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 ical discourse on 
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 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE: 
 
 ON TAKING LEAVE OF THE OLD CHURCH EDIFICE OF THE FIRST 
 PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATION IN BALTIMORE. 
 
 JOHN C . BACKUS 
 
 PASTOR OP THE C1IFRCU. 
 
 BALTIMORE: 
 
 JOHN W . WOODS, PRINTER. 
 
 18G0. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/historicaldiscOOback 
 
PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 The following Discourse, containing a review of the history of the 
 First Presbyterian Church in Baltimore while occupying the edi- 
 fice in which it has worshiped for nearly seventy years, was prepared 
 as a farewell deliverance in that venerable building. It was found 
 however too long to be spoken at one time, and a part of it was reserved 
 for a future opportunity. This did not occur for some weeks, which 
 will account for the delay in complying with a request, made by the 
 Committee of the Church after the delivery of the first part, to com- 
 mit it to the press. In now doing this, it has been deemed best to retain 
 its original form of a single Discourse. 
 

 
 DISCOURSE. 
 
 PSALM LXXVIII, 2—4. 
 
 "I WILL UTTER DARK SAYINGS OF OLD: WHICH WE HAVE HEARD 
 AND KNOWN, AND OUR FATHERS HAVE TOLD US. We WILL NOT 
 HIDE THEM FROM THEIR CHILDREN, SHEWING TO THE GENERATIONS 
 TO COME THE PRAISES OF THE LORD AND HlS STRENGTH, AND HlS 
 WONDERFUL WORKS THAT He HATH DONE." 
 
 To-day we assemble for the last time in this 
 our long accustomed place of worship. There 
 are few probably belonging to this congregation, 
 who are wholly unaffected by the thought, that 
 a spot so long the scene of our religious solemni- 
 ties, hallowed by the prayers of so many among 
 the venerated dead, and rendered sacred by as- 
 sociations so solemn and tender in the experi- 
 ence of many still among the living, is about to 
 be resigned into other hands, to be emplo} T ed 
 for valuable but very different purposes. Vol- 
 
6 
 
 untarily indeed, at what seems a call of Provi- 
 dence, but with no feelings of indifference, do 
 we leave these venerable walls, these familiar 
 pews, this endeared place of our sacramental 
 observances, this sacred desk. Here many 
 of you have been dedicated to God in baptism, 
 first listened to the public proclamations of the 
 gospel, became enlightened in the saving know- 
 ledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and openly 
 espoused his cause and professed his name. 
 What wrestlings in prayer have been here wit- 
 nessed, what effusions of the spirit received, 
 what seasons of communion enjoyed? You 
 have worshiped here with pastors, parents, 
 husbands, wives, children, brothers, sisters, com- 
 panions, friends, who were very lovely and 
 pleasant in their lives, but are now no more, 
 having been removed to the upper sanctuary. 
 To some of ardent sensibilities and fervid imagi- 
 nations, "the very stones seem to cry out of the 
 wall, and the beam out of the timber." These 
 ceilings might seem to some frescoed all over like 
 the ceilings of the Vatican, only here invisible to 
 the eye of sense, with what has been heard, felt, 
 
resolved, done within these courts. The power 
 of association ministers the warmth and light, 
 which bring out into distinct view the unper- 
 ceived writing of the memory. It is not sur- 
 prising that many of you take leave with solemn 
 and tender regret of a place rendered sacred by 
 so many associations. It must be remembered 
 however that these are valuable, not on their 
 own account, but because of their relation to 
 the end with reference to which this principle 
 has been implanted in the human constitution. 
 This power of association is a part of that deli- 
 cate mechanism, by which a wise Providence is 
 pleased to keep alive healthful impressions, for 
 the sake of their influence upon the character 
 and destiny of men. And the moment they are 
 so cherished as to interfere with their legitimate 
 ends, an important principle of our nature is 
 perverted, and becomes a savor of death unto 
 death, instead of life unto life. As long as this 
 building is suited to promote the ends for which 
 it was erected, these associations tend to further 
 its design, and may render it more pleasant and 
 profitable to those who assemble here. But 
 
when, for any reasons, it ceases to be suitable for 
 this, our still clinging to it merely because of 
 such associations, would become rather hurtful 
 than profitable, and convert our Bethel or House 
 of God into a Bethhaven or House of Vanity. 
 Bowing therefore to what seems a plain intima- 
 tion of God's providence, we have come this day 
 to take our final leave. And in so doing, de- 
 siring to direct your meditations in some con- 
 genial channel, I have thought that it might be 
 both interesting and profitable, to spend these 
 last moments in reviewing the history of God's 
 dealings with the congregation, during its occu- 
 pancy of this sacred edifice. 
 
 It may be well however briefly to premise, 
 that the origin of this church, like that of most 
 of the churches, which came into existence in the 
 earlier periods of the history of this country, is 
 involved in some obscurity. Composed at first 
 of very few families, imperfectly organized, and 
 worshiping, like the primitive christians, in 
 private houses, and upper rooms, they came 
 very gradually into the form of regularly consti- 
 tuted bodies. There seems to have been quite 
 
9 
 
 early a small band of Presbyterians, sparsely 
 scattered over this region. In the minutes of 
 the mother Presbytery in this country, there is a 
 record, under the date of September 21st, 1715, 
 to this effect ; Mr. James Gordon having pre- 
 sented a call from the people of Baltimore 
 county in Maryland to Mr. Hugh Conn, the 
 Presbytery called for, considered and approved 
 the said Mr. Conn's credentials, and made 
 arrangements for his ordination among the 
 abovesaid people. In 1740 Mr. Whitfield, after 
 his first visit through this region, saj 7 s that he 
 found a close opposition from the Presbyterians 
 in Baltimore. In 1751 Mr. (afterwards Presi- 
 dent) Davies sent Dr. Bellamy of New England, 
 an account of an extraordinary revival of re- 
 ligion about here, and says that he learned that 
 Mr. Whittlesey, a Presbyterian minister, was 
 about to settle in this region. Dr. William 
 Lyon, and at least some others who originally 
 formed this church, had then resided here some 
 years. In 1760, as we learn from a manuscript* 
 
 ° This is one of the papers placed in the hands of Dr. Green by 
 the General Assembly for the purpose of preparing a history of the 
 Presbyterian church. 
 
10 
 
 in the possession of the Presbj'terian Historical 
 Society, Donegal Presb}'tery appointed Mr. John 
 Steele to preach one Sabbath in Baltimore. 
 In 1761 Mr. Hector Alison preached here several 
 Sabbaths ; and application was made by the 
 Presbyterians of Baltimore town to the Pres- 
 bytery of New Castle on his behalf. But on 
 their sending a commission here in Novem- 
 ber, 1761, it was judged that the proposals 
 were so unsatisfactory, that it was inexpedient 
 to suffer such a call to be placed in his hands. 
 The congregation was small, without a house of 
 worship, and unable to support a minister. Mr. 
 Alison removed soon after to Williamsburg, 
 South Carolina, where he died. As he had 
 been ordained in 1746, he in all probability had 
 a family, which would render it more difficult 
 to sustain hiin. 
 
 These facts make it evident, that previous to 
 1761 there was a small congregation of Pres- 
 byterians in Baltimore, meeting together for 
 public worship, seeking and receiving supplies 
 from the nearest Presbyteries, and earnestly 
 desiring a settled ministry. Dr. Patrick Allison 
 
11 
 
 however, the first stated minister of the church, 
 considered the year 1761 as the date of its more 
 formal commencement. In a brief history of 
 the congregation, which he prepared by direc- 
 tion of the General Assembly and of the Pres- 
 bytery near the close of his ministry — which 
 has been preserved and is in the possession of 
 the Presbyterian Historical Society — he says : 
 "In 1761 the advantageous situation of the town 
 of Baltimore, induced a few Presbyterian fam- 
 ilies to remove here from Pennsylvania, and 
 these, with two or three others of the same per- 
 suasion, who had emigrated directly from Europe, 
 formed themselves into a religious society, and 
 had occasional supplies, assembling in private 
 houses, though liable to prosecution on this 
 account, as the province groaned under a re- 
 ligious establishment." Among the original 
 ones was Dr. William Lyon, from the north of 
 Ireland. Among those said to have come from 
 Pennsylvania, were Messrs. John Smith and 
 William Buchanan, who removed here from Car- 
 lisle in 1761 ; and were followed the next year 
 by Messrs. William Smith and James Sterret, 
 
12 
 
 from Lancaster county ; and soon after by Messrs. 
 Mark Alexander, John Brown, Benjamin Grif- 
 fith, Robert Purviance, and Wm. Spear, from dif- 
 ferent parts of Pennsylvania and Maryland ; Drs. 
 John and Henry Stephenson, from Ireland ; and 
 Mr. Jonathan Plowman, from England. 
 
 In May, 1763, and again in August following, 
 they requested the Presbytery of Philadelphia 
 to send Mr. Patrick Allison to preach to them — 
 their attention having been directed to him, as I 
 learned from the late Robert Purviance, Esq., 
 by some youth from Baltimore, who were pur- 
 suing their studies in Newark Academy, where 
 Mr. Allison was acting as tutor. Although in- 
 vited at the same time to become the pastor of 
 what was then a much larger church in New 
 Castle, Delaware, his prudent foresight led him 
 to express his preference to accept the call from 
 this church, to which accordingly the Presbytery 
 sent him, and in which he continued till his 
 death in 1802. Very soon after he came here, 
 the congregation leased (December 5th, 1763) 
 two lots on Fayette (then called East) street, in 
 the rear of the edifice at present occupied by 
 
13 
 
 Christ Church, on the corner of Guy street. 
 There they erected a small log church, which 
 in about two years was sold to Mr. Charles 
 Riclgely. About the time that I came to Balti- 
 more (twenty-three years ago) it was used as a 
 carpenter's shop, which some now present no 
 doubt remember — one having himself worked in 
 it. In March, 1765, feeling the disadvantages 
 of worshiping in so poor and incommodious a 
 building, they purchased a part (eighty feet) of 
 the present site from Alexander Lawson. In 
 1772 this was added to, the remaining portion of 
 the lot being leased from Andrew Buchanan 
 and afterwards purchased in fee. Here they 
 erected a plain brick church, forty-five feet 
 long by thirty-five feet wide, containing thirty- 
 six pews. The building was completed in No- 
 vember, 1766, and all the pews rented except 
 two. In 1771 that building was enlarged one- 
 third, so as to contain more than fifty pews. 
 About eighteen years after this enlargement, 
 (1789,) the congregation finding the house 
 still too strait for them, met together, and after 
 some deliberation resolved to erect the present 
 
edifice. It Was made ready for occupancy in 
 1791 ; and after some time the portico and tow- 
 ers were added, and the building was completed, 
 then one of the largest and finest church edifices 
 in the country — an ornament to the city, and a 
 credit to the congregation. 
 
 The period from that date to the present time, 
 embraces the history that I desire briefly to re- 
 view, in the hope of awakening our gratitude, 
 deepening our sense of obligation, and constrain- 
 ing our more devoted consecration to the great 
 purposes, for which this building was erected, and 
 in which it has been so long, and we may hope 
 not unprofitably, employed. With this view per- 
 mit me to direct 3'our attention to the period of 
 the world in which it has existed, the human in- 
 strumentalities with which it has been favored, 
 the divine blessings it has enjoyed, and the 
 services it has been enabled, under God, to 
 render to this community, to the country and to 
 the world. The theme is one of wide extent, 
 and the time, which it is proper to devote to this 
 exercise, will only permit me to glance cursorily 
 
15 
 
 at the topics, which have been suggested for your 
 consideration. 
 
 I. Let us then first take a brief view of the 
 period, which had just dawned when this edifice 
 was being reared, with special reference to its 
 bearing upon the objects to which christian 
 churches are devoted. 
 
 1. Then, if I mistake not, had the rights of 
 man come to be recognized, in the establishment 
 of this free government, with more distinctness 
 than ever before. The great struggle for civil 
 and religious liberty, which had been going on 
 for ages, then achieved a most remarkable suc- 
 cess. The federal constitution had just been 
 adopted and this new born republic had com- 
 menced its career of unexampled prosperity, 
 affording the widest field for the great mission 
 of the christian church. 
 
 It has been said that winter, which seems so 
 like the death of nature, is in reality its birth — 
 the season when its buds and germs are in- 
 sensibly and mysteriously maturing for their 
 
L6 
 
 bloom and fragrance in spring. 80 the period, 
 which preceded the colonization of this coun- 
 try, was the winter and seemed to be the 
 death of human liberties. But in it were con- 
 ceived those principles to which civilization 
 and freedom owe more than to any other. At 
 no previous time, in no other country, had the 
 great principles of civil and religions liberty 
 been more clearly developed, than in Great 
 Britain during the time of the Puritans. Those 
 great events, which marked the preceding cen- 
 tury as one of the most glorious in the history 
 of the world, and which roused christians from 
 the long sleep of the middle ages, had begun to 
 work out their beneficent results and to put a 
 new aspect on society. The revival of letters 
 through the influence of Grecian scholars, who 
 were dispersed over Europe on the fall of the 
 Eastern Empire — the introduction of that new 
 and better method of investigation, whose ex- 
 
 CD 
 
 position has made Bacon's name so illustrious — 
 the perfection of the compass, opening new 
 fields of discovery, and increasing the facilities of 
 intercourse between distant nations — the inven- 
 
1? 
 
 tion of gunpowder, which has changed the whole 
 art of war by putting into the hands of genius 
 and skill a power to resist brute force, thus af- 
 fording right a protection against mere might — 
 the invention of printing, by which knowledge 
 was diffused and made common property — the 
 reformation of the sixteenth century, in which 
 individual responsibility, the right and duty of 
 private judgment, were asserted and established, 
 involving the germ of equal rights, and the true 
 foundation of self government — these great 
 events, to which human civilization owes so 
 much, had not only taken place, but had brought 
 forth their first fruits. 
 
