USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Woburn > Proceedings 1892 at the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Woburn, Massachusetts > Part 5
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The ten minutes assigned me would hardly afford the lightest possible touch upon the two and a half centuries that are gone. Nor is anything more needed after the luminous and vivid pres- entations of both the morning and this evening, save only to bring one more glad witness to the blessings of the present derived from our long and precious past.
There is an old adage from another language of which this is the substance : "It is the end that proves the quality of actions." Seldom is a better illustration given of this truth than we have here to-day, in the motive for these lighted churches, these
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crowded and eager assemblages, and all the enthusiasm of this gala week.
Your well ordered town, your prosperous city, your schools, your wide-reaching business, your abounding comforts, your works of charity and religion, your present possessions, your unfading hopes, are the proofs of how good were your well- founded beginnings.
Perhaps the very first impression of one who looks out on what is, and remembers what was, would be the striking outward difference. Certainly, all without is widely unlike. Suppose we ask those seven stalwart men who hewed their way hither through the forest, as was shown us in the picturesque description of this morning : -
" Come up, ye venerable men, from your dust, or rather descend from your heights, and tell us what think you of all this ? "
They might reply : " It does look strange and bewildering ; we would very well like to have been able to glide along as easily and swiftly as you seem to do on your novel iron roads, instead of toiling on by our slow journey. But really, we are somewhat con- fused ; we don't quite comprehend those noisy construction and repairing works for which some of your railroads would seem to suppose the Rest Day of the Sabbath was made ! Nor quite how it is you stretch your 'works of necessity and mercy ' into those long and frequent Sunday excursion trains that thunder by your churches !"
Many another hint they would give us. A great deal would be singular. The aspect of nature itself would be new. But they would tell us, and we know, that while the outward alters, the foun- dation principles on which they took their stand are changeless. The surface of the lands, the edifices, and occupations, and ap- pearances, - how diverse ! But their faith and truth, their deep sense of duty, and of a present Divinity, their love and hope, - may not all these be ours, too? It is the external that moves ; the "Secret of the Lord," the Bread of Life, the vision of the soul's " single eye," the aspirations they cherished and have now found fulfilled, - all these the two centuries and a half neither crumble nor fade. It is the glory of your founders to have taught us to detect this inner and quenchless life of man, through all their rude surroundings.
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Do they not also assist us to discern the ground and hope of what has been called The solidarity of mankind ? They point us where the unity of the race can be reached. They began by form- ing a church. The church is a brotherhood. We can little ap- preciate how close the bonds by which they were forced and welded together, who had together cast all their fortunes into a wilderness such as this was. "Brethren" was no idle name. Poverty, loneliness, distance from the old home and the familiar scenes, united with the sympathy of prayer, and of trust, and of a common aim, and of an eternal fellowship, to blend and to bind them into one. They found the links of that chain by which alone the jarring interests of separate communities, and compa- nies, and individuals may be reconciled, and all be molded into unison. It will have to be, at last, not the schemes of a falla- cious and chimerical social revolution, but the brotherhood of man in one family of the One Father. Christian brotherhood is the unity of man. And now, my one remaining thought is that these Godfearing fathers teach us, by their example, to make a reality of our religion. Whatever they did not have or do, God, and heaven, and duty, and temptation, and redemption meant something for them. Their heritage to their descendants of the centuries is their counsel and their example to us to make these things real. We believe them, but how often they slip away ! Cares and a flashing spectacle of the world that glitters in its phantasms before our blinded eyes, cause us to forget them. Sorrows dim our sight, and we discern not through our tears the eternal. But this it seems to me we may read in all these gar- lands on your gallery encircling the names of men who for two hundred and fifty years have preached to you the glad tidings ; this, in every waving banner and gay decoration that emblazons your city this week ; this, in all your joyous celebration, -- that you have had fathers and founders who believed the true, who beheld the invisible, who stood on the real.
May the blessings that upheld the fathers abide with the children.
