USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of King's Chapel, in Boston : the first Episcopal church in New England : comprising notices of the introduction of Episcopacy into the northern colonies > Part 7
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* Chandler's Life of Dr Johnson, p. 62.
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him. This desire they expressed, in a formal manner, to Mr Brockwell ; and that gentleman's meekness not being prepared for such an appli- cation, by no means a flattering one, he at first refused his consent, and resolved to abide by the very terms of the Bishop's appointment. But he afterwards, with a reservation of his right, agreed to the proposed arrangement. This af- fair occupies in its details, several pages of the records. Without making the comments which might be made upon it, it will be sufficient to re- mark on the change of customs of which it fur- nishes another example. The afternoon would not now be selected here, as the season for the fullest congregations.
Beside Mr Caner's popularity in the pulpit, he had also a remarkable talent for business ; and it was probably owing in a great measure to this characteristic of the Rector, that soon after his settlement, the design of rebuilding the Chapel was resumed, and prosecuted with vigor and dil- igence to its completion. The subscription paper was revived ; letters were sent in all directions, in the country and out of it, to solicit aid ; con- tributions were taken in the church ; assessments were laid on the pews; and every effort and method was resorted to which seemed to promise any furtherance to the desired end. The difficulties
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contended with were great, the exertions and sacrifices made were constant and eminent. In our own days of activity, there has not been a church erected in the land at a greater expense of labor and time, nor with a greater straining of means. In all the measures which were pursued, Mr Caner took a leading part ; he attended to many if not most of the business details, and wrote nearly all the letters of application, in which a remarkable ingenuity is displayed in varying the terms of the same oft repeated story, told in dif- · ferent phrase to each individual applied to, through a series of documents which would fill a volume. Indeed the records of this undertaking form a thin folio volume, entitled, " A Record of Votes and Resolutions, &c., together with some brief Me- moirs of the Transactions relating to the rebuild- ing King's Chapel in Boston." This volume is my guide in the narrative which follows, and my authority for all the facts. As it recounts some things which have been already briefly mention- ed, it may serve the purpose of a useful recapitu- lation, to present an abstract of the entire story, as there given.
The manuscript begins with stating that King's Chapel was first erected of wood in the year 1688, that it was enlarged in 1710, and being found in the year 1741 in a state of considerable
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decay, that it was proposed to rebuild it of stone. The Rev. Roger Price was at that time " min- ister," and Win. Shirley, Esq. (about the same time appointed Governor of the Province) and Mr Saml. Wentworth, wardens, A voluntary subscription was set on foot, and Peter Faneuil, Esq. chosen treasurer for receiving sums sub- scribed. The building was to be of stone, and to cost £25,000, old tenor. It was not to be commenced till £10,000 were subscribed.
The names on the first subscription paper were as follows : Win. Shirley, Esq. ; Sir Henry Frank- land; Ed. Tyng ; Eliakim Hutchinson ; Charles Apthorp ; Henry Caswall; John Gibbins ; James Gordon ; James Smith ; Robert Lightfoot ; Thos. Hawding ; Chas. Paxton ; Saml. Went- worth ; Peter Faneuil.
The principal contributers among these were, Mr Faneuil, for £200 sterling (i. e. 2000 old tenor), Mr Shirley, £100 stg. and Sir Henry Frankland, £50 stg. The rest subscribed from one to two hundred pounds old tenor.
As the whole sum subscribed was only £5,250 old tenor, little more than half the sum proposed to begin with, and as Mr Faneuil soon afterwards died, the affair languished, and was for some time laid aside. In 1747, Mr Price having resigned, and Mr Caner having been chosen to succeed him, it was revived.
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Though the Chapel was now more ruinous than before, it was objected by some to the re- building it, that the war had raised the price of materials and made building more expensive. To this it was answered that the war had also brought a number of army and navy officers into the town, who might be expected to assist the design.
