USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Brookline > Celebration of the semi-centennial anniversary of the Baptist Church of Brookline, 1878 > Part 1
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Gc 974.402 B81brb 1820271
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01105 9166
CELEBRATION
1
OF THE
Semi- Centennial Anniversary
OF
THE BAPTIST CHURCH OF BROOKLINE, 111
WITH
An Historical Discourse by the Pastor, the Rev. Henry C. Mabie.
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Sunday and Monday, June 2 and 3, 1878.
BROOKLINE : PRINTED AT THE CHRONICLE BOOK AND JOB PRINT. 1878.
Brookline, lass. Baptist church. 1:
D 224413 .12 Celebration of the semi-centennial anniver- sary of the Baptist church of Brookline; with an histroical discourse by the pastor, the Rev. Henry C.Mabic. Sunday and Monday, June 2 and 3, 1873. Brookline, 1678.
CHELP CARD
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A 861
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D)284413.12
1820271
The Baptist Church in Brookline .- 1828.
A 861
The Baptist Church in Brookline. - 1878.
At the meetings of THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN BROOKLINE, held on the 26th day of March and 23d day of April, 1878, it was
Voted, To appoint a Committee to make arrangements for the proper and appropriate Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Church,
And the following committee were appointed to carry out the vote of the Church, viz. :
Rev. HENRY C. MABIE, Dea. THOMAS GRIGGS, THOMAS B. GRIGGS, GEORGE W. STEARNS, WILLIAM DEARBORN, GEORGE S. CUSHING, PETER W. PIERCE,
DAVID S. COOLIDGE, ADDISON BOYDEN, DAVID BENTLY.
In conformity with the vote of the Church, the Committee issued the following Note of Invitation to the absent and former members of the Church and Congregation, viz. :
kemi-Centennial Celebration. 9.
The Baptist Church in Brookline intend to celebrate their Fiftieth Anniversary on
SUNDAY, THE SECOND DAY OF JUNE, 187S.
by religious services and historical addresses in their house of worship, at a quarter before eleven o'clock in the forenoon, and by a meeting of the Sabbath School Teachers and Scholars on the same day, at half- past seven o'clock in the evening.
ON MONDAY, the 3d day of June, 1878, there will be a Social Re- union in the Chapel, of the present and former members of the Church and Congregation, and their guests at 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
You are cordially invited to be present and join with us on that in- teresting occasion.
Respectfully,
Dea. THOMAS GRIGGS, WILLIAM DEARBORN, GEORGE S. CUSHING, DAVID S. COOLIDGE, BENJAMIN F. BAKER, GEORGE F. JOYCE, DAVID BENTLY.
Committee on Invitation.
Brookline, May 3d, 1878.
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1828 1878
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THE PROGRAMME
for the service of the Celebration was arranged by the Committee as follows :-
Sunday, June 2d, at 10.45 A. M.
HISTORICAL ADDRESS,
BY THE PASTOR, REV. H. C. MABIE.
COMMUNION SERVICE, At 4 o'clock, P. M.
SUNDAY SCHOOL ANNIVERSARY, At 7.30 P. M.
Monday, June 3d, at 4 P. M.
ADDRESSES, BY REV. WM. SHAILER, D. D., AND REV. WM. LAMSON, D. D. Former Pastors.
' SOCIAL GATHERING
IN THE CHAPEL, AT THE CLOSE OF THE ADDRESSES.
COLLATION IN THE TOWN HALL, AT SIX O'CLOCK, P.M. Followed by Brief Addresses.
Morning Service, Sunday, June 2d, 1878.
In conformity with the foregoing arrangement, the services of the Celebration were commenced on Sunday morning at the usual hour, and the house of worship was completely filled at the begin- ning of the exercises, which were as follows :
ORGAN VOLUNTARY, BY THE ORGANIST, MR. GEORGE H, CARNES.
SINGING, "THE GLORIA IN EXCELSIS," BY A SELECT CHOIR.
.
INVOCATION, BY THE PASTOR, REV. HENRY C. MABIE.
SINGING,
HYMN 121 IN THE "SERVICE OF SONG."
Praise to thee, thon great Creator 1 Praise to thee from every longue. Join, my soul, with every creature, Join the universal song. Father, source of all compassion, Pure, unbounded grace is thine : Hail the God of our salvation ! Praise Ilim for Ilis love divine.
