USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Salem > Memorial of the old and new Tabernacle, Salem, Mass., 1854-5 > Part 3
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Ye mariners upon the seas, or in distant regions of the earth, ye may on this very day have thought tenderly of this holy place, and felt more safe, be- cause of the supplications that have ascended for you ! Were ye present with us, would not your eyes be as if your head were waters! And all ye absent ones,-all that have ever been of us,- wherever now ye are in the land we all do love, or in other lands,-would your tears be dry !
My aged friends, it may well be supposed, that no one of you could come to this parting hour, without feeling that it is almost too much for me and my co-evals to ask of you to bear the burden,
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that we lay upon you, as you leave your seats, this afternoon, to return to them no more! But, in your early days, were you not greatly blessed by the enterprising labors and the generous sacri- fices of those who went before ? Will you not, then, while you weep, rejoice also, no less than those, who stand between the aged and the young,-that the God of our fathers hath disposed and enabled them to show their gratitude for his loving favor to us all, by erecting a new holy, and a more beautiful house for the honor of his adora- ble Name, and a rich blessing to thousands yet unborn ?
And can the youth and children ever forget this dear old house, where first they heard God's min- isters preach, and where first they met in Sabbath School ? Will you not preserve, as more precious than rubies and all diamonds, the memories of the instruction that maketh wise for earth and heaven ? Assuredly you will, if you would not be like some, alas, who at this very hour may be lamenting in the world of woe, that " they hated instruction and despised reproof!" Among all that have ever been of us, none more than they who were once scholars or teachers of the Sabbath School, will find their hearts gushing forth in melting tenderness,-when they shall come to know, that the old pews where they so often sat, ยท and the old pillars, and the old walls of the Old Tabernacle are no more !
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O ye seats, ye pews, ye aisles, ye doors, ye win- dows, ye chandeliers, ye pillars, ye galleries, ye walls; and thou, communion-table,-this bible and that bible,-this pulpit, to my heart so dear,- could ye all speak out with tongues, what utter- ances would ye mingle with our tears, in this our last, last farewell ! Your work is done! We must go ; and ye all must go ! But whatever changes may pass over you, ye all shall be engraven in memory's choicest tablet, and while life and being last, we shall never forget the sacred, sweet hours of our presence here !
One more prayer, one more song, one more doxology, one more benediction,-and then, fare- well, venerable sanctuary ! Consecrated, endeared Tabernacle of our fathers and their children, fare- well ! FAREWELL ! FAREWELL!
But O God of our fathers and our own God, it is not farewell to the Word of thy boundless love, to the ordinances of thine everlasting Gospel, and to the priceless joys of communion and fellowship in the bonds of Christ,-with exalting hope of purer, nobler, and immortal service in the heaven of heavens !
And O ye departed, ye spirits once with us,- some of you so lately with us,-but now in glo- rious rest,-are ye hovering over us,-unseen but not unseeing ?. My sainted father, art thou too with them,-thou that didst so linger here, when last thy trembling feet did tread these hallowed courts ? All hail to you-to all of you-ye glori-
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fied ! All hail to you, for all time and all eternity, all hail !- Strike, then, strike for us, even us, your harps of redemption and rapture; strike, and sing -SALVATION TO HIM THAT SITTETH UPON THE THRONE AND UNTO THE LAMB !- And we will say, AMEN : BLESSING, AND GLORY, AND WISDOM, AND THANKSGIVING, AND HONOR, AND POWER, AND MIGHT, BE UNTO OUR GOD, FOREVER AND EVER. AMEN !
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After prayer, the following hymn was sung. (See " White's Church Melodist," p. 271.)
" Here to the High and Holy One, Our fathers early reared A house of prayer, a lowly one, Yet long to them endeared By hours of sweet communion, Held with their covenant God, As oft, in sacred union, His hallowed courts they trod.
Gone are the pious multitudes, That here kept holy time, In other courts assembled now, For worship more sublime. Their children, we are waiting In meekness, Lord, thy call ; Thy love still celebrating, Our hope, our trust, our all.
