USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the First church in Boston, 1630-1880 > Part 6
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you, on terms so easy and insufficient as to have no weight with others as seriously concerned as you are." The issue is momentous and intensely vital to the highest interests of humanity. A candid, generous, and tolerant spirit, with restraint of all impatient temper, and the wise use of means for attaining truth, are to be the mediators on this most serious of all discussions. One of the most impres- sive and bewildering of the real aspects of human life under its most civilized, refined, and favored conditions is, that between those who share the culture of thought, sci- ence, and wisdom, between those who meet courteously in all social relations, and even between those in the nearest and tenderest sympathies of a common family home, there is this appalling difference, that some are heaven-guided in trust and hope by a Holy Book, while others are drift- ing on unlighted seas without pilot or haven.
This matter, however, has found its way into these intro- ductory pages, because of its relation to issues which divided here the old Congregational churches. The re- pudiated brethren will rejoice at least over their immunity in the responsibility for the recasting of the creed.
It is not to be'regretted that the piety of the Puritan type and tone has become extinct even here, where in its heroic age it planted what has become to us so privileged and secure a heritage. Its sincerities having weakened, its standards and usages may well be yielded up. Its age of thorough carnestness and conviction was short, hardly passing unreduced into a second generation. Even in its own most vitalized fellowship its effects on individual char- acter were softened or roughened by the traits and ten- perament of its disciples. In Cotton and Winthrop, men of mild and gentle spirit, with sweet restrainings of zeal and passion, we have the most winning exhibitions of a steadfast fidelity toned by humility and kindness, and
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checked by a patient forbearance. In some of their asso- ciates and contemporaries, men like Endicott, Dudley, and Norton, austerity of creed, temper, and manner was not offset or relieved by the more gracious amenities and charities.
What is lamented over often, as the decay of religion and piety in our times, is explained, reduced, and largely compensated by broader, more cheerful, more generous and practical views of religion, and especially by a more unselfish regard for it as a comprehensive and universal blessing of humanity. Starting with the fundamental of the old direful creed, that all of our generations were born under a curse, with the eternal sentence already passed upon them, it could not be otherwise than that the inten- sest religious interest, its supreme passion, should centre for the individual upon his own deliverance. Left to its own natural workings, that individual dread or hope has mani- fested itself in ways sadly repulsive to those of generous minds. There is something beyond measure odious in the selfishness by which the whole problem of the universe has been made for each single individual, here or there, to turn upon the salvation of his own soul, whatever fate befalls the uncounted myriads of the human race. It prompted the instinct like that of a rush to the long-boat from a crowded wreck. The image suggested is that of St. Peter's ship floating in a surging tempest. And this took the place of the Saviour's all-pitying love, and of the Father's house of many mansions. The approved Scrip- ture method for saving one's own soul is in saving the soul of some other person. But the method for personal, indi- vidual salvation came to be indicated as the avowal of some sentiment, or emotion, or inner experience, or assent to a doctrine, or "accepting Jesus." So that in result it' could not but appear, in all outward seeming at least,
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that persons not one whit less devoted than others to all worldly interests, gains, and rivalries, nor at all disengaged from the jealousies and frivolities of social life, were per- suaded to believe that they had been passed over the awful. chasm that divides perdition from salvation, leaving those humanly dearest to them on the dark side. Why is it that we should assign to the Infinite Father a classifica- tion of souls so different from what we ourselves acknowl- edge when we know that some of the purest and worthiest lives and characters are exemplified before us in those who had no deliverance through the technical " Scheme of Salvation "? An enlargement of the idea of religion from its root to its fruitage was commended to us, if we ought not to say forced upon us, in this community, when the judgment was spoken and unchallenged, that in the social and business relations and responsibilities of life no addi- tional confidence was secured to a man in that he was known as a " professor," or prominent in zeal and service for a sect. Practical, generous, benevolent, and unselfish religion is the current coin among all denominations.
