INAUGURAL SERMON 
 
 
 PREACHED AT 
 
 JAMAICA PLAIN (WEST ROXBUEY), 
 
 April 24 , 1859 . 
 
 BY JAMES W. THOMPSON. 
 
 '/A". 
 
 ^ublisfjeb bg Request. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 CROSBY, NICHOLS, AND COMPANY, 
 
 117 , Washington Street. 
 
 1859 T,iE LIBR.T.Y OF THE 
 

 I 
 
r 
 
 ®|e <®mt Cummission : 
 
 INAUGURAL SERMON 
 
 PREACHED AT 
 
 JAMAICA PLAIN (WEST ROXBURY), 
 
 April 24 , 1859 . 
 
 BY JAMES W. THOMPSON. 
 
 Ipublis^eb bg |Uqitest. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 CROSBY, NICHOLS, AND COMPANY, 
 
 117 , Washington Street. 
 
 1859. 
 
1 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON, 
 22, School Street. 
 
Matt. x. 7, 8: “ And, as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is 
 at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast 
 out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.” 
 
 When these words had passed from the lips of the 
 Son of man, the New Dispensation, of which he was 
 the Mediator, was fairly inaugurated. Till then, it had 
 existed only in prophecy, in vision, in the thoughts of 
 devout men who waited for the consolation of Israel, 
 and in those rudimentary preparations by which the 
 Twelve had been educated for receiving their august 
 commission, and for doing the superhuman work it 
 imposed. Now it becomes a fact, palpable, to be 
 known and read of all men ; central and centralizing 
 to the thought, imagination and genius, the philo- 
 sophy and literature, the faith and aspiration, of 
 the whole human world; potent with self-evolving 
 powers, which no demands can ever exhaust, and no 
 opposition effectually resist ; destined also to universal 
 recognition, and a sway without limit in space or 
 time. No longer is it a sublime conception alone in 
 the mind of Christ, an abstract, formless, inoperative 
 
4 
 
 force in his bosom; no longer a stupendous plan 
 struggling to actualize itself, but waiting opportunity. 
 Its hour is come, the fulness of the time ; and now it 
 shall stand forth a majestic reality, a church, a king- 
 dom, and the amazing achievement it contemplates 
 be at once commenced. 
 
 Regarded in the issues it involved, this was the 
 grandest moment in human history; which, indeed, 
 was not a moment, but an age, and series of ages, 
 spreading out indefinitely, covering all time, extend- 
 ing into eternity, and peopling the heavens with 
 earth-cradled saints. Could the Twelve have foreseen 
 the consequences with which it was fraught ; had they 
 even apprehended, with any approach to its full ex- 
 tent, the personal responsibilities it would cast upon 
 them, and the career of peril and hardship it was 
 opening before them, — they would have shrunk from 
 the undertaking, appalled by its fearful magnitude 
 and endless relations. 
 
 So it is always. Every man holds in his bosom 
 possibilities yet to be made actual, which, if they 
 could be laid before him in one view, would utterly 
 overwhelm and confound him. The futurity of our 
 own being is, therefore, wisely concealed from us. No 
 prophecy discloses it. Dark shadows are hung over 
 it, hiding even from imagination the developments of 
 which the germs lie hid within, and which are to 
 become personal history. Could any one, — the 
 
5 
 
 youth, for instance, just emerging into manhood ; the 
 teacher, with his young charge around him ; the man 
 of business, his head teeming with enterprises ; the 
 rich man, with golden opportunities of usefulness ; 
 the maiden at her bridal hour, in the flush of beauty, 
 and amidst the tears and rejoicings which lend a 
 chastened brilliancy to the dear but solemn rite ; the 
 minister of religion, entering the sphere of his ap- 
 pointed service, and assuming his holy trusts and cares 
 with immortal beings so wonderfully organized, so 
 variously endowed, in capacities so unequal, in sensi- 
 bilities, affections, cravings, aims, so unlike, for the 
 field he is to tend and till, — could these take in at a 
 glance all the issues involved in their several positions, 
 the view would paralyze them; they would shrink 
 from the responsibilities ; they would be incapacitated 
 for pursuing the good bound up for them in the vast 
 and various combination of results. It is no denial of 
 a privilege, then, but a gracious ordination of Heaven, 
 that we must walk by faith, not by sight ; that the 
 soul’s path is illuminated, not by the dazzling 
 effulgence of an all-comprehending knowledge, but 
 by the mild stars of promise and hope. Count it not 
 misfortune, but rather advantage, that to-morrow is 
 hid ; and what it may bring forth, shrouded in mist. 
 In calm trust, wait the revelation. 
 
 All history is a series of surprises, the rudiments 
 of which, as also their order of evolution, were laid 
 
6 
 
 in the bosom of the first man when God breathed 
 into him a living soul. Higher, grander, more won- 
 derful they become as the ages roll on, displaying 
 more and more His wisdom who planned them. 
 Observe their sublime unfoldings with grateful reve- 
 rence, but seek not to know them before the time. 
 Secret things belong to God only, and are to be dis- 
 closed, not when man’s curiosity asks, but when His 
 pleasure determines. The ignorance of the Twelve, 
 when they stood before their Lord to receive their 
 high commission, was their content and safety ; not 
 to know or to be able to forecast the future, their 
 wisdom and strength. 
 
 I have said, and repeat, that the date of the apos- 
 tles’ commission was the sublimest moment in human 
 history. Whether viewed in the contrasts it exhibits, 
 — so much power blended with so much weakness, — 
 the Son of God intrusting to twelve rude, unlettered 
 men of a benighted province, speaking the poor dia- 
 lect of a language scarcely known abroad, a work so 
 stupendous ; or whether contemplated in the results 
 to be wrought out, — the overthrow of hoary idola- 
 tries and proud philosophies, which boasted as their 
 founders the highest names known amongst men; 
 the enthroning of a new Man, of obscure origin, a 
 Galilean, as sovereign in the realm of spiritual truth, 
 before whose imperial sway Grecian culture should 
 bow its garlanded head, and Roman bravery lay down 
 
7 
 
 its invincible arms; the erection of a world-wide 
 empire, that should at length swallow up every other, 
 and itself, permeated in every part by the spirit of 
 truth and love, be transfigured into a church uni- 
 versal, without spot or blemish, — whether beheld in 
 either of these points of view, nothing sublimer can 
 be imagined as transpiring on earth than the act of 
 Jesus in sending forth his apostles. 
 
 But the commission they received did not die with 
 them. It is of abiding force, renewed from genera- 
 tion to generation ; keeping alive a perpetual apostle- 
 ship to repeat the same glad tidings, and to perform 
 the same ministries of mercy. To-day we hear the 
 voice which the Twelve heard, saying, “Go, and 
 proclaim, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal 
 the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out 
 devils: freely ye have received, freely give.” 
 
 Listening reverently to the voice, and earnestly 
 desiring to obey it, let us now search into the mean- 
 ing of the message to be announced, and into the 
 nature of the work to be done. 
 
 I. The message. 
 
 II. The work. 
 
 I. “ The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” It would 
 be a strange thing to-day for such a band of men, 
 starting together, to travel through the length and 
 breadth of the land, making only this proclamation. 
 
8 
 
 Doubtless there was a certain strangeness, even then, 
 in their appearance and words. But whatever of 
 singularity there might have been was in a measure 
 relieved by a general preparation of the mind of the 
 age. When they went forth in Galilee, Judea, Sa- 
 maria, and announced that the long-deferred hope of 
 Israel was at length accomplished, that the great 
 redemption foretold from the beginning had begun to 
 fulfil itself, the people’s heart everywhere was ready 
 to respond, “Amen! Blessed is he that cometh in 
 the name of the Lord ! ” Expectation, kept alive and 
 transmitted from generation to generation, in each, as 
 it succeeded, becoming more intense, was then bright- 
 ening to its culmination ; and this prepared the people 
 for the messenger who should proclaim that the time 
 of desire was accomplished, the day of fulfilment at 
 hand. But not what they expected appeared ; and so 
 deep and bitter disappointment, or scornful disbelief 
 and derision, was the first effect, when it began to be 
 seen that the new kingdom was no earthly monarchy ; 
 its throne, no visible seat of majesty and power ; that 
 its laws were broader than any civil polity, higher than 
 science had traversed, or art symbolized, or the loftiest 
 forms of poetic speech more than faintly illustrated. 
 Their visions of deliverance, of State grandeur, of 
 overflowing treasuries and irresistible arms, — the 
 ideal glory of all human kingdoms, — were to be 
 realized indeed, but in a way they never dreamed of. 
 
9 
 
 Only as symbols were they true. Material splendor 
 and magnificence could only represent, and that but 
 dimly, the true kingdom of heaven, which cometh 
 not with observation ; which embraces the world of 
 thought, desire, emotion, affection, aspiration ; which 
 has the conscience for its throne, the heart for its 
 palace, the eternal God for its sovereign, and, for 
 its conquests and trophies, the vices that destroy the 
 body, and the passions that war against the soul. It 
 is a kingdom founded in everlasting truths, and sus- 
 tained by principles of order, beauty, and rectitude, 
 which have their root in the Infinite Mind. But its 
 truths and principles are not subtle and incompre- 
 hensible abstractions : they are all combined, ex- 
 pressed, and represented in the life and character of a 
 single Person, and that Person no other than the Son 
 of God. Thus the new kingdom is, in substance, a 
 new theocracy, — God reigning over men, and in the 
 midst of them ; the regency being vested in his be- 
 loved Son. It is, in other words, Christianity taken 
 up into a living man born of the Highest, in his 
 bosom enthroned, in his life illustrated, by his death 
 and resurrection completed, sealed, established, as 
 supreme law and an ever-abiding spiritual force over 
 man and in man, to govern him, to renew him, to 
 inspire him, day by day, till he becomes perfect as his 
 Father in heaven is perfect. It is the Word, not in 
 
 the silence in which it was “ in the beginning ” with 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 God, but spoken and speaking; “the Word made flesh, 
 and dwelling amongst us,” radiant with holy beauty, 
 its heart beating and its countenance flushed with 
 divine love and mercy; the Word going forth from lips 
 touched with living coals from heaven, to kindle, in 
 its progress, soul after soul into a quenchless zeal for 
 truth and righteousness, till the holy fire-baptism has 
 cleansed and saved the world. Wherever the truths 
 and principles of Christianity are acknowledged; 
 wherever the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ is believed in so as to be felt, loved, wor- 
 shipped; in whatever soul the Eternal One is con- 
 sciously enshrined, according to that high axiom of 
 St. John, “ He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, 
 and God in him,” — there the kingdom of heaven 
 has come; there the benign and eternal reign of 
 wisdom and love has commenced; there religion is 
 fulfilling its office; there peace and joy in the Holy 
 Ghost are the soul’s abiding possession. 
 
 It cannot be too strongly felt — what the Twelve 
 were instructed to proclaim — that the kingdom of 
 heaven is come, is here. We have not to look 
 abroad for it, to cross perilous seas, to visit strange 
 lands, to inquire of the masters of learning, or to 
 follow the guidance of new stars, in order to find 
 its capital and court; but to seek it here, amongst 
 ourselves and within ourselves. 
 
 There are those who are ever looking backward 
 
11 
 
 for their kingdom of heaven. Their golden age is 
 far behind, — in buried glories, in perished institu- 
 tions, in virtues that once flourished, in an innocence 
 and peace no more to be repeated. Their light is the 
 lamp of memory. Cities, empires, arts, literatures, 
 that ha passed away, are their study and delight. 
 They live in the past. There are others, again, whose 
 kingdom of heaven is in the distant future. Their 
 imagination is for ever busy in portraying the scenes 
 and circumstances of an age yet to dawn, or a world 
 yet to come, which they paint in hues of a brilliancy 
 to which nothing in the present, however enchanting, 
 is worthy to be compared. This is a great mistake ; 
 it is to forget the message, “ The kingdom of heaven 
 is at handy God did not exhaust his goodness in the 
 earlier ages, nor has he reserved all its outpourings 
 for a future day. No : he has surrounded the present 
 with heavenly attractions ; crowned to-day with im- 
 perial glories; festooned the passing moments with 
 flowers fresh-plucked from paradise; brightened the 
 immediate scene with rays effulgent as those which 
 fell upon the world when the morning stars sang 
 their first hymn, and all the sons of God shouted 
 for joy. The kingdom of heaven is come in the 
 plenitude of its grace and truth. The two great 
 commandments are its fundamental law. The incom- 
 parable Sermon on the Mount, the profound spiritual 
 inductions of St. John, the unsurpassed argumenta- 
 
12 
 
 tions and melting heart-utterances of the great apostle 
 to the Gentiles, reveal its spirit and purpose. It is 
 come, and still coming. More and more, its mighty 
 energies are diffusing themselves. Deeper and deeper, 
 its great life is searching the secret windings of the 
 human heart. Farther and wider spread the rays 
 of its unclouded Sun over the waste places of error 
 and the dismal vales of sin. Yes, the new kingdom 
 is come. Its benignant sway is felt as an instant 
 reality. To every community of believers the saying 
 is true, “ The kingdom of heaven is within you,” — 
 within you. According to the measure of their faith, 
 the King is seen by them in his beauty and royal 
 apparel; his voice heard in its awful authority; his 
 life perceived as impersonated truth, virtue, sanctity, 
 hope, eternal and complete. And by them, in the 
 uprightness of their daily walk ; in the pureness of 
 their hearts, or the sigliings of their penitence ; in the 
 overflowings of their mutual charity, and the holy 
 fellowship of their worship; in the steadfastness of 
 their zeal for the enlargement of the borders of Zion, 
 and the displacement of whatever exalts itself against 
 the will of God, — each day and hour, in high places 
 and in obscurest corners ; in the private ear of 
 trembling penitence and solitary struggle, and on 
 the house-tops of stolid security and luxurious re- 
 pose ; to the young, undisciplined to saintly patience 
 and prayer ; to the middle-aged, imprisoned in the 
 
13 
 
 outward and sensuous, but striving to be set free ; to 
 the old, imploring God to be their stay and staff, that 
 they may depart in peace, — the announcement is to 
 be made, by look and speech and rapturous song, 
 and that silent eloquence of the Spirit’s grace which 
 is more convincing than voice and words, 44 The 
 kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Such, then, is 
 the message. 
 