A meeting was held at Mr Caner's house,* for the purpose of reviving and prosecuting the old subscription ; at which were present Governor Shirley, Sir Henry Frankland, the two wardens, (James Gordon and John Box) Eliakim Hutch- inson, Thomas Lechmere, Charles Apthorp, Dr Silvester Gardiner, and James Smith. A new subscription paper was drawn up and proposed by Mr Caner, to which all present agreed and subscribed. It was dated Sept. 30, 1747. By it the subscribers, " out of regard to the honor of God, and the more decent provision for his pub- lick worship, and for confirming and promoting the said subscription heretofore begun," oblige themselves, executors and administrators to pay to Charles Apthorp, Esq. appointed their trea-
* Situated on the north side of the burying-ground, and lately taken down for the purpose of building on the lot a new Savings Bank of stone. It was of wood, rough-cast outside. In this house were the rooms of the Boston Athenæum from 1810 to 1822.
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surer, or to his successor, the sums annexed to their names. But it was provided, that if the sum of two thousand pounds sterling was not raised within a year and a half from the date of the paper, the subscriptions should be considered void, and all moneys paid were to be refunded.
On this second paper Gov. Shirley stood first, and enlarged his subscription to £200 stg. Sir Henry Frankland gave £150 stg. and Charles Apthorp £1000 old tenor, or £100 stg. The whole subscriptions of nine persons amounted to £6200 old tenor, which was more than was before obtained from fourteen.
The paper being handed round, a considerable sum was subscribed. It was resolved that a weekly meeting should be held at some public house, in order to advance the design; that the church should be enlarged as well as rebuilt; and that an address should be made to the town for ground sufficient to effect this enlargement. And, " not to lose time while these things were in agitation, sundry letters were drawn up to be sent abroad to ask assistance of well disposed persons towards carrying on the good work."
The first of these letters was to Wm. Vassall, Esq. then in the Island of Jamaica. It was dated Jan. 28, 1747-8, and signed by the minister, wardens and vestry. They mention that a vio- 8
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lent storm had carried away a large part of the roof, which obliged them to hasten their opera- tions in the design of rebuilding the church. They observe that they have already obtained about £1600 stg. " We have," they say, " upon former occasions, particularly at the first erecting the chapel, experienced the generosity of the gentlemen in the West India Islands, and their readiness to assist their brethren in these parts destitute of the favour of the government and many advantages which they enjoy to promote affairs of this nature." They beg Mr Vassall to obtain aid for them from the charitable and well disposed people in the Island of Jamaica, and to be their agent in receiving and transmitting the same.
The next letter was to the Bishop of London, and is sufficiently curious to copy entire.
" To the Right Revd. Father in God, Edmund, Lord Bishop of London.
" BOSTON, JULY 25, 1748. " May it please your Lordship,
" We think it our duty to acquaint your Lordship, that Time and other accidents, partic- ularly a late remarkable storm, have so much impaired King's Chapel in Boston, that it is be- come necessary to rebuild it; to which purpose the Congregation have cheerfully entered upon a Subscription which at present amounts to £16,000
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New England Currency, equal to so many hun- dreds Sterling, and is daily increasing ; but as we have no expectation of their ability to compleat the work of themselves, they have thought proper to apply to such friends whose ability and virtue give hopes of their encouraging a design of this nature. But as all probable means in our power will he found little enough to accomplish the good work, we humbly beg leave to ask your Lordship's opinion of the propriety of an appli- cation to his majesty, in favour of a Church, the first in America ; and who at the publick Charge erected a very handsome Pew for His Majesty's Governour, a Church which has heretofore tasted of the Royall Bounty, and if we may judge by the Name, seems in some measure encouraged to expect it. We are sensible your Lordship's interest and influence would be the greatest se- curity of success, if such an application were thought practicable and proper, whether that assistance were asked from the Royal Bounty or by virtue of an authoritative Brief. - In hopes of being favoured with your Lordship's direction and supported by your interest, we beg leave to assure your Lordship that we are, with all duty and submission.
" Your Lordship's most obedient and most Humble Servants."
