USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Old South church (Third church) Boston, 1669-1884, Vol. II > Part 56
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The interest of the proceedings culminated, we think, during the session held on Burial Hill, Plymouth, on the spot where the first meeting-house of the Pilgrims stood. Here the coun- cil adopted a Confession of Faith, admirably conceived and expressed, - in its spirit not divisive, but catholic ; in its terms not dogmatic, but declaratory. It began with these impressive words : --
Standing by the rock where the Pilgrims set foot upon these shores, upon the spot where they worshipped God, and among the graves of the early generations, we, elders and messengers of the Congrega- tional Churches of the United States in national council assembled - like them acknowledging no rule of faith but the word of God - do now declare our adherence to the faith and order of the apostolic and primitive churches held by our fathers, and substantially as embodied in the confessions and platforms which our synods of 1648 and 1680 set forth or reaffirmed.
The members of the Old South who were most constant at its services and active in the management of its affairs, and upon whom the sense of responsibility for its future rested most heavily, could not but foresee that -problems would have to be solved by them at no distant day which would demand their most earnest and intelligent consideration. At a meeting, April 17, 1866, the Hon. Samuel Hurd Walley made " extended re- marks in reference to the condition and duties of the Old South Church and Society," and proposed a vote, which was agreed to, " that the standing committee be requested to appoint two com- mittees, members of the Old South Society, one of members residing south, and one of members residing north of West Street, with liberty to make any proposition which they may deem advisable for the consideration of this Society."
The first point at which the congregation was compelled to yield to the hard-pressing encroachments of trade was at its
524
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
chapel in Spring Lane, which it had occupied for nearly forty years. In reference to this there could be no difference of opinion. At a meeting of the brethren held on Monday even- ing, April 30, 1866, a communication was presented, signed by both pastors, and the three deacons, Charles Stoddard, Loring Lothrop, and Avery Plumer, in which it was said : -
This chapel was erected by the parish in the year 1827,1 nearly forty years ago. On the same spot, before that period, a small wooden vestry was the place of meeting for this church. At the time of its erection this chapel was regarded as the best for the purposes of week-day worship and prayer in the city. Then, it was mostly sur- rounded by dwellings. Our people resided in and near Washington Street for the most part. We have lived to witness a great change in this respect. Our houses are far away. Business presses on all sides ; and the air around this locality is corrupted by cooking and eating houses, and other establishments about us. Washington Street has become so crowded and unpleasant that it is hardly a suitable place for females to walk in the evening. It has seemed to many of us desirable to obtain a more eligible place for our weekly meetings and for Sab- bath-school purposes. The chapel in Freeman Place, nearly opposite the Athenaeum in Beacon Street, is now vacant, and is offered to our society. Our society will probably be willing to hire it, if the church desires it. . . .
There are many sacred associations connected with this chapel where our church has so long assembled to pray and praise the Lord, - where our children have met their teachers on the Sabbath for religious instruction. We have reason to believe that when the Lord shall count - when he writeth up the people - that " this and that man was born there." Yet we know that the worship of God is confined to no locality. The movable tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, and the lodgment of the ark at Shiloh were equally ac- ceptable to him, when devout worship was offered. Our Lord Jesus uttered a great truth to the woman of Samaria when he said, "The time cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jeru- salem, worship the Father. God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
The brethren voted unanimously,
That this church approve the plan brought to their view in the com- munication of the pastors and deacons, and that a copy of the same, and our doings thereon, be sent to the proprietors of pews for their action.
The Freeman Place Chapel was occupied until the completion 1 [The stone portico was added several years later.]
525
A BI-CENTENNIAL SERMON.
of the Old South Chapel in Boylston Street. It seated five or six hundred people, and was about one third larger than the chapel in Spring Lane. It was opened freely for the week-day services of other religious organizations, as the old chapel had always been.
