USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > The First Evangelical Congregational Church, Cambridgeport, Mass. > Part 7
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- For long-continued absence from communion, and com- munion with a church not in fellowship or correspondence with us, the church, with reluctance, excommunicates a sister.
For violated covenant in habitual absence from sanc- tuary and Lord's supper, notwithstanding tender and earnest appeals from the church to come back to their places, two members' names are ordered, by unanimous vote, to be stricken from the roll.
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
One brother's case was referred back to the Examining Committee, and, before it was settled, he passed into the hands of the all-merciful and all-just God.
Another case being tried, the church referred it to the committee, who have never reported progress, although they have had it in hand now for eighteen years.
For error in doctrine, a member is excommunicated by unanimous vote.
Under a sustained charge of gross immorality, a brother is, by unanimous vote, excommunicated, and a unanimous vote of suspension stands recorded against another brother.
On the records of the church appears a correspondence, exhibiting in as clear light as often appears the spirit of Him, who not only preached the gospel to the poor, but delivered those who were bound.
Three instances of irregular procedure arrest our at- tention. In all three, individuals went out from us and united with other branches of the church, one in corre- spondence with us and two not in correspondence with us. In all three instances, their names were ordered erased from the roll without any charge being made against them. Thus out of a total membership of 1,269 twenty-four cases of discipline have been instituted. Of the twenty-four cases three were for error in doctrine, and issued in excommunication, and twenty-one for error in life, and issued two in reference to committee, three in suspension, ten in excommunication, and six in restora- tion.
I have made a complete statement of all these cases in order to put a church of fifty years upon a just record among the churches and before the world. For charity, for patience, for bearing the burdens of the weak, for
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
faithfulness in suffering through the whole body rather than wound a member, and for discreet flexibility, what organization, not even excepting the family, has so bright a record as this Christian church.
ABSENTEES.
ONLY pastors and permanent officers in our churches can fully comprehend the difficulties of keeping clean lists of church-members in actual fellowship. We have some con- solation in this direction. With the many and long vacan- cies in the pastoral office, a period of years when our population has been very fluctuating under the fevers for emigrating toward the setting sun, the shifting centres of enterprises of various kinds, and the general disturbance created by the Rebellion, and when piety has been at a low ebb in all our churches, many have from time to time dis- appeared, but they have not been forgotten. Between 1844 and 1877 the list has been carefully revised seven times, and great pains have been taken to ascertain the location and spiritual condition of every person who is or has been one of us. Still of the one hundred and eigh- teen absent members there are twenty-four of whom we know not whether they are living or dead, and, if living, know not where they are.
COUNCILS.
ONE of the characteristics of our polity is that of fel- lowship among the churches. Its chief excellence is manifest in its command of all the wisdom and strength of character and position in the vicinity at any given
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
place and on any occasion. Although in our review to- day we come upon the days of " Horseback" and " Chaise," we do not get beyond councils. It is a source of just re- joicing that we find this church so prominent in this sphere from its very beginning. Fellowship is magnified in its records alike in the sphere of stated and occasional councils. During those years of fermentation, when old things were unsettled and new things were not yet settled, these councils were very frequent and very large. The most frequent minutes on the records of this church during its entire existence are appointments to these eccle- siastical gatherings. Dr. Stearns was installed in 1831. Although the church had a pastor but eighteen months of these first four years, the council to install him was the ninth on which the church had sat. Between his installa- tion and dismission it attended sixty-five occasional coun- cils. It was represented every year, and generally twice a year, at the meetings of conference when any record of these meetings is kept, leaving us to infer that the same correct habit has prevailed continuously. It is true that Dr. Stearns was a man eminent in council, and, without doubt, this fact had its weight in these frequent invita- tions. Still the church itself has manifestly been consid- ered valuable in this direction. Since the time of the great pastorate it has sat on eighty-nine councils, making a total of one hundred and sixty-three during its fifty years. Of these councils eighty-four have been for installation, twenty-three for dismission of pastors, nineteen for ordi- nation of ministers, three for ordination of missionaries, two for ordination of chaplains, seven to organize and two to disband churches, six for conference and prayer for spiritual edification, three to advise others in perplexity,
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
six to adjust difficulties in local churches, one looking to a national conference at Chicago, one the first Brooklyn council, and six in which the object is not stated.