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Matters being advanced thus far, it was thought expedient to take a public and authoritative vote of the proprietors on the subject of rebuilding, which was accordingly done on Sunday, March 27, 1748, when it was unanimously determined that on account of the ruinous and decayed con- dition of King's Chapel, it should be taken down and rebuilt. A few days previously, a petition, as before agreed on, had been presented to the town, for a piece of ground at the east end of the church, that the new building might be made more spacious and commodious than the old one. The town chose a committee to confer with the committee of the church, and the result of the conference was a proposal that the church should have the lot occupied by the school-house at the east end of the old building, with the reservation of a passage way of ten feet wide into the bury- ing ground, on condition that the school-house should be rebuilt by the church on a convenient spot in the vicinity. Thereupon the petitioners bargained for a piece of ground at a short distance from the school-house, and also for another more expensive lot opposite the school-house, on the south side of School Street, as the former could not be purchased without the latter .* But the
* Col Saltonstall was owner of this land.
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Committee of the town, finding the latter piece a more desirable situation than the other, rose in their demands, and insisted that a school-house should be erected for them there. This came near to break off the negotiations, and compel the church to rebuild according to the old dimensions. But Governor Shirley and others came forward, and said nobly and sensibly, " that as the Build- ing was designed for Posterity as well as them- selves, it would hereafter be deemed very injudi- cious if an advantage of enlarging it into a con- venient and regular building should now be lost for the sake of an increased charge." The church was induced to persevere, and to present to the town another petition. Much obstinate and vexatious opposition was encountered, especially from one or two of the selectmen, and Mr Lovell the schoolmaster, but the end of the whole busi- ness was, that the church erected a school-house on the required lot opposite the old one, and on which the present Latin School now stands, and gave it, together with the ground, to the town, and in return were granted the lot at the east end of the Chapel, and a strip four feet wide on the north side of it, and thus were enabled to rebuild the Chapel according to its present location and measurement. Wherever the new boundaries encroached on tombs or graves, leave was readi- ly obtained from the friends of the deceased for
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the removal of their remains, and their decent in- terment elsewhere.
Toward the end of this year (1748 ) the school- house being nearly completed, the Committee turned their attention to contracting for materials for the church, and collecting the first payment of their subscriptions. For the subscription of Peter Faneuil, Esq. deceased, they were unfortunately obliged to sue his brother and executor, Benjamin Faneuil, from whom, after a disagreeable lawsuit, they at last recovered it.
" In order to make an estimate of the quantity and cost of the materials, it was necessary to fix on some plan of the building ; for which purpose the Rev. Mr Caner projected one, and also wrote a letter to Mr Harrison of Rhode Island, a gen- tleman of good judgment in architecture."
This letter, addressed to a gentleman who real- ly deserved the name of an architect, and to whom this part of the country is indebted for more than one specimen of correct, tasteful and appropriate architecture, is as follows.
" BOSTON, 5th APRIL, 1749.
" MR PETER HARRISON,
"SIR, -The Committee appointed to have the care of rebuilding King's Chapel in this town, as they design with all convenient expedition to
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proceed in the business committed to their trust, have desired me to acquaint you that they should esteem it a favour if you would oblige them with a draught of a handsome Church agreeable to the limits hereinafter assigned.
" The length of the Church from West to East, including the Steeple is to be 120 feet, besides which there will be 10 feet allowed for a Chancel. The breadth is to be 65 feet 8 inches. The ground has a declivity of about 5 feet from West to East. It is bounded with a fair street on the West End, and another on the South Side. The North Side has a large open space or Burying Ground. The East End is bounded by private property at about 12 feet distance. As the chief beauty and strength of building depends upon a due proportion of the several members to each other, the gentlemen of the committee are encouraged to make this appli- cation to you, whom they have often heard men- tioned with advantage for a particular judgment and taste in things of this kind, and for the know- ledge you have acquired by travelling and obser- vation. We do not require any great expense of ornament, but chiefly aim at symmetry and pro- portion, which we entirely submit to your judg- ment. The building is to be of rough stone, and since the charge will greatly increase by carrying the walls very high, if it does not interfere with
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your judgment, we should perhaps be pleased with one tier of windows only. This indeed will be inconvenient for the Gallerys, and therefore if it be not too much trouble, the gentlemen would be glad to have a Prospect of a side of each sort, one with a single tier of windows, and the other with two. The Steeple and Spire for bigness, height and ornament is left with you to determine, a Draught of which, together with a Ground Platt, is what is desired and would extreamly oblige the gentlemen of the Committee, and be esteemed a very great favor by
" Sir, your most obt. and most humble Servant, " H. CANER."
