Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, Volume 26 December, 1880. by Various None (smart ebook reader .txt) 📕

Connection With The Living Has Endeared Them To Our Memories More Than

Their Relations To The Dead. Not Because It Is Boston'S Westminster

Abbey Or Temple Church Has The Old South Been Permitted To Come Down To

Us As The Best Example Of The Congregational Meeting-Houses Of The

Eighteenth Century,  But Because Of The Revolutionary Episodes Of Which

It Was The Scene,  And Which Are Commemorated In The Stone Tablet Upon

Its Front. The Old South Church,  Built In 1729,  Belonged To The Common

Class Of Brick Structures Which Replaced Wooden Ones; For,  Like

Solomon'S Temple,  Its Predecessor Had Been Built Of Cedar Sixty Years

Before. The Convenient Location Of The Old South And The Capaciousness

Of Its Interior Brought To It The Colonial Meetings Which Preceded The

Revolution,  And Especially That Famous Gathering Of December 13,  1773,

Whence Marched The Disguised Patriots To Destroy The Taxed Tea In boston

Harbor. The Convenient Access And Spacious Audience-Room Of The Old

Church Also Led To Its Occupancy As A Riding-School For British Cavalry

In 1775. Even Now,  In The Quiet Days Following The Recent Excitement

Attending Its Escape From Fire And From Sale And Demolition,  The Ancient

Church Still Finds Occasional Use As A Place For Lectures And Public

Gatherings. Its Chequered Days Within The Past Decade Have At Least

Served To Make Its Appearance And Its Part In colonial History More

Familiar To Us,  And Have Done Something To Save Other Churches From The

Destruction Which Might Have Overtaken Them.

As The Old South Stands As The Brick-And-Mortar Enshrinement Of The Best

Puritan Thought Of The Eighteenth Century,  So King'S Chapel In boston,

Built Twenty-Five Years Later,  Represents The Statelier Social Customs

And The More Conservative Political Opinions Of The Early New England

Episcopalians. Its Predecessor,  Of Wood,  Was The First Building Of The

Church Of England In New England. The Present King'S Chapel,  With Its

Sombre Granite Walls And Its Gently-Lighted Interior,  Suggests To The

Mind An Impression Of Independence Of Time Rather Than Of Age. One Reads

On The Walls,  To Be Sure,  Such High-Sounding Old Names As Vassall And

Shirley And Abthorp,  And On A Tomb In The Old Graveyard Near By One Sees

The Inscriptions Commemorating Governor John Winthrop Of Massachusetts

And His Son John,  Governor Of Connecticut. But King'S Chapel Seems The

Home Of Churchly Peace And Gracious Content; So That,  As We Sit Within

Its Quaint Three-Sided Pews,  It Is Hard To Remember The Stormy Scenes In

Which It Has Had Part. Its Tory Congregation,  Almost To A Man,  Fled From

Its Walls When The British General,  Gage,  Evacuated Boston; The Sterner

Worshippers Of The Old South Occupied Its Anglican Pews For A Time; And

Later It Was The Scene Of A Theological Movement Which Caused,  In 1785,

The First Episcopal Church In New England--Or Rather Its Remnant--To

Become The First Unitarian Society In america.

In Salem Street,  Boston,  Left Almost Alone At The Extreme North End Of

The City,  Is Christ Church,  Built In 1723. Its Tower Contains The Oldest

Chime Of Bells In america,  And From It,  According To Some Antiquarians,

Was Hung The Lantern Which On April 18,  1775,  Announced To The Waiting

Paul Revere,  And Through Him To The Middlesex Patriots In all The

Surrounding Country,  That General Gage Had Despatched Eight Hundred Men

To Seize And Destroy The Military Stores Gathered At Concord By The

Massachusetts Committees Of Safety And Supplies. Thus Opened The

Revolutionary War,  For The Battles At Lexington And Concord Took Place

Only The Next Day.

