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 8
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PERIOD SEVENTH.
FROM THE ERECTION OF THE STONE CHAPEL TO THE PRESENT TIME.
THE GLORY OF THIS LATTER HOUSE SHALL BE GREATER THAN OF THE FORMER, SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS ; AND IN THIS PLACE WILL I GIVE PEACE, SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS. Haggai, ii. 9.
BUT few events in the history of the church require to be recorded, between the period of the erection of the " latter house," and the breaking out of the war of the Revolution.
The Rev. Charles Brockwell, assistant, died on the 20th August, 1755, and the Rev. John Troutbeck was appointed to succeed him the same year.
In 1756 the noble organ which now stands in our west gallery was procured from England, and paid for by the subscription of individuals belong- ing to the church. Its original cost in London was £500 sterling; and when all charges were added, its whole expense amounted to £637. As it was obtained by private subscription, no
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notice of it whatever is taken in the church re- cords. The only memorial concerning it with which I am acquainted, is a paragraph in the " Boston Gazette and Country Journal" of 30th of August, 1756, which is copied into our later records, and is as follows.
" We hear that the organ, which lately arrived from London by Capt. Farr for King's Chapel in this Town, will be opened on Thursday next in the Afternoon ; and that said organ (which contains a variety of curious stops never yet heard in these parts) is esteemed by the most eminent masters in England, to be equal, if not superior to any of the same size in Europe. - There will be a sermon suitable to the Occasion ; Prayers to begin at four o'clock."
There is a very current tradition respecting this organ, that it was selected by Handel him- self. Taking into consideration the above refer- ence to " the most eminent masters in England," we may receive this tradition as founded in truth. And moreover, as the organ was designed for the King's Chapel in New England, we may readily suppose that his Majesty's favorite musician would at least be desired to give his opinion of its mer- its ; and this opinion, being favorable, might be , called a selection, even if the " mighty master" gave himself no further trouble with its purchase.
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Handel died in 1758, and was blind eight years before his death, But sight was not at all ne- cessary in the office supposed to be consigned to him, and though his eyes never could have mea- sured the external proportions of this organ, his ears most probably have judged of its tones and powers, and his own hands rested on its keys.
In August, 1760, Francis Barnard made his public entry into Boston as Governor of the State ; and Mr Caner having convened the Clergy and Wardens of the three episcopal churches, waited on him with an address of congratulation. The next year, at the Easter meeting, Gov. Barnard was placed, according to the established usage, at the head of the vestry of the Chapel.
On the arrival of the intelligence of the death of George II. and accession of George III., Mr Caner was appointed by the governor, council and house of representatives to preach a sermon on the occasion ; which he did at the Chapel, Jan. 1, 1761 ; and the sermon was printed. " May we," says the preacher, in the concluding sentence of his discourse, " May we and all his subjects, duly considering whore authority he hath, faithfully serve, honor, and humbly obey him, [the King] for conscience' sake, according to God's holy Word and ordinance, through Jesus Christ our Lord; to whom with the Father and
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Holy Ghost, be all honor and glory, might, ma- jesty and dominion, both now and for evermore, Amen." The good man little thought that he was on the brink of a deep and mighty change. He little thought that a political revolution was soon to drive him from the pulpit and country in which he was so warmly expressing his loyalty, and that in a few years his concluding ascription and the doctrine which it denoted, would no lon- ger be heard within the walls of this chapel.
In 1766, Florentius Vassall, Esq. of London, sent over a marble monument in honor of his an- cestor Samuel Vassall, requesting that it might be erected in the Chapel. Whereupon the ves- try voted to place it on the north side of the door, and charged Mr Vassall with the price of pew No. 43, which was removed to give it room. It is an interesting monument, and still stands on the spot of its original location, which seems to be- long to it by right of purchase.
In 1772, an additional service of plate, together with new pulpit furniture, was obtained from the King through the influence of Governor Hutchin- son.
In 1773, the ancient records end. If there are any others in existence, embracing the remain- ing three years during which Dr Caner discharged his duties as rector of the church, they have not
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been recovered. The last record is that of the Easter meeting of 1773, and the last vote record- ed is, " that the old bell,* with the Apurtenances, be given to the Saint Ann's Church in Gardi- nerston."
