The Centennial Anniversary
of the First Presbyterian Church
of Knoxville, Tennessee

and the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of
the Ministry of Rev. James Park, D. D.

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I must now begin to speak of myself [Rev. James Park].  

I joined the Church in the month of November, 1842, and in 1843 I entered Princeton Theological Seminary, where I graduated in May, 1846, having taken the full course of three years.  I returned from Princeton in August, 1846, and the first public religious service conducted by me was the funeral of the infant child of Mr. Perez Dicksinson.  At that time I had not been before the Presbytery, had passed none of my parts of trial, but performed this service more in obedience to the command, than in compliance with the request, of my old preceptor, Joseph Esterbrook, President of the East Tennessee University.  I was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Holston, at Baker's Creek Church, in Blount County, October 4th, 1846.  At that time Holston Presbytery was the only Presbytery we old school Presbyterians had in East Tennessee.  The members of the Presbytery then were Rev. S. W. Doak, A. A. Doak, S. Y. Wyley, W. B. Carter, A. A. Mathes, Andrew Vance, Samuel H. Doak, R. B. McMullen and T. E. Davis -- ten.  My residence was in Knoxville, and the first service assigned me was the supply of Pleasant Forest, Ebenezer and Lebanon Churches.  Pleasant Forest and Lebanon were twenty miles apart.  Besides I was called often to preach on special occasions in many of the churches; but here in Knox County the most of my preaching was done.

The Presbytery of Holston was divided by the Synod of West Tennessee in the fall of 1846, and the Presbytery of Knoxville was erected, embracing all that part of East Tennessee lying west of a line running from Cumberland Gap, through the town of Dandridge, to the North Carolina line.  And the ministers set off by the Synod to constitute the Presbytery of Knoxville, were Rev. Messrs. Andrew Vance, A. A. Mathes, S. H. Doak, T. E. Davis and R. B. Mc Mullen, with licentiate James Park.

I was ordained at Madisonville, at the meeting of Presbytery of Knoxville, October 5th, 1848.  In 1849 I was appointed provisional principal of the Presbyterial Academy, proposed to be established at Campbell's Station, and served in that capacity one year, beginning July, 1849.  Mr. McMullen was still engaged in his labors at the First Church, and as Principal of the Knoxville Female Seminary, organized by him in 1846.  In 1850 I became co-principal with Mr. McMullen in the Seminary, while I still supplied the churches of Pleasant Forest and Ebenezer; but at the close of the year of 1851, finding it to interfere materially with my preaching duties, I withdrew from the Seminary, in order to give my whole time to my duties as a preacher of the gospel.  In November, 1852, I was called to the First Church in Rogersville, and took charge of that Church in January, 1853, and continued there until October, 1859. In 1855, I was elected Principal of the Odd Fellows' Female Institute, in Rogersville, and served in that office and as pastor of the Church until the autumn of 1858.  In August, 1857, I was elected President of Washington College, Tennessee, which I declined because they coupled the pastorate of Salem Church with the presidency of the College.

In the spring of 1858, my health having failed under the burdens laid upon me, I was granted leave of absence for three months, and visited Nashville.  At that time Dr. Edgar, pastor of the First Church, was conducting a protracted meeting and much interest had been awakened. Beginning in April, 1858, I preached for him twice a day for thirty consecutive days, and very many were added to the Church.  Some of them were young men who afterwards entered the ministry.  I returned to Rogersville in June, and continued my connection with the school until the fall of 1859, when I was elected Principal of the Tennessee School for the Deaf and Dumb, at Knoxville, and entered upon my duties here in November, 1859, resuming the supply of Pleasant Forest and Ebenezer Churches.  The East Tennessee & Georgia Railroad had now been built, and the line of road ran near the old Ebenezer Church.  The large majority of the congregation lived on the north side of the railroad, and serious accidents were narrowly averted by horses attached to vehicles becoming frightened by the trains, and the Church was moved to a point known as Walker's School House, two miles northwest of Ebenezer; and in 1860 was reorganized as Cedar Spring Church.  Here at Cedar Spring Church, in September, 1860, in connection with my duties in the Deaf and Dumb School, my strength, energy and time was taxed to the utmost.  For seventeen consecutive days I discharged the duties of Principal of the School, taught six hours a day five days of the week, acted as steward of the institution, and preached every night in the week and three times a day for three Sundays at Cedar Spring Church, traveling twenty-two miles daily to and from the Church for fourteen days; and many were added to the Church.

