Essex County, Massachusetts - Chapter 2, 1888 (part 3 of 3)

The next ministry was that of Rev. Nathaniel Whitaker, D.D., which continued for fourteen or fifteen mostly stormy years. He was settled July 28, 1769, and his connection with the society was dissolved February 24, 1784. He made some unusual conditions as preliminary to his acceptance of the society's invitation to Salem. The customary services of installation were not to be observed. Certain articles of agreement between himself and the church must be adopted, changing materially the method of church government and organization from that usual with Congregational Churches, making it essentially Presbyterian. He afterwards endeavored to bring the church formally into connection with the Boston Presbytery. He was himself a Presbyterian. With a view to substitute some equivalent for the omitted installation service, he proposed that the Rev. Messrs. Diman, Barnard and Holt, neighboring ministers, should be invited to be present " as friends to the society and the common cause of religion." This was done, and the ministers invited returned an answer declining the invitation, not wishing to countenance proceedings which they characterized as " irregular," and remonstrating against the course taken, though in an entirely friendly spirit. The church was prepared to comply with all requisitions made by the pastor-elect. He was a man of popular gifts ; his preaching was much admired. He was energetic, active, inclined to assume power and to take control in whatever matters engaged his interest. The conditions of the union between pastor and people had not been very distinctly drawn. The church, under the blinding glamours produced by the preacher's brilliancy, accepted everything, and soon awoke to the fact that they were entangled in the meshes of various concessions not well defined, opening doors to misunderstanding and contentions which in due time ripened into open and bitter strife. On the 6th of October, 1774, the meeting-house of the society was burned. At this time those who had been pushing a resolute opposition to Dr. Whittaker withdrew and organized the church now known as the South Church. Reports unfavorable to Dr. Whittaker'a character had been in circulation, and the secession of those who had withdrawn did not bring peace. The attendance upon his ministrations fell off", and after long and persistent efforts to accomplish the end, the society relieved itself of its discredited pastor and of Presbyterianism, and resumed its place among the Congregational Churches of the town.

After the burning of the first meeting-house the society built a new one on the corner of Washington and what was then Marlborough (now Federal) Streets, the site of the present church. The new church was built in 1776, though not supplied with pews until the following year. The society was not in a condition to make the building of it easy, or to bring it promptly to completion. When dedicated, it was, says Dr. Worcester, without galleries, without pulpit and without even plastering upon the walls. Being modeled after Whitfield's London Tabernacle, the building, and from it the church and congregation took, in the popular speech, its name, which in time was adopted by the society, though without any definite action authorizing it. The close of Dr. Whittaker's ministry, in 1784, was in striking contrast with its imposing beginning. His friends were few, he had no regular salary, his parish was weak, his fame tarnished. He was born in Long Island, N. Y., February 22, 1732, graduated at Princeton College, 1752, and died January 21, 1795, in Virginia.

Rev. Joshua Spaulding followed him. He was ordained October 26, 1785. The society recovered its strength under his ministry, and for a time prospered. The meeting-house, having added pulpit and galleries, was finished and furnished. Mr. Spaulding, says Mr. Worcester, was a man of unquestioned piety, " but the vehemence and pungency with which he preached the distinguishing doctrines of grace often inflamed the enmity of the carnal mind," and tended to make him " less popular." Engaging also in political controversy, both with pen and voice, and finally asserting his own right, as pastor, " to negative the votes of the church," he brought upon himself finally a warm and determined counteraction of his measures, within his church, and was led to ask a dismission, which took place April 23, 1802. He did not cease to minister to a portion of his flock, however, as those who disapproved of the action of the society in dismissing him withdrew with him from the church and organized " the Branch," or Howard Street Church, of which more is to be said in its place. Mr. Spaulding was born in Killingly, Conn., graduated at Dartmouth College, 1786, resigned the pastorship of the Branch Church May 4, 1814, and died September 26, 1825, at the age of sixty-five years.

The next minister, the fifth in the ministerial line of the Tabernacle Church, was Eev. Samuel Worcester, D.D. He was installed pastor of the Tabernacle Church in Salem, April 20, 1803, and continued in the ofiice till his death, June 7, 1821. His ministry covered a period of great religious activity, in and out of his church, in which he bore a conspicuous part. The Unitarian controversy, which divided many of the principal Congregational Churches of Eastern Massachusetts, was at its height. Dr. Worcester was a prominent champion on the orthodox side, and wrote in opposition to Dr. Channing, especially in review of the sermon preached by Dr. Channing at the ordination of Mr. John Emery Abbot over the North Church in Salem, April 20, 1815. He was an active promoter of the organization of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in 1810, and became its corresponding secretary. In his church the first missionaries to India were ordained and commissioned on the 6th of February, 1812. His influence extended widely beyond his society, and was strong and deep within it. His labors outside his church became so weighty and engrossing that a colleague was settled in 1819, that his connection with his people might continue, though only a part of his time and strength could be devoted to their service. The meeting-house underwent no little change during these years. In 1804 it lost its dome and belfry in a tempest. The next year a steeple was built upon its front, changing it materially from its original tentlike form. Mr. Worcester was born in Hollis, N. H., November 1, 1770, graduated at Dartmouth College, 1795, and had been five years pastor of a church in Fitchburg before his settlement in Salem. He was a younger brother of Noah Worcester, the " apostle of peace," and the author of " Bible News " and some other important contributions to the Trinitarian controversy, upon the Unitarian side.

The colleague settled with Dr. Worcester, July 21, 1819, was Mr. Elias Cornelius, a native of Somers, N. Y., born July 31, 1794, graduated at Yale College 1813, dismissed from the Tabernacle Church December 22, 1826, to take a position in the service of the American Education Society. He died February 12, 1832. His parish esteemed him an able and devoted man, and regretted his departure. February 14, 1827, John P. Cleaveland succeeded him. Mr. Cleaveland was born in Rowley July 19, 1799, graduated at Bowdoin College, 1821, was dismissed from the Tabernacle Church May 14, 1834.

His successor, the eighth in the pastoral line, was Rev. Samuel Melanchthon Worcester, son of Rev. Samuel, chronicled above as the fifth in the line. He was born in Fitchburg, September 4, 1801 ; graduated at Harvard College, 1822 ; from 1823 to 1834 professor in Amlierst College ; settled in Salem December 3, 1834 ; resigned January 31, 1860; died August 16, 1866. His tastes, though scholarly, and his training, though directed to service in the church, did not limit his sympathies and activities to scholastic or ecclesiastical lines. He was a true patriot and took a profound interest in the national crisis which the country passed through in the years from 1860 to 1865. He had represented the town of Amherst, the city of Salem and Essex County in the State Legislature. His orthodoxy was stanch and positive, but his spirit was genial and kind, and his bearing was courteous and friendly with all.

A new ciiurch - the present building - was erected in 1854, on or near the site of the old, and a large new chapel, of two stories, was built in its rear and in connection with it, in 1868, - the ample size and commodiousness of theae buildings attesting the prosperity of the society, and the largeness of the wants they were designed to meet.

Mr. Charles Ray Palmer was ordained pastor of the church August 29, 1860, and dismissed June 13, 1872. Mr. Palmer was born in New Haven, Conn., May 2, 1834 ; graduated at Yale College, 1855, and, after his dismission from the Tabernacle Church, became the pastor of a church in Bridgeport, Conn. From June, 1872 to Dec. 31, 1873, the church was without a pastor. On the last-named date Rev. Hiram B. Putnam was installed. His health failed, causing him to seek a dismission, which took place March 15, 1877. Mr. Putnam was born in Dan vers January 27, 1840; graduated at Amherst College, 1860, and had been settled over a church in West Concord, N. H., before his installation in Salem. Rev. De Witt S. Clark, the present pastor of the church, was installed January 15, 1879. He was born in Chicopee, Mass., September 11, 1841 ; graduated at Amherst College, 1863, and had been pastor of a church in Clinton, Mass., before his settlement in Salem.

North Church. - On the 3d of March, 1772, The Proprietors of the North Meeting House organized themselves into a religious society with the above title, in the Salem Town Hall. They had been members of the First Parish ; there were forty-three. On the 19th of July of the same year, fifty-two persons, having received a dismission from the First Church on the 16th of May preceding, met at the house of Benjamin Pickman, on Essex Street, opposite St. Peter's Street, constituted themselves a church, which they afterwards voted should be called the North Church. This secession from the First Parish grew out of a disagreement in the choice of a minister. In 1770 the highly-esteemed minister of the First Church, Rev. Thomas Barnard, became disabled by paralysis, and his people looked for a colleague. Thomas Barnard, Jr., a son of the pastor, who had a little before completed his preparation for the ministry, supplied his father's pulpit for some months, and about half of the society earnestly desired his settlement as colleague pastor. A small majority preferred another man, who, after much delay, was called and ordained. The disappointed friends of the younger Barnard were unwilling to give him up, and organized the new (North) society, as above related. A site for a meeting-house had been selected and purchased on the 14th of February, 1772, on the corner of Lynde and North Streets, on the western line of what was early known as " Sharpe's Training-Field." This meeting-house was first opened for public worship August 23, 1772, though not nearly completed. After occupying it three Sundays, the proprietors determined to add side-galleries, not originally contem- plated in the plan of the building committee. It was not considered finished till nearly five months after the society began to meet in it. It was a house of large capacity, and was on that account much resorted to for civic celebrations on the Fourth of July, and on other public days, for many years. Thomas Barnard, Jr., was ordained January 13, 1773, and continued in the pastoral ofiice till October 1, 1814, the day of his death. He came of a ministerial ancestry. His father, an uncle, a grandfather, a greatgrandfather had all been preachers ; nor does this roll completely sum up the clerical kinsmen descended from the American progenitor, Rev. Francis Barnard of Hadley. Thomas Barnard, Jr., was born in Newbury, February 5, 1748 ; graduated at Harvard College, 1766, and studied theology with Dr. Williams, of Bradford, afterwards professor at Harvard College. The North Society suffered in common with other churches during the Revolutionary War. Mr. Barnard at first leaned to the side of the Royalists, and a considerable number of his leading parishioners were pronounced Loyalists, including several who quit the country. He turned to the Whig side, however, before long, and was afterwards steadfast in that way. Though but a young man, he made himself prominent at the North Bridge, when Colonel Leslie, the British ofiicer, came at the head of three hundred men from Marblehead, for guns supposed to be collected and deposited on the other side of the North River. He bore himself with dignity and firmness that day, albeit as a pacificator of the roused passions ready to burst into a flame. He has the credit of counseling the compromise which saved bloodshed, and led to the turning back of the King's troops, leaving the object of the expedition unaccomplished.