 II. And, now, what is the work 1 44 Heal the sick, 
 cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils : 
 freely ye have received, freely give.” No miraculous 
 power rests on us as on the apostles, and we can 
 use only such gifts as we receive. Yet the Lord is 
 with his faithful servants still, to aid them in every 
 ministration of their hearts and hands to the relief 
 of human suffering and woe, and the cure of those 
 maladies of which sin is both cause and consequence. 
 Their work at this day, though not in all respects 
 identical with that of the primitive heralds of the 
 gospel, is not essentially different. It is a service 
 of man in the name of Christ, and its characteristic 
 feature is its humanity. It illustrates that saying of 
 an apostle, that pure religion is manifested in visiting 
 the widow and fatherless in their affliction, and in an 
 unspotted life. It is not, like the priesthood of every 
 other religion, mainly an altar-service or a ritual 
 performance, a special work of the temple and the 
 
14 
 
 holy day ; but it is a daily and continual offering at 
 the sweet shrine of kindness and mercy, — a life from 
 which blessed influences spring with no sabbath- 
 pauses, rising as fragrant incense over man’s misery, 
 and penetrating, as a celestial aroma, the polluted air 
 of the world. It takes its Lord for its model. As 
 he went about healing the sicknesses, soothing the 
 sorrows, pitying the injuries, lifting the burthens, of 
 men ; so his servants follow him, humbly seeking to 
 make their presence a blessing and a joy to those 
 unto whom they are sent : and, as there was no form 
 of misery which did not command his sympathy, so 
 there is none which they can willingly overlook. As 
 against every inveterate wrong under which men 
 groaned, however intrenched and defended by custom, 
 policy, or power, he lifted up his voice in stern and 
 terrible rebuke ; so they turn the weapons of their 
 warfare upon all the crimes and oppressions that 
 fill the earth, or any portion of it, with wailing and 
 tears, and that hinder the triumphant march of truth 
 and righteousness to their destined glory. Evil, 
 the root of evil, — that is to be destroyed. The 
 wretchedness of man or woman — that is to be Com- 
 miserated. The tears that stream from the eyes of 
 penitence, or that soil the cheeks of bereavement, — 
 they are to be wiped with hands of tender condolence. 
 The demons which sin conjures up into the maddened 
 brain — they are to be rebuked and cast out by the 
 
15 
 
 spirit of holiness and love. The dead in trespasses 
 and sins — they are to be roused by the trumpet-call 
 of the gospel, and, if possible, warmed into life in 
 the bosom of Christian sympathies and affections. 
 Religion, as they administer it, is the friend and helper 
 of man. It multiplies the loaves of the poor. It 
 offers willing shoulders to the burthens of the weary 
 and careworn. It puts sight into the touch of the 
 blind, and speech into the fingers of the mute. To 
 the houseless, it gives a home ; to the cripple, a 
 hospital; to the wayward and intractable youth, a 
 School of Reform ; and to the frail penitent, a Refuge 
 from temptation and the scorn of the unfeeling. It 
 watches with the sick, by star and by sun, as an angel 
 of peace ; and it points the faith of the dying to the 
 eternal mercy-seat, and the heaven which surrounds 
 it. Nor is this all. Authority to heal and restore, 
 to bind up and console, carries with it the duty of 
 protecting against evil. So it seeks to purify and 
 elevate the fountains of social influence; to clarify 
 the springs of moral life ; to make the home, the 
 school, the state, nurseries of virtue and spiritual 
 strength ; and especially to fence round the young, 
 just beginning the immortal race, with safeguards — 
 in their tastes, affections, fears, and hopes — against 
 the approaches of temptation, and the fearful ruin it 
 so often succeeds in effecting. 
 
 Ah, how sadly has the moral and humane part of 
 
16 
 
 Christianity been neglected hitherto ! Had the gos- 
 pel been exhibited by its servants, during the eighteen 
 centuries of its life, in the spirit of its author ; had 
 it been made to appear more the present friend and 
 benefactor of man, and less the dogmatic combatant 
 or bigoted devotee ; had the world seen it more in 
 the acts of a genial messenger of deep and genuine 
 philanthropy, penetrating the darkest scenes of human 
 trial with a word to cheer and a hand to bless, and 
 less in splendid and pompous ceremonies, obscure 
 and unbelievable creeds, and solemn pietisms ; had 
 it borne on all its banners waving over its commerce 
 and trade, proudly floating from its domes of legisla- 
 tion and justice, unfurled in new and strange fields 
 by its own soldiers, that one word which syllables 
 the dearest name of God, and of which itself is the 
 highest expression, — the poor, the outcast, the en- 
 slaved, the suffering, everywhere and from every cause, 
 would not only have been vastly reduced in numbers, 
 but those who still remained would have been in 
 warm and living sympathy with it, and so in a con- 
 dition to receive the fulness of its life and light. Oh ! 
 when shall the lesson taught by the ministry of Jesus 
 be understood, — that to protect the innocent, to guide 
 the young, to reclaim the wanderer, to lift up the 
 fallen, to cheer the desponding, to encourage the peni- 
 tent, to bind up the broken-hearted, to strive manfully 
 against evil, and to labor diligently for good, — that 
 
17 
 
 this work of humanity is the allotted task of each 
 disciple according to his ability, and the only evidence 
 that will be admitted, in the Great Day, of his fitness 
 to be a companion of that twice-born brotherhood of 
 whom Christ is head \ 
 
 Such, then, is the message, and such the work, of 
 the Christian ministry. With this message and work 
 it has fallen to me, in the providence of God, to be 
 charged. I come to you to-day, my friends, bearing 
 the message, 44 The kingdom of God is come nigh 
 unto you,” and charged in my conscience and soul, by 
 Him whose servant I am, to give unto you freely that 
 which I also have received, for your redemption from 
 sin, and edification in righteousness ; for your security 
 amid the perils of prosperity, and your solace under 
 the pains of adversity ; for the solution of your 
 doubts, and the confirmation of your faith ; for the 
 guidance of your souls to the rest of consummated 
 virtue and saintly holiness in the bosom of the Father 
 of mercies. Standing here, for the first time, in this 
 special relation to you, it may well be supposed that 
 some curiosity is felt in respect to the views which 
 may govern the administration of my office. But this 
 curiosity, if it exists, can be gratified only by state- 
 ments the most general. Young ministers are accus- 
 tomed, on occasions, like this, to exhibit a programme 
 of what may be expected of them, and what they 
 expect of their people; but it is a programme which is 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 seldom followed on either side. In the fervors of a 
 hitherto unbaffled zeal, they often pledge themselves 
 to herculean labors, forgetting that it is only sons of 
 Hercules who are equal to them. I offer to you 
 nothing of the kind. I cannot tell what I shall 
 preach, and what I shall do ; save that, as grace is 
 given to me, I will declare, and labor to extend, the 
 kingdom of heaven, present amongst men in the his- 
 torical Christ and his word, and in all hearts in which 
 the gospel has entered as a subjective reality; and 
 will seek to give full effect here to all those truths, 
 sympathies, and charities which lighten the weight of 
 pain, disappointment, sorrow, and sin, and which tend 
 to lift young and old, the strong and the weak, the 
 fresh and the weary, into the serene gladness of true 
 religion. I would seek to make doctrine practical; 
 the highest truth, a life within: for, if left in the 
 form of ideas in the mind, truth is only like the rain- 
 drop upon the leaf. It may glisten in the sun, and 
 add a moment’s brilliancy to the object ; but it is of 
 no service to the tree. But, when ideas are translated 
 into principles and deeds, they are like the raindrops, 
 penetrating to the roots, and sending new energy and 
 vital sap into every branch. I am here as a minister 
 of the New Testament, — the dispensation of grace 
 and truth by Jesus Christ. I am here, not as one 
 called by you simply, but sent by my Master, — both 
 mine and yours. Am I asked to indicate the basis 
 
19 
 
 of my teaching'? My answer is in the words of 
 Paul to the church of Corinth : “ Other foundation 
 can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus 
 Christ.” No new-fangled gospel of to-day or yesterday 
 or to-morrow ; but that which is the same yesterday, 
 to-day, and for ever, — unchanging truth, immortal 
 goodness, everlasting life, the supreme authority and 
 dominion of Him who is over all, and through all, and 
 in us all. Taking my place within the new kingdom, 
 with my people around me, I move forward with it 
 in its aggressions upon the domains of the world, 
 opposing whatever would obstruct its march, and 
 giving my whole heart to whatever commends itself 
 to my judgment as calculated to further its beneficent 
 ends. Details are unnecessary ; but this must be said, 
 this you would all wish me to say, that, as I hear , so 
 shall I speak ; trying to keep my ear open to every 
 whisper of the Spirit’s voice, and my tongue clear to 
 make report thereof to you. Not taking counsel 
 of man, except for the sake of his help to the under- 
 standing of the word of Christ and the law of God ; 
 not weakly yielding to the suggestions of fear or of a 
 short-sighted expediency, nor defiantly challenging 
 censure and opposition ; not hesitating to espouse an 
 unpopular cause when it bears the marks of right 
 and truth, nor disdaining that which is popular from 
 a paltry pride of singularity, or contempt of public 
 opinion, — freely and fearlessly, in the love of man and 
 
20 
 
 the love of God, I pray that grace may be given me 
 to declare the whole truth as it is in Jesus, and that 
 you may have the same grace to profit withal. 
 
 There has been much controversy about the free- 
 dom of the pulpit. I have but little to say on that 
 point. The pulpit is free; and no honest man wishes 
 it to be otherwise. By its very nature, it is free. The 
 moment it is restrained of its liberty, it ceases to be a 
 pulpit, and becomes a piece of fancy-work in wood, 
 with a speaking automaton behind it. The imputa- 
 tion of a desire to interfere with its freedom would 
 be felt, by every honorable mind, as an insult. But 
 it is useless, and, worse, it is harmful folly, for it to be 
 for ever vaunting its freedom and provoking assaults. 
 Let its action, rather than its boastful lips, declare 
 its independence ; and let it use its freedom with dis- 
 cretion, lest it become a snare and a hinderance to the 
 truth. It is a sad mistake of the pulpit, when it 
 assumes that its hearers are at odds with it on vital 
 points, and are to be worried and goaded into agree- 
 ment. Its function is not to drive, but to win, souls 
 into the fold of the Great Shepherd, — 
 
 “ By winning words to conquer willing hearts, 
 
 And make persuasion do the work of fear.” 
 
 All here, in these calm moments of meditation, and 
 in this vestibule of the heavenly temple, are not 
 merely willing, but in their souls demand , that the 
 
21 
 
 truth should be preached freely, fully, earnestly, and 
 without reservation. Every ingenuous mind would be 
 ashamed of the minister of religion who should keep 
 back any part of his message from imbecile compli- 
 ance with prejudices, opinions, or caprices, reported 
 to exist around him. Every true man would cry, 
 “ Let him be anathema ! ” He is false to his trust ; 
 and, being so, is false to his people. 
 
 But every part of his message, let him remember, 
 is to be delivered as from the Lord, and not from 
 himself, in the very spirit of his heavenly Teacher, 
 calmly and without passion ; avoiding all harish and 
 irritating tones and terms ; in the deepest reverence for 
 truth, and with that strong conviction of duty which 
 would prompt him to say, “Woe is me if I preach 
 not the gospel ! ” Never let him throw down the 
 gauntlet to any of his parishioners, and brace himself 
 in the attitude of a pugilist. Let him assume that 
 they are all his friends ; as they are ostensibly, by the 
 fact of their assembling for worship in the name of 
 Christ, his friends, and subjects of his divine king- 
 dom. Contests between pastor and flock are fatal to 
 all religious life and growth. If the latter succumb, 
 they feel that a galling priestly autocracy is established 
 over them ; if the former, he feels that the word of 
 God is thenceforth bound in his person, and can no 
 more utter itself except in broken sentences and pu- 
 sillanimous tones. Let all such strifes be avoided, as 
 
22 
 
 leading, by a swift and sure decadence, to destruc- 
 tion. 
 
 The church — by which I mean the congregation 
 assembling for worship — is an organic whole, made 
 up of members differing in original endowments, in 
 culture, in moral traits, in pursuits, in the measure 
 of their interest in the great questions which society 
 and religion agitate, and in many other things ; yet 
 all associated for common objects, and all equally 
 entitled to every privilege belonging to the organiza- 
 tion. The incumbent of the pulpit is, under Christ, 
 the head of this body ; standing, by consent of all, to 
 each and every member of it, without distinction, in 
 one and the same relation ; knowing no rich, no poor, 
 no party, no clique ; a common centre of religious 
 influence, a common instructor, guide, and friend. 
 The church is one body ; the ministry, not a separate 
 estate, but a constituent membership. This idea 
 excludes all hostile antagonisms, and is the true basis 
 of a living harmony and a hopeful progress. The 
 primitive apostolic church, guided by the inspired 
 master-builders who laid its foundations, rested its 
 strength in its unity. Uniformity of belief, thought, 
 character, it did not demand, but unity of spirit and 
 aim, — unity in the broad purposes for which it was 
 gathered, and unity in the sense of brotherly fellow- 
 ship. It was a household sacred to love and mutual 
 edification, in which the forbearance, patience, charity, 
 
23 
 
 generosity, of the gospel were to be freely exercised ; 
 in which each was to feel himself in a manner pro- 
 tected by all ; in which the weak were to find succor 
 in the strong; the easy victims of temptation, pity 
 from the upright and secure ; those who saw the 
 truth but dimly kept where its beams fell, by those 
 who were more fully enlightened. If one were over- 
 taken in a fault, he was to be — not exscinded, not 
 held up to scorn, not branded with the scarlet letter, 
 but restored in the spirit of Christian meekness and 
 compassion. When it is assumed that each member 
 of a church is a separate power in it, — the minister 
 with the rest, — and those subtile, undefinable, but 
 most potent relations, which, in its normal state, con- 
 stitute its organic unity, are lost sight of ; when one 
 member, cleric or laic, feels that the church is his to 
 bind and loose, to make and unmake, to control , instead 
 of regarding himself as belonging to it, as part and 
 parcel of its vitality and working force, as bound up 
 with it for a common end, and obliged to view its 
 welfare as his own personally, — confusion and every 
 evil work ensue. 
 
