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 8
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It is a source of regret that I am not able to present any
* Until March, 1865.
Since this history was written, the last descendant of the Tilden Family has left the choir, the two families of Mr. Lopez and Mr. J. Fisher having removed to Lawrence, Kan., on the 10th of March, 1865. The popular singing-school of Prof. H. L. Whitney, organized the same year in this village, has awakened an interest in sacred music fully equal to that in the days of Mr. Bird; and. nudler the new impulse, the choirs of the town are gradually re-organizing and improving.
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77
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
1814-21.]
Benevolence of the Church.
Unsatisfactory sources of information.
accurate report of the church's benevolence during the period of its existence. Such a report could not fail to interest us ; and had the successive clerks of this church realized how much the simple annual record of the church treasurer's re- ports, and statistics of occasional charities would have been worth to us now, they would in no case have omitted to make them.
As it is, these reports, with one or two unsatisfactory excep- tions, were never engrossed on the church records until 1855; and so little pains has been taken to preserve the files, that only fragmentary copies of the originals can be found - none of these reaching farther back than 1833. Many papers that would have thrown light upon this interesting article in our history have been carelessly or wilfully destroyed. In con- sequence of these combined fatalities, the memorial of the alms and home-charities of the church through forty years, to say nothing of the spontaneous contributions collected on the Sabbath now and then for a special cause or an occasional agent, has passed forever beyond recall. Perhaps it matters not if all that is given in faith have record in heaven; but we cannot help wishing that the good which our fathers did might be fairly told us while we are alive. Driven to gather what I could from the printed receipts of the Home and Foreign Missionary Magazines, I looked through twenty vol- umes of the former, and forty volumes of the latter, and wrote out the results of my search; but I cannot satisfy myself of their accuracy.
Much uncertainty, too, involves the stipendiary and busi- ness expenditures of the church, though less than in the other case. The first record of expenditure is five dollars for the sacramental elements in 1814. after which no financial data appear, from which a definite report can be made, until 1821. Deacon Tilden was appointed treasurer in 1818.(21) Ile had been appointed before in 1814, as related in the history of that year (p. 18); but there seems to have been little for a treasurer to do in the first three or four years, and his office became a sinecure. Indeed, for the whole time prior to 121, the incidental expenses of the church must have been next to
78
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
[1814-64.
Early Expenses.
Sum total.
The Ladies.
nothing, since they always held their meetings in private houses or at the North School-house, and could not have been at charges for a sexton, and very little, if any, for rent, lights, and fuel. As for preaching, the good brethren who supplied them at that early day generally expected nothing besides their expenses, which consisted chiefly in board and horse- keeping. Probably a hundred dollars a year would amply represent the current expenses of the church for the first five or six years, counting in every thing.
.
In 1818, moneys for the building of the meeting-house began to come in; and Deacon Tilden, being already Town treasurer, and a man of experience in such matters, was chosen to take the charge of them .* Through the two years that this house was in progress, the records are meagre; and nothing is known of its cost except by tradition.
. The first definite notice of a vote to raise money for the support of preaching appears under date of January, 1821; (27) and from that date the yearly expenditures in this particular can be made out with tolerable certainty. In the Appendix will be given an estimate (as near as can be made) of the annual outlay of the church, based mainly on the records of the church and society, and on printed reports. The summing-up is as follows : -
Paid for preaching during the fifty years . $18,591 00 Paid for building, repairing, and current expenses 16,890 15
Paid for benevolent objects 3,528 04
Total .
$39,009 19
Much praise is due to the ladies for the part they have borne in the charities of the church, and in the risks and burdens of the Baptist cause here. Repeatedly, in times of great perplexity, have the brethren solicited their aid, (141, 152) and found them ready with a hearty and effectual response: Never in a case of common or private need, through the
* He was treasurer of the church and purser for the subscribers. Nathan Tucker was collector or receiver (Ch. Rec. p. 22) until March, 1821, when Deacon Tilden took the collectorship, and Friend Crane was appointed treasurer. - (Id. p. 27.)
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CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
1814-64.]
Services of the Sisters.
