will be ready, I think, by mid-Lent at farthest. Meanwhile our little
loft is full to overflowing. Yesterday afternoon troops of people
went away for scarcity of room, and many remained standing
1845.] CHUllCH OF THE ADVENT. 339
during the whole services. Some sat round tlie footstei)s of the altar.
At present, we have three services a day."
December 16, Wednesday in Ember week : " To-day, in accord-
ance with the design of the Church, since public worship I have
endeavored to seclude myself, and keep holy time by devout obser-
vance, as I have recommended to my people. We continue to gather
a crowded assemblage, thrice on Sunday, at our chapel, and in this
respect exceed the most sanguine expectations of our friends, and
even my own. . . . Not only in the numbers who come is the
hand of God so good upon us, but in the character of the attendance,
including, as it does, some of the best and most influential minds in
the Church in the city. There is a charm, doubtless, in the very
unpretendiHgness of the loft, where there is nothing to mar the
influence of our almost inspired service, and nothing is required to
be sacrificed to the artificial distinctions which so generally prevail
in our churches."
December 23 : " Our ecclesiastical affairs continue to be as
auspicious as at the first. . . . This week we have two services
on Christmas day, and a five o'clock service on the other holy days,
which fill up the week. . . . We shall make a sylvan lodge
of our upper room, and it is delightful to get back to a laud of
laurel and evergreens."
It is worthy of remark, that the Rev. Dr. Eaton, who had been
for many years the uniform friend and counsellor of the rector, was
one of the first among the clergy of the city to give his sanction to
this new enterprise, by regular attendance on the worship, and by
frequently participating in the services.
1845.
On New Year's day, being the Feast of the Circumcision, the
" upper room " was opened for the appropriate services of the day ;
and on this occasion the sacrament of baptism was administered for
the ^rs^ time in this humble though solemn place. The child bap-
tized was a daughter of Dr. Richard H. vSalter, a vestryman of
the new parish. And it may be here mentioned, as a most remark-
able and affecting circumstance, that the last baptism performed by
the rector, and this on the day of his death, was for another child
of the same parents.
The correspondence of the year opens in great sadness. On
New Year's day he thus writes to his father : " Yesterday we
received from Hartford the distressing intelligence of the sudden
340 MEMOIR OF ^\TLLIAM CROSA\^LL. [1845.
death of our very dear friend Mrs. Sumner, who expired, as you know,
on Sunday morning ; and I have ever since been in a kind of dismal
dream, from which I rouse to ask myself, Can this indeed be so 1
My first impulse was to take the cars of the afternoon, that 1 might
look once more upon the face of the truest-hearted friend that God
ever allowed a sinful man like me to rejoice in, and towards whom
my heart lias ever turned with a fulness of satisfaction, confidence,
and repose never felt towards any other who was not bound to me
by ties of blood. I do not know that I did right to resist those
impulses ; but it seemed as if my engagements here were of an
imperative kind; and I feel that it is generally a safe rule to do that
which costs me the most sacrifice, and such a sacrifice it has been
to me to remain as I am. I have found it very difficult to write
them until to-day. Words seem so inadequate to express our emo-
tions, and to be, as it were, a mockery of sorrow. All, too, seems
in this case so unreal. I have had, during tlie last year, many ad-
monitions of my own mortality. I have felt how liable we all were
to die ; and as I preached, on Sunday last, of the fading grass and
the withering flower, the fointing heart and the failing flesh, as
contrasted with the enduring nature of the realities revealed in the
gospel, a foreboding shadow of some undefined ill seemed to be hov-
ering about me. But how little did I think what that sad day was
bringing forth ! With Mrs. Sumner I had never associated any other
idea than that of the necessity of her continuance among us, as the
wellspring of all domestic comfort and enjoyment, and the centre
of all genial and diftiisive hospitality. I was not myself aware,
till now, how much my return to my old position here had been
influenced by the anticipation of oft;en repeating those brief so-
journs under that roof, upon which I fondly look back, as among
the dearest of departed joys ; and it was among the causes of
thankfulness, on the completion of the railroad, that it brought us
so much neai^er to those doors. Alas ! that upon these innocent
delights also should be inscribed vanity ! " ' .