For ten thousand blessings given, For the hope of future joy, Sound His praise through carth and heaven, Sound Jehovah's praise on high. Joyfully on earth adore him, Till in heaven our song we raise ; There, enraptured, fall before Ilim, Lost in wonder, love, and praise.
READING OF SCRIPTURE,
(9Ist and 92d Psalms,)
BY REV. ALVAH HOVEY, D.D.,
President of Newton Theological Institution.
PRAYER,
BY REV. WILLIAM H. SHAILER, D.D., OF PORTLAND,
(a former Pastor of the Church.)
SINGING,
HYMN 787 IN THE "SERVICE OF SONG."
. How honorable is the place Where we ndoring stand, -- Zion, the glory of the earth, And beauty of the land !
Bulwarks of mighty grace defend The city where we dwell ; The walls, of strong salvation made, Defy the assaults of hell.
Lift np thy everlasting gates, The doors wide-open fling : Enter, ye nations, that obey The statutes of our King.
Here shall you taste unmingled joys, And live in perfeet peace : Yon, that have known Jehovah's name, And ventured on his gruee.
Trust in the Lord, forever trust, And banish all your fears ; Strength in the Lord Jehovali dwells Eternal as ITis years.
HISTORICAL ADDRESS,
BY THE PASTOR.
PSALMS, CXII-6: "The righteous shall be In everlasting remembrance."
We are here to-day to call to remembrance former days in the history of a Christian church. The field is somewhat narrowed. We are not to speak of what might have been, or what ought to have been, according to some ideal standard of church life, but of what actually has transpired in a line of events which has given to this church its own peculiar character. It is not my purpose in this discourse to make extended biographical notes of the men who have figured prominently here, as that will be left to another occasion, and to those better qualified than I to speak. My object here is rather to analyze the characteristic features of this Christian body, to speak of great principles which in the life of this people have found an incarnation.
The true history of a church consists not in a mere series of incidents, nor in the history of its mere individual members ; it is rather the outcome of certain divine impulses which have been wrought into the combined life of a body of believers.
Having premised this, let us study for an hour that spiritual movement which, beginning fifty years ago in the lives of a small but devoted band, has broadened into the church assembled here to-day. Let us note, first, the origin of this religious movement. Many present here to-day will recall that about the beginning of the present century there was a wide-spread defection from the evan- gelical faith in the churches throughout New England. There were some natural causes for this defection. In the first place, for nearly a century there had prevailed in leading theological centres extreme Calvinistic views, which, in overzeal to maintain the doctrine of Divine Sovereignty, had depressed another truth, the complement of it-man's free agency. As the result of this, there was in the minds of many an entire reaction from the system of truth then dominant, which broadened into an entire rejection of the Trinitarian theology.
In the second place, an institution which has never had warrant, either in Scripture or in the experience of the Church (infant baptism), but which, strangely enough, had found well-nigh uni-
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versal support in the early churches of New England, brought into those churches a large membership of unregenerate persons, who never had experience of evangelical truth. Allied to this was another institution, known as the "half-way covenant," which enlarged the unregenerate membership of the Church to still wider bounds, till at length there was a multitude ready to go out from it because they were not of it.
Yet again, from colonial days, when the Pilgrim Fathers fled from English oppression to these rugged shores in order that they might freely worship 'God, and-as some have thought-oppress those dissenting from them, there had grown up a sentiment that in some way the State was to be made subservient to the Church, and that that form of Church first on the ground was to establish the stand- ard for both State and Church.' Hence, there were many among our fathers who felt not only the reproof of the pulpit, but the smart of the magistrate's lash, as wielded in the interests of estab- lished orders. In those times, let it be borne in mind, the Baptists were a feeble folk, small in numbers, of no wealth, with but one school of learning of any note, and for the most part derided, classed with Quakers and witches, deserving to be whipped, banished or burned for their so-called fanatical views.
There was but little outward inducement for men to become Baptists ; and yet, mark, that from that very period of wide-spread defection on the one hand, the Baptist denomination began to grow in numbers and rise in power, on the other. The truth is, that in every period when the Church is tried, thoughtful and serious men are driven to a re-examination of the faith that is in them. For men who could not accept prevailing views of established orders, there were open then, as ever, two alternatives. One was to react to an extreme liberalism, which has no definite belief ; the other, to have recourse again to the Holy Scriptures and draw from that pure source better statements of the faith. The beliefs of the Baptist churches of to-day in this country are the result of such a fresh and original inquiry of the Sacred Scriptures, made . not then, indeed, for the first time, but made for the first time by- many people in that period of defection.
