USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > The biography of a church; a brief history of Christ Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts > Part 4
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1 Hoppin, N. An Anniversary Sermon, Nov. 26, 1860.
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THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CHURCH
Material Improvement
Our story now is one of steady growth and improve- ment under Dr. Hoppin's leadership in all phases of the life of the parish. The old organ, most of whose stops and pipes had been stolen during the Revolutionary War, was replaced by a new one. The new rectory on Follen Street was built, paid for, and occupied. The tablets containing the Ten Commandments and the Creed which came from Trinity, Boston, were placed in the rear walls of the church where the two windows now are. The growing attendance at the services required the building of a car- riage shed behind the church and started a discussion of the best methods for enlarging the church. This was to be the chief topic of Christ Church conversation for fif- teen years and has served as an occasional topic ever since.
In 1854 the remaining old box pews on the side aisles were turned into "slips" and all vacant spaces were filled with seats. More seats were gained, but still more were needed. Consequently, the parish debated whether to lengthen the building, to put in galleries, or to have free pews. We get an idea of what a parish meeting was like in those days when we note that there were twenty- three people present at the meeting when the shocking idea of declaring all pews free was put to a vote. It lost by a vote of fourteen to two, with seven people abstaining from voting.
The same year a room added to the west side of the church where our parish house now stands was fitted up for the Sunday School. But more seats were still needed in the church and the parish debated for several years whether to build a full sized stone parish church down by the river "suitable to a large university city" or to enlarge the church building itself. Happily the mo- tion on the stone church was defeated, and in the sum-
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mer of 1857 the present building was cut in two and the chancel and one pillar on each side were moved back, enabling the church to be enlarged twenty-three feet in length or to the extent of two windows. East Apthorp,
THE NUMBER OF WINDOWS INCREASED FROM FIVE TO SEVEN AFTER THE CHURCH WAS LENGTHENED IN 1857
the first minister who supervised the erection of the church, had written to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in England that "particular care has been taken to make the structure useful and durable as well as decently elegant, and in case of future accessions to the congregation it may be easily enlarged." Now almost a century afterward "timbers were found jointed, bolts were ready to be removed, and the originally anticipated enlargement was executed according to the plan of the first architect of the building." 2 The committee on the enlargement suggested that in the near future in the in-
2 Ibid., Batchelder, p. 62.
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THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CHURCH
terest of better lighting a high window be cut in the chancel, or that the windows, believed to have been on either side of the altar, be restored. The necessity of this was removed, however, by the introduction of gas light in 1859 and by a gift by Mr. Rufus Freeman the following year of a stained glass window for the center of the sanctuary over the altar. Samuel Batchelder points out that the outline of the Freeman window was believed to correspond closely to that of the "Venetian Window" originally designed for the place by Peter Harrison.
Although the work of enlargement only cost $2250.00, the whole community was so disastrously affected by the nation-wide panic of 1857 that the vestry minutes reveal that in order to pay the contractor it was necessary "to borrow $500.00 from Mr. George Luther Foote at great inconvenience to himself."
The Harvard Chime
While many slight alterations were made in the in- terior of the church the other outstanding addition of this period was the gift by a committee of Harvard un- dergraduates and alumni led by Richard Henry Dana, author of "Two Years before the Mast," of a chime of bells. This gift naturally raised a question that kept the congregation agitated for some time, namely, where should the bells be hung? After long consideration the parish voted to build a campanile in the rear of the church for the bells. At a meeting a month later this motion was reconsidered and defeated, however; and at a meeting about a year later (Feb., 1860) the "Trustees for the processing of the bells" were authorized to place the bells in the tower after making such alterations for strength as should be needed. Speaking of the chime in 1893, Mr. Samuel Batchelder wrote, "From the outset the bells
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were considered as a common object of interest and en- joyment for the whole city, and their intimate connection with the University made it an expressed part of their purpose that they should be rung, not alone on church days, but also on all festivals and special occasions of the college, a custom which is continued to the present time." The chimes were first rung on the morning of the Centennial Celebration on October 15, 1861, and as late as 1872 one of the bells was used for the city fire alarm.
