USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the churches of Boston, giving a full account, in denominational divisions, of all the church organizations of the city, from their formation to the present time, with dates and complete statistics ; compiled with great care from first sources. Division one; Baptist and Presbyterian > Part 2
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Mr. Bownd, the first pastor of this church, was regarded as a very evangelical and interesting preacher. For several years, under his care, the church enjoyed much peace and harmony, and members were added to it from towns twenty miles around Boston.
He continued to minister to this church for about twenty-two years. During the first five years of his ministry, such was his success that the church had increased to one hundred and twenty, and for ten years no act of discipline was necessary. Some time before his death he was afflicted with paralysis, which greatly interfered with his work. In 1764 an invitation was sent to the Rev. Samuel Stillman, after- wards Dr. Stillman, then of Bordentown, N. J., to come and assist him for one year, which he accepted. At the close of this year's service, there being a vacancy in the pastoral office of the First Church, Mr. Stillman was invited to fill it, and consented ; but such was the attachment of many of the members of this church and congregation to him, that they went with him, some with letters of dismission
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and some without. This occasioned a state of very sore feeling between the two churches, which it took years to heal.
Mr. Bownd died the next year, June 18, 1765.
It was five years before the church obtained another pastor, and these were years of severe trial. Many had followed Mr. Stillman - the tide had turned in favor of that church, and the faith of this was severely tested.
In 1770, Mr. John Davis, a graduate of Pennsylvania University, son of the Rev. David Davis, of Welch Tract, Delaware, was requested to take the oversight of the church. He commenced his labors on probation, in the spring, and on the 9th of September following, was ordained to the pastoral office. The pros- pects of the church again assumed an encouraging aspect. Some who had gone off returned, and the church began to look for days of prosperity ; but these pleasing anticipations were quickly blasted. In less than two years from the time of Mr. Davis's ordination his health began to decline, so that he found it necessary to ask for a dismission, which was reluctantly granted, July 19, 1772. He died December 13, 1773. During Mr. Davis's ministry, Watts' Psalms and Hymns were first used by this church, those of Sternhold and Hopkins, Tate and Brady, having been used previously.
The feelings of the church had become, by this time, so far modified towards Mr. Stillman, that a vote was passed that he be allowed to preach in "our" meeting-house.
In September, 1772, this church was admitted into the Warren Association, which met, that year, with the church in Middleborough, and continued a member of that body until the year 1811, when it was dismissed with other churches to constitute the Boston Association.
The next pastor was Mr. Isaac Skillman, afterwards Dr. Skillman, a native of New Jersey, and a graduate of Nassau Hall College at Princeton. He com- menced his labors, without a regular installation, in September, 1773, and con- tinued pastor until October 7, 1787, a period of fourteen years, when, at his own request, he was dismissed. Although this pastor was regarded as a man of more than ordinary talent, yet the church did not prosper under his ministry. When he settled, the number of members was forty, when he retired from his connection with the church it was sixty-six.
The fourth pastor was the Rev. Thomas Gair, a native of Boston. He was converted at the age of sixteen, under the ministry of Dr. Stillman. In 1777, he received his degree of A. M. at Rhode Island College. He was soon after settled as pastor of the church in Medfield, where he labored ten years. Having closed his labors there, he was invited by this church to supply them on probation, after which he accepted their unanimous invitation to become their pastor. He was installed April 23, 1788, in the Rev. Dr. Elliott's meeting-house, on which
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occasion the pastor of the First Church was one of the officiating ministers, and from this event may be dated the commencement of a better feeling between the two churches.
Such was the success of Mr. Gair's ministry that it was found necessary to enlarge the meeting-house for the accommodation of the increasing congregation. Twenty feet were added to the south side, making it fifty-three by forty-five feet.
