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226th ANNIVERSARY

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THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.

THE

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES

THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON,
MASSACHUSETTS,

ON THE OCCASION OF THE

Etoo f^uttlirflr antr Etomtg=jFiftfj ^nniircrsarg
of its jFounliation,

Sunday and Monday, Oct. 6 and 7, 1889.

oXKo

PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.

Press of Rockwell and Churchill, Boston.
I 890.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION . ... .
HISTORICAL DISCOURSE, BY REV. DR. DANIEL L
FURBER 
The Nine Pastors ....
Theological Position of the Church .
Influence of Calvinism on Human Freedom
Formation of the Church
Mr. Eliot's Ministry
Mr. Hobart's Ministry
Mr. Cotton's Ministry .
Mr. Meriam's Ministry
Mrs. Anna Hammond Pope
Dr. Homer's Ministry
Half-way Covenant
Early English Versions of the Bible
Dr. Codman's Sermon at Dr. Homer's Funeral
Mr. Bates' Ministry .....
Deacon Woodward .
Deacon Jackson
Mr. Bushnell's Ministry
Dr. Furber's Ministry .
Deacon Cook
Deacon Paul
Mr. Holmes' Ministry
Additions to the Church
Men whom the Church has sent into the
istry 
Women who have been Wives of Ministers
The Early Ministers nobly Connected
The Patriotism of the Church
In the Early Wars .
In the Revolution ...
In the Rebellion
Recapitulation .....
Eminent Men ....
Usefulness of a Local Church
Reflections .....
1. Connection with Missions
2. Care for the Young .

Min

PAGE
7-1 1

15-127 1518
23 25 27
30 32
3S37
40 40 SO5658596267
67 68 68
6970
71.9488, 9494 95
969698
104 los108
10-126 III 112

CONTENTS.

Historical Discourse, continued.
3. Efficiency of Earnest Laymen
4. The Pulpit on Future Retribution
5. Trust in Christ as a Saviour removes the
OF Death ....
Dying Words of Mr. Eliot .
Conclusion .....

SUNDAY-SCHOOL ANNIVERSARY
Historical Catechism
Address by Rev. William H. Cobb
Address by Rev. Dr. George M. Boynton
Historical Paper by Mrs. E. G. A. Lane

Fear

114
120123123 126

131-147 • 131
¦ 133
• 135
. 138

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE, BY REV.
HOLMES
Early Meeting-houses .
Religious Services .
Christian Work
COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES

THEODORE J. 151-181 • 151162
• 171

Monday Afternoon.
Address by Judge Robert R. Bishop .
Address by Rev. Theodore J. Holmes
Address by Rev. Lemuel C- Barnes .
Address by Rev. Erastus Blakeslee .
Address by Rev. Calvin Cutler .
Address by Ex-Governor Claflin

Monday Evening.
Address by Rev. Dr. D. L. Furber .
Address by W. S. Slocum, EsQ; .
Remarks by Rev. Dr. S. F. Smith
Address by Rev. Henry J. Patrick
Address by Rev. Dr. Wolcott Calkins
Address by Rev. Dr. Alexander McKenzie

Furber

APPENDIX .
Mrs. Maria B.
Letters ....
Description of Memorials
Description of Decorations .
Members of Quartet and Chorus Choirs .
List of Ministers and Meeting-houses
Order of Exercises . . . .
INDEX OF NAMES 

185-235

i8s188 191
194198
202

209
212 215
216 221224

239-261 239243 247
253256257 258
263

INTRODUCTION.

'' I ^HE First Church in Newton would have celebrated
its Two Hundredth Anniversary in 1 864 had not
the distractions of the Civil War prevented.
At a meeting of the church, Jan. 25, 1889, it was voted
to observe the Two Hundred and Twenty-fifth Anniver
sary, and to invite the cooperation of the parish in
so doing. A committee of three, consisting of Rev.
Theodore J. Holmes, pastor of the church, Samuel
Ward, and Arthur C. Walworth, were appointed to act
jointly with a like number to be chosen by the parish
for the purpose of making the necessary arrangements.
The parish, at a meeting held April 25, 1889, concurred,
and appointed Robert R. Bishop, Charles S. Davis, and
William E. Webster as the members of the committee
on its part. This general committee were authorized to
make all plans for the celebration. The church was
organized in July, but it was thought best to defer the
observance until the autumn.
The following invitation was sent to absent members of
the congregation, to others identified with it in past years,
and to a few special guests : —

INTRODUCTION.

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The following were the committees :

GENERAL COMMITTEE:

Rev. Theo. J. Holmes, Robert R. Bishop,
Samuel Ward, Charles S. Davis,
Arthur C. Walworth, William E. Webster.

On Invitations :
Robert R. Bishop, Horace Cousens,
John Ward, Luther Paul,
Samuel M. Jackson, Daniel Stone.

INTRODUCTION. 9
On Hospitality :
Robert Hawthorne, Mrs. C. M. Ransom,
Langdon S. Ward, Miss Harriet S. Cousens,
Mrs. Charles S. Davis.
On Decorations :
E. W. NoYES, Louis H. Boynton,
A. C. Walworth, Mrs. S. A. Sylvester,
Miss Carolyn S. Capron.
On Memorials :
Herbert I. Ordway, Miss Maria F. Wood,
Ernest Porter, Miss Maria L. Brackett,
Mrs. Edwin R. Rand, Miss Maria S. Daniels.
On Collation :
Mrs. M. O. Rice, Mrs. F. H. SCUDDER,
Mrs. Robert Hawthorne, Mrs. C. B. Lancaster,
Mrs. E. L. Collins,
Assisted by
Charles S. Davis, W. O. Knapp,
O. F. Smith.
On Printing :
A. L. Harwood, James M. E. Drake,
William Tomlinson.
On Music :
W. E. Webster, M. O. Rice,
L F. Kingsbury, Samuel Ward,
Daniel T. Kidder, Jr.

lO INTRODUCTION.

On Finance :

S. F. Wilkins, S. V. A. Hunter,
George E. Crafts.
On the days set apart for the celebration, the church
was appropriately decorated, and many interesting me
morials were exhibited in the chapel. An account of
the decorations and memorials will be found in the
Appendix. The weather on Sunday was fair, and the attendance
at the three services was very large, especially in the
morning and evening ; many former members being pres
ent, and many from other congregations. At night, the
other churches of the village manifested their neighborly
fellowship by omitting their usual meetings and joining
with us.
At all the services the congregational singing was
general and hearty. Special music of a high order, and
admirably rendered, was furnished by the Quartet Choir,
under the direction of Mr. George H. Brown, organist,
who has held this position for twenty-five years.
Valuable assistance was also given by a large chorus
choir, gathered from our own and other congregations,
under the direction of Col. Isaac F. Kingsbury. The ren
dering of "Denmark," "Jerusalem, My Glorious Home,"
" Lenox," " Northfield," and other selections from the
Ancient Harmony, was a very impressive feature of the
occasion.-^ At the exercises on Monday, Judge Robert R. Bishop
presided, at the request of the General Committee. The
Order of Exercises was completely carried out, except
that, to the regret of all, Rev. N. G. Clark, D.D., was pre
vented by sickness from being present.
' The names of the members of these choirs will be found in the Appendix.

introduction. I I
At 5.30 P.M. a collation was served at Associates' Hall,
conveyances being provided for all who wished to ride
from the church. The number of guests at the collation
was smaller than had been expected, many having been
kept away by the inclement day, but about three hundred
were seated at the bountiful tables. Grace was sung
before and after the meal, the words being " lined off"
by the Rev. Dr. Furber.^
In the evening the weather had cleared, and there was
present another great congregation. The inspiring ad
dresses, the tender memories of the past, the earnest
prayers, the excellent music, and the warm interest in
the services, made the meeting a fit climax to the cele
bration. At the close, it was felt by all that the anniversary had
abundantly justified all the outlay of time and work that
had been expended upon it. The various plans had been
successfully carried out, the utmost harmony had pre
vailed, and in the history of our ancient church this cele
bration will ever be regarded as a memorable epoch.
' The stanzas which were sung were the following, — one before the repast
and the other after : —
" Be present at our table, Lord,
Be here and everywhere adored ;
These creatures bless, and g^rant that we
May feast in Paradise with thee.
" We thank thee, Lord, for this our food.
But more because of Jesus' blood;
Let manna to our souls be given,
The bread of Ufe sent down from heaven."
When Dr. Furber was in London, in 1869, he saw, at John Wesley's house,
a blue earthen tea-urn formerly used by Wesley in entertaining the ministers
who visited him. These stanzas were inscribed upon the urn, one upon
each side of it.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE,
PREACHED ON SUNDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 6, i88g.

The Reverend Daniel L. Furber, D.D.,
Pastor Emeritus.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.

Hebrews xiii. 7 — " Remember them that had the rule over you, which
spake unto you the word of God : and considering the issue of their life,
imitate their faith."
Proverbs xvii. 6 — " The glory of children are their fathers."
I AM to speak upon several topics of special
interest in the history of our church, includ
ing the doctrines that have been held and preached
in it, the men who have preached them, and some
of the fruits of their labors.
In two hundred and twenty-five years the church
has had nine ministers.
John Eliot, junior, son of the apostle Eliot, was
born in Roxbury; graduated at Harvard College in
1656; was ordained here, July 20, O. S., 1664; and
died here, Oct. 11, 1668, aged 32.
Nehemiah Hobart, son of Rev. Peter Hobart,
was born in Hingham; graduated at Harvard Col
lege in 1667, and after preaching two and a half
years in this place was ordained here, Dec. 23,
1674; and died here, Aug. 25, 17 12, aged 63.
John Cotton, great-grandson of the famous John
Cotton, of Boston, and son of Rev. Roland Cotton,

l6 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
was born in Sandwich; graduated at Harvard Col
lege in 1710; was ordained here, Nov. 3, 1714; and
died here, May 17, 1757, in the sixty-fourth year of
his age.
Jonas Meriam was born in Lexington; graduated
at Harvard College in 1753; was ordained here,
March 22, 1758; and died here, Aug. 13, 1780,
aged 50.
Jonathan Homer, D.D., was born in Boston;
graduated at Harvard College in 1777; was or
dained here, Feb. 13, 1782; had his pastoral rela
tion dissolved, April 17, 1839, after a ministry of
fifty-seven years ; and died, Aug. 11, 1843, aged 84.
James Bates was born in Randolph, Vt. ; gradu
ated at Dartmouth College in 1822, and at Andover
Theological Seminary in 1826; was ordained here,
as colleague with Dr. Homer, Nov. 14, 1827, and
had his pastoral relation dissolved the same day
that Dr. Homer's was dissolved. He was settled
afterward in Granby and in Central Village (Plain-
field), Conn. He died in Granby, Dec. 9, 1865,
aged 66.
William Bushnell was born in Saybrook (now
Westbrook), Conn.; graduated at Yale College
in 1828, at Yale Seminary in 1832; was installed
pastor of this church, May 24, 1842, and resigned,
Dec. 13, 1846. His previous settlements were in
North Killingly, Conn., and Beverly, Mass. He
died in East Boston, April 28, 1879, aged 78.
The writer of this discourse was born in Sand-

HISTORICAT. DISCOLTRSE. 1 7
wich, N.H.; graduated at Dartmouth College in
1843, at Andover Theological Seminary in 1846;
was ordained here, Dec. i, 1847; resigned, Dec. 3,
1882, and became pastor emeritus.
Theodore J. Holmes was born in Utica, N.Y. ;
graduated at Yale College in 1853, and at Union
Theological Seminary in 1859. He was ordained
in Randolph, Vt., and engaged in Home Mission
ary work in that State for two years. His pastor
ates have been in East Hartford, Conn., Brooklyn,
N.Y., and Baltimore, Md. In 1864-5 ^'^ '^as
chaplain of the First Connecticut Cavalry. He
was installed as pastor of this church, Oct. 24, 1883,
and is the present pastor.
It will be seen that seven of the nine ministers
were ordained here, and that the work of six of
them was both begun and finished here.
While we are tracing the history of the church
and its ministers, let us bear in mind that the his
tory of the ministers illustrates the character of the
people. The people sustained the ministers preach
ing as they did. They showed their good sense,
their correct views, and their excellent spirit in
their treatment of the ministers. Trained as they
were in the vicinity of Harvard College, they were
remarkably intelligent. They came into much
closer connection with the college than we do, for
they lived in the same town and listened every
Lord's day to the same preaching to which the
professors and students listened, and thus they

1 8 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
came every week under highly educating influ
ences. No doubt we are in some measure indebted
to this fact for the intelligence which now charac
terizes our people; for the character which is
stamped upon a town or church in the beginning
of its history is apt to go down to succeeding
generations. You will notice, in the progress of the discourse,
the evidences of this intelligence, especially in
reference to religious truth. The ministers have
always, from the very beginning, preached sound
doctrine. The people received it, and loved it,
and stood firmly by it. In 1770, and again in 1783,
they said, as a church, in the most solemn manner,
speaking of the old New England faith, " We will
stand by, maintain, and if need be contend for this
faith, and if any among us should go about to
undermine it, we will bear a due testimony against
them." Accordingly, in the Unitarian controversy,
when ninety-six of the three hundred and sixty-one
Congregational churches of Massachusetts became
Unitarian, and thirty more were so far Unitarian
that those who held to a sound faith were oblieed
to withdraw, this church kept its pledge and ad
hered to the doctrines of the Puritan Fathers.
All the Boston churches but one were lost;
the churches in Roxbury, Dorchester, Cam
bridge, Watertown, Waltham, Dedham, Brookline,
Brighton; but the church in Newton and its first
born child in the West Parish stood firm.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSIC. 1 9
The doctrinal belief of our fathers was thoroughly
Calvinistic. They assented to the Westminster
Assembly's Confession of Faith in 1648, and adopted
the Savoy Confession, which was about the same
thing in matters of doctrine, in 1680. John Cotton,
of Boston, said that, after studying twelve hours a
da}', he wanted to sweeten his mouth with a morsel
from John Calvin before he went to sleep.
When this church adopted the Savoy Confession,
they said, " We do heartily close in with '\tfor the
substance of it f by which they meant to reserve to
themselves a degree of liberty in the interpretation
of it. We should probably use more liberty than
they did; that is, we should reject altogether the
doctrine of a limited atonement, for we believe that
Christ died for all men. We do not believe the
doctrine of the imputation of the guilt of the sin of
our first parents to all their posterity, and it is not
at all probable that Mr. Hobart or Mr. Cotton, or
any of the divines of their day, meant, when speak
ing of this doctrine, that we are guilty of Adam's
sin, — a thing impossible, — but only that we endure
the consequences of it in our mortality, and in the
depraved nature which we inherit from him. Calvin
himself says, " It is not to be understood as if we,
though innocent, were loaded with the guilt of
Adam's sin; but because we are all subject to a curse
in consequence of his transgression, he is therefore
said to have involved us in guilt." Where the creed
says, " We have wholly lost all ability of will to

20 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
any spiritual good," we should prefer to say that
we have lost all inclination to and love of spiritual
good, though we could obey the gospel if we
would. Such things as these in the creed Dr. Woods, of
Andover, used to call the fag-ends of Calvinism,
and we ought not to judge of a whole system by
its fag-ends. So the doctrine that one ought to be
willing to be damned, if it should be for the glory
of God, is a fag-end of Hopkinsianism.-' The creed
of Andover Seminary was formed to please both
Calvinists and Hopkinsians. Those points in which
both parties could agree were retained in it, and the
fag-ends of both creeds were lopped off", so that that
creed may be said to represent what we have in
mind when we sa}' that we accept the Savoy Con
fession, fo7' the substance of it.
The doctrine of " inability to all spiritual good "
is found frequently in the writings of Mr. Hobart
and of Mr. Cotton. The doctrine of election is
found occasionally, though not often.
'The doctrine that one ought to be willing to be damned for the glory of
God is very well answered by Mr. Hobart. He says : " Such willingness in
cludes in it full and perfect enmity against God and Christ, which no man
should be willing to. It also includes a willingness and contentment that
God and Christ should not have his power and grace glorified in their salvation.
The expression of Moses desiring to be blotted out of God's book, and of
Paul wishing himself accursed from Christ, do not at all favor such an opinion,
inasmuch as these words were uttered by them from a loathness and unvrilling-
ness that others should be lost and perish. Now, if a man ought not to be
willing that others should be damned, neither then should he will his own
eternal ruin, for there is a regular self-love, which men owe first to themselves,
and this is made the rule of their love to others." " Absence of the Com
forter," p. 259.

HISI'ORIC.M. DISCOURSE. 2 1
Mr. Hobart thus answers an objection founded
upon the doctrine, saying to the objector, " Per
haps you will say, ' I know not that Christ inter
cedes for me, for he said, " I pray not for the world,
but for those whom thou hast given me."' Foolish
and vain man thus to side with Satan against God's
glory and your own good! Men do not argue thus
in temporal affairs. Suppose there is an ofiice of
dignity and profit left vacant. A hundred men, it
may be, will sue for it, when they certainly know
that ninety-nine will fail to get it. Only one can
have it; every one hopes he shall be that one. If
you will pray to God for the gift of his spirit, you
know not but that every one of you will obtain it,
and yet you make such frivolous objections. God
commands you to pray and wait, and this is the
•way to know that Christ intercedes for you; but
you stand to capitulate that God shall first assure
you that you are one of those who are given to
Christ out of the world." ^
Mr. Hobart here virtually admits to the objector
that it may be true that Christ does not pray for
him, but with great energy and force he reminds
him that if he were as earnest in seeking salvation
as he would be in seeking a desirable office, he
would then know that Christ did intercede for him,
and his objection would be taken out of the way.
This doctrine we still hold, because we think we
find it not only in the Bible, but in Nature and in
' " Absence of the Comforter," p. 312.

22 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
Providence. Darwin's theory of " natural selec
tion " involves the same principle. The circum
stances of every man's birth, his surroundings, his
parentage, his ancestry, all beyond his control, sub
ject him to inffuences and inclinations which often
determine his character and career for time and
for eternity. Accordingly, James Anthony Froude
says, " If Arminianism most commends itself to our
feelings, Calvinism is nearer to the facts, however
harsh and forbidding those facts may seem." ^
" One thing is certain," said the late Henry B.
Smith, " infidel science will rout everything ex
cept thorough-going Christian orthodoxy. All the
flabby theories and the molluscous formations . . .
will go by the board. The fight will be between a
stiff" thorough-going Orthodoxy and a stiff" thorough
going Infidelity. It will be, e. g., Augustine or
Comte, Athanasius or Hegel, Luther or Schopen
hauer, John Stuart Mill or John Calvin. Arianism
gets the fire on both sides; so does Arminianism;
so does Universalism."
We hold to the Confession of 1680 still, as our
fathers did, for the substance of it, but we do it
with the warmest Christian aff"ection for those who
diff"er from us. We join hand and heart with our
Methodist brethren. Professor Shedd, who is as
stanch a Calvinist as can be anywhere found,
speaks somewhere of the " beloved Methodist,"
and then adds, " We feel a deep and warm aff"ec-
' " Essay on Calvinism," p. 12.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 23
tion towards that large denomination, which goes
everywhere preaching the doctrine of man's guilt
and his forgiveness through atoning blood." So
desirous are we for union with our Methodist
brethren, as well as with the other great Christian
bodies, in promoting the interests of Christ's king
dom, that in the declaration of faith made by our
own council of 1865 on Burial Plill in Plymouth,
the word " Calvinism " is not used. The creed now
used by this church has nothing in it which a
Methodist brother could not subscribe to if he
wished to join the church.
Calvinism, notwithstanding all the prejudice
which there is against it, is a mighty system. By
creating in every man's mind a sense of his own
worth as a being called of God into his own
kingdom and glory, and redeemed by the incarna
tion and sacrifice of the Son of God, it has asserted
human rights and the equality of all men before
God as no other system ever did. In its encoun
ters with the Church of Rome, it compelled that
church, after long and bloody wars, to surrender
its claim to the right to hang and burn those who
diff"ered from it. David Hume said that England
owed all the liberty she had to the Puritans; and
George Bancroft says that the monarchs of Europe,
with one consent and with instinctive judgment,
feared Calvinism as republicanism. John Fiske
says that the promulgation of the theology of
Calvin was one of the longest steps that mankind

24 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
has taken toward personal freedom. We boast of
what New England did in the war of the Revolu
tion. It furnished more than half the troops that
were raised during the war. The descendants of
the Puritans did that. The Congregationalists at
that time were seven times as numerous as all
other denominations put together, and they were
descendants of the Puritans, and the Puritans were
Calvinists. Let this show what kind of moral and
religious forces achieved our independence. Every
where the inffuence of this system of belief has
been to establish human freedom, to educate the
masses, to elevate society, and to free the enslaved.
It has scattered the proud in the imagination of
their heart; it has put down princes from their
thrones; it has exalted them of low degree.
" Take the Calvinists of New England," said
Henry Ward Beecher; "persons rail at them, but
they were men that believed in their doctrines.
They put God first, the Commonwealth next, and
the citizen next, and they lived accordingly. And
where do you find prosperity that averages as it
does in New England, in Scotland, and in Switz
erland? Men may rail as much as they please, but
these are the facts." -^
' In a similar strain of remark Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe says : " Cal
vinism is much berated in our days, but let us look at the political, social,
and materialistic progress of Calvinistic countries, and ask if the world is far
enough along to dispense with it. Look at Spain and look at New England;
compare the Spanish peasantry with the yeomen of New England; the one
set made by reasoning, active-minded Calvinism, the other by pictures, statues,
incense, architecture, and all the sentimental paraphernalia of ritualism."
" Oldtown Folks," p. 448.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 25
Well might our national council on Burial Hill
say that the experience of nearly two centuries and
a half had only deepened their confidence in the
taith and polity of the fathers, and then, after
naming the doctrines on which they could extend
the hand of fellowship to all believers, — such as
the Bible the Word of God, and no rule of faith
but that; the doctrines of the Trinity, the deity of
Christ, the common sinfulness and ruin of our race,
the expiatory death of Christ as our only ground of
hope, and the other doctrines which belong to all
our evangelical creeds, — declare their readiness to
co-operate with all who hold these truths in the
several households of the body of Christ, and with
them carry the gospel into every part of this land,
and with them go into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature. '^
Two hundred and twenty-five years ago Charles
the Second was on the throne of England, Sir Isaac
Newton was a young man, John Milton, in his blind
ness, was ¦writing " Paradise Lost," John Bunyan, at
the age of thirty-six, was writing " Pilgrim's Prog
ress " in Bedford Jail, while " Richard Baxter was
speaking of weighty soul concerns with his very
spirit drenched therein."
Certain forms of expression which were common
two centuries ago would sound strange if we should
hear them now. Mr. Cotton, in one of his ser
mons, says, " We should show thankful resentment
to God for his favors to us." In another discourse

26 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
he says, " Let us resent the hand of God in the
death of so many of his useful servants." Near
the close of a sermon he says, " I will now shut up
all with an exhortation." Mr. Hobart says that
" Christians should chew^ over their former consola
tions;" that is, they should call them to mind and
ruminate upon them, as an ox chews his cud, and
thus renew their enjoyment of them. The word
" ingenuity " is used for " ingenuousness." " Let
us with candor and ingenuity confess our faults."
At the time of the formation of this church, what
is now Newton was a part of Cambridge, and was
called Cambridge Village. The people living here
went to Cambridge to meeting until 1656, when
they began to hold meetings here, probably in the
house of Edward Jackson, near the line between
Newton and Brighton. They then asked to be
released from paying rates at Cambridge; but the
Cambridge church would not release them, because
they said that if they did it would be " overburden-
some " to them to support their minister. The
Cambridge church was large and wealthy; there
were only three towns in Massachusetts that had
more wealth than Cambridge, and yet they could
not spare the thirty families living here, and these
families for five years supported their own meeting
and helped the Cambridge church besides. You
may ask why they did not go to Watertown to meet
ing, which was so much nearer. That would be
going out of town. They had to pay for the support

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 27
of the minister in their own town, which was Cam
bridge, and it was natural that they should go to
his meeting. They, no doubt, went through Water-
town. The cheap bridge which was built there in
1647 could probably accommodate travel by horse
back, which was the common mode of travel at
that time. If the tide was out, the river could be
forded. The objection to supposing that they went
through Brighton and North Brighton is that the
Cambridge ferry was " altogether useless in winter,
very inconvenient for horses, and incommodable
for carts." ^
This church was formed in 1664, July 20, O.S.,
during the ministry of Rev. Jonathan Mitchell, the
second pastor of the Shepard Church in Cam
bridge, and was properly a colony from that
church, though a considerable number were from
other neighboring churches. The congregation
was composed at that time of about thirty families,
and the church of about eighty members, — forty
male and forty female.
Mr. Eliot was ordained the same day that the
church was formed; his father, the apostle Eliot,
and Rev. Richard Mather, of Dorchester, being
present and assisting. He had preached here
before his ordination, but how long we do not
know. He began to preach in 1658, but he was
much engaged in missionary work among the
Indians of Stoughton, Natick, and other places,
' Paige's " History of Cambridge."

28 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
and he assisted his father in translating the Bible
into the Indian tongue. These labors may explain
the delay of his ordination. It was a great blessing
to this church to have such a man as he for its first
minister. Hubbard's " History of New England"
says he was second to none as to all literature and
other gifts, both of nature and grace, which made
him so generally acceptable to all who had the
least acquaintance with him. Allen says that he
was one of the best preachers of that age. He
excelled all his contemporaries in his knowledge
of the Indian language, and the Indians, to whom
he preached very often, said that his preaching to
them -was precious and desirable.
A great bereavement it must have been to his
little church to lose him by death, after a ministry
of a little more than four years from his ordination.
He went to Cambridge to preach a Fast-day
sermon, took cold, and had a hemorrhage from
his lungs, which caused his death. His will,
dated about two months before he died, contains
the following: "I desire to commit my precious
soul to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three
glorious persons, but one only infinite, eternal
Being, in whom I have believed, and whom I
have, through his grace, chosen to be my only
and everlasting portion; relying and trusting only
in the merits and satisfaction of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the eternal Son of God, and yet very man,
who was made sin and death for me that I might

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 29
be made the righteousness of God in him; and
who was dead, but is now alive, sitting at the right
hand of God, whom I trust to see with these eyes,
and to be ever with him through eternity."
This extract from his will is all we have from
his pen. There are no sermons of his in existence,
but there is a report of precious utterances made
upon his dying bed, which I will read before I
close.^ After the death of Mr. Eliot dissensions arose,
and the men who had shown so noble a spirit in
building a meeting-house and settling a minister
when they were few in number, and had the
powerful influence of the Cambridge church
against them, were at strife amongst themselves.
They lived four years without a minister. Coun
cils were called to settle the difficulty, and the
County Court admonished them. The ministers
who supplied the pulpit had to sue them for their
pay. The court decided that they should pay all
their ministers, one as well as another. We should
' It is greatly to be regretted that a particular account of Mr. Eliot, which
Mr. Daniel Gookin, of Cambridge, intended to write, was never written. Mr.
Gookin planned a history of New England, in which he proposed to speak of
the most eminent deceased magistrates and ministers, and he mentions Mr.
Eliot as one of the worthies who would have a place in his history. His
intimate knowledge of Mr. Eliot, and his interest in him as a son-in-law,
eminently qualified him to prepare such a history.
Mr. Eliot's son John, grandson of Mr. Gookin, was educated for the minis
try, but engaged in other pursuits. He was at one time Speaker of the Lower
House in the Connecticut Legislature, and later, judge of the Hartford County
Court. His home the last twenty years of his life was in Windsor, Conn.,
where he died in 1719, at the age of fifty-two.

30 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
be glad if we could know the cause of this trouble,
but we cannot. We are entirely in the dark in
regard to it.
In 1672 Nehemiah Hobart came and healed the
divisions, and restored harmony. In him again a
rich blessing came to the little church, and an un
shaken harmony subsisted between him and his
people for forty years. Dr. Homer says that Mr.
John Hall, who lived to be ninety-three years old,
and who was eighteen years old at the time of Mr.
Hobart's death, had repeatedly spoken to him of
Mr. Hobart's serious and winning manner of ad
dress in the pulpit, which caused the people to
hang upon his lips.
Rev. John Barnard, of Marblehead, classed Mr.
Plobart with the leading divines of New England.
Being asked to mention the names of those of
whom he had conceived the highest opinion for
sanctity, usefulness, and erudition, he gave the
names of eighteen men, and the name of Nehemiah
Hobart, of Newton, is among them. Other names
are, Samuel Willard and Ebenezer Pemberton, of
the Old South Church, in Boston; Cotton Mather,
of the Old North Church; Benjamin Colman, of
Brattle Street Church; Increase Mather and Ben
jamin Wadsworth, both of them presidents of
Harvard College.
But if Mr. Hobart is entitled to rank with such
men as these, why is he not better known ? The
reason may be that he was an extremely modest

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 3 1
man. Rev. Eliphalet Adams, of New London,^
who had spent his boyhood in Mr. Hobart's family,
fitting for college, said that his modesty was ex
cessive, and that he had a singular backwardness to
appearing in public.
But who is Mr. Barnard, and what is the value
of his testimony? Dr. Chauncy said, "He is one
of our greatest men." Pie had had abundant op
portunity to know the ministers of whoin he spoke;
he was eighty-five years old when he made out the
list of names, and it was President Stiles, of Yale
College, who asked him to make it. We have, then,
good reason to conclude that our church had for
its second minister one of the eminent men of his
time, and we may see from President Stiles's ques
tion in what his eminence consisted: "sanctity,
usefulness, and erudition."
Mr. Hobart died Aug. 25, 17 12. Eight days
before his death he preached morning and after
noon, and at the close of the day blessed the con
gregation in the words prescribed in Numbers vi.
24—26, which made an impression upon many:
" They thought he had taken leave of them, and
that they should never see him again." He had
used that form but once before. He said to Presi
dent Leverett, of Harvard College, who made him
a visit a few days before his death, that he had
been at forty-nine Commencements, never having
' Mr. Adams was the son of Rev. William Adams, of Dedham, and was left
an orphan at the age of eight.

32 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
missed one from the very first time that he had
" waited on that solemnity." The president said
that he was a great blessing and ornament to the
Corporation of Harvard College. Judge Sewall
states that the governor (Joseph Dudley) was
present at his funeral with four horses. " A great
many people there; suppose there were more than
forty graduates present." The president was one
of the bearers, and the governor and Judge Sewall
followed next after the mourners.-^
After the death of Mr. Hobart, the church was
without a minister two years. Several men
preached here as candidates, and among them Rev.
Edward Holyoke, afterward president of Harvard
College; but Mr. Cotton was preferred. The votes
of the church show a very strong desire to make
him their minister. When he came to Newton,
the whole town went in procession to meet and
welcome this youth of twenty-one. His first ser
mon was from the text, " How shall we escape if we
neglect so great salvation? " and this text might be
called the key-note of his ministry. Twelve of his
sermons were published and are preserved. Two
of them were preached in Dorchester on exchange
with Mr. Danforth. One of them was on the text,
' Judge Sewall was intimate with Mr. Hobart. He often attended his
weekly lecture at Newton and dined with him. Dinner was commonly followed
by prayer or the singing of a psalm, and the judge several times remarks, " Mr.
Hobart prayed excellently." He states that Mr. Hobart died very early on the
morning of the twenty-fifth, and was buried on the twenty-sixth, about an hour
before sunset.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 33
"Awake thou that sleepcst and arise from the dead,
and Christ shall give thee light." A special ad
dress was made to the young in a strain like this:
" Can't you, this evening, go alone and spend though
but a few minutes in serious meditation and earnest
prayer to God to awake you out of this deadly
sleep ? Can't you beg of God for Christ's sake to
have mercy on you? He has expressly declared
that if you seek you shall find." The result was
that many of the young people were aff"ected and
awakened, and a request was made that the ser
mons be published. His next published sermon
was occasioned by the earthquake on the night of
Oct. 29, 1727. It was preached at the weekly
lecture in Boston. When it was published. Dr.
Benjamin Colman,^ of the Brattle Street Church,
Boston, wrote a preface to it, in which he said: " It
is a pleasure to see with what gravity and authority
the rising ministers among us bring the solemn
warnings and messages of Christ to his churches,
and with "what reverence they are heard. And
doubtless it has been a pleasure to many, in some
late lectures in Boston, preached by the author of
the following discourse, to see the name and spirit
of the famous John Cotton revive and shine in this,
his great grandson."
' Dr. Colman is the man to whom Hon. Samuel Holden, of London, Gov
ernor of the Bank of England, sent thirty-nine sets of the practical works of
Richard Baxter, in four massive volumes, folio, published in 1707, to be
distributed among the New England churches. One of the sets was sent to
this church, and is still in our possession.

34 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
Mr. Cotton had previously preached a sermon to
his own people on the earthquake, the very week it
occurred. Sunday evening, at twenty minutes
before eleven o'clock, the earthquake came. In
the middle of the same week, not waiting for
another Sabbath to come, he called his people
together at the meeting-house, for religious ser
vices and a sermon. In closing his sermon he
said: "I did not dare any longer delay calling
you thus together, that we might once more
unite in humbling ourselves before God, not
knowing what a day or a night may bring forth.
How surprising and amazing was the first sudden
shock and convulsion that we felt, our houses and
beds shaking, and the earth trembling and reeling
under us, and how many times has the awful noise
been repeated since, though not to so fearful a
degree! You will now surely be afraid of delaying
your repentance and reformation any longer. My
dear neighbors, with bowels of pity and concern I
entreat and beseech you not to go on any longer in
your sins unrepented of. Remember how you have
dishonored God, and quenched the Spirit, and
wounded your own soul. Abhor yourselves before
God as utterly unworthy of any mercy or salvation
from him, and implore his pity through the merits of
Christ, and for his sake alone. Oh that God would
hear and answer us in this day of distress-, when we
are trembling before him, and greatly afraid of
further terrible manifestations of his holy dis-

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 35
pleasure ! Be thankful for the space you have given
you to repent. You might have been swallowed
up in the deep vaults and caverns of the earth the
very first night; but God has spared you to this
hour. Give glory, then, to the Lord, your God,
before he cause darkness, and your feet stumble
upon the dark mountains. Give not sleep to your
eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids, till you have
sought earnestly a reconciliation to God."
The successor of Mr. Cotton was Rev. Jonas
Meriam. His only publication was an ordination
sermon preached in Portland, on the subject of an
educated ministry. After showing the importance
of an education for a minister, he spoke of the kind
of knowledge he should have. In general, said he,
he should know God's word. He must know the
great God and Jesus Christ his Son. He must
know Jesus Christ as a Priest sent by God to atone
for the sins of men, and give satisfaction to God for
them by his death. He should say with the
Apostle, " I count all things but loss for the excel
lency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord."
He must understand the lost condition of mankind,
and the way of recovery by faith in the only Saviour.
He must have an experimental knowledge of these
things, and his experience must be evinced by his
holy life and conversation. A minister should know
something of the liberal arts and sciences; es
pecially should he know the languages in which
the Bible was written. In his preaching he must

36 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
keep close to the word of God. If he entertains
his hearers with any other doctrines than those
found in the word of God, whatever learning
he may discover, he may be said to dote about
trifles. If he treats his subjects in a -plain tnanner,
this should not be disgustful to persons of superior
knowledge, since it is his duty to seek the salvation
of all his hearers, the most ignorant as well as the
most knowing. It discovers ignorance of mankind,
and of the design of preaching, to wish a minister
to dwell always on refined speculations above the
capacity of the common people, whose souls are as
precious as any.
At the close of the sermon, he addressed the
candidate for ordination, and said: "Dear sir, the
greatest care that any man can have is the care of
souls. This care will lie down with you and rise
up with you, and when others indulge themselves
in rest, will hide sleep from your eyes and slumber
from your eyelids."
Mr. Meriam's second wife's mother, living in his
family, owned a female slave, whom she treated
roughly. Mr. Meriam bought the slave of his
mother-in-law for one hundred dollars, and gave
her her liberty. Here was a practical abolitionist
nearly one hundred years before slavery was abol
ished in our country. This second wife of Mr.
Meriam was granddaughter of Dr. Zabdiel Boyl-
ston, of Brookline, the man who introduced the
practice of inoculation for small-pox, in the face of

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 37
such outrageous opposition that he did not dare go
out ol his house in the exening, knowing that men
were on the streets, with halters in their hands, ready
to hang him.
Mr. Meriam's daughter, Mehitable, married John
Kenrick, Esq., and her descendants are now living
in this city.
The war of the Revolution came in the latter
part of Mr. Meriam's ministry. His health was de
clining, and additions to the church were very few.
Only one person was received into the church in
the last six years of his life, but that person was a
notable one. Anna Hammond, daughter of Col.
Benjamin Hammond, who lived in the house now
occupied by Judge Lowell at Chestnut Hill, joined
this church in 1777, and was married the same year
to the Rev. Joseph Pope, of Spencer, and there
lived to the age of 104 years and 7 months.
She occupied one sleeping room eighty-two years.
^ " Her husband's residence, being on the main road
from the western counties of Massachusetts to the
capital, was for a long series of years the hospitable
resting-place of ministers on their way to and from
the metropolis." The leading ministers of the State
were often her guests. Dr. Emmons, of Franklin;
Dr. Lyman, of Platfield; Dr. John Pierce, of Brook
line; Dr. Moore, President of Amherst College; Dr.
Austin, President of the University of Vermont; Dr.
Spring, of Newburyport, the father of Andover The-
' Funeral sermon, by Rev. S. G. Dodd.

38 THE FIRST CHLTRCH IN NEWTON.
ological Seminary; Doctors Bellamy and Backus,
of Connecticut, the first a son of thunder in the
pulpit, and the second invited to chairs of theologi
cal instruction in Yale and Dartmouth, — these, and
men like thera, were often at her house. She and
her excellent husband enjoyed the society of such
men, and their theological discussions protracted to
late hours of the night around the old hearthstone.
She gloried in the old doctrines of the New Eng
land faith, the distinguishing doctrines of grace.
Her soul fed upon them. Taught at her mother's
knee the Westminster Catechism, too much neg
lected, in her view, in these days, she ever retained
her partiality for it. It was familiar to her as the
alphabet, and often she occupied the slow hours of
night by reciting its articles and reflecting upon
them. " With the works of Edwards, Bellamy,
and Hopkins she was familiar." She was a lover
of poetry, and often entertained her friends by re
peating selections from the standard English poets.
Her longevity was owing in great measure, it is be
lieved, to her habitual cheerfulness. " She never
wasted her energies in pining over unavoidable or
imaginary troubles. She early learned to ' trust
in the Lord and do good,' and she believed the
promise that goes with that precept. Sometimes
in wakeful hours of the night she could be heard
singing old ' Denmark ' or some favorite tune. She
believed that she had had the best husband, the
best children, and the best grandchildren that ever

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 39
a woman had. ' Your grandfather, my child,' said
she, ' was as good a man as God ever made, and no
minister ever had a better parish, and no old woman
ever had better or kinder care.' And so her life
was one continued hallelujah." Pier minister one
day said to her, " I am glad, Mrs. Pope, to see you
always so cheerful ; " to which she replied with great
spirit, " A fretting old thing would be intolerable."
But a short time before her death some one said to
her, " Grandmother, your trust is in the name of
Jesus." She roused herself and said:
" Jesus, my God, I know his name,
His name is all my trust;
'Nor will he put my soul to shame,
Nor let my hope be lost."
This noble and saintly woman was brought up
under the ministry of Mr. Meriam, and in the
home of a godly mother. Here was a character of
the true New England type, in which were piety
and intelligence fed by God's word and by the writ
ings of the ablest ministers of her time. We hold
her name in grateful remembrance. She is one of
our treasures. Precious in the sight of the Lord is
the death of such saints as she.
Mrs. Pope always retained a vivid impression of
a spectacle that was once presented here in this
Newton church, of two brothers standing up in the
aisle while a prayer of thanksgiving was off"ered for
the preservation of their lives in the battle of Lex-

40 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
ington, bullets having passed through their coats
during the fight.^
On the 13th of February, 1782, began a pas
torate which was to continue fifty-seven years.
When Rev. Jonathan Homer accepted his call, he
had declined a call to the new South Church in
Boston, — the church whose edifice used to stand on
" Church Green " in Summer Street, near the head
of Lincoln Street. It is greatly to his credit that he
declined that call, on the ground that the " half-way
covenant " was in use in that church, as it was, in
fact, in most of the churches in Boston.
This remark carries us back to the memorable
synod of 1662, held in Boston to discuss the rela
tion of baptized children to the church. A result
' One of Mrs. Pope's granddaughters thus describes Mrs. Pope's skilful man
agement of the affairs of her household : " My grandfather's salary was
seventy-three pounds and ten pence, and I have heard it said that during the
depreciation of the Continental currency the whole salary of one year was
used to buy a block-tin teapot. Nevertheless, grandmother had the faculty of
maintaining an open and liberal-handed hospitality. She entertained more
company than almost anybody else, and yet always had something in the larder,
and often said she never knew what it was to want. Nobody knew how she
did it, but everything turns to profit in the hand of industry and care. The
roses in the garden were converted into rose-water by domestic chemistry, the
quince-trees sent their golden burden to the city in exchange for a different
currency, the chicken-yard furnished a dinner for the unexpected guest, and
the skilful fingers of the minister's wife and daughter made bonnets for the
village belles and trimmed them with artificial flowers of their own manufac
ture. In one year these self-made milliners made ninety-seven bonnets, which,
if not equal to those of Aaron's sons for glory and for beauty, were at least
sufliciently elegant in the opinion of those who wore them."
The allusions which have been made to the visits of Doctors Spring and
Emmons at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Pope are the more interesting when it
is known that both of them were her suitors. The tradition is that Dr. Spring

HISTORICAL DISCOURSL.

41

was reached which was most disastrous to the
cause of religion in New England, and whose in
fluence has not ceased to be felt even to this day.
Our Puritan fathers attached a very great impor
tance to the rite of infant baptism. In the course
of time some of their children baptized in infancy
came to maturity unregenerate, and therefore they
had not the privilege of off'cring their children for
baptism. We can easily imagine the feelings of a
Puritan grandfather towards those children. His
heart yearned toward them, standing, as he felt they
did, beyond the reach of the promises, strangers to
the covenant, and aliens from the commonwealth of
Israel. Was there no way in which they could
come into the inheritance of covenant blessings?
We must remember that in the view of our
fathers a baptized child stood in a very interesting
relation to the church. Pie was not a member in
full, so that he could come to the Lord's table, but
in a qualified sense he was a member, and in the
when a young man was on his way to Newton in search of a wife, when he
met Mr. Pope, whom he had introduced to Miss Hammond, and found that he
was on his way to the same house and with the same intent. The situation
was delicate and perplexing. After some deliberation Dr. Spring generously
said, " Brother Pope, you have a parish and I have none. I give way to you."
When Mrs. Pope was a widow about seventy-five years old, and Dr. Emmons
was a widower about eighty-five, he sent her by the hand of a ministerial
brother, probably his son-in-law, Rev. Dr. Ide, of Medway, a proposal of mar
riage. The offer was declined, and when it was pressed with some urgency,
with reference probably to the eminence of the suitor, she replied, "No
elevation of character or circumstances could have a feather's weight towards
inducing me to change my name. I hope to bear it while I live, and He by
the side of him who gave it to me when I die."

42 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
discussions of that synod, after long and warm
debate and several adjournments, they did so
magnify this qualified and partial membership that
they decided that if the person's external character
was good, and if he would go through the form of
owning the covenant, that is, of professing his
belief in the doctrines which were implied in it, he
might, even though he had not saving faith, present
his children for baptism. At least this was what it
amounted to, though they would not have stated
the case just in this form, for they admitted over
and over in the debates that a parent ought to have
saving faith before he off"ered his child for baptism;
but so indispensable was it in their view that the
child should be baptized, that they tried to make
themselves believe that a man who had been bap
tized in infancy, and who was correct in his man
ner of life, and would go before the church and
publicly give his assent to the doctrines held by
the church, had saving faith. But if he had saving
faith, why was he not allowed to come to the
Lord's table ? In this they showed their inconsist
ency. This is what is meant by the " half-way
covenant;" and as one wrong step leads to another,
these half-way church members soon began to be
considered members in full, and were admitted to
the Lord's table, and soon it came to pass that the
churches had more unconverted members in them
than they had real Christians. It should be added
that as at that time one could not vote or hold

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 43
office without being a church member, this con
sideration may have inffuenced the action of the
synod. The half-way covenant was used in this church
in the time of Mr. Meriam, and if we had the
records which were burned with his house on
Sunday evening, March 18, 1770 (this was the
second time that the church records were de
stroyed by fire), we should, no doubt, find that it
was used from the beginning. The Cambridge
church used it, and the influence of their min
ister, Mr. Mitchell, did more to determine the
question in the synod than that of any other man.
In the records of our church, made up from memory
in 1773, three years after the fire, we find, besides
the names of church members and of baptized
children, more than a hundred names of persons
who had " owned the covenant." One of these
names is that of Michael Jackson, the man who
was so determined that his company should get a
shot at the British on the 19th of April, 1775.
Those who thus owned the covenant probably did
it for the sake of having their children baptized,
though it is true that in the early times, and even
before the synod of 1662, the owning of the cove
nant was practised as a step toward a Christian
life. Adults who had not been baptized in infancy
sometimes off"ered themselves for baptism with the
same view. These acts were considered as a
partial acknowledgment of the claims of God

44 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
upon them, and many were willing to go as far as
that who did not profess to have saving faith. The
ministers encouraged these acts. Mr. Cotton, in
one of his sermons, says: "Those of you who have
neglected baptism, arise and be baptized this day.
Those of you who were baptized in infancy, but do
not come to the Lord's table, come forward and
own the covenant." After they had done this he
would urge them to prepare themselves, by the
exercise of saving faith in the Lord Jesus, to come
to the Lord's table. The names of persons intend
ing to off"er themselves for baptism, or for owning
the covenant, were announced from the pulpit, and
the minister propounded three classes of persons, —
those who were to be baptized; those who were to
own the covenant, either on their own account or
on their children's account; and those who were to
be admitted to full communion and come to the
Lord's table.-' A young person who had owned
the covenant, on changing his place of residence,
would sometimes carry a letter from his minister
stating the precise relation in which he stood to
the church.
On the 4th of January, 1782, the very day that
Mr. Homer wrote his letter accepting the call of
' The Haverhill minister, whose wife was Mr. Cotton's sister, writing to Mr.
Cotton, three weeks after the earthquake, said : " I have admitted and pro
pounded 154 persons since the earthquakes; 87 for the Lord's table, the rest
for baptism, or for renewing their baptismal covenant.
" Your loving brother,
"JOHN BROWN."

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.

