USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > Lectures on the history of the First Church in Cambridge > Part 15
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In regard to the decision of the Supreme Court, it is proper to say that to a great extent it failed to receive the approval of the public, and of many eminent jurists. The able author of the "Half-Century of the Unitarian Controversy " has frankly written, " We do not feel perfectly satisfied with the legal decision in two cases bearing upon the ownership of church property, though we admit that the issue raised was quite a perplexing one."
In our own case the decision was peculiarly hard. For " the church fund, for the recovery of which this suit was brought, was originally constituted by the donation of fifty pounds by a member of the church,
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and increased entirely by contributions of the church- members at the Lord's Supper. A part of the church plate was given to the church, and the rest was pur- chased with its own funds." The baptismal basin was the gift of the Rev. William Brattle, Pastor, "to the church of Christ in Cambridge, my dearly beloved flock." The money surrendered amounted to upwards of four thousand dollars.
But, whatever might have been the justice of the decision under which this property was given up, it must seem to us, who have succeeded the two parties in the controversy, and who look calmly upon the matter after the lapse of forty years, that the true course for old neighbors and fellow - worshippers was to make a fair division. The majority of the parish should have said to the minority, "Friends, it is plain that we cannot dwell together in peace ; let us divide our goods, and separate." The majority of the church should have said to those of the church who agreed with the parish, " Brethren, we have come to hold dif- ferent views and to desire different things ; let us divide our goods, and separate." These are things of the past. The generation which moved in them has gone on to God, who knoweth the hearts of the children of men. We who have entered into their places in the old church and old parish dwell together in peace. There are honest differences of opinion, but we have no con- troversy. We are good neighbors, and join hands in many good works. Let the ancient strife be buried and forgotten, while we both strive to excel in love for God and in service for man. Not for purposes of con- troversy, but because they came in the course of our church history, have I recalled these painful events.
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These were sad experiences for the church. It was sad to be loosed from the parish, to be exiled from the meeting-house, to give up the sacred vessels of the sacraments, and the silver and gold wherewith they had served God and relieved his poor. But they had themselves, and their minister, and their ancient faith. The eternal things were unseen and indestructible. They had courage and hope. They were ready to begin again. The senior pastor, it is believed, drew no salary after the separation. Christian friends in other places came to the aid of the impoverished church with generous gifts. The trials of that day were of great profit to the church. They were aroused to greater activity, to a closer fellowship, to a fresh study of the Scriptures, and to more diligent endeavors to make the truth felt in the blessedness of its power. This is a better church to-day for the severity of those trying times. In our ability to erect the sanctuary which we are soon to consecrate to God we have the visible sign of his favor which was with the fathers and has been continued to the children.
In their time of especial need He came to his people with large blessings. The preaching was "in demon- stration of the Spirit and of power." The meetings for prayer were solemn and effective. The Lord watered the grass, even the mown grass. In the year following the separation thirty-one persons were received to the church, twenty-four of them upon profession of faith. In the next year twenty-three were added, all but two of whom came upon profession of faith. In a very short time the membership of the church was doubled. The Lord interposed for the comfort of the church, and prepared a table before them. After the Communion
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service had been given up, members of the church fur- nished their private plate for use at the Communion. But the junior pastor came into possession of the auto- biography of Thomas Shepard, which was given in trust to him and his successors in the ministry of " The Shepard Congregational Society." To this book ref- erence was made in a previous lecture. This book was printed, and with the proceeds of its sale was purchased the service from which the church now receives the body and blood of its Saviour and Lord. Thus do the hands of the first minister serve us still in holy things. We believe in the communion of saints on earth and in heaven, and in this sacrament is the happy symbol of it. Here is the book wherein that suffering, godly, now sainted man, wrote the story of his life, that his son might "learn to know and love the great and most high God, the God of his father." No man knoweth Thomas Shepard's grave, but this small, rude book, which his hands have handled and hallowed, holds his expression of his life. No chiselled inscription recites his praise, but the crooked letters which his fingers set in these closely written lines reveal his piety and affec- tion ; and the souls which cherish his memory keep tryst with him here, as at a shrine.
The pastoral work of Dr. Holmes drew towards its close. His continued and increasing debility unfitted him for the duties of the pastoral office, and he asked release. The church consented, and a council was called which confirmed the action. The council bore a noble testimony to the character and learning of the retiring pastor. He preached his farewell sermon on the 2d of October, 1831. He died on the 12th of June, 1837, in the seventy-fourth year of his age.