A short time previous to the breaking out of the war, and through the whole of the year 1775, King's Chapel was the place of worship of many of the officers of the navy and army of Great Britain, who were stationed in and near Boston ; and the duties of Dr Caner and his assistant were consequently much increased. The Church Register of Births, Marriages, and Burials for the years 1775 and 1776, furnish ample evidence of this fact. The last burials recorded by the hand of Dr Caner, at this time trembling with age, are those of three soldiers of the 65th regiment. In March, 1776, the British troops evacuated Bos- ton, and Dr Caner went with them. His assist- ant, Mr Troutbeck, left the church in November. The congregation, consisting mostly of royalists, were dispersed, and the doors of the chapel were closed. Dr Caner took with him the church registers, vestments, and plate, and part of the
* A new bell had been obtained the year before, which was perhaps the finest ever heard in this town. It was made in London, and weighed 2475 lbs. It was cracked in the year 1814, by an injudicious manner of tolling it.
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records of the Vestry. The registers were ob- tained from his heirs in 1805. In the Register of Marriages he had written the following note.
" March 10, [1776.] An unnatural Rebell- ion of the Colonies against his Majesties Govern- ment obliged the Loyal Part of his subjects to evacuate their dwellings and substance, and to take refuge in Halifax, London and elsewhere : By which means the public Worship at King's Chapel became suspended, and is like to remain so, till it shall please God in the Course of his Providence to change the Hearts of the Rebels, or give success to his Majesties arms for suppress- ing the Rebellion.
" Two boxes of Church Plate, and a Silver Christening Basin were left in the hands of the Rev. Dr Breynton at Halifax to be delivered to me or my Order, agreeable to his Note Receipt in my hands. H. CANER."
The above mentioned plate was the gift of three kings, and amounted to 2800 ounces of silver. Neither this nor the vestments were ever recovered ; nor is their recovery to be desired.
The Chapel remained closed till the autumn of 1777; and then it was opened, not for episcopal but congregational services, very contrary to all the anticipations of Dr Caner. The congregation of the Old South Church, not being able at that
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time to repair the desolations of their own sanctu- ary, which had been desecrated, spoiled, and used as a riding-school by the British troops, applied for the use of King's Chapel, or the Stone Chap- el, as it then for obvious reasons, began to be universally called .* The application was made to the few proprietors of the Chapel who were left, and was readily granted. "The congrega- tion," says Mr Wisner in his History of the Old South Church, " were kindly and gratuitously accommodated at the Chapel about five years."
{This, taken in connexion with an earlier event, is one of the most remarkable incidents in the history of our church. The reception of the Old South Congregation into the Chapel, ap- pears in the light of an atonement made by the successors of those episcopalians, who, nearly a
* Everything with a royal sound was of course unpopular with the republicans. King Street was changed to State Street, Queen Street to Court Street, and King's Chapel to Stone Chapel, which is still its common though not legal and proper name. I have been informed by a gentleman well acquainted with the antiquities of the Chapel, that before the revolution, the organ was surmounted by a gilt crown in the centre, supported by two gilt mitres on the sides, and that on the evacuation of the town by the troops, some friend or member of the church prudently caused them to be taken off and deposited in his garret. These ornaments, as may be supposed, have not shared with the name of the Chapel in its restoration.
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century before, took forcible possession of the South Meeting-house. The event could not have been more happy, and pleasant to contem- plate, if it had been devised and arranged on purpose. Well would it be, if all the wrongs committed by parents, could thus be expiated by the children.
In 1779, the Rev. Joseph Eckley, pastor of the Old South congregation, was ordained in this church, on the 27th of October. The congre- gation remained here till February, 1783, when their own house being repaired, they re-dedicated, and returned to it, with joy and singing.
But in the preceding summer, the proprietors of the Chapel had resolved to re-occupy it for their own worship ; and on the 8th of Septem- ber, 1782, Dr Thomas Bulfinch, the senior war- den, addressed a letter to Mr James Freeman, then at Walpole, which was followed by a more formal one, signed by both the wardens,* in which he was invited to officiate at the Chapel as Reader, for six months. On the 18th of October, Mr Freeman entered on his duties in that capacity ; and on the 21st of April, 1783, at the Easter meeting of the Proprietors, he was chosen Pastor of the church, with a salary of two hundred pounds, lawful money.
