USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Annals of King's Chapel from the Puritan age of New England to the present day > Part 14
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" The introduction of this Form would perhaps have never taken place, certainly not at this time, if the common Form had been a distinct and independent service ; but it is obvious to every one that a very large pro- portion of it is in fact a repetition of the Morning Prayer. Now, though there may be no objection to expressing our devotional feelings after the
1 See a list of these articles and critical notices in Rev. William Cushing's "In- dex to the Christian Examiner."
The Christian Examiner Society was organized Jan. 27, 1829. Dr. Greenwood was its first Secretary and a member of its first Publishing Committee. IIe was
co-editor of the Magazine with Dr. Walker from March, 1831, to July, 1835, and from November, 1836, to February, 1839. For an account of the Society and lists of its members and of editors of the periodical, see Edes's History of the Har- vard Church in Charlestown, p. 204.
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THE MINISTRY OF F. W. P. GREENWOOD.
same manner every week, there may be, and in my opinion is, some ob- jection to doing this twice in the same day, with an interval of only two or three hours. It is quite true that, if the affections are engaged in prayer, it matters little whether they are excited or expressed by many different forms of words, or by the same form repeated over without alter- ation and without end ; but yet it seems to be expecting too much from the affections to look that they should be effectually roused by words which have just now been spoken, and the sound of which has hardly died upon the ear. With these impressions the Second Evening Service was proposed and adopted. Though I believe this was done with very general approbation and consent, yet if the feelings of any are in the slightest degree hurt at this departure from ancient order, I am sincerely grieved. Attachment to venerable forms I respect, and with certain limi- tations do heartily sympathize with ; and I should be the very last person here who would wittingly do the least thing which might be of detriment to the interests of this Church. I was baptized here, I was brought up here, and here, through a somewhat unusual and unforeseen course of events, I have been settled as associate minister. I have no interest which is not united with the interests of this Church ; I take a pride in its history ; I admire its architectural beauty, so almost unique in a city where symmetry and taste in the building of churches seem to be more and more disregarded every day ; there is not a column nor a stone in it for which I do not feel an attachment. And it is precisely because I am deeply interested in its prosperity, that I have endeavored to do what ap. pears to me calculated to advance it. The new Service is an experiment which may be productive of good, and can hardly be attended with any harm. Let us be governed by the issue. If it has any tendency to in- crease the attention of the congregation to their solemn duties, and ob- tains a place in their regards, its end will be abundantly answered. If it should be found on proper trial to possess no merit of this sort, let it fall into disuse. The Common Evening Service is still in the book ; the integrity of the old Form remains unimpaired. For myself, I can truly say that I have no partiality for the New Service distinct from its utility ; and if it proves to be destitute of this quality, I shall be the first to drop as I was the first to propose it. Of our perfect, independent right to make this or any other change in our Liturgy, there is no doubt. We can owe no manner of allegiance or deference either to the Episcopal Establishment of the mother country, or to the Episcopal Church of these States, by both of which we have been disavowed and repudiated." 1
The Society had voted at the same time to have a new edition of the Hymn-book which had been many years in use; but this took the form of a new book, in which a portion of the hymns con- tained in the other was included. It was not ready until March,
1 In March, IS28, one thousand copies of the Liturgy were printed, at a cost of $790.00.
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1830, when it was accepted by a vote of the Vestry. This col- lection, which had been prepared by Mr. Greenwood with great pains and a rare combination of taste and devout feeling, at once took its place as probably the most acceptable Hymn-book in the Unitarian churches. A second edition contained enlarge- ments ; and a supplement of forty-nine hymns was added later.1 A fourth edition of the Liturgy was published in 1831. Mr. Greenwood's keen sense of the fitnesses in liturgical worship appears in a manuscript sermon preached April 13, 1828, on the uses of the Liturgy, on occasion of introducing the third edition ; and it impressed itself also on the details of conduct- ing the service.2
The following extract from the journal of Lord Morpeth,3 who visited Boston in 1841, is of varied interest, since it records his attendance on our worship, and his impressions of Dr. Green- wood and Bishop Doane, and reminds us of his friendship for a noble son of this Church," who had not then entered upon his great career in the Senate of the United States : --
Sunday, October 24, 1841.
