USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Old South church (Third church) Boston, 1669-1884, Vol. II > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73
96
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
True God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in whose Name you have been Baptized : you acknowledge that in vertue of this great privilege you are indispensibly bound to devote yourself to Him to love obey and serve Him according to His gospel And you do now declare that as far as you know your own Heart it is your unfeigned desire and prevailing disposition so to do, agreeable to the obligation you have owned.
You do further profess your Belief in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as a Revelation of God, which contains the words of Eternal Life, and is the only perfect rule of faith and practice. And particularly you profess to believe what God has therein revealed concerning the Fall of man, and consequent Depravity of Human Nature ; concerning the way of salvation through Jesus Christ, His Incarnation, His obedience and sufferings, His Resurrection and In- tercession, Concerning the Necessity of Faith in His Righteousness as that on the merit of which alone we may expect the forgiveness of our Sins and acceptance with God, And lastly concerning the neces- sity of the influences of the Holy Spirit of God to renew and sanctify us, and to quicken us to a life of Evangelical obedience.
These things you profess.
[It was agreed that the Church should here signify their admission of the Person who may have made this Profession.]
What follows, is the Covenant with the Church to be administered after admission. -
As you have now been admitted by this Church to a full Commu- nion with them in the special privileges of Christ's visible Kingdom, You do solemnly promise to walk with them in a due submission to and attendance upon all the Orders and Ordinances of the Gospel and that thro the Help of the Spirit you will endeavour to adorn the Pro- fession you have made with a Holy Blameless fruitful Conversation.
Thus you promise.
We do also by the Help of the same Spirit promise you that we will carry it towards you as towards one bro't up with us in the Fellowship of the Saints : We will watch over you not for your halting, but for your edification. We will counsel reprove comfort and exhort you as your circumstances and our acquaintance therewith shall require.
This form seems to us very inferior in power and fervency of expression, to the covenant which had been in use in the church for a hundred years. It embodies the nearest approach to a doctrinal statement, as a prerequisite to admission to member- ship, which was ever adopted at the Old South. The state- ment is very guarded and qualified in its terms, but it was all that the brethren were willing to consent to, as a concession to Mr. Blair, and it continued in force just eight months.
97
RICHARD GRIDLEY.
At a meeting of the South Church, May 9th 1769.
Richard Gridley, Shippey Townsend having withdrawn irregularly from the Communion of the Church, and the Church having appointed a Committee consisting of their Pastors and Deacons to converse with them on said conduct, and to endeavour to convince them of their error, so that they might be induced to return to that Christian Fellow- ship, in which they had covenanted to walk, which Committee had reported that their conference had not had the desired success, said Brethren declaring that they acted on the principles of Conscience, and that they could not see their way clear to return, The Church upon mature consideration voted, to forbear any further Judicial attention to said Conduct of said Brethren and to leave them to God and their own consciences. SAML. BLAIR Pastor.
We have assumed that Richard Gridley who joined the church in 1756 was the military engineer who served the province and the British crown with so much distinction at Louisburg, Crown Point, and Quebec, and who, in the interest of the patriot party, in 1775, planned the fortifications on Breed's Hill, and, a year later, those on Dorchester Heights. After the fall of Quebec he went to England, and was cordially welcomed there. He received a grant of the Magdalen Islands for his services, with an extensive seal and cod fishery, and half-pay as a British officer. He was absent from Boston much of the time, but he purchased a house in Prince Street in 1762, and probably oc- cupied it. In 1776, when engaged on the fortifications on Cape Ann, he listened to the preaching of the Rev. John Murray, and from that time became one of his most earnest friends and followers.1 He lived in Canton during the later years of his
1 Mr. Murray, the first avowed preacher of ultimate and universal salvation in New England, arrived in Boston in the autumn of 1773. He preached then, and during a second visit a year later, in the hall of the Manufactory House, in Fan- euil Hall, and in the meeting-house of the Rev. Mr. Croswell, many of whose people eagerly embraced the new views, although he himself controverted them with his usual polemic earnestness. It was some time before the First Univer- salist Church in Boston was gathered. In 1785 its members purchased and en- larged the meeting-house in Hanover Street, in which the Rev. Samuel Mather had preached for forty years. . Shippie Townsend's name headed the list of con-
tributors, and he was chosen deacon. Between 1785 and 1793 he published ten or more pamphlets in defence of the doc- -trines of his church, and in 1794 gathered them into a volume. He died in 1798.
Mr. Murray was a disciple of the Rev. James Relly, of London, who had been a follower of Mr. Whitefield. He be- lieved in the Trinity, in the ruin of man through Adam, and his redemption through Christ. He believed that the redemption was as absolute and universal as the ruin. But he distinguished be- tween redemption and salvation. The redemption in Christ, by a decree of God who orders all things, was at once universal and complete; but salvation, resulting from a knowledge of that re-
98
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
life, and suffered some persecution for his religious views ; but the present generation has done him justice, and has raised a monument to his memory.1
Shippie Townsend, who joined the church in 1763, was a blockmaker ; 2 his shop was on Barrett's Wharf, "two wharves below the Draw-Bridge in Anne Street," and he lived in Cross Street. He was a man of fair education, he had a superficial knowledge of the Scriptures, and he could use his pen with facility. He became a follower of Robert Sandeman, who ar- rived in Boston from Scotland in 1764, and who, with other peculiarities of doctrine, denied the necessity of spiritual con- version, represented faith as an operation of the intellect, and held that speculative belief was sufficient to ensure final justifi- cation. Mr. Sandeman preached for a time at the Green Dragon Tavern ; his friends built him a meeting-house near the Mill Pond, which was burnt in 1773; they then worshipped in a school-house, and later at Mr. Townsend's, until the completion of a new meeting-house in Middle, now Hanover Street. It is possible that Colonel Gridley was also a Sandemanian, as he and Mr. Townsend seem to have been friends and were probably neighbors.
