Other remembered friends and brethren were Mr. Purdy, Mr. Biles, and others of whom I cannot say my recollection is very clear. Many excellent brethren have come and gone since the time of my active connection with the church, so I am unable to do them justice. Mr. and Mrs. Biles had a most interesting family of sons and daughters, who were ever faithful workers in the church. Most of them I had the honor of knowing, and one of them, Charles, was a warm friend. Their daughters still follow the Master in unwearying service. Another friend and man of force in the prayer-meeting was William Smith, whose sister is one of the good city missionaries of my native city. To this day, I remember many of his clear and earnest words.
On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary or jubilee of the pastor, in 1875, the two great white columns were festooned with greenery, and above the pulpit desk rose a great arch of flowers and foliage with potted plants at the base. Behind the open Bible was the pastor, the veteran and leader, his hair a veritable crown of glory as he stood under the arch, which was itself surmounted with a crown of fragrant flowers. On the platform sat in the historic chair, (which is still preserved in the Chambers-Wylie Memorial,) Francis Newland, the senior elder and on his right hand in order, seven of the church officers, and on his left the same number, making fifteen in all. The elders were Messrs. Newland, Hunter, Buck, Dill, Lawyer, and Hinckley. The trustees, (not naming those who were also elders) who served within my recollection were George I. Young, George F. Nagle, Charles Yard, John M. Snyder, Samuel Campbell, Harrison Purdy, James Evans, John T. Beatty, Henry Myers, Isaac Bruce, Joseph T. Biles, Charles D. Supplee, Eliashib Tracy, William S. Williams, Charles D. Marrott, Augustus Somers, George Allen, Edwin West, J. B. Johnson, Henry Leslie, etc.
In his semi-centennial anniversary sermon Dr. Chambers said "We have sent out from our church between thirty and forty young men who are in the ministry, two of whom are in the pulpit with me this morning.... A number of them have paid the debt of nature and gone home, after they renounced the cross to have a crown". It was during this memorable week that under arch and crown of greenery and between wreathed columns, standing behind the pulpit, while his elders and trustees—a noble band of helpers—sat or stood on the platform beneath, that the last photograph of John Chambers was taken.
Happily for the present writer and for future historians the Session of the Church, through their committee, Francis Newland and Robert H. Hinckley, Jr., secured a record of the sermon and "Commemorative Services" and published a neat volume of one hundred and three pages, which issued from the Inquirer press and was presented to the pastor's friends as a keepsake.
Dr. Chambers' third wife Matilda, who survived him, was the widow of Dr. Stewart, and a daughter of Peter Ellmaker. She had been reared in the Episcopal Church. One of her sayings, told in confidence to a friend who has told it to me, was that she admired the ritual forms of "the church," in which she had been reared, but had known many ecclesiastical dignitaries, who became smaller as she knew more of them as men. It came rather as a surprise to her that in a church where so little store was set on outward forms, human character tended to enlarge. As for her husband, his true greatness steadily grew upon her mind as well as affections. It was through her influence that the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia. For a number of years, the most attractive courses of sermons were those to medical students. Frequently as many as twelve hundred students, by actual count, were present on these occasions.
Yet no appraisal of the value of the services rendered by the comrades and helpers of "the pastor" could possibly be complete, without a warm, hearty and sincere tribute to the noble women of the First Independent and the Chambers Presbyterian Church. It is for me to make reference only. Justice in detail I cannot do. Without their zeal, devotion and tireless consecration, there would have been no such church as that which became the mighty mother of many children in God. To-day the majority of them have "fallen asleep". A few still remain on earth with us, in vigor of body and mind, some with the white light of Heaven's morning on their hair. They are "only waiting" the call of Him who has "forgotten to forget" them, or their unselfish service of love. In His Name they toiled. In His Name they still serve by waiting. "Faint, yet pursuing", a handful even yet follow the Undiscouraged One, in active service for souls.
Of the old mother church it could ever be said:
"The Lord giveth the word.
The women that publish the tidings are a great host."
Does the reader complain that this chapter is already too long? Yet must I not omit the pastor's assistant "at the other end"—William Weaver. I cannot tell how long or in how many edifices, old or new, he served as sexton, but "I knew him well and every truant knew." He had stricter notions on the subject of behavior at any and all times than some of us boys had, and his discipline occasionally was according to seventeenth century spirit and methods. I cannot say that we boys made his life a burden or shortened it untimely, for he lived to a good old age. Honored be his name and green his memory, for he believed in plenty of light, fresh air, comfort, cleanliness and order—the primitive articles of a sexton's creed, and he honored his Master and the house of God by his faithfulness.[9]