USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Annals of King's Chapel from the Puritan age of New England to the present day > Part 24
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It happened that during the term of Mr. Curtis's service as Judge on the Supreme Bench the long and momentous struggle between the North and the South, on the subject of slavery, was fast approaching its final issue. Never had there been a period since the first establishment of the Court when questions more difficult or of graver interest were pre- sented to its consideration, or when a greater weight of responsibility rested upon its judges, or when their integrity and wisdom were put to a severer test. The " Dred Scott case," as it is called, which became so celebrated, and was unquestionably one of the most important cases ever brought before that Court, is too well known to require more than the briefest allusion. It was that of a slave of Missouri, who claimed the right to be free in consequence of having been taken by his master into free United States territory, and of having resided there a considerable length of time. The case was decided early in 1857, the majority of the Court giving judgment adverse to the claims of the slave. From this decision Justice Curtis dissented, and gave in his opinion a most sound and masterly exposition of law and justice as applicable to the case, and a complete defence of the Constitution against the charge of a purpose to legalize slavery in all parts of the territory of the United States.
In the fall of 1871 Mr. Curtis was appointed by the President of the United States - in connection with Hon. William M. Evarts, of New York, and Hon. Caleb Cushing, of Washington - to be counsel for the United States before the Board of Arbitration to assemble at Geneva, Switzerland, under the treaty of Washington of 1870. Mr. Curtis would have accepted this appointment, had it not been first announced to him on his arrival at New York from Europe, after an absence of several months, - on which account, and from the pressure of duties at home, he was obliged, reluctantly, to decline it. In 1873 he was appointed by the Mayor of Boston one of five commissioners to revise the city charter.
In his pamphlet on Executive Power, Mr. Curtis speaks thus of him- self : " I am a member of no political party. Duties inconsistent, in my opinion, with the preservation of any attachment to a political party caused me to withdraw from all such connections many years ago, and they have never been resumed. I have no occasion to listen to the exhortations, now so frequent, to divest myself of party ties and disregard
545
THE MINISTRY OF EPHRAIM PEABODY.
party objects and act for my country. I have nothing but my country for which to act, in any public affair."
In the character of Judge Curtis there was a rare combination of firmness and force of purpose with great tenderness of feeling and quick sympathies. His eyes would moisten and his voice become soft and tremulous when speaking of a friend's sorrow, or of an instance of peculiar heroism. He was never heard to speak evil of any one ; and if he could not palliate the faults of a neighbor, would not denounce them. His generosity was large and free, as it was modest and unostentatious. Many instances of it have come to light from time to time, especially since his death, but only because the gratitude of those who experienced it could not be suppressed. " I have known him," said the District Attorney in remarking upon this trait of his character, " in cases where he had thought the judgment had fallen too hard upon his client, to turn and relinquish every dollar of his fee in order to soften the adverse blow, - and that, too, without a word, without any open demonstration, and probably without anybody knowing it except myself, his book-keeper, and his client." Instances of a similar nature have been brought [says his biographer] to my knowledge, which could not have come under the notice of the learned attorney.
Any sketch of Mr. Curtis would be imperfect which should fail to notice and give prominence to his religious character. The simple faith of his childhood, never parted with in youth, was retained in full strength and freshness to the end of life. Though it may not be generally under- stood, since Mr. Curtis shunned rather than courted public notice, this was his crowning quality, - the last with which he would have parted, the strength and beauty of his character, and the secret of his success. He had a firm and consistent belief in the divinity of Christ, and there- fore in the Fatherhood of God, in Providence, and in prayer. He was ready on all proper occasions to express his belief in divine revelation, and to defend it against the objections of the sceptical. In the month of July, 1874, he was seized with a complicated disorder, which after two months terminated in congestion of the brain, and caused his death on the 15th of the following September.1
The death of Dr. Peabody was followed by an interval of a little more than five years, during which this Church was with- out a settled pastor. The changes that came about at this time, - the four years immediately before the Civil War, - affecting the ecclesiastical life of our community, are briefly referred to in the succeeding chapter.2 The pulpit of King's Chapel, mean- while, was very ably supplied; 3 and its church life, to a singular
1 From a Memoir hy Dr. Chandler Robbins in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings for January, 1878, xvi. 16-35.