The conviction that the meeting-house as well as the chapel would have to be vacated was slowly forcing itself upon the minds of many of the leading men in the society, and they began also to see the character of the opposition which they would have to encounter when the time for removal and for disposing of the building should come. This opposition was to be based, for the most part, on historical rather than on re- ligious grounds. On the first Sunday in May, 1869, Dr. Man- ning preached a sermon "on our condition and prospects as a church of Christ," from the text, "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." After reviewing the progress of the church through the two centuries then closing, and the history of the meeting-house for more than half that period, he took pains to discriminate, as he and his people were obliged to do continu- ally during the next few years, between that which was outward and secular and that which was inner and spiritual. The ser- mon was not printed, but we have transcribed one or two sug- gestive paragraphs from the MS. : -
The fact that Franklin was baptized here, that the great orators of the Revolution were born here, that the British soldiery was quar- tered here, - events like these, having no heavenly savor in them, are what we are tempted to memorialize, and let bring us into bondage. .. . The public at large is interested in us more on account of these political associations, than because we are a church of Christ. If any speakers or writers raise the charge of sacrilege against us, when we speak of changes here, they do not mean sacrilege toward God, but toward certain patriots who happened to make speeches here because no other building in town was large enough to hold their audiences.
Dr. Manning proceeded to speak of the great work which confronted the church, and then, in preparation for the Lord's Supper which was to be celebrated at the close of the sermon, he turned the thoughts of his hearers to the long succession of faithful men and women who upon that spot had worshipped and witnessed for their Lord.
Before we take up this important work, on which the fate of the church rests, so far as we are concerned, it is befitting that we should
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HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
bring our minds into a state of conscious sympathy with Christ. We must have his spirit, if we would administer the affairs of his kingdom wisely. The Lord's table ! Oh what memories it should awaken, and what zeal for him it should kindle in us to-day! Think how many times it has been spread by hands that now strike immortal lyres ; how many lips, of the long generations of the sanctified, which have here tasted the simple elements of the communion, are now drinking the new wine with Christ in the Father's kingdom. Away, ye memo- ries of war and fighting, proud visions of the triumphs of men. Fall back, with all your earthly retinue, ye ministers to vanity, ye poor shadows of secular grandeur. Disappear from the eye of our faith, ye walls in which sleep the echoes of patriotic eloquence. And let the invisible temple, in which they that follow the Lamb worship, be revealed. Let us see the great cloud of witnesses who compass us about. Let us enter into the holy succession of those whom the world has forgotten, as it will soon forget us. Let us fall into line, as good soldiers of the cross, - take our place in the slender but far-reaching and victorious column of those who have served the spirit, and not the letter. Here, in such an hour of tender and holy communion as none of us may hope ever to enjoy again on earth, let us all be of one mind and heart in the Lord, - while we devoutly promise him, and our own souls, and give to one another our mutual pledge, that we will so meet the exigency to which God has brought us in his providence, as to honor the past, save the present, and bless the future.
A few weeks before this, April 13, 1869, the society had appointed a committee "to select a suitable lot for the erection of a .place of worship for the Old South Society, and report to a future meeting of the pew proprietors." This committee re- ported, but not unanimously, August 17, recommending the purchase of a piece of land on the corner of Clarendon and Marlborough streets, which had been bonded until the wishes of the pew proprietors could be made known. No action was taken at this meeting; and, on the 19th of October, the com- mittee made another report, recommending a lot on the corner of Boylston and Dartmouth streets, consisting of twenty-two thousand one hundred and seventy-six feet. The society author- ized and directed the purchase of this land, by a vote of fourteen to six, and, at a later meeting, November 10, approved and con- firmed the purchase which had been made by its direction.1 On
1 The society afterward purchased two These have been sold with restrictions lots on Boylston Street, adjoining the parsonage, about fifty feet front, and three lots on Newbury Street, adjoining the Boston Art Club, seventy-five feet front.
as to the buildings to be erected on them, so as to preserve light and air for the meeting-house and chapel, and buildings have been erected accordingly.
