Part 17 (1/2)
The next day Mr. Gallaudet and Mr. Patton call and accompany us to the Historical Room. There we see carefully kept an old chest that had come over in the ”May Flower,” and also the three-legged pot in which the ”Pilgrims” had first boiled their food after landing on Plymouth Rock.
These and many other memorials of the ”Fathers” we are happy to find are very piously preserved. Then we go to a Gallery of Pictures. The admission fee is 25 cents, or one s.h.i.+lling; but from us, being strangers, they will accept of nothing! In the collection there was much to admire; but I could not help regretting that the canvas was made to preserve the memory of so many conflicts between England and her Transatlantic sons.
We dined at Dr. Bushnell's house. The Doctor is a very una.s.suming man, and a very original but somewhat eccentric thinker. He had lately published a sermon on Roads, a sermon on the Moral Uses of the Sea, a sermon on Stormy Sabbaths, and a sermon on Unconscious Influence,--all treated in a very striking manner. He had recently visited England and the continent of Europe, and had also contributed an article to the _New Englander_, a quarterly review, on the Evangelical Alliance. The views of a keen thinker from another land on that and kindred topics deserve to be pondered. ”The Church of G.o.d in England,” says the Doctor, ”can never be settled upon any proper basis, whether of truth or of practical harmony, until the Established Church, as such, is separated from the State.” His estimate of ”a large cla.s.s of English Christians” is not very flattering. ”They are good men, but not thinking men. Their piety gurgles in a warm flood through their heart, but it has not yet mounted to their head. * * * In the ordinary, _i.e._ in their preaching and piety, they show a style of goodishness fitly represented by Henry's Commentary; in the extraordinary, they rise into sublimity by inflation and the swell of the occasion.” Towards slavery and slaveholders he manifests a tenderness of feeling at which we are surprised and pained. The proposed exclusion of slaveholders from the Alliance he characterizes as ”absurd and fanatical,” speaking of the subject as having been ”so unhandsomely forced upon” the American brethren in London. Again, ”There is too much good sense among the Christians of this country (America) to think of const.i.tuting an Alliance on the basis which denies Christian character to all slaveholders. At a future time, when slavery has been discussed long enough, we shall do so. We cannot do it now,--least of all can we do it at the dictation of brethren beyond the sea, who do not understand the question,” &c.
And yet in the same article the Doctor proposes that the Christians of England and America should unite their efforts for the promotion of religious liberty in Italy, and says, ”If we lift our testimony against all church dungeons and tortures, and against all suppression of argument by penalties, as cruel, absurd, anti-christian, and impious, there is no prince or priesthood in Italy or anywhere else that can long venture to perpetrate such enormities.” Will they yield, Doctor, to the ”dictation of brethren beyond the sea?” But this subject of American slavery is always represented by our Transatlantic friends as a thing so _profound_ that none but themselves can understand it; and yet it is evident that they understand it least of all. Hear the Doctor:--
”We do not propose, however, in this movement for religious liberty, to invite the efforts of our English brethren here against slavery. We have too little confidence in their knowledge of our condition, and the correctness of their opinions generally on the subject of American slavery. They must consent to let us manage the question in our own way,” &c. How strikingly is it here seen that this slavery is the weak point and the wicked point in the American character! We liked Dr.
Bushnell's company, his hospitality, his wife, his children, his domestic discipline, his church, his other writings,--everything better than the article in question, though even it contained much that we admired.
The next day we went to see the ”First Congregational Church” in this place--that in which Dr. Hawes ministers, together with the old burying-ground attached to it. This was the original church formed by the first settlers, who in 1636 came from Braintree in Ess.e.x, bringing their pastor the Rev. Thos. Hooker along with them. Of him it is said, that he appeared in the pulpit with such dignity and independence as if ”while engaged in his Master's work he could put a king in his pocket.”
