USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Dunstable > History of the first church in Dunstable-Nashua, N.H. : and of later churches there > Part 4
USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Nashua > History of the first church in Dunstable-Nashua, N.H. : and of later churches there > Part 4
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28
Religion and Patriotism.
and full of the spirit of the day. The pastor's stammering tongue would be loosened in the freedom and energy of his utterance as he touched their finer feelings or roused them to the dreadful onset. Men, women and children would be melted at his pathos, and animated by his martial spirit as
" He spoke of wrongs too long endured, Of sacred rights to be secured; Then from his patriot tongue of flame The startling words for Freedom came; The stirring sentences he spake, Compelled the heart to glow or quake; And, rising on his theme's broad wing, And grasping in his nervous hand The imaginary battle brand, In face of death he dared to fling Defiance to a tyrant king."
Fired with the spirit of their patriot parson, Capt. William Walker and the Dunstable company could go to battle like Cromwell and his Round-heads, " trusting in God and keeping their powder dry." No! it is not in the statistics of the armies nor to the thrilling narratives of sieges and battles that we are to look for the true history of the Revolution. It is rather in the inspiration breathed into the souls of the people by the patriot ministers and the patriot orators of the Revolution. Ministers not only dared to preach politics in those troublous times; they were officially asked to do it. The church was the most appropriate place for the exposition of the religious prin- ciples involved in the struggle. If any timid loyalist ob- jected that "God's house was the house of peace," the patriot parson would reply:
29
The Hollis Association.
" Nay, not so! When God is with our righteous cause, His holiest places then are ours; His temples are our forts and towers That frown upon the tyrant foe. In this, the dawn of freedom's day, There is a time to fight and pray."
The universal testimony of the students of the Revo- lutionary history, the general voice of the Fathers of the Republic and the spirit of our history unite in declaring that the superior numbers and skill of the British troops were compelled to yield to the material weakness of the American forces, through the moral and religious energy that inspired our Fathers. They were armed in the holy cause of Civil and Religious Liberty; and " to the pulpit, the Puritan pulpit, we owe the moral force which won our Independence."
It fills us with patriotic pride to know that our minister was one of the sources of moral inspiration at that day.
The records of the Hollis Association, traced by Mr. Kidder's own hand, show how vital was the interest among the associated clergymen in this region. The war was the all-absorbing topic. Ordinary discussions on disputed points were laid aside for graver matters of immediate public duty and interest. One of their number, Samuel Webster of Temple, was already in the army as Chaplain; and afterwards laid his life down in the service. It re- quires no stirring of the imagination to see these patriotic and godly ministers engaged in earnest counsel, and unit- ing in fervent prayer on bended knees, supplicating the Divine blessing and guidance.
After the church became an independent organization it still continued the services of the faithful pastor for more than thirty years longer, until his death in 1818.
30
A Genial Country-Parson.
Mr. Kidder was a fine representative of a gentleman of the old school. Many of our citizens remember the slight figure of the aged minister, always clothed in taste, and scrupulously neat and clean. His dress and manners were the visible expression of his mental habits. Precise, orderly, and punctilious, his generous nature expressed itself in manners courteously polite. His pre-eminently scriptural sermons were prepared with great care, but suffered in their delivery by an impediment in his speech. His house was half way between Amherst and Chelmsford, and was ever open with free-hearted hospitality to his friends in those places as they journeyed to and fro. It is not difficult to imagine this genial country-parson of the olden time, seated with his friends before the large open fireplace - filled with a sparkle-shooting hemlock fire roar- ing up the deep-throated chimney, - and detailing from his retentive memory interesting anecdotes, both grave and gay, lively and severe, in utterance which receives its choicest flavor from its hesitating accents. The picture instinctively recalls the genial gentleness of Charles Lamb in the midst of his chosen companions.
