USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Old South church (Third church) Boston, 1669-1884, Vol. II > Part 53
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But a few weeks only had elapsed, when my most trembling appre- hensions were fully realized. Our hopes were blighted. The pros- pect which had seemed opening upon us, in the dawning of a mild bright day, suddenly closed in with clouds and gloom. My health failed. I fell before you, as it were, on the threshold of the temple which I was entering to minister at its altar. Still we hoped, and strove to comfort ourselves with the hope that the fall was temporary. We hoped, we believed, that the fallen pastor would soon rise again, and return to his work with renewed energy and spirit. But month after month of hope deferred, and the months of a year passed sadly away, and left me still under the grasp of an oppressive and almost fatal disease. It is only within the last six or eight months that my health has been decidedly and surely reviving. There is now, it is thought, a reasonable prospect that, with favorable circumstances, I may ulti- mately enjoy as much health as is consistent with a delicate consti- tution. But the progress is slow. In the opinion of my physician and those best qualified to judge, I shall not be able to preach, or to perform any considerable amount of pastoral duty for five or six
495
MR. STEARNS'S RESIGNATION.
months to come. A competent degree of health may indeed be gained sooner ; it may not so soon ; it may never. Meantime, I perceive that your interests as a religious society, are suffering for the want of pas- toral care and labour, of which, through my own sickness, and the indisposition of your former pastor, you have been deprived for nearly four years. I cannot think of remaining with you as a mere incum- brance, or of retaining my office to your serious and permanent injury. Having advised with the pastors of other churches in this city and vicinity, and with judicious friends who are acquainted with your situ- ation, I feel constrained from a sense of duty to God, and from the love I bear to you, to resign my charge. Beloved Brethren, I ask that the sacred tie that binds us in the relation of Pastor and Church, of Minister and People, may be dissolved. Let "the tie that binds our hearts in christian love " remain, and bind us to one another and to our common Father, Redeemer, Comforter forever.
" One desire with regard to his people was still strong in his breast. It was to thank them for their patience, to console them for their disappointment, persuade them anew to press forward to heaven, and take his leave of them, in a farewell discourse. But his constitution was really so infirm, his sensitive spirit had suffered so much, in view of the contemplated separation, that he was now unequal to the task. He began to write, but crip- pled under the effort. The last sermon which he had preached to his people was from the words of Jesus, 'In the world ye shall have tribulation.' For this he had chosen the remaining clause of the same verse, 'Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.' He had written nearly one half of his discourse, when returning disease forbade him to proceed. The unfinished manuscript survives. It is a broken shaft, and stands among the select discourses, as a monument to his memory." These are its opening sentences : -
Little did we anticipate, when last I was permitted to address you in this sacred place, and was discoursing to you from the words which immediately precede the text, that we should so soon, and to such an extent, be made to realize their import, in our own personal experience. As I look back to that hour, it seems as if a prophetic inspiration had prompted me then to repeat to you the declaration of our Saviour in his farewell address to his disciples, - and to dwell upon the senti- ment : " In the world ye shall have tribulation." And now that, after so long a time of separation and painful suspense, I come to address you once more, and for the last time as your pastor, my mind involun- tarily fastens upon the words that follow: "But be of good cheer ; I have overcome the world."
496
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
The pastoral relation was formally dissolved by a council, March 8, 1836, of which the Rev. Dr. Jenks was moderator. In June Mr. Stearns sailed from New York for Southampton, in company with Professor Stowe, a classmate at Andover, and with him travelled through England, Scotland, and Germany. He was in Paris in October, making his arrangements to return to the United States, when he received and accepted an invi- tation from Mr. and Mrs. Edward Elbridge Salisbury, members of the Old South Church, to accompany them in their carriage to the South of Italy, and to spend the winter there. " In their society, who, to the last, were to him as a brother and sister, his spirits were kept cheerful, and his health seemed rapidly to improve." In the spring he travelled northward with these excellent friends, parting with them at Geneva, and proceeding in the company of other friends to Paris. "Never," said Mr. Salisbury, in a letter written a few weeks later, "never shall we forget his parting words, as we shook hands repeatedly, and his face bespoke a strife of feelings not expressed, 'Farewell, fare- well, God bless you, the God of your fathers bless you!'" 1 After his arrival in Paris, Mr. Stearns failed rapidly. When told that he could not long survive, he addressed a most affect- ing letter to his relatives and friends in America, full of mes- sages of thoughtfulness and affection. This was his message to the beloved church of which he was still a member : -
I love the Old South, and have never ceased to remember them in my prayers, once and again, since the morning I became their pastor. A pastor's feelings are peculiar. I wish I could address them, and say to them, farewell ! I rejoice that they are in the care of so good a pastor [Mr. Blagden]. The Lord bless them and him. I would also say a grateful farewell to my special benefactors, Mr. S., and Mr. F., and Mrs. G. My beloved, affectionate, generous friend -, I bid you a full hearted farewell !