While some were becoming fatalists, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men in respect to ordinances, upholding the · traditions of the fathers respecting the relations between Church and State, gathering a host of unregenerate persons into the mem- bership of the Church, and while others rose up to deny the trinity of the Divine nature, the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ and the authority of the Scriptures themselves, our Baptist fathers were preaching amid many reproaches the Scriptures of the old and new testaments, the sole and sufficient authority in all matters of
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faith and practice ; the sovereignty of God in election, and also the free agency of man; a regenerate Church membership; the ordinances to be maintained as our Lord delivered them, and the Church and State to be wholly independent of each other as to formal relations.
As part and parcel of that complex movement of three-score years ago this church had its origin. It came into existence, in the providence of God, at a set hour. The only church in this town fifty years ago (embracing, indeed, in its membership many noble souls, and presided over by a man earnest and devout, the Rev. John Pierce, D. D.,) was nevertheless drifting with those opposing evangelical faith.
In that congregation there were, however, dissatisfied ones, and it needed but a single providential incident to call out that senti- ment into significant action.
In the year 1805 a young man died here, whose mother, Mrs. Beulah Griggs, was a member of the Rev. Doctor Pierce's church. The year following, on the anniversary of the son's death, that mother gave expression to her interest in Baptist principles by inviting the Rev. Mr. Grafton, of Newton, to preach a sermon in Brookline in the house of Thomas Griggs. This was the twenty- seventh of October, 1806. The impression of this sermon was so deep and salutary that it led a number to re-examine the word of God and the state of their own hearts, and the movement which resulted in the formation of this church doubtless had its potential origin here, although the church was not formally constituted for more than twenty years afterwards. The conversion of Mrs. Benlah Griggs and the influence which went out from it was the initial step of the evangelical movement in this town. Those who were the constituted members of this body residing here, who from time to time adopted Baptist views, in the interim became connected with churches in Newton, Cambridgeport and Roxbury. Notably among those were Deacon Thomas Griggs, Deacons Elijah and Timothy Corey.
In the year 1827 Baptist meetings were formally held for the first time in Brookline, several of the brethren inviting evangelical min- isters from other towns to preach in private houses. One sister is present here to-day who, as did Mary in Bethany of old, frequently opened her house for these meetings, though in doing this she subjected herself to pecuniary loss, so obnoxious was the Baptist name to some of her patrons. In June of this year the first con- cert of prayer for foreign missions was held at the house of Mr. Edward Hall, a meeting so manifestly attended by the presence of the Holy Spirit that from that time to this, though it was a year before the formation of the church, the monthly concert has been observed.
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The meetings held during the year 1827 had awakened so much interest that the many who wished to attend could no longer be accommodated in a private house, therefore in the month of Feb- ruary, 1828, a suitable piece of land was leased and the first chapel erected. The building was 26x36 in size. In the month of April a Sabbath School was organized, having nine teachers and thirty- one scholars. The first superintendent was Daniel Sanderson, a man who through many years proved himself an efficient worker in the Lord's cause-a deacon counted worthy of double honor, and a generous contributor to benevolent causes.
At a meeting held May 2 1st it was voted to organize a church, to be called the Baptist Church of Brookline, services of recognition to be held on the fifth day of June. Accordingly, on that day (June 5, 1828, fifty years ago on Wednesday next,) thirty-six individuals, eleven brethren and twenty-five sisters, were publicly recognized as a Baptist Church. On October 16th of the same year, the following brethren were chosen deacons : Elijah Corey, formally deacon of the church at Newton, and Thomas Griggs and Timothy Corey, formally deacons of the church at Roxbury. One of those brethren still holds the office to which he was then called. He has ever. honored it, and though at the good old age of ninety years, still regularly fills his place in the sanctuary on the Lord's day, and is felt to be a prophet whose words of counsel are an oracle among us and a benediction upon us all. Of the deacons Corey I shall speak hereafter.
In July, 1828, only one month after the public recognition of the church, so large had the congregation become, it became evident that the litttle chapel was insufficient. Accordingly, five brethren came together, canvassed the matter and "divided the dollar" among them, each agreeing to bear a certain proportion of the expense of a new building, whatever it might be. Those were days of sacrifice to high principle, of devotion to views which it cost much in every way to maintain. These five brethren, whose names deserve to be held in perpetual remembrance by all lovers of evangelical faith in this community (for they pioneered the way for Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Methodists and Baptists alike), were Elijah Corey, Timothy Corey, Thomas Griggs, David Coolidge and Elijah Corey, Jr.
