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FAITH AND FREEDOM IN AMERICA.
SERMON
AT THE
CONSECRATION
OF THE
Church
of the
Messiah,
Park Avenue and Thirty-Fourth Street,
APRIL 2, 1868.
By REV. SAMUEL OSGOOD,Id.D., Pastor.
WITH THE ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE,
By REV. GEORGE W, BRIGGS, D.D.
NEW YORK:
TROW & SMITH BOOK MANUFACTURING CO., 46, 48, 50 GREENE ST.
1868.
��SERMON.
And other sheep I have which are not of this fold : them also
I must bring, and they shall hear my voic^ andthere shall be one
fold and one shepherd.—John x, 16.
What a startling commentary the simple facts of
history give to these words! Spoken by a person
unknown among the great powers and leading men
of the world at that day, to a little circle of disciples,
in the face of a knot of cavilling Pharisees, they have
been heard, accepted and answered by countless num
bers in all countries and ages, tongues and nations.
How marvellous is that great array of powers that
have come into Christ’s fold!
See barbarous nations at thy gates attend,
Walk in thy light and in thy temple bend I
See thy bright altars thronged with prostrate kings,
While every land its joyous tribute brings.
Has our country given her answer^, and our America,
has she heard his voice and entered the fold of the
one shepherd ? America, now one of the great na
tions of the earth, is she to be also a leader of Chris
tendom ? and it is our task to-night to consider the
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bearing of our national passion for freedom upon our
Christian faith.
Of old, Christianity made its way without
worldly favor, and in the teeth of the fiercest oppo
sition. It marched to victory upon the Roman roads
that were made and trodden by legions that were
bound to crush every religion whose champions
would not sanction the idolatry of the Roman Pan
theon ; it preached the word of its New Testament
in the Greek language, that was a still grander high
way than the Roman roads, and used the tongue of
the martyred Socrates to proclaim to the winds, that
God.had come to dwell with men, and that the king
dom of heaven rested upon a gospel that was to the
Greeks foolishness. No bar of persecution lies before
its progress here to challenge courage and stir hero
ism; nor does state patronage tempt servility or
silence dissent. Since we have been a nation every
man has been free to choose his religion, and if greatly
encouraged, never compelled, to profess the Christian
faith. Never in the world has there been such reli
gious liberty as here in the nineteenth century. The
Church and the State have been wholly separate, and
there has moreover been such diversity of opinions
among the influential classes, as to create a whole
some balance of power and to allow no one sect
wholly to domineer over its neighbors, and compel
conformity or invite sycophancy. We certainly have
full sweep to show what we really are, what we be
lieve or do not believe, and it is a most serious and
pressing question for us to decide which way on the
whole we are drifting, and whether our freedom
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shows itself in free faith or in freedom from all faith.
Our people, or their forefathers, came from countries
where there were restraints upon liberty of opinion
and worship, and brought with them generally great
zeal for their own convictions and no little fire at the
very thought of having them trampled upon. What
is their temper when the old fire cools down, and full
freedom, alike from state threats and bribes, invites
tranquillity and tempts indifference, if not laxity ?
I. Do we hear the voice that calls us to the one fold,
and does our mind consent to accept the good shep
herd’s lead ? Are we to be Christian or not ?
It is clear that at the beginning of our national
independence, there was among certain leaders of the
movement and a considerable portion of the people
great impatience of all the old faiths, and not a little
of the feeling that in this new world, country and
age, all things should become new, and it was a weak
superstition or poor prejudice to go back to Judaea for
our religion, or. to Europe for our theology. The
American Revolution was not merely the rise of the
old Colonial manhood againsf British despotism, but
it was part of the great movement of the human
mind against the ancient rule of priestcraft and king
craft, creeds and conventionalism, that was so charac
teristic of the 18th century ; and here, as in Europe,
there were many who had the feeling that the age
of all positive institutional religion wras over, and the
age of reason and common sense was to do away with
the old Gospel and Church, content with nature for
its Bible and conscience for its guide. The great
Liberals of America in 1776, were evidently more or
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less disciples of the higher French Illuminism, that
came to its practical head in France in 189, and
7
*
Jefferson and his associates took their direction from
the philosophy of Descartes, that hade every man
take his principles from his own consciousness, and
break with the traditions and faiths of the past. The
Virginia school of statesmen were far more sweeping
in their radicalism than the statesmen of the Middle
States, and New England, who took their liberty
from their Bible and their free church method, and
believed that freedom was inside of the Gospel and
its ministry. Whilst Virginia turned theology out
of its leading college, as if it were of necessity the
minion of Anglican tyranny, Massachusetts, NewYork and New Jersey clung to theology as the safe
guard of human rights; and with them the National
Independence was a continuance of the historical king
dom of God rather than a break in history and a war
with the antecedents of faith and order. Now how
has this difference been settled, and how far has free
dom been willing to accept faith and harmonize reason
and conscience with Christianity! It is precisely
here that we are to make our main point clear; and I
affirm without misgiving, that our America has been
now for nearly a hundred years bringing the instincts
of liberty into line with the sentiment of faith ; and
that our highest work as a people in the 19th cen
tury has been the reconstruction of religious ideas
on the basis of freedom of conscience. May we not
explicitly declare, that the voice within the soul has
been more and more hearing the voice of our Lord,
and seeking the sway of the Good Shepherd and the
peace of his fold.
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I
1. The first illustration of the alliance of freedom
with faith is given by the unquestionable fact, that
our American people have been constantly growing
into the conviction that the Christian religion is
essentially humane, and that its founder and head is
perfected humanity and the historical centre of all
pure and exalted human characters and virtues. His
voice is more than human we believe^ yet none the
less human from its union with the Divine; and we
1 are feeling perhaps as no. nation ever before felt, that
Jesus belongs to us all as men, that the Son of Man
belongs to mankind, and no ghostly dogmas or
priestly devices should be allowed to take him away
from our human sympathies and affections. The
time was, and some of us can remember it, when it
was thought almost impious to speak of him as an
example for us, and the whole stress of preaching
was laid upon his miraculous nature and office. Now
the most earnest preachers are willing to say, “ Behold
the Man,” and the most rigid of educated theologians
are quite sure that he is Son of Man as well as Son
of God. Our conscience listens reverently to his
conscience, and the voice within us is ready to hear
the voice within him. Our heart beats with his
heart, and our love is confirmed by the perfect love
that was within him.
The growing regard for the humanity of Jesus
comes from various causes^, in part from dissatisfac
tion with the noisy, aggressive humanity of the
merely theoretic or political shool of reformers; in
part from our sense of our own imperfection and the
yearning for a perfect standard of human character;
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•
in part from the influence of enlightened and exalted
teachers, who have seen so clearly the great truth,
that man as such was made for religion, that not
merely his misery and sin, but his worth and welfare
call him to the Gospel, and that our Lord himself is
a truer example of genuine manhood than any of the
scoffers who have jeered at him as an impostor, and
called it manly to deny his sacred name. We are
little aware how much the principle of the true dig
nity of human nature has had to do with the rising
reconciliation of free conscience with Christian faith.
The old Deists, when they scoffed at the miraculous
or supernatural claims of Christianity, spoke, indeed,
with frequent respect of the character and pre
cepts of its great teacher, but the chief of them had
little idea of his nearness to our humanity in his in
most faith and in his communion with God. When
in the year 1795, Paine’s Age of Reason, that strong
and not atheistical, but coarse and venomous book,
appeared, how many of its host of readers had any
adequate sense of the true human worth of the being
whose religion was thus rudely assailed ? How many
who liked the book had any such conviction as now
prevails of the riches of our Lord’s human character;
and how many who hated the book saw how far the
fierce Deist’s argument might be turned against him,
and the humanity of Jesus might be the ground of
how deep and exalted a faith ! What a transition
from the Deistical Humanitarianism of that day to
the Christian humanity of our own—from the nega
tive Unitarianism of Thomas Jefferson to the positive
Unitarianism of William Ellery Channing—from the
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shocking materialism of Helvetius on. Man to the
earnest, tender and wise spirituality of the “ Ecce
Homo,” that remarkable book which bigots dread
and devout thinkers enjoy; the book which some
small churchmen here as in England have hooted at
as utterly deadly to religion, but which masters of
scholarship and manhood&like Gladstone, the first
layman of the Church of England, haiL.as a new plank
in the platform of faith, a iew and blessed plea for
the Divinity of Christ as having its proper resting
place in his pure and perfect humanityl| Or, to con
trast stormy agitators with each father, compare the
Age of Reason with The|dore Parker’l ‘J Discourse
of Religion, defective as itsKheology is, and see how
far humanity may rise above scoffing into faith, and
how much of the divine it may find in the humanity
* We must learn in future to distinguish between Theodore Parker
as a rash assailant of historical Christianity,, a sometimes doubtful
scholar in the Scriptures, an extravagant theorist, a bitter partisan, and
Theodore Parker as a devout and humane man, and a powerful, elo
quent champion of human rights and spiritual religion, I have met
nothing of late that recalls so favorably the good genius of my old fel
low-student and messmate at Cambridge, as his admirable statement
of the often forgotten distinctionjbetween thdtimmanence and trans
cendence of God : “ If God be infini®| then he must be immanent; per
fectly and totally present in Nature and in Spirit. Thus there is no
point in space, no atom of matter, but God is there; no point of spirit,
nd atom of soul,-but God is there. And yet finite matter and finite
spirit do not exhaust God. He transcends the world of matter and. of
spirit; and in virtue of that transcendence continually makes the world
of matter purer and of mind wiser. So there is really a progress in
the manifestation of God, not a progress in God'Ahe manifesting.”
Here surely is a philosophical base for a stronger Christology than Mr.
Parker ever affirmed. Here is the Father over all, revealed by the
Word and Spirit, if we carry out the thought into history,' as the true
Transcendental thinkers are now doing.
