USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Westfield > Sermon commemorative of the two-hundredth anniversary of the First Congregational church of Westfield, Mass. > Part 5
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Mr. Noble was the emigrant ancestor of the largest family bearing the name in the United States.
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APPENDIX.
J.
1679.
BI-CENTENNIAL 1879.
OF THE
First Congregational
Church
OF
WESTFIELD, MASS.
You are invited to attend the Bi-Centennial Celebration of the First Congregational Church of Westfield, on
SUNDAY, October 5, 1879,
Consisting of a Memorial Sermon by the Pastor at the morning service, and a Service of Praise in the evening.
A copy of the Sermon, when published, will be sent you gratuitously on the receipt of a request for it. Yours in behalf of the Committee,
HERBERT LYMAN.
Westfield, Mass., September 17, 1879.
Responses to Letters of Invitation.
MRS. E. WILLIAMS, Fall River. Mass. MR. & MRS. J. D. TAYLOR, Minneapo- lis. Minn.
MISS HATTIE C. MERWIN, Vinton, Ia. FRED. KING, Austin, Minn.
S. MUNSON, Albany, N. Y.
MRS. LEWIS PARSONS, Northampton, Mass.
J. FOWLER. Castalia, O.
MRS. GEORGE B. CLARK, Cambridge- port. Mass.
MRS. TURNER S. CLEVELAND, Salem, N. Y.
CHARLES HUTCHINS, Boston, Mass. MRS. C. W. FARNAM, Brooklyn, Cal. SELAII MERRILL, Andover, Mass. G. C. LANDON, Frenchtown, N. J. JOHN M. BALLANTINE, Taunton. Mass. M S. HUERD, Wilbraham, Mass.
MRS. ROBERT WHITNEY, Peterboro, N. H.
REV. E. J. HURLBUT, Mittineagne, Mass.
REV. A . J. TITSWORTII. Chelsea, Mass. MRS. A. S. HALE, Minneapolis, Minn. L. C. SHEPARD, Menasha, Wis.
J. B. ELDREDGE, Hartford, Conn.
D. S. ROWE, Tarrytown, N. Y.
J. C. ATWATER, New York City.
D. A. FITCII, Strawn, Kan.
MRS. C. W. SHEPARD, Litchfield, Conn. REV. B. M. FULLERTON, Palmer, Mass.
Jos. W. KING, Jacksonville, III.
SAMUEL C. LEWIS. Tarrytown, N. Y. MRS. D. W. INGERSOLL, Constantia, N. Y.
EDWARD TAYLOR, Andover, Mass. REV. DANIEL BUTLER, Waverly, Mass. JOHN EDMANS, Philadelphia, Pa. H. E. SIMMONS, New York City. WM. L. ATWATER, New York City. H. T. MORGAN, New York City. M. T. GLEASON, Newton, Mass. GEO. E. KNAPP, Bloomington, Il1. IIIRAM SMITH, Hillsdale, Mich. REV. L. D. CALKINS, West Springfield.
DANIEL MUNSON, Binghamton, N. Y. MRS. IRA G. WHITNEY, New York City. ROLAND MATHER, Hartford, Conn.
MARTIN N. DAY, New York City. A. P. CARY, Gloucester, Mass. MISS E. C HALLIDAY, Brooklyn, N. Y.
MISS NANCY MARSII, Providence, R. I. MRS. II. B. STOCKWELL, Providenee, R. I. G. MUNSON, Huntington, Mass. W. B. C. PEARSONS. Holyoke, Mass. SAMUEL A. GREEN, Boston, Mass.
REV. S. G. BUCKINGHAM, Springfield, Mass.
REV. W. GLADDEN, Springfield, Mass. MRS. G. W. CAMPBELL, Pittsfield, Mass. REV. WM. E. DICKINSON. Chicopee, Mass. A. T. EDSON, Feeding Hills, Mass.
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APPENDIX.
[From The Western Hampden Times and News-Letter of Oct. 8, 1879.]
THE FIRST CHURCH OF WESTFIELD,
CELEBRATES ITS TWO-HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY .- REV. J. H. LOCK- WOOD'S SERMON IN FULL.