.
527
DR. BLAGDEN'S RESIGNATION.
the 12th of October, 1870, a building committee was appointed, consisting of Samuel Hurd Walley, Charles Blake, William Hil- ton, George Homer Lane, and Avery Plumer,1 and they were au- thorized to take possession of the land recently purchased and to cause a chapel to be built thereon for the use of the church and society. This action was reaffirmed April 11, 1871, at which time the committee, desiring to proceed with all possible caution, had not begun the work. At the annual meeting a year later, April, 1872, it was voted "that a parsonage be erected on the land owned by the society on Boylston Street, west of the chapel now erecting, and that the building committee have full power to carry this vote into effect." At the same meeting the standing committee was directed to apply to the legislature for a change in the third article of the act of incorporation, so that the restriction upon the meeting-house and the land on which it stood should be removed, and the society should have power to demise and lease all or any of its real estate, without exception ; but the session was so far advanced that the petition failed to receive consideration.
In the autumn of 1872 Dr. Blagden resigned his pastorate in accordance with a decision made and stated to the church some time previously, that he would retire when he reached the age of seventy years. He preached his farewell sermon on Sunday, September 30, from Acts xx. 32 : " And now, brethren, I com- mend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified." "In this discourse he rehearsed the his- tory of his pastorate, dwelling upon its beginnings ; the religious interest of 1842, and the Chambers Street enterprise ; alluded to his well-known views upon all questions of moral reform, and upon the place and functions of evangelists in the church - mat- ters which had been of great practical importance during his ministry ; and paid a loving tribute to those disciples who had aided him in his work." The discourse was not printed, but its main facts and sentiments are to be found in a sermon preached by him in 1861, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his settlement. " As a testimony of their love and honor to so good and tried a pastor, the society voted him a salary as pastor emeritus so long as he lived, and when, in May, 1883, he removed to New York,
1 Jeremiah G. Newell, John Cowdin, and Samuel Johnson were added to this committee afterward. Mr. Johnson was
chairman of the standing committee dur- ing all this trying period, and for several years later.
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HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
the congregation gathered in the parlors of the church, in large numbers, to bid him an affectionate farewell." 1
Dr. Manning now became sole pastor, and he entered with all his heart upon the enlarged work and wider responsibility to which he was called.
In November, 1872, Boston was devastated by a fire, the loss by which was far beyond that experienced in all previous ca- lamities of the same kind. The Old South meeting-house was seriously threatened, and was damaged so as to make it unfit for occupancy. The new chapel in Boylston Street was not finished, and a circular was sent to the members of the con- gregation as follows :-
OLD SOUTH SOCIETY.
The members and usual attendants at the Old South Church are hereby notified that there will be no service at the Church next Sab- bath or until further notice.
Worship and service will be attended next Sabbath morning, at Freeman Place Chapel, Beacon Street, to begin at ten o'clock.
Nov. 15, 1872.
The meeting-house in its damaged state had been taken pos- session of by the municipal authorities for the temporary accom- modation of the troops who had been called out to guard the burnt district. On Sunday afternoon Dr. Manning conducted a service for the soldiers, and this, we believe, was the last reli- gious service ever held within these venerated walls.
The Merchants' Exchange, in the rear of which the post-office was situated, was badly injured by the fire, and permission was `given to the postmaster to make use temporarily of Faneuil Hall. Circumstances having compelled the Old South Society to vacate its meeting - house, and all the probabilities being against a return to it, the proprietors were disposed to regard with favor a proposition from the United States government, to lease the building for a post-office for two years from the next January.2 The legislature having been convened by the gov-
1 [See Dr. Charles A. Stoddard's commemorative discourse, February 22, 1885.]