This letter, which cost him many an effort, was dated June 28, 1837. He died July 15, and was buried temporarily in Père la Chaise, the Rev. Edward N. Kirk, who, a few years later, was to enter upon a long and honored pastorate in Boston, conduct-
1 Mr. and Mrs. Salisbury had been baptized at the Old South, and, in the Hull-Sewall line, represented the seventh generation in the Old South membership. In the Bromfield-Phillips line Mrs. Salis- bury (Abigail Salisbury Phillips) also
represented the sixth generation. Her great grandfather, grandfather, and father had been deacons. This ancestry, no doubt, was in the thought of Mr. Stearns when he said to these friends : "The God of your fathers bless you !"
497
MR. STEARNS'S THEOLOGY.
ing the funeral services. In accordance with Mr. Stearns's expressed wish, his remains were brought home, and, after ser- vices in his brother's church in Cambridge, were laid to their final rest in Mount Auburn cemetery. In a memoir by this brother, it is said of him : -
As a theologian, he cannot be classed with any of the schools. His philosophy differed in some respects from them all. It was his inten- tion, if life should be spared, to present to the public a system of ethics which, for several years, he had been studying and maturing in his own mind. He hoped, by long and discriminating reflection, to establish some principles in moral philosophy, in which all intelligent, experimental Christians would agree. Nor did he, while cherishing opinions of his own, break recklessly away from Calvin, Edwards and Locke, but rather looked up to these venerable names with reverence approaching awe. At the same time, he examined their doctrines and modes of explanation with severe and patient scrutiny, and made it a rule never to adopt their symbols in expressing truth, till satisfied that these were as exact and comprehensive and transparent as any he could obtain. This, together with the maxim never to color truth, or express more than he believed, is among the reasons that his dis- courses are so free from the technical language of theologians.1
Soon after leaving Andover, Mr. Stearns preached for a time in Beverly, in the First Church, of which the Rev. Dr. Abiel Abbot had been the minister. The Rev. Dr. Andrew P. Pea- body, who was brought up in this church, thus writes of Mr. Stearns and his brief ministry there : -
At the time of the division of the Congregational body in Massa- chusetts, Dr. Abbot took the Unitarian side. His parish and church were divided in opinion. The small majority of both were Unitarians ; but the minority were as strongly attached to Dr. Abbot as those who were in harmony with his theology, and, moreover, were more strongly opposed to the extreme Hopkinsianism of the (so-called) orthodox church hard by than they were to Unitarianism, - indeed, so much so, that when the disruption finally took place, they formed a new church of a more liberal type of orthodoxy. Dr. Abbot died in 1828 ; his successor was ordained in 1830. Meanwhile the two parties hoped and endeavored to remain together. Several candidates preached,
1 [In a note dated April 24, 1889, Pro- fessor Salisbury writes of Mr. Stearns : " He was a large-minded man - inclined rather to find some common ground with those from whom he differed, than to emphasize differences. He had an in-
satiable thirst, which even the dying of his physical frame could not quench, for all that is 'true, beautiful and good'- indeed, by the daily weakening of his body, he seemed to be etherealized, and to grow in spiritual vigor."]