The Growth of the Parish
This continuous development of the material fabric of the church is really only an outward and visible indication of an even more remarkable growth of the parish in mem- bership and influence during the first twenty-one years of Nicholas Hoppin's ministry. The records of the Cen- tennial Celebration in 1861 enable us to make this vivid by a few figures. Between 1839 and 1861, a period of 22 years, the population of Cambridge increased threefold, from 8000 to 26,000, but the number of communicants increased sevenfold, from 29 to 208; the number of stu- dents associated with the parish increased from 13 to 60, and the total number of people affiliated with the parish from 93 to 542; and in addition Dr. Hoppin had recently organized a Sunday School with an enrollment of 110 pupils. That Christ Church had been transformed under Nicholas Hoppin's leadership from an aided mission of the Diocese to a strong self-supporting parish is seen not only by the fact that the income from pew rents had increased from $365 in 1839 to $2165 in 1860 but also that the rector's salary had increased by 1869 from the small pew rent of 1839 to $1800, a rectory, and two months vacation.
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What Manner of Man?
No one can read the record of these years without re- alizing that without in any way detracting from the loyal devotion of the members of the congregation the man to whom most credit belongs for the transformation from a struggling mission to a strong parish is Nicholas Hoppin. It was he that won to the parish all but a handful of its loyal parishioners. Consequently, we find ourselves asking: What kind of a man was Nicholas Hoppin and what special qualities enabled him to build this parish? The answer is that he was a man of the highest Christian character and a superb pastor in his devotion to the church and in his faithful ministry to his flock. He was a quiet scholarly type of man, well versed in theology, who had achieved particular competence as a student of early church doctrine and practice. He evidently left something to be desired in that generation as a preacher, being in his manner of preaching, according to a con- temporary, "too quiet to please the popular fancy." Dr. F. E. Oliver, who wrote the only existing brief memoir about him, after ascribing his singularly effective min- istry to his natural ability and faithful pastoral care, writes, "There was a sweetness in his nature, and a gentle- ness and courtesy in his demeanor, and, more than all, a deep sense of the responsibility attached to his sacred calling, that gave a dignity to his every act, and won the respect and love of the humblest within his cure." 3 "The remembrance of his constant readiness to minister to all needs," says a writer in the Church Eclectic, "and the tender sympathy and interest with which his services were given, will long be cherished, not least by the poorer members of his flock, who, after he had ceased to hold any definite cure, would frequently turn to him in times of distress and sorrow."
3 Oliver, F. E. Memoir of the Rev. Nicholas Hoppin, D.D., p. 8.
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The Last Act
This chapter would have a happier ending had Dr. Hoppin's ministry closed with the Centennial Celebration in 1861, but the fact is that he continued to serve the parish for another thirteen years. During the first half of this period the parish continued to go forward. The number of communicants increased from 208 in 1861 to 260 in 1876, and the number of pupils in the church school increased in the same period from 110 to 174. The gen- eral progress of the church is further indicated by the fact that in 1862 Dr. Hoppin was elected a deputy to the General Convention; six years later a Sunday School room with a seating capacity of 150 people was erected adjoining the church; and the following year the rector was given a large increase in salary.
One of the serious problems which faces almost every minister at some time in his ministry concerns the length of time he should remain as rector of any congregation. While a minister does not always have the opportunity to leave a parish at the particular time when he feels it would be beneficial for the parish, for himself, or for both, nevertheless if he is convinced of the need for a change the opportunity for one can usually be secured. Evidently in 1869 as Dr. Hoppin entered the fourth decade of his ministry in the parish he was a dear old story to most of the parishioners, and to the young people no doubt he seemed, though barely in his sixties, a venerable grand- father with his bearded countenance and quiet, dignified mien.
