USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wakefield > History of the First Baptist Church in Wakefield, Mass., 1800-1900 > Part 2
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WAKEFIELD BAPTIST CHURCH.
manner. About one hundred were hopefully con- verted in that town, and in Saugus nearly as many more. In referring to this revival six years after, Mr. Davis says : "As the fruits of that work, thirty- six were added to the church under my pastoral care, and thirty-one to the Congregational Church."
Such was the prosperity of the church that this year the meeting house was removed from its site on Salem street to another on Main street, corner of Crescent, and subsequently enlarged by an addition of sixteen feet to its length, making its dimensions thirty-eight by fifty feet, with the ad- dition of a new porch and a belfry.
In 1822 Lilley Eaton died, in his fifty-fourth year, the eldest of the three brethren who were the first of the church baptized in this town. He was a successful business man and from the "organi- zation of the church had contributed the most towards its pecuniary aid." He occupied the house that stands upon the corner of Main and Salem streets which was erected by him in 1804, and was, at that time, by far, the most imposing dwelling in the village. In this house he furnished a room, free of charge, for the religious, social and conference meetings of the church. In the third story of the house was an unfinished hall, furnished and used for this purpose, especially on Sabbath evenings. The house was long known as the "Pilgrims' Hotel," because of the generous wel- come given to travelling clergymen, and brethren
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and sisters of the faith who frequently resorted thither. After the erection of this house he opened therein a country store, and in 1813 had the honor of establishing the first temperance grocery ever kept in the town.
In 1826, the Lord again visited his people with "showers of blessing." Meetings for conference and prayer, held at first in private houses, were removed, on account of the increased attendance, to the school house, and ultimately to the meet- ing house, to accommodate the people. More than fifty were hopefully converted, and this year thirty-six were added to the church by baptism.
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CHAPTER III.
To this church belongs the credit of founding one amongst the earliest Baptist institutions of learning in this country. In the earlier history of this church, published in 1841 we find the following :
"In 1828 an Academy was erected in this place, by subscription of the Baptist church and society, to furnish a school for pious young men, who might here pursue studies preparatory to entering college, or the Theological Institution at Newton."
There are existing but seven Baptist institu- tions antedating this school; Brown University, Providence, R. I., founded in 1764 ; Hebron Acad- emy, Hebron, Me., in 1804; Colby College, Waterville, Me., in 1818; Hamilton Theological Seminary and Colgate University, in Hamilton, N. Y., in 1819 ; The Columbian University, Wash- ington, D. C., in 1821, and Newton Theological Institution in 1825. It will be seen that with the exception of Brown University and Hebron Acad- emy the other schools have a priority of ten years and less over the South Reading Academy, as this was named.
The founding of this school was probably owing, in large measure, to the. scholarly tastes of the
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pastor of this church, Rev. Mr. Davis, who, though a young man, and with limited advantages for an early education, pursued the study of the classics to such an extent that, coupled with his natural abilities, he won the degree of Master of Arts, and later of Doctor of Divinity.
It must have been a proud day for the Baptists of this town when they could point to a flourishing denominational school in their midst, the product of their faith and zeal.
The first teachers of this school were Rev. John Stevens and Rev. Wm. Heath as associate Princi- pals. Rev. John Stevens D.D., was a graduate of Middlebury College, Vt., in 1821, and pursued a course of instruction in Andover Theological Seminary under the instruction of Moses Stuart, and was a successful teacher of the classics in Middlebury College before coming to South Read- ing. In 1828, he became Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy in Granville College, O., and later was made Professor of Greek and Latin in Denison University, retaining his position as Professor of Latin in that Institution till his death in 1877. Rev. William Heath, the father of Mrs. Joseph Morton, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1826. Among his classmates was the late Chief Justice Chase. For a year after his graduation he was a tutor in the preparatory department of The Columbian University at Washington. He then entered the Newton Theological Institution and
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soon after graduating from the latter institution, entered upon his duties as Principal of the South Reading Academy. He was ordained as an evangelist July 1, 1835, and after two brief pastor- ates in Shelburne Falls and Reading he resided in Wakefield, and was an active and useful member of this church till his death in 1869.
