USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > The First Evangelical Congregational Church, Cambridgeport, Mass. > Part 8
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
In 1837 they donated $ 20 to the Ceylon Mission, and $ 15.07 to the Ojibways.
The next donations were divided so that the poor In- dian, as in the proposed hunting expedition, was where " you no say Turkey to Indian once," for $ 31.46 go to the Ceylon Mission, and $ 100 toward paying the debt incurred by enlarging the meeting-house. This appropria- tion was made in January, 1839. In September of the same year another distribution was made. Look sharp now for poor " Lo"! They had had a fair, and netted $ 520. Who gets the turkey ? To the American Board for Ceylon goes $ 20 ; toward defraying debt incurred by enlarging the meeting-house, $ 500. I suppose " Lo " had the balance, - " Lo the poor Indian." In 1840 they gave $ 20 to the Ceylon Mission, and $ 33 to the Ojib- ways. They made no distribution in 1841, but in 1842 another distribution gives $ 20 for Ceylon and $ 18.04 for general missions to American Board Commissioners Foreign Missions. In 1843 $ 20 for Ceylon, and they carry forward a balance of $ 14.75. In 1844 another change occurs in the name on the secretary's book by leaving out " Young." This year the Ladies' Missionary Society distribute to the American Tract Society for colpor- tage $ 150. It is interesting to study how a tame olive may be grafted into a wild one. In the twelfth annual report occurs this sentence : " The object of this association, as all doubtless understand, is Christian benevolence, par- ticularly as applied to the subject of Missions at the West." Herein lies the solution of the transformation, whereby under the same organization, "Ojibway " is first " Ceylon " and then " Colportage." Yearly now the tame olive bears the fruit. In 1845, for Colportage, $ 150; in
107
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
1846, for Colportage, $150; in 1847, for Colportage, $ 150 ; in 1848, for Colportage, $150; in 1849, for Colportage, $150; in 1850, for Colportage, $ 150; in 1851, for Colpor- tage, $ 130. The third name on the secretary's book is still the name of the tree of such abundant fruitage; but the treasurer's book keeps its receipts and appropriations un- der one style, " Young Ladies' Missionary Society," until 1846. At this date the discovery seems to have been made that, the fruit being all of one sort, it might be better to call the tree by the same name as the fruit. So they record : " This society shall be called The Ladies' Colporteur Association," but they make no change in the constitution so far as it declares its object to help the poor Indian.
So this efficient and successful organization, formed " for the promotion of the religious and moral interests of a remnant of the once powerful and numerous, but now almost extinguished race," paid
To American Tract Society $ 1,320.00
To enlarge the Meeting-House. 600.00
To Ceylon Mission 111.46
To A. B. C. F. M. 18.04
To the Ojibway Mission. 75.07
Total $ 2,124.57
It is a source of comfort to ascertain that, whatever failures the nation has made in its treatment of the North American Indians, at least $ 75.07 have been appropriated for their welfare by this society. Subsequent to 1851 there appears the collection of $ 80, and a bequest of $ 500 by Mrs. Elizabeth Young. These sums were also given to the American Tract Society.
£
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
CO-OPERATIVE WORK.
THERE are spheres of Christian effort in which church- lines must be ignored, and in these spheres this church is largely efficient.
THE CAMBRIDGE DISPENSARY, furnishing medical attend- ance and medicine and nurses to such of the sick as are unable to secure them for themselves, receives its share of money and of counsel from this church. Two of its directors are our Deacons.
AVON PLACE HOME, securing a home with its provision and instruction and discipline and care for children, whose parents cannot, or will not, do these things for them, has a directress of our number.
UNION MISSION SEWING-SCHOOL, holding its meetings regularly for the purpose of teaching children to sew, is doing an inexpressible amount of good among the poor girls of this city. The president and treasurer and a large number of teachers in this cause are from the Pros- pect Street church and society.
MISSION AUX. TO A. B. C. F. M. In this more recent method of helping the far-off people of darkness, our ladies, in connection with the ladies of the Pilgrim Church, have been engaged since January, 1872. They have paid to the Woman's Board, since that time, in an- nual instalments, $ 1,042. From among this branch the Board had just selected one for the Japan field, when Rev. Isaac Pierson of the China mission, took Miss Sarah E. Dyer, under an alias Pierson, with him to North China.
WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION. Prominent
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
among the agencies for reform is this organization. Amer- ican in its origin, it is emphatically American in its type. Nation, State, and town, three and yet one, alone and to- gether, it seeks to diminish intemperance. It exists here as the Cambridgeport Union. Formed in February, 1876 ; three of its five vice-presidents and its secretary were from this church. Under a change in its number of offi- cers, one of its two vice-presidents, its secretary, two of the executive committee of ten, and one of its three col- lectors, are of our number the present year.
DURING THE WAR. The records of the work done by the women of this society during the struggle are not written with pen nor printed in ink. Yet the record is not lost. On the memories of those who knit on street- cars and steam-cars, who spent one Sunday afternoon at their homes pulling lint, who gathered up boxes and bar- rels to send to the front, as well as those who afterward found their lint at the paper factory, these scenes are in- scribed, and will go down in tradition, as there have come to us stories of our great-grandmothers running the bul- lets in their homes and our grandmothers, little girls then, forming an express-company to convey them along the line, from their humble homes to the field of battle. Very tamely do the money contributions specified in our table, very tamely does the $ 30,000 subscription in our city for the benefit of soldiers and their families, very tamely do the reports of the Massachusetts Soldiers' Relief Asso- ciation, and very tamely does this our tribute of gratitude, tell to those who, fifty years hence, shall be looking for the spirit of the Christian women of this church in their deeds, how quick their hearts were to feel, their minds to devise, their feet to run, and their hands to do; and
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
how, amid this quickened and patient self-sacrifice, they poured out effectual prayers to God, whose eye at once looked with compassion on the separated families, united still in their endeavors for a common good.
MINISTERIAL MEMBERS.
ENOCH POND. The first ministerial member of the church, except the first pastor (who presented his letter from the church in Worcester but six months before), was Rev. Enoch Pond. He was then editing "The Spirit of the Pilgrims." Remaining here from 1829 to 1833, he was very closely associated with the enterprise, and was alike useful in their meetings for council, their meetings for prayer, in which his voice was always heard in the sing- ing, as well as the other " parts " of such meetings. Be- fore the days of " Pastoral Exchanges " (one of the institu- tions of Boston), he very frequently supplied the desk during the long vacancies of the pastorate, and the days of " smallness and feebleness " of the church. He still lives in an honored old age, an octogenarian, at Bangor, Me. His wife is dead, but his daughter, Wealthy, the wife of Rev. Wooster Parker, of Belfast, Me., is living, rejoicing alike in a titled father at Bangor, and son, Dr. E. P. Parker, at Hartford, Ct.
From the first pastoral member every pastor has brought his church letter with him to this church, and taken it with him from this church (save that Mr. Karr, recently gone from us, is still a member here), except Mr. Twin- ing ; a slight Congregational irregularity, accounted for, perhaps, from his long residence at New Haven, Ct. The
41 94 19
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
church has been without other ministerial members but fifteen out of the fifty years, and has had from one to five during the rest of the time.
Rev. Asa Bullard, united in 1857.
Ebenezer Newhall,
1864.
Christopher Cushing, D. D. 1872.
Wm. A. Mandell,
1873.
" James M. Palmer, 1877.
These five, with the five who have gone from us, -- Rev. Enoch Pond, D. D., Rev. Christopher Marsh, D. D., Rev. W. B. Tappan, Rev. Joseph Haven, and Rev. David Tilton, - have left a good record for co-operation and assist- ance in the past, and, with the exception of Father New- hall, waiting, amid the infirmities of age, for his departure, near at hand, the present ministerial members contribute to the peace and present prosperity of the church and so- ciety, the proverb to the contrary notwithstanding.
MINISTERS FROM OUR MEMBERSIIIP.
In addition to the two from the original forty-six namely, Bancroft and Bisco, four from this Church have entered the gospel ministry.
WILLIAM W. MERIAM, born in Princeton, Mass., in 1830, and professing religion by uniting with this church in 1851, graduated at Harvard College in 1855, and An- dover Seminary in 1858. He was ordained by a council in this church in November, 1858, and in January, 1859, embarked from Boston as a missionary of the American Board to labor in Bulgaria. In July, 1862, he was mur- dered by armed robbers on the road from Adrianople to Philippopolis as he was returning from the annual meet- ing of the missionaries. MRS. W. W. MERIAM (Susan
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
Dimond), having married in 1858, accompanied him to his field of labor. She was with him in his last fatal journey, as was their only daughter. Heroically endur- ing at the time the shock, her anxiety and distress on that occasion brought on her death, and she died three weeks after his murder, leaving the child, as she had been left, an orphan at a very tender age. They died members of this church, and, very appropriately, a sermon commem- orative of their death was preached in this house on the 14th of the following September.
