USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lexington > History of the town of Lexington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1868, Volume I > Part 36
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Mr. Whitman was ardently devoted to his profession and the moral reforms of the day; and never spared himself when there was a field of labor before him. In addition to his weekly preparations for the pulpit, he wrote for the periodical and weekly press. He also published: An Address on Temper- ance; A Sermon on the Two Natures of Christ; A Sermon on
1 For a more perfect view of the family see Genealogy. (Vol. II. Ed.)
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Regeneration; A Sermon on Missionary Efforts; Home Prepa- ration for School - delivered before the American Institute; A Fourth of July Address; A Memoir of Rev. Edward H. Edes, of Kennebunk; A Memoir of his brother, Bernard Whitman, of Waltham; A Memoir of his father, Deacon John Whitman, of East Bridgewater; Young Lady's Aid - a course of lectures before the young ladies of Portland; Young Man's Assistant - a course of lectures to the young men of Portland; A Volume of Sermons on the Lord's Prayer; A Sermon at the Ordination of Rev. C. H. A. Dall; and a num- ber of religious tracts.
Mr. Whitman was a man of modest, unaffected piety, firm and decided in his religious opinions; and yet far removed from a narrow, sectarian spirit. By the simplicity of his man- ners, by his liberal and benevolent disposition and good sense, he always secured the respect and esteem of the community in which he lived. His writings are characterized by strength and directness, guided by practical wisdom, and expressed with great clearness. His preaching was earnest and direct, practical and persuasive, and rather conversational than declamatory in manner.
In his first discourse at Lexington, after his installation, he gave his new parish a statement of his views and principles - from which we cite the following: --
"People sometimes seem to feel, that, as the minister receives his support from them, it is to them that he owes his first allegiance, and that his great object should be to satisfy them. Upon this point, my views are different. I feel that my first allegiance is due to God and to Christ; I believe that I am accountable to God for what I say; I regard Jesus Christ as the sanctified and sent of the Father, and his instructions as authorized disclosures of God's will. He is my master in matters of religion; to his authority I reverently bow. Whatever his instructions may require me to proclaim as God's truth, woe be to me if I refrain from preaching it, through fear of man. Thus far my allegiance to God and Christ extends. Beyond this I may and I ought to consult the wishes and feelings of the people with regard to the time and mode of presenting even Christian truths and sentiments."
Concerning the popular movements of the day, he said: -
"The spiritual prosperity and religious growth of a society, will be promoted by frequent social religious conference, and by a deep and active interest in missionary movements.
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"On the subject of Temperance, I am, and for years have been, pledged to total abstinence from the use of all intoxicating drinks as a beverage. I have, in years past, taken an active part in efforts to remove the evils of intemperance from the community.
"Upon the subject of Slavery I would say, that, having spent several months at the South, I entertain a very deep abhorrence of the system, as based upon injustice and supported by wrong, and as fraught with evils of the most appalling character to the slave and to the master, and I know not but as much to the one as to the other."
The loss of their newly refitted meeting-house was a sore calamity to the parish; and though they voted to borrow the money necessary to pay the contractor, by a delay or neglect on the part of the Committee, who had obtained the money on their own notes, the matter was suffered to remain un- settled till a considerable portion of the claim against the parish became outlawed and the whole loss would have fallen upon the Committee had not individuals contributed freely to relieve them of this onerous burden.
After the death of Mr. Whitman, the society heard several preachers, and on the 19th of March, 1849, gave Mr. Fiske Barrett,1 then in the Divinity School at Cambridge, a unani- mous invitation to become their pastor. Mr. Barrett ac- cepted the invitation, to take effect after the close of his theo- logical course. He was ordained September 5, 1849. Mr. Barrett having tendered his resignation as pastor, the society, at a meeting held June 27, 1852, voted to accept it. His min- istry was short and terminated by his own request.