For several years the school was very flourishing and maintained a high reputation for its instruc- tion in English and classical learning. But in time the falling off of Theological students and lack of funds necessitated the closing of the institu- tion. Eventually the building was sold to the town and was used as a public school building until its removal a few years since to give place to the commodious Lincoln school house which stands upon its site. It then passed into the hands of H. M. Warren Post, No. 12, G. A. R., and was removed to Foster street, where it is now occupied by the Post.
The year following (1829) Mr. Davis having received a call to the First Baptist Church in Hartford, Conn., closed his pastorate in July, having received into the church during his minis- try here one hundred and six persons, ninety-five of them by baptism. Mr. Davis retained his pastorate in Hartford "beloved and respected " till his death in 1836. We are enabled to give only this brief outline of his short, but eminently useful life. He was born in Boston in 1797. At
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an early age he became an orphan and was apprenticed to a trade in Worcester where he was converted at the age of sixteen. He began preach- ing at seventeen years of age, was ordained at nineteen, was married at twenty, and settled first at Preston, Conn., from whence he removed to this place in 1818, at the age of twenty-one, removing from here to Hartford, where he died at thirty-nine years of age.
"He had naturally strong powers of mind, a very tenacious memory, a rapid conception, large self-possession, and a ready utterance. His style of address was simple, earnest, pointed and laconic, well suited to interest a popular audience. He had an uncommon aptness in employing and applying Scripture, in his discourses, to passing events."
This church will never know how largely its prosperous career may be owing, under God, to the long and eminently successful pastorates of its first two ministers which, combined, cover a period of more than twenty-four years. Another long pastorate at the middle of the century, that of Dr. Phillips from 1850 to 1863, has left an indelible impression upon this church. Do not experience and observation teach us that long pastorates, other things being equal, are more productive in developing the healthy and vigorous growth of a church, than short pastorates, however brilliant, with the disturbances which frequent changes
WAKEFIELD BAPTIST CHURCH. 27
inevitably produce? It may not be amiss to note here that of the seventeen ministers this church has settled during the century the pastorates of four of them, combined, cover one-half of this period.
Within three months after the close of the pastorate of Mr. Davis the church had called and settled Rev. Joseph A. Warne.
In May of the following year (1830) this church sent forth its first missionary in the person of Miss Mary Walton, later Mrs. Blanchard. She pro- ceeded to a missionary station among the Western Indians. Under whose auspices she went we are not informed. Our own Home Mission Society was not organized until 1832. Ten years later she was laboring in the country of the Delaware In- dians near the western boundary of the State of Missouri. We find no record of her later.
In October, 1830, Mr. Warne was dismissed at his own request and afterwards became pastor of the Baptist church in Brookline, Mass. Although the pastorate of Mr. Warne was brief and without incident, his name should be cherished as one of the good and able ministers of this church and the denomination. Rev. Joseph A. Warne D.D., was born in the city of London, England, in the year 1795, and at an early age united with a Baptist church in that city. He received a thorough education in Stepney College and offered himself as a foreign missionary, but was compelled to
3
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relinquish his purpose owing to feeble health. He then removed with his wife to this country and settled in North Carolina. He was pastor at New- bern and principal of Imwan Academy. Com- pelled by ill health to make a change, he came north and was stated supply, or pastor of the First Church, Providence, R. I., South Reading and Brookline, Mass., and Sansom Street of Philadel- phia. About the year 1845 he left the pastorate and lived in retirement. Later he edited the Baptist edition of the "Comprehensive Commen- tary," a work highly and justly prized by our fathers in the ministry, and which some of us still retain upon our shelves. The peculiar feature about his life was his consecration to the cause of foreign missions. We are told that "when Dr. Price's children came to this country, and their own relatives refused to receive them because their mother was a Burmese, he took them under his roof and gave them an education." After his retirement from the pastorate he occupied himself in making and saving money for foreign missions. Some time before his death, which occurred early in 1881, he made over his entire estate to the Mis- sionary Union, accepting only a small annuity for himself and wife.