498
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
some Unitarian, some mildly orthodox. Among those who were thus employed was Rev. Samuel H. Stearns. It must have been in the spring or summer, or both, of 1829. I was at home in both spring and summer of that year, so as to have seen and heard what I remem- ber of him. His sermons were, as it seemed to me, perfect in thought and style, delivered with simplicity, with the fervor of deep conviction, and impressive, chief of all, because they were addressed from heart to heart. They were, as was natural and fitting under such circum- stances, not dogmatic, while there was no attempt to conceal his position. My belief is that they fully satisfied the serious and devout worshippers of both creeds as to their spiritual worth, and all hearers of every sect, as to their literary character. I called on him repeatedly, and have the most delightful memory of my talks with him. I was then about to commence my professional study, and our conversation was on subjects connected with the clerical profession, with some free and kind discussion of the questions then at issue. My impression is that he more nearly approached the type of orthodoxy now identified with the Andover school than any other orthodox minister with whom I was conversant for the following twenty or thirty years. But what has left its strongest hold on my memory, is the loveliness of his spirit and the sweetness of his intercourse. Fully aware of what there might be that was not in common, I felt that it would be one of the great happinesses of my life, could I have him as the pastor of my mother and sister, as the successor of my very dearly beloved pastor, and as my own intimate friend. I think that I cannot be mistaken in remem- bering that he declined, on the score of health, to be considered as a candidate for settlement, and that, had he been a candidate, he would have had the vote of a very large majority of the parish, perhaps a unanimous vote. My kindred and near friends were all Unitarians ; but it was among them chiefly that I heard the praises of Mr. Stearns.
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CHAPTER X.
1836-1884.
THE CIVIL WAR. - REMOVAL TO THE BACK BAY.
M R. STEARNS, in his letter of resignation, expressed the earnest. hope that the church and congre- gation would soon unite in the choice of another pastor in his place, "equally desir- ous and more able " to do them good. He said: " I pray that you may be thus united. Nothing would so embitter my remaining life, nothing would so soon bring down my head with sorrow to the grave, as the knowl- edge that I had been the occasion, however indirectly, however innocently, of di- viding and scattering this flock." It was, indeed, most desirable that the pulpit which had been without an active pastor for so long a time should be filled without delay ; and, two months after the for- mal dismission of Mr. Stearns, twelve of the pew proprietors addressed a letter to the deacons, asking them to call a meeting of the church to consider the subject of choosing a minister, and proposing the name of the Rev. George W. Blagden, who
500
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
from 1827 to 1830 had been pastor of the Evangelical Congre- gational Church, Brighton, and who from 1830 had been, and then was, pastor of Salem Street Church, Boston. Mr. Blagden was very attractive in his personal appearance and address, scholarly in his attainments, and highly acceptable as a writer and speaker; and he had made a reputation as a faithful min- ister of Christ during the nine years of his service near and in the city. It was natural, therefore, that he should be thought of among the first for the Old South ; but one very serious difficulty lay in the way of giving him a call, - he was a settled pastor, and he was settled over a church whose interests would suffer greatly if he were taken away from it. The Old South had never called a settled minister to its pulpit. Mr. Thacher and Mr. Willard had long ceased to be pastors when they came to the Third Church ; and of the eleven who followed them in the pastorate, all were installed as young men. Nor was this a matter of tradition merely, it was one of principle also ; and the difficulty was not readily removed. At the first meeting at which the proposed call to Mr. Blagden was considered, the church was divided, ten being in favor of it, and thirteen against it.1 A second meeting was held two months later, July 12, when a letter was read, signed by James C. White, Samuel Tenney, Samuel W. Hall, and sixteen others, members of Salem Street Church, asking for a suspension of proceedings until they should be able to confer further with their " beloved pastor." It transpired, however, at the meeting, that Mr. Blagden had made up his mind to leave Salem Street in any event ; where- upon, on motion of Deacon Armstrong, it was voted, twenty yeas to no nays,2 as follows : -
Whereas this Church has received such information as leads them to believe that the Rev. G. W. Blagden, " after due deliberation has concluded it to be duty to ask dismission from his people,"
Therefore, Voted, That the Old South Church do hereby call the Rev. G. W. Blagden to become their Pastor, Provided, his connection with his present charge be in a regular and christian manner dissolved.
1 Among those in favor of the call were Deacon Armstrong, Samuel Hall Walley, James Means, Jonathan French, Charles Stoddard, Samuel Davis, and Charles Blake. Deacon Cutler and Dea- con Vose were on the other side. Among the pew proprietors, not church members,
who recommended the call were Osmyn Brewster, Francis Welch, James Blake, and Montgomery Newell.
