USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The West Church, Boston; commemorative services on the fiftieth anniversary of its present ministry, and the one hundred and fiftieth of its foundation, on Tuesday, March 1, 1887, with three sermons by its pastor > Part 2
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THE WEST CHURCH, BOSTON.
which is a solid fact! I have noticed since no sign of decay. In a great gallery of pictures, through which successive generations of admiring spectators had passed, one of a company of visitors said, " We seem to be the shadows, those canvases on the wall the realities." But from no pigments and with no painter's brush can images be drawn into forms and tints comparable to the Christian ideas, or having such a lease of life. They give no quit-claim of their property in the human mind. Your bond or mortgage runs for you and your heirs and assigns into but another century at most; the religious ob- ligations and spiritual affections have a hold on us from which we cannot conceive of being ab- solved. On the first page of this parchment-bound book which I hold in my hand is the first known entry of William Hooper's weekly stipend, the 27th of February one hundred and fifty years ago this day. For what have men paid or will they still sacrifice and suffer so much as for their faith? We bid you hope.
THE WEST CHURCH.
1737-1887.
THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF ITS FOUNDATION, AND THE FIFTIETH OF ITS PRESENT MINISTRY.
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 1887.
ORDER OF EXERCISES.
VOLUNTARY ON THE ORGAN.
ANTHEM. " Hallelujah Chorus," "The Messiah " Handel.
PRAYER.
ADDRESSES.
Rev. CYRUS A. BARTOL, D.D. Rev. FREDERICK H. HEDGE, D.D. Rev. E. A. PARK, D.D.
HYMN Butcher.
From north and south, from east and west, Advance the myriads of the blest ; From every clime of earth they come, And find in heaven a common home.
Howe'er divided here below, One bliss, one spirit, now they know ; And, all their doubts and darkness o'er, One only Parent now adore.
On earth, according to their light, They aimed to practise what was right ; Hence all their errors are forgiven, And Jesus welcomes them to heaven.
See how, along the immortal meads, His glorious host the Saviour leads ! And brings the myriads none can count To seats of joy on Zion's Mount.
ADDRESSES.
His Excellency OLIVER AMES, Governor of the Commonwealth. Rev. GEORGE E. ELLIS, D.D., LL.D., President of the Massachusetts Historical Society. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL, D.C.L., LL.D.
DUET. "O Lovely Peace," " Judas Maccabaus " Handel.
ADDRESSES.
Rev. A. A. MINER, D.D. Rev. ROBERT T. S. LOWELL, D.D. Mr. MOHINI.
HYMN FOR THE OCCASION By Miss Mary Bartol.
Read by Rev. LOAMMI G. WARE.
ANTHEM. " Gloria " Mozart's 12th Mass.
ADDRESSES.
Rev. GEORGE ANGIER GORDON. Rev. HENRY BERNARD CARPENTER. Rev. PHILIP S. MOXOM.
DOXOLOGY.
BENEDICTION.
Rev. PHILLIPS BROOKS, D.D.
MINISTERS OF THE WEST CHURCH.
WILLIAM HOOPER, 1737-1746. JONATHAN MAYHEW, 1747-1766. SIMEON HOWARD, 1767-1804. CHARLES LOWELL, 1806-1861.
CYRUS A. BARTOL, 1837-
Committee of Arrangements.
CHARLES G. LORING.
ALEXANDER WADSWORTH.
THOMAS GAFFIELD. J. OTIS WETHERBEE. ALEXANDER F. WADSWORTH.
Ashers.
GRENVILLE HOWLAND NORCROSS. JOHN RAYNER EDMANDS. JAMES RUSSELL REED. THORNTON HOWARD SIMMONS. WINTHROP TISDALE TALBOT. WILLIAM T. NEWTON.
EDWARD HALE GREENLEAF. WINTHROP WETHERBEE. WALTER H. DUGAN.
GEORGE URIEL CROCKER.
HOWARD L. SHURTLEFF. E. LYMAN BROWN.
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1506655
COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES.
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THE WEST CHURCH JUBILEE.
ADDRESS OF REV. C. A. BARTOL,
PASTOR OF THE WEST CHURCH.
" THE Lord is our shepherd : we shall not want. He maketh us to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth us beside the still waters. He restoreth our soul. He leadeth us in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake."