 The Presbyterian body, with which we are 
 connected, was among the last of the religious 
 denominations, that obtained a distinct and per- 
 manent settlement in the country. The perse- 
 cutions which drove so many of the earlier col- 
 onists to these shores, fell first upon the Inde- 
 pendents, the Quakers and the Catholics. The 
 Presbyterian, being the established church of 
 Scotland, was not directly molested by James 
 after he ascended the English throne. And 
 
18 
 
 when, in the reign of his infatuated son, the 
 attempt to accomplish its overthrow was made, 
 it led to a protracted struggle, which continually 
 encouraged hopes of the success, with which it 
 was eventually crowned. When the earlier 
 colonists emigrated, the agitations out of which 
 came those principles that received so glorious 
 a development in the time of the commonwealth, 
 had but just commenced. The later colonists 
 were retained in a school, in which these great 
 principles of civil and religious liberty, although 
 by dear bought lessons, were more effectually 
 taught. And thus was there a more complete 
 preparation for asserting them in our Declaration 
 of Independence. I need not dwell upon the 
 progress and glorious issue of that revolutionary 
 struggle. When this church was erected, that 
 war had closed, the independence of the country 
 was acknowledged, the Federal constitution was 
 adopted, and the freest people on the face of the 
 earth were launched on a career of prosperity 
 and glory, of which the world has witnessed no 
 equal example. "The political system of Europe 
 was indeed, as has been said, just plunging into 
 
19 
 
 a state of frightful disintegration. The reigns of 
 the oldest monarchies were slipping, besmeared 
 with blood, from the hands of the descendants of 
 thirty generations of kings. But although the 
 United States were drawn at first, to some ex- 
 tent, into the outer circles of the terrific mael- 
 strom, they soon escaped and continued safely on 
 their course."* And from this time has the coun- 
 try afforded one the most favored fields for the 
 enjoyment and promotion of religion, to be found 
 on the earth. 
 
 2. Then too had just commenced the age of 
 the greatest improvements in everything per- 
 taining to the material interests of society. In 
 no similar period have science and art made 
 such advances, more especially in the direc- 
 tion of human comfort and well being. Almost 
 ceasing to be pursued as mere matters of specu- 
 lation, curiosity, or intellectual gratification, they 
 had begun to be studied and practiced with 
 most indefatigable assiduity, with reference to 
 
 Edward Evprett. 
 
20 
 
 the great practical purposes of life — relieving hu- 
 man drudgery and multiplying human comforts. 
 So that it has come to pass that no investigation 
 in science is so recondite, no speculation in 
 philosophy is so daring, that we do not expect 
 from it some useful practical result, some new 
 power over matter, some valuable accession to hu- 
 man welfare. Every natural law and agency has 
 been put into requisition; the wind, the waves, 
 steam, electricity, magnetism, have all been har- 
 nessed to the car of improvement and made to 
 work for man, propelling his machines, manu- 
 facturing his food and fabrics, transporting his 
 merchandise, transmitting his messages, and dif- 
 fusing knowledge. The productions of human 
 industry, the achievements of human enterprise 
 have thus been increased ten thousand fold; 
 the necessaries, the comforts and the luxuries 
 of life have been greatly cheapened. So that 
 the laborer can now live, eat, dress and move 
 about, better than princes of former centuries, 
 and at the same time redeem leisure for mental 
 and moral improvement. The average duration 
 of human life too has been not inconsiderably 
 
21 
 
 lengthened by the advancements that have been 
 made in the science of medicine, the improve- 
 ments that have been brought about in political 
 economy, and the increase that has taken place 
 in the comforts of living. And while man has 
 been relieved from so much of the drudgery of 
 toil, knowledge has been increased, not only by 
 the discoveries of science, but also by multiplying 
 the means of education in common schools, by 
 cheapening books and newspapers, awakening 
 inquiry and diffusing intelligence. At the same 
 time remote continents and separated people 
 have been brought into closer proximity. For, 
 while the distances on the globe are the same 
 at this day as at the creation of the world, 
 the facilities of communication have brought 
 Europe, Asia and Africa virtually as near 
 to this country now, as its present extrem- 
 ities were to each other two centuries ago. 
 When then we consider that it is the great ob- 
 ject of the church to raise man to his true dig. 
 nity, happiness and glory, through the gospel of 
 Christ, and to extend the Redeemer's kingdom 
 throughout the world, is it not a privilege to 
 
22 
 
 have existed, as a congregation, during a period 
 in which such material facilities have been 
 afforded for its proper work. 
 
 3. To this we may add that the period, when 
 this church was erected, introduced an era, espe- 
 cially in this country, of very gracious revivals 
 of religion. "In the year 1792," says Dr. Griffin, 
 "commenced that series of general revivals, 
 which has greatly distinguished the American 
 churches and has never been entirely interrupt- 
 ted, and may we not hope from present indica- 
 tions, never will be till the whole earth is filled 
 with the glory of the Lord." Seasons of special 
 religious awakening date indeed as far back as the 
 days of Seth, and may be traced through those of 
 Joshua, Josiah, Ezra, John the Baptist, Pente- 
 cost, the Reformation, and the revival in the 
 first half of the last century in connection with 
 the labors of the Wesleys and Whitfield. They 
 seem to have constituted the divine meth- 
 od of promoting religion under different dispen- 
 sations in all ages. These however were wide- 
 ly separated eras. 
 
23 
 
 After the last of these great awakenings, which 
 proved so great a blessing to this- country as well 
 as to Great Britain, an unusual decline in religion 
 had manifestly taken place. From the year 1745 
 to that of 1792, the Holy Spirit withheld, in a 
 great measure, his general copious influences. 
 The fifty years, that followed that season of re- 
 freshing, were years of war and civil commotion 
 in this land ; first, by reason of the conflict 
 of twenty years between France and England 
 for the ascendancy on this continent ; then, of the 
 struggle of the colonies for independence ; and 
 lastly, of the unsettled state of the public mind, 
 which preceded the adoption of the federal con- 
 stitution. 
 
 These causes, in connection with the constant 
 anxiety produced by the incursions of hostile 
 Indians, and the toils and hardships incident to 
 the settlement of a new country, kept the minds 
 of the great mass of this people so agitated, that 
 religion was almost overlooked and forgotten, 
 and Zion languished. The crimes and vices, 
 which everywhere prevailed, the dissipation, pro- 
 faneness, Sabbath desecration and infidelity, which 
 
24 
 
 camp-life, in connection with French influence, 
 engendered, together with the destitutions and 
 wants of the new settlements, induced however 
 the deepest solicitude and a spirit of fervent 
 prayer among christians. Like Israel, at the Red 
 Sea, they were driven to cry mightily unto God. 
 And the fruit of all this was soon seen in exten- 
 sive revivals of religion, which have continued 
 to characterize the country and to be known, as 
 American revivals, throughout the christian world. 
 Their history we have not time now to trace ; 
 and it is sufficient for our present purpose to note 
 the interesting fact, that just when God in his 
 gracious providence was introducing this new 
 • era, the edifice in which we now worship for the 
 last time, was erected. It has therefore existed 
 through a period more distinguished in this re- 
 spect than any other of equal extent in the 
 whole history of the world. 
 
 4. Lastly, and most intimately connected with 
 this feature of the period we have just considered, 
 we may notice that the time, when this church was 
 built, was also the introduction of an era of active 
 christian benevolence. While the committee 
 
25 
 
 of this congregation were planning with 
 anxious solicitude this then expensive edifice, 
 Carey, Fuller, and others in England were con- 
 ferring, in the face of ignorance, prejudice, bigo- 
 try and mammon, about the formation of one of 
 the earliest of those benevolent institutions 
 which have distinguished modern christian char- 
 ity, and now cover the whole face of Protestant 
 Christendom. Previous to that time, missiona- 
 ry, bible, tract, Sunday school and other kin- 
 dred institutions, were comparatively unknown ; 
 the aggressive character of Christianity had been 
 almost entirely undeveloped ; the church seemed 
 to have sunk into the profoundest slumber 
 in regard to the extent of her great com- 
 mission. In the year 1793, commenced that 
 severe struggle in the British parliament, in which 
 the practical wisdom of Grant and Fuller, the 
 burning eloquence of Wilberforce, and the inde- 
 fatigable perseverance of Carey and others con- 
 tended for the right to seek the christianizing of 
 India, and which triumphed so gloriously in the 
 year 1813. Since then these enterprizes have 
 multiplied so greatly, that every christian coun- 
 
26 
 
 try and every christian sect, has its various or- 
 ganizations in active operation for the conver- 
 sion of the world to Christ. A lively christian 
 interest has been awakened — christian liberality 
 has been developed — an extensive acquaintance 
 with heathen nations has been acquired — preju- 
 dices against this christian work have been re- 
 moved — partition walls have been broken 
 down — sealed empires have been opened to the 
 gospel — access to the remotest tribes has been 
 gained — the bible has been translated into nume- 
 rous languages — missionaries of the cross have 
 been sent to various countries — and facilities for 
 fulfilling the Saviour's last command, such as had 
 hardly been conceived of since the days of the 
 Apostles, have been improved. 
 
 Such are some of the features of the era that 
 was introduced when this church was erected. 
 May we not see in them cause for profound grati- 
 tude on the part of this congregation ? 
 
 II. Let us then turn in the next place to con- 
 template the human instruments with which, in 
 the providence of God, the church has been favor- 
 
27 
 
 ed for meeting the emergencies of its destined 
 mission during this period. 
 
 They may be viewed in connection with the 
 several pastorates in which were developed suc- 
 cessively, in this particular congregation, the sev- 
 eral characteristics of the age to which we have 
 been adverting. 
 
 1. The first was in connection with the min- 
 istry of Dr. Allison. When he came to this 
 church, Baltimore contained not more than thirty 
 houses. From the time when Mr. Fleming's farm 
 of sixty acres was laid out by legislative grant 
 as a town, till the adoption of the federal con- 
 stitution, it did not seem to flourish ; and that 
 notwithstanding Braddock's defeat, rendering 
 the Indians more lawless, had driven many of the 
 scattered population of the interior into the towns 
 for protection, and a considerable body of French 
 neutrals had sought refuge here from Nova 
 Scotia, when it was taken by the British. At the 
 commencement of the revolution it was still a 
 village of not more than five thousand inhabi- 
 tants. And even at the close of that struggle, 
 notwithstanding a spirit of considerable enter- 
 
28 
 
 prise, it contained only about eight thousand 
 When Dr. Allison died, it had become the third 
 city of the union in magnitude ; and this church, 
 which arose from five or six families, one of the 
 most flourishing congregations in the land. 
 
 Of this gratifying growth Dr. Allison and his 
 respected associates were permitted to be the 
 honored agents. It affords me great pleasure, 
 after having carefully reviewed their public spir- 
 ited, self-denying, efficient and judicious labors, 
 to hold them up to your veneration and grati- 
 tude as the founders of this church — the instru- 
 ments by whom it was brought to its highest out- 
 ward prosperity.* 
 
 The character of the men, and the spirit that 
 actuated them may be seen in the report made 
 by the committee to the congregation, on be- 
 coming settled in this building, in which they 
 
 * The members of the Committee during this period were 
 Messrs. John Stevenson, John Smith, William Lyon, William 
 Buchanan, William Smith, James Sterret, William Spear, Jonathan 
 Plowman, Dr. Alexander Stenhouse, John Boyd, Samuel Purviance, 
 John Little, Samuel Brown, James Calhoun, Robert Purviance, Wil- 
 liam Neill, Hugh Young, John Sterrot, David Stewart, Nathaniel 
 Smith, Joseph Donaldson, Robert Gilmor, William Patterson, Chris- 
 topher Johnson, Stephen Wilson, John Swan, Col. Samuel Smith 
 and Dr. Brown; 
 
20 
 
 give a detailed history of the administration of 
 its secular affairs, during the time it had been 
 managed by them. From this it appears that, 
 during this period of a little more than twenty- 
 eight years, two church edifices, besides the 
 original log building, had been erected, one 
 of them had been enlarged, a parsonage had been 
 built, the lots for these buildings and one for a 
 burial ground had been purchased, the annual 
 salaries had been collected with unusual accura- 
 cy, inferior expenses had been defrayed without 
 applying to the congregation or to the public 
 fund, and the temporalities of the congregation 
 brought into the most flourishing state. For 
 this they disclaimed any personal credit, ascribing 
 it all to the great body of the people. And 
 then, after stating that only* one of their number 
 had remained a member of the committee from 
 first to last, they add, "should it be now al- 
 leged that the individuals of our body have 
 acted improperly, and might have their places 
 better supplied ; should it be feared, in these 
 
 c This was Mr. William Smith, who served on the committee from 
 17(34 to 1814. 
 
30 
 
 days of commendable jealousy for the rights 
 of man, that the institution itself is defective 
 and ought to be altered ; * * should the so- 
 ciety, for these or other reasons, desire to in- 
 troduce a new system and to employ other 
 agents, they have an unquestionable authority. 
 As members of the church, a connection we 
 value more than being members of the com- 
 mittee, we declare our readiness to consult, ad- 
 vise and act with our brethren in a congrega- 
 tional capacity on whatever plan may be pro- 
 posed for accomplishing the great design for 
 which we have voluntarily joined ourselves 
 together in a christian assembly, not questioning 
 but the harmony, candor and mutual forbear- 
 ance we have heretofore enjoyed will continue, 
 and prove no less honorable to our reputation 
 than auspicious to our affairs." These were pre- 
 eminently the men for the times. Nor should it 
 ever be forgotten, that all that we have since en- 
 joyed as a congregation, we owe under God to 
 their noble, self-sacrificing, successful labors. 
 May this people never prove recreant to their 
 principles, nor unworthy of their fame. 
 
31 
 
 Dr. Allison was a pastor worthy of such a con- 
 gregation and committee. Coming here in early 
 youth, with distinguished talents, accurate and 
 extensive culture, a firm friend of learning and 
 order, zealous for civil and religious liberty, but 
 eminently conservative, he acquired, , during a 
 period of nearly forty years, a reputation and in- 
 fluence second to no other in the community. 
 As a preacher, he was rather didactic and argu- 
 mentative than rhetorical. His sermons were 
 addressed to the understanding more than to the 
 passions. Although he read closely, and his 
 manner was not animated, his style was yet so 
 chaste, lucid and nervous, that his discourses 
 always awakened attention and interest. It was 
 however in his aptness for public business that he 
 stood especially pre-eminent. From the origin 
 of the Presbytery of Baltimore he was a leading 
 member of that body, being its moderator during 
 the first seven years, and taking a prominent 
 part in every important measure. In the higher 
 judicatories of the church he exerted no less 
 commanding influence. Coming upon the stage 
 with the most distinguished lights that have 
 
32 
 
 adorned the annals of our church — the Tenants, 
 Gillespie, Bostwick, Davies, Blair, Rogers, 
 Ewing, Witherspoon, Nisbet and others — men 
 renowned for learning, piety and influence, he 
 undoubtedly, says Dr. Miller, held the first rank 
 of American clergy. For the perspicuity, cor- 
 rectness, sound reasoning and masculine elo- 
 quence of his speeches in ecclesiastical assem- 
 blies, he was long admired and had scarcely an 
 equal. Dr. Stanhope Smith, president of Prince- 
 ton College, pronounced him the ablest states- 
 man in our General Assembly. And the gene- 
 ral estimate in which he was held by the church 
 at large, is clearly evinced by the important 
 duties that were assigned to him. When after 
 the revolution measures were taken for estab- 
 lishing the Presbyterian church in this country 
 on its present basis, he was made a member of 
 almost every committee appointed to conduct 
 the business, viz. that to arrange the several ju- 
 dicatories — that to revise our public standards — 
 that to mature a system of discipline and govern- 
 ment — and that on psalmody. The same talent for 
 managing affairs that he displayed in the church, 
 
was also manifested in his relations as a public 
 spirited citizen. He was one of the original foun- 
 ders of the Baltimore College and the Baltimore 
 Library, and united in the earliest efforts here 
 made to establish schools. Trained too in revo- 
 lutionary times, he was an ardent friend of civil 
 and religious liberty. The only writings that he 
 ever printed, were a funeral discourse on Wash- 
 ington, and some able newspaper articles pub- 
 lished over the signature, "Vindex," (which were 
 subsequently printed in a pamphlet,) against what 
 he regarded as an attempt of a sister denomina- 
 tion to be recognized as having a legal relation 
 to the state.* 
 
 Early in 1800, Dr. Allison's health began to 
 fail. He became much depressed in spirits ; so 
 much so that he was induced to apply to Presby- 
 tery for permission to resign his charge and de- 
 mit his office. To this the congregation was 
 
 ° Governor Paca had recommended to the Legislature, to make 
 some, provision for the support of religion, and an application to that 
 body was regarded by Dr. Allison, as an attempt to have the Epis- 
 copal, whi ;h had been the established church, still recognized as lidd- 
 ing a special relation to the state. 
 
