USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > Lectures on the history of the First Church in Cambridge > Part 17
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Dr. Adams said of him, " He is a good successor." May I add, in my turn, "He was a good man to suc- ceed " ? One soweth and another reapeth. The sowing had been good. The church over which he presided was stable, dignified, united, holding the truth in the love of it, with intelligence and firmness. The children of the church were baptized, with hardly an exception, and the principles of religion were carefully laid in their minds. The whole parish was in order, settled in good ways, appreciative of its minister and mindful of his interests, free from the strife and discord which too often intrude even into sacred things, willing to add a good record to the history in which it gloried, while cherishing a hope which reached far into futurity. This was the field which I found when I came to enter into his labors. There was nothing to undo. I grate- fully acknowledge that the peace and success of these later years have been largely due to his influence. He was a good man for the reaper who should come after
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him. He stands in the history of this church as a Christian minister.
I have said little of the external affairs of the parish during Dr. Albro's ministry. The salary tendered to him at his settlement was eight hundred and fifty dol- lars for the first year, with an annual increase of fifty dollars until one thousand dollars should be reached. There was a pledge also to procure a suitable dwelling- house at an annual rent not exceeding two hundred dol- lars. In case his salary for the second and third years did not cover his expenses, he was to have a further grant, not exceeding fifty dollars a year. He was to have a vacation of two or three weeks in each year, if he required it. In the year following his installation, arrangements were made to erect a parsonage. Money was given and borrowed for this purpose, and the house in Holyoke Street was built which was thenceforth occupied by the pastor. The original meeting-house contained sixty-six pews, which were enough for that time. In 1840 ten pews were added. In 1844 the house was enlarged, and twenty more pews were provided. In 1852 the house was increased to its present dimen- sions, and there was room for one hundred and thirty pews on the floor. The number of members of the church at Dr. Albro's installation was one hundred and one ; in 1852 there were two hundred and forty-four ; in 1865, after many changes, there were nearly three hundred members. But, as has been already remarked, these figures by no means measure the result of his work.
On the twelfth day of March, 1865, the congregation assembled here were surprised by a letter from the pastor in which he asked release from his office. The
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thirtieth year of his ministry was drawing to a close. He had for some time contemplated this retirement when that point should be reached. He said that the great length of his service, and the changes which time had produced, admonished him that his official con- nection with this people should cease. He deemed it expedient for himself and for them. Possibly there were premonitions of the malady which at length ended. his life. The church and society consented to his re- quest with feelings of deep emotion, and adopted reso- lutions expressive of their high estimate of his labors, their conviction of his great usefulness, and their ear- nest desire for his continued welfare. The society voted him the use of the parsonage and of the pastor's pew for as long a time as he should choose to occupy them, and expressed the hope that the parsonage might be his permanent home during his residence in Cam- bridge. His farewell sermon was from the prophecy of Micah, " O my people, what have I done unto thee ? And wherein have I wearied thee ? Testify against me." And they answered him. In words and deeds, and with generous gifts, they testified their love for him who had done them good and given them rest.
The 15th of April, 1865, terminated the labors of this long ministry. But although released from the pastoral office, Dr. Albro continued to be the pastor in many important respects. He preached often from this pul- pit, he administered the sacraments, he performed many of the works to which he and the people had been accustomed. At the time of an unusual religious in- terest he was requested to instruct the new converts, and to direct those who were beginning a new life, and when the time came for them to unite with the church,
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he received them, as he had received so many before them. We have heard after a long time the words of one of our honored ministers from the lines which his own hand had penned. Here is a manuscript which has for the second time come into this pulpit. It is a sermon preached by Dr. Albro on the first Sabbath in July, 1866, when a large number of young persons were received to the church upon their confession of faith. The text is in St. Paul's words to Timothy : "These things write I unto thee, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." The preacher says, "For the sake of these young disciples - most of whom were born in the church - who have to-day publicly joined it as members, I will speak of the nature, the design, and the privileges of the church." After unfolding these points, he bade them learn how they ought to behave themselves in the church, with what love and faith and charity, with what delight, devotion, zeal, ear- nestness, fervency, they should enter into their new rela- tions and discharge their duties. "Such a spirit and behavior," he said, " would surely make the church the glory of the land, the pillar and ground of the truth, in the eyes of all people. It would enjoy pecu- liar manifestations of the Saviour's presence and favor. Its influence upon all the interests of society would be visible and permanent. It would be the delightful home of the soul, and afford a foretaste of the blessed- ness of that New Jerusalem the glory of which was revealed in the vision of the prophet."