By the twentieth of November of the same eventful year, 1828, the new church was dedicated and the former chapel was fitted into · a parsonage. During this year also a number were added to the church- by baptism, and thus God's seal was set upon the earnest efforts to establish His cause. We cannot pass this account of the organization without making honorable mention of some who were the fathers of this enterprise.
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Deacon Elijah Corey in early life became a member of the Unitarian church under the charge of the Rev. Joseph Jackson. At the age of thirty-six he became, as he believed, a subject of the new birth, entirely changed his views, and in 1810 was baptized into the First Baptist Church at Newton, where he was soon after- wards chosen deacon. He subsequently removed his membership to the church in Cambridgeport. He was one of the movers in the organization of this church in 1828, and held the office of deacon until the close of his life in 1859. He was a devout and aggressive Christian, a liberal and active supporter of the cause until his death.
Deacon Timothy Corey, a brother of Elijah, also in early life was a Unitarian. In 1810, with his brother, he came to a change of views, and was baptized and received into the church at Newton. He subsequently became connected with the church in Cambridge- port and the church in Roxbury, in the latter place holding the office of deacon. He was a man of even temper, calm and judi- cious as a counsellor. In 1844 he departed this life, but his influ- ence is perpetuated, not only in his works which follow him, but in the lives of children and children's children who have proved the truth of the text: "The generation of the upright shall be blessed."
Deacon Daniel Sanderson, who has been previously mentioned, was a member of this church from its origin till his death in 1863. In a sketch given by another hand I find this comment upon his character : "'The cause of Christ both at home and abroad shared his warmest sympathies and co-operation. For the foreign work he gave freely of his means and his counsel, and parted cheerfully with a loved daughter at the call of the Master to labor among the heathen. His work at home was not confined to his own town. He greatly enjoyed aiding feeble churches, and many an interest, now strong and self-supporting, has been helped in its beginnings by his timely charity and counsel."
Deacon 'Thomas Seaverns was an original member of this church, continuing here until his death in 1875. Served as deacon twelve years. He was known as a man of quiet and retiring manners, humble and devont, and universally respected and revered.
David Coolidge was one of the five brethren who shared the early burdens. For many years he continued a member of this church, but in later life his sympathies were drawn out to the aid of the younger church in Brighton, in connection with which he spent his last days, giving freely of his means, and passed away in the month of November in the year 1876, at the advanced age of eighty-seven, like a shock of corn fully ripe in its season. His widow yet survives him, and his children have entered into his labors.
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There are others to whom this church is greatly indebted, among them many noble-hearted women. Among those who have passed away are Deacon Thomas Kendall, David R. Griggs, Susan Bond, Nancy Pierce, Almira Sanderson, Abigail Tolman, and others. Of the living we will not particularly speak, as their labors are an open volume to you all.
Passing now from the record of the origin of this religious move- ment, and leaving for others and to another occasion reminiscences of the fathers, let us notice some of the characteristic features which have entered into the life of this church.
I .- ITS DEVOTION TO THE CAUSE OF FOREIGN MISSIONS.
This is high praise to be bestowed upon any church to say that perhaps its very chief characteristic has been a desire to carry the gospel to heathen nations, for this is the very innermost spirit of the gospel of Christ. Christ, on His errand of redeeming love to this apostate province of God's empire, was the first foreign mis- sionary. Strange, therefore, it is that in Christendom to-day there are hosts of churches in which there is not sentiment enough on this cause to lead them to provide for an annual discourse, or to give a dollar towards this cause in the course of a year, and especially among Baptists, when for more than sixty years it has been one of the noblest features of our denominational work that our brethren have been pioneers in Asiatic missions. It is there- fore greatly to the credit of this people that they were partners in the early period of missionary sacrifice and toil. It is also signifi- cant that the very organization of this church is dated from a pecu- liar spiritual impulse that was received at a missionary concert for prayer, held and permanently established a year before the organi- zation of either the church or the Sunday school. It is recorded that at that meeting those assembled received a remarkable meas- ure of spiritual influence which moved them to take the first steps toward forming a church.