A large assembly gathered at the First Church last Sabbath morning to listen to the services commemorating the two-hun- dredth anniversary of the Society's natal day. The church was tastefully and elaborately decorated with flowers and ever- greens, handsomely and artistically arranged in bouquets, fes- toons, garlands, and other exquisite formations and impressive devices. Shields, bearing the names of the eight " foundation- men " of the church, were arranged along the front of the gal- leries, four on each side of the house, hung between festoons of evergreens, and decorated with flowers, cereals, and " the full corn in the ear." The tablets of Rev. Edward Taylor and Rev. Dr. Davis were appropriately garlanded, the one with leaves of the oak, and the other with roses ;- the latter speaking of a later bereavement, though both equally proclaiming that " the memory of the just is blessed." An arch built over the pulpit bore on its crest the dates " 1679-1879," while a seroll winding gracefully around the two pillars, intertwined with leaf and flower, bore the names of the eight pastors of the church who preceded Mr. Lock- wood. Portraits of the pastors of the Second Church were prettily grouped and decorated on the front of the west gallery. Two large autumn bouquets, placed in front of Mr. Lockwood's desk, were universally admired for the artistic combination of their colors and the harmonious blending of their soft autumnal tints. Great praise is due to George Houghton, carpenter, and R. T. King, artist, for executing so faithfully and efficiently the chaste and elegant designs of the committee of ladies and gentlemen who had the matter in charge. To say that the ladies deserve a share of credit for the meritorious display would be almost su- perfluous ; their taste and judgment and skill were discernible in it all.
A quartette, composed of Mrs. Mary Mullen, Miss Mary E. Kingsley, H. B. Stevens, Esq., and Prof. Le Clair of Holyoke, began the exercises by singing Kotzsehman's " Te Deum, in F." Rev. Henry Hopkins read passages from Scripture appropriate
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APPENDIX.
to the occasion, and offered prayer. Singing by the congrega- tion of " All hail the power of Jesus' name," followed. After which, Rev. Mr. Lockwood delivered an able and comprehen- sive historical discourse, which we give to our readers in full. Though a comparative stranger to our town, it can be said, with as much surprise as justice, that Mr. Lockwood, by diligent study and hard work among the musty records of the last two centuries, not only did complete justice to the occasion histori- cally, but he caught the inspiration of the hour, and seemed to stand, and to make his hearers stand, in the august and almost divine presence of his great and venerated predecessors as he graphically unrolled the history of the First Church of Westfield for the last two hundred years. For lack of time, Mr. Lockwood could not use all the wealth of antique lore that he had mined for the occasion ; but we are requested to announce that the pam- phlet edition of the sermon, soon to be issued, will contain, in an ample appendix, much of the deferred material.
A praise service in the evening worthily closed the anniversary exercises. Several fine selections were well rendered by the quartette of the morning, assisted by Mrs. R. W. Parks and Miss Mattie Loomis ; selections of Scripture were read by Rev. Mr. Lockwood ; and a brief, but able, discourse, eulogistic of the First Church and its founders, was given by Rev. Mr. Hopkins. Congregational singing also added to the enjoyment of the occa- sion. Mr. Hopkins spoke of the impressiveness of the occasion and of the tender and persuasive influences of the hour, calling all to cast in their lot with the people of God. After expressing the obligation of the churches to Mr. Lockwood, for the patient re- search and exacting toil which the writing of his sermon had de- manded, he said :
"It is proper for me to thank you especially for your kind mention of us in the Second Church, and also to recognize grate- fully the cordial christian courtesy of our reception here to-day. In the name of the church, I most heartily assure you that we join you in the wish-and we will make the wish an endeavor- that the same harmony which has characterized the past may continue always. Next to the spiritual growth and power of our own, we desire that of this one, that stands side by side and shoulder to shoulder with her. It is perfectly certain that any thing which injures one hurts the other, and that any thing that gives new life to the one is a blessing to the other. The circum-
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APPENDIX.
