The history of the Broadway tabernacle church, from its organization in 1840 to the close of 1900, including factors influencing its formation, Part 9

Author: Ward, Susan Hayes, 1838- nn
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: New York [The Trow print]
Number of Pages: 408


USA > New York > New York City > The history of the Broadway tabernacle church, from its organization in 1840 to the close of 1900, including factors influencing its formation > Part 9


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Mr. Hale also wrote to disabuse his mind of several errone- ous views he entertained as to the position of church and con- gregation; for himself he said:


"I would not advise any man to attempt to live with me as my pastor upon the plan of refusing me liberty to speak in the meetings of the church, or any other brother; nor upon the plan that whatever he proposes must be law, whether it be wise or unwise. But I think you have no such propensities; and if you come to be my pastor you may defeat my plans and get me voted down as often as you please, by fair discussion, and you shall never lose my affectionate regard on that account. But my impression is that we should think alike, from the beginning of the year to its end; and, certainly, your own proper province I shall always be glad to have you manage to suit yourself, without any care of mine. My wish is that our glorious Master may be honored, and his gospel proclaimed by every tongue, to the ends of the earth; and I never mean to act from any motive of selfish or personal feeling." *


* Joseph P. Thompson, Memoir of David Hale, p. 95.


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The urgency of this call so pressed upon Mr. Thompson that he was led to reconsider the matter. On January 6, 1845, a plan of subscription for pews was presented at a society meet- ing, the subscriptions to be payable with interest within five years, twenty-five per cent. to be paid within six months, on the condition that the Broadway Tabernacle be bought and the title owned and controlled by the congregation. Subscriptions were so prompt and generous that, after a half hour, it was found that $11,060 had been subscribed. Mr. Hale then offered the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted :


" Whereas, The Rev. Joseph P. Thompson, to whom a call has been extended by the church and congregation of the Broadway Tabernacle, has written to the chairman of the committee presenting the case as follows: 'If the congregation will pledge themselves to purchase the house within six months or some short and definite period, and will furnish evidence that they can make the purchase without subjecting themselves to any heavier annual burthen (for interest, etc.) than they are now under-i.e., without assuming a burthensome debt-a great objection to my acceptance of the call will be removed. This would give me the highest confidence in the present strength and future suc- cess of the enterprise.'


" And whereas, This congregation is earnestly desirous to meet the wishes of the Rev. Mr. Thompson so that he may feel confident in accepting the call presented to him, and believe with him that the pur- chase of the house is a consummation greatly to be desired, and have from the beginning kept this consummation constantly in view, and


" Whereas, By an effort which has been made within a very short period it is evident that there are both ability and disposition in the members of the congregation now to consummate the purchase of the house and without contracting any debt which is likely ever to affect the congregation unfavorably, but will, on the contrary, place its pe- cuniary affairs in a very easy position, and


" Whereas, The arrangements already made between the congregation and the proprietor of the house are mutually agreeable, the congregation, therefore, feel able, disposed, and warranted in giving to the Rev. Mr. Thompson the pledge suggested by him, Therefore


" Resolved, That the congregation pledge themselves to complete the purchase of the Broadway Tabernacle forthwith."


The following resolution was also adopted :


" Resolved, That the Broadway Tabernacle church and congregation,


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1


REV. JOSEPH P. THOMPSON, D.D., LL.D. Pastor 1845 to 1871


THE SECOND PASTOR, JOSEPH P. THOMPSON


being assembled together, do most affectionately and earnestly renew our invitation to the Rev. Mr. Thompson to become our pastor."


Mr. Hale wrote to Mr. Thompson :


" You have pointed out the weak spot in our concerns. I have not looked on the matter of my sole ownership as a sine qua non, but as a malformation which would be corrected in due time. I shall be most happy if, in the beginning of your labors among us, you are able to bring us upon a right basis. The members of the congregation re- sponded cheerfully to what you propose, and I am confident that the necessary arrangements will be made." *


The terms of sale were made very easy for the society by Mr. Hale. About $12,000, raised by the sale of pews, was paid to Mr. Hale. This, with the net earnings of the property during the nearly five years that he had owned it, reduced his claim to about $18,000, which was arranged by a mortgage running eight years, the interest of which would be met by rents and extra use of the house. The church committee re- ported at the annual meeting of the church, February 25th :


" A cause for great mutual congratulation and devout gratitude to God is afforded us in view of the transfer of our place of worship into the hands of the church and congregation, and the committee feel that many thanks are due to the proprietor for the magnanimous liberality which has been exercised by him toward the church to this auspicious consummation."