Dr. Barnard's long ministry justified the loyalty of his early friends. He was broad-minded, wise and catholic in spirit, effective as a preacher, genial and trustworthy as a friend and a pastor, fond of children, and the society was united and prosperous through his ministry. As a scholar he stood well among the scholarly. He was held in such honor among the preachers of his day, and was of such reputation in the churches and in the State, as to be often sought to preach on days of general public convention, both ecclesiastical and other. Among the able pulpit leaders of thought in a highly intelligent community, and at a time when theological inquiry was exciting great interest, and becoming more free and earnest, he held an eminent place, held it long, and at the close of his forty years and more of service, his influence showed no sign of waning. In his theological opinions he belonged to the liberal school, and so educated his congregation that they elected a Unitarian to succeed him with hearty unanimity.

bot was born at Exeter August 6, 1793, graduated at Bowdoin College 1810, and pursued his professional studies partly at Cambridge, under the direction of Dr. Henry Ware, Sr.; and partly with Dr. William Ellery Channing, of Boston, who preached at his ordination as minister of the North Church, April 20, 1815. The sermon of Dr. Channing on this occasion produced a deep and wide-spread impression, and was followed by strictures and controversial arguments against its positions from the pen of Dr. Samuel Worcester, of the Tabernacle Church, in Salem. Mr. Abbot, not yet twenty-two years of age, taking charge of this large society, and giving himself with great devotion to the studies and labors incidental to a position so exacting and responsible, broke down in health within two years. Rest and travel brought only temporary and partial alleviation to his illness, and he died at his father's house in Exeter October 7, 1819. Though his ministry was so short, it left a lasting influence. Mr. Abbot was a good scholar and a conscientious student. But his highest power lay in a soul of deep religious sensibility, a character of rare purity and loftiness of aim, and a consecrated fidelity.

Mr. John Brazer succeeded him. His ordination took place November 14, 1820. Mr. Brazer was born in Worcester, Mass., September 21, 1789, graduated at Harvard College 1813, was appointed tutor in Greek in the college 1815, and from 1817 to 1820 was tutor in Latin. His ministry in Salem ended with his life, February 26, 1846. In January, 1846, he left his home in Salem for a milder climate, his health requiring rest and change; and he died at the plantation of his friend and classmate. Dr. Benjamin Huger, on Cooper River, near Charleston, S. C. Dr. Brazer was of a sensitive and nervous temperament, which made him seem reserved, almost shy, to many, but he was a friend of the poor, and a minister of comfort to the sorrowing. Conservative by nature, he was a preacher of commanding power, clear and logical in thought, grave and dignified in manner, serious and searching in bringing truth home to the conscience. For the twenty-five years and more of his ministry he held one of the largest and most intelligent congregations in Massachusetts in close and united attendance upon his services. During all this period the society was in a condition of the highest prosperity. It was during the ministry of Dr. Brazer that the present stone church was built on Essex Street. The question of building was some time in agitation. The project was not finally approved by all. But the majority having decided upon it, the corner-stone was laid May 16, 1835, and the church was dedicated June 22, 1836. It was finished at first perfectly plain in its interior, with white walls. In 1847 it was completely changed within, aad assumed its present appearance, under the direction of the late Francis Peabody, Esq.

Mr. Octavius Brooks Frothingham was ordained successor to Dr. Brazer March 10, 1847. He was born in Boston November 26, 1822, graduated at Harvard College 1843, resigned his charge in Salem April 9, 1855, and was installed pastor of a newlygathered Unitarian Society in Jersey City, N. J., September 11, 1855. The year following he removed to the city of New York and became the minister of the Third Unitarian Society in that city, where for many years he was widely known as an eloquent expositor of so-called "radical" religious thought. Leaving this position in somewhat impaired health, Mr. Frothingham, after a period of travel and rest, has taken up his residence in Boston. Mr. Frothingham's ministry in the North Society produced some results worthy of notice. In the first years of it his theological views and his ideal of the ministerial aim were in closest accord with those of his hearers. They were what were termed, in the phrase of the day, conservative. But a change came - by the fault of nobody. The minister was in earnest in the pursuit of truth. It led him, in time, to conclusions which modified materially his pulpit utterances. Some persons who could not change with him no longer enjoyed his ministrations as before. But we have to notice that an important education went on under this experience of listening to teachings iu themselves not welcome, not accepted, but heard with respectful attention, because of the recognized ability and sincerity of the preacher. It gave the society broader sympathies, a more fearless spirit of inquiry, and a tolerant, self-possessed and catholic mind towards all forms of honest thought. A habit of candid hearing grew ; novel and unacceptable teachings were heard with patience; the mind was not thrown off" its balance by hearing its cherished opinions arraigned or denied. During the ministry of Mr. Frothingham the society built its vestry, in the summer of 1853.

Rev. Charles Lowe succeeded Mr. Frothingham. Mr. Lowe was born in Portsmouth, N. H., November 18, 1828, graduated at Harvard College 1847, was tutor in Greek and Latin in the college 1850-51, ordained colleague pastor with Rev. John Weiss, in New Bedford, July 28, 1852, resigned in 1854, on account of ill-health, installed minister of the North Church, Salem, September 27, 1855, and resigned July 28, 1857, as before, on account of ill health. On the 28th of May, 1859, he was installed minister of the Congregational (Unitarian) Church in Somerville, and after a ministry of nearly six years, was once more compelled by the state of his health to resign. With a partial regaining of his health there came, as was always sure to come with returning strength, a desire of active service, and he gave several years of efficient administration to the American Unitarian Association, as its secretary, besides editing for a time the Unitarian Review. Mr. Lowe died June 20, 1874.

The present minister of the North Society is Rev. Edmund B. Willson, who was installed June 5, 1859. He was born in Petersham, Mass., August 15, 1820, was a little while in Yale College, and graduated at the Cambridge Divinity School, 1843, ordained in Grafton, Mass., January 3, 1844, installed in West Eoxbury July 18, 1852.

South Church. - Mention has been made of a division in the Third (now known as the Tabernacle) Church, in 1774, growing out of dissatisfaction with Dr. Whitaker, and a secession or dismission of some thirty- eight members has been noticed as having taken place after the church was burned. Those withdrawing purchased the Assembly House, as it was called, built in 1766, which stood on the site of the present vestry of the South Church, and established public worship there. They organized a church, which an ecclesiastical council, so far as such a council was empowered to confer and confirm a title, authorized to take the name of the Third Church. An issue was made later as to its right to do so. It was argued that not even an ecclesiastical council has retroactive power to alter facts, or to enact that a misrepresentation shallhave the force of truth; that this was not made the Third Church in Salem by a declaration that such should be its name. There was a Third Church of the Congregational order (chronologically), and this was not it. We must suppose that the church worshipping in Cambridge Street considered itself, on some ground or other, as having come rightfully into possession of the title which its mother church, Dr. Whitaker's, had enjoyed, but had now forfeited. It can hardly claim that, by reason of Dr. Whitaker's or the church's defection from Congregationalism to Presbyterianism, the title of the Third Church had lapsed or become a disused and unclaimed waif, which any church might pick up and appropriate at will. If the transfer of Dr. Whitaker's church to the Presbyterian body, real or quasi, had broken the line of descent, it surely had broken it as fatally for the daughter church as for the mother. If Dr. Whitaker's church was not the Third Church, there was none, or the North Church was that, for the North Church was organized in 1772. If the church worshipping on Cambridge Street was the Third Church, what was that church still existing under the ministry of Dr. Whitaker ? It was not extinct. Had the withdrawing portion of the society conveyed away with it the entire and identical body, of which it had been but a member - a part? and could it assert its lineal and unbroken descent from Rev. Samuel Fisk's church? It seems to do so. What did this withdrawal of the aggrieved do to Dr. Whitaker's church ecclesiastically, legally, or as simple fact ? Here it is to-day, under whatever name, the same church that has had a continuous life from 1735 to this year of grace.

historical truth of that name adopted by the church of the South Society in February, 1775. We do not see how it is to be answered. There was one more church in Salem after February 14, 1775, than there had been before. Can there be any question which one began at that time, or that, in fact, the church of the South Society was the new one, whose existence dates from that time ?

The meeting-house of the Third Church, on Essex Street, was burned on the 6th of October, 1774. The dismissed members and those who joined them in the new enterprise had their purchased house of worship ready for occupation on the 18th of December following. The church was. in the phrase of its own preference, "recognized" by a council called for that purpose, February 14, 1775, and this may be taken, in our judgment, as the date of the beginning of the church's independent existence. The society called itself the Third Congregational Society till March 15, 1805, when it was incorporated-under the title of " The Proprietors of the New South Meeting-house," on entering its new (the present) meeting-house on Chestnut Street. This house, built in 1804, was dedicated January 1, 1805. It was remodeled and renewed throughout in its interior in 1860, but its fine exterior architectural forms and proportions were preserved unchanged.