Contracts were made in July with Mr Hay- ward and Mr Hunt of Braintree for North and South Common stones, the stones from the North Common being charged the highest. "Laborers were now employed to open a trench for the foundation, which being soon accomplished, to the depth of between seven and eight feet, the Com- mittee directed that the first stone for the founda- tion should be laid on the 11th of August, 1749." Governor Shirley was desired to lay the same, and Mr Caner was invited to preach a sermon on the occasion.
On Friday, the day appointed, " Mr Caner,
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Mr Brockwell, the Treasurer and Committee, to- gether with the wardens, vestry, and other prin- cipal gentlemen of the church, waited on his Ex- cellency William Shirley, Esq. from the Province House to the ground laid out for the Church, amidst a large concourse of spectators, where a stone was prepared with the following inscription.
QUOD FELIX FAUSTUMQUE SIT ECCLESIA ET REIPUBLICA HUNC LAPIDEM DEO SACRUM REGIA CAPELLE APUD BOSTONIUM MASSACHUSETTENSIUM RESTAURATÆE ATQUE AUCTE FUNDAMENTUM POSUIT GULIELMUS SHIRLEY PROVINCIE PREFECTUS AUGUSTI 11MO, ANNO SALUTIS 1749.
" When the masons had placed the Stone at the N. East corner of the trench, his Excellency, according to custom, settled it with a stroke or two of a mason's hammer, and after giving the workmen about £20 to drink his health, went into the [old] Church, as did also most of those who were present, where, after Prayers, a Ser- mon was preached with a view to the occasion by the Rev. Mr Caner from Neh. ii. 20." The words of the text are those which I have placed at the head of this discourse ; " The God of heaven, he will prosper us ; therefore we his ser-
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vants will arise and build." The sermon was printed at the request of the Committee.
The ceremony above related was attacked with witty scurrillity in a paper called the Independent Advertiser ; " but," say the records, " the malice and ill manners of the writer got the better of his wit, and exposed him to resentment and contempt where he thought to have merited applause. And indeed the sober and serious men of all par- ties in the town were so much offended at the ill manners and irreligion discovered in this libel, that it soon gave occasion to the suppressing the paper in which it was published, especially as it had long been made use of for a vehicle of scandal and disaffection to Government."
In September an answer was received from Mr Harrison of Newport, with the plans and eleva- tions which had been requested.
"NEWPORT, SEPTEMBER 15th, 1749.
" SIR, - Since I first undertook to draw a De- sign for the new Church, many things have un- expectedly occurred to prevent me from finishing it in the time you requested. However, I have at last compleated it, and now send you per the Post Rider all the Plans and Elevations (as men- tioned below) which I should be glad to hear an- swer your expectations, and that no material al-
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teration is made in the execution, as it is very possible by that means the symmetry of the whole may be destroyed.
" The Body of the Building (as you directed) is as plain as the order of it will possibly admit of, but the Steeple is fully decorated, and I be- lieve will have a beautiful effect. The inside is likewise designed plain, and as regular as can be contrived from the dimensions you limited me to. - From these hints you may perhaps be able to answer the objections of such of the Committee and others who may not be conversant with drawings, or have not a taste in things of this na- ture. I am, Sir,
" Your most humble Servant, " PETER HARRISON.
" The Plan. - The Elevation of the West Front. - The Elevation of the South Front. - The Section. - Breadthways. - The Plans of the Steeple. - The Plan of the Pews.
" To the Rev. Mr HENRY CANER."
As I have not seen these plans of the archi- tect, it is impossible for me to say how closely they were followed. But as the Committee were well pleased with them, and wrote to Mr Harri- son that they should follow them as nearly as they could, it is not probable that there was any great
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deviation from them. It is to be regretted, that the means of the church did not permit them to erect the steeple, as this must have proved a great ornament both to the building and the town.