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of Jesus, and yearn to declare to all who doubt God’s
Fatherhood and man’s immortality. From these and
all instances, acknowledge that the conscience of our
people has been drawing nearer Christ on his human
side, and claiming him as part of our human birth
right. Fair play to the human mind, we say, in the
face of all attempts to trample upon reason, con
science and humanity now. Fairplay to the human
mind, whether in face of the slave-power that would
make of man a chattel or a beast of burden, or in face
of the priestcraft that would tread down his liberty
of conscience. If the slave power in America quar
relled with the human mind, so much the worse for the
slave power ; if the Pope’s Encyclical Letter quarrel
led with the human mind and invokes the return of
the tyranny of the old Inquisition, so much the worse
for the Pope. Justice to the human mind in all ages,
we are also ready to say, justice above all to him
who presents the human mind in its most exalted
relations, open to the breath of the Holy Spirit and
in union with the mind of the Eternal God. We
Americans hear thy voice, O Son of Man, and the
voice within us accepts thine as the voice of true man,
made in the image of God, and calling it death to
live apart from God—the living God.
2. So the voice within us calls for the voice of
the Son of Man, and within us and within him, it
calls out too for the voice of God. We want true
man, because we want the true God, without whom
man is not himself, but a sad prodigal, a famishing
runaway. In free conscience we hear Jesus, because
God was with him, and speaks to us through him.
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'
Fair play to tlie human mind to rise as well as range,
to rise into communion with God, as well as range
freely in the wide fields of human fellowship, culture
and daring. If we are free to know man’s capacity
for receiving God, we are free to know God’s love to
be near to man, and there is no nobler freedom than
that which yearns for God. The perfection of His
being appears in His diffusion of His gifts, and above
all in the gift of Himself. He who is good to all and
whose tender mercies are over all His works does
not deny our most inward and pressing need, our
want of Himself. He seeks to communicate Himself to His creatures, and all earnest souls cry to
Him for His Word and Spirit, as eagerly as the
ravens cry for food. All races, nations and ages feel
this want, and God in some way provides for it, and
never leaves himself without a witness. This aspect
of history, we Americans have been more and more
accepting; and our dangers more from the Pan
theism that confounds all mind with God, than from
the Atheism that denies his being. Are we not
seeing and feeling more and more the need of faith
in the personal God, our Father in heaven as mani
fest in Jesus Christ, and witnessed byes the Spirit,
alike to meet the needs of’our own souls, and to save
us from a host of wild fancies and perilous delusions.
How fearful is that ready Pantheism that makes a God
of the multitude and is confounded by a Babel of
tongues or a niob of impulses and opinions, and per
haps consciences, and how blessedClhe faith that leads
the free conscience to the Eternal Word that made
all things and speaks to us in Jesus Christ. His-
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tory is luminous as read in that light, and man is
seen to rise as God comes to him and illuminates
and moves him, and gathers him to his kingdom.
We are studying God’s dealing with us more from
his character as Father and from our need of re
ceiving him as such, and urging more the approaches
of his mercy as Father, than the visitation of his *
wrath as King and Judge.
So we are receiving the doctrine of the Incarna
tion of God in Christ as never before, and looking
upon it as the regular development of the divine
plan, and not merely as a startling wonder * depend
ing solely upon the miraculous birth of Christ. With
that miracle, as in Matthew and Luke, or without
* As to the miraculous birth of Jesus, our fathers and brethren
have precisely the same liberty of opinion as other Christians, and dif
fer about as widely. Some of them stoutly contend for the miracle, as
essential to faith, others are unwilling to dogmatize about it, others
emphatically deny it, while the greater number are content with main
taining that whatever view we may hold of the origin of Jesus, his Di
vine Sonship rests upon his partaking of the divine nature by the in
dwelling Word and Spirit, and not upon the specific miracle of birth.
The great Bible-work of Bunsen maintains that Jesus is Son of God by
being in direct and full union with God, according to the Gospel of
John, and not by his having no human father. Our most severe
Unitarian critic, Andrews Norton thought that Luke’s account of Christ’s
birth presented no important difficulties, and that “ in regard to the
main event related, the miraculous conception of Jesus, it seems to
me not difficult to discern in it purposes worthy of God. It corre
sponds with his office; presenting him to the mind of the believer
as an individual set apart from all other men, coming into the world
with the stamp of God upon him, answerably to his purpose here,
which was to speak to us with authority from God.” Need I say that
we must distinguish between the usual belief in the miraculous concep
tion of Jesus and the Roman dogma of the immaculate conception of
the Virgin Mary in the womb of her mother Anna, who is said to have
conceived of a sinless child in marriage.
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urging it, as in John, the Incarnation, according to
the Gospel of John, is the union of the Divine Word
or Eternal wisdom with mankind in the Beloved Son,
and this union is represented as the completing of
creation, the humanizing of God, and the divinizing
of man. It gives us not only Jesus, but the Christ,
and as we behold the Divine mind so abundantly
imparted, we see the true Emanuel, God with us, and
are ready to repeat the faith of the Church Univer
sal: “Thou art the Christ, the Sony of the living
God.”*
Our America has been accepting this faith as
never before, and our best minds have been showing
* It is evident that our American thought is dealing more thorough
ly with the subject of Christ’s nature and distinguishing as never before
between the human Jesus and the divine Christ. All Writers that aim
to present God as manifesting himself in fereationvand history by His
Word and Spirit, such as Swedenborg ahd Schleiermacher, find a pow
erful and widening circle of readers, and our native Americans of
theosophic gifts like Bushnell, Emerson, and Hedge, ai'^much cherished.
Our modern philosophers, too, who have tried to grapple with the unity
of things and show forth the idea of the universe^, are slowly winning
their way to notice, and helping to shape our notions of the manifesta
tions of God. Spinoza, Descartes, Leibnitz, Kantj Schelling, Hegel,
Schopenhauer, all are throwing light in different Ways, and imore or
less clearness on the Christ, as the manifistation of God, by showing the
manifestations of supreme law in nature and man. Even the new pos
itivist school of Comte, and Spencer, and Mill, has its spiritual use,
and will ere long tell on the higher plane of thought, as soon as spiritu
al phenomena are duly recognized, the facts of history and man are ob
served and analyzed, and it is seen that that the Eternal Word is writ
ten everywhere, and the Eternal Spirit is"the chief fact of creation,
and the factor of history, at once the great phenomenon of time and the
great purpose of nature and life. The new freethinkers, also, without
meaning it, are helping our faith, and while the brilliant Renan vindi
cates Jesus as an historical person, the philosophizing Strauss shows
that the Christ came not of man but of God and his providence.
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its bearing on the elevation of man and the glory of
God, and its freedom from the tri-theistic superstition
that has so often made it repulsive to thoughtful men.
Our most enlightened Trinitarian preachers and
writers, like Dr. Bushnell and his large school of
followers, are declaring most explicitly the monothe
ism of the Bible, and virtually accepting the view of
the Deity which Dr. Dorner, of Berlin, the leader of
the higher German Evangelical theology, set forth
last year, in his noble book on Protestant theology,
when he wrote that “ God is one absolute personality
in three modes of being ”—a view which Unitarians
as such are not compelled to reject, and which some
of them receive, although, like myself, they refuse to
insist upon this definition, as essential to faith. Our
own leading thinkers are taking more decided ground
for the Divinity of Christ and presenting him as
transcendently partaking of the Divine nature Dr.
*
F. H. Hedge, in his Reason in Religion, writes: “ To
* The best way of expressing our faith in Christ is to take the simple
and comprehensive language of the Scriptures, especially of the Gos
pels, in order to declare the being and manifestation of God, and to
shun narrow sectarianism and unwarrantable dogmatism. The essen
tial fact of God in Christ saves us from Tri-theism and bald Humanita
rianism. I can never hear it declared that Christ is mere man, and
only the official agent of God, apart from especial union with the divine
nature, without recalling the scathing sarcasm of Leibnitz in response
to the Socinian dogma in the simple word : “ Muhammedanismus.” I
love the old Gospel realism as to God over all, in history and the soul,
or overruling, indwelling and animating, and never repeat or read the
order of Baptism “In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,”
without regarding the words as comprehending the marrow of sacred
history, the rule of life, and the sum total of divine grace and spiritual
blessedness. It is cheering to see what positive ground our own best
thinkers are taking, and how they are appreciating and defending the
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me it seems that the truest form of the Christian
faith unites both elements, the divine and the human;
and that none can know the full power of the Gospel,
and experience all its height and breadth, where
either is wanting. We want the divine; we want to
see in Christianity the power of God and the wisdom
of God made manifest for the moral welfare of man;
we want to see the Spirit ofGod entering into human
nature, to revive and redeem it. We want a teacher
conscious of God’s in-presence, claiming attention as a
voice out of heaven. We want a" doctrine which
shall announce itself with divine authority; not a
system of moral philosophy, but the word and king
dom of God.” Another of our leading theologians,
and like Dr. Hedge, a professor of our Cambridge
Theological School, Dr. James F. Clarke, in his Truth
and Errors of Orthodoxy, writes thus:According
to the New Testament, the Father wOjild seem to be
the source of all things, the Creator, the Fountain of
being and of life. The Son is spoken of as the mani
festation of that Being in Jesus Christ ; and the Holy
Ghost is spoken of as the spiritual influence proceed
ing from the Father and the Son, dwelling in the
hearts of believers, as the Source of their life—the
idea of God seen in causation, in reason, and in con
science, as making the very life of the soul itself.”
The view that I am moved to present1 concerning
ideas of St. John’s gospel, and vindicating the real thought of Athana
sius from its tri-theistic corruption^ and from the errors of the socalled Athanasian Creed. Such scholars as Hase, Meyer, and Tischendorf, abroad, and Fisher, Hedge, and Clarke at home, maintain the
genuineness and truth of the fourth gospel.