45

this church, the church voted that the practice of
admitting persons to the privilege of baptism for
their children upon their giving their assent to the
covenant is disagreeable to this church, and that
for the future those only who are in full com
munion (one of the parents at least) are to expect
that privilege. The church probably supposed this
action to be necessary in order to secure Mr.
Homer for their minister, for if they had not taken
it he would have declined their call, as he had his
call to the Boston church. Some of the members
of the church were greatly aggrieved by this vote,
and they tried very hard to get it rescinded. Fail
ing of this, they wanted a council called; but this
the church refused. They sought an interview
with Mr. Homer, and expressed to him their dis
satisfaction with his views upon this subject. But
both the minister and the church stood firm, and the
half-w^ay covenant practices were abolished forever.
It was a noble triumph of Christian principle for
Mr. Homer, for conscience' sake, to prefer Newton
with a small salary, to Boston with a large one and
with its refined and literary society. His deeply
religious spirit, his literary taste, and the pleasing
style in which he writes, are seen in the letter in
which he accepts his call, and still more in a letter
which he wrote to a young kinsman of his, nigh to
death, in which he urged upon him, in the most kind
and delicate, and yet in a very faithful manner, the
necessity of preparation for that solemn event.

46 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
This letter is in Dr. S. F. Smith's " History of New
ton," is addressed to George Homer, Jr., Boston, and
is as follows : — Newton, Feb. 11, 1811.
My dear young kinsman:
I have but lately learnt that you were seriously unwell, and that your
indisposition increased rather than abated. I most ardently wish that
your health may be re-established, and that your parents may long
rejoice in your society. But whatever may be the ultimate determina
tion of Heaven respecting your life, it will be of no disservice to you to
improve your present seclusion from the world, to seek and establish
your immortal interests.
I also once had, as you well know, an only son, who was also my
only child. When his complaints were serious, I was principally solici
tous that he should be a real and habitual Christian. I knew, I said
to him, that in this case, the issue, whatever it were, would be the pro
motion of his best good. I wished for evidence of that thorough con
version from sin to holiness, from the world to God, which is effected
by the Holy Spirit, accompanying the truth on the heart of the regen
erate. I wished for evidence that he "knew the plague of his own
heart ; " that he understood the law of Heaven to be holy, just, and
good ; that he was liable to the penalties of this law, violated by the
most virtuous ; that his salvation rested on sovereign, unmerited mercy,
and must be effected by the Lord Jesus Christ, the only hope of a peni
tent sinner towards God. I wished him to call on the Lord in humble,
fervent prayer, commending his soul and body to that infinite grace
which had provided a ransom for lost sinners. I wished him to behold
and trust in the Redeemer as " the end of the law for righteousness to
every believer," through whose obedience unto death and perfect sacri
fice he might be justified at the divine tribunal. I wished him to see
the evil nature, as well as bitter consequences, of sin, in thought as well
as word and deed, and the beauty of holiness, strict evangelical holi
ness. 1 wished him to seek salvation from sin as well as misery, and to
desire heaven as a region of purity as well as felicity. I think I have
reason to hope that this my wish and prayer were granted. The hope
of this has frequently soothed his mother and me.
I believe that your affectionate, anxious parents cherish the same
ardent wish for you. You and they have great reason of thankfulness

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 47
for your preservation from gross vice, and that you have exhibited a
winning deportment. Much of filial piety has adorned you. But you
will not view me censorious for addressing you as a sinner, who is
dependent on Him who " will have mercy on whom he will have
mercy." "We have all sinned," yet there is hope. Each one best
knows his advantages and obligations, the light and love against which
his sins have been committed. I have heard, on many occasions, the
most humble and self-abasing language from the purest characters.
There is no danger of humbling ourselves too greatly before God, if we
do not despair of his mercy. " Humble yourself under the mighty hand
of God, that he may exalt you in due time ; casting all your care
upon him ; for he careth for you." — 1 Peter v. 6, 7. Remember that
the Saviour hath come to "heal the broken-hearted." If, upon ex
amination, you approve, you love his character and redemption, you
are willing to be saved by him and through him, he will love and save
you. " Him who cometh unto me," hath he said, " I will in no wise
cast out." " Whosoever will," hath been his invitation, since his
ascension and glorification, " let him take the water of life freely."
May he be precious to you. May you " believe and rejoice in him
with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Living or dying, my dear
young friend, may you be the Lord's. May your parents yield you to the
disposal of their and your infinitely wise and beneficent Proprietor.
May your dear sisters learn the lesson of salvation from you and your
history. May they all, and you and we, meet and mingle at length
around the throne of the Redeemer, "see him as he is," and be like
him, serve him with his servants, and tune our harps to his eternal
praise, — is the wish and prayer of
Yours affectionately,
JONA. HOMER.
Geo. Homer, Jr., Boston.
The first person received into the church by Dr.
Homer was Nathan Park, the grandfather of Prof.
Edwards A. Park, D.D., LL.D., of Andover.
He had five children who had not been baptized;
and they were all presented for baptism at one
time, the oldest being sixteen years old, and the

48 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
youngest, who was Professor Park's father, eight
years. The church considered the question of
having these children baptized, and decided that,
" as none of a believer's children are exempted
from the promise made to the believer and his
seed; and all Brother Park's children, though the
oldest was sixteen years of age, were under his
tuition and guidance as his household, so it was
proper that they should receive, on his account, the
seal of baptism." All of Professor Park's ancestors
back to the time of Richard Park, one of the first
members of the church, have been baptized here,
and it is eminently fit that he should be with us
to-day, and take part in these exercises.
Mr. Homer was a very acceptable and popular
preacher. He spoke easily without notes in the
pulpit, and excelled in conversation, which made
his pastoral visits agreeable to his people. Blake's
Biographical Dictionary says he was one of the
most beloved Congregational clergymen in Massa
chusetts, universally esteemed as a man of learning
and piety. He read Greek, Hebrew, and Latin,
and learned Spanish after he was sixty years old.
In the year 18 16 he spent twelve vv^eeks doing
missionary work in Stratham, N.H., under the
direction of the Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge. There were several denominations
there, much sectarian spirit, much ignorance and
opposition to what they called hirelings, that is, to
educated ministers. A minister by the name of

HISTORICAL DISCOURSIC. 49
Metcalf preached there once in two weeks. It was
proposed that Mr. Ilonier should preach on the
alternate Sabbath, when otherwise the pulpit would
be vacant. Mr. Plomer made a good impression
upon all, and the prospect of union and harmony
seemed excellent. But Mr. Metcalf did not like
the good impression which Mr. Homer had pro
duced, and said that if he preached there a second
Sabbath he should leave. This threat lost him the
confidence of those who had paid him nine-tenths
of his salary. Mr. Homer tried to pacify and con
ciliate him; but he saw that his influence was gone,
and he left the place, though he admitted that he
could not blame Mr. Plomer, his manner toward
him had been so kind. One man said he believed
these Congregational ministers wanted to make
Protestants of them, and get control of them,
showing that he did not know what a Protestant
is. Mr. Homer, in giving an account of this in a
letter to Dr. James Freeman, the minister of King's
Chapel, said, " I have my temper sometimes tried,
but I have been so kept that I have not lost it a
moment." On account of the prejudice against written ser
mons, Mr. Homer preached unwritten ones. He
preached at private houses, visited the people in
their homes, and labored in every way to overcome
prejudice. His labors were greatly enjoyed. Those
who at first hated him, because that by means of
him they had lost their minister, afterward admitted

5© THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
that he had treated them so kindly that they could
not hate him any longer. The report of the Society
which sent him there says that he visited the sick
and afflicted, instructed the young and ignorant,
urging upon all the necessity of religion, and by
his kind, candid, and aff"ectionate deportment to all
of every denomination, inspiring thera with some
portion of his own spirit of conciliation. He did
great good. A good number were brought under
serious impressions, and some became hopefully
pious. After he left. Rev. William Greenough,
of the West Parish, went there, and engaged in
similar labor for one month.
Dr. Homer devoted many of the later years of
his life to an enthusiastic study of the diff'erent
English translations of the Bible, from that of
Wycliff"e to that of i6it. Fle intended to write a
history of them. The late Prof B. B. Edwards,
of Andover, said he was better qualified to do
it than any other person in the country. A con
clusion which he reached was that King James's
Bible was in no -part a new translation taken
directly from the originals. He had the most
ample facilities for ascertaining the truth of this
statement. His shelves were filled with rare and
choice books bearing upon the subject, many of
them obtained from England with great painstaking
and expense, and hp performed the almost in
credible labor of finding out by personal examina
tion the source from which the translation of every

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 5 1
verse in the Bible was taken; and he showed,
what he had prcY'iously asserted, but what had
been denied by biblical scholars, both English and
American, that not a single verse in King James's
version was newly translated, but that the whole of
it was taken from other versions and was a com
pilation. He showed that thirty-two parts out of
thirty-three were taken from former English ver
sions, chiefly from the Bishops' Bible, and that the
remaining thirty-third part was drawn from foreign
versions and comments. Having announced this
result of his investigations, he quoted the words
of the translators themselves, that they " had never
thought from the beginning of the need of making
a new translation." ^
' In the " Biblical Repository " for October, 1 835, at the close of an article on
" Early English Versions of the Bible," may be found a letter from Dr. Homer
on that subject. In February, 1838, he wrote an article for the Supplement
to Dr. Jenks's Comprehensive Commentary, which may be found near the middle
of the volume, on page 55 of the " Guide to the Study of the Bible," in which
he spoke of the need of revising the authorized version in view of its errors in
grammar, syntax, and translation, and its obsolete words.
The following statements have been either made directly by Dr. Homer, or
have been suggested by the perusal of his writings.
Beginning with Matthew's Bible of 1537, from which all later revisions have
been formed, he says, " This Bible was executed by the very best scholars in
Hebrew, Greek, German, and English." The translation was partly that of
Tyndale, who is the real author of our English Bible, and partly that of Cover-
dale, a friend of Tyndale, but the whole was revised and Corrected by John Rogers,
the first martyr of Queen Mary's reign. This Bible soon superseded that of
Coverdale, but being burdened with notes, to which opposition was made. Cover-
dale was invited, in 1 538, to undertake a new edition on the basis of Matthew.
This he did, and in 1539 appeared "The Great Bible," commonly called Cran-
mer's, because he furthered the work and wrote a preface to it. " It was pub
lished," says Dr. Homer, " under the dread of the frown and rejection of Henry

52 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
It has been generally admitted that, in the time
of the Unitarian defection. Dr. Homer was con
siderably influenced by his many friends, both
ministers and others, who embraced the erroneous
views. Mr. Bushnell, who came here more than a year
before Dr. Plomer's death, says that he was liberal
in his theology, influenced, no doubt, by his inti
macy with Dr. Pierce, of Brookline, and Dr. Free-
raan, of King's Chapel, whose wife was a sister of
Mrs. Horaer. Dr. Gilbert, of West Newton, used
to speak of Dr. Horaer in the same way. But Dr.
Homer was also intimate with Dr. Codraan, with
Rev. Mr. Greenough, of the West Parish, and with
Rev. Mr. Grafton, of the Baptist church in this
VIII and his clergy. Cranmer was dissatisfied with it, and when young Edward
came to the throne, sent for three German scholars to aid him in effecting a
new translation. The early death of two of them frustrated his intent."
The Geneva New Testament, prol^ably by Whittingham, who had married
Calvin's sister, was published in 1557, with an introduction by Calvin. The
completed Geneva Bible, always a favorite one with the Puritans, appeared in
1560, with marginal notes so full that they might be called a commentary.
The book was a moderate quarto in size, suitable for popular use, and it
immediately became the Bible of the people, and continued to be so for
seventy-five years. They said there was no discerning the Word of God aright
except through the " Genevan spectacles." This is no doubt the Bible which
our Pilgrim and Puritan fathers brought with them to this country. " Eliza
beth and her primate disliked and rejected it," says Dr. Homer, " on account
of the notes, in which was expressed so much abhorrence of tyranny." One
of these notes, on Rev. ix. 3, where locusts are described as coming out of the
smoke of the bottomless pit, says, " Locusts are false teachers, heretics, and
worldly subtle prelates, with monks, friars, cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops,
bishops, doctors, bachelors, and masters, which forsake Christ to maintain
false doctrine.''
"The proprietors of this Bible," says Dr. Homer, " were refused the privi-

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 53
place, and the result was that he adhered to the
ancient faith. Dr. Codman said that he was de
cidedly evangelical and orthodox, though liberal
and catholic in his feelings towards other denomina
tions, and he acknowledged gratefully the sympathy
which he had received from him in the trials
through which he had passed in the Unitarian con
troversy. A smile is sometimes awakened at the mention
of Dr. Homer's name, because of the many queer
and strange things that have been told of him. Pie
was a very absent-minded man, and his wife was
constantly expecting some odd event to occur from
his eccentric ways. Professor Park says that he
lege of publishing it in England unless they would omit the notes, but so great
was the demand for it, that a fresh edition was published every year for thirty
years without permission, nor was a. single one of the objectionable notes
omitted." This statement of Dr. Homer is far within bounds, for Westcott says that
between 1560 and 161 1 more than a hundred editions of the Geneva Bible
were published. Dr. Homer justly refers to the influence of the notes of this
remarkable Bible upon the English Revolution of 1 688, and remotely upon our
own Revolution of 1776.
The Bishops' Bible was published in 1568, and was called Elizabeth's Oppo
sition Bible, because its principal object was to displace the Geneva Bible. It
was but a slight variation from the Great Bible and the Geneva Bible. Dr.
Homer ascertained that "about two-thirds of the new and best text of the
Geneva Bible had been used in the Bishops' Bible without acknowledgment or
apology. The very notes, too, of the proscribed Geneva Bible, so far as they
were merely critical and not revolutionary, were found spread over the whole
of the new Court Bible. Only eight editions of this Bible are known to have
been published, and these were required chiefly for the reading-desks of the
churches." These two Bibles, the Geneva and the Bishops', continued in use during the
remainder of Elizabeth's reign.

54 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
and Professor Edwards and others were once in
vited to dine at Dr. Homer's. When they were
called to dinner they went into the dining-room
and took their places around the table, their host
not being present. Soon, however, he appeared at
the door of the room, and seeing that the company
were waiting for him, immediately commenced
asking the blessing. By the time he had reached
his place at the table he got through with the
blessing, and then saluted his guests. Other stories
about Dr. Homer, under the name of " Parson
Carryl," raay be found in "The Minister's House
keeper," one of Sam Lawson's Oldtown Fireside
Stories, by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. In view
" In 1603, soon after King James came to the throne, the Puritan scholars
and others, men of all parties, indeed, desiring as perfect a Bible as they could
have, applied to the king for a new revision, alleging that in the Bishops' Bible
there were many errors of translation. To this the king and his primate re
luctantly consented, but ordered that the text of the Bishops' Bible should be
followed as far as the originals would permit, and no notes be appended."
The result was the Bible of 161 1, which, by its intrinsic excellence, quickly
took the foremost place, and held it for 260 years before a substitute was
called for. Dr. Homer thinks that this Bible might have been better still if the
revisers had been allowed to make a new translation, as some of them wished
to do. The English people's love of the Bible is seen in their desire to have
it in as perfect a form as possible.
Seven revisions were made between 1535 and 1611. Dr. Homer called very
earnestly for another in 1838. It came in 1881.
In the Boston Athenaeum are two editions of Tyndale's New Testament,
with notes on the margins in the handwriting of Dr. Homer. In the larger
edition, bearing the date of 1552, his name is written in full at the beginning
of the Gospel of Luke.
Mr. John P. Dabney, in preparing his edition of Tyndale's New Testament,
visited Dr. Homer very frequently, and obtained from him much valuable
information.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 55
of them all Father Greenough once said, "You
may laugh as much as you will at Brother Plomer,
there is no man among us who carries with hira the
spirit of the gospel from Monday morning to Satur
day night better than he."
The year 1827 was the crowning year of Dr.
Plomer's long ministry. Seventy-one persons were
received into the church in that year, — as many as
had been received in the previous nineteen years.
This revival began in November, 1826, when. Dr.
Homer says, there were three or four inquirers
with evidence of conversion soon after the great
day of prayer and assembling of certain evangelical
churches in Boston at Rev. Mr. Beecher's. Dr.
Beecher's arrival in Boston, in 1826, was a great
event. Previously our churches had stood on the
defensive against the Unitarians. Dr. Beecher was
a man who could lead an assault, and it is very
likely that the revival of 1827 in this church was
in some measure due to the influence of what
Dr. Horaer calls the great day of prayer in Mr.
Beecher's church in Boston. Many children and
youth in our Sunday-school became interested.
By the first of May, 1827, there had been one
hundred and twenty inquirers and seventy or eighty
hopeful conversions. From this it would seem
probable that many of the thirty-two persons who
joined the church in 1828 were a part of the fruit
of this revival.
Dr. Homer died August 11, 1843, and his funeral

56 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
was on Sunday afternoon, August 13. The other
churches of the town omitted their usual services,
and were present with their pastors on the occasion.
Prayers were offered by Rev. Mr. Bushnell, by Dr.
Gilbert, and by Dr. S. F. Smith. A long procession
moved to the place of burial, preceded by the chil
dren of the Sunday-school. The sermon was by
Dr. Codman, of Dorchester. Speaking of the catho
licity of Dr. Homer, he said : " Many of his relatives
and personal friends diff"ered from him in religious
opinions, but he ever cherished toward them the
warmest affections of love and friendship. There
was no bigotry in him. His heart overffowed with
love to all who love the Lord Jesus Christ, of every
sect and name. He lived on terras of Christian
intimacy and friendship with Mr. Grafton, the
Baptist rainister of this place; he took the liveliest
interest in the prosperity of the Theological Insti
tution on the hill, and maintained a fraternal and
paternal intimacy with its officers and students.
His library was always at their service for use and
reference. In fine, Dr. Homer was not a de
nominational Christian, but a member of the Church
universal." Dr. Codman then speaks of his " active
and unwearied benevolence, childlike simplicity,
easy confidence in others, approaching to credulity,
and the tendency of his mind to one engrossing
subject;" that is, to the English versions of the
Bible. " Dr. and Mrs. Homer loved this people, and

HISTORICAL DISCOITRSE. 57
lived for tliem. No sacrifices of a worldly and
pecuniary nature were too great for them to make,
if they could promote the welfare of this flock.
After the loss of their only son, their afl^ections were
concentrated still more upon the beloved people of
their charge. Dr. Homer's heart was full of the
tenderest sympathy for the suffering. He took
orphans and homeless children to his own house,
and gave them a home till they could be provided
for. More than thirty were cared for by hira in
this way. In a rainistry of fifty-seven years he was
scarcely ever detained half a day frora the house of
God. By his singular activity in the performance
of ministerial duty he accomplished an almost in
credible amount of labor. He was instant in
season and out of season, teaching and preaching
Jesus Christ, not only in the temple, but from house
to house. He loved to preach. It was his meat
and drink."
Dr. Homer's preaching was not so ranch enjoyed
in the last years of his life as it had formerly been.
This is not strange. His advanced age would
account for it in part, and then the absorption of
his raind in the one study to which he had devoted
his later years stood in the way of his making the
needful preparation for the pulpit.
An incident illustrating the very warm friendship
existing between Dr. Plomer and Father Grafton
should be related. After the death of Dr. Homer's
only son and only child, he preached a sermon

58 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
with reference to the sad event. Father Grafton
disraissed his congregation, and carae and sat in
the pulpit with his afflicted brother, and offered the
prayer. He had been affiicted himself, and he
knew how to sympathize with the afflicted.
Rev. James Bates was ordained as colleague-pastor
with Dr. Homer in November, 1827. In his letter
accepting the call to this place he said, " I shall be
placed in a situation of awful responsibility. Duties
almost overwhelming will be imposed upon me;
duties which will have an important bearing on
our present and eternal welfare, and which will
probably be attended with moraentous and ever
lasting consequences to coming generations." These
words are characteristic of the man. He was pro
foundly sensible of the infinite and amazing inter
ests which the preaching of the gospel contemplates.
His soul was habitually penetrated with the thought
of them. Those to whom he ministered were to
live forever in one world or another, very much
according as he should be faithful to his duty. The
burden of these souls was ever on his heart. When
he said it was an " awful responsibility," he said
what he deeply felt to be true. There were people
here — and some are still living — who thought he
dwelt too much in his preaching upon the dreadful
doom of those who die in impenitence. Perhaps
he did. He raay have had a raorbid fear that he
should fail to declare the whole truth, or he may
have thought the warnings of Scripture best adapted

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 59
to lead his hearers to repentance. No one can
doubt that his desire to save them was the passion
of his life, and his labors were not in vain. The
additions to the church during his ministry were
unusually large. It is true that other agencies
were at work. The revival of 1827, under Dr.
Homer, had not spent itself when he carae here.
A very successful four days' meeting was held in
October, 1831, at which Dr. Beecher and Dr.
Wisner were among the preachers, and the period
from that time to 1835 was one of those great re
vival eras in which the windows of heaven are
open all over the land to pour down salvation.
Still it is a great blessing to a church in times
of revival to have a minister who is in full sym
pathy with it, and who does all in his power to
promote it.
Mr. Bates had for helpers two such deacons as
any minister might be thankful for, — Elijah F.
Woodward and William Jackson. Deacon Wood
ward came of a godly stock. Four generations of
his ancestors had lived and prayed and died in the
house in which he was born. His father and
grandfather were deacons. He was made deacon
at the age of twenty-eight, and held the office as
long as he lived. He was twenty-nine years
superintendent of the Sunday-school. He entered
the choir at the age of eleven, and remained there
forty-eight years. Half of this period he was the
leader, with voice and viol, of thirty or forty

6o THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
singers and players, among whom were five of his
own children. His amiability, calmness, and wis
dom kept the choir harmonious in feeling, as well as
in song. He lived two miles from the meeting
house, and yet no one was more constant or more
punctual than he in attendance upon all the meet
ings of the church and of the choir, both in the day
time and in the evening. Often he took a shovel
in his sleigh to make a path through snow
drifts. He was farmer, teacher, surveyor, town
clerk, and treasurer, and yet his duties to the church
were never neglected. His horse had heard the
doxology in Old Hundred sung so many times
that he learned to recognize the singing of it as the
closing exercise of an evening meeting, and when
he heard it he backed out of the shed and walked
up to the chapel door, where he waited till his
master came out. As town clerk,^ Deacon Wood
ward was always present at the town-meetings, but
took no part in the debates unless called upon to
express his views. Once, w^hen the meeting was
getting warm over a dispute, some one said, " Let
' One of his duties as town clerk was to announce intentions of marriage.
This he did from his place in the choir, just before the benediction.
One Sabbath he saw in a high pew, back of the choir, some young men
intent upon something other than the sermon. He rose and turned toward
them, and stood looking at them. They were so much occupied that they did
not see him. He stood so long that the attention of large numbers in the
broad galleries on both sides of the meeting-house was drawn toward his
singular attitude. At length the young men raised their heads, and seeing
how many eyes were upon them, grew red in the face, ceased their game, and
hustled away their cards.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 6 1
US leave it to Deacon Woodward." To this all
were agreed, and his decision was allowed to settle
the matter. " Who of us," said Mr. Bushnell, who
preached his funeral sermon, " has accomplished so
much as he? Yet who of us, in view of the little
we may have done, has not been willing to take
more of the glory to himself ? When did he ever
feel injured because he was not appreciated?
When did he ever attempt to thrust himself for
ward? And yet, when was he ever absent frora
any meeting without being missed and being in
quired after?"
So prompt and so methodical was he in the per
formance of his duties, that when death carae, with
only about twelve hours' warning, " though he had
a great amount of public business on his hands, it
can scarcely be said that anything was left un
finished." He was an early riser, and began the
day with secret prayer in an audible voice; a peace
maker with probably not an enemy; an unworldly
man, performing much public service with great
fidelity and for small remuneration; a benevolent
man, who, according to his means, was ready in a
noiseless way to help the poor and the needy and
every good cause; and yet when asked how he felt
in view of death, all he would say was, "I have a
comfortable hope." At his funeral the meeting
house was full. People came from every part of
the town and from surrounding towns, and the pro
cession of those who walked to his burial was

62 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
more than half a mile long. This was their tribute
to the goodness of a man in whom everybody had
confidence. Deacon Jackson was the champion of every
righteous and good cause, whether popular or un
popular. If it was unpopular, it had all the greater
attraction for him, because it needed him the raore.
He was the first raover in the temperance cause in
this town. As chairman of the selectmen it was
his duty to approbate persons for license to sell
ardent spirits. This approbation included a state
ment that these persons had conforraed to the laws
respecting license. Upon examination he found
that they were living in daily violation of those
laws, and therefore he could not say that they con
formed to them. Accordingly no licenses were
obtained, and a storm was raised about the ears
of the selectmen by the rum-sellers and rum-
drinkers that compelled them to defend themselves
in the newspapers. The temperance question was
so thoroughly discussed that it becarae better un
derstood in Newton than in any other town in the
Commonwealth. In October, 1826, the year that
Dr. Lyman Beecher delivered his six lectures on
Intemperance, Deacon Jackson invited Captain
Samuel Hyde, Increase Sumner Davis, and Seth
Davis, who were all the total abstinence men he
knew in the town, to meet at his house. This
meeting led to the formation of a total abstinence
society, which was met with doubts, sneers, rebukes.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 63
and conderanation everywhere and from everybody.
In February, 1827, Deacon Jackson delivered a
temperance address. It was his first public ad
dress, and probably the first address of the kind
ever delivered in Newton. He had a full house,
" and," said he, " the whole town learned that
evening that we were not to be sneered out of our
principles, nor browbeaten into silence; and that
the existence of a temperance society in Newton
upon total abstinence principles was a fixed fact."
Meetings were held once a month, temperance
literature scattered freely, a library established,
and in less than a year and a half a majority of
the voters of the town were temperance men, and
Deacon Jackson was sent as Representative to the
General Court. While in the Legislature he be
came convinced that Freeraasonry was one of the
most active agencies in the government of the
State and of the Nation in the distribution of political
power, and in the decisions of courts and juries,
and that three out of four, if not nine out of ten, of
the office-holders were Masons. This made hira a
decided and outspoken anti-Mason, and as such he
was twice elected to Congress. While in Congress
he became acquainted with the usurpations of slave
holders in the government of the nation, and this
made him a determined anti-slavery man. When
the Liberty party was formed he was its first candi
date for governor. When the American Missionary
Association was formed, in 1846, he was its first

64 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
president, and held the office eight years. In his
last sickness he said to his son-in-law, Mr. Lewis
Tappan, " When you come to be as near the grave
as I seem to be, it will be one of the sweetest con
solations to you to reflect on all you have done for
the poor and oppressed.'' " It is well to have the
good opinon of our fellow-men, but it must not be
gained at the expense of principle or by refraining
to do our duty."
In 1828 he begran to advocate the construction
of railroads. For sixteen or eighteen years no
subject engaged so much of his attention, or oc
cupied so much of his time as this. In 1829 he
delivered lectures and addresses in the principal
towns of the State, and wrote articles for the news
papers of Boston, Springfield, Northampton, Haver
hill, and Salem. Many of his friends, he said,
considered this to be evidence of partial derange
ment. In May, 1831, the building of the railroad
frora Boston to Worcester was coraraenced, and
there is no raan to whom the public is more in
debted than to hira for the railroad facilities of the
present day.
William Jackson was a leader among men with
out trying to be, and perhaps without knowing that
he was, by the excellence and force of his character,
by his knowledge of men and of affairs, by his
quickness and sagacity, by the depth and strength
of his convictions, by his loyalty to truth and duty,
by his capacity for being possessed and controlled

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 65
by the conclusions to which his judgment and con
science conducted him, by the simplicity, earnest
ness, and public spirit with which he urged his
views upon the attention of others, and by his
enthusiastic disregard of his own ease and time
and money, if public interests might be subserved,
and righteousness maintained, and the kingdom of
heaven brought nearer; and when men saw in him
these qualities and this devotion to the public wel
fare, they gave him their confidence, acknowledged
his leadership, and felt safe in following him.
The devotion of this remarkable man to public
interests was never allowed to interfere with his
duties to his church. He spent a great amount of
time and money in promoting its welfare. He knew
nothing about the love of money for its own sake,
or for luxury and display. He accumulated that
he might give, and he could not say no to any
person or cause needing aid. He attended all the
meetings of the church, and in times of revival its
extra meetings. He wrote its history, as contained
in Jackson's " History of Newton." In 1830 he
proposed and paid for the first manual the church
ever had. He was prominent in all the business
meetings of the church. In 1828 he drew up a
report on the case of certain church members who
often left their own meeting to go to other meetings.
He insisted upon the necessity of church discipline,
and said : " The stability, the life, the very existence
of our church, under God, depends upon its dis-

66 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
cipline." " Those of our church who leave their
own meeting on the Sabbath, go, some of them, to
places where the fundamental truths of the gospel,
as embraced by this church, are opposed and de
nied, where they who preach declare there is no
need of a radical change of heart, that Christ did not
die to atone for our sins, and that he is not God,
and that all will be saved, both righteous and
wicked. Such preaching, your committee think,
tends to undermine and destroy the church, and,
compared with those views of Bible truth which
all our raembers have embraced and publicly pro
fessed to believe, such preaching is error, and error
of the most fatal kind, not only to the church, but
to the eternal welfare of souls around us."
This report was signed by William Jackson,
Elijah F. Woodward, and Asa Cook. After a
second reading, and some discussion, the report
was adopted unanimously. It has been said by
some that if Dr. Homer had become a Unitarian,
he would probably have carried the church with
him. This vote does not look as if he would.
While Mr. Bates was in Newton he preached a
course of sermons on Household Baptism, which
were put into book form and published.
More than a year of the time between the dis
mission of Mr. Bates and the installation of his
successor, this pulpit was supplied by Rev. S. S.
Smith. He was a tall man, with a pleasant face, a
vigorous mind, a good voice, a rapid utterance, and

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 67
the power of holding the attention of his audience.
Twenty persons were received into the church dur
ing his ministry. Mr. Smith died very suddenly.
Pie was preparing to preach, and had laid out his
sermon upon the table, a sermon on the text " I shall
be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness." But the
sermon was not to be preached by him. It was
most appropriately read at his funeral, and we
believe he did awake in the Saviour's likeness.
Rev. William Bushnell was installed in May,
1842. It was during his ministry that the church
sent out its second colony of thirty-four members
to form the Eliot Church. Mr. Bushnell was a
clear thinker, a sound theologian, argumentative in
his style of preaching, and always scriptural and
instructive. He strongl}' deprecated laxity of doc
trine, believing that it tends to religious demorali
zation and a paralysis of the work of the churches.
He published sermons commemorative of Deacon
Elijah F. Woodward and Hon. William Jackson.
When my own ministry began, the church was
small and weak. The loss of those who formed the
Eliot Church, among whom were some of the most
active and efficient of our members, and the death,
soon after, of Deacon Elijah F. Woodward, had
left the church, for a time, in an almost discouraged
state. It had roused itself, however, and with de
termined effort and much personal sacrifice built
a new meeting-house. In 1854 we enlarged the
meeting-house and built a new chapel. In 1868

68 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
we parted with nine of our members, to help form
the church at Newtonville. In 1872 we dismissed
twenty-four more, to form the church at Newton
Highlands. In 1869 we again enlarged both the
meeting-house and the chapel, at a cost of twenty-
two thousand dollars. The effort to do this in
volved, on the part of individuals, most generous
gifts of time and money. Our contributions to
benevolent objects between 1857 and 1882, a period
of twenty-six years, amounted to sixty-two thou
sand seven hundred and twenty dollars. But this
includes the gifts of individuals, so far as they were
known, and the donations of the Ladies' Benevolent
Society, in boxes of clothing sent West and South.
The doctrinal utterances of the pulpit during my
ministry have always, I believe, been in harmony
with those of its former ministers from the begin
ning. My first deacons were Luther Paul and Asa
Cook, good and true men. Deacon Cook was a
raan who gloried in the cross of Christ. He re
joiced in salvation as the gift of God, full and free,
without money and without price, to every penitent
believer. " The voice of free grace " had a very
sweet sound to him. He was gifted in prayer, and
whenever he came to the topic of salvation by
grace, it was interesting to see how much at home
he felt. He never had any doubts about his salva
tion. He believed the promises of God, and his
sky was always bright.
Deacon Paul had intelligence, sound judgment,

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 69
strong will, inflexible decision, and the courage to
stand alone if others did not agree with him. He
had also stern and uncompromising integrity. All
his traits were strongly marked, and he was an im
portant man in the church. He took a deep interest
in its welfare, was present at all its meetings, and a
valuable helper in them, bore his full share of its
expenses, and gave his money systematically and
generously to benevolent objects. He represented
the law, and Deacon Cook the gospel. A text for
Deacon Cook would be, " By grace are ye saved
through faith ; and that not of yourselves ; it is the gift
of God." A Scripture for Deacon Paul would be,
" Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle, who shall
dwell in thy holy hill ? He that walketh uprightly
and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth
in his heart. He that sweareth to his own hurt and
changeth not."
We have now a minister who is not only sound
in the faith, but who has a special gift for interest
ing the young. He has the wisdom to lay out his
strength in that part of the field which is the most
hopeful, and the interest manifested by the young
in the services of religion ever since he came among
us has been very marked, both in additions to the
church and in the increased attendance upon its
prayer meetings. If now, through his influence
with the young, and his unwearied labors to interest
them in the things of the kingdom, they can be led
to prize the great doctrines of the Bible as Anna

7© THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
Hammond Pope did, and to contend for them as
William Jackson did; if we can see not only the
ministers, but the merabers of the church, loving the
truth and defending it with the intelligence which
these two persons had, — then it can be said of our
church for a long tirae to corae,
"We mark her goodly battlements
And her foundations strong."
We have no means of knowing the number of
persons received into our church by its first four
rainisters. We know of two revivals in Mr.
Cotton's ministry, one after the earthquake of 1727,
when fifty persons were received in four months,
and one in 1 741-2, when one hundred and four
were received in ten months. There may have
been revivals in Mr. Hobart's rainistry, and in Mr.
Eliot's; if so, the record of them has been lost.
Dr. Homer, as sole pastor for forty-five years, re
ceived two hundred and fifty-seven. He and Mr.
Bates, together, received in eleven and a half years
one hundred and ninety-four. Total, four hundred
and fifty-one. Mr. Bushnell in his four years re
ceived seventeen. In my own ministry of thirty-
five years, five hundred and thirty-six were received,
or two hundred and fifty-four by profession, and
two hundred and eighty-two by letter. Brother
Holmes has received in the six years of his ministry
one hundred and forty-one, or sixty-six by profes
sion, and seventy-five by letter.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 7 1
In 1823 Mrs. Elizabeth Hicks, a widow, was
received into the church at the house of her son
and daughter, /;/ the ninety-eighth year of her age.
About twenty members of the church went to the
house with the minister and received the Com
munion with her. Dr. Homer says she was so
much affected with the recollection of her long
neglect of Christ as to produce sensible injury to
her bodily health.
The roll of church membership made up in 1773,
after the fire, is needlessly defective. Apparently,
it contains only the names of persons then living.
If these persons had taken pains to recall and
record the names of the generation that preceded
them, they would have done us a great favor. It
is probable that several hundred names of persons
who were once members of our church are irre
coverably lost. Of course there can be no doubt
that those who went into the ministry from this
town were merabers of this church, for this was
the only church in the town. Their names were,
Ichabod Wiswall, William Williams, Thomas
Greenwood, John Prentice, Caleb Trowbridge,
Edward Jackson, Joseph Park, Samuel Woodward,
Nathan Ward, Jonas Clark, and Ephraim Ward.
Rev. Ichabod Wisivall, son of our ruling
elder, Thomas Wiswall, was ordained pastor of
the church in Duxbury in 1676, where he minis
tered twenty-four years, until his death, in 1700.
In 1689 he was agent in England for obtaining a

72 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
new charter for Plymouth Colony which should
prevent the union of that colony with Massa
chusetts. Dr. Increase Mather was in England at
the same time seeking a new charter for Massa
chusetts Plymouth and Maine united, in which
he succeeded.
Rev. William Williams was ordained in Hat
field in 1685, and fulfilled in that one place a
ministry of fifty-five years. His funeral sermon
was preached by Jonathan Edwards, who spoke of
him as "a person of uncommon natural abilities and
distinguished learning, a great divine." Solomon
Stoddard was called a great raan, but Dr. Chauncy
said he regarded Mr. Williaras as greater than
he. This man was the son of the third deacon of
our church. Deacon Isaac Williams.^ He had three
sons, who were rainisters, and a daughter, who was
married to Rev. Jonathan Ashley, of Deerfield.
One of his sons. Dr. Solomon Williams, of Leba
non, Conn., was the minister of that place fifty-
three years, and was one of the most prominent
of the New England clergy. He had a controversy
with Jonathan Edwards, who was his cousin, on
the terms of communion. Another son was Elisha
Williams, rector of Yale College. During a pro
longed sojourn in England he became intimately
acquainted with Dr. Doddridge, who said of him,
' Deacon Isaac Williams represented Newton in the General Court five or
six years. His mother was Martha Park, daughter of Deacon William Park,
of Roxbury, who came to " Cambridge Village " to live in 1660.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 73
" I look upon him to be one of the most valuable
men upon earth. He has joined to an ardent sense
of religion solid learning, consummate prudence,
great candor and sweetness of temper, and a certain
nobleness of soul, capable of contriving and acting
the greatest things without seeming to be conscious
of having done them." The third son was Rev.
William Williams, of Weston. He preached in
this place at the time of the revival, in 1741, on an
exchange with Mr. Cotton. The mother of these
last two sons, Elisha and William, was grand
daughter of Rev. John Cotton, of Boston.
Dr. Solomon Williams, of Lebanon, had a son,
Eliphalet, who was the minister of East Hartford,
Conn., fifty years; an eminent man, whose son
Solomon was a minister in Northampton, and
whose son Elisha was a Baptist minister in
Beverly.^ One of the daughters of Rev. William Williams,
of Weston, was married to Rev. Joseph Buck
minster, of Rutland, and was the mother of Dr.
Joseph Buckminster, who was Daniel Webster's
minister in Portsmouth, N.H., and the grand
mother of Joseph Stephens Buckminster, the elo-
' Dr. Solomon Williams, of Lebanon, had a son, WiUiam, who was a Revo
lutionary patriot and Christian. He was on the staff of Col. Ephraim WiUiams
at the battle of Lake George, in 1755. In 1776 and 1777 he was a member
of Congress, and signed the Declaration of Independence. His wife was a.
daughter of Governor Trumbull. After making great efforts and sacrifices for
the liberties of his country, for which he expended nearly all his property, his
last days were spent in reading, meditation, and prayer. From youth to old
age he was a deacon in the church, and an exemplary Christian.

74 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
quent and scholarly minister of Brattle Street
Church, Boston.
Rev. Mr. Williams, of Hatfield, had a nephew,
William, one of whose daughters was married to
Rev. Jacob Cushing, of Waltham, and another to
Rev. Samuel Woodward, of Weston, who went
frora this town, and was a member of this church.
Rev. Thomas Green-wood was ordained at Reho-
both in 1693, and died in 1720. His son John
succeeded him in 172 1, and died in 1766. Allen
says that Mr. Greenwood was born in Plymouth.
Bliss's " History of Rehoboth" says that he was born
in Weymouth. Allen and Bliss give raerely a bare
statement without any corroborating particulars,
and they do not agree with each other. Jackson's
"History of Newton" gives the names of Mr. Green
wood's father and mother, the situation of their real
estate in this place, the time of the birth of their
son Thomas, and the name of his wife, who was
daughter of Capt. Noah Wiswall, the son of our
only ruling elder.
Rev. fohn Prentice, ordained in 1708, had a
successful ministry of forty years in Lancaster.
The late Rev. A. P. Marvin, historian of the town
of Lancaster, says he w^as an honor to his native
town. From two or three to ten or fifteen persons
were received into his church every year — three
hundred and thirty in all. He had great dignity
and severity of manners. One of his daughters
was married to Rev. Job Cushing, of Shrewsbury,

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 75
another to Re\'. John Rogers, of Leominster, and
another to Rev. John Mellen, of Lancaster.
Rev. Caleb Trowbridge was ordained in Groton
in 17 15, and was the minister of that place forty-six
years. He is spoken of by the Groton people as
faithful and beloved, an ornament and a blessing in
the several relations which he sustained. He was
the son of our deacon, James Trowbridge, and the
grandson, on his mother's side, of our deacon, John
Jackson. He married the daughter of our deacon,
Thomas Oliver.
Rev. Edward fackson was ordained in 1729 at
Woburn. The cost of the cider, wine, rum, and
brandy used at his ordination was sixteen or seven
teen pounds, equal to eighty or eighty-five dollars.
He was the son ot our deacon, Edward Jackson,
and grandson of Edward Jackson, senior, at
whose house, near the line between Newton and
Brighton, the first religious meetings in " Cam
bridge Village " were held. Edward Jackson,
senior, is the man who used to accompany the
Apostle Eliot in his visits to the Nonantum Indians
to take notes of their questions and of Mr. Eliot's
answers. The Woburn minister was for a long
time the victim of false and malignant accusation.
His accusers were encouraged in their attempts to
injure him by the fact that he was unmarried. The
case was brought into court, and went against him.
At length, in the providence of God, an occurrence,
apparently the most accidental and trifling, came to

76 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
his help. The negro servant of his chief traducer
called on his own negro boy with a letter in his
hand to ask where a certain woman lived. The
boy took the letter in to his master to inquire
of him. Mr. Jackson opened the letter, read it,
copied it, kept the original, and gave the copy to
the neo-ro, with directions where to find the woman.
He then called the case again into court, where
his maligner was made to face, in his own hand
writing, all the evidence that Mr. Jackson wanted
of the falsehood and malignity that had been
pursuing him. The scene that followed can be
imagined. The court was confounded; the per
secutor was humiliated and disgraced; those who
for sorae reason had sided with him were in tears
to find what tools and fools they had been, and the
suffering minister's righteousness was brought forth
as the light, and his judgment as the noonday. But
his health was gone; he lived only six or eight
months after this triumphant vindication, and died
before he was fifty-five years old.
Rev. foseph Park, great-grandson of Richard
Park, one of the first settlers and first members of
this church, was, in 1733, sent to Westerly, R.I.,
" as a missionary to the Indians, and such English
as would attend." " I was then," says Mr. Park,
" a moral, religious person, but awfully in the dark
as to the way of salvation." This was the condition
of many ministers and church merabers in New
England previous to the Great Awakening, in 1740.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 77
" There was not one house of prayer," said Mr.
Park, " as far as I ever learned, in two large towns
containing some hundreds of families." Whitefield
and Gilbert Tennant visited the place, and preached
there, and powerful effects were produced. " The
minister was strengthened and lifted up, and his
views became more evangelical." He labored on
with fidelity and much acceptance, but in the face
of many discouragements, until 175 1, when he
became pastor of a church in Southold, L.I. In
1756 he returned to Westerly, and was reinstalled.
For receiving to his house a poor woman who had
been driven from a house infected with small
pox, he was arraigned, tried, and condemned. He
preached a sermon, which was published, in which
he justified his humanity and blamed the town for
its severity.
It is well known that, previous to the Great
Awakening, many of the churches of New England
were grievously infected with the sin of impurity.
The preaching of Edwards against this sin was
one of the reasons for his being dismissed from
his church in Northampton. In Westerly, family
covenants were drawn up to be signed by father,
mother, children, and domestics in every house
hold, solemnly promising to put away all filthiness
of the flesh and spirit, and to perfect holiness in the
fear of God.
On the Lord's day a part of the service of public
worship was hearing the children read the Bible

78 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
and repeat the Catechism, followed by a collection
for " pious uses." What was this but a Sunday-
school, nearly thirty years before the experiment
of Robert Raikes in England, and a Sunday-school
in presence of the whole congregation.
Mr. Park was a man of public spirit. Three of
his sons were in the expedition for the reduction of
Crown Point, and one of them fought and fell with
General Warren on Bunker Hill. " The good,
laborious, tried, faithful man died with much honor
in Westerly in 1777, in the seventy-second year of
his age, and the forty-fifth year of his ministry."
Rev. Samuel Woodward was ordained in 175 1
as pastor of the church in Weston, where he con
tinued to exercise his ministry thirty-one years.
He was here at the ordination of Dr. Homer in 1782,
was moderator of the council, and gave the charge.
He died the same year " greatly beloved and la
mented by the people of his charge, by his brethren
in office, and by an extensive circle of acquaint
ances." He published several sermons.
Rev. Nathan Ward, being much impressed by the
preaching of Whitefield, entered the ministry with
out a college education, at the age of forty-four,
and was settled in Plymouth, N.H., in 1765, where
he preached about thirty years. His mother was
a Kenrick. He is remembered in Plymouth as a
man of superior natural endowments. He had im
bibed much of the spirit of Whitefield, and was
eminent for piety, zeal, and an earnest inculcation

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 79
of the doctrines of grace. An incredible story is
told about the strength of his voice. A family
living more than a mile from his meeting-house
said they could remain at home and hear the
sermon. Jonathan Ward, his son, a man of ability
and piety, succeeded him, and preached the strong
doctrines of the Bible with the utmost plainness.
Rev. James W. Ward, of Abington, was his son.
Rev. William Hayes Ward, D.D., one of the editors
of " The Independent," is his son. Here are four
generations of Wards who have been ministers of
the Gospel, beginning with Nathan Ward, who
went from this church to Plymouth, N.H., in 1765.
It is also the purpose of Mr. Herbert Ward, son of
Dr. William PI. Ward and husband of Elizabeth
Stuart Phelps Ward, to enter the ministry.
Rev. fonas Clark was ordained in Lexington
in 1755, and was the minister of that place for
fifty years. His sermons were filled with the most
interesting truths of the Gospel, presented with un
common fidelity, energy, and zeal. He wrote upon
an average fifty-six sermons, each of which was an
hour long, every year for fifty years. His voice in
preaching was powerful and agreeable, and when
excited by his subject, as he often was, it could be
heard far beyond the walls of the meeting-house.
In personal appearance he was dignified and com
manding. He had fine social qualities, and his
society was enjoyed by old and young, but he
never laid aside the dignity of a clergyman.

