USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Old South church (Third church) Boston, 1669-1884, Vol. II > Part 61
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73
wonder that it did not occur to Cotton Mather to employ it, when he was re- cording the result of the bitter opposition of himself and his father and his party friends to the formation of Brattle Street Church, and the settlement of the Rev. Benjamin Colman as its pastor. After his party had been thoroughly beaten at every point, and had been forced by circumstances to assist at pub- lic services of recognition for the new
church and its minister, and to unite in extending the fellowship of the churches to them, Cotton Mather gave relief to his feelings by writing in his journal : "There was much relenting in some of their spirits, when they saw our conde- scension, our charity, our compassion. We overlooked all past offences." In other words : " We charitably condoned all past offences." See ante, vol. i. p. 314, note.
570
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
receive hospitalities must not prescribe, much less try to break down, the arrangements for their reception, and that it is be- coming in guests to acquiesce in and conform to these arrange- ments rather than to " condone," be it never so "charitably," the invitation which they have accepted, and then to take every- thing into their own hands.
We believe that only from a comparatively recent date has it become usual to call upon the members of a council, in turn, to take part in the "examination " of a pastor-elect. Before this, as we remember, the moderator asked a series of questions in behalf of the council; now, although the moderator may have traversed the whole field, opportunity is given to every member, older and younger, experienced or inexperienced, to propound whatever question may occur to him at the moment, important or trivial, pertinent or impertinent. A majority of the mem- bers, as we have noticed, prefer to be silent on such occasions. At Mr. Gordon's installation only one third took advantage of the opportunity when it came to them, and only a few of these had much to say. Of the more than one hundred interrogato- ries, between fifty and sixty were put by three persons, includ- ing the moderator. Mr. Gordon bore himself admirably under the trying circumstances, and, with great calmness and courtesy, endeavored to explain his views, which to the opposition seemed to be altogether new, and to come in the nature of a surprise. A reference to some of the questions and answers will illustrate the difference in point of vision between Mr. Gordon and those who questioned him. We begin with the fifth question of the moderator : 1 -
The MODERATOR (Dr. Webb) : Take that other passage in which he [the Apostle Paul] says, "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitia- tion through faith in his blood." What do you make of that? Where does that come in, in your theory ?
Mr. GORDON : In this way, that the truth of God's character, the truth of his relation to his human children who have fallen into sin, the truth of the only right life for his human children, - these three truths are all declared in the Saviour of the world ; and Paul has in mind, in my judgment, in that passage to which you have referred, the consummation of the revelation of God's redeeming love in the death of Christ.
The MODERATOR : Yes; I am not quite sure I understand ; but
1 For the questions and answers in The Old South Council, etc., 1884, pp. full at Mr. Gordon's installation, see 22-46.
571
THE CROSS-EXAMINATION.
perhaps I can bring my meaning out in a different way. Take that pas- sage concerning propitiation. Has the atonement made by the Sa- viour any relation to justice ?
Mr. GORDON : Not as considered apart from righteousness, but as a declaration of righteousness, I believe that it is most essential ; that it is a declaration of the righteousness of God, as Paul says.
The MODERATOR : In what would that righteousness consist?
Mr. GORDON : The very being of the Eternal God.
The MODERATOR : Is Paul's teaching there in regard to the being or to the action ?
Mr. GORDON : I think, sir, he is speaking of a revelation of the very being of God ; that God is a righteous Being, and that he is seen to be so in the whole work of Christ.
The MODERATOR : Is that on the surface? There may be some hidden meaning in it which I do not understand. "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood." It seems to be an act.
Mr. GORDON : Yes, sir, but I do not distinguish between Christ and God metaphysically. I believe that God is in Christ reconciling the world to himself ; if, therefore, Christ is a Redeemer, God is a Re- deemer, and whatever Christ does, God does. I do not distinguish between the propitiation which Christ makes and that which God offers in Christ.
The MODERATOR : Well, has the atonement made by the Lord Jesus Christ any relation to the law or the penalty of the law ?
Mr. GORDON : It has, and most emphatically, I should say, for right- eousness is law, and sin is a violation of the law, and God sent his Son into the world to deliver it from lawlessness, and to establish the eternal laws of righteousness.