REV. MARSHALL M. CUTTER, a member of the Sunday school from 1848 to 1868, began as a scholar, and was after- ward secretary, teacher, and organist in the school, and for several years organist in the church. He became a member of the church on profession of his faith in 1858. In September, 1868, he married Ellen P. Holman, who united with this church in 1866. A graduate of Harvard College, 1864, and Andover Seminary in 1868, he was or- dained pastor of the church in Ashland in December, 1868. Rev. Mr. Twining, pastor, and Rev. Asa Bullard, a member of this church, respectively preached the sermon and made the ordaining prayer. Much as he loved this church, and long as he had been intimately associated with it, he was loyal to the claims of the local church, and therefore with his wife took a letter and was transferred to the church in Ashland. In 1873 he was installed pastor at West Medford, where he still remains.
REV. E. P. WILSON removed from Maine to Cambridge- port in 1862, as a proof-reader at Riverside Press. Float- ing about somewhat, he attended this church part of the time. Brought up in a Christian family, leading a life of prayer, distracted "by reading books opposed to the divinity
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
. of our Lord," he at last submitted to the righteousness of God, and united with the church in 1866. In 1867 he entered Bangor Seminary. His college course was com- posed of five periods, and the names of these periods are all the names that college has, - country school, academy, printing-office, reporting on daily newspaper, and reading proof. Graduating at Bangor, he was ordained pastor at Bridgton, Me., in 1871, Mr. Twining preaching the sermon. He married in 1872, and was settled pastor at Watertown, where he still remains, in July, 1872. At this date he transferred his connection from us to Watertown.
GEORGE H. BIRD, though not yet ordained a minister, has already entered the field, having spent the last sum- mer in Albany, Me., as an evangelist, where he accom- plished much good. Having graduated at Harvard in 1876, he is now pursuing his theological studies at Yale, and is in his second year there.
FINANCES OF THE CHURCH.
FROM the very commencement this church has pur- sued the "pay as you go" method in the conduct of its finance. From two of the original members I have re- ceived by letter these two very significant facts: "We never had a debt over three months old"; " Fresh sub- scriptions were made every quarter as the pew rentals did not pay our expenses." Tradition (no written record can be found) is in evidence that the meeting-house was erected at a cost of $ 4,000, and that it was all paid for when it was dedicated ; that those who built the house taxed themselves ten per cent of their possessions, or, in ancient terms, gave a tithe of all they possessed in order
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
to provide for themselves a sanctuary. On the Treasurer's books we find no allusion to any effort to pay debts in- curred in building the church, but we find frequently such allusions with reference to small debts incurred for other purposes. And we find the yellow and rough and well- worn sheet of paper, in size of letter-paper, on which, in various handwriting, appear names and sums by which " they who are dead still live." One of these subscrip- tion papers, dated October 22, 1829, is here inserted. It begins "Whereas," and, enumerating the several claims due, then deducting pew-rents due (as if actually paid, showing the estimation of private indebtedness in those days), striking the balance $ 101.87, it proceeds :-
"Now, we the subscribers agree .... for the purpose of meeting said deficiency, provided the whole sum is subscribed."
CAMBRIDGE, October 22, 1829.
Francis E. Faulkner ... $ 10.00 | Dexter Fairbank
$5.00
Augustus Richardson. ... 5.00
Mrs. Bisco 3.00
M. B. Houghton 5.00
Mrs. Howard from sundry
persons. 8.37
W. J. Hubbard 10.00
Hannah Chaplin 15.00
Joanna Newcomb 5.00
Dexter Fairbank 3.00
Martha Gardner 5.00
Martha Gardner
3.00
Mr. Bowtell. 1.50
Hannah Chaplin 5.00
.William Fisk 5.00
Enoch Pond 3.00
Samuel Barrett 10.00
$101.87
That is a model subscription-paper, for, 1st, it just meets the sum asked; 2d, it was every cent paid; and, 3d, like the type given to Moses for the tabernacle, - it is the only one closely and uniformly followed in church financiering, - it "doubles up " towards the close.
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
Whether the church is large or small, some persons must give twice, or the thing is not done. The Treasurer's account is balanced every quarter, generally closing with an entry on the debtor side, " borrowed of Deacon Fisk," some small amount. The tables under the two follow- ing heads, expenditures and beneficence, exhibit the dis- bursements of the whole period so far as they are a matter of record.
EXPENDITURES.
In this history of fifty years there appears a very great difference in the amounts disbursed. One is compelled to go to some other source than the records of either church or society to ascertain the amount raised for build- ing the two meeting-houses. The total amounts for the fifty years have been
For preaching, including what has been paid for all supplies
$84,448.08
For playing the organ
7,847.47
For singing.