The White-Spired Building At The Corner Of Park And Tremont Streets,

Boston,  Known As The Park Street Church,  Is Hardly So Old As Its

Extended Fame Would Lead One To Suppose,  For It Dates No Farther Back

Than The First Quarter Of The Present Century. Its Position As The

Central Point Of The Great Theological Controversies Of 1820 In The

Congregational Churches Of Eastern Massachusetts Has Made It Almost As

Familiar As The "Saybrook Platform." The Meeting-House Was Built At The

Time When The Greater Part Of The Boston Churches Were Modifying Their

Creeds,  And When The Old South Itself Would Have Changed Its

Denominational Relations But For The Vote Of A State Official,  Cast To

Break A Tie. Its Inelegance And Rawness Are Excused In Part By Its

Evident Solidity And Sincerity Of Appearance. In Its Shadow Rest

Faneuil,  Revere,  Samuel Adams And John Hancock.

Boston Has Other Churches Which,  Like The Park Street,  Are Neither

Ancient Nor Modern,  The Hollis Street Church And The First Church In

Roxbury Being Good Examples. New England Has Hardly A Better Specimen Of

The Old-Fashioned Meeting-House On A Hill Than This Old Weather-Beaten

Wooden First Church In Roxbury,  The Home Of A Parish To Which John

Eliot,  The Apostle To The Indians,  Once Ministered. Another Quaint

Memorial Of The Old Colonial Days Survives In The Current Name,

"Meeting-House Hill," Of A Part Of The Annexed Dorchester District Of

Boston.

[Ilustration: St. Paul'S Chapel,  New York.]

St. Paul'S Church,  On Boston Common,  Was The First Attempt Of The

Episcopalians Of The City,  After The Loss Of King'S Chapel,

To Build A Temple Of Imposing Appearance. Controversies Theological And

Architectural Rose With Its Walls,  And Young Edward Everett,  If Report

Is To Be Credited,  Was The Author Of A Tract,  Still In circulation,  In

Which Its Design And Its Principles Formed The Text For A Criticism On

The Religion To Whose Furtherance It Was Devoted. Standing As It Does

Next The United States Court-House,  The Uses Of The Two Buildings Seem

To Have Been Confused In The Builders' Minds; For There Is Something

Ecclesiastical In The Appearance Of The Hall Of Justice,  Which Was

Originally A Masonic Temple,  And Something Judicial In The Face Of The

Church.

In Cambridge,  Three Miles From Boston,  The Eighteenth-Century

Episcopalians Not Only Possessed A Church,  But Also Displayed To

Unwilling Eyes A Veritable "Bishop'S Palace"--The Stately House Of The

Rev. East Apthorp,  "Missionary To New England" And Reputed Candidate For

The Bishopric Of That Region. Mr. Apthorp Was Rich And Influential,  But

His Social And Ecclesiastical Lot Was Not An Easy One,  And He Soon

Returned To England Discouraged,  Leaving His "Palace" To Come Down To

The View Of Our Own Eyes,  Which Find In It Nothing More Dangerous To

Republican Institutions Than Is To Be Discovered In a Hundred Other Of

The Three-Story Wooden Houses Which Used So To Abound In Massachusetts.

Christ Church,  Cambridge,  In Which The Bishop _In Posse_ Used To

Minister,  And Which Stands Opposite Harvard College,  Was Designed By The

Architect Of King'S Chapel,  And Has Always Been Praised For A Certain

Shapely Beauty Of Proportion. For The Last Twenty Years It Has Boasted

The Only Chime Of Bells In cambridge,  Whose Quiet Shades Of A Sunday

Evening Have Been Sweetly Stirred By The Music Struck From Them By The

Hands Of A Worthy Successor Of The Mediaeval Bell-Ringers,  To Whom Bells

Are Books,  And Who Can Tell The Story Of Every Ounce Of Bell-Metal

Within Twenty Miles Of His Tower. It Was Of This Church,  With Its

Unitarian Neighbor Just Across The Ancient Churchyard Where So Many Old

Harvard And Colonial Worthies Sleep,  That Holmes Wrote:

  Like Sentinel And Nun,  They Keep

    Their Vigil On The Green:

  One Seems To Guard,  And One To Weep,

    The Dead That Lie Between.

