USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Christ Church, Salem Street, Boston : the Old North Church of Paul Revere fame : historical sketches, Colonial period, 1723-1775 > Part 9
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THE " VINEGAR BIBLE " GIVEN BY KING GEORGE II
Gift, To Christ Church, at Boston New England. The Royal arms with the letters G. R., are stamped on both the front and back covers. The inscription is impressed on an inlay of leather and, a portion of the inlay having worn away, it can be seen that a lettering of some sort was originally stamped on the cover itself, but there is not enough visible to indicate what was the nature of it. Curiously enough the Royal arms are those of George I instead of George II. This can probably be ex- plained on the supposition that when the Bible was printed in 1717 a number of copies were bound up by Royal order, the super libros of George I impressed, and the books deposited in the Great Wardrobe for future distribution as occasion might arise.
The book is in excellent condition but has been rebacked, evi- dently in accordance with instructions from the vestry which, on September 1, 1746, Voted That the Large Church Bible of Christ Church Being out of Repare That It be Sent to London To be new Bound as sone as posable. It was Sent with Capt Fones to London, and in the Account Book, under date of April II, 1748, the charge appears, To Binding ye Church Bible £2.5 Sterling at 1000 pr Ct 24.15 .-. Each cover has two holes near the outer edge in which, probably, silk ties were originally fas- tened; or it may be that they will explain the phrase in the invoice, Strung with blue garter Ribbons.
Cushions for reading desk and pulpit were in general use at that time and are still retained in Trinity Church, Newport, Rhode Island. They furnished a touch of color to the interior with their gold fringe and tassels.
The twenty yards of damask was utilized in various ways, particularly for use at the Communion, and part of it was offered to Dr. Cutler who declined to accept the gift; later it was used, with additions, for curtains for the organ loft after the installation of the organ in 1736.
The carpet referred to in the bill was the customary covering for the altar table in times of divine service, being usually of rich brocade or damask.
Just what Christ Church used for a Communion serv- ice in the first ten years of its history is not shown in the records, either by gift or purchase. However, by cir-
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cumstantial evidence, not always trustworthy, it is true, but in this case almost certainly so, I think I have solved a minor mystery. Visiting the Church of St. Andrew's in Hanover one day, I was shown by the late warden, Edmund Q. Sylvester, pieces of an old pewter Commun- ion set. A casual question as to their age evoked a reply from Mr. Sylvester that he did not know when or how they came into possession of St. Andrew's. In the following winter in the Christ Church papers, I came upon a receipt from the Reverend Addington Daven- port acknowledging the loan of a pewter Communion set from Christ Church to the church at Scituate of which he was rector. St. Andrew's, Hanover, is the successor to the church at Scituate and the pieces of pewter shown to me were obviously a part of the set loaned by Christ Church after the receipt of the gift of King George the Second.
In its more than two centuries of existence, the silver Communion set has had a checkered career. Cherished as a proud possession after its arrival, it was kept in a special chest built for the purpose, under the care of the "Upper Church Warden."
When evil days befell after the Revolution, the vestry records under date of January, 1789, bring to light a transaction which has been overlooked relating to the financial condition of the parish. The plan was
That a Proprietors meeting be called and a vote passed that the plate belonging to Christ Church be made over to those persons and their Heirs or assigns untill they shall be paid back the money which they have advanced with Interest for the same.
Nevertheless this vote shall not debarr the Church from the use of said plate but the Church shall from time to time and at all times when wanted have the same to ad- minister the Ordinances and to return them again to the care of two persons Chosen by the Donors their Heirs or assigns and the Said trustees to be Chosen every Easter
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:
and when ever those persons who have lent the money as aforsaid are paid back again ... then the plate shall be returned to the Church . .. and this Vote to be Null and Void.
This plan, however, was not consummated until the in- sistence of the creditors of the church forced the propri- etors to come to some decision as noted in the vestry record of July 14, 1789, when the wardens collected of " sundry persons " forty-six pounds, ten shillings.
This arrangement was in force for some months when "the Wardens presented the Vestry with an Instrument 1 drawn up by William Tudor, Esq".," 1 " 1 a generous vestry- man of Trinity Church, to cover the amount of the loan as recorded in the vestry book under date of March 26, 1790, enabling the wardens to repay on June 30th, 1790, the "sundry persons" who had advanced the cash. No bond is of record and no date of repayment to Wil- liam Tudor has been found but the vestry put on record their appreciation of the act by the following unanimous vote :
That the thanks of this Vestry be returned to William Tudor Esq' for his Generosity in Advice & Services & also for his kindness in offering to Continue the Same out of regard & respect to the wellfare of this Church & that the Wardens wait upon him with a Copy of the above vote.