This was evidently heartfelt; and in the second meeting for securing a pastor, March IIth, when the invitation to Mr. Thompson was renewed, one grateful parishioner cast his vote for Mr. David Hale.


The deed of conveyance was signed and executed on March 4, 1845. The invitation was sent once more to Mr. Thompson, and the reply intimated that he would accept the call when dis- missed from his pastoral connection in New Haven. The letter of acceptance, written April I, 1845, pays a beautiful tribute to his New Haven church, and recounts the ties that bind him there. He alludes to the literary associations of the place, to


* Manual of Broadway Tabernacle Church, 1855, p. IIO.


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his favorite plans and opportunities for personal improvement, to his affectionate and beloved people, and adds :


" My past ministry has been an uninterrupted season of enjoyment; my life as a pastor inexpressibly sweet; I will not affect to be indif- ferent to the results of a change so important to myself."


In this letter Mr. Thompson engaged to be responsible for the care of but two services upon the Sabbath, and stipulated for four or five Sundays of vacation. In the Council for Instal- ment, which was called for April 15, 1845, were represented the Yale College, First, Howe Street, North, and Church Street churches of New Haven ; the Congregational churches in Salem, Conn .; the Carmine, Allen, and Mercer Streets churches (Presbyterian) of New York City; the Fourth Congregational Church, New York; the Congregational churches in Elizabeth- port and Jersey City, N. J .; and the Church of the Pilgrims, Brooklyn. The Revs. Messrs. George Shepherd, of Bangor, Me .; John S. C. Abbott and Milton Badger, D.D., of New York, were also invited. The sermon was preached by the pastor's friend, the Rev. Leonard Bacon, of New Haven, and the Revs. Messrs. Samuel Merwin and S. W. S. Dutton, also of New Haven, and the Rev. Edwin Holt, of the Carmine Street Presbyterian Church, New York, took part in the services. Mr. Thompson's first sermon, the following Sunday, was preached from the text: " I seek not yours, but you."


Work in the church and society now took a new start. Money had been appropriated, and some raised, for repairs, carpets, and painting, and the building was put in fresh order. The church steward, Deacon Pitts, was now called upon for more labor in the line of pastor's helper and his salary raised to $800, while Mr. Hale was at once appointed to let the build- ing for such purposes as were in keeping with the sentiments of the church, thus utilizing his financial prudence for the benefit of the society. For what amounts and what purposes the building was rented can hardly be enumerated here. The trustees' records, during the first years of the church, show that when the audience-room was given up by the church on the Sunday evening preceding anniversary week to the New


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THE SECOND PASTOR, JOSEPH P. THOMPSON


York City Bible Society, $50 was received for its use, and the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society paid $10 a day for the lecture-room. A scientist,* who remembers the old Tab- ernacle as "a great place for lectures," writes of courses that were delivered there, and recalls Dr. Lardner and Fauvel- Gouraud, who was one of the earliest writers on artificial cul- tivation of the memory-" Phreno-mnemotechny " the method is called in the now scarce book he published on the subject. Others recall the concerts, vocal and instrumental, given there by the Hutchinson family, who came " from the mountains of the old Granite State " to sing of freedom; or by Dempsey, the ballad singer; or the Philharmonic Society, the leader of whose orchestra, Mr. Ensign, was himself a faithful member, as well as organist, of the Tabernacle Church; and the tem- perance rallies, when Gough moved his hearers to laughter or to tears; and, most notable of all, with the exception of the anniversaries, the great anti-slavery meetings. Deacon William B. Holmes, in a paper read at the Sixtieth Anniversary of the church, says of the building :


