Volume II Part 69 (1/2)

”DAVID WARNER, _Clerk_.”

The Mite Society of his church erected a monument to his memory in _Harmony Cemetery_, bearing the following inscriptions:

”The Christian Mite Society of the 19th Street Baptist Church render this tribute to the memory of their beloved pastor. We shall go to him, but he shall not return to us.

”Rev. D. W. ANDERSON, ”Born April 10th, 1812. Died Feb. 17th, 1873.

”'I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.'

”He was ordained in 1844, and after a ministry of 21 years settled with the 19th Street Baptist Church of Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C., where he fell asleep in the midst of a great revival.

”For the cause of education, the welfare of the poor, the promotion of humanity, liberty, and the conversion of the world.

”He labored faithfully until the Master called him hence.”

This beautiful life was studded with the n.o.blest virtues. From obscurity and poverty Duke William Anderson had risen to fame and honors; and having spent a useful life, died in the midst of a great revival in the capital of the nation, holding more positions of trust than any other man, white or black; died with harness on, and left a name whose l.u.s.tre will survive the corroding touch of time.

The Rev. James Poindexter, of Columbus, Ohio, and the Rev. Wallace Shelton, of Cincinnati, are now and have been for years the foremost Baptist ministers of Ohio. Both men came to Ohio more than a generation ago, and have proven themselves able ministers of Christ.

But of New England Baptist ministers Leonard Andrew Grimes is of most blessed memory.

It was some time during the year 1840, when disputings arose--about what is not known--within the members.h.i.+p of what was known as the ”First Independent Baptist Church,” of Boston, Ma.s.s., which resulted in the drawing out from the same of about forty members. This party was led by the Rev. Mr. Black, who had been, for some time, pastor of the church he now left. They secured a place of wors.h.i.+p in Smith Court, off of Joy Street, where they continued for a considerable s.p.a.ce of time. It was not long, however, after they began to wors.h.i.+p in their new home, before their highly esteemed and venerable leader was stricken down with disease, from which he subsequently died.

This little band was now without a leader, and was, consequently, speedily rent by a schism within its own circle. But in the nucleus that finally became the Twelfth Baptist Church, there were faithful men and women who believed in the integrity of their cause, and, therefore, stood firm. They believed that ”He who was for them was greater than all they who were against them.” Though few in number, they felt that ”one shall chase a thousand, and two shall put ten thousand to flight,” was a very pertinent pa.s.sage when applied to themselves. And those who have been blessed to see that little ”company of believers” grow to be an exceedingly large and prosperous church of Christ must be persuaded that G.o.d alone gave ”the increase.”

For a long time this little company struggled on without a leader.

They were called upon to walk through many discouraging scenes, and to humble themselves under the remorseless hand of poverty. Unable to secure, permanently, the services of a clergyman, they were driven to the necessity of obtaining whomsoever they could when the Sabbath came. And what a blessed thing it was for them that they were placed under the severe discipline of want! It taught them humility and faith--lessons often so hard to acquire. They bore their trials heroically, and esteemed it great joy to be counted worthy to suffer for Christ. When one Sabbath was ended they knew not whom the Lord would send the next; and yet they never suffered for the ”Word of G.o.d.” For He who careth for the lilies of the field, and bears up the falling sparrow, fed them with the ”bread of life,” and gave them to drink of the waters of salvation. ”Unto the poor the Gospel was preached.”

After a few years of pain and waiting, after the watching and praying, the hoping and fearing, G.o.d seemed pleased to hear the prayers of this lonely band, and gave them a leader. It was whispered in the community that a very intelligent and useful man, by the name of ”Grimes,” of New Bedford, could be retained as their leader. After some deliberation upon the matter, they chose one of their number to pay a visit to ”Brother Leonard A. Grimes, of New Bedford,” and on behalf of the company wors.h.i.+pping in ”an upper room,” on Belknap Street--now Joy Street--Boston, extended him an invitation to come and spend a Sabbath with them. In accordance with their request he paid them a visit. Impressed with the dignity of his bearing, and the earnestness of his manner, the company was unanimous in an invitation, inviting ”the young preacher” to return and remain with them for ”three months.”