For many years he was the exact and punctual scribe of the Hollis Association of ministers. Whenever he was called upon for a sermon, the stuttering secretary recorded the fact in this modest way, "The scribe attempted to preach." Throughout his long life he was a constant and most intelligent student of the Bible. His marvelous memory was an encyclopedia of scriptural facts, genealo- gies, and anecdote. In his last days - when his memory was failing - though forgetting everything else, he could quote the Scriptures with all the appropriateness and ac- curacy of his early manhood. He was keenly alive to the importance of the routine of religious observances as an aid to the growth and vigor of spiritual life. He deeply realized
31
Rev. Mr. Sperry, the Church Historian.
the importance of what are called the " little things " of life. A few small defects of character, suffered to go un- corrected, he expected to see developed, in time, into down- right sins of omission. So careful was he to observe the golden rule and the rights of property, that he would not allow himself to take a berry from a field or an apple from the wayside, without obtaining permission from the proprietor. The strength of his religious habits appeared in bold relief during the closing days of life. His memory failed to retain the names and faces of his children and neighbors; but his Bible, his prayers, and his Saviour were never forgotten. Prayer was his last audible utterance. He was asking Heaven's blessing on his family, his col- league and his church, when the fatal stroke of palsy stilled his feeble stammering tongue forever to mortal ears.
The lessons of his declining years are full of meaning. He, being dead, yet speaketh to the generations that follow him of the importance of the early and habitual study of God's word, of the value of the habits of religion to the culture of the inner life, and of the perennial blessedness of the memory of the just.
Mr. Kidder's infirmities were such as necessitated his dismissal from the pastorate in 1796, and Mr. Ebenezer Sperry was ordained assistant pastor, Nov. 3, 1813. After a ministry of between five and six years Mr. Sperry was dismissed to assume the chaplaincy of the South Boston House of Correction. No record of his character or of his ministry is left to us. But his memory is to be held in grateful remembrance for the faithful care with which he collected and preserved the church records and for the interesting reminiscences of his senior pastor, Joseph Kidder.
The meeting-house, in which Mr. Kidder preached, is a good specimen of a house of worship in New England
32
A Typical House of Worship.
a hundred years ago. Like many other churches it was a modified form of construction of the Old South Church in Boston, which has stood for the model of so many meeting- houses in New England.
" The house was very plain, about eighty by sixty feet in size, with a steep roof, without bell, belfry or cupola, and resembled in size and shape, except for the doors and windows, a fine large barn." It had large galleries. The two high pews (one at each extreme corner, to the right and left of the pulpit, in the galleries) were so much raised as to require stairs, to ascend and descend, and so high that a tall man could scarcely stand in the pew erect with- out touching his head to the wall above him.
The pulpit was built on the west side of the house and facing the large double front door, and had a huge sounding board hanging over it. Along the front of the pulpit, and between it and the communion table, was the deacons' seat, on which sat two worthies whose saintly dignity shone with added lustre and solemnity on the days of holy communion. The seat was a plain board hung with hinges on the railing of the seat, and when raised was supported by two curiously twisted iron braces.
A large, but single, door opened at each end of the house; and stairs led to the male side of the gallery at the extreme right corner of the minister, and corresponding stairs to the female side on the left. The broad uncarpeted aisle leading from the broad front door to the pulpit, in which stood our grandfathers and grandmothers when they entered into covenant with God and the church, was a solemn place. It received many tears of penitence - both from those joining the Church, and from those who had fallen into gross sins, and that stood there - while their public confessions were being read.
There was a narrow aisle leading quite round the
33
Dignifying the Meeting-House.
house, leaving one tier of pews joining the wall, and having inside two squares containing so-called " square pews." The latter had straight backs, with tops of open work and banisters - the latter, inserted some eight inches apart. The pew seats extended around on every side; except where there was a door, which was narrow and fastened with a wooden button. The occupants faced inwards; and some, therefore, would sit with their backs to the speaker. Hence the habit prevailed of standing a part of the time during the sermon, which at this primitive period was from one to two hours long.
The hour glass which stood on the pulpit was turned at the reading of the text; and the audience felt slighted, if the sermon ended before the sands were all dropped. How opposite this from the latter-day saints who complain of a sermon three-quarters of an hour long, and recommend to their pastor's consideration Whitefield's saying, "No souls saved after the first thirty minutes!"