 This must suffice. I have spoken to you of the 
 greatness of the commission of the ministers of 
 the word, of the meaning of their message, of the 
 nature of their work, and have indicated a general 
 view of the manner in which it may be expected that 
 
24 
 
 the ministry will be exercised here. To say that I 
 look for your friendly co-operation would be needless. 
 The affectionate smiles of the young, the efficient 
 good-will and support of the middle-aged, the genial 
 companionship of them whose day of active labor 
 begins to put on sunset hues, — for these I look with 
 entire confidence. To feel that thev would be withheld, 
 would be the signal for me to retire at the close of this 
 service. Equally unnecessary would it be to attempt 
 to point out your duties in detail : you know them 
 already. You will not expect from this connection 
 large immediate results. I come a sower, bearing 
 seeds of the kingdom of heaven, — they are called seeds 
 of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, — 
 to sow as one blind ; not knowing whether in stony 
 places or on good ground, but committing the whole 
 field to the nurture of Heaven’s sun and rain. This 
 seed is of slow growth: spiritual harvests are not 
 ripened in a day or a year. Let us pray, that, in the 
 end of the world , — your world and mine, — the angel 
 reapers may find some sheaves here fit to be gathered 
 into the Father’s garner. Let us take encouragement 
 from the old promise, “ He that goeth forth and 
 weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come 
 again rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” The 
 day itself is auspicious, — the day which saw Him 
 rise, in whom the world is risen into a new hope, and 
 rising still into a new life, — the day which gave to 
 
25 
 
 man victory over the grave, and made him fellow-heir 
 with angels to the infinite treasures of God. Let us 
 borrow from it all hopeful and cheering auguries, and 
 go forward to the duties of our sacred relation, 
 and continue in them, as under the light and joyful 
 inspiration of Easter morning. “ For this cause I 
 bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, — of whom the whole family in heaven and 
 earth is named, — that he would grant you, according 
 to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with 
 might by his Spirit in the inner man ; that Christ 
 may dwell in your hearts by faith ; that ye, being 
 rooted and grounded in love, may be able to com- 
 prehend with all saints what is the breadth and 
 length and depth and height ; and to know the love 
 of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might 
 be filled with all the fulness of God. 
 
 “ Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding 
 abundantly above all that we ask or think, according 
 to the power that worketh in us, — unto Him be glory 
 in the church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, 
 world without end. Amen.” 
 
 4 
 
A 
 
 iale&tag ^mawxst 
 
 DELIVERED IN 
 
 THE FIRST CHURCH, BEVERLY, 
 
 July 4 , 1858 . 
 
 By CHRISTOPHER T. THAYER. 
 
 |)ublisf}eb b|i Request. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 CROSBY, NICHOLS, AND COMPANY, 
 
 117 , Washington Street. 
 
 1858 . 
 
PRINTED 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 BY JOHN WILSON AND SON, 
 
 22 , School Street. 
 

 G? 
 
 
 per o 
 
 U'J u. 
 
 T53v 
 
 DISCOURSE 
 
 When, my friends, some months since, I was led by the 
 providence of God, and by duty to others and myself, to 
 decide on resigning the pastoral office I had long sustained 
 among you, a tide of emotion came over me such as I had 
 never before experienced, and could, only under like cir- 
 cumstances, be realized. How could it be otherwise, in view 
 of dissolving the holy relation that had subsisted between us 
 for much the largest part of my life, and of the lives of most 
 of you, — longer than no small portion of our number have 
 lived ; with all its duties and pleasures ; its toils and cares 
 and trials ; its tender friendships and delights of sacred con- 
 fidence ; its sweet communions in the temple, at the table 
 of remembrance, in the social circle, within the domestic 
 retreat, in the chamber of sickness, the house of mourning 
 and death ; all the scenes, joyous or sorrowful, of weal or 
 woe, of the soul’s discipline, through which we have to- 
 gether been led ? Prominent among the emotions thus 
 excited was gratitude that our mutual esteem and affection 
 were unabated, but rather strengthened, or at least more 
 sensibly felt, at thought of the dissolution of our connec- 
 tion as pastor and people ; and that 1 might leave you 
 / 
 
 A 
 
4 
 
 strong in yourselves ; strong, I trust, also in the Lord ; and 
 prosperous, — prospering most in the things belonging to 
 your higher welfare. Above all was the sense of accounta- 
 bility for the discharge of the unspeakably important trust 
 committed to me, in which were involved the rise or fall, 
 the great and lasting good, the very salvation it might be, 
 of many ; and God only knows the sincerity and fervor of 
 the supplication which it prompted, and which rose from this 
 bosom, for his merciful forgiveness of any unfaithfulness of 
 mine to that trust. Then there was regret, not unlike that 
 which the sensitive spirit often feels for friends gone from 
 earth or about departing, that I had not contributed more 
 to the improvement and happiness of those from whom, as 
 their appointed spiritual teacher and friend, I was soon to 
 be separated. 
 
 Instead, however, of yielding to vain regrets, I resolved 
 and endeavored to redeem the time ; to make my last days 
 in your service my best ; to render departure, if possible, 
 more fruitful than permanence ; and so, in my humble 
 measure, to resemble those who, by their deaths, have done 
 more than by their lives. And I rejoice to bear testimony, 
 that, in this effort, you have cordially, efficiently, nobly 
 co-operated. The period that has intervened has for me, 
 in truth, been occupied with “ crowded life.” Years have 
 seemed compressed into months ; these into weeks ; and so 
 with minuter divisions of time. Time, nevertheless, wait- 
 ing for none, has kept on in its course ; and now the sha- 
 dow on the dial, the hand on the hour, as a guide-post on 
 the way in the journey of life, indicates unerringly that the 
 point of divergence has been reached, and that the parting 
 words must be spoken. It only remains, therefore, for us 
 to gather up, and give fit utterance to, the recollections, 
 
5 
 
 lessons, purposes, feelings, and hopes appropriate to the 
 occasion. 
 
 In so doing, I will adopt for my text, and as correspond- 
 ing to the first and chief topic on which I shall speak, the 
 language of the Apostle Paul in his First Epistle to the Co- 
 rinthians (xv. 1 and 2) : “ Moreover, brethren, I declare 
 unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also 
 ye have received, and wherein ye stand ; by which also ye 
 are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, 
 unless ye have believed in vain.” So would I, in humble 
 imitation of the apostolic chief, recall to your memory what 
 for many years I have preached to you ; which you have so 
 candidly received ; in which, I trust, you are firmly esta- 
 blished ; and which, if not unduly presuming, I would 
 hope may so far accord with the gospel of Christ, which is 
 the power of God unto salvation, as — by being kept in 
 living remembrance, and believed, not in vain, but practi- 
 cally and with the heart — to issue in the saving of our 
 souls. It cannot be otherwise than well for us, before we 
 part, to attend thus to a main branch of my ministerial 
 office, — to its objects, the mode of its discharge, and espe- 
 cially to the views I have aimed to present and inculcate. 
 
 Preaching is a most important part of the Christian 
 minister’s duty. The command, “ Preach the word,” — 
 given to the earliest, and intended to apply to all succeed- 
 ing, teachers of Christianity, — he will, if rightly inclined, 
 labor earnestly to obey. He will spare no exertions he can 
 properly make to prepare himself for the faithful perform- 
 ance of this essential function. For this will he be much 
 in prayer, in meditation, in study, in fervent and persever- 
 ing exercise of his intellectual and moral faculties. For 
 this, also, there must be system. Without system of some 
 
6 
 
 sort, no science or art — certainly not the science of divine 
 truth, and the art of living a holy life — can be well taught 
 or well learned. Christian preaching, in short, to be best 
 executed, and accomplish its legitimate ends, must be 
 thoroughly systematic. Not that this trait, wherever ex- 
 isting, will be invariably manifest and recognized. When 
 pulpit instruction proceeds on a fixed, well-defined, com- 
 prehensive plan in the preacher’s mind, that plan may 
 still not always be obvious to the hearer, who may be un- 
 able, while following out its details, to keep steadily in view 
 its outlines. The fluctuating nature of our congregations 
 tends peculiarly to prevent many from comprehending and 
 remembering it. From various causes, the aspect of reli- 
 gious assemblies is constantly changing ; the presence of 
 those composing them being, for reasons sufficient or in- 
 sufficient, in large proportion, irregular and uncertain. 
 Owing to the number from among us engaged in seafaring 
 life and pursuits abroad, our own congregation is subject 
 to more than common fluctuation of attendance. Thus, 
 and in various other ways readily suggesting themselves, 
 are most of the members prevented from forming a con- 
 nected view of the system of preaching, if such there be, 
 pursued by him who statedly fills the sacred desk. For its 
 comprehension, it therefore becomes necessary occasionally 
 (and than this no time could be more suitable) to direct 
 our eye back on the whole track gone over ; to observe the 
 lights that have illumined and guided our progress ; to 
 review the general principles on which we have proceeded ; 
 to group, as it were in one, the different views that have 
 been taken. We may thus have in our mind’s eye a map 
 of the region traversed ; just as the traveller ascends the 
 topmost peak or dome, that he may take in at a glance 
 
7 
 
 the varied features of the landscape through which he has 
 passed. By so doing, he obtains more exact and vivid 
 impressions of the whole scene ; discerns its lights and 
 shades, its beauties and defects ; learns the bearings, dis- 
 tances, and magnitudes of the principal objects ; ascertains 
 in what respects his way might be improved ; and fixes in 
 his memory landmarks for his direction hereafter. So may 
 we receive juster ideas of the nature and relative impor- 
 tance of the truths and rules to which we have been accus- 
 tomed to listen together ; be assisted to correct the errors 
 taught or imbibed ; and as seekers of heavenly knowledge, 
 and pilgrims to the celestial land, the better to shape our 
 future course, by an impartial, full survey of the system 
 of religious teaching that has with us been pursued. 
 
 The plan of preaching I have adopted, and endeavored 
 to carry out, has been based on the belief, that Christianity 
 is at once a profound science to be acquired, and an im- 
 mense field of duty to be explored and cultivated. Reli- 
 gion is as much a science as any subject for man’s investi- 
 gation can be. It has its appropriate provinces for inquiry, 
 its general principles and laws, its peculiar sources of truth 
 and evidence. All these it has been my aim to discover, 
 and to draw from in such degrees as should best subserve 
 the grand purposes for which preaching was divinely insti- 
 tuted. 
 
 Taking the Bible as the rule of faith and practice, I 
 have sought to show it worthy to be so received by proofs 
 from within and without itself, — such as the credibility, 
 interest, and value of its contents ; their revelations of sur- 
 passing sublimity, beauty, joy, hope, awe, of wisdom re- 
 lating to this world and the one to come ; their practical 
 design and admirable adaptation to its furtherance; their 
 
8 
 
 consistency ^with the operations of Providence and with 
 human experience ; their conformity to the teachings of 
 nature and reason ; and the support they derive from cre- 
 dible historical testimony, especially from their own history 
 and influence, ever since they were given to men. The 
 truths, which on careful inquiry I have obtained from them, 
 have, as seemed fitting and requisite, been presented to 
 you, together with the grounds on which they rest. Their 
 precepts have been laid before you, as circumstances ap- 
 peared to demand, in what I conceived their length and 
 breadth, and application to the whole duty of man. The 
 examples they set forth of the great and good, and of the 
 low and bad, have been held up as models or warnings for 
 our conduct. The illustrations which the historical parts 
 of Scripture receive from and impart to cotemporaneous 
 common history, have, as opportunity offered, been re- 
 marked. Characters and events, whether pertaining to 
 individuals or communities, have been drawn from other 
 quarters besides the sacred records, and employed for in- 
 struction, admonition, and encouragement, and thus made 
 to give light and enforcement to abstract truths and rules. 
 Events particularly, occurring within the sphere of our own 
 experience, and appealing directly to our own hearts, have 
 from time to time been noticed ; and I have felt that such 
 events, prosperous or adverse, or however affecting us, if 
 duly improved by the preacher, might be eloquent and 
 effective preachers of righteousness, — be indeed minister- 
 ing spirits sent from above to sanctify and save. In truth, 
 wherever in any of the departments of nature ; in any of the 
 sciences and arts ; in any of the manners and customs, laws 
 and institutions, prevailing or that have prevailed ; in any 
 of the beings or things throughout the material or spiritual 
 
9 
 
 universe, — lessons of religious wisdom might be gathered, 
 and motives for obedience to them gained, there I have 
 not hesitated to be a reaper and gleaner, that what was thus 
 procured might contribute to the edification of my hearers. 
 I have, moreover, aimed to bear constantly in mind, that 
 all discoveries of truth are valuable mainly as they are 
 applicable, and actually applied, to promote moral and re- 
 ligious growth in the soul. 
 