 2° 
 
34 
 
 opposed, and urging him to suspend his labors 
 and seek a restoration of his health, offered to 
 secure for him an assistant. The Presbytery 
 therefore recommended him to withdraw his 
 resignation. But although his health was tem- 
 porarily recruited, he soon relapsed into a deeper 
 depression, and died August 21st, 1802.* 
 
 In the previous month of February, Dr. Inglis 
 was elected as assistant pastor, by a small major- 
 ity over Dr. Glendy, who was then settled in or 
 near Staunton, Ya.f 
 
 "4The committee met as soon as the melancholy event was made 
 known, and adopted measures suited to the occasion. It was ar- 
 ranged that he should he interred in the Western burial ground, at 
 the expense of the congregation, at 4 o'clock on the next afternoon 
 which was the Sabbath ; and the clergy of the city were invited to 
 attend as pall bearers. The churches generally were closed, and the 
 ministers of the various denominations were present. It was also re- 
 solved to erect a suitable monument in the church as a memorial of 
 the veneration and esteem in which this its first vat-tor uas held. Dr. 
 Inglis preached a funeral sermon on the next Sabbath. 
 
 t At a previous election, in December, 1801, Dr. Archibald Alex- 
 ander, subsequently professor of didactic theology in the Theological 
 Seminary at Princeton, N. J., was chosen. He had been on a tour 
 through New England, and on his return to Virginia, passed a Sal- 
 bath in Baltimore, with his friend, Mr. Priestly, and preached 
 in the pulpit. It being understood however that a considerable 
 minority was opposed to him, under the impression that his views < n 
 the subject of discipline were stricter and more rigid than those to 
 which they had been accustomed, he declined. 
 
35 
 
 2. The second period in the history of the 
 church, which was principally in connection with 
 the pastorate of Dr. Inglis, was that after it had 
 attained its maturity and was firmly established 
 as an able and influential congregation. It was 
 a period of great outward prosperity. We have 
 traced the slow and gradual growth of the city and 
 congregation, through many difficulties and dis- 
 couragements, to the time when this edifice was 
 erected. After the revolution, the Federal Con- 
 stitution being adopted, and the national debt 
 funded, public and private confidence was restor- 
 ed, and commerce revived. Commercial houses 
 from Holland, Hamburg and Bremen were soon 
 established here, and rapidly drew nearly all the 
 tobacco trade of the state, which had been pre- 
 viously carried on, to a great extent, by weal- 
 thy planters from their own landings, like Elk 
 Ridge Landing. Flour too was so largely ex- 
 
 Dr. Inglis graduated at Columbia College, New York, ami entered 
 the office of Alexander Hamilton, as a student of law. At the close 
 of the three years term of study lie was admitted to the liar. But in 
 the course of a year he abandoned that profession, and commenced 
 the study of theology, under Dr. Rodgers, and was licensed by the 
 Presbytery uf New York, in 1801. 
 
36 
 
 ported to the West Indies, that Baltimore be» 
 came one of the largest flour markets in the 
 world, as it is now one of the most impor- 
 tant. 
 
 The location was peculiarly favorable to com- 
 merce, presenting the nearest market to the 
 western country, which was then gradually fill- 
 ing up, and concentrating a great proportion of 
 the trade of the Chesapeake. The geological 
 features of the country around these head waters 
 of the bay were found, moreover, most admira- 
 bly adapted to the employment of water power. 
 The streams running into the Chesapeake at this 
 point are numerous, and as the country gradu- 
 ally rises in successive ridges, the waters fall 
 rapidly in their progress to the bay. So remark- 
 ably is this the case in this neighborhood, that 
 several of the principal streams were denomina- 
 ted by the first settlers Falls ; as Jones' Falls, 
 Gwynn's Falls, &c. It has been asserted that 
 there is no equal space of ground in the United 
 States that has more natural water power, 
 united with so many local facilities, as the circle 
 of thirty miles radius about Baltimore. From 
 
37 
 
 the Potomac to the Gulf of Mexico there are 
 very few in comparison ; and this is true, to a 
 great extent, throughout the West.* 
 
 In connection with this advantage of location, 
 we may notice that in 1793, when the revolution 
 in St. Domingo took place, many of the inhabi- 
 tants fled from the Island, and fifty-three ves- 
 sels arrived in Baltimore, on the 9th of July, 
 with one thousand white, and five hundred 
 colored inhabitants ; and in the next three 
 months nearly as many more. This proved 
 highly advantageous, not only by the accession 
 of such a number of active, industrious people, 
 but by opening up an almost exclusive trade with 
 that island when its commerce was very profita- 
 ble. It led also to a very important carrying 
 trade with the other West India islands. Europe 
 being involved in a protracted war, this whole 
 country, freed from entangling alliances, enjoyed 
 very great prosperity. The southern situation 
 of Baltimore, and its possessing an abundance of 
 
 ° General Harper stated that a semi-circle of twenty miles radius, 
 of which Baltimore is the centre, contains sufficient water power to 
 employ a million of looms. — N. A. Eeview, 1825 ; from which some 
 of these statements have been taken. 
 
''' V 
 
 OO 
 
 the staple commodities for the West India mar- 
 ket, gave it uncommon facilities for this trade. 
 Ship building, in which the Baltimore artisans 
 had become peculiarly adept — constructing a 
 class of fast sailing clipper vessels — attained 
 great importance, and with this all the common 
 branches of business flourished, adding very 
 much to the growth and wealth of the city. 
 And even when, after the peace of Amiens, in 
 1801, the commerce of the country was very 
 fluctuating — the continental system putting a 
 severe check upon neutral trade — her fast sail- 
 ing vessels afforded peculiar advantages to this 
 port for a traffic which, from its very difficulty, 
 was exceedingly lucrative, This state of things 
 continued, with the exception of the time of the 
 blockade of the Chesapeake, till near the year 
 1818. During this period the city grew with a 
 rapidity almost unequalled. Inhabitants came in 
 from England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Hol- 
 land, New England, the Middle and Southern 
 States with a spirit of enterprise, which gave 
 the greatest impulse to every branch of business. 
 The population increased from 1790 to 1800, 
 
39 
 
 from thirteen to thirty-six thousand ; and in 
 1818 to sixty thousand. Keal estate advanced, 
 turnpikes were built, banking was expanded, 
 and a spirit of reckless excess was engendered, 
 which resulted in one of those wide spread 
 revulsions, which have, on various occasions 
 since, so desolated the country. Previous to 
 this however the church had become thoroughly 
 consolidated and enjoyed most remarkable 
 outward prosperity. The colony, which went out 
 on the election of Dr. Inglis and, erecting the 
 Second Church, called Dr. Glencly, was large 
 and respectable. But the vacancies thus made 
 were soon filled, and the congregation continued 
 eminently prosperous. In 1811 an organ was 
 introduced into the church, which at first gave 
 some dissatisfaction, but it soon passed away, 
 although one or two valuable families left the 
 church. 
 
 The old parsonage which stood on Fayette 
 street, east of the church, was removed for the 
 opening of North street, which was previously 
 an alley, and a new one was erected on North 
 street, in the rear of the church. Dr. Inglis 
 however did not live to occupy it. 
 
40 
 
 During this season of remarkable outward 
 prosperity the spiritual interests were not over- 
 looked, although the church enjoyed no such 
 revivals as distinguished the succeeding pas- 
 torate. Measures however were adopted that 
 helped much, under God, to prepare the way for 
 these favored seasons. 
 
 In 1804 the church was for the first time 
 regularly organized, according to the provisions 
 of the Form of Government of the Presbyterian 
 Church in the United States, by the election of 
 Messrs. Robert Purviance, David Stewart, Chris- 
 topher Johnston, George Salmon and Ebenezer 
 Finley, as ruling elders.* From this time the 
 spiritual interests of the church seem to have 
 gradually improved. There were indeed many 
 
 i:J In 1781 the following entry is found in the Records of the Com- 
 mittee : "The peculiar circumstances of our" Society, at its first for- 
 mation, especially the small number able and willing to discharge 
 public trusts therein, obliged some persons to fill different employ- 
 ments, in the capacity of both what are called elders and deacons or 
 committee men. But our fespectable establishment and happy in- 
 crease now furnish means of removing this inconvenience. Be it 
 therefore remembered that the following gentlemen, Dr. William 
 Lyon, John Smith, William Buchanan, and -James Sterret, who, 
 originally acted in both these characters, being previously chosen by 
 the congregation, agree to serve under the former (that of elders) 
 
41 
 
 causes operating powerfully to interfere with 
 the progress of vital piety. Never was the ten- 
 dency to infidelity stronger in our country, than 
 when Dr. Inglis entered upon his ministry in 
 this church. The public morals had been very 
 
 alone. And it is agreed that persons be introduced into the commit- 
 tee after notice and by election. 
 
 In 1804 we find another volume of records, (that of the session,) 
 opening as follows ; "Be it known, that Messrs. Eobert Purviance, 
 David Stewart, Christopher Johnston, and George Salmon, having 
 been previously elected to the office of the Eldership in the First 
 Presbyterian Congregation in the City of Baltimore, were, on the first 
 day of April, 1804, solemnly ordained and set apart to said office 
 according to the provisions of Chapter xii, 'Form of Government of 
 the Presbyterian Church.' And at the same time, Ebenezer Finley 
 (previously an elder in Pennsylvania) was also elected." Records i f 
 Session. 
 
 In 1802 the subject of the full organization of the churches under its 
 care had been introduced into Presbytery, and a, pasti iral letter adopted 
 urging upon the churches the election and ordination of elders. 
 Previous to this but few of the churches in this region seem to have 
 had regularly ordained ruling elders, or to have kept any sessional 
 records. The delegates that had been sent from this church to Pres- 
 bytery and Synod, were simply trustees, unordained representatives 
 of the congregation ; nor were any sessional records kept previous 
 to 1804. "About this time," says Dr. Muir in his brief account of the 
 Presbytery, "we have at last fallen into a degree of order, and our 
 churches are organized according to the directions of our Form of 
 Government. None of late have been ordained by us who have not 
 at the same time been installed, and steps have been taken to 
 instruct our people in forms of discipline and government, as 
 practiced by our church." 
 
42 
 
 much unsettled by the revolutionary war ; 
 French writings had become very popular ; and 
 infidelity was considered fashionable. In 1799 
 the General Assembly uttered its testimony 
 against the prevailing coldness and irreligion in 
 a pastoral letter. Christians were constrained 
 to renewed exertions for the preservation and 
 promotion of vital religion. The result was 
 seen in extensive revivals, which were extend- 
 ing throughout the Presbyterian church during 
 the whole of Dr. Inglis' ministry. And although 
 this congregation was not then visited by 
 any season of special awakening, the pre- 
 parations for such a blessing may be clearly 
 traced. 
 
 In 1809 we find the first account, in the Pres- 
 byterial minutes, of a free conversation on the 
 state of religion. The subject of pastoral visita- 
 tion and the religious instruction of the young 
 began to engage more serious consideration. A 
 growing attention to spiritual religion is clearly 
 perceptible. In 1814 Messrs. James Mosher, 
 Thomas Finley, David Boisseau and Dr. Maxwell 
 McDowell were ordained elders. The session, 
 
43 
 
 agreeably to a recommendation of Presbytery, 
 resolved to commence a Register of Baptisms. 
 And in this year, for the first time, applicants for 
 admission to the church appeared before the 
 session, and on being received had their names 
 recorded. From this time too the Lord's Sup- 
 per was administered four times a year instead 
 of twice, as had been the case previously. The 
 Presbyterial report of the state of religion w T ithin 
 its bounds states that public worship is better 
 attended in all the churches, a greater sense of 
 religion prevails, family worship is more general- 
 ly practiced, infidelity is less openly avowed, the 
 catechism is universally taught and meetings 
 for social prayer have been established. We 
 also find the following minute in our sessional 
 records : "The session having frequent occa- 
 sion to remark the auspicious bearing of meet- 
 ings for social prayer upon the religious state of 
 Presbyterian, as well as other congregations, 
 deem it expedient to attempt the institution 
 and maintenance of such associations, and also 
 that the pastor be authorized to express the 
 sense of the session on this and similar means of 
 
44 
 
 quickening the people in religion." In 1815 a 
 weekly lecture was instituted, being .conducted 
 by the pastor on every Wednesday evening, in 
 the church, there being then no lecture or ses- 
 sion room. About the same time Mrs. Stephen 
 Williams, then a member of St. Peter's church, 
 having during a visit to Philadelphia witnessed 
 the happy effects of Sabbath Schools, was the 
 means of introducing them into Baltimore. The 
 first was commenced by the ladies of St. Peter's 
 church, which was soon followed by one under 
 the care of the ladies of this church, which was 
 held for some time in a room over the engine 
 house in McClellan's alley, and with it was con- 
 nected a weekly meeting for social prayer. 
 
 In December, 1817, when the spiritual pros- 
 pects of the church were becoming increasingly 
 promising, Dr. Inglis solicited the Presbytery to 
 dissolve his pastoral relation to the First Pres- 
 byterian Church in Baltimore, for reasons which 
 he assigned. The Presbytery resolved that, if 
 the congregation consented, the request should 
 be granted, but if they refused, the congregation 
 should be cited to appear by commissioners and 
 
45 
 
 show cause why they would not consent. In 
 consequence of this resolution, Dr. Inglis called 
 a meeting of the congregation, Dec. 12th, 1817, 
 to take his request and the resolution of Pres- 
 bytery into consideration. At this meeting a 
 committee was appointed to wait upon the pas- 
 tor, to ascertain his reasons for the request. 
 This committee reported, as the result of an in- 
 terview, that Dr. Inglis had consented to con- 
 tinue their pastor, if the congregation so desired, 
 which desire was at once expressed by an almost 
 unanimous vote. 
 
