USA > New Hampshire > History of New Hampshire, Volume IV > Part 19
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Among the Congregationalists of New Hampshire the benevolent societies that have arisen during the last century and are still flourishing are the New Hampshire Home Mission- ary Society, organized in 1801, the New Hampshire Bible So- ciety, dating from 1812, the Ministers' and Widows Charitable Fund, started in 1813, and local contributory organizations to aid the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and other general benevolent societies of united Congregationalism. Over $60,000 have been accumulated for the fund for worn out
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preachers and their widows, so that now the income from invested funds and the annual contributions of churches and friends make it possible for such as have given their lives for others to receive in old age, if needy, as much as from fifty dollars to two hundred dollars per year. Verily they have their reward, not so abund- ant on earth as it should be. Poor by making many rich! The total benevolent contributions of the Congregational churches in the year preceding the annual meeting of 1915 were $63,701.
The division of Congregationalists into Unitarian and Trinitarian churches that was quite extensive in Massachusetts at the beginning of the nineteenth century did not affect to any great extent the churches of New Hampshire. Two churches were divided and five became Unitarian. About thirty years ago a similar division took place at Francestown. The division of a church on such an issue now is scarcely conceivable. The union of these two old branches of Congregationalism is now possible and desirable, since both call themselves disciples of Jesus and seek the same ends. There are now twenty-eight Unitarian churches in New Hampshire. The number of church- members is not published.
The Baptists, who had seventeen churches in 1801, report in 1914 eighty-seven churches and 9,226 members, benevolent contributions totaling $106,087 and church property to the value of $800,000. The Free Baptists that originated in New Hamp- shire and had seventeen churches in 1801 have grown to be eighty churches and 6,250 members in the State and have become numerous in several other States. Their educational institution in the State is at New Hampton. Their Theological School was removed to Lewiston, Maine, and connected with Bates College under the name of Cobb Divinity School, but recently has been discontinued. Another collegiate institution of this de- nomination has flourished for a long time at Hillsdale, Michi- gan. Of late there has been persistent effort to reunite the Baptists and Free Baptists, since the causes of the past division have been removed. They agree about the practice of immer- sion, and some churches are liberal enough to receive into mem- bership by letter from other denominations without asking any questions about mode of baptism, and the practice of open com- munion with all lovers of the Christ is increasing in Baptist
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churches, after the traditional example of the English Baptists. The missionary work of the two denominations has been unified. The national associations have voted to unite the two denomina- tions. The practical union of some local churches is desirable and in time, doubtless, will be effected.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century the Methodists had four churches in New Hampshire; in the report of 1915 one hundred and forty-five churches are named with over fourteen thousand members and probationers, so that in numbers they rank as the second Protestant denomination. The value of their churches and parsonages is estimated to be about a million and a quarter dollars. Some peculiarities have made them pros- perous. At the beginning their preachers were itinerant evan- gelists, not allowed to stay long in one place and always seeking immediate results of their work. The permitted length of pas- torate among them has grown from six months to a year, two years, three years, five years, and now an itinerant Methodist minister may stay as long as the people want him and the bishop is willing, being reappointed from year to year. The average length of pastorate, however, is about three years, and this has affected the policy of other denominations. When it is consid- ered that a minister has to address the same congregation a hundred times or more in one year, it is evident that in three years he can tell the hearers all he knows and something more. Something besides thirst for religious truth must draw people to church. Some of the peculiar institutions of Methodism are passing away. The class-meeting has disappeared in many of the churches, and no longer their members meet once a week to tell experiences and renew vows. The old fashioned camp- meetings are no more held, where in one common society tent from fifty to a hundred persons used to worship, eat and sleep. Camp-meetings have been held at Colebrook, Groveton, Epping, Claremont, Wilmot and the Weirs. Some of these grounds have been abandoned; in other places may be seen cosy cottages in beautiful groves, where people of some means may spend sum- mer vacations and attend religious services if they feel so in- clined. The regular annual "protracted meeting," or revival campaign of from three weeks to three months is now an excep- tional practice of the churches. Nothing but their polity now
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distinguishes Methodists from the members of other denomina- tions.
The Universalists have become thirty or more churches and over twelve hundred members, but these figures do not fully express the spread of the basal principle of that denomination. The number in other denominations who believe that sometime and somewhere there must be an end of sin and suffering has been steadily increasing, though how that end shall be attained is unknown. The stock preaching of early Universalism was doctrinal discussion of the negative type, an effort to demolish opposing barriers. Too little stress was laid upon spiritual life. Since the belief of all the denominations is tending toward funda- mental unity, more effort is made to bring all men into com- munion with the common heavenly Father. Formerly many called themselves Universalists who cared nothing for religion of any sort and would not affiliate with any church. It was enough for them to believe and assert that all men finally would be saved. Such rampant Universalism is not now paraded. The raison d'etre of the Universalist denomination no longer exists, and its members would find fellowship in other churches on the basis of christian character rather than of doctrinal belief.
