom Thomas Sheilds transferred it September 6, 1784. Before 1770 the church had erected the building above mentioned, for it is described by Morgan Edwards in that year, and pictured in his book (Fig. 47). They evidently used the lot without any legal authority, but without objec- tion, since it was then only waste land. The later history of the property is involved in the con- troversy with the Spruce Street Church already related, and it was used as a means of partial payment of the amount agreed to be paid the Spruce Street Church in 1835 (p. 96). As the title was in dispute between the two churches, both claiming to be the First Church, in order to make a clear title, on March 11, 185 i, our church con- veyed it to William Bucknell, Jr. (a member of the Spruce Street Church), for $4000, subject to a mortgage of $5000, and on March 12th William Bucknell, Jr., deeded it back to John C. Davis (a member of our church), promissory notes for ^4000 being given in payment for it. March 28, 1863, it was finally sold to Samuel Cattell for the Knickerbocker Ice Company. These various conveyances explain what at first puzzled me greatly — the statement in the Minutes that in 185 i the 1 "Deed Book 56," p. 334, May 2, 1796. 1 68 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. lot was sold to the Spruce Street Church, and yet leases of the lot appear on our Minutes again and again for years afterward. This Schuylkill lot and the " Schuylkill Branch " must not be confounded. The latter was a mission, which was organized February 12, 1843, though from "Mary Hall- man's Life " (pp. 38-93), and a printed report in our archives, a school had been organized there, and as early as 1832 had 136 children in it. The mission rented the Presbyterian Church at the corner of Ashton and Lombard Streets. Its Minute books exist in our archives, and cover the whole time until January 22, 1854, when the mission was abandoned, after doing an excellent work. This " Baptisterion " was used not only by our church, but Edwards especially states " that a late clergyman of the Church of England was wont to make this river his bap- tisterion." It was used also by other Baptist churches, including, by a special vote (September 9, 1816), the Col- ored Church. The hours of baptism seem to have varied, and to have been fixed for each special occasion. It was sometimes as early as 6 and 7 a. m. in summer, very com- monly at 9 and 1 1 a. m. and 3 or 4 p. m., and almost always on weekdays. A Minute of April 7, 1817, states that certain candidates should be received " after baptism to be administered Saturday next at 10 p. m." I can not think that this is other than a clerical error for "10 A. M." But about 1830 this " baptisterion" seems to have been given up, and the ordinance was administered at Cooper's Point, Camden, and on Sunday. The minister, the candi- dates, and the congregation marched from the old church on Lagrange Place, in procession, to Arch Street wharf, where they took a ferry-boat. As late, however, as 1841 I find that some candidates were baptized in the Schuylkill at the United States Arsenal, and this was two years after a baptistery had been built in the church itself. BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 169 On February 16, 1836, a committee was raised to con- sider the subject of providing a common baptistery for the use of all the Baptist churches " in the city and the Liber- ties," and in case of failure, to consider the question of providing a baptistery in or near the church. On January 5th of the same year I am happy to say that, after the difficulties with the Spruce Street Church had been arranged, the use of the baptistery recently built in their new church was requested, and was cheerfully granted. On January loth one of the candidates, having been meantime baptized in this baptistery, was received ; the other, a woman, having declined the use of the baptistery, had not yet been baptized, the administration of the ordinance having been deferred on account of a severe snow-storm. Among our papers I found a receipt for ^3.00 " for clear- ing ice for baptism," dated February 12, 1835. So great was the aversion on the part of many to the baptistery, that for a number of years the candidates, after relating their experience, were desired to state their preference, whether they would be baptized in the river or in the baptistery. On September 12, 1836, a committee reported in favor of erecting a baptistery in the burying-ground, and presented plans for that drawn by Thomas U. Walter, the architect of the Capitol at Washington. He was named after our former pastor, Thomas Ustick, and was the son of Joseph S. Walter, then of the Spruce Street Church. But the follow- ing week the project was defeated by a vote of 34 to 44. Finally, on January 14, 1839, a baptistery was ordered to be built in the church by a vote of 70 to 28. Independence of Ministej's. — The ministers asserted their independence occasionally in a somewhat marked manner. For instance, in 18 16, the church " being stopped and con- vened" before the communion, Dr. Holcombe reported that on the previous day he had baptized my uncle, Joseph Keen, Jr., who then immediately related his experience and was lyo FIRST BAPTISr CllUKCJL received. This was not the only case in which the clergyman asserted his prerogative of baptizing a candidate without consulting the church, for the same course had been fol- lowed on October 17, 181 2, in the case of Thomas Stewart. While in emergencies this may be justified, yet to make it a rule would be unfortunate. Indeed, so long before as 1763 this practice of our church had been considered by the Philadelphia Association, and they " all allowed that this may be, and in some cases must be ; but that the other practice was more expedient." The church also asserted its rights as an independent church on October 15, 1815, when a Brother Wiley desir- ing to go the next day, Monday, to New Orleans to preach, and wishing to be ordained, the church voted in favor of it without calling any council to advise with them, and ordained him on the same afternoon. Letters of Dismission. — In the early days letters of dis- mission were ordered to be drawn up in each particular case by the Pastor, a member, or a committee, but on Octo- ber 6, 1806, there is a vote that the pastor, Dr. Staughton, should draw up a blank form for such letters, a custom followed ever since that date. Burial Ground. — It was the common practice in the early days for each church to have a burial ground attached to it, as is still the custom in the country. A large burial ground lay to the westward of the church on Lagrange Place, and I find that as late as 181 i-'i3 there were as many as forty or fifty interments annually. It is always called in the records, after the old English idiom, " breaking ground." On June 4, 1763, just after a new church had been built, it had been voted that — " Every person who has subscribed toward the building of the meeting house, or who pays for a seat in it shall be buried in the grave yard for one Dollar, and that none other shall be buried for less than Two Dollars." BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 171 On February 13, 1794, a committee was appointed to inquire into a proposed law forbidding intramural inter- ments. We can understand how self-interest might warp their judgment, because I find that in 1788 the rates had been raised, and were then fixed for burial of pew-owners at 10 shillings; for strangers, 40 shillings; and £\^ for the privilege of being buried in the aisle of the meeting-house. On January 21, 1 799, it was resolved — "That considering the Contracted state of the Burying Ground also the expences of keeping it in repair, That in future, The Price of Breaking ground for Strangers shall be Sixteen Dollars and the rate of interment in the Aisle of the Meeting House shall be Fifty Dollars." Twenty years later, on January 4, 1819, the rates were raised still further, and it was decided that the holding of half a pew entitled the whole family to interment, but single sittings, only the holder — the price being for pew- holders, ;^3. 50 ; for strangers, ^25.00; headstones, $50.00; and for interment in the aisle, $500. In spite of the fre- quent mention of rates for a burial in the aisle, which would presuppose its frequency, Morgan Edwards and some of his family are the only persons whose burial in the aisle I have discovered.^ 1 In connection with burial in the aisle, the following extract from an article on "Ancient Parish Life in England" ("The Nineteenth Century," March, 1898, p. 434), by Augustus Jessopp, is of interest : " Another source of revenue was the fees exacted by the parish for the burial of ' people of importance ' who desired to be laid in the church itself. The significance of this must not be passed over. It should be remembered that the surface of the soil of the churchyard was part of the parson's freehold. Any parishioner had a right of sepulture in God's acre ; but the parson could always claim his fee for 'l)reaking the soil,' and this was a source of income to him. So with the chancel — that too was the parson's freehold ; and for burial there, in the most holy part of the church, very considerable fees were from time to time claimed and paid. But the church itself — /. . HYMN. — " Goii B/ess our Sabbath School." ADDRESS: ERNE.ST L. TUSTIN, Es(^)., Superintendent. [Mr. Tustin was unavoida- bly absent in tlie far West.] HYMN. — " Living for Jesus. " BENEDICTION: Kerr Boyce Tupper, D.D., LL.D., Pastor. SATURDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 10, AT 7.45 O'CLOCK, MEETING AT ASSOCIATION HALL, S. E. Cor. Fifteenth and Chestnut Sts. GEORGE DANA BOARDMAN, D.D., LL.D., Honorary Pastor, Presiding. PRELUDE.— Orchestra. INVOCATION : Prof. Henry C. Vedder, D.D., of Crozer Tlieological Seminary, His- torian; autlior of "Short History of the Baptists," " History of the Bap- tists in the Aliddle States," etc. RESPONSIVE SCRIPTURE READING: Leader, William Cathcart, D.D., of Hoyt, Pa., Historian ; editor of the " Baptist Encyclopedia." 20 3o6 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. PRAYER : William Cathcart, D.D. HYMN.— 'M// Hailtlw Power of Jesus' Name:'' ADDRESS: "The History of the First Baptist Church of the City of Philadelphia." (See page 13.) W. W. Kken, M.D., LL.D. HYMN.—" My Couu/ry, 'tis of Thee:' BENEDICTION : Prof. Henry C. Vkddf.r, D.D. SUNDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 11, AT 10.30 O'CLOCK, SERVICE AT ASSOCIATION HALL, S. E. Cor. Fifteenth and Chestnut Sts. KERR BOYCE TUPPER, D.D., LL.D., Pastor, Presiding. K^TWEU.—'' Praise the Lord, O Jenisaleiii,'' MaiDider. INVOCATION : Rev. B. MacMackin, General Secretary Philadelphia Baptist City Mis- sion. HYMN.— "^rf/i-Zr Through Another Week:' RESPONSIVE SCRIPTURE READING: Leader, A. T- Rowland, D.D., General Secretary American Baptist Publication Society. BI-CENTENNIAL HYMN: Composed for this occasion by our late member, Thomas Rosling Ho\v- LETT, D.D., Pastor of the Immanuel Mission, 1884-85. PRAYER OF GRATITUDE FOR THE PAST: Henry G. Weston, D.D., LL.D., President Crozer Theological Semi- nary. OFFERTORY. QUARTET.— "^/rti'7;//?(v;/," Millard. BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 307 SERMON : "The Church of the Past." George Dana Boardman, D.D., LL I)., Honorary Pastor. (See p. 251.) HYMN.— "(?«;- God, our Help in Ai;es Past:' BENEDICTION : W. H. CONARD, D.D., Corresponding Secretary Pennsylvania Baptist State Mission Society. SUNDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 11, AT 7.45 O'CLOCK, SERVICE AT ASSOCIATION HALL, S. E. Cor. Fifteenth and Chestnut Streets. GEORGE DANA BOARDMAN, D.D., LL.D., Honorary Pastor. Presiding. K^TWYM^—^'JiibHate Deo;' Buck. INVOCATION: George M. Spratt, D.D., Corresponding Secretary Pennsylvania Bap- tist Ministerial Education Society, organized in our Church, 1839. HYMN.—" O Worship the King.'' 1>LESP0NSIVE SCRIPTURE READING: Leader, Rev. Frank S. Dobbin's, District Secretary American Baptist Missionary Union. HYMN.—" O CiViId I Speak the Matchless Jl'orth." PRAYER FOR GUIDANCE IN THE FUTURE: Lemuel Moss, D.D., President of the American Baptist Historical Society. OFFERTORY. ANTHEM, "Gloria in E.xcelsis," IVilsou. SERMON : "The Church of the Future." (Seep. 271.) Kerr Boyce Tupper, D.D., LL.D., Pastor. HYMN. — '■'■How Firm a Foundation." BENEDICTION: E. B. Palmer, D.D., District .Secretary .American Baptist HomeMission Society. TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 6, FROM 8 TO 10 O'CLOCK. RECEPTION. RECEPTION, A large number of invited guests, both of the Baptist and other churches, with most of our members, were present. The evening was spent in happy greetings natural to the occasion, and many interdenominational courtesies were extended. Light refreshments were served by an efficient committee of ladies during the evening. On the platform were exhibited many interesting relics ; such as the oldest deed in our possession, dating from 1694; the first Minute Book and Marriage Book of the church, portraits of pastors, drawings of the Baptisterion, the Barbadoes storehouse, Anthony Morris' brew-house, the church of 1808, the Communion plate, Morgan Edwards' " Materials, etc.," his cane, green spectacles, watch-key, seal ring, coat-of-arms, a lock of his hair, Sunday-school tickets, etc., in which the members of the church and guests showed a great interest. This social gathering inaugurated most auspiciously the bi-centennial celebration, and was one of the pleasantest features of the week. WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, DECEMBER 7. WOMEN'S MEETING. ADDRESS— Till: " DORCAS SOCIETY MRS. T. SEYMOUR SCOTT. The following story is told of Franklin, who was a per- sonal friend of one of our earliest pastors: He was dining one day with some distinguished gentle- men, when one said, " Here are three nationalities : I am French, my friend is English, and Mr. Franklin is an American ; let each one propose a toast." They agreed. The Englishman rose first, and with the bold air of a Briton said : " Here's to Great Britain, the sun that gives light to all the nations of the earth." The Frenchman then mildly proposed : " Here's to France, the moon whose magic rays move the tides of the world." Franklin then rose and modestly said: " Here's to George Washington, the Joshua who commanded the sun and moon to stand still, and they obeyed." So would I say to-day : " Here's to old Dorcas," — al- though this church may be the sun, in whose " dim relig- ious light," shining down through two hundred years, we are now basking, and the Sunday-school, the moon, through whose influence the tide of youthful energy is ever flowing churchward ; yet somehow Dorcas seems the center of it all, and without her ceaseless activity our church life would be somewhat at a standstill. Yes ! the Dorcas Society is the center around which entwines the home life of the church. The very name, an old Scriptural one, suggests good motherly hearts and unselfish lives, not self- centered, not absorbed in their own surroundings, giving out sympathy and help for human woe. At the mention 315 3i6 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. of it there comes to the mind the picture of that upper chamber where, in the presence of their beloved dead, her co-workers held up to the Apostles' gaze the garments fashioned by those fingers, now^ cold in death, unmistak- able evidences of her " good works and alms deeds." Would that we could here bring before you the garments made and distributed by our Dorcas ; they would fill these arches and crannies. But, alas ! very many of them have gone the way of all things earthly, yet leaving behind bright memories of love and kindness written on the hearts and in the lives of hundreds of God's needy children. I have time to mention only, among many others, three reasons why this part of our women's work has a claim on our attention at this bi-centenary of our church : first, its age: secondly, the number of saintly women connected with its history; thirdly, what has been accomplished through its instrumentality. First, its age — fifty-eight years old ; you say that is not two hundred years. No; you must remember that 1698 is a long while ago : before the Declaration of Independence ; before the children of our forefathers and foremothers had time to be domesticated in this huge land of ours ; long, long before this country had become the dumping-ground for the refuse of Europe, bringing so much suffering and pov- erty to be alleviated. Why, one hundred years ago there was no public library in the United States ! two stage- coaches bore all the travel between New York and Boston ; the man who criticized the preacher or his sermon was fined ; the church collection was taken in a bag fastened on the end of a pole, with a bell attached to arouse sleepy contributors. There was no need of a Dorcas then ; but fifty-eight years ago, when the need began to be felt, — "September 10, 1839, we find a group of earnest women gathered at the hospitable home of Deacon William S. Hansell, met at the suggestion of the pastor, Rev. George BI- CEN 7 'ENNIA L CEL EB RA 7 'ION. 3 1 7 Barton Ide, to organize a society, the object of which was to assist pious young men in the preparation for the gospel ministry, by furnishing them with clothing, &c.,and also to promote social and religious intercourse among the mem- bers of the church and congregation." It was then called "The Evangelical Sewing Society of the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia." It is the oldest of the three women's societies existing at present in our church. There was a "Female Missionary Society" organized as early as 1810; how long it existed we have been unable to ascertain, but previous to the organization of the " Women's Foreign Missionary Society " of our Church in 1873, the women's work in both home and foreign missions was carried on through the Dorcas Society. For the first three years the society met monthly at the homes of its members ; the meetings were largely attended, sixty-six (66) being recorded present on one occasion. In 1842 the name was changed to the " Sewing Society of the First Baptist Church," and the meetings were held weekly in the lecture room of the church. In 1846 we received a visit from Dr. Judson, who gave a thrilling account of torture and sufferings at Ava. In April, 1856, we met for the last time in Lagrange Place ; in October of the same year we met for the first time at Broad and Arch. In 1857 the name was changed to the "Ladies' Dorcas Society of the First Baptist Church," the name which it still retains. In 1858 we received a visit from Mrs. Ingalls, of the Burman Mission. In 1890 we celebrated our fiftieth anniversary. In 1 894 we lost our friend and pastor. Dr. George Dana Boardman. In 1895 our numbers were largely increased by workers from the Tabernacle and Beth Eden churches. In 1896 Dr. Tupper came, an event in our history, he and Mrs. Tupper taking an energetic interest in our women's work. In 1897 union of women's work was effected, under the leadership of Mrs. Tupper, the three 3i8 I'lRSr BAPTIST CHURCH. women's societies of our church uniting to form " The Women's AuxiHary," the Dorcas Society retaining its distinct name, organization, and object. This is simply a swift bird's-eye view of our fifty-eight (58) years. I have written to several of the older churches of our denomination and have found no society of the kind contemporary with ours. "The Woman's Home Mission- ary Society " of the First Baptist Church of Providence (the oldest Baptist church in the country) was organized in 1 894. So, though our Dorcas is not an antique, to be laid on the shelf, she is mature, in the prime of life, ready for active service. We are justly proud of her age, and grateful that she has for so many years quietly and unobtrusively pursued the even tenor of her way, increasing year by year in strength and influence, in the amount expended, and gar- ments distributed. Cheering heavy-hearted ones, weighed down with earthly care and need, Lifting silent, secret burdens, pointing to the heavenly meed ; Helping worn and weary footsteps along the straight and narrow way, Better fifty years of Dorcas than a cycle of display. The second reason for a claim upon your attention on this occasion is the long line of saintly women who have made this Society such a power in the church and the world. Miss Anne Semple, the first secretary, is the only constit- uent member who still survives to connect us with the past, Mrs. Ann Rhees was the first president for eight years, and succeeding her were Mrs. M. S. Jackson, Mrs. Thomas Wattson, Mrs. H. Easby, Mrs. A. S. Larcombe, beloved leader for twelve (12) years, then Miss Mary Weatherly, and Mrs. S. F. Hansell, and now down to our own time, Mrs. E. A. Brockway, who has served as directress for sixteen (16) years with unswerving fidelity and devotion. Then there was Mrs. Susan Keyser, secretary for thirty- BI- CENTENNIA L CEL EBRA TION. 3 1 9 two (32) years ; Miss Mary Hallman, treasurer for eighteen (18) years; Mrs. Jane Seddinger, ever stimulating the interest in foreign missions; Mrs. Thomas S. Foster, of saintly memory, and Mother Moore, whom we all loved. Time would fail me to tell of Miss Catharine Brown (Mrs. S. A. Harrison), Miss Elizabeth Shields, Mrs. Ellen S. Hansell, Mrs. Susan and Sarah Keen, Mrs. Mary Loxley, Mrs. E. Levering, Mrs. E. Auner, Mrs. Meyer, Miss S. Rittenhouse, Mrs. J. O. James, Mrs. Forepaugh, Mrs. E. Stoddart, Mrs. J. H. Cuthbert, Miss M. L. Bonney, Miss Susie Peterson, whose short ministry was ever one of joy and gladness, Miss Jane Dungan, Miss Catharine Jones, down to Mrs. R. A. Walker, and our own Mrs. Washington Butcher, and Mrs. C. K. Inglis, secretary for twelve (12) years, whose presence was ever a blessing and her face a benediction, and to whose semi-centennial report, published in 1890, we are indebted for the preservation of much of our past history. These all, and many more faithful ones, are the burn- ing and shining lights ever leading us upward and heaven- ward. Who of us that witnessed it will ever forget, at the late Peace Jubilee, that beautiful vision of the night, when from the four corners of our City Hall arose those long lines, studded with gems of light, all centering on the topmost pinnacle, where, surrounded by the same brilliancy, stood the statue of our Penn, of peaceful fame? As I gazed I thought of that other building, " not made with hands, eternal in the heavens," and of the long succession of saints of light, continually ascending from the four corners of the earth to the very presence of the Prince of Peace, " who is the brightness of his Father's glory and the express image of his person." And as I gazed, now and then a light would disappear, leaving a breach in that brilliant chain, and I thought — Oh ! that all of us would 320 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. fill our places in that saintly ascending procession, keeping our lights trimmed and burning — " Each in her place, you in yours, and I in mine, The glory of the whole, the Lord, himself, divine." The third reason why this Society claims your attention to-day is what has been accomplished through its instru- mentality. Beginning with assistance to young men preparing for the ministry, its benefactions soon extended to the poor in the vicinity, to needy scholars in the Sunday- schools, to the Northern and Southern Homes of our city, then to State and city missionaries, to the Baptist Orphan- age, to the Indians, to missionaries South and West, to the soldiers in the Civil War, to the Johnstown sufferers, to soldiers in the late Cuban War, to the Missionary Training School in this city, and to foreign missionaries. Boxes and packages have been sent to most of the States and territories of the West and South, to Canada, Ireland, India, and Africa — and when we speak of boxes, we mean boxes filled with useful clothing, adapted to the needs of the recipients, and creditable to the donors, as letters laden with thanks, good wishes, and even tears of gratitude abundantly testify. We can only give an approximate estimate of the work done. About $ 1 1 ,000 have been expended, and about 80,000 garments have been distributed, including shoes ; and these figures would be largely increased if a detailed account of the earlier boxes and packages had been preserved. More- over, this part of our work can not be estimated by num- bers, nor measured by quantity, but by tears of gratitude welling up in the hearts of God's needy servants, by the fervent " God bless you," by the song in the heart of the widow, by the smile playing on the lips of the orphan. These are the testimonials of our work; they are more BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 321 precious than gold or pearls of the Orient, and yet they may be had by simply doing deeds of mercy in the name of Him who went about doing good. There is another side to our work, as stated in the begin- ning— the promotion of social and religious intercourse among the members of the church and congregation, and this has been a characteristic of our Society throughout its entire history. Pardon here a personal allusion : I came to this city an entire stranger, and it was in the Dorcas Society where I was first welcomed and made to feel at home in the First Baptist Church. How many kind words have there been spoken, how many fervent prayers offered, how many burdens lifted, how many strangers cheered, eternity alone will disclose. In short, the watch- word of Dorcas throughout its history has been " love and service for humanity"; organized by faith, carried on in the hope of a blissful immortality, and characterized by charity and love for all men. In closing, let us behold for one brief moment the picture which St. Paul has drawn for our contemplation : Three forms, white-robed and beautiful, present themselves to our view — the first standing firm amid the storms and buffetings of life, her hands clasping the cross, which she presses to her bosom, and in her peaceful face and upturned eyes we may read, " According to your Faith be it unto thee " ; the second, her feet planted firmly on the rocks, above the surges and tempests, leaning on her anchor, and on her brow, serene and high, is written, Hope is " an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast"; the third, treading securely the straight and narrow way, unmindful of storm or tempest, carrying the children in her arms, her face radiant with heavenly beauty, following in her train the poor, the sick, the halt, the lame, the blind, and we can almost hear a voice saying, "And now abideth Faith, 21 322 FIRST BAPTIST CIJURCH. Hope, Love, these three, but the greatest of these is Love." All who would live in hearts enshrined Must live in love with all mankind, In ministries to human want and woe, Like ministering angels here below ; The deed of love, the touch of sympathy. May win a soul to all eternity. The present officers are : Chairman, Mrs. T. Seymour .Scott. Chairman of Membership Committee, Mrs. John H. Scott. " " Tea " Miss Josephine Dean. " " Work " Mrs. John T. Stauffer. " •' Purchasing " Mrs. Elizabeth A. Brock way. REMINISCENCES OF WOMEN'S WORK. MISS M. VIRGINIA ASHTON. As thought calls up its pictures from the years of" long ago " and the "light of other days " brightens the retrospec- tion, there is such a rush of memories it becomes almost difficult to choose that which shall have first place. There is a succession of photographs developed in the " dark chambers" of the mind — Of Mrs. Hansell, whose quiet, dignified, reposeftd man- ner I greatly admired as a child ; Mrs. Keyser, whose name will be often spoken during these retrospective days; Mrs. Wattson, with her sweet, placid face framed in the becoming matronly white cap; Mrs. Foster, with her won- derfully clear and well-stored mind ; Miss Weatherly, whose memorials are the Immanuel Mission and the Orphanage; BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 323 Mrs. Moore, who still lives in the Sunday-school ("she being dead yet speaketh "). Going even farther into the recesses of the past, there is a tender memory of Miss Hetty Bruce, with voice so low and sweet, — that " most excellent thing in woman," — so shrinking and unobtrusive, and yet strong in her convictions about right and