USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Charlestown > The history of the First church, Charlestown, in nine lectures, with notes > Part 14
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The great religious excitement which preceded and followed the visits of Whitefield, created a difference of feeling rather than of doctrine among the clergy ; it showed chiefly the differ- ent tendencies then in the church ; and it was not before the second or third generation, that this difference of sympathy resulted in a different system of faith. We have evidence that in the latter part of the last century, a few both among the clergy and laity, rejected the doctrine of the divinity of the Saviour, so that about the beginning of the present century, Arianism prevailed quite extensively in Boston and its vicinity. The denial of the supreme divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, was the first, and for a long time the only point of departure from orthodoxy. 'Those who had taken this step, held that Christ was not equal to the Father, but that he was a created being, and yet inconceivable greater than any other created being, so that he might be made even the object of wor- ship. They who held this doctrine respecting the person of Christ, generally held to all the other doctrines of orthodoxy. But this stage of religious declension was not of long continu- ance; it prepared the way for a more general skepticism, and more vital departures. The tendency of this mode of specu-
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lation was towards the doctrine of the simple humanity of Christ, and the utter abolition of the peculiar and mysterious doctrines of redemption. At length it came to be generally understood, that not a few of our most honored pastors and churches were departing rapidly and widely from the faith of the Fathers. But notwithstanding the currency and positive- ness of these rumors, the certainty of the facts could not be ascertained. No tangible and outward evidence of them was afforded ; nor could those who had departed the farthest from the doctrines of our confession and catechism, be distinguished, except by their studied silence; they did not preach these doctrines, nor yet did they preach against them. The prevail- ing sentiment among those who had adopted the new opin- ions, was, that opinions were comparatively unimportant, and that Christian liberality required us not to insist upon unity of faith, or the belief of doctrines as essential to Christianity. Accordingly, these brethren were accustomed to admit mem- bers to their churches without asking their assent to any creed or confession ; and they resolutely opposed the examination of candidates for the ministry, or for ordination, or for the chair of the professorship of divinity at Cambridge, on those points, which are now, as they ever have been, considered essential to the Christian faith. Hence, the principal subjects of discussion in those days, were not the doctrines of the gospel, but the propriety of creeds and subscriptions, and the importance of doctrinal belief. Hence, too, it became impossible to know what the degree and nature of the unbelief existing in our churches was ; it was known only that among those who were opposed to creeds and confessions, great diversity of religious belief obtained. Hence, too, will be perceived the difficulty of writing the history of this change; it transpired under cover of opposition to creeds, and by maintenance of the sentiment that doctrinal belief is not an essential part or condition of Christian character. This account of the state of our churches is one, I believe, in which both parties are agreed ; it corres- ponds with the representations of each.
Affairs were in this posture when memoirs of Rev. Theophi- lus Lindsey were published in London, from the pen of the Rev. Thomas Belsham, minister of a Unitarian church in that city, who devoted a chapter of his work to the subject of
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Unitarianism in this country, disclosing facts which had been made known to him in a private correspondence. Dr. Morse caused this chapter to be published in a pamphlet form, under the title of " American Unitarianism ; or, a brief History of the progress and present state of the Unitarian Churches in America, compiled from documents and information communicated by the Rev. James Freeman, D. D., and William Wells, Jr., Esq., of Boston, and from other Unitarian gentlemen in this country." This pamphlet passed through several editions, and awakened general inquiry. It narrated the circumstances in which the first Episcopal church in Boston, then called King's chapel, became Unitarian, by expunging from their liturgy, under the influence of their pastor, Dr. Freeman, all recognitions of the Trinity and atonement ; this event took place in 1785, and made this the first Unitarian church in the country. The works of Dr. Priestley were also introduced among us, by Dr. Free- man, and placed in the library of Harvard College, and in other libraries, by which means, as well as by private circulation, they were read very extensively. In consequence of these, and similar efforts, at a time when there was but one church where Unitarianism was publicly professed and taught, its tenets had spread very extensively ; and in regard to Boston, in particular, most of the clergy and respectable laymen were Unitarian. In view of these facts communicated in the private letters men- tioned above, Mr. Belsham says near the end of his chapter : " Being myself a friend to ingenuousness and candor, I could wish to see all who are truly Unitarians, openly such, and to teach the doctrine of the simple indivisible unity of God, as well as to practice the rites of Unitarian worship."
The publication of this pamphlet, was followed by a review of it in the Panoplist, attributed to the pen of Dr. Morse. The question was pressed with great earnestness, whether these statements were correct ; and charges of duplicity and dishon- orable concealment began to be made with great bitterness. This drew forth the controversy between Dr. Channing and Dr. Worcester ; and when this, together with the others occasioned by it, subsided, the churches and ministers were prepared to take their stand cither as Unitarian or Orthodox. All the ancient churches of Boston were ranged among the advocates of the new opinions, with the exception of the Old South. All
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the superiors in age, and all the cotemporaries of our own church, left her to stand alone upon the foundation of the Fathers ; and the church of Robinson in Plymouth, of Hig- ginson in Salem, of Cotton in Boston-all have renounced the system of faith in which they were baptized, and for which they were nurtured by their pious founders.