Of any object or institution in this changing world which, like the First Church of Boston, has the longest continuing history of anything in it in record and use, we are naturally interested to ask concerning its outlook for the future. In scarce any place on the earth could such a question present itself attended with more uncertain and perplexed condi- tions than in this city, amid the rapid and complete trans- formations of all the ordinary securities and tokens of permanency. The surface of all the original territory has been changed, and there is here more of new land than of the old. The marts of business have usurped the sites of the ancient homesteads, schools, and meeting-houses. The native population has largely sought other places for resi- dence, and foreign peoples have crowded in here. The
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costliest and newest church edifices - including that of the First Church, on its fourth site- now stand where, till recently, the tidal waters of the west bay flowed in from Charles River. One or more Protestant churches of each of the denominations have become extinct after a longer or a shorter life. A statute of the Commonwealth enjoins that the records of such extinct religious organizations be deposited with the clerk of town or city, and their history for the past must be sought in his office; though some of such churches had expired previous to this enactment. The contingencies of the continuance and the prosperity of the Protestant churches of all denominations in this city are peculiar, and not in every respect desirable or com- mendable. For a Roman Catholic Church only a popula- tion near it of that faith is necessary, the parishioners having no choice or privilege in selecting their pastor, that being the prerogative of the bishop, and it is as a func- tionary chiefly that one or another pastor serves. In a Protestant church here, whatever the denomination, indi- vidualism, with its preferences, its likes and dislikes, has supreme. sway. All depends upon the abilities and qual- ities of the minister for the time being. A church which will flourish under a strong and gifted minister, filling its pews and enriching its treasury, may waste away under an incompetent or unpopular successor. If the church be conspicuous and costly, its responsible officers will make every effort to reconstruct and save the society by seeking for " the right man." The most thronged place of worship at this time in the city, less than a score of years ago, with a former edifice and under former ministers, could scarcely find those willing to receive and occupy its pews as a free gift.
The objects of institutional religion, as represented in churches and congregations, are three : -
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I. The exercise of the devotional sentiments in offices of worship.
II. The offering of religious and moral instruction and exhortation.
III. The opening and supplying and drawing from the springs of benevolence, uniting sympathies, gifts, and ser- vices in all the charities and agencies which minister to human needs and sorrows.
I. The offices of devotion are prayer, sacred music, and readings from Scripture. Any one of the old founders of the First Church, if he could appear within its walls upon any Communion Sunday in fair weather, it is to be inferred would be more disturbed by the general conduct and method of the services, than by anything he would hear in discourse from the present occupant of the pulpit. He would have to listen to portions of the Common Prayer Book, complemented by some of his own method of devo- tion, and though he would not wholly miss his own beloved style of congregational singing, the interposition of the organ and of the chantings of the artistic professional choir would cause him grief. He would see upon the com- munion table the same vessels from which he had partaken in the holy rite, and though there is a chancel and a place where those who so wish may kneel in receiving the elements, he would rejoice to see that the communicants retained their seats, and were served by the oldest-fashioned scriptural deacons. Possibly he might be reconciled to the storied windows, by observing that while the richest of them spread forth the covenant which he himself had signed, the others offered only strictly scriptural subjects, with no interminglings of apocryphal saintship.
The form of service was adopted after due deliberation as an experiment, subject at any time to reconsideration.
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It is preferred and warmly approved by some, quietly con- formed to by others, and tolerated by the rest, a few being not in sympathy with it.
II. The provision of religious instruction appropriate to devotional Sunday services, such as will carry with it per- . suasion, edification, and a constraining power for good over heart and life in character, is where in these passing years the strain is felt most anxiously, most painfully, and with a general bewilderment of thought and purpose. There is a fundamental and irreconcilable variance of judgment as to what themes and methods are or are not appropriate to the pulpit, or, as we must now add, the platform. Those who charge themselves with the defence and support of Christian and other religious institutions cannot wisely or decently disregard the fact, that increasing numbers of sincere, intelligent, and devout persons turn away from the preaching of all the denominations, whether of rigid or liberal creeds, as disappointing, powerless, or without effi- cacy for them. Only the weak conceit of ministers, which is of itself more than half of the repelling and nullifying influence, can lead them to find a professional solace in ascribing this popular aversion and dissatisfaction to the fault of the so-called " outsiders." It is insiders too who are in the same mood of mind and feeling. There are persons, moderate in tone and judgment, who allow them- selves to affirm that even the majority of those who come out of church doors, of all denominations, are not firm and thorough believers in the fundamentals from which the preachers take their start in discourse; that is, they do not believe them as they believe that they must eat food, in order that they may keep alive, as did the Puritans.
The essential and indispensable basis for all public re- ligious discoursing that shall be effective and positive is,
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that the preacher plant himself upon, start with, and argue and plead from, some truths, few or many, the certainty and authority of which are admitted, recognized, unques- tioned by him and his hearers. He may indeed inform them and convince them of some truths of which they were doubtful or heedless. But these must be deductions or consequences from other truths, the certainty and authority of which are admitted. Thus the statesman has a consti- tution for his basis, and the judge in his court has well- defined and fortified statutes for his. What basis has the preacher in these days? It may be answered, faith in a divinely revealed and attested body of religious truth. But what if his hearers have not this faith, or have it not in the form and working which he assumes for it? There are multitudes around us ready to plead that it is time enough for them to begin to exercise faith where their knowledge stops, and that their knowledge conflicts with what some preachers offer for faith. Heretofore it has been the cus- tom for preachers to assume certain tenets of a creed, and then to force into accordance with them the phenomena of nature, the proved facts of science, experience, and history, and all the rebellings of the most sincere and trustworthy exercises of the human mind and heart. For instance, it was for ages preached and widely believed that death was introduced upon this globe in consequence of Adam's sin. But when the remains of animals that had perished before the era of humanity were brought to light, the Orthodox geological professor answered, "As it was foreseen and forcordained that Adam would sin and die, the death of animals was provided for by anticipation."