The meeting-house was warmed chiefly by the sun; for a chimney, stove, or furnace was unknown in those days. A poor substitute was the foot-stove, which the matron of each family was careful in the coldest weather to have well filled with live coals from the home hearth- stone. The supply of coals was replenished, when needful, from the hospitable homes in the vicinity of the meeting- house. The long horse-sheds stood near by, - and also a horse-block, beside which many a two-horse wagon was driven, and hastily received its living freight of sturdy sons and laughing daughters while the horses were rear- ing and plunging till they were off in wind and in dust or sleet.
A committee was appointed to dignify the meeting- house - that is, to designate and arrange the seats according to their relation of dignity. The men and women were
1
34
Sacred Music in Nashua.
seated separately on opposite sides of the house, and every one according to his office or his age or his rank in society. The children and young people, at the first seating, were left to find their own places, away from their parents, in that part of the house which was not occupied with seats prepared at the town's expense. The tything-man was appointed to watch them, and many an urchin was sud- denly called to order by the tything-man's rap on the top of the seat.
The meeting-house and its surroundings was the " Holy Hill of Zion " to the Parish. "Hither the tribes went up " by different roads or lanes which centered there.
The parish was large, and every Sabbath day the people flocked in from the adjacent country and filled the house almost to overflowing. Going to meeting was looked forward to with great delight. The services of the day were not only enjoyed, but the social life of the town was concentrated at the meeting-house at intermission. " Every pleasant Sunday morning, hundreds came flocking into town - the elders on horseback with their wives on pillions behind, the hardy sons on half-broken colts, the daughters on fillies, now and then a household in a heavy farm wagon loaded with half a score- till the numerous families filled up the pews below and crowded the galleries above."
The history of sacred music in Nashua would afford an interesting field of inquiry. For many years one man had been employed to "set the Psalms," as the phrase went, for pitching the tune: sometimes two would be em- ployed. The task of "lining off " the Psalm by the clergyman soon fell to the duty of some brother competent to give the office a becoming dignity. In the course of time, when the singing school was established, and learning to sing was like learning the Rule of Three, all those who
35
Instrumental Music.
had " learned the rule of singing " were allowed to sit near together and had liberty to conduct that part of worship. The old inhabitants remember the long line of singers ranged around the front gallery who were led by the chorister opposite the pulpit. The sensitive temper which is thought to be the necessary state of feeling in a good singer has often produced unhappy results among choirs, and has frequently led to temporary troubles. The new way of singing Psalms, advocated by the ministers in the vicinity of Boston as early as 1726, was the occasion for no little controversy. Churches were divided for a time by the vexed question of the adoption of the new way of singing.
1356294
Occasionally a leader would be found who could play the violin, and he was appointed to stand where he could best guide the singers. The violin, at first a wicked inno- vation, was followed by the violoncello and the double bass viol. Gradually a flute was added, then a clarionet, and even a French horn when any one was found skillful enough to play one; and the old Jewish band of cornet and flute, sackbut and psalter, dulcimer and harp, was reinstated in modern church choirs. Although they have been super- seded by an instrument more appropriate to the solemnity of worship, the brass band revival in very recent days, in at least one of our churches, shows that the spirit of the former music is still abroad. The instrumental music gave a new impulse to choir singing and singing schools; and the choir was eventually composed of all the singers that could be found in the congregation. With this union of social and instrumental music, the singing of the former days was fully as hearty and enjoyable as the trained quartettes of the present day. In due time the organ, once considered an attachment to Popery, " a chest full of whistles " or the Beast of the Apocalypse, began to breathe
36 Noted Singers, - Respect for the Minister.
out its churchly tones; musical taste was cultivated, ears became more sensitive, and one by one large choirs were dismembered and dispersed until the present mode through- out our churches is either the quartette and double quar- tette choirs, or else the more democratic mode of Congre- gational singing.