It has sat on one council each at Ashland, Am- herst, Brooklyn, N. Y., Chicago, Ill., Carlisle, Fall River, Groton, Grafton, Hopkinton, Keene, N. H., Lockport, N. Y., Melrose, Meriden, Ct., New Haven, Ct., Norwich, Ct., Natick, Plymouth, Salem, South Danvers, Winchester, Wilnington, and Woburn; two each at Arlington, Lynn, Concord, Newburyport, and Worcester; three each at Chelsea, Bedford, Medford, and Providence, R. I .; four at Newton ; five each at Brighton and Somerville; six at Brookline, and eleven at Charlestown; in Boston one each at Essex Street, East Boston, Roxbury, and Walnut Avenue, two each at Berkeley Street, Mt. Vernon, Mari- ner's, South Boston, and Union, three at Salem Street, Park Street, Pine Street, and Old South, four at Messiah, and five at Central ; and on forty-five with the seven churches that are or have been in Cambridge. These single threads of its wisdom and strength are woven into the historical fabrics of fifty-six churches, and in many of them these threads are so frequent as to become familiar and highly · praised, while in the more pretentious national conference at Chicago, on the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of " Our Landing," and the more widely noted Brooklyn council, traces of it appear.
SUNDAY SCHOOL.
WE have not been able to find any trace of Sunday school records for the first half of the period under review, except the action of the church with reference to it. In
-
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1833 the church, at its annual meeting, "resolved itself into a Sunday school society, who shall hold themselves , responsible for the proper organization and management of the school," and in June, 1842, a record notes the res- ignation of the superintendent of the school, and the appointment of Aaron Sweet as his successor in office. After this date the appointment of various superintend- : ents is recorded, and this one item is all that we find on the records. Fortunately, however, there are still living those who were scholars and teachers in the school. From them I learn that a few young ladies belonging to a sewing society for the benefit of the Sunday school con- nected with the Unitarian congregation were informed at the close of a sewing meeting one Saturday afternoon that their services as teachers were not needed in that school. At the request of both parents and pupils, they then gathered such children from the Unitarian congre- gation as wished Evangelical teachers, and also children, both colored and white, from certain poor families living in tenements about where Hovey's Gardens now are. On Sabbath morning they met, and proceeded to the public school building, not once thinking that they would be excluded from it; but the doors were fastened against them. Then they marched in procession to Miss Ellis's house. Miss Ellis was in very moderate circumstances, and, the patrons of her school being largely among the Unitarians, she felt greatly embarrassed by what oc- curred. On the other hand, Miss Parks, her colleague in the school, was very enthusiastic in the Sunday school movement ; and besides, Dr. Chaplin's influence was with Miss Parks. They presented their request for the use of her school-room, but about sixteen feet square, :
£
£
£
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
and secured admission. " Well do I remember," writes one who was then a teacher, "the excitement at having the school-house shut against us. Miss Maria Brigham (now Mrs. Furber) read the Thirty-seventh Psalm, and we proceeded to our work. Miss Brigham was superintend- ent." The Sunday school met in the morning before ser- vice, and these rejected Evangelical women applied to the Baptist Church for seats in the gallery of their house for the use of their school during morning service. It was granted, and here for nearly a year the school listened to the preaching of Rev. Bela Jacobs. As the ladies attended Dr. Beecher's preaching in Boston, they designated two of their number from week to week to sit with the scholars at this service in the Baptist Church. The teachers were young ladies whose names are recorded among the original members of the church. This school was instituted in the autumn of 1826, and it was conducted in this manner until the meeting-house was completed in September, 1827. In the spring of 1827 (Miss Brigham removing from the place) Mr. Samuel Barrett (unless Mr. Wm. J. Hubbard preceded him for a short time) became superin- tendent, and he continued to hold that office for many years. In the choir-seats at the right hand of the pulpit met the Bible-class, so precious in the memory of many, under the charge of John P. Bullard. Some whose eyes will fall on this page will call to mind their companions who, in company with their devoted teacher, superin- tendent, church clerk, treasurer, and Deacon Barrett, committed to memory the entire book of Psalms. It seems quite certain that the superintendent who resigned in 1842 was Mr. Barrett, and, therefore, that he held that office from the spring of 1826 until the spring of 1842.
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
Since then we find the following names and terms of service : -
June 17, 1842, to April 2, 1847, Aaron Sweet.
