USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Vol. III > Part 66
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The Fifth Universalist Society, now Shawmut, was organized Jan. 10, 1836, and has been among the most influential in the city. The Rev. Otis A. Skinner, a man of pure life, of marked ability, fine presence, and peculiar suavity of manner, was installed as pastor Jan. 26, 1837, and resigned May 1, 1846. The Rev. J. S. Dennis was pastor from January, 1847, to August, 1848, when Mr. Skinner served a second term, from January, 1849, to April,
1 The Christian Leader, July 15, 1880.
2 Semi-Centennial Discourse, by the Rev. J.
J. Lewis.
8 The Rev. Lucius R. Paige, D.D., has ren- dlered great service to the Universalist Church both as a preacher and author. Ilis Selections from Eminent Commentators, 1833, and his Com- mentary on the entire New Testament, except the Revelation of St. John, of which the first volume was published in 1849, are especially valuable. lle has also become widely known by his History of Cambridge, and by the conspicuous positions he has most worthily filled.
4 Mr. Cook, having resigned in 1851, was succeeded by the Rev. Calvin Damon, who min- istered till 1855. The Rev. W. W. Dean was pastor from 1855 to 1860; the Rev. J. S. Cant-
well, from 1860 to 1862; the Rev. I. C. Know]- ton, from 1863 to 1865; when, after an interim of two years, the present pastor, the Rev. J. J. Lewis, took up the work in September, 1867. Mcantime, the outbreak of our civil war had disturbed the harmony of the parish, leading to the abandonment of the church in 1864 for Lyceum Hall, which was occupied till the dedi- cation of the present beautiful and commodious . church on the heights of Broadway about 1870. To the sterling character of the entire line of pas- tors must in no small measure be attributed the unexampled self-sacrifice, considering its quite limited resources, through which the parish two or three years ago removed its entire debt of nearly $20,000, giving it a better outlook than it has ever before enjoyed.
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
1857. During this period he rendered our general church the very great ser- Olis a Skinner vice of raising the funds - about one hundred thous- and dollars, including a land gift -for the founding of Tufts College, named from Mr. Charles Tufts, the donor of the land. Mr. Skinner died in Illinois, Sept. 18, 1861. The Rev. T. B. Thayer, D.D., was installed pastor, Dec. 2, Those Thayer- 1857, the Rev. Dr. Chapin, of New York city,
preaching the sermon. The parish was first free of debt, March 5, 1860.1
In April, 1863, the Church of the Paternity united with the Fifth Society, with which its relations had always been cordial, forming the Shawmut Uni- versalist Society. During the first two or three years of its history the Fifth Society worshipped in Boylston Hall. Its church edifice on Warren Street, now the Jewish Synagogue on Warrenton Street, was dedicated Jan. 30, 1839, and occupied by the Fifth Society until the union as above, when possession was taken of the Shawmut Church on Shawmut Avenue, near Brookline Street. This church was purchased of the Congregational society, of which the Rev. Dr. Webb is pastor, and was re-dedicated, April 20, 1864.2
On Noddle's Island, now East Boston, previous to 1830, there was but a single residence.3 In 1840, so rapid had been the growth of the island, Sylvanus Cobb there was a small Universalist society worshipping in the old bath-house, where Win- throp Block now stands, and enjoying the minis- trations of various cler- gymen. The Rev. Sylvanus Cobb, afterwards Dr. Cobb, was pastor from 1841 to 1844, during which time a house of worship was erected on the corner of Webster and Orleans streets. After two years of unsuccessful ministration by the Rev. Alexander Hitchborn, Mr. Cobb again stepped
1 Several families from this parish and others living at the South End organized the Canton- Street Society, and worshipped in a chapel on Shawmut Avenue, corner of Canton Street. It was succeeded in the same field by the Church of the Paternity, organized March, 1859, and ministered to by the Rev. E. C. Bolles, after- ward made Doctor of Philosophy, from Novem- ber, 1859, to January, 1861. Its meetings were held in Concord-Street Chapel. Both these efforts were feeble, and commanded but a feeble following.
2 On the same day the Rev. Sumner Ellis was installed associate pastor, which office he resigned in October, 1865. The sole pastorate again devolved upon the Rev. Dr. Thayer. In consequence of the broken state of his health,
resulting from an accident which befel him some years previous, he resigned the pastorate, April 1, 1867, and gave himself more fully to the editor- ship of The Universalist Quarterly and General Review, upon which he had entered in 1864, suc- ceeding the Rev. Hosea Ballou, 2d, D.D., and which he still conducts with marked ability and to universal acceptance. He was succeeded in the charge of the parish by the Rev. L. L. Briggs, from November, 1867, to November, 1876; by the Rev. J. K. Mason, a graduate of Tufts Di- vinity School, from November, 1876, to June, 1880; and by the Rev. Henry Blanchard, the present pastor, a graduate of Tufts College, who entered upon his duties June 1, 1880.
