USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > Celebration of the 275th anniversary of the First Church of Christ : Lynn, Massachusetts, Sunday, June ninth nineteen hundred seven > Part 8
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Address -Rev. Washington Gladden, D.D.
but the great first central truth that He lived and died to re- veal to us - the truth concerning the Kingdom of Heaven which He came to establish in this world - this we have never believed; we have hardly begun to take it in. Gen- eration after generation He has been standing in the mar- ket place, in the forum, in shop and mine and factory, calling unto men and saying: "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me: let me teach you how to manage your business, how to organize your industrial life, and your civil life and your social life; how to live together as neigh- bors, and workers and fellow-citizens: this is the one thing needful: this is what I came to do - to establish, here in the world, the Kingdom of Heaven; and I can do this; be- lieve in me, trust me, try my way; it will give you comfort and prosperity and peace!" and generation after genera- tion the church that calls itself by His name has turned away murmuring, "Visionary! Impracticable! It would never work!" And when His voice has sometimes been raised, imploring us to listen to Him and learn of Him, we have grown a little impatient of our Lord, I fear, and have found ourselves wishing that He would not meddle with matters with which He is not familiar; that He would have less to say about setting up the kingdom in this world, and would content Himself with preaching to us the good old gospel which does n't mind much about this world but shows us how to get safely away from it to another and a better world.
Is not this, practically, the attitude which the Christian Church has been holding, in your day and mine, toward Him who claims to be Lord of all life and Ruler of all the
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Kingdoms of this world? Is it true to say that those who maintain this attitude toward Him really believe in Him? As Redeemer and Saviour of the individual soul millions have believed in Him, and have found peace in believing. But how have they belittled His mission when they have refused to recognize Him as the Founder in the world of a kingdom of righteousness and peace!
" Whom say ye that I am?"was the searching question which He put to His disciples. Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." The Christ, the King, that was Peter's great answer - " Blessed art thou, Simon, son of John," was the Lord's reply, "for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in heaven." That great insight of Peter is precisely what the church of these generations has failed to gain. Failing in that, its vision is dim and its hold upon life is feeble. You may believe whatever else you will about Jesus Christ but if you doubt that He is able to rule this present world by His law of love, you have done Him grievous dishonor. It is the entertain- ment of this doubt which has brought upon the church of these generations feebleness and shame.
The church of the future will, I trust, believe in Jesus Christ. It will be ready to accept Him not merely as Mediator and Reconciler between God and man but as Captain and King of men. It will understand that His main business with us is not to show us how to get safely out of this world into another, but how to live in this world. It will believe that His way of living is the right and reason- able way, the pleasant way, the prosperous way. It will
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believe that the Golden Rule is practicable every day and everywhere. It will believe that when we all try to help one another there will be more for all than when we are all trying to get the best of one another.
There have been signs, of late, that the church might be able, some day, to take Jesus at His word. That great faith of Malthus and Jowett in the beneficence of selfish- ness which most of us have shared, has been rather rudely shaken by recent disclosures. We are not nearly so sure as once we were that the maxim "Every man for himself " makes a straight path to Paradise. And that little book of Mr. Sheldon's, that simple little book, which really pro- posed to take Jesus seriously - the way the world held that book in its hands and pondered it, was reassuring. It looks as though there were a good many poeple, outside the church, who were almost persuaded to believe in Jesus. And I cannot doubt that the time is coming - I hope it is not far away - when the church itself will be filled with the victorious energy of that all-conquering faith. It will be a great day for the church and for the world when the church heartily begins to believe in Jesus Christ.
What the other articles of the creed of the future church may be I am not much concerned to know. When it has once accepted Christ as the Lord of its life, He will guide it into all truth. I doubt if we could clearly outline the forms of its confession. Such a change in its life as would be wrought by the full recognition of this central truth of Christianity, would appear in its intellectual attitude; some dogmas that now loom large might retire into the background; some that we now speak lightly would gain
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new emphasis. It will be a creed about which it will not be necessary to argue: the truth as it is in Jesus does not lean on logic, it shines by its own light.