May 14, 1847, to August 31, 1849, A. G. Hammond. October 26, 1849, to October 1, 1852, A. C. Smith. October 15, 1852, to July 8, 1853, J. A. Lovett. July 15, 1853, to December 12, 1856, H. M. Tapley. January 16, 1857, to April 9, 1858, L. B. Grover. January 14, 1859, to December 16, 1859, A. C. Smith. January 13, 1860, to December 28, 1860, Wm. Reed. January 18, 1861, to January 7, 1863, E. D. Goodrich. January 16, 1863, to January 19, 1866, Charles Mellen. March 2, 1866, to September 11, 1868, C. W. Munroc. September 18, 1868, to July 2, 1869, S. K. Gilman, Jr. October 1, 1869, to April 1, 1870, Charles A. Fiske. April 15, 1870, to January 6, 1875, H. N. Tilton. January 6, 1875, Jno. E. Vandervoort.
During nearly tlie whole period of the church's ex- istence, since January, 1833, the Sabbath school has been under the direction of the church, and is one of the appliances of the church in " bringing up the children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." There are, however, several large classes of adults who regularly and with delight and profit meet to study God's Word. The vexed problem with many schools is solved in this. We do not ask " how can we keep older scholars in the school," but "we do it." Young gentlemen and young ladies constitute no inconsiderable part of the school. The great value of this branch of our enterprise cannot · be estimated until we can know the value of truths as they are in Jesus, and of habits of studying God's Word as we have it. We can simply intimate the harvest by
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
what has been gathered. Out of ninety-five who have united with this church during the last year, nearly eighty are in the Sabbath school.
We may, however, look at a few figures which have been made since 1866.
It has received from
Penny collections, $ 1,876.24
Friends,
78.97
Special collections, 552.71
Antiquarian supper, 60.55
$ 2,568.47
It has given to
Massachusetts Sunday School Society, $ 142.01
Soldiers, 196.28
American Board, 189.59
Woman's Board, 75.00
Home Mission Society,
50.00
American Missionary Association, 75.00
Boston Mission,.
10.00
North End Mission,
25.00
Italian Mission, 100.00
Seaman's Friend Society, 10.00
Indian (Senecas) Mission, 75.00
Missionary Tent in Texas, 10.00
Home for Little Wanderers, 30.00
Dr. Cullis's Home,
15.00
Central Turkey College,
25.00
Young Men for Ministry,
3.00
Freedmen,
139.00
Congregational Publication Society, 109.00
Missions, including Stearns Chapel,
158.28
Carried forward. $ 1,437.16
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
Brought forward $ 1,437.16
Sunday School in Iowa, $ 20.00
Kansas,
25.20
66
Bulgaria,
8.41
Maine,
25.00
66
Maine,
50.00
Pennsylvania, 10.00
66 Maine, 20.00
158.61
Churches, Fort Howard, Wis., ... 25.00
Washington, D. C., ... 10.00
Stoddard, N. H.,. 25.00
60.00. .
Library, Melodeon, and Current Expenses of School, in addition to Church
Donations,
912.70
$ 2,568.47
It has sown beside many waters, if not all. Even the North American Indians have received $ 75 at its hands.
It is impossible to tell how many scholars have been in it. It has parted with considerable numbers, as from time to time the Second, Pilgrim, and Stearns Chapel Sunday schools have been organized ; and when the Second Church and East Cambridge enterprises were abandoned it re- ceived quite considerable additions. As now organized, it has six officers, thirty-four teachers, with two hundred and seventy-four scholars in the inain school and two teachers and eighty-three scholars in the infant class. The total number of the school is therefore three hun- dred and ninety-nine .* Its library, recently assorted and arranged, contains three hundred and forty volumes.
*
The largest attendance was at the last Sabbath in October, when
three hundred and two were present.
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
The infant class is twenty-two years old, and is so inti- mately associated with both the Sunday school and the church that it demands especial notice. Five boys were placed under Mrs. Whittemore's care in 1855. Almost immediately the class increased to thirteen boys. Then the committee-room was assigned to them, and the peculiar exercises of an infant class were inaugurated. The class very soon numbered forty-five, including both boys and girls. To accommodate this class the main school was removed, during Mr. Murray's pastorate, to the audience- room, and the vestry became the home of the little ones. Mrs. Horace Fisk became Mrs. Whittemore's assistant about this time. It soon numbered one hundred and fifty. The organization of Pilgrim and Stearns Chapel Sunday schools diminished its numbers fully one fourth. It has increased more rapidly during the past year than at any time since the above schools were organized. Six hundred and forty-eight names are on its list. It has been the recipient of three libraries from friends who have witnessed its work, - one, costing $ 20, from E. M. Dunbar ; one, of the same value, from O. J. Rand ; and one, costing $ 36, from Mrs. Wyatt's class as the proceeds of an entertainment given by them. Mrs. Whittemore, its present directress, has had during these twenty-two years four associates, Mrs. H. M. Fisk, Lucille Bancroft, Mrs.