8o THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
Mr. Clark was an industrious and hard-working
farmer. The profits of his farm were needed for
the support of a large family, and for the main
tenance of that generous hospitality which to him
was both a duty and a pleasure. His salary was
eighty pounds a year, and twenty cords of wood.
In the time of the depreciation of the currency, he
found that the wood was worth more to him than
the money.
Three hundred and sixty-five persons were added
to the church during his ministry, upon the pro
fession of their faith.
This minister and farraer was also a statesman.
The resolutions and instructions given to the Rep
resentatives of Lexington, from time to time, and
still to be found upon the town records, are his
work. Edward Everett said of them, " They have
few equals and no superiors among the productions
of that class." With Mr. Clark patriotism was a
religious obligation. He did more, perhaps, than
any clergyman in his vicinity to prepare the public
mind for the revolutionary struggle. His career
illustrates the remark of the elder President Adams,
that " American independence was mainly due to
the clergy." He was an intimate friend of Samuel
Adams and John Hancock, who often visited him.
After the retreat of the British, on the meraorable
nineteenth of April, 1775, he visited the grounds
in front of the raeeting-house, and saw eight of his
beloved parishioners dead, and many wounded.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 8 1
On the previous Sabbath these men were in the
pews of that sanctuary, to learn from him how to
make patriotism a part of their religion.
Four of Mr. Clark's daughters were married to
clergymen, one of them to Dr. William Harris,
President of Columbia College, New York, and one
to Rev. Henry Ware, PloUis Professor of Divinity
in Harvard College. Mrs. Ware was the mother
of Rev. William Ware, and of Rev. Plenry Ware,
Jr., the ininister of the Second Church in Boston,
and afterwards Professor of Pulpit Eloquence and
Pastoral Care in the Divinity School of Harvard.
Rev. Ephraim Ward was ordained in 177 1 in
Brookfield. He was the son of our deacon Eph
raim Ward, and was baptized here in his infancy.
His ordination sermon was preached by Rev.
Jason Haven, of Dedham, a brother of Mr. Ward's
mother. One of Mr. Ward's predecessors in
Brookfield was Rev. Thomas Cheney, whose wife
was a daughter of Mr. Cotton, the third pastor of
this church. In 1770 Mr. Ward supplied the pulpit
of the Old South Church in Boston six Sabbaths.
His preaching was plain, practical, and evangelical,
and he saw not a year pass away without additions
to his church. In the forty-seven years of his
ministry he received three hundred and seventy-
eight persons. He was of an exceedingly mild and
amiable disposition, and by his great kindness and
affability he won the affection of all who knew
him. He had a peculiar talent for cultivating

82 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
peace. The sermon which was preached at his
funeral says : " The harmony of the church and
society, under his rainistry for so long a period and
under raany trying circumstances, is probably with
out a parallel;" and then adds, "ye are witnesses,
and God also, how holily, justly, and unblamably
he behaved himself among you that believe. His
example is remembered almost with veneration."
Near the close of Mr. Ward's ministry. Rev.
Eliakim Phelps, the father of Professor Austin
Phelps, D.D., of Andover, was associated with him
as colleague. Mr. Phelps introduced new measures,
such as a third service on the Sabbath, a Wednes
day evening meeting, and the missionary concert.
New life was infused into the church, and a revival
followed, in which many were gathered in. Mr.
Ward, instead of being jealous of these changes, as
some men would have been, was pleased with
them, and rejoiced in the saving results which at
tended them. A letter frora Professor Phelps says :
" My father used to speak of Mr. Ward as a model
colleague. This is the raore to Mr. Ward's credit,
because ray father, though one of the most genial
of men, was a very positive believer, and he liked
to have his own way as well as most men, and
withal he was an innovator. He thought Mr.
Ward's amiable qualities led him to a less pro
nounced hostility to the Unitarian defection than
the times deraanded. The sundering of old ecclesi
astical ties and attachments was painful to him.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 83
This opinion is to be estimated in connection with
the fact that my father's syrapathies were very
uncompromising with the ancient faith." Mr.
Ward published several sermons.
Rev. Increase Sum,ner Davis, who joined this
church in 182 1, is a remarkable example of what
can be done by an uneducated minister when his
whole heart is in his work. At the age of twenty
he began to study for the ministry, but finding that
he could not endure a sedentary life he abandoned
his purpose. At the time of the revival here in
the fall of 1826 and in 1827, he spent most of his
tiiTie in visiting from house to house and in attend
ing meetings. In 1827 the church in Brighton was
forraed, and at the earnest request of the Brighton
people he joined them, and was chosen deacon.
His success there in bringing souls to Christ led
him to feel that he must enter the ministry. He
studied for a tirae with Dr. Homer, but study was
a weariness to him, and he wanted to be in active
service. Dr. Homer proposed Dorchester, N.H.,
as a good luissionary field. He went there in
November, 1827, without invitation or any pros
pect of pecuniary remuneration, and began visiting
from house to house and holding meetings in the
evenings. A work of grace commenced at once,
and a good number were converted. In a few
months a church was organized, and before the
year was out a meeting-house was built. After
about three years he began to divide his labors

84 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
between the Dorchester church and a church
which he had helped to form in the adjoining town
of Wentworth. In Wentworth a revival soon
began, which continued two years, in which about
one hundred souls were hopefully converted, and
sixty were added to the church. Two other re
vivals followed this, in which thirty or forty raore
were received. After 1840 his labors for sixteen
years were divided between Wentworth and Pier-
mont, places twelve railes apart. In Pierraont he
saw three revivals, in which one hundred and forty-
one were added to the church. In i860, at the
earnest request of his two sons, he left New Eng
land for the south-western part of Iowa, where he
continued his ministerial labors four or five years,
until his death, in the sixty-eighth year of his age.
Mr. Davis was a man of great physical strength,
activity, and power of endurance. He could take
a walk of twelve or fifteen railes before breakfast
over the high hills of New Harapshire, and call it
pleasant exercise. When his preaching places
were distant he went to thera on foot. On one of
his walks, in Piermont, he met a man who had been
drinking, and who carae up to hira and challenged
him to a trial of strength. Mr. Davis tried to avoid
him, but the man persisted. " Let me alone," said
Mr. Davis, " or you will find that you have caught
a full-grown raan." But the raan would not let
him alone, and the result was that he was soon
lying on his back in the snow with his head

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 85
plunged into a snow-bank, where he was held till
he promised to be peaceable, and begged to be
released. On being suffered to get up, he wiped
the snow from his face and muttered, " You are a
full-grown man, anyway."
In Iowa, when far advanced in life, it was a
common thing for him to walk a dozen miles to
preach, and he never failed on account of stormy
weather. To visit the sick or attend funerals he
frequently walked twenty-five or thirty miles. An
Iowa paper in 1863 said: " Father Davis was at the
General Conference at Des Moines, having come
on foot a distance of eighty railes, and expected to
return in the same manner."
Mr. Davis's sermons were not written, and they
had not the variety which we expect frora a man
of more education; but he had deep piety, great
earnestness, a strong will, natural fluency of speech,
a remarkable gift in prayer, and the power of
securing the respect and confidence of all who
knew him. His preaching was a proclamation, in
the plainest and most pungent manner, of the great
doctrines and duties of revelation, and his aim was
to save those who heard him. He was the raeans
of the salvation of hundreds of souls.
After his death a coramemorative discourse was
preached by Rev. Dr. Silas McKean, of Bradford,
Vt., in the churches of Wentworth and Piermont,
at the request of Mr. Davis's friends in those towns,
and by appointment, and in the presence of the

86 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
Orange Association. From that discourse most of
the facts which I have given were gathered.
Rev. James M. Bacon joined this church in
1833. He had a yearning desire to preach the
Gospel, but had not health to pursue a college
course. After three years at Andover Academy,
and as many with Rev. Dr. Ide, of Medway, he
began his ministry in Littleton, and continued it in
Araesbury, Essex, and Ashby. He was always in
feeble health, but it filled hira with joy that he
could preach the Gospel at all. There was no
feebleness in his preaching. The warmth of his
spirit aroused his energies of body and mind, and
his preaching was with power. One man, not
evangelical in sentiment, said he would go a mile
to hear Mr. Bacon pray. He was a raan of deep
and earnest piety, an ardent teraperaraent, an affec
tionate nature, and an unswerving loyalty to Christ
and his truth. He took a deep interest in the
young, and was always on the watch for young
men fit to enter the ministry. Four men are in the
ministry now as the result in part, at least, of his
influence: Rev. Edward Norton, Rev. George
Hardy, Rev. Dr. David O. Mears, and Rev. Dr.
Michael Burnham.'
' The memory of Mr. Bacon is most affectionately cherished by these
ministers. " I shall never forget," says one of them, now pastor of a large
church, " an evening in Mr. Bacon's study during the revival of 1858, his wise
counsels, his prayer, and the dawning of light in my soul. I became very much
attached to him, and think he loved me as his own son. For more than a year
he never ceased to urge me to turn my mind toward the ministry. I was poor.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 87
Mr. Bacon was one of the truest of patriots.
He abhorred slavery, and taught his people to
abhor it. During the War of the Rebellion the
patriotism of his people was animated by his
glowing words. There was never a flag-raising
without a speech frora him. Patriotic processions
stopped at his door for words of cheer, and when
the Lord's day came he sent their thoughts up to
the hills from whence cometh help.
The people for whom he wore out his life will
not forget his ineekness and humility, his sincerity
and truth, the devotion in which he never spared
himself, his fervent, importunate prayers, or his
enthusiastic labors. His Essex people were blessed
with a powerful revival in 1858, in which about fifty
persons were added to the church.
Rev. Edward P. Kingsbury united with this
church in 1858. Desiring to serve his country in
the War of the Rebellion, he enlisted and went into
camp. The officers of his regiment seeing the
state of his health dissuaded him from his purpose,
and how could I do it? I was proud and did not want to be helped. But
Mr. Bacon had a brother, Mr. Joseph N. Bacon, who had means and a very
gracious way of helping young men. The interest he took in me was like that
of a father. He promised to stand by me all through my course of preparation .
So heartily was this done that I did not dare say no, God had so signally
opened the way for me. Dear, generous friend, how much I owe to him ! "
This brother of Mr. Bacon was a member of this church, having joined it in
1832. Another of these ministers, pastor of a large church, says : " A brighter light
than that of the sun seems to shine upon the Essex meeting-house when I
think of the labors of Mr. and Mrs. Bacon."

88 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
and he sorrowfully returned home. A few years
later he turned his thoughts toward the ministry.
After a course of study at Bangor Theological
Seminary, he was settled at Dunstable in Novem
ber, 1869, closed his labors there in March, 187 1,
and died in two weeks from that time. His people
in Dunstable say that a marked degree of interest
attended his labors there, and that he was beloved
by all. Frora infancy he had breathed the atraos-
phere of piety in his father's house; he came early
into the church, and was, to the close of his brief
life, a faithful follower of Him who said, " I raust
work the works of Him that sent me, while it is
day." Rev. Calvin Park, D.D., professor in Brown
University, and father of Professor Park, was bap
tized by Dr. Horaer in 1782. His brother, Thomas
Park, LL.D., professor in Columbia College, S.C.,
was baptized at the same time.
General William Hull, who joined this church
in 1783, at the age of thirty, was grandfather of the
late Rev. James Freeman Clarke, D.D., of Boston.
A good number of the members of this church
have been ministers' wives.
Sarah Eliot of Windsor, Conn., granddaughter
of the first minister of our church, was married to
Rev. Joshua Eaton of Spencer, Mass., and was
great-grandmother to Henry C. Bowen, Esq., the
present proprietor of " The Independent."
Mary Hobart, third daughter of Rev. Nehemiah

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 89
Hobart, was married to Rev. Eleazer Williams, of
Mansfield, Conn., son of Rev. John Williams, " the
redeemed captive." Her daughter Sarah was
married to Rev. Hobart Estabrook. Her daugh
ter Mary was married to Rev. Dr. Richard Salter,
of Mansfield. Her granddaughter Eunice Conant
was married to Rev. John Storrs, of Southold,
L.I., and was the mother of Rev. Richard Salter
Storrs, of Longmeadow, who was the father of
Rev. Dr. Storrs, of Braintree, and the grand
father of Rev. Dr. Storrs, of Brooklyn, N.Y.^
Abigail Hobart, fourth daughter of Rev.
Nehemiah Hobart, was married to Rev. John
Fisk, of Killingly, Conn. Her daughter Elizabeth
was married to Rev. Joseph Torrey, of Kensing
ton, R.I., and from her daughter Hannah are
descended Judge Robert R. Bishop, of this church,
and the late Dr. Joseph Torrey, President of the
University of Vermont.^

' Jackson's History gives the name of Eleazer Williams, of Newton, as
the husband of Mary Hobart, and says that he removed to Mansfield, Conn.
This is evidently an error. Not only do Sprague and Allen and Hon. George
Sheldon the historian of Deerfield say that Mary Hobart was married to
Rev. Eleazer, son of Rev. John, of Deerfield, but the town records of Mans
field, where Mr. Williams lived from 1710 to 1742, say that "Rev. Eleazer
Williams and Mary Hobart, daughter of Rev. Nehemiah Hobart, of Newton,
Mass., were married July 4, 1711." Besides this, the town records of Mans
field do not show the name of any other Eleazer Williams than the minister of
the place, nor do the church records.
' The late Dr. Henry J. Ripley, professor in the Theological Institution in
this place, one of the most saintly of men, said that the Hobarts and Ripleys
were living in Hingham after 1638, and intermarried; that the name of
Hobart had been held in honor by the Ripley family down to the present day,
his youngest sister having received it as her middle name.

90 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
Mary Cotton, Anna Cotton, and Martha Cotton,
daughters of the third minister of our church, were
married, the first to Rev. Thomas Cheney, of
Brookfield, the second to Rev. Samuel Cook, of
Cambridge, and the third was the mother of Rev.
Dr. Nathaniel Thayer, of Lancaster, and the grand
mother of Nathaniel Thayer, a munificent patron
of Harvard College.
Abigail Williams, Elisabeth Williams, and
Judith Williams, half-sisters of Col. Ephraim
Williams, the founder of Williams College, and
granddaughters of our deacon Isaac Williams, were
married to ministers: Judith to Rev. Ezra Thayer,
of Ware River, Elisabeth to Rev. Dr. Stephen
West, of Stockbridge, and Abigail to Rev. John
Sergeant, the devoted missionary to the Housa-
tonic Indians. Dr. West preached more than
sixty years in one place to an audience of un-
coraraon intelligence. He was intiraate with
Hopkins, Bellamy, Spring, and Emmons. Mrs.
Sergeant had a son who carried on the missionary
work of his father for sixty years. She had a
daughter who was married to Col. Mark Hopkins,
and who was grandmother of Dr. Mark Hopkins,
the late President of Williams College, and of
Professor Albert Hopkins. Mrs. Sergeant, after
the death of her husband, was married to Gen.
Joseph Dwight, and had a daughter who became
the wife of Hon. Theodore Sedgwick, judge of
the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, and the

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 91
mother of Miss Catherine Maria Sedgwick. Mrs.
Dwight was a woman of fine talents and acquire
ments, of dignified manners, and of elevated Chris
tian character. When teaching Indian girls she
corresponded extensively with persons eminent for
learning and piety on both sides of the Atlantic.^
Other of the descendants of Deacon Isaac Wil
liams are Mrs. Professor B. B. Edwards, of
Andover, Mrs. E. W. Blatchford, wife of the Vice-
President of our Board of Foreign Missions, and
Mrs. E. S. Mead, President of Mount Plolyoke
Seminary and College.
The Williams family is like a vine that sends
out its branches in every direction, thick with
clusters, and the quality of raany of the clusters is
like that of the grapes of Eshcol.
Mrs. Anna Hammond Pope, already mentioned,
was great-grandmother to Rev. Charles W. Park,
missionary to India, and nephew of Professor
Park. Her daughter married Rev. Roswell Shurt-
leff, D.D., professor in Dartmouth College.
Eliza Thayer, who joined the church in 1816,
' A friendship existed between Madame Dwight and the family of Mr.
John Morton, a New York merchant whose daughter. Miss Eliza Susan
Morton, became the wife of President Josiah Quincy. Miss Morton wrote
the following account of the personal appearance of this excellent lady :
"When Madame Dwight visited New York in 1786, she was between sixty
and seventy years of age; tall, straight, composed, and rather formal and
precise, yet so benevolent and pleasing that every one loved her. Her dress
was always very handsome, generally dark-colored silk. She always wore a
watch, which in those days was a distinction. Her head-dress was a high cap
with plaited borders, tied under the chin. Everything about her distinguished
her as a gentlewoman, and inspired respect and commanded attention."

92 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
was the wife of Rev. Marshall Shedd, of Acton,
and the mother of Professor William G. T. Shedd,
D.D., LL.D., of New York. Professor Shedd
says, " My mother died when I was twelve years
old. The impress which she made upon me in
those twelve years was greater than that made by
any other huraan being, or than all other human
beings collectively."
Nancy Cook, sister of Deacon Asa Cook, was
the wife of Rev. Increase Sumner Davis.
Marian Jackson, daughter of Deacon William
Jackson, was the wife of Rev. Dr. Lyman Gilbert,
a brilliant and accomplished woman and a most
efficient helper to her husband in church and
parish, a woman of more than ordinary strength
of character. Her older sister, a VYoman of un
common depth of intellect and piety, one who
knew the secret of abiding peace with God,
was the wife, first, of Mayor Davis, of Boston,
brother of Rev. Increase S. Davis, and afterward
of Lewis Tappan, Esq., an erainent leader in
the abolition raovement. She joined this church
in 1822.
Mrs. Maria Woodward Bacon, wife of Rev.
James M. Bacon, joined this church in 1832, at
the age of eleven. The faith that was in her, like
that of Timothy, dwelt first in her ancestors. The
house in which she was born had been the home
of the Woodward family through five generations.
Her father was deacon in this church, as her grand-

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 93
father had been, and her great-grandfather. More
than one hundred and fifty years old was that
ancestral family altar at which in childhood she
was taught to w^orship. After she had joined
the church she started a girls' prayer meeting at
her father's house. As soon as she was old enough
she took a class in the Sunday-school, upon each
member of which her influence was brought to
bear by letter writing and by personal interviews.
After her marriage she was an invaluable helper
to her husband in his work as a rainister. Her
domestic arrangements were such that she could
give much tirae to church work, and there was
scarcely any form of Christian activity appropriate
for her in which she did not engage, whether in
parish visitation, or in the benevolent and patriotic
work of the church, or in mothers' meetings, or in
plans for interesting the children, or in attention to
the spiritual wants of those who inquired the way
of salvation. She had a class of forty or fifty
little children in the Sunday-school. Her habits
of secret devotion were remarkable. Not less
than two or three hours a day were given to
religious reading, meditation, and prayer. By
nature she was gentle and amiable. Her manner
was quiet, and she spoke in a low voice; but she
had that strength of character which comes from
habitual loyalty to conscience, and that influence
over others which is gained by a life of consistent
piety. She was like a tree planted by the rivers

94 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
of water, whose leaf does not wither, and whose
fruit does not fail.
The ministers and ministers' wives now living
who have srone out from this church are the
following: —
Rev. James Atwood Bates, Rev. Dr. Gilbert R.
Brackett, Rev. Charles A. Kingsbury, Rev. Frank
D. Sargent, Rev. James A. Towle, professor
in Iowa College, Rev. Erastus Blakeslee, Rev.
John Barstow, Mrs. Rev. Dr. D. T. Fiske, Mrs.
Professor E. Y. Hincks, Mrs. Harriet Childs
Mead, missionary in Turkey, Mrs. Charles F.
Roper, formerly missionary in Southern Georgia,
and Mrs. H. P. Dewey. We have also another
missionary. Miss Sarah L. Smith, in Micronesia.
Mr. Bates and Mr. Barstow were not raembers
of this church, but their parents were, and they
were baptized here, — Mr. Bates in 1832, and Mr.
Barstow in 1857. Both are sons of ministers.
Mr. Bates is a son of a former pastor of this
church, and went to Ceylon as a missionary, fol
lowing in the steps of Harriet Newell, who was
sister to his mother.
You have noticed how nobly connected some
of the ministers of our church have been. Mr.
Cotton was gfreat-crrandson of the man for whom
Boston was named, because he came from Boston
in England. Mr. Hobart was uncle to Dorothy
Hobart, the mother of David Brainerd, one of the
holiest men that ever lived. Mr. Eliot's first wife.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 95
Sarah Willet, had a sister Mary, who was the wife
of a son of Thomas Plooker, and grandmother of
Mrs. President Edwards; so that Mrs. Eliot was
great-aunt to Mrs. Edwards. Mr. Eliot's widow
married Col. Edmund Quincy, father of Judge
Edmund Quincy, who was the great-grandfather of
Josiah Quincy, President of Harvard College. It
is enough to say of Mr. Eliot that he was a son of
the Apostle Eliot, but his brother Joseph, of Guil
ford, had a son Jared who was a remarkable man.
He was the rainister of Killing-worth, Conn., where
he never omitted preaching on the Lord's day for
forty years. He delighted in the gospel of God's
grace to perishing sinners, and yet he was a physi
cian, a philosopher, a linguist, a mineralogist, a
botanist, and a scientific agriculturist. He knew
so much about diseases and their treatment that he
was more extensively consulted than any physician
in New England. Being on the main road frora
New York to Boston, he was visited by raany
gentlemen of distinction. He was a personal
friend and correspondent of Bishop Berkeley. Dr.
Franklin always called upon him when passing
through the town. This man was nephew to
Rev. John Eliot, Jr., and he once preached in this
place. The record of the town of Newton for patriot
ism in the French and Indian wars and in the war
of the Revolution is a noble one. The church
shares this honor with the town.

96 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
Capt. Thomas Prentice, by his bold and rapid
movements as commander of a troop of horse,
made his narae a terror to the hostile Indians.
John Druce was in Captain Prentice's corapany in
the war with Philip in 1675 and fell near Mount
Hope. Capt. Noah Wiswall, son of Elder Thomas
Wiswall, fell in a long and obstinate engagement
with the French and Indians in 1690, at a place
which is now Lee, N.H., near Dover. All these
men were original members of this church in
1664. Other men must have served in those early
wars whose names have been lost.
Col. Benjamin Hammond was in the battles of
Concord and Lexington. Capt. Amariah Fuller,
who commanded one of the Newton companies in
those battles, was admitted to this church at the age
of seventy-one. Phineas Cook, commander of the
Minute Men, joined the church soon after the
war. For some reason he was not with his men
at Concord and Lexington, and they were led by
that brave and impetuous soldier, Michael Jackson.
Colonel Jackson was received into the church at
his own house in 1802 during his last sickness. He
belonged to a patriotic family, and had nobly fought
and bled for his country's independence. He had
Jive brothers and five sons with him in the army.
Captain Cook was probably in the battle of Bunker
Hill. Four of the men whose names are in our
list of deacons were soldiers of the Revolution, —
John Woodward, David Stone, Jonas Stone, and

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 97
Ebenezer Woodward. Joseph Ward, father of
2o\. Joseph Ward, was made deacon in the West
;hurch. General Hull entered the array at Cam-
aridge as captain, and was afterwards major and
ieutenant-colonel. Plis services through the war
were constant and valuable. Col. Joseph Ward
served his country ably with sword and pen. He
distinguished himself at Bunker Plill. Near the
close of the war he received the thanks of General
Washington for patriotic zeal and fidelity on all
occasions. Many of the men who enlisted for service were
past the age for military duty. Some were so
much over fifty at the beginning of the war that
they must have been sixty or raore at its close.
Thomas Beals was fifty-eight at the beginning,
William Clark fifty-nine, Thomas Miller sixty-two,
Benjamin Eddy sixty-eight, Joseph Ward sixty-
nine, and Ebenezer Parker seventy-three. It is
not probable that the severer duties of army life
were put upon such men as these; but there were
ways in which they could serve their country in its
time of need, and this they did. Besides the men
already mentioned as soldiers of the Revolution,
the following names should be added, and they are
^iven in the order in which they appear on the
:hurch roll : Joseph Jackson, Samuel Jackson,
[onathan Williams, Gideon Park, Isaac Williams,
[oshua Jackson, Norman Clarke, Timothy Jackson,
Samuel Hyde, Edward Jackson, John Kenrick,

98 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
Samuel Woodward, Joseph Craft, Norman Clarke,
Jr., Ebenezer Seager, Abram Fuller, Joshua Ham
mond, John Stone, Solomon Robbins, William
Bowles, John Eddy, Noah Hyde, John Murdock,
Aaron Murdock, Joshua Murdock, Daniel Hyde,
John Ward, Phineas Robbins, Daniel Fuller, John
Rogers, John Thwing, James Stone, Benjamin
Eddy, Joshua Flagg, William Hammond, William
Hyde, Samuel Murdock, Joseph White, Edmund
Trowbridge, Samuel Ward.
Here are the names of fifty-seven men, forty of
whom were members of the church at the time of
the war, and seventeen joined it afterward. The
total number of male members of the church at the
beginning of the war was seventy-eight. More
than half of them performed military duty. This
shows how heavy a draft was made upon the popu
lation of the country to fill the ranks of the army.
The population was small, and every able-bodied
man of suitable age was needed in the struggle for
independence. In the War of the Rebellion the
population was so great that though the arraies
were immense in size, the proportion of enlisted
men was much sraaller. Only nine of the members
of this church were in the Union army, and three of
these were not raembers at the tirae of the war, but
became such afterward. Their names are Col.
I. F. Kingsbury, Sergt.-Major Charles Ward,
Capt. George F. Brackett, Major Ambrose Ban
croft, Roger S. Kingsbury, Edward A. Ellis, John

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 99
E. Towle, Capt. Joseph E. Cousens, and William
H. Daly.
Edward P. Kingsbury enlisted and went into
camp, but was compelled by ill health to return
home. He had done his best to appear sound and
strong in the hope that he might be accepted. His
brother Frank cried because his father would not
allow him to be a soldier.
Capt. George F. Brackett enlisted under the
very first call for troops that was issued by Presi
dent Lincoln. He was in the first battle of Bull
Run. After this he was six months in the navy.
Then for three years he was captain of a company
of colored men, whose respect and affection he en
joyed, and in whose soldier-like qualities and apt
ness for military discipline he took much pride.
After the war he was commander for two years of
the Army Post in this city, for which he raised a
fund of nearly three thousand dollars. He died in
1876, having suffered much from chills and fever
contracted in the trying climate of Louisiana. He
was generous, kind, self-forgetting, public-spirited,
courteous, with a quick sense of fitness and pro
priety, and mindful on all occasions of what was
due to those around him. When he saw that death
was near he showed the calmness of one who felt
that he had a sure hiding-place in the clefts of the
Rock of Ages. He had been an active and con
sistent Christian. From the beginning of his mar
ried life till he came to his dying bed he had

lOO THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
maintained family prayer in his household, with the
reading of the Scriptures, daily, morning and even
ing. He wrought Scripture texts in beautiful
letters with his own hand, framed them, and hung
them on the wails of his house. One of these,
which hung where he could see it as he lay on his
bed, was, " I know that my Redeemer liveth."
These were probably the last words he ever read
on earth, and we believe that now, because his
Redeemer lives, he lives also.
Roger S. Kingsbury enlisted very early in the
war and was in several of the great battles. On
the second day of the battle of Gettysburg he was
so severely wounded that he could not return to the
ranks. He died in seven years from that time. In
a letter to his pastor while in the army he said, " I
spend ray Sabbaths reading the Bible, and on com
munion Sabbaths •! read about the sufferings and
death of Christ, and think of you all at home sitting
at the Lord's table. We have some good Christians
in our company, Franklin Kingsbury, Charles
Ward, George Nichols, and others, and we some
times meet in one of the tents to read and sing."
This shows how our soldiers kept their religion
alive while in camp. Roger Kingsbury was loyal
to the flag, and loyal to the Captain of his salva
tion. In July, 1862, Charles Ward, who was almost
ready to enter college, having the ministry in view,
said to his older brothers, " One of us ought to go

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. lOI
to the war, and I am the one, for I have no family."
When they reminded him of his ill health, he said,
"I will ask the doctor;" and though he got no en
couragement from the doctor, he said, " I believe it
is my duty to go." His friends said to hira,
''• Charles, if you enlist for three years you will
never come back." His only reply was, " I do not
expect to come back." When the family found
that he was talking about duty, they said one to an
other, "It is of no use. If Charles thinks it is his
duty to go, go he will, and we cannot hinder him."
On the evening of his enlistment he said, " We
hear the call of our country summoning us to her
defence in the hour of peril. Is there a life too
precious to be sacrificed in such a cause? I do not
feel that mine is. I rejoice that I am permitted to
go and fight in her defence. Had not our fathers
been willing to do this, what would have been our
condition to-day? I have come here to enrol my
name as a soldier of ray country, and I hope I am
ready to die for her if need be." He bade farewell
to home, called at his pastor's house for a season of
prayer, and went on to join the army. For a time
he was detailed as clerk at division headquarters,
but as soon as the call to arms was heard he dropped
his pen for his place in the ranks, saying, " I can
not sit here writing when my company is going
into battle." This was the battle of Chancellors-
ville, in which he fought bravely with his comrades.
In a letter home he said, " I feel now that I am in

I02 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
the way of my duty, and I am as happy as I can be.
I never enjoyed life better, not because army life is
easy, for it is not, and nothing but duty to my
country would have brought me here."
His moral and religious character nobly stood
the test of army life. He was as little affected by
its demoralizing influences as the three Hebrews
were by the fury of Nebuchadnezzar's furnace,
when they came forth from it without the smell of
fire upon them. The whiskey that was furnished to
the soldiers as a tonic he would neither drink nor
commute for other rations. He regularly took it
and poured it on the ground. After he had re
ceived his fatal wound, artifice was resorted to by
the surgeon to induce him to take brandy. He de
tected the presence of the brandy and would not
drink. His religious influence was felt in the soldiers'
prayer meetings and in his habitual use of his
Bible. In a letter home he said, " I thought of
leaving my Bible in my knapsack when on a five
days' march and taking only my Psalms and hymns,
but mother gave me the Bible and I could not
leave it." His calm unwavering courage in battle
or in prospect of a battle was a tonic to the whole
regiment. Every man in it knew that he had given
his life to the cause of his country, and that he stood
ready to complete the sacrifice whenever his duty
as a soldier required it. The last words he spoke
to us before leaving home to join the army were

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 103
spoken at a farewell meeting for soldiers on the
evening of the last Sunday in July, 1862. "I do
not think," said he, " that our going to the war is
making so great a sacrifice, for if we lose our lives,
it will be gain to us; we shall be with Christ the
sooner." At Gettysburg, on the very crest of the
wave of that gigantic war, he laid down his life.
In a charge across an open field under a deadly
fire, a bullet pierced his lungs and he fell. He
lived several days after this, and was left in a barn
with other wounded soldiers. One of them said,
" I am sorry I ever enlisted." Charles, overhearing
him, said, "I do not feel so, I am glad I came; this
is what I expected." He sent loving messages
home to his friends, and said to them, " Death has
no fears for rae, ray hope is still firm in Jesus."
Such was the death, in his twenty-second year, of a
Christian soldier, a man who gave his life first to
God, and then to his country. An officer of his
regiment said of hira, " A pattern of goodness and
worth, he became endeared to all, so refined and
cultivated, even amidst the rough usages of camp
life, a necessity to the regiment." Fitly the Army
Post of this city bears his name. He was the only
member of our church that was killed in battle.
Grafton H. Ward, Theodore L. Brackett, and
Stephen L. Nichols, not members of the church,
nobly gave their lives; and so did George H. Nich
ols, one of our young men, but belonging to another
church. Seth Cousens and probably others have

I04 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
died in consequence of the war. All our soldiers
offered their lives and were exposed to the perils
of a soldier's life. If this was done for Christ's
sake, and for the principles embodied in such a
government as ours, the life they offered will end
in the life everlasting, for " he that loseth his life
for my sake," said our Lord, " shall find it."
William H. Ward, brother of Charles, might
properly be counted among the soldiers from this
church, for here was the home of his boyhood, and
this was the church he first joined.
The present pastor of this church. Rev. Theo
dore J. Holraes, presented a noble example to the
young men of his congregation in East Hartford,
Conn., when he enlisted as a private. He was not
allowed to serve in that capacity, but was appointed
chaplain. To recapitulate some of the statements already
made, our church has supplied for the service of
the country, in wars early and late, seventy men,
and it is believed that in the French and Indian
wars there were soldiers whose names have been
lost. Twenty-two ministers have gone out from us,
seventeen ministers' wives, and one young woman
unmarried, as a missionary. Twenty-five descend
ants of these ministers and ministers' wives have
been ministers, and twenty-one have been minis
ters' wives. No doubt the number is greater
than this, but these have been counted. Two of

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 105
the ministers stayed forty years each in one place,
one forty-six years, one forty-seven, two fifty, one
fifty-three, one fifty-five, and the husband of one of
the wives sixty years. We have then a total of
eighty-six persons who have been engaged in
ministerial or missionary service; namely, forty-
seven ministers (of whom five were missionaries),
thirty-eight wives of ministers (of whom three
were missionaries), and one missionary unmarried.
A large number of eminent men have either
been members of this church or descendants of
merabers. First of all should be mentioned our
own deacon Isaac Williams, ancestor of a long line
of distinguished men. His son William, of Hat
field, his grandsons, Solomon, of Lebanon, Conn.,
Elisha, President of Yale College, and Colonel
Ephraim, founder of Williams College, and his
great-grandsons, Eliphalet, of East Hartford, Conn.,
and William, of Lebanon, Conn., a meraber of
Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Inde
pendence, are conspicuous representatives of this
notable family. Rev. Dr. Joseph Buckminster, his
son Rev. Joseph Stephens Buckminster, Judge
Theodore Sedgwick, his daughter Catharine Maria
Sedgwick, President Mark Hopkins, and Professor
Albert Hopkins, Mrs. Professor B. B. Edwards,
Mrs. E. W. Blatchford, and Mrs. E. S. Mead,
President of Mount Holyoke Seminary and Col
lege, are descendants still further down the line.
Jonas Clark, of Lexington, minister, patriot,

Io6 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
Statesman, and his grandson, Henry Ware, Jr.,
professor in Harvard Divinity School, were emi
nent men.
Joseph Park, of Westerly, R.I., had a Sunday-
school in his church thirty years before the time of
Robert Raikes. Thomas Park, LL.D., was pro
fessor in Columbia College, South Carolina. Rev.
Calvin Park, D.D., was professor in Brown Uni
versity. His son Edwards A. Park, D.D., LL.D.,
has been editor of the Bibliotheca Sacra forty
years, professor in Andover Theological Seminary
forty-five years, a preacher and author sixty years,
and is still preparing works for the press.
From John Eliot, Jr., the first minister of our
church, descended his son Judge John Eliot, and
from him Henry C. Bowen, Esq. From his widow
by a second marriage was descended Josiah
Quincy, LL.D., President of Harvard College.
From Mr. Hobart, the second minister of our
church, have descended Rev. Dr. R. S. Storrs, of
Braintree, his son Rev. R. S. Storrs, D.D., LL.D.,
of Brooklyn, N.Y., Dr. Joseph Torrey, President
of the University of Vermont, and Judge Robert
R. Bishop, of this place.
From Mr. Cotton, our third minister, were de
scended Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Thayer and his son
by the same name, patron of Harvard College.
Other descendants of members of this church
are Rev. Dr. James Freeman Clarke, Rev. Dr.
William Hayes Ward, and Professor William G. T.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 107
Shedd, D.D., LL.D., a prolific author, and the
greatest master of the Augustinian theology in
our land.
William Jackson, pioneer in temperance and
anti-slavery, father of railroads, raember of Con
gress as an anti-Mason, a pillar in the church,
zealous in all good works, was a member of this
church from 18 14 to 1845.
Included in this enumeration are three judges,
two members of Congress, uncounted authors, four
college professors, three professors in theological
seminaries, and five college presidents. What
opportunities for usefulness do such positions as
these afford, and what sense of security we have
when the right men fill thera! Those who are
called to instruct and guide the young in the forra-
ing period of their lives are sitting at the very
fountains of influence. They direct the thinking
of the tirae, for they teach those who are to be
the thinkers. If all our colleges and schools were
provided with such teachers as those whose names
have just been mentioned, we might almost say
that society would be safe in their hands. John
Wesley when a young man declined a curacy that
he might spend ten years at Oxford. If he had
taken a pulpit he felt that he should purify only
one particular stream; therefore he went to the
University that he might "sweeten the fountain."
It is exceedingly gratifying to us to find in how
many ways the church that we love has been of

I08 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
service to the interests of mankind, through minis
ters and missionaries and teachers and presidents,
and gifts of money, through the lives of men and
women who, like Moses on the Mount, had
power with God in prayer, and through the lives
of men who, like Joshua, when the life of the
nation was threatened, could go out and fight
against her enemies. It is simply amazing to see
in how many directions the influence of a single
local church may go out, and how its agencies
for making disciples and for edifying the body of
Christ may extend and multiply in successive
generations, when the children of ministers, their
grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and de
scendants still more remote, are found perpetuating
the work of their ancestors and keeping alive the
fragrance of their name. This is a kind of fruit
which it is the peculiar privilege of an ancient
church like ours to gather up. Is it not also the
privilege of a country church in distinction from a
city church ? Churches which are remote from the
excitements, the diversions, and the frivolities which
are incident to city life furnish by far the larger
proportion of the men who stand in the pulpits of
the land, and exert a controlling influence upon
society, as well as of those who carry the Gospel to
the ends of the earth. Establish a local church
where one is needed either in country or city, and
you open a fountain of living waters which may
flow on to the end of time. Its work goes on

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. I09
quietly, but constantly, like the flowing of a gentle
river, in sermons, and prayer meetings, and Sunday-
schools, in pastoral visitation and in benevolent
contributions; and sometimes we are cast down in
spirit because there are no more visible results.
But God has said, "My word shall not return to
me void; it shall prosper in the thing whereto I
sent it." This is always true, and when we look
through long periods of time we see it. " Every
thing lives whithersoever the river cometh."
An ancient church is often a mother of churches.
As the banyan tree in the East sends down shoots
from its branches to take root in the earth and
become the stems and trunks of new trees, so this
church sent down a shoot into the soil of the West
Parish in 1781, and a new tree sprang up there.
In 1845 it sent one down on the spot where Eliot
Church now stands, and what a banyan tree is
there! Another was dropped at Newtonville in
1858, and another at Newton Highlands in 1872,
and the trees all flourish, and their prosperity is our
joy. The work of the scores of ministers who have
gone out into the world tracing their roots back to
this hallowed spot sends back its benediction upon
us and fills us with thanksgiving. For " so is the
kingdom of God as if a man should cast seed upon
the earth; and should sleep and rise night and day,
and the seed should spring up and grow he ktioweth
not how. The earth beareth fruit of herself" under
the smile of God, and so does a local church. It is

IIO THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
an institution filled with unspeakable blessing to
all within its reach. Continually, in one way and
another, often in ways that we do not observe, and
in ways that we never shall know in this world, it
is bringing forth fruit unto God.
If this church through its long history has been
a blessing to others, it has been a blessing to this
particular locality. Sound doctrine and true re
ligion bring with them everything that is desirable
in human society. We love the city where we
dwell, we enjoy its good name and its fair fame
among the cities and towns of our commonwealth.
If society among us is established upon right
principles, and if the character and conduct of the
people are such as to adorn those principles, — if all
this is true in an eminent degree, as we think it is,
we are largely indebted for it to those who have
gone before us, and especially to the early minis
ters. Their faithful preaching and godly living
were the foundation on which society was built.
They formed the channel which shaped the direc
tion of the stream that has been flowing ever since.
Their spirit is in the air, and it has been breathed
by every successive generation, and it is in great
measure because of this that the lines have fallen
to us in such pleasant places and that we have so
goodly a heritage.
I. In view of the notice which we have now
taken of the history of our beloved church, one

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. I I I
obvious reflection is upon the connection which the
church has had at several points with missionary
work. Our first pastor was a missionary to the
Indians, a co-laborer with his apostolic father.
Mr. Hobart was related to David Brainerd, one of
the most devoted missionaries that the world has
seen. Abigail Williams, granddaughter of our
deacon Isaac Williaras, married Rev. John Ser
geant, a missionary to the Housatonic Indians, and
left a son who spent his life in the same work.
Rev. Joseph Park was a missionary to the Indians
and English in Westerly, R.I. Williams College,
the place where the foreign missionary work of
the American churches was prayed into existence,
was founded by a Newton raan, grandson of Deacon
Isaac Williaras. Ancestors of Dr. Mark Hopkins
and of Dr. R. S. Storrs, two presidents of our
foreign missionary board, went out from this
church, one a Williams and the other a Hobart.
The first president of the American Missionary
Association was a deacon in this church. Rev.
Increase Sumner Davis was a home missionary
working a neglected field in northern New Hamp
shire into fruitfulness. Surely this church should
be a friend and supporter of missions. If it is not,
we are not walking in the steps of our fathers, or
following the suggestions of our own history. The
work of the American Missionary Association
should be dear to us for William Jackson's sake,
and we should be moved as he was by the oppres-

112 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
sion of the poor and the sighing of the needy.
That association seeks the welfare not only of the
colored people of the South, but of Chinese and
Indians, — the forraer the victims of legislation dis
graceful to a Christian government, and the latter
the objects of compassion to Eliot and Brainerd
and John Sergeant and his son and Joseph Park,
but perfidiously treated by this government from
first to last. This church should not only be for
salvation to the ends of the earth, but for righteous
ness here at home, that righteousness and salvation
may spring up together. It is not enough for us to
have sent Harriet N. Childs to Central Turkey,
and Bertha Robertson to southern Georgia, and
Sarah L. Smith to Micronesia. We should pray
the Lord of the harvest that he will send still more
of our beloved youth into his plenteous harvest,
bright as the dew of the morning in the beauty of
their consecration.
2. Another refiection is upon the attention
which the ministers of former days bestowed upon
the young. In the year 1727 in many towns young
raen set up meetings for religious exercises on the
evenings of the Lord's day. Such meetings were
held here, and Mr. Cotton delivered four sermons
on the text " Run, speak to this young man."
In the revival of 1741 scores of children and
young people called upon their minister from week
to week for religious conversation. While this in
terest was going on three children of Mr. John

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. I I3
Park died within the space of two weeks after very
brief illness, one of them eighteen years old, an
other sixteen, and another ten. These deaths pro
duced such an effect upon the young that the scores
who had called upon the minister were increased
to hundreds, and Mr. Cotton states that more than
three hundred had been with him expressing a
serious concern about the salvation of their souls.
This is really a most astonishing instance of deep
and wide-spread interest in religion among the
young. We think we are doing more for the
young than was ever done before, but who of us
ever saw anything like this? Who of us ever
heard of a place before, no larger than this, where
three hundred and more of the children and youth
of the place were calling upon their minister to
know what they must do to be saved? The young
came from surrounding towns to attend the meet
ings here, and in one instance at least, Mr. Cotton
made a special address to them. He gave his
hearers revival news from other places. " I have
received letters," said he, " from Lebanon and
Hebron in Connecticut giving an account of raany
children, only ten or twelve years old, who seem
to be enlightened and to talk with a surprising free
dom and confidence concerning Christ and the
things of God." Now it is impossible for such a
wave of religious interest to roll over this place
without leaving ineffaceable marks of itself. Ac
cordingly when, forty years after that, Dr. Homer

114 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
came here, what does he say in his letter accepting
his call? "I have noticed," said he, "the diligent
and solemn attention of the people, and especially
of the youth, of this place, to the public services
of religion, in which I have seldom, if ever, found
them equalled elsewhere. This is a circumstance
of my call which I cannot resist, and would prefer
to every other possible consideration." The re
vival of 1827, in which seventy-one persons united
with the church, began among the children in
the Sunday-school. Mr. Bates took a deep in
terest in the Sunday-school. A very active and
intelligent member of this church, Mrs. S. G. Ash-
ton, who was here frora 1858 to 1872, said that she
had belonged to quite a number of churches in
different places, but had never lived in a place
where the children came along into the church so
naturally on arriving at a certain age, as in this
place. Who can tell how much we are indebted
to those who have gone before us for such a state
of things ? Verily the wave did not expend itself
in Mr. Cotton's time or in Dr. Homer's time, for it
beats upon that part of the shore of time where we
now stand.
3. Among the revivals which have blessed our
church, that of 1827 is remarkable as showing
what can be done by a few earnest laymen when
religion is low and when the minister is not the
man to be the means of reviving- it. Dr. Homer
was growing old, he was absorbed in the study of

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. II5
the English versions of the Bible, and he had not
the faculty for conducting a revival, even if one
were in progress. In four years, only four persons
had been received into the church upon confession
of faith, and one of those was a woman in the
ninety-eighth year of her age. During this period
William Jackson had spoken of the good state of
feeling in the church. Perhaps his hopeful and
enthusiastic spirit made it seem better than it was.
Such a spirit is contagious, and he found not only
his brothers Woodward, Davis, and Cook, but
raany others, in full sympathy with him. His
labors for the spiritual welfare of this church can
be related in his own words. In March, 1820, after
a residence of several years in Boston he returned
to Newton. "The change," said he, "was a de
lightful one in all that pertained to my heart and
my growth in grace. I went, in fact, directly into
my Master's vineyard. The day but one after
going to Newton, I met a handful of Christians at a
monthly concert in Father Homer's parlor. In
crease S. Davis, Capt. Asa Cook, and myself met
each other that day for the first time, all three of us
having just then moved into the parish. Brother
Woodward made the fourth. Four brothers in
deed! Together in the Sunday-school, together in
the prayer meeting, and together in every other
good work which our hands and hearts found to do.
In these good works we continued with one heart
and one soul until the fall of 1827, when God

Il6 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
opened the windows of heaven and poured us
out such a blessing that we had hardly room to
receive it, and sure I am that none of us knew what
to do with it or how to behave under it. From
1820 to 1826 a gradual change had been percepti
ble in the life and action of church merabers. An
excellent spirit prevailed. Prayer meetings and
other religious meetings were increasingly interest
ing and well attended. The Sunday-school and
other organizations in the church were prosperous.
Father Homer ceased his exchanges with Unita
rians, a child was adopted in Ceylon bearing the
name of Dr. Homer, and another in the Choctaw
mission bearing that of Mrs. Homer, and the church
merabers of both sexes labored and loved to labor
in season and out of season for Christ and the wel
fare of souls; and when the fall and winter of 1827
came, we were visited and blessed with such a
revival as had never before been experienced in
Newton. In this work for four or five years I
spent a great deal of time very pleasantly, and very
profitably both for myself and family. Four of my
children were among the converts, and several other
members of my household. It was the happiest
year that I have ever experienced. Notwithstand
ing I gave my mind and very much of my time to
this work, to an extent in fact which lookers on,
Christians even, would have thought and probably
did pronounce ruinous to my business, yet when I
carae to take an account of stock the following

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. II7
June, I found that it had been the most profitable
year of my life, that I had never before laid up
more money in one year.
"This blessed revival continued with more or less
strength until 1834, when more than two hundred
members had been added to our church. The
members of the church, young and old, seemed all
to love to pray and to labor, and found their chief
happiness in doing their Master's will."
This account from Deacon Jackson's pen, written
for the benefit of his children, and at their request,
. is a very valuable contribution to the history of the
revival of 1827. We might almost call it the dea
cons' revival. When Dr. Homer ceased his ex
changes with Unitarian ministers there is evidence
that he did it in part, at least, through Deacon Jack
son's influence. Deacon Jackson had been a Uni
tarian himself, and an admirer of Channing, but
when he changed his views the change was com
plete and decided, and he did not wish to hear any
longer from the pulpit of his own church, doctrines
which he had rejected as unscriptural. He said to
Dr. Homer, " There is need of a great deal of work
here, and we ought not to tax you at your time of
life; if you please I will call in some outside help."
Dr. Homer had such confidence in his deacon that
he allowed him to do whatever he pleased. Ac
cordingly Rev. Jonathan S. Green, who afterward
went to the Sandwich Islands as a missionary, la
bored here some months, and after him Rev. Isaac

Il8 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
R. Barber. Deacon Jackson's house was their
home most of the time, and their labors were di
vided between this church and the West Newton
church. Extra meetings were held in neighbor
hoods, all of which were attended, and many of
them conducted, by the tireless deacon.^ When he
says he spent a great deal of time in church work
for four or five years he refers to this, and to his
going about the parish in company with Mr. Green
or Mr. Barber, to introduce them to the families,
and to converse and pray with inquirers, and to in
terest as many as possible in the subject of their
salvation. He also spent much time visiting the
sick and the afflicted. He knew what affliction
was. When his first wife died, at the age of thirty,
he heard a knock at the door of his heart which he
well understood. He threw open the door, and a
guest entered who was ever after his Lord and
King. He wanted every troubled and distressed
person to know the Man of sorrows, and he loved to
fall upon his knees with them and commit their case
to him. He wanted all to submit to''him as he had
done, and nothing made him happier than to find
some inquirer after the truth who was willing to bow
the knee with him in prayer. This was his favorite
means for bringing souls to Christ. He had not
many words to say to them, and what he said was
' Saturday evening meetings were held at his own house. " This carpet
will be ruined," said his wife, "by so many muddy boots." — "Never mind,"
said he, " wait till the roads are dry and you shall have the handsomest carpet
there is in Boston."