VOL. II .- 35
2 See post, p. 552.
8 See ante, p. 459, note.
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ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
degree, remained unbroken. In grateful memory of the min- istry whose spirit survived throughout these years, the Parish caused a bust of Dr. Peabody, by Thomas Ball, to be placed in the Chapel, in the spring of 1859. The pedestal which supports it is thus inscribed : -
REV. EPHRAIM PEABODY, D.D.
MINISTER OF THIS CHURCH FROM JAN. 1846, TO NOV. 1856, BORN IN WILTON, N. H., MAR. 22, 1807, DIED NOV. 28, 1856, REMARKABLE FOR SIMPLICITY AND WISDOM, FOR THE WIDEST CHARITY AND THE QUICKEST SYMPATHY,
HE COMMANDED THE RESPECT AND LOVE OF ALL BY TALENT AND CULTURE, BY DELICACY OF FEELING, BY THE CLEAR PERCEPTION AND MANLY SUPPORT OF THE TRUTH HIS COUNSELS AND HIS EXAMPLE WERE ALIKE PERSUASIVE IF AFFECTION COULD HAVE KEPT HIM WITH US, HE HAD NOT DIED SO SOON.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE MINISTRY OF HENRY WILDER FOOTE.
H ENRY WILDER FOOTE, the son of Caleb and Mary Wilder (White) Foote, was born in Salem, June 2, 1838. He was exceptionally happy in home nurture, examples, and influences. His father, in a late old age, had the undivided reverence of a community which witnessed his blameless youth, his prolonged season of active duty full of beneficent service, his advancing years crowned with growing honor. His mother united, as they are seldom seen together, surpassing vigor of intellect, high culture, simplicity and sweetness of spirit and character, and equal strength and tenderness of Christian faith and devotional feel- ing. His grandfather, Daniel Appleton White, at once sage and saint, possessed of every trait that can adorn a Christian scholar and gentleman, bore no small part in the training of his grandson, reproducing in him his own love of learning, pure taste, delicate moral discernment, and high tone of religious principle and sentiment. Henry was fitted for college in Salem, and graduated in the Harvard class of 1858. In his senior year he had an almost fatal attack of typhoid fever, in which his mother took charge of him till she was seized with the same fever, and thus yielded up her own life after having contributed largely to her son's recovery. It may be doubted whether under different circumstances he would have chosen any other than the clerical profession; but the profound im- pression made by his illness and the consequent bereavement seemed to render the religious consecration of his life and his lifework inevitable. On leaving college he entered the Divinity School, from which he graduated in 1861.
Mr. Foote when he first appeared in the pulpit attracted attention and interest by his earnestness of manner, by his purity of style, and by the manifest sincerity and directness with which he addressed, not only the minds, but the hearts and consciences of his hearers. It was hardly possible that he
548
ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
should not find special favor with any church in quest of a pastor. He received a unanimous invitation from the South Church in Portsmouth, N. H., which he declined, in part from a desire for larger experience of the world and of professional service before he made a permanent settlement. He had at that time a temporary engagement at Cincinnati, in fulfilling which he was again strongly urged to accept a pastorate. In the early autumn of 1861 he preached at King's Chapel; and the result was a unanimous vote, on October 13, inviting him to become "minister and pastor of King's Chapel Society." His ordination took place on the 22d of December. The service was performed in the method sanctioned in the case of Dr. Freeman, on the ground that, the greater right of election residing in the congregation, they must also possess the lesser right of ordination. George B. Emerson, in behalf and by request of the Senior Warden, and in the name of the Society, presented to the minister-elect a copy of the Holy Scriptures, with the following Address : --
We, the wardens, vestrymen, and proprietors of this church, by virtue of our lawful authority do, in presence of Almighty God and of these witnesses, solemnly ordain and declare you, Henry Wilder Foote, to be our minister, public teacher, and pastor ; in testimony whereof we deliver to you this Book containing the holy oracles of Almighty God, enjoining on you the due observance of all the divine precepts contained therein, particularly those which respect the duty and office of a minister of Jesus Christ. The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you peace, now and ever- more ! And let all the people say, AMEN.
Mr. Foote preached the sermon, and Rev. Dr. Walker per- formed appropriate devotional services and delivered an address, which was among the most weighty of his utterances, left a pro- found impression on the audience, and is still remembered with deep interest by his surviving hearers.
