GIFT OF 
 A. P. Morrison 
 
SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 
 
Sketches of Some Historic 
 Churches of Greater Boston 
 
 THE BEACON PRESS 
 
 25 BEACON STREET 
 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
^rf^i> 
 
 /d''' 
 
 Copyright, 1918, by 
 THE BEACON PRESS, INC. 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
 GIFT OP 
 
 a.y. 
 
 t etc 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In recognition of the fact that April, 1916, marked 
 the seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding, by James 
 Freeman Clarke, of the Church of the Disciples, our 
 Alliance Branch took for its program that year a survey 
 of the history of some of the churches of Greater Bos- 
 ton, to close with the history of our own church. 
 
 So far as possible, appropriateness was considered in 
 assigning the churches to our Alliance members. This 
 is immediately recognized in Miss Eva Channing's pre- 
 paring the paper on the Arlington Street Church, Mrs. 
 Christopher Eliot's on Bulfinch Place Church, and Mrs. 
 Clara Bancroft Beatley's on the Church of the Disciples. 
 
 These papers make no pretense to being complete; 
 most are compilations, but all are readable and interest- 
 ing. Practically all were read at the church about 
 which they were written, and some at many others. It 
 is in response to a quite large demand that the papers 
 be printed together that the present volume appears. 
 
 As making the story more complete, three sketches 
 have been added to the original group an account of 
 the Disciples School and of Mr. and Mrs. Eliot's long 
 connection with Bulfinch Place Church, both modestly 
 omitted by the writers on those churches, and the history 
 of the First Church in Cambridge, kindly given by Mrs. 
 Gerould. 
 
 Katharine Gibbs Allbn. 
 
 M95591 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 The Beginninj?s of Unitarianism 
 in New England 
 
 King's Chapel 
 
 Founded in 1686 
 
 Arlington Street Church 
 (Federal Street Church) 
 Founded in 1729 
 
 First Church in Boston 
 
 Founded in 1630 
 
 West Church 
 
 Founded in 1747 
 
 Second Church in Boston 
 Founded in 1649 
 
 South Congregational Society 
 Founded in 1828 
 (Hollis Street Church) 
 Founded in 1732 
 
 First Church in Roxbury 
 Founded in 1631 
 
 First Parish, West Roxbury 
 
 (Theodore Parker's Church) 
 Founded in 1632 
 
 First Parish of Dorchester 
 (Meeting House Hill) 
 Founded in 1630 
 
 Buliinch Place Church 
 
 Founded in 1826 
 Rev. and Mrs. Eliot's Services 
 
 First Parish and First Church in 
 Cambridge 
 
 Founded in 1636 
 
 Church of the Disciples 
 Founded in 1841 
 The Disciples School 
 
 Katharine G. Allen 
 Katharine G. Allen 
 
 Eva Channing 
 Edith F. McCormack 
 Lucy G. Wadsworth 
 Anne T. Bierstadt 
 Helen L Allen 
 
 Nora Mower Gallagher 
 Helen D. Orvia 
 
 Emily B. Homer 
 
 Mary May Eliot 
 Edith L. Jones 
 
 Florence R. Gerould 
 
 Clara Bancroft Beatley 
 Clara T. Guild 
 
UNITARIANISM IN NEW. 
 ENGLAND* . . 
 
 Strictly speaking, the Unitarian movement 
 in New England began after the Great Awak- 
 ening in 1735. It was not a secession, as in 
 England, but a gradual growth from the 
 Congregational order. When the Puritans at 
 Plymouth, Boston, and Salem broke with the 
 traditional authority of church and state and 
 established their own private judgment of 
 God's Word in the Bible as their guide, when 
 they bound themselves together by covenants 
 and not by creeds, the seeds of liberalism were 
 planted which afterwards bore the fruit of 
 Unitarianism. 
 
 The three pioneer churches mentioned 
 above, all now Unitarian, exist to-day under 
 their original covenants. That of Plymouth is 
 typical and reads: "We do hereby solemnly 
 and religiously, as in his most holy presence, 
 avouch the Lord Jehovah, the only true God, 
 to be our God and the God of ours; and do 
 
 *A Resume of Some Chapters of Joseph Henry 
 Allen's "An Historical Sketch of the Unitarian Move- 
 ment Since the Reformation.*' 
 
10 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 promise and bind ourselves to walk in all our 
 wityg fiticording to the rule of the gospel, and 
 in all sincere conformity to his holy ordinances, 
 and in iriuttial love and watchfulness over one 
 another, depending wholly upon the Lord our 
 God to enable us by his grace hereunto." They 
 were to walk together according to the rule of 
 the gospel, but each is left free to interpret 
 that rule for himself. 
 
 The aim of Winthrop and his friends in 
 coming to Massachusetts, says John Fiske, 
 was the construction of a theocratic state which 
 should be to Christians under the New Testa- 
 ment dispensation all that the theocracy of 
 Moses and Joshua and Samuel had been to the 
 Jews in Old Testament days. In such a 
 scheme there was no room for religious liberty. 
 The Puritans were, perhaps, bigoted and in- 
 tolerant, but for my part I am devoutly grate- 
 ful that they stood for their ideals so stead- 
 fastly that they furnished the religious leaven 
 of our whole American life. It is rather the 
 fashion now to say that they came to Massa- 
 chusetts to secure religious liberty for them- 
 selves and denied it to others. This statement 
 shows an entire misunderstanding of them and 
 of their motives. Bigoted they were, but in- 
 consistent they never were. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 11 
 
 There was a body of doctrine, largely Cal- 
 vinistic, which was generally if not universally 
 accepted by the Colonial churches, and in- 
 fringements of this were punished. Anne 
 Hutchinson was banished for insisting upon an 
 exaggerated form of the doctrine of the Free 
 Spirit, a foreshadowing of transcendentalism. 
 The period of banishment and persecution 
 went by, in that form, with the passing of the 
 witchcraft delusion. 
 
 In 1680 a synod of elders and delegates rep- 
 resenting the five New England Colonies met 
 in Boston and drafted a Confession of Faith. 
 It could not, however, be imposed upon the 
 churches, who accepted what they pleased of 
 it and incorporated it with their covenant. 
 
 Before the Revolution there was more fear 
 for the secularizing of church life than for doc- 
 trinal heresy. With the advent of the Royal 
 Governors there were new distinctions of rank 
 and an increased circulation of English books, 
 including those of Thomas Emlyn, amiable 
 victim and sufferer of that day for the Uni- 
 tarian faith. Great freedom of opinion in the 
 churches came about partly owing to the form 
 of their covenants and partly to the fact that 
 political questions were so much more vital and 
 absorbing than theological ones, particularly 
 
12 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 as events and feelings strengthened for the im- 
 pending revolution. Such discussion as there 
 was tm-ned largely upon the Atonement and 
 not upon the Trinity. 
 
 It was said that just before the Revolution 
 "it might be said that every man of very wide 
 and strong influence in public life, with pos- 
 sibly the exception of Samuel Adams, 'last of 
 the Puritans,' from Benjamin Frankhn, the 
 friend of Lindsey and of Priestley, to Thomas 
 Jefferson, was a confirmed disbehever in the 
 Puritan theology." 
 
 There were vigorous protests against this 
 laxity by Cotton Mather, and especially by 
 Jonathan Edwards of Northampton, under 
 whose powerful influence occurred the Great 
 Awakening of 1735, which is thought to have 
 led the way, through reaction to its extrava- 
 gances, to the liberal theology which followed. 
 So quickly did this come about that George 
 Whitefield, the English revivalist who came to 
 assist Edwards, at the end of his first visit gave 
 a farewell discourse on Boston Common to a 
 crowd of 20,000 eager Usteners. Six years 
 afterwards Edwards was driven by the reac- 
 tion which took place to an exile among the 
 Indians at Stockbridge. In 1754, upon 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 13 
 
 Whitefield's third visit to Boston, he could not 
 get an audience. 
 
 A new gospel of reason was being preached 
 by Jonathan Mayhew of the West Church, the 
 boldest preacher of his day. Joseph Henry 
 Allen says that Charles Chauncy of the First 
 Church was the intellectual leader of this peri- 
 od, but Mayhew was its effective champion. 
 Religious thought was broadened more widely 
 in Massachusetts by commerce than by con- 
 troversy, however. Some of the most promi- 
 nent citizens of the settlements, notably of 
 Salem, were connected with commerce, that 
 great liberalizer. They were quick to be im- 
 pressed by contact with the old world civiliza- 
 tions with a broad tolerance for alien faiths. 
 
 One of the chief events of this period was 
 the act of the proprietors of King's Chapel by 
 which the first Episcopal Church in New Eng- 
 land became the first Unitarian Church in 
 America. In 1785, prepared beforehand by a 
 course of lectures given by their lay reader, 
 Mr. Freeman, the church voted to strike out 
 from the service whatever teaches or implies 
 the doctrine of the Trinity. Mr. Freeman, 
 soon afterwards ordained as minister, became 
 an active propagandist of the Unitarian doc- 
 trine. 
 
U SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 For the next twenty years the current of 
 liberalism broadens, but, although in Boston 
 only one in nine ministers of the Congregation- 
 al order could be said to be orthodox, and in 
 Plymouth County only one out of twenty, as 
 yet there was no break with the Congregation- 
 al order. This was for two reasons. The 
 churches appreciated to the full the advantages 
 of being members in good standing of an es- 
 tablished order, and they honestly distrusted 
 English Unitarianism and did not choose to 
 wear its name. Priestley's "Materialism" was 
 an object of dread to them. They were called 
 lukewarm by their more outspoken English 
 sympathizers. 
 
 This period of neutrality was broken by the 
 appointment of Henry Ware, Jr., as Hollis 
 Professor of Divinity at Harvard College in 
 1805. Followed, as it was, by four other liber- 
 al appointments within the next two years, it 
 made Harvard the headquarters of intellectual 
 and religious liberalism in America. This 
 raised a storm and resulted in the establish- 
 ment of Andover Theological Seminary, whose 
 orthodoxy is protected by the periodical sign- 
 ing of its creed by each of its instructors. The 
 liberal party, however, were and are justly 
 tenacious of their right of membership in the 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 15 
 
 historic Congregational order, and in Massa- 
 chusetts this has never been denied them. 
 
 Two sharp shocks now broke the uneasy 
 truce so studiously kept. The first was the 
 publication of Belsham's "Life of Lindsey," 
 which in its chapter on "American Unitarian- 
 ism" gave correspondence between New Eng- 
 land liberals and Enghsh Unitarians, showing 
 a much closer alHance between the two move- 
 ments than had been admitted. The hberals 
 were now compelled to take the name Unitari- 
 an. This they did with reluctance, but the im- 
 mediate eifect of this step was to awaken in 
 them a sense of courage and of strength. 
 
 The second was the decision rendered by the 
 Supreme Court of Massachusetts in 1820, that 
 "when the majority of the members of a Con- 
 gregational church shall separate from the 
 majority of the parish, the members who re- 
 main, although a minority, constitute the 
 church in such parish, and retain the rights and 
 property belonging thereto." This decision 
 was bitterly resented for it seemed to lend the 
 hand of the law to help the liberal party. 
 
 The general results of this period are 
 best given in the words of Lyman Beecher 
 who came to Park Street Church in 1823 to 
 strengthen the cause of orthodoxy. He writes : 
 
16 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 "All the literary men of Massachusetts were 
 Unitarian; all the trustees and professors of 
 Harvard College were Unitarian ; all the elite 
 of wealth and fashion crowded Unitarian 
 Churches; the judges on the bench were Uni- 
 tarian, giving decisions by which the pecuhar 
 features of church organization so carefully 
 ordered by the Pilgrim Fathers had been nulh- 
 fied, and all the power had passed into the 
 hands of the congregation." 
 
 At the installation of Jared Sparks in 
 Baltimore in 1819, Channing preached his 
 epoch-making sermon which clarified the Uni- 
 tarian position and showed them exactly where 
 they stood. He dealt with the unreason of 
 the Trinity, the confusion of Christ's double 
 nature, the conflict of justice and mercy in 
 the Divine nature, the moral enormity of the 
 Atonement, and the true nature of salvation 
 as being a moral or spiritual condition of the 
 soul. It gave no positive doctrine. The great 
 impression it made was not on account of its 
 argument but on account of its positive and 
 aggressive tone and its total lack of apology. 
 Thenceforth it became the keynote for Uni- 
 tarianism* 
 
 From this time on, the break between 
 Unitarian and Trinitarian was gradually wid- 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 17 
 
 ening. The orthodox position was greatly- 
 strengthened by the coming of Lyman Beecher 
 to "Brimstone Corner" and by the years of 
 orthodox revival which followed. But the 
 Unitarians were well satisfied with the undis- 
 puted social and political ascendency they pos- 
 sessed and which was so well described by 
 Dr. Beecher. 
 
 Channing's theology was not doctrinal, but 
 rather a law of hf e making character a funda- 
 mental requirement. It had a particular ap- 
 peal for the best minds of New England and 
 those who embraced it made a group which 
 was and is the glory of Boston. The names 
 of Adams, Quincy, Bigelow, Shaw, Lowell, 
 Prescott, Holmes, Howe, Longfellow, Mann, 
 Dix, and Tuckerman are names of which our 
 church is justly proud. They show perhaps, 
 says Mr. Allen, not so much the power of the 
 Unitarian faith as the soil and atmosphere in 
 which it thrived. 
 
 In 1832, when the heat of the first contro- 
 versy was dying out, came the the first open 
 break with the old congregational order. 
 Ralph Waldo Emerson who had been three 
 years pastor of the Second Church, resigned 
 his charge on the refusal of his church to dis- 
 continue the Communion Service or to radi- 
 
18 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 cally change it. In his farewell sermon he 
 showed that he did not object to the service as 
 a service, but that he did object to its being 
 considered a sacrament and that he did object 
 to its customary form. This address was a 
 shock even to many Unitarians to whom the 
 service was precious and by whom it was ac- 
 cepted without question. Six years later he 
 delivered the most celebrated and influential 
 of all his public discourses to the graduating 
 class of the Harvard Divinity School. "This," 
 says Joseph Henry Allen, "was the frankest 
 challenge ever yet thrown down to the tradi- 
 tional views of the Divine Nature, Jesus, 
 Christianity, or the office of the church; and 
 it proved the melodious, effective prelude to 
 a conflict of opinion that has far more deeply 
 than any other stirred the current of rehgious 
 thought." 
 
 Controversy was now in the air and a 
 great discussion began, largely in print. This, 
 though open to the public, was mostly to 
 scholars, critics, and students of theology. But 
 in 1841, at another ordination, that of the Rev. 
 Charles C. Shackford of South Boston, Theo- 
 dore Parker preached another epoch-making 
 sermon when he preached on "The Transient 
 and Permanent in Christianity." This brought 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 19 
 
 the most radical questions of critical theology 
 directly before the popular mind, and appealed 
 them to popular judgment and withal, confi- 
 dently and rehgiously. The miracles of Jesus 
 were brought to the level of an ordinary ma- 
 gician's and his virgin birth was compared to 
 that of Hercules, son of Jove. 
 
 The effect of this address was an immediate 
 rending of the ranks of Unitarians themselves. 
 "Now we have a Unitarian orthodoxy," was 
 Channing's comment in anticipation of the de- 
 bate which followed. 
 
 To the work of tearing down the super- 
 natural and of preaching "pure religion," as 
 he saw it, Theodore Parker gave the next fif- 
 teen years of his life and even that life itself. 
 The angry prejudice aroused by his frank and 
 sometimes needless affronts pushed him into a 
 prominence and influence that no denomina- 
 tional boundaries could permit. Channing 
 was in doubt whether to call Parker a Chris- 
 tian though, he esteemed him as a friend. 
 
 The great upheaval within Unitarianism 
 itself, which Parker brought about, did not, as 
 was expected, divide the body but it did cause 
 the withdrawal of many younger and brighter 
 minds and it weakened the unity and conse- 
 quent strength of the body. It freed Uni- 
 
20 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 tarianism forever, however, from bondage to 
 old ideas and traditions. 
 
 With the death of Parker, the dramatic and 
 picturesque in the history of Unitarianism in 
 New England passes. 
 
 A great change in Unitarian thought was 
 brought about by the study of the writings of 
 Darwin and Spencer and by the philosophical 
 writings of Frederick Henry Hedge. 
 
 But Unitarianism has always been a move- 
 ment towards a larger intellectual and reli- 
 gious life, free from all restraints imposed 
 upon it by doctrinal systems, and many of its 
 followers have been unwilling to press its ac- 
 ceptance upon others. So it has come about 
 that this work has often been done by those 
 who have come to it in maturity and from 
 other communions. These have felt, more 
 than those to whom it was a birthright, the 
 value of a freedom purchased sometimes at a 
 great price. 
 
 Speaking of present day Unitarianism, Rev. 
 O. B. Frothingham says: "The new Unitarian- 
 ism is neither sentimental nor transcendental 
 nor traditional. It calls itself Unitarian sim- 
 ply because that name suggests freedom and 
 breadth and progress and elasticity and joy. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 21 
 
 Another name might do as well, perhaps be 
 more accurately descriptive. But no other 
 would be so impressive, or on the whole so 
 honorable." 
 
22 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 KING'S CHAPEL 
 
 For fifty years the Puritans in New Eng- 
 land tried their experiment in theocracy un- 
 molested. Then Charles II., feeling himself 
 secure on the throne, annulled the charter of 
 the Massachusetts Bay Colony, appointed 
 Joseph Dudley President of all New Eng- 
 land, virtually a royal governor, and deter- 
 mined to establish the Church of England in 
 Boston. In the month of May, 1686, came the 
 Rev. Robert Ratcliffe from London to have 
 charge of an Episcopal church in Boston. His 
 reception could hardly be said to be cordial. 
 The people of Boston hated anything savoring 
 of Episcopacy, for they dreaded it as an open- 
 ing wedge to the establishing over them of the 
 civil and religious despotism which had borne 
 so hard upon them in England. "The foun- 
 dation of an Episcopal church in Boston," says 
 Howard Brown, "was about as welcome as a 
 pest house would be in a thickly settled com- 
 munity." 
 
 Mr. Ratcliffe on his arrival attempted to 
 secure one of the meeting houses of the town 
 for his use. There were three societies, all 
 flourishing and strong, ^the First, Second and 
 Third this latter, now known as the Old 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 23 
 
 South, was a split from the other two and the 
 strongest of all. Not one of them would give 
 its building for the use of the church, so the 
 library of the Town House, standing where 
 the Old State House now stands, was taken, 
 and there the Episcopal service was first pub- 
 licly read in Boston. A goodly crowd came, 
 partly through curiosity, but there was of the 
 congregation also a good number of substan- 
 tial persons, as was shown by their definitely 
 organizing the next month, so that June 15, 
 1686, may be reckoned the birthday of King's 
 Chapel. The new church grew at the rate of 
 six or seven baptisms a week, and, soon out- 
 growing the Town House, began to raise 
 money for a building of its own. In Decem- 
 ber came Governor Andros, the first fully 
 commissioned Royal Governor. He was a 
 tremendous accession to the ranks of the 
 Episcopalians. 
 
 He sent almost immediately for the minis- 
 ters of the three Congregational churches and 
 demanded one of them for his society. They 
 took two days to consider his demand, then 
 returned to say that they could not give him 
 any one of them. Three months later the 
 Governor decided upon the Old South, and 
 when the prominent laymen of this body 
 
24 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 showed him that they owned the property and 
 that they proposed to occupy it themselves, he 
 got hold of the sexton and took his keys. The 
 following Friday, Good Friday, the bell was 
 rung, and Mr. RatcUffe proceeded to read the 
 regular morning service in the Governor's 
 presence. The usurpation begun at this time 
 lasted two years. Governor Andros probably 
 took some satisfaction in leaving the Old 
 South congregation in the street to wait for 
 the long service and the long sermon to be 
 finished before they could have their church, 
 but after a while he relented and fixed the 
 liturgical service at such an hour that the 
 rightful owners could have it before noon. 
 
 Meanwhile steps were taken to provide the 
 society with a building of its own, but no one 
 of its members owned land suitable for the 
 church, and no Congregationalist would sell 
 them any. Andros again interfered, and when 
 money enough was raised the Governor's 
 Council set apart a corner of the burying 
 ground as a place where it might be erected. 
 The foundation was laid there in 1688, and 
 there King's Chapel has been ever since. 
 
 Public service was first held June 30, 1689, 
 in a wooden building erected on the spot, the 
 society being three years old. The wooden 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 25 
 
 structure resembled somewhat the present one, 
 only it was smaller. The pews were of the 
 same fashion, but surmounted by a railing 
 with a curtain attached, making the divisions 
 between the pews higher than now. The pul- 
 pit and communion table were the same that 
 are in use in the present church, so the King's 
 Chapel pulpit may claim to be the oldest in the 
 country which has been in constant use. 
 
 Just as the new church was finished came, 
 in England, the Revolution, which placed 
 William of Orange on the throne, and the peo- 
 ple of New England rose against Andros and 
 put him, Mr. Ratcliff e and some of the promi- 
 nent members of his congregation into the 
 prison on Fort Hill, where the addition to the 
 City Hall now stands. Here were imprisoned 
 at different times the Quakers, the witches and 
 the pirate Captain Kidd, and this is the prison 
 described by Hawthorne in his "The Scarlet 
 Letter." After nine months Andros, Rat- 
 cliffe and the King's Chapel parishioners were 
 sent to England by Royal command. 
 
 The new Governor, Sir William Phipps, 
 was decidedly of the Congregational way of 
 thinking, and King's Chapel went into eclipse 
 for a time. The ministers of the town thun- 
 dered against it, and its windows were repeat- 
 
26 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 edly broken. It is a wonder that it survived 
 the storm. At this juncture the church owed 
 much to Samuel Myles, who came to be its 
 first real minister, and continued thirty-nine 
 years in this office. He was a native of New 
 England, a graduate of Harvard, and son of 
 a Baptist minister. He had taught some 
 years in Charlestown, and while there had 
 probably come under the influence of Mr. 
 Ratcliffe. He was lay reader for four years, 
 then went to England, where he spent four 
 years, partly in study at Oxford and partly 
 soliciting help for his struggling flock. In 
 this latter he was successful, for he enlisted 
 the sympathy of the King and Queen. He 
 brought back a Royal grant of a hundred 
 pounds a year, furnishings for the chapel, 
 books, and cushions, and carpets and 
 altar cloths in goodly store. Even greater 
 gifts from William and Mary soon fol- 
 lowed him across the sea. First came 
 a very handsome set of communion silver. 
 This continued in use till another Royal 
 patron proved still more munificent, when the 
 first silver was in part distributed among other 
 neighboring churches. A handsome flagon 
 and cup were given to Christ's Church in 
 Cambridge, where they may be seen duly in- 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 27 
 
 scribed as a gift from William and Mary "To 
 their Majesties' Chapel in New England." 
 The other gift from Royal bounty was a quite 
 large theological library. During the Revolu- 
 tion the hbrary was more or less scattered and 
 lost. When the Boston Athenaeum was estab- 
 lished, what remained of it was given into the 
 keeping of that institution. The books are 
 great splendid folios, as fresh as when they 
 first came from the press. Nobody ever has 
 read them and probably nobody ever will. 
 
 Mr. Myles must have been a remarkable 
 man. He held his own in the face of vitupera- 
 tion, and under his leadership the church held 
 together and awaited calmer days. When 
 Joseph Dudley came back as Royal Governor 
 he tried to be of both parties. He took a 
 place on the vestry of the chapel, but attended 
 church in Roxbury. Governor Phipps was 
 the last Governor to be actively hostile to 
 King's Chapel. The officers of the Crown 
 were afterwards partisans and champions of 
 the Church of England service. 
 
 "The church lived, not without trial and 
 friction . . . with steady increase of its influ- 
 ence. Sunday after Sunday a considerable 
 part of the wealth and fashion of the town 
 gathered within its doors. In outward ap- 
 
28 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 pearance the congregation must have been 
 somewhat briUiant. The uniforms of British 
 officers contributed a goodly bit of color, and 
 the escutcheons, or coat-of-arms, of knights 
 and baronets connected with the Government 
 were hung upon the pillars of the church. The 
 pulpit, also, was covered with a scarlet cloth 
 heavily draped about it. Those who belonged 
 to the Royal party made a point of dressing 
 in full court fashion, so that Mr. Myles's con- 
 gregation, as he looked down upon it, must 
 have presented itself to his eye in quite brave 
 array. 
 
 The lame feature of the religious service 
 during these years must have been the music. 
 There was no organ anywhere in this country 
 till Thomas Brattle, a liberal-minded mer- 
 chant and the treasurer of Harvard College, 
 imported one from England at his own ex- 
 pense. At his death, in 1713, he left this organ 
 by will, first, to the church in Brattle Square, 
 which had recently been built and was decided- 
 ly the most liberal of all the Congregational 
 churches ; but if that society did not accept the 
 gift within a year, then the organ was to go to 
 King's Chapel. It did not take the Brattle 
 Square people anything like a year to make up 
 their minds. Within two months the church 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 29 
 
 voted that, "with respect," they did not think 
 it proper to use the same in the pubhc worship 
 of God." ... So King's Chapel got the or- 
 gan, which it received very thankfully. 
 
 The corner-stone of the Old North Church, 
 the second Episcopal Church in Boston, was 
 laid by Dr. Myles in 1723, and Dr. Cutler, 
 who had exploded a bomb in the Congrega- 
 tional camp by resigning the Presidency of 
 Yale College and announcing his conversion 
 to the Episcopal faith, having been sent to 
 England with money raised at King's Chapel, 
 and there ordained, was appointed Rector. 
 Dr. Myles died in 1727, after a long and suc- 
 cessful ministry. 
 
 King's Chapel began now to show signs of 
 the independence which afterwards made it 
 one of our Unitarian churches. 
 
 The vestry was unwilling to put the matter 
 of a succescor to Dr. Myles into the hands of 
 the Bishop of London, but decided rather to 
 trust the matter to two friends of theirs in 
 London. When these gentlemen consulted 
 the Bishop, strange to say, he disclaimed the 
 right of presentation to the vacant pulpit. Mr. 
 Price, who had been a chaplain in the West 
 Indies, was found, and his induction into office 
 was very curious. 
 
30 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 First, they all went into the church together. 
 Then the vestrymen and the people withdrew, 
 leaving Mr. Price alone in the church. The 
 new minister then proceeded to lock himself 
 in and to toll the bell. This having been done, 
 he unlocked the door and received the people 
 back, who wished him joy upon his having pos- 
 session of the church. 
 
 The year following his arrival, Mr. Price 
 was made Bishop's Commissary for these parts 
 by virtue of which appointment he became a 
 kind of overseer of all the Episcopal churches 
 in New England, there being as yet no Ameri- 
 can bishop. King's Chapel had been enlarged 
 and had added galleries to its building, and 
 Christ Church was full. But most newcomers 
 to the town were now of the Church of Eng- 
 land faith, and there was need of further 
 accommodation. April 15, 1734, the building 
 of Trinity was begun, Mr. Commissary Price 
 officiating at the laying of the corner-stone. 
 The first rector of Trinity was Addington 
 Davenport, who had been for some years as- 
 sistant minister at King's Chapel. 
 
 Mr. Price had a rather stormy pastorate; 
 once he was disciplined by the church, sent in 
 his resignation, and had decided to return to 
 England. His marriage to a Boston young 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 81 
 
 lady about this time decided him to stay. But 
 when he wanted to withdraw his resignation 
 he was made to sign a paper in which he prom- 
 ised to give up certain notions he held as to his 
 right to govern church affairs. 
 
 Finally Mr. Price did resign. During two 
 and a quarter centuries his letter stands upon 
 the records as the only one ever offered and 
 accepted. All its other ministers, save Mr. 
 Ratcliffe, the founder of the church, and Mr. 
 Caner, who deserted his post, have died in 
 office. 
 
 After Mr. Price's resignation the church 
 voted imanimously not even to consult the 
 Bishop of London about a new rector, but 
 themselves appointed Rev. Henry Caner, who 
 had been rector of a church in Connecticut. 
 He was inducted into office by the same cere- 
 mony that Mr. Price had employed. 
 
 Immediately upon his settlement plans were 
 made for rebuilding. A subscription was 
 started, headed by Governor Shirley and Sir 
 Harry Frankland, with Peter Faneuil, the 
 giver of Faneuil Hall, as treasurer. The prob- 
 lem was to get more land, for just back of the 
 church stood the building of the Public Latin 
 School. After three town meetings, slow and 
 unwilling consent was given the King's Chapel 
 
32 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 Society to take this lot if they would rebuild 
 the school house on Eromfield Lane. This 
 they did, but to satisfy the demands made they 
 had to replace the wooden school house with a 
 brick one a third larger and costing seventeen 
 hundred pounds. Altogether, the small school 
 house lot cost them $22,000. 
 
 During the building, which took five years, 
 one account says they worshipped in Trinity, 
 but another says that the new church was built 
 to inclose the old, and that this was used all 
 during the rebuilding. 
 
 In 1756 a new organ was brought over from 
 England, bearing as ornaments the mitre and 
 crown, which are still retained. There is a 
 tradition that the organ was selected by the 
 great musician Handel, who was a friend of 
 the King's, but this is not a matter of history. 
 
 In 1768 a Bible was given to the church by 
 Mrs. Ehzabeth Rogers, which has lain upon 
 the reading-desk ever since and is still in con- 
 stant use. In 1772, just on the eve of the 
 Revolution, a large and handsome set of com- 
 munion silver was received from King George 
 III., and the church passed a vote of thanks to 
 Governor Hutchinson for his services in pro- 
 curing the same. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 33 
 
 The stone of the present church is Quincy 
 granite, taken from the surface, as there was 
 then no quarry. The architect, Peter Harri- 
 son, an Enghshman, used the famihar church 
 model of the eighteenth century, so that the 
 visitor sees in the fashion of the interior, its 
 rows of columns supporting the ceiling, the 
 antique pulpit and reading desk, the mural 
 tablets and the sculptured monuments that 
 line the walls a pleasing Hkeness to an old 
 London church. 
 
 In 1710, when the original wooden church 
 was enlarged, as has been told, the exterior 
 was embellished with a tower surmounted by 
 a tall mast, halfway up which was a large gilt 
 crown and at the top a weathercock. Within 
 the chapel the Governor's pew, raised on a 
 dais higher by two steps than the others, hung 
 with crimson curtains and surmounted by the 
 Royal Crown, was opposite the pulpit. Near 
 the Governor's pew was one reserved for offi- 
 cers of the British army and navy. Displayed 
 along the walls and suspended from the pillars 
 were the escutcheons and coats-of-arms of the 
 King, Sir Edmund Andros, Governors Bur- 
 net, Belcher, and Shirley, and other persons 
 of distinction. At the east end was "the altar 
 piece whereon was the Glory painted, the Ten 
 
84 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed 
 and some texts of Scripture." 
 
 Soon after the completion of the new church 
 things began to shape themselves for the im- 
 pending storm of the Revolution. The Epis- 
 copal congregations were perhaps more unani- 
 mous in their feeling that even heavier bur- 
 dens should be borne rather than break with 
 the Mother Country. 
 
 Then the storm broke. Through the days 
 of Lexington and Bunker Hill and the siege 
 following, King's Chapel pursued its way as 
 best it could. It was a time of much distress 
 in Boston, and Mr. Caner collected and ad- 
 ministered a relief fund. At last came the 
 unhappy morning when he was given only 
 seven hours' notice of the impending evacua- 
 tion. Gathering together what he could, he, 
 with eighteen other clergymen, some thirty 
 families belonging to the church and a numer- 
 ous company of loyalists besides, embarked in 
 one of the ships of the British fleet and set sail 
 for Halifax. He took with him the record 
 books of King's Chapel and all the communion 
 silver. The books were afterwards in the main 
 recovered; of the silver no sure trace has ever 
 been found. 
 
 Without a minister, and with nearly half its 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 35 
 
 congregation in exile, the services of the 
 church were suspended. The organization of 
 the society was maintained, but the people at- 
 tended church at Trinity, whose young minis- 
 ter, Mr. Parker, had decided to remain at his 
 post. King's Chapel was called merely the 
 Stone Chapel for some time after the Revolu- 
 tion. The mitre and crown disappeared from 
 the organ, and it was not until well along into 
 the next century that they were brought forth 
 from hiding and restored to their rightful 
 place. 
 
 The funeral of General Joseph Warren, 
 who was killed at Bunker Hill, was held there 
 April 8, 1776. During the remaining period 
 of the war the church was offered to and occu- 
 pied by the congregation of the Old South. 
 Their church had been so maltreated by Brit- 
 ish officers when they used it for a riding school 
 that it was unfit for use. This hospitality 
 should have obliterated the memory of old 
 wrongs if any such memory remained in the 
 minds of the people of the Old South. After 
 the Revolution the remnant of King's Chapel 
 and of the Old South congregations were wor- 
 shipping together in 1782. 
 
 The first century of the history of King's 
 Chapel was rounded out by the most momen- 
 
36 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 tous happening of all from the Unitarian 
 standpoint the selection by Thomas Bulfinch, 
 a noted physician and father of the architect 
 of the State House, who was Senior Warden 
 of King's Chapel, of James Freeman as read- 
 er. Freeman belonged to the liberal wing in 
 Boston, and spoke his mind freely in King's 
 Chapel. The church began to flourish again. 
 Pews of departed loyalists were sold to new 
 owners. 
 
 But James Freeman had come into touch 
 with Joseph Priestley's writings, and with the 
 Rev. William Hazlitt, an English Unitarian 
 living at that time in Boston; and after a year 
 or two of study and reflection his ideas upon 
 the Trinity had become so changed that he 
 considered leaving the church. He visited 
 many of his people and told them that much 
 as he loved them he felt that he must part from 
 them. They proposed that he preach a series 
 of sermons explaining his views upon the 
 Trinity, the Apostle's Creed, and other por- 
 tions of the liturgy. This he did with sadness, 
 feeling that these sermons would be his last in 
 King's Chapel. When, however, a vote was 
 later taken on the question of his remaining, 
 the majority, ninety families, voted to alter the 
 liturgy and to retain their pastor, while fifteen 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 87 
 
 families voted against it. Those who remained 
 bought the pews of those who left, the litm-gy 
 was rewritten in all essential respects just as 
 it is at present. But, though it "excluded all 
 recognition of the doctrine of the Trinity as 
 being erroneous and unscriptural, the congre- 
 gation still continued to regard themselves as 
 Episcopalians, and desired to remain in con- 
 nection, if possible," with the other American 
 Episcopal churches. 
 
 When the question of the ordination of 
 James Freeman came up, no Episcopal bishop 
 nor Congregational minister could be found 
 who was willing to perform the ceremony, so 
 the church itself ordained him as "Rector, 
 Minister, Priest, Pastor, and Ruling Elder." 
 Thus, almost unwittingly, did James Freeman 
 become the pioneer of Unitarianism in New 
 England. 
 
 Later he married a Mrs. Clarke, whose son, 
 Samuel Clarke, became the father of James 
 Freeman Clarke, another pioneer of liberalism 
 in Boston. James Freeman Clarke grew up 
 in his grandfather's home and loved and re- 
 vered him tenderly. 
 
 Visitors to King's Chapel ask why the Epis- 
 copal service is used in this Unitarian church. 
 They are told that when the land for the 
 
88 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 church was taken by Andres there was a clause 
 written into some agreement that if the Epis- 
 copal service should cease to be used in the 
 church the land would revert to its original 
 owners. This is one of those stories with which 
 the student of history is familiar, a story in- 
 vented to explain an unusual phenomena, and 
 so plausible as to pass for truth. There is no 
 foundation in fact for this one. The simple 
 explanation of this circumstance is that James 
 Freeman was so much beloved by his church 
 and his opinion was so much respected that 
 they made certain changes in the Liturgy to 
 keep him as their pastor, and that they did not 
 expect by so doing to cut themselves off from 
 the Episcopal Church in America. 
 
 With Dr. Freeman ends the picturesque 
 part of the sketch of King's Chapel. He had 
 a long and honored ministry of fifty-two years. 
 He was succeeded by Dr. Greenwood, a child 
 of the Chapel, having been baptized by Dr. 
 Freeman in his infancy. His pastorate and 
 that of his successor. Rev. Ephraim Peabody, 
 were comparatively short. Henry Wilder 
 Foote, who held the pastorate for the next 
 twenty-eight years, was greatly beloved by his 
 congregation. After his death there was no 
 regular minister for a few years, but the pulpit 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 89 
 
 was often filled by Dr. Andrew Preston Pea- 
 body. Rev. Howard N. Brown was installed in 
 1895, and Rev. Sydney B. Snow was settled, 
 as associate minister, in 1912. 
 
 The dress of the minister of King's Chapel 
 remains, as nearly as possible, exactly that 
 which was worn by the Episcopal clergy of 
 two hundred years ago. The traditions of 
 which it speaks are that of great love for an- 
 cient manners and customs in religion, coupled 
 with what aims to be a frank and fearless out- 
 look upon all problems in the life of the present 
 day. 
 
 Three Governors of Massachusetts have 
 been chosen from the ranks of King's Chapel, 
 Governor Shirley, appointed Royal Governor 
 by the King in 1741, and Governors Wolcott 
 and Draper. 
 
 President Eliot was brought up in this 
 church, which his father served; he represents 
 the sixth generation from Governor Joseph 
 Dudley. 
 
 James Freeman Clarke as a youth belonged 
 to King's Chapel, as did Francis Peabody, 
 who, speaking at the two hundredth anniver- 
 sary celebration, said: "When I look back as 
 a child of this church and try to reckon its 
 influence, my first impression is mingled and 
 
40 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 confusing. Every early experience which I 
 can confess of any sacredness or permanence 
 or depth had its origin and its blessing here. 
 The fundamental impression made by this 
 church on at least one young Ufe . . . was not 
 made by its preaching, however eloquent, or 
 by its architecture, however beautiful; but by 
 the subtile atmosphere which has always pre- 
 vailed here, of reverence, of piety, and of 
 prayer. I thank God that I was born into a 
 church which must be peculiarly described as 
 worshipful." 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 41 
 
 ARLINGTON STREET CHURCH 
 
 [Federal Street Church] 
 
 The Society now known as the Arlington 
 Street Church was founded in 1739 (Mr. 
 Chadwick says 1729) by a group of Scotch- 
 Irish Presbyterians, who met for a number of 
 years in a meeting-house that was remodelled 
 from an old barn, in what was called Long 
 Lane. In 1786 the Society voted to adopt the 
 Congregational mode of government, and 
 later, at the beginning of the 18th century, 
 through Channing's influence, it became Uni- 
 tarian. Therefore William EUery Channing 
 performed for this church the same service that 
 James Freeman did for King's Chapel, in lib- 
 eralizing its faith for all time. 
 
 The little meeting-house became historic 
 ground in 1788, when it was the meeting place 
 of the State Convention, to ratify the Consti- 
 tution of the United States. To commemor- 
 ate this event, the name of the street on which 
 it stood was changed by legislative act to 
 Federal Street. It stood also on the corner 
 of Berry Street, which gave the name to the 
 "Berry Street Conference," held for the first 
 time in Dr. Channing's study. 
 
42 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 The first barn-like meeting-house was re- 
 placed in 1744 by a new building, which was 
 nearly sixty years old when Channing suc- 
 ceeded to its pulpit. Mr. Channing describes 
 it as "small, and phenomenally plain, bare, and 
 ugly." The Federal Street church, with its 
 high pulpit, a picture of which may be seen in 
 the year book of the Arlington Street Church, 
 was built in 1809. The present Arlington 
 Street Church was not begun until 1860, or 
 eighteen years after Channing's death. I 
 mention this particularly, because many per- 
 sons are under the mistaken impression that 
 Dr. Channing actually preached in the present 
 Arlington Street Church. 
 
 The first minister of the Society was John 
 Moorhead, who preached from 1729 to 1773. 
 During the ten years following, the period of 
 the American Revolution, there was no settled 
 minister. Then came Robert Annan, from 
 1783 to 1786. He was followed by the his- 
 torian, Jeremy Belknap, who served the 
 church from 1787 to 1798, and was founder of 
 the Massachusetts Historical Society. His 
 successor was John Snelling Popkin, 1799 to 
 1802. He left the church in an enfeebled con- 
 dition; and casting about for a young man of 
 promise to minister to their needs, the choice 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 43 
 
 of the Society fell upon the young Channing, 
 who, despite his delicate health and retiring 
 disposition, had already begun to show, by ser- 
 mons preached here and there, the promise of 
 future power. Although the young man of 23 
 had only begun to preach in the autumn of 
 1802, he had already attracted the attention of 
 two congregations desiring a minister, and re- 
 ceived, before the end of that year, an urgent 
 invitation from two churches to become their 
 pastor. The first invitation had come from 
 the Brattle Street Church, a much larger and 
 more flourishing Society than that in Federal 
 Street, and his friends were, many of them, 
 anxious that he should accept the more bril- 
 Uant position. But Channing felt that he had 
 not the necessary strength to undertake the 
 charge of so large a pastorate, so decided in 
 favor of the weaker Federal Street Church, 
 accepting the call in February of 1803. 
 
 The following quaint "Letter Missive" was 
 sent to the sister churches in the neighborhood 
 inviting them to take part in the solemn service 
 of ordination: "Honored and beloved: the 
 Providence of God having preserved us in 
 peace and unity during our destitute state, and 
 having led us to the choice of William E. 
 Channing, and him to accept of our united in- 
 
44 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 vitation, we therefore request your presence 
 and assistance by your pastor and delegates on 
 Wednesday, the first day of June next, to join 
 with other churches in solemnly separating him 
 to the work of the ministry with us. We ask 
 your prayers for him and for us, that he may 
 come to us in the fulness of the blessing of the 
 gospel of peace." 
 
 Accordingly, Channing was installed on 
 June 1, 1803, Dr. Tappan, the Harvard Pro- 
 fessor of Theology, preaching the sermon, his 
 uncle. Rev. Henry Channing of New London, 
 giving the charge, and his beloved friend and 
 classmate, Joseph Tuckerman, extending the 
 right hand of fellowship. George Ticknor, 
 who was present as a boy at the ceremony, 
 speaks of the strong impression produced 
 upon him by the pale, spiritual young clergy- 
 man, who, after his consecration, arose and an- 
 nounced the closing hymn. Tuckerman wrote 
 years after: "His looks, the tones of his 
 trembling voice, and devout air are still present 
 to me whenever the scene comes up in my 
 thoughts. After the hymn had been sung, he 
 rose once more, and in the same tender and 
 devout manner pronounced a simple benedic- 
 tion. In this, too, I see him still freshly be- 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 46 
 
 fore me, with his upcast eye, and remember 
 thinking how spiritual he was." 
 
