USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Old South church (Third church) Boston, 1669-1884, Vol. I > Part 2
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of God had moulded them.' The decla- ration thus made was the Cambridge Platform, which has ever since been re- garded as the ground-plan of New Eng- land Congregationalism." - A Historical Sketch of the Congregational Churches in Massachusetts from 1620 to 1858, by Joseph S. Clark, D. D., p. 40.
2 John Higginson and William Hub- bard, in a Testimony added to John Wise's Vindication of the Government of New England Churches, say: " It was a joy unto us, to see and read a book which the reverend president of our college [Increase Mather] lately published, under the title of 'The order of the gospel professed and practised by the churches of Christ in New England:' A book most highly needful, and useful, and sea- sonable. . .. But we must herewithal testify, that in that worthy book, there is nothing obtruded upon the churches, but what they who were here, capable of observing what was done sixty years ago, do know to have been professed and prac- tised in the churches of New England ; (except in one or two) then and ever since, until of late, some who were not then born have suggested otherwise."
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INTRODUCTORY.
Old South - covers a period of more than two centuries. The history of its membership goes back to the emigration under John Winthrop and to the Mayflower. Thus allied, at the beginning, to the first Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay, and also to the first Pilgrims of the Old Colony, it has drawn its inspiration, more perhaps than almost any other church, freely and indifferently both from Salem and from Plymouth. It has always endeavored to uphold the fellowship of the churches, while it has maintained with equal persistency its own individ- uality and independence. Born in the midst of conflict, and as the result of conflict, it has had a conspicuous part, during the more than two hundred years of its existence, in all the contro- versies through which the churches of its order have passed, and in all the social and political struggles which have touched more or less closely the religious life of New England. It has had a share, also, in the privileges of Christian service, which, in new and varied forms, have presented themselves to each suc- ceeding generation in the same period, as well as in the abun- dant blessings with which this service has been crowned. From the nature of the case, therefore, its history and that of its mem- bership must be a history, in part, of the sister churches by which it has been surrounded, and with which it has been asso- ciated in the Christian walk and in Christian work.
For twenty years-from 1630 to 1650-the First Church was the only church in Boston ; and for nearly twenty years longer it shared with the Second Church the responsibility of maintaining and representing the established faith and polity in the chief town of the Massachusetts Colony. The Second Church was gathered, June 5, 1650, with the cordial concurrence of the First, for the purpose of meeting the religious necessities of the increasing population.1 Unhappily, the formation of the
1 In his Life of the Rev. John Cotton, Cotton Mather says : "The gathering of the second church in Boston, was evi- dently very much to the disadvantage of Mr. Cotton, in many of his interests. But he was a John, who reckoned his joy fulfilled in this, that in his own decrease the interests of the Lord Jesus Christ would increase; and therefore, with an exemplary self-denial, divesting himself of all carnal respects, he set himself to encourage the foundation of that church, out of respect unto the service and wor-
ship of our common Lord. Now, it has pleased the Lord so to order it, that many years after his decease, that self- denial of his holy servant has turned unto some account, in the opportunities which that very church has given unto his chil- dren, to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, in the conduct of it : his son-in-law has been for more than thrice ten years, and his grandson for more than twice seven years, the ministers of the gospel, in that very church, accommodated with happy opportunities to serve their generation."
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HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
Third Church 1 was the result of dissension and division in the First, and of a secession from its membership which it strenu- ously resisted, and for many years refused to forgive.
The death of the Rev. John Norton in 1663, and of the Rev. John Wilson in 1667, left the First Church without either pastor or teacher.2 To find worthy successors to such ministers as John Wilson, John Cotton, and John Norton was not an easy task. These were no ordinary men. Exceptionally endowed by nature, carefully trained amid the elevating and quickening influences then dominant in the University of Cambridge, and thoroughly consecrated to the work of the ministry, they had become eminent as clergymen of the Church of England. Driven from that Church and from their native land because of their refusal to conform to a ritual which their consciences condemned, they received a warm welcome on their arrival in New England, and they had a large share in moulding the polit- ical no less than the religious institutions of the infant state. Mr. Wilson's ministry covered a period of thirty-seven years, going back to the first settlement of the town and to the gather- ing of the church. He was the honored friend and counsellor of Winthrop and Dudley, and, later, he was held in the highest reverence and love by the younger generation. As he had been sole minister since the death of Mr. Norton, there was now a double vacancy to be filled. In 1663 the church sent a call to one of the most distinguished Puritan ministers of the day, the Rev. Dr. John Owen, of London. The Governor, John Endicott, in concurrence with the General Court, seconded the call in a
1 The First Baptist Church, organized in 1665, was the third Christian church gathered in Boston, but not being of the established order, it was not recognized as such. In designating the Old South as the Third Church, we only use the historical name which has come down to us, and do not intend any disrespect to our Baptist friends.