�'*
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Christ is, that he is the historical and continuous
centre of union between God and man, by his own
divinely human personality and work; that he is the
fixed and living foundation of true faith and virtue
and fellowship; the true and living Head of our
human family; and his being, life and work not only
give us the ground of justifying faith, but the spirit
of filial goodness ; that by what he suffered and did
and is, as well as by what he was, he gave the whole
race a new status of faith and power, put us all upon
a new footing, and calls us all to reconciliation and
atonement, which he has won for us. He calls us to
*
* It is evident that the nineteenth century is to make its mark upon
Christology from its own characteristic point of view, which is the
scientific study of facts and laws in the universe. The Kicene theolo
gy of the fourth century was vitiated by the Manichean dualism that
set nature against God, and made religion discordant with true human
life by setting the hermitage above the home. The Roman theology
of the twelfth century was vitiated by the same error, ultimated in the
supremacy of the priesthood and the sway of ghostly confessors over
the human mind. The theology of the Reformation in the sixteenth
century was trammelled in Germany by a secular pride that sacrificed
catholicity to earthly thrones, and in Geneva by a sharp legalism, that
looked upon the Scriptures as a code of arbitrary institutes and in hatred
of Rome, failed to see the great currents of divine life that evolved
themselves in the historical church. We are called by God to accept
Christ as centre of the world’s history under universal laws, and to
discern his union with the whole providence and method of heaven.
This is, in the large sense of the term, the Unitarian or Universal age,
and they who are Trinitarians in name feel the grfeat inspiration of the
century which compels us to think and work out the unity of nature
and religion, reason and revelation; society and the church, time and
eternity, and to give hell and the devil far less place in the schemes of
God and the destiny of the world than, heretofore. One American
theologian of orthodox name goes so far as to maintain that hell itself
is better than nothing, and is the poorest part of the kingdom of God,
and better than no place at all.
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God, and if we hear his voice we walk upon an open
way, and his truth and life are with us there.
3. This is not all. Our America hears the voice
that calls us to man in his higher nature, and to God
in his abounding and condescending grace; and more
than this, it calls us to the kingdom of heaven, to the
life of the eternal good here and evermore. This is
the true progress that our striving nature craves, and
this is the great consummation to which our best
thoughts tend, the perfected and blessed society of
the children of God with each other and with Him,
the heavenly order which is the end of all Provi
dence and the crown of all creationjl Our American
mind tends to look at Christianity in this way, as a
progressive life in true relations, and not merely as
a return to an old Eden or a deliverance from the
tortures of a horrible hell. The notion is very prev
alent in all quarters, and quite decided with most ot
our friends, that too much stress is laid upon the in
dividual Adam, his perfection and his fall, and that
the whole temple of faith should rest not upon a per
sonage so uncertain and questionable, and according
to the Bible so weak in his innocenee and so human
in his fall. We can take Father Adam to ourselves,
and bless God in Christ for calling us to a higher
life and condition than his, and leading his children
forward to the kingdom of heaven^ and not back to
that earthly paradise. Nor need we hold the once
popular notion of eternal torments from the terrible
judge to give us joy in the eternal life offered by the
Beloved Son. Our American mind generally sees no
part of God’s universe that was made purposely to
2
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inflict torture, and all Christian legislation seeks to
correct the criminal more than to torm ent him. In the
American pulpit, too, there is less of an arbitrary hell
and more of divine order and its rule, in proportion to
the preacher’s power and the hearers’ intelligence,
yet not less call for the preaching of retribution.
The offer of progress into new light, life and joy, has
its serious and appalling side to them that reject the
call and love darkness rather than light because their
deeds are evil. They that will not go forward and
upward, stay behind and down, and darkness is upon
them and with them, here and hereafter; and the
strange notion that death is salvation has died out
by its own frailty. The most serious preaching in
America presents this issue, and they that urge the
gospel of the kingdom, not merely as a recall to
Adam’s estate, or an escape from inflicted torture,
or even as a cure for utter depravity, but as an offer
of true salvation, the state of heavenly fellowship,
the nurture of blessed life; it is they that preach the
perils of the great loss most effectively, and to them
that will not accept the great gain.
Something of this view of Christianity as the pro
gressive faith appears in all the great religious bodies
of the land, and alike in the estimate of man’s nature
and God’s plan in the Incarnation and Atonement.
Enlightened and earnest men are preaching the gos
pel as bread of life, not merely medicine and surgery,
and declaring that Christ’s work is not only to rebuke
sin but inaugurate holiness; not only to correct man
but to complete his being, by a salvation that is larger
than sin, even as God is larger than the world, the
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flesh and the devil. This sentiment is growing and
having much to do with the new and genial features
of personal piety and church-life in all quarters. We
may discover it at work in the prospective reunion
of the powerful, earnest, and well-taught Presbyterian
bodies, to whom the new school presents brighter
views of human ability and larger estimates of the
positive work of Christ,las completing nature, as
well as rebuking its abuses. Methodism is full of
the same great sentiment^ and it preaches and sings
and prays, that man may use his best free will and
carry the gospel of salvation even further than sin is
found; up into the heights of the Jflessed life of per
fect love. Our own people have been all aglow with
this conviction, and in no American heart did it ever
burn more fervently than in Channing, whether in
his Easter sermon on the glories of heaven, or in his
Lenox address on the emancipation of the slaves in
the West Indies, when his eloquence rose into proph
ecy as he welcomed the new ages of liberty, peace,
justice and piety, and declared that the Song of the
Angels will not always sound as a fiction. “ O come
thou kingdom of heaven, for which we daily pray I
Come, Friend and Saviour of the race, who didst shed
thy blood on the cross to reconcile man to man and
earth to heaven.”
Too much of the merely material and political
spirit has appeared in our visions of the future, and
we see now as never before the need of more Chris
tian elements, spiritual faith, and immortal hope in
our progress. The war, that we accepted, and which
we always deprecated when made upon us, originated
�20
in unchristian tempers, and men like Channing strove
to bring liberty without bloodshed, and could have
done it, had they been duly sustained by the leaders
of the nation. Let our America in her terrible grief
see now where her hope lies. She who sung her
Magnificat of triumph has since sung her Miserere of
agony; the Song of the Angels has been silenced in
the clash of arms, and in the battle-cry of brethren
who should be one; and the star that led to the
cradle of her royal child has been hidden in the
darkness that spread over his cross. Let her welcome
the angel of the Resurrection and not seek the liv
ing among the dead. Let us hear the voice of the
Good Shepherd calling us to the kingdom of God.
His wounds are ours as never before, and the pathos
of our own hearts brings us nearer his passion and its
priceless gift.
II. The Shepherd thus speaks to us, and we
Americans have heard his voice ; calling us to know
man and God truly, and to discover the kingdom of
heaven which makes God and man at one in true
communion. Hearing is not the whole of the matter.
He is the one Shepherd, and he asks to be followed
as well as heard—to be followed as our Shepherd to
his pasture and his fold.
1. Has our America in any earnest sense followed
or tried to follow him as the great leader ? Has
there been among our people any kind of practice of
the temper and virtues that are essentially Christ-like?
Has there been here any of his meekness, patience,
self-sacrifice, any thing of his burning charity, his
unflinching courage, the godly wisdom of his Word,
�21
and the godly power of his Spirit ? Who will say
that there has been none? or who will say that there
has been all that there should be ?.
How much of Jesus, the human, example, the
Son of Man—-may we not say it with gratitude as well
as humility—how much of Jesus there has been
among the men and women of America! What a
contrast between the best heart that has beat in our
homes and schools and churches, since the Pilgrims
of the Mayflower, the Dutch Calvinists of Manhattan,
the Churchmen of Virginia, the Friends of Pennsyl
vania, and the Catholics of Maryland, first raised
their voices here in hymn and prayer^ and the heart
that before beat in this continent in savage beast
and almost as savage man ! How many martyrs and
saints there have been in America to the Cross, who
have lived and died for the true faith, and how many
were the godly men and women in the old colony
times that planted the rose and myrtle of faith and
charity in the howling wilderness and made it a
garden of God!
Nor has the new age been wholly wanting in the
Christ-like temper. America, in the nineteenth cen
tury, does not indeed repeat the spirit of the twelfth
or thirteenth century, nor interpret the imitation of
Christ wholly after the mind of Thomas & Kempis
and his ascetic school; but may there not be the
love of God in Christ without monastic severity,
poverty, and loneliness ? May not God’s children
live in the world, yet keep from its evil ? With all
our restless enterprise and love of prosperity, has
there not been in our best people a burning desire
�22
to make all enterprise bring out the best strength,
and to use prosperity for the welfare of man and the
glory of God? Has there not been a largely in
creasing class of persons of the common lot who live
devoutly and humanely, devoted to the best cause,
and not tainted by the passion for gain ? And is it
not clear that among the wealthy and conspicuous,
there is a growing number of earnest souls who care
less to be rich than to be godly and charitable, and
who indicate the rise of a new and exalted class of
Americans, who do not desire wealth as the main
thing, and who give us our best type of society and
put to shame the flashy ostentation and coarse self-in
dulgence that have been and are too characteristic of
our people ? Nay, has not the devout life been grow
ing ? and is there not an increasing love for the calm
and comforting ministry of the church and clergy
among the more conservative classes, and a softening
of militant passion into filial faith on the part of
flaming agitators ? What is more memorable than
the fact, that reporters have been sent to take down
the prayers of our two great liberal reformers, and
two books have been the result that will do some
thing to give the devotion of America a place among
the litanies of the nations. So here,
The litanies of nations came,
Like the volcano’s tongues of flame.
At the same time the passion for worship shows itself
on a grand scale in popular assemblies, and while the
old camp-meetings still make the forests ring with
�23
the voices of worshippers, our cities gather thousands
of all names and conditions into halls and theatres,
where the hymns and prayers are given with as much
response as the stirring words of the preacher.
2. How far have we followed our Shepherd in his
pasture and faithfully taken and given its nurture ?