 Exactly one hundred years from this day, 
 on June 1, 1903, the bronze statue of William 
 Ellery Channing was unveiled opposite the 
 Arlington Street Church, in the Public Gar- 
 den. We have all heard how the Italian 
 woman was discovered kneeling and saying 
 her beads before this shrine, and many have 
 thought that she might have made a worse 
 choice of a saint! 
 
 Before I speak briefly of Dr. Channing's 
 ministry in the Federal Street Church, it may 
 be interesting to consider for a moment what a 
 different Boston it was then from the city with 
 which we are familiar. Mr. Chadwick, in his 
 "Life of Channing," tells us that Boston then 
 counted only 25,000 inhabitants, and had the 
 general appearance of an old English market 
 town. The sidewalks, as well as the streets, 
 were paved with cobble-stones, and the only 
 illumination by night was by means of a few 
 oil lamps. Gentlemen of means wore colored 
 coats and figured waistcoats, with knee- 
 breeches and long white-topped boots, ruffled 
 shirt-fronts, and the more elderly, cocked hats 
 and wigs. On Saturday evenings the streets 
 were full of boys carrying home piles of wig- 
 
46 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 boxes, for the better observance of the Lord's 
 Day. The social and intellectual life of the 
 period did not measure up to Boston's later 
 reputation, and Channing's congregation at 
 the outset did not represent much of either 
 wealth or culture. But the spiritual fervor 
 and passionate earnestness of the new minister 
 drew more and more auditors, so that in 1809 
 a much larger church had to be built. 
 
 All descriptions of Channing bear witness to 
 his dignity and impressiveness when in the pul- 
 pit. One of his admirers, on being introduced 
 to him, exclaimed in surprise: "I thought you 
 were six feet tall!" He was in reality small 
 in stature, thin and pale, with the hollow eye 
 and sunken cheeks familiar to us in the Gam- 
 bardella portrait, but with an expression of 
 great delicacy, refinement and spiritualized 
 beauty. His beloved nephew and biographer, 
 William Henry Channing, writes of him : "On 
 the polished brow, with its rounded temples, 
 shadowed by one falling lock, and in the beam- 
 ing countenance, there hovers a serenity which 
 seems to brighten the whole head with a halo." 
 Dr. Bartol says of his voice: "It was surely 
 like none beside, having more in it of the violin 
 than the flute, and with an habitual rising in- 
 flection, rather than cadence, at the end of the 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 47 
 
 sentence, which seemed to raise every hearer 
 to the skies. There was a pecuhar charm in 
 his reading of the scriptures and hymns." But 
 the real strength of his preaching lay, as Mr. 
 Chadwick well expresses it, in his conviction 
 of the reality of his message, and its import- 
 ance to men's hves. What his central message 
 was, throughout the many years of his pastor- 
 ate, I have found more clearly expressed than 
 elsewhere in the admirable sermon given by 
 the present minister of the Arlington Street 
 Church on the day preceding the unveiling of 
 the statue. I can heartily commend the little 
 book containing it to all those who wish a sim- 
 ple and clear statement of Channing's message 
 to mankind. In his later life he spoke of it 
 himself as his "one sublime idea," namely, 
 "the greatness of the soul, its divinity, its 
 union with God by spiritual likeness." More 
 simply, he often called this thought "the dig- 
 nity of human nature." This thought is so 
 familiar to us now that it is hard to realize the 
 excitement it caused when he uttered it, a cen- 
 tury ago. To understand this, we must con- 
 sider the prevalent Calvinistic theology of the 
 period. When he spoke of reverencing human 
 nature, he was in revolt against the doctrine of 
 God that was taught in the churches of his day. 
 
48 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 In his great Baltimore sermon, preached in 
 1819 (on "Unitarian Christianity"), he said: 
 "We object to the systems of rehgion which 
 prevail among us . . . that they take from us 
 the Father in Heaven, and substitute for Him 
 a being whom we cannot love if we would, and 
 whom we ought not to love if we could." This 
 was one of his few controversial sermons. Usu- 
 ally he opposed the gloomy ideas of Calvinism 
 simply by unfolding his own beautiful mes- 
 sage of the divinity of the human soul. Out of 
 this conviction grew naturally a belief in im- 
 mortality, for it seemed to him "as natural for 
 virtue to live as for the animal to breathe*'; 
 he further says: "Virtue is the only thing in 
 the Universe of the continuance of which I am 
 sure, for it is of the very essence of God. 
 Everything else may pass away; this cannot." 
 While it was necessary now and then to 
 openly combat the prevalent theology, as he 
 did with such effect in the Baltimore sermon, 
 which was everywhere read and commented 
 upon, I believe that the more purely spiritual 
 and ethical note of his usual discourses, which 
 carried his congregation over into a liberal 
 faith, was what has made Channing an endur- 
 ing factor in the religious life of the world. 
 It is the sweetness and spiritual appeal of his 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 49 
 
 sermons that have caused them to be read by 
 ministers of every denomination and upholders 
 of every sect, from that day to this, even al- 
 though they were divested of the irresistible 
 charm of his wonderful personality, and the 
 compeUing power of his vibrating voice. 
 
 Although Channing was pre-eminently the 
 preacher of spiritual things, it would be unfair 
 not to speak also of his important work along 
 the lines of political and social reform. He had 
 a passion for hberty, and was its champion in 
 many fields. It was this trait that made him 
 distrustful of all sects, and even loath to range 
 himself under the Unitarian banner ; it was the 
 church universal that appealed to him. He 
 always upheld free speech, whether it was the 
 much misunderstood Emerson or the univer- 
 sally decried Theodore Parker whom he de- 
 fended; and it made no difference that he was 
 not in accord with the latter's views. Mr. 
 Chadwick pays a special tribute to his open- 
 mindedness, Channing was always interested 
 in national affairs, and was in sympathy with 
 the Federal party in 1812. In 1814 he deliv- 
 ered a remarkable sermon in King's Chapel on 
 the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte. 
 
 As to social questions, it is interesting to 
 note that the Unitarian Fellowship for Social 
 
60 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 Justice has published a little pamphlet 
 containing his utterances along these lines, 
 with the prefatory remark that, as one reads 
 his work, "he is impressed more and more 
 strongly with the fact that Channing's message 
 on the social question is still prophetic and 
 vital/' 
 
 It was quite natural that the apostle of the 
 dignity of human nature should try to improve 
 the lot of the laborer and to succor the poor 
 and oppressed. As Mr. Frothingham tells us : 
 "He was the friend and counselor of Horace 
 Mann, of Joseph Tuckerman, and of Samuel 
 May. He labored for temperance, for the im- 
 provement of prisons, for the abolition of im- 
 prisonment for debt, for the general welfare 
 of the laboring man, for freedom everywhere 
 and under all conditions, for peace instead of 
 war." As far back as 1800, when only twenty, 
 he wrote: "I am not for enlarging our stand- 
 ing army; I wish there was nothing of the 
 kind. It is the engine which has beat down 
 the walls of liberty in all ages. A soldier by 
 profession is too apt to forget that he is a citi- 
 zen." Sixteen years later a meeting held in 
 his study organized the Massachusetts Peace 
 Society, and this, to me at least, is one of his 
 noblest titles to enduring fame. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 61 
 
 It is remarkable how he anticipated many of 
 the philanthropic theories and principles of a 
 later day, how he saw the importance of 
 working with individuals rather than with 
 masses, and of helping people to help them- 
 selves. He felt the vital need of ethical and 
 civic instruction in the public schools. He was 
 a fearless champion, long in advance of his 
 age, of the modern methods of prison manage- 
 ment. It is interesting in this connection to 
 remember that Dorothea Dix, later renowned 
 for her wonderful work for the prisoners and 
 the insane, was for a number of years an in- 
 mate of Dr. Channing's family, being em- 
 ployed as governess to his children. We must 
 also not forget that Miss Elizabeth Peabody, 
 with her great, unselfish interest in all good 
 things and people, was for some time his 
 amanuensis, and also a teacher of his daughter. 
 Channing was also a prophet of the social 
 settlement, whose principles and aims he pre- 
 dicted fifty years before they were realized by 
 Arnold Toynbee in London. 
 
 Above all, however, this fearless apostle of 
 liberty took a brave stand on the question of 
 slavery. Although he disapproved the ex- 
 treme measures of the pioneers in this great 
 reform, and on that account held aloof from it 
 
62 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 longer than he otherwise would have done, yet 
 when he reahzed that his duty lay on the side 
 of the reformers, he never faltered in his sup- 
 port, even when some of his influential parish- 
 ioners crossed the street to avoid meeting him. 
 One of the fairest laurels in his crown is that 
 he issued the call to the memorable meeting of 
 Abolitionists, which was held in Faneuil Hall 
 on December 8, 1837, to protest against the 
 murder of Love joy, at which meeting the 
 young Wendell Phillips made his first great 
 speech, and the youthful, curly-headed John 
 A. Andrew sat on the platform. Dr. Chan- 
 ning not only issued the call to this meeting, 
 but made the opening address, and sat undis- 
 mayed on the platform, despite the fury of the 
 threatening mob. 
 
 His conservative congregation was not 
 pleased when Channing began to lift his voice 
 from the pulpit on behalf of social reform in 
 its various phases. But his advocacy of the 
 Anti-slavery principle, given from the pulpit 
 as well as elsewhere, was still worse in their 
 eyes, and probably no one now living realizes 
 how much this delicate, naturally retiring and 
 unaggressive man had to suffer in his defense 
 of freedom. We must remember this when we 
 hear him accused, as he occasionally is, by those 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 63 
 
 who do not know all the facts, of time-serving 
 and cowardice. He was never lacking in mor- 
 al courage when he once saw his way clear. 
 
 Owing to his delicate health, a good deal of 
 his social work had to be done from the pulpit 
 or with the pen; but so far as he was able, he 
 also gave freely of his time and strength, visit- 
 ing the poor of his parish, talking with the 
 children of the Society, and giving them les- 
 sons this was before the day of Sunday 
 schools. He was very successful in making his 
 addresses to children simple and attractive, 
 and once said that the most satisfactory com- 
 pliment he ever received was from a little girl 
 who told her mother: "I understood every 
 word he said." 
 
 A well-known incident from his early min- 
 istry shows his unselfish consideration for 
 others. His week was usually so busy with 
 study, and visiting the sick and poor, that he 
 had rarely begun to prepare his sermon before 
 Saturday afternoon. A colored teacher, who 
 was anxious to profit by Mr. Channing's so- 
 ciety, used frequently to take advantage of the 
 holiday to visit him, often staying into the 
 evening. Mrs. Channing was much annoyed 
 that her son should be thus robbed of his pre- 
 cious hours, but he would not suffer his colored 
 
64 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 visitor to be sent away, even although he often 
 sat up most of the night, and finished his ser- 
 mons while the morning bell was ringing. 
 
 It was not until 1814 that Mr. Channing 
 was married to the lovely cousin, Ruth Gibbs, 
 to whom he had been attached since boyhood. 
 He had postponed this happiness as the result 
 of an agreement with his older brother Francis, 
 that one of them should remain unmarried for 
 ten years, and make a home for their mother 
 and sisters. 
 
 In 1822 the delicate and hard-working min- 
 ister was persuaded by his parishioners and 
 friends to take a much needed rest, and a year 
 abroad with his wife brought rich experiences 
 and new vigor. Dr. Dewey, who had often 
 preached for him before, occupied his pulpit 
 during this year of absence. 
 
 In 1824 Mr. Ezra Stiles Gannett became 
 associated with him in the church, and Dr. 
 Channing relinquished a portion of his salary, 
 gradually giving up the remainder as his col- 
 league assumed more and more of the pastoral 
 duties, which he himself had no longer the 
 strength to discharge. He preached occasion- 
 ally, when able, and when this was known in 
 advance, the church was always crowded. 
 
 Dr. Dewey, who as a young man lived for a 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 65 
 
 number of weeks in his family, and so had an 
 unusual chance to study the great man, gives 
 us some valuable side-lights on his character 
 and disposition. This young man frequently 
 had the ordeal of preaching with Dr. Channing 
 as auditor, and received from him the criticism : 
 "You address yourself too much to the imagin- 
 ation, and too little to the conscience." Dewey 
 found Channing "embosomed in reverence and 
 affection, and yet living in a singular isolation. 
 No being was ever more simple, unpretending, 
 and kindly-natured than he, and yet no such 
 being surely was ever so inaccessible, not that 
 he was proud, but that he was venerated as 
 something out of the earthly sphere." . . . 
 "One felt it necessary to sit bolt upright in 
 conversing with him, and to strain his mind as 
 to a task." There seems to be a universal tes- 
 timony as to the awe his presence inspired. 
 Although always courteous, he was sometimes 
 abstracted. "He unbent with children more 
 easily than with others." Ephraim Peabody 
 also speaks of the great interest he took in the 
 young, whom he loved to have about him. Mr. 
 Peabody makes a few admirable statements 
 about Channing which I cannot forbear quot- 
 ing, e. g. : "Conversation with him was not a 
 conflict of wits, but an instrument for investi- 
 
56 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 gating truth; not an argumentative controver- 
 sy, but an inquiry. On leaving him, you felt 
 that you had not been learning how to main- 
 tain a side, but that you had penetrated deeper 
 into the subject of discussion. But the quality 
 which above all others manifested itself was 
 the devotional habit of his mind. As you came 
 to know him well, you felt that his mind kept 
 habitually within the circle of light which 
 shines down from above." He "possessed one 
 characteristic of greatness in a remarkable de- 
 gree, the power of sacrificing that which was 
 secondary and unimportant to that which was 
 central and essential," and this, Mr. Peabody 
 thinks, was in part owing to his delicate health, 
 which necessitated a constant choice of that 
 which was most important. He loved inter- 
 course with all kinds of men, but was more 
 eager to draw from them their information and 
 views than to exhibit his own, and to this Mr. 
 Peabody attributes his breadth and clearness 
 of judgment on the social and moral questions 
 of the time. It is hard not to multiply the ver- 
 dicts of Channing's contemporaries, in their 
 efforts to sum up his character in a few words, 
 but I will content myself here with one of the 
 most striking, from the German Lutheran, 
 Baron Bunsen, as quoted by Dr. Hedge: 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 57 
 
 "Channing is in humanity a Greek, in citizen- 
 ship a Roman, in Christianity an apostle," and 
 he adds: "If such a one is not a Christian 
 apostle of the presence of God in man, I know 
 of none." 
 
 We all know how the end came in the au- 
 tumn of 1842, when among the mountains of 
 Vermont that gentle spirit left this earth with 
 the last rays of the setting sun, and after his 
 final word, so appropriate to his beautiful life, 
 had been caught from his dying lips: "I have 
 received many messages from the spirit." The 
 funeral services were held on October 7th in 
 the Federal Street Church, with which he had 
 been identified so long. His colleague, Mr. 
 Gannett, gave the address, and three other 
 ministers took part in the service. 
 
 It was fortunate for the bereaved congrega- 
 tion that a good and wise successor to Dr. 
 Channing was at hand, in the person of his 
 tried and faithful colleague, Ezra Stiles 
 Gannett. 
 
 Gannett had become Dr. Channing's col- 
 league as a very young man, soon after finish- 
 ing his course in the Divinity School. He 
 preached his first sermon there in 1824. He was 
 extremely conscientious as well as zealous, and 
 an indefatigable and successful worker in 
 
68 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 church, parish, and Sunday school, despite 
 some early failures and discouragements. He 
 was a natural organizer, and was one of the 
 framers, and the first secretary, of the Ameri- 
 can Unitarian Association. It was also large- 
 ly due to him that the Benevolent Fraternity 
 of Churches was formed. 
 
 After twelve years of unremitting toil his 
 health broke down, and he fled to Europe, 
 where he was able, through the kindness of his 
 parishioners, to remain two years, and slowly 
 recuperate. Just before returning home, he 
 electrified the staid Unitarians in London with 
 his extemporaneous eloquence. But the very 
 first summer after his return he had a paralytic 
 stroke which affected his right leg, and made 
 him a cripple for life. From this time on he 
 swung along between two short crutches, and 
 was a well-known figure in the streets of Bos- 
 ton. This infirmity did not in the least impair 
 his usefulness or activity; indeed, it seemed as 
 if his main work had only just begun. 
 
 He was busy editing two Unitarian periodi- 
 cals; he gave many eloquent lectures, to hear 
 which a number of eager students walked over 
 from Cambridge; he was given the degree of 
 Doctor of Divinity by Harvard College, and 
 other well-deserved honors fell to his lot. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 69 
 
 When in 1842 Dr. Channing died, the whole 
 responsibility of the church rested upon his 
 shoulders, although the actual work of pulpit 
 and parish had long been his. 
 
 This was the age of Transcendentahsm, 
 whose prophets were the young Ralph Waldo 
 Emerson and Theodore Parker. Dr. Gannett 
 remained in the conservative ranks of the old 
 Unitarians, although he was always fair to his 
 opponents, and he and Parker remained per- 
 sonal friends. 
 
 Like his famous predecessor, Channing, 
 Gannett was constantly handicapped by his 
 physical condition, and yet his work was al- 
 ways done, as the 1750 sermons he left behind 
 him bear witness. There were, beside these, 
 quantities of sermons and lectures dehvered 
 without manuscript. He was, above all, the 
 devoted pastor, visiting his people constantly 
 in their homes. He was for four years presi- 
 dent of the American Unitarian Association, 
 for five years president of the Benevolent Fra- 
 ternity of Churches, and for twenty-three 
 years an overseer of Harvard College. He 
 gave addresses before distinguished societies; 
 he rode about cold New England for five or 
 six winters, giving lyceum lectures, and was in 
 special request for dedication and ordination 
 
60 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 services. It was his duty and privilege to 
 dedicate the new church on Arlington Street 
 in 1861. 
 
 Dr. Gannett had always been active in the 
 causes of peace, temperance, and education, as 
 well as in many forms of charity, but he took 
 little part in the anti-slavery struggle, al- 
 though he hated slavery. He feared war as a 
 result of the abolition policy, and dreaded dis- 
 union above all things. But after the war was 
 over he was enthusiastic over the Freedmen's 
 Aid Society, and his face appears in the Sani- 
 tary Commission group among the bronze bas- 
 reliefs of the Soldiers' Monument on Boston 
 Common. 
 
 His parishioners sent him to Europe again, 
 to keep him from resigning his pastorate, ow- 
 ing to increased sickness and depression. He 
 next undertook to teach in a newly organized 
 theological school. He tried many times to re- 
 sign, and finally preached his last sermon to his 
 loyal congregation in June, 1871. In the fol- 
 lowing August he met his death in a collision, 
 on the way to Lynn on a preaching errand. 
 He was identified with the Arlington Street 
 Church and its work for nearly half a century. 
 
 There are memorial tablets to both Chan- 
 ning and Gannett in the present church. They 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 61 
 
 were previously placed on each side of the 
 pulpit, but when the church was remodelled, a 
 few years ago, they were transferred to the 
 entrance hall, near the door. 
 
 This beautiful old church has only within 
 recent years lost a familiar and genial figure, 
 always seen in one of the front pews the 
 gifted daughter of Dr. Gannett, Mrs. Kate 
 Gannett Wells. 
 
 Dr. Gannett was followed by John Fother- 
 gill Waterhouse Ware, who was the minister 
 from 1872 to 1881, after which came the well 
 remembered pastorate of Brooke Herford, 
 from 1882 to 1892. John Cuckson followed, 
 until the year 1900, when the present century 
 ushered in the worthy successor who now fills 
 the pulpit. 
 
 I suppose we all of us learned the succession 
 of the English sovereigns by committing to 
 memory the well known rhyme which ends, 
 you remember, as follows: "Then Anne, 
 Georges four, and fourth Wilham all passed, 
 and Victoria came may she long be the last." 
 At the risk of seeming flippant, I am tempted 
 to paraphrase, and to say that, after Channing, 
 then Gannett, Ware, Herford, and Cuckson 
 all passed, and Frothingham came, May he 
 long be the last! 
 
62 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 FIRST CHURCH IN BOSTON 
 
 The four men particularly eminent and ac- 
 tive in laying the foundation of the First 
 Church in Boston, were John Winthrop, 
 Thomas Dudley, Isaac Johnson and John 
 Wilson. The first, John Winthrop, became 
 the first governor of Massachusetts; the sec- 
 ond, Mr. Dudley, was for a long time deputy 
 governor and afterwards governor for four 
 years ; the third, Isaac Johnson, was a man of 
 family and fortune said to be the second white 
 inhabitant of Boston. It is said that he chose 
 for his land that square bounded by Tremont, 
 School, Washington and Court Streets. He 
 lived only a short time after the founding of 
 the church and was buried in the south-west 
 corner of his own land, the nucleus of the 
 King's Chapel Burying Ground. The fourth 
 of these men was John Wilson, who became 
 the first pastor of the church. 
 
 The history of the First Church begins with 
 the occupation of Charlestown by the English 
 colonists under Winthrop. The Arbella, the 
 vessel in which they crossed the ocean, put into 
 Salem Harbor in June, 1630, and later came 
 to anchor in "Charlton Harbor," as Winthrop 
 called it, early in July of the same year. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 63 
 
 The pioneers were poorly prepared to con- 
 tend with the hardships of the new situation, 
 but in spite of many adversities, we might say 
 rather because of them, the people hurried on 
 the organization of the church. 
 
 The 30th of July was set apart as a day of 
 fasting and prayer and after solemn religious 
 exercises, Winthrop, Dudley, Johnson and 
 Wilson subscribed the Church Covenant, the 
 same which is continued to-day. 
 
 On the first of August, Increase Nowell 
 and four more united with the church and soon 
 after, other members, so that the number 
 amounted to sixty-four men and half that 
 number of women. 
 
 From the very start, religion was upper- 
 most in the minds of the colonists and on the 
 27th of August another fast was observed and 
 the church duly organized by the appointment 
 of the proper officers. These officers included 
 pastors, teachers, ruling elders, deacons, and 
 sometimes deaconesses or widows ; the function 
 of the latter was, as quaintly quoted, "to show 
 mercy and cheerfulness and to minister to the 
 sick and poor brethren." 
 
 The first meeting place was under a large 
 tree on the Charlestown side, but the settlers 
 soon perceived that the south side of the 
 
64 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 Charles River was preferable to the north, 
 both as to climate and water supply, and they 
 began to remove to the peninsula. At first 
 those who had removed went back to Charles- 
 town to worship on Sunday. In a httle while 
 worship was celebrated alternately on each side 
 of the river. At length the First Church 
 took its station altogether in Tri-mountain, 
 which was soon called Boston. 
 
 Early in 1631 Wilson made a visit to Eng- 
 land for the purpose of bringing over his wife, 
 and the affairs of the church were left with 
 Governor Winthrop, Deputy Governor Dud- 
 ley and Elder Nowell. But his place was 
 soon afterwards supplied by Rev. Mr. Eliot, 
 afterwards celebrated for his apostleship to 
 the Indians. 
 
 Although the founders of Massachusetts 
 and of the First Church forsook their native 
 country with the express design of enjoying 
 perfect liberty of conscience, and, although 
 doubtless it was the original intention to pre- 
 serve ecclesiastical affairs distinct from those 
 of the State, yet these interests became im- 
 mediately blended. Instances of political in- 
 terference with ecclesiastical concerns were 
 often taking place. No church could be gath- 
 ered without permission from the magistrates 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 65 
 
 and none could be a magistrate, nor even vote 
 for a magistrate, unless he was a member of a 
 church thus politically gathered. The Gen- 
 eral Court was held in the First Church meet- 
 ing house as late as 1658. 
 
 On the return of Wilson from London, in 
 May, 1632, the congregation began to build 
 their first house of worship and another house 
 for the pastor. They erected the church on 
 the south side of State Street not far from 
 where Brazer Building now stands. Its roof 
 was thatched and the walls were of mud. As 
 the season grew late and the weather grew 
 severe, those members living in Charlestown 
 found it troublesome to worship in Boston, 
 accordingly they signified their desire to form 
 a new society so in October, sixty-three per- 
 sons were "peaceably dismissed." 
 
 The congregation of the First Church now 
 fixed their eyes for a teacher on Mr. John 
 Eliot, but he had already determined on a 
 settlement in Roxbury and would not be per- 
 suaded to alter his resolution. Thereupon in 
 November, 1632, Mr, Wilson hitherto teacher 
 was ordained pastor of the church. 
 
 In 1633 John Cotton arrived from England, 
 where being threatened with proceedings for 
 non-conformity, he sought the freedom of the 
 
66 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 new land. His popularity in England had 
 been great, and had already prepared him a 
 welcome reception here so that he might have 
 chosen any situation in the country, but he was 
 somewhat compelled by the advice of the Gov- 
 ernor and Counsel as well as by the unanimous 
 voice of the First Church to settle here, and 
 accordingly in October he was chosen teacher 
 of the church with Mr. Wilson as pastor. 
 
 The young and spreading colony soon felt 
 and appreciated the weight and influence of 
 John Cotton, a man of great intellect and 
 learning, well acquainted with Greek, Latin, 
 and Hebrew. Besides preaching, settling 
 cases of conscience, giving counsel in public 
 affairs, and presiding over church disciphne, 
 he wrote many books which became standard 
 authorities. 
 
 Soon after his arrival he estabhshed the 
 Thursday Lecture, in continuation of that 
 originated by him in Old Boston, which re- 
 mained under the tutelage of the First Church 
 for over two centuries.* 
 
 John Cotton's influence was generally bene- 
 ficent, though it was never used to further 
 
 *Note I found a reference to a Thursday Lecture 
 as late as 1858 when our own Dr. James Freeman 
 Clarke gave the lecture. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 67 
 
 the cause of freedom or democracy, he believ- 
 ing that Monarchy and Aristocracy were 
 clearly approved and directed in the scriptures. 
 He naturally took an active part in most of 
 the theological and political controversies of 
 his time, the two principal of which were those 
 concerning Antinomianism, the movement 
 headed by Anne Hutchinson, and the expul- 
 sion of Roger Williams. In the former his 
 position was somewhat equivocal, for he first 
 supported and then violently opposed Anne 
 Hutchinson ; and in the latter he approved the 
 expulsion of Roger WiUiams as "righteous in 
 the eyes of God." 
 
 In the year 1640 the congregation decided 
 to build a new meeting-house, the old one be- 
 ing dilapidated and too small. The church 
 was finally erected in Cornhill Square. 
 
 At this time Winthrop speaks of the church 
 as being in a particularly thriving condition 
 and it was about this time, in 1650, that the 
 Second Church was gathered. It is told to the 
 credit of John Cotton that he did all he could 
 to further the undertaking, notwithstanding 
 it might draw parishioners from himself. 
 
 In the year 1651 Cotton died. There is a 
 memorial erected to his memory in his old 
 church of St. Botolph's, England, through the 
 
68 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 liberality of Edward Everett and other mem- 
 bers of the First Church and of Boston. 
 Among his numerous services to Boston that 
 of saving the public Common might be con- 
 sidered the most important. His claim of hav- 
 ing founded the Boston Latin School seems to 
 be authentic. It was first situated on what is 
 now School Street, then called Latin School 
 Street. 
 
 The death of Cotton left Wilson in sole 
 charge of the church for nearly four years until 
 the installation of John Norton as teacher. 
 By the death of Norton, Wilson, now seventy- 
 six years old, was again left without a col- 
 league. In 1667 the church lost this venerable 
 and beloved pastor, who had been with them, 
 as the record says, since the "first beginning 
 of the plantation, a period of thirty-seven 
 years." 
 
 He was the last of the four original signers 
 of that solemn church covenant entered into 
 before Boston was settled. 
 
 For more than a year after the death of 
 Wilson no one was called to fill the vacancy, 
 but Rev. John Davenport and James Allen 
 were both called to be teaching officers. After 
 this Davenport served as minister for two 
 years with Allen as colleague. He was the 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 69 
 
 last of that group of four Johns so famous in 
 the history of the church and colony, John 
 Wilson, John Cotton, John Norton, John 
 Davenport. 
 
 At the beginning of Davenport's ministry 
 a difference of religious opinion divided the 
 congregation, and a minority founded a Third 
 Church with meetings in Charlestown. The 
 separation lasted about fourteen years; at the 
 end of that time an effort was made to estab- 
 lish an Episcopal church, which both societies 
 regarded as a common enemy. Consequently 
 they came together, the proposal for recon- 
 ciliation being voted by the First Church. 
 After Davenport came James Allen, John 
 Oxenbridge, Joshua Moody, John Bailey, 
 Benjamin Wadsworth and Thomas Bridge. 
 
 In 1692 an important change took place 
 in the relation of church and state taking 
 away from the church that power which 
 never properly belonged to it and transferring 
 the jurisdiction of civil affairs to the people. 
 For nearly a quarter of a century no attack 
 on the Puritan system of church government 
 had met with much success. The Quakers 
 had raised some trouble but had established 
 no society of any consequence except in Rhode 
 Island. The number of Baptists was perhaps 
 
70 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 even smaller than Quakers and the attempts 
 to establish an Episcopal Church had thus far 
 failed. Cotton had done much to keep the 
 system in working order. 
 
 In 1711 the Meeting House was consumed 
 by fire and in 1713 the corner stone of the 
 New (afterwards the Old) Brick Meeting 
 House was laid on the same spot. 
 
 Early in the year 1717 Thomas Foxcroft, a 
 young man hardly twenty-one years old, was 
 invited to assist Mr. Wadsworth, and when 
 that senior pastor in 1725 removed to Cam- 
 bridge as president of Harvard College, he was 
 left for two years as the only settled minister. 
 At the end of that time Charles Chauncy was 
 chosen as colleague to Foxcroft. 
 
 Chauncy was the great grandson of Rev. 
 Charles Chauncy who was the second president 
 of Harvard College. His father was a pros- 
 perous merchant in Boston and he was edu- 
 cated at Harvard, graduating at sixteen years 
 of age in the year 1721. He commenced the 
 study of theology and accepted the call to the 
 First Church as co-pastor with Thomas 
 Foxcroft. 
 
 The significant development of the First 
 Church in religious opinion began with 
 Chauncy. In all the history of the church 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 71 
 
 there had been no dissension about theological 
 beliefs. Chauncy's early ministry attracted 
 little attention both because he was the col- 
 league of a famous preacher and also because 
 his sermons were marked by a simplicity of 
 speech which was at first unattractive. The 
 ornate taste of the period immediately follow- 
 ing the Revolution was inclined to ridicule his 
 style a little, but men always respected his 
 thought. His very simplicity and directness 
 of speech made his sermons easy reading. It 
 was, therefore, as a writer of books and pamph- 
 lets, that Chauncy influenced the thought of 
 his time. His controversial writings took in 
 the main three directions 1st, his antagonism 
 to the extravagancies of the "Great Awaken- 
 ing" the revivals of Whitefield; 2nd, his 
 defense of congregational forms of church 
 government, and finally, his affirmation of 
 certain theological convictions which were dis- 
 tinctly unorthodox. 
 
 He came first into public notice as a stern 
 opposer of the religious excitement that pre- 
 vailed in New England in connection with the 
 labors of Whitefield. Though he did not by 
 any means stand alone in his views of these 
 revivals, he differed from the majority of the 
 ministers who, while they saw much to disap- 
 
72 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 prove, yet admitted the substantial genuine- 
 ness of the work. He regarded it as essentially- 
 evil and opposed it with all the energy he could 
 command. 
 
 Dr. Chauncy successfully championed the 
 freedom of the churches and fearing that the 
 appointment of Bishops for America would be 
 followed by attempts to promote Episcopacy 
 by force, he wrote forcibly as follows, "It 
 may be relied on, our people would not be easy, 
 if restrained in the exercise of that liberty 
 wherewith Christ hath made them free; yea, 
 they would hazard everything dear to them, 
 their estates, their very lives, rather than to 
 suffer their necks to be put under that yoke of 
 bondage which was so galling to their fathers 
 and occasioned their retreat into this distant 
 land, that they might enjoy the freedom of 
 men and Christians." 
 
 In 1762 he first showed forth the doctrine of 
 the final salvation of all men. This had been 
 a subject of earnest thought with him for some 
 time and he published one or two other books 
 about the same time, wherein he affirmed the 
 restoration of all souls, denied the Calvinistic 
 doctrines about future punishment, and ques- 
 tioned the doctrine of the trinity. 
 
 Through his sermons and publications on 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 73 
 
 these themes Dr. Chauncy became the best 
 known of the hberal leaders in the Massa- 
 chusetts churches before Channing. He was 
 the representative scholar of the earlier liberal 
 movement, as Jonathan Mayhew was the rep- 
 resentative orator. Theologically, he was al- 
 ways a difficult man to classify. His uncon- 
 sciousness of the inevitable consequences of 
 his convictions was typical of the early stages 
 of the movement, which became known later 
 as Unitarianism. 
 
 Chauncy's ministry was prolonged to the 
 close of its 59th year. Old age had somewhat 
 limited his activities, but his mind was keenly 
 alive to the end. He received the Rev. John 
 Clarke as his colleague and was thereby re- 
 lieved somewhat from public labors, but he 
 continued to occupy the pulpit part of the time 
 to the end of his life, dying at the age of eighty- 
 three. John Clarke lived with Dr. Chauncy 
 for nine years as a son with a father in the most 
 respectful and affectionate intimacy and con- 
 tinued as pastor with great acceptance until his 
 death. 
 
 At this time distinction as to sex and qual- 
 ity were still to a certain extent recognized in 
 seating the congregation. The men and 
 women did not sit separately, as was the cus- 
 
74 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 torn in the old South Church at this period, 
 but there were a few long seats known as men 
 seats and women seats, which were reserved 
 for the humbler sort of people, probably the 
 servants of the proprietors. 
 
 For six months during 1784 and 1785 while 
 extensive repairs were being made, the First 
 Church accepted the kind invitation of Brattle 
 Street Church to worship with them. 
 
 On the death of Dr. Chauncy no attempt 
 was made to settle a colleague with Dr. Clarke, 
 and the church has remained in charge of a 
 single minister ever since.* 
 
 After the death of Dr. Clarke in 1799 the 
 society extended a call to the Rev. William 
 Emerson, father of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 
 which was accepted. It was during the pastor- 
 ate of Mr. Emerson that it was decided to sell 
 the Old Brick Church. It is interesting to 
 note that on the night of the Boston Massacre, 
 in 1770, the alarm was sounded from the Old 
 Brick Church. 
 
 The building of their fourth house of wor- 
 ship, or Chauncy Place Meeting House, as it 
 was afterwards called, seems to have been per- 
 formed with great dispatch and very little fric- 
 
 *Note There is a John Clarke Fund now the managers of 
 hich give vacations in the country to women and children. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 75 
 
 tion. Out of 134 pews in Chauncy Place 
 Church, 114 were owned and occupied at the 
 opening of the church. The Theological 
 Library was placed in the vestry and there 
 was a parsonage on the corner of Summer 
 Street and Chauncy Place. After the death 
 of Emerson, which occurred less than three 
 years after the removal from Cornhill, the so- 
 ciety remained without a settled pastor for two 
 years. 
 
 John Love joy Abbot was the next unani- 
 mous choice in 1813 but he had scarcely 
 entered upon his duties when he was obhged 
 to go abroad for his health. He died the next 
 year without preaching again. 
 
 The ordination of Nathaniel Langdon 
 Frothingham took place in March, 1815, and 
 he continued as minister for thirty-five years. 
 He was the author of many published sermons 
 and was also a noteworthy writer of hymns. 
 He was a finished scholar, a refined, instruc- 
 tive and able preacher. Though relieved of 
 all ministerial responsibility during the last 
 years of his life, his connection with the society 
 as a parishioner was never severed. The last 
 six years of his life he suffered extremely 
 through the total loss of eyesight. 
 
 The Rev. Rufus ElUs from the church in 
 
76 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 Northampton was called after Mr. Frothing- 
 ham's resignation, and was installed in May, 
 1853. After a few years it became evident 
 that the church must have a new home, and 
 under his leadership the change was made to 
 the present beautiful edifice, the fifth house 
 of worship, on the corner of Berkeley and 
 Marlborough Streets, which cost about $325,- 
 000. It accommodates about 1,000 persons, 
 has a fine organ and wonderful stained glass 
 windows. The amount realized from the sale 
 of the Chauncy Place Church, even when 
 added to all the available assets received from 
 the sale of pews, etc., did not nearly cover this 
 cost, but various members of the society 
 pledged themselves to cover the large defi- 
 ciency of over $125,000, and in 1876 the report 
 at the annual meeting shows the society en- 
 tirely free from debt. It was during Mr. 
 ElHs's time that a change took place in the 
 Sunday school, which heretofore had been 
 distinctively a parish gathering, but was now 
 enlarged by taking in children outside the con- 
 gregation, and the attendance numbered 450 
 children at one time. Out of the Sunday 
 school sprang other useful organizations such 
 as the sewing-school for children, the dress- 
 making class and a singing-school. Dr. Ellis 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 77 
 
 was not a great preacher in the sense of reach- 
 ing a large circle of hearers, but something 
 in the substance of his sermons or his earnest 
 goodness, attracted and held both the highly 
 cultivated and every-day sort of men. He was 
 a faithful pastor, a devoted friend, a man of 
 deep spirituality and religious feeling. 
 
 After a ministry of 33 years Mr. EUis was 
 succeeded by Rev. Stopford A. Brooke who 
 served the society for twelve years, and he in 
 turn was followed by Rev. James Eels for 
 seven years. This brings us to the present 
 ministry of Rev. Charles E. Park, who seems 
 to be continuing all the good movements 
 started by his predecessors. 
 
 The Girls' Fraternity Club, organized years 
 ago by Rev. Stopford Brooke, still continues 
 to meet every Monday and Friday evening, 
 about 140 members being entered for classes 
 in millinery, embroidery, woodcarving and 
 painting. 
 
 On Saturday afternoons about ninety chil- 
 dren meet for lessons in sewing and dress- 
 making. 
 
 The church supports laundry and cooking 
 classes at the Norfolk House Center; main- 
 tains a scholarship in Harvard College and 
 one in the Harvard Divinity School; equips 
 
78 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 and supports a surgical ward and a free bed 
 in a hospital. There is also a Mothers' Club 
 of about twenty-five which meets once a month 
 and a charity committee which meets every 
 two weeks and disperses annually about $1,- 
 500, among the poorer families of the big mis- 
 sion Sunday school. 
 
 Besides these practical charitable activities 
 and its religious influence, the church now 
 contributes to the higher life of the city by 
 maintaining, throughout the winter season, 
 weekly vesper services which are free to the 
 public. 
 
 Thus we have seen that The First Church in 
 Boston has a wonderful history of 285 years 
 and is to-day fulfilling its noble traditions. 
 
 Note. A large part of this paper is quoted directly 
 from "Heralds of a Liberal Faith," edited by S. A. 
 Eliot, and also from Ripley's "History of the First 
 Church." 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 79 
 
 WEST CHURCH 
 
 Being invited to write a paper on the West 
 Church and its ministers, I shall quote freely 
 from the excellent book edited by the Rev. 
 Samuel A. Eliot, entitled "The Heralds of a 
 Liberal Faith/' 
 
 Of Jonathan Mayhew, the first minister, we 
 are told that "on the 6th of March, 1747, the 
 West Church in Boston invited him to become 
 their pastor." On the day first appointed for 
 the ordination only two of the clergymen in- 
 vited were in attendance, owing, as it was 
 understood, to rumors about the theological 
 unsoundness of the candidate. Those two did 
 not think proper to proceed, but advised the 
 calling of another and a larger council. This 
 advice was complied with. A council consist- 
 ing of fourteen ministers, not one of whom 
 was from Boston, was convoked; and ten of 
 these assembled on the 17th of June and har- 
 moniously inducted the candidate into ofiice. 
 Most of the members of the Council who were 
 present were reckoned among the "liberal" 
 men of that day, though there must have been 
 considerable difference in their religious views. 
 That Mayhew's liberal opinions were already 
 considered heretical may be inferred not only 
 
80 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 from the fact that no Boston minister took part 
 in his ordination, but from another equally sig- 
 nificant circumstance; namely, that he never 
 became a member of the Boston Association 
 of Congregational Ministers. He was a thor- 
 ough radical, a redoubtable pioneer. He did 
 not practice the reticence which marked so 
 many of his contemporaries, who really shared 
 many of his convictions. He spoke out with 
 fearless candor and tremendous force. He 
 was, as described by one of his successors, the 
 "first preacher in Boston of an untrinitarian 
 God, most potent clerical assenter in America 
 of civil and religious freedom a communi- 
 cant who fresh from the table of the Lord's 
 Supper wrote to James Otis; "Conmiunion 
 of churches; why not communion of the 
 colonies?" 
 
 While Mayhew by temperament and by op- 
 portunity was chiefly influential as an orator, 
 yet he was also a reformer, a scholar, and a 
 trenchant writer on themes both theological 
 and political. "Jonathan Mayhew was notably 
 the foremost pulpit orator of New England, 
 and a pioneer of religious freedom, but was 
 also the fervent patriot, the torch bearer who 
 lighted the fires of his country's liberties. He 
 was not only the associate, but the inspirer of 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 81 
 
 the leaders of the patriot cause in the days be- 
 fore the Revolution. James Otis, John and 
 Samuel Adams, James Bowdoin, John Han- 
 cock and Robert Treat Paine were among his 
 intimate friends." He died when 46 years 
 of age, his pastorate having continued for 
 nineteen years. 
 
 Simeon Howard, its second minister, "was 
 unanimously invited to become the pastor of 
 the West Church," and was ordained in 1767. 
 The ministry of Dr. Howard in Boston was 
 painfully interrupted by the Revolution. 
 While the British troops were in possession of 
 the town, the house in which he preached was 
 turned into a barrack, and his congregation 
 scattered in every direction. Having many 
 friends in Nova Scotia, and having been once 
 or twice applied to to send them a minister, he 
 proposed to some of his parishioners to retire 
 with him thither for a refuge, and though he 
 was scarcely serious at the moment in making 
 the proposal, they in their despondency in- 
 stantly fell in with it, and the arrangements 
 were quickly made for their departure. 
 
 On his return to Boston, after an absence 
 of a year and a half, he found his society so 
 far reduced in numbers from death, emigra- 
 tion, and other causes that they were seriously 
 
82 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 apprehensive that they should be obliged to 
 disband, from their inability to support a min- 
 ister. He refused however to listen to such 
 a suggestion, assuring them that he would re- 
 ceive whatever compensation they could give 
 him, and would continue with them while three 
 famihes remained. He further agreed "to 
 accept the contribution that should from time 
 to time be collected and paid him during his 
 ministry as a full compensation, any agree- 
 ment with the society previously made not- 
 withstanding." The Society, as they recov- 
 ered their strength, did not forget the generous 
 sacrifices which he had made in their behalf. 
 
