USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lowell > History of Pawtucket Church and Society : with reminiscences of pastors and founders, sketches of Congregational churches in Lowell, and a brief outline of Congregationalism > Part 12
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Rev. Dr. Foster was at once recalled to fill the vacant pulpit, and began, May 16, 1866, a second pastorate which lasted until November 29, 1878, when failing health again forced him to retire from active service, and he became pastor emeritus. Rev. J. B. Seabury, who had been installed as associate pastor September 8, 1875, assumed the full work of the pastorate when the senior pastor retired, and remained until May 2, 1882. Rev. Henry T. Rose, the present pastor, was installed October 10, 1883.
The house of worship erected in 1839 was im- proved in 1846, again extensively repaired, at a cost of $10,000, in 1871, and still further improved and beautified in 1883, at a cost of about $3,000. It is centrally located, commodious, attractive, and well adapted to the use for which it was intended.
The total membership has been fifteen hundred and thirty-three, of whom eight hundred and fifty- one have united by profession of faith. The church has given liberally of her own members to help form two sister churches, has sent at least half a score of her sons into the christian ministry, and nearly as many of her daughters into missionary work at home and abroad. Her contributions to the cause of Christ abroad cannot accurately be stated, but aggregate about $27,000, in addition to considerable sums given by the Sabbath School and Ladies' Benev- olent Society. The record of her position on the great moral questions and reforms of the past, espec- ially the anti-slavery reform, is one upon which she can look back with pride, and upon the temperance question and other great reforms of the present, her position is no less pronounced. Whatever the future
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may bring, her past, at least, is secure ; she has ever been worthy of the love her children have felt for her, and in eternity, doubtless, a multitude will rise up to call her blessed .*
A new church organ has recently been procured by this society at a cost of $6,361.19, which is con- sidered one of the best in the city. It was built by Mr. George S. Hutchins, of Boston, who built the fine instruments now in use by the First Universalist and First Congregational Societies of this city, and was dedicated on Monday evening, November 28, 1887. The Lowell Morning Mail, in its issue of November 19, 1887, gave a very interesting techni- cal description in detail of this organ, written by Charles H. Burbank, Esq., which was highly appre- ciated by those acquainted with organ construction. Mr. Burbank says : " The advent of a new, large church organ, planned on a liberal scale and exe- cuted without stint of cost or care, is an important event in any community, and of course doubly im- portant to the congregation which has caused the instrument to be procured. The church itself is not only favored, but the example of public spirit mani- fested is an inspiration to others to proceed with like good works. Happily in this case, neither parsimony nor haste were permitted to interfere with the production of as perfect a work as the highest artistic conception could plan or the most perfect mechanical skill could execute."
* John Street Church Manual.
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HIGH STREET CHURCH.
The High Street Church was organized in 1846. On the 2d day of March (1846) Erastus D. Leavitt, Artemas L. Brooks, John Tuttle, their associates and successors, were incorporated under the name of the Proprietors of the High Street Church in Lowell. The enterprise of establishing a fifth Congregational church in Lowell, to be located on the east side of Concord River, seems to have been suggested by the failure of St. Luke's Church (which was incorpo- rated February 25, 1842), and the feeling that the field should be occupied by some Protestant denomination. . It was thought by some of the pro- jectors that the John Street Church could, without detriment to itself, spare some of its members and that there were a sufficient number of church-going people in the neighborhood to justify the effort of entering upon the new enterprise.
The first meeting to consider the expediency of entering upon the work was held in the vestry of the John Street Church, July 7, 1845, Nathan Crosby acting as moderator. It was then certain that the proprietors of the unfinished edifice known as St. Luke's Church would sell the property on terms that would be acceptable, and measures were taken to see what other site could be procured if necessary. Various propositions were made and rejected or withdrawn, but at length the matter was satisfacto- rily arranged and the purchase made, in accordance with a vote passed December 4, 1845. It was voted at the same meeting to commence worship in the
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lecture-room of the St. Luke's Church the second Sabbath of the month-December 14, 1845.
