USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Essex > Two centuries of church history : celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the organization of the Congregational church & parish in Essex, Mass., August 19-22, 1883 > Part 9
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"The assembly appears solemn. May the Lord sanctify the solemn scene to the conviction and conversion of others."
And under date of June 3d : -
"The church met to unite in the general concert of prayer, as well as for mutual conversation. A few present not church members, who con- versed on the state of their minds, some of them under concern, and some having obtained a hope though not free from all doubt. The Lord grant that a plentiful shower may succeed these mercy drops."
The number of persons gathered into the church during this time up to June, 1817 was nineteen. Whether the six
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admitted to the church in the two years following should also be reckoned among the fruits of this first revival, I am unable to say.
One of those who united with the church in 1817 was Capt. Samuel Burnham (born Oct. 28, 1787) who was superinten- dent of the Sabbath School from 1818 till 1837 and ever after a teacher in it, was the treasurer of the church from 1821 till 1868, was elected deacon in 1828 and served in that office until his death Nov. 18, 1873 at the age of eighty-six. For a long series of years he regularly conducted the Sabbath morning prayer-meeting in the chapel and the Tuesday eve- ning meeting from the first establishment of those services, and never failed in untiring devotion and efficiency in the discharge of these and all the many responsible trusts assigned to him by the church,-a sincere, useful, godly man.
The second of these periods of special religious interest began in September, 1827 and (like its predecessor) imme- diately after a special meeting of the church, on the first Sabbath evening of that month, to pray for the effusion of the Holy Spirit. It continued about nine months. Before the end of the first month the church clerk entered this min- ute upon the records: "Such an attention to the things of eternity has become apparent, as has not been witnessed within the memory of any but the aged." And in May, 1828, he made record that "the Sabbath morning prayer meeting, the Thursday evening lecture, the inquiry and church prayer- meetings on Tuesday evening, and either public or private prayer-meetings on Saturday evening are all maintained and with much interest, solemnity and feeling;" and during this and the two following years more than eighty persons united with the church, a large majority of them young married men and women, who constituted to a very great extent the working force of the church for the next thirty years.
Among them all, mention may perhaps be properly made by name of Capt. Francis Burnham, to whom the spiritual
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change of that revival brought a revolution in religious belief and the beginning of a life of most unvarying devotion to duty. In the use of his vigorous powers of mind and his possessions alike, he realized in an unusual degree the idea of stewardship to his divine Master. A diligent student of the Bible, giving daily and earnest thought to its teachings, his intellectual gifts were exercised in the Sabbath School, and often in the prayer-meeting, with great interest and profit to those who listened.
A prosperous man through close attention to his business, he was conscientiously and heartily liberal in giving of his substance to all worthy charitable objects, and especially to Home and Foreign missions ; and from a moderate estate, he left at his death in legacies to ten different benevolent socie- ties the sum of $11,000 in all, besides $500 each to this church and parish.
Always at his post of Christian service he used the office of a deacon well, being found blameless, from his election to it in 1834, until his death Sept. 16, 1871, at the age of eighty years and eleven months.
Another of those who entered upon the religious life at that time was Mr. John Choate, a man always devoted to the interests of the parish, sometimes serving it in responsible trusts, widely known to the community, as was written of him soon after his death, Oct. 18, 1863, "for his great originality of character, for his integrity and sterling value as a public man as well as for the virtues which adorned his private life." Though, through a certain diffidence, not much given to pub- lic speaking of any kind, he was a man of decided Christian principle, who reflected much and deeply upon the great truths of revelation and derived the strongest consolation from the faith he professed, to the end of his life. One of his striking remarks once made to a friend, was that "as he sometimes stood and looked upon the broad sheet of water adjoining the islands which constituted his farm, in some calm
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morning when the whole surface was like a mirror, it gave him, as he thought, a good idea of the full ocean of God's love, in which the soul of the Christian would lave itself after the winds and storms of life were over."