3 Semi-Centennial Discourse, by the Rev. J. J. Lewis.
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THE CENTURY OF UNIVERSALISM.
forward to rescue the parish from its embarrassment, and ministered to it from 1846 to 1848.1 Meantime the church was abandoned, and worship held in Ritchie Hall, in Jones's Hall, in the Webster-Street church again, in Reed's Hall, and in Sumner Hall, until the erection of the present commo- dious edifice, which was dedicated in December, 1866.2
The Universalists of Chelsea established public worship in Guild's Hall in 1842, under the leadership of the Rev. A. P. Cleverly. At the end of two years they removed to Gerrish Hall, where they continued from 1844 to 1850. Mr. Cleverly having terminated his ministry in November, 1844, the Rev. Dr. Cobb preached for them about six months. A society was organized April 21, 1845. The Rev. Eben Francis held the office of pastor from April 30, 1845, to July 2, 1848. In December of the same year the Rev. Charles H. Leonard 3 entered upon the pastorate, and filled the office for nearly twenty-one years, resigning in September, 1869.4
In 1858 the Rev. Sumner Ellis was employed by the Universalists of Brighton, now Ward Twenty-five, to preach in Union Hall; others were oc- casionally heard. After two years' ministration a parish was organized Jan. 12, 1860, and a chapel erected, which was dedicated Aug. 7, 1861.5
1 Dr. Cobb, who died Oct. 31, 1866, at sixty-eight years of age, was a man of massive proportions, both physical and intellectual. Founding the Christian Freeman and Family Visitor, a religious and reformatory newspaper, in 1839, at Waltham, be removed it to Boston in 1841, and continued both its proprietor and editor until its union with the Trumpet and Uni- versalist Magazine, in 1862, under the title of The Trumpet and Christian Freeman, a Universalist Magazine. In 1864 the name was changed to The Universalist. In 1870 The Christian Re- pository, Montpelier, Vermont, was joined with it ; and in 1878, The Christian Leader, and the united papers took the latter name.
2 In 1849 the Rev. Emmons Partridge be- came pastor, and was followed by the Rev. C. 11. Webster, who closed his labors about 1853. The Rev. A. St. John Chambre, afterward Dr. Chambre, filled the pastorate during 1854 and 1855; the Revs. J. S. Barry, author of a His- tory of Massachusetts, in three volumes, and J. W. Talbot, till 1860. In 1863 the Rev. C. J. White, a graduate of Tufts College, became pastor, and the parish entered upon that career of prosperity which gave it a new church in 1866, and has continued, with little vicissitude, to the present time. To the great regret of the entire society, Mr. White resigned in December, 1870, and was succeeded by the Rev. G. HI. Vibbert from 1871 to 1873; by the Rev. Selden Gilbert, from [874 to 1878, when began the labors of the present pastor, the Rev. J. G. Adams, D.D. The numbers, resources, and solidity of the parish at present promise a future whose bright-
VOL. 111 .- 64.
ness will sharply contrast with the adversities of its earlier years.
8 Mr. Leonard was elected in 1869 Goddard Professor of Homiletics and Pastoral Theology in Tufts Divinity School, which office be still holds.
+ These were years of great prosperity for the parish. It proceeded at once to the crection of a church on Chestnut Street, which was dedicated May 15, 1850; and such was the rapid growth of the parish, that this church was replaced by a larger and more commodious one on the same site, which was dedicated July 10, 1862. The Rev. William G. Tousey, B.D.,* was pastor from April, 1870, to July, 1871 ; and the Rev. I. M. Atwood,t from April, 1872, to November of the same year. The present pastor, the Rev. A. J. Canfield, was settled May 1, 1873, and is listened to regularly by large audiences.
5 The Rev. James Eastwood was pastor from July, 1861, to July, 1864 ; the Rev. T. W. Silloway, from July, 1864, to July, 1867; the Rev. J. W. Keyes, from May, 1868, to Septen- ber, 1869 : the Revs. J. Edgar Johnson and W. A. Start, a few months each ; the Rev. J. V. Wilson, from April, 1872, to April, 1874 ; the Rev. J. G. Adams, D.D., from October, 1876, to August, 1878. The present pastor, the Rev. B. F. Eaton, began his ministry with the parish October, 1878.