stances attending the separation in 1856 were calculated to pro- duce a spirit of true fellowship. We went out because the old home was crowded. Some one must go, and you gave us your blessing. Dr. Davis counseled and carried out the colonization. His two sermons, entitled, 'Church Extension,' published at the request of the Second Church and Society, are a true setting forth of the whole case. The first sermon was preached the Sab- bath before the commencement of public worship by the colony in Music Hall, and the second on the occasion of the organizing of the church. There was no quarreling about it, no party strife, no schism in the body of Christ. It was only organizing another regiment in the same holy service. That movement, so inaugurated, was not a mistake. God has blessed it. Of the sixty members who, many of them with tears, cut loose from the old organization, thirty-three are still members of the Second Church. These are here with hearts aglow to-day. They are like naturalized citizens of our Republic, to whom every thing in the national life and history in the fatherland belongs fully up to the time of the new relation, and who, in the new-found ties, do not forget to feel love and pride for the old. But the fact is, we all feel so. Just as American citizens have a right to share in all the glory and renown of old England on land and on sea, in every great name in her literature or war, statesmanship or phi- lanthropy, up to July 4th, 1776, so we lay claim to the old church history as a part of our heritage, and to every revered and hon- ored name, down to May, 1856."
Mr. Hopkins briefly sketched the original settlement, by the site of the iron bridge, with its fort over a cellar and its two miles of palisades, as pictured by Mr. Bates in his bi-centennial address, and called attention to the fact recorded by him, that, in 1677, the General Court provided for " the consolidation of the people into a more compact community," and that then, as appears from the records of Massachusetts, " the proprietors of town lots in Westfield near their 'meeting house,'" made certain agreements. They had, then, in 1677, before the organization of their church, " a meeting house," provision for the worship of God, and for the church that was to be. This seems to answer the question asked in the sermon as to the original church building, and reveals the fact that, at the very start, central in the settlement, as essential a part of it as the fort or the dwell- ings, stood the house of God. Were those brave, hard-worked men and women right in this thing? Yes, thank God, they were right. They had little thought of symbolism in religion ; but in this they unconsciously made use of a true symbolism. The
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APPENDIX.
rude churchi stood central among their rude homes, as the re- ligious principle is central in man, and as it must be made cen- tral in every enduring form of society. The love of God's house, not of the rough log building " thirty-six feet square," not of the house made with hands, but of that living temple, the church of God, was characterized as the deep, tender, life-giving, divine principle that dwelt in the fathers. This, more than their rigid, puritanic sense of duty, was that which distinguishes them. This has been the potential, the moulding influence that has come down from them. They put first that which is first forever more. They made central in their hearts and homes and in their com- mon life, that which in all rightly-organized life is central for- ever more. The lesson of all this history is a plain one, not to be forgotten by us. Those whom we commemorate honored the church of God; and God honored them according to His ever- lasting ordinance and in the fulfillment of His faithful promise.
On Monday evening, the ladies prepared a banquet in the church parlors, which was appreciatingly indulged in by both churches-progenitor and offspring.
THUS ENDETH THE SECOND CENTURY.
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APPENDIX.
PRAISE SERVICE
The First Congregational Church, AT +
WESTFIELD, MASS., SUNDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 5, 1879,
In Commemoration of the Two-Hundredth Anniversary of its Foundation.
ORDER OF SERVICE.
I. ORGAN VOLUNTARY.
II. OLD HUNDRED. (Congregation.) " Be Thou, O God, exalted high." III. INVOCATION. IV. ANTHEM : "Let the people praise Thee." (Choir.) From Costa's "Eli."
V. SCRIPTURE SENTENCES.
VI. AMSTERDAM. (Congregation.) "Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings."
VII. SCRIPTURE : Deut., 26 Chap.
VIII. ARIEL. (Congregation.)
"() could I speak the matchless worth."
IX. PRAYER, (closing with Lord's Prayer, in concert.)
X. ANTHEM : "Jerusalem, my glorious home." (Choir.)
XI. ANTHEM : Denmark. (Congregation.) " Before Jehovah's awful throne."
XII. ADDRESS, BY REV. HENRY HOPKINS.
XIII. ANTHEM : " How lovely are the Messengers." (Choir.) From Mendelssohn's "St. Paul."
XIV. LYONS. (Congregation.) "Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim."
XV. SCRIPTURE : Ps. 95 and 96.
XVI. LENOX. (Congregation.)
" Ye boundless realms of joy."
XVII. ANTHEM : " Praise be unto God." (Choir.) From Spohr's "Last Judgment."
XVIII. PRAYER.
XIX. SHINING SHORE. (Congregation) " My days are gliding swiftly by." .
XX. BENEDICTION.
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