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. II 9
said in a quick and tender manner; but he had much
to say to God about them, and with them. When
engaged upon any matter of business, he could con
centrate his attention upon it so as not to be dis
turbed by conversation or anything that was going on
about him. It was the same when he was engaged
in prayer. His whole heart and soul seemed to be
in the words that he was speaking, and he poured
out his desires with almost as little reserve as if no
one else were present but himself and the Being
whom he addressed. Such was the fervor and in
tensity of his spirit that neighborhood meetings
conducted by him were full, even if it was known
that he was going to read, as he sometimes did, a
printed sermon.
Dr. Lyman Gilbert said that when he came to
Newton in 1828 he found three marked men in it, —
Elijah F. Woodward, Joel Fuller, of West Newton,
and William Jackson, all of them deacons. After
the last of the three died he planned a sermon with
reference to thera on the text, " These things did
these three mighty men; " but as he left town soon
after, the sermon was not finished. In describing
their prayers he imagined a union meeting in the
little low building in which the prayer meetings of
our church were formerly held. "If there is to be
a meeting of that kind," said he, " they are sure to
be there. The Spirit of God is with us in power.
Our meeting is in progress. Woodward prays,
and we feel that the Lord is fulfilling his promise

I20 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
and is come right down into that room, and Wood
ward in his low, soft, humble, childlike voice is
telling him all our feelings and all our desires.
Now Fuller prays, and the roof of our building is
lifted, a door is opened in heaven, the throne of
God appears, the angels are ascending and descend
ing, and we bow in reverence and awe before the
Sovereign of the universe. Anon Jackson prays;
walls and roof vanish, we are rapt to the third
heaven and are pouring out our hearts in love and
faith and hope and joy before the great loving
Father above."
It is easy to see that with such men as these
piercing the skies with their petitions, and doing
what they could in the use of means to bring about
an answer to their prayers, this place should have
been visited with a revival which was like rain
upon the mown grass and like showers that water
the earth.
4. The history of our church shows that the
m,inisters of former times preached with much
fulness the doctrine of future retribution. They
felt it to be not only a duty but a necessity: a
duty, because God says to the watchman, " Thou
shalt hear the word at my mouth and warn them
from me;" a necessity, because men are deceived
in thinking that their case will be easier under the
Gospel even if they do not accept it, than it would
have been under the law; whereas Mr. Hobart
says that the threatenings of the Gospel are inex-

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 121
pressibly more dreadful than those of the law, and
that in the day of judgment it will be more tolerable
for Sodom and Gomorrah which trampled the law
under foot, than it will be for Capernaum which
rejected the Gospel. Mr. Cotton says, " If you do
not feel pain and distress, you never will call upon
God as you should; " and he sought in his preaching
to produce this pain and distress by telling his
people the whole truth about future retribution.
But he did it kindly and tenderly and with tears in
his voice, as every preacher should.
Mr. Cotton at the close of one of his sermons to
the young made a very powerful appeal to fear.
"Your souls," said he, "may perish, and the guilt
of blood will lie upon us. If we preach only
smooth things to you and do not set the terrors of
the Lord and his wrath before you, and let you
hear but little or nothing of a damnation that slum
bers not, we shall dreadfully hazard the salvation
of our own souls, and your blood may be required
at our hands. How awfully tremendous it will be
if occasion should be given to any of you hereafter
to say, I might have escaped these torments I now
must forever feel if I had been faithfully warned of
my danger. I had little or no warning either from
my parents or ministers of the danger of coming
into such a place of torment, nor were there
proper motives and arguments used with me to
work upon my hopes or upon my fears. Oh that
I had been more earnestly persuaded to fly from

122 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
this wrath! My soul is lost, 'tis lost and undone
forever, because I was not faithfully dealt with by
those who were sent of God to counsel and warn
rae. Oh that you had been more earnest with me!
You knew the devil was doing all he could to ruin
me, and you saw rae going down to these cham
bers of death. Alas, that you did not warn me
again and again that I might not come to this
dreadful place! Finally, if the word we speak to
you becomes a savor of death unto death, and we
are a means of aggravating your condemnation,
how grievous to your ministers and parents this is.
Why will you then so grieve and break our hearts ?
Why will you thus requite us for all our care and
pains for the salvation of your precious souls?
But I must have done speaking to you, but how
loth am I to leave speaking until I have prevailed
with you to become the children of God. God is
m}- record how greatly I long after you all in the
bowels of Jesus Christ. O Alraighty Spirit of
grace, do thou come down and breathe upon our
children and young people! Make the calls that
have been given to them effectual, and thy free and
sovereign grace shall have the praise of it."
This kind of preaching was very effective. Gil
bert Tennent preached in this way here in 1741,
and Dr. Homer thinks that the revival of that year
in this place began with his preaching. White-
field preached in this way, and the fact that he was
invited here twice, once in the time of Mr. Cotton

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 1 23
and once in the time of Mr. Meriam, shows that
both the church and its ministers believed in such
preaching. But, of course, retribution was not the only
thing that these men preached. As Mr. Hobart
said, God warned Noah that a flood was coming
in order to move him to build an ark, and so, said
he, we warn men of future retribution that we may
move them to fly to Christ for safety. Retribution
and vicarious atonement were preached both to
gether. Christ had borne the curse of the law for
us, and the law was a schoolmaster to bring us to
him. The preacher with his views of Christ as an
Almighty Saviour and friend of sinners, a hiding
place from the wind and a covert from the tempest,
could calm every fear, and let in the light of hope
upon the darkest shades of despair, wherever there
was true sorrow for sin.
Hence I remark in conclusion,
5. Their views of Christ as an all-sufficient
Saviour prepared them for the bed of death, and
enabled them to triumph over the last enemy. It
gave them not only the calmness of faith but the
victory of faith in that solemn hour when they
heard God saying unto them, " This day thou shalt
pass over Jordan." This truth was illustrated in
the precious words spoken by Mr. Eliot in the
closing hours of his life.
It being said to him, " Sir, your crown is even
ready for you;" to which he answered, "My

124 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
crown is ready: Christ hath been a great while
preparing a mansion for me, to which I am now
going. Oh, what a solemn thing it is to appear
before Jesus Christ, who shall be the judge of all
the world! who appeared to John in the Revela
tion with eyes as a flame of fire and his feet of
fine brass; yet as he took John by his right hand
and not by his left, so will he take me by my
right hand and not by my left, and present me
before the Father, and the Father will receive me,
and the Son, the mediator of the covenant, will
receive me, and the Holy Ghost will receive me,
even rae, a worm, that lie here spitting^ in such a
condition, when yet Christ will kiss me with the
kisses of his mouth, and I shall kiss hira and not
be despised. Oh, wonder of mercy! that Christ
should love such a worm as I ara, that can love
him but a little, yet do love him with all my soul.
Oh, what a wonder of mercy, that this little soul
of mine should enjoy such blessedness, that am so
unworthy of it! I could put myself under a dung
hill, I am so vile in myself; yet in the robes of my
Saviour, those glorious robes of Christ's righteous
ness, how beautiful! how comely! how glorious!
Glory! Glory! Glory! and if I had strength, I could
even do as Abraham did, fall upon my face, and
laugh in sense of Christ's love to me; and blessed
be God, I have done it many a time in my study;
many a time have I fallen upon my face in sense
' This word refers to the hemorrhage from his lungs.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.

^25

of Christ's love to me; many a time have I supped
with Christ in my study, and many a time hath
Christ supped with me there, and as Paul said,
thanks be to God, who always gives us cause to
triumph in Christ, in him I do triumph and will
triumph, though vile in myself; yet as Christ saith,
I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore
with loving kindness have I drawn thee; therefore
as Christ saith, look to me and be saved all ye of
the earth; and I do look to hira, and shall be
saved. And these things have I preached, accord
ing to the narrowness that words could express,
and some have received them, and I have heard it
from them, and others have done as they have
done." His mother said to him, " You have enjoyed too
much of heaven here to live long here; you are
now going to your brother Samuel, and to your
dear wife;" and he answered, "Oh, to my dear
Saviour! to my dear Saviour! and I shall go to the
old patriarchs, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I
shall go to the spirits of just men made perfect,
and have communion with them, though I know
not in what way and manner."^
These are the " penetrating things " which
Cotton Mather said could come from none but
one on the borders and confines of eternal glory.
Here was a knowledge of the love that passeth
knowledge, a man filled with the fulness of God,
' Congregational Quarterly, Vol. VII. p. 194.

126 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
a young man with the brightest prospects be
fore hira in this world, loved and admired by all
who knew hira, actually exulting in the knowledge
that he should so soon be in glory with One whom
he loved with all his soul. As old. John Trapp
says, " He goes gallantly into heaven with sails
and flags up and trumpets sounding."
Truly the Lord has loved this church. When
it was weak and small, he loved it, and gave it a
pastor after his own heart, one whose name was
John, and who, like the beloved John, reclined
upon the bosom of Jesus.
What a legacy of blessing to this church through
all its generations have been the piety and devotion
of its early rainisters and members! They did not
live unto themselves nor die unto themselves. As
God blessed Israel for Abraham's sake, so has he
blessed this church for the fathers' sake. He kept
it true to the faith when waves of error were dash
ing around it, and he has made it a fountain from
which streams of gracious influence have gone
forth in every direction.
Let us go forward with the work which the
fathers began. We are entered into their labors.
They laid the foundation, which is Jesus Christ;
we build upon it. If what we build is as fair and
comely as the foundation is strong, then the day
will come when we all shall rejoice together.
Gratefully we look back over the long stretch of
time since the fathers fell asleep. Goodness and

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 1 27
mercy have followed us hitherto, and surely
goodness and mercy shall follow us to the end.
Hitherto hath the Lord helped us, and he will help
us in the future, for Zion is engraven upon the palms
of his hands. By the services of this day we raise
our grateful memorial to his praise, and say, O
God of our fathers, send thy blessing upon this
clear church in the future as thou hast in the past,
and still more abundantly, like the dew of Hermon
and like the dew that descended upon the moun
tains of Zion, and here may the Lord coraraand his
blessing, even life forevermore.

SUNDAY-SCHOOL ANNIVERSARY
EXERCISES.

SUNDAY-SCHOOL ANNIVERSARY
EXERCISES.

The exercises of the ':Sunday-school, in connection with
the Two Hundred and Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Church,
were held on the afternoon of Sunda}', October 6, at 3 P.M.,
in the church. Former superintendents sat upon an elevated
platform in front of the pulpit, the school occupying pews in
the main body of the house, the younger children in the front
seats. The exercises were simple in their character, consist
ing of singing, prayer, responsive readings, and addresses by
Rev. William H. Cobb and Rev. George M. Boynton, D.D.,
both of Newton Centre. There was also a paper on the
"History of the Sunday-school," read by the Superintendent,
Samuel Ward, which had been prepared at the request of the
teachers, by Mrs. E. G. A. Lane. A pleasant feature of
the occasion was the following " Historical Catechism," the
questions being put by the Superintendent, and the answers
given bj' the children of the primary departinent and some of
the younger children from the main school, specially trained
for the occasion.
I. What is the name of our church.? First Church, Newton.
2. When was it formed.'' 1664.
3. How many years ago.? Two hundred and twenty-five.
4. With how many members.? Eighty.
5. Newton was at that time a part of what town.? Cam
bridge.
6. What was it then called.? Cambridge Village.
7. Afterward what.? New Cambridge.
8. The name was subsequently changed from New Cam
bridge to New what.? New Town and then Newton.

132 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
9. Where was the first meeting-house built.? In the old
burying-ground, Centre Street.
10. The second meeting-house.? On the other side of the
street, near where the house of Mrs. Gardner Colby
now stands.
II. The third.? On the spot where we are now gathered.
12. The fourth.? On the same spot.
13. Our present meeting-house, the fifth, which has been
twice enlarged, was built in what year.? 1S47.
14. In the two hundred and twenty-five years how many
pastors has this church had.? Nine.
15. What was the name of the first pastor.? John Eliot, Jr.
16. What relation to John Eliot, the "Apostle to the In
dians ".? His son.
17. What was the name of the second pastor.? Nehemiah
Hobart.
18. The third.? John Cotton.
19. The fourth.? Jonas Meriam.
20. The fifth .? Jonathan Homer.
21. How many years was he pastor.? Fifty-seven.
22. What was the naine of the sixth pastor.? James Bates.
23. The seventh.? William Bushnell.
24. The eighth.? Daniel L. Furber.
25. The ninth.? Theodore J. Holmes.
26. How many of these pastors are still living? Two.
27. How manj' buried in the old burying-ground.? Five.
28. When was the Sunday-school started.? 1816.
29. How many years ago ? Seventy-three.
30. Where.? In a little red school-house on Homer Street.
31. By whom.? ISIiss Mary Clark.
32. With how many scholars.? About twenty.
33. Who was the first superintendent.? Deacon Elijah Wood
ward.
34. For how many years.? Nearly thirty.
35. How many superintendents since then .? Sixteen.
36. What is the grand object of this Sunday-school, church,
and organizations connected therewith.? The glory of
God and the welfare of men.

SUNDAY-SCHOOL EXERCISES. 1 33

ADDRESS OF REV. W. H. COBB, NEWTON CENTRE.
I am desired to speak ten minutes in answer to the question,
" What did young people and children do before Sunday-
schools were known.? " They studied the Assembly's Shorter
Catechism. Here is one that is eighty-three years old. Here
is another one that looks a good deal newer, but only because
it has been newly bound. It was published in 1765, and is
forty-one years older than the other. You cannot always
judge a book, an}' more than a child, by the outside ap
pearance. It is called " Shorter," because there was one that
was longer ; but the children thought it was long enough
before they mastered its one hundred and seven questions and
answers. Several of the answers are longer than the one
which I will read to you: "The sinfulness of that estate
whereinto man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam's first sin,
the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his
whole nature, which is commonly called Original Sin, to
gether with all actual transgressions which proceed from it."
I don't wonder that a little girl said one time, " Mother, this
catechism is too hard for me ; there ought to be a kittychism
for little children." Well, there was ; it was called the New
England Primer. Here it is. " Who was the first man.? " —
"Adam." — " Who was the first woman.?" — "Eve." Here
are pictures that some of you have probably seen. One of them
shows our first parents standing by the tree, with a serpent
coiled around it. " In Adam's fall, we sinned all." The
pictures go on to tell us that " The idle fool Is whipped at
school." " Peter denied His Lord and cried." " Zac-che-us,
he Did climb the tree. Our Lord to see."
It was a very great change when Sunday-schools were
established, — a great change for the better. I don't believe
¦with those who say that things used to be better in the old times,
and that children were better brought up then than they are
now. I don't believe they used to behave any better. I have
in my hand a little book of reminiscences that speaks of those
times. They used to have a tithing-man who went up and
down the aisles keeping children still. They went to church,

134 "^HE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
to be sure, but they had to have a man to keep them in order.
Between the services of the morning and afternoon the
meeting-house was anything but quiet, and was treated any
way but reverently. This book speaks of the galleries, long,
uncarpeted stairs leading up to them ; and of what a noise
there was from the children constantly racing up and down.
The upper galleries were invaded by children who went there
to eat their dinners, and made great confusion, in spite of the
warning glances of their mothers and older sisters below. I
suppose those mothers and sisters accused the fathers and
brothers of gossiping in the horse-sheds outside. " The seats
of the pews were hinged, and they were raised up at prayer-
time, when the people stood, so that raising them and letting
them fall increased the racket." The writer of this book was
very glad when Sunday-schools were established, for that had
a tendency to lessen the confusion.
I was talking yesterday with a man from Andover, who is
sorry he cannot be here to-day. He remembers the old white
horse of Deacon Woodward, and the children racing about in
the square pews. I thought this might be the very church the
writer had in mind, that was so much benefited by the in
troduction of the Sunday-school.
In the days of the Jews, children had something like a Sun
day-school, only not quite the same. You can read about it
in the eighth chapter of Ezra. It shows that there is nothing
new under the sun. If you should ask where young people
went in the evening, in the olden times of this church, I should
say that they went to a Young People's Society of Christian
Endeavor. They didn't call it by that name, but it was
almost the same thing. Nearly two hundred years ago in
Boston there was a society called "The Young Men's
Society." Young ladies went ; but they did not take a
prominent part, as they do now. They had a covenant to
watch over each other carefully. They agreed to take reproofs
kindly. Once in two months they had a meeting entirely de
voted to prayer for the conversion of the young. Once in
three months the\' had something like our consecration
meeting. Such a societ}' was founded in this church in 1727. Rev.

SUNDAY-SCHOOL EXERCISES. I35
John Cotton preached a sermon to the young people at the
time, and every three months following during the first year.
These four sermons were printed in a book. I had it in my
hand yesterday. It belongs in a collection of books that no
one is allowed to take from the Boston Public Library ex
cept for binding and repairs. It was printed, according to
the title-page, in " Boston, N. E. by Gamaliel Rogers near the
Mill Bridge, for John Phillipps at the Stationers Arms the
next shop to Mr. Dolbear's Brasier, by the Town Dock,
1729." There is nothing amusing, I assure you, about the contents
of those discourses. I said that young women also attended
these societies. It is interesting to notice what Mr. Cotton says
with reference to them. In his second sermon, from the text,
" Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded," he says,
" It is likewise twice used in the directory for young women,
— verse 4, 'That they may teach the young women to be
sober,' and again in verse 5, ' That they may teach them to be
discreet.' So that it is the duty of young women to be sober
minded. And, therefore, I speak this to all the young people
here present."
There were also children present on these occasions. At the
close of the first sermon he said, "My dear children, if you
may be now or hereafter by the grace of God brought into
such resolutions for a holy life, by my ministry, you shall be
my joy and crown of rejoicing in the day of Christ's
appearing." And now let me close with a few words from the end of the
fourth sermon, showing how your pastoi's love you and long
for your salvation : " Oh, that I may have cause to say in the
day that is approaching, ' Here am I, Lord, and the children
which were begotten to me in my ministry.' "
ADDRESS OF REV. GEORGE M. BOYNTON, D.D., NEWTON
CENTRE.
I remember a few years ago, when I was pastor of a church
in New Jersey, the time came for our tenth anniversary, and
we thought that we were very old. I remember at that time
asking the Sunday-school scholars how many of them were

136 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
there at the beginning of the Sunday-school. Almost all of the
children between the ages of three and six years put up their
hands. I doubt ¦whether any of you would do that if I asked
how many of you were present at the beginning of this church,
or even of this Sunday-school.
Two hundred and twenty-five years ! That seems a long
time ago. You haven't got to be immensely old, any of you,
to be a quarter as old as I am. I am not a quarter as old as
this church, venerable as I look.
You have been looking and thinking backward. For this
closing moment I advise you to turn round and look forward.
Anniversary, you know, means turning around, — the turning
of the year. The year begins in January. The old idea was
that Janus, the Roman deity for whom the month was named,
had two faces, one looking forward and one looking back
ward ; if this is January for this church, we will turn round
and look forward and not backward any more. What ought
we to think about especially at just such a time as this.? There
are two thoughts that came to me as I had the privilege of
hearing the sermon this morning and its references to those
who have done good work in the past. (I felt that I loved
Deacon Woodward, of whom so many good things have been
said, and that I should like to see him. Some day, perhaps,
I shall. I should like to see his horse. I don't suppose I shall
do that. The horse seems to have been almost as good as the
deacon.) Our looking to the men of the past, whose memory
stands out in the history of this church, raises the question
how we can be sure that somebody will remember some good
thing about us. We can make that sure only by putting our
lives into good work, living as God meant us to live. God has
arranged this world so that people who do good shall be re
membered, — remembered lovingly, kindly, and gratefully.
Love those who think of j'ou now. Show them that you care
for them. Be loving, kindly, helpful to those about you. That
is the way to be remembered.
You remember that King David had one son who was a
very bad young man. He was very handsome ; he had long
hair, and was very proud of it. When he cut it in the spring,
he weighed it and told how many ounces of hair he grew, as

SUNDAY-SCHOOL EXERCISES. I37
though that was what a head was for. But he became proud.
He persuaded a portion of the people to follow him, and
attempted to take away the kingdom from his father. He built
a pillar for hiinself, so that the people should remember hiin.
They called it "Absalom's hand," — the thing that pointed
to Absalom. By and by he fought against his father to get
the kingdom for himself. His head was caught in the boughs
of an oak, the mule on which he rode went out from under
him and left him hanging there. By and by three arrows
were shot through his heart. Then men gave him a fitting
burial for one who had turned against his father. They put
him into a pit and covered it with stones. That was the
monument by which he was going to be remembered, the pile
of stones over the pit where he was buried. If we are going
to be remembered well, it must be by doing things that are
right, in accordance with God's will, for those things are going
to stand.
I was thinking, while I heard the names of the prominent
people in the church, who were well known, who occupied
conspicuous places, about the great multitude of those who
were members of the church and the Sunday-school, who were
not known very much. They did good faithfully in their places.
Although their names are not known here, they are written on
the roll of honor up there. God knows the names of the hum
ble, simple people who loved this church, just as well as he
knows the names of the ministers of Christ who were
privileged to stand up and preach the gospel before all the
people. A great deal better thing to ask about than how to be remem
bered well is, how we shall do something that shall last. The
question is not how we shall do something that shall be remem
bered, or that shall make us to be remembered, but what we
can do that shall itself endure. I will tell you. By building
our lives into God's kingdom. That is the only thing that is
going to last. We may put ourselves into the history of our
country, and this country is going to be remembered. We may
put ourselves into the hearts of our fellow-men. If we live
our lives so as to build up God's kingdom, our work will last.
By and by, when everything else is done away, and nothing

138 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
remains but the kingdom of God, our work, too, will remain,
because it has been built into that kingdom. If we would be
remembered well, it must be by doing something worthy of
being remembered. For, whatever our work may be, if we
would have it endure, we must build our lives into Christ's
kingdom. For the oldest and the youngest of us, I know no
better lesson that we can learn from this anniversary.
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY MRS. E. G. A. LANE.
Read hy the Superintendent.
Coleridge tells us that "Christianity is not a theory or
a speculation, but a life ; not a philosophy of life, but a
life and a living process." We have turned aside for a brief
season from our busy cares to commune with the life of the
past, as seen in this church and Sabbath-school, and " inquire
of the former age," that we may "prepare ourselves by the
search of the fathers " with an incentive to nobler work and a
richer growth. While we "remember the former things of
old," let us realize that w^e too in our turn are making the
history of to-day ; let us catch the clarion note of time which
calls us to the imperative duties of the present, for
" Future or Past no richer secret folds,
O friendless Present ! than thy bosom holds."
Seventy-three years ago, the first Sabbath-school in New
ton was commenced in this, the "First Parish," by Miss
Mary Clark, in the summer of 1816. At first she was the
only teacher, but was occasionally assisted by Mrs. Dr.
Homer, the pastor's wife, and shortly after was joined by
Miss A. Haven, then teacher of the district school in New
ton Centre ; and the next summer she and Miss S. Mitchell,
who resided in the vicinity, undertook to classify and teach
the girls attending the Sabbath-school, and were much en
couraged in their work by the growth of numbers and in
terest. The only male teachers vyho assisted them in the
earliest years were Deacon E. F. Woodward, who lived in
what is known as the old Woodward house, at what is now

SUNDAY-SCHOOL EXERCISES. 139
Newton Highlands, near the Eliot railroad station, and Hon.
William Jackson, who lived at Newton Corner, and who
taught the boys. The school was held in the old red school-
house, known as the " sand-bank school-house," which stood
on the triangular piece of land at the junction of what is now
Homer and Grafton streets. It was located on a steep, sandy
hill which has since been levelled, and as the children climbed
it every day to school, it became for some of them a " Hill
Difficulty " in more senses than one. For several years the
Sunday-school was held only in the summer, as was customary
among the few Sunday-schools which had already been
established in country parishes ; for a school for teaching
children on the Sabbath day was still a great innovation, — ^the
first one in the State, and possibly the first one in New Eng
land, having been started in i8io, in Beverly, followed by
the first one in Boston in 1812. So that the old First Church
of Newton was among the earliest to fall into line in seeking
for the best things of the Kingdom, — " And one did say I am
the Lord's ; and another did call himself by the name of
Jacob ; and another did subscribe with his hand unto the Lord
and surname himself with the name of Israel."
This Sabbath-school may be regarded as a " mother in
Israel," for other Sabbath-schools owe their existence to it.
The one connected with the Congregational Church, West
Newton, begun in 1819, did not receive encouragement at first
from their pastor, Father Greenough, as he regarded it as too
much of a " new departure," but said he " would see how the
thing w^orked in Brother Homer's church at the Centre," which,
having been started in 1816, was already three years old.
While the Sabbath-school is an " infant of days," as com
pared with the age of this ancient church, yet the good that
has been wrought out under its administration cannot be
reckoned for the abundance of its harvest. A celebrated
writer asserts: " An illusion haunts us that a long duration,
as a year, a decade, a century, is valuable ; but an old French
sentence says, ' God works in moments.' " And the most
ancient poem in the world tells us : " For we are but of yes
terday and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a
shadow."

140 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
Owing to the paucity of the church records, and the loss of
the only private manuscript which could have thrown any
light upon it, we have little or no data of the history of this
school at its inception ; we can only rely, therefore, upon the
personal reminiscences of some of its first pupils, who are still
with us, and from whose lips the following incidents have been
gleaned : —
Miss Hannah Loring entered the school the second Sunday
of its opening, in the summer of 1S16 ; her sister, Miss Mary,
entered the second year, with others who are still among us.
It was held directly after the morning service, as it is now,
and has been ever since, with the exception of six months in
1875, when the afternoon church-service having been given up,
it was held in its place. The only books used in the school
at the first were the Bible and Shorter Catechism. Miss
Clark always opened the school with praj'er, then each child
recited verses from the Bible, after which the teacher read a
chapter and closed with prayer. Later on they used the New
England Primer, and recited hymns which were taken princi
pally from Mrs. Barbauld's collection. In 1817, beside the
Bible and Catechism, " Cummings' Questions " were used, and
some of the older scholars studied "Watts on the Improve
ment of the Mind." His hymns also, under the head of
" Watts' Divine Songs for Children," were used in later years.
At the close of the school this year several Bibles and other
books were distributed, with cards or certificates as rewards of
merit, among the scholars. Miss Hannah Loring received a
Bible for learning the greatest number of verses during the
three months' session. She learned the first eight chapters of
St. John. The amount of Bible verses learned in those early
days and recited at one sitting was something incredible. One
scholar. Miss Emily Woodward, recited at one time 540 verses,
at another 400, at another 300 ; and one who received one of
the Bibles recited 560.
In the parish were a number of families who wanted their
children to go to the school, but were too poor to buy
clothing ; so Mrs. Loring, the mother of Miss Hannah and
Miss Mary, took her horse and went around with one of the
teachers soliciting money for clothes. They raised fifteen

SUNDAY-SCHOOL EXERCISES. 141
dollars, which was used for this purpose. Then the ladies
were afraid that if the garments were given to the children to
keep they would not last long, so they were kept at the school-
house, the children going for them Saturday afternoon and
returning them Monday morning. That plan did not work
well, however, the parents being dissatisfied ; and so the
clothing was given into their keeping. During the second
year a certain kind of reward of merit was given out, called
" medals." They were large cards, about the size of a cor
respondence card, on which was printed, " For good conduct
and good lessons." These were tied with bows of blue ribbon
and hung around the neck, to be worn conspicuously upon the
breast. They were never given to the children to keep, and
were only allowed to be worn that one Sabbath day, then re
turned to the teacher the following Sunday. An amusing in
cident occurred in connection with one of these. The children
of the Sabbath-school were expected to sit in the galleries,
each class by itself, headed by their teacher. Miss Hannah
and Miss Mary Loring had won these reward medals during
the nooning at the school, and wore them in pride around their
necks in the afternoon service. While sitting in the gallery,
they were very anxious that their father in his pew below
should know how they had been honored ; so they leaned for
ward and contrived to have their white medals hang over the
edge of the gallery rail. At last they succeeded in catching
their father's eye, but only to see him raise his right forefinger,
which he shook solemnl}' at them. On reaching home after
church he called them into a room alone with him, and told
them if they ever did such a thing in church again he would
surely punish them ; such was the strictness with which a
proper decorum was insisted upon from children in the house
of God.
For the first year or two the school had no superintendent ;
the number was small, probably not more than fifteen or
twenty in all. In 1817 there were only nine boys in the
school, two of whom were Otis Trowbridge, nine years old,
and Ebenezer Woodward, six years old. These two boys be
came the first deacons in Eliot Church, Newton. But as the
attendance increased, and the school grew to be no longer an

142 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
experiment, but a permanent service, it was thought best to
have a superintendent, and Deacon E. F. Woodward was called
to fill that position. Mr. William Jackson held a Bible class
for young men in the little vestry that stood where the horse-
sheds now stand, and Mr. Joseph Goddard and Mr. Increase
Sumner Davis joined the slim corps of male teachers. Deacon
Woodward continued superintendent until his death in 1846
(with the exception of one or two years, when his place was
filled by Deacon William Jackson), thus covering a period
of nearly thirty years.
From Dr. Smith's " History of Newton " we learn that Rev.
James Bates, who was pastor of this church from 1827 to
1839, '* ^^'"^ '•'-' have been the first to introduce singing into
the Sabbath-school. The " Boston Recorder," a newspaper of
that day, said he was unwearied in the care of the Sunday and
other schools ; and Newton owes much to his efficiency in con
nection with the Sabbath-school. There were no Sunday-
school singing-books, such as have since multiplied in the land,
and the children had to use the same psalm-tunes that were used
in the church. But Deacon Woodward was greatly interested
in having singing in the school, and he had some of the tunes
printed on sheets of paper and distributed among the scholars ;
while, busy farmer that he was, he would leave his work, even
in the midst of haying, and come to the church every week to
meet the children and teach them to sing. This good man
was also deacon of the church from June 11, 1815, till his
death, thus filling the offices of superintendent, deacon, and
leader of the choir for over thirty years.
This earnest Christian worker was ready to do the lowliest
work for the Master. Whatever was peculiarly hard, and
therefore neglected by others, he made his own personal care.
He labored in the Sabbath-school with poor " Tillo," the
colored footman of General Hull, trying with infinite patience to
open before him the way of salvation, that he might at least
taste a few crumbs of the bread of life. Thus he went on his
quiet way, — "In much patience, in labors more abundant,
as unknown and yet well known."
The Sunday-school continued to be held in the old school-
house some ten or fifteen years, till it was removed to the

SUNDAY-SCHOOL EXERCISES. 1 43
church, the vestry being too small to receive it, and from this
time its sessions were continued in the winter months as well
as the summer, the number of classes having largely increased.
The names of some of these early teachers have been handed
down to us, and are as follows : Miss Abagail Hall (Mason) ,
Miss Alice Everett, Miss Julia Whittemore (Bridges), Mrs.
Goddard, Miss Emeline Whittemore (Bridges), Miss Caroline
Bennett (  ), Miss Sarah Jackson (Tappan), Miss Susannah
Davenport ; and a little later were Miss Mary A. Childs,
Miss Mary Ann Hoyt, Miss Beulah Childs, Miss Marion
Jackson (Gilbert), Miss Clarissa Goodhue, Miss Lucretia
Jackson (Williams), Miss Elizabeth Bacon (Trowbridge),
Mrs. Beulah Bacon (Pulsifer), Miss Mary Randall, Miss E. C.
Stevens, Miss Hannah Jackson (Fuller), Miss Julia Cheney
(Cheney), Miss Mary Hyde (Bigelow), Miss Elizabeth Small-
wood (Sampson), Miss Ruth Goodhue (Bailey), Miss Mary
Ann Homer (Kingsbury), Miss Harriet Homer (Kingsbury),
Miss Mary Ann Goddard (Day) .
Among the later male teachers besides those already named
were Deacon Asa Cook, Messrs. Zuinglius Grover, Otis
Trowbridge, J. N. Bacon, Isaac, Benjamin, and Charles
Kingsbury, and R. W. Turner. Of the original founders of
this Sabbath-school, and of many of these workers for Christ
in his vineyard, we now know only the names as inscribed on
the roll of this church ; but we know them as " teachers of the
Gentiles in faith and verity ; " we may speak of their labors as
" ministries that never end ; " they were builders with God, —
workmen that needed not to be ashamed, — and of them it may
be said : " These are the former years ; these were the potters
and those that dwelt among plants and hedges ; there they
dwelt with the King for His work." They have passed on out
of our sight, but " are they not on the other side Jordan, by
the way where the sun goeth down .? " And if we could look
across, should we not see them still with the King, but " rest
ing from their labors, while their works do follow them."
The list of superintendents can be more accurately ascer
tained, and is as follows : Deacons Woodward and Jackson
were succeeded by R. W. Turner, Luther Paul, Bartholomew
Wood, John Ward, Albert Little, J. F. C. Hyde, I. F. Kings"

144 'THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
bury, Charles S. Davis, E. W. Noyes, Nelson Curtis, E. W.
Noyes (reelected), Reuel W. Waters, S. F. Wilkins, George P.
Davis, Rev. Charles A. Kingsbury, and the present superinten
dent, Samuel Ward. This, as far as known, is a complete list
of all the superintendents, in the order of their succession.
Of the attendance, there are no known records previous to
1828; and even after this date they are of the most meagre
character. It is a curious but interesting fact that the member
ship of the Bible class exceeded that of the whole school for
the first few years ; but it probably included all of the adult
portion, the children forming the remainder of the school.
The largest attendance during any one year was in 1877? when
the average was 181 for the year. The smallest was in 1854,
when the church was undergoing repairs, and the school met
in the Baptist church ; attendance, 62.
The additions to the church from the school have been con
tinuous and steadily increasing. At times of deep religious
interest there have been as many as thirty conversions in a
single winter.
Up to 1858 there was no primary department, and the school
all met in the church, and used a variety of question-books in
the different classes. The superintendent, Mr. Little, was very
anxious that the lessons should be uniform, and, in accordance
with a vote of the school, on October 3, 1858, one question-book
was adopted for all the school, except the three younger classes.
In June of the same year the youngest classes went into the
vestry, thus forming the nucleus around which our infant-school
has since gathered.
December 25, 1859, there was singing by the children, for
the first time at a Sabbath-school concert, with piano ac
companiment. Mrs. Little, the wife of the superintendent,
assisted at first by Miss Lee (now Mrs. Dr. Eben Tourjde),
and afterwards by Mr. Francis H. Kingsbury, met and taught
the children once a week, using the " Oriola." From Deacon
Little's private notes we glean the above and the following
facts : —
At one time Testaments were offered to those bringing in
new scholars ; but only two are reported as having been
presented. At another time Bibles were offered by Superin-

SUNDAY-SCHOOL EXERCISES. 145
tendent John Ward to all who would commit to memory the
" Assembly's Shorter Catechism," and a considerable num
ber were given to various boys and girls. At another time
" Father Cook," gate-keeper at the Boston and Albany sta
tion, and afterwards associated with the Pine Farm School,
offered two Bibles to those who committed the largest number
of Bible verses in three months, — one to the girls, the other
to the boys. Harriet S. Cousens and Harriet Kingsbury each
committed 1,500 verses; Samuel Ward, 1,050; and Charles
Turner, 1,004. ^^^' several years about this time there was a
custom prevailing of changing the session of the Sunday-
school on communion Sabbaths into a pra3'er-meeting for the
school, which was greatly blessed in its results.
Teachers' meetings were held at private houses after the
adoption of a uniform question-book ; but, after the introduc
tion of the International Series in 1872, they were held in the
vestry for a number of years, under the charge of Rev. Mr.
Whitney, who was succeeded, in 1877, ^Y Rev. A. E. Law
rence. The following year it was made a union teachers'
meeting, and held first in White's block, but subsequently
adjourned to the Baptist vestry, and conducted by Professor
Gould. During all these years the regular session of the Sunday-
school, either for Bible study or as a prayer- meeting, had
never been omitted, save with a single exception. That
was in January, 1879, when, after a stirring sermon by Dr.
Furber, on practical benevolence, school and congregation re
solved themselves into an impromptu committee of the whole,
and, in little less than an hour after Dr. Furber's presentation of
the subject, the church debt of $3,000 was all subscribed for,
thus lifting a load from the church which had become a heavy
burden. The history of this Sabbath-school would be in
complete without a reference to Mrs. Furber's Bible-class, and
Mrs. Ashton's work in the primary department as its superin
tendent and teacher. Mrs. Furber had for raany years the
largest Bible-class of ladies that has ever been gathered in this
school. Space would utterly fail to tell of her remarkable
work in that class, and its results. Some brief hints of it may
be found in Dr. Wellman's "Memorial" of her ; but the

146 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
narrative in its full details will only be found in that " Book of
Remembrance " which is kept of such lives and service as
hers. Neither can justice be done to Mrs. Ashton's work
in the primary department. From a feeble beginning she
brought it up to a large attendance of over sixty, with a corps
of efficient and well-trained teachers. No Sabbath passed
that she did not personally instruct the whole school. Her
influence was magnetic over the youngest and dullest there,
and her presence and cooperation were an inspiration and en
couragement to the superintendent of the large school. Truly,
"many daughters have done virtuously, but these excelled
them all."
This school has not been without representatives from its
ranks in the work of missions, both at home and in the foreign
field. We have only time for a passing glance at those who
have carried the standard of the Lord into the dark places of
the earth. Mrs. Harriet N. Childs (Mead), Miss AHce E.
Clarke, Mrs. Bertha Robertson (Roper), Miss Lena Linde-
mann, and Miss Sarah L. Smith. Of these, two are workers in
the foreign field ; the others have labored among the colored
people and the poor whites at the South, and the Indians in
Dakota. To the workers of to-day the history of this school seems
pregnant with divinest import. Our fellow-workmen have
gone on before, leaving in our hands this legacy of labor as
their mantle in departing, and showing us that, in striving for
happiness, we shall find that which is higher, — blessedness!
Cheering and pleasant as is this backward look into the past,
we may not sit down satisfied with what has already been ac
complished. Rather let it be an inspiration to us to " leave
the low-vaulted past," and build with care befitting our special
needs in the domain of to-day, for is not the promise still with
us that " the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of
the former"? If " Christianity is a life," it is also a growth,
a development, its force is cumulative, — we cannot rest in the
achievements that lie behind us. The fruits which nature so
lavishly brings to our autumnal garnering, the nuts, slow
dropping on the breezy hill, give no hint, no token, of other
fruitage that has ripened and fallen into the vintage of the

SUNDAY-SCHOOL EXERCISES. 147
past. Each renewed harvest is its own sweet miracle. This
of to-day is separate, individual, — is given of God for our
present opportunity; "to-day is a king in disguise." Let us
honor the least command of the Royal Visitant, for
" This passing moment is an edifice
Which the Omnipotent cannot rebuild."

NOTE.
The following are the teachers in the Sunday-school at the present time : —
Samuel Ward, Superintendent; Rev. William H. Cobb, S. C. Hunter, Miss
Alice Holmes, Mrs. George M. Boynton, James Cutler, Mrs. Eliza G.A.Lane,
Reuel W. Waters, Miss Mary P. Sylvester, D. S. Farnham, E. W. Noyes, George
Holmes, A. L. Harwood, J. M. E. Drake, Geo. P. Davis, Miss Sarah Plolmes,
Miss Annie C. Ward, Mrs. S. A. Sylvester, Miss Eva Ransom, Miss Lucy
Goodridge, S. F. Wilkins, Mrs. F. E. Banfield, Miss Emma Ransom, Langdon
.S. Ward. The primary department is in charge of Mrs. Samuel Ward.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE,
PREACHED ON SUNDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 6,

The Reverend Theodore J. Holmes,
Pastor of the Church.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.

DR. FURBER'S discourse this morning re
lated more particularly to the ministers of
our church in the past, — their doctrine, their
character as men, and the fruits of their work.
I am to-night to follow along the same general
line, but referring more especially to the meeting
houses of the past, and what has gathered about
them in the life of our church.
To help your patience, I will, without any pref
ace, begin at once at this point.
We would like a picture of our earliest meeting
house; but it was before the day of photographs,
and skill with the pencil or brush was less com
mon than now; some one, though, would have at
tempted a sketch could it have been realized how
much it would be prized in after generations. As
it is, we have to depend upon the representations
which we have of other meeting-houses of that
period. We have a drawing of the First Church in Bos
ton, which was built in 1632, — a plain, two-story
structure, with a thatched roof, looking very much
like a country barn.
The little old church in Salem, behind the Es-

152 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
sex Institute, the frame of which belonged to the
original building, erected in 1634, is an interesting
relic. Its barrenness is sufficiently puritanical.
Its size, 17 feet by 20, seems very small even for
that day when people were so few.
Almost as old is the venerable meeting-house
at Hingham, which stands to-day substantially as
it was built in 1681, the oldest church edifice in
use, it is said, on the continent.
In this we are surprised at its larger dimensions
and its more attractive architecture, which make it
suitable, even yet, as a place of worship.
An idea of the interior of these buildings is
given by several of the most ancient meeting
houses of Boston; as, Christ Church, in Salem
street, which is, in form, as it was built in 1723;
the Old South, erected in 1729, and King's Chapel,
in 1754.
As to the First Church of Newton, we know,
in general, that we have had five meeting-houses,
erected successively in 1660, 1698, 1721, 1805,
and 1847. The first was on the site indicated by
the monument in the old cemetery in Centre street;
the second, on the other side of the street, almost
directly opposite. The location of the third was
determined after considerable difficulty. In 17 13
the authorities of Newton appointed a committee
"To measure the town and find its centre and se
lect a place for the Meeting House." If the
people could not agree peaceably, they would

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 153
apply to the Honorable General Court to do it, and
abide by their decision. The result was the selec
tion of the site where this present church stands;
though as to its being exactly the centre, our
modern maps do not agree with the surveyors of
a century and a half ago.
Of the first two buildings little is known; but of
the third and fourth we may learn something, from
references to them in the town and parish rec
ords, in connection with what we know of other
communities of that day.
With regard to their seating arrangements, it
seems to be understood by those who have given
the matter most study that the facts were in gen
eral these: In the beginning, people sat on long
benches, to which, probably, they had been used
in England. After a time, certain individuals re
quested and were allowed the privilege of building
pews at their own expense, for their private use,
upon which they paid a yearly rental. For example,
in 1752 the town voted "That Henry Gibbs Esq.,
have liberty to Build A Pew in the south West
Corner of the Meeting House, where the Boys
sects are and that he Enjoy it during the Town's
Pleasure, paying three pounds a year old Tenor
and when the Town shall Disalow him the Enjoy
ment thereof, to repay him for Building the same."
Mr. Hobart, the second minister, built such a pew,
and after his death it was given back to the town
by his daughter Abigail.

