USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Walks & talks about historic Boston > Part 34
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
469
Walks and Talks About Historic Boston.
John Adams delighted to sit under his preaching. He was elected a member of the Massachusetts Convention that voted to adopt the Federal Constitution.
Among the pastors of recent years, who still survive, we may mention the Rev. Nathan E. Wood, D. D., at present the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Arlington. Under his administration the Arlington church has grown rapidly in numbers and usefulness. He is a fine organizer, an able preacher, and of engaging personality, and the Arlington church is one of the strongest in the denomination outside of Boston proper.
The present pastor, Rev. Austin Kennedy de Blois, was born in Wolfville, N. S., December 17, 1866, and has served
Rev. Nathan E. Wood, D.D.
the church since 1911, coming from a nine years' pastorate with the First Church of Chicago. He is a graduate of Acadia College, N. S., and of Brown University, Provi- dence, R. I. He also studied at Berlin and Leipzig, Ger- many. Traveled in Africa and the Orient in the interest of missions. Has lectured at Newton Theological Seminary and Colgate University on Psychology and Philosophy of Religion and on Pastoral Experience. Author of "Bible Study in American Colleges," "The Pioneer School and Imperialism and Democracy." He is a scholar among scholars, a preacher among preachers, a gentleman among gentleman, a friend among friends.
470
Walks and Talks About Historic Boston.
The church has had several locations in its long history. They left Sheafe Street and built a brick edifice on the corner of Union and Hanover Streets, as many of the mem- bers lived in that vicinity. The encroachments of business caused them to make another change, and they built a handsome edifice on Somerset Street. A number of years ago they purchased the elegant church edifice on the corner of Clarendon Street and Commonwealth Avenue which was built for the Brattle Square church. It is one of the finest church edifices in the Back Bay and in a commanding location.
Tremont Temple Baptist Church
Few churches in the country are as widely known to the present generation as Tremont Temple, "The Stran- ger's Sabbath Home." Its history does not date very far back in the past, but the circumstances attending its origin are most interesting, and its influence has extended far and wide. The beautiful and imposing building at once attracts the eye and commands the admiration of the visiting stran- ger, and if he attends a Sabbath service in the fine audi- torium and mingles with the multitude there gathered, he will carry away pleasant and lasting memories of the day. This religious organization had its inception in the brain and heart of Deacon Timothy Gilbert, a devoted and liberal Baptist of Boston. He felt that the time had arrived for the organization of a church in a central location, where all seats should be free, no pew rentals, but voluntary of- ferings to meet the expenses of the church. It should be a church of the people where rich and poor, where men of all colors and nationalities might meet on a common level and unite in the worship of God. His heart was pained at the exclusiveness of some churches. As it proved, the time was opportune for such a movement, and a number of Baptists met on the 26th of July, 1838, and voted, to form a Free Baptist Church in Boston, and held their first public service on the 9th of the following December in a hall on the corner of Bromfield and Tremont Street, the church being organized with 82 members. The first pastor was the Rev. Nathaniel Colver, who entered upon his work with zeal and vigor. It was during his pastorate that Elder Ja- cob Knapp held a series of revival services in Boston. So great and deep were their influences upon the community, that many of the theatres were closed for want of patrons. and among them the Tremont Theatre, which stood oppo- site the Tremont House. Deacon Gilbert saw the opportu- nity for the new church to secure a fine central location for its peculiar work and purchased the property for $55,- 000. The sum of $8,000 was raised to transform it into a suitable church building, and it was dedicated in December,
471
472
Walks and Talks About Historic Boston.
1843. This building was destroyed by fire in March, 1852. The present Temple Building is the fourth that has occu- pied that site, two others, besides the original, being burned. In 1864 the church was greatly strengthened by its consolidation with the Union Church of Merrimack Street. It was a great accession to the working force of the Temple and some of those younger men became in later years the strong men of the denomination. One of them still survives, Deacon Oliver M. Wentworth, an active and valuable member, and highly esteemed by all who know him. The
-
Rev. Cortland Myers, Pastor Tremont Temple
church has had many able and earnest pastors and its large auditorium has been filled every Sunday, year after year, sometimes to overflowing. Such men as Colver, Fulton, Ellis, Haynes and Hanson have exerted a powerful influ- ence on the masses of Greater Boston. No man ever pos- sessed the confidence of the denomination, or occupied a higher rank as a preacher of the gospel, than Dr. George C. Lorimer. Tremont Temple has been a missionary church, contributing largely to the support of foreign and home missions. She has furnished several men of marked ability to the ministry, and is the mother of the Dorchester Temple Church, one of the strong churches of the denomi- nation in Greater Boston.
