USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the First church in Boston, 1630-1880 > Part 15
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Some of them reviled the magistrates, calling them " just asses"; and others, under pretence of prophesy- ing, appeared in public without clothing, or simply wrapped in sheets, with their faces smeared with black paint, like demons denouncing direful judg- ments on the colony. Such exhibitions were dan- gerous as well as repulsive, and well calculated to shock the nerves of sensitive people.
The perpetrators had to be put down. If those who performed this task betrayed any undue zeal, we must bear in mind the perversity they encoun-
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1671-1710.] JOHN OXENBRIDGE.
tered and the strict line of conduct they felt bound to pursue in dealing with it.
Allen and Oxenbridge, it is pleasant to record, do not appear to have encouraged any such procedure ; but simply because, whilst they utterly abhorred the practices of these sects, they could not conscien- tiously interfere.
John Oxenbridge and wife were admitted into the church, March 20, 1670,1 and on the 10th of the next month he was unanimously chosen pastor.
LIFE OF OXENBRIDGE.
John Oxenbridge was born at Daventry, Jan. 30, 1608. He belonged to the Surrey branch of the Sussex (Eng.) family of Oxenbridge. His grand- father, John Oxenbridge, a graduate of Oxford in 1572, and quite a famous Puritan preacher, was twice brought before the High Commission for an attempt to bring in a new form of prayer. In 1580 he is said to have been imprisoned for his zeal in the cause " and continuing in his course, subscribed temp. Archbishop Whitgift, the book of discipline." His son Daniel, father of John of Boston, was a graduate of Christ Church, Oxford, and a physician of high standing at Daventry in Northamptonshire,
1 " At a church meeting on ye gth day of October, 1669, it was agreed on & voted wth a vnanimous consent yt Mr Oxenbridge bee desired to bee Assistant to ye present teaching officers in preaching ye word of god."
" It was voted yt Major Generall Mr Ting, Elder Penn, & Leiftenant Cooke do give this invitation of ye church to M' Oxenbridg as their messingers."- Church Records, 32.
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FIRST CHURCH IN BOSTON. [1671-1710.
and later in life in London, where he was made a fellow of the College of Physicians.
While at Daventry, Daniel married Katherine "daughter of Clement Throgmorton of Hasley, third son of Sir George Throgmorton of Loughton (the family being patrons of Southam), and so de- scended from Edward III." By her he had three sons, of whom the eldest was John, and four daugh- ters.1
Brought up under Puritan traditions and influ- ences, like Cotton, Oxenbridge naturally became a disciple of that school. In 1623, at eighteen years of age, he was admitted as a commoner of Lincoln College, Cambridge,2 and thence removing to Mag- dalen, Oxford, took his degrees of B. A., Nov. 13, 1628, and M. A., June 18, 1631. He was " dis- tutored " in May, 1634, for making several rules of his own to be subscribed and sworn to by his scholars, " for their better government," which were inconsistent with those established by the college authorities.3
After leaving the university, Oxenbridge married his first wife, Jane, daughter of Thomas Butler of Newcastle, merchant, by Elizabeth Clavering of Cal-
1 W. D). Cooper's sketch of the Oxenbridges of Sussex and Boston, Mass. (London, 1860), 5.
2 Cooper says that the person admitted as a commoner at that date, according to Wood in his Athena Oxonienses, could not have been this John, who was then three years younger, and adds that " he was admitted a pen- sioner of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, April 28, 1626, and matriculated in July of the same year."
3 " The sentence distutoring Oxenbridge is printed in Wharton's Remains of Laud, Vol. II. 70." -- COOPER's Sketch of the Oxenbridges, etc., 7.