154 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
Here is a minute from the parish records of
1779, which gives some further details about such
rentals: "Voted that the two hind seats in the
Body of the house be taken up: and so much of
the third seat as is necessary to make Room to get
into the middle pew, and six Pews be built at the
cost and charge of particular men: they paying so
much pr year into the Precinct Treasury, for the
said spots. During the Precinct's Pleasure; and
that this Previlidge be granted to such men as will
give most for said spots at a publick Vendue." It
was further agreed "that the conditions of sail be
as follows: viz.
" I That they be sold for Indian corn :
" 2 That said corn be Delivered to the Precinct
Treasurer, yearly.
" 3 That one half peck of corn be called a
bid." At the sale, " the first spot south of the Broad
Alley was struck off" to Eliphalet Robbins, for
sixteen pecks;" and so with all.
Some people paid their rent in money, as ap
pears from a record like this in the parish treas
urer's book : " Received of Mrs. Ann Eddy,
one pound, twelve shillings, for the use of a pew
spot, in the Meeting House, four years." Cer
tainly a moderate charge. But those who had
not money were allowed to pay in produce,
especiall}' in corn; and such revenue, as it accu
mulated, was sold at auction every spring. This

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. J^k,
continued till 1797, after which payment was in
money. The settlement of dues was enforced by the
authorities, as in this order of 1702: "If an}- per
sons have not paid Mr. Hobart, the Select men
shall give the Constable warrants to bring them
that are delinquent to a reckoning with Mr. Plobart
and cause them, forthwith, to pay it in." Yet
judgment was mixed with mercy, for at another
time the Standing Committee of the parish were
instructed " to confer with Collectors, Relative to
their Makeing Distress upon any Person or Persons
who ma}' be delinquent in paying their taxes."
The practice of adding pews from time to time,
at the expense sometimes of individuals, and some
times of the town, seems to explain this minute,
which is common in the old records: Voted, " To
choose a Committee to fill up vaquent Room in
the Meeting House." With all the votes to that
effect that were passed year after year, it is a
mystery why, after a while, the meeting-house
did not get filled up.
We do not cease wondering at the old fact that
seats used to be assigned by a committee appointed
for the purpose. This was true, probably, even of
the original benches. People sat, not where they
pleased, but where it pleased the committee.
When the pew spots were introduced, nobody
could buy a particular one unless it suited his
station. When our second church was built, it

156 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
was voted that " age and gifts given to the building
of the Meeting House should be the rules the
Commity should go by in seateing the House."
This is the reference in all records about dignifying
the seats. As this: Voted, " That the hind seat in
the lower Frunt Gallery be conveniently Built up,
something Resembling a pew." Voted, further,
"That the Commity shall dignyfie the new Seat; "
the note being added, afterwards, " The Dignity
of the New Pew, in the Front Gallery being read
to the Town, it was accepted."
It seems strange that so much of aristocracy
should have come into the Puritan system; but it
belonged to the age. It is a suggestive fact, in this
connection, that the Catalogue of Harvard College,
during the first hundred years and more of its his
tory, printed the names of its members in the order
of their family station; it was not till 1773, in
Revolutionary days, that they were arranged alpha
betically; which shows that social distinction was
a feature of the time, and naturally found its way
into the Church. Moreover, for that matter, it
may be asked whether in our day there is no
such thing as dignifying the seats in the meeting
house. Another thing in the old order at which we
marvel, is the fact that families were not seated
together. This may not apply as fully to those
who owned the square pews as to others.
Men were separated from women, and parents

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 157
from children, though girls were sometimes allowed
to sit with their mothers.
As for the boys, they were treated as a separate
order of beings, and were set carefully by them
selves. Such arrangement appears in town records like
the following: —
Voted, " That the Selectmen be a Committee to
agree with Workmen to Erect one Tear of Pews
in the Hind Seats on the Men's Side and the
Women's Side, as soon as may be."
Again, " That the vacant roome on the East and
North side of the Meeting House is granted for the
seting up of pews for woman and children, but it
shall not be sold to a stranger."
Also, " That seats for the boys shall be made
from ye west dore of the Mtg Hse to the nor
west corner." Seats for the boys! Why for
them especially, can any one tell ? One object of
having them together seems to have been to serve
the convenience of the tithing-man. It was as
sumed that they would need his attention, and it
would be handier for him to have them within
reach of his rod; though sometimes, even with
such advantage, he did not succeed in managing
them very well.
On a certain Sunday, when Dr. Homer was
preaching, the boys, penned in one of the square
gallery pews, with its lofty sides, seemed remark
ably quiet, and, upon investigation, it was discov-

158 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
ered that they were playing cards. That was not
very becoming, certainly; but the blame of it lay,
mainly, with the fathers and mothers who shut
them off by themselves.
A warrant for a parish meeting had this item:
" To Consider, How to restrain boys from playing
on the Sabbath and especially during divine
services." It seems to have been understood that boys
were enemies to all that was good, and must be
treated accordingly. The wonder is that enough
of them grew up straight to keep the church in
existence. Boys! Why, in our time they are among the
very stanchest friends of religion. They have as
much self-respect, as real a sense of honor, as high
an instinct of decorum, as any of us. Most of the
boys in our congregation — and probably this is true
of the community — want it to be understood that
they are on the side of Christ and the Bible. It is
quite exceptional for one of them to set himself
resolutely against the influences of religion. They
are our best hope — they and the girls — for the
perpetuity of the Christian Church in Newton.
Such general arrangement, in these various par
ticulars, continued till 1800, when it was voted by
the parish, " To disannul the present establishment
of the Pews in the Meeting House, relative to the
ancient mode of seating them." And this was,
probably, in view of the question just then being

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 1 59
agitated, of the new meeting-house, which was
erected in 1805.
Here we come to more familiar ground. We
know about that building, inasmuch as it stood till
1847, and many among us remember it distinctly
as an old friend.
We are much indebted for two sketches of its
exterior, on opposite sides, which have been made
from memory by Miss Sarah Freeman Clarke and
Miss Harriet Woodward. They give us so pleas
ant an impression of the old building that we can
understand the feeling which many had strongly,
in 1847, that it was too good to tear down.
The interior we are able to imagine quite defi
nitely, with the aid of those who remember it.
There, at the west end, was the high pulpit with
the sounding-board overhead, and the window be
hind, draped with a red damask curtain, veritable
pieces of which are among our anniversary memo
rials. On each side of the pulpit were six pews, that
were seats of honor, and were all occupied. We
hope sometime to see these seats in our present
house dignified and filled, or, as the old word used
to be, " improved." In the middle of the house the
pews were arranged much as we have them now,
except that they were higher and were shut in by
doors. On each side of the building were six square
pews against the wall. The north gallery, with
twelve pews, was assigned to students, — the front
rows to the Newton Female Academy, and the rest

l6o THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
to Master Rice's school. The south gallery was oc
cupied largely by the boys, and at one time at
least by Sunday-school classes, who used to sit up
stairs with their teachers, a record being kept, per
haps, of their attendance, as was common in some
other places.
At the east end the gallery was devoted to the
choir, the seats being arranged in a semicircle and
affording ample accommodation for the orchestra
and chorus.
There was a curtain in front of the choir, drawn
together when they sang, hiding all but their heads;
a device, perhaps, to relieve their embarrassment
when the congregation turned about and looked
them in the face, especially during the closing
hymn. Above this gallery was a third tier of seats, in
one corner or both, devoted to the colored people.
The meeting-house had a stove. Some com
munities enjoyed this luxury from the beginning,
though it did not always afford unmixed satisfac
tion. Judge Se wall's Diary says of a Sunday in
1686, in the First Church in Boston: "By reason
of the Fires the Meeting Hse is much filled with
smoke;" and of another Sunday, " This day so cold
that the Sacramental Bread is frozen pretty hard,
and rattles sadly as it is broken into the plates."
What must it have been in our old meeting-houses
when, all the winter long, there was not even a
smoky fire to break the bitter cold?

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. l6l
Toward the close of the last century it began to
be asked whether there might not be, consistently
with the sanctity of the Lord's house, some reform
in this matter; but the suggestion was not generally
approved. At length, Lieut. John Rogers offered
to furnish a stove for one year, without cost to the
congregation; if at the end of that time the}' did
not like it, it could be returned to the owner.
They were beguiled into trying the experiment.
The parish voted, " That the committee place a
stove at the right hand of the broad alley in the
Women's Body of Seats, and carry the pipe out in
such direction as they shall think proper." After a
year's trial they voted to purchase the stove; four
year's later they bought another, which was prob
ably, at first, set in the vestibule, and afterwards
was brought inside. The chief way of supplement
ing this poor provision for winter was, we know,
the noon-houses, to which many repaired between
the services to eat their lunch. We should be
grateful to some one who would make a sketch
of this institution, which must have seemed to those
who enjoyed its blessing a very beam of sunshine
in their bleak, hard Sabbath.
These are some of the things which we are able
to learn about the old meeting-houses, their style
without, and particularly their arrangement within.
It is of interest to inquire, further, regarding the use
that was made of these buildings on Sunday and
during the week; their services of worship and

l62 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
of work, as compared with our own of the present
day. I. The services of religious worship have
changed almost as much during the past two cen
turies as the meeting-house itself.
One thing which would impress us, if we could
go back to the early days, would be the reverence
paid to the Sabbath. The rigid laws guarding its
sanctity were, by order of the General Court, read
in every congregation at least twice a year.
In Boston, one Sabbath, the minister confessed
the sins of some people who had fired cannon the
evening before. Saturday night was hallowed time.
And more than that, in Salem, the Massachusetts
Bay Company instructed Captain Endicott: "To
the end the Sabbath may be celebrated in a religious
manner, we appoint that all that inhabit the planta
tion both for the general and particular employ
ments, may surcease their labor every Saturday,
throughout the year, at 3 o'c. in the afternoon,
and that they spend the rest of that day in chate-
chizing and preparing for the Sabbath as the min
isters shall direct.''
Goodwin's " History of East Hartford, Conn.,"
says the laws in that town were so strict that a
venerable pastor, Dr. Williams, could not travel on
Sunday morning to a neighboring village, for an
exchange, without first having obtained a pass from
the magistrate.
We smile at the narrowness of those old Puritans,

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 163
but we have to remember that it was their con
science, perpetuated through their descendants, that
has saved for us what we have left of the Christian
Sabbath. It is not strange that with such convictions attend
ance upon religious services should have been re
quired by law. Not only in New England, either.
Palfrey says, "Every colonist of Virginia, in 1610,
was required to attend church twice every Sunday."
Even meetings less sacred, if duly appointed, were
compulsory. In Boston a prominent citizen was
summoned before the Council and sharply reproved
for staying at home on Fast Day; he was required
to take the oath of allegiance or go to prison.
Such strictness gave an impulse in the direction
of observing public worship, which lasted for gen
erations after the laws were annulled. In many
New England tow^ns, old people remember a time
when everybody went to church, as a matter of
course ; especially, it seemed, those who were
farthest off. One of our old members mentioned
to me that, when young, he walked to church from
Chestnut Hill three times every Sabbath, with
out thinking, either, that it was any particular
hardship. The principal services of public worship were
then in the morning and afternoon, with an hour
and a half or two hours of intermission. Consider
able emphasis was laid upon the importance of
beginning promptly.

164 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
Our present clock, at the east end of the church,
has the inscription: "Made and given by John
Rogers, 1764." He was probably the father of the
benefactor who introduced the first stove.
In 1805, the committee for the new building were
instructed " to see that the clock is repaired in a
decent manner," which is a good doctrine for any
ase, that it is decent for a church clock to tell the
truth. It seems, however, that even this means of
grace was not always effectual, for the church
voted, "That Mr. Homer be requested to begin
Public Service, punctually, at the time prescribed,
whether there be more than one person or not."
They had found by experience that the best way
to get people to come promptly was not to wait for
them. The order of worship here, in the beginning, we
cannot know definitely, but we infer it was essen
tially like that described in other old churches
near us.
In " Plain Dealing; or. News from New Eng
land," by Lechford, published in 1641, there is a
chapter entitled " The Publique Worshipe," which
gives the result of his observation in the congrega
tions of this vicinity.
According to this, the people were called to
church about nine o'clock by a bell; then the ser
vices were simply prayer, reading and expounding
the Scripture, singing of a psalm, the sermon, and
closing with a prayer and the benediction.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 165
These services were repeated in the afternoon,
but were followed by several other exercises.
The ordinance of infant baptism was admin
istered " in the Deacon's seate, next under the
Elders' seate."
Then followed the contribution, the chief fami
lies first and lesser people after them coming
forward and bringing their gifts, money or " any
other chattle," and laying them down before the
deacons. Then there was opportunity for the admission of
members, or for settling any cases of discipline,
after which, if there was time, they sang another
psalm, and were dismissed with prayer and bene
diction. Some points in this description are of particular
interest. The elders and deacons had special seats. In
one of the cases at the Old South Church, Boston,
is the plan of a meeting-house in 1730. In front
of the pulpit is the elders' seat; in front of that,
and below, the deacons' seat; and below that the
congregation. Our church in Newton voted, generously, " that
the deacons shall have liberty to sit out of the
deacons' seat if they choose it."
In the old Christ Church, Boston, there is, in the
rear, a wardens' pew, which is still occupied by
them at their Sabbath service.
A bell, for calling people to church, was quite a

l66 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
common institution. Cambridge had one. Per
haps the more usual dependence was a drum; it is
strange to read of the first drum and the second
drum. In Haverhill, Mass., the town voted, in 1650,
" that Abraham Tyler blow his horn half an hour
before meeting on the Lord's day, and on lecture
days, and receive one pound of pork, annually,
from each family."
Reading the Bible in public worship was not a
universal practice. Reading without comment was
called " dumb reading."
The Second Church in West Newton voted, soon
after its organization, in 1781, " that a portion of
the Scriptures be read in public on each part of the
Lord's day." And two years later, Jackson says
that " Dr. Homer began to read and expound the
Holy Scriptures."
It is hard for us to imagine a time when this was
not the common usage. So far as any congregations
objected to it, they did so, perhaps, as a protest
against ritualism. The established church had
much of Bible reading, therefore they would have
none, just as they let out their conscience in the
way of preaching; as non-contormists, they had
been forbidden to proclaim the gospel; they would
see. An hour-glass was their measure of time. Some
times it stood on the pulpit, and was turned by the
minister; sometimes on a table, at the deacons'

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 1 67
seat; sometimes it was in charge of the* sexton.
Judge Sewall writes of a minister whose sermon
lasted two hours and a half. Prayers, too, may have
served the same purpose of protesting against the
law which prohibited them. Often they were long
enough to hold considerable conscience. People
now who are distressed by prayers that exceed
five minutes would not have made good Puritans.
Rev. Samuel Torrey, minister of Weymouth, is
spoken of as having possessed remarkable devo
tional gifts. A biographer says, " At a public fast
in 1696, after the other exercises, he finished by a
prayer of two hours in length, so regular, perti
nent, free, lively, affecting, that, towards the end,
glancing upon some new scenes of thought," a
lawyer present remarked, "we could not help wish
ing him to enlarge upon them. " It is to be hoped
this was a rare exception, but it indicated the dis
position of the ministers to use their liberty in this
direction, as in every other.
One custom connected with public worship came
down far enough to be within the recollection ot
some here present. You remember how, during the
prayer, the seats, being hung on hinges, were raised
to allow the people to stand, and what a clatter it
made at the close, when they were dropped all over
the house. That standing in the service must have
been a helpful usage, even though attended with
some discomfort, when the service was unduly pro
tracted. It was a great improvement upon the

1 68 THE FIRST CHLTRCH IN NEWTON.
habit of the present day, when, during prayer, many
in a congregation — some Christians even, it is said
— make no change whatever of posture, any more
than they would at a lecture or an exhibition.
One other exercise referred to by Mr. Lechford
is " the singing of a Psalme." That opens a wide
theme. The usage of the early churches in New
England, in this regard, we cannot know very ac
curately; we know, at least, that singing was con
fined to the metrical versions of the Psalms.
Several collections of these were in use in the Old
Country, two of which, at least, were at the be
ginning brought to New England, — one by Stern-
hold and Hopkins, the other by Ainsworth. Both
of these were superseded, in 1640, by the "Bay
Psalm Book," — a work prepared by several minis
ters, among whom was John Eliot, Sen., being the
first or second book printed in British America.
The custom of lining off was quite universal for a
time, having been introduced for the convenience
of those who could not read, but was, after a
while, considered a reflection upon the intelligence
of the people, and was discontinued.
There was such a lack of musical science in the
early days, this part of public worship must have
been a questionable help.
Judge Sewall, who, as an elder, had to help in
setting the tunes, tells of his embarrassment, on a
certain Sabbath, in keeping the congregation
straight. " I set ' York,' and in the second going

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 169
over, the gallery carried it, irresistibly, to ' St.
David's,' which discouraged me very much." One
writer of that day was sure that singing, as gen
erally practised, was a clear trespass on the Third
Commandment. When books with new music were proposed
they were resisted by many, who seemed to think
that the old tunes to which the Psalms had always
been sung were as inspired as the Psalms them
selves. Others objected that the tendency of
written music was straight towards Popery. Ac
cordingly, in order to keep the peace, some con
gregations would sing one Sunday by rote, and the
next by note, to keep a fair average and suit every
body. But the reform could not be held back. By 1720
singing-schools began, and choirs.
Later, Billings began to write hymns on the
fugue system, which had been practised for some
time in England. He was a poor tanner, and, it is
said, marked off his first tunes on the side of a
house while he was grinding bark for the mill.
His music has been severely criticised, and others
after him carried it to even greater excess; but,
on the whole, he did good in stirring the land on
the subject, and preparing the way for something
better. In our church records the first reference to music
is in 1770, when it was voted to introduce the Ver
sion of the Psalms by Tate and Brady, it being

170 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
further ordered that " a medium be observed be
tween old and new tunes." This caution in the
interest of peace seems to have been effective, for,
nine years later, at a parish meeting, the moderator
remarked that the church had voted that "the
method we had lately gone on with regard to sing
ing was agreeable to them," in which the parish
concurred. Happy is the church that is able to put
on record an acknowledgment like that !
In 1790 Tate and Brady was superseded by Dr.
Watts' Hymns, and these, in i860, by the " Sabbath
Hymn and Tune Book," which was used till, a few
years ago, we substituted for it our present col
lection, " Songs of Christian Praise."
In the early days no musical instrument was
used except the pitch-pipe for giving the key, and
later the tuning-fork. Then came the bass-viol, —
the church fiddle, as profane objectors called it,
— and this opened the door for other instruments, —
violins, flutes, clarinets, and so forth, — till two gen
erations ago, when some of you were in the choir,
there had come to be quite a considerable orchestra.
Our organ here is a venerable institution, having
been in use forty years. It is getting rheumatic
with age, but will have to do service a while
longer, till some one makes us a present of a
new one. Who knows but some friend may be
moved to such beneficence by the inspiration of
this anniversary.
Since the old days, methods of sacred song have

HISTORICAL DISCOLTRSE. 171
greatly changed. Our modern anthems, Te Deums,
quartets, responses, and solos would have been
thought, a century ago, an abomination; but they
do not seem so to us. They may be, we think,
as honest as any performance by a chorus or a
congregation; they may be kept as free from all
spirit of vain repetition, of empty form, of per
sonal display, and made as real a means of grace.
With such conviction we welcome them; pray
ing that we may all, choir and congregation, have
a mind to sing " with the spirit and with the
understanding," that in all our Sabbath music
we may be worshipping God " in spirit and in
truth." The other point, illustrating the use made of the
old meeting-houses, had reference to
II. Services of Christian work.
Without disparaging the spirit of intelligent labor
which marked the early churches, it is right to say
that they seem to have relied, more than is thought
wise now, on carnal measures for advancing the
Lord's kingdom.
In Boston, a public executioner burned heretical
books in the market-place.
They shut up Sabbath-breakers in a cage. In
Portsmouth they had a cage for those who went to
sleep in church.
In many places in this vicinity there was the
whipping-post, in front of the school-house or the
church. One day a Harvard student was publicly

172 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
flogged for swearing, prayer being offered, before
and after, by the president.
In our own church records there is this remark
able minute : " A committee appointed to examine
the church stocks "! Jackson says, "We have often
eyed that remnant of the Inquisition, when a boy,
with a shudder."
But as the Church learned, by degrees, to distrust
the efficacy of such means for establishing the
truth, it grew away from them, and came to depend
more on moral forces.
Some departments of effort familiar to us, es
pecially those in the line of reform, they did not
know about. In Dr. Homer's day Newton had a
snuff-mill and a brewery. In 1781 our parish
treasurer made this minute: "Paid thirty pound
for half a cord of wood and one Barrel of Beer,
provided at the funeral of our late Pasture, the
Reverend Mr. Merriam."
In the records of the committee appointed to
build the meeting-house, in 1805, we find this vote :
" That Captain Joshua Hammond be requested to
purchase one barrel Rum and one barrel sugar, and
to take care of the same for the use of the carpen
ters." Still, from the beginning there was some
sentiment in the direction of temperance. The best
people, when they saw the truth, were ready to do
it. In fact, Dr. Smith states that " the first petition
presented to the General Court of Massachusetts for
the regulation of the sale of intoxicating liquors,

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 1 73
is the petition of Rev. Jno. Eliot in 1648." He
begged that the Indians might be protected against
the temptations to drink put in their way when
they went into the city. So that is an old ques
tion. What shall be done with the liquor dealers
of Boston?
In work more distinctly religious the early
churches had an excellent record, and at some
points which we regard of chief importance to-day.
For example, they were faithful in the Christian
nurture of the young.
Some of our people recollect with affectionate
interest that when they were children they used to
be taught by Dr. Homer, Saturday afternoons; the
older scholars in the Westminster Catechism, the
younger in simpler lessons. Toward the close of
the year there was a public recitation, to which
parents were invited, when rewards were given.
In the Pilgrim days many objected to such effort as
not scriptural. Lechford, remonstrating with them,
says : " They want a direct Scripture for ministers'
catechising, as if, Goe teach all Nations, and Traine
up a childe in the way he should goe, did not reach
to that."
The Saviour's last command had, as we under
stand it, a wider application than this, — a refer
ence to the end of the earth, which the fathers did
not apprehend. New England, to them, was end
enough. But even this application of the text to religious

174 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
education was not generally popular, so that the
General Court passed an order in 1641 that " It is
desired that the Elders would make a Catechisme
for the instruction of youth in the grounds of re
ligion." But by Dr. Homer's day such legislation
had become unnecessary, and his close contact
with the children must have given him great power
in their education. All his catechising stopped
when the Sunday-school was established. It was
objected to this agency that it interfered with the
prerogative of the pastors. There were many of
them like the old minister in Rowley, in 1660, on
whose monument it was inscribed: "With the
youth he took great pains, and was a tree of
Knowledge, laden with fruit, which children could
reach." A tribute which any pastor might covet.
We honor the Sunday-school for its great work,
yet one of its old problems, which taxes as seri
ously its wisdom to-day, is the question how it may
best serve to supplement, and not supersede, the
Christian nurture which belongs to the family and
the pastor.
Our Sunday-school in Newton was organized
early in the present century, and about that time
most of the agencies began which we regard neces
sary to our equipment for church work.
They had a missionary concert, a Sunday-school
concert, and the prayer-meeting, that was beginning
to take on more modern ways. One Wednesday
night, in the little old vestry. Dr. Homer remarked,

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 175
" I see there is a stranger present; we would like
him to pray." The stranger was Mr. William
Jackson, who had just come from Boston to reside
in Newton.
After the service Mrs. Homer greeted him with
some emotion and said, " We never had three
brethren take part in one meeting before." The
other two were Deacon Woodward and Mr.
Increase S. Davis.
We speak of these driving days in which we
live, even in religion, at such a high pressure, and
sigh for the old time when there was not so much
to do; but here is a Sunday's work that was not
uncommon to Deacon Woodward, who lived two
or three miles from the church : —
9.30 A.M., at prayer-meeting in the vestry.
10.30, at church, and leading the choir.
12, superintending the Sunday-school.
I P.M., lunch in a retired corner upstairs, where
private instruction could be given to Tillo or
Pompey, General Hull's servant.
2 P.M., second service in church. After this,
hurrying home, doing necessary chores, and after
dinner or supper, off again to prayer-meeting at
the vestry, or at Upper Falls, or somewhere else.
That was, probably, much the regular order in
the Sundays of the other two men who so delighted
Mrs. Homer's heart, — Mr. Jackson and Mr. Davis.
The three represented a great company of men
and women who stood under our church all those

176 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
years, and secured to us the heritage which we
enjoy to-day.
Moreover, they were beginning then to have a
very definite interest in Christian work beyond
their own borders. A letter sent me from one of
the old families says : " The land where Dr. Fur
ber's house now stands was formerly called ' The
Missionary Field.' The farmers went in the
spring and ploughed the land and planted corn,
potatoes, and pumpkins, caring for them through
the summer, and then appointed a harvest day in
the fall, when a crowd would go and dig the pota
toes, cut the corn, and gather the pumpkins, and
late in the day they had an auction, and sold the
produce to the highest bidder, and the proceeds
were divided; one-half going towards the minister's
salary, and the other half to the cause of missions."
A warm interest was felt for destitute fields in New
England, and also for the work of the American
Board of Foreign Missions, which had been or
ganized in 1810.
It is interesting to observe what a positive, ag
gressive effort was put forth by the ministry, at the
very beginning, to reach the unevangelized; and
there could be no better example of this than the
work of John Eliot.
Cotton Mather thinks the devil decoyed the
Indians to this country in hopes that the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ would never come here to
destroy or disturb his absolute empire over them.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 1 77
But Eliot was " on ill terms with the devil, and
sounded the silver trumpets of heaven."
It is worthy of mention that, in the prosecution
of his mission, Eliot employed some of the instru
mentalities which we think most advanced at the
present day. He believed in open-air meetings.
If the Indians would not come to him at Roxbury,
then he would go to them. So he had his camp-
meeting at Nonantum, doing a work which no
Y. M. C. A. in Newton or Boston, or anywhere
else, ever equalled. He believed in a five-minute
service for the children as a part of public worship.
He put it in the form more particularly of catechis
ing, but doubtless he mixed with it a good share
of exhortation. People now-a-days who object
to this as a new fashion, when here and there a
minister undertakes it, do not realize how ancient
it is. Eliot believed in inquiry meetings. He
preached at a mark, and then looked eagerly to see
whether anything had been hit. The Indians were
requested to remain, as one of the ministers said,
" that so we might screw by variety of means, some
thing or other of God into them." In considerable
numbers they accepted the invitation, the after-
meeting lasting two or three hours. We have a list
of the questions and answers, some of which would
suit almost any age as well as that. A man asked,
" Do not Englishmen spoil their souls when they
say that a thing cost them more than it did cost ? —
and is it not all one as to steal ? " A woman asked

178 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
" whether her husband's prayer signified anything
if he continued to be angry with her and to beat
her?" There must have been a foundation of good
works laid in those inquiry meetings, which helped
Waban and the other converts to adorn, in all
things, the doctrine of Christ. But even Eliot did
not convert everybody. Philip, the Indian king,
replied to his appeal, " I care no more for the gos
pel than for the button on your coat." That chief
stood for a multitude: this was the missionary's
burden; that was the secret of his earnest plead
ing for the Divine Spirit, to do the mighty work.
All Christian workers understand this. There is
the multitude who do not care. With our modern
meeting-houses and our modern services of wor
ship and of work, we are so helpless! We need
the Holy Ghost. We can find no prayer so fitting
our need as that contained in the text of John
Eliot's first sermon to the Indians, on Nonantum
Hill : " Come from the four winds, O breath, and
breathe upon these slain, that they may live."
If there is any wish that our church heartily
cherishes at this anniversary time, I am sure it is
this, that she may, in the years to come, be filled,
as never before, with the power from on high. And
she wants this for all the other churches of New
ton, which have sprung from her, more or less
directly. We need, all of us Christians, an in
fusion into our religious character of the spirit

HISTORICAL DISCOLTRSE. 1 79
which, generations ago, built the church of New
England. Some of the ways of the old Puritans, their prin
ciples and laws, seem to us very extreme; but we
must remember the condition of society in which
they lived, and which necessitated their reform.
There were impurities of life, a demoralization of
private and public virtue, in the church as well as
without, which required the severest denunciation.
They meant to get so far away from these evils that
their protest should have no uncertain sound. They
were determined to mark a line which everybody
could see, between themselves and the world.
It requires no discernment to see the perils which
beset them in their plea for purity of worship.
Denouncing liturgies and vestments, they were
tempted to think the absence of these religion, for
getting that they could be as cold and dead and
self-righteous in their barren service as the Ritual
ists were in their forms.
So, protesting against the extravagance and sec
ular perversion of church architecture, they built
meeting-houses solely with reference to economy
and plainness, as though to have the divine pres
ence in a church it was necessary first to get rid of
beauty and taste and ease, not seeing that it was
possible to banish these with a temper that would
banish the Holy Ghost.
But, shunning their excesses and perils in these
regards, we cannot fail to see their essential spirit.

l8o THE FIRST CHLTRCH IN NEWTON.
We see, especially, the grand self-denial with which
they followed their convictions. They remembered
the original covenant of the "Mayflower," accord
ing to which, in the words of Bradford, " They
joyned themselves into a church estate in the fel
lowship of the gospel to walke in all his ways, made
known or to be known unto them, according to their
best endeavors, whatsoever it should cost themP
And this certainly we may see, without any per-
adventure, that the spring of all their sacrifice, of
all the work they did for the world, was their faith
in Jesus Christ as the Saviour of men.
At the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of
the First Church in Cambridge, which was our old
mother. President Eliot, speaking for the University,
referred to the great change which had occurred in
its religious character during the centuries. He
called attention to the fact that it was founded by
Congregational ministers for the express purpose
of educating Congregational ministers; that, as a
matter of fact, during the first ten years, three-fifths
of its graduates went into the ministry; and for
generations after, more than one-half; whereas, at
present but six per cent, become ministers of any
denomination. Certainly, this fact, with other indications in the
same line, does show a remarkable change from
that far-off day when the motto of old Harvard was,
" To Christ and the Church." Is it not strange that
any one should attempt to tell the story of the last

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. l8l
two hundred and fifty years, and leave out all refer
ence to the cross of Christ?
Belief in a crucified Redeemer was the essence of
the Pilgrim faith ; and without that faith, it is fair to
ask, Would there ever have been any Thomas
Shepard, or any Harvard College, or any Plym
outh rock? If not, why not? "We have heard
with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us,
what work thou didst in their days." The best way
to honor the fathers is to honor the Christian faith,
which was their inspiration.
May God keep us faithful, the old First Church
and the other churches of Newton, making us so
pure in doctrine, in worship, in life, that in the years
to come, all our power shall help to build, in our
own city and throughout the world, the kingdom
of God.

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES.

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES.
Monday, October 7, 1889.

THE exercises commenced at 3 o'clock P.M., and were
opened by singing the hymn, "From all that dwell
below the skies," to the tune of " Old Hundred." Selections
of Scripture were then read by Rev. Theodore J. Holmes,
pastor ; and prayer was offered by Rev. George G. Phipps,
of Newton Highlands. The chairman, Judge Robert R.
Bishop, then spoke as follows : —
ADDRESS OF THE CHAIRMAN, JUDGE ROBERT R. BISHOP.
Brethren and Friends, — We come to celebrate an event
of no mean significance in history, the founding of a Christian
church in the wilderness. We come as the descendants and
representatives of the founders, claiming lineage back to them,
if not all by blood, yet by that kinship of character, of purpose,
and of life, which is stronger than blood, to testify of the things
that are past, and to refresh and reanimate our faith for the
things that are to be.
We are here to rejoice that the sanctuary of the Most High
has dwelt with us and our fathers from the beginning ; to
thank God devoutly for the lives rescued from the darkness of
sin, and brought under the steadfast gleam of the sweet peace
of the Lord Jesus Christ, here from the early days ; to thank
him for the earnest steadfastness and truth of the characters
built up in Christ here, whether, in the language of Dr.
Smith in his prayer yesterday, they be those of the men and
women with sunburnt brow and brawny hands, who have
tilled these fields and gone in and out among these scenes from

1 86 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
the beginning, or those of cultivated graces and trained minds,
— all receiving the same equal crown in heaven.
We are here to think with pious memories of the deaths and
partings ; with joyous recollections of the marriage-bells that
have sounded out from this house and the houses which have
gone before it. We are here to recollect the courage which
has come in exigencies, the calm peace which has tempered
joy, and the sweet offices of Christian charity that have clustered
around this church of God and been scattered in the pathway
of the people.
But this is by no means all. The influence of a church is
not confined to those who are connected with it. It has rela
tions which go through the community, the state, the country.
In the admirable collection of memorials which the committee
in charge of that matter has gathered in the adjoining room,
you will find an edition of the complete works of Richard
Baxter, given to this church in the early days by the Governor
of the Bank of England ; and if you turn over its leaves you
will find that one of the subjects discussed is "Christianity,
the greatest Help to Kingdoms.'' I remember to have heard
the foremost living statesman of Massachusetts, — I may so
designate him, I think, without invidiousness or impropriety, —
Senator George F. Hoar, express the same sentiment, with an
application to the United States. He said he did not be
lieve that the American Revolution could have been success
fully accomplished, and the government of the United States
securely established afterwards, without the preliminary edu
cating power which had been given to the men of that time
by, as he expressed it, " the hard-headed Orthodox and
Presbyterian ministers of the time." And he mentioned
Alexander Hamilton, among others, as the example of a man
who had been trained otherwise than religiously by the re
ligious thinking and influences of the clergy of that day. So
you will find, though church and state have long been divorced,
running through all government, from before that time to the
present, the same truth illustrated. Within the past four
weeks, indeed, the most serious social disturbance of the time,
the great strike in London, has been brought to a peaceful
termination, mainly by the influence, greater to this end than

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES. 187
that of any statesman in England, of a prelate, — Cardinal
Manning, — who, as the account says, leaving his palace at
Westminster and going among the thousands of agitated work
men, by his mediation between them and the commercial
authorities, restored activity to the paralyzed trade of the me
tropolis and employment to the vast multitude, and remarked,
as he returned to his palace, that he had but done his duty to
his God and his country.'
It is these things relating to us and our progenitors from
the beginning, and these things relating far beyond us to the
world outside, that we, the children, in grateful remembrance,
gather now to commemorate. For them we look backward
with devout gratitude to God, and on account of them, forward
with unspeakable hope.
But, friends, it is not my duty or intention to make an
address to you. Those of you who listened to the memorable
sermon of Dr. Furber yesterday will readily understand that
I have been invited to preside on account of my great-great-
grandmother Hobart ; or, if not on her account, on account of
her father, my great-great-great-grandfather Hobart. And
I would much rather shine by the imputed merit which Dr.
' In the London strike about 80,000 men employed in the dock-yards and
wharves, and matters connected therewith, went out of employment, and the
entire shipping interest of the city was at a stand-still. It continued for over
three weeks. On September 7, 1889, the London " Times " records that a
curiously constituted assemblage conferred at the Mansion House, the preceding
day, consisting of the Lord Mayor, the Bishop of London, Cardinal Manning,
Mr. Sidney Buxton, and others, and adds, " that it would be somewhat rash to
expect any considerable result from the exercise of this influence." The com
mittee there formed met with many rebuffs and disappointments, and some of
their number ceased exertions; but Cardinal Manning and Mr. Buxton perse
vered, and it is not too much to say that theirs, and preeminently Cardinal
Manning's, was the main influence which brought the strike to a peaceful and
satisfactory termination. On September 16 " The Times " records that on that
morning, to the intense delight of all persons concerned, the port of London
was again in a state of bustle and activity, and it compares the information to
the welcome news of peace after an exhausting war, and gives the clear credit
to " this small band of mediators." Cardinal Manning's age at this time was
eighty-two. He said that he had but done " what he was bound to do for the
love of his dear country and the love of all men joined together in the brother
hood of their commonwealth."

1 88 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
Furber says this divine displayed in his preaching, than by
any merit of my own. You see how unfamiliar I am with the
pulpit. It is a bad experiment, putting a layman here.
We understand well the emotions which swell in the hearts
of the host and hostess who remain at home when the guests
come back on Thanksgiving day. That is the feeling we
have in this church to-day. To give voice and expression to
it towards you who come, let me introduce to you one whom
you will gladly hear, the captain of this division of the army
of the Lord, Rev. Theodore J. Holmes, pastor of the church.
ADDRESS OF REV. T. J. HOLMES.
An Indian girl at Hampton, Va., closed a letter to a friend
with these words : " My whole heart shakes hands with you."
I feel like that as I have the privilege of saying a word of cor
dial greeting to you all in behalf of the First Church of Newton.
We may not have an opportunity to greet everybody personally ;
but we want you all to understand that we are exceedingly
glad to have you with us, sharing with us in the pleasures of
our celebration.
There are more whom we would have been glad to greet
here, among whom are, especially, some of the " Powers that
be." But it is not quite so necessary to have them at a church
gathering as it used to be in the old Colony times. Then, the
church had a concern for the state and the state for the church,
that is not always felt now. When Mr. Meriam, the fourth
pastor, accepted the call of this church, he was waited upon by
a committee appointed by the town, who inquired how he
would be pleased to come into the village, — that is, by what
kind of procession or other demonstration. It is very different
now-a-days. I do not know how it was with Dr. Furber, but
when I came to the town, it was not in a procession. I had to
buy a ticket at the Boston and Albany depot, and then made
the journey like any ordinary man.
Then there were other ministerial prerogatives in those days.
One of our ministers owned twenty-five acres of land besides
his share in the town " wood-lot." That is just twenty-five
acres more than I own, and I have to buy my own wood.

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES. 1 89
Still I do not have any hard feelings toward the authorities,
but wish the governor and mayor and some of the rest of the
public functionaries were present to help in our festivity. We
greet cordially those who are here. We welcome the older
members of ovir church, who have an interest in this celebra
tion that is not possible to the rest of us. Stirring these old
memories must seem to them like visiting the graves of their
beloved dead. We welcome our sister churches of Newton,
all of whom grew, more or less directly, from the first church,
planted here in 1664. We welcome our sister churches of
Newton Centre, with whom we have so pleasant a relation,
and rejoice that, although we do not spring from the same
ecclesiastical ancestry, we are all children of the Heavenly
Father. We regret that the founders of our church did not apprehend
more fully this doctrine of the communion of the saints, — the
saints out of their own communion. We wish, for example, that
when they were exempting ministers from taxation, they had
not denied the right to the Baptist ministers and to ministers
converted under Whitefield. We are inclined to repent for our
fathers in this particular, that they ever cherished a spirit that
was not brotherly and tolerant. Yet they did as well as they
knew, and better than the age in which they lived. We are
glad that day has gone by. The graves of Father Grafton and
Father Homer, lying almost side by side in the old cemetery,
are a sign not alone of the friendship that sprang up between
them personally, but of the full harmony which had arisen,
even in their day, between their denominations, and which has
been perpetuated so delightfully until the present time.
As for the heresies of Whitefield, who preached in this church
in 1748, and again in 1770, ten days before his death, we wish
some one like him could preach here again, and shake the com
munity with the truth as it is in Jesus. We would fellowship
his converts ; no new lights would alarm us, if only they
seemed kindled at the altar of God.
We welcome here to-day any friends with whom we have not
full theological accord. The first bell on the old meeting
house was presented to us in 1810 by the congregation of Dr.
Channing in Boston. Our church, receiving the gift, replied :

190 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
"You desire us to accept of this as a sign of your Christian
fellowship and brotherly love, which sentiment we do most
sincerely reciprocate, and beg you to accept our best wishes for
your prosperity and happiness, individually and as a Christian
society." That was before the old lines of controversy had
been drawn. We hope that the tirae is coming when such
lines will be rubbed out ; when there will be no longer Uni
tarians or Orthodox, but as in the early day, only Christians,
who are " fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household
of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone."
If this mother church, on her two hundred and twenty-fifth
birthday, is old enough, she w^ould like to offer this as her
benediction: "Grace be with all them that love our Lord
Jesus Christ in sincerity."
So, friends, one and all, " our whole heart shakes hands with
you." We hope that this occasion may be to you, as to us, a
good inspiration, helping us henceforth to pray and work and
live more earnestly and more together, to build in Newton and
in the world the kingdom of God.
The choir sang the anthem, " Break forth into joy."
The Chairman then said : —
One of the things which make us think that Newton Centre
is the most delightful place in the vv^orld to live in is the ab
solute harmony which exists between the religious denomina
tions of this place. If there is the slightest ripple of friction
between any of the societies or denominations here, a resi
dence of twenty-five years in your midst has failed to discover
it. Truly, the mantle of Father Grafton and Dr. Homer has
rested on all their descendants and representatives in these
churches since. Among the pleasures which I shall have this
afternoon of introducing various friends to you, all of whom
you will gladly receive, there is none greater than that of
extending the right hand of welcome to Rev. Lemuel C.
Barnes, of the Baptist church.

commemorative SERVICES. I9I

ADDRESS OF REV. LEMUEL C. BARNES.
It is a great pleasure to bring to you from the little family of
Christian churches in this village our greeting and our con
gratulations on this birthday of yours. I wish we had on rec
ord the history of the relations of this oldest church to the
others. It would be a delightful record to read to-day. It is
worthy of mark that this church, the first church in Newton,
has such a beautiful spirit in relation to the other churches as
it has, for this reason : for more than half of your life there
was no other church in this place of any kind. The youngest
of the churches which I represent to-day -^ is but just born.
Two of the others are but ten or twelve years of age ; and the
oldest of them is but one hundred and nine years old. It was
not until four years after the British flag went down and the
flag of our country's independence came up that there was a
Baptist church in Newton. Itis said that an only child is almost
sure to be a spoiled child. And so I congratulate you to-day
that there is such a warm-hearted fraternal temper in this old,
long the only, church towards the other churches. Those of
us who are so juvenile, and who, you must think, are some
what away from the absolutely correct faith, you have always
seemed glad to see, and have always treated with love.
Coming here a stranger a few months ago, I was greatly
impressed, after being here a little time, by the very
thought which our presiding officer expressed to-day, — that
there is here a beautiful Christian spirit among the churches
in their relations to one another. We have not the
history of all the courtesies which have been extended in
one way and another in the years gone by. It might
be a pleasant thing if we could have a moment or
two of silence here now, that those who are older
in their lives in this village might recall the delightful
associations of the past among the various churches. We
have, over in our old cemeteiy, two monuments, exactly alike,
and side by side, of those two pastors of an earlier day, who
had already learned the sweetness of loving even those whom
' The Episcopal Church in Newton Centre.

192 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
they believed to be, in some respects, not fully right in their
theological and ecclesiastical views. Now, as it is impossible
for me, a new-comer, to recall the beautiful memories and
traditions of the past two hundred and twenty-five years of
this church, I would like to call to your minds, for a moment
or two, the coming two hundred and twenty-five years in this
respect. For one, I am glad to say, on this great occasion of yours,
that it is a pleasure to me that there has been formed here
recently, if indeed it has yet taken technical form, an organiza
tion of the Episcopal Church. As this community grows, as
there are people of various modes of former worship and
phases of doctrine, as there comes to be more and more power
to support institutions of this kind, we must expect still other
Christian churches in our community. And so far and so fast
as they are absolutely needed, and as there are people here
who can support them without appealing to outside aid, let us
thank God that they come, and help them in every way we
can, by friendship, and by a good word whenever it can be
spoken. Two hundred and twenty-five years ago the steam-engine,
the great physical motor of our age, was only ten years old.
Two hundred and twenty-five years ago Protestantism, evan
gelical religion, the great spiritual motor of our age, was young,
and did not have in all the world as many communicants as it
numbers now in the United States alone. What will be the
physical, the social, the political life of this land and the world
two hundred and twenty-five years hence .'' What will be the
religious condition of this land two hundred and twenty-five
years hence ? Largely, the latter, what we make it. If we
stand together, work together, pray together, give together,
for the advancement of the kingdom of God, we shall see
greater progress in the next two hundred and twenty-five years
than has occurred the last two hundred and twenty-five years.
On occasions like this there is apt to be a great deal of ill-
advised talk about all being one, our denominational differ
ences being unimportant, and all that, which talk is really gush.
We do not wish to indulge in that to-day, any of us.
But there is one practical and practicable phase of Christian

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES. 1 93
fraternity which we may well think about on such an occasion
as this. When this church was organized, three of the origi
nal thirteen colonies were not yet settled. Now we number
thirty-eight States, with four new ones coming in. I wish that
in the new regions there might be an arrangement among the
different denominations who have the same central ideas of
what Christianity is, by which two or more of these different
denominations might not endeavor, in every new town, to
plant and sustain churches that must be feeble, struggling,
half-living, half-dying churches. I wish we might come to an
agreement by which we could unite and take this land for
Christ together, instead of in the slightest degree dissipating
our powers by pulling one against another.
Suppose that in a Rocky Mountain town there are five hun
dred people, and a Baptist brother comes to me from there and
says, " There are five hundred people in our town, — our city,
we call it, for it is fast ' booming ' into a city. The Congre
gationalists have got in ahead of us, — as they nearly always
do, — for they are putting twice as much money as we into home
missions. They have a good meeting-house and a good
minister. But there are ten Baptists in the city. We feel that
we must have a church of our own. Will not the Baptist
church of Newton Centre help us.? We are poor, and must
have a great deal of outside help." I should like to be able to
say to my brother, ' ' Tell those ten Baptists to stay Baptists as
long as they live, but to work with the Congregationalist
church until the time comes when there are enough Baptists in
that town to form and, in large part at least, maintain a church
of their own; and meantime the power of the Baptist church
in Newton Centre shall be directed to some town where the
Congregationalists with all their push have not yet entered,
and we will take the lead there. Then our Congregationalist
brethren, as generous as we, will say that the Baptists have
started there and the Congregationalists shall go to some other
town." I must not talk of this longer now ; but I hope that, two hun
dred and twenty-five years hence, in the year two thousand one
hundred and fourteen, there may be, if God prospers us, if
he packs this city with people, as he seems likely to do, there

194 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON. •
will be needed, and will be, ten Christian churches or more,
instead of the five we now have at the Centre. And I hope
that in the year two thousand one hundred and fourteen, when
there are hundreds of millions of people in our broad land, the
churches of Christ here may be so coordinated for work that
no energy shall be lost, and so filled with the spirit of the
Master that light shall still shine out from Newton Centre to
the ends of the continent and to the ends of the earth. Thus
the millennium will be very near, if not already begun.
The Chairman. — I hardly know, my friends, in which
of several ways to introduce the next speaker. I might intro
duce him as a soldier and a general in the war. I might in
troduce him as now pastor of a large and flourishing church in
a most important section of this State. I might introduce him
as the son of this church, in a certain sense, sent out of it to
take and hold this post in which he now is. I might intro
duce him as my friend and the friend of all of us. He is
known to you, and he befits each of these capacities. I am
very glad to have him here to-day, and I ain sure you rejoice
to see him here again, — the Rev. Erastus Blakeslee.
ADDRESS BY THE REV. ERASTUS BLAKESLEE.
My friends, if your chairman has been in a quandary to
know how to introduce me, I have been in a much greater
quandary to know why I am here. Those whose names are
upon your programme this afternoon are evidently each in
vited for some specific reason. But I can see no special reason
for my invitation, except the feeling of good-will on the part of
those who arranged this programme. Yet it gives me very
great pleasure to be present, and to congratulate you most
heartily on this occasion. I thank you for the kind remem
brance which brought me hither. Some of the pleasantest
years of my life have been spent in this village, and some of
the most precious scenes of my life have been in connection
with the worship of God in this very church.
Among the remarks which Judge Bishop made, he failed to
make one that he might have made, to the effect that I was

COMMEMORATIVE SER^'ICES. I95
once one of the deacons of this church. It is a matter to which
I look back with much satisfaction, because I hold the office
of deacon in very great honor ; and to have been once an office
bearer in this church, receiving from the hands of your pastor
the consecrated bread and wine, and handing it from one to
another of the saints of the Lord, I esteem to have been a very
great privilege.
I might have thought that I was invited here because of the
connection of this church indirectly with my own, through Mrs.
Ann Hammond Pope, of whom you heard yesterday. Some
thing more than one hundred and ten years ago she went from
among you, and spent eighty years of her useful and brilliant
life among the people where I now minister. I might perhaps
think of other reasons; but there is one which is a little more
remote, and which I presume did not occur to the pastor of
this church when he sent me the invitation ; yet this reason
seems to me to suggest the most fitting position that I can take
before you at this time, which is that of a kind of great-grand
father to you all. You came from Cambridge here, or rather
your fathers did. My fathers went from Cambridge to Hart
ford twenty-five years, or thereabouts, before yours left Cam
bridge. We — my fathers — were dissatisfied to remain in
Cambridge, a kind of adjunct to the city of Boston ; therefore
we w^ent to Hartford to set up for ourselves. But our goods
and effects passed into your hands, and your fathers set up
business at the old stand with whatever good-will and help we
could give them. You were our successors and representatives,
and after all these years I come back to you, and, in the name of
my fathers, inquire how you have prospered. As with their
eyes I look around upon these hills and along these valleys,
and see your beautiful homes and all the conveniences of life
gathered about you ; as I see this pleasant and suitable house of
worship, I feel to congratulate you on the way in which you
have been blessed and brought along to this present moment.
But in their name also I would catechise you a little. We
are very strict, you know, concerning some things, down in
Connecticut, and have a special interest in how our successors
here have borne themselves during these two centuries and a
quarter. I therefore ask you, in their stead, whether you have

196 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
maintained the Christian faith which was so dear to them.
And I hear your quick response : ' ' Yes ; but we have passed
through perplexing times. We have seen the great doctrines
of the evangelical church set aside one after another in this
region, and have witnessed much trouble thereabout among
the churches. But we have remained true to all the great
essentials of the Christian belief. We still believe in one God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We still believe that the Bible
was given by inspiration of God, and that it contains the only
sufficient rule of faith and practice. We still believe that all
men are sinners, and that none could be saved were it not for
divine aid. We still believe that God, in his infinite love, has
given that divine aid through the life and death of Christ
Jesus, his Son ; and that all who accept of him through re
pentance and faith are renewed and sanctified by the Holy
Spirit, and by him made partakers of eternal life. We have
clung to these fundamental Christian truths, and in our experi
ence of heart and life, and in the experience of those round
about us, have found them very fruitful."
In the name of my fathers, then, I rejoice that our successors,
as represented by you here, have remained true in these re
gards. And now we ask you how you have borne yourselves
concerning the great conflicts through which this country has
come. Have you been true to all that was good, and pure,
and right.'' Have you stood by the government in all its
needs.? " Yes," I hear the quick response ; " this old church
has stood by the government in all its needs, early and late,
and has always been true to whatever is highest and best in
this community, and in the state and nation. We had our
minute-men at Lexington and Concord. Some of our number
fought through the Revolution. And when the later struggle
came and the life of this nation hung in the balance, we sent
this list of men whose names are on the roll of honor here
before us, seventeen, from our number, who faced death on
Southern fields, — men who stood on the perilous edge of
battle, and who, at the risk of their lives, defended their
countiy's flag against all comers. Among them was one
name greatly honored, Charles Ward, who stood at arms
in that place where the great Rebellion lifted itself to the

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES. I97
utmost, on Cemetery Ridge, at Gettysburg, and was smitten
then so that he died of his wounds. Down in Connecticut,
in the State-House, is a monument to Nathan Hale, the Con
necticut patriot who was captured on Long Island as a spy,
and who, when led out to his execution by the British
officers, uttered these memorable words : ' I only regret that
I have but one life to give for my country.' Those words are
graven now on the pedestal of his statue. But this young
man, of the best blood of this town, of an ancient family, here
in your own public hall, before he left, said : ' If the country
needs my life, I am willing to give it.' He offered himself,
as the patriot, Nathan Hale, had done before, and his offer
was accepted in the terrible thunder of the battle that saved
the nation's life. All honor to his memory ! "
I am rejoiced with you, my friends, at so noble a record
concerning these things, as well as concerning your adherence
to the faith once delivered to the saints. I have but a moment
longer ; but there is one other line of thought which I would
like to suggest. I often think of the days that are past,
when other men were in these homes, and when all the affairs
of life were in other hands. Those hands have all disappeared.
And then I cast my thoughts forward, and think of that other
day, not so very distant, when this generation shall have
quietly passed away, and the places that now know them shall
know them no more forever. These churches, school-
houses, banks ; these homes, these railroads and telegraphs,
— everything that we see here, — will be in other hands,
and not in ours. Thus the things around us seem to be
perishing. Where and what are the things that are constant ?
There is the faith in God, to which you cling in this church.
There is the labor of our lives, whatever it may be ; for the
Scripture saith, " Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord,
for they do rest from their labors and their works do follow
them." So your works will follow you if the work is done
for the Master in earnestness and zeal. And out of this
perishing away of the children of men, — the fathers gone, we
soon to go, the future pressing upon us, — there remains this
also that is constant : the life of the human soul. That life
begins here and goes on forever. And the blessed thing in

198 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
this world is that there is a Christian church through which
God lays hold on the souls of men and saves them unto him
self with an everlasting salvation. What can be better, my
friends, than that we be the friends of God, working for him
here and now, and living with him in his church triumphant,
made perfect in the world to come. May that be the blessed
privilege of us all.
Again I congratulate you most heartily, my friends, on the
Christian church, on this branch of it, on its prosperity, and
on all that goes to make it what it is, noble in the sight of the
Lord. I exhort 3'ou to steadfastness, and zeal, and earnestness,
that so you may look back upon your lives with pleasure and
not with grief. The Lord be with you, and bless you, each
and every one.
The congregation sang, to the tune of " Duke Street,"
the hymn, " O God, beneath thy guiding hand."
The Chairman. — My friends, we have in Newton a most
delightful fraternity of churches. In some capacity, I think all
the clergymen representing the different churches of our de
nomination in this city will participate in our exercises. We
welcome often, and always with pleasure and interest, the rep
resentative and shepherd of the church at Auburndale, who is
minister, citizen, friend. When he comes here, he comes as
our friend. We never have welcomed him with more pleasure
than to-day, in this time of our festivity, to speak of the things
which make for the peace of the children of God. We will
now listen to the Rev. Mr. Cutler.
ADDRESS OF THE REV. CALVIN CUTLER.
Mr. President and Friends, — It is very delightful to be
here again, as it always has been delightful to me to meet the
assembly that comes together in this house to worship God.
I am glad to have a share to-day with you in these festivities.
Especially must this occasion be a joy to those whose home is
here. They had the pleasure of listening yesterday to the
rehearsal of things, many of which they had heard before with
their ears, and their fathers had told them, — things that they

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES. I99
will like to tell also to the generation following. The privi
lege of being here is not mine by birthright. It is not a
case of coming back to my old home, or, as a speaker on a
similar occasion once said, "back to the place of my former
nativity;" although, if one might have several native towns,
it would be a pleasure to me to count this as one of mine,
and this part of it in particular, with its goodly record. One
of the promises made to the ancient church, written in the
Psalms, is, " Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children."
I come to represent one of the grandchildren of this vener
able church. A little incident in my own family history, that
occurred within a few weeks, enables me to appreciate more
than I otherwise might be able to do, the feelings which
grandparents have, and to know something of the satisfaction
which J'OU must feel, venerable as you are, in seeing so many
of your grandchildren coming to visit you. Our words must
be few, for we know what used to be told you when you
were young, — that " little folks should be seen, not heard ;"
though now the young folks speak in meeting. We give
you the assurance that it is a great satisfaction to us to be
with you. And we use this word "we" not unadvisedly.
It is told of a certain young, unmarried clergyman in this
region, but not in this neighborhood, that once, when he was
called upon to give an address before a maternal association,
as he warmed up to his subject, he astonished his hearers
by commencing an impassioned sentence, " We, who are
mothers." But we who are grandchildren, salute you.
You had the pleasure yesterday, and I wish we could have
enjoyed the pleasure with you, of listening to the rehearsal, in
felicitous words, of events which took place in former days.
There were suggestions in many cases of the great contrast
between those times and the days in which we live. It is the
complaint of some that the days we have fallen upon are un
fortunate in many ways ; and in this respect, amongst others,
that the prayers of the sanctuary are, in comparison with those
of former days, lacking in definiteness. It may be so. I have
been told of one clergyman in the ancient tiine who, before he
entered the ministry, took a course in medicine, and was not
bashful about displaying his attainments in that direction.