2. Some might be curious to inquire what forms of worship the church of the future will employ. They would like to know whether it will have a ritual; whether it will resort to the use of elaborate ceremonials, or whether its services will be plain and simple like those of the Friends or the old Puritan.
I think that there is likely to be a great variety in forms of worship in the church of the future - far less of uni- formity than at present. I am sure that there will be less disposition to insist on forms - or on the absence of forms; on rites or on the condemnation of rites. The Spirit will be allowed to find its own natural and appropriate expres- sion. Each group of worshippers will be allowed to wor- ship God according not only to the dictates of their own consciences, but according to their own æsthetic preferences. The attempt to tie whole denominations down to one way of uttering their religious feelings will, by and by, be found inexpedient. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty - of thought and expression.
The one sure thing is that worship will be a central and essential element in its life. What Mr. Pike has said about the church of the present will be no less true of the church of the future: "One very important, perhaps the most important function of the church is to give both opportunity and incentive to congregate worship, intensi- fying the individual's spiritual aspiration and influences by the reciprocal action of the multitude upon him, and
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thus furnish at once the fountain and the channel for power and inspiration which go forth in a thousand rills to water the desert places of humanity till they blossom as the rose."
It will never be any more possible to neglect this than it will be possible for men who wish to be strong for work to neglect to supply themselves with nourishing food and pure air. Social worship has always been the source of the church's strength and always will be: when that is neglected, the church's energies fail. The church of the future is as sure to be a worshipping church as the man of the future is sure to be an eating and breathing man. That it will be a working church we may indeed confident- ly hope; but it will be not less a praying church; its worship will inspire its work, and its work will lend significance to its worship. The church will be busy bringing heaven down to earth, and therefore it will have need to be fa- miliar with the ways that lead to heaven. Those who say that work is worship are wise if they mean that worship is worthless that does not end in work, but they are not wise if they mean that the worker has no need to worship.
3. Respecting the organization and government of the future church some of us might wish we knew. There will be, let us trust, increasing co-operation in all the greater things of the kingdom, and, for this purpose, in- creasing unity; but this co-operation in large interests will be combined with much flexibility of methods. The local congregations will be allowed to work out their life in their own way. Home rule, for the local churches, will be the prevailing principle. It will prevail, because it
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is the democratic principle, and because, as Dr. Munger says, if the church and the nation are to move on together, the fundamental principle of each must be the same. In a monarchical or aristocratic government, a monarchical or aristocratic form of church organization might prevail; but in a democratic state the church will take on more and more of the forms of a democracy. "The nation cannot say one thing and the church another. The dominant spirit of the greater will silently find its way to the whole, and a free nation will create a free church, by however many names it may be called." The nervous fear lest we may lose our liberty does not seem to me a rational fear. It is the last thing we are likely to lose.
As for the independence that means isolation and a heartless individualism, we have had, already, more than enough of this, and the church of the future will get rid of this, and substitute for it a far larger measure of co-opera- tion than we Congregationalists have ever known. We are not going to surrender our democracy, but we are going to learn how to make our democracy spell efficiency, both in church and in state.
As I write these words there lies upon my table an Eng- lish Congregational newspaper in which I read this con- fession :
"In our love of liberty we have largely lost the liberty of love. We have made a vice of our chief virtue. We have narrowed our fellowship to the 'two or three' as though Christ had only two or three. The catholicity, the comprehensiveness of the communion of the saints, we have allowed our Congregationalism to cripple. The
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finest things in fellowship we have missed - the fuller fraternity, the bigger brotherhood, the larger life. In the evolution of Congregationalism there is a missing link. It is precisely the link that is missing. We have made a fetish of our freedom. We have forgotten that our faith means federation. We have forgotten that salvation means brotherhood. We have insisted on the apotheosis of the individual church. We have stopped short of co- operation."
I am quite of the opinion of this English Congregation- alist, that we are not going to stop any longer at that halt- ing place. We shall realize our brotherhood. To some of us the proposed union of the three denominations has been welcome because of the promise which it gives us of escape from our barren independence into that larger measure of interdependence and co-operation which the Spirit of Christ always inspires. And I am perfectly sure that the churches now known as Congregational will realize this larger life in the future, no matter by what name they may be called. And when that purpose dominates their life they will find it easy to make good their claim to be the solvent of sectarianism, and the leader of the churches in the ways of Christian unity.