The Protestant Episcopal Church was represented by three parishes at its first State convention in 1802. It now has nearly seventy parishes and missions and over six thousand com- municants. Since 1843 it has had its resident bishop. The late Bishop Niles, well known in Concord for over forty years, was succeeded by Bishop Edward M. Parker in 1914. This church has made a strong impression upon the life of the State by its schools at Concord and Holderness and by its training of the young in all its parishes.
Presbyterianism has made no gain during the last century in New Hampshire. It had nine churches in the year 1800. Some of these have been merged into or combined with Congre- gational churches.
The Christian Church gathered its first congregation in Portsmouth in 1803. It now has about twenty-five churches and a membership of nearly fifteen hundred. Its original aim was to unite the various Protestant denominations under a common name, but it was as sectarian as the rest and has remained so.
Another denomination, that arose about the year 1843,
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when William Miller and his followers proclaimed the personal coming of Christ as immediately at hand, is that known as the Advent Church. Various times have been set for the fulfill- ment of ancient prophecies, and almost every startling event is interpreted by somebody as a precursor of the "Parousia" or coming of Christ. At times there have been assemblies of de- vout believers to welcome the Lord, and a few fanatics have ascended to the housetop and put on ascension robes. The scoffers still cry, "Where is the promise of His coming?" The conviction is growing that the method of interpreting certain scriptural texts is erroneous. Literalists never can give a true interpretation of any writing, and poetry especially demands a sobered imagination. There were in 1900 forty-seven Advent churches and about two thousand members.
Some other denominations have a few adherents. The Shakers have persisted at Enfield and Canterbury, but there is no increase. There are but few of the Society of Friends, called Quakers, though their first church, at Dover, still flourishes. The Osgoodites, followers of Jacob Osgood and Nehemiah Ord- way, were gathered into congregations at Warner and Canter- bury nearly a century ago, but they have not endured to the present. They believed in the unrecompensed ministry of lay- men, and all paid ministers were "hireling priests." They claimed to exercise the power of healing sickness by prayer and laying on of hands.
Half a century ago there was an extensive revival of the doctrine of Entire Sanctification, or Christian Perfection, as it is called among the Methodists. Other denominations called it "Holiness," or "The Higher Christian Life," or "The Pentecostal Baptism." The call was unto complete consecration of believers and perfect harmony of the will with divine law. The psychol- ogy of the movement was crude, and many misinterpreted their own religious experience and deduced therefrom erroneous the- ology, but the aim was good and the search for closer com- munion with God was rewarded in spite of errors. Some fanati- cism resulted, as in all great religious awakenings. The en- thusiasm gradually subsided, yet out of it grew the Pentecostal Church, composed principally of comeouters from other denom- inations. Because of schisms and harsh criticisms christianity lost more than it gained through enthusiasm.
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The Salvation Army has established posts in the principal cities. It seeks those whom others neglect. Processions and drum-beat call whosoever will to open-air meetings, where prayers, exhortations and songs invite willful sinners to repen- tance. The Army is not a church, but a band of revivalists. Their converts rarely affiliate with any church, and most of them lose their zeal sooner or later, yet the transformation of character in some cases has been wonderful, and the Army has done good work in feeding the hungry and clothing the poorly clad, in rescuing drunkards and ministering to prisoners. They are supported by voluntary contributions, and other denomina- tions are glad to have an organization to do work that is not inviting to the educated and refined. The slums do not take kindly to the churches, and the churches have little to do with the slums, except to contribute money for their redemption. How to make oil and water mix is the problem. It might be well to experiment with christian humility and brotherly love.
Within the last half century widespread interest has been awakened in the healing of the sick by mental therapeutics. The means employed have been prayer, anointing with oil, lay- ing on of hands, mental suggestion and visitation of shrines and sacred places. The desired end is to develop "faith," or belief on the part of the sick person that he has no sickness nor pain. Shakespeare is quoted with the authority of Sacred Scripture, "There's nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so." If thought can be fixed upon something else, pain is not felt, and often nature works a cure. Many have pressed an important truth too far, claiming that faith is a sufficient remedy for all diseases, that all sickness is because of sins committed, and that pain is a delusion of the mind. So-called clinics have been established in connection with some churches. Annual conven- tions by the seaside have called many of the hopeful to see, hear and be healed. Doubtless sufferings have been lightened and recoveries from some diseases have been numerous. It is equally certain that some trusting souls have been disappointed and made sadder, and that death has followed shortly after many "remarkable cures." Hypnotism has played some part in such healing of the sick. "Divine healing" is a term which some peo- ple prefer to use.