Pastors enumerated.
whole history of the church, have they failed to honor the reputation of woman for kindness of heart and cheerful help- fulness. It was they who, by their patience and faith, held the church together during those early feeble days, when its peace- able worship, and almost its very life, were at the mercy of an ungodly district committee .* It was they who met to pray for our Karen missionary when he was yet but a young unbe- liever, and who, when he sailed for the Indies, gave material aid to his outfit. It was they who supported for years a Bur- man female pupil, under the name of his deceased wife.+ It was they who sent substantial offerings to the young sons of the church, who had addicted themselves to the ministry, to lighten, the anxieties and cheer the days of their term of study. It was they who contributed largely for more than forty years, by their personal influence and combined chari- ties, to fill up the Sunday school.§ It was they who five times generously assisted to free the church from debt. It was they who furnished and refurnished our meeting-places with the suitable appointments and conveniences of worship; and it is they, who, from the first, have scattered the thousand nameless donations that have comforted our parish poor, and lightened the heart of many a pastor. May the church never see the day that it shall set lightly by the modest but effectual labors of its self-denying sisters !
· With a short recapitulation we close the history. No claim is made to perfect accuracy ; but the following results are the best that could be made out from the existing sources of in- formation. The church has had fourteen pastors (see p. 50, note), - BARRETT, MOORE, ADLAM, CURTIS, GEAR, MERRIAM, KIMBALL, CLARK, HOLMES, TINGLEY, FORD, RUSSELL, HERVEY, and BROWN.
The fact that Pastor Curtis was ordained here, and was the
* " Were it not for the faith, the confidence, and the prayers of the sisters, our church would lose its name in this world." - (Letter of Friend Crane, November, 1816, in Life of Elder Henry Kendall, p. 176.)
t Bap. Mag., vol. xvii. p. 168.
# See page 43; also Records Ladies' Benevolent Soc., vol. ii. p. 43.
§ Rec. Ladies' Benev. Soc., vol. i. p. &
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CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
[1821-64.
What constitutes a " settled " pastor. The Four Apostles. Supplies enumerated.
·
first who staid for a term of years, has induced. the common notion that he was the first settled pastor of the church. Per- haps Brn. Barrett, Moore, and Adlam ought only to be called itinerant pastors, as none of them served the church more than a year. It is difficult, however, to insist upon such a distinction merely on the ground of time, where none of the . pastorates have been quite four years in duration. The char- acter of the relation which each of these ministers here sus- tained to the church should be determined by the design and understanding with which he undertook it, and not by the time he staid. The taking of a residence in response to a call is sufficient to constitute a minister a " settled " pastor, and by this rule it is evident that the predecessors of Bro. Curtis, as also Brn. Gear and Kimball (both of whose terms were very brief ), were as truly pastors as any of the rest.
The intimate connection of Brn. WILLIAMS, LINCOLN, KEN- DALL, and EVANS with the early history of this church, and the nature of their work here prior to the pastorate of Elder Barrett, entitles them to be called the four apostles.
As special supplies, meaning those who either received a call to the ministry here, or came statedly to preach for a longer or shorter time, thirty-one at least may be named, - GIBSON, BIRD, HOWARD, BENSON, JUDSON, BILLSON, THOMAS FORD, STANWOOD, ELIOT, TRACY, EWER, the HAGUES, CLEA- LAND, PEAK, MERRILL, DRIVER, COLEY, PEASE, CARPENTER, THOMAS, MARCHANT, DUNBAR, WILCOX, MILLER, EATON, OLM- STED, HOWELL, MASON, DEXTER, and CARR.
The occasional supplies I cannot undertake to enumerate. They have been a large proportion of the whole. Counting together all the preachers of every description who have addressed this people within the last half-century, we should make up a troop indeed. It is the testimony of Mr. Samuel Blackman's children, that more than a hundred different ones enjoyed the hospitalities of the " old Baptist tavern " during the first eight or ten years of the church's history. Let us hope to harvest some of the seed which these many servants of God scattered here !
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1
81
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
1864.]
List of Deacons.
List of Clerks.
Ministers licensed and ordained.
There have been six deacons, *- Jason Houghton, Ezra Til- den, Friend Crane, Ezekiel Capen, George Lothrop, and Wil- lard Shepard. Their terms of office, expressed in round num- bers, have been as follows, - the first, twenty-five years ; the second, sixteen years; the third, nine years ; the fourth, twenty-four years; the fifth, three years; and . the sixth, eighteen years. The dates of their elections and resignations are given on pages 18, 46, 58, 61, 62.
