HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH CHURCH.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4222, 1 October 1874, Page 3

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH CHURCH.

(Abridged from the New York Herald, August 4.) Plymouth church stands now so prominently before the public that a risumi of its historical features will not be uninteresting to the render whose opportunities for attendance on the services prevent him from becoming familiar with the details of its history. The following are some of the more salient points : WITHIN ITS WALLS, "rich and sacred with the memories of famous orators, legislators, statesmen, gifted women, litterateurs and divines, has been heard the voices of the agitators of anti-slavery, when it was almost dangerous to speak the words aloud. The silvery tongued Wendell Phillips, the scholarly and eloquent Sumner, the gifted and erudite William Lloyd Garrison, the radical and impassioned Gerrit Smith, the brilliant Curtis, the statesman shoemaker Henry Wilson, John B. Gough and scores of the greatest and ablest expounders of antislavery have given utterance to their views and made the grand old edifice fairly ring with their eloquence and the magnetism with which they pronounced their convictions. It is here that Chapin, with glowing imagery and majestic and elegant English, has spoken of " Woman's Work" and the "Roll of Honor." Here Mrs. Livermore, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Julia Ward Howe, Mrs. Tracy Cutler (the Western female lawyer), Lucy Harper, Henry B. Blackwell and Colonel T. W. Higginson have explained and expounded the nature of their peculiar views, generally preceded by the late David Coombes, dressed in revolutionary costume, who, taking his stand in front of the platform, would proceed to unroll sundry mathematical problems, proving beyond a doubt his claims on certain families, to whom he had loaned money some thirty years ago, until he was ejected from the building in spite of withering glances which he cast at the disturber of what he called "FREE SPEECH." Here it was that the world-famed casta diva, Adelina Patti, sang her sweetest notes in " Moses in Egypt," and thrilled the hearts of thousands by her exquisite rendering of the "Last Rose of Summer." Here Parepa has filled the building with her melody, and moved her audience to tears. Here Theodore Thomas and his orchestra have performed the inspired oratorios, symphonies and sonatas of Handel, Beethoven, Mozart and Gluck. Here poor Harry Sanderson, Mills and Rubinstein " the great" have made the piano speak, and Ole Bull has evoked, by the aid of his magical bow, the poetry of sound. Charles Dickenß, in the winter of 1867, told of "Tiny Tim," " Bob Brachit," " BOOTS AT THE HOLLY TREE TNU," and " Poor Jo," and drew such crowds that carriages lined both sides of the streets for blocks, while many encamped outside of the church on the previous night of the reading, by the light of bonfires, in order that they might secure seats. Here the famous Plymouth organ concerts have been held on Saturday afternoons, and the great church organ (the largest, with one exception, in America) has pealed forth, on Sunday mornings and evenings, its tidings of great joy. Here the Prince of Wales, ! and Presidents Lincoln and Grant have attended divine service. It is here that Congregational singing is heard at the best, and, perhaps, in the history of no church has it been carried to such a high state of perfection. The visitor to Plymouth for the first time will probably never forget the inspiration incited by the vast assemblage rising and literally singing with all their heart and soul "The Shining, Shore," " Jesus, Lover of My Soul," or "Homeward Bound." NEW YOBK BOUGHS AT CHURCH. Probably no church in the United States has experienced so many anxious, exciting, and memorable Sunday services as has Plymouth. It was on Sunday evening, June 8, 1856, that the services were of a peculiarly exciting nature, it having been reported by the New York papers of that day that a gang of New York rough 3 were expected to visit the church in the evening and create a general disturbance. The Mayor of Brooklyn and the Chief of Police were notified, and a large posse of police were detailed in citizens' dre3s to watch the evening services, while a number of the regular attendants of the church armed themselves with revolvers, and prepared to give the ruffians a good warm Congregational reception in case they shouJd attempt to demolish the church building or disperse the congregation. As the hour for the evening service drew nigh crowds and gangs of rough-looking men from the worst localities of New York and Brooklyn formed in front of Musical Hall, at Fulton j and Orange Streets, and on adjacent corners, and when the church was opened a number of them walked in, but behaved with great de- | coram when they observed the immense crowd in attendance. After remaining a while they passed out, muttering as they did so a few. illchosen remarks about " damned abolitionists and negro worshippers." Finally, as the audience were listening with almost breathless attention to Mr. Beecher, something struck one of the windows to the east of the pulpit, rattled against the glass, causing considerable excitement among the ladies and other persons present who sat near the windows, and then dropped on tho window-sill. For a few minutes the excitement was intense, but after a time quiet was restored and the equanimity of the congregation regained. It was subsequently discovered that tho object thrown against the window was a bullet, eridently used by some mischievous person with a view of creating a sensation or for' tho purpose of raising a prodigious excitement in the neighbourhood. THE SALE OP A LITTLE SLAVE GIRL. On Sunday morning, February 5, 1860, a little mulatto slave girl, ten years old, and valued at §9OO, occupied a seat by Mr. Beecher on the platform. She was brought to Brooklyn from Washington, D.C., by Rev. Bishop Falkner, then a member of Plymouth Church, but now pastor of tho Mediator Congregational Church, Rochester Avenue "and Herkimer Street. The reverend gentleman having obtained permission from her master, and determining to secure her freedom if possible, he introduced her to Mr. Beecher, by whom she was presented during the services of that memorable Sunday morning to his congregation, accompanied by a statement of the object in view, and a request for a liberal contribution of money, in order that she might be rescued from slavery. The collection taken up that morning in the church, together with a collection taken up for the same purpose by the Sunday school in the afternoon, amounted in tho aggregate to §IOOO. The interest manifested by the • congregation in the morning was very groat, one of the ladies in the audience, Miss Rose Terry, a sister of MajorGeneral Terry, dropping a gold ring in the contribution box. as it passed. This ring was afterward placed by the pastor on the finger of tho little slave girl with the remark that it was her freedom ring. She was then named after Mr. Beecher and Miss Terry, Rose Ward. A LIVE SLAVE WOMAN. On Sunday, June 1, 1861, a similar incident transpired at Plymouth Chuich, when Mr. Beecher called upon his cengrejfation to witness a " live slave woman," and introduced a young girl about twenty years old, named Sarah, who had been told by her master that if she could raise her freedom money among her white abolition friends he would be willing to release her from slavery. Accordingly with her owner's permission alio was brought North, with the promise that if the money was | not raised she would bo returned. Three hundred dollars of the freedom money had [ already been collected when she was brought to Brooklyn. When the announcement was inade to the congregation of Plymouth Church that the sum of §BOO, exclusive of jewelry, had been raised by collection to the church,