In the summer of 1861, the war between the States being in progress, the Deaf and Dumb Institution was taken for hospital purposes, the school was suspended, and I removed with my family into the bounds of Cedar Spring congregation, and preached there and at Pleasant Forest on alternate Sundays.  The Federal army, under General Burnside, took possession of Knoxville in September, 1863, and in the winter following they destroyed Pleasant Forest Church, taking the bricks of which the house was constructed to build chimneys for the cabins of the forces stationed there during the winter; but I continued to preach at Cedar Spring until January, 1865.  After the occupation of Knoxville by the Federal army in 1863, preaching was suspended in all the churches in the town, and in February, 1864, Rev. Joseph H. Martin, pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, and Rev. W. A. Harrison, pastor of the First Church, and others considered disloyal to the United States, as stated above, were sent by the Federal authorities through the lines to the South; and these churches together with the Church Street M. E. Church, South, and the First Baptist Church, were all closed, and they continuted unused for worship until the close of the war, except the Rev. R. P. Wells supplied the Second Church a part of 1865, and Dr. Humes preached in St. John's Church.

At the close of the war I was the only member of the Presbytery of Knoxville left in the field, and Rev. Thomas H. McCallie, of Chattanooga, was the only member of the Presbytery of Kingston, who, adhereing to the cause of the South, was left in the bounds of Kingston Presbytery.  He and I met in Hunstville, Ala., at a meeting of the Synod of Nashville, in January, 1866, and united our forces on the basis of the agreement between the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America, and the United Synod of the South, for the organic union of the two bodies.  Between the 20th of January, 1866, and the last of that month, I returned from Alabama to Knoxville.  Our Church had been closed as a place of worship from September, 1863, until that time -- January, 1866.  As stated above, it had been used for various purposes by the Federal authorities; the furniture had been destroyed, the house foully abused, and the fence enclosing the lot had been consumed as fuel, and many tomb-stones broken and displaced.  It was in the last days of January, 1866, that some of the elders and people asked me to preach for them in some private room, if one could be procured.  The Baptist Church, on Gay Street, was vacant, and on our application, Mr. James C. Moses, one of its deacons (a man of blessed memory), rented it to us.  On the first Sunday in February, 1866, we held our first service.  I preached from the text Isaiah 40th chapter, 1st and 2nd verses:  "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.  Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of the Lord's hands double for all her sins."

At that time only thirty-nine members of this Church could be gotten together.  Of those thirty-nine, twelve remain -- eleven women and one man -- viz:  Mrs. Mary Hazen, Mrs. S. M. Churchwell, Mrs. E. C. McCammon, Mrs. Mary Kennedy, Miss Harriet Park, Mrs. Iva Boyd, Mrs. Jennie S. House, Miss Geraldine Anderson, Miss Isabella White, Mrs. Isabella M. Stephenson, Mrs. C. C. Nelson and Mr. C. C. Nelson.  But the congregation which assembled on that first Sunday in February, 1866, was large, filling the house to its seating capacity, and was heterogeneous both as to religion, politics and nationality; and it continued so for more than a year.