The present pastor, Rev. Cortland Myers, began his la-
473
Walks and Talks About Historic Boston.
bors in 1909. He was born in Kingston, N. Y., in 1864, graduated at University of Rochester in 1887, and from the Rochester Theological Seminary in 1890. After a pastorate at Syracuse he went to the First Church in Brooklyn, N. Y., where he remained sixten years, coming to Tremont Tem-
Rer. Robert Stuart McArthur, D.D., LL. D.
ple from that church. He is doing a good work and the large audience room is filled every Sunday.
REV. ROBERT STUART McARTHUR, D. D., L.L. D. By Rev. Edmund F. Merriam, D. D.
Dr. MacArthur's ministry has been in New York City, where he was pastor of Calvary Baptist Church for forty-
474
Walks and Talks About Historic Boston.
two years. But he has become well known in Boston as the Summer preacher at the famous Tremont Temple Baptist Church for many successive years.
It used to be difficult to hold the great congregation at the Temple during the Summer vacations of the regular preacher and pastor, but the securing of Dr. MacArthur has solved the problem. The same intellectual ability and eloquence which enabled him to lead a Baptist Church in the metropolis to strength and success for forty-two years, has gripped and held the people of Boston in the great audience hall of Tremont Temple, even in the hot months of the Summer.
In preaching, Dr. MacArthur's manner is peculiarly his own. His discourses are always carefully prepared and con- tain much worthy of the careful attention of the most thoughtful people. But it is the exquisite finish and per- suasive power of the delivery which holds the common mind. To hear a sermon or an address of Dr. MacArthur's is a splen- did lesson in oratory. He has the "grand style," which has so largely been lost in these days, and which yet is so pleasing to every hearer, and his success with the people is the best proof of his power as a preacher. At present Dr. MacArthur is President of the Baptist World Alliance, the highest position in the gift of the Baptists in the world.
THE WARREN AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH.
First Known as the Second Baptist Church and Later as the Baldwin Place Baptist Church.
Rev. Herbert. S. Johnson, D. D., Pastor.
Through the years in the midst of conditions which are considered unfavorable to the gathering of great audiences in a Protestant Church, Dr. Johnson has kept his hold on the people of Greater Boston and filled the great audience room of the Warren Avenue Baptist Church with an attentive crowd. It is worthy of notice how largely these audiences are made up of young people. From the thronged boarding houses of the South End and of the Huntington Avenue dis- trict, students, clerks, stenographers, working men and wom- en of all classes find their way to Warren Avenue Church every Sunday evening when Dr. Johnson preaches. As a preacher he is intensely dramatic. He has something to say in close touch with the daily lives of the people, and he says it with a power and intensity which is often startling. And
475
Walks and Talks About Historic Boston.
Dr. Johnson's eloquence is not artificial. His earnestness is not assumed. Of ample fortune and independent of salary, he preaches because he loves the people and greatly desires to help those in need. As the members of his congregation well know, he leaves his elegant home in the Back Bay at the cry of distress, and goes to the haunts of poverty and of sin, to seek and to save those who are suffering and dying. His genuineness gives him a hold on the people. He is a tribune of the poor and oppressed. The last two years Dr. Johnson has devoted about half of his time to the Layman's Mission- ary movement, in behalf of which his powerful appeals have been extremely effective. But his absence has been greatly
Rev. Herbert S. Johnson, D. D.
felt in Boston where he is recognized as one of the ablest, popular preachers."
The record of the Second Baptist Church is quite a remark- able and interesting one. It had its beginning in 1742, when a few members of the First Baptist Church became dissatisfied with the preaching and doctrine of Rev. Jeremiah Condy. pastor of the church. They did not consider his preaching evangelical and they addressed a letter to him and to the members of the church requesting a conference on the mat- ter.
