USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Canton > Canton Baptist memorial : being a historical discourse delivered before the Baptist Church in Canton, Mass., at the celebration of their fiftieth anniversary, Wednesday, June 22, 1864 > Part 6
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At the close of the associational year, September, 1839, the church numbered but sixty-two. Mr. Merriam resigned its charge, and removed to Athol. In the language of one who has gone over this record of years before me, "In our new house, we were not satisfied with our old minister."# I am not to decide here whether that dissatisfaction was fortu- nate. Events that followed were, and will continue to be, dif- ferently accounted for; and even the wise would differ as to what they proved.
Asaph Merriam was born in Gardner, Mass., March 20, 1792. He made a profession of religion in 1817, and was licensed to preach in 1824. His education for the ministry was chiefly acquired at the academy in New Ipswich, N.H., and under private instructors. He received ordination in the fall of 1825, at the meeting of the Wendell (now Miller's River) Association, in Royalston, Mass., as pastor jointly of the Bap-
at that day no stated services in their own house; also that there was then no Uni- versalist society: so that the Baptist meeting was substantially the only one in the village.
* Hist. Canton Bap. Church, published in Min. Boston So. Assoc. 1850.
Asauch Merriam,
55
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
1839.]
Elder Miller invited to lecture on Second Advent. Chas. O. Kimball.
tist churches of Royalston and Warwick. He has since spent forty years in ministerial labor, and now resides in South Lyndeboro', N.H., an old man waiting for the summons of his Master .*
In May, previous to the resignation of Bro. Merriam, the church had invited Elder William Miller, the afterwards re- nowned herald of the Second Advent, then a humble Baptist preacher, to lecture in this place on the prophecies. The people seemed to crave some stimulating doctrine ; and, hear- ing of his meetings in Randolph and Stoughton, they requested the pastor to invite him by letter to preach in this meeting- house. He consented; but it was not till several months after- wards that he came.
The same meeting that voted to dismiss Brother Merriam voted also to extend a call to the Rev. CHARLES O. KIMBALL, of Methuen, to come and settle in his room. He accepted the call, and shortly after moved here, and began to preach. The people soon became attached to him; for he was energetic, gifted, and pleasing, and his prospects of usefulness in this field were fair. But alas for the frailty of all human confi. dences ! After preaching a little more than six weeks, the · new pastor was, to the great surprise and grief of the church, · convicted of conduct unworthy of his office, and deposed by council.(163)}
Charles Otis Kimball was twenty-three years in the min- istry. He was born in Bradford, Mass., Sept. 25, 1791, and baptized in Haverhill, of this State, by Rev. William Batchelder, April 4, 1813, with whom, after an academical course in his native town, he studied for the ministry. He received his license of the First Baptist Church, in Haverhill, Aug. 19, 1814 .¿ Two years afterwards (May 8, 1816), he was ordained in Methuen, where he labored long with great favor and usefulness. After the misfortune which cut him off from the ministry, he made his home in Canton, with his family,
* Preached in Canton, Oct. 30, 1864, and spent five days.
f Held in Boston, Nov. 20, 1839.
# Two months after the constitution of this church, the last one he ever served.
56
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
[1839-40.
C. O. Kimball.
Elder Miller's Visit.
Henry Clark Called.
until the spring of 1843 ; enjoying for the latter portion of that time, by recommendation from Charlestown, the fellowship of this church. The Canton Sabbath-school Teachers' Asso- ciation, formed here April 8, 1841, owed its organization to his zeal and Christian enterprise. He died in hope, July 24, 1854, at West Charleston, Vt. No picture of him remains. He was a man of medium stature, strongly built, with a coun- tenance made prepossessing by sparkling dark eyes and great vivacity of expression. In the pulpit his utterance was rapid, and his manner there and elsewhere interesting and earnest.
Charly O Kimball
While the people were chafing under the frustration of their hopes in their late pastor, the contemplated visit of Elder Miller was made; and indeed it seemed to be providentially ordered, on purpose to divert their minds from their sudden affliction. Coming thus fortunately, his discourses, so far from producing here the mischiefs attendant on the preaching elsewhere of the doctrine contained in them, seem to have left, on the whole, a salutary impression ; and there are Chris- tian hearts now with us that date one great awakening of their spiritual life to the time when Elder Miller preached in this house the second coming of the Saviour.