 Here I would say, that increased observation has tended 
 to confirm me in the impression of the absolute boundless- 
 ness of the sources whence the Christian preacher may 
 draw for the purpose of illustrating, impressing, and giving 
 practical effect to, religious truth. Time would fail me 
 now for merely enumerating them, as it would for pre- 
 sentation of the different lights in which it has, according 
 to my ability, been brought before you. Instead of at- 
 tempting to survey the wide space thus indicated, I will 
 briefly review the principal topics of my preaching ; on 
 which I have chiefly enlarged and insisted, because I believed 
 them consistent with the letter, expressive of tho spirit, 
 and eminently promotive of the true ends, of the gospel. 
 They range themselves naturally in two classes. 
 
 First, There are those common to most, if not all, Chris- 
 tians. Included in them are the perfect God ; an all-suffi- 
 cient Saviour ; the immortal soul of man ; its spiritual 
 capacities and aspirations ; its exposure to temptation, 
 error, and sin; the Divine Spirit working in it; Christ’s 
 mission and agency in enlightening, converting, redeeming 
 it, and bearing it on to a heavenly destiny ; faith of the 
 reason and with the heart ; repentance ; progressive holi- 
 ness ; looking to Scripture for inspired guidance ; the com- 
 mandments and ordinances, and walking in them blameless ; 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 righteous retribution ; all the duties implied in holy living, 
 or in preparation for peaceful death. On these and like 
 themes have I mostly dwelt, and delighted to dwell, in my 
 public ministrations. They involve the sum and substance 
 of our religion ; they are momentous in themselves and 
 their consequences ; they are inexhaustible in their supplies 
 of wisdom, solace, strength, joy. Even when partially 
 obscured and imperfectly apprehended, they are not with- 
 out a gracious and restoring influence. A virtue goes out 
 from them to the humble seeker, with vision dimmed and 
 feeling after it, as there did to the believing woman, who 
 only touched the hem of the Master’s garment. They open 
 a fountain, into which the very spirit of healing has 
 descended, where every moral malady may be removed. 
 Tables are spread by them in the wilderness of earth, at 
 which they who hunger for righteousness may be filled. 
 By them are we joined in full communion with all that 
 love the Lord Jesus in sincerity, and are brought into large, 
 loving, blissful fellowship with — 
 
 “ The holy church throughout the world.” 
 
 Under this head, let me specify another topic; namely, 
 philanthropic enterprise. Feeling, with many of you, deep 
 interest in this marked feature of our age, and recognizing 
 its claim to the attentive consideration of every religious 
 society, I have not overlooked it in my preaching. Could 
 the great causes of peace, temperance, freedom ; the thou- 
 sand charities that are abroad ; and, above all, the diffusion 
 throughout the world of the religion from which so largely 
 they spring and are fed, — could these fail to be advocated 
 by any really Christian pulpit ? You, if I mistake not, 
 will testify, that, in advocating them, I have avoided trench- 
 
11 
 
 ing on others’ rights ; that, while I have exercised my own, 
 — among them, that of free suffrage, — I have not availed 
 myself of the pulpit as a vantage-ground from which to 
 descend amid the dust of political and worldly contests, or 
 to invade unjustifiably another’s province. Still, I have 
 rejoiced to bear a part, humble though it might be, as a 
 preacher as well as a man, in the great conflict going on 
 with social evil ; from this elevated stand-point — beholding 
 the wrongs by which society, and at least persons, classes, 
 races in it, are darkened and oppressed — to proclaim, in its 
 remedial and beneficent efficacy, the golden rule of right 
 and love ; firmly and openly to avow my own, and be the 
 official exponent of your, active and warm interest in fur- 
 thering those vast objects of reform and benevolence, to- 
 ward which the mighty philanthropic heart of Christendom 
 is yearning with a depth and fulness and power that will 
 become more full and deep and powerful, till they shall be 
 secured. And I have felt, that so I was discharging a high 
 duty of my office, and helping to bring us into sympathy 
 with the body of genuine believers, — into harmony with 
 the essential unity of spirit in the Christian church. 
 
 That church, nevertheless, has its divisions and sub- 
 divisions. Hence arises the other class I referred to, 
 of subjects for pulpit discussion. This class includes 
 points of sectarian belief and action. They result natu- 
 rally from differences in mental constitution, in circum- 
 stances and influences operating in earlier or later years, in 
 the modes of investigation pursued, in the varying methods 
 and aspects in which scriptural truth comes to the mind ; 
 not to mention other sources whence they rise. Happy we, 
 who accept them on the cheerful and broad ground of their 
 not being bars to Christian communion, or fatal to the soul’s 
 
12 
 
 peace and safety. Yet many of them are important in them- 
 selves and their bearings, and are not to be ignored by any 
 enlightened pulpit. As such I regard those by which, as 
 Unitarians, we are distinguished. Among them are the 
 strict unity of God ; the identity of the Spirit of God with 
 his person and influence ; Christ’s inferiority to his and our 
 Father, and his absolute dependence on him ; human nature 
 created pure, and depraved by conscious, actual sin alone ; 
 regeneration needed by men in precise proportion to their 
 having thus sinned, and to be obtained just as they endea- 
 vor to attain it; divine aid — not fitful like the wind, nor 
 more mysterious than that — ever ready and sure to . attend 
 with favoring breezes the spread sail and onward course in 
 the work of spiritual reform and progress ; a future state 
 of rewards and punishments, corresponding exactly to the 
 virtues and vices of this ; moral discipline and opportunity 
 for restoration not being banished thence, and no soul 
 whom the all-loving Parent created, and whose destiny he 
 foresaw, being doomed to hopeless and remediless misery. 
 Mere faith, too, — faith even in the mercy of God, or any 
 thing the Saviour has done or suffered; all substitutes, 
 real or fancied, for personal righteousness ; all sacrifices, 
 except that of a contrite and devout heart, of living con- 
 formity to truth and right, — are, under the administration 
 of the universal Father, ineffectual toward securing his ap- 
 proval, and the greatest good which man may acquire. 
 
 These sentiments I early imbibed, and may indeed be said 
 to have inherited ; my own father, and his before him, 
 having in substance held and preached them. On that as 
 well as other accounts, I was led to exercise stricter caution, 
 in fact jealousy of association and prejudice, in investigating 
 their grounds and tendencies. The more I have inquired, 
 
13 
 
 observed, experienced of them, the more have I been con- 
 vinced of their soundness and value. I have, and have long 
 had, an unwavering conviction, that they accord with the 
 tenor of Scripture, and will bear the test of its most search- 
 ing criticism ; that they are of the essence of the primitive 
 Christian belief. I hold them to be chief elements in the 
 stream. *)f pure religion flowing down from the apostolic age, 
 which — as the fabled river of Greece, that, losing itself in 
 the earth, flowed on through the sea, and mingled its waters 
 with those of a distant land — has, often and for long 
 periods, been overlaid by false and vain philosophies, dark 
 and chilling dogmas, waves of superstition and fanaticism, 
 but has emerged at length, without having parted with any 
 of its original properties, in its purifying and life-giving effi- 
 cacy ; its advancing current having, on either side, banks 
 smiling with moral verdure* bloom, and fertility ; vines 
 wide-spread, and laden with rich clusters of knowledge and 
 virtue ; stately trees of spiritual life, whose branches reach 
 far, and bend with immortal fruit. 
 
 In plain terms, I believe that the distinctive faith we 
 embrace has, from the first, been working, and working 
 mightily, to further the advance of civilization and Chris- 
 tianity ; to extend the dominion, and secure the ultimate 
 triumph, of truth, charity, and righteousness in the world ; 
 to modify and rationalize, so to speak, — that is, render 
 consistent with reason as well as Scripture, — the opinions, 
 and elevate, refine, and liberalize the practice, of other sects 
 besides our own ; to rebuke and check bigots and fanatics ; 
 to resist and eradicate the vices and crimes by which souls 
 are degraded and ruined, by which the face of society is 
 marred, and the root of bitterness planted and made to 
 flourish in its otherwise pleasant garden. I believe also, as 
 
14 
 
 I have confidence in human progress, that our peculiar faith 
 is destined to be a main instrument of that progress. Not 
 the half of its power has been told, far less put forth. 
 Some of the finest spirits among men have been nurtured 
 under it, and many more shall be touched by it to yet finer 
 issues. Rightly understood and applied, it is adequate to 
 regenerate the world ; to rid the Church of the corruptions 
 that through ages of darkness have settled upon her, stained 
 her beautiful garments, and eaten into their very texture, 
 and to bring her back to primeval simplicity and purity ; to 
 convert and revive the soul, wherever and whenever needing 
 to be converted or revived ; to quicken and invigorate it for 
 all Heaven-appointed labor and conflict, and conduct it to a 
 height of knowledge, a depth of peace, a variety, beauty, 
 glory, of virtue, hardly yet conceived by the mind of man. 
 
 With such convictions of the nature and tendency of our 
 faith, I have delighted all along, in private and in public, 
 to cherish and maintain it. On my coming here, this was 
 distinctly announced as a specific object of exertion. Ac- 
 cordingly, the first organization established in the parish, 
 after my settlement, was a society auxiliary to that excellent 
 institution, the American Unitarian Association, to which 
 liberal contributions have annually been made, and from 
 which has been received much more than an equivalent in 
 the diffusion of correct religious sentiments. That Asso- 
 ciation I would, in passing, commend to your continued 
 interest and aid. By preaching, especially, have I aimed to 
 explain and inculcate our denominational doctrines. Im- 
 pressed fully with their truth, their worth, their being the 
 brightest manifestation yet made to man of the wisdom and 
 saving power of God, I have proclaimed them from this 
 desk in no faltering tone, no ambiguous phrase, no mystical 
 
15 
 
 garb; with no threading of dubious mazes of speculation, 
 in which they or their spirit might be lost ; with nought to 
 extenuate, unless it be our want of fidelity to the precious 
 faith we are privileged to hold, and cannot hold too dear ; 
 with no leaning or turning or shifting to the right hand or 
 the left, to one side or another, or many sides ; no attempt 
 at compromise in things not admitting of it ; at reconciling 
 differences in their nature irreconcilable ; in fine, wdtli 
 plainness and directness belonging to and altogether be- 
 coming our peculiar principles, when set forth by themselves, 
 or placed in contrast, as might be required, with those from 
 which they differ. When, however, 1 have deemed it 
 needful to comment on these last, and point, by way of 
 caution, to their nature and effects, it has been sought to be 
 done with mingled frankness, candor, and charity ; with 
 the conviction entire that no diversity of opinions can fa- 
 tally affect salvation ; that to fear God and work righteous- 
 ness are the sole conditions of acceptance with him ; that 
 the well of water Jesus has opened, springing up to ever- 
 lasting life, is neither Samaritan nor Jewish, nor exclusive 
 of any sincerely thirsting who will draw and drink of it. 
 
 It has been my endeavor to fulfil the preacher’s duty in a 
 spirit, at once catholic and eclectic, of liberality and good- 
 will, and receptive of good whencesoever offered. I have 
 welcomed, and doubted not my hearers would welcome, any 
 truth, from whatever source obtained, that tended to pro- 
 mote enlightened and practical religion. No pulpit, I 
 conceive, has been more substantially free than this, for the 
 period we are reviewing. It has never been closed against 
 the utterance of what was honestly and deliberately believed 
 to be truth. A prevailing rule, notwithstanding, has been, 
 that the truth should be here spoken in love. The last 
 
 t 
 
16 
 
 thing, or one of the last, to be tolerated among us, is violent 
 denunciation of others differing in sentiment from ourselves. 
 Ministrations from widely different quarters, and varying 
 materially from our theological standard, have, you will 
 remember, often been cordially received by us. It is but 
 just to you and me, on this occasion, to say, that if there be 
 not the fellowship, including ministerial exchanges, to be de- 
 sired between ourselves and other denominations around us, 
 it is not for want of a willingness to that effect on our part, 
 distinctly expressed and well understood. With the views, 
 which I know you equally with me delight to cherish, of 
 enlarged Christian intercourse, I could not for a moment 
 consent that any part of the odium which properly attaches 
 itself to the division-walls by which Christians are separated 
 and set in hostile array, or any portion of responsibility for 
 the tremendous evils thence resulting, should rest here. 
 Let us hope, and let us do what we can to realize the ex- 
 pectation, that this occasion of offence, this weapon by 
 which Religion is wounded in the house of her friends, — 
 even their unnatural and unhallowed estrangement, — shall 
 one day, and ere long, be for ever removed ; when there 
 shall no more be repulsion, but attraction, between the 
 Christian spheres, — attraction holy and irresistible, because 
 it shall be seen and acknowledged, as of the primitive 
 disciples, “how these Christians love one another.” 
 
