USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Fifty years of Boston; a memorial volume issued in commemoration of the tercentenary of 1930; 1880-1930, Pt. 2 > Part 24
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
In the Deaconess Hospital there is a bed capacity of 185; patients to the number of 4,706 were admitted in 1931. During the same year the Palmer Memorial, with a bed capacity of 80, admitted 1,228 patients. The Palmer, which has become also an important laboratory for cancer research, now has more than one half of the entire radium supply in the City of Boston and fur- nishes laboratory privileges to five other Massachusetts hospitals. When it is remembered that radium retails at $70,000 a gram, the significance of the facilities of this hospital becomes even more apparent. There has also been built up in the Palmer Memorial one of the best libraries of specimens any- where in existence. The total property valuation of the New England Deaconess Hospital with its two hospital units and other buildings and equipment, all located in Boston, is $2,102,947.93.
In 1869 Rev. Henry Morgan, an independent Methodist preacher, pur- chased at auction a church edifice at the corner of Shawmut avenue and Corn- ing street which had been originally erected for the Church of the Disciples under Dr. James Freeman Clarke, and for several years conducted mission work in that building. Upon Mr. Morgan's death it was found that he had
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willed the property to "The Benevolent Fraternity of Churches," a Unitarian organization, but had also provided that this mission work should thereafter be conducted by a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church to be appointed from the membership of the New England Conference. Out of this beginning there has emerged a unique ministry to the poor and needy. This institution, now known far and wide as the "Morgan Memorial," with its "Church of All Nations" and "Goodwill Industries," under the leadership of Edgar J. Helms, has for more than a half-century been rendering an increasingly signifi- cant service to the underprivileged of Boston. Morgan Memorial now has property in this city to the value of $940,600, and has served as the pattern for charitable and philanthropic work in many other congested city centers of the United States and other countries. There is in operation today a chain of fifty-four Goodwill Industries of the Boston type, with twenty-six others in process of organization.
The official organ of New England Methodism, with offices located in Boston, is Zion's Herald. The paper is more than one hundred and nine years old, having been founded in 1823, and has a wide circulation not only in New England but also in other parts of the country. Among the religious weeklies published in the United States, it has one of the largest lists of subscribers in foreign lands.
Zion's Herald is independent in policy and is published under the auspices of the Boston Wesleyan Association, an organization of twenty laymen. Dur- ing more than a century the paper has taken conspicuous leadership in every great reforin that promised the promotion of human welfare. At the time of the antislavery crusade, for example, Zion's Herald stood stalwartly against the evils of slavery. With the single exception of the New England Spectator, it was the only paper, religious or secular, in Boston that had the courage roundly to denounce the "aristocratic mob" that on October 21, 1835, dragged William Lloyd Garrison through the streets of Boston and threatened his life because of his denunciations of African slavery on the platform and in his paper, the Liberator. Of Zion's Herald Bishop Francis J. McConnell of New York City recently said: "I do not know any ecclesiastical journal which has through all its career exercised a larger leadership than Zion's Herald." Its present editor is Lewis O. Hartman.
The Methodist Episcopal Church in Boston maintains an attitude of sympathy, understanding and practical co-operation towards all other religious bodies. Its representatives will be found in the Greater Boston Federation of Churches and in numerous other organizations working for the welfare of the city and its citizens through worthy reforms and undertakings of constructive helpfulness. A beautiful instance of this fraternal attitude is found in an incident that happened in October, 1919, just after the close of the World War. At that time Cardinal Mercier of Belgium was in America and had come to Boston for a brief visit. Bishop Edwin H. Hughes, then resident bishop in Boston of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was asked by Governor Calvin Coolidge, who was ill with influenza, to represent him at a dinner to be given in honor of the great Roman Catholic leader. Some one hundred of the leading citizens of Boston, including Cardinal O'Connell, were present
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upon this occasion. In speaking for the Commonwealth, Bishop Hughes said, among other things, that he was probably the first Protestant ecclesiastic who had ever had the singular privilege of paying tribute to the beloved Cardinal Mercier, and that he was quite determined to give his heart its full and unfct- tered swecp of testimonial. He also declared that he knew with utter assur- ance that, in the name of the people of all faiths in the Bay State, he had the right to love the hero-priest to his very face. In unreserved and simple terms, Bishop Hughes then spoke directly to the distinguished guest, saying that the citizens of Massachusetts, in commnon with many other millions, had beheld a patriot-ecclesiastic face an invading army with undaunted courage and halt its march by the lonely guard of a great affection and a high character. The Bishop closed his brief address with "God bless and keep Cardinal Mercier forever." The Cardinal, in turn, was deeply touched, even to tears, and the whole company was profoundly impressed. The beautiful courtesy of this incident was widely recognized at the time and was made the subject of a very appreciative editorial in the Boston Herald.
