USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Dedham > Brief history of the last three pastorates of the First parish in Dedham, 1860-1888 : a sermon preached November 11, 1888 > Part 2
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In March, 1875, after a ministry of six years, Mr. Fol- som resigned this pastorate, and soon after accepted the office of a supervisor of schools in Boston, a position for which his friends here and elsewhere believed him to be eminently fitted. His letter of resignation is marked by his characteristic modesty : "I cannot make even this formal announcement without assuring the Society of my deep and heartfelt appreciation of the kindness, considera- tion and forbearance which I have always received from them, notwithstanding the many shortcomings of which I am perfectly conscious." In accepting his resignation the parish testify to "his attainments and ability as a scholar," to "the gentleness and sincerity of his character," to " the simplicity, directness and strong religious feeling that have marked his discourses," and to "the fidelity with which he has discharged the duties of his sacred office."
Mr. Folsom died suddenly, in Boston, May 20, 1882. In a notice of his death it was said, "He was as simple and true and genuine a man as ever lived. He loved his friends and his books. * Certainly his life was not a * brilliant or noisy one, but it was rich in gentleness and unselfishness, and in the power of doing good to others, and the rare gift of diffusing happiness."
The records show that Mr. Folsom attended 84 funerals, officiated at 30 marriages, baptized 29 persons, and received into the church 18 members. Several of those added to
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the roll of the church in his time, as in Mr. Bailey's and in mine, were transfers of membership, a circumstance of which I should not consider it necessary to speak were it not that, I am told, it was a matter allnded to by Mr. Fol- som in his last sermon, that so few during his ministry had chosen to bear this testimony. It would have been a response to his ministry which doubtless he would have had too much delicacy to suggest, but which, if it had been granted in larger measure, would have gladdened his heart.
From the date of Mr. Folsom's resignation to the call of his successor, was a period of eight months. The call was dated Nov. 8, 1875 ; its acceptance, Nov. 19; the installa- tion took place Dec. 29-it will be easy to reckon the length of the pastorate which has followed. It has been almost exactly as long as both its immediate predecessors combined. For good or ill, it has been, I believe, consid- erably the longest pastorate in Dedham during nearly a generation. Interesting as it has been to me, and near as it has been to us all, I have not reserved a proportionate space for its history. Happily, it can be dealt with more briefly, as it will not be necessary to say anything at all about the minister. His inner man, during the last thir- teen years, it would be a kind of breach of confidence for me to put into history, and of his outward relations you know enough, and, I dare say, better than I.
A faithful historian, not disposed to rose-color his nar- rative, would be obliged to say that you have not always been able to agree entirely with your minister. I remem- ber after some escapade in a sermon which did not seem to every hearer to be greatly edifying, the gentlest of all parishioners in the gentlest of all protests, made bold to ask, " What were you aiming at? What were you trying to do?" I greatly fear the question may have been more to the purpose than the answer. It is a noteworthy fact, however, that the indications of dissent which have come to my knowledge have, in general, not related to matters
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commonly classed as theological. I do not know all you have thought, but I have never heard that the pulpit was too radical or too conservative, too skeptical or too credu- lous, too slow or too fast. On the contrary, I have always felt that the pews were quite abreast of the pulpit, and abundantly ready for the latest intelligence, so it be intelli- gence, from the world of science, criticism or thought. Such differences as we have had have mainly related to practical details.
If I mistake not, the most serious trial which any of you have had with the pulpit was in the first year of my pastorate, concerning an expression of views in the midst of a feverish agitation of the subject of temperance. The minister may have been too sensitive, but he felt very much like one who is being dragooned into a movement with which he does not wholly sympathize, and very possibly he may have protested with more vigor than was necessary.
Perhaps the next most serious disturbance of our tran- quillity related to a change in the administration of the Communion Service, ventured upon four years ago by the pastor on his own responsibility. It was undertaken to hold that commemoration as a part of the morning service, sometimes with, sometimes without the usual sermon, at first using the customary wine, for which, that being sub- ject to objection in a service made so general, pure water was then substituted. The change had the good effect to attract several persons to the observance, but in none of its modifications was the experiment satisfactory to all, and, as I understood, the liberty taken with the emblems came near costing us a valued parishioner, not, I believe, because wine was considered indispensable, but because the reversal of the ancient miracle seemed a lapse from the healthy sen- timent of the Master into the sickly sentimentality of a disciple.
I am happy to say that questions of politics have never greatly disturbed our serenity. I have noticed that some
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of you have taken the liberty to think differently from your minister, but such have seemed to be satisfied to neutralize his vote at the polls, which I imagine, in the palmy days of this pulpit, might have been a bold thing for a mere layman to do.
