History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 33

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 33

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Cambridge was an inviting place of residence when the eighth minister cameto the ancient church. He was born in the town of Woodstock, now in Connec- ticut, but then within the bounds of Massachusetts. He graduated at Yale College in 1783. His college life lay within the days of war. He felt the stir of the times, but pursued his studies with diligence and was considered one of the most accomplished schol- ars in his class. In his sophomore year he connected himself with the College Church. In the year fol- lowing his graduation he was in South Carolina. While there the church and society at Midway, Ga., learning that he intended to enter the ministry, in- vited him to preach for a year, and, in 1783, he be- gan his labors there. This church and society had removed from Dorchester, Mass., about the year 1700, and had first settled in South Carolina, at a place which they named Dorchester.

Some fifty years later they moved to Georgia. The society was broken up and dispersed by the war, and the meeting- house, with most of the dwellings and the crops, were burned by the British troops. On the return of peace the people came back to their old home and resumed their common life. It was at this new beginning that Mr. Abiel Holmes, then in the twen- ty-first year of his age, was called to their service. When he was about to return to the North, in the following year, he was earnestly solicited to obtain

ordination and then to resume his ministry in Geor- gia. He consented to this, and was ordained in the College Chapel at New Haven, on the 15th of Sep- tember, 1785. The sermon, by the Rev. Levi Hart, of Preston, Conn., was entitled : " A Christian min- ister described, and distinguished from a pleaser of men."" The prayer of ordination was by President Stiles. He went back to Georgia and continued his labors there for about four years longer, when it was found that his health was unfavorably affected by the Southern climate, and he resigned his charge and came to New England. Mr. Holmes was in- vited to preach at Cambridge with a view to his set- tlement, and was soon called to the pastorate. He replied : "In respect to the office of which you have asked my acceptance, I can truly say that I con- sider it above my years and improvements. But the singular candor with which you received me and my ministrations while I was with you, and the remark- able unanimity with which the transactions relative to my proposed settlement among you were con- ducted, silence my objection on this head." A coun- cil was called in the usual manner and it met at the parsonage. President Willard was chosen moderator. After the examination the council adjourned for din- ner at Mr. Owen Warland's. After dinner the brethren of the church received the pastor-elect to membership. Then the council, with the pastor-elect, preceded by the church and as many of the other in- habitants of the parish as were present, proceeded to the meeting-house, where the services of installa- tion were held. The sermon was by Rev. James Dana, D.D., of New Haven, from the words, " My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me." The record closes in this way : "Throughout the whole process the greatest order, decency and harmony were observable. Soli Deo Gloria."

Thus the Rev. Abiel Holmes entered upon his long pastorate here. In his first sermon after his installa- tion he said : " The place in which I stand reminds me of my venerable predecessors in the ministry. Other men labored, and I am entered into their labors. Such an one as Paul the aged no longer addresses you from this pulpit, but a youth who would have esteemed it a singular honor, as a son with a father, to have served with him in the gospel. May the examples and counsels of your worthy pastors who have gone to rest be long kept in faithful remembrance among you; and may the re- collection of their excellent characters excite your present minister to fidelity in the very arduous and important work to which he is reservedly devoted."

The records of the church during Mr. Holmes' ministry are in his own handwriting, which is almost as plain as printing, and they exhibit the method and accuracy which marked his whole life. From these records and collateral sources we are able to make out the history of those years. The chrono- logical order will be followed, for the most part.

CAMBRIDGE.

The first matter in the records proper of this period is the report in 1792 of "a committee appointed to inquire into the state of the church stock and of the fund appropriated to the poor of the church." It appears that the deacons had in their charge £356 19s. 8}d., which was nearly all invested and drawing interest. One-third of the interest was to be paid to the treasurer of the parish, by vote of the church. In the account of the fund for the poor, the deacons were charged with £82 7s. 63d., which had been properly distributed, or was still invested, except a very small balance. The deacons declared their agreement to the report of the committee. The church passed a vote of thanks to "Deacon Hill for his generous services in providing for the communion and negotiating the funds of the church." This ex- amination was repeated annually, and the vote of acknowledgment was regularly passed for several years, enlarged, however, by thanks "to the deacons in general for their services in behalf of the Church." The last of these monetary statements was made in 1830, when the funds of the church had increased to $3236.99, and the fund for the poor to $667.18.