4. Most serious of all the questions which we can ask respecting the church of the future is the question of the place that it shall occupy and the function that it shall fulfill in the social order. In the steadily unfolding life of the world in which we live what part will be taken by the church?
This question has been answered, already for substance,
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in what I have said about the faith of the church in Christ as King. A church which believes in Christ as the Lord, and Ruler of all our life in this world, will be seeking, al- ways, to bring all the kingdoms of life under His law. And for a church which really believes in Jesus Christ this will not be a difficult thing to do. For when the church be- lieves in Him, and lives, itself, by His law, the rest of the world cannot for long help believing in Him, too. A church which took Jesus at His word, which accepted, in good faith, His law of love as the rule of its life; a church whose members illustrated Christianity in all their daily conduct, would furnish a demonstration of the truth of Christianity before which skepticism would be silent and opposition powerless. It would be so plain that the way of Jesus is the right way to live together that everybody would soon be ashamed of trying to live in any other way.
The conditions of life in such a society as that would be very different from those with which we have now to deal. Life would be simpler, saner, quieter; the collisions, the frictions, the irritations that now wear away our strength and spoil our peace would be absent; when everybody was seeking not his own advantage supremely but was con- sidering also the welfare and happiness of the rest, the noises of strife and confusion would cease. War would be forever done away - political war, industrial war; men who have learned to live by the Golden Rule have no reason for fighting.
And, of course, all those glaring contrasts of condition which are now so painful would exist no longer. There would be no plutocrats, and no paupers. No man who
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has learned of Jesus Christ what life means would ever dream of piling millions on millions to satisfy the mere lust of gain, and the society which was pervaded by the mind of Christ would be a society in which ambitions of that sort would smother, for lack of the sordid atmosphere in which alone they live. Nor would there exist in such a society the oppressions by which multitudes are trampled down and disabled in the mad rush for gain. Such mil- lionism as we now glory in, at one end of the social scale, means and must always mean misery at the other end. The society which is ruled by the Christian law will put an end to such injustices by subduing, in the heart of man, the greed from which they grow.
It need not be imagined that in such a society there would be no differences of power or possession; no diversi- ties of gifts or fortunes. The strong and the weak, the rich and the poor, the happy and the sorrowful, would be mingled together; but there would be no chasm between classes; sympathy and help would flow from those in power to those in need; love would find in want and suffer- ing its largest opportunity.
We are taking a long look ahead. We are feasting our eyes upon the vision of what shall be when the church shall have borne its full witness to the truth as it is in Jesus, and won the world to His allegiance. But it may be well to cast our eyes for a moment upon a future less remote and less beatified; upon the scenes in which the church, by its faithful witnessing, is fighting the good fight of faith and winning this victory. None of us will ever see the full glory of the city that is even now coming down
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from heaven to earth; but many who are listening to me may live to behold the Christian Church rising to a clearer understanding of its mission, and grasping the great sig- nificance of that living faith in Christ of which we have been speaking. It must be that that apocalypse is nigh, even at the doors. It must be that the time is at hand when in this new revelation of His presence and His power our Lord will appear. When His disciples once get it clearly into their minds what it means to believe in Him, we shall see some wonderful things taking place among the churches. The social stratifications which now exist among them will begin to disappear as icebergs disappear in a tropical sea. The church which has attained unto that kind of faith will resolve to be a genuine democracy. The rich and the poor, the cultured and the simple, the high and the lowly will find their home in it, owning one Master, and learning of Him how to dwell together in unity. All ostentation and parade of wealth will disappear from such churches, because they will have first disap- peared from the lives of the members of these churches. It is impossible that the people who have come to think that Jesus' way of living is the true way should indulge in any such extravagances of living as those which glare and brawl about us in this age of gilt : and it is equally impos- sible that they should wish to worship in churches where luxury and splendor dazzle all the senses.