2 Some time before the fire, the stand- ing committee was approached informally by members of a large and representative committee of the Boston Board of Trade, with a proposition for the purchase of the land on which the meeting-house
stood, and adjacent land, and the erec- tion upon it of an Union Merchants' Exchange, large enough to accommodate all the leading trade organizations of the city. In the Annual Report of the Board, 1871, it is said : " There is no single thing, perhaps, so much needed at this time to promote the convenience of the merchants of Boston, as a Merchants'
529
THE MEETING-HOUSE VACATED.
ernor, in extra session, to consider questions relating to the fire and its effects, a renewed application was made for the removal of the restriction in the act of incorporation which interfered with the acceptance of this proposition, and the restriction was so far modified as to permit the lease of the building for the special and public purposes for which it was then required. The removal of this disability, however, was vigorously resisted, as was every attempt made by the society for several years to come, before the legislature and in the courts, to secure for it- self the same freedom in the management of its temporal affairs as was enjoyed by every other religious society in the Commonwealth.
On the 14th of December a vote was passed authorizing the building committee "to contract for building the foundation and driving the piles for the church structure on the corner of Dartmouth and Boylston Streets ;" and on the 20th Samuel Hurd Walley, Samuel Johnson, and George Homer Lane were authorized to execute the lease of the meeting-house which had been submitted for the approval of the proprietors.
The long and sharp controversy relating to its meeting-house, upon which the society was now entering, involved two ques- tions : Whether, in deference to outside opinion, it should re- turn to its old home, and occupy it permanently, contrary to all its convictions of duty ; and whether, if vacated by it, the building should be preserved as an historical monument. After years of anxious thought, and with all proper respect for out- side opinion, the society, by a decided majority, answered the
Exchange and Reading Room, ample and commodious in its appointments, and in immediate proximity to the rooms of the various commercial organizations of the city, our own included. A com- mittee of the Board has had this subject under consideration for some time past, and has made diligent inquiry, in the endeavor to find a location suitable for the erection of a building which should meet all these conditions. Thus far, however, it has failed to discover an available site ; the quantity of land in- dispensable to the proper fulfilment of the plan having proved an insurmount- able difficulty. ... The general advan- tages which would result from bringing the Commercial Exchange, the Shoe and
Leather Association, the Stock Ex- change, and other organizations, together with the Board of Trade, into a visible harmony under one roof, at the same time affording to them easy access to a spacious central hall, supplied with all the newspapers of the day, and with the latest and most complete telegraphic information, are too obvious to be pointed out in detail." (Pp. 10, II.)
An act of incorporation had been ob- tained from the legislature in 1869, and the front elevation of such a building as was proposed was drawn with special reference to the Old South site, but the changes caused by the fire of. 1872 di- verted the thoughts of the committee to another location.
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HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
first of these questions in the negative ; and, for reasons which will appear presently, while deciding not to return to the old building, the majority decided also against the occupancy of the building for religious purposes by those who had placed them- selves in the opposition. On the second proposition, as we have stated it, the majority were in full accord with the minor- ity, and with all who desired the preservation of the building as an historical monument ; but, unfortunately, this question, as generally understood at the time, was weighted with the condi- tion that the building should be preserved at the expense of the Old South Society. It was on this condition that the society and the outside public joined issue. The society was entirely willing that the public should preserve the building, if it wished to do so ; but it protested, with all its strength, against being compelled to bear the entire cost of preserving it for the benefit of the public. The following vote, passed at the meeting of the 20th of December, 1872, illustrates the attitude of the majority on this question : -
Voted, that the standing committee are hereby authorized publicly to announce in behalf of the society, and to enter into any agreement therefor, subject to the approval of the pew proprietors, that the society will sell the Old South meeting-house to the Massachusetts Historical Society, to be kept as a historical building, and be pre- served in its present form and condition, subject only to the lease to the United States Government, - the price to be paid for the house to be the fair value to be determined by three disinterested persons ; the sale to be on the condition that the same shall be kept forever in sub- stantially its present condition, to be used as a place for occasional divine worship and for other purposes, in accordance with the views of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
This vote was communicated to the Historical Society, which, on the recommendation of its standing committee, declared that it would cheerfully assume the responsibility of the custody of the meeting-house, upon the conditions annexed by the proprietors to their offer, if the public interest which had been so widely expressed should prove strong enough to induce contributions sufficient for the purpose. It is greatly to be regretted that this opportunity was allowed to pass unimproved.1
1 At a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society, January 9, 1873, Mr. Edmund Quincy, Chairman of the Stand- ing Committee, to which the communica-
tion had been submitted, made the fol- lowing report, and it was accepted : - " At a regular meeting of the Standing Committee, the president laid before it
53I
A GENEROUS OFFER.
