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M. L.
Gc 974.402 B65Lo 1535088
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01100 8957
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
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A
HISTORY
OF THE
CHURCH IN BRATTLE STREET,
BOSTON.
BY ITS PASTOR,
SAMUEL KIRKLAND LOTHROP.
BOSTON: WM. CROSBY AND H. P. NICHOLS, 111 WASHINGTON STREET. 1851.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by WM. CROSBY AND H. P. NICHOLS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.
-
CAMBRIDGE: METCALF AND COMPANY, PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY.
1535088
TO
THE MEMBERS
OF THE
CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN BRATTLE SQUARE,
THIS HISTORY
IS GRATEFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED, BY
THEIR FRIEND AND PASTOR,
S. K. LOTHROP.
PREFACE.
SOME alterations and considerable additions have been made to the following discourses since the substance of them was preached in Brattle Street Church, in the course of the year 1850. Notwithstanding the introduction of some new matter, I have retained, in pub- lishing them, the name and style and direct address of sermons, because this was more convenient than to alter the whole structure of the manuscripts. This is my apology, or explanation, for whatever may be thought in- appropriate, or in violation of good taste, in a sermon, or a volume of sermons. I have pre- ferred to subject myself to this charge rather than omit from the text or the notes any thing, whether a dull detail or an amusing anecdote,
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PREFACE.
which would help to illustrate the events or the characters of which I was writing.
I have ventured to publish the following pages because, invited to do so by the Stand- ing Committee, I felt some assurance that the members of the Society worshipping in Brattle Square would be interested in them, and because I hoped that they might prove some contribution, however small, toward that which is so much needed, an ecclesiastical history of New England.
The researches of my predecessor had made much of the work of investigation easy to my hands, and while I have in every case consulted for myself original documents and records, I desire to make this general acknowledgment of the use I have made of the very full and valuable notes appended to his historical ser- mon.
S. K. L.
BOSTON, June 2d, 1851.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
SERMON I.
1
SERMON II.
54
SERMON III.
85
SERMON IV.
. 125
SERMON V.
159
SERMON VI.
. 182
SERMON I.
WE HAVE HEARD WITH OUR EARS, O GOD, OUR FATHERS HAVE TOLD US, WHAT WORK THOU DIDST IN THEIR DAYS, IN THE TIMES OF OLD. - Psalm xliv. 1.
RETURN, WE BESEECH THEE, O GOD OF HOSTS! LOOK DOWN FROM HEAVEN, AND BEHOLD, AND VISIT THIS VINE, AND THE VINEYARD WHICH THY RIGHT HAND HATH PLANTED. - Psalm 1xxx. 14, 15.
THESE passages of Scripture direct our thoughts to the past, the present, and the fu- ture. They remind us of the goodness of God, displayed in guidance and blessing to our fathers. They enforce attention to our own condition, duties, and obligations as a Christian church, and to our need of Divine help, of the quickening in- fluences of God's holy spirit, that we may be made strong for the work of the future. They have been suggested to me by investigations which, for some weeks past, have occupied a large share of my time, and their appropriateness as a Scriptural introduction to what I have now to offer will appear as I proceed.
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THE HISTORY OF
The passing season completes the third half- century of the existence of the church and so- ciety in Brattle Square. The first date in our church records is " December 12th, 1699 " ; the third date is " Lord's day, Dec. 24th," of the same year. Under this latter date, we are in- formed that on that day the society, for the first time, " met for public worship in their pleasant new-built house " ; and that Dr. Colman, its first minister, " preached from 2 Chronicles vi. chap. 18 verse : But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth ? behold, heaven, and the heav- en of heavens, cannot contain thee ; how much less this house which I have built."
Making due allowance for the change of style, the present Sunday is the nearest Lord's day we can get to the anniversary of December 24th, 1699. For one hundred and fifty years, there- fore, the spot on which we are assembled has been consecrated to the worship of Almighty God, - a period longer by several years than any other spot in the city has ever been held to the same sacred uses, with the exception of those on which the "Old South Church " and the King's Chapel now stand. For a century and a half, the Christian church and society whose foun- dations were here laid by sober, thoughtful, godly men, in the purpose of an earnest piety and an enlarged, catholic spirit, have continued to flourish,
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BRATTLE STREET CHURCH.