The third revival was in 1839 when about twenty-five per- sons were hopefully converted ; and the fourth, in the years 1849 and 1850, in which about thirty were brought into the church, most of them members of the Sabbath School; and of this spiritual harvest the seed was apparently the Assem- bly's Catechism, in a thorough study of which large numbers had been spending the preceding summer, learning by heart this summary of Christian doctrine for the prize of a bible offered by the church.
The fifth of this series of revivals occurred in the year 1857, soon after the beginning of the ministry of Rev. James M. Bacon, who, -after a pastorate in Littleton from 1846 to 1849, and in Amesbury from 1851 to 1855-was installed over this church July 6, 1856.
"Entering upon this pastorate," writes Rev. Dr. Wellman, "at the age of thirty-eight, matured in christian character by protracted and severe dis- cipline, enriched in the knowledge of Christ and his gospel and in that pastoral wisdom which can come only from long experience in dealing with all classes of people, he was fitted, as never before, for the work of the christian ministry. Without any parade of plans or promises, he met his people face to face, and talked to them plainly and earnestly, as became a man sent from God, 'of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.' It was like 'the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord.' He was emphatically a preacher of righteousness : at the same time he tenderly pointed his hearers to Christ. and assured them, as if they had never heard the message before, that they could become recon- ciled to God and be saved only as they accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. And soon the spiritual power of his labors was manifest; all classes were moved. and during the winter and spring of the second year of his pastorate the town was blessed with a powerful revival of religion. About fifty persons, converts in this revival, united with the church."*
Of Mr. Bacon's interest in young men and his influence in leading several of them to devote themselves to the Chris-
* Biographical sketch by Rev. J. W. Wellman, D.D., in The Congrega- tional Quarterly. Vol. xvii, No. 3.
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tian ministry, of his patriotic zeal and his prayers for the sons of his people in the army, in the war of the Rebellion, or of the ardent piety, the singleness of aim, the self-sacrificing devotion, the honest and faithful preaching of this servant of Christ, you have no need that I speak, for it is all in your memories and your hearts.
On account of ill health, Mr. Bacon closed his labors here July 8, 1869. He was afterwards pastor of the church in Ashby from 1870 until his death March 5, 1873.
The ministers of the church since Mr. Bacon's dismission have been Rev. Darius A. Moorehouse, installed June 30, 1870, and dismissed Sept. 14, 1874; Rev. Edward G. Smith, installed July 15, 1875, and dismissed Feb. 8, 1877; Rev. John L. Harris, acting pastor for one year from May 1, 1877; Rev. Francis H. Boynton, installed Dec. 11, 1879, and dis- missed May 18, 1882; Rev. Frank H. Palmer, acting pastor since Oct. 1, 1882.
The sixth and most recent revival of this century took place during the pastorate of Rev. Mr. Smith, in 1875-6, and brought into the church forty-one members.
2. The second thing especially noticeable in the history of this church and parish, during the last seventy years, is the religious activity of their members in a great variety of ways, a few of which it may be proper to enumerate.
One instance of the outworking of this spirit of religious enterprise, we find, in the provision made in 1820 for a suit- able place (which down to that time had been lacking) for the social religious meetings and other gatherings of the church and society. For this purpose some members of the parish,-prominent among whom were Messrs. Joseph Choate, John Dexter and William Andrews, Jr.,-took upon them- selves the care and expense of erecting a chapel, which was dedicated with appropriate religious services in December of that year.
In one of its rooms adapted to that use, the liberality of
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others deposited, the very next year, a church library which had its beginning in 1815 in one hundred volumes of books presented by a number of donors to the church. This gradually increased in size until it numbered more than two hundred volumes of standard theological and other religious works and was for many years a source of much interest and instruction to a considerable portion of the members of the church.
INTEREST IN MISSIONS. .
In this building also, from the first opening of it, was held the monthly missionary concert, (which had been omitted for some time for want of a convenient place to meet in and which just about the year 1820 began to be observed generally in the churches), and the meetings of a society organized in 1826 for the special support of the cause of missions.
