USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Old South church (Third church) Boston, 1669-1884, Vol. II > Part 43
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403
DEACON JOSIAH SALISBURY.
diffidence of his qualifications for usefulness as a minister," he de- cided, about a year after his return from Europe, to relinquish the profession. "His pulpit performances," however, are said to have been "excellent and highly acceptable." Only two fragments of his sermons (one of them on the characteristically chosen text : Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth,) escaped the burning of his papers already referred to; these are in a thoughtful and instruc- tive strain, but it would not be just to his memory to make any use of them. For the service of public prayer he had adopted the plan of preparing himself by writing out forms of his own. This I learn from a volume of prayers in his own hand, which came to me from a daughter of his friend Joseph Tuckerman. As to his theological opinions, he wrote, while yet in Scotland, that the Scotch clergy were evidently divided in sentiment, some being "more orthodox," others being "moderates "; that his intimacy was with the former ; that the opinion prevailed in Scotland " that the American clergy particularly in Boston " had " departed widely from the sound doctrine "; that he perceived a "desire that [he] should conform [his] opinions perfectly" to the established creed ; but said " I cannot adopt these sentiments in their full extent, yet I feel persuaded that they are for the most part true ; and, when I return, I expect to preach on the same plan, with very few exceptions." Later, he writes to a sister from London :.
"For my part, I am fully and heartily convinced of the truth of those doctrines which were maintained by our pious ancestors, and still commonly professed in Scotland. If my life is spared, and I am exalted to that honorable and solemn office of an Ambassador of God, it is my fixed resolution to preach no other doctrine. It appears to me, on reflection, that some of those gentlemen in Boston, who are what is called orthodox, are not sufficiently active in bringing forward those peculiar doctrines which they think are essential."
These quotations sufficiently define his early theological position. A few years later, when the great rupture took place in the churches of Massachusetts, he felt constrained to withdraw from the Federal Street Church, of which Rev. W. Ellery Channing was then the pastor, who had baptized his first child, my sister,1 (thus sacrificing an early and cherished friendship to his convictions of what he owed to truth,) and returned to the Old South, where he remained, and, from May 8 1817 till his death, officiated as deacon.
Mr. Josiah Salisbury's Old South lineage, covering the entire period of the church's history to the time of his election as deacon, - a century and a half, - is worthy of record. In the Salisbury and Sewall line, the representatives of the five gen-
1 [Elizabeth Martha, daughter of Josiah in 1831. She married Theodore Dwight Woolsey, president of Yale College.]
Salisbury, joined the Old South Church
404
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
erations in the Old South were : Deacon Samuel Salisbury, and his wife Elizabeth (Sewall) ; Deacon Samuel Sewall, and his wife Elizabeth (Quincy) ; the Rev. Dr. Sewall, and his wife Elizabeth (Walley) ; Judge Samuel Sewall, and his wife Hannah (Hull) ; John Hull, and his wife Judith (Quincy), founders.
At a meeting of the brethren, June 30, the standing com- mittee presented the report of a sub-committee on the question of building a vestry : -
The Sub Committee to whom was referred the subject of the Vestry, having examined the Estate purchased for that purpose, considered it to be their Duty to represent as their opinion that by making some alterations in the House, and an addition at the southerly end of it, ten feet high, taking down the chimneys, removing the chamber floor, making an arch from end to end of the main House, and all other necessary repairs, so that it may be made perfectly convenient, to hold upwards of one hundred persons, and at the expence of not more than five Hundred Dollars, including all the materials and workmanship ; after which the workman says it will last twelve years or more : - If we build now as has been contemplated, the interest on the cost say of $7000, would be $420 p annum, which in twelve years would amount to $7000-but suspend building for twelve years, and this amount will be saved, and thereby enable the Society to erect a building with- out feeling the expence ; this plan of repairs appeared to the Sub Committee to be so much more for the interest of the Society, than preparing materials for a new building at a distant period, while the other may be almost immediately completed, that they could not refrain recommending it to be referred to the Society at large for their consideration. With deference the foregoing is submitted
JOSEPH PEIRCE Sub
SAML COVERLY
Committee.
EDWD PHILLIPS
BOSTON June 24 1817
This report was adopted, and the standing committee was directed to carry it into immediate effect.
Boston August 24. 1817.
At a Meeting of the Brethren of the Old South Church and Con- gregation, called by Rev. Mr. Huntington from the Desk,
Deacon William Phillips was chosen Moderator.
