USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the church in Brattle street, Boston > Part 11
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In the autumn of 1811, he received the ap- pointment of Lecturer on the Literature and Criticism of the Sacred Scriptures, on the founda- tion established by the late Hon. Samuel Dexter, his friend and parishioner. Of this appointment he was every way worthy, and it gave entire satis- faction to the public. For its duties, which were to be discharged without relinquishing his parish, he was every way qualified. But he thought otherwise. His honorable ambition, his con- scientiousness, his profound sense of the impor- tance and responsibleness of these duties, urged him beyond his strength. He passed the winter of 1812 in the most zealous and indefatigable study, preparing for his lectures, - rising two hours earlier every morning for this purpose, - at the same time relaxing none of his labors for his pulpit, some of the most eloquent and excel- lent of his sermons having been written at this period. To one so frail, already subject to a fearful malady, the result of such intense intel- lectual action and effort was what was dreaded by some, and might have been foreseen by all.
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The excitement of the anniversary week of 1812, - at which time he preached the last sermon he ever wrote, before the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, Piety, and Charity, - succeeded, as it was, by the warm and relaxing weather of early June, was too much for him, and overstrained nature gave way. On Wednesday, the 3d of that month, he was seized with a most violent attack of his disorder, which completely prostrated his reason, and made a total wreck of his once glorious intellect. But his fervent prayer, offered in all submission, was granted, - he did not outlive his faculties and his usefulness. " The ruin came all at once ; the shock was instanta- neous." He was struck down in the very height of his fame and of his power, for it is said that "he never appeared more brilliant, more equal to every duty, more animated and efficient, than immediately before his last illness."* The strug- gle between life and death lasted for one week, when he expired, on Tuesday, the 9th of June. The funeral sermon was preached by Dr. Kirk- land, and his remains, amid the tears and fond regrets of many hearts, were deposited in the tomb of his uncle, the late Theodore Lyman, at Waltham. Here they remained for thirty years. On the 12th of June, 1842, they were removed,
* Thacher's Memoir.
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and deposited in a beautiful spot at Mount Au- burn, with appropriate services which you all remember, and a chaste monument erected over them, by the subscriptions of his friends and for- mer parishioners .* There, in the beautiful spot
* This was an occasion of much interest both to the mem- bers of the Brattle Street society and to the friends of Mr. Buckminster generally, who assembled at Mount Auburn on the afternoon of June 12th, 1842, where the remains were then deposited with appropriate services, which were con- ducted by Dr. Palfrey. From a brief memorandum made at the time, the following sketch of Dr. Palfrey's remarks has been prepared : -
" Dr. Palfrey said, that, since the form which lay before them had moved in the scenes of life, thirty years had come and gone, - a whole generation had passed across the stage. But many were present who remembered it well when it was animated by the sainted spirit of Buckminster, - and many others who know what a space he filled in the view of his own time, and what an influence has descended from him upon the times which have followed. And they think their duty undischarged till his mortal remains have been placed where the step of affection and gratitude may in all coming time visit their resting-place.
" The time for eulogy, Dr. P. said, had gone by, and the time for sorrow ; but it might not be inappropriate to the oc- casion to recall a few facts. He referred briefly to the par- entage of Mr. Buckminster, to the bright promise of his child- hood, to his pure and studious youth ; and said that in the beautiful example of his college life his mission of usefulness was already in part accomplished. The earnestness, dili- gence, and candor of his theological studies for four years, and the peculiar circumstances under which they were pros- ecuted, involving an abandonment of opinions in which he had been educated, were next noticed ; the state of the
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where his remains now rest, we may hope that, for long years and for many generations, his
churches and the character of pulpit services at the time of his entrance upon them ; the interest and admiration excited by his preaching ; his settlement in the church in Brattle Square; the injury sustained by his health in consequence of the assiduity of his devotion to his work; his absence in Europe, and return ; his growth in learning, graces, and in- fluence ; and his services to literary and other public objects, - among others, his contributions to the Anthology, his agency in the foundation of the Atheneum, and his zeal and activity as an Overseer of the College.
