USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Quincy > History of old Braintree and Quincy : with a sketch of Randolph and Holbrook > Part 19
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Braintree > History of old Braintree and Quincy : with a sketch of Randolph and Holbrook > Part 19
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"They that were sent to Virginia were long wind-bound at Rhode Island, and met with many other difficulties, so as they made it eleven weeks of a dangerous passage before they arrived there ; but had this advantage in the way, that they took a third minister along with them, viz : Mr. James, (formerly the pastor of the church at Charlestown,) from New Haven. They found loving and liberal entertainment in the country, and were be- stowed in several places, by the care of some honest-minded persons, that much desired their company rather than by any care of the Governor. And though the difficulties and dan- gers they were continually exercised with in their way thither, put them upon some question whether their call were of God or not, yet were they much encouraged by the success of their ministry, through the blessing of God, in that place.
" Mr. Tompson, a man of a melancholy temper and crazy body, wrote word back to his friends that he found his health so repaired, and his spirit so enlarged, that he had not been in the like condition since he first left England. But he fared with them as it had done before with the Apostles in the primitive times, that the people magnified them, and their hearts seemed to be much inflamed with an earnest desire after the Gospel, though the civil rulers of the country did not allow of their public preaching, because they did not conform to the orders of the Church of England ; however, the people resorted to them, in private houses, as much as before.
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" At their return, which was the next summer, by the letters which they brought with them, it appears that God had greatly blessed their ministry for the time while they were there, which was not long ; for the rulers of the country did in a sense drive them out, having made an order that all such as would not con- form to the discipline of the English Church, should depart the country by such a day.
"It appears, from what is related concerning this mission, that, although it did not succeed, as had been anticipated, and was abruptly terminated by the order from the authorities of the Virginia colony, yet it was not wholly without fruit. Many seem to have been favorably impressed by the preaching of Tompson and his associates; and the early historians of New England mention particularly the removal of Daniel Gookins from Vir- ginia to New England, as the result of the deep impression pro- duced by the Puritan preachers from the North. This individual seems to have been highly esteemed in his day. He removed to this part of the country in 1644, and settled in Cambridge; was Major General of the Massachusetts Colony, and was author of ' The Historical Collections of the Indians in New England.' Mather thus alludes, and in no bad strains, to the dangers and benefits that attended this mission :
" When Reverend Knowles and he, sailed hand in hand, To Christ espousing the Virginian land, Upon a ledge of craggy rocks near starved, His Bible in his bosom thrusting saved; The Bible, the best cordial of his heart,
' Come floods, come flames,' (cried he, ) ' we'll never part,' A constellation of great converts there, Shone round him, and his heavenly glory were. Gookins was one of these; by Tompson's pains, Christ and New England a dear Gookins gains.
" Mr. Tompson met with a severe bereavement in the death, during his absence, of his wife, who is described as 'a godly young woman, and a comfortable help to him, being left behind with a company of small children, she was taken away by death, and all his children scattered, but well disposed of among his godly friends.2
"Mr. Tompson married for his second wife, Anne, the widow of
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Symon Crosbie of Cambridge. The date of this second marriage of Mr. Tompson I have not ascertained, but suppose it to have been in 1646 or 1647. Their only child, Anna Tompson, was born March 3d, 1648.
" The next notice I have met with of Mr. Tompson is connected with the synod, which was convened at Cambridge in 1648, and which framed the platform of Church Discipline for our Congre- gational churches. Mr. Allen of Dedham preached out of Acts xv, a very godly, learned and particular handling of near all the doctrines and applications concerning that subject, etc.
" It fell out about the midst of his sermon, there came a snake into the seat where many of the Elders sate, behind the preacher. It came in at the door where people stood thick upon the stairs. Divers of the Elders shifted from it, but Mr. Tompson, one of the Elders of Braintree, a man of inuch faith, trod upon the head of it, and so held it with his foot and staff, with a small pair of graines, until it was dead.
" This being so remarkable, and nothing falling out but by di- vine providence, it is ont of doubt, the Lord discovered somewhat of his mind in it. The serpent is the devil; the Synod, the repre- sentative of the churches of Christ in New England. The devil had formerly and lately attempted their disturbance and dissolu- tion ; but their faith in the seed of the woman overcame him, and crushed his head." This incident here related so gravely, to- gether with the remarks made upon it by such a man as Win- throp, furnishes a singular illustration of the character of our fathers.