200 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
One Sunday, a note being sent up to the pulpit asking prayers
for a woman of the congregation who was sick, he recognized
the request in his sjipplication in words like these: "That
this woman, thy sei-vant, may recover from her sickness, if it
be thy will ; although we, who are acquainted with matters of
medicine, know tbat she cannot." You have had rehearsed
to you and set forth before you by both of your pastors the
graces of the Christian life, and you have seen them also
illustrated in their lives and in the lives of many others with
whom you have taken sweet counsel together, and in whose
company you have come up to this house of the Lord.
It has been said that of all the Christian graces there is only
one that has no counterfeit. There is an impudence that goes
sometimes for plainness of speech. There is a zeal for doctrine
that lacks in charity. There is a frugality that drops into
covetousness. There is an easj'-going good-nature that has no
regard for the truth ; and so on. But there- is one grace for
which there has been invented no counterfeit, and that is the
grace of perseverance. There is nothing like it, nothing that
can take the place of it. Great reward at last is promised to
patient continuance in well doing. In this respect there is one
thing in the life of this church in which it has no competitors:
it is the first church in Newton, and always was, and as long
as it lives it always will be, ¦with none to rob it of its honor,
and none to share that honor with it.
It would have been delightful to hear what your ears heard
yesterday in review of things that are past; yet it has occurred
to me that, full and felicitous as those words doubtless were,
they could have expressed but a small part of that which is
true in fact in the history of this church. A full report could
not be given. The influence of those who have been mem
bers of this church has gone out in lines that have been marked
by no eye but God's only. It has gone forth into distant
parts of our own land, gone perhaps to other lands. He who
would measure it all must know and understand the piety of
those who have been faithful in their homes, the influence they
have exerted by the fireside and in the walks of business and in
social life. One who would do this must count up the names,
and know the lives, and mark the wanderings, of the children

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES. 20I
of this church, many of whom have been gathered into other
communions. One must look into the homes which this
church has overshadowed and the graveg which it has blessed.
He must follow those who have gone from their earthly trials
and entered into their eternal rest and glory. All this must be
done before a full history of this church can be written, and
a complete presentation of the facts of that history can be
made. For this we must await that later and better day.
A solemn trust, a sacred trust, a precious trust, 1 know you
feel is committed to your hands this day. You receive it from
hands that already are mouldering in the dust, and generations
that are yet unborn are awaiting tiieir turn to receive it from
you. Why may we not think of this ancient, this venerable
church as abiding here till the end of time.'' Why may not
Christ be worshipped here, as he has been worshipped by the
fathers, so by their children, until he shall come himself in
glory.? These walls must decay, and those who are now bear
ing the burden and heat of the day and rejoicing in the privi
leges of this fellowship must pass away and be gathered unto
their fathers ; but the church, which is the body of Christ,
remains. And you are not alone in the interest, the solicitude that you
feel to guard this sacred trust and to do what in you lies to pre
serve the purity, the integrity of this church and to watch over
its growth. Spirits of just men made jDerfect who once walked
these roads are looking down, we may believe, upon this place
of their spiritual birth. Angels sent forth from God to minister
to them who shall be heirs of salvation have long known
the way to this place. And God, the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, with unceasing love remembers those who here confess
his name and trust his grace. His grace be with you all. As
he was with the fathers, so may he be with you and your chil
dren and your children's children to the latest generation.
The Chairman. — We are mindful, as I said in the be
ginning, of the relations which subsist between the church and
the state. We remember the obligations which the church is
under to the state and to the country ; and we recall how well
it has discharged those obligations. We had hoped to have

202 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
with us to-day His Excellency the Governor, but he is neces
sarily absent on account of illness. He has sent us this letter,
which I will read.
[Governor Ames's letter of regret was read. See Ap
pendix.] But, my friends, we have with us a governor. We have
with us the governor whom Newton and this church gave to
the Commonwealth. We have our friend and townsman,
whom we are happy and proud to receive and welcome, and
to whom I need not introduce you, — Honorable William
Claflin. EX-GOVERNOR CLAFLIN'S ADDRESS.
Mr. President, — You said you hardly knew why j'ou
were placed in this position. I can hardly conceive why,
under the circumstances, you should desire to bring in one of
your neighbors and friends who certainly has less claim upon
this position here to-day. I suppose that in selecting your
friends to make speeches you did somewhat as the Speaker of
the House does when he selects a judiciary committee, — of
which I think you have been a member. That is composed
of seven lawyers and one layman. The idea is, I presume,
that the layman shall represent somebody outside of the pro
fession. Sometimes they say that they want a little more
wisdom than is in the profession, so as to bring in somebody
from the outside world to represent outside wants and in
terests. I am glad to be with you and, so far as I can, to represent
the state, but that is in a very small way. The state in former
times, as most of you know, had the care of all the churches,
in one sense. It certainly had the care of this church ;
because I believe it could not even get a meeting-house — at
any rate, one of them — without going to the General Court and
getting it to fix upon a place. And what was done then may
have been a very important thing, and probably was a very
important thing. The state has had the care, so far as it
could have, from that day to this. To be sure, the church has

COMMEMOR.VTIVE SERVICES. 2O3
been separated from the state and the state from the church,
although, in one sense, the state was founded by the church.
The great idea, I presume, of the Pilgrim Fathers was to
found a church and from that to found a state, and they
succeeded. How much the people of this state owed to their
ideas no one can tell. How much the country owes to the
principles which they have established has been related in
histories without number.
But the state cannot do everything, and the less at the pres
ent time it does for the churches the better. We want the
state to do nothing. We want the churches to be sure and
keep any opposing influence or any opposing organization
from laying its hands on our state. That I believe to be the
work, so far as the political side of churches is brought to our
remembrance, to do. We should feel it our duty to keep the
state from taking any position by which the churches should
be commanded or directed by its officers.
Another point on account of which I suppose I may have
been brought here is, that although I had no grandfather or
grandmother on which to make a claim of association with
you to-day, I have a wife whose grandmother was a member
of your church. And I suppose, as many a man has had a
great position given him through the influence of his wife, I
am permitted to come here through her influence, to some
extent, to-day.
I am very glad to meet you on this joyous occasion, and to
remember with you what the church has done in this com
munity. As I look back through the long period in which it
has been established, and see that it has continued in the same
line in which it started, I am reminded, among other things,
that it was always, for the time, a liberal church. It was
noted for its liberality to new influences and new rights that
might come into the community. It was here that Whitefield
preached, as has been referred to. He came from the Metho
dist denomination. At least he was associated with Wesley,
and was one of the men who started that great man in the
work of his life. His influence here was accepted and felt.
It was potential. He came repeatedly. I look back upon
that as an evidence of liberality in the church of that day.

204 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
It is rather singular how of late this feeling of, not liberality
exactly, of oneness, has taken hold of the people of the Com
monwealth. In my youth I lived in the good town of Milford,
where there was what was called an Orthodox Congregational
church. In one corner of the town was a little Methodist
building, in which a gentleman by the name of Tucker
preached. He was among the first that I can remember of
that denomination. He was very influential, easy of address,
and a great favorite with the people of the town. He was
placed by their agency upon the school committee, and he met
the pastor of the Congregational church. The pastor became
pleased with Mr. Tucker, the same as others did. Finally, he
invited him one day to occupy the pulpit of the Congregational
church. Such an event had never been heard of in that sec
tion. The church was filled to overflowing. Mr. Tucker
administered there with great acceptance, as usual. After
wards he was often invited to occupy the pulpit. It was
thought to be very wonderful for that time, no longer ago than
1830. But time has rolled on. A good many of our minis
ters, as we call them, have become Congregational pastors.
They seem to have been taken in without much reluctance,
and with very slight examination, so far as I can learn. There
has been no sharp feeling of any danger of the doctrine of
future probation in their hands. I suppose the reason of that is,
that before they were received into the Congregational church
they all had a period of probation as a stepping-stone in the
Methodist church. Some of them have been very successful,
and some have been transported to larger places and to larger
fields. I am glad that they are ready to go when called, and
that the Congregational churches are ready to receive them-
It is evidence, I think, of the great liberality of the churches
and the steady growth of true Christianity among our people.
It is not easy to see on what particular of your anniversary
I ought to speak, because the ground has been so thoroughly
gone over by your former pastor. Under his preaching I sat
many years with great acceptance to me. I have great love for
him. To be sure he had, as other pastors had, more or less
trials that required a good deal of patience, on account of some
things in the old society. I presume that in later years he had

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES. 205
more success that way than at first. Some friction was the
natural consequence of a young man coming to an old society
like this. At one time, being a most excellent musician, very
fond of the songs of God's house, he desired to have a new
book of worship brought in. Some of you will no doubt re
member the circumstance. There was quite a flutter. The
matter occupied several meetings of the committee, if not of the
congregation. Finally, as near as I can recollect, the tide of
sentiment seemed to be going against it. The old books were
lying around, pretty well worn out, and were likely to be re
newed by new books that would last a long time. In his feeling
manner he said, " I have struggled twenty years to have new
books in this place, and I can struggle twenty years longer."
Thereupon the people came down and voted the new books.
Now, of the good there was in the people, their generosity,
their patriotism, I believe every one is ready to speak, and
every one ready to join in what has been said in regard to it.
But all these things were things of growth. As you look over
the long record of these pastors you will find, in almost every
instance, that they were distinguished for their learning, gentle
manners, steady perseverance in everything right, and that
they led their congregations in that way. So that, when long
years had passed, and our good friend Furber came to take
possession of the pulpit, his congregation was intelligent and
cultivated and nobly trained. To be sure, there was more
work to be done ; but it was always done in such a gentle way
that it was almost impossible for any one to remain outside of
the church. When I used to attend, I used to think it was
almost like the order passed in the early days, when it was
said that no man should be a citizen or voter unless he be
longed to the church. I could scarcely look around the church
and find any one who did not belong to the church, or did not
hope to very shortly, under Mr. Furber's preaching.
But, my friends, I am taking a good deal more time than a
layman should. But I could not help saying a few words in
an old field where I have worked more or less for many years,
where my children have been in the Sunday-school, and where,
during the terrible War of the Rebellion, we so often met to
consult on matters pertaining to that struggle, and where we

2o6 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
have met in those most sacred and solemn funeral services over
dear ones laid away. These memories come to me. They
come to some of you. I know that in this day, to the younger
portion, thej- are the records of the past ; but I would impress
upon those of a younger generation, the feelings of patriotism
which must come to them from what has been told them by
their fathers. That great struggle for the renewed liberty and
the life of the nation has passed away never to return. There
may be other struggles, but in the good providence of God I
trust there can be no fraternal struggle, none that will partake
of the terrible animosity and bitterness of that great conflict.
No question can come, it seems to me, to the people of this
great country, that will raise such feelings of hatred and ani
mosity ; but there may be struggles ; and the right preparation
for them will always be in the line of that instruction which
has so long been given from this pulpit and from pulpits like
this throughout the land ; and in that pure education inculcated
by our fathers, and which, I trust, will descend to their children
with faithfulness and with clearnesss, and with that directness
which will lead them into the higher life which we all hope to
attain. I am very glad to meet you on this pleasant, this agreeable
occasion. I trust that this society, as has been said by my
predecessors, may remain, when those who are now here have
passed on, faithful to that truth which has been so long and
faithfully preached under its auspices.
Rev. Dr. Furber. — When we introduced the Hymn and
Tune Book in i860, we had several meetings in the chapel to
discuss the order of the service of song. Governor Claflin
worshipped with us. He took a deep and helpful interest in
church affairs. He taught an adult class in the Sunday-school.
He met with us to enter into these discussions about the con
duct of congregational singing. I had rather leaned to the
practice of the congregation singing all three hymns, led by
the choir. I remember that Governor Claflin said: "You
might let the congregation sing all the hvmns if you like, or
you might let the choir have the first one all to themselves, and
let the congregation join in the other two." That struck me

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES. 207
favorably, and that single remark decided the whole question,
and for thirty years it has been our custom in this church to let
the choir have the first hymn to itself, and the congregation join
in the second and third. For that custom, in vogue here
thirt)' years, we are indebted to Governor Claflin.
The Chairman. — We had hoped to have with us to-day
Reverend Dr. Clark. We had thought that this anniversary
should not be confined to this church and to the recollections
of the affairs and memories, however precious, of this body of
Christians alone, but that it should take on a deeper and wider
significance by such a contrast and comparison as the Rev. Dr.
Clark, one of the Secretaries of the American Board, would
give concerning the cause of Christ over the whole world.
Therefore I know how disappointed you will be when I read
this telegram : —
" A heavy cold. Doctor forbids my going. Much disappointed. "N. G. CLARK."
It is addressed to our pastor, Mr. Holmes.
I will ask Rev. Mr. Holmes, at this place, as it is a fitting
opportunity, to read to the congregation several letters, which
are of interest, which he has received.
Mr. Holmes read a number of letters,' and said : —
Before I take my seat I would like to extend to you all a
very cordial invitation to the collation prepared by the ladies,
which is to be served in Associates' Hall. The verses which
will be sung at table were brought by Dr. Furber from
England. In one of his visits there he found them in the
home of John Wesley. They were inscribed upon an earthen
tea-urn, and were used by John Wesley and others, probably,
for this very purpose, one verse being sung at the beginning
of the meal and the other at the close.
The Chairman. — I do not know whether the next hymn
' See Appendix for letters.

2o8 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
was in the new collection used by Dr. Furber and Governor
Claflin, or not. At any rate, we will sing it for our closing
exercise.

The hymn beginning " To bless thy chosen race," was
then sung.
The assembly repaired to Associates' Hall, where the
collation was served, and reassembled in the church at
7 P.M.
The exercises were opened with the Te Deum, by the
choir, followed by reading of the Scriptures by Rev. W. A.
Lamb, and prayer by Professor W. E. Huntington.
The congregation sang the hymn, "Blow ye the trum
pet, blow," and the choir, by request, rendered again
" Jerusalem, my glorious home."
The Chairman. — In addition to the letters which were
read by the pastor, there are one or two which I should be
delighted to ask the privilege of reading to you now, but time
forbids. One of them is from the Rev. Professor W. G. T.
Shedd, whose mother lived in the old homestead, later and
within our memories of Mr. Marshall S. Rice, and was a
member of this church. Another is from the Rev. Dr. Daniel
T. Fiske, of Newburyport, who is connected closely with this
church, Mrs. Fiske having been a most esteemed member
of it. From this letter I will read this sentence : " I should be
glad to be present for the sake of your honored and beloved
Pastor Emeritus, my esteemed friend and classmate, whose
voice makes music, whether he sings, or speaks, or prays."
Brethren, the pure gold of Dr. Furber's life and teachings
here for the last forty years, and the pure gold of the life and
character of his sainted companion, Mrs. Furber, need no
poor gilding from one who is called to preside on this
occasion. I dare not make the attempt. His blessing has
been upon our fathers, upon us, and upon our children, day by
day and year by year for forty years. And to-night we

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES. 209
return to him, one and all, every heart and every voice, our
blessing and our benediction.
ADDRESS OF THE REV. DR. FURBER.
I thank Judge Bishop most heartily for his kind words.
After having pronounced a benediction upon you so many
times as I have, it is extremely pleasant to receive your bene
diction in return through the chairman's lips. Such a cordial
exchange of good wishes and prayers is one of the ways in
which the Lord permits us to strew flowers in each other's
paths as we journey along.
I have been most abundantly rewarded, dear friends, by the
results of my investigation of the history of this church. When
the question was proposed, " Shall we celebrate our two hundred
and twenty-fifth anniversary.? " I hesitated, and feared that we
could not find sufficient material to make the occasion an in
teresting and profitable one, since the record of the first one
hundred years and more of our history was lost by fire. But
investigation has brought to light many precious things that I
knew nothing about, simply because I had not taken pains to
find them. This remark shows the importance of such cele
brations as this. It compels us to gather up our history and
keep it from sinking into oblivion. The more we know of
our church, of what it has been, and what it has done in the
past, the more our interest in it is awakened. Its usefulness
in the past becomes an incentive and an inspiration for the
future. When the church is lukewarm and worldly, it stimu
lates the faith and courage of the more spiritual of its members
to remember past times of refreshing from the presence of the
Lord, and it helps them to feel that the thing that hath been is
the thing that can be again, for Jesus Christ is the same yes
terday and to-day and forever. When we fail to see as we
could wish the fruit of our labors in behalf of the unconverted,
it is a comfort to us to think how much is done by missionaries
who are supported by our contributions, how much is done by
men who have gone from us into the ministry, or into mis
sionary work, and how much is done by the sons, grandsons,
and great-grandsons of men who went into the ministry from

2IO THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
this church generations ago. Just as a nation is stimulated in
times of trial or peril by the thought of past achievements, and
the names of the places where victory was gained are watchwords
for the future, so a church which has done as much as this has
to put eminent ministers and eminent men into positions of
great usefulness, ought to thank God for the honor of such a
career, and gird itself with new strength of purpose to make
the future equal the past. How little the fathers could realize
that the little seed which they planted would become a tree, —
that the leaven of the truth which they proclaimed would send
its influence far down the stream of time, and that they long
afterward in heaven would rejoice over the sheaves which
successive generations of reapers would gather in and bring
home. Not to mention others, think of that wonderful Williams
family. Isaac Williams, of this church, went to Hatfield and
preached fifty-five years. His son went to Lebanon and
preached more than fifty years. His son went to Northampton
and preached more than fifty years. When I think of that
Williams family, how it spread in every direction, with its
ministerial and missionary work, it seems to me like a vine
hanging full of clusters.
Our church has been blessed with a godly ministry. Mr.
Bushnell, who preceded me, labored under great disadvantage
from the loss of those who went out to form the Eliot Church ;
but at the beginning of his ministry, and while in the seminary
at New Haven, he preached in Stratford, Conn., ten weeks,
where his labors resulted in the conversion of upwards of
seventy persons. Mr. Bates seemed always to have in mind
the precept, "Thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and
warn the people from me." If he had more warning than in
vitation in his preaching, it might be because he thought it was
the other way with his colleague. Call him morbidly con
scientious if you will, the burden of souls was on his heart,
and he believed that both the goodness and the severity of God
were needful to save them. Dr. Homer moved about among
the people as a father among his children, loving and beloved.
Mr. Meriam we know less about than we could wish. He
published only one sermon, and that was an ordination sermon.

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES. 211
He was a man of thought and of right ideas about the work
of the ministry, and had a happy skill in composition. The
solemn and powerful appeal to fear, which I quoted yesterday
from one of the sermons of Mr. Cotton, made me feel what a
sacred place this pulpit has been made by the fidelity with
which God's truth has been proclaimed here by the ministers
of past times. Mr. Hobart was one of the leading divines of
New England, — an exceedingly modest man, but a man of
genuine worth. Judge Bishop ought to be thankful to God
that he is descended from such a man.^ When Mr. Eliot, at
the early age of thirty-two, saw that the Lord was about to call
him to Himself, he was filled with ecstasy at the thought that
he should so soon be in heaven with one whom he loved with
all his soul.
May God ever bless this dear church with faithful ministers,
with men who shall not shun to declare all the counsel of God,
with men who shall know nothing among this people but Jesus
Christ, and him crucified, and whose hearts' desire and prayer
to God shall be that men may be saved.
The Chairman. — Brethren, in our thanksgiving and
anniversary we must not omit a due proportion of the laity.
Although the chief honor is due to those by whom the chief
burden is borne, the clergy, the laity support and stand by the
clergy. We heard this afternoon one of the laity, whom we
claim as belonging to us, though he is connected with the
great Methodist body. I now have the pleasure of intro
ducing to you one of the laity in the Congregational denomi
nation, — a member of one of the Congregational churches
of Newton, and a member of the First Church in the right of
his wife, a beloved member of this church until he took her
with him to the church of which they are now members. He
is a gentleman who supports the denomination not only by his
faith, but by his character and his position in the legal profes
sion and in public affairs, and who reflects honor upon the
religious body to which he belongs. I introduce to you
Winfield S. Slocum.
' Mr. Joseph A. Torrey, of the Berkeley Temple Church, Boston, another
of the descendants of Nehemiah Hobart through the line of Dr. Joseph Torrey,
mentioned on p. 89, was present at these exercises.

212 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.

ADDRESS OF MR. SLOCUM.
I believe the historian of Newton has spoken of the Hydes,
the Wards, the Prentisses, and the Trowbridges, who early set
tled this town, and by their piety, industry, and thrift laid the
foundations of its subsequent prosperity. As your presiding
officer has said to-night, I may claim a privilege here in the
right of my wife. In that way I enjoy and feel that I have a
part in this celebration. I might say, in passing, what per
haps is not generally known : I desire to thank the committee
of arrangements for having put this two hundred and twenty-
fifth anniversary upon the anniversary also of my wedding.
He has spoken, too, of my belonging to one of the younger
churches of Newton. We do not expect to get such a history
as this church has, but we are making history very fast down
at Newtonville, I can assure you. I look around upon these
walls, and I find that this church has had only nine ministers
in about two hundred and twenty-five years. We have had
five in about twenty years.
There are some disadvantages, too, that this church has
labored under which I believe our church has never experienced.
I remember reading in that same history that there were the
vacant slips, or spaces in the middle of the church ; that around
the sides of the church were the pews where the people sat ; and
occasionally some person, by his worth or dignity, got the right
to sit in the centre of the church. There were also the deacons'
pews in front. One of the deacons had charge of the hour
glass. He set it when the sermon commenced, and turned it
if the sermon was not completed at the end of the hour. They
tell us that unless the glass was turned at least once the people
felt that the minister had not done his duty towards his congre
gation. Another thing also we have now in Newtonville which
you did not. You had no fire in your church for one hundred
and thirty-two years after it was formed. But then you had the
noon houses, and there, between services, by the glowing fires,
people warmed their stiffened limbs, drank their cider, and
ate their homely lunch. They tell us that the farmers occa
sionally rolled a barrel of cider into the basement of the
church " to add to the good cheer of the Lord's day." Evi-

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES. 213
dently that was before the constitutional amendment had been
discussed. It carries us back a long way. I see upon this side of the
pulpit the stars and stripes, and upon the other side the banner
of Old England. I rejoice in the history of this church under
these two governments. Think of it for a moment. We are as
far down from the Declaration of Independence, from the Boston
tea-party, from the Stamp Act, as they were on the other side.
When this church was formed John Bunyan was living, Milton
was living; it was the time of the conflict between Puritanism
and the Church of England. Cromwell had just died. The
fruits of the Reformation had begun to ripen. But conflicts
were still going on. The year before this church was formed,
united Christendom fought the celebrated battle of St. Gotthard.
In that fight of Christianity against Mohammedanism there
began that series of victories by which the religion of the false
prophet was stamped out of Europe. It was twenty years
before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, by which religious
liberty in France was destroyed and thousands of families were
obliged to flee from their country. That was the time in which
this church was founded. We connect that time with the
present. It is said that history is the memory of the race, and that
memorial days and monuments are the record of that history.
How it connects the past with the present ! For instance, West
minster Abbey connects the England of the Stuarts, the Plan-
tagenets, the Tudors, with that of Gladstone, of Palmerston ;
the England of Shakespeare and Chaucer with the England of
Tennyson and Browning. And so, in this church where we
stand to-day, we have the history of those times connected
with the times in which we live. And I think we can well
stay here and dwell upon this, not simply dwell upon the fast,
but take a new consecration, — a new love for the work that is
before us.
You remember that scene in the Passover, how the son asked
of his father the meaning of the ceremony, and the father re
plied that God had brought them out with a strong hand and
an outstretched arm from the land of Egypt, and therefore
they celebrated the Passover.

2 14 '^^^ FIRST CHLTRCH IN NEWTON.
I want just for a moment to call your attention to another
thought. I can better do it, it seems to me, if we will con
sider for a moment, upon this anniversary day, with two
hundred and twenty-five years of history back of us, what: it
would be to our fathers and our ancestors, — what this world
would be, or would have been, — with the hope of Christ
blotted out. You remember Pilate's sneering question to
Christ, " What is truth.?" He expressed the sentiment of his
age. For you remember that Csesar said there was no future
life ; that Pliny said it ; that Tacitus said, " If there is a place
for pious souls, we do not know it." Cicero himself says, "If
there is a future, the gods only know it." And Ingersoll, in
our day, when he stood and pronounced his funeral oration
over the lifeless form of a loved one, closed with words some
thing like these: "Proudly he entered the darkness or the
dawn ; he passed to that vast realm of silence or of joy,
where the innumerable dwell." Tacitus said that if there is a
future, then only a god may know it. Roman and American
alike, without the gospel of Christ, are without hope. Paul
himself wrote that without Christ we are of all men most
wretched. But he adds the glorious refrain in which we and
our fathers have trusted, " But now is Christ raised from the
dead and become the first fruits of them that slept." We, as
our fathers did, turn to the words of our beloved Master and
read: " Let not your hearts be troubled; ye believe in God,
believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions.
If it were not so I would have told you."
So we gather here to-night in the faith of the fathers. We
seem almost to be in their presence, and I think we can almost
sing together with them the words of the hymn, —
"Till I fancy but thinly the veil intervenes
Between that fair city and me."
I would like once more to turn to words of the Apostle,
where he says: "Seeing therefore we are compassed about
with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run with patience the
race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith."

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES. 215
The Reverend Dr. S. F. Smith then said : —
Through the kindness of the president of the meeting, I have
obtained permission to indulge in a line of thought suggested
by the Rev. Dr. Furber. He has provoked in my mind some
recollections which it seems to me are worthy of our thought
on such an occasion. Dr. Furber spoke of the Williams
family, and the vast influence exerted by the various and
successive branches of it. My thoughts recurred at once to
that member of the Williams family who was the founder of
Williams College. And in thinking of Williams College, I
remembered that once upon a time, in a little country town in
the State of Connecticut, a Christian mother took up her little
infant boy who was tottering about the floor and said, " This
child I dedicate to God as a missionary to the heathen." In
the providence of God, in due time that child was converted,
and his attention was turned to an education and the work of
the ministry. When he went to Williams College, he found
a few young men of kindred spirit with himself, and these
young men frequently conversed together upon the duty of
Christians to the heathen world. One day, as the narrative tells
us, when the young men were walking together in the hay-
fields, on a summer afternoon, there came up a heavy cloud,
and there were signs of thunder and lightning and rain.
" Come," said one of the brethren, " let us kneel down behind
this haystack, and pray on this subject." And behind that
haystack, by these young men, members of Williams College,
the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
was prayed into existence. You can easily see the connection
between the Williamses of Newton and the great work of
American missions to the heathen in India and Ceylon, in
Burmah and China, in Central, Eastern, and Western Africa,
in the Sandwich Islands, and in all Micronesia, and wherever
the beautiful feet of them that publish salvation have gone
abroad from these American shores. Hail, the First Church in
Newton, the mother of all American missions, of every de
nomination, to the heathen world!
Dr. Smith sat down amid great applause.

2l6 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
The hymn, " Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates," was
then sung by the congregation.
The Chairman. — The first-born child is certainly not
loved less than any succeeding offspring ; and if the First
Church in Newton loves any of her children better than the
others, it is her first child, the church at West Newton.
Brethren, you may make the application in either way, — that
this church loves them all so much that she cannot distinguish,
or that she has pre-eminence in her affection for that over
which the Rev. Mr. Patrick is the clergyman. At all events,
the love which this church gives out to that church and to her
minister, and the good-will and heart that we give to them and
him, when we see them in the pews and him in the pulpit, are
not excelled by any other love or good-will that we feel for
any who come here.
ADDRESS OF REV. HENRY J. PATRICK.
I have noticed that you are doing things to-day after the old
fashion ; but there is one exception. The fathers never erected
a platform in front of a pulpit, and they never went out there
and spoke extemporaneously. They stood behind the pulpit
and read. I shall be the single exception this evening, and do
as the fathers did. You will excuse me, therefore, if I follow
in their fashion and read to you from behind the pulpit. It
will seem more natural.
The eldest daughter to her venerable mother, — Congratula
tions upon her age and health.
First-born in this household, she was thinking herself quite
aged among her younger sisters, and was counting a century
and eight years a respectable age to attain, but coming to-day
to look up into the face of her mother two hundred and
twenty-five years old, and reminded also by her representative
here, that she has a grandmother moving on toward three
hundred, she grows young in the contrast. She is happy to
be called back to the ancestral home and to join in these birth
day festivities. It shows the mother's remission of the eldest
daughter's early waywardness, independence, and persistence.

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES. 21 7
Doubtless these pastors have chronicled in their historical
sermons what a tough time this first-born had in setting up
housekeeping for herself. She began, as daughters usually do,
with the mere hint to her mother that she would like a home
of her own ; but the mother said, " No, I cannot spare you ;"
but she kept on increasingly earnest in her petition, and the
mother kept on saying " No " with increasing emphasis. It
turned out as it always does in such cases, — the more the mother
said "No," the more the daughter said "I will;" and she
showed her persistence by actually calling to her aid the State,
after a vain continuous teasing of eleven years. The General
Court decreed the separation in this month of October, 1778, and
the line of division was drawn between the domain of mother
and daughter, " beginning upon the bank of the Charles River,
at the south-east corner of the farm possessed by Samuel Wood
ward, by direct line to the south-ea.sterly part of land improved
by Daniel Fuller, and to continue in the same straight course
to Watertown line."
There are reminiscences of earnest strife over that invisible
line, till it was made to materialize in a certain garden, and
strike through a squash, the big end of which falling on the
daughter's side, her domain was named in derision, " Squash
End ; " but it was enough to answer, as did Lawyer Ward,
when bantered on his residence at " Squash End," that " the
seeds of the squash were mostly in the end of it." The lately
issued King's Handbook of Newton should be corrected in its
mistake of wrongly applying the opprobrious epithets of the
warring parties; "Bell Hack" belonging to the East, and
" Squash End," to the West Parishes, respectively.
But the bitterness of those days faded away in due time, and
now is only the dimmest and most distant reminiscence. Some
one told me the other day of a gravestone on which were
carved the names of husband and wife together, and beneath,
the dubious legend, " Their warfare is ended." Mother and
daughter, in this case, ended their warfare, not in the silence
of the grave, but in the fellowship of life and love.
Indeed, it revealed a relenting on the part of the mother
that, within a month after the organization of the church at
West Newton, the mother church honored the petition of the

2l8 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
daughter for a portion of the communion ware by voting,
" after some conversation," as the record runs, four pewter
tankards and one pewter basin as a present to the Second
Church. Bv a fortunate discovery one of these tankards came
to light at our Centennial, and we have placed it in our Holy
of Holies as a reminder of our mother's early generosity, and
of that day of small things when pewter was of necessity a
substitute for silver. I have brought it over to show to you ;
and, if inanimate things have voices, it will speak most im
pressively of the multitude from both churches who have
received the wine poured forth from it, who have gone to
drink the fruit of the vine new in the Father's kingdom.
We cannot wonder so much at the reluctant consent of the
mother to the daughter's going forth, when we read the names
of the organizing members of the West Newton church,
and recognize the family ties which bound them to those
left behind : Ward, Jackson, Fuller, Adams, Crafts,
Woodward, — names suggestive at once of the old Newton
Precinct. And these names are significant as well of the
character of our fathers ; for of the twenty-seven on the first
roll of the Second Church, all of whom, with a single excep
tion, came from the mother church, there was not one who
wore the ornament of a middle name. They were such
earnest men that they had no time, breath, nor ink to waste on
such a luxury.
And they were as strong as they were earnest, if names
mean anything; for, with the exception of one Alexander and
one Experience, they all bore good Scripture names, — four
Josephs, three Samuels, two Josiahs, two Jonathans, one
Joshua, two Elizabeths, two Marys, a Lydia, Lois, Ruth, and
Tabitha. A brother behind me, who ought to know (Dr. Alexander
McKenzie), suggests the inquiry whether Alexander is not a
Scripture name.
I acknowledge correction. The mistake was a natural one,
as the other names were all of good men. I am only sorry
that one of those early members was named from the copper
smith who did the Apostle so much harm, probably by
making coppers for people to drop into the contribution-box.

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES. 219
But not only were the families of the two churches closely
allied, but there was added another bond, which had a stronger,
more positive influence in healing the soreness of separation.
Within three months two young men were ordained as pastors,
— William Greenough at West Newton, and Jonathan Homer at
this place. They became intimate, lifelong friends, dwelling
side b)' side fifty years, holding frequent conferences, and by
their cordial fellowship promoting pleasant relations between
the parishes, and softening the asperities of the disputes which
continued to break out touching the common ministerial wood-
lot. These men were so unlike in character as to become all
the stronger friends. It is now an open secret that by the
strong bonds of Mr. Greenough's influence Dr. Homer was
held from breaking away in the great doctrinal defection of
those days. Dr. Gilbert, who was Mr. Greenough's successor,
has left on record an illustration of this influence. At a
council in a neighboring town where the test question came
up, Dr. Homer waited till he saw Mr. Greenough's hand
go up in the minority, when he followed, and being bantered
about it replied, " I'll never leave Brother Grenno.'' These
good men left a legacy of goodly fellowship, and since those
days naught has occurred to disturb the pleasant relations of
mother and daughter. The pastors have mingled in associa
tion, conference, and by exchange of pulpits.
It is my privilege to bring a personal testimony covering a
period of nearly thirty years. When I came into this family
of churches I received a cordial greeting from the pastor of
this church, whom I found to be the truly "beloved Daniel"
of our brotherhood, and to whose wise counsels and genial
fellowship I am glad to acknowledge my indebtedness as
greater than to any other brother. No man was more wel
come to the West Newton pulpit. One of the former deacons
of that church used to call him " the silver trumpet," doubtless
because of his clear tones and the no uncertain sound he gave.
And then he had a better half with whom, on our exchanges,
it was a great privilege and delight, in those former days of
two services, to spend the hours between. What a grand
woman she was, and what impressions of lofty thought she left
upon us in every interview ! In this beautiful memorial of

220 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
flowers to those who have gone home, our thoughts cluster
about her memory, fragrant with good deeds.
And this ministerial fellowship is perpetuated in the present
pastorate, may I not say, without any weakening or abatement.
In these latter days there has been added another bond unit
ing these churches which has already revealed its influence, —
the bond of the steel rail. These two miles have been constantly
increasing in length, till it seemed quite a journey from one
meeting-house to the other, and the lack of public communica
tion proved a barrier to fellowship. Our churches had less
and less to do with each other. Now our Circuit road has
renewed the strength of the bond, and it has materialized in
our Congregational Club, which has already unified our
denominational body in this city.
We felt sorry when you passed your two hundredth birthday
so quietly ; but the sad days of the war were upon us, and you
had no heart for celebrations. To-day you are making full
amends. Again the first-born brings her congratulations to her ven
erable mother to-day on the increase of her family. She
enjoyed the monopoly of an only child sixty-four years.
Then the Eliot was added, and in succession, Auburndale,
the North, the Central, and the Highlands were born into the
family, and now " we are seven."
With pride can the mother look upon her six daughters and
rejoice in the growth and vigor which she finds in each house
hold. Present prosperity only betokens a more glorious
future. The successive celebrations of semi and quarter centennials
will follow one another, in which we shall mark our progress.
In six years we shall expect a summons from our big sister
Eliot to our Congregational cathedral of stone, in its elegance
and beauty, to mark fifty years of her history, and those of us
who may be there will find that the family is still increasing.
These hills and valleys are to be covered more thickly with
beautiful residences, the uninhabited spaces on our Circuit
road to be filled up with new communities, and their intelli
gence will be sure to demand in the future, as in the past, the
church of our fathers with its simple polity and forms, its

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES. 221
sound doctrine, strengthening fellowship, and enterprising
spirit. With our sixteen hundred members in our seven churches,
we lead our sister denominations, and hope to go on increasing
in strength and in good works. We have only friendly words
and helping hands for all who love our common Master and
are strong for the upbuilding of his kingdom in our commu
nities. We turn from these festivities craving the benediction of the
mother of us all, who, as queen, held sole spiritual sway over
all this domain for one hundred and sixteen years, but now
counts thirty-one churches and religious societies covering the
same territory.
And we will leave our best wishes and most devout prayers
for her prosperity as she moves on through her third century
of life.
The Chairman. — If the mother loves most her first-born,
she takes the greatest pride in that child which has achieved
most. And we look with pride, unmingled by the slightest
trace of rivalry, at the great church and work carried on in it
by the colony which went from this church and is now at New
ton. Large as the work of this church in its scope has been,
that church is starting upon a career which has a promise of
usefulness larger than that of the mother. And we welcome
here the distinguished pastor of the church at Newton, the
Eliot Church. ADDRESS OF REV. WOLCOTT CALKINS, D.D.
Mr. Chairman and dear Brethren, — I have listened
with profound gratitude to the remarks of Brother Patrick, the
minister of the Second Church, and of the first offspring from
this church. I always knew what a blessing it was to be a
daughter of this church ; but I never knew before how grateful
we ought to be that we were not the first child. The oldest
child always has a hard time of it, as all the experiments are
tried in the beginning. The mother found out, by the ex
perience which has just been recounted, that Eliot Church, her
second daughter, could bear a good deal more letting alone.