 Though dwelling thus much on preaching, I am not un- 
 mindful of the not less important service of worship. Of 
 this, the sacred song is a part of no little consequence, — 
 more than is generally apprehended; and we may con- 
 gratulate ourselves that here it has been conducted so 
 uniformly with a taste, fervor, and solemnity fitted to make 
 melody in the heart to the Lord. But prayer, — the joint, 
 * 
 
17 
 
 highest offering of the worshippers, the ascent of the mind 
 to God, communion in spirit with the Father of spirits, — 
 prayer, undoubtedly, is foremost in the services of the sanc- 
 tuary. Words fail to express my sense of the solemn 
 responsibility he is under who is commissioned to lead in it. 
 Even when conducted after established forms, it must, to be 
 justly effective, be bathed in his spirit, and receive new life 
 from his engagedness and piety. When — as seems to me 
 better, more impressive, more availing — he unites studious 
 preparation to spontaneity in its performance, he must draw 
 from the deep springs of his own best thoughts and emo- 
 tions ; must call on his soul and all within it, that he may 
 pray, and bring others to pray, aright, — sincerely, fer- 
 vently, with due regard to events and circumstances, 
 necessities and sins, to every relation and duty. Bowing, 
 a creature of earth, before the Majesty of heaven and earth, 
 and feeling that, therefore, his words should be few, — rather 
 that he would be dumb, his lips sealed in silence, — he is yet 
 expected to give utterance to the feelings and wants of his 
 fellow-worshippers. Deeply conscious of imperfection and 
 error ; abashed, covered with confusion, and blushing with 
 shame ; ready to hide his face in the dust at the felt presence 
 of the all-pure One, — he yet must stand forth to make con- 
 fession for the sins of the people, and supplicate for others 
 the forgiveness he deems almost too much • to ask for him- 
 self. Profoundly sensible of his own weakness, and need of 
 strength from above ; bending, it may be, with the weight 
 of trial and infirmity, — he is expected to cheer the droop- 
 ing spirits, to lift up the hands, strengthen the hearts, and 
 address to the only sufficient Helper the desires, of the 
 congregation. Dim though his own taper may be, it must 
 suffice to light and keep alive a flame of devotion in many 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 souls. With these views and feelings have I led in your devo- 
 tions. Pure joy would there he to me in believing, that, 
 by any effort of mine, they had been kindled, raised, and 
 sanctified ; too great the happiness of at last finding it 
 associated with the higher services of them who have gone 
 from us to join in the worship of the heavenly temple, and 
 now tune to that their golden harps. 
 
 All the ministrations of this house I have aimed so to 
 perform as to have them answer to the true nature and ends 
 of public worship. What is its nature ? What are its 
 ends ? It is a means of bringing man near to his Maker 
 and near to his fellow-man ; of causing heart to meet heart, 
 while the soul meets her God. It draws men, by the cords 
 of love, and joint, faithful service, to their common Father. 
 It is a cement, by which to unite all, of whatever age, 
 capacity, or condition, in an indestructible union. By 
 bringing them before the universal Former and Disposer, 
 it makes all earthly distinctions vanish, and the essential 
 equality of souls to be manifest. While it requires and 
 nourishes self-respect, it requires also and nurtures mutual 
 respect between brethren and men. They whom it assem- 
 bles, that together they may meditate, inquire, listen to the 
 word read and preached, sing and pray, will be likely to be 
 inclined thereby to regard the more both themselves and 
 one another. A firm foundation is thus laid for stability, 
 order, and prosperity, alike in individuals and in society. 
 It affords also a blessed refuge from the storms of life, 
 sweet solace to the sorrowing and tried, and, by the horns of 
 the altar, a stronghold and a way of escape to the tempted 
 and sinful. It has solemn relation to the life that now is ; 
 its observance or neglect often corresponding to rise or fall 
 in worldly condition. Unspeakably more does it concern 
 
19 
 
 the life to come ; making the house of God the gate of 
 heaven. No wonder, then, that many of the wisest and best 
 should deem it their high duty and privilege to sustain 
 public worship by their personal presence and liberal aid. 
 Especially may the minister of religion be expected to direct 
 to this object a large portion of his energies. To invest it 
 with most attractiveness ; to produce just appreciation of its 
 nature and purposes ; to assist in promoting its true ends, 
 that have just been indicated, and are expressed by the single 
 phrase, pure and practical Christianity, — all this it has 
 been my endeavor to keep steadily in sight, and, as far as 
 might be, effect by the solemnities of social worship. This, 
 with the increasing demand for knowledge, and for variety 
 and novelty in its presentation, has been, and must still 
 more be, no slight task. If, in the course of my ministry, 
 the charm of novelty may have been wanting ; if things old 
 as well as new have been produced, — I would have you con- 
 sider the occasion for repeating old truths, line upon line, 
 precept on precept, that exists in the intellectual and moral 
 condition of the world and of every congregation. And I 
 would further plead, that while no mind, however prolific 
 it may be, can furnish invariably for the pulpit new views 
 of truth and duty, it has been my desire and effort always 
 to present some new light, though it might be in following 
 out a familiar and beaten track. Love of the sanctuary ; 
 devotional feeling, to which it is intimately allied, illumined 
 and warmed by ever-brightening rays from the Supreme 
 Intelligence, and joined to a fixed purpose to open the 
 whole soul to their reception and influence, — it has been my 
 main object to excite and cherish. As an habitual attend- 
 ance on religious services contributes largely to insure their 
 good effects, it may not be out of place here to mention, that 
 
20 
 
 public worship has not, during my ministry, been intermitted 
 in this parish for a single sabbath. Our altar-fires have not 
 gone out or slumbered ; or, if they have, it has been only 
 that they might be renewed with each returning Sunday. 
 
 The ordinances, so simple, so fitting as seals of Christian 
 discipleship and communion, and, furthermore, as means of 
 holiness, it has been a strenuous aim with me, not officially 
 alone, but from strong inclination and conviction, to ex- 
 plain, and urge on your observance ; and I rejoice that the 
 appeals of the gospel respecting these have been here com- 
 plied with by so considerable a number, for themselves and 
 those committed in Providence to their charge. The fifty 
 among us who have, the present season, become stated 
 communicants at the Lord’s table, and the seventy who 
 have been baptized into the Holy Spirit, show conclusively, 
 that with us, at least, the ordinances are not dying out. Yet 
 how many even here have not accepted these proffered means 
 of grace ! — proffered freely as the gospel itself. How many 
 neglect to offer the children God has given them, at the bap- 
 tismal font which, through his dear Son, the Saviour of all, 
 who took little children in his arms and blessed them, he 
 has instituted ! How many turn from the memorial of 
 Jesus ; are deaf to the touching tones of the parting request 
 or precept, or rather both in one, that comes to them from 
 the sublime and beautiful rite before us, — “ This do in re- 
 membrance of me ” ! How many have gone to their graves 
 lamenting, when too late, that they had not listened to this, 
 their Saviour’s voice ! How many, it is to be apprehended, 
 are on their way thither, to have their last moments dis- 
 turbed by the same painful, unavailing regrets ! Is it not 
 time (I submit to you, my friends) for the mass of our reli- 
 gious societies to rouse from this lethargy, — to tear away 
 
21 
 
 the veil of mystery and indecision which has so long hung 
 like the pall of death on this interesting and sacred subject ? 
 It certainly is full time that the mystical associations which 
 have enveloped it for ages should be swept away, as earth- 
 born fogs, as unnatural and pernicious delusions, from 
 every mind and conscience around which they still hover. 
 The ordinances of Baptism and the Supper, the two and only 
 Christian ordinances, are simply instrumental means to be 
 used by all who have the desire and discretion to employ 
 them for their own or others’ benefit ; and this congrega- 
 tion, and every one claiming to be Christian, in which they 
 are not so used by all who can realize the solemn duty of 
 observing them, are far below the standard of our religion, — - 
 are palpably deficient in one of its chief requirements. 
 
 Were they thus observed and employed, the Church 
 would take her rightful position, — would stand where she 
 stood in the early ages, when all believers, with their chil- 
 dren, were, through the ordinances, taken to the bosom of 
 her visible family, and before custom and fashion had ga- 
 thered around her a vast company, who, though coming to 
 her worship, refrain from the observance of her distinguish- 
 ing rites. She would then be indeed a living church. The 
 congregation would thus be virtually resolved into the 
 church ; which to my mind is far wiser and better than — 
 what has with no little ability been advocated — merging 
 the latter in the former. “ Ah ! ” many will exclaim, “ then 
 we must subscribe a creed ; must enter into a covenant ; 
 must make a profession, and profess more than we are pre- 
 pared to ; must, besides, submit to the abridgment of Chris- 
 tian liberty.” To such we may reply by asking, What creed 
 is requsite, beyond belief in Jesus as the Christ ? which is all 
 the New Testament demands, and to which every Christian 
 
22 
 
 might yield a ready assent. Why not covenant for the pro- 
 motion of religious purposes, when you associate for so many 
 other less important ones ? Can profession, or confession, — 
 as we may perhaps better say, though both are scriptural 
 terms, — which is joined to belief of the heart in the means 
 of salvation, and which we make without the trials under- 
 gone by confessors and martyrs in other regions and times, 
 — can it be otherwise than productive of strength in ourselves 
 and others for a true consecration to the Christian life ? 
 Do the bonds, by which the members of a church are 
 united, imply necessarily any infringement of personal rights 
 or freedom ? or do they tend, or can they be perverted, to 
 any which may not be prevented, certainly be remedied, by 
 the ultimate and inalienable right of resignation ? These 
 questions, it seems to me, are answered in the asking. So 
 far as the views they suggest have been followed out, they 
 have never, to my knowledge, occasioned complaints of 
 oppression, or regret for having practically complied with 
 them. On the contrary, compliance with them, I have uni- 
 formly found, has been felt by the practisers of it to be a high 
 privilege and rich blessing. Fully convinced of their cor- 
 rectness and blessed tendencies, it has been my earnest 
 endeavor to procure their practical adoption among us, to 
 the extent of the nearest possible approximation to iden- 
 tity of church and congregation ; and I hope, my friends, 
 that you will not rest, till this object, in itself so desirable 
 and important, — which the simple views we hold so favor, 
 and, if fairly carried out, are sure to effect, — shall be com- 
 pletely secured. 
 
 Another institution, worthy to be named in immediate 
 connection with the church, which some are ready — and 
 not without reason — to regard as second only to that, in 
 
23 
 
 the useful agencies of the world, is the Sunday school. 
 Whatever the forms in which it has existed, since its esta- 
 blishment by Robert Raikes, of England, in the last century, 
 it has been founded in and sustained by the very spirit of 
 Him among whose last injunctions was, “ Feed my lambs.” 
 Here, on this spot, was established the first regular parish 
 Sunday school in New England, and perhaps throughout 
 Christendom. First gathered from among the forsaken 
 and destitute, and the debased and vicious, by two noble 
 women of our society, in 1810 , it soon was warmly adopted 
 by other members, with the pastor, and became in its 
 essential organization what it has ever since remained. 
 During that time, there has arisen a very large body of 
 teachers and pupils, who have received great mutual bene- 
 fit, and also been fitted to strengthen and adorn the church 
 and the community. In both portions of this body have 
 been those, not a few, of high intellectual and moral en- 
 dowments, and of eminence in public and private life. A 
 majority of our present number have shared in its direct 
 benefits. Who of us has not been indirectly benefited by 
 it ? Particularly has it, and have we, been favored in its 
 superintendents. 
 
 Previously to the worthy incumbent, there have been but 
 three. The first was Robert Rantoul [of whom, now that 
 his venerable form is no more seen among us, I may speak 
 in print, as his personal presence forbade me to do in the de- 
 livery of this discourse] . He had the sagacity to discern in 
 the sabbath school, at the outset, a prime element of social 
 and moral progress, and, for many years, freely gave to its 
 supervision his best powers ; and never after, to his dying 
 day, ceased to regard it with tender and watchful interest. 
 The charge was relinquished by him to one singularly 
 
24 
 
 fitted to sustain and grace it, — William Thorndike, alike 
 respected and dearly beloved among us ; all too early lost ; 
 withdrawn from us at the scarcely meridian age of forty, 
 though not till he had been distinguished in the legal pro- 
 fession, in various walks of business, and as the dignified 
 and admired presiding head of our State Legislature ; and 
 not till he had planted a name and memory, that now, after 
 the lapse of more than a score of years, are fresh as with the 
 morning dew, and fragrant with the odor of sanctity. He 
 continued in the discharge of this important and sacred 
 trust until declining health compelled its resignation. He 
 was succeeded by Albert Thorndike, to whom with him 
 might apply the exclamation, Par nobile fratrum , — Two 
 noble brothers ; both commanding in person, of elevated 
 bearing, courteous and benevolent in spirit, intelligent, 
 high-minded, pure in principle, aiming — and remarkably 
 successful in their aim — to divide rightly their superior 
 powers between worldly and spiritual pursuits. The latter, 
 we feel but too sensibly, has just gone to take his place by 
 the side of the former in the spirit-world. Lovely and ho- 
 nored in their lives, they are no longer separated by death. 
 That mourning drapery with which our orchestra is clad 
 bespeaks but imperfectly the new grief for him, who, by his 
 decease at the mature yet vigorous age of fifty-eight, when 
 so much more of usefulness was anticipated, has vacated a 
 place which from his youth he had occupied there, and 
 ceased from the active and leading part, which for most of 
 that time he took, not only in the music of the temple, but 
 in tuning the voice, and training the mind and heart, of 
 the young, to the service of their Creator. 
 
 Such are the men that have condescended — rather 
 counted it no condescension, but a high privilege and holy 
 
25 
 
 pleasure — to lay aside weighty public and private responsi- 
 bilities, and devote themselves to Sunday-school instruc- 
 tion. While they were here thus engaged, the names 
 and characters of Leverett Saltonstall, Stephen C. Phil- 
 lips, and others of eminent worth, were associated with 
 similar services in neighboring parishes. These all felt 
 that the ground they thus occupied was holy ground, 
 that the time so spent was hallowed time, and that the 
 vigilance and energies thus exerted were consecrated to 
 one of the noblest works in which they could be employed. 
 For myself, I feel that the hours I have uniformly passed in 
 the school have been among the most delightful and im- 
 proving in my own experience, and the most satisfying and 
 fruitful of good in ministering to others. 
 