 Dr. Howard's salary, raised from three 
 pounds twelve shillings a week in 1777, to four 
 pounds per week in 1780, probably in propor- 
 tion to the number of families in the parish, 
 was the largest salary paid in town, ($240. a 
 year.) 
 
 As a preacher. Dr. Howard was far from 
 being in the common acceptation of the word, 
 eloquent, but was distinguished for a truly 
 patriarchal simplicity of character. He evi- 
 dently had a humble opinion of himself, though 
 he had nothing of that spurious humility that 
 leads some men to be forever ostentatiously 
 acknowledging their own imperfections. He 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 83 
 
 was charitable in his estimate of character, and 
 never imputed evil motives when any other 
 could possibly be assigned. He was bland 
 and gentle in his manners, calm and equable 
 in temper, and more inclined to listen than to 
 speak. His parishioners loved him as a 
 brother, and honored him as a father; his 
 brethren in the ministry always met him with 
 a grateful and cordial welcome; and the com- 
 munity at large reverenced him for his sim- 
 plicity, integrity and benevolence. He died 
 after an illness of a week, in 1804, in the 72nd 
 year of his age. The degree of Doctor of 
 Divinity was conferred upon him by the Uni- 
 versity of Edinburgh. He was overseer and 
 a fellow of Harvard College, and a member of 
 many local societies for the promotion of lit- 
 erary, charitable, and religious objects. 
 
 Dr. Howard was succeeded by Charles 
 Lowell who was born in Boston in 1782, his 
 father being an eminent lawyer. He was a 
 student at Phillips Academy, Andover, and in 
 1797 entered Harvard College as a Sopho- 
 more. After graduating in 1800, he studied 
 law for one year with his elder brother, John 
 Lowell, Jr., and then relinquished it for the 
 study of theology. In 1802 he entered the 
 Divinity School of the University of Edin- 
 
84 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 burgh, and in 1804 visited London and Paris, 
 meeting and becoming acquainted with many 
 illustrious men. In Paris he had frequent 
 opportunities of seeing Napoleon Bonaparte, 
 just after he had been proclaimed emperor. 
 
 In 1805 he returned to his native country, 
 and was ordained and installed pastor of the 
 West Church in 1806, continuing as sole pastor 
 of the church for more than 37 years. His 
 health having become feeble, Mr. Cyrus 
 Augustus Bartol became his colleague in 
 1837; but Dr. Lowell continued his pastoral 
 relations, officiating however, very rarely, as 
 long as he lived. He died in Cambridge in 
 1861 at the age of 78 years. He had six chil- 
 dren, one of whom was James Russell Lowell. 
 At the height of his power Dr. Lowell 
 preached to the largest congregation in Bos- 
 ton, and the West Church was the home of 
 three or four hundred of the leading families 
 of the community. His sermons were earnest 
 and direct appeals to the conscience and the 
 emotional nature. He wrote with faultless 
 taste and simple elegance. In his personal 
 appearance, there was a careful blending of 
 majesty and grace. He had a clear, pene- 
 trating voice, a handsome face and figure, a 
 natural earnestness of manner which made 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 85 
 
 him a master of the orator's art. He knew 
 every man, woman and child in his large par- 
 ish and was assiduous in giving to them coun- 
 sel, encouragement and comfort. No minister 
 in Boston was more beloved and honored. 
 Theologically, he was undoubtedly a Unita- 
 rian; but he resolutely refused to attach him- 
 self to any denomination or to call himself by 
 any name other than Christian. 
 
 A visit to the old West Church, now a 
 branch of the Public Library, at the corner of 
 Cambridge and Lynde Streets, brings back 
 many memories of the past. The pews of 
 course are gone, and the fine old mahogany 
 pulpit, every line of which is distinctly photo- 
 graphed upon my memory, may still be seen in 
 the church at Meeting House Hill. Behind 
 the pulpit were rich red brocade curtains mak- 
 ing a fine background for Dr. Bartol's white 
 head. Now, in their place, hang the four oil 
 portraits of the four ministers, about whom we 
 have been hearing, the gift of Miss Elizabeth 
 H. Bartol. The galleries still remain, as well 
 as the strikingly handsome clock, much cov- 
 eted by Jewish tradesmen, the librarian told 
 me. Just here let me say, that if any one de- 
 sires to see the interior of the church, exactly 
 as it looked in the old days, a framed photo- 
 
86 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 graph hangs in the entrance hall of the Amer- 
 ican Unitarian Association. After it was no 
 longer used as a church, it was purchased for 
 preservation by Mr. Andrew C. Wheelwright 
 and in 1894 the city of Boston bought it for a 
 Public Library. The audience gathered there 
 now is very different from the one of the old 
 days. All chairs are occupied by quietly ab- 
 sorbed readers, and the librarian told me, that 
 many of the unemployed come in the mornings, 
 while on Monday afternoons and evenings, it 
 is crowded with Jews. On Thursday after- 
 noons there is story telling for children in the 
 room below, formerly the old Sunday-school 
 room. In fact, the still handsome interior, 
 though stripped of many of its former beauties, 
 is well worth a visit, and the librarian begged 
 me to urge the members of my church to be- 
 come interested in it. 
 
 As a very little girl, I can remember a gal- 
 lery high up, over the organ, where colored 
 people only were allowed to sit, but which 
 happily disappeared later. I have also the 
 memory of going always to morning and after- 
 noon service, and of seeing entire families, 
 mother, father and children walking quietly up 
 the aisle to their pews. 
 
 There were no automobiles or Sunday con- 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 81 
 
 certs then. After a sufficient sum was raised 
 to purchase a new organ, Mr. John K. Paine 
 became the organist, and I can remember how 
 we lingered at the end of the morning service, 
 to hear those magnificent toccatas and fugues, 
 by Bach. As members of the choir at one 
 time, we had as contralto, Miss Annie Louise 
 Gary, a young struggling singer then, who 
 later reached the climax of her success in 
 opera and oratorio, in America and Europe, 
 also Mr. George L. Osgood, the sweet tenor 
 soloist and teacher. 
 
 Beyond the wonderful Sunday "speaking," 
 as the Saturday newspaper advertised it. Dr. 
 Bartol had little gift for organization, or for 
 making his flock acquainted, and much of his 
 high, almost Emersonian thought was food to 
 the older members of the congregations, but 
 very far above the heads of the younger 
 contingent. 
 
 Had only that seed of warm and loving fel- 
 lowship so widely recognized, and generously 
 offered in our own church, been planted in 
 those young lives, how much wider and far 
 reaching the result might have been. 
 
 The original church was gathered in 1737, 
 and William Hooper called as its minister; he 
 
88 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 only served for nine years and then returned 
 to the Episcopal Church. 
 
 The church was then of wood, with a steeple, 
 and as it stood upon an elevation, the British 
 troops suspected that it was used for giving 
 signals to the Continental army, and the 
 steeple was taken down in 1775. In 1806 
 the present brick church was erected. We 
 read that the outside clock, procured by sub- 
 scription, the town contributing $100, was 
 made by an ingenious artist, Mr. Stowell of 
 Worcester, and cost with the dial $415. The 
 bell was made in Gloucester, England, in 
 1745. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 89 
 
 SECOND CHURCH OF BOSTON 
 
 Boston was not yet twenty years old when 
 the Second Church was founded in 1649, but 
 in that short time great changes had taken 
 place in the little peninsula. Forests and 
 thickets had been cleared away and pleasant 
 streets and gardens and fruitful fields had 
 taken their places. Cabins had given place 
 to large buildings, some even of brick and tile 
 and stone. Wharves stretched into the har- 
 bor; ships rode at anchor in the bay. The 
 little cluster of buildings, formerly nestled for 
 safety between the three hills then crowned 
 with forts and batteries of cannon, was spread- 
 ing over the plain. The First Church had 
 been founded only seventeen years before and 
 already the original building "which had en- 
 closed some of the noblest and choicest spirits 
 that ever bore the Christian name," where 
 Winthrop and Dudley worshipped and where 
 the eloquent John Cotton preached, had made 
 way for a larger and more comfortable build- 
 ing. And now this new building was insuffi- 
 cient; particularly the northern part of the 
 settlement needed a new church building. To 
 the Puritans, the house of God was the first 
 care; around it their houses were grouped. The 
 
90 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 idea of a Theocracy, with God as immediate 
 ruler and governor, inspired all their move- 
 ments and thoughts. So the Second Church 
 was built of wood at the head of North Square 
 not far from the spot where still stands the 
 quaint house of Paul Revere, which most of 
 us have seen. It would be most interesting 
 if we could form some picture of the building 
 in our minds. But the church records barely 
 suggest that some of the pews were provided 
 with private doors through the side of the 
 church into the street, though they do not give 
 any reason for this peculiar method of en- 
 trance. John Cotton, minister of the first 
 church, favored the building of the new church, 
 even if it drew away some of his parishioners. 
 "His name was John," says the quaintest of 
 New England historians, "and like this great 
 forerunner of Jesus, who bore the same appel- 
 lation, he reckoned his joy fulfilled in this, that 
 in his own decrease, the interests of his Master 
 would increase." At this time Boston was 
 the most flourishing town in the colony, but 
 there were also thriving settlements with 
 churches at Salem, Charlestown, Dorchester, 
 Watertown, and other places in the vicinity. 
 Harvard College was an established seat of 
 learning. John Winthrop's career as Cover- 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 91 
 
 nor of Massachusetts had just closed by his 
 death in 1649. The first sermon in the Sec- 
 ond Church was preached in June, 1650, by 
 Samuel Mather, son of Richard Mather of the 
 Dorchester church. On that memorable day in 
 June, the seven original members, "being 
 called of God to enter into church fellowship 
 together" namely, "Michael Powell, James 
 Ashwood, Christopher Gibson, John Phillips, 
 George Davis, Michael Wills and John Farn- 
 ham'* signed a sacred covenant. "We here 
 freely this day," so the covenant reads, "do 
 avouch the Lord to be our God and ourselves 
 to be his people." 
 
 It was a layman's movement, a people's 
 church, a democratic organization. The new 
 church tried to induce Samuel Mather to re- 
 main with them as minister, but could only 
 prevail upon him to stay for a few months, 
 when he returned to England where he re- 
 sided. For several years worship was con- 
 ducted by Michael Powell, layman, one of the 
 original seven, whose services were so accept- 
 able that the church wished to ordain him as 
 teacher, and would have done so had not the 
 civil authorities interfered. Their objection 
 to him was that he was ''illiterate as to aca- 
 demical education"! After remaining without 
 
92 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 a pastor for four years, John Mayo was or- 
 dained in 1655. Little is known of him; he 
 had probably passed the prime of life and was 
 perhaps not a distinguished man. Increase 
 Mather, who was his colleague for a time, and 
 who succeeded him calls him "a blessing to his 
 people'* and adds that they worked together in 
 love and peace for eleven years. And now 
 comes the great period in the history of the 
 Second Church, the reign of the Mathers, 
 father and son, which lasted some sixty years. 
 In 1664 Increase Mather was ordained. His 
 extraordinary name is said to have been given 
 him in gratitude to God for the providential 
 prosperity of the Colony at that time. He 
 came from the best stock of the colony; his 
 father was Richard Mather, the well known 
 minister of Dorchester, one of the company 
 who had been put out of the English church 
 for non-conformity to ceremonies which were 
 against their conscience. Richard Mather is 
 buried in the old Dorchester burying ground. 
 His mother was also a woman of piety. "My 
 child," she often said to the young Increase, 
 "if God makes thee a good scholar and a good 
 Christian, thou wilt have all thy mother ever 
 asked for thee." Entering Harvard at the 
 age of twelve, his parents were, not un- 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 93 
 
 naturally, solicitous for his feeble health and 
 consigned him to the care of the famous Mr. 
 Norton of Ipswich, where he remained for sev- 
 eral years, was brought near death by a 
 dangerous illness, and, on his recovery, re- 
 solved to put away every sin and make his 
 peace with God. This resolution, consigned 
 to writing, he considered peculiarly sacred, and 
 seventy years after caused his grandsons to 
 copy it, and made its perusal a cordial to him 
 through the valley of the shadow. Graduat- 
 ing at Harvard in 1656, he began preaching 
 before he was nineteen, but the next year sailed 
 for Europe where he took his second degree at 
 Trinity College, Dublin. Many churches 
 made the young divine liberal offers if he 
 would wear the surplice and use the book of 
 Common Prayer. Like his father, he turned 
 his back upon England, to find a harder but 
 freer field of work in the new world. Here as 
 many as twelve parishes sought his services, 
 before he chose the Second Church as the field 
 of his labors. The burning of the first build- 
 ing in 1676 did not check the growth of the 
 young church. Of this calamity the minister 
 had a powerful presentiment leading him to 
 warn his people on the two previous Sundays 
 from the pulpit, and even urge his family to 
 
94 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 change their dwelKng, which was burned. In- 
 deed Increase Mather seems often to have ut- 
 tered warnings to his people; like many re- 
 ligious people of his day, he was much given 
 to introspection and was of a gloomy tempera- 
 ment. He was regarded as one of the great 
 preachers of the day. His voice was power- 
 ful and commanding, and he used it most ef- 
 fectively, with such ''tonitruous cogency," as 
 his son says, "that his hearers were struck with 
 awe like that produced by the fall of thunder- 
 bolts." Every sermon was written carefully, 
 then learned and delivered without notes that 
 it might be more effective. His manner of 
 spending his time has come down to us. Every 
 day of the week except Sunday he spent work- 
 ing on his sermons. On Friday they must be 
 finished and on Saturday he committed them 
 to memory. For many years he was very 
 poor on account of his large family and small 
 salary, and his diary contains many expres- 
 sions of his distress on this account. "To be 
 in debt to the dishonor of the gospel is a 
 wounding, killing thought to me." Yet, in 
 spite of his poverty, he always set aside a tenth 
 of his income to pious uses. In the bloody 
 war of 1675, called King Philip's War, In- 
 crease Mather obtained a whole shipload of 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 95 
 
 provisions from Ireland together with money 
 and clothing from London to be distributed 
 among the distressed inhabitants of New Eng- 
 land. This really seems like these days of the 
 Great War with conditions reversed. Dr. 
 Mather was a dignified courtly Christian 
 gentleman somewhat inclined to Puritanical 
 austerity. His contemporaries said "it was an 
 edifying thing only to see him in public assem- 
 blies; for his very countenance was a sermon." 
 The diary of his earlier years is constantly 
 marked with the significant memento "Heart 
 Serious." His days were full of prayer. In 1685 
 Increase Mather was appointed president of 
 Harvard. He held the position for sixteen 
 years, but still continued his pastorate of the 
 Second Church and his residence in Boston. 
 It has been wittily said of him that "when not 
 busy caring for his church or shaping the poli- 
 tics of the colony, he would step over to Cam- 
 bridge and take charge of Harvard College." 
 He held the first D. D. given by Harvard. He 
 was also a man of affairs and rendered serv- 
 ices to the state as well as to the church. Be- 
 tween Charles II and the colonies, particularly 
 Massachusetts, there had been no cordial agree- 
 ment, and finally the king called upon them to 
 surrender their charter. Increase Mather 
 
96 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 hastened to England and was so successful in 
 his diplomatic mission that in 1692 came the 
 welcome news that King William had granted 
 a new charter which secured to Massachusetts 
 a government as free as any in the civilized 
 world; and the first governor was Sir William 
 Phipps, a devout New England Calvinist and 
 a member of the Mathers' church. Increase 
 Mather was also instrumental in bringing 
 about a happy union of the Plymouth and 
 Massachusetts colonies. On the fiftieth an- 
 niversary of his settlement, he requested a dis- 
 missal from the church. This the church was 
 unwilling to grant, but voted that "to render 
 his old age easy to him," the labors of the pul- 
 pit should be expected of him only when he 
 felt able and inclined. His death occasioned 
 universal mourning and few citizens had re- 
 ceived so honorable a funeral. 
 
 Cotton Mather has, doubtless, been more 
 widely known than any New England preach- 
 er. Son of Increase Mather, grandson of John 
 Cotton, he was born in Boston in 1662. Edu- 
 cated at the Free School, first under Benjamin 
 Thompson, later under the celebrated Ezekiel 
 Cheever, he entered Harvard at twelve, took 
 his first degree with marked distinction at six- 
 teen, his second at nineteen. At first a stam- 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 97 
 
 mering utterance stood in his way, but this 
 being overcome, he studied theology and was 
 ordained colleague to his father in 1686. He 
 was a man of marked eccentricity, but he wore 
 no disguise; he was most industrious, and was 
 most earnest to do good. Benjamin Frankhn 
 attributed all his own usefulness and eminence 
 to a book of Cotton Mather's, "Essays to do 
 good." There is hardly a philanthropic enter- 
 prise of to-day, which Mather did not antici- 
 pate. He was a strenuous advocate of 
 temperance; he was much interested in seamen. 
 He was an earnest upholder of the rights of 
 women, for whom he had a high respect. His 
 treatment of slaves was ahead of his time. 
 Noticing that the slaves of Boston had no op- 
 portunities for education, he established a 
 school for them. He had much at heart the 
 Christianization of negroes abroad, as well as 
 at home. He took a bold stand for the intro- 
 duction of inoculation for small pox, when all 
 the doctors with the exception of Dr. Zabdiel 
 Boylston were against it. Indeed, so fierce 
 was the people's rage against him, that his Hf e 
 was in danger. 
 
 Christian Missions, Bible Societies, Trades- 
 men's Libraries and Associations for the moral 
 and religious improvement of young men were 
 
98 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 among his favorite projects. He made a 
 catalogue of all the poor of his flock and of the 
 town. This "List of Miserables," as he called 
 it, he kept about him in his visits among his 
 parishioners and thus he often was able to en- 
 list sympathy in a special case. Someone who 
 knew him well said, "The ambition and charac- 
 ter of his Ufe was serviceableness." He was 
 utterly without avarice and he had moral 
 courage. His devout spirit has never been 
 questioned. The parental relation between 
 father and son was most beautiful. Cotton 
 Mather was a kind father and did not have an 
 "austere carriage" towards his children like 
 many parents of his time. His ideas on the 
 education of children were ahead of his time. 
 He first convinced his children of his lovCj then 
 impressed them that it was shameful to do 
 wrong, and showed his surprise that the child 
 could be so unworthy. Removal from his 
 presence was an ordinary punishment. If the 
 closing hours of life are a touch-stone of char- 
 acter, Cotton Mather bore the test well, for he 
 said, "And now, vain world, farewell. Thou 
 hast been to me an uneasy wilderness. Wel- 
 come, everlasting life ! I will go in and praise 
 the Lord !*' When his son bent over him, ask- 
 ing what word of condensed wisdom he would 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 99 
 
 give as a most precious talisman, the instant 
 response was the single word "fruitful." With 
 all these traits he must have been essentially 
 a good man. And yet he had grotesque char- 
 acteristics; he was vain, and one could hardly 
 expect him to be otherwise. Descended from 
 a double line of famous clergymen, he was a 
 prodigy at school and treated as such. At his 
 graduation from Harvard, President Oakes 
 said "Mather is named Cotton Mather. What 
 a name! But should he resemble his venerable 
 grandfathers, John Cotton and Richard 
 Mather, in piety, learning, splendor of intel- 
 lect, solidity of judgment, prudence and wis- 
 dom, he will indeed bear the palm. And I 
 have confidence that in this young man Cot- 
 ton and Mather will be united and flourish 
 again." Is it a wonder if his head was turned? 
 He was very ambitious of remarkable spiritual 
 experiences. Estimating that his father's 
 fasts were not less than four hundred and fifty 
 in number, his son spent two or three days in 
 each week fasting. He then tried to feel all 
 his sins and to come near to God in holy con- 
 templation. He endeavored to get constant 
 religious help from every little experience in 
 life. When he pared his nails he thought how 
 he might lay aside all superfluity of naught- 
 
100 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 iness. That a man of Cotton Mather's ad- 
 vanced views, so liberal that he wished the 
 Lord's table to "have no rails about it" and 
 who wanted even the Quakers, whom he ap- 
 parently disliked, to be treated with all civ- 
 ility, should have played the part he did in the 
 Salem Witchcraft seems incredible. All his 
 life he had been passionately fond of the mar- 
 velous. From early years he had meditated 
 much upon the "angelical ministry," both 
 good and bad, and was a firm believer in it. 
 "To please the angels" was a daily motive with 
 him. The evil angels were, on the other hand, 
 as much objects of hatred and dread. It is 
 easy to believe that such a man might have 
 thoroughly believed in witchcraft and in 
 demoniacal possession. To understand Cotton 
 Mather we must remember that the Puritan 
 fathers believed New England charged with a 
 divine mission to show the world what human 
 society might be when governed by constajit 
 devotion to the revealed law of God. The 
 period between the founding of the colony of 
 Massachusetts and the revocation of the 
 charter was practically a time of theocracy. 
 T^Hien Increase Mather hastened to England 
 to obtain the renewal of the charter, this rule 
 of theocracy was in danger. Cotton Mather, 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 101 
 
 still almost a boy, was left virtually at the head 
 of the conservative party in Boston. He be- 
 lieved that the renewal of the charter was a tri- 
 umphant answer to prayer and demanded 
 some peculiar act of gratitude to God. Look- 
 ing about him he saw evidences of what we 
 should call hypnotism, spirituahsm. In the 
 seventeenth century this was called witchcraft 
 and believed the work of the devil. Beyond 
 doubt Cotton Mather was one of the chief 
 leaders in the attack on witchcraft. Nobody 
 doubted the fact ; the question was how it could 
 be legally proved. Should "spectral evidence*' 
 be considered proof, that is should the testi- 
 mony of bewitched persons on what they saw 
 and felt in the paroxysm of their possession be 
 considered valid against the accused? 
 
 In his personal records, Mather declares 
 that he warned the courts against the dangers 
 of "spectral evidence" in cases of life and 
 death. But when the court decided to accept 
 it, he felt bound, believing witchcraft to be of 
 the devil, not to approve the decision. So 
 the witches were hanged, mostly on "spectral 
 evidence"; but when it was rejected prosecu- 
 tions soon came to an end. Then came a deep 
 revulsion of feeling and upon Cotton Mather 
 has fallen much of the odium of the sad busi- 
 
102 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 ness. Mather's character seems to have lacked 
 chiefly steadiness and judgment. When in 
 1701 Increase Mather was removed from the 
 presidency of Harvard College, theocracy in 
 New England came to an end and the public 
 career of the two Mathers was over. Cotton 
 Mather lived on until 1728, preaching and 
 writing numberless books. Sibley's "Harvard 
 Graduates" records some four hundred titles 
 of his actual publications. He also wrote an 
 unpublished treatise on medicine which would 
 fill a folio and his unpublished "Biblia Amer- 
 icana," a commentary on the whole Bible, 
 would fill two or three folios more. His most 
 celebrated book, "Magnalia," has been called 
 the "prose epic of New England Puritanism." 
 When it was conceived, the New England 
 colonies were about seventy years old. Cot- 
 ton Mather wished to examine critically this 
 period to prove that an especially large num- 
 ber of "the elect" had lived in New England, 
 therefore that the pristine policy of New Eng- 
 land had been particularly favored of the 
 Lord. Barrett Wendell says that Cotton 
 Mather "again and again writes with a rhyth- 
 mic beauty which recalls the enthusiastic spon- 
 taneity of Elizabethan English." The last 
 clause of a ponderous paragraph about 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 108 
 
 Thomas Shepard, first minister of Cambridge, 
 ends, "so the character of his daily conversa- 
 tion was a trembhng walk with God." This 
 noble phrase characterizes not only Thomas 
 Shepard, but the better life of all the first 
 century of New England. After the death 
 of his father. Cotton Mather was alone in the 
 church only about four months, when Joshua 
 Gee was chosen colleague; he was a brilliant, 
 scholarly man who founded a hbrary in the 
 Second Church for the use of the ministers 
 and this survived even the trying days of the 
 Revolution. Cotton Mather had the largest 
 private library on the continent. The two 
 Mathers also took marked interest in the re- 
 form of church music, which had fallen into a 
 sad way in America. When the Puritans 
 came over they brought with them the habit of 
 psalm singing, but they made for themselves a 
 literal but almost unsingable version of the 
 Psalms, and worse still they adopted the cus- 
 tom of "lining" the Psalm, that is, of having 
 each line read by an officer of the church be- 
 fore it was sung, originally necessary on ac- 
 count of the fewness of books, but long need- 
 less. When we add that tunes were handed 
 down by oral tradition, that each individual 
 could put in extra notes and quavers, and that 
 
104 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 there was no pretense of keeping time, it is 
 clear that a reform was needed. 
 
 In 1718 Cotton Mather pubhshed a new 
 translation of the Psalms; in 1720 the first 
 singing-book was started and singing by note 
 was introduced into the Boston churches. 
 Samuel Mather, son of Cotton, and fourth of 
 his name to serve the Second Church, became 
 colleague to Mr. Gee, but remained only a few 
 years, then, taking some of his people with him 
 he founded the so-called New North on the 
 corner of Hanover and North Bennett Streets. 
 
 The Second Church was continuously under 
 the Mather rule 64 years, and adding the short 
 pastorate of Samuel, 73 years. The three 
 Mathers are buried in Copp's Hill burying- 
 ground. A fragment of Increase Mather's 
 house may be seen 342% Hanover Street, 
 dating from 1677. 
 
 Samuel Checkley was second colleague to 
 Mr. Gee. Under Dr. John Lathrop who 
 served from 1768-1816, the church passed 
 through many changes. He was a firm 
 patriot who said, "Americans, rather than sub- 
 mit to be hewers of wood or drawers of water 
 for any nation in the world, would spill their 
 best blood"; he did much to strengthen his 
 people in their resistance to the British and to 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 105 
 
 gain for them the reputation of "a nest of 
 traitors." The Second Church was among 
 the heaviest sufferers from the war. The earl- 
 iest mention of their trials is found in the fol- 
 lowing brief notice copied from the church 
 records, "March 5, 1770, James Caldwell, shot 
 by the inhumane soldiers." When the scat- 
 tered congregation returned to the city after 
 its evacuation by the British, they found their 
 meeting-house in North Square in ashes. Many 
 churches had suffered at the hands of the Brit- 
 ish soldiers. The Old South had been turned 
 into a riding-school; the steeple of the West 
 Church had been torn down, because it had 
 been used as a signal tower to give intelligence 
 to the provincial army; the Second Church, 
 which had stood for more than a hundred years, 
 was, "by a number of evil-minded men of the 
 King's party" demolished and used for fire- 
 wood. In their distress members of the con- 
 gregation were invited to worship with the 
 Society of the New Brick Church in Hanover 
 Street. The New Brick Church was an off- 
 shoot through the New North, of the Second 
 Church. In a sense it was therefore a union of 
 parts. Dr. Lathrop assumed charge of the re- 
 united organization and remained deservedly 
 beloved and honored for almost exactly fifty 
 
106 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 years. This New Brick Church was popularly 
 known as the Cockerel Church, from the cock 
 with golden plumage on its steeple ; this identi- 
 cal cock is still in service on the Shepard Me- 
 morial Church in Cambridge, having for nearly 
 two hundred years served as a weather-vane. In 
 the belfry of this church hung the first bell cast 
 in Boston, and made by Paul Revere in 1792. 
 It was under Dr. Lathrop that the Second 
 Church gradually left Calvinism for the Lib- 
 eral view of religion. Henry Ware, Jr., be- 
 came minister in 1817 and for twelve years 
 the church experienced "another golden age 
 like that it had enjoyed under the first of the 
 Mathers." Mr. Ware's name is a synonym 
 for saintliness wherever known. Perhaps his 
 best known work for the community is his tem- 
 perance work. In an age when drinking was 
 a universal habit, it needed moral courage to 
 stand out boldly and champion an unpopular 
 cause. His "Discourse on Temperance" sold 
 largely in this country and the twelfth thou- 
 sand was prepared to meet the demands in 
 London. His health failing, after a year of 
 travel in Europe, he became HoUis professor 
 in the Harvard Divinity School, and Ralph 
 Waldo Emerson succeeded him as pastor of 
 the Second Church. Born in Boston in 1803 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 107 
 
 and descended from a long line of ministers, 
 Emerson was as truly a New England Brah- 
 min as Cotton Mather a century and a half 
 before. His father had been minister of the 
 First Church of Boston founded by John 
 Cotton, but dying early left a widow and sons 
 in poverty. Having supported himself for 
 some years by teaching, Emerson, before he 
 was thirty, was regular minister of the Second 
 Church. Although his ministry did not cover 
 four years in all, yet the time was long enough 
 for his people to discover his clear discernment 
 of truth, subtlety of reasoning, and candor of 
 speech, which in after-life gave him world-wide 
 fame. In 1832 he preached the sermon which 
 brought his ministry to a close. The subject 
 was the Lord's Supper. After mature study 
 of the subject he said that he had come to the 
 conclusion that Christ did not intend to estab- 
 lish it as an institution for perpetual observ- 
 ance. Accordingly he had decided that it did 
 not become him to celebrate it. "I am content 
 that it should stand to the end of the world," 
 but "I am not interested in it." This was the 
 view expressed of the holiest mystery of 
 Christianity by a man who stood for three 
 years in the pulpit of Cotton Mather. "It is 
 doubtful," says Barrett Wendell, "whether the 
 
108 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 whole literature of heresy contains two phrases 
 which to any mind still affected by traditional 
 Christian faith must seem more saturated with 
 serene insolence." The Second Church could 
 not agree with Mr. Emerson and they parted. 
 Even to-day, unrestrained assertion of individ- 
 ual belief sometimes demands grave self-sac- 
 rifice. In Emerson's time it demanded heroic 
 spirit. Dr. Francis Peabody thinks Emerson 
 was not fitted for the work of a minister, and 
 that his view of life and duty would soon have 
 led him to withdraw. He says, "One of the 
 chief services of the Second Church to the 
 world was in giving the young minister an 
 easy escape from the preacher's calling." His 
 sermons were marked by few of those great 
 qualities which he showed later. "His 
 transition to Concord was as if a caged bird 
 had found the liberty of the woods and had at 
 once soared and sung." 
 
 In 1833 Chandler Robbins was ordained. 
 The new brick church, built in 1720, had now 
 become old and dilapidated. It was decided 
 to rebuild on the same site. During the re- 
 building the Society accepted the hospitality 
 of the Old South, and in recognition of this 
 friendly oflSce gave a silver cup to the Old 
 South, which appears on the table every Com- 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 109 
 
 munion Sunday in memory of the kindly rela- 
 tions which have existed between these historic 
 churches for more than two hundred years. 
 
 Now came a period of great discouragement 
 to the Second Church. The new building was 
 completed in 1845, but many of the families of 
 the church were moving to another part of the 
 town, and in 1849 the building was sold to 
 another religious society. The congregation 
 met for services in Freeman Place Chapel, and 
 later, by a happy union with the Church of the 
 Saviour in Bedford Street, became again 
 strong and united. In 1873 another removal 
 seemed advisable, and the stones, the stained 
 glass windows, the pulpit and organ of the 
 Bedford Street Church were removed to Cop- 
 ley Square. Dr. Bobbins remained with the 
 Society until 1874, when, after forty-one years 
 of faithful service, he tendered his resignation. 
 Bobert Laird Collier became minister in 1876; 
 through his instrumentality the indebtedness 
 incurred in rebuilding was paid. Edward Au- 
 gustus Horton became pastor in 1880, Thomas 
 Van Ness in 1893, and later still Mr. Maxwell, 
 at whose coming the church again chose a new 
 home in Audubon Circle. The life of the 
 church has been some 266 years long. The 
 first and second meeting-houses were in North 
 
110 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 Square; the third and fourth in Hanover 
 Street; the fifth in Bedford Street, and the 
 sixth in Copley Square. 
 
 The Second Church, now, has the reputation 
 of belonging to the high church branch of Uni- 
 tarianism. It certainly believes in a rather 
 more ornate service than some others. The 
 form in the new church in Aububon Circle is 
 much the same as in the Copley Square church, 
 but with more music. There is a vested choir 
 of men and women in the chancel and a boy 
 choir in the organ loft. The two join in pro- 
 cessional and recessional. A prayer-book, 
 compiled largely from Martineau, is used, but 
 extemporaneous prayer is frequent as well. 
 There are two candles in the chancel, and a 
 small brightly colored cloth, changed for vari- 
 ous occasions, lies under the Bible on the pul- 
 pit. The style of the church suggests the old 
 Colonial, even to the gilded cock on the 
 weather-vane. And in the most commodious 
 parish house, where tea is served socially after 
 the vesper service, there is a Mather room. 
 The bust of Emerson looks down upon the 
 worshipping congregation. This is evidently 
 a church proud of its traditions, and justly so, 
 but not afraid of new experiences, new expres- 
 sion. The church has existed for more than 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 111 
 
 250 years. During the first half of this time 
 there was probably no greater man of letters 
 than Cotton Mather; during the second half 
 Emerson certainly had no peer; and both 
 served the Second Church. 
 
112 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL 
 SOCIETY 
 
 [HoLLis Steeet Church ] 
 
 According to the old records, the land for 
 HoUis Street Church was given by Governor 
 Belcher "unto WilHam Pain, Esq., on condi- 
 tion that he with a covenant number would 
 associate themselves together and build a 
 house for the worship of God." This was 
 erected in 1732 where the Holhs Street The- 
 atre now stands a small wooden edifice, con- 
 taining forty pews and nine in the gallery. 
 Later, a fine bell was presented by Thomas 
 HoUis of London. Dr. Sewall of the Old 
 South preached the first sermon; and in No- 
 vember of the same year drew up the church 
 covenant, when they voted to call the Rev. 
 Mather Byles, a descendant of the distin- 
 guished Mather family and a Harvard gradu- 
 ate, the salary to be three pounds, ten shillings 
 a week. He was earnest and devout, and his 
 letter of acceptance might be taken as a model 
 of its kind. Much has been told of his wit 
 and Tory sympathies; but he refused to intro- 
 duce politics into the pulpit for several reas- 
 ons : "In the first place, I do not understand 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 113 
 
 politics; in the second place, you all do, every 
 mother's son of you; in the third place, you 
 have politics all the week pray let one day be 
 given to religion; and in the fourth place, I 
 have something better to preach about." 
 Among the early church records of infant 
 baptisms is one revealing the father's tender- 
 ness. It reads: "January 12, 1734 My 
 Mather." Dr. Byles had a long, quiet pas- 
 torate of forty-four years, until his Tory con- 
 victions began to cause trouble among the par- 
 ishioners, and he was summoned to answer 
 charges against him in August, 1776. The 
 result was most unsatisfactory; therefore, a 
 week later came his dismissal. 
 
 In the years following, he was much associ- 
 ated with Episcopalians, as they generally 
 favored the King; but Dr. Byles always re- 
 mained a staunch Congregationalist. During 
 his last illness the rectors of Christ Church and 
 Trinity paid him a visit. When they inquired 
 how he felt, with a gleam of his old playfulness 
 he replied: "I feel that I am going where there 
 are no more bishops." 
 
 While the British soldiers were in Boston 
 they occupied the meeting-house for a time; 
 but after their departure public worship was 
 resumed, and in 1778 Ebenezer Wight was 
 
114 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 called to fill the vacant pulpit. He retained 
 the office ten years, when failing health obliged 
 him to resign. During this period occurred 
 the great fire of 1787, which destroyed the 
 church, so that for a year the congregation 
 worshipped with the Old South. In 1788 Dr. 
 Samuel West was installed in the new HoUis 
 Street, a man of culture and experience, noted 
 for his liberality of thought, moderation and 
 discretion. He was accustomed to preach 
 without notes a decided innovation in those 
 days. Twenty-one years he ministered to the 
 people, then was succeeded by Rev. Horace 
 Holley, a young man of great promise. It 
 was the time when Unitarianism was coming 
 to the front; and Mr. Holley, a graduate of 
 Yale, met the liberal clergymen of Boston and 
 found them differing from the Orthodox, "not 
 only in being hberal, but in having, with as 
 much learning, more simplicity of character, 
 more independence and more kindness." The 
 young minister combined a most attractive 
 personality with a good voice and style of ora- 
 tory. In after years he was spoken of as the 
 "Theodore Parker of his time," owing to his 
 advanced thought. The congregation so in- 
 creased that in 1811 a more commodious 
 church was built. It was the high tide of the 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 115 
 
 prosperity of HoUis Street, and a large choir, 
 known as the Frankhn Hall Singing Society, 
 contributed to its success. Yet the brilliant, 
 popular preacher found his intellectual tastes 
 drawing him in another direction; so in 1818 
 he accepted the presidency of a University in 
 Kentucky, being succeeded by John Pierpont. 
 He, too, was a Yale graduate, a talented 
 man and poet of some renown, but was cast in 
 a different mould from his predecessor. His 
 thoughts were ever bent on moral reforms, 
 social problems, and national questions. At 
 first he was much beloved by his people, but 
 gradually incurred their displeasure by his 
 fearless attack on different existing evils. Be- 
 neath Hollis Street Church was a storage 
 room for rum, and much of the parish wealth 
 was acquired in that business. Finally Mr. 
 Pierpont was tried before a council of minis- 
 ters on many charges, the chief being his tem- 
 perance preaching. He was acquitted, but re- 
 signed his office in 1845. In 1863 he volun- 
 teered as Chaplain of the 22nd Massachusetts 
 Infantry; but the work was too hard for a 
 man over seventy years of age, hence he gave 
 it up reluctantly, after a short trial. The in- 
 scription on his monument at Mount Auburn 
 is a fitting tribute to the life of this Christian 
 
116 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 warrior: "Poet, Preacher, Philosopher, Phil- 
 anthropist, Pierpont." 
 
 After a brief pastorate of one year by the 
 Rev. David Fosdick, the pulpit was filled by 
 the man who became the most widely known 
 and dearly beloved of all the ministers of Hol- 
 lis Street Church Thomas Starr King, who 
 surely deserves more than passing mention. 
 His father, of English descent, was a Univer- 
 salist clergyman in New York when Starr 
 King was born in 1824. In 1835 the family 
 moved to Charlestown, Mr. King being called 
 to the pastorate of the church in that town. 
 When the boy was fitting for college, his 
 teacher, Joshua Bates, gave him high praise 
 for his "sincerity, purity of heart, honesty of 
 purpose, and uniform gentlemanly deport- 
 ment." He always looked forward to entering 
 the ministry, but, owing to straitened family 
 circumstances, was forced to give up a college 
 education and to work in a dry-goods store for 
 a while, being there when his father died. At 
 sixteen he was appointed assistant teacher in 
 the Bunker Hill Grammar School, continuing 
 his studies, however, especially the languages 
 and metaphysics. A friend said: "He had a 
 natural affinity for knowledge. Its acquisition 
 was not labor, but a delight." His father was 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 117 
 
 succeeded in the Charlestown church by the 
 Rev. E. H. Chapin, who became Starr King's 
 lifelong friend. Another dear friend was the 
 Rev. Hosea Ballou, 2nd, later President of 
 Tufts College. Following the latter 's wise 
 counsel, the youth began a systematic course 
 of study for the ministry. A series of lectures 
 on Natural Religion, given by Prof. Walker 
 at the Lowell Institute, was a great help to 
 him. A letter to his aunt at the age of nine- 
 teen reveals his theological tendency at that 
 period. 
 
 March 11, 1843. "We have a fine Unitarian 
 preacher in Medford, Rev. C. Stetson, with 
 whom I am intimately acquainted. I have at- 
 tended his church pretty often, which has oc- 
 casioned mother some worriment, which you 
 may suppose is no way lessened when I tell 
 her, at least twice a week, that I intend taking 
 a class in his Sabbath School, and studying for 
 the Unitarian ministry. What should you say 
 should I inform you such is my intention? 
 Really, I beheve the Unitarian party, as a 
 whole, understand themselves better and are 
 doing a nobler work than the UniversaKsts. 
 Of course, you will not construe these remarks 
 to imply any diminution of faith on my part in 
 the distinctive tenets of the Universalists. I 
 
118 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 simply believe that the Unitarians, as a body, 
 are doing more for Liberal Christianity, with 
 all their vagueness upon that point, than the 
 Universalists, with all their dogmatism." 
 
 A little extract from Theodore Parker's 
 diary may be of interest: "April 13, 1843. 
 Saw Schoolmaster Thomas Starr King. Capi- 
 tal fellow only nineteen. Taught school 
 three years supports his mother. Reads 
 French, Spanish, Latin, a Httle Greek, and be- 
 gins German. He is a good hstener." 
 
 Later on, the young man obtained better 
 compensation by accepting a position as ac- 
 countant in the Navy Yard, but still looked 
 forward to the ministry as his life-work, press- 
 ing onward to that goal. Although many 
 hours were spent in philosophy and meta- 
 physics, yet he was passionately fond of music, 
 painting, and sculpture, and was keenly alive 
 to all that went on around him. His person- 
 ality was magnetic, his conversation brilliant, 
 and his letters brimful of wit. Yet no one 
 more deeply enjoyed communion with nature, 
 either among the mountains or by the sea, a 
 fact made evident in his book, published in 
 1849, entitled "The White Hills Their 
 Legends, Landscapes and Poetry." He 
 preached occasionally from the time he was 
 
/,y^ 
 
 1^ 
 
 CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 119 
 
 twenty; and in 1846 was called to his father's 
 old pulpit, Dr. Chapin having resigned. Here 
 for two years he spoke to an ever-growing 
 congregation, and also entered the lecture 
 field. A discourse on Goethe was an epoch in 
 his life, because it won for him the attention 
 and approbation of the outside public. 
 
 As his fame increased, he received calls to 
 other churches, among them one to the Fourth 
 Universalist of New York, but declined them 
 all. Incessant labor and anxieties, however, 
 induced an attack of nervous prostration; yet 
 after a trip to Fayal, which proved beneficial, 
 he accepted a call to HoUis Street Church, and 
 was installed December, 1848. His first work 
 was to build up the parish, which had been 
 weakened by many dissensions. He gave new 
 life to the church and at the same time became 
 more widely known to the people at large. It 
 was a period when lecturing was quite popu- 
 lar, and no one was in greater demand than 
 Mr. King. As a brilliant and eloquent 
 preacher he was admired, but as a man he was 
 loved ; being always ready to give his time and 
 strength to help others, with a heart full of 
 sympathy for the needy and distressed. Dur- 
 ing eleven years he did good service at Hollis 
 Street, and then departed for San Francisco 
 
120 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 on a fifteen months' leave of absence, promis- 
 ing to stay a year with the Unitarian church in 
 that city, which was strugghng with a heavy 
 debt, also hoping to benefit his health by a 
 change of climate. Again he put forth all his 
 strength; the attendance increased, so that 
 within the year the church was on a firm basis. 
 But when the Civil War broke out, California 
 was wavering in her allegiance to the Union; 
 therefore Starr King, feeling he was more 
 needed on the Pacific Coast, sent his resigna- 
 tion to Hollis Street. The next year he spent 
 all his spare time in travelling throughout the 
 state fighting secession. Even when Califor- 
 nia's loyalty was assured, he continued the 
 good work by canvassing the whole North- 
 western coast in behalf of the Sanitary Com- 
 mission. 
 