The Boston area of the Methodist Episcopal Church has been under the leadership of Bishop William F. Anderson, whose election to the episcopacy in 1908 was the culmination of a successful career as a preacher and broad experience in the field of education. Bishop Anderson, who is now second in seniority in the Board of Bishops, was assigned to the Boston residence in 1924. He retired from active service in May, 1932.
THE BAPTISTS IN BOSTON
By the Reverend HAROLD MAJOR and the Reverend CHARLES L. PAGE
The earliest Baptist church in old England was formed in 1611 by a little company of people who had journeyed from Holland. In less than thirty years thereafter the first Baptist church in America was founded in New England. Within the next thirty years three other churches of the Baptist faith werc established, and in 1665 the First Baptist Church in Boston came into being as the fifth group of Baptists on the western continent. This organization, now nearly three centuries old, proved the forerunner of the great missionary and educational movements of the American Baptists. The Church was formally established on Sunday, the seventh of June, by seven men and two women who constituted its membership. At first they were severely persecuted by the authorities of the established church in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They were apprehended by the courts and punished for their assertion of the inalien- able right of the individual to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of his own conscience.
But their faithful witness for Christ soon attracted widespread attention until niany of high estate as well as humble position were influenced by their convictions. Among these a notable example was the first president of Harvard College, who was later forced to resign because of his independent views and his courage in declaring them. All through their history, in every land, Baptists have been heroic advocates of religious and political liberty. In 1787 the pastor
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of the First Baptist Church was elected a member of the Federal Convention of Massachusetts, a body of distinguished men which met to consider the adoption of the Constitution of the United States of America. Because this great docu- ment granted a measure of religious liberty to all citizens alike, this Baptist minister advocated its indorsement and used his talents and influence to secure its ratification.
From these small beginnings the Baptist cause grew in the number of its adherents with ever-extending influence and power. On September 14, 1791, the Baptist education fund was established, which later grew into the Northern Baptist Education Society and continues its ministry for the support of Christian education to this day. On May 26, 1802, the Massachusetts Baptist Mis- sionary Society was founded in Boston, "the fruitful mother of all Baptist inissionary organizations on the American continent." On November 10, 1824, the Massachusetts Baptist State Convention was organized in the meeting house of the First Baptist Church; and on May 25, 1825, the Newton Theological Institution was founded in its vestry. Thus was established the first institution for the training of Baptist ministers in America.
During the last fifty years, while Baptists throughout the state were realiz- ing an annual increase averaging 1,000, those in Boston in large numbers have removed to the suburbs and in many instances established strong churches. The two Boston Associations of Baptist Churches have been divided into four, which now number 45,471 members, but the membership is partly suburban. In each of three districts, East Boston, South Boston and Charlestown, two churches have merged into one. Harvard Street Church has been disbanded. The Bowdoin Square and Warren Avenue Churches have merged into the First Baptist. But five new churches have been instituted. Many Negro churches and several churches of new Americans have been organized, Italian, Lettish, Norwegian and Swedish. The Men's Movements have assumed large propor- tions, following the example of the Hall and Page classes, which began over forty years ago and have inspired similar work far and wide. The Social Union, with the great endowment of Daniel S. Ford, has become a fostering factor of several churches. Two great Community Centers have been opened and are functioning, at Dudley street and in the West End. Gordon College, though an interdenominational institution, was begun by Dr. A. J. Gordon, a notable Baptist leader. Tremont Temple, the first church with free seats in Boston, has grown from about 1,000 to over 3,000 members. The Baptist Bethel and Home for Sailors on Hanover street, one of the first of its kind, is still main- tained by this denomination.