" The singular excellence and efficacy of his private social influence was then dwelt upon. There was a fascination in his presence altogether peculiar ; - in his person, his voice, the expression of his countenance, his manners, his conversa- tion. All who approached felt attracted to him. All desired his friendship, and all felt that to be worthy of it they must be good and useful. They who would sympathize with him had to sympathize with all excellent aims and objects. And especially, his elegant attainments, and his enthusiastic love of letters, -communicated to the admiring youth around him, and through them to a now wide circle, - were represented as being, more than any thing else, the remote cause of the rapid progress of learning in New England since his day, and its improved state in the present times.
" Some of the circumstances of the sudden access of his disease on Wednesday, the 3d of June, and of its progress to the fatal event, were related. Dr. P. said he well remem- bered how the tolling of the bell from the church-tower, announcing his departure, seemed to throw the city into a universal mourning ; he remembered the weeping crowds in the church, and the sobs from manly bosoms, and tears streaming down manly cheeks, among the groups that stood
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name, written in marble, shall speak to the con- science and the heart ; and to all who love learn- ing, piety, and virtue, be an incentive to fidelity
under a stormy sky around the grave in the Chapel burying- ground, where the body was first deposited. It was present- ly conveyed to the tomb of the late Theodore Lyman in Waltham, whence it was now reclaimed to be committed to its final rest.
"We have chosen that place of rest, said Dr. P., where we think that our friend and benefactor might have desired to lie. Only a few years will pass, and the silent preacher will be surrounded here by a silent congregation. It will be of those who have loved him, and whom he has loved. There will be those whom, on the morning of the resurrec- tion, his loving spirit will joy to clasp in a reunion never then to be dissolved. There will be those once accustomed to hang on his eloquent lips, and for whom he kindled or quickened that hope full of immortality which to this day glows in their bosoms, and irradiates their lives. We mean that, though dead, he shall yet speak once more. We mean to break the silence of those mute lips. We mean that the mound which is to be heaped on that open grave shall bear a tablet consecrated to profitable memories. Might it be that the glorified spirit, descending from the abodes of bliss, should now be hovering over us, we trust that, witnessing such a purpose in us, - a purpose not merely of satisfying feelings natural and cherished, but of extending the benefi- cent influence we rejoice in, - our affectionate tribute might not be viewed as worthless. We trust that God himself- the Source of all good influences, the Giver of every good and perfect gift - may not disdain our endeavor thus to per- petuate and promote the influence which he himself ordained to go forth from his selected servant."
The inscription on the monument is as follows : -
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in duty. God grant this review of his life and ministry may be so to us !
Brattle Street, May 12th, 1850.
JOSEPH STEVENS BUCKMINSTER was born May 26, 1784, was ordained pastor of the Church in Brattle Square, Boston, January 30, 1805, and departed this life June 9, 1812.
His mortal remains with those of his eldest sister were deposited beneath this stone, by the care of the Church to which he had ministered, June 12, 1842.
SERMON VI.
THE LORD OUR GOD BE WITH US, AS HE WAS WITH OUR FATHERS : LET HIM NOT LEAVE US, NOR FORSAKE US. - 1 Kings viii. 57.
IN successive sermons, we have now followed the history of this church from its establishment in 1699 to the close of Mr. Buckminster's minis- try, in June, 1812. This brings us to a period distinctly within the memory of very many who hear me. Mr. Buckminster was succeeded by Mr. Everett ; and his very brief and brilliant ministry was followed by the longer and emi- nently faithful, devoted, and useful ministry of Dr. Palfrey. Propriety does not permit us to speak of the living with the same freedom with which we speak of the dead ; but as long years have passed since these gentlemen were incum- bents of this pulpit, and as both have since been eminent in various and widely different walks of life, it would seem, that, without any violation
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of propriety, we might speak with considerable frankness and freedom of their services and influ- ence in this desk. I shall hope not to be guilty of such violation, and yet shall endeavor to give you some just account of their ministries.
