USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Annals of King's Chapel from the Puritan age of New England to the present day > Part 25
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1 A sermon, delivered on that occa-
2 The Roll of Honor appended to it sion, was published at the request of the is reprinted in this book, pp. 611-615, society.
post.
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ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
" Side by side their names are writ in marble, from the private soldier to the division commander. From the catastrophe of Ball's Bluff to the eve of the great surrender, those names are intertwined with the history of the time; and Antietam and South Mountain, and Gettysburg and Fort Wagner, and Bull Run and Chickamauga, and Whitehall and Spott- sylvania, and Averysboro and Cedar Mountain and Hatcher's Run, all cast their deep shadow over these dim aisles. Shall 1 venture to speak of them as, one by one, they come back to our memory ? - One,1 whose name stands written first in that proud record, born into this church, but long absent from it, who fell on that wooded hillside in the valley whose slope was fatal to so many precious lives ; - the merciful surgeon 2 of whom his fever-patients, in the wards where he and they were fellow- prisoners, said, 'When he came, sunshine came with him, and when he went away, darkness followed,' under whose care, in that house of doom, not one man died, during three weeks that he was with them, though previously they had died five or six daily ; - the brave boy 3 who lin- gered through eleven weeks of suffering and was released on the eve of the day when his comrades were mustered out of service, who, when I last saw him, I remember, as I wished him God-speed and that he might escape the dangers of the camp as well as of the battle-field, pulling with a bright look a pocket Testament from the pocket next his heart, told me that he should try to live by that ; - the gallant gentle- man,4 in whose veins was blood that had leapt at the first low murmurs of the Revolution, and whose name was historic, who endured imprison- ment, wounds, sickness, death, with quiet dignity of demeanor, simpli- city of speech, and silent heroism of life, who could put aside the suggestion of how much he was giving up in the way of opportunity and future success with the few simple words, 'Yes, if this life were all ; ' - the high-toned officer,5 whose face, as I watched it in earliest college days, bore the marks of dignified and modest refinement, and won for his steadfast moral nature confidence and respect, that grew into ad- miration for the unpretending service of duty : 'Do as I do,' he said, and stood up upright and firm before the enemy's rifle-pits, when the fatal bullet came ; - the two brave brothers,6 in whose souls burned a flame of courage and manhood unquenchable : one, of whom it has been said, 'he might well stand as the typical young soldier of the North,' dying instantly, at the head of his men, in a disastrous battle ; the other, wounded in the first skirmish of the war, winning by his gal-
1 Richard Cary, Captain in the 2d Regiment of Mass. Volunteers.
2 Dr. E. II. R. Revere, Assistant Surgeon of the 20th Regiment of Mass. Volunteers.
8 Franklin Moody Adams, Private in Sth Battery, Mass. Volunteers.
4 Paul Joseph Revere, Colonel of 20th Regiment of Mass. Volunteers.
5 James Amory Perkins, First Lieu- tenant in 24th Regiment of Mass. Vol- unteers.
6 Warren Dutton Russell, First Lieu- tenant in ISth Regiment of Mass. Volun- teers ; and Francis L. Dutton Russell, First Lieutenant in 4th Regiment of Artillery, U. S. A.
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THE MINISTRY OF HENRY WILDER FOOTE.
