USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Annals of King's Chapel from the Puritan age of New England to the present day > Part 15
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Mr. Greenwood had found in the Church a company of true Christian men and women, many with whitening hair, to whom he had looked up with respect as a little child; and he drew many more to join the congregation, whom also it was his lot to survive and to speak of them with that felicity which peculiarly marked his words on such occasions. Merchants like Samuel Appleton, Patrick T. Jackson, Thomas Motley; 1 lawyers like Judge Wilde, Charles Jackson, Benjamin R. Curtis, Franklin Dexter; the poet-banker Charles Sprague; 2 the beloved physi- cian Dr. James Jackson ; the philanthropists Samuel G. Howe, Joseph Tuckerman, and Moses Grant, - are among the recorded pew-owners who were attracted by his ministry. There were also
1 The father of the Hon. John Lothrop Motley. the historian, and Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States to the courts of Vienna and St. James.
2 A memoir of Mr. Sprague, by Edmund Quincy, is in the Mass. Hist. Soc. Pro- ceedings for May, 1875, xiv. 39 et seq.
464
ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
many, like President Kirkland, who joined themselves to the company of hearers without being recorded on that more re- stricted list. Space forbids us from dwelling on these memo- ries, but it is fitting to hang in this gallery a few of the portraits which their pastor drew of them. Of one of his Wardens we have spoken elsewhere; 1 of his. associate, Mr. Oliver, he thus spoke : 2 -
" M! Oliver was a man who long went out and in before you, and in whose behalf you can well bear witness that his hoary head was a crown of glory. With approbation, with respect, with affection he passed through a life protracted beyond the assigned age of man. He has left with us a fair character and a happy memory. His youth was not with- out its struggles and its privations. He began the world in humble cir- cumstances, and laboured hard and long for scanty gains. But by his diligence and constant attention to business he rose to a situation of ease and comfort, and his honesty, fair dealing, and integrity have not been impeached. The estimation in which he was held by the commu- nity may be judged of from the fact that for twenty years he held the place of Selectman of this city under its old form of municipal govern- ment, and from the circumstance likewise of his having held the office of Warden of this religious society for thirty years, two years as junior and twenty-eight as senior. He was appointed junior warden in 1796, M' Charles Miller being senior in office, and in 1798 he was chosen senior warden, and remained with the present junior warden as his companion till the day of his death. M' Oliver's manners were mild, conciliatory, and friendly, though he could not be accused of a want of firmness. He was kind and cheerful, affable and amiable, yet dignified and self- respecting. Regular and temperate in his habits, he enjoyed tranquillity of mind and health of body almost uninterruptedly excellent. Till the period of his last illness, his step was light, his walk quick, and his frame without infirmity. He was greatly blessed in life by a merciful Provi- dence. For the space of half a century he lived in happy union with her who is now a widow. He was permitted to see his chidren settled comfortably around him, and his children's children administering to his felicity in the time of his health and strength, and surrounding the bed of his peaceful death."
Among the exquisite productions of Dr. Greenwood's genius (which was never more felicitous than in twining these wreaths of affection and respect), there is no more beautiful and discrim- inating memorial sermon than that preached after the death of the Hon. John Lowell, in March, 1840 : --
2 Ebenezer Oliver, Esq., died Dec. 14, IS26, in his 75th year, having served as Warden more than thirty years. In July preceding his death, Mr. Oliver
1 Col. Joseph May, see p. 483, post. gave the clock, made by Simon Willard, still to be seen on the front of the west gallery. The clock replaced one which was "worn out, and unsafe to put up again."
INTERIOR OF KING'S CHAPEL. LOOKING WEST.
465
THE MINISTRY OF F. W. P. GREENWOOD.
" He was the son of Judge John Lowell,1 and was born in Newbury- port, Oct. 6, 1769. Soon after the evacuation of Boston by British troops in 1776, his father removed to Boston, and occupied the house then opposite this church." After graduating at Harvard College in 1786, "he commenced the study of the law under the auspices of his father, happy that his reading could be directed by the knowledge, and his morals confirmed by the counsels and example, of a man whose sufficient praise it is, that he was invested with the judicial ermine by the hand of Washington."