I think that the day is drawing near when the churches which are accounted as strong churches will not be those in which the worshippers lavish tens of thousands of dol- lars annually on art or oratory or music for their own de-
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Address - Rev. Washington Gladden, D.D.
lectation, and in which no man stands any chance to be chosen an officer unless he can boast a big bank account or a high social position, but rather those in which such social distinctions are abolished, and a genuine Christly love gathers together men of differing ranks and orders and welds them into a true brotherhood.
I think that many of you will live to see scores and hund- reds of such democratic churches, in all our great cities; churches whose edifices are inexpensive, but beautiful; churches that shun the gilt-edged neighborhoods and seek the districts, never far away, where the common people live; yet churches to which thousands of the well-to-do resort, because they prefer their simplicity to the splendor of the costly temples on the avenues, and because the hearty fellowship of common men is more welcome to them than the devout snobbery of the Mammon worshippers; churches which identify themselves in manifold ways with the neighborhoods in which they stand and reach out thou- sands of hands with greeting and good cheer and friend- ship to all sorts and conditions of men whose homes lie round about. I think that we shall have churches, one of these days, a good many of them, which are strong, finan- cially, and, in the best sense, socially, because their mem- bership includes men and women of means and of brains, as well as multitudes of men and women who belong to the chivalry of labor; in which Jesus Christ, if He were here, or any other working carpenter, would feel at home; in which the social conditions would be such as He could cordially approve; in which He would see that His own law of brotherhood was finding fit and proper expression.
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We are going to have such churches and they will be our strong churches, our influential churches, our leading churches. There will be no question about the place they hold in the social order. They will be the light of the world: out of their windows the beams shall shine that bring comfort and blessing to many. They will be the salt of the earth; their saving health will keep society sweet and sound; they will be the social leaven whose noiseless influence shall spread from life to life until the whole is leavened.
I give you joy, beloved, that you, in this ancient church, are planted where you can realize this ideal upon which I have been asking you to look. You are here, in the midst of the common people; you have them with you: yours is a church in which the rich and the poor already meet to- gether owning the Lord who is the Maker of them all. For all of you, for the rich not less than the poor, this is an occasion of profound thanksgiving. You have only to seize and use your opportunity. You can make this church such a power in this community as it has never been. Whether it stands for the new theology or not is not just now the burning question; make it stand for the new Christianity! No church has a better field or a louder call to lead in the new faith in Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world. If you will heed this call and accept this task, you will do for Christ and your country in the last quarter of your third century a greater work than has been done in all the fruitful years on which you look back to- night with thanks and praise.
APPENDIX
MINISTERS.
STEPHEN BACHILER, (St. John, Oxf.). Dismissed by the Court of Assist- (Organized Church) June S, 1632. ants Jan., 1636. Died at Hack- ney. Eng., 1660.
SAMUEL WHITING, D.D., (Emmanuel, Cambridge). Installed Nov. S, 1636.
Died Dec. 11, 1679
THOMAS COBBET, Colleague, (Oxf.). Installed July, 1637.
Dismissed 1656 Died Nov. 5, 1685
JEREMIAH SHEPARD, (Harvard). Ordained Oct. 6, 1680. Died June 2, 1720
JOSEPH WHITING, Colleague, (Harv.). ( Dismissed July, 1682 Ordained Oct. 6, 1680.
Died April 7, 1723
NATHANIEL HENCHMAN, (Harvard). Ordained Dec. 17, 1720. Died Dec. 23, 1761
*JOHN TREADWELL, (Harvard). Ordained March 2, 1763.
Dismissed Mar., 1782
Died Jan. 5, 1811
Dismissed July 16, 1792
OBADIAH PARSONS, (Harvard). Installed Feb. 4, 1784.
Died Dec. 1801
THOMAS CUSHING THACHER, (Harv.). Ordained Aug. 13, 1794.
Dismissed Feb. 3, 1813
Died Sept. 24, 1849
ISAAC HURD, (Harvard S.T.D., Dart.). ( Ordained Sept. 15, 1813.
Dismissed May 22, 1816 Died Oct. 4, 1856
OTIS ROCKWOOD, (Middlebury). Ordained July 1, 1818. Died Dec. 30, 1861 S Dismissed April 22, 1835
DAVID PEABODY, (Dartmouth). Ordained Nov. 15, 1832.