Through the kind offices of General Samuel P. Carter, who before and after the war was an officer in the United States Navy, serving during the war in the land forces, a native of Carter County, Tennessee, a gentleman, Christian and patriot, who, from the occupation of Knoxville by the Federals in September, 1863, until 1865, was Provost Marshal General of East Tennessee, with headquarters in this city -- through his kind office, I say, the order for the restoration of this Church's property to its rightful owners, was issued on the 2nd day of April, 1866, the surrender of the property to be made on the 1st day of May, 1866, and, as if the surrender were reluctant and with an evident disposition to be as annoying as possible, the party in possession surrendered the key only at sundown on the designated day.  This order is dated Nashville, Tenn., April 2nd 1866, under head of Special Orders No. 55, and signed by order of Major General Clinton B. Fiske, Assistant Commissioner, Kentucky and Tennessee; H. S. Brown, Assistant Adjutant General.  Address, J. R. Henry, Knoxville, Tennessee.  The Order was made on the following conditions:  "First, that it is to be inoperative until the first day of May, 1866.  Second, the Lessees remain in possession until the expiration of their lease" (but from whom did they lease?).  "Third, this order shall not be construed as giving any claim upon the Government for damages or rents."  This order is in my possession.

Immediately after we recovered possession of the property, we began the augean work of scouring, cleaning and repairing, which, after much labor and expense, was so far done on the 15th of May, as that we used the house on that day for religious services.  At that time eight persons were received by the session into the communion and fellowship of the Church.  The Elders constituting the session at that time were David A. Deaderick, William S. Kennedy and George M. White.  On the next day, Saturday, May 19th, another person was received into membership.   The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered on Sunday, May 20th, and two children were baptized:  one, Jennie Scott, daughter of Mrs. Samuel H. Davis; the other, Mary VanGilder, daughter of Mrs. Cynthia A. Rogers.  During the twelve months, ending May, 1867, thirty-seven were added to the Church.

About half this time I was also preaching to vacant churches in the country.  From February, 1866, until December, 1867, Rev. Thomas H. McCallie, of Chattanooga First Church, and myself, were the only ministers of our branch of the Church in the bounds of our Presbytery, which embraced about one-half of East Tennessee.  Besides supplying our own churches we had to look after the other churches of our branch and supply them with preaching as often as possible; and so I preached here in the forenoon, and in the afternoon at Concord, Cedar Springs and Lebanon, as a general thing, and frequently held a two or three days' meeting at more distant churches -- at Loudon, Madisonville, Sweetwater, Athens, Rockford, etc., and Dr. McCallie did the same in the lower part of the Presbytery, working up in this direction.  In addition to this I was frequently called to assist pastors in Holston Presbytery, and was in protracted meetings in Rogersville, New Providence Church, Hawkins County, Mossy Creek, New Market, Jonesboro, Bristol and other places.  Sometimes these meetings lasted three or four days, sometimes ten or twelve days, and blessed results followed.  Churches that had been without preaching for several years were occasionally supplied; some that had been scattered and broken up were resuscitated, and new ones were planted where none had been before.  Among these last were such as Mossy Creek, Concord, Coal Creek and Olivers.  In all this work, which continued for several years, Mr. McCallie and I had the hearty consent and co-operation of our own churches, and we thus kept alive churches in nearly every town on the line of East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad between Chattanooga and Knoxville, and north and south of that line at Soddy, New Bethel, Sale Creek, Benton, Madisonville, Louisville, etc.

It has been the privilege and pleasure of this Church to extend to our brethen of the M. E. Church, South, after the war, a place of meeting in which to reorganize their Quarterly Conference and Church Street congregation, and to share with them the use of our house of worship for a period to give aid and comfort to the subsequent period of more than a year; and at a subsequent period to give aid and comfort to the bretheren of the Congregational persuasion, leading to the organization and establishment of the Pilgrim Church.  It has been our aim always in our relations with the other branches of the Church to maintain "the unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace."