These time-worn walls, the resting-place, So oft from earthly cares, To righteous souls now perfected, We leave with thanks and prayers ;
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With thanks, for every blessing Vouchsafed through all the past ; With prayers, thy throne addressing For guidance to the last.
Though from this house, so long beloved, We part with sadness now,
Yet here, we trust, in gladness soon In fairer courts to bow : So when our souls forsaking These bodies, fallen and pale,
In brighter forms awaking, With joy the change shall hail."
The numerous congregation, intensely affected, then joined in singing the Doxology, " Praise God from whom. all blessings flow," etc. And when the benediction, with the last AMEN was pronounced, the attitudes and the coun- tenances of that last assembly in the old Tabernacle, pre- sented a spectacle of emotion, such as is rarely witnessed in any place, or in any circumstances.
For public worship on the next Sabbath and onward, the Essex County Commissioners had kindly granted the use of the pleasant and commodious Court-Room, in the granite building, which, by its nearness and its elegance of model, had perhaps contributed to hasten the end of the old Taber- nacle. In the forenoon of March 12th, the pastor preached from 2 Cor. v : 1 : " For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved," etc. ; and in the afternoon, from Acts xvii : 30, 31.
By sitting compactly, not far from six hundred persons could be accommodated. The new circumstances of the hearers were very social, and quite favorable to attentiveness ; while all greatly enjoyed the excellent singing by a volun- teer choir of the Society. And the assembly seemed often ready to say : Now, therefore, are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God. The surest and most grateful signs of the presence of the Spirit were graciously afforded.
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Celebration of the Laying of the Corner-Stone of the New Tabernacle, April 26, 1854.
The following account of this celebration first appeared in the Daily Evening Traveller.
" The distinguishing Corner-Stone of the new edifice for the Tabernacle Church and Society, having been previously fixed in its place, with the other goodly stones of the foun- dation, religious services were held yesterday afternoon, for a devout and grateful recognition of the event. They were conducted by the pastor, who introduced the selections of Scripture and the other exercises of the occasion, by allud- ing to the memorable scene, at Jerusalem, where some of " the ancient men," who remembered the glory of the first temple, could not refrain from " weeping with a loud voice," while "many shouted aloud for joy." These last were the younger men, who rejoiced with hope and exultation in the prospect before them. It was remarked, that if any of " the ancient men " of the Tabernacle were now to weep, at the sight of the foundations of this new house of the God of the fathers, the very stones of the old house, which had been taken away, would cry out "for shame to you," and the goodly stones now here in their place would respond Amen !
It was intimated by the speaker, that there was really but little which he needed to say-since the occasion itself might be left to make its own impression upon so many interested hearts. This goodly foundation might speak, as he said, and the corner-stone should be "the chief speaker." But, added he, as we are about to sing, our hearts may be attuned to a sweeter melody, and our supplications and thanksgivings may be inspired with a purer fervency, if we should receive instruction from the blessed Word of God, both in the Old and New Testaments. And if there was a single person of the numerous assembly, who had any question of the propriety of recognizing, as we now
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do, the gracious providence of God, let him listen to what will be read-first, from the 38th chapter of the Book of Job.
Dr. W. then read from this chapter, verses 4-7, and verses 34-36. He next read from the 90th Psalm, verses 1-3d, 10th, 12th, 16th, and 17th. Passing into the New Testament, he read from Matt. xxi : 42, 43d ; and from the Epistle to the Ephesians, ii : 11-13th, and the 18th to the 22d verse inclusive.
These Scriptures formed a series in perfect unity, and were listened to with marked attention, as if the utterance was indeed the Word of the Living God, and the Redeemer of the world.
A choir composed of members of the congregation then sang in a most animated manner, and with thrilling effect, the 118th Psalm of Watts, 3d Part, C. M., with the last three stanzas of the 4th Part. It was truly affecting to see a ven- erable deacon, who has just entered his ninety-second year, as he rose up from his place to join in the inspiring song, which was so admirably suited to the occasion.
