USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Old South church (Third church) Boston, 1669-1884, Vol. I > Part 43
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The occasion of the severe censures which both Judge Sewall and his son mention with regret was the appearance of a second edition of John Wise's scorching satire upon the Proposals of 1705, The Churches' Quarrel Espoused, to which was prefixed a commendatory letter from Mr. Moodey and Mr. White.1 Mr.
1 GLOCESTER, March 25, 1715.
Reverend Sir
We have had the favor and satisfac- tion of reading, and according to our measure considering the transcendent logic, as well as grammar and rhetoric, of your Reply to the Proposals; by which our eyes are opened to see much more than ever before we saw, of the value and glory of our invaded privi- leges, and are of opinion that if your consent may be obtained to a new edi- tion, it may be of wonderful service to our churches, if God shall please to go forth with it. However, it will be a tes- timony that all our watchmen were not
asleep, nor the camp of Christ surprized and taken, before they had warning.
We are Reverend Sir Full of dutiful respect and gratitude, Your Sons and Servants, SAMUEL MOODEY JOHN WINTE.
Several years later, another edition of this work was published, with this note: "The following Reverend Gentlemen recommended the foregoing as well worthy the perusal of the public. Peter Thacher, Joseph Sewall, Thomas Prince, John Webb, William Cooper, Thomas Foxcroft.
" BOSTON, January 25, 1733-4."
375
JOHN WISE'S SECOND BOOK.
Wise followed up his attack with another publication, entitled A Vindication of the Government of New England Churches, "a production," says Dr. Joseph S. Clark, "as remarkable for terse logic as the other is for keen satire. It is unquestionably the clearest and most convincing demonstration of the Congre- gational polity ever put forth in the same number of pages. It would have left its mark on any age that could produce it. But in that age, and among a people whose susceptibilities of im- pression were quickened by late encroachments on popular freedom in the state, and still later on the liberties of the churches, it was like setting a seal to melted wax. Especially forcible is his argument 'drawn from the light of nature.' Dig- ging down to the bottom, and laying bare the foundation stones, he shows that all human government is, and must be, origi- nally derived from the people. . .. Ranging all governments under three general heads - the monarchy, the oligarchy, the democracy - and subjecting them each to a scrutiny in the light of nature, he discovers that the last named is incomparably the best suited to the end for which human government is insti- tuted ; and looking at the Prelatic, the Presbyterian, and the Congregational, as the then corresponding forms of ecclesiastical rule, he finds the same grounds of preference for the latter." 1
Only to superficial observation is there no marked difference between the Congregational and the Presbyterian polity. We have nothing to say here upon the relative merits of the two systems, but we must insist that confusion and contradiction are the almost inevitable result, whenever the attempt is made to blend them. Presbyterianism administered under its own constitution and laws is one thing; Presbyterian rules and re- strictions imported into the Congregational system are alto- gether another thing. When such importation has taken place, it has generally been for the purpose of abridging the liberties of the local churches. The Presbyterian members of the West- minster Assembly brought "an extraordinary outside pressure " to bear upon the New England divines when they were fram- ing the Cambridge Platform, leading to the introduction of certain features into that great historical statement which are out of harmony with its essential character.2 These discordant
1 Hist. Sketch of the Cong. Chhs. in England, and privately circulated; pam- Mass., p. 119.
2 Hist. Sketch, pp. 41, 42. Dr. Clark
says: "Letters were sent over from
phlets were published, speeches made, and entreaties uttered. The wonder is, that in adjusting the platform to the
376
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
provisions were the basis of the Proposals of 1705; and they have been made the excuse of those in every generation since that time, who have desired to bring the churches of Massachu- setts and their ministers under centralized authority.
We have few incidents from any source for the years 1715 and 1716.1 Mr. Bridge, colleague pastor of the First Church, died September 26, 1715. "With him," Judge Sewall said, "much primitive Christianity is gone; the Old Church, the Town, the Province have a great loss. He was particularly
times then passing the framers had not got into it more discrepancies than they have. But so explicitly have they defined the matter, form, and power of a Con- gregational church, and guarded its in- dependence against internal misrule and external control, that whatever we may find there in seeming disagreement with these fundamental principles must be interpreted consistently with them, -as was long ago intimated by President Stiles in his Election Sermon, and by John Wise in his Churches' Quarrel Espoused."
1 We reproduce another letter to the overseers of seats, to illustrate further the nature of the duties, often difficult and delicate, which devolved on these officials.
