USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Memorial volume by the Essex street church and society, Boston, to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the installation of their pastor, Nehemiah Adams, D.D > Part 3
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REMARKS BY THE PASTOR.
little, in the peace and prosperity which have attended us, to the circumstance, that our House of Worship has been in a measure sequestered. It has not been on the great thorough- fares of travel, and it has not been a matter of course that people should come to this place of worship. But, being a little removed from those thoroughfares, people have come here under the influence of affinities, and we have pursued our way without any interruption of harmony from the first.
I felt that it would not be suitable for me to say anything here to-night, and I was about to excuse myself; but I wish here to bear testimony to the uninterrupted kindness which I have experienced from this people, and which, to-day, has made me the recipient of blessings to which they have too much delicacy to refer, - and I have never known which to admire most, the generosity or the delicacy of this people, - blessings which, to-day, have confirmed by practical proof that which the twenty-third Psalm tells me, - " I shall not want." I forbear to say anything more about it ; but I live among my own people, and I have a record in my memory of their goodness to me.
In conclusion, I have only to say that I have been re- minded sometimes, when thinking of what has been called the retrogradation of stars, - some of whom never depart many degrees from the sun, but go down and then go back, - how happy it would be if we could all make that the em- blem of our lives as Ministers of the Gospel ; and, when we have gone down to a certain place, could rise again by retro- gradation, so as never to be out of the Presence of the Great Luminary, that we might receive from Him the light which we desire to bestow upon others.
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MEMORIAL VOLUME.
As I have spent the morning of a happy life with you, I shall be most happy, if it be agreeable to you, to spend the afternoon, - naturally having the desire, peculiar to old men, that I shall be allowed to go home before dark. I hope I may be so happy as to meet a multitude of this people gathered together who shall have been saved by my instru- mentality, under God, so many of whom, thanks to His grace, now cast their erowns at his feet. Let me supplicate for each of us, my beloved brethren in the sacred office and pastoral life, a fulfilment in us of that inspired description of one who was an under-shepherd of God's Israel : - " So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands."
Prayer was then offered by Reverend GEORGE W. BLAGDEN, D.D., of Boston.
The Benediction was pronounced by Reverend JOHN A. ALBRO, D.D., of Cambridge.
The Congregation were then invited to repair to the Lecture Room, where a Collation was in readiness. A blessing was invoked by Reverend JOHN C. STOCKBRIDGE, D.D., of the Charles Street Baptist Church. The social reunion here was highly gratifying to the numerous friends who were present.
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ADDRESS BY DEACON ROGERS.
Great credit is due to the Marshals and Ushers, by whose skilful arrangements and services the whole occa- sion proceeded with unexceptionable order, and to the great comfort and gratification of all concerned.
The Musical Services were conducted by EDWARD HAMILTON, Esquire, of Worcester, Chorister of the So- ciety ; by whom, also, the pieces were adapted and prepared for chanting.
On Tuesday afternoon, (the twenty-ninth,) the Church held another Conference Meeting in the Lecture Room, where the past and present Members of the Church made remarks, suggested by the great goodness of God in our past history, and encouraging and strengthening one another in their faith and hope.
As this was the closing publie meeting of the Anni- versary occasion, the past Members of the Church were addressed as follows by Deacon GEORGE ROGERS :
DEARLY BELOVED BRETHREN AND SISTERS :
With all our hearts we have welcomed you to our homes, and to the Church of our best love ; to many of us the place of our spiritual birth, and to all the means of our growth in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, through its appointed ministrations and ordi- nances, and also the scene of our most sacred and endeared associations. It has been a most blessed and happy reunion to both Pastor and People of Union Church. Solemn in- deed has been the thought that nearly thirty-seven years
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MEMORIAL VOLUME.
have passed since its first organization, and twenty-five years since the Settlement of our present beloved Pastor, whose Anniversary occasions this reassembling. Yet we rejoice, because of these rich and abundant fruits of blessing.
We have, together, exchanged our congratulations ; to- gether have we bowed in prayer and praise to God our Saviour ; together have we recounted our joys and griefs ; together have we wept and rejoiced, in calling up the remin- iscences of the past ; and have almost, as if in rapt vision, seen hovering over us the spirits of our departed loved ones, - Pastor, Deacons, Husbands, Wives, Brothers and Sisters, Fathers, Mothers, Sons and Daughters, - among them, here and there, an infant " AGNES," but with no coffin " Key," -alike mingling in these sacred scenes and hal- lowed remembrances.