Admitted to the bar at the age of twenty, Mr. Lowell at thirty-four had acquired by the practice of his profession a competence, and was able to withdraw from practice. His " fervid genins and I Lossell rapid pen " were mighty in battle in two causes which enlisted his whole heart, - the cause of the Federal party, and the cause of the Unitarian, or Liberal, movement. To those who have had the happiness to know men belonging to that political party in its prime, it is needless to say that never did party contain purer men or leaders of loftier counsels ; and though they were on the losing side, no side truly loses which leaves such high examples. Among these leaders Mr. Lowell was reckoned, and his political tracts still glow with fire and are full of conviction. Not less influential was he in his contributions to the Unitarian controversy. As to this, it is needless here to do more than quote the title of one of his most famous pamphlets : " Are you a Christian or a Calvinist? or, Do you prefer the Authority of Christ to that of the Gene- van Reformers?" He was a member of the Corporation of Harvard College for many years, - prominent in all he good institutions which were organized here during the first forty years of this century, a born counsellor of men. Said Dr. Greenwood : -
" Shall I speak of his religious character ? I should do him no justice if I did not. With his characteristic susceptibility and delicacy, he avoided the obtrusion of his religious doctrines or devotional sentiments. But it was impossible not to perceive, from constant indications, that the sanctions of religion were ever present with him. His thoughts of God were of the most reverential and prevailing kind. He referred his life and all things to His holy will."
1 There are notices of Judge Lowell
and his distinguished son in William Sullivan's Familiar Letters on Public
Characters and Public Events, pp. 381, 395-396.
VOL. II. - 30
466
ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
A monument,1 surmounted by his armorial bearings,2 and the legend occasionem cognosce, perpetuates the strong features of Mr. Lowell in a bust by Jolin C. King, and recalls his virtues in the following inscription : --
IOHANNI . LOWELL IVRISCONSULTO · ERVDITO · DISERTO VIRO · INTEGERRIMO QVEM . CIVES . SVI · LIBERTATIS · VINDICEM LITTERARVM . AC . DISCIPLINARVM . OPTIMARVM · FAVTOREM RERVM . RVSTICARVM . MAGISTRVM AGNOVERE PATRIFAMILIAS · AMANTISSIMO QVI · SVMMAM · SVAVITATEM · CVM · CONSTANTIA · PARI
MIRVM . IN . MODVM · COMPOSVIT PARENTI · OPTIMO · DESIDERATISSIMO HOC · MONVMENTVM
FILIVS . FILIAE . QVE . MOERENTES . FACIVNDVM · CVRAVERVNT
NATVS . VI . OCT . AN . M . DCC . LXIX MORTVVS . XII - MART . AN · M · DCCC · XL
Although Dr. Greenwood was far removed from being a partisan, he was earnest in the support of Liberal Christianity, and with his Parish took a part in the organization of the vari- ous Unitarian associations which were formed in the early years of his ministry. As he told his people in 1828, -
" Some of us felt that - belonging to a church which, under the care of the venerable man who may be called the father of Unitarian Chris- tianity in this country, had steadfastly maintained their religious liberty and their liberal sentiments through years of obloquy and desertion and solitude, and of a species of persecution which even yet has not entirely ceased - we occupied a situation somewhat conspicuous ; and that it was due to our own character and principles so long preserved to do something for the further promoting of a cause which had so long been our own, especially when other churches of the same faith, much more lately avowed, were coming forward on all sides in aid of pure and simple religion."
For these reasons the Parish contributed to the American Unitarian Association, and to the Evangelical Missionary Society, besides the special aid to theological students which was given in the form of a scholarship at the Cambridge. Divin- ity School during many years. Dr. Greenwood himself served the same cause by his labors in editing the " Christian Exam-
1 Erected by his son, Mr. John Amory Lowell. See p. 523, post.
An admirable memoir of Mr. Lowell, by his grandson and namesake, is in
Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings for April, 1840, ii. 160-169.
2 Sce p. 526, post.
-
IOHANNI . LOWELL
LITTSZAR
QTIM - CITS · · · VI · LIEVATOVI M. AC. DISCIPLIDANYM . OPTICA
PATSIFAMILIAS -AMAOVIRSIE . SVAVITATEM . CTM - CONST
..............
DOSTVYS . CHI ·HAST . AN . O . SCCE .NL
M. S. CAROL.I APTHORP. OVI PATERFAMILIAS POVDENS ET LIBERALIS. MERCATOR INTEGERRIMA5. INSIGNI PROBITATE CIVIS. INTER HVIN'S AF.DIS INSTAVR ATORES
PRAF CIPVC MVVIFICYS,
CARITATE SINCERA FIDE ET LARGA CHRISTIAN\'S. OBIIT SEXAGENARIYS X1, NOVEMBER. MDCCIVIH REPENTINA F.T SVIS IMMATURA MORTE PRAERIPTVS. NE TANTARYM VIRTYTI'M
MEMORIA ET F.XEMPLAM OBSOLERET.