A prayer was then offered. A list was then read, of the documents and other deposits which we.e to be committed in trust to the corner-stone, as a memorial of the celebration, for those who may succeed the present members of the Church and Society of the Tabernacle, with their fellow- citizens of Salem.
Among these deposits were city documents of the most recent date, newspapers of Salem, the Daily Evening Trav- eller of March 6th, containing an account of the farewell services in the old house, March 5th,-etc. A copy of the Articles and Covenant of the Church, an engraved likeness of the former Dr. Worcester, and several published dis- courses of the present pastor, were also deposited in the copper box, which is to be sealed, and covered with cement in the cavity of the corner-stone prepared for the trust. Among them was the discourse at the first centennial anni- versary, April 26th, 1835; "New England's Glory and
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Crown," a discourse at Plymouth, 1848 ; and " The Prospec- tive Condition of our Country, with a Tribute to the memory of President Taylor, Aug. 1850 .??
These and others have appropriate inscriptions, addressed to different classes in the generations to come. Not the least in interest, probably, at a future day, may be the An- nual Report of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, with its endorsement, accompanied by the autograph signatures of the members of the Prudential Committee, Secretaries of Correspondence, Treasurer, Re- cording Secretary, etc.
A lithograph of the exterior and interior of the former Tabernacle, finely executed from a drawing of Mr. S. P. Hodgdon, a promising young artist of Salem, was also ex- hibited, as one of the deposits. Several coins of the latest issue, with a few other articles, are to be added, before the sealing up of the box in the cavity in the corner-stone. The stone thus honored is at the north-east corner of the build- ing, and will undoubtedly be regarded henceforth with emotions of deep interest by all the members of the Taber- nacle congregation, and by numerous others of the crowded and very attentive assembly, on this truly memorable oc- casion.
The services closed with a benediction, previous to which the whole assembly appeared to be moved, as the Doxology was sung from the 117th Psalm, L. M., with the addition of the words, beginning :
" Praise God, from whom all blessings flow."
As the 26th of April, 1835, was observed as the Centen- nial Anniversary of the Tabernacle Church, and as the Sabbath School was commenced, in a separate organization, on the 26th of April, 1830,-the undesigned coincidence of the day of the Corner-Stone celebration is worthy of notice in this Memorial. (See Appendix F.)
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The Juvenile Sewing Circle, numbering from sixty to seventy, prepared articles for a " Fair," which yielded more than $300. This sum they appropriated for the furniture, fixtures, etc. of the pulpit. On Thursday afternoon, Thanks- giving day, Nov. 30th, they had the pleasure of meeting together in the new Tabernacle, for a presentation of the new bibles and hymn-books, of the pulpit, and the Minis- ter's pew. They also delivered into the pastor's hands a beautiful box, made of the oaken timber of the old house, and fitted to contain the beautiful silver goblet, designed for use in the pulpit. A short address was made to the in- teresting group, as they filled the area before the pulpit ; and the occasion will be vividly and very pleasantly re- membered by all who were present.
The Dedication of the new Tabernacle took place, in the forenoon of the day following. The weather which had not seemed likely to be propitious, proved to be favorable in the highest degree. The expectations of a lively interest in the occasion were entirely fulfilled, by the gathering of a very large and attentive assembly.
The services were introduced by an Anthem : " O Lord, thou crownest the year with thy goodness and all thy paths drop fatness," etc. Selections from the Scriptures were read by Rev. James M. Hoppin, of the Crombie Street Church, Salem ; Rev. Brown Emerson, D. D., of the South Church, Salem, offered an appropriate and fervent prayer. The au- dience then united in singing the 48th Psalm, "Great is the Lord our God," etc. which was read by Prof. George B. Jewett, of Amherst College. The Discourse and the Prayer of Dedication were by the Pastor. The " Dedication An- them," chiefly in the words of the 1st, 4th, and 5th verses of the 141st Select Hymn, (Watts and Select,) was then sung, with the Doxology, "Praise God," etc. Rev. B. F. Allen, of Marblehead, pronounced the Benediction.