In the affairs of the parish we have had great harmony, and you have given me hearty co-operation. It was due to your own enterprise that at an expense of $3300, in 1879, you carried out the improvement upon the vestry projected in Mr. Folsom's pastorate, and that in 1882, at an expense of nearly $2000, you greatly improved and beautified this edifice. It was as much your choice as mine that, in 1878, we adopted the Book of Services and Hymns then just issued by the Unitarian Association, the respon- sive readings from which have enriched our worship ; and it was to the generosity of a parishioner* that, two years ago, the Sunday school was indebted for the Hymnal and Services issued by the Sunday-school Society, which, with increasing satisfaction, we now use.
It would not be hard to recall other things generously done. Of such I must not be denied the mention of a Christmas gift of $462, towards which I had the grateful satisfaction of being assured every parishioner had con- tributed some token of his good will. I must be allowed, also, to mention a very thoughtful and timely favor of $75 from the Benevolent Society, whose thoughtfulness I sup- pose its beneficiaries always consider timely. I have rea- son to be glad that the ladies found my case came properly under their rules ; they were right in thinking they would look long before they found a more receptive object of charity.
Among the suggestions which I have made, and which you have carried out, for increasing our interest in parish affairs, not the least, I am persuaded, was the social gath-
* Mrs. John R. Bullard.
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ering and supper which brought 140 of us together, at our last annual meeting, to listen to full and valuable reports from every arm of our service. I remember that when the shortest, but not least interesting, of those reports was being read, one said to me, "When you put us up to do this, you did the best thing you ever did in this parish." I shall be glad to leave the suggestion as a kind of perpet- ual legacy.
One of the most venerable of the parish organizations then reporting was the Ladies' Benevolent Society, which has just held its sixty-seventh annual meeting. I am told that during part of Mr. Bailey's pastorate, the Benevolent Society was merged into what was known as the Ladies' Aid Society, in which all denominations co-operated for the large work of humanity which the war made necessary. That Society raised for its purposes $3040.96, of which it would be a delicate matter to apportion the amount that came from this parish. A third of it is $1000, and a fourth of that is $250 ; this, of course, does not include a thousand articles of value contributed, but was it perhaps about the average money contribution through this channel per year ? During the carly part of my pastorate the Benevolent So- ciety was very active and efficient, with an attendance at its monthly meetings of fifty or sixty members. Since the Associated Charities has been organized, much of the work of the Benevolent Society has passed to its hands, but I notice that its disbursements last year were still $215.
The Dedham Union, though a much younger offspring than the Benevolent Society, has attained some antiquity, and though it strenuously insists that it is not a parish or- ganization, it has rendered us services which entitle it to a grateful mention. It was formed during Mr. Folsom's pas- torate, and I dare say much of the credit for its existence is due to him. It appeared just in season to arrest any ten- dency to disintegration during the critical period of transi- tion from one pastorate to another, and I have heard it said
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that it served that purpose admirably. In its younger days, it gave many attractive lectures, and other entertainments, and contributed much to the social life of the parish. It was in full career at the time improvements were made upon the vestry, and liberally assisted in that work by its contributions of money. We have always accepted its good offices, and, so it conducted itself properly, we have never raised the question whether technically it was or was not a parish society.
The ability of our ladies for efficient organization was admirably exhibited in March, 1881, seven years ago, in the formation of a branch of the Women's Auxiliary Con- ference, as it has been since in the conduct of its affairs. To that movement was justly credited a perceptible increase in church attendance and of interest in all our parish activ- ities. In addition to much excellent discussion which the ladies have given and heard, in addition to much increase of mutual acquaintance and intercourse, the "Auxiliary " has had its hands steadily employed in good works far and near, for the promotion of a religious life and a rational faith. To the credit of these faithful workers, I believe it was once said on a public occasion, that "for work, the Dedham Auxiliary was the banner Branch." I should like to distribute the praise for its success to those to whom praise is chiefly due, if the chief praise did not rather belong to all.
To the Sunday school during Mr. Bailey's and Mr. Folsom's pastorates I have already referred, though I have not written its history. I remember well when I first looked in upon it, thirteen years ago, with its bright faces and its well filled seats ; it was a delight to my eye and heart. In our enlarged accommodations, greatly improved text-books, and excellent service book, we have facilities which did not then exist, and it is greatly to be hoped we are doing as good work as at any time in our history. In the recent death of Miss Ellis, the Sunday school has lost
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one of its most indefatigable workers and one of its wisest friends. It is due her memory, and it would be a grateful tribute from the school, to hang her portrait in some form upon its walls.
The faithful and generous services of the choir, always reverently rendered as a labor of love, are a part of the history of my pastorate which I am glad of an opportunity to acknowledge.