 Meanwhile his San Francisco people needed 
 a new church building. He headed the list 
 with a subscription of $1000, and the money 
 came in rapidly. But his strength was faihng; 
 yet he had the satisfaction of seeing the beauti- 
 ful new building dedicated and of preaching a 
 few Sundays; then succumbed to a fatal dis- 
 ease, and entered into rest March 4th, 1864. 
 On the day of the funeral San Francisco was 
 draped in black, flags at half-mast, and minute 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 121 
 
 guns fired from the United States forts by or- 
 der of President Lincoln, in recognition of 
 Starr King's services to the country. He gave 
 his hfe for the nation, dying at the age of 
 thirty-nine. His statue was erected in Golden 
 Gate Park, and was crowned with flowers each 
 Memorial Day. So ended the life of the sev- 
 enth pastor of Hollis Street Church. In a 
 sermon of after years, Mr. Chaney made a 
 striking comparison when he likened Holley, 
 Pierpont and King to light, heat and electric- 
 ity; their chief characteristics being reason, 
 moral earnestness, and the enthusiasm of 
 humanity. 
 
 After Starr King left Boston, only a few 
 faithful ones kept the cjiurch from going to 
 pieces; but eventually George L. Chaney, a 
 young theological student from Harvard and 
 Meadville, received a unanimous call. He was 
 an earnest worker, so that under his guidance 
 Hollis Street resumed and increased its activi- 
 ties. It supported two teachers in the South, 
 one for colored people and one for poor whites, 
 and much helpful work was carried on, be- 
 ginning with a sewing-school for girls, a whit- 
 ling-school for boys, and finally an industrial 
 school in 1878. It originated Hospital Sun- 
 day collections, the Flower Mission, and had 
 
122 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 Wednesday afternoon meetings for Bible 
 study for ten years. As time passed by, and 
 many families had moved away, Mr. Chaney 
 felt that they could no longer sustain a home 
 church in that neighborhood. But instead of 
 following the tide and moving westward, he 
 wanted to reconstruct and enlarge the build- 
 ing where it was, change its character, and 
 make it "of the people and for the people." 
 As these ideas were not accepted by the major- 
 ity, he reluctantly decided to leave, and 
 preached his farewell sermon in September, 
 1877. For many years he continued minis- 
 terial work in the South. An interesting item 
 was recently noted in the Christian Register: 
 "At the dedication of the new church in At- 
 lanta, Georgia, its first pastor, George L. 
 Chaney, was present, whose influence was so 
 potent in extending the liberal faith in all 
 parts of the South at a critical stage in our de- 
 nominational life." 
 
 His successor was Rev. Henry Bernard 
 Carpenter, who was born in Dublin, but edu- 
 cated in an English college. He was an in- 
 tellectual, talented man, with his share of 
 Irish eloquence; yet perhaps he was better 
 adapted to the lecture platform or the teach- 
 er's profession than the pulpit. However, a 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 123 
 
 new church was built on Exeter Street in 
 1884, and Mr. Carpenter remained in office 
 till the Society united with the South Con- 
 gregational in 1887. 
 
 We can only refer briefly to this attractive 
 edifice, the last home of Holhs Street Church, 
 but two beautiful memorial windows are 
 worthy of attention, given in memory of John 
 Pierpont and Starr King. Also the paint- 
 ing in the chancel of a later date a Nativity, 
 by Miss Ellen Hale, is an interesting study. 
 
 Now let us turn our attention to the South 
 Congregational Church. Its early history 
 was summarized in the Fiftieth Anniversary 
 sermon preached by Dr. Hale, February 3, 
 1878. That half century saw the evolution 
 of Boston from a small, commercial town to 
 one of the large cities of the world. It was 
 marked by a great change in religious thought, 
 and was made ever memorable by the years 
 of our Civil War. This church owed its 
 origin partly to the crowded condition of 
 Hollis Street, then imder the ministry of Mr. 
 Pierpont, and a small company of friends 
 from South Boston gave it strong support. 
 Furthermore, at this time there was a club of 
 earnest, public-spirited men seeking to 
 strengthen and promote the religious life of 
 
124 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 the city and its organized charities. They 
 started "The Ministry at Large" and "The 
 Industrial Aid Society," also loaned money 
 for church building. Through their assistance 
 and the friends above mentioned, a lot of land 
 was purchased at the corner of Castle and 
 Washington Streets and a building erected, 
 which was dedicated January 30th, 1828. 
 Many old members of HoUis Street hoped to 
 induce the Rev. Horace HoUey to return to 
 Boston as pastor of the new church. They 
 had good reason to beheve he would accept 
 the position; indeed, he actually sailed from 
 New Orleans with that end in view; but on 
 the way, he died suddenly of yellow fever. 
 
 At first, the pulpit was supplied from the 
 Harvard Divinity School but in the spring. 
 Rev. Melhsh Irving Motte was installed. The 
 installation service began at the early hour of 
 nine in the morning. Dr. Channing preached 
 the sermon. That sermon was printed and 
 sold at a profit of $100., the money being used 
 to purchase a service of plate for the com- 
 munion table and some books for the Sunday 
 school. Among the early members was Rev. 
 David Reed, a man of pure, unselfish char- 
 acter, who founded the Christian Register in 
 1821. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 125 
 
 For fifteen years Mr. Motte was a faithful 
 pastor, and during that time the South Friend- 
 ly Society was formed, which was not only a 
 sewing club, but a means of relief to the sick 
 and aged. Its influence gradually widened, 
 and that Society is active to this day. When 
 Mr. Motte resigned, Mr. F. D. Huntington 
 was called, a man of abundant, youthful en- 
 ergy. While his sermons were full of spir- 
 itual life and uplift, yet he was a good or- 
 ganizer, doing much for the Benevolent 
 Fraternity. To quote Dr. Hale, "He said one 
 day that if the Fraternity was worth anything, 
 it was worth more than the driblet we then 
 gave it, and proposed we should give $1000. 
 that year. We raised the money and gave it. 
 The rich down-town churches had hardly 
 dreamed of such lavishness, and here this little 
 church of yesterday this South End Church, 
 built nobody knew when, and nobody knew by 
 whom, had out-told them all. It wakened all 
 the dead bones; and from a revenue of a few 
 thousands, from that hour to this the Benevo- 
 lent Fraternity has considered $12,000. as its 
 legitimate annual income!" (That statement 
 was made in 1878.) 
 
 In 1856 Harvard College called Mr. Hunt- 
 ington to "a professorship whose incumbent 
 
126 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 was to be the minister and spiritual friend of 
 the students." He accepted, much to the re- 
 gret of his parishioners, and Edward Everett 
 Hale became the next pastor. From that 
 period the church almost dropped its proper 
 name, gradually becoming known as "Dr. 
 Hale's Church." Even to-day it is so listed 
 in that paper which all true Bostonians read 
 Saturday evenings. 
 
 For lack of time, we cannot even touch up- 
 on his early life, which was so charmingly de- 
 picted in "A New England Boyhood,*' but 
 must pass on to his ministerial work. For ten 
 years preceding the call to Boston he had been 
 preaching in Worcester at the Church of the 
 Unity. Besides his parish work, he gave a 
 helping hand to all the town philanthropies; 
 and it was characteristic of the man that when 
 asked to serve on the school committee, he 
 frankly said he would rather be on the Over- 
 seers of the Poor. In 1853 he married 
 Emily Baldwin Perkins, and four years later 
 returned to his boyhood's home, entering his 
 new field of labor. We cannot do justice in 
 a short space of time to the varied activities 
 inaugurated by Dr. Hale; but very dear to 
 his heart was the "Society for Christian Unity" 
 started Christmas, 1858. It was really a be- 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 127 
 
 ginning of settlement work in Boston, with its 
 different classes for the poor of the neighbor- 
 hood and its industrial room. Samuel Long- 
 fellow and other eminent men assisted by giv- 
 ing free lectures. Then, too, his classes in 
 history and literature for the girls and young 
 women of his parish will be long remembered 
 by those who were fortunate enough to listen 
 to his instruction. In the autumn of 1895 the 
 Citizenship Class began, which immediately 
 follows divine service and is a most important 
 factor of the church work at this present day. 
 It studies the great social problems, aiming to 
 make young people good citizens. Also, we 
 must remember the Tolstoi Club, which was 
 one of the South Congregational activities, 
 although the meetings were held in Parker 
 Memorial. 
 
 When the old Castle Street Church was out- 
 grown, it was deemed best to move farther 
 south, so in 1861 they dedicated the new build- 
 ing on Union Park Street, painting on the 
 wall "Glory to God in the Highest." After 
 Richmond fell, they added the remainder, "On 
 Earth Peace, Good Will Among Men." 
 
 During the Civil War, both minister and 
 people did faithful service. Dr. Hale said, "I 
 urged on the young men of the congregation 
 
128 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 their duty to enlist. I said that the moment 
 enhsting from my church stopped, I should go 
 myself and leave them to do the preaching. I 
 was already a member of a drill corps, and 
 have the pleasure of saying that as sergeant I 
 gave their first instructions to men who came 
 out from the war with high rank. The church 
 made and sent clothing till the war closed. The 
 first teachers who went to Port Royal to teach 
 blacks were my assistant and one of our Sun- 
 day-school teachers. The flannel shirts of the 
 Missouri company who fell martyrs at Shiloh 
 were made in our vestry. The editor of the 
 first newspaper pubhshed in a rebel prison was 
 one of our boys who had been taken prisoner 
 at Bull Run" and thus the story continues. 
 Once he went to the front with a dispatch for 
 General Butler. Throughout this trying time 
 the minister had most efficient helpers in Mr. 
 Henry P. Kidder, the well known banker, 
 who gave substantial assistance in carrying on 
 relief work, and Mrs. Sarah E. Hooper, one of 
 the leading women in Sanitary Aid. 
 
 In 1863 Dr. Hale wrote for the Atlantic 
 that wonderfully pathetic and patriotic story 
 "The Man Without a Country," which will be 
 read and remembered when other of his writ- 
 ings are entirely forgotten. During war-time 
 
CHURCHES OF GH EATER BOSTON 129 
 
 Mr. Fields asked him for articles that "would 
 keep people in good spirits about pubhc af- 
 fairs." In recognition of his patriotism, he 
 was made honorary member of the Loyal 
 Legion of Massachusetts. 
 
 The writer of this sketch well remembers at- 
 tending service at Union Park Street on the 
 Sunday following the great Boston fire, when 
 the whole city was still shrouded in smoke. 
 Robert Collyer was announced to preach a 
 fact which usually would have filled the house 
 to overflowing. Yet only a mere handful of 
 people hstened to his words, as he spoke with 
 a heart full of emotion, recalling his own sad 
 experience of the precediag year when Chicago 
 was laid in ruins. 
 
 It should also be noted that about this period 
 the church began Sunday afternoon vespers, 
 with an excellent choir under the leadership of 
 B. J. Lang. Those were among the first ves- 
 per services in the city. 
 
 There is httle in print of the last of Dr. 
 Hale's fife, when he lived those happy, best 
 years with his growing family in the old home 
 on Highland Street, Boxbury; but we know 
 that through them all this great-souled man 
 was ever ready to "lend a hand" and stood 
 shoulder to shoulder with those who were help- 
 
130 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 ing the world move onward and upward. That 
 tall figure with the deep-set eyes and the broad- 
 brimmed soft felt hat was f amihar to most Bos- 
 tonians. One of his colleagues called him "the 
 most loved man in America." A sadness that 
 came to his old age was the death of his tal- 
 ented son, Robert Beverly Hale, already a 
 writer of much promise. 
 
 During his ministry he had several as- 
 sistants, among them Rev. Edward Hale, the 
 present pastor* of the Chestnut Hill Church, 
 who served at the South Congregational about 
 four years. While he was there they made 
 another change of location. Lack of room 
 had long hindered their work, and HolUs 
 Street with a small congregation had a large 
 attractive church which was difficult to main- 
 tain. So the two united in 1887. 
 
 Dr. Hale's last colleague was the Rev. Ed- 
 ward Cummings, and when the former re- 
 signed and was made pastor emeritus, Mr. 
 Cummings became the acting pastor in 1900. 
 He still occupies the pulpit, doing good work. 
 
 Dr. Hale's eightieth birthday was celebrated 
 by a large gathering in Symphony Hall with 
 appropriate exercises, and many other cities 
 
 Died on March 27, 1918. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 131 
 
 also did honor to the occasion. About that 
 time he was appointed Chaplain of the Senate 
 and the last winters of his hf e were necessarily 
 spent in Washington. 
 
 He died in June, 1909, quietly and peace- 
 fully, lying on a couch in the library among 
 his books. 
 
 So he passed beyond our vision this 
 preacher and philanthropist, one of the most 
 prominent figures of the nineteenth century. 
 He was ever a little in advance of his time, and 
 some of his writings seem almost prophetic. 
 He has been compared to "a lamplighter who 
 moves rapidly along kindling the torch 
 which will burn after he has gone." In 1885 
 he preached a remarkable sermon on the twen- 
 tieth century, in which he spoke of three most 
 urgent necessities of the period: "First, the 
 uplift of the school system so that it should 
 educate men and boys and not be satisfied with 
 their instruction"; which surely seems a hint 
 of the vocational training and other improve- 
 ments of to-day. "Second, the systematic and 
 intelligent transfer from the crowded regions 
 of the world of men and women who should 
 live in regions not crowded"; a social problem 
 of deep interest at the present moment. 
 "Third, the institution of a Permanent Tri- 
 
132 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 bunal for the nations of the world," which is 
 most assuredly the crying need of the time and 
 the hour. A Thanksgiving Day sermon of 
 1887 outlined the possible High Court of Na- 
 tions eleven years before the Czar turned his 
 attention to the subject. 
 
 We cannot to-day mention his literary work, 
 but just a word respecting his well known 
 motto may be permitted. We all know it by 
 heart, but do we all appreciate its full signifi- 
 cance? Dr. Hale's idea was simply Faith, 
 Hope, and Charity Faith looks up, Hope 
 looks forward, Charity of the mind looks out 
 and is not self-centered, and Charity of the 
 heart lends a hand. 
 
 In conclusion, let me say that the key-note 
 of his whole character is struck in a poem un- 
 published till after his death, entitled: 
 
 THE UNNAMED SAINTS 
 What was his name? I do not know his name. 
 I only know he heard God's voice and came; 
 Brought all he loved across the sea 
 To live and work for God and me; 
 Felled the ungracious oak, 
 With horrid toil 
 Dragged from the soil 
 The thrice-gnarled roots and stubborn rock; 
 With plenty piled the haggard mountain-side, 
 And, when his work was done, without memorial died. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 133 
 
 No blaring trumpet sounded out his fame; 
 He lived, he died. I do not know his name. 
 
 No form of bronze and no memorial stones 
 
 Show me the place where lie his mouldering bones; 
 
 Only a cheerful city stands, 
 
 Builded by his hardened hands. 
 
 Only ten thousand homes 
 Where every day 
 The cheerful play 
 
 Of love and hope and courage comes; 
 These are his monuments, and these alone, 
 There is no form of bronze and no memorial stone. 
 
 And I? 
 Is there some desert or some boundless sea 
 Where thou, great God of angels, wilt send me? 
 Some oak for me to rend, some sod. 
 Some rock for me to break. 
 Some handful of thy corn to take 
 And scatter far afield. 
 Till it in turn shall yield 
 Its hundred-fold 
 Of grains of gold 
 To feed the happy children of my God? 
 Show me the desert. Father, or the sea. 
 Is it thine enterprise? Great God, send me! 
 And though this body lie where ocean rolls. 
 Father, count me among all faithful souls. 
 
 This poem fitly illustrates the watchword of 
 Dr. Hale's life, Service service to man and to 
 God. 
 
184 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 FIRST CHURCH IN ROXBURY 
 
 In the center of Eliot Square, Roxbury, 
 stands a beautiful old edifice said to be the 
 finest type of Puritan meeting-house left in 
 New England. It is the historic old First 
 Church of Roxbury. But a few minutes re- 
 moved from the Babel of Dudley Street or the 
 busy lanes of modern three-deckers, it sits in 
 its spacious shaded grounds, a venerable relic 
 of those uncrowded, unhurried days when land 
 was not measured by the precious coveted 
 foot, nor economy of time by grave con- 
 sideration. 
 
 The history of this church is coincident with 
 the history of the colony for the first century 
 and a half of its existence. For nearly 100 
 years it was the only church in what is now 
 Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury and 
 a part of Brookline, and for nearly 200 years 
 it was the only church within the limits of 
 Roxbury proper. 
 
 Its distinguished line of ministers from the 
 Apostle Eliot to the beloved Dr. De- 
 Normandie, would be an honor and glory to 
 any church, and its members have included 
 many eminent men, some of national fame. 
 The roll of its membership is largely made up 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 185 
 
 of names of Boston's most distinguished fam- 
 ilies, such as Eliot, Curtis, Seaver, May, 
 Ruggles, Dudley, Heath, and Warren of Rev- 
 olutionary fame. And it is the pride of its 
 members that on this spot without a breakj 
 services of worship have been maintained from 
 the founding of the church to the present day 
 a period of 285 years. As Dr. De- 
 Normandie once said of another institution 
 "Merely to have existed for nearly three cen- 
 turies would merit our respect" without its 
 wealth of tradition and useful work for 
 humanity. 
 
 In 1630 the great Puritan Exodus from 
 England took place. Before that time only 
 two Puritan settlements existed in New Eng- 
 land, one at Plymouth and one at Salem; but 
 in this year under the leadership of Gov. John 
 Winthrop, their Moses, between April and 
 December one thousand persons landed on 
 these shores, and dividing, made settlements at 
 Boston, Watertown, Dorchester, and a few 
 went on to Roxbury. And this little handful 
 of men and women who had left home and 
 friends and comforts for conscience' sake 
 climbed Rocksborough Hill and set up their 
 little Bethel in the Wilderness. 
 
 The larger numbers settling in Boston, 
 
136 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 Watertown, and Dorchester were able that 
 same year to gather a church in each of those 
 settlements; and if we count the beginning of 
 a church from the time a group of people as- 
 semble to worship together, whether under 
 roof or tree, then undoubtedly the Roxbury 
 church began no later than the other three, for 
 John Eliot's records begin "William Pinchon, 
 he came in the first company" (the first three 
 ships to arrive) "he was the first foundation of 
 the church in Roxbury." He then names sev- 
 eral other families of that "first company" and 
 "first foundation" ; and when we remember the 
 dangers and the loneliness they had to face, we 
 cannot doubt that these devout Puritans would 
 meet together to ask for God's guidance and 
 protection as soon as they had chosen their 
 place of settlement. But we usually count the 
 foundation of a church from the signing of its 
 covenant or the ordaining of its first pastor. 
 The covenant of this church was probably de- 
 stroyed with the other records of the first 
 dozen years in the burning of John Johnson's 
 house, but tradition, supported by early his- 
 torians, says the church was founded in 1631, 
 and the inscription under the clock in the gal- 
 lery of the present church reads: "This 
 
CHURCHES OP GREATER BOSTON 137 
 
 church was gathered in 1631," thus making it 
 the sixth church estabUshed in New England. 
 
 For a year and more, when the weather per- 
 mitted, the settlers followed the path through 
 the forest to worship with the church at Dor- 
 chester "until such time as God should give 
 them ability to have a church among them- 
 selves," as the records say; but in the summer 
 of 1632, in a rough log building, but their own, 
 their first minister, Rev. Thomas Weld, was 
 ordained; and on this same site four other 
 churches have successively been built as each 
 in turn has been out-grown or out-worn. Tra- 
 dition says this first meeting-house was of logs 
 with a thatched roof and clay floor, and with 
 no steeple, bell, pulpit, pews nor gallery. Its 
 dimensions, 30 feet long by 20 feet wide and 12 
 feet high, and it could seat 120 persons. 
 
 Plain benches on either side separated the 
 men from the women, and one end was re- 
 served for the boys, with a tithing man to keep 
 them in order; and in this little rough un- 
 heated building, called by beat of drum, the 
 devoted Puritans gathered in all seasons and 
 in all weathers to worship. 
 
 The church, as in other colonies, was the 
 center of the entire life of the community. All 
 houses were at first required to be built within 
 
138 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 a half mile of it. Here all public meetings 
 were held, and the outside walls were some- 
 times well nigh covered with notices of every 
 kind of meeting, orders of the town, lists of 
 town officers, laws against Sabbath breaking, 
 announcement of sales, rules about Indians, 
 marriage intentions, etc., and not infrequently 
 the heads of fresh slain wolves were nailed un- 
 der the windows to prove the bounty due the 
 successful hunter. 
 
 As the church was enlarged and rebuilt, it 
 was sometimes put to strange uses. In times 
 of abundant harvests the farmers were allowed 
 to store their surplus grain in the church loft. 
 And as there was no fire in the building it was 
 considered the safest place to store the gun 
 powder of the settlement, especially after the 
 burning of John Johnson's house when 18 bar- 
 rels were exploded. Sometimes it was stored 
 on the beams of the roof and later in the 
 steeple that was added to the building; so when 
 a thunder storm came up during the church 
 services the people sometimes took refuge in 
 the woods, fearing an explosion. 
 
 Close behind the church were the stocks and 
 pillory to strike terror to the hearts of evil 
 doers, for this church like its Puritan sisters 
 constituted the sole government of the settle- 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 139 
 
 merit. For thirty-five years non-members had 
 but sHght voice in civil affairs; none at first, 
 but the complaint was made that when non- 
 church members were tried for an offence they 
 were tried and judged by their adversaries, 
 and the Puritans conceded the justice of this 
 reproach, and soon allowed them to serve up- 
 on juries and to vote on matters of taxation. 
 
 It was the church that took note of every 
 offence against the peace and welfare of the 
 community, and dealt severe public punish- 
 ment upon the transgressor. The atmosphere 
 of every home was known and every short- 
 coming noted. New-comers were closely 
 scanned and if their lives were unrighteous 
 they were brought to open confession and re- 
 pentance or banished from the colony. No 
 faults were overlooked, yet all was for the re- 
 generation of the offender, and we find in one 
 place the stern hope expressed that the "full 
 proceedings of discipline will do more good 
 than their sin hath done hurt," and when we 
 consider the amount of moral courage required 
 to face a whole congregation and confess to a 
 lie, to drunkenness, to short measure, or to a 
 "passionate tongue" we are inclined to think 
 the hope was fulfilled! 
 
 Yet with all their severity these men sought 
 
140 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 only to interpret and execute God's will, and 
 that they saw his hand in every event is proved 
 by the records, which reveal so much of the 
 character as well as the life of the people. The 
 ministers were the historians of all events 
 thought important to be remembered, and their 
 records make up most of the history we have 
 of those early years. The Apostle EHot rec- 
 ords in 1643 "There happened this year by 
 God's providence a very dreadful fire in Rox- 
 bury" and after describing it and telling how 
 the wind seemed sure to carry it to other build- 
 ings he adds that "as a special mark of God's 
 favor the wind suddenly shifted," and the 
 houses were saved. 
 
 This record at another time interested me, 
 as we have considered the caterpillar pests a 
 thing of recent years. "This year we had a 
 strange hand of God upon us that upon a sud- 
 den innumerable arrays of caterpillars filled 
 the country over all the English plantations. 
 They would go across the highways by 1000" 
 and after telling of their destruction of the 
 grain, etc., he says, "Much prayer was made 
 to God about it, and with fasting at divers 
 places, and the Lord heard us, and on a sudden 
 took them all away again in all parts of the 
 country to the wonderment of all men. It 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 141 
 
 was of the Lord for it was done suddenly." 
 (Probably they did not notice the sudden ap- 
 pearance of many butterflies!) 
 
 And this record may interest some of us who 
 have been recently afflicted with "grippe." 
 
 "This year the Lord did lay upon us a great 
 sickness epidemical so that the great part of 
 the town were sick at once, whole famihes, 
 young and old. The manner of sickness is a 
 deep cold with some tincture of fever and much 
 malignity, and very dangerous if not well re- 
 garded by keeping a low diet and the body 
 warm and sweating. God's rods are teaching 
 us. Our epidemical sickness of colds doth 
 rightly by divine hand, tell us what our epi- 
 demical spiritual disease is. )Lord help us to 
 see it. This visitation of God was exceedingly 
 strange, as if He sent an angel forth, not with 
 sword to kill, but with rod to chastise." But 
 he sorrowfully adds: "Yet for all this, it is 
 the frequent complaint of many wise and godly 
 among us that little reformation is to be seen 
 of our chief wrath provoking sins, such as 
 pride, covetousness, animosities, personal ne- 
 glect of gospelizing the young, etc. Drinking 
 houses are multiplied, not lessened, and 
 Quakers, openly tolerated !" 
 
 The strict watch kept over the morals of 
 
142 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 trade is shown by such records as this: "The 
 wife of Wilham Webb, she followed baking, 
 and through her covetous mind she made light 
 weight, and after many admonitions flatly de- 
 nying that after she had weighed her dough 
 she *nimed' off bits from each loaf, which yet 
 four witnesses testified to be common, if not a 
 practice. For all which gross sins she was ex- 
 communicated, but afterward was reconciled 
 to the church, and lived christianly and dyed 
 comfortably." 
 
 With all this oversight of civil affairs con- 
 ceived to be a part of their religious duties 
 the work of the ministers was very ardu- 
 ous. Two services were held on Sunday with 
 a short interval between. Each consisted 
 of first the long prayer, usually about an hour 
 in length, then the reading and expounding of 
 a portion of the scriptures, a hymn lined and 
 sung as previously described, then the sermon, 
 frequently over an hour long, and lastly the 
 short prayer and blessing. One week-day lec- 
 ture was also held and frequent services of 
 fasting and humiliation or thanksgiving, 
 though they did not observe the regular fes- 
 tival days, as Christmas, or Easter; and 
 strangely enough the minister did not officiate 
 at weddings, nor was there any religious ser- 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 143 
 
 vice at the burial of the dead. When we add to 
 all these labors the recording of all events of 
 the settlement, we do not wonder at the custom 
 of settling two ministers over each church, one 
 called the minister and one the teacher, al- 
 though their offices do not seem to have been 
 very distinct, and evidently were held in equal 
 honor. 
 
 Two months after ordaining Thomas Weld 
 as their first pastor, the church called John 
 Eliot to be their teacher. And now we 
 come to the most picturesque and one of the 
 most lovable and godly men ever connected 
 with New England, John Eliot, known since 
 to all the Christian world as the Apostle to the 
 Indians. Edward Everett Hale once said 
 that he considered John Endicott and John 
 Eliot the two most remarkable men in the 
 history of New England. Dean Stanley, 
 when he visited America, said there were two 
 places he wished most of all to see : The spot 
 where the Pilgrims landed, and the place 
 where John Ehot preached to the Indians. 
 
 Volumes have been written of the life and 
 character of this man to whom the things of 
 the spirit were more real than the affairs of 
 every day life, yet his only genius was absolute 
 devotion to duty, and his one inquiry, "What 
 
144 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 is the will of the Master?" Of his early life 
 we know little, except that he was born in 
 England of Puritan parents and his early 
 years were as he says "seasoned with the 
 fear of God, the Word, and Prayer." He re- 
 ceived a classical education at Jesus College, 
 Cambridge, and after graduation taught for a 
 time in the school of Thomas Hooker, later the 
 first minister of the church at Cambridge; and 
 the beauty of the rehgious life of this family 
 so impressed young Eliot that he then and 
 there resolved to be a Christian minister even 
 though the only prospects of a Puritan min- 
 ister at that time were fines, imprisonments, 
 and persecutions. He soon left England, 
 however, and came to Massachusetts in 1631. 
 In the absence of Mr. Wilson in England, he 
 preached for a time for the First Church in 
 Boston, and so pleased that congregation that 
 they urged him to become their regular pastor ; 
 but he had promised friends in England that 
 if he were not settled when they came to New 
 England, he would be their minister. These 
 friends had now come and settled in Roxbury, 
 and that church now called him to the office of 
 teacher, which he accepted, though Gov. Win- 
 throp records that "the First Church labored 
 all they could both with him and with the Rox- 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 145 
 
 bury congregation, alleging their need of him, 
 yet he could not be diverted from accepting 
 the Roxbury call." Early in the fall of 1632, 
 he was ordained as teacher there, and for near- 
 ly sixty years served church and colony as few 
 men have ever had grace or zeal to do. So 
 universally was he revered that Cotton Mather 
 says: "There was a traditign among us that 
 the country could never perish while Eliot was 
 alive." He is usually called the first minister 
 of the church, for his ministry was so long and 
 so distinguished and unique that it quite over- 
 shadowed that of his colleague, Thomas Weld, 
 who was really the first to be ordained. Thomas 
 Weld was highly regarded in his day as 
 scholar and preacher, and especially did he 
 have a keen nose for heresies. Both he and 
 Ehot bore witness against Anne Hutchinson 
 at her trial for heresy, where she was convicted 
 and banished from the settlement. The mem- 
 bers of their church who supported her were 
 also excommunicated after vain endeavors to 
 convince them of their error. 
 
 After nine years Thomas Weld was sent on 
 some commission to England and never re- 
 turned. Samuel Danforth was chosen as 
 Eliot's second colleague, and for twenty-four 
 years they worked together in great harmony 
 
146 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 and affection. During their ministry the first 
 Sunday school in the New World was formed 
 in their church. Eliot's insistence upon edu- 
 cation was one of his noted chai^acteristics. 
 At one time when the ministers of all sur- 
 rounding churches were gathered to discuss 
 ways of overcoming disorders, Eliot exclaimed 
 in a most impassioned manner: "O for schools 
 everywhere among us! That every member 
 of this assembly may go home and procure 
 a good school in the town where he lives! 
 Lord grant before we die that we may see 
 a* good school in every plantation of this 
 country!" And Cotton Mather writes, "God 
 so blessed his endeavors that Roxbury could 
 not live quietly without a free school in the 
 town"; and so was founded in 1645 the noted 
 preparatory school now called the Roxbury 
 Latin School, only two schools in America pre- 
 ceding it the Boston Latin School and Har- 
 vard College, and from that day till this the 
 minister and two deacons of this church have 
 been among the trustees of that school. Eliot 
 also founded the Eliot School in Jamaica 
 Plain. John EHot, Thomas Weld and Rich- 
 ard Mather prepared a new version of the 
 Psalms, called the Bay Psalm Book. It was 
 not regarded as a great success and much good 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 147 
 
 natured ridicule was aimed at it. The authors 
 themselves seemed to be aware of some short- 
 comings, for the preface makes the dignified 
 statement that they "have attempted conscience 
 rather than elegance, and if the verses seem 
 not so smooth as could be wished, let it be con- 
 sidered that God's altars need no polishing." 
 
 Mather says: "He who would write of 
 Eliot must speak of his charity or say noth- 
 ing. He did not put off his charity to be put 
 in his last will, but was his own administrator. 
 His own hands were his executors, and his own 
 eyes his overseers." He constantly gave away 
 nearly the whole of his salary to the poor, the 
 sick and the Indians, and constantly im- 
 portuned his more wealthy parishioners to 
 share in his charities. The treasurer of the 
 church, knowing his propensities, once tied his 
 salary in a handkerchief making as many hard 
 knots as possible in the ends, hoping he would 
 reach home with it intact. But he stopped on 
 the way to visit a poor family where much sick- 
 ness was, and after fumbling vainly at the 
 knots he gave the whole parcel to the mother 
 saying, "Here my dear, take it, I believe the 
 Lord designs it all for you!" 
 
 Mrs. Eliot, whom he married soon after 
 coming to Massachusetts, was a remarkable 
 
148 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 woman who looked well after the ways of her 
 household ; and it was due to her thrift and in- 
 dustry that they were able to show such charity 
 and hospitality, for he knew so little about the 
 practical affairs of the family that he did not 
 recognize his own cattle before his door, when 
 his wife, to try him, asked whose they were. 
 One of their descendants says he believes his 
 ancestress must have been the first Christian 
 Scientist and nourished her family on mental 
 suggestion, since her husband with his charities 
 and generosities left her little else. 
 
 For all that, they were able to send their 
 four sons to Harvard College, and though 
 the fare of that home was extremely simple and 
 frugal, they were rarely without some guest, 
 frequently some poor or sick or aged person 
 without home of his own; and one act of hos- 
 pitality seems to me most noteworthy. Feel- 
 ing was very bitter, as you know, between the 
 Jesuits and the Puritans; each thought the 
 other's doctrine pernicious, yet a Jesuit priest 
 passing through New England was invited to 
 Eliot's house and even asked to make that his 
 headquarters for the winter! Could Puritan 
 hospitality go farther? 
 
 Eliot was a loving father, yet very strict 
 in the education of his children, according to 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 149 
 
 Cotton Mather, being "more careful to mend 
 an error in their hearts and hves than he would 
 have been any blemish of their bodies." Of 
 their six children only two survived the par- 
 ents, three sons dying in young manhood, one 
 of whom had been his assistant for some years. 
 Of this grief he makes this touching entry in 
 his diary: "I had hoped that my children 
 would serve God on earth, but if it is His wish 
 that they serve Him in Heaven, His will be 
 done." 
 
 But though the good works of this good man 
 are legion, it was his wonderful missionary 
 work among the Indians that won him fame 
 and honor throughout the Christian world. As 
 he saw and mingled with them in forest and 
 settlement the thought came to him that these 
 poor red men were children of God no less 
 than the English and should be brought to 
 know him. (And this when the English in 
 general thought the only good Indian a dead 
 one I) They were far too indolent to learn 
 the English language to an extent to make his 
 religious teaching possible, so he decided to 
 teach them in their own tongue. He believed, 
 as many then did, that the Indians belonged 
 to the lost tribes of Israel and that he should 
 find traces of Hebrew in their language. 
 
160 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 In his own words : "God first put into my 
 heart a compassion for their poor souls and 
 a desire to teach them to know Christ and 
 bring them into His kingdom. Then by God's 
 providence I found a pregnant witted young 
 Indian who had been a servant in an Enghsh 
 family and who pretty well understood our 
 language, better than he could speak it, and 
 well understood his own language, and hath a 
 clear pronunciation. Him I made my inter- 
 preter. By his help I translated the Com- 
 mandments; the Lord's prayer and many 
 texts of scripture, also I compiled exhortations 
 and prayers. I diligently marked the differ- 
 ence between their grammar and ours, and 
 when I found the way of them I would pursue 
 the word, noun or verb, through all the varia- 
 tions I could think of. And thus I came to 
 it. We must not sit still and wait for mir- 
 acles. Up and be doing and the Lord will be 
 with thee. Prayer and pains through faith in 
 Jesus Christ will do anything." He finally 
 decided to translate the whole Bible into the 
 Indian language. Think what an under- 
 taking it would be to translate the whole Bible 
 into French or German, with all our knowl- 
 edge of those languages, and the assistance 
 that would be available. But to acquire a 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 161 
 
 barbarous dialect, through conversation, to de- 
 velop its principles of etymology, to make it 
 express more noble thoughts than the race 
 ordinarily experienced, then to transcribe into 
 that speech both Old and New Testaments, 
 and then to supervise the printing, when only 
 one of the three printers understood a word 
 of the copy! This was the task this man set 
 himself to do, unaided in the wilderness, when 
 he was forty-two years old, and it took nine- 
 teen years of his life. It has been called the 
 most wonderful achievement in the history of 
 literature. Besides two editions of the Bible 
 he also published eight other books in the 
 Indian language. 
 
 But while performing this labor of love, 
 mostly at night by the light of tallow candles, 
 his endeavors to civilize the Indians were never 
 ceasing. For years he held an evening school 
 for the Indians in his own house, which stood 
 where the People's Band now stands, and by 
 day he worked among them, teaching them the 
 work and ways of civilized men accomplish- 
 ing wonderful results at his model town, Natick 
 and on his missionary journeys, taken every 
 other week, he travelled throughout the forests 
 of Massachusetts and southern New Hamp- 
 shire, teaching and preaching, under tree or in 
 
162 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 wigwam, nursing the sick, ministering to both 
 soul and body. No hardship of hunger, cold 
 or weariness could daunt him nor threat from 
 hostile chief turn him back. In a letter he 
 writes: "I have not been dry from the third 
 day to the sixth but wring out my stockings 
 at night and put them on again and so con- 
 tinue. But God steps in and helpsT Four 
 years after beginning the study of the lang- 
 uage, he first preached to the Indians in their 
 own tongue in Chief Wabon's wigwam in 
 Newton. A tablet now marks the spot. 
 After the short sermon which they entirely 
 understood they crowded around to ask him 
 questions. "How did the English know about 
 God, and the Indians not, if he were the father 
 of them all? Could Jesus understand prayers 
 in the Indian language? How came the world 
 to be full of people if all were once drowned? 
 How could there be an image of God if it were 
 forbidden in the commandments? May a 
 good man sin sometimes, or may he be a good 
 man and yet sin sometimes?" The Apostle's 
 answers are not recorded. 
 
 Of the extent of his labors in teaching the 
 Indians so that one third of all the tribes in 
 New England were his pupils; of their ven- 
 eration of him; of his sorrow when the Eng- 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 153 
 
 lish distrusted and persecuted his "praying 
 Indians" at the time of King Philip's war, 
 there is no time to tell here, but his love and 
 labor for them never ceased while his life last- 
 ed. On the day of his death he was found 
 teaching an Indian child the alphabet. But in 
 1690 this wonderful old man went to his rest 
 saying "all his labors had been but weak and 
 smalll" 
 
 Samuel Danforth had made possible the 
 Apostle Eliot's work with the Indians, by re- 
 lieving him as much as possible from the work 
 of the church, and this had so increased in 
 numbers that it was found necessary to build 
 a much larger building, which was completed 
 in 1674 and served its purpose until 1741. But 
 Mr. Danforth was never to preach in the new 
 building. He died only four days after the 
 church was ready for use. He had been a 
 most eloquent and scholarly preacher, and the 
 love of his people is well expressed in this bit 
 of eulogy in verse : 
 
 "Mighty in scripture, searching out the sense, 
 
 All the hard things of it unfolding thence, 
 
 He lived each truth, his faith, love, tenderness. 
 
 None can to the life as did his life express. 
 
 Our minds with gospel his rich lecture fed, 
 
 Luke and his life at once are finished. 
 
 Our new-built church now suffers, too, by this. 
 
 Larger its windows, but its lights are less.'* 
 
164 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 After the death of Samuel Danforth the 
 Apostle Eliot was the only minister of the 
 church for fourteen years; but in 1688, two 
 years before his death, to his great joy Rev. 
 Nehemiah Walter became his third colleague 
 and succeeded him in the ministry. The aged 
 Apostle himself ordained him as pastor and 
 teacher, thus uniting the offices which were 
 never afterwards separated. His ministry 
 was even longer than Eliot's, being over sixty 
 years, the continuation of the ministry of these 
 men extending over 120 years. Mr. Walter 
 was one of the most distinguished scholars and 
 preachers of New England, and Dr. Chauncy 
 thought him one of the most brilliant men in 
 America. 
 
 Dr. DeNormandie says: "There is prob- 
 ably no church in New England where the 
 standard of scholarly and pulpit gifts has been 
 so high, and none which has had such a pro- 
 portion of acknowledged leaders in the com- 
 munity." 
 
 Probably no church either has had the min- 
 istry of so few men extend over so long a 
 period. In the 285 years but twelve men have 
 been ministers of this church' and the contin- 
 uous ministry of eight men covers the entire 
 history of the church. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 165 
 
 During Walter's long ministry the popula- 
 tion of the town had so increased that it be- 
 came necessary to have a church in the ex- 
 treme western portion of the town. The First 
 Church was won to reluctant consent and in 
 1712 was formed the Second Society of Rox- 
 bury, which a century and a half later became 
 famous as the Theodore Parker Church, and 
 later in 1769 from this society and the parent 
 church was formed The First Congregational 
 Church of Jamaica Plain, the Middle Society. 
 
 Thomas Walter, the gifted son of Rev. 
 Nehemiah, was ordained minister of the First 
 Church in 1718 when he was but twenty-two 
 years old and assisted his father ably for six 
 years, when his brilliant career was cut off by 
 his death, of consumption. Of the genius and 
 bright promise of this young man many emi- 
 nent men of that day have written. Cotton 
 Mather and Dr. Chauncy speak in his praise in 
 the most superlative terms, and one of his ser- 
 mons has been pronounced "the most beautiful 
 of all those handed down to us from the 
 fathers." But in the First Church he is es- 
 pecially remembered for his improvement of 
 the singing of the congregation by introducing 
 to them the art of singing by note. It is said 
 he was "grieved beyond measure and annoyed 
 
166 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 as well by the performances in the sanctuary" 
 which he said "sounded hke 500 different tunes 
 roared out at once with so little attention paid 
 to time that often they were one or two words 
 apart producing noises so hideous as to be be- 
 yond expression." He therefore pubhshed a 
 book entitled "The Grounds and Rules of 
 Singing Explained or an Introduction to the 
 Art of Singing by Note. Fitted to the Mean- 
 est Capacity." And no doubt it was warmly 
 welcomed. 
 
 The second church building had undergone 
 many changes to fit it to the needs of the grow- 
 ing congregation. Galleries had been added 
 with rear seats elevated. Pews too had taken 
 the place of seats "except where the boys do 
 sit." The boys seems to have been a prob- 
 lem from the first, for the records bear sev- 
 eral complaints of them. When the galleries 
 were built they were seated in one end, but 
 soon those sitting below complained they were 
 unable to worship for the disturbance the boys 
 did make, and in 1730 the vote is recorded that 
 "boys under fourteen years of age shall be re- 
 strained from going into the galleries in time 
 of worship." When the first square pews were 
 built the seats folded up when the congrega- 
 tion rose to pray, and complaint is made that 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 157 
 
 the boys slammed down the seats at the Amen. 
 It would seem that the Puritan laddies were 
 not so very different from the present day 
 variety; and probably confirmed their elders 
 in the belief in original sin. 
 