If labor and thought, and time, and money are
proof of Christian piety, then the history of the
American Church in the nineteenth century is a con
stant record of fidelity, for the largest increase of
Christian activity in this century has been in our
country. How memorable are the simple facts in the
leading religious bodies ! The Methodists have in
creased from 15,000 communicants to about 2,000,000;
the Baptists from 35,000 to about ^,700,000 ; the
Presbyterians from 40,000 to 700,000 the Con*
gregationalists from 75,000 to 275,000; the Episco
palians have increased to about 170,000 communi
cants, and the Catholics to about 4,000,000, and the
denomination of Christians called Liberal, most con
spicuous among them the Unitarians and Universalists, with their popular influence, eloquence and liter
ature, have risen into their position and power as
distinct bodies since the century began, although
their principles are seen throughout all ages. It is
remarkable, that while the population has increased
six-fold, the church membership has increased over
fourteen-fold, and that while in 1800 there was one
communicant to about fifteen of the population, in
1860 there was one to six. Then consider the 54,000
churches, reported in 1860, with their Sunday-schools,
missions, and plans of education and charity, direct
�24
and indirect, and who will say that there has been no
earnest following of Christ in America ? The
church of our America is more and more the bless
ing of the nation, and more and more pervading and
purifying social life, and battling with the atheism
and sensuality, the license of opinion and practice
that are assailing the foundations of the family, and
undermining all sacred obligation. Most good works
originate among its disciples, and vast is the table,
and large the provision of grace and truth, that is set
before our people, by the pulpit, press, and literature
of Christian America. Probably our work of educa
tion and charity has been, with few exceptions, based
upon positive Christian principle, and been Christlike in motive as in effect. One of our own ministers,
with hearty co-operation from brethren of all creeds,
led the great national charity that carried healing to
the sick and wounded of the war, and enlisted helpers
and virtues more precious than the 15,000,000 of dol
lars spent in the service. The spirit of such charity
does not die with that emergency, but ranges and
rises in manifold beneficence, to body and soul.
May we not say that with all our worldliness,
there has been a rising of the American mind into a
higher plane of thought and a higher tone of action
and fellowship in the best classes of our population ?
Has not our great work of organizing the continent
on the basis of freedom and industry, developed a
large public spirit that comes near the true enthusi
asm of humanity ? Has not our thinking under the
training of schools and books, of experience and his
tory, of family life and church influence, recognized
�25
more devoutly the need of God as the supreme wis
dom, and of his word in Christ as the eternal light ?
Has not the spirit of beauty taken more full posses
sion of us, and has not true art, in poetry, as in hymns
from brethren among our poets, jn music, painting,
sculpture, gardening, architecture and eloquence,
taken a more Christian expression and given promise
of the day when God shall be worshipped in the
beauty of holiness, and his loveliness shall be adored
with his goodness and wisdom ?
With all our shortcomings, we surely may cher
ish high hopes, and God who has been with us in
such might, will not desert us in our^coming need.
In a way that we little know, he may lead us to
himself by the one Shepherd, and more and more
to us open the inexhaustible riches that are in Christ
and the Spirit.
3. But what hope is there of the one fold ? Is
there any disposition in our nation toward Christian
unity, and is the multiplication of sects and strifes to
go on without end ? Ther® are surely no signs of the
speedy consolidation of all denominations of Chris
tians under one official centralized priesthood, nor do
our thoughtful and devout men desire any such con
summation. Yet to all appearance the disentegrating
process has reached its extreme point, and we discern
decided tendencies toward! virtual union between
the members of the several great bodies of Christians
most congenial with each otherj and the three divi
sions of our Amercan Christendom, the Ritualists, the
Evangelicals, and the Liberals are coming to more or
less agreement among themselves, and certainly feel
�26
ing each other’s presence as never before. Meanwhile,
throughout all churches sweeps the spirit of the
nineteenth century, and calls on all reasonable and
earnest men to help reconstruct spiritual society on
the basis of free conscience and rational faith. As
belonging to the order of Christian Liberals, we look
with great interest upon all efforts to bring our char
acteristic American independence into large and
generous Christian fellowship, and rejoice in the
many signs of progress that unite personal freedom
with universality of faith and charity in religious
habits, convictions and institutions. It is clear that
we are becoming weary of mere individualism, and
because we are conscious that we do not belong to
ourselves alone, or to our own families alone, but to
civilization, to manhood, and to God, we are ready
to recognize other men as belonging to the same
great loyalty, and yearning for a due recognition of
our place with them in God’s kingdom. It is becom
ing almost a national sentiment, if not, a popular
passion, to acknowledge the existence of the great
commonwealth of mankind, and our best thinkers
are not content to find the commonwealth of mankind
outside of the kingdom of God, or to think that the
Atlantic cable can make the unity of nations, unless
the Spirit of Divine Love send through them its quick
ening spark. On all sides generous minds are find
ing each other out, and although church organiza
tions may be expected to continue to draw their lines
somewhat as heretofore, there are master-spirits who
soar above them and sing in the upper air, the new
song of Christian faith and love under the church
�27
universal, fraternal, and filial. You showed the gen
erous temper of your own faith in laying under your
corner-stone, side by side with a copy of Channing, a
volume of the most gifted and enlarged preacher that
Europe has produced in our day, and the light from
our eastern window falls on the spot where Robert
son and Channing plead here together for God, and
Christ, and human kind, and these two leaders of the
free conscience of the nineteenth century in death are
not divided. And I am glad to say that when the
great Christian moralist of Germany, Richard Rothe,
died last summer, as soon as his death was known here,
a commemorative discourse was preached in our
chapel, and your pastor was apparently the only
preacher in America to deliver and publish a tribute
to this noble light of the evangelical church of
Germany.
We need in all proper ways to bring about the
union of freedom with universality, and make our
worship express the liberty and the charity of the
Gospel. The Independents of America to whom we
belong, have done much toward this end, and the
two branches of Congregationalists have led most of
the free and earnest thought and large fellowship so
characteristic of Americans for a half century. The
end is not yet. Our Christian Liberals instead of set
tling down upon any mechanical and final organization,
are to work out heartily and thoughtfully from their
own historical or providential centres, and not doubt
that they will draw nearer each other and the uni
versal church of God. Already some of the most
cheering aspects of American catholicity are to be
�28
found in the life of free congregations, where the
*
worship, the preaching, the work of instruction and
charity, give promise of what liberty shall do when
* Congregationalism is probably the most characteristic and original
development of church life in America, and is especially native to our
people, although of course it springs from the ancient seed. We keep
within its borders, and to-night we consecrate our church edifice in
Congregational liberty and fellowship. If we have departed somewhat
from the old Puritan ways, our brethren of the straiter sect have gone
as far alike in thought and action. It is hard to find freer thinking
than in men like Bushnell and Beecher, and. it is clear that in church
architecture and worship the change has been as great. The most
costly and ornate Gothic church building in Boston belongs to Ortho
dox Congregationalists, and in the parish where, under Dr. Jedediah
Morsel ministry, I was baptized in 1812, when a fortnight old, the new
sanctuary has a cross on the spire and a chime of sixteen bells within
the tower, not at all to the grief of the exellent pastor, Rev. Mr. Miles,
and his worthy people. Those cheerful chimes will echo to one occa
sional pilgrim there the voice of the old baptismal blessing of fiftyfive years ago.
Powerful as Congregationalism has been in America, it has shown
points of danger which need careful attention, or religious liberty and
order will alike suffer. The system works well where the people of
the congregation are devout and well bred, and they form an effective
alliance with the minister. But in rude or undisciplined communities,
the order of the church has suffered and the liberty of the pulpit been
invaded by the tyranny of insolent individuals or crude and excitable
majorities. The chief danger of our Liberal congregations comes from
the neglect of parish affairs by the most cultivated and effective men,
and leaving the control to a few persons, who are sometimes made the
tools of a coarse capitalist, or tricky politician, or ignorant zealot.
We need a more thorough organizing of our congregations on a devo
tional and practical basis, by which the whole mind of the people may
be brought out and also put into vital and wholesome co-operation with
the mind of our whole brotherhood. Too often at present the minister
is made a mere hireling, with no rights but such as depend upon
the promise to pay. Where Christian gentlemen rule, they rule well,
and are a law to themselves, but where they do not abound, there is
need of church order far more positive than now prevails, or young
men of spirit will not enter the ministry, where they are to be brow
beaten by their inferiors.
�29
it mates with faith and love; and free prayer and
extemporaneous preaching join with the choir of one
or two thousand voices in responsive psalms or choral
hymns, to give us some notion of what the ritual of
America is to be when her heart comes out, and pul
pit and people take and give their due. Everywhere
the cry is for a more sympathetic worship, and evi
dently America has too much life of her own to afford
to borrow wholly her religious method from Rome,
or Greece, or England. In Christ let us abide, and
be sure to abide in his truth that makes free, and be
not entangled with any: yoke of bondage.
In one respect, new heart is showing itself in our
worship, and our people are recognizing the unity of
the family of God and taking greats comfort in the
faith that all of his children belong to one commu
nion of spirit. The sentiment that has opened beau
tiful cemeteries in every city in the land, and‘which
has broken out in a strange and powerful, and in some
respects wild and hurtful movement called spiritual
ism, has appeared in our churches ima calm and
blessed remembrance of the dead, and in time I be
lieve that it will win great power, and draw our
people to Christ as the mediator between, the visible
and invisible world, to enter into his promise, “ If
I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me.” Our
yearning hearts cry out for our true affinities on earth
and in heaven, and will not be comforted by the
selfishness or the materialism thai- says “ they are
not.” Every year chapels, churches, monumental
marbles and windows show our love for the dead, and
every year we bring myrrh to the altars of Christ, to
�30
make his name fragrant, and embalm in the immortal
sweetness the loved ones of our own hearts and
homes. With this private affection, a reverential
recognition of the great leaders of religion and hu
manity is gaining ground, and the Scriptures, and all
high literature, art, and history, are opening to us the
lives of God’s august children as perpetual members
of our race and continuous powers of his kingdom.
Thus in other ways America acknowledges the unity
of all true souls, and calls her sons and daughters to
the one fold of the one Shepherd. In our own way,
we are as a nation to do something for Christendom,
and it cannot be that a people that 'have done so
much under God to accommodate and assimilate so
many tongues and kindred and races under the au
spices of liberty, should have no original mission in
religion, and be destined merely to rehearse the old
creeds *nd litanies, and repeat the old feuds, sects,
a
and dynasties of old Asia and Europe. America hears
and follows the one Shepherd all the better by com
ing in her own free and large way into the one fold.
III. I have thus spoken of America’s place within
the fold, and treated of our acceptance of the idea
and the leadership of Christ in hearing his voice and
following his call. We must not forget the particu
lar aim of our meditation at this time.
We add now another edifice to the churches of
America, and must state in a manly way what this
church means in itself, and what relation it claims to
the church at large. The honest way is simply to
refer to our own history and to rest loyally upon our
actual foundation, and be what we are by the provi
�31
dence of God, alike as Christians and as Liberals.