2 " A church fully furnished had a pas- tor and a teacher, whose duty it was to preach and administer the ordinances ; the distinctive function of the former being private and public exhortation, of the latter doctrinal and scriptural explana- tion."- Palfrey's Ilistory of New Eng- land, vol. ii. p. 37.
According to the Cambridge Platform, " The pastor's special work is to attend to
exhortation, and therein to administer a word of wisdom; the teacher is to attend to doctrine, and therein to administer a word of knowledge; and either of them to administer the seals of that covenant unto the dispensation whereof they are alike called." " All this," says Dr. Jo- seph S. Clark, in his Historical Sketch, "appears to us like a distinction without a difference. Practically, these two offi- cers were colleague pastors, as we should now call them."
The Independent Society that after- ward worshipped in Silver Street Chapel, London, had at one time as its teacher the Rev. Philip Nye, and as its pastor the Rev. John Loder. - Wilson's Hist. and Antiq. of the Dissenting Churches, vol. iii. p. 69.
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حلكيد
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THE PULPIT OF THE FIRST CHURCH.
strong appeal, October 20, 1663;1 and the correspondence be- tween leading men here in church and state and Dr. Owen, on the subject of his removal to Massachusetts, continued through three or four years. He at length decided, reluctantly, that it was his duty to remain in England. It was not until the autumn of 1667 that two men were found who were qualified to become the "teaching officers " of the First Church, and who were prepared to assume the responsibilities. These were the Rev. John Davenport, of New Haven, and the Rev. James Allen. They had both been educated at Oxford, and had been minis- ters of the Established Church, in which they had suffered per- secution for conscience' sake. Mr. Allen is said to have been ejected from his living by the Act of Uniformity which went into effect on Saint Bartholomew's Day, 1662, but this could have been only by anticipation, as he arrived in Boston in the month of June in that year. He was then thirty years of age, and some of " the great church," we are told, were anxious to secure his services at once as an assistant to Mr. Wilson and Mr. Norton, "the Lord having given him large room in the hearts of the people." Others were not then prepared to unite in calling him, but he became a member of the church and occa- sionally preached in its pulpit. It does not appear that there was any opposition to his settlement in 1667.
Mr. Davenport at this time was about seventy years of age.2
1 "In consequence of this pressing invitation, Dr. Owen was induced, in the year 1665, to prepare for a voyage to Boston, but was prevented from his design, first by the plague and fire of London, which took place in the follow- ing year ; and next by the king's decla- ration of indulgence to the Dissenters, which opened to him a prospect of greater usefulness by remaining in Great Britain. In an interview, also, with the king himself, by his majesty's special request, at which they discoursed together about two hours, he received such assur- ances of royal favor and respect as led him to lay aside all purposes of quitting the country. Besides his kind profes- sions, the king gave him a thousand guineas to distribute among those who had suffered most by the late severities." - Coll. Mass. Hist. Society, vol. ii. 2d series, p. 266.
Dr. Owen was dean of Christ Church, Oxford, from 1651 to 1659, and vice- chancellor of the university. Increase Mather speaks of his being invited to succeed the other famous Johns, who had been burning and shining lights in that which was the first candlestick set up in this populous town, and of his being diverted by a special providence. See Preface to Cotton Mather's Johannes in Eremo.
