USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The history of the First Baptist church of Boston (1665-1899) > Part 20
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1 " Church Record."
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After much hesitancy, Mr. Wayland accepted the call in June in a letter which is wholly characteristic of the imperious sense of duty which always guided him. Great preparations were made for the ordaining council which was the largest and most notable ever convened in the church. It met August 21, 1821. Thirty-seven ministers, besides lay delegates, were invited. Among them were inen so distinguished as President Nott, President Messer, Moses Stuart, Leonard Woods, John Codman, Benjamin B. Wisner, Thomas Baldwin, Stephen Gano, Daniel Sharp, Henry J. Ripley, David Benedict, etc.
The council inet early in the day at the house of Deacon Prince Snow, Jr., where the examination of the candidate took place. At eleven o'clock the committee of arrangements, heading the procession in which the council walked to the meeting-house, ushered them in with great state. Eight marshals and four constables had charge of the congregation. The pews were assigned carefully to the different classes of people. Eight hundred programmes were distributed. When the council walked down the main aisle, the whole audience arose and stood until the council was seated. An ordination was an event in the former days. Dr. Daniel Sharp preached the sermon, Rev. Francis Wayland, Sr., made the ordain- ing prayer, Dr. Baldwin gave the charge, Dr. Bolles extended the hand of fellowship, Revs. William Gam- mel and Joseph Grafton also took part. No churches except Baptist were invited to this council. Indi- viduals not Baptists did sit in the council, but Bap- tists only took part in the ordination. After the
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ordination the ministers who participated in the pub- lic service sat down together at dinner at a private house. For all the other invited guests, a public din- ner was provided at a tavern, where eighty guests sat down together. The marshals, constables, and sing- ers were also provided with a dinner. The caterer charged in his bill to the church "one dollar apiece for each guest for the lemonades, wines, and liquors furnished,"1 which sufficiently shows the customs of the time. Mr. Wayland's "salary was $1200 to be paid in monthly installments."
The minority that had opposed his call soon showed a mean spirit. Some of them on Sundays, in a very ostentatious manner, hired a coach to take them to hear another minister preach. When their conduct was brought before the church and discipline was proposed, the pastor opposed it, and offered instead to pay part of the expense of the coach. When one of them came to the pastor's study to assure him that he. was not edified under his preaching, Mr. Wayland gave him unexpected sympathy, and told him that he should feel the same under similar circumstances. The opposition soon ceased under this mollifying treatment on the pastor's part. He boarded for the first two years in the family of Dr. Baldwin, and found in him a kind and sagacious counselor.
The evening of Sunday, Oct. 26, 1823, is memo- rable in our history. It was stormy and cold. A northeast wind chilled all whose duty called them out of doors. It was singularly cheerless in the great meeting-house for the little group of people who
1 Vide, Bill in Church Archives.
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braved the storm to attend the annual meeting of the Baptist Foreign Missionary Society of Boston. It had been the custom for the three churches to unite in this service and to have a sermon preached. The preacher on this occasion was Mr. Wayland. He also was chilled by the cold of the unwarmed house, and wore his greatcoat buttoned up throughout the meet- ing. The whole atmosphere was depressing. But the preacher was singularly fitted for his task. His mission- ary editorship and his broad views of Christian duty gave him ample qualifications for uttering a mission- ary sermon. Foreign missions had been vehemently attacked, even by Christian ministers. The literary world sneered at them. East India merchants begged that missionaries might not be permitted to disturb the trade of the Orient. Statesmen opposed, lest the propagation of Christianity should make their control of heathen countries more difficult. Missions were regarded as simply a narrow and annoying propa- ganda. The sermon, " On the Moral Dignity of the Missionary Enterprise," lifted the whole missionary endeavor into a new plane of thought and brought it into the realm of Christian statesmanship. It was revolutionary. No one guessed that the sermon preached on that raw October night to a handful of people was to be heard around the world and give a new and powerful impetus to foreign missions.