I find upon the parish records a copy of my acceptance of its call to this pulpit. It is simply a brief business note, such as I might have written if one of you had invited me to be a clerk in his store. I find upon the church records an acknowledgment of its vote of concurrence, in which I observe four times the space was occupied, and much more expression of purposes and hopes was indulged. I said, among other things, "I trust this action of the church is more than an empty formality. I cannot resist the feeling that in any just conception of his office, a minister is before all else the minister of a church. I shall come among you with the sincere purpose to discharge the obli- gations to the parish which I have assumed, but with the profound conviction that I can do so only by becoming first of all a faithful minister to the church. I shall not be sat- isfied with my ministry unless I am able to see the contin- uance of your prosperity, and to rejoice, as I trust I may, in many additions to your membership and a proportionate increase of your zeal and fidelity." As these letters indi- cate, I came here with a theory, which had been the fruit of some experience, which had slowly shaped itself into very positive conviction, and which, from a very unecclesi- astical beginning, had transformed me into not a little of a churchman. That theory was that while vague good feel- ing, a kind of non-committal good feeling, is well, a feeling that has come to consciousness of itself, a decision made and registered, a purpose settled and declared, is better. With us the instrument providentially placed in our hands for
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sometimes bringing about a decisive moment in religious experience is what we call the church. It is as a means to this end that I chiefiy care, and that at last I have come to care a great deal for this roll of those who have pledged to each other their good endeavors. I may say that this theory of the church and of its uses, with which I came, is the theory by which my ministry during these thirteen years has been shaped.
The heated process of conversion, by which in churches calling themselves "evangelical " it is common to crystal- lize religious feeling, was not open to us, and I looked with a kind of helpless desire toward the ancient usage of con- firmation by which our Catholic mother and her elder daughters, Anglican 'and Lutheran, lead up one generation and then another gradually and naturally to the result. It was eleven years ago that I first mentioned the word Con- firmation aloud in this parish. It was to a large Bible class of young persons which was to have met, and for a few evenings did meet, at my house. I began by saying that I should like to meet them not for criticism or speculation, but for religious nurture, and, by way of illustration, instanced what is aimed at in a confirmation class. I re- member that Bible class chiefly as a thing of glowing prom- ise which suddenly dissolved like the morning dew. Like the apostle, " cast down but not destroyed," the next year to some of the same persons I said very much the same things. "Now don't say confirmation," urged a blessed saint, no longer with us; " that was what frightened them before." I dare say there may have been other discourage- ments. Eight years after, in 1886, we held our first con- firmation service in this church, with seven candidates. We held a similar service last Easter, with fourteen candi- dates ; nineteen, if we might count the adults. These were occasions which many of us will not soon forget. The three or four months of study and conversation with the classes in preparation for these occasions, have been
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very pleasant experiences. At the last annual meeting the church, by vote, authorized admission to membership by confirmation ; so the practice may be considered as one of our recognized and legitimate usages. If this is something over which we have a right to congratulate ourselves, let us put the merit where it belongs. It could not have hap- pened but for the favor which the suggestion has met from the mothers in this parish. When, after a sermon upon the subject, as we were forming our class a year ago, one said to me, "I hope confirmation has come into this church to stay," my inward response was, If so you feel, it has come to stay. So it is, my friends, your minister can do nothing without you ; you can do-you certainly can help him do- almost what you will.
The Young People's Religious Society, the youngest child of the parish, whose first report so gratified and en- couraged us last March, cannot be said to have been an outgrowth of the confirmation class, nor the confirmation class of that. They have been parallel lines with some- thing of the same history. As was said of confirmation, so of the Young People's Society, it is to be hoped it has come to stay. It is a good omen that it is able to be its own min- ister. One of my recent exchanges is quoted as saying that he had seen many young people's meetings, but never before one that took care of itself. It is fortunate that the one to whose inspiration and energy the society chiefly owes its existence has the gift of continuance.
We have great reason to congratulate ourselves that our young people are taking a part in the religious activities of parish and church, for with them this inheritance from the fathers will soon rest. I look about me and see that these thirteen years have told upon those who at the beginning of this pastorate were in their prime. I recall with tender love and reverence the many faithful, saintly, beautiful spirits who in these years, one by one, have taken their discharge and gone to their rest. I am grateful that since
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we are denied the comfort of their presence, they have left us the inspiration of such precious memories.
A baptism, an admission to the church, a marriage, or a funeral, is an occasion upon which a minister comes close to the hearts of his people. Every such experience is an event in his own history. During my pastorate it has been my fortune to baptize 64 persons, to receive into the church 96, to officiate at 51 marriages, and to attend 137 funerals.
