A Ten Years' Review.

ANNIVERSARY SERMON

PREACHED IN THE

South Congregational Church,

NEW BRITAIN, CONN.

BY THE PASTOR.

REV. JAMES W. COOPER, D. D.

MARCH 25, 1888.

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.

NEW BBITAIN, CONN.
ADKINB PRINTING COMPANY,
1888.

i*W2.r

v\

A Ten Years' Review.

ANNIVERSARY SERMON

PREACHED IN THE

South Congregational Church,

NEW BRITAIN, 'CONN.

BY THE PASTOR.

REV. JAMES W. COOPER, D. D.
U '

MARCH 25, 1888.

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.

NEW BRITAIN, CONN.
ADKINS PRINTING COMPANY,
1888.

REV. JAMES W. COOPER, D. D.
Dear Sir : — The undersigned, having been especially interested in the dis
course delivered on Sunday morning, March 25 , at the close of ten years of your
ministry with the South Church of this city and believing it should be put in a
form for permanent preservation, respectfully request a copy for publication.

DAVID N. CAMP,
CHARLES PECK,
A. P. COLLINS,
JOHN B. TALCOTT,
J. N. BARTLETT,
G. M. LANDERS,
OLIVER STANLEY,
E. B. LYON,
D. O. ROGERS,
H. DAYTON HUMPHREY,
New Britain, Conn., March 26, 1S88.

MRS. L. H. SMITH,
MRS. H. S. BROWN,
MRS. WM. H. HART,
MRS. J. WARREN TUCK,
J. B. SMITH,
P. M. BRONSON,
WILLIAM BLAIR,
CHARLES J. ELAM,
W. T. SCHNEIDER,
C. E. STEELE.

Prof. D. N. Camp, Mrs. L. H. Smith and others.
Dear Friends : — The Anniversary Sermon preached March 25th, is most
cheerfully placed at your disposal. It belongs to the church, because, in a pecu
liar sense, the church made it. It contains a record of the faithfulness, devotion
and sacrifice of the people with whom it has been my delightful privilege to labor
in the gospel ministry the past ten years.
In these days a ten years' pastorate is an event of considerable interest. In the
present case it has been long enough to make me the senior pastor in this city;
and', with but one exception, the senior pastor in the local conference with which
our church is connected. During these years five-sixths of the Congregational
churches of Connecticut have changed their ministers, some of them several times.
Thanking you for the consideration and support you have always given me
and praying that the blessing of the Master may continue with you and with our
beloved church, I am, Fraternally and, truly yours,
JAS. W. COOPER.
New Britain, Conn., March 30, 1888.

A Ten Years' Review.

PSALM 77 : io.- — ¦/ will remember the years of the right hand of the
Most High.

On the 20th of March, 1878, an ecclesiastical coun
cil was convened in this church for the installation of
a pastor. It was the fourth time in the church's his
tory that such an event had occurred. The Rev. Sam
uel Rockwell was installed January 4, 1843. Constans
L. Goodell was ordained and installed February 2,
1859. Henry L. Griffin was ordained and installed
October 1, 1873. These three pastorates covered a
period of 34 years. Beginning with a membership of
120, the church had increased more than five-fold. It
had won an enviable reputation among the churches
for its christian efficiency, devotion and charity, and, in
point of numbers, was the largest church of our order
in the state.
You may conceive that my heart sometimes failed
me as I looked forward to the responsibilities of so
great a charge and took my place in the succession of
such able, faithful and beloved pastors. One thing,
however, assured me : I had hot sought the place. But
another thing somewhat troubled me : The church had
not sought me. It happened, as men say, by chance.
I was at the time pastor of a church in western New
York, and on a brief visit among friends in the vicinity

of Hartford. The supply for this pulpit for the coming
Sunday unexpectedly failed, and through the sugges
tion of a Hartford friend the inquiring committeman
invited me to preach. We neither of us knew each
other, though 1 knew you by reputation better than
you did me. But, out of that chance acquaintance —
out of that unpremeditated engagement for a single
Sunday, which neither of us expected to be extended
another week, this ten years' pastorate has grown. I
did not wish to be credulous in the matter, but when
I stood before the church after my installation, it
sometimes seemed to me that our introduction to one
another had been providentially arranged.
And if that be true, I also like to think, that, since
that time, our common life and service in the fellow
ship of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ has been
divinely guided.
In saying this, I particularly wish to be delivered
from the phraseology of religious cant. Neither you
nor I, my people, can hide our faults or find excuse for
our unfaithfulness, in any pious but indolent expres
sions of resignation to the dispensations of Providence.
We cannot charge our short-comings upon God, and
where human waywardness and a selfish, worldly spirit
have impeded the advancement of these sacred interests
that have been committed to us, we are to take the
blame wholly to ourselves, and face the unwelcome
truth that in our church life there have been many
things in which the divine hand has had no part. I
say this especially to myself to-day. The reflections
of the past week, suggested by this tenth anniversary,