Together also, again and again since our coming together, have we worshipped within these consecrated walls on the Sabbath ; heard with rapt attention and swelling emotions the words of truth and grace. in sweet and touching tones and looks, from the lips of our dear Pastor ; witnessed the simple and beautiful rite of Infant Baptism ; received a new accession of brethren and sisters to membership in the Church ; then communed with each other and our blessed Lord and Master at His own Table, in celebration of His Supper ; and, lastly, we have beheld with admiring gratitude that large and intelligent audience of mental and moral worth, in the persons of Christian Pastors, Laymen, and friends assembled together, out of respect to the Pastor, at the commemorative exercises, listening with gratified delight and approval to the just and merited tributes of honor and
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ADDRESS BY DEACON ROGERS.
affection paid to him by the orators of the occasion, in tones and strains almost as tender and eloquent as
" Zion heard, When on his golden harp her Royal bard Waked to a glow devotion's dying flames."
And now, having once more mingled together our voices in prayer and hymns of praise, - listened to each other as we have given utterance to the emotions of our souls, - it is to me a delightful duty, in parting, to express to you, dear brethren and sisters, the sincere affection of our hearts, and the great happiness which this reunion has occasioned. Your faces have been to us a benediction ; your cordial grasp of our hands, your smiles and tears and joys, have found an equally cordial response on our part. We thank you for your prayers for us and our dear ones, at our fire- sides where we have so lovingly knelt together. We have rejoiced to know that you still remember " Union Church ;" you love her gates, her Pastor, her Doctrines, her Ordi- nances, and her ways ; you still hold fast " to the faith once delivered to the saints," and glory in nothing " save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." And we thank you for all those testimonials of attachment and kindness, to the Church and its Pastor, which your presence here at our invitation has evinced.
Take with you, then, dearly beloved, to your respective places of abode and the Churches of your present connec- tion, the assurances that we love you still; that we are all one with you in Christ Jesus. Our prayers accompany you, that solid and unalloyed domestic and social enjoyments may
MEMORIAL VOLUME.
ever be yours ; that your dear children may all be gathered speedily into the fold of the Good Shepherd ; that God may honor you with greatly increased fidelity and usefulness in his service ; that you, we, and all dear to us as our own souls, may at last meet in the Kingdom of Heaven, welcomed by the Saviour himself. Beloved in the Lord ! The night is far spent ! The day is at hand ! The morning light of the new Heavens and Earth, wherein dwelleth Righteous- ness, will soon break upon our glad vision ! And, in antici- pation of it, let me say, - not Farewell ! but Good morn- ing !
In the evening of Tuesday, the Pastor received his Parishioners and former Members of the Church and Society at his house, where a season of social intercourse was enjoyed not soon to be forgotten. Aged Members of the Society, and invalids, who could not attend in the evening, were brought to the Pastor's house in the after- noon. The ages of five female members of the Church then present amounted to four hundred and seventeen years.
Notice was taken, at the gathering in the evening, of an appropriate token of regard made by the Young Men to Mr. PRESCOTT FISK, who has served the Society faith- fully and acceptably as Sexton for nearly twenty-five years.
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MEETING AT THE PASTOR'S HOUSE.
Mrs. ANN BURKE, of Cambridge, the only represen- tative present of her grandfather, Deacon Nathan Parker, the first Deacon of the Church, and Mrs. DEBORAH HOWE, the only surviving Member of the original company of Church Members who first wor- shipped in the Essex Street Meeting House, were intro- duced by the Pastor.
This meeting under the Pastor's roof very appropri- ately concluded all the services held on this interesting and long to be remembered Anniversary. We have great cause for gratitude to God that He has permitted us to mingle in such scenes as these ; and we humbly beseech Him, for His mercies' sake in Jesus Christ, to accept our humble efforts to honor Him and the ministry which he has established for our salvation.
The foregoing was prepared by a Committee, at the direction of the Church, as a Minute to be entered on its Records.
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arrespondeuer.
CORRESPONDENCE.