A truly astonishing movement of this general character
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arose in New Hampshire and has been called Christian Science. Its leader was Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy, who was born in Bow, July 16, 1821, daughter of Mark and Abigail (Ambrose) Baker. It is almost impossible to write a true sketch of her life at this time and to rightly estimate her character and motives. Biographies have been written from the viewpoints of adverse criticism and of idealizing love. Certain facts are omitted in each account and certain other facts are explained and inter- preted differently. One account gives her a saintly disposition from childhood up; another asserts that she was naturally or by reason of chronic sickness and spleen irritable, unbalanced, exacting and selfish. One author claims that her teaching was wholly original; another gives evidence that she took the basis of it from one Phineas P. Quimby. It is certain that she had very little education, except what she got by reading and the experiences of a checkered life. She had some natural talent for versifying and exercised it in writing pathetic and religious verse, some of which has been set to music and sung. After long years of groping about she became determinedly estab- lished in the belief that all sickness could and should be cured by "metaphysical healing." She overcame tremendous obstacles occasioned by her own ill health, unfortunate associations and early lack of financial means. She wrote a book, called Science and Health, the first edition of which, in 1875, is destitute of science, philosophy, logic and conformity to rules of grammar. The book was subsequently rewritten by the Rev. Mr. Wiggin, a Unitarian preacher, and much improved in its thought and expression. The latest editions of that book bear so little re- semblance to the first edition, that persistent efforts have been made to call in and destroy the edition of 1875, which abounds in expressions of rambling thought on abstruse subjects in philosophic words and phrases, the meaning of which in many instances neither she nor anybody else could understand. She was struggling for clear ideas on subjects little comprehended. She stated nothing new, but mixed up what others have been saying through past centuries. Her philosophy, so far as it can be called by that name, has close affinity with the absolute idealism of some German writers, that thought is all and every- thing else only appears to be. Mrs. Eddy had a deeply religious
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spirit and manifested, especially in her prosperity, kindness of heart and a friendship that attracted many. That friendship seems to have lacked constancy, whenever her wishes and plans were opposed. She developed, with assistance of advisers, great business ability, power of organization and leadership in the propagation of her views. Thus she was enabled to amass great wealth and she used it for the founding of a new religious de- nomination, called the Christian Science Church. It was care- fully guarded from going astray and was meant to perpetuate her name and teachings. Nevertheless others have tried to improve upon her teachings as to form and substance and prob- ably will continue to do so. So long as persons are both sick and religious, in their distress and extremity they will pray unto God for help and welcome almost any offered remedy, and medical science has learned and asserted that about seventy per cent. of all sick persons will get well under almost any treat- ment or lack of it. So far as any so-called religion is grounded in self-evident or intuitional truth it will survive, having grad- ually sloughed off its errors. There is considerable truth in the book called Science and Health, truth that has been often and better stated in other books. It is not an intentional hum- bug or attempt to deceive. The denomination founded by Mrs. Eddy has nineteen churches in New Hampshire, the principal one being at Concord, the gift of the founder. The mother- church, so-called, is a beautiful and expensive structure in Bos- ton. The followers of this new cult may be found by the hun- dred thousand throughout the United States and some other countries. Many readers and lecturers are engaged in propagat- ing Christian Science, and abundant literature assists them.1
Perhaps the greatest and most radical change in religious thought has been wrought during the last century by the literary and historical criticism of the Bible. New methods of interpretation and new results have thus been forced upon candid students. The aim and the effect has not been to over-
1 See the Life of Mary Baker Eddy, by Sibyl Wilbur, put forth by the Christian Science Publishing Company, Boston, 1915; the Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy, by Georgine Milmine, published by Doubleday, Page and Company, New York, 1909; compare Science and Health, edition of 1875, rarely found, with Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, published by Allison V. Stewart, Boston, 1915.
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throw christianity but to establish it more securely. ' The churches and the colleges have been brought into accord. No longer is there conflict between science and well formulated the- ology; there never was any between science and true religion. The Bible remains as the greatest textbook in religion that the world has ever seen, but its literal infallibility has been abun- dantly disproved and is no longer held by competent inter- preters. The age-long practice of building up systems of religious thought by means of "proof-texts" is now discon- tinued, since in this way anything imaginable can be "proved" from the Sacred Scriptures and still remain repugnant to com- mon sense. The fundamental truths of the Bible, if not intui- tional or self-evident, at least commend themselves to the good judgment of all the pure in heart, and there is no room for controversy and wrangling concerning them. The historical facts, illustrative of truth, have different degrees of worth and are not always authoritative examples. The ethics of the Old Testament no longer are held up for imitation, especially when higher moral law has been revealed in the New Testament or in any other way. External authority has given way to conscien- tious and rational convictions in the religious consciousness of the honest and sincere inquirer after truth. Thus the division line today is not between denominations but between individ- uals. Creeds, dogmas, forms of worship, moral teachings and religious rites are all subjected to thoughtful study, and only that which is good and useful is held fast. Such is the increas- ing tendency of the age in which we live, and it argues greater and loftier things for the future.