There have been seven clerks, - Friend Crane, the first, who served from July 1, 1814, to April, 1827,(48, 49) and again from May, 1830, till March, 1837,(102) and still again from Sep- tember, 1839, to June, 1840,(116) in all about twenty-one years; Moses Curtis, the fourth pastor, second, who served from April, 1827, to . May, 1830,(67) three years ; Asaph Merriam, the sixth pastor, third, who served from March, 1837, to Sep- tember, 1839,(112) nearly three years; Aaron Tucker, fourth, who served a year and three months, from June, 1840, to Sep- tember, 1841 ; (125) Ezekiel Capen, fifth, who served from September, 1841, to April, 1847,(150) and again from Novem- ber, 1848, to April, 1864,(232) in all about twenty-one years ; T. C. Tingley, the tenth pastor, sixth, who served through the interval of Deacon Capen's retirement from the office, about two years ; (167) and Theron Brown, the fourteenth pastor, seventh, who took charge of the records on the second resignation of Deacon Capen, in April, 1864.
. The church has licensed three ministers, - FRANCIS MASON, CHARLES JOHNSON, and JOSEPH HODGES; and ordained three, - MOSES CURTIS, HIRAM GEAR, and DAVID B. FORD.
The whole number baptized into the fellowship of the church, during the fifty years of its life, seems to have been two hundred and twenty-four; + received by letter, seventy- nine; making, with seven restored and five re-received after
* After the resignation of Dea. Capen, April 7, 1864 (unaccepted by the church), Bro. George Coombs was elected a third deacon, but finally declined to serve. Dea. Capen still holds his office by request, and properly there has been no seventh deacon. t See Appendix, p. 11.
11
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CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
[1835 -- 6.
Statistics of Loss and Gain.
Dismissions.
dismission, the total of additions three hundred and fifteen. Forty-one have been expelled,* considerably less than one a year. Only five of these exclusions were for immorality, and, allowing the seven restorations, the number is reduced to thirty-four. Ten have been dropped, fifty-three have died in the communion, and one hundred and forty-seven have been dismissed; making, with two crossed out in the roll, unac- counted for, the total of subtractions two hundred and fifty- three.
Of the dismissionst from this church, 12 were to Boston : 1 to the Union Baptist Church in that city ; 3 to the Harvard- street Church; 2 to the Third Baptist, or Charles-street Church ; 1 to a Methodist Church ; 3 to South Boston; and 2 to other parts of the city not specified. To New-York City, 5 : 2 to the Tabernacle Baptist Church; 1 to Amity-street Church; 1 to the Oliver-street Church; and 1 to the new church at Williams's Bridge. To Rhode Island only 3; and to the State of Maine, S. To New Hampshire, 2 have been dis- missed; 4 to New Jersey ; 3 to Pennsylvania; 2 to Con- necticut; 1 to Iowa; and 2 to New Brunswick. To churches in Massachusetts, exclusive of Boston, there have been dis- missed 101: 2 to the Unitarian Church at Canton Corner ; 2 to Stoughton ; 5 to East Dedham; 2 to South Dedham ; 5 to Sharon; 4 to Foxboro'; 7 to Dorchester; 3 to Sheldonville (Wrentham) ; 6 to Wrentham town; 8 to Randolph; 4 to Mid- : dleboro'; 1 to Taunton; 1 to Neponset ; 7 to Roxbury ; 1 to Hingham; 1 to Hanover; 1 to Marshfield; 2 to Medfield; 2 to East Cambridge ; 2 to Mansfield ; 1 to Attleboro'; 1 to Stur- bridge; 1 to Ware; 1 to Medford; 1 to Brewster; 2 to Becket; 6 to Lowell; 1 to Salisbury and Amesbury; 1 to East Medway; 4 to Athol; 1 to Braintree; 1 to Winthrop; 2 to Warren; # 1 to Holden; 1 to Winchester; 1 to Pittsfield ; 1 to Woburn; 2 to Fall River; 2 to Worcester ; 2 to South
* Under expulsions, I include all names recorded as " erased."
t I include under dismissions, certificates of character and standing. I believe there are but five or six cases of that description.
# Worcester County.
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CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
1834-5.]
Dismissions.
Present number. Councils.