" For several years before his death Mr. Tompson's happiness and usefulness appear to have been destroyed, by a fixed melan- choly, probably constitutional, and which amounted at times to mental alienation. He left his public labors as a preacher, in the year 1658, about seven years before his death. The state of his mind, in the latter portion of his life, doubtless incapacitated him for the management of his temporal affairs, as well as the discharge of his official duties. In the archives of the State is a document entitled, 'A proposal for the issue of the complaints presented by the beloved brethren, the Deacons of the Church of Braintree, in reference to our beloved sister, Mrs. Tompson, yet
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standing member of the Church of Cambridge, drawn up by the Elders and some brethren of that Church, who had a hearing thereof at Cambridge, October 15th, 1661.' This unhappy differ- ence between Mrs. Tompson and the officers of the Braintree Church seems to have continued. After the decease of her hus- band, she presented a petition, in 1668, to the General Court, in which she complains of certain moneys being withheld, that were due to her husband, for his services, and asks for relief, although she 'humbly craves, that she may not be interpreted to accuse the Church of acts of any injustice or neglect in the place where she lives.' In this connection it may be mentioned that in the Dorchester Church Records is the following entry :
" The 26 (1) '65.
" The day aforesaid, at the motion of Mr. Mather, there was a contribution for Mr. Tompson at Braintree, unto which there was given in money £6 0s. 9d. besides notes for corn and other things above 30s .; and some more money was added afterwards to the value of 8s. 3d.
"It is not easy to account for Mr. Tompson's becoming so re- duced in his circumstances. Johnson, in his 'Wonder-working Providence,' has a passage which bears upon the subject. 'This town' (he is speaking of the town, then recently incorporated at Mount Wollaston, by the name of Braintree,) hath great store of land in tillage, and is at present in a very thriving con- dition for outward things, although some of Boston retain their farms from being of their town, yet do they lie within their bounds, and how it comes to pass I know not ; their officers have somewhat short allowance ; they are well stored with cattle and corn, and as a people receive, so should they give. The Rev. Mr. Tompson is a man abounding in zeal for the propagation of the gospel, and of an ardent affection, in so much that he is apt to forget himself in things that concern his own good, and . yet from the report of the committee appointed by the General Court to inquire concerning the maintenance of ministers in the county of Suffolk, it appears that the salary allowed their minister in Braintree1 was, considering the size of the place, quite as good as
- 1. See Mass. Historical Collection, 3d series, Vol. I.
.
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in the neighboring towns. That committee, consisting of Thomas Savage, Eleazer Luther, John Johnson, met on the 22d of July, 1659.
" According to their report, Hingham, having about one hundred families, allowed £90 per annum. Weymouth, £100 per annum, with sixty families; Dorchester, £100, one hundred and twenty families ; Roxbury, to Mr. Eliot and Mr. Danforth each £60, eighty families ; Dedham, £60, one hundred and sixty- six families ; Medfield, £50, forty families ; Hull, £40, twenty families. The report likewise mentions, that the mode of raising the salaries in Braintree, was by public contribution, and for this reason, perhaps, the amount raised was liable to vary from time to time.
" Death at length came to deliver the pastor from his outward straits, and to relieve his mental distress. It is gratifying to be assured, that before his departure, the cloud that had settled up- on him for years, lifted, and he enjoyed a brief season of peace. He died December 10th, 1666, according to his grave-stone, which is still standing in the burying-place in this town.
" Although this is doubtless the true date of his death, there is a singular diversity on this point in contemporary notices of the event, which serves to show how difficult it is to attain to histori- cal exactness, where exactness is of more moment than in the present instance. The Roxbury Church Records, in notieing the event, makes it occur the 12th of the tenth month, 1666. Ho- bart's manuscript journal, has the following entry, 'December 9th, 1666, Mr. Tompson, minister at Braintree, died 9th day.' The Braintree register of births, deaths, &c., Mr. Adams' copy gives 10th of the tenth month, 1666. Mr. Hancock, in a note to one of his century discourses, gives the date December 10th, 1668, which is manifestly a mistake, and probably a misprint. Whether Mr. Tompson's first wife, who died in his absence, was buried in Braintree, I do not know. There is no stone remaining here to her memory. His second wife died October 11th, 1675, and lies buried beside him.