An editorial note in the Church Militant of January, 1913, brings to a happy conclusion the story of the King's Silver,
During one of the many parish controversies of fifty or sixty years ago, one Goddard, a warden, concealed some of the historic silver and could not be persuaded to reveal its hiding place. Years afterward Phillips Brooks
1 William Tudor, 1750-1819. Harvard, 1769. Eminent Lawyer, Judge-Advocate, State Senator, a founder of the Massachusetts Histori- cal Society.
" Mr. Tudor gave his advice and drew the Instrument gratis. " Vestry Book March 26, 1790.
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discovered it in Shreve, Crump and Low's jewelry store, and had it restored to the parish.
Now deposited for safe keeping with the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, it is brought out for special church festivals, to be used and admired by those who come to worship.
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THE FIRST METHODIST PREACHES AT THE OLD NORTH
L OITERING in the bypaths of history this spring, led me to stumble on a forgotten episode in the life of Charles Wesley, the "First Methodist" as his tombstone tells us, who, as an ordained clergyman of the Church of England, once walked the streets of Boston, was an honored guest in several households, preached in two famous pulpits, visited Harvard Col- lege, hobnobbed with some of the first citizens of the town, paid his respects to the Royal Governor, and left to posterity a prose etching of Massachusetts Bay as he saw it two hundred years ago.
It all goes back to the early history of Georgia, last to be settled of the thirteen original states and the only one founded as a charity, under a charter granted by George the Second for whom the colony was named. Here, poor debtors from the English prisons and religious refugees from continental Europe were to find homes and freedom. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel sent a missionary to convert the Indians and the philanthropic Oglethorpe, as governor, accompanied the first expedition and then returned to England for a sec- ond batch of colonists.
In the summer of 1735, looking for a successor to the S. P. G. missionary who had resigned, and learning that John Wesley had declined the Epworth living (his father having died in April), Oglethorpe prevailed on the two brothers, John and Charles Wesley, both Ox- ford tutors, to join the Georgia expedition. John, al- ready in priest's orders, was to go as missionary to the Indians under the S. P. G., and Charles as the gover-
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nor's secretary and chaplain, his ordination having been expedited on the very eve of departure. The second expedition set sail in late October, 1735, in two ships, one the Simmonds, carrying, besides the governor, the two Wesleys, a Moravian bishop with twenty-six of his flock, and a great company of families sent out at the expense of the trustees.
They reached Savannah in February, 1736, after a tempestuous voyage of fifteen weeks. Charles Wesley, afire to save his own soul and preach salvation to his fellows, found at the governor's headquarters at Fred- erica, a collection of miserable huts surrounded by swamps, the colonists a heterogeneous group of English, Spanish, French, Germans and Swiss. The not too friendly Indians, eager only for barter with the white men, made up the rest of his "parish." Almost immedi- ately, differences arose between the ardent secretary and the temperamental and autocratic governor. For the young priest, there were long hours of secretarial work which he detested; he was refused even the common necessaries of life, a teakettle to begin with-think of depriving an Englishman of the wherewithal to brew his cup of tea ; even a cot to sleep on was pulled out from under him by the governor's orders, which meant lying on the cold and muddy ground; rising at unseemly hours to bathe in the stream before the alligators took their morning dip; and suffering recurring attacks of the dreaded dysentery, which long baffled a cure. These were some of the "petty annoyances" recorded by critics of Charles Wesley. Brother John, of tougher mould, tried to straighten out matters by exchanging parishes with Charles, who went to Savannah, while John tried to whip the Fredericans into shape. But it was no use. The rigid austerities practiced by the Wesleys, the many daily services heralded by drum beats, the prayers and hom- ilies poorly understood by the foreigners who could not
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THE REV. CHARLES WESLEY From an Original Painting by J. Russell in the possession of the family
From The Journal and Poetry of the Rev. Charles Wesley, Volume I Courtesy of the Boston Athenaeum
=
Christ Church
Charlestown
PAUL REVERE'S ENGRAVED VIEW OF HIS MAJESTY'S NORTH BATTERY IN BOSTON, 1760
read the English Prayer Book, - all were ill-adapted to this polyglot community which might have taken to a simpler, less ascetic gospel. So, resigning his secretary's post and bearing dispatches to the trustees in London from the governor, once more kindly disposed toward him, Charles Wesley, the disillusioned missionary, set sail for the Old World on July 26, 1736. But destiny, which was to lead him into wider fields, had reserved for him a pleasant interlude by the way.
For now a succession of gales, a leaking ship, and a drunken captain who had failed to provide sufficient water and candles for his unseaworthy ship, drove the desperate crew to near mutiny. At last, on August 30, they heard the welcome order to stand away for Boston for provisions and repairs. It was the 22nd of Septem- ber, however, before they sighted Cape Cod; and two days later they entered Boston Harbor, which prompted Wesley to one of his rare recorded enthusiasms for natural scenery when he wrote:
September 24, 1736.