2 Deacon Vose, who was moderator of the meeting, now voted in favor of the call. Deacon Cutler and four other brethren were excused from voting.
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Mitslapden Pastre
501
THE REV. GEORGE W. BLAGDEN.
A meeting of the brethren was held September 19 to make arrangements for the installation, when the following vote was unanimously adopted : ---
Voted, That the church have received such evidence as fully satisfies them that the Rev. G. W. Blagden has been dismissed from his late charge in a "regular and christian manner," according to the vote passed in Church meeting July 11, 1836. Therefore, the church do hereby approve the same and will now proceed to appoint the com- mittees to make arrangements for, and assist in his installation.
Mr. Blagden was installed on Wednesday, September 28, having previously been received into the membership of the church. Dr. Codman preached the sermon, Dr. Jenks offered the prayer of installation, the Rev. William M. Rogers gave the right hand of fellowship, and the Rev. William A. Stearns offered the concluding prayer.
Mr. Blagden was born in Washington, District of Columbia, October 3, 1802. His father, George Blagden, was a native of Attercliffe, Yorkshire, England, and was one of the first settlers in Washington ; he was a practical mechanic and engineer, and built most of the early public and private buildings in the capi- tal. The son graduated from Yale College in 1823, and from Andover Theological Seminary in 1826. In 1827 he was called to the pastorate of a new church organized in Brighton by a secession from the First Parish there. Of his ministry, in its earlier years, the Rev. Dr. Andrew P. Peabody has said : -
Dr. Blagden must have been settled in Brighton about the time of my graduation. When, three years later, I returned to Cambridge as a professional student, he had great reputation as a preacher. When he exchanged in Cambridgeport I went to hear him, and probably elsewhere. His sermons were remarkable for clearness and precision of statement, purity of style, and wealth of scriptural illustration. They were the utterances of a man, not specially heated for the occa- sion, but in so familiar conversance with sacred things that their language was his vernacular. Always reverent, always fervent, never impassioned, he made a profound impression upon his hearers by his entire sermon and service, without their being able to select this or that portion of a sermon as specially impressive. His delivery was calm, yet animated, with no bursts of eloquence, but with no letting down. He kept his audience always in close attention, and was always edifying and instructive. His sermons were much better adapted to men's spiritual needs than such sermons as are specially popular now. It was as second to no minister of his denomination
502
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
that he was chosen to the Salem Street Church, which needed a strong man to build it up, and that he was translated thence to the Old South.1
We have the following estimate of his character from the same facile pen :-
As regards his character, he was one of the most truly lovable men I ever knew. I cannot conceive of his ever having said or thought anything that was not true, and pure, and kind. I had frequent con- versations with him on religious subjects ; indeed, when there was no third person in the conversation, we hardly talked of anything else, and we talked not of things as to which we differed, but of those in which we were of one mind. He, however, made no concealment of his opinions, and professed to the last, orthodoxy of the old school, with no essential change from his early ministry. But he held what he deemed the truth in love. He expressed not tolerance for, but sympathy with Christians of every type. Nor was this with him any- thing new. He referred frequently to early feelings in that respect out of line with his brethren at that time, and once gave me an anec- dote of his boyhood as to circumstances that led him to believe in goodness outside his own pale. His social intimacies in his later years, have been, I think, largely with persons not of his own denomi- nation, who have held him in reverence and in the dearest love, and for whom he has given every token of fond and high regard. No man has had warmer friends, or has been more honored in life, or has left a more precious memory.2
In 1842 there was a general revival of religious interest in the churches in Boston, and the Old South received, forty- three persons to its membership. The following references to this interest appear upon the records : -
Friday, March 11. At the regular church meeting, after delibera- tion, it was Voted, at the suggestion of the pastor, with the consent of the officers of the church, to set apart four evenings next week, besides the ordinary Tuesday and Friday evenings, for special re- ligious services, with reference to the present state of the church and congregation. The young men of the church cooperated in this measure, with commendable zeal.
Friday eve'g. March 18. It was concluded by silent and general assent, to continue the same special religious services, during the coming week.