- a fountain whose living waters have done some- thing in every generation, we trust, to make glad this city of our God. It is not meet that the oc- casion should pass without some notice. I pro- pose to make use of it by briefly reviewing some of the more prominent points in our history, and by the presentation of such thoughts on ecclesiastical changes, the progress of religious opinion, and the present condition and aspect of our religious af- fairs, as this review may suggest.
I am well aware, as are many who hear me, that in 1824, when the congregation, after an absence of some months, occasioned by an exten- sive and thorough repair of the house, reassem- bled here for public worship, Dr. Palfrey, then minister of the society, presented, in two sermons which were subsequently published, a history of this church, marked by that thorough and patient research, that accurate statement and nice dis- crimination, for which he is distinguished. I know that a work of this kind which he has once done well needs not to be done again. The hope of doing it better would be vain. But to most of those who hear me those sermons are not proba- bly familiar, even if they are known. A quarter of a century, also, embracing a period of our history not altogether devoid of interest, has elapsed since they were written ; and although I may not hope to glean any new or important facts
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THE HISTORY OF
in a field so thoroughly explored by my prede- cessor, yet, as our stand-points are twenty-five years apart, old facts may present themselves under such different aspects as to make the re- view of them now and by us not uninteresting and uninstructive. I invite your attention, therefore, to a subject to which we cannot be wholly indif- ferent, and of which we ought not to be entirely ignorant, - the history of this church, the prin- ciples embodied and the ends aimed at in its organization.
The first movements towards the formation of this society seem to have been made as early as 1697. The deed by which Thomas Brattle con- veyed to Thomas Clarke and his associates a piece of land called Brattle Close, for the erection of a house of worship, bears date Jan- uary 10, 1698, which clearly indicates that some preliminary steps had been taken in the matter. At this period, there were three other Congre- gational churches in the town ; viz. the First Church, which then worshipped on the spot now occupied by Joy's Building, and was under the pastoral care of Messrs. Allen and Wadsworth ; the Second Church, whose place of worship was at the head of North Square, where officiated those men so celebrated in the annals of the New England churches, Drs. Increase and Cotton Mather ; and the Old South Church, which,
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BRATTLE STREET CHURCH.
amid some difficulties and against public procla- mation on the part of the civil authorities, had been founded about thirty years previous, and had erected a house of worship on the spot where the present Old South stands, and where preached at this period the Rev. Samuel Willard.
In addition to these three Congregational churches, there were three other religious socie- ties in the town ; viz. the First Baptist Church, which, after various fortunes and severe persecu- tions, had at length succeeded, in 1679, ten years after its organization, in building a church, situated by the side of the old Mill Pond, near what is now called Stillman Street, and whose minister was at this period the Rev. John Em- blen ; the King's Chapel Church, whose early history is deeply interesting, as that of the first successful attempt, marked by some things not very creditable to either party, to introduce the Episcopacy of Old England among the Congre- gationalists of New England, who disliked it, and had fled from it. This church was organized in 1636, had erected a wooden building on the site of the present Stone Chapel, and enjoyed at this period the services of the Rev. Samuel Myles and the Rev. Christopher Bridge.
After 1680, the persecution of the Quakers, or Friends, in a great measure ceased, and from that time to 1808 they had regular meetings in
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THE HISTORY OF
Boston. At the period to which we are directing our attention, 1699, they had a flourishing soci- ety, had built the first brick meeting-house in the town, which was situated somewhere in the neigh- borhood of this spot, from which the society shortly after, in 1708, removed to Congress Street.