wrong, never hesitating to avow and stand by them if need be. And then her strong opposite in manner and outward character, whose face is always called up in my memory by the other, because of their very antithesis, Mrs. Jane Seddinger, whose interest was in the Foreign Mission work, while Miss Hetty's was in the Home Mission. Mrs. Seddinger was quick, alert, her voice far-reaching. She was most indefatigable in all Christian activities. Al- most every foreign missionary was entertained at her house — the Kincaids, the Browns, Mrs. Ingalls, Mrs. Vin- ton, and hosts of others. At my own home we felt it to be a great privilege when she brought them to " take tea " with us. She was actively interested in the soldiers and the hospitals during the civil war, and was one of the leaders in the " Fair " we held in 1862, at the church, for the bene- fit of the Sunday-school and sick and wounded soldiers. The third in this trio, as my mind groups them, was Miss Mary Hallman. Who would ever forget her having once seen and known her? The short figure, clad in the black stuff gown and cloak and plain bonnet (though, in- deed, the bonnets of all three were plain enough) and her inseparable companion, the black bag, which always carried a Bible and tracts and some good book for "Anxious Inquirers," or " Helps for a Young Christian." Hers was not the face of a heroine of romance, and yet in youth she had suffered for conscience' sake. Her strong and vigor- ous mind delighted in the " knotty points " of doctrine, and was almost masculine in character. These women knew well the Bible, for there were not so many books in 324 I'IKSl' BAPTIST CHURCH. those days, and the instruction given their classes in the Sunday-school was thorough and searching and without any " Helps," and needed to be prepared for two sessions, as it was then the custom to have. In those days, before the organization of various women's societies, the more important interests carried on by them were the Dorcas, so ancient and revered, and the Sunday- school. I was very proud when my mother took me, a very little girl, sometimes with her " to help sew " in the " upper room," down in old Lagrange Place, and the brown teapot wherein was brewing the cup for the cheer- ing of the ladies after their labors of the afternoon will ever be associated with the making of clothes for poor " ministerial students " and others. Putting the tea to boil was the first duty attended to (I think Mary Hallman was charged with this), and the scent of that " Souchong " will live with me as long as I live. When the new church was building, the Dorcas workers were anticipating a charmingly bright room for their very own, and great indeed was the disappointment on coming to Broad and Arch Streets to find it so different from their wishes (there were no women on that Building Committee). But it was always a cheerful, busy gathering of older ones and young, and many times Mrs. Larcombe would have to ring her bell to call us to order. But if the Dorcas room proved disappointing, the Sunday- school room was not, for what a change from the old building it was ! In the old days the boys were on the lower floor, and the girls upstairs. Dear Miss Hetty Bruce was superintendent of the girls' school, and the day is yet sweet and fresh to me when my mother took me there, and Miss Hetty, leading me by the hand, put me in the class of our beloved Carrie Keyser, better known now as Mrs. Inglis. It was not a large school, and there were BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 325 opportunities for little personal kindnesses. One quaint custom was to give a beautiful pin cushion to any teacher who might be getting married. Every one gave something toward the purchase of material, and the cushion was made by the one of greatest genius and expertness in the fabrication of cushions. If any money was over, it went into the Missionary Fund. The girls' school in those old times gave its collections to the Grande Ligne Mission. There was a regular missionary meeting one Sunday after- noon in every month. During several years Miss Hen- rietta Ford and the writer of this were treasurer and secretary. Each class was, in fact, a "missionary circle." Madame Fellar herself made a visit to Philadelphia and met the ladies of the church and some of the scholars one afternoon in the Dorcas room. Her saintly face, her charmingly broken English with its occasional French idioms or mannerisms, are a sweet remembrance. As these days referred to were before the birth of the Women's Foreign and the Women's Home Mission Societies, the contributions and efforts were for the older societies at New York and Boston. The very week after my admission into the church Miss Bruce said I must be a collector for the American Baptist Home Mission Society, and though my youth would seem to have excused me, she put a little book into my hand and took me to call on those who were to be my subscribers. The " album quilt " was then an institution, and possibly it helped to a real and personal interest in the missionary and his or her work. There went also a box to India every year as part of the foreign work. And while it was not customary for a "sister" to speak or pray in the general prayer meeting, there was a women's prayer meet- ing held regularly, if memory serves me right, at Mrs. Hansen's house, that my mother loved I know. The Union or " Southern Home for Children " ; the -,26 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. Bible Society ; and kindred services for the Master were very dear to the hearts of many, and then, as now, the church was rich in its true Daughters of the King — " of the chief women not a few." Of later years and workers others can tell you much more vividly and interestingly. WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 7. GREETINGS: INSTITUTIONAL, ANCESTRAL, DENOMINATIONAL. ADDRESS: OUR INDEBTEDNESS TO THE FATHERS, HENRY M. KING, D.D. GREETINGS— INSTITUTIONAL THE BAPTIST ORPHANAGE, ANGORA, PA. The Managers of the Baptist Orphanage extend their congratulations at this, your Bi-Centenary celebration, re- membering all of its members who have so lovingly minis- tered to our needs in the days gone by. Our Orphanage owes its origin to the pennies of a little child in the Immanuel Mission twenty years ago, and the First Baptist Church has been one on which we could depend in every time of need. We rejoice in your prosperity and enlarged usefulness. May the Baptist Orphanage always find a warm place in your hearts. Ida E. Paul, Corresponding Secretary. THE PHILADELPHIA HOME FOR INCURABLES. To the chorus of voices which are congratulating this venerable church to-day the Managers of the Home for Incurables must add theirs ; for to some of the members of the congregation this work owes much of the impulse which brought it into being. May God's richest blessing abide in your service for Him, and make you, like Joseph of old, a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall. Mrs. Edward H. Ogden, President. Mrs. Caroline K. Inglis, Secretary. 329 330 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. THE WOMEN'S NATIONAL INDIAN ASSOCIATION. Greetings and congratulations upon your life and work of two hundred years, and upon the widely extended fam- ily of sons and daughters who, in consecrated lives in many lands, have embodied the teachings of their Mother Church. The Women's National Indian Association claims the privilege of sending affectionate greetings upon the great memorial day of the Church, since the first steps of the movement which resulted in the organization of the Associa- tion were taken by the president of the Home Mission Circle of the Church, Miss Mary L. Bonney, in its meetings in the spring of 1879; since she was the first President of the Association ; since Mrs. George Dana Boardman was its first Treasurer ; and since another member of the Church was the General Secretary for eight years, and from that time to the present has been its President. Though the Association, from its beginning, was undenominational and national in character, the first committee for the movement was wholly from this church. It is fitting, therefore, that now, with members or workers in forty States and Territories of the Union, the Associa- tion should bring its best greetings to the Church whose pastoral teaching, under God, inspired its members to originate and lead a patriotic and redemptive work for our own aboriginal race. May the God of our fathers grant other centennials to the beloved First Baptist Church, and make her ever more and more a home of light, and the mother of many messengers to be divinely sent to the mountains, plains, and valleys of our own dear land, and to all the nations upon earth. Amelia S. Ouinton, President. BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 331 THE BAPTIST HOME. The Baptist Home desires to send congratulatory Chris- tian greeting to the First Baptist Church on the occasion of its Bi-Centennial Anniversary. The noble history of the Church has always been an in- centive for good to the denomination, and the Baptist Home, having been the recipient of your generous bounty, prays that the richest of Heaven's blessings may descend in copious showers upon you as you enter upon this new era of your existence. Mrs. Levi Knowles, President. BROWN UNIVERSITY, PROVIDENCE, R. I. I deem it an honor as well as a pleasure to convey, on this memorable occasion, the greetings and congratulations of Brown University to the First Baptist Church, Phila- delphia, to which, through the labors of the honored Mor- gan Edwards, one of its early Pastors, the University owes its existence. It is with deep gratitude that to-day the dutiful daughter sends her warm and kindly greetings to her devoted mother. Brown University, never unmindful of the great debt of obligation that rests upon her, has endeavored as far as possible to repay the Church in something more than grati- tude. She offered her the first fruits of her labors in the person of Rev. William Rogers, the faithful laborer and successor of Morgan Edwards. Such offerings have been repeated until the present time, in which one of her richest gifts is still enjoyed in the person of her loved and honored 332 F/RS7' BAPTIST CHURCH. son, Rev. George Dana Boardnian, of whose long and faithful services and influence no one in this generation need be told. Again we could with just pride mention the names of noble laymen, sons of Brown, who have stood and are now standing as pillars in her spiritual house. Comparing the past with the present of both Church and University, we may truly exclaim, " What hath God wrought!" and with trustful hearts can say, "Thus far hath the Lord led us." In view of the close relationship to you in the past and the strong bonds which now bind us together, we feel justi- fied in claiming a right to rejoice with you to-day. May God, who has so signally blessed us through all the years of our history, bestow now a more abundant blessing both upon the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia and upon her obedient child. Benjamin F. Clarke, Presidctit- THE COLUMBIAN UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON, D. C. We congratulate you upon the noble record of two hun- dred years. We join with the host of friends to whom the name of the church is dear in abundant good wishes and good hopes for all the years to come. Great things have been accomplished. Greater things still are possible. That the largest possibilities of the Church may be realized is our desire, and in the quaint language of the olden time we say, " So mote it be." Our felicitations are all the warmer because of the per- sonal element involved in them. Your Pastor became our President. The eloquence, the zeal, the godly character BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 333 which made him a power in Philadelphia made him a power in Washington and throughout the country. Among the great names in our work, as in yours, we reverently recall that of Rev. William Staughton, D.D. B. L. Whitman, President. BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY, LEWISBURG, PA. The venerable but perpetually youthful First Baptist Church of Philadelphia is the mother both of churches and of educational institutions ; among the rest, of Buck- nell University at Lewisburg. Rev. William Shadrach, D.D., and your pastor. Rev. George B. Ide, D.D., were the committee which visited Lewisburg to inquire into the pro- priety of establishing the school, and the desirableness of the location. They reported favorably to a conference of representative Baptists, who met in the lecture-room of the First Church. Seventy-six members of the First Church subscribed toward the ^100,000 required by the Charter to be raised before the Corporation could go into operation. Among the subscribers were such names as Dr. David Jayne, William Bucknell, Thomas Wattson, John C. Davis, William W. Keen, Samuel M. Hopper, and Rev. B. R. Loxley. Deacon Thomas Wattson was, from 1850 to 1874, chairman of the Board of Trustees. William Bucknell held the same position from 1882 until 1890, and the present chairman, Mr. Harry S. Hopper, is a child of the First Church. The pastor emeritus of the Church, Rev. George Dana Boardman, D.D., LL.D., is a stated lecturer of the college, as was, till his lamented death, Rev. Heman Lincoln Wayland, D.D., LL.D. During its whole 334 J-IRST BAPTIST CHURCH. history Bucknell University has looked to the First Bap- tist Church of Philadelphia for a large share of its material and moral support, and has never looked in vain. John H. Harris, Presidejit. THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. The church had attained a measure of maturity at the date which the University claims for its origin, but so few were the then existing institutions of Philadelphia, and such is the perspective of accumulated years, that they may be held almost equally venerable in point of age. This alone would give fitness to the greeting. But there are other and profounder motives. Standing each on its distinctive ground, the Church and the University are of such high and kindred purpose that they are apart from other, even the most worthy, organizations: one existing for the spiritual, the other for the intellectual, and both for the moral uplifting of man- kind. Hence there has ever been a sharing between them of workers and upholders, and this constitutes a personal bond, such as in their earlier and in their later years has existed between the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania. P"or the earliest it is suf^cient to name the Rev. Ebenezer Kinnersley, who, though never the pastor of a church, served this congregation at times when its pastorate was vacant, and who was one of the earliest ornaments of the University. With P^ranklin and others he began in 1 746 the investigation of electricity, and his researches were of such merit as to occasion Dr. Priestley, in 1767, to say: " While we are attending to what was done by Dr. Franklin, at Philadelphia, we must by no means overlook what was BI-CENTEXNIAL CELEBRATION. 335 done by Dr. Kinnersley, the doctor's friend." In 1753 he became Professor of Oratory and English Literature, hold- ing that position until 1773, when ill health forced him to resign. Meanwhile he never ceased those studies in physical science which ranked him here and abroad with Franklin and Rittenhouse, and reflected the highest credit on the University. A noble window in College Hall fitly commemorates the name and achievements of the modest professor, who was alike honored and useful in the religious and the academic world. Perhaps a closer tie was created when, in 1789, your pastor, the Rev. William Rogers, D.D., was elected to the Chair once held by Dr. Kinnersley, that of Oratory and English Literature; and the best testimony to his learning, taste, and fidelity is found in the fact that for a period of twenty-two years he held the most exacting position in a community at that time perhaps the most cultivated and critical in the New World. The later tie that unites these corporations is familiar to you. In 1879 your then Pastor, and now Honorary Pastor, the Rev. George Dana Boardman, D.D., was elected a trustee of the University, and has ever since served it with that characteristic zeal and fidelity so well known to the members of this Church. Ever taking a lively interest in the religious welfare of its students, he was the first appointed chaplain to conduct their morning service. To their secular instruction he has added series of Sunday lectures that were highly appreciated not only by them, but by many members of the Board and Faculty. Ten years ago the University declared its mind of him by conferring on him its highest academic honor, in the degree of Doctor of Laws. Time would fail to enumerate the other personal links that in less conspicuous ways have kept a vital connection between the Church and the University. Let these recitals 336 FIRST BAP77S7 CHUKCII. suffice to justify the greeting that the University sends to the First Baptist Church on this auspicious occasion. May its third century witness not only a spiritual prosperity as great as of old, but a continuance of that happy unity between Religion and Learning which in the past has been so honorable and so fruitful to these now venerable institu- tions. Jesse Y. Burk, Secretary of the Board of Trustees. GREETING— ANCESTRAL. LOWER DUBLIN ( PENNEPEK) BAPTIST CHURCH. Rev. THOMAS P. HOLLOWAY, Pastor. The other day I was looking over the pages of a book- yellow with age ; a book the earliest pages of which are covered with the quaint penmanship of scribes whose hands were stiffened in death many, many years ago. This book, the most ancient and the most venerated record of our denomination in all this neighborhood, contains, amid the statements of facts and events everlastingly important to Baptist success and the progress of the kingdom of God, the brief but concise account of the establishing of " The Particular Baptist Church of Philadelphia," the First Baptist Church. This book contains the minutes of the Lower Dublin Baptist Church, formerly called the " Pennepek Church," the mother of your great church, in whose honor we are now met. Two hundred years ago the first mission of the Penne- BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 337 pek Church was started in Philadelphia (for at that time the Pennepek Church was not within the city limits), and to-night I have the honor, as the pastor of the mother church, to extend our heartiest greetings to a daughter now grown so great. The mother church, old but yet vigorous, gives her blessing to the First Baptist Church of Philadel- phia. Looking over two hundred years of marvelous history, we are reminded of the wise words of Jesus, " Other men labored and ye are entered into their labors." In the health- ful veins of your church there flows the blood of a noble ancestry. The church whose trials and triumphs we are now celebrating has been God favored and man favored. This church, in the providence of God, has been placed in a most fertile and conspicuous field of activity. From its position in the central part of Philadelphia, the Ameri- can of American cities, from pre-revolutionary times to this day it has wielded an influence of national scope. Some churches, like individuals, are born great, and some have greatness thrust upon them. This church was born great, and, from its location, had greatness thrust upon it. The First Baptist Church, in the heart of the city in which the Declaration of Independence was composed and signed, in which the Continental Congress gave direc- tion to the first purely American legislation, in which lived, as the first President of the new republic, the incomparable Washington, had thrust upon it an opportunity which for far-reaching usefulness has rarely been equaled. And this great opportunity found a people great in zeal, intelligence, and spirituality, ready in the name of God to seize and transform it into splendid accomplishment. The Baptist denomination owes its present power and prestige in the Church universal in large degree to the deep spirit- uality, untiring devotion, self-sacrificing labors, and pro- phetic insight of the churches of this city. And no church 338 F/RST BAPTIST CHURCH. was more potential in its activities than the " First, Pliila- delphia." The consecrated brain and heart of the pastors and members of the First Church were strong f^ictors in the estabh'shment of the first Baptist academy (Hopewell), first Baptist college (now Brown University), and the crea- tion of the Foreign Missionary Society, which has grown into the splendid American Baptist Missionary Union. The first Baptist Sunday-school was started by some spirit-filled women members of the First Church. Indeed, the first President of Rhode Island College (now Brown University) supplied this church at perhaps the most criti- cal time in its history — during the darkest days of the Revolutionary War, and, like Paul on the shipwrecked vessel, gave courage to hearts about to faint in utter despair. It was in the meeting-house of the First Baptist Church that the Philadelphia Association met at sunrise, October 25, 1781, to joyously thank God for the complete victory of Washington and his heroes at Yorktown. What church has been more signally blest, in the majority of its pastors, than this church ? Only the All-Wise knows the fullness of the vast debt which this Society owes, for its brilliant successes, to the illustrious men who have success- ively ministered to it in holy things. The very high order of talent and character which have been maintained, with but few exceptions, by its pastors is a matter of note to all who are to any extent familiar with its history. Under the ministrations of less capable men than Jenkin Jones, the pioneer ; Morgan Edwards, the his- torian ; William Rogers, the scholar and orator; Thomas Ustick, the wise guide in troubled times ; and others equally able and consecrated, whose names I have not time to men- tion, your church, in spite of its most favorable location, and the conspicuous intelligence and piety of its members. BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 339 could never have made the record which now so thrills our grateful hearts. And the early members of the church have not excelled their successors in coveting the best gifts in the choice of pastors. For, in this auspicious time, the name of your honorary pastor, George Dana Boardman, is a familiar and beloved name in every intelligent Christian community in America and Europe, and your present pastor, Kerr Boyce Tupper, is leading you on to fresh victories in the name of Jesus Christ. But while you are deeply indebted to the glorious past, you are likewise under obligation for present blessings to the yet more glorious future. Christianity is not so much a religion of yesterday as of to-morrow. Jesus Christ is not only the same yesterday and to-day, but forever. If the first advent of Jesus is a cause for ceaseless praise to the gracious Father, what of the advent yet to come ? The past may encourage the saint, but the future always inspires him ; and encouragement is to inspiration as moonlight is to sunlight. The knowledge that to-mor- row will be greater than yesterday or to-day humbles the Christian in victory, and consoles him in defeat ; mellows his laughter, and wipes away his tears. All tendencies to false pride or unhealthful discourage- ment, engendered by contemplation of the past, are dissi- pated by a hopeful view of God's to-morrow. The permanent joy of the heaven to come will be better immeasurably than the temporary ecstacy of yesterday's transfiguration. The brightest day of the past had its clouds ; the cloudless day is yet to dawn. You see a small segment of the circle of divine love in the conquest of your fathers, O members of the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia! You are destined to rejoice with "joy unspeakable, and full of glory," at the vision of the com- pleted circle of God's love. 340 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. GREETINGS— DENOMINATIONAL. THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, PROVIDENCE, R. I., THE OLDEST BAPTIST CHURCH IN AMERICA. Accept our sincere and fraternal congratulations that, under the watchful care and loving guidance of the great Head of the Church, you have been permitted to round out the second century of }'our church-life. Enriched by all the sacred and precious memories of the past, steadfast in the faith once delivered to the saints, and strengthened by the perpetually indwelling Spirit of Christ, may you enter upon the new century of your existence with courage and hope, and with a clear vision of the enlarged opportunities and the imperative demands of the time in which we live. " Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the Church by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." Adopted at a meeting of the First Baptist Church in Providence, held December i, 1898. [Attest] W.M. A. Gamwell, Church Clerk. THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, NEWPORT, R. I. The First Baptist Church, Newport, R. I., in devout gratitude for two hundred and sixty years of honorable history and heroic service, sends Christian greeting and hearty congratulations to her fair sister on this significant two hundredth anniversary. BI-CENTEN-NfAL CELEBRATION. 341 Your prolonged prosperity, increased vigor, and multi- plied spiritual power through two centuries of marvelous history give great joy and satisfaction to your elder sister, whose heart swells with praise for that which God hath wrought through you. As you cross the threshold of your third century of life with brightening prospects and broadening plans, may our fathers' God crown your projects with glorious success and make you a vital power for righteousness in )'our historic city. May your new edifice be adorned with the glorious presence of the Holy Spirit. By order and in behalf of the Church, Brewer G. Boardman, Nineteenth Pastor. THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, BOSTON, MASS. The First Baptist Church of Boston, founded in 1665, sends you greeting. We, too, like yourselves, are moved by a profound sense of gratitude to God for his wonderful preservation of us as a church through the vicissitudes of so many years. Two and a third centuries ago Baptists were a feeble folk, and it required both intelligence and courage to ally one's self with a sect which was every where spoken against. God greatly honored us in making us the pioneers of religious liberty, and also in keeping alive among us the spirit of world-wide evangelization. We rejoice with you in the great work which God has per- mitted you to do, and that the one has become a hundred churches. We congratulate you upon the renewed vigor with which you begin the third century of your life. Philadelphia and Boston have become Baptist strongholds. 