have by no means been a pleasure unalloyed. In one
view of it reminiscence is always painful, and there is
that tantalizing thought that past opportunities once
neglected can never be recalled. But a public exhi
bition of the defects, even of a consciously inefficient
ministry, may so easily give the impression of being
empty and insincere, that I have not the heart to
undertake it. I would rather keep these reflections for
my own secret life, and turn with gratitude to those
things where, in spite of ourselves, the divine guid
ance has been most manifestly shown. "I will remem
ber the years of the right hand of the Most High."
It is in this spirit, therefore, that I gladly and
thankfully record the fact, that these years have, in
so many ways, been years of progress. We have at
no time, I believe, come to a period. Our field of
effort as a church has ever been providentially widen
ing. God has led us out into new undertakings, and
He has encouraged us with some measure of success.
I remember when I first came here that it seemed
as though so large a church in so small a town had
come to its natural culmination ; that it was as large
as it could be expected to be, and that our aspiration
must be satisfied with merely "holding our own." I
think this feeling was somewhat prevalent among us.
We were in danger of looking to the past rather than
to the future, contemplating our then recent rapid
growth as an experience not to be repeated. But our
little city has been prospered during these years.
There has been more material to work upon, and
enterprise has not flagged.

6
It is difficult for us to appreciate how many changes
may occur in a place like this, and in a brief
ten years' time. You would not think that at
least two-thirds of our business blocks and nearly one-
third of our residences have been erected since I came
to the city. Several new and successful industries
have been introduced and some of our older and larger
establishments have nearly or quite doubled their
capacities and productions. Ten years ago the tele
phone and the electric light were everywhere practically
unknown. The street railway and postal delivery were
to us almost unthought of. During this time, too, the
new Normal school has been built ; the Young Men's
Christian Association organized, and its beautiful build
ing well nigh completed.
I suppose our population has increased during the
decade about 30 per cent., not as rapid an increase
proportionately as at some previous times ; but prob
ably as large an increase numerically as ever before.
The most of these people have come to us from other
lands, with strange speech and foreign ways, and have
been difficult to reach, among whom no less than five
new churches have been organized. Many of them
have been Roman Catholics, and have identified them
selves with the largest parish in the town, with its
7,000 souls and five working priests. But there has
nevertheless been an enlarged field for our activities
as a church of Christ, and our membership has been
enriched by the coming of many among us. The
children, too, have been growing up and have made
their confession of faith at this altar.

The increase of our church membership has been
from 672 to 822. During these years 462 have joined
our church — an annual average of 46 ; 307 of these
came to us on the confession of their faith; 154 have
been received by letters from other churches, and one
has been restored. If all these had lived and remained
with us, our membership would now have been 1,134.
But death, removal and unfaithfulness have depleted
our ranks. For one cause or another, principally on
account of long absence, 34 have been cut off from our
membership by discipline; 176 have been dismissed
and gone away to other places and other churches,
and 102 have passed from earth to enter upon the in
heritance of the saints.
As would naturally be expected, the larger number
of the removals have been from among those who
were members of the church when I came. Of our
present membership, nearly one-half, or, to speak
exactly, 45 per cent., have united with the church
during the present pastorate. Can anything be more
significant of the vicissitudes of this mortal life, and
especially of the changes of these changeful times,
than such a fact as this? Can anything appeal more
powerfully to those engaged in the active duties of the
church, urging to devoted and persistent effort,
than such a record ? In these days, in a stirring com
munity, a period of ten years goes very far toward
changing the personnel of a body like our own. If
we are to maintain our organic life, if we would pre
serve the spirit of the sainted founders of this church,
if we would grow in numbers and in graces, and

