USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newburyport > Origin and annals of "The Old south," First Presbyterian church and parish, in Newburyport, Mass., 1746-1896 > Part 7
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On behalf of the Church and Parish, the pastor, Rev. Dr. Hovey, accepted the beautiful gift in an ad- dress abounding in fervor and gratitude, as well as
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in admirable recognition of the merits of his pas- toral predecessors. His address was as follows:
DR. HOVEY'S RESPONSE.
Mr. George F. Stone :
It gives me great pleasure to greet you here, as our honored guest, and as the descendant of the first pastor of this venerable church, the Rev. Jonathan Parsons.
We are especially happy to accept from your hands the gift of yonder rich mural tablet, as another of the multiplied proofs of the generosity and public spirit of our friend and brother, John T. Brown, Esq. It would gratify me personally to tell you of some of the costly and substantial memorials he has placed to adorn our public buildings, avenues and cemeteries, but he him- self has expressly forbidden my doing so on this occasion. He has not told me, however, to conceal the fact that every time the tower clock of this meeting-house strikes the hours and half- hours, it reminds us of the liberality of the three sisters and brother of the late Mr. Albert Plumer, whose friend and adviser he has been amid their bereavement.
There is a propriety in duly acknowledging such tokens of the love our Lord himself plants in the hearts of his children ; because it serves to stimulate others to similar acts. You can see this today in the elaborate decorations so skillfully arranged around the church; these wreaths and garlands, flowers and mottoes, and this wonderful chain of one hundred and fifty links, binding the dates 1746 and 1896 together.
The tablet itself is a supremely beautiful and noble ornament of our sanctuary ; and a delightful thing about it is that before
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planning for what must represent a considerable cost, the donor, together with Miss Elizabeth C. Frost, another of our generous members, combined to wipe out the last dollar of debt resting on the parish. Thus we can look around us without the feeling that we are annoyed by any financial fetters.
Behold that magnificent marble slab with its letters of gold. The body of it is from sunny Italy, the home of the muses and the graces, as well as of the Mother Church with all its varied powers and influences. It proves that some good things can come, even from Rome; for doubtless that smooth, polished Italian marble passed through the ports of the Eternal City on its way hither. The border is of red Tennessee marble; from the home of the sturdy American highlanders, the mountain whites, descendants of the Scotch and Scotch-Irish. They stood loyally for Presbyterianism when it cost them much to do so; and loyally for the stars and stripes when environed by blazing rebellion.
The names of all the pastors for the one hundred and fifty years of our history are cut in old English letters, which besides being in excellent taste for an ecclesiastical memorial, will have the advantage of occupying the thoughts of people who find the sermons dull, as they sometimes do, and after studying them out they will enjoy the gratification of their triumph; or better still, they can meditate on the excellencies of the men who have served them faithfully.
Every one will ask why Whitefield's name is not there, as he was the recognized founder of this church ; and why the name of Rev. Joseph Adams is not there, who served here as "stated preacher" for three troublous years amid hardships and persecu- tion incident to the gathering of the society. The only reason
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is that these great and useful and honored men were not "pastors." Neither were others such whose temporary labors won friends and did great good to many souls. It is distinctly a list of the pastors of this church
Every one of those men had his imperfections as well as his good qualities, but the reason for according them the honor of that tablet is their official relation to this congregation.
There they stand: Parsons, the Puritan ; Murray, the ma- jestic ; Dana, the devout; Williams, the wise; Proudfit, the pious ; Stearns, the saintly ; Vermilye, the vigilant ; Richard- son, the righteous; Durfee, the diligent; Newell, the noble ; Wallace, the watchful; Sinclair, the sparkling ; and Hovey, the humble admirer of his predecessors! There are their names in letters of gold, with the scrolls aloft, emblems of the scroll of life eternal, and the ever burning golden torch between, as the ancient sign of immortality, the sacred flame that cannot be con- sumed or extinguished. And here, on my left, amid bowers of evergreens, are the cherished portraits of the pastors, in gather- ing which our ever thoughtful friend, Mr. Brown, took a great and active interest. Whitefield's portrait beyond the tablet is the only one in existence of life size, and is kindly loaned for the occasion from the Congregational Library in Boston.