The first minister was Mr. Daniel Hopkins, a younger brother of Dr. Samuel Hopkins, of Newport, R. I., the famed theologian and founder of a school of divinity well known in the beginning of the century. He was born in Waterbury, Conn., October 16, 1734, graduated at Yale College, 1758, and taught a school for young ladies in Salem from 1766 to 1778, this being " the first school for the exclusive instruction of young ladies ever instituted in Salem, and taught by a gentleman." While teaching he preached as opportunity offered. He was ordained November 18, 1778, and his ministry continued till his death, December 14, 1814, he having the assistance of a colleague from 1805. Mr. Hopkins possessed some of the traits of his more distinguished brother. They were both more than ministers, warm patriots, and did good service for their country during the Revolutionary crisis. Mr. Hopkins, of Newport, was a resolute foe to slavery ; the Salem brother was a forward advocate of independence. He was a member of the Provincial Congress in 1775, and in 1778 was elected a member of the Council of the Conventional government. His theological views were in substantial accord with his brother's. His sermons were not written beyond a mere outline. " The doctrines he preached," says his son-in-law and colleague, Mr. Emerson, "and the plain, direct and pungent manner in which he presented them, procured for him warm friends and bitter enemies. Such was the opposition awakened against him, that a committee, consisting of some of the most influential men in the town, waited upon him at his residence, and made a formal and earnest request that, for the peace of the community, he would leave the town. . . . With characteristic shrewdness, he closed his eyes, smoothed down his face and mildly said, ' Gentlemen, I smoke my own tobacco.' The committee withdrew and gave him no further trouble." At the same time that he is described as giving offense by the severity and point of his preaching, enforced, too, with the vigor of a man of strong native talent, he is said to have been of a kind and amiable disposition, affable and courteous in social intercourse, his conversation marked by good sense and pleasantry.

April 24, 1805, shortly after entering the new meeting-house, Mr. Brown Emerson was ordained colleague pastor, and commenced a ministry of the remarkable length of sixty-seven years, ending with his life, July 25, 1872. During thirty-five of these years he was sole pastor, having been for the first nine years the junior pastor with Dr. Hopkins, and the last twenty-three years the senior pastor with two juniors, successively, Eev. Mr. Dwinell and Rev. Mr. Atwood. For the last fifteen or twenty years of his life his participation in the duties of the ministerial oflSce was slight and infrequent, and for a few years had ceased altogether. He was born at Ashby, Mass., January 8, 1778, and graduated at Dartmouth College in 1802. The union and strength in which the society maintained itself, while he ministered to it, best attest the quality of the man. In the days of his highest vigor and fullest activity he was a preacher acceptable to his hearers, and fulfilled the duties of his oftice to the satisfaction of those who attended upon his ministry.

Mr. Israel E. Dwinell was ordained colleague with Mr. Emerson November 22, 1849, and resigned on account of loss of health in 1863, and removed to California, in whose more genial climate he has filled a pastorate of many years in Sacramento, and since, for some years, a professorship in the Theological Seminary in Oakland, California. He was born in East Calais, Vermont, October 24, 1820, and graduated at Burlington, Vermont, in 1843. Rev. Edward S. Atwood succeeded Mr. Dwinell and is the present pastor of the church. He was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, June 4, 1833, graduated at Brown University in 1852, and was installed in Salem October 13, 1864. He had been pastor of a church in Grantville (now Wellesley Hills) previous to his settlement in Salem.

Branch Church (or Howard Street). - It has appeared more than once in these annals that the Puritans did not leave behind them, on quitting England and its church establishment, the elements of dissent and causes of division. From every form of dissent dissenters were sure in time to arise ; and if doctrines afforded no pretext for non-conformity, administration did. Sometimes voluntarily, sometimes upon compulsion, the division took place, only to be followed by sub-division. The multiplication of churches came oftener from explosive forces within, producing cleavage, than from the requirements of increasing population. Each portion, majority and minority, seceders and seceded-from, kept in itself its proportion of the seeds of separatism. Separatists who had once tried non-conformity and self-exile had had a lesson and an experience which rendered a repetition of the experiment by th em the more probabl e and the more easy. Sometimes the pastor headed the exiles, as did Rev. Sam'l Fisk, leaving the church without a pastor ; sometimes the pastor drove a restive portion of the flock into the wilderness without a shepherd, as in the case of the thirty-eight brethren and sisters of Dr. Whitaker's church. And now again, in 1803, from this same church goes out the minister. Rev. Joshua Spaulding, leading forth such as preferred sharing with him exodus and uncertainty to remaining safe in the fold of the mother church without his voice to guide. In this way came into being " the Branch " Church (as it was at first called, afterwards (from its location, the Howard Street Church). These emigrants from the Tabernacle Church possessed abundance of energy and faith, if they were not rich in this world's goods. Organized December 29, 1803, after a brief period of meeting in a private house, then in a vestry loaned them, and for a time in chance pastures with neighboring flocks, they built a large and handsome meeting-house on Howard Street in 1804, which they dedicated February 8, 1805. They were not a quiet people. Their history is colored by varying fortunes. The spirit of zeal, independence and aggressive reform had its home among them. Temperance and slave-emancipation numbered warm and self-sacrificing advocates in both pulpit and pew. Those who "sat under" the preaching of Rev. George B. Cheever and Rev. Charles T. Torrey were in no danger of sleeping under it, nor of resting in indifference to the great social evils of their time.

After the example of the mother church, from which it had its birth, this church, for a time - from 1814 to 1827 - allied itself with Presbyterianism, and in time returned, after the same example, to the Congregational order. The characteristics of the first minister. Rev. Joshua Spaulding, have been touched upon in the notice of the Tabernacle Church. His ministry in the Howard Street Church extended from April 17, 1805, to May 4, 1814, when he resigned and removed to the State of New York. He died September 26, 1825. For nearly five years after Mr. Spaulding's removal the church was without a pastor. It joined the Presbytery of Newburyport. Rev. Henry Blatchford was installed in its ministry January 6, 1819, and resigned December 20th of the following year. He was born in Lansingburg, N. Y., graduated at Union College 1811, and died September 7, 1822. Mr. William Williams was ordained his successor July 5, 1821, and remained pastor of this church till February 17, 1832, when he resigned, on account of a division in the church, and on the 22d of November,

1832, was installed pastor of a newly-gathered church branch of this " branch," composed of a very considerable following of members of the Howard Street Church, who withdrew with the pastor.

Mr. George B. Cheever, the next minister of the church, was ordained Feb. 13, 1833, and resigned Jan. 4, 1838. He was born in Hallowell, Maine, April 17, 1807, and graduated at Bowdoin College 1825. His ministry was a busy one. An irrepressible vitality and mental activity gave his pen as little rest as his voice. He wrote for the journals and the reviews. His eyes were about bim to see what was wrong and reprehensible in the customs of society and in the conduct of individuals. For giving his pen too great freedom in his strictures upon these he incurred a suit of libel and a judgment involving thirty days' imprisonment. His theology was Puritanic and positive. His convictions were strong and urgent. He was a zealous preacher of reform, a vehement orator, aggressive and unsparing in attack upon whatsoever and whomsoever he found, in his judgment, hindering the cause of which he was the champiou. In 1838 he became the pastor of the Allen Street Presbyterian Church in New York, and in 1846 was installed pastor of the Congregational Church of the Puritans in the same city. He still lives in a vigorous old age.

Eev. Charles T. Torrey was installed on the day on which Mr. Cheever was dismissed, January 4, 1838. He had been settled before as pastor of the Richmond Street Congregational Church, in Providence, R. I. He was born in Scituate November 21, 1813, graduated at Yale College 1833, resigned his charge in Salem July 21, 1839, and, after having twice suffered imprisonment in Baltimore, Md., for alleged violation of the laws of that State in conspiring with slaves to effect their escape from bondage, died in the Maryland penitentiary May 9, 1846.

Mr. Torrey regarded it as a great crime to enslave a fellow-man. He preached this conviction. He carried his faith into practice, and suffered for it. The story of his martyrdom, as told by Henry Wilson in " the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power," possesses a sad, an almost romantic interest. " Well-born, with superior talents, education and professional prospects, a charming home, cheered by the presence of a lovely wife and little ones, he sacrificed them, disregarded the popular sentiment of the North, and braved the vengeance of the South, to aid the lowly and downtrodden." He claimed to have assisted four hundred slaves to obtain their freedom. He frankly told Reverdy Johnson, by whom he was defended in the courts of Maryland, that he had helped one of his slaves to escape. He attempted, with others, to get out of the Baltimore prison. Being betrayed, he was heavily ironed and placed in a damp and low arched cell, and treated worse than i^ he had been a murderer. " I was loaded with irons weighing, I judge, twenty-five pounds, so twisted that I could neither stand up, lie down, nor sleep." December 30, 1843, he was sentenced to six years' imprisonment in the penitentiary. After his death, even the officials of the Park Street Church, in Boston, refused their permission to have the funeral services over his dead body in that church. But an indignant multitude followed his remains to Mount Auburn with tokens of sorrow and sympathy. And Faneuil Hall, the evening after, echoed the mournful but honoring words of his eulogists. Whittier wrote : " There lies the young, the beautiful, the brave 1 He is safe now from the malice of his enemies. Nothing can harm him more. His work for the poor and helpless was well and nobly done. In the wild woods of Canada, around many a happy fireside and holy family altar, his name is on the lips of God's poor. He put his soul in their soul's stead ; he gave his life for those who had no claim on his love save that of human brotherhood."