But are there any, and if any, what facts of common, admitted, unquestioned truth and authority, alive and throbbing with power for appeal, command, warning, and counsel, which are believed in and admitted, felt with awe
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and solemnity in the very depths of consciousness, by preachers and those whom they address? Yes. Such truths are the mysteries, the sanctities, and the moralities of human life on the earth. These verities, with invaluable and inexhaustible helps to illustrate them, to give them persuasion and experimental power, drawn from the Bible and the Christian Gospel, are the sufficient furnishings of theme and material for the preacher, if he has in himself the gifts and power to use them. With such facts, with such authority and uses for preacher and hearer, there is no ground of fear for the dying out of institutional religion. When we consider to what dismal droning, drivelling, and inanity millions of many generations have patiently listened as preaching, may we not believe that there is before us a nobler dispensation of it, though it may still bear, as with Paul, for one of its epithets, that of " foolishness "?
. In this universe of wisdom and marvel, in this life of dread and mystery, there is no reason why a single vol- ume, however precious, should stand for the whole ma- terial, substance, and authority of religion. The time has come for protesting, not against the reverent and grateful precedency of the Bible, but against the idolatrous and indiscriminate use of its contents, as the sole basis and citadel of institutional religion. No pulpit is consecrated unless the Bible lies upon it; but religion is broader and fuller than its pages.
III. The third leading and inclusive object of religious in- stitutions among us now is what is aptly defined as "church work." And in its present scope and method it may be called so modern as to be dated in our own time. We may well rejoice that in the distracting discussions about beliefs and philosophies in religion a diversion has been provided to engage hearts and hands to the relief of brains
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and fancies. Those who live in large cities in these days, especially in this our own home, may well find a theme for profound and grateful thought, as they observe even the minute classification and distribution of the various ills and afflictions of humanity, as represented in our asylums, refuges, and charitable institutions, all, with but two or three exceptions, monuments of private benevolence, not provided for or maintained by the municipal treasury. The classification is a broad and a specific one. It in- cludes homes and helps for old men, old women, orphans, children, and infants; for white and colored ; for the infirm and for the superannuated ; for those whose maladies are of the brain, the heart, the lungs, the limbs, the cyc, and the ear; the curable and the incurable; the idiotic and the feeble-minded; for those who can be mended by ready skill, and those who need the science of the most ad- vanced training and to be wrought upon in the oblivion of their senses. Viewed in the distribution and in the sum of their objects, one may indeed gather, from con- templating these institutions, a profoundly pathetic im- pression of the variety of the inflictions of woe and sorrow. And then his relief must be found in taking a closer second gaze upon them. All these institutions have about them the freshness of newness in structure and appointments. There is no sign of antiquity upon them. Some of them, indeed, are reconstructions simply for enlargement. The date of every one of them may be found within the records of this century. Over the gateways of most of them might be inscribed the words read over the entrance to an old refuge in the city of Berne, "CHRISTO IN PAUPERIBUS." Over all of them in their groups might be repeated the inspiring and soothing Gospel: " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-
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hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recover- ing of sight to the blind; to set at liberty them that are bruised ; to preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
What agency has the Church of Christ in Boston had in all these institutions and offices of benevolence and mercy ? The church invented Sunday and also the contribution-box. There was force in the words of a faithful First Church servitor, when, after carrying that wooden pleader through the aisles twice in one day, he said, "I think after this I may keep my seat, for the box ought to know its own way round." The carly Boston churches supported their min- isters by a weekly voluntary contribution, an eye being had to occasional increase of the contents by the gifts of strangers present at the worship. Saving a few instances in which sufferers by a conflagration were aided in the same way, the first special collections in the churches were made for the redemption of white captives carried by the Indians into Canada, when they found this use of their prisoners more profitable than tomahawking them. Occa- sionally a member of a congregation enslaved by Barbary pirates was redeemed by the same method of raising his ransom. Not very rarely too one or more impoverished persons in the flock, who had known better days, were thus tenderly cared for. Any one whose poverty and want were the issues of laziness and thriftlessness was ready to com- pound by being left by the church without a reckoning.