This congregation was established in the year 1826,
in simple faith in Christ, by a society of Unitarian
Congregationalists, who desired liberty to worship
God in the name of Jesus Christ, without being ma
ligned as infidels. We greet here to-night the goodly
company of delegates from All Souls Church, or the
First Congregational Church that preceded ours, over
*
which Rev. William Ware was ordained, December
18, 1821, and rejoice in their good name and pros
perity under their present minister, whose absence
we regret, and seek to remedy as far as wel can by
his respected substitute, Rev. Dr. Briggs. We build
upon the same foundation as then, and on the same
essential faith and freedom, and repeated at our lay
ing the corner-stone the same gospel that Rev. Wil
liam Ware uttered more than forty years before, at
the laying of the corner-stone on Prince and Mercer
streets. We hold here together the characteristic
* The first regular Unitarian preaching in New York city was held
April 25, 1819, to about thirty persons, by Dr. Channing, in the house of
his sister, Mrs. Russell, when a considerable portion of the hearers were
from the Society of Friends. On his return from Baltimore, Dr. Chan
ning preached again, May 16, in the Medical College, Barclay St., and
November 15,1819, the First Congregational Church was incorporated.
April 29, 1820, Henry Ware, Jr., laid the corner-stone in Chambers
street, and January 20, 1821, Edward Everett preached the dedication
sermon. It is well to remember Everett in his early years as preacher,
and to believe that it has been his high mission to represent powerfully
the old Greek culture in American letters and religion, to breathe so
much of beautiful taste and fancy into American life, and save the old
humanities from the sweeping proscription of bigots and ascetics. It is,
perhaps, worth remembering here that a memorial sermon was preached
by the pastor of the Church of the Messiah after his death, on Sunday
evening, January 22, 1865, forty-four years after that dedication. The
sermon was published under the title of the Patriot Scholar.
I
�32
doctrine of Christian Unitarians, that the Supreme
*
God, our Father in heaven, is to be worshipped in the
name of his Son, and that there is unity in the being,
aims, and ends of the Godhead. We still hold the
principle that Dr. Channing declared in his dedication
sermon in 1826, that freedom and faith should be as
one, and the soul should be in all ways cheered up
ward to God, who is true life and eternal blessedness.
We speak Channing’s name with filial affection here
now, and greet cordially our revered and beloved
father, who brings his mantle here to-night that he
caught from his ascending chariot of fire. How
Channing’s name has risen before the nation within
that forty-two years, and all true Americans at home
and abroad are ready to call him their own. With
out an impassioned temperament or very sympathetic
nature, he was a zealot for the rights of the human
mind and the welfare of the race; without being
constitutionally of the muscular school of religion, he
stood up manfully for fair dealing with the body and
the soul; without being a great scholar he was a true
sage, and without being a noted philosopher he was
a great seer. A reformer without rancor; a patriot
* As represented by Channing, American Unitarianism has little
affinity with the old Unitarianism of Socinus, or of Priestley and
Belsham, but it is the most emphatic expression of spiritual liberty and
Christian faith among our people. Inwardly it is far more allied to
the spiritual doctrines of the Friends than to the semi-materialism of the
old English Socinian school. In Germany, Schleiermacher far more
adequately represents the Channing movement here, than do any of the
usual names that are set up as leading the old European Unitarianism.
At present the most earnest and able of our thinkers and writers are
more of the Broad-Church type of Robertson, Bunsen and Rothe, thaD
of the narrow, Socinian type.
�33
without clannishness; a conservative without being
reactionary; a gentleman without pride of caste; the
admiration of aristocratic scholars, yet the friend of
the workman and the poor and enslaved; a liberal,
but not a demagogue; a recluse thinker without being
a dreamer; a statesman, not a politician; a theological
leader, not a sectarian; a Christian, and none the less,
but all the more, a man; Channing has risen above
all mists and clouds into the upper sky of fame, and
he shines upon us to-night from the firmament of
thought and fidelity. The late Baron Bunsen, in his
noted work “ God in History,” places him among the
five Protestant worthies who in his judgment stand
pre-eminent as representatives of the Divine presence
in man, and thus characterizes him: “In humanity, a
Greek, in citizenship a Boman, in Christianity an
apostle.” “ If such a man, whose way of life, in the
face of his fellow - Christians, corresponded to the
Christian earnestness of his words, and presents a
blameless record—if such a one is not a Christian
apostle of the presence of God in man, I know of
none.”
The temple thus dedicated in 1826, had fitting
ministers in William Parsons Lunt and Orville
Dewey. Dr. Lunt’s short and faithful ministry laid
the foundation of his mature and honored work at
Quincy, Mass., and Dr. Dewey’s ministry of fourteen
years, in spite of its interruptions by illness, made a
mark upon the city and the country. His name and
this letter speak for themselves; and with the noble
bust in marble in our chapel, from the gifted hand
of Ward, help us submit to his absence on profes
sional duty at Baltimore now.
3
�34
New York, March 27th, 1868.
To the Pastor and Brethren of the Church of the Messiah :
I congratulate you on the completion of the new Church of the
Messiah, and desire to bring my felicitations, and the expression of
my friendly and pastoral interest, to the occasion of its dedication.
I should be with you if I were not obliged, by previous engage
ment, to go to Baltimore.
I could say much, if I had time, upon this resurrection of the
old Church of the Messiah, which was built under my pastorate,
and which, for ten years and more, was the centre to me of a life
most happy while it was passing, and most precious in recollection.
May the glory of the latter house exceed that of the former, not in
visible appearance only, but in nurturing the invisible and blessed
life of multitudes and generations to come.
Your friend and brother in the Gospel,
Orville Dewey.
Iii piety toward God and man we thus consecrate
this Church, and reverently associate the old times
and the new. Sacredly we cherish the past, not as
the chain, but the root of the present and the future.
With our best thought, and effort, and affection, we
give this temple to God in the name of the Messiah.
This building itself is loyal, in its ample accommo
dation, open spaces, and admirable hearing and speak
ing qualities, to its predecessor, the old Broadway
temple, while true to the higher standard of archi
tecture now prevailing, and creditable to the taste of
the architect. In religious expression, too, we sa
credly retain the old associations, and our prayers,
hymns, chants and ordinances, repeat the old Zion.
The old name is in the very fabric of the building,
from chapel door to church front, and from corner
stone to cross-crowned roof, so that if we should hold
our lips silent, these very stones would cry out and
�35
preach the gospel of our Lord. The old mahogany
pulpit stands in our chapel, and its sacred wood
whispers to us of the hundred voices of our brethren
who preached and prayed at its shrine, and is a bond
of communion of the past with the present, the living
and the dead. The whole interior is an embodied
gospel and a witnessing church. This whole end of
the sanctuary, with its pulpit, and font, and table,
with its star and anthem of the nativity on the arch;
with its word of promise of the spirit from the Master,
presents the gospel of God to our souls. The other
end of the interior, with its organ, the gift of our
good women, and its' windows, in memory of the
mother and of childhood, represents the great human
heart, that should receive the gospel and speak it out
in the voices and the lights of home on earth and in
heaven. God consummate the union of the two, and
bring the gospel and the heart together in this new
Church of the Messiah.
In thy Beloved Son and by thy Holy Spirit,
Father in heaven, bless this our Church, that we may
hear his voice, and be of the one Shepherd and the
one fold.
�ADDRESS TO THE CONGREGATION
BY REV. GEORGE W. BRIGGS, D. D.
Christian Friends : I more than share the uni
versal regret that the older church of our faith in
this city speaks to you in these glad, services of con
secration through a transient occupant of its pulpit,
rather than from the lips of its own honored minister,
Could he be present now, with all the associations of
years of friendship stirring his heart, with all the in
spirations of Palestine enkindling his soul, how fitly
would he speak the words of fellowship and brother
hood, how glowingly would he utter words of living
faith and Christian cheer. Still, though representing
his congregation only for the hour I feel authorized
to give you the special congratulations of its members;
congratulations expressed with far greater emphasis
by the names of its delegates, than by any words of
mine. I confidently give you, also, the congratulations
of our whole brotherhood of churches; of our minis
ters and people, all of whom glory in your success,
and rejoice in your joy. It is always an occasion of
true joy, indeed, to see a new temple, enriched by art,
by whatever may delight the eye, or charm the taste,
�37
as well as speak to worshipping hearts to quicken the
religious sentiment and life, consecrated to Christian
worship. We would carry the Gospel to the poorest,
and pour its life-giving influences around them all, as
freely as God sends the air and the light to all alike.
Let there be places whose doors open so widely, that
they seem to speak to men with the universal, loving
invitation of Jesus to the multitudes; places, halls,
theatres, groves, whatever they may be, yet made
churches for the hour, because living men stand in
them to speak God’s ^everlasting truth to needy, suf
fering, sinning brother souls. God be thanked for
every true attempt ‘to draw together those who have
no Christian home; to meet them on the broad plat
form of a common humanity. But the religious senti
ment delights also to raise the massive temple, and
the costly altar. It was the impulse of devotion, as
well as the divine command, that made the vessels of
the ancient worship of pure gold. The deepest peni
tence brought the precious ointment to Jesus to pour
it upon his feet. Pride rears splendid shrines; ex
alting itself even by what it claims to raise for the
worship of God. But devotion builds them also;
seeking by the costly gifts of earth, to express its
reverence for the priceless truths of Heaven. Beau
tify the sanctuary ‘of God; make the place of his
worship glorious, if prosperity enables you to bring
such splendid offerings. All the resources of taste
and art, all the gifts of genius, or of wealth, fulfil
their highest office when they can add a single charm
to human worship, or help to deepen the impression
of religious truths.