22 2 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
On Sunday, April i, i8SS, in preparation for the laying of
the corner-stone of our third, and, as we hope, our last meeting
house, we opened with great reverence the casket taken from
the corner-stone of our second meeting-house, consumed by
fire, Feb. i6, 1887. We found within, another casket, still
sealed, which had been placed by the founders of Eliot Church
under the corner-stone of their first meeting-house in 1845.
The reading of the papers therein preserved made a solemn
impression on our community. A letter from the minister and
committee of the First Church revealed the immense sacrifice
you made then, in releasing many of your most efficient mem
bers to form the new church. But it was a generous and free
will offering. I felt then, and I feel still, that the enterprise
which we have now completed does not deserve to be called a
sacrifice. I have expressly repudiated all claim to praise or
honor for the work we have done. To God be all the praise.
And to the noble band of men and women whom you gave so
freely, we now accord our hearty gratitude.
Your early history sheds some light on a recent event in
ours. I have discovered from your recitals, that you had no
fire in your meeting-house for the first one hundred and fifty
years. Perhaps our big fire, two years ago, was making up
arrearages ! At all events, whether cemented by fire or by
love, we are one now, and we have alwaj's been one.
You have been making a very remarkable record in these
two hundred and twenty-five years. A few years ago I at
tended the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the First
Church in Hartford, where my own ministry began. I was
pained to learn how grievous the dissensions and the decay of
vital piety had been during the prevalence of the disastrous
half-way covenant. The contrast which your history presents,
in almost every feature, is very grateful. Some dissensions
have been discovered. Family quarrels, church quarrels, and
political quarrels were inevitable in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. But in comparison with the scandals of
many New England churches of those times, your record is
almost without a blemish. We unite with you in thanksgivings
to God for your glorious history.
I desire to express my thankfulness for the affection and

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES. 223
sympathy we have always received from you. When we were
burned out, you made the generous proposal that wc should
come back to the old home. We received many such offers
of hospitalit}-, some from neighbors nearer at hand, but none
that compared with this in the appeal to our hearts. On the
Sunday of that disaster, the minister of Eliot Church was
absent. Dr. Furber was sent for to pray for the desolate
church, and preach to them in their distress. He would have
been sent for, all the same, if I had been at home. My dear
friend ! you welcomed me to my arduous work by your side.
You have been, for ten years, my counsellor and my father in
Christ. And another of my intimate friends, an old friend in
college and in Hartford, has been called to continue your great
work in this church. Ministers of the First Church, and of all
the churches in this city, we stand together in a communion
which is nearest to heaven of all the fellowships which this
world affords. I want the historical discourses preached here
last Sunday repeated to Eliot Church. The whole city ought
to feel the impulse for good flowing from a history which has
few parallels in the whole country.
Beloved mother of all our churches : Your children rise up
and call you blessed ! Some of your children are not follow
ing you in all your ways ; a hen sometimes hatches a progeny
not of her own brood. Some of the offspring of this church
have taken to the water ; but none of them will repudiate their
relationship to the dear old mother, or foster-mother, least of
all Eliot Church, now grown to be a little larger than the
mother, but still a most dutiful and affectionate child.
The next church anniversary in Newton, I believe, will be
the semi-centennial of Eliot Church. I feel as if it had already
begun. I wish we could prolong these services, while we are
in the spirit. The first invitation to that sweet festival I give
now to our revered and beloved mother.
The anthem " Before Jehovah's awful throne " was then
sung by the choir and chorus.
The Chairman. — We come with the utmost reverence and
the most filial emotions toward our mother. The ancient

2 24 1'^E FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
church at Cambridge is grander now, if possible, than ever
before in the years of her history. The " matchless Mitchel,"
who filled the pastorate of the church at Cambridge when our
church came away, was a student in Harvard College during
the pastorate of the famous Shepard ; and said, as the state
ment runs, that he " could conceive of no greater privilege,
except to be in heaven itself, than to sit for four years under
the preaching of such a man." It is a great trust which is
committed to the man who stands in the pulpit of the Shepard
Church in Cambridge, and in the midst of the thousands of
students in the great University preaches by his words and by
his influence. It is a trust which has been nobly filled, but
never more nobly than by the present incumbent. Our devout
gratitude to God for the history of the mother church is attested
by the welcome of our hearts to Dr. McKenzie.
ADDRESS OF REV. ALEXANDER McKENZIE, D.D.
Mr. Chairman and Brethren, — I have listened with a
great deal of satisfaction to the praises of the First Church in
Cambridge, as they have fallen from the lips of every speaker,
I believe, this afternoon and evening. There is a certain pride
that we take in what we do ourselves, but it is doubled or
trebled when the same thing is done by our children. I shall
make haste to inform our church, when I go back, that the
American Board was founded in Cambridge. I was not
aware of that before. I knew that the first missionary tract
was printed in Cambridge ; I knew that Eliot's Indian Bible
was printed there ; but I did not know that the American
Board was founded there. I am very glad to hear it.
We take great pleasure in the prosperity of this church. We
feel paternal and maternal pride in the glory of this old church.
I bring our sincere and affectionate congratulations. I cannot
help saying, standing so far from the man himself, though I
happen to be in the same line, that it was a very great advan
tage to the thirty families who founded this church, to have
been under the ministry of Thomas Shepard. The same
thing may be said of " the matchless Mitchel," who entered
into Thomas Shepard's labor. It marks something of the

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES. 225
large-heartedness there was in Mitchel that he took the parish,
the parsonage, and the widow. He took the whole. The
students gathered together to sing their marriage songs when
Margaret Shepard became Margaret Mitchel. You may ac
cept this as typical of the sweetness of character which has
marked the history of your church during two centuries and
a quarter. The history of this church, like the history of all these Con
gregational churches, is much older than appears by the cal
endar. We shall not be able to appreciate what this church
was, and is, until we perceive where it enters into God's pur
poses, and moves on under his sovereign decrees to accomplish
his will on earth. I trace these churches to a time when a
godly man, somewhere in Chaldea, sad over the unrighteous
ness of his time, longed to go out where he could find a new
country. He was called of God, and he went out to be the
father of a nation. He was the founder of this First Church of
Newton. After him came the sons of Jacob and the Egyptian
bondage. God called a man from the sheepfold to deliver his
people out of captivity and to be their law-giver. From the
sheepfold again he called one to be psalmist of the earth, the
great king, whose name the Son of man was not unwilling to
bear. Then comes the time when a star hovers over the town
where David was born, and there comes forth one to be a light
to the Gentiles. He calls men from their fishing-boats that
they may be fishers of men. Then comes that mysterious
reaching out of the gospel to Rome. Nobody knows who
carried it there ; some strangers, merchants very probably,
some men whose business had taken them from Rome to
Jerusalem. Then comes the time when Gregory, the pontiff,
could do what Gregory, the priest, had been forbidden to do ;
and Augustine, with his companions, set their feet on the island
where, one hundred and forty years before, Hengist landed to
bring in the Saxon rule.
It all goes back, step by step, to the time when God said,
" I will make of thee a great people, and in thee shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed." It is the apostolic succession
from a time before there was a Christian disciple, or a Moses,
or an Isaiah. How beautifully God had prepared the way for

226 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
these men from Rome to enter into England ! How God
had prepared everything for them in King Ethelbert and his
good Queen Bertha ! The new life went on, and by and by
men grew discontented under the rule which was over them.
They said, " We are Englishmen, and cannot have an Italian
Pope." Then they had an English Pope. But at length
they said, " We cannot have any Pope at all." They broke
with Italian doctrines and with Italian usages. Then they
broke with the idea that the church is subordinate to the state.
God lifted, in his wise providence, to the throne of England
a man who, in his folly, would promote the purposes which he
could not understand, and then came the opportunity for wise
men to break with him and with their country. Out over the
wide sea, answering to the voice of the Lord at midnight, came
that Argo, that ship freighted as never ship was freighted before,
bringing the beginning of the light to lighten the Gentiles, the
faith of Abraham, the courage of Moses, the piety of David;
bringing them to these open shores that had been waiting for
their coming.
I trace these things very hastily that you may see that this
church is no new-born thing, not a church that comes in with
these later centuries ; it is part of the thought of Him with
whom a thousand years are but one day. All these principles
are but two or three days old. They have never changed since
God said to your ancestor, the founder of this church, — since
God spake to him directly, and said, " In thy seed shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed." This church is of the seed of
Abraham according to the faith, almost according to the flesh,
carrying forward God's unalterable purposes of justice, sover
eignty, truth, and grace in the world.
We have these men of the " Mayflower," and those that fol
lowed them here ; and what are they to do.? It is very inter
esting to mark just what they did. There were three things
opened before them. That they would have a church was self-
evident. Some had formed themselves into a church on the
other side. There had been a church like this forty years
before they came here. Three things w^ere open before those
who came to Plymouth, to Salem, to Boston, to Charlestown,
to Cambridge. The first thing possible was, perhaps, the most

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES. 227
dangerous thing. It was to simply copy. They had been
always accustomed to the ways of the old church. They
had not thought of anything else until God shut them up to
the necessity of having, not a church of the hierarchy, but a
church of the people. Another thing was open to them, and
it was extremely perilous. That was, to invent some form
of church government, very modern, very new, and with all
the evidences of crudeness and newness about it. We ought
to be grateful that they did not organize a new church. There
was a third way open. What was it.? They said, " Let us
see how churches began." In Boston and Cambridge and
Salem they went back to the beginning, as their fathers had
done on the other side of the sea. They said, " How did men
make a church in the first place.?" They found that men
gathered themselves together, united in Christ and devoted to
his service, and were a church. They found that one hundred
and twenty men and women gathered together and chose an
apostle in the place of an apostate. They said, "That is the
way to have a church." They went back, not to English
history, not to their own imagination and inventive genius ;
they went back to the original sources, and said, " We will
begin where Christ and the apostles began." They founded
what Christ founded, — a church of the people. They had
struck extremely high in their intent.
Brethren, I suppose that was the noblest attempt at church
building ever made, showing the largest faith and greatest
devotion. Alone on these shores, they held the highest ideal
of a church which ever has been conceived, the divine ideal of
a church, such as is portrayed in the Gospel and the Acts of the
Apostles, and by St. John in the Apocalypse ; that is, a church
where all the people are priests. That is the church of the ages.
I do not know what the future church of this country is to be,
where every man chooses his own church ; but I suppose
there is no man who has so much devotion to his own system
of church life that he does not say that the final church will
be that in which all men are priests under the one Lord, hold
ing the one faith, bearing the one baptism. It is a marvellous
thing that these men on the coast of Massachusetts struck the
highest ideal, which England had not been able to realize.

228 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
They could not carry their ideas out so far as they wished.
They could reach out into the colony and the township ; hut
the time had not come when they could have a people's
government. But the time came when they could have that.
You remember that De Tocqueville said, that the highest form
of political institutions is a republic. When the time had come
that a republic could be established, it was established in the
only place in the world where such a thing was possible.
Neither in England, Germany, South America, or Asia
could there be a republic. There were no people to make it of;
there was no desire to make it. Here was a great continent
just open ; as some one has said, picked up out of the ocean on
the point of a needle. These men came, bearing the idea of
manhood, the ability of man to choose his rulers, the ability of
man to choose his minister. Carrying on this idea, when the
time came for it, they founded a republic. I will not go so far
as to say, as a great many have said, that the idea of the republic
came from the Congregational church. Yet it is not at all
unlikely that people accustomed in domestic affairs to think for
themselves, when they came to be ready in political affairs to
think for themselves, should have thought along the same lines.
However that may be, there can be no doubt of this : The
republic has been fostered and strengthened by our Congrega
tional church. This has given presidents, senators, legislators,
to the republic. It has founded schools and colleges. It has
done its part, in its measure, towards fulfilling that first idea,
the uppermost idea, that God shall rule and all men shall be
brethren. I have asked your attention to these thoughts that you may
see the place where this church falls into the stream of history.
It is not a thought of two hundred and twenty-five years
ago. It is an older thought and a much broader ministry than
the limits of Newton can satisfy. I am not disposed to say
that all that has been done in this country has been done by
Congregational churches. We have, at least, done our part.
But sometimes it is said that we are not quite true to our
polity ; that we are weary of it, and are borrowing from other
systems of government and worship for the enrichment of our
own. It is possible it may be so, but I am not aware of any-

COMMEMOR.\TIVE SERVICES. 229
thing that has been borrowed. They tell us we are entering
into the methods of the ritualists. Is it true.? I think not.
If we choose to take up methods which we have laid aside
for the time being, which we laid aside a few hundred years
ago, that is not borrowing. A few months ago you laid aside
your winter overcoat. Soon you will take it out and wear
it again, — but you are not borrowing. I deny that we
have borrowed anything from the English church. It is as
much ours as it is the Archbishop of Canterbury's. We have
as much right to it within the walls of this sanctuary as they
had in Westminster Abbey or Canterbury Cathedral. What
ever is English is ours. Whatever belongs to the English
church is ours. We never sold it. We never pawned it. We
simply laid it aside, meaning, if we wanted it, to take it up
again. On the other side, is there not something.? Do you know
how many Congregationalists there are who do not bear the
name .? I suppose it is no exaggeration to say that the Prot
estantism of this country is essentially Congregationalism.
That is, the people rule. I do not believe that Protestant
American citizens will long or widely consent to be governed
by anybody but themselves. We insist so much on personal
liberty, and are so much accustomed, in our politics, to think
for ourselves and to vote for such men and measures as we
prefer, that the method and spirit readily extend into our
church life. I think it is evident, that whatever be the form of
church government, as it is called, the people are more and
more having their own way. That is Congregationalism. In
our American life, it is to the manner born. Doubtless we are,
in our turn, influenced by our neighbors. But I want to
remind you of the extension of our republican principles of
church life, because we are so often charged with borrowing,
with imitating. On the other hand, we have given freely of
the spirit and the method, of the heart and the life, of those men
and women who were willing to expatriate themselves that
they might be free, willing to forsake the land which had
given them birth that they might find and found a country of
their own. Now, I can very well understand why people
prefer different forms of church government. I understand

230 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
perfectly well how certain elaborate forms of worship are bet
ter for some persons than for others ; how one may find a de
ficiency of spiritual nourishment in our simple ways, and find
fulness of nurture in the stately ceremonial of some other
church, which holds the same faith and worships the same Lord.
May they all prosper till they shall give to every man, who
seeks his own house and would live and die in his own nest,
that which he needs. But for you and me, brethren, there is
a law of loyalty, a law of fidelity. There is a confidence in
the past ; and it seems strange that, except in rare instances,
any one should be willing to part from the historic church, — ¦
the church of his fathers, the church of the Apostles, the church
which has cost the toils and sacrifices of the best men who, up
to this time, have trodden the earth. I cannot understand why
any one should be willing to forsake it at any demand of
fashion or any temptation of fancy.
I confess myself a Puritan of the Puritans. If I ever change,
it will be only in one direction. If I ever change my religious
faith and form, I shall become a Quaker. I have not the slight
est shade of admiration for candlesticks. To the last drop of
my heart I believe in the sunlight. Puritans and Quakers did
not always agree ; but they were at one in that they believed
in the light of God shining in the hearts of those who are born
of God, until a man knows the will of God and worships him
in spirit and truth, because God himself is spirit and is truth.
It does seem to me that there ought to be this confidence in
what we have tried and proved. It ought to bind us more
closely together, around our own home altars and the old
names, and make us true to the church of the centuries, — the
almost uncounted centuries, — true with a devotion which shall
leave nothing lacking in our gifts and nothing wanting in our
lives. Why should it not be so.? Why may it not be so.? I am
well aware that there are differences of judgment and differ
ences of taste ; but, as I think what these churches have ac
complished, as I think of our simple worship in its ideal,
perhaps not as realized anywhere among us, I am convinced
that the grandest religious society built upon the earth is one
of these simple churches of our fathers. I wish we had kept

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES. 23 1
more closely to their pattern of churches. I do not think all
our improvements have justified themselves. I have been
under the roof of Saint Sophia, and have strained my eyes to
see the frescoes there. I have been in the church of the Holy
Sepulchre at Jerusalem. 1 have been in Saint Peter's and re
ceived the benediction of the Pope ; I have worshipped in the
golden light of Milan and beneath the stupendous arches of
Cologne ; I have prayed among the monuments and altars of
Westminster, and have hearkened to the whispers of Saint
Paul's. It may be to my discredit, it may discredit me as a
man of taste and judgment ; but I never yet have found so true
a place of worship, in itself and its service and spirit, as where
devout men have assembled, and devout women, doing their
own thinking, doing their own worshipping, praying with
their own lips and in their own words, singing with their own
voices. It might be under a roof like this, or under a roof
which covers walls of logs where, through the chinks, the
eternal glory comes streaming in, where the Lord of Hosts
reveals himself above the mercy seat. Far be it from me to
criticise the devout preferences of others, or to impose my taste
and habit, or training, upon wiser and better men. It is not too
much to say that that which meets the needs of men, helps the
heart, assists worship without detaining it and promotes de
votion without ensnaring it, is most true and fitting.
So I come back to say what I said just now. I am a Puri
tan until I am a Quaker. I believe in the old American
churches, the Apostolic churches, the old way. We can throw
more heart into them, brethren. They need little more.
Simple worship, and simply living and living simply in the
faith of God and the beauty of holiness, are all we want. We
can adorn and enrich our service in its own spirit. We have
nothing to borrow, we have nothing to covet ; but in loyalty to
conscience and truth we have only to keep faith with those
whose memories we cherish, walking in the light.
Well, to come from all this down to the consideration of this
church ; are we not finding these things impressed upon us
here .? It seems to me that there has been a wonderful thing
done here. What has it meant for these nine clergymen
to live in this community.? The old church at Cambridge,

232 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
twenty-eight years older, has had eleven ministers. This
church has had five meeting-houses, the Cambridge church has
had six meeting-houses. What has it meant to have these men
here.? The mightiest thing you can put into a community is a
man, — a devoted, consecrated man. I remember it was said of
a very good minister, that it was worth his whole salary to have
him live in the town. I remember that my father came home
one day and told us that one had said he would rather see Mr.
Peabody walk than to hear anybody else preach. These nine
men in this church, sustained by this church — I cannot name
them or describe them. Let them stay in the shadow where
only imagination can see the details of their lives. I will not
attempt to present again these pastors that are gone. But I
want to speak of my brother beloved, now the minister of this
people, giving the strength of his life to this people in his
simple Apostolic faith, in his simple Apostolic service. I am
not able to say these desultory things and to omit my word of
testimony to him, my friend, who for forty years has been a
living benediction along these streets. I, too, have known the
purity of his character, the wisdom of his counsel, the sweet
ness of his voice, the power of his truth, as, not with words of
man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, he has stood
here in the simple, sturdy faith of a prophet and apostle.
I think of hirn ; and I think of her whose memory I dare
not touch with these clumsy words of mine, that incomparable
woman, who purchased, at the cost of all she had, the spike
nard of the heavens and the earth, and pressed it into the
choicest alabaster box which earth could yield, dissolving her
love in the precious ointment of her devotion, and shattering
the box that she might pour out the ointment, making the
house full of perfume for every one whose feet crossed its
sacred threshold.
I do not know all that this church has done in these two
hundred and twenty-five years ; but it has done enough, if that
were all, in keeping that man and this woman living in the
power of an endless life in these homes and hearts. Then we
come to the rest, to the word which has been preached here,
to the word of which this church and other churches are the
guardians and ministers. For where shall we find the highest

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES. 233
divine wisdom.? There is no other institution appointed to
teach the things men need most and longest to learn, except this
church and other churches. It is here that we go up to the
mount which burns with fire, and listen to the voice of Jehovah.
It is here that we go up the steps into his own guest-chamber
and keep the Passover with the Lord of Glory. It is here that
we go with him to the cross, the sepulchre, and the mount of
ascension. They show you at the top of the Mount of Olives
a stone bearing the impression of a foot, and they tell you that
is where Jesus stood, and that the print was made by his foot
when he was about to leave the earth and ascend into the
heavens. It is a fable ; but the print of the feet of Christ, which
have stood upon the earth and ascended into heaven, is here
upon these streets, in this sanctuary, in these homes and these
lives, and will be seen through the years which are to be.
Duty has been enforced, not by any poor maxims or any
common sanctions ; it has been traced back to the only place
where it can ever rest, upon the authority of Him who speaks
to us by right, because He is divine. There is no other place
where duty comes with these sanctions, reaches us with this
truth, and deeply touches all our lives, except the church,
which is the home of Christ. Christ has revealed himself in
this church. For two hundred and twenty-five years he has
walked with this people in their unbroken generations. Men
have found Christ here. He has stretched out his hands here,
and healing has dropped from them. Men have touched his
robes here and carried awaj' mercy.
You mourn that the records were lost. There never were
complete records. Not time, not eternity, not the bounds of our
thought can compass these results. The truth of God, the
ministry of charity, the proclamation of duty, in these the life of
the church has been expressed. There was not a man or woman
who could not have lived a separate life ; not one of the eighty
members of this church at its beginning who could not have
lived a separate life. But there was not one of the eighty who
did not double everything in him of good by coming to this
fellowship. It is in this bringing together of our resources
that our strength is enlarged, and sent directly, prudently, dis
creetly, efficiently, to its end. How wise they were ! What

234 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
would these men have been alone .? Who would have known
them .? Would they have known themselves .? It was when
they came into the body of Christ as members of it that they
shared its destiny, and became heirs with him of the glory and
the wealth of God. It is something to praise the virtues of the
fathers ; it is more to copy them. By all that we admire in
them must we endeavor to make our lives worthy of that which
we have received from them. It is a great thing that three hun
dred men and women are here, every one of them sworn to
loyalty to Christ ; three hundred men and women here, every
one commissioned a priest, apostle, and preacher in this com
munity ; three hundred men and women with these oppor
tunities to employ and develop their lives. Should it not be the
outcome of a service like this, that we gather with a new conse
cration around the common faith and the common altar, as we
join voices and songs, and join our hearts in service and love.?
It is only as we come to fulfil this, in some measure, that we
are equal to our place. I said they struck very high when
they struck out the idea of a church of the people. It is the
highest and most difficult form of Christian life. I look into
your faces and I ask. Are you able to be members of a Congre
gational church, and sustain and glorify it with your presence.?
Men talk about the dangers to the faith. I have less trouble
about the faith than about the men who hold it in trust. I
do not believe that in the history of Congregationalism the
gospel was ever more purely held, or simply and purely
preached, than it is to-day. It never had a greater hold on the
hearts and lives of the people than it has to-day. But whether
we shall loyally gather around it to send it through the land ;
whether our missionaries shall have all they need, our Sunday-
schools all they want ; whether we shall come nobly to the
next great contest, which is with self, or the next great victory,
which is over self, — that is the question. Down in our hearts
are the elemental truths ; to them we will be true. But let us
teach them, become apostles of them. That is the necessity of
the hour. Jacob went to Haran, and the heavens opened, and
he saw a ladder on which the angels of God ascended and
descended. He passed on, and came to a place where there
was a well in the field and flocks of sheep lying by it. He

COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES. 235
said to the shepherds, " Roll away the stone from the mouth
of the well and water your flocks, that they may go their way."
The shepherds answered, " No, we cannot roll away the stone ;
when all the flocks are gathered together then will we roll the
stone away, and then will we water the flocks." It is a parable
for the church. Here are three hundred men and women
with three hundred different flocks. There is a stone over the
mouth of the well, and it never will be completely rolled away ;
and this whole Newton never will have water, as it ought to
have, in its business, its homes, its lives, so long as any one of
the three hundred loiters by the way. Only when the flocks
are all assembled shall the stone be completely rolled away,
and the water of life be provided for the abundant refreshing
of this people.
Brethren, here I leave you. It is God's thought that we are
thinking, God's great intent reaching into his eternal counsels
of the past, and teaching us all to go on side by side, step to
step, and heart to heart, marching steadily forward to that new
day which shall be builded out of heaven to God.
At the conclusion of Dr. McKenzie's address the con
gregation arose and sang, to the tune of " Coronation,"
the hymn, " All hail the power of Jesus' name."
BENEDICTION BY REV. DR. FURBER.
Dr. Furber. — I will pronounce the same benediction that
I pronounced when I was ordained.
The Lord bless you and keep you ; the Lord make his face
to shine upon you and be gracious unto you ; the Lord lift up
his countenance upon you and give you peace. The grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX.

MRS. MARIA BRIGHAM FURBER.
[ Wife of Rev. D. L. Furber, D.D.^
[In the opinion of the committee of publication, the history of
our church should contain some appropriate notice of Mrs. Furber.
Accordingly, the following extract is introduced from a sermon by
Rev. T.J. Holraes, preached Nov. i6, 1884, from the text, "Here am
I, send me."]
ONE thing about Mrs. Furber impresses me the more I
think of it; namely, .that the quality which was more
than any other the secret of her remarkable character, was one
which any woman may possess. There is apt to be quite a
different impression. The side of her chiefly emphasized is her
greatness, the generous scale on which she was built in body
and mind, her majestic bearing, her " queenliness," her grasp
of thought, her wide attainments. But to many another woman
this is discouraging. She says, " I am not queen-like, I never
could be ; I have no great gifts. What is such a life worth to
me as a pattern ? "
Now, I like to think that Mrs. Furber's real greatness lay at a
point where all may imitate her, — lay in her benevolent spirit.
The one thing she seemed to think of most constantly was,
What can I be doing to help others.? She had a genius for
finding out who was sick or in trouble, or who was in danger
of being neglected, and then a genius for finding how to offer
sympathy and aid. It was not either the giving of money
merely, — often it was not that at all. Some of you to whom
she was of assistance never needed from her any help of that
kind ; but you wanted counsel or sympathy, so you went to

240 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
her as to a mother ; and you will always miss her as though
something had gone out of your lives. Oh, no; it was not
money, it was not intellectual power or learning, it was not
position ; it was the living fountain of her sympathy with
all who were in trouble, the help she gave them, the passion
for doing good in every possible way, that made her so great.
And in tliis we may all copy her.
Her large resources, natural and acquired, doubtless
widened vastly the sphere of her usefulness. She believed in
the higher education for women, of which, indeed, she was
herself a conspicuous example ; but she asked. Why does
education need to be higher for women, except that they may
do better service .? That was her motto, the inscription in the
chapel at Wellesley, "Not to be ministered unto, but to
minister." She said to herself, as distinctly as Isaiah ever did,
" I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ' Whom shall I send,
and who will go for us.?' Then said I, 'Here am I, send
me.'" What is a missionary .? Itis one who is sent. Then
she was a missionary ; she was that, all through and through.
She seemed to be asking, above anything else, How can I
count most for the good of others? My mind, my learning,
m3- accomplishments, my executive capacity, my social in
fluence, my mone}', my home, my position as a pastor's wife,
my strength as a woman, how can all these help me to be
useful ? And these various forces, consecrated to such a
purpose, served to give her benevolence its special character.
For one thing, it was very catholic. If any one was in trouble,
she never stopped to ask who it was ; Protestant or Romanist,
Gentile or Jew, white or black, rich or poor, it made no
difference to her, except, indeed, she did have a way of leaning
toward the poor, and the Jew, and the Romanist, and the
black ; she thought nobody else was likely to be their friend.
She could see a case of want away off in Georgia, or in the
Indian Territory ; then, what requires sometimes a sharper
vision, she could see one here in Newton Centre. Any one
was her neighbor for whom Jesus died, and that was
everybody. Her benevolence was very methodical. She seemed able to
comprehend all the lines of Christian effort in different

APPENDIX. 241
directions, and to see just where help would tell to the best
effect. It was something like the faculty of a general whose
eye covers the entire field of operations ; who is able with his
map to see through that piece of woods, through the hill
yonder, to see everywhere, and to discover the points where
there needs to be quick and strong reenforcement. It is
marvellous to us who never knew Mrs. Furber personally, to
hear in how many ways she could be spending herself all at
once. Then, her benevolence was marked by a peculiar
energy in the working out of details.
We say one advantage of close study is to acquire the
capacity for application. Any one who has learned how to
give a solid hour, without the least distraction, to a lesson in
algebra or Latin, knows how to give a solid hour to any
pursuit that seems worth while; — and that is an immense
attainment. Mrs. Furber put this faculty into her good works. If a case
of need came to her, she took that particularly in hand. The
whole world was lying in wickedness and want. Yes, she
understood about that, but here was a particular part of the
world that just now needed to be cared for. So she devoted
herself to that, as she would to a problem in mathematics or
in philosophy ; that became, for the while, her mathematics,
her philosophy, and she knew how to keep on in her study till
the problem was solved. She had, too, so many of these
special cases on hand, — more, I think, than any living soul
was aware of. She had learned by heart that verse about the
right hand and the left. She was not careful to have her
doings published in denominational statistics, or anywhere else.
She had not time to be putting things in the papers ; she was
too busy, and certainly she had no inclination. So there come
to licrht, even now, every little while, fresh instances of her
kindly acts. Here is one that her husband never heard of till
I told him, years after its occurrence. A lady said to me,
" When I lived at the West, the church in my home supported
an aged minister, one of our members, and I had the pleasure
of handing him, at stated times, his allowance. When I came
to Newton Centre, I was surprised to learn that for some
reason he was not receiving the amount promised him, and

242 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
was, therefore, in considerable distress. What was to be done
was a question. I had no means myself, and knew of no one
here to whom to apply for assistance ; but I had heard of Mrs.
Furber as a friend to everybody, and in the emergency I went
to her. I went with great reluctance, being a stranger to her;
but, to my amazement, she took my case right to her heart in a
moment. She never seemed to think whether that minister
was a member of the church here or of any other. All she
knew was that he was a poor, broken-down old man, and she
said, 'Why, of course, he must have help, — all he needs.
We must take good care of him till the Father calls him home.
Our ladies have various matters on hand just now : there is a
box going West ; that barrel is for the South. Next week we
have a meeting for — Oh, well, never mind, we will take care
of 3'our friend. I do not quite see how, this minute, but I will
think of it ; meanwhile, there is a little to send him right
away ; ' and she handed me a generous gift from her own purse.
Before breakfast, the next morning, I received a note from her,
saying, ' During the night I have thought of a way to help the
old minister. Come and see me.' And my friend was pro
vided for."
Here is another case : After Mrs. Furber's death, her hus
band, finding among her papers the name of a woman in
Boston unknown to him, wrote to her, asking, " Please to tell
me what your relation was to my wife." To which the woman,
who was a member of an Episcopalian church, replied,
" Your wife has been helping me, in my poverty, for the past
fifteen years." You who were with Mrs. Furber in this
church never heard of either of these cases. No ; and I have
no doubt there are ever so many others of her good works that
you never heard of, and you never will hear of them, probably,
till you get to heaven. If she had lived in the New Testament
day, her name, surely, would have been recorded with those of
Phebe and Priscilla, and Mary and Persis, and all the rest.
She would have had a place in the Apostle's mind among the
saints to whom lie sent his greeting, " Those women who
labored with me in the gospel, — whose names are in the Book
of Life."

APPENDIX.

243

The monument over the place of Mrs. Furber's burial bears
the following inscription, written by her friend, Professor
Park, of Andover : —
WITH THE TASTES OF A SCHOLAR, SHE BLENDED THE
GRACES OF A CHRISTIAN AND THE ZEAL OF A MISSIONARY.
THE WISE WERE INSTRUCTED BY HER WORDS, THE POOR WERE
RELIEVED BY HER DEEDS. HER STRENGTH WAS CONSECRATED
TO THE SUPPORT OF THE WEAK, HER DIGNITY TO THE SERVICE
OF THE OPPRESSED. SHE LIVED AND DIED IN THE LORD,
AND HER WORKS DO FOLLOW HER.

LETTERS

Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
Executive Department,
Boston, Sept. 30, 1889.
My Dear Judge Bishop : — I am in receipt of the formal
invitation to attend the celebration of the two hundred and
twenty-fifth anniversary of the formation of the First Church
in Newton, on Sunday and Monday of next week.
': Nothing would please me better than to accept the same,
but the condition of my health continues to be such that I do
not think it prudent to run the risks which attendance would
involve. In such an event I take deep interest. May your church
and society, for centuries to come, continue to do the good work
in which they have so successfully engaged.
I am, yours sincerely,
OLIVER AMES.
Hon. Robert R. Bishop, Newton, Mass.

244 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.

Montrose-on-Hudson, N.Y.,
Sept. 12, 1889.
Dear Dr. Furber : — I thank 3'ou for your kind invitation
to attend the two hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of the
founding of the church at Newton, and should be very glad to
accept it if my engagements would permit. But it will be
impossible on account of my seminary duties.
Although I never knew Newton or its church from personal
knowledge, yet I have always felt a deep obligation to influ
ences upon me in early childhood, that had their root in that
religious circle. My maternal grandfather and my mother were
persons of more than usual religious earnestness, and I have
always supposed that this was due, in no small degree, to the
teachings of Dr. Homer and Mr. Greenough. My father,
also, came under the same influence, and was greatly aided by
those excellent ministers in his way to the Christian ministry.
If I have done any good in the world, next to the work of the
Holy Spirit in the heart, it is due to the lessons, prayers, and
example of godly parents and ancestors. You may, therefore,
suppose that I take a deep interest in the church at Newton,
and from the bottom of my heart I pray that it may continue,
as in former years, to teach the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ to parents and their children.
Yours fraternally,
W. G. T. SHEDD.
Rev. D. L. Furber, D.D.

48 West 36TH St., New York, N.Y. ,
Sept. 24, 1889.
Mr. Robert R. Bishop, Chairman, etc.: —
Dear Sir, — The invitation to be present at the two hun
dred and twenty-fifth anniversary of the foundation of the First
Church in Newton, Mass., was duly received, also j'our very
kind invitation, in which Mrs. Bishop joined, to sojourn,
while in Newton, under your hospitable roof.

APPENDIX.

HS

Ancestral associations alone would be a strong inducement
to see Newton again, having had the pleasure of spending a
few hours there some years since. Your personal kindness,
and that of the church which you represent, almost irresistibly
increases this desire. But at present I do not see my way
clear to accept your invitation. My health, somewhat im
paired, demands quiet. A son, now on his way from Europe,
will make my presence at home for some time almost a neces
sity. Please accept for yourself, for Mrs. Bishop, and for your
associates of the committee, my most grateful acknowledg
ments. Being a stranger to them all, I cannot too highly
appreciate their kindness.
I hope you will not consider a remark or two, in this con
nection, out of place.
It would be scarcely expected that the first pastor of the
Newton church, John Eliot, Jr., should not have descendants
bearing his surname. A great-grandson, John, born in 1745,
was the last of that branch of the family. When, where, and
how he died, and where he was buried, cannot be ascertained.
I have a small painting upon wood, upon the back of which
is this inscription : " The Oak under which the Apostle Eliot
preached to the Indians near Boston, by G. Harvey." Upon
another place is written, " Nonantum Hill." Under the oak is
a school-house and a group of boys. I have been told by one
who spent his boyhood in that vicinity that the sketch is ex
ceedingly accurate.
Mr. John Rogers, sculptor, No. 14 West 12th Street, New
York, whose groups are familiar works of art throughout our
land, has modelled in heroic size a statue of John Eliot. It is
highly praised. An intelligent citizen of Roxbury, Mass.,
who is very desirous of h.iving a statue of Eliot in that place,
after a prolonged examination, pronounced it superior in design
and expression to any work of the kind with which Boston is
adorned. Mr. Rogers hopes that the authorities of Massachu
setts, or of Boston and its vicinity, or that some generous
admirer of Eliot, having the pecuniary ability, will provide
for its completion in bronze, and for its erection. Mr. Rogers,
I am sure, would welcome to his studio any persons interested
in the life and work of the " Indian Apostle," and would

246 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
thank them for friendly words, whether of severe criticism or
of praise.
Please excuse these rambling digressions, and believe me
yours, Very respectfully and thankfully,
ELLSWORTH ELIOT.

48 West 36TH St., New York, N.Y.,
October 2d, 1889.
Mr. Herbert I. Ordway : —
Dear Sir, — Your note was received this morning. I shall
send to-da}', by Adams' Express, a petition in the handwriting
of John Eliot (" Apostle "), signed with his name and with
the names of many others, some of which I believe it is im
possible to decipher. Upon the back of the petition are a few
lines of writing by Gov. Winthrop, signed with his name.
None but an expert can read the governor's scrawl, for such it
appears. I have hesitated about sending the painting of the " Eliot
Oak " at Nonantum Hill, concerning which I wrote to Judge
Bishop, and have decided that you will not think it worth the
trouble and expense. Its dimensions are about 26 by 23 inches.
Should you be of a different opinion, write for it, or, if the time
be too limited, telegraph " Please send," and I will at once
have it securely packed and sent.
I hope your celebration will be most successful. Oppor
tunities for recalling the early days of our history and the
struggles of our ancestors should never be allowed to pass
unobserved. It is wonderful how little the people of to-day
know of them. Yours very truly,
ELLSWORTH ELIOT.

A number of other letters of interest and value were received, but un
fortunately were not preserved.

LIST OF MEMORIALS.

Silhouette of Dr. Jonathan Homer. — Loaned by the
Misses Jackson, Newton.
Daguerreotype of Rev. James Bates, 1846. — Loaned
by Rev. James A. Bates, Williston, Vt.
Photograph of Rev. James Bates, 1864. — Loaned
by Rev. James A. Bates, Williston, Vt.
Portrait of Rev. William Bushnell. Loaned by his
son, Henry K. Bushnell, Boston.
Portrait of Rev. Dr. Daniel L. Furber. — Loaned by
Dr. Furber; painted in 1848.
Portrait of Henry Gibbs, Esq., of Newton, 1 694-1 761. —
Loaned by Mrs. William P. Gibbs, Cambridge.
The old Rice House on Centre Street was built by him in
1742, and he lived there until his death.
Photograph of Rev. Ephraim Ward, 1741-1818. —
Loaned by Mrs. Julius A. Rising, Newton Centre.
Pastor at Brookfield, Mass., forty-seven years.
Photograph of Mrs. Mary Ward, Wife of Rev. Ephraim
Ward. Daughter of Benjamin Colman, of Boston. —
Loaned by Mrs. Julius A. Rising, Newton Centre.
Portrait upon Silk of Mr. Ephraim Ward, 1771-1797.
— Loaned by Miss Annie C. Ward, Newton Centre.
Portrait of Mrs. Anna Hammond Pope, 1754-1859. —
Loaned by Mrs. William Upham, Spencer, Mass. ; painted
at the age of 90.
Portrait of Dea. William Jackson. — Loaned by the
Misses Jackson, Newton ; painted in 1833.
Portrait of Mrs. Hannah Woodward Jackson, Wife
of Dea. William Jackson. — Loaned by Mrs. Henry
Fuller, Newton ; painted in 181 1.
Photograph of Dea. Elijah F. Woodward, i 786-1846.
First superintendent of the Sabbath-school, and for many
years leader of the choir. — Loaned by Woodward family,
Newton Hisrhlands.

248 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
Photograph of Wife of Dea. Elijah F. Woodward,
1790-1871. — Loaned by Woodward family, Newton
Highlands.
Photograph of Dea. Eben Woodward, 1811-1S79. —
Loaned by Woodward family, Newton Highlands.
Portrait of Capt. Samuel Hyde, 1774-1856. — Loaned
by Mr. George Hyde, Newton.
Portrait of Wife of Capt. Samuel Hyde, 1778-1858.
— Loaned by Mr. George Hyde, Newton.
Photograph of Dea. Luther Paul, 1793-1863. — Loaned
by Miss Harriet Paul, Newton Centre.
Photograph of Wife of Dea. Luther Paul, 1799-1861.
— Loaned by Miss Harriet Paul, Newton Centre.
Photograph of Dea. Asa Cook. — Loaned by Mrs. George
F. Stone, Chestnut Hill.
Photograph of Rev. Increase S. Davis. — Loaned by
Mrs. George F. Stone, Chestnut Hill.
Photograph of Mr. Jonathan Stone. — Loaned by Mr.
Daniel Stone, Chestnut Hill.
Photograph of Mr. Charles Brackett, 1799— 1879. —
Loaned by Miss Maria L. Brackett, Newton Centre.
Photograph of Wife of Mr. Charles Brackett. —
Loaned by Miss Maria L. Brackett, Newton Centre.
Portrait of Mrs. Mary Preston, Granddaughter of Rev.
Jonas Meriam. — Loaned by Mrs. John Kenrick, Newton.
Photograph of Portrait of Goody Davis, 1636-1752.
— Portrait painted two years before her death ; now in the
possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Pewter Platters from Old Communion Service. —
Loaned by Woodward family, Newton Highlands ; used
by the church before the first silver service was obtained ;
date unknown.
Communion Service presented to the Church of
Christ in Newton. — Donors: John Staples, 1727;
Ebenezer Stone, Sr., 1730 ; Abraham White, 1731 ; Anna
Longly, 1733; Dea. William Trowbridge, 1744; Dea.
John Stone, 1768; Abigail Parker, 1768; ^ W. J., 1836.
1 William Jackson,

APPENDIX.

249

Silver Teapot bearing the Arms of Sir Henry Gibbs.
— Loaned b}' Mrs. William P. Gibbs, Cambridge.
Silver Tankards. — Loaned by Mrs. William P. Gibbs,
Cambridge ; made from silver sugar-box owned by Henry
Gibbs, Esq., of Newton.
Foot-stone of Capt. Thomas Prentice, 1676-1730; from
the old Burying-ground, Centre Street.
Revolutionary Sword. — Loaned by the Woodward fam
ily, Newton Highlands ; carried by Capt. John Wood
ward at the battle of Lexington.
Old Violin. — Loaned by the Woodward family, Newton
Highlands ; used by Dea. Elijah F. Woodward in the
choir.
Violoncello. — Loaned by the Woodward family, Newton
Highlands ; used by Mr. Eben Woodward in the choir ;
made and sold by Benjamin Crehor, in Milton, 1796-
Lunch Basket. — Loaned by the Woodward family, New
ton Highlands ; used on the Sabbath by the Woodward
family.
Old Foot-stove. — Loaned hy the Woodward family, New
ton Highlands; used in the Meeting-house, 1810 to 1847.
Warming-pan. — Loaned by the Misses Loring, Newton
Centre ; formerly owned by Dr. Homer.
Curtains. — Loaned by Mrs. S. A. Sylvester, Newton Cen
tre ; spun, woven, and embroidered by Hannah Green
wood Woodward, i7,SO-
Petition in the Handwriting of the Apostle Eliot. —
Loaned by Dr. Ellsworth Eliot, New York City ; bearing
the autographs of John Eliot, the Apostle, Gov. John
Winthrop, and others.
Record Book, 170S to 1750. — Loaned by Mr. John Ward,
Newton Centre ; showing cost of bread and wine for Com
munion services.
Original Report of the Meeting which voted to set
tle Mr. Jonathan Homer as Minister in 1781. —
Loaned by Col. I. F. Kingsbury.
Parish Record Books, 1778 to 1805.
Proceedings of the Committee for Building a New
Meeting-house, 1805.

250 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
Original Contract for Building New Meeting-house,
1805.
List of Pew-holders in the New Meeting-house, 1805.
List of Dr. Homer's Taxable Property, 1814. — Loaned
by William T. Wardwell, Newton Centre.
Letter from Jonathan Homer to Dr. James Freeman,
Aug. 5, 1816. — Loaned by Congregational Library,
Boston.
Hymn written for the Fifty-fourth Anniversary of
Dr. Homer's Settlement, Feb. 21, 1836.
Letter from Dr. Homer to Mr. Burnham, 1840. —
Loaned by William T. Wardwell, Newton Centre.
Letter from Dr. Homer to a Young Friend. — Loaned
by Mrs. Lovejoy, Chelsea.
Pen-and-Ink Sketch of the Meeting-house built in
1805. — Loaned by Miss Sarah Freeman Clarke, Mari
etta, Ga. ; drawn from memory by Miss Clarke in 18S9.
Her father, Dr. Samuel Clarke, was the architect of the
building.
Plan OF the Meeting-house built in 1805. — Loaned by
Mr. Samuel Clarke, Marietta, Ga. ; drawn from memory
by Mr. Clarke.
Sketch OF the Meeting-house built in 1805. — Loaned
by Woodward family, Newton Highlands ; drawn from
memory by Miss Harriet Woodward.
Sketch of the Old Vestry. — Loaned by the Woodward
famil)', Newton Highlands ; drawn from memory by Miss
Harriet Woodward.
Sketch of the Old Vestry. — Loaned by Mr. John Ward,
Newton Centre ; drawn by O. F. Smith, Newton Centre,
from description given by John Ward.
Photograph of the Meeting-house, about 1868. —
Loaned by Miss Harriet S. Cousens, Newton Centre.
Piece of Carpeting from Pulpit Stairs in the Old
Meeting-house. — Loaned by Miss Maria L. Brackett,
Newton Centre.
Piece of Brocade from Curtain back of the Pulpit in
THE Old Meeting-house. — Loaned by Miss Maria L.
Brackett, Newton Centre.

APPENDIX.

251

Piece of the Pulpit in the Old Church. — Loaned by
Mrs. George F. Stone, Chestnut Hill.
Old Table. — Loaned by Mrs. John Kenrick, Newton ; for
merly owned by Rev. Jonas Meriam.
Two Chairs. — Loaned by the Misses Jackson, Newton;
formerly owned by Dr. Homer.
Two Chairs. — Loaned by the Misses Loring, Newton Cen
tre ; formerly owned by Dr. Homer.
Writing-stand. — Loaned by the Misses Loring, Newton
Centre ; formerly owned by Dr. Homer.
Study Table. — Loaned by the Misses Loring, Newton Cen
tre ; originally owned by Mr. John Thwing, afterwards
by Dr. Homer.
Stuffed Chair. — Loaned by Mrs. J. F. C. Hyde, Newton
Centre : upholstered with one of the curtains from behind
the pulpit in the old Meeting-house.
Small Bureau. — Loaned by the Misses Loring, Newton
Centre ; formerly owned by Miss Eddy, the ward of Dr.
Homer, and daughter of Mr. John Eddy, who once
owned the old Rice House.
Book of Ancient Hymns. — Loaned by the Woodward
famil}', Newton Highlands.
Book of Sermons by Cotton Mather, March 26, 1686. —
Loaned by the Woodward family, Newton Highlands.
" The Absence of the Comforter Described and
Lamented." By Rev. Nehemiah Hobart. — Loaned
by the Congregational Library, Boston ; published in
1717, after the death of the author.
Sermons by Rev. John Cotton, A.M. — Loaned by the
Congregational Library, Boston ; delivered in Newton in
1 741.
Sermon by Dr. Homer, upon the decease of Mr. Samuel
Hammond, of Brookline, 1817-
Collection of Sermons and Tracts by Dr. Homer. —
Loaned by Hon. J. F. C. Hyde, Newton Centre; pre
sented by the author to Mr. James Hyde.
Book owned by Mrs. Homer. — Loaned by the Misses
Loring, Newton Centre ; bequeathed by her to Mrs.
Joshua Loring.

252 THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.
The Bible, in two Volumes. — Loaned by Hon. Robert R.
Bishop, Newton Centre ; given by Rev. Nehemiah Hobart
to his daughter Abigail, on her marriage to Rev. John
Fisk, settled as first minister of North Parish in Killingly,
Conn. ; taken by Mr. and Mrs. Fisk in saddle-bags from
Newton to Killingly, and used in that pulpit for many
years ; now owned by their great-great-grandson, Hon.
Robert R. Bishop.
Bible owned by Mrs. Homer, 1791. — Loaned by the
Congregational Library, Boston ; with annotations by Dr.
Homer ; notice of the death of their only child, Jonathan
Homer, Jr., written on the fly-leaf by Mrs. Homer.
Bible. — Loaned by Mrs. Franklin N. Thatcher, Newton Cen
tre ; presented by Dr. Homer to Jonathan Homer Cheney.
Columbian Bible, Edited by Dr. Homer ; presented by
Dr. Homer to the First Church in Newton.
Bible. — Loaned by Mr. Samuel M. Jackson, Newton Cen
tre ; formerly owned by Deacon Samuel Murdock.
The Works of Richard Baxter; four vols., folio, Lon
don, 1707. — On a fly-leaf is the following: "These
practical Works of the Reverend and Learned Mr. Rich
ard Baxter, in four volumes, are given by the Honorable
Samuel Holden, Esq., of London, Governor of the Bank
of England, to the Church of Christ in Newton, to be
kept by the Reverend Pastor for the use of the Congre
gation, and to be returned by those that at any lime
borrow any of them within Two Months. By the Direc
tion and Disposal of Benjamin Colman of Boston."
Old Bible of the Ward Family. — Loaned by Mr.
Samuel Ward, Newton Centre; containing the Ward
genealogy from 1626.
Books of Tunes. — Loaned by the Woodward family,
Newton Highlands; pen copied by Dea. E. F. Wood
ward, and used in the choir, 1809.
Old Colony Collection of Anthems. — Loaned by the
Woodward family, Newton Highlands; used in the
choir, 1 82 1.
A Child's Book of the Last Century. — Loaned by Mr.
Daniel Stone, Chestnut Hill.

DESCRIPTION OF DECORATIONS.

Over the main entrance to the church was a beautiful arrange
ment of flags, including the English, Royal, American, New
England, and Bunker-Hill flags. Upon one side was the
date, 1664, and upon the other, 1889, the figures cut from
dark plush and mounted upon a background of white.
All the arches in Ihe interior were crowned with mountain-
laurel, and under those on each side of the nave were sus
pended tablets, trimmed with evergreen, and bearing the names
of the nine pastors, with their time of service, — from Rev.
John Eliot, Jr., 1664, to the present pastor. Rev. Theodore
J. Holmes, 1883.
The gallery at the rear of the church was banked with spruce
and festooned with laurel.
A platform was erected in front of the pulpit for the speak
ers. On this, and about it, was a profusion of potted plants.
The palm, emblem of constancy and victory, lined either side ;
from these to the curved front were massed cannas, ferns, gera
niums, and fuchsias, with urns of salvia.
High above the pulpit, in the central arch, hung a large
cross, its rich, dark background of spruce studded with snow-
white dahlias.
At the right of the pulpit, under the date of 1664, was the
English flag. At the left, under the date of 1889, was the flag
of the United States, — the church having been, during half of
its history under the English government, and during the
other half under the stars and stripes.
In the flrst arch at the left was the following : —

254 '^^^ FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.