The first statement made by the deacons is signed by Aaron Hill, Gideon Frost and James Munro. In the same year Deacon Hill died after a service of eighteen years, and Captain John Walton was chosen to fill the vacancy. He died thirty-one years after- wards, in 1823. In 1803 Deacon Frost died, after serving twenty years, and Mr. William Hilliard was chosen in his place. Concerning him the pastor wrote, in a note: "He is in his twenty-sixth year, is a son of my worthy predecessor in the ministry, and, though recently admitted into our church, has been several years a member of a church in Boston, and has had freqnent communion with us." He remained in office until his death, in 1836-a period of thirty- two years. Deacon Munro died in 1804, having been twenty-one years in this office. In his place, Mr. Josiah Moore was chosen. He served for nine years, and died in 1814. His house stood where the Shep- ard Memorial Church was afterwards erected.

In 1818 Mr. James Munroe was elected deacon. The record proceeds in this way: "Sept. 6 .- After the morning sermon (Lord's Day), the pastor, having admitted four members in full communion into the church, mentioned the election of Brother James Munroe to the office of Deacon, and his acceptance. The deacon-elect, signifying his acceptance by taking his seat, this day, with the deacons, near the Com- munion-table, rose, on being addressed by the pastor, who briefly stated to him the duties of the office to which he was elected, exhorted him to fidelity, and announced him a deacon of this church. In the concluding prayer, immediately following, he was commended to the peace and blessing of God." He remained in this office until his death, in 1848. Of Deacons Hilliard and Munroe a later pastor said : "In many respects dissimilar, they were alike in

their love of the truth, in their zeal for the glory of Christ, and in their efforts and sacrifices for the welfare of the church."

In this connection we may bring together a few changes in regard to the Communion of the Lord's Supper. It had been the usage of this church to have this ordinance administered once in eight weeks. This caused inconvenience, as the particular days were not specified. Accordingly, in 1797, at the suggestion of the pastor, the church decided to have the communion on the first Lord's Day of every other month, beginning with January.

In September, 1816, there is this entry : "It had been the usage of the church, at the Communion ser- vice, for the members to remain in their own pews. To lessen the time and to facilitate the duties of this service, on the suggestion of the deacons, the pastor recommended it to the communicants to seat them- selves in the pews on the broad aisle. These pews were, accordingly, occupied at the Communion this day." In 1825 the time for the lecture preparatory to the communion was changed to the evening, and it was voted "that the examination of the annual accounts of the church take place at the lecture pre- vious to the first Sunday in March." At the same meeting it was voted that the Sabbath service from September to March should begin at half-past two o'clock, and during the rest of the year at half-past three. In 1826 "two of the tankards and two cnps were recast, and two cups altered in such a manner as now made seven cups of a uniform shape and size. A new silver spoon and six Britannia-ware dishes, more adapted to the use for which they are designed, were also procured."

There are three cases of church discipline on rec- ord in this period. All were for offences which would at any time demand attention, and the proceedings were marked by carefulness and fidelity. The first case was settled by the satisfactory confession of the offender, after the admonition of the pastor had brought him to repentance. The second resulted in excommunication, after persistent efforts to bring the offender to amendment. Four years afterwards, upon her contrition and desire for forgiveness and restora- tion, she was taken again into the fellowship of the church, and the pastor "exhorted the members to conduct toward her accordingly." The third instance was that of a man who had "renounced his Christian profession ... and proved himself to be, not merely an apostate from the Christian Church, but an enemy to the Christian religion." The earnest efforts of the church to reclaim him were ineffectual, and he was finally cut off from the membership which he had renounced.