I take for granted that without form or prescrip- tion from this place, the prayer unspoken, unspeak- able, unceasing, arises from your hearts, not for the presence, but for our feeling of the presence of Him to whose glory, in the name of His Son, so long ago this church was founded and this building reared. For, my friends, Nature respects and repeats the past. It was just such a clear, cold, blowing, spark- ling, inspiring day fifty years ago, - to-day I might call the photograph of that day, - that I stood at this desk, and heard Ware preach, and felt Lowell's hands on my head. A party of my own family coming from Portland that day in the stage were overset three times in the snow; yet they arrived
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THE WEST CHURCH, BOSTON.
safe to the ordination of the son and brother. I think such gatherings as this resemble, though on a great outward scale, those agape, or love-feasts, of the early Christians, in whose little assemblies in the conventicles, in the catacombs, on the hill- sides, such vast principles were involved, and from which such great and enduring consequences were to flow; so that we feel here to-day the vibration of that long wire which is made of time and truth.
I greet you with the earnest welcome of this people to this festive hour. To be sure, our guests to-day bring to the hosts their own and our fare. It is written, as it was spoken by him who had no occasion to write to preserve his words, " Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God;" but the articulate word of God must always be pronounced in this world by the mouth of man, and we feed on it. I am glad it is pronounced in such various ways and diverse tongues all over the world, and I rejoice in the catholic character of this occasion. As the sunbeam blends and hides the seven col- ors which the prism so handsomely parts; as the division of notes on a musical instrument by the string and pipe generates the harmony; as "all Nature's difference makes all Nature's peace,"- so the Spirit has manifold operations and mani- festations, all of which are needful in order to make the full utterance of that mighty Spirit, the whole of which no man, no sect, no denomination,
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COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES.
no language, no faith, from the east to the west, can perfectly embrace, and which it will take not only earth, but heaven and eternity, to begin to conceive and to set forth.
This is called, I observe in the papers, a celebra- tion. My friends, I am not at all in a celebrating mood. I do not consider it any credit to have lived and been busy in my vocation for fifty years. There is a dash of regret, perhaps a sprinkling holier than from the priest's hand of repentance and remorse, a certain shrinking which he must have been either a greatly self-satisfied or very excellent man in looking at his record to avoid, in all retrospect. Call it, if you will, the observ- ance by the West Church of the double anniversary of the Fifty and One Hundred and Fifty years. We are called, I think, to observe such great periods of time; and there was, my friends of this flock will remember, an observance of the fiftieth anniversary of my senior colleague and dear friend Dr. Lowell. To me this is a time of gratitude to God, of thought- ful memory of the vanished ones, of solemn joy ; and there is no joy that can be deep which is not somewhat solemn. I do not feel jubilant : I feel very sober as I stand before you. How many a thing done or said by me, but for the good intent thereof, I might be glad to avoid, wipe out, have some angel's tear- as we read in Laurence Sterne about Uncle Toby's oath - drop on it, and blot it out forever !
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TIIE WEST CHURCH, BOSTON.
But as I stand here on this occasion, wishing to give you the inmost thought and deepest feeling of my mind and heart, let me say, I am myself at peace in myself and with all men. If any wrong by any fellow-creature has ever been done me, or any one remembers anything of that nature, - I doubt if any one does in this assembly, - I feel it in my soul to say I forgive it. I am clean of it: there is not a rankling memory in my breast. I forgive it wholly, if there be anything to forgive. But pardon, as I think of it in my own mind, is reduced to a very small quantity, even to a vanishing point, as the mathematicians tell us. For how much goodness, how much gladness more than I deserve, infinitely more than I expected, has been poured into my lot ! If the cup of a person is that which holds his just measure, then how my cup continu- ally, so as not to be gauged with contents incalcu- lable, has been running over! I thank every one who has put either a drop of sweet or a healthy bitter into that cup. As the great French scholar, Ernest Renan, said, " I am satisfied with the period I have been called to traverse," so am I content with what I have had, -if you will pardon the common word to express it, -for my portion in this spread and festival of life.
My friends, I told the committee it would be my honest wish and was my earnest purpose to serve to-day simply as an usher to introduce the speakers who do us honor and show their large charity by
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COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES.
coming into this house, although I doubt not they feel, as I feel, that it honors them to be in any house of sincere worship of God. You will hold the committee, then, answerable for insisting, as they did, that I should do just a little more than introduce the speakers.