Died Oct. 15, 1839
PARSONS COOKE, D.D., (Williams). Installed May 4, 1836.
Died Feb. 12, 1864
GEORGE ESDRAS ALLEN, (Brown Univ.).
Associate Pastor,
From Jan., 1863.
To Jan., 1864
Died Feb. 19, 1896
*On his dismissal by the Council he retired from the ministry and became judge of the Court of Common Pleas which corresponds to the present Superior Court.
§ Dismissed May 23, 1832
146
Ministers
JAMES MORRIS WHITON, Ph.D., (Yale).
Ordained May 10, 1865. Dismissed Apr. 13, 1869
*JOSEPH COOK, LL.D., Acting Pastor, (Harvard). From May 1, 1870.
To May 1, 1871 Died June 25, 1901
JAMES ROMEYN DANFORTH, D.D., Acting Pastor, (Beloit).
From April, 1872. To Sept., 1872
STEPHEN ROLLINS DENNEN, D.D., (Col- Dismissed Mar. 29, 1875
Installed Nov. 13, 1872. Died Jan. 18, 1898
WALTER BARTON, (Amherst) . Dismissed Feb. 19, 1884
Installed Feb. 24, 1876. Died March 29, 1896
FRANK JARVIS MUNDY, (Rutgers). Installed Dec. 4, 1884. Dismissed Apr. 2, 1889
JAMES BLAIR DUNN, D.D., Acting Pastor, (Hamilton.) Resigned July 24, 1892 From Sept. 1, 1889. Died March 19, 1906
JOHN OLAF HAARVIG, (University of Berlin, ) Germany.
Installed Oct. 24, 1893. Dismissed May 28, 1895
WILLIAM CROSS MERRILL, Acting Pastor,
(Amherst). From Mar. 22, 1896. Resigned Nov. 23, 1902
GEORGE WILLIAM OWEN, (Hamilton). Ordained July 1, 1903.
Ordination also includes installation over this Church.
Dismissals were made by ecclesiastic councils which may have been initiated by either the Minister or the Church, but resignation applies only to those not installed. The services of some acting pastors were engaged for a definite period, and the relation terminated without further action by either party.
*Originally Flavius Josephus Cook.
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Deacons
DEACONS.
*JOHN BALLARD. 1698. Died June 11, 1725
*THOMAS LAUGHTON, JR. 1699.
Died Dec. 19, 1713
*THOMAS BURRAGE. 1713. Died Mar. 11, 1717
*DANIEL MANSFIELD. 1721. Died June 11, 1728
*RICHARD JOHNSON. 1730. Died Sept. 22, 1754
JOHN BURRAGE. Chosen 1739.
Died May 15, 1761
*JOSEPH HAVEN. 1742. * JOHN LEWIS. 1756.
Died Mar. 14, 1749 Will probated Oct. 5, 1778 Administration granted
JOSEPH GRAY. Chosen Nov. 22, 1763.
Dec. 9, 1784.
JOHN BURRAGE. Chosen Apr. 23, 1771.
Died June 28, 1780
Withdrew 1792
THEOPHILUS HALLOWELL. Chosen July 14, 1780.
Died Sept. 28, 1833
Captain WILLIAM FARRINGTON. Chosen Aug. 6, 1780.
Withdrew 1792 Died Nov. 1, 1808
NATHANIEL SARGENT. Chosen Apr. 1, 1795.
Died Sept. 23, 179S
JESSE RHODES.
Chosen Apr. 1, 1795.
Died Jan. 3, 1821
*These persons were in office of Deacon at the time indicated, but the dates of their election are unknown.
148
Deacons
Colonel JOHN BURRILL.
Chosen Nov. 26, 1818.
EMERY MOULTON.
Chosen Apr. 19, 1821.
GEORGE MARTIN.
Chosen Oct. 5, 1827.
Died Dec. 2, 1826 S Suspended Mar. 31, 1834 Died June 13, 1850
Died Dec. 17, 1868
RICHARD TUFTS. Chosen Apr. 21, 1834.