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1671-1710.] JOHN OXENBRIDGE.
laley, aunt to Sir John Clavering of Axwell. He then began to preach in England, but soon took a voyage with his wife, "who had an infirm body, but was strong in faith," to the Bermudas, "where he exercised his ministry." They returned to England from a second visit there, in 1641, during the Long Parliament, and visited various places. His will men- tions Great Yarmouth, Beverley, Berwick, and Bristol, and to these should be added London and Winches- ter. In January, 1644, he visited Great Yarmouth, and there preached at half past eight o'clock every Sunday morning, before the regular time of service. He did this without pay for several months, but at his departure received {15 from the Corporation, who at that time had control of spiritual affairs. At Beverley, where he next engaged "as perpetual curate of the minister in the patronage of the Corporation," a similar entry appears on the Corporation books, showing "his disinterestedness in money matters." There it was, " $40 ordered to Mr. Oxenbridge and Mr. Wilson [his colleague]. . . Mr. Wilson having had satisfaction by the parishioners for his part, and Mr. Oxenbridge requiring nothing." His first wife is described as "a scholar beyond what is usual in her sex, and of a masculine judgment in the pro- found points of theology "; and her husband, "a grave divine, and of great ministerial skill, loved commonly to have her opinion upon a text before he preached it."
After visiting Berwick upon Tweed, in 1650-51,
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FIRST CHURCH IN BOSTON. [1671-1710.
and a trip to Scotland in company "with another Congregational minister," in April, 1652, he was made fellow of Eton College, on Oct. 25, of the same year, in place of John Symonds, deceased. In the last days of Charles I., while at Beverley, Oxenbridge had secured the friendship of Andrew Marvell.
In a letter to Oliver Cromwell, dated Windsor, July 28, 1653, Marvell speaks thus highly of Oxen- bridge and his wife. It appeared that Marvell had been living in his family by advice of Cromwell. He says : -
"I ow infinitely to your lordship, for having placed us in so godly a family as that of Mr. Oxenbridge, whose doctrine and example are like a book and a map, not only interesting the care, but demonstrating to the ey, which way we ought to travell. And Mrs. Oxenbridge has a great tenderneese over him also in all other things. She has looked so well to him that he hath already much mended his complexion. And now she is busy ordering his chamber, that he may delight to be in it as often as his studyes require."
This happy state of things did not long continue, for soon after his wife became a confirmed invalid for five years, and died April 25, 1658, aged 37. She was buried at Eton on the 28th. In the Chapel of Eton College was erected a monument with a Latin inscription by Marvell in her memory. "wherein 't is said that while he preached abroad, she would preach and hold forth in the house." The epitaph gave such offence to the royalists at the time of the Restoration, that they daubed it over with
1671-1710.] JOHN OXENBRIDGE. 129
paint. By his first wife. Oxenbridge had several children, one of whom, Daniel, " of rare accomplish- ments as a Christian, a phisician, and a scholar," died young and unmarried. After he had been a widower about a year, Oxenbridge married "a re- ligious virgin named Frances, the only daughter of Hezekiah Woodward, the schismatical vicar of Bray, near Windsor." She died in childbed in the first year of their marriage, at the age of twenty-four. The child, born July 25, 1639, named Theodora, married, Nov. 21, 1677, Rev. Peter Thatcher of Milton, Mass., and died in 1697.1
While at Eton, on Jan. 25, 1658, Oxenbridge preached a funeral sermon on " Hon. Francis Lord Rouse, one of Cromwell's Lords, who died Provost of Eton." After the Restoration in 1660, he ceased to enjoy his fellowship, and while preaching at Ber- wick on Tweed, the Act of Conformity, in 1662, silenced him.
He then visited the West Indies and the Barba- does, and finally " tumbled into" the New World in 1669. Before coming to New England, perhaps at the Barbadoes, he married his third wife, Susanna, " widow of Mr. Abbit." In October, 1669, previous to his acceptance of the call from Boston, he re- ceived an invitation from the church in Charlestown.
.1 " The descendants of Peter and Theodora Thatcher have been very numerous, and the family has always been held in high esteem in Massachu- setts. Among them have been many eminent divines, lawyers, and mer- chants." The present minister traces his descent in the maternal line from this source.
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FIRST CHURCH IN' BOSTON. [1671-1710.