Rev. Joel Mann, a native of Orford, N, H., and graduate of Dartmouth College 1810, was installed pastor of the Howard Street Church May 6, 1840, and resigned April 14, 1847. At the time of Mr. Mann's dismission the condition of the church seemed so hopeless of substantial revival from its divisions and losses, that the council called to dismiss him advised the church to "separate and unite with other churches till they can organize anew with a greater prospect of union and usefulness. The major part of the church complied, but the rest, claiming to be the Howard Street Church," still clung together, and maintained public worship, with small and steadily declining numbers, for about seventeen years longer. Rev. Messrs. M. H. Wilder, E. W. Allen and C. C. Beaman serving as ministers during that time. Rev. Mr. Beaman, the last of the number, came in 1857, and resigned October 2, 1864. The Howard Street meeting-house after being occupied a short time by a newly-formed " church of the New Jerusalem," was sold at auction, by authority of the Legislature June 28, 1867, to the First Methodist Society in Beverly, and in 1868 was taken down, transported across the river, and set up again on Railroad Avenue, Beverly, with the exception of the tower, which was not found in good enough condition for re-erection. This year (1887) a lofty tower has been added to the front end of the church, and an extension has also been made in the rear. The building was well worth preserving, whether for itself or its history. It was designed under the advice and direction of Mr. Samuel Macintire, a Salem carpenter, famous also as a successful church builder, the South meeting-house on Chestnut Street, in Salem, having been designed by him.

It will be seen by this brief sketch of the history of the Branch, or Howard Street Church, - not one of the older churches of Salem, beginning its existence within the present century, and but short-lived as the lives of churches are reckoned, having become extinct in about sixty years from its formation, - that it has had more of stirring incident, of eventful and disintegrat- ing controversy, of salient characteristics in its membership and of striking biographical episodes in the career of its pastors than usually falls to the lot of churches of much longer life.

When the use of the North meeting-house was refused to Mr. Crowninshield and his friends, for the funeral services of Captain Lawrence and Lieutenant Ludlow, who lost their lives in the engagement between the frigates Shannon and Chesapeake, in 1813, the doors of the Howard Street meeting-house were opened, and there Mr. Story's eulogy was delivered. The inherent spirit of Puritanism, with its flavor of intense individuality, fearless assertion of freedom, its equally fearless application of condemnatory truth, its stiff, " conscientious contentiousness; or contentious conscientiousness," - this spirit has had many a picturesque illustration in the brotherhood of "the Branch."

First Baptist Church - It has been claimed that there were Baptists in Salem as early as the period of Roger Williams' residence and ministry here. They were here prior to 1639, at least. That year, says Felt, William Wickenden, a Baptist preacher, moved from Salem to Providence. That year the Salem Church notified the Dorchester Church that it has excommunicated Roger Williams and nine others named, all but two of them having been re-baptized. Anabaptists they were often called - that name signifying the " re-baptized." It was not till December 24, 1804, that the First Baptist Church was embodied in Salem. Its first place of worship was a frame building, one story high, thirty-six by fifty-five feet in dimensions, standing not far from the spot now occupied by the meeting-house of the society. " This house faced the West, and stood on a high bank, forty or fifty feet East of North Street, with its Southern side nearly on the line of the present Odell court." It soon gave place to the present brick meeting-house, which was dedicated January 1, 1806. Since its opening, considerable land has been purchased to constitute the front on Federal Street, which, with various other improvements, have given the house and lot their present attractive aspect. In 1868 the interior of the building was reconstructed and improved throughout. October 31, 1877, it was visited by fire, and its interior so destroyed as to require rebuilding entirely.

The first minister was Mr. Lucius Bolles, born in Ashford, Conn., September 25, 1779, graduated from Brown University 1801, and settled in Salem January 9, 1805. His connection with the church in Salem, as an active pastor, practically ceased in June, 1826, when his release from the pastoral office was requested and obtained of the church, by the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, that he might become its corresponding secretary; though for eight years after, till August 6, 1834, he continued to be the senior pastor of the church, without discharging any of the duties of the office. He died in Boston January 5, 1844. When Mr. Bolles came to Salem, those who adhered to the theological views of the Baptists " were ^evf in numbers and feeble in resources," says Dr. R. C. Mills, in his fiftieth anniversary sermon : " The state of piety in the American churches was low." In theological opinions the early Baptists of America were strictly Calvinistic. The disintegration of the Calvinistic creed had progressed in Eastern Massachusetts at the time this church was formed, so far as to cause those who still held it in its integrity, deep solicitude for its maintenance. The Baptist denomination was cordially allied with its supporters of other names, and regarded it«8lf as in some sort an especial bulwark against the spread of the opposite errors; as the case was set forth by one of its ablest advocates: "Infant baptism led to Arminianism, and that to Socinianism in churches which had been strictly Calvinistic."

The Baptist Church increased from the first, and soon grew strong in Salem, under the devoted ministry of its earliest pastor. There was no considerable hostility at that time among the people at large, either to the tenets of this denomination respecting the mode and subjects of baptism, to which many persons inclined, or to their creed, the Unitarian controversy not having yet opened into public discussion. The use of the North meeting-house (corner of Lynde and North Streets) was asked for the ordination services at the settlement of Mr. Bolles, and was granted ; but, for some reason, they were held, not at the North, but at the Tabernacle Church; possibly because, though the vote granting the use at the North meeting-house passed, it became known that there were twelve dissentients among those voting. Dr. Bolles became eminent in his denomination. He laid his foundations well. A minister both capable and zealous, his period of service was long enough to educate a generation, and so to fix habits, and to stamp his congregation with distinctive characteristics which have run on, doubtless, into the succeeding years. In twenty years, and before he left them, they were strong enough to colonize, and a second church was formed.

Rev. Rufus Babcock was installed as colleague with Dr. Bolles August 23, 1826, and was practically the sole pastor, his senior having relinquished to him all pastoral duties. Mr. Babcock remained till October 11, 1833, when he resigned to accept the presidency of Waterville College, in Maine, his resignation being accepted by his people with reluctance. Mr. Babcock was born in Colbrook, Conn., September 18, 1798, and was graduated at Brown University, 1821. After leaving Waterville he was pastor of churches in Philadelphia, Poughkeepsie, New Bedford and other places. He died in Salem, Mass., May 4, 1874, while on a visit among old friends.

August 6, 1834, Rev. John Wayland, having been a professor in Hamilton College, Clinton, N. Y., and called from that position to succeed Mr, Babcock, was settled pastor of the church, and continued in office until near the close of 1841, his resignation being accepted November 12th of that year. Mr. Wayland afterwards became an Episcopalian. He was held in high esteem by his parishioners in Salem. He was succeeded by Mr. Thomas D. Anderson, who was settled March 15, 1842. In 1848, his health having failed, he resigned, and his resignation was accepted, January 28th of that year, with every testimony of regret on the part of the church at their loss.

Eev. Robert C.Mills was installed as the next pastor of the church June 14, 1848. Dr. Mills' ministry continued till April 21, 1876, when he resigned, and within a few years after removed to Newton, in which city he now resides. Dr. Mills was born, February 6, 1819, in New York City, and graduated at the University of New York 1837. His was the longest sole and active pastorate this church has known, being but little short of twenty-eight years.

Rev. George E. Merrill succeeded Dr. Mills February 2, 1877 ; his health failed after some years of active service, and he resigned June 1, 1885. He was born in Charlestown December 19, 1846, graduated at Harvard College 1869, and had been settled in Springfield, Mass., from October, 1872, to January, 1877. In the more equable and milder climate at the foot of the Rocky Mountains he has so far regained health as to be able to take charge of a Baptist Church at Colorado Springs, Col. Rev. Galusha Anderson, D. D., followed Mr. Merrill in the pastorship of the church, being recognized as pastor November 18, 1885. He resigned his ministry January, 1887, to take the presidency of Granville College, Ohio. He had come to Salem from another important educational position - that of the presidency of the University of Chicago, HI. Mr. Anderson was born in Bergen, Genesee County, N. Y.. March 7, 1832, graduated at Rochester, N. Y., 1854, was two years pastor of a Baptist Church in Janesville, Wis., from 1858 to 1866 pastor of the Second Baptist Church in St. Louis, Mo., from 1866 to 1873 professor in the Theological Seminary at Newton, from 1873 to 1878 pastor of the Strong Place Church in Brooklyn, N. Y.

Free-Will Baptist. - There were two or three kindred religious movements in the early years of the century, which were not very clearly distinguished from one another in the popular apprehension, but whose differences assumed no inconsiderable importance, for a time at least, to those who contended for their respective tenets and built upon them. They had this in common : that they marked in some cases a partial modification, in some a pronounced rejection of Calvinistic doctrinal standards, as a ground of Christian communion and church fellowship. They also indicated the ecclesiastical unrest of the time, and showed a longing for greater spiritual freedom, a growing intellectual activity and courage, and, as a consequence, a perceptible widening of the scope of theological inquiry and religious sympathy. We find a society formed in 1806, which built a meeting-house on English Street in 1807, and which Messrs. Osgood and Batchelder mention as a society of " Free-Will Baptists, sometimes called Christians." These two are quite different denominations, divided on theological grounds and on the conditions of fellowship. The society that worshipped in English Street was formed, says Felt, as a Free-Will Baptist Society. Thirty years later, in June, 1840, a portion of the society, having imbibed the views of Alexander Campbell, withdrew and organized a separate meeting, taking the name of " Christians " (especially repudiating the name Christ-ians, by which they were more commonly called), and worshipped in several different places till they became extinct. A list of the ministers of the Free-Will Baptist Society in " Felt's Annals " contains the following names: John Rand (1806-07), Abner Jones (1807-12), Samuel Rand (1813-14), Moses How (1816-19), Abner Jones, 1821. George W. Kelton, William Andrews, William Coe and Christopher Martin are also said to have preached for this people prior to 1840. Among the ministers who preached for the Christians were William W. Eaton (1843-47), David O. Gaskill (1847-50 or later).