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DISCOURSE DELIVERED AT THE DEDICATION OF THE NEW TABERNACLE, DEC. 1, 1854.
But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth ? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee ; how much less this house which I have built ?- 2 Chron. vi : 18.
The idea of God, as a pure Spirit, pervading the universe of matter and mind, by visible and invisible demonstrations of "eternal power and godhead," can neither be innate nor intuitive. Fallen man is so much a creature of sense, that, left to himself, he worships the sun, moon, and stars, and
" Bows down to wood and stone,"
with an utter blindness to the impiety and the ab- surdity of such reverence. History, with her gen- uine and authentic documents, witnesses against the ability of the natural reason and conscience to discover, or rightly to interpret, the existence and the essential attributes of the one only living and true God.
There are indeed, in all parts of the globe, traces of the religion, which Noah must have brought with him over the waters of the deluge, from "the sons of God" and the garden of Eden.
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But there is no evidence, that any of the wisest of Pagan philosophers, who so anxiously " felt after God, if haply " in their darkness, they could " find him," ever reached the conception and the personal adoration of God, as a " SPIRIT, INFINITE, ETER- NAL, AND UNCHANGEABLE, IN HIS BEING, WISDOM, POWER, HOLINESS, JUSTICE, GOODNESS, AND TRUTH."
Such also is human nature, that, where God is known according to the word of his inspired reve- lation, men do not like to retain him in their knowledge. Instead of walking in the "beauty of holiness," they have "changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator." .
From the intrinsic difficulty of apprehending the true spiritual nature of God, and from the aver- sion of the heart to the requirements of his will, we may easily explain the corruption and violence of the antediluvians, and also the origination and rapid extension of idol-worship among the de- scendants of Noah. They who said unto God, -- " Depart from us,"-were not willing to glorify and enjoy any other supreme Divinity, than a tran- script of their own moral likeness. And, perhaps, all the false religions of the world, with all the corruptions of the true, may be attributed to the desire of man, ever since the fall, to make God in his image, and to think of God as such an one as himself.
By a sovereign interposition, the God of Abra- ham"secured a race, among whom his Name was
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recorded, and his " holy oracles " preserved, until, in the fulness of time, he was "manifest in the flesh." If it had not been for this interposition, so "wonderful in counsel and excellent in work- ing," the "true God," in all probability, would have been the " Unknown," or the " Anonymous" God, not only of Athens, but of every city and every dwelling of the earth.
The altar, which by its inscription suggested to the great apostle, the opening, if not the subject- matter of his discourse on Mars Hill, was, perhaps, the strongest of all proofs, that "the city was wholly given to idolatry." And in the midst o_ those world-renowned structures of classic Mythol ogy, how sublime the utterance,-" Whom ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you ! God that made the world, and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worship- ped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things."
The great cardinal doctrine of revealed religion, which was made so prominent by this chief of the apostles, was precisely that which, when " a young man," he unquestionably heard from the lips of the first of Christian martyrs,-whose "face," as he refuted the charge of "blasphemous words against Moses and against God," was "as it had been the face of an angel."
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" Our fathers," said Stephen,-" had the taber- nacle of witness in the wilderness, as God had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. Which also our fathers, that came after, brought in with Jesus [Joshua] into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; who found favor before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob .- But Solomon built him an house .- Howbeit, the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands, as saith the prophet, Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool ; what house will ye build me? saith the Lord : or what is the place of my rest ? Hath not my hand made all these things ?
If now we add what, perhaps, was omitted, in consequence of the tumult and fury of Stephen's accusers,-viz. " but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trem- bleth at my word,"-we may see that, in saying,- " God is a Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth,"-the Lord from heaven did but re-announce the doctrine of the passage cited from Isaiah. (Ch. lxvi : 1, 2.) And as the prophet was preeminently one of those, in whom was "the Spirit of Christ," the words which he uttered, as God's anticipating expostu- lation with carnally-minded worshippers in the second temple,-that in which Christ had appeared, and which he had called his " Father's house,"- we may regard the words spoken by the prophet as the words of Christ, when in the glory which he had with the Father before the world was.