Receiving no reply, they assembled in the house of Mr. James Bownd on the corner of Sheafe and Sparkill Streets,
476
Walks and Talks About Historic Boston.
where they conducted worship among themselves, which they continued for several months. As they saw no prospect of a change at the First Church, they withdrew their membership from that church and on July 27, 1743, organized the Second Baptist Church with thirty-three charter members. One hun- dred years later, in accordance with a joint petition of the church and society to the Legislature, the name was changed to the Baldwin Place Baptist Church and so continued until the removal to its present location on Warren Avenue.
Soon after their organization, the services were held in Mr. Proctor's Schoolhouse, and in 1745 they erected a very mod- est edifice forty-five by thirty-three feet, with twenty-six pews on the lower floor and six pews in the East gallery. The seats in the West gallery were free and were filled with sea- faring men. The best pew in the house, estimated at eighty- five pounds ($425) was owned by Mr. Proctor, and the sec- ond best was set apart to be forever the ministerial pew.
Mr. Bownd, the pastor, was considered a strong and inter- esting preacher and held the pastorate for twenty-two years. In five years the membership had increased to one hundred and thirty. In 1764, the pastor being afflicted with paralysis, an invitation was extended to Rev. Samuel Stillman of Bor- dentown. New Jersey, to come and assist the pastor for one year, which was accepted, and he proved very able and satis- factory. At the end of the year, the pulpit of the First Church being vacant, Mr. Stillman was induced to become pastor of that church. This was a great blow to the Second Church, for Mr. Stillman was a man of exceptional ability with the power to attract the people, and during his year as assistant at the Second Church, the church prospered greatly. It was five years before the church obtained another pastor and they were years of severe trial. The new man, Rev. Mr. Gair, had a very successful pastorate and the church was obliged to enlarge its house of worship.
The church was fortunate in the choice of the next pastor, Rev. Thomas Baldwin, who came from Canaan, New Hamp- shire. He was invited to come as a supply and so acceptable were his services that he was elected as pastor by a unanimous vote. The letter of invitation first sent to Mr. Baldwin is quaint and shows also the methods of church committees, and of the compensation of the clergy in those days. It reads : "The church has thought it their duty to engage you at six dollars a week for the first six weeks, and then to increase it
477
Walks and Talks About Historic Boston.
as they shall find themselves able, and also to find you all that part of the dwelling house now occupied by the Widow Gair (excepting the front chamber, together with the improvement of the garden below the gate), and also to allow you fifteen cords of wood delivered to your house." At the end of six months the church raised the salary to eight dollars, and kept on raising it until it amounted to twenty dollars per week, which was paid weekly with punctuality, and all this was done without any hint from the pastor. On November II, 1790,
Rer. O. P. Gifford, D. D., Former Pastor of this Church
Mr. Baldwin was publicly installed as pastor, and the church entered upon a career of material and spiritual prosperity, which continued without interruption for many years. In 18Ic the old house, which only a few years before had been repaired and enlarged, was taken down and a substantial brick building erected, eighty-five by seventy feet, with a tower sixty-four feet high, which cost, exclusive of the land, twenty- four thousand dollars. It is said that three thousand people attended the exercises of dedication. Dr. Baldwin continued as pastor until his death in 1825, which occurred at Water- ville, Maine, whither he had gone to attend the Commence- ment Exercises of the College. Few pastors in Boston have ever exerted a wider or more beneficent influence upon the community than Dr. Baldwin. Rev. Dr. Baron Stow, in a centennial address of the church, said of him: "He was a man
478
Walks and Talks About Historic Boston.
of rare excellences and the memory of his virtues will be cher- ished with affectionate reverence as long as truth and holiness shall have a friend or an advocate."
Dr. Baron Stowe who came from Portsmouth, was the sev- enth pastor. This ardent and impulsive preacher did a won- derful work, adding nine hundred members to the church, and the house of worship was enlarged. But towards the last of his ministry, through no fault of his, there was a gradual de- pletion in the membership. By reason of the influx of many foreigners at the North End, the locality was not so desirable for Americans, and many of the active and influential mem- bers removed to the South End or to nearby suburbs. Again, nearly 300 members had taken letters of dismissal to form new churches; nearly ten churches were thus assisted, and the Rowe Street Church (the successor of the old Federal Street ), having organized, extended a call to Dr. Baron Stowe, which was accepted. The last pastor at Old Baldwin Place was the Rev. Daniel C. Eddy, D. D. It was during his in- cumbency that the church removed from its old time honored location in Baldwin Place to the present location on the corner of West Canton Street and Warren Avenue.