" Located just where the tide of travel was the thickest (which rarely extended above Broadway at Fourth Street), democratic in its sim- plicity, there was no place in the city (with the single exception of Castle Garden) so well suited for popular assemblages; and to it the people and strangers from all parts of the country flocked on every occasion. It was a veritable 'Tribune of the people,' and the Cradle of Congregationalism in New York City. Besides being the meeting place whither the tribes went up annually to attend the great May Anniversaries-and there were great meetings in those days- the Tabernacle was the forum where reformers of every class and advanced thinkers of every name and sex held forth, and, usually, to large audiences. I remember to have heard Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, Lucretia Mott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, E. P. Whipple, Fred Douglass, Lucy Stone, Father Gavazzi, Elisha Kent Kane and others within its walls; also of divines, Charles G. Finney, Horace Bushnell, Professor Edwards A. Park, Dr. Lyman Beecher, Henry Ward Beecher (on slavery), Richard S. Storrs, President Sturtevant and Dr. T. M. Post, then of St. Louis. Louis Kossuth, the Magyar Patriot, here met with an enthusiastic reception from a large audience. These names are of a past generation, but the memories which the names of * Professor Wm. P. Blake, University of Arizona.


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these intellectual giants of earlier days recall, are sufficient to remind us of what a centre of influence the Old Tabernacle became, whose lines reached out through all the earth. The affection and sentiment gathered around this sacred place it is difficult to transfer to any more modern edifice. What Faneuil Hall was to Boston, or Exeter Hall to London may be said of the Old Tabernacle in its relation to New York."


It is not surprising, with so free a use of the building, that Mr. Hale's report, July 16, 1846, gave an excess of receipts for rent above expenses, for the year, of $2,754.66.


The young minister's first important work after settling his household and getting adjusted to new duties and surroundings was to revise the church manual. At a business meeting, Oc- tober 28, 1845, a special committee of seven was appointed to take the subject into consideration-the Rev. Mr. Thompson, Messrs. John C. Cass, William C. Gilman, David Hale, Israel Minor, Thomas Ritter, and Henry Whittlesey. This commit- tee reported December 30th. The report stated that in order to secure the confidence of New England churches (still dis- trustful of Congregationalism outside of their own geograph- ical boundaries) the Tabernacle at the outset adopted the Con- fession of Faith of Park Street Church, Boston. This was well done, and had won the confidence of sister churches in the East. The articles, however, were framed during the Uni- tarian controversy, to emphasize the Trinitarian attitude of Park Street Church, and they were particularly explicit upon the doctrines of the trinity, of human depravity, and divine sovereignty. They gave a partial exhibition of the plan of salvation, and could hardly stand as the interpretation of the Gospel received by the Tabernacle Church. The committee had endeavored, at first, to preserve, as far as possible, the original document ; but, failing in that endeavor, set about the construc- tion of an entirely new creed. After having been carefully drafted by one of their number (presumably Mr. Thompson), it was discussed by the committee, evening after evening; studied, sentence by sentence; and, at last, unanimously adopted. At the annual meeting of the church, February 24, 1846, the articles of faith, form of admission, and standing


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THE SECOND PASTOR, JOSEPH P. THOMPSON


rules,* offered by the committee of seven, were unanimously adopted, but for one negative vote as to the articles.


Another change made at this meeting is recorded in the "History " of the church (1846). Until that date persons who united with the church by letter were required to come forward publicly and make a profession of faith as if they had never before done so. A large proportion of those added to the Tabernacle Church brought letters from New England churches, where such a practice had not prevailed, and it ap- peared to them an unnecessary innovation. As there seemed to be no warrant for the proceeding, either in the constitution of the church or the exigencies of the case, the church voted, by a large majority, to abolish the custom.


The order of the church services in the old Tabernacle, under Dr. Thompson, is given as follows: } Sunday-school in the forenoon, followed by the usual morning service ; after a short intermission, Sunday-school again; regular afternoon service with preaching, and the pastor conducted the evening service. It will be remembered that Mr. Thompson, by the terms of his settlement, was excused from conducting the afternoon meet- ing.


On Friday evening there was a lecture by the pastor.


One who was a Sunday-school scholar in those days writes : }


" We had two sessions of the school in those days and some of us who lived more than a mile away carried our dinner and remained for the second session, coming away before the afternoon service. I think Mr. Thompson rarely preached in the afternoon, and the attendance was probably small. But the evening congregation was large, many strangers, many young men. On a rare occasion, I was present one evening to hear his sermon on the Gospel Supper. I remember good Deacon Pitts, and his kindly, fatherly way when he came to talk with me about uniting with the church. The communion followed the morn- ing service and I recall the impression made, before I ever partook of it, by Mr. Thompson's words, at such a service, in regard to the love of Christ,-almost his tones as he said ' I cannot tell you all it means.'"