Recovering from the shock of their disappointment in the case of Mr. Kimball, the people, in January of the following year, gave an invitation to Rev. HENRY CLARK, of Taunton, to assume the pastorate. He had already supplied the pulpit some time ; and, finding the minds of the congregation seri- ous from the recent addresses of Mr. Miller, he had the more easily affected their hearts by his presentation of truth. A deep religious interest had been awakened ; and in the spring he removed to Canton in response to the call, the church agreeing to pay him the (for them unusual) salary of seven hundred dollars a year.
Pastor and people now labored together with wonderful suc-
?
57
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
1840-1]
Fifth Revival.
Church Fund Invested.
Parsonage Built.
cess. Converts multiplied, both men and women, and of all ages, from the stripling to the man of gray hairs. Every month, from December, 1839, to August, 1840, inclusive, new acces- sions by baptism swelled the ranks of the church. Despondent ones gathered hope as they looked on; and veteran Chris- tians, who had waited by the ark of God through evil days, thanked him that their prayers were answered.
In the language of the letter to the Association, "The work, for stillness and order and power, was peculiarly interesting ; . . . in all respects, a greater work than was ever before known in our town." (119) The number of church-members re- ported for that year was one hundred and twenty-three ; the Minutes giving an addition of fifty-one.
On the 10th of November, 1840, the church voted to invest their ministerial fund in real estate. The immediate cause of this action was their desire to build a parsonage. For a long time it had been difficult to find a dwelling-place for the min- ister; and, as the difficulty was growing greater, the demand for a house of their own forced itself upon the church more and more strongly. Money was necessary for this object; and at last it was resolved to make use of the two-thousand-dollar fund.
A spot of land was selected in the parish yard, on the west side of the meeting-house, and proposals were made to pur- · chase of Thomas Tolman, Esq., an additional quarter of an acre on which to build a barn. On consideration, however, it was thought best to abandon that location; and the ground for the parsonage was staked out on the east side of the meeting- house, where it now stands, twenty-five feet more being pur- chased off Ezra Tilden's land to complete the requisite dimen- sions. The building-committee were instructed to proceed with the house at once, and the parsonage was completed be. fore the winter of 1841, at a cost of one thousand six hundred and twenty-five dollars. (189, 90) The remainder of the fund (three hundred and seventy-five dollars) was loaned to the treasurer of the church, and, along with money raised by special subscription, was applied to paying off a mortgage of
8
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58
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
[1841-42.
Buildings.
New Deacons Chosen.
Maximum of Membership.
eight hundred dollars, which remained on the meeting-house. The barn, or " stable," stood in the yard a little north of the dwelling-house, until 1848, when it was removed to make room for the chapel.
This year also (1841), the sheds (all or some of them) were put up at the back of the meeting-house by private individuals under permission from the church.
Deacon Jason Houghton, after serving as first deacon of the church for almost a quarter of a century, had resigned his office on the 7th of April, 1839, and removed from the place. Deacon Crane had never consented to the appointment given him eight years before (p. 46) and never wrote himself deacon, nor is he ever so called by Mr. Merriam in the records. Being obliged to officiate much, however, as deacon, the younger portion of the church became accustomed to address him as "Deacon Crane; " and both Clerks Tucker and Capen write him as such. Whether nominal or real, he had been the only deacon for nearly two years; and the church were called upon now to supply two officers to that station by regular election. They met on the 9th of December, 1840, and, after prayer and due deliberation, made choice of Ezekiel Capen and George Lothrop.
The 22d of August, 1841, was set apart by the church as a special fast. After this, frequent meetings were held, addi- tions were received from time to time up to the forepart of the following summer, until, at the closing-up of Bro. Clark's ministry here, the number of members in this fellowship had reached its maximum, - one hundred and forty-four. During his pastorate, Brother Clark baptized sixty-two. His resignation was accepted by the church on the 19th of June, 1842; a strong effort having been previously made to retain him.
Henry Clark was born in Canterbury, Conn., Nov. 12, 1810. He was converted to God in the autumn of 1829, licensed to preach in 1832, and pursued his preparatory studies in Madi- son University. In June, 1834, he was ordained over the Baptist Church in Seekonk, where he continued to labor, with
Henry Clark
59
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
1842.]