 At the same meeting it was determined to 
 elect a new bench of elders, and to make the 
 election of these officers annual, as in some of 
 the Reformed churches. The adoption of this 
 plan, which, although not necessarily a departure 
 from sound Presbyterianism, is nevertheless 
 contrary to the constitution of our branch of the 
 Presbyterian body, caused a warm discussion in 
 Presbytery. That body passed over the irregu- 
 larity, but the Synod censured the Presbytery 
 for so doing. And the congregation never car- 
 ried out the resolution to elect annually. 
 
 / 
 
46 
 
 Dr. Inglis died suddenly on Sabbath morning, 
 August 15th, 1819. Be was one of the most 
 distinguished popular preachers of his day. "He 
 was largely gifted," says Mr. Jonathan Meredith, 
 "with many of the essential elements of oratori- 
 cal power. His voice was full, clear, and capa- 
 ble of great varieties of modulation. His enun- 
 ciation was deliberate and distinct, his action 
 subdued but graceful, always appropriate and 
 seemingly unstudied. His whole manner was 
 eminently dignified and impressive. He was 
 accounted a sound theologian, a good classical 
 scholar, and familiar with the best English liter- 
 ature. * * He usually preached with his ser- 
 mon before him, but did not confine himself to 
 it, the most striking and eloquent passages being 
 evidently extemporaneous." His style was ex- 
 ceedingly concise, but clear and elegant. Dr. 
 Dwight spoke of him to his class in rhetoric, as 
 the most signal instance of precision in style that 
 he had ever met. He possessed in a pre-eminent 
 degree the talent of so managing his voice and 
 action, as to produce the most profound impres- 
 sions with the simplest sentences. Those who 
 
47 
 
 were accustomed to hear him testify that no 
 adequate conception can be formed of the effect 
 of his preaching from his published discourses. 
 Dr. Sprague represents him as one of the most 
 eloquent preachers to whom he had ever lis- 
 tened. Anecdotes are related of his eloquence 
 which seem almost incredible. In private inter- 
 course he was cheerful, affable, and eminently 
 agreeable. He shone in conversation, and was 
 full of amusing anecdotes. In the sick room he 
 was extremely tender and faithful, and peculiarly 
 appropriate and happy in devotional exercises. 
 Such indeed was his general character, such 
 his power of attracting and influencing others, 
 that the devotion of his people amounted almost 
 to idolatry. The application to Presbytery to 
 dissolve his pastoral relation, which cast a shade 
 over the last days of his ministry, never inter- 
 rupted for a moment the affection of the congre- 
 gation. 
 
 The temporal affairs of the church during Dr. 
 Inglis' ministry were eminently prosperous. In 
 addition to those members of the committee who 
 survived Dr. Allison, Col. Strieker, Messrs. Geo. 
 
48 
 
 Salmon, James McHenry, Amos Williams, and 
 others who will come under subsequent notice, 
 took an active part in their management. The 
 social position, the political influence, and the 
 commercial standing of these gentlemen gave to 
 the congregation under their administration the 
 greatest weight in the community. 
 
 3. The third period of the church, which was 
 during the ministry of Dr. jSTevins, may be char- 
 acterized as that of gracious revival. 
 
 The rapid growth, the unexampled prosperity 
 of Baltimore during the period we have just re- 
 viewed, led, as has often been the case, to that 
 excessive banking and over-trading, which soon 
 involved the community in one of those great 
 commercial revulsions which spread devastation 
 and distress so widely over the land. This hap- 
 pened in 1818, not long before the death of Dr. 
 Inglis. The value of real estate was greatly re- 
 duced, and the aspect of the city is said to have 
 given evident marks of decline. This no doubt 
 had its influence in the wise overruling of divine 
 providence, as we have seen a similar state of 
 
49 
 
 things recently, in impressing the minds of men 
 with a sense of the vanity of the world, and the 
 importance of eternal interests, and thus in pre- 
 paring the way for those gracious visitations, 
 that distinguished the period we are now con- 
 sidering. 
 
 Before the consequences of that commercial 
 revulsion had entirely passed away, Dr. Nevins 
 was elected the third pastor of this congregation.* 
 
 * The church continued vacant for about one year after Dr. In- 
 glis' death. During that time the attention of the congregation was 
 directed to several promising preachers, who had just entered the 
 ministry. Among these were the Rev. Sylvester Larned, Rev. Mat- 
 thew Bruen and Rev. William Nevins. The predilections of the re- 
 spective friends of these gentlemen were very strong, and the first 
 election lasted two days. At length the choice fell upon Mr. Larned, 
 then recently settled in New Orleans. Mr. Larned was highly grat- 
 ified with the call, but promptly yielded to what he regarded 
 the claims of duty, and signified his refusal. He had been stationed in 
 New Orleans by the voice of the church. A large and promising con- 
 gregation had been gathered there by his eloquence, faithfulness and 
 piety. And his brethren and fathers in the ministry felt, that his 
 abandoning the enterprize at that critical juncture, would peril its suc- 
 cess. He, therefore, stood firmly to his post and became a martyr to 
 duty, falling a victim to the climate, universally lamented as one of the 
 most promising and eloquent ministers ever raised up in the Presby- 
 terian church. On the second election, Mr. Nevins was chosen pastor 
 of the congregation by a large majority, and became the instrument of 
 ?> 
 
50 
 
 During the first years of his ministry here 
 there was nothing remarkable in the results of 
 his labors. Possessing a brilliant imagination, a 
 sound judgment, a refined taste, warm affections 
 and an ardent temperament, his pulpit perform- 
 ances attracted general admiration and proved 
 highly gratifying to an intelligent congregation. 
 In his social intercourse there was a frankness and 
 guilelessness, a ready sympathy with others, that 
 rapidly endeared him to all classes of his flock. 
 A somewhat variable temperament, and a man- 
 ner marked by great simplicity, playfulness and 
 wit, led some, who met him only casually at this 
 time, and became subsequently better acquainted 
 with him, to suppose that his religious character 
 underwent a very important change after the 
 first few years of his ministry. And, unques- 
 
 tho most important spiritual blessing to the church, He was born 
 in Norwich, Ct., October 17th, 1797. At an early age he applied 
 himself to commercial pursuits, but soon abandoned them for a lib- 
 eral education, and entered Yale College, where he became hopefully 
 converted. On leaving college he entered the Theological Seminary, 
 at Princeton, N. J., and after the regular course of study, was licensed 
 to preach the gospel by the Association of New Loudon, Ct., Septem- 
 ber, 1819. He labored a short time in Richmond, Va. and settled in 
 Baltimore, October, 1820. 
 
51 
 
 tionably, his settlement in life, increasing years, 
 the responsibilities of so important a charge, and, 
 above all, divine grace gradually sobered his 
 feelings and led to a more rapid development of 
 his religious character. But those who knew 
 him most intimately at an earlier period, had 
 perceived from the first, evidence of the same 
 views and experiences that characterized him at 
 this late period. No one, says Dr. Sprague, 
 could hear him pray in the seminary, without 
 being convinced that his utterances were from a 
 heart accustomed alike to self-communion and 
 godly sorrow. 
 
 There were various circumstances which tended 
 to prepare the way for these gracious seasons of 
 refreshing, which rendered this the most import- 
 ant period in the history of this church. The 
 weekly lecture and prayer meeting, which seem 
 to have been discontinued about the time of Dr. 
 Inglis' death, Dr. Nevins early revived, and 
 also secured the formation of more private meet- 
 ings for special prayer. The present lecture room, 
 (although at first only half of its present size,) 
 was erected, and the sabbath school removed to 
 
52 
 
 it. About this time, too, most remarkable re- 
 vivals were enjoyed in various parts of the coun- 
 try. In the District of Columbia, which was em- 
 braced within the bounds of the Presbytery of 
 Baltimore, the churches seem to have been greatly 
 awakened. In 1819 the Third Presbyterian 
 Church in this city was organized, and enjoyed 
 the ministrations of pastors, who, if not always 
 judicious in the measures they employed, had 
 yet conceived a strong desire to promote a true 
 revival of religion. This general subject was dis- 
 cussed with increasing interest at the meetings 
 of Presbytery. In the spring of 1825 Dr. John 
 Breckinridge became the pastor of the Second 
 Presbyterian Church in this city. He after a short 
 time united with Dr. Nevins in establishing a 
 Bible Class, embracing a large number of young 
 men of both congregations, most of whom sub- 
 sequently became subjects of the revival in 1827. 
 Having recently reviewed that season of refresh- 
 ing in a discourse on "Revivals in Baltimore," 
 I take the liberty to quote one or two paragraphs : 
 "In March, 1824, the Bev. Mr. Summerfield, 
 whose brief mininisterial career produced so hap- 
 
53 
 
 py an impression upon Christians of all evangel- 
 ical denominations in this country, on his sec- 
 ond visit to the United States, was appointed, by 
 the General Conference of the Methodist Church, 
 Missionary in Baltimore, where he labored with 
 the greatest acceptance during the winter of 
 1824-'25, and produced the profoundest sensa- 
 tion. With this remarkable man Dr. Nevins 
 formed a very close intimacy, which he ever after- 
 wards spoke of as one of the most precious bless- 
 ings of his life. About the same time his mind 
 became deeply exercised on the subject of baptiz- 
 ing the children of parents who did not profess 
 saving faith in Christ. After careful examination 
 and prayer, he became persuaded that such ad- 
 ministration of the ordinance was unmeaning and 
 unauthorized. And he at once determined to de- 
 cline practicing any longer upon what has 
 been styled the lax plan. In coming to this 
 conclusion, he clearly foresaw that it would 
 produce no little agitation in such a congrega- 
 tion ; and he even apprehended that it might 
 lead to a dissolution of the pastoral relation. 
 But having made up his miud, he fearlessly an- 
 
54 
 
 nounced his intentions. It was soon apparent, 
 however, that he was sustained by a large major- 
 ity of the congregation, although some few left 
 the church on this account,. This is worthy of 
 more particular notice, not only because it is 
 natural that such a stand would lead those, thus 
 deprived of what they had been accustomed to 
 regard as an invaluable right, to serious reflec- 
 tion, but also because it has been ascertained that 
 it did actually produce the first serious impressions 
 upon some, who afterwards became subjects of the 
 revival. From this time, too, one who has carefully 
 examined Dr. Nevins' manuscripts, testifies that 
 there may be discovered a decided increase of 
 solemnity, directness, pungency, and unction in 
 his sermons. And no one, who peruses the touch- 
 ing entries in his diary, can fail to observe strik- 
 ing evidences of this change. 
 
 "Such was the state of things on Sunday, March 
 7th, 1827. There was no expectation beyond 
 what is implied in an ardent longing for the 
 blessing. There had been no attempt to get up 
 a revival, but a simple waiting upon God — upon 
 him only. That morning Mr. Nevins preached 
 
55 
 
 from the text, 'Now is the accepted time, now is 
 the day of salvation.' The sermon, which is still 
 preserved, is plain, practical, and pungent; but 
 not at all remarkable. It is not, indeed, equal 
 in power and directness to many of his other dis- 
 courses. He was not himself conscious of any- 
 thing special in its delivery. He did not even 
 discover anything unusual in the appearance of 
 the congregation. But it was accompanied with 
 the demonstration of the Spirit and with power. 
 In the interval between the morning and after- 
 noon services, the older and more experienced 
 teachers in the sabbath school were surprised to 
 find a number of the younger teachers and of the 
 more advanced scholars, who were not profes- 
 sors of religion, in the deepest anxiety respect- 
 ing their salvation ; so much so, that it entirely 
 interrupted the regular proceedings of the school. 
 At the same time several members of the con- 
 gregation visited Mr. Nevins at his house, in a simi- 
 lar state of feeling. The next day and throughout 
 the week, wherever he went, he found the 
 deepest tenderness and anxiety,. Whole families 
 were impressed by they knew not what. He at 
 
5G 
 
 once invited all such to meet him at his own res- 
 idence on Monday evenings. And in the course 
 of a few weeks, the spirit of inquiry had so spread, 
 that as many as seventy or eighty were found in 
 attendance upon these meetings for counsel and 
 instruction ; some in overwhelming distress. 
 
 "As the immediate result of this gracious out- 
 pouring, more than two hundred persons united 
 with the two churches. Quite a number became 
 most useful — some of them distinguished min- 
 isters of the Gospel, A large portion of the 
 young men have subsequently become offi- 
 cers in the various churches now existing. 
 And others have ever since been among the 
 most active, zealous, and useful of our church 
 members. Nor was the influence of this revival 
 limited to these more palpable and recorded man- 
 ifestations. It infused fresh life into the church- 
 es, animated and encouraged the ministers, 
 and gave a new impulse to the cause, such 
 as it had never before received. Sunday Schools, 
 Prayer Meetings, and Tract Visitation, were es- 
 tablished in various parts of the city. The 
 Fourth Presbyterian Church was the result of one 
 
57 
 
 of these enterprises. Another was established at 
 Crook's factory, to which Mr. Musgrave received 
 a call that resulted in his useful settlement in 
 the Third Church. And altogether an amount 
 of good was accomplished, that will never be 
 fully estimated this side of eternity. Dr. Nevins 
 testified on his dying bed, six years afterwards, 
 that he had seen no reason to be ashamed of any 
 who had come into the Church at that time. 
 From that period, as his diary shows, his con- 
 stant anxiety was to labor — agonize, as he says — 
 for a renewal of the work. It manifestly pro- 
 duced in him a deeper sense of dependence upon 
 the Holy Spirit, confidence in the Divine power 
 and grace, and desire to be taught and guided in 
 his ministry from above. When preaching his 
 tenth anniversary sermon, he mentioned that two 
 hundred and sixty had joined the church under 
 his ministry, chiefly, as he thought, through this 
 revival. In 1831, the First Church enjoyed a 
 similar season, though neither so marked nor 
 extensive." 
 
 I need not now dwell further upon the char- 
 acter of that devoted servant of Christ, who was 
 3* 
 
58 
 
 taken away from the most promising prospects 
 of usefulness in the very dew of his youth. His 
 memory is so fresh in the recollection of this con- 
 gregation and community, even after nearly a 
 quarter of a century, that his name needs only 
 to be mentioned, to awaken the most tender and 
 grateful associations. 
 
