PASTORATE OF REV. HENRY CROSS.
Y. P. S. C. E. Organized.
On February 12th, 1883, the Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor was formed and took the place of the Young People’s Meeting, which has been held regularly since 1876. The following were the first officers: T. D. Denham, President; F. W. Wigmore, Vice-President; W. C. Cross, Secretary; Donaldson Hunt, Treasurer. To Deacon T. S. Simms is due the organization of this society—the first to be formed in Canada. It was only two years previous that the first society had been organized by Rev. Francis Clark, the father of the Christian Endeavor movement. Brother Simms brought from Portland the idea of this organization, and a copy of the constitution of the parent society. He was anxious to start a branch here, in which he was warmly supported by the pastor. Shortly after the formation of the Society there were 24 Active and 29 Associate Members, Total 53. In 1896 the membership had increased to171 Active, and 18 Associate, Total 189.
In February, 1904, The Coming of Age Anniversary of the society was held, and again in 1908 the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary was celebrated in an appropriate manner, on which occasion an Historical Sketch of the Society was prepared and read by Donaldson Hunt. At the present time (1910) there are upon the roll some 120 Active, and 40 Associate Members—Chas. R. Wasson, President. An interesting feature of the work of the Society at the present time is the supporting by the members of a native helper in India.
During the twenty-seven years of its existence this Society has proved a great help to the younger members of the Church, and we trust will continue to do so.
Our brother, E. H. Jones, who had been for some years an active member of this church, having completed his course at Newton and been appointed by the American Baptist Foreign Missionary Board as a Missionary to Japan, was ordained to the ministry August 19th, 1884, by a Council convened in this Church. Rev. W. F. Parker, who as a young Christian worker in this Church had been associated with Brother Jones in the work here, preached the ordination sermon. Towards the close of Dr. Gates’ pastorate Brother Jones made a short visit to the city, being home on furlough, after which he returned to Japan, where he has been laboring for over a quarter of a century.
At the annual meeting in January, 1885, Rev. Henry Cross resigned the pastorate after three years' service with us. He preached his farewell sermon Sunday, March 22nd.
Rev. Henry Cross was born at Beeston, Nottinghamshire, England, December 12th, 1840. When a boy he was sent to private schools in his native village, and in his youth he attended a college at Nottingham four miles distance from his home. Mr. Cross was baptized into the fellowship of the Baptist Church at Beeston, March 4th, 1855. At the age of seventeen years the Church granted him a license to preach, and he was known throughout his native country as the “boy preacher.” In 1858 he entered the Baptist college at Nottingham, now known as the Midland Baptist College, from which he graduated in the spring of 1863. On graduating from college he became the pastor of the White Friars Lane Baptist Church, Coventry, which he served for eleven years.
Mr. Cross left Coventry for the United States in 1874 and received a call to the pastorate of the First Baptist Church, St. Paul, Minn., in 1874, where he remained for four years. In 1879 he became the pastor of the Pilgrim Baptist Church, New York City. He resigned this pastorate in August, 1881, on account of his broken-down condition caused by the death of his wife.
In the spring of 1882 Mr. Cross accepted a call to the pastorate of the Germain Street Baptist Church, St. John, N. B. In 1886 he became pastor of the Baptist Church in Manasquan and served the Baptist Church there for nine years longer, until 1905, when he retired from the active pastorate making his home in Red Bank, New Jersey, where he is still engaged in preaching the Word as opportunity presents.
While without a pastor the pulpit was supplied by Revs. T. S. McCall, of Toronto, and J. W. A. Stewart, of Hamilton.
The report to the Association in 1885 says: “For a long time it has been our privilege to have one or more brethren licensed to preach the Gospel. Among them our Brother Deacon E. H. Duval was for many years a standard bearer, till his Master called him home. Then came Brother J. F. Burditt, now a missionary in India; Brother W. F. Parker, now pastor at Woodstock; Brother George F. Jenkins, at present pastor of a church in Maine, and Brother E. H. Jones, now a missionary in Japan.”
