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THE PARISH OF THE ADVENT
1
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01790 5636
GENEALOGY 974.402 B65PAQ
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/sketchofhistoryo00chur
PARISH OF THE ADVENT
#
Mr. Coswell
A SKETCH
OF THE HISTORY OF
THE PARISH OF THE ADVENT
IN THE
CITY OF BOSTON
1844-1894
PRINTED FOR THE PARISH OF THE ADVENT 1894
COPYRIGHT 1894 BY THE PARISH OF THE ADVENT
GEO. H. ELLIS, PRINTER, 141 FRANKLIN ST., BOSTON.
To the memory
OF
THE REVEREND WILLIAM CROSWELL, D.D. THE FIRST RECTOR OF THE PARISH OF THE ADVENT
BY WHOSE EXERTIONS UNDER DIVINE GUIDANCE THE FOUNDATIONS WERE LAID UPON WHICH HIS SUCCESSORS HAVE BUILT AND TO WHOM ALL WHO RECEIVE
THE MINISTRATIONS OF THE CHURCH OF THE ADVENT OWE A LASTING DEBT OF GRATITUDE THIS SKETCH OF FIFTY YEARS OF ITS LIFE IS DEDICATED.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
1843-1851
I3
1851-1858
47
1858-1869
6 1
1869-1894
71
RECTORS
83
PAST OFFICERS S4
PAST MEMBERS 86
OFFICERS
88
MEMBERS
89
This sketch tells of the growth of a movement having somewhat more than a local interest. The first portion of it was written by the late Dr. F. E. Oliver who was intimately associated with the early life of the Parish of the Advent. The story of its later life has been completed mainly from its records. It is too soon for all the details of that later life to be told, but it is believed that the main events of its history are all set forth with sufficient clearness and detail to satisfy the present demand.
1843-1851
PARISH OF THE ADVENT.
--
1843-1851.
One evening, late in the autumn of 1843, a gentleman then living in Bowdoin Street, dissatisfied with the condi- tion of the Congregational body of which he had long been a member, and who had been drawn to consider the claims of the Episcopal Church, conceived the idea of forming a new Church parish in the city of Boston. In his own words : " Being discontented with my religious position, my thoughts had turned in the direction of the Episcopal Church. I was, however, a close guardian of these thoughts and of the plans and ideas they suggested" until the evening above mentioned, when " I went into the office of a friend and neighbor,* and, finding him alone, said rather abruptly, ' Doctor, what should you think of forming a new Episcopal church ?' He looked surprised, and had no ready reply. I then said to him that I wanted to talk with him about matters relating to the Episcopal Church. He was at once a cordial and interested listener. I told him frankly I had for a long time been thinking deeply on the subject. I had hitherto spoken to no one, and I spoke now because cir- cumstances were such that I wished to change my present position. I had tried the Episcopal churches of Boston, and found them, as conducted, little or no better than the Con-
* Dr. William Edward Coale.
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gregational. I did not like them. They had the Prayer- book, but hardly its spirit; and they did not follow its prin- ciples. The doctor here replied, 'I agree with you.' I added: ' I have come to talk with you on this matter. You are an Episcopalian, and will understand me, and will know whether it would be possible to get together a sufficient number of Churchmen to support a new church.' "
A few days later the two gentlemen above mentioned, with two others, met to discuss the proposed plan, which was that a church be formed in the spirit and according to the principles of the Book of Common Prayer,-a church supported by the free-will offerings of the worshippers, with free seats, where rich and poor might meet alike, without distinction, for worship; and where provision should be made for daily as well as weekly services. It was suggested that Dr. George C. Shattuck might be interested in the movement, and would perhaps be willing, should he like the plan, to assist it financially. These gentlemen con- tinued to meet and discuss the proposed plan; and Dr. Shattuck, having been consulted, joined with them, and showed much interest in the undertaking.
The character of this new enterprise may be judged from the earnest desire of its originators for a wider dissemination of Catholic truth and the opening of the way for its more frequent hearing by all sorts and conditions of men through the establishment of a church having free seats. Moreover, they hoped for a stricter adherence on the part of the clergy and laity alike to the principles which form the basis of our Holy Religion.
