USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Old South church (Third church) Boston, 1669-1884, Vol. II > Part 51
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The years that have succeeded have, through the great mercy of the Head of the Church, been years of peace, and of prosperity to this church and congregation, and to the cause of evangelical religion in this city and region. Since the agitations connected with my ordina- tion, in which all parties were agreed in preventing the pastor from being in any way implicated and which quickly subsided, there has been, in the congregation, no contention, no unpleasant difference of opinion ; and in the church, which has been called to transact much business, there has not, so far as I recollect, been a single vote taken that did not pass with perfect unanimity.
Sabbath Day, March 11th 1821.
The Brethren of the Church having been requested to tarry after Divine service in the afternoon, the Pastor read a letter from the First Church in Dedham requesting this Church by their Pastor and Dele- gate to assist in the ordination on Wednesday the fourteenth inst. of Mr. Ebenezer Burgess, whom the said First Church and Society in Dedham have invited to discharge the duties of the Pastoral office among them. Voted, that this Church comply with said request, and that one of the Deacons (which of them is left to them to determine) with the Pastor, represent this Church on the occasion.
The meeting was then dissolved.
B. B. WISNER, Pastor & Scribe.
Mr. Burgess graduated at Brown University in 1809, and served as tutor there, and (after studying at Andover), as. a pro- fessor in the University of Vermont until 1817. In this year he went to Africa with Samuel J. Mills, on an agency for the American Colonization Society. He preached at Dedham for several months before his ordination. The decision in the Ded-
strongly on the other side; and he showed, at least, that he knew how to wield a battle-axe as well as any other man. I saw Dr. Lowell then for the first time; and I felt deeply for him, in view of the extreme delicacy of the circum- stances in which he was placed. He sat with perfect apparent composure, listen- ing to the agitating discussion for some time; but at length rose, and said that he was not willing to be the occasion of interrupting the harmony of the Council, and begged that some other person might be appointed to perform the ser-
vice assigned to him by the church. He said but a few words; but there was a calm dignity, a perfect self-possession, and a deferential regard to the members of the Council, in what he said, that could not but leave a most favorable impression upon every mind. It was many years before my acquaintance with him became intimate; but his appearance on that occasion I greatly admired, and it is vividly in my mind to this hour." Proceedings in the West Church on occa- sion of the Decease of Charles Lowell, D. D., its Senior Pastor, 1861, pp. 47, 48.
477
UNCERTAINTIES OF TRAVEL.
ham case had not been announced, and at this time the church and its pastor did not know what a painful experience lay imme- diately before them.1 Mr. Burgess's ministry was a long and successful one.
The church accepted an invitation to assist by its pastor and delegate, or delegates, at the ordination on the IIth of July, of Mr. Jonathan Bigelow, as pastor of the First Church in Lubec, Maine. Mr. Wisner, with three other ministers, embarked on board a packet schooner for Eastport, and, having been detained by fog, the party did not arrive at its destination until two or three days after the ordination had taken place.
Sabbath-day Oct. 14th 182I.
The Brethren of the Church having been requested to tarry at the close of the afternoon service, the Pastor communicated a Letter from the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, requesting the assistance of this Church by its Pastor and one Delegate at the ordination of Mr. Daniel Temple and Mr. Isaac Bird (with a view to their being sent to the Heathen as Missionaries and Evangelists) at North Bridgewater on Wednesday the 3Ist inst. Voted, to comply with the request, and that Deacon Josiah Salisbury attend with the Pastor on the occasion.
B. B. WISNER Pastor & Scribe.
The sermon on this occasion was preached by the Rev. Mr. Storrs, of Braintree. Mr. Wisner took part in the service, and Mr. Dwight, of Park Street, gave an address to the Palestine Missionary Society. Mr. Temple preached at the Old South on Sunday evening, December 16, and Mr. Jeremiah Evarts, cor- responding secretary of the American Board, read his instruc- tions, after which a collection was taken.
Sabbath-day June 9th 1822.
The brethren of the church having been requested to tarry at the close of the afternoon service, the Pastor communicated a Letter from Nathan Parker and James Melledge, requesting (in the name of them- selves and several other individuals lately dismissed from Essex Street Church), the assistance of this Church by their Pastor and delegate, at an Ecclesiastical Council to be convened at the Vestry in the Essex Street Meeting House on the 11th inst. to organize, if they shall think proper, the said persons into a new church. Voted, to comply with the request, and that Deacon Josiah Salisbury attend with the Pastor on the occasion.