At which time it was represented that some further assistance ought to be given to our Revd Pastor, untill his health should be confirmed.
Voted, That the Minister and Deacons be a Committee to furnish such assistance from time to time as may be necessary, during the ill
405
THE REV. SERENO E. DWIGHT.
state of the Rev. Mr. Huntington's health, and the Treasurer be di- rected to pay the Expences of the same.
This meeting was then dissolved.
Att. JNO. WINSLOW Clk.
Mr. and Mrs. Huntington had been absent five or six weeks, on a journey to Saratoga and Niagara, returning to Boston, August 7 ; but the result, so far as the health of the pastor was concerned, was not satisfactory.
On Wednesday, September 3, Mr. Sereno Edwards Dwight, a son of the late president of Yale College, was ordained pastor of Park Street Church. The sermon was preached by the Rev. Lyman Beecher, of Litchfield, Connecticut, from Psalm xix. 8-10; Dr. Dana, of Newburyport, offered the consecrating prayer ; Dr. Spring gave the charge ; and Mr. Huntington, the right hand of fellowship. "Excellent music by a deputation from the Handel and Haydn Society."
Mr. Huntington and Mr. Dwight had been friends in Yale College, and both rejoiced in the renewal of the intimacy of their earlier days, which, however, was soon to be interrupted by the death of the former. Mr. Dwight practised law for a time in New Haven, but was converted during a revival of religion in the summer of 1815, and then gave himself to the work of the ministry. He preached his first sermon in the pulpit of the First Church in New Haven, on the same Sabbath day on which his distinguished father, from the same pulpit, preached his last.1
On the day of Mr. Dwight's installation, and after an hour's in- termission, Messrs. Elisha P. Swift, Allen Graves, John Nichols, Levi Parsons and Daniel S. Buttrick, were ordained mission- aries in Park Street meeting-house, to preach the gospel in India and among the Indian tribes. Dr. Worcester, Dr. Morse, Mr. Codman, Mr. Huntington, and Mr. Storrs took part in the services. "The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was then ad- ministered to nearly five hundred communicants by the Rev. Dr. Payson, assisted by the Rev. Mr. Beecher. A numerous audience was assembled, and the scene was solemn and im- pressive."2
Some of these missionaries sailed from Boston, on Sunday October 5, in the ship Saco, owned by the Hon. William Gray,
1 The Rev. Mr. Dwight preached in 26, 1817, and a collection of $320.31 was the Old South meeting-house, before the taken.
Howard Benevolent Society, November
2 Col. Centinel, September 6, 1817.
406
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
then, or soon afterward, a member of the Old South Society, who gave them a free passage to India. An appeal appeared in the Daily Advertiser, the day before, signed S.,1 asking for articles of comfort for the missionaries, which might be sent to the store of Mr. Samuel T. Armstrong.
On the same Sunday, at forty minutes past eleven in the fore- noon, an earthquake shock, lasting a little more than half a minute, was felt in the town. It was during the hours of divine service; and in one of the churches the shock was felt so sen- sibly that the preacher paused in his discourse, "and the con- gregation, almost with one accord, rose from their seats."
On Wednesday afternoon, October 8, Mr. Huntington preached at the Old South, in behalf of the Society for the Moral and Religious Instruction of the Poor. A large number of Sunday- school children were present. This society, from which our most efficient and excellent City Missionary Society sprang, was founded in 1816, and, as its original name indicates, began as a Sunday-school society ; during the first year of its existence, it gathered five hundred children into its two schools, one of them in Mason Street, the other in School Street. It was undenomi- national in its scope, and, just before this anniversary occasion, had passed a vote, that it would supply with books and papers any religious society or individuals in the town, who should establish Sunday-schools and provide themselves with super- intendents and teachers.