* Appendix E.


t Deacon Charles Whittemore. Paper read at Sixtieth Anniversary.


# Miss Emily S. Gilman.


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" The weekly prayer-meeting was held in the basement of the church, and it was the custom of the pastor to have the brethren alternate as leaders with a view to the exercise of their spiritual graces, he himself reserving his share until the close of the meeting." *


We can, in spirit, be present at one of those prayer-meet- ings where Deacon Pitts met God, face to face, and to which Mr. Hale would often come direct from the office without his evening meal, rejoicing in such a relief from temporal cares. It is his turn, to-night, to lead the meeting. He enters hur- riedly and takes his seat, saying that he has been so busy all day that he has had no time for preparation, not even to select a hymn. "But here is one that ought to put us in a right frame." Then he reads Montgomery's wonderful forecast of heaven, " Forever with the Lord!" and, as he reads, his soul kindles. "Yes, brethren, 'Forever with the Lord!' No cares, no vexations, no hurry, no business, nothing to draw off our minds from Christ. What a blessed relief after being pent up so long in this poor body." Another evening we might hear Alexander Pirie's joyful hymn sound out in loud acclaim (for they sang with a will in those days, and many of the volunteer choir of forty were church members who would be present at the meeting). They sang these words :


" Come let us join in songs of praise To our ascended Priest ; He entered heaven with all our names Engraven on his breast."


and Mr. Hale stood up and said :


" Brethren, let us look a little at the sentiment of this hymn. Is it true? Have we thought what it means? Has Christ entered heaven with all our names engraven on his breast? Is David Hale written there? Is -, and - written there? Does Christ know us indi- vidually, and present us to his Father, name by name?" f


The effect was overpowering, and many disciples present realized their union with Christ as never before.


In 1846 there were large accessions to the church, eighty-six


* Deacon William B. Holmes. Paper read at Sixtieth Anniversary.


t J. P. Thompson, Memoir of David Hale, pp. 127, 128.


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-


THE SECOND PASTOR, JOSEPH P. THOMPSON


in all, the number of those received by certificate being less by fourteen than those who made profession of their faith. This was the first year in which the Sunday afternoon services were dropped during the summer months, and that the change did not give general satisfaction is evident from the fact that for several following years the church voted to keep up the afternoon service throughout the summer. The fund for the poor was probably established this year, when Deacon Israel Minor was made its treasurer.


In November a committee of five was appointed in connec- tion with the trustees to inquire whether and in what way a permanent 'entrance could be secured to the Tabernacle from Broadway. The committee was authorized to make such pur- chases or other arrangement as they might deem judicious and desirable for that purpose. This entrance was not secured immediately, and it seems that the pastor's practical common- sense finally found means to accomplish the purpose, for, in his farewell address, in 1871, he says that by making the pur- chase of the old Tabernacle by the society a condition of accepting their call, and, afterward, by suggesting a plan for the purchase of the Broadway entrance to the building, it was his good fortune to contribute in some measure toward the corporate strength which paved the way to the material pros- perity of the society at that date. By this arrangement, in March, 1851, Mr. Israel Minor, deacon and trustee of the society for many years, secured for the society a house and lot known as 340 Broadway, at $20,250, and received from the Board of Trustees a special vote of thanks for his energy and tact in making the negotiations, and for the many pecuniary sacrifices he had made for the interests of the church. The thanks of the Tabernacle society were also presented to Mr. B. Blanco at the annual meeting, November, 1851, for the generous aid afforded by his counsel, personal efforts, and money in paying off the mortgages which had been cancelled during the year.


One notable feature of the Tabernacle Church was the num- ber of men who were attracted to its services. The situation


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HISTORY OF THE BROADWAY TABERNACLE CHURCH


of the building made it easily accessible to strangers in the large hotels of the city. Mr. Andrews said that every public service, on Sunday, was a sort of special occasion where per- haps hundreds were present for the first time. The church was conveniently placed for young men living near their places of business; and besides this, the themes that Dr. Thompson discussed, the breadth, virility, and freshness of his thought, made his church peculiarly attractive to men of intelligence, and it became under him what it has continued to be, pre- eminently, a church for men. Instead of having the larger proportion of its members women, as is too often the case, from 1846 to 1856 there were one hundred and eighty-five men and one hundred and seventy-five women added to its mem- bership.


