The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-10-23
The gentleman holding the mortgage

| AAb OWH pUVhct, uuu uuU IuUFtkhk6 tThVb
ferred to himself.
1 The sherlffs notice of sale was thon re-
moved from tho door Of the church. Broth
er Pickles then hunted up Brother Joseph
Pyle, and enlisted him In tho good work
OF helping to save the church. Captain
Alexander Kelley was also asked to take
hold, Having agreed among themselves
to come to the help of tho church, tho de-
spairing society was Informed OF the pur
pose, and as you may readily suppose there
was rejoicing where before there had boen
| despair.
Brother Pickels, in behalf of the church,
came to the Conference Session of 1866, and
asked that l should be returned as pastor
for the second time Idistinetiy reinem-
Der OF him saying to me, we arc going to
save tho church and we want you to come
and help u.s..
ltis needless to say that accepted the
call and our reception by the whole church
was of the most tlattering character They
had rented u comfortable three story brick
house AS ~ parsonage, and furnished it
throughout ald pledged themselves that
my salary should be $500 II year, which
pledge was faithfully kept during the
three years remained at the church. 1t
| would consume tnO much time for me to
tell of all the steps taken by these noble
men and by the now enthusiastic society,
TO make up the whole amount to meet all
! tho citiIns aBhln't tne church, Dub IL was
| DONE Every dollar was paid, Brothers
Pickels and Pyle giving largely to this
end as also did the members of the society
according 10 their ability. All claims be-
ing mot, it was resolved to hold in the
church a Jubilee of Thanksgiving. This
| Jubilee was held on December 4, 1885. in
the evening The following Is transcribed
from notes taken on the occasion
The weather wns mild and pleasant
About O'Clock the people began to flock
to the church and by7 o'clock the church
was crowded to overtlowing. The service
began by singing a hymn Of welcome by
u number of Sunday school girls. then
singing by tho choir and congregation,
| after which prayer waa offered by Rev.
j. ID. Curtis. This was followed by the
reading of n historical sketch by the pas.
tor. Short addresses were delivered by
| Revs. John Montgomery, w. H Fries, j.
d. Curtis, w. j. Stevenson, j, ONeil j.
Cunningham and George Quigey All Of
these preachers are now deceased.
NEAR the close of the exercises 1t was
my privilege, standing In the pulpit, to
strike match and burn in the presence Ct
the vast congregation the last note which
had been held against the church. and
when 1t had burned to ashes, the whole
congregation, Standing, snng, Praise God
from whom all blessings flow, with an Ell.
ihusiasm seldom equalled. The proud
est men of that happy Occasion were:
Henry Pickels, Joseph Pyle, Cap. Kelley,
Chas. Moore, Eli Aendinhall, John Gouley,
Edwin Morrow, James Morrow, JohnBrat-
ton, H. H. Rodgers, and also u company OF
noble women, who had toilel and sacri-
feed beyond the telling, that the house of
thoir God might be free from debt. Al
though the church In all her struggles with
debt had never lost sight OF her mission
to save precious souls, and went aJ 1t in
true MethodistiG style, and soon many
were converted and added to the church.
Joseph Pyle consented to serve a. the
Superintendent of our Sunday schOOi, and
under his wise and earnest administration,
and he was u model Superintendent, the
school grew to large proportions and bo.
came power for good in the church and
community. Brother Grise in his histor.
ical skeich, tells very interesting story of !.
The introduction of an instrument of music
by brother Pyle into the schUol l have not
time to relate but could duplicate it, were
/ to tell how we first introduced the organ
into our church services. Suffice it to say,
that there was II great deal of prejudice
thirty years ago IN some of our churches
against the introduction OF organs. But
that has all passed and now we can al.
most stand anything in the shape Of music
that you may choose to give us.
"Ono Of the most striking events Of my
second pastorate was an epidemic of the
small pox which came upon the commu.
nity, and in which some of our members
were made to suffer. When it broke out
among us I had my choice to run away
from, or stay at my post and take the risks.
chose to stand by my flock no matter
what the consequences might be. We had
about twenty-five cases of 1t, with several
deaths. IA number of our best members
and their families were afflicted, and I
shall never forget some OF tho scenes of
ri,ffnrjp n n which I wi ,p1 lI ri up tha
months or more that it fingered in the
community. ,,The church services went
on, but the pastor could not attend be.
cause he was visiting daily among the
sick. At last 1t camo into my own family
and my wife and one Of the children had it.
The people were very kind to us but we
were not troubled with any visitors for
time. After several weeks had passed,
and our sick began toimprovo, and having
been deprived Of church privileges for So
long a time, we, who did not go to church.
resolved to hold q meeting of our own.
Aud so on Sunday evening whilst they
were worshping In the church, we met in
the home of VIM. Masten. and held
prayer meeting, which was afterwards
talked about as the small pox prayer meet.
ing. Brother Edwin +. Morrow and wife,
Brother Taylor and wife, and VIM. Mas
ten and family, with some Others, will
probably never forget the meeting.
After a time the scuurge passed away,
and we resumed our normal conditions in
the church, and from that time until the
close of my pasJorate we had the blessing
of God upon our labors.
"Hcre might close these remarks and |
yet to give this historic sketch complete. |
ness which the occasion ,demands, l will |
ask your indulgence whilst briefly relate |
somewhat of the things have taken place
since was pastor. Here | must depond |
l,,nalv imam what Rrnthnr Erisn hna |
written.
Rev. Joshua Humphrles or Father |
Humphries as he was called, followed me
and was pastor in 1868 and 1869 After him |
came John Shilling, who served the
church from 1869 to ~ and then came II. |
b. Hunter from 1879 to "a; after this came |
w. NJ. Warner In 1874 and 1876 in 1875 |
Brother A. N. Milby was pastor and dur.
ing his term there cane gracious re-
vival of religion.
j. w. Person, was pastor from 1876 to |
1873. Brother Il. Il. White had very
pleasant pastorato from 1878 to 1881. At
It's close Brother John Shilling followed
for second term fro m 1851 to 1884.
About this time Brother Ell Mendinhall
presented to the Trustees $500 with which
to pay off n mortgage which had been
placed on the church six years previous.
During Brother Shillings second pastor
ate his health failed, and tits worthy Of
mention that during the remainder OF the
year the church paid Brother Shilling his
salary, besides showing him great kind
ness. The next appointment was that Of
4. L. Hubbard who came In 1874, and
which marked the beginning OF new,
epoch IN the history Of the church. EARLY
IN that year improvements and enlarsing
the chuch were begun. Fifteen feet and
a recess pulpit were added to the length OF
the building, with other improvements
tt,,. V nl1 pt xrh ,rynp |
raised on or before the re.openlng, at which
Jacob Todd and J. X. Boyle assisted the
pastor. While the Improvements We're in
progress tent was pitched on u lot at
twenty fourth and Market streets, IN
which revival services were neld. Here a
revival took place during which o great
many joined the church.
Bro Hubbard served until 1887, and was
followed by Rev. CA. Grise. During 1887,
$500 were raised to pay eff claims against