342 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. The fidelity of these two ancient First Baptist Churches surely has had large rewards from our God. Praying for you an even ampler life of Christian useful- ness than in the past, I am Sincerely yours, Nathan E. Wood, Minister. THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, CHARLESTON, S. C. As the pastor of a church organized two hundred and sixteen years ago, I feel honored in forwarding to so vener- able a body as the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia this Christian salutation. The bond of union between these churches is very close. Apart from the similarity of Bible doctrines and Church polity, they have enjoyed the ministration of men who have lived and labored in both cities. Dr. William T. Brantly was Pastor of both the First Church in Philadel- phia and of the First Church in Charleston. The distin- guished father of his no less distinguished son (your noble Pastor at present) was a member of the Plrst Baptist Church here. And the present Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Charleston is a brother of your former Pastor, Rev. James H. Cuthbert, D.D., of sainted memory. How strangely interwoven has been the history of these two ancient landmarks that have stood so valiantly for the faith once delivered to the saints ! " Blest be the tie that binds!" These two churches can truly say, as did Paul (Acts xxvi : 22, 23), " Having therefore obtained help of God, I [we] continue unto this day," etc. " God be with you till we meet again." Lucius Cuthbert, Fastor. BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 343 THE BAPTIST CHURCH, MIDDLETOWN, N. J. The Baptist Church at Middletown, N. J., now in its two hundred and tenth year, extends, together with sister churches, most hearty congratulations to the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia, upon the celebration of its two hundredth anniversary. " Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and forever." — Hebreivs xiii : 20, 21. J. Parker, Pastor. THE PISCATAWAY BAPTIST CHURCH, STEELTON, N. J. The First Baptist Church of Piscataway, N. J., sends cordial greetings to the First Baptist Church of Philadel- phia on this her two hundredth birthday. The extraordinary occasion which calls you together will awaken thoughts of an interesting character somewhat similar to those of " Piscataway," when, as a mother of churches, her bi-centennial was celebrated on June 20, 1889. Piscataway Baptist Church is the second oldest of our denomination in New Jersey, and the twelfth, if not the tenth, one organized in this continent. Her message of love and good-will to you would bear on the proper cause, that has kept and will keep the 344 FIRST BAPTIST CIIUKCII. religious individual to the religious organization, and the religious organization to the great and Holy God. Concerning the question of church perpetuity, there is but one large reply to make ; one pivot is all we need ; smaller answers revolve around the great explanation — summed up in the name and in the power of our com- mon Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Christ is the great secret of all true staying qualities of the Church. He has been, He is, and ever must be the central evidence of our religion. The worthy history of the old " First " of Philadelphia speaks of the zeal and usefulness and holy living of the many who have laid down the sword, who have entered the rest of heaven, and accepted the crown of reward. Yet the work of the past two hundred years can not answer for the work that must be accomplished now. Brothers and sisters of the " First" Philadelphia, remem- ber Revelation iii : 7, 8 : " And to the angel of the Church in Philadelphia write : I know thy works : behold I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it ; for thou hast a little strength and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name." Your aged sister " Piscataway " thanks God for your long and honored past; she rejoices with you to-day in your solid and substantial present; she is glad for your healthful and reliable future ; and says on this important and momentous occasion : " My sister, many happy returns of the day." William T. Dokward, Pastor. BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 345 FIFTH AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH, NEW YORK. I beg leave to send my hearty congratulations to a church that looks backward only in order that it may go forward. I rejoice in all your long noble history, whose recital must be a constant inspiration. But I rejoice yet more that you realize that " new occasions teach new duties," and that one of the oldest churches in this country in years is one of the youngest in energy and devotion. W. H. P. Faunce, Past 07-. CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH, NEW YORK. " Dr. Mac Arthur begs to present to the Church his hearty congratulations on the occurrence of its Bi-centen- nial Anniversary ; on its long line of illustrious pastors ; on its manifold service for the Baptist denomination and the cause of Christ at large ; and on its prospects for still wider usefulness, nobler service, and diviner consecration for the good of man and the glory of God." ADDRESS: '■'Our Indebtedness to the Fathers." Henrv M. King, D.D., Pastor First Baptist Church, Providence, R. L, the oldest Baptist Church in America; organized 1639. (See page 213.) THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 8. GREETINGS: INTERDENOMINATIONAL, FILIAL. ADDRESS: AMERICAN CHRISTL\NITY IN ITS WORLD RELATIONS, HENRY C. MABIE, D.D. GREETINGS— INTERDENOMINATIONAL. THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA. I regret more than I can expres.s my inability to be with you this evening. I am confined to my house and to my room by a very severe cold, and am forbidden to go out of doors. Please say to the people for me that my disappointment is sore. " Birds of a feather flock together." It was n't strange that the Baptist bird and the Presby- terian bird flocked together in that old Barbadoes store ! They had two feathers, at least, strongly marked in com- mon : they were stanch Calvinists, and they were great lovers of religions liberty. Pve no doubt they had real cozy times together in those days; and if, as some Baptist historian intimates, the Presbyterians later " thrust out " the Baptists, why, it was all along of that " push " which every church ought to have! And it was a glorious thing for you, for so you entered upon an individual history most illustrious and beneficent. Believe me, we Presbyterians rejoice in your abundant prosperity, in your steadfastness in faith, in your marked missionary zeal, and in your loyalty to our great King and Saviour! God be with you in fullest measure as you go into your new century! George D. Baker. 349 350 FIKS7' BAPTIST CHURCH. CHRIST PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA. I would be wanting in every feeling of Christian sym- pathy if I did not feel a most genuine interest in the happy event you are engaged in commemorating. Being unavoid- ably denied the pleasure of being with you in person, as so kindly invited, I can not content myself without send- ing you a warm personal message. For many a year your good people were close neighbors of my venerable parish. You began your labors in the far past, as did we, and may look with honest pride at the fruitage of the ripe years. So far as I have ever known, the relations between the two congregations were always kindly, considerate, and charac- terized by Christian charity and the most cordial regard. We, on our part, highly value this. May it continue! In sending you Christian salutations on this notable anniversary, let me wish God's blessing on you all indi- vidually. C. Ellis Stevens, Rector. GLORIA DEI (OLD SWEDES') PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA. I am glad to stand on this platform to-night, not simply as the rector for thirty years past of Gloria Dei Church, whose edifice, as your pastor has just told us, is the oldest in this city, — erected in 1700, — but I stand likewise as the representative of the vestry of that parish, who have dele- gated me this evening to convey to you our most true congratulations at this Bi-centennial Anniversary. At a stated meeting of the vestry of Gloria Dei (Old BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 351 Swedes') Protestant Episcopal Church, held December 5, 1898, the following preamble and resolutions were unani- mously adopted : Whereas, We are informed that the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia will celebrate this week its Bi- centennial Anniversary with a series of appropriate ser- vices ; and Whereas, We feel that both our rector and church have been highly honored by an invitation to take part in the same; therelore, be it Resolved, That we most heartily congratulate the pas- tors, the officers, and the members of the First Baptist Church upon their connection with a church that for two hundred years has been so distinguished for its succession of godly and learned ministers and the devotion and self- sacrifice of its people in spreading abroad the gospel of Christ both in this and in foreign lands. Resolved, That we still further most heartily congratu- late the members of the said church upon the favorable auspices with which they are to enter upon the third cen- tury of their organization, and that our best wishes are hereby tendered for the successful accomplishment of all their noble plans and undertakings to extend the kingdom of our common Lord and Master. Resolved, That these resolutions be entered upon the minutes of the vestry, and that a copy of the same, duly signed by the rector, as president, and the secretary, and with the seal of the corporation attached, be presented by our rector to the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia. |- -1 Snyder B. Simes, President. '- -' Alfred Helmbold, Jr., Secretary. With your consent I would like to add a few words. I have now discharged my duty as the rector of the parish and the duty assigned to me by the vestry, and I feel that I would like this evening to pay a debt of gratitude which I feel I owe to the Baptist denomination in general, and to the First Baptist Church in particular. Although an Episcopal clergyman of some thirty-three 352 FJKST BAPTIST CHURCH. years' standing, and yielding to neither bishop nor priest in my devotion to the church at whose altar I have always served, yet, at the same time, I have considerable good honest Baptist blood in my veins ; and I want to say here that I am proud of it. I would that I had more. For the more I recognize the scriptural basis and the power of those cardinal Baptist principles of the absolute supremacy of the Word of God, and the responsibility of the individual conscience to God alone, the more I am thankful for the Baptist training that I received. For to go back, if you will allow me, some years, when a boy my Sunday-school days were principally spent in the old Tabernacle Baptist Church. It was in the days of John W. Sexton, Superin- tendent of the Sunday-school, whose blameless life was a perpetual benediction to the school ; and I was associated in those days with such men as Creswell, Crosby, Fair- lamb, and Mustin, and dear old Dr. Clarke went in and out among us, bearing the message of the gospel. But it was in the First Baptist Church that I think the most powerful impression was ever conveyed to my mind of the impor- tance of the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. For it was in the baptistery of that church, at Broad and Arch Streets, that my grandfather received baptism at the hands of Dr. Cuthbert; and, as the old man with his gray hairs stood in the water and gave out his testimony of the efficacy of faith in Jesus Christ, as a young man it made an impression upon me that I have never forgotten. And, speak- ing of Dr. Cuthbert, how well I remember again and again listening to his powerful sermons ; how, as he " reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and of judgment to come," like Felix of old, many a time I trembled in that old church. Only last night I heard that he had passed to his reward above. If there ever was a man who was attentive to the spiritual welfare of his fellow-men, and whose life exempli- fied the power of that gospel he preached, it was Dr. BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 353 Cuthbert. And therefore I say to-night that I feel I owe a personal debt of gratitude to the First Baptist Church, which I am glad, after these many years, to be able to pay; not that I was unwilling to pay it in years gone by, but never before have I had the opportunity to pay it ; and, further, I esteem it a great privilege not only to be with you and rejoice in this Bi-centennial Anniversary, but, in these few words, to endeavor to pay the debt of gratitude which I feel I owe to the Baptist denomination generally, and to the First Baptist Church in particular. THE FRIENDS. As a member of one of the smallest sects in Christen- dom, though perhaps influential to a degree out of propor- tion to its diminutive size, it gives me especial pleasure to extend our greeting on this interesting occasion. Begin- ning the history of Philadelphia about the time of the founding of your church, with nearly one hundred per cent, of the population, the Friends are now probably not one per cent. Preferring to keep their leaven concentrated and intense, and to bear inflexible testimony to truths sometimes unpalatable, they have had to take the conse- quences of unpopularity in the diminution of their num- bers. Friends and Baptists stood side by side in suffering the hot fires of persecution in the seventeenth century ; they shared in a primitive simplicity of life and worship. But with a dogmatism and uncompromising tenacity pecu- liarly their own, the Friends have held aloof and partici- pated but little in the fellowship of the gospel with other denominations. The times required bold testimony and unflinching, early in the seventeenth century; and George Fox was both bold and unflinching. I think it was your 354 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. Spurgeon who related that once when an admirer praised George Fox, he (Fox) answered him, " Beware of h}'poc- risy and a rotten heart." This was the kind of man to Hft up a standard of revolt against flattery, against form, against spiritual wickedness in high places. And many a time he was cast into prison. On the other hand, it is said that the last martyr burned alive for his religion in England was Edw. Wightman, a Baptist, who was burnt at Lichfield, April ii, 1612. When the scene of warfare was transferred to America, and Roger Williams in Rhode Island, and William Penn in Pennsylvania, both bore aloft the standard of liberty of conscience, there was not, and there has not been to this day, the same need for the manner of Fox's testimony, which was rudely sincere, and adapted to the atmosphere of his era. And it is to be feared that in this day we have got far enough away from the stern honesty which cared naught for " man whose breath is in his nostrils," and sought " the honor which Cometh from God only." Friends, from a protest against all forms in religion, which carried them into antagonism to the rites held dear by most Christian sects, — the Lord's Supper and water baptism, — came at last to set up forms of their own ; forms of dress and of language, unscriptural forms, which they worshiped almost as much as the Anglican and Papist their wafer. But there is no sect in heaven ! " In the sweet fields of Eden, on the other side of Jordan," all differences are washed away, and we are all common children of our Father. There, I imagine, these theological points, which seem of such importance here, will completely vanish in the glorious and shadowless light of an all-absorbing love; in which powerful and irresistible solvent all else will be assimilated. We have it here in part, but not exactly as in that wonderful glory, where there is no need of sun and moon. But we can love in part ; and under the influence BI-CENTExYNIAL CELEBRATION. 355 of that feeling, let us throw the broad mantle of charity- over all differences and gloat over our similarities. There is enough of common ground to stand upon for all Chris- tian sects, even the most exclusive and pharisaical (and I fear my own must appear the most so of all), to enjoy the blessed fellowship of the gospel together. Nay, even more than that ; it is marvelous how the crucible of fellow- feeling, in its white heat, fluxes all the religions of the earth together. In the evolution of the ultimate perfection with a measure of which God is blessing mankind, you remember how, at the Chicago Congress of Religions, all could unite in the wonderful prayer which Christ taught His Disciples, per- fect in its simplicity and its all-comprehensiveness. It is this that we should long for; a Christ-like simplicity that is robbed of all the excrescences of sectarianism, all the husks of theology, and melted down to the simple " truth as it is in Jesus." I fancy there is a strong resemblance between the pure and simple truth of heaven and the state of a little child. There is no cloud of theology in either place. " Heaven lies about us in our infancy." And so, however much we admire the constancy which preserves pure and undefiled through two centuries in one congrega- tion the worship of Roger Williams, and which in the nineteenth century has borne such splendid fruits in the missionary successes of Carey, Judson, and Boardman, our religious evolution is carrying us back to those simple axioms of the gospel which, in their communal and unas- sailable clearness, enable us all to stand shoulder to shoulder and heart to heart in the golden glory of mere CJiristian love. And this is my interpretation of this occasion. Philip C. Garrett. 356 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. BISHOP C. D. FOSS, METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. I am enough of a cosmopolite in religious matters to take great satisfaction in the progress and success of other churches than my own, and it would give me great pleasure, if I could command my days, to accept your invitation to the reception on Tuesday evening, December 6th, in recog- nition and honor of the Bi-centennial Anniversary of the First Baptist Church in this city. I regret to say that official duties on that day will require me to be in South Carolina. Please convey to the pastor and members of the church my fraternal greetings and the assurances of my best wishes for the increasing prosperity and success of one of the largest and most evangelical bodies of Christians in this country. PRESBYTERIAN PUBLICATION HOUSE, PHILADELPHIA. Let me congratulate your church on its splendid history. For twenty-eight years I have been in Philadelphia as pas- tor and editor, and have known of the work of the First Church during all these years. Your pastor. Dr. Board- man, has been one of my personal friends ever since I came as a boy to this city. He did a noble work, and his name is almost as dear to Presbyterian people as to Baptists. Your present pastor, Dr. Tupper, we all recognize as one of the best men in the city ; just the man to lead you in this new era of your history upon which you are entering. It is my earnest hope and prayer that the First Church in its new location will still enshrine all that has been sacred and good in the history of the past, and at the same time enter upon a still larger field of usefulness. J. R. Miller, £"^///'^/-. B I- CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 357 GREETINGS— FILIAL. ROXBOROUGH BAPTIST CHURCH, JAMES W. WILLMARTH, D.D., LL.D., Pastor. {Organized by 02(r tneiiibers, ijSg.) '♦The Child of a Century." Dear Brother Pastor of the ChurcJi, Brethren and Sisters of the First Baptist Church. — I must omit all sorts of com- pliments at the beginning if I am to say anything in the three minutes and a half. About one hundred and ten years ago there were in this city two Baptist churches. I mean by this city, what is this city now. The old Pennepek Church had sixty-six members, and the Baptist Church of Philadelphia (now called the First Baptist Church) had 104. That was 170 — two churches, two pastors, 170 members. What has God wrought in the time since ! It is interesting to me, and rather a matter of pride, to be able to say that thirty per cent, of the membership of the First Baptist Church was out in Roxborough at the time our church was organized. They used to come from a distance, I suppose, of seven or eight miles. There were mud and slush, and it was a good deal worse journey than to go over to New York as we now fly on our express trains. And they took pride in this. They organized in Roxborough with thirty-two members, all from this church. Before I leave this point I must say that " The Child of a Century," as it is put in the program, — that is, a child almost a hundred and ten years old, — did not have a young mother. Even so long ago as that the mother was matured, and our church, I think I may say, shows no 3S8 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. sign of decrepitude, I wish it were more earnest and spiritual ; so does every pastor of his church. We have some 460 members, and we stand as we did at first; we believe in the Bible as God gave it to us — in its absolute integrity and authority ; in all the old doctrines ; and we are trying to maintain the standard, and I hope we shall do as well as we can. This church, I believe, has frequently had long pastor- ates. Dr. Boardman was here thirty years ; we can not equal that. In fifty-nine years we have had three pastor- ates, and I have the honor to be the third. If possible, I mean to raise the standard. Accept the hearty love and congratulations of Roxbor- ough Baptist Church and its pastor, and our best wishes for God's blessing upon you ; and that you and we and all our sister churches in the future may be faithful and ear- nest and godly and spiritual, and be ready, when the time shall come for earthly churches to cease, to stand with con- fidence before the Son of God at His coming. FIRST AFRICAN BAPTIST CHURCH, WILLIAM A. CREDITT, Pastor. ( Oi'oanized by our jiienibers, iSio. ) Brother Pastor, Brethren and Sisters.— Although, we could not hope to encompass within the three and a half minutes the things we might have in mind to say to you, we would say that we congratulate you ; and yet it does not become us, as a child of so worthy a mother, to offer congratulations. We rather say we are in hearty accord, and that we rejoice with our mother in the record which she has made during these many years, and pray for better BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 359 and greater prosperity in the century into which she will now enter. Quite a number of the slaves who escaped from the South settled here in Philadelphia, and, fortunately for the colored people of Philadelphia, some of these very first ones became members of the First Baptist Church. During those early years there was in the South a man by the name of Bur- rows, who felt himself called upon to preach the gospel of our Saviour, and there were associated with him certain other Baptists, who were anxious that their pastor might become a free man. The master of this man said, " Why do not your members purchase your freedom?" These people decided, if possible, to purchase the freedom of this man, and told him to go to the Northern cities and there present his claim, and, perchance, he might secure money enough with which to purchase his freedom. Two of his people bound themselves in bondage in his place for six months. This man, Father Burrows, came to the city of Philadelphia, and in a short time sent back money enough to pay for his own redemption from slavery, and loosed those who had become bondsmen, and then bade them to come this way and be associated with him. And there came several of those members and joined hands with those already here in the First Baptist Church, and, through your kindness and generosity, they organized the First African Baptist Church of the city of Philadelphia, in the year 18 10. There is a complete history written, of which we are very proud. During eighty-eight years the church has had four pastors. I am the fifth pastor, and have been with the church one year. During these years the church has sent out ten men as ministers of the gospel. We have within the last few weeks raised ;^I200 and swung the old church free from all indebtedness, and with a sur- plus have started upon a new year. We are trying to hold up the cause of our Master and 36o FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. to show that the opportunities that have been ours have not been wasted, but that we are doing everything in our power to advance the power of the gospel and to improve our people in every way possible, that they may take their stand as Christian citizens. We appreciate this opportunity which gives us the pleas- ure of being with you and to enjoy the Bi-centennial, and instead of congratulations, as I said, we only pray that God may so lead you that you may go on in your progress of good, remembering ever to scatter abroad, as you have done in the past, those principles of the Lord Jesus Christ. We rejoice with our mother, and rejoice that you have given us the opportunity as your child. FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, CAMDEN, N. J., JOHN W. LYELL, Pastor. (Oixauized by our me»ibers, iStS.) Our desire to be present on this notable occasion was prompted not merely by our high regard for your present and late pastor and for the many members of the church with whom we have the pleasure of acquaintance, but by the fact that the church in Camden, with which we are con- nected, claims the First Church in Philadelphia as our ven- erable and beloved mother. On February 5, 1818, a little more than eighty years ago, the First Church in Camden was organized by the Rev. Henry Holcombe, then pastor of the First Church in Philadelphia, and the seven con- stituent members of the new church were dismissed from your body for the purpose of effecting the organization. It would have seemed specially fitting, therefore, that some representative of this church should have been present to offer our congratulations and express our best wishes to BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 361 our venerable mother on this anniversary occasion. Will you kindly accept this expression of our good will, and the assurance of our prayers that God will richly bless and prosper our beloved mother, who seems to grow in vigor as she grows in years ? May the third century of her beneficent life, which is so auspiciously dawning, far out- shine in glory and efficiency the two whose records show so much of glorious fruitage. SOUTH BROAD STREET BAPTIST CHURCH, BENJ. L. HERR. Pastor. {Organized as the Boardinan Mission, iSCs.) "Our Debt and How we Hope to Pay It/' It would be very unfortunate, dear friends, if any word of mine should dissipate in anywise the emotions which have been stirred by the impressive address of Dr. Mabie. I would far rather prefer being silent this evening after listening to that inestimable paper. And yet, it gives me exceeding pleasure this evening to express to the mother church the greetings of that which was once the Boardman Chapel. * About thirty-three years ago there was in this city the beginning of this church that to-day reciprocates in kindly greeting all that helpfulness and love extended once to her; and to-day, as an organization representing some 250 names, with a property worth $100,000 without a single dollar of mortgage indebtedness, with a Sunday-school membership of about five hundred, with a hope as strong as the future possibilities, she expresses to the mother organization her great gratitude for the material and spir- itual life she has received. She rejoices in all the joy 362 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. of this occasion because the prosperity of this church is her joy, and she bids this beloved church God speed with all the accumulated momentum of two hundred years of Christian life and being ; and men may be so bold as to predict what this church may be and do in the years to come. I would express the hope that under its present leadership the church might go to the uppermost round of prosperity. I may express in a word our indebtedness to the church along the line suggested by the papers read this evening. It has had sympathy in years gone by with the missionary gospel. If not for that fact we perhaps might have been with those who never appeared in the light of evangelical day. We owe a debt for material things ; but greater, far greater, are we grateful to-night to this church for her gift of men, received, as we believe they were, not from this church only, but from the Lord. We would mention their names, but they are gone into the glory and their record is on high ; and in paying our debt we are going to try to be the best Christians, the best Baptists, we know how to be. We are going to try to magnify our office and so to live and work that our fame will be known from the City Hall to the suburbs. BALTIMORE AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH, JOSEPH A. BENNETT, Pastor. {Organized by our late member, H. L. ll'ayland, D.D., iSSi.) '* Backward and Forward." Centuries are being crowded into a day; the history of generations is being told in an hour ; and now the history of a church for eighteen years must be told in the brief space of three minutes. Surely, the pendulum must swing BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 363 very rapidly if in that