2 Mr. Davenport was born in Coven- try, in 1597, and his father was at one time mayor of that city. He was edu- cated at Brazen-Nose College, Oxford, and was vicar of St. Stephen's, Coleman Street, London, from 1624 to 1633. He fled to Holland to escape from the perse- cution of Laud, then Bishop of London. Theophilus Eaton also was born in Cov- entry, and was one of Mr. Davenport's parishioners in London.
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HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
With Theophilus Eaton and others, he had founded the New Haven Colony ; he had filled an important place in the direction of its affairs, and for nearly thirty years he had been minister of its First Church. He had all the qualifications of learning, reputation, experience, and Christian character essential for the position to which he was invited ; but on the part of an influ- ential minority in the church there were objections to his com- ing which could not be met or satisfied. He was thought to be too old; and this consideration was to be speedily justified, for he lived only fifteen months after his installation in Boston. Another and more serious objection was, that upon the question of the baptismal covenant, by which the churches of New Eng- land were then greatly exercised and sharply divided, he main- tained opinions directly opposed to those which had prevailed among the members of the church to which he was called, and which had been held by its late ministers. To settle him as their pastor was felt by the minority to be altogether at variance with the attitude held by the church on what was regarded at the time as a very important issue.
In order to a proper understanding of this question, diver- gence of opinion upon which had so much to do with the for- mation of the Third Church, we present the following clear and condensed statement from the pen of the Rev. Daniel T. Fiske, D. D., of Newburyport : 1 -
" The early Puritan fathers held most strenuously, in opposition to the views prevalent in their day through a large part of the Christian world, that only regenerated persons should be admitted to full com- munion and all the privileges of the church. They also attached great importance to household baptism, and held that the children of believers, as included in the covenant of their parents, were in a qual- ified sense members of the church ; such children were regarded as under the watch and discipline of the church, and were often dismissed with their parents from one church to another. Most of the early set- tlers were church members in full, and, as a matter of course, had their children baptized. But many of those children, on reaching mature age and becoming heads of families, did not feel prepared to own their baptismal covenant, and come into the full communion and fellowship of the church, and so could not have the ordinance of baptism ad- ministered to their children. This was the occasion of much grief to the godly grandparents. As Cotton Mather observes, 'The good old generation could not, without many uncomfortable apprehensions, behold their offspring excluded from the baptism of Christianity, and
1 Contributions to the Eccles. Hist. of Essex County, Mass., pp. 271, 272.
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HOUSEHOLD BAPTISM.
from the ecclesiastical inspection that is to accompany that baptism ; indeed, it was to leave their offspring under the shepherdly government of our Lord Jesus Christ and his ordinances that they had brought their lambs into this wilderness.'
"What shall be done? Shall they, on the one hand, make 'no ecclesiastical difference ' between their children, who have been bap- tized and educated in the church, and ' pagans, who might happen to hear the word of God in their assemblies'? This, they think, will be · quickly to abandon the biggest part of the country to heathenism.' Or shall they, on the other hand, with the English Episcopalians and Scotch Presbyterians, lower the terms of communion, so that all who have been baptized, and are outwardly moral, though unregenerated, may be admitted to all the privileges of the church? This, they fear, will bring into the church a 'worldly part of mankind, and so work mischief.' In this dilemma they found themselves. To solve the difficulty, at the motion of certain ministers in Connecticut, a council or synod of ministers was convened at Boston, in 1657 ; and in 1662, another and larger synod was convened at the same place, composed of ministers and messengers of the churches.1 Substantially the same result was reached by both synods in regard to baptism, namely, ' Church members who were admitted in minority,' that is, who were baptized in childhood, 'understanding the doctrine of faith, and publicly professing their assent thereto, not scandalous in life, and solemnly owning the covenant before the church, wherein they give up themselves and their children to the Lord, and subject themselves to the government of Christ in the church, their children are to be baptized.' 2
"At first it [this result] met with extensive and strenuous oppo-
1 [Two questions were submitted for the consideration of the synod. One was, Who are the subjects of baptism ? This was " the grand question." The other was, Whether, according to the word of God, there ought to be a conso- ciation of churches, and what should be the manner of it? The synod defined consociationism as the equivalent of the communion of churches, and then, of course, gave its approbation to it. "Com- munion of churches being commanded, and consociation being but an agreement to practise it, this must needs be a duty also." "There has constantly been in these churches a possession of commu- nion, in giving the right hand of fellow- ship in the gathering of churches, and ordination of elders ; which importeth a consociation, and obligeth to the practice
thereof." - Magnalia (Book V.), vol. ii. P. 301.]