I would not willingly wound the feelings of any of our excellent singers by instituting comparisons; but, as citizens and lovers of the divine art of song, they will cheerfully allow me to speak of the days gone by when the celebrated musical artists whose voices have entranced thousands, whose fame is not limited to any region of the country, and whose gifts and graces will give the final charm to this festival season - they will permit me, I say - to recall the time when Hattie Bond, Ursula Greenwood, and Maria Eayrs, known to the public as Mrs. Long, Mrs. H. M. Smith, and Mrs. Kimball, were sweet singers in the Sabbath choirs of our Israel. Their fame is our pride and our boast. With the church choirs of other days we associate the names of Lyman Heath, Robert Moore, Abner Dodge, Edward Hosmer, Albin Beard, and others who have helped to give local renown at least to Nashua as the home of good singing.
The clergyman was treated with universal respect, particularly by the young. It was a wonderful sight to the rising generation in those days to see parson Kidder on his daily horseback ride. As he passed the schoolhouse the children ranged themselves in line, with uncovered heads, and made their manners to the good man, who, in turn, lifted his cocked hat and, with a pleasant smile, bade them a "cheerful good morning." When minister or stranger entered the schoolroom or the family apartment, the children arose at once to their feet. It has been re- marked that " the family, the school, the church, society itself, were nurseries of decorum a hundred years ago." We
37
A True Union of Church and State.
cannot revive these decorous customs if we would. We would not if we could, but we cannot but greet them as they pass in review before our memory.
" Hail ancient manners! sure defence, When they survive, of wholesome laws."
The meeting-house was not limited to religious services exclusively. The Puritan's idea of the State, unfolding within the church, so modified his reverence for " holy places " that he had no superstitious regard for the church structure itself. On a Sabbath day or Fast-day, his head was uncovered within the Temple; but he was careful also not to keep his hat on at any time in the sanctuary. Our fathers held that religion should be applied to all depart- ments of life, and therefore the meeting-house was used for public assemblies of importance to the town. Town meetings were held in both the old churches for many years. The right of suffrage was regarded as a solemn thing, and whatever concerned the public weal was to be considered in a religious spirit. All town meetings were accordingly opened by prayer, and on very important occasions the minister preached an appropriate sermon.
A town meeting at the time of the Revolution is thus described by John Trumbull:
" High o'er the front on pulpit stairs, Mid den of thieves in house of prayers, Stood forth the constable; and bore His staff like Mercury's wand of yore. Above and near the hermetic staff, The moderator's upper half. In grandeur o'er the cushion bowed, Like Sol half seen behind a cloud. Beneath stood voters, of all colors - Whigs, Tories, Orators and brawlers."
38
The Old South Meeting-House.
The old house stood for about sixty years; and one morning in 1812 the people found it in the condition of the " One-hoss shay," " all in a heap " by the wayside. It had been pulled down in the night by a party who took this way to precipitate the construction of a new one.
The Old South Meeting-House, with its bell and tower and fresh white paint, was a great improvement on the one we have been describing. It was located about a half mile north of the former one; and was built by Willard Marshall and Joseph Lund on the same principle that Jonathan Lovewell built the meeting-house of 1749 - by hiring out the " pew-ground " to the people. The dedi- cation sermon was preached, Nov. 4, 1812, by the Rev. Humphrey Moore of Milford; and is in possession of the Nashua Historical Society.
We have now arrived in the course of our history at the generation of the living. Memory takes the place of record and tradition. The third and last stage of our progress is reached, at which the broader signification of the Church appears in different church organizations with diverse and opposite faith and forms from the original ecclesiastical system we have been considering. It is with unmixed pleasure that we pass from the long and dreary period of Disunion to the period of Union in the midst of variety.
With the growth of the town, events multiply and incidents crowd upon us too fast to be adequately noticed on an occasion like this, which is more appropriately given to the chronicles of remoter times. There are later events, equally, if not more, worthy of commemoration. But of historic writing and the limits of human endurance on these uncomfortable seats, we may say that " Art is long, and time is fleeting " ; and I will only crave your patience while I briefly sketch the different religious societies that
OLD OLIVE STREET CHURCH
39
Olive Street Church.
have branched out from the trunk of our ecclesiastical tree. We are warranted in doing this; for the history of Dunstable does not really close until 1837, when the name of the town was changed to the more romantic one of Nashua.