short space the story can be told. The swinging to and fro of the pendulum reminds me of two persons : first, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, with His human side and the Divine, swinging ever in com- passion between earth and heaven ; with His humanity touching earth, taking upon Himself its sorrows, its cares, and the trials, and then swinging back to the great white throne; and with His divinity bearing back to earth the peace, the light, the joy, and strength of heaven. Thus ever swinging between the need of earth and the supply of heaven. The other person whom the to-and-fro motion reminds me of is the now glorified Wayland. One side of that man meant Baltimore Avenue; the other side meant the old First Church, and, like a pendulum, he was ever swinging backward and forward. And if a true biography of Dr. Wayland shall be written, it will tell the exact relation existing between these two. Now he swung to Baltimore Avenue, with a heart burdened with its needs; swung back again to the dear church and told the story, to find willing hands stretched out to remove the burden — the need on one side, the supply on the other; the pendulum swinging backward and forward for eighteen years, and then slowly and at last it has stayed, and the link between us has been severed. The conduit through which our need flowed, and back through which your help came, has been removed. A backward look shows a path over which our church has struggled over many an upward hill, through many a dark and threatening cloud ; but every hillside reveals your help- ing hand, and every dark and threatening cloud was bright- ened with your helpful smile. A forward look will reveal a pathway over which we must move with renewed effort and strength. Many burdens, many crosses, many trials, many conflicts, dark clouds, will linger over us, and shadows 364 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. fall across our pathway ; but with faith in God and the old church we still expect to feel the helping hand and the loving smile. These facts kindle our hearts with a flame of love and gratitude for all that the old church has done for its youngest child, and from Baltimore Avenue to the throne of God there will ever rise the incense of grateful hearts, and earnest prayers for the welfare of this great old church. God bless it! God bless it! May it be true to its God, true to its Christ, true to all the sacred memories and all the holy names enthroned in this holy faith ! THE CHURCH OF THE EVANGEL, NARBERTH, HAROLD KENNEDY, Pastor. {Organized as " TJie Narberth Mission" iSgr.) **The Evangel's Message to the Church in Philadelphia." Mr. CJuiiruian, Ladies and Gcntlonoi. — A few evenings ago I happened to find myself, as we sometimes do, at a wedding, and in company with the two pastors of this church. Among the guests was my diminutive nephew, about six years old, who was standing aside with an expres- sion of melancholy that would make his fortune as Hamlet. I asked him what was the matter. He said : " I have been trying to understand how it was that I was not at my mother's wedding ; I am sure I am a member of the family and ought to have been invited." We are surely members of the family, but we were not at our mother's wedding. Two hundred years ago, when the cards were out for the organization of a new family, ours were overlooked ; but we are glad we are here to- night to celebrate this anniversary. The filial relation which the Church of the Evangel holds to this old mother church is a pleasant and peculiar one. BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 365 The mother does not have to look back over all the worries of a difficult childhood. Our relation is most filial, and yet one free from charge to the mother church. People and pastor, many of us, had been children of the old First Church in the years gone by, but had been away from home for a long time. Then when a little company of Bap- tists settled down in Narberth, they gathered together, as Baptists will, and organized for work and worship ; and when the baby was born they referred the naming to Dr. Boardman, who happily suggested "The Baptist Mission of the Evangel," and the name was accepted. Then the baby was dressed in her best bib and tucker of a neat stone building, and was brought home to Broad and Arch Streets to claim kinship ; not as a foundling, to be laid on the door- step, but to receive a mother's blessing and go forth and take her place in the world. And so the relation of this young church to the mother church has been one free from care and full of affection. When the corner-stone was laid for the chapel of the Boardman Mission, it was my privilege to represent the Infant School of the First Church in a few remarks. And now I come again to represent the Primary Department, and to offer greetings from the youngest of the family. And as I represent the infant, it is fitting that I should make the shortest speech. The message of the Evangel — glad tidings — to the church in Philadelphia — brotherly love — could be nothing other than that of tenderest filial congratulations. FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA. Grace be to you and peace from God our P'ather, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I should count it an exalted privilege were I permitted 366 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. to associate with you in the celebration of the bi-centenary of your remarkable history. I recall with keen pleasure my relation to the church from August, i88i, to January, 1884, as chapel pastor at Immanuel. The inspirations born of the unselfish devotion of the church's noble corps of workers who toiled there during those years abide with me still. Conspicuous among them, with tenderest sympathy, with broad charity, with unceasing loyalty to what he believed should be done in the name of the Master, I remember our Superintendent, Brother James S. Moore, to whose Christ- like philanthropy I offer most loving tribute. I most heartily congratulate you that in the dawning of the new century, in the providence of God, you are to take so conspicuous a place in the evangelization of the city. May your manifold activities so completely conform to the Divine purpose that the prophecy spoken aforetime shall be in you most graciously fulfilled — " Behold ! I will lay thy stones with fair colors, And thy foundations with sapphires ; And I will make thy battlements of agates, And thy gates of carbuncles, And all thy borders of pleasant stones, Thou shalt call thy walls Salvation And thy gates Praise." H. F. Stillwell. ADDRESS : "American Christianity in its World Relations." Henry C. Mabie, D.D., of Pjoston, Home Secretary American Baptist Missionary Union, which originated in our Church, in 1814, as the "Triennial Convention," and of which our former pastors, William Staughton, D.D., and his suc- cessors, Henry Holcombe, D.D., and George Dana Board- man, D.D., LL.D., have been officers. (See p. 231.) FRIDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 9. THE BIBLE SCHOOLS, ISTORY OF Till: BIBLH-SCIIOOL. By JOHN H. SCOTT. The story of our Bible school can not be written in cold words; even "thoughts that burn" are feeble when we enter the valley of dry bones, and try to bring back again, for a while, those who loved their Lord, their church, and their school far above themselves ; who gave their lives — active, working, sacrificing lives — a ransom for the many; who have passed from labor to reward, from anticipation to realization, from earth to heaven. The feeble folk have become a flock, the tiny rivulet a mighty stream. Listen to the story ! In the fall of 1815 (see foot-note, p. 84) the Providence of God brought under the notice of Mrs. Ann Rhees a mother and three children who resided in her vicinity, whose father had enlisted in the State ser- vice, leaving them destitute except for his half-pay. There was no public school and no Sunday-school, except one at Arch and Third Streets, in the Second Presbyterian Church, which had only been started on September 14, 1815, and was probably unknown to her. It occurred to Mrs. Rhees that it would be well to open a school in the church. She suggested the idea to two female friends, and they embarked in the enterprise together. Their first call was on a good brother, but he did not like the idea of congregating children in a mass, and exhibiting them on the Lord's Day, to be gazed on like paupers. This rather discourged them, but they referred the matter to their beloved pastor. Dr. Holcombe. Said he: "Well, sisters, you can but try; blossoms are sweet and beautiful 24 369 370 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. even if they produce no fruit." Thus fortified, they called on good Deacon Joseph Keen, who encouraged them, met with them, and opened the school with prayer on the first and a number of later meetings. He brought with him a brother recently from England, who addressed them. Twenty children, boys and girls, rich and poor, had been collected, divided into classes, first taught by Ann Rhees, Mrs. Sarah Ogden, Miss Emily Ramage, and Miss Mary Hallman. The family who gave rise to these efforts were all converted. This is the preamble to the Constitution and By-Laws they adopted in 1819: "Anxiously solicitous for the welfare of the rising gen- eration, and willing to become their servants for Christ's sake, a number of persons in connection with the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia, organized this Sunday- school with the design of instructing the children in the first principles of English education and endeavor with a divine blessing to impress on their young and tender minds the important truths of the gospel, by teaching them to commit to memory the Bible, Hymns, and the Catechism." They met an hour and a half in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. Among other of their rules was one that the scholars must attend the church service; and that no coiwcrsation be allowed between teachers, superin- tendent, and officers, unless indispensable during school hours. Their sessions were held in Lagrange Place. The boys and girls were separate ; they had not learned the fact that the association of two good things makes both better. The first superintendent was James M. Bird, assisted by the beautiful group of men and women among whom were ancestors of a number of our present members. And so the work was started. The records of heaven alone can tell the good that has been done. BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 371 In 1822 there were 69 boys and 71 girls. Attendance was from 40 to 55 boys and from 55 to 65 girls. Only about double the present record of one class. These good people were strong on Bible memorizing. These few boys memorized 10,012 verses and the girls 10,682 verses during the year, besides hymns and cate- chism. They were divided, about 1825, into four divisions: First. Those who read the Bible well. Second. Those who read the Bible indifferently. Third. Those who read words of less than three syllables. Fourth. Those who say the alphabet. There were no Bible classes. These were the rewards : One blue ticket for being early. " " " " five verses of Scripture. " " " good behavior. " " " " remembering the text. " " " " going to meeting. They were required to give back one blue for non- attendance. Five blue tickets equaled one red. Twenty red, one premium: value, ten cents. So if a scholar came every Sunday for two years he got ten cents ! Two car- fares, but no cars. From 1815 to 1824 Dr. Holcombe was pastor. He was succeeded by Dr. Brantly. These godly men took great interest in the school, offering rewards, encouraging teach- ers and scholars, and being present at almost every session ; but not controlling its affairs, which were under an organi- zation called the Sunday-school Society, which was distinct from the officers and teachers (though some of these were members of it). It consisted of president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and managers, and these selected the officers of the school — superintendents, assistants, librari- ans, etc. 372 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. The Society continued from 1819 to October, 1868, within the memory of those now in the school, when it was discontinued. By 1827 the school had increased to 107 boys and 144 girls, and their voracious appetite for memorizing Scripture had to be checked, so that it was voted that no scholar be allowed to recite over twenty-five verses at any one lesson. In 1827 the library was established. The books were not varied, as at present; a novel was abhorred, and the stories of good boys and girls who died young, were the literary pabulum of the younger, while the wholesome, up-building lives of good men and women were read by the older. Twenty-five cents was demanded and, we fear, collected from the scholars as a membership fee. In this year also a colored (black) class was formed, restricted, however, to members of the church and congre- gation and those who resided in families of the same. Mary Hallman and Miss Burr were the teachers. Let us tarry a moment to see who were the men and women moving the works. The superintendents of the main school were: James M. Bird, 1815 to 1821. George 1. Miles seems to have followed him until 1823. William Ford, from 1823 to April 10, 1827. Joseph Keen, from April 10, 1827, to April 26, 1830. With them were associated godly women not a few. Mrs. Ann Rhees, the founder, Susan Ingels, Susan B. Keen, Hetty Bruce, superintendents of girls' school from 1826 to 1852 — twenty-six years; Mary Hallman, Elizabeth Tay- lor (Mrs. Moore). And of men : Joshua Walraven, Joseph W. Jones (secretary for so many years), William Van Aken, Benjamin R. Loxley. And of the scholars, one is still with us, George McDermond, who joined in 1821, seventy- seven years ago ! A branch school was started at Second and Vine, under BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 373 care of G. Washington Reed, though there was some objection to it. This afterward was removed to Vine and Fourth Streets, and kept up till in 1830. A branch school was also established, in November, 1832, on Spruce Street near the baptisterion on the Schuylkill, with ninety-eight scholars. In this year also was formed the Sunday-school Burman Tract Society, whose managers were David Weatherly, Mary Hallman, Benjamin R. Loxley. Our superintendents during these years were Benjamin R. Loxley, from April 26, 1830, to 1832; John Loxley Rhees, son of the founder; John Hance, George F. Seitz. George W. Reed was superintendent up to 1843. \w 1842 there were what was called five schools: Nos. I and 2, of which Hetty Bruce and George W. Reed were superintendents; No. 3, the Schuylkill branch, with Park H. Cassiday as superintendent ; No. 4, the infant school, of which H. Rigdon was superintendent; No. 5, Vine Street, below Second Street, A. Semple, superintendent. In 1843 Standish F. Hansell was superintendent. The year 1844 was marked by the advent of the Sunday- school excursion and a lecture on astronomy. The family and familiar names of Easby, Hansell, Sed- dinger, Wattson, Morgan, and Keen appear in great activity during these years, from 1835 on. In 1844 the first Bible class was formed. And this is the way they talked about it : " Whereas the Managers of the Sabbath School Society of this Church having viewed with sincere regret that a number of the young members of the Church, who while they should be glorifying the Saviour, give sad evidence that they have need that some one should teach them ; And whereas great difficulty is experienced in collecting them into the Sabbath School as they are beyond the usual age for scholars in Sabbath School. " Therefore, Resolved, That a committee be appointed to 374 I-'IRST BAPriST CHURCH. wait on the Pastor to solicit his cooperation in organizing a Bible Class. Thos. Wattson and John A. Gendell, were appointed the committee." The Bible class seems to have met with only moderate success. The attendance during these years seems to have been, in all the schools, not much over 300, of which the main school had about 175. In 1844 Thomas Wattson was elected superintendent of school No. 2 ; and in 1845 ^'^^ No. 5 branch, at Fourth and Vine Streets, was consolidated with the main school, and George W. Reed elected superintendent. In April, 1846, John A. Gendell was elected superin- tendent of the main school. The average attendance re- mained about the same. The Schuylkill branch had only forty-eight. These were the days of lack of interest and lack of heart. In 1848 I. H. O'Harra began teaching, and John D. Tustin taught the female Bible class ; while Hetty Bruce, John A. Gendell, and W. Seddinger, as superintendents of the three schools, led the van. In October, 1849, the anniversary of the school was held. It was during this year that Mary Weatherly, the indirect founder of the Baptist Orphanage, became promi- nent. During this year the library was not forgotten. It seems to have formed an important part of the school. The collections were not large — $68.25 i'^ 1846, and this seems to have been the average amount for several years. In March, 1853, John A. Gendell resigned as superin- tendent. The receipts had run up to $294, yet these seem to be the years of depression. " There never was a time within fifteen years," says one report, " when the school was so thinly attended. If it goes on decreasing as it has, it will become almost extinct." The attendance averaged about sixty-three. There was a hiatus in the superinten- Bl-CENTENXIAL CELEBRATION. 375 dency from March to September, 1853, when Edwin Hall was elected, and served until May, 1856. In 1853 the time of the annual meeting had been changed to November 23d. On March 14, 1854, the Schuylkill Branch or Mission, on Spruce Street, was disbanded. The rougher element seemed to have gotten in and demoralized the school ; and the place of baptism near there had been invaded some years before by commerce in the shape of a wharf. In 1854 there was another progressive move: the male and female departments were united. The wisdom of the movement was at once shown, for the attendance jumped to 100. These were the days of scant Bible school literature. The great intellects of the world were not then writing articles and preparing lessons for the comparatively feeble Sunday-school. The " Youth's Penny Gazette " or any old paper was good enough; — times have changed. In April, 1856, the new home at Broad and Arch Streets was finished, and the church and school re- moved; but the school was still of minor importance, for the records say that, in consequence of there being three services on the day of consecration, with considerable in- terest and excitement on that day, it is recommended that we meet morning and afternoon, with a short session, and close. The last service in Lagrange Place was held the third Sunday of April, 1 856; the last service in Broad and Arch Street church, the third Sunday of April, 1898 — forty- two years. The now veteran and all-round church-worker, Benjamin R. Loxley, who had been superintendent twenty-six years before, was again elected, and served eight years — from 1856 to 1864. The church had still a warm spot for old Lagrange Place, for they opened there a branch (it was always called a 376 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. " branch school," not a " mission school ") in September, 1856, with forty-two pupils, and Superintendents Loxley and Hall were appointed a committee to take charge of the same. I am now getting away from ancient history, where the memory of man runneth not to the contrary, into the days made interesting by the brethren who are yet with us, if they are not too chary of admitting their ages. Here begins the era of prosperity. Collections, $535 ; scholars, over two hundred and fifty; the working days of the well-known veterans, Thos. Wattson, Standish F. Han- sell, Louis Y. Walraven, Wm. A. Levering (still young and hearty), Edwin Hall, Washington Butcher, S. W. Hopper, Joseph Page, Benj. Bullock, and C. H. Auner. They were not yet educated up to festivals, for in 1857 it was resolved that " It is inexpedient to have a festival." In 1858 the annual report showed an addition of 138 scholars and loss of 1 00. There were 17 conversions; net number, 244, not including the infant school; ;$256 col- lected; and 1200 volumes in the library. The branch school was also flourishing. A melodeon — apparently the first musical instrument — came into the school in 1858. In 1859 the school went on an excursion — 106 adults and 171 minors ; and they must have had a jolly good time. May be some of those present were there — only forty years ago! Judge W. B. Hanna, B. R. Loxley, and Theo. T. Johnson were the committee. Where did they go? In i860 a prize was offered for bringing in scholars. In 1861 Wm. A. Levering was elected superintendent of the Lagrange Place School. In May, 1862, there was a Sunday-school Convention, at which our school was largely in evidence, both in the literary department and entertainment of delegates. In the same year, as though to recuperate, they went on an excur- BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 377 sion to the grounds of the Institution for Feeble-minded Children ! The branch school was disbanded in this year. In 1863 one session was advocated but not adopted. The missionary work was well sustained. The Grand Ligne Mission was aided for many years, and a missionary or native preacher was supported in Burma, and other fields were not neglected. The largest attendance this year seems to have been 154. Number in the school, 218. This year the whole school seems to have resolved itself into a missionary society, each class taking a name. I wonder if you remember them — the Mite Gatherers, Buds of Promise, Rose of Sharon, Banner of Love, Young Reapers, Missionary Monitor, Emily Judson, Morning Star, John Bunyan, Busy Bees, etc. In 1864 Benj. R. Loxley resigned as superintendent, and Edwin Hall was elected 1864 to 1869, with Wm. M. Wilson as assistant superintendent. At this time the en- rolled scholars numbered 225, with an attendance of about 125. This year ;$iooo was collected for the Missionary Union. On October 26, 1865, was held the Jubilee Semi- centennial, when a historical sketch was read by Judge William B. Hanna. Of the forty-eight officers and teachers then in the school, only Wm. A. Levering and Miss Eliza- beth Brooks still remain active members of the school. A Jubilee Hymn, composed by Miss R. A. Rhees, grand- daughter of one of the founders, was read. It was in October of this year that the Boardman Mission, now the South Broad Street Baptist Church, was founded, and this alone would be glory and monument sufficient for our dear old school. In 1866 the Uniform System of Lessons was adopted by the school, and in 1867 one session. At this time the school numbered 38 teachers and 271 scholars, with 1 800 volumes in the library. 378 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. In 1868, February i6th, a devoted band, under the super- intendence of William E. Burke, founded our Immanuel Mission, whose good works and efforts only the heavenly records will show. In October, 1868, the Sunday-school Society, which had been kept up as a separate organization, seems to have disbanded, and the teachers for the first time elected their own officers. In 1869 Brother M. Closkey and his Chinese puzzles, 900 of which he had on hand, are worthy of mention. What were they ? This year Edwin Hall, on his retire- ment, gave a supper in the church. Teachers' meetings were held during the fall of 1869, the pastor, Dr. Boardman, being present. At that time helps for Bible study were few, and teachers had not learned the fact that the Bible was its own best interpreter, so that Dr. Boardman's keen analysis of the lessons was exceedingly helpful. The Boardman Mission Chapel, now the South Broad Street Baptist Church, was furnished this year, at a cost of $^2$, by the teachers, Messrs. S. F. Hansell, Levering, Keen, and Wilson being very helpful in this matter. In October, 1869, the annual report showed expenses paid, i^i 155 ; benevolent contributions, S1601. S. F. Han- sell was elected superintendent of the Boardman Mission, W. E. Burke of the Immanuel Mission, Dr. W. W. Keen of the main school. The literature at this time was chiefly "The Young Reaper." In the winter of 1 870 the lot at Twenty-third and Sum- mer Streets, 60 by 48, was purchased for the Immanuel Mission at $4 a foot — about $4000; and in 1870 James S. Moore was elected its superintendent. A leader of music was also engaged at $3 a week. 1871. — The school at this time had a wonderful set of working teachers ; but the attendance was somewhat dis- BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 379 couraging; yet festivals, anniversaries, and mission work were pushed forward, and many souls were brought to the Saviour. 1872. — In January of this year each of the three schools became independent bodies, separate in their organization. 1874 to 1877. — "Debts all paid" is the entry I find in 1874. Of course, this did not mean the debt of service, which was continuous. Allibone's " Dictionary of Authors " was presented to Dr. Boardman in 1877. During these years the teachers embrace the names of Seddinger, Moore, Brooks, Langton, Bussier, Hopper, Dean, Auner, O'Harra, Harris, Forepaugh, Levering, Wright, Inglis, Walraven, Wilson, Hanna, Farley, Schmoele. How many are still with us ? 1876 to 1884. — During these years our school continued on its way, working quietly and successfully, adding con- tinually from its numbers to the church " of such as were being saved." The membership was well kept up. Our well-known and most faithful superintendent, Deacon T. S. Scott, put all his energy into the work, and, assisted by able and willing teachers, great good was done. The rooms were altered and better accommodations given. Nor should our primary department, then known as the infant school, be forgotten. Mrs. Kennedy, Miss Brooks, Mrs. Spencer, working always faithfully, earnestly, and kindly — how lovingly do many of the scholars still cherish their words and labors ! The Centennial was celebrated by the school on Sunday- school day, June 23, 1876. In October, 1877, Brother Wm. M. Wilson was elected superintendent, and took up the work with his usual energy, with magic lantern exhibitions, excursions, con- certs, and even a visit to the House of Refuge. The alterations to the school-room were completed in 38o FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. 