* James Ivers was Junior Warden.
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PERIOD SEVENTH.
In the letter of the wardens to Mr Freeman, above referred to, it is said " the Proprietors con- sent to such alterations in the service as are made by the Rev. Dr Parker ; and leave the use of the Athanasian creed at your discretion." These alterations of Dr Parker were merely such as the altered political state of the country required. The Athanasian creed was always unpopular in the American Episcopal Church, and when that church was regularly organized, was left out of its Book of Common Prayer. But much greater alterations than these were afterwards contem- plated by Mr Freeman, whose opinions in the course of a year or two underwent some important. changes, and who then found that some parts of the Liturgy were so inconsistent with the faith which he derived from the Scriptures, that he resolved no longer to read such portions, and to propose to his Society an amended Form of Prayer for public use at the Chapel.
Before such a form was offered, however, the proprietors had taken measures to ascertain who properly belonged to the church as pew-holders, and what pews had been forfeited by the absence of their former owners, according to the letter of their deeds. And in order that no ground of complaint should be suffered to exist, the proprie- tors engaged to pay for every vacated pew, al-
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though legally forfeited, the sum of sixteen pounds to its former owner, if application were made for the same within one year from the pass- ing of the vote, which was on the 10th of Jan. 1785. Twentynine pews were declared, by the report of a committee chosen for the purpose, to be forfeited to the church, and together with the Governor's pew, and eight others, making thirty- eight in all, were put to sale for its benefit. They were first offered to those who occupied them at the time, who were generally desirous of pur- chasing them. The proceeds were to be devot- ed " to the repairing of the church, and finishing the colonnade and spire." The colonnade which now surrounds the tower was not reared, how- ever, till 1790. The spire is not yet reared ; and we have been so long accustomed to the present appearance of the tower, that most of us, perhaps, regard it as finished already.
On the 20th of February, 1785, the proprie- tors voted that it was necessary to make some alterations in some parts of the Liturgy ; and ap- pointed a committee to report such alterations. This committee consisted of seven gentlemen,* in addition to the wardens, who were to consult
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* John Haskins, John Gardiner, Charles Williams, Perez Morton, Samuel Breck, Charles Miller, and John Wheel- wright.
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: and communicate with the Rev. Mr Freeman. On Easter Monday, the 28th of March, they reported that some alterations were essentially necessary ; and the alterations as reported were read, considered and debated at several adjourn- ments. On the 19th of June, the proprietors voted, " that the Common Prayer, as it now stands amended, be adopted by this church, as the form of prayer to be used in future by this church and congregation." The yeas and nays being called for, it appeared that of yeas there were twenty, and of nays seven ; and three out of the seven dissentients had worshipped at Trinity Church ever since the year 1776 .* The alterations made in the Liturgy were principally those of Dr Samuel Clarke, the celebrated Eng- lish divine, and for the most part were such as involved the omission of the doctrine of the Trinity. The work as amended was immediate-
* The yeas were Thomas Bulfinch, John Gardiner, John Wheelwright, Joseph May, John Jutau, Eben. Oliver, George R. Minot, John Amory, John Templeman, Joseph Barrell, Andrew Johonnot, Charles Miller, Henry Johnson, Joseph Coolidge, Jacob Porter, Robert Hewes, Thomas Clement, Joseph Eayres, Samuel Breck, Perez Morton. - The nays were James Ivers, Theodore Dehon, John Box, John Haskins, Matthew Nazro, Charles Williams, Ambrose Vincent. Messrs Dehon, Box and Nazro were those who had worshipped at Trinity Church since 1776.
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ly put to press, and was used in this church till the year 1811, when other amendments were made .*
Here was a most conspicuous, and as we must regard it, a most happy revolution ; an auspicious turning from the dominion of creeds and phrases of men's device, to the easy yoke and authority of simple Scripture. This important change is to be attributed mainly to the judicious and learn- ed expositions of Mr Freeman, who preached a series of doctrinal sermons to his people, and by the aid and influence of the word of God, moved them to respond to his sentiments. The first Episcopal church in New England, became the first Unitarian church in America,t and our venerated senior minister, though not absolutely the first who held or even avowed Unitarian opin-
* In 1828 a third edition of the Chapel Liturgy was pub- lished, with alterations and additions, and in 1831 a fourth, containing the Chapel Service as in the third, with the ad- dition of family services and prayers, and a collection of hymns for private and domestic use.