Mr. Foote's ministry began at a period demanding peculiar discretion, wisdom, and energy. It was early in the War of the Rebellion ; and though there was no open hostility to the government, there was no little diversity of opinion as to the management of public affairs and the probable issue of the conflict. There was still in many patriotic minds a reluc- tance to recognize the existence of more than a transient dis- turbance; in many, a readiness for peace on any terms; in not a few of those foremost in effort and in sacrifice, more fear
549
THE MINISTRY OF HENRY WILDER FOOTE.
than hope; in some hard workers for the Union, despair of its renewed integrity. That Mr. Foote took at the outset, and maintained without wavering, the highest ground of loyalty and of hopefulness ; was second to no member of his profession in every form of public service; and while one of the youngest men in the Chapel congregation, and as always, modest and unassuming, was, because he could not but be, the inspirer and leader in every effort and movement in the country's cause, - was as distinctly felt then as it is gratefully remembered now. There can be no better expression of the spirit in which he pursued his sacred work than in the following " Prayer for our Country during the Present Civil War," which, written by him- self, and at first used in manuscript, was printed by vote of the vestry in 1863, in uniform type with the edition of the Prayer Book then in use, and formed a part of the regular morning service till the restoration of peace.
O Almighty God, who art a strong tower of defence unto all who do put their trust in thee, in this time of our danger we humbly commend our country to thy sure protection. Sustain the good government of our fathers against the men who are banded together to destroy it. Impart thy wisdom to all in authority over us, that by righteous and prosperous counsels they may hasten the coming of honorable and abiding peace.
Compass with thy favor as with a shield thy servants who have gone forth to defend us. Preserve them from all that may harm the body ; and oh, preserve them from all that may hurt the immortal soul! Grant that in the perils that beset them they may gain a sure and steadfast hope in thee. And soon restore them, if it be thy merciful will, to their homes in safety.
Strengthen with the comforts of thy Spirit all who are sick or wounded for our sake; and though the outward man perish, renew them in the inward man day by day. Comfort all whom thou hast bereaved ; and cause the stricken hearts to look to thee with resignation and trust.
O Thou who makest the wrath of man to praise thee, grant that these present sufferings may work within us a spirit of loyalty and reformation, and of obedience to thy will. Enable us to pray sincerely that it may please thee to forgive our enemies and to turn their hearts. Grant that we may not with cruelty or oppression proceed toward the end of our just desires. In all our battles, trials, and dangers, support us with heavenly help. And do thou crown all our endeavors with a prosperous event in those great mercies which we beg of thee, so that the cause of liberty and righteousness may be established, and thy people be brought out of their peril with hearts to love thee and to show forth thy praises forever. And this we humbly ask in the name of thy dear Son, the Prince of Peace. AMEN.
550
ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
Mr. Foote exercised, though without leaving his stated charge, many of the functions of a voluntary chaplaincy during the war. He performed frequent offices of Christian sympathy and consolation for the inmates of the Soldiers' Hospital in Pemberton Square, and for several months preached there every Sunday after the regular afternoon service at the Chapel.
From King's Chapel, under the direction or with the hearty sympathy and co-operation of the pastor, went forth perpetu- ally contributions for all parts of the public service which claimed private aid, and a great diversity of such tokens of patriotism as strengthened and deepened the sentiment to which they gave expression. While on the part of the minister there was no utterance or action not in full harmony with the peace- breathing spirit of the Gospel or with the fitnesses of his sacred office, he never suffered his people to lose sight of their obliga- tions as loyal citizens of the republic, and as virtually pledged by their Christian name and profession to the cause of human freedom. It was for him a theme for enduring gratitude that King's Chapel furnished an abnormally large proportion of volunteers for the public service, and, without an exception, of men who, but for the love of country, had no conceivable motive for encountering the privation, hardship, and peril of military life. Of those who served for a longer or shorter period in the Federal army, there were no less than fifty-two, of whom fourteen fell or were fatally wounded in battle.1
In 1864 Mr. Foote offered his services to the Sanitary Com- mission ; but at that time there was no need of the kind of personal service which he would have given at great sacrifice, and he therefore remained content with the very much more valuable aid to the cause which he was rendering incessantly in his own peculiar sphere of influence.