The new edifice was dedicated October, 1866, the church having a membership at that time of about 400. Dr. Eddy remained with them until 1871, when he accepted a call to Fall River. The new church cost $105,000 and the seating capacity is 1300. Dr. Eddy's successor was the Rev. George Pentecost. His ministry was most fruitful in results, not so much in the numerical additions to the church as in the highly increased spiritual efficiency and religious culture of those already forming its body. Mr. Pentecost, however, was pre- eminently ordained for the work of an evangelist, and a pow- erful influence was brought to bear upon him by Mr. Moody to leave the pastorate and take up the evangelistic work. This Mr. Pentecost decided to do, greatly to the regret of the peo- ple, by whom he was regarded with the deepsst confidence and affection.
He was succeeded by Rev. O. P. Gifford, D. D., who worthily filled the pulpit which had been rendered famous by the long array of faithful men whose eloquence, piety and faithful labor hallow this church. The Rev. Edward F. Mer- riam writes of Dr. Gifford: "Dr. Gifford is well known to the people of Greater Boston as well as to multitudes of others through his two pastorates, at Warren Avenue Church, Bos-
479
Walks and Talks About Historic Boston.
ton, and at the Brookline Baptist Church. His success in both these pastorates is also an illustration of the breadth of his culture and the scope of his genius. The Warren Avenue Church is located in a section of the city where the common people are massed. The appeal of a preacher in this locality must be to the masses, and to hear Dr. Gifford the masses came. His church was always thronged by people, not only from the vicinity of the house of worship, but by multitudes from other parts of the city, and from the surrounding towns and cities. In the conservative court end of Boston, his suc- cess has been equally pronounced. Large numbers of stu- dents and visitors to the city are noticed in the congregations at Brookline. As a preacher Dr. Gifford is brilliant, epigra- matic, suggestive and inspiring. He throws his thoughts like sparkling gems at his audience, and the peoople catch them with eagerness like precious pearls.
James Russell Lowell might have had Dr. Gifford in mind when he made Hosea Bigelow define eloquence. Above all, Dr. Gifford is a good man. He is lovable and beloved. A great part of the power of his preaching comes from his per- sonality. He is a winning illustration of the 'man behind the gun.' not in war, but on the purer fields of peace. No Boston preacher is so often or so widely called to speak on various public occasions in all parts of the country. In colleges and at patriotic services he is a favorite speaker. He was chosen as one of the public speakers on the great patriotic day at the Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, which is at once an illustration of the breadth of his popularity and a proof of his power in the nation."
The Brattle Square Church
This church, so long identified with Brattle Square, dated back to 1699. At that time Boston contained less than 10,000 people and as there were already three Congrega- tional church, the erection of a fourth church at that time was regarded by the Puritan Fathers as altogether unneces- sary, hence there was strong opposition to the movement. But there were quite a number of Bostonians who objected to the strict and rigid observance of traditional customs, which marked the churches of that day and as they ex- pressed it, they "believed more liberality should be injected into religion." These men bought a lot of land of Thomas Brattle in 1698 and built a wooden house of worship which they dedicated the following year and which was long known as the "Manifest Church" because the founders issued a document declaring their views in answer to the protests of other religious societies. The narrowness of that period is indicated by the action of the parishioners who declined the legacy of two organs provided for in the will of Thomas Brattle, because they "did not think it proper to use an or- gan in the public worship of God." There were no clocks in the Meeting Houses of those days-but in this church there was a large hour glass, a foot high, which stood beside the pulpit to mark the length of the services-particularly the sermons, which were sure to be an hour long. When the preacher was particularly dry and prosy it was a satisfaction to see the sands nearly run down and to know the end was near, but not infrequently the preacher would calmly turn the glass and start in on the second hour.
This old wooden church was never painted inside or out, and in 1772 a new church building became necessary.