These fair prospects were soon beclouded, for in the spring of 1790, their beloved pastor, in the midst of his usefulness, was suddenly attacked by a malig- nant fever, the progress of which no earthly skill could arrest. His death, which was deeply lamented, took place April 27, 1790, only two years and four days after his installation, and in the thirty-sixth year of his age. Immediately after the funeral of Mr. Gair, on an intimation from Mr. Oliver Holden that Mr. Thomas Baldwin, of Canaan, N. H., would be a suitable person to supply them, a letter was addressed to him, but, by some means, it did not reach him, and had it not been that a brother wrote him on his own responsibility, and sent his letter in a different direction from the official one, he probably never would have been the pastor of this church, as he was then on his way to visit another church which was desirous of his services. He replied to his brother that " God willing, he would be in Boston the first of July." He arrived, and commenced his labors on the fourth of July, 1790. His first sermon was founded on Acts x. 29, the words of Peter to Cornelius : " Therefore came I unto you, without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for ; I ask, therefore, to what intent ye have sent for me." After preaching a short time on probation, the church and society held a special meet- ing and extended to him a unanimous call to become their pastor.
The letter from the committee, having the matter in charge, sent to Mr. Baldwin, says " that the church have thought it their duty to engage you at six dollars per week for the first six months, and then to increase it as they shall find themselves able; and also to find you all that part of the dwelling-house now occupied by the widow Gair, (excepting the front chamber,) together with the improvement of the garden, below the gate ; and also to allow you fifteen cords or wood, delivered at the house."
Agreeably to this engagement, at the end of six months, they raised the salary to eight dollars, and not long after, to ten, then to twelve, to fifteen, to eighteen, aud then to twenty ; this was paid weekly, with punctuality.
These advances were made by the society, without the slightest hint from the pastor. They also furnished him with a good house, and with all the wood necessary.
On Tuesday, November 11, 1790, Mr. Baldwin was publicly installed, at the Rev. Dr. Elliott's meeting-house, which was kindly offered for the occasion. From this time we may date the beginning of prosperity which continued, with but little
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interruption, for years. In a very short time the congregation had so increased that the house became too small to accommodate the hearers, and it was deemed necessary again to enlarge it, which was done by dividing it, and adding eighteen feet in the middle. This work was commenced September 18, 1797, and finished November 30th following - Thanksgiving day. The house was embellished by a beautiful clock, the donation of Mr. John Hoffman ; by an elegant cut glass chandelier, imported from England ; and the communion service was so enlarged, by purchase and donations, as to be worth $551.44.
In 1803, this and the First Church were blessed with a most precious revival of religion, which continued for more than two years, during which time two hundred and twelve persons were added, by baptism, to this church, and one hundred and thirty-five to the First Church. The influence of this work upon evangelical religion has, unquestionably, been very great. It probably would not be asserting too much to say that orthodoxy owes its ascendency, instrumentally. to this revival in these two Baptist churches.
In the spring of 1810, the congregation had become so large that fears were entertained of their safety, on account of the supposed weakness of some parts of the old meeting-house, and steps were therefore taken towards the erection of a new one. This work was undertaken the same year. The old house was taken down and removed. The corner stone of the new one was laid by the pastor, Monday morning, May 28, 1810, at ten o'clock. The walls were laid in solid clay, of the depth of from ten to twenty feet below the brick work ; the house was eighty-five feet by seventy-five, exclusive of the porch, which was thirty-eight by eighteen. The tower was sixty-four feet high. It was originally intended to have a handsome cupola. On the lower floor were one hundred and forty-two pews, and forty-four in the galleries ; in the whole, one hundred and eighty-six. The whole expense, exclusive of the land, was. about twenty-four thousand dollars. The house was dedicated by solemn and somewhat imposing services on January 1, 18Ir. It is supposed that more than three thousand persons were present at the dedication.
The year 1816 may be considered an cra in the history of Sabbath Schools in Boston. In the month of June, 1816, the Female Sabbath School was com- menced at Charles Street Church, and in the following month, July, one was commenced at the Second, afterwards the Baldwin Place, Baptist Church. A large number of ladies of the church and congregation, with the approval of the vener- able and beloved pastor and the brethren, organized themselves into a society, agreeing each to pay one cent a weck for the the support of this school.