The MODERATOR : That hardly meets the point I have in mind ; but to go back to Paul's assertion, "There is, therefore, now no condem- nation to them which are in Christ Jesus." That condemnation im- plies personal guilt in your apprehension, does it not ?
Mr. GORDON : Certainly, sir.
The MODERATOR : And guilt is what ?
Mr. GORDON : That consciousness which accompanies wrong rela- tions to God and to man.
The MODERATOR : Yes, that is part of it, very clearly ; that is to say, that is the inherent sense of ill desert in us ; but at the same time, does not guilt involve something external ?
Mr. GORDON : I cannot see that it involves anything more external than that.
The MODERATOR: For instance, take this young Berner, who has been the cause of such a riot in Cincinnati. Now, when he murdered that man in the stable there was in him a sense of ill desert, - I do
572
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
not know whether there was or not, but that is what we would suppose there would be in you and me, an inherent sense of ill desert, guilt, something attaching to me, something I cannot get rid of; and does he not, at the same time, make himself liable to penalty, and does not every act of sin bind a man to some kind of penalty, to a fine, or im- prisonment, or death ?
Mr. GORDON : I understand your question, sir, very clearly now, and I take the ground very firmly that the analogies drawn from human government with reference to the divine government, do not in any degree satisfy my mind, and I do not hold that such an analogy illus- trates even the relations which a spiritual being has to a spiritual act ; that all penalties whatsoever which are visited upon the sinner, in my judgment, are spiritual penalties.
The MODERATOR : Of course. I do not mean to imply in my ques- tion that they are material, but I only mean to illustrate by human government, which, I suppose, is a transcript, as far as necessary in this world, of the divine government. I have understood it so. Do you not understand it so ?
Mr. GORDON : If it is, I hope that it is a very great modification of it.
The MODERATOR : I do not care to go further.
Dr. Withrow began by asking several questions in reference to the nature of the Godhead. He then continued : -
Dr. WITHROW : I did not quite understand your statement in respect to the Scriptures, and Christ's revelation of himself ; - the work of Christ consisted in what ?
Mr. GORDON : In the revelation of truth and in the method of rev- elation. You refer, sir, to what I said about reconciliation, that in trying to account for reconciliation and trying to account for the fact, which I confess, I said that it was the truth revealed through a per- son, a divine person.
Dr. WITHROW : How do you connect the work of the Son with the sacrificial system preceding it ?
Mr. GORDON : The sacrificial system preceding it seems to be all built upon the fact that God is already propitious, and that the sacri- ficial system is a confession that he needs no propitiation.
Dr. WITHROW : Why did he require them to bring the sacrifice, if he was already propitious ?
Mr. GORDON : I think I draw this distinction between heathen sac- rifices and the sacrifices which I find in the Scriptures, that whereas the heathen thought they were going to bring their gods round into a favorable condition towards them, the Scriptures always set forth, in my judgment, the fact that God is brought round.
Dr. WITHROW : What, then, was the necessity, if God was already
573
A PROOF-TEXT CALLED FOR.
propitious, that his Son should offer himself a sacrifice to satisfy justice, or offer himself in a propitiatory sense? Three or four times we have the word "propitiation " through Jesus Christ as a sacrifice.
Mr. GORDON : Will you quote, sir, any passage in which it is said that Christ propitiated the Divine Justice as a legal satisfaction ? If you will, it will help me out of the difficulty.
Dr. WITHROW : "He is the propitiation for our sins ; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." There is that passage.
Mr. GORDON : Dr. Withrow, (I will beg his pardon) referred to sev- eral passages of Scripture in which Christ is spoken of as being a propitiation to Divine Justice, and I ask him to refresh my memory with a passage.
Dr. WITHROW : " Propitiation " also occurs, if you will remember it, in the prayer of the publican. When he offered his prayer he used the same word, in his own language.
Mr. GORDON : "God be merciful to me a sinner "?
Dr. WITHROW : Yes, but the language in which it was written first.
Mr. GORDON : Will you be kind enough to repeat it?
Dr. WITHROW : It is " propitiation " again, sir.