" Mr. Tompson died intestate. There is in the Suffolk Probate Office an inventory of his effects, which corresponds too closely with Mather's lines :
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" Braintree was of this jewel then possest, Until himself he labored into rest,
His inventory then, with John's was took ; A rough coat, girdle, with the sacred book."
" Mr. Henry Flint, (or Flynt as it is found most frequently spelled,) who was associated with Mr. Tompson as teacher of the First Church, arrived here in the year 1635. 'He was admitted of Boston Church, 15th November, this year, (1635) a fortnight after Vane.' 1 In a manuscript journal of Rev. Josiah Flint, son of the first teacher of Braintree, is found the following entry : ' Mr. Henry Flint came to New England 2 (12) m. 1635.' I know not how to reconcile this with the date of his admission into the Boston Church, except by supposing that by the 12th month, (which was February,) was intended that which closed the year 1634, according to the computation then in use. And I am con- firmed in this supposition by what is added, namely, 'was or- dained teacher of the Church of Braintree, 1640.' He was in fact ordained, 17th of March, 1639-40. His ordination at Braintree may have been postponed, to afford him liberal opportunity for this recantation. It is possible that his sin of charity, though repented of, may have left a taint of error, which influenced some of Braintree, to receive the sacrament at Boston, after the gathering of a church in their own town." Winthrop, . Vol. I., pp. 196, 247, 313.
This part of the manuscript was, I suppose, written by Henry Flint, Esq. The year then commenced with March, so that Feb- ruary closed the year, instead of being, as now, the second month of a new year. He was admitted Freeman, twenty-fifth of May, 1636. During the Antinomian excitement, he seems to have fa- vored the new views, perhaps out of deference to Mr. Cotton, whom he is said to have admired so much ; and if so, he followed the example of Mr. Cotton still further, by abjuring the doctrine of Mr. Wheelwright, when he and his principal friends had been obliged to leave the colony. "There is entered," says Mr. Savage, "so late as 13 May, 1640, the submission of Mr. Henry Flynt." But the victory over him was well deserving of notice, as he was
1. Winthrop History of New England, Savage's Ed., Vol. I., p. 169.
27
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a distinguished young man, then chosen minister at Braintree.1 It will be perceived by the following extract from the " Wonder- working Providence," which is the orthordox view of the matter, that Mr. Flint was honored as one of the instruments for correct- ing the heterodoxy that had prevailed at the Mount, in the time of Wheelwright. " They had formerly one Mr Wheelwright to preach unto them (till this government could no longer contain them) they, many of them, in the meantime, belonging to the Church of Christ in Boston, but after his departure, they gath- ered into a church themselves ; having some enlargement of land, they began to be well peopled, calling to office among them, the reverend and godly Mr. Wmn. Tompson and Mr. Henry Flynt, the one to the office of a Pastor, the other of a Teacher; the peo- ple are purged, by their industry, from the sour leven of those sinful opinions that began to spread, and if any remain among them, it is very covert." From a report of a committee made in 1657, it appears that Mr. Flint and Mr. Tompson received fifty- five pounds as their salary.2 Mr. Flint died on the twenty-seventh of April, 1668, having survived the pastor, Mr. Tompson, a little over a year and four months, and his remains lie in our burying- ground. A stone over them bears a lengthy inscription which can be found on page 116.
It was most probably written in Mr. Hancock's time, per- haps by Mr. Hancock himself. He says in a note to one of his Century Discourses : " Mr. Flynt's monument is still to be
1. " Where farms or villages are, as at Rumney Marsh, (now Chelsea, ) and Marvill-head, (now Marblehead, ) there a minister or a brother of one of the Con- gregations of Boston for the Marsh, and of Salem for Marblehead, preacheth and exerciseth prayer every Lord's day, which is called prophesying in such a place. And so it was heretofore at Mountwoollaston within Boston precincts, though since it became a church now called of Braintree, but before they of the Mount did, and those of the Marsh and Marblehead still come and receive the Sacra- ment at Boston and Salem respectively, and some of Braintree still receive at Boston." Lechford Plain Dealing, Vol. I., p. 41.