The sermon seemed an entire failure. The preacher himself was greatly discouraged by the meeting and the ineffectiveness of the sermon. On Monday he flung himself on the sofa in the home of Rev. Dr. Wisner and said in disheartenment : "It was a com-
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plete failure. It fell perfectly dead." He was mis- taken. There were a few discerning hearers who understood what that sermon meant. Among them was Deacon James Loring, the publisher, who re- quested it for publication. The impression on the public both in America and in Europe was profound. It was translated into Continental languages, and cheered and stimulated the friends of missions every- where. It greatly revived missionary interest. It was recognized as the work of a master mind. Eighteen months later he preached two sermons on "The Duties of an American Citizen," which at- tracted wide attention. These sermons gave him a reputation as a man of 110 ordinary intellectual power and introduced him to a world-wide constitu- ency. The conversion to Baptist views and the missionary appeal of Rev. Adoniram Judson were the first great impulse to American Baptists to en- gage in foreign missions. The sermon of Mr. Way- land was the second, and came at a providential time.
In July, 1824, the proposed constitution of the Massachusetts Baptist State Convention was read to the church and approved. Delegates were elected to act in its organization. In August they voted "that the brethren who may be chosen in different associa- tions to meet as a State Convention be invited to con- vene at the First Baptist Meeting House in Boston on the last Wednesday in October."1 Mr. Wayland had been appointed associate editor of the " Mission- ary Magazine " in 1823, and soon after became thie sole editor, in which capacity he wrote a series of
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articles advocating the federation of the Associations in a State Convention. He urged that if it were possible for churches to unite in an Association, it was equally possible for Associations to unite in a State Convention. The old distrust of any organiza- tion which united churchies, and which might seem in any way to delegate or to centralize authority in any body outside of the local congregation, still re- mained among Baptists. Hence, when the call was sent out for the organization of a Massachusetts Bap- tist State Convention, only six out of the nine Associa- tions invited responded and sent delegates. They inet in the meeting-house of the First Baptist Church in Boston, Nov. 10, 1824, and organized by adopting a constitution and electing Rev. Lucius Bolles presi- dent and Rev. Francis Wayland, Jr., secretary. The. vigorous articles of Mr. Wayland and his insistent advocacy of such a federation of Associations were among the prime causes which led to the organization of the Convention, and it was fitting that it should have its birth in our meeting-house.
O11 May 25, 1825, an influential company of min- isters and laymen assembled in tlie vestry of our 111eeting-house to consider the establishment of a the- ological institution.1 A Board of trustees was elected, of which Mr. Wayland was a corporate inember and the first secretary. His experience as an educator, his natural fondness for that work, and his sense of its importance, led him to take an active part in the present undertaking. It was at first lioped that the recently founded schools at Hamilton, Waterville, and
1 Vide, " Watchman," June 30, 1826.
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Washington might be combined in one, at least for theological instruction.1 This hope was not realized. The school opened Nov. 28, 1825, at Newton Center, with Rev. Irah Chase as its first instructor. Decem- ber 2, Mr. Wayland was elected Professor of Pastoral Theology, but for some unknown reason did not ac- cept the position. It is easy to guess that it might have been the lack of funds for his support. The Newton Theological institution thus had its birth in our meeting-house.
In 1825 the proprietors of pews and the church were stirred on the subject of a new house of worship in a new location. A subscription of more than fifteen thou- sand dollars was made. The church had worshiped on the same site for one hundred and forty-five years, but changes in the town had rendered it growingly undesirable to remain. Conservative people opposed any change, and this, together with the difficulty of agreeing upon a suitable location, finally caused a postponement of removal. This delay only added to the difficulties already weighing upon the pastor and imperiled the future of the church.
In August, 1826, Mr. Wayland offered his resigna- tion as pastor, in a frank, manly, and tender letter, of which the following are extracts :
It cannot, however, Brethren, have escaped your notice that my success has, for some time past, been much less than you had a right to expect. It has indeed been such as seemed to indicate that Providence designed me for some other field of labor, and after prayerfully reflecting upon the subject, such is the conclusion to which I have ultimately arrived. This conviction is further
1 Vide, " Watchman," June 25, 1825.
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strengthened by the fact that at this time another sphere of use- fulness has been presented before me, which in the present cir- cumstances of the case, I feel it my duty to occupy.
He then speaks of his warm attachment to the church and their kindness to him and declares,
that nothing less than what seemed to me an imperious call of duty, would lead me to retire from a situation combining in so high a degree everything which could render this life desirable.