 It may justly be expected of every Christian pastor to 
 watch and labor especially for the young. No part 
 of the care devolved on me has been more cheerfully 
 and assiduously executed than this, whether it was to 
 be exercised for them in or out of their homes, on the 
 sabbath or the week day, in the private or public schools ; 
 which last — as from my coming here, one year excepted, I 
 have been a member of the General Committee, and, most 
 of that period, its chairman — have claimed and received 
 a large share of my time and attention. But, for whatever 
 it may have been in my power so to do for the young, I 
 have been richly rewarded by their friendship ; and yet 
 more by what I have witnessed of their progress in know- 
 ledge, virtue, and preparation for future usefulness, honor, 
 and happiness. To their continued attachment, and the 
 fulfilment of their early promise, and the rich satisfac- 
 tion of seeing them useful, honored, and prosperous in the 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 world, do I look forward for much of the support and solace 
 of advancing age. 
 
 In the discharge of the duties designated peculiarly as 
 pastoral, it has been my aim and pleasure to enter, by a 
 sympathy full, free, divested of mere formality, into the 
 condition and wants of all to whom I stood in the endear- 
 ing and sacred relation of a pastor to his people. To 
 impart light and encouragement to the inquiring, doubting, 
 or despondent ; to sympathize with the sorrowing or re- 
 joicing, comfort the afflicted, provide for the destitute, sus- 
 tain and cheer the sick and dying ; to bury the dead ; to do 
 that which actual experience only can tell how trying it is, 
 . — leading in the last sad offices to them on whom we re- 
 
 posed as true and dear friends, — this, and whatever else 
 is included in the sphere of pastoral duty, have I desired 
 to perform seasonably, tenderly, faithfully. For all the 
 co-operation and encouragement I have received in this 
 delicate, and often difficult, part of ministerial service, I 
 would make grateful acknowledgment. At the same time, 
 I would suggest that pastoral exertion might, here and 
 generally, be rendered far more effective than it is by a free 
 communication of wants, doubts, difficulties ; by letting it 
 be known when and where aid is needed, and may be most 
 effectually applied. 
 
 In reviewing the last eight and twenty years, I realize 
 almost with wonder the degree to which my existence has 
 been here concentrated. In this appointed sphere of duty 
 have centred mainly my thoughts, feelings, and interests, 
 during that long period. While I have wished and sought 
 to meet all just claims on my services from abroad, which 
 of necessity have been many and various, I have felt 
 that ministerial faithfulness, like charity, begins at home, 
 
27 
 
 and should be principally exhibited there. Here, accord- 
 ingly, I have chiefly aimed to be useful, and with a steadi- 
 ness of effort, which, I confess, has at times seemed too 
 continuous. Scarce a day in this large space of time has 
 been without its burden of care and sympathy, such as 
 sometimes to weigh heavily on the spirits, and task severely 
 the energies of both mind and body. If ever there has 
 appeared a want of sensibility in my public or private 
 ministrations, I cheerfully leave it, after due allowance is 
 made for the official need and advantage of self-control, to 
 be set to the account of human imperfection. Of this, not 
 I alone, but most pastors and preachers, could assure you, 
 that often they are constrained to be calm when it would 
 be a relief, indeed, to weep. If my labors have not been 
 strenuous and abundant as some, and myself not least, 
 might wish, I would fain trust that something will be 
 pardoned to the discretion which takes warning from the 
 many deplorable instances — and my own profession has 
 furnished its full share — of those who have attained a 
 premature lustre only to undergo an untimely and disas- 
 trous eclipse ; and who, by overstrained zeal in the morning 
 of their usefulness, have forfeited their meridian vigor, and 
 unfitted themselves for bearing the burden and heat of the 
 day. If I have not literally fulfilled the injunction preached 
 from at my ordination, — “Give thyself wholly to them,” 
 — still no small part of what I was or had have been here 
 bestowed. It is, however, with no feigned humility I ac- 
 knowledge, that the labors of my ministry are far from 
 having accomplished what I could desire ; though I grate- 
 fully rejoice in whatever result, good in itself, or corre- 
 sponding to the nature and design of the Christian ministry, 
 may have attended them. But such as they may have 
 
28 
 
 been, for good or for evil, to you or me or others, their 
 account must forthwith close, — be summed up and ren- 
 dered in, to await the sentence of the final bar. 
 
 Increased experience, here let me say, has tended to 
 enlarge and confirm my sense of the solemn responsibility 
 of the ministerial office. Not that I have been led to 
 view that office as alone solemn and clothed with weighty 
 responsibilities, or to regard it in any contracted light. 
 Every occupation in life is serious. All rightful occupa- 
 tions in which men can engage are worthy and important. 
 One of the greatest dangers, indeed, to which the Christian 
 pastor’s office is exposed, is that of being considered as 
 standing alone, rather than as intimately associated with 
 all employments and duties, having mutual relations with 
 them all, and helping men to do the work of religion, in- 
 stead of doing it for them. So to consider it must always 
 have the effect to diminish materially its power and useful- 
 ness. It is, notwithstanding, a high and holy and blessed 
 office. This I have felt the more, the more I have con- 
 templated the subjects to which it relates ; the inquiries 
 it includes and demands ; the communion with God and 
 Christ, with the human soul and all souls, to which it leads ; 
 the elevation of character and pursuits ; the devotion to the 
 best interests of man and society, to truth, righteousness, 
 and heaven, which it prompts and requires. Also and 
 especially has it risen in my estimation, the more I have 
 entered personally and practically into its duties, its plea- 
 sures, and even its trials. And though the young man, on 
 first surveying the vast field of its aims and requisitions, 
 may naturally be appalled by its vastness ; and the elder 
 laborer, as he becomes* better acquainted with it, and sees 
 it continually, enlarging in extent, may be oppressed, 
 
29 
 
 if not absolutely disheartened, by his responsibilities, — 
 it is nevertheless a glorious field in which to work ; 
 and I thank God for having been permitted so long, 
 though so poorly, to labor in it. To have well cultivated 
 that field ; to have won in it the humblest title to the ap- 
 pellation, “Good and faithful servant,” — is, in truth, a 
 crown of righteousness. No greener or brighter wreath 
 should I desire to wear on my brow, or have laid on my 
 grave. 
 
 Instances of such fidelity have not been wanting in your 
 ecclesiastical history. It is somewhat more than two cen- 
 turies since this parish was virtually established. For 
 rather more than twenty years from the settlement of this 
 town, its inhabitants worshipped at the First Church in 
 Salem, of which this place was then a part. In 1649, 
 owing to their increase in numbers, and the inconvenience 
 of worshipping at that distance, particularly as they were 
 obliged to cross the intervening arm of the sea in boats, they 
 petitioned for leave to form a separate society. This was 
 at first refused ; but, the following year, the request, having 
 been renewed, was so far granted as “ to authorize the bre- 
 thren on Bass-River side to procure the service of an able and 
 approved teacher, they still retaining their connection with 
 the church in Salem.” With this permission, they employed 
 several religious teachers, till their regular organization as a 
 church in September, 1667 ; when John Hale, who had for 
 three years previously ministered to them, was ordained 
 their pastor. He so continued to his death in May, 1700 ; 
 having been with them about thirty-six years, and nearly 
 thirty-three from his ordination. He was acceptable and 
 faithful in the discharge of his office, and distinguished for 
 his independence and public spirit. These last traits were 
 
30 
 
 evinced in his accompanying as chaplain, in opposition 
 to the wishes of his people, an expedition against Canada. 
 They were more strikingly displayed in the part he took in 
 that horrid tragedy, — the witchcraft delusion of 1692. 
 Having favored the prosecution, and assisted in the exami- 
 nation, of some of the accused, he was suddenly brought to 
 a pause by the fact, that his own wife, a person of singular 
 excellence, was “ cried out against.” Entirely convinced 
 of her innocence, he was induced thereby (as he states) 
 to scan more strictly the principles he had imbibed on 
 this subject, and by scanning to question, and by ques- 
 tioning at length to reject, many of them. He at once — 
 and, under the circumstances, it demanded no little moral 
 courage to do it — set his face against the prevailing current 
 of superstition. Soon afterward, he prepared and published 
 a treatise on witchcraft, which the revered John Higginson 
 commends as a work which the writer’s “ pious and modest 
 manner,” and his “ singular prudence and sagacity in 
 searching into the narrows of things,” would render 
 “ generally acceptable to all the lovers of truth and peace.” 
 A copy of it is preserved with our church-records. It 
 had undoubtedly a valuable influence in overcoming a delu- 
 sion which was one of the darkest clouds that ever came 
 over New England, and that settled with deepest gloom on 
 this vicinity ; during which, it has been truly said, none 
 could lie down on their pillow, or walk forth in the light of 
 day, without the most terrible apprehension of being ac- 
 cused, brought to trial, and, without reason, imprisoned, or 
 dragged away to a cruel and infamous death ; and which 
 was not checked till many had thus suffered, and not a few 
 had confessed themselves guilty to save their lives. 
 
 When their first pastor — who in such varied and trying 
 
31 
 
 scenes, as in the usual sphere of his duty, had served them 
 so well — was called, at the ripe age of sixty-three, from 
 his earthly labors, a grateful people followed him to his rest 
 with tears and fond regrets, with the inscription on their 
 hearts no less than on his gravestone, — “ A pious and 
 faithful minister of the gospel ; ” while his descendants, in 
 successive generations, arose to bear up his honored name, 
 and carry forward the work which he had so nobly com- 
 menced. 
 
 In October, 1701, his place was supplied by Thomas 
 Blowers ; who is described by a cotemporary as a “ very 
 valuable man, good scholar, and excellent minister ; a dis- 
 tinguished example of warm devotion, of extensive goodness, 
 meekness, and sweetness of temper ; of great stability in his 
 principles, and steadiness in his conduct ; a very faithful 
 friend and obliging neighbor ; a most tender and kind hus- 
 band and father; a vigilant, prudent pastor, and close, 
 pathetic preacher ; had in great veneration among the as- 
 sociated pastors in the vicinity ; highly esteemed by all his 
 acquaintance, and universally beloved by his flock.” His 
 sudden decease, in the fifty-second year of his age and 
 twenty-eighth of his ministry, was regarded as a severe be- 
 reavement by them, and by the whole community, that 
 appreciated his worth, and of which he was a pillar and 
 ornament. Samson Salter Blowers, Chief Justice of the 
 Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, was his grandson ; who died 
 in 1842, having attained the age of a hundred years, and 
 been a long time the senior survivor among the graduates of 
 Harvard College ; for which the grandfather, more than a 
 century before, had done good service, and shown a filial and 
 enlarged spirit, by publicly meeting the objections against 
 the election of Leverett to its first office, particularly that of 
 
32 
 
 liis being a layman, and by contributing his aid to secure 
 for it his brilliant presidency. 
 
 Joseph Champney, the third pastor, was ordained here in 
 December, 1T29, — less than six months after his predeces- 
 sor’s death. His ministry is the longest, by far, yet sustained 
 in this place ; having extended into its forty-fourth year, in 
 which he died, at the age of sixty-eight. Without con- 
 spicuous ability, he was esteemed and loved for his sincerity, 
 his mild, benevolent, and social disposition, and his devoted- 
 ness to the good of his parishioners and to the duties of his 
 profession. His life is represented by those who knew him 
 to have been that of a true Christian, and its close was 
 serene and happy. Owing to his impaired health, in 1TT2, 
 the assistance of a colleague was required ; and Joseph Wil- 
 lard was ordained in November of that year. Within three 
 months after his settlement, he, by the death of his senior 
 associate, became sole pastor ; and so remained for a little 
 over nine years, till his resignation on being elected Presi- 
 dent of Harvard University. In that high station he passed 
 the remainder of his life, — nearly twenty-three years ; a 
 longer term than, with a single exception, was had by any 
 who have filled it ; and deceased in the sixty-sixth year of 
 his age. Though his ministry was comparatively brief, it 
 sufficed to leave here a deep and permanent impression. 
 Rational and liberal in his theology ; plain, earnest, prac- 
 tical ; aiming at spiritual improvement, rather than display 
 of critical learning, in his public ministrations ; in his more 
 private ones wise, kind, sympathizing ; respected and influ- 
 ential in the community, through his talents, acquirements, 
 and weight of character, — it was but natural that he should 
 be highly prized by his parish, and parted from with keen 
 regret. “ It is with the greatest reluctance,” they say in 
 
33 
 
 answer to his request for dismissal, “ that we think of con- 
 senting to our pastor’s leaving us, with whom we have lived 
 happily for so long a season. We, though with pain, give 
 him up for the sake of the public ; and ardently wish, that, 
 when invested with the president’s office, he may be a rich 
 blessing to the world.” His character, in the wider sphere 
 to which he was transferred, is too generally and well 
 known to require labored eulogy. Dignified, firm, resolute, 
 judicious, yet condescending and gentle ; exercising a truly 
 parental authority ; enjoying a reputation for ripe scholar- 
 ship in classical, and also in mathematical and astrono- 
 mical, learning ; and directing his powers and acquisitions, 
 with great singleness of purpose, to the advancement of the 
 institution over which he presided, — he at once maintained 
 and adorned his eminent position. It has been justly said 
 of him, by one who was both his pupil and associate in gov- 
 ernment and instruction, that “ his unbending integrity, his 
 patience and fidelity in duty, his claims to professional and 
 literary respect and confidence, gave him a high rank among 
 the worthies, guardians, and guides of his generation.” 
 
 After an interval of about three years, he was succeeded 
 by Joseph McKean, who was settled in May, 1785. He was 
 pastor of this society for seventeen years ; during which his 
 reputation, as a sound theologian and solid scholar, was 
 fully established. Of noble and commanding person ; with 
 manners and character marked by mingled simplicity and. 
 dignity ; possessing an intellect clear, strong, sagacious, 
 and discriminating ; frank, amiable, generous, Christian, in 
 spirit ; as a preacher, felicitously combining instruction and 
 impressiveness ; impartial and assiduous in fulfilling his 
 parochial relations, — he was greatly endeared to his peo- 
 ple, and highly regarded at large. In 1802, with the very 
 
 5 
 
34 
 
 reluctant consent of those with whom he had here been 
 so happily connected, he accepted an invitation to become 
 the first President of Bowdoin College. On the new and 
 important field thus opened to him he entered with pro- 
 found interest, and gave to it his full energy. But after 
 five years of laborious and faithful service, in the midst of 
 his days and usefulness, when the seed he had so diligently 
 sown was beginning to spring up and bear fruit, he was, 
 in the fiftieth year of his age, summoned from earth ; to 
 human view, prematurely and sadly departing ; yet not till 
 he had laid an adequate foundation for the distinction and 
 prosperity which the institution, commenced under his fos- 
 tering care, has since attained. 
 