Our numerous permanent benevolent institutions have been endowed by bequests of the rich, and some of them could perpetuate their agency without any further gifts. It is to be believed that these splendid endowments may for the most part be accredited to the training and influ- ence which their donors received from the church. It would indeed be a grievous reproach to the church - one, however, not likely to befall it - if the spirit of generosity
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and sympathy quickened without its doors should organize itself into a practical religion of good works. The church has anticipated this barely conceivable possibility. The churches as property are exempted from civic taxation. It is on the assumption that they purify and neutralize some of the sources of evil and feed the springs of benev- olence. There are only two methods of ministering to a world of wretchedness, - by municipal tax and by the vol- untary gifts and services of the generous and unselfish. The " such as I have" is often of more service than would be a gift of money. And the demands upon all the forms and methods of helpful service steadily increase with civili- zation as well as with population. The familiar text needs an addition to it, thus, "The poor ye shall always have with you," and more of them.
It is a noticeable fact, likewise, that the municipal treas- ury has been steadily relieved of what would have been its burdens were it not for church and other outside volun- tary benevolence. If the sum of all the annual disburse- ments by the treasurers of our societies and the distributions from churches were added to the assessors' roll, proposed luxurious public improvements would have long to wait. It is a noteworthy and suggestive fact, that while we, for our public improvements, are transferring to posterity a burden of debt, we are relieving them of the demands on their benevolence by the lavish endowment of charitable institutions. This assumption of the relieving work once performed by the town of Boston, and that would other- wise now fall upon the city, proceeds upon the double conviction that such public largesses are wasteful and mis- chievous, while agencies into which religion enters are wiser, kindlier, and more effective. The first experience by which the need and desire for some other than muni- cipal provision in this and other towns and cities of the
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Commonwealth manifested themselves, was when our com- fortable and not large asylums, provided for the relief of such of our own native population as had known better days, "the worthy poor " and the unfortunate, became crowded with the refuse of foreign countries. Associa- tion with these new-comers was felt to be a bitter aggra- vation of previous misfortunes. Ever since there have been a purpose and efforts for a more tender and Chris- tian oversight and help of our own dependent people, while great State asylums have been provided for other classes of the helpless. Municipal institutions and over- sight cannot, as a general rule, reach to such cases, or offer such ministrations as come more appropriately under the charge of religious methods and sympathies. Police watchfulness is naturally more devoted to the exposure of fraud and imposture than to searching for obscure and un- obtrusive sufferers. The only religious recognition which the Roman Catholic priesthood here make of their Prot- estant brethren is to regard them as available for help in supporting the hospitals and refuges which are under their own special charge.
The carnest and generous interest manifested by relig- ious organizations in recent years, in the manifold direc- tions of active benevolent effort and helpful service, is all the more observable under a special view of it just at this time. The pledged responsibility for the support of relig- ious institutions, costly churches, and the care of them, and the provisions made for music, rests with a minority of the people, even of those in established households. Being found in their places in the churches, it is but natural that they should be addressed by and be expected to respond to all appeals for funds, meetings, supplies, and personal services in all " church, work." It would not be strange, indeed, if among the many reasons which have thinned
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attendance upon the churches, has been a care to be secured from the incessant demands made there on the purse and on personal service in committee or as visitors. Though money, which " answereth all things," and which is the sole agency of municipal benevolence, enters largely into the means and methods of religious ministrations to the needy, the depressed, and the suffering, it is by no means the only, and one is even tempted to say not always the most serviceable and effective, sympathetic and helpful service engaged by religion in "church work." Visits to homes, provision for neglected children in them, nursing, encouragement, helping out exertions which have been aroused after hope and effort had been given over, training and education for useful employments, - these are means of which the difference between the entire neglect of them and the faithful, earnest use of them will appear in any community in facts and aspects obvious to the careful eye. The rejuvenation of the Thanksgiving festival and the re- vival of the observance of Christmas and Easter are to be referred in large measure, not so much to any renewal of reverence and religious zeal in our community, as to kindly sentiments engaged through them to send relief and glee and happiness into places and lots whichf would otherwise lack them.
Of course "there are spots in the Feasts of Charity." Religious visitors will find here and there hypocrites and pretenders who will assume some odious guises; and the number of such cases may be matched by those in which help and sympathy may be made contingent upon some poor sectarian compliance. But wisdom and shrewdness will detect imposture, and whatever capital sectarianism may gain by dole and pledge will not reward any rivalry to obtain it.
The closing pages of the following history will indicate,
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modestly only, as is becoming, the methods and the car- nestness with which the First Church in Boston assumes its share in a work distributed among many folds with many names.
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