Let us turn to pleasanter things. In 1805 a com- mittee, consisting of the pastor and two others, was appointed to consider the expediency of "procuring religious books for the use of the members of the church. The report recommended that a contribu-

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

tion should be made by the church for that purpose, and this course was adopted. The committee prepared a list of about twenty volumes, which were deemed suitable for the designed object. The list began with " The Holy Bible." Then followed "Leslie's Short and Easy Method with Deists," Baxter's "Saints' Rest," Doddridge's "Rise and Progress of Religion," " Wilberforce on Christianity," and kindred works. It is clear that the reading was to be of a very de- cided character. The books named were highly and deservedly approved in the churches. If they are not much read now, it is to be doubted whether works of a higher order have supplanted them. The esti- mated cost of the books proposed was $13.50. The deacons were desired to solicit donations of money, or of any of the books which had been designated, that the library might be started. The response was gen- erous, and the library was established and placed under the care of the church, which was annually to choose a librarian and a committee on books. The title agreed upon for the new organization was "The Li- brary of the First Church." The pastor was chosen librarian. Probably the project was his in the begin- ning. A catalogue was printed, embracing 109 books.

This is the place to bring together a few other mat- ters of a similar character. In the summer of 1815 a Sabbath-school was opened at the meeting-house, with the design of promoting "the moral and religious im- provement of children and youth." During three summers the school was taught by Miss Mary Mun- roe and Miss Hannah Tenney. Five other young ladies came to their assistance, and Mr. James Farns- worth, master of the grammar school, tendered his services for the instruction of boys. "More than eighty children of both sexes received instruction at the Sabbath-school. They were taught to read and to commit to memory select portions of the Bible, catechisms, hymns and prayers, and to answer Cum- mings' questions on the New Testament. Books and tracts were early provided for their use. In 1819 the pastor presented the design and needs of the school to the congragation, "and a collection was afterwards taken for purchasing small books to be distributed among the children as an encouragement for punc- tual attendance, correct lessons and good behavior."

" In 1827 books and tracts were collected by sub- scription for a juvenile library." A Board of Trustees was chosen, of which the pastor was the head. He was also librarian. In July, 1831, seven trustees were elected, and Miss Mary Ann Sawyer became librarian. The trustees were authorized to make se- lections from the library in order to form a Sabbath- school library for the Shepard Sunday school. Weare now carried beyond Dr. Holmes' pastorate, but it seems best to continue this account of the school. In 1832 it was voted that "Mr. Stephen Farwell, then superintendent in the Sabbath-school, be appointed and requested to deliver the books selected for the use of the Sabbath-school." Afterward, in 1835, a

Sabbath-school society was. formed "for the purpose of promoting more effectually Sabbath-school instruc- tion," and both libraries for the young were trans- ferred to its care, and were brought together under the name of " Juvenile and Shepard Sabbath-school Library."

We now come to transactions affecting the connec- tion between the church and the college. From the first they had held their Sunday services together, and the relation had been very intimate. In 1814 the corporation and overseers decided that it was best for the members of the college to hold religious ser- vices by themselves. It was thought that this change would secure services which would be more directly appropriate to those connected with the college, and would give an opportunity for transferriog to Sunday certain discourses which had been delivered on a week-day. The approved practice of other colleges favored the change. The completion of University Hall, which contained a commodious chapel, made a good occasion for the proposed measure. It was designed to have a church organized and to have re- ligious ordinances duly administered. Members of the college government, with their families, and students, graduates and undergraduates were to be the only stated communicants. A committee, including the reverend president, was appointed to notify the minister and congregation of the parish of the design, and " to express the sentiments of regard and frater- nity felt by the members of the several college Boards, and the desire of Christian and friendly communion between the two societies." President Kirkland, as chairman, addressed a letter to the pastor, and the church and congregation, laying the matter before them in appropriate terms. He said : "The ties of neighborhood and friendship, the sympathy and re- gard naturally produced by a communion in religious acts, and the experience of edification and comfort in attendance upon your services, combine to make us wish to continue going to the house of God in com- pany." The committee expressed the belief that the separation, although in some respects painful and un- desirable, would, on being viewed in all its bearings, receive approval. A conference was held to determine the future relations of the parish and college. When the proposals of the college had been received, the church voted " that the reasons assigned for the pro- posed measure, so far as it respects this church, are entirely satisfactory, and that the church is ready to concur in the change." Those who were to leave the old church for the new one were to be dismissed in the customary manner. Five delegates, with the pastor, were appointed to assist in the formation of the new church, and the pastor was "requested to reciprocate the assurance of regard and fraternity so kindly ex- pressed by the university toward us." The pastor ac- cordingly replied to the letter of the president in words full of feeling. He said: " Allowing ourselves, however, to be influenced on this occasion by no other