Before many months had elapsed the plan assumed a definite shape. On the roth of September, 1844, a meeting of several gentlemen interested in the project was held in the
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Sunday-school room of Grace Church, at which the whole subject was discussed ; and it was finally agreed that a re- quest, signed by seven qualified voters,* should be made for the call of a legal meeting for the purposes of organization. Accordingly, a warrant was issued by John Codman, Esq .; and four days later, on the 14th of September, a meet- ing was held at the house of Dr. George C. Shattuck, on Cambridge Street, and an organization effected. At this meeting, at which twelve members were present, committees were appointed to prepare a constitution and to procure a place of worship. At a subsequent meeting held on the 24th of September a constitution was reported and adopted, the object of the organization, as set forth in the first arti- cle, being "to secure to a portion of the city of Boston the ministrations of the Holy Catholic Church; and more es- pecially to secure the same to the poor and needy in a manner free from unnecessary expense and all ungracious circumstances." In the second article it was provided that the corporation should consist of the rector of the parish, ex officio, the assistant rector,- should there be one,- and the following persons and their successors : William Foster Otis, Robert M. Copeland, Richard H. Salter, T. M. J. Dehon, William E. Coale, John Codman, Richard H. Dana, Richard H. Dana, Jr., Robert Farley, George C. Shattuck, Jr., William J. Dale, Theodore Metcalf, Charles R. Bond, Charles P. Gordon, Henry Burroughs, Thomas D. Morris, J. H. Adams, Jr., I. C. Bates and Theron Metcalf; and it was also provided that the corporation should consist of not less than twelve nor more than twenty members, and should fill all vacancies in its number. At this meeting it was also
* The signers were Charles P. Gordon, Robert M. Copeland, Richard H. Dana, Jr., Theodore Metcalf, Dr. W. E. Coale, Dr. Richard H. Salter, and Charles R. Bond.
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reported that a place of worship could be had at the cor- ner of Lowell and Causeway Streets in a building then being erected. As it was understood that this hall could not be completed in time for the first service, which was to take place on the first Sunday in Advent, a room was leased through the agency of Mr. John P. Tarbell, from Mr. Trull, in a building numbered 13 Merrimac Street, until the hall was ready for use.
The most important question, after all, was who should lead the new parish as its rector. Until this meeting the matter was not formally discussed. Many who were in- terested in the movement had known the Rev. William Cros- well, formerly rector of Christ Church, Boston; and, when his name was suggested, he was at once unanimously chosen to be the rector of the church to be called the " Church of the Blessed Advent." Mr. Croswell was the son of the Rev. Dr. Harry Croswell, rector of Trinity Church, New Haven. Soon after his ordination he had accepted the assistant rectorship of Christ Church in Boston; and on the resigna- tion of the rector, not long after, in May, 1829, he was called to the rectorship, and entered upon his duties on the 3Ist of that month, as he expressed it, "in weakness, and in fear and in much trembling." For eleven years he remained at Christ Church, resigning in the summer of 1840, to the great regret of his many parishioners. He had already accepted the rectorship of St. Peter's, Auburn, N.Y .; and there he continued until his call to Boston, a period of four years. His previous career in Boston had brought him many friends; for he was a man of the highest culture, and of a deeply religious nature. He was firm in his belief, but genial and courteous, with all those qualities which distin- guish a Christian gentleman. Certainly, as it proved, no
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one could have been selected better fitted for the position he was called upon to fill.
At a meeting of the parish held on St. Luke's Day a letter was read from the rector-elect, accepting the rector- ship of the parish; and at the same meeting Mr. Richard H. Dana, Sr., accepted the offer of senior warden, and Mr. Charles P. Gordon was elected junior warden. Soon it was announced that a contract had been made for the hall on the corner of Lowell and Causeway Streets, so that the preparations were now nearly completed for the opening services.