In August, 1831, the church appointed a day of fasting and prayer, followed by a series of meet- ings. Several pastors of neighboring Baptist churches, by invitation, assisted in these meetings
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which produced a deep awakening. Although the church was destitute of a pastor, preaching was supplied by Rev. John Pratt, principal of the Academy. As the fruits of this revival forty were added to the church by baptism.
The following year (1832) Brother James Huck- ens, a young man from Brown University, was called to the pastorate of the church, and in Sep- tember a council convened for the purpose of ordaining him to the work of the gospel ministry. Professor Elton of Brown University preached the sermon on the occasion. Seven months later, in May, 1833, Mr. Huckens was dismissed at his own request and became pastor of a Baptist church in Andover, founded in ยท 1832. He subsequently re- moved to Charleston, S. C., which was his home at the time of his death.
The church was now pastorless about two years. It was passing through a period of sore trial. The subject of Freemasonry, that was agitating the churches throughout the land, disturbed this church, as others, and led to the passage of strong anti-masonic resolutions in the summer of 1832. The discussions upon this subject, upon the rights of women in the church, with frequent discipline for drunkenness, and other faults of its members, seem to fill the records of the church for years. But the Lord safely guided his people through this troubled period in which many churches were sadly rent, or went down in the storm.
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The church was so deeply exercised over the evils of intemperance that October 17, 1833, it passed the following resolution : " Resolved, That it is contrary to the sentiments and wishes of this church to receive to church membership any per- sons who are in the usual habit of taking ardent spirits as a drink." This seems a mild resolution in the light of today, but considering that when it was adopted the drink habit was universal in this country among all classes, including the clergy, that in 1830, there were four hundred thousand confirmed drunkards in the land, " not including those in some stage of progress toward the fixed habit," or one for every thirty inhabitants, the action of this church was an advanced stand upon this subject of which her sons may be proud today. And what is more to the point this resolution seems to have met with no opposition. It is well to preserve the names of the men who had the subject under consideration and introduced the resolution and recommended its adoption, Deacon Jacob Eaton and Hiram Sweetser.
During the year 1834 the church was supplied with preaching chiefly, by students from the Theo- logical Institution at Newton.
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CHAPTER IV.
In January, 1835, the church extended a call to Rev. Isaac Sawyer, Jr., of Jay, N. Y., to become their pastor. The call was accepted and he began his ministry here in April following.
This year is marked by two noticeable events. First, the pronounced attitude of the church on the subject of slavery, in appointing a day of humiliation and prayer "for our national sins, in reference to slavery, and that God would dispose the hearts of those who hold their fellow men in bondage, to liberate them." Subsequently a special prayer meeting for this object was held on the evening of the last Monday in each month. The old history adds that "The Salem Baptist Asso- ciation, of which this church is a member, has since recommended to the churches composing that body, the observance of the 'monthly concert of prayer for the abolition of slavery.'"'
Two years later the church took further action upon this subject "considering the great injustice done to slaves who are deprived of their natural rights, their family and conjugal ties often broken, in violation of the laws of God ; particularly after learning that the Savannah River Baptist Association of ministers gave their approval of
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licensing slaves, whose husbands or wives were sold into servitude, and separated from them, to marry others," and solemnly "voted their disapproba- tion of such doings, and that they could not con- scientiously extend to such professors the hand of fellowship, nor invite them to commune with us at the sacred table of our Lord."
To appreciate this action of the church one needs to bear in mind that at that time, and long after, the churches of the North were greatly divided on the subject of slavery, and a minister who was known to hold pronounced anti-slavery views often found it exceedingly difficult to effect a settlement with any church.