CAMBRIDGE.

consideration than a regard to the best interests of the university, we cannot but acquiesce in a measure designed for its benefit. Our prayer to God is that it may, in all respects, be of kindly and salutary influ- ence, and particularly that it may conduce to the re- ligious interests of the university-a seminary conse- crated ' to Christ and the Church.'" The president and fifteen others signed the covenant upon which the church was to be formed. This is dated " Harvard Col- lege, November 6, 1814." The record of the church closes with the statement that "on the moruing of Lord's Day, 6 November, 1814, the church was organ- ized at University Hall, in the presence and by the as- sistance of the pastor and delegates of the First Church in Cambridge." It was an interesting and important event in the history of both church and college.

In the following year the pastor made a discovery of great interest and value. There was no catalogue of the members of the church in its earliest years, though many names could be inferred from the fact that a freeman was of necessity a member of the church. Even with this method but a portion of the names could be obtained. But in 1815 Dr. Holmes found among the collections of the Rev. Thomas Prince, who had been the minister of the old South Church in Boston, and who died in 1758, a manuscript regis- ter, in the handwriting of Rev. Jonathan Mitchel, containing a list of the members of the church under this title: "The Church of Christ at Cambridge, in New England. The names of all the meinbers thereof that are in full communion; together with their children who were either baptized in this church or (coming from other churches) who were in their mi- nority at their parents' joyning, taken and registered, in the 11 month, 1658." Dr. Prince was a noted col- lector of books and papers relating to the history of New England, and he doubtless regarded this paper as of rare worth. The church directed that this list should be bound np with the records, and that blank leaves should be left for the record of other papers. It is much to be regretted that the list of members cannot be continued through the years which inter- vened before the settlement of Mr. Brattle. This is now impossible.

Another blank-book was to be procured "for the preservatiou of the reports on the state of the church stock, etc.," and other important papers suitable to be preserved with them ; such as Acts of the Legislature relative to parish aud ministry lands, the setting off of parishes within the town of Cambridge, etc., etc.

In 1807 Dr. Holmes left the ancient house in which the ministers had so long resided, and removed to the house in Holmes' Place, so well known through the writings of his son, Oliver Wendell Holmes. "The gambrel-roof house" remained in the family until a few years since, when it passed into the possession of the college. It was subsequently taken down; but the work of the photographer will preserve the fa- miliar appearance of it.