A collection of Psalms and Hymns for public worship at the Chapel, was published in 1799, superseding Tate and Brady. Another collection was introduced in 1830.
t The writer does not mean to assert that King's Chapel was the first church in America, in which Unitarian opinions were to any extent entertained, but the first which came out and appeared before the world, in a body, as a Unitarian Church.
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ions, still on many accounts deserves to be con- sidered as the father of Unitarian Christianity in this country.
Although the congregation thus adopted a Liturgy from which all recognition of the doc- trine of the Trinity was excluded, as being an erroneous and unscriptural doctrine, they never- theless continued to regard themselves as episco- palians, and desired to remain in connexion, if possible, with the American Episcopal Church. At a meeting held on Sunday, July 22d, 1787, they voted "that a letter be addressed to the Rev. Bishop Provost at New York, to inquire whether ordination for the Rev. Mr Freeman can be obtained on terms agreeable to him and to the proprietors of this church, - and that this letter be drawn up by the Rev. Mr Freeman, and signed by the Wardens." The letter was written, approved, and sent; and an answer thereto was returned by the Bishop, in which he declined giving a decision in a business of such moment, and stated that it was to be referred, by advice, to the ensuing General Convention.
The congregation then determined to ordain Mr Freeman themselves. A plan of Ordination was reported on the 4th of November, and adopted on the 11th, and on the 18th of the same month, 1787, it was carried into execution,
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and the Rev. James Freeman was ordained on the afternoon of that day, by a solemn and ap- propriate form, " Rector, Minister, Priest, Pas- tor, teaching Elder, and public Teacher" of the Society worshipping at King's Chapel. The evening service being performed as usual, the wardens joined Mr Freeman in the desk, and the senior warden made a short address to the pro- prietors and congregation, setting forth the reasons of the present procedure. The first ordaining prayer was then read by Mr Freeman, after which the senior warden read the ordaining vote, which was unanimously adopted by the Society, and signed on the spot by the wardens in their be- half. Mr Freeman next declared his acceptance of the office to which he had been chosen, and signed the same. The ceremony of ordination was then performed by the senior warden, who, as the representative of the Society, laid his hand on Mr Freeman, and declared him to be their Rector, &c; in testimony of which he de- livered to him a BIBLE, enjoining upon him " a due observance of all the precepts contained therein." He then blessed him in the name of the Lord, and "the whole assembly, as one man, spontaneously and emphatically pronounced, Amen !"
After this, Mr Freeman read the second ordain-
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ing prayer, and, an anthem having been sung, preached on the duties and offices of a Christian Minister. Another anthem closed this affecting and appropriate service.
The validity of this ordination was furiously assailed in the newspapers of the day, as might have been expected, and vehemently protested and argued against by some of the former propri- etors of the church. The newspaper abuse was sufficiently and pleasantly answered in a short piece attributed to the Rev. Dr Belknap,* always a truly liberal and charitable man. The protest was triumphantly refuted by an unpublished re- ply of the wardens of King's Chapel, distinguish- ed for good sense and sound argument. A sort of repudiation or excommunication of Mr Freeman and his church, was also circulated by the clergy- men of five episcopal churches of New England. But all the notice which Mr Freeman took of this, was to send it to the Columbian Centinel, requesting its insertion in that paper.
This ordination was certainly not according to received episcopal usage; but in the circum- stances of the church it was the only ordination attainable ; and it is impossible to prove that it
* Minister of the church in Federal Street, author of a History of New Hampshire, &c.