8,641.19
For sundries, including all other expenses
28,786.16
$ 129,722.90
Add cost of this church
24,584.01
$ 154,306.91
The pastors' salaries have run from $ 700 to $ 4,000 per annum. The organist has been paid from nothing to $ 536.81 per annum. For twenty-six years hired singers have been employed, at an expense ranging from $ 20 to $ 699.80 per annum. The following table affords an approximate exhibit of what has been paid pastors :-
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
Between
Years.
Between
Years.
$ 400 and $ 500
1
$ 1,700 and $ 1,800
2
500 and 600
1 2,000 and 2,100
4
700 and 800
3
2,300 and 2,400 1
800 and 900
2
2,500 and 2,600
2
900 and 1,000 2
3,000 and 3,100 1
1,000 and 1,100 5
3,100 and 3,200 4
:
1,100 and 1,200 2
3,900 and 4,000 1
1,200 and 1,300 5
4,000 and 4,100 1
1,300 and 1,400
4
4,100 and 4,200 1
1,500 and 1,600
8
BENEFICENCE.
No system has been adopted. For many years the church raised money by pew-rentals, contributions on the plates, and subscriptions for general purposes and special objects. Moreover, the busy hands of the sisters have been engaged with the needle in assisting the needy at home and far away. In 1853, 1862, and 1876 committees were appointed to arrange a system of benevolent contributions. These actions, however, contemplated the adoption of cer- tain objects of benevolence, which the church would help, rather than any definite mode and measure of giving.
The following collections have been taken up during the past twenty-five years :-
Number.
Amount.
American and Foreign Christian Union 10 $ 854.42
American Bible Society
8. 432.08
Seamen's Friend Society
12
596.99
Foreign Missions
25
15,129.91
Home Missionary Society
20 4,380.17
Colportage .
2. 300.00
Educational Purposes
20
1,927.29
City Missions and Stearns Chapel
24 19,752.69
Carried forward $ 43,373.55
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
Brought forward $ 43,373.55
Congregational Union
13 1,652.95
Poor of the church and City 3 292.64
Cambridge Dispensary 103
5,503.69
Sunday school 14 847.39
Southern Aid Society
1 50.00
Mission to Jews 1 10.00
Father Chiniquy Mission 1 101.37
American Tract Society. 4. 333.71
Congregational Publication Society 6 386.44
Italian Church 1 9.37
To Colored Men to purchase Children 2 53.66
Sanitary Commission 1 230.38
Christian Commission 3 385.00
Soldiers' Aid Society 3 412.51
Freedman's Aid 3 450.82
Sufferers from War, Famine, and Fire 3 639.51
Churches in Distress 5 350.93
Children's Aid Society, Van Meter 1 89.21
Conferences and Councils 2 224.00
Home Evangelization Society 1 25.69
Grand Ligne Mission 1
53.10
American Missionary Association 10 1,376.42
Home for Little Wanderers 2 570.74
Memorial Fund 1 356.50
Aged and Indigent Ministers 1 78.60
North End Mission
1 33.63
To Build Pilgrim Church 1 5,000.00
From Sunday school - Main School in 10 years ...
2,568.47
From Sunday school - Infant Class in 10 years ... 512.00
From Ladies' Missionary Society
2,704.57
From Ladies' Sewing Society 5,000.00
From Society Annexed to Woman's Board in 6 years
1,002.00
Total
$ 74,678.85
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
COLLECTIONS AT COMMUNIONS.
Because the people never see them distributed in con- nection with that service, the curious often inquire, What is done with funds collected at communion seasons ? The standing rules are silent on this point. January 14, 1852, we find : " The moneys collected at communion, after pay- ing the expenses of the rite, shall be distributed by the pastor and deacons amongst the poor of the church." July 1, 1859, " The moneys received at next communion shall be appropriated to the purchase of a communion ser- vice as a present to Amherst College." April 11, 1873, voted, " That the collection to be taken at the next com- munion be appropriated in aid of Rev. Mr. Wright." In this church these moneys seem to have constituted a fund to be applied as occasions call for them.
PASTORATES.
DR. W. A. STEARNS. - At no place in this discourse, as here, have I felt my personal unfitness to do justice to the subject immediately in hand. Never having met him save on a single occasion ; in my educational training entirely unassociated and unacquainted with the college over which he presided ; in my ministerial associations, as in my field of pastoral labor, equally a stranger to the pastors and the churches of this vicinity, for me to speak to you to-day the fitting words concerning your Dr. Stearns seems as much out of place as it would have been for a Japanese to have spoken to us fitting words about our George Washington, July 4, 1876. Calling to your recollection your heroic pastor, who was your leader
-.
