USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Old South church (Third church) Boston, 1669-1884, Vol. II > Part 58
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In effect this land was paid for out of the church stock. The value of Mrs. Norton's gift was not expected, probably, to exceed that of the contributions of John Hull, Thomas Savage, and other founders, who gave £100 each ; as a matter of fact, it did not equal it. There was a charge of £100 upon the land, which was to be and was paid to the First Church, and there were various bequests under the will which were discharged by the Third Church. All this appears in the earlier pages of this History, in which, as we think, we have shown that the church paid to Mrs. Norton and her representatives a full equivalent, and, perhaps, considerably more, for her land and the dwelling- house upon it.1 Surely it was a great hardship that because certain nominal restrictions were inserted in its deeds, the church could maintain its right, in the present generation, to manage its own property thus obtained, only by an enormous outlay of time and thought and money.
In conformity with the provisions of the legislative act of 1874, the Old South Society filed a bill in equity, to which the members of the minority were made respondents, and in which the court was asked to sustain the society in its rights under the deeds and will of Mrs. Norton, and to authorize the sale of the meeting-house in accordance with the vote of the society, and for the purposes contemplated by it. The minority, on its part, by the attorney-general, brought an information, alleging
1 See ante, vol. i. pp. 132, 133, 223-226.
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HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
that the society held its property as trustee of a public charity, and praying that it might be restrained from making the pro- posed sale, that it might be removed from its trust, and that other and suitable trustees might be appointed. The two cases were argued together at the June term, 1875, and on the 23d of October in the same year, Mr. Justice Wells delivered the opinion of the court, dismissing the information by the attorney- general, and ordering the bill in equity to stand for hearing before a single justice. We quote from the head-note to this opinion : 1 -
A gift for the erection of a house for public worship, or for the use of the ministry, may constitute a public charity, if there is no definite body, for whose use the gift was intended, capable of receiving, hold- ing and using it in the manner intended. But when there is a body, or a definite number of persons, ascertained or ascertainable, clearly pointed out by the terms of the gift to receive, control and enjoy its benefits, it is not a public charity, however carefully and exclusively the trust may be restricted to religious uses alone.
. Held, that neither the deeds nor the will created a public charity. Held, also, that the declaration of uses in the statute did not define a public charity, and that it was not the intention of the legis- lature to so merge the interests of the trustees and the cestuis que trust as to discharge the estate from the trusts. Held, also, that lands so held might be sold by authority of the legislature or of this court as a court of equity. Held, also, on a bill in equity praying for the sale of the property, and the application of the proceeds to the same trusts in another part of the city, that the vote of a majority of pew holders or members of the society was not of itself a sufficient authority to enable the corporation to make a sale, nor a sufficient reason to justify this court in authorizing it to be made ; and that it was incumbent upon those who sought to make the change to satisfy the court that it was reasonably required for the accommodation of the society as a whole, and that the proposed change would not sub- ject the minority to an unreasonable sacrifice of interest or con- venience, or in any way work injustice to them.
For the purpose of satisfying the court on these points, there was a hearing before Mr. Justice Colt at chambers, and the tes- timony was repeated, substantially, which had been given twice before committees of the legislature, and which, as now printed, fills a book of nearly three hundred pages octavo. As the result of this hearing, a decree was entered in the Supreme Court, sitting in equity, May 31, 1876, in the following terms : -
1 Mass. Reports, vol. cxix.
543
THE FINAL DECREE.