At the close of the war a special service of praise and thanks- giving was held at the Chapel on Monday, April 10, 1865. The following account of this service was written by a parish- ioner and friend on the evening of that day, and is inserted without change : -
"This is a day ever to be noted and remembered, - a glorious, blessed day ; for to-day the news has come that Lee has surrendered. The war must surely soon be over now. ... About twelve Mr. Foote came. He was wanting to have the church open for thanksgiving and praise this afternoon. He said it was the way it ought to be kept, and if he could find but twenty persons to lift up their hearts with him, he wanted to
1 A full list of these men will be found on pp. 611-615, post.
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THE MINISTRY OF HENRY WILDER FOOTE.
have it. It was good even to go into the church with Mr. Deblois [the sexton], whom he found at work there. . . . He went to see Mr. Bulfinch, and then came again to say that all was arranged, the notices printed, and the service was to be at five o'clock. .. . As we drove down to the church, we met many of our people walking in the rain - some from far on the Back Bay - all with smiling faces and glad hearts. The church was nearly full, - many, very many men, - and it was beautiful to see how all, strong men and women and children, felt the need of thanksgiving, the need of consecrating their joy by prayer. . . . It was very solemn in the church in the deepening twilight. The music was most appropriate and beautiful. 'Let us sing unto the Lord a new song, for he hath gotten himself the victory,' came out with new meaning, as did the Te Deum Laudamus. Many have joined the noble army of mar- tyrs. Mr. Foote's selections from the Scriptures were most beautiful, end- ing with ' Bless the Lord, O my soul !' which he read with the deepest feeling. The second lesson was from Hebrews, 'Seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,' and from Revelations, ' And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.' We read alternately the Psalms for a Day of Thanksgiving, and then Mr. Foote made a most beautiful, uplifting prayer. Many who had lost their dearest ones in this war were there, . . . and their needs were not forgotten ; and he prayed that these noble deeds, this dying for us, might stimulate us to renewed consecration of ourselves to God and to His loving service. Few, if any, left the church without tears of thankfulness to God."
Before this time votes had been passed and preliminary inquiries made, with a view to the erection of a monument commemorative of the young men of the church who had fallen in the war.
Early in Mr. Foote's ministry there seemed to be need of a new edition of the Chapel Liturgy; and in 1863 Messrs. Little & Brown were authorized to publish an edition of smaller size than that then in use. At the same time a committee was appointed to consider the subject of changes in the version of the Psalms and in other parts of the service; but few changes were made, and the subject of farther revision, which Mr. Foote had very much at heart, was, by circumstances beyond his control, postponed till it was too late for him to take that part in the work which could not be fitly performed except by the minister.
Meanwhile Mr. Foote was devoting himself with quiet and incessant industry to the duties devolving on him as a parish minister. These were exceptionally arduous. The parish was large and prosperous; but it had been for five years without a minister, and Dr. Peabody's long illness had closed his active
552
ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
labors at a still earlier period. Dr. Peabody's ministry, though from the first with an enfeebled body, had been vigorous and progressive; he had in his personal character a rare capacity of winning sympathy and co-operation; and he had made himself felt as a power for human welfare in the entire city. Several of the most important charities in and beyond his own denomination owed their inception or their continued prosperity to his wisely directed energy; and in every worthy onward movement he was a leading spirit. But the interval between his disabling infirmity and the settlement of the new minister had been almost a transition period in the churches with which King's Chapel had been in communion. Conservative tradi- tions had been yielding to the fresh demands of a new genera- tion. Methods which had been efficient in other denominations were virtually forced upon those who clung fondly to things as they had been. Of course the King's Chapel Society while without a minister adhered to the old ways, and perhaps with only the stronger persistency because in some respects it remained virtually alone. It became Mr. Foote's duty to lead his society over the ground which they would have traversed but for lack of a guide, and at the same time to attain and keep even pace with the churches that had not had a like interval of repose. He was constitutionally and studiously prudent, and never took a step that needed to be retraced. He moved no faster than he could carry with him the deliberate judgment and the cordial sympathy of those who rightly held a control- ling influence in the church. Our old churches half a century ago were to a great extent close corporations, existing chiefly for the benefit of their pewholders, not ungenerous, indeed, in pecuniary subsidies to those without, but with little hospi- tality, with a cold welcome to other than regular worshippers, and with very restricted personal intercourse of a beneficial kind with those outside of their pale. At the present these same churches, while not abandoning the rights of individual proprie- torship, open their doors freely to transient worshippers, furnish on other occasions than the Sunday morning service oppor- tunities for religious edification and instruction to the larger public, and bring themselves into direct relations with the un- privileged classes. If King's Chapel is now conspicuous for these latter modes of administration, and second to none ex- cept the nominally free churches in its liberal and generous attitude toward all whom it can attract to its services or reach by its charities, it is due in chief part to the constant aim and
E
RICHARD CARY.