Gentn
Understanding that you are appointed by the South Church to order the Seat- ing of people who belong there and to redress greivances occasioned by Peoples Seating them Selves on others Rights, I acquaint you with the State of my Case (and apply my Selfe to you for redress) which is as follows vizt
My Father you all know was a Con- stant hearer and Contributor at the South Church and purchas'd halfe of a Pew there, the other halfe of which be- long'd to Coll Poole, You may also re- member there was an ally between that and Mrs. Gillams as a passage to Major Walleys Pew, which passage Coll Minot got leave of the Church to take into my fathers Pew but not without agreeing with him therefor on these Conditions vizt that if he or any of his family at any time found any illconveniency occa-
sioned by another family's joyning with his, he the said Minot promissed to alter it and make it as it was before, Mr. Minot sells this part of the Pew to Mr. Barber the Taylor and the illconven- iencys wee find are these, Said Barber has built a bench which when Seated on takes up the whole part which belongs to them, but instead of being contented with their own part takes up the whole breadth of a Chair in our part Soe that wee are Crouded out of our Rights, My Brother has once or twice put up a Par- tition of about Six Inches high only to keep them within their own bounds which they have as often pull'd down
My request to you is that you will be pleas'd to take this matter into your Consideration and either order them to make the Partition as it was formerly or order me the part they now have I paying them what money it cost them or let us have a Seat where elce in the Church you shall think propper, Two of my Brothers have absented them- selves for these many years from the Church on the account of their being crouded out of their Seats and my Sisters are forced to goe to other Churches or Sett in the Allys, I begg the favour of you (at your own time) that you'l be pleas'd to give me your resolutions in this affaire and you'l oblige
Gentn Your most humble servt JOHN ALFORD
BOSTON, 24th Augt 1715
John Alford, son of Benjamin and Mary (Richards) Alford, was baptized at the Third Church, July 5, 1685.
377
THE NEW SOUTH CHURCH.
dear to me."1 On the 6th of October, Samuel Adams, Henry Hill, and others received permission "to build a Meetinghouse with Timber, and cover it with Shingles on Church-Green," on what is now Summer Street. All the meeting-houses were crowded, and there was a movement of population to what was then considered the extreme south part of the town. It was necessary, therefore, to build the New South, which was com- pleted in January, 1717.2 On the 19th of October, 1715, a church was formed in Rumney Marsh (Chelsea), and the Rev. Thomas Cheever, formerly of Malden, was settled as its pastor.
Lord's Day, Jan. 15. 1716. An Extraordinary Cold Storm of Wind and Snow. Blows much worse on coming home at Noon, and so holds on. Bread was frozen at the Lord's Table: Mr. Pemberton administered. Came not out to the Afternoon Exercise. Though twas so Cold, yet John Tuckerman was baptized. At Six-a-clock my ink freezes so that I can hardly write by a good fire in my Wive's Chamber. Yet was very Comfortable at Meeting. Laus Deo. (Sewall.)
On the 23d of May, Mr. William Cooper was ordained col- league pastor at Brattle Street. He had graduated at Cam- bridge four years before, and brought with him a high reputation for scholarship and piety. At the ordination service, the ser- mon was preached by Mr. Colman, and not by Mr. Cooper himself, which was a departure from the usual custom. Between the sermon and the ordaining prayer, Mr. Cooper read a paper, in which he answered four questions propounded by Mr. Col- man, relating to Christian doctrine and the work of the ministry.
1 Samuel Sewall and Edward Brom- field wrote to Mr. Bridge, when it was proposed to call him to the First Church, April 22, 1703 :-
"We hope if it please God to incline your heart to visit these parts, It will be a happy Expedient for the satisfactory and agreeable Repairing some one of our many Breaches : for which we shall have cause to bless the Sun of Righte- ousness, Rising Westward on us, with Healing under his Wings."
Mr. Bridge was installed May 10, 1705.
2 " A piece of land commonly called Church Green " was granted by the town to the new church, September 20, 1715. In the record of a meeting of the select-
men, October 5, 1715, it is said : " The Selectmen pursuant to the grant of the Town have Now Staked out the Land on Church Green for the setting a New Meeting House on." In the petition for " a grant of that piece of land called Church Green," it was said: "By the situation and name of said land it was no doubt intended by our forefathers for that purpose." It is quite possible that this was the piece of land allotted by the town to the Third Church in 1669, and that it took its name, as above, from that circumstance. See ante, pp. 128, 129, 142, 143.
October 16, 1716. "View'd the New South Church. Gave the Workmen 5s." (Sewall.)