the applause that followed lasted for several minutes. THE FIRST LONG ISLAND VOLUNTEERS. On a Sunday in April, 1861, during the stirring and exciting period of early rebellion days, Mr. Beecher preached a sermon to the First Long Island (infantry) Volunteers, better known as the "Brooklyn Phalanx," and of which one. of his sons was an officer. On the same day the congregation contributed at the conclusion of the morning services the sum of §3OOO to aid in equipping the regiment for service in the field. In tho autumn of 1862 the church played • its part well in providing acommodations for the defenders of the Union,' a regiment of Marine Volunteers "on its way to the front" occupying the building, and sleeping for two nights on its cushioned seats. THE FOURTH ANNIVERSARY OP FORT SUMTER. On April 12, 1865, a large number of the members of Plymouth church and Mr. Beecher celebrated the fourth anniversary of the surrender of Fort Sumter, by Major Anderson, the steamer Quaker City conveying the Plymouthites to the fort, where Mr. Beecher delivered the address. On their return, while stopping at fortress Monroe, the excursionists were grieved to hear that the fourteenth President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, had suffered death at the hands of THE ASSASSIN JOHN WILKES BOOTH, and when the party reached Brooklyn it was publicly announced that Mr. Beecher would preach a sermon on the martyred President on the following Sunday morning, April 24, 1865. The services on that memorable morning in spring will never be forgotten by those who participated in them. They are vividly portrayed in Harper's Magazine by an eye witness as follows :—• Presently the seats were all full. The multitude seemed to be solid above and below, but still the newcomers tried to press in. The platform was fringed by the legs of those who had been so lucky as to find seats there. There was loud talking and scuffling, and even occasionally a little cry at the doors. One boy struggled desperately for his life or breath. The ushers, courteous to the last, smiled pitifully upon their own efforts to put ten gallons into a pint pot. As the hour of service approached a small door under the choir and immediately behind the mahogany desk upon the platform opened quietly and Mr. Beecher entered. He stood looking at the crowd for a little time without taking off his outer coat, then advanced to the edge of the platform and gave some directions about seats. He indicated with his hands that the people should pack more closely. The ushers evidently pleaded for the pewholders who had not arrived; but the preacher replied that they could not get in, the seats should be filled that the service might proceed in Bilence. He turned and opened the door. Then he removed his coat, sat down, and opened the hymn book, while the organ played. The impatient people meantime had climbed up to the window sills from the outside, and the great white church was like a hive, with the swarming bees hanging in clusters upon the outside. The service began with an invocation. It was followed by a hymn, by the reading of a chapter in the Bible and a prayer. The congregation joined in singing, and the organ, skillfully and firmly played, preventing the lagging which usually spoils congregational singing. The effect was imposing. The vast volume filled the building with solid sound. It poured out at the open windows, and filled the still morning air of the city with solemn melody. Far upon every side those who sat at home in solitary chambers heard the great voice of praise. Then amid the hush of