Rev. Stephen R. Dennen, D. D., of Newton, was presented as one who occupied the unique dual
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Dea. OLIVER F. BRYANT.
October 2.]
position of predecessor and successor of Dr. March. The venerable speaker said in reply :-
I am glad to be sandwiched between so good a man. When climbing a hill one is apt to turn around and look back upon his path, to take in the prospect and enjoy the grand retrospect. We have been doing this to-day ; not that we are at the summit, but we are a long way up, two hundred and fifty years ; and as we look back we see the wilderness at the foot. We see those men creeping through the woods from Charlestown, and we can imagine the name of Woe-borne was suggested by the difficulties encoun- tered.
The long upward path runs like the Appian Way between the graves of those who have been gathered to their rest. They tell us in Europe that America is a new country, that it possesses nothing of antiquity, no old ruins, castles, or cathedrals. Measure time by events and not years, and America is the peer of any country. Measure Methuselah's age by events and he died before he left the nursery. The history of this church has seen rapid developments in arts, science, general information, and, some think, in religion.
Take an illustration from natural history. A rock reposes beside a lake. Feeble lichen spring from its surface, ferns unfold their graceful fronds and foliage, then comes hardier growths. Birds drop an acorn, the feeble soil gives support, a tiny blade shoots up, and ultimately the magnificent oak stands there, firm against the blast of the storm ; birds rest in the branches, cattle sleep beneath it, and man rejoices in its shade. The oak and its growth find duplication in your church. Beginning in hardships and discouragement, holding on through trials, building slowly but surely the foundations for church and state, until to-day you have this magnificent structure and a prosperous condition, - and all from that little seed planted two hundred and fifty years ago.
Dea. Joseph G. Pollard then read the following letter from Rev. H. S. Kelsey, a former pastor, but now of Chicago: -
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233 LA SALLE AVE., CHICAGO, 9, 21, '92.
Mr. JOSEPH G. POLLARD :
My Dear Sir, - Your letter of the 19th inst., inviting me, on be- half of the church, to be present at the Commemorative Services to be held on the 2d of October proximo, came to hand to-day.
Much as I should rejoice to be present on so interesting an occasion, and to share in the festivities and participate in the services connected with the 250th anniversary of this ancient church, it will be impossible for me to give myself the pleasure of doing so.
With this invitation lying before me, I am forcibly reminded of the fact that some of the pleasantest years of my ministerial life were spent in connection with this church and people. To meet again the dear friends who remain, and to revive the memories of those with whom we took sweet counsel concerning the king- dom of the Lord, but who have since entered into the rest they were seeking, would be a gratification almost beyond expression.
Kindly convey to the church the assurance of my continued interest, and the hope that it may be in the future, as it has been in the past, a bulwark of the faith and a power in the community where the Lord has placed it. Fraternally yours,
HENRY S. KELSEY.
This was followed by another of Dr. March's hymns, entitled " Prince and Saviour."
Come, thou mighty Prince and Saviour, Just to rule and strong to save, Give repentance, give remission, Give as princes never gave.
Long for thee have nations waited, Long desired thy peaceful days ; Come and bring thy great salvation, Fill our hearts with grateful praise.
Age on age has passed in conflict, War has wasted every land, Blinded passion oft has lifted Hand against the brother's hand.
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Bring the blessing sung by angels,
Peace on earth, to men good will ; Come and make our earth like heaven, Come, thy promise now fulfill.
Then from all the distant nations, Then from earth's remotest bound,
Shall arise the song of gladness, And the heavens repeat the sound. Then thy name as Prince and Saviour Shall above all others be ;
And the nations with abundance Shall their tribute bring to thee.
James F. Hunnewell, Esq., was introduced as the companion voyager of Dr. March, across the Atlan- tic thirty-two years ago. Mr. Hunnewell is a mem- ber of the mother church in Charlestown. He said : -
About 1640, along the bank of Charles River, opposite Bos- ton, stood a village, small as towns here are at present, con- siderable as they then were. Some seventy rough dwellings or other buildings were scattered around an irregular area, resem- bling in a rude way an English market-place. Prominent among them was one so large that it was called "The Great House," - it was practically the first State House within the present limits of Boston, and the spot where that city was voted its name.