Dr. Albro had no desire for another settlement in the ministry. He could not have another people.
16
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But he preached by invitation in neighboring churches. On the morning of the 16th of December, 1866, he officiated in the church at West Roxbury, in the illness of the pastor. His text was, "One thing thou lackest." He was to administer the Communion in the afternoon, and he designed to preach in the evening from the words, " And whatsoever ye do, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." When near the close of his morning sermon, a deathlike pallor overspread his face. He laid his hand upon his breast, and then upon his head. He finished his discourse, but not with the words which had been written. He offered an impressive prayer, and blessed the people. He resumed his seat, and became insen- sible. He was removed to his temporary home at the house of a deacon of the church. He regained con- sciousness, and, when the first surprise was over, re- sumed his wonted calmness and peace. He was not disturbed by the anxiety of his physicians. "I have a natural wish to live," he said, "but I think I feel submissive, and glad to leave myself in God's hands." At a time of intense suffering he uttered his thoughts in broken words: "I am in the dark valley - it is n't dark, though - the passage is gentle-it is all very peaceful"; `he added, "There is a great deal neces- sary to make such a passage peaceful, but He speaks, and it is done." When some one reminded him that he had borne his pains with much patience, he turned the words to one whom he loved better than himself : " Didn't He suffer patiently ? As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth." He said that he could express his state by saying, " Vanish- ing into bliss." Again, " Underneath are the everlast-
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ing arms. My work is all done. Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. Not only are angels from heaven around me, but you all seem to be angels." Thus peacefully, cheerfully; he went on his way. New friends ministered to his wants, and old friends lav- ished their attentions on him. And the rod and the staff of God were for his comfort. The end was quiet. With a smile upon his face, and words of kindness on his lips, his voice faltered, he paused in the midst of his sentence, and in the twinkling of an eye he was gone. The one thing which he lacked had come to him. He had gone on to give thanks to God and the Father by the Lord Jesus.
" He gave his honors to the world again, His blessed part to heaven, and slept in peace."
The translation was on Thursday, the 20th of December. On the following Monday his venerated form was borne into this sanctuary where he had min- istered so long. The house was draped in mourning. A large concourse of his friends was here to do honor His old church at Fitchburg to the man of God.
sent representatives to show its sympathy. The tri- umphal songs of Christian faith were sung. His life- long friends and associates performed the last minis- tries of our religion. The slow procession wended its way to Mount Auburn. Clergymen of five denomina- tions served as pall-bearers. With tears of sorrow and affection and hope the face was covered from the sight of men.
When it was ascertained that he had expressed a desire to be laid to rest in the Cambridge Cemetery, his remains were removed to a lot which had been given to
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the church and society " for the use of their respective pastors and their families." It was to be called "the Shepard lot." The place of his repose was marked by the people with the memorial marble, and at the centre of the lot was erected a monument of granite to the memory of all the deceased pastors of the church, and that bears his name. These are near the spot where he stood when he delivered the address at the consecration of the cemetery. His burial gives a deeper meaning to his words that day : "Willingly we commit
our friends to this consecrated earth. Willingly we
ourselves come to rest by the side of those who here wait for our early or tardy return." He called it " our future dwelling-place." "May we, who, entering this place as the living, will hereafter pass along these avenues as the dead, and all who follow us from gen- eration to generation, be, and remain, in life and in death, the blessed of the Lord." On the 12th of November, 1870, when the stones had been set in their places, we went to dedicate them and the ground which had been hallowed anew. It was a stormy afternoon ; but a few persons met at the grave, and then at the keeper's lodge, where we spoke of those who had labored in this ministry and had entered upon their rest, and with prayer and hymn we honored their memory, and asked that their works might abide with us. We ought every year to visit that "court of peace," and conse- crate ourselves for life and death.
