USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Roxbury > Eliot memorial : sketches historical and biographical of the Eliot Church and Society > Part 3
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J. G. Bartholomew, D.D. July 19, 1860. Resigned, January 1, 1866. Adoniram J. Patterson, D.D. September, 1866. Resigned, June 1, 1888. Everett L. Rexford. June 1, 1888. Resigned, December 1, 1894. Frederick W. Hamilton. September 1, 1895.
I PASTORS.
Joseph Eliot. April 10, 1822. Resigned, June 24, 1824. William Leverett. January 20, 1825. Resigned, July, 1839. Thomas Ford Caldicott, D.D. June, 1840. Resigned, April 8, 1848. Thomas Davis Anderson, D.D. June, 1848. Resigned, October, 1861. Henry Melville King, D.D. April 12, 1863. Resigned, December 20, 1881. John Mahan English. March, 1882. Resigned, August 22, 1882. Albert Knight Potter, D.D. February, 1883. Resigned, September 13, 1886. Thomas Dixon, Jr. December 1, 1887. Resigned, April 16, 1889. Adolph S. Gumbart, D.D. January, 1890. Died, March 19, 1899. W. W. Bustard. January 18, 1900.
2 RECTORS.
Mark Anthony DeWolfe Howe. January 1, 1833. Resigned, January 1, 1847. John Wayland, D.D. January 1, 1847. Resigned, January 1, 1859. George Sherman Converse. June 1, 1859. Resigned, June 1, 1871. Percy Browne. January 1, 1872.
29
PRELIMINARIES AND ORGANIZATION.
Room, November 20, 1833, with others residing in Boston, for consultation and action having reference to a place of public worship for Congregationalists living here.' A reso- lution was unanimously adopted to purchase a lot of land and erect thereon a house for the purpose named. Meas- ures were at once taken to establish lectures by neighboring evangelical clergymen Sunday and Thursday evenings, and these were attended by a small yet constantly increasing number. The first service with preaching was held Decem- ber 29, 1833. Drs. N. Adams, L. Beecher, Blagden, Bur- gess, Codman, S. E. Dwight, Jenks and Winslow were prominent among those who encouraged the movement by personal ministration. The place of gathering was the upper hall of Spear's Academy, a stone building,2 next to which our permanent place of worship was afterwards built. The next May, at a meeting held in the Old South Chapel,
'SIRS : - You are invited to attend a meeting of gentlemen at the Cowper Committee Room on Wednesday evening, November 20th (this evening), at 7 o'clock, to consider the expediency of aiding the friends of evangelical truth in Roxbury in establishing an Evangelical Congregational Church and Society in that village, and to take such measures relative to the subject as the meeting may deem expedient.
JOHN DOGGETT. PLINY CUTLER. GEO. W. BLAGDEN. CHARLES SCUDDER. HENRY HILL. DANIEL NOYES.
Dr. Burgess came from Dedham to attend that meeting.
2 Later the hall was bought by the city, and having been remodelled, was occupied by the Dudley School, and yet later by the Girls' High School. The brick addition in front was put up afterwards.
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ELIOT MEMORIAL.
a subscription was opened with reference to raising twelve thousand dollars toward the erection of a house of worship. Meetings for business and devotional exercises were also held in Roxbury. Entire unanimity existed, and the move- ment toward organizing a Congregational Church matured rapidly. No one was more indefatigable or more free in giving time and money to the enterprise than Mr. Alvah Kittredge. This was done in an unobtrusive way. He was a man of few words and no noise. He had the rare tact of keeping to work quietly and efficiently, without making demonstration of himself and without occasioning friction.
An ecclesiastical council met in the hall before men- tioned, September 18, 1834. In addition to those specially invited Drs. Rufus Anderson and B. B. Wisner of Boston were present; also Rev. Andrew Reed, D.D., of London, and Rev. James Matheson, D.D., of Durham, England, who were then visiting American churches as a deputation from the Congregational Union of England and Wales.
Dr. John Codman of Dorchester was chosen moderator. The Articles of Faith and the Covenant which had been adopted were laid before the Council and approved. The examination and ordination of Mr. Jacob Abbott as an evan- gelist - being named in the letter missive - formed a part of the proceedings. The examination of the candidate, however, was not at first deemed satisfactory. In the pub- lished Report of the English Deputation,' Dr. Reed says :
Narrative of the Visit to the American Churches by the Deputation, etc. Two Vols. London, 1835. Vol. I, p. 455.
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PRELIMINARIES AND ORGANIZATION.