Universalist. - In 1804 a Universalist preacher, Samuel Smith by name, appointed a meeting at the Court House and preached, so far as is known, the first Universalist sermon ever heard in Salem. It was not altogether a satisfactory service to those who attended it, but served to bring together and make known to each other a considerable number of persons who were disposed to entertain with favor the views of that denomination. Between that time and 1808 meetings were held, at first at irregular intervals, but soon weekly, as an established Sunday congregation. Various ministers came and went, - the veteran John Murray, Hosea Ballou, Thomas Jones of Gloucester, and others. The meetings were held in private houses at first, but a hall, or large room, in the new house of Nathaniel Frothingham, on Lyude Street, was found suitable, and there they stayed mostly, till their meeting-house was built. The society was organized in 1805, but its records for the first twenty-one years - from 1805 to 1826 - are lost. In 1808, Aug. 17th, it laid the corner-stone of its meeting-house, at six o'cloeh in the morning ! and on the 22d of June, 1809, dedicated it, and installed a minister the same day. A lot of land on St. Peter's Street (then known as Prison Lane), valued at a thousand dollars, had been given by Benjamin Ward for a meeting-house, covering, in part at least, the present site of the Central Baptist meeting-house, and now deemed more eligible than the spot in Rust Street on which the house was built, but not so regarded then ; it was accordingly sold, and the land bought on which the church now stands. The minister settled on the day the church was dedicated was Rev. Edward Turner, who came from Charlton, Mass., where he had been the minister of a Universalist society. He retained his connection with the Universalist society in Salem till June 1, 1814, when he accepted a call to the Universalist society in Charlestown, Mass. When, a few ye.ars later, the question whether all punishment for sin is limited to this life divided the Universalist denomination, Mr. Turner took the negative, and after severing his connection with the society in Charlestown he became identified with the Unitarians. He died in West Roxbury Jan. 24, 1853, at the age of seventy-six years. The line of ministers following Mr. Turner may be conveniently given here, with their periods and in their order : Rev. Hosea Ballou, June 18, 1815, to Oct. 12, 1817 ; Rev. Joshua Flagg, Dec. 7, 1817, to March 1, 1820 ; Rev. Barzillai Streeter, Aug. 9, 1820, to Sept. 20, 1824 ; Rev. Seth Stetson, June 1, 1825, to March 23, 1828; Rev. Lemuel Willis, March 25, 1829, to May 26, 1837 ; Rev Matthew Hale Smith, June 6, 1838, to April 5, 1840 ; Rev. Linus S. Everett, May 12, 1841, to April 12, 1846 ; Rev. Ebenezer Fisher, May 4, 1847, to Oct. 7, 1853 ; Rev. Sumner Ellis, Feb. 1, 1854, to Sept. 1, 1858 ; Rev. Willard Spalding, March 4, 1860, to Nov, 28, 1869 ; Rev. Edwin C. Boiled, D.D., June 18, 1871, to Sept. 1, 1887.

Several of these were preachers eminent within their denomination, and the fame of two or three went beyond it. Mr. Ballou was one of the earliest apostles of Universalism, possessing great native vigor of intellect, unfailing courage and a power of plain, simple and direct statement which made him one of the ablest and most effective among the advocates of his faith in the times of its earlier promulgation, when it was unpopular, and kept its earnest defenders in incessant controversy. He went from Salem to Boston, and for more than thirty-five years labored there. Rev. Matthew Hale Smith became widely known both as a champion and an assailant of Universalism. Versatile and having a facile command of pen and speech, a too easy mobility carried him away from one to another denomination and back again, and from one to another profession in such rapid succession that his confessions and renunciations lost their power of impression from their number and their nearness to each other. Rev. Mr. Willis' ministry is regarded as having been eminently useful, and helpful to the prosperity of the church. The ministry of Mr. Fisher and that of others since have been characterized by a devotion to Christian scholarship and a careful instruction of the people in religious truth. Dr. E. C. Bolles, the last of the line, now about leaving Salem, and whose pastorate is the longest upon the list, is known as one of the most prominent preachers in his own denomination, while his services as a popular lecturer and speaker at gatherings non-denominational are in large demand. The society is large and prosperous, and has more than once given promise of colonization.

A second Universalist society was indeed organized in 1844, and held its first public meeting in Lyceum Hall on the 12th of May of that year. Afterwards its meetings were held in Mechanics' Hall, then in the Sewall Street meeting-house, and finally in Phoenix Hall. On the 6th of June, 1852, however, it voted to discontinue its meetings, and was disbanded. Its first settled pastor was Rev. Day K. Lee, who was succeeded by Rev. Messrs. Benjamin F. Bowles, S. C. Hewett and E. W. Reynolds. Again, about twenty-five years ago, - perhaps in 1861, - the experiment of maintaining a second Universalist place of worship was carried on for some months at Lyceum Hall, but no permanent organization came of it.

The Sunday-school connected with the first society was organized during the ministry of Mr. Willis, and by him. May 3, 1829, and " was the first in this denomination this side of Boston, and the third known to exist among the Universalists." It is at this time one of the largest, if not the largest, of the Protestant Sunday-schools in Salem.

The meeting-house has undergone several extensive and costly transformations since it was built, both within and without. In January, 1840, the changes necessary for the reception of an organ were made. In 1842 the pews of the gallery were taken out and replaced by new ones of more convenient form, the walls and ceiling were painted in fresco, and other larger and lesser changes in different parts of the building were made, some of them to prepare for the placing of stoves. In 1855 still greater changes were carried through, with an outlay of several thousand dollars. The floor was raised, the old pews were removed, and an increased number with different arrangement took their place ; a new pulpit was put in, costing five hundred dollars and paid for by the ladies of the society. The whole interior was renewed in form and color. In 1857 the space in front of the church was opened and enlarged by the removal of a neighboring dwelling-house, while new fences and new bricking and boarding of side-walks made the approaches to it more roomy and pleasant. Again, in 1877, the spirit of improvement took the venerable building in hand and changed its whole aspect, internally and externally, bringing it to its present appearance. Its original square, plain tower, stopping so abruptly and baldly as to suggest the likelihood of its not having been finished according to the builder's original intention, was carried up to its present graceful height and proportions, with some not excessive ornamentation. The new coloring without and within produced marked effects. The pulpit regarded with so much pride in 1855, gave way to the modern platform and simple reading desk. It is now one of the largest and most satisfactory of the church edifices in the city, - a city which has a fair number of attractive houses of worship.

in Salem was that of St. Mary. The first Roman Catholic services in the town were held in 1806 by- Rev. John Cheverus, of Boston, the first Roman Catholic bishop of Massachusetts, and subsequently services were held occasionally by the bishop and Dr. Matignon during the intervening years till 1811, when services were held in a school-house on Hardy Street, by Rev. John O'Brien, who afterwards became pastor of the church in Newburyport. The first settled pastor was the Rev. Paul McQuade, who was here from 1818 to 1822. It was in 1821, and during his pastorate, that St. Mary's Church was built on the corner of Mall and Bridge Streets. This is supposed to have been the first Catholic Church built in Essex County, the church in Newburyport not being built until 1848. Before that year (1848) Catholics came even from Newburyport, and of course from the nearer and adjoining towns, to the church in Salem, Bishop Cheverus sometimes walking from Boston to Salem to preach and celebrate Mass. The land on which the church was situated was deeded to Bishop Cheverus by the president, directors and company of the Marblehead Bank, " for the use and benefit of a certain number of persons in Salem, who have or are about forming a Roman Catholic Church and society in said Salem." This church was built by subscriptions of citizens of Salem, some of whom were not Catholics, but entertained a kindly feeling towards the principal Catholics of the place, among whom were the late John Simon, Francis Ashton and Matthew Newport, representing, respectively, the three Catholic nationalities, French, Italian and Irish. The largest contributor was probably John Forrester, father of Simon, the great merchant of those days, who was himself of Irish birth, but a Protestant in religion. The following is a partial list of the clergy of this church: John Mahoney, 1826 to 1830; William Wiley, 1830 to 1834 ; John D. Brady, 1834 to 1840 ; James Strain, 1841 to 1842; Thomas J. O'Flaherty, 1842 to 1846 (died March 29, 1846) ; James Conway,

When the Church of the Immaculate Conception was built on Walnut Street in 1857, the Church of St. Mary ceased to be occupied, that parish being merged in the new one, and in 1877 the old church was torn down, and the land on which it stood was sold by decree of the Supreme Judicial Court, on the 20th of December, 1882, the terms of the deed by which the bishop acquired his title preventing the conveyance of an unquestionable title to another purchaser without this authority from the court. The line of pastors in the Church of the Immaculate Conception includes the names of Rev. Thos. H. Shahan, Michael Hartney and William H. Hally, with those of Rev. Charles Renoni, James Qainlan, Wm. J. Delahunty, Matthew Harkins, Wm. A. Kennedy, James J. Foley, Martin O'Brien and Thomas Tobin as assistants. The rapidly increasing needs of the Catholic population had already called so urgently for enlarged church accommodations, even before the church in Walnut Street was erected, that in 1850 the Church of St. James was opened on Federal Street, though not dedicated until January 10, 1857. Its first pastor was Rev. Thomas Shahan, and he was succeeded by Rev. William Daley (who died in Rome), and Rev. John J. Gray, the present pastor. The Rev. J. Healy, Michael Masterson, William Shinnick, D. J. Collins and John Kelleherhave been assistant clergymen in the parish since its organization. Two large schools, of five or six hundred pupils each, are carried on by sisterhoods of Notre Dame, connected with the two churches of the Immaculate Conception and St. James, respectively. An asylum for orphans and also, secondarily, for the aged and infirm, is maintained on Lafayette Street, by a sisterhood of the Gray Nuns of Montreal, and has at present about seventy children in its care.