This cause came on to be heard upon the bill and answer and proofs, and the parties having been fully heard thereon, and the re- spondents being present in court by their counsel and accepting no- tice of the amendments to the bill and waiving all objections thereto, as also all objections to this decree, and the court having fully consid- ered the same, it is adjudged and decreed that the Old South Society in Boston, complainants, shall have full power and authority, and it is hereby expressly authorized and empowered to sell and convey by deed the whole or any part of its old meeting- house and land under and adjacent to the same, situated and being on the corner of Milk and Washington streets in said Boston, the whole lot bounded and described as follows, viz. : Beginning at the corner of the premises on the corner of Milk and Washington streets, thence running by said Washington Street northeasterly by the various courses to the corner of the brick building owned by the said Society ; thence easterly by the southerly wall of said brick building in a straight line, till it strikes the westerly wall of the granite store belonging to said So- ciety, fronting on Milk Street ; thence southerly in a straight line by said last-mentioned wall to Milk Street; thence westerly by Milk Street by various courses to the point begun at, in accordance with the lines and measures of a plan hereto annexed, marked " Old South Meeting-House and Land under and adjacent to the same." And it is further ordered that said estate, or any part thereof, may be sold at public or private sale, by the standing committee and treasurer of said Society, in pursuance of the votes of said Society in words fol- lowing, viz .: "Voted, that the standing committee are hereby author- ized and directed to sell the former meeting-house, and the land under and adjacent to the same, on the corner of Milk and Washing- ton streets in Boston, and for that purpose to make all necessary contracts and agreements therefor, the terms and conditions to be such that the proceeds arising therefrom shall be available to pay the debt already contracted for the land and the building of the new meeting-house, chapel, and parsonage, and also to meet the payments and expenses as they may be incurred and become payable for the carrying on and completing such buildings."
" Voted, that the treasurer be authorized and directed to sign the corporate name, and affix the corporate seal to any conveyance of such real estate, provided such conveyance be approved in writing by the majority of the standing committee."
And that the Old South Society in Boston aforesaid shall have full power and authority, and it is hereby expressly authorized and em- powered to mortgage any or all of its real estate situate on Milk or Washington streets, Boston, and held under said deeds of Mary Norton, or either of them, or under the will of said Mary, for the pur- pose of paying its debts, and any mortgage or mortgages given here-
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HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
under shall be to such person or persons, and upon such terms and conditions, and with or without power of sale, as said Society shall, by vote of a majority present at any legal meeting of its corporators, direct, and the lender shall not be bound to see to the application of the money loaned ; and it is further ordered and decreed that the costs, expenses, and counsel fees of Uriel Crocker and others, respond- ents in this suit, taxed and allowed at 6450 dollars, shall be paid by the complainants out of the proceeds of the land sold, or the money borrowed on mortgage.1
As the final result of the legal proceedings, the society, in the summer of 1876, found itself in a position in which it might sell the meeting-house and the land under it ; and, on the 11th of October in the same year, it conveyed the property by two instruments, an indenture and a deed, to Mr. Royal M. Pulsifer, as the representative of a committee of citizens who, with praise- worthy enthusiasm, had undertaken the task, in behalf of the public, of preserving the old building for historical and memorial purposes. The indenture contained the following provision : -
Provided, nevertheless, and this conveyance of said edifice is upon the express condition that said building shall not at any time during the period of thirty years from the date of this indenture be used for any business or commercial purpose, and shall be used during said period for historical and memorial purposes only, and that it shall not at any time during said period be used for any purpose whatever on Sunday, except so far as necessary for the care and preservation of said building and contents, and in case of breach of the foregoing conditions or any of them, said building shall be forfeited to said Old South Society in Boston, and said Old South Society in Boston re- serves the right to enter for breach of condition and enforce said forfeiture, and take down and remove said building, but such entry shall not be made till after ninety days' notice in writing.
The object of the second condition was twofold: First, to prevent the confusion and damage which would follow from the establishment of Sunday services in the old meeting-house,
1 [At a meeting of the standing com- legislative hearing, and at every ses- mittee held just after the fire in 1872, a sion of the court when the question of leasing or otherwise disposing of the old meeting-house was under consideration. To the watchfulness, patience, sagacity, and energy of Mr. Johnson and Mr. Plumer during all these years of legisla- tion and litigation the final success was largely due. Deacon Plumer died April 27, 1887.] sub-committee was appointed, consisting of the chairman, Mr. Johnson, and Dea- con Plumer, to which was referred the whole management of the business which was to come before the legisla- ture. From that time until the entry of the final decree in 1876, the members of this sub-committee were present at every
545
EFFORT TO ANNUL A CONTRACT.