I wonder if these holy men who are gone, leaving only Dr. Vermilye, Mr. Sinclair, and the speaker to survive, look down today from their heavenly home and take pleasure in these lov- ing tributes to their memory. I cannot help feeling that they do; "for are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them that shall be heirs of salvation ?"
I would not recklessly open anew the fountain of tears, but my memory brings back a dying chamber where many a prayer
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was offered to God in the fond belief that it was also heard somehow by a beloved one who seemed unconscious to all human appeals. She, too, has passed away ; and she too looks down today, well pleased with this offering in which she would gladly have shared had the Lord permitted her to tarry with us.
Years will roll away and we shall all depart. But that tablet will remain. if the Lord please, till another cycle shall be com- pleted ; and then perhaps some other generous man will think of us as we think kindly of those who now are numbered with the dead ; and another tablet will be placed, amid the ceremonies of the two hundredth anniversary, with its names in gold to match that which now is accepted as a tribute to the pastors of the Old South Church and of love to the goodly fellowship of the saints.
I hereby accept, through you and on behalf of the First Pres- byterian Church and Society, the mural tablet, the gift of Mr. John T. Brown, and express the unanimous and hearty thanks of the congregation.
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FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
GREETINGS FROM THE CHURCHES.
It is a matter of regret that we are only able to publish abstracts of the greetings brought to us from the " Mother Churches," but we can assure those who brought them that we appreciate every word spoken, and feel that the salutations are sincere and precious.
FROM THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWBURY,
BY THE PASTOR, REV. F. W. SANBORN.
It is a pleasure to us of the First Church in Newbury to unite with the rest in admiring the vigorous and beautiful old age to which your church organization has attained. There are no colors more delightful to the eye than those which the brush of time has placed upon the stone of which the old-world cathedrals are made. And there is no other beauty like that of old men and old women. We rejoice heartily in your prosperous old age.
We of the First Church in Newbury are also old. But we have a right to rejoice, not only in this characteristic which we have in common, but also in the relation which we had to your earliest years. The New England climate is hard and severe. and no one can say how much of the strength which you have shown in your maturity came of the faithful care of the mother church, which kept you warm in the cradle of a sturdier and
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more mature Congregationalism, until you were strong enough to go forth alone into the world.
But when you did go forth, how sturdily and successfully you did your part. We take pride in your prosperity, even when we have to admit that in some respects you are our superior, when we are forced to admit that your pulpit is far higher than ours and that our Calvinism would not for a moment endure comparison with yours.
We congratulate you on the arrival of this good day in your history.
FROM TIIE FIRST RELIGIOUS SOCIETY.
Rev. S. C. Beane, D. D., in behalf of the Third Church in Newbury, now the First Religious Society in Newburyport, gave the hearty greeting of that mother to this daughter. He briefly reviewed the controversy which resulted in the formation of the First Presbyterian Church, found much reason and good intention on both sides, and some things on each side to blame. He said:
To the Congregational ear of Puritan New England, " Pres- byterianism" was a dreaded word. North Essex. too, had al- ways been Arminian in its tendencies, and now under White- field and his associates came a Calvinistic reaction. The First and Third Newbury Churches had legal parish rights and duties which almost compelled them to hold on to their members who wished to break away. But by this contest religious liberty was put to a necessary test, and no event in New England history
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helped more in the end to secure universal toleration than this sharp issue waged so determinedly on both sides in Newbury- port. The ground of the old controversy no longer exists. Probably today no person lives in Newburyport whose theology would have admitted him to the First Presbyterian Church at its beginning ; we have all gone astray, nay, rather let us believe, have all progressed, and a larger Christian fellowship is taking the place of the old theological warfares. For centuries to come, unless God shall have for us some better thing, may you in your way, and we in our way, serve the Kingdom of heaven together, though with outward and theological differ- ence, till you by your light and experience, and we by our light and experience, shall have made our full contributions to the good time coming, sharing always in a holy rivalry to fulfil the Master's dying prayer " That they all may be one."