lantry as private soldier a commission in the regular army, doing great things to avert our heaviest disaster in the West, giving up at last, by slow degrees of wasting sickness, the life whose strength was spent for his country ; - two others, who singularly shared a fate, in which uncertainty slowly darkened into assurance that they were no more. Of these, one,1 among our youngest, bore from the university powers of mind and native observation which quickly raised him from the unnoted station in which he had sought to serve a great cause. Riding alone, he was set upon by a band of guerillas, and disappeared from human sight, leaving only a fresh and beautiful memory. The other," educated in the best military discipline of foreign schools, born for the profession of arms, with his brigade of regulars first stayed the hostile rush at Chickamauga. Like a wall of rock his men stood around him. He was seen sitting ' on his horse, as cool as ever, without changing face,' while the volleying line surged on toward him, - then with drawn sword, surrounded by the the foe. The waves of the conflict passed over him, and when it had ebbed, no certain trace of him remained behind. Then there was the bright, winning spirit 3 who took up the mysterious peril of a command over colored troops, and, falling on that sand island which cost so dear, was buried with his men ; his last words being, 'Follow your colors,' as he himself had followed the star of duty ; - the rare, beautiful soul, 4 well-named 'the gift of God,' who hastened home from the study of foreign culture, at the echo of war heard across the Atlantic, the color- sergeant who fell bearing the flag that he loved with his heart's blood ; -- he,5 who bore the highest rank of any who went out from this place, idolized by his men, trusted by his superior officers, whose warm, true nature glowed with love of friends and of country, whose modesty per- fected his manliness, but could not hide his worth or his value to the country, who gave up his life in the great advance ; - and yet two others, among the youngest and the dearest that this church gave to the cause, who fell just before the dawn of that day of peace for whose coming they willingly died : one 6 in the victorious march of that army which cut the Gordian knot of the war, slain in its last battle ; the other,7 after wounds and exposures, after months of daily peril in the memorable siege, struck down by almost the last shot that rang out from the expiring Rebellion : both dying. in the arms of victory."
During Mr. Foote's absence occurred the death of Thomas Bulfinch, who was perhaps more intimately associated with
1 Arthur Cortlandt Parker, Second Lieutenant in 33d Regiment of Mass. Volunteers.
giment of Infantry, U. S. A.
3 Cabot Jackson Russel, Captain in 54th Regiment of Mass Volunteers.
4 Theodore Parkman, Sergeant in 45th Regiment of Mass Volunteers.
5 Thomas Greely Stevenson, Briga-
2 Sidney Coolidge, Major of 16th Re- dier-General, U. S. Volunteers.
6 Samuel Storrow, First Lieutenant in the 2d Regiment of Mass. Volunteers.
7 Charles James Mills, Brevet Major, U. S. Volunteers.
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ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
King's Chapel than any member of the society who survived him. Attached to the church through an honored ancestry which for several successive generations bore a prominent place among its worshippers and its office-bearers, separated from it only during a few years of early manhood passed in a distant city, bearing an important part in the several revisions of its liturgy, loving its discipline and order of divine service as pre- eminently true to the teachings and spirit of the Gospel, the very dear friend of all its pastors since its separation from the English Church, he can have left no one so conversant with its entire history or so closely identified with its interests. At the same time by his large and high culture, his refined taste, his beneficence to the utmost of his ability in gift, deed, and service, and his life on the loftiest plane of Christian excellence, he left a memory then recognized as worthy of a specially emphatic record in a commemorative sermon, published by request of the society.
Mr. Foote returned from Europe in full health and strength, and until his work was suspended by illness devoted himself with the utmost assiduity to the duties of a parish minister and to the religious and philanthropic interests that claimed his support and assistance. The restoration of peace having re- leased him from the perpetual strain of patriotic service, he now made it a foremost aim to render the Chapel itself a central point for extended influence in the community at large.
The Sunday afternoon service in Boston churches in general had ceased to command the attendance of the greater part of the congregation, and had in many churches been abandoned as past redemption. Mr. Foote's aim was to retain, vitalize, and utilize it. As early as 1871 a series of twelve lectures "on the fundamental questions in religion," delivered by various clergy- men under the auspices of the Unitarian Association, were repeated by voté of the vestry on Sunday afternoons in King's Chapel. Since that period various arrangements have been made in successive years- designedly various, that there might be a certain freshness of interest with each new year - for drawing a larger audience than would have attended what seemed a mere duplication of the morning service. These methods cannot easily be traced year by year. Mr. Foote's own principal part was a series of lectures on the biography of the Old Testament, and another series on Christian Hymno- logy, with musical illustrations by the organ and choir. Then there was for one year a course of sermons on Christian doc-
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THE MINISTRY OF HENRY WILDER FOOTE.
trine, delivered at Brooklyn, repeated at King's Chapel, and in a printed form put into circulation by both societies. For several winters, for the first time in 1873, leading clergymen of differ- ent denominations have been invited to preach on successive Sunday afternoons on subjects previously announced. These discourses have sometimes alternated with sermons delivered by younger ministers of neighboring Unitarian churches spe- cially invited, and for two or three seasons these last have been the sole occupants of the pulpit. Pains have been taken to have it understood that the society on these occasions extends the widest hospitality ; and the consequence has been that, unless in stress of weather, there has never been wanting a good and appreciative audience, while not infrequently the Chapel has had nearly every seat filled. For the last two years the chil- dren of the Boston Female Orphan Asylum have occupied on Sunday afternoon the best pews in the Chapel, having previously been gathered in classes for Sunday-school instruction; and on pleasant afternoons the lower floor of the Chapel, with the chil- dren in front, has presented the aspect of a moderately large, sometimes even of a full, congregation.