In this manner were the sacred ties of Christian fellowship between sister churches severed; and I envy not that man's heart who can contemplate the separation without feelings of peculiar sadness. We do not indeed deplore the separation, as distinct from the circumstances which led to, and made it necessary. On the contrary, since such fundamental differen- ces actually existed, it was better that a separation should take place. It was better for those who no longer held to the doc- trines of the Congregational standards, to declare openly their dissent, and advocate boldly their real sentiments; and it was better for those who still maintained the original faith of New England, to know with whom they were associated. Each, in a separate organization, was able to act more consistently and effectively than when bound together. And the ease with which this separation was effected, we quote as a happy exhibi- tion of the excellence of Congregationalism as a system of church polity. Never was a branch of the church of Christ more severely tried, than was ours in this controversy and defection ; and never did any church pass through such trials so happily. True, if we had had a hierarchy like that of the English or Roman church over us-if we had had a liturgy chained to the pulpit, it might have been more difficult, if not impossible to change our creed or profession. But these things never could have preserved the minds of the people or clergy from the incursions of unbelief and heresy; and we say, what every person will be forced to admit upon reflection, that it is better, where religious differences exist, that they should be avowed-it is better that men should express their real convic- tions, rather than conceal them and dishonor them by the heart- less profession of different sentiments. Hence, we regard it as no defect, but a peculiar excellence of Congregationalism, that it affords facilities for each church to manifest its inward life, and make its creed and its practice at once conform to its actual belief. We say, therefore, with truth and soberness, that we
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love Congregationalism the more for the trial she has passed through. They who have gone out from us, have gone out with a consistency of character which they could neither have possessed nor maintained so long as they remained under a banner they did not honor and love; and we who remain, can remain only while our principles are living verities in our hearts.
It has been in time past customary with some to denounce those ministers who refused to exchange pulpits with their seceding brethren, and charge them with illiberality and all uncharitableness. Subsequent events, we are most happy to believe, have put an end to this unjust imputation. He who dispassionately considers the differences subsisting between Orthodoxy and Unitarianism, cannot fail to perceive and allow that it is due to consistency and to the holy cause of truth, for the advocate of the first system to protest against and refuse communion with the last. To expect any thing less than this, is the height of illiberality ; it is to ask one to lay him- self on the ground, and as the street for his opponent to pass over-to renounce self respect, to prove a traitor to the cause of his God, and the highest interests of his race, as they commend themselves to his understanding and heart. There are some principles which all must admit are essential to Christianity. Our Fathers, in accordance with the prevailing sentiment of the church in all ages, placed the doctrine of the divinity of Christ foremost among the essentials of revelation. It was, therefore, but a necessary part of their belief to refuse fellowship with those who rejected this truth. And in this they acted not only upon a proper, but upon a necessary principle. No man can have a serious faith in Christianity, without embracing certain essential ideas involved in it ; and no man can do this without refusing his fellowship to systems which exclude and oppose these ideas. We honor, therefore, those men who bore a full and unwavering protest against what they regarded as an essen- tial departure from Christian truth. We honor them for consis- tency, for their fidelity to the cause of truth, to themselves and to us.
In presenting the history of this church, we are happily relieved from the necessity of mentioning the worst part of the controversy, which resulted in a division of our denomination ;
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we refer to the question of the right of property, and those decisions of the courts, which in so many instances have de- prived our churches of funds bequeathed to them for the sup- port of the gospel, and driven them forth from their houses of worship, and from communion tables, spread with sacra- mental furniture, the gifts of their venerated fathers and mothers, and dear to them as memorials of ancestral piety. Happily for the peace and honor of this community, this ques- tion was never agitated among us. Those who dissented from the faith of the fathers, and embraced the new opinions, quietly retired from our communion, and built on new foundations. In adopting the course so obviously marked out by honor and integrity, they commended the cause they had espoused, by a becoming confidence in its independent power, and had the proud consciousness of knowing that the success which attended them under able ministrations, was all appropriately their own, and could not awaken the reproaches, however much it might the sorrow of the brethren whose communion they had left. It deserves to be considered, whether facts do not prove, that endowments perverted to purposes different from those for which they were originally given, are of no advantage to such a cause, but rather a mill-stone to weigh down and sink it.