as the Old South Church ; these services, if established, from the intimations which had been thrown out, were likely. to be sensational, radical, and utterly at variance with all the re- ligious associations of the building in the past. Secondly, if the building was to be maintained as an historical museum, - a very general and indefinite term, -the society was opposed to its being made use of on the Lord's day as a place of popular resort and recreation. These conditions made an important part of the consideration upon which the building was sold and conveyed by the society ; and "upon full consideration and with a perfect understanding of the nature and effect of these con- ditions by the parties interested in making the purchase, and with the full knowledge that no conveyance would be made by said society unless such conditions should make part of the con- tract and deed, the purchase was made and conveyance taken." And yet, a few months later, the legislature was asked to pass a bill; in effect abrogating the covenant which had been entered into, and creating a corporation with power to take and ap- propriate the meeting-house and land for public, historical, memorial, educational, and religious uses, and none other. The society earnestly remonstrated against the proposed bill, as an infringement of its rights, and of the rights of property-holders generally ; in the remonstrance it was said, "that under the contract and deed of conveyance the Old South Society retained to itself an estate in said meeting-house, well known to the laws ; and that the effect of the passage of the bill under con- sideration by the committee, if enacted by the legislature and found to be within the provisions of the Constitution, would be to deprive the society by force of law and without its consent, of the estate retained by the Old South Society, thus enabling the purchasers of the property, by the use of the Common- wealth's right and power of eminent domain (the power to take private property for public uses), to annul and evade the con- tract into which they understandingly and deliberately entered, and that without any public reason therefor which did not exist when the contract was made." The remonstrants did not im- pugn the motives of the persons interested in the movement, but they respectfully and confidently submitted that the passage of the bill, " following so immediately the contract and convey- ance," would be "a breach of the faith and understanding upon which the estate was sold and purchased."
It was said in reply : "The question whether the promoters
546
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
of the bill do right is for them to determine according to the light they may happen to have, but the public interest in this meeting-house is not to suffer whether their decisions are right or wrong." To this it was answered : -
The reply admits that the parties to the agreement are under obli- gations to abide by the contract under which they hold their property. This concession covers the whole case, if that be true, which the society says is matter of public notoriety, that the parties making the contract and the parties seeking this legislation are one and the same, and that the terms of the contract were generally known and under- stood not less than two months before the bargain was consum- mated. ..
The society never refused to sell the building to the Historical So- ciety to be used for the purposes stated in their offer. It was a very different question whether it should pass into the possession and control of men who, by reason of successive defeats in the courts or other reasons, had become unfriendly to the interests of the society, or of men who, widely differing from the faith of the Old South Society and its views of duty, felt themselves bound, we may assume consci- entiously, to take care of their neighbor's business. . . .
No nice distinctions of logic, no appeals to the sentiments of pa- triotism or to popular prejudice, can distort or disguise the true issue between the parties. It is one of simple justice, of right, and of fair dealing between man and man. The Old South meeting-house, preserved by such method, may illustrate the patriotism of the fathers, but it will not illustrate the love of justice in the sons.1
In this single instance the legislature disappointed the expec- tations of the members of the Old South, and, against their remonstrance, granted the request of the purchasers of the meeting-house, or their representatives, for the abrogation of the contract under which the sale and conveyance had been made. But the parties interested have not availed themselves of the law for whose enactment they asked twelve years ago, and the old building has never been opened upon the Lord's day for any purpose whatever. Should anything be attempted at any time in the future under the sanctions of this law, it will, of course, be competent to the Old South Society to take meas- ures to test the question of its constitutionality.
Dr. Taylor, in his memorial sermon, says of Dr. Manning in connection with this long controversy : " Possessing his soul in patience, and cheered by the support of the admirable band of
1 [Both remonstrances were drawn by Benjamin F. Thomas and Linus M. Child.]