Soon after his settlement as pastor of First Church, on "17: 10: 71," on motion of the Deputy Gov- ernor, the church unanimously voted to give him £50 by the hands of the deacons, to be " a small token of their Respect, Loue, and thankfulness vnto him."
In 1671 Oxenbridge preached the Election Ser- mon 1 from Hosea viii. 4, "and he warns his hearers 'not to backslide and fashion themselves to the flaunting mode of England, in worship or walking.'"
In 1672 he was one of seven ministers appointed to conduct the services on a fast day ordered to be observed, on June 23, by the General Court.
On May 15, 1672, on the death of President Chauncy of Harvard, John Oxenbridge and Vicar Oakes were added to the Board of Licensers of the Press, a very dignified body.
In 1673 he was one of the Committee of Ten to report as to the negative power of the General Court, and if it existed, "the best expedient for an issue, whether by lot or otherwise." In the same year he was joint executor with his colleague, James Allen, and Anthony Stoddard, of the will of Governor Bellingham.
Oxenbridge died suddenly of apoplexy. On Dec. 23, 1674, at Thursday Lecture, he was forced to
1 A copy of this sermon, the only one probably in existence, is in the possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society. It was allowed to be printed on Oct. 11, 1672, and published in 1673.
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1671-1710.] JOHN OXENBRIDGE.
stop preaching, " and was carried home in a Cedan." He died on the 28th, and was buried on the 31st with great solemnity in Cotton's tomb in the Chapel Burying Ground. His third wife survived him twenty-one years, and died in 1696.
Of his popularity as a preacher the church record amply testifies. During the short period while it was under his charge, the number of admissions to the church was eighty-one, fifty-four of whom were females ; and ninety-one males and ninety females were baptized.1
Of his preaching and literary abilities, Emerson says: " He is reckoned by the historians of Boston among the most elegant writers as well as eloquent preachers of his time. Like his great and good pre- decessors, he was sincerely attached to the Congre- gational interest ; and the piety which he cherished at heart exhibited itself in his habitual conversa- tion."
In his will dated " Boston in New England ye 12th day of ye first month in ye year 167?" probated in Suffolk County, Jan. 9, 1673, besides a legacy of £20 to the elders and deacons of the First Church of Boston for the use of the church, he gives " to ye publick Library in Boston or elsewhere, as my executors and overseers shall judge best, Augustine's workes in 6 volumes, ye centuries in 8 volumes, ye catalogue of Oxford library [and a number of other works]."
1 Emerson's History of First Church, 125.
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FIRST CHURCH IN BOSTON. [1671-1710.
In the year 1672 the church contributed to the support of Harvard College. The following entry shows that many of the subscribers were anxious at the same time to have the college removed from Cambridge to Boston.
" 10 (1) 71/2. This Daye a publicke Contribution was made in the Congregation for the vse of y" Colledge at Cambridge at the motion of the Counsell, and beside the publicke there was a private subescription wherein did many show their desire to haue it at Boston by subscribing for Boston 10 ffould, 5 ffould, 3 ffould, and ye like.
" This Contributio went ouer all the Country."
The earliest notice of psalmody is contained in the following: " 17: 5: 72. Richard Cooke and Simon Rodgers were Desired to set the psalmes upon Saboth and Lecture Dayes." 1
By his will dated " the 29th of the 7th month, 1671," Elder James Penn of First Church left a legacy of fio per annum to the elders and deacons of the church " for the maintenance of such poor scholar or scholars at the Colledge as they shall see good ; and [his] dwelling house [he gives] to the first Church of Christ in Boston for euer." The former part of this legacy continues to be dispensed at the present day, and the list of beneficiaries appearing on the church record testifies to the good uses to which it has been put from the earliest times.
The poor of the church were not specifically pro- vided for at this period from any fund or legacy.
1 Church Records, 35.
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1671-1710.] JAMES ALLEN.
But the following vote shows that they were well cared for notwithstanding.