After the death of Mr. Buckminster, the pulpit was supplied for more than a year by temporary engagements with various clergymen, no one of whom preached as a candidate. Early in the autumn of 1813, the attention of the parish was directed to Mr. Everett, who had graduated at Harvard College two years before, with the high- est honors of his class, and an unsurpassed repu- tation for talents and scholarship, and who was at this time pursuing his theological studies at Cambridge. He was invited to preach as a can- didate on the 10th of December, 1813, and, after supplying the pulpit four Sundays, received a unanimous invitation to become the pastor of the society. The invitation was accepted, and he was ordained on the 9th of February, 1814. Mr. Everett's ministry lasted but thirteen months. Early in the year 1815, he accepted the appoint- ment tendered him by the Corporation of Har- vard College, of Eliot Professor of Greek Lit- erature, and his connection with this society was dissolved on the 5th of March of that year. Never did a severer blow fall more unexpectedly upon a parish than this ; never was a dissolution of a pas-
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toral connection more reluctantly acquiesced in. I make no undue claim for the clerical profes- sion ; but I am not disposed to admit that there is any higher stand-point for human effort than the desk of religious instruction, - any sphere in which learning, talent, genius, all the energies of a noble mind and a generous heart, can do more good, exert a wider, more lasting, more important influence, than in the pulpit, especially the free Congregational pulpit of America ; and it must always be matter of regret when a person having these rich gifts and endowments steps aside and steps down from the pulpit to mingle in the dust and strife of secular affairs. In the case of Mr. Everett, however, the regret felt, and which some, who distinctly remember him thirty-seven years ago as the youthful pastor of this church, feel strongly to this day, - the regret that talents so eminent should have been thus early lost to the pulpit, - is somewhat mitigated by the fact, that in every sphere in which they have since been exerted, in every office which they have since honored and adorned, - in the halls of legislation, in the higher walks of diplomacy, in academic retreats, and the various paths of learning and science, - they have been crowned with eminent success and eminent usefulness, have ever been exerted on the side of religion, virtue, truth, - truth in the broad, full meaning of the word.
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Yet, eminent, honored, and useful as Mr. Everett has been and is, it may be, - a wise prophet might almost venture the prediction, - it may be that he will go down to posterity as connected with the religious rather than the secular history of the country. It may be that, when all else that he has done shall have been forgotten, - its interest passed away in the temporary interest which produced it, - he will be remembered and his name most frequently mentioned and quoted in connection with his "Defence of Christianity," - a work written before he reached his majority, and published within a few months after his ordi- nation in this desk. This work, presenting, as it does, a very able argument in support of the prophecies of the Old Testament, and their bear- ing upon the truth and divine origin of the Chris- tian religion, was regarded at the time, and may still be considered, as one of the most original and most important theological works that had then been written in America. It was called forth by the state of the times, and completely met the wants of the times. Sceptical tendencies in a portion of this community were at that period strongly manifested, and infidel opinions were openly announced and advocated by some. Par- ticularly, Mr. G. B. English, then recently re- turned from Europe, had attacked Christianity through the Old Testament, particularly through
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the prophecies. His work, eagerly and exten- sively read, had unsettled the faith of many, and, if unanswered, was calculated to do much injury. I have been told that some attempts to answer it in the preaching of that day were not eminently successful .* However this may be, Mr. Ev- erett's work was a triumphant answer and a com- plete vindication. It produced immediately a strong and marked impression upon the public mind. Though written to meet a temporary exi- gency, it is a work of thorough learning and of real, permanent value. Indeed, when we con- sider all the circumstances under which it was written, the extreme youth of the author, the brief period in which it was prepared, the mass of learning it brings together well digested and arranged, the closeness of its reasoning in some passages, the glow and fervor of its eloquence in others, and the effect it produced, it must be acknowledged one of the most extraordinary books in the annals of American religious litera- ture. It is a rare book now, and but little known to the younger generations. Many who hear me, probably, were wholly ignorant of the fact that Mr. Everett had ever written such a work. I
have heard that application was made to him a
* I have heard the late Dr. Pierce, President Kirkland, and Dr. Porter of Roxbury, make this remark.