FROM THE OLD CHURCH OF LONDONDERRY,
Whose historical antecedents justify our styling it the oldest Presbyterian Church in New England, greetings were brought by their genial and beloved pastor, Rev. S. F. French. in the following words:
Mr. Chairman, and Brethren :
You have kindly welcomed me as from the Granite state. It so happens that the Presbyterian church of Londonderry, N. H., which I, as settled pastor, have the honor to represent, is the oldest church in the Presbytery of Boston, having been formed in 1735, a hundred and sixty-one years ago.
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The settlers of that township were of Scotch ancestry, coming to this country from the north of Ireland. They were a sturdy, intelligent, religious race. They brought their Bible, their Sab- bath, their church, their religion with them. Their first religious service was in the open air under the wide spreading oak with a huge rock for pulpit.
From them have sprung a numerous people who migrated to the north and west, even to remote parts of the land. These descendants have proved themselves the bone and sinew of the church everywhere.
While there have been many swarms from the old hive, this ancient church is possessed of much strength still. Its house of worship, for comfort, beauty and refined taste is surpassed by few, if any, in the larger settlements, and the worshippers greatly revere the God and church of their fathers.
It gives me great pleasure to bring the Christian salutation of this time honored church to the First Presbyterian church of Newburyport, whose one hundred and fiftieth anniversary is now being celebrated. In the currents of trade between the sea board and the interior, in former times more than recently per- haps, the people of these churches have been closely related. A former pastor of this First Presbyterian church, Rev. Daniel Dana, D. D., was at one time pastor of the Londonderry church, and the blind preacher Rev. Joseph Prince, whose bones lie be- neath this pulpit with those of the immortal Parsons and White- field, was once pastor for several years in the near vicinity of Londonderry. As the waters of the ocean ascending in vapor rise to the hills and descending float in abundant streams to old ocean again, so may the blessings of Divine grace continue to fructify these churches and make them an honor in the kingdom of our God forever.
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FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
Although the greetings from the "Daughter Churches" came in on the second day, by the ar- rangement of the program, it seems more natural to print them here.
FROM THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
The first of these was a hearty salutation from the Second Presbyterian Church, now known as "The Church of Our Fathers." The pleasant message was brought by the pastor, the Rev. T. James Mac- faddin, and was as follows:
To the pastor, officers and members of the First Presby- terian Church :
DEARLY BELOVED :- It affords me great pleasure to stand here today as the representative and bearer of Christian greeting from a church whose government and principles are akin to your own ; the Church of Our Fathers, the Second Presbyterian Society, Newburyport.
Today you commemorate your one hundred and fiftieth birth- day and in a few short months we shall commemorate our one hundred and first of our organization, and our century since we first entered our present church home, which today stands, with the exceptions of the pews, pulpit and position, just as it did when our fathers first received it from the hands of its builders, one hundred years ago; being but ten years younger than the famous old church at Rocky Hill. With your church we stand related as mother and daughter, for the sin of our sep-
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aration from you we have fully atoned. That man of God, Dr. Dana, whom we most religiously hated. we afterwards intensely loved. We buried him from our church.
It does me good to stand here, under the roof of this old church that has stood as a monitor of the Most High God, a faith- ful witness to His truth for fifteen decades, its spire pointing heavenward, its gilded peak illumined by the sun, giving to the weary and heavy laden of earth a shimmering of the glory of Him, the Great Priest who has passed into the heavens.
It does me good to stand here as an American, for right be- fore me, I am told, are the aisles once well filled by heroes called from their devotions by the clashing of arms in that terrible struggle for what is more than life, liberty.
It does me good to stand here today and think of those brave sailors who went down to sea in ships. God bless the sailor.