Hanson ; and 2 to Charlestown. Four of the dismissions are without designation. The number at present in the com- munion is ninety-seven .*
It may be added that the church has participated in eighteen councils : in Canton, on the 22d of June, 1814, at its own con- stitution ; in Sharon, June, 1818, to ordain Samuel Waitt, by delegates Jason Houghton, Ezra Tilden, and Friend Crane (21); in North Randolph, October, 1819, to constitute the Baptist Church there, by delegate Jason Houghton (25); in Cunton, Aug. 29, 1827, to ordain Moses Curtis(51); in Canton, April 11, 1832, to ordain Hiram Gear (82); in East Randolph, May 10, 1836, to constitute a church there, by delegates Rev. Burlingame, Friend Crane, and Ralph H. Crane (100); in Sharon, May, 1837, to ordain George N. Waitt, by delegates Benjamin Gill and Pastor Merriam (103); in Needham, September, 1837, to constitute the Baptist Church there, by delegates Jason Houghton and Pastor Merriam (106); in Boston, Sept. 20, 1839, to depose Charles O. Kimball, by delegates E. Capen and (?) Friend Crane (113); in Roxbury, Feb. 23, 1848, to divide the Boston Association, by delegates Willard Shepard, William Pettengill, E. Capen, and Pastor Tingley(158); in North Randolph, June 8, 1848, to ordain R. W. E. Brown, by delegates Benja- min Gill, James White, and Pastor Tingley (165); in Canton, Sept. 25, 1851, to ordain David B. Ford, by delegates E. Capen, W. Shepard, and A. E. Tucker (178); in Mansfield, Sept. 29, 1852,¡ to ordain Welcome Lewis, by delegates W. Shepard, George Wiswall, and Pastor Ford (186); in Boston, May 24, 1854, to advise on the erection of a Seaman's Chapel, by delegates W. Shepard and E. Capen (193); in East Dedham, April 20, 1857, to advise for an aggrieved member, by dele- gates A. E. Tucker and Pastor Russell (204); in South Brain- tree, July, 1858, to advise on dividing the Baptist Church there, by delegates A. E. Tucker and Pastor Hervey (212); (212); in
* Dec. 31, 1864.
t Records have " North Bridgewater" erased, and "Mansfield " written over on page 185, and on page 186 " Mansfield " erased, and " North Bridgewater" written over. Report of Bap. Mass. Convention, 1852, has " Mansfield, September 30."
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CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
Councils.
The End.
Reflections.
South Dedham, Nov. 3, 1858, to constitute the Baptist Church there, by delegates A. E. Tucker and William Cobbet (214); and in East Stoughton, Jan. 8, 1861, to examine charges against a member, by delegates E. Capen and Pastor Hervey.
Thus we come to the end - and yet not the end; for, with immortal beings like ourselves, there is always something after the end.
Throughout this recital, we have been in communication with the spirits of the fathers, and they have told us how they built, and how we must build,-how patiently as well as how speedily, how cautiously as well as how much.
We are to take up the history of this church where they left it, and add our chapter to the half century that has already been lived and written. Their example can teach us much . that we shall then have no need to learn by bitter experience; and if we take care not to undermine the foundation they laid here, or undo a single advantage that they gained in the long term of their toil, the chances are that fifty years from now, this church will stand like Lebanon, waving fresh and broad and high with the fruits of the first " handful of corn."
· If this brief study of our past history here, to-day, shall ' serve to spur us every one to add something noble ourselves to those early efforts which the Lord blessed, and each con- tribute some new joy to the happiness of that centennial jubilee, this Memorial Sermon will not have been written in vain. By it, the faithful appeals of every pastor who has honored the ministry among you are called to remembrance, and listened to once more. Let them not be soon forgotten. And here we should kindly remember that the labors of these good men are not to be judged solely by the marked revivals which attended them. In the history of a church, revivals are, to be sure, prima facie evidence of the divine blessing : but they are not, as we have seen, necessarily proof of the
85
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
Concluding Reflections.
highest spiritual health and strength. Estimated by these, our own church, which has enjoyed, on an average, but about one in every ten years of her existence, could be said to have been but five or six times in a condition of prosperity during her fifty years, which is short of the truth. Excepting the mournful relapse between 1842 and 1851, conversions and additions by baptism have continued at intervals of rarely more than a year, and never more than two years. A steady glow of life and love is better than periodical fervor and power. The latter is the strength of Samson ; the former is the strength of Christ. For His strength let us pray ; to at- tain that, let us gather wisdom from the counsels and toils of our departed saints.
So it may happen to us as it did to the church in Babylon, when the old records of the kingdom were reviewed, and they set about building the Holy City ; for it is written that they " builded and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo ; and they builded and finished it according to the commandment of the God of Israel."
Our church has had its Haggais and Zechariahs, and pros- pered through their prophesying. May it build and prosper through the prophesying of its present pastor! " Let the foundations be strongly laid . . . with three rows of great stones and a row of new timber; and let the expenses be given out of the King's house."
.
RID LÊN
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CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
MEMORIAL VERSES.