The other event of the year was the total loss of their meeting house by fire on the 20th of December, saving only the Sunday School library and the clock. This misfortune does not seem to have disheartened the church. Courteously declining the use of the Congregational church, which was promptly offered them for worship, on the day of the fire they appointed a committee to finish a hall in the Academy for their use; and two days later voted to build another house on the site of the one destroyed by the fire. The new church was dedicated in December, 1836. It was larger, and an improvement upon the former one; being sixty-eight feet in length and forty-eight feet in width, with a conference room in the basement.
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In the spring of 1836, while worshiping in the Academy, the church was blessed with an exten- sive revival, most of the converts being heads of families. The year seems to have been, in the main, a prosperous and happy one. Twenty-five persons were added to the church.
The following year (1837) was, however, one of trouble, as the records of the church show almost constant cases of discipline arising from personal differences between the members.
In the spring of 1838 Rev. Mr. Sawyer resigned and became pastor of the Baptist church in Deer- field, N. H., where, in 1840, the church enjoyed an extensive revival of religion under his ministry. Mr. Sawyer was a young man, having been in the ministry about four years before his settlement with this church. He embraced the views of the Mil- lerites respecting the speedy coming of Christ, the close of this dispensation and the dissolution of our globe, which, apparently, disturbed his relations with the church and hastened his removal. During his pastorate here he baptized forty-one persons.
In April, 1838, the same month that Mr. Sawyer left, the church invited Rev. Charles Miller to become their pastor. He accepted the invitation, but his health immediately failed so that he preached but one Sabbath after his settlement. He remained upon the field, however, six months, vainly hoping for recovery, and then resigned.
After an interval of a year and a half, in April,
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1840, Rev. Larkin B. Cole entered upon his official duties as pastor of the church. The year of his coming was distinguished for revivals of religion in many parts of the land, this church sharing with others in the divine quickening. During the spring and summer twenty-two persons were bap- tized and added to the church. But in the spring of 1841 there was a marked dissatisfaction on the part of many of the members, with the doctrinal views of the pastor which led to his resignation in January of the following year.
In February, 1842, the church called Rev. Charles Evans to the pastorate, who was installed the following month. He was a native of England and had been a missionary in the island of Sumatra. He was a worthy minister, of scholarly habits, and having the advantage of extensive travel.
In the records of the church this year, under date of September 29th, we find the following minute : " Chose Dea. Jacob Eaton a delegate to attend the Massachusetts Baptist anti-slavery con- vention to be holden at Worcester, October 5, 1842." This convention was called through the columns of the Christian Reflector, a Baptist paper, published in Boston and later consolidated with the Watchman. This item is of more than local interest, as not only indicating the attitude of this church at that time on the subject of slavery, but of the denomination throughout the Commonwealth.
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In the fall of this year the church received a valuable addition in the person of Edward Mans- field, who, with his estimable wife, joined by letter from the First Baptist church in Cambridge. He was but twenty-nine years of age yet at once identified himself with the interests of the church, which he served with Christian zeal, and great efficiency, till his death, Nov. 16, 1898, completing to a day his fifty-six years of membership in the church. It was at his suggestion, and under his active influence, that in the following year a singing school was organized, and successfully conducted in the church. This may have been the genesis of the musical talent this church has de- veloped, and for which it has been noted many years.
During this period the Millerite excitement was at its height, as William Miller, the founder of this sect, had foretold that the second advent of Christ, and the destruction of the earth would occur in 1843. In the spring of that year twenty persons withdrew from the church and joined the Millerites. The forbearance of the church with these deluded followers of Miller was such that subsequently about one-third of them returned.
In March, 1844, Rev. Mr. Evans closed his labors with the church. Later he acted for a time as pastor of two churches in Michigan, and for fifteen years was an agent of the American Tract Society. His death occurred in Connecticut, June, 1869, in the seventy-ninth year of his age.