In 1807 a meeting-house was erected in that part of the town which was already rejoicing in visions of commercial prosperity, and which, in anticipation of its importance, had been made a port of entry and was designated as Cambridgeport. That part of the town had been under the care of the minister of the First Church, "who was wont in his visits to dis- tribute catechisms and hymn-books, and to question the children upon religious doctrines and duties." The new church will have its own place in this nar- ration. But some things concerning it properly be- long here. "In 1805 Royal Makepeace and others were incorporated for the purpose of building a meet- ing-house, by the name of Cambridgeport Meeting- House Company, and the next year they proceeded to erect a large brick edifice on Columbia Street, be- tween Harvard Street and Broadway, which was dedi- cated Jan. 1, 1807, and was the first house of public worship in Cambridgeport." The sermon of dedica- tion was preached by Dr. Holmes. "By an act passed March 1, 1808, the proprietors of the meeting-house, together with all the inhabitants and estates in the Fifth School District in Cambridge, east of Dana Street and a line extended in the same direction northerly to Charlestown (now Somerville), and south - erly to the river, were incorporated as the Cambridge- port Parish ; and, Feb. 2, 1809, the proprietors (re- serving private ownership of pews) conveyed to the parish the meeting-house and lot, containing two acres, together with a parsonage lot at the northeast- erly corner of Harvard and Prospect Streets." A church was organized in connection with the new parish, July 14, 1809. The first pastor was settled in 1814. In a small book, entitled "Two. Huudred Years Ago; or, a Brief History of Cambridgeport and East Cambridge, with details of some of the early settlers. A Christmas and Birthday gift for young persons," we are taken back to that day. "At the close of this year we had the satisfaction of knowing that we were to have a permanent minister, Mr. Thomas Brattle Gannett having accepted our unani- mous call, to the great joy of all the parish. He was installed pastor of the Cambridgeport Parish January 1st, 1814. Notwithstanding the roads were almost impassable, the church was filled to overflowing." Dr. Holmes preached at the ordination of Mr. Gan- nett, from the words "I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." One who afterwards wrote the history of that church, said of the sermon and the preacher, " It reads as placid as he looked. It is another instance of that now lost art of felicitously weaving in Scripture lan- gnage with the texture of every sentence and the expression of every thought, which gave such pecu- liar unction to the most common utterances of the older divines." Mr. Gannett was born in Cambridge, February 20, 1789, and graduated at Harvard College in 1809. He remained with the church for twenty years, when he was dismissed at his own request, after

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

"a singularly blameless ministry." He took no act- ive part in the theological contest which here fell in the years of his pastorate, "but devoted himself en- tirely to the inculcation of those moral duties and Christian graces which become the true disciples of Christ." After his resignation he resided in Cam- bridge for ten years, holding [the office of town clerk in 1840-42, and serving as a Representative in the General Court in 1834, 1835, 1837, 1838. He removed to South Natick in 1843, and there ministered to the Unitarian Church. There he died, April 19, 1851.

Among other memorials of Dr. Holmes' ministry is "A sermon delivered at the Episcopal Church in Cambridge, by the request of the Wardens and Vestry, December 25, 1809, in celebration of the nativity of our Blessed Saviour. By Abiel Holmes, D.D., Minis- ter of the First Church in Cambridge." The text was, "The desire of all nations shall come." At that time the Episcopal Church was for the most part supplied by lay readers. Affixed to the sermon is this note: "At a meeting of the congregation be- longing to the Protestant Episcopal Church in Cam- bridge, January 7, 1810-voted, That the thanks of this Society be presented to the Rev. Dr. Holmes for the learned and appropriate discourse by him de- livered in this Church, on the last Christmas day ; and that he be requested to furnish a copy of the same for the press." The note is signed William Winthrop, Sen. Warden.

In connection with the service of song in the house of the Lord it is of interest to find one of Dr. Holmes' sermons inscribed, "This day Watts's Psalms and hymns introduced instead of Tate and Brady." It was preached in the afternoon of June 29, 1817. The text was. "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."

Some extracts from the sermon will show its spirit and show, also, the hope of the preacher. "To the skilful performance of the choir we are much indebted for the order, and harmony, the solemnity and effect, with which this part of Divine service is performed. The style of sacred music is, of late years, essentially improved; and the exclusion of light and unhallowed airs, so foreign to the solemnity of the subject and the place, is itself highly favorable to our improvement in piety and devotion and, at the same time, more easily admits the union of a great proportion of the assembly in this common duty,-the social praise of Almighty God. Let us not, then, leave this interest- ing, improving and delightful service to be performed wholly by others. Let none be listless, or indifferent to it. Let none regard it as a mere entertainment. Above all, let none either perform, or hear it per- formed, with levity. Let us all be supplied with books. Let those who can, with any propriety, bear a part in singing the high praises of God ; and let the rest have their eyes fixed on the psalm or hymn

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 33

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1034

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034