A few months after Dr. Albro's death a very apprecia- tive discourse in his memory was preached, at the request of the church and society, by the Rev. James H. Means of Dorchester. The name of your tenth minister is engraved at the entrance of our new sanctuary, and upon
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the mural tablet within, where it will be read till the stone shall crumble. His picture, with the calm, saintly, paternal face, is in the homes of most of the people, and the memorial volume in which the church has expressed its esteem for the good minister. His memory is green among us. His work remains. It is interwoven with the lives of many of you, for he baptized you and your children, he joined you in holy marriage, he received you to the communion of the church, he brought Divine solace into your sorrowing homes, and he buried your dead with sacred rites. He was worthy to be written in with the renowned line of ministers who had pre- ceded him. He rejoices in the worship of the skies. We shall see him presently. Blessed are they who have heard his words while yet in the flesh, and have obeyed them unto eternal life.
With a few words more this history rests. In October, 1865, the minister of the South Parish in Augusta, Me., was invited to the pastoral care of this church and society. For reasons which commended themselves to those who had thus called him the in- vitation was declined. In December, 1866, the call was renewed. The months which had come and gone had brought the affairs of his parish into a better condition to be given into other hands, and this invitation was accepted. On the 24th of January, 1867, he was duly installed by an Ecclesiastical Council. The sermon was by Professor E. A. Park, from the words, " The poor have the gospel preached to them." The prayer of installation was by the Rev. D. R. Cady, the charge to the pastor by the Rev. Dr. Kirk, the right hand of fellowship by the Rev. John E. Todd, and the address to the people by the Rev. Dr. Adams. And thus your eleventh minister
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was introduced to his work as the immediate successor of one whose friendship and instruction he had enjoyed, and by the side of the College which to so many of us is Alma Mater. Let me place it on record here, that during these five years he has had no reason to ques- tion the propriety of the decision to come to you, or to doubt that it was the will of our common Lord. You have left him no room to regret his compliance with your desire. He counts it a high honor to be the minister of this ancient church, the reaper after so many illustrious sowers, the sower on the broad field where other reapers are to be when the Master has come and called for us. After a few months of begin- ning, in accordance with a previous agreement, through your liberality he was permitted to spend six months in foreign travel. Since his return the work has gone on steadily day by day, year by year. I offer no estimate of results. God has blessed us with large blessings. To him be the glory. In him be our con- fidence as we press forward.
These years have been marked with one work de- serving to be mentioned among the greatest which have entered into our parish life. We have begun, and almost completed, a new house of worship, which will be the sixth home of the church. It has been planned with large views, and brought thus near its end with great harmony and good-will. This event marks an epoch in the life of the church. It is almost a new beginning of our work. If our hopes are in any meas- ure fulfilled, we are about to add a glorious future to an honorable past. The lineage we boast, the annals we read, the faith we profess, the trust committed to our hands, demand of us a loyalty and heroism in
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which this church shall prove itself the body of Christ.
As I bring this history to a close, there is no space for comment. None is needed. It is our turn now. The past is secure ; the future is what we make it. Let the past instruct us, the future inspire us, the present find us standing in our lot and quitting ourselves like men, as becomes the sons of our sires, the heirs of Puritans, the followers of those who suffered loss for the love of Christ, and in their poverty reared these walls which so long have sheltered us. Not as if I feared ; you are doing well ; the record of these days will read well when we are dust. It is a grand time to live in. Let every man, every child, do his part promptly, generously, cheerfully. Then we shall go up to our new and beautiful temple with songs of rejoicing, bearing our sheaves with us, and every one with his own sheaves. And with every stone our own, we will dedicate the house to God, our Father and our Saviour, and throw wide its gates, that the people may enter in and worship him. So let us pray, with our gold and silver in our open hands, with our hearts in sympathy with man, while we seek the glory of Christ and the church, " The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers."
APPENDIX.
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I.
MEETING-HOUSES.
T
HE first meeting-house here was built by the church under the care of Rev. Thomas Hooker and Rev. Samuel Stone. It stood very near the southwest corner of Water, now Dunster Street, and Spring, now Mount Auburn Street.