Mr. Huntington was the first president of this society, and took the deepest interest in its work. Four years later, October 17, 1821, Mr. Codman, preaching in its behalf at the Old South, said : -
But why should I detain you any longer from carrying your benevo- lent purposes into operation ? I will only say, that there is a circum- stance in the history of this society which, while it awakens both pleasing and painful emotions in my own bosom, cannot but be deeply interesting to those who usually worship in this consecrated temple. It is the memory of its early and constant friend and president, the ever lamented and beloved Huntington. If his pure spirit is permitted to concern itself in the affairs of mortals, may we not indulge the pleasing thought, that it is hovering over this assembly, and regarding with peculiar complacency, the society which, when living, was so near his heart. - And how can you, my Christian friends, better express your regard for his memory, than by contributing this evening, as God
1 Probably Mr. Josiah Salisbury.
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407
THE EDUCATION SOCIETY.
has blessed you, to aid the funds of the Boston Society for the Moral and Religious Instruction of the Poor ? 1
The Society for Educating Pious Youth for the Gospel Min- istry, which we now know as the American Education Society, was brought into existence in 1815, at a meeting held in the study of the Old South parsonage. It began as an undenomi- national institution. The Hon. William Phillips was its presi- dent, and the Rev. Asa Eaton, rector of Christ Church, was secretary. The following newspaper paragraph gives us an idea of its objects and endeavors : -
This Society has been in existence about two years, and has com- menced its operations under favorable auspices. It has already given assistance to more than a hundred pious young men of talents, who are now pursuing their literary studies principally in the several col- leges and academies in New England. We understand that the So- ciety is established upon the broad principles of the Gospel, disregard- ing the narrow limits of sect, and intending to increase the number of pious and learned ministers of every denomination, in which hopeful piety can be found. Accordingly the Directors are composed of gen- tlemen in three different communions ; and they have given assistance to young men of the five following denominations, viz. Congregation- alists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Baptists and Methodists. It is presumed, therefore, that. Christians who wish to see our new settle- ments, and the destitute portions of our beloved country, supplied with pious and learned ministers will be disposed to give their attendance, and contribute of their substance for the promotion of this great and benevolent object.2
We have had occasion to notice the removal of prominent members from the Old South to Federal Street Church, and from Federal Street Church to the Old South. In the diary of Deacon Samuel Hall Walley 3 we have the following record of his withdrawal from the ministry of Mr. Channing : -
1817 October 22. Spent two and a half hours with Rev. W. E. Channing this afternoon at his house, conversing with him on the subject of my intended removal from his church, of which I informed him for the first time this afternoon.
1 [This society was incorporated by the legislature in 1820. The meeting for organization, called by Josiah Salisbury, Sereno E. Dwight, and William Jenks, was held in the Old South vestry, April 27, 1820.]
2 [Col. Centinel, October 15, 1817.]
3 Mr. Walley married, January 4, 1803, Miriam, daughter of William Phillips, Jr. She joined the Old South May I, 1796; it does not appear that she ever became a member of the Federal Street Church. She died March 26, 1827, and was buried in the Bromfield tomb.
408
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
26. Lord's Day. I yesterday addressed a letter to Rev. Mr. Chan- ning, confirming what I had said to him respecting my removal from his church, and resigning the office of Deacon.
I trust that in taking this step, this very painful and important step, I have been following the dictates of conscience and the guidance of the Spirit of God. I have weighed the subject long, I have conversed confidentially in reference to it with Christian friends of sound judg- ment and distinguished prudence ; above all, I have sought direction from the Father of Lights, and as far as I can discern, my path has been made plain to leave the church in Federal Street, and to attach myself and family to the church under the care of Rev. Mr. Hunt- ington. I withdraw from my late place of worship in the exercise of the most candid and benevolent feelings towards those I leave, and with a sincere desire that they and myself may be guided into all necessary truth.
November I. Called upon Rev. Mr. Huntington this morning and communicated to him my intention of attaching myself and family to his church and society.
There was a more general observance of Christmas this year in the town perhaps than ever before. Business was suspended at the banks and public offices, and in many of the stores. There was preaching at the First and First Baptist churches ; and, in the evening, the annual meeting of the Peace Society was held at the Old South. At this service prayer was offered by Mr. Channing ; a discourse was delivered by Judge Dawes, then a member of the Federal Street Church ; a report was presented by Mr. Worcester, and prayer followed by Mr. Lowell. A Christmas anthem was sung, and a collection was taken " for promoting the object of the institution - Peace on earth, good- will towards men." 1
Mr. Huntington had been confined to his house for two or three weeks with rheumatic fever, and was not well enough to be out on Christmas day. Mrs. Huntington, writing to a friend in New York at the close of the year (December 29), said : -
The state of things here, in a religious point of view, is brightening. Much is doing in various ways, for promoting the influence of truth. And we do hope, we think not without reason, that there will soon be seen here, an increase of real Christianity, more remarkable than has been experienced in Boston for a long time. What is the state of things in New York now ? Does party spirit run as high as ever ? I do not much wonder that some persons, seeing the bitterness of such reli-
1 Col. Centinel.
409
PARISH AFFAIRS.
gionists against each other, should be led to think there is nothing in religion. But let them, as they certainly ought to do before they decide, examine the Scriptures with impartiality, and they will find that the wars and fighting's among Christians, differing only in non- essentials, proceed, not from the religious principle, but from those sinful "lusts " which the Christian religion most pointedly condemns.