In addition to the public services of the Chapel, Mr. Foote had for many years classes for religious instruction at his own house, which were always well attended, and for which he made the thorough preparation which was with him a matter equally of principle and of habit. Among the subjects of these courses were: The Church at Jerusalem; The Churches of Asia; The Preparation of Greece and Rome for Christianity; The Lives and Writings of the Fathers of the Primitive Church; The Festivals and Hymns of the Early Church; Church-creeds; The Hebrew Scriptures; and Christian Art (with illustrations).
In 1878 the Chapel was fully fitted with gas-lights for even- ing service, the previous arrangements for lighting having been partial and inadequate, while a satisfactory method had been postponed in consequence of a lingering prejudice among some of the older members of the congregation against the opening of churches except in full daylight. The partial lighting of the Chapel was voted and begun in 1872. Previously, though with but " a dim religious light" from movable lamps, appropriate services of worship, with the celebration of the Lord's Supper, had been held on New Year's eve1 and on the eve of Good Friday.2 The Chapel has in later years3 been opened in the evening, not often, indeed, but whenever it seemed desirable, for
1 For the first time in 1867.
2 For the first time in 1868.
8 Electric lighting was introduced in October, 1888.
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ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
meetings in behalf of the temperance reform and other causes of public interest; while the afternoon service on cloudy win- ter-days has often needed all the light that could be thrown upon it.
The use of the Chapel at alternate hours on Sunday was offered at different times to the proprietors of Trinity Church after the destruction of their church in Summer Street, and to the Second Church and the Brattle Square Church in the intervals between their vacating their old and taking possession of their new churches. The invitation was accepted by the Second Church for several months, and by Trinity Church for the delivery of the Price Lectures.
In 1871 the arrangement was made by which the worshippers at King's Chapel, the First Church, the Second Church, the Arlington Street and the Brattle Square churches-the place of the latter being afterward taken by the Hollis Street Church - maintained for ten weeks of summer vacation a union service in the several churches in turn, each minister preaching two Sun- days, and the responsibility for the music resting upon the church occupied for the season. Mr. Foote, while he bore his part in this arrangement, became convinced that it was desirable that King's Chapel, if no other church, should be opened through the summer, on account of the many strangers and persons who had no church-home who always attended service there when the Chapel was open; and had his life been spared another summer, it was in his heart to give himself a shortened vaca- tion, and to renew the old custom by which the churches were open for worship every Sunday in the year.
On May 30th, 1874, Post 113 of the Grand Army held its memorial service in King's Chapel. The occasion was one of deep solemnity, as the church was full of so many recent mem- ories of those for whom at that early day it seemed a second funeral. The part taken by the officers of the Post was beau- tifully appropriate, and Mr. Foote's address, while redolent of the emotion which all felt who recalled the living record of those whom that church had given to the country, was at the same time so rich in the wisdom of far-seeing Christian patrio- tism as to merit a much wider and more permanent interest than could be called forth by its publication in the papers of the day. Mr. Foote's tributes to those whose names were inscribed on the commemorative tablet were biographical sketches, with the distinguishing characteristic which made each of them a vivid portraiture. At the same time he gave
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THE MINISTRY OF HENRY WILDER FOOTE.
utterance to sentiments with regard to our Southern brethren not unfamiliar now, but then strange from Northern lips. We quote his words: -
" In the memorial rites of this day let us mingle no thought of bitter- ness against those who stood against you in battle in those days forever past. They are our brethren, and they and we have the common work together of building up, through centuries to come, the mighty fabric of a Christian commonwealth. It was in no personal triumph over them that the Nation hailed God's awful angel of victory ; and as the best fruits of that victory we hail every sign of a returning brotherhood. Surely we respond in this hour to that appeal from a Southern man in the halls of Congress to remember that their dead, too, were Americans ; and the heritage of the valor and devotion of both belongs to the whole land. On the battle-fields of Sedan and Metz one may read over the grassy mounds the words : 'Here Frenchmen and Germans rest together in God.' This people is great enough and strong enough to write as generous a word over all its children."