Might not this be called a sailors' church? When I think of the many who called this old church their home and left it to do business on the great waters, many who first shipped before the mast, and afterwards by hard toil, and fidelity became comman- ders, as brave a set of men as ever trod a deck or in war fought a ship or in peace a storm, have I not good cause for gladness ? When I think of the many noble men of God who have stood in that pulpit and made these old walls resound with their messages of love from the Prince of Peace, am I not reminded of the glory of their Master, yours and mine ?
The Holy Ghost has written, that Christ's glory lies in " His brethren, the messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ." When I think of him, over whose remains I am standing, George Whitefield, letting his labors of love pass before me, thinking of his intrepidity in facing section after section of this land which
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seemed hide-bound by religiousness perishing for true, pure re- ligion, how earnestly he preached in spite of protest from clergy and people, " Salvation by God's grace through the faith of Jesus Christ, alone," I feel like the wilting grass and flowers that have just been watered by the summer shower, invigorated, encouraged to stand fast, preaching the same old gospel, " Waiting in that blessed hope the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
When I think of your record as a church that, during the many long months you have stood, you have averaged one soul a month for Christ, this fact alone should be enough to inspire my mission to you this day. As a sister church we greet you, and pray that, when the last moment of the centuries of time shall have ended, when time shall be no more, when the sea and death and hades give up their dead, that you and yours with mine shall appear before the righteous Judge of both heaven and earth as pure. as innocent, as lovely and as fragrant as those flowers ap- pear to us this day.
FROM THE FOURTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
BY THE PASTOR, REV. MYRON O. PATTON.
Mr. Chairman, and Members of the Old South Church :
The members of the Fourth Religious Society bring you greeting upon this, the happy occasion of your 150th anniversary. One hundred and fifty years old ! It seems a long time, and yet, as our beloved brother, Dr. Fiske. told us yesterday, *meas- ured by a life spanning more than half that time it does not seem so very long."
Nearly a half century of this time had passed away when the daughter who now greets you was born. One hundred and
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three years have we cultivated our garden plot almost under the shadow of your towering spire. What changes have come to us both. Changes for the better we hope.
When we were born you were a stately matron of forty- seven. Doubtless you seemed to us then quite well along in vears. Today a century and more has passed and we seem almost as venerable as yourself. Indeed, so far as outward ap- pearance is concerned, we should be judged your senior. Yet are you richer by nearly half a century of experience than are we ; therefore it is fitting that we congratulate you, at this time, not only upon the attainment of so venerable an age, but es- pecially upon your youthful appearance and manifest smartness in spite of your years. Your youthful looks and activity speak well for you. They tell us that in spite of advancing age you have kept the heart young and fresh. You have apparently solved the mystery of the heavenly alchemy whereby it is made possible to transmute advancing age into perpetual youth.
We congratulate you also on the possession of a good name kept untarnished through these years. Some things improve with age. An honored name is one of them.
We congratulate you again upon so glorious a record of noble deeds. The years that reach back to your birth are freighted with the good deeds you have done. Yet not all the good you have done has become history. No mere history of those years can tell the life story of this or any other church.
Once more we wish to congratulate you upon your orthodoxy. To place the name "Presbyterian" over the door of a church is but another way of saying, "We are orthodox."
Dear mother, we are proud of you. Proud because you are our mother : proud, because of your achievements.
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For all this and much more, of which we cannot now speak, we bring our greetings and congratulations. May you live to round out another 150 years as useful as the past have been, is the prayer of the membership of the Fourth Religious Society, your daughter. In the words of your present and honored pas- tor, on the occasion of our own anniversary, let me close : "Our churches have had a blended history in the past, let them be blended still more closely in the future."
FROM THE WHITEFIELD CONGREGATIONAL CHUCRH.
BY THE PASTOR. REV. JOHN H. REID.
Mr. Chairman, Members and Friends of the Old South Church :
I bring to you on this, your one hundred and fiftieth anniver- sary, the greetings and congratulations of your youngest daughter, the Whitefield church. As I look over this congregation I see a large number of my own people, which testifies to the deep in- terest we have in this celebration, and I am sure that if our eyes were opened, as were the eyes of the young man, the companion of Elisha, we would see hovering near many a Whitefield saint who has passed within the veil. It is said that " the first right of a child is to be born well."