Died Feb. 29, 1880
JOSEPH W. ABBOTT.
Chosen May 8, 1866.
Resigned Jan. 12, 1881
THOMAS F. BANCROFT.
Chosen Dec. 29, 1868.
Died Aug. 26, 1871
BENJAMIN F. MOORE.
Chosen Dec. 29, 1868.
Withdrew Apr. 22, 1869
JOSEPH E. F. MARSH. S Resigned Oct. 4, 1878 Chosen Jan. 20, 1874. Died Oct. 26, 1904
BENJAMIN N. MOORE.
Chosen Mar. 23, 1877
Resigned Oct. 29, 1877
FRANKLIN BACHELLER. Resigned Jan. 12, 1881 Chosen Nov. 9, 1877. Died Oct. 8, 1899
EDWARD A. WILLIAMS. Chosen Nov. 16, 1877. Resigned Jan. 12, 1881
Formerly Deacons were chosen for life. In 1881, the Church rules were changed so as to choose them for a term of years.
JOSEPH W. ABBOTT.
Chosen Jan. 12, 1881.
Died Apr. 13, 1890
CHARLES W. GORDON.
Chosen Jan. 12, 1881. Term exp. Dec. 31, 1884
JOSEPH F. ROGERS.
Chosen Dec. 27, 1881. Died Oct. 9, 1905
HENRY JOHNSON. Chosen Dec. 31, 1884. Died Dec. 28, 1892
JOSIAH STARR.
Chosen Jan. 1, 1889.
149
Deacons
RICHARD H. MANSFIELD.
Chosen Dec. 30, 1890.
GEORGE H. MARTIN.
Chosen Dec. 27, 1892.
MAXWELL W. DAY. Chosen Dec. 27, 1892.
Resigned Jan. 1, 1894
HENRY DUDMAN. Chosen Feb. 28, 1893.
HENRY M. WALDRAT.
Chosen Jan. 2, 1894.
Term exp. Dec. 31.1895
LEMUEL C. NORTON.
Chosen Jan. 3, 1896. JOHN J. MCKENZIE. Chosen Dec. 28, 1897.
HERBERT P. BOYNTON. Chosen Feb. 17, 1905.
FREEMAN H. NEWHALL. Chosen Feb. 17, 1905.
150
Church Clerks
CHURCH CLERKS.
The Pastor acted as Clerk of the Church until 1859, after which date some member of the Church has been chosen to the office.
Deacon RICHARD TUFTS served as Church Clerk from May 19, 1835, until April 19, 1836, during a vacancy in the pastor- ate.
FRANCIS P. BREED,
Jan. 24, 1859
JAMES E. PATCH,
Dec. 31, 1861
THOMAS F. BANCROFT,
Jan. 3, 1865
JOHN H. ALLEY,
Dec. 31, 1867
*JOHN D. HASKELL,
Dec. 29, 1868
JOHN F. PATTEN,
April 26, 1869
STEPHEN W. CLARK,
Jan. 2, 1872
H. HENRY FAIRBANKS,
Dec. 31, 1872
¡BENJ. N. MOORE,
March 16, 1877
ALLEN C. COBB,
March 23, 1877
Dec. 30, 1879
GUILFORD S. NEWHALL, JOHN E. MORSE,
Jan. 1, 1884
GUILFORD S. NEWHALL,
Feb. 25, 1890
Jan. 10, 1902
J. E. F. MARSH, Jr., GUILFORD S. NEWHALL,
Dec. 29, 1903
*Resigned April 22, 1869.
tResigned March 23, 1877.
151
Superintendents of Sunday School
SUPERINTENDENTS OF SUNDAY SCHOOL. (Founded 1817.)
AMOS BLANCHARD.
1817 (Died May 25, 1842)
EMERY MOULTON.
After 1818 and before 1831
WATERMAN.
Unknown*
SAMUEL LAMSON.
1831
RIPLEY P. ADAMS.
1832
GEORGE MARTIN.
1833
Dr. SILAS DURKEE. 1841
GEORGE MARTIN.