The relation of Dr. Morse to this church, did not continue long after the close of this controversy. The multiplicity of his literary engagements, and particularly the attention bestowed upon his geographical works, rendered him unable to perform the amount of labor which his place and the people required. Besides this, no man could pass through such a controversy as that, in which Dr. Morse was so prominently concerned, without making his happiness and usefulness in no small measure a sacrifice. In reference to these subjects, Dr. Morse remarked on the last Sabbath of his ministry-" Amidst the pressing calls for services without, which the peculiar state of the church and the world at large has seemed to me to require-the necessity I have been under to labor for a part of my own support, and the duties I owed to my flock ; in such a state of things, I have endeavored with all the wisdom I could command, to select the things (for all that was to be done I could not do ) which seemed to me to demand my first attention, and to do them. If I have erred in making this selection, (which I have often found
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extremely perplexing ) the error is of the head, and not of the heart. I have done what I could in the station in which the Head of the church has placed me. , With him is my judg- ment.",1
Dr. Morse 2 resigned the pastorship in the month of August, 1819-his resignation being referred to the council which should be convened to ordain his successor. He was succeeded by the Rev. Warren Fay, whose installation took place February 23, 1820, and his ministry continued until August 16, 1839. The present pastor was ordained April 22, 1840 ; and here he might cease his labors in reference to the past history of the church. It should be mentioned, however, that the house of worship in which we are now assembled-the fifth erected for the accommodation of this church, was built in the year 1834, and dedicated July 3, of that year.3
Before bringing this course of Lectures to a close, it was my intention to have devoted some space and time to the memory of our numerous and exemplary benefactors. It has been to me a pleasing and edifying task to examine the wills of the early mem- bers and devoted friends of our church, preserved in the public offices. They almost uniformly begin them with a recapitu- lation of the great doctrines of the gospel, and the grounds of their hope for eternity, and then resigning their souls to God through Jesus Christ, according to the terms of the covenant, and their bodies to the grave in the hope of a glorious resur- rection, they proceed to distribute their worldly possessions among their relatives and friends. And in this distribution, they were accustomed with great uniformity, to remember their Christian teachers and brethren, the church, and the poor of the town; thus evincing in the simplicity of their primitive piety, that theirs was His spirit, who " stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said, Behold my mother and my brethren ! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother !" It will be impossible for me to present a complete list of all these benefactors. If you will read the inscriptions
1 Church Book II. 171. 2 Note 54.
3 Note 55.
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upon our communion plate,1 you will see, first of all, the name of our generous friend, Richard Sprague, Esq., who, besides other munificent gifts, bequeathed to the church several large silver tankards and flagons for sacramental use. You will also see the name of Mary Lemmon, as the donor of a silver flagon ; she was admitted to the church in 1701. One tankard was the gift of Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, in 1717; another of Mrs. Abigail Stevens, in 1763; another of Capt. John Miller, in 1793. And still another bears the initials of "R. R. to C. C."-probably Richard Russell, Esq., to the church in Charlestown. He died in 1676, and was the ancestor of a long and honored line, who have in every generation been benefactors to this church. The name of one of his descendants, that of IIon. Thomas Russell, the most distinguished merchant of his day, in Boston, is inscribed as that of donor on the face of yonder clock. He was the son of the Hon. James Russell, another distinguished friend of this church and town, of whom President Dwight says, "Few men of any age or country have presented a better character, a fairer image of excellence to the eyes of mankind. As a son, a husband, a father, a neighbor, a friend, and a citizen, he adorned life with a peculiar native amiableness of character, and the superior worth of a Christian. I was intimately ac- quainted with this venerable man, and can, therefore, speak of him extensively from personal knowledge. I know not that I have ever seen a man less solicitous to shine, or more anxious to do good, or to whom I should more readily apply withont reserve, the honorable character given to Nathanael by the Saviour : 'Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.' " 2
The silver basin, which has been used for more than a cen- tury, as the baptismal laver, bears this inscription in Latin : " Henry Phillips dedicates this laver to the church of Charles- town, in New England, for the use of baptism, the 1st of May, 1726."
Besides these, there are many other names and characters which deserve a grateful and honored remembrance. But I will detain you to mention two only, who died within a few months of each other, in the year 1807, Richard Devens, Esq., and Dea. John Larkin. As a Christian, Mr. Devens was, during
1 Note 56.
2 Dwight's Travels, I. 476. Note 57.
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a long life, a pillar of this church-eminent for his attachment to the ancient faith of New England, and for the depth of his spiritual experience. Not to mention the stations of public honor and trust which he occupied, he was distinguished still more in private, by his secret benefactions to the poor, and his zealous endeavors to spread the Scriptures, and the knowledge of salvation.1 We may not dwell upon the benefactions of the generous and devotedly pious Dea. Larkin ; his character as a Christian, and a venerable officer and pillar of this church, should long be kept in remembrance, as his name cannot fail to be, through the yearly distribution of the charities this church dispenses in his behalf. The pastor of the church was present and witnessed his death, and has left his testimony that " never did he behold such a scene of mingled sorrow and joy. There was nothing in it ghastly or awful. Not a limb was convulsed, nor a feature of the face distorted. A smile of joy even beamed on his dying countenance. Closing his own eyes, he sweetly fell asleep, not to awake again till the resurrection." ??
