USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > Dover > The first parish in Dover, New Hampshire : two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, October 28, 1883 > Part 14
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voice by the whole congregation. We hear it all, - the long, stately sermon, flavored with Scripture phrase and awesome spirit. We hear the prayers, so majestic in praise, humble in confession, exultant in faitlı. And
" We hear again the solemn voice Of the unending song."
So imagination sketches the outlines and features of those early scenes. But it is a ghostly picture. And yet, amidst all this that is so vague and airy, there are things clear and strong and enduring. Out of this dim vision of the past there has been a survival of principles which time has only clarified, strengthened, and made immortal. Even with the disappearance of the outward, with the death of pastor and people, with the crumbling away into everlasting obscurity of home and church, the invisible spirit which dwelt in them has enshrined itself in new homes and churches and prayers and songs. So true it is that the " things unseen," be they infused with any real religious life whatever, are eternal. Through all these years of death and change and forgetfulness, that prayer which vibrated from the lips of those who prayed and sang in that first service, in that first rude church, has been swelling out into larger and sweeter worship from generation to generation, repeated still by us, and merging itself into the "halle- lujahs and seven-fold symphonies of heaven."
" This one accent of the Holy Ghost Our heedless world hath never lost."
And then again how diffusive has been this unseen but eternal prin- ciple represented by these vanished and forgotten men and women ! Looking at the church thus so feebly born, how it has strengthened its stakes and enlarged its borders, untouched by time, asserting itself with an ever-clearer utterance in the community and State, more vigor- ous and strong in every last stage of its growth, and, like the tree planted by the ever-running waters, "bringing forth fruit in old age." But its prolific life has not been kept within itself. This church has been rightly called a "mother church." She has established from her membership nearly every Congregational church in this vicinity, and strengthened from it almost every Congregational church in the State. And more than this, even with no such intention, and perhaps not willingly, she has sent forth from her inexhaustible loins children who have built up, even in her very presence, churches of other orders, who have now come back to her, for one brief hour at least, and through their representatives stand up before her and call her " blessed."
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ADDRESS BY REV. GEORGE B. SPALDING, D. D.
It is a great thing to stand in the current of such a history, - to be a part of it. The fellowship of the living is sweet. The fellowship of the dead is grand and inspiring. This afternoon, as the story of these fathers' and mothers' faith, their hardships, their heart-rending sufferings, and their heroic endurances and sacrifices were being told in that grand discourse, I felt as never before the honor and the inspiration that there are in being linked in any way to such a past. Somehow all this sweeping tide of prayer and consecration, of exalted faith, of victory over defeat, of holy personal living and dying, and eternal blessedness beyond, seemed to surge in the very souls of the living, and to enter as mightiest spiritual forces into our very charac- ters. For one, I thanked God that in his providence he had permitted me to pass so many of the years of my life in such close, vital union with a church of so long a past, made up of such noble struggle, of such persistent faith, and of such saintly living. I count it as a thing to bless God for, that I have been permitted to stand in the ranks of such a shining line of ministers of Christ. I recall with profoundest feeling that I am one of only three of the ministers of this church who are on earth to-night. I love to think of my being joined to a brotherhood which has so large a majority in heaven. Brief is the space that divides us. All hail ! fathers and brothers in Christ; all hail ! as you bend above us !
And I count it a thing forevermore to thank God for, that, in these fourteen years that are past, I have been brought into such close com- munion with men and women of such large minds, of such generous spirit, of such strong, healthy, Christian living as I have found in this church. Many of them remain until this day, thank God! And I would here renew my expressions of gratitude for all the kindness, patience, and love you have shown me in the past ; and I would renew, too, my pledges of affection and loyalty to you for all the future.
And as for the dead, - somehow they are more with me than are you, the living. Their faces, I see more clearly; their voices, I catch the music of them more distinctly; their smiles, they break upon me more gently than any from you before me. Can I forget them, - they who sat here looking up at me with inspiring faces? They are dead ; and sometimes I thank God for that, for death has only brought them nearer; death has only made more real the communion once so sweet below.
