with an attested copy of the proceedings of this church, at this meeting, to be by said Standing Committee laid before said church and congregation at their said parish meeting. The Preamble to the foregoing Vote was then adopted unanimously. It was voted to take the question on the principal motion, made by Brother Whitman by Yeas and Nays. After calling the names of the Brethren present, it appeared that the following had voted, Yeas . . ., 30. Nays, there were none. Three brethren present [Jeremiah Bumstead, Samuel Brewer, Joseph Callender] declined voting. Voted, that the committee present to Mr. Wisner, a copy of the preceding Vote. Voted, that Brothers Homes and Whitman be added to the committee appointed by the foregoing vote. Voted, that the committee request Mr. Wisner to tarry and preach with us, until after the proceedings of this meeting shall have been laid before the church and congregation for their concurrence. The Revd Mr. Jenks having again prayed for the divine blessing, The meeting was dissolved. A true Record JOSIAH SALISBURY, Scribe. At a meeting of the Old South Church and Congregation at their Vestry this 13th day of November, A. D. 1820, it appearing that this Parish meeting of the Old South Church and Congregation had been warned agreeable to usage, The following Persons being Pew holders and members of the said. Church and Congregation constituting this Parish were present, viz. 49, as follows — Hon. William Phillips, Brothers Jonathan French, James Murphy, Jeremiah Belknap, David W. Child, Samuel H. Walley, Benjamin French, James Means, Thomas Barry, Thomas Dean, Elisha Hunt, Joseph Baker, Jeremiah Bumstead, William H. Lane, George Todd, John Houston, Aaron P. Cleveland, Joseph Mitchell, Andrew G. Winslow, James Clap, Benjamin J. Gurney, Isaac P. Simpson, David Homer, Tobias Lord, Joseph S. Hastings, John S. Lillie, Joseph Callender, Joseph Burge, Thomas Allen, John Andrews, Bela Hunting, Wells Coverly, George Lane, Samuel Coverly, Abraham Wild, James Clark, James Pickins, Samuel Davis, Thomas Vose, Abraham Foster, Benjamin V. French, Benjamin Whitman, Deacon Edward Phillips, William Homes, Francis Welch, Deacon Josiah Salisbury, John Winslow, Charles J. Adams, and Thomas Tilden. On motion, His Honor, William Phillips Esq'r was chosen moderator. The Rev'd William Jenks offered up a Prayer for a Divine Blessing. The Standing Parish Committee of the Old South Church and Congregation then laid before this meeting the proceedings of the Church MR. WISNER CALLED. 453 connected with this society of the 7th inst. relative to their election of Mr. Benjamin B. Wisner as their Pastor, and their desire that this Church and Congregation being Pew holders constituting this Parish would concur with said Church in their said election, and cause to be settled over this Church and Congregation as their Pastor and minister the said Benjamin B. Wisner; whereupon the proceedings of the Church being read, A motion was read and laid on the Table by Brother Joseph Baker, that the further consideration of the proceedings of the Church which have now been read, be postponed untill the society have further opportunity to hear Mr. Wisner, and the Committee for supplying the Pulpit are requested to give him an invitation for that purpose. This motion was advocated and opposed in the most friendly and Christian like manner, and when the question was taken, it was by yeas and nays; and passed in the negative, viz. yeas 17, nays 32, so the motion was lost. Whereupon Brother Francis Welch submitted for the consideration of said Parish, the following Vote, viz. Voted, That this Church and Congregation constituting said Parish do elect the said Mr. Benjamin B. Wisner as their Pastor and minister, and will join the Church in the ordination of the said Mr. Wisner over this Church and Congregation as their Pastor and minister, on condition that all the customs and usages of the Old South Church and Congregation as it respects the administration of the holy ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's supper, Church discipline, and the religious and ecclesiastical rights and privileges of the Church in full communion, and all other members of the Congregation, be held sacred and secured to them in the same manner and extent as they have been enjoyed and held while the late Dr. Eckley and the Revd Mr. Huntington were the Pastors and Ministers of this Church and Congregation. The foregoing Vote passed in the affirmative, yeas 36 noes 10. Also, Voted unanimously, That should the said Mr. Benjamin B. Wisner agree to settle with us as our Pastor and minister, upon the conditions aforesaid, in that case, we the Old South Church and Congregation, constituting this Parish, agree to allow and pay to said Mr. Benjamin B. Wisner, for and during the time he shall continue to be and remain our Pastor and Minister, and the relation between us, as a society or Parish, and the said Mr. Wisner as our Pastor and Minister continues, the sum of thirteen hundred dollars, yearly, as his salary, or compensation for his services in the Gospel ministry among us, to be paid him by the Deacons, in the usual manner, and in addition thereto, we agree to allow and provide for him a dwelling House and his fire Wood, when he shall think proper to be married or commence Housekeeping, the above being the same compensation or salary that this society allowed their late beloved Pastor and minister, the Revd. Joshua Huntington, and the conditions of settlement being also the same. Voted, unanimously, That the Deacons with the Standing Committee of this Church and Congregation be a