 His successor in the pastorate was Abiel Abbot, who is 
 still freshly remembered among us. Having had a previous 
 settlement of eight years at Haverhill, he came here in 1803, 
 where he passed the remainder of his life ; with which his 
 ministry terminated, in its twenty-fifth year, and the fifty- 
 eighth of his age. By inclination and early training, he 
 was formed for the church, and the sacred profession by 
 which peculiarly it is upheld and administered. Inquiring 
 diligently into the truths of Christianity, he abandoned the 
 Trinity, with other kindred doctrines he had originally 
 adopted, and became thoroughly grounded in the Unitarian 
 faith. But, averse to controversy, dreading the evils often 
 •accompanying it, and impressed with the superior efficacy 
 of practical religion, he dwelt little on disputed topics, and 
 seldom discussed them in the pulpit. Remarkable for ease, 
 grace, suavity of bearing and address ; for ready and fluent 
 utterance ; for solemnity, unction, pathos, in delivery ; quick, 
 warm, broad, in his sympathies ; instructive and entertain- 
 ing, genial and captivating, in the social circle ; with no 
 
35 
 
 common resources and powers for informing, moving, sway- 
 ing a promiscuous assembly, — he was eminently fitted for 
 discharging the functions, retired or public, of his profes- 
 sional calling. Delighting in his office, he magnified it by 
 the sincerest devotion to its duties. His published writings 
 manifest literary culture, much skill in composition, accu- 
 rate and acute observation of men and things. He had tact 
 to seize, and the vigor as well as the disposition to follow 
 up and improve, opportunities of usefulness, however of- 
 fered. Of singular aptitude for reaching and attracting the 
 young, and leading them to the pursuit of knowledge and 
 virtue, he left on multitudes of them impressions, in their 
 nature invaluable, and lasting as the minds thus influenced. 
 Our common schools were re-organized under his supervi- 
 sion, and received an impulse and direction from his wise 
 and guiding hand, from which vast benefits will not soon 
 cease to accrue. All the means of intellectual and moral 
 training among us were stimulated by his zeal, and pervaded 
 by the force and beauty of his spirit. Measures for social, 
 moral, and religious reform and elevation, found in him a 
 ready and strong ally ; and the numerous benevolent asso- 
 ciations, which in his time were springing into existence, had 
 his cordial welcome and aid. The withdrawal of one thus 
 gifted, and an instrument of so much good, could not fail 
 to produce a profound and wide sensation, and a most sad 
 and painful void. Many of you remember the gloom which 
 overspread this entire region when the mournful announce- 
 ment came, that on his return from a Southern clime, 
 whither he had gone in pursuit of health, he had, while 
 approaching the shore, and a speedy return to his home was 
 fondly anticipated, been arrested by death ; and that you 
 should see his face, hear his voice, and be blessed by his 
 
 
36 
 
 presence, no more. Though the lamp of his mortal life has 
 long since gone out, yet the light of his beneficent ministry 
 will shine on, even as they who have turned many to 
 righteousness, perpetual as the stars. 
 
 The ministries we have cursorily reviewed, taken with 
 that now closing, average considerably more than a quarter 
 of a century each in duration. It is likewise a noticeable 
 fact, — one honorable alike to them and those they served, 
 — that, excepting the two whose services were claimed for 
 the heads of two of our principal literary institutions, and 
 who, as we have seen, parted from their people with great 
 mutual regard and regrets, all the former pastors of this 
 society died and were lamented as such ; death alone 
 dissolving the pastoral tie which bound them in uninter- 
 rupted harmony to you, or to them who have preceded you. 
 A circumstance yet more important than either of those 
 just stated is, that while they were all highly respectable 
 for ability, and possessed an amount of talent and ac- 
 quirement which procured them high honor and influence 
 among cotemporaries and with after-generations, — and in 
 which, as belonging to its succession of pastors, any parish 
 might take a laudable pride, — no stain is recorded, or is 
 related by tradition, to have rested on their characters 
 as men, as Christians, or as ministers of religion. Truly 
 and most significantly may we in this view say, 44 Sweet is 
 the savor of their names ; ” precious, indeed, the legacy 
 left in the memory of their purity and worth to those who 
 have or shall come after them ; invaluable the moral weight 
 which their example has borne and must ever carry with 
 it, inspiring genuine respect for religion, and winning many 
 to virtue. The impressions thus produced of the dignity, 
 sacredness, and value of the pastoral office, cannot be 
 
37 
 
 effaced, or lose their benign efficacy, in this parish and this 
 community. Let me add an expression of the humble hope, 
 glowing ardently in my breast, that if my memory may not 
 be radiant and a fount of good like theirs, and be not your 
 pride, it still may not bring reproach on that sacred office, 
 and not be for your and your descendants’ regret and 
 shame. 
 
 Though led, by the train we have pursued, to speak more 
 at length of the pastors, I would not, by any means, omit 
 due recognition of the character of them to whom they 
 ministered. That has been marked by general intelligence, 
 benevolence, integrity, and virtue ; by reverence for Religion 
 and her institutions, and observance of them to at least the 
 usual extent. An uncommon proportion of men of eminence 
 has been included in this society ; and — what we may re- 
 mark as a particular advantage and blessing — the most 
 influential members have been its firm supporters, and real 
 friends of religion. Two of these stand out in its history 
 with special prominence, — one having been most extensive- 
 ly engaged in its concerns during a large part of the last 
 century ; the other, for nearly all which has elapsed of the 
 present one, having had a leading agency in its affairs. 
 The former was Robert Hale, grandson of the first pastor : he 
 was born in 1702, and died in 1767. He was endowed with 
 superior natural abilities, liberally educated, and bred to 
 the medical profession, in which he soon had extensive 
 practice. Intrusted also with important financial interests ; 
 a colonel in the expedition against Louisburg, and dis- 
 tinguished in its capture ; largely occupied in public 
 business of the town, county, and state ; commissioner 
 on repeated and pressing emergencies from our own to 
 other Commonwealths, — he acquitted himself throughout 
 
38 
 
 with signal fidelity and ability. Extensive and engrossing 
 as were his other occupations, he yet found time to attend, 
 with characteristic thoroughness, to every thing concerning 
 his native parish, from grave questions of theology and 
 ecclesiastical government, down to — what, to be sure, in 
 his time, was a matter of no slight moment, though we 
 might attach little to it — the framing of a precise code of 
 rules for “ seating the meeting-house ; ” by which there was 
 a range of many degrees, from the “ foremost magistrate 
 seat” to those assigned to the unmarried and to persons 
 greatly in debt among the humblest. — The other name, 
 which, from its connection with the parish, may be appro- 
 priately coupled with his, is Robert Rantoul. To him I 
 have already alluded, for the part he took in the Sunday 
 school. It was not there alone that he manifested lively 
 and active interest for the young, but in all the institutions 
 and means by which they might be benefited. That inte- 
 rest, early begun and sustained, personally and officially, 
 through many years, abated not with advanced age. It 
 was touching to see him, his head white with the snows of 
 more than seventy winters, moving amid youthful assem- 
 blies, whether gathered for instruction or amusement, and 
 observe his sterner aspect relax and soften as he entered by 
 cordial sympathy into their pursuits and pleasures. For 
 the reformatory and philanthropic enterprises of the day, 
 he was also strongly interested ; and in some of them, 
 especially that of promoting temperance, he was among 
 the pioneers, and, in certain respects, took the initiative. 
 He was, for upwards of twenty years, a representative or a 
 senator in the General Court, where, from talent and ex- 
 perience, he had an influence rarely exerted by a single 
 individual ; was on several commissions from the State ; and 
 
39 
 
 was a member of the convention for revising its Constitution 
 in 1820, and again in that of 1853 ; in the last of which he 
 was recognized as its Nestor, and called to preside at its 
 organization. The services which, in spheres less extensive 
 and nearer home, he rendered, were very numerous, various, 
 and valuable. Noted as he was for the punctilious and 
 persevering discharge of all his duties, there is no respect in 
 which, with this parish and church, he is more entitled to 
 high consideration and grateful remembrance, than the 
 uniform devotedness with which, as officer and member, 
 for more than half a century, he took a leading part in 
 their proceedings, and studied their interests. His honorable 
 and useful life was prolonged to within a month of the com- 
 pletion of his eightieth year, and terminated in a peaceful 
 departure. 
 
 Among the patriarchs of the society, on my coming to it, 
 were Nathan Dane and Joshua Fisher. As I saw those two 
 venerable men at the head of the procession leading to my 
 ordination, I could not but view the circumstance as pre- 
 senting a marked feature in the then existing condition of 
 the parish, and an auspicious omen for the future. The 
 former was a lawyer by profession (one which has been 
 remarkably represented, by numbers, ability, and cha- 
 racter, in our congregation) ; the father, as he has been 
 called by high authority, of American law ; author of 
 the immortal ordinance for the government of the North- 
 western Territory, by which slavery was for ever excluded 
 from that immense and now populous region ; withal, of 
 unimpeachable integrity and purity. His mind was richly 
 stored with theological knowledge. He devoted much time 
 — giving his sabbaths exclusively — to its acquisition; was 
 a constant attendant on public worship, even after deafness 
 
40 
 
 had disabled him from listening to it ; and a liberal con- 
 tributor to its support. The latter — a learned and skil- 
 ful physician ; President of the Massachusetts Medical Socie- 
 ty ; a proficient in natural science ; a senator of the Com- 
 monwealth, and deeply interested in civil affairs ; an able and 
 faithful officer in institutions of business and charity ; in all 
 the relations of life upright, high-minded, and worthy — is 
 to be esteemed, in the distribution of his wealth, though 
 far more in his life and example, a great public benefactor 
 to this his adopted parish ; pecuniarily, the largest. While 
 his bounty flowed freely in various other channels, the 
 ample fund, which, with the aid of Israel Thorndike, — him- 
 self a generous friend and son of the parish, — he established 
 for the support of the ministry in it, will cause him to be 
 ever gratefully remembered among us. I may add, that 
 from the three last named, and Moses Brown, — also an hon- 
 ored parishioner, — donations and legacies to the amount of 
 fifty thousand dollars have gone to Harvard University, for 
 which strong interest has always here existed ; where all the 
 ministers of this society, one only excepted, were graduated ; 
 and over which, we have seen, one of them long and wor- 
 thily presided. 
 
 An enlightened liberality in sentiment, feeling, action, is 
 seen sending the current of its warm and healthy life-blood 
 through our whole parochial existence. That which seeks 
 out and promotes good objects, whether within or with- 
 out its immediate circle, and, because manifest in deeds, 
 is least to be suspected, has, I trust, been in good degree — 
 if not to the extent justly desirable — exercised. The diffu- 
 sion of intelligence by personal effort, by books, libraries, 
 schools, and higher seminaries, or by any other methods 
 deemed expedient, has been a favorite object, and has received, 
 
41 
 
 from those qualified to further it, strong countenance and 
 aid. That there is more of truth to break forth continually 
 from God’s word and works ; that the firmament of know- 
 ledge, common and sacred, is absolutely boundless, and 
 should be constantly explored ; which was uttered in sub- 
 stance, and partly in these very terms, by the Pilgrim Father, 
 Robinson, — has been steadily maintained. Perfect freedom 
 of investigation into both nature and revelation is a stand- 
 ing declaration of our creed ; or would be, if we had any 
 other one than that of the Bible. The records of this 
 church show that the terms of communion have never been 
 narrow or exclusive, and that censures have never been 
 inflicted for supposed error of opinion. Its independence 
 has been firmly upheld. The proposal of a convention of 
 ministers at Boston, in 1705, for consociating the Con- 
 gregational churches, found little if any more favor here 
 than did a similar one from the Massachusetts General 
 Association in 1814, which, like the former, encountered an 
 opposition so strenuous as to lead to its abandonment. The 
 Cambridge Platform of ecclesiastical government was not 
 formally adopted by this church till nearly seventy years 
 after its organization ; and then only with essential modifi- 
 cations and reservations, among which was this, — that the 
 Platform should be received in “ their own sense,” or as 
 the members chose to understand and apply it. These, and 
 many other facts and considerations that might be adduced, 
 sufficiently indicate the independent tone which has pre- 
 vailed in maintaining the rights of the church as a body, 
 and of the individuals composing it. 
 
 The relations, however, of this society, both within and 
 without itself, have, from the beginning to the present time, 
 been singularly peaceful and harmonious. Few councils, al- 
 
 6 
 
42 
 
 most none (none, surely, since my connection with it), have 
 been summoned for advice or arbitration in the settlement 
 of disputes and difficulties. No differences of sentiment or 
 action have arisen, that have resulted in permanent con- 
 troversy, alienation, or division, and that have not been 
 quickly followed by reconciliation, or agreement to differ, or, 
 at most, quiet withdrawal. Unity of the spirit in the bond 
 of peace has been the motto of practice, for yourselves and 
 your predecessors, in relation to those within your borders 
 and to other religious societies. Between the mother church 
 — the first in Salem — and this, and between the ministers 
 and people of both, there has always been the most friendly 
 union. For seventeen years after they had separate worship, 
 they met — in beautiful token of Christian fellowship and 
 love — at the same table of communion. They have kept 
 pace together in what we consider the advance of religious 
 ideas. They bear, as they have long borne, the same dis- 
 tinctive appellation among the denominations of Christians. 
 May their only strife henceforth be, as it has hitherto been, 
 striving together for the faith of the gospel. So has it 
 been, so may it ever be, in the relation of this to the first- 
 born of the churches that have sprung from it, with which 
 we have always been in peculiar connection and sympathy ; 
 and she to-day has affectingly recognized these, by suspend- 
 ing her usual service, and joining with us on this parting 
 occasion. For her, and for all the congregations of the 
 town, whether of like or differing faith, do we wish, from 
 the fruitful and loving parent of them all, at this hour, and 
 out of the house of God, prosperity, and his peace to keep 
 them for ever in perfect peace. 
 