VIDVA ET AV. LIBERI SUPERSTITE.S HOC MARMOR
AMORIS
ET PIETATIS PP.
MONUMENTVM
LOWELL MONUMENT. PAGE 466.
APTHORP MONUMENT. PAGE 146.
467
THE MINISTRY OF F. W. P. GREENWOOD.
iner; " and his writings and the pure dignity of his character, both during his lifetime and since, have been held among the choice treasures of his religious denomination.1 His preaching and his faith, however, were firmly based upon the Gospel, and he did not construe loyalty to Unitarianism as meaning indiffer- ence to positive Christianity. While his sermons were never controversial, but devout and practical, he spoke plainly and seriously on the questions which earnestly agitated the Unitarian community during the last years of his life: "Not spirituality," said he, " but the absence of it, is evinced by neglect of the material church."
To a spirit so single and devout, it was a shock and pain to witness dissensions on the subjects so sacred to him, and to have the noises of theological quarrels invading the sanctuary. He could not breathe the thick atmosphere of controversies, but dwelt apart in the serene air of holy meditation. Yet he was no dreamer, but saw clearly the hurt which these things must do to the cause which he loved. For many years, the Church, while preserving its absolute independence, had taken part in various ecclesiastical matters with those of like faith. But the unhappy differences between the Hollis Street Church and their minister, Rev. John Pierpont, which were discussed, to the dissatisfaction of all concerned, in two ecclesiastical councils, brought Dr. Greenwood and his people to a definite resolution to return to the earlier practice of the Church. We copy from the Vestry Records: -
March 25, 1841 .- Dr. Greenwood made some remarks on the expediency of so far separating ourselves from the other Unitarian churches of the Boston Association as to take no part in any future Councils which may be called to settle controversies. No action was taken on this subject, but it was understood that it would be brought up again on some future occasion.
December 30, 1842. - Voted, That the Wardens be respectfully instructed to decline attendance on the Council for ordination of Mr. Amos Smith.
Early in the ministry of Mr. Greenwood was founded the Benevolent Fraternity of Churches. The Ministry at Large was begun in 1826, when Dr. Tuckerman preached his first sermon, to quote the words of Dr. Peabody, -
1 An unfriendly critic of the Unita- (p. 120), spoke of Dr. Greenwood as among the "jewels that had glittered in the crown of liberal religion."
rian movement (the late Bishop Burgess of Maine), in his "Pages from the Ec- clesiastical History of New England "
468
ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
" in a bleak upper chamber, which had been a painter's loft, to a small collection of people brought together through the agency of a few young men interested in the enterprise. On the same morning a Sunday School was formed, composed of seven teachers and three pupils. So humble were its beginnings. The institution was novel in its idea, and had to struggle against the doubts of many and against a general indif- ference. It had to vindicate its right to exist, by proving in practice that it met, better than any other method, the increasing evils of poverty in a rapidly growing city."
On the Sunday before Easter, 1827, Mr. Greenwood proposed to the congregation to establish an annual Easter contribution for charitable and religious purposes, stating these reasons, - that he was from time to time called upon to provide means for the promotion of various religious and philanthropic undertak- ings, confessedly useful; that it was troublesome, time-consum- ing, and irksome to procure these means by personal application to individuals, and inconvenient to collect them by contributions appointed at irregular intervals; that a regular contribution was desirable, to constitute a fund to be placed in the minister's hands, to be disbursed by him with the consent of others who might be joined with him as an advising committee. To this sum was added the surplus of the Christmas and Communion collections after subtracting the alms to the poor of the Church. In 1840, he made a full report to the Society of the uses to which these contributions had been devoted, amounting to about $10,000. Besides special cases of need,' and the relief of the poor of the Church,2 the main part of these contributions was applied in the following ways: To benevolent societies in Boston;3 for the distribution of religious books; in aid of
1 " If I have met a brother in the min- their presence here,' - I have twenty istry whom I know to be of good char- pensioners at present on my list, whom I have known for years, some of whom go to this church as often as they can, and all of whom consider it their church and its minister as their minister. More than half of this number are so old or so in- firm that they cannot come to church. . . . You cannot see them, unless you go to the narrow rooms to which they are con- fined, or the pallets on which they are stretched, and see them there. Is it probable that the six or seven others, who are able to come to church, and who do come, either constantly or occasionally, would so attract your attention that you would particularly remark them ? " acter, straitened by the strong power of circumstances, and in distress, I have not hesitated to apply a portion of your bounty to his relief ; have I seen a worthy young man in want of a small sum to help him acquire an education, I have not hesi- tated so to help him ; have I seen a father whom I knew to be an industrious and upright citizen, but of small means, look- ing anxiously round to secure a sufficient amount to defray the expense of a tedious and costly care of a drooping and dying child, I have not hesitated to help him ; and each time I have thanked God that you have put it in my power to do so."