These six churches were, at this period, in a prosperous and peaceful condition ; at least, it does not appear that there were any violent con- tentions among them, or that our church origi- nated in any particular dissension or stormy seces- sion from any one of them. The causes which led to the formation of this society were of a more honorable character. To understand them, it is necessary to give a brief glance back from 1699, at some of the ecclesiastical questions that had arisen in the New England churches during the seventy years in which they had now been gathering and growing on this free American soil. Most of these questions related to church order and discipline, and were only indirectly connect- ed with theological doctrine. The first of them which it is important for us to notice is that in regard to the proper subjects of baptism. Origi- nally the administration of this rite was restricted to the children of those who were members of churches in full communion. How early a more liberal opinion was expressed, and a more liberal
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BRATTLE STREET CHURCH.
practice aimed at or attempted, on the part of any of the fathers of New England, it is difficult pre- cisely to determine. Probably, however, this occurred at a very early period ; for we know that the New England emigrants, in the exercise of the large liberty and independence which they had here secured, gave free scope to thought and inquiry, and soon began to lose a little of their reverence for some things which were important only because they had been made matters of con- troversy, or were incidentally connected with great principles in whose defence they had en- dured persecution and exile.
To such an extent, indeed, had this freedom been exercised, that, in less than twenty years after the settlement of Plymouth, great anxiety was awakened among the Non-conformists in Eng- land at the reports which reached that country of the departure of the American churches from some of the customs, opinions, and practices which they had carried with them from the father-land. Letters of inquiry, remonstrance, entreaty, were frequently addressed to them, es- pecially one bearing the early date of 1637,* signed by a number of eminent Non-conformist divines, asking their opinion upon nine points of ecclesiastical discipline and order. In the answer
* Lamson's History of the First Church in Dedham, p. 21.
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THE HISTORY OF
returned, it is admitted, on the part of the New England churches, that, while they had not de- parted so far as was reported and charged, " the free air of the wilderness " had wrought some changes, for which they saw good reason ; and it is contended that churches should be seekers after truth, and " had still need to grow from defects to purity, and from reformation to refor- mation, age after age."
It is probable, therefore, that this question about the proper subjects of baptism was early agitated, and perhaps the more liberal opinion and practice in reference to it did at first, to some extent, prevail.
There was no general discussion of the subject till 1662. The synod which met that year adopt- ed the more liberal ground, approved of what was called the half-way, or baptismal covenant, and sanctioned the administration of baptism to chil- dren whose parents were not members of the church in full communion. This decision of the synod gave rise to a controversy, conducted on the one hand by President Chauncy of Harvard College, and the Rev. John Davenport, then of New Haven, against the decision, and by the Rev. Mr. Allin of Dedham, and the Rev. Richard Mather of Dorchester, in support of it.
Cotton Mather, in his Magnalia, maintains that the propositions of the synod of 1662 would
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BRATTLE STREET CHURCH.
have been inserted in the celebrated Cambridge Platform, put forth by the synod of 1648, but " for the opposition of one eminent person "; that the Rev. John Norton was in favor of their introduction, but being of " a peaceable temper," he forbore urging them against this opposition, so that when they were asserted by the synod " which met more than twice seven years after, many people did count them novelties," while, in fact, they were old verities, in harmony with the first principles and practices of the New England churches. However this may be, the decision of the synod of 1662 excited a controversy, a dif- ference of opinion and practice in the Congrega- tional churches, which had not subsided when our fathers contemplated the formation of this society.