" The deliberations of the Council continued some time; but they were confidential. There was a want of una- nimity ; and it was therefore thought advisable to see Mr. Abbott again. The examinations were renewed, and ex- planations were candidly given. The candidate was then requested to retire, and a vote was taken 'that the Council do proceed to the ordination of Mr. Jacob Abbott. ''
On the evening of the same day public exercises were held in the Baptist Church. An introductory address was given by Dr. Burgess of Dedham; the prayer of consecra- tion was offered by Dr. Codman ; and the Rev. Mr. Win- slow presented the right-hand of fellowship, Dr. Nathaniel S. Prentiss having been previously designated to receive the same in behalf of the church. Of the fifty-one constituent members forty-five brought letters from twenty different churches, the largest number from any one being ten from that of Bowdoin Street, Boston. A Baptist Church was among those which contributed to the original membership. Six were received on their first public confession of faith. Three-fifths of the whole were women. Of the brethren two were ministers and two physicians. Only one, Mr. John Heath, was a native of Roxbury, and for many years the accessions were chiefly from the newer and transplanted population of the place. In no sense and to no extent was this an offshoot, as has been reported, from the First Church.
The next evening after those public services, Friday, the nineteenth of September, 1834, was held the first assem-
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ELIOT MEMORIAL.
blage of this newly-organized brotherhood for devotional exercises, which have since been continued uniformly on that week-day evening for more than sixty years. Kenil- worth being the name of the street on which the new organ- ization commenced worship, the good people did not care to take that designation; Scott's novel, "Kenilworth," was then much read." The First Church, Roxbury, belonged to a different category; hence the new enterprise could not suitably be called the Second Church; and so it assumed the name Eliot. Roxbury never had a citizen more worthy of being thus commemorated, though the usage of designating a church of Christ by the name of any man, however distinguished, is not in accord with the best Chris- tian taste.
Mr. Andrew S. March heads the list of very competent clerks of the church,2 having been chosen at the first meet- ing, and not long afterward Mr. John Heath was elected treasurer.
' Kenilworth Castle, as is well known, was given by Queen Elizabeth to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, her ambitious and noted, not to say notorious, favorite. Dudley was one of the most conspicuous names in the early history of Roxbury and of Massachusetts. In 1820 Col. Joseph Dudley of Roxbury laid claim to a Dudley peerage, and sent an agent to England with documents sus- taining the claim, but without success.
2 CHURCH CLERKS.
Andrew S. March. September 23, 1834. Resigned, January 27, 1851. Henry Davenport. January 27, 1851. Resigned, January 25, 1870. Ebenezer W. Bumstead. January 25, 1870. Resigned, January 29, 1897. James S. Barrows. January 29, 1897.
33
PRELIMINARIES AND ORGANIZATION.
Our excellent corps of deacons' begins with the names of William G. Lambert and Alvah Kittredge, whose election occurred two months subsequent to organization.
With the exception of not having an installed pastor, the church was thus fully equipped for service and growth. Although the members came from various quarters and had but little previous acquaintance with one another, great harmony prevailed. A spirit of enterprise and a cheerful effort in behalf of the common weal reigned throughout the ranks of these confederated volunteers. As there can be but one period of youth for an individual, so with a community. The peculiar freshness and ardor of feeling on the part of such a band engaged in a noble yet arduous undertaking cannot be expected to continue with- out abatement when success has been achieved.
I DEACONS.
William G. Lambert. November 6, 1834. Resigned, March 12, 1841. Alvah Kittredge. November 6, 1834. Died, 1876.
Henry Hill. January 18, 1839. Resigned, June 13, 1845. Andrew S. March. December 5, 1845. Resigned, September 5, 1851. Henry Hill. May 3, 1850. Resigned, April 3, 1857.
William W. Davenport. June 24, 1853. Resigned, May 7, 1858. Edward B. Huntington. December 12, 1856. Resigned, August 11, 1871. Moses Henry Day. December 18, 1857. Resigned, February 8, 1867.
Lucius H. Briggs. December 20, 1861. Died, April 17, 1889.
J. Russell Bradford. February 8, 1867. Died, March 12, 1885. Charles W. Hill. April 22, 1870. Died, November 17, 1896.
William F. Day. January 2, 1874. Resigned, April 5, 1877. Timothy Smith. November 3, 1876.
Andrew Marshall. November 3, 1876. Died, April 2, 1883. Alpine McLean. November 2, 1883.
Frederick C. Russell. March 4, 1887.
William F. Day. March 4, 1887 ; September 15, 1896. Died, March 8, 1899. Clarence T. Mooar. March 5, 1897.
CHAPTER IV.
FIRST PASTORAL SETTLEMENT.