2 " But I have been asked more than once, ' Where are the poor of this church ? We do not see them ; we are not aware of
8 The Howard Benevolent Society, the Boston Port Society, and the Prison Discipline Society.
469
THE MINISTRY OF F. W. P. GREENWOOD.
feeble Societies, to erect houses of worship;1 in aid of indigent students, and for educational objects;2 and in support of the Ministry at Large.3 In the objects last named, he took a special interest. The aid of needy students at the Cambridge Divinity School was at first the chief object of the Fund, and it was extended so as to enable several deserving college students to obtain an education. To the Ministry at Large, from 1828, there was a regular disbursement. Besides this, the sum of $900 was appropriated to aid in building the Pitts Street Chapel and the Rev. Mr. Sargent's Chapel, in addition to more than $700 subscribed for the latter by Mr. Sargent's personal friends in the Parish.5 "This form of charity," he said, " has grown in our regards; and as we have watched its benefi- cent operation, we have rendered to it more and more of our confidence." There was a further reason for this, in the fact that the venerated Tuckerman was an honored member of the Parish of King's Chapel during the closing years of his life.
Among the plans which had been mooted in the Society at one time was a proposition to remove the pulpit to the centre of the chancel, so as to conform the arrangement to that of a Con- gregational meeting-house. Dr. Greenwood was opposed to any such change. To quote his own words, -
" The most honorable portion of the church is allotted to the Com- munion Table, as the symbol of the Christian faith and fellowship. On one side of these precincts, denominated the chancel, stands the pulpit, - conspicuous, decent, ornamental, furnishing a convenient position for the instructor and leader in worship, but not the engrossing, prominent, and overshadowing fixture of the house. This is as it should be. A change which should transfer the pulpit to the chancel would in my opin- ion go very far to spoil the church, and is such a change as I never wish to see in my lifetime, and hope will never be made after I shall be gone. I know that such a change has been effected in many Episcopal churches in our country ; and every time I see it, I deplore it. It seems to pro- ceed from an ignorance or forgetfulness of the sound reasons and right feelings which directed the former mode of arranging the interior of a Christian temple." 6
1 Rev. Mr. May's at Brooklyn, Conn., Mr. Bulfinch's at Washington, D. C., Mr. Eliot's at St. Louis, Mr. Brooks's at Newport, and the church at Fall River. Mr. May and Mr. Bulfinch were children of this Church.
2 In 1837 the thanks of the Corpora- tion of Harvard College were received by the Proprietors " for valuable books presented to the Library by Rev. F. W.
P. Greenwood for many years past, from funds belonging to the Church."
3 His last message to the Church, on Easter, 1843, included a reference to this charity. See ante, p. 451, and footnote.
4 For many years this charity received $300 annually.
5 Rev. John Turner Sargent was a child of this Church. Sec p. 517, post.
6 Manuscript Sermon, Sept. 20, 1840
470
ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
There was, indeed, one decoration which he wished to see within the church, - " the cross, - the symbol of Christ's love, suffering, redeeming death, and victory. Our dread of this most interesting and sug- gestive remembrancer has en- dured long enough. The first Protestants never entertained the dread, and it is time that we had discarded it." 1
THE PAIGE CROSS. 3
1 On this occasion the Senior Warden received a curious anonymous letter dated November, 1841, signed " A Con- servative Unitarian." It is as follows :
" The union which has for so long a time subsisted in the Unitarian Society worship- ping at the Stone Chapel, it will not be denied, is a matter of too much consequence to the Society and to the Unitarian sect at large, to allow of its being jeoparded by the admission into it of novelties. the tendency of which may be to impair the unanimity of its mem-
2 The office of Clerk had been dis- continued at Easter, IS25, but the Clerk's desk was not transformed into a pew (an enlargement of No. 82) until after May I, 1859. In August, IS40, it was ordered that a new mahogany top-rail be placed on the reading-desk and the Clerk's desk, and that the outside of the pews be
On Easter Sunday, 1837, the pulpit, which had been enlarged the week previous, was clothed with a new red silk-damask covering, and cur- tains of the same material were put up in front of the or- gan loft. A similar covering was given to the reading-desk.2
At the close of Dr. Green- wood's ministry, the Church still remained without addi- tion or change as it had been before the Revolution. Its only monuments were those of Vassall, Apthorp, and Shirley. Speaking in 1840, Dr. Greenwood said : -
bers, and which may perhaps be the cause of a fatal severance. of the Society.