1842
GEORGE MARTIN
ELECTION BY THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 1855
RATIFICATION BY THE CHURCH
Dec. 31, 1855
BENJ. F. MOORE.
Jan. 3, 1859
Jan. 3, 1859
JOHN WALES
Dec. 30, 1861
Dec. 31, 1861
BENJ. F. MOORE
Dec.
1863
Jan. 13, 1864
JOHN WALES
Dec. 1864
Jan. 24, 1865
FRANKLIN BACHELLER.
Dec.
1865
Jan. 2, 1866
+BENJ. F. MOORE
Dec.
1868
Dec. 29, 1868
JOSEPH W. ABBOTT.
May
1869
Dec. 28, 1869
JOHN F. PATTEN.
Dec.
1871
Jan. 2, 1872
FRANCIS P. BREED.
Dec.
1872
Dec. 31, 1872
HENRY P. EMERSON.
Dec. 28, 1874
Dec. 29, 1874
JOHN W. DARCY.
Dec. 12, 1882
Jan. 2, 1883
GUILFORD S. NEWHALL
Dec. 4, 1883
Jan. 1, 1884
HENRY J. POTE.
Dec. 8. 1890
Dec. 30, 1890
JOHN J. MCKENZIE.
Dec. 19, 1893
Jan. 2, 1894
ALFRED H. CROWTHER
Dec. 28, 1897
Dec. 31, 1897
JOHN J. MCKENZIE.
Dec. 13, 1898
Dec. 27, 1898
ĮWILFRED BARNES.
Dec. 12, 1899
Jan. 12, 1900
LEMUEL C. NORTON.
Oct. 6, 1901
No action
JOSEPH L. OBEAR.
Dec. 10, 1901
Jan. 3, 1902
JOHN J. MCKENZIE.
Dec. 12, 1905
Jan. 2. 1906
The Sunday School records previous to 1875 cannot be found and the years when its Superintendents are believed to have been elected are obtained from other sources. The names before 1833 are not known to be complete.
The ratifications by the Church of such elections are taken from the Church records. *The only authority is contained in the appendix to the volume on the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary June 8. 1882. This name does not occur elsewhere, either in the Church or parish records, vital statistics, or in contemporaneous Lynn history, nor can the name be remembered by any of the older parishioners.
tResigned April 22, 1869. #Resigned Oct. 6, 1901.
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Parish Clerks
PARISH CLERKS.
The earliest book of Parish Records is inscribed March 5, 1721-22, the date of separation of town and parish.
Colonel THEOPHILUS BURRILL.
March 12, 1721-22
JOHN BRINTNALL.
March 22, 1730-31
Captain BENJAMIN POTTOR.
March 27, 1732
DANIEL MANSFIELD.
March 28, 1737
Captain WILLIAM COLLINS.
March 31, 1738
JOHN JENKS.
March 30, 1741
Captain WILLIAM COLLINS.
March 17, 1745-46
BENJAMIN GRAY.
March 26, 1760
Colonel JOHN MANSFIELD.
March 22, 1762
EPHRAIM BREED.
March 27, 1781
JAMES WILLIAMS.
April 7, 1791
Colonel FREDERICK BREED.
March 14, 1792
CHARLES J. BURRILL.
April 5, 1814
Colonel JOHN BURRILL.
April 10, 1815
HENRY A. BREED.
March 27, 1821
GEORGE MARTIN.
March 25, 1822
RICHARD HAZELTINE.
Feb. 3, 1823
AMOS BLANCHARD.
March 21, 1825
JESSE RHODES.
April 4, 1826
DANIEL N. BREED.
March 26, 1827
ANDREWS BREED.
April 17, 1832
AUGUSTUS HASKELL.
April 25, 1842
FRANCIS P. BREED.
April 28, 1857
THOMAS H. SWAZEY.
April 18, 1864
GEORGE H. CHADWELL.
April 17, 1865
THOMAS F. BANCROFT.
April 16, 1866
JAMES E. PATCH.
May 4, 1868
FRANCIS P. BREED.
April 19, 1869
HENRY P. EMERSON.
April 21, 1873
C. J. H. WOODBURY.
April 16, 1888
FREEMAN H. NEWHALL.