8
encroach upon the world in the advancement of the
borders of Christ's kingdom in this community, we
must be faithful, alert, zealous in our Master's cause.
The saddest fact that we have to record in the his
tory of these ten years — sad to us, sometimes it seem
ed almost a crushing blow that we had to bear and oft
repeated — is the loss that we have sustained through
death. One hundred and two have died, and among
them those who have been most prominent in our
counsels and most helpful in the church's service.
We mention with gratitude the fact that of our board
of deacons all remain, save one who is still active in
Christian service in another community. But of our
church committee five have died. The first pastor of
the church, who dwelt so long among us with his wise
counsel and his sweet Christian spirit, has passed away.
We are poorer, too, notwithstanding the fact that his
later years were spent far away from us, for the death of
him who gave to this church a full half of his most
remarkable ministry. And then, there were many
others; men of prayer, men of generosity, godly
women abundant in their ministries. We have missed
them, and do miss them, and shall. But we give
thanks to God for them, and recall their deeds with
fond and loving remembrance.
Figures do not often form a part of the discourse
from this pulpit. But the present occasion seems im
peratively to demand them, and you must bear with
me if, in this ten years' review, I resort to them in a
way that is unprecedented. I wish to speak a few
words concerning the financial record of the church.

The society's treasurer has furnished me with a
statement covering the past ten years, from which I
learn that the actual amount of money paid into the
treasury has been as follows : for current expenses,
$58,895.29; toward the building of this church and
the purchase of the old parsonage, $34,839.85; for
improvements, $4,394.01; repairs, $2,042.84; making
a total for the ten years of $100,171.99, or an average
of $10,000 per year. The society is at the present
time clear of all debt.
This statement does not include the gift of the
Union Hall property by Mr. Erwin, the' Erwin parson
age, or the bequest or subscriptions with which we
hope, during the coming season, to erect our new
parish house. It covers simply the money that has
passed through the treasurer's hands and has been
already disbursed for the maintenance of the church.
In the aggregate, the sum, for us, is large Our pre
sent financial condition is satisfactory in the extreme.
But, it is to be remembered, that recent gifts, which
have increased our facilities for Christian work, have
also added to our obligations and responsibilities. We
have no Society funds to help us in maintaining these
our means of grace. We do not seek them. We move
forward into the coming years with confident reliance
upon the willing and generous support of those who
love the church and are ready to make continued
sacrifice in its behalf.
Our benevolent contributions during this same tea
years, have amounted to $80,176 63, or an average of
a little more than $8,000 per year. And it was a

10
surprise to me to find that this sum is $11,000 more
than the benevolent gifts of any previous decade in
the church's history. There have been single years,
notably 1871 and '72, when a larger charitable offer
ing was made than during any single year of the last
ten. But, taking the years together, the benevolences
of the church have averaged eleven hundred dollars
more per year than ever before for a similar period.
And this, it ought to be added, does not include any
bequests that have been made. It represents the
steady and conscientious giving of a very considerable
body of the self-denying men and women in our
church and congregation. It includes the offerings of
the children in the Sunday school and mission circles,
and of the ladies in their various benevolent societies,
the regular Sunday morning collections, and the
special gifts of individuals for objects of Christian
benevolence, so far as they are known to me. It is
an eloquent testimony to what may be accomplished
through systematic devotion and self-denial on the
part of only a portion of our people.
As we review the result, I am sure that none of us
will complain that we have done too much for the
cause of Christ and of humanity, either at home or
abroad. We will rejoice that there have been so many
ready to give, and we will each one regret that we
have not personally had a larger share in the whole
amount. It becomes to us, also, an incitement for
the future. Should we do all that we might,
our gifts would be readily doubled in the coming
decade.

11
Time would fail me this morning to speak, as I
would like to speak, of the various organizations for
Christian work which have been so prominent a feat
ure of our church life during the past years. Not that
the organization of our church is by any means com
plete — for there are still a large number of us who
bear no part in the burdens of service that fall upon
the church, and there are many forms of Christian
effort awaiting our attention for which we have nei
ther funds, appliances or workers. But true fellow
ship in the church comes through a common service ;
and for those who have labored with me in the gospel 1
can but have a peculiar feeling of fraternity and grat
itude, recognizing, as I do, that the blessings which
have followed us have been bestowed because of their
devotion and sacrifice.
The church will never know — it is not possible for
me to describe — either the nature or the amount of
the work which is continually in the hands of our
Church Committee. I simply wish to bear testimony
to the patient fidelity of these brethren, in services
which are not always pleasant, but which are of
supreme importance in maintaining the purity of our
discipline and the spiritual efficiency of our means of
grace. The committee has been greatly aided during
the past eight years by the "Board of ladies for home
work" — deaconesses, I would like to have called them
had they been willing to accept the designation.
These ladies, twelve in number, have their separate
districts for visitation and their bi-monthly meetings,
and bear no small part of the burden of our general