I am very sorry to say that my dear friend Dr. Hedge, disappointing us, is himself sorely disap- pointed not to be able to be present, and has de- sired that I, and not another, as I suggested to him, should read his paper.
ADDRESS OF REV. FREDERICK H. HEDGE, D.D., LL.D.
MR. PRESIDENT, - My call to speak on this occa- sion is due to no personal connection with this society, but simply to the uncovenanted grace and friendship of its pastor, who celebrates, together with the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of his church, the fiftieth of his pastorate.
What I have to say relates to the unsectarian, undogmatic character of the West Church. It is usually ranked with the Unitarian churches of the city, but has never, I believe, distinctly owned that belonging. In the Unitarian Year Book it is named an " Independent Congregational Society." It is the only one in the city which bears that designation. There are Orthodox Congregational
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THE WEST CHURCH, BOSTON.
churches; there are Unitarian, Episcopal, Baptist, Methodist, Roman Catholic, and others; and there is this one Independent Congregational, - the West Church.
When the unfortunate schism took place which divided the Congregational body into two hostile camps, the Trinitarian and Unitarian, Dr. Lowell, then pastor of this church, would side with neither of the parties. He would have nothing to do with theological quarrels. He hated Unitarian-ISM, and he hated Trinitarian-ISM ; it was hard to say which he hated most. He included them both, and all other doctrinal ISMS, in one comprehensive, impar- tial anathema. He stood alone, strong in his inde- pendence, - an erect spirit.
I recall his pathetic remonstrance when at a meet- ing of the Congregational Charitable Society, which embraced both parties, it was proposed that we should divide according to our doctrinal affinities ; that the Trinitarians should meet in one place, and the Unitarians in another. After some wrangling on both sides Dr. Lowell rose, and filled with right- eous indignation said : "You propose a separation ; you would have the Trinitarians go to Park Street, and the Unitarians to Federal Street : where shall I go ? I belong to neither of those bodies, and never will. This society is charged with a sacred charity ; the widows and orphans of deceased Congregational ministers are largely dependent on us for their sup- port; they look to our annual contributions for their
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COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES.
needful bread. If those contributions fail by reason of our disputes, if any of those widows perish in consequence, their blood shall not be found on the skirts of my garment." The separation did not take place.
The schism in the Congregational body was un- avoidable. It may have served to promote in- vestigation and the critical study of the Bible, but ecclesiastically its consequences have been disas- trous. Seconded by thé nearly coincident abolition of the third article of the constitution of this Com- monwealth, which taxed citizens for the maintenance of public worship, it has had the effect to substitute in the place of the old territorial parish a number of feeble societies in towns where the population barely suffices to furnish a single church with decent accommodation and able ministry. Each sect insists on having its own pet dogma or rite represented in a separate communion. The support of such, falling on a few, becomes burdensome, and for want of sup- port the character of the ministry degenerates ; the service ceases to satisfy, it ceases to command re- spect. Hence in the small interior towns a marked decline in attendance on public worship.
In view of this evil, one is tempted to crave an established church, supported like our public schools by local taxation, - a catholic church, as catholic as the absence of doctrinal tests and liturgical restric- tions can make it, within the limits of the Christian confession.
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THE WEST CHURCH, BOSTON.
In a recent convention of Episcopalians it was proposed to change the title of their church from Protestant Episcopal to "American Catholic." I have a great regard for the Episcopal Church; I sympathize with it in some of its aspects and as represented by many of its clergy. But the claim set up by zealots of that communion to be especially catholic, to be the church by way of eminence, strikes me as an impudent assumption. A lady of my ac- quaintance was asked by one of these bigots if there were a church in the town where she lived. " Oh, yes, there are several; there is the Orthodox Congrega- tionalist, the Baptist, the Unitarian, the Methodist." " I am not speaking of your sects," said the querist, " but is there any church there ? "
It is a comfort to know that the most popular, the ablest minister of that church in this city, perhaps in this land, disavows that claim and stoutly resists the proposed change in the title of his church.