The French speaking Catholics of Salem, having become numerous, were gathered for worship in their own tongue in 1872, in the Church of the Immaculate Concejition. There were about ninety families at that time. In 1873 they bought the old Seamen's Bethel on Herbert Street, and took the name of St. Joseph's Church. Rev. George Talbot was appointed the first pastor. He was succeeded by Rev. 01. Boucher, and on the aj^pointment of the latter to the rectorship of the French Church in Lawrence, Father Talbot resumed the charge of St. Joseph's. Rev. J. Z. Dumontier succeeded him early in January, 1878. In September, 1878, Rev. Octave LePine was appointed pastor, and on the 13th of July, 1879, the present pastor. Rev. F. X. L. Vezina was given charge of the congregation ; Rev. Joseph O. Gadoury is his assistant. On the 26th of August, 1881, as the congregation had much increased, the old building on Herbert Street was found inadequate, and the Luscomb estate, on Lafayette Street, was bought, and steps were taken to build a new church, which was done in 1883, and services were held in it in March, 1884. In April, 1886, the EI well estate adjoining was bought for a parsonage. The French congregation represents a population of about two thousand five hundred souls at present.

Methodist Episcopal. - Organized Methodism in Salem dates back to 1821, when a church was formed. In 1822 Rev. Jesse Filmore became its first pastor. The next year, 1823, a church was built in Sewall Street, the same that is now occupied by the Wesley Chapel congregation, and which is about to be replaced by a more substantial structure immediately in its rear, fronting upon North Street. This church did not unite with the General Conference till February, 1835. Mr. Filmore had resigned his pastorate in 1832, but became pastor of the church again in 1835, and yet again in 1840, remaining till 1844.

Trouble seems to have grown out of the ownership of the church building by the pastor, who had erected it, and, as its owner, had a more potential voice and vote in its aflFairs than ordinarily falls to the pastors of churches, and involved relations between pastor and people not found to be conducive to harmony.

This modest and not very ancient house of worship has sheltered, at different times, and for longer or shorter periods, a great variety of worshippers, passing under uncongenial denominational names, resting here in turn temporarily on the road to larger and more permanent holdings elsewhere, or - on the road to further ecclesiastical transformation, or - on the way to extinction.

Second Methodist, - In March, 1841, a second Methodist congregation was formed by members withdrawing from the first, who built a meetinghouse in Union Street (afterwards occupied by one branch of the Second Advent Church). Kev. N. T. Spaulding was the first pastor, and among the earlier of his successors were Joseph A. Merrill, David K. Merrill, Horace Moulton, Phinehas Crandall, David L. Winslow, John W. Perkins; some of them, however, for very short periods - from less than a year to two years. The difficulties in the Sewall Street Church continuing, the church in Union Street gradually absorbed into itself the members of the former, and it became extinct. Meantime, its own prosperity and increasing wants made a removal necessary, and the church on La Fayette Street, corner of Harbor Street, the present home of the society, was built in 1851, and dedicated January 6, 1853. Its roll of pastors since it has occupied its present place of worship is as follows : Luman Boyden, 1851-53 ; A. D. Merrill, 1853-54; Daniel Richards, 1854-56; John A. Adams, 1856-57 ; Austin F. Herrick, 1857- 59; John H. Mansfield, 1859-61 ; Edward A. Manning, 1861-62; Gershom F. Cox, 1862-64; Loranus Crowell, 1864-67 ; S. F. Chase, 1867-69 ; D. Dorchester, 1869-72 ; J. S. Whedon, 1872-74 ; George Collyer, 1874-77; Daniel Steel, 1877-79; George W. Mansfield, 1879-82; William P. Eay, 1882-85 ; T. L. Gracey, 1885-87.

During the winter of 1871-72 the advisability of organizing another Methodist Church was considered by the La Fayette Street Church, the result of which was that the old Methodist meeting-house in Sewall Street was purchased and re-dedicated, May 24, 1872, and a new society was formed, taking the name of Wesley Chapel, and Eev. Joshua Gill, appointed by the New England Conference its pastor, first held Sunday services therein May 26, 1872. Thirty-five persons bringing certificates from the parent church were constituted the new church. The

The church has enjoyed the services of devoted and capable pastors, and has had a large and substantial growth. Under the ministry of Rev. Mr. Odell the need of more room and better accommodations became so pressing that the enterprise of building another church to meet the wants of the society was taken up with spirit and harmony, and an encouraging subscription list was started with an assurance of final success. The work has gone forward in the hands of his successor, and the plans are perfected for a new church on North Street, which is to be of brick, with terra-cotta trimmings and a handsome tower, and which will have sittings for a thousand persons, its appointments in all other respects being designed to answer all the needs of a large and increasing congregation. By legislative enactment the church was authorized in 1886 to change its name to Wesley Methodist Episcopal Church.

The Independent Congregational Society IN Barton Square. - In the autumn of 1819 the North Church pulpit becoming vacant by the death of Mr. Abbot, that society invited Rev. Henry Colman, pastor of a church in Hingham, to become its minister. The invitation was not unanimous, and was declined. Later, a portion of the First Parish desired that Mr. Colman should be invited to become a colleague with their minister, Rev. Dr. Prince, but failed to persuade the society to take the action they advocated. In 1824 these friends of Mr. Colman in the North and First Parishes withdrew from their respective churches, and organized the Independent Congregational Society in Barton Square. A church of brick was built and dedicated in December, 1824. Rev. Henry Colman was installed February 16, 1825, and resigned December 7, 1831, on account of ill health. Mr, Colman had been pastor of the Third Church in Hingham thirteen years, and had taught a school there ; from 1820 to 1825 he taught a school in Boston. After leaving Salem he engaged in agriculture at Deerfield, Mass., and was employed by the State from 1836 to 1842 to investigate its agricultural condition and resources. In 1842 he was sent to Europe in pursuit of the same purpose, and the results of his observation were embodied in two octavo volumes. He also published reports upon agriculture and silk culture, and two volumes upon European life and manners. Visiting Europe a second time, for the benefit of his health, he died at Islington, England, August 14, 1849. He was born in Boston September 12, 1785, and graduated from Dartmouth College, 1805. Mr. Colman was an independent thinker, and did not always follow the conventional roads as a theologian and preacher, a fact in which lay, doubtless, one of the causes -

Mr. Colmau was succeeded by Rev. James W. Thompson, who was installed March 7, 1832, and remained in this ministry twenty-seven years, till March 7, 1859. Mr. Thompson had been settled in Natick before his settlement in Salem, and left his church here to take charge of the Second Church in West Roxbury (Jamaica Plain), of which he continued the sole or senior pastor till his death, September 22, 1881. He Avas born in Barre, Mass., December 13, 1805, and graduated from Brown University, 1827. The society increased and prospered during his pastorate. The church building was entirely reconstructed in its interior, galleries were added and a commodious vestry of brick was erected in connection with it, at the rear, to meet its increasing wants.

Dr. Thompson was succeeded by Mr. Augustus M. Haskell, who was ordained January 1, 1862, and resigned May 2, 1866. Mr. Haskell was chaplain of the Fortieth Massachusetts Regiment in the Civil War, from September 11, 1863, to November 5, 1864, and after his Salem ministry became the pastor of Unitarian Churches in Manchester, N. H., and West Roxbury (Boston), Mass., successively. He is still pastor of the latter society. He was born January 24, 1832, in Poland, Me., and graduated at Harvard College, 1856. Mr. George Batchelor followed Mr. Haskell, being ordained October 3, 1866. He resigned after sixteen years of service, November 1,

1882, to take the pastoral charge of the Church of the Unity, in Chicago, 111., which he was obliged by ill health to relinquish after two or three years. Mr. Batchelor was born in Southbury, Conn., July 3, 1836, graduated at Harvard College 1866, having comi^leted a theological course at the Meadville School previous to his course in college. Rev. Benjamin F. McDaniel was installed pastor January 7,

1883, and resigned at the end of four years of service, January 1, 1887. He had been, before his Salem ministry, pastor of churches in Hubbardston, Mass., and Exeter, N. H., and left Salem to take pastoral charge of a church in San Diego, Cal. He, like a predecessor named above, did good service in one of the Union armies during the Civil War.

Central Baptist Church. - As mentioned before, in the sketch of the First Baptist Church, a colony from that church was dismissed and commissioned by it, in 1825, to establish a second church of its order in the lower part of the city. It was duly organized January 19, 1826, under the name of the "Second Baptist Church," having its house of worship and chapel, on St. Peter's Street, ready for occupancy prior to its organization, though the dedication was delayed till June 8, 1826. In 1855 its name was changed, by a legislative act, to the " Central Baptist Church in Salem."

August 23, 1826, Mr. George Leonard was ordained its first pastor. He was compelled, by failing health, to resign his ministry, which had opened with much promise, January 19, 1829. Mr. Robert E. Pattison was ordained September 9, 1829, but within six months asked and received a dismission, February 12, 1830. In October, 1830, Rev. Cyrus P. Grosvenor was installed pastor, and remained with the church till November 1, 1834. Mr. Grosvenor became warmly engaged in the anti-slavery agitation, just opening, and which disturbed the peace of many churches, and broke the pastoral tie in not a few cases. It may be presumed to have had its share of influence in interrupting the harmony of the relation between Mr. Grosvenor and his people.