37S
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
In our day, the pastor-elect does not preach his own ordination sermon, but usage gives to him the selection of the preacher, which shows the survival of the old custom in its spirit although not in form. Mr. Cooper afterward married Judith, youngest child of Judge Sewall.
In the autumn of 1716 the town of Boston was saddened by the news of the loss of the Amity, - one of the London packets, on her way down the English Channel, - with her passengers and all her crew except the second mate.
Nov. 24. Chadder arrives and brings the dolefull News of Capt. Thomas lost in a storm off Dungeness, and in him Prince, Jeffrey. (Sewall.)
It was supposed at first that Mr. Thomas Prince, a classmate at Cambridge of Mr. Joseph Sewall and a young minister of much promise, was among the lost. He had written to his friends here that he was proposing to embark in this vessel, with "a dear and pious friend, Mr. David Jeffries ; " but " sick- ness and other incidents" frustrated this plan, and he was spared, as it proved, for a long and faithful ministry at the Old South, and for other eminent services as a scholar and historian. His friend, Mr. David Jeffries, was just entering upon a career of honor and usefulness. He graduated at Cambridge in 1708, a year after Mr. Sewall and Mr. Prince, so that they were all in college together for three years; and he became a member of the South Church in 1711.1 He left an only son, David, who, nearly half a century later, became a deacon in the church before whose pulpit both his father and himself had been bap- tized, and with which both had entered into covenant in early manhood.
Dec. 30. Only my Son abroad in the Forenoon. Only Mr. Pem- berton with us p. m .. preaches a notable funeral Sermon from the Promise to Josiah of dying in peace : Only Mr. Belcher and I in our Fore-seat. Son preaches for Mr. Colman p. m., his wife being dan- gerously sick. (Sewall.)
1 David Jeffries united with the Cam- bridge church, December 22, 1706, in company with five of his classmates (class of 1708): (the Rev.) Ebenezer Thayer, Recompense Wadsworth, (the Rev.) Eleazar Williams, (the Rev.) John Webb, and (the Rev.) John Tufts, - six out of a class of thirteen. (The Rev.) Samuel Phillips, afterward of Andover,
belonged to the same class. Mr. Jeffries brought a letter to the South Church in 17TI. He was the son of David, the emigrant, for references to whom see ante, pp. 355, 360.
His widow, Katharine, daughter of John Eyre, afterward married Oliver Noyes. Her sister Bethiah married John, son of the Hon. John Walley.
379
MR. PEMBERTON'S LAST SERMON.
On the Sth of January, 1717, the New South meeting-house was opened with appropriate services, and the Third or South Church thus became the Old South.1 Mr. Wadsworth preached in the morning, and Dr. Cotton Mather, in the afternoon. Mr. Pemberton, Mr. Sewall, and Mr. Colman also took part in the services.
Mr. Pemberton preached to his people on Sunday, the 20th of January, and this proved to be his last sermon. His text was
Matt. xxii. 5 : "But they made light of it. and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise." He had never been a strong man, and for several years he had been suffering much bod- ily pain ; but he had strug- gled manfully against dis- ease, and he did his work well to the last. His col- league said : " I look upon it to be truly wonderful, that under such frequent returns Eben Pemberton Pastor of distressing maladies, he was strengthened and spirited in so great a measure to perform his ministerial labours in the house of God." Perhaps to the state of his health should be attributed, in part at least, that irritability of temper which he manifested when affairs in the churches and in the political world did not move according to his mind, and which appears to have been his only failing as a public man.
Feb. S. Mr. Pemberton is very sick ; I visit him in his little Bed- room next the Study.
Feb. 10. Mr. Pemberton pray'd for as there being hopes of 's being better. Mr. Sam Fisk preaches in the afternoon.
Feb. 11. A number of the Church meet at Mr. Sewall's [the old parsonage] and pray for Mr. Pemberton. Mr. Wadsworth, Dr. Cotton Mather, Mr. Colman, Mr. Webb, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Sewall, in the West- Room.
Feb. 13. Susan [Thayer] brings word that Mr. Pemberton had a good night, was much better. Yet afternoon am sent for to him as
1 This name came into use very gradu- rectly, was in 1723. For half a century, ally. The first time it was used in the or longer, the church was known famil- iarly in the town as Dr. Sewall's.