 In 1741 a much larger church was erected, 
 but was enjoyed only a short time, for three 
 years later it was burned. The fire was 
 thought to have been caused by an overheated 
 foot stove, forgotten and left in a pew, and 
 some thought it a judgment of God upon the 
 love of ease and luxury that was creeping into 
 the church; for until the bringing in of foot 
 stoves the church had always been entirely 
 without heat, though some had been in the 
 habit of taking their dogs to church and resting 
 their feet upon them through the long services. 
 It was not until 1820 in the present church 
 that stoves were first used, though attempts to 
 introduce them had been made several years 
 before that time. The congregation wor- 
 shipped in the brick schoolhouse, close by, until 
 a new and fourth building on the same plan 
 and site of the preceding one was ready for 
 occupancy in 1746. This was the church that 
 was to witness and also bear its part in the 
 stormy days of the Revolution. The new 
 church was adorned by a fine porch, a spire 
 
158 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 for the belfry, a bell cast by Paul Revere, and 
 a handsome clock, and two front pews were 
 set apart as free pews for the poor of the par- 
 ish, or sometimes for the use of guests. Rev. 
 Nehemiah Walter died in 1750 and was suc- 
 ceeded by Oliver Peabody. He lived only 
 eighteen months but built a parsonage which 
 was used by succeeding ministers for nearly a 
 century and is still standing, known as the 
 Charles K. Dillaway house. 
 
 Amos Adams, the patriot preacher, came 
 next. He was an eloquent preacher and well 
 loved by his people for his sterling virtues, 
 though they sometimes found his plain speak- 
 ing a little trying, for he told them of their 
 sins with the utmost frankness and without 
 fear or favor. He was scribe of the conven- 
 tion of ministers which met in 1775 and recom- 
 mended the people to take up arms. No pub- 
 lic meetings could be held in the church dur- 
 ing most of the years 1775 and 1776, for dur- 
 ing the siege of Boston it was a constant tar- 
 get for the British cannon and the steeple was 
 shattered by cannon balls and the church 
 pierced in several places elsewhere. 
 
 The pews and bell and communion plate 
 were removed for safety and the building used 
 as a signal station by the Continental troops. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 169 
 
 The lawn in front of the church was used as a 
 camping ground for our forces, and here 
 Washington reviewed the troops, while the par- 
 sonage was used as headquarters for General 
 Thomas, who from its upper windows watched 
 the battle of Bunker Hill. Most of the con- 
 gregation fled to various parts of the country 
 and Pastor Adams removed his family to some 
 distance, but he stayed on, gathering the little 
 remnant of his flock together every Sunday in 
 front of the church and preaching to them and 
 to the soldiers till his death in the fall of 1775, 
 which was the result of exposure in preaching 
 in the open air. At the time of his death he 
 was chaplain of the 9th Continental Regiment 
 of 900 men. 
 
 The Boston Gazette in giving notice of his 
 death said: "His people refuse to be com- 
 forted." 
 
 Throughout the rest of the troubled Revolu- 
 tionary days the chin-ch had no settled pastor 
 until Rev. Elipalet Porter was called to be 
 their minister in 1782, which office he filled for 
 57 years. He was a thorough scholar and a 
 quiet but impressive preacher; never bigoted 
 nor dogmatic, and avoiding controversy when- 
 ever possible. But as pastor and citizen he 
 was pre-eminent, and widely loved and hon- 
 
160 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 ored. He held many offices of public trust and 
 was an Overseer of Harvard College. It was 
 during his ministry that the great change in 
 Theology swept over New England, and a fol- 
 lower of Channing, he quietly led his church 
 into the Liberal Faith, it is said "with hardly a 
 dissenting voice." A sermon he preached in 
 1810 before the Annual Convention of Congre- 
 gational Ministers in Boston roused much ex- 
 citement by its bold defence of the principles 
 of Liberalism and seemed to crystalhze the new 
 beliefs that had been growing for some years 
 in his church, and from that time the church 
 was considered Unitarian. 
 
 In that sermon he names the disputed 
 articles of faith, the doctrines of total 
 depravity, original sin, of the Trinity in Unity, 
 the absolute Diety of Christ, eternal punish- 
 ment of the wicked, etc., and said: "I cannot 
 place my finger on any one article in the list 
 of doctrines mentioned, the behef or rejection 
 of which I consider as essential to Christian 
 faith or character. I believe that an innum- 
 erable company of Christians who never heard 
 of these articles, or who are divided in their 
 opinions respecting them, have fallen asleep in 
 Jesus, and innumerable of the same description 
 are following after." 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 161 
 
 In 1830, three years before the death of Dr. 
 Porter, Dr. George Putnam was ordained as- 
 sociate pastor. 
 
 But in the meantime it had been found de- 
 sirable to build a new church building, and in 
 1804 the present and fifth building was com- 
 pleted. .^ 
 
 Tradition says that Bulfinch, the architect 
 of the State House, had something to do with 
 the plans, but whether or not that is true, the 
 result was one of the most beautiful meeting- 
 houses in New England. It has a seating 
 capacity of about 1000. Simplicity is its most 
 striking feature. It has no stained glass win- 
 dows, but memorial tablets to several of its 
 ministers and noted laymen have been placed 
 upon the walls, and the Apostle Eliot's chair 
 stands beneath the pulpit. I can do no better 
 than to quote Dr. DeNormandie's description 
 of it: "Its fine proportions deceive one as to 
 its great size, while its large, roomy, and com- 
 fortable pews, its gracefully hung and spacious 
 galleries, its perfect acoustic properties, and 
 the simplicity of its whole finish, together with 
 the associations of over a hundred years, make 
 every one feel at once that this is a church of 
 the living God, fragrant with the sentiment of 
 worship for 100 years, and its massive timbers 
 
162 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 give promise of fulfilling the purposes of wor- 
 ship for another century." Such slight re- 
 modelhng as has been found necessary has been 
 done with such regard for its beauty of pro- 
 portions that the perfect harmony of the whole 
 has not been disturbed. 
 
 Yet there was some objection at the time 
 to the building of so elegant a church, as this 
 entry from a private diary shows: "April 18, 
 1803. This day the meeting-house of the First 
 Parish of this town was begun to be torn down. 
 It was not half worn out and might have been 
 repaired with a saving of $10,000 to the par- 
 ish. Whether every generation grows wiser, 
 it is evident they grow more fashionable and 
 extravagant." But when the pews in the new 
 church were sold, a surplus of $8,000 was 
 divided among the tax payers of the parish, 
 and they have never been in debt since, for the 
 parish has always been a wealthy one. Even 
 in the days of the Apostle EHot we find the 
 statement "The people of Roxbury are all very 
 rich!" and through all its history the church 
 has been noted for its generous contributions 
 to worthy causes. 
 
 Dr. Putnam's ministry of 48 years was one 
 of the most remarkable of all. It was said 
 he was unsurpassed and hardly equalled for 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 163 
 
 impressive eloquence by any clergyman in New 
 England. Many living to-day bear testimony 
 to the noble life and teaching of this man. 
 
 John Graham Brooks was his colleague and 
 successor from 1875 to 1882, when he resigned 
 to study sociology and later became the noted 
 lecturer on economic subjects. 
 
 In 1883 James DeNormandie, the present 
 pastor, was ordained minister of that church, 
 James Freeman Clarke preaching the ordina- 
 tion sermon, and Edward Everett Hale giving 
 the address to people and pastor. Dr. De- 
 Normandie is too well known and loved among 
 Bostonians to need more than brief mention 
 here. He was the dear friend of Dr. Ames 
 and Edward Everett Hale. (Dr. Hale always 
 occupied a pew there when he attended 
 church.) As pastor, preacher, scholar, author, 
 and historian he has added lustre to the dis- 
 tinguished line of ministers of that church and 
 no predecessor has ever been better loved by 
 his people. 
 
 The surroundings of this spot have greatly 
 changed during the last generation, and a 
 large proportion of the congregation have re- 
 moved to towns too distant to permit of more 
 than infrequent attendance at church services, 
 yet their allegiance to this venerated church 
 
164 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 never wavers and they are always responsive 
 to every need and interest. What its work in 
 the future will be is perhaps not yet de- 
 termined, yet no surrounding population ever 
 had more need of its ideals and its ministry 
 than those that now so closely press around its 
 borders, and that it will find ways of service 
 to meet the new conditions they who know its 
 history and ideals cannot doubt. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 165 
 
 FIRST PARISH, WEST ROXBURY 
 
 [Theodore Parker^s Church] 
 
 On the corner of Centre and Church Streets, 
 West Roxbury, there stood until a few years 
 ago a deserted meeting-house. It was hal- 
 lowed ground and a landmark in the olden 
 times to travellers passing in the coach from 
 Providence and Dedham. This was the sec- 
 ond meeting-house built by the First Parish of 
 West Roxbury. The history of this church is 
 quite as distinguished as those we have heard 
 of before this winter, and the men who gath- 
 ered here took a prominent part in laying the 
 nation's foundations. 
 
 In 1776 the Declaration of Independence 
 was read from the pulpit, and the people who 
 heard it helped to make it a reality. For some 
 months before, the rumbling of the guns on 
 Roxbury Heights that guarded the "Neck" 
 was heard from the steps of this house. Back 
 of Weld Hill, nearby, was the spot selected 
 by Washington for a rallying place in case of 
 defeat; it commanded the road to Dedham and 
 the supplies for the Continental Army about 
 Boston. 
 
 Later, from 1836 to 1846, other declarations 
 of independence, those of human reason and 
 
166 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 conscience, were preached here by a young 
 man named Theodore Parker. As long as the 
 chm*ch was used, strangers came from long 
 distances to sit in quiet meditation and cherish 
 the memories connected with Mr. Parker's 
 ministry. The First Parish was born in free- 
 dom and nurtured in its love. The first con- 
 sideration of the Puritans after landing was to 
 gather a meeting and build a church, and to 
 the honor of Roxbury, almost the next was to 
 build the first pubHc school, afterwards the 
 Boys' Latin School. After gathering for a 
 time with a meeting established in Dorchester, 
 the First Church of Roxbury was built in 1632 
 with Thomas Weld minister. This is the 
 Mother Church from which the "Second 
 Church of Christ" in Roxbury, afterwards the 
 "First Parish," West Roxbury, sprang. 
 
 People settled fast, and far and wide spread 
 the bounds of Rocksborough, westerly, to 
 Jamaica End or Spring Street, along the Ded- 
 ham highway. The roads were bad, some- 
 times in winter almost impassable, and dis- 
 tances so great that it was well-nigh impos- 
 sible for settlers to get to meeting, and yet it 
 was the bread of life to these simple God- 
 loving people, and the pillory and stocks were 
 in evidence to keep them to their duty. At a 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 167 
 
 time when men frequently lost their lives in 
 going from Boston to Roxbury by the "Neck" 
 (Indians lurked behind the trees), this was 
 very serious; still to the sound of drum and 
 shell they gathered, though many people lived 
 too far off to hear this call. 
 
 From early times the people of Roxbury 
 were noted for industry and thrift. It is said 
 that "In the room of dismal swamps they have 
 goodly fruit trees, beautiful fields and gardens, 
 a herd of cows, oxen and other young cattle of 
 that kind, about 350." It is written in a book 
 published in London in 1639 that "Boston is a 
 town of very pleasant situation, two miles 
 northeast of Rocksborough," and of Rocks- 
 borough it says: "It is well wooded, a fine and 
 handsome country town, the inhabitants all be- 
 ing very rich." 
 
 At last, in 1706, Joseph Weld and forty- 
 four others in West Roxbury petitioned the 
 General Court to be made into a separate pre- 
 cinct, freed from taxes to the Roxbury Parish, 
 and for aid to build a meeting-house. This 
 was not granted, so these men built a crude 
 house themselves in what is now Roslindale, 
 back of Green Hill; the remains of the old 
 cemetery can still be seen. A covenant was 
 drawn up, more a statement of purpose than 
 
168 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 a creed, pledging themselves to strive for 
 righteousness and a prayer for help to faith- 
 fully watch over each other's souls, and a call 
 for all to join and make these things a reality 
 in this west-end of Roxbury called Spring 
 Street. It is little wonder that a church 
 founded upon it should listen with joy to the 
 strong words of the 19th century Prophet. 
 
 The records state that this Second Church 
 was "gathered by Nehemiah Walter, Nov. 2nd, 
 1712," so the separation from the parent 
 church was finally made in good will, and on 
 November 26th the first minister, Ebenezer 
 Thayer, was installed. The records are very 
 meagre, but written by Mr. Thayer, who fur- 
 nished this first record book "for the use of ye 
 church in the west end of Roxbury." Many 
 are the entries of birth, baptism, marriage and 
 death, and of wrongdoers confessing publicly 
 in the broad aisle. After eighteen years Mr. 
 Thayer died, and a unanimous vote called Rev. 
 Nathaniel Walter to them. He was the son 
 of Nehemiah, who gathered the church, and of 
 Sarah, daughter of Increase Mather; he was 
 with the parish forty-two years, honored and 
 beloved. 
 
 The notes of the Parish and Precinct meet- 
 ings are interesting, for both were held in the 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 169 
 
 church, church and state being one. It was a 
 great rallying place where everything was 
 talked over and decided. The amount of the 
 minister's salary is noted and how it should be 
 levied, also arrangements for providing his 
 firewood. The vote of forty-five pounds to 
 defray expenses of Mr. Walter's ordination 
 festivities and ten pounds tax "for to anchor 
 the meeting house, every one to contribute and 
 mark his money and have credit therefor in 
 this rate." Mr. Walter had a long illness and 
 year after year the records show how money 
 was voted to help their Rev. Pastor supply his 
 pulpit in his sickness; finally Rev. Thomas 
 Abbott was made colleague. In 1773 the rec- 
 ords report that "this day the church abolish 
 ye ancient custom of persons making confes- 
 sion in ye broad aisle,'' and again, "Ye old ver- 
 sion of the psalms was laid aside and Dr. 
 Watts' hymns were established." 
 
 The community grew rapidly and people in 
 Jamaica Plain were so far from the Walter 
 Street Church that a Third Church of Christ 
 in Roxbury was organized until last July 
 Rev. Charles F. Dole's parish and the first 
 child of the Second Church. 
 
 For sixty-one years the people had used this 
 church on Walter Street, but though en- 
 
170 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 larged and repaired it had outgrown its needs 
 so in 1773 after a seven years' debate for and 
 against rebuilding it was voted "To pull down 
 the old meeting-house and use as much of the 
 same as will answer toward building a new 
 one." This second building on the corner of 
 Centre and Church Streets, West Roxbury, 
 was built mostly by the people themselves. It 
 was square and painted white but had no 
 steeple until remodelled in 1821 when a beauti- 
 ful spire was added and in this form it re- 
 mained until pulled down when scarred by fire 
 many years after Parker's day. The pews 
 were sold outright and transmitted by will 
 from generation to generation. The first wall 
 pew sold for sixty pounds to the highest tax 
 payer, reducing twenty shillings on each until 
 all were sold; those in the body of the church 
 started at thirty pounds reducing five shillings 
 on each until sold; a few seats were reserved 
 for the poor and for colored members. 
 
 It was voted that those people who wished 
 to build stables back of the house have liberty 
 to build; they were soon built by a committee 
 of twenty-five men who also levelled the earth 
 about the church. 
 
 This second church was built in stirring 
 times and the people who learned freedom in 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 171 
 
 the precinct meetings took active part in mend- 
 ing the evil times, along with Lexington, Con- 
 cord and Dedham. The men of Roxbury 
 answered to the call of Samuel Adams "that a 
 love of liberty and a zeal to support it may en- 
 kindle in every town." The church became a 
 center for talk and action, political and re- 
 ligious, its members joined the army and there 
 is a tradition that a company of Colonial 
 troops marched down the broad aisle one day 
 to receive the blessing of the pastor before 
 joining Washington's army. 
 
 After the tea-party in Boston Harbor the 
 mothers of West Roxbury did well not to in- 
 quire too closely where their boys had been 
 that night. Absolute quiet reigned, until late 
 at night the men returned and brought the 
 stirring news. 
 
 The Declaration of Independence is written 
 in the faded old record book and it was read 
 from the pulpit one Sabbath to a silent con- 
 gregation. Many of the men's seats were va- 
 cant, a cloud of uncertainty hung over the 
 little church, for both men and women knew 
 what that Declaration meant to those they 
 loved, still they never wavered but remained 
 steadfast, full of courage. 
 
 On January 26th, 1776, while recruits were 
 
172 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 heard passing by the meeting-house, in pre- 
 cinct meeting regularly assembled, this vote 
 was gravely passed, "As it had been the prac- 
 tise for many years, after the Sacrament of 
 the Lord's Supper was administered, for the 
 remainder of the wine to be used by any per- 
 son present and as it answers no good end and 
 as that article is scarce and dear the church 
 voted that no more wine should be given after 
 Sacrament." After a battle of three years' 
 duration between the singers and some mem- 
 bers of the congregation, the singers won and 
 the custom of deaconing the psalms was given 
 up forever in that church. The account is 
 very amusing for when Brother after Brother 
 refused to tune the psalm a committee was 
 appointed to find a member who would and it 
 reported they found nobody at home where 
 they called! 
 
 In George Whitney's ministry a new and 
 more liberal covenant was adopted signed by 
 only five persons, one his wife, still it led the 
 way one more step towards preparing the 
 people for the next preacher. 
 
 Now begins the richest period of this parish 
 which added so greatly to its already illustrious 
 fame, the memory of which is a source of pride 
 and joy to all succeeding ministers and con- 
 
CHURCHES OP GREATER BOSTON 173 
 
 gregations, namely the nine years' pastorate of 
 Theodore Parker. In 1836 this young man, 
 fresh from the Harvard Divinity School, was 
 preaching here and there, waiting for a call. 
 He was noted for his high intellectual attain- 
 ments, a wide range of knowledge, as a master 
 of twenty languages and for being an inveter- 
 ate student and reader. Also his liberal the- 
 ology and a leaning towards transcendentalism 
 (a very obnoxious and little imderstood term 
 at the time) was causing alarm among the 
 orthodox so it is little wonder that he was a 
 year waiting for a settled pulpit. Meanwhile 
 he preached in many towns and was married 
 to Miss Lydia Cabot when in a very uncertain 
 state as to what salary he would have where- 
 with to support her. 
 
 Finally a call came from the Spring Street 
 Society of West Roxbury on May 23rd, 1837, 
 where he had made an excellent impression 
 several times and he gladly accepted on a salary 
 of six hundred dollars, less than he was of- 
 fered at two other places. With his friend. Dr. 
 Francis, and the Boston and Cambridge book- 
 stores within walking distance and his great 
 love of country life, this choice was a happy 
 one. The ordination ceremony on June 21st 
 of that year brought together an eminent set 
 
174 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 of men. Dr. Francis preached the sermon, 
 Henry Ware, Jr., offered prayer, Caleb Stet- 
 son delivered the charge, George Ripley of 
 Brook Farm fame gave the right hand of fel- 
 lowship and John Pierpont and John S. 
 Dwight each furnished a poem. No one then 
 dreamed how eventful the next nine years 
 were to prove to Mr. Parker. 
 
 Mr. Parker says himself "on the longest 
 day of 1837 I was ordained minister of the 
 Unitarian Church and congregation at West 
 Roxbury, a little village near Boston, one of 
 the smallest societies in New England, where 
 I found men and women whose friendship is 
 still dear and instructive. I soon became well 
 acquainted with all in the little parish, where 
 I found some men of rare enlightenment, some 
 truly generous and noble souls. I knew the 
 characters of all and the thoughts of such as 
 had them. I took great pains with the com- 
 position of my sermons, they were never out 
 of my mind. I had an intense delight in writ- 
 ing and preaching, but I was a learner quite 
 as much as a preacher and was feeling my way 
 forward and upward with one hand while I 
 tried to lead men with the other. The simple 
 life of the farmers, mechanics and milk- 
 men about me, of its own accord, turned into 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 175 
 
 a sort of poetry and reappeared in the sermons, 
 as the green woods, not far off, looked in at the 
 windows of the meeting-house." 
 
 Aaron D. Weld was a friend and church 
 member and the parish house a mile from the 
 church was next to the home of a noted friend 
 and parishioner, Mr. George R. Russell, while 
 Mr. Francis Shaw lived next, so at once the 
 minister was in the midst of culture and warm 
 friends, these houses being always open to 
 him. 
 
 Mr. Parker visited freely among his people, 
 who were mostly farmers whom he loved (had 
 he not worked often seventeen hours a day on 
 his father's farm in Lexington?), and he went 
 as gladly to visit in a kitchen as in a parlor. 
 
 The West Roxbury life was a happy one for 
 Mr. Parker and he enjoyed his home with his 
 dear wife and welcomed friends to it. Though 
 he grieved for having no children of his own, 
 he enjoyed his friends' little ones and was 
 never too busy to play with them, and one of 
 these no doubt was the little Robert Gould 
 Shaw, dear to all our hearts. 
 
 All nature's manifestations were a soothing 
 joy to Mr. Parker; he took long walks, knew 
 each tree and every flower's haunt and gath- 
 ered them most carefully. Mr. Ripley often 
 
176 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 joined in these walks, discussing with him the 
 important problems of life, while drinking in 
 health and inspiration from the beautiful 
 country about them. 
 
 I had the privilege of seeing the first old yel- 
 low record book, tender with age but written 
 with black ink easy to read, also Mr. Parker's 
 record book in which he wrote a new covenant 
 more in sympathy with his thought. "We 
 whose names are written underneath this con- 
 stitute ourselves members of the Christian 
 Church and unite for the purpose of promoting 
 Goodness and Purity amongst ourselves and 
 others." A long list of signatures follows. 
 
 An exact account of his preachings and ex- 
 changes are recorded, his exchanges amount- 
 ing some years to over fifty, but gradually 
 falling to fourteen, and then suddenly to none 
 after his South Boston sermon. Against 
 some names are written "Blank fell back, so 
 and so fell back," that is, cancelled the ex- 
 change. 
 
 On these Sundays he poured out his heart 
 to his people. He said, "I preach abundant 
 heresies, none calling me to account therefor, 
 but men's faces looking like fires new stirred 
 thereat.*' 
 
 Side by side with the farmers, sat the Brook 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 1T7 
 
 Farmers, who lived two miles distant and 
 walked to the "Street" (Centre St.) on those 
 rare Sunday mornings to listen to this prophet 
 of a new religion. There were George Ripley, 
 his wife and sister, Charles A. Dana, George 
 Wilham Curtis, and his brother Burrill, John 
 Orvis, Margaret Fuller when visiting at the 
 farm, John S. D wight with his sisters and 
 many others. Louisa Alcott walked there 
 from Roxbury Crossing and back to hear her 
 friend Parker preach. A letter from my 
 mother, Mary Ann Dwight, to a friend about 
 one of the sermons shows how deeply one 
 listener was affected by it. (Mr. Parker was 
 on the eve of leaving for a year to regain his 
 health in Europe.) 
 
 "No doubt it was lovely at the craggs 
 (Hingham) last Sabbath, and had we been 
 there we might have gone home the richer in 
 spirit, yet I would not have exchanged my 
 seat in Parker's pleasant httle church even for 
 the craggs and communion in sympathy with 
 thee, with nature, and nature's God. I do not 
 say I never would, but the last words for some 
 long time, of a person whose preaching has in- 
 terested me so deeply and whose character as 
 manifested by it more deeply still, seem in- 
 valuable and I rejoice that I am privileged to 
 
178 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 hear them. Oh that you were here today, that 
 all lovers of truth were here to be encouraged 
 and edified, still more that all lovers of lies 
 were here to be rebuked and shamed, and to 
 catch at least one glimpse into the hfe of a 
 noble and true man. Today has been a trying 
 time for Parker and his people. It has been 
 their last meeting for a year and who knows 
 what a year may bring forth? This afternoon 
 the church was crowded, every pew, nook and 
 corner, and faces looked in at the doors. We 
 went down to the church very early and found 
 it nearly filled and Aunt Corey's pew occu- 
 pied ; many had come from neighboring towns 
 and some from a distance. Mr. Parker had 
 two texts, the first, *I have not refused to 
 preach the whole counsel of God'; the second, 
 * Though absent in the body I will be present 
 in the spirit.' The sermon was long, giving a 
 full and faithful account of his ministry from 
 the beginning. How clear, how earnest and 
 how eloquent. Never was he bolder, he had 
 made a clean breast of it and thrown the whole 
 burden off his soul. He explained the aim of 
 his ministry, the plan he had pursued and 
 spoke of the consequences, spoke of the diffi- 
 culties that had assailed him, told what advice 
 had been given him by friends, what by some 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 179 
 
 of the clergy, how he had hesitated long before 
 preaching some of his sermons, not through 
 fear of having *the clergy about his ears' but 
 through fear of doing his people an injury by 
 wounding their prejudices. But it would be 
 absurd for me to attempt to tell you in a letter 
 of a single sheet even an outline of his dis- 
 course but I think it will surely be printed, 
 for it will be interesting to the public by an- 
 swering a question many are asking *How 
 does he manage in his society?' 'How happens 
 it that he is liked there?' He told the people 
 that if they had fallen away from him, as he 
 feared they might, after the outcry about the 
 South Boston sermon, his plan would have 
 been to get any work he could for eight months 
 in the year, and preach the remaining four, 
 the word that burnt in his soul, where he could 
 find a place, in a hall, a schoolhouse, a barn. In 
 regard to the charge brought against him of 
 saying that ministers preach one thing in the 
 pulpit and believe another in their closets, he 
 said that he had never, in making this remark 
 in a public discourse, alluded to any individual. 
 He charged a young man not to do so, and in 
 his sermon on the Pharisee, he rebuked any- 
 one who did so whether in that pulpit, in his 
 own person, or in any other pulpit, but he 
 
180 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 would now say, openly and in public, that 
 some ministers had told him that they did 
 this and he said this advisedly, knowing what 
 he said. If those ministers have any feeling 
 must they not hide their heads? How fer- 
 vently he thanked the people for their charity 
 and friendliness; what deep and enduring 
 gratitude in his words and countenance! No 
 wonder many were melted to tears and sobs 
 were heard even from men. But enough, or 
 rather too much, because I cannot tell all. The 
 people have addressed Mr. Parker a letter 
 which was given him after meeting today, ex- 
 pressive of their friendship and esteem and 
 gratitude, wishing him health, happiness and 
 a safe return. It is one of the most heart- 
 felt things ever done and must therefore be 
 very gratifying to him. I believe everybody 
 would sign it twice over if it would do any 
 good. Will you have more of Mr. Parker? 
 Why you say I can't help myself, I suppose I 
 must. Know then that his sermon this fore- 
 noon was one of exceeding beauty, rich in 
 thought and expression and it had a close ap- 
 plication to each listener. The joys of Jesus 
 formed his subject or the joys and comforts 
 of religion as applied to all of us. 
 
 "(Signed) Mary Ann." 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 181 
 
 Mr. Higginson says "Mr. Parker has a 
 heart as tender as a woman's, it was often torn 
 with love and compassion while smiting with 
 terrific force at the evils and falseness of 
 Church and Society, he spoke only from a sense 
 of duty, because he must." He loved his 
 friends and their good opinion, but like his 
 friend Charles Sumner and no less than he, he 
 suffered ostracism and abuse for the sake of his 
 conscience. The world knows Theodore 
 Parker, the great p/eacher, reformer, de- 
 nouncer of unrighteousness, only a chosen few 
 knew the man, companion, comforter, friend 
 and pastor. He was sought by many in great 
 trouble; they never left him without being 
 comforted and helped spiritually and mate- 
 rially. In the midst of the most strenuous 
 work he was never sought in vain by any needy 
 person of whatever race or social standing. 
 
 My uncle, John S. Dwight, and Mr. Parker 
 were classmates in the Divinity School and in- 
 timate friends together with WiUiam Silsbee, 
 Samuel Andrews, George ElUs, with Christo- 
 pher Cranch and Charles T. Brooks of the 
 senior class. Parker was very studious but he 
 also had plenty of fun for once when dis- 
 turbed in his studies by Dwight and Cranch 
 playing on the flute and piano he planned re- 
 
182 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 venge. They were interrupted by a fearful 
 noise and on opening the door found Parker 
 with a sawhorse and saw from the cellar, saw- 
 ing wood, and he kept at it until he silenced 
 them. 
 
 Mr. Parker once requested Mr. Dwight to 
 tell him the faults he noticed in his character 
 and 1 will read his reply which is certainly in- 
 teresting (coming from a young man) and 
 shows keen discrimination. Mr. Parker had 
 done Mr. Dwight a similar service some time 
 before : 
 
 "I may hint to you something about your 
 character as I would to myself about my own, 
 rather in the way of cautious suspicion than in 
 passing any actual judgment. I should be 
 unworthy of the confidence you have reposed 
 in me if I did not speak to you openly. I 
 always thought you had faults, but if I try 
 to touch them they slip away. Therefore 
 let me commence systematically; and first, 
 whatever may be your habitual principles, mo- 
 tives, tendencies, passions, you do not fail at 
 all in the resolution to act them out. What- 
 ever you wish, you will, and what you will you 
 effect. This I have admired in you, perhaps 
 because I am so passive. But yet even this 
 virtue you carry to a degree which is disagree- 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 183 
 
 able to me. I don't like to see a man have too 
 much will : It mars the beauty of nature. You 
 seem as the phrenologist said, 'goaded on.' 
 Your life seems a succession of convulsive ef- 
 forts, and the only wonder to me is that they 
 don't exhaust you. You continually recover 
 and launch forth again. This circumstance 
 makes me somewhat distrust my own judgment 
 about this trait. Still it is painful for me to 
 see a being whom I respect and love anything 
 but calm. I like not impetuosity, except that 
 of unconscious impulse. You distrust those 
 who are unlike yourself. You fancy them re- 
 straints upon you and then your faith in your 
 own energies and ideas speaks out in a tone 
 of almost bitter contempt for the world and 
 those who do not think and feel as you do. Yon 
 feel that such sentiments as you cherish ought 
 to triumph, but you find the world courting 
 men who pursue inferior aims. Coupled with 
 your high ideal is an impatient wish to see it 
 immediately realized, two things which don't 
 go well together; for the one prompts you to 
 love, the other soured by necessary disappoint- 
 ments, prompts to hate, at least contempt. 
 
 I think your love of learning is a passion, 
 that it injures your mind by converting in- 
 sensibly what is originally a pure thirst for 
 
184 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 truth into a greedy, avaricious, jealous striving 
 not merely to know, but to get all there is 
 known. Don't you often turn aside from your 
 own reflection from the fear of losing what an- 
 other has said or written on the subject? 
 Have you not too much of a mania for all 
 printed things, as if books were the symbols 
 of that truth to which the student aspires? 
 You work, you read, you think in a hurry, for 
 fear of not getting all. Tell me if I conjec- 
 ture wrongly, and pardon this weak but sin- 
 cere attempt to answer your questions. Your 
 friend and brother." 
 
 The life in West Roxbury was a good thing 
 for Mr. Parker and in view of all the stornf 
 that was to follow the stand his church took, 
 the truth and faith they showed him softened 
 his suffering. 
 
 Parker had been preaching a year in West 
 Roxbury when Emerson gave his Divinity 
 School address; in his journal for that day, 
 July 5th, 1838, he wrote: "After preaching, 
 Sunday-schooling and teachers' meeting, wife 
 and I went to hear the valedictory sermon by 
 Mr. Emerson in Cambridge. In this he sur- 
 passed himself as much as he surpasses others 
 in a general way. I shall give no extract, so 
 beautiful, so just, so true and terribly sublime 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 185 
 
 was his picture of the faults of the Church in 
 its present position. My soul is roused and this 
 week I shall write the long meditated sermon 
 on the state of the Church and the duties of 
 these times." 
 
 After Parker preached the South Boston 
 sermon on "The Transient and Permanent in 
 Christianity" the great contention of which was 
 that Christianity as an absolute religion shines 
 by its own light, is its own evidence and needs 
 no miraculous support, the storm of abuse and 
 criticism broke out, with a few notable excep- 
 tions Boston pulpits were closed to him and 
 friends fell away from him, but now the West 
 Roxbury people gathered close about him and 
 helped cheer him through all the strain and sor- 
 row. James Freeman Clarke lost fifteen fam- 
 ilies from his Society by exchanging with Mr. 
 Parker. 
 
 An extract from a letter of Miss Parsons 
 to Marianne Dwight at Brook Farm gives an 
 idea of how deeply Mr. Clarke's Society felt. 
 Parker preached grandly to crammed audi- 
 ences. Mr. B. thought Mr. Clarke's course 
 so noble and beautiful he wished to know him, 
 and had he called today as he said he should 
 I was going there with him. Could you have 
 watched Mr. Clarke through all this stormy 
 
186 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 time you would have acknowledged, I think, 
 the beauty, the loveliness, of his spirit and 
 would have seen that what you have thought 
 wavering and expediency was a delicacy in 
 his Christian love and consideration for the 
 feelings of others. The aggrieved members 
 ftiave felt most deeply wounded. I respect 
 many, more than before for their deep 
 conscientiousness, though I do not love their 
 narrowness and believe in many respects they 
 have acted bhndly. Mrs. Loring says "Mr. 
 Clarke has been celestial." The meetings have 
 been numerous and quite exciting, the tears 
 have flowed freely and many look pale and ill, 
 but Mr. Clarke has ever been tranquil and re- 
 freshing. John Andrew has been noble and 
 his speech was an intellectual feast at the last 
 meeting; they asked Mr. Clarke "Will nothing 
 induce you to retract?" He answered "If the 
 church will pass a vote that 1 have exceeded my 
 bounds I will tell Mr. Parker he cannot come, 
 otherwise should he come to me, I would not 
 release him though my church should dissolve 
 in consequence. Our union is dear to my 
 heart. I have thought much of it. The 
 Catholics have tried it by suppressing heresies 
 and are a withered branch, the Protestants, by 
 exclusiveness and are going to seed. I see no 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 187 
 
 way left but this of universal love and not con- 
 founding theology with religion, and it is as 
 well to try it here and now, as to delay." 
 
 Again mother wrote that "Mrs. Davis Weld 
 came to see me last Monday and from her I 
 lea^med what a furore pervades the Saints 
 who are afraid to hear Parker. Heaven help 
 them, for it is as dark as Egypt all around 
 them. Such commotions always do good.'* 
 
 After Mr. Parker returned from Europe in 
 January, 1845, a resolution was passed by a 
 company of men in Boston, "That the Rev. 
 Theodore Parker have a chance to be heard in 
 Boston." This offered a broader field and 
 Parker resigned in West Roxbury though liv- 
 ing and preaching there Sunday afternoons 
 for a year. 
 
 Resolutions drawn up by George R. Russell 
 were sent to Mr. Parker by the parish and I 
 quote one sentence: "Resolved that our con- 
 nection has been one of the deepest interest. 
 Circumstances have called for our warmest 
 support and sympathy. We have gathered 
 around him when the world forsook him. When 
 his brethren were cold and no word of kindly 
 encouragement met him on the right or on the 
 left, this little Society, few in numbers, in- 
 considerable in influence, did not shrink from 
 
188 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 bearing its testimony in his days of trial. It 
 has stood by him through good and evil report 
 with a resolution and unanimity that has been 
 sustained by the conviction that God would 
 uphold the right, that what of truth was 
 uttered would live and what of error would 
 pass away. The bond that has held us to- 
 gether can never be forgotten by him or by 
 us; and we shall watch his future career with 
 earnest solicitude and unabated affection." Of 
 this set of resolutions this parish may feel more 
 proud than of anything in its history. 
 
 In 1898 a fourth church on the corner of 
 Centre and Corey Streets was built and the 
 first building is used for a parish house and 
 Sunday school. I went there lately and Mr. 
 Arnold kindly showed me the Parker room 
 where rehcs and interesting books and pictures 
 are kept. The sides of this room are wain- 
 scotted with the pew doors taken from the old 
 church. Mr. Parker's old pulpit stands in 
 the new church and is used ; it is slightly altered 
 in shape and is colored instead of white. The 
 Society hold a service at Pulpit Rock, Brook 
 Farm once a year, where William Henry 
 Channing often preached to the community in 
 fine weather. 
 
 Mr. Parker preached his first sermon to his 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 189 
 
 Boston Society at the melodeon on February 
 16, 1845, and a great success followed, as from 
 Sunday to Sunday he drew a large distin- 
 guished audience. After seven years the dark 
 hall was abandoned for the new Music Hall 
 and the 28th Congregational Society of Bos- 
 ton was organized as a body for religious wor- 
 ship. Parker created this Society and it 
 moulded his life. There was no ordination, 
 for ministers would not take part, so Parker 
 preached and prayed and the people gave their 
 right hands. 
 
 A few words must be said about these re- 
 markable Music Hall gatherings, often 3,000 
 in number at one meeting, at which Mr. Park- 
 er spoke surrounded on the platform by per- 
 sonal friends, as by a body guard. For the 
 first time in history flowers adorned the pulpit 
 put there by friends. Mr. Chadwick says, 
 "Every Sunday, a quarter part of his great 
 congregation consisted of persons who had 
 never heard him before and who might never 
 hear him again. Not one of these visitors 
 must go away without hearing the preacher 
 define his position on every point, not theology 
 alone but all current events and permanent 
 principles, the presidential nomination or mes- 
 sage, the laws of trade, laws of congress. 
 
190 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 women's rights and costume, Boston kid- 
 nappers and Dr. Barnaby, he must put it all in. 
 His ample discourse must be like an Oriental 
 poem which begins with the creation of the 
 Universe and includes all subsequent facts in- 
 cidentally." He adds, "It is astonishing to 
 see how many times the same stirring speech 
 has been given but with new illustrations and 
 statistics and all so remoulded and so fresh 
 that neither listeners nor preacher was aware 
 of the repetition." Parker was in great de- 
 mand all over the country, and did an enor- 
 mous amount of speaking. When Thackery 
 came to America he said what he wanted most 
 of all was to hear Theodore Parker talk. 
 
 While Mr. Parker was firing his guns in the 
 Music Hall the Park Street Society, just op- 
 posite, was greatly exercised to prevent his 
 preaching and called a meeting on March 6th, 
 1858. Some of the prayers offered were as 
 follows : 
 
 "Lord, we know that we cannot argue him 
 down., and the more we say against him the 
 more the people flock after him and the more 
 they will love and revere him. O Lord what 
 shall be done for Boston if thou dost not take 
 this and some other matters in hand." 
 
 "Oh Lord, send confusion and distraction 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 191 
 
 into his study this afternoon and prevent his 
 finishing his preparations for his labors to- 
 morrow." 
 
 "Oh Lord, if this man will still persist in 
 speaking in pubHc, induce the people to leave 
 him and come and fill this house instead of 
 that." 
 
 I do not need to enlarge here on Theodore 
 Parker's character or to dwell upon his other 
 fields of labor, neither time nor my subject 
 permits; so I will merely say in conclusion 
 that Mr. Parker's love for the Twenty-eighth 
 Society was his crowning happiness, and when 
 his health gave out and he was forced to leave 
 these friends, never to return, letters kept him 
 informed of all their doings. He sent fre- 
 quent letters to be read to them, writing the 
 Society that he always set apart the hour when 
 they were worshipping to be with them in 
 spirit and in prayer. 
 
 For the history of the Parish I am mainly indebted 
 to Rev. Mr. Applebee's article published in the West 
 Roxbury magazine in 1900, and I have helped myself 
 liberally from the lives of Parker, by Higginson and 
 Chadwick. h. d. o. 
 
192 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 FIRST PARISH OF DORCHESTER 
 
 [Meeting House Hill] 
 
 The history of the first parish of Dorchester 
 comprises far more than the records of a 
 church. It deals with the great spiritual forces 
 which helped to make the backbone of our 
 country, and which created that solidity of 
 character and loftiness of ideals which still 
 dominate our national life in spite of the many 
 counteracting influences. 
 
 That was a wonderful movement which in 
 1630 sent seventeen frail vessels, with their 
 loads of earnest determined pioneers, on their 
 long voyages across the ocean, away from the 
 country which they dearly loved, from the 
 church to which they were still loyally at- 
 tached, from comfort and prosperity, and from 
 strong ties of kindred and friendship. 
 
 Although we are very familiar with this 
 chapter of our history, it is impossible to con- 
 sider it thoughtfully without experiencing a 
 thrill, and a feeling of pride in our remarkable 
 origin. The motive which actuated these early 
 settlers was political as well as religious, but 
 the underlying impulse was love of freedom. 
 
 The moving spirit of the Puritan coloniza- 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 193 
 
 tion was Rev. John White. He was bishop of 
 Dorchester, England, from whence came the 
 name of the first new settlement. He was a 
 man of great power and influence and it was 
 said of him that he possessed absolute control 
 of two things, his own passions and the purses 
 of his parishioners. He was distinguished for 
 strength of character and persuasive force, and 
 ralhed about him a large number who were 
 eager to carry out his cherished plans of colo- 
 nization. He has been called the father of 
 New England, for he not only instigated the 
 movement which led to its settlement, but he 
 exercised a patriarchal influence over the colo- 
 nies, and it was through his efforts that they 
 received recognition in England. However, 
 he never came to this country and for that rea- 
 son he does not receive the prominence he de- 
 serves in our histories. 
 
 Next to the Plymouth society, the one in 
 Dorchester was the oldest in Massachusetts, 
 having been established in 1630, shortly before 
 the settlement of Boston. UnUke other an- 
 cient churches of this section it was organized 
 in England. This was accompUshed under the 
 guidance of John White, preliminary to the 
 departure for America. Two ministers, Mr. 
 Warham and Mr. Maverick, who had been 
 
194 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 ordained in the Established Church, were 
 placed in charge, and the religious hfe of the 
 church and the colony began in Plymouth, 
 England, with a day of fasting and prayer, 
 previous to setting sail. 
 
 The great purpose of this body was "to 
 found a civil and ecclesiastical government, 
 modeled, constructed and administered on the 
 Bible as the common source of all divine 
 knowledge," and the Bible was to be their only 
 guide. 
 
 This band of colonists sailed on the Mary 
 and John. Roger Clapp, the chief historian 
 of the period, wrote thus: "We came by the 
 good hand of the Lord through the deeps com- 
 fortably, having preaching and expounding of 
 the word of God every day for ten weeks to- 
 gether by our ministers." For the voyage 
 lasted just seventy days. 
 
 UnUke the Pilgrims, they landed in the most 
 beautiful season of the year, the early part of 
 June. Their plan was to settle on the Charles 
 River which had become known to them 
 through the journal of Capt. John Smith. But 
 the captain of their vessel put them ashore near 
 Hull with all their belongings, and they were 
 obliged to remove later, as best they could, to 
 their intended destination. They chose a place 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 195 
 
 called Mattapan by the Indians. It is now 
 known as Dorchester Neck, and is, as you 
 know, a long distance from the present Matta- 
 pan. It was selected as it furnished a good 
 enclosure for the famished cattle they had 
 brought with them. {Later on the heirs of 
 Chickatawbut received payment for the land. 
 