Two events occurred at this time the effect of which was disastrous to Dr. Hoppin and extremely serious for the parish. The first was the opening of the new St. John's Memorial Chapel of the Episcopal Theological School, which resulted in the loss not only of a fourth of
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THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CHURCH
the communicants of the parish, but, because of the lo- cation of St. John's on the corner of Mason and Brattle Streets, of many of the more prosperous parishioners. At the close of his annual report to the Diocese for 1869 Dr. Hoppin stated :
"The great reduction in communicants is partly due to the opening of St. John's Memorial Chapel, within the last year, a few rods from Christ Church. In the absence of regular transfer by canonical certificate the number thus lost cannot be definitely stated."
The other event was the relinquishing of compulsory church attendance on the part of the students by Harvard University. This resulted in the loss at the Sunday morning service of from 40 to 60 undergraduates who previously had attended Christ Church and sat in pews near the chancel. To have about a fifth of the congrega- tion suddenly withdraw, particularly when they left va- cant pews in so conspicuous a part of the church, was a severe blow to the morale of the parish, especially on top of the defection to St. John's.
Church attendance and the financial support of the parish declined so sharply as a result that by 1873 the vestry was forced to ask the rector to announce a special offering for the purpose of paying his own salary. In the middle of Lent in 1874 the vestry received two petitions from twenty-four ladies of the parish, among them several wives of vestrymen, in which these ladies, after affirming their appreciation and gratitude to Dr. Hoppin for his faithful labour "in season and out of season," and his "efforts" and "self-denial in behalf of the Parish," urgently requested that the vestry in view of the critical financial situation demand the rector's resignation.
The vestry voted its agreement with the petitions and requested two of their number, Messrs. Samuel Batchel-
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der, Jr. and George Dexter, to wait upon the rector, lay the facts before him, request his resignation, and inform him that they had refrained from reading the petitions into the minutes of their meeting in order that for his sake the matter might be kept secret.
The committee waited upon the rector the next day, Saturday (what a way to help the rector prepare for Sunday!), and reported back to the vestry that "in the course of a somewhat prolonged interview they were unable to discover any disposition on the part of the Rector to coincide with their view of the present situation and future prospects of the Parish."
The following day, Sunday, the rector sent the com- mittee a note stating that the matter would receive his most respectful attention but that he could only properly make his reply to a parish meeting. Three days later, in order to clarify his request that the matter be taken up at a parish meeting, the rector wrote the wardens and vestry a long letter, part of which merits quotation:
"My object," he wrote, " ... was to gain time to prepare such a communication as I should wish to place upon rec- ord, and the multiplied engagements of the latter part of Lent render it a matter of some difficulty to get together the requisite facts and data. I fully appreciated the kind motive which led the Wardens and Vestry to propose hav- ing the whole transaction kept secret and unrecorded, from the supposed possibility of saving something to my feelings and reputation. A secret, however, which was already in the possession of twenty or thirty persons, for whose signa- tures the papers alluded to had been circulated, could be no secret long and in fact it was already known to parties out- side of the Episcopal Church, before the papers had been given to the Vestry. The fact must and will, of course, be immediately known and talked of throughout this com- munity, that Ladies of Christ Church had taken the initia- tive step to have their Rector removed. And I must say,
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that had it been the design to accomplish this object in such a way as to place the greatest stigma upon his professional character, to inflict the keenest pain, and fix an arrow which he will carry to his dying day, it could not have been done more effectually.
I am willing to believe, that not one of the kind hearts, who were induced to take part in such a very unusual mode of action, once thought of this and that they did, with pain to themselves, what they honestly believed for the profit of Christ Church. But now that it is done, it must not only be bruited through Cambridge, but on account of my long standing in the ministry and my somewhat conspicuous position as the Rector of a Parish near a leading Univer- sity, it will undoubtedly be known and discussed, more or less, in Church circles throughout the land, with the usual exaggerations and misunderstanding when things travel far. The idea of keeping it quiet was, therefore, though well and kindly meant, perfectly illusory and this was the reason why I thought it best to have the whole correspond- ence go upon record, with such a statement of facts as I shall be able to make at the Easter meeting. This will not, of course, reach so far as the damaging report, that Ladies, to whom a Priest of the Church had so long and, by their own written statement, so faithfully and blamelessly min- istered, were the foremost to put this indignity upon him. But, it will be better than saying nothing."