Boston April 2d 1818.
At a Meeting of the Brethren of the Old South Church and Con- gregation, Deacon William Phillips Moderator, John Winslow was chosen as Clerk for the year ensuing.
The Committee chosen in April last year, to take the direction and care of all temporal concerns of the Society, request leave, as the time for which they were chosen has expired, to make a Report of their doings while in office.
They have expended $326.26 for sundry repairs on the Meeting House, parsonage Houses, and Stores. They have also expended $300 for the support of the Singing.
The Gallery Pews have all been let, and the Taxes thereon collected, amounting to $456.97, which sum has been paid over to the Deacons, and the Committee have the pleasure to add, that the taxes on the Pews on the lower floor, have been, with few exceptions, regularly paid.
The easterly parsonage House has been rented for one year for $750, and one half the cellar under the Meeting House for $200 - the other half of the cellar, the Committee have not been able to let in the manner they would like. The stores are rented on lease, which do not expire untill the year 1821. Finally your Committee have attended to all matters and things relating to the Society, entrusted to their care. All which is respectfully submitted
FRANCIS WELCH Clk. of Com. p order.
Motion made and seconded the report be accepted.
Voted, To accept the above Report, and it was accepted accord- ingly.
A letter was then read from Joseph Peirce,1 contents, he wished not to be considered a candidate for the Standing Committee for the pres- ent year.
Voted, The Thanks of this Meeting be presented to Joseph Peirce and John Winslow Jr. for their faithfull services in said Committee for a number of years past.
Voted, We now come to the choice of a Standing Committee for
1 [Joseph Peirce died January 1, 1828. Lathrop. His store was on the north side of State Street, and his sign appears in some of the old pictures of the Old State House.
His wife was a daughter of Deacon Thomas Dawes. His daughter Ann married John, son of the Rev. Dr. John
1
410
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
the year, to manage the temporal concerns of the Society, and that Charles Cleveland and George Lane be a Committee to count and sort the Votes, - which Committee declared the whole number of Votes to be thirty-three, but did not report any number of persons chosen.
Voted, That the Box be placed in front of the Clerk, and that he call the list of Proprietors of Pews, and they put in their Votes, which was done by said Clerk beginning with pew No. I. All the proprie- tors present, when called did if they chose put in their Votes and the whole number was declared by said Committee before chosen to be twenty-six, and the following Gentlemen were by them declared to be . chosen, Vizt. Hon. William Phillips, William Homes, John Winslow, Samuel Coverly, Benjamin Whitman, Francis Welch, Abraham Wild, David W. Child, Edward Phillips, A. P. Cleveland, Pliny Cutler, and Isaac Mclellan.
Voted, That Elisha Ticknor, Samuel Coverly, John Winslow, Sam- uel [H.] Walley, and Thomas Vose, be a Committee to examine the Treasurer's Accounts and report thereon as soon as convenient.
This meeting was then dissolved.
True Copy JNO. WINSLOW Clk.
One of the senior deacons of the church, Samuel Salisbury, died on the 2d of May. He had been a member of the church since 1790, and a deacon since 1794. In an obituary notice, it was said : --
In the decease of Deacon Salisbury, though his years were many, society, friendship, an extensive family, and the Church of Christ, have abundant cause to weep. His mental energies were but little impaired, and his active usefulness was conspicuous to the very mo- ment of that attack which carried him to the chamber of sickness, and confined him to the bed of pain, of languishing, and death. His religion, of which he was an early professor, was of a kind "retired yet substantial, elevated in its principles, yet chiefly discernible in the moral regulation of the heart and life by the precepts of the gospel." Through the whole of his sickness, though at times his sufferings were acute and protracted, his patience and devout submission were unin- terrupted, and his chief thoughts were on the concerns of his soul.