April 20, 1897
LOUIS M. SCHMIDT.
April 18, 1898
153
Parish Treasurers
PARISH TREASURERS.
The earliest book of Parish accounts is inscribed March 5, 1721-22, the date of separation of town and parish.
Colonel THEOPHILUS BURRILL.
March 12, 1721-22
JOHN BRINTNALL.
March 22, 1730-31
Captain BENJAMIN POTTOR.
March 27, 1732
DANIEL MANSFIELD.
March 28, 1737
Captain WILLIAM COLLINS.
March 31, 173S
JOHN JENKS.
March 30, 1741
Captain WILLIAM COLLINS.
March 17, 1745-46
EDMOND LEWIS.
March 24, 1755
BENJAMIN GRAY.
March 26, 1760
Colonel JOHN MANSFIELD.
March 22, 1762
EPHRAIM BREED.
March 27, 1781
JAMES WILLIAMS.
April 7, 1791
Colonel FREDERICK BREED.
March 14, 1792
ENOCH JOHNSON.
March 19, 1813
Dr. JAMES GARDNER.
April 5, 1814
RICHARD HAZELTINE.
March 27, 1821
Dr. JAMES GARDNER.
March 25, 1S22
AMARIAH CHILDS.
April 21, 1823
Dr. JAMES GARDNER.
April 26, 1824
DANIEL N. BREED.
March 26, 1827
ANDREWS BREED.
April 17, 1832
FRANCIS P. BREED.
May 4, 1868
BENJAMIN V. FRENCH.
April 21, 1873
GEORGE H. CHADWELL.
April 16, 1883
FREEMAN H. NEWHALL.
April 18. 1898
The Treasurer's accounts were kept in pounds. shillings and pence until Jan. 1. 1796.
OFFICERS-June 9, 1907.
Pastor - Rev. GEORGE WILLIAM OWEN
CHURCH OFFICERS
Deacons (in seniority of election) - JOSIAH STARR, RICHARD H. MANSFIELD, GEORGE H. MARTIN, HENRY DUDMAN, LEMUEL C. NORTON, JOHN J. MCKENZIE, HERBERT P. BOYNTON, FREEMAN H. NEWHALL
Clerk - GUILFORD S. NEWHALL
Treasurer - Miss ABBIE A. BUTMAN
Membership Committee - PASTOR, CLERK, DEACONS, Mrs. EUGENE A. NEWHALL, Mrs. BARCLAY L. SPURR, Mrs. ANNA M. TUTTLE Social Committee - Mrs. HERBERT M. HILL, Chairman Visiting Committee - Mrs. HENRY R. FRENCH, Chairman
PARISH OFFICERS
Clerk - LOUIS M. SCHMIDT
Treasurer - FREEMAN H. NEWHALL
Standing Committee and Assessors - HENRY R. FRENCH, Chair- man; HERBERT P. BOYNTON, J. ERNEST BURPEE, GEORGE H. CHADWELL, ROBERT ELDER, C. A. B. HALVORSON, Jr., CHARLES B. HAMILTON, HERBERT M. HILL, GUILFORD S. NEWHALL, HERBERT W. RICE, GEORGE A. WILSON, C. J. H. WOODBURY
SUNDAY SCHOOL
Superintendent - JOHN J. MCKENZIE
Assistant Superintendents - PHILIP EMERSON, JOSEPH L.
OBEAR, SAMUEL H. NEWHALL Secretary - WILLIAM B. GILCHRIST
Treasurer - WILLIAM B. MOORE
Librarian - CHARLES L. FINNEY
TWO HUNDRED SEVENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY COMMITTEE
Chairman, C. J. H. WOODBURY From the Church.
HERBERT P. BOYNTON PHILIP EMERSON
Clerk, HENRY R. FRENCH From the Parish HENRY R. FRENCH FREEMAN H. NEWHALL
Miss LEILA W. HOLDER
GUILFORD S. NEWHALL Rev. GEORGE W. OWEN
Miss CLARA M. STATON GEORGE A. WILSON
J. L. PENDLETON LOUIS M. SCHMIDT C. J. H. WOODBURY
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