1 Mr. Burgess married, May 22, 1823, Abigail Bromfield, daughter of Deacon
William Phillips. She joined the Old South December 6, 1807.
478
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
The Pastor stated that a number of the brethren of this and of other churches in this city of different denominations having some time since formed a Union prayer meeting, requested this Church to appoint a Committee who, with similar committees from the other churches whose members have associated for the above named purpose, shall constitute a board of superintendence of the said prayer meeting. Voted, to comply with the request, and that the Deacons with brethren Cutler and A. P. Cleveland be said Committee.
The meeting was then dismissed with the benediction.
B. B. WISNER, Pastor & Scribe.
We have already referred to the dissensions in the newly formed Essex Street Church. At a church meeting, January 31, 1822, the Rev. Messrs. Jenks, Dwight, and Wisner, Deacon Salisbury and Mr. Cutler, were present by invitation, and after hearing statements from Mr. Sabine, the pastor, and those opposed to him, they advised both parties to submit their dif- ficulties to an ecclesiastical council. This advice was accepted, and Mr. Jenks, who was in the chair, was asked to draw up the letters missive. The council, thus called, met on the 19th of February ; Professor Woods was moderator, the Rev. Mr. Fay, scribe, and the Rev. Mr. Storrs, assistant scribe. The Old South and Park Street churches were not invited, nor was Mr. Jenks, for the reason, as we suppose, that they had participated in the preliminary proceedings, and had already heard and per- haps judged the case. The council was in session two days, and evidently found it a difficult matter to come to an unanimous conclusion. Deacon Parker's course could not be defended ; and yet, in view of the hold which he had upon the property, and the possibility that he might sell it to persons outside the denomination, it seemed best not to antagonize him. The result at length agreed upon expressed the opinion, with much amplitude of expression, that "some obvious irregularities " had been committed on the one hand, and, on the other, that the reverend pastor had remarked on the motives and conduct of the deacons and those standing with them, with "acrimony and severity"; and it closed with the suggestion to the pastor, amidst many words of commendation, that, in the interest of peace, he had better resign his office and seek a field of labor elsewhere. This advice was not acceptable to Mr. Sabine and the majority of the church, and they formally withdrew from the society and reopened services in Boylston Hall.
A plan was now arranged by the sister churches to preserve
.
479
THE UNION CHURCH.
the Essex Street meeting-house to the denomination, by sub- scriptions for the payment of the debt due to Deacon Parker, or for - what practically was the same thing - the purchase of his interest in the building, and by the reenforcement of the mi- nority with others who would unite with it in forming a new church. As a step towards the new organization, the following letter was written, March 28, 1822 :-
The deacons and other members of Essex Street Church remaining still in Essex Street, being a minority in said church, and wishing to be formed into a regular church state, that they may continue to enjoy the advantages of Christian worship and ordinances, as heretofore, request a regular dismission from the majority of the church now removed to Boylston Hall.
This request was so far complied with that a dismission was granted, but the majority declined to say that the members of the minority were in good standing. The pastor and the ma- jority also addressed letters to the Old South and Park Street, insisting that they had rights in the meeting-house, and protest- ing against the proposed purchase of Deacon Parker's interest, and the formation of a new church. The plan for a reorgani- zation, however, was carried out, for what were undoubtedly regarded at the time as weighty reasons ; but it appears to us that the sister churches, by their recognition of the minority of the Essex Street Church, acting with the men who controlled the property, accepted, in part at least, the principle laid down by Chief Justice Parker in his decision in the Dedham case, namely, that the only circumstance which gives a church any legal char- acter is its connection with some regularly constituted society.1
The council which met in June recognized the new church as the Union Church. At first it consisted of twelve members only, but it soon attracted to itself a number of active business men
1 See An Ecclesiastical Memoir of Essex Street Religious Society, Boston, printed by Ezra Lincoln, 1823. In this pamphlet it is said (p. 77) : " Was it ever heard of before in New England, that an ecclesiastical council, in the face of their own result, and in direct opposition to their own testimony, assisted in putting down a church of Christ, and in the stead thereof, took up six or seven dis- orderly members, treating and patron- izing them as if they were a church of Christ. We have heard that something
like this was attempted at Dedham, a few years ago, but then it was said to be the work of an Unitarian council ; but this strange work, abundantly more strange than the Dedham affair, is performed in Essex Street, Boston, by an orthodox council."