2 [The decision of the synod was : 1. They that, according to Scripture, are members of the visible church are the subjects of baptism. 2. The members of the visible church, according to Scrip- ture, are confederate visible believers, in particular churches, and their infant seed, i. e., children in minority, whose next parents, one or both, are in covenant. 3. The infant seed of confederate visible believers are members of the same church with their parents, and when grown up are personally under the watch, discipline, and government of that church. 4. These adult persons are not therefore to be admitted to full communion merely because they are and continue members, without such further qualifications as the
ـحبنيب
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HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
sition, but gradually gained ground, and at length was almost univer- sally adopted by the New England churches. It has often been said that its adoption was due to political quite as much as to religious considerations. By a law passed in 1631, the elective franchise was limited to members of the church, and the half-way covenant scheme, it is alleged, was devised to enable those who were not communicants to exercise the rights of freemen. This view is put forth by scores of writers, and yet, so far as I can discover. it is unsupported by facts.
"I. This reason does not appear in the discussions which the new measure called forth. Cotton Mather gives a summary of the argu- ments advanced on both sides, but makes no allusion to this.
"2. There is no evidence that persons admitted to this half-way membership in the church were thereby invested with any of those civil rights from which non-church-membership had excluded them. They were not entitled to vote, even in ecclesiastical affairs, and hence we infer that they were not entitled to vote in civil affairs, and so were as much as ever disfranchised by the law of 1631.
"3. The law of 1631 was, by royal order, repealed in 1664, or so far modified that any person obtaining from a minister a certificate that he was a man of orthodox principles and good morals could be admitted to the rights of freemen, even though not a member of the church at all.
"4. The whole controversy on the subject originated in the Con- necticut Colony, where there never was any law which, like that in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, restricted the right of suffrage to church members.
"These facts, I think, show conclusively that the motive which led to the adoption of the half-way covenant was not a political one. The originators and promoters of the new scheme were evidently actuated by purely religious considerations. And it would have been compar- atively harmless in practice, if its original form and spirit had been retained. But it underwent various changes, all of which lowered it, and increased its mischievous tendencies."
We think it will appear, as we proceed, that the original form and spirit of this new scheme were retained in the Third Church, and that as practised there it was, to say the least, harmless.
word of God requireth thereunto. 5. Church members who were admitted in minority, understanding the doctrine of faith, and publicly professing their assent thereto, not scandalous in life, and sol- emnly owning the covenant before the church, wherein they give up themselves and their children to the Lord, and sub- ject themselves to the government of
Christ in the church, their children are to be baptized. Two other articles related to children who had been hindered from baptism by the death of parents, or some other providence, and to the baptism of children whose parents had moved away from the churches in which they held their membership. - Magnalia (Book V.), vol. ii. p. 279.]
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THE SYNOD OF 1662.
The Rev. Jonathan Mitchell, of Cambridge, was one of the authors of the Result of the synod of 1662, and he has been called "the father of the half-way covenant." Some of his words also first suggested the name. "We make account," said he, "that if we keep baptism within the non-excommunicable, and the Lord's Supper within the compass of those that have (unto charity) somewhat of the power of godliness, or grace in exercise, we shall be near about the right middle-way of church reformation." This middle-way has ever since been known as the half-way covenant.