THE VAST MULTITUDE, the preacher, overpowered by emotion, prayed fervently for the stricken family and the bereaved nation. There was more singing, before which Mr. Beecher appealed to those who were sitting to sit closer, and for once to be incommoded, that some more of the crowd might get in ; and as the wind blew freshly from the open windows, he reminded tho audience that a handkerchief laid upon the head would prevent the sensitive from taking cold. Then, opening the Bible, he read the story of Moses going up to Pisgah, and took the verses for his text. The sermon was written, and he read calmly from the manuscript. Yet at times, rising upon the flood of feeling, he shot out a solemn adjuration, or asserted an opinion with a'fiery emphasis that electrified the audience into applause. His action was intense, but not dramatic, and the demeanor of the preacher was subdued and sorrowful. He did not attempt to speak in detail of the President's character or career. He drew the bold outline in a few words, and, leaving that task to a calmer and fitter moment, spoke of the lessons of the hour. The way of his death was not to be deplored; the crime itself revealed to the dullest the ghastly nature of slavery ; it was a blow, not at the man, but at the people and the government ; it had utterly failed, and finally, though dead, the good man yet speaketh. The discourse was brief, fitting, forcible and tender with emotion. It was a manly sorrow and sympathy that cast its spell upon the great audience, and it was good to bo there. There was another hymn, a peal of pious triumph, which poured out of the heart of the congregation and seemed to lift us all up, up into the sparkling, serene, inscrutable heaven. THE HI3TOBY OP THE CHURCH. The ground on which the present buildings of Plymouth Church Btand comprises seven lots, 88 feet by 200 feet, and extends from Orange Street to Cranberry Street, forming a part of what is known to old Brooklynite3 aa the " Hicks estate," the property at one time having belonged to John and Jacob M. Hicks, representatives of one of the oldest and wealthiest families of Brooklyn, Hicks Street having b»en named after the family. In 1823 the First Presbyterian Church purchased the property of the Hickses and erected thereon a church edifice, fifty-six by seventy feet, fronting on Cranberry Street. At that period the little village of Brooklyn possessed a population of less than one thousand people, and the erection of a church on what was regarded and known as farm property and in the midst of green fields, where cattle were wont to browse, was looked upon with feelings of doubt and distrust. But notwithstanding the prophecies of a few timid members of the congregation the society waxed strong and grew in grace and wisdom until the dimensions of the church edifice became so contracted that an addition of eighteen feet to the building could no longer be delayed. Accordingly, in 1831, a lecture room, including Sunday school rooms and a pastor's Btudy, thirty-six feet by seventy-two feet, were added to the already prosperous little church. Rev. Joseph Sanford was called to assume pastoral charge of the new congregation, and continued in that capacity from 1823 to 1829, a period of five years, when he was superseded by the Rev. Daniel L. Carroll, D.D., who was succeeded in turn, in 1837, by the Rev. Samuel H. Cox, D.D., a name familiar to old churchgoers of this city. The Rev. Dr. Cox continued'in charge of the congregation even after the society had removed, in 1847, to their new church edifice on Henry Street, near Clark. A NEW COHaitEGATIOHAL CHURCH CALLED FOB. Among all these churches and in a city with a population of 60,000 souls there was but one Congregational church (the Rev. R. M. Storrs, Jr., Church of the Pilgrims). The necessity for an additional Congregational church was therefore felt and demanded. Accordingly Messrs. John T. Howard, Henry C. Bowen and Seth B. Hunt, of the Church of tho Pilgrims, and Mr. David Hale, of the Broadway Tabernacle, held a consultation with a view to establishing a new Congregational church. And inasmuch aa the congregation of Rev. Dr. Cox, known as the First Presbyterian church, were about removing to their new edifice on Henry Street, near Clark, the property which they had heretofore occupied on Cranberry Street was offered for Bale at $25,000. The locality and purchase money asked for the Cranberry Street church property seemed to impress the foregoing gentlemen as a favorable spot for the establishment of a new church organisation, and after due deliberation Mr. Howard waa authorised, on behalf of the committee, to purchase the property on the following terms : —520,000 ; &9SOO payable in cash and tho residue, $10,500, to remain Jon mortgage. In June, 1816, the