1878. Our anniversary celebration was changed to May, in 1 88 1. Bible class 28, under the charge of T. Seymour Scott, was during these years in a most flourishing condition. Many of our most active workers came from its ranks. Its yearly reports were full of interest. In 1884 our present Executive Committee was estab- lished, whose valuable efforts have since then relieved our superintendents of much care, and devised such ways and means that a sufficient, if not abundant, supply of funds has always been available for the school's uses and needs. In October, 1888, Mr. William M. Wilson, after eleven years of faithful service, resigned the office, which was not filled until February, 1889, when Deacon William A. Levering was elected. The school participated largely in the Jubilee exercises held on our pastor's twenty-fifth anniversary among us, on Sunday, May 5, 1889. In October, 1889, a new Sunday-school Society was formed, differing from the ancient one in the fact that its membership was limited to the pastor of the church and the officers, teachers, and librarians of the school. Our Baltimore Avenue Mission was accepted in 1888, under the direction of Dr. Wayland. In January, 189 1, William A. Levering declined re- election as superintendent, and Dr. Howard B. Martin was chosen. During this period we lost a number of valuable members, and our school seemed to decline in interest and work, but individual efforts were none the less continuous and much good accomplished. In October, 1892, Dr. Martin resigned, and Ernest L. Tustin was elected superintendent, an office which he has filled with so much acceptance and ability, and which he still holds. BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 381 In 1894 we note with sorrow the death of Mrs. Eh"za- beth VV. Moore, one of the school's constituent members. Dr. William W. Kken was superintendent from 1869 to 1870 H. H. Kimball " " " 1870 to 1872 T. B. Langton " " " 1872 to 1875 T. Seymour Scott " " " 1875 to 1877 Wm. W. Wilson " " " 1877 to 1888 Many of us served from October, 1888, to February 10, 1889. W. A. Levering served from February 10, 1889, to January, 1891. Dr. Howard B. Martin, January, 1891, to October, 1892. E. L. TusTiN, since November 20, 1892, with Benjamin Githens and D. A. Hunter (associate), April 25, 1895. BETH EDEN BIBLE SCHOOL. Bv JOHN H. SCOTT. How lovingly would I linger a while on the dear Beth Eden School, did time permit, as I look into the faces of these my brethren, who, over a quarter of a century ago (January 26, 1870), met together to consider the practica- bility of a Sunday-school, and who, for all these years, have worked unceasingly and unsparingly in the cause. Behold, their labors are written on the hearts of the living and the dead ! Their spiritual children will rise up and call them blessed, and eternity only will reveal the extent of the work. Fellow-members and yet workers in the same old field are they. Here are some of the names : Githens, Hunter, Dukes, Macaltioner, William B. Knowles, Crowley, J. R. Speir, Charles T. Miller, A. D. Carroll, Craven, Way, Leach, Turner, Geyer, Bucknell, and Shum- way of sainted memory. Success followed their efforts. Dr. J. Wheaton Smith was the first superintendent and Benjamin Githens assist- 382 FIN ST BAPTIST CHURCH. ant superintendent. They were always generous. I sup- pose few bodies of equal size ever gave more liberally. I find Library Fund, Fellowship Church, Macedonian Mis- sion, Foreign and Home Mission, all most bountifully remembered. October, 1871, J.Granville Leach was elected superin- tendent, and served until September, 1875. D. A. tlunter served from October, 1875, until October, 1879, Geo. Byron Morse was elected April, 1880. Then the calamity ! Early in 1 88 1, the great fire that destroyed our most beautiful edifice and left us homeless. We worshiped, and held the Bible school in Dr. Wiley's church, over the way. Sister churches were helpful. Gethsemane alone raised $1000 for us, and still the work for God went on. We entered the new edifice in the fall of 1882. The financial strain was heavy for refurnishing, new library, new books ; but missions were never neglected. D. A. Hunter was again elected superintendent, with Benj. Githens, in October, 1884, and continued until the consoli- dation into the one First Church, bringing us back to the church of our own fathers and mothers. I find in these years the workers to have been so many that it is impossible to name all : but added to the list already mentioned there were : Miss Mila Smith, Miss Robinson, Miss Dawson, Miss Brown, now Mrs. Michener, Mrs. Bucknell, Mrs. Bradley, Miss Wallace, Miss Shermer, Messrs. Hagen, Morrison, Walter Shumway, Ashworth, Fullaway, etc. In April, 1895, occurred the happy consolidation of our school with that of Beth Eden, when, with the reelection of Mr. Tustin as superintendent, and Mr. B. O. Loxley as assistant, there were also elected our present most efficient associates, Benjamin Githens and D. A. Hunter. During this year we also had a large accession from the Tabernacle School, as their removal to West Philadelphia made it BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 383 most inconvenient for many to go with them. Earnest Christian fellow-laborers are they ! And now, with our primary department so skilfully led by Mrs. Tupper, our Chinese department by Mrs. T. Sey- mour Scott, our fine Bible Classes, our large attendance, and our prospects for increased service, we enter on our third century with hope, love, encouragement, and enthusiasm. THE CHINESE DEPARTMENT OF THE BIBLE SCHOOL. By JOHN H. SCOTT. This was started four years ago. It consisted of four teachers and four scholars; but it has been so blest that there are now forty teachers and fifty-two scholars. Four Chinese were baptized in 1898, so that we have now ten Chinese members. Moreover, the interest has so cri'own that an evening school has been opened, with as many as thirty-six scholars and eighteen teachers. The great lack is a sufficient num- ber of devoted teachers, for owing to the peculiar character of the work there ought to be one teacher to each scholar. If these are only secured, the work is sure to grow in im- portance and success. " There is no need to go to foreign shores to be a mis- sionary ; an opportunity is afforded right here in our own church. Could you see the change which comes into the faces of these men, contrasting them as they first came to us, and after they have been enlightened and enlivened by these first glimmerings of gospel light, you would realize as never before the wondrous power of the Holy Spirit in transforming human character, and would esteem it a privi- lege indeed to labor in this department." Out of their poverty — for most of the scholars are laun- drymen — these few pupils gave, in 1898, S185. 48, chiefly to aid in Christianizing their own native land. 384 FIRST BAPTIST CIIUKCH. The officers of the Chinese department are : Mrs. T. Seymour Scott, superintendent ; James H. Bryant, asso- ciate superintendent; G. W. Jackson, superintendent of the Monday evening class; Miss Anna Sietz, treasurer. TlIF: IIQME DEPARTMENT OF THE BIBLE SCHOOL. By JOHN H. SCOTT. This was organized in 1890, and reorganized October 3, 1897, with 150 members. Its object is to give to those who are unable to meet with the school an opportunity to be in touch with its work by studying the lesson at home. It is most gratifying that so large a number — nearly one member in six of the whole church — should enter upon such a systematic study of the Bible. Mrs. Almena B. Bosson has charge of the work. SATURDAY EVENING, DECEMBER lo. HISTORICAL ADDRESS. WILLIAM W. KEEN, M.D., LL.D. (See page 13.) SUNDAY MORNING, DECEMBER ii THE CHURCH OF THE PAST. GEORGE DANA BOARDMAN, D.D., LL.D. (See page 251.) SUNDAY EVENING, DECEMBER ii THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. KERR BOYCE TUPPER, D.D., LL.D. (See page 271.) 25 HISTORIES ORGANIZATIONS CONNECTED WITH THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. HISTORIES OF THE ORGANIZATIONS CONNECTED WITH THE EIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. THE WOMAN'S AUXILIARY. The various woman's societies in the church, federated into the Woman's AuxiHary, January, 1897, are now fully organized under the name of the Woman's Auxiliary of the First Baptist Church, having as their " supreme object the cultivation of Christian character, and the advancement of the Lord's kingdom." The officers are : President, Mrs. Kerr B. Tupper ; Vice- Presidents, Mrs. Dora E. Cobb and Mrs. Wm. Bucknell ; Recording Secretary, Mrs. Edward H. Clapp ; Treasurer, Miss Lydia M. Morgan. L The Dorcas Department. (See page 197.) n. The Missionary Department. For the purposes of the history, separate consideration must be given to the foreign and the home mission work, though at present they are consolidated. (a) Foreign MissioJiary Society. — November 9, 18 10, with the approval of Dr. Staughton, who met with them, sixteen women organized a Women's Missionary Society. They were an auxiliary to the Philadelphia Baptist Mission 389 390 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. Society, and in their first year they raised nearly $250. There was also a Karen Society. Much of the early work was done by the Dorcas Society, as already stated. February 26, 1873, largely as a result of a visit from Miss Haswell, a missionary from Burma, the Women's Foreign Missionary Society was organized. Mrs. Rev. Dr. Warren Randolph was its first president. The objects were — " To aid in sending to foreign lands and sustaining single ladies who shall labor as missionaries among heathen women, train and superintend native Bible women, and open schools for girls." In spite of the panic of 1873, they raised $100 the first year for Miss Haswell's work in Burma. In 1874-75 Mrs. T. S. Foster and Mrs. Joseph F. Page were the presidents. In the latter year the Society became affiliated with the Women's Society in Boston, though the contributions and boxes were still sent to Miss Haswell. In 1877 the Carnation Band and the Coral Workers were organized among the children as an auxiliary, and con- tributed the next year $125 for the work. In 1880 the Missionary Inquirers were organized by Mrs. Dr. W. W. Keen for the methodical study of foreign missions, and did a great service in arousing an intelligent interest in the subject. In 1889 Mrs. J. N. Cushing succeeded Mrs. Page as president. In 1890 Miss M. V. Ashton succeeded to the office, and in 1891 Mrs. F. W. Tustin. The work of the Society began in aiding Miss Haswell, then Miss Sands and others, and later widened its field so as to include Burma, India, Japan, China, and Africa, the Missionary Training School in this city, medical mission- ary work, a home for the children of missionaries, etc. What an amount of good done by a few women, whose hearts were in the work, who were often discouraged, but BI-CEN7^ENNIAL CELEBRATION. 391 who always rose above discouragement into the clear light of God's sure promises ! Since 1873 they have raised over $14,000. The present officers are: Chairman, Mrs. T. Seymour Scott; Chairman of Program Committee, Mrs. Francis W. Tustin ; Chairman of Baby Band, Mrs. Ralph R. Gurley, {6) The Home Missionary Society. — This Society was organized May 17, 1877, as a result of a stirring appeal May 1st by Major Ingalls on " Missionary Work among the Indians." Its name was the Women's Home Missionary Society of the First Baptist Church, and from the first it cooperated with the Women's Home Mission Society of Chicago. Miss Mary L. Bonney (afterward Mrs. Rambaut) was its first president. Mrs, D. L. Hopper, its first treas- urer, served faithfully for twenty-two years, until the federa- tion of all the women's work into the Women's Auxiliary. The objects of the Society are — " To promote the Christianization of homes by means of mission schools, etc., with special reference to the freed- men, Indians, and immigrant heathen population of our country. " Its work for the Indians has already been told in the his- tory of the Woman's National Indian Association. In 1844 Mrs. Washington Butcher became its president. In 1885 Mrs. R. R. Gurley organized a Baby Band as an auxiliary to the work. In 1892 Mrs. T. Seymour Scott was elected president, and since the federation of the women's societies has acted as chairman of this department. The work of the Society is succinctly stated in its con- stitution, which has already been quoted. The good done by the money, boxes, clothing, etc., sent to all parts of our country, by the splendid work for the Indians, and the hardly less splendid work for the freedmen and our ignorant immigrants, by their educational and medical 392 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. missions, not only in the United States, but in Mexico and Canada, can never be estimated until the Lord Himself shall say, " Well done, good and faithful servants." The money value of their contributions since 1877 has been over ;^ 17,000. The officers of the Society since 1897 are the same as those of the Foreign Missionary Society. III. The Devotional Department. Chairman, Mrs. Almena B. Bosson. Monthly meetings of this department have been held at the close of the Dorcas, but the inconvenient hour and in- sufficient time have convinced all that some more favor- able time should be chosen for the coming year. IV. The Social Department. Chairman, Miss Mary O'Harra. The Social Department has done its particular work admirably, and has added greatly to the pleasures and home feeling which surround us. THE ANNIE C. INGLIS MEMORIAL. This was the first auxiliary to the Board of Managers of the Philadelphia Home for Incurables. Its work has been partly described under that head. It was organized Octo- ber I, 1877. Its membership has always included others besides members of our church. Its present officers are: Honorary President, Mrs. Caroline C. K. Inglis ; President, Mrs. Edward R. Fell ; Vice-Presidents, Mrs. Weston Don- aldson, Miss Rosalie G.Wilson; Treasurer, Mrs. Joseph C. Gill ; Corresponding Secretary, Miss Annie I. Bower ; Recording Secretary, Miss Jane Stewart Wilson. BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 393 BANNER CIRCLE OF KING'S SONS. This arose from a desire on the part of the members of a Bible school class to do something to aid the needy. It was organized in 1891, and chose for its motto : " Do all the good you can, To all the people you can, In all the ways you can, For Jesus' sake." Their badge is the usual Maltese cross, inscribed with the significant letters I. H. N. The object of the Circle is to stimulate individual Chris- tian growth, to encourage Christian activity, and to render assistance to the worthy. The last is chiefly done by giving Christmas dinners to deserving families who would otherwise be destitute of cheer at Christmas time. For this purpose, by dues, subscriptions, and entertainments, the Circle has raised over ^350 in the seven years of its useful life. They have given 132 Christmas dinners, be- sides distributing food, coal, clothing, etc. The present officers are : Leader, Miss Bertha Ogden ; Assistant Leader, Harry Vowel Miller ; Secretary, Samuel Washington Hess ; Treasurer, Arthur Harrison Clevenger. ^bc (Builb Service. I. THE GIRLS' GUILD. This originated from the Young People's Society in 1892. It began under the direction of Miss Meta Jones. Its design was to furnish an attractive place in which girls could spend at least one pleasant evening in the week, and 394 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. thus draw them away from less desirable places of amuse- ment. A cooking class was organized by Miss Byerly, a class in English history by Miss Amy Jones, and other classes in fancy work, plain sewing, and dolls' clothing for the younger girls, and instruction was given on the organ and piano by Miss Huntley. Later, a tourist class was conducted by Miss Pavey, a class in calisthenics by Miss Good, and one in stenography and typewriting by Misses Harris, Saville, and Olewine successively. Miss Annie English and Miss Harriet Stauffer have given instruction in music. Mr. Pennock has generously contributed flowers on many occasions. In October, 1897, Mrs. Tupper became the leader. There are thirty-three members. The present officers are: Directress, Mrs. Kerr B. Tup- per ; Treasurer, Miss Marian F. Van Ingen ; Secretary, Miss Louise B. Henderson ; Assistants, Miss Hattie T. Stauffer, Miss Marian F. Van Ingen, Miss Lizzie Wallace, Mrs. John T. Stauffer, Mrs. Mary Brown, Mrs. James H. Bryant, Mrs. Benj. D. West, Miss Louise B. Henderson. II. THE BOARDMAN BOYS' GUILD. This arose from an address given by Rev. Dr. Edward Judson in April, 1893. The committee, of which Rev. Dr. Wayland was chairman, and at whose instance the lecture was given, were greatly impressed with the need for such work, as the neighborhood of our church was fast becoming a business center. In May, 1893, a reading-room was opened for men, and the church parlors were provided with games for small boys. Though the experiment was a success so far as numbers were concerned, it was almost BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 395 impossible to obtain a sufficient number of workers to carry- it on. In fact, had it not been for the personal zeal and efficient work of Mr. John H. McQuillen, it would have fallen to pieces. He was ably seconded by Misses Hansell, Woodruff, and Ogden, and Messrs. Hill, Wilson, and Tustin, with whom others, too numerous to mention individually, afterward became associated, and have done most efficient work. The work of the Guild is entirely unsectarian, and in- cludes the children of both Protestants and Catholics alike. Twenty-five boys have been brought into the Sunday- school. There is a library of from 200 to 300 books, a class in mechanical drawing, and two clubs, besides the regular departments of guild work. Entertaining talks, on " How We are Governed," " Bees," " Birds' Wings," etc., have been given ; the birthdays of famous Americans are celebrated; and small savings are encouraged by a branch of the Theodore Starr Savings Bank. The personal influ- ence of the Guild as to manners, dress, and refinement has been markedly beneficial. The average attendance has been fifty-eight. The present officers are : Head-worker, John H. McQuillen; Treasurer, Albert Hill; Secretary, Miss Laura Gendell ; Registrar, Robert G. Wilson; Mem- bers of the Committee, Miss Lillian Kennedy, Miss Penny- packer, Miss Charlotta J. Stauffer, Miss Ida Timmins, Miss Jennie Timmins, Miss Mary R. Hansell, Miss Florence B. Scott, Miss Laura Gendell, Miss Grace Gendell, Miss Agnes Gendell, Frank E. Martin, John H. McQuillen, Albert Hill, Alan Calvert, Charles H. Clevenger, Arthur H. Clevenger, George R. Kurrie, Samuel W. Hess, George L. Hess, David S. Gendell, Jr., R. Grafifen Wilson, Benjamin G. Weston, J. William Clegg. 396 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. THE HELPING CIRCLE OF KING'S DAUGHTERS. The Helping Circle of King's Daughters was organized in October, 1894, by Mrs. Margaret T. O'Harra. It is composed of young girls from the church and Sab- bath-school. Its object is to help the poor and destitute of the church and community, and thus, by aiding the material welfare, help also the spiritual nature, and win souls to Christ. Entertainments of various kinds have been given, and the proceeds resulting therefrom have aided in purchasing Christmas dinners and other comforts for the poor. Last summer a dime was given to each girl, to be in- creased as best she could. By the autumn these dimes had grown to ten dollars, to which friends added ten more, and ten needy families were supplied each with a Christ- mas dinner, for which, with " Tiny Tim," they would gladly exclaim " God bless us all." BAPTIST BOYS' BRIGADE, COMPANY D. Company D, Baptist Boys' Brigade, was organized in March, 1894, in the Tabernacle Baptist Church ; the charter membership about fifteen. Mr. George A. Dougherty and Mr. Hiram Horter, Jr., were in charge. The membership increased to fifty in a short time. First officers : Captain, Thomas Horter; First Lieutenant, Benjamin Gilbough ; Second Lieutenant, Edward Bowen. 1895. — The company went into camp at Gordon Heights with the City Baptist Boys' Brigade, and had in all about 300 boys. They were visited by the Governor of Delaware and his staff, which was felt to be quite an honor. 1896.— Went to camp, at Stone Harbor, N. J. At this BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 397 camp one of the important features was the effective re- Hgious meetings, at which a number of conversions were reported. 1897. — Camped at National Park. This was the best camp from a military standpoint. A day's march of fifteen miles was one of the features. Another, the testimony meetings, at which quite a number of the boys took part. 1898. — The camp was also at National Park. Mr. George W. Hughes, Chaplain of the Camps, is very effective in the Brigade work, and exerts a splendid influence over the boys. At all our meetings a portion of the Bible is read in the hearing of all the boys, and prayer offered, concluding with the entire company offering the Model Prayer. Each boy, on entering the company, must promise to refrain from the use of tobacco and profanity, and that he will attend some Sunday-school, and we believe that to this promise they conform. Of course, the meetings are not of the character that would have any special effect in the boys' conversion. The boys come for an evening's enjoyment and exercise in the use of the musket, and they are required, so far as practi- cable, to obey orders, as is required of a soldier in the service of the United States. The Brigade is, in short, used as a means to the end the Sunday-school has in view, and we believe that with a boy full of life and mischief, much is accomplished if only he is kept out of the streets in the evenings. When the Tabernacle Church moved to West Philadel- phia,Company D transferred its headquarters and its alle- giance to the First Church, where it has drilled ever since. Its membership is thirty-five. Its President is Benjamin G. Weston. Its Commander, Major Edward I. Bowen. 398 F/RST BAPTIST CHURCH. YOUNG PEOPLE'S SOCIETY FOR CHRISTIAN CULTURE. This new organization, formed by the pastor in 1897, has in view particularly the development of youth in three directions — namely, sociability, knowledge, and spirituality. It cordially invites any and all young people, especially those of the First l^aptist Church and congregation, to meet the pastor in the lecture- room of the church on the first three Tuesdays of each month (and occasionally on the fourth Tuesday, at receptions), for song and prayer service, social contact, and the study of God's movements in history as revealed in the Scriptures and post-Apostolic Church history. There will be no formal organization, the pastor appoint- ing officers and committees as the development of the work and the guidance of the Spirit may dictate. The following plan of spiritual recreation and of study is suggested : 7.45-8.00, Song Service; 8.00-8. 20, Prayer Service; 8.20-9.00, Lecture and Study. Lectures have been given on " The Graphic Art," " The Picturesque Orient," " Constitutional Law,"" The Problem of the City," " Astronomy in the Bible," etc. The pastor has suggested a list of books for their use. THE MEN'S LEAGUE FOR SOCIAL SERVICE. (This has already been described on page 198.) BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 399 ©rganisations in Both lE^cn* WOMAN'S WORK IN BETH EDEN CHURCH. At the close of the morning service in Beth Eden Church, December 31, 1871, a meeting of the ladies was held for the purpose of organizing a Foreign Missionary Society. Miss Anable presided, and introduced Miss Hasvvell, who stated that the object in forming the Society was to aid the Women's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society in its work of giving the gospel to women in heathen lands. The following officers were elected : Mrs. A. F. Chese- brough, President; Mrs. J. H. Geyer, Treasurer; Miss S. C. Dewey, Secretary. Miss Haswell requested that the contributions for the first year might be given toward erecting a building for her school in Burma. Mrs. Chesebrough continued as president until 1876, when she resigned, and Miss Anable was elected president. This was the only change in the officers of the Society until it united with that of the First Church in 1895. The first year the collections amounted to $211.50, in- cluding four life memberships. Meetings were held monthly for business. To promote a knowledge of mis- sionary work, several members reported at each meeting the latest intelligence from different parts of the foreign field. Returned missionaries were invited to give their own experiences, which always created greater interest than a written description. Among those to whom we were in- debted were Miss Haswell, Mrs. Bailey, Mrs. Binney, Mrs. Knowlton, Miss Fielde, Mrs. Downie, and Mrs. Cushing. For several years the money raised by the Society was devoted to Miss Haswell's school ; afterward it was sent 400 FIRS 7' BAPTIST CHURCH. to the general fund of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society until 1884. In February of that year Mrs. Downie, of Nellore, met the ladies of the Society, and explained to them the work of the native Bible women ; all present were so much interested that they expressed a desire to support a Bible woman, and Mrs. Downie recommended Krishnalu as one of the most efficient. The Society voted to support her, and continued to do so for ten years. Krishnalu sent several touching letters, and Mrs. Downie kept the society informed of her work. In October, 1894, Krishnalu passed from her earthly labors to her heavenly rest. Dr. Downie wrote that this was the most severe blow the Nellore station had sustained for many years. Krish- nalu was no ordinary helper ; while her work was chiefly among the women, her ability and zeal as a preacher could hold a village crowd spellbound as she poured out her soul in earnest appeal to them to flee to Christ, the only Saviour. Mrs. Downie said she felt as if she had lost her right hand, as Krishnalu had been such an efficient helper in all departments of her work among the Telugu women. Truly, those who contributed to her support should feel that it was a blessed privilege to assist so earnest a disciple of the Lord. The Dorcas Society met once a week to make garments for the poor until Beth Eden was destroyed by fire, January 31, 1 88 1. For a year the meetings were discontinued, but after the church was rebuilt they were resumed. The Dorcas Society worked chiefly for the poor children in the Sunday-school until the Home Mission Circle was organ- ized, when the work was extended, the members of the two societies uniting in preparing clothing for the needy out- side of our own city. Boxes and barrels were sent to ministers settled in destitute places in the West, and cloth- ing and basted work to home missionaries, especially to those stationed in the South. Miss Jones, Miss Jackson, BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 401 Miss Addle Morris, Miss Seils, and others received boxes. The members of the Circle also had the pleasure of meet- ing these missionaries and hearing of their efforts to relieve the poor and to educate the ignorant and degraded. Miss Morris related how she had been led to work for her peo- ple ; she told of the lack of comfortable accommodations and of the necessity for putting up a school building in which she could live, for her health had suffered seriously from occupying damp rooms. Her simple story of what she had accomplished, and her devotion and earnest- ness impressed all who heard her, and the members of the Circles and Bands subscribed over $100 for her. In November, 1893, at the meeting of the Home Mission Union, Mrs. Perry read a letter from Mrs. Mather, of Beau- fort, S. C, telling of the dreadful destitution of the colored people who had lost everything, their homes having been swept away by the terrible storms which had prevailed on the coast. All the Circles were requested to aid Mrs. Mather. Dr. Beckley was very much interested in this appeal, and thought many persons in the city would like to send articles if they knew of the suffering of these home- less people. He gave notice through the daily papers that all donations sent to Beth Eden would be gladly received and forwarded. The result was that great quantities of clothing, bedding, and household utensils were sent to the church by members of all denominations, and ten large boxes and three barrels were packed and sent to Mrs. Mather. Part of the money collected each year by the Home Mission Circle was devoted to special objects, but the larger portion was sent to the Women's Home Mis- sionary Society for its general work. The Nanna Wilson Circle, composed of young ladies, was organized in 1887 by Mrs. William Bucly vote of the Church been received into its Organization. ARTICLE L MEMBERSHIP. Section i. — Persons professing faith in tlie Lord Jesus Christ, giving evidence of a change of heart, and adopting the views of doctrine and practice held by this Church, as set forth in its " Summary of Faith," may, upon relation of their Christian experience and submission to the ordinance of baptism, be received into its membership. Sec. 2. — Candidates for admission by baptism shall not be brought before the Church to relate their Christian experience until the Pastor and Deacons shall be satisfied that their conver- sion is genuine, and that their walk and conversation are becom- ing a Christian profession. The question of their reception shall not be taken in their presence. Sec. 3. — Each applicant for membership shall agree to the following Covenant : To the Members of the First Baptist Church, Philadelphia. Having accepted Christ as my personal Saviour, and in sym- pathy with the tenets of the Baptist denomination, I hereby 426 BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 427 make application for membership with you (by letter, experi- ence, or baptism). If received into your fellowship, I shall endeavor to lead, in all respects, a Christian life j to advance, as best I can, the interest of the Church, praying for its peace and laboring for its growth ; and I pledge to contribute consci- entiously, as the Lord prospers me, toward the current expenses of the Church and the spread of Christ's cause on earth. Name Address Sec. 4. — Members of other Baptist Churches of the same faith and order may be received into membership with this Church upon letters of dismission from their respective Churches. Sec. 5. — Persons who have been members of regular Baptist Churches, but who, in consequence of peculiar circumstances, can obtain no regular letters of dismission, may be received on relation of their Christian experience and by giving satisfactory evidence of Christian character. Sec. 6. — No person shall be received into the fellowship of this Church to whose admission any five members may object : Provided, nevertheless, That in case any member voting in the affirmative should call for the objections, it shall be the duty of those voting in the negative to state them privately to the Pastor and Deacons, who shall report thereon to the Church, after which the question of admission may be decided by a majority vote at any business meeting. Sec. 7. — Any member of the Church desiring to unite with any other Baptist Church may be granted a letter of dismission thereto by vote of the Church, provided that all applications for letters of dismission from this Church and all letters of dismis- sion from regular Baptist Churches to this Church shall be ap- proved by the Pastor and Deacons before they are presented to the Church. Sec. 8. — It shall be the duty of members residing at such a distance as to render attendance at the Church services imprac- 428 FIRST BAPTIST CIIUKCH. ticable to take letters of dismission to some Church more con- veniently located. Sec. 9. — No letter of dismission shall be granted, nor shall the Church clerk issue such to any member who is in arrears to the Church, unless otherwise recommended by the Deacons. Sec. 10. — Should any member in good standing express to the Pastor and Deacons his purpose to unite with an Evangelical Church not Baptist, and request a letter, the Pastor is authorized to furnish him a letter of personal commendation. Sec. II. — P2ach member of the Church is expected to contri- bute to its support according to his or her ability, unless excused by the Deacons. Sec. 12. — No member under the age of twenty-one years, nor any member who is not in good and regular standing, shall have the right to vote at any election of Trustees, or upon any question relating to the management or disposition of the Church or Trust property. ARTICLE II. FORFEITURE OF MEMBERSHIP. Section i. — Membership shall be forfeited only on a recom- mendation of the Deacons, stating the section and the clause in the By-Laws under which action shall be taken by the Church at any stated business meeting, two-thirds of the votes cast being necessary for such action. The initiative in the investigation shall be taken by the Pastor and Deacons, who, by a committee, shall visit, or in writing communicate with, the member under investigation, stating definitely that unless satisfactory reasons are given, his case will be brought up at the next quarterly business meeting of the Church, thus giving him opportunity to show cause why member- shi]) shall not be forfeited. Whenever the addresses of members can not by reasonable inquiry be ascertained by the Pastor and Deacons, a written request, to which attention shall be called at no less than two devotional services, shall be displayed in a conspicuous part of the Church edifice for at least one month, asking for the ad- BI-CENTENXIAL CELEBRATION. 