Rededication of the Meeting House of the First Religious Society in Newburyport

September 30, 2001

Words to be spoken in Market Square

Two hundred years ago, almost to the day, our religious ancestors from the First Religious Society in Newburyport gathered here in Market Square, on the site of their original meeting house, to form a procession to their beautiful, new meeting house on Pleasant Street. The old meeting house, which for seventy-six years had stood here at the foot of what was then known as “Fish Street,” had only days before been torn down; already once, in the early 1780’s, the spire had been blown down in a gale, along with its famous weathercock--the same one that still stands atop our steeple.

The old building, which had served as a meeting space for many of the growing town’s functions, had simply worn out. Perhaps its ancillary use as a storehouse for “tarr and pickled fish” had contributed to its early demise. Whatever the reason, as early as 1785 a committee had been formed to examine the condition of the old meeting house, and in 1798 the decision was finally made to construct a new one. That’s almost as long as our current building project has taken to get underway! Some things, it seems never change.

The new building, completed in 1801, was occupied for the first time on October 2 of that year.

It’s hard to say how heartbroken the parishioners may have been. For many years of its existence the old building had no pews, members of the congregation being forced to sit for long hours on uncomfortable backless benches. Of course, there was no central heat. And one suspects that those “pickled fish” stored in the basement may have added a powerful perfume to the Sunday worship services, adding insult to the injury of a dull sermon.

Perhaps most famously, the old meeting house had been visited in 1754 by Benjamin Franklin, who was traveling in the vicinity when he heard about a lightning strike on the church’s spire and clock. A letter from Franklin to the Royal Society in London described his findings, which were important to his famous study of electricity.

Whatever the feelings of those parishioners--and undoubtedly they included both sadness and joy--they began their tenure in the new “Pleasant Street Church” from this very spot, and the rest is history. The congregation, which in its time here had been known as the Third Parish of Newbury, the First Parish of Newburyport, and, finally, as the First Religious Society in Newburyport, has been on Pleasant Street ever since. It seems only appropriate that we begin our rededication ceremony by re-enacting that original procession from here in Market Square, where it all began two hundred and seventy-six years ago.

Let us pray: Spirit of Life, we give thanks for those who came before, who worshipped on this spot, sharing their joys and sorrows as one people, dedicating their lives and consecrating their deaths to the common good. In the rising of the sun and in its going down, we remember them. Amen.

I am happy to greet you; it is good to be together.

Words to be spoken in the Pleasant Street Meeting House

What a privilege it is to share in this service of rededication of our beautiful old meeting house! Two hundred years is a long time.

Thomas Jefferson became only the third President of the United States in the year this building was occupied. The country extended only as far as the Mississippi River. The Louisiana Purchase had not been completed, and Lewis and Clark had not departed on their momentous cross-continent journey to the Pacific Ocean.

The United States were only twenty-five years old. I say “were” intentionally, for it would be another forty years before the traumatic events of the American Civil War transformed our “united states” from a plural to a singular reality. So much of the history we know and take for granted had not even occurred when this building was dedicated on October 2, 1801.

In its first seventy-six years, our congregation had only three ministers: John Lowell, Thomas Cary, and John Andrews, and it would be another thirty years before it got its fourth. Lowell was a progenitor of those Lowells who “[spoke] only to Cabots,” who in turn “[spoke] only to God.” His descendents include the poets James Russell Lowell, Amy Lowell, and Robert Lowell, as well as at least one President of Harvard College.

Our church traces its roots directly to the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay. But Lowell was a theological liberal--what has come to be known as a “Proto-Unitarian”--and so the die was cast that the First Religious Society would eventually fall out of the Congregationalist camp and into the Unitarian. But the Puritan influences are apparent all around us in this space, in the beautiful spareness and lack of religious symbolism and in the wonderful clear glass windows that Professor Patton spoke to you about last week.

Minnie Atkinson, our church’s first and most famous historian, described the construction of the new meeting house as follows:

The construction of the new house took somewhat over a year. As it neared completion it became the wonder and pride of the town. On the occasion of the centenary celebration in 1901, Herbert D. Hale, son of Everett Edward Hale, and an architect, paid it high tribute. He said “There is something quaint and old fashioned about this church interior. Somehow it takes us completely away from the mad rush of today and from modern improvements of every kind that we have left behind us this morning in the city. . . . Certain it is that architectural effect has combined to give quiet and repose in this excellent example of Colonial work. . . . The outside of the church shows careful and thorough study of the old Classical orders. The three large doors give ample access to the congregation coming in and going out, the use of the Doric pilasters is very effective and is charmingly placed. Large Corinthian pilasters reach up from the base of the building toward the roof and above rises the spire, one of the most perfect I have ever seen. Rows of Ionic columns rise upon Ionic columns to the spire which tapers off gracefully to the sky. The sense of proportion is manifest everywhere in this design and this should always be so in good architectural design.”

This house has always some surprise--
Its clean cool lines that lift our eyes;
They draw our thoughts to things above. . .

I want to close by reminding us all that we are only the inheritors of the vision of those who built this wonderful building. For two hundred years, their spiritual descendents have had the comfort and peace of this beautiful and sacred space. Now it is our turn to carry on the work begun so long ago, and I just want to assure you that in spite of the terrible events of recent weeks, the work continues on the building renovation plans that you unanimously voted to pursue last spring. Perhaps more than ever before, it is important that we plan mightily and with hope and trust for the future. We, too, must have a vision, for as it says in the Bible, with truth, “Without a vision, the people perish.”

I hope that you will be sure to add your own “wish for the future” in our ritual of wishing this morning, to be included in a ceremony of release in front of the meeting house at the conclusion of the service. It is an honor and a privilege to serve as your minister, following in the footsteps of Bert Steeves and so many others, lay and clergy, who have given life and light to this church. In recognition of this rededication ceremony, we have commissioned a plaque, which we will now unveil for all of you to see and to share on this historic occasion, and which will be displayed for future generations to remember the special events and activities of this year and this day.

Truly, it is good to be together in this wonderful community and in this wonderful place. May it be strong enough to withstand the battering of the storm for the next two hundred years. Amen, and amen.

The Rev. Harold E. Babcock