I was at leisure now to contemplate a prospect entirely new, and beautiful beyond all I had ever seen. We sailed smoothly on in a vast bason, as it seemed, bounded on all sides with in- numerable small islands. Some of them were entire rock, in height and colour not unlike Dover cliffs: others steep, and cov- ered with woods. Here and there lay a round hill, entirely clothed with green; and all at such equal distance, - that the passages seemed artificially made, to admit the narrow streams between.
Having passed one of these passages, we were presented with a new set of hills, rocks, and woods, in endless variety; until we came to the Castle, three miles from Boston. From thence we had a full view of the town, stretched out a mile and a half upon the shore, in a semicircle. We landed at Long Wharf,1 which we walked straight up, having a row of houses on one side, and near two hundred sail of ships on the other. I lodged in a public house; went to bed at eleven.
1 Long Wharf showing the houses on it is a feature of Paul Revere's view of His Majesty's North Battery, 1760.
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Fresh from the youngest mission of the Church of England, Wesley in Boston would of course present him- self first to his Bishop's representative in New England, the Commissary, Roger Price, rector of King's Chapel, who "looked as not believing me to be a Clergyman, my shipclothes not being the best credentials. But re- turning in my habit and Dr. Cutler (rector of Christ Church) having informed him of me, he received me very cordially and pressed me to live with him while I stayed in Boston." We are not surprised therefore to find this entry:
Sun. 'Sept., 26th. I preached in the morning at Dr. Cutler's church, in the afternoon at Mr. Price's, on "the One Thing Needful." In the evening I fell into company with Mr. John Checkley, a right honest zealous advocate for the Church of England, who has, on that account, been cruelly persecuted by the Presbyterians.
The full text may be found in Wesley's few published sermons. A 19th century commentator says that it shows what is the one thing needful, but does not tell how to acquire it. It struck a prophetic note in its exhortation : -" Awake Thou That Sleepest."
Over against the Town House on the spot where now is the Sears Building, there stood in the early 18th century
THE CROWN AND BLUE GATE
This was John Checkley's shop where he sold books, medicines and other small articles. But it was more than a bookshop. It was the rendezvous, in the very heart of the town, of those who frequented it to enjoy the proprietor's keen sarcasms, pithy humor and caustic wit. Because of his belligerent advocacy of episcopacy and the Church of England doctrines, Checkley was branded in every meeting-house pulpit as a disturber of the peace. Alone of the laymen of the colony, he dared to speak, write and publish his opinions in favor of the Prayer
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Book and the apostolic succession. Twice he had been refused ordination by a Bishop of London who did not care to antagonize the Puritan majority in a community where the Established Church was only tolerated. Charles Wesley's encounter with the brilliant Checkley brought him a call a few days later from a “good-na- tured clergyman," Ebenezer Miller from the Braintree mission (now Christ Church, Quincy), and brother to Checkley's wife. But first, the governor's lady lying sick unto death, he paid his respects to Governor Belcher.1
The story of the next two days is best told in Wesley's own words :
Sat. Oct. 2d. I rode out with Mr. Price, in his chaise, to see the country, which is wonderfully delightful. The only pas- sage out of town is a neck of land about two hundred yards over; all the rest being encircled with the sea. The temperate air, the clear rivulets, and the beautiful hills and dales, which we every where met with, seemed to present the very reverse of Georgia.
Sun. Oct. 3d. After near two months want of it, I again enjoyed the benefit of the sacrement, which I assisted Dr. Cut- ler to administer. I preached on, " There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary are at rest:" as I did again in the afternoon for Mr. Price, though I found my strength sensibly abated.
The Monday following, with the Commissary and Madam Price, Dr. Cutler, his son, and a "Mr. Brig," 2 both "Cambridge scholars," Wesley went to Braintree to return Mr. Miller's call. Surely he must have been shown with pride the fine new church built in 1727 and quite imposing with its two stories and many-paned windows.
On their return, another "worthy Clergyman, as de- serving of the name as any I see in New England," the Reverend Addington Davenport, missionary at Scituate (now Hanover), was waiting to pay his respects to the
1 Old portrait of Governor Belcher owned by Christ Church.
" Mr. Brig. Not listed in Harvard graduates.
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Commissary's distinguished guest. Wesley had now met all the Episcopal rectors in the immediate vicinity of Boston. That seems to leave out Trinity Church, but it was served by the Commissary and the Bishop's "Lec- turers" until 1740 when Addington Davenport left Scit- uate and became Trinity's first rector. Of the near-by churches, St. Peter's at Salem was just getting on its feet and St. Michael's of Marblehead was becalmed in one of its periodic doldrums, but this scholarly group, all animated by love of the Prayer Book, stands high in Massachusetts Church history.