Following if not directly stimulated by this development of an interest in christian work among the heathen was the awakening of a deeper regard for Home missions, leading to practical efforts for the cultivation of waste places near at hand. To the establishment and support of the Congrega- tional churches in Lanesville and Gloucester Harbor liberal contributions were statedly made for a long period.
Many "shares," as the gifts in money were called, were taken in the new meeting-house in West Gloucester in 1833 ; and to the newly organized church there, which consisted at first only of women, two of our members, Messrs. John Choate and John S. Burnham were regularly dismissed to become its deacons. They officiated in that capacity several years, until, through the blessing of God upon that Home missionary endeavor in the increase of that church, their services were no longer required.
For the promotion of various Christian objects that chapel proved an exceedingly serviceable structure for twenty years.
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the particular form of service for the church in which he took the greatest delight and to which he devoted his best energies was the management of this institution, the superintendence of which from his appointment to it in 1837, he held through a long life, and to which he imparted the peculiar character for which it has been so widely known, largely by the general exercise he introduced, in which he himself reviewed and commented upon the important points of the lessons statedly assigned. Into this informal instruction he entered with a genuine enthusiasm. So well did he know the avenues to the youthful mind and heart and with such tact could he address himself to those who were older, that his expositions of the word of God were " like apples of gold in pictures of silver," or "as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies." Discern- ing well that "the imagination is the grand organ by which the truth can make successful approaches to the mind," he would so picture a Bible scene, sketch one of its characters, or illumine whatever particular truth was under consideration, that his hearers could not fail to comprehend and to carry away a lasting impression.
This general exercise, however, was not confined to the lesson for the day, but had great variety given to it in many ways and thus became the distinguishing feature of the school, sustaining and deepening the interest of all who were connected with it, binding them together like members of one family and becoming a most effective means of religious training.
The Sabbath school has been always large in numbers; it has been noted for the system with which it has been con- ducted and its liberal gifts to benevolent objects ; but its real excellence has lain in its remarkable power to mould the characters of those who have grown up under its influence. It has set upon them its impress like the seal upon wax.
One proof of this, which may be appropriately referred to here, is found in the significant fact that most if not all of
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until the remodeling of the meeting-house in 1842 furnished more commodious apartments for these same ends.
Another illustration of this forwardness for religious work which prevailed, and of the steadfastness in it, is found in a vote of the church in a time of religious interest in 1828, appointing a large committee to go forth two by two, to visit the families of the parish, for the purpose of conversing with them on the necessity of giving immediate attention to the subject of religion, and a vote a few days later that the whole church be a committee for that purpose; as also in the can- vassing of the town in 1835 to see what proportion of the in- habitants attended no religious meeting on the Sabbath.
THE TUESDAY EVENING PRAYER MEETING.
But it especially appears in the establishment, in 1828, of the Tuesday evening prayer-meeting, held at the houses of many of the church members in turn, in different parts of the parish, for a long series of years, and of late in the confer- ence room of the church.
This meeting, sustained wholly by laymen already for upwards of half a century, has certainly a remarkable record, as regards the vigor with which it has been for the most part sustained, the wide range of doctrinal and practical topics discussed in it, the freedom, ability and originality with which they were often handled, the suggestive, stimulating and edifying thoughts expressed, the fervent prayers offered, and its usefulness in feeding the flame of christian feeling and nourishing the spiritual life of the church. In all these and manifold other ways it has been accomplishing a great and excellent work ; and many who have attended owe more than can be described to the fathers and brothers, among the dead and the living, who have been the indefatigable upholders and the shining lights of this social Christian meeting for devo- tion and conference.
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THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT.
Still a third form of this activity of the brotherhood ap- peared at the beginning of the Temperance movement in 1829. When, after an address in the meeting-house July 16, there was a call to organize the Essex Temperance Society on the principle of total abstinence, seven persons besides the minister responded with their signatures to the pledge ; whose names, were Winthrop Low ( the first president), Samuel Burnham, John Choate, John Perkins, Jonathan Eveleth, Francis Burnham and David Choate, all members of this parish, and all but one, members of the church. Within a year following, besides the twenty-nine ladies who enrolled their names, there were eleven men, all of this parish, and all but two of them, church members, who also signed the pledge.