H. N. Burrage, and Margaret B. Wellington. It is known by the name "Flower Bed," and its perfumes have been recognized in New Orleans, La., $ 15 strength ; in Salem, Iowa, $ 20 strength ; at the Pilgrim Church in this city, $ 38 strength ; and among destitute Sun- day schools in various localities, in the aggregate, $ 275.45 strength. But, aside from this, for several years
£
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
the fresh perfume of these opening buds was min- gled with those of the main school as they floated with good-will far and wide. There is a little Indian here among the little folks, even as among their elders. In 1873 Mrs. Caswell, who had been a missionary among the Indians organized a mission-band auxiliary to the Woman's Board of Missions at Boston. I do not know that it ever gave $ 75.07 to the Indians, but it carried an awful Indian name for four years, "Weijah Workers," and that was enough to twist the children's tongues as much out of shape as the shoes of the Chinese children do their feet. The Micronesian Islands, Constantinople, and Asiatic India missions have received notice and con- tributions, but then the North American Indians had the name four years.
During these years nine have died while members of this class, and it now numbers eighty-three, with Mrs. Whittemore and Margaret B. Wellington as associate teachers or directresses. It has given, -
To support a Child at Ceylon Mission, ... $ 60.00
For Miss Dyer's Salary, 50.00
Other Foreign Mission Purposes, 18.25
Incidental Expenses, 35.60
$ 163.85
WOMAN'S WORK.
FEMALE TRACT SOCIETY.
IN December, 1828, a society of ladies from the Shep- ard and this church was formed under the name
£
£
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
"Female Tract Society of the First Church in Cam- bridge and the Evangelical Church in Cambridgeport." It adopted a constitution, and chose officers. At its first annual meeting, December, 1829, a new constitu- tion was adopted and the name changed by inserting " Auxiliary"; a report was made, showing that the ladies of Cambridge had paid in $16.57, and distributed 10,35€ pages, while the ladies of the Port had distributed 8,046 pages, and paid $12. At the second annual meeting, December, 1830, the partnership was dissolved, and the ladies of this society at once organized a society, took so much of the old name and constitution as was appropriate to the new state of things, copied the records of the joint society, and proceeded with their work. They raised $15.74, and distributed 6,335 pages this year. At the third annual meeting they did not adopt a new con- stitution, nor change the name, but reported paid in $ 15.20, and distributed 6,495 pages. This society kept up its organization until 1842, when we find its last rec- ord :- The total amount paid in, as reported, was $ 104.15.
MATERNAL ASSOCIATION.
An old book is in existence which contains precious records. It opens with an address to Christian mothers, and articles fifth, sixth, and seventh of the constitution are especially appropriate of notice to-day; -
" Art. 5. Every member of this association shall be con- sidered as sacredly bound to pray for her children daily, and with them as often as convenience will permit, and give them the best religious instruction of which she is capable.
" Art. 6. It shall be the indispensable duty of every mem- ber to qualify herself by prayer, and, as opportunity may allow,
THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY CHICAGO
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
by reading, to perform the arduous duties of a Christian mother, and to suggest to her sister members such hints as her own experience may furnish, or circumstances render necessary.
" Art. 7. When any member is removed by death, it shall be the duty of the Association to pay particular attention to her children, in furnishing them with religious books and bringing them to the quarterly meetings, etc., as circumstances may render proper."
The organization was formed, December, 1834, and thirty-six mothers' names, with the names of their chil- dren, are enrolled under it. In three instances one child, in three two children, in two three, in one each four and five, in two instances all the children, united with this church ; while of the remaining twenty-six the families, for the most part, moved away while the children were yet small, and there is no reason to suppose that they were not blessed even as those who remained.
The association kept up its monthly meetings until December, 1842, when they were discontinued until March, 1845. At this time the meetings continued one year, and were not resumed until 1865, when, rallying under a new constitution, a large number associated themselves under the same name. They have since that time kept up the meetings and the interest in them, having had during the whole period but one president, Mrs. H. P. Bliss, and three secretaries, Mrs. Mary K. Jones, Mrs. H. N. Tilton, and Mrs. L. B. Grover.
SEWING SOCIETY.