My first Sunday in America. I must confess that I began it by letting Sumner take me to his Unitarian Church. It was the original [Episcopal] Church in Boston, called King's Chapel ; after the Revolu- tion it was changed to the Stone Church, and it has now reverted to the first name. Of the many Unitarian churches in Boston I believe that it is the only one that uses the Church of England Liturgy, considerably emas-
1 A note in Mr. Greenwood's own copy of his Hymn-book states that between November, 1830, and November, 1831, there were five editions of the book. At his death there had been thirty-five edi- tions, and he had received $2153.50. Up to January, 1845, there had been forty editions, mostly of one thousand copies each. The fifty-seventh edition was pub- lished in 1853. Up to 1871, the book had paid his family $3,665.68.
2 In December, 1833, a printed notice was directed to be placed in the pews, " requesting the congregation to join in the responses of the service with an audible voice."
Mr. Greenwood adopted a rule, never to give from the pulpit any notices of meetings, lectures, or anything not ap- pertaining to the business of the Church itself.
3 Lord Morpeth, the seventh Earl of Carlisle, died Dec. 5 1864, at Castle
Howard, Yorkshire. He was an early and much-beloved friend of Senator Sumner. who drew an appreciative sketch of the Earl's beautiful character in a letter of condolence addressed to his niece, the Duchess of Argyll. See Life of Charles Sumner, iv. 261-262, by Hon. Edward L. Pierce, to whom I am in- debted for the above interesting extract from Lord Morpeth's journal.
4 Mr. Sumner's public obsequies were held in the Chapel, March 16, 1874. (See P. 559, post.) His father, the Hon. Charles Pinckney Sumner, was Sheriff of Suffolk, and owned pew No. 74 as early as 1826. Ile died April 24, 1839. Ile was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, and was succeeded therein by his son Charles, at whose funeral the family pew was reserved for and occupied by his former associates in the fellowship of that Order.
Everyone Charles The.
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culated. The Communion Service was not read ; the singing well done. I might have remarked as somewhat whimsical that the first lesson of the Bible I heard in a Republic was the chapter in which David lays so much stress against raising the hand upon the Lord's anointed. Mr. Greenwood preached the sermon, with which I was very much pleased ; it was upon the reverence due to the Scriptures as the great source of comfort to vast multitudes in all ages. " I put aside the disputed points ; I care not for the doubtful readings : these all fade away before the light of the Comforter."
In the afternoon, at 2.30, I went with Mr. William Appleton (with whom I lunched, and who has been very attentive and useful, - a cousin of the other houses1 ) to Trinity Church, which is Episcopalian. It is a handsome church, and the service and music were well done. Bishop Doane, of New Jersey, recently from Leeds, preached. I did not very much fancy it, bating a good voice. He gave as examples of the grace of humility the Duke of Wellington, Washington, and Bishop Hobart.
In January, 1835, the Sunday School was first organized in King's Chapel. Mr. Greenwood justly told his people that, while he expected considerable advantages to the children of our congregation from the Sunday School, he did not expect that they would be of the same kind and degree precisely with those afforded to the children of the poor, " for this plain rea- son, - that the children who are to compose our school are already in possession of many of the advantages and much knowledge which many other schools are maintained to supply." He spoke of the advantageous circumstances of "the child whose parents, besides the instruction which they obtain for it in the best weekly seminaries, instruct it carefully and kindly at home, both by precept and example; who take it with them constantly to the house of God, . .. and when all have returned from God's house to their own, converse with it on some serious but simple topic, and hear it say its catechism, repeat or sing its hymn, or read a portion of the Bible." Still, he looked for real advantages from it, in the knowledge of the Scriptures by the children, in the new bond which the school would create between them and their parents and the Church, and also in the education of the teachers. To this end, he proposed to hold a Teachers' Meeting weekly, in the Vestry. The school met after the close of the afternoon service. "In the few weeks in December and the beginning of January, when the days are short, the pupil might be dismissed after short lessons. . . . In
1 This refers to Samuel and Nathan members of this Church. Some notice of Appleton, both of whom were prominent them will be given in the next chapter.
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the long afternoons of summer the hour spent in the school will conduce to the quietness of the whole day."
It must not be supposed, however, that there had been no religious instruction of the young hitherto. It had been the custom for the minister to catechize the children of the Church from the beginning. "The catechism," he said, "will not be disused with my consent, but will be taught and explained to every child, occasionally at least." This catechism, composed by Priestley and altered by Freeman, was published in the first edition of the Liturgy, in 1785.