The church was organized January 25, 1846, and the name changed to High Street Church. The in- auguration of the church took place in the John Street Church, June 25, 1846 .*
Theodore Atkinson was installed pastor February 25, 1846, and dismissed June 28, 1847.
Joseph H. Towne was installed December 15, 1847, and dismissed May 22, 1854.
Orpheus 'T. Lamphear was installed September 5, 1855, and dismissed October 21, 1856.
Owen Street was installed September 16, 1857, and remained until his death, which occurred May 27, 1887, aged 71 years, 8 months and 19 days. His faithful services will long be felt in Lowell.
C. W. Huntington, from the Central Congrega- tional Church in Providence, R. I., was installed February 29, 1888. The installation ceremonies were as follows :
Scripture Lesson, by Rev. Henry T. Rose, of Lowell. Sermon, by Rev. W. E. Merriman, D. D., of Boston. Installing Prayer, by Rev. J. M. Greene, D. D., of Lowell. Fellowship of the Churches, by Rev. S. W. Adriance, of Lowell. Charge to the Pastor, by W. E. Wolcott, of Lawrence. Address to the People, by Rev. Smith Baker, D. D., of Lowell.
* Lowell Illustrated, by Frank P. Hill.
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HIGHLAND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
The enterprise which resulted in the formation of this church had its origin in an informal meeting of seven persons, held February 21, 1883. The dis- tance to the nearest church of the Congregational order, a mile away, and the rapid growth of the Highlands, were the reasons for the beginning of the work. The meeting was held at the residence of Dea. John T. Carter, No. 3 Loring Street, and organized with James G. Buttrick for chairman and Hamden Spiller secretary. Four of these seven persons continued with the movement until the organization of the church and were chosen its first deacons.
At an adjourned meeting, held February 27th, at the house of the chairman, when eleven persons were present, the "Highland Congregational Asso- ciation " was organized, with an executive committee of seven to take charge of the enterprise, consisting of James G. Buttrick, Hamden Spiller, Edwin Lam- son, Cyrus B. Emerson, John T. Carter, I. K. Good- ale and William L. Davis. It was decided to start with a preaching service on Sabbath afternoon, a prayer meeting in the evening, a week-day prayer meeting, and to follow later with a Sabbath school, as the way should be opened.
The first service was held at Highland Hall, on the afternoon of Sunday, March 11, 1883, when the Rev. J. M. Greene, D. D., pastor of the Eliot Con- gregational Church, preached from the text, Prov. ix: 11. Thereafter, until the church was organized, regular preaching services were held every Sabbath,
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HIGHLAND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
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the various pastors of the city kindly giving their services in aid of the new movement.
July 8, 1883, the Sabbath school was organized and placed in charge of a committee, who chose James G. Buttrick superintendent and Willard Everett secretary and treasurer.
At a meeting of the executive committee, held June 28th, the devotional committee was instructed to arrange for organizing a church as soon as thirty families were found ready to join.
The first social gathering was held July 25th, when a committee on visitation of the sick was appointed.
August 12th, Rev. S. L. Blake, D. D., preaching, the first baptism took place, and Percy Irwin Perkins was dedicated by his parents to the Lord.
At a meeting held November 8th, of all inter- ested, when seventy-five to one hundred were pres- ent, it was voted that a church be organized, to be called " The Highland Congregational Church," and committees were appointed on creed, on the legal bearings of organizing without a society, and organ- ization and council.
The church was organized January 1, 1884, at the Highland Methodist Episcopal Church, by council, Rev. C. L. Woodworth, D. D., of Boston, moderator, and Rev. Henry T. Rose, of Lowell, scribe, with forty- seven members by letter. The services of recognition were held in the evening in the Eliot Church, Rev. J. L. Withrow, D. D., of Boston, preaching the sermon. At the communion service which followed six were received by profession.
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Rev. Dr. C. W. Wallace, of Manchester, N. H., · was secured for acting pastor for the first six months.
In May the church obtained an act of the legisla- ture incorporating John T. Carter and others, mem- bers of Highland Congregational Church, into a legal body with the privilege of holding property for religious and parochial uses to the amount of $50,000.