While the old denominations survive in name and new ones have arisen, changes have occurred that have affected the thought and conduct of them all. Old things are passing away and all things are becoming new. Science, philosophy, history and archaeology have forced upon religious thought new con- ceptions of God, man and their relations. The doctrines of evolution and of the immutability of law have changed our con- ception of the Creator and of prayer addressed to Him. The prayer meeting has diminished in consequence, feebly attended or abolished in some churches. A new psychology has taken away the miraculous from religious experience, and the narra-
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tion of the strange and startling phenomena in conversion does not stir hearers as in former times. Religion is made up less of emotion and more of moral principle. We labor less for the salvation of hardened sinners and more for the right education of children. The Sunday School has taken the place of the afternoon sermon, and young people's societies claim the even- ing hour. To listen to two sermons on the Lord's day is no longer thought necessary nor profitable by the great majority who attend church. The great missionary movement for the extension of christianity around the globe was begun about a century ago and has not spent its force. Christianity now ex- presses itself best in humanitarianism, in doing good to all men. Hence have arisen most of our colleges, hospitals, asylums and orphanages. Good works are the proof of saving faith. The various denominations conduct religious work in about the same ways, and their devotional services are very similar. Min- isters and members pass easily from one denomination to an- other. The middle wall of partition has been broken down. The time is at hand when the different branches of Protestant- ism can and should unite, and this is a necessity to save the hill towns from going back to paganism.
A tendency towards union of Protestant churches, at least in good works, appears in the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion, in a similar association for young women, in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and in many local charitable or- ganizations. The commingling of persons of opposing opinions in benevolent activity removes prejudices and discloses the fact that all good persons are alike at heart. The denominations need only to understand each other better. Another hopeful sign is the union of several denominations in a revival move- ment. Formerly the evangelist confined his labors to one church in a community, and the rest looked on and stood ready to receive the converts. Now a revival in a large city is quite unattempted without the aid of some evangelist of reputation, who demands as a sine qua non that at least all the "evangelical" churches in that city shall co-operate in the movement, that a great chorus shall be organized and drilled, that a special taber- nacle shall be built, or the largest hall secured, and that exten- sive work shall be done before his coming. All this preparation
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ensures victory, which is ascribed of course to the divine Spirit. Even the churches not esteemed by some as "evangelical" are sometimes invited to join in such a movement and respond with alacrity when the well educated evangelist, the "interpre- ter, one among a thousand," is found to lead the united forces. Such a campaign of education and good works appeals to the genuine followers of Jesus, removes denominational barriers and prepares the way for a reunited Protestantism.
The history of religion in the Granite State during the last century would be very incomplete without some account of the founding and development of the Roman Catholic Church, that now embraces in its communion from one-quarter to one-third of the entire population.
Authorities in the Roman Catholic Church date the begin- ning of their church history in New Hampshire with the cele- bration of the Mass at some point near Woodman's garrison, at Oyster River, now Durham, the morning after the Indian massacre of July 17, 1694. It is thought that the two priests who officiated were Father Thury and either Father Bigot or Father Rasle. It is worthy of note that the Protestant meeting house, three miles below Durham Falls, was not burned at that time, while the garrisons and houses near were all destroyed. Some chalk marks were found on the pulpit, which some per- sons have interpreted as a "defacing" of the meeting house. This must be an error ; the sparing of the house should, rather, be interpreted as due to reverence for any place of worship and is in contrast with the burning of the chapel of Father Rasle at Norridgewock, when in 1724 that place was devastated by soldiers. All good Roman Catholics, and all good Protestants as well, are taught a decent respect for a place where God is worshiped, even if the worshipers are thought to be in error. Of course there have been many infractions of this teaching in the course of human history, for combatants in war often forget to be devout. Two priests, doubtless, accompanied the French and Indians to Oyster River as chaplains, to soften the asperities of war and restrain the spirit of revenge.
Of the captives taken at that time and in other incursions from Canada many were trained and educated in Roman Cath- olic families and institutions and became devout adherents of
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that church. Such did not return to the States. Several became nuns, and one at least was at the head of a nunnery.
The constitution and laws of New Hampshire followed the English rule at that time and discriminated against the Roman Catholic Church, and oaths of allegiance were administered, in which some of the fundamental doctrines of that church were solemnly denied. The irreligious wars of England and Ireland had made each party to appear dangerous to the other. Even down to the time of the Know-Nothing party many thought that the republic ought to guard against the encroachments of the Roman Catholic Church, and some are afraid of it still. At a very late day New Hampshire cast out of its constitution and laws every word that discriminated against any church or that hindered a person of any religious belief from holding office.
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