His grandson, Professor Salisbury, says of him :-
In his religious opinions he was conservative, and accordingly sided with the so-called orthodox party in that division which sprang up in the churches of Massachusetts in the early days of the present cen- tury - a division attended, probably, with some loss of Christian char- ity, and an exaggeration of differences, on both sides. But his reli- gious conservatism did not prevent his taking an active part in those
4II
THE REV. JOHN G. PALFREY.
new forms of Christian benevolence which came into being, around him, after he had passed middle life. His papers show that as early as 1801 he imported Bibles from England, on his own "account and risk," to the value of £179.7.8 in one invoice - of course, for public distribution.1
The pall bearers at his funeral were Chief Justice Parker, the Rev. Dr. Holmes, the Hon. William Gray, Dr. Aaron Dexter, and Deacon John Simpkins.2
After Divine service in the afternoon of June 7th 1818 a letter was communicated from the Church and Society in Brattle Square, request- ing the assistance of the church by its Pastor and Delegates at the Ordination of Mr. John G. Palfrey on Wednesday the 17th inst.
Voted to comply with the request. The Deacons and brothers B. Whitman, W. Homes and P. Cutler were chosen delegates for the oc- casion.
JOSHUA HUNTINGTON Pastor.
Mr. Palfrey was settled as the successor of Mr. Everett. Of his ministry of nearly twenty years, it has been said that it was " by no means inferior to that of the men whose place he filled ; " and of himself, that until recently he " survived in feeble age, with mind undimmed, and in the full enjoyment of an undoubt- ing Christian faith and a sight-like hope of immortality." 3
The brethren of the church and congregation met, June 22, when Mr. Ticknor reported on the treasurer's accounts, and Mr. Phillips was again unanimously reelected. Mr. Samuel Cov- erly was appointed a committee to effect insurance on the stores, parsonage houses, and vestry in Spring Lane, in the Massachu- setts Mutual Fire Insurance Company.4 The society confirmed the action of the standing committee in its vote to pay $200 to Mr. Huntington, to cover the expenses of a journey which he was about to take for his health.5
At a meeting of the Church June 28th 1818, a letter was communi- cated from the Church in Park Street, inviting by a unanimous vote the members of the Old South Church to unite with those of Park Street in
1 [Family Memorials.]
2 Deacon Salisbury lived in an old mansion in Summer Street, opposite Trinity Church. He married a second wife, late in life, Abigail Truman Snow, who survived him forty years.
3 Mem. Hist. of Boston (Dr. A. P. Peabody), vol. iii. p. 476.
4 For the purposes of insurance, the parsonage houses were valued at $10,000,
the block of stores at $6,000, and the vestry at $1,200.
5 Mr. Huntington's salary was $1,300 a year, with parsonage and firewood. The salary of the Rev. Henry Ware, Jr., settled January 1, 1817, over the Second Church, was $1,200 and twenty cords of wood. The salary of Mr. Prentiss, settled over the Second Church, Charlestown, in 1817, was $1,040.
S
412
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
the monthly Concert for Prayer on the evening of the first Monday of every month, (the two Churches having previously met apart). And proposing that the joint meeting be held either alternately in the two houses for public worship, or constantly in that in Park Street, as the brethren of the Old South Church shall prefer.
After due consultation on the subject it was Voted to comply with the request of Park Street Church and that the meetings should be constantly in their place of worship.
JOSHUA HUNTINGTON Pastor O. S. C.
Mr. and Mrs. Huntington spent seven weeks in Connecti- cut, during July and August, partly for the benefit of the health of the former, and partly because of the illness of General Huntington, whose death took place on the 25th of September. Writing in Boston, September 5, Mrs. Huntington says that her husband had just been called again to the bedside of his father, and mentions the recent death of a Mrs. C.1 She then gives expression to forebodings which, twelve months later, were to be sadly realized : -
I have been somewhat dejected in mind, of late, from another cause. My husband's health is feeble ; and the fear that he will have to leave Boston, or soon die under his labours here, has hung as a heavy weight upon my heart.
On Sunday [August 9] Divine Service was performed for the first time at the Long Room over the centre-arch on Central-Wharf by the Rev. Mr. Jenks, in presence of a large concourse of the mariners of Boston, and those attached to coasting vessels now lying in our port. The sermon delivered on the occasion was such as might be expected from this learned divine. It is the commencement, we understand, of a regular course to be delivered on every succeeding Sabbath.2
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