The invitation was accepted with alacrity, and the work begun with a zeal worthy of the subsequent life of ”the beloved pastor of the Twelfth Baptist Church.” Brother L. A. Grimes had been driven North on account of his friendly and humane relations to the oppressed. He had been incarcerated by the laws of slave-holding Virginia, for wresting from her hand, and piloting into the land of freedom, those whom slavery had marked as her children--or, rather, her ”_goods_.” A soul like his was too grand to live in such an atmosphere. In keeping the golden rule, he had insulted the laws of the inst.i.tution under whose merciless sway thousands of human beings were groaning. He would live no longer where his convictions of duty were to be subordinated to, and palliated by, the penurious and cruel teaching of the slave inst.i.tution. So, after having been robbed of his property, he left, in company with his family, for the fair sh.o.r.es of New England. He had sought no distinction, but had settled down to a quiet life in New Bedford. But a man of his worth could not stay in the quiet walks of life; he was born to lead, and heard G.o.d call him to the work his soul loved.

His quiet, unpretentious ministry of ”three months” shadowed forth the loving, gentle, yet vigorous and successful ministry of a quarter of a century; a ministry so like the Master's, not confined to sect or nationality, limited only by the wants of humanity and the great heart-love that went gus.h.i.+ng out to friend and foe. Those who were so happy as to sit under his ministry for the ”three months” were quite unwilling to be separated from one whose ministry had so greatly comforted and built them up. In the young preacher they had found a leader of excellent judgment, a pastor of tender sympathies, and a father who loved them with all the strength of true manly affection.

How could they retain him? They were poor. How could they release him?

They loved him. After much prayer and pleading, Brother Grimes was secured as their leader, with a salary at the rate of $100 per annum.

He returned to New Bedford and moved his family to Boston. His salary barely paid his rent; but by working with his hands, as Paul did, and through the industry of his wife, he was enabled to get along.

During all this time this little company of believers was without ”church organization.” At length a council was called and their prayer for organization presented. After the procedure common to such councils, it was voted that this company of Christian men and women be organized as the ”Twelfth Baptist Church.” The church consisted of twenty-three members.

On the evening of the 24th of November, 1848, occurred the services of the recognition of the church, and the ordination of Rev. L. A. Grimes as its pastor. The order of exercises was as follows:

Reading of Scriptures and prayer, by the Rev. Edmund Kelley; sermon, by the Rev. J. Banvard, subject: ”The way of salvation,” from Acts xvi, 17: ”The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high G.o.d, which show unto us the way of salvation”; hand of fellows.h.i.+p to the church, by the Rev. T. F.

Caldicott; prayer of recognition and ordination, by the Rev. John Blain; charge to the candidate, by the Rev. Nathaniel Colver; address to the church, by the Rev. Rollin H. Neale; concluding prayer, by the Rev. Sereno Howe; benediction, by the pastor, Rev. Leonard A. Grimes.

The exercises were of a very pleasant nature, and of great interest to the humble little church that a.s.sembled to enjoy them. It was an occasion of no small moment that published to the world the ”Twelfth Baptist Church,” and sent upon a mission of love and mercy, Leonard Andrew Grimes! It was an occasion that has brought great strength to the Colored people of Boston, yea, of the country! It was the opening of a door; it was the loosening of chains, the beginning of a ministry that was to stretch over a period of twenty-five years, carrying peace and blessing to men in every station. And may we not, with propriety, halt upon the threshold of our grat.i.tude, and thank that wise Being who gave him, a blessing to the church a friend to humanity?

Happy, thrice happy, was the little church that had wedded itself for life to one who had laid himself upon the altar of their common cause.

These relations and manifold responsibilities were not hastily or rashly a.s.sumed. The little church felt keenly its poverty and weakness, while its new pastor knew that the road to prosperity lay through fields of toil and up heights of difficulty. Before him was no dark future, for the light of an extraordinary faith scattered the darkness as he advanced to duty. What man of intelligence, without capital or social influence, would have undertaken so discouraging a project as that to which Leonard A. Grimes unconditionally brought the sanctified zeal of a loving heart? To him it was purely a matter of duty, and it was this thought that urged him on with his almost superhuman burdens.

But to return to the ”upper chamber,” and take one more look at the happy little church. It was not the pastor's object to begin at once to perfect plans to secure a place more desirable to wors.h.i.+p in than their present little room. His heart longed for that enlargement of soul secured by a nearness to the divine Master. His heart yearned after those who were enemies to the ”_cross of Christ_.” His first prayer was: ”O Lord, revive thy work!” and it was not offered in vain.

A season of prayer was inst.i.tuted for the outpouring of the Spirit.

The pastor led the way to the throne of grace in a fervent and all-embracing prayer. A spirit of prayer fell upon his people. Every heart trembled in tenderest sympathy for those who were strangers to the ”covenant of mercy”; every eye was dampened with tears of grat.i.tude and love; every tongue was ready to exclaim with Watts:--