 Early in 1835 he was constrained to leave his 
 charge, broken in health and spirits, in the hope 
 that a sea voyage and a temporary cessation 
 from his arduous duties, would recruit his exhaust- 
 ed strength.* These means however proved en- 
 
 ° In 1832 Dr. Nevins had an attack of bilious fever, which laid him 
 aside for more than two months, but which he felt had been greatly- 
 sanctified to him. In 1834 he was again arrested by disease. Inces- 
 sant labor produced symptoms of bronchitis; he lost his voice, and was 
 disabled during the whole summer. Relaxation and travel however 
 had apparently recruited his wasted strength, when the sudden death 
 of an almost idolized wife by cholera again prostrated him in sick- 
 ness, and prepared him for a premature grave. His feelings have been 
 so touchingly portrayed by his own pen in his "Practical Thoughts" 
 and "Diary," that no other need attempt to describe them. He em- 
 ployed his time during this sickness in writing the articles for the N. 
 Y. Observer over the finals M. S. and several tracts, which have had 
 an extensive circulation. He preached but once after this time, on 
 the first day of the year 1835. Some of his most beautiful and effec- 
 tive discourses were delivered on New Year days. The winter and 
 spring of this year he spent in the "West Indies, without however the 
 
6 ( J 
 
 tirely ineffectual. And early in the autumn of 
 that year he returned to his desolated home, soon 
 to find a resting place by the side of his beloved 
 companion and child, who had recently preceded 
 him to the grave. On the 14th of September 
 the "session" and "the committee" were sum- 
 moned to record his death with heartfelt expres- 
 sions of respect and sorrow, and to make ar- 
 rangements for his last obsequies. 
 
 Mr. William Taylor and Col. Mosher were the 
 only members of Session when Dr. Nevins was 
 installed. In 1829 Dr. Maxwell McDowell was 
 re-elected* to the office, in connection with Mr. 
 George Morris, previously an elder in one of the 
 Presbyterian churches in Philadelphia. Mr. Tay- 
 lor resigned the next year, and died shortly after. 
 Col. Mosher continued to serve as the oldest 
 member of Session until about 1846, when at an 
 
 benefit anticipated by his friends. He returned only to struggle 
 patiently through the summer, and early in the autumn breathed out 
 his soul in the midst of a most affectionate and devoted people. 
 
 °T)r. McDowell, Messrs. Mosher, Finley, and Boisseau, then com- 
 prising the whole Session, retired in 1817. In 1818 Messrs. William 
 Taylor and Col. Mosher were elected. 
 
60 
 
 advanced age he felt constrained, on account of 
 increasing infirmities, to withdraw from the ac- 
 tive duties of the office. In 1834 Messrs. David 
 Courtnay, John N. Brown, and William L. Gill 
 were added to the Session. Mr. Gill alone re- 
 mains with us at this time, although the other 
 two serve different Presbyterian churches in 
 this city. Those last elected however belong 
 more properly to the succeeding period, as they 
 came into office only a short time before Dr. 
 Nevins' decease. 
 
 Of Mr. Morris and Dr. McDowell, I may say 
 with that filial affection and respect that I ever 
 entertained for them, that few more valuable 
 ruling elders ever served any church. When I 
 first came here, young and inexperienced, it was 
 my happiness to find them the oldest, but still 
 active, members of the session of this church. 
 Mr. Morris, owing to a natural reserve of dispo- 
 sition and manner, was never as well known by 
 the congregation generally, as it was desirable 
 that he should have been. For sound judgment, 
 practical wisdom, scrupulous integrity, unbend- 
 ing firmness in his principles, in connection with 
 
01 
 
 the humblest modesty, the most ardent philan- 
 thropy, and the most devoted piety, I have 
 never known his superior in the offiee. He had 
 an accurate and comprehensive acquaintance 
 with our system of doctrine and polity, both in 
 theory and practice, and ever proved a judicious 
 and prudent counsellor. Dr. McDowell was a 
 worthy associate. Differing in many traits of 
 character and manner, they were united in views 
 and affection ; and ever exerted the most happy 
 influence in our sessional meetings. It is a 
 source of unfeigned gratitude to me, that my 
 early ministry was exercised, and my pastoral 
 character formed, in connection with two such 
 men. 
 
 4. This brings us to the period of the last 
 pastorate, which has been more particularly 
 characterised by the development of those activ- 
 ities of the congregation in the departments of 
 church extension and general christian benevo- 
 lence, for which the previous periods had so re- 
 markably prepared the way. During the pre- 
 ceding ministries the church had attained a po- 
 
62 
 
 sition of great influence in the denomination and 
 community to which it belongs. Since, it has 
 had but little else to do than to set in order and 
 employ the materials of usefulness, with which it 
 had been so liberally provided. As the business 
 of acquiring wealth is not always most favorable 
 to its expenditure, (the habits of mind being for 
 the most part opposite,) so that of establishing 
 and consolidating such a congregation does not 
 always allow of the most efficient efforts abroad. 
 The present generation however became the 
 heirs of no small measure of material and spirit- 
 ual wealth, for the employment of which the 
 providence of God soon afforded the most abun- 
 dant opportunities and calls. Hence is that say- 
 ing true, one soweth, another reapeth. I sent 
 you, said the Saviour to his disciples, to reap 
 that whereon ye bestowed no labor : other men 
 labored and ye are entered into their labors. 
 When the present pastor* entered upon the 
 
 * In December, 1835, he passed through Baltimore on his way to 
 New Orleans, in the service of our Board of Domestic Missions, and 
 preached in the church without the slightest expectation of ever see- 
 ing the place again. In the February following the Session, having 
 received a request from a sufficient number of the congregation, con- 
 
G3 
 
 duties of this charge, he found here General 
 Samuel Smith, Messrs. Robert Smith, Robert 
 Gilmor, James Buchanan, Alexander Fridge, 
 Alexander McDonald, Judges Nisbet and Purvi- 
 ance, Messrs. George Brown, James Swan, 
 James Cox, James Armstrong, James Camp- 
 bell, and Robert Purviance, who were, or had 
 been, members of "the committee" — all now 
 among the dead. Barely to mention their names 
 
 vened a meeting for the purpose of going into an election of pastor, 
 if the way should be clear. That meeting was adjourned to the 11th 
 of April, when the present incumbent was chosen, and having, after 
 no little deliberation, and with great misgiving accepted the call, was 
 installed September 15th, 1836, the Rev. Dr. Miller of Princeton, 
 preaching the sermon. On looking back, I am amazed at the temer- 
 ity of the step. Young, inexperienced, and with no capital, men of 
 far higher gifts might have shrunk from following such pastors as 
 had previously served the congregation — one of the most intelligent, 
 influential, and responsible in the denomination. But all who had 
 preceded me had come as young men to this as their first charge, 
 and (through that delicate consideration and generous forbearance 
 which so often distinguish intelligent and refined congregations) had 
 remained through their entire ministry — a fact nearly unparalleled 
 in our country. And I cannot but hope that, notwithstanding my 
 fear and trembling in accepting the call, I was guided by a kind and 
 wise Providence, who makes use of earthen vessels that the excellency 
 of the power may be of God and not of us. By divine grace I have 
 continued to this day, having been spared in the office for nearly a 
 quarter of a century — a longer period than any of the pastors of the 
 church, with the exception of the first, and being new among the 
 oldest pastors in the city. 
 
04 
 
 is a sufficient indication of the character and 
 position of the church in the community, as they 
 were distinguished in the highest walks of civil, 
 political, commercial and social life, with a repu- 
 tation in these various departments that gave 
 lustre, not only to the congregation, but to this 
 city and country. They were the connecting 
 links between the earliest and the latest periods 
 of the congregation — its feeble infancy and its 
 matured manhood. Most, if not all of them, had 
 listened to every pastor the church has had dur- 
 ing the first century of its existence. They had 
 borne with the fathers the heat and burden of 
 its struggling into existence. They had minis- 
 tered by their wealth and social position to 
 its highest outward prosperity. They had wit- 
 nessed its doubtful beginnings, its fullest strength, 
 and its widest influence. It would afford me 
 the greatest satis faction to be able to dwell more 
 minutely upon their invaluable services. As 
 however this is impracticable on the present oc- 
 casion, I may be permitted to single out two or 
 three as specimens, not indeed to claim for them 
 any pre-eminence in such a galaxy, but because 
 
65 
 
 of their peculiar relations to the history of the 
 church. 
 
 General Samuel Smith was then the oldest 
 living "committee man" or trustee of the con- 
 gregation, having been elected in 1782, before 
 the erection of the edifice we are just leaving. 
 He was a true representative of the old school of 
 soldiers, politicians, and merchants. Having 
 during the revolution fought bravely the bat- 
 tles of his country, and, during the most 
 remarkable period of the rise and progress 
 of our city, attained the first rank among her 
 merchant princes, and then filled the highest 
 political positions in the city, state and gen- 
 eral governments, he brought to the committee 
 an intelligence, energy, resolution and executive 
 talent, which, while they rendered him the man 
 for emergencies, gave him the most commanding 
 influence and control. 
 
 Mr. Alexander Fridge was elected in 1814, in 
 the place of Mr. William Smith, who had held the 
 office since the organization of the congregation 
 in 1761 — a period of more than fifty years — 
 connecting the present ministry directly by a 
 
60 
 
 single link with the very founders of the church. 
 Mr. Fridge came here in time to be identified 
 with the most rapid growth of the city and con- 
 gregation. Liberally educated in a university 
 of the Old World, (in the class with Sir James 
 Mcintosh and Robert Hall,) with sound judg- 
 ment and unsullied integrity, he became a most 
 successful merchant. I found him just recently 
 retired from active business. A kinder, more 
 unselfish, philanthropic heart never beat. The 
 unfortunate poor, the forlorn stranger, the me- 
 chanic out of employment, the young man start- 
 ing in life without friends or patrons, always 
 found in him an active, liberal, kind friend, 
 counsellor, and helper. It was however in rela- 
 tion to the benevolent operations of the church, 
 that his influence at that particular time was 
 most important. He always manifested the 
 warmest and most efficient interest in every 
 secular and religious charity, and never held 
 back from any good work. His character, posi- 
 tion, and influence rendered one having such 
 views and feelings a most important instrument 
 in forming and establishing that benevolent 
 
67 
 
 character, for which the congregation has been 
 somewhat distinguished. 
 
 One other name must be mentioned, and it is 
 with a tenderness of regret, in which all who 
 hear me will sympathise, as under a recent afflic- 
 tion. To Mr. George Brown this congregation 
 owes, under God, more perhaps than to any 
 other person for its present position in this 
 community. With his name its reputation, 
 influence, and usefulness are most intimately 
 identified. Elected a member of "the commit- 
 tee" in 1825, he served the congregation in this 
 capacity, with an assiduity and faithfulness 
 second to no other, for nearly thirty-five 
 years. During this last period of the history of 
 the church now under review, he withdrew 
 gradually from the pressure of active business, 
 and gave himself increasingly to the promotion of 
 those various benevolent enterprises demanded 
 by our age, till he came to be almost universally 
 looked to in all such undertakings. He not only 
 contributed liberally of his large wealth, but 
 also by his counsels and active services. The 
 contributions of this church to our Boards of 
 
68 
 
 Missions, Education, &c, as well as to the other 
 benevolent objects of the day, were largely made 
 up of his gifts. And in the work of extending 
 the church in this city and vicinity, as well as in 
 more remote parts of our country, to no other 
 person have we been more indebted. The new 
 church edifice especially will be always identi- 
 fied with his name. Only those however who 
 were associated with him in carrying it on, will 
 ever know how much it owes under God to his 
 wisdom and prudence, his untiring vigilance, his 
 important encouragement and timely assistance. 
 Present circumstances forbid me to say more, 
 less could not be said in faithfulness to this 
 review. 
 
 Such are specimens of the men, who composed 
 and gave character to "the committee" at the 
 commencement of the present pastorate. Gen- 
 eral Smith was the venerable representative of 
 the old era ; Mr. Fridge of the transition period ; 
 and Mr. Brown of that in which we are now liv- 
 ing. Each had its special characteristics and 
 mission, not exclusively, but predominantly. 
 And each in succession constituted the prepara- 
 tion for what was to come after. 
 
09 
 
 The first duty to which the church seemed es- 
 pecially called in this last period, after having 
 become so firmly established, so greatly pros- 
 pered in outward respects, and so graciously re- 
 vived as to its spiritual life, was its own enlarge- 
 ment and extension in this community and 
 vicinity, and the further development of its 
 practical benevolence through the various agen- 
 cies for advancing the Redeemer's kingdom that 
 distinguish our day. Not, by any means, that it 
 had heretofore ignored these duties. The obli- 
 gation was recognized from the beginning. Dr. 
 Allison, the first pastor, preached in the country 
 one-fourth of his time for some years ; and re- 
 linquished that service only to meet the growing 
 wants in old town, where he subsequently held 
 frequent services, before there was any Presby- 
 terian Church there. When the election of Dr. 
 Inglis, as the assistant and successor of Dr. Alli- 
 son, gave rise to some dissatisfaction on the part 
 of Dr. G-lendy's friends, the going out of that large 
 and influential minority, to form the Second 
 Church, was greatly facilitated by the previous 
 labors of Dr. Allison in that part of the city. 
 
70 
 
 And as that was the period of Baltimore's most 
 rapid growth, both churches were soon most res- 
 pectably filled. An enterprise partaking more 
 entirely of a church extension, and even mis- 
 sionary character, was some years after attempted 
 in the western part of the city. This, (the Third 
 Church,* in Eutaw street,) was however so feebly 
 undertaken and so imprudently managed in its 
 earlier years, that although begun in 1819, it 
 amounted to very little till after Dr. Musgrave 
 took charge of it in 1830. About the year 1831 
 Mr. Alexander Fridge, Mr. James Campbell and 
 others made an effort to form a new congrega- 
 tion and call the Kev. John Harris, then a young 
 minister, of very distinguished talents, eloquence 
 and popularity, as a preacher. He had been 
 raised in the congregation, and was recently 
 from the seminary. The First Baptist Church, 
 in Sharp street, then heavily in debt, was about 
 to be sold, and these gentlemen proposed to pur- 
 chase it. But before the arrangement was com- 
 pleted, the friends of the Baptist church relieved 
 
 8 See a brief account of this church in the discourse on "Iievivals 
 in Baltimore," before referred to. 
 
71 
 
 it from the embarrassments on account of which 
 it was to have been sold, and Mr. Harris having 
 accepted an invitation to New Orleans, the pro- 
 ject was abandoned. It seems that some of the 
 congregation thought that the church was not 
 prepared to send off such a colony. Dr. Mus- 
 grave had recently undertaken to recuscitate the 
 Third Church, which it was supposed would re- 
 quire all the aid that could be afforded ; espe- 
 cially as many of the most active members had 
 but recently come into the church in the late re- 
 vivals, and needed to be kept together for some 
 time. 
 