Mr. Joseph Banvard was ordained pastor of the church August 26, 1835, and continued with it till March, 1846; and this period was manifestly one of increased activity, harmony and growth. Rev. Benjamin Brierly was installed Mr. Banvard's successor in September, 1846. His brief pastorate ended August 25, 1848. Mr. William H. Eaton followed him, and was ordained August 16, 1849. His society reluctantly consented to his dismission, in November, 1854. The next pastor was Rev. Daniel D. Winn, who came in October, 1855, and was dismissed by his own desire, December 23, 1866. During Mr. Winn's ministry the meeting-house was remodeled at a large cost. Early in 1867 Rev. S. Hartwell Pratt succeeded Mr. Winn, and resigned his charge October 21, 1870, to become pastor of the newly-formed Calvary Baptist Church, organized largely by his influence and under his direction. In January, 1872, Rev. David Weston, D.D., was settled in charge of the church, but being the same year elected professor of ecclesiastical history in Hamilton Theological Seminary, N. Y., he resigned, to the sin* cere regret of his church, September 27, 1872. April 8, 1873, Rev. W, H. H. Marsh succeeded him, and remained seven years, to 1880. Rev. Charles A. Towne, the present pastor, took charge of the church in 1881.

The Crombie Street Church. - On the 16th of February, 1832, one hundred and thirty-nine members of the Howard Street Church - the minister of that church, the Rev. William Williams, one of them - withdrew from it, with the purpose of organizing a separate church. They held their first meeting for public worship in Lyceum Hall February 19, 1832. The same day the Sunday-school, composed of their children, met at the same place. On the 6th of the next April they organized themselves into a religious society, and took the name of the " Lyceum Society." The purchase of a brick building on Crombie Street, now their house of worship, then known as the Salem Theatre - which had been occupied as a theatre - having been effected, at a meeting held in the office of Hon. Rufus Choate, on the 29th of August, 1832, a committee was chosen to make the required changes in the building to adapt it to its new uses. These changes accomplished, the pulpit was in the centre of the western end, the choir-gallery was opposite the pulpit. Over the pulpit was the inscription, " Love the truth and peace ," with the date of the church's institution - May 3, 1832 - and that of the dedication of its house of worship - November 22, 1832 ; below were the names of the pastor and the architect. Between the lines, right under that inscription, " Love the truth and peace," we may presume that the recent emigrants from Howard Street read another inscription, invisible to the eye of flesh : " The end of our prayers, the desire of our hearts ; for which we have left home - a house in contention, divided against itself." The church took' the name, "The New Congregational Church" on the 8th of May, 1832, and on the 17th of September of the same year, adopted the title, which has been permanent since, of the " Crombie Street Church." In 1851 the pulpit was carried to the opposite (the eastern) end the floor, which had sloped upward from the front, was brought to a level, the pews were reversed, the brick vestry was built in the rear and the walls and ceiling were painted in fresco ; nine years later, in 1860, the organ was carried to the rear of the pulpit, to stand as it now does, the congregation claiming to have been the first in Salem to dispense with choirsinging, which it did in 1850, and for which the present position of the organ was deemed better adapted. The first in the line of pastors has been already named - Rev. William Williams. He was born in Wethersfield, Conn., October 2, 1797 ; graduated at Yale College 1816 ; ordained pastor of Howard Street Church July 5, 1821. His ministry continued from November 22, 1832, to March 1, 1838. The new meeting-house was dedicated the same day that Mr. Williams was installed. After resigning his charge in Salem Mr. Williams was settled in Exeter, N. H., for a few years, after which, in 1812, he returned to Salem, and having studied medicine with Dr. Abel L. Peirson, of this city, established himself in the practice of medicine, in which he became successful. He died in 1860. Rev. Alexander J. Sessions, born in Warren, Mass., August 13, 1809, and graduated at Yale College in 1831, was the next pastor, settled June 6, 1838, and continued till August 22, 1849, when he resigned, and has since been the pastor of churches in Melrose, Scituate and North Beverly. He is still living in Beverly. The third paster was Rev. James M. Hoppin, born in Providence, R. I., January 17, 1820 ; graduated at Yale College 1840 and settled as pastor of Crombie Street Cnurch March 27, 1850. Mr. Hoppin remained till May 10, 1859. He has since been a professor in Yale College - first, of homiletics and pastoral theology and later of the history of art. December 29, 1859, Rev. Joseph Henry Thayer was settled as the fourth pastor of the church. He resigned this charge February 19, 1864, to accept the position of associate professor of sacred literature in the Theological Seminary at Andover, which office he continued to fill until 1882, when he resigned. He was appointed the next year lecturer on Biblical theology in the Divinity School of Harvard University, and on the death of the eminent scholar, Ezra Abbot, professor of New Testament criticism and interpretation in the Divinity School, Professor Thayer was appointed to the same place, which he still holds.

During the Civil War Mr. Thayer asked leave of absence from his parish to become chaplain of the Fortieth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers for nine months. His term of service was from September 17, 1862, to May 15, 1863. He was one of the American members of the company of New Testament revisers and translators in England and America, who brought out the Revised New Testament in 1880, and with their co-laborers who had given similar revision to the Old Testament, a revised translation at a later day of the whole Bible. Mr. Thayer was born in Boston November 7, 1828, and graduated at Harvard College 1850.

The fifth paster was Rev. Clarendon Waite, whose short term of service fell between the dates of April 10, 1866, and December 3d of the same year (less than nine months). Being advised by his physicians that he could not expect the health requisite for the ministry, he withdrew from his profession, and in just about a year afterwards died on a journey to a new field of labor to which he had been called (that of professor in Beloit College, Wisconsin). Mr. Waite was born in Hubbardston, Massachusetts, December 12, 1830, graduated at Brown University, Providence, and had been seven years pastor of a church in Rutland, Mass., before coming to Salem. Rev. Hugh Elder, the sixth pastor, was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, March 26, 1838, and graduated at the University of Edinburgh 1863. He preached to the society and was invited to become its minister before the settlement of Mr. Waite, which invitation he declined. After the death of Mr. Waite he came again to preach ; was called again to the pastorate, accepted and was ordained January 28, 1868. He resigned at the end of August, 1884, to accept the position of pastor of the college church connected with Airdale College, in Bradford, England. The present pastor of the church, Rev. Louis B. Voorhees, was installed April 15, 1885. He was born June 10, 1847, in Rocky Hill, N. J., and graduated at Princeton College 1868. He had been pastor of chnrches in North Weymouth, in Worcester and in Grafton previous to his settlement in Salem.

It needs but a reference to the fact that four of the seven pastors of this church have received appointments to positions in educational institutions of the higher class to show that it has been favored with a line of scholarly men for its ministers. Better than that, they have been, as a whole, men devoted to the service of the people outside the church as well as inside, thus helping the church to which they minister-

Second Advent. - A religious movement of considerable extent grew out of the preaching of William Miller, the prophet of the millenium, who, for about ten years (from 1833 to 1843), stirred many communities to a high pitch of excitement with predictions of an early return of Christ to the earth ; the time was definitely set ; when it had passed uneventfully another was set. After several such predictions had successively failed, though many lost faith and abandoned the body identified with the great expectation, others, still sanguine that it was no more than an error of time, and that a small one, settled into a belief that the Lord would appear soon to set up his kingdom ; and the latter have become a permanent sect. Mr. Miller never preached in Salem, as we can learn ; but a large gathering of his disciples, and of the curious to hear the exposition of his belief, was held in North Salem, in camp, in 1842. Preachers con. tinned to set forth the millenial doctrine according to Mr. Miller from time to time, and on July 28, 1848, a church was formed, which, with intervals of suspended services, has continued to the present time. Indeed, it has at times divided into two sects over controverted points turning chiefly on the state of the " dead " between the body's dissolution and resurrection. Sunday services have been maintained in two places of worship at the same time for a while. At present the society worships in its own church in Herbert Street. It has changed its place of assembling several times; has been in Sewell Street (old Methodist meeting-house), in Union Street (Second Methodist), Holyoke Hall, 199 Essex Street, Hardy Hall, Washington Street. One of its sections, when there were two passing under the same name, met in a chapel in Endicott Street. The pastorates of this church in both branches have been mostly short. Several, however, have continued for a period of a few years each. Rev. Lemuel Osier, Francis H. Berick, Rufua Wendell, Charles E. Barnes, George W. Sederquist, Frederick Gunner (Endicott Street) have at different times ministered to the society. The present pastor is Rev. George F. Haines.

Episcopal : Grace. - A second Episcopal Church was organized in the year 1858, under a movement arising in St. Peter's Church, the rector of St. Peter's, Rev. Dr. Leeds, remarking in the Journal of the Diocese of 1859: "The completion of the fifth quarter-century in the history of St. Peter's was celebrated by laying the corner-stone of another church edifice, to be known by the name of Grace Church." The new church, a Gothic frame structure, was consecrated June 2, 1859. The Rev. George D. Wildes was the first rector, his pastorate covering eight years, 1859-67. Rev. Joseph Kidder succeeded Mr. Wildes in 1868, and remained until July 1, 1870, when the present rector. Rev. James P. Franks, succeeded him. The sixty communicants with which this church began had increased, at the twenty-fifth anniversary of its consecration, to one hundred and fifty. The architecture of the church remains as it was at the beginning.