January 16, with reference to the magnetic telegraph, it will be
perceived that he writes as if it were a' thing rather to be desired
than expected : " Should this ever be accomplished, we can whisper
together, from one end of the country to the other, with a sort of
galvanic thrill." In the same letter he speaks thus of his aftairs :
" We have passed along into the middle of the winter without being
aware of it ; so mild is the weather, and so pleasant and varied our
occupations. I can say that I never enjoyed existence here so
much as I have since my return from the west. I have access to
some very choice society, which I trust I appreciate, and hope to
benefit by the privilege. Our work goes on very prosperously at
Advent Hall, and we have yet met with no obstacles."
The following passage is cited from a letter of January 21 to show
1845.] CHURCH OF THE ADVENT. 341
how the bisho]) treated the rector before he saw fit to chanj^e liis
policy and deportment towards the new parish. Happy, perliaps,
would it have been for both jjarties had that change never taken
place. " Every thing is as usual here. The bishop preached to a
fine audience at the Church of the Advent last Sunday evening,
and has kindly requested me to preach one of the Price Lectures."
He dwells, as it is but natural he should, in all his correspondence
of this period, on the condition and prospects of his new pastoral
charge. February 3 he writes, "We are getting on very bravely
in our work here. The Church of the Advent continues to be as
much frequented as ever, and by high and low, rich and poor, one
with another. We endure the reproach of ' Puseyism ' in common
with some of the best names among us ; but that is a small matter,
even if it were deserved. Meanwhile we go quietly on, avoiding
controversies, and desiring to turn neither to the right hand or the
left." He here hints at a subject which had long occupied his
thoughts ; and although he was not spared to accomplish his desire
in full, several devotional productions of his pen are found in these
pages, which were doubtless- designed originally for a part of the
series here suggested. " I grow more and more satisfied that the
Church needs, more than any thing else, a body of Hymns adapted
to devotional use, and founded on the order of the Christian year."
February 11 he writes, " We have commenced Lent with five
services per week — three on Sunday, and one on Wednesday and
Friday. I have, however, some exchanges and some assistance, and
could have more if I needed it. On the whole, I do no more than
is good for me, and I only hope it will be as good for others as well."
Among his other duties, he mentions his daily visits to a poor pris-
oner confined in Leverett Street jail, under condemnation of death.
" I spend the best part of an honr with him every morning, and
shall continue to do so, if my health and life are spared. As yet,
none of the brethren, have accompanied me ; but I expect brother
Wells will be joined with me in some of my future visits. He is
great in ministering ro such exigencies. I, alas ! like Moses, am a
man of uncircumcised lips."
His taste in church architecture was known to be peculiarly
rigid, insomuch that he was thought by some to be rather fastidious
on the subject. Comparing a beautiful church edifice, which had
been erected in the neighboring village of Chelsea at a very moder-
ate expense, with what he calls " the ugly abortions which disfigure
the villages all over the land," he remarks, " I should never be
anxious that a rural church should be undertaken in stone ; because,
if of any frailer material, there will be reason to hope that in time
it may be superseded by a severer model, and need not be per-
petuated forever."
In a letter dated on the Feast of St. Matthias, addressed to his
342 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM CROSWELL. [1845.
friend Couthouy, congratulating him on the recovery of his httle
son, William Croswell, from dangerous sickness, he says, " Read
for your solace, next to the Bible, the last four verses of Keble's
Circumcision, —
' Art thou a child of tears,
Cradled in care and woe ? ' —
and tell me where, short of the inspired Psalmist, you can find a
strain more calculated, like the gospel, for soothing rather than ex-
citement. Under the influence of this spirit, may my little name-
sake, as well as you and I, and all of us, happily live and happily
die, and be taught to cultivate, as most indispensable to enjoyment,
the habit of reverent submission to the parental authority which
God hath set, first in the household, and then in the Church."