And are they not here with us to-night, filling all the spaces above us, even a great cloud of witnesses, from the first, who, centuries ago, went up from their struggles and sacrifices, to the last, who but yester- day, in serenity of soul, vanished into the endless peace of heaven ?
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" Sweet spirits round us! Watch us still, Press nearer to our side ; Into our thoughts, into our prayers, With gentle helpings guide. Let death between us be as naught, A dried and vanished stream ;
Your joy be the reality, Our suffering life the dream."
And so, dear friends, as we go down to-night from this high com- muning with the past, and with the blessed dead, let it be to take up the services to which God has appointed us with a fresh joy and inspira- tion. Let the visible sink more and more from our view and our striving. Let the immeasurable worthiness of noble living, of stead- fast faith in God, of loyalty to truth and to each other, fill all our thought and enlist all our endeavors. We are marching on in a glori- ous procession, whose foremost banners and shouts of victory are far within the jasper walls. Step by step, let us follow on until at last the shining gates be reached, and we, with our waving banners and songs of triumph, "enter in to go no more out forever."
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS SENT UPON THE MEMORIAL OCCASION.
FROM Rev. BENJAMIN F. PARSONS, former pastor : -
DERRY, N. H., 28 October 1883. . . .. Your kind invitation to be present, and take part in the services of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the First Parish, I should be happy to comply with, did not a previous engagement prevent.
Regretting my inability to be present, I send you for substance what I should say on that interesting occasion : -
Among the many anniversaries that have been celebrated for some years past commemorating events in the forming period of the Ameri- can nation, it seems peculiarly appropriate that the influence of the Congregational church, out of which came our republican government and its institutions, should be gratefully remembered.
Especially should the important service not be forgotten which this First Church in Dover rendered in securing the Independence of the nation, through the essays and letters of its Revolutionary pastor, Dr. Belknap, which were by him so widely disseminated throughout the Colonies. And the Congregational pulpit of Dover, from that day to this, has ever been loyal to the best interests of the nation and her in- stitutions, upholding every true reform, whether popular or not, for the time being. But I need only refer to these matters, as they have doubt- less been fully set forth in the historical address.
Into the line of that ministry of two hundred and fifty years, you were pleased, as a church and parish, to call me thirty-two years since, and you doubtless expect me to touch upon events connected with my own ministry.
Of the three former pastors now living, I am reminded that I am the oldest in the service of this church, if not in age. Very pleasant mem- ories of that service come crowding upon me, as I look back upon the past. Coming to you in my youth, and with but little experience in the ministry, having served as a home missionary only a few years on the frontier, you received me very kindly. Your warm expressions of sympathy and thoughtfulness in my feeble health during that first year
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of my labors will never be forgotten. I recall the cheering words and kind acts of whole-hearted, earnest brethren and sisters who were then pillars in this church. They are not with you to-day : they are wor- shipping in the upper sanctuary.
When I came to this church, this house of worship had just been fitted up anew, and the congregation gathered here was very large, every pew on the floor and in the galleries occupied. Some of you who were present at my installation will recollect, that, in view of this fact, the chief portion of the "Address to the People," by Rev. Mr. Toby, of Durham, was an earnest exhortation to the congregation to enter at once upon the work of founding a second church for the grow- ing Congregational interests in Dover.
That exhortation, always kept in mind by some of the people, and attempted to be realized by other measures, brought forth its legiti- mate fruit four years later by the organization of the Belknap Con- gregational church.
Your timely contribution to the church which I had just left in Illi- nois, to aid them in erecting a house of worship, gladdened their hearts, encouraged them to arise and build, and thus save themselves from ecclesiastical death.
But I call to mind scenes of more tender and thrilling interest, when the constraining love of Christ led young men and young women to come out from the congregation and consecrate themselves to his service. Some of those persons are still with you, earnest laborers in the cause of Christ. Others are elsewhere, workers in the vineyard of the Lord, while others have been called to higher duties in the king- dom of God above.