 A week after their arrival the town was es- 
 tablished and remained the most prominent of 
 the early settlements, imtil overshadowed in 
 time by Boston. Though the first settlers 
 found a smiling country upon their arrival, 
 there were terrible hardships before them dur- 
 ing the long rigorous winters, due largely to 
 the failure of their crops and the difficulty of 
 getting supplies from England. Roger Clapp 
 wrote, "When I could have meal and salt and 
 water boiled together it was so good, who 
 could wish for better?" 
 
 The first meeting house erected in 1631 was 
 a mean low structure built of logs and thatch, 
 quite in contrast to the fine cathedrals to which 
 the Puritans were accustomed. The men 
 worked with their swords at their sides, while 
 constructing the church, and it was surrounded 
 with a palisade. Though the neighboring 
 Indians were friendly the early settlers be- 
 
196 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 lieved in preparedness. The church served as 
 a place of worship and of defence as well. 
 
 There was soon a constant arrival of new 
 settlers and it was decided that the first comers 
 should swarm from the original hive and start 
 a new colony. Consequently in 1636 a large 
 part of the Dorchester parish migrated to 
 Windsor, Connecticut, and this was the begin- 
 ning of the history of that state. At the same 
 time the Dorchester church was reorganized 
 and filled its ranks from the steady flow of new 
 arrivals. The church records date from this 
 time and are the oldest in existence. 
 
 There was never any definite separation 
 from the Established Church of England but 
 its authority was unconsciously ignored in the 
 new and freer surroundings. The Church had 
 no written creed. It was however Calvinistic 
 in faith. The service was simple, but the spirit 
 was intensely religious. Great importance 
 was given to prayer and many days were set 
 apart for special supplication. The subject 
 of their petition might be the removal of cater- 
 pillars and other pests, or it might be the re- 
 moval of sin, or any other need that happened 
 to present itself. 
 
 The Dorchester people set themselves from 
 the first against slavery, which had already 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 197 
 
 been introduced into Virginia when they ar- 
 rived. In the earher records is the case of a 
 slave whom they admitted to the church and 
 afterwards freed, by paying the necessary sum 
 for her ransom. But in deahng with Quakers 
 and other heretics, they showed httle mercy. 
 
 One of the most striking facts concerning the 
 church of Dorchester is that for one hundred 
 and seventy-six years, bringing it up as late as 
 1806, there was no other church in the town, 
 and Dorchester, in those days, not only in- 
 cluded South Boston but at first extended 
 nearly to Rhode Island. This makes us rea- 
 lize the tremendous change brought about in 
 one century. It was nearly two hundred years 
 before Dorchester settlers completely sep- 
 arated the functions of church and state. At 
 first the union was very close. No man was 
 allowed to vote unless he was a member of the 
 church and the church was supported by a 
 town tax. The ministers were called by the 
 joint vote of the church and town, and no new 
 church could be formed without the presence 
 of the chief magistrates. As late as 1801 the 
 town was obliged to accept a book of psalms 
 before it could be adopted. 
 
 The little log church on the corner of Cot- 
 tage and Pleasant Streets served for fifteen 
 
198 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 years as a house of worship. Another building 
 was erected on the same site but moved in 1670 
 to Meeting House Hill where the present edi- 
 fice stands. We are so familiar with the name 
 "Meeting House Hill" that every vestige of 
 meaning has gone out of it for us. But Dr. 
 Hall tells how an Enghsh historian, whom he 
 showed about at one time, seemed greatly im- 
 pressed with the quaintness of the name. In 
 1677 a new building Uke the Old Ship of Hing- 
 ham was erected at an expense of one thousand 
 dollars which seems quite small when com- 
 pared with the cost of the present edifice, built 
 at a cost of between fifty and sixty thousand. 
 It was not until 1816, in the days of Christo- 
 pher Wren, that the colonial meeting house 
 with its graceful spire was erected. No more 
 fit or pleasing design could be found for the 
 new structure which was to replace it, when it 
 was burned in 1896, and we now have prac- 
 tically a reproduction of the charming old 
 church which had been a landmark for nearly 
 one hundred years. Within the present edi- 
 fice is the wonderful mahogany pulpit from 
 Dr. BartoFs church which was bought and 
 presented by Andrew Wheelwright. 
 
 The First Church of Dorchester has had a 
 very short list of ministers, considering its long 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 199 
 
 history, for several of them were associated 
 with the church for forty years or more. It 
 reflects credit on the society and its pastors 
 also that changes have been so infrequent, and 
 it is noticeable that the ministers in many cases 
 rejected several prominent pulpits in order to 
 accept this one. Edward Everett in his flow- 
 ing lines thus characterizes the men who had 
 filled the pulpits up to his time: "It would 
 not be easy to find a town which has been more 
 highly favored in a succession of ministers 
 modelled upon the true type of a New Eng- 
 land pastor in which a well digested store of 
 human and divine learning directed by a sound 
 practical judgment was united with an all con- 
 trolling sense of the worth of spiritual things." 
 And this was not mere oratory, but was strik- 
 ingly true. One able consecrated man after 
 another served as pastor, and though the rec- 
 ords are sometimes meager, there is always 
 enough to indicate that there was not one who 
 did not perform his duties in an exceptional 
 manner. 
 
 We are told that both Maverick and War- 
 ham, the pastors chosen in England, were able 
 and godly men. 
 
 Mr. Warham was very pious and subject to 
 religious depression, being in constant fear 
 
200 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 that he might not be of the elect. He went to 
 Windsor in 1636 and served there for many 
 years. About all we hear of Maverick is that 
 he nearly blew up the meeting house while dry- 
 ing out the gun powder that was stored there. 
 He died soon after the reorganization and the 
 church was so fortunate as to secure, in his 
 place, Richard Mather who was also sought 
 after by the Plymouth and Roxbury churches. 
 He was father of Increase Mather and grand- 
 father of Cotton Mather and a man of ver- 
 satile attainments. He was in a true sense a 
 religious martyr for he was practically driven 
 from England on account of his stubborn ad- 
 herence to non-conformity. He fled in dis- 
 guise barely escaping capture, and after sailing 
 through a terrific hurricane, arrived in the 
 country where he was so much needed. He 
 was very active in both the church and town, 
 and was a guiding spirit for thirty-three years, 
 leaving a lasting impression on the institutions 
 of the country. The ministry of Josiah Flint, 
 which followed, was shortened by ill-health, 
 and then came Rev. John Danforth, famous 
 for learning and piety, who gave great satis- 
 faction for forty-eight years. The only sug- 
 gestion of any friction in the history of the 
 early pastors occurred in the case of his sue- 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 201 
 
 cesser, Jonathan Bowman. At the end of a 
 faithful ministry of forty-three years an ele- 
 ment of discord was introduced by the straying 
 of one of the minister's hens. It proved to be 
 a very serious matter and ended in Mr. Bow- 
 man requesting his release from the church. 
 During the controversy he was criticised on ac- 
 count of the brevity of his sermons which were 
 said to have lasted only fifteen or eighteen 
 minutes. 
 
 Moses Everett, who succeeded him, was an 
 uncle of Edward Everett and great uncle of 
 Edward Everett Hale and served with great 
 acceptance for eighteen years. Delicate health 
 caused his retirement, for it was said of him 
 that he was too feeble to fulfill his duties, and 
 too conscientious to neglect them. 
 
 In 1793 one of the greatest men who has ever 
 filled the Dorchester pulpit accepted the 
 office. His name was Thaddeus M. Harris. 
 A few things in his early history may be of 
 interest. At the age of seven the little Thad- 
 deus was a war refugee. At the approach of 
 the battle of Bunker Hill, his family fled from 
 their home in Charlestown and drifted inland. 
 A little later his father died and he was placed 
 in a farmer's family. Each day he was sent 
 to school with a luncheon which was to serve 
 
202 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 for his noon-day meal. It was discovered that 
 instead of eating it himself he carried it to his 
 mother, who was in great need. This was typ- 
 ical of the tender-hearted man as we find him 
 in later years. He made his own way in the 
 world and secured an education at Harvard 
 College. He graduated at the age of nine- 
 teen and was to serve as Washington's private 
 secretary when he was taken with smallpox. 
 He afterwards arranged all of Washington's 
 papers in one hundred and thirty-one volumes, 
 which was no easy task. He was librarian for 
 a time at Harvard College but at the age of 
 twenty-five became pastor of the Meeting 
 House Hill Church. His parish included 
 South Boston and his work was very taxing, 
 but in addition he was Overseer of Harvard 
 College, and Superintendent of Schools. He 
 was very systematic and orderly, an early riser, 
 and always on time. When he was sixty-six 
 years of age he selected Mr. Nathaniel Hall 
 to become his colleague. There are many fine 
 tributes paid to the gentle altruistic nature of 
 Dr. Harris. It was said that his feelings were 
 always compassionate and kind. He did not 
 harbor ill will to a single soul and wished to 
 make every one happy. His preaching was 
 simple and practical and he laid no stress on 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 203 
 
 creeds and denominations. Dr. Harris's min- 
 istry stands out in one respect. It was during 
 that period that the church body unconsciously 
 drifted into Unitarianism without dissension or 
 controversy. Under the leadership of their 
 broad-minded pastor this great and funda- 
 mental change was accomplished, and there 
 was no mention of it in the records. 
 
 Dr. Harris was very fortunate in his choice 
 of a colleague and we find another remarkable 
 man ready to take his place. Nathaniel Hall 
 brings the history of the church down to com- 
 paratively modern times, for many are still liv- 
 ing who grew up under his influence. Born 
 with an intensely spiritual nature and an in- 
 stinct for preaching, he very strangely drifted 
 into business Ufe. He worked in a ship- 
 chandlery store and later on in an insurance 
 office. But the opportunity came to him to 
 leave a life which was distasteful to him and to 
 fit himself for the work to which he was nat- 
 urally drawn. Rev. Andrew Peabody, though 
 his junior, prepared him for the Divinity 
 School and he said of Nathaniel Hall that 
 there could be no doubt of his inward call for 
 his sacred profession. He did not have an 
 academic training but a consuming passion for 
 truth. He was ordained in 1835 and the Dor- 
 
204 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 Chester Church had the entire benefit of his 
 long and remarkable ministry. His was a 
 choice nature and the influence of his elevated 
 ideals was far reaching. It was said of Dr. 
 Hall that in him the Lion and the Lamb were 
 (happily blended, for though timid and modest 
 under ordinary conditions, he was inflexible 
 when it came to a matter of principle. 
 
 During his ministry the slavery agitation 
 was rampant. There was no hesitation on the 
 part of Dr. Hall in taking his stand for what 
 he considered to be right, and he spoke out 
 fearlessly for emancipation. He said to his 
 people: "I go at your bidding whenever ex- 
 pressed, but while I remain I would speak 
 plainly and boldly what I deem to be the 
 truth." Some of his parishioners were ahen- 
 ated by his positive views, but he lived to see 
 their loyalty restored. Dr. Putnam consid- 
 ered him the incarnation of the Sermon on the 
 Mount. His last utterance was, "I believe the 
 good Father has for me in the spheres beyond 
 a life work and a higher and holier power of 
 service." And still another wonderfully able 
 man took his place. Samuel J. Barrows now 
 undertook the pastorate with his gifted wife 
 and they were an unusual pair of workers. Mr. 
 Barrows was only with the church for four 
 
CHURCHES OP GREATER BOSTON 205 
 
 years and his part in its history is therefore a 
 small one. But I cannot refrain from telhng 
 a few interesting facts concerning his early 
 life. 
 
 Samuel J. Barrows started his extraordin- 
 ary career in a newspaper establishment at the 
 age of nine. And here, in the course of time 
 he developed into a reporter. He had very 
 little other education until he became a man. 
 He was brought up in the Baptist Church and 
 passed through an intense religious experience. 
 As a boy he went about the wharves preaching 
 to the mariners from the head of a barrel and 
 they liked his sunny nature which was in con- 
 trast to his stern religious views. His weekly 
 allowance of one cent always went into the 
 contribution box and all of his diversions were 
 religious in character. 
 
 When a young man he suffered from ill- 
 health and went to a rest cure, where he met 
 his life companion, who was then a very young 
 widow. They both went at life with untiring 
 zeal and enthusiasm and small details gave way 
 to big vital interests. It was while working 
 for Secretary Seward, in Washington, that 
 Mr. Barrows went through the experience 
 quite common among our Unitarian ministers. 
 While browsing in the National Library, he 
 
206 SKETCHES OP SOME HISTORIC 
 
 came under the spell of William Ellery Chan- 
 ning and the old faith fell away from him. He 
 now desired to preach Unitarianism and pre- 
 pared himself at the Harvard Divinity 
 School. 
 
 When the time came for him to settle, at 
 least five churches gave him a call, but his 
 choice fell upon the Dorchester Church and in 
 Dorchester he made his home for many years. 
 Here he had a parish of three hundred families 
 and during the first year he made over one 
 thousand calls, for he did not like to preach to 
 people unless he knew them. He considered 
 it a rare parish and the four years were very 
 happy ones. The church seemed to the Bar- 
 rows, when they entered it, the desired cul- 
 mination of their life work and the end 
 and aim of all their period of preparation. 
 But they were called to a larger sphere, and it 
 was with regret that they gave up what had 
 proved to be a thoroughly congenial field of 
 labor. Mr. Barrows' exceptional qualifica- 
 tions for newspaper work and the promise of 
 his wife's able assistance induced him to accept 
 the position as editor of the Christian Reg- 
 ister. But there were still fine men to follow. 
 The names and work of Christopher Eliot and 
 Eugene Shippen are familiar to you all. The 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 207 
 
 present minister, Mr. Roger Forbes, is the son 
 of Rev. John P. Forbes, of Brooklyn. His 
 first parish was at Dedham and it was a hard 
 blow to his people there when he left and went 
 to Dorchester. But here he has found a 
 broader field of usefulness and the loyalty of 
 his parishioners indicates that he is no un- 
 worthy successor of those who have gone 
 before. 
 
 In presenting this subject to the Alliance 
 it seems very suitable that Mrs. Fifield, who 
 was prominently connected with the church 
 for many years, should be mentioned. A 
 woman of great energy and initiative she was 
 most efficient in carrying out whatever chiu^ch 
 work there was to be done. She was secre- 
 tary of the National AUiance almost from its 
 inception and she worked for it with great en- 
 thusiasm. At one time she was sent out west 
 to bring about a greater spirit of co-operation 
 between the Alliances of the Atlantic and the 
 Pacific coasts. She and her work are un- 
 doubtedly well known to most of you and 
 probably many have read her interesting his- 
 tory of the Women's Alliance, which has re- 
 cently been pubhshed. 
 
 The Meeting House Hill Church has been 
 the parent of many other movements. Besides 
 
208 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 the Windsor colony there was another which 
 eventually settled the town of Medway in 
 South Carolina. Nearly all the first members 
 of the Second Church of Boston emanated 
 from Dorchester, and there was hardly a 
 church established in eastern Massachusetts 
 which was not made up in part from this 
 parish. 
 
 In 1806 the church became so large that it 
 divided and the new society which was called 
 the Second Church of Dorchester removed to 
 Codman Square. There it extended and 
 spread its influence abroad so that it is impos- 
 sible to estimate the full value of its great 
 work. 
 
 In this new country, where history is made 
 and remade in a day and where changes are 
 constant and sweeping, it is indeed impressive 
 to find a center of religious life which has been 
 a steady active force in the conmaunity during 
 a period of nearly three centuries. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 209 
 
 BULFINCH I^LACE CHURCH 
 
 The history of Bulfinch Place Church and 
 the Howard Sunday School really begins with 
 the founding of the Ministry-at-Large in the 
 city of Boston by the Rev. Joseph Tuckerman 
 in 1826. A brief account of this work is as 
 follows: 
 
 In 1826 Boston was a city of about 65,000 
 inhabitants. In the city there were very many 
 poor and neglected famihes, having no church 
 connections, no pastoral care. Children were 
 running wild in the streets, not going regular- 
 ly to school, becoming idle and vicious; many 
 of the parents were intemperate and worked 
 irregularly, begging for help. A few "mis- 
 sionaries" were at work, but there were few 
 churches where the poor could be made to feel 
 at home. There was much almsgiving, but 
 little that could be called wise. It was pat- 
 ronizing, perhaps generous, but it was pauper- 
 izing. It did not deal with the cause, but with 
 immediate and superficial "relief." It did not 
 come into close sympathy and friendliness with 
 those whom it would serve. It was very evi- 
 dent that the churches were oblivious to their 
 duties, and in consequence several thousand 
 
210 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 people were without training or instruction in 
 the Christian virtues and rehgion. 
 
 Among the first to appreciate this sad situ- 
 ation and to take active steps to change it was 
 a band of young Unitarian laymen, who in 
 1822 (four years before Dr. Tuckerman came 
 to Boston) became deeply impressed with the 
 condition of things, and formed themselves 
 into an "Association for Rehgious Improve- 
 ment." In 1823 they succeeded in estabUsh- 
 ing the "Hancock Sunday School," the second 
 school to be founded in Boston by Unitarians. 
 It had good success, and later was transferred 
 to the Second Church. But more important 
 than the establishment of the hoped-for Sun- 
 day school was the growth of this association 
 of young Unitarian men! For thirteen years 
 it met regularly once a week for serious 
 thought and discussion. Back of this httle 
 association stood Henry Ware, Jr., the saintly 
 young minister of the Second Church and pas- 
 tor of several of the members of the associa- 
 tion. He took a strong interest in the work 
 and volunteered "to preach on Sunday even- 
 ings to the poor and unchurched if a suitable 
 place could be obtained." 
 
 Services were held in Spring Street, Charter 
 Street, Hatter's Square and Pitts Court, and 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 211 
 
 sometimes in two or three of these places on 
 the same evening. The association of young 
 laymen gave its unwearying assistance in all 
 this, and began to talk of engaging a perma- 
 nent minister, as it was often difficult to secure 
 volunteers. Mr. Ware's health was failing, 
 and the other ministers were busy. 
 
 On the records of the association for their 
 meeting of October 11, 1826, the name of 
 Joseph Tuckerman appears for the first time 
 as being proposed for membership. On Octo- 
 ber 22, he was admitted by a unanimous vote, 
 and on December 3, 1826, we find the follow- 
 ing minute by the secretary: 
 
 "The Lectures under the conduct of the As- 
 sociation commenced this evening at 6% 
 o'clock at Smith's Circular Building, cor. Mer- 
 rimack and Portland Streets. It was fully 
 attended by those for whom it was intended. 
 
 The services were of the first order. Rev. 
 Dr. Tuckerman officiated." 
 
 On Sunday, December 10, seven teachers of 
 the Hancock Sunday School met three schol- 
 ars in the same room and there organized what 
 soon was called the Howard Sunday School. 
 
 The ministry-at-large was an established 
 fact from December 3, 1826. For two years 
 the work went on in that old circular building ; 
 
212 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 then for eight years it was continued in Friend 
 Street Chapel, built by the Association, and 
 for thirty-four years in Pitts Street, and it has 
 continued in the present church, in Bulfinch 
 Place, since 1870. 
 
 A few words now about Joseph Tucker- 
 man, the founder of this Ministry-at-Large. 
 Rev. S. H. Winkley, his successor, said of 
 him: "To understand the Tuckerman minis- 
 try, we must understand Tuckerman himself. 
 He was not a theologian as such. He was not 
 a ritualist as such. He cared but very little 
 about 'mere morality' as such. But he loved. 
 He did not stop to see whether his love was 
 returned; he only asked, *How can I bless 
 you?' He loved the ministry-at-large. Dur- 
 ing the twenty-five years of his ministry in 
 Chelsea (1801-1826), that spirit inspired him. 
 Every one in the place was his friend, and he 
 was the friend of every one, the Unitarian and 
 the Trinitarian, the good man and the bad 
 man, the rich and the poor; they were all his 
 Father's children, and all his brothers and sis- 
 ters. It was in that spirit that he started the 
 ministry-at-large in Boston, which is the min- 
 istry without limits, without regard to sectari- 
 anism, without regard to wealth or poverty." 
 
 Dr. Tuckerman's ministry in Boston was 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 213 
 
 only for fourteen years, and the last six years 
 of that time he was in wretched health, and yet 
 in that short time what vast and far-reaching 
 work he did! 
 
 It is indeed quahty and not quantity that 
 counts in a man's work. It is well to note the 
 "modernness" of his ideas. He anticipated 
 most remarkably all the principles of modern 
 scientific charity. He discussed many of the 
 problems which are now confronting us, and 
 offered wise and prophetic solutions. Dr. 
 Tuckerman just before his death said "that the 
 problem of the future would be the problem of 
 the city, and the hope of the future would be 
 met in the redeeming of the cities." Let us 
 not forget, however, that the work nearest to 
 Dr. Tuckerman's heart was the work of the 
 minister, "the relation of his philanthropic 
 service to religion." No one ever saw more 
 clearly than he "that the Ufe that has the faith 
 is the life that does the work." "Show me 
 your faith without your works and I will show 
 you my faith by my works." It was to this 
 kind of faith that the hfe of Joseph Tucker- 
 man was dedicated. 
 
 On the memorial tablet in Bulfinch Place 
 Church are inscribed the following lines: 
 
214 SKETCHES OP SOME HISTORIC 
 
 A Wise Student of Social Problems 
 
 A Farseeing Prophet of Beneficent Reforms 
 
 A Pioneer in Scientific Philanthropy 
 
 An Efficient, Public- Spirited Citizen 
 
 His Best Monument is the Ministry-at-Large 
 
 His Most Appropriate Title, the Friend of 
 
 the Poor 
 
 Dr. Tuckerman was followed in the work of 
 the Ministry-at-Large by Charles Barnard, 
 Frederick T. Gray, Cyrus A. Bartol, Robert 
 Waterston, and Andrew Bigelow, until the 
 year 1846, when Rev. Samuel H. Winkley, 
 just graduated from the Harvard Divinity 
 School, accepted the call to the Ministry-at- 
 Large, and was given charge of Pitts Street 
 Chapel. He entered the work with joy, and 
 gave the rest of his life to it, sixty-five years 
 of devoted, consecrated work among the peo- 
 ple of the West End and Greater Boston. 
 For fifty years he was the active minister, for 
 fifteen the Pastor Emeritus. His successor in 
 the work, Rev. Christopher R. Eliot, says of 
 him: "He was a minister of the Gospel by 
 calling and choice, but first of all and always 
 a man; a preacher and teacher, but first of all 
 a friend; a servant of God, obedient and duti- 
 ful, but first of all a son, loyal, loving and true. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 215 
 
 He served God by serving His kingdom, and 
 the kingdom by serving men. It was his de- 
 light to minister by word and deed. He was 
 preeminently a pastor, looking after the spir- 
 itual and material interests of his flock. He 
 was interested in community problems, but his 
 best work was in influencing individuals. His 
 Sunday-school pupils were his children; his 
 congregation was his family; his parishioners 
 far and wide his dearest friends. Successful 
 in the pulpit, where his sermons were often 
 like heart-to-heart talks, he always felt his best 
 work was in the homes of his people, or in his 
 little *bandbox' of a study, where by appoint- 
 ment he would meet them individually and 
 talk to them face to face. It might be for a 
 single visit, or it might be once a week, for 
 months. The sinful, sick and sorrowing came 
 to that little room and were helped and healed 
 and inspired for a renewed life." 
 
 Mr. Winkley was born in Portsmouth, 
 N. H., of a rather strict orthodox family. 
 When only seven he showed a deep interest in 
 religious matters, at that early age attending 
 "Prayer Meetings" and distributing tracts in 
 drinking saloons. 
 
 He tried to be "converted" in the orthodox 
 way, attending church regularly and revival 
 
216 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 meetings whenever they were held. But it 
 was of no use ; so he finally gave it up, resolv- 
 ing to acknowledge his weakness and to con- 
 secrate himself to the service of God and his 
 children and to offer himself to the church. 
 From this early age, twelve, the boy's interest 
 in rehgious services broadened and deepened. 
 He went into business in both Boston and 
 Providence for nine years, and at the same 
 time was reading and thinking and working in 
 church and Sunday school. His study of the 
 New Testament had made him a Unitarian, 
 and this decision practically excluded him from 
 orthodox circles. He then entered the Har- 
 vard Divinity School, and graduated in the 
 same class with O. B. Frothingham, Samuel 
 Johnson and Samuel Longfellow. 
 
 The story of Mr. Winkley's work at Pitts 
 Street and Bulfinch Place is too long to tell 
 here in full. He was unlike most ministers of 
 that time, and was often called unconvention- 
 al, but he was very human and very approach- 
 able. Children and grown people quickly 
 learned to love and trust him. As a minister, 
 he knew no dividing lines between rich and 
 poor, learned or ignorant, good and bad. All 
 were children of God, and wherever he was 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 217 
 
 needed he would go. He was a true and wor- 
 thy successor of Dr. Tuckerman. 
 
 A few years before his death he said to a 
 friend: "There is nothing so satisfying as serv- 
 ice; love is love however you spell it. Living 
 for others is heaven. I don't care about hav- 
 ing my name in a book, but show me how I can 
 be of greater service to men and I'm ready for 
 you." No wonder people loved him and fol- 
 lowed him! No wonder his church and Sunday 
 school flourished; no wonder he became in those 
 good old days "Bishop" of a parish covering 
 not only the West End, but reaching out into 
 twenty-eight surrounding towns! 
 
 He was made Superintendent of the How- 
 ard Sunday School in 1856, and this work was 
 particularly dear to him. For years it had two 
 sessions every Sunday, and at one time num- 
 bered over 350 pupils. Mr. Winkley had a 
 wonderful gift for inspiring his teachers and 
 training them to consecrated service. He was 
 a born teacher himself, and his method was that 
 of asking questions, in this way stimulating the 
 teacher's own thought. He was known among 
 his brother ministers as the "Interrogator." 
 He always had some young teachers in the 
 Sunday school, and kept them up to the lessons 
 they were to teach by his Teachers' Meetings, 
 
218 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 two of which he held every week. Mr. Wink- 
 ley prepared a series of lesson books on the 
 Bible and "practical piety," and several of 
 them were published in many editions by the 
 Sunday School Society. Many will remember 
 with gratitude the help received from those 
 little books, the more popular of which were 
 "The Son of Man," "A Man's True jLif e," and 
 "The Higher Life." 
 
 We cannot speak fully of Mr. Winkley's 
 work without also speaking of his much loved 
 assistant and life-long friend, Miss Frances S. 
 Merrill, "Aunt Fanny," as she was called for 
 years by the young people of the Chapel. Uni- 
 tarians in this part of the country know her as 
 the one who suggested the idea of the "Chil- 
 dren's Mission to Children," and inspired her 
 father and others to have this friendly plan 
 carried out. Mr. Merrill was for many years a 
 teacher in the Howard Sunday School in Pitts 
 Street, and every Sunday morning he walked 
 there from his home in the South End for the 
 nine o'clock session of the school, his little 
 daughter Fanny tightly clasping his hand. 
 They saw many poor and neglected children on 
 their way, and the little girl's heart was wrung 
 with pain, and she began to plan what she as a 
 little girl of ten years could do for their relief. 
 
CHURCHES OP GREATER BOSTON 219 
 
 One morning as they walked along she said to 
 her father, "Can't we children, who have homes 
 and fathers and mothers, do something for the 
 children who have not these things, and no one 
 to teach them ? Can't we children give our pen- 
 nies and hire some one to teach them?" Her 
 father and others caught the idea, and the 
 Children's Mission was founded. The love in 
 the heart of this little girl grew and broadened 
 and strengthened under her beautiful home in- 
 fluences and under the guiding and teaching of 
 her much loved friend, Mr. Winkley, until 
 when she was but eighteen years of age she be- 
 came one of the missionaries of the Benevolent 
 Fraternity and Mr. Winkley's especial assist- 
 ant. To the day of her death, December 1, 
 1897, she devoted herself to this work, in Pitts 
 Street Chapel until 1870, and after that in 
 Bulfinch Place Chapel. For all these long 
 years the two friends worked together, consult- 
 ing, planning, helping, and together calling on 
 all the members of the church and the Sunday 
 school. As "Chapel Mother," she was widely 
 known, and many were the motherless girls she 
 took to her heart and helped into the right way 
 of living. 
 
 The Ministry-at-Large in Boston today is 
 represented by the various activities, religious 
 
220 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 and philanthropic, of the Benevolent Frater- 
 nity of Churches, whose centers of work are the 
 Theodore Parker Memorial, the North End 
 Union, Channing Church, and Bulfinch Place 
 Church. This last stands in a peculiar sense in 
 the direct line of descent from the work of Dr. 
 Joseph Tuckerman. If any of you have 
 read Mr. Robert Wood's book, "Americans in 
 Process," you will understand what I mean 
 when I say that the character of the old West 
 End of Boston has in the last twenty-five years 
 undergone a great change. The rich old-time 
 dwellers on the northern slope of Beacon Hill 
 have betaken themselves to the Back Bay or to 
 Brookline, and those of smaller incomes have 
 pushed out largely into the northern suburbs of 
 the city, Chelsea, Everett, Medford, Somer- 
 ville, and Maiden. The stately houses of those 
 early days have become boarding or lodging 
 houses and the more modest homes are rapidly 
 being made into tenements. This change 
 means that the work of Bulfinch Place Church, 
 like that of all other West End churches, is 
 changing, too. A goodly number of our work- 
 ers and those who attend church and Sunday 
 school come in from the suburbs. At the same 
 time we gather in for Sunday services, lectures, 
 and clubs a great many who live close to us. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 221 
 
 Rev. Edward A. Horton has said: "The 
 Ministry-at-Large is on a four-square princi- 
 ple. It relates itself to education, philan- 
 thropy, citizenship, and religion." Bulfinch 
 Place Church, through its various workers, is 
 endeavoring at the present time to carry out 
 this ideal. 
 
 REV. AND MRS. ELIOT'S SERVICES 
 
 The ministry of Rev. Christopher R. Eliot 
 began September 1, 1894, when he came as as- 
 sistant to Mr. Winkley. This arrangement 
 continued for two years; then Mr. Winkley, 
 having completed fifty years of service, re- 
 signed and became pastor-emeritus. Mr. 
 Eliot's ministry has been marked by the same 
 spirit of Christian service as was his predeces- 
 sor's. Through him there has been a reaching 
 out, through the formation of new religious 
 organizations, which has related our church 
 more vitally to other churches and causes. 
 
 Through Mrs. Eliot the Women's Alliance 
 was organized to connect our women with the 
 work of the Unitarian denomination locally 
 and nationally, and this has made possible the 
 part done by our church in the hospitality of 
 Anniversary Week. 
 
222 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 At the suggestion of Mr. Eliot, Lend-a- 
 Hand Clubs were formed with the idea of 
 training the children and young people in un- 
 selfish helpfulness. 
 
 Two events stand out in the ministry of Mr. 
 Eliot as peculiarly significant: first, the cele- 
 bration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the 
 Ministry-at-Large, December 8, 1901, and of 
 the Howard Sunday School on March 12, 
 1902; and second, the remodelling of the 
 church building in the summer of 1904. These 
 events were of great interest and showed a 
 loyalty to the spirit and fundamental princi- 
 ples of the past, united to a readiness to use 
 modern methods to meet the new needs of the 
 present day. 
 
 On October 29, 1914, the parish of Bulfinch 
 Place Church gave a reception to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Eliot in recognition of their twenty years of 
 association with the church. It was a hapjjy 
 occasion, bringing together, in addition to the 
 regular congregation, many old friends of the 
 church and also many personal friends of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Eliot. Rev. James De Normandie, 
 the senior minister among Boston Unitarians 
 and a warm personal friend of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Eliot, expressed the greetings and congratula- 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 223 
 
 tions which filled the hearts of many friends 
 present and absent. 
 
 Mr. Eliot's years of service are clearly ex- 
 pressed in the motto of the parish paper, "Our 
 Work": "Not to be ministered unto, but to 
 minister.'* Through his leadership our church 
 has become a center of good works, and a spirit 
 of peace and goodwill abides in the hearts of 
 his people. 
 
224 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 FIRST PARISH AND FIRST 
 CHURCH IN CAMBRIDGE 
 
 The spirit of Puritanism is as old as the 
 truth and manliness of England. Protestant- 
 ism in the Massachusetts Colony represents the 
 period when the Puritan party in the Church of 
 England, having loyally held its place through 
 three hostile reigns, was driven at last from its 
 allegiance. Those who stayed in the Church of 
 England, unwilling to become Separatists, 
 called Puritans in derision, finally were forced 
 to go to the western world. They were of that 
 brotherhood of men, who by force of social 
 consideration, as well as of intelligence and 
 resolute patriotism, moulded the public opinion 
 and action of England, in the first half of the 
 sixteenth century. The Puritan claimed that 
 obedience toward God set bounds to the au- 
 thority of men. It was the independence of 
 the planet which claims a large orbit, yet never 
 dreams of breaking from the central sun. 
 During the entire reign of Elizabeth, the re- 
 form party constituted quite half the clergy 
 within the church. In 1562, the proposal to set 
 aside surplices, to give up kneeling in prayer, 
 the use of organs, and the sign of the cross at 
 baptism was lost by a vote of fifty-eight to 
 
CHURCHES OF G.REATER BOSTON 226 
 
 fifty-nine, the deacons and arch-deacons being 
 among the minority. In James I's reign 
 nearly one thousand Enghsh clergy petitioned 
 extensive changes in the service, which were 
 prevented by the King's intolerance. John 
 Cotton preached twenty years as an avowed 
 Puritan in Boston, England, discontinuing 
 the liturgy and vestments, and denying the au- 
 thority of the bishops. Yet he declared that 
 he was no Brownist, and called the Independ- 
 ent too straight. Governor Winthrop said: 
 "We esteem it an honor to call the Church of 
 England our dear mother," and spoke in 
 strong disapproval of those who in England 
 went under the name of Independents. The 
 men of Plymouth, however, separated from 
 the Church of England in 1561, were in 
 Scrooby until 1606, and twelve years in Hol- 
 land. For nine years they were the only 
 Protestant church in the western world, un- 
 less there were forsaken remains of ecclesias- 
 tical origin in Virginia. Thomas Shepard was 
 a lecturer in the Church of England until he 
 took up his pastorate here, and at this time 
 made his first open renunciation of Episco- 
 pacy. 
 
 This hasty review of the growth of the spirit 
 of religious freedom brings us to the time when 
 
226 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 the Company of Massachusetts Bay, coming 
 from England with its Governor and its char- 
 ter, brought with it in the course of the first 
 year more than one thousand persons, and be- 
 fore ten years had passed more than twenty 
 thousand had come to stay. At first it was 
 not intended to make Boston the seat of gov- 
 ernment, because a position further inland 
 .would be more easily defensible from the war- 
 ships of King Charles. The colonists "rather 
 made choice to enter further among the In- 
 dians than hazard the fury of mahgnant ad- 
 versaries, who, in a rage, might pursue them, 
 and therefore chose a place situate on 
 Charles River, between Charlestowne and 
 Watertowne, where they erected a town called 
 Newtowne." It was agreed that the governor, 
 deputy governor, and nearly all the assistants 
 should build their houses here during the 
 following year, and that all the ordnance 
 and munition should be removed hither. This 
 agreement was not carried out, save by Deputy 
 Governor Thomas Dudley and his son-in-law. 
 Governor Winthrop and the members of 
 his council never came to dwell here, and 
 the intention of making it the seat of 
 government was gradually abandoned. Be- 
 cause of the original intention, lines of f ortifi- 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 227 
 
 cation were drawn, and the streets arranged at 
 right angles. The first settlement was com- 
 prised between Harvard Square and the river, 
 and from Holyoke Street on the east to Brat- 
 tle Square on the west. The northern frontier. 
 Harvard Street, later Massachusetts Avenue, 
 was called Braintree Street. Behind the six 
 houses on Braintree Street was the ancient 
 forest. Through this forest ran the trail or 
 path from Charlestown to Watertown, nearly 
 coinciding with the crooked line Kirkland, 
 Mason, Brattle, Elmwood and Mt. Auburn 
 Streets. This was the first highway from the 
 seaboard into the inland country. The pal- 
 isaded wall with its ditch, for defense against 
 Indians and wolves, started at Windmill Hill, 
 by the present site of Ash Street, and ran 
 along the northern side of the present Com- 
 mon into what is now Jarvis field, and per- 
 haps beyond. The Common grazing-land ex- 
 tended beyond the palisade as far as Linnaean 
 Street. By 1635, there were sixty-four house- 
 lots within the town, and before the end of the 
 year there were at least eighty-five houses in 
 the new town. The only communication with 
 Boston was by ferry. The place of execution 
 was at the extreme end of the Common. Here 
 in 1755 an old negro woman was burned alive 
 
228 SKETCHES OP SOME HISTORIC 
 
 for the murder of her master. Into this prim- 
 itive settlement came those who had aban- 
 doned ease and honors at home to hve serious 
 lives in the wilderness, and to found a church 
 without a bishop, and a state without a king. 
 Compared to the homes of the present day, 
 their homes, many of them, were little more 
 than shanties or cabins. They had no roads 
 or bridges, no mails, communication was diffi- 
 cult, they worked sixteen hours a day, and for 
 recreation laid stone- walls. 
 
 In 1632 the Braintree company of Essex, 
 England, which had begim to sit down at Mt. 
 Wollaston, removed here, and they were fol- 
 lowed in 1633 by Thomas Hooker, John Cot- 
 ton and Samuel Stone. The voyage over was 
 enlivened by three sermons almost every day. 
 The people said that their three great neces- 
 sities would be supplied, with Cotton for their 
 clothing, Hooker for their fishing, and Stone 
 for their building. With fasting and prayer, 
 a church was organized, and Mr. Hooker was 
 chosen pastor, and Mr. Stone teacher. The 
 teacher was fully trained to expound Scrip- 
 ture, either before or after the sermon. Some- 
 times the pastor preached in the morning, and 
 the teacher in the afternoon. The offices 
 were gradually blended. The meeting-house 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 229 
 
 stood on the west side of Dunster Street, a 
 little south of Mt. Auburn Street, and it is 
 particularly recorded that it had a bell upon 
 it. 
 
 Soon the people of Newtown complained that 
 they hadn't room enough. Whether that was 
 the real reason, or whether certain personal 
 jealousies existed between the leading men of 
 Newtown and Boston, has never been proved. 
 It was a difficult matter to settle, and the 
 Court agreed to lay the question before the 
 Lord. A fast day was kept in all the congre- 
 gations. The question temporarily settled, 
 soon arose again, and in the summer of 1636 
 a majority of the members of Mr. Hooker's 
 church and congregation, one hundred in 
 number, made their journey through the track- 
 less wilderness, milking their cows as they 
 went with Mrs. Hooker in feeble health, car- 
 ried in a horse-litter to New-town, a little 
 later called Hartford, Connecticut, so called 
 from Mr. Stone's birthplace. Eleven families 
 remained. The dwelling-houses left vacant 
 by Hooker's company were bought by those 
 more recently come from England. 
 
 On the fifth of November, 1605, the day 
 that the plot to blow up Parliament was dis- 
 covered, there was born in Towcester, North- 
 
280 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 amptonshire, a child who was named Thomas, 
 after the doubting disciple, because the father 
 thought his son would hardly believe that "ever 
 any such wickedness should be attempted by 
 men against so religious and good a Parlia- 
 ment." His early life was much tormented 
 by circumstances in his home, and by his own 
 contrary inclinations. His later life, until he 
 came to America, was certainly tormented by 
 his religious experiences. Thomas Shepard 
 was a pensioner at Emmanuel College, was 
 studious, and left with a high reputation for 
 scholarship. The Puritans raised a fund for 
 the appointment of lecturers for those parts 
 of the country which were without a proper 
 ministry. It was while holding such an office 
 that Bishop Laud summoned Shepard to 
 answer for his preaching. He stood on the 
 original Puritan ground, loving the estab- 
 lished church, reluctant to leave it, willing to 
 conform to its rules and customs in many 
 things, unwiUing to conform in others. Bishop 
 Laud "looked as though blood would have 
 gushed out of his face, and did shake as if he 
 had been haunted with an ague-fit." He sen- 
 tenced him thus, "I charge you, that you 
 neither preach, read, marry, bury, or exercise 
 any ministerial functions in any part of my 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 231 
 
 diocese ; for if you do, and I hear of it, I'll be 
 upon your back, and follow you wherever you 
 go, in any part of this kingdom, and so ever- 
 lastingly disable you." It was bishops on the 
 backs of Puritans that gave to us this Com- 
 monwealth and nation, and the rage of Laud 
 gave this church its first minister. Shepard 
 became chaplain in the family of Sir Richard 
 Darley, and married a kinswoman of the 
 knight. He preached up and down the 
 country. There was no rest for him. He 
 was finally asked to come over to New Eng- 
 land. He was willing to stay and suffer if that 
 was best, but he said, "My dear wife did much 
 long to see me settled there in peace, and so 
 put me on to it." They came down from the 
 north "in a disguised manner," then started 
 on the voyage. They were set back on shore 
 after a dangerous storm, and their only child 
 died. The father did not dare to be present 
 at the funeral, lest the officers of the church 
 should seize him. He spent a winter out of 
 sight of his enemies. In the summer of 1635, 
 with another son, born that winter, whose 
 birth was kept secret, he came to America, 
 under the name of his brother. He arrived 
 just as a large part of the congregation here 
 was preparing to go to Hartford. 
 
232 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 On the first of February O. S., 1636, this 
 church was organized. Gov. Winthrop in his 
 journal describes the ceremony. "Mr. Shep- 
 ard, a godly minister, came lately out of Eng- 
 land, and divers other good Christians, intend- 
 ing to raise a church body, came and acquaint- 
 ed the magistrates therewith, who gave their 
 approbation. They also sent to all the neigh- 
 boring churches for their elders to give their 
 assistance at a certain day at Newtown. Ac- 
 cordingly at this day, there met a great as- 
 sembly, where the proceeding was as fol- 
 loweth'* etc. The form of their covenant 
 has not been preserved. It was probably the 
 same as that of the first church in Boston, and 
 was thought to have been written by Gov. 
 Winthrop. 
 
 For years the church and town were one, 
 but the church was that one. The old chron- 
 icles always speak of this church and town. 
 The church was always spoken of as the meet- 
 ing-house, except later when Christ Church 
 was established. The building had a log 
 frame, with a roof of slate or boards. The 
 pews were square with seats on hinges, which 
 were raised to make standing-room during 
 prayer. In front of the desk were seats for 
 the deacon and elders, and there were 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 233 
 
 rows of benches for men on one side, and 
 women on the other. The meeting-house was 
 the town-house, used on six days for secular 
 affairs, on the seventh for worship. Church 
 members were the only voters. 
 