Here is his tomb, dated 1647. Two eventful centuries have rolled away, during which this church has had only nine pastors; all of whom, except the last, Dr. Hawes, who still survives, died in their charge, and were interred in this place. Interments here are no longer continued; but an old bachelor, of independent means, a descendant of the Pilgrims, spends nearly the whole of his time ”among the tombs” of the fathers and prophets, and, _con amore_, keeps the ground and the graves in the most beautiful order.
Our host Mr. Hosmer took us to see the new burying-ground outside of the city. Here the Catholics and the coloured people had each a parcel of ground allotted for themselves,--the former because they _would_ not, and the latter because they _should_ not, mingle their dust with that of other people!
On our way back I said to my friend, ”How was it that neither Mr.
Pennington nor any of his people (coloured congregation) were at the meeting last night? I should have thought they would have come to hear about their own brethren in Guiana.” ”Why,” he replied, ”the fact was I did not send a notice to them on Sunday: I knew that in the 'Fourth'
Church they would have been scattered all over the place; it would have been so unpleasant, and talked of for months.” Here then was a man of a large heart, a friend of missions and of all that is good, one who seemed as if he could embrace the whole world in his sympathies, under the dominion of a prejudice you would have expected him to scorn!
At Hartford lives Mrs. Sigourney, the graceful American poetess. She is a pious member of one of the Congregational Churches. Mr. Hosmer kindly took us to call upon her; and we were greatly pleased with our brief visit.
At 2 P.M. we left with regret this delightful little city, and shall always cherish a grateful remembrance of the Christian kindness and hospitality with which we were treated. In all the States we met with nothing to be compared, in all that was pleasing, to the two cities of Connecticut--New Haven and Hartford.
In pa.s.sing, on our way to Boston, through Worcester in Ma.s.sachusetts, I cast a hurried glance at every place that looked like a smithy, wondering whether it was there that Elihu Burritt had wielded his forge-hammer and scattered his ”sparks from the anvil.”
We reached Boston at 9 P.M., and stopped at the United States Hotel.
The next day I called to deliver notes of introduction to several of the Boston divines. Among them was one to the Rev. Seth Bliss, at the Tract Depository. Having glanced at the note, he very hurriedly said to me, ”Ah, how do you do?--very glad to see you!--where are you stopping at?”--”At the United States Hotel, sir.” ”Oh,” he replied all in a breath, ”you had better come to my house,--it'll be cheaper for you,--they'll charge you 2 dollars a day at the United States Hotel,--I only charge a dollar and a half,--I have a room at liberty now.
Besides, if you want to get acquainted with ministers, you can't do better than come to my house. In fact, the wags call my house the 'Saints' Rest,'--because, I suppose, they see I sell the book here.”
The conjuncture of ”Bliss” and ”Saints' Rest!” Who could refuse? We went. But I will not tell how far the accommodation tended to realize our conceptions of those beat.i.tudes.
On the morrow we went to see Faneuil Hall, the ”Cradle of Liberty.” A notice was up at the door to say the key was to be found at such a store in the neighbourhood. I asked for the key; had it without a single question being put; went, opened the door myself, and staid as long as we pleased. There was no hanger-on, to try to squeeze a fee out of us, as would have been the case in a country I know.
I then went and called without any introduction upon William Lloyd Garrison, from whom I received the most kind attentions. He accompanied me to the celebrated Bunker's Hill, a scene of dreadful encounter between those who ought never to have been foes. A column of 200 feet high now stands upon the spot. It is unfortunate that the Americans have so many mementos, both natural and artificial, of their struggles with us. They tend to perpetuate an undesirable feeling.
LETTER x.x.xIV.
Boston (continued)--The Old South--Unitarianism, and Connection between Church and State--A Welsh Service in an ”Upper Room”--Laura Bridgman and the Wedding Ring--Oliver Caswell--Departure from Boston--John Todd and his Family--His Congregationalism--Albany and the Delevan House--Journey to Utica--Remsen and the Welsh People--Dogs made to churn, and Horses to saw Wood.
On Sabbath morning the 11th of April I preached for the Rev. Mr.