429 dresses of tlie members in ([iiestion. If they have been con- nected with an}- Mission interest of the Church, the same method shall be pursued at the meeting-place of said Mission. Sec. 2. — Forfeiture of membership shall be by exclusion or droi)ping — viz. : By exclusion : {a) For any outward violation of the moral law. {li) For pursuing any course of conduct unbecoming pro- fessing Christians, or which may, in the judgment of the Church, be disreputable to it as a body. By dropping : {c) For holding and advocating doctrines opposed to those set forth in the " Summary of Faith." (^d) For neglect or refusal to contribute toward defraying the expenses of the Church, according to their several abilities. {e) For habitual absence from the Church, without good reasons, at the seasons set apart for public worship. (/) For absence from the Church for more than two years without any report or information being conveyed to the Pastor or Deacons. (^g) For uniting with any Evangelical Church not Baptist, in which cases the name of the Church and denomination with which the member becomes identified shall be recorded on the Church register. Sec. 3. — Any person deprived of membership by the pro- visions of this article may be reinstated, by vote of the Church, on a recommendation of the Deacons, should satisfactory evi- dence of repentance for misdemeanor be given, or should the Church consider that the reasons for such forfeiture of member- ship are no longer operative. ARTICLE III. OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES. Section i. — The officers of this Church (who shall be, or become, members thereof, except in the case of Trustees, as 430 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. provided in tlie Charter) sliall consist of Pastor, Deacons, Deaconesses, fifteen Trnstees, Treasurer, Cleric, Assistant Clerk, and Ushers. The Standing Committees shall be an Auditing Committee, and those on Contributions for Benevolence, Contributions for Church Support, Music, and Supervision of Missions, and such other committees as may from time to time be deemed desirable for the enlarged activity of the Church. By special action of the Church an Associate Pastor may be called to aid the Pastor in the performance of his duties. Sec. 2. — TJie Pastor. — Whenever the Pastorate shall become vacant it shall be the duty of the Church, without unnecessary delay, to invite some minister of the Gospel of the same faith and order, of good reputation, to fill the vacancy; but no election of a Pastor shall take place without notice from the pulpit having been given on the two preceding Lord's Days, and at least two-thirds of all the votes cast at the election shall be necessary to a choice. The duties of the Pastor shall be such as usually jjertain to this office. Sec. 3. — Deacons. — The Church shall elect Deacons whenever vacancies may occur, or whenever it may be deemed necessary. Every election for Deacons shall be preceded by public notice from the pulpit of at least two weeks, and during the interim there shall be held a special season of prayer, invoking divine guidance in the choice; and two-thirds of all the votes cast shall be required for an election. The Deacons shall be associated with the Pastor in the charge of the spiritual interests of the Church, the administration of the ordinances, and the visitation of the sick; they shall make disbursements of the Poor Funds of the Church, and report the amount quarterly to the Trustees, who shall thereupon draw an order or orders on the Treasurer for the same. The Pastor and Deacons shall examine all candidates for admission to membershij), and no vote shall be taken on the reception of any candidate until they shall have reported favorably; candidates for admission by baptism shall appear before the Pastor and Deacons at two meetings duly called for the i)urpose before recommendation to the Church. BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 431 The Deacons shall distinctly enjoin npon all i)ersons con- necting themselves with the Church the duty of contributing regularly to its support, in accordance with the Church Cove- nant. Sec. 4. — Trustees. — The Trustees shall hold in trust the property of the Church, and, except as otherwise provided, shall arrange for the investment and disbursement of its funds and the collection of its revenues. They shall hold stated meetings monthly (five members constituting a quorum), and at the annual meeting of the Church present a report of their i)ro- ceedings. No moneys shall be paid out of the Church treasury except upon orders passed by them and certified to by their President and Secretary. Sec. 5. — Treasurer. — The Treasurer shall receive all moneys accruing and contributed to the Church, and pay all orders drawn on him by the Trustees. He shall keep regular and separate accounts of each fund intrusted to his care, make monthly report to the Trustees, and at the annual meeting of the Church present a statement of all moneys received and jjaid during the year, and a statement of the Poor and Trust funds, together with a record of the Contributions for Benevolence as reported to him by the respective committees. His accounts shall be audited by the committee elected for that purpose. Sec. 6. — Clerk and Assistant Clerk. — The Clerk shall keep an exact record of all the business meetings of the Church, and read the same for approval at the quarterly meetings. He shall also keep an accurate register of the members, prepare letters of dis- mission, and perform all other duties usually pertaining to this office. The Assistant Clerk shall perform the duties of Clerk in his absence and aid him in his labors. Sec. 7. — The Ushers shall welcome strangers, provide them with seats, and collect the offerings at the regular Sunday ser- vices. Sec. 8. — The Auditing Committee (no member of which shall be a member of the Board of Trustees) shall audit all accounts and report at the annual meeting. Sec. 9. — The Committee on Contributions for Church Sup- 432 FIRST BAPTIST CHUKCIJ. port shall have charge of the offerings, other than pew-rents, for the maintenance of the Church and Sunday-schools, and by a thorough canvass endeavor to secure, by the envelope system or by other means, systematic contributions from all members of, and regular attendants at, the Church, except as provided in Arti- cle I, Section ii. Careful records of the amounts and sources of all contributions shall be kept, and reports thereon made to the Church and to the Trustees at their stated meetings for busi- ness. All funds received shall be paid to the Treasurer monthly. Sec. io. — The Committee on Music shall have charge of the music for all the services of the Church, but shall make no con- tracts respecting the same without the api)roval of the Trustees. ARTICLE IV. MEETINGS. Section i. — The stated meetings of the Church for the trans- action of business shall be held quarterly, in January, April, July, and October, on the evening of the iVlonday following the second Lord's Day in the month, the meeting in January being the annual meeting. Sec. 2. — Special meetings may be called by the Pastor, or at the request in writing of five members; Provided, always, that the call shall be read from the puljiit at the regular meetings for worship on the Lord's Day previous, the object of the meeting being stated in the call. Sec. 3. — At all business meetings of the Church twenty-one members shall constitute a quorum. Sec. 4. — Members may be received, Church letters granted, delegates to councils, associations, etc., appointed, at any devo- tional or business meeting of the Church. Sec. 5. — At the annual meeting there shall be elected by ballot the following : five Trustees, a Treasurer (who shall also be Treasurer of the Trustees), a Clerk, an Assistant Clerk, not fewer than twelve Ushers, an Auditing Committee of three, a Committee on Music of nine, a Committee on Contributions for Church Sujjport of twenty-five, for each of the Contribu- B I- CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 433 tions for Iknevolence a Committee of three, and for each Mis- sion of the Church a Committee of Supervision of five. The term of office of the Trustees so elected shall be three years. The terms of all other officers shall be one year, or until their successors shall be elected. The Treasurer shall be eligible to the office of Trustee, but when not a member of the Board of Trustees by election, he shall be ex offiiio a member thereof, though not then entitled to a vote. Should a vacancy occur during the term of any of the officers provided for in this section, it may be filled at any business meeting of the Church — previous notice of such jjroposed elec- tion having been given from the pulpit at the stated meetings for worshij) on the Lord's Day previous. Sec. 7. — The Pastor shall be the recognized Moderator at all business meetings. The order of business at the stated meetings shall be as follows : 1 . Prayer. 2. Reading and ajiproval of minutes. 3. Reports (of Treasurer, Trustees, Committees, and Sunday-school Superintendents at the annual meet- ings). 4. Unfinished business. 5. New business (elections and appointments at the annual meeting having priority). 6. Closing prayer. Sec. 8. — The Church shall meet each Lord's Day, morning and evening, for public worship of Almighty God, and at least one evening in every week for social prayer and conference ; but any of these services may be temporarily discontinued by vote of the Church. Sec. 9. — The ordinance of the Lord's SuiJiier shall be ob- served on the first Lord's Day in each month, at the close of the morning service. Sec. 10. — The day on which occurs the last regular prayer- meeting service in each January shall be known and observed as the Annual Church Day of prayer. 28 434 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. ARTICLE V. CONTRIBUTIONS FOR BENEVOLENCE. Section i. — Recognizing tlie duty of all members of the Church to contribute systematically and according to their ability to the leading objects of Christian benevolence, and to afford an opportunity to fulfil their obligations in this particu- lar, the offerings taken on the third Sunday of the months enu- merated below shall be appropriated as follows : American Baptist Home Mission Society, January. American Baptist Publication Society, February. American Baptist Missionary Union, March. Pennsylvania Baptist State Mission, Ai)ril. Baptist Orphanage, May. Sunday-schools, October. Philadelphia Baptist City Mission, November. Pennsylvania Baptist Education Society, December. Sec. 2. — The Coinmittee annually elected for each of the above objects shall devise plans for increasing the contributions, have general oversight of the same, promptly pay them to the proper authorities, and hand the receipts to the Treasurer of the Church for record. Sec. 3. — Collections for other objects of Christian benevo- lence may be taken at any time, upon recommendation of the Pastor and Deacons. ARTICLE VI. MISSIONS. Section i. — The Church favors and will encourage the estab- lishment of Missions for the maintenance of Bible Schools, Preaching Stations, or other Christian enteri)rises in the desti- tute and otherwise unoccupied portions of the city, regard being had in the location of each mission to the probability of estab- lishing a permanent and self sustaining interest. Sec. 2. — The Church, at its annual meeting, shall api)oint for each of its Missions a Committee of Supervision, consisting of BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 435 five (at least two of whom shall be in active connection with the Mission), to have general superintendence of the affairs thereof, see that it is conducted with good judgment and in harmony with Baptist usages and polity, and in accordance with the re- (juirements of the Church. It shall be the medium of commu- nication between the Mission and the Church, present at each annual Church Meeting a report of the financial and spiritual condition of the Mission, and keep the Church informed of its progress and general welfare. Sec. 3. — Details of management shall be left to such organi- zation as the members of each Mission may arrange, subject to the control of the Church. Sec. 4. — Each Mission is authorized to recommend to the Church for membership such persons as, in accordance with Article I of the By-Laws, shall be qualified for membership, having been previously examined as provided in Article III, Sec. 3. Sec. 5. — Each Mission shall exercise a watchful and faithful oversight of its members, maintain Gospel order and a consistent walk; but dismissal by letter or otherwise, and forfeiture of membership, shall only be by special action of the Church, upon recommendation of the Mission with which the member affected by the proposed action is connected. Sec. 6. — When specially authorized by Church action, any Mission connected with this Church may be empowered, as an out-station or branch of this Church, to administer the ordi- nances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, according to the usages of the Baptist denomination, and on behalf of the Church give the hand of fellowship to all persons desiring it who have previously been received into its membership. Sec. 7. — Each Mission, subject to the approval of the Church, is authorized to choose a Pastor (who shall be, or become, a member of this Church) and to fix his salary. Sec. 8. — Each Mission, by special action of this Church, may be authorized to elect Deacons for services on its own field only. Such election shall be in accordance with Article III, Sec. 3, and subject to the approval of the Church. 436 J-IRST BAPTIST CIIURLTI. Sec. 9. — The financial support of each Mission shall be based on such plans as are or may be adopted by the Church for the government of that particular Mission. Members of the Church connecting themselves with any of its Missions may transfer to it their obligations to contribute to the support of the Church. Sec. 10. — No pecuniary obligation in connection with any Mission shall be binding upon the Church except such as shall first be fully approved and accepted by the Church, and no con- struction shall be put upon any privilege or authority conveyed by this Article contrary to the Charter and By-Laws of the Church ; it being understood that Missions connected with this Church shall be subject to its control in all regards. ARTICLE VIL ALTERATIONS OR AMENDMENTS. Any proposed alteration or amendment of these By-Laws must be presented in writing at a stated business meeting of the Church, and the vote on such alteration or amendment to be taken at a business meeting not earlier than one month from the day of its presentation, when two-thirds of all the votes cast shall be necessary for its adoption. APPENDIX B. (Page 17.) PENNEPEK CHURCH. Morgan Edwards^ thus describes the Pennepek Church : "This is the first church in the province of any note and permanency; for that gathered at Coldspring in 1684 broke up in 1702. It is distinguished from its sister churches by the above name of Pennepek (formerly written Pemmepeka) which is the name of a little river running near the place of worship. The house is a neat stone building t,^ feet by 30, with pews, galleries, and a stove. In one corner of it stands the pulpit, and the galleries in the opposite angles which is worth noticing because hereby are remedied the usual inconveniences attending galleries in small places of worship. . . . In the year 1687 Reverend Elias Reach of London came among them and bai)- tized one Joseph Ashton and Jane his wife, William Fisher and John Watts which increased their number to twelve souls including the minister.' These twelve did by mutual consent form themselves into a church in the month of January, 1688, choosing Mr. Reach to be their minister, and Samuel Vans to be deacon. Soon after, the few emigrated Baptists in this province and Westjersey did join them; also those whom Mr. Reach baptized at the Falls, Coldspring, Burlington, Cohansey, 1 " Materials," etc. , p. 6. 2 [The others were John Eaton, George Eaton and Jane his wife, Sarah Eaton, Samuel Jones, John Baker and Samuel Vans.] 437 438 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. Salem, Pennsneck, Chester, Philadelphia, and so forth. They were all one church, and Pennepek the center of union where as many, as could, met to celebrate the memorials of Christ's death ; and for the sake of distant members they administered the ordinance quarterly at Burlington, Cohansey, Chester and Philadelphia: which quarterly meetings have since transformed into three yearly meetings and an association." APPENDIX C. (Page 20.) THE PRESBYTERIANS. Morgan Edwards ^ gives the following correspondence with the Presbyterians : " It was observed in p. 45 that the baptists of Philadelphia, did hold their worship at a store house on Barbadoes lot whither the few Presbyterians, then in town, did resort to hear baptist ministers; and where they were received with courtesy and brotherly love for the space of about three years. Within that time the latter increased, and had a minister of their own, and then soon began to discover an unwillingness that baptist min- isters should preach in the house any longer, though the baptists had a better right to it because of prior occupancy ; and further than occupancy neither could lay claim thereto, the building being the property of traders who had quitted the town. The following papers relate to the affair, and may be depended upon, as they are extant in the handwriting of Rev. John Watts. " Upon the request of some friends about the 2d. month in 1695, John Watts had consented to preach at Philadelphia every other Lord's Day, and had so continued to do to this time (1698) unless prevented by a hand of providence ; and divers of the per- sons who came to that assembly were presbyterians in judgment (they having no minister of their own, and we having hitherto " Materials," p. 104. 439 440 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. made no scruple of holding communion with them in the public worship of God and common duties of religion nor of admitting their ministers, if at any time they came amongst us, to pray and preach in our assemblies). But being now provided with a min- ister from Newengland there appeared some scruples on their side, as not being willing to condescend so far to us or to allow our ministers the like liberty. For our better satisfaction touch- ing their judgment in this point, and for the preservation of love and unity we wrote to them as follows. " 'To our dear and well beloved friends and l)rethren Mr. jedidiah Andrews, John Crreen, Joshuah Story, Samuel Richard- son and the rest of the presbyterian judgment belonging to the meeting in Philadelphia; the church of Christ baptized on confession of faith, over which John Watts is pastor, send saluta- tion of grace, mercy, and peace from God our father and from our Lord, Jesus Christ— Dearly beloved I Having seriously and in the fear of God considered our duties of love to and bearing with one another and receiving the weak in faith ; and knowing that love, peace, and unity tend much to the honor of Christ and Christianity and to the conviction and conversion of sinners and the comfort and establishment of believers ; and being desirous of your company heavenward as far as may be, and as much as we can to heal the breach betwixt us occasioned by our difference in judgment (none being yet perfect in knowledge) we have thought it necessary to make to you this proposition following for peace (as being the necessary term upon which we may safely, comfortably, and peaceably hold christian com- munion together in the things wherein we agree in the ])ublic worship of God and common duties of religion, as in prayer, preaching, praising God, reading and hearing the word) viz.: We do freely confess and promise for ourselves that we can and do own and allow of your approved ministers who are fitly quali- fied and found in the faith and of holy lives to preach and pray in your assemblies. If you can also freely confess and promise for yourselves that you can and will own and allow of our approved ministers who are fitly qualified and found in the faith and of holy lives to preach and pray in your assemblies ; that so BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 44i each side may own, embrace and accei)t of one another as fellow brethren and in ministers of Christ ; and hold and maintain Christian communion and fellowshi]). Unto which proposition for peace (that further disputes and vain janglings may be pre- vented) we shall desire, if you please, your plain and direct answer ; and it may be by the fourth day of November, and left for us at the widow Elton's house in Philadelphia. Subscribed in behalf of the rest the 30th of the 8th month, 1698. " ' John Watts Thomas Birr " ' Samuel Jones Thomas Potts " ' George Eaton ' " " To this letter the presbyterians returned the following answer, but not in sincerity how goodly soever their words may be. •' 'To the church of Christ over which Mr. John Watts is pastor, we, whose names are underwritten do send salutation in our Lord Jesus Christ— Brethren and well beloved — For as much as some of you in the name of the rest have in a friendly manner sent us your desire of imity and communion in the things of God as far as we agree in judgment that we may lovingly go to- gether heavenward we do gladly and gratefully receive your proposal, and return you thanks for the same, and bless God who hath put it in your minds to endeavor after peace and con- cord ; earnestly desiring that your request may have a good effect which may be for the edification of us all, that we may the more freely perform mutual offices of love one towards an- other for our furtherance in Christianity. But that we may do what we do safely ; and for our more efi'ectual carrying on our aforementioned desire we have thought it might be profitable to us all and more conducive to our future love and unity that we might have some friendly conference concerning those affairs before we give you a direct answer to your proposition which, we have confidence, you will not deny. And in iiursuance hereof we do request that some of you (who you think best) would meet us or some of us at a time and place you shall 442 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. ai)point that what we may agree upon may be done in order. Subscribed in the name of the rest, Philadeli^liia, November 3, 1698. "' Jedidiah Andrews Herbert Corry "'John Green John Vanlear " ' Samuel Richardson Daniel Green " ' David Giffing ' " "According to their recpiest for a meeting of conference we ai)pointed tlie 19th of the 9th month for tliat puri)ose at their and hitherto our common meeting house in Philadeljihia near Mr. Andrews's lodgings, and acquainted some of the subscribers thereof; and accordingly three of us went to town to hear what they had to proi)ose to us. And early in the morning, we sent word to Mr. Andrews desiring his and their company ; but he excused himself with saying that he knew it not to be the day but took it to be the second day after. Having tarried till near sun set ; and understanding by some of his friends how the matter was, we wrote to them as followeth. " ' To our well beloved friends and brethren in Christ Jesus, Mr. Andrews, Mr. Giffing, Mr. Corry, etc., grace and peace be multiplied. . . . We have made you a proposition for peace and unity, and having received your letter wherein you desired of us first some friendly conference at a time and place that we should think convenient l)efore you could give us a direct answer; we accordingly appointed this day in this place, and you living near together we expected to have met with you (upon notice given) that we might hear what you had further to propose to us. But for as much as we missed of our expectation of meeting and confering with you after your requesting it ; and consider- ing what the desires of divers people are and how they stand affected, and that we are not like to receive answer to our rea- sonable proposition necessity constrains us to meet apart from you until such time as we receive and answer and are assured that you can own us so as we can do you ; though still we remain the same as before and stand by what we have written. No BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 443 more at present, but prayers for you, and dearest loves to you in Christ Jesus. Philadelphia, Novem. 