Church's Decline.
How accounted for.
the exception of a little more than two years, in Taunton, until his settlement with this church. He resides at present in Pittsfield, having been unable to preach for several years in consequence of a loss of voice .*
It now becomes the sad duty of the faithful historian to record a long decline. It may be said, and doubtless with truth, that this was partly owing to re-action, and partly to removals ; but though these may account for the numerical depletion, and some falling off of zeal, a deeper reason must be sought for the spiritual relapse from which it took more than eight years to recover. That the elements of decline existed under the very prosperity of the foregoing years is no unexampled fact. Unsafe and insufficient sources of joy generally escape exposure till the rapture and the glow are gone. The time for careful discrimination was before the re- vival begun, when the church was being disciplined by mis- fortune and disappointment. Afterwards, when the warnings and exhortations of Christians were heard in the excitement of success, they often seemed harsh, and were too likely to be so. The experience of centuries shows that periods of religious power and conquest are alnost always attended by excesses in religious people ; and the revival now in question was no exception to the rule .; The consequences of these were doubtless experienced in the season of desolation which fol-
· lowed.
By every law of Providence and of grace, a blessing should have followed the system (or a similar one) of parish-visiting begun in the pastorate of Elder Merriam, had it been patiently pursued. A work of reformation springing up quietly in the
Visited Canton and preached, Sept. 3, 1865.
t It is remarkable that Whitefield's preaching, and the religious movement attend- ing it, were followed, more or less, by the sad fruits of imprudent zeal in dealing with the ungodly. Dr. Baron Stow, speaking of the spirit of bitterness which was ronsed in many quarters against that remarkable man, says, " Much of the hostility was provoked by improprieties of both speech and action, that would at any time be offen- sive to those who love good order and Christian decorum." Certainly we are not to blame the ungodly less for rejecting the truth; but we should charge ourselves the more to avoid needlessly exasperating them when we present it to them." - Belcher's White- field, p. 92.
18180
60
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
[1842.
History of Decline.
Opposition and Apostasy.
bosom of the church must ever be the fruit of seed sown in prayer and preaching and social faithfulness; and such a re- formation could never have left the church dependent for its future prosperity on mere numbers or on particular men. There were many things to be thankful for in the great re- vival of 1840, and its results ; and, though not seen to be such at the time, the " dark age" that followed it was one of them. A sounder and safer piety came out of that long trial. God always turns to the best good of his people the misfortunes which, but for their want of wisdom, would more seldom be.
September, 1842, came, and the Canton Church reported it- self to the Association, one hundred and forty-three members, and a Sunday school of one hundred pupils in fourteen classes, and 'a large Bible class; but it was pastorless, and there is a touch of sadness in the letter, where it says, "Last spring we anticipated a glorious revival, but were doomed to be dis- appointed." Many of those who then looked for a descent of the Holy Spirit were far away - some asleep in the church- yard- before that blessing came again to Canton.
Meanwhile, the " contradiction of sinners " exhibited itself in the usual ways. From the beginning of the year 1840, or near the very commencement of the revival in the Baptist meetings, the enemies of evangelical religion wrought with unwonted diligence against the cause. Many, offended at the pungent preaching of Mr. Clark, left the congregation en- tirely.
The elements of opposition soon became organized, and as- sumed a sectarian character; and a new church, with a freer latitude of faith, was the result. The novelty of their enter- prise, and the congeniality of their creed, drew many to the meetings of these people; and it began to be evident that the Baptists must divide their ancient congregation with others. It soon became no less evident, that the apostasy had entered the pale of the communion. A few back-slidden and discon- tented ones, who had long shrunk from facing the humbling truths and fearful rebukes of the New Testament, were will- ing to abandon a church which enforced them, and embrace
61
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
1
1841-45.]
Discipline, &c.
L. Holmes settled.
- Continued Decline.
the accommodating doctrines of liberal religion. (140) Expul- sions began early in 1841; (124) and, from that time, cases of dis- cipline multiplied. The severity shown and felt to be neces- sary in some of these imbittered the incipient prejudices of many, and alienated the already wavering attachment of indi- viduals, and even families. At the same time, removals weak- ened the numerical strength of the church. The burning of the large Bolivar Factory, in 1841, threw nearly twenty of the members out of employment, and obliged them, soon after, to seek other homes. The remainder became disheartened. They found their resources diminishing, and their burdens in- creasing ; and leaning, as they had unconsciously learned to do, upon the arm of flesh, it was with a faint and feeble anima- tion that they continued to support the stated means of grace. For a part of the time they were supplied with preaching from Newton; and Rev. Joseph W. Eaton * performed the duties of a pastor here a while in 1842 and 1843.