" Att a meeting of the Church att my house January 31th 878 Voted unanimously y' y' shall bee a Constant gathering for the use of the Sacrament on Sacrament dayes.
" And poore. " JA. ALLEN, Teacher."
For a period of ten years after the death of Oxen- bridge, Allen was left in sole charge of the congre- gation.
The year 1679 witnessed the calling of a synod by the General Court, " under an apprehension that the sins of the land loudly cried for the vengeance of heaven." John Sherman and Urian Oakes were chosen by the ministers to represent their body. Two questions were propounded at the synod. First: " What are the sins which have provoked the divine anger? Second : What are the means of re- moving it?" The result of the synod was com- municated to the General Court. It contained a graphic sketch of the sins and calamities that were supposed to be weighing upon the community, and recommended that steps be taken towards a revival of religion. Most of the churches took occasion to renew their covenants and strengthen their relig- ious faith. First Church did not respond very cor- dially to the invitation to attend the synod, being apprehensive, it would appear, of an attack on church liberty.
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FIRST CHURCH IN BOSTON. [1671-1710.
" Aug. 51 1679, Voted by ye Church upon an order of ye Generall Court to send Elders & Messengers to a Synod to meet y" 2' 4th day in Sept.
" Tho wee doe not see light for ye calling of a Synod att this time, yett y' being one called: y' w' good theare is or may bee motioned may bee encouraged and evill p'vented by o' Testimony, wee are willing to send od Messengers to it: Tho w'ever is theire determined, wee looke upon & judge to bee no further binding to us, y" the light of Gods word is y'by cleared to o' Consciences."
On the same day it was voted to allow the North and South churches to assist in carrying on Thurs- day Lecture.
" Aug. 5th 1679, Voted by the Church, upon an order & advice of y magistrates, y' all ye Elders of this Towne might joyntly carry on y" 5th day Lecture.
" In Answer to y motion of yº Hon" Magistrates about the Lecture; Tho as an injunction wee Cannot Concurre wth it, but doe humbly bare o' witnesse against it, as ap' hending it tending to ye infringem' of Church Libertic: yett if the Lord incline the hearts of the other Teaching officers of this Towne to accept of desire of o' Officers, to give y' assist- ance with those of this Church, who shall bee desired to Carry on theire fifth day Lecture, wee are willing to accept theire help therein." 1;
In 1682 the disagreement between the First and Third churches, which had continued for fourteen years, came to an end. An effort was made in that year to establish an Episcopal church in Boston. Both societies regarded such a church as a common enemy, and so both came together and united their .
1 Church Records, 39, 40. Diary of Peter Thatcher.
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1671-1710.] JAMES ALLEN.
energies to prevent its establishment, The pro- posal for a reconciliation was voted by First Church, April 23, 1682.1
A Motion to ye South chh). At a meetinge of the ffirst Church in Boston.
Question : Whether yo" be willinge, keeping the Rule in its Intirenes & not Revokeinge yo' Testimony thereto, viz. y' Rule of Church order weh we haue pffesed Asent vnto, & is published as the Judgment of the Churches of new England platff of Discipl Chapt 13 throughout. To fforgiue & fforget all offences Respectinge our selues y' we judge haue iustly bin taken at our Desentinge Brethern.
Supposeinge ys passe in the old Church,
Q. Will it not be expedient y' it be Loueingly presented to the Disentinge Bretheren and y' Society by a meet pson or psons, & y' they be desired to signiffie by writinge their Approbation of y' Rule & iudgeinge any Deviation ffrom it to be Irregular, & if. y' Returne be Acceptable y' it maie be Recorded by both in memory of an Happie issue of y' vnComfortable & Longe breach and the begineinge of o' desired peace, wych the Lord grant. Amen. Voted in ye Affirmative Together.
Lett" from ye 3ª Chh in Boston, to the First -in Return to y" above motion.