CAPTAIN 2ED. ALCE INFANTAY, MASS. VOLS. KILLED AT CERAN MOUNTAIN, VOL AUC. A. IGAZ.
WARREN DUTTON RUSSELL FIRST JEST 10 TH ASET. ILFARTNY, HASS YJIS. BILLED AT BULL AUZ. YA AUC. 30. "@!Z.
ARTHUR CORTLANDT PARKER. SECOND LIEUT. JARD. RECT IN FANTWY MASS. VOLG ELLED NEAR WAARENTOR, YA. AUG. 24 1883. £ 21 JAMES AMORY PERKINS. FIRST LEVT. 24TH RECT UIFAITIL, MASS, YOLS KILLED AT FORT WACHEL S.C. AUG. 28. 1887. A. 27 SIDNEY COOLIDGE.
KILLED AT AAT.ITA : :: JIV2 7 398.
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THEOOGHE PT " SEN:LANT 49TH. REST TAPA.FIX6 AABS :. 3 X.L.ED AT ITH.TE-ALL. & C. 216 '8 85%. € 25.
D.IJ MAY IL 1654.
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PAUL JOSEFZ AEVERE.
ELVUEL STORROW.
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3.19 :1.74.31
CHARLES JAMES XIL.S. JAIYET MAJDAJ S VOLS
CAFTAIA ANTI NECT IRIAXTACLASS IŞ.S. DILITE AT FEAT WACREA S C. JULY 16 853. € 10
£ 24
IN MEMORY OF THE YOUNG MEN OF KING'S CHAPEL WHO DIED FOR THEIR COUNTRY
1861
1865
SOLDIERS' MONUMENT.
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THE MINISTRY OF HENRY WILDER FOOTE.
unremitted efforts of its minister. It is, indeed, due to his meekness of wisdom, his tenacity of purpose, equally gentle and firma, and the irresistible contagion of his philanthropic spirit, that he early secured the cordial support and efficient co-oper- ation of some of the best men in his congregation, whose instincts and habits had been, and but for him would still have been, much more conservative than his own.
For the more quiet duties of the pastorate Mr. Foote from the first manifested a rare aptitude, not only by the warmth of his sympathy, but by the delicacy of sentiment and feeling, which enabled him to meet cases that made special demand on his services in the way best suited to bestow the needed counsel, aid, or consolation. During the early years of his ministry the deaths among the older and more prominent members of the society were very numerous. Among those who were thus removed was Samuel Atkins Eliot, who, though he had become a resident of Cambridge, was still virtually, and with the strongest attachment, a member of the Chapel church, and had been for many years second to no one in its official service, in the charge of its various interests as well as of his favorite department of sacred music, and in the influence of his example in behalf of the highest type of Christian excellence. That Mr. Foote became subsequently connected with his surviving family by marriage, was an event which not only united him more in- timately with many of the families under his charge, but also secured for the entire society the unremitted service, in her own proper sphere, of one whose religious associations had from the very first been connected with its worship and its charities.
In January, 1867, Mr. Foote, in accordance with a long- cherished plan, and not without need of repose from five years of arduous service, asked leave of absence for a European tour and sojourn. This leave, by vote of the Proprietors, was granted for a year, with the provision that the salary be con- tinued and the pulpit supplied without cost to the minister. During Mr. Foote's absence the monument in memory of the young men of the society who had fallen in the war was com- pleted, and was dedicated, with appropriate services, on Easter Sunday.1 Those whose names are inscribed on the monument were commemorated by their pastor in a sermon2 delivered on the 29th of May, 1870, and published by request of the parish. From this we give the following extract : -
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