Ten years had now elapsed since the commencement of the Catholic revival in the Anglican Church; and it was natural that in the establishment of a new parish on a strictly churchly basis, with free seats for rich and poor alike, and dependent for its support upon the voluntary of- ferings of the worshippers, the influence of that movement, both in its ritual and teaching, should be felt and recog- nized. With a corporation self-perpetuating, and hence independent of the fluctuations and uncertainties to which most parishes, with their ever-changing congregations are always open, a more Catholic standard than that to which the Church in Massachusetts had been accustomed hitherto could be more easily maintained. The time seemed to have come to throw off the shackles that had bound her for so many years to Puritan tradition, and to reaffirm, by a more distinctive teaching and ritual, the Catholic doctrines always held by the Anglican Church. Such was the desire both of the parish and its rector.
A few days before the opening services of the new parish the following printed card had been circulated, notifying the public of the character of the proposed enterprise : -
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THE CHURCH OF THE ADVENT
Has been recently organized and incorporated with a view to secure to the inhabitants of the north-western portion of the City of Boston the ministrations of the Protestant Epis- copal Church, and more especially to secure the same to the poor and needy, in a manner free from unnecessary expense and all ungracious circumstances.
A convenient place of worship is about to be provided in the building now in course of erection on the corner of Lowell and Causeway Streets.
Until this building is completed, temporary arrange- ments have been made for holding divine service in an "upper room" at No. 13 Merrimac Street, within a few doors of Causeway Street, to commence on Advent Sunday, the first day in December.
The sittings will be free to all. Permanent seats, how- ever, will be appropriated to those who signify their inten- tion to become constant occupants.
The Church will be supported, as all churches were formerly wont to be, by the voluntary oblations of the worshippers. In accordance with the precepts of God's word, and the order of His Church, opportunity will be afforded for each individual, whether young or old, to " offer his gift upon the Altar" in that part of divine service which is called "the offertory." "Every man according as he is disposed in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver."
A prominent object, in addition to the usual offices of worship, will be the thorough catechetical training of the children in the principles and practice of Christ's religion, as set forth in the Book of Common Prayer.
The Co-operation of all who are disposed to take a part in this good work is respectfully and earnestly solicited.
For further information, apply to the rector, the Rev. W. Croswell, 7 Crescent Place, or to either of the following gentlemen : R. H. Dana, Senior Warden; C. P. Gordon, Junior Warden; R. M. Copeland, Theodore Metcalf, T. J. M. Dehon, T. D. Morris, W. E. Coale, R. H. Dana, Jr., R. H. Salter, C. R. Bond, Vestrymen.
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The Rector will hold himself in readiness to attend to any of the duties of his calling, public or private ; especially those connected with the offices for the Visitation and Com- munion of the Sick, the Burial of the Dead, &c.
In accordance with this announcement, on the first Sun- day in Advent, which occurred on the first day of Decem- ber, 1844, the first services of the new parish were held at 13 Merrimac Street; and although the day was "rather unpropitious without," as Dr. Croswell expressed it in a letter to his father, "the King's daughter was all glorious within." "Our loft," he adds, "was crowded all day and evening with a congregation that seemed much gratified and most hopeful for the future of the new parish." In a letter written a week later he writes that "our loft is full to over- flowing. Yesterday afternoon troops of people went away for scarcity of room, and many remained standing during the whole service. Some sat round the footsteps of the Altar. At present we have three services a day." So in this plain and humble apartment the services continued, the congregation growing in number, and including " some of the best and most influential minds in the Church in the city."
It was but natural that, in a movement like this, much opposition should be encountered. So sudden and so de- cided a departure from the established modes of worship in Massachusetts must necessarily have led to much com- ment and not a little feeling. Such as attempted to follow the letter and spirit of the Prayer-book were in those days reproachfully called Puseyites. Ridicule was one of the weapons employed to counteract influences which it was fancied by the uninformed must have emanated from the papal see. But controversy was entirely avoided on the part
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of the priest and parish, and all went quietly on. The fasts and feasts were observed as they had not before been since the days of Ratcliffe; and during Lent, the rector says in a letter to his father, the services were most solemn and im- pressive. On Good Friday he writes that the altar, as he remembered in his youth in New Haven, " was in black, the music full of pathos, and melted all hearts to tears."