12

parish work. Then there are the missionary societies,
six in number; the maternal association, with its pre
cious burden of prayer for the children of the church;
the German mothers' meeting, and that delightful and
promising association, gathered from the senior depart
ment of our Sunday school, the Class Union. And
shall I not make mention of our church choir,
which, while leading us in our service of song, is also
to be recognized as, in a true sense, an important de
partment of our church work ?
The Christian service of our young people has, for
the past two or three years, been more encouraging
than ever before. There have been periods when I
have carried great concern for these young people, lest
they should not grow up with a devoted attachment
to the church and a preparation for efficient Christian
ministry. Our services of prayer need them, (as they
need many of us who do not often attend upon them)
and both they and we need the services. It is a pleas
ure to record, therefore, that during the past few
months, crowded out of the small room into the. main
room of the chapel, our young people's meeting has
much more than doubled both in point of numbers and
of efficiency, and our hearts are made glad with
the assurance that the fresh and vigorous young
life of our church is being heartily consecrated
to Christ and intelligently drilled for future responsi
bilities. As helpful to this result I recognize with
sympathy and gratitude, the work of our newly organ
ized Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor.

13
And now, what shall 1 say for our Sunday school ?
Our present membership is 1,105, a growth of more
than 50 per cent, during the kwf&iy^ years. How
much faithful, earnest and self-denying work this
growth' represents! How incalculable the influence
that has gone from the instruction of our eighty teachers,
in so many cases into hearts and homes which without
this influence would have had almost no religious guid
ance ! Do you wonder that more than two hundred
have come into our church membership from the school
during these ten years, and do you wonder, either,
that it is to this school that we look for the future
strength of the church, both in its spirituality and in
its efficiency ? I do most heartily wish that more than
40 per cent, of our church members were connected
with this effort for training in Bible truth. I wish you
would come into our Bible classes. I wish you would
offer yourselves as teachers or as substitute teachers.
I wish you would give us your personal encourage
ment, your prayers, your active services, in this im
portant department of our Christian work.
But for one thing I do thank you, and that is for
providing me with a pastoral helper in the person of
our Sunday school superintendent. The number of
families in our parish has increased from 353 to 610.
This represents the homes in which we as a church
have more or less of a living Christian influence.
These homes are all open to us. They recognize me
as their pastor. They, if they be not all associated
with us in Christian communion, are still ready
to be influenced by us in Christian sympathy. The

14
number of persons in the parish is at least 2,500.
What is one among so many ? If it were not for the
aid rendered me by our good Deacon Wiard, it would
be utterly impossible for me to continue my work
another year.
I have no desire to-day to bring before you a record
of my sermons and meetings and calls and other pas
toral services. I do not like that sort of thing, and I
could not give you the items if you called for them.
Suffice it to say that I have had, I suppose, something
over 400 services a year of different sorts. I have
attended 324 funerals, solemnized 181 marriages, ad
ministered baptism to 236 children.
The work that has devolved upon me in this parish
is not at all greater than I had anticipated when I
assumed its duties at the beginning. The only sur
prise that I have experienced in the matter has come
through the unprecedented forbearance, consideration
and helpfulness of you, my people. When I came
here I had no thought that I should remain with you
more than ten years, even if I did that time. I knew
too well how duties would multiply and deficiencies ap
pear. It seemed doubtful whether my strength would
allow of so long a ministry. The pastor of a church
like this cannot expect an idle time, and he does not de
sire it. But there is, inevitably, the wearing sense of
important duties which are being omitted, of inability to
spread oneself out over so large a space and of ineffi
ciency in numberless ways caused, in part at least, by the
continued pressure of one set of duties upon the heels
of another set. Under these circumstances a pastor