Mr. GORDON : Well, I have no difficulty at all with this word. Christ is the declaration to me that God is propitious towards me as a sinner.
Dr. WITHROW : Suppose he had not died on the cross, God being already propitious, would our salvation be equally secure ?
Mr. GORDON : We should never have known it.
Dr. WITHROW : But, I say, would it, in your judgment, he being pro- pitious, have been true that we all should have been saved, if Christ had not died ?
Mr. GORDON : I do not think a sinner can be saved without a knowledge of a Saviour, and that the Lord, in order to give him that knowledge, became incarnate, and thus the incarnation was necessary.
We quote a portion of Dr. Plumb's questions, with the answers : -
Dr. PLUMB: On one question I did not quite get your idea, how Christ is a High Priest. What is his general relation to the Priest- hood ?
Mr. GORDON : The High Priest was himself chosen from among men in things pertaining unto God, and he must have certain qualifi- cations. He must be called of God and chosen from among men. Christ was. He was called of God. It was in reference to things concerning God, and Christ's whole work was in reference to things concerning God and the men from among whom he was chosen ; therefore he was the High Priest.
574
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
Dr. PLUMB : Do you make any distinction between Christ as a Prophet or Teacher and Christ as a Priest ?
Mr. GORDON : I have just stated what a priest was and what his priesthood is.
Dr. PLUMB : As I understand your statement, Brother Gordon, as to what Christ does in reconciling men and being a Saviour, it would seem that you confine it simply to his prophetic or teaching office ; he reveals God through us, makes us know how good God is. What would you do with such a passage as Hebrews ix. 24: "Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true ; but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." Why is he in there for us ?
Mr. GORDON : Christ is in there as the representative of humanity. However, I must say this, that in such a question, I do not believe that it is possible for me to explain a single passage taken from the whole epistle to the Hebrews. It seems to me that the whole epistle goes together ; that I must make a statement of my belief without ex- planation ; that the epistle represents Christ as chosen and constituted by God so as to effect the redemption of the human race.
Dr. PLUMB : I have been laboring to get your idea ; it may be my fault altogether, but I would like very much to have you explain this, if you will be so kind, what it is that Christ does for us. Take such a passage as Romans iii. 25: "Whom God hath set forth to be a pro- pitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins," in order "that he might be just." Now, accord- ing to this, Christ was set forth to be a propitiation, in order that God might be just in forgiving the sinner. Is not that something more than to reveal God to us ?
Mr. GORDON : I do not hold, sir, that that word is used in our legal sense ; it is righteousness, I believe, and that the whole work of Christ was a revelation of the righteousness of God ; and I would say it was the nature of the righteousness of God to deliver men from the spirit- ual bondage in which it finds them.
Dr. PLUMB : Now this question perhaps will bring it out : Does the effect of Christ's sacrifice on the cross operate upon any one other than the sinner ? You say it reveals to the sinner, makes him know more, but does it have any effect on any other being ? Does it remove any obstacles that would exist, except in his own consciousness ?
Mr. GORDON : I cannot find the view countenanced, as I read the New Testament, that God is propitiated by the death of Christ, that is, made favorable to man. I distinctly reject that view ; but as I read the Bible, it is a procession of the heart of God out towards man, and the difficulties in any individual text in the way must be explained in reference to what I recognize as the general trend of the Scripture, that God's nature goes out through Christ, and through his work, for
575
THE MISTAKE OF THE OPPOSITION.
the redemption of sinners. God does not change himself in his ap- pearance in Christ.
Dr. PLUMB: What I am trying to ascertain is, whether, when Christ suffered for us on the cross, he did anything except something that should affect our hearts ; whether there was any work in any other way ?
Mr. GORDON : I would go this length, that God gratified himself in the expression of his redeeming love for man ; but, I understand your question to mean this, sir, - did Christ propitiate God by his death? Is that your question, sir ?
Dr. PLUMB: Yes, if you will not interpret "propitiate " in the sense that he did not love us. He loved us, but there were difficulties in the way of manifesting his love, so Christ removed those difficulties. Is that your idea ?
Mr. GORDON : Yes, I should say that the love of God in Christ overcame all difficulties.