He had just received notification of his election to the " Professorship of Mathematics and Natural His- tory in Union College," and his heart turned toward that work. The church responded in a very tender and flattering letter, and tried to dissuade him. Their efforts were in vain. He closed his work in Septem- ber, but had scarcely begun his work at Schenectady, when he was chosen president of Brown University (December, 1826), in which office he served with great distinction until 1855, a period of twenty-eight years. He died in Providence, in 1865. Speaking long after- ward of his resignation, he said :
When I resigned my place, it was a matter of great surprise, and, I believe, of sincere pain to my people. I found that they loved me much better than I had supposed : indeed, had I known, be- fore I was pledged, how sincerely they were attached to me, I think I should never have left them. 1
His ministry of five years in this church was inarked, after the first year, by harmony. The church did not grow in numbers, nor, especially, in efficiency. It was smaller at the end than at the beginning of his
1 " Wayland's Memoirs," by his sons, Vol. I., p. 201
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work. Doubtless one reason was that the beginning of the removal of families from the North End to newer sections of the town had commenced. He inade an impression of "commanding intellect " and of methodical and assiduous devotion to his work, but did not seem able to command the full measure of pastoral success. This was a source of constant distress of mind to him. He had arrested the atten- tion of thoughtful inen on both sides of the Atlantic, and there were many discerning minds in Boston that recognized his superlative ability. But a wise Provi- dence was assuredly guiding him to his great life- work, where his peculiar ability would have freer play than in a pastorate.
In 1826 the Pew Proprietors voted "that our be- loved pastor Rev Francis Wayland Jr. be requested to sit for his portrait." It was painted by Frothingham, in Boston. The Rev. Dr. Baron Stow says : "His pro- portions and attitudes as I first saw him are truly represented in the portrait possessed by the First Baptist Church in this city." He left the church with a membership of one hundred and ninety-nine. He had received into the church thirty-six new members.
Mr. Wayland had three notable deacons who were his wise counselors : James Loring, the publisher and the founder of "The Watchman "; Prince Snow, "tall, stately, and straight as an arrow as he walked " (he was the father of Dr. Snow, the author of the history of Boston) ; John Sullivan, a West Indian merchant, and a profoundly conscientious man. A sermon of his pastor so stirred Deacon Sullivan that he ordered
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all the rum stored in his warehouses poured out into Commercial Street. He became a leader in temper- ance reform. It is related of him that on a day in June he hired the town crier to ring his bell before all the schoolhouses in Boston and to invite all the chil- dren to go to the Common and roll on the new-inown hay which was being made there. All the children of the city knew and loved him.
In December, 1826, the church extended a call to the Rev. Cyrus Pitt Grosvenor, which he accepted. He was born in Grafton, Mass., in 1792, graduated from Dartmouth College, and was ordained as an evangelist in 1824, in Charleston, S. C. His salary was "fixed at twelve hundred dollars and seventy-five dollars for moving his family from Hartford," where he had been pastor for one year. He was installed Jan. 24, 1827. The sermon was by President Francis Wayland, the charge by Rev. Joseph Grafton, of New- ton, and the hand of fellowship by Rev. James D. Knowles, of the Second Church, Boston. The church was soon afflicted with dissensions, and brethren were not able to agree upon the necessary measures to arrest its steadily declining life. Two deacons, who had served in that office for twenty years, James Loring and Prince Snow, resigned. The pastor did not command the respect and support of the church. He was a good inan, but was better fitted for the work of an evangelist than for the work of a settled min- ister in such a place as Boston. He presented too sharp and notable a contrast with the intellectual breadthı and power of the late pastor.
The difficulties connected with the location of the
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meeting-house in the changing population at the North End steadily increased. The prospect grew constantly darker. There were larger additions of new members than in the late pastorate, but they did not add to the strength of the church. In August, 1827, the church withdrew from the Warren Associ- ation, with which it had been affiliated since 1765, and united with the Boston Association, which had been formed in 1811. This church, through its long con- nection with the former Association, and the tender ties which had bound it to the Rhode Island churches, hesitated long before severing the old relations and uniting with the churches with which it had become locally closely associated. The wisdom of being asso- ciated with the sister churches of its own city was manifest. Nevertheless the church reluctantly de- cided to make the change.