September 9, 1884, the church voted a unani- mous call to Rev. S. Winchester Adriance, of Wood- fords, Me., to become its pastor. The call was accepted and Mr. Adriance commenced his labors November 1st.
The church continued to worship at Highland Hall until near the close of their first year.
Mr. Adriance is a graduate of Dartmouth College of the class of 1873. After a year of mercantile life in New York City, with Charles Scribner's Sons, he entered Andover Theological Seminary, spending two years there, and graduating at Princeton Theo- logical Seminary in April, 1877. May 22, 1877, he was ordained by the Presbytery of North River, and installed pastor of the Lloyd Presbyterian Church, Highland, N. Y. He resigned there in August, 1880, and in October, 1880, was installed pastor of the Congregational Church at Woodfords, Me .*
This society has recently built and dedicated a new and elegant church edifice. The following is condensed from an elaborate description given in Vox Populi of June 27, 1888 :
The new Highland Congregational Church was dedicated Thursday evening, June 21, 1888, with appropriate services, although the edifice is
* Highland Church Manual.
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not quite completed. It stands at the corner of Westford and South Canton Streets. The determination to build was reached on December 15, 1886, and the corner-stone was laid August 15, 1887. The building is about eighty feet in width and one hundred and three in depth, on the outside, from extremes. It faces Westford Street, and stands forty feet from the side- walk, the intervening space being laid out in lawns and walks. The material is faced brick, with granite and free-stone trimmings, and the style of archi- tecture is Gothic, with buttresses, hip-roof and gravel top. The main part of the structure is octagonal in shape, the four corners of the square being cut off, and giving eight sides of unequal width. This makes it something in the form of an amphitheatre, and removes all sharp angles. The roof is supported by four trusses, each weighing four tons and capable of sustaining ten tons each. It is well slated and graveled. At the right of the entrance on the westerly corner, stands the bell-tower, sixty-five feet tall, nineteen feet square, and pierced by twelve windows-four on each side. Eventually a spire may be added, the foundation being built with that end in view. On the easterly corner, opposite, is a slated turret, of less height than the tower but sufficient to balance it. The bell weighs 2200 pounds and was made at the Buckeye Bell Foundry, Vanduzen & Tift, proprietors, Cincinnati, Ohio. It was presented to the church by M. G. Perkins, a member of the parish.
The dedication services were attended by an audience testing the capacity of the main room to its fullest limit. Chairs were placed in all available places and many stood in the aisles and vestibule. The pulpit platform was elaborately and beautifully decorated with floral emblems and bouquets. The sermon was preached by Rev. A. H. Plumb, D. D., of Boston. His text was Psalms LXXXIV : I- "How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts !" The dedicatory service was read by Rev. Mr. Adriance, the prayer was offered by Rev. J. W. Haley, a member of the church, and Rev. C. W. Huntington, of the High Street Church, pronounced the benediction.
The expenses have reached $31,000, and will make a total of $35,000 when the vestry is completed and the organ in place. The building without furniture cost $27,000, an excess of $2,000 over the estimated expense of the entire structure and furnishings.
FRENCH PROTESTANT CHURCH.
In 1877 Rev. T. G. A. Coté came from Canada to Lowell to solicit aid for mission work among the destitute in that country. Finding here a large French population who did not attend any church, it was thought best by the pastors of the Congrega-
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tional churches that he should commence mission work among them .* Mr. Coté entered upon the work, which proved eminently successful, and a society was formed June 20, 1877, and a church was organized July 3rd. The first services were holden in the Wyman building, June 17th. The society continued to worship in the Wyman building until February 24, 1879, when the building was burned and accommodations were secured at the rooms of the Young Men's Christian Association. Worship was continued here until a permanent place was provided by building a neat and comfortable church edifice at the corner of Fletcher and Bowers Streets.
The church was organized with twelve members and has increased to one hundred and twenty-one. The Sabbath School numbers more than one hundred.
As the French population in Lowell numbers about twelve thousand, and most of them are un- acquainted with the English language, the Congre- gational churches have all cheerfully aided in the establishment of this church, that the gospel might be preached to them in their own language.
