Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-01-26
FORMER AUGUSTA PASTOR.
Tribute to Rev. Dr.. Alexander Nc
kenzie Of Cambridge.


zie was for severa! years the pastor Of
the South Congregational church. Au-
gusta. before going to Cambridge, the
article will be of much interest to his
many friends i'll this city. The cele-
| bration Of the 40til anniversary of DR..
MckenZie's passionate in Cambridge
has been in progress all this week. At
reception in honor of the beloved pas
tor a purse of $1,000 was given him by
| his friends. Special exercises were held
with addresses by President Eliot Of
Harvard. President Hyde Of Bowdoin.
DR.. Gordon. General Bancroft and
other eminent men. The Transcript
| article follows:
! DR.. Alexander Mckenzie. who COM
pletes this week the fortieth year Of his
passionate in Cambridge. exceeds by q
few months the term Of service Of the
Rev. Abiel Holmes. \ more remote
predecessor, Rev. Nathaniel Appleton,
began his ministry in III; and contin-
ued it for sixty-seven years. to the
amazement Of his contemporaries and
the despair of all who have come after
him. Even in 1883. the year before he
died. his salary was increased to ten
thousand dollars. But this was in
paper currency, worth perhaps five
hundred dollars, and the parish had tn
help the parson by adding a hundred
dollars more in silver. DR.. Mckenzie
is IN pretty vigorous health. and
breaches with the enthusiasm of per-
RENAL youth. but he will probably be
content to pass the very respectable
mark which was set by Mr. Holmes.
| Mr.. Appleton exceeded all reasonable
| emulation.
| Indeed, at the ED or forty years. DR..
| Mckenzie is the oldest clergyman in
| Cambridge. DR.. Gushec has been for a
| good many years at St. Philips. so has
Father O'Brien been a long time at
the Sacred Heart, and DR.. Eicknell 1t
the Universalist Church on 1nman
street. But the years of most of the
others are still few. Within half a
generation almost every Cambridge
| parish has changed it's pastor, some Of
them more than once. Eight or ten
years ago. DR. Mckenzie was one of
the leaders of movement called the
Associated Churches of Cambridge.
! The city was divided into districts.
| each district was assigned to the care
of church, and the idea was that in
this way the needs of social better
| ment would be met: there would be no
| neglected places. But the pastors who
| were interested in the matter, Who ac-
cepted districts and began to work in
| them, moved away. It is an illustra-
| ton Of tie loss which is involved in
the frequent changes Of the ministry.
| Meanwhile. DR.. Mckenzie kept on. at
tending to his own business and to
| the business of his neighbors. and be-
coming year by year q stronger inf!u-
ence in the life Of the whole city.
1t is a familiar tradition in Cam
| bridge that the college came to that
place in order to be near to the church.
| and especially in order to profit by the
vigilancy with which the pastor, Rev.
Thomas Shepard. watched out for the
| remotest approaches of heresy. 1T
was with a respect unto this vigilancy."
says Mather in the "Magnalia,' land
| the enlightening and powerful ministry
oe Mr.. Shepard. that when the founda-
ton of the college was to he laid, Cam
bridge rather than any other place was
pitched upon to bt the seat Of that
happy seminary" Dr.. McKenZie's at
titude towards heresy might scandali5"
the vigilant AIR. Shepard, but in every
other respect he maintains the good old
relation between the colleg" ard tha
church. He served for many years as
secretary Of the organization. He vas
member Of the original Board o.
Preachers. as constituted in 1856, when
attendance at prayers was made vol
untary: his name thus stands with
those of DR.. Hale and Bishop Brooks
and DIR. Gordon. College men have
always gone in good numbers to his
church. and have rrofited by his teach
ing and mis- counsel. At Yale. where
for long time he was college
preache~." the senior class year after
year voted that he was the best of all
the men 20 whose sermons they had lis
tened. Many influential citizens far
and wide over the United States ara
living their useful lives in accordance
with ideals which were brought before
them by DR.. Mckenzie.
The one heresy to which DR.. McKen-
zie is stoutly opposed. and against
which he is everlastingly vigilant, is
the "heresy Of Cain" This is the very
malignant form Of unbelief which, &C.
cording to Robert Louis Stevenson,
consists in letting your brother go to
the devil in his own way. DR.. Nc
kenzie is unwilling to let him 60
towards that direction in any way
Thus'he has taken an active and deter
mining part In the successive CAM
paigns whereby no license has been
voted in Cambridge for some twenty
years. These campaigns began in
1855. They brought the various
churches into united operation against
the saloon. DR.. Mckenzie and Father
Scully used to go about together max
ing speeches.
This was an evidence Of what Is
called the Cambridge Idea: the idea.
that is. that the main business of the
combined churches is to make a better
city. clean. decent and happy neigh
borhood. with temptation minimized
and nriyiIeZe 1ni6od