" I learned that catechism when I was a child and a pupil : I still re- member it ; and there is not an answer in it which I should be ashamed to repeat as my own statement, now that I am a man. I have no doubt of the advantage of committing a good catechism like this to memory, and no faith in the doctrine of those who would discard such formulas, and fix little or nothing in the memory of a child, to which he may re- turn in after days. I trust that every child in the congregation will learn it by heart, and that it will be kept in his heart by repetition."
The influence of Dr. Greenwood upon this Society has been already faintly indicated. But his influence extended far beyond it, by his printed word. His volume of " Sermons of Consola- tion," prepared for the press by him in the last year of his ministry, has spoken with the voice of his own life and of the text of one of its most beautiful discourses, "Come up hither," to many afflicted souls. The volume of his " Miscellanies," and his two volumes of "Sermons," published after his death, have taken their place among the most perfect examples of writing " drawn from the pure well of English undefiled," as well as for yet higher qualities of spiritual and moral truth. In his own religious body especially, his influence, if for the most part silent, was deep. A writer, now belonging to the Episcopal Church, has lately said : -
" Many churches of high pretensions to Catholic tradition have had less of Gospel teaching than this old pulpit has given under the ministry of Greenwood and Peabody. . . . His rich and memorable Hymn-book has done much to save Unitarians from Deistical tendencies, . . . and needs few changes of omission or addition to fit it now for use in any churches of the land. . . . Sensitive, meditative, ideal, and also some- what recluse and reserved, . . . he had a face never to be forgotten, and eyes that never lost their light for friends, -- an expression like the tran- quil lake with landscape under the serene moonlight."
James Walter
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THE MINISTRY OF F. W. P. GREENWOOD.
He bore his part in the controversies of an angry theological warfare; but he bore it with that gentle and Christian spirit which was in all that he did, because it was himself; and he believed less and less in that way of advancing truth. Said Dr. Walker : 1 " The last time I saw him, he spoke of something he had written against the old theology: 'I thought a good deal of those things once, but they're nothing to me now.'" He had the rare ex- perience of passing James many years with the thought never absent from him that each day might be his last; and it colored his preaching and his life with hues of another and a holier world.
Yet it would be an error to suppose that he was thus cut off from healthy enjoyments or health of spirit. He had an exquisite sensibility of taste to all things beautiful and fair. Whatever he saw in Nature grand or lovely, he brought home to his work and word. The eclipse of the sun cast the shadow of its sublimity over his sermon on the day when it occurred. He made the sea to repeat its majestic symphony here; and here he described Niagara, so far as man can describe the inde- scribable, in words which linger like music on the memory :
" It looked softer and gentler in the distance, and its sound came to the ear like a murmur. I had learned to regard it as a friend ; and as I stood, I bade it, in my heart, farewell.
" Farewell, beautiful, holy creation of God ! Flow on, in the gar- ment of glory which he has given thee, and fill other souls, as thou hast filled mine, with wonder and praise. Often will my spirit be with thee, waking and in dreams. But soon I shall pass away, and thou wilt
1 President Walker was a familiar figure in the pulpit of King's Chapel. After the death of Dr. Ephraim Pea- body, an unsuccessful effort was made, in May, 1859, to secure his services as minister of this Church. The attempt was repeated the following year, when it was proposed to settle him with a col- league ; but Dr. Walker's duties in Cam- bridge precluded him from entertaining the offer. During the period of this vacancy in our pulpit, and before the settlement of Mr. Foote, overtures were made, successively, to the Rev. Dr. An- drew P. Peabody and the Rev. Dr. Thomas Hill to accept a settlement ; but they were pledged to service elsewhere.
Dr. Walker was the first of the four persons who only have received from
Harvard College the two degrees of D. D. and LL. D.,-the others being John Gorham Palfrey, George Edward Ellis, and Frederic Henry Hedge. After Dr. Walker's death, which occurred Dec. 23, 1874, Mr. Foote preached in this Church a memorial discourse, which was printed. (See p. 559, fost.) There is a sketch of Dr. Walker's Charlestown pastorate, and a Bibliography of his works, in Mr. Edes's History of the Har- vard Church in Charlestown, pp. 164- 207. See also Proceedings of the Ameri- can Academy of Arts and Sciences for May, IS75, x. 485 et seq.
[The tributes of the Historical So- ciety are in its printed Proceedings, xiii. 395-405, 446; and Second Series, vi. 443-468. - EDITOR.]