Rev. T. G. A. Coté was installed pastor July 3, 1877, and remained until February 15, 1884, when he resigned, to enter the service of the Massachusetts Home Missionary Society of Boston.
Rev. C. E. Amaron was installed in June, 1884.
Kirk Street Church Manual.
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A DISBANDED CHURCH.
Comparatively few of our citizens, probably, are aware of the fact that the Third Congregational Church organized in Lowell, after a severe struggle with financial embarrassment for a few years, was disbanded and its members united with such other churches as best suited their choice and convenience. The organization of this church was at the time considered an enterprise fully justified and abun- dantly expedient, from the fact that the audience- room of the First Congregational Church had be- come too small (for a second time) to properly accommodate those who worshiped there, and many members, with others from the Second Church (afterwards known as the Appleton Street Church and now as the Eliot), were willing to unite to form a new church.
We have received from Dea. Samuel B. Simonds a full and complete history of this church, from which we condense a brief account, as follows :
The preliminary steps for the formation of a Third Congregational Church were taken at a meet- ing held in the vestry of the First Congregational Church, June 25, 1832. Letters-missive calling a council were sent out to the following-named churches : The First and Second Congregational Churches, Lowell; the First Church, Dracut; Con- gregational Church, Pelham, N. H .; Congregational Church, Tewksbury; South Church, Andover ; First Church, Methuen. This council met July 2, 1832.
The testimonials of christian character and reg- ular standing, together with the reasons for forming
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a third church by those uniting in the enterprise, were presented and considered satisfactory, and eighty-three persons, by assenting to a confession of faith which had been adopted and entering into covenant with each other, were constituted a Con- gregational church, and at subsequent meetings the proper officers were chosen. The first preparatory lecture and communion service was attended by Rev. Daniel S. Southmaid.
On December 18, 1832, a call was extended to Rev. Charles Kittredge to settle, "at a salary of $700 the first year, to be increased $300 when the resources of the church would admit." This call was declined. Several other calls were extended and declined-by Rev. John Smith, of Exeter, N. H., and Rev. Austin Richards, of Francestown, N. H. Septem- ber 2, 1833, a call was given to Rev. Giles Pease, of Coventry, R. I., and it was accepted, and he was in- stalled October 2, 1833. The order of exercises of the installation services were as follows :
Introductory prayer, Rev. Joseph Bennett. Sermon, Rev. Mr. Waterman. Installing prayer, Rev. Dr. Church. Charge to Pastor, Rev. Mr. Twining. Right-hand of Fellowship, Rev. Amos Blanchard, First Church. Concluding prayer, Rev. Jacob Coggin, Tewksbury.
Public services were maintained in a building at the corner of Market (then Lowell) and Suffolk Streets. The record says : "Harmony and activity was apparent in the labors of pastor and people, and a large congregation assembled at the church every Sunday. From the outset the apparent demand for this church was fully demonstrated."
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During the year 1833, by reason of financial irreg- ularities of the treasurer, the Church was obliged to give up its house of worship and hold its meetings at the Town Hall for a season; but on account of lack of proper management, it was destined to con- stant depression and trouble in its money affairs.
About a year after the settlement of its pastor, a communication was sent to the First and Second Churches, setting forth the embarrassed condition of the Third Church and pecuniary aid solicited. On January 20th a committee was appointed to take into consideration the subject of procuring a new church edifice, the result of which was the purchase of the "theatre building," situated on the north side of Market Street, the second building above Worthen Street, at an expense of $4000. Considerable aid was furnished by people who were not specially interested in the church, but were wil- ling to be rid of the theatre.
At the dedication of this house of worship (after it had been remodelled) a large audience assembled, owing in part to the fact that one Henry Patch had circulated the report that a " performance would be given that evening at the theatre."
In 1834 the church began the free-church sys- tem, and adopted the name of "The First Free Church of Lowell," but it resumed its former name (The Third Congregational Church) in 1837.
May 31, 1836, at the request of Mr. Pease, his pastoral relations with the church were dissolved. In 1837 the church voted to send a communication to the other churches, giving a full statement of its
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embarrassed pecuniary condition and ask advice as to the proper course to pursue.