Of even more direct importance to you was a dwelling on ground where the Waverley House now stands. There lived Thomas Graves, and there was held the first meeting to promote an enterprise that in the sequel brings the great Woburn family, with its friends, together this week. Close by, and near the meet- ing-house, where the Rev. Thomas Allen was then minister, stood the homes of other men, familiar in name, who began your history. In a lane around the corner, westward from the meeting-house, and fronting the river, were the house and land of Edward John- son. Opposite the meeting-house, between streets that now
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lead to the Boston bridges, was the estate of Edward Converse. Elsewhere lived John Mousall, William Learned, Ezekiel, Samuel, and Thomas Richardson, and James Thompson, all members of the Church .* At the present corner of Main and Harvard Streets, lived the representative of another name well known to you, for there stood the house of John March.
Small as the village was, most of the useful trades were prac- tised there, and already the expanding stimulus of American air was felt. "Move West," already expressed an impulse followed by act, and many went out to found new towns. In this way it was from the village by the Charles, your town largely took its American start ; from the old Bedfordshire town it took a good name, and sound principles from what was then called the Church of God, in Charlestown. The venerable church, from which came many of your earlier and some of your later members, has ex- perienced the full vicissitudes of a long life. Strong in numbers, it has supplied them to many another church. Time and change have dealt tryingly with it, yet there the old flag is kept flying, the old faith maintained, on the ancient hill where both were established when civilization was first settled on the shores of Massachusetts Bay.
It is good and pleasant for one to come from that consecrated spot and find how strong you are, another proof that age does not always weaken, but that it may and can give increased power. Still fresh as in the time of youth and strong as in maturity, you live as those in whom hope is scarcely needed to nerve the fulness of experience, so robust is that. Like the old mother church you still hold to the early faith, and realize how much it can yield, even here on earth. Good and pleasant indeed it is to find you thus, and to congratulate you, and to wish you and yours long endurance.
It is one of the admirable characteristics of our living civiliza- tion that prompts us to come together when, in the high numbers
* They appear to have had lands close together along the Mystic River, and thus may have become more closely acquainted and associated. Besides his home estate mentioned above, Edward Converse also owned land adjoining E. Richardson's. This neighborly relation may have led them to talk together about a removal, and make it together to Woburn.
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Dea. CHARLES E. RICHARDSON.
October 2.]
the birthdays of institutions arrive, and to recall the beginnings, and the people who shaped them. While we do so we can also well recall the old sailor maxim, " As she starts she goes," for there is a deal of truth in it. Well may we be pleased that the people who started our Bay State ship, with its institutions, were what they were. Criticised, overpraised, misrepresented, or uncomprehended by one or another, we can yet look the world over, and feel honestly satisfied. Put yourselves in their place with their light and trials, resume your place where you are, and it takes a peculiar American not to sympathize with them, and, all in all, honor them. Look at them in the world then around them, and examine their belief and practice in matters that have borne the wear and strain of more than the years since their time, and with thankful hearts be glad for their devo- tion, their sturdy grit, their strong sense, and their piety.
Simple in living, with plenty of hard work and none too much of worldly estate, there is evidence that thrift and industry made them, at least by another generation, comfortable. Another good quality in them produced its results ; they would have a learned as well as a pious ministry, and rulers who were men of repute. It looks now as if many of their descendants also require wisdom and principles, combined, in office.