Amid the incessant duties of the Lenten season, he experienced
occasional returns of his old malady, the headache ; but the attacks
were now less frequent and of nnich shorter duration, and seldom,
as it seems, impeded the current of his labors. Writing, March
11, after suffering from one of these turns, he says, "I officiated,
however, on Sunday, and am now, with the rest of us, thank God,
as well as ever. The duties of the season, of course, grow more
and more absorbing every day, as Easter draws on." Again, on
Easter even, he writes : " Our services at this season have been
very delightful, and the most solemn and impressive Good Friday
solemnities at which I ever was present were those of our upper
room, yesterday. The same feeling was universal. Our altar, as
I remember it was in my youth at New Haven, was in black ; the
music full of pathos, and melted all hearts to tears ; and the ser-
mon, as I trust, was in entire unison with the services.
With the help of brother Davenport, we have had two services
every day since the commencement of Passion Week, and we have
preached alternately. Every thing has succeeded beyond my most
sanguine expectations in this new enterprise. Not a single draw-
back of any sort, thus far. My Price Lecture, on Wednesday,
seems to have given great satisfaction to all whom I am most
anxious to please. The bishop took some exceptions, but they
were not of much moment." This remark should not be construed
into an expression of disrespect for the bishop's opinions. He prob-
ably intended merely to say, that ihe points in the lecture to which
the bishop took exceptions were not, in themselves, of much mo-
ment. In his next letter, dated Wednesday after Easter, he gives
a glowing account of the services of that great festival, and speaks
in terms of high gratification of the business transactions of the
parish meeting, of the prosperous state of their financial affairs,
and especially of the zeal and enthusiasm of the whole congrega-
1845.] CHURCH OF THE ADVENT. 343
tion. He gratefully acknowledges, also, some valuable tokens of
personal attachment, in the form of Easter gifts, and, among others,
a sum of money from several gentlemen of the parish, for the pur-
pose of procuring books for his private use ; and also from the late
Joseph W. Ingraham " a set of the Massachusetts School Library,"
which, he says, " is the largest and most valuable donation of
books which I ever received." He adds, in the same letter, the
following pleasing item of intelligence: "The cornerstone of St.
Stephen's Free Chapel was laid on Easter Monday. This is to be
built entirely by one individual, W. Appleton, Esq., and our friend
Wells is the missionary. The scene only increased our longings
for the day when that of the Advent shall be laid."
Having now passed through the labors of the Easter solemnities,
he felt the want of some relaxation, and accordingly projected a
visit with his family to New Haven. He could allow himself,
however, but a short absence, including only a single Sunday.
" The Sunday following," he says, " is Rogation Sunday ; and the
week is full of red-letter days, including Ascension day, on which
we intend to celebrate the holy communion. Then follow the great
festivals of Whitsunday and Trinity, on the last of which we hope
to remove to our second place of worship, with the trust that the
time is not distant when we shall require a better tabernacle and a
permanent dwelling-place. And all the days between, till the con-
vention assembles, will be much absorbed in preparing our first
candidates for the holy ordinances of baptism, confirmation, and
communion." After speaking in terms of gratification of the general
and favorable attention drawn to the Church of the Advent, he
adds, " If we had as large a church as there is in the city, there
would be a gathering of the doves to the windows. Our place is
uncomfortably tlironged at all the services ; and we have more than
seventy comnumicants who have spontaneously reported themselves.
Others excuse themselves until there is more room."
As a sort of episode in the current of events, he had the satis-
faction, during the month of May, of receiving a visit from his
parents. His mother arrived on the 8th, in company with a friend
and his wife and child, who had prolonged their stay at New Haven
until that time. While he notes many incidents of this visit with evi-
dent gratification, he seems to dwell with peculiar pleasure on every
thing which contributed to their mutual religious enjoyment. " When
the day of Pentecost was fully come," he says, " we were, like the
apostles, with one accord, in one place, and mother was with us, in
our upper room, at the breaking of bread, and also at the afternoon
service. Both she and Mrs. B (her friend) seemed to enjoy our
simple service very much, and to prefer attendance there to the more
costly sanctuaries." In the same letter he says, with reference to the
anticipated visit of his father, " I wish you, by all means, to be here
344 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM CROSWELL. [1845.
