Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-01-03
HISTORICAL SERMON.

A40IONxCxAAo 6kNMON.
Comm emor ativo OF the Planting and
Progress of Ottunl " n Presbyterian
Church-Preparcd by the Pastor,
lsev. Horvcy n. knight, and Dclfv-
cred Dec. 24th. 1876.
Text, Cor. iii. Z: $50 then neither is he that
planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but
God that giyeth the increase"
Under the authority and direction
of the General Assembly of the Pres
byterian Church, the celebration of
the centennial of American Independ-
ence has been improved to set forth
the history, principles, and polity of
the Church, and to make grateful
record of the goodness of God to us
as people.
Six historical discourses have been
prepared by men eminently qualified
for this work, each discourse cover
ing a portion of our ecclesiastical
history from the foundation of our
government to the present time. The
main features of this general history
arc exceedingly gratifying to every
loyal heart in the Presbyterian fam
lily.
Not to produce in this connection
statistical figures, comparative sum-
mary compiled from reliable sources,
may not be uninteresting, as showing
not merely the place which our church
holds in the great family of Evangel-
ical churches, but also its stability
and adaptability to the religious
wants of a large portion of our pop
ulation. The Evangelical churches
of this country do not sustain the
same relative position to each other
which they occupied a century ago.
At that time, in the number of their
church organizations, the more i'm
portant religious bodies were ranked
in the following order: Congrega-
tional, Baptist Church of England,
Presbyterian, Lutheran, German Re-
formed, Roman Catholic. By the
census Of 1870, they stood Methodist,
Baptist Presbyterian, Roman Cath
Ollie, Christian, Lutheran, >Congrc-
gational, Protestant Episcopal.
The Congregationalists, who were
then double the size of any other body
now rank as seventh, while the Yves
leyans, who were, century ago, re.
garded as a minor sect, now stand
largely in advance of all the rest. The
Baptist Church maintains the second
place, while our own has advanced
to the third place..
Nor are we more gratified with thu
position held by our church at large
than with the fact that it is the result
i aF - I'd Mt n
ministration of an admirable polity
coupled with uniform adherence tt
its theological and ecclesiastical ira
ditions.
All through the period of the wild
diffusion of French Revolutionar,
maxims, amid all the great move
ments of modern and often unreliable
thought during all those periods il
which restiveness, under ecclesiastic
al control, became SO prevalent, Ia
the Presbyterian Church stood un
flinchingly to its confession, and sui
, fcred secession, and practiced excis
, ion, rather than deny its principles
, showing that there is a decided pref
crence on the part of large an
intelligent section of our America
people for rigorous and well admir-
istercd ecclesiastical system. Let til
7 bold, clear statements of imparti,
: history answer those who are di
!. posed to fear for the prosperity of OF
= beloved Zion because of her firm az
herence to the symbols of her fait
I and her persistent maintenance OF I'll
|, integrity of her system. She h:
f shown herself equal to time of di
cord and disintegration. And no,
that the tide has turned, is coming Il
grandly, with every part of her sy
: tenn in perfect working order, to Il
4 new condition of union and conso
idation. But this larger history of o,
. church is made up of distinct cha
L tiers, coming along in regular orde
IS many of them covering the san
d period of time, some dating back
the earliest years of our national e.
istcnce others recording little mo
u than TIE organization of a churc
II But they each bear the impress of OF
T. system, and bring to light the san
8 traits of patient endurance and dey
ton to principle.
These chapters are the histories
/ individual churches. These separa
e histories are being gathered and pr
> served under the direction of o.
! General Assembly, thatin future az
" it may be known not only how bro;
"a and deep are the foundations of o
ID church, but how strong the faith, a.
-. love and heroic endurance, with viii
those foundations were cemented.
We make our contribution to Il
Id larger volume to-day, by connect
or together the principal events atten
ID ing the planting and progress of Il
church.
Opening the seasonal records, tho
is on the first page, the followi
a. minute:
"The committee appointed to
" ganize Presbyterian Church in
CHI tumwa, viz: Rev. L. G. Bell and r.
re S. C. Mcclure, met Dec. 21st, Is
=. and occupied themselves in explori
W. certain portions of the couI
ly and in preaching the word l
n til Saturday, Dec. 9th, when
MT the honr of eleven the congregati
"a met and after sermon by Rev. S.
az McCune from Tim. 4, Ia and pray
til certificates from other churches WI
in presented by the following person
Ia DIR. VIM. L. Orr, John Hite, Reb
:, ca Hite, Luther Hite, Elizabeth I'll
u Elizabeth Hite, Hannah Hoover, 10
ST. M. Taylor, Sarah Taylor, Rebe,
ng Brown, Charles Brown, Jonatl
Hcckard, Harriet Heckard, Elizab'
Carmen, Martha Gray, Mary Da,
us Sarah Meyer, Lucy A. Sloan.
nd The following named persons W.
er received by the committee upon p
no fession of their faith, viz: Ann b
:. man, Sarah L. Nudge, Daniel Ho'
IA er.
tie, Then follows record of the ell
he ton, ordination and installation
10 three Ruling Elders, viz: WI O
M. D., John Hite and John M. II
No lor, after which the Presbyteri
i'll, Church of Ottumwa was declal
ey duly organized.
m. On the following day Mich
Heckard and Mary M. Heckard,
- wife, were received on certifica
- Thus the church consisted origina
he of 90 members.
cir OF this number but two, DIR.
IL. SIF duu MEs. iodTaA ~. NUN
lived in town.
~, The life thus commenced was S
ms tanned by toll, self-denial, pray
nd heart, brain, and all the choic
wv treasures of the human soul. TIL
~ who engaged in this enterprise ha
.er definite purpose before them as
N well expressed in the articles of
ire corporation, "To promote the CHI
us tan religion in its doctrine, COVE
,ot ment, discipline and worship as tn
~ are set forth in a book entitled
nc Constitution of the Presbytcr
lty Church in the United States
of America"
With a purpose SO distinct and d
. y mite, embodylng, as they believ
g! principles vital to the maintainal
es- of Christian liberty with doctri
lily purity, this little company, W
lev faith and hope, addressed themsel
me to the work of laying the foundati'
r. ~. of our grand historic church in t
oA place.
At that time the population of
tumwa did not, perhaps, exceed {
of From This fact we NAV infer sol