 Thomas Shepard was eminently spiritual. 
 It is said that he always finished his prepara- 
 tion for the pulpit by two o'clock on Saturday 
 afternoon, accounting "that God would curse 
 that man's labors who goes lumbering up and 
 down in the world all the week, and then upon 
 Saturday afternoon goes into his study, when 
 as God knows, that time were little enough to 
 pray in, and weep in, and get his heart into a 
 frame fit for the approaching Sabbath." He 
 is described as a "poor, weak, pale-complec- 
 tioned man," but also "the holy, heavenly, 
 sweet-affecting, and soul-flourishing minister, 
 in whose soul the Lord shed abroad his love so 
 abundantly that thousands of souls have cause 
 to bless God for him." 
 
 In 1636, he was entreated by the General 
 Court to join with the Governor and others 
 in making a draft of laws agreeable to the 
 word of God, "to be the fundamentals of this 
 Commonwealth." His influence is instanced 
 in the experience of Edward Johnson, who 
 wandered out from Charlestown, and hearing 
 
234 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 the sound of a drum (the drum for some rea- 
 son had been substituted for the church-bell), 
 "He crowdeth through the thickest, when, 
 having stayed while the glass was turned up 
 twice, the man was metamorphosed, and was 
 fain to hang down his head often, lest his 
 watery eyes should blab abroad the secret con- 
 junction of his affections." Shepard's suc- 
 cessor, Mitchel, said, "Unless it had been four 
 years living in heaven, I know not how I could 
 have more cause to bless God with wonder 
 than for those four years." 
 
 We must remember that these Puritan 
 preachers considered that the service of God 
 had been grievously abused by pipings, and 
 organs, singing, ringing, trowling of Psalms 
 from one side of the choir to the other, and 
 squeaking of chanting choristers, disguised in 
 white surplices. The clergy had been few 
 and poor, and in the beginning, collections of 
 homilies had been made for church use. In 
 the seventeenth century, there were ten thou- 
 sand parish churches, with only two thousand 
 preachers. People had to go from five to 
 twenty miles to hear a sermon, or be fined 12 d. 
 for being absent. Preaching was considered 
 a device for spreading false opinion. It was 
 said that preaching had grown so much in 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 235 
 
 fashion that the service of the church was ne- 
 glected, and the pulpit harangues were dan- 
 gerous. The New England ministers seemed 
 to think that the extreme length of their ser- 
 vice showed a revulsion from Popery. There 
 was no music whatever for a long time, unless 
 the singing of Psalms unaccompanied. Then 
 the bass-viol and viohn were thought less 
 idolatrous than the organ. The first American 
 organ was not used until 1745. The hour- 
 glass was always turned up at least once. 
 Thomas Shepard speaks of "certain hearers 
 who sit in the stocks when they are at prayers, 
 and come out of the church when the tedious 
 sermon runnes somewhat beyond the hour like 
 prisoners out of a jaile." His shortest sermon 
 was entitled "The Saint's Jewel." There 
 were three divisions of text, then a loving ap- 
 pellation, a gracious invitation, an argument 
 for investigation, followed by three Reasons 
 for the doctrine; these followed by four uses; 
 under use two, thirteen objections with 
 answers; under use three, two general sub- 
 divisions, with two objections and answers, 
 one exhortation, and one warning; under use 
 four, six divisions, followed by five considera- 
 tions and five helps; the whole concluded by 
 two Reproofs. 
 
236 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 The contemporaries of these ministers rid- 
 iculed them. An EngUsh divine in a sermon 
 entitled "The Scribe Instructed" says, "These 
 new lights seize upon some text from whence 
 they draw something which they call a doc- 
 trine, and well may it be said to be drawn from 
 the words, forasmuch as it seldom naturally 
 flows from them. In the. next place, they 
 branch into several heads, perhaps twenty or 
 thirty or upward. Whereupon for the pros- 
 ecution of these, they repair to some trusty 
 concordance which never fails them, and by 
 the help of that, they range six or seven scrip- 
 tures under each head, which scriptures they 
 prosecute one by one, enlarging upon one for 
 some considerable time, till they have spoiled 
 it, and then, that being done, they pass to an- 
 other, which, in turn, suflPers accordingly." 
 
 In 1639, the people met for a day of humil- 
 iation. They wished to suppress novelties, 
 oppression, atheism, excess, superfluity, idle- 
 ness, contempt of authority, and troubles in 
 other parts to be remembered. These good, 
 serious, earnest people prohibited slashed 
 clothes, large sleeves, laces (gold, silver or 
 thread), long hair, embroideries, and cakes 
 and buns in markets and victualling-houses. 
 They imposed taxes on sugar, spice, wine and 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 237 
 
 strong waters. Instead of considering mar- 
 riage an ecclesiastical sacrament, the Puritan 
 declared it a civil contract. Was there any 
 passage in Scripture which made marriage 
 part of the ministerial function? Then the 
 minister must not perform it. It must he 
 done by the civil magistrate as a secular rite. 
 No marriage by a minister is found on record 
 in New England before 1686. Burials came 
 under the same category. What warrant in 
 Scripture to warrant Popish mummery of 
 prayer for the dead? Funerals were without 
 scripture, psalm, sermon or prayer. A bell 
 was tolled, and friends carried their dead to 
 some church-yard or roadside enclosure, and 
 silently laid them away. 
 
 The presence of Shepard in the New Town 
 is believed to have shaped its destinies. "It 
 was with a respect unto his vigilancy and his 
 enlightening and powerful ministry, that when 
 the foundation of a college was to be laid, 
 Cambridge was pitched upon to be the seat of 
 that happy seminary, out of which proceeded 
 many notable preachers, who were made such 
 by their sitting under Mr. Shepard's min- 
 istry." In October, 1636, the General Court 
 agreed to give 400 toward the founding of a 
 college. The grant was six times as great as 
 
238 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 had been given for protection against the In- 
 dians. The citizens of the New Town were 
 first in good works. Here the first grammar- 
 school was estabhshed, the first printing-press 
 was set up, and the first Bible was printed in 
 America, and from here went out the first 
 Protestant mission of modern times to the 
 heathen. Here the first college was founded. 
 The old record says: "It pleased God also to 
 stir up the heart of one Mr. Harvard, a godly 
 gentleman living amongst us, to give the one 
 halfe of his estate, and all his library. An- 
 other gave 300, others after them cast in 
 more, and the publique hand of the State add- 
 ed the rest." During the first ten years of the 
 life of the college, three-fifths of its graduates 
 became ministers in the established Congrega- 
 tional churches of the colony, and for a whole 
 generation more than half its graduates en- 
 tered that ministry. From the beginning, the 
 ministers of this church were associated with 
 the college, and several were officers in it. The 
 whole college attended our services when there 
 was plenty of room for them all in the build- 
 ing, forty feet square. There were not more 
 than eight or nine in the graduating-class. 
 
 Most of the clergymen who came to New 
 England were graduates of Cambridge, and 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 239 
 
 people began to call the town Cambridge, after 
 the college was estabHshed. In 1638, the Gen- 
 eral Court changed the name of Newtown to 
 Cambridge. In 1639, the name Harvard was 
 given to the college. In 1655, Cambridge in- 
 cluded Brighton, Newton, and large parts of 
 Arlington, Lexington, Bedford, and Billerica. 
 In 1646, a synod of delegates from the colo- 
 nies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, New Haven 
 and Connecticut, assembled at Cambridge to 
 define their creed and agree upon a system of 
 church government. Their work was fin- 
 ished in 1648. The Westminster Assembly's 
 Creed was adopted, as also a platform of 
 church disciphne known as "The Cambridge 
 Platform," upon which all the Congregational 
 churches of New England were able to stand 
 for the next four generations. A desire for 
 union, in face of the common loneliness and 
 danger, brought about the assembling of the 
 synod. The New England churches were no 
 longer Independent but Congregational. Con- 
 gregationalism was Independency touched by 
 the spirit of fellowship. In 1637, a synod was 
 convened for the exposure, condemnation and 
 suppression of Antinomian doctrines, intro- 
 duced by Anne Hutchinson and her followers. 
 Eighty-two heretical opinions were con- 
 
240 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 demned. In 1642, the Commencement of 
 Harvard College was celebrated here. In 
 1651, John EUot's first missionary station was 
 established, and an Indian church organized. 
 Shepard wrote tracts which Eliot translated. 
 
 Beginning with 1664, Cambridge was di- 
 vided, and churches were estabhshed in 
 Brighton, Lexington, and Menotomy or Arl- 
 ington. 
 
 Thomas Shepard was married three times. 
 His first wife died within two weeks of their 
 arrival here, and he later married Thomas 
 Hooker's eldest daughter. His third wife be- 
 came upon Shepard's death the wife of his suc- 
 cessor. Shepard died in 1649, leaving an es- 
 tate of 810. He was forty-four years old. 
 No man knoweth of his grave. 
 
 At about the time of the installation of Jon- 
 athan Mitchel, a new meeting-house was built 
 on Watch-House Hill, near where Dane Hall 
 now stands. It was forty feet square, with a 
 shingled roof. 
 
 Jonathan Mitchel was born in Yorkshire, 
 England, in 1624, and came to this country 
 with his parents, on account of the persecu- 
 tions there, when he was eleven years old. He 
 entered college, and came at once under the 
 influence of Thomas Shepard. He kept a 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 241 
 
 diary in Latin, and would often spend the 
 greater part of a day in the woods in self- 
 examination and prayer. After his gradua- 
 tion, he was made one of the Fellows of the 
 College, and for a time was tutor. He was 
 ordained here in 1650. His fame was in all 
 the region. His utterance had such a becom- 
 ing tunableness and vivacity to set it off, as was 
 indeed inimitable. All along in his preaching, 
 it was a very lovely song of one who hath a 
 pleasant voice. The people would shake un- 
 der his dispensations, yet mourn to think that 
 they were going presently to be dismissed 
 from such an heaven upon earth. During his 
 ministry, Henry Dunster, first president of 
 Harvard College, and a member of this 
 church, not only forbore to present an infant 
 of his own unto the baptism of our Lord, but 
 also thought himself under some obligation to 
 bear his testimony in some sermons against 
 the administration of baptism to any infant 
 whatsoever. It was hard for the people of the 
 parish to resist his influence, and rebuke his 
 conduct, for besides his official station, he had 
 been after Shepard's death in the place of a 
 pastor. Mitchel preached more than half a 
 score of ungainsayable sermons upon the sub- 
 ject. Dunster was indicted by the grand 
 
242 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 jury, publicly admonished by order of the 
 court, and forced to give bonds for his good 
 behavior. He later resigned his position as 
 President. The Half- Way Covenant was 
 adopted during Mitchel's time. It granted 
 baptism to the children of certain persons who 
 were not considered qualified for admission to 
 the Lord's table. Mitchel has left us a list of 
 the church-members in his day, the original 
 manuscript of which we have. He died in 
 1668, in the eighteenth year of his ministry, 
 and the forty-fourth of his age. There was 
 great mourning and lamenting for him among 
 his own people, and throughout the churches. 
 It was three years before the church had an- 
 other pastor; the pulpit in the interim was oc- 
 cupied by President Chauncy and others. The 
 Rev. Urian Oakes was ordained pastor in 
 1671, and because the people had so deep a 
 sense of divine favor in giving them such a 
 minister, they kept a day of public thanksgiv- 
 ing. The account of disbursements for the 
 ordination contains 3 bushels of wheat, 2 
 bushels % of malt, 4 gallons of wine, beef, 
 mutton, sugar, spice and frute, and other small 
 things, amounting in all to lO. Mr. Oakes 
 was born in England about 1631, and brought 
 to this country by his parents in his childhood. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 243 
 
 Observers said of him that if good-nature 
 could ever carry one to heaven, this youth had 
 enough to carry him thither. He graduated 
 from Harvard in 1649. He preached his first 
 sermon in Roxbury, then became a chaplain 
 in England, and was later silenced as a non- 
 conformist. He was a member of the Har- 
 vard Corporation, later Superintendent of the 
 College, with the rank and duties of President, 
 and in 1679 was elected President, retaining 
 the pastoral care of the church. The Rev. 
 Nathaniel Gookin was made assistant to the 
 pastor. 
 
 There was a gallery built in the meeting- 
 house, and Daniel Cheaver was appointed "to 
 sit amongst the little boys at the north-east 
 end of the meeting-house to see that there be 
 no disorder." 
 
 The parsonasfe was built in 1670, on the 
 north side of Harvard Street, now Massachu- 
 setts Avenue, with four acres attached to it, 
 including the present site of Boylston Hall. 
 It was occupied as a parsonage until 1807, 
 when Dr. Holmes moved to a house known as 
 Hastings House, on the site of the Gym- 
 nasium. 
 
 In the sheets recently found of Oliver Wen- 
 dell Holmes' alumni address in 1863, there is 
 
244 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 a Latin tribute to the memory of Thomas 
 Shepard, the son of our minister, the minister 
 in Charlestown, and an Overseer of the Col- 
 lege. It was delivered at the commencement 
 exercises in 1678 by the Rev. President Urian 
 Oakes. He died in 1681 in the fiftieth year 
 of his age, the tenth year of his ministry, 
 and the sixth of his presidency. He was bur- 
 ied in our ancient God's- Acre. There is a 
 charge upon the College-book for 16, 16s., 6 
 d. for scarfs and gloves, and 8, 14s. for 12 
 rings for Mr. Oakes' funeral. 
 
 The assistant minister. Rev. Nathaniel 
 Gookin, was ordained in 1682. There is less 
 known of this ministry than of either of the 
 other ministers of the church. He was born 
 in Cambridge in 1658, graduated from Har- 
 vard in 1675, and died in 1692 in the thirty- 
 fourth year of his age, and the tenth of his 
 ministry. His son and grandson were succes- 
 sively ministers at Hampton, N. H. Contri- 
 butions for the poor were at this time, fre- 
 quently for a single person, made on the Sab- 
 bath, as were collections for the redemption of 
 captives. Usually about a pound was col- 
 lected. Mr. Gookin's sermons were thought- 
 ful, thorough, practical and vigorous. He 
 was a Fellow of the College. He died in 1692. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 245 
 
 He and his wife are both buried in the old 
 burying-ground. 
 
 At a Corporation-meeting of the College 
 5 were voted toward repairing the meeting- 
 house, "provided that this present allowance 
 shall not be drawn into a precedent for the 
 future, and that the selectmen shall renounce 
 all expectation of such a thing for the future." 
 After the death of Mr. Gookin, the pulpit was 
 filled by various preachers. The amount paid 
 for a single sermon was 10s., for a whole day's 
 service l. Increase Mather received the 
 same compensation as the minister having the 
 least fame. He was invited to become pastor, 
 but his people among whom he had preached 
 for thirty-six years were unwilling to release 
 him. He preached much here, and gave his 
 pay to Mr. Gookin's widow. She was also 
 paid for entertaining the ministers. 
 
 Rev. William Brattle was ordained in 1696. 
 He was of a wealthy and prominent family, 
 was born in Boston, and was a tutor at 
 the College. When smallpox prevailed, he 
 stood at his post, venturing his life for the sick 
 scholars. He was made Bachelor of Divinity 
 in 1692 the first time this degree was ever 
 conferred. He was Fellow and treasurer of 
 the College. He published a system of Logic, 
 
246 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 long used as a college text-book. He be- 
 queathed 250 to the College, and was Fellow 
 of The Royal Society of London. Mr. 
 Brattle's salary was from 90 to 100, and 
 many donations of wood, according to the cus- 
 tom, in 1695 twenty- two loads. He died in 
 1717, with peace, and an extraordinary seren- 
 ity of mind, and was buried here. It was the 
 day of the "Great Snow," and the principal 
 magistrates and ministers of Boston were de- 
 tained here for several days. During Mr. 
 Brattle's pastorate, seven hundred and twenty- 
 four children were baptized, and three hundred 
 and sixty-four persons were admitted to the 
 church. He was a man of marked politeness 
 and courtesy, of compassion and charity. He 
 had a very large estate, and scattered his gifts 
 with a liberal hand. His manner in the pul- 
 pit was "calm, soft and melting." He gave 
 to the church a baptismal basin. 
 
 In 1706, the third meeting-house was erect- 
 ed on or near the site of the second. The 
 Corporation of the College voted 60, and 
 there was care to be taken for the building of 
 a pew for the President's family, and for the 
 students' seats. 
 
 The Rev. Nathaniel Appleton was ordained 
 in 1717. He was born in Ipswich in 1693. He 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 247 
 
 graduated from Harvard in 1712. He was a 
 Fellow of the College, and in 1771, he was 
 made a Doctor of Divinity, the second time 
 this degree had been conferred in seventy- 
 eight years. Increase Mather received it then. 
 In 1761, Christ Church was established. Dur- 
 ing Mr. Appleton's ministry of sixty-seven 
 years, there were 2048 children baptized, 90 
 adults, and 784 admitted to church-fellow- 
 ship. There are records of church discipline, 
 and the appointment of a committee for in- 
 specting the manners of professing Christians. 
 When certain individuals fell into open sin, 
 the church and the whole community met in 
 solemn assembly and spent the forenoon in 
 prayer and preaching. 
 
 The Revolution was coming on during this 
 ministry, and the meeting-house opened its 
 doors for public uses. Washington and his 
 companions-in-arms came here to worship. The 
 delegates from the towns of the state met here 
 in 1779, and framed the Constitution. Here 
 in 1774 the people kept a day of humiliation 
 and prayer. In 1765, in our town-meeting, the 
 first formal protest was made against the 
 Stamp Act. "We can no longer stand idle 
 spectators, but will join Boston in any meas- 
 ure to deliver ourselves and our posterity from 
 
248 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 slavery." In 1777, it was voted that "because 
 of the infirmities of our very aged pastor, it is 
 agreeable and is the desire of the church that 
 the Honorable and Rev. Pres. Langdon 
 should administer the sacraments." In 1783, 
 according to Rev. Mr. Appleton's records, a 
 day of fasting and prayer by the church and 
 congregation was held "to seek Divine direc- 
 tion for procuring a more fixed and settled 
 preaching, and administration of the word and 
 ordinances among us, considering the very 
 advanced age and growing infirmities of me, 
 their aged pastor." Mr. Appleton married a 
 daughter of the Rev. Henry Gibbs of Water- 
 town, and they had twelve children. While 
 he was wooing Miss Gibbs, he happened to call 
 while a rival suitor was at the house, his horse 
 tied near the gate. Mr. Appleton tied his own 
 horse, unloosed his rival's, and sent him down 
 the street. He then went into the house, and 
 asked his rival if that was his horse running 
 away. Upon the hasty departure of the 
 horse's owner, Mr. Appleton offered himself, 
 and was accepted. 
 
 It was during Dr. Appleton's ministry that 
 Whitefield came, and excited the country with 
 his preaching. The faculty of the College 
 published a pamphlet, being their testimony 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 249 
 
 against the Rev. George Whitefield. Mr. 
 Whitefield somewhat modified what he had 
 said. Many students were moved by his 
 preaching, and by Mr. Appleton who was 
 more "close and affecting" after Mr. White- 
 field's visit. Mr. Appleton died in 1784 in the 
 ninety-first year of his age. 
 
 The Rev. Timothy Hilliard became his suc- 
 cessor, and was installed in 1783. Mr. Hil- 
 liard was a tutor in the College. He preached 
 for a while in Barnstable before his settlement 
 here. He died in 1790, in the seventh year of 
 his ministry, and the forty-fourth of his age. 
 He was studious and earnest, excelled in pub- 
 lic prayer, and was "tenderly attentive to the 
 sick and afflicted." He pubhshed five ser- 
 mons, including a Dudleian lecture. 
 
 Dr. Abiel Holmes, born in 1763, was the 
 ninth pastor of this church. He was a Yale 
 graduate, and preached in the South for sev- 
 eral years. In 1792, he became pastor of this 
 church. The records of the church during his 
 ministry are preserved in his own handwriting. 
 At about this time, the number of inhabitants 
 in Cambridge was about 2,200. There were 
 301 dwelling-houses, one-half in the first par- 
 ish. There were five houses of worship in 
 
260 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 each of the three parishes, one Congregational, 
 one Episcopal and one Baptist. The Univer- 
 sity had five buildings, and 191 students. In 
 1797, the Communion service was estabhshed 
 monthly. It had been held once in eight 
 weeks previously. In 1809, there is an in- 
 stance of the excommunication of a woman. 
 Dr. Holmes said with pathos and solemnity, 
 "I pronounce her to be a person from whom 
 the followers of Christ are to withdraw as 
 from one who walketh disorderly. The sen- 
 tence now passed is but a representation of a 
 sentence inconceivably more awful to be 
 passed on the transgressor at the judgment- 
 seat of Christ, unless it be prevented by a 
 seasonable repentance." Contumacious be- 
 havior was the charge against her. Four 
 years later, she gave evidence of contrition 
 and repentance, and was readmitted to the 
 communion, and restored to the fellowship 
 and privileges of the church. A man was ex- 
 communicated for heretical writing, after 
 fruitless efforts to reclaim him. 
 
 In 1805, there was a library established un- 
 der the care of the church, and the pastor was 
 chosen librarian. In the summer of 1815, a 
 Sabbath- School was opened at the meeting- 
 house, and more than eighty children received 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 261 
 
 instruction. In 1827 a juvenile library was 
 collected by subscription. 
 
 In 1814 the Corporation and Overseers of 
 the College decided that it was best for the 
 members of the University to hold religious 
 services by themselves. For 178 years the 
 church and University had held their services 
 together. The completion of University Hall 
 which would contain a chapel favored the 
 change. A committee, including the Presi- 
 dent, expressed the sentiments of regard and 
 fraternity felt by the members of the several 
 College boards, and the desire of Christian 
 and friendly communion between the two so- 
 cieties. Five delegates, with the pastor, were 
 appointed to attend the formation of the new 
 church, and the pastor was requested "to re- 
 ciprocate the assurance of regard and frater- 
 nity so kindly expressed by the University 
 towards us." The Covenant is dated Harvard 
 College, Nov. 6, 1814. Our church record of 
 the event closes by stating that on the Lord's 
 day, 6th Nov., 1814, the church was organized 
 at University Hall, in the presence and by the 
 assistance of the pastor and delegates of the 
 First Church in Cambridge. 
 
 In 1824, Lafayette was received in our 
 
252 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 church and made welcome in an address by 
 President Kirkland. 
 
 In 1807, Dr. Hohnes left the ancient par- 
 sonage and removed to the house in Holmes 
 Place. The Cambridgeport church was or- 
 ganized in 1809 with Rev. Thomas Brattle 
 Gannett, a member of our church, as pastor. 
 Dr. Holmes preached in the Episcopal church 
 by the request of the wardens and vestry on 
 Christmas Day, 1809. Edward Everett be- 
 came a member of this church in 1812. 
 
 On the 20th of July, 1827, a memorial 
 signed by sixty-three members of the parish 
 was presented to the pastor, remonstrating 
 with him for discontinuing professional ex- 
 changes with certain ministers, and recom- 
 mending a return to his former custom. As 
 early as 1787, the society worshipping at 
 King's Chapel set aside the English Liturgy 
 it had been using, and adopted one excluding 
 all acknowledgment of the Trinity. 1806 is 
 accounted the time for the beginning of the 
 controversy. It was closely concealed, ac- 
 cording to one writer. Not until the spring 
 of 1815 was it drawn from its hiding-place. In 
 1804, at a conference on the appointment of 
 Dr. Ware as Holhs Professor of Divinity, 
 orthodoxy was for the first time openly with- 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 268 
 
 stood. Whitefield's first visit in 1740 furnishes 
 abundant proof that all the elements of Uni- 
 tarianism were then at work here. President 
 Edwards wrote in opposition to certain here- 
 sies. President John Adams in 1750 affirmed 
 that his own minister, Rev. Lemuel Bryant, 
 Dr. Jonathan Mayhew of Boston, Shute and 
 Gay of Hingham, and Brown of Cohasset 
 were Unitarian, and he adds, "How many I 
 could name among the laity, lawyers, phy- 
 sicians, tradesmen, farmers." The three points 
 which formed the issue were the doctrine of 
 original sin, a belief in the Deity of Christ, 
 and the atonement. By 1827, a large part of 
 the ministers of the churches in this immediate 
 neighborhood had embraced the liberal prin- 
 ciples of belief. About this time, the American 
 Unitarian Association was formed. No single 
 year marked the complete cutting off of min- 
 isterial exchanges. It came about gradually, 
 and began to be noticed by the people. A 
 large majority of the legal voters in the affairs 
 of the parish chose the more liberal views. 
 They complained of the change in the pastor's 
 practice, and hence sent the memorial men- 
 tioned earlier, wherein they spoke of the peace 
 and harmony which had existed, and requested 
 him to exchange a reasonable proportion of 
 
254 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 the time with such respectable clergymen of 
 liberal sentiments in this vicinity as had here- 
 tofore been admitted into his pulpit, and with 
 others of similar character. The pastor re- 
 plied that he thought an interview with him, 
 before any paper had been drawn up, would 
 have been more favorable to truth and peace. 
 There was a protracted controversy. To no 
 measures whereby Unitarian clergymen might 
 preach for a portion of the time would Dr. 
 Holmes consent. He claimed that there had 
 been no change in doctrinal teaching from the 
 time of Shepard, that he was standing on the 
 old foundation and continuing the instruction 
 for which he was called to the pastorate. 
 Through all this controversy, the church stood 
 by him, the church and pastor on one side, 
 the parish on the other. Finally, the parish 
 proposed to call a mutual ecclesiastical coun- 
 cil. The church and a minority of the parish 
 declared that the ancient usage was for the 
 church and parish to concur in questions touch- 
 ing the settlement and removal of a minister. 
 The church insisted on their right to partici- 
 pate in the calling of a mutual council. The 
 parish objected to the admission of the church. 
 Dr. Holmes agreed to consent to a mutual ec- 
 clesiastical council. The parish placed their 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 266 
 
 refusal on the grounds that the church had no 
 complaint against the pastor or the parish. 
 
 The parish called an ex parte council in 
 1829, representing six Unitarian churches. A 
 copy of the complaint to be presented against 
 him was given to the pastor, before the meet- 
 ing. In a written communication, Dr. Holmes 
 denied the jurisdiction of such a council, and 
 the remonstrance of the church and a minority 
 of the parish was presented. The council sent 
 a committee to appraise Dr. Holmes of their 
 readiness to receive any further information 
 from him. He received the committee kindly, 
 and replied that he had no further communi- 
 cation to make. The Hon. Samuel Hoar was 
 council for the parish. The ex parte council 
 voted that "The First Parish in Cambridge 
 have sufficient cause to terminate the contract 
 subsisting between them and the Rev. Dr. 
 Holmes as their minister, and this council rec- 
 ommend the measure as necessary to the ex- 
 istence and spiritual prosperity of the society." 
 The parish accepted this vote, and voted that 
 "the Rev. Dr. Abiel Holmes be, and hereby 
 is dismissed from his office of minister of the 
 gospel, and teacher of piety, religion and mor- 
 ality in said parish, and that all connection 
 between said Holmes as such minister or teach- 
 
266 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 er and said parish do and shall henceforth 
 cease." They voted him three months' salary 
 and the use and occupation of the real estate 
 until the next January. In June, 1829, they 
 told the pastor that they had employed a 
 preacher to supply the pulpit in the meeting- 
 house on the next ensuing Sabbath, and for 
 succeeding Sabbaths, and that his services 
 would not be required or authorized. Dr. 
 Holmes replied that he still considered himself 
 the lawful minister of the parish. A reply 
 from the parish committee stated that the 
 council's decision was legal and valid, and that 
 he was not minister to said parish, and that 
 he could not occupy nor use the pulpit of said 
 parish. 
 
 Thereupon a majority of the church mem- 
 bers of the church withdrew, and with their 
 pastor, held service in the old Courthouse, "in 
 the presence of a full, attentive and solemn 
 assembly." The whole nimaber of church 
 members was about ninety, two-thirds of 
 whom followed the pastor. Of the whole 
 number of persons who usually worshipped in 
 the meeting-house, about one-half withdrew. 
 The members of the church who went away 
 with Dr. Holmes called an advisory council 
 representing ten churches, which approved of 
 
CHURCHES OP GREATER BOSTON 257 
 
 the course pursued by the minister in "contin- 
 uing to perform parochial duties wherever and 
 to whomsoever he may have opportunity." A 
 new society was organized. Dr. Hohnes de- 
 clined to have it bear the name of the Holmes 
 Congregational Society, and in accordance 
 with his wish, it took the name of The Shep- 
 ard Congregational Society. Rev. Dr. 
 Holmes could not, as he felt, connect himself 
 with this organization, because he did not con- 
 sider himself legally dismissed from his pas- 
 toral connection with The First Parish. But 
 the church members who went away agreed to 
 unite with the new society to maintain the 
 worship and ordinances of the gospel until 
 their rights and those of their pastor should be 
 again respected by The First Parish. 
 
 A new church home was built and dedicated 
 in 1831. It was at the corner of Mt. Auburn 
 and Holyoke Streets. In 1872, the present 
 church, at the corner of Mason and Garden 
 Streets, was dedicated. 
 
 The Rev. William Newell was called to the 
 pastoral care of our parish in May, 1830. The 
 Rev. Dr. Holmes and the church under his 
 care entered a protest against his ordination, 
 without avail. In 1831, the deacons of the 
 church which remained with The First Parish 
 
258 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 demanded of the deacons of the church going 
 out from The First Parish the dehvery of cer- 
 tain articles of church property the church 
 fund, the poor's fund, the communion service 
 and baptismal basin, the church records, li- 
 brary, etc. The demand was not obeyed, and 
 a law-suit was begun. The Supreme Court 
 of the Commonwealth having decided in simi- 
 lar cases that deacons going away cannot re- 
 tain the church property, the church property 
 in question was given up to the deacons of the 
 church who remained with the parish. The 
 principle laid down was that where a majority 
 of the members of a Congregational church 
 separate from the minority members who re- 
 main with the parish, the members who remain, 
 although a minority, constitute the church in 
 such parish, and retain the rights and prop- 
 erty belonging thereto. In Dr. McKenzie's 
 opinion, the true course would have been to 
 say, "Let us divide our goods and separate." 
 Dr. Crothers said at our first meeting last fall, 
 "Today, there need have been no separation." 
 Dr. Newell met the storm by a refusal to en- 
 gage in controversy, ignoring enmity. As a 
 result of his sweet and gentle disposition, the 
 quarrel soon passed into oblivion, and lingers 
 as a dim recollection. Dr. Newell was born in 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 259 
 
 1804. His school and college career was very 
 brilliant. He entered Harvard in the class of 
 1824, and the Divinity School, in 1829. When 
 he was fifteen he wrote his first poetry. He 
 was an usher in the Boston Latin School. His 
 health was precarious. After preaching oc- 
 casionally in some of our large cities, he was 
 settled here, and stayed for thirty-eight years. 
 He found here a partial union of church and 
 state, the minister, an officer of the community, 
 elected by the voters of the town. He saw the 
 minister become the temporary officer of a vol- 
 untary association, an association only one 
 among many similar societies. 
 
 In 1832, the parish sold to the college the 
 valuable land on which the old meeting-house 
 stood, and also the parsonage lot, in considera- 
 tion of which, the present lot was transferred 
 to the parish, and the present church was 
 erected thereon at the expense of the college. 
 In this church, the college reserved the title 
 to one gallery, and to a President's pew in the 
 body of the church, together with the use of 
 the building on special college days. Up to 
 1873, annual college commencements were 
 held here. From the beginning there were 
 poor in the parish, and collections were taken 
 at each communion service for their benefit. 
 
260 SKETCHES OP SOME HISTORIC 
 
 For their relief also there was and is an annual 
 Thanksgiving collection. The minister and 
 the deacons acted as a Relief Society. At one 
 time, there were fourteen retired ministers in 
 the congregation. Dr. Newell was a wonder- 
 ful man. As the years of his ministry passed, 
 his face seemed to grow constantly more 
 radiant and benignant. His presence was a 
 benediction, which seemed to leave, as he 
 passed among his people, a sweetening and con- 
 secrating influence. He rarely spoke of him- 
 self, and in the course of fifty years, never did 
 he bring his personal joys or sorrows before an 
 audience. He had a sunny, playful humor, 
 and often expressed himself in verse. An Ode 
 From The Greek of Anacreon, sent to a rela- 
 tive with a pair of gloves to be mended, runs 
 thus: 
 
 "The right glove 
 Holds my love, 
 And the left glove 
 My wife's love; 
 And both the gloves 
 Both our loves. 
 Lovely gloves." 
 
 He wrote a lovely sonnet on his seventy-fifth 
 birthday; he wrote many beautiful hymns, and 
 only the second day before his death, when he 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 261 
 
 was SO weak that he could scarcely raise his 
 head, he wrote on a scrap of paper, found 
 afterwards, 
 
 "Rises the glorious sun, 
 And o'er the world doth run, 
 Filling with light and life 
 Things hidden in the night." 
 
 He severed his connection with the parish in 
 1868, but fulfilled parochial duties for a long 
 time afterwards. 
 
 After the resignation of Dr. Newell, the 
 church had no pastor until 1874, when Rev. 
 Francis G. Peabody was installed. He was 
 born in Boston, and graduated from Harvard 
 in 1869, and from the Divinity School in 1872. 
 I find record in 1877 of a chorus choir, and Dr. 
 Peabody says, "When the change was made, 
 there was apprehension of grave injury. The 
 congregation has never been so large from 
 four hundred and fifty to five hundred and 
 fifty. Through constant loyalty of our sing- 
 ers, more than by any other single means, we 
 are brought into our present financial pros- 
 perity." In 1879, temporary ill-health caused 
 Dr. Peabody's resignation. He goes in and 
 out among us, and the older members of our 
 congregation look back to his ministry with 
 grateful remembrance. Two silver com- 
 
262 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 munion plates inscribed in memory of his wife 
 are the gift of Dr. Peabody. 
 
 The church has also some very ancient and 
 interesting pieces of silver. Two of the four 
 tankards are dated 1654. One has the date 
 1724. The christening basin, noted before, 
 was the gift of Rev. William Brattle in 1717, 
 and two other tankards with cups were recast 
 in 1826, and made into cups of a uniform 
 shape and size. 
 
 In January, 1882, Dr. Edward H. Hall, 
 until then settled at Worcester, became our 
 pastor. He graduated from Harvard in 1851, 
 and was settled at Plymouth and Worcester. 
 Dr. Hall resigned in 1893. His stately figure 
 and scholarly presence were familiar to us un- 
 til his death but recently, and now we have his 
 memory perpetuated in the room which bears 
 his name, and by his books which he gave to 
 us. During his pastorate in 1886, the two hun- 
 dred and fiftieth anniversary of the church 
 was celebrated, and there were all-day exer- 
 cises here and at the Shepard church, in which 
 both societies participated equally, and com- 
 mittees from both were responsible for the suc- 
 cess of the occasion, which served to seal our 
 mutual friendship. 
 
 Dr. Crothers was invited to become our min- 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 263 
 
 ister in 1893, but it was not until the next year 
 that he accepted, and was installed on June 7, 
 1894. In 1896, a special meeting was called 
 to consider the matter of a new church 
 covenant, and the securing of a larger church 
 membership. The following covenant was 
 adopted in place of the one in use since 1834!. 
 "In the love of truth, and the spirit of Jesus, 
 we unite for the worship of God, and the serv- 
 ice of man." In 1899, a conmiittee composed 
 of Dr. Charles W. Ehot, Mr. E. H. Nichols, 
 and Mr. Hollis R. Bailey of this church, and 
 Mr. Charles T. Russell, Mr. Frank Gaylord 
 Cook and Mr. George S. Saunders of the 
 Shepard Society was chosen; not to discuss 
 the legal rights of the respective churches, but 
 to decide upon such official and common names 
 for the two churches as should avoid confusion. 
 The official names chosen vary in length; the 
 common names are First Church in Cambridge 
 (Unitarian), First Church in Cambridge 
 (Congregational). The chairman of the 
 Shepard committee expressed the committee's 
 views as follows: "My committee begs to ex- 
 press what my church would confirm, their 
 appreciation of the Christian and courteous 
 spirit in which your committee has met with us, 
 and to extend every good wish for the life and 
 
264 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 prosperity of your church, and of the coining 
 new First Parish meeting-house." The new 
 meeting-house is still coining, but the Parish 
 House, the beautiful new interior of the old 
 meeting-house, the new organ, and the new evi- 
 dence of patriotism, as old as the oldest meet- 
 ing-house, are known to us all. 
 
 In 1905, Miss Jeannie Paine left over $200,- 
 000 to our parish. The administration of this 
 and other funds contributes in great degree to 
 the comfort of the poor of Cambridge. Mrs. 
 Chesley's connection with the work since 1905 
 has made our Parish House a refuge to those 
 in need, and a bright spot for us all. 
 
 In 1911, the church, existant but unincor- 
 porated, since 1636 or earlier, and the congre- 
 gation, organized as such in 1867, were 
 merged into one body. This gives us the 
 church the ecclesiastical body, and the parish 
 the business body. 
 
 The calling to the associate ministry of the 
 Rev. Frederick M. Eliot we know, as well as 
 his able work in the Sunday school, and in all 
 departments of the church and parish. Be- 
 cause of the rare combination of a keen execu- 
 tive and business ability, and a deep and un- 
 usual spirit of reverence, he has drawn about 
 him the older members of the church, and he 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 265 
 
 has won the loyalty of the young even the 
 youngest people. It is with the deepest regret 
 that we relinquish him, and bid him and Mrs. 
 Eliot God-speed. In September, St. Paul 
 and the West are to be the richer for his 
 presence. 
 
 Our meeting-house from the beginning has 
 held within its four walls the ablest men of 
 each succeeding period of history, and its peo- 
 ple have gone forth to put into practice what 
 they have learned in its pews. At the pres- 
 ent time, its activities, through its large num- 
 ber of committees, spread through the length 
 and breadth of this great city an influence 
 which the city's limits cannot restrain. And 
 now, when the atmosphere is tense with 
 patriotic zeal, and we know not what the next 
 moment may bring forth, again this church has 
 opened its doors, and answered the call, as it 
 did in the Revolution, and in the Civil War, 
 and now, as then, its people will stand here to 
 serve, or go forth to serve their country and 
 the world. 
 
 I cannot speak of our pastor without the 
 deepest emotion. He stands to us as our 
 leader, and the guiding spirit of every activity 
 of this church. Honored by Harvard, known 
 throughout the country for his spiritual power, 
 
266 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 and throughout the world of scholars for his 
 writing, he modestly seeks to hide himself be- 
 hind the works of his church. With the broad- 
 est vision, walking above and before, yet al- 
 ways with us, he would lead us into paths 
 where there is no strife, no war, but justice, 
 and always strength and resultant peace. May 
 his eyes behold, in this twentieth century, 
 which has brought us the greatest war the 
 world has ever known the most peaceful rev- 
 olution the world has ever known ^may his 
 eyes behold the greatest peace the world has 
 ever known 1 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 267 
 
 ANNIVERSARY HYMN 
 
 O God, the record of our days 
 
 In Thy great book appears, 
 And now we offer Thee the praise 
 
 Of five and seventy years. 
 
 The plant our saintly founder set 
 
 Has grown a goodly tree. 
 And in its kindly shelter met 
 
 We lift our song to thee. 
 
 No banner but Thy love we need. 
 
 No trumpet in our van; 
 God's Fatherhood our only creed. 
 
 And brotherhood of man. 
 
 So "in the freedom of the truth," 
 
 Led by our Lord above. 
 We pledge our prime, as then our youth. 
 
 To worship and to love. 
 
 Edward A. Church. 
 
 For the Seventy-flfth 
 Anniversary of 
 the Church of the Disciples, 
 April 27, 19ie. 
 
268 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 CHURCH OF THE DISCIPLES 
 
 On the 7th of January, 1841, James Free- 
 man Clarke wrote to his sister, "I agree with 
 those who think it a good time to form a new 
 congregation in Boston." 
 
 Acting upon this conviction, a series of 
 meetings was held for conversation and discus- 
 sion in the parlors of people interested in the 
 new movement. These gatherings are re- 
 membered by Miss Lucia M. Peabody, who 
 has been associated with the Church of the 
 Disciples from its earhest beginnings to the 
 present day. Her father's house on Bowdoin 
 Street was one of the homes opened for the 
 early meetings. 
 
 After several of these parlor conferences a 
 chapel on Phillips Place, which was off Tre- 
 mont Street, just north of Beacon, was hired, 
 and was occupied for four Sundays. This 
 chapel proving too small, Amory Hall was 
 secured, an audience-room up two flights, in a 
 building on the northern corner of Washington 
 and West Streets. 
 
 The Church of the Disciples was organized 
 April 27 upon the simple "faith in Jesus as 
 the Christ," and the single purpose to form a 
 church in which all might "co-operate together 
 
CHURCHES OP GREATER BOSTON 269 
 
 in the study and practice of Christianity." 
 This covenant was signed by forty-six names, 
 and sixteen others were added within a month. 
 
 For seven years the society worshipped in a 
 succession of places, chiefly in Amory Hall, 
 Ritchie Hall, and in the Masonic Temple on 
 Tremont Street, corner of Temple Place. 
 Sunday services were held in the latter for 
 four years. During these seven years, regular 
 Wednesday evening meetings were held at the 
 homes of parishioners, for religious study and 
 for the discussion of matter pertaining to the 
 society and to the public needs of the day. 
 
 Freeman Place Chapel, which is still stand- 
 ing on the top of Beacon Hill, was then built, 
 and dedicated March 15, 1848. 
 
 But Mr. Clarke's long illness and absence 
 from Boston finally led to the sale of this 
 building. He returned in the autumn of 1853, 
 and resumed his pastorate Jan. 1, 1854, in 
 Williams Hall, corner of Washington and 
 Dover Streets, where services were held for the 
 greater part of the year. 
 
 On Jan. 28, 1855, the Church of the Dis- 
 ciples came into the possession of the Indiana 
 Place Chapel, uniting with the society gath- 
 ered there seven years before, by the Rev. 
 Thomas B. Fox. 
 
270 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 The next removal was to the new house on 
 West Brookhne Street and Warren Avenue, 
 first occupied Christmas Day, 1868, and dedi- 
 cated Feb. 28, 1869. Here Mr. Clarke 
 preached the remaining nineteen years of his 
 life, and here Mr. Ames succeeded to the pas- 
 torate, Jan. 1, 1889. The last service in 
 Brookline Street was held June 25, 1905. The 
 corner-stone of the Peterborough Street 
 building was laid Oct. 14, 1904; the first serv- 
 ice was held Oct. 1, 1905; the dedication oc- 
 curred Nov. 19, 1905. 
 