THE Committee having in charge the preparation and printing of this Volume deem it proper to state, that the arrangement and printing of all its parts have been wholly under their direction, and that they have felt constrained to overrule the objections made by the Pastor to the printing of extracts from certain let- ters received by them, and a few by him, in reply to invitations. It will be borne in mind that this Volume is not published ; it being for the use of the Society, and not for general circulation. We have felt that we and our children, and our successors in this Church and Society, have a claim to know and possess these kind and generous utterances of our contemporaries. The writers will excuse any seeming liberty which we have taken with their letters, when they know that copies of
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MEMORIAL VOLUME.
them are merely multiplied by the press for the eyes of those who will most fully appreciate and cherish their acceptable words.
We will furthermore state, that some of the minute- ness with which we describe our doings in this Com- memoration, is from a desire to perpetuate, in our rec- ollections, even the subordinate things in an occasion which was, in every way, successful, and the source of hallowed pleasure.
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS,
IN REPLY TO INVITATIONS, ETC.
-
From Joel Hawes, D.D., Hartford, Conn.
" Many pleasant remembrances of the Church and of the Pastor certainly engage me to be present on the occasion ; were it not," &c.
" It seems but yesterday that I assisted in the Installation of your Pastor, by preaching the Sermon on that occasion. What changes ! Your beloved Pastor can recall many more, relating to himself and the Church he has so long and so usefully served. My dear Brother GREEN, whom I loved with warm affection, your first Minister, he has gone to heaven I cannot doubt, and many loved Members of his Church, some of whom I personally knew and greatly esteemed."
From Brown Emerson, D.D., Salem.
" Your kind invitation suggests many pleasant reminis- cences in relation to yourself and your beloved parents. The Lord, I doubt not, will enable you to bear with Chris- tian humility the expressions of love and praise which will be poured upon you."
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MEMORIAL VOLUME.
From R. S. Storrs, D.D., Braintree.
" May the same Spirit watch over you and preserve you in the same happy relations for more than twenty-five years to come, and crown your glorious ministry with ever-swelling triumphs of grace, to the conversion of thousands, who shall be your crown and your joy for ever in the Heavenly King- dom.
" My pen is blunt and my thought obscure, but a heart as warm as flows in any bosom of those around you nestles within and pours forth the prayer, - Lord ! bless the Pastor and the Flock of Essex Street in their mutual loves and labors, henceforth and forever."
From Enoch Pond, D.D., Bangor, Me.
"Our intercourse, during the early years of your ministry, was intimate, and to me exceedingly pleasant. I remember those Cambridge interviews with great satisfaction. I rejoice in your great usefulness, not only in Boston, but, by your publications, throughout the country."
From John Nelson, D.D., Leicester.
" My great respect for Doctor Adams, my interest in the Essex Street Church, and the uncommon attractions which the occasion promises, all conspire to make it a peculiarly hard piece of self-denial to decline the invitation. My hope and prayer is, that Doctor Adams, who has been continued in the Essex Street Church for a quarter of a century, rendering such eminent services not only to this Church but to the community at large, by his Christian deportment.
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his scholarship, and his ability as a preacher and a writer, may long be continued in the same sphere of usefulness, and that the light reflected by him from the Sun of Right- eousness, may shine still more broadly and brightly."
From Hon. Samuel Farrar, Andover.
" GENTLEMEN :
ANDOVER, March 19, 1859.
" I have received, with great gratification, your invitation to participate in the Commemorative Anniversary of the settlement of the Reverend Doctor Adams as the Pastor of the Essex Street Church. I have great respect for your worthy Pastor. I do not know how much influence for good it might have had upon our Theological Seminary if he had not declined the appointment to the Bartlett Pro- fessorship of Sacred Rhetoric, to which he was elected by the Trustees in 1835. The infirmities of age, now in my eighty-sixth year, must forbid my complying with your very kind invitation. With great respeet,
" Your friend and obedient servant,
" SAMUEL FARRAR."
From Richard H. Dana, Senior, Esquire, Boston.