Throughout the years the Baptists of Boston have contended for a thor- oughly evangelical program of spiritual worship and service; the competency of the individual to deal with the Infinite for himself; the absolute separation of church and state, and the inalienable right of every man to determine by per- sonal choice his religious life. The expression of these convictions has resulted in the growth of the Baptist cause, which manifests itself today in the main- tenance of thirty different church organizations in Boston proper with a total membership of approximately eighteen thousand individuals. These organi- zations are addressing themselves to the problems of Boston's modern life and
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seeking, through their churches and their hospital, educational and city mission societies, to help in the solution of these problems and to make their contribu- tion toward the uplift of the community and the extension of the kingdom of God.
PRESBYTERIANISM IN BOSTON By the Reverend ROBERT WATSON
Presbyterians were amongst the earliest settlers in Boston. In doctrine they were in practical accord with the Baptists and the Congregationalists. It is stated that "of the 22,200 immigrants who came into New England before 1640, no less than 4,000 were Presbyterians." The early churches in Boston had ruling elders, while in 1646 the ministers and an elder from each church met in synod at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and adopted the Confession of Faith of the Westminster Assembly of Divines. It is evident that quite a number of the Puritan ministers were, if not Presbyterians, inclined toward Presbyterianism.
The Presbyterians differed from these others in polity and politics, and this caused much friction between them. As early as 1633 Roger Williams and . Mr. Skelton declared themselves "horribly afraid lest an association of ministers, in and about Boston, who met once a fortnight at each others' houses, might tend to promote Presbyterianism and so endanger the liberty of the churches."
The first numerous arrival of Presbyterians in New England, after 1640, consisted of slaves. Cromwell had the habit of selling into servitude Presby- terians and Episcopalians who were faithful to their oath of allegiance to Charles the Second. Later, when these bondmen were liberated, their religious opinions were not tolerated. However, the sufferings of the Presbyterian Scots taught them to sympathize with the unfortunate, and to them belongs the honor of establishing in the year 1657 the oldest charitable society in America, the Scots Charitable Society of Boston.
After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, a colony of French Huguenots came to Boston. In 1686 they built on School street a church and organized it on strictly Presbyterian lines, the first to our knowledge in Boston. They were noted for their rigid morality, great charity, culture and refinement of manners. Pierre Baudoin, father of James Bowdoin, Governor of Massa- chusetts in 1785-87 and the founder of Bowdoin College, was a member of this church. Peter Faneuil, born in New Rochelle, New York, 1700, founder of Faneuil Hall, became a prominent member. The church flourished for a time but strong opposition developed and under persecution the church languished and finally closed its work in 1764. The building was sold to a Congregational church and afterwards it was secured by the Roman Catholics and became the first church of that denomination in Boston.
In 1729 Reverend John Morehead started in Henry Deering's barn, on Long lane, now Federal street, the Long Lane Presbyterian Church. Mr. Morehead continued as minister until 1773, when he was succeeded by Robert Annan, who served until 1786, when the people separated from the Presbyterian
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body and became Congregational. This is now the Arlington Street Unitarian Church. According to the records at the State House, the First Presbyterian Church in the City of Boston was incorporated in 1825 by Messrs. James Sabine, Morse and others. At one time they owned a fine brick edifice, but this was sold in July, 1864, to the Methodists. We have no further information about this organization.