 Through the winters of 1910-11 the church 
 was overshadowed by the increasing illness 
 and disability of its beloved pastor, Charles 
 Gordon Ames, who gave up his active work in 
 December, 1909. His long and blessed pas- 
 torate ended in 1912, when he died on April 
 15. Abraham Mitrie Rihbany had been 
 chosen as his associate early in 1911 and he was 
 installed as minister of the church on May 18, 
 1911. 
 
 This, in brief, is the story of the Church of 
 the Disciples from its founding in 1841, until 
 the present time. The history of the church 
 has been chiefly the story of the lives of its 
 ministers. 
 
 It is not the purpose of this paper to repeat 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 271 
 
 the long and interesting story of the life of 
 James Freeman Clarke from the time of his 
 birth on April 4, 1810, in Hanover, N. H. 
 (where his parents were temporarily residing) , 
 to his death in the gracious ripeness of years, 
 in full trust of the heavenly protection, June 
 8, 1888. That narrative has been charmingly 
 told in its earlier years, through autobiog- 
 raphy, and in its later years, through the 
 "Biographical Sketches," written by Edward 
 Everett Hale. But rather its aim is to empha- 
 size certain traits in a man who has left his 
 mark so strongly upon his day and generation, 
 that his memory never fades. His life here in 
 this world continually advances, bearing fruit 
 more and more abundantly. 
 
 What were the elements that entered into 
 that life? He had a rich moral and intel- 
 lectual inheritance, a father reserved and 
 versatile ; a mother so social that she could not 
 go a mile or two from her home without re- 
 turning all aglow with descriptions of the in- 
 teresting people she had met, a woman who 
 when the father's business failed could open 
 her home on Beacon Hill and fill it with such 
 choice SDirits as Jared Sparks, Horace Mann, 
 and the three daughters of Nathaniel Peabody. 
 Mr. Clarke says, "I do not know when we were 
 
272 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 happier than in those days. We were all poor, 
 but all who could were doing something to 
 support themselves." "Give me neither pov- 
 erty nor riches" was Mr. Clarke's ideal of the 
 proper environment for growing youth. He 
 was himself fortunate in living in just that 
 kind of environment. When he was six weeks 
 old, his mother brought him from Hanover to 
 the old homestead in Newton where she re- 
 mained with him for a season. From that 
 time onward his home was with his grandpar- 
 ents. We can not over-estimate the influence 
 of this early home. His grandfather, James 
 Freeman, was his companion and teacher from 
 the first. Before the age of ten, he was read- 
 ing the classics with ease. Charming, indeed, 
 is the picture of the young boy, spending his 
 half holiday, entranced with the first reading 
 of Marmion. He says, "As the sun was set- 
 ting, I reached the end of the poem, and in the 
 farewell verses read with astonishment these 
 lines : 
 
 "To thee, dear school-boy, whom my lay 
 Has cheated of thy hour of play, 
 Light task and merry holiday," 
 
 and it seemed as if Scott were close beside me, 
 talking to me in person." 
 
 This early love of poetry shows the bent of 
 
CHURCHES OP GREATER BOSTON 278 
 
 his mind, which Dr. Frederick H. Hedge in 
 later years tells us was the chief source of his 
 power. Dr. Hedge says: "You do not get a 
 true estimate of Clarke unless you see him as a 
 poet." He approached all subjects from the 
 poetical side, and this poetical habit of look- 
 ing at everything gave him the fairness which 
 was one of his chief characteristics. "The rest 
 of us have written as though we were philoso- 
 phers," continues Dr. Hedge; "Clarke always 
 wrote, no matter how dull his subject, as a poet 
 writes." Judging from the hymns and poems 
 he has left to us, we can not doubt that had 
 James Freeman Clarke been free to cultivate 
 his poetic gift, the world would have had an- 
 other great poet. Those who have sat under 
 the spell of his preaching, or felt the very spirit 
 lifted to heaven by his prayer, or have known 
 the power of his written word are quite content 
 to know this gifted man forever as the poet- 
 preacher. His hymn, "Father to us, thy chil- 
 dren humbly kneeling" has become endeared 
 to all our churches, while "Cana," which is less 
 widely known, has a beauty that is un- 
 surpassed. 
 
 In his college life at Harvard, James Free- 
 man Clarke rejoiced in the intimate compan- 
 ionship of William Henry Channing, Oliver 
 
274 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 Wendell Holmes and Ralph Waldo Emerson. 
 He knew Margaret Fuller, that remarkable 
 young woman who resided in Cambridge, and 
 whose conversational powers gave strength 
 and delight to all who knew her. His views 
 of education were advanced for his day. He 
 deplored the time wasted in listening to reci- 
 tations for the sake of stirring to emulation, 
 when time could be better spent in presenting 
 new subjects of interest and new motives for 
 attainment. 
 
 After graduating at Harvard, and finishing 
 his studies at the Divinity School, he chose a 
 western church for his first parish. In Louis- 
 ville, Kentucky, whither he had travelled long 
 distances by stage and by boat, he preached 
 extemporaneously that first sermon upon the 
 text, "whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it 
 with all thy might." After this halting 
 preaching was over, he went to his room, dis- 
 heartened. No one had spoken a word of en- 
 couragement, and he despaired of being able 
 to keep on with his work. It seems that the 
 parish did talk him over as a decidedly hope- 
 less case, but felt that there was something 
 worth while in his prayer, and concluded to 
 give him further trial. He improved contin- 
 ually, and his charm of personality soon won 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 275 
 
 the friendship of his parish. He became su- 
 perintendent of schools, and his influence grew 
 steadily among all the people. He suffered 
 much from home-sickness, though his life was 
 greatly cheered and enriched by a remarkable 
 correspondence. The letters from friends at 
 home were full of interesting accounts of all 
 that was going on in the Boston of that day. 
 His loneliness was not for long, for he was 
 soon blessed by that companionship of a noble 
 woman which strengthened and cheered all the 
 years of his earthly life. The Huidekopers, a 
 family of liberal tendencies, rich in resources 
 of every kind, had left their home in Holland 
 and located in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Here 
 they planted a Unitarian church, and laid the 
 foundations of a theological school. James 
 Freeman Clarke was invited to preach at 
 Meadville, and while there he formed the 
 friendship of this family and won the abiding 
 love of the true and beautiful Anna Huide- 
 koper. This companionship was full of rich 
 meaning to the future Church of the Disciples. 
 
 James Freeman Clarke writes to Mrs. 
 Clarke from Louisville : 
 
 "I have made up my mind to one thing con- 
 clusively, not to commit myself hastily to any 
 new situation or work. What I next imder- 
 
276 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 take, I wish to continue at through life. If 
 I know myself I wish to be useful, and what- 
 ever I do, I wish preaching always to be my 
 chief work. I love my profession, see my de- 
 ficiencies, see my capabilities, and expect and 
 intend to improve." 
 
 Later in speaking of a free church, he writes, 
 "This is no new idea with me. I have been 
 studying and preparing for it for years, and 
 I have full faith that it can be effected." 
 
 It is very interesting to us who have been 
 associated with the Church of the Disciples, to 
 trace the early beginnings of its history, to 
 think of the initiative power of the young 
 minister of thirty-one, which made the church 
 possible, to follow the conversations with Wil- 
 liam Ellery Channing and with other gifted 
 men, and finally to read the record of that 
 thrilling meeting on April 27, 1841, at which 
 the declaration of faith was discussed and 
 voted upon. 
 
 "We whose names are subscribed unite in 
 the following faith and purpose: 
 
 Our faith is in Jesus as the Christ, the Son 
 of God, and we do hereby form ourselves into 
 a Church of his Disciples that we may co- 
 operate together in the study and practice of 
 Christianity." 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 277 
 
 We determined to have no other organiza- 
 tion, not to organize as a rehgious society up- 
 on the money basis. "By the social principle, 
 I mean," said James Freeman Clarke, "fre- 
 quent meetings for conversation on religious 
 subjects. By the voluntary principle, no pews 
 sold, rented, or taxed, but worship supported 
 by voluntary subscriptions. By the congre- 
 gational principle, I mean that the congrega- 
 tion should join in the hymns and prayers." 
 
 Our yoimg people, yesterday, in the driving 
 wind and falling snow, retraced the story of 
 the Church of the Disciples from this new 
 church building on Peterborough Street to the 
 old familiar home on West Brookline Street, 
 and on to the sites of Indiana Place Chapel, 
 Amory Hall, PhilHps Place Chapel, Freeman 
 Place Chapel and finally to the old home of 
 Miss Lucia M. Peabody on Bowdoin Street. 
 They sang hymns at the homes of Miss Lilian 
 Freeman Clarke and Miss Annette P. Rogers, 
 whose lives are closely linked with our history. 
 
 It is interesting to dwell upon the period of 
 our church history which centered about In- 
 diana Place Chapel. When this chapel was 
 secured from the society which had been gath- 
 ered there by Rev. Thomas B. Fox, its life 
 began to grow rapidly. 
 
278 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 Mr. Clarke was surrounded by a remarkable 
 group of people. Here were held the never 
 to be forgotten "Wednesday evening meet- 
 ings" at which subjects pertaining to rehgion 
 and to moral welfare were discussed: 
 
 "What is doing for the poor?" 
 "What is doing for children?" 
 "What is doing for animals?" 
 
 John A. Andrew, who had been attracted to 
 the Church of the Disciples by Mr. Clarke's 
 preaching, writes in a letter to a friend: 
 
 "He has the best mind, style, and everything 
 for a minister that is a-going. He is logical, 
 sensible, earnest, pious, forcible, solemn, quiet 
 and calm; in fine my beau-ideal of a pulpit 
 orator, and a private gentleman and a Chris- 
 tian." 
 
 At the fiftieth birthday of James Freeman 
 Clarke, celebrated at Indiana Place Chapel, 
 Governor Andrew says: "I confess for myself 
 that I do not know how I could over-estimate 
 the influence of this home of the soul on the 
 happiness and welfare of my life. Amid all 
 distractions, and griefs, and bewilderments, I 
 have seen the vision of this temple, and heard 
 its calm voice and helpful wisdom, encourag- 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 279 
 
 ing, winning, teaching, and strengthening the 
 love of the best goodness and the highest 
 truth." 
 
 The thirteen years in Indiana Place are re- 
 membered to-day with thrilling interest. There 
 the trying days of the Civil War called forth 
 the noble patriotism of minister and people. 
 Great sermons were preached that called all to 
 stand by one another in those dark hours that 
 the nation might be safe. After the attack on 
 Fort Sumter, said Mr. Clarke the following 
 Sunday in his pulpit: "This is a sort of Pente- 
 costal day, in which the whole multitude are of 
 one heart and one soul; nor says anyone that 
 aught that he possesses is his own, but 'we have 
 all things in common.' " Whenever anything 
 very discouraging happened, Mr. Clarke was 
 full of hope and courage, giving out for the 
 first hymn: 
 
 "Give to the winds thy fears^ 
 Hope and be undismayed.'' 
 
 When all hearts were saddened by the as- 
 sassination of Abraham Lincoln and churches 
 throughout the city were draped in black, the 
 congregation at Indiana Place Chapel felt the 
 gloom lift as they entered the church and be- 
 
280 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 held the altar draped in the richest purple 
 decorated with lilies. 
 
 Besides John A. Andrew, always the friend 
 of the negro, the society had as members Mr. 
 and Mrs. EUis Gray Loring, Mrs. Juha Ward 
 Howe, and many others of distinguished per- 
 sonahty. Mrs. Howe's "Battle Hymn of the 
 Repubhc" was written on that famous visit to 
 Washington during this period of our church 
 history. 
 
 At the beginning of the Civil War, the freed 
 negroes were left by their masters in South 
 Carohna and elsewhere. Our church sent more 
 than one teacher to the South to teach these 
 freed men. Our friend. Miss Botume, who 
 went in 1864, made it her life work. She lived 
 for more than forty winters in the South car- 
 rying on a work very close to the heart of our 
 minister. 
 
 But we must not hnger in these earlier days. 
 At the Fiftieth Anniversary of the church, 
 held in the West Brookline Street church two 
 years after the coming of Mr. Ames as our 
 minister, Mr. William C. Williamson quoted 
 Mr. Clarke's own words as follows: 
 
 "I am grateful for being permitted to be- 
 long to a church which has kept its doors and 
 seats open to all, where the stranger is made to 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 281 
 
 feel at home, where there are no distinctions 
 and no separation, a church which is not man- 
 aged by a few pew-owners, but by all the so- 
 ciety, both men and women ; which has a large 
 nucleus of permanent members, but also a new 
 congregation each Sunday for transient 
 guests; which has contained all shades of 
 poHtical, religious, and social differences, but 
 where all are brothers and sisters, and where 
 there is small chance of inward dissension, 
 since, if any one is dissatisfied, not being an- 
 chored by a pew, he can go quietly elsewhere, 
 and find a church home which suits him better. 
 
 "Among our most valued members have 
 been those who, favored by circumstances, have 
 had hearts yet larger than their means, like 
 two of our founders, Mr. Samuel Cabot and 
 Mr. Henry B. Rogers. Others whom we love 
 and honor are hard-working people, working 
 for others, and helping to support a parent or 
 educate younger brothers and sisters. Of one 
 such, years ago, her nephew spoke to me after 
 church as *Aunt Mary.' Governor Andrew, 
 who was standing near, said to him: *She is 
 closer to us than that, she is our Sister 
 Mary.' " 
 
 We like to remember that Dr. Clarke called 
 the West Brookline Street Church the home 
 
282 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 of his soul. Here he preached his great ser- 
 mons on the Lord's Prayer, the sermon on the 
 "Five Points of Calvinism" and the "Five 
 Points of the New Theology," and that re- 
 markable succession of sermons, year after 
 year, that appeared in the Saturday Evening 
 Gazette. 
 
 The sermon on the "Five Points" gave the 
 basis for the pubhcation of the statement of 
 "Our Faith" which appeared in later years, 
 and which has had a wide distribution in our 
 own country and in England. The five, points 
 are as follows: 
 
 The Fatherhood of God 
 The Brotherhood of Man 
 The Leadership of Jesus 
 Salvation by Character 
 The Progress of Mankind Onward and 
 Upward Forever. 
 
 It is interesting to note the charitable work 
 which took beginning and grew in this church: 
 The Children's Aid Society, the Home for 
 Aged Colored Women, the South End Indus- 
 trial School, Miss Botume's work for the 
 South, Mrs. Thacher's Book Mission, Miss 
 Clarke's Post Office Mission and Cheerful 
 Letter work, and her work for Destitute 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 283 
 
 Mothers and Infants, the New England Hos- 
 pital for Women and Children, nor can we 
 ever forget the large Mission Sunday School, 
 with WiUiam H. Baldwin superintendent, 
 which brought together some three or four 
 hundred children from Sunday to Sunday. 
 
 From the beginning, the great work of 
 Tuskegee was encom-aged and supported, 
 while the support of our American Unitarian 
 Association was placed first of all. 
 
 When we think of the large number of 
 books written by Dr. Clarke, we recall the line 
 in Dr. Holmes's poem written for the Seven- 
 tieth Birthday: 
 
 "His labors, ^will they ever cease, 
 With hand and tongue and pen?" 
 
 Among the many books, perhaps those best 
 known are The Christian Doctrine of Prayer, 
 Self-Culture, Truths and Errors of Ortho- 
 doxy, Ten Great Religions, Essentials and 
 Non-Essentials, Everyday Religion, Thomas 
 Didymus, The Apostle Paul. 
 
 After the twenty-eight years which have 
 passed since the death of James Freeman 
 Clarke, shall we not ask, with Mrs. Julia Ward 
 Howe, the searching question in her centenary 
 poem and find with her an answer: 
 
284 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 "Lifting from the past its veil. 
 What of his does now avail? 
 Just a mirror in his breast 
 That revealed a heav'nly guest. 
 Just the love that made us free. 
 Of the same high company. 
 This he brought us, this he left. 
 When we were of him bereft." 
 
 Looking into this mirror of his life we be- 
 hold reverence, truth, fairness, conviction, 
 faith even unto death, hope and courage, love 
 for humanity and love of country, all blended 
 with a saving gift of humor, a commonsense, 
 an equihbrium of impulse and judgment and 
 a belief in prayer beyond compare. It is diffi- 
 cult to choose from the richness of his thought 
 the few selections that shall speak his message. 
 
 The following may give a suggestion of his 
 wisdom and his power. He says of travel: 
 "There is no way to get rid of our ignorance 
 and narrowness but by going to see other parts 
 of the country with our own eyes. All the 
 union meetings ever held do not do half so 
 much to preserve the union as a single rail- 
 road." 
 
 He gives this charge at an ordination: 
 
 "Finally, my brother, I charge you to study 
 and preach Christ. You will find God in 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 285 
 
 Nature and in History. You will find God in 
 the intuition of eternal truth which moves your 
 own soul, but except you also preach God in 
 Christ, there is a large portion of human ex- 
 perience before which you will stand helpless." 
 
 His love of humanity shines in the familiar 
 passage : 
 
 "Of all the holy things which God has made, 
 the most holy is man himself. He is the tem- 
 ple of God; for the spirit of God dwells in 
 him, and wherever a human being stands, there 
 stands something greater than the Temple at 
 Jerusalem." 
 
 He treats of hell as a condition of the soul 
 which has awakened to a sense of its own im- 
 perfections, a condition beyond that state from 
 which the soul was aroused, a condition mark- 
 ing progress. He says: "God's hell, like 
 God's heaven, is above us, not below us. We 
 go up to it, not down." 
 
 With Dr. Clarke the poetical side of thought 
 was closely allied with the spiritual. He was 
 timidly sensitive about making his poems and 
 hymns public. He had a strong feeling of the 
 peculiar sacredness of prayer. This led him to 
 advocate the making of attendance at prayers 
 voluntary at Harvard College, when he stood 
 quite alone in this view. At this time he made 
 
286 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 a better argument in favor of retaining the old 
 system than was made by any of those who 
 were its advocates, and then concluded: 
 
 "These reasons would be cogent if it were 
 not for one which I regard as final. If I un- 
 derstand the teachings of Jesus, prayer is too 
 sacred a thing to be used for any secondary 
 purpose, however good." 
 
 His sympathetic spirit understood every 
 form of evil. He writes of idolatry: 
 
 "I would be very tender of any idolatry. I 
 often find people adoring very enthusiastically 
 books or artists or people who to me seem poor 
 and empty. But I am very careful not rudely 
 to criticise their faith. They think some 
 poetaster to be a great poet. Be it so. I will 
 not say a word against it. They are groping 
 after pearls. They think a man a great ora- 
 tor, and burn with enthusiasm for him; while 
 to me he appears only a rhetorician, a man of 
 words. They admire a preacher who to me 
 seems talking verbiage and commonplaces. 
 Well, who knows what real religion may come 
 to them through this channel? We have this 
 treasure in earthen vessels. I will not be an 
 iconoclast, except when absolutely necessary. 
 If truth requires me to blow a jarring and 
 dissonant blast, I will do it, but not otherwise. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 287 
 
 Idolatry, in the divine order, may be the first 
 step to true religion. Let it not be unclothed, 
 but clothed upon." 
 
 The following letter written to a minister of 
 another faith shows his commonsense in mat- 
 ters pertaining to the outward forms of reli- 
 gion, and his strong belief in the power of es- 
 sentials over the non-essentials: 
 
 "Dear Brother Wright: Let me introduce to you my 
 
 friend and parishioner, Mr. , for whom I ask the 
 
 privilege of attending some of your prayer and confer- 
 ence meetings if you continue to hold them at this 
 
 season. Ours are discontinued, but I think that Mr. 
 
 needs the strength that often comes to us from such 
 communion. I am sure that you will not welcome him 
 the less heartily because he is a member of our church 
 and proposes to continue such. There are many reasons 
 why he should do so; nevertheless, I do not think our 
 church can supply him just now with all he wants, and 
 perhaps in yours he may find some added strength. I 
 know that this is an unusual proceeding, but I think it is 
 a right thing to do. I have no doubt that there are many 
 persons in most churches who would be helped, for a 
 time at least, by trying the ministration of some other. 
 Why should we not say to such members : *Go and see if 
 you cannot get some good in the Episcopal Church, or 
 the Methodist, something which we cannot give you?* 
 It might not be the best way to build up a sect, but it 
 might build up Christianity. 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 James Freeman Clarke." 
 
288 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 To a spirit abounding with life, even the 
 shadows of death were "Protecting Shadows," 
 and he could cheerily sing: 
 
 "Be happy now and ever, 
 Since from the love divine 
 No power the soul can sever." 
 
 Among the many tributes to his memory, 
 none was more complete, none more sympa- 
 thetic with the all-round development of this 
 gifted preacher and friend than that of Phil- 
 lips Brooks, who poured forth his soul in a 
 sermon preached in Trinity Church the Sun- 
 day immediately following the word of the 
 death of Dr. Clarke : 
 
 "He belonged to the whole church of Christ. 
 Through him his master spoke to all that had 
 ears to hear. Especially he was a living, per- 
 petual epistle to the Church of God which is in 
 Boston. It is a beautiful, a solemn moment, 
 when the city, the church, the world gathers up 
 the completeness of a finished life like his, and 
 thanks God for it, and places it in the shrine of 
 memory to be a power and a revelation thence- 
 forth so long as city and church and world 
 shall last. It is not the losing, it is rather the 
 gaining, the assuring of his life, whatever he 
 has gone to in the great mystery beyond, he 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 289 
 
 remains a word of God here in the world he 
 loved. Let us thank our Heavenly Father for 
 the life, the work, the inspiration of his true 
 servant, his true saint, James Freeman 
 Clarke." 
 
 We can not leave this sketch of the life of 
 the founder of the Church of the Disciples 
 without paying our reverent tribute to his ideal 
 marriage, and expressing our admiration of 
 that truly beautiful woman whose presence 
 blessed the Church of the Disciples for nearly 
 fifty years. Shall we not let Dr. Ames say 
 the word for us here and now which he spoke 
 in the pulpit of the West Brookline Street 
 Church on Sunday, April 4, 1897, in remem- 
 brance of Anna Huidekoper Clarke? 
 
 "For nearly half a century a noble and 
 faithful woman moved by the side of James 
 Freeman Clarke, as a companion loved and 
 trusted, a wise counselor, a glad sharer of his 
 labors and aspirations, and the good angel of 
 his life. Last Friday evening, as the sun sank 
 into the West, she passed peacefully to join 
 him in their new home, and their new career of 
 service and of joy. These nine years she has 
 lingered among us, passing softly in and out 
 from this house of worship that she loved, a 
 beautiful, honored, and sacred presence, and 
 
290 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 already she is a memory. But we shall think 
 of them, almost we shall see them, as a shining 
 pair, forever happy, and forever young. For 
 surely they, if any, will 
 'Walk in soft, white light, with kings and 
 
 priests abroad. 
 And summer high, in bliss, upon the hills of 
 God.' " 
 
 We now come to that fruitful period of the 
 history of the Church of the Disciples made 
 memorable by the ministry of Charles Gordon 
 Ames. Again we have a great man so closely 
 identified with the life of the church that the 
 story of his ministry is church history. 
 
 The feeling of James Freeman Clarke for 
 the friend who became his successor is shown 
 in the following paragraph taken from a letter 
 written by Dr. Clarke to this dear friend in the 
 earlier years of their friendship. He writes: 
 
 "Here are you in California and I in Mas- 
 sachusetts, and your scrap of writing makes 
 my heart vibrate, and a thrill of sympathy with 
 you goes through me. So it would be if you 
 were in Sirius and I in Nebula. A glacial 
 period might intervene and encompass the 
 earth with ice, forty miles thick, but it would 
 not freeze up permanently human affections. 
 When thawed out after three hundred and 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 291 
 
 fifty thousand years, I should yawn and say: 
 *But where is Ames all this time?' " 
 
 The love and admiration of the congregation 
 for its new minister, Charles Gordon Ames, 
 was summed up at the fiftieth anniversary of 
 the church by one of the original members, Mr. 
 Henry Williams : 
 
 "Two short years have passed, and we all 
 feel, I think, tonight, that we have been greatly 
 blessed in the choice of a successor to him 
 whose life work was so identified with this so- 
 ciety. The strength of the church has been 
 steadily increasing, all its former activities 
 have been kept up, and seventy-four names 
 during this period have .been added to our 
 church book. Our new pastor has made for 
 himself a place in our hearts. Besides this, he 
 has always spoken to our reason and intelli- 
 gence and to our deepest religious convictions. 
 Without these two gains our cup were only 
 half full. These are not words of praise, much 
 less of flattery; they are words of very truth 
 and soberness. I could not say less, and I 
 may not say more in his presence." 
 
 How much the more, after twenty-three 
 years of ministry, do similar words of appre- 
 ciation come to our lips! And how Mrs. 
 Ames's name shines also in retrospect as with 
 
292 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 grateful hearts we turn to her at this Seventy- 
 fifth Anniversary season, and try to thank her 
 for all she has been to us! What a wonderful 
 story she could tell us of those California days, 
 those drives among the mountains to visit 
 churches hungering for the Bread of Life. If 
 Dr. Clarke helped the Christian ministry by 
 growing in one place, Dr. Ames helped equal- 
 ly by obeying the call which stirred him to go 
 forth and preach the gospel to every creature. 
 The church needed the steady growth of its 
 founder to enable it to put down its roots se- 
 curely. It needed the ministry of Charles 
 Gordon Ames that it might grow into a goodly 
 tree. In Dr. Ames's ministry came the great 
 growth of the Disciples Branch of the Wo- 
 man's Alliance, led by Mrs. Ames. In his 
 ministry came the foundation of the Disciples 
 School, with its graded course of study and its 
 well organized groups of social service. In his 
 ministry came the beginnings of a Committee 
 on Social Service which have since developed 
 into manifold works. Greatest of all in his 
 ministry came the moving of the church to its 
 new home on Peterborough Street without 
 serious loss of membership and with many new 
 gains. In this moving of the church to a new 
 location. Dr. Ames showed remarkable powers 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 293 
 
 of leadership. At one of the large meetings 
 called in the interest of this undertaking, Dr. 
 Ames spoke so feelingly of his own attachment 
 to the West Brookhne Street Church that 
 those who believed in the new plan began to 
 tremble lest he should paint the picture of the 
 past too glowingly. At this moment the 
 speaker became spiritually strong and elo- 
 quent, and, standing perfectly erect, in the 
 dignity of his seventy-eight years, declared 
 most fervently: "But I should not consider 
 myself worthy to stand here, as your minister, 
 if, having all these sacred associations with this 
 place, I could not put away my personal feel- 
 ings, and choose to do courageously and cheer- 
 fully what the judgment of long deliberation 
 has convinced me to be for the welfare of this 
 church." The atmosphere of doubt was 
 changed immediately to that of decision, and 
 all left the meeting with the resolution to fol- 
 low this dear minister of truth and of courage 
 wherever he might go. 
 
 Dr. Clarke and Dr. Ames were alike in 
 spirit, but they were different in temperament 
 and in the emphasis of their preaching. Like 
 Dr. Clarke, his successor felt closely the power 
 of the divine sonship in his own soul, which 
 he discloses to us in that exquisite poem. 
 
294 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 HIDDEN LIFE 
 
 Since Eden it keeps the secret! 
 
 Not a flower beside it knows 
 To distil from the day the fragrance 
 
 And beauty that floods the rose. 
 
 Silently speeds the secret 
 
 From the loving eye of the sun 
 To the willing heart of the flower; 
 
 The life of the twain is one. 
 
 Folded within my being, 
 
 A wonder to me is taught. 
 Too deep for curious seeing. 
 
 Or fathom of sounding thought. 
 
 Of all sweet mysteries holiest! 
 
 Faded are rose and sun ! 
 The Highest hides in the lowliest; 
 
 My Father and I are one! 
 
 If one could characterize this beloved minis- 
 ter and friend, would not the story run some- 
 what like this? He excelled in the great 
 quality of humanness, which was enhanced by 
 his power of elevating by a touch of the spirit 
 the common into the divine. One thinks of 
 Mrs. Browning's tribute to Euripides, so close- 
 ly does it portray this quality in our minister : 
 
 "Our Euripides, the human, 
 
 With his droppings of warm tears, 
 And his touches of things common. 
 Till they rose to touch the spheres/' 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 295 
 
 With our minister, the tears did not over- 
 flow, but the tenderness of spirit was ever 
 there, which made him look searchingly into 
 the face of his companion or of the passer-by 
 with the inward reminder, "Think of the beg- 
 gar in the heart." 
 
 His spontaneity of spirit and of expression 
 hfted many a dull meeting into hf e. His love 
 of freedom equalled his love of humanity. 
 "The sun set, but set not his hope; 
 Stars rose; his faith was earlier up." 
 
 He excelled in epigrammatic speech. In 
 calling upon an over-taxed yoimg mother, he 
 exclaimed, "God's in the air! Inspire 1" 
 
 In seeing one hesitate to cross a crowded 
 street he encouraged, "The crossings are 
 ours I" 
 
 In beholding a small group surrounding 
 him in earnest conversation after a commimion 
 service, he admonished, "Enlarge the circle 1" 
 
 In the place of printing many books were 
 great sermons; "Sermons of Sunrise," "As 
 Natural As Life," "How Souls Grow," and 
 "White Days"; printed addresses on John 
 Brown and Abraham Lincoln; newspaper ar- 
 ticles by the hundreds, and spoken addresses 
 here and there and everywhere by the thou- 
 sands. With Dr. Clarke, he believed in the 
 
296 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 higher education of women and in her pohtical 
 emancipation; his voice in behalf of justice for 
 the emancipated slave was ever strong. 
 
 A few weeks ago the writer of this paper 
 was asked to speak for five minutes of Charles 
 Gordon Ames. It seemed best to attempt "A 
 Portrait" in verse: 
 
 The form erect, the step alert, 
 
 The face aglow with heav'nly light. 
 Majestic eyes whose deeps assert 
 
 The steady power of second sight. 
 
 The active brain, the glowing heart. 
 The hand outstretched to others* woe. 
 
 The soul rejoicing in its part 
 
 To cheer the saddened, raise the low. 
 
 The will by constant practice trained 
 To serve, well-guarded at command, 
 
 With ev'ry faculty restrained 
 
 To measure forth the larger hand. 
 
 And yet a spirit so intense 
 
 When Freedom's strongholds bore assault. 
 He dared risk all in her defence. 
 
 Regardless of reproach or fault. 
 
 And, crowning all, a gift of wit 
 
 That served him well for many a mile; 
 It seemed when he was hardest hit, 
 'Twas then he surest felt God's smile. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 297 
 
 To him all souls were close allied. 
 
 In crowded street or inmost shrine; 
 Each heart he touched was sanctified 
 
 Beyond the power of mine and thine. 
 
 His wizard pen, whose ceaseless flow 
 
 Obeyed a spirit wonder-lit. 
 Ne'er faltered in the afterglow ; 
 
 And every word was "holy writ !" 
 
 At threescore years his faith essayed 
 
 To match a task fit for the strong; 
 The need was great, and, undismayed. 
 
 His blazing torch cheered on the throng. 
 
 Disciples blessed with eyes to see 
 
 Were conscious of the new-born power; 
 
 They caught his flaming spirit free. 
 And sped the purpose of the hour. 
 
 Threescore-and-ten ! "What of the morn? 
 
 Brave watchman on the towers of truth!" 
 Fourscore the years; still facing dawn! 
 
 "Good-morrow to this mortal youth !" 
 
 And then those Indian-summer days, 
 
 Each Sunday lovelier than the last; 
 Oh, blessings on Time's soft delays ! 
 
 The long, brave pilgrimage is past. 
 
 He welcomed to his pulpit free 
 
 A preacher to bear on the torch; 
 Then, ling'ring, found the mystic sea 
 
 And shores beyond the farthest notch. 
 
298 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 Great God, with lifted hearts of prayer 
 
 We pleading ask this highest gift. 
 That we such ministry might share. 
 
 One humble, human soul uplift; 
 
 That this great life now speeding on 
 
 Might bless us in the old-time way; 
 A life that Plutarch smiled upon. 
 
 Still marshalling his great array. 
 
 A life whatever worlds it reach 
 
 Still stands a Christ to humankind; 
 Forever hears the call to preach. 
 
 Forever seeks th' Eternal Mind. 
 
 He preached with unwearying enthusiasm 
 until his eighty-second year, and hved to see 
 the Church of the Disciples firmly planted in 
 its new home in the Fenway. 
 
 One day in April, 1912, came the tragic 
 news of the loss of the "Titanic" at sea, and 
 with it the tender, intimate word that our min- 
 ister in his sheltering home at 12 Chestnut 
 Street had gone to his heavenly rest. 
 
 It was so like him to minister to every soul 
 in distress that it may not be wholly fanciful 
 to think of his spirit as ministering to those 
 who in time were so close to him in this great 
 experience of death. It surely was a remark- 
 able coincidence that his first thought of death 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 299 
 
 in an early poem was the sinking of a ship. 
 He says in "Athanasia": 
 
 "The ship may sink 
 
 And I may drink 
 A hasty death in the bitter sea; 
 
 But all that I leave 
 
 In my ocean grave. 
 May be slipped and spared and no loss to me! 
 
 What care I 
 
 Though fall the sky. 
 And the shrivelling earth to a cinder turn; 
 
 No fires of doom 
 
 Can ever consume 
 What never was made nor meant to burn. 
 
 Let go the breath ! 
 
 There is no death 
 To the living soul, nor loss, nor harm. 
 
 Not of the clod 
 
 Is the life of God; 
 Let it mount as it will from form to form.'* 
 
 It is a significant fact that the two great 
 statements of faith and of covenant most wide- 
 ly used in our Unitarian churches were formu- 
 lated by the ministers of the Church of the 
 Disciples, James Freeman Clarke and Charles 
 Gordon Ames. We have already spoken of 
 the statement of "Our Faith" by Dr. Clarke. 
 As a companion to this statement, we treasure 
 
300 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 the covenant of Dr. Ames upon which so many 
 of our Unitarian churches have been founded; 
 
 "In the freedom of truth and in the spirit of 
 Jesus Christ, we unite for the worship of God 
 and the Service of Man." 
 
 In a sketch written for our Seventy-fifth 
 Anniversary by George W. Thacher, there is 
 a fine word of tribute to our present minister, 
 and a tender remembrance of the glorious 
 cloud of witnesses, the great ones of the past 
 who walk with us no more. A page from this 
 sketch, which Mr. Thacher calls "A Living 
 Church," may well form the closing of this 
 paper: 
 
 "During the last year of the life of Mr. 
 Ames, an associate minister was installed, the 
 third and present minister, Abraham Mitrie 
 Rihbany. In him seems to abide the spirit of 
 those who went before, and under the inspira- 
 tion of his leadership the society continues its 
 career of usefulness and beneficence. All the 
 branches of its activity are fully alive, while 
 the words spoken from its pulpit each Sunday 
 are quite worthy of comparison with the past, 
 and are well fitted to meet the conditions and 
 demands of the present day. The Oriental 
 element in the minister lends a wonderful 
 charm to his words, and his interpretations of 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 801 
 
 Scripture, and its imagery, are revelations of 
 clearness and beauty. May his worthy minis- 
 try be a long one, and be fraught with ever- 
 growing success! 
 
 "As one contemplates the history of three- 
 quarters of a century of what Edward Everett 
 Hale called "this matchless church," what a 
 host of noted men and women are called to 
 mind I Among the immortal forty- three whose 
 names follow that of James Freeman Clarke 
 on the Church Book, April 27, 1841, are those 
 of Nathaniel Peabody, his wife and three 
 daughters, Elizabeth P., Sophia (Mrs. Haw- 
 thorne) , and Mary (Mrs. Horace Mann) ; Dr. 
 Walter Channing and George Gibbs Chan- 
 ning, brothers of Dr. William Ellery Chan- 
 ning; Dr. Samuel Cabot, his wife and her 
 nieces, the Misses Cary, afterward well known 
 as Mrs. Agassiz and Mrs. Felton; Ellis Gray 
 Loring and his large-hearted wife ; Lucy God- 
 dard, who, among her many acts of service, 
 gave herself unsparingly, till the infirmities of 
 age prevented, to the decoration of the pulpit, 
 in which she showed exquisite taste; Mrs. Isa- 
 bella M. Weld, who lived to see the society 
 move into its present home, and whose interest 
 never flagged, notwithstanding her great age; 
 and Henry Williams, a well known and much 
 
802 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 loved teacher in Boston. Very soon John 
 Albion Andrew became an active member. 
 Prominent among the Sunday-school workers, 
 besides Mr. Andrew, may be mentioned Caro- 
 line Healey Dall, Georgina Lowell Putnam, 
 and her cousins, Charles and James Putnam, 
 and Mrs. James T. Fields. Some of the men 
 who assisted the minister in the pulpit, on oc- 
 casion, were George William Bond, Judge 
 Charles Allen, and Darwin E. Ware. 
 
 "One recalls two conspicuous and striking 
 figures in the West Brookline Street congre- 
 gations during the years when the attendance 
 was large and seats not easily found for late 
 comers. These were J. Huntington Wolcott, 
 father of the Governor, who, with snowy hair 
 and beard, sat in one of the front pews; and, 
 in the body of the church, the fine, strong coun- 
 tenance of Henry Bromfield Rogers. In later 
 years the handsome figure of Governor Wol- 
 cott himself was not infrequently seen, sitting 
 with his mother. 
 
 "Many remarkable women have belonged to 
 this church, besides those already named. Of 
 the earlier ones were those rare spirits, the min- 
 ister's mother, Rebecca Hall Clarke, his wife, 
 Anna Huidekoper Clarke, and his sister, 
 Sarah Clarke, the latter a talented artist. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 803 
 
 There were also Frances and Margaret Storer, 
 Mrs. Henry Williams, Elizabeth S. Wells, 
 Madam Goddard, 'always so true and ardent 
 a friend' ; Susan T. Hillard, *the most unselfish 
 of human beings' and Barbara Channing, 
 'whose life was an act of steady generosity/ 
 These tributes were paid by Mr. Clarke him- 
 self, and no one knew them better than he. 
 Then came another group of remarkable wo- 
 men, Abby W. May, Julia Ward Howe, Lucia 
 M. Peabody, Lucretia Crocker, and Mary 
 Hemenway. 
 
 "Any record of the women of the Church of 
 the Disciples would be incomplete without the 
 name of Marion Josephine Page. Her life 
 was bound up in all that concerned it, and her 
 memory is enshrined in many hearts. 
 
 "Time and space would fail one to tell of the 
 Bowditches, Chapins, Calls, Crufts, Higgin- 
 sons. Lodges, Mays, Tolmans and many more 
 besides, a shining throng ! A re not their names 
 written in the Book of Life? *Yea, saith the 
 spirit, that they may rest from their labors; 
 and their works do follow them.' " 
 
304 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 THE DISCIPLES SCHOOL 
 
 The establishment of the Disciples School 
 early in Dr. Ames's ministry was due largely 
 to two forces: the active devotion and wise 
 management of Mrs. Clara B. Beatley and 
 the interest and encouragement of both Dr. 
 and Mrs. Ames. 
 
 As a teacher of training and experience, 
 Mrs. Beatley had a vision of what a church 
 school should be, and recognized the principles 
 which were fundamental to her ideas. These 
 ideas made the school unique from the begin- 
 ning. Every plan for the school was educa- 
 tional, the interest and development of the 
 children being always the first consideration. 
 At the annual meetings of the church, an ap- 
 propriation made for the expenses of the 
 school made possible the selection of teachers 
 and officers well trained for their tasks, to 
 whom an honorarium was given each year. This 
 was the first instance of its kind, and so far as 
 is known the only one where the appropriation 
 for the church school exceeded that for the 
 music of the church, which is usually consid- 
 ered of greater importance. In organizing, 
 each class remained with a teacher two years, 
 and graduated into the advanced class with 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 805 
 
 appropriate exercises and recognition at the 
 end of the senior year. The advanced class 
 later became the adult class. But the organ- 
 ization was not completed by the classification 
 of pupils and the arrangement of a course of 
 study. Each class was a club and actively in- 
 terested in some social service carefully chosen 
 with regard to the group of pupils to be 
 taught. The social affairs of the school also 
 entered into the plan, and preparations were 
 regularly made and carried out for four par- 
 ties a year. The joy of the participants was 
 the test of the success of these good times. 
 
 The devotional spirit and training has been 
 always emphasized. The exercises of the 
 school have been much enriched by the services 
 written for them by Mrs. Beatley, and by her 
 book of collected poems, "Apples of Gold," 
 which is of great inspirational value to teach- 
 ers and pupils. This collection has been the 
 source of many fine quotations memorized and 
 often repeated during the sessions of the year. 
 Both the book and the services have had a wide 
 circulation. 
 
 Thus the school was started, a pioneer move- 
 ment of its kind. Thus it has progressed 
 nearly a quarter of a century, during which 
 time Mrs. Beatley has shaped the policy of the 
 
306 SKETCHES OF SOME HISTORIC 
 
 school and has been its directing spirit, either 
 as principal or as chairman of the committee 
 on education. During this administration, 
 "Association Day" for acquainting the young 
 people with the work of our American Uni- 
 tarian Association has been established, and 
 "Andrew Day," in memory of John A. 
 Andrew, has been celebrated by presenting 
 annually a portrait of the great war Governor 
 to a public school of Boston. Twenty por- 
 traits have been given. The statement of Our 
 Faith, taken from the sermon of James Free- 
 man Clarke on "The Five Points of the New 
 Theology," was first put forth by this school. 
 So by teaching and inspiring teachers and 
 pupils, by never neglecting opportunities for 
 progress while holding to the ideals which were 
 prominent in the beginning, Mrs. Beatley has 
 made the Disciples School an important ally 
 of the church and a power for religious edu- 
 cation in the lives of all who are connected 
 with it. 
 
CHURCHES OF GREATER BOSTON 807 
 MAGNOLIAS 
 
 TO J. F. C. BY C. B. B. 
 
 For thee thine own magnolias rare, 
 These blossoms rosy purple bright. 
 
 All white within like lilies fair; 
 How wonderful the sight ! 
 
 Each Maytime blooms this radiant tree. 
 Perchance in answer to thy smile; 
 
 Blest messages descend from thee. 
 To cheer our hearts awhile. 
 
 They bid believe "What God'* once "gives 
 
 He gives forever" to his child; 
 In faith and hope and love still lives 
 
 His mercy ever mild. 
 
 They bid us lift our hearts in prayer, 
 To face our lives with strength and grace ; 
 
 O brave magnolia blooms so rare, 
 Our glad thanksgiving trace ! 
 
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