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The following month Rev. Paul Adams became the pastor of the church. During his ministry the church enjoyed a period of great harmony, and many were added to its membership by baptism. The year 1847 is memorable as that in which the church was blessed by one of the most powerful revivals in its history, the effects of which were felt in the Congregational church and throughout the community. The interest began quietly during the Week of Prayer, the first week in January, and increased steadily for many weeks marked by a great awakening in the Sunday School and by remarkable answers to prayer. A record of the event says "A time of such general and deep religious feeling in this place had not been wit- nessed since the winter of 1803-4." The minutes of the Association this year report fifty-two persons added to this church by baptism. The pastor was assisted in this great revival by " a brother Haynes" (probably Rev. Dudley C. Haynes, pastor of the Baptist church in Marblehead ) and by those eminent Boston divines, Baron Stowe and Nathaniel Colver.
August 3, 1848, the church "voted that a con- tribution be taken after the communion service next Sabbath to aid destitute members of the church, and be dispensed according to the judg- ment of the deacons." This was the beginning of the customary monthly collections of this church at its communion services for the poor of the
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church and dispensed, as at the first, by the deacons.
In September of this year Edward Mansfield was elected clerk of the church; an office which he held, and ably filled, till his death. At the close of this month Mr. Adams finished his labors with this church, completing a successful pastorate of nearly four and one-half years. He was after- ward successively pastor at Newburyport, Mass. and Newport, N. H.
Following the departure of Mr. Adams the church was destitute of a pastor fifteen months. With the opening of the year 1850 Rev. Daniel W. Phillips, who had declined a previous call from the church, entered upon his ministry here. The installation services, January 9th, are notice- able because of the eminent men who had a part in them. The sermon was by Pharcellus Church D. D., a well known writer in the denomination, and at that time pastor of the Bowdoin Square church, Boston. The installation prayer was by the late S. F. Smith D. D., then pastor at Newton Centre, and the address to the church by Robert C. Mills D. D., of Salem. These men were then in the prime of their splendid Christian manhood. Rev. Reuben Emerson, of the Congregational church in town, pronounced the benediction.
It was the auspicious opening of a remarkably successful pastorate of more than thirteen years. During this year, at the suggestion of the pastor,
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"The Psalmist," so long and favorably known as the standard hymn book of the denomination in this country, was, after long consideration, adopted for the church service in the place of " Winchell's Watts Hymns," previously used. Another im- portant step was taken in laying the foundation of our present plan of systematic beneficence.
The year 1851 was shadowed by the death of the aged father of the pastor who was residing here with his son. Modest, kind and cheerful, he was known affectionately in the community as "Father Phillips." This affliction was followed later in the year by the death of the pastor's wife, who is men- tioned as a lady of intelligence and worth.
March 10, 1852, a special prayer meeting was held in the vestry of the church, it being the anni- versary of a meeting for fasting and prayer held fifty-one years previously in the dwelling house of Dea. Jacob Eaton. That meeting in 1801 was of deep solemnity and power. The spirit of God was manifest in the quickening of the saints and the conviction of sinners. We are not surprised to learn from the old records that, in the weeks following, many turned to the Lord and were baptized.
At this anniversary four of those present at that meeting in 1801, were still living and honored members of the church, Deacons Jacob Eaton and David Smith, and brethren Paul Sweetser and Noah Smith. Two of these were present at this
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meeting, Dea. Smith and Noah Smith, the others sent messages. We can imagine the deep interest in this meeting, when the venerable Dea. Smith of fourscore years, one of the three brethren first bap- tized in the town by Dr. Baldwin in the spring of 1794, told the story of his conversion.
The last of September following, one of these four, Paul Sweetser, passed away at seventy-three years of age. He was one of the founders of the church, a good man, who lived a devout and ex- emplary life.
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CHAPTER V.
The meeting house erected in 1836 was not equal to, the demands of the growing church and its congregations, and in the summer of 1853 about $4,000 were expended on enlargement, repairs, and interior changes. Fourteen feet were added to its length, besides raising the entire structure, making provision for a commodious vestry and committee rooms in the basement. The work was completed in time to entertain the Salem Associa- tion, which met with them October 12th and 13th.
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