In June, 1843, Rev. LEWIS HOLMES accepted a call, and labored here about two years; but neither the church funds nor the church spirit were up to the standard of a stated min- istry. The roll of membership also was lessening by dismis- sions at the rate of two per month; and Bro. Holmes was obliged to remove in the spring of 1845, for lack of support. 142) We must suppose, that, under these circumstances of the church, the contributions for benevolent purposes could not 'be large. In fact, they fell off entirely at last, with the excep- tion of an occasional remittance by individuals, and an annuity from the Female Mite Society, organized in November, 1843, which educated a Burman girl under the name of Abby Crane, and continued till 1851 to remit seventeen dollars a year .;
Among the many who removed from the town during this season of discouragement was Dea. George Lothrop, who was dismissed to Newark, N.J., on the 24th of Septem- ber, 1843, while Bro. Holmes was pastor. The church was thus left again with a single deacon. For three years,
* Now of Cambridgeport.
f Rec. Ladies' Benev. Soc., vol. i. p. 29 .; Bap. Mag. 1842.
62
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
[1845-47.
Change of Deacons.
Tingley called.
New Chapel.
Dea. Capen served the church unassisted; * till on the 2d of October, 1846, Bro. Willard Shepard was chosen junior deacon, and still retains the office.
Lewis Holmes was born in Plymouth, Mass., April 12, 1813; baptized by Rev. Thomas Conant in June, 1831; and gradu- ated from Waterville College in 1840. He was ordained at Edgartown, Marth. Vin., June 10, 1841. His present place of labor is North Scituate.
In May, 1845, Rev. TIMOTHY C. TINGLEY was invited to the pastorate here ; and in the following month, with his wife and sister, joined the church. During the period of his ministry, the movement to build a new chapel was agitating the minds of the church. Deacon Crane died March 27, 1847, and left, among other bequests, the sum of seven hundred dollars to build a chapel in the parish grounds " on the east side of the meeting-house, near the north line." Difficulties arose unfore- seen by the lamented donor, which complicated the matter, and delayed the benefits of the bequest a long time; but at length, during the year 1850, the present neat and convenient building was erected, and has ever since been the place of meeting for weekly lectures, and conferences of the church.
The vestry underneath the meeting-house was damp and unwholesome ; and Deacon Crane himself had, with others, cx- perienced the ill effects of long sittings there. Besides, a school had been kept in it for a while, (127, 143, 169) and the chil- dren had disfigured the room; and the practice of renting it to occasional lecturers had somewhat impaired the sacredness of the place, and left it the worse for wear and tear. The new chapel was needed, and proved (as may it long prove !) a most welcome gift.
It was during this period, also, that the connection of this church with the Boston Association was dissolved. In Sep- tember, 1847, it petitioned to be set off, to help form a new
* This faithful officer, like Deacon Crane and his early co-laborers, eminently deserves the title of Friend of the Church. Since his connection here in 1839, his person and his purse have ever been at its service. In some of its feeblest days. he has supported almost alone its pulpit supplies and stated contributions, and been its deacon, sexton, Sabbath-school superintendent, treasurer, and clerk.
1 1
--------------
Dumi Homus
-
-
63
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
1847-48.]
Boston So. Assoc.
Debt Paid. Olmsted Supply.
Crisis of Decline.
body under the name of the "Norfolk Baptist Association ; " but, in February of the following year, the old Boston Asso- ciation was divided, and Canton was embraced in the Boston South, where it still remains.
A note of a little more than two hundred and fifty dollars held at the bank here, and another of two hundred and thir- teen dollars held by a private individual against the church, were paid during Bro. Tingley's ministry, and the parson- age was repaired : but the pastor's salary, instead of being increased, was diminished ; * and, after a term of three years and a half, he resigned his place. Ile removed from Canton in November, 1848.(167)
Timothy Cheever Tingley was born in Cumberland, R.I., July 4, 1804, and studied at Brown University. He was licensed in North Attleboro', October, 1828; graduated from Newton Theological Seminary + in 1831; and ordained at Foxboro' on the 14th of July of the same year. He is now preaching at Somerset. During his pastorate here, ac- cording to the records, nineteen were dismissed, ten were expelled, three were dropped, one died, and nine were added by letter.