THE VALLEY CHURCHI. -
By the green feet of bold Blue Hill, Neponset's vagrant river flows ; And on his meadowy margin still The ancient blossoms ope and close. The lakelets whence his waters rose Dimple the distant landscape yet, And, leaping as of old, to fill His billowy bosom where they met. Down from the Sharon uplands sweet, And east through Ponkapog ravine, O'er the same beds of mossy green, And sparkling with their wonted gleams, Fall Massapoag and Pekameet, His children with their tribute-streams.
Unchanged for picturesque repose (By eye of bird remotely scanned), The winding of the waters shows, And likeness of the swelling land. Unchanged as these in faith and will, A Christian tribe that vale have trod, Through fifty years of good and ill, A humble, hated church of God. Still clear in ancient breadth and length, Their healthful doctrines flow and run ; And round, like living hills of strength, Stand the old truths whose war they won : While as each season comes and goes, . And months of cheer succeed to chill,
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CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
87
Memorial Verses.
Blooms haply now the gospel rose, And lilies fleek the fields they till. Unchanged. The stealthy wand of time Hath spared the salient shapes of prime ; But finer tokens under those
To closer gaze proclaim the new, That 'scapes the stranger's hasty view. O'er lake-fed river, brook, and rill,
· By roeks the Indian fisher chose, The bridge its useful level throws, And busy hums the laboring mill. The forest, cleft with axe and bill, Lets through apace the screaming car By olden farm and domicil, And hamlet up the valley far, Where later work of wealth and skill Hath stocked the fathers' rude domain With marts of trade and shrines of gain.
So, borne by viewless social force, The holders of a changeless creed, Through fifty summers' gliding course, Have tracked the changing ways of need.
-
So, in the turns of death and life That shift the generations, they Have changed the leaders of their strife, And laid the heroic sires away.
The moss-grown dome, where first they met By the old road, is standing yet ; And near the landmark-mountain high, The small brown schoolhouse, where in days Of struggling hope they sung God's praise, Waits while the years of time go by ; And southward, on the central grounds, Their first plain temple's modest walls Record the holy sights and sounds Of Zion's early festivals.
£
88
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
Memorial Verses.
But in yon graveyard's grassy breast, The balsam and the tufted larch Sigh o'er the saints who paused to rest Beneath them in their earthly march ; And farther south, where field and stream Show thick with forge and village-home, The white church, manse, and chapel gleam, And there to-day their children come.
Farewell, good pilgrims ! Though the sneer Of pride condemned your doctrines here, In proofs your foes survive to give, Your labors and your witness live.
Ye had your trials and complaints, Your fight with olden errors taught, When scoffers, with the name of saints, Would frown you from the rights ye bought : Ye had your sad Egyptian days, Your midnight sea, your desert maze, Till He whose grace our patience fills Conveyed you to his heavenly hills.
We look for triumph through your pain And ours, who yet the fight maintain, Where Midian with his guileful band Detains us from the promised land.
Church of the valley ! ne'er forget Thy first espousals ! Lo ! the seal Thy Saviour on thy forehead set, That bridal morning - sacred yet - Assures thy heart with mute appeal The utmost love a God can feel. That pledge remember, and the hour Of happy faith and holy pride, When thou in weakness, He in power, Walked first this garden side by side.
.
£
89
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
Memorial Verses.
What matter though thy story fail Of large event and action rare ? The limits of a village tale Are large enough with JESUS there. And somewhat thou hast known of Him, Through all thy weak and erring years, To stay thee yet when love is dim, To light thy way when lost in tears.
Grow wise by thought of follies past ; Grow strong by hope of better things ; But make thy Lord thy first and last, And seek the shadow of his wings.
O, long as glide those wand'ring waves By bold Blue Mountain's verdant feet, And oft as smiling spring-time paves Those mossy meads with blossoms sweet, So long, O child of fifty springs, Thy life, though devious, fruitful flow ; So oft thy garden and thy king's, Church of the valley, bud and blow !
12
APPENDIX.
$
CREED AND COVENANT.
THE Canton Church cannot be said to have changed her creed, but she has altered her expression of it twice. The original Declaration of Faith appears to have been used until 1843, when, on the 5th of March, another, slightly differing in phraseology, but the same in sentiment and doctrine, was adopted from the Sharon Church (Ch. Rec. p. 138). This creed was retained a little more than ten years, after which the following more perfect form, with the accompanying covenant from the "Hand-Book " of Rev. Dr. Crowell, was adopted, and is now the accepted Declaration of Faith, of this, as of many other Baptist Churches in New England.
ARTICLES OF CHRISTIAN BELIEF.
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