Town Records, if we have observed cor-
38o
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
approaching his end. When came was finishing his Will. Then I went in to Him : He call'd me to sit down by him, held me by the hand and spake pertinently to me, though had some difficulty to hear him. Mr. Sewall pray'd fervently, and quickly after he expired, Bol- stered up in his Bed, about 2 past 3. afternoon in the best Chamber. The Lord sanctify it to me, and to all. My Son writ a letter to Dr. Cotton Mather to preach [the Lecture] for him, and before 'twas superscribed, he came in, which took as a Token for good. I spake to Mr. [Ezekiel] Lewis, and he approved of it.
Feb. 14. Dr. C. Mather preaches and prays excellently. Come my people enter into thy Chambers - Isa. 26.
Feb. 15. The Revd. Mr. William Brattle died last night at mid- night. He was a Father to the Students of Harvard College, and a Physician, My Fast Friend. I wish it be not portentous That Two Such great Men should fall in one week. Deus avertat omen.
Feb. 16. Is a great Storm of Snow and Sleet, so that the Burying of Mr. Pemberton is put off to Monday, and Notice sent accordingly.
Feb. 17. Serene, Mr. Wadsworth preaches at the South Excellently, from 2 Pet. 1. 15.
Feb. IS. Great Storm of Snow ; yet good going under foot. Mr. Pemberton is buried between 4 and 5. in Mr. Willard's Tomb. Bear- ers, Mr. John Leverett, president, Dr. Cotton Mather ; Mr. Wads- worth, Colman ; Mr. Sewall, Webb ; Dr. Increase Mather, Majr. Genl Winthrop. Col. Hutchinson not there, by which means it fell to me to wait on his Excellency : Twas good going, a broad path being made.
Feb. 21. Extraordinary Storm of Snow ; yet many men at Lecture to hear Mr. Colman preach the Funeral Sermon of Mr. Pemberton and Mr. Brattle, from John ix. 4. [" I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day."] Compar'd Mr. Pemberton to Elijah, Mr. Brattle to Moses. After Lecture the storm increases muclı, grows more vehement. (Sewall.)
Mr. Colman said : -
There was a Great likeness in these Servants of God : I mean not in Face and Feature, nor in natural Temper or Conversation, nor in their way of Preaching; but they were alike men of great Parts and Learning, alike Phylosophers and Divines, Masters of the best Liter- ature. and very thorow and General Scholars ; they had read Books and Men, and were good Judges of both, for they had an uncommon strength of mind, and searched every thing to the bottom, as far as the Ordinary Attainments among Men, may allow us to say so. They were very Judicious Men, and plac'd neither Learning nor Religion in unprofitable Speculations, or Superficial Notions, or in Science falsely so called ; but in Solid and Substantial Truth, to furnish themselves with that which betters the Mind and serves the World.
381
MR. PEMBERTON'S DEATH.
Speaking particularly of Mr. Pemberton, the preacher con- tinued : -
He imitated his great Lord and Master, who spake as one having authority. His Warm or Passionate Temper (which was sometimes his great Infirmity and Burthen) serv'd here to set the greater Edge, and give a further Energy to his Admirable Discourses, which were always Animated with a fervent Zeal for the Glory of God and the Salvation of Man. His Sermons appear'd to Others always to cost him great Pains and much Study ; They were Practical, Pathetical and very Moving ; Illuminating, Affecting, Convincing. Our Expec- tations were always Great when he stood up, and how often has he exceeded 'em, never deceived 'em : Like the Sun he ran his Course strongly and steddily. giving light and heat.
The preacher made a passing reference to the controversies which prevailed during the greater part of Mr. Pemberton's ministry : -
My Deceased Brother has sometimes told me how much his Spirit has been wounded, and His Hands weakned in the Master's Work, by the unjust Surmizes and Censures which have been bestow'd upon some of his most Faithful Endeavours to serve these Churches. I also have Suffer'd with him in things wherein I have the utmost Satis- faction of his Integrity and my own.
Mr. Sewall paid an affectionate tribute to his departed col- league in a sermon on 2 Cor. iv. 7: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us."1 We quote a sentence from it which embalms one of Mr. Pemberton's own expressions: "It is a comfort and refreshment to us that this bright lamp of the sanctuary went out at last in a sweet perfume; that I may bor- row the phrase used by him in his excellent discourse on this subject above a year ago."
Another snow-storm followed those above mentioned, which is characteristically described by Dr. Cotton Mather : -
On the 24th day of the month comes Pelion upon Ossa ; another
1 This sermon was printed, with an Address to the Reader by Dr. Increase Mather, which is suggestive when it is remembered what the relations of the president and the tutor at Cambridge were, less than twenty years before. Says the ex-president : "I had peculiar reason to know him, when he was a student at the college. I then observed that he had a pregnant wit, and strong
memory, and was an hard student, whence it necessarily follows that having (as he had) a considerable time to furnish himself with variety of learning, his ac- complishments must be eminent. But that which made him chiefly desirable, was his piety. His gifts were sanctified with grace, and the fear of God."