19, 1698. " 'John Watts " ' Samuel Jones " ' Evan Morgan ' " " Whereupon the next day following being the Lord's day, we met apart from them. . . . This was what the ipresby- terians wanted in reality, as more i)lainly api^eared soon after ; particularly in a letter directed to one Thomas Revell of Bur- lington, and signed, Jedidiah Andrews wherein are these words: '. . . Though we have got the Anabaptists out of the house yet om- continuance there is uncertain ; and therefore must think of building notwithstanding our poverty and the small- ness of our number. . . .' " APPENDIX D, (Page 2U) THE EPISCOPALIANS. Morgan Edwards^ gives the following letter to Rev. Mr. Clayton : "In p. 62, it was observed that the episcopalians possessed themselves of a meeting house and lot belonging to the baptists in Oxford township'; and, in p. 45, that they attempted a like thing -at Philadelphia. Prior to this last, Rev. Mr. Clayton (episcopal minister of said Philadelphia) laboured to possess himself of the baptist congregation in the same city. The fol- lowing letter (addressed to Mr. Clayton) will give as good a notion of the affair as may be expected at this distance of time : " '^//-,— " ' Whereas we received a letter invitatory from you to return to your church of England (dated September 26, 1698) wherein you desire us to send you in humility and tvithout prejudice the objections why %ue tnay not be united in one communion ; and withal that you doubt not but by the blessing and assistance of God, you zvill be able to shoivthem to be stumbling-blocks, made by our wills, and not by our reason; and some of us in behalf of the rest having, on the reception thereof, given you a visit and had discourse with you concerning some of the ceremonies of your church (about which you gave no satisfaction) we knew not that you expected any 1 " Materials," etc., p. 99. ^ [Trinity Church, Oxford.] 444 BI-CEXTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 445 other answer from us ; but in your late letter to John Watts you signify, that you have received no answer to your former letter; we therefore taking this into consideration do signify, in answer to your foresaid invitation and proposal, That to rend from a rightly constituted church of Christ is that which our souls abhor; and that love, peace, and unity with all christians and concord and agreement in the true faith and worship of God are that which we greatly desire ; and we should be glad if yourself or others would inform us wherein we err from the truth and ways of Christ ; nor are we at all averse to a reconciliation with the church of England, provided it =can be proved by the holy scriptures that her constitution, orders, officers, worship, and service are of divine appointment, and not of human invention. And since you yourself are the person who hath given us the invitation and hath promised to %\\o\v n?, \.\\Q.i our objections are stumbling blocks made by our wills and not by our reason ; and we understanding that our Lord Jesus Christ is the only head, king, lord and lawgiver of his church whom all are bound to hear and obey under the severe penalty of an utter extirjjation from among the people of God; and that his laws and will are only to be found in and known by the sacred scriptures which are tlie only supreme, sufficient and standing rule of all faith and worship; and not understanding the constitution of your church (with all the orders, officers, worship and service at this day in use and maintained therein) to be agreeable thereto and war- ranted thereby, hath been the cause of our separation from her, and is the objection we have to make or the stumbling block which lies in our way to such an union and communion as you desire ; we therefore hope and expect, according to your promise, that vou will endeavor its removal bv showing us from holy scrip- tures these two things as absolutely necessary in order thereunto : (i ) That the formation of your church, with all the orders, officers, rites, and ceremonies, now in use and practiced therein, are of divine institution ; jiarticularly. That the church of Christ under the New Testament may consist or be made up of a mixed multitude and their feed even all that are members of a nation who are willino- to go under the denomination of Christians, 446 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. whether they are godly or ungodly, holy or profane ; — that lords, archbishops, and diocesan lords, bishops, such are now in Eng- land, are of divine institution and appointment ; — that the gov- ernment of the church of Christ under the gospel is to be pre- latical, according as it is practiced this day in your church ; and that your ecclesiastical courts are of divine apix)intment ; — that particular churches or congregations with their ministers and elders who have power and authority to receive persons into membership, have not likewise authority (by Math, xviii : 15-18; ist Cor. v) to execute church censures and excommunication upon miscreants, swearers, liars, drunkards, adulterers, thieves, atheists, etc.; but that it is by divine appointment that they must be i)re- sented to their ordinaries, and only proceeded against in your ecclesiastical courts; — that the several offices oi deans, siibdeans, chapters, arclideacons, pj-el>endarics, chancellors, coin/nissaries, officials, registers, canons, pettycanons, vicars, chorals, appari- tors, organists, Z'ergers, singing men and boys, septins, epistlers, gospellers, and such like offices and officers of your church and ecclesiastical courts are of divine institution or have any scrip- ture warrant to justify them and to bear them harmless in the last day ; — that unjireaching ministers may celebrate the sacraments, by scripture warrant; — that their different apparel in time of divine service, such as hoods, tippets, surplices, etc., are of divine institution or have any scripture warrant under the Newtestament ; — that the manner of the imblic service and liturgx' of the Church of England with the visitation of the sick, burial of the dead, churching of women, matrimony, etc. as now in use, are of divine appointment ; — that the people ought by the rule of God's word audibly with the ministers to say the confession, lords prayer and creed ; and make such answers to the public prayers as are ap- pointed in the book of common prayer ; — that it is God's holy will and i)leasure that saint days or holy days should be kept and observed by christians, according to the use of the church of Eng- land ; — that instruments of music are to be used in God's worship under the Newtestament; — that infant baptism is a duty ; — that pouring or sprinkling water is the right manner of baptising ; — that vour manner of administering the sacraments and signing BI-CEXTENNIAL CELEBKATION. 447 with the sign of the ci-oss in baptism are of divine appointment ; — that godfathers and godmothers are of divine ap|)ointment ; — These are some of the things we desire you to prove and make plain to us by the holy scripture. But if the case be such that some or all of them can not be thereby proved ; then {2) the second thing necessary to our reconciliation with the church is, That you will give us clear and infallible proof from God's holy word, such as will bear us harmless in the last day, that our Lord Jesus Christ hath given power and authority to any man, men, convocation, or svnod to make, constitute or set up any other laws, orders, officers, rites and ceremonies in his church besides those which he hath appointed in his holy word ; or to alter or change those which he hath therein appointed according as may from time to time to them seem convenient ; and that we are bound in conscience towards God by the authority of his word to yield obedience thereunto ; or whether it will not rather be a sore reflection upon the sufficiency of the holy scriptures, and a high defamation of the kingly and prophetical offices of Jesus Christ to suppose such a thing. Thus have we /// hiiinilHy and iviihoiit p}-ejudice sent you our objections ; and if you can, according to your letter, show them to be stumbling blocks made by our icnlls and not by our reason we shall be very thankful ; and you shall not find us obstinate but ready to accept your invita- tion. But until you do so and prove the constitution, orders, officers, rites and ceremonies of your church to be of God, it is but reason that you should suspend all charge of schism against us, and desist from blaming us for our peaceable separation ; which is all at present from your loving friends who desire information and unity among saints and the churches peace that God in all things may be glorified through our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. Subscribed by us, members of the general meet- ing in behalf of the rest, March 11, 1699. " ' John Watts Samuel Jones " ' Joseph Wood George Eaton " ' George Eaglesfield Thomas Bihij ' " 448 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. •' The times to which the al)ove letter refers were remarkable for the s|)irit of proselyting, excited chiefly by means of the Rev. (icorge Keith, who, it is said, was admitted to orders upon con- dition that he would return to Pennsylvania and endeavor to bring his party over to the church of England. He and his brethren met with success at first ; but a copy of the above letter being made jniblic, they were somewhat embarrassed and their jjrogress retarded." APPENDIX E (Pages 22 and 26.) THE KEITHIAN QUAKERS. Morgan Edwards ^ gives the following account of the Kei- thian Baptists : " Soon after the settlement of Pennsylvania a difference arose among the Quakers touching The sufficiency of what every ma)i naturally has within hiuisclf for the purpose of his own salvation. Some denied that sufficiency, and consequently magnified the external Word, Christ, etc., above Barclay's measure. These were headed by the famous George Keith, and therefore called Keithians. The difference rose to a division in the year 1691 when separate meetings were set up in diverse parts of the coun- try, and a general one at Burlington in opposition to that of Philadelphia. This year they published a Confession of faith, containing twelve articles much in Barclay's strain anci signed by George Keith, Thomas Budd, John Hart, Richard Hilliard, Thomas Hooten and Henry Furnisin the behalf of the rest. They also published The reasons of the separation etc. signed by the same persons and others to the number of forty-eight. About the same time, and afterward were published several other pieces. "The design of those publications was (i) To inform the world of the principles of the separate Quakers, (2) To fix the blame of the separation on the opposite party, and (3) To com- plain of the unfair treatment, slanders, fines, imi)risonments ^ "Materials," etc., p. 55. 29 449 450 FIRST BAPTIST ClICKCII. and other species of ijersecution which they endured from their brethren. — Whether these complaints be just or not is neither my business nor incHnation to determine. If just, the Quakers have also shown ' That every sect would persecute had they but power.' I know but one exception to this satyrical remark, and that is the Baptists. They have had civil power in their hands in Rhodeisland government for a 136 years, and yet have never abused it in this manner, their enemies themselves being judges. And it is remarkable that John Holmes, Esq., (The only Baptist magistrate in Philadelphia at the time re- ferred to) refused to act with the Quaker magistrate against the Keithians, alledging, ' That it was a religious dispute and there- fore not fit for a civil court.' Nay, he openly blamed the court (held at Philadeli)hia December 6th to 12th, 1692) for refusing to admit the exceptions which the prisoners made to their jury. However, the Keithian Quakers soon declined ; their head de- serted them and went over to the Episcopalians. Some followed him thither. Some returned to the Penn Quakers; and some went to other societies. Nevertheless, many persisted in the separation, particularly at Upperprovidence ; at Philadelphia ; at Southampton ; and at Lowerdublin. These by resigning themselves to the guidance of Scripture began to find water in the commission, bread and wine in the command ; community of goods, love feast, kiss of charity, right hand of fellowship, anointing the sick for recovery, and washing the disciples feet in other texts; and therefore were determined to practice ac- cordingly. "The society of Keithians most forward in these matters was that kept at the house of Thomas Powell in Upperprovidence; which forwardness, it is said, was owing to one Abel Noble who visited them, and was a seventhday baptist minister when he arrived in this country. The time they began to ])ut their designs in practice was Jun. 28, 1697 when the said Abel Noble baptized a public Friend (whose name was Thomas Martin) in Redley Creek. Afterwards Mr. Martin baptized other Quakers viz: — Thomas Powell, Evan Harry, Hugh Harry, John Palmer, Judith Calvert, Alee Vestal, Thomas Biidd, Richard Dungworth, BI-CENTENNIAL CELEB RATIO. V. 451 John Powell, David Thomas, John Hannum, Margery Hannuni, Margery Martin, Mary Palmer, Elizabeth Powell, John Becking- ham. To them joined one William Beckingham who broke off from the church of Coh'ansey. These 19 persons did October 12, 1697, incorporate; and proceeded to choose a minister by lot. Three were put in nomination, William Beckingham, Thomas Budd, Thomas Martin ; the lot fell on the last, who the same day administered the Lord's sui)per to them for the first time. From that day forth other keithian quakers were bap- tized, Ann Compton, Samuel Miles, Hannah Brunsdun, William Thomas, Richard Buffington, Elizabeth Thomas, Jane Phillips, Edward Lane, Edward Edwards, James Plumley, David Phillips, Elizabeth Paviour, Mary Clark, Elizabeth Hall, Rees Price, etc. some of which lived in other parts of the country. But in 1700 a difference arose among them touching the sabbath which broke up the society. Such as adhered to the observation of the seventh day kept together at Newtown, where some of their posterity are to this day. The rest lay scattered in the neighbor- hood till Mr. Abel Morgan gathered together 15 of them, and formed them into a society, now called tlie ChurcJi of Braiidi- wine. "Another society of keithian quakers who kept together was that of Philadelphia, where they builded a meeting house in 1692. Of these, two public persons were baptized in 1697 by Rev. Thomas Killingworth of Cohansey. Their names were William Davis and Thomas Rutter. The first joined Pennepek ; the other kept preaching in Philadelphia where he baptized one Henry Bernard Roster, Thomas Peart, and seven others whose names are not on record. These nine persons united in com- munion June 12, 1698, having Thomas Rutter to their minister. They increased and continued together for nine years. But some removing to the country and the unbaptized keithians falling off, the society in a manner broke up in 1707 ; for then the few that remained invited the regular baptists to join them, and were incorporated with them. "A third society of keithian quakers was at Southampton in Bucks County, kept at the house of one John Swift. Their 452 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. preacher was John Hart. In 1697 said John Hart, John Swift, Evan Morgan and others were baptized by the forementioned Mr. Thomas Rutter. P>an Morgan joined Pennepek the same year; the rest kept together to 1702, and then followed the steps of Evan Morgan. '•'The other society of keithian quakers was that in Lower- dublin township, kept at the house of Abraham Pratt. One of these John Wells, became a baptist September 27, 1697. The next year Mr. William Davis joined them, being put out of the church of Pennepek for heresy. In 1699 and afterwards others were baptized, as David Price and wife, Abraham Pratt and wife, Richard Wansell, Margaret Davis, Martha Deal, Peter Deal, Richard Wells, Richard Sparks, Nicholas Ashmead, Alex- ander Babcock, etc. These united in communion after the manner of their brethren at Upperprovidence, having William Davis to their minister. But they had not been long a society before the same question divided them, as in Chester county. Those who preferred the seventhday were William Davis, their preacher ; the Wells, the Wansels, the Pratts, the Ashmeads, etc. These met by themselves; and in 1702 built a place of worship in Oxford township. But their preacher, William Davis, leaving them in 1711, they became as sheep without a shepherd. Those who adhered to the observance of the first day sabbath joined Pennepek. "Thus have we seen that the keithian quakers ended in a kind of transformation into keithian baptists ; they were also called quaker baptists, because they still retained the language, dress and manners of the quakers. We have also seen that the keithian or quaker baptists ended in another kind of transfor- mation into sevetithday baptists ; though, some went among the firstday baptists and other societies. However, these were the beginning of the Sabbatarians in this province. A confession of faith was published by the keithian baptists in 1697 ; it con- sists chiefly of the articles in the Apostles creed. The additions are articles which relate to baptism by immersion ; the Lord's supper; distinguishing days and months by numerical names; plainness of language and dress; not swearing: not fighting etc." APPENDIX F. (Page 25.) DEED DATED JANUARY 2, 1694, FOR PART OF THE PREMISES IN LAGRANGE PLACE. " This Indenture made the Second Day of the Eleventh month called January in the Year of our Lord according to English ace' one Thousand Six hundred Ninety and four Be- tween JOHN Moore of the Township of Mirriam in the County of Chcbter in the Province of Pensilvania Blacksmith of the one part and Nicholas Pearce of the Town and County of Philadelphia in the Province affores"^ Searge Weaver of the other part. WITNESSETH that for & in Consideration of the Sum of Seven pounds Lawful money of the Province affores'^ paid unto the s"* John Moore (or his late deceased father) the Receipt whereof the s'' John Moore doth hereby acknowledge and thereof doth Acquitt &: discharge the s"* Nicholas Pearce his Heirs Execu''^ & Adm'''' and every of them forever By These Presents He the s"* John Moore hath granted bargained and Sold Allyend Enfeoffed & Confirmed and by these presents doth clearly and absolutely grant bargain & Sell x^llyend Enfeoffed & confirm unto the said Nicholas Pearce his Heirs &: Assignes forever a Certain Lot of Land Scituate Lying and being in the s'^ Town of Philadelphia containing in bredth Twenty five foot & an half and in Length three hundred foot Bounded Eastward w* the Second Street Southward w"' a vacant Lott westward w"' Back Lott and Northward by a Lott of Land Now in said Town and occupation of John Redman with all the improvements Proffitt Comodities iS: ai)purtenances thereunto belonging or in 453 454 J-VA'SV BAPTIST CIJURCII. any wise appertaining and the reversions and remains of the Same and of every part thereof which s'' Lot of Land was purchased by James Moore abovenamed of William Fishkr of this Town Blacksmith as appears by his conveyance thereof dated the Twelfth day of the Eighth month 1691 and by the s'' Fisher purchased of Robert Turner of this s'' Town Merchant by Deed of Sale & conveyance thereof dated the last day of April 1690 and by the s'' Robert Turner purchased of Robert Whitton of the County of Philadelphia affores'' Weaver by Deed of Sale & conveyance thereof dated the Twelfth day of the Second month 1690 and made over to the s'' Robert Whit- ton by pattent of confirmation in the right of Robert Lodge dated the first day of April 1690 And Now rightfully descended by the death of the s'' James Moore unto the s'' John Moore party to these presents being his Son & Heir to Have and to Hold the S"* Lott of Land & premisses with the Appurtenances and every part thereof unto the s'' Nicholas Pearce his Heirs & Assignes forever To the only use & behoote of him the s'^' Nicholas Pearce his Heirs & Assignes forevermore the yearly rents from henceforth to become due to the chief Lord of the Soil of the s'' Lott of Land & premisses and the Said John Moore for himself his Heirs Exseu'^' &: Admin''' doth covenant promise and grant by the s'* presents to and with the said Nich- olas Pearce his Heirs & Assignes forever That at the time of the Sealing &: delivery hereof to the s'' John Moore had s'' Rightful! power and Lawfull Authority to convey and confirm the S'' Lot of Land & premisses above granted granted unto the s'' Nicholas Pearce his Heirs & Assignes for- ever and that it is free and clear of all other Tytles charges or Encumbrances Whatsoever And that it shall and may be Law- full for the s'' Nicholas Pearce his Heirs & Assignes Quietly & peaceably to have hold occupy possess & enjoy the s'' Lcjtt of Land premisses above mentioned from henceforth & forever without the Lawfull Lott Trouble or Molestation of him the s'' John Moore or his Heirs his or their privitie Consent or pro- curement and Further that he the s'' John Moore & his Heirs the s'' Lott of Land and premisses unto the s'' Nicholas Pearce BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 455 his Heirs & Assignes against them the Said John jNIoore Wil- liam Fisher Robert Turner Robert Whitton & Robert Lodge & their respective Heirs as also against all others claim- ing or to Clairae by from or under their or any of them or their Heirs or bv their or any of their means privity consent or pro- curement Shall e\: Will Warrant & Forever Defend by these presents In Witness Whereof the party first above named to this present Indenture hath Set his hand and Seal the day & Year first above written 1694. "John [seal] Moore " Sealed & Delivered " In presence of " Acknowledged in Open Court "The X mark of held at Philadelphia the 7th day " Wm. Sneade of March 1694. " Katharn Morggans " As witness my hand " Cha: Reader "John Claypoole, C. S. " I John Moore do hereby acknowledge That I was present with my within named father James Moore when he received the consideration money within Expressed of the within named Nicholas Pearce and I do hereby declare myself fully satisfied therewith and in consideration thereof have signed the within Deed and also do hereby Constitute and appoint my friend William Snead for me and in my name to acknowledge same in Court according as the Law Directs " In Witness Whereof I have hereunto Sett my hand this Second dav of the Eleventh month Anno Domini 1694. "John Moore " The mark of " Wm. X Sneade " Katharn Morgcjan " Cha Reade "Recorded in the Office for Recording Deeds &c. for the City and County of Philad' in Deed Book T. H. No. 24 page 259 &c. " Witness my hand and seal of office " this 15th day of July A. D. 1852 "Thos. Holme " Recorder'' APPENDIX G, (Page 30.) DECLARATION OF TRUST BY THE CHURCH WARDENS OF CHRIST CHURCH. December 21, 1723. " To ALL TO WHOM thesc presents Shall come Thomas Tresse of Philad^ Merch' and William Fraser of the same place Merch' Church wardens of Christ Church in Philad''' send Greeting Whereas in and by Several Indentures of Lease and Release That of Lease bearing date the day next before y*^ date hereof cV' that of Release bearing even date herew^'' made Between Thomas Peart of Philad''' in the province of Pensilvania Black- smith of the one part and the s'' Tliomas Tresse and William Fraser of the other part He the s'' Thomas Peart for the Con- sideracon therein mencond Did Convey and assure to the s'' Thomas Tresse and William Fraser a Certain part of a Lott of Land scituate in Philad^ Containing in breadth twenty five foot and a half & in Length three hundred foot bounded Eastward w"' the Second Street Southward w"' a vacant Lott westward w"' back Lott and Northward by the remaining i^art of the s'' I>ott formerly in the Lease or occupacon of John Redman dec'' now in the possession of Matthew Burchfield, Together w"' the House or building thereon Erected and Standing wi"' the appurtences To hold the said Lott or part of Lott of Land building and all & singular other the '^''misses w''' the appur- tences unto the s'' Thomas Tresse and William Fraser their heirs and assigns upon such Trust and Confidence & to the uses in- 456 BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 457 tents and inirposes to be hereby menconed Expressed & De- clared, as bv ye s'' Indenture of release may appear now know YE that we the s'' Thomas Tresse and William Fraser minding the Discharge of the I'rust in us reposed and being willing to Execute the same accordingly And to prevent all Questions & differences That might any wise happen in Case of our Mortality Do hereby Declare and make known That the s'' Lott or part of Lott of Land buildings & other the p'misses so Conveyed to us and our heirs as af were so Conveyed to us upon Special Trust and Confidence That we and our heirs, Should upon request, Convey and assure the same to such ^son and persons and for such Estate &: Estates as the persons nominated for Church Wardens & Vestrymen of Chri'.t Church in Philad'' for the time being Shall by Deed in writeing under their hands & Seals or under the hand tv: Seals of the Major part of them. Direct Limit and appoint And that we should not w"'out such direction and appointm' Lett Set or Convey the premisses or any part thereof It being the true intent and meaning of the s'' Thomas Peart and of the s'' Indentures and parties thereunto That the s'' Lott or part of Lott building & other ye p'misses &: every part thereof & y" yearly & all other rents issues Interest &: ])rofits that shall arise, or be made out of or from the same premisses or any part thereof Shall be applyd to Such use as the s'' persons nominated for Church wardens tS: Vestrymen of the Church afores'' or the Major part of them Shall from time to time, in manner afores'' think fit to direct Limit and appoint And the s'' Thomas Tresse and William Fraser in Consideracon of the p'misses & of the sum of five Shillings Lawful money of Pensilvania to them in hand paid by Robert Assheton Charles Read fames Tuthill, Anthony Palmer Thomas Chase Samuel Hasel Peter Evans Meyrick Davis George Plumley V>Q\\f Mor- gan Thos. Lawrence John Kearsley Rob' Ellis John Read Thomas Polgreen John Harrison Vestrymen of the Church af at and before the Sealing and Delivery of these presents the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged Do for themselves their heirs Ex*" iv: Adm'' Covenant promise and (rrant to and w"' the s'' Robert Assheton Charles Read James Tuthill Anthony 458 FIRST BAPTIST CIIUKCJJ. Palmer Thos. Chase Samuel Hasell Peter lOvans ]\Ie\rirk Davis George Plumley Wtw'f Morgan Thos. Lawrence John Kearsley Rob* Ellis John Read Tiiomas Polgreen John Har- rison and the Survivors & Survivor of them and to and w"' the heirs and assigns of the Survivors & Survivor of them by the s'' ■^■■sents in manner following that is to Say That they the s'' Thomas Tresse and William Fraser Shall &: will from time to time ts: at all times hereafter upon the reasonable request of the s'" Robert Assheton Charles Read James Tuthill Anthony Palmer Thos. Chase Sam' Hasell Peter Evans Meyrick Davis George Plumley l]enj' Morgan Thos. Lawrence John Kearsley Rol)' Ellis John Read Thos. Polgreen and John Harrison or the Sur- vivors or Survivor of them or the heirs of such Survivor Declare Do make acknowledge and Execute all (S: Every such further or better Declaration or Declarations of the Trust af &: also such other Deeds writeings or Instrum''^ Either for y*" Letting Setting or absolute Conveying of the ^""misses or any part thereof for any Term or Number of years or in fifee &: to such person or ])ersons & under such rents provisoes Condicons reservacons & Agreem*" as they the s'' Robert Assheton &: others the Vestrymen above named or the Survivors or Survivor of them or y*" heirs of such Survivor or his or their Counsel Learned in the Law duely authorised, Shall Devise or Advise & require And that they the s'^ Thomas Tresse &: William Eraser or Either of them or the heirs Ex" Adm" or Assigns of Either of them Shall not nor will, w^'out such direction & appointm' so as af had make do or Execute or Cause or promise to be made done or Executed any act matter or thing whatsoever whereby or by means whereof of the ^'misses or any part thereof Shall or may be alien'' Charged or Incumbred in Title or testate or the Trust af be any ways frustrated defeated or Molested but that they the s'' Thomas Tresse and William Fraser their heirs Ex" c^ Assigns Shall & will in all things taithfully discharge perform l\: Execute the Trust af according to the purport true intent and meaning thereof &: the Declaracon hereby made touching the Same In Witness whereof the s'' Thomas Tresse & William Fraser have hereunto Set their hands and Seals the one & twentieth day of BI-CENTENiYIAL CELEBRATJON. 