Good results from good start and character have followed to the latest. Even the second generation in our region was blessed by it. We can well be pleased to find what an attractive home the minister of your old mother-church had by 1670, as well as how good a man lived there. Not only did the president of Harvard College write a poem about him, but he had a two- storied house with - not a little entry - but a hall large enough for table, clock, and a dozen chairs. In his parlor were near two dozen chairs on a Turkey carpet. He evidently at times had company. He had a good library, plate, an orchard, and a share in the town's grist-mill. There were things enough to stir the heart of a modern collector. But household furniture may be thought of small account in life spiritual ; it may be, yet in some cases it proves much. That was the day of small things with state and people, when effects they produced were still limited, yet from their small things we learn much. It took a great deal of old New England character, with its devotion to the
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Lord and to His, to make possible and actual that home of the towns-peoples' minister.
As the years passed by came the time of things greater and far wider reaching, by which we now judge and hail the proven results, when we are favored to see the old New England spirit, a leaven throughout a continental land. In this fulness of time and of result, you hold your own place to do your part in trans- mitting your faith and the gathered blessings of two hundred and fifty years.
In 1642 and in 1892, we find a name that you now set at the head of your roll, -it is a good leading word for order or for action in a good cause, and I can hardly suggest to you a better motto than one in which it heads half a dozen words : -
"March ! and onward, to the Christian's Victory !"
Rev. W. C. Barrows, of the Baptist Church, spoke for the churches of Woburn and said : -
Our gathering to-night is like a birthday party. The mother is two hundred and fifty years old, and she has invited her chil- dren home to proffer congratulations.
I have been invited to speak for the pastors and churches of this city. My church went away from your home about one hun- dred and ten years ago to set up house-keeping for herself.
It is natural that I should revert to the past in my congratula- tions. I have been reading the story of the early founders of this old church. The story has a charm for me. It thrilled me to read it. Those men of courage came here not to build a town, not to establish business, but to build a church. And so they cheerfully slept under boulders and the butts of fallen trees, plowed the land, and built bridges, having in mind, above all else, a Church of Christ. The spirit of these men is seen in a single remark of one of them : " It is as unnatural for a right New England man to live without church privileges, as for a smith to work his iron without a fire."
The first street was called Up Street, and that name is an oracle, hinting at the upward tendency of their thoughts, aims, and purposes. There was no Down Street with our fathers. Worthy fathers they were, developing praiseworthy character
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through hardships, wars, scourges, and privations. Strong, sturdy men they were, laboring in the face of trials. What richer legacy could they have bequeathed to us? Their moral heroism is worthy of the highest praise.
Our fathers were also greatly interested in educational mat- ters. The ministers established schools, and carried the religion of Christ into their schools.
This church has not been a selfish body, seeking to build up solely a great church here, but she has sought out wider fields of usefulness, and has sent her children into destitute places about her to found other churches.
As I have thus thought of the history of this church, of many years and full of usefulness, I have likened her to a river. Have you ever sat on the bank of a noble river, and let your imagina- tion trace its course from the silent hills where the melting snows and living springs gave birth to its waters, and sent them rush- ing along to the ocean? Has your thinking suggested to you this question, How much good this river has done, and is doing? Its waters giving life to the green grass and wild flowers,- mean- dering through the plain, giving sustenance to the golden corn and ripening grain, -rushing between cliffs, furnishing music to the world, gliding by villages, giving water to the thirsty and power to the looms of the factory, and at last passing out to sea bearing on its bosom the ships for foreign ports, and all the while losing nothing of its goodness, beauty, and power. Strik- ing figure, the river is, of this grand, old church, always giving, always doing good, and always growing.
And this church has been able to accomplish this great work of two hundred and fifty years because it has worked in the light of the Star of Bethlehem.
In Mrs. Willard's " History of the United States," there is a picture representing a vast temple, called the Temple of History. You can look within this temple. Its floor is mosaic. At the further extremity is written the word "Creation." A short dis- tance this way rises a marble column bearing the name of Cyrus, and representing the age in which he lived. Another column bears the name of Alexander, another Napolean, and the last that of Washington. These columns represent the ages of history from the creation to the present time. This temple has no win-
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dows in its massive walls, but midway over the mosaic floor there hangs a brilliant star, and in the centre of that star are written these words, "Jesus Christ." The bright rays of that light shine upon every column in the temple.