There was once an established church in Massa- chusetts ; that was the Congregational. In the early days of our history Episcopalians, Baptists, and others were dissenters. The first Congregational ministers of Boston had, I believe, received Episco- pal ordination in the mother country. They might on that ground claim apostolic succession, if apos- tolic succession is understood to mean communica- tion of the Holy Spirit by laying on of prelatical hands. But they had it on quite other grounds. For the Holy Spirit is not conveyed by impact ; it is
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COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES.
not contagious; it has quite other channels than any priestly touch. The Cottons, the Nortons, the Mathers, the Eckleys, the Chauncys, the Mayhews of Boston may be supposed to have had quite as much of it as the fox-hunting divines and the Par- son Frullivers who represented so largely the chorus of the Anglican Church in the eighteenth century, before John Wesley brought to it a fresh importa- tion of the Spirit direct from the bosom of God.
The Episcopal Church can never in this country be a catholic church. With the church of Rome on one side and a multitude of Protestant sects on the other, it can never be anything else than a partial denominational communion, a sect among sects.
And still a catholic church remains forever the true ecclesiastical ideal. Sectarianism is the bane of religion, - I mean, institutional religion. Differ- ences of opinion on questions of theology there must and will be so long as the meddling, inquisi- tive, pertinacious understanding persists to peer and pry into the awful mysteries of the Spirit. In ac- cordance with these differences let there be schools of dogmatic theology, as many as you please. But the church should not be a school of dogmatic the- ology; it should be a school of practical Christianity, inspired, expounded, and enforced by the pulpit. I can conceive of a church which should be so undogmatic, so unpolemic, as to command the re- spect, engage the interest, and secure the co-opera- tion of all who care less for the prevalence of their
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THE WEST CHURCH, BOSTON.
specialty than they do for the maintenance of public worship.
Meanwhile the Independent Congregational is the form of ecclesiastical polity most consonant with our political institutions. There might, I conceive, be a union of such bodies for the common cause, without prejudice to the independence of each. The West Church is such a body, an Independent Congregational society. May it ever remain such ; and if topographical exigency shall compel its mi- gration to another quarter of the city where the term WEST would no longer express its locality, may it carry thither its traditional independence.
The edifice in which we are assembled, though less than a hundred years old, is yet one of the oldest in the city among those which are still used for public worship. It was builded in a time when churches were constructed with a view to practical conve- nience rather than architectural display ; before Gothic anachronisms, exotic models, and ambitious devices had supplanted the indigenous type of the old New England meeting-house. No superfluous columns, no groinings, no arches with their spran- drels here obstruct the continuous undulation of sound. No stained glass creates an artificial gloom, making the entrance to the sanctuary like the en- trance to a crypt. Abundance of light, natural as well as spiritual, the worshippers here enjoy.
Older by seventy years than this present place of its devotions, the West Church now celebrates its
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COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES.
hundred and fiftieth birthday. One hundred and fifty years seem a long period for a short-lived mor- tal to look back upon, but it counts for very little in the history of a city ; and the history of a city counts for very little in the geologic annals of the globe ; and the globe itself is but a transient phase in the ever proceeding evolution of being. Past and fu- ture, - all tenses are merged in that one stupendous aorist. But even in human life there are things for which time has no measure and no bound; there are values which no date can determine. Every holy aspiration kindled at this altar, every heart- born prayer that has gone up from pulpit or pew, every impulse to a better life, every moral victory won by ministration of the Word within these walls is immortal. These things are of and in the Spirit that inhabits eternity.
And this I hold to be the true function of a church, - to bear witness of the Spirit, to maintain the Spirit, to diffuse the Spirit, to procure for it an abundant entrance into the heart and the life. Only as it serves that function has the church any right to its place in the crowded streets of a city. If it fails of that end, why cumbereth it the ground ?
DR. BARTOL : I am sorry to have to say that Dr. Park, from whom I have received more or less recently very affectionate and sympathetic letters, and whom I specially desired to represent here his own position in the theological world, is, to his sorrow and to mine, prevented by severe illness, though I trust not dangerous, from even
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THE WEST CHURCH, BOSTON.
being present. I have also received a letter from Rev. Robert Lowell, a son of Dr. Charles Lowell, and an Epis- copal clergyman in Schenectady, N. Y., abounding in the same affectionate expressions ; one also from Rev. Henry Bernard Carpenter, who has taken a severe cold, so that his voice does not amount to a whisper. These letters, and a multitude of others from men and women, so abound in expressions of personal good-will and approbation to your humble servant, that I must beg to be excused from reading them on the present occasion.
HYMN.