New Church Society (oftener designated in popular speech as the Church of the New Jerusalem, or Swedenboryian Church). - As early as 1840 those interested in the doctrines of the New Jerusalem met at the homes of different individuals and read the writings of the church. In 1845 Miss Mary Eveleth having joined the little band, became their reader for most of the two or three following years ; after that Mr. Joseph Ropes was for a few years their leader. It was in 1861 that meetings began to be held in the hall of the building which had been General H. K. Oliver's school-house, and which was erected by him, on Federal Street. At that time Rev. Warren Burton was their leader. Here a Sunday-school was first gathered. From this place a removal took place to Creamer Hall, on Essex Street, and on the 25th of January, 1863, the society was instituted by Rev. T. B. Hayward, who preached for the congregation two years, or more. Services were afterwards held in the Howard Street Church and in Hamilton Hall. Rev. Abiel Silver was minister from 1867 to 1869. The society was incorporated July 13, 1869. That year a lot of land was purchased for a church. On this land the present church was built, and dedicated April 18, 1872. Rev. L. G. Jordan was the minister from June 6, 1869, to November 1, 1870. Rev. A. F. Frost began to preach for the society in 1872, but was not installed as pastor till January 25, 1875. He resigned June 30, 1879. Rev. Mr. Hayden followed Mr. Frost, being engaged to preach for a year. After he left, different ministers preached from one Sunday to several months each, until April 1, 1884, when Rev- Duane V. Bowen was invited to become the minister of the society. The invitation was accepted, and he remains to the present time the minister. Rev. Mr. Bowen was ordained in the Unitarian ministry in 1873, and had served parishes of that denomination before embracing the faith of the New Church and identifying himself with that body. In making the change he did not sever the bonds of friendship and sympathy by which he had been held in earlier fellowship with the communion of which he had been a member. Of the fifty-nine original members of the New Church Society, twenty have removed from the city, and fourteen have been " removed to the spiritual world," the speech of this church not recognizing such translation as death.

Calvary Baptist Church. - On the 21st of October, 1871, ninety members of the Central Baptist Church received letters of dismission from that church, for the purpose of constituting a new church, upon a somewhat different basis from that on which the parent church existed, believing "that the house of God should be free to all, without the sale or letting of pews, or the granting to a worldly proprietorship a vote on any interest pertaining to the church." They met in the old Howard Street Chapel October 24, 1871, and organized under the name of " The Calvary Baptist Church of Salem." Rev. S. H. Pratt, who had come in their company from the Central Church, was chosen their pastor. The congregation transferred itself to Mechanic Hall for a time. Coming to feel the need of a church home of their own, Mrs. John Dwyer gave them land on which to build, and they proceeded to set up their meeting-house on the corner of Essex and Herbert Streets, meantime worshipping at the old "Bethel" on the latter street, till the new church should be ready. With much effort, their means not being abundant, they carried the enterprise through and dedicated their house on the 17th of November, 1873. On the 17th day of March, 1874, the church organized as a corporation under the general statutes of Massachusetts ; there was no society distinct from the church, the church itself being incorporated. " The seats are utterly free, no price or rent being charged for any seat, and no seat being assigned to or claimable by any person, and all seats being open to the first comer ; . , . the expenses are met by voluntary weekly offerings." Rev. Mr. Pratt resigned his charge May 4, 1873. For nearly a year they had the services of Mr. E. B. Andrews, a student of Newton Seminary, and since professor both in Newton and in Brown Universitj' - services which were of great value beyond his religious ministry, as he worked strenuously to raise the money for the building of the church. Twice they invited him to become their pastor and twice their earnest call was declined. Rev. D. H. Taylor was ordained their second pastor September 9, 1874. He continued in the pastorate till January 12, 1877. On the 27th of the following March (1877) Rev. William A. Keese, then settled in Ellsworth, Me., was invited to take pastoral charge of the church, and accepting, began his labors May Gth, and resigned May 26, 1883, at the end of a ministrj' of six years. Rev. Samuel H. Emery, the present pastor, was settled January 2, 1884. He was ordained December 5, 1877, and had been pastor of a church in Bellows Falls, Vt., previous to his settlement in Salem.

Seamen's Society: Seaman s Bethel. - When Salem's prosperity rested largely upon commerce, and the town was not without a considerable population of seafarers and their families, some transient, some resident, they were regarded by the Salem churches as a class entitled to special missionary effort. In August, 1824, a " Bethel " was opened in a store at the head of Derby Wharf as a place of worship, and Rev. Eleazer Barnard became the minister. The next year Rev. Benjamin H. Pitman succeeded Mr. Barnard, remaining two years ; and in 1832 Rev. Michael Carlton was appointed, and continued in this work nearly thirty years, adding, in the latter years of his ministry, many of the oiiices of a minister at large and of a dispenser of the charities of the rich among the poor to his pastoral and missionary duties among sailors. A chapel was built on Herbert Street, and from its top the " Bethel " flag long waved an invitation to all who would come, seamen and others, to worship. As the number of seamen has diminished in Salem, the special mission work in behalf of sailors has become desultory and intermittent at times. Rev. Benjamin Knight, a Baptist clergyman living in Salem, rather past middle life, took up and carried on the same miscellaneous work which Mr. Carlton had pursued, that of colporteur, preacher and pastor to seamen, agent of the charitable in seeking out and relieving cases of want, and advocate of temperance - in short, tlie work of a minister at large. vSince Mr. Knight's death two organizations, not altogether friendly to each other, have grown out of his mission, both assuming the name of " Bethel " societies, and seeking to perpetuate a ministry to the neglected and the unchurched like that in which he labored so many years. Neither has a settled pastor. One w'orships in the same building in which Mr. Knight preached, at the head of Phillips Wharf, the other (lately incorporated) on Derby Street, opposite the Bertram Home for Aged Men.

Church of the Colored People. - Another mission enterprise was started by the Salem churches about sixty years ago, in 1828, to provide a separate place of worship for the colored people of the town, it being their own desire to have a church home by themselves, in which they would be free from unpleasant and intrusive observation, and have a more perfect enjoyment of ministrations of their own selection, and more congenial to their feelings and religious habits. A chapel was built, in 1828, on South Street, afterwards known as Mill Street, and still later as (new) Washington Street, the chapel being removed when Washington Street was extended up the hill. This little congregation called itself at first the " Union Bethel Church." It had James P. Lewis as a missionary in 1831. It several times changed its name. In 1839 it was " Wesleyan Methodist," in 1842 " Zion's Methodist," or " Equal Rights Zion's Methodist Church " (unless this was a branch of the former), in 1845 again the "Wesleyan Methodist Connection in America," in 1854 "First Free- Will Baptist Society." In 1839 John N. Mars was its pastor; in 1845, Samuel Palmer; in 1855, Rev. James H. Marston. It had many reorganizations. Its light sometimes flickered, sometimes seemed to have gone out. Messrs. Osgood & Batchelder date its extinction within the year 1861. The African Methodist Episcopal Church has several time a within the last eight years sent preachers from its Conference to undertake a revival of public worship among the colored people, and the establishment of a church. Rev. Jacob Stroyer and Joseph Taylor have each continued eff"orts to this end for two or three years at a time, but unsuccessfully. The population in whose interest the experiment has been tried is estimated at about three hundred souls in all. Many of these are already respected members of other churches, satisfied with their church relations. The desire of many colored persons, sensitive to surrounding opinion, and constrained by a self-respecting reserve to have their worship apart and by themselves, has been well understood and sympathized with, and they have been liberally aided in their attempts to maintain their own separate meetings on Sunday. But it would appear to be wiser, hereafter, to seek their absorption in the other churches, where, it may be hoped, time and a growing appreciation of the spirit of true Christianity will make real the abolishment of all distinctions of class and race.

Mormon. - For a few years a church of the " Latter- Day Saints," better known as Mormons, existed in Salem. It was organized January 1, 1842. Ten years before, Joseph Smith, the " prophet " of that sect, came to Salem, with associates, and propagated its tenets, not unsuccessfully ; in 1843 it had one hundred members. Erastus Snow remained here as its elder for a year or two. But in 1844, when all the pilgrims of this order were setting their faces towards Nauvoo, in Illinois, their sacred city, the church in Salem obeyed the general impulse and made a clean exodus from among the aliens.

Deaf Mutes. - A small congregationof deaf mutes organized themselves into a religious society in 1876, and have had Rev. Philo W. Packard, one of their number, as their only pastor. They number about twenty persons. Mr. Packard was born in Boston February 25, 1838.

Lutheran Swedish Church. - One finds the simple record in the listof Salem churches for 1884 - 85 that " a Lutheran Swedish Church was organized June 15, 1884 - no pastor - John Lonn its president. Its place of meeting. Central, corner of Charter Street."

For many years a body of believers, classed as "Spiritualists," numerically undefined and undefinable, at times sufiiciently organized for regular meetings, have had sessions from Sunday to Sunday for such communion, utterances and conferences as usually characterize their congregations. Those who attend such gatherings are few compared with the number of those who entertain opinions more or less concurrent with theirs, but to whom they are private speculations, or a private faith, calling for no public and conventional proclamation, or separate and permanent organization.

Rev. C. W. Upham's "Sermon at the Dedication of the First Church," November 16, 1x26 ; " Second Century Lecture," 182!) ; "Address at the Rededicatiun of tlie First Church," December 8, 1867.

"Narrative of the Controversy between the Rev. Mr. Samuel Fisk, the Pastor, and a number of the Brethren of the First Church of Christ in Salem," 1735 ; "Narrative of the Proceedings of the Ecclesiastical Council, convened in Salem in 1734," 1735 ; other pubHshed pamphlets relating to the above controversy, bound together in a volume in the library of the Salem Athenaeum.

" Semi-Centennial Address on the Fiftieth Anniversary of Dedication of the Uni versalist Meeting-house and Installation of Rev. Edward Turner,'' 18.59.

[In Library of Boston Athenitum " B. 76, Sermons No. 7i^."] A tract of six pages ; its title page, in part, " A Direction for a Publick Profi'ssion in the Church Assembly after the Private Examination of the Elders " [much referred to in the discussion between Dr. S. M. Worcester and Judge D. A. White respecting the covenant and confession of the Salem Church, adopted in 1629].