The concert has been regularly maintained throughout these fifty years. Foreign missions, therefore, have always shared largely in the affections of the church. Money has been freely given, and, better than all, some of our choicest members have devoted their lives to this cause.
In June, 1832, Mr. Thomas Simons, a native of England, who became a member of this church by letter, was appointed mission- ary to India, and after more than forty years of service died at Prome in 1876, at the age of seventy-five. Helen Maria Griggs, who had been one of the original members of this church, early felt that the cause of missions claimed her service. She was accordingly appointed to the work, became the wife of the Rev.
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Francis Mason, and sailed on the twenty-fourth of May, 1830, for India. There has always been a pathetic interest connected with the arrival of these missionaries at Tavoy. They were just in time to witness the sad scenes connected with the death of the lamented Boardman, and to share in that memorable baptismal service on the banks of the stream in the Burmah jungle, and to care for that first band of Karen converts, which was the fruit of Boardman's eager toil. Here our sister lived and labored till October 8, 1846, when she was called to the missionary's reward on high.
Two years after the departure of Mr. and Mrs. Mason, Sarah Davis, whose Christian life for two years previous had burned. with zeal for missions, felt it her duty to devote herself to this work. Accordingly, she was appointed by the Board, and having become . the wife of Grover S. Comstock, they sailed for Burmah July 2d, 1834. For nine years Mrs. Comstock proved herself a heroine of sacrifice and labor, and died April 28th, 1843. She sleeps in Ramree in distant Arracan, while incidents of her devotion to Christ and the heathen have awakened interest in the cause of missions and nerved believers to sacrifice the world round.
Among the pupils in the Sunday school class of Sarah Davis had been a young girl who partook largely of her teacher's piety and missionary zeal. This was Martha Ann Sanderson, a daughter of Deacon Sanderson. In August, 1850, she was married to Mr. William Ashmore, and on the 18th of the same month they sailed for China. After eight years of abundant labors, in consequence of failing health, they sailed for America. With the voyage half completed her life ceased. She sleeps in the ocean, whose waters laving every shore speak the breadth of her sympathy for perishing humanity.
There was one other sister who was baptized into the member- ship of this church in 1837. Five years later she was appointed a missionary to the Cherokee Indians. This was Elizabeth Morse, who, though entering a field somewhat less distant, chose one requiring quite as much heroism-a field which to this day is as full of interest and promise as the Asiatic fields.
II .- Pass now to notice in the work of this church its provision for the pulpit in the pastors it has chosen. It is the work of the church to rear the ministry, to educate it, to call it under God to position, to cultivate its piety, and to cooperate with it. The records show that for more than two years after the organization the church had no pastor, although preaching was regularly main- tained and the spiritual state of the people was healthful and vig- orous.
In the month of March, 1830, the church extended a call to him who was to be their first pastor-the Rev. Joseph M. Driver, of the
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Andover Theological Seminary. During Mr. Driver's ministry nineteen were added to the church. I am informed that Mr. Driver is still living, at the advanced age of seventy-eight years, in Windsor, Vt., being in very feeble health and wholly unable to join us here.
In the year 1831, the Rev. Joseph A. Warne was called to the pastorate. He was publicly recognized April 14, and continued in the relation until June 1837, a period of about six years. He is spoken of as a preacher mighty in the Scriptures, who did much to beget and mature a love for sound doctrine, a characteristic which has permanently entered into the sentiment of this church. (They . never have been a people of itching ears, calling for sensational preaching, and descending to clap-trap to entice the people.) Pastors upon this field have been affectionately cherished for studi- ous habits, positive convictions of gospel truth, and faithful every- day toil to ground the church in the same, and for these qualities Mr. Warne holds a high place in the esteem of those brethren who remember him. Sixty- five members were added to the church during his pastorate. Mr. Warne is still living, at the age of eighty years, and though too feble to join us in our festival, has sent us his congratulations in a letter, which we shall hear on another occa- sion.
Succeeding Mr. Warne's pastorate in the year 1837, the Rev. William H. Shailer, then teaching in the institute at Suffield, was unanimously called to the pastorate. The blessing of God attended this union to a high degree. All hearts join to welcome to our re-union a brother so beloved, a pastor whose work of more than sixteen years so greatly endeared him to many still living, and by whom many of you were baptized into the fellowship of this church. Of the tenderness of those pastoral relations, as well as of the men who stood about him as fellow-laborers, we shall have the pleasure of hearing from his own tongue on the morrow.
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