The second house, erected in 1650, the third erected in 1706, and the fourth erected in 1756, stood upon Watch- house Hill, very near the present site of Dane Hall. The fourth house was torn down in 1833, when the new house built by the First Parish was dedicated. There is a draw- ing of the fourth house preserved, which is inscribed, " Plan of ye meeting House, and draft of ye Pews." From this plan it appears that the frame of the building was oblong. There were three entrances, - one on the west side, through the tower, one on the east, and one on the south. The last two had outer porches. Within these was a gallery on the east, west, and south sides, supported on eight wooden columns. The centre aisle ran from the south entrance to the pulpit and the deacons' seats in front. On the right of the centre aisle were two long benches, and on the left four more. These were evidently for free sittings. Pew No. 1 was next to the pulpit at the preacher's right, and the num- bers followed the wall pews around the house, reaching the pulpit again at the preacher's left. The names of the oc-
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cupants of these wall pews are given as follows : E. Trow- bridge, P. Tufts, Foxcroft, S. Kent, Mary Tufts, Richardson, R. Gardner, Bradish, E. Trowbridge for W. Fletcher, Rich- ard Champney, Seth Hastings, J. Fessenden, S. Palmer, Jr., T. Warland, Appleton, Holyoke, Vassall, Phipps, Brattle, Minister, Winthrop, Sparhawke, Oliver, J. Morse, E. Sted- man, Wigglesworth, Boardman, E. Ruggles, C. Dana, Sprague, E. Wyeth, S. Hastings, N. Kidder, H. College, J. Hastings, Widow S. Hastings. Following the numbers, the names are Hancock, S. Whittemore, S. Prentice, W. Man- ning, A. Hill, J. Hicks, I. Bradish, J. Watson, E. Manning, O. Warland, Mr. Marritt's heirs, H. Prentice, T. Sodon, M. Gill, S. Thatcher, E. Wyeth; C. Prentice, I. Watson, J. Read, W. Howe, P. Stearns, R. Dana, S. Danforth, J. Monis, Grant, E. Marritt, E. Stedman, Z. Bordman, W. Angier, J. Strat- ton, J. Dickson, Widow Fessenden, Inman.
The fifth house erected for the church was that which has just been left, at the corner of Mount Auburn and Holyoke Streets. The following account of this house and of the changes in it was prepared in 1852 by Deacon Stephen T. Farwell : -
1
" The corner-stone of the house of worship for the First Church and Shepard Congregational Society was laid on the twenty-first day of September, 1830. The house was dedicated on the 23d of February, 1831. As the house was originally finished, it contained sixty-six pews, which furnished ample accommodations for the congregation at that time. The society gradually increased in numbers, more room was needed, and in 1840, by removing a partition from under the choir gallery and rebuilding the pulpit, ten additional pews were obtained. These were sufficient to accommodate the increasing growth of the society for a few years only. In 1844 it was found necessary to enlarge our borders. Accordingly, the house was separated into two parts. The northerly part was removed the distance of sixteen feet,
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land having been purchased for the purpose of Harvard College. The space was then filled up, making an addition to the building equal to one fourth of its original length, and adding twenty new pews. This addition sufficed for the growing wants of the society until the present year, when it had become impossible to furnish pews to families who were desirous of connecting themselves with the congregation in public worship. It was therefore determined at a parish meeting held July 7, 1852, to enlarge the house by the addition of thirteen feet to its width, six and a half feet to each side ; also by a similar addition to the front on each side of the tower, enlarging thereby the room in the vestibule, and giving two additional entrances to the same. The size of the house with this addition, exclusive of the tower, is eighty by sixty-three feet, giving ample room for one hundred and thirty pews on the floor. The chapel in the basement, obtained by this addition and by raising the building six and a half feet above its former foundation, is sixty by forty-eight feet. Preparatory to this enlargement a strip of land thirteen feet in width was purchased of F. C. Loring, Esq., on the westerly side of the society's lot, and the house was removed six and a half feet in that direc- tion. It became necessary, therefore, to remove the leaden box which was deposited under the corner-stone of the origi- nal house. It is replaced again this twenty-first day of Sep- tember, A. D. 1852 : being first enclosed in another leaden box, with this brief sketch of the several enlargements of the original church edifice, together with a copy of 'Some passages in the History of the First Church in connection with the Shepard Congregational Society in Cambridge,' prepared by the present pastor, and printed in 1842 ; also a copy of his ' Life of Thomas Shepard,' the first pastor of this church, published in 1847.