After being destitute of a settled minister for two years, the society extended an invitation to Mr. Nahor A. Staples, a graduate from the Theological School at Meadville, Pennsyl- vania, to become their pastor, with a salary of twelve hundred dollars. Mr. Staples accepting the invitation, September 20, 1854, was fixed on for the ordination. After laboring with. the parish about two years and two months, Mr. Staples requested to be dismissed, that he might take pastoral charge of a new society being formed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The society at a meeting held November 10, 1856, -
"Voted, That we accept the communication of Rev. N. A. Staples, and accede to his wishes as therein expressed, and that his connection be dissolved on the last Sabbath of this month.
1 For view of the family see Genealogy. (Vol. II. Ed.)
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"Voted, That the Parish Committee transmit to Rev. N. A. Staples a copy of the above vote, together with an expression of the regret of the Society at the separation, and their ardent prayer for his future prosperity and happiness."
During Mr. Staples's ministry the society was prosperous, and thirty members were added to the church. Mr. Staples was a young man of more than ordinary talents; he was active and indefatigable in his labors, fervent in his eloquence, and had his life been spared would have become one of the leading clergymen of the denomination. He died February, 1864, in Brooklyn, New York, where he had been settled.1
The society after the close of Mr. Staples's ministry was destitute of a settled minister about a year, when an invita- tion was given to Rev. Leonard J. Livermore 2 to become their pastor. He accepted the invitation, and was installed, October 4, 1857. Mr. Livermore remained with the society nine years, when he asked a dismissal. At a meeting of the parish called for that purpose, September 3, 1866, they ac- ceded to his request, expressing at the same time their sincere regret at the separation. They also, by a public vote, bore testimony to the value of his labors, "by which the church had been increased, and the society relieved of a heavy pe- cuniary burden," and expressed their high appreciation of his fidelity, self-sacrificing spirit, and purity of character.
At the last communion service, held on the first Sunday of November, 1866, the church expressed their regard for Rev. Mr. Livermore, and their regret at his departure, by adopting by a unanimous vote a testimonial, from which the following are extracts: -
"We cannot consistently with our own feelings, or in justice to him, permit this opportunity to pass without some expression of our attachment to him, our appreciation of his Christian character, and our regret at the separation. ... We therefore take pleasure in saying, as we can in truth and sincerity, that we highly appreciate the industry and fidelity, the zeal and disinterestedness, with which he has discharged all his duties as pastor of this church and society, during the nine years he has labored with us."
After enumerating the fundamental doctrines he had inculcated, they add: -
1 See Genealogy. (Vol. II. Ed.)
2 See illustrations. Ed.
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"And we rejoice to say that he has taught these doctrines, not only by precept, but by example, adding to the full force of his teaching a consistent Christian Character; that we have witnessed with high satisfaction, his benevolence and liberality, his kindness to the poor and unfortunate, his Christian sympathy for the sick and afflicted, his respect for the aged, his devotion to the rising generation, his faithful efforts, by word and deed, to promote the temporal and spiritual welfare of the Church and Society, and in general, his readiness to join in any good work to improve the morals and elevate the Christian character of the community."
As a further testimonial of their attachment to him and their regret at his leaving them, two hundred and twenty- nine of his late parishioners, male and female, presented him a briefly written expression of their personal regard and esteem under their own signatures respectively, accompanied by a service of silver plate, as a Christmas gift.
During Mr. Livermore's ministry fifty persons were ad- mitted to the church and a number of children were baptized. It is due to him to say that, though his salary was insufficient to support his family, no member of the parish or town was more liberal or ready to contribute to every public object which presented itself. And among the subjects which en- gaged his attention, we cannot in justice omit to mention his successful effort to extinguish a heavy claim against the par- ish, arising from the loss by fire of their meeting-house in 1846.
Two distinct efforts had been made and a considerable sum had been raised to relieve the Committee, who, by the lapse of time, had lost their legal claim upon the parish; and yet forty-five hundred dollars were unpaid. When all further efforts were relinquished, Mr. Livermore took the matter in hand, and by his own liberality and effort succeeded in raising twenty-five hundred and forty-one dollars for the relief of the Committee, who relinquished all further claim. It is due to fact to say that of this sum, Mrs. Cary, widow of the late William H. Cary, of Brooklyn, New York, who had a summer residence in Lexington, her native town, gave one thousand dollars.