Although at first there was strong and bitter opposition, the members of the society were full of zeal; they procured lecturers on the subject and carried the reform steadily onward, until public sentiment was completely revolutionized. As early as 1833, so great was its influence, that the town voted "no license ;" and soon an advance was made to abstinence from fermented liquors.
THE SABBATH SCHOOL.
By far the most important kind of practical work, however, in which the Christian spirit of a large number of the men and women of this church has found scope for its exercise, has been the teaching of the Scriptures and the religious training of the children and youth in the Sabbath school, which was first established in 1814 but the conduct of which was for so long a period of time in the hands of Hon. David Choate .*
A deacon in the church from 1828 until his death Dec. 17, 1872, at the age of seventy-six, and its clerk for forty years,
*A biographical sketch of Dea. Choate was published in The Congre- gational Quarterly, Vol. xvii. No. 4.
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those who have been actively engaged in these various forms of Christian work, which have peculiarly characterized the last seventy years, received their own religious training in this nursery of the church. Among them (in addition to those already mentioned) may be named Messrs. Uriah G. Spofford, John S. Burnham, Jeremiah Cogswell, Nathan Burnham, 3d, Moses Perkins and Robert W. Burnham, to- gether with the present officers and other members of the church.
A full exhibition of the history and work of the School during its first fifty years has fortunately been preserved in the elaborate, complete and exceedingly interesting historical . address delivered by Superintendent Choate at its semi cen- tennial anniversary, which was celebrated by public exercises, Dec. 26, 1864.
While each of these three periods in the history of this church, over which we have cast our backward glance, is thus seen to have its peculiar characteristics and its special mission, while there is exhibited to us through the records of each era in turn the foundation work of the seventeenth century, the reconstructive and uplifting work of the eighteenth century and the Sabbath School and other Christian work of the laity in the nineteenth century, yet we can also see as we trace the thread of events, as we gather up and examine the various in- cidents falling under our notice along the pathway we have taken and picture to ourselves the differing scenes bright or dark, by passing through which this church has been cheered or chastened, that these periods are only successive stages,- the infancy, youth and maturity-of one and the same life, which "vital in every part cannot but by annihilating die," and which may never grow old, but by waiting upon the Lord may ever renew its strength.
And it is the underlying and unchanging, substantial quali- ties of this life, first and foremost the loving spirit of Jesus the Lord with which this church has ever been inspired, the
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strength of its faith and the truth of its creed attested by its fruitfulness in all good works, the scriptural simplicity of its church order and the purity and power of its pulpit, which have made it to so great a degree the conservative, elevating, puri- fying element in society, and which therefore demand on this commemoration-day the tribute of our deepest reverence and our warmest affection and gratitude.
This life of the church, however, really consists in the life of its individual members. And so it is the piety and devotion, the ability and learning of its ministers; it is the long line and the solid column of its laymen of vigorous minds, with their diversity of gifts but animated by the same spirit, rock-like in the solidity of their Christian. prin- ciple, thrifty "as the trees of lignaloes which the Lord hath planted," flourishing and fruitful even in old age; it is the goodly company of saintly women, whose lives have been like an alabaster box of precious ointment, broken and poured out at the feet of their Divine Lord in consecration to His service, in their approving themselves in all things as servants of God, by pureness, by love unfeigned, by the armor of righteousness, and by the almsdeeds which they have done ;- Yes, it is the dear fathers and mothers, your ancesters and mine, who wrought their very being into this church and brought us under its benign and blessed influences, before whose memories we rise up to-day in reverence and honor, and for whom, on this occasion, we have reason for giving our humble and most hearty thanks to Him who is the head over all things to the church.