In the interim between the dismission of Mr. Sperry and the occupancy of the Olive St. Church, the religious condition of the town was gradually changed. People of all shades of belief worshipped together at the Old South. But many, who were influenced by the new re- ligious opinions of the times, separated from the old church in a peaceful and noiseless manner and formed other societies. The Old South pulpit was occupied by various ministers.
Warren Burton, a well-known minister in his day, preached often on the precepts of the Unitarian faith. Rev. Andrew E. Thayer, a resident of Nashua, and from whom " Thayer's Court " took its name, is remembered with gratitude by many who listened to his spiritual teach- ings. The Nashua Manufacturing Company built the Olive Street Church for the accommodation of the opera- tives connected with the Corporation; and during its erec- tion, many, who afterward formed the Unitarian and Universalist societies, worshipped in a room in No. I of the Nashua Company's Mills. When the Church was completed in 1825, it was first occupied by the liberal Christian society. Population was moving northward, and the majority lived north of the harbor between Salmon Brook and the Nashua River. The Old South became in- convenient for a greater part of the inhabitants; and in 1826 the old church of Dunstable bought the Olive St. house, which has, from that day to this, been the regular house of worship for one of the Congregational Societies.
To resume the story of the original stock. - After the
40
Division of Olive St. Congregation.
death of Mr. Kidder, and following the dismissal of Mr. Sperry in 1818, another period of destitution succeeded, that continued seven years. The church had been in ex- istence up to the date 1820 - one hundred and forty years, - and during this time it had been without a regular pastor fifty-eight years, more than one-third of its life. The Rev. Handel G. Nott assumed the pastoral charge, Nov. 9, 1826. He commenced his ministry with the addition of fifty new members by letter and on profession of faith.
The year 1830 was a memorable one of growth to the church. Seventy-two persons united with it who had never before declared their personal allegiance to Christ. Mr. Nott's ministry was comparatively a brief one. Eight years covers the period; but up to this time it was the richest season of spiritual prosperity during the entire history of the church. Mr. Nott was a most indefatigable fisher of the souls of men out of the deep, and three hundred and fifty-five were added to the church in those few years. During the latter part of his ministry here Mr. Nott gave to the doctrine of infant baptism renewed and thoughtful attention; and in 1834 he announced to his people that he no longer regarded infant baptism as a divinely appointed ordinance; and, although he considered sprinkling as a valid mode of baptism and still adhered to open com- munion, he could not conscientiously administer the ordi- nance of baptism to the infant children of the church. Great surprise was expressed at this announcement; for he had publicly baptized his own child the previous Sabbath. So much dissatisfaction was expressed that an ecclesiastical council was called for advice. The unanimity of the council in recommending Mr. Nott's dismission led to his formal resignation in October of the same year.
After his dismission the society, as distinct from the church, invited Mr. Nott to supply the pulpit. The
41
" Old Chocolate," Built by First Church.
church, by a majority of one or two, decided to withdraw and worship in Greeley's Hall. The church officers were included among them, and a second ecclesiastical council declared that they constituted the original Congregational church of old Dunstable.
On New Year's day, 1835, the Rev. Jonathan McGee was installed as pastor of the First Church. During the year, the church edifice familiarly known as the "Old Chocolate," was erected at an expense of $10,000. For seven years and a half, Mr. McGee ministered successfully to this people. He was dismissed at his own request June 8, 1842.
Eighty-five persons began the Christian life under Mr. McGee's preaching, and one hundred and eighty-six were added to the church by letter, making in all two hundred and seventy-one. The last year of his ministry was signally blessed by a revival which originated in the faithful efforts of a Sabbath-school teacher with his own class. The work of grace spread from class to class until the whole school was baptized by the Holy Spirit. The interest extended to members of the society not connected with the school, and many of them united with the church.
We may ask in the tender language of Scripture, " and the old man of whom we speak, is he yet alive?" Your own hearts answer; and we count it among the pleas- ures of this day that he is yet among us, the delight of his friends and an honor to his profession. We venture to say that among the memories of his long and useful life none stand out before him with a brighter radiance than those associated with that blessed season of 1842.
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