During the Rebellion, Mr. Livermore preached two sermons, which were published at the request of his hearers - both of which were fraught with an enlightened and patriotic devotion to the cause of liberty and our free institutions. The first was
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delivered August 6, 1863, on the National Thanksgiving, for the successes which had attended our arms. We can hardly find a paragraph which does not breathe an ardent devotion to country and a firm belief that the Ruler of nations is carry- ing us forward to a higher and more glorious destiny. We will make one or two citations from the discourse: -
"There has never been a time, since the war began, so dark and disastrous as to justify despondency, or regret that the nation chose to fight rather than submit to falsehood and treachery; but rather always there has been reason to feel that we were working out the will of God and our own redemption. . . .
"God works through agents. He makes the heart of the nation throb with His own detestation of pride, perjury, robbery, cruelty, lust, anarchy and treason, the seven deadly sins of the enemies of our national life. He uses the strong right arm of the nation to smite the blows of His heavy retribution. He uses the folly of the foolish, and the passions of the violent, like irritating medicines, to do good in a diseased body politic; but it is a far grander and more obvious truth, that He uses the whole force of men's just and gen- erous sentiments, of man's sincerity, self-sacrifice, patriotism and courage, to build up the solid pillars and walls of His kingdom of right and mercy."
The other discourse of Mr. Livermore, delivered Septem- ber 11, 1864, was entitled, Perseverance in the War, the Interest and Duty.of the Nation. The title of the discourse shows its design, and the following extracts will show its spirit: -
"With those who cry out for peace, because they are at heart friends of the traitors, and who are ready to put arms into the hands of their partisans here to inaugurate civil war in the now peaceful North, I have no shadow of sympathy. A class more wor- thy of the detestation of all good people I do not know in the wide world. They are baser than the rebels themselves, as much as dis- guised and renegade traitors are worse than open foes. With those who are chiefly moved to their outcry for peace by the dread of pecuniary loss, I have not much sympathy. I never learned to admire Esau, who sold his birthright for a mess of pottage; and there is certainly no more reason to admire those who would chaffer with malignant traitors in arms, and take the steps which go straight to the destruction of our glorious heritage, and the shame- ful extinction of our national unity, to save their dividends or escape their share of the cost of saving the nation. . . . There can be nothing but eternal dishonor, and the just judgment of God,
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awaiting us, if the love of money or the fear of its loss controls our settlement of such questions as those involved in this war.
"Bad as the war is, a wretched, dishonorable peace would be worse. It would, I truly believe, be a sin against God, and a crime against man to hold any parley with these enemies of all that is good, except on the terms constantly held out to them, by our Government; submission to the authority of the nation, and the reference of all disputed points to the proper legal tribunals, after peace is reestablished."
Mr. Livermore came to Lexington from Clinton, where he had labored in the ministry six years - having previously been settled in East Boston, where he remained the same length of time. While in Lexington, he was on the School Committee during the greater part of his ministry, and had the principal charge of the schools. He was a native of Mil- ford, New Hampshire.1
Rev. Henry Westcott 2 succeeded Mr. Livermore as pastor of the society in Lexington, and was installed June 26, 1867. He had previously been settled in Barre, and had subse- quently preached a year at West Dedham. He was a native of Warwick, Rhode Island.3
THE SECOND CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY. - The origin of this society being a little peculiar, it is not easy to say when it first had a real existence. It seems by its records that it was duly incorporated according to law, April 18, 1845; though it had an organization ten or twelve years before, and had sup- ported public worship for at least a portion of that time. It had also, under the designation of the Christian Association, erected a meeting-house, and disposed of its pews. And though it was probably a legal body before the action taken April 18, 1845, it was at that time organized as proprietor of the meeting-house rather than as a parish. A considerable portion of the records of this society is comprised in the de- tails of the doings of the town in relation to a division of the Ministerial Fund; but as that matter has been treated of in another place, it need not be repeated here.