This certainly was our privilege. I believe in blood and am sure the Congregational-Presbyterian blood that flows in our veins is the very best to make good Christians. I will not say that God sifted the Old South Church to give birth to her youngest daughter, for only a handful came out, but the men who founded the Whitefield church were nur- tured by their mother in deep piety and were cedars in Lebanon. In a word we congratulate you upon the prophetic character of
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the men who, during all these one hundred and fifty years, have stood in this pulpit and broken the truth to young and old who have met here for worship. They were men who daily talked with God on the Mount, so that Sunday morning when they came before the people their faces shone with a divine illumina- tion and the people listened as for life or death. They were men of intense religious patriotism, and as God's watchmen were faithful to their trust. They did not pass lightly over the sins of their day, but spoke the truth, whether men would hear or forbear. We congratulate you upon the historic character of this church. There are churches older, but we live in deeds not years, and I am sure there are few about which cluster the mem- ory and association of so many great events. Yours is a noble history and we are very proud of our mother, the Old South Church.
FROM THE NORTH CHURCH.
The North Congregational Church, though neither our "mother " nor "daughter," has always been " as a sister to us," and its pastor, the Rev. Charles P. Mills, spoke for it, but more especially, and by request of our own Christian Endeavor Society, on behalf of that organization at large. His remarks were as fol- lows:
We bring greeting and congratulation to this fortunate pastor who heads this goodly company and general assembly of happy, rejoicing people. When you taste him, he has the flavor, and when he touches you he burns with the fervor of youth.
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We rejoice with the Christian Endeavor Society because unto it has been given by Divine Providence to perform a most signal event that seems to harmonize very fittingly with the striking origin of this church.
You are the fruit of the labors of George Whitefield, a pioneer from across the sea, and you have been a church of sea captains. What appeal it makes to the imagination and how the fitness of things appears when we reflect that it was a son of a sea captain, George R. Colby, a former president of your Christian Endeavor Society, who, sailing in the " H. G. Johnson " commanded by his father to Australia, imparted to G. H. Buzacott in Brisbane the first knowledge of the Christian Endeavor Society that was received in that island continent beneath the Southern Cross, where it has met with a favor and developed with a force not ex- ceeded even in the land of its birth. As ye have been planted, so ye have sown, and even more bountifully.
We bring greeting to the Christian Endeavorers in this church because you are the promise and potency of the future. The sons and daughters prophesy, and the young men see visions, and the old men given up to reminiscences yet dream dreams of the good and glory to come through you.
The young people who have received the heritage of the past have also had placed in their hands the keys of the future, and we bid you today to open the golden gates that the King of Glory may come into this church through your radiant and prophetic lives.
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FROM THE Y. M. C. A.,
BY THE GENERAL SECRETARY, WINFIELD P. PORTER.
Mr. Chairman, Members and Friends of the Old South Church :
I have been trying to grasp something of the meaning of one hundred and fifty years, all the activities and joys and sorrows of a single day multiplied by one hundred and fifty times three hundred and sixty five.
I love to think of the Old South Church, organized for one hundred and fifty years, and of its church building, standing for one hundred and forty years like a sentinel watching against the encroachment of the foe, like a fortress whose walls have beaten back the tides of sin and wretchedness. I love to think of the scores and hundreds who have entered these doors with bur- dened hearts and fading hopes, who have gone out filled with hope and burdens lightened after listening to the cheering words which have fallen from this Old South pulpit, as its ministers have spoken forth the wonderful truths that cluster so thickly around the old, old story.
I rejoice to stand here today, and esteem it a privilege to ex- tend to you greetings from the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion. I have been pleased this very day, in looking over the Association records, to find, under the date of April 20, 1875, the name of Rev. W. W. Newell, who served you as pastor from 1874 to 18So. I have also been highly gratified to learn that he always took a deep and active interest in the Association, and in all matters pertaining to the welfare of young men.
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