2. The General Court appointed a committee to ascertain the amount of sal- ary paid to the clergymen of the various towns in the colony. The following- named persons constituted the committee, viz. : "Thomas Savage, Eleazer Lu- ther and John Johnson. They met at Braintree 27th July, 1657, and made the following report in reference to this town: The deacons of Braintree informed us that Mr. Flint and Mr. Thompson are each of them allowed 55 pounds per
E
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seen, though much gone to decay, but I hope to see the tomb of the prophet rebuilt. 1 This note taken in connection with the modern style of the inscription, leads me to infer that the old in- scription had been effaced by time, and that this was composed anew or at least re-written. The age of Mr. Flint at his death, is not given on his tomb stone. But in the Roxbury First Church Records, there is entered a notice of the event in these words : " 27, 2m., '68, Mr. Henry Flynt, Teacher to the Church at Brain- trey, aged 61, deceased." IIe was, therefore, about 32 years of age when he was settled in Braintree, and eight or nine years younger than the pastor. The date of Mrs. Flint's decease, which is not given in full in the inscription upon the stone, is thus settled by contemporary manuscripts : "Mrs. Margery Flynt died 10 March, 1686-7, about 6 of the clock in the morning and was buried on the 12th." " 1687, March 10th, Mrs. Flint de- ceased at Braintree, Thursday." Morton, in his memorial, makes respectful mention of Mr. Flint, as " a man of known piety, grav- ity, integrity and well accomplished, with other qualifications fit for the work of the ministry." Mr. Hancock has the remark, "During the time of Mr. Tompson's and Mr. Flynt's ministry there were 204 adult members of this church."
The first race of ministers in this church, those who had been born in England and who had exercised their ministry there, had now passed away, and their successors were all educated in this country.
From April 27th, 1668, to Sept. 11th, 1672, the church was without a settled minister. There were unhappy divisions in the church, which seem to have occasioned great disturbances and to have been a subject of concern to the neighboring churches. From a manuscript journal kept by the Rev. Josiah Flint, son of the teacher of this church, some light is thrown upon the history of the interval. It appears from this manuscript, that Mr. Flint
annum, paid generally in such time as themselves take up and accept of from the inhabitants, paid ordinarily yearly or within the year, the town being about eighty families. Mr. Tompson's family being about three persons, Mr. Flint's about seven or eight. Their elders generally depend upon public contribution." Mass. Hist. Col., Vol. I., 3d Series, p. 50.
1. Hancock's Century Sermons, p. 24,
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preached to this church for some time, and together with a Mr. Bulkley, actually received a call to settle, and that an offer was made of £60 per annum to each, besides certain privileges ; but the divisions that rent the church into parties, prevented any set- · tlement, and Mr. Flint soon after accepted a call to become pas- tor of the neighboring church of Dorchester. Finally Mr. Moses Fiske was sent here by order of the County Court held at Bos- ton. Hancock in his century sermons said, " Mr. Fiske being sent by the Court of Sessions for the County of Suffolk, to preach God's word to the Church of Braintree in their destitute, divided state, I thought it not amiss to give a transcript of the order ver- batim, because of the rarity and success of such an extraordinary proceeding. 'At a county court held at Boston, by adjourn- ment, 23d of Nov. 1671, the court having taken into considera- tion the many means that have been used with the Church of Braintree, and hitherto nothing done to affect, as to the ordain- ing the ordinances of Christ among them, this court therefore orders and desires Mr. Moses Fiske, to improve his labors in preaching the word at Braintree until the church there agree and obtain supply for the work of the ministry, or this court take further order. This is a true copy as attest,
' FREEGRACE BENDALL, Clerk.'"
" Mr. Fiske obeyed and went not without the advice of the neighboring elders, and preached his first sermon here Dec. 3d, 1671. The next day about twenty of the brethren came to visit him, manifesting (in the name of the church,) their ready accept- ance of what the honored court had done and thanking him for his compliance therewith ; and on Feb. 24th, following, the church gave him a unanimous call to the pastoral office." He was ordained Sept. 11th, 1672. Mr. Lunt says, that it is probable that Mr. Fiske preached on this occasion himself, in conformity with a practice that prevailed at that early period in New Eng- land. In the records of the First Church is the following vote : " 11th, 7th mo., 1672, this was the day of my settlement espous- als to this church and congregation, being settled to the office of a pastor to them. The churches present by their messengers, were these ; three at Boston, Roxbury, Dorchester and Way- mouth, six churches ; Mr. Eliot prayed and gave the charge, Mr.