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I have the manuscript of his farewell sermon. The text is from the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, iii. 8 : " For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord." It is full of affectionate advice and entreaty and bless- ing ; such a sermon as we should expect from such a man. I copy a few sentences addressed to the church : " To you, my dearly beloved of this church, I offer a parting benediction. The remembrance of the tokens and proofs of your affection and steadfastness in time past, especially in the time of our calamity, can never be obliterated. Danger did not intimidate, sufferings did not discourage you. When the storm was beating upon us, you stood firm under the open canopy of heaven to receive it. When the tide was rising and pressing hard upon us, you stood firm to meet it. When resistance would avail nothing, you stood still and saw the salvation of God. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may we unitedly say, then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our souls. Our help is in the name of the Lord; to him be the glory. Let this house which we have built for the honor of his name be at once a monument of our gratitude and a temple for his praise." The impression was unspeakably touch- ing and tender when, after the sermon, the 71st Psalm was given out by the aged man of God -
" God of my childhood and my youth The guide of all my days, I have declar'd thy heavenly truth, And told thy wondrous ways.
" Wilt thou forsake my hoary hairs, And leave my fainting heart ? Who shall sustain my sinking years, If God, my strength, depart ?
14
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" Let me thy power and truth proclaim To the surviving age, And leave a savor of thy name When I shall quit the stage.
"The land of silence and of death Attends my next remove ; O, may these poor remains of breath Teach the wide world thy love !"
The ministry of Dr. Holmes here was but a few months short of forty years. With a single exception, it was the longest which the church has known. For nearly the whole of the time he was the only pastor in this part of the town, and he stood at the centre of a large parish, making his influence felt in every direc- tion. He preached the word with fidelity and dili- gence. He fulfilled the various offices of our holy religion. He instructed the children, and gave them books. He formed libraries for the use of the parish. He watched over the schools. He gave of his substance to the poor. He brought into the parish the aid of others whom he esteemed able to edify the people. He zealously followed every good work. He was a true friend to our College. During a portion of its earlier history the Society of Christian Brethren held its meetings at his house. He lived here, before the people, a life of purity and sanctity and usefulness, an Israelite without guile, a man full of the Holy Ghost and of faith. In the day of trial he showed the sustain- ing power of his principles and his piety, and .he won the commendation of men, the increased affection of his own people, and the esteem of the churches. In temper Dr. Holmes was calm and quiet; in manner, urbane and courteous. He cherished a large charity.
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He taught his own household what he practised him- self, to be careful of the reputation of others, and not to take up a reproach against a neighbor. His preaching was quiet, but his sermons were pure in style, rich in the use of words, happy in the application of Scrip- ture, and full of profitable thought. He was conser- vative and cautious, no declaimer, not much given to the discussion of the doctrines of theology, but engaged with the facts of religion and their application to real life. His old friend, Dr. Jenks, in a memorial sermon delivered here on the Sabbath after Dr. Holmes's death, . very truly remarks, " That blending of moderation and modesty with firmness and decision of character, where decision and firmness are needed, constitute, if I mis- take not, an enviable, or rather a desirable, distinction. Especially in these days .... we can hardly praise too highly the peaceful, laborious, faithful, and humble fol- lower and minister of Jesus Christ, who is learned without vanity or dogmatism, pious without cant or fitfulness, and charitable without ostentation. And such, if I mistake not, was our beloved and lamented friend. Never in extremes or chargeable with ex- travagance, his deportment and character united, in no common degree, the gentleman, the scholar, and the Christian." When he was no longer the pastor of the church, he continued to cherish a warm interest in all that concerned it, and aided it as he was able. Some who were children in his day recall his kindly manner towards them, and like to tell how, as he walked the street with his well-remembered cane, he would pause at a group of school-children, and, with a pleasant question and a word of counsel, would draw from his capacious pocket a handful of confectionery, which he distributed
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among the expectant listeners. And they tell how he stood here before the pulpit a few weeks before his death, and gave a good book to each of the members of the Sabbath School as they passed before him.
Dr. Holmes left a large number of printed works, consisting chiefly of sermons preached on various occa- sions, at an ordination or a funeral, on a Fast or Thanks- giving Day. One was preached on the death of Wash- ington ; one to commend the counsel of Washington ; one to celebrate the landing of the Pilgrims. He com- piled and published the biography of President Stiles with great taste and judgment. He published a small " History of Cambridge," which is invaluable to any one interested in the ancient town. His largest work was " The Annals of America, from the discovery by Columbus in the year 1492 to the year 1826." This work reached a second edition, and was republished in England. " It is not only regarded as a standard work in this country, but has attracted the respectful atten- tion of European critics." His early intercourse with President Stiles, whose daughter he married, fostered a literary taste, and not unlikely gave his mind a bent towards historical research. As an historian he was patient and accurate, and his books will live. In 1816 this " renowned antiquary " discovered in the Prince Library the third manuscript volume of Winthrop's Journal, which was deciphered and published. He was connected with a number of societies. From 1798 he was a most devoted friend of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and for more than twenty years its corresponding secretary. He was one of the founders of the Society . for promoting Christian Knowledge, and of the American Education Society. He was
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a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the trustees of the Institution at Andover, and an Overseer of Harvard University. His degree of Doctor of Divinity was received from the University of Edinburgh about 1805, and he was made Doctor of Laws by Alleghany College in 1822. Through these years of this extended fame and influence he was performing the laborious duties of pastor in a large and important parish.