Some extreme party men were plotting to divide the convention at this time, and if the matter had come to an open debate, it was proposed to bring into the discussion all the facts relating to Essex Street Church.
480
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
who gave it strength and standing,1 and, on the 26th of March, 1823, it installed as its minister the Rev. Samuel Green, who had been preaching very acceptably at Reading. The church worshipping in Boylston Hall was received into the London- derry Presbytery, November 26, 1823, and was known as the First Presbyterian Church in Boston.
We have much interesting material at hand for a history of Mr. Wisner's pastorate, but from this point in our work we shall not be able to go so fully into details as thus far we have gone. There was an unusual degree of religious interest in the congregation in 1823, and between June, 1823, and May, 1824, one hundred and one persons united with the church. At this time some Bible classes were formed, of which we have the following account :-
In the Old South congregation there are two classes ; one of young ladies of fifteen years of age and upwards, consisting of about ninety members ; the other of young men of sixteen years of age and up- wards, consisting of about forty five members. They were established about three months since, and meet at present, once in four weeks, on the same day ; the female class in the afternoon, and the young men's in the evening. The method of instruction is the following - The Pastor first delivers a course of lectures, six or seven in number, on the authenticity, credibility and inspiration of the Scriptures, and the manner in which they should be read and studied by private Christians. Of each of these lectures, after delivering it, he gives them an abstract, of which they take notes with a pencil, which are written out as soon as convenient, in a book prepared for the purpose, with such enlarge- ments from the lecture as they may have retained in their memories ; and carefully studied previous to the next meeting. After the lecture has been delivered, and the abstract given, the classes are examined by the pastor on the preceding lecture, and the exercise concluded with a practical application of the subject recited, to the conscience and the heart.2
A large and elegant organ, imported from London in the ship Lon- don Packet, by the Old South Society, is now erecting in their Church ; it is said to be much superior to any ever imported into this country.3
This organ was ordered through Mr. Henry Bromfield, then living in London. It was built by Thomas Elliott, who sent
1 Among the new members of the reconstructed church were John Gulli- ver from the Old South, and Daniel Noyes and David Hale, Jr., from Park Street. George Rogers, Charles Scud-
der, and Nathaniel S. Prentiss became members in 1823, and John Tappan and William Ropes in 1824.
23 [Boston Recorder, October 22, 1823.]
[Com. Gazette, October 7, 1822.]
48I
DEATH OF MRS. PHILLIPS.
over a representative to put it up. It cost about seven thousand dollars, including freight and duty.1 One of the first occasions on which it was used was a meeting of the Society for the Prop- agation of the Gospel, November 7, 1822, when a sermon was preached by Dr. Holmes, of Cambridge.
At a meeting of the society on Fast Day, April 3, 1823, Mr. Wisner was authorized, with the approbation of the senior dea- con, to cause the meeting-house to be opened for religious ser- vices in the evening, whenever he might think the cause of religion would be promoted thereby, it being understood, how- ever, that no additional expense for assistance in ministerial labor was to be incurred for such purpose by the society.
The wife of the senior deacon of the church, and daughter of a late senior deacon, Mrs. Miriam (Mason) Phillips, died on the 7th of May. It was said of her : "The unobtrusive poor, who often felt without seeing the hand which blessed them, lament in 'secret chambers' the departure of their sympathizing and liberal benefactress; and the Church of Christ, of which she was long a consistent and faithful member, weeps that this beloved sister is no more to come up to her 'solemn feasts.' . 'Jesus is my Rock' was the language of our departed sister, and on this sure foundation she built all her hopes of glory." 2 She joined the Old South in 1774, at the age of twenty, a few months before her marriage. In her funeral sermon, which was printed, Mr. Wisner said : " Her life was truly a life of prayer. She delighted in retirement, and in the social devotions of that band of holy women with whom she was associated, many of whom had gone before, and others are following her to glory."
Sabbath afternoon, September 2 Ist. 1823.
The brethren of the Church having been requested to tarry after the benediction, the Pastor read a Letter from the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, re- questing the assistance of this Church by their Pastor and a delegate, at Salem, on Thursday the twenty-fifth inst. in the ordination of Mr.