" It is pleasant to be remembered on such an occasion as the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of your Settlement. It takes me back to the years before that, when I went to Salem to call you to Cambridge. Then came our sociable drive to Andover, and Professor Stuart with his bowl of bread and milk, he professing to eat no meat, yet, every now and then, filching bits from the broad dish ; next, the Ordination, and my Hymn, which the press criticised for my use of the word
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' Trine,' but for which there is enough authority ; and there were also your Andover and Cambridge Hymns, and the laying of the corner-stone, of a fair morning, which seems to be breaking upon me now, with Mr. Nathaniel Mun- roe's touching voice going up skyward through the leaved branches, and Deacon Hilliard, who fought the battle like a humble Christian and stout man, and our good friend -, who would so often complain of the devil's tying him down in his chair when he should be up and at meeting, - which I never thought quite fair to lay upon the arch enemy, for you know that our friend had a heavy, sluggish frame, - but he was, doubtless, a sincere, humble, and tender Chris- tian. Perhaps many of these words may seem light for the occasion ; yet light words, you know, do not always come of light spirits, but rather are often the merry children of sad parents. You, while you may remember many short comings, have much to comfort you, in that, with God's grace helping, you have so labored and not in vain. My dear sir, if I ever set foot upon a platform, never should I more gladly do it than in an instance which concerns you so nearly. You will say to yourself, ' Well, it would be grati- fying to me to see his face there ; but it is just like him to keep away from such public meetings, and I know that he cares none the less for me though he is not coming now.'"
From Mark Tucker, D.D., Vernon, Conn.
" May your example of stability and earnestness be blessed to both ministers and people throughout the country. Allow me to present the following sentiment : 'The Essex Street Church, with its esteemed Pastor,-a tower of strength,
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a pyramid of light, a stable pillar of the Truth, - may they long stand together in the strength of God, and let their light shine and prove steadfast amidst abounding errors.'"
From Ralph Emerson, D.D., Newburyport.
"I know of no one whose jubilee I should more rejoice to attend than this of Doctor Adams. May he be spared in his usefulness among you to witness the more emphatic jubilee of half a century."
From L. F. Dimmick, D.D., Newburyport.
" My cordial congratulations that the Essex Street Church and Society have been permitted, for a quarter of a century, to enjoy the labors of so eminent and excellent a Pastor ; and my congratulations to him, also, that he has been ena- bled to occupy his elevated station with so much credit to himself and so much usefulness to others."
From John Todd, D.D., Pittsfield.
" I hardly know of an occasion or a man whom I would take more pains to honor. It is said that, just before his death, Chancellor Kent said to his minister, the late Doctor Erskine Mason, that when he met with a minister who, in these days, could stay in the same place and occupy the same pulpit ten years, he was willing to take off his hat to him. The Chancellor would have to take off his hat two or three times to your minister, before he had met his own sense of propriety. There are no men who are perfect; very few that are admirable. I have never had the grace of humility sufficient to imitate any man, but if ever I obtain enough
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for the purpose, I know of no one whom I should be more likely to copy than Doctor Adams; for a star that can shine, year after year, unchanged and undimmed, only grow- ing brighter and brighter, must be able to lead wiser men than I am to the place where the child Jesus is."
From Right Reverend Manton Eastburn, D.D., Boston.
" I fear that my engagements may deprive me of the pleasure of being present on this occasion, so solemn and interesting. If you will not consider me as taking too great a liberty, I will ask permission to take this opportunity of saying how much profit as well as pleasure I have derived from the occasional opportunities of intercourse with you which I have been permitted to enjoy ; and how much satis- faction I have long felt in the fact that your able ministry in this city is one that uniformly presents the Lord Jesus, and adheres firmly, in a time-serving age, to those Scrip- tural truths, the preaching of which can alone secure the Spirit's blessing, and the reception of which in the heart is the only hope of man."
From Samuel Barrett, D.D., Boston.
" I was greatly pleased, and felt truly grateful, when I received your kind note inviting me to be present, this evening, at your twenty-fifth commemorative anniversary ; and till this morning I have been thinking of the pleasure I should have in being with you. The allusion in your note to the comparative length of my ministry induced me to ascertain how I stand related, in this respect, to my breth- ren ; and I have found, to my surprise, that, of all the
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settled clergymen in this city, (considerably more than one hundred,) no one has been for so many years as myself the sole pastor of a single parish."
From E. S. Gannett, D.D., Boston.