�38
But I confess for myself to-night. I venture to
express for our whole brotherhood, another and pe
culiar joy in the occasion and the hour. Brethren,
friends of this congregation, in the erection of this
fair temple you have given a new, an emphatic ex
pression of your devotion to that general, liberal faith
which we hold to be so priceless. It is a matter of
profoundest interest to all of us elsewhere, to have
this faith conspicuously assert itself in this great
metropolis, through the churches which it rears for
its worship, and the living voices that expound and
unfold it. It should assert itself here and everywhere
with unfeigned humility, with inexhaustible charity,
but still with unwavering confidence. The time has
gone by for it to plead for recognition as a part of
Christendom. It came into existence in the provi
dential development of religious thought. Though
our churches have been comparatively so few in
numbers, our general faith has done much to influence
other communions. We arrogate nothing to our own
special branch of the general Liberal Church. There
are other liberal communions besides our own, whose
representatives we gratefully welcome, in our glad
waiting for the hour, so surely coming, in which the
natural tendencies of thought shall obliterate every
seeming separation, and bring them and us into an
unbroken fellowship. Old creeds have put on a new
aspect; former dogmas have received a new interpre
tation, since these liberal communions have sprung
into being. The ideas of Channing are moulding
men’s opinions far and wide. Though dead, he still
speaks more powerfully than even by his living, thrill
�39
ing words. We point to the consecrated names of
those once ministering at our altars, here and else
where, whom all men now acknowledge as saintly.
All sects recognize them as belonging to the true,
spiritual, universal Church, now they have ascend
ed, though fellowship was denied to them while they
lived. The Liberal Church needs no longer to plead
for recognition, or apologize for its own existence.
Its past history and influence, its venerated names,
are its sufficient vindication. It .only needs that its
adherents should be true to it—true to its ideas, and
to its spirit, to make its future grander, mightier
than its past.
First, it needs that men should be true to its ideas.
You do not set apart this church, friends, to a nega
tive, but to a positive faith. Liberal Christianity Js
not a mere denial of others’ creeds. It is positive in
a glorious sense of the term. If I were to define its
purpose and character, I should say it is an attempt
to grasp and present the essential, fundamental ideas
of religious faith, separated from all alloy of human
speculation. If Liberal Christianity exposes the
“ errors of orthodoxy,” it is in order to discover and
enforce its truths. Everywhere it demands the cen
tral, vital, spiritual, positive thought. There is a
spiritual, vital faith respecting God, for example,
which is no metaphysical abstraction, no speculation
of the intellect, but a sublime conception of one living
spirit of perfect love, manifested not only in threefold,
but in myriad ways; revealed in nature ; imaged in
Jesus, and in every transfigured type; appearing in
this eternal Providence; present to inspire every true
�40
desire and thought. It is a conception too sublime
for us to grasp; whose grandeur awes, but whose
beauty subdues and charms; in whose glorious fulness
all little separate faiths are included, as single drops
in the boundless sea ; one grand, majestic, incompre
hensible, eternal, blessed presence, that in the sweet
words of Jesus we would call our Father, till every
question of the intellect, or of the heart, shall give
place to trust, and every fear be cast out by love.
So, too, there is a, comprehensive, spiritual concep
tion respecting Jesus, which recognizes him as especially manifesting the heart, the love of God; for
there can be no such manifestation of a living God
as in a living soul—none so bright as that in the
divinest soul; which recognizes him also as manifest
ing the true life for man; as showing that man is
capable of receiving the divinest life; that humanity
in its true estate becomes one with divinity, and that
every true son of man is a true son of God.
So, once more, there is a grand spiritual idea re
specting the words of Jesus, which regards them as
the axioms of the spiritual universe, the fundamental
laws of the soul’s life; not resting even upon his au
thority, but true in the nature of things; so that, for
example, when he says, “Blessed are the pure in
heart, for they shall see God,” apprehend the infi
nitely pure; or when he announces any other law of
his kingdom, we hear a statement which we see to
be as undeniably true as the axioms of mathematics.
It is these spiritual, fundamental religious ideas,
which prove themselves when held up in their divine
simplicity; it is this sublimely positive faith which
,
�41
Liberal Christianity, in all the phases of its manifes
tation, really seeks. The world can poorly spare the
churches that unfold it. In the confusion of its
speculations, amidst its superstitions, and its scepti
cisms, the world needs nothing so much as to recog
nize one central idea of the Liberal faith ; the idea,
that there is an indestructible foundation for religious
faith in the soul of mannand that the teachings of
Jesus are the statement of the eternal facts of spiritual
truth. What fear then of a lasting “Eclipse of
Faith ? ” What wonder is it that Jesus said, “ Though
heaven and earth pass, not one^jot or tittle of my
words shall fail! ” Bold are the assumptions of
science. But what can science, in its-pxplorations of
these material worlds, do to unsettle the eternal laws
of the spiritual nature ? There are truths far older
than those of science;older 'than the universe which
science explores. Before the earth and the heavens
were made, “ in the beginning was the word with
God.” It shall remain the same when- the earth and
the heavens have been taken downed
Warring with mone,^welcoming fellowship with
all, in the interests of spiritual, positive faith, that
feels, itself to be standing on the abiding foundations,
yet strives to be perfectly loving and free, you have
set apart this building to its sacred uses? God help
*
you to make it the representative of a religion that
is at once rational, and spiritual, and cheerful, with
all the vitality, and might of love.
Let it represent a rational religion, obedient to
the words of Jesus, “Why, even of yourselves judge
ye not what is right?”—a religion which remembers
�42.
^ow terribly the mind has erred, yet which will not
therefore quench the human reason, or ignore it, but
seek, rather, to purify it, believing that the lowly,
seeking soul can learn of the doctrine; believing in
the presence of the divine Spirit to give wisdom,
light, inspiration to loyal, asking hearts.
Let it represent a truly spiritual religion; a reli
gion which does not neglect observances and forms,
though they so often disgust when they become sub
stitutes for life, or are converted into fetters to cramp
Christian liberty; but which secures hours of conse
cration to stimulate to hours of work; and in its
acceptance or rejection of ceremonies, only seeks that
which most surely helps to fill the heart with the life
of God.
Let it represent a cheerful faith; cheerful, not
lax; for the laws of spiritual life are as immutable
as the laws of nature; cheerful, not thoughtless, for
consecration is profoundly serious. The tasks of love
and self-sacrifice are serious. Every, thoughtful view
of life is serious. Still a true faith remembers the
joy of existence also. Nature laughs in sunshine and
in flowers. Jesus was at marriage-feasts. Let faith
be cheerful, for this world is our Father’s house,
upheld, lighted,, adorned, filled by his perfect love.
We are not alone, for he is with us always; and with
that sublime assurance, how can faith be any thing
but joy ?
Once more, let this church represent a living
religion. You desire to set this building apart to
the ideas of a liberal faith. But you desire, still
more devoutly, to set it apart to the cultivation and
�4
43
diffusion of the spirit of such a faith. We do not
talk of works alone, as so many say. We believe
also in faith. But it is a faith in grand, life-giving
ideas. We believe in a conception of God that once
embraced, inevitably enkindles love. Faith in his
forgiveness leads to consecration ; impelling us to
bring our alabaster box, with its costly offering, to
pour it out in loving service. The idea of his father
hood demands that we should open our arms in the
spirit of universal brotherhood. Every truly Chris
tian idea has an electric power to quicken the hand
and heart to new activity and love. How profoundly
Jesus said, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.”
The life of God in the soul of man must spontaneously
imitate the activity of him whose inspiration it is.
You do not build this Church simply that you may
come here and worship. It bears the name of the
Church of the Messiah. * If it is to be a Church of the
Messiah, it will be a place in which men and women
will gather to ask themselves what they can do for
those for whom Jesus himself would work, were he
here striving to seek, and save those that are lost; a
place in which to gain the spirit that will inspire
them to undertake such divine ministries, of mercy.
What can you do, here in this great city, at this day
and hour, to instruct its ignorant masses; to reclaim
its fallen; to rescue its neglected, or worse than
orphaned children; to act the part of angels to those
in peril of perdition ? What can you do to save this
metropolis, made so splendid by the glories of civili
zation, yet reeking with abominations that are its un
utterable shame ? These are the questions that ought
�44
to ring through these Churches, above the sound or
liturgies, or the clash of warring creeds, until, even
before they bring their gifts to the altar, the wor
shippers should strive to rescue their perishing broth
ers. All true Christian worship does its work when
the soul is filled with the one question: What it can
do to save others ? For the man that loses his own
life in such Christ-like love, will inevitably find it.
It ou dedicate this Church, I trust, to Christian work,
as well as to Christian faith; to such Christian work
as the needs and sins all around it demand, and God
gives you power to do. You set it apart to Christian
ideas for the one purpose of creating, inspiring this
Christian life. Thanks be given that the world is
fast coming to regard, not devotion to forms and
creeds, but consecration to ministries of love, and
deeds of sacrifice, as the realization of discipleship,
the ideal of saintship to-day. Every other heresy
will be forgiven except the heresy of a selfish and
unchrist-like life. Show us the print of the nails
upon the hands and the feet, the tokens of a living,
suffering love—is the cry coming up louder and
louder every day—or we shall never believe that
Jesus is here. Fruitless worship begins to receive
the contempt which it merits. Earnest, Christian
men, speaking in the inspiration of living faith, only
intend to pour the love of Jesus himself into human
hearts, to lift human nature everywhere out of its
degradation and its sins, and to set it in heavenly
places; whether acknowledged or excommunicated
by ecclesiastical communions, these will be honored
by humanity as the true spiritual powers, the Apos
tolic succession, recognized and ordained of God.
�45
Brethren, the consecration of a Church is not a
form. It should be the re-consecration of all those
whose hands joined in its erection; of all who pro
pose to become worshippers at its altar. All its
beauty is dim in comparison with the beauty of the
life in the true souls that may gather here. You can
consecrate it, friends, by your devotion and your love,
and make it the house of God, the gate of heaven.
Ye are the temple of God, if his spirit dwelleth in
you. Church of the Messiah; consecrated, inspiring
name; a place in which to unfold the mind of Jesus,
and, as God gives you grace, to attain his life. Un
fold his mind, attain his life, and you will ensure the
victory of his Gospel. Once more I give you the
congratulations of our Liberal fellowship. May the
prayer of this hour be answered, and its hopes be
abundantly realized. May the consecration of this
church, and of your own ysouls, be accepted above.
For my brethren’s and companions’sake, I say, “Peace
be within these walls,” now and forevermore.
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APPENDIX.
1.