But I must check myself in these recitals, and hasten to a conclusion, by giving the final impression left upon my mind, by the preparation of these discourses, respecting the religious character of our ancestors.
I should not indeed attempt to give a full analysis, or final estimate of the Puritan character; it is a theme beyond the compass of my reading and power ; and it may be doubted- while their institutions are still in a course of experiment, whether the wisdom and value of their principles can be judged of with perfect accuracy. Much has been written of them eloquently, affectionately, truly. He who would deny them merit, and exalted merit, must either be ignorant of their true character, or insensible to the highest elements of greatness and goodness. They were not only lovers of truth, but of the noblest and best kind of truth. They not only loved and cul- tivated virtue, but they loved and practiced those virtues most, which are encompassed with the severest self-denial-which are most essential to the prosperity of a community, and most intimately connected with the glory of God. Their principles must ever be the foundation of every truly great and noble
1 Panoplist III. 239.
2 Pancplist III. 429. Sce Note 53.
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character. Theirs was the frame-work which God and the Bible sanction ; nothing save the proportion and the relations of the parts can be safely altered.
We love, then, and honor the Puritans ; but we do not idolize them. The very greatness of their virtues indicates their faults. There is a happy medium where opposite virtues balance each other, and contending forces are at rest; this perfection the Puritans did not reach. They seized hold of the great central principles of the word of God, without which there is no Chris- tianity ; but held them perhaps too much apart from those graces which, if not essential to the life, are so to the beauty and symmetry of religion. They were rigid and severe, not because they would banish refinement, or extirpate the finer sensibilities ; but because they felt that the times were so criti- cal as to place the essentials of religion in jeopardy. Hence, there was something artificial about their characters-some- thing stern in their deportment. The principles of their Chris- tian character stood out somewhat like the frame-work of their meeting-houses, the posts and beams and braces of which were all in open sight, strong and enduring, but not like our modern temples, beautiful to the eye.
Now this peculiarity of the Puritan character, it seems to me, has done more than any other single influence to make the New England character what it is. Like our fathers, we are distinguished for the attention we bestow upon the principal virtues. For substantial qualities, for industry, intel- ligence, good order, and stable principles, no people on earth can compare with the population of New England, except perhaps the Scotch ; and among them a similar religious char- acter has been followed by similar effects. But in the softer graces of character-in the cheaper virtues, if I may so call them, which diffuse through society a brighter and more cheer- ful aspect-in these things it strikes many who know and honor the great elements of our character, we are deficient. Those who are acquainted with life in our country villages and neighborhoods, have remarked, that it is characterized by a too restricted and reserved social intercourse-by a coldness of manner, and a want of warm and unsuspecting interest in one another. There are of course exceptions to this ; but still, the well-informed and candid among us, will not deny that life is
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susceptible of a much higher enjoyment, in consistency with our thrift as an industrious, and our seriousness as a religious people.
I will conclude this discourse, and with it the series to which I have so long solicited, and you have so patiently accorded, your attention, by addressing a few remarks to my respected hearers.
Brethren and friends of this ancient church and congregation ! Allow me to express the hope that these recitals may be perma- nently useful to you, and through you to those who shall stand after you within this sacred enclosure, and upon these ancient foundations. You have succeeded to the labors and prayers of men venerable for their varied excellencies. Let the history of your fathers and predecessors stimulate you to follow them as they followed Christ. You are encompassed by a great cloud of witnesses; and if the spirits of the blest are permitted to revisit spots once familiar and dear to them, we doubt not there have been, and will be in our midst, many shining and rejoicing ones, who once wept, and toiled, and prayed as we do now. Oh! shall we not love these ancient seats? Among other and more powerful considerations, are we not moved by a tender regard for the pious dead whose names are recorded alike in our books, and in the book of life, to give our heartiest services, and our warmest prayers to this portion of our Redeemer's church? He has watched over this 'vine of his own right hand's planting '-he has carried it through fire and through water-and he still remembereth his covenant, and will yet spread above us the clouds of his mercy, and pour them down in honor of the prayers which have gone up from this hill !
Finally, permit me to say to the inhabitants of the town, who have honored me with their attention, In your ancestral recollections you have a rich inheritance. No people on earth can claim a worthier original than New England, and among her communities few are more distinguished in this respect than yours. Said a gentleman to me the other day, who had come to revisit the place of his birth, and who had visited the spot where is deposited the dust of the noble and mighty dead of England, " In no place on earth are nobler men sleeping, than in your burial-ground !" I care not whether, in a worldly
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