Mr. Mitchell preached the election sermon in 1667. He took for his text Neh. ii. 10: "When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel." In the course of his sermon upon this suggestive text, he laid down the following principles for ad- mission to the privileges of baptism and the Lord's Supper : "To leave the children of non-scandalous orthodox Christians unbaptized, will, I doubt not, be one day found a thing dis- pleasing unto Jesus Christ. But on the other hand, to baptize in such a lax and licentious way, as serves to dress men in the livery, without bearing the yoke of Christ, to have his name upon them with rejection of his government, will not suit either the principles of reformation or the rules of Scripture. So though rigid severity in admissions to the Lord's Table is to be avoided, yet to be lax and slight therein, to admit all sorts to full communion, or upon very slight qualifications, is against the principles and interest of reformation." 1
There was a minority, small in number, but highly respectable in character and learning, which dissented from the position taken by the synod on the question of baptism. It included such men as the Rev. Charles Chauncy, President of Harvard College,2 the Rev. John Mayo, and the Rev. Increase Mather. President Chauncy and Mr. Mather published their views, but the latter came over afterward to the side of the majority, con-
1 John Hull, recording Mr. Mitchell's death "9th 5th mo., 1668," speaks of him as " the chief remaining pillar of our ministry."
Increase Mather writes : "That blessed man, concerning whom I may say, as sometime Beza concerning Calvin, now Mitchell is dead, life is less sweet, and death will be less bitter unto me." -
Felt's Eccles. Hist. of New England, vol. ii. pp. 416, 417.
2 President Chauncy was not so set in his opinions that he could not take part in the installation of Mr. Thacher, the first minister of the Third Church. His grandson and great-grandson, both of whom bore his name, became members of this church in the next century.
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HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
vinced, in part, by the arguments of Mr. Mitchell, and influenced, also, by his venerable father, the minister of Dorchester.1
In this controversy, Mr. Davenport, of New Haven, was not only on the opposite side from that on which Mr. Wilson and Mr. Norton had stood, but he was the leading champion on that side ; according to Cotton Mather, he was "the greatest of the anti-synodists."2 It was inevitable, therefore, that when it was proposed to invite him to the vacant pastorate in the First Church there should be serious opposition, and that when this purpose was persisted in two parties should find themselves
1 In view of the controversy which prevailed with regard to the formation of the Third Church, and its favor for the half-way covenant, and the opposition of the members of the First Church and others to it, Increase Mather wrote, May 1, 1671, his preface to the following work : The First Principles of New England, concerning the subject of Bap- tism and Communion of Churches, col- lected partly out of the printed books, but chiefly out of the original manu- scripts of the first and chief Fathers in the New England Churches, with the judgment of certain learned divines of the Congregational way in England, col- cerning the said questions. The author says that his design is to "commend a few things to the serious and Christian consideration of the anti- synodalian brethren," and that he was formerly of their persuasion. He observes that some who dissented from the late synod de- cided for the enlargement of baptism ; the minority of that body thought the rest of it had apostatized ; his father, Richard Mather, gave his dying counsel to him, that he should endeavor to have children brought under the government of the church, and when grown up, to have baptism for their children. - Felt's Eccles. Hist., vol. ii. p. 478.
" My father," says Mather, "when he was leaving the world, did commend it as his dying counsel to me, that I should endeavour the good of the rising gener- ation in this country, and in special, that they might be brought under the govern- ment of Christ in his church, and when grown up and qualified, as in the late Synod book expressed, have baptism for
their children. What impression those words, since they were the words of a father, and of such a father, and dying words also, have had upon my heart, is known to the Father of Spirits, who only searcheth hearts, and converseth with the souls of men, nor am I able to utter it."
2 Cotton Mather tells us that Mr. Davenport held views (as he himself did) in reference to the fulfilment of prophecy such as are now called millenarian. " In the earliest of the primitive times, the faithful did in a literal sense, believe the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the rising and reigning of the saints with him, a thousand years before the rest of the dead live again : a doctrine, which however some of later years have counted it heretical ; yet, in the days of Irenæus, was questioned by none but such as were counted hereticks. . . . But here was the special favour of heaven, to our Davenport, that so many years ago, when in both Englands the true notion of the Chiliad, was hardly apprehended by as niany divines of note, as there are mouths of Nilus, yet this worthy man clearly saw into it, and both preached and wrote those very things, about the future state, and coming of the Lord, the calling of the Jews, and the first and second resurrection of the dead, which do now of late years get more ground against the opposition of the otherwise minded, and find a kinder entertainment among them that search the Scriptures. . . . Even, then, so long ago it was, that he asserted, A personal, visible, powerful and glorious coming of the Lord Jesus Christ unto judgment, long before the end of the world."
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