 In a year or two after this, it w T as deter- 
 mined to erect a Sabbath School in what was 
 then the extreme western part of Baltimore. In 
 1833, Messrs. Alexander Brown, George Brown, 
 and Alexander Fridge gave the lots on which the 
 Fourth Church now stands. It was proposed to 
 erect a small building for a Sabbath School on 
 the rear of the lot, with the intention of erect- 
 ing a church edifice on the front at some subse- 
 quent day. The enterprise however was in 
 some way mismanaged. Dr. Nevins, having 
 
72 
 
 been taken sick, could not give to it his personal 
 oversight, and those to whom it had been en- 
 trusted in his absence from the city, commenced 
 a far more expensive building than had been con- 
 templated, and the funds, which had been col- 
 lected for the purpose, were exhausted before the 
 walls were up. Messrs. Alexander and George 
 Brown had to advance about two thousand dol- 
 lars ; and a ground rent of a thousand dollars 
 had also to be created, before the roof could be 
 put on and the floors laid. It remained for some 
 years in this unfinished condition. In the mean 
 time the Rev. S. Gruiteau gathered a small con- 
 gregation and promising Sabbath School. But 
 some months after he became persuaded that in 
 the unfinished state of the building there was 
 very little prospect of forming a good church, 
 and he relinquished the enterprise. 
 
 Such was the state of our churches in Balti- 
 more at the commencement of the period now 
 under review. About this time (1837) the Pres- 
 byterian denomination, after a protracted con- 
 troversy between what were styled the Old 
 and New Schools, was divided into two bodies. 
 
And when the attention of the churches was di- 
 verted from the strife with which they had been 
 agitated for ten or more years 7 and which ter- 
 minated in this disruption, they began to engage 
 in more agreeable, if not more appropriate 
 work. A spirit of church extension was waked 
 up throughout the entire Presbytery. Commit- 
 tees were appointed to visit various portions of 
 the Presbyterial bounds, for the purpose of 
 strengthening feeble churches, organizing con- 
 gregations in destitute places, and seeking in 
 other ways the promotion of religion. In a few 
 years, old and extinct churches had been resus- 
 citated, new ones organized, and houses of wor- 
 ship erected in fifteen or twenty different places 
 within the territorial limits of the Presbytery. 
 In this useful work, this congregation was per- 
 mitted to take an important part. 
 
 It was soon felt however that the most stren- 
 uous exertions were necessary, to keep pace with 
 the rapid increase of. population in the city 
 itself. In 1837 the Rev. George D. Purviance 
 took charge of the Fourth Church, which 
 had remained in an entirely unfinished state. 
 4 
 
74 
 
 Through the influence of his personal friends 
 in this congregation, it was completed and fur- 
 nished in a neat and tasteful manner, at an ex- 
 pense of between one and two thousand dollars. 
 A congregation was gathered, to which he min- 
 istered gratuitously with great kindness and 
 assiduity, until the failure of his health compelled 
 him to desist from preaching. As that congre- 
 gation had never been incorporated, the pro- 
 perty continued in "the committee" of this 
 church. On their purchasing out the ground 
 rent, Mr. Brown very generously and unsolici- 
 ted, relinquished his claim, amounting to about 
 twenty-seven hundred dollars. Within the last 
 few years this Fourth Church has been again 
 greatly revived under the efficient ministry of 
 the Rev. Mr. Lefevre. 
 
 In the autumn of 1840, Messrs. John Rodgers, 
 David Stewart, and John Falconer were elected 
 elders : and Messrs. Henry C. Turnbull, John Has- 
 kell, Moses Hyde, and Lancaster Ould, deacons. 
 Early in the next year they were ordained ; and 
 in the sessional conferences, in which the deacons 
 took part, a new impulse was given to the activ- 
 
75 
 
 ities of the church. The subject of colonizing 
 formed a prominent topic of discussion. And it 
 was soon determined to make an effort to build 
 a new church somewhere near the Cathedral. 
 
 Before however any plans were matured, it 
 was understood that the Second Church also 
 contemplated colonizing. Apprehending that 
 the attempt to carry on two such enterprises at 
 the same time would endanger the success of 
 both, a proposition was made to unite on one at 
 a time ; and as the enterprise in old town was 
 the smallest, and therefore most easily managed, 
 it was deemed best to commence with that — 
 especially as the population in that part of the 
 city was large and increasing, and we had but 
 one Presbyterian church on the east side of the 
 Falls. Accordingly, in November, 1842, a meet- 
 ing of the pastors, elders, and deacons of the 
 First and Second Presbyterian Churches was 
 convened in our Parsonage, on North street; 
 and after mutual conference, the measure was 
 determined upon, a subscription was opened, 
 committees were appointed, and all the requisite 
 preliminary steps taken for erecting the Aisquith 
 
76 
 
 Street Presbyterian Church. It was completed 
 in 1844.* And although it had for a few years 
 to struggle with some difficulties, it is now in a 
 most nourishing condition, and accomplishing a 
 most important work. The colony was princi- 
 pally from the Second Church ; but, one of the 
 elders, one of the deacons, and some twenty or 
 thirty members of this church, formed a very 
 important part of that interesting enterprise. 
 
 Before however that church was completed, 
 some few members of this congregation began 
 to consult about erecting what afterwards be- 
 came the Franklin Street Church. The improve- 
 ments in that part of the city were going on very 
 rapidly. At first, Mr. William F. Murdoch, Dr. 
 George Gibson, and Mr. C. A. Schaeffer, were 
 the only ones who took an active part in the 
 enterprise. These gentlemen met from time to 
 time in the old parsonage, to confer upon the 
 subject. One evening they were joined by Mr. 
 Robert Campbell, when having learned that the 
 
 * Subsequently this congregation united in a successful effort to 
 purchase a most desirable parsonage for that church, and also aided 
 in building a new lecture room for the congregation in the rear of the 
 church. 
 
77 
 
 lot on which that church now stands, was offered 
 for sale by Mr. Robert Gilmor, although only 
 about ten or twelve thousand dollars had been 
 collected for the purpose, it was determined to 
 accept the offer. Some objections were at first 
 made to this by persons, who having selected 
 the lot for another church, had subsequently re- 
 linquished it, but Mr. Gilmor disregarded them, 
 and adhered to his agreement. After the pur- 
 chase of the lot, Messrs. Joseph Taylor, Francis 
 Foreman, James George, William Beatty, John 
 Bigham, Samuel Mactier, and Alexander Brown, 
 were added to the committee. Plans were ob- 
 tained from Carey Long, Esq., and the building 
 was commenced, and after two years, brought to 
 a completion in 1846. Although the cost was 
 somewhat greater than had been expected, yet 
 the location was found to be most eligible, and 
 on the church being opened for divine service, a 
 large sale of pews was made and a numerous and 
 influential congregation gathered. A colony, 
 consisting of two elders, two deacons, seventy 
 church members, and the families connected 
 with them, went out from this congregation to 
 
78 
 
 form that church. Seldom has a more promis- 
 ing colony gone forth. It was composed, not of 
 the aged, the weak, the lame, the halt, but, as 
 all genuine sacrifices should be, of the firstlings 
 of the flock, of the very flower of the congrega- 
 tion. They went, not because of any dissatisfac- 
 tion with the old church, (some of the most effi- 
 cient members of the building committee, as my 
 venerable friend Joseph Taylor and others, ex- 
 pected to remain behind,) but gave their time, 
 money, and labors to the enterprise, with a sim- 
 ple desire to extend Presbyterianism in our 
 city. 
 
 It was however a disruption of very tender 
 ties, and much more painful than those who have 
 not gone through a similar operation would be 
 likely to suppose. Indeed, when it was realized 
 how large and valuable the colony was, we were 
 not unfrequently sympathized with and even 
 pitied, as if the glory had departed from the old 
 First Church; and I acknowledge I sometimes 
 felt that, considering the weakness of poor hu- 
 man nature, those who had promoted the enter- 
 prise, against all private interests and feelings, 
 
79 
 
 for the general good, had behaved with consid- 
 erable magnanimity. And I have reason to 
 know that few took greater satisfaction in the 
 prosperity of the new enterprise. They would not 
 have changed anything, they would not, if they 
 could, have recalled a single member, however 
 sad it was to part with valued helpers. And we 
 may be permitted to testify, as the result of this 
 and other similar movements; that God may be 
 safely trusted to take care of the interests of 
 those, who with generous self-sacrifice engage in 
 his service and seek to promote his cause. This 
 church is a standing monument and proof, that 
 public spirit is not only the duty of individuals 
 and congregations, but their wisest policy, under 
 God's government. 
 
 After the colony had gone out to form the 
 Franklin Street Church,* this congregation re- 
 solved to remodel their own church edifice ; re- 
 moving the pulpit to the opposite end, and turn- 
 
 ° While that enterprise was going on, this congregation was called 
 upon to assist the Second Church, from which some of the Franklin 
 Street Church had come, in erecting the Broadway Church. This 
 being a smaller undertaking was completed first. 
 
80 
 
 ing round the pews. The floor, which used to 
 be of brick, and which had to me when I first 
 came here an appearance of the most primitive 
 simplicity, so much so that I gave the committee 
 no rest till they consented to hide it by a carpet, 
 was removed and a new floor of wood, raised 
 some eighteen inches on sleepers, was substi- 
 tuted. The four wood stoves that Mr. John 
 Spence the sexton used always to stir up so 
 vigorously before sermon, were removed, to- 
 gether with their unsightly pipes, and a furnace 
 was placed in the cellar. A new and valuable 
 organ was procured, principally through the in- 
 strumentality of the ladies. Mr. Spence's green 
 arm chair was no more to be seen. That fea- 
 ture of the old regime I greatly missed. When I 
 first came here, a young man, the sexton in that 
 arm chair, with his hymn book and rattan, direct- 
 ly in front of the pulpit, inspired me with an awful 
 reverence. I am not sure that I did not some- 
 times look around, when I made any slip, to see 
 if he was not after me. These changes gave a 
 new spring to the congregation. While the 
 young colonies prospered, our own church grad- 
 
81 
 
 ually resumed its wonted appearance. And al- 
 though in a part of the city that was being rapid- 
 ly occupied by places of business in the stead of 
 dwellings, we had in three years not only paid 
 for our improvements, amounting to ten thous- 
 and dollars, paid oft* a long standing debt of five 
 thousand, but our income, according to the re- 
 port of the treasurer, was greater than it had 
 ever been before. So much for colonizing. 
 
 At this time, Mr. George Morris and Dr. Max- 
 well McDowell having deceased, and Mr. John 
 Falconer and Dr. David Stewart having gone 
 with the Franklin street colony, Mr. William W. 
 Spence and Mr. William B. Canfield were elected 
 elders. The next measure to which attention 
 was turned, was the purchase of a very neat and 
 substantial church, (recently erected by a Baptist 
 congregation, in the most desirable part of the 
 city.) for our colored people — as handsome a 
 structure, I venture to assert, as is occupied by 
 any colored congregation in the land ; frescoed 
 after the Egyptian order, in the highest style of 
 art, and furnished with damask cushions and every 
 comfort. In this enterprise we had the co-ope- 
 4* 
 
82 
 
 ration of some of the other churches. That con- 
 gregation, after some hard struggles, is now in a 
 most nourishing condition, under a talented, ed- 
 ucated colored preacher, and with a most effi- 
 cient Sabbath School, in which a number of our 
 church members are engaged as teachers.* 
 
 In the autumn of 1850, the need of a church 
 in the western part of our city was beginning 
 to be deeply felt. And when the friends of 
 the movement were looking for a suitable lot, 
 it was suggested that a church might be erected 
 on the grave yard of this congregation, on the 
 corner of Greene and Fayette streets, without 
 interfering with the sacred purposes to which 
 that hallowed spot had been consecrated, and so 
 as to prevent the ground from ever being divert- 
 ed to other uses. This was felt to be the more 
 desirable, as the remains of the founders of Pres- 
 byterianism in this city, of all the previous pas- 
 tors, and of many of the most valuable members 
 
 * We have recently undertaken to pay off a ground rent of twelve 
 hundred dollars on that church, and to purchase for it a suitable 2>ftr- 
 sonage, which have been nearly effected. In few measures do I more 
 rejoice than in this discharge of a most important obligation to this 
 dependent class of our population, 
 
S3 
 
 of this congregation there repose. Accordingly 
 Messrs. Joseph Taylor, Alexander Murdoch, 
 Archibald Stirling, Dan. Holt, William W. 
 Spence, William B. Canfield, and the pastor of 
 this church, with Messrs. M. B. Clarke, John 
 Falconer, E. H. Perkins, and John Bigham, of 
 the Franklin Street Church, and Mr. A. Fenton, 
 associated themselves together for this purpose. 
 The ground was broken July, 1851, and the 
 building completed in one year, being opened 
 for divine service July 4th, 1852.* This church 
 has proved one of the most efficient and useful 
 in our body. Under its two most able and ac- 
 complished pastors it has enjoyed a degree of 
 prosperity second to no other in our city ; and 
 now constitutes a most important element of our 
 denominational strength here. 
 
 The success of these various undertakings 
 greatly encouraged our people in this good work 
 of church extension. The teachers of our Sab- 
 bath School having collected a large number of 
 
 ° A more particular account of this enterprise is given in the dis- 
 course delivered at the dedication uf the church, and which was pub- 
 lished soon after. 
 
84 
 
 scholars from Federal Hill, found that to be 
 a most destitute part of our city. This led to 
 their securing, through the Ladies' Missionary 
 Sewing Society, the services of the Rev. Mr. 
 Kaufman, just from the seminary, who soon gath- 
 ered there one of the largest Sabbath Schools in 
 our city, and the nucleus of a congregation. 
 Just however as they were preparing to under- 
 take the erection of a church edifice, it was urged 
 that there was in the north-western part of the 
 town a large number of Irish Presbyterians, who 
 attended no church, and would be soon lost 
 to us if some effort was not made in their be- 
 half. Accordingly a room was rented in that 
 neighborhood, and after a short time a commit- 
 tee was formed of three members from each of 
 the three nearest churches — the First Church, 
 the Franklin Street Church, and the West- 
 minster Church, to erect the present Twelfth 
 Church, in west Franklin street. This has 
 grown to be a most important missionary en- 
 terprise, and promises to become very soon, un- 
 der its present efficient pastor, the Rev. Mr. 
 Marshall, a self sustaining church. 
 