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
during the two campaigns wherein you defended your claim to existence, and endured the domestic trial, am I beside myself when I seem to see in him your General Washington and General Grant ? Professor Tyler says he was accustomed to call his life a book of three chap- ters : Chapter First, "Preparation," of twenty-six years ; Chapter Second, "Pastorate," twenty-three years ; and Chapter Third (he knew not the end), twenty-two years. The whole of his pastorate was here. Preaching here his first sermon while yet in the seminary, he accepted the unanimous call, and was installed December 14, 1831. Professor Tyler in his memorial sermon says : " The church was small, the society was feeble, the place an unattrac- tive suburb half-way between Boston and Cambridge, dis- owned and despised by both." His friends asked, "Why do you wish to settle in that mud-hole ?" Dr. Porter, at Andover, " wondered that he should be willing to bury his talents in an enterprise which some of its best friends regarded as already a failure." Dr. Codman told him " he was a fool to make the attempt." Dr. Beecher alone of his advisers encouraged him. They could offer him a salary of only $ 700, with a commission on pew-rentals as they should increase. It was missionary ground. This was one reason why he came, - there was room to grow ; and another reason was, he and the people fell in love with each other at first sight. This mutual admiration and respect grew. The church edifice was enlarged twice, - first, by enclosing the vestibule and by building a tower in front, and, secondly, by enclosing the galleries, -and then growth called for this new house. All the buildings which this society has ever erected, even including Stearns Chapel, were erected during his pastorate. As a neighbor, he won
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
the hearts and commanded the respect of his opponents in theology, and by meekness overcame those who opposed themselves. His strong common-sense intrenched him in his citadel of conscious rectitude, and within this cita- del he kept the young church which he presided over. Erelong he opened the gates, and welcomed many who had been loud in their opposition, but afterward became his most active coworkers. Whether the yellow carpet (yellow seems to have been the favorite color in this town then ; we like green and white and scarlet better now, as our decorations proclaim), - whether the yellow carpet which the descendants of Nicodemus laid down on the path leading from Mrs. Chaplin's, on Austin, opposite Temple, Street, away down to the corner of Norfolk and Washington, was a token of their anxiety to protect his feet from " the niud," or a confessional gift because of their previous bitter words, is not recorded, but, without doubt, it was prompted by feelings in some sort religious, and was received by him in solemn silence, as it had been spread by them in solemn darkness. His pastorate was as eminent for its usefulness as for its length. He found the church weak ; he left it mighty. He found it socially ostracized ; when he left it had no social superior. He found it an experiment almost abandoned; he left it unquestionably and emphatically a success.
Compared with it, the one pastorate which preceded and the five which came after appear as diminutive in influence as they are brief in continuance. They average well among ordinary pastorates, both in duration and usefulness, and neither people nor pastors need blush that they have been permitted the acquaintance and co- operation of the other. The church holds their names in
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
fond remembrance, and would gladly have welcomed them all to its Golden Anniversary to-day, had it been possible. Of the six ex-pastors, its first two have fallen asleep in Jesus ; one, Rev. W. S. Karr, D. D., is in Hart- ford, Ct .; one, Rev. J. O. Murray, D. D., in Princeton, N. J. ; one, Rev. Kinsley Twining, is in Edinburgh, Scot- land. Letters have been received from these three absent ones, and will be read this afternoon, which will exhibit their affection for the church. Rev. E. W. Gilman, D. D., is the only one whom we, church and pastor, are permitted to greet and welcome to-day, - the church as its former pastor, and I as my former tutor in Yale College.
OFFICERS.
PASTORS.
DURING these fifty years the church has had but thirty- eight and a half years of pastoral service. Seven pastors have been installed. There have been no " acting " pastors, but during the interim the pulpit has been regularly supplied. The following table exhibits the pastorates and vacancies : -
Years. Months.
Vacancy, Sept. 20, 1827, to April 23, 1829, 1 7
David Perry, April 23, 1829, to Oct. 13, 1830, 1 6
Vacancy, Oct. 13, 1830, to Dec. 14, 1831, 1 2
William A. Stearns, Dec. 14, 1831, to Dec. 14, 1854, 23 Vacancy, Dec. 14, 1854, to Sept. 9, 1856, 1
9
E. W. Gilman, Sept. 9, 1856, to Oct. 22, 1858, 2
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