The year 1736 was the centenary year of Harvard College. Wesley's only visit was when he drove Dr. Cutler's son to Cambridge on October 5th and "had only time to observe the civility of the Fellows, the regu- larity of the buildings and pleasantness of the situation."
The great social event of Wesley's month in Boston was a supper given by John Checkley to the clergy when their host entertained them with his adventures while collecting evidence of oppression of Episcopalians. There were several days of getting together to draw up a recommendation to the Bishop of London, of this " champion of the Church," whom, Wesley adds, "the Presbyterians are wise to keep out of the ministry." In 1738, John Checkley made a third and successful at- tempt to get ordination, and was appointed missionary of the S. P. G. at Providence. He was then in the fifty- ninth year, but he served St. John's until his death, four- teen years later. This ardent and persecuted Episcopal- ian, founder of the Boston Episcopal Charitable Society which is still active, received this appointment through Charles Wesley's personal intercession with the Bishop of London. The whole story is told by the former Regis- trar of this Diocese, the Reverend Edmund F. Slafter, D.D., in "John Checkley or the Evolution of Religious Tolerance in Massachusetts Bay."
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On October 22nd Wesley notes in his Diary :
All things being at last in readiness, the wind providentially changed, and afforded me three days more to try experiments. Within that time I vomited, purged, bled, sweated, and took laudanum, which entirely drained me of the little strength I had left. .
Mon. October 25. I waked surprisingly better, though not yet able to walk. This morning Dr. Graves1 came over from Charles Town to see me, gave me physic and advice; which he likewise left in writing; but would take no fee for either. The same civility I received from Dr. Gibbons, Dr. Gardener, and others. A little after Mr. Chicheley came and brought me a summons to go aboard. Mr. Price drove me to the wharf, having called by the way on some of my new friends, from whom I have received all the instances of kindness in their power to show.
When we came to the wharf, the boat was not ready; so we were forced to wait half an hour in the open cold air. Mr. Chicheley helped me into the boat and covered me up. In about two hours we reached the ship, and with Mr. Zouberbuhler, Mr. Cutler, and Mr. Brig, went on board. I lay down in the state-room less fatigued with the passage than I expected. . I had a tolerable night, though stripped of the conveniences I so long enjoyed on shore.
Two days later Wesley, although he had not yet strength to read the lesson, began prayers in the Great Cabin which he continued throughout the voyage, al- though he seldom had any present but the passengers.
They had a racking voyage which washed away the sheep, half the hogs and drowned most of the fowl; and finally, owing to continuing storms, the mizzenmast was cut down which prevented shipping so much water, and as Wesley noted on Friday, October 29th, "Toward morning the sea heard and obeyed the divine voice 'Peace, be still l'"
Storm after storm followed the ship. Their voyage was nearing its end when on November 29th they heard the call of "Land." -
1 Dr. Thomas Graves, Eminent Charlestown physician; first Senior Warden Christ Church.
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The two young students who were fellow passengers with Wesley, one Dr. Cutler's son John, came in for a good share of somewhat caustic comment in Wesley's Diary, for he notes that he prayed with them continually to calm their fears and only Mr. Zouberbuhler "behaved as a Christian ought to do." With the memory of this voyage in his mind, perhaps it is no wonder that young John Cutler found a living in England and never re- turned to Boston.
At last the voyage ended, and on Sunday, December 5, 1736, Wesley reached London, and in St. Paul's Cathedral he partook of the sacrament and returned thanks for his safe return.
On Whitsunday, 1738, Pentecostal flame descended on Charles Wesley. The cloisters of Christ Church and the spires of Oxford Town were henceforth exchanged for the hedgerows and byways of the English country- side. All England became the Wesley brothers' parish, while they turned the world upside down. They never returned to the foreign mission field; for them, John Wesley's prophetic words had come true :
To distant realms th' Apostle need not roam, Darkness, alas! and Heathens are at home.
-
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ORGANS AND ORGAN BUILDERS 1736-1945
F OR more than two hundred years an organ has stood in the west gallery of Christ Church, Bos- ton. It was not until 1736, thirteen years after the church was opened for worship, that the parish had what then was taboo in any but Episcopal churches. Long before the interior of the church was quite com- pleted, and the bills paid, there began to be talk of an organ. King's Chapel had had the good fortune to have thrust upon it in 1713 the so-called Brattle organ, and it seemed only fitting that the second Episcopal church in Boston should be equally equipped. But it was over ten years before the Christ Church vestry put on record a definite attempt to secure an organ.
31 May, 1734 Voted: Whereas a letter from Capt. Francis Cavally directed to Frans Beteilhe [the clerk] is presented to us Intimating to obtain an Organ for this Church, It is now
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