May 9, 1838, the church voted to choose a com- mittee to draft a communication to send to the First and Second Churches, asking their advice in regard to calling a council to disband the church. The re- cords are silent as to the final result; but tradition informs us that the remaining members voted them- selves letters of dismission and recommendation to other churches of their choice.
A Brief Sketch of Congregationalism.
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ITS ANTIQUITY.
Congregationalists profess to be advocates of principles as ancient as the Bible itself, though they do not claim to have been a distinct body bearing their present name, until a comparatively recent period. They maintain that the primitive apostolic churches were all congregational, that they were all separate, distinct, and independent, each managed by their respective members or congregations and subject to no ecclesiastical dictation or control.
Although each church was established upon the congregational principle, the name had no signifi- cance at that time; because there was no other order or denomination among christians, and no need of a name by which to distinguish it.
After a time (about two hundred years) this principle of independency was lost in the papal hierarchy and for many centuries the christian church was scarcely known.
The Weldenses, most of whom dwelt in the valleys of Piedmont, are known to have been, from about the middle of the twelfth century or perhaps somewhat later, the adherents of a purer faith and holier worship, but they were a despised and perse- cuted people-some of their persecutions being
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among the bloodiest in history, calling forth Milton's immortal sonnet beginning :
"Avenge, O Lord! thy slaughtered saints whose bones Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold."
And they were almost alone in the world as the friends of true christianity.
The reformation was begun by Martin Luther in the early part of the sixteenth century and resulted in a religious revolution. All Europe at this time, with but few exceptions, was under the dominion of the church of Rome, but in twenty years from the day on which Luther burned the bull of Leo before the gates of Whittenberg, Protestantism had assumed a distinctive position. In Saxony and most of the German principalities-Sweden and Denmark, Hun- garia and Bohemia, Poland and the Netherlands, France and Spain, Switzerland and England-the reformation had gained a foothold, and the assump- tions of the Roman Church successfully resisted.
One of the results of the agitation and discus- sion which attended the reformation was the adop- tion of various forms of church government. Upon other points the reformners and their successors were mainly agreed; but church government was the great subject upon which they were divided, and the different names which distinguished the princi- pal sects that arose had no reference to their belief upon other questions but only to the form and gov- ernment of their ecclesiastical organizations. The name of Congregationalists, borne by the denomi- nation (like the name of other denominations which originated about the same time) is strictly applicable
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only to the organization of the church and its sys- tem of government. Soon after the reformation had been well commenced, those who adopted and practiced upon the principles of Congregationalism began to appear in England. In the spirit of Con- gregationalism several churches were formed pre- vious to the year 1600. But probably tthe first church of purely Congregational form, was gath- ered in England about 1602, first at Gainsborough and afterwards, for convenience, extended to the little town of Scrooby, to the north of the Trent, near the joining borders of Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. Richard Clifton and John Robinson were the pastors, and William Brewster elder. Active in assisting this little organization was Wil- liam Bradford, an orphan lad of seventeen, belong- ing to a prominent yeoman family in a neighboring village. He is better known at this time as Gov- ernor Bradford, having, after coming to this country in the Mayflower in 1620, become governor of Plymouth Colony in 1621.
KING JAMES.
In 1603 James I. became king of England. There had previously been great persecution in religious affairs and King James attempted to settle them. He found the Protestants divided into three classes -the High Ritualists, the Puritans and the Sepa- ratists.
The High Ritualists were then beginning to claim divine authority for their form of govern-
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ment and the ceremonial of the Church of England. The King, as the annointed head of the church on earth, was Christ's vicegerent ; his civil authority was no less exalted. Hence they openly preached that the King was above all human law ; that he might withdraw the most solemn promises made to his subjects in return for their most solemn conces- sions, and that he might annul even such laws as he had sworn to obey. He might, at his pleasure, take the lives and property of his people, and whoever refused to obey him herein subjected himself to eter- nal punishment. The King and the leading officers of the church belonged to this section. There was also connected with it a body of men who did not accept their slavish doctrines as permanent, but looked for some day in the remote future when re- forms might be desirable.
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