ORDER OF SERVICES
AT THE
/
J
•
dtamatfon uf flu fcrrh uf th Itemlr,
CORNER 34th STREET & PARK AVENUE,
NEW YOKE,
Thursday Evening, 7f o'clock, April 2, 1868.
I. Voluntary on the Organ.
II. Sentences, by the Minister and People.
-
(Congregation Stand.)
Minister. Our help is in the name of the Lord,
People.
Who made heaven and earth.
Minister. Blessed be the name of the Lord,
People.
From, henceforth even forever.
Minister. I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into
the house of the Lord,
People.
Our feet shall stand within thy gates, 0 Jerusalem !
Minister. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
People.
They shall prosper that love thee.
Minister. Peace be within thy walls,
People.
And prosperity within thy palaces.
Minister. For my brethren and companions’ sake I will now
say, Peace be within thee.
�47
Because of the house of the Lord, our God, I will seek
to do thee good.
Minister. The law was given by Moses,
People.
But grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Minister. This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the
only true God,
People.
And Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.
Minister. Praise ye the Lord.
People.
The Lord's name be praised.
People.
III. Anthem, Jubilate Deo.
(Congregation remain Standing.)
Music, J. R. Thomas.
O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness,
and come before His presence with a song.
Be ye sure that the Lord he is God; it is He that hath made us and
not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
O go your way into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts
with praise ; be thankful unto Him and speak good of His name.
For the Lord is gracious, His mercy is everlasting; and his truth
endureth from generation to generation.
Glory be to the Father, Almighty God, through Jesus Christ our
Lord.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without
end. Amen.
*
IV
Act of Consecration.
(Pause for Silent Prayer.)
Minister. Brethren of the Ministry and People of the Con
gregation, let us rise and Consecrate this Church
with our united voices.
Ministers and People. To the worship of God our Father in
heaven, to the grace and truth of His Son, to the
communion of His Holy Spirit, to peace on earth
and good will to men, to salvation from sin and
to the life eternal, we devote this sanctuary and
consecrate this Church of the Messiah. Amen.
V. Prayer of Consecration.
Rev. E. S. Gannett, D. D.
�48
VI. Sacred Song.
Holmes.
O Love Divine, that stooped to share
Our sharpest pang, our bitterest tear,
On Thee we cast each earth-born care,
We smile at pain while Thou art near !
■. . ,r.
Though long the weary way we tread,
And sorrow crown each lingering year,
No path we shun, no darkness dread,
Our hearts still whispering, Thou art near!
VII. The Holy Scriptures.
1. Old Testament.
1 Kings viii. 22-30.
Rev. A. P. Putnam.
Choir. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the
only wise God, be honor and glory, through Jesus Christ, forever
and ever. Amen.
2. New Testament.
John xvii.
Rev. E. H. Chapin, D. D.
VIII. Consecration Hymn.
William C. Bryant.
Music, Edward Howe, Jr.
O Thou, whose own vast temple stands,
Built over earth and sea,
Accept the walls that human hands
Have raised to worship Thee.
Lord, from thine inmost glory send,
Within these courts to bide,
The peace that dwelleth, without end,
Securely by thy side.
May erring minds that worship here
Be taught the better way,
And they who mourn, and they who fear,
Be strengthened as they pray.
May faith grow firm and love grow warm,
And pure devotion rise,
While round these hallowed walls the storm
Of earth-born passion dies.
IX. Sermon.
Rev. Samuel Osgood, D. D.
�49
X. Solo.
From Handel’s Messiah.
Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf
unstopped; then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the
tongue of the dumb shall sing.
He shall feed His flock like a shepherd.
He shall gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And shall gently lead those that are with young.
XI. Address tb the Congregation.
*
Rev. George W. Briggs, D. D.
.1..; .OidiBiV:-.!
(I , ’■
> <
XII. Congregational Hymn.
Nuremberg.
(All will Join.)
On thy church, O Power Divine,
Cause thy glorious face to shine.
Till the nations from afar
Hail her as their guiding star ■
Till her sons, from zone to zone,
Make Thy great salvation known.
Then shall God, with lavish hand,
Scatter blessings o’er the land;
Earth shall yield her rich increase,
Every breeze shall whisper peace,
And the World’s remotest bound
With the voice of praise resound.
•tH
-
XIII. Lord’s Pray er.
Minister and People.
XIV. Benediction.^:
XV. Amen.
Choir.
Historical Memoranda.
Church on corner of Prince and Mercer Streets, dedicated December 7,
1826, as the Second Congregational Unitarian Church, and Dr.
Channing preached the sermon.
Rev. William P. Lunt, D. D., settled June 19, 1828.
4.
�50
Rev. Orville Dewey, D. D., settled November 8, 1835.
Church of the Messiah, Broadway, consecrated May 2, 1839.
Rev. Samuel Osgood, D. D., installed October 3, 1849.
Church of the Incarnation on Madison Av. and 28th St., occupied from
Sept., 1864, to May, 1867.
The corner-stone of the present edifice was laid October 3,1866.
The First Congregational Church in Chambers Street (Rev. William
Ware and Dr. H. W. Bellows, Pastors,) was dedicated January
20, 1821, and Rev. Edward Everett preached the sermon.
II.
THE PRAYER OF SENEX.
EROM MASSACHUSETTS,
FOR
NEW
YORK.
(Received by mail from Medford, Mass., without name, after the Consecration.)
Our lowly dwellings suit our lowly lot,
The rural mansip^/and the humble cot;
But the Lordm|Eouse to nobler heights should rise,
Its lofty turrets mingling with the skies.
Round the home-altar child and parent kneel,
Their hopes to brighten and their wants to feel;
But at this shrine all families in one,
Would seek the Father through his holy Son.
At the home-table they who take their seat,
Only receive earth’s perishable meat;
But at the table which the Lord hath spread,
All souls believing eat the “ living bread.”
This house, this altar, and this table too,
We give to GOD, the Great; to Christ, the True;
But, above all, to Them ourselves we give;
With them to labor, and in them to live.
�51
III.
(From the Christian Register.)
EASTER IN NEW YORK,
The usual Easter services were held in the new Church of the
Messiah in New York, and ample proof was given that old friends
and the public had found their way to.’ the new edifice. At ten
o’clock in the morning a number of children were baptized at the
new and beautiful marble font, over which the pastor said a few
words of benediction before giving it to its sacred service.
The morning service followed the usual order, and begun with
the Easter Anthem, “ Christ our Passover,” and was cheered by
the voice of the fine organ, now just complete, and by the charming
array of flowers in the chancel, which were never more profuse and
exquisite. A large Greek floral cross hung in front of the pulpit,
with a centre of red camelias, and rose above a large basket of
flowers which bore in red carnations in the centre the letters I. H. S.
Each of the heavy chancel chairs was surmounted by ^combined
cross, anchor and heart of rich design, whilst in front..stood two
massive pyramids of roses, lilies, &c., on pedestals?
*
The font was crowned with a cone of conspicuous flowers,
among them some magnificent callas, and bore in front of the shaft
a floral cross of camelias, roses, and violets, which was ordered by
a mother on Friday morning, • in memory of a daughter, who died
that very night. Rich baskets of flowers were set within the chan
cel, and stars and other emblems in flower-work were hung upon
the chancel-rail. The preacher’s large chair ^n the pulpit bore a
rich floral cross above the word Messiah which is carved upon the
wood. Much heart wag shown, as usual, in these gifts which were
so abundant, and whilst on the previous Saturday flowers were not
to be had in the city for money, th^ products of several private
green-houses were put at the service of our ladies.
It snowed in the afternoon, yet the attendanc#of children and
friends was large at the festival, and the usual good spirit prevailed.
Dr. Osgood conducted the services, and gave
#
*short
sermon ®n
“ The Mind, a Garden—and how to plant it.” The scholars all re
ceived an Easter gift, and the large Bible-class of the pastor were
favored by photograph copies of a new and admirable picture of
�52
Mary and the Risen Saviour, which were sent from Paris for the
occasion by a parishioner there. Interesting memorial gifts were
assigned to families that had been bereaved, and a handsome Scrip
ture engraving was sent to the church of Dr. Gilman in Charleston,
in remembrance of him, with an Easter gift of fifty dollars for the
purchase of books for the Sunday-school there. A host of little
children came up for picture cards, whilst the hymn “ See Israel’s
gentle Shepherd stand ” was sung. Thus closed this twelfth Easter
Festival of Youth in this congregation.
In the evening, in spite of a driving snow-storm, the church was
filled, and the services, scripture, music and sermon were of a me
morial character. The new organ was highly satisfactory, and the
Odell Brothers have no reason to be ashamed of this their chief
work, which is delightful in its union of sweetness and power.
The building is unusually satisfactory as to its convenience and
beauty. For speaking and hearing it is remarkable, and notwith
standing the high ceiling and large ground, it is as easy for the
voice as a common parlor, and a conversational tone from the
pulpit can be heard in every part of the auditorium. The congre
gation, parents and children, with one voice consecrated the build
ing, and resolved with God’s help to stand by the cause so identified
with their history for over forty years.
L
IV.
GIFTS TO THE CHURCH OF THE MESSIAH.
1. Massive communion service of Etruscan pattern : two flag
ons, six cups, three plates, from communicants some time since.
2. Marble bust of Rev. Dr. Dewey, by J. Q. A. Ward, from
a number of friends.
3. First class organ of great compass, sweetness and power,
by Odell & Brother, from the ladies of the congregation.
4. Communion table of black walnut and butternut, with rich
carving of the Christ child, and the words, “ Come ye unto me,”
between two crosses made of an olive branch from the Garden of
Gethsemane, from a gentleman. The olive branch from the pastor.
5. Six alms plates of black walnut, with inscriptions in raised
letters from the words of Christ, thus :—1. Blessed are the merci
�53
fill. 2. The poor ye have always. 3. Lay up treasure in heaven.
4. To my brethren as to me. 5. God so loved the world. 6. Sick
and ye visited me. The last of these plates was given by a Christian
wife and mother, Mrs. Hervey Brown, the evening before her death.
One of the plates was the gift of an English friend, a descendant
of the old Hollis family.
6. The pulpit of black walnut and butternut, with carving,
from three gentlemen.