" The number of church-members who followed the pastor at the time of the separation of the church from the First
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Parish, in 1829, was about sixty. At the installation of the present pastor, April 15, 1835, it was one hundred and one. The present number is two hundred and forty- four.
OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH.
Pastor. JOHN A. ALBRO.
Deacons.
STEPHEN T. FARWELL, CHARLES W. HOMER. ZELOTES HOSMER, Clerk.
¿ OFFICERS OF THE PARISH.
Clerk and Treasurer. JACOB H. BATES. Prudential Committee.
WILLIAM SAUNDERS, WILLIAM BATES,
JONAS WYETH, 2d, ZELOTES HOSMER,
WILLIAM A. SAUNDERS. Building Committee.
WILLIAM A. SAUNDERS, WILLIAM SAUNDERS,
GARDINER G. HUBBARD, ISRAEL P. DUNIIAM.
Architect. A. R. ESTEY."
· The last services in this church were held on the 19th of May, 1872. In the morning the pastor preached from Ezra iii. 12. In the evening a public meeting was held, when addresses were delivered by Hon. Charles Theodore Russell, Hon. Emory Washburn, Hon. Charles H. Saunders, Hon. Horatio G. Parker, Rev. William L. Ropes, George S. Saunders, Esq., and the Pastor. The chapel of the church is still used by the Sabbath School and for the social re- ligious services of the church. But the chapel of the new house will soon be completed.
The sixth meeting-house was dedicated on Wednesday evening, May 22, 1872. It stands on the corner of Garden and Mason Streets. At the dedication the invocation was
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by the Rev. George R. Leavitt, pastor of the Pilgrim Church, Cambridgeport ; the reading of the Scriptures by the Rev. David O. Mears, pastor of the North Avenue Congregational Church ; the prayer before the sermon by the Rev. Andrew P. Peabody, D. D., of Harvard College ; the sermon by the pastor from Psalms xcvi. 6: "Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary" ; the prayer of dedication was by the Rev. Nehemiah Adams, D. D., the ninth pastor of the church. The music was appropriate, and included the singing of the following hymns : -
HYMN,
Written by the Rev. ABIEL HOLMES, D. D., and sung at the Installation of the Rev. JOHN A. ALBRO, D. D., and of the Rev. A. MCKENZIE.
Great God ! thou heard'st our Fathers' prayer, When, o'er the ocean brought, They with a patriarchal care A Sanctuary sought.
Hither thy guidance led their feet, Here was their first abode ; And here, where now their children meet, They found a place for God.
[Thy flock, Immanuel, here was fed, In pastures green and fair ; Beside still waters gently led, And thine the Shepherd's care.
That care two hundred years attest ; Thy seal is still the same ; To every bosom be it pressed, Graved with thy precious name.]
Here may the Church thy cause maintain, Thy truth with peace and love, Till her last earth-born live again With the first-born above.
O glorious change ! From conflict free, The Church, no danger nigh, From militant on earth shall be Triumphant in the sky.
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HYMN OF DEDICATION,
BY MISS CHARLOTTE F. BATES.
Thou, whom the heavens cannot contain, Art willing yet to make thy home Where Love makes ready for thy reign, And looks and longs for thee to come.
[As this fair temple make the heart, New, strong, and undefiled for thee ; Then may we, soul and sin apart, The King in all his beauty see. ]
Before the cross, this holy hour, The house, the heart, we consecrate ; - Give every will a fruitful power, God's perfect plan to consummate.
Blow, Breath of the Almighty Strength ! God's order nerve our souls to bring
From gross confusion, till at length The top-stone bid the builders sing.
[Let regal learning here bend low ; With Christward face like Mary sit, Till on her brow the Master throw A light the ages shall transmit.
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