WORSHIPFULL, REVEREND, & BELOVED, -As we can- not but wth greeffe acknowledge the great evill y' y' is in Deuisions ffrom the sad Experience which we have had of the Dangerous Inffluence which -the Distance betwixt yo" & vs hath had in y' Land, so wee Desire Hartily to
1 " In August, 1670, a formal proposal of accommodation was made by the new church to the old ; but without success."- WISNER'S History of Old South Church, IT. The vote of the old church in 1679, allowing the other churches (North and South) to share in the conduct of Thursday Lecture, may possibly indicate a tendency to yield, but no decided step was taken until 1682.
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Acknowledge the goodnes of god in moucinge yo' hearts to Looke Towards a Pasciffication, & wh Thankffullnes to Accept at yo' hands ye kind tender of Reconciliatio, made vnto vs, to the ffurtheringe whereof God fforbid y' we should willffully put any Obstruction, who Rather Desire to put all ye handes we haue to the pmotinge of it: As beinge sen- cible of ye Truth of w' he intimated, 2 Sam. 2. 26, That if the Sword Devour ffor ever it wilbe bitternes in y" end.
As ffor the Condicion of Accomodacio weh hath been p'sented to vs ffrom yo' selues by the wo'shipfull Samuell Nowell esquire & the Reuerend M' James Allen, we are ffully and ffreely Ready to subscribe it. And as we haue Publickly & pticulerly in the Last Sinod Acknowledged the Platfforme of Church Discipline wah was agreed vpon by the Elders & Messengers of the Churches to be ffor ye Sub- stance of it Orthodox, So we doe now in pticuler pffese y' we doe belciue ye 13 chapter of y' Booke throughout to be Accordinge to Rule & the mind of god in his word Respectinge y' case y'in treated of, & y' any Deviation yiffrom is Irreguler, & wherein any of o' Sinffull inffirmities have been greiuous to all or any of yo' Church we aske fforgiuenes both of god & of yo'selues, And desire dayly to praye, what we know not Teach thou vs. And if we haue done Amisse we will do so noe more ; ffor our selues we are Hartily Content That all thinges wherein we judge our Selues to have beene Agreined maie be buried in Oblivion.
The god of peace Direct yo" to a good & Happy Issue- inge of y' great affaire weh yo" haue so Candidly begun, & Cover all the ffailinges of his people under the Robe of Christ Righteousnes, Granting vnto vs all the blessinge of the Gospell of peace & to yo'selues the Blessednes of Peacemakers.
To the Reverend Mr JAMES ALLEN Teacher and Mr Jouy Wisw w.t. Ruleing Elder of y": ffirst gathered Church in Boston theise
Soe Praye, worshipffull, Revered, & Beloued, yor Bretheren in the Lord Jesus Christ. SAMUELL WILLARD, in the name & wth the ffree & ffull vote of the Bretheren of ve 3 gathered Church in Boston.
To be Comunicated to ye Church.
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1671-1710.] JAMES ALLEN.
Lett' from ye first chh in Boston, to the Third -in answer to their Lett".
At a meetinge of ye ffirst Church of Christ in Boston, Maye 7, 1682. .
HONNORED, WORSHIPFFULL, REVEREND, & BELOUED IN THE LORD, -Wee Haue Receaued yo' Returne by the worshipffull M' John Hull Esquire & the Reverend M' Samuell Willard to o' motion to peace, wherein yo" ex- presse yo' Thankffull reception & ffull Concurrence wth the Condicion of Accomodation therein mentioned wsh we De- clare to be Acceptable to vs. And wherein our sinffull inffirmities haue been greivous to yo" or any of yo", we mutually aske forgiuenes. of god & you, And Desire all offences we judge haue been giuen vs maye be fforgiuen and fforgotten, Desireinge to fforgiue others cuen as we beleiue god ffor Christ sake hath fforgiuen vs.
And we ffurther intreat that Both our motion and your Returne and this Conclusion maye be Recorded with yo" as it shallbe 1 w'h vs in memory of a Happy Issue of our vnCom- ffortable Distance & the waye of of peace.