 A character for stability, moreover, may justly be attri- 
 buted to this parish. Here, where, for two centuries and 
 
43 
 
 more, divine worship and the ordinances of religion have 
 been statedly observed, where a succession of ministers — 
 with less than usual interruption — has been sustained, and 
 where, through all that extended period, wise and good and 
 devout men have watched and prayed, endured and perse- 
 vered, we may look for something stable, and not, I trust, 
 look in vain. Not the stability which dwells in the past, 
 rests where they who preceded us stood, abjures innovation, 
 denies the claim of any superiority of light or virtue in the 
 present over the ages gone ; still less that which contents 
 itself with inactivity, and neither cherishes the desire, nor 
 puts forth effort, for a higher and better spiritual life than 
 has yet been reached: but that which looks before and 
 around no less than behind ; with due veneration for the past, 
 mingles just reference to the present and the future ; moves 
 forward with open eye and elastic step, ready to discern and 
 walk in the ways, commands, and ordinances, and through 
 the scenes of duty and trial, designed by Heaven, and to 
 which its unerring finger points. An enlightened conserva- 
 tism, combined with earnest desire and endeavor after pro- 
 gress, and based on the scriptural formula, — steadfast and 
 immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, — 
 has with us been sought, and, we will hope, in some good 
 measure, though very far from what it should have been, 
 attained. This is the only stability on which, as indivi- 
 duals, as members of society, or a Christian church, we can, 
 amid the vicissitudes of earth, and under the grand law of 
 change passed on all human things, securely repose. 
 
 How wide and unceasing is the operation of that law ! 
 What change has been going on since this spot was set 
 apart and consecrated to religious uses, to which it has 
 from the first been devoted, for the place of our worship ! 
 
44 
 
 During that period, our country has been mostly reclaimed 
 from the savage and from solitude, and our nation all but cre- 
 ated. Who can describe, or merely count, the changes that 
 have in that period taken place relating to material, social, 
 and religious objects, the world of matter and mind within 
 and around us ? The spot itself — while so many and vary- 
 ing lights and shadows have been passing over it — how 
 changed, from the lowly temple that stood near the site 
 of our vestry, the humble nature of which is indicated by a 
 vote passed sixteen years after its erection, “ that the meet- 
 ing-house be ceiled up to the wall-plates, rabbeted, and the 
 windows glazed,” — through the second, erected in 1682, 
 which was superior to t^e first, but was rude in its style and 
 construction, as we may infer from its having been without 
 “ laths and plaster,” open to the “ ridge-pole,” and its floor 
 having not, till forty years after it was built, been laid 
 “ on the beams with boards and joist,” — down to the third 
 house, erected in 1T70, enlarged in ’95, remodelled and for 
 the most part rebuilt in 1835 ; since which its interior has 
 been improved and beautified, and rendered commodious 
 and pleasant as we now see it ! If the place and temples 
 show change, much more do the worshippers. With the 
 eye of fancy, and in the light of authentic record, we look, as 
 on a movable panorama, upon the assemblies from age to 
 age here gathered. We see the earlier ones ranged in order 
 and lines, according to rank, age, sex, condition, or other 
 qualifications, prescribed by rule, except where particular 
 positions were assigned by way of reward or favoi^; and the 
 later ones, with some variations, arranged after the me- 
 thods customary in our own time. In each we see reflected 
 its ‘peculiar manners, habits, culture ; its appointed discipline 
 of good and evil, joy and sorrow, temptation and trial. As 
 
45 
 
 we see these all, so varying and transitory as they have 
 been, we enter more fully than we before have done 
 into the changing nature of human life and experience, 
 and realize how changeful as well as rapid is the stream 
 on which the generations of men, and ourselves among 
 them, are borne onward. 
 
 Instead, however, of further looking through the two 
 centuries that have passed over this parish, it is enough 
 only to glance at the variegated aspect of the events which 
 have occurred since we have been together during my 
 pastorate. In that comparatively brief period, how have 
 society and the world altered ! and what a new face has 
 come on both ! Wonderful discoveries and inventions 
 have been multiplied, by which the domain of science has 
 been vastly extended, man’s social condition essentially va- 
 ried and improved, and the material creation itself greatly 
 changed. Mighty revolutions have shaken nations to their 
 foundation, and thrones have been set up and overturned. 
 Peace and war have had their alternations in our own and 
 most other countries. New theories in government, mo- 
 rals, and religion, have been broached ; have had their day, 
 and been exploded. New truths have been proclaimed, and 
 brought into use ; old ones have been set in new and bet- 
 ter lights, and so rendered more beneficial. And though 
 an awful cloud of sin casts its shadow, like a foul blot, on 
 the earth, and on all the souls living upon it, and vice and 
 crime stalk abroad in high places and low, I still believe 
 that the world, for the last quarter-century, has not stood 
 still or receded, but has, on the whole, and in vital respects, 
 been gaining. 
 
 What changes, too, have time and death — not to name 
 other causes — wrought around and in the midst of us in 
 
46 
 
 the period we are contemplating ! Those who, at the com- 
 mencement of it, were the venerated elders and pillars in 
 church and state, — the fathers, — where are they? You 
 will, perhaps, be surprised at the fact, that none of the 
 pastors of the fourteen societies of our denomination in 
 Essex County remain where, at the beginning of my 
 ministry, I found them ; and only three of them are 
 among the living. The patriarchs of the council convened 
 at the time of my ordination — all the aged persons, also, 
 then belonging to the parish — have since passed away. 
 The then middle-aged have grown old ; the then young 
 have glided into maturity. Nearly an entire generation 
 has come upon the stage of life, while another has left it. 
 A congregation of itself has been added from among us 
 to the congregation of the dead. — Here we pause to drop 
 the tear of remembrance for the many whom Death has not 
 permitted to continue with us ; whom that stern reaper has 
 gathered in, whether in the early flower, or mature vigor, 
 or full ripeness. At the call of memory, there is scarcely a 
 seat here, or house, or family; “no flock, however tended ; ” 
 scarcely a region of earth or a sea, — that does not give up 
 our dead. In all kindness and tenderness, we greet their 
 images as they rise freshly to view. For some, officers 
 and members, tried friends and supporters, of this church 
 and society, and of whatever is good, the tears of recent and 
 sad bereavement freely flow. Do we not still hear the sound 
 of departing wings as their spirits take the upward flight ? 
 Do they not seem to linger, that they may dispense heavenly 
 benedictions, and give parting assurances that their guardian 
 care and love will not cease to watch over these scenes they 
 loved so well ? 
 
 Great and often trying as are the changes and the whole 
 
47 
 
 vicissitude of life, we can hardly doubt their necessity, any 
 more than we can escape their occurrence. Because they 
 have no changes, says a sacred oracle, they fear not God. 
 These are needed by men and Christians, alone and indi- 
 vidually, or in groups and societies. They are often 
 indispensably necessary to arrest attention, and prompt to 
 vigilance and exertion. A quiet, undisturbed current of 
 events has done unspeakable harm to men, and to bodies 
 of men, by lulling to indifference, negligence, and in- 
 efficiency ; and so banishing, not only the fear of God, but 
 concern and zeal for the welfare of man. Even harmony 
 and peace may thus become the bane of a Christian society 
 and church. Welcome, then, change. Let it come ; let it 
 come fast and often, and in all its Heaven-appointed variety. 
 It is a blessed monitor and guide ; it may be, a comforter 
 and healer. It brings balm from Gilead, — a medicine for 
 the mind, from the great Physician. By it souls may be 
 reformed, enlarged, built up to celestial grace and beauty ; 
 to sum all in two words, — sanctified, saved. And though 
 it may at times be trying, and hard to bear ; may administer 
 a rude shock ; be appalling even to the sensibilities ; may be 
 for the present not joyous, but grievous ; and we might not 
 be prepared to delight in it for its own sake, — we may yet 
 rejoice in the blessing it carries with it, of which we are 
 invited, nay urged, to partake in full. We may, moreover, 
 rejoice that the changing universe is presided over and 
 ordered by Him who doetli all things rightly and well ; 
 who has and needs no changes ; with whom is no variable- 
 ness, or shadow of turning ; and in whom we may repose 
 unchanging and perfect trust. 
 
 Notwithstanding the numerous and varied scenes through 
 which we have passed together since we were joined in the 
 
48 
 
 sacred ties that unite pastor and people, it is difficult for 
 me to realize how extended the space of time thus traversed. 
 So under bright and propitious skies, through green pastures, 
 and by still waters, has our course been ; so harmonious have 
 been our relations, and mutual and joint action ; and, in look- 
 ing back on them, — having no note of discord, no asperities 
 of feeling, not an unkind word or look, that I am aware of, 
 to disturb or mar the review, but bathed, as it were, in an 
 atmosphere of love and good-will, — I feel like a traveller 
 beguiled as to the length of his way by its pleasantness. 
 In the first sermon after my ordination, I said, “ Here would 
 I live and work ; and here, in your service, would I have 
 my earthly labors and conflicts end.” I then thought, if it 
 should be God’s will, and for our reciprocal benefit, to live and 
 die, their chosen and devoted pastor, among this my own 
 people. Being, however, not of firm constitution, I ex- 
 pected my ministry, if continued to the close of my life, 
 long ere this to have terminated, and to have passed, with 
 my soul, before the final Judge. But it has been otherwise 
 appointed. 
 
 And now it only remains for me to bid you, my respected 
 and beloved parishioners, adieu ; which I utter, not so much 
 as indicative of parting, much less of final leave, as in 
 its higher meaning, — God be with you. So I say, Farewell : 
 in the most literal sense, fare ye well ! May you partake 
 most richly of temporal and spiritual good! My earnest 
 hope is, that, present or absent, I may hear of your affairs, 
 that ye stand fast in the unity, order, purity, and excellence 
 of our holy faith, and are constantly strengthened and 
 elevated therein. Especially is it my desire that you may 
 be endued with the highest wisdom for the choice of one to 
 fill the place now to be vacated. If, in due season, a pastor 
 
49 
 
 after your own hearts, and approved of God, be granted you, 
 my heart, I assure you, will equally rejoice, and one of its 
 dearest wishes be fulfilled. Be assured, also, that the kind- 
 ness here shared by me and mine, and the sweet counsel 
 and many happy days and years we have had together, will 
 not fade from my memory ; that the tenderest chords of my 
 breast will not cease to vibrate in unison with your welfare ; 
 and that my fervent prayers will continually ascend for 
 Heaven’s best blessings on you and yours, with whom I have 
 been so long, so intimately, and so sacredly associated. 
 
 7 
 
r 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 The following is a copy of Mr. Thayer’s letter of resigna- 
 tion, and of the record of proceedings of the parish in 
 answer to it : — 
 
 Hon. Robert Rantoul. 
 
 Bevekly, April 6, 1858. 
 
 Dear Sir, — I resign into your hands, and through you, as 
 Chairman of the Standing Committee, to the First Parish, the 
 pastoral office, which, for considerably more than a quarter of a 
 century, has been so harmoniously, and to myself so happily, sus- 
 tained. IVl^^esdgnation, I propose, should take effect on the 1st 
 of d&iy next s ^ e P has no ^ been taken without earnest de- 
 liberation, and a sense tender and sacred ties which 
 
 bind, and always 
 ministered during 
 changing aspects of 
 not wholly justify, it ; 
 least, from the labors 
 other claims and duties, 
 my present relation to the 
 trust, that its prosperity 
 and with the assurance of 
 welfare of all its mem 
 
 Most resi 
 
52 
 
 no nr\-n 
 
 A communication from the Rev. Christopher T. Thayer, in 
 which he proposes to resign his pastoral relations to this parish, 
 having been read and considered, it was thereupon unanimously 
 voted to accept thereof. 
 
 Resolved , That we deeply regret the impaired condition of his 
 health, which (with other considerations of a private nature) has 
 rendered it necessary for him to ask a release from pastoral labors ; 
 and, in view of the dissolution of a connection now of more than 
 twenty-eight years’ standing, we rejoice that it has been so har- 
 moniously and happily sustained during the whole of this period, 
 and that the separation takes place with only the kindest feelings 
 on the part of pastor and people. 
 
 Penetrated with the strong expressions of the affectionate in- 
 terest of our pastor in every member of his parish, in accepting 
 his resignation, we would cordially reciprocate the kind sentiments 
 he has expressed towards us, and offer him our best wishes for the 
 restoration of his health, and a continuance of his usefulness and 
 happiness. 
 
 Resolved , That his faithful and arduous labors through the 
 whole duration of his ministry, in relation to the municipal inte- 
 rests of the town, deserve the grateful recollection and acknow- _ 
 ledgment of the people ; and we earnestly hope tjhat a cotfJJMVUd 
 residence among us will enable us to enjoy, jf s heretofore, the 
 influence of his example, the be nefit, of h is talents and varied ex- 
 perience, and of his ljffjfiiflriB|^^^^|^i4ocial, moral, and reli- 
 
 jopy of resolutions passed 
 bers of the First Parish in 
 
 
 Robert Rantoul, 
 
 Parish Clerk.