The leaders of the opposition were beginning to feel some of the consequences of "condoning" the letter-missive. If they had consulted Dr. Dexter's manual, and heeded his injunction that a council has " no right to consider and offer advice upon any subject not embraced in the terms" of the letter, they would not have involved themselves in such embarrassments as now surrounded them. Their course would have been a very plain one, if they had taken action in view of the only facts upon which it was possible for them, under the circumstances, to pass an immediate and intelligent judgment, namely, that after due deliberation, the Old South Church and Society had given a call to Mr. Gordon ; and, that Mr. Gordon had laid before the coun- cil an official document from his brother ministers in the neigh- borhood of Greenwich, testifying to the fidelity and success of his pastorate there, which document had been supported by the statements of two members of his church then present as dele- gates. But these leaders had assumed the responsibility of deciding upon the "orthodoxy " on all essential points of a brother minister whom they had seen for the first time on that day, and to pronounce a judgment upon the merits of a carefully prepared and elaborate theological paper which, as we have said, had been read in their hearing once only, and which pre- sented views of Christian doctrine, by their own acknowledg- ment, altogether new to them.1
1 One of the saintliest men in the council, not now living, said to us a few days afterwards, that in his opinion those who questioned Mr. Gordon were unable to understand him because they
and he were moving on different levels ; they were intent, as it seemed, upon technicalities, while he was on a higher plane, dealing with truths in their spirit- ual relations.
576
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
We shall not speak of what took place in the protracted private session which followed the cross-examination, except to notice a proposition made by some one, but which, we believe, did not come to a vote, that the council should adjourn over for a few days. We are sure that the committee of arrangements would not have listened for a moment to such a suggestion as this.
The committee had prepared an entertainment to precede the public exercises of the evening, and, for the purpose of making the occasion one of broad Christian fellowship, had invited to meet the council and the pastor-elect the ministers of the neighboring churches of other denominations, including some with which, in former years, the Old South had sustained the closest ecclesiastical relations. After waiting as long as seemed proper, the committee of arrangements, with the pastor-elect and the guests outside the council, went up-stairs and sat down to the supper which had been provided. The senior deacon, Mr. Avery Plumer, presided, and the Rev. Rufus Ellis, D. D., of the First Church, asked a blessing. Several very pleasant speeches were made.1 On its return to the meeting-house, the committee was surprised to learn not only that the council was still in session, but that there was no immediate prospect of its coming to definite action. The time for the public exercises had come and passed ; a large congregation was waiting; and the members of the church, who thus far had been very patient, began to show marked signs of displeasure. Deacon Plumer called his committee together for consultation, and, in its behalf, was about to go to the chapel, prepared to speak some very plain words to those who were obstructing the proceedings, when a messenger appeared and reported that the council had just voted, forty-eight to sixteen or eighteen, to proceed to the services of installation.
After further delay, the public services of the evening began. The council had made no objection to the programme prepared by the committee of arrangements, but two changes were neces-
1 Among those who were present were the Rev. Rufus Ellis, D. D., the Rev. George E. Ellis, D. D., the Rev. A. P. Peabody, D. D., the Rev. Phillips Brooks, D. D., and the Rev. Cephas B. Crane, D. D. The Hon. Peter Thacher and the Hon. D. Waldo Salisbury were present as representatives of the first minister of
the church, the Rev. Thomas Thacher, and a former deacon, Mr. Samuel Salis- bury. Dr. Elisha Mulford had attended the public session of the afternoon, and had followed the proceedings with much interest; the committee was happy to invite him to its table. The council took supper an hour later.
577
THE INSTALLATION.
sary. Dr. Duryea, who had promised to give the right hand of fellowship, pleaded another engagement, as the council was ad- journing, and Dr. Mckenzie undertook this part of the service, and performed it with great acceptance. Dr. Webb, who had accepted an invitation to offer the installing prayer, asked to be excused, and Dr. Merriman officiated in his stead. The vener- able Dr. Blagden made the prayer of invocation, and this, we think, was the last pulpit service performed by him. Dr. Tucker preached the sermon from 2 Cor. iv. 13: "We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written [Psalm cxvi. 10] I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak." Dr. Barbour gave the charge to the pastor, and Dr. Herrick addressed the people. An original hymn, by Dr. Tarbox, was sung before the sermon,1 and another, by a member of the church, at the close of the services. Mr. Gordon pronounced the benediction. The exercises were admirable in every particular, and were greatly enjoyed by those who were able to forget some of the occurrences of the afternoon.