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few years ago for permission to publish a new edition, and that the application was not success- ful, because his health and engagements would not admit of his giving the work that thorough re- vision which the publication of a new edition might require. This is to be regretted ; for, without any disparagement of the good he has done and the honors he has attained in other de- partments, I cannot but think that, if there is any one event of his life, any one work or labor, of which, on a just estimate of things, he may well be most proud, it is that at the age of twenty he wrote and published his " Defence of Christian- ity,"- a book which silenced the voice of infi- delity, and gave peace, satisfaction, and a firm faith to thousands of minds in a young and grow- ing community.
While pastor of this church, Mr. Everett made but one other publication under his own name ; viz. a sermon preached at the funeral of the Rev. Mr. Abbot, the predecessor of Dr. Frothingham, at the First Church. I have always understood from those whose memories reach back to that period, that he was faithful and devoted to his work while in this desk, and the records, show- ing fourteen additions to the church, and thirty-six baptisms, during his very brief ministry, are an evidence that the ordinances of religion did not languish under his administration.
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After his resignation, the pulpit was vacant more than three years. During this period, sev- eral persons preached as candidates, and various attempts were made to settle a minister, but with- out success. In March, 1818, Mr. John Gor- ham Palfrey was invited to supply the desk for four Sundays as a candidate. At the close of his engagement, at a meeting held on the 26th of April following, he was unanimously invited to become the pastor and teacher of the flock. The invitation was accepted, and he was or- dained on the 17th of June, 1818. Dr. Palfrey's peaceful, prosperous, devoted, and faithful minis- try is too distinctly remembered by most of those who hear me to need much comment. He brought to the profession a mind most thoroughly disci- plined by early and systematic culture, well stored with professional and general learning, trained to habits of patient and persevering industry, imbued with a devout and earnest interest in the great objects of his profession. Through these quali- ties all his ministry was marked by thoroughness, method, and fidelity in every department. Exter- nally, the most important event in the concerns of the parish during his connection with it was a thorough and extensive repair of the church and of the parsonage-house, made in 1824. In the spring of that year, the porch on the south side of the church was removed by order of the city
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government, and the entrance to the galleries and lower floor of the church in that direction closed. This made it necessary to construct a new en- trance to the south gallery, and for this purpose wings of twenty feet were added each side of the front porch, thus making an ample vestibule, and direct entrances in front to the galleries, and to the side aisles of the lower floor. This was a great improvement, giving a uniformity to the church which it wanted before. It was at this time newly painted throughout, and carpeted. This repair of the church, together with its then favorable location in regard to population and the residences of the citizens, and the eminently faith- ful and acceptable services of Dr. Palfrey, con- spired to make the period of his ministry one of great temporal and spiritual prosperity. The ordinances of religion were well attended, and a Sunday school was established, and conducted with systematic thoroughness and ability. An association for benevolent and missionary pur- poses was formed, through which much good was done, and a door opened for the religious activity of the society. It should be remembered, also, that the period of Dr. Palfrey's ministry was a period of strong religious interest and effort throughout the city and State. It was a period of deep and thorough religious discussion, when the questions at issue between the Liberal and
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Orthodox portions of the Congregational body strongly agitated the public mind, and no one could well refrain from some interest in them.
