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 ! 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. 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