" My first thought on reading your note was, - why, certainly I shall go, and thank them with all my heart for inviting me; my second thought was, to answer the note at once. Something, however, prevented, and then I let my engagements, which were more than usual last week, take precedence of an acknowledgment that ought to have been made without delay. Will you accept this as the explanation of my silence, and as the only apology I can offer? And will you let me assure you that I shall attend this evening with the greatest pleasure, not 'as a senior pastor,' but as one who entertains feelings of sincere respect and regard for him whose anniversary will be commemo- rated. Difference of theological opinion has only given me the better opportunity to observe the integrity of his course and the genuineness of his faith, and no one who shall be there this evening will give more hearty consent to his professional and personal worth."
From G. W. Blagden, D.D., Boston.
" MY DEAR BROTHER :
" I also still feel the pressure of the Right Hand of Fel- lowship you gave me on the third of November, 1830, of which our old friend Doctor Beecher said, 'there never would be such another ;' and I shall be happy in uniting with you and your friends in the interesting ceremonies."
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MEMORIAL VOLUME.
From E. N. Kirk, D.D., Boston.
" DEAR BROTHER ADAMS :
" Receive my fraternal congratulations on this semi-jubi- latic Anniversary of your Pastorate. I fully expected to be with you last evening, and utter a word to swell the stream of kind feeling and of thanksgiving. But I had gone from a sick chamber to the pulpit on Sunday. The features of your ministry, which my feelings would have led me to make prominent, are the Scriptural character of your preach- ing ; your bold, uncompromising, prominent presentation of the fundamental doctrines ; the deeply-tender, evangelical, and practical tone of all your ministrations. There is a broad, deep line of demarcation between two styles of min- istry, which, I fear, have not sufficiently attracted the notice of teachers in our schools of theological science. Some preachers aim to get religious truth into the soul through the avenue of Demonstration. The unobserved influence of their instructions is, to give their hearers unlimited con- fidence in their own reason as the medium of learning relig- ion. The other class of preachers have become like little children, in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Their motto is : 'I have believed, therefore have I spoken.' They have obtained all they know, not by speculation nor reason- ing, but by believing. Their preaching nourishes faith. I thank God that you, my dear brother, are on this side of that great line.
" Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.
" Yours, in sweet union of Christian fellowship," &c.
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CORRESPONDENCE.
From Rev. H. M. Dexter, Boston.
" MY DEAR BROTHER :
" I so much regretted that the crowd last night prevented me from taking you by the hand to express to you my cor- dial interest in the scene, and my joy that one of our Pastors in Boston should be honored so deservedly for long and faith- ful service, that I cannot resist the impulse which I feel this morning to say thus much in this manner.
" Perhaps one situated as I am - in parochial circum- stances wisely ordered by God's Providence to be very differ- ent from your own - has some keener appreciation of the joy and beauty of a thriving, prosperous, and united Church, passing ou from decade to decade under the loved leader- ship of one honored Shepherd, than may naturally belong to those who have their perceptions less vivified by contrast. At any rate, I felt a special gladness last night for you, which would have found utterance from my lips if I could have reached your immediate presence. However much we may have differed, or may differ still upon questions that are collateral to our work, I should be doing violent injustice to the truth if I withheld from you the expression of my sym- pathy in your rejoicing, and of my heartfelt prayer that your people may enjoy your ministrations through a period which shall bring them and you to a ' Golden Wedding,' that shall only prelude, in its sweetness, the comfort of an eternal union before the throne of God and the Lamb.
" Your unworthy, yet affectionate brother," &c.
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MEMORIAL VOLUME.
From Rev. A. C. Thompson, Roxbury.
" DEAR BROTHER ADAMS :
" I give you joy to-day, - the twenty-fifth anniversary of your present pastorate. What tender and hallowed remi- niscences are thronging upon your memory - reminiscences of parishioners now in heaven, of scenes in the sick room and the house of affliction ; reminiscences of revivals, of sacramental joys, and of high delight in preaching Christ and him crucified. I have associated with you what Cran- mer said of a minister whom he knew, 'Nihil appetit, nihil ardet, nihil somniat, nisi Jesum Christum ; and I cannot be mistaken in supposing that your chief joy to-day, in the retrospect of a quarter of a century, arises from having been an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ to the people of the Essex Street Church and Congregation.
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