From north and south, from east and west, Advance the myriads of the blest ; From every clime of earth they come, And find in heaven a common home.
Howe'er divided here below, One bliss, one spirit, now they know ; And, all their doubts and darkness o'er, One only Parent now adore.
On earth, according to their light, They aimed to practise what was right ; Hence all their errors are forgiven, And Jesus welcomes them to heaven.
See how, along the immortal meads, His glorious host the Saviour leads ! And brings the myriads none can count, To seats of joy on Zion's Mount.
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COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES.
DR. BARTOL: Those who are accustomed to attend on the ministrations of this church will bear me witness that the Commonwealth is a common term and designation for both the State and the Church, -for the Commonwealth of Israel as well as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; and I have the honor to introduce to you His Excellency Oliver Ames, Governor of the Commonwealth.
ADDRESS OF HON. OLIVER AMES, GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS.
IT gives me peculiar pleasure to be here to-day, and to bring to this ancient and historic church the greetings of the Commonwealth, and to extend her salutations to its venerable minister. Massachusetts owes much of her greatness to the fact that the church was the principal foundation of her political structure. The laws under which our Forefathers lived were based on dogmas which were a neces- sity for them. We who are enjoying the fruits of their labor and devotion, and know how well they wrought, seek to honor them by giving practical interpretation to that for which they labored; but we could not, at this time, be hampered by the peculiar statutes which were so vital to them.
The people of these days are but little familiar with the close relation of Church and State in the earlier portion of Massachusetts history. To illus- trate this, I will read from Article III., Part First, of the Constitution, which was adopted in June,
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THE WEST CHURCH, BOSTON.
1780, and continued in force until it was amended in November, 1833 :-
" As the happiness of a people and the good order and preservation of civil government essentially depend upon piety, religion, and morality ; and as these cannot be gener- ally diffused through a community but by the institution of the public worship of God and of public instructions in piety, religion, and morality, - therefore, to promote their happiness and to secure the good order and preservation of their government, the people of this Commonwealth have a right to invest their legislature with power to authorize and require, and the legislature shall from time to time authorize and require, the several towns, parishes, pre- cincts, and other bodies, politic or religious societies, to make suitable provision at their own expense for the in- stitution of the public worship of God, and for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality, in all cases where such provision shall not be made voluntarily.
"And the people of this Commonwealth have also a right to, and do, invest their legislature with authority to enjoin upon all the subjects an attendance upon the in- structions of the public teachers aforesaid, at stated times and seasons, if there be any on whose instructions they can conscientiously and conveniently attend."
Notwithstanding the changes in the fundamental laws of the Commonwealth, the Church is to-day as much of a power in society as it ever was. It no longer speaks by the authority of the State, but its influence can and does reach the people in a thou- sand ways for their good. And that it does so is due to the fact that there are such men in the
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COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES.
pulpit, as our venerable friend who has been your guide and leader for half a century. Although Dr. Bartol preaches to a small congregation with- in these walls, yet when he speaks he addresses through the press that larger audience, the nation. There is no need of spoken words of eulogy on my part in an audience like this, where all know his marked ability, the originality of his utterances, his boldness and frankness on all occasions, his noble impulses and generous sympathies. During his long and conspicuous service in this commu- nity, he has always been true to his convictions, and has never failed to stand up to be counted for the right. Faithful minister, loyal friend, indepen- dent preacher, and model citizen, may he live long to instruct and inspire us ; for such a man as he is one of the most precious jewels of humanity!
DR. BARTOL: I now am very glad to introduce to you my dear brother, connected by blood as by old fellowship with the members of this church, - Dr. George E. Ellis, President of the Historical Society.
ADDRESS OF GEORGE E. ELLIS, D.D., L.L.D.
PRESIDENT OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
ALL the old churches of Boston, - those whose life, like that of this church, covers a century and a half of years, - have, each of them, some special point in their history of more or less vital interest
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THE WEST CHURCH, BOSTON.
in the annals of the town, the State, and even of the whole nation. Sometimes the point of interest is the single church itself, as an institution, - like that of the First Church, planted in this wilderness two hundred and fifty-six years ago. In other cases it may relate to the personality of some one of its pastors, conspicuous, eminent, and influen- tial for opinions held by him, for strong indepen- dence of position, and for his contributions by the pen in advance of some great cause.
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