AN early question with every newly-organized church is, Whom shall we have for our pastor ? Mr. Jacob Abbott, having resigned his professorship in Amherst College and having removed to Roxbury, was active in a movement for establishing the Eliot Church. His ordination by the council which organized the Church was with the express understanding that he would not come into any official relation to the same. For the first three months of service in supplying the pulpit he was paid one hundred and twenty- five dollars and at the same rate for the remaining period, which closed at the middle of February the next year, 1835. Two months later the Rev. William M. Rogers of Town- send received the first invitation to become pastor here. There was as yet no incorporated ecclesiastical society, but the congregation concurred unanimously in the choice. Mr. Rogers, however, declined the call. Another three months went by when a younger brother of Mr. Jacob Abbott, the Rev. John Stephen Cabot Abbott, who had for five years ministered to the Calvinistic Church, now Central Church, Worcester, was invited to take the leadership of the Eliot brotherhood. Meanwhile this Church had assisted in the installation of Mr. William M. Rogers as pastor of what was then Franklin Street Church, Boston; and now he was
35
FIRST PASTORAL SETTLEMENT.
present (November, 1835) on the council which installed Mr. Abbott. Dr. Codman presided, Dr. Albro acting as scribe, and Deacon Charles Stoddard as assistant scribe. The dedication of the new house of worship took place on the same occasion. Mr. Abbott's first sermon after instal- lation was from Genesis 28: 17, " This is none other but the house of God."
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Only twenty-one additions to the original constituent membership had been made before the first dismission occurred, that of Mr. and Mrs. Josiah H. Hammond, Jan- uary 19, 1836. Death also began to invade our ranks. Mrs. Mary J. Bowman was the first to be thus removed. She had been received in May, 1837, and her four children were baptized. Being confined to her bed by sickness she re- ceived the Lord's Supper at her private dwelling, and just a month after that she found herself where symbols are no longer needed. During the five years' ministry of Mr. J. S. C. Abbott the Church received accessions to the number of one hundred and fifty-one, eighty-nine of these being by let- ter. At the time of his settlement the salary was one thou- sand dollars; the next year it was raised to twelve hundred dollars, and in 1837 to fourteen hundred. Mr. Abbott ten- dered his resignation June 2, 1840, but upon request of the people, withdrew the communication. After six months, however, the resignation of office was renewed and accepted. The farewell sermon was preached December 20. January 13, 1841, a Council confirmed the proceeding.
At the time of his settlement in Roxbury Mr. Abbott
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ELIOT MEMORIAL.
was thirty years of age, having been born in Brunswick, Me., September 15, 1805. He graduated from Bowdoin College, 1825, and after studying at the Andover Theological Sem- inary, was ordained in 1830. On leaving Roxbury he had a short ministry at Nantucket; but for the next seven years was associated with his brothers, Messrs. Jacob and Gorham D. Abbott, in conducting an institution for young ladies in New York City. Thereafter he devoted himself to literary labor. Before coming to Boston Mr. Abbott had written " The Mother at Home " and " The Child at Home." Later works from his pen were chiefly historical, as follows : -
" Kings and Queens : or Life in the Palace."
" The French Revolution of 1789."
" The History of Napoleon Bonaparte." (2 Vols.)
" The History of Napoleon III."
Ten Volumes of illustrated histories.
"A History of the Civil War in America." (2 Vols.)
" Romance of Spanish History."
" The History of Frederick the Second ; called Freder- ick the Great."
Some of these were translated into European lan- guages. Mr. Abbott died at Fairhaven, Connecticut, 1877.
CHAPTER V.
SECOND SETTLEMENT.
AFTER Mr. J. S. C. Abbott's retirement from Roxbury there was an interregnum of a year and a half. Numerous preachers -some of them to the number of forty as candi- dates, and some not as candidates - occupied the pulpit. An extended period of that sort is seldom of much general profit to the people, and this instance formed no ex- ception.
I have been requested to give a detailed account of the second settlement. Of the circumstances which led to it I can give no account. It should be stated that while an under-graduate theological student I came to the conclusion that if the Head of the church had called me to the Chris- tian ministry he would as surely point out his choice of a field, and that it was not for me to seek or knowingly per- mit friends to seek any particular pulpit for me. When the invitation from Roxbury came I was entirely ignorant in regard to the place, its condition and its people. All that I had ever learned about the town was that there were forti- fications here in the war-time of the Revolution. I had never made the acquaintance of any one living within a hun- dred miles of Roxbury, and it was years before even a conjectured clue to the circumstances of my being invited came to light. In response to a request through Rev. David
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ELIOT MEMORIAL.