" Mr. Tousey, in 1871, was called to the Professorship of Psychology and Natural Theology in Tufts Divinity School.
1 Mr. Atwood, in 1879, succeeded the late Rev. Ebeo- ezer Fisher, D. D., as the head of the Divinity School con- nected with the St. Lawrence University, and subsequently received the degree of Doctor of Divinity.
506
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
The Universalist Society of Jamaica Plain, now Ward Twenty-three, was organized May 18, 1871. Its meeting-house, situated on Centre Street, corner of Greenough Avenue, was purchased of the Congregational Society the same month.1
The Grove Hall Universalist Parish was organized June 23, 1877. It was not a branch of, or off-shoot from, any other church, but an independent movement growing out of a Sunday-school organized about a year carlier under the direction of the Boston Sunday-School Union. In the summer of 1877 a church was erected which, including the site, cost ten thousand dollars. It was dedicated the following December.2
The Dorchester Universalist parish, known as St. John's Church, was the outgrowth of occasional preaching in Lyceum Hall on Meeting-house Hill, and in the Old High-School house. Professor C. H. Leonard began min- istering in the latter place February, 1874. The parish was organized when possession was taken of the new chapel, Sept. 12, 1875, and Professor Leonard continued its non-resident pastor till February, 1880. The present pastor, the Rev. J. H. Weeks, a graduate both of Tufts College and Divinity School, entered upon his work Feb. 8 of the same year.
It will be seen that the movement of the business centres during the hundred years of the history of the Universalist Church, the mobility of the population, and the necessarily empirical character of many of the efforts incident to the founding of a new body of Christians have been the occasion of many vicissitudes. But it is gratifying to note that the number of par- ishes in Suffolk County, greater than at any former period, and strengthened by the usual auxiliaries of Christian work, the cost and commodiousness of the church edifices, the number, devotedness, and resources of the wor- shippers, and their increasing interest in the cause of education and of church extension are so many pledges of a future position and influence of the Universalist body in a high degree gratifying.
To the agencies thus far noticed must be added the Universalist Publish- ing-house, formerly located at 37 Cornhill, now at 16 Bromfield Street, Boston. The several publishing interests, thitherto in private hands, were purchased by a few devoted friends of the Church in 1862, and the profits thenceforward consecrated to the general up-building of the Universalist cause. Success attending the enterprise, an act of incorporation was secured in May, 1872. Its capital at the present time is forty-five thousand dollars,
1 Public worship had been held for about six months in James's Hall, conducted by various clergymen under the auspices of the Massachu- setts Convention. Professor Charles H. Leonard supplied the desk for about two years. The Rev. William H. Dearborn was settled as pas- tor in November, 1873, and ministered till No- vember, 1875. For about three and a half years the pulpit was supplied mostly by the Rev. B. K. Russ. The present pastor, the Rev. B F. Eaton, took up the work, in connection with that of the Brighton parish, May 1, 1879.
2 The pulpit was supplied for several months by the Rev. Dr. Thayer. In May, 1878, the Rev. F. A. Dillingham, then a student in the Divinity School connected with Tufts College, accepted a unanimous invitation to the pastorate, and was ordained and installed August 29, 1878, closing his labors April 1, 1881. All the departments of the parish and church are healthy and har- monious; and as the neighborhood is growing rapidly in population, and families of various antecedents heartily unite in the movement, the future is hopeful.
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THE CENTURY OF UNIVERSALISM.