In 1874 the Rev. Dr. Walker died, after a short illness, having passed his eightieth year with no decline of mental vigor and with no disabling physical infirmity. He had been intimately connected with King's Chapel, having occupied the pulpit for a large part of the time between Dr. Peabody's death and Mr. Foote's settlement. Indeed, had he been willing at so advanced an age to renew the labors of the ministry, he would have had the unanimous choice of the society as their pastor. Mr. Foote had been intimately associated with him from his childhood, and had been during his Cambridge life a constant visitor at his house. He therefore not only took a prominent part in the funeral service at Cambridge, but preached a commemora- tive sermon, which was second in discriminating eulogy to none of the several biographical sketches prepared by admiring friends and pupils.
In that same year occurred the death of Charles Sumner, whose funeral services were conducted in the Chapel by Mr. Foote in his usual impressive manner. The occasion brought together a larger array of public officials and distinguished citizens than can be often convened; and it was so conducted as to make it emphatically an hour, not of man-worship, but of God-worship. On the following Sunday Mr. Foote delivered a sermon, which without fulsome panegyric did ample justice to the virtues and services of one who had borne so large a part and so long in shaping the history of the country.
Both these sermons were printed at the request of the Vestry.
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ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
Early in 1878 Mr. Foote presented for approval by the vestry a collection of one hundred and three hymns, and twenty-nine tunes adapted to congregational worship. This collection was duly published and brought into use, and was reprinted, with additional hymns, in 1880.
In the spring of 1878 Mr. Foote, who had thus far enjoyed unimpaired health and working power, suffered severely from bronchitis, and in April had leave of absence in Europe for the recovery of his health, the parish continuing his salary and supplying the pulpit. He returned after six months, still an invalid, and received a new leave of absence until such time as he could safely resume his duties. He accordingly spent the remainder of the winter and the following spring with his family at the South. He returned in an advanced stage of con- valescence, but with a liability thenceforward to bronchial in- flammation in case of unusual fatigue or exposure.
In April, 1883, the Committee on Music was authorized to procure a new organ, to be placed in the ancient organ-case, with the understanding that such portions of the present organ as might not need to be replaced should be retained. A con- siderable part of the old organ was left unchanged because it could not be changed for the better. The sum of 6,000 dollars was appropriated for this purpose, and the actual sum so ex- pended was 5,050 dollars.
In the spring of the same year Mr. Foote read at an informal meeting of worshippers at King's Chapel, at the house of the senior warden, a paper advocating the erection, on some site nearer the present centre of population, of a building for the use of the Sunday-school and of the various charitable organizations. His views of the expediency of this enterprise were received with great interest, were warmly seconded by some of the mem- bers of the congregation who were present, and were regarded by all as worthy of careful thought and inquiry ; but no action was taken, and the subject, though by no means dismissed from Mr. Foote's mind, was by common consent postponed for further consideration.
On the 12th of April, 1885, Mr. Foote delivered an appro- priate discourse on the hundredth anniversary of the introduc- tion of the King's Chapel Liturgy, - four years before the first edition of the Book of Common Prayer of the Protestant Epis- copal Church of America came into use. The sermon is of permanent value as an historical document, and of still greater worth in its free criticism of changes that have been made since
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THE MINISTRY OF HENRY WILDER FOOTE.
the Liturgy was adopted, and in suggestions which cannot but receive due heed whenever the book shall be again revised. The sermon was followed by an address delivered by Rev. Dr. James Freeman Clarke, consisting principally of reminiscences of Dr. Freeman, with traits of his private character and details connected with his leadership in the separation of the Chapel congregation from the English Church, and its adoption of the reformed Liturgy. These discourses were "printed by request of the Wardens and Vestry."
