stirred, not shaken...

In 1852, the young minister, Rufus Ellis, was serving happily in Northhampton when he received a call from the First Church in Boston who was looking for a replacement for the retiring Nathanial Frothingham.  This was a daunting prospect as demonstrated by this description in "The Memoirs of Rufus Ellis"...

"The Rev. Dr. Frothingham had resigned the position which he had long held as its pastor, and was henceforward to occupy his pew as a worshipper. He was the most highly accomplished, cultivated, and scholarly among his contemporaries in the churches of Boston and the State. His peculiar gifts and qualities in the tone and spirit of his discourses would naturally draw and retain as his parishioners persons in sympathy with, and with warm appreciation of, himself. He was also known as the most conservative among his brethren. A single one of the many emphatic utterances made by him is enough to define his position towards the agitations and distractions of the time, — " My church and people prefer not to be shaken."

Blessings