1 The organ had been set up in Lon- don, it is said in Westminster Abbey, for some great occasion, and a certifi- cate commending it very highly was signed by Charles Wesley, " organ per- former to His Majesty ; " B. Jacob, organ- ist of Surrey Chapel; Thomas Adams, organist of St. Paul's, Deptford ; S. Wes- ley, " a celebrated musician, brother to Charles Wesley;" Matthew Cooke, or-
ganist of St. George's, Bloomsbury ; Thomas Greatorex, organist of West- minster Abbey; and John Purkis, or- ganist of St. Clement Danes.
2 Boston Recorder, May 24, 1823.
Mrs. Phillips was buried in the Brom- field tomb in the Chapel burying ground. The pall-bearers were, Thomas Dennie, Gardner Greene, Peter C. Brooks, John Parker, Thomas Dawes, Josiah Salisbury.
482
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
Frost, (destined to join the American mission at Bombay) as an Evangelist. Voted to comply with the request, and that brother David W. Child attend as delegate on the occasion.
The Pastor also read a letter from the Calvinistic Church in Worces- ter, requesting the assistance of this Church, by their Pastor and a delegate or delegates, in the ordination and installation as their Pastor, on Wednesday the 15th of October next, of Mr. Loammi I. Hoadly. Voted to comply with the request, and that the Deacons, or either of them, attend as delegates or delegate, on the occasion.
The meeting was then dissolved with the usual blessing. .
B. B. WISNER Pastor & Scribe.
Sabbath afternoon, December 31st [? 28th] 1823.
The brethren of the Church having tarried, in compliance with a request from the pulpit, after the Congregation was dismissed, the Pastor read a letter, addressed to this Church, from Rev. William Jenks, Elisha Hunt, Nathaniel Pettee Junr, Israel Decker, Nathaniel Trumbull, George Carpenter and John H. Whitney, requesting the assistance of this Church, by their Pastor and a Delegate, at an Eccle- siastical Council to be convened at the house of the Rev. William Jenks on Tuesday the 30th inst. at 2 o'clock P. M. for the purpose of organizing (if the Council shall think proper) the said professing brethren, with others their associates, into a regular Christian Church. Voted to comply with the request, and that Brother Benjamin Whit- man attend as delegate on the occasion.
B. B. WISNER Pastor & Scribe.
The new church was organized as the Church in Green Street, and the Rev. William Jenks was its minister until 1844, when it ceased to have an independent existence.
The next Congregational church organized in Boston was the Hanover, afterward the Bowdoin Street Church, the founders of which were members of the Old South, Park Street, and the Union Church. The following went from the Old South : Elias and Joanna Maynard ; Eliphalet and Lydia Kimball ; Josiah B. Lovejoy, Robert O. Dwight, and Alvah Kittredge. They re- ceived a dismission, Sunday afternoon, July 17, 1825.
A Letter was then read by the Pastor from a committee of the per- sons expecting to be formed into a church, to occupy the Meeting House erecting in Hanover Street, requesting the attendance of this Church by its Pastor and a delegate at an Ecclesiastical Council to be convened in the Vestry of Park Street Church on the 18th inst. at 5 o'clock P. M. for the purpose of organizing, if it shall be deemed proper, said church.
483
ORDINATION OF MISSIONARIES.
Voted, to comply with the request, and that Deacon Edward Phillips attend as delegate on the occasion.1
Sabbath afternoon, Aug. 14th. 1825.
The brethren, by request from the pulpit, staid after divine service. A letter was read from the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, requesting the attend- ance of this church by their pastor and delegates, at an ecclesiastical council to be held in this City on the 25th inst. for the purpose of ordaining Messrs. Samuel A. Worcester and Elnathan Gridley to the high and sacred office of missionaries to the Heathen.
Voted to comply with the request, and that the Deacons, with brethren Coverly, Child and Whitman attend as delegates on the occasion.
B. B. WISNER Pastor & Scribe.
Sabbath afternoon, September 11th. 1825. . . .
The Pastor then read a Letter missive from the Executive Com- mittee of the United Domestic Missionary Society of New York, re- questing the attendance of this Church, by its Pastor and Delegates, at an Ecclesiastical Council to be held in this City on the 29th inst. for the purpose of examining, and [if] it shall be found expedient and proper, ordaining as Evangelists, several young gentlemen, candidates for the ministry and members of the present Senior Class in the Theo- logical Institution at Andover, who are to be sent forth by the Society in New York as Missionaries, with the intention of permanently lo- cating them in our western states and territories.