At a meeting of the Proprietors of King's Chapel, April 26, 1886, the senior warden presented a communication from Mr. Foote, suggesting that appropriate notice be taken of the approaching two hundredth anniversary of the organization of the church, which would occur on the 15th of the next follow- ing July. As midsummer would be an unfavorable season for the celebration, it was determined that December 15th should " be fixed as the day for such a service." On Sundays the 5th, 12th, and 19th of that month Mr. Foote preached historical sermons, comprising not only the history of King's Chapel, but the broader relations of the church and its commemorative season with Protestantism, Puritanism, the mother-Church of England, and the advanced theology of more recent times. On the 15th the arrangements by the Committee of the Proprietors were such as to present to the eye all that could be obtained or devised in illustration of the two centuries' life of the church. The following description is taken from the volume containing a full record of the commemoration : -
"The decoration of King's Chapel, both exterior and interior, for the occasion, was designed with the purpose of making everything employed illustrative of the unique and historic significance of the church. On the outside of the Chapel, over the front porch on the face of the tower behind the colonnade, was a tablet (six feet six inches by three feet six inches) surrounded by six colonial and patriot flags, extended over the main door and upon the walls on either side, - a total width of eighteen feet. A large palm-leaf, painted a dead green, extended across the tablet, upon which in a ribbon was written 'King's Chapel, 1686- 1886.'
"The flags, beginning at the left hand, were : First, the sea-colors of New England in use as early as the end of the seventeenth century ; the British Union of 1707 ; the Pine-Tree flag of New England ; the Grand- Union flag, first raised by Washington at the camp at Cambridge on Jan. 1, 1776 ; another early flag of New England ; and the flag of New Eng- land sent by King James the Second with Governor Andros in 1686.
VOL. 11 .- 36
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ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
" The interior decorations consited of portraits of Royal Governors and others ; of twenty-four Colonial and Revolutionary flags; of the coats-of-arms of the Governors and of other distinguished persons. The Governor's pew was restored, its dimensions remaining clearly outlined on the plaster ceiling, and its shape given by a drawing from memory by Miss Sarah H. Clarke.
" The galleries of the Chapel are supported by eight Corinthian col- umns in pairs, which continue to the ceiling. On the bases of these columns were placed the portraits of several of the Royal Governors and of some noted persons who worshipped at King's Chapel, in the follow- ing order : --
REBECCA, wife of Governor JOSEPH DUDLEY.
Governor JOSEPH DUDLEY.
Governor BURNET.
Governor BELCHER, painted by F. Liopoldt in 1729, in London.
Lieutenant-Governor DUMMER, said by tradition to have been painted by Lely or Kneller.
Governor HUTCHINSON, painted by Edward Truman in 1741.
Governor POWNALL, a copy, painted by Pratt, of the original portrait. PETER FANEUIL, painted by Smybert.
Rev. JAMES FREEMAN, pastor of King's Chapel 1787-1836, painted by Christian Gullager.
"These portraits were kindly loaned by the Massachusetts Historical Society, with the exception of that of Governor Burnet, which hangs in the senate-chamber at the State House; that of Lieutenant-Governor Dummer, belonging to the Misses Loring ; and that of the Rev. James Freeman, belonging to the family of the late Mr. George Richards Minot. It was found to be impossible to obtain portraits of some persons pre- eminently associated with our history, - as Governors Andros and Shir- ley, - while some of those represented were only placed here officially, and not as worshipping here ; but it was felt that they might properly be admitted as types of the period to which they belonged.
" Upon the columns, directly over the portraits, were hung the escut- cheons containing the coats-of-arms of the Governors and of other persons connected with the Chapel previous to the Revolution. The originals of most of these coats-of-arms were hung in the first, wooden Chapel. Beginning on the left hand with the arms of his Honor Sir FRANCIS NICHOLSON, Knight, Lieutenant-Governor, as in the list on the programme, the series ended on the right hand with those of Captain FRANCIS HAMILTON, of His Majesty's ship-of-war ' Kingfisher,' in 1687.
"The front of the galleries is ornamented with raised panels, three between each set of columns, - twenty-four in all. Each of these panels contained a Colonial or a Revolutionary flag, beginning with the Cross of St. George, and ending with the first American flag unfurled at the battle of Brandywine, September, 1777. Among them were the flag of New England under Andros ; the flag of the Province of Massachusetts
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