In February, 1866, when I began to preach to this congregation, nothing was more foreign to my thoughts or purposes than to take regular charge of it.  But I was here, the Church was vacant, and an arrangement for me to preach was made.  I had no engagement with any other Church, was teaching a school for boys and girls in the Steam Mill on Broad Street, and complied with the request to preach, with no terms stipulated as to service or pay.  The congregation was not in a condition to promise anything in the way of salary; but we took up weekly collections, and at the end of twelve months they had paid me about one-third of what my necessary family expenses had been.  On the 10th February, 1867, a congregational meeting was held, and they elected me as pastor.  At that time we had no constitutional Presbytery, Mr. McCallie and myself being the only members, and so the election had to lie over.  I was glad of it, because I did not want to accept the pastorate of this Church for the same reasons that controlled me in declining the invitation of the elders to supply them in 1858, after the resignation of Rev. Mr. McMullen.

In the meantime I was hoping that the way would be opened for me to go to another field, and that the Head of the church would give you another and a better man -- and thus ten years passed away.  On the 21st day of May, 1876, due notice having been given, a congregational meeting was held for the purpose of electing a pastor and three deacons.  Rev. Mr. McCallie presided as moderator.  At this meeting Rev. J. H. McNeilly, of Nashville, and myself were nominated.  The vote was by ballot.  About three-fourths of the votes were cast for me, and then the motion was carried to make the election unanimous.  Thus I was shut up to Knoxville, no other door was open to me, and I could only accept it as the will of God that I should remain here.  The number of communicants at that time was 241.  Since that time I have felt that he who is head over all things to the Church put me here, and his authority has kept me here.  Occasionally some partial friends in other communities have asked me if I would entertain a call to become the pastor of their church; to which my answer has always been that "I could not say anything about what I would do unless a call reached me through the regular ecclesiastical channel, and the indications of the divine will were so clear as to leave me no choice.  Furthermore, I am not a candidate, and have never been a candidate for the pastorate of any church.  By special providence the only King in Zion has put me where I am."

I am a member of the First Church of Knoxville by a double birth; first, by natural birth, when I came into the world, and twenty years afterwards by spiritual birth, when I was born into the kingdom; and twenty-four years after this the Head of the church placed me here by special dispensation of providence.  To have had the privilege of serving this Church for more than thirty consecutive years in the glorius gospel of Jesus Christ, I to-day confess is a distinction, a blessing and an honor that seems too priceless to have been conferred on one so weak, so frail, so unworthy and incompetent; and beyond all question, if my imperfect tillage of this field has caused it to yield any fruit, it has been because ye are God's husbandry, and He has smiled upon the planting and watering, and by His Holy Spirit has given the increase.  The good accomplished by this Church in its one hundred years, no figures can adequently express; but, as you will be expecting statistics to-day I will state, first, that ten young men who have been members of this Church at different times have gone into the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ -- nine in the Presbyterian Church, and one in the M. E. Church, South, and another died here during his theological course in Princeton, before he had completed his preparation, and lies buried in this graveyard. The whole number of additions to this Church since February, 1866, until now is 1,118 -- 779 on profession of faith and 339 by letter.

And this retrospect brings up your bereavements, which on an occasion like this come trooping before us.  Some of you have had breach upon breach in your family circle.  What a chasm has been made in this congregation in these thirty years!  I have no data from which to estimate the number of infants and little children called away, but we know the number has not been small, certainly it has been equal to those of older persons.  In many of these bereavements I felt my inability to fully sympathize with you, but the time came when experience taught me "the wondrous likeness in the sorrow of parents over the death of children.  The rich and the poor, the learned and the ignorant, are all alike when they sit beside their children in the struggles of death, and when they follow them to the grave, their hearts are true to nature, and nature mourns when the loved are torn away."

But as a good man once said, "It is better to weep for ten children dead than for one living."

What a comfort the gospel affords when the little ones are taken, like lambs, in the arms of the Good Sheperd and carried into the fold, where they are safe forever.  But we have seen many hoary-headed saints -- fathers and mothers gathered into the garner, "like as a shock of corn cometh in the his season"; "and daughters in the pride and loveliness of opening womanhood; and wives whose nuptial ceremonies proved the harbinger of their funeral pageants; and mothers whose clustering virtures shed the radiance of heaven over happy households; and young men panting for the contests of life, like the war horse for the battle; and men of business immersed in the cares of an extended traffic -- all have vanished from our eyes, and the places which once knew one hundred and fifty of those who sat in these pews will know them no more."