459 December In the Year of our Lord one thousand Seven hundred &: twenty three. " Thomas Tresse [seal] " Sealed and Delivered 1 " William Fraser [seal] " " in the '^''sence of j " Robert Hurn (?) " Isa[ac] Browne ENDORSEMENTS. ''Deed Trust WiM. ffraser & Thos. Tresse the Baptist Ground Deed in 7>7/^/ for The Meeting house & Lott formerly Called The Keithean Meetins: house and Lott." APPENDIX H (Page 33.) ORIGIN OF THE PHILADELPHIA BAPTIST ASSOCIATION. Morgan Edwards^ has the following account of the origin of the Philadelphia Association : "Frequent mention having been made in the foregoing sheets of the association of Philadelphia it may not be improper to say something of the origin, — nature, — and usefulness of it. The origin of it, under its present name and regulation, is ascer- tained by the following paragraph in the records of Pennepek p. 43 . 'Before our general meeting held at Phila- delphia in the 7th month, 1707, it was concluded by the several congregations of our judgment to make choice of some particular brethren such as they thought most capable in every congrega- tion, and those to meet at the yearly meeting to consult about such things as were wanting in the church and set them in order ; and those brethren met at the said yearly meeting which began the 27th of the 7th month on the 7th day of the week, and agreed that the said meeting should be continued till the third day of the week following in the work, etc' The chosen brethren who met were from Pennepek, Middletown, Piscataqua, Cohansey, and Welshtract. This was the time of the associa- tion's existence; and five churches its constituents. Since, it has increased so as to contain 34 churches exclusive of those which have been detached to form another association. Before 1 " Materials," etc., p. 121. 460 BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 461 that period, (Sept. 27, 1707) even from the first settlement of baptists about Delaware they had set up a general meeting for preaching, administering ordinances, etc. which meeting (as their then scattered state required) was held in different places. The first, on record, was at Salem in the month of May, 1688 when several were baptized and a deacon ordained. Penn. Rec. page 4, 5. This was about three months after Pennepek church was constituted ; the next general meeting was held at Lower- dublin in the fall of the same year; the next at Philadelphia in March i68g ; the fourth at Burlington in the summer following. Afterwards it shifted to Cohansey, Welshtract, Middletown, and elsewhere. The people who lived in each of those places called it d. yearly )nec'tiiig because it came to them but once a year ; but the ministers and others who attended in every place speak of it 2&2i quarterly meeting, because (I suppose) in one place or another it was held four times within the compass of twelve or thirteen months. Some business was done at these meetings whereof see one example p. 99, but then it was done without the authority of a delegation. Thus they went on from 1688 to 1707 which was a period of about 19 years; but in the last mentioned year (Sep. 27) the general meeting which had been held at Phila- delphia from 16S9 was transformed into An association of messengers authorized by their respective churches to meditate and execute designs of public good ; and has been continued in the same place ever since, one year excepted. The said general meeting (held in three other jjlaces) is called yearly meeting to this day. This is the state of matters now 1770. It was pretty much the same 56 years ago, as appears by a letter of Rev. Abel Morgan, addressed to the London ministers and dated Phila- delphia, Aug. 12, 1 7 14 'We now have for the better assisting one the other four general meetings; one at Welshtract where all the Pennsylvania churches resort in May ; the other at Cohansey where Philadelphia assists; the third at Middletown where Philadelphia also assists; the fourth at Philadelphia in September where all do resort and where most of the public matters are settled by messengers from every particular church.' The general meeting of Middletown is moveable. No public 462 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. business is done at these three yearly meetings which makes some neglect them as unmeaning assemblies. The fourth, or association, is a meeting of business. " From the origin of the association we proceed to the nature thereof. It has been before styled a confederate body of delegates from the churches ; but it is to be observed that their delegation raises them no higher than an advisory council ; it gives them no ecclesiastical legislature, nor jurisdiction, nor coercive power, nor anything else which may interfere with the rights of par- ticular churches, or those of private judgment. Some motions were made in 1766 and afterwards which (if admitted one way) would have brought in by way of appeal matters that had been determined in particular churches; but an effectual opposition was made to the motions from an ai)prehension that as soon as the association starts from its present firm basis of an advisory COUNCIL so soon will it become contemptible for want of power ; or, having power, become tyrannical, as all assemblies of the kind have proved. Nay, the very word appeal has a caveat upon it in the records, lest ih^ Judgment or advice which the associa- tion give upon matters brought before them, by the mutual con- sent of churches or parties concerned, should be considered as decisive, or the acts of a superior judicature •. The per- sons who form this association (as hinted before) are delegates or messengers from the churches. The choice falls generally on the ministers and elders or deacons. With them each church sends a letter addressed to the association containing the names of their messengers and an exact account of their church state, with a specification of what advice or help they want . The time when the association meet, is the Tuesday after the second Sunday in October. It continues commonly to the Thursday or Friday following. Then the messengers return with letters to their respective churches. These letters contain an exact account of the number of communicants in each church ; the number bap- tized, restored by repentance, or otherwise added in the year ; the number dead, excommunicated or otherwise lost ; the opinion of the association upon queries brought into it ; their advice relative to things whereof it was asked ; the times when vacant Bl-CENTE.VXIAL CELEBRATION. 463 churches are to be supplied, and by whom ; with minutes of the transactions, etc. These letters have of late years been printed The manner in which the association is conducted is as foUoweth. After divine service (a i)art of which is a discourse on some article in the Century confession) the moderator for the preceding year nominates a successor and a secretary ; these being approved and seated the letters to the association are called for and read, and the names of the messengers enrolled, which commonly finishes the business of the first day. The next (and each succeeding) day they meet at appointed hours, and after calling the roll over proceed to business. All matters are determined by majority of voices, excei)t what are determined by scripture ; such things are never put to the decision of votes. All the messengers may freely speak to any matter in hand, and make replies and re- joinders, observing decorum and addressing themselves to the moderator. Nothing is put to vote till all have said what they chuse to offer. The business of the last sitting is to frame and sign the circular, and other public letters; to appoint a preacher for next association, and his subject. It should be observed that each sitting and rising is attended with prayer by the moderator . Churches are received into this association by peti- tions, setting forth their desire to be admitted; their taith and order, and willingness to conform to the rules of the associated body. A petition being read, and suffrage in its favor being ob- tained, the moderator declares that such a church is received ; in token of which he gives the messengers the right hand of fel- lowship, and bids them take their seats. "The last thing proposed was to say something of the useful- ness of this association. And the experience of 63 years hath shown it to be so considerable as to recommend such a combination of churches, were there no divine jirecept or prece- dent for it. I will mention some late instances (i) It hath made the bai)tists a resi)ectable body of people in the eye of other societies and of the civil powers on this continent . The baptists of Montague pleaded a law of the province for their exemption from ministerial tax ; but the court would not hear 464 FIRST BAPTIST CHUKCII. them till they showed their connection with a branch of the association of Philadelphia . Their brethren of Ashfield had 395 acres of land taken from them towards building a presby- terian meeting house and paying a presbyterian minister; they applied for help to the said branch of the association who have engaged the restoration of their property by laying their case before the king, if they cannot succeed with the assembly of Boston . Rev. John Davis upon settling in Maryland was much harrassed till the association espoused his cause; then he had peace, and is now esteemed in the neighborhood . The rev. David Thomas A. M. was roughly treated in Virginia by both mobs and magistrates; he applied to the court of Williamsburg for his qualifications in order to obtain the pro- tection of the toleration act. The court would not know him. He then applied to the association of Philadelphia for advice ; he had it, and returned, and is now under the protection of the Law . Rev. Noah Hammond of Longisland was treated by his neighbors as if he were no minister in the sense of the law ; and consequently they noised it abroad that the marriages he performed were not legal, and that the issue would not be legitimate. This greatly disquieted him and the parties concerned ; but upon the reception of him and his church into the association the clamor ceased (2) The said combina- tion of churches has in a good measure remedied the pernicious effects of the pniritits prcsdicandi \\\\\c\\ rages so much in Amer- ica. One of the first resolves is, ' That no man shall be allowed to in-each among the associated churches except he produce cre- dentials of his being in communion with his church, and of their having called and licensed him to preach.' Before this, vain and insufficient men would set themselves up to be preachers, and stroll about the country tmder the name of baptist ministers; also ministers degraded and excommunicated, who with their insufficiency and immorality brought disgrace on the very name of baptists (3) The said association has been very beneficial to the churches concerned in many other respects. Some have been supplied with money towards erecting places of worship ; some to defend themselves against oppressors, as is now the case with BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 465 respect to the churches of Newengland, for whom a considerable sum is raised ; some to relieve their necessities, as in the case of the brethren of Konolowa who were driv'en from their habita- tions by the Indians; Some are assisted with counsel and advice when in difficulties among themselves, as appears l)y the records of the association ; some with ministerial helps, whereof many instances appear in the yearly letters to the churches. Many other evidences of its utility might be produced. Of any ill effect attending it I have not known one instance ; neither have I heard any clamor against it except from the self-made preachers and degraded culprits before mentioned whose trade is almost ruined hereby, and who (like quack-doctors and pettyfogging lawyers) do more harm than good (4) But what I deem the chief advantage of this association (and indeed the spring of all the benefits before mentioned) is, that it introduces into the visible church what are called 7'as expressed therein; and that he received it as the only human system he approved. We do not mean by our question, that you should be bound to that system ; or any way abridged of the rights of private judgment; and liberty of speech; for that is an iinhai)piness 474 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. attending human establishments, in the kingdom of Christ; which establishments have ])ut a stop to the reformation before it was perfected : and have made genius, learning, and industry the tools of parties, and dupes to men of like passions with ourselves; rather than means of discovering errors, and restoring l)rimitive Christianity. Upon the whole, I see no reason why you should **>!<* are well known to us, who were present at your examination in this College. What say you, my Reverend brethren ? They replied, That they were satisfied. Thefi the candidate 7C>as desired to kneel ; and the three ministers laid their hands on him, and spoke to this effect. In the name of the Lord Jesus. And, according to the practice of his apostles, and their contempories, We lay hands on you our brother ; whereby you are ordained or constituted a PRESBYTER or MINISTER in the Church of Christ; and impowered to exercise every branch of the gosi)el ministry, whether 'ordaining,' 'overseeing,' 'ruling,' ' i)reaching,' ' feed- ing the flock of Christ,' 'evangelizing,' 'baptising,' 'breaking bread,' or whatever else belongs to the character . . . And, O thou Head of the church ! . . . Vouchsafe, that what we now do on earth, may be approved and confirmed in heaven ! . . . Look down favourably on this thy servant, who on his bended knees dedicates himself to thee, and the service of thy sanctuary ! . . . Accept of his devoted self, and services I . . . Let this the laying on of our hands, which * * * * Be attended with a grant of all that he wants ! . . . That we with him . . . And that thou hast promised to give towards fulfilling the ministry with honour and success ! Even so, Lord Jesus. Amen. Then the Rev. Isaac Eaton prayed to this effect. O thou who art the " door of the church 1 who openeth and no man shutteth"! Open to this thy servant, who seeketh, with all good shepherds, to enter by thee into the sheepfold ; and not to climb thereinto any other way ! Thou that "clothest thy priests with salvation," endow him with that ministry by which it hath "pleased thee to save them that believe " ! Thou BI-CEN7^ENNIAL CELEBRATION. 475 who hast ascended on high to receive gifts for men, Bestow, by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery, all the gifts and graces which he, as a minister and a Christian, stands in need of! Make him a polished shaft in thine hand, that many, by his ministry, may be pricked in the heart with conv^ictions of sin ! And let the Lord God anoint him to heal the broken hearted. Add many seals to his ministry ! And, at last, let him shine with those, who have turned many to righteousness. Amen ! O most high and mighty God ! Permit us, we beseech thee, to repeat our requests in behalf of this thy servant, whom we, in the most solemn manner, set a part to the sacred office. Let our united supplications reach thine ear. Lord Ciod of Sabbath ! Indue him, we humbly pray thee, with the graces of thy Holy Spirit, and every necessary and important qualification ; whereby he may become an able minister of the Gospel, and may rightly divide the word of truth ! And now, by thine authority, we send him forth ! Be thou the guide of his youth ; and prepare him for the various vicissitudes through which he will have to pass ! May his life be a series of benevolent and pious actions ; and his labour attended with a blessing from on high ! And, when thou shalt remove him from this transitory scene of things, may he be enabled to say, " I have fought a good fight ; I have kept the faith ; and receive the crown of righteousness, which thou, the righteous Judge, shalt give thy faithful servant at that day, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." Tlien the jiii/iistcrs ivithdreju fhe/'r hands; and when the ordained person rose up, they saluted him, as follows : We honour you, Sir, in the presence of all the people ; and give you the right hand of fellowship as a token of brotherhood, and congratulation ; and wish you success in your office; and an answer to those prayers which "two or three have heartily agreed, u])on earth," to put up for \ou. Tlien the Rev. Isaac Eaton went to the pulpit. A)id when the charge, hereunto annexed, was delivered ; and the j 28 hymn, ist book, of Dr. Watts, was sung, he dismissed the assembly ; who had shotan uncommon attention, ajid pleasure, though they had been detained long ; aiul though the ^ucather 7iird, Jas. W., 99 Blockley Baptist Church, 79 Boardman lioys' Guild, 198, 394 George D., 107 tY seqq., 209 George D., sermon, 251 505 5o6 INDEX. Ijoardman Mission, io8 Bonney, Miss Mary L., 122 Ijoston, First Baptist Church of, 341 15oys' Guild, 198, 394 Branches and sconces, 155, 187 Branson, William and Sarah, 38, 39, 41, 183, 466 Brantly, William T., 77, 90, 92, 97 et se(jq., 208 Brew-house, Anthony Morris', 25 Briggs, F. F., 125, 127, 139, 211 Broad and Arch Streets Church, 103 Bromley, Henry, 108, no Brown University, 45, 46, 47, 48, 55, 205, 207, 227, 228, 229, 331 Bucknell, Mrs. Emma W., 83 Wm., 167 University, 104, 229, i,'^^ Buildings, 27, 49, 73, 80, 102 alterations of, 188 Bullock Trust, 185 Bunting, lohn, 148 Burial ground, 170 in aisle, 171 prices for^ 170, 171 Business failures, 179 meetings, 149 Butcher, Washington, 182 By-Laws, 426 Calendar for 1898, 10 Camden. First Baptist Church of, 80, 360 Candles, 155 Carpenter, Aaron E. , I44 Carpets, 155 Carroll, A. D., 133 Central Union Association, 99, 105 Century Confession of Faith, 36 Chain across street, 182 Chalice, Communion, 41, 163 Charleston, First Baptist Church of, 342 Charter, 417 Chase, Irah, 80 Mrs. M. J., 122, Chesebrough, A. F., 133 Chinese Sunday-school, 197, 383 Choir, 181 Christ Church, 30, 31, 32, 33, 350 correspondence with rector of, 444 Christ Church, Declaration of Trust of Church Wardens of, 456 Church of 1808, 73 Churches in Philadelphia, 476 Cincinnati, Rogers' prayer before, .S8, 59 Clayton, Rev. Mr., 21 Clevenger, Samuel J., 109 Clothes purchased for ministers, 58 Coffin, Mrs. Ann D., 173 Cold Spring Baptist Church, 17, 19 Collections, benevolent, 10, 186, 197 Columbian University, 74, 81, 229, Communion, 159 chalice, 41, 163 plate, 162 transient, 160 Confederated States of North Am- erica, 60, 61 Consolidation with Beth Eden, 125, 138 ef Si'q,j. Contention, period of, 85 Contributions, benevolent. See Col- lections. Cornwallis, surrender of, 34 Councils of 1825, 501 on difficulties, 90, 501 Covenant, 414 Croft, George, no Croskey, Henry, 133 Crowley, W. S., 133 Currency, Continental, 57, 188 Cuthbert, Jas. H., 105 et sei/q., 209 / Davis, John, 99 John C, 96, 167, 182 Samuel, 159 Trust; 185 Deacons, ordination of, 157 Declaration of Trust of Wardens of Christ Church, 31, 32, 456 Deed of 1694, opposite page 26 Deeds for Lagrange Place lot, 25, 41 (foot-note), 453 Development, period of, 39 Discipline, 176 Dorcas Society, 197, 313 collections for, 187 Drunkenness, 176 Dukes, E. W., 144, 147, 148 INDEX. 507 l^uncan, William, 77, 99 Dungan, Thomas, 17, 19 EAGLESFIELD, flEORGE, 23, 468 Education, efforts for, 29, 43 hours of, 48 Society of Philadelphia, 80 Edwards, Billy, 48, 51 Joshua, 48, 51 Morgan, 42 et seqq., 54, 150, 190, 195, 204, 226 " Materials," etc., 205 William, 48, 51 Elders, ruling, 15S Eldridge, Jos. M., 99 Electricity, 155 Elliott, W. S., no English, Geo. L., 121 Entwistle, William, no Episcopalians, correspondence with, 21,444^ Evangel, Church of the, 1 14, 364 Faith, Attainabi.eness of, 87 Farther Lights Mission Circle (Im- manuel), 405 Fetter, N. C, no First African Baptist Church, 79, 86, 358 Baptist Church, founding of, 21, 38, 39, 466 origin of, 466 Five Principle Baptists, 156 Flanagan, J- M., 133 Foot-warmer, Holland, 18 Ford, William, 95, 99 Wm. H., 125, 147 Foreign Missionary Society of First Church, 389 Foss, Bishop C. D., 356 P'oundation, period of, 17 reasons for the date 1698, 13. Franklin, Benjamin, 36, 37 Friends, greeting of the, 353 Fromberger's Court, 41 Gano, John, 41, 57, 60, 62, 195 Garrett, Philip C, 353 Gas, 155 Gendell, I, aura, 191 George, Silas A., 133 Gever, Jno. H , 144, 147, 148 W. C. 149 Gilmore, J. H., 182 Girls' Guild, 197, 393 Githens, Benjamin, 132, 133, 144, 147, 148 Gloiia Dei (Old Swedes') Church, 350 Good Friday, observance of, 160 Grammar School Fund, 85 Grant, U. S., 193 Griffiths, Elijah, 77, 99 Hagen. Jas. F., 130, 144, 147, 148 Hagy, Mrs. Joseph, 185 Haines, W, S , 148 Hallman, Mary, 84, 168 Hamilton, M. F. , 144 Hands, imposition of, 155 Hansell, Wm. S. , 95, 99 Harrison, Benjamin, 193 Harvard University, 29, 224, 225 Heating, 155 " He Leadeth Me," 182 Helping Circle of King's Daughters, 198, 396 Historical address, 13 Histories of the organizations in the First Church, 389 Histories of the ori^anizations in the Beth Eden Church, 399 Histories of the organizations in the Immanuel Mission, 403 Holcombe, Henry, 75, 79, 82, 84, 86, 87, 124, 169, 207, 231 Holland foot-wanner, 18 Hollis, Thomas, 29, 45, 224 Holme or Holms, John, 21, 30, 41, 450, 466, 468 Home, Baptist, iiq, 331 for Incurables, 120, 329 Missionary Society of the First Church, 83, 391 Hopewell Academy. 44, 47, 226 Hopkins, Stephen, 195 Hopper, Harry S. , 1 13 Hewlett, T. R., no Hughes Trust. 185 Hunter, D. A., 144, 147, 148 5o8 INDEX. Ide, Gkorge V,., 99 et setjq., 208 Iinmanuel Mission, 109, 198 Missionary Circle, 404 Immorality, 176 Imposition of hands, 155 Incorporation, act of, 415 of the Church, 97 Incurables, Home for. 120, 329 Indian Association, Women's Na- tional, 122, 330 Indians, memorial in favor of, 1 23 Inglis, Annie C, 120 memorial, 392 Mrs. C. K., 174 Intemperance, 52 Lagrange Place, 41 Latin tirammar School, 43 Laying on of hands, 155 Legacies, 183 Letters of dismission, 170 Levering, W. A., 125, 144, 147, 182 Liberty, religious, 29, 195 License, marriage, 192 Lighting the church, 154 Lincoln, Abraham, 193 Liquor, use of, 174 Lloyd, Thos. A., no, 112 Lower Dublin Church. See Pennepek. Loxley, B. Ogden, 125, 147 B. R., 99, 107, loS, 174, 1S4 Jayne, H. La Barre, 136 Jefferson Medical College, 75 Thomas, 77 Johns, David, 99 Johnson Trust, 184 Jones, Isaac, 55, 73, 158, 184 Jenkin, 23, 37 ei seqq., 162, 184, 204 portrait of, 43 Samuel, 23, 46, 54, 202, 228 Judson, Adoniram, 77, 81, 133 Junior Christian Endeavor Society, 198 Society Christian Endeavor (Iinmanuel), 405 Justice Memorial Fund, 185 Keach, Elias, 18, 201 portrait of, 43 Keen, Joseph, 84, 99 Jr., 169 Samuel W., 77 William W., 95, 99 M.D., 13, 83, 125, 144, 147 Keithian Quakers, 22, 25, 27, 30, 449, 466 Kennedy, Harold, 113 King, Henry M., address, 213 Kinnersley, Ebenezer, 37, 48, 184, 204 William, 23, 37, 38, 204, 468 Knowles, Levi, 133, 144 Wm. B., 132 Mabie'.s, Henry C, Address, 231 Macaltioner, A., 133 Manners and customs, early, 149 Manning, James, 35, 36, 44, 60, 69, 160, 195, 226 Marriage book, 46, 189 Martin, H. B., 121, 125 Master's gown, use of, 44 McLeod, John, 124, 154 Membershi]) of Church, 21, 23, 38, 71, 72, 77, 125 Men's League for Social Service, 198 Middletown Baptist Church, 343 Mifflin, Thomas, 195 Miles, General (Colonel) Samuel, 51, 68, 1^7, 105 Miller, Charles T., 132, 133, 136 Jesse, 99 j. K.,356 Ministers, annual engagement of, 55 independence of, 169 means of support of, 55 plain speaking of, 57 purchase of clothes for, 58 Minute book, 45, 150 Minutes, frankness of, 149, 161 Missionary Union, So, 81, 229, 2^1 Mitchell. Thomas D., 73, 476 Money, Continental, 57, 188 Monument, pastors', 172 Moore, Elizabeth, 84 James S., 109, 120, 1S2 Joshua, 158 Morgan, Abel, 23, 26 <'/ j(V/(/., 44, 54, 203, 225 Evan, 23, 54, 202 Morrison, C. F. , 144, 147, 148 IXDEX. 5C9 Morris's, Anthony, brew-house, 25 Morse, G. Byron, 121 Moulder, Jos., 157, 195 Mulford, John, Jr., 95, 99 Music, 180 Narberth Mission, 113 Necrology, Church, reading of, on New Year's Day, 159 Newport, First Baptist Church of, 340 Newspapers, early Baptist, 74, 77 New Year's meeting, 159 New York, Calvary Baptist Church, 345 . ■ Fifth Avenue Baptist Church, 345 Notable events in our history, 7 Officers, Roll of, for 1898, 9 Ogden, Sarah, 84 Oil, use of, 155 Ordination of Deacons, 157 of Ministers, formula for, 4t>, 471 Organ, 46, 18 1 Orphanage, Baptist, 1 19, 329 Orphans, fund for, 188 Page, Jos. F., 119, 147 Paine, Robt. Treat, 195 Parish register, 189 Pastors, biographical sketches of, 201 roll of, 8 Pastors' monument, 172 Patriotism of Church, 192 Peace Society of Pennsylvania, 76 Pemberton, Israel, 196 Pennepek Baptist Church, 17, 18, 33, 3^. 39, 336, 437 Pennsylvania Baptist Ministerial Ed- ucation Society, 10 1 Period of contention, 85 development, 39 foundation, 17 progress, 97 Perry, Jos. E., no Pew-rents, 55' ^'^^ Philadelphia Baptist Association, 33, 34, 36, 45, 46, 7i> ^f'. 90, 126, 195, 460 I'hiladelphia P>aptist Association, ori- gin of, 2>o^ 460 Baptist Association, troubles with, 86 aptist Church, 79, 357 Ruling elders, 158 Rum, use of, 174 Rush, Dr. Benjamin, 57, 71 Sachse, J. F. , 22, 178 Sagebeer, J. E., loS. no Sansom Street Baptist Church, 75, 79 School house, 80 Schuylkill branch, 168 lot, 80, 92, 96 Sconces and branches, 155, 187 Scott, John H., 136, 369,381, 383 Mrs. T. S., 313 T. Seymour, 125 Second Baptist Church, 79 Selby, Thomas, 23, 26, 468, 469 Semple, Matthew, 125 Settee, present of, 154 Sexton and yellow fever, 71 Silas W., 95 Shields, Thomas, 68, 195 Trust, 185 Shumway, Lowell, 132, 133, 147 Siewers, E R., 42, 43, 48, 51 Singing, 180 songs and telling stories, 178 Six Principle Baptists, 156 Slavery, 106, 193 Small affairs, attention to, 154 Smith, J. Wheaton, 132 ct seq,]., 2IO Samuel, 83 Trust, 184 Soars, C. A., no South Broad Street Baptist Church, 109, 361 Speir, James, 132 Spruce Street Baptist Church, begin- ningof troubles with, 87 et seqq., 1 67, 169, 185 Baptist Church, final agreement with, 93 Spruce Street lot, 167, 168 troubles, opinions of .Supreme Court as to, 480 Stager, E. D., no State House, worship in, 80 Staughton, William, 71, 82, 83, 86, 207, 231 Stillman, .Samuel, 41,44, 54, 55 Stillwell, H. F., no St. Paul, First Baptist ('hurch of, 365 Summai-y of Faith, 409 Sumter, Fort, 193 .Sunday-school, 84, I97, 369 Beth Eden, history of, 381 collection for, 187 history of, 369 Supreme Court, opinions of, in .Spruce Street troubles, 91, 480 Tahernacle Baptist Church, 140 Teasdale, Thomas C, 99 Temperance, 174 Third Baptist Church, 79 Thomas, Augustus, 147 Tombstone, inscription on, 36 Triennial Convention, 80, 81, 229, 231 Trotter, Thos. C, n3 Trust funds of First Church, 183 Tunes, list of, 1 81 Tupper, Kerr Boyce, 127 et seqq. , 2n seimon, 271 Tustin, E. L. , 105, 125, 147 P'rancis W., 105 Universalism, 66-68 University of Pennsylvania, 37, 44, 49, 58', n5, 205, 229, 334 Upper Freehold Church, 34 Ustick, Thomas, 69 et seqq., 206 Walter, Jos. S., 95 Thos. U., 169 Washington, George, 192 Watkins, Jos., 157 Watts, John, 21, 23, 20I, 468 Wattson, Thomas, 96, 105, 182 Wayland, H. L., no, 144 Weatherly, Mary, n9 INDEX. 5'i Weed, Dr., 53, 149 Welsh Tract Baptist Church, 156 Welshmen, influence of, 54 West, R. N., no Westcott, George, 158 Whatsoever Circle of King's Daugh- ters, 198 Whatsoever Circle of King's Daugh- ters (Beth Eden), 402 Williams, Roger, 215 Wilson, Roberto., 191 Winchester, Elhanan, 66 ei seqq. , 206 Wine, unfermented, at Communion, 175 Woman's Auxiliary, 197, 389 Women, voting by, 151 Women's Foreign Missionary Society, 197 . . Home Mission Society, 197 Women's Meeting, 313 National Indian Associa- tion, 122, 330 Work in Beth Eden, 399 Wood, Joseph, 23, 203 Woodrow, Henry, 158, 161, 162 Yale University, 58 Yarnall, H., 133 Yellow fever, 71 Young People's l>aptist Union, 121 Society for Christian Culture, 198, 398 Society for Christian Endeavor (1 m - manuel), 403 Society of Christian Endeavor, 197