sale was consummated, and, according to the manual of Plymouth Church, Messrs. Charles Rowland, David Hall, Jira Payne, David Griffin, Henry C. Bowen and John T. Howard held a meeting on Saturday evening, May 9, 1847, at the residence of Heni-y C. Bowen, having for its object the formation and establishment of a new Congregational church in Brooklyn :—"The meeting was opened by prayer, after which David Hale made some statements in relation to the property now held by the Plymouth Church, and then, in behalf of himself and the other owners, offered the use of said property for purposes of religious worship as soon as the premises should be vacated by the First Presbyterian Church." Whereupon it was resolved that religious services shall be commenced, by Divine permission, on Sunday, the 16th day of May, that being the first Sabbath after the house was to be vacated. HENBY WAUD BEECHER'S CALL TO PLYMOUTH' Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, at that time pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis, , Ind., and a young man, thirtyfour years old, happened to be in tho city, having, through the influence of Mr. William P. Cutter, of New York, an intimate friend of the rising young Congregational preacher, been invited to deliver, an address before the American Home Missionary Society in May, 1847. Mr. Beecher accepted the invitation, but for some reason delivered the address before the Foreign Missionary Society, instead of the Society to which he was originally invited to speak. Some of the members of the new Congregational church heard Mr. Beecher's effort, and were so well pleased, that he was invited to preach the opening sermon of the Cranberry Street Congregational Church. HOW MB. BEECHEB. HAPPENED TO COME TO BBOOKLYN. Tho credit of Mr. Beecher's introduction into Brooklyn is due to Mr. William P. Cutter, who was cognizant, even at that early time (1547), of Beecher's great abilities, not only as an eloquent preacher, but also as an original thinker and fearless speaker. Mr. Cutter gave a very interesting sketch of his efforts in carrying on negotiations with Mr. Beecher for his final settlement in Brooklyn, at the silver wedding, held in Plymouth Church, October, 1872. He said that he (Cutter) had heard of Beecher while travelling in the West, and when Plymouth Church was established it occurred to him that Beecher was the man to fill the pulpit. With this object he went to Indiana, heard the young man, and was more than satisfied. He then fixed matters with the New York Missionary Society, so that they brought him on here to preach their anniversary sermon, and thereby gave the Plymouthites a chance to satisfy themselves concerning his qualifications. They were satisfied, and determined to call him, did call him, and he (Cutter) hung az-ound Indiana, using all the influence he could command, until Beecher determined to accept the call. Mrs. Beecher was then in ill health, and had been told that Eastern air was necessary for her restoration, and this, among other things, was one of Mr. Beecher's strongest reasons for coining to Brooklyn. THE CONTRIBUTIONS OP THE CHUBCH. The pew rents for such years as records

Out of the pew rents of the last five years alone the sum of §78,950 has been applied to strictly mission purposes, exclusive of all expenditure upon the church or its own Sunday school. The collections of the church for benevolent objects of all kinds (exclusive of pew rents, but including contributions in the schools), so far as any records remain, have been as follows :

These figures do not include any contributions not taken under the immediate supervision of officers of the church or society, and represent only a very small part of the donations of the congregation. Kecently, an effort was made to ascertain the contributions of members outside of the church collections; and it was found that over §300,000 had been given in one year, for charitable purposes, by the public subscriptions of a small portion of the members. Concerning the private charities of these members, and the general dona■tions of all the rest of the church, lio trustworthy estimate can,be made.

iave been kept were aE follows :— 1853 .. 811,157 18G0 . 828,682 1SG7 . $49,000 1854 .. 11,729 isei . 28,750 1S88 . 58,335 1855 .. 12,053 1802 , 18,100 1809 .. 54,870 1850 .. 12,505 1803 . - 23,390 1870 . 54,840 1857 .. 11,340 1804 . 31,000 1S71 . 50,744 1858 .. 10,300 1805 . 39,042 1872 . 00,318 1859 .. 20,052 1S00 . 42,782 1873 . 59,144

1850 . . $1,873 1858 . . §5,148 1808 .. $20,742 1851 . . 2,803 1859 . . 0,340 1SG7 .. 1S,504 1852 . . 1,815 1800 . . 0,584 1808 .. 39,712 1853 . . 4,339 1801 . . 11,980 1809 .. 11,520 1854 . . 5,110 1802 . . 18,100 1870 .. 1S.938 1855 . . 0,0S8 1803 i ao record 1871 .. 27,030 1856 J no record 1804 . . 11,144 1872 .. 19,788 1857 . . 0,300 1805 . . 14,572 1873 .. 33,221