In the fifty years of my ministry, and these thirty years of my pastorate, death has become a familiar spectacle to me, and I have seen it in many places, and in many forms.  "I have seen it when called to minister consolation or give instructions to strangers, whom soldiers, full of patriotic fevor and heroic valor, were borne mortally wounded from the bloody field of battles, where they deemed themselves in the service of God because engaged in the service of their native land and liberty.  I have seen it leap from the deadly aimed revolver, when men, inflamed with strong drink, met in passionate encounter on the busy street; and I have seen it come quick as lightning from heaven to call a man of God from the midst of active beneficence and Christian duty, to enter into the joy of his Lord.  I have seen it in houses of infamy and shame, when it came "like a demon attended by the furies of hell; and I have seen it when it came like an angel of mercy with its retinue of seraphs to convoy the departing spirit into Abraham's bosom.  I have watched the lamp of life go out, when harrowing thought has struck a chill through my very soul that, in all probability, life and hope expired together; and I have watched its flickering flame with the joyful assurance that after a momentary eclipse it would be rekindled before the sapphire throne in heaven.  I have stood by the bedside of the dying when only the sense of duty compelled me to endure the painful scene; and again I have stood by the side of the dying when the chamber of death seemed like the very vestibule of heaven."

"It has been my allotment by turns to teach the presence of death, and to be taught; to point to the lamb of God, and to have the Lamb of God held forth to me; to preach Jesus Christ and him crucified, and to hear Christ crucified preached with an eloquence and power unknown to my poor ministrations.  For the most part, those who had borne an exemplary Christian character died in peace.  Even where they had long had a peculiar dread and horror of death and felt that they must be overwhelmed in the waves, they had long had a peculiar dread and horror of death had felt that they must be overwhelmed in the waves, they have been mercifully relieved of this fear as the hour approached, and at length went down into the river to find the water so shallow and still that they passed over without a tremor or a fear."

We have no record of the death of non-communicants and infants; but if one hundred and fifty communicants have died, the number of non-communicants has been about as large, and those of infants and young children cannot be very much less; but estimating the death of non-communicants and children at 125 of each class, would give a total of 400 in this Church and congregation, and I am sure I have conducted or aided in as many more in other churches, and outside of all churches, which will give a grand total of 800 funeral services in thirty years.  The number of infants, baptized during this time was 344; adult baptisms, 75; a total of 419.  I have also performed 316 marriage ceremonies.  During this period I have also served as stated clerk to the Presbytery 23 years, and stated clerk of the Synod of Nashville 26 years.

In April, 1893, I received this communication, dated, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America, April 10, 1893:

"Rev. James Park, D. D.
Knoxville, Tennessee.

Dear Sir -- I take pleasure in informing you that you have recently been appointed a member of the Advisory Council on Religious Congresses, of the World's Congress Auxiliary, in connection with the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893.

(Signed) John Henry Barrows,
Chairman General Committee on Religious Congresses
2057 Indiana Avenue
Chicago, Illinois, U. S. A."

To this communication I sent the following reply:

"Knoxville, Tennessee, May 3rd, 1893.
Rev. John Henry Barrows, D. D., Chairman, etc.
2057 Indiana Ave.
Chicago, Illinois.

Dear Sir -- Yours, informing me of my appointment as a member of the Advisory Council of Religious Congresses of the World's Auxiliary, in connection with the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, was received some days ago, and unfortunately mislaid before it was read.  Today it has again come to my notice, which will explain the tardiness of this acknowledgment.  I am constrained respectfully to decline the appointment, the acceptance of which would seem to imply my admission that any form of religion except Christianity, has any claim upon our faith, or proffers any spiritual and eternal blessings to mankind.

Respectfully, James Park,
Pastor First Presbyterian Church."

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