From Rev. AVERY S. WALKER, D. D., former pastor : -
SPENCER, MASS., 25 October 1883. - Dear Fathers and Mothers in Israel, Brethren, Sisters, and Friends, - I shall ever regard it as one of the misfortunes of my life that I find myself unable to be with you in the very impressive and joyous celebration of the coming Sabbath. It is only with the greatest reluctance, and after repeated failures to arrange to be absent from home, that I am constrained at last to give up the hope of being present in person, and to content myself with sending so imperfect a substitute as this letter must needs be. . . .
Can I ever, till the very latest hour of my life, forget that pleasant afternoon of July, 1864, when first I came to your ancient town ? Was this indeed the good old town that I read about in carly colonial history as "Cochecho, afterwards called Dover "? Was this indeed the Dover which once suffered such cruel massacre and pillage at the hands of
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hostile savages, "many houses being burned, much property being plundered, twenty-three persons being killed, and twenty-nine being carried away captive "? Was it indeed here that Major Wallron once had lived, the incidents of whose tragic death had so thrilled me in childhood ? and might I here meet some of his descendants, and bear- ing the same family name? And were the ruins of the old block- houses, which once served such good purpose for defence, still to be seen standing in the suburbs ?
. .. The result of my being with you on that and the following Sabbath was that a call was kindly extended to me, and that shortly afterward I came among you as your pastor. I came to you with all the weakness and inexperience which every young minister must needs have, but with the consciousness of a strong desire and an earnest pur- pose to do all that in my power lay for the upbuilding of our blessed Redeemer's kingdom. I feel very sure that my inexperience must have called for the frequent exercise of the grace of forbearance on your part. But your great kindness and patience were equal to my great need. You accepted my earnest purpose rather than the incomplete fulfilment thereof ; and ever, so long as life shall last, shall I gratefully remember your warm sympathy, your sincere love, your heartfelt prayers, and your earnest co-operation in the great work.
And it is pleasant for me here to recall the fact that, as the result of our mutual prayers and efforts, we were favored with the special and gracious outpouring of God's Holy Spirit, so that, on looking over the record, I find that scarcely a communion season passed in which we were not privileged to welcome new-born souls to the table of our common Lord. . . .
I find, as I sit here in my study to-day, that your forms and faces come to me as freshly as if it were but yesterday that I uttered the word of farewell, taking for my text, as I recollect, the last words of Paul to his Thessalonian brethren, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen." I seem ever to see you in the very pews in which you used to sit, and clad in your accustomed garb, and I note the devout expression of your faces as together we lift up heart and voice in praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God. And, further than that, though all these years have passed, I can follow you as you go to your pleasant homes, when, at length, the services are ended. I think I could go through every street in all the city, and out on all the roads leading thence, and not miss so much as a single house in which any of you used to reside, in case it still be standing. And even more than this. I think I can perfectly remember the family and individual experiences of you all. At how many of your homes have 1
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stood in the hour of your great bereavement and sorrow, and as you were about to lay your dear ones away in their long and silent resting- place !
My heart goes out very strongly toward you to-day, and I greatly rejoice with you in the hour of your great rejoicing. Two hundred and fifty happy, prosperous years ! These are indeed many years for any church to see. But may the grand old First Church of Dover see as many more, and many times as many more; and may each new year be more happy and prosperous than any that has gone before ! I take you each by the hand to-day. I look once more into your dear, familiar faces. I call you each by name.
" Pray for the peace of Jerusalem : they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions' sake, I will now say, Peace be within thee. Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good."