Greene, Home Secretary of the American Board of Mis- sions, and Chairman of the committee of supply, that I should preach here three successive Sabbaths, I came to Boston in the early Summer of 1842. Mr. Greene met me at the Railroad Station in Boston and took me to his house on Cedar Street in Roxbury. Mrs. Evarts, the widow of Jeremiah Evarts, and mother of Mrs. Greene as well as of her distinguished brother, William M. Evarts, was then in the family. Her matronly presence, her striking features, her keen black eye, her fine conversational power remain in memory with great distinctness. So do all the members, parents and children, of that well ordered and delightful household. Having only a few sermons on hand I wrote one each week of the fortnight spent in Roxbury, preaching them while here, and then returned to Northampton, where I was staying at that time. Two of the Sabbaths then spent here were the first two of June; and as soon as prac- ticable the Church and Society joined in unanimously in- viting me to become their pastor. Messrs. Henry Hill, Alvah Kittredge and Hon. Samuel H. Walley, Jr., were deputed to convey the invitation and to confer personally with me at Northampton. A few days later my written acceptance of the call was sent to Roxbury. In the mean- time, a similar invitation from a church in the Connecticut River valley was handed me, and there were strong local inducements to accept the same. One reason for declining it was the simple fact of priority on the part of the other in- vitation. What the relative amount of salary was I do
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SECOND SETTLEMENT.
not remember. At a yet earlier date a request had come from the church in my native place. That was contrary to my avowed wishes, which had been made known with frankness and decision. The circumstances that this invitation pro- ceeded from revered associates of my parents as well as from my own early schoolmates, was a sufficient reason for declining the post of spiritual instructor and guide amidst such acquaintances of early life.
Arrangements regarding the council and ordination services at Roxbury were left entirely in the hands of the committee. My being such a stranger in that part of Mas- sachusetts was reason enough for this. The practice of stated pastoral vacations had not then come to be so com- mon as it now is. After my acceptance of the call, the ecclesiastical society voted an annual vacation of four weeks, which was sufficient, and the more gratifying because it was done spontaneously.
At that time the annual exodus of Summer visitors to the mountains and other rural resorts, as well as to the sea- side, had hardly begun, otherwise the formal induction to office would not have occurred in dog-days. It was assigned to the 27th of July.
Examination by the council was somewhat prolonged, and as it seemed to me very thorough. I could wish that acquaintance with a candidate's religious views might never be sought with less scrutiny. It was not then the custom, as is now the case, to call for a written statement of one's theological position. The examination occupied the greater
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ELIOT MEMORIAL.
part of the afternoon, public services coming in the evening. Dr. John Codman of Dorchester presided. The invocation was by Rev. Mr. Marsh, pastor of the Spring Street Church, West Roxbury, which was organized the same year as the Eliot Church.' My brother, Professor William Thompson, preached the sermon. Of the other services two are dis- tinctly recalled by me, one of them the right hand of fellow- ship given by Dr. N. Adams in his peculiarly happy manner, easy, fraternal, cordial, with no tinge of the merely pro- fessional or perfunctory. It drew my heart to him and my warm expectant regard for those whom he represented. Among his appropriate sayings I remember a reference to the Rev. Daniel Crosby of Charlestown, then just deceased, a man greatly respected and beloved : -
" Others may hail the rising sun, I bow to him whose course is run."
The other service which deeply impressed me was the ordaining prayer by Dr. Burgess of Dedham, in the course of which he employed successive clauses, beginning, “ We set him apart," and "from the halls of legislation" was appro- priately one of them. The pressure on my head of his hand and the hands of other revered divines as I kneeled by them
I PASTORS.
Christopher Marsh. May 17, 1837. December 11, 1850.
Thomas Laurie, D.D. May 7, 1851. January 30, 1868.
William S. Hubbell. January 30, 1868. January 25, 1872.
Edward Strong, D.D. May 2, 1872. July 13, 1882.
Clarence A. Beckwith. November 21, 1882. March 15, 1892. Frank W. Merrick. May 11, 1893.
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THE PULPIT.
the audience large and attentive, and a desire was expressed that yet other sermons might be given from the same vener- able book, which was published more than a century before (1721). I never took notes of any preacher's sermons and never borrowed a skeleton. In every instance, whether a sermon might be called doctrinal or not, there was a dis- tinct purpose to make a definite impression and to secure a well-defined practical result - helpful instruction, vigorous aspiration, saving conversion, or earnest, holy living. When after fifty years occasion ceased for their further use, it was a rather trying task to destroy a thousand or more manuscripts, the chief products of much brain-work - products which had been employed for the most sacred purposes. They were luminous at least once. John Bright, the celebrated English statesman and orator, expressed surprise that any one could preach week after week to the same congregation. But even the Turk has a proverb that solves the mystery, " When God gives office he also gives ability to fill it."