At that period there were no Primary Schools in Boston. The Sabbath Schools were established exclusively for the children of the poor. Clothing, suit- able for their attendance on public worship, had to be provided for them. This
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was taken charge of, during the week, by a lady appointed by the society as keeper of the wardrobe. It was the duty of the teacher to instruct the scholars, if necessary, from the alphabet ; also to teach them to read and spell, as well as to require them to commit to memory and recite, portions of Scripture, Baldwin's Catechism, Hymns, etc. The hours for opening the school in the summer were 8 A. M., and 1 P. M.
On July 27, 1816, the school was commenced with thirty-seven children attired in neat habiliments, provided and made up by the industry of the society. It met on the floor of the meeting-house, there being at that time no vestry, it having been taken down to make room for the erection of a new meeting-house. This was just seventy-three years from the foundation of the church. The first class of. colored children ever brought under Sabbath School instruction in Boston, was taught in this school.
The male school was commenced by a society of gentlemen in the following spring, 1817, in the gallery of the meeting-house. The girls' school remained exclusively under female supervision for twelve or thirteen years. However, previously to the expiration of that time, the plan of the Sabbath School instruc- tion was so modified as to admit the children of the rich as well as the poor.
The ministry of Dr. Baldwin was continued until August 29, 1825, at which time it was terminated by his death. He had gone to attend the commencement exercises of Waterville College, Me., when he was taken ill and died. " He was," says Dr. Stow, in his Centennial Discourse, " a man of rare excellence, and the memory of his virtues will be cherished with affectionate reverence as long as truth and holiness shall have a friend or an advocate.
"The attachment of this church and society to Dr. Baldwin was peculiarly strong, and most deeply did they mourn his departure. The general feeling among themselves, and the common sentiment of the community was, that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to find a successor in whom they could unite, and to whom they could cordially transfer the affections that had so long and tenaciously clung to their aged favorite.
"Mr. James D. Knowles, then a tutor in the Columbia College, District of Col- umbia, was present when Dr. Baldwin preached his last sermon in this house, the Sabbath previous to his departure for Waterville. On the same day he preached his first discourse to this people, little apprehending that it was his introduction to the field of his future labors.
" In the course of the autumn, Mr. Knowles, by invitation, supplied the pulpit for a few weeks, and the impression was so favorable that he was unanimously requested to accept the pastoral office. This invitation was to him the occasion of trial. But after a careful scrutiny of all the considerations, he felt that the indications of Providence were too strongly marked to allow him to decline ; and
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on the twenty-eighth of December, 1825, only four months after the vacancy was created, he was solemnly ordained to the responsible office of pastor.
" On him fell the mantle of his departed predecessor ; and, taking up the work of the pastor just where that man of God had left it, he went forward, with a pru- dence, and a judiciousness, and an efficiency, that commanded general admira- tion.
" Like his predecessor, he was called to perform much extra service in the vari- ous departments of evangelical enterprise, and this, superadded to his preparations for the pulpit, and numerous other parochial engagements, ultimately became a burden which his physical constitution was ill able to endure. Finding himself sinking under the pressure, he at length yielded to the advice of medical counsel- lors, and, September 20, 1832, retired from the pastoral office, and accepted an appointment as professor in the Newton Theological Institution. He died on May 9, 1838."
The seventh pastor was the Rev. Baron Stow. At the time of Mr. Knowles's resignation, Mr. Stow was pastor of the First Baptist Church in Portsmouth, N. H. At the urgent solicitation of this church, together with the promise that the church would aid in relieving the Portsmouth Church from a pecuniary burden, about which Mr. Stow was very anxious, he accepted an invitation to become its pastor, and was installed November 15, 1832, two months after the resignation of the former pastor. Mr. Knowles preached on the occasion from I Peter i. 24, 25.
The first eleven years of Mr. Stow's ministry in this church were years of uncommon prosperity, such as falls to the lot of but few of Christ's ministers. During that time this ardent and impulsive preacher had the pleasure of adding to the church about nine hundred members. Several revivals of religion were enjoyed during this period, the most remarkable of which were those of 1838 and 1841-2 ; during the former, one hundred and thirty-one were added to the church, and during the latter, two hundred and twenty-one,-the largest number ever added in one year. The Rev. Jacob Knapp labored for some months, amidst great excitement and much opposition, with this and other Baptist churches in the city, during that Associational year.
