air, and in a moment it vomited forth its
forked lightning, and rolled its thunder along the sky. It was the
explosion of a Southern shell over a Northern camp, that was lighted
by the torch of ambition in the hands of fallen Webster. It was the
culmination of slave-holding Virginia's wrath. It was invading the
virgin territory of liberty-loving Massachusetts. It was hunting the
fugitive on free soil, and tearing him from the very embrace of sweet
freedom.

When the time came to enlist Colored soldiers, Leonard A. Grimes was
as untiring in his vigilance as any friend of the Fifty-fourth
Regiment of Massachusetts volunteers, while the members of his church
were either joining or aiding the regiment. So highly were the
services of Brother Grimes prized that the chaplaincy of the regiment
was not only tendered him, but urged upon him; but the multifarious
duties of his calling forbade his going with the regiment he loved and
revered.

The ladies of his congregation were busy with their needles, thus
aiding the cause of the Union; and no church threw its doors open more
readily to patriotic meetings than the Twelfth Baptist Church. And
during those dark days of the Union, when all seemed hopeless, when
our armies were weak and small, the prayers of a faithful pastor and
pious people ascended day and night, and did much to strengthen the
doubting.

The fugitive-slave law and civil war had done much to weaken the
church financially and numerically. Many who fled from the
fugitive-slave law had not returned; the young men had entered the
service of the country, while many others were absent from the city
under various circumstances. But notwithstanding all these facts, God
blessed the church--even in war times,--and many were converted.

The struggle was now ended. "The Boys in Blue" came home in triumph.
The father separated from child, the husband from wife, could now meet
again. Those who were driven before the wrath of an impious and cruel
edict could now return to the fold without fear. What a happy occasion
it was for the whole church! The reunion of a family long separated;
the gathering of dispersed disciples. The occasion brought such an
undistinguishable throng of fancies--such joy, such hope, such blessed
fellowship--as no pen can describe.

At the commencement of the Rebellion the church numbered about 246;
and at the close of the Rebellion it numbered about 300,
notwithstanding the discouraging circumstanc