Voted to comply with the request, and that the Deacons attend as delegates.2 . .
B. B. WISNER Pastor & Scribe.
1 [The Rev. Lyman Beecher, D. D., the churches, should enter the mission- was installed pastor of the Hanover Church, Tuesday, March 19, 1826. Dea- con William Phillips was the delegate from the Old South. Dr. Beecher's min- istry in Boston closed in 1832.]
2 [The officials of these missionary societies, domestic and foreign, seem to have had a proper sense of what did, and what did not, appertain to them in the positions which they occupied. They knew that they had not been placed in them as theological experts, but as per- sons supposed to possess a knowledge of affairs and a good measure of ad- ministrative ability. (See ante, vol. ii. P. 413, note.) It had been devolved upon them to select and commission competent men who, not as their repre- sentatives but as the representatives of
ary service at home or abroad. They were to satisfy themselves as to the gen- eral qualifications and special adaptations of candidates ; and then it was their duty to convene a council, in the case of Con- gregationalists, or apply to a presbytery, in the case of Presbyterians, for the theo- logical examination and the ordination of candidates whom they were prepared to recommend. As it is the prerogative of the local church to pass upon the theo- logical standing of the man who is to be settled as its minister, so it is the right of the churches, in council or presby- tery, to determine the theological fitness of those who are to engage in missionary labors which the churches, in an asso- ciated capacity, have undertaken to support.]
484
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
The young men who were ordained on the 29th of September were Augustus Pomroy. Luther G. Bingham, Lucius Alden, and John M. Ellis, and they were commissioned to service respec- tively in the States of Missouri, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. The council met in the vestry of the Old South, and the public exercises were held in the meeting-house. The Rev. Mr. Bruen, of New York, preached the sermon ; the Rev. Mr. Emerson, of Salem, offered the consecrating prayer; the Rev. Samuel H. Cox,1 of New York, gave the charge, and the Rev. Justin Ed- wards, of Andover, the right hand of fellowship.
Sabbath afternoon, December 25th. 1825.
The brethren, in compliance with a request from the pulpit, re- mained after service. The Pastor read a letter from the Church in Holliston, requesting the attendance of this Church by its Pastor and a delegate, at an Ecclesiastical Council to be held in that town on Wednesday the 4th of January next, for the purpose of installing, if it shall be deemed proper by the Council to do so, the Rev. Charles Fitch, as pastor of said church.
Voted to comply with the request, and that brother Abner Phelps attend as delegate.
The Pastor then read a letter from Mr. Horace Sessions, an agent of the American Colonization Society now in this City, written in behalf of "several persons of colour who, being professors of religion and about to embark for the colony at Liberia in Africa, wish to be embodied into a distinct Church of Christ ;" requesting this church "to attend, by its pastor and a delegate, an Ecclesiastical Council at the Vestry of the Park Street Church on Wednesday next, at } past 2 o'clock P. M., to consider and act on the subject.
Voted to comply with the request, and that one of the deacons, whichever shall be most convenient to them, attend as delegate on the occasion.
The meeting was then dismissed with the usual benediction.
B. B. WISNER Pastor & Scribe.
Newport Gardner and twelve others were organized as a church of Christ in Park Street meeting-house, on Wednesday evening, December 28. Deacon Phillips was the delegate from the Old South. Mr. Dwight preached from Psalm Ixviii. 31 : " Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God." Mr. Green offered the prayer of ordination for the two deacons, Mr. Wisner and Mr. Jenks join- ing in the laying on of hands.
1 The Rev. S. H. Cox married Abiah Cleveland, a sister of Charles and Aaron
Porter Cleveland. She joined the Old South, May 15, 1814.
485
DEATH OF JOSIAH SALISBURY.
At a meeting of the brethren of the Church, Sabbath afternoon, February 12. [1826] the following resolution offered by Deacon William Phillips and seconded by Brother Benjamin Whitman, was unani- mously adopted :
Whereas it hath pleased Almighty God to remove by death on the Ioth inst. our beloved brother Josiah Salisbury, a deacon of this church, from this world of sin and suffering, and, as we trust, to take him to himself ;
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