As far as appears from the record, which is very meagre, Rev. Charles Follen was employed a portion of the time from
1 For an account of the family see Genealogy. (Vol. II. Ed.)
2 See Genealogy. (Vol. II. Ed.)
3 For an account of his pastorate see Chap. XVI, infra. See also illustrations. Ed.
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1835 to 1840. In the meantime, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John S. Dwight, and others labored with the society temporarily.
In 1835, the subject of erecting a meeting-house began to be seriously agitated and a subscription for that object was started. In 1839, the Association reengaged Dr. Follen for six months, and active measures were adopted towards erecting a meeting-house. Being completed, the 15th of January, 1840, was appointed for its dedication; and Dr. Follen, as a matter of course, was designated to preach the dedication sermon. In the language of the society record: -
"Dr. Follen was obliged to visit New York previous to the dedi- cation, and made the necessary arrangements with his brethren in the ministry to assist him in the ceremonies. The Doctor, wife and child, with S. L. Lathrop and lady, who were to assist in the choir at the dedication, left for New York. Soon after their arrival Mrs. Follen was taken ill, and continued so for weeks. On the 3d of January, he wrote to the Committee, requesting that the dedication might be put off for one week, if it could be done without incon- venience to the society, but expressed his willingness, if the Com- mittee thought best, to come without his wife, and return again for her. The Committee, on consultation, thought that as all the ar- rangements had been made and published, and the pews were advertised to be sold the same day, it would be detrimental to the Association to postpone the dedication, and a letter to that effect was written to Dr. Follen. We expected Dr. Follen; but the even- ing before the dedication, the Committee met the clergy who had been invited, and it was agreed that Rev. Mr. Pierpont should preach, in case Dr. Follen did not arrive in season. The Doctor not arriving, Mr. Pierpont preached the sermon.
"Thus the house was dedicated January 15, 1840. On the 16th, news reached Boston of the loss of the steamboat Lexington by fire, and that nearly all the passengers and crew had perished, and among them Rev. Dr. Follen, our beloved and much respected pastor. The news cast a gloom over the whole town and country. To the people of his flock it was peculiarly trying. They had a meeting, and agreed to invite Rev. Mr. Stetson, of Medford, to preach a sermon on the melancholy occasion, who, in the spirit of Christian friendship, though at short notice, consented. After the services were over, the people voted that a committee be chosen to communicate to Mrs. Follen the feelings of respect they enter- tained for her late husband, and to tender her their Christian sympathy under her severe affliction."
The foregoing account, abridged from the parish records,
REV. CHARLES FOLLEN
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tells the sad fate of a worthy and distinguished Christian minister and philanthropist.
Charles Follen 1 was born in Germany, September 4, 1796, and was educated at the University of Giessen. His devotion to the great principles of liberty and his strict adherence to justice and morality, even before he had finished his studies, made him somewhat unpopular with the less scrupulous young men with whom he was associated and excited some suspicion in the faculty, who were deeply imbued with mo- narchical principles. And after he had finished his course, read law, and become a professor, his lectures were found to be too liberal to suit the taste of the Holy Alliance, which at that time assumed to control the destinies of Europe. He was arrested on frivolous pretences and made to feel the weight of arbitrary and despotic power, so that common prudence induced him to leave his own country. He first visited France, but the unsettled state of things there induced him to seek a more congenial retreat in Switzerland, at that time the freest nation on the Continent.
In Switzerland, he was called to a professorship in the Evangelical Council of Education of the Canton of the Gri- sons, where his liberal views of Christian doctrines soon be- came objectionable, and he left, carrying with him a certifi- cate that his "luminous lectures and kind treatment of his pupils had secured their respect, attachment, and confidence, in the highest degree." The University of Basle, learning that Dr. Follen was at liberty, appointed him as a public lecturer at the University, where he taught the natural, civil, and ecclesi- astical law, besides some branches of metaphysics, namely, logic, the philosophy of the mind in its application to relig- ion, morals, legislation, and the fine arts.
