Ecclesiastical Council Deems Howard Arnold Walter Satisfactory, Installs Him as Assistant Pastor at Asylum Hill Congregational Church

11/18/1910 |

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Howard Arnold Walter was formally installed as assistant pastor at Asylum Hill Congregational Church.

  1. An ecclesiastical council of Congregational churches held in the afternoon
    • The council was convened by invitation of the Church and Ecclesiastical Society of the Asylum Hill Congregational Church.
    • P. Parker was chosen moderator
    • Robert F. Wheeler chosen scribe
    • Charles E. Thompson read the invitation of the church and society to Howard Walter and Walter’s reply
    • Walter read a paper describing his Christian experience and his theological positions
    • The council members questioned Walter
    • The council members voted unanimously that the examination had been satisfactory and that they would be glad to held the church in the ordination and installation of Walter as assistant pastor.
  2. Public ordination and installation
    • Robert F. Wheeler presided
    • Wheeler read the minutes of the examination council
    • Watson Woodruff gave the invocation
    • Frederick W. Greene read the Scripture
    • Choir sang “Lovely Appear” and “Guide Me, Oh, Thou Great Jehovah”
    • D. Mackenzie gave the sermon
    • Clark S. Beardslee made the prayer of invocation and installation
    • Beardslee and Mackenzie laid their hands upon Walter’s head as he knelt by the pulpit
    • A special prayer was offered for Walter and his work
    • “Now We are Ambassadors was sung
    • Henry W. Maire gave the charge to the pastor
    • Charles F. Carter gave the charge to the people.
    • Joseph Twichell gave the right hand of fellowship.
    • “A Might Fortress is Our God” was sung
    • Walter offered the benediction

Walter will resign as assistant pastor on December 1, 1911.

Walter’s appointment as assistant pastor was announced on October 2, 1910.

  1. Mackenzie’s sermon: “What right had a minister to speak in the name of God?  God kept the ultimate authority and the laws of our existence come from Him.  Three pillars were named on which rested the authority of the Christian preacher:  experience, instructive knowledge, and definite appointment.”
  2. Mackenzie’s sermon: “Many evangelists had done much good without much of what the world calls knowledge.  But a preacher must be a teacher to his congregation and he should have knowledge.”
  3. Carter’s charge: “A church could make or kill a minister.  It could kill a minister by considering itself too good for correction.  The congregation should let the minister put his soul into his sermon and not expect mere rhetorical utterances.”
  4. “The right hand of fellowship as given by Mr. Twichell was a hearty shake and he smiled as he waved his hand over the congregation and said that they all welcomed him.”

  1. The council consisted of some 55 members, representing 11 Congregational churches in Hartford, 13 Congregational churches from outside of Hartford, and the Hartford Theological Seminary. There was also a minister there from New York.
  2. Members of the council included Karl M. Ahlberg; George B. Ashwell; Austin B. Bassett; Clark S. Beardslee; Raymond H. Brewer; Clement H. Brigham; Hugh E. Brown; Irving A. Burnap; Arthur B. Calef; Charles F. Carter; George L. Clark; Walter H. Clark; T. C. Craig; Burton E. Crane; Francis Denning; Raymond Dodge; James J. Dunlop; John Emerson; E. C. Fisher; Samuel A. Fiske; Curtis M. Geer; Frederick W. Greene (or Green); W. H. Hall; A. W. Hazen; Carlton Hazen; Thomas M. Hodgdon; Harmon G. Howe; Melancthon W. Jacobus; R. L. Joslyn; R. A. Jump; Daniel R. Kennedy; Duncan B. MacDonald; William Douglas Mackenzie; Henry W. Maier; William Mather; Alexander R. Merriam; Edwin Knox Mitchell; Roscoe Nelson; E. P. Parker; R. H. Potter; Waldo S. Pratt; William C. Prentiss; Rodney W. Roundy; Joseph Selden; Henry P. Shauflier; Sherrod Soule; Charles S. Thayer; William Tucker; Henry Stanley Walter; Joseph Watson; Robert F. Wheeler; Watson Woodruff; and David L. Yale.
  3. Henry W. Maier (Maire, Maler?) was pastor at the Congregational church in New Britain that Walter attended as a boy.

Unattributed, “Assistant Pastor at Hill Church – Rev. Howard Arnold Walter Installed,” Hartford Courant, November 19, 1910, page 16.

Howard Arnold Walter
Asylum Hill Congregational Church

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