on the first Sunday after Trinity, which will be our last day in our
present quarters, whether the new one be ready or not, as I have
no objection to have you see under what circumstances our infancy
has been cradled." Again, he writes on the 20th : " The bishop
of the diocese will be absent next Sunday ; but desired me, with
his best respects, to request you to take his place at Trinity Church
in the morning. ... In the afternoon I shall expect you to
preach the last sermon in our present nestling-place ; and for the
rest, I will release you from any other claims, tliough I dare say
you will hardly escape without being required to preach a third
time." And so it happened ; the third sermon being preached at
Christ Church in the evening. But, besides th^se duties, his father
was called to minister in a case of most atfecting interest. On
his arrival in Boston, he was requested to visit a lovely little girl,
in whom he had taken a deep interest while she was spending
some months with her grandparents in New Haven. She had been
for some time in declining health, and was now, as she well
understood, rapidly approaching her end. Her young heart clung
to one from whom she liad already received much religious instruc-
tion ; and, at her own request, the visits were repeated until the
time of her departure. She passed through her change in peace
and holy joy. By the desire of her friends, he performed the last
solemn rites, as well at the dwelling of the parents as at the grave
at Mount Auburn.
On tiie loth of May, the hall of the Massachusetts Horticultu-
ral Society was dedicated ; and in the printed order of exercises is
found the following " Original Hymn, written expressly for the oc-
casion, by Rev. William Croswell : " —
Thou, who hast taught us how to prize
The truths which nature's fragrant maze,
In glories of unnumbered dyes,
To our enraptured sense conveys.
Be with us in this festal hour.
And, while the clouds of incense swim
In homage from each chaliced flower.
Accept, with these, our grateful hymn.
Amid the city's stunning din
Thy mute but radiant power we bless.
That, through its dusty depths, pours in
Such gleams of vernal loveliness ;
That here thy odorous blooms impart,
Above all art or man's device,
A spell to soothe pale Labor's heart,
As with the airs of paradise.
1845.] CHURCH OF THE ADVENT. 345
Nor let the influence rest, till all
The dear delights in Eden nursed,
Recovered from their primal fall,
Like these, shine brightly as at first ;
Till man liimsclf, redeemed from stain.
His heaven-taught work in Christ complete.
And, tln-ough one greater Man, regain
An entrance to the blissful seat.
On Sunday, the 1st of June, the congregation of the Church of
the Advent took leave of their upper room in Merrimack Street,
which they had occupied since the first Sunday in Advent, vi'ith the
expectation of taking possession of their new hall on tlie following
Sunday. But in this expectation they were disappointed, as the
following extract from the rector's record will show : " On Sunday,
the 15th of June, A. D. 1845, the place of worship was removed to
the commodious hall, in the chamber of the building forming the
corner of Lowell and Causeway Streets, the rector preaching the
first discourse from the text, Other foundation can no man lay than
that is laid, which is Jcsns Christ, 1 Cor. iii. 11." Of this service he
thus speaks in his next letter : " Our hall was opened under very
favorable auspices, and all concerned seemed to be more than sat-
isfied. It is a fine room for speaking and singing, and I have never
heard such responses since I have been in Boston." Again, he
writes : " As soon as the other parts of our building are completed,
we have announced our purpose of commencing daily service, and have
every reason to expect a fair attendance of devout worshippers."
There is a melancholy gratification in recording such a passage
as the following, from a letter of June 30 : " Mrs. Prescott (widow
of the late Rev. E. G. Prescott) is now on a visit at Mrs. Car-
penter's. It has given me a sad satisfaction to receive from her
the cloak which her husband wore, the gift of his parents, and the
more to know that this was according to his expressed wishes, in a
will written several years before his death. Brotherly and intimate
as our relations had been, I did not know, until since his decease,
with how much truth it could be said of his affection for me, ' Be-
hold, how he loved him ! ' May it inspire me more earnestly to
covet the best gifts, — a portion of his spirit, — and to wrap myself
as it were, with his zeal like a cloak."
From this time, as appears from frequent allusions in his corre-
spondence, the affairs of the new parish passed on progressively and
happily. These and other matters will be noted in the order of
their date. July 7, after giving an interesting description of the
celebration of the " glorious fourth," consisting in part of " a floral
44
346 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM CROSWELL. [1845.
procession of little children through the mall," he speaks thus hop-
inghi of an interview with the bishop : " I had a pleasant visit from
the bishop, on the afternoon of the 4th of July, and have never
found him more agreeable. He spoke of meeting with you in New
York, and alluded to you in a way very gratifying for a son to hear.