1 [See Commemorative Discourse by the 2 [Ibid., pp. 24, 25. This discourse was preached Feb. 22, 1885.]
Rev. Charles A. Stoddard, D. D., p. 17.]
503
THE NEW BRICK MEETING-HOUSE.
In 1844 the Second Church -the church of the Mathers - determined to rebuild its meeting-house, and while this work was in progress, it availed it- self of an invitation to worship under the roof of the Old The Oid souhlas South. In courteous recogni- to the tion of the hospitality extended 844 to it at this time, it gave a sil- ver cup to the Old South which appears upon its table every Communion Sabbath in testimony of the friendly rela- tions which have subsisted be- tween these historic churches for more than two centuries.1
The meeting house taken down in 1844 was built in 1721 ; it had been known as the New Brick, and had been the scene of the ministerial labors of Waldron, Welsteed, Gray, and Pemberton. Cotton Mather preached its dedication sermon ; and, with the exception of the Old South, its pulpit had been occupied by Whitefield more frequently perhaps than any other in Boston. After the Rev- olution it became the home of the Second Church, by the union of the Old North and the New Brick congregations under Mr. Lathrop.2 On the IIth of March, 1844, farewell services were held within its walls, and the Rev. Chandler Robbins preached a sermon, from which we quote a few sentences : -
We meet to-day for the last time in this venerable house. It has stood a hundred and twenty-three years. It is the oldest temple in the city. Christ Church, its ancient neighbor, is its junior by more than two years, and the Old South by nearly nine. It has been an object of sacred interest to many generations. Its image has been connected with the idea of God, in the minds of myriads who have been born and lived and died within sight of its spire. Hallowed associations gather thickly around it. Its walls are hung with the memorials of ancient days. Shadowy processions of the sainted dead seem to move along its aisles ; and a solemn chant, as of many voices, known and unknown, mingling in psalms and prayers, to swell be- neath its roof.
1 At or about the same time, the Old South Chapel was placed at the disposal of the Church of Our Saviour, the Rev. Robert C. Waterston, pastor, which was
building its new meeting-house in Bed- ford Street. This church was merged in the Second Church in 1854.
2 See ante, vol. ii. p. 187.
504
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
It is a serious thing to demolish a house like this. It is a solemn act to destroy these time-hallowed walls. It is more, far more, than merely to take down the material pile, which hands, long since mouldered to dust, assisted to raise. These stones and bricks are inwrought with holy sentiments; they are inscribed with honored names ; they are written all over with religious reminiscences ; they enshrine venerated images ; they are the memorials of the piety and faith of our fathers ; they are largely and intimately connected with the spiritual life of past and present generations. .. . A sacred, a spiritual fabric of hallowed memories and associations will be shattered together with these crumbling walls, - and fall never to rise again.
But everything must yield to the immediate wants and will of the living. The command of present use is in our day incontrovertible and supreme. The marks of its empire are all around us. It takes down and builds up, and knows no veneration. The sacred and the beauti- ful are continually bowing before it. It has often pointed ominously at this old edifice. It has touched it now, and to-morrow it falls.
In 1805 "the proprietors of the Old South Church and con- gregation " voted to apply to the legislature for an act of incor- poration, and appointed a committee for the purpose. It does not appear, however, that any application was then made, and, certainly, no act was granted.1 Probably the measure was dis- approved by some of the brethren who were not proprietors of pews. But, in 1844, it had become apparent to all that the time was come for incorporating the society. The property had greatly increased in value ; and the uncertainties of the law, together with the fluctuation of population, made it imperative that, without further delay, its tenure should be defined and secured by something more recent than the original deeds of gift. On the 26th of March, 1845, Governor Briggs approved a bill, which had been signed by Samuel Hurd Walley, speaker of the House of Representatives, and Levi Lincoln, president of the Senate, incorporating Samuel Turell Armstrong, Pliny Cutler, Charles Stoddard (deacons), and others, proprietors of pews in the Old South meeting-house, by the name of the Old South Church in Boston.2 " Said corporation," it was enacted, "shall be deemed and taken to be the successors of said proprietors, and are hereby authorized to take and hold to the use of said corporation and its successors and assigns, in fee simple, all and singular that parcel of real estate situate on Milk, Washington
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