When the action of the minority in the council became the subject of general and rather severe criticism, some of the leaders sought to justify themselves by the plea that they had been conscientious in what they had done. Conscience, as we know, has been the excuse for nearly all the persecution of the later Christian centuries, so that one may well exclaim in the words of Madame Roland, slightly changed, O Conscience, how many crimes have been committed in thy name ! Without calling in question the conscientiousness of religious persecu- tors in general, it must be conceded, we think, that the consci- entiousness of the persecuted is much more noble and much more heroic. Certainly it is a much nobler thing to resign church preferment for the sake of our convictions than to keep another man out of a desirable pulpit because he does not agree with us, - a much more heroic thing to submit to the thumbscrew and the rack rather than be false to ourselves, than to apply these instruments of torture, or their modern equivalents, to others who will not accept our standards for their guidance in belief and conduct. That it is also a much more blessed thing, we have the teaching of the Lord him- self, for his last beatitude in the Sermon on the Mount was reserved for his disciples when persecuted for his name's sake, that is, we suppose, for the sake of his truth, and he had none
1 Songs and Hymns, by Increase N. Tarbox, p. 135.
578
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
to pronounce upon the men who, even for the sake of his truth, as they imagine, inflict the persecution.
There is a conscience which, in its exercise, is not dependent upon time or place or numbers, and which is never so grandly courageous as when it represents a small minority or is alone, and this we must regard as the Christian conscience ; and there is another, which is especially valiant when a large majority stands behind it, or wherever it has full control, and this we may call the ecclesiastical conscience. Two years after the Old South council of 1884 there was another installation coun- cil in Boston, in which all the men who had led in the opposi- tion to Mr. Gordon were present, with others of the extreme conservative party ; and as the theological opinions of both pastors-elect were alike progressive, it was to have been ex- pected that those who had been impelled by their consciences to multiply questions, to protest and to condemn in the one instance, would be equally outspoken and uncompromising in defence of orthodoxy as defined by themselves in the other. Any such expectation, however, was unfulfilled, for, in the later council, hardly an interrogatory was put, no exceptions were taken, and no discussion was allowed to disturb for a moment the peacefulness of the hour. By any uninformed spectator it might easily have been taken for an installation council in those earlier years of Congregationalism, "when our churches were crude in polity and vague in faith." We will not affirm that there was any thought in the minds of the reactionary leaders on the later occasion of the questions and answers of the earlier one, of the vote of two to one against them, or of the strictures which their course then called forth; but we hazard little in the assertion that in the proceedings of the Shawmut Council of 1886 there was too little ecclesiastical con- science, or in those of the Old South Council of 1884 there was altogether too much.
A prominent pastor - one of those who stood nobly by the Old South in the private session of the council - remarked a few days later that in the trying experiences of the occasion, both the new pastor and the church " suffered vicariously," and that other churches, with their pastors-elect, in time to come, would be the better able to maintain their rights against eccle- siastical encroachments, because of this contest and this vic- tory. Nor, as we think, was this the first instance in its history in which the church had suffered vicariously, if indeed there
579
FROM AGE TO AGE.
can be any suffering, corporate or individual, in the cause of freedom, religious or civil, which is not vicarious. "For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself."
We have prepared this account of the proceedings in connec- tion with Mr. Gordon's installation with great self-restraint. Much more might be said in reference to them, and should be said whenever the history of the passing controversies or of the new pastorate is written. Of this pastorate in its begin- ning we will only say that if strife and division prevailed in any measure outside the church, mutual confidence, absolute har- mony, and hopeful expectation reigned within. Even the parti- san opposition which had been brought to bear against Mr. Gordon's installation had its suggestion of encouragement ; for, from the settlement of Benjamin Colman at the close of the seventeenth century onward, those ministers who at their com ing hither were most strenuously opposed by some of their brethren are now recognized as among the most faithful and successful in the long and honorable list of Boston pastors.1
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.