including sixteen thousand dollars of trust funds, the income of which is devoted to the reducing of the price of its publications for wider circulation. Among its issues are The Christian Leader, The Myrtle, The Universalist Quarterly, Sunday-School Helper, and Universalist Register. Besides these periodicals, it has owned the stereotype plates of one hundred and forty volumes, many of which are still in constant demand. Among them, besides those already mentioned in this chapter, are the following valu- able works: The Crown of Thorns; Discourses on the Lord's Prayer; Hours of Communion, - by the Rev. E. H. Chapin, D.D. Ancient History of Universalism ; Counsel and Encouragement, - by the Rev. Hosca Ballou, 2d, D.D. Modern History of Universalism; Notes and Illustrations on the Parables of the New Testament; Life of Rev. Hosea Ballou; Commentary on the Revelation of St. John, -by the Rev. Thomas Whittemore, D.D. A Compend of Christian Divinity ; The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, with notes, etc.,-by the Rev. Sylvanus Cobb, D.D. Theology of Universalism; Over the River, or Pleasant Walks into the Val- ley of Shadows and Beyond; Origin and History of the Doctrine of Endless Punishment,-by the Rev. T. B. Thayer, D.D. Endless Punishment, in the very words of its advocates, by the Rev. Thomas J. Sawyer, D.D., Packard Professor of Theology in Tufts Divinity School. The Universalism of the Lord's Prayer ; Memoir of the Rev. Thomas Whittemore, D.D .; Practical Hints to Universalists,-by the Rev. John G. Adams, D.D. The Old Forts Taken, by the Rev. A. A. Miner, D.D. The Latest Word of Universalism, being thirteen essays by thirteen clergymen; Memoir of the Rev. Ebeneser Fisher, D.D., President of the Theological School connected with the St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York, -by the Rev. George H. Emer- son, D.D., editor of the Christian Leader. Illustrations of the Divine Gov- ernment, by T. Southwood Smith, M.D. The Philosophy of Universalism ; Exposition and Defence of Universalism ; Sermons for the Times and People; The Doctrine of Endless Misery Examined and Refuted; Rudiments of Theological and Moral Science, - by the Rev. I. D. Williamson, D.D. At Our Best, by the Rev. Sumner Ellis, D.D. Our New Departure; Universal- ism in Life and Doctrine,-by the Rev. Elbridge Gerry Brooks, D.D. The Christian Doctrine of Salvation, by the Rev. Ebenezer Fisher, D.D. Ely and Thomas's Discussion (a series of letters between the Rev. Styles Ely, D.D., and the Rev. Abel C. Thomas) ; Letters on the Moral and Religious Duties of Parents, - by the Rev. Otis A. Skinner, D.D. The Balance, or Moral Arguments for Universalism, by the Rev. A. D. Mayo; and The Antiquity of Man, by the Rev. J. P. Maclean. To these must be added Memoirs of the Rev. Henry Bacon and of the Rev. Sylvanus Cobb, D.D., with an autobiography of the first forty-one years of the life of the latter ; various hymn-books and liturgies, as well as juvenile publications and Sunday-school text-books and books for Sunday-school libraries.
The general interests of the Universalist Church have been greatly ad- vanced also by numerous publications from other sources. Some of the
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
more important of these are : Heaven our Home, by the Rev. G. W. Quimby, D.D., editor of the Gospel Banner, Augusta, Maine. A Cloud of Witnesses ; Bible Threatenings ; Aion-Aionios; Bible Proofs of Universal Salvation; The Bible Hell, -by the Rev. J. W. Hanson, D.D., editor of the Star and Covenant, Chicago, Ill. A Century of Universalism, by the Rev. Abel C. Thomas; and the Biblical Review, a new and improved commentary on the Bible, in a form for reading as well as for reference, by the Rev. W. E. Manley, D.D. A glance at this list shows that the practical obligations of Christianity have been by no means overlooked.
Among the publishers of Universalist literature in Boston who preceded the establishment of the present publishing-house, besides Mr. Henry Bowen already named, mention should be made of Mr. Bela Marsh, who was engaged in the business half a century ago; Mr. B. B. Muzzey, at 29 Cornhill, who died in 1857; the Rev. Thomas Whittemore, D.D., at 37 Cornhill, who died in 1861, and who was succeeded by the Rev. J. M. Usher; and Mr. Abel Tompkins, at 40 Cornhill, who died about twenty years since. The general business of the present house is annually increas- ing under the judicious management of the agent, Mr. Charles Caverly.
Such in outline is the history of Universalism in Boston. The first church in the country was organized in Gloucester in 1779; but Boston may justly claim to have been the more immediate centre of influence down to the present time. At the end of the first century now reached Boston con- tains ten parishes; and what may be called Business Boston, extending twenty miles from the city in all directions, contains more than forty, with a number of others just outside that limit. The nearly eight hundred clergymen in the country, and about one thousand parishes, embracing forty-three thousand families, thirty-eight thousand church members, and fifty-eight thousand members of Sunday-schools, with more than eight hun- dred church edifices and parish property exceeding $6,250,000 net, are dis- tributed among twenty-three State Conventions, and are all represented in one General Convention, whose funds exceed $135,000. The Woman Cen- tenary Association has raised and expended in missionary work, during the eleven years of its history, more than $100,000. Eleven periodicals are "published in the interests of the Church; and the half-dozen academies, four colleges, and two divinity schools possess an aggregate endowment of about $2,000,000.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH IN BOSTON.
BY THE REV. JAMES REED, Pastor of the First New Jerusalem Church.