CHAPTER XIV
A NEW MEETING-HOUSE. REV. WILLIAM HAGUE. REV. ROLLIN H. NEALE. GREAT REVIVAL OF 1842. SOMERSET STREET MEETING-HOUSE. UNION OF FIRST CHURCH AND SHAW- MUT AVENUE CHURCH. REV. C. B. CRANE. THE COMMONWEALTH AVENUE MEETING - HOUSE. REV. P. S. MOXOM. REV. NATHAN E. WOOD.
we
FOURTH MEETING-HOUSE. 1854-1877.
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THE old house in its day had been the most ample and the most costly house of worship, excepting the meeting-house in Providence, which Baptists in New England possessed. It was regarded as quite a won- der of elegance and roominess, and was justly the pride of the denomination. Long use had greatly impaired its desirableness, and the rapid removal of families to other localities no longer made it a favor- able center of worship. In the latter part of 1827 the church began earnest consultation about removal to a new location and the building of a new meeting- house. They invited representatives from the other Baptist churches in Boston to meet and advise with them. Their invitation met with a cordial response, and the church voted to remove to the corner of Han- over Street and Green Dragon Lane (Union Street). A subscription was opened, and the other churches gave substantial evidence of their interest. This church subscribed for one hundred and eleven shares, the Second Church for thirteen shares, the Third (Charles Street) for eleven shares, and the Federal Street for ten shares.
John K. Simpson, Isaac Davis, S. G. Shipley, Samuel Beal, Ichabod Macomber, Thomas Gould, were appointed a building committee, and on Oct. 21, 1828, the corner-stone of the new house was laid. The exercises were participated in by the pastor, Dr.
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Daniel Sharp, and Rev. James D. Knowles. June 14, 1829, the church met for the last time in the old meeting-house. Former members came from far and near. It was a day of mningled joy and sadness. "The aged members of the Church, in particular, wept when they remembered Zion & thought of days & scenes gone by." 1 The church had worshiped on that spot for one hundred and fifty years, and it had become hallowed ground. The old building was sold for a small sum to the Baptist church in South Bos- ton. It was taken apart and was floated across the harbor on empty casks. It was located at the corner of Broadway and C Street, and was used as a house of worship until September, 1867. It is now used as a carpet and furniture store. Many hallowed memo- ries are connected with that building. In it Stillman and Wayland preached. In it was organized the first missionary society among Baptists in America. In it was organized the Massachusetts State Convention and the Newton Theological Institution. In it was preached the sermon on "The Moral Dignity of the Missionary Enterprise." It was occupied by British troops during the Revolution. It saw manifold activities for good.
The new meeting-house was dedicated, Thursday, June 18, 1829, the pastor preaching the sermon. Rev. Dr. Sharp, Rev. J. D. Knowles, and Rev. How- ard Malcom assisted in the services. "The house was crowded with an attentive and solemn audience." 1 June 22, "one hundred and one pews in the meeting- house were sold at auction for about $27000." 2 The
1 " Church Record."
2 " Proprietors' Record."
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whole cost of the ground and buildings had been about forty-five thousand dollars. The long-looked- for days of prosperity seemed to have come with this change of location. In September the Pew Proprie- tors reported that " 110 of the 138 pews in the house had been purchased." "This sale the committee be- lieve to be unexampled in this city : they not know- ing of any meeting house here, where so inany pews have been sold, so soon after its dedication." They declare further : "It thus appears that every pew pro- prietor, who attended public worship in the old house attends in this, besides the accession of many new families." The new house was built of brick and elevated so as to admit of having four stores under- neath in addition to vestry rooms. It seated about eight hundred, and had galleries on three sides of the audience room.
Dec. 20, 1829, the new baptistery was used for the first time. The church had never before had a baptistery in its meeting-house. The ordinance of baptism had been administered in the open air, for inany years at the side of the wharf which extended from the rear of the meeting-house lot into the mill- pond, and latterly at the foot of Lynn Street. This innovation also was not without objectors, but soon commended itself to all.