547
THE NEW MEETING-HOUSE.
men by whom in the society he was surrounded, he held on with unyielding perseverance, until at length success crowned the enterprise, and this building so excellently placed for pres- ent and prospective usefulness, and already filled by a large congregation, is his vindication and - his monument." 1 The new house of worship was dedicated December 15, 1875. The Rev. James H. Means, D. D., and the Rev. William H. Fenn con- ducted the preliminary exercises, and Dr. Blagden offered the prayer of dedication. Dr. Manning preached from John iv. 24, "God is a Spirit : and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." The subject of the discourse was, Worship as a Means of Spiritual Culture, and its closing sen- tences were as follows : -
That this great privilege of spiritual culture might come to you and your children, and to as many as choose to cast in their lot with you, you have undergone the sore trial of removal from your old to this new house of worship. How slowly, how unwillingly and how sadly you yielded to that trial is known to yourselves and to God. Some of you bear names which stand on the first records of our venerable church. You had associations with the former place, tender memories of it, and a loving attachment to it, which those who have criticised your actions before the public cannot understand. If they had known how faintly their love for the ancient sanctuary reflected yours, I be- lieve they would have tried to strengthen rather than weaken your hands, seeing that your love made you to act, and that you acted only as you were urged forward by the compelling hand of God.
There you were surrounded by a crowd of secular and patriotic memories which obscured the spiritual history of our church, but here that spiritual history may come out into the light, and be made an incentive to soul culture upon you and your families. .. . There you were isolated from other Christian churches, lacking all opportunity to welcome them to your sanctuary for those general religious meetings, occurring for the most part on secular days, which enter so largely into the present methods of the church ; but here you can take your
1 At Dr. Manning's funeral Dr. Dur- yea spoke as follows of his relations to his ministerial brethren: "If, in the in- terests of God and man, of truth and righteousness, for the weal of the pres- ent time, and the destinies of the time to come, he ever came across your path, and grazed or struck upon you in colli- sion, sure I am that if you could have sat apart with him and talked it over fairly, you would have found in him a
generous spirit, a warm and faithful heart, the largest charity, and the power of immeasurable sacrifice, for you as well as others. I say this now, because, otherwise, it might not have been known save to those who have been closer to him than most of you could be. He was true to his brethren. Never did I hear from him an ungenerous word; never did I witness in him an unfrater- nal temper. "
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HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
proper place in these evangelistic efforts which are common to the entire brotherhood, and so do your part toward fulfilling that blessed ministry by which each part supplies unto the other parts something which they lack.
Take this building, O Thou Great Head of the Church, to whom we now bring it. Make it Thy own temple, and make us Thy living tem- ples. Use it for the glory of Thy holy kingdom, and keep us the loyal subjects of that kingdom. Spare it only so long as it shall serve Thy loving purpose, and spare and bless us only that we may declare thy name. When its noble walls must crumble, teach thy people to bow in the faith of something better to come ; and when our spirits must be unclothed of their earthly house, may they rise to be clothed upon with the house which is in heaven.1
Dr. Manning's last years in the pastorate were his happiest and best. In the ripeness of his intellectual and spiritual powers, he was permitted to exercise his ministry under the most favorable external conditions. At length he was in a po- sition in which he could do himself justice, and in which the community did justice to him. The church was now growing steadily in both numbers and strength, and it was the hope of his people that he would be permitted to enjoy for a long period the prosperity which he had done so much to promote. But this was not to be. After a few years his health gave way ; he struggled against disease with all the heroism of his nature, and at one time it seemed as though he must win in the un- equal contest by the very force of his will. "At the last, how grandly came his courage out. Here [in this pulpit] was his post of duty, and here he loved to be, to teach the truth of the gospel, and urge it home to men's consciences and hearts. And here he willed to be, so long as he could stand erect and speak. With what feelings of mingled wonder and tenderest sympathy have we seen him struggling hither, and rising to declare his message with trembling limbs and quivering hands and broken voice, bent still on doing his Master's work, a good and faithful servant. Thanks be unto God, who giveth men such victory, through Jesus Christ our Lord ! " 2
Dr. Manning resigned his active pastorate, and accepted the position of pastor emeritus, to take effect on the IIth of March, 1882, the twenty-fifth anniversary of his installation. "A twen-
1 [We have quoted, as above, from of Dr. Manning's sermons and addresses the Boston Journal, December 16, 1875. now in press.] The discourse will appear in a volume 2 Dr. Duryea's address at the funeral.