85 
 
 As soon as the Twelfth Church was completed, 
 the South Church on Federal Hill was com- 
 menced, in 1854. That congregation had been 
 holding their Sabbath School and worshiping 
 in an inconvenient hall. The interest felt by 
 the congregation in a mission under the care of 
 our own ladies, rendered it comparatively an 
 easy matter to secure this most attractive of our 
 mission church edifices. From this brief account 
 it will be seen that our denomination has, dur- 
 ing this last period of our congregational his- 
 tory, increased from three to twelve churches, in 
 which increase this church — the mother of them 
 all — has been permitted to be the most promi- 
 nent instrument. 
 
 During all this time our city has been rapidly 
 extending in every direction — and that central 
 portion of it, in which our own church was loca- 
 ted, was becoming fast converted into a mere 
 place of business. As early as 1852, at a social 
 gathering at Mr. Stirling's, the necessity of an 
 eventual removal of the church was discussed. 
 And subsequently a number of persons belong- 
 ing to the congregation convened at the parson- 
 
86 
 
 age several times, and at length determined to 
 purchase the lot on which the new edifice has 
 been erected. In October, 1853, the congrega- 
 tion was convened to consider the question of 
 removal, and after full discussion resolved to 
 accept the offer of the lot by those who had pur- 
 chased it, and to go forward with the erection, as 
 soon as the old church could be disposed of, or 
 other arrangements be made. The next autumn 
 plans were submitted by the Hon. J. Morrison 
 Harris, the chairman of that committee, and the 
 ground was broken July, 1854. This is not the 
 occasion for tracing the history of the new 
 structure. At the time of its commencement, 
 Messrs. George Brown, A. Stirling, A. Murdoch, 
 Joseph Taylor, William Buckler, S. Collins, Wil- 
 liam Harrison, J. Morrison Harris, A. Turnbull, 
 J. Armstrong, J. I. Fisher, and A. Winchester, 
 constituted the committee. Dr. Collins and Mr. 
 Fisher resigned during the progress of the build- 
 ing, and Messrs. H. Easter and C. Findley were 
 elected in their places. "If you seek their mon- 
 ument, LOOK AROUND YOU." 
 
87 
 
 But it was not merely in the work of church 
 extension that the activities of the congregation 
 were especially called out during this last period 
 of its history. The age is emphatically one of 
 active christian benevolence. And within the 
 last twenty-five years our own denomination* 
 
 ° In the early history of the Presbyterian church in this country, 
 as of all sister denominations, missions were impracticable. The 
 churches had the greatest difficulty in supporting the gospel at 
 home. The ministers were doing real missionary work in their own 
 congregations. And although surrounded with the aborigines of the 
 country, these led so roving, unsettled a life, and the facilities for 
 reaching them were so few, that there was but little encouragement 
 to undertake much, even if the church had possessed the means. 
 Still like the Macedonians, in the great trial of their affliction, their 
 deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. The Pres- 
 byterian church, from its commencement in this country, counseled, 
 prayed, and labored in this behalf. Its first efforts were to extend 
 the gospel in the destitute portions of our own land, the greater part 
 of which was missionary ground. These were prosecuted with as 
 much earnestness as limited means would allow, till the war of Inde- 
 pendence, which greatly interrupted everything of this kind. When 
 however the General Assembly was formed in 1789, the state of the 
 country was such as to afford increasing encouragement in this work. 
 It was made, at the very first meeting, a prominent subject of con- 
 sideration, and has never been lost sight of since. Nor was the sub- 
 ject of Foreign Missions entirely overlooked. As early as 1741, ap- 
 plication was made to the society for propagating the gospel among 
 the heathen, which had been established in Scotland, in 1709, and 
 this institution appointed a Board of Correspondence in New York, 
 which commissioned first Mr. Horton, and then David Brainerd. and 
 subsequently his brother, John Brainerd, under the direction of the 
 
S8 
 
 has become more completely equipped for the 
 work of preaching the gospel to every creature. 
 It was my privilege to enter the ministry, and 
 to come to this charge, at a most favorable 
 period in this respect. Previously the contribu- 
 tions of the churches had been often large, but 
 they were occasional and irregular. The ma- 
 terial prosperity of the country however, and the 
 revivals that had prevailed more or less gener- 
 ally for nearly one-third of a century, in which 
 this congregation had very graciously shared, 
 
 Presbytery of New York. In 1802 the work of missions had become 
 so extensive that the General Assembly found it impracticable to 
 give that attention to the business, during the brief season of its an- 
 nual sessions, its importance demanded ; and appointed a standing 
 committee on missions to act throughout the year. This was the 
 origin of our various Boards under which this general cause of benev- 
 olence has been developed in our denomination to its present propor- 
 tions. This committee was re-organized as a Board of Missions in 
 1816. In 1819 the Board of Education was formed. In 1837 that 
 of Foreign Missions — the organization taking place in the lecture 
 room of this church. In 1838 the Board of Publication. And in 
 1855 the Committee of Church Extension, the duties of which had 
 been previously discharged for several years by the Board of Domes- 
 tic Missions. These constitute the sjiecial agencies of the Presby- 
 terian church, which co-operates with the American Bible Society, the 
 American Tract Society, and the American Sunday School Union, in 
 the remaining religious objects of benevolence that distinguish our 
 age. 
 
80 
 
 prepared the way for the development of a more 
 systematic benevolence. A brief connection of 
 a few months with one of our Boards had im- 
 pressed me with a sense of the importance of 
 having the contributions of the churches more 
 regular. The Session was entirely prepared to 
 resolve, at one of its first meetings, that an op- 
 portunity should be afforded to the members of 
 the congregation to contribute to each of the 
 leading religious charities of the day, viz. Foreign 
 and Domestic Missions, Education for the Minis- 
 try, the Bible, Tract, and Sunday School Socie- 
 ties, and the Poor, once every year. And so far 
 as I am aware, this has been regularly done 
 ever since, without a single omission, certainly 
 without any exception in the case of our own 
 Boards. And to this simple principle may be 
 attributed a great measure of our usefulness in 
 this department of christian duty. 
 
 For the first ten or twelve years these objects 
 were presented principally by agents visiting the 
 congregation for the purpose, and annual collec- 
 tions were made. These amounted to an aver- 
 age of three thousand dollars a year ; besides, 
 
90 
 
 during that time, about ten thousand dollars 
 contributed to special objects, including the 
 Free Church of Scotland at the time of the dis- 
 ruption, the special effort for the endowment of 
 the Seminary at Princeton, and the semi-cente- 
 nary fund for the Board of Publication ; and also 
 about ten thousand for mission churches in this 
 city — in all about sixty thousand dollars. 
 
 In 1846, when on a visit to Scotland, Dr. 
 Chalmers handed me a copy of his "Christian 
 Economies,"* in which he developed the plan of 
 supporting and extending the gospel, which has 
 proved so successful in the "Free Church," ren- 
 dering it one of the most liberal and efficient 
 churches in Christendom. He warmly urged the 
 adoption of something of the kind by the 
 churches of this country. On my return occa- 
 sion was soon found for testing its applicability 
 to our circumstances. Within a few months the 
 Franklin Street Church colony went out from 
 us, taking a large amount of material and spir- 
 
 tt This pamphlet was subsequently published, with an introduc- 
 tion by Dr. Hodge, through the liberality of a distinguished layman 
 in New York, by our Board of Publication. 
 
91 
 
 itual strength. The old plan of making contri- 
 butions had previously lost something of its effi- 
 ciency. And this, with the decrease of our num- 
 bers, threatened a very serious diminution of our 
 collections ; so that the necessity of some mode 
 of awakening additional interest in this object 
 was deeply felt. The "Free Church" plan was 
 submitted to the Session, and after some delibe- 
 ration was adopted by them, although not with- 
 out some misgiving lest the want of familiarity 
 with such a mode of contributing, and the diffi- 
 culty of collecting their contributions from so 
 large a number might prevent its success. Soon 
 after its adoption, it was formally explained in a 
 discourse delivered September, 1848. As we 
 have now made trial of it during the space of 
 ten or twelve years, it may be said that while it 
 is not claimed to have accomplished all that 
 could have been desired, it has nevertheless ex- 
 ceeded our most sanguine anticipations ; requir- 
 ing less toil, producing less friction, and yield- 
 ing far greater results than the former plan. 
 
 The first year of its adoption, notwithstanding 
 the congregation had been diminished by the 
 
92 
 
 outgoing colonies to form the Franklin Street 
 and Westminster Churches, its contributions in- 
 creased from three thousand dollars, (the pre- 
 vious average,) to more than four thousand ; the 
 second year to five thousand, four hundred ; the 
 third year to over six thousand, and so on, grad- 
 ually increasing till the} 7 " amounted to more than 
 ten thousand dollars a year, notwithstanding 
 that during this period we lost by death and re- 
 movals contributors who had given twelve hun- 
 dred dollars annually. In addition moreover 
 to these regular stated contributions, the congre- 
 gation has given an average of four thousand 
 dollars annually to special religious objects, 
 making its religious benefactions- during the last 
 eleven years double the amount of those of the 
 previous twelve years. This has been of course 
 independent of the ordinary expenses of the 
 church — amounting to about forty thousand dol- 
 lars, and the cost of the new building, (over and 
 above the proceeds of the sale of the old 
 church,) about eighty thousand more. To some 
 this may seem a large sum for a single congre- 
 gation to contribute to religious purposes — an 
 
93 
 
 amount that, with the divine blessing, might ac- 
 complish a vast extent of good. And yet how 
 little inconvenience has it occasioned to even the 
 most liberal contributors. 
 
 Such then is a cursory review of the history 
 of this congregation during its occupancy of this 
 building that we are now about to leave, resign- 
 ing it to other hands, and for different uses. It 
 is with feelings of no feigned sadness, that we go 
 out to even a more imposing structure, in a more 
 convenient location. But have we not the most 
 abundant reason to thank God that we have en- 
 joyed its privileges and opportunities for good, 
 that the lines have fallen to us in so pleasant 
 places, and that we have had so goodly a heri- 
 tage so long, where we might look back upon 
 such predecessors, into whose labors we were al- 
 lowed to enter in this favored age. AVe must 
 acknowledge indeed that our praises need to be 
 tempered with the profoundest humility, in view 
 of the fact that with so much better opportuni- 
 ties and greater facilities as the result of the 
 labors of those who have preceded us, we have 
 accomplished so much less than we might have 
 accomplished. 
 
94 
 
 But now that, through the good hand of our 
 God upon us, we have been permitted to see our 
 new enterprise brought to so desirable a comple- 
 tion, and are just about to enter upon a new era 
 with so encouraging a past to look back upon, 
 and so promising a future to look forward to, 
 shall we not this day renewedly consecrate our 
 service unto the Lord. What may we not ac- 
 complish, if with cheerful hearts, and willing 
 minds, with prayerful spirits, and devoted lives, 
 we heed the call of God's providence and grace, 
 and present ourselves a living sacrifice, holy and 
 acceptable unto God, which is our reasona- 
 ble service. . 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 PASTORS. 
 
 Eev. Patrick Allison, D. D., From 1763, till 1802. 
 
 Rev. James Inglis, D. D., From 1802, till 1819. 
 
 Rev. William Kevins, D. I)., From 1820, till 1835. 
 
 Rev. John C. Backus, D. D., From 1836. 
 
 MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE, 
 
 Names. 
 
 When Elected. 
 
 Ceased to Serve 
 
 John Stevenson, 
 
 1764 
 
 1765 
 
 John Smith, 
 
 . 1764 . 
 
 . 1780 
 
 William Lyon, 
 
 1764 
 
 1788 
 
 William Buchanan, . 
 
 . 1764 . 
 
 . 1781 
 
 William Smith, 
 
 1764 
 
 1814 
 
 William Spear, 
 
 . 1764 . 
 
 . 1790 
 
 James Sterret, 
 
 1764 
 
 1782 
 
 Jonathan Plowman, . 
 
 . 1764 . 
 
 . 1773 
 
 Alexander Stenhouse, 
 
 1765 
 
 1775 
 
 John Boyd, 
 
 . 1765 . 
 
 . 1789 
 
 Samuel Pcrviance, 
 
 1770 
 
 1787 
 
 John Little, 
 
 . 1770 . 
 
 . 1773 
 
 Samuel Brown, 
 
 1771 
 
 1771 
 
 James Calhoun, . 
 
 . 1771 . 
 
 . 1820 
 
90 
 
 Names. 
 
 Egbert Purviance, . 
 William Neill, 
 Hugh Young, 
 John Sterret, 
 David Stewart, 
 Nathaniel Smith, 
 Joseph Donaldson, 
 Robert Gilmor, 
 Samuel Smith, 
 William Patterson, . 
 Christopher Johnston, 
 Doctor G. Brown, 
 Stephen Wilson, 
 John Swan, 
 William Robb, 
 J. A. Buchanan, 
 George Salmon, 
 Col. Stricker. 
 James McHenry, 
 Amos Williams, . 
 Alexander Fridge, 
 Alexander McDonald, 
 James Cox, 
 Alexander Ntsbet, 
 Robert Smith, 
 Robert Gilmor, Jr., . 
 John Purviance, 
 Jonathan Meredith, . 
 George Brown, 
 Roswell L. Colt. 
 
 'hen Elected. 
 
 Ceased to Serv 
 
 1771 
 
 1806 
 
 . 1773 . 
 
 . 1785 
 
 1779 
 
 1784 
 
 . 1779 . 
 
 . 1785 
 
 1779 
 
 1818 
 
 . 1779 . 
 
 . 1787 
 
 1781 
 
 1783 
 
 . 1781 • 
 
 . 1822 
 
 1782 
 
 1832 
 
 . 1785 . 
 
 . 1811 
 
 1787 
 
 1819 
 
 . 1787 . 
 
 . 1807 
 
 1789 
 
 1821 
 
 . 1790 . 
 
 . 1818 
 
 1792 
 
 1804 
 
 . 1796 • 
 
 . 1810 
 
 1804 
 
 1807 
 
 . 1807 . 
 
 . 1822 
 
 1810 
 
 1822 
 
 . 1813 . 
 
 . 1822 
 
 1814 
 
 1839 
 
 . 1816 . 
 
 . 1836 
 
 1817 
 
 1841 
 
 . 1819 . 
 
 . 1854 
 
 1821 
 
 1828 
 
 . 1822 . 
 
 . 1848 
 
 1822 
 
 1854 
 
 . 1822 . 
 
 . 1828 
 
 1825 
 
 1859 
 
 . 1828 ■ 
 
 . 1835 
 
07 
 
 Names. 
 
 When Elected. 
 
 i k 18ED tii Serve 
 
 John T. Baku, 
 
 1829 
 
 1835 
 
 Henky Bikd, 
 
 . 1831 . 
 
 . 1835 
 
 James Armstrong, 
 
 1832 
 
 1839 
 
 James Swan, 
 
 . 1832 . 
 
 . 1854 
 
 Alexander Murdoch, 
 
 1834* 
 
 
 James Campbell, 
 
 . 1835 . 
 