Strongly backed and encouraged by Mr. Hale, Dr. Thomp- son made the church a denominational power. New Congre- gational churches were springing into life on all sides, and under its pastor's wise guidance, the Tabernacle Church was always ready with encouragement, support, and such pecuniary aid as it could afford. Delegates, when appointed to councils by whose advice new churches were to be founded, were some- times given discretionary power to pledge such sums of money as might seem best in aid of the new enterprise, and these pledges, when reported to the church, were made good. The church, it is true, did not colonize. Many futile attempts had been made in New York to establish Congregational churches, and Dr. Thompson no doubt thought it wiser to hold together one strong church that could aid others, than to deplete its membership in order to infuse life into feeble congregations that might even then be unable to help themselves. In 1857 Dr. Thompson enumerated the following Congregational churches, then in existence, that had been formed since the organization of the Tabernacle. In New York: Church of the Puritans, Eastern Congregational Church, Twentieth Street Congrega- tional Church, Bethesda (colored), Smyrna (Welsh). In Brooklyn: Church of the Pilgrims, Plymouth Church, Clinton Avenue Church, South Congregational Church, Bedford


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THE SECOND PASTOR, JOSEPH P. THOMPSON


Church, Elm Place Church, Park Congregational Church, War- ren Street Mission Church, New England Church, Central Con- gregational Church, Williamsburg Church. Toward the estab- lishment of most of these and other Congregational churches, East and West, Mr. Hale contributed personally large sums ranging from a few hundreds to two or three thousand dollars, besides supporting a missionary who travelled through Western New York and another in Michigan looking after the interests of feeble Congregational churches. "He gave away thousands annually," says Dr. Thompson, " to promote various objects of Christian benevolence, but turned his contributions in the later years of his life very much into the channel of Congregational enterprises." * The establishment of a Congregational church in Detroit was due to his influence and aid.


In July, 1846, a Congregational convention was held in Michigan City, Ind., called by the general association of Michigan which had been formed four years before, and the Broadway Tabernacle Church, with some other Eastern churches, was invited to be present by delegate. David Hale was appointed to this service, and his strong convictions, wise judgment, dignified self-control, and absolute fairness in de- bate had sufficient force to swing the convention around from a half-way tolerance of the " Plan of Union," which some still wished should, in a modified form, continue operative between the New School Presbyterians and the Congregationalists in the West, to an absolute repudiation of any attempt to hold the two denominations in the presbytery or synod. A promi- nent member of that body says :


" But for him, that convention would, I think, have adjourned with- out taking that decided action against the 'Plan of Union' which has so essentially benefited the denomination at the West, and which has since been endorsed at the East. The committee appointed to report on that subject recommended only a modification of the Plan, and ex- erted themselves to procure the adoption of their report. Mr. Hale took the lead in opposing the modification and boldly maintained that the Plan should be abrogated. At first his views seemed ultra to many of us. We were not prepared to go so far. But his quick discernment


* Joseph P. Thompson, Memoir of David Hale, p. 118.


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and ready wit, his strong arguments and apposite illustrations, were too much for the committee (of whom I was one and contended for a modification), and the brethren were led almost unanimously into his view before we separated. He was added to the committee, and wrote the latter part of the report, which was finally adopted unani- mously. . . So rapidly did the influence of Mr. Hale increase toward the close of the convention, that one of the officers remarked to me, 'If the convention had continued two days longer, Mr. Hale would have had the whole control of it.'" * .


Thus the Broadway Tabernacle Church was made a strong power to support and strengthen Congregationalism in the West. The very fact that such a convention had been held at the call of the Michigan association awakened much inter- est in the East. Its action was commended by a number of well-known conservative New England ministers, and sharply criticised by New School Presbyterians who wished to retain their hold of Congregationalists in the West. Congregation- alism was discussed more and more, both East and West, and the Tabernacle, a now flourishing church, well established on middle ground between New England and the Western States, was guided so wisely as to hold the confidence of the East and the sympathy of the West. Dr. Thompson himself claims that "this church (and the movement of which it was the nucleus) was the medium of fusing the old and the new, and of bringing the churches East and West to a consciousness of national life." +




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