The workmen proceeded with their labor but slowly. Granite was not then the manageable material that it is now. In the meantime the congregation continued to worship in the old chapel, decayed and partially unroofed by a se- vere storm as it was, while the walls of the new structure were gradually rising around it. The committee also continued to write letters to wealthy men and dignitaries ; but not much fruit was ob- tained from them, and the church were left to . rely mainly on their own resources, which is generally, after all, the best reliance .* I have
* Among other unsuccessful applications was one to Capt. Coram, the founder of the Foundling Hospital in London. Mr Barlow Trecothick, who was then in London, waited on him, and though graciously received, had no sooner mentioned the purpose of his visit, than he was obliged to listen to a burst of most passionate reproaches against the vestry of King's Chapel for slighting a present which Capt. Coram had for- merly made them of a piece of land. All the explanations of Mr Trecothick served not to cool the old gentleman's rage, who at last flatly told his visitor, with an oath, " that he knew it was in his power to serve the church very much, but that if the twelve apostles were to apply to him in be- half of it, he would persist in refusing to do it." This, says Mr Trecothick in his communication to the Committee, " I thought a definitive answer, and so took my leave."
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hitherto in these discourses called our church the oldest episcopal church in New England, not venturing to go further ; but these letters advance a still higher claim, as they almost constantly de- scribe it, though no doubt erroneously, as the " oldest Church in British America."
In March, 1753, the new church being so far advanced that it was necessary to desert the old one, the congregation requested and obtained leave to meet in Trinity Church on Sundays, at separate hours from the congregation of that church, and on festival and prayer days in Mr Croswell's meeting-house .* In April the old church was pulled down. Before it falls to the ground, let us take such a glimpse of its venera- ble interior, as the mist of dim ages will allow to us.
Since the enlargement of the Chapel in 1710, and the erection subsequently of galleries, it con-
An application was also made to the celebrated Ralph Allen, Esq. of Prior Park, near Bath, for freestone from his quarries, for the interior and ornamental part of the work. The stone was promised, but as it was found that the ex- pense of working it would be greatly beyond the means of the church, the design of using it was relinquished, and wood was employed instead for the pillars and decorations.
* Dr Sewall's church was applied for to be used on Christ- mas day. A verbal answer was returned that the request was granted, only it was "expected that the House should not be decorated with spruce, &c."
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tained 122 pews, of which number 82 were on the ground floor. But these pews must have been small, as the present church contains no more. The pulpit was on the north side of the church, at about the midst. A finely decorated pew for the governors who sat successively in it, was opposite ; and near it there was another pew reserved for officers of the British army and navy. In the west gallery of this first episcopal church, was the first organ which ever pealed to the praise of God in this country ; while displayed along its walls, and suspended from its pillars, after the manner of foreign churches, were es- cutcheons and coats of arms, being those of the king, Sir Edmund Andros, Francis Nicholson, Captain Hamilton, and Governors Dudley, Shute, Burnet, Belcher and Shirley. In the pulpit there was an hour glass, according to the old fashion, mounted on a large and elaborate stand of brass. At the east end there was " the Altar piece, whereon was the Glory painted, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and some texts of Scripture." It was a strange sight among the bare churches of New England. Much that was in it has gone, never to return. We do not desire that it should return. But the mind may muse on these tokens of rejected royalty and forgotten heraldry, if without regret, yet with
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that tenderness which pays a due respect to things which were venerated aforetime, and which, with other shadows of earth, have passed away.
On the 16th of August, 1754, letters of thanks were written to the Ministers and Wardens of Trinity Church, and to Mr Croswell and his Con- gregation, for the use of their respective houses of worship ; and on Wednesday, the 21st of the same month, the new Chapel was opened with prayers, and a sermon by Mr Caner, from Leviti- cus xix. 30. " Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my Sanctuary ; I am the Lord." Af- ter the sermon " the sum of £342 Old Tenor, was collected towards finishing the Chapel, and paid by the Church wardens to Charles Apthorp, Esq. treasurer to the Committee." Though the house was in a fit state for the services of the sanctuary, it was yet far from being completed. As the Society obtained means, they went on with the work of finishing and beautifying it ; and up to the month of June, 1758, it had cost £7405 sterling.
It now remains for me to give an account of that revolution in the religious sentiments of our church, which was a consequence of the great political revolution of our country.
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