Committee to communicate to Mr. Benjamin B. Wisner an attested copy of the proceedings of this meeting, and request him to return his answer, as soon as is convenient, to this Church and Congregation, whether he will accede to and accept the terms and conditions aforesaid, and settle amongst us, and be ordained over us, as our Pastor and minister. Attest. DAVID W. CHILD Clk. BOSTON, Nov. 16 1820 TO MR. BENJAMIN B. WISNER, Geneva, State of New York, Dear Sir It affords us great pleasure to address you on this occasion, by command of the Old South Church and Congregation, for the purpose of communicating to you the Votes passed at their meeting on the 13th inst, a copy of the Votes referred to, we have herein enclosed. The proceedings of the Church in their separate character, have already been laid before you, by a Committee from that body. By these documents, you will perceive that the said Church and Congregation have chosen you for their Pastor and Minister, and in presenting them for your consideration, thro' our hands, they do call you to come to them in this interesting, important and solemn relation. We trust the great head of the Church has directed us in our choice. May the same omniscient being direct your answer. May you be to us a man and a Pastor after God's own Heart, and may this People be to you a Crown of rejoicing in the day of the Lord. We are with great respect and regard, and with much sincerity, your friends WILLIAM PHILLIPS JOSIAH SALISBURY EDWARD PHILLIPS WILLIAM HOMES SAMUEL COVERLY A careful reading of the proceedings relating to this call. shows that almost every important step in connection with it was taken by the church and congregation as distinct from the church, and this, we think, deserves attention. On the 7th of 1 [Two members of the standing com. mittee, Benjamin French and Abraham Wild, did not sign this letter; whether or not this absence of their names is an indication that they did not concur in the call, we do not know.] CHURCH AND PARISH. 455 November, the church took the initiative, and passed a vote electing Mr. Wisner, and directing that its action be reported to the standing committee to be laid before the church and congregation. It requested the committee on supply to present a copy of this vote to Mr. Wisner; and it did nothing further until after the call had been formally accepted. On the 13th of November the church and congregation, "being pew holders," passed a vote, also electing Mr. Wisner, but providing, in terms, for the maintenance of all their religious and ecclesiastical rights and privileges, as a Congregational parish, including, of course, baptism under the half-way covenant. They then appointed a committee of their own number to extend the call; and to this committee, which presented the call, as above, Mr. Wisner addressed his letter of acceptance. It was not a joint committee; it was not constituted by the separate action of two coördinate bodies, - the church, and the church and congregation, but by the latter, acting as pew-holders, and as a parish. In the controversies which were agitating the Congregational body at this time, a dividing line, in several instances, had been drawn between the church membership on the one hand and the parish on the other. A majority of the church had been on one side, and a majority of the parishioners, not church members, on the other. This conflict of interest and of action was the almost inevitable result of the old colonial legislation which limited the franchise to church members, and which compelled the towns to provide for the support of public worship. At Dedham, the Rev. Alvan Lamson was settled October 29, 1818, as the successor of the Rev. Joshua Bates, by a minority of the church and a majority of the parish. The majority of the church protested and withdrew; and only a few days before Mr. Wisner was called to the Old South, the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth had been appealed to by both parties, to decide which of the two was rightfully and historically the First Church of Dedham. In settling a minister at this critical period, the brethren of the Old South seem to have been determined that no such separating line as was dividing other societies should divide them, if by any possibility they could prevent it, and, therefore, in every stage of the proceedings, the church members and pew proprietors acted together, not coördinately as two bodies, but as an unit. Thus, if schism must come in the denomina 1 Of course, there was an important ton and those in the country towns, in difference between the churches in Bos- that the former were not related to tion, they hoped, at least, to be able to maintain peace among themselves. They had not been absolutely unanimous in their call to Mr. Wisner; but there had been no factious opposition to him, and no disposition to thwart the preferences of the majority had manifested itself. The decision of the court in the Dedham case must have been a surprise to both parties. It was as follows: "When the majority of the members of a Congregational church separate from the majority of the parish, the members who remain, although a minority, constitute the church in such parish and retain the rights and property belonging thereto." Whatever may be thought now of the justness of this decision, it is easy to see that in its application to the conditions existing in Dedham and other places it must have worked great hardship, and that it could not but intensify the feeling on both sides, in the opposing parties into which the Congregationalists of the State were ranging themselves.1 |