Another question agitated during this period was that of the relative right of the church and the congregation in the choice of a pastor and the direction of parish affairs. So far as the Puri- tans, who sought freedom and refuge in this West- ern wilderness, had any definite plan or policy, it seems to have been that of a spiritual common- wealth, in which religion should be the controlling power of the state. They aimed not at an alli- ance of church and state, but they made the church the state. Spiritual regeneration and civil right were conjoined. Unless a man was a mem-
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THE HISTORY OF
ber of the church, he was not a free citizen of the state, had no right to vote in civil matters, and of course none in religious matters. The church, through its members, was to be the head of the state, and through connection with the church the individual was to secure civil privi- lege and power as a citizen. During the lives of the original emigrants, who were to a man almost members of the church, moved to voluntary exile by religious motive and principle, little objection to this course existed, or was made manifest. But when the second generation came upon the stage, and the number of those who were not members of the church began to increase, and ultimately form the majority in every town and in every congregation, the arbitrary and unequal character of the rule became more and more apparent, and opposition to it was excited. So far as any civil disabilities accompanied non- church-membership they were soon removed, and as early as 1662, in all the Massachusetts planta- tions, every freeholder, whether church-member or not, was a citizen entitled to vote in the elec- tion of magistrates, and to have a voice in all civil affairs. But in ecclesiastical matters, - in the choice of pastors and the direction of parish affairs, - the church struggled for, and for some time retained, first exclusive control, and then the right of taking the initiatory steps, giving its direc-
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tion to the action of the congregation. This right of the church was sometimes contested, and sometimes yielded apparently without a struggle ; - as in the case of the Rev. Mr. Bowles, who received a call from the church in Dedham, in January, 1685, " the inhabitants voting together without distinction of communicants and non- communicants, it being decided in a general meeting, that 'the church and town will act to- gether as one,' the church taking no separate vote." Another instance of this occurred thir- teen years earlier, in 1672, when the Rev. Charles Nicholet was invited to settle over the First Church in Salem, the church and the con- gregation acting as one in extending the invita- tion. Another example of the kind is afforded, also, by the First Church in Charlestown, in 1697 .* We learn from Cotton Mather, that ar- tifice was sometimes resorted to on the part of the church in order to retain the semblance of power, and of having taken the lead in ecclesiasti- cal measures. Thus, in case of vacancy in the pastoral office, the church would elect three or four of the most popular candidates, so that, on whichsoever of them the choice of the congrega- tion might fall, it could still be said, " The church has chosen him." As the parish, the congrega-
* Lamson's History of the First Church in Dedham, p. 90.
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THE HISTORY OF
tion, was the party bound to support the clergy- man, and every man, whether a church-member or not, had to contribute towards this object, it seems somewhat strange to us now that this question, when all the right and justice seem so manifestly on one side, should have arisen. Yet so it was, and the question was somewhat largely agitated at the time our fathers contemplated the formation of this society.
Another matter which was occasionally agitated during this period, and in respect to which the pub- lic mind had undergone some changes, was that of " the public relation of their experience " on the part of those who offered themselves for admission to the church. By many this was thought to be of great importance, and was insisted upon by some churches with inflexible perseverance. Others objected to it, and were disposed to discontinue it, or to leave it optional with the individual. The number of communicants was gradually, but surely, growing smaller in proportion to the con- gregation ; and it was justly thought that the cus- tom of requiring a public relation of experience tended to keep from the church and communion- table many timid, modest, and worthy persons. In many minds, also, the argument against it was one not only of expediency, but of right. They regarded it as an unjustifiable assumption on the part of the church, to impose this public relation of religious experience.
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The most appropriate mode of conducting the services of public worship began at this period to attract some attention. Indications were mani- fested of a readiness to adopt some changes that should give to these services more variety and interest.
As is usual in all cases of contest and separa- tion, the Puritan Non-conformists, in leaving the Church of England, swung far to the other extreme, and in matters insignificant, as well as in those of moment, aimed to mark their separa- tion by as wide a difference as possible. In the English Church service the Scriptures were largely read. Nearly all the Psalms were re- peated once a month, and lessons from the Old and New Testament marked out for every Sun-
day in the year. The Puritans would have none of this. They discarded altogether the reading of the Scriptures in public worship. These Scriptures could be read by each individual at home, in such portions as his taste, judgment, or spiritual wants might dictate. In the English Church service, also, there were various, and, as they thought, unnecessarily multiplied prayers, together with the frequent repetition of the Lord's Prayer, and, interspersed with these, a large amount of singing and chanting. The Puritans disliked all this ; they would have their mode of public worship as distinct as possible.