The Suburbs Of Boston Are Not Poor In churches Of The Eighteenth,  Or

Even Of The Seventeenth,  Century. The Oldest Church In New England--The

Oldest,  Indeed,  In The Northern States--Still Standing In Salem,  Was

Built In 1634,  And Its Low Walls And Tiny-Paned Windows Have Shaken

Under The Eloquence Of Roger Williams. It Has Not Been Used For

Religious Purposes Since 1672. In Newburyport Is One Of The American

Churches,  Once Many But Now Few,  In Which George Whitefield Preached,

And Beneath It The Great Preacher Lies Buried. A Curious Little Reminder

Of St. Paul'S,  London,  Is Found Here In The Shape Of A Whispering

Gallery. Another Landmark Is The Venerable Meeting-House Of The

Unitarian Society In Hingham,  Popularly Known As The "Old Ship." Built

In 1681,  It Was A Congregational Place Of Worship For Nearly A Century

And A Half. Its Sturdiness And Rude Beauty Form A Striking Illustration

Of The Lasting Quality Of Good,  Sound Wooden Beams As Material For The

Sanctuary. Preparations Have Already Been Undertaken For Celebrating The

Second Centennial Of The Ancient Building. Nearly As Old,  And Still More

Picturesque With Its Quaint Roof,  Its Venerable Hanging Chandelier Of

Brass,  Its Sober Old Reredos And Its Age-Hallowed Communion-Service,  Is

St. Michael'S,  Marblehead,  Built In 1714,  Where Faithful Rectors Have

Endeavored To Reach Six Generations Of The Fishermen And Aristocracy Of

The Rocky Old Port. The Antiquarian Who Has Seen These Old Temples And

Asks For Others On The New England Coast Will Turn With Scarcely Less

Interest To St. John'S,  Portsmouth; The Forsaken Trinity Church,

Wickford,  Rhode Island,  Built In 1706; Or Trinity,  Newport,  Where Bishop

Berkeley Used To Preach. In Newport,  Indeed,  One May Also Speculate

Beneath The Old Mill On The Fanciful Theory That The Curious Little

Structure Was A Baptistery Long Before The Days Of Columbus--The Most

Ancient Christian Temple On This Side The Sea.

It Is Not Uncommon To Find Comparatively New American Churches To Which

Their Surroundings Or Their Sober Material Or Their Quiet Architecture

Have Given A Somewhat Exaggerated Appearance Of Age. Such Is The Case

With The Curious Row Of Three Churches--The North And Centre

Congregational And Trinity Episcopalstanding Side By Side On The New

Haven Green In a Fashion Unknown Elsewhere In Our Own Country. Any One

Of These Three Churches Looks Quite As Old As That Shapely Memorial Of

Pre-Revolutionary Days,  St. Paul'S Chapel,  New York,  Built In 1766 In

The Prevailing Fashion Of The London Churches. As With St. Paul'S,  There

Was Also No Marked Appearance Of Antiquity In The North Dutch Church,

New York,  Removed In Recent Years. The Poor Old Middle Dutch Church In

The Same City,  With Its Ignoble Modern Additions And Its Swarm Of Busy

Tenants,  Would Have Looked Old If It Could Have Done So,  But For Modern

New Yorkers It Has No More Venerable Memory,  In Its Disfigurement And

Disguise,  Than That Furnished By Its Use,  For A Time,  As The City

Post-Office.

[Illustration: Old Swedes' Church,  Philadelphia.]

New York Is Poor In Old Buildings,  And Especially Poor