Further : individual members of the majority were willing to do what they believed the society, as a trustee, had no right to do, - they stood ready to contribute with others, and liberally, for the purchase of the building. They would have given thirty thousand dollars, if the public had availed itself of the offer made to and through the Historical Society; and this, for an object which was acknowledged to be of general interest, was certainly their full share. This subscription they declined to renew two or three years later, when an effort was made to preserve the building under other conditions, and after they had been subjected to much harsh criticism and to much vexatious litigation in the discharge of what they believed to be a solemn duty.
At the annual meeting in April, 1873, the society authorized the building committee to proceed with the erection of the new church, and voted : -
That the standing committee are hereby directed to prepare the new chapel on Boylston Street, to be used for the public worship of the Old South Church, and that the same be considered and shall be the place of public worship for the Old South Church and Society ; and that for all purposes it shall be the meeting-house of the Old South Church and Society, on and after the last Sunday in April.1
the annexed communication from the pro- prietors of the Old South Meeting-house. The committee propose to the Society the passage of the following resolutions in relation to it : -
"Voted, That the Massachusetts His- torical Society is profoundly sensible of the honor done to it by the Proprietors of the Old South Meeting-house in se- lecting it as the custodian of the venera- ble and historical edifice of which they have the charge, on the conditions named in the votes officially communi- cated to it.
"Voted, That while the Society most sincerely shares the just wish of the Pro- prietors that the Old South Meeting- house should be preserved as an histor- ical monument, it deeply regrets to say that its funds, could they all be properly devoted to this object, would be entirely inadequate to meet even the most moder- ate valuation that could be put upon the estate.
" Voted, That should the interest in
the preservation of this Building, which has been so widely expressed throughout New England and the nation at large, be strong enough to induce the contribu- tion for that purpose of the sum at which the value of the building may be fixed, the Historical Society will cheerfully as- sume the responsibility of its custody ; and will, for itself and its successors, engage that the conditions annexed to their offer by the Proprietors shall be faithfully observed.
" Voted, That the Corresponding Sec- retary be instructed to communicate these votes of the Society to the Propri- etors of the Old South Meeting-house.
" All which is respectfully submitted by the Standing Committee.
"EDMUND QUINCY, Chairman."
1 [The chapel was dedicated on Tues- day evening, April 22, 1873. Mr. Wal- ley, chairman of the building committee, read an historical sketch of the church, closing with a beautiful tribute to the memory of Deacon Stoddard, who had
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HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
In anticipation of the legislative session of 1874, the society voted to petition for absolute relief from the restriction on its meeting-house and the land on which it stood, which had been modified by the act of December 12, 1872; - "to the end that this society may have the same control of its own property that other similar societies have in this Commonwealth." The lease to the government would expire at the end of the year 1874; and, as a heavy expense had been incurred in the erection of the new buildings on the Back Bay, it was very important that all the property of the society should be available for the dis- charge of its pecuniary obligations as they should mature. The legislature, therefore, was again appealed to, and another con- test before one of its committees followed, more severe, if pos- sible, than the first had been. The society succeeded, however, in advancing its cause another step.1 It was at this time that an endeavor was made to divide the property of the society,2 and to reestablish divine worship in the old building under the auspices of some of the remonstrants. With whom this par-
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