Jan. 31, 1830, the Hanover Street Congregational Meeting-house (Dr. Lyman Beecher, pastor) was burned, and our church at once offered the use of its meeting-house, which was accepted for Friday nights. Tradition says that the basement of the meeting- house which was burned was used for storing wines W
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and liquors, and that the church received a regular rental for its use. This doggerel rhyme appeared in the newspapers :
The spirits above are the spirits of love ; The spirits below are the spirits of woe. The spirits above are the spirits divine ; The spirits below are the spirits of wine.
Whatever may have been in the basement, the pulpit of Dr. Beecher was one of power and gave out 110 uncertain sound. With frank recognition of the significant and steady place which the First Baptist Church had held in Boston in the disturbing times when the Puritan churches were ceasing to be ortho- dox, he had publicly said in 1829 in our pulpit : " Your light was kept burning and shining when ours had gone out." He had come to Boston to reorganize the broken and scattered remnant of orthodox Con- gregationalism, and found a sympathetic coadjutor in this church.
The dissatisfaction with Mr. Grosvenor culminated in July, 1830, and on the eleventh lie offered his resignation, which was accepted, and his labors termi- nated at the end of September. He was dismissed to the Second Church, Salem, of which he became pas- tor. He had been pastor of this church three years and nine months, during which time he had received fifty-three new members. It was a time of peculiar care and labor, consequent upon the removal from the old to the new meeting-house. There were some evi- dences of prosperity and he was abundant in labors, but he does not seem to have had the hearty good
WILLIAM HAGUE, D. D. Minister, 1831-1837.
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will of his people at any time in his ministry. He left the church with about two hundred and forty members.
Almost immediately Rev. William Hague, of Utica, N. Y., was invited to preach for several Sundays, which he did, with so much acceptance that on De- cember 7 a unanimous call was extended to him. The salary was fixed at twelve hundred dollars per annum, but it was afterward raised to eighteen hun- dred dollars. On the fifteenth lie accepted, and was installed Feb. 3, 1831. The sermon was by President Wayland, and other parts of the service were con- ducted by Lucius Bolles, Howard Malcom, James D. Knowles, William Collier. Mr. Hague was born in Pelham, N. Y., in 1808, was graduated at Hamilton College, Clinton, N. Y., in 1826, and at the Newton Theological Institution in 1829. He had been pas- tor for a brief time at Utica before he came to Bos- ton. He was but twenty-three years old when he entered upon his work in this church. He was a inan of exceptionally brilliant gifts, both of heart and intellect. He was an attractive public speaker, and was often eloquent. He was a scholarly, cultivated, genial Christian gentleman. He had a happy blend- ing of gifts and graces, which made him a welcome guest on every occasion. Whether in parlor or on platform, he quickly commanded a hearing in Boston, and especially among educated people. He had a fascinating attraction for young men, and this he re- tained even into old age. Few men have been more constantly and widely useful in an American pulpit.
His opening ministry in this church was a prophecy
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of the career which followed. The church had sum- inoned Francis Wayland, a young man of twenty-five, to a first pastorate, and had brought to light an intel- lectual and moral influence of the first magnitude. Again they summoned a young man, and were happy to discover that they had a pulpit orator of the first order. The meeting-house soon became thronged. Additions were numerous and prosperity ensued. In 1833, when President Andrew Jackson and liis cabi- net made the tour of New England, they attended the First Baptist Church on the Sabbath. The presi- dent was the guest of Hon. John K. Simpson, who was chairman of the Standing Committee of the Pew Proprietors.
Although the pastor was not a radical yet he was progressive and had pronounced views on the great questions of philanthropy and reform. In 1833 the constitutional convention of Massachusetts adopted a Bill of Rights which provided absolutely for relig- ious liberty. It was the first time that Baptists had equal liberty under the constitution of the Common- wealth with Congregationalists. It marked the end of the struggle begun in 1665. In 1836 the young men of the church presented, as a token of esteem and affection, the portrait of Mr. Hague, which now hangs in our vestry.
In June, 1837, the pastor presented his resignation to accept the call of the First Church in Providence. He had been called to that church before he came to Boston, and the renewed invitation came to him as the voice of duty. He had deliberately adopted the theory that short pastorates offered him the greatest
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