From Rev. CHARLES DAME, formerly of this parish : -
ANDOVER, MASS., 26 October 1883. - I exceedingly regret that I am unable to accept your kind invitation to be present on the occasion to which you refer. It is now more than fifty years since I united with your church. And since that time, as well as in years that went be- fore, this church has stood out prominently among other churches, sur- rounding it as a tower of strength, as a power in the community. It has been a highly favored church. Its great Head has shown peculiarly marked evidences of his approval. Glorious displays of divine grace have been shown it. Seasons of gracious refreshings from the pres- ence of the Lord has it enjoyed, - revival seasons, when almost the entire community seemed stirred, and ready to accept offered mercy. Never, perhaps, was a church more favored than has been this in the godly, faithful men who have ministered to it in holy things. Of the number who have been pastors of the church during the last half-century, those whoin I best knew were the gentlemanly, urbane, Christian man, the Rev. Hubbard Winslow, a man who had power as few can have to sway the multitude and carry conviction to the most obdurate hearts, - a man whose untimely departure from the scene of his abundant labor and glorious promise caused mourning and grief to many a heart.
The other, whose memory is still reverently cherished, was the gifted preacher, the eloquent orator, Rev. David Root. As a stu- dent or teacher, I was privileged with sitting under the instruction of these two men, and from their preaching I trust I have derived lasting benefit.
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The ministry of other men equally great and equally good has your church enjoyed; but I had less acquaintance with them. Pleas- ant memories have I also of others, private members of the church. I remember the delight they took in the house of God, the delight those good people took and interest they manifested in the erection of the noble structure in which you now worship God, - noble for those days. The elegant language and the noble Christian utter- ances on the day of its dedication still ring in the ears of the liv- ing few who heard them. As in the past, may God still continue to bless this church, greatly enlarge it, and make it a power for good ! With fraternal regards, yours.
From Rev. JOHN COLBY, formerly of this parish : -
FITZWILLIAM, N. HI., 27 October 1883. - Ever since the purpose was announced to observe this anniversary, I have looked forward to it with much interest, and hoped that I might be present to share the pleasures and profits of the occasion ; but by providential circum- stances I am prevented the fulfilment of this anticipation.
It seems now strange to me that I can make the statement, - and yet it is true, -that my acquaintance with the First Parish covers nearly a fifth of its long history.
I went to Dover a small boy, more than fifty years ago. My first religious impressions were not then and there received. They were received earlier, in a Christian home, from now sainted parents. But it is a continual joy to me, that, early going on to Dover, I was providen- tially led into a family of the First Parish. The head of that family was a Christian widow. She impressed me strongly with the religion of Christ by living it. She led the way to the house of God by a con- stant example, and by her reverence and affection for the services. Her life impressed me with the goodly fruit borne upon that tree. It was a sad hour to me in which it was said, "She is not, for God hath taken her."
More than forty years ago, I was admitted to the " First Church," -- celebrating in that way the 4th of July. It was one of the best " Inde- pendence" days I ever spent. Certainly I recall no one with greater satisfaction. I remained a member until dismissed to join the church of iny first pastorate. 1 shall never cease to recall with gratitude the great blessing I have received from the instructions of its pulpit and the Christian lives and labors of its members. Among these members, I found true fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters. To live so close to those members and their families as it was my privilege to do for years I count among the rich blessings of my life, and it was laying up a good store for memory.
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The first minister, of my knowledge, there was (as we commonly called him) Parson Root. He impressed me wonderfully by his manly form and bearing. Looking at him through my eyes, a stranger might have said, on meeting him, " That is one of the noblest ministers of his time. Or if not a minister, then a senator, - not one of the senators made by a gold or silver mine, or by millions of money, but by brains and character. Or if not a senator, then a general, and greater, even, than Scott." So did he seem to me. There will be some present, no doubt, on this occasion, who will recall the mighty force of utterance given to his deep convictions ; and they will recall the early, independ- ent, manly, prophetic Christian words he spoke in the rising anti- slavery agitation. How little he knew for what victories, through suffering, his words and labors were preparing !
His successor, Rev. J. S. Young, full of Christian zeal and sympathy and devotion, will be remembered with profound gratitude by many of us as the instrument by which we were quickened to a spiritual life and led to a Christian profession.
I have known their successors, some intimately, all somewhat, and have loved them for their Christian character and their faithful ministry in the First Parish. It would be a great privilege for me, with you, to look into the faces of the living; or, with you, to recall, in the place of their labors, the faithful dead, in this succession of pastors.