Now the god of peace that brought againe ffrom the Dead or Lord Jesus Christ, that great sheepheard of the sheepe, by the blood of the everlastinge covenant make yo" pffect in every good worke to Doe his will, workeinge in you that wh is most well pleasinge in his sight. Soc prayes,
Honnored, Reverend, Beloucd,
Yo'-Bretheren in the ffaith & ffellowshipe of Gospell,
JAMES ALLEN, JOHN WISWALL, IVth the ffull & vnanimovs Consent of ye bretheren.
1 At the date of this entry it was not quite fully settled what particles and parts of the auxiliary verbs should be used as separate words. In this con- nection it may be as well to observe that the plan adopted in this work of preserving as much as possible the original spelling and combination of words in quoting from old manuscripts and records is sanctioned by some of the best authorities on the subject. The attempt, therefore, has been made to follow this course wherever such quotations are inserted.
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FIRST CHURCH IN BOSTON. [1671-1710.
In the year 1682, it appears by the church records that Sampson Bond was invited to preach. The vote was in the " affirmative and generally," but nothing came of it:
No assistant was settled till " 11 (3) 84," when the following question was put : -
BRETHEREN,-The pvidence of god Haueinge brought m' Moody into the Towne vnder such circumstances as yo" know,
Whether yo" be willinge y' in y" name of the Church he be Desired Dureinge his abode and Residence here to be.Con- stantly helpffull to our Teacher in preachinge of the word of god amonge vs.
The Daye abouesd presented and Accepted.
JOHN WISWALL ..
If yea, maniffest by your Signe. Voted Affirmatively, JAMES ALLEN, JOHN WISWALL.1
LIFE OF MOODEY.
Joshua Moodey, son of William Moodey of Ips- wich in Suffolk, was born in England in 1633. His father came to this country soon . after, and in 1635 became one of the first settlers of Newbury, Mass. After graduating at Harvard College in 1653, Moodey remained in Cambridge for some time and joined the church. He then went to Ports- mouth in 1658, and in 1660 was settled as pastor in that place .? Though not ordained to the office until
1 Church Records, 44.
2 " In 1662, probably with a view to secure him an attentive audience, ' Ordered, that a cage be made, or some other means invented by the Select- men, to punish such as sleepe or take tobacco on the Lord's day out of the meeting in the time of the publique exercise.'" - SIBLEY's Harvard Gradu- ates, Vol. I. 367.
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1671-1710.] JOSHUA MOODEY.
1671, when the First Church was fairly organized under his direction, he preached statedly from his first coming.1 His trials during the period of his first settlement in Portsmouth, arising from the tyr- anny of Governor Cranfield, at last drove him to Boston, in 1684, to accept the call there offered.
"The providence of God having Cast Rrd M' Joshua Moodey among us by Shutting the doore of Libertie for his ministry in his owne church att Portsmouth, wee doc earnestly desire that hee would Constantly exercise minis- try wth o' Teacher among us, untill hee hath free and open libertie to returne to y" againe, wch wee expresse as an Ex- planation of o' former vote, & o' mind y'in.
"Voted unanimously as Attests, "JAMES ALLEN, " JOHN WISWALL." 2
Moodey was esteemed for other qualities besides those of a religious teacher. On Feb. 28, 1655, he was chosen Fellow of Harvard College, and in 1684 (July 2), on the death of President Rogers, received an invitation to become his successor.3 In 1669, during his ministry at Portsmouth, he helped to raise £60 a year for seven years to be applied to the erection of a new brick building at Harvard College, the old wooden one being small and decayed. The address
1 His interesting account of the gathering of this church is copied from the original records in Alden's " Account of Religious Societies in Ports- mouth." Moodey was the first subscriber of the church covenant.
2 Church Records, 44.
3 " In September the 'Overseers declared their consent to and approba- tion thereof'; but 14 October, 'the Comittee appointed to treat ' with him 'made return to the Overseers, That Mr. Moody's answer was on the NEGA- TIVE.'"-SIBLEY'S Harvard Graduates, Vol. 1. 375.
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