In 1842 very extensive and important alterations were made in the meeting house. In order to increase the accommodation, it was resolved to raise the roof of the house and elevate the walls, with many other improvements. When completed it was found that the alterations had involved a debt of $7,000, which remained a burden on the church for many years.
From this time, as appears from the minutes of the Association, the church declined in numbers from year to year, until the pastor became so discouraged as to predict that in five years Baldwin Place Church would cease to exist. The
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drafts upon the church for the constitution of other churches, the mania for sub- urban residences, the tide of emigration to the South End, together with the impaired health of the pastor, all tended to produce this diminution, and proba- bly, to give to the pastor's mind this discouraging view. Dr. Stow resigned July 1, 1848. His resignation; together with the removal of several of the members with him to the Rowe Street Church, produced a feeling of great discouragement in the minds of many of the members, yet still, upon the whole, hope was pre- dominant, and there was, by the help of God, a determination to live.
The Rev. Levi Tucker, then pastor of the Washington Street Baptist Church, Buffalo, at the invitation of the committee of supply, came and preached to the church two Sabbaths. His preaching being very acceptable, the church and soci- ety gave him a call to become their pastor, which he accepted, and entered upon his labors December 31, 1848. In a very short time things began to wear a · cheerful aspect. The house was well filled with attentive hearers ; the baptismal waters were frequently disturbed ; and the aggregate number of the church, from year to year, increased. After about eighteen months' arduous toil, Mr. Tucker's health began to decline. Relaxation was found necessary, but this did not restore him ; disease had fastened upon him, in the midst of which he was called to suf- fer most keenly from affliction in his family. His wife died, and after some intermittent labor of a few months, he resigned his charge of the church on Sep- tember 1, 1852 ; and in the August following, after returning from a foreign tour, his spirit took its flight to God who gave it, and his body was brought to Boston, and placed in the church until solemn funeral services were performed, then con- veyed to Woodlawn Cemetery, and deposited by the side of his wife, in a lot owned by the church.
This old Parent Church has borne its part well, among the early Boston churches, in the supply of members furnished out of its ranks to the formation of younger churches. The following list gives the most important of these dismis- sions :-
There were sent from here in 1807, to Charles Street, 20 members ; in 1827, to Federal Street, 24 members ; in 1831, to Hingham, 51 members ; in 1839, to Harvard Street, 16 members ; in 1839, to Tremont street, 19 members ; in 1840, to Bow- doin Square, 79 members. Since then, others to the East Boston Church ; to the two churches in Somerville ; and to the Bunker Hill Church, Charlestown, etc.
The successor of Dr. Tucker was the Rev. Thomas F. Caldicott, who came to this church from the First Baptist Church in Charlestown, where he had been sig- nally successful. His success at the Charlestown Church was continued in the Baldwin Place Church, although no memorable religious interest was displayed. He resigned in January, 1858, and went to Williamsburg, Long Island, from whence he subsequently was called to Toronto, Canada, where he died.
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Nearly the whole of the year 1858 was an interregnum in this church, the pul- pit being filled by occasional supplies.
In December, 1858, the Rev. James Belcher, of Damariscotta, Maine, received and accepted a call to the pastorate of this church. The first part of this pastor's ministry was greatly blessed, a large number being added to the church. The lat- ter part, however, of the time was not equally propitious. Mr. Belcher resigned in July, 1861, and left Boston for Philadelphia. He was succeeded by the Rev. Stephen Remington, whose pastorate was both short and uneventful. It lasted only about eighteen months, during which time there were but two baptisms.