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was not according to Christian principle. With regard to its validity, there are few liberal Chris- tians at this day, who would think of calling it in question, or of doubting that it was as valid as that of any clergyman of any denom- ination in this or any other land. The con- gregation of the chapel were well acquainted with the ground which they had been obliged to take, and therefore they took it with a calm and intelligent determination. " A minister after ordination," say the wardens and vestry in their recorded defence of their Plan, " remains exactly the same man he was before ; ordination there- fore is only a decent human institution. It is a ceremony by which a minister is publickly intro- duced into office. In some churches the bishop performs this ceremony, but this is not indispens- ably requisite ; for any person might perform it whom the people chose to appoint. - All the essential powers of ordination are derived from their choice ; the bishop gives this choice his sanction by imposition of hands ; but where he refuses to do it, the minister is not for that reason the less elected or ordained." *
* The Defence of the Plan of Ordination, or Reasons of the Wardens and Vestry, was thought to be too long to be inserted in the Appendix. It is an able document, in which the purposes and nature of ordination are discussed with learning, good sense and a manly freedom.
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It will be only necessary for me to glance at some remaining events, which, though not less important than others which have been more par- ticularly stated, are too recent to admit of being dwelt upon more minutely.
A bequest of Mr William Price to the church, made in 1770, of an estate in that part of Wash- ington Street then called Cornhill, was accepted by the church in 1789. And this, so far as appears from any records, was the first acceptance of it. The principal condition of holding it, was the preaching of a course of eight Lectures during the season of Lent, by the Clergymen of the three episcopal churches. The right of our Church to the . estate was afterwards called in question by Trinity Church, and submitted to a long course of litigation. The result was a com- promise lately made between the churches, ac- cording to which, Trinity Church performs the conditions of the will, takes care of the property, and divides the income with King's Chapel.
In 1806, the members of the West Boston Society worshipped in this house, while their present church was building.
On Sunday, Jan. 1, 1809, the Rev. Samuel Cary was ordained associate minister, the Rev. Mr Freeman assisting at the ordination. Mr Cary continued with his people, useful, respected
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and beloved, till ill health compelled him to re- linquish his duties in 1815, and seek restoration abroad. He died at Royston in England in the October of this same year, at the age of thirty, and was interred in the Unitarian Burying Ground at Hackney, near London, where a suitable monu- ment with an inscription was erected over his re- mains by his people, who had been called so early to mourn for him. He is remembered by many among us, and by none without affectionate emotion.
The Rev. Dr Freeman remained in the sole care of the church till the year 1824. On Sun- day, Aug. 29, of that year, the present associate minister was publicly inducted into the office which he holds .* In the summer of 1826, Dr Freeman's health demanded his retirement into the country, and he has not yet been able to re- sume his pastoral duties.
The history of our Chapel is now brought to a close. It contains more interesting facts than belong, as I am convinced, to the history of any other church in our country. I have endeavored to state these facts as concisely as I could, with
* On this occasion, as well as at the ordination of Mr Cary, the ceremony of presenting a Bible was performed by Dr Freeman.
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a proper attention to their importance, and the space of time which they occupy in the life of our native state and native land. I began with the first symptoms of episcopacy in the time of our first governor ; proceeded to the erection of the wooden Chapel in 1688 or '9, and the ser- vices of the first Rector, Robert Ratcliffe, and have brought the narrative down through the times of the three other ante-revolutionary rec- tors, Myles, Price and Caner, with their respec- tive assistants, in number eight, to the present republican and unitarian era, during which there have been only one rector, or senior minister, and two associates or colleagues.
Our church, as a building, has undergone no considerable change since the revolution, ex- cept the erection of the colonnade at the West End, or Front, which, as already stated, was put up in the year 1790. The crown and mitres have, to be sure, disappeared from their stations on the top of the organ, and the Governor's pew, with its Corinthian pillars and crimson dam- ask tapestry, has been lately taken down, and converted into two pews of common size and pretensions. But the architecture and interior arrangements, are, in all other respects, the same as before the war. The Vassal monument, and wo mural tablets, one to the memory of Frances
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Shirley, the lady of Governor Shirley, and their daughter, Mrs Bollan,* and the other to that of Charles Apthorp, Esq. maintain their old situations, and form interesting and appropriate decorations of the church ; - so interesting and appropriate that I have sometimes wondered that others of a similar character have not been added to their number. I speak with particular reference to the tablets, which seem to be better adapted to the size of our churches, than larger and more expensive monuments, because they clothe the walls and fill the sanctuary with solemn and tender associations, without obtruding them- selves, or occupying a disproportionate or incon- venient share of space.
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