Blagden, in the Old South Church. This is a large old-fas.h.i.+oned square building, having two galleries, one above the other, on three of its sides. It is rich in historical recollections. Here Whitfield preached.
Here patriotic meetings were held even before Faneuil Hall was built; and here the British troops were quartered at the time of the Revolutionary War. Here, too, the lamp of truth was kept feebly burning when all around had sunk into darkness and heresy. At the commencement of this century, the ministry in all the other Congregational Churches in Boston had become Unitarian. In the Old South, however, there were a few people, eight in number, who formed a ”Society for Religious Improvement.” They could not at first _pray_ together; they only read the Scriptures and conversed on religious subjects. But they grew in wisdom, fervour, and zeal, and were eventually the means, not only of reviving religion in the Old South, but also of giving an impulse in Boston which is felt to this day. Church after church on orthodox principles has been inst.i.tuted, till there are in Boston more than a dozen large and vigorous churches of the Congregational order; and the Old South, the honoured ”mother of churches,” has had her ”youth renewed like the eagles.”
But how came Congregationalism to be so deteriorated? It was owing to its having been made the State religion. All were at first taxed for its exclusive support. This was felt to be unjust and oppressive, and it brought the favoured system into bad repute. Then a modification of the law was adopted, and the citizens had their choice of systems, but were taxed for the support of some system or other. This provision, likewise, began ere long to be felt as unjust towards those who did not wish to maintain _any_ system, or at least not by taxation. This law, moreover, gave a virtual support to Unitarianism. ”This,” says the Rev.
Mr. b.u.t.ton of New Haven, ”has been more fully ill.u.s.trated in Ma.s.sachusetts than in Connecticut. The repeal of the law for the compulsory support of religion in that commonwealth has proved a severe blow to Unitarianism.”
After the morning service at the Old South, we turned in to see Park-street Church, another Congregational place of wors.h.i.+p, which for the following reason I was curious to enter. A few years ago a coloured gentleman of respectability instructed a friend to purchase for him a pew in that church. That no objection to the sale might arise from any neglect of decorations, the new proprietor had it beautifully lined and cus.h.i.+oned. It was made to look as handsome as any other pew in the church; and, when it was finished, the gentleman and his family one Sabbath morning took possession. This gave rise to great anxiety and alarm. n.i.g.g.e.rs in the body of the church! What was to be done? In the course of the following week a meeting was held, and a deputation appointed to wait upon the gentleman, and to tell him that it was against ”public feeling” for him to occupy the pew in question. The gentleman remonstrated, and pointed out the injustice, after he had purchased the pew, and incurred the expense of fitting it up, of not being allowed to enjoy it. To this the deputation replied that they were sorry for any inconvenience or loss he might sustain, but public feeling _must_ be respected, and the pew _must_ be given up. Against this decision there was no appeal; and the gentleman was obliged to let the pew be resold for such a price as the white aristocracy thought fit to give. On the principle that ”prevention is better than cure,” they have, I am told, in Boston introduced into every new trust-deed a clause that will effectually guard against the recurrence of such a calamity. But so ”smartly” has it been done that, were you to examine those deeds, you would look in vain for a single syllable having the remotest apparent bearing on either black or coloured people, and you would be ready to suspect that the whole was a mere invention of the Abolitionists. Indeed, Mrs. ”Bliss,” at the ”Saints' Rest,” a.s.sured me in the most positive manner that such was the case, and that the whole of the story I have related had not the shadow of a foundation in truth. But she might as well have attempted to deny the existence of Bunker's Hill or Boston Bay. This was only a specimen of the manner in which the colour-hating party attempt to throw dust in the eyes of strangers, and deny the existence of the most palpable facts. But how runs the conservative clause which led to this digression? It is expressed in words to this effect,--That no sale of any pew is valid if two-thirds or three-fourths (I forget which) of the congregation should object to the purchaser! This was quite enough. Those against whom it was directed need not be even mentioned. It was well known that with this clause no coloured man could ever own a pew. Public feeling would piously take hold of this key, and turn it against him.