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DEATH OF DR. MANNING.
ty-five years' pastorate over this honored, historic church ! Let us thank God to-day for a record like that, for that permitted, finished, faithful quarter-century of service ; for that ministry of consecrated power whose waves of hallowed influence shall not cease to bless men until they break in fulness of fruition upon the immortal shore." 1
" Then came almost a year of silence, cheered by the kind- ness of his people to him in his hour of trial ; brightened always by the happy home radiance with which he was surrounded, and occasionally by the hope that he might yet be able to do ser- vice for his Lord on earth." 2 On the first Sunday in March Dr. Manning put on his gown for the last time,3 and took part in the services at the Lord's table. His solemn prayer on that affect- ing occasion, and particularly his invocation of blessing for all time to come upon the church which he loved so ardently, and from whose service he was to retire in a few days, will never be for- gotten by those who heard it. The summer and autumn months brought no real improvement, and no valid ground for hope ; and on the 29th of November he "entered into the unencum- bered life of heaven." He died at the house of his brother-in- law, the Rev. W. H. Fenn, in Portland, Maine, where he and his family were making a visit. Among his latest words were these : " God is with me ; my God is here." In another month he would have completed his fifty-eighth year. The funeral ser- vices were held at the Old South on Friday, December I, in the presence of a large congregation. The Rev. Dr. Duryea pre- sided, and made a most interesting address, as did also the Rev. Dr. Gould, a college classmate and life-long friend of Dr. Man- ning.4 In accordance with the custom at the Old South Church, a memorial sermon, from which we have freely quoted, was preached, Sunday afternoon, February 18, 1883, by the Rev. William M. Taylor, D. D., of New York, from Phil. i. 21 : "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
The venerable clergyman who for fifteen years had been the senior associate in the pastorate, and who had retired from
1 Dr. Gould's address at the funeral.
2 Dr. Taylor's memorial sermon.
3 In accordance with an old custom, Dr. Manning was buried in his gown.
4 The pall-bearers were the Rev. Ru- fus Ellis, D. D .; the Rev. William Bur- net Wright; the Rev. Leighton Parks ; the Rev. James M. Gray; the Rev.
James B. Dunn ; the Rev. A. A. Miner, D. D .; the Rev. A. J. Gordon, D. D .; and the Rev. J. W. Hamilton. The burial was in Forest Hills Cemetery. The cost of the monument, and the expenses of Dr. Manning's last illness and funeral, as in the case of previous pastors, were assumed by the Old South Society.
550
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
active duty in 1872, survived until the 17th of December, 1884. He spent the last months of his life in the city of New York and died there. His body was brought to Boston, for burial at Mount Auburn, and funeral services were held at the Old South, conducted by the Rev. George A. Gordon. On Sunday morning, February 22, 1885, a memorial discourse was preached by the Rev. Charles A. Stoddard, D. D., of New York, - son of Deacon Stoddard, - who joined the Old South under Dr. Blagden's ministry in 1848. The text was Psalm xci. 16: " With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation." The devotional exercises were conducted by the Rev. Mr. Gor- don, assisted by the Rev. Francis H. Johnson, of Andover, who joined the church on the same day as Dr. Stoddard, and the Rev. Professor J. Henry Thayer, of Cambridge, who became a member in 1853.
At the weekly prayer-meeting of the Old South Church, two days after Dr. Blagden's death, resolutions were adopted, some of which we quote, in token of the affectionate regard in which his memory was and is cherished by his old parishioners : -
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