Such was the state of the parish in this early period of its existence. At the close of its six months in Merrimac Street there were about seventy communicants, and all the worshippers had become thoroughly united and at one with the rector in the desire for a more dignified and appropriate ritual. A higher standard of church music seems to have been one aim from the outset. The voluntary choir of gentlemen and ladies were much interested in furthering the wishes of the rector. The psalms and canticles were sung to the simple Gregorian melodies so peculiarly adapted for the purpose, the metrical psalms soon giving place to the prose translation of the Prayer-book; and the music be- came very soon one of the attractive features of the service, rather from its ecclesiastical character than from any espe- cial merit on the part of the singers.
On the first day of June, 1845, the parish held its first services in the new hall on the corner of Lowell and Cause- way Streets, which had been expressly arranged for it under the superintendence of the late Dr. Coale, one of its ves- trymen. The room was commodious, one well adapted to the ritual of the Church, and capable of seating not far from three hundred persons. The altar, which was at the east end of the hall, was plainly draped, and surmounted by a large gilded cross. Upon it were four gilded candle- sticks, whose candles were lighted at the evening services.
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The chancel, which was small in area, was enclosed by a simple rail, at which the clergy knelt in the prayers. There was no reading-desk, but a plain wooden lectern, at which the lessons were read and the sermons preached. On the south side of the chancel sat the choir. In this small hall, Sunday by Sunday, a large and very respectable congregation assembled for worship ; and the responses were most hearty, and the services solemn and inspiring.
There seems to have been at this time a growing desire for daily morning and evening prayer. "Many of the par- ish," says the rector in a letter, "are impatient for the com- mencement of daily service." " I am not sure," he adds, " that it will not be the first attempt to revive the week-day service in this city since the year 1686, when, at the second meeting of the members of the Church of England, it was 'agreed that the prayers of the Church be said every Wednesday and Friday of the year, in the summer season to begin at seven of the clock in the morning, and in the winter season at nine of the clock in the forenoon.""
It was on the first day of September, just three months after the parish had removed to its new place of worship, that the daily service was commenced for the first time in Boston; "at the ancient hour of prayer, being the third hour,"* as the rector expressed it, "or, according to our
* All will remember his beautiful lines, which are at once suggested by this remark ; -
"O Saviour, I would spend the hours Canonical with Thee,
As tolls the clock from yonder towers, At nine, and twelve, and three ;
At primes, and lauds, and matin bell, And compline, rise and pray,
And tell my blessed rosary At the decline of day.
" At vespers, and at nocturne late, When suus have ceased to shine, On my devotion's dial-plate Still shed Thy light divine ;
And, as the holy vigil yields In turn to holy dream,
Oh, let my Saviour be through all My glory and my theme."
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present horology, nine o'clock." * "The morning was bright and auspicious, and there was an encouraging at- tendance." The rector seems to have had little doubt of his having ample strength, with the occasional assistance of other clergy, to carry on these additional services. He writes, a few weeks later, that the "daily service goes on quietly through sunshine and storm alike, and with little de- viation in the attendance." To aid in the more frequent ser- vices of the parish, the Rev. F. W. I. Pollard, formerly of Nantucket, was appointed the assistant minister of the parish ; and everything seemed to betoken a prosperous future.
An incident soon occurred, however, that led to much bit- terness of feeling, and to an interruption of the pleasant re- lations that had hitherto existed between the parish and the bishop. There had been from the first a consciousness on the part of the rector that the bishop was not heartily in sympathy with him in his work. On the presentation of his letters dimissory from Bishop DeLancey, he seems to have been treated with bare courtesy. "He is civil," wrote Mr. Croswell, "and I ask and expect nothing more." Brought up in the Presbyterian faith and not having changed his views since his boyhood, as he said to a brother bishop not very long before his death, it is not strange that Bishop Eastburn should have looked with a doubtful eye upon the new church enterprise, especially as the lay control of the parish was in the hands of a close corporation, the church being without pews, and hence individual ownership being impossible. But no decided expression or action on the part of the bishop was manifested until his first visitation, which took place on the evening of the Sunday before Ad- vent, 1845. In a letter of the rector dated November 25
* When the rector was asked at a vestry meeting, "what time he proposed for morning and evening service," he replied, "The hours of nine and six, being canonical hours."