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remain. Flow on, then, for others' eyes, when mine are closed, and for others' hearts, when mine is cold. Still call to the deeps of many gene- rations. Still utter the instructions of the Creator to wayfaring spirits, till thou hast fulfilled thy work, and they have all returned, like wearied travellers, to their home."
In considering the character of Dr. Greenwood, its most marked trait is the even balance of its powers. In the words of a memorial discourse by his near friend, Dr. Frothingham :
" He was a close critic and a patient investigator, and yet his imagina- tion was one of the ruling lights of his mind. . . . But his judgment was so grave as to be almost severe. . . . He could bear with nothing that was unnatural, or unholy, or untrue. . . . His feelings . . . united great strength and fervor with extraordinary tranquillity. . . . His con- templative disposition . . . had been trained, by the various discipline of a delicate if not a suffering frame, to look closely at the transientness of mortal things, and to feel the necessity of a curbed will, and to fix its trust upon the promises of God. He was penetrated with moral and religious persuasions, that were too habitual to be ever uneven, and too profound to show any tumultnous sign of themselves as they flowed on. . . He lived in that undisturbed air. His faith was not a transient visitor, coming and going, visible at intervals and noisy at the gate ; but it abode in him as a child of the house. . . . His manners were . . . so restrained by the reflective habit of the mind as to appear sometimes cold. But these appearances vanished from him when one became no longer a stranger. . . . His communication was simple, direct, faithful, as his whole character was consistently grave and earnest."
Those who differed from him in opinion on exciting public questions were ready to call him timid, - judging aright neither the temper of his mind nor the strength of his character. That is the penalty which in our noisy generation a man has to pay for going his own way and keeping an independent mind. He paid the penalty, and kept the independence. But one who knew his thoughts most intimately has remarked that he considered him singularly brave in his loyalty to his conscience. " Ile was," said Dr. Walker, " as pure as water from a living spring."
His opinions upon the former annual observance of "Fast Day" were in advance of his time, but he hesitated not to ex- press them frankly. Here are his words upon one occasion :
The Governor of the Commonwealth has appointed Thursday next to be observed as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer. I have, on a previous Sabbath, made a few remarks to you on this subject. I entertain the same opinions now which I expressed then, - the same opinions on the efficacy of fervent and sincere prayer ; the same opinions, too, on
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THE MINISTRY OF F. W. P. GREENWOOD.
the impropriety of a public fast at this time and under existing circum- stances. I think that it is good to seek the Lord in all time of tribulation and of impending calamity, as the Almighty Disposer who works all events, and will make them all work together for good to those who love him. I think that it is good, too, not only that we should seek the Lord, but that we should call on his name together, on account of the important influences of social and public worship, either for the purposes of humili- ation or thanksgiving. But, nevertheless, I am persuaded that the prayer of the heart, ascending independently from each individual bosom, is in itself as availing as the united prayer of the State or Nation ; and I can see no such marvellous efficacy in uniting in prayer on a certain day, by proclamation, as to be desirous of the appointment of such a day, unless it can be seriously observed, and without the accompaniment of great abuse and evil. Now, I fear, almost to the point of certainty, that a public fast day will be abused in this city by the idle, the undevout, and the unthinking, so as to render it, to a large body of people, a day worse instead of better than an ordinary day ; and in regard to the apprehended . . . intemperance and dissipation, . . . I believe in no merit and no usefulness of a public fast, which can counterbalance such an evil as this. This was my principal reason for the hope which I entertained that we might keep our own fast and have no day of public fasting, to be occupied, in the absence of common duty and business, in sincere prayer and meditation, to be sure, by some, but in idleness and immorality by others. Nevertheless the day has been appointed, and my opposition ends, and I shall be glad if my fears should prove unfounded. Though there is no legal authority or obligation in the appointment, yet we shall all be ready to obey with that best spirit of obedience which actuates those who render a free and intelligent respect to the civil powers, and to the cause of order and good government. As the day will be gen- erally observed by our churches, the only proper course will be for us to observe it likewise ; and the only safe course, to observe it sincerely and piously, as a day of prayer and humiliation and thankfulness. I therefore give you notice that this Church will be opened for divine service on the morning of Thursday next.
His fine delicacy of feeling went into every side of his duty. A young minister was once with him in his study when the hour came for him to go to marry a couple in one of the leading families of his Parish. He sought in vain to find the "bands " which were needed to complete the wedding attire of his pro- fession. At last, giving over the hopeless search, he simply said, " Well, it is no matter; they are not poor," and went to the house of wealth with an easy mind. They did not need to be assured, by his apparel, of his punctilious respect for them, which, if they had been poor, he would have spared no pains to attest. Again we quote from Dr. Frothingham : ---
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"In his opinions, he loved to be settled. . . . He set out his judg- ments carefully, and then allowed them to take their root. . . . It was a demand of his nature to know where he stood, and to be able to stand confidently.