This organization has numerous aliases, and has done numerous good deeds. It was organized in June, 1852. Its first name was the Ladies' Charitable Society,- its object
1
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
" primarily to provide clothing for destitute children, and, secondarily, any others who, for want of suitable apparel, cannot appear in the house of God." Its method of se- curing funds was by the payment of initiation fees, tea- parties, and solicitations. Its method of work was the purchase of goods, the making and distribution of gar- ments, and visitation.
In November, 1858, The Colporteur Association, having been in a state of suspended animation since October, 1851 (at least so far as the records show), and the Ladies' Charitable Society each dropped its name, and united under the name Ladies' Social Benevolent Society. Its work " to aid any object of charity deemed desirable at the time aid is to be given." This organization was active until 1870. In April, 1866, another society was organized under the name Ladies' Sewing Circle. Its work was precisely the same as that of the Ladies' Social Benevolent Society except the addition, "or to prepare boxes of clothing for des- titute Home Missionaries." In January, 1870, the records show that a proposition was made by one of these two societies to the other that the twain should be made one. The record looks as if the Ladies' Social Benevolent So- ciety proposed to the Ladies' Sewing Circle, but the pro- prieties of the case demand that the party dropping the name should receive rather than make the proposition. There seems to have been a good understanding, as there usually is when the affair has progressed to a proposal, as the last we hear of the Ladies' Social Benevolent Society is under date of March, 1870. Since then, through an uninterrupted series of gatherings for sewing and for social intercourse, the Ladies' Sewing Circle has been prosperous and efficient.
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
These organizations, under various names, have accom- plished an amount of good which cannot be estimated in dollars and cents. In donations of clothing to the desti- tute in our own city, to the missionaries at the West, to the sufferers by fire in the principal cities of Maine and Illinois, and amid the forests of Michigan, and to the soldiers ; in the sewing that has been done; in the social advan- tages afforded and in the cultivation of benevolence ; and in laying away in the vaults of the past pleasant scenes for memory to draw upon, -in all these items lies the great value of this truly Christian enterprise. Yet the amount of money contributed through this agency since coming into this meeting-house, not including what was given to the soldiers, does not vary far from'$ 5,000. In a single year they gave to the Pilgrim Church $ 1261.25 as the proceeds of fair, festival, and concerts. The records accessible show $ 2,168.72 as the gifts of these societies previous to abandoning the first house of worship. Poor citizens, Consumptives' Home, Home Missionaries, College students, Pilgrim and Stearns Chapel churches, the Con- gregational House, sufferers by fire in Maine, Michigan, and Illinois, Union soldiers as well as the Ceylonites and North American Indians, - all these and many others may well rise up and call this organization of Christian women blessed ; and from this Evangelical Congregational Church to-day very appropriately does the salutation of Paul go back the whole length of the line from where it commences with the ladies who formed, organized, and superintended the Sunday school to where it ends in those who decorated this house and the hall for this occasion, and have can- vassed the society in its financial effort, saluting these descendants of Phoebe, Priscilla, Mary, Joanna, Tryphena
-
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
and Tryphosa, Persis, the mother of Rufus, Julia, and the sister of Nereus.
MISSION AMONG THE INDIANS.
The only time at which Dr. William A. Stearns and the author ever met was in the gallery of the church at Rutland, Vt., both acting on the Committee of the American Board for the North American Indians. Dr. Stearns then made just one lasting impression upon my mind, namely, that he had been interested for years in this people. As now I meet, under date of September, 1873, the records of the work of the Christian women of this church, Dr. Stearns's interest appears again. The preamble to their constitution reads : " The ladies connected with Rev. Mr. Stearns's Society, Cambridgeport, whose names are here subscribed have entered into a voluntary association, called the Ojib- way Missionary Society, for the purpose of aiding, by their combined efforts, the mission established among the In- dians. While thus united for the promotion of the religious and moral interests of a remnant of the once powerful and numerous, but now almost extinguished race, they hope their intercourse with each other will be productive of mutual improvement, will increase their interest in be- nevolent operations, and induce them cheerfully to con- tribute to each as they have ability, so that it may in truth be said of them, as in commendation of one of old, 'She hath done what she could.'" They for- warded $ 30 in the autumn of 1834, and again in 1835 to the Ojibways. The year 1836 gives us no report of money raised, but the name was changed to Young Ladies' Missionary Society, and it was decided to con- tribute $ 20 per annum to educate a child in Ceylon.
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