He thought you had altered but httle since he first knew you, during
his connection with the seminary at New Haven. I might say none
for the worse. He introduced no debacable matters, and we agreed
on all points as far as we went. I shall not seek any occasion to
differ from him, and hope that the even tenor of my way may not
be disturbed." The following passage in the same letter is too
characteristic to be omitted: " Yestej'day was, communion Sunday.
I exchanged, in the afternoon, with the rector of Christ Church, —
baptizing a child, o/"tw«*sc, — and afterwards administering the com-
munion, in private, to an aged colored Christian on the point of
departure. It was an edifying service, — how could it be other-
wise ? — but the straitness of the quarters in which these wretched
people live, and the train of thirteen who communicated with him,
had almost given the flesh advantage over the spirit."
In a letter of the 14th, he gives the first intimation of a practice
which was subsequently adopted as a general rule — that of em-
ploying, in their worship, the prose translation, instead of the met-
rical version, of the Psalms : " Yesterday afternoon, I delivered a
sermon on ' speaking to yourselves in psalms.' I believe that I
carried all my congregation with me, and that the Psalter will be
our psalm book exclusively from henceforward." In the same letter
he again alludes very pleasantly to his relations with the bishop, and
to his favorite subject of a daily service : " The bishop continues to
be very kind and attentive to me personally, and I see no indications
of abatement of confidence in any quarter. Many of the parish are
impatient for the commencement of daily service, but we are obliged
to delay in consequence of the unfinished state of the rooms above
us, in which the sound of the axe and hammer is not yet ceased. I
do not feel much anxiety on the score of the additional labor. I
already spend an hour every day in the vestry, which might be far
more profitably spent in worship ; and the size of the room is such,
and its adaptation to sound so fine, that it will require scarcely
any more vocal effort than in common conversE^tion. Besides all
this, I shall not be alone. The clergy will rally round the standard
as soon as it is set up, and several are already pledged to officiate
regularly, and to stand in the gap when emergencies shall arise. In
the strength of God, we shall try. I am not sure that it will not
be the first attempt to revive the week-day service in this city since
the year 1686, when, at the second meeting of the members of the
Church of England, it was ' agreed, that the prayers of the Church
be said every Wednesday and Friday of the year, (for the present
1845.] CHURCH OF THE ADVENT. 347
in the library chamber of the town house in Boston,) and in the
summer season to begin at seven of the clock in the morning, and
in the winter season at nine of the clock in the forenoon.' It is,
also, quite as remarkable a coincidence as many others that are
chronicled, that in 1753, while their church* was building, 'the con-
gregation requested and obtained leave to meet in Trinity Church
on Sundays, at separate hours from the congregation of that church,
and on festivals and prayer days in Mr. Croswell's meeting house.'
We hope the Church of the Advent will be as famous in the annals
of the town as Mr. Croswell's meeting house, in its associations
with festivals and prayer days."
One other topic is introduced into his correspondence of this
month, which it seems proper to notice, as an act of justice to his
memory. The case of Mr. Washburn's ordination attracted some
attention at the time ; and, in the discussion of the subject in
the church periodicals, he may have been placed, as a member of
the standing committee, in a false position. It is but fair, therefore,
that he should be permitted to tell his own story. Under date of
July 21, he says, "As a member of the standing committee, I have
had my share of excitements. We had a special meeting to see if
we should volunteer any advice to the bishop touching the delay of
Mr. Washburn's ordination at Newburyport, which had been
appointed for Wednesday. The ground was, the use of the prayer
commendatory of a sick person at the point of departure, on the
occasion of General Jackson's death, not a little to the astonishment
of his congregation. His papers had been already signed, and
were in the hands of the bishop, who had received an explanation
so far satisfactory to him as to lead to the appointment for his ordina-
tion, and no counsel was asked. I was opposed to any action unless
it should be solicited, or, at least, without any previous conference