" Referring to a late suggestion of Dr. Greenwood, -there is, it is well known, a very justly reasonable difference of opinion in regard to the introduction of the cross within a Christian church. Many deem it the igno- minious engine used for the destruction of our Saviour, and on that account hold it as anything but an object of veneration; many would view its introduction as an unworthy departure from the principles of our fathers; and many of more watchful jealousy would
painted in imitation of dark oak. See P. 522, post.
3 Our engraving represents a richly wrought silver cross, given to the Church in 1875 by Mr. James William Paige, for whom it was made in Paris expressly in accordance with his purpose of giving it to the Church he loved so well.
PULPIT, 1837-1887.
471
THE MINISTRY OF F. W. P. GREENWOOD.
" Surely the time has not gone by for such durable records of affection and respect ; and if they were properly introduced in the former age, as every one who looks at these tablets must feel that they were, they may just as properly and as beneficially be erected now. When the lineaments of the deceased can be given to surmount the inscription, as is the case with the busts on the Vassall monument and Shirley tablet, the interest of the memorial is greatly augmented ; for then it seems as if the place had real inhabitants, 'dwelling alway in the house of the Lord,' while years and generations passed away. These busts bring to my mind the words which are said to have been addressed by an oldl Jeronimite to Wilkie the painter, when the latter visited Titian's picture of the Last Supper in the Refectory of the Escurial. 'I have sate daily,' said the monk, 'in sight of that picture for now nearly threescore years. During that time my companions have dropt off, one after another, - all who were my seniors, all who were my contemporaries, and many of those who were younger than myself; more than one generation has passed away, - and there the figures in the picture have remained unchanged ! I look at them till I sometimes think that they are the realities, and we but shadows !' How natural and how striking is the thought ! And I know not that it is not suggested even more forcibly by marble portraitures than by the figures of a picture. On some winter's afternoon, as I have remained here after the congregation have retired, and sate, while the early dark- ness was falling, and the low murmur of the Sunday scholars alone broke the silence, and have gazed on those still features, so calm, so passionless, so substantial and enduring, I could not resist the momentary impression that they were indeed the realities, and we the poor shadows, flitting shadowlike before them." 1
Within the church, one unfortunate change was made in 1826 by the demolition of the Governor's pew. This was raised on a dais higher by two steps than the rest of the church, and hung with crimson curtains surmounted, before the Revolu- tion, by the royal crown. It was a most characteristic relic, the only one of its kind in America. For many years it had been let by the Church ; but it being now desired on account of the demand for pews, consequent on Mr. Greenwood's settlement, to sell the pew, it was found impracticable to do so without degrad- ing it to uniformity with its neighbors.2
look upon it as the first step towards our subjection to the Pope of Rome.
" It is trusted that the influential men of our Society, witnessing the quarrels which have divided other congregations, will actively do their duty by opposing and preventing any schemes which may hazard the harmony of our Church, - the oldest of the Unitarian sect in the country, and whose unvarying steadiness is a pattern to all Societies of all sects."
1 Shortly after Dr.Greenwood's death, his own bust and that of Dr. Freeman were placed in the chancel.
2 The indifference to antiquities which then prevailed is shown by the letter in which the Hon. William Sullivan de- clined to buy the Governor's pew : -
April 13, 1826.
" I suppose there may be differences of opinion as to the expediency of demolishing
472
ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
In the early years of Dr. Greenwood's ministry, Boston was just ceasing to be a quiet town, with its still peaceful New Eng- land Sunday, and growing into the larger and more restless city life which we have known in recent days. This change could not be without the frequent discomfort and the occasional grave protest of those to whom the old way was the dearer. As early as 1822, this protest had taken form in united Church action, of which the following record is preserved : -
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