One of the pleasant incidents of my pastorate was a re- ception tendered us, with others, by the church over which Mr. Southgate was then pastor. In 1882, the year fol- lowing I believe, we were able to reciprocate this courtesy by a reception of our hosts and fellow-guests, which was accepted with a cordiality that strained our accommodations to the utmost. In its turn, St. Paul's parish repeated the hospitality with a heartiness and liberality in which it was not at all behind either of its predecessors. Differing very widely in matters both of faith and practice, it is pleasant to remember the respectful, kindly and neighborly relations that have subsisted between these three adjacent churches, which to such an extent divide between them the families of this part of our village.
This harmony of feeling has made both possible and natural the joint celebration of our great anniversary by the two religious households that have together the noble traditions of the first six generations, the first 180 years, of this ancient church. It has been a privilege, without one experience to mar its pleasure, to serve on the joint com- mittee to prepare for that commemoration. One cloud. indeed, there has been : the lamented death of a valued member of that committee .*
It would be easy to make reflections upon the events and upon the total of this history. It is so easy that I shall leave you to make them yourselves. Let me dismiss this
* Deacon Theodore L. Browne.
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imperfect record of twenty-eight, some of them momentous years of your parish life, with the injunction of au apostle, " Be watchful and strengthen the things that remain," and may the God of all grace and love, who has blest you so much in your noble history, and me so much in giving me a modest place in that history, be with you both now and always.
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On Sunday and Monday of the week following this historical discourse, Nov. 18th and 19th, 1888, occurred the commemoration of the two hundred and fiftieth anni- versary of the gathering of the First Church. The day fol- lowing, Mr. Beach communicated his resignation, as below :
DEDHAM, November 20, 1888.
Messrs. Alfred Hewins, Edwin A. Brooks, and Julius H. Tuttle, Standing Committee of the First Parish :
DEAR SIRS-At a meeting of the Directors of the American Unitarian Association, in September, an invitation was tendered me to become its Missionary Agent for the District of Northern New England. The position is one which I have not sought, but which, for certain reasons, I have not felt wholly at liberty to decline. I have been reluctant to disturb our relations until your great anniversary, just passed so happily and auspiciously, had been duly celebrated, but it has been understood in the parish that the appointment referred to would be likely to result in a vacancy in this pulpit, a vacancy which I sincerely hope you will have the good fortune to fill wisely and without a long and distracting period of delay. It now becomes my duty to place in your hands my resignation of that trust committed to me by the parish thirteen years ago, and to ask that the same be accepted to take effect November 30, that I may enter upon the work proposed to me December 1.
In taking leave of the parish, I wish to express the apprecia- tion and gratitude of myself and of Mrs. Beach, whose interest and obligation are the same as my own, for the unfailing kindness and forbearance of the parish towards us during all the years of our life in its midst, and for the many expressions of kind feeling we have heard, and are hearing, at this time of our separation. We shall always cherish the memories of these years as among our most precious possessions, and we shall greatly rejoice in all the prosperity which the future has in store for this ancient parish and for its members.
Very sincerely yours,
S. C. BEACH.
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At a meeting of the Parish, held December 3d, the resignation of Mr. Beach was accepted, and the following resolutions adopted :
WHEREAS, Rev. Seth C. Beach has presented his resignation as pastor of the First Parish in Dedham ;
Resolved, That we, the members of the Parish, in accepting this resignation, desire to express our deep regret at this termi- nation of a faithful and efficient ministry, which has lasted nearly thirteen years,
Resolved, That we should fail to do justice to our retiring pastor, if we did not, at this time, also express our appreciation of, and our obligation for, his many valuable services during his connection with the parish ; the earnestness, independence and ability,-a continually increasing ability,-which have character- ized his pulpit ministrations, in which he has given his hearers the results of wide reading and careful thought ; the attention which he has paid to the religious and moral interests of the Parish and Church, in his action as Superintendent of the Sun- day-school, and in his connection with the Young People's Religious Society, as in many other ways ; the fidelity with which he has performed other Parish duties and endeavored to promote the general welfare of the Church and Parish ; the zeal with which he has given himself to the encouragement and advance- ment of all benevolent objects, and of freedom and liberality of thought and judgment.
Resolved, That we recognize that our pastor has been a good citizen as well as a good minister, in his care for the schools of the town, as otherwise, ready to do his part for the public benefit.
Resolved, That we also recognize that our minister, while thus remembering the interests of the parish and the town, has not confined himself to them, but has extended his labors to a wider field, in his connection with the American Unitarian Asso- ciation, working for the objects it is striving to accomplish, and for the denomination at large, as well as for his own people.
Resolved, That in dissolving our connection with Mr. Beach, we offer him our most sincere wishes that, in his new charge, he may have the large success that we know he will deserve, and that in all his undertakings, and always, he may have a full measure of prosperity and happiness.
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