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he writes: "Our place of worship was thronged, the music was delightful, the congregation manifesting that engaged- ness in the worship which is so contagious, and distin- guishes us from any congregation in the city." Seventeen candidates were confirmed. The bishop's address was good, but contained nothing distinctive, and no recognition of what was characteristic in the rite. The bishop was noticed to be extremely nervous during the service, and, as soon as it was concluded, returned to the sacristy with the other clergy in a somewhat excited state, and at once pro- ceeded, as the rector described the scene, to deal with him and his assistant "in the spirit of one who was about to lay his hands - I had almost said violent hands - on his antago- nist, and in a manner neither creditable nor convincing." The bishop's main objections to the service related to the use of the word "Saint" except as applied to the apostles, to the fact that the clergy knelt with their faces to the altar instead of kneeling into their chairs, and to certain other things which appeared to him to savor of superstition. The conversation which ensued, though brief, had, to use Dr. Croswell's words, "turned our joy into heaviness."
The scene was one never to be forgotten, and seems to have been the first step in a series of measures hostile to the interests of the new parish and its rector. The imputa- tions of the diocesan were, however, respectfully and stead- ily repelled; and nothing else was heard from him until a few days later, when a pastoral letter appeared in his offi- cial organ, the Christian Witness, containing a direct attack upon the rector of the Church of the Advent, and on his mode of conducting divine service. The bishop alluded especially to the form of the communion table, "fitted up." as he expressed it, "like a Romish altar," the golden candle-
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sticks, the large wooden cross that surmounted the altar and the postures assumed by the officiating clergy in the services of the Church. He expressed his unqualified condemnation of certain practices, which he regarded as puerile and dan- gerous to the souls of those who witnessed them, and as bringing contempt and ridicule "from all sensible and en- lightened persons of other Christian bodies,"
This unjust and uncalled for aspersion upon the charac- ter of one of his own clergy naturally caused much excite- ment and feeling in the parish and in the community at large, it seeming like an appeal to the public for the pur- pose of creating hostility to the new enterprise.
A meeting of the wardens and vestry was at once called, at which resolutions were passed expressive of surprise and regret at the course pursued by the bishop, and vindicating the rector and the parish in all that related to the arrange- ment of the chapel and its modes of worship. They also re- corded a solemn protest against the public manner in which the rector had been denounced as "perilling the souls of his people," and "exposing the Church to ridicule and con- tempt," adverting to his many excellences, his untiring and self-sacrificing efforts in behalf of the poor, and his dignity and simplicity in conducting divine service. Cordial sym- pathy was also expressed with him in his efforts "towards presenting the Church in its entireness before the commun- ity" by the establishment of daily service, the observance of holy days, the regular offertory, the use of free sittings, the introduction of simple and ancient music, and by the frequent celebration of the sacraments, ordinances and offices.
Of course, so gross and public an attack upon one every- where held in the highest esteem could not pass unnoticed;
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and most reluctantly did the rector enter upon his own de- fence. In his reply to his diocesan he remarked upon the great injustice done him, dwelling at some length upon the solemn character of the work he had undertaken, the zeal of those interested in the enterprise, the simplicity of the arrangement in the chapel, and of the general order of divine worship. "We have knelt," he said, "devoutly before and with our people towards God's most holy place, that they also might learn to kneel after our example. The effect has been all that we hoped for. The flame has spread from heart to heart. The cold silence and wander- ing looks, the carelessness and apathy, which are subjects of complaint in so many places of worship, have disappeared before it. Many who have come without religious sympa- thy we have reason to know have been joined together with us in a new bond of Christian union. I venture to say that the expression of 'ridicule and contempt' to which you allude has not been known among us, though doubtless some 'who came to scoff have remained to pray.'" In allu- sion to the cross, which the bishop refers to in his letter. as one of "the offensive innovations " that gave him " inex- pressible grief and pain," Mr. Croswell said : "I cannot bring myself to say one word in answer to your objection. I am happy to confess that I am 'childish and puerile' enough to love and rejoice to have that precious symbol presented to the eye in all holy places,- of all symbols the most speaking and most touching, proclaiming Christ cru- cified, the Alpha and Omega of the Church's existence." He added that "there is not one of our churches in the city which is not open to censure on similar ground," and in- stanced Trinity Church, the bishop's own church, where, as he pointedly said, "We miss the cross, indeed, but the
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