There has been no period, probably, since the commencement of the present century, when the ministry was so agreeable and so useful, when the religious institutions of the country were so pros- perous and progressive, and religion itself held so much of its rightful place and sway in men's thoughts and interests, as during the twelve years that intervened between 1818 and 1830. It was a period of political quiet comparatively, -" the era of good feelings," as the old politicians re- member and call it. The contention of parties nearly ceased for several years. There was lit- tle of that political strife and struggle and agita- tion that existed during the Embargo and the war, or that have prevailed since 1830. Politics did not absorb and engross men's minds, embit- ter their feelings, and drive religion from their . thoughts and its influence from their lives, to the extent they did before, or have done since. It was a period of peace, and of a gradual, healthy, commercial prosperity. There were no wide- spread commercial embarrassments to distract and harass men's minds, like those which occurred during the first fifteen years of the present cen- tury, and none of those gigantic enterprises, and none of that rapid, lightning-like advancement and
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accumulation of wealth, consequent upon rail- roads, which have since occurred, to seduce and ensnare and render unspiritual and worldly the public mind. Religion, meeting with no draw- backs in the troubles and disasters of society, and having little to contend with in its too great pros- perity and progress, more easily held its place, and exerted more of its rightful sway as the controlling power in society, than it does now. Religion, in its administration and influence, was aided out- wardly by the circumstances of the times. This aid would have availed nothing without fidelity and devotedness in the ministry. Meeting with this fidelity and devotedness in Dr. Palfrey, the outward favorable circumstances tended to make his ministry eminently prosperous in things tem- poral and spiritual. That ministry lasted twelve years. In 1830, he was chosen to succeed Mr. Norton as Dexter Professor of Sacred Literature in Harvard College, and his connection with the parish was dissolved in February of the follow- ing year. He carried with him to his new field of duty as large a share of regret, confidence, af- fection, and respect, as ever minister bore from the society he had left.
After his dismission, the pulpit was vacant four years, a longer vacancy than had ever before oc- curred since the establishment of the church. Once during this period, after several ineffectual
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attempts to unite upon a candidate, Dr. Palfrey was invited to resume the pastoral charge of the parish ; but he declined the invitation, and con- tinued at his post at Cambridge from the same considerations of duty which led him to accept it .*
In April, 1834, the present incumbent was invited to become the pastor, and was inducted into office on the 18th of June of that year. His ministry is now approaching the completion of its seventeenth year, and is longer by several years than either of the three immediately preceding it. Of what has occurred during it, it is not neces- sary to speak with much detail. Some external changes have been made. Soon after the settle- ment of the present pastor, the vestry was en- larged ; or rather, the two vestry-rooms in each
* During his ministry, Dr. Palfrey was for a time editor of the Christian Examiner, and also published several oc- casional sermons. After leaving the pastoral charge of the society in Brattle Square, he made three very valuable ad- ditions to the theological literature of the country, viz. : - A volume of sermons " On Duties belonging to some of the Conditions and Relations of Private Life," published in 1834. " Academical Lectures on the Jewish Scriptures and Antiqui- ties," a work to be comprised in four volumes, two of which have been published for some time, and the remaining two are in press, and will shortly be issued. This is a work of great learning and research, although some of its opinions upon the prophecies have not been received with entire ap- probation by the public. Two volumes of Lectures on the Evidences of Christianity, delivered before the Lowell Insti- tute, and published in 1843.
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wing of the porch were thrown into one, by re- moving a portion of the side-walls of the tower, and thus a commodious room was obtained for the use of the Sunday school and other purposes. Previous to that, the Sunday school was held in the body of the church. At the same time, the north gallery was remodelled, the square pews changed into slips, and thus made to conform to the north gallery.
In 1835, on the report of a committee of the church, raised at the suggestion of the pastor, important changes were made in the covenant used in admitting persons to the communion-ta- ble, the baptismal or half-way covenant dispensed with, and the pastor authorized to administer bap- tism to children of all parents who desired it, whether members of the church or not, upon such Christian acknowledgments as he should deem sufficient. The attention of the church was called to this subject by the pastor, because no evidence was furnished by the records that the church had ever adopted or agreed upon any cov- enant or form of admission to the communion. The Manifesto put forth by the undertakers could hardly be regarded in that light, and was never used, probably, for that purpose. It was simply a general declaration of the principles upon which the society was established, and the general views of Christian truth which its members entertained,
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