He then went on to point out that the vestry's action would almost certainly make it impossible for him to secure another position and be able to support his family and therefore before he resigned he requested a statement indicating that his resignation was not caused by any "want of faithfulness" in the discharge of his ministry, "unsoundness of teaching" or "mental or physical break- down."
The sequel was that a statement was presented to Dr. Hoppin signed by seventy parishioners in which they af-
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firmed their high esteem for him, their conviction that "the increasing financial embarrassment of the Church for the last two or three years, has been largely, if not wholly owing to a cause for which he is not responsible." The vestry gave him a statement exonerating him from any possible accusations of negligence, immorality, or heresy. Dr. Hoppin announced his resignation on Easter Monday 1874 and was presented by the parish with a purse of $4000.
Dr. Hoppin continued to live in Cambridge for twelve years until his death in 1886, supplying in various churches, including Christ Church, as occasion offered, and writing articles on historical subjects for church magazines, but he never again filled any permanent posi- tion. These last years were a sorry anticlimax to his years of vigorous service to the parish and it is a sad fact that the unhappy final, years so eclipsed the many years of the exceptionally able leadership which he gave the parish that no memorial to him of any sort has ever been placed in the church.
As the text for his sermon on the One Hundredth An- niversary on October 15, 1861, Nicholas Hoppin chose the fourth verse of the thirty-eighth chapter of St. John's Gospel: "Other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors." As Nicholas Hoppin realized more keenly than most men how much he entered into and built upon the labors of those who had gone before him, so it can be truthfully said that all who today find in Christ Church a spiritual home enter into the labors of Nicholas Hoppin who built from a struggling mission a strong parish which owes him a debt of gratitude that it is not within its power to pay.
CHAPTER VI
WILLIAM CHAUNCEY LANGDON
1876-1878 A SQUARE PEG IN A ROUND HOLE
QUITE NATURALLY, the unusual and scarcely charitable treatment which Dr. Hoppin received was not an en- couragement to other clergy to step into his shoes as rector of Christ Church. Indeed, the vestry had an exceedingly hard time finding a successor, for the parish was notified of Dr. Hoppin's resignation in March, 1874, and yet it was almost two years later, January, 1876, that a new rector appeared on the scene. The new rector, William Chauncey Langdon, was a sort of clerical rolling stone, but unlike the proverbial one had gathered con- siderable fascinating moss. The vestry brought him to Cambridge from the American Episcopal Church in Geneva, Switzerland.
Dr. Langdon's Early Years
William Chauncey Langdon was a Vermonter and a great-great-grandson of Eleazar Wheelock, the founder of Dartmouth College. The family moved west and William graduated from Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. He started earning his living by teaching chemistry and astronomy, but after a year he became an assistant patent examiner in Washington and shortly afterward took up the practice of patent law. As
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THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CHURCH
an avocation he was chiefly interested in promoting Christian unity. This led him to organize interdenomina- tional Sunday Schools in Washington and with some other men he founded the first Y.M.C.A. in Washington, was a moving spirit in the founding of the national Y.M.C.A., and became its first General Secretary. In 1855, he represented the Y.M.C.A. at a world Y conference in Paris. This trip was a significant one in his life for he found that he liked living abroad and he also became in- terested in a reform movement then in progress within the Roman Catholic Church.
He returned to this country, entering the ministry of the Episcopal Church in 1858, and married Hannah Agnes Courtney of Baltimore the same year. He then went to Italy as chaplain of the United States legation and be- came the founder and first rector of St. Paul's Within the Walls, the American Church in Rome. After a break of three years as rector of St. John's Church, Havre de Grace, Maryland, he returned to Rome, this time as secretary of a Joint Committee of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church "charged to inquire into the religious and ecclesiastical aspects and consequences of the Italian Revolution." 1 He established Episcopal churches in Florence and Geneva. During his years abroad Dr. Langdon's chief interest, outside of the care of his invalid wife and his five children, Courtney, William, George, Florence, and Annie, was the Old Catholic movement; this was, in brief, an endeavor to restore to the Roman Church the principles and practices of the early Christian church. Dr. Langdon attended the Old Catholic Con- gresses, for a time edited their paper, and wrote many magazine articles and books concerning it.