And hardly less a privilege, in the place where their life's work was done, to recall the names of individuals and families who were for years the pillars of the First Church. How often the names will come to me of Peirce, Porter, Woodman, Wheeler, Wallace, Freeman, Smith, Banfield, Quint, Drew, Alden, Low, Green, Paul, Welch, Varney, - men and women of the First Church who belonged to a list too long for present naming, -to whom my debt for their social and Christian influence and helpfulness I cannot express ! I hope I am not wanting in gratitude for the privilege that has been mine, of their friendly and Christian intercourse. They rest from their labors. But there is a long list of names of the living, no less dear to me. It is not for me here to repeat those names. I am thankful that I ever knew them. I do not, the First Parish does not, Dover does not, know how to spare them. May they long abide amid these scenes and labors before they join the great multitude upon the other shore ! In thinking of those gone and those who are passing on, the thought is with me that the power of divine grace shall not be wanting. What it has done to mould the life in the past, it may do, it will do, even to a greater degree, with the lives of the young, so that these fountains shall be kept full and pure, though the streams therefrom are flowing constantly
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to bless the world and to the great ocean of life. How I would love to look into the faces and hear the voices of these loved friends of the First Parish on this anniversary occasion !
It would be no little gratification to me to meet the stalwart man and Christian minister who will review the past with you, and be reminded of the days when we sat together in the Sabbath school, where, in the study of the Word, the Lord was leading him as he knew not. The water-pot was being filled : the Master was to turn the water into wine. And also to be reminded of the season when this stalwart Christian minister (he will pardon me for these personal allusions) was "halt- ing between two opinions." The grace of God working by the prayers and labors and lives of the members of the First Church, will bring forth much of such fruit.
From Rev. GEORGE W. SARGENT, formerly of this parish : -
GRANITE FALLS, MINN., 23 October 1883. - Accept my thanks for your kind invitation to the proposed anniversary of the parish of my childhood. The great distance compels me to resort to a brief letter instead of actual participation.
In the memory of the former days, and of many facts and faces fresh to mind, I greet you. Clear and vivid to mind to-day is the church as it was twenty-five to forty years ago (can it be so long ago ?), when 1, from childhood to manhood, worshipped with you. How much that Christian fellowship became to me ! for what character I have is largely the outgrowth of it.
This occasion recalls to me first of all my sainted mother, to whom I am sure I owe the planting of the seed of quickening truth, in the maturing of which the old church was an important factor. It brings before me, also, my more silent but truly Christian father, who weekly led me with distinguished regularity to the house of God, until I learned to go from love of it. They are with God ; and how can I fail to honor their influence and character ? I will not withhold, also, the proper tribute to the Sabbath school, which held me for more than a half-score years, and whose most valued agent for my help was my venerable teacher of the later years, Asa Freeman. I honor that genial, Chris- tian lawyer who thought it his worthy task to teach his "boys" of Christ. To my pastors, I doubtless owe much more. The influence of Pastor Young upon my childhood years was very positive and good, and the indistinct memory of his face has a kind of halo upon it, as F recall my child-gladness under his smile and words. Pastor Barrows, whom E knew so well, and loved much, also wrought well and faithfully upon me, though at times, perhaps, with too great severity, yet surely
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in power and love, and, with the others spoken of, became an instruc- tor for my ministry afterwards. I am not loath to attribute much form- ative influence, also, to one who, I suppose, still lives to labor, Pastor Parsons, with whom I held the intercourse of maturer years, and whose ministry was valued. But my native church gave to me one richest blessing, whose memory I shall always cherish beyond expression, in Pastor' Richardson. As my pastor at the time of my most earnest student life, his clear mind, rich feeling, honest character, bold thought, eloquent utterance, and enthusiasm of faith made him to me the grand and loved teacher. And as not only|pastor and teacher, but, by his own choice, often a companion and valued adviser about his own trials and my then opening work, he wrought his impress upon me, as I think he did upon many others, for all their after-work. Would that the minis- try found many more such lives as his !
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