At Basle, for a period, he dwelt in peace and contentment, being left to the full enjoyment of his religious and political sentiments. Young men from various parts flocked to the University, and all seemed to be prosperous. But while he and the literary friends by whom he was surrounded were rejoicing in their political and religious liberty, the tyrants of Europe were alarmed, when they heard that in Switzerland, the only free state on the Continent, had been erected a new temple of freedom. Prussia forbade her young men to visit the University; and the Holy Alliance, allied for the unholy pur-
1 See Proc. Lex. Hist. Soc., Vol. III, p. 42. See also illustrations. Ed.
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pose of suppressing freedom, resolved to break up an institu- tion which they regarded as hostile to their policy. Prussia, Austria, and Russia demanded of the Government of Basle that Dr. Follen and another liberal professor in the Univer- sity should be given up to the tribunal of inquisition estab- lished near Berlin.
Switzerland was averse to yielding to the arbitrary de- mands of these tyrants, but fearing the power of this com- bination, at last yielded to their haughty request. Dr. Follen was advised by his friends to leave the country, but he in- sisted upon a trial there. Failing in this, and being compelled to leave to avoid arrest, he sent to the Government the following note: -
"Whereas the Republic of Switzerland, which has protected so many fugitive princes, noblemen, and priests, would not protect him, who like themselves is a Republican, he is compelled to take refuge in the great asylum of liberty, the United States of America. His false accusers he summons before the tribunal of God and public opinion. Laws he has never violated. But the heinous crime of having loved his country has rendered him guilty to such a degree that he feels quite unworthy to be pardoned by the Holy Alliance."
He asked a testimonial from the University, which was readily granted, stating that he had always demeaned himself as a good and peaceable citizen and had secured the confi- dence of his associates.
Dr. Follen left Basle secretly for Paris, and from France took passage for New York in company with his friend Dr. Beck. In the autumn of 1825, he was appointed teacher of German in Harvard and took up his abode in Cambridge. His labors thus far had been mostly devoted to the subject of ethics as connected with civil government and the rights of man. But his teaching on these subjects was always based upon the broad principles of Christianity. Feeling more and more the importance of the teachings of Christ, he resolved to enter the ministry; and after studying theology with Dr. Channing, he commenced preaching. Retaining his connec- tion with the College, and being promoted to a professorship which engrossed a good share of his time and attention, he was hardly in a condition to take the pastoral charge of a parish; and hence his clerical labors were not confined to any one locality.
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About this time the anti-slavery cause was attracting much attention, and Dr. Follen, deeply imbued with the love of freedom, at once espoused it. This step did not meet the approbation of the cautious and conservative government of the University, which permitted his professorship to expire. Being thus cut off from the pecuniary support of the College, he was thrown upon his other limited resources and was com- pelled to seek employment as best he could to support himself and family. He conceived the idea of establishing a literary institution in Boston, but the friends of Harvard could hardly be expected to encourage it, and it was given up. About this time he was invited to preach at East Lexington and to assist them in building up a society in that village. We have seen with what success he had commenced his work and what prospect was opened to him and to his devoted people when by a mysterious providence his earthly labors were brought to a speedy termination.
Dr. Follen was no common man. Whether we view him intellectually or morally, we must place him above the ordi- nary level of our public men. The high and honorable posi- tions he occupied both in Europe and America, the estimation in which he was held by the gifted men in our community, and the able writings he has left, bear ample testimony to his talents. His mind was of the German cast and strongly im- bued with the great principles of civil and religious freedom. Though kind and conciliatory, he was conscientious, firm, and self-sacrificing, ever ready to follow his honest convic- tions, regardless alike of his own individual interest or the frowns of others. As a reformer he was in advance of his age. He was literally a friend of humanity, and his honest sym- pathy was ever extended to the oppressed and down-trodden. In private life, he was meek and gentle, ardently attached to his family and friends, and ever ready to make any sac- rifice for their benefit. In a word, for natural and acquired abilities, for conscientious firmness, for an ardent love of liberty and the rights of man, for sympathy for the poor, afflicted, and down-trodden, he had few equals and no superiors.
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