". . . As a theologian, reverence was one of the leading traits of his spirit. . . . Though not servile to antiquity, he saw more and more in it as he grew older, to win his respect and win his sympathies. . . . He was firmly conservative."
But this was not so much a mental habit, - certainly not in the sense of prejudice or bigotry, - but rather a devout and spiritual habit of the soul. He clung to the solid things of faith, because he saw them so clearly. He loved the ancient forms of this Church, because he knew their spiritual value. He was, said Dr. Walker, " the best reader of the Liturgy I ever heard, - absolutely perfect, simple, - every word its meaning." As many still well remember, these mental and spiritual traits and endowments gave his preaching a character all its own. To continue the testimony of Dr. Frothingham : -
"With what a meek grace, what a beautiful simplicity, what a deep seriousness upon his expressive face, he stood up here and elsewhere and spoke for his Master ! His voice was richly musical, breathing out as from the soul; his look saintly ; his manner fervidly collected ; his word full of calm power. While he was yet a young man, his aspect seemed venerable. It grew more apostolic, when the thin features grew thinner, and the touch of time was upon the locks of his hair." 1
Those to whom he was not known, or known but little, do not lose the power which comes from his words, and can testify perhaps even more earnestly that " the memorial of virtue is immortal." Even from touching the hem of the garment healing has proceeded.2 We insert here an extract from Rev. Mr. Gan- nett's sermon on the character of Dr. Greenwood, preached on the Sunday following his deccase, August 6: -
To a singular purity and delicacy of mind he united an independence which had the firmness, without the boldness, of the most lofty superi- ority ; yet we witnessed in him a gentleness of manner which conciliated
1 On Dec. 19, 1839, Hon. Samuel A. respectfully dedicated to them by their Eliot was appointed a Committee to re- obliged and Obd! Serv! quest Dr. Greenwood to allow his like- ness to be taken by Mr. Sharp. Dr. Greenwood complied, and a large por- trait was the result. It was inscribed -
" Drawn from Nature, on Stone, and printed in Colors by W!" Sharp.
" This Plate, executed at the request of the congregation of King's Chapel, is
WN SHARP." 2 Some one had once said that Mr. Greenwood gathered the flowers of Chris- tianity to entertain the audience with their beauty. A young man who was in the habit of hearing him replied, " But the beauty is terrible, . .. if the hearer has any conscience." - Miss E. P. Peabody.
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CHARLES SPRAGUE.
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THE MINISTRY OF F. W. P. GREENWOOD.
universal esteem. His slender health, even from the commencement of his professional life, had refused to him the privilege of deep scholar- ship ; but this was compensated by the soundness and accuracy of his mental exercises. His mind was formed on the model of an elegant but not fastidious refinement, and all his tastes and habits indicated the prevalent tone of feeling. As a theologian, he belonged to the school of free but modest spirits, who, while they reject the thraldom of human creeds, glory in Christ as their teacher, and cleave to his gospel as the character of salvation ; but with a stanch fidelity to his own convictions he united a generous judgment of others, and was as free from bigotry or dogmatism as from latitudinarian speculation. As a preacher, he was singularly persuasive ; winning attention by his calm but earnest tones ; imparting the lessons of truth upon his hearers' minds by the justice and clearness of conception, and the transparent beauty of style which marked his discourses. . . . His serenity of spirits was especially shown during his long illness. For months - might I not say for years ? - he stood on the brink of the grave ; and he knew his position. He was aware that the slightest change might separate him from the duties and pleasures of earth ; yet he was tranquil and cheerful, neither cove- tous of life nor impatient for departure from so frail a tenement, nor fretted into an irritable sensibility by the slow conquest of disease. His last employment was in unison with his character ; it had almost the sim- plicity of childhood, yet was beautiful and touchingly expressive of the feelings which mingled their action in his heart. He made little Crosses for his friends, - symbols of his faith in Jesus, and of his love for those he was so soon to leave. And when he could no longer carve these tokens of remembrance, he quietly waited for his last hour, gathering the man- tle of his patience around his soul, and committing himself to the Father who had been the centre of his thoughts through years of active service and of lingering decay.
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