Our literary editor is glad to learn the following interesting fact concerning the ancient parish in which his parents were married, in which he was baptized, and in whose Sunday-school he was reared The information is kindly furnished by Rev. E. A. Horton, the present pastor of the church.
Increase Mather was the minister of the Second Church in Boston, from 1664 to 1723. The meeting-house was located at the North End, a large part of the time on Hanover Street. Early in this century the society became Unitarian. A new edifice—at the time one of the handsomest and most expensive in Boston—was built about the year 1845. This venture proved unprofitable, as the population of that part of the city was changing rapidly. The building was therefore sold, and the society removed to Bedford Street, uniting with a church already worshipping there. In a few years Bedford Street ceased to be in the centre of population, and the edifice was removed to the Back Bay, near Trinity Church and the New Old South, where it may still be seen. In his early ministry, Increase Mather—the leader of the Evangelical and Orthodox Christianity of his day—prepared a formula for admission into the church. During the intervening time, nearly two centuries and a quarter, this same covenant has been in use. There have been a few lapses, and for short seasons other covenants have been adopted, but the church has always returned to its original form of words, because of their simplicity and comprehensiveness. Despite the change of the Second Church, from Puritan Trinitarianism to Modern Unitarianism, this formula has not been displaced. Here it is, as at present read on occasions when persons are admitted to the church:—
You do, in this solemn presence, give up yourself to the true God in Jesus Christ, and to His people also, according to the will of God; promising to walk with God, and with this church of His, in all It's holy ordinances, and to yield obedience to every truth of His which has been or shall be made known to you as your duty; the Lord assisting you by His Spirit and grace.