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THE HISTORY OF
They would not use the Lord's Prayer at all in public worship, and to do so soon came in their judgment to savor of prelacy. They would have but one prayer and one singing, and as for the rest, they would have the services of public worship what they ought to be, - not " vain repetitions " before God, who was "not to be worshipped with men's hands as though he needed any thing," but the instruction of the people in truth and righteousness. The sermon, the dis- cussion and enforcement of sound doctrine and godly living, - this was the prominent point with the Puritans in the religious services of the Lord's day.
The facts to which I have just alluded may help to throw some light upon a matter that has often excited surprise, and filled some hearts with the apprehension that the piety of these modern days has grown cold, has little internal heat, namely, the patience with which our fathers lis- tened to sermons which not infrequently went far into the second hour. But when we consider that there was no reading of the Scriptures in public worship, and commonly but one prayer and one singing, it may be that the whole time occupied did not very much exceed what is now devoted to these services.
Be this as it may, when the second generation came upon the stage, who had received only by in-
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BRATTLE STREET CHURCH.
heritance, and not by actual contact, the prejudices which their fathers entertained towards any thing resembling what was termed " prelatic modes of worship," the dryness and monotony of the strictly Puritan mode began to be felt. Some changes suggested themselves as desirable. It was thought that the reading of a portion of Scripture, with brief occasional expositions by the pastor, would tend to increase the interest and the edification of the public religious services of the Lord's day. It was found that music had its power and its place as an instrument of relig- ious impression and spiritual growth, and that some improvement and more use might wisely be made of this instrument. It does not appear that there was any discussion of these matters, nor can I ascertain that any changes in this respect were introduced before the establishment of this society ; but there are indications of a disposi- tion, a readiness, to make some changes.
I have been thus particular in the view I have presented, because it seemed to me to be neces- sary in order to a complete understanding of the circumstances under which this church originated, and a just appreciation of the credit due to those who undertook the enterprise, and carried it forward to a successful accomplishment. This object clearly was to found a religious society in which the liberal side on all the questions which
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THE HISTORY OF
have been considered should be established and maintained. But they were not the first to assert, and to some extent act upon, these liberal opin- ions and principles. I had all along supposed, before studying the subject with some care, that the founders of this church were the first to assert in ecclesiastical matters the principle which is now held so sacred both in civil and ecclesiasti- cal affairs, that all who were taxed should vote ; that all who contributed to the support of the pas- tor should have a voice in his election, and in the direction of parish affairs. But this was clearly not the case, as, in three several instances during the fifteen years previous to the formation of this society, this principle had been asserted and acted upon. And perhaps, were all the records of the early New England churches examined, several other instances might be found. The same may be said of the other points. The liberal side of these had been advocated, if not adopted and acted upon. There had been a gradual progress of liberal sentiment. The rigor of Calvinistic Puritanism had somewhat abated after the death of the generation to whom it was precious through persecutions endured in its be- half, and into whose souls it had, as it were, been branded with a red-hot iron. " The free air of the wilderness " had had its effect upon those who had breathed it from infancy or early youth.
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BRATTLE STREET CHURCH.
Their minds, untrammelled by the prejudices and no longer restrained by the presence and influence of those who came over in the May- flower in 1620, or with Higginson and Skelton in 1629, or with Winthrop in 1630, were free to adopt what seemed to them good in the forms and institutions of religion. Through the gradual prog- ress of public opinion, the way was prepared for the adoption of some changes and improvements in these things ; and the merit of our fathers in this matter, I conceive, is this, - that they seized the right moment and the right way to make these changes. They sought not to breed dissension and disunion in any existing society, to interfere with and overthrow its established order and customs. They sought not to introduce too extensive and radical changes, not to be in ad- vance of their age, but to be up with it, to lead it wisely to principles and measures just and reasonable in themselves, and which it was not indisposed or unprepared to adopt. Their high object was to found a new Christian Congrega- tional church, upon the broad, catholic, but con- servative principles of Congregationalism, - a church in which a just liberty and privilege should be allowed to all, and nothing imposed upon any individual, beyond what was necessary to the con- stitution of any social religious institution, and the public administration of the Christian ordinances.
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