Wayfarer,

In a book by Hughes Oliphant Old “THE READING AND PREACHING OF THE SCRIPTURES in the Worship of the Christian Church” below is an excerpt from volume 6 The Modern Age.


The dedication of the remodeled North Church gave De Witt the occasion to preach a sermon that shows an important emerging concern of the Old School pulpit, namely, the continuity of the church. Old school ministers, whether Archibld Alexander, John Williamson Nevin, or Thomas De Whitt, were beginning to go beyond a preoccupation with the conversion experience to discover the witness of continuity. The text De Witt takes is Psalm 48:9 (KJV) “We have thought of thy lovingkindness, O God, in the mist of thy temple” The sermon’s introduction speaks of the deep affection we have for those places where we have experienced the sacred bonds of family and community, the home in which we have been brought up. So it is with this beautiful church building. It first opened its doors in 1769. For almost a century the members of this congregation have been nurtured in the truth of the gospel and the fellowship of the faithful. The very building itself is a witness to the loving-kindness of God to his people. Surely it is this of which our text speaks: “We have thought of thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple.”


Thomas De Whitt was born in Kingston, New York my home town and was a pastor of two small churches in Dutchess county, New York. He also served almost forty-seven years in the Collegiate Reformed Dutch Protestant Church of the City of New York. --- Info from Mr. Old’s book

William

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