15
needs the forbearance of his people. Indeed he must
have it, or he can do nothing as he ought to do it.
As I look forward to the future, there are two
points in which I see a possibility of relief through
reformation. One of these has to do with myself. In the course
of years there has naturally been a gradual encroach
ment upon my time and strength from outside engage
ments. The minister of a church like this owes some
thing to the community where he lives and to the
general interests of religion outside the parish. The
cause of education, the great reforms, the missionary
work of the denomination and the fellowship of the
churches, all have their claim upon the man who is
your pastor. Possibly some of you may have thought
that I have been too ready to listen to these calls,
and have, at times, served others to the neglect
of duties which I owed to my own church. This, cer
tainly, has not been my intention. On the contrary,
I am compelled to confess that in certain directions I
have exposed myself to the charge of remissness and
seeming indifference. I know, too, that the church
itself desires that all these duties shall, as far as possi
ble, be cheerfully met. But I am free to say that,
during these searching days of review and anticipa
tion, the demand for increased diligence in my work
at home has seemed so imperative, in order to contin
ued efficiency and growth, that I am impressed anew
with the fact that all other duties must be made sub
ordinate, and that many important and attractive ones
must give way altogether.

16
The other point is one in which the appeal is to you.
In a long pastorate nothing is so trying or so difficult as
the constant requirements of the pulpit. A great congre
gation like this demands the best that a preacher can
give, and the demand is continual. I suppose I have
spoken to you, in church and chapel, between two and
three thousand times altogether, and have preached
nearly one thousand sermons. It must be clear to
every one that this indicates a considerable draft
upon a man's resources, — physical, intellectual and
spiritual. I am painfully conscious of my great
deficiencies in this department of my ministry during
the past ten years, and as I look forward to the
future my greatest anxiety lies in this direction. I
must ask your help. Fresh and thoughtful presenta
tions of Christian truth cannot be made without
much study. There must be time for research, reflec
tion and careful preparation. Will you give me
your prayers and your co-operation ? I have always
been unwilling to set times and seasons which may
embarrass my people. Being unable to call frequently
upon you I am especially desirous to encourage your
calls upon me. I wish to be your pastor. In my own
parish, at least, the person who wants to see me is the
person whom I want to see. But may I request, even
in this public manner, that the morning hours, which
it is my habit to devote to study, be respected as far
as possible ; and that calls at the parsonage on per
sonal and business matters be made during the hours
immediately after dinner and tea. This may appear
a small matter to some, but if these morning hours

17
could be thus preserved from frequent interruption, it
would, I assure you, be a favor not only appreciated
by your pastor but also of considerable advantage to
the church.
The question may already have arisen in some
minds whether, in view of the facts that have been
presented to-day, our church and parish are not really
too large for the most efficient administration, and
another church ought not soon to be formed. I can
not, enter at length upon this subject. The time may
not be far distant when a fourth Congregational
church should be organized in this city. But it seems
to me clear that that time has not yet actually arrived.
Ten years have wrought a material change in the
conception of what a Christian church may be and do.
We have larger views, to-day, of the function of a
local, church, of the range of its legitimate work and
the number and variety of the agencies it may employ,
than were entertained a decade ago. It is now seven
years since this church secured the services of an as
sistant in pastoral work. Its example has already been
followed by several churches in this immediate vicinity,
and the tendency, among the larger churches, is evi
dently toward an increase of their working force and a
multiplying of their means of grace, rather than a
sub-dividing of the main body. In a compact com
munity like this, one large church with several persons
regularly employed in different departments of church
work, is far better economy and it will ordinarily se
cure greater efficiency and larger results, than several
small and struggling churches each having its separate

18
house of worship and single pastor. Division of labor
is a measure which has long been practiced in the
business world and its value is beginning to be recog
nized in religious work. This idea of labor, represent
ing different functions, associated in the same church,
is especially consonant with the genius of Congrega
tionalism. It is a part of its history.
We may not fear, therefore, to proceed a little fur
ther along this same line. Holding ourselves compact
ly together, we may continue to multiply our agencies
for Christian work and add to the number and variety of
our services, making full use of the material and
spiritual resources at our command and filling up the
measure of our opportunity. In the new parish house,
which we hope to see erected during the coming sum
mer, enlarged facilities will be afforded us. They are
greatly needed. Shall we not be ready, with increased
zeal and love and sacrifice, to advance with the ad
vancing years, seeking ever new forms of service for
the edification of the body of Christ and for the sal
vation of our fellow men ?
And may He who walks in the midst of the golden
candlesticks and holds the seven stars in His right
hand, be our guide and praise, forevermore. Amen.

YALE UNIVERSITY L

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