Here is his well-worn sermon-case, and fastened in it, as he left them, are two sermons, one a double ser- mon, preached in February, 1836, and the other in December, 1836. He closes the former, which was de- livered on the two-hundredth anniversary of the organi- zation of the church, with paternal counsel to the brethren of the church, to the dear children, and to those of the society who were not connected with the church. Then followed the benediction of peace. When he had addressed the church, he seems to have turned to him who for thirty years was to stand in his place, but who had then just entered upon his work. Both have passed on ; but the written prayer remains. " May you, my brother, still live, sustained and ani- mated by the steadfastness and vitality of the church under your pastoral care ; live to see its increase in num- bers and in graces, and, at a distant period, finish your course with joy, and the ministry which you have re- ceived of the Lord Jesus, and be ready to depart, and to give up your account with joy. Mine I must soon give up, for I have nearly finished my course. And what, next to the personal hope which is an anchor to our own souls, - what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing ? Are not the church and dear people of our
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pastoral care, are not even ye, dearly beloved, in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming ?" He closed the latter sermon with these words : " Does any one ask, What have I to give on this day of Thanks- giving ? I answer, there is one gift which every one in this assembly, old or young, rich or poor, may alike offer with the assurance that it will be accepted. It is the gift of himself. Who will refuse this to Him who is crowning your life with his goodness, and who is this day reminding you that while he giveth us richly all things to enjoy, he is, by, the unspeakable gift of his son Jesus Christ, presenting us with the hope of life and immortality ? I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to him, which is your reasonable service." Thus, being dead, he yet speaketh. Once again these walls hear the sound of his good words. Hear them, beloved, as spoken out of heaven.
He preached his last sermon here to his old people, on the 22d of January, 1837, and its subject was, "The vanity of life a reason for seeking a portion in heaven." An illness of a few weeks terminated his long and useful life. A severe paralytic shock a few days before his death rendered him almost helpless, and made his articulation very imperfect. But he was comforted with the faith he had preached to others, and rejoiced in the cheerful hope of immortal blessedness through the grace of Christ his Saviour. He died in charity with all men. To a friend who bent over him on the the last night in his life he gave indistinct utterance to his charity, and said that he wished his injuries written in sand. He died on Sunday morning, as the
REV. DR. HOLMES'S RESIDENCE FROM 1807.
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bell which he had been wont to obey was calling the people to worship. He died, having the respect and affection of the community. The bells of the town were tolled on the day of his death, in recognition of his worth and in tribute to his memory. His second wife, the mother of his children, the daughter of the Hon. Oliver Wendell, long survived him, and received the affectionate homage of many hearts, both for her own excellence and for her association with him whose life she had shared and adorned.
He was first laid in the sacred field where all his predecessors had been buried, where they awaited the resurrection. But his remains were afterwards removed to Mount Auburn. There he lies, in the company of the great and good. But his church has graven his name upon the column which is sacred to the memory of her ministers who have gone to their reward, and which rises above the dust of him who last had rest from the duties of his office. The names of both will be read on the mural tablet which will make our new church more hal- lowed; and their initial letters in monogram, carved in stone, are at the sides of the main entrance to the sanc- tuary which they would have rejoiced to see. But their best memorial is in the work which survives them, in the affection which cherishes them, in the glory which encircles them. At the installation of Mr. Albro, this hymn, written by Dr. Holmes, was sung, to be repeated at the subsequent installation, and again at the dedica- tion of the new church in 1872 : -
" Great God ! thou heard'st our fathers' prayer, When, o'er the ocean brought, They, with a patriarchal care, A sanctuary sought.