At the present time there are thirty-seven Presbyterian ministers in Boston . Presbytery, including the United Presbyterian and Reformed Presbyterian Church pastors. There are ten active Presbyterian churches in the City of Boston. Several others, originally in Boston, have moved to the suburbs with the changing population. All of these churches are supplied by regularly ordained and installed pastors, under whose leadership, with the co-operation of a splendid body of elders and a steadily increasing company of members, unusually fine work is being accomplished. No body of people are more loyal to evangelical Christianity. They are warm-hearted, generous-minded, pro- gressive, aggressive Christians, of vision, loyal to God, the Church and the Nation, - faithfully co-operating with all others in faith, fellowship and service to secure the best for all the people and make Boston a city of God, and to bring and establish the kingdom of God upon the earth.
With one exception, all of these churches are comfortably housed in com- modious buildings and have well-organized Sunday schools, young people's societies and men's and women's social and missionary organizations. Every one of the churches has at least two worship services every Sabbath and a prayer meeting during the week, and the attendance at these services is unusually large.
The churches with their pastors, and the order of their organization, are:
First United Presbyterian Church, Boston, organized in 1846, Reverend D. W. Macleod, D. D., pastor.
The First Presbyterian Church, Boston, organized in 1853, Reverend Philip H. Clifford, S. T. D., pastor. *
The First Presbyterian Church, East Boston, organized in 1853, Reverend George W. Warren, pastor.
The First Reformed Presbyterian Church, Boston, organized in 1854, Reverend W. J. McKnight, D. D., pastor.
The Fourth Presbyterian Church, South Boston, organized in 1870, Reverend Richard S. McCarroll, pastor.
The Presbyterian Church, Roxbury, organized in 1885, Reverend Theodore M. Carlisle, D. D., pastor.
The Scotch Presbyterian Church, Boston, organized in 1887, Reverend Hector Ferguson, pastor.
The Presbyterian Church, Hyde Park, organized in 1896, Reverend Earl B. VanZandt, pastor.
St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Mattapan, organized in 1911, Reverend Charles A. Forbes, pastor.
Gloucester Memorial Presbyterian Church (for colored people), organized in 1920, Reverend Charles R. Winthrop, pastor.
* Since this list was compiled, the First Presbyterian Church has federated with the Central Congregational Church, under the name of the Church of the Covenant. Services are held in the former Central Congregational Church, located at the corner of Newbury and Berkeley streets.
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The Presbyterians also unitedly carry on work amongst the students of Greater Boston. This work was begun in 1922. To provide for the students Westininster House at 185 Bay State road, Boston, was opened several years ago. This is used as a student center, and is open at all times, week days and Sundays. The minister is Reverend John A. Gregg. The work is not confined to Presby- terian students, for the home is open, like any other place of worship, to all who come. Services are held there every Sabbath at 4.30 p. m. and there is a Bible class, followed by a social every Friday night.
The latest statistics at hand show that the membership of the Presbyterian Church has increased twenty-four per cent in the past ten years. This growth proves that Presbyterians are filling a real need in the intellectual, social, moral and spiritual life of our city. We are confident that Our Lord has a still greater service for this church to render in Boston, as well as elsewhere throughout the whole world.
LUTHERANISM By the Reverend JOHN H. VOLK
The birthday of the Lutheran Church in Boston - in fact, in all New England - may be set down for the 18th of February, 1839. On that day a charter was granted to the "German Lutheran Society in the City of Boston." The Society was indeed "German," but there was little of what is known the world over as true Lutheranism among the members who in those days con- stituted the Society. It was a motley gathering of Germans, living in Boston, who banded themselves together as a religious society, bearing the Lutheran name and accepting any one who was religiously inclined and spoke the German tongue.
Services were first held in the old Franklin Schoolhouse on Washington street, and a little later in a chapel at the corner of Washington and Castle streets. The first church was dedicated in 1847, the building, now used for secular purposes, still standing at the corner of Shawmut avenue and Waltham street. In these formative years there were constant changes in the pastorate, six men serving short terms each from 1839 to 1857. Then came Reverend A. Uebelaeker, a pious man with a real Lutheran consciousness, who labored diligently and with some success.