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Oxenbridge and the deacons joined in the laying on of hands, and Mr. Thatcher, gave the right hand of fellowship. Dep. Gov. Leveret, Mr. Danforth, Mr. Tinge and Mr. Stoughton, were present." With Mr. Fiske's administration, the church records are supposed to commence. Mr. Fiske was the son of the Rev. John Fiske, who came from England before 1637, was a physician and minister, and was the first minister of Wenham and Chelms- ford in which latter place he died, 1677. Mr. Moses Fiske's min- istry in this town was a long one, extending over thirty-six years. He died here, Aug. 10th, 1708, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. He left a large family. His first wife was Mrs. Sarah Symines, daughter of Mr. William Symmes of Charlestown, whom he mar- ried on the 9th of the 7th mo., 1671, by whom he had fourteen children. Mrs. Fiske died Dec. 2d, 1692; he then married Mrs. Anna Quinsey, daughter of Rev. Thomas Shepard of Charles- town. In the Braintree records the marriage is recorded as fol- lows, " Rev. Moses Fiske and Mrs. Anna Quinsey were married 7th Jan'y, 1700, by Samuel Sewall, Esq." She died July 24th, 1708, less than three weeks before his own decease. By his sec- ond wife he had two children. Mr. Fiske preached the sermon before the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, on the day of their annnal election, June 4th, 1694, and the original ser- mon in his handwriting is in the archives of the Mass. Historical Society.
In a diary kept by Mr. John Marshall,1 who was a mason by trade, in speaking of Mr. Fiske, says, " This excellent person was ordained pastor of the church in Braintree, in September, 1672, in which sacred employment he continued till his dying day, a dili- gent, faithful laborer in the harvest of Jesus Christ ; studious in the Holy Scriptures, having an extraordinary gift in prayer above
1. Marshall's manuscript diary has been by Mr. Lunt and others called Fair- · field's diary, which is evidently a mistake, as at the time this diary was kept there was no person by the name of Fairfield to be found in the town, but a person by the name of John Marshall, a mason and carpenter by trade, is fre- quently to be found. The births and deaths that occurred in his family, as recorded in his diary, exactly agree with those recorded on the town records, which to my mind is proof sufficient that this diary was the production of Mr. John Marshall, and is now so inscribed on the cover of the book, although it was formerly attributed to Mr. Fairfield as its author.
.
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many good men, and in preaching equal to the most, inferior to few ; zealously diligent for God, and the good of men ; one who thought no labor, cost or suffering, too dear a price for the good of his people. His public preaching was attended with convine- ing light and clearness, and powerful, affectionate application, and his private oversight was performed with humility and un- wearied diligence. He lived till he was near sixty-five years of age, beloved and honored of the most that knew him. On the 18th day of July, being the Lord's day, he preached all day in public, but was not well. The distemper continued and proved a malignant fever, so that little hopes of recovery appearing, his church assembled together, and earnestly besought the great Shepherd of the sheep, that they might not be deprived of him. But heaven had otherwise determined, for on Tuesday, August 10th, he died about one in the afternoon, and was, with suitable solemnity and great lamentation, interred in Braintree, in his own tomb, the 12th day."
During the last part of Mr. Fiske's ministry, a controversy arose between the North and South Precincts of the town. This contention grew out of the fact, that the south part of the town considered that they had increased to a sufficient number to organize a new church, and that it was very inconvenient for those who resided there, to come so far to meeting. This con- tention was carried to such a height, that it was found neces- sary to call a council of elders and messengers. Marshall, in his diary, makes the following entry :
" 1704-5, Jan. In this month past we had two church meetings in Braintree, which occasioned much debate, and some misapprehension, about church discipline ; by reason whereof we had much sinful discourse in this town; for, as the wise man saith, in the multitude of words there wants not sin, which words and debates caused such differences as that it was the beginning of the separation of the town and church, and the erecting a meeting-house and forming a congregation at Monatoquod. Nine of the church withdrew from the Lord's table, and in many things acted so disorderly, as that it occasioned a council of the elders and messengers of nine churches, who met in the old meet- ing-house in Braintree, May 7th, 1707. Mr. Nehemiah Hobart,
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