In the fall of 1848, # Rev. John W. Olmsted, now Dr. Olmsted of the " Watchman and Reflector," was secured as a stated supply, and continued to preach here with much ac- ceptance for more than two years (to April, 1851).
Matters had now apparently come to a crisis in the history of the church's decline. The church list was reduced to seventy. With eight years of famine in the past, uncheered by one baptismal season or one conversion, the church now waited and prayed. For a time the importunate calls of dis- cipline subsided, and brethren and sisters had time to wonder and search their own hearts.
* Treasurer's Book, pp. 57, 58 (1847), with pp. 60, 61 (1848).
t He was class-mate and room-mate in the Seminary with Hiram Gear, the fifth pastor.
# It was towards the close of the year 1848 that the addition of eleven feet was built on to the rear of the parsonage, rendering the house much more comfortable and convenient ; and in the following spring the parsonage was newly painted.
i
64
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
[1848.
Apparent Failure of the Means of Grace. Trial of Faith and Patience.
What could it mean ? For twice four years, faithful preach- ers of Christ, men of blameless lives and pure zeal, had pro- claimed the truth among them, and not the first sheaf of a spiritual harvest had been gathered ! An impostor, an alien in the fold of God, had, nineteen years before, preached in the same community, and stirred the people, and reaped wonderful results in single evenings ! But, as for these good men, they met with no response. Season after season, the ambassadors of Christ in this pulpit had been like children sitting in the market-place, and calling unto their fellows, " We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented." Why were they not permitted to build up the church ?* The materials lay all around them. Oh for the power of the fabled magician, whose voice and harp could charm the scattered stones into a stately tower ! But no: they must wait till God had perfected the patience of his saints, and then his breath would wake the sleeping and revive the slain. Never had this people been so thoroughly convinced of the total inefficiency of human power; never had seen so clearly the utter foolishness of preaching, and the sovereignty of Him who can let his enemies prosper, and the suffering cause of his own chosen pass over unheard till the great day.
They were humbled, and the way was prepared for the coming of the Comforter.
Before Bro. Olmsted closed his labors here, the condi- tion of the church was, upon the whole, improving. More in-
* A tradition prevailed among the older members of the church (p. 4), that, when Whitefield was refused the liberty of preaching here in 1740, he prophesied that there would be no visitation of the Holy Ghost to the place till that generation passed away. This saying has been echoed by recent ministers, as if it purported a perpetual curse of spiritual barrenness ; an error which is soon corrected by reflection, and contradicted by subsequent facts. If Whitefield ever uttered such a prediction of the town (and in the only account which bears any resemblance to the tradition, see Belcher's Whitefield, p. 195, a village is specified which is "now a city," and could not, therefore, be Canton), the generation which passed away in the last century fulfilled it in the church which denied him a hearing. The Baptists certainly deserve no share in the curses of White- field, since, so far from rejecting his ministrations, they everywhere grew and multi- plied under them, and rejoiced to rank themselves with the great body of proscribed
. New Lights whom his preaching drew away from the standing order.
65
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
1851.]
Ford Called.
Church Slowly Recovering.
The Year of Peace.
terest in religion was manifested ; and there seemed to be a general readiness to welcome a settled pastor, and co-operate with him in labors to advance the interests of the kingdom of Christ.
In April, 1851, Bro. DAVID B. FORD, of Scituate, an alumnus of the Newton Seminary, who had preached several times in Canton, was invited to spend a week among the people. The visit was made, and to so much mutual satisfaction, that he staid until July, when he received and accepted a unani- mous call to settle here as pastor.
Meanwhile, the church, having had the subject under con- sideration since early in 1849, in hope of aid and benefit from the union, joined with itself a society. The organization took place on the 8th of June, 1851 .*
The cause of religion now began slowly to revive. One prominent member, who had previously fallen into sceptical views and been excluded, was, upon confession, in the same meeting which called Bro. Ford, restored to the commu- nion. Another excluded member was restored the following April.(182)
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