It is a grand thought that this church, through all the epochs in its history of two hundred and fifty years, has been lighted by the light that shines from the Star of Bethlehem.
Because of your great work, and of the light that has been within you, I bring you the congratulations of all your co-labor- ers in this city.
Rev. Edward G. Porter, of Lexington, the cul- tured scholar and distinguished historical and gene- alogical writer, was presented and said : -
It seems quite superfluous to add anything to this rich feast. It only remains for me to gather up a few threads and weave them into the fabric of your birthday celebration. I think not quite enough credit has been given to the immortal seven who founded your church : Johnson, Mousall, Converse, Learned, and the three Richardsons, all magnificent men. One of them, Edward Johnson, was the author of the most important work in Massachusetts colonial history. This is high honor for the peo- ple of Woburn. Subsequent writers have made important drafts from that unique work of his with the quaint title, “ Wonder- Working Providence of Zion's Saviour in New England."
Remember there were seven original founders; seven, the Hebrew perfect number. There were seven towns represented in the ecclesiastical council. And the same seven participated in the ordination of Rev. Thomas Carter, your first pastor. Seven men were chosen upon the first Board of Selectmen in the infant town ; the identical seven I have mentioned save one, - James Thompson being substituted for one of them.
How complete, but yet how modest, was the work done here. Note the names of the participants. There was Shepard, the father of the church in Cambridge ; Dunster, of Harvard College which was then only six years old ; Mather, of Dorchester, ancestor of Increase, Cotton, and Samuel Mather. These men were founders of families as well as of churches. There was
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Dea. ARTHUR B. WYMAN.
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Allen, of Dedham, who came all the way through the woods on horseback ; and Knowles, of Watertown, who afterwards went to Virginia ; and John Eliot, of Roxbury, the apostle to the Indians ; all of these helped in the important services.
What a notable gathering ! The imagination delights to dwell upon it. Is there not some artist among you to reproduce it upon canvas? Woburn should have in its library or elsewhere a magnificent historical work of art, showing the memorable scene in which these men participated.
In the absence of portraits you have family types preserved in the Johnsons, the Thompsons, the Converses, the Richardsons. I see them here in this audience and on this platform. You should utilize this great event. Remember that before you founded a town, the church was organized ; and close upon the incorporation of the town came the ordination of Thomas Carter ; and so the church and its leaders are a part of your reli- gious and civic life.
I bring you the greeting of the sisterhood of churches in all the region round about, to whose needs you have always so gen- erously contributed. Your pastors have been distinguished preachers, earnest thinkers, devout men. We all have an abiding love for you. What conference do we belong to? The Woburn conference? Why Woburn? Because she is the mother of us all. We have considered you as such so long that we had come to think of you as a sort of Melchisedec, without visible parent- age. We had overlooked the fact that you, too, were once a daughter, that you came from the church of Charlestown. We thank you for your noble help in time past. You have been to us what Ephesus was in the group of the seven churches of Asia. "These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks : I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how, for my name's sake thou hast labored and hast not fainted."
At the close of Dr. Porter's address, Rev. Henry C. Parker of the Unitarian church read the hymn " Fatherland," and audience and choir joined in the
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inspiring words, singing them to the tune of "America."
God bless our Fatherland, Ward off the hostile hand, Give rest and peace. May duty's voice be strong,
None do his neighbor wrong,
Nor selfish strife prolong ; Let discord cease.
May children learn in youth To heed thy ways of truth, And keep thy word ; May all together strive
The noblest lives to live,
And grateful offerings give, To thee, O Lord.
Let all have equal right To work with mind and might, For just reward. Let all together meet,
And brother brother greet
In peace and concord sweet, And plight their word.
While freedom is our pride, By law let all abide And order keep. May justice guard the State,
And save both small and great
From blind and bitter hate, And never sleep.
Let men of every race Hold equal rank and place Before the law. Let love of country rise Above all party ties, And all, where one flag flies, Together draw.
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