7. Books for the pulpit. Large Oxford bible, smaller bible,
two service books, two hymn books, Cr.uden’s Concordance, all bound
in red morocco and gold, from a gentleman.
8. Wilton carpet, in maroon and orange, for the chancel, from
a gentleman.
9. Massive baptismal font, of Italian marble, with the inscrip
tion in raised letters, “ Abide in me and I in you.” Three hundred
dollars of the cost from a gentleman, and two hundred dollars from
Mr. T. J. Coleman, partner in See & Co’s marble works.
10. The large rose window, sixteen feet in diameter, opposite
the pulpit, with dove, clouds, stars, vines, lilies and passion-flowers,
expressive of Christian womanhood, and surmounted by the first
verse of the Magnificat, 11 My Soul doth magnify th^tLord, and my
spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour,” a masterly work of Henry
Sharp, from a gentleman, in memory of his mother and sister.
11. Two small rose windows, by the same artist, bearing heads
of the Angel of the Nativity and of the child Jesus, with the in
scriptions, 11 The angel said, fear; not; I bring you glad tidings,”
and “Suffer little children io come unto me,” from a gentleman,
in memory of twin children.
12. Two massive chairs of black walnut and butternut, with
velvet seats, for the chancel, from two sisters.
13. A massive chair for the pulpit, of original design, with the
word Messiah carved on the back, from a gentleman.
14. Cover for the font, of black walnut, with flowers and cross
in bronze, in memory of a mother and daughter.15. Chest for alms for the 'vestibule, of black walnut and but
ternut, with heavy brass mountings, from a gentleman.
16. Gown of silk for the pulpit, from one of the pastor’s Bible
class.
�54
V;
DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW CHURCH OF THE
MESSIAH. .
The Church presents a front, on 34th Street, of 75 feet, and a
depth, on Park Avenue, of 125 feet, twenty-five feet' of which are
taken for the width of the chapel, leaving the Church proper 100
feet deep. The depth of the chapel is 80 feet. The original de
sign contemplated two spires, one 20 feet square by 180 feet high,
and the other 16 feet square by 125 feet high. The foundations
of these spires have been built in one solid square mass of cement
and stone to the level of the ground, upon these temporary turrets
have been built, so as to give a finished appearance to the edifice,
leaving the erection of the spires to the future. The front has a
porch of three archways with granite steps. The arches are sup
ported by eight columns with elaborately-carved capitals of ori
ginal, and each of different design, representing Christian emblems
and studies from natural foliage, lilies, ivy, ears of wheat, grape
vines, grapes, olives, thistles, passion-flowers, &c.
One of the
centre capitals has a beautifully-sculptured representation of a
pelican feeding her young from her own body, as emblematic of
true Christian love and self-sacrifice. The group sfeems nestled
under a cluster of white lilies, the large leaves of which appear to
shelter the pelican. On the opposite and corresponding capital is
sculptured a dove and olive leaves, the emblem of the holy spirit
and peace. On the face of the outer arches are the inscriptions,
“ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,” The Church of the Messiah
(and under it), “ This is my beloved Son, hear him,” and on the
third arch, “ Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Over the
inner or entrance arches are the inscriptions, “ Seek and ye shall
find,” “ Lo! I am with you al way,” and the third, “ Hallowed
be thy name.” Above the porch is a rose window 16 feet
, in diameter, and at the apex of the front there is a cross 22
feet high inclusive of its base or plinth. The arms of the cross
seem to be within a ring, the emblem of eternity. The approach
to the nave is through a vestibule 10 feet deep and 40 feet in
width. At the ends of the vestibule, and in the turrets, are spacious
stairs leading to the galleries. The nave has 928, and the galleries
a
�55
'4
300 seats. There are no columns in the nave, the galleries being
supported by brackets. The galleries are 13 feet in width by the
depth of the nave, 80 feet. The easterly end gallery is used entirely
by the choir and organ. -The organ occupies a space of 40 by 12
feet, at each end a space of 12 feet square is encased. The inter
mediate space is filled with large pipes exposed to view; and all
will be richly decorated. On each case is A cluster of a fine-carved
lyre, bugles and palm-tree branches. In the centre panel of the
wood-work of the organ gallery front is an allegorical sculptured
emblem of music, representing an angel upon clouds, playing the harp.
The chapel being at the rear of the church, and the space being
limited, prevented the construction of a recessed sanctuary or
chancel; instead of beingt^recessed it was built into the nave, and
partly formed by a tabernacle with columns supporting A triumphal
arch, intended as symbolical of the triumph of Christ, and is sur
mounted by a cross at the apex. On the arch is the inscription :
Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and good will to all
men. The base of the tabernacle is about 10 feet high, its upper
mouldings are surmounted by ornaments of natural foliage, the
lilies largely predominating, besides studies of morning-glory, ivies
and passion-flowers.^ Behind these flowers are gas jets to light the
pulpit. The columns which support the arch have sculptured
capitals with heads of a cherub, lion, ox and eagle, the symbols of
the four evangelists. Under the arch of the tabernacle is the. altar
and pulpit, both worked harmoniously into each other as if intended
to present an altar and super-altar; the face of the pulpit is panelled
to form a cross with an ornamental monogram of I. H. S. The
centre panel of the altar is richly ornamented by sculptured work,
representing Christ as an infant, holding a cross in one hand, and
the other hand resting upon a globe. Upon the globe are the out
lines of the continent, and the words North America. All is surrounded by a wreath of grapes, vines, and ears of wheat, and the
inscription: Come ye unto me. In the two side-panels of the
face of the altar, small crosses have been formed by pieces of olive
brought from Jerusalem by & friend of the pastor who took
the olive branch from the garden of Gethsemane.
The whole sanctuary is enclosed by a railing. The roof is
unsupported by columns, but is trussed, resting entirely upon the
�56
side walls and buttresses. The ceiling is at its highest point 54
feet above the floor, and is moulded with ribs to indicate, as much
as possible, the construction of the roof. It terminates at the side
walls in a large cove, and resting upon a cornice, and all seems
supported by large sculptured corbels. On the face of these cor
bels are winged cherubs with olive branches; the sides have panels
with water lilies; the corbels are surmounted with a gas fixture of
original design, representing a large white lily. On the top of the
sluice cornice, along the entire side walls, are jets of gas with star
burners, about 6 inches apart, lighting the church entirely from
the ceiling, leaving no glaring lights near the eyes of the audience.
The exterior is faced with stone from quarries at Nyack, on the
Hudson : the light-colored stone used in the ornamental work and
trimmings, is from quarries near Cleveland, Ohio, and.a'11 resting
upon a base of Quincy granite. The architecture is in the Ger
man Round Gothic or Rhenish style. The rose window, over the
organ, is a striking feature of beautiful design, a dove in the cen
tre represented as descending from the clouds, and the divisions on
the outer circumference are richly ornamented with ecclesiastical
emblems and flowers. In the turrets, at each side of the organ, ar
e
*
pictorial windows with cherubs, which, with the rose window, were
presented as memorials; they were designed and excuted by Mr.
Sharp. The woodwork of the interior is of black walnut and
butternut.
All of the work was done under the supervision of a
building committee, composed of the following-named gentlemen :
John Babcock, Dexter A. Hawkins, Richard Warren, Robert M.
Field, and John H. Macy, with the pastor, Dr. Osgood, as advisory
member, without a vote.
The cost of the edifice was $160,000. The painting of the
tabernacle and the woodwork of the altar and pulpit, also the deco
rating of the organ, was done by Messrs. J. I. & R. Lamb. The
masonry, by John T. Conover. The plastering, by the Power
Bros. The carpenter work, by Messrs. Jennings & Brown. The
stone cutting and porch, by Messrs. Jacques & Mooney. The
sculptured work, by Mr. E. Plassman (of Plassman’s School of Art,
6th Av., near 9th St.). The organ was built by Messrs. J. H. &
C. S. Odell, 165 7th Av. The upholstery work is by Doremus
& Nixon. Mr. Carl Pfeiffer is the architect.
•
�57
The society sold their church on Broadway for $150,000, paid
off the debt, some $20,000, and purchased the present site, 125
feeton Park Avenue by 105 feet bn 34th Street, for $75,000;
and, for use until they should build, purchased the Church of the
Incarnation, corner of Madiso# Avenue and 28th Street, for $45,000. This they sold, after three years’ use, for $70,000. The
generosity of members of; the society has contributed gifts of the
value of $15,000 more, making^ fund of $170,000, as a basis of
future financial prosperity.
The location of the new church is one of the best, if not the
best, on Manhattan Island. It is on the5 crown of Murray Hill,
overlooking the lower half of New Yorkfand part of Brooklyn, in
the midst of the best residences of the city, %n the corner of two
streets, one, 34th Street, 100 feet wide, and the other, Park Avenue,
140 feet wide, having unequalled advantages of light, air, and access;
and yet, on the Sabbath, undisturbed by the roar, and noise, and
dust of Broadway or Fifth Avenue.
By the side of the church is a lot for a parsonage, and at the
rear of the chapel, space for a sexton’#■‘cottage.
The site, though costing $75,000, would, if in the market now,
sell for $100,000. The property of the Church is worth $250,000.
The pews were valued at only sixtyFperi cent, of this sum, since
that would be sufficient to pay all debts, and redeem, at par, all
scrip held for pews in the old church. This gives to every pur
chaser of a pew in the new church $100 of property for every $60
paid by him.
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
Creator
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
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2018
Publisher
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
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Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Faith and freedom in America. Sermon at the consecration of the Church of the Messiah, Park Avenue and Thirty-Fourth Street, April 2, 1868.
Creator
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Osgood, Samuel
Briggs, George W.
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: New York
Collation: 57 p. ; 22 cm.
Notes: Includes the address to the people by Rev. George W. Briggs. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Appendix 1: Order of Services. II: The Prayer of Senex. II: Easter in New York (from the Christian Register).
Publisher
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Trow and Smith
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1868
Identifier
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G5268
Rights
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Faith and freedom in America. Sermon at the consecration of the Church of the Messiah, Park Avenue and Thirty-Fourth Street, April 2, 1868.), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
Format
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Subject
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United States of America
Sermons
Church and State-United States of America
Church of the Messiah (New York)
Conway Tracts