The true period of prosperity and sound, confessional Lutheranism dawned for Zion Church with the advent in 1862 of Reverend Otto Hanser, a godly man, burning with zeal and forgetful of self in the interests of the church. He gathered the scattered Lutherans and with such power preached the Word that the auditorium could not contain the crowds and galleries were built in. A parochial school was established and flourished for fifteen years. Missionary work was carried on and assistants were called. In 1869 Immanuel Church, East Boston, branched off; in 1871, Trinity Church, Roxbury, was organized, and outside of Boston churches were established in numerous cities of Massa- chusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Trinity became the mother of Bethlehem Church, Roslindale, and the pastor of East Boston also served St.
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Luke's Church, West Roxbury. In 1890, under the pastorate of Reverend Mr. Birkner, Zion Church built a new and beautiful house of worship on West Newton street on the site of the old Unity Church. A few years earlier Trinity, Roxbury, dedicated the architecturally beautiful church on Parker street. At the suggestion of Reverend A. Biewend, who served Trinity Church for fifty years, work was begun among the Lutheran Letts, who now have two churches in Boston.
The congregations listed above are affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and other states, a church body numbering 1,500,000 souls. This body maintains Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, the largest Protes- tant theological seminary in the world, having an enrollment of 500 students preparing for the ministry.
The services in Boston were at first conducted exclusively in the German language. The need of English Lutheran services made itself felt; and the General Council of the Lutheran Church in America, now a part of the United Lutheran Church in America, established an English Lutheran Church in Roxbury in 1891, which has had a fine growth and now numbers 500 communi- cant members and worships in St. Mark's Lutheran Church, Roxbury. Work among the Lutheran Swedes was begun in 1870; and there are now four flourish- ing Swedish Lutheran Churches in Boston proper. The first Norwegian Lutheran church in Boston was established in 1884; and there are now two churches serving the Norwegian Lutherans, one in Roxbury, the other in East Boston, which also takes care of the immigrants from Scandinavian countries. Reverend Mr. Wurl of Immanuel Church, East Boston, acts as immigrant missionary for the Lutherans from other European countries. In Immanuel Church an Italian Lutheran mission has been opened recently. The Lutheran Danes have one church in Boston. At present practically all the Lutheran churches in the city are either purely English or bi-lingual. The enrollment of the Lutheran Church in Boston is approximately 8,000 souls and 4,000 com- municant members. The Lutheran Church rigidly maintains these funda- mental principles of its faith,- the Bible the verbally inspired and eternally true Word of God and the only rule and guide of Christian faith and life; Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God and only Savior of sinful mankind; and salvation solely by the grace of God through faith in the atoning blood and death of Christ.
Supported by the churches of the Missouri Synod is Martin Luther Orphans' Home in West Roxbury on the site of old Brook Farm with its many historic associations. In this institution of mercy orphaned children have received spiritual and bodily care under truly Christian discipline for the past sixty years. The grounds of the orphanage are very extensive and are the breathing- spot of our Lutheran people of Boston. Here church festivals and picnics are frequently held.
The following larger organizations are fostered by the Lutheran people of the city: Lutheran Choral Union, Lutheran Men's Association, Associated Lutheran Young People's Society, the Lutheran Education Society, the Boston District of the Walther League.
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CHRISTIAN SCIENCE By C. AUGUSTUS NORWOOD
The City of Boston, although not the birthplace of Christian Science or of its discoverer and founder, Mary Baker Eddy, has long been known as the headquarters of this religion. Here the movement emerged from its humble beginnings until it has developed into the world-wide organization existing today.
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The discovery of Christian Science dates from the year 1866, when, in February, Mrs. Eddy, then Mrs. Patterson, sustained a serious injury through a fall upon the ice while on her way to a temperance meeting in Lynn. Removed to her home in Swampscott, she was in a critical condition and grave apprehension concerning her recovery was felt by those around her. On the third day thereafter, she called for her Bible and read there an account of the healing of the palsied man. The spiritual import of this so illuminated her thought that she rose from her bed recovered from the immediate effects of her fall. Conscious of the fact that she had found the same healing which Jesus taught and practised, she searched the Scriptures that she might know its science. The great creative Principle having been revealed to her, she set about developing and demonstrating her teaching that the sick and sinning are healed through purely spiritual means.
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