The next pastor was the well-known Dr. Daniel C. Eddy, whose incumbency of this pulpit for nearly seven years, though by no means unsuccessful otherwise, is mainly noticeable as being that in which the church removed from its old time-hon- ored location in Baldwin Place-a spot so crowded with sacred memories - to the new edifice where it now worships in Warren avenue, corner of West Canton street. The experience of the old church was the same as that of all its cotem- poraries among the primitive Boston churches. The congregation gradually deserted the old neighborhoods for newer and more modern and attractive resi- dence districts, and the church was compelled either to sink out of existence, or to follow the migrations of its people. As the population of the city increased, the neighborhood of Baldwin Place became filled with a heterogeneous foreign population, and the church was both separated from the great body of its own peo- ple, and surrounded by a class entirely out of harmony with its purposes. So complete was the desertion of the old congregation that it was said at the time that there was not left a marriageable couple in the whole church. The building was therefore sold for $20,000 to the trustees of the " Home for Little Wanderers," a most deserving charity, whose object is to rescue poor and helpless chil- dren from want and shame, and which is still (1883) continued in the old building of this church. The new edifice was built in 1865. The site selected was in a loca- tion at that time almost entirely unoccupied, and much of the Back Bay district was not even filled in. The first meetings were held in the vestry of the par- tially-completed church on April 29, 1866, and the building was completed and dedicated on October 25, 1866. The membership at this time was about 400. It cost $105,000 ; the seating capacity is about 1,300.
For a short time between the leaving of Baldwin Place and the opening in War- ren avenue, services were held in a chapel in West Canton street. During Dr. Eddy's ministrations about 300 were added to the church membership, but though apparently prosperous, the inner life of the people was chilled by dissensions, which, though not especially pronounced or demonstrative, were none the less real. This was ultimately the cause of the resignation of Dr. Eddy, which took place on May 1, 1871, when he accepted the charge of a church in Fall River.
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Dr. Eddy's successor in the Warren Avenue Church was the Rev. George Fred- erick Pentecost, better known, perhaps, as an evangelist than as a preacher. Mr. Pentecost commenced preaching in this church on the first Sabbath in December, 1872, when President Robinson, of Brown University, preached the installation sermon, and the Rev. Dr. Gordon, and other prominent city clergymen took part in the interesting services. Mr. Pentecost's work here was most fruitful in results ; not so much in the numerical additions to the actual members of the church, as in the highly increased spiritual efficiency and religious culture of those already forming its body. He was thoroughly in earnest in his work, and ever ready to . exhaust all his powers in his sacred calling. Mr. Pentecost however was evidently pre-ordained for the work of an evangelist. Mr. Moody came to Boston in 1877, and brought the most powerful persuasion to bear on the pastor to induce him to leave the pastoral, and take up the evangelistic work. Mr. Moody said, at this time, that " God's providence would undoubtedly soon drive Mr. Pentecost to become an evangelist ; " and " that he (Mr. Pentecost) was the ablest evangelist who had ever crossed his path." These expectations were shortly afterwards real- ized. Early in 1878, after some five years of this pastorate, Mr. Pentecost resigned his office and commenced to labor as a simple evangelist, to the great regret of his people, by whom he was regarded with the deepest confidence and affection. His first point of attack as an evangelist was Hartford, Conn., whence he went to New Haven, Philadelphia, Fall River, Chicago, and many other places. In this character he was, if possible, more successful even than in that of pastor, and was said to be "the only substitute in this sphere for Mr. Moody." He finally · again assumed the pastor's office, and was called to the charge of a Congregational church in Brooklyn, N. Y. In regard to his leaving the Baptist denomination, it may be said that he had always been regarded as an advocate of open communion.
The present pastor is the Rev. O. P. Gifford, who worthily fills the pulpit which has been rendered famous by the long array of faithful men whose eloquence, piety, and faithful labor hallow this ancient church. He was installed in March, 1879. During his short pastorate, 300 members have accepted the baptismal rite here, and the sum of $81,000 has been collected for the various needs of the organization. Thus this old church appears to be renewing its strength, and enter- ing on a new era of spiritual prosperity. The present membership is 625; the Sunday School membership 750. The regular Sabbath services are not only well attended, but so many persons are usually turned away from them for want of room, that an enlargement of the building is anticipated.
CHURCH OFFICERS :--- Pastor : Rev. O. P. Gifford ; Clerk : Ernest B. Pratt ; Treasurer : Geo. E. Ricker ; Deacons : Geo. L. Norris, Joseph Sawyer, Paul F. Folsom, Wm. E. Smith, Luther P. Wiggin, Geo. E. Ricker, Harry Hinman, Con- ray P. Hall, Oliver M. Wentworth.
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