precisely the same form of covenant, in precisely the same words, which was framed and signed by Winthrop, by Isaac Johnson, the husband of the princely Arabella,—by DeputyGovernor Dudley, by John Wilson, the first minister, and the others. This was on July 30, 1630. The first Court of Assistants was held on the 23d of August following, at which the first thing determined upon was how the ministers should be maintained. This was fifteen days before Boston was named. The difference between the first house of worship erected by Winthrop and his associates, the low, mud-plastered building at the corner of State and Devonshire streets, and the tasteful temple which their successors now hold, at the corner of Berkeley and Marlborough streets, marks, as well as any other illustration which can be given, the advance which these two hundred and fifty years have brought about. But the most interesting memorial we have in our present elegant, architectural church edifice is the original church covenant, inscribed on one of the stained-glass windows. By this we testify that, whatever change and progress may be brought about by prosperity in material things, there need be no change in the expression of Christian fellowship. Governor Winthrop, we are told, often, in the absence of his minister, exhorted in the church. And this grace, or at least the faculty of exhibiting it, has been shared by his successors in office. We of the First Church in Boston cheerfully coöperate with you, sir, and the other fathers of the city, in seeking to pay honor to the memory of John Winthrop, your founder and our founder. No character, during the centuries of modern history, is more illustrious for those peculiarly combined qualities of persistency and resignation, of courage and meekness, of firmness and conciliation, which he exhibited in the accomplishment of his great work, the founding of a Christian commonwealth. Moses, in leading the Israelites through the wilderness, did not show greater faith and courage than did Winthrop when he pioneered his fleet of ten ships to these inhospitable shores. Whatever good influence Massachusetts has exerted, what she is and what she has been, may be traced back to the good seed which he brought with him and planted here. Sicut patribus, Mr. Mayor, the motto on our city seal sit Deus nobis-is an official acknowledgment of the providence of God, and a perpetual prayer for its continuance. This is the lesson of the hour. As long as in church, and in school, and in daily life, the providence of God is devoutly recognized, we need fear no evil. This closed the exercises, and the audience dispersed. |