for forty-eight years the congregation to which john chambers ministered had formed an independent church. the time had now come when the same company of christian believers, which had been the ninth presbyterian church, was to enter upon the third stage of its history, and become the chambers presbyterian church.
on the 9th of may, 1825, mr. chambers had received his call. amid all vicissitudes, the removing to a new neighborhood, the building first, and then the enlarging, of the church edifice, the terrible storm of the civil war, and the removal of a large number of his people elsewhere, nothing had seriously interfered with his work or threatened its stability or continuance, but in 1874 the pastor began to think seriously about the future of his flock. the whole trend of population in all three directions, north, south, and west was away from broad and sansom, while business was steadily encroaching upon the neighborhood once wholly occupied by homes. john chambers had overstepped the limits of three score years and ten. a stroke of paralysis was nature's first warning that the best days of his strength were over. the time seemed now to have come when an independent church, of the type which had for nearly half a century demonstrated its power to live and grow, was no longer needed. it was not self-conceit, but dire necessity that compelled john chambers to reflect and to ask the question whether, after the removal of his own personality and the snapping by death of the ties which bound three generations to him in love and loyalty, the church could exist as an independent body. long he pondered the matter. he[138] breathed his thoughts at first to no one, not even to his wife, but looked to god for light. he waited for the vision. while he was musing, the fire burned. he has himself told the story:
"for a whole year i did not even say to the beloved companion of my bosom what my object was, what i was thinking about, but i was casting around to know what was to become of this house. i thought of that little house down at the eastern end of girard street, where the venerable and godly samuel wylie, d.d., lived and preached jesus christ, and i remembered the degradation which afterward fell upon it. i remembered the beautiful church on seventh street, below arch, where our honored friend, dr. beadle, preached, and i remembered that it was converted into a place for negro minstrels. i recollected the house where my once remarkable and eloquent and noble friend, thomas h. stockton, preached christ jesus, and how it was desecrated from the service of almighty god to the service of the devil, and i said one morning, as i sat upon the summit of a hill away off yonder in the state of new york, just as the sun was going down, and i looked out upon that beautiful country: 'god helping me, when i go home i will tell my brethren the conclusion i have reached after a whole year's study and thought and prayer.' that conclusion that i had come to was that we would go into the presbyterian church of philadelphia, we would change our charter, and we would put this church in such a chartered position that we should never lose it, but it should stand firm and fixed upon the immutable principles of the lord god, firmly consecrated to the holiness of the atonement and the blood of the saints. we did it. we went into the presbyterian church. those men of god threw their arms around us, almost with shouts of hallelujah, in the room just back of our house. the[139] presbytery met us and welcomed us, and i had the satisfaction of seeing this church taken into fellowship with that denomination where they are to-day, and where i trust the church will ever abide and prosper under god's blessing. i say devoutly that we did not lose our membership by the change. i believe there were two communicants who took some offense. one of them, poor fellow, has gone to heaven, i believe, but there were but those two who left us, and i am as certain as i can be that if that dear brother had lived, they would have, both husband and wife, been with us now".
it is very certain that the step was a wise one. it is still more certain that had such a transfer taken place before, or during the war, there would have been a much larger procession of members into the congregational church, wherein scores of "chamberites" could from the opening of the war be counted. deeply indoctrinated in primitive and apostolic ideas, they who remained with the pastor until 1874 would, if the change had been made twenty years earlier, have gone like those who in 1861 went out from the first independent church, largely because of their ideas as to union and secession, and entered the central congregational church.
the presbytery "dealt very leniently", as a doctor of divinity told me in 1903, "with the old 'war horse'".
dr. herrick johnson tells us that when, at the presbytery's invitation, john chambers gave his reminiscences of fifty years' service for god in philadelphia, the address was a revelation and inspiration and a benediction. we insert here his letter to dr. chambers's nephew:
1070 north halsted street,
chicago, jan. 1st, 1903.
big right bracket
dear dr. milner:
my personal knowledge of the rev. john chambers is limited to the later years of his life. during my phila.[140] pastorate, he held a unique and conspicuous place in the city, as pastor of an independent presbyterian church, presbyterian in its form of government, yet independent of ecclesiastical authority.
he grew some great men in that period. he was the sturdy champion of some great causes. his intense and stalwart contention for civic and social righteousness could always be counted on. the rush and force and downright abandon with which he flung himself against every form of evil made him a leader of men and a winner of victories.
he was as bold as a lion, and had the heart of a child. his emotions were not born blind, and therefore, while intense, were under curb and bit. his preaching was often "the quiescence of turbulence". he himself might well be characterized "a phlegmatic fanatic". his talk before our ministers' meeting one day, after he had returned to the presbyterian fold, and when he had been invited to give us some reminiscences of his fifty years service for god in philadelphia, was a revelation, an inspiration and a benediction. we felt there was but one john chambers, whom god had sent into this world, marked 'not transferable' and 'good for this trip only'".
herrick johnson.
it was soon after this event, that he received the title of doctor of divinity, and henceforth we called him "doctor chambers".
a congregational minister, one of the alumni of john chambers independent church writes:
"i think he must have been pained when he turned his church over to the presbyterians. yet here was practical wisdom. at his death there was no longer room for an independent church in philadelphia of the type of the church which he had founded. he did not lack practical wisdom."