Mr. Pemberton had just completed his forty-fifth year.
-
382
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
snow came on which almost buried the memory of the former, with a storm so famous that Heaven laid an interdict on the religious assem- blies throughout the country, on this Lord's day, the like whereunto had never been seen before. The Indians near an hundred years old affirm that their fathers never told them of anything that equalled it. Vast numbers of Cattel were destroyed in this calamity.
Feb. 24. I Violent Storm of Snow, which makes our Meeting very thin especially as to Women. Mr. Cotton of Newtown here. Hardly any of the Ministers at Mr. Brattle's Funeral are got home. 'Tis fear'd many Congregations fail'd. There was none at the New-South.
Feb. 2S. Storm. Dr. Cotton Mather preaches excellent [the Lec- ture] from Psal. 147. He sendeth his word and melteth them. Ap- ply'd it also to the Conversion of the Jews.
March 3. I. Fair good wether p. m. Robert Calef is baptized ; and Mr. Abiel Wally, John James, Mrs. Margaret Wally, and Susan Thayr are admitted. Mr. Holyoke dined with us, who is still kept here by the snow that makes the ways unpassable. (Sewall.)
1.fr of Nathaniel Cunningham Sept: 18 17:48
Legacy of Me Fair Tallman 1751
Memoria Mariba Sallon
CHAPTER VIII.
1717-1730.
THE BEGINNING OF A LONG CO-PASTORATE.
T HE young pastor who now had sole charge of this impor- tant church was less than thirty years of age. Although the three colleague pastorates thus far had covered less than one fourth of the period of the church's existence, it had be- come the settled policy to have two ministers, and it so contin- ued until the days of the Revolution. At the proper time, therefore, a colleague would be given to Mr. Sewall, and fortu- nately there were to be fewer embarrassments and less delay in making a choice than there had been in the last two in- stances.
The next entries we shall quote from Judge Sewall's diary
384
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
refer very indefinitely to some irregularity of which we have no other knowledge. Nathaniel Oliver, son of Peter Oliver, left the South Church, with his wife (Elizabeth Brattle), when the Brattle Street Church was formed, and died in 1704. The name of his son Nathaniel does not appear on the register of member- ship of the South Church, but this was so imperfectly kept during Mr. Pemberton's ministry that it cannot be depended upon for completeness.
March 2. Capt. Oliver comes to me, and declares his Unwilling- ness to make his Confession before the Congregation ; his friends ad- vise him. I said, you did run well, who hindered you ?
March 31. Now about 'tis propounded to the Church whether Capt Nathanl Oliver's Confession should be before the Church, or before the Congregation : I opposed the former as not agreeing with the universal Practice : 'Twas brought on by our late Pastor with the design that it should be before the Congregation. Not fit that the penitent should prescribe before what Auditory his Confession should be. Some said there was little difference : I said twas the more gra- vaminous that Capt. Oliver should insist on it. I think it was the Congregation's due, all being Offended : when a person is admitted, the Congregation are acquainted with it. 'Twas carried for Capt Oli- ver, and he was restor'd, but I did not vote in it. When he spake to me, I said, you did run well, who hindered you? He mention'd the advice of some Friends. I suppose Col. Paige. When Mr. Williams spake to me, I said let him as a Captain take courage and make it be- fore the Congregation. (Sewall.)
The Congregational churches of the town decided to observe a day of fasting together, with reference, probably, to their own special needs, rather than to the general wants of the commu- nity. Two of them, the First and Third, were without colleague pastors. There was to be a public fast, by appointment of the Governor and Council, on the 4th of April.
March 10. Lord's Supper at the South. Comfortable Weather. Son propounds the Turning the Lecture into a Fast. Sundry of our Fathers in the Ministry think it proper ; which I mention that I may have your Concurrence with them in the seasonable Solemnity. 1
March 14. Fast, Mr. Webb begins with Prayer, Mr. Colman preaches ; Text, Feed me with Food Convenient - Prov. 30. Prays. P. m. Mr. Sewall Prays. Mr. Wadsworth preaches : Text 107. ult., whoso is wise - Prays; Sung. Great Congregation. Fn. and Aftn. Dr. Incr., Cot. Mather, Mr. Cooper not there, by reason of Indisposi- tion. Governour was present in the Forenoon only. (Sewall.)
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