For All the Saints Who From Their Labors Rest

Our church has a rich heritage.  We are grateful to those who, inspired by God, established and sustained our place of worship.  Praise be to God for their perseverance, character, and hope.  May God grant us the wisdom and strength to continue to serve Him as He commands.  By and through the grace of God we endeavor to fulfill the Great Commission, making and incorporating disciples of Jesus Christ, in our community and throughout the world. 

The following is a timeline of our ministry as a body of Christ.  It is an excerpt from a publication entitled The Big Spring Presbyterian Church:  An Historical Sketch.  It was written by Belle McKinney Swope, Robert McKinney Hays and Rev. William T. Swaim, Jr. for our congregation's bicentennial observance which was held June 20-21, 1937.

The Cumberland Valley was purchased from the Indians in 1736.  From the early thirties whites had been living as "squatters" on the land of the friendly Indians.  No one knows how soon ministers of the Gospel came hither with the first pioneers, but by June 22, 1737, the Scottish settlers who had come by way of Ireland and Lancaster to this section were sufficiently strong numerically and spiritually to make application to Donegal Presbytery for a permanent pastor.  A conference was held at the home of Mr. James Macfarlane beside the Conodoguinet Creek between the people of Big Spring, known then as Lower Hopewell, and a Committee from Presbytery as to the location of the Church and the establishment of the congregation.  A point of discussion was Presbytery's rule that the churches in this section could not be less than ten miles apart; this rules explains the regular location of towns in this valley today.

The people had been worshipping in the open air on a claim of William Laughlin's along the Big Spring and probably also in private homes.  In 1737, Mr. Laughlin presented the congregation with ground for the glebe, or church property.  For this he gave about eight-nine of his six hundred acres.  On this, at the sharp bend in the Spring, was erected the log church building, just north of the large oak tree* in the present graveyard.  This structure was used until 1790, when the present stone building was built to accommodate the rapidly growing congregation which then numbered about one thousand. 

On the north side of it there was a high pulpit with circular steps and with a sounding board overhead.  There were boxpews, three aisles of brick, three stoves, and the three doors faced the graveyard.  In 1796, a stone building was erected at the north side of the Church, called a Study House or Session House.  This was in service for  a Latin School for a number of years, and stood until 1840, when it was taken down.  From then until 1880, a brick building at the east end of the Church served sessional purposes and for a private school.  

In 1841, the pulpit was moved to the east end and the arrangement of the aisles was changed, two to run east and west and one north and south in front of the pulpit, where communion tables stood until September, 1864.  A gallery was placed at the rear of the building for the use of the choir.  This was removed during the Civil War.  The present bell was purchased in 1854.

Brick additions were made to the building in 1881, consisting of a Sunday School room and of a vestibule on each of three sides.  Three aisles running east and west were made instead of the two former ones, and new pews were purchased.  In the summer of 1896, the interior of the sanctuary was remodeled, and the walls and ceiling were handsomely frescoed.  In 1906, a new pipe organ replaced the one purchased in 1865 and was placed on the other side of the pulpit.    

The Marie Andrews Chapman Memorial Painting, presented by her father and mother, Mrs. and Mrs. James K. Andrews, was unveiled in the deep recessed wall behind and above the pulpit on October 30, 1927. This mural was painted by Taber Sears and is entitled, "Vision of Our Lord Enthroned."  

The original church grounds consisted of 89 acres and 105 perches, being the north ward of the present borough of Newville.  The official warrant for the tract was issued from the Land Office of the Provence March 2, 1744 to members of the Church for the use of the congregation.  This trust was called "Reliance" and was held under the original warrant until September 23, 1794, when it was patented by the legislature of the newly formed Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.    

The church was incorporated in February 27, 1785 under the title of "The First Presbyterian Church in Newton Township in the County of Cumberland." The first parsonage was built on high ground north of Main Street, near the Spring.  The ruins stood until a few years ago**.  The present parsonage was built in 1857 at a cost of $2,322.00.  Parsonage Street is so named because the parsonage was the first home built on the tract.  

*This oak tree was felled in December of 1989 due to disease. **This publication was written in 1937.

This painting was given by Mr. and Mrs. James K. Andrews in memory of their daughter Marie Andrews Chapman in October of 1927.  The artist, Taber Sears, in a letter to

Rev. William T. Swaim, Jr., pastor at the time, wrote:  "The opportunity which you kindly offer me to send my thought about the mural painting is much appreciated.  Uppermost in my mind is a hoped for accord between those who look on the picture and the work itself.  It should carry its lesson."  "The great "company of angels," a hierarchy bequeathed to us by the accumulated art of many centuries and countries is a fortunate language of expression.  It is for the artist of today so to use this language in the creation of a new design that its teaching will make for good in the world, as any teaching should."  

"We have today the identical attributes of the angels, although in less imaginative form.  What are these attributes, these qualities?  They are good will, aspiration, inspired action, benevolence, fruitfulness, victory.  Others will occur to you."  "It required the inventive labor of all ages to give visible and artistic form to these attributes.  All people have looked upon these records of their race's aspiration and have been touched and inspired.  That our aspiration should center about Our Lord is itself the victory."  "So we present in this painting a new version, a new arrangement of age-old ideals.  May it stimulate our human efforts and our faith."

Taber Sears studied art in Boston, Florence, Rome, and Paris, where he was the pupil of the renowned Jean Paul Laurens and Luc Olivier Merson.  "Who's Who in America" lists the following among his paintings:†"Adoration of the Magi, a Triptych, Church of the Intercession, New York City"†"Joshua Crossing the Jordan," Grace Church Choir School, New York City†"Te Deum," a Reredos, Old First Presbyterian Church, New York†"Holy Innocents in Glory," Church of the Innocents, Brooklyn, New York†Frieze of the Apostles and Stained Glass Windows, Church of the Nativity, Brooklyn, New York†"Christ with the Doctors," a Triptych, Trinity Church, Buffalo, New York†"Vision of Our Lord Enthroned," Mural, Big Spring Presbyterian Church, Newville, Pennsylvania†"The Resurrection," Triptych, St. Thomas Church, New York City†"The Transfiguration," Mural, St. James Church, New York City.