CHAPTER VII.
PASTORAL SERVICE.
I. Parish Calls.
No part of ministerial labor has been more a delight than these. At the time of my settlement there was no Congregational Church within two miles of the Eliot Church. Parochial limits were thus for a good while wide apart; and quite a number of those worshiping with us lived a long way from the place of Sunday meeting as well as a yet greater distance from one another. Being chiefly a transplanted people, their social ties were feeble. One inci- dental result was the absence of gossip. I have never known a community where there was so little mischievous or idle small talk. Had they lived more compactly and met more frequently, it might have been different. naturally became a bond or medium of fellowship. During the whole period, excepting long absences, calls averaged seven hundred and ninety per annum, but the thought of being foot-sore hardly found place in the young man's mind, so hearty was the welcome he received. Smiles would brighten the cloudiest day.
The pastor
In the course of thirty years only a few exceptions to this took place among our own people. It occurred to me at the outset that, for the manner of conducting official visits it would be well to begin as they might be expected
5I
PARISH CALLS.
to continue, prayer among other things being proposed. One of my first calls was at the house of a sick church member too ill at the time to see me, and whose husband was an irreligious man. I endeavored to open acquaint- ance pleasantly with him, and before leaving said, "Shall we unite in prayer for the invalid?" "No objection if you want to," was the gruff response.
I found few persons less easily approached in serious conversation than the devotees of society so called. One such having just returned from a trip to Philadelphia I called on her, and after a while endeavored to turn con- versation into a profitable channel, but without success. " Well, Mrs. Blank," I remarked, "there must be one city more attractive than even Philadelphia. Is it not New Jerusalem ?" " O, I presume so!" This specimen will suffice. At an early period there came to town one of the shoddy rich men, who took a high-priced pew in the Eliot Church. Calling promptly at his house I was re- ceived with a rather overpowering dignity, the well-to-do- parishioner presenting himself in a showy dressing gown. He soon informed me that Mr. - of a neighboring town was his pastor, and I was able to speak in the high- est terms of that brother minister. The new-comer occu- pied this part of our hemisphere only a short time. Majesty seldom tarries long in the same place. He was the man, if I mistake not, who called a leading physician of Boston and wished him-as the doctor afterwards told me -"to dognose [diagnose] his case." After a few years I was
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ELIOT MEMORIAL.
greeted at another house- a house of repute -" You are a great stranger; you haven't been here for two years." Twelve months had not gone by since my previous visit. To make assurance doubly sure thereafter I had a quarto volume prepared for a record of calls, one broad column on each page for the names of persons visited; a narrower column for dates; another to indicate merely social calls ; and yet another to indicate when the individual was not at home. Such a register serves as a corrective to the treacherous memory of both minister and people. It served a good purpose when Mrs. - remarked that I had not been to her house for a year and a half, during which time two of her daughters had been sick. Turning to my register I found mention of three visits to the family within the preceding six months. Little mistakes some- times occurred. Calling at one of two houses precisely alike in their exterior and near each other, I inquired, " Is Miss at home ? " The servant said, " Yes," and
showed me in. It was evening. Hall and parlor were not well lighted. I had hardly been ushered in when a good lady advanced, saying, " How do you do, my dear pastor ?" I took her to be a sister of Mrs. Van Kuren just come to town, and after chatting with her a few minutes I re- marked, " Mrs. Van Kuren is not able to get out much." "O, Sir," said the lady, " Mrs. Van Kuren lives at the next door. . I thought you were my pastor, whom I expect to take tea with me."
No year passed without an effort to have more than
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PARISH CALLS.
one personal interview with every member of the congre- gation, whether old or young. The most frequent visits were not paid to the more conspicuous but to humbler families. The former were, as a general thing, less likely to suspect disproportionate attention. Among the latter was found usually greater freedom in disclosing domestic and other trials, as well as spiritual needs and religious joys. Many a church-meeting talk and many a sermon came out of visits to crowded alleys and dingy rooms. Nowhere else was sympathy so deeply moved, and no- where else did choicer fruits of divine grace come to light. Pithy sayings were sometimes dropped and now come to mind. A thoughtful woman, around whose dwell- ing a plenty of weeds and rude children of the neighbor- hood might be seen, remarked, "Everything grows here but goodness." Another, much devoted to active benevo- lence, after being shut in by ill-health, said to me, “It requires great grace to be good for nothing."
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