 . 1838 
 
 Francis Hyde, 
 
 1836 
 
 1852 
 
 Francis Foreman, 
 
 . 1836 . 
 
 . 1854 
 
 Thomas Finley, 
 
 1838 
 
 1846 
 
 A. Stirling, 
 
 . 1839* 
 
 
 C. A. SCHAEFFER, 
 
 1839 
 
 1847 
 
 Joseph Taylor, 
 
 . 1843- 
 
 
 J. Spear Smith, 
 
 1844 
 
 1849 
 
 Stephen Collins, 
 
 . 1846 . 
 
 • 1859 
 
 William Harrison, 
 
 1849* 
 
 
 John Armstrong, 
 
 . 1849*. 
 
 
 William Buckler, 
 
 1854* 
 
 
 Alexander Turnbull, 
 
 1854 
 
 . 1859 
 
 J. Morrison Harris, . 
 
 . 1854* 
 
 
 Alexander Winchester, 
 
 . 1854 
 
 1859 
 
 James I. Fisher, 
 
 1855 . 
 
 . 1859 
 
 Charles Findlay, 
 
 . 1858* 
 
 
 Hamilton Easter, 
 
 1858* 
 
 
 George S. Brown, 
 
 . 1859* 
 
 
 Samuel Mactier, 
 
 1859* 
 
 
 Andrew Eeid, 
 
 . 1860* 
 
 
 Those marked * comprise the present Committee. 
 
98 
 
 RULING ELDER S . 
 
 In 1781, the following entry is found in the Records of the Com- 
 mittee : "The peculiar circumstances of our Society at its fir.tf, forma- 
 tion, especially the small number able and willing to discharge pub- 
 lic trusts therein, obliged some persons to fill different employments 
 in the capacity of both what are called elders and deacons, or com- 
 mittee men. But our respectable establishment, and happy increase 
 now furnish the means of removing this inconvenience. Be it there- 
 fore remembered that the following gentlemen, Dr. William Lyon, 
 Messrs. John Smith, William Buchanan and James Sterret, who 
 originally acted rn these two characters, being previously chosen by 
 the congregatioi , agree to serve under the former (that of elders) 
 alone." Those elected under this resolution were not ordained. 
 
 In 1804 we find another volume of Records opening as follow s : 
 "Be it known that Messrs. Robert Purviance, David Stewart, Chris- 
 topher Johnston and George Salmon, having been previously elected 
 to the office of the eldership, in the First Presbyterian congregation 
 in the city of Baltimore, were on the 1st day of April, 1804, solemnly 
 ordained and set apart to said office, according to the provisions in 
 chapter xii, Form of Government of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. 
 A. At the same time, Mr. Ebenezer Finley (previously an elder in 
 Pennsylvania) was also elected. 
 
 In 1817 the congregation resolved to elect elders annually. This 
 however was continued only one or two years, the Synod having 
 censured it as a departure from the Constitution of the Presbyterian 
 Church in the United States. 
 
99 
 
 Names. 
 
 When Elected. 
 
 Ceased to Serve. 
 
 William Lyon, 
 
 1781 
 
 
 John Smith, 
 
 . 1781 
 
 
 William Buchanan, 
 
 1781 
 
 
 James Sterret, 
 
 . 1781 
 
 
 William Smith, 
 
 1781 
 
 
 William Buchanan, . 
 
 . 1781 
 
 
 EOBERT GlLMOR, 
 
 1781 
 
 
 David Stewart, 
 
 . 1781 
 
 
 Christopher Johnston, . 
 
 1781 
 
 
 EOBERT PURVIANCE, 
 
 . 1804 . 
 
 . 180G 
 
 David Stewart, 
 
 1804 
 
 1818 
 
 Christopher Johnston, 
 
 . 1804 . 
 
 . 1819 
 
 George Salmon, 
 
 1804 
 
 1807 
 
 Ebenezer Finlev, 
 
 . 1804 
 
 
 John McKean, 
 
 1809 
 
 
 Stewart Brown, 
 
 . 1809 
 
 
 Maxwell McDowell, 
 
 1814 . 
 
 . 1817 
 
 James Mosher, . 
 
 • 1814 
 
 1817 
 
 Thomas Finley, 
 
 1814 . 
 
 . 1817 
 
 David Boisseau, 
 
 . 1814 
 
 1817 
 
 James Mosher, 
 
 1818° 
 
 . 1846 
 
 William Taylor, 
 
 . 1818 . 
 
 . 1830 
 
 James Delacour, . 
 
 1819 
 
 1820 
 
 Maxwell McDowell, 
 
 . 1829 ° 
 
 1848 
 
 George Morris, 
 
 1829 . 
 
 . 184G 
 
 David S. Courtxay. 
 
 . 1834f 
 
 1840 
 
 John N. Brown, 
 
 1834 t 
 
 . 1852 
 
 William L. Gill, 
 
 . 1834 
 
 
 • Re-elected | Resigned. 
 
 Remove* 
 
 1 to Westminstei 
 
SVhen Elected. 
 
 Ceased to Serve 
 
 1840 
 
 
 . 1840 * 
 
 1847 
 
 1840 ° . 
 
 . 1847 
 
 . 1848 
 
 
 . 1848 
 
 
 100 
 
 John Rodgers, 
 David Stewart, 
 John Falconer, 
 William W. Spence, 
 William B. Canfield, 
 
 In 1840 Messrs. Henry C. Turnbull, John Haskell, Moses Hyde 
 and Lancaster Ould were elected deacons and served till they re- 
 moved from the church. 
 
 The following Minutes from the Session Book record ihe death of 
 two of the first regularly ordained Elders of the church. 
 
 ROBERT PURVIANCE. 
 
 On the evening of October 9th, 180G, departed this life, in the 
 seventy-second year of his age, Robert Purviance, one of the Elders 
 of this congregation, and for many years one of the Committee en- 
 trusted with its temporal concerns. Steady and regular in all his 
 habits — firm, resolute, resigned and unrepining amidst his trials — 
 punctual in his dealings — faithful in his duties — assiduous in his at- 
 tendance on public worship and the various institutions of religion — 
 equally respectable and amiable in social intercourse — as a father 
 kind and provident — as a husband generous, constant and invariably 
 affectionate and uniform ; consistent, respectable through life, and 
 also through the hasty stages of a painful malady which led him to 
 his grave. He has left an example ornamental to the religion he 
 professed, and worthy of general imitation. 
 
 * Removed to Franklin street. 
 
101 
 
 GEORGE SALMON. 
 
 On the morning of September 13th, 1807, being the Lord's day, 
 while the congregation were assembled for public worship, de- 
 parted this life, after a few days of severe illness, George Salmon, 
 one of the Elders of this congregation, and one of the Committee en- 
 trusted with its temporal concerns. 
 
 Seldom is it that society, civil or religious, sustains so heavy a loss, 
 or the domestic circle so painful a bereavement, as occurred in the 
 decease of this most estimable man. The felicities of this life, of 
 which he had an ample share, instead of interferring with the claims 
 of Heaven, as they too often do, exalted his soul in pure and unaf- 
 fected devotion to the Father of Lights, the giver of every good and 
 every perfect gift. His religion was of the modest and unobtrusive 
 kind, although he never shrank from the acknowledgment of its obliga- 
 tions. His attainments in this respect were great, yet were they ever 
 accompanied by an exemplary humility. His dependence was on 
 the grace of God, and the merits of the Redeemer. His morality was 
 at once invigorated and characterized by his religion. The same sin- 
 gleness of heart, the same meekness of temper — were conspicuous in 
 both. Walking humbly with his God, he did justly and loved mercy 
 in his relations with mankind. Righteousness predominated in his 
 pecuniary transactions, and yet left room for a generosity as diffuse 
 as ever opened the heart or baud of man. In his charities he was 
 indefatigable, and the distinguishing features of his mind was emi- 
 nently visible in them, his left hand not knowing the bounty which 
 his right hand dispensed. This church will long have reason to de- 
 plore the privation of his faithful services— his zealous exertions and 
 his unremitted devotion to its interests. 
 
 '•His witness is in heaven and his record is on high." 
 
 He died in the sixtieth year of his age. 
 
102 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE MINUTES OF THE COMMITTEE. 
 
 The following items have been noted in reading the minutes of the 
 "Committee," and of the "Session," and are here inserted, with the 
 page where the action on them may he found, as a matter of curios- 
 ity and interest. 
 
 Mr. Lee was chosen the first precentor, 1765, at £ 10 per an- 
 num. In January, 1765, Mr. Smith having reported, that Mr. 
 Lawson was willing to dispose of a lot of ground fit for our pur- 
 pose, eighty feet front, and extending from the alley on which 
 it is situated to Jones' Falls, for sixty pounds Pennsylvania currency. 
 Mr. Lawson was invited to meet the committee at its next meeting, 
 and the offer was accepted. The deed from Alexander Lawson to 
 William Smith and others, is dated October 21st, 1765. In March, 
 
 1765, Mr. Buchanan acquainted the committee that Captain Charles 
 Ridgely offered for the (log) meeting house and lot one bundled 
 pounds, and all the ground rent due on said lot from the date of the 
 lease, allowing the congregation the free use of the house till May 
 
 1766. The committee accepted this proposal. 
 
 In May, 1765, the committee agreed to purchase from Mr. Law- 
 son forty feet additional ground adjoining the church lot, for a par- 
 sonage. 
 
 In 1770, a storm of wind carried away a part of the roof. In 1771 
 it was agreed to enlarge the church and build a parsonage. In Feb- 
 ruary, 1772, forty feet more ground was leased from Mr. Andrew 
 Buchanan ; and in March, 1773, the committee obtained a release of 
 the reversion. A parsonage was erected on what is now the bed of 
 North street, in 1781. In 1784 it was found necessary to secure the 
 ground in front of the church with a brick wall. It was at first sloped 
 
103 
 
 and graded, and enclosed with h wood paling — and then the brick 
 wall was erected, and the steps and paved walks were made, pp. 
 
 48, 75, 
 
 In 1785 the first steps were taken for procuring the Burial ground 
 on the corner of Greene and Fayette streets, p. 59. 
 
 In 1789 the congregation met, after notice from the pulpit, to con- 
 fer and determine on the subject of a new church. Sixteen hundred 
 pounds had been subscribed, and a committee was appointed to carry 
 out the project, viz. Messrs. James Calhoun, George Salmon and 
 David Williamson. The church was to be eighty feet by sixty : two 
 stories high, with a belfry, and galleries ten feet from the floor. 
 Messrs. Gilmor and Patterson were appointed to get plans and esti- 
 mates for the new church, pp. 78, 79. 
 
 In 1790 the congregation applied for the use of the Court House 
 as a place of worship while the church was building, p. 81. This 
 application was granted. 
 
 In 1792 Dr. Allison prepared an abridgement of the Catechism, 
 and the committee recommended its use, p. 90. 
 
 In 1791 the new church was sufficiently completed for use. In 
 May, after notice on three successive Sabbaths, the congregation met 
 to inspect the accounts, and adopt a plan for disposing the pews, p. 
 86. In 1792 the committee made a full report of their proceedings 
 from the beginning — a very interesting document, pp. 91-3. 
 
 The towers were ordered to be completed 1795; Messrs. Salmon, 
 Swan and McKean, committee, p. 103. 
 
 In 1797 the committee applied for an act of incorporation, p. 111. 
 In 1798 it was declared to be expedient to reduce the ground around 
 the church, p. 117. In 1800 an agreement was made with reference 
 to opening North lane and reducing the ground p. 121. This 
 ground had been used for a number of years for burial purposes. 
 The congregation reserved the right to continue the parsonage on 
 
104 
 
 part of the street as long as it suited them, not exceeding ten years. 
 They retained it till 1805, p. 153. 
 
 In 1821 Col. Mosher and Mr. "William Taylor were appointed a 
 committee to superintend the huilding of a session room, p. 184. 
 
 In 1835 the church was thoroughly repaired and the ceiling low- 
 ered three feet. In 1837 gas was introduced. 
 
 Octoher, 1853, the congregational meeting was held on the subject 
 of removing the church, p. 247. November, 1854, the plans of the 
 new church were adopted. 
 
 THE LAST SABBATH IN THE OLD CHURCH. 
 
 On the last Sabbath in September, 1859, the First Presbyterian 
 Church in Baltimore, in accordance with a previous notice, assem- 
 bled to worship for the last time in that venerable building. It hav- 
 ing become known that this would be the last opportunity to engage 
 in the sacred services of that House of God, many who had formerly 
 attended there, and some whose ancestors had there worshiped, 
 met on this occasion with the present members of the congregation, 
 filling the church to overflowing. At the morning service, in con- 
 nection with the usual exercises, the preceding discourse, giving a 
 brief history of the congregation, was delivered. At the afternoon 
 service, the Lord's Supper was administered for the last time in that 
 edifice. The pastor was assisted by the Eev. Dr. Smith of the Sec- 
 ond Presbyterian Church ; the Rev. Dr. Dickson of the Westminster 
 Presbyterian Church ; the Rev. G. D. Purviance, recently the pastor 
 of the Fourth Presbyterian Church, himself born and brought up in 
 this church, and descended from ancestors who were among the 
 leading founders of the church, and who had, during the whole of its 
 past history, afforded in successive generations some of its most valu- 
 
105 
 
 able officers; and the Rev, Stephen Williams the oldest Presbyterian 
 preacher in Baltimore, who could almost look back to the opening 
 of the building. Many former members, who had removed to 
 form other churches, but desired here, amid the solemn and tender 
 associations of the past, once more to commemorate the dying love 
 of their Redeemer, met with us. 
 
 There were also present, with the single exception of Mr. Henry 
 C. Turnbull, elder in the Govanstown Presbyterian Chapel, who was 
 detained by sickness, all the surviving elders and deacons who 
 had served in this church ; viz. Messrs. John N. Brown and 
 John Falconer, elders in the Westminster church ; Messrs. David 
 Courtenay and Lancaster Ould, elders in the Franklin street church ; 
 Mr. Moses Hyde, elder in the Aisquith street church ; Dr. David 
 Stewart, elder in the Annapolis Presbyterian church ; and Mr. John 
 H. Haskell, recently an elder in the Franklin street church, now a 
 member of this. These assisted the present elders of the church in 
 distributing the elements. 
 
 The service was opened with singing and prayer by Mr. Purvi- 
 ance. Then followed the reading of the words of institution, and an 
 address by the pastor. The bread was dispensed by Dr. Dickson, 
 and the cup by Dr. Smith. The services throughout, at this family 
 re-union of the oldest Presbyterian church in Baltimore, were most 
 tender and solemn. None who were present will soon forget them, 
 but it has been thought desirable to preserve this brief memorial.