"T THE Boston Society of the New Jerusalem," established in 1818, was the first organization formed in New England of believers in the doctrines taught by Emanuel Swedenborg. The original number of its members was but twelve, and its growth, for many years after its formation, was far from rapid. In 1828 the names of sixty-three persons had been entered on its rolls. In 1838 this number had swelled to one hundred and eighty-eight ; and from that time to the present (1880) the average annual increase has been a little more than twenty-three. Eleven hundred and fifty- nine persons have been received into the society during the sixty-two years of its existence. Many of these have been removed by death, or trans- ferred to other societies of the New Church; so that the present number is not much above six hundred.
From the foregoing statistics it will be seen that this society, judged by the ordinary standards, has had its full measure of prosperity. It may be added that all, or nearly all, the other New-Church societies in Massachu- setts - some twenty in number - have been largely recruited from its membership.
The present house of worship in Bowdoin Street, near Beacon Street, was built and occupied in 1845. Prior to this time the meetings of the church were held in halls hired for the purpose. The only other society within the city limits is in Roxbury. It was established in 1870, under the charge of the Rev. Abiel Silver, but lately deceased, assisted by the Rev. D. V. Bowen, and has a handsome and substantial edifice on the corner of St. James and Regent streets. There are also societies in Brookline, Newton, and Waltham.
The first pastor of the Boston Society was the Rev. Thomas Worcester, D.D., a graduate of Harvard College in 1818, and one of the twelve original members of the society, which, as has been said, was instituted the same year. His father was the Rev. Noah Worcester, D.D., a well-known writer and clergyman, and a man of marked ability and influence. Thomas Worcester's interest in the writings of Swedenborg began while he was in
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
college, and he lost no time in communicating to his friends and classmates a knowledge of the new doctrines. Several of them became members of the society at the time of its formation or afterward, among whom may be mentioned John H. Wilkins, Caleb and Sampson Reed, T. B. Hayward, and Warren Goddard. Many other Harvard graduates, including the brothers Theophilus and William Parsons, have been connected with the church dur- ing the course of its existence.
Dr. Worcester was a man of strong and decided character, and took a leading position among those with whom he was associated, not only in his own society, but in the church at large. He also served a term of six years in the Board of Overseers of Harvard College, and received the honorary degree of D.D. from that institution. He died in August, 1878, at the age of eighty-three. His pastoral charge of the church in Boston was terminated in 1867, having embraced a period of almost fifty years. He was succeeded by the Rev. James Reed, a son of his classmate and life-long friend Samp- son Reed, and a graduate of Harvard in the year 1855. Mr. Reed is at the present time the pastor of the society. For the last seven years of Dr. Worcester's pastorate he served as his assistant.
So far as is known, attention was first called in Boston to Swedenborg and his writings by one James Glen, in or about the year 1784. He appears to have visited the city for the purpose of lecturing on this subject. Not much is known of the results of his efforts; but it is believed that some interest was awakened, which became more apparent at a later period.
In 1794, and again in 1796, the Rev. William Hill, of England, came to this country with the avowed object of disseminating the doctrines of the New Church. For a considerable time he resided in Massachusetts, in the vicinity of Boston. He is said to have had great hopes of Harvard Uni- versity, and is known to have presented some of Swedenborg's works to the library. The immediate result of his efforts could hardly have met his expectations, as the number of his converts was very small; but the books which he distributed here and there produced effects more tangible and lasting. Of those deposited in Harvard College library Dr. Worcester tells an amusing story in a communication made by him to the Boston church some years ago. He says : -
" Upon my return to the college, after I had begun to read Swedenborg, I went to the library the second time to see if I could find any of his works. The librarian looked into the catalogue again, and found the alcove and shelves where they ought to have been, but they were not there. Then we began a thorough search. We looked through the whole library, in place and out of place, but could not find them. Then we began to think of other rooms. At that time the library was in the second story of the west end of Harvard Hall. In the east end was a large room called the ' Philosophical Room.' And between this room and the library was a small room, which for the want of a proper name was called the 'Museum.' It was filled with rubbish, old curiosities, cast off, superseded, and obsolete philosophical apparatus, and so forth, all covered with dust. We could see no reason for hunting here, except that
-
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THE NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH IN BOSTON.
we had hunted everywhere else, without finding what we wanted. There was a long table in the room. Upon it and under it were piles of useless articles, and beyond it were shelves against the wall, where various things were stored away. On the under shelf, as far out of sight as possible, I saw some books. I told the librarian, and he went round and worked his way until he got at them, and found that the large books were volumes of the 'Arcana Coelestia.' There were also several other works of Swedenborg, all of them covered with dust. I immediately got an order from Presi- dent Kirkland, giving me authority to take the books and keep them in my room ; and this I did for the rest of my college life." 1
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