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The ministry of Dr. Holmes and that of his successor were for a time united. The advanced years of the old pastor, and his peculiar relation to the First Parish, made it expedient that he should have an associate in his work. Accordingly, as we have seen, Mr. Nehe- miah Adams, Jr., was invited to become his colleague. The church records contain an account of a meeting of the church held on the 20th of November, 1829, at the house of Mr. Jacob Bates. After prayer and consulta- tion the church came to the decision which is set forth in the votes which follow : " Whereas the Rev. Dr. ' Holmes, the pastor of this church, has been excluded by a committee of the First Parish in Cambridge from the desk and the sanctuary where he has so long officiated, under a pretence that he is legally dismissed from office ; and whereas a great majority of the church, retaining their affection for him and confidence in him, have withdrawn, and attended public worship under his ministrations in another place ; whereas the said committee of the First Parish have also manifested a disposition to deprive us as a church of our just and immemorial rights, and there is now no prospect that the gospel as it appears to us revealed in the Scrip- tures, and as it was embraced by our fathers from the first planting of this church, will at present be preached in the house over which the First Parish have legal control ; whereas it is in our view of the utmost impor- tance that this gospel should be maintained within the boundaries of this parish, and a society by the name of the Shepard Congregational Society has been formed for the purpose of supporting the gospel here in its purity, with which society we as a church are respect- fully invited to unite and co-operate according to the
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rights and usages of congregational churches ; whereas our venerable pastor, holding as he does and must that he is not legally dismissed from office in the First Parish, cannot now consistently attach himself to the new society and become in form its minister, but another person has of late been employed with a view to settlement in the ministry, - in consideration of all the circumstances, and having consulted with the Rev. Dr. Holmes, our pastor, whose relation to us as a church we wish to hold sacred and inviolate, and finding that in present circumstances the choice of a colleague pastor meets with his entire approbation : therefore, voted, 1st, that until such time as our rights, with those of our pastor, shall be respected, and the privileges of the gospel ministry be enjoyed, as heretofore, in con- nection with the First Parish in Cambridge, we will, as a church, accede to the invitation of the said Shepard Congregational Society, and co-operate with it in main- taining the worship and ordinances of the gospel, according to the established principles and usages of Congregational churches in this Commonwealth. Voted, 2d, that in pursuance of the object, and subject to the several conditions expressed in the first vote, the church now unite, and call Mr. Nehemiah Adams, Jr., - who has been heard by us for several Sabbaths with high approbation, and in whom we have full confidence, - to the office of colleague pastor in this church in con- nection with the Rev. Dr. Holmes as senior pastor." It was further voted to communicate this decision to the Shepard Society and desire its concurrence, and also to inform Mr. Adams of the wish of the church and society, and, if he should accept the invitation, to take the necessary steps for his ordination. The committee
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to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings ; that, when his glory shall be re- vealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." With that spirit the church took up its work anew. Two hundred years had wrought no change. There is a ser- mon marked "Dec. 20, 1829, A.M., 1st Sabbath after ordination of Mr. N. Adams." The text is, " Now if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear; for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do." Towards the close the venerated pastor says, " The Lord this day gives you an ascension gift, a pastor who is of the same religious principles which we unitedly believe to be according to the gospel, and which we are solicitous to maintain for ourselves and to transmit to our descendants ; a pastor who has wit- nessed a good confession before many witnesses, and whom we cordially commend to you, in the belief that he comes to you in the fulness of the blessing of the gos- pel of Christ. Receive him. Treat him with candor and equity ; preserve unity and peace ; and pay an at- tentive and serious regard to his ministry."
Thus, with the commendation and blessing of the aged pastor, his young associate entered upon his work. The services of the Sabbath were divided between the two pastors. The senior preached in the morning and the junior in the afternoon and evening. The services were well attended, especially in the evening, when persons not connected with the new society would come to hear preaching in a place devoted to other uses. The labors of the ministers were greatly blessed, for the years 1830, 1831, and 1832 show large additions to the church upon confession of faith. The loss of members
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was soon more than made good. Plainly, the Lord had a favor unto this band of disciples who had suffered much for his name. The services on the Sabbath were held in the Court House for nearly two years. When there were lectures there in the evening the people carried their own lamps, sometimes giving occasion to the by-standers whom they passed to throw out jests at their expense. Meetings for prayer were for a time held in private houses, and were finally established in the house at the northwest corner of Mount Auburn and. Brighton Streets, in a large room fitted up for that pur- pose. As soon as the church and society were able, with the assistance of friends, to erect a meeting-house, this house was built. The ground was broken on the 5th of August, 1830, with religious services ; the cor- ner-stone was laid on the 21st of the following month ; and on the 23d of February, 1831, the house was dedicated with a sermon by the senior pastor from Jeremiah vi. 18. I have spoken of some of these things before, but it has seemed proper to repeat them in this connection. This new house was greatly ad- mired. Mr. Washington Allston furnished the plan, and the house was an object of especial pride to him. He liked to take strangers at evening to a particular spot, about a hundred rods southeast of the building, where he would repeat the familiar lines of Sir Walter Scott, -
" If thou wouldst view fair Melrose aright, Go visit it by the pale moonlight,"
and bid his companions mark the simple beauty of this unassuming structure. The first sermon after the dedi- cation was by the senior pastor, from the words, "The Lord is in his holy temple," and this was followed by the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.
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