Six generations of this host have already crossed the flood. Many of those with whom our own lives are linked by holiest ties and precious recollections have vanished out of our sight, though they still seem to hover about us, and we now and then instinctively turn to behold the faces and hear the voices of those we have so loved and revered; and with reference to them we must use the poet's words :
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"Look where we may, the wide earth o'er, Those lighted faces smile no more.
We tread the paths their feet have worn, We sit beneath the orchard trees, We hear, like them, the hum of bees And rustle of the bearded corn ; Their written words we linger o'er,
. But in the sun they cast no shade,
No voice is heard, no sign is made, No step is on the conscious floor."
Yet, of all these faithful followers of a divine Master who came among men not to be ministered unto but to minister, of them all whose ambition was righteousness and Christian · service, it may in truth be said that though they had none of that renown among men which has been compared to "a snow- flake on hot water, a touch and it's vanished," for "the brighest names that earth can boast just glisten and are gone," still their works do follow them. Such characters of spiritual strength and beauty, as they were fashioned into, are and always will be a living force in the community, in themselves a ben- efaction to the world around them of substantial and perma- nent value.
ADDRESS ON REV. JOHN WISE.
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BY REV. H. M. DEXTER, D. D., OF BOSTON. ,
There seem to have been four classes among the early set- tlers of the Massachusetts Colony. There were first, those who paid for their passage, and stood in the same relation as if original subscribers of £50 to the common stock; second, those contributing skill in art or trade, who received remuner- ative in money or land; third, those who exhausted their humble ability in paying a part of their expenses, agreeing to earn the rest here; and, fourth, those who came distinctly as indentured serving-men, who, in return, were held to labor for a term of years; having a claim the while for support from their masters. This last class was, possibly, more num- erous than has been always understood. Thomas Dudley in his Letter to the Countess of Lincoln, of date 12-22 Mar. 1630*, says that when Winthrop's company arrived, in the summer before, they found the condition of those who had been sent over in the previous two years so straitened and grievous, that, lacking provisions, they were obliged to cancel the in- dentures of all who remained of one hundred and eighty such serving-men, although it had cost from £16 to £20 apiece to bring them over.
Such serving-men naturally came from humble homes, but many of them were worthy and faithful; and they, or their children, rose to respectability and usefulness in the common- wealth.
*Young's Chronicles of Mass, 311.
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In Winthrop's Company was one George Alcock, who had married the sister of Thomas Hooker,* who was a physician and deacon ; of whom John Eliot left on the Roxbury church- book the loving and creditable record, that:t "he lived in a good and godly sort, and dyed in the end of the 10th month ano. 1640, and left a good savor behind him; the Pore of the church much bewailing his losse." In the ten years of his New England life Dr. Alcock made two voyages to England, in the latter of which, probably,; he brought over, as an in- dentured attendant of the fourth class referred to, one Joseph Wise. Making his will a few days before his death, he inser- ted this clause : § "to my servant Joseph Wise [I give] my young heifer, & the rest of his time from after mid-somer next." Joseph made so good use of his time, not to mention the heifer, that a little inside of five months [3-13 Dec. 1641] after the midsummer in question, he married Mary Thompson. || In the nearly three-and-forty years between that date and his death, 12-22 September 1684, thirteen children from his house- hold were baptized in Roxbury, to wit ;** Joseph, Jeremiah, Sarah, Mary, John, Henry, Bethia, Katharine, Benjamin, William, Benjamin (again), Abigail and Jeremiah (the sec- ond). John, third son and fifth child, was baptized 15-25 July 1652, just five months and eight days before the death of John Cotton. Thomas Hooker had been dead five years and a week; John Wilson was sixty-four ; Charles Chauncy, sixty ; Richard Mather, fifty-six; John Davenport, fifty-five; John Eliot, forty-eight; John Norton, forty-six; and Increase Mather, a lad of thirteen, had been already a year in Harvard College. It is this John Wise whom we are now to consider. We are left to absolute conjecture, founded upon the simple
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