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The doctrine of God's spirituality could not have been a new revelation or a new conception to those, who had been devoutly " waiting for the consolation of Israel." It could not have been un- known, or as a dead letter, to Isaiah, or to David, or to Moses, or to Abraham, or to Noah, or to Enoch, or to Abel.
Through the whole of the Old Testament, the running title on every page might be,-" God is a Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth." And where now can be found on earth, any purer or sublimer spiritual- ities of conception and adoration than, a thousand years before the Messiah's appearing, were pub- lished and sung in those unequalled songs of the tabernacle on Mount Zion! The gifted son of David must have often joined in these. And it may have been no unworthy or powerless element of his emotions, that his own royal father had in- dited such ennobling, such imperishable melodies of the city of God.
The fondly cherished desire of that father, it was the son's distinguished honor to fulfil, in the completion of such a sanctuary, as had never be- fore been seen among the chosen people. As a work of man it might claim to be the very highest achievement of the world's power of genius, taste and wealth. But its glory was in its purpose, as. a house of God. And reason enough there was, that from Carmel and the shores of the Great Sea,-from Lebanon, and the mountains of Gil-
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ead, far beyond the Jordan, towards the Eu- phrates,-the people should hasten to Jerusalem, in their goodliest apparel ;- with all the imposing splendors of their princes and the mighty men of war,-with priests and Levites, without number ; and with singers by many hundreds,-to be " ar- rayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalte- ries and harps,"-to participate with one heart and voice in the jubilant solemnities of the ap- pointed dedication.
" And king Solomon and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him before the ark, [which they had brought out from the taber- nacle, now superseded,] sacrificed sheep and oxen, which could not be told nor numbered for multi- tude. And the priests brought in the ark of the covenent of the Lord unto his place, to the oracle of the house, into the holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim. * * And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord ; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instru- ments of music, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth forever ; that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord; so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God."
At the sight, so unexpected and mysterious, the priests and the people would seem to have been profoundly moved; not knowing whether to inter-
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pret the darkness as a token of the Holy One's displeasure, or of his approbation and his paternal presence in covenant mercy. Not a few of the best instructed and the firmest, both in natural and spiritual fortitude, may have quaked, as did Moses, when the darkness and the rolling thun- ders of Sinai proclaimed both the majesty and the law of the living God to the amazed multi- tudes of Israel.
As if fully endowed for every emergency of the solemnities, Solomon was able to compose and re-assure those agitated hearts and trembling frames, throughout that vast assemblage. And may not the Searcher of hearts have seen, that there was need of the terrors of his Holiness and Almightiness, in just that place, and time, and mode of manifestation ? May there not have been among them far too little of reverence and godly fear, and far too much of the exhilarations and ecstasies of exultation and enthusiasm ?
At Mount Sinai, their fathers, who "saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking,-removed and stood afar off." Moses, although himself trembling, at once tranquillized their alarms. " Fear not; for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not."
" And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus shalt thou
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say unto the children of Israel ; Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice. thereon thy burnt-offerings and thy peace-offer- ings, thy sheep and thy oxen; IN ALL PLACES WHERE I RECORD MY NAME, I WILL COME UNTO THEE, AND I WILL BLESS THEE." (Ex. xx.)
The terror of the "darkness" was designed to produce that solemn awe and reverence, which the people of Israel and all others should feel, in their approach to God. But within "the cloud " in which "the glory of the Lord " miraculously " appeared," in all the journeyings of the wilder- ness, there was light for the upright, and joy and peace to the humble, the filial, and confiding.
When the tabernacle had been finished, Moses could not enter, " because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord," in the likeness of fire, or as an overpowing effulgence, "filled the taber- nacle." But wherever the tabernacle was, "the cloud," and " the glory "which broke forth out of ' the cloud," were the infallible tokens of the pe- culiar presence of Israel's covenant God. Of all this and of much more in the subsequent history, to which reference might be made, Solomon could not have been unaware.
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