Governor Bowdoin offered the church a site on the corner of Tremont Row and Howard Street, if they would leave their old location-
It was at this time that John Hancock made the church the gift of a bell and a thousand pounds, and the parishion- ers decided to remain in the old location and build a sub- stantial brick structure. This new building was considered
480
481
Walks and Talks About Historic Boston.
the city, and here the society worshipped for one hundred very handsome in its day and an ornament to that part of years.
Those were troublous and exciting days for Boston. The revolution was just dawning and a little later several of its members left to take part in the struggle.
The British Commander, General Gage, had no compunc- tions about using church property for whatever suited his purpose, and during the British occupation of Boston he quartered a part of the 29th Regiment in the church and also used it for the storage of cannon and munitions of war.
During the siege of Boston, the Americans at Cambridge were constantly trying the range of their guns and the Yan- kee shot was often quite annoying to the British garrison.
The night before the evacuation of Boston, the bombard- ment was very heavy and one solid shot from the American lines at Lechmere Point struck the church building above and to the left of the entrance.
The iron missile displaced a few bits of stone and mortar and then fell near the entrance of the church.
In 1825 this cannon ball was embedded in the church wall where it struck and there it remained until the building was demolished in 1874. A historical writer said in the Boston Post: "Brattle Square was a favorite rendezvous of the Brit- ish troops during the siege." General Gage lived across the street from the church, and in the square began the quarrel between the citizens and the soldiers, which culminated in the Boston Massacre.
The officers of the 29th Regiment lodged with Mrs. Apthorp, whose house occupied part of the site now covered by the Quincy House. Pierce Butler, a major in the British regiment, afterwards became an American citizen and a United States Senator from South Carolina. In 1812 he was an advocate of war against his native country. John Adams lived in Brattle Square in 1768 with his infant son. John Quincy Adams. Still later the Square became the starting place for most of the stages, which ran to other states and their arrival and departure excited far more commotion than is known in the locality at present.
In 1813, Edward Everett was ordained as its pastor, being at that time only 19 years of age. Thirteen months later he resigned to accept the Eliot Professorship of Greek Litera- ture at Harvard College. While pastor of Brattle Square
482
Walks and Talks About Historic Boston.
Church, Mr. Everett wrote the famous book "Defence of Christianity." Like many other churches which when erected were in the residential section of the city, business grew up all around this famous church and the church sold the property in 1871.
Final services were held in the old church audience room Sunday, July 30th, 1871. A contemporary account says "It was no common event-that of taking leave of such a church as the Brattle Square Church.
"There were many moist eyes to be seen among the con- gregation. There were many old niches looked into for a parting thought. There was a historic fact, to many, at- taching to every window and every pillar and the pulpit and the organ spoke volumes.
"There, in 1775, had stood a stack of arms. By that win- dow an officer had hacked at the queer old carvings, and the marks of his sabre were still seen there. There by the pulpit had been grouped the flags of Great Britain. Around everywhere had been scattered the cots of the soldiery. One could trace to the precise spot where the cannon ball had struck and imagine what consternation reigned in the bar- racks when from the line of the American fortifications shot were fast dropping into the Square, and the dismal portents of a driving rain storm filled the air.
"Thoughts such as these occurred to one sitting in the church, while the congregation was coming in, and there was plenty of time to reflect. At half-past ten o'clock, the organist, I. I. Harwood, seated himself before the sacred in- strument and played an appropriate prelude. By this time, the church was crowded to overflowing. The pews, the gal- leries, the aisles, the doorways were filled completely. In the pulpit sat Rev. Dr. S. K. Lothrop, and by his ide the Rev. Edward Everett Hale. On the table in front were a few flowers and at each end of the large bible was a bouquet of beautiful exotics.
"The musical selections were all in the best taste possible, and were performed with remarkably fine effect.
Besides the organist, the choir consisted of Mrs. J. I. Harwood, soprano; Mrs. J. Hamonett, alto; Mr. D. W. Loring, tenor, and Mr. E. E. Pickett, basso and this quar- tette was assisted in the chorus passages by Mrs. Tower, soprano, and Mr. Gansett, bass, both former members of the choir. Mr. and Mrs. Harwood came to the city from
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.