ROLL OF HONOR.
Names of volunteers from church and parish who served in
the war of 1861-5, for the preservation of
the Union.
Capt. and Brevet-Major Ambrose Bancroft, 32d Inf., Mass.
Vols. Geo. F. Brackett, 5th Inf, Mass. Vols. ; also in the Navy,
and subsequently Captain of 75th Inf., U.S. Colored Vols.
Joseph E. Cousens, Co. K, 32d Inf., Mass. Vols., and after
ward Captain 54th Inf., Mass. Colored Vols.
Adjutant Isaac F. Kingsbury, 32d Inf., Mass. Vols.
Sergeant-Major Charles Ward, 32d Inf., Mass. Vols.
ISt Sei-gt. J. Grafton H. Ward, Co. K, 32d Inf., Mass.
Vols. Theodore L. Brackett, Co. A, ist Cavalry, Mass. Vols.
Seth Cousens, Co. K, 32d Inf., Mass. Vols.
Albert C. Dearborn, Co. K, 32d Inf, Mass. Vols.
Roger S. Kingsbuiy, Co. K, 32d Inf., Mass. Vols.
George H. Nichols, Co. K, 32d Inf., Mass. Vols.
John N. Nichols, Co. K, 32d Inf, Mass. Vols.
Stephen L. Nichols, Co. K, 32d Inf., Mass. Vols.
Robert W. Somerville, Co. K, 32d Inf., Mass. Vols.
Jonathan E. Woodbridge, Co. K, 32d Inf., Mass. Vols.
Sidney Hazelton, Co. B, 44th Inf, Mass. Vol. Militia.
Edward P. Kingsbury, Co. B, 44th Inf., Mass. Vol. Militia.
John E. Towle, Co. B, 44th Inf., Mass. Vol. Militia.
Wm. B. Crafts, Co. C, 6th Inf, Mass. Vol. Militia.
Edw. A. Ellis, Co. C, 6th Inf., Mass. Vol. Militia.
The Roll was festooned with laurel and tri-colored bunting,
and a large silk flag was draped beneath it.
In the first arch at the right was a panel, trimmed with
laurel, and bearing the motto, " Lord, thou hast been our
dwelling-place in all generations." At the right of this was a
fine charcoal portrait of Dr. Jonathan Homer, pastor of the
church from 1782 to 1839. ^'"'^ church is indebted to Mr. A.

.\PPENDIX. 255
C. Fenety, of Boston, for this portrait. He very kindly made
it from a silhouette which was found in the family of Hon.
William Jackson, of Newton. Upon the other side of the
nave, and corresponding with this portrait, was one of Dr.
D. L. Furber, pastor of the church from 1S47 to 1S82.
The second arch to the right was festooned with laurel, and
evergreens were massed upon its surface, against which was a
memorial tablet, framed in white, and bearing the inscription,
" Our Beloved in the Better Land." The tablet rested upon a
bank of green, composed of spruce and maiden-hair ferns, with
here and there knots of white asters and calla-lilies. Upon
each end of the bank stood a large vase of mermet roses ; and
drooping over the tablet from above were long sprays of the
passion-flower. The effect of this device was very tender and beautiful, and
many a heart responded to its silent tribute.

256

THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.

QUARTET CHOIR.
George H. Brown, Organist.
Mrs. Adelaide G. Terry, Soprano. Theodore Chute, Tenor.
Mrs. W. H. Pratt, Alto. W. W. Cole, Bass.

CHORUS CHOIR.
Col. Isaac F. Kingsbury, Leader.
Soprano.
Mrs. Daniel A. White, Miss Mary. E. Tomlinson, Miss Carrie M. Thurston,
Mrs. Stephen C. Hunter, Miss Alberta H. Ward, Miss Marcia H. Sylvester,
Miss Martha E. Stone, Miss Sarah A. Holmes, Miss Alice H. Sylvester,
Miss G. Helen James, Miss Mary P. Sylvester, Miss Alcie G. Brackett,
Miss Carolyn S. Capron, Miss Helen N. Hawthorne, Miss Alice L. Lancaster.
Miss Annie C. Ward.
aito.
Miss E. Whittlesey, Miss Alice Reed, Miss Fannie I. Capron,
Miss Alice G. Holmes, Miss Bessie Lancaster, Miss Emilie F. Hunter.
Miss Constantia W. Smith, Miss Carita T. Clark,

Geo. G. Brown,
Wm. C. Brown,
J. M. E. Drake,

2L£not.
Fred. F. Cutler,
Geo. A. Holmes,
Jas. F. Edmands,

Melzar F. H. Stone,
George Walton,
Mr. Wagner.

Bass.
Daniel Stone, Henry A. Ball,
Geo. M. Stone, Harry A. Tornhnson,
Edmund T. Wiswall, William T. May,
Edward B. Trowbridge, Gustav W. Ulmer,
Samuel Ward.

Stephen C. Hunter,
Geo. H. May,
Geo. P. Hazelton,
Clarence H. Holmes,

APPENDIX. 257

MINISTERS.
JOHN ELIOT, Jr., son of the Apostle Eliot, born in Roxbury, Mass.;
graduated at Harvard College, 1656; ordained here, July 20, O.S., 1664;
died here, Oct. il, 1668, aged 32; buried in the old burying-ground;
pastor, 4 years.
NEHEMIAH HOBART, born in Hingham, Mass.; graduated at Har
vard College, 1667; ordained here, Dec. 23, 1674; died here, Aug. 25,
1 71 2, aged 63; buried in the old burying-ground; pastor, 38 years.
JOHN COTTON, born in Sandwich, Mass.; graduated at Harvard Col
lege, 1710; ordained here, Nov. 3, 1714; died here. May 17, 1757, aged
63 ; buried in the old burying-ground ; pastor, 43 years.
JONAS MERIAM, born in Lexington, Mass. ; graduated at Harvard Col
lege, 1753; ordained here, March 22, 1758; died here, Aug. 13, 1780,
aged 50; pastor, 22 years.
JONATHAN HOMER, born in Boston, Mass. ; graduated at Harvard
College, 1777; ordained here, Feb. 13, 1782; died, Aug. 11, 1843,
aged 84; buried in the old burying-ground; pastor, 57 years.
JAMES BATES, born in Randolph, Vt.; graduated at Dartmouth Col
lege, 1822; ordained here, as colleague with Dr. Homer, Nov. 14, 1827;
died, Dec. 9, 1865, aged 66; associate pastor, 11 years.
WILLIAM BUSHNELL, born in Saybrook, Conn.; graduated at Yale
College, 1828; installed here. May 24, 1842; died, April 28, 1879, aged
78; buried in the old burying-ground; pastor, 5 years.
DANIEL L. FURBER, born in Sandwich, N.H. ; graduated at Dart
mouth College, 1843; ordained here, Dec. 1, 1847; resigned, Dec. 3,
1882, and becarae pastor emeritus ; pastor, 35 years.
THEODORE J. HOLMES, born in Utica, N.Y.; graduated at Yale Col
lege, 1853; installed here, Oct. 24, 1883.

MEETING HOUSES.
No. I, built in 1660, used as a place of worship 38 years.
No. 2, built in 1698, used as a place of worship 23 years.
No. 3, built in 1 72 1, used as a place of worship 84 years.
No. 4, built in 1805, used as a place of worship 42 years.
No. 5, built in 1847, enlarged in 1854 and again in 1869.

258

THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.

ORDER OF EXERCISES.
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL MEETING HOUSE,
Newton Centre,  Massachusetts.

225TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GATHERING

FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON,
Sunday and Monday, Oct. 6th and 7th, 1889.

SUNDAY, 10.30 A.M.

Te Deum . , ...
Reading of Scriptures
Prayer
Hymn, — Cambridge
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
A thousand ages in thy sight
Are like an evening" gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night,
Before the rising sun.

The Choir.
. Rev. Alvah Hovey, D.D.
Prof. E. A. Park, D.D.
Congregation.
Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.
O God, our help in ages past.
Our hope for years to come.
Be thou our guard, while troubles last,
And our eternal home.

HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY REV. D. L. FURBER, D.D. {Pastor Emeritus).

Hymn, ^Dundee
Let children hear the mighty deeds
Which God performed of old,
AVhich in our younger years we saw,
And which our fathers told.
He bids us make his glories known,
His works of power and grace;
And we'll convey his wonders down
Through every rising race.

Congregation .
Our lips shall tell thera to our sons.
And they again to theirs.
That generations yet unborn
May teach them to their heirs.
Thus shall they learn in God alone
Their hope securely stands ;
That they may ne'er forget his w^orks,
But practise his commands.

BENEDICTION.

SUNDAY, 3 P.M.
SUNDAY-SCHOOL ANNIVERSARY.

Historical Address
Address Address ...
Singing and other Exercises

Mrs. Eliza G. A. Lane.
Rev. William H.Cobb.
. Rev. George M. Boynton, D.D.
. The School.

APPENDIX.

259

SUNDAY. 7 P.M.

Anthem— "To Thee be Praise Forever,"— Costa
Responsive Reading of Scriptures.
Hymn, — JVort/i^eU 

Come, let us join our clieerful songs
With angels round the throne;
Ten thousand thousand are tlieir tongues,
But all their joys are one.
*• Worthy the Lamb that died," they cry,
*' To be exalted thus ; "
" Worthy the Lamb," our lips reply,
" For he was slain for us."

The Choir.
Congregation.

Jesus is worthy to receive
Honor and power divine ;
And blessings, more than we can give,
Be, Lord, forever thine.
Let all that dwell above the sky.
And air, and earth, and seas,
Conspire to lift thy glories high,
And speak thine endless praise.

Prayer

.Rev. S. F. Smith, D.D.

Anthem — "Jerusalem, my Glorious Home'

. The Choir and Chorus.

HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY REV. THEODORE J. HOLMES {Pastor),
Hymn, — St. Gertrude  Congregation.

Onward, Christian soldiers.
Marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before.
Christ the royal Master
Leads against the foe;
Forward into battle.
See, his banners go.
Like a mighty army
Moves the Church of God;
Brothers, we are treading
Where the saints have trod;

We are not divide^,
All one body we.
One in hope and doctrine.
One in charity.
Crowns and thrones may perish.
Kingdoms rise and wane,
But the Church of Jesus
Constant will remain;
Gates of hell can never
'Gainst that Church prevail;
We have Christ's own promise.
And that cannot fail.

BENEDICTION.

MONDAY, 3 P.M.

Hymn, — Old Hundred .
From all that dwell below the skies.
Let the Creator's praise arise;
Let the Redeemer's name be sung,
Through every land, by every tongue.

Congregation.

Eternal are thy mercies, Lord !
Eternal truth attends thy word;
Thy praise shall sound from shore to shore,
Till suns shall rise and set no raore.

Praise God, frora whom all blessings flow!
Praise him, all creatures here below!
Praise him above, ye heavenly host!
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Reading of Scriptures
Prayer ....

Rev. George G. Phipps.

26o

THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWTON.

ADDRESS OF WELCOME BY THE PASTOR.

Anthem — " Break Forth into Joy,'* — Barnhy
Address .
Address 
Hymn, — Duke Street . . . .

The Choir.
Rev. Lemuel C. Barnes.
Rev. Erastus Blakeslee.
Congregation.

O God, beneath thy guiding hand
Our exiled fathers crossed the sea,
And when they trod the wintry strand.
With prayer and psalm they worshipped
thee.
Thou heard'st, well pleased, the song, the And here thy name, O God of love.

Laws, freedom, truth, and faith in God
Carae with those exiles o'er the waves;
And where their pilgrira feet have trod.
The God they trusted guards their graves.

prayer —
Thy blessing carae; and still its power
Shall onward through all ages bear
The memory of that holy hour.
Address . ...
Address . . . .
Hymn, — Belmont
Oh, where are kings and empires now.
Of old that went and came?
But, Lord, thy church is praying yet,
A thousand years the same.
We mark her goodly battlements,
And her foundations strong;
We hear within the solemn voice
Of her unending song.

Their children's children shall adore,
Till these eternal hills remove.
And spring adorns the earth no more.

Rev. Calvin Cutler.
Hon, William Claflin.
Congregation.

For, not like kingdoms of the world,
Thy holy church, O God ;
Tho' earthquake shocks are threatening her,
And tempests are abroad.
Unshaken as eternal hills.
Immovable she stands,
A mountain that shall fill the earth,
A house not made by hands.

ADDRESS BY REV. N. G. CLARK. D.D.

Hymn, — St. Thomas
To bless thy chosen race,
In mercy. Lord, incline.
And cause the brightness of thy face
On all thy saints to shine;
That so thy wondrous ways
i\Iay through the world be known.
Whilst distant lands their tribute pay.
And thv salvation own.

Congregation .
Let difPring nations join
To celebrate thy fame;
Let all the world, O Lord, combine
To praise thy glorious name.
Oh let them shout and sing
With joy and pious mirth,
For thou, the righteous judge and king,
Shalt govern all the earth. Tate and Brady.

MONDAY, 5,30 P.M.
COLLATION AT ASSOCIATES' HALL.

Be present at our table. Lord,
Be here and everywhere adored;
These creatures bless, and grant that we
May feast in paradise with thee.

We thank thee. Lord, for this our food,
But more because of Jesus' blood;
Let manna to our souls be given,
The bread of life sent down from heaven

APPENDIX.

261

MONDAY, 7 P.M.

Tk Deum ....
Reading of Scriptures
Prayer ....
Hymn, — Lenox

 The Choir.
Rev. W. A. Lamb.
. Prof. W. E. Huntington, Ph.D.
Congregation.

Blow ye the trumpet, blow !
The gladly solemn sound :
Let all the nations know,
To earth's remotest bound,
The year of jubilee is come;
Return, ye ransomed sinners, home.
Jesus, our great High-Priest,
Hath full atonement made ;
Ye weary spirits, rest,
Letters.
Address .
Address Hymn, — Truro
Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates !
Behold, the King of glory waits ;
The King of kings is drawing near,
The Saviour of the world is here.
The Lord is just, a helper tried,
Mercy is ever at his side;
His kingly crown is holiness.
His sceptre, pity in distress.
Address . ...
Address 
Anthem
Address
Hymn, — Coronation

Before Jehovah's Awful Throne '

Ye mournful souls, be glad;
The year of jubilee is come;
Return, ye ransomed sinners, home.
Extol the Lamb of God,
The all-atoning Lamb;
Redemption in his blood,
Throughout the world proclaim ;
The year of jubilee is come;
Return, ye ransomed sinners, home.

Rev. D. L. Furber, D.D.
Winfield S. Slocum, Esq.
. Congregation .
Redeemer, come! I open wide
My heart to thee : here, Lord, abide!
Let me thy inner presence feel,
Thy grace and love in me reveal.
So come, my Sovereign, enter in;
Let new and nobler life begin :
Thy Holy Spirit guide us on.
Until the glorious crown be won.
Rev. H. J. Patrick.
Rev. Wolcott Calkins, D.D.
Choir and Chorus.
Rev. Alexander McKenzie, D.D.
Congregation.

All hail the power of Jesus' name !
Let angels prostrate fall !
Bring forth the royal diadem.
And crown him Lord of all.

Let every kindred, every tribe.
On this terrestrial ball.
To him all majesty ascribe.
And crown him Lord of all.

Sinners whose love can ne'er forget
The wormwood and the gall,
Go, spread your trophies at his feet,
And crown him Lord of all.

Oh that with yonder sacred throng
We at his feet may fall!
We'll join the everlasting song,
And crown him Lord of all.

BENEDICTION.

INDEX OF NAMES.

Adams, Rev. Eliphalet, 31.
Adams, President John, 80.
Adams, Samuel, 80.
Adams, Rev. William, of Dedham,
31 n.
Ainsworth, Henry, 168.
Allen, Rev. Dr. William, 28, 74, 89 n. '.
Ames, Gov. Oliver, 202, 243.
Ashley, Rev. Jonathan, 72.
Ashton, Mrs. S. G., 114, 145, 146.
Austin, Rev. Dr. Samuel, 37.
Ayres, M. C, 4.
Backus, Rev. Dr. Charles, 38.
Bacon, Rev. James M., 85, 86 n., 87,
87 n., 92.
Bacon, Joseph N., 143, 87 n.
Bacon, Maria (Woodward), 87 n., 92.
Bailey, Ruth (Goodhue), 143.
Ball, Henry A., 256.
Bancroft, Maj. Ambrose, 98, 254.
Bancroft, George, 23.
Banfield, Mrs. F. E., 147.
Barbauld, Mrs. Anna L., 140.
Barber, Rev. Isaac R., 118.
Barnard, Rev. John, of Marblehead,
30, 31-
Barnes, Rev. Lemuel C, 6, 190, 191,
260.
Barstow, Rev. John, 94..
Bates, Rev. James, 5, 16, 58, 59, 66,
70, 94, 114, 132, 142, 2IO, 247,
257-
Bates, Mrs. James, 94.
Bates, Rev. James Atwood, 94, 247.
Baxter, Rev. Richard, 25, 33 n., 186,
252.

Beals, Thomas, 97.
Beecher, Rev. Henry Ward, 24.
Beecher, Rev. Dr. Lyman, 55, 59, 62.
Bellamy, Rev. Dr. Joseph, 38, 90.
Bennett, Caroline, 143.
Berkeley, Bishop George, 95.
Bigelow, Mary (Hyde), 143.
Billings, William, 169.
Bishop, Judge Robert R., 6, 7, 8, 10,
89, 106, 185, 190, 194, 198, 201,
207, 20S, 209, 2n, 212, 215, 216,
221, 223, 224, 243, 244, 245, 246,
252.
Bishop, Mrs. Robert R., 244, 245.
Blake, Rev. Dr. John L., 48.
Blakeslee, Rev. Erastus, 5, 94, 194,
260.
Blatchford, Mrs. E. W., 91, 105.
Bliss, Leonard, Jr., 74.
Bowen, Henry C, 88, 106.
Bowles, William, 98.
Boylston, Dr. Zabdiel, 36.
Boynton, Rev. Dr. George M., 6, 131,
135. 258.
Boynton, Mrs. JuUa H,, 147.
Boynton, Louis H., 9.
Brackett, Alcie G., 256.
Brackett, Charles, 248.
Brackett, Mrs. Charles, 248.
Brackett, Capt. George F., 98, 99, 254.
Brackett, Rev. Dr. Gilbert R., 94.
Brackett, Maria L., 9, 248, 250.
Brackett, Theodore L., 103, 254.
Bradford, Gov. William, 180.
Brady, Nicholas, 169, 170, 260.
Brainerd, Rev. David, 94, III, 112.
Brainerd, Dorothy (Hobart), 94.

264

INDEX OF NAMES.

Bridges, Emeline (Whittemore), 143.
Bridges, Julia (\\Tiittemore), 143.
Brown, George G., 256.
Brown, George H., 10, 256.
Brown, Rev. John, of Haverhill, 44 n.
Brown, WUliam C, 256.
Browning, Robert, 213.
Bucklin, Sarah, 203.
Buckminster, Rev. Joseph, of Rut
land, 73.
Buckminster, Rev. Dr. Joseph, of
Portsmouth, N.H., 73, 105.
Buckminster, Rev. Joseph Stevens, of
Boston, 73, 105.
Bunyan, John, 25, 213.
Burnham, Rev. Dr. Michael, 86.
Bushnell, Henry K., 247.
Bushnell, Rev. William, 5, 16, 52, 56,
61, 67, 70, 132, 2IO, 247, 257.
Buxton, Hon. Sidney, 187 n.
Calkins, Rev. Dr. Wolcott, 6, 221,
261.
Calvin, John, 19, 22, 23, 52 n.
Capron, Carolyn S., 9, 256.
Capron, Fannie I., 256.
Channing, Rev. Dr. William E., 117,
189.
Charles II., 25.
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 213.
Chauncy, Rev. Dr. Charles, 31, 72.
Cheney, Jonathan Homer, 252.
Cheney, Julia (Cheney), 143.
Cheney, Mary (Cotton), 81, 90.
Cheney, Rev. Thomas, 81, 90.
Childs, Beulah, 143.
Childs, Mary A., 143.
Chute, Theodore, 256.
Claflin, Hon. William, 202, 206, 207,
208, 211, 260.
Qaflin, Mrs. William, 203.
Clark, Carita T., 256.
Clark, Rev. Jonas, 71, 79, 80, 81, 105.
Clark, Mary, 132, 138, 140.
Clark, Rev. Dr. N. G., 10, 207, 260.
Clark, William, 97.

Clarke, Alice E., 146.
Clarke, Rev. Dr. James Freeman, 88,
106.
Clarke, Norman, 97.
Clarke, Norman, Jr., 98.
Clarke, Dr. Samuel, 250.
Clarke, Samuel, 250.
Clarke, Sarah Freeman, 159, 250.
Cobb, Rev. William H., 6, 131, 133,
147, 258.
Codman, Rev. Dr. John, 5, 6, 52, 53,
56.
Colby, Mrs. Gardner, 132.
Cole, W. W., 256.
Coffins, Mrs. E. L., 9.
Colman, Rev. Dr. Benjamin, 30, 33,
33 n., 252.
Colman, Benjamin, 247.
Cook, Anna (Cotton), 90.
Cook, Asa, 5, 65, 58, 69, 92, 115,
143, 248.
Cook, "Father," 145.
Cook, Capt. Phineas, 96.
Cook, Rev. Samuel, 90.
Cotton, Rev. John, of Boston, 15, 19,
32. 33> 73. 94-
Cotton, Rev. John, of Newton, 5, 15,
19, 20, 25, 34, 35, 44, 44 n., 70,
73, 81, 94, 106, 112, 113, 114,
121, 122, 132, 135, 211, 251, 257.
Cotton, Rev. Roland, 15.
Cousens, Harriet S., 9, 145, 250.
Cousens, Horace, 8.
Cousens, Capt. Joseph E., 99, 254.
Cousens, Seth, 103, 254.
Coverdale, Rev. MUes, 51 n.
Craft, Joseph, 98.
Crafts, George E., 10.
Crafts, William B., 254.
Cranmer, Thomas, 51 n., 52 n.
Crehor, Benjamin, 249.
Cromwell, Oliver, 213.
Cummings, Rev. J. A., 140.
Curtis, Nelson, 144.
Cushing, Rev. Jacob, 74.
Cushing, Rev. Job, 74.

INDEX OF NAMES.

265

Cutler, Rev. Calvin, 6, 198, 260.
Cutler, Fred F., 256.
Cutler, James, 147.
Dabney, John P., 54 n.
Daly, WiUiam H., 99.
Danforth, Rev. Samuel, 32.
Daniels, Maria S., 9.
Darwin, Charles, 22.
Davenport, Susannah, 143.
Davis, Charles S., 7, 8, 9, 144.
Davis, Mrs. Charles S., 9.
Davis, George P., 144, 147.
Davis, Goody, 248.
Davis, Rev. Increase Sumner, 62, 83,
84, 85, 92, III, 115, 142, 175,
248.
Davis, Nancy (Cook), 92.
Davis, Seth, 62.
Davis, Hon. Thomas A., 92.
Day, Mary Ann (Goddard), 143.
Dearborn, Albert C, 254.
De Tocqueville, Alexis, 228.
Dewey, Mrs. H. P., 94.
Dodd, Rev. S. G., 37 n.
Doddridge, Rev. Dr. Philip, 72.
Dolbear, Mr., 135.
Drake, James M. E., 9, 147, 256.
Druce, John, 96.
Dudley, Gov. Joseph, 32.
Dwight, Gen. Joseph, 90.
[Dwight, Mrs. Joseph, see Sergeant,
Abigail (Williams).]
Eaton, Rev. Joshua, 88.
Eaton, Sarah (Eliot), 88.
Eddy, Mrs. Ann, 154.
Eddy, Benjamin, 97, 98.
Eddy, John, 98, 251.
Eddy, Miss, 251.
Edmands, James F., 256.
Edwards, Prof. Bela B., 50, 54.
Edwards, Mrs. Bela B., 91, 105.
Edwards, Rev. Jonathan, 38, 72, 77.
Edwards, Sarah (Pierrepont), 95.
Eliot, President Charles W., 180.

Eliot, Ellsworth, 246, 249.
Eliot, Rev. Jared, 95.
Eliot, Rev. John (the Apostle), 15,
27. 75. 95. i'2, 132, i58, 173,
176, 177, 178,224, 245, 246, 249.
Ehot, Rev. John, Jr., 5, 5, 15, 27, 29,
29 n., 70, 95, 106, 123, 132, 211,
245, 253, 257.
Eliot, Judge John, 3d, 29 n., 106.
Eliot, Rev. Joseph, 95.
Eliot, Sarah (Willet), 95.
Eliot, Samuel, 125.
Elizabeth, Queen, 52 n., 53 n.
Ellis, Edward A., 98, 254.
Emmons, Rev. Dr. Nathanael, 37,
40 n., 41 n., 90.
Endicott, Capt., 162.
Estabrook, Rev. Hobart, 89.
Estabrook, Sarah (Williams), 89.
Everett, Alice, 143.
Everett, Edward, 80.
Farnham, D. S., 147.
Fenety, A. C, 255.
Fisk, Abigail (Hobart), 89, 153, 187,
252.
Fisk, Rev. John, 89, 252.
Fiske, Rev. Dr. D. T., 208.
Fiske, Mrs. D. T., 94, 208.
Fiske, John, 23.
Flagg, Joshua, 98.
Franklin, Benjamin, 95.
Freeman, Rev. Dr. James, 49, 52, 250.
Froude, James Anthony, 22.
Fuller, Abram, 98.
Fuller, Capt. Amariah, 96.
Fuller, Daniel, 98, 217.
Fuller, Hannah (Jackson), 143, 247.
Fuller, Joel, 119, 120.
Furber, Rev. Dr. Daniel L., 5,6, 11,
II n., 13, 16, 17, 70, 132, 145,
151, 176, 187, 188, 205, 206,207,
208, 209,215,219, 223, 235, 239,
244,247,255,257,258,261.
Furber, Mrs. Maria B., 6, 145, 208,
219. 239. 241, 242.

266

INDEX OF NAMES.

Gibbs, Henry, 153, 247, 249.
Gibbs, Mrs. William P., 247, 249.
Gilbert, Rev. Dr. Lyman, 52, 56, 92,
119, 219.
Gilbert, Marian (Jackson), 92, 143.
Gladstone, Hon. WiUiam E., 213.
Goddard, Joseph, 142.
Goddard, Mrs. Joseph, 143.
Goodhue, Clarissa, 143.
Goodridge, Lucy, 147.
Goodwin, Joseph 0., 162.
Gookin, Daniel, 29 n.
Gould, Prof. Ezra P., 145.
Grafton, Rev. Joseph, 52, 56, 57, 58,
189, 190.
Green, Rev. Jonathan S., 117, 118.
Greenough, Rev. WUliam, 50, 52, 55,
139. 219, 244.
Greenwood, John, 74.
Greenwood, Rev. Thomas, 71, 74.
Greenwood, Mrs. Thomas, 74.
Grover, Zuinglius, 143.
Hale, Nathan, 197.
Hall, John, 30.
Hamilton, Alexander, 186.
Hammond, Col. Benjamin, 37, 96.
Hammond, Capt. Joshua, 98, 172.
Hammond, Samuel, 25 1.
Hammond, WilHam, 98.
Hancock, John, 80.
Hardy, Rev. George, 86.
Harris, Rev. Dr. WiUiam, 81.
Harvey, G., 245.
Harwood, A. L., 9, 147.
Haven, Miss A., 138.
Haven, Rev. Jason, 81.
Hawthorne, Helen N., 256.
Hawthorne, Robert, 9.
Havpthorne, Mrs. Robert, 9.
Hazelton, George P., 256.
Hazelton, Sidney, 254.
Hegel, Georg W. F., 22.
Henry VIIL, 51 n.
Hicks, Mrs. Elizabeth, 71.
Hincks, Mrs. E. Y., 94.

Hoar, Hon. George F., 186.
Hobart, Hannah, 89.
Hobart, Rev. Nehemiah, 5, 15, 19,20,
20 n., 21, 26, 30, 31, 32, 32 n., 70,
89, 89 n. \ 94, 106, III, 120, 123,
132. 153. 155. 187, 211, 211 n.,
251. 252, 257.
Hobart, Rev. Peter, 15.
Holden, Hon. Samuel, 33 n., 252.
Holmes, Alice G., 147, 256.
Holmes, Clarence H., 256.
Holmes, George H., 147, 256.
Holmes, Sarah A., 147, 256.
Holmes, Rev. Theodore J., 5, 5, 7, 8,
17. 7°. i°4. 132. 149, 185, 188,
207, 223, 239,253,257, 259,260.
Holyoke, Rev. Edward, 32.
Homer, George, Jr., 46, 47.
Homer, Rev. Dr. Jonathan, 5, 16, 30,
40. 44. 45. 47. 48. 49. 50. Sin.,
52,5211., 53, 53n., 54, 54n., 55,
56, 57. 58, 59. 65, 70, 71, 78, 83,
88, 113, 114, 115, ii5, 117, 122,
132. 139. 157. 164, 166, 172, 173,
174, 189, 190, 210, 219, 244,247,
249, 250, 251, 252, 254, 257.
Homer, Mrs. Jonathan, 52, 56, 116,
138, 175. 251, 252.
Homer, Jonathan, Jr., 252.
Hooker, Mary (WUlet), 95.
Hooker, Samuel (son of Thomas), 95.
Hooker, Rev. Thomas, 95.
Hopkins, Prof. Albert, 90, 105.
Hopkins, John, 168.
Hopkins, Rev. Dr. Mark, 90, 105,
III.
Hopkins, Col. Mark, 90.
Hopkins, Mrs. Col. Mark, 90.
Hopkins, Rev. Dr. Samuel, 38, 90.
Hovey, Rev. Dr. Alvah, 258.
Hoyt, Mary Ann, 140.
Hubbard, Rev. William, 28.
Hull, Gen. WUliam, 88, 97, 142, 175.
Hume, David, 23.
Hunter, EmUie F., 256.
Hunter, Stephen C, 147, 256.

INDEX OF NAMES.

267

Hunter, Mrs. Stephen C, 256.
Hunter, S. V. A., 10.
Huntington, Prof. W. E., 208, 261.
Hyde, Daniel, 98.
Hyde, George, 248.
Hyde, James, 251.
Hyde, James F. C, 143, 251.
Hyde, Mrs. J. F. C.,251.
Hyde, Noah, 98.
Hyde, Samuel, 97.
Hyde, Capt. Samuel, 62, 248.
Hyde, Mrs. Samuel, 248.
Hyde, William, 98.
Ide, Rev. Dr. Jacob, 41 n., 86.
Ingersoll, Robert, 214.
Jackson, Rev. Edward, 71, 75, 76.
Jackson, Dea. Edward, 26, 75.
Jackson, Edward, Jr., 75.
Jackson, Edward, 97.
Jackson, Mrs. Hannah (Woodward),
247.
Jackson, John, 75.
Jackson, Joseph, 97.
Jackson, Joshua, 97.
Jackson, Col. Michael, 43, 96.
Jackson, Misses, 247, 251.
Jackson, Samuel, 97.
Jackson, Samuel M., 8, 252.
Jackson, Timothy, 97.
Jackson, William, 5, 59, 62, 63, 64, 65,
66, 67, 70, 74, 89 n. ', 92, 107, III,
115, 117, 118, 119, 120, 139, 142,
143, 166, 172, 175, 247, 248 n.,
255-
James I., 50, 51, 54 n.
James, G. Helen, 256.
Jenks, Rev. Dr. WiUiam, 51 n.
Kenrick, John, 37, 97.
Kenrick, Mrs. John, 248, 251.
Kenrick, Mehitable (Meriam), 37.
Kidder, Daniel T., Jr., 9.
King, Moses, 217.
Kingsbury, Benjamin W., 143.

Kingsbury, Charles, 143.
Kingsbury, Rev. Charles A., 94, 144.
Kingsbury, Rev. Edward P., 87, 99,
254.
Kingsbury, Francis H., 144.
Kingsbury, Frank, 99.
Kingsbury, Harriet (Homer), 143.
Kingsbury, Harriet J., 145.
Kingsbury, Isaac, 143.
Kingsbury, Col. Isaac F., 9, 10, 98,
100, 143, 249, 254, 255.
Kingsbury, Mary Ann (Homer), 143.
Kingsbury, Roger S., 98, 100, 254.
Knapp, W. C, 9.
Lamb, Rev. W. A., 208, 261.
Lancaster, Alice L., 256.
Lancaster, Bessie, 256.
Lancaster, Mrs. C. B., 9.
Lane, Mrs. Eliza G. A., 6, 131, 138,
147, 258.
Lawrence, Rev. A. E., 145.
Lechford, Thomas, 164, 168, 173.
Leverett, Rev. John, 31, 32.
Lindemann, Lena, 146.
Little, Albert, 143, 144.
Little, Mrs. Albert, 144.
Longly, Anna, 248.
Loring, Hannah, 140, 141, 249, 251.
Loring, Mrs. Joshua, 140, 251.
Loring, Mary, 140, 141, 249, 251.
Lovejoy, Mrs., 250.
Lowell, Judge John, 37.
Luther, Martin, 22.
Lyman, Rev. Dr. Joseph, of Hatfield,
37-
McKean, Rev. Dr. SUas, 85.
McKenzie, Rev. Dr. Alexander, 5, 218,
224, 235, 261.
Manning, Cardinal Henry E., 187
187 n.
Marvin, Rev. A. P., 74.
Mary, Queen, 5 1 n.
Mason, Abigail (Hall), 143.
Mather, Rev. Dr. Cotton, 30, 125,
176,251.

268

INDEX OF NAMES.

Mather, Rev. Dr. Increase, 30, 72.
Mather, Rev. Richard, 27.
Mathew, Rev. Thomas, 5 1 n.
May, George H., 256.
May, Wilham T., 256.
Mead, Mrs. E. S., 91, 105.
Mead, Mrs. Harriet N. (Childs), 94,
112, 146.
Mears, Rev. Dr. David O., 86.
Mellen, Rev. John, 75.
Meriam, Rev. Jonas, 5, 16, 35, 36, 37,
39. 43. 123, 132, 172, 188, 210,
248, 251, 257.
Metcalf, Rev. Mr. (Stratham, N.H.),
49.
MiU, John Stuart, 22.
Miller, Thomas, 97.
Milton, John, 25, 213.
*Mitchel, Rev. Jonathan, 27, 43, 224.
Mitchel, Margaret (Shepard), 225.
Mitchell, Miss S., 138.
Moore, Rev. Dr. Zephaniah, 37.
Morton, John, 91 n.
Murdock, Aaron, 98.
Murdock, John, 98.
Murdock, Joshua, 98.
Murdock, Samuel, 98, 252.
Newell, Harriet, 94.
Newton, Sir Isaac, 25.
Nichols, George H., 100, 103, 254.
Nichols, John N., 254.
Nichols, Stephen L., 103, 254.
Norton, Rev. Edward, 86.
Noyes, Edward W., 9, 144, 147.
Oliver, Thomas, 75.
Ordway, Herbert I., 9, 246.
Palfrey, J. G., 163.
Palmerston, Hon. Henry J. T., 213.
Park, Rev. Dr. Calvin, 88, 106.
Park, Rev. Charles W., 91.

Park, Prof. Edwards A., 47, 48, 53,
88, 91, 106, 243, 258.
Park, Gideon, 97.
Park, John, 113.
Park, Rev. Joseph, 71, 76, 77, 78, 106,
III, 112.
Park, Martha, 72 n.
Park, Nathan, 47, 48.
Park, Richard, 48, 76.
Park, Prof. Thomas, 88, 106.
Park, William, 72 n.
Parker, AbigaU, 248.
Parker, Ebenezer, 97.
Patrick, Rev. Henry J., 6, 2l5, 221,
261.
Paul, Harriet, 248.
Paul, Dea. Luther, 5, 68, 69, 143, 248.
Paul, Mrs. Luther, 248.
Paul, Luther, 8.
Pemberton, Rev. Ebenezer, 30.
Phelps, Prof Austin, 82.
Phelps, Rev. EUakim, 82.
PhiHp, King, 96, 178.
Phillipps, John, 135.
Phipps, Rev. George G., 185, 259.
Pierce, Rev. Dr. John, ,37, 52.
" Pompey," 175.
Pope, Mrs. Anna (Hammond), 5,
37. 39. 40 n., 41 n., 70, 91, 195,
247.
Pope, Rev. Joseph, 37, 40 n., 41 n.
Porter, Ernest, 9.
Pratt, Mrs. W. H., 256.
Prentice, Rev. John, 71, 74.
Prentice, Capt. Thomas, 96, 249.
Preston, Mrs. Mary, 248.
Pulsifer, Beulah (Bacon), 143.
Quincy, Col. Edmund, 95.
[Quincy Mrs. Col. Edmund, see Eliot,
Sarah (WiUet).]
Quincy, Judge Edmund, 95.
Quincy, Eliza Susan (Morton), 91 n.

* This name is spelled both Mitchel and Mitchell by good authorities. Vtd. Harv.
Univ. Catalogue; Sibley's Graduates Harv. Univ.; McKenzie's Lectures on Hist.
First Ch. Cambridge; Paige's Hist. Cambridge, p. 26S, note.

INDEX OF NAMES.

269

Quincy, President Josiah, 91 n., 95,
106.
Raikes, Robert, 78, 106.
Rand, Mrs. Edwin R., 9.
Randall, Mary, 143.
Ransom, Mrs. C. M., 9.
Ransom, Emma, 147.
Ransom, Eva, 147.
Reed, Alice, 256.
Rice, MarshaU O., 9.
Rice, Mrs. Marshall C, 9.
Rice, MarshaU S., l5o, 208.
Ripley, Prof. Henry J., 89 n. '.
Rising, Mrs. Julius A., 247.
Robbins, EUphalet, 154.
Robbins, Phineas, 98.
Robbins, Solomon, 98.
[Robertson, Bertha, see Roper, Mrs.
Charles F.]
Rogers, Gamaliel, 135.
Rogers, Rev. John, 51 n., 75.
Rogers, Lieut. John, 98, 161.
Rogers, John, 164.
Rogers, John, 245.
Roper, Mrs. Charles F., 94, 112, 146.
Salter, Mary (WiUiams), 89.
Salter, Rev. Dr. Richard, 89.
Sampson, Elizabeth (Smallwood),
143-
Sargent, Rev. Frank D., 94.
Schopenhauer, Arthur, 22.
Scudder, Mrs. F. H., 9.
Seager, Ebenezer, 98.
Sedgwick, Catherine Maria, 91, 105.
Sedgwick, Judge Theodore, 90, 105.
Sedgwick, Mrs. Theodore, 90.
Sergeant, Abigail (Williams), 90, 91,
91 n.. III.
Sergeant, Rev. John, 90, ill, 112.
Sergeant, Rev. John, Jr., 90, ill, 112.
Sewall, Chief Justice Joseph, 32, 32 n.,
160, 167, 168.
Shakespeare, William, 213.
Shedd, EUza (Thayer), 91, 208.

Shedd, Rev. MarshaU, 92.
Shedd, Prof. WiUiam G. T., 22, 92,
107, 208, 244.
Sheldon, Hon. George, 89 n. '.
Shepard, Rev. Thomas, 181, 224.
Shurtleff, Rev. Dr. RosweU, 91.
Shurtleff, Mrs. Roswell, 91.
Slocum, Winfield S., 6, 211, 212, 261.
Slocum, Mrs. Winfield S., 211, 212.
Smith, Constantia W., 256.
Smith, Prof. Henry B., 22.
Smith, O. F., 9, 250.
Smith, Rev. Dr. S. F., 6, 46, 56, 142,
172, 185, 215,259.
Smith, Rev. S. S., 66, 67.
Smith, Sarah L., 94, 112, 146.
Somerville, Robert W., 254.
Sprague, Rev. Dr. William B., 89 n. '.
Spring, Rev. Dr. Samuel, 37, 40 n.,
41 n., 90.
Staples, John, 248.
Sternhold, Thomas, 168.
Stevens, Miss E. C, 143.
Stiles, Rev. Dr. Ezra, 31.
Stoddard, Rev. Solomon, 72.
Stone, Daniel, 8, 248, 252, 256.
Stone, David, 96.
Stone, Ebenezer, 248.
Stone, Mrs. George F., 248, 251.
Stone, George M., 256.
Stone, James, 98.
Stone, John, 98, 248.
Stone, Jonas, 96.
Stone, Jonathan, 248.
Stone, Martha E., 256.
Stone, Melzar F. H., 256.
Storrs, Eunice (Conant), 89.
Storrs, Rev. John, 89.
Storrs, Rev. Richard Salter, 89.
Storrs, Rev. Dr. Richard Salter, Jr.,
89, 106.
Storrs, Rev. Dr. Richard Salter, 3d,
89, 106, III.
Stowe, Mrs. Harriet Beecher, 24 n.,
54-
Sylvester, AUce H., 256.

270

INDEX OF NAMES.

Sylvester, Marcia H., 256.
Sylvester, Mary P., 147, 256.
Sylvester, Jlrs. S. A., 9, 147, 249.
Tappan, Lewis, 64, 92.
Tappan, Mrs. Lewis, 92.
Tappan, Sarah (Jackson), 143.
Tate, Nahum, 169, 170, 266.
Tennant, Rev. GUbert, 77, 122.
Tennyson, Alfred, 213.
Teriy, Mrs. Adelaide G., 256.
Thatcher, Mrs. Franklin N., 252.
Thayer, Rev. Ezra, 90.
Thayer, Judith (WUliams), 90.
Thayer, Martha (Cotton), 90.
Thayer, Rev. Dr. Nathaniel, 90, 106.
Thayer, Nathaniel, 90, 106.
Thurston, Carrie M., 256.
Thwing, John, 98, 25 1 .
"TUlo," 142, 175.
Tomlinson, Harry A., 256.
Tomlinson, Mary E., 256.
Tomlinson, William, 9.
Torrey, EUzabeth (Fisk), 89.
Torrey, Hannah (Fisk), 89.
Torrey, Rev. Joseph, 89.
Torrey, Rev. Dr. Joseph, 89, 106.
Torrey, Joseph A., 21 1 n.
Torrey, Rev. Samuel, 167.
Tourjee, Mrs. Dr. Eben [Miss Lee],
144.
Towle, Prof. James A., 94.
Towle, John E., 99, 254.
Trapp, Rev. John, 126.
Trowbridge, Rev. Caleb, 71, 75.
Trowbridge, Edmund, 98.
Trowbridge, Edward B., 256.
Trowbridge, Elizabeth (Bacon), 143.
Trowbridge, James, 75 .
Trowbridge, Otis, 141, 143.
Trowbridge, William, 248.
TrumbuU, Gov. Jonathan, 73 n.
Tucker, Rev. Thomas W., 204.
Turner, Charles W., 145.
Turner, R. W., 143.
Tyler, Abraham, 166.

Tyndale, WiUiam, 51 n., 54 n.
Upham, Mrs. WiUiam, 247.
Uhner, Gustav W., 256.
Wadsworth, Rev. Dr. Benjamin, 30.
Wagner, Mr., 256.
Walton, George, 256.
Walworth, Arthur C, 7, 8, 9.
Ward, Alberta H., 256.
Ward, Andrew H., 217.
Ward, Annie C, 147, 247, 256.
Ward, Charles, 98, 100, loi, 102,
103, 104, 196, 254.
Ward, Mrs. EUzabeth Stuart Phelps,
79-
Ward, Rev. Ephraim, 71, 81, 82, 83,
247.
Ward, Dea. Ephraim, 81, 247.
Ward, Grafton H., 103, 254.
Ward, Herbert D., 79.
Ward, Rev. James W., 79.
Ward, John, 98.
Ward, John, 8, 143, 145, 249, 250.
Ward, Jonathan, 79.
Ward, Joseph, 97.
Ward, Col. Joseph, 97.
Ward, Langdon S., 9, 147.
Ward, Mary (Colman), 247.
Ward, Rev. Nathan, 71, 78, 79.
Ward, Samuel, 98.
Ward, Samuel, 7, 8, 9, 131, 138, 144,
145. 147. 252, 256.
Ward, Mrs. Samuel, 147.
Ward, Rev. Dr. Wm. Hayes, 79, 106.
Ward, WiUiam H., 104.
Wardwell, WUliam T., 250.
Ware, Rev. Henry, 81.
Ware, Mrs. Henry, 81.
Ware, Rev. Henry, Jr., 81, 106.
Ware, Rev. WiUiam, 81.
Warren, Gen. Joseph, 78.
Washington, George, 97.
Waters, Reuel W., 144, 147.
Watts, Rev. Dr. Isaac, 140, 170.
Webster, Daniel, 73.

INDEX OF NAMES.

271

Webster, William E., 7, 8, 9.
Weilman, Rev. Dr. J. W., 145.
Wesley, Rev. John, 1 1 n., 107, 203,
207.
West, EUzabeth (WiUiams), 90.
West, Rev. Dr. Stephen, 90.
Westcott, Rev. Dr. B. F., 53 n.
White, Abraham, 248.
White, Mrs. Daniel A., 256.
White, Joseph, 98.
Whitefield, Rev. George, 77, 78, 122,
189, 203.
Whitney, Rev. Mr., 145.
Whittingham, Rev. William, 52 n.
Whittlesey, E., 256.
Wilkins, S. F., 10, 144, 147.
Willard, Rev. Samuel, 30.
Williams, Rev. Eleazer, 89, 89 n. '.
Williams, Rev. Eliphalet, 73, 105,
162.
Williams, Rev. Elisha, of Yale Col
lege, 72, 105.
WUUams, Rev. Elisha, of Beverly, 73.
WiUiams, Col. Ephraim, 73 n., 90, 105,
III, 215.
WUUams, Dea. Isaac, 72, 72 n., go,
91, 105, III, 210.
WUliams, Isaac, 97.
WilUams, Rev. John, 89, 89 n.
Williams, Jonathan, 97.
WiUiams, Lucretia (Jackson), 143.
WiUiams, Mary (Hobart), 88, 89 n.
Williams, Rev. Dr. Solomon, of Leb
anon, Conn., 72, 73, 73 n., 105,
210.

Williams, Rev. Solomon, of North
ampton, 73, 210.
WilUams, Rev. William, of Hatfield,
71, 72, 74, 105.
Williams, Rev. WiUiam, of Weston,
73-
WiUiams, William, nephew of Rev.
WiUiam, of Hatfield, 74, 105.
WiUiams, William, son of Rev. Dr.
Solomon, of Lebanon, 73 n., 105.
Winthrop, Gov. John, 246, 249.
Wisner, Rev. Dr. Benjamin B., 59.
Wiswall, Edmund T., 256.
Wiswall, Rev. Ichabod, 71.
Wiswall, Capt, Noah, 74, 96.
Wiswall, Elder Thomas, 71, 96.
Wood, Bartholomew, 143.
Wood, Maria F., 9.
Woodbridge, Jonathan E., 254.
Woods, Rev. Dr. Leonard, 20.
Woodward, Eben, 248, 249.
Woodward, Ebenezer, 97.
Woodward, Ebenezer, 141.
Woodward, Elijah F., 5, 59, 60, 61,
66, 67, 115, 119, 120, 132, 134,
135, 138, 142, 143, 175, 247,
249, 252.
Woodward, Mrs. E. F., 248.
Woodward, Emily, 140.
Woodward, Hannah G., 249.
Woodward, Harriet, 159, 250.
Woodward, John, 96, 249.
Woodward, Rev. Samuel, 71, 74, 78.
Woodward, Samuel, 98, 217.
Wycliffe, John, 50.