We may imagine that after these eighteen years in Europe, Dr. Langdon cherished an opportunity to return 1 The National Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol. VIII, W. C. Langdon.
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to America and, particularly because of his scholarly in- terests, to a well-known seat of learning such as Cam- bridge. It is probable that some parishioners who had traveled abroad knew Dr. Langdon, but the record states that he was recommended by the Bishop of Massachu- setts, Benjamin Paddock, and by testimonial letters about his work written by four English and a French cler- gyman which appeared in The Churchman of October 2, 1875.
Dr. Langdon Comes to Cambridge
When Dr. Langdon with his slightly foreign accent, bearded countenance (in his picture he looks like a Civil War general) and his felicitous literary style came to Christ Church in January, 1876, he made such a happy impression with his first address that the vestry voted that "the Rector be unanimously requested to allow his address made on taking charge of the Parish to be placed upon our records and the Wardens and Vestry wish at this time to express the great pleasure and profit with which they have heard it." In the same month he was instituted as rector by Bishop Paddock at a well-attended service for which the music was supplied by the choir of St. Peter's Church (whose rector was master of cere- monies), and the necessary additional hymnals were loaned by the parish's daughter church, St. James', North Cambridge.
Despite this auspicious start, Dr. Langdon's rectorship was to be extremely short but not in the least sweet. Whether it was due to habits of isolation acquired in European tourist chapels where parish work was not ex- pected, to a natural lack of interest in parish work, or to his ill health, the vestry by June was so disturbed that the rector did not attend their meetings that they voted a resolution requiring the clerk to notify the rector of
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all meetings, "that he may attend the same if he sees fit to do so." The resolution had the desired effect and the rector appeared with reasonable regularity after that.
Two Significant Events
Two events occurred during the first year which are notable in the life of the parish. First, the rector sug- gested a new plan "for collecting the revenues of the church by subscription," and after securing the opinion of the parish by circular in 1877, Mr. George Dexter and Mr. Samuel Batchelder drew up a plan by which a system of subscription and payment through weekly envelopes took the place of the old system of pew rents. (I wonder if Christ Church was by chance the first church to adopt such a regular method of systematic giving through the envelope system.) Part of the original resolution reads,
"Resolved that from and after the first of January 1877 in lieu of the present pew rentals, a guarantee fund be insti- tuted for the support of Christ Church, every family or person regularly attending the church being called upon to subscribe to such fund a specified sum, to be paid weekly or at other intervals in envelopes through the offertory ... and further that the wardens be authorized to assign to every family or person wishing to attend Christ Church as regular parishioners a pew, or part of a pew according to the number of seats needed."
Thus the pews of Christ Church became free in 1877 and we may be proud that Christ Church must have been one of the pioneers in doing away with the old system still in vogue in many churches within our own memory, whereby Dives sat in the front pew and Lazarus was confined to the balcony.
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Parish Record Book
Another event was the purchase, at the rector's sug- gestion, of a book "for keeping a catalogue of the members of the parish, communicants and non-communicants and other entries which would go to make up a general history of the parish." For years the qualifications for voting at a parish meeting were that a person be baptized, and that he be twenty-one years of age. For a period of six months he must have been an attendant at public worship in the parish and a contributor to its support as well as having signed the register. With the growth of the parish and the modern rapid movement of population, the keeping of the book and the necessary checking of the signatures before each parish meeting became almost impossible and so fell into disuse. No one knows what happened to the book, but our surmise is that because of these obvious difficulties a subsequent rector allowed the book to be- come conveniently lost. At any rate, when I came to the parish the signing of the book was still required for a qualified voter at the parish meeting, but no one knew where the book was nor had anyone seen it in recent years. So, in the revision of the parish by-laws in 1944, this anachronistic requirement was dropped as a qualification for voting membership in the parish meeting.
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