In May, 1769, Mr. Blair took a journey to Philadelphia,3 and while there he had a severe illness, which, it was thought, had given a shock to his constitution from which it could never recover. Soon after his departure, his venerable colleague, who
demption, is not yet universal, but is destined to become so. -- See Article by the Rev. A. A. Miner, Mem. Hist. of Boston, vol. iii. pp. 483-489.
1 When the people of Canton, in 1783, celebrated the Declaration of Peace with holiday rejoicings and religious services, Richard Gridley, of whom General Washington had said that he knew no man better qualified than he to be chief engineer of the army, remained at home unhonored and unnoticed. Upon asking an intimate friend why he had received no invitation to the celebration, he was told, " Because, General, you are not con- sidered a Christian by those who have this matter in charge." His reply, worthy of the old hero, is inscribed in part on the monument which the present gener- ation has erected in his honor : "I love my God, my country, and my neighbour
as myself. If they have any better re- ligion, I should like to know what it is." See Oration, by D. T. V. Huntoon, May 30, 1877.
2 A child of Shippie and Mehetabel Townsend was baptized in 1748, and children of Shippie and Ann Townsend were baptized in 1750 and later.
3 Dr. Sewall's last entry on the record of baptisms was under date of August 21, 1768 : " Hannah, of Samuel and Hannah Fenno:" Another child of the same name and parentage was baptized by Dr. Chauncy, May 14, 1770.
May 28, 1769 : " Elizabeth of William and Mary Swett Joseph of Samuel and Susannah Chandler These were bap- tized pr Rev Mr. Haven of Portsmouth who was here occasionally and Dr. Sewall was sick and Mr. Blair gone a journey."
99
DR. SEWALL'S DEATH.
had been in failing health for several months, ceased from his earthly labors and entered into rest.1 Since 1713 he had la- bored in the gospel ministry, "with as little intermission, by reason of those infirmities to which we are all subject, as has been ordinarily known. Few ministers ever enjoyed a more uninterrupted state of health, going on with more steady con- stancy in his public labors for the Lord." He died on the evening of Tuesday the 27th of June, in the eighty-first year of his age, and the fifty-sixth of his pastorate. The church and con- gregation met on Wednesday morning, but there was no minister to enter their proceedings upon the record-book. We read in one of the newspapers : -
The Church and Congregation met at the Meeting-House Yester- day Morning, when they voted to bury the Remains of their deceased Pastor in the most decent Manner, at the same Time to adhere strictly to the Regulations of not wearing Mourning; and also voted to desire those who attend the Funeral, to conform to the said Regula- tions.
On the following Sunday Dr. Chauncy preached a funeral ser- mon from the Old South pulpit, from Hebrews vi. 12: "That ye be ... followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises." 2 From this sermon, we take a few sen- tences : -
His discourses from the pulpit were chiefly upon the distinguishing, and most important points of Christianity, relative both to faith and practice. They were the effect of study ; composures discovering judgment, and an intimate acquaintance with the holy Scriptures.
1 Dr. Sewall left only one child, Dea- con Samuel Sewall. His wife Elizabeth (Walley) died October 27, 1756. The above portrait is from a likeness en- graved on copper by Nathaniel Hurd in 1764. For a sacramental cup which com- memorates Dr. Sewall, see the head of this chapter on the right.
2 Just one week before this, Dr. Chauncy preached the funeral sermon of
his own venerable colleague, the Rev. Thomas Foxcroft, who died June 18, in the fifty-second year of his ministry. Speaking of his advanced age, Dr. Chauncy said: "Of the eleven associ- ated pastors in this town, one has ex- ceeded fourscore years ; another three- score years and ten ; four have reached beyond threescore years ; one is above fifty, and another above forty years old."
100
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
His manner in delivering them was serious, grave, solemn ; and some- times he uttered himself with a voice so elevated with zeal, and so modulated under the influence of a deeply affected heart, as that he arrested the attention of his hearers; putting them under advantage to be impressed with a just sense of the importance of what he was saying to them. . . . He was "a devout man, one that feared God, and prayed alway." I find, in his private papers, the record of numerous days set apart for solemn prayer, often with fasting, mostly by himself alone, and sometimes in union with others ; at which times, you, the people of his charge, were particularly remembered before the throne of mercy. He had upon his mind an habitually prevailing sense of the superintending government of God, both in the kingdom of provi- dence, and of grace ; and he accordingly ever repaired to him as the alone all-sufficient help. And this was especially his practice under the various tryals he was called to pass through, some of which were grievously heavy, and gave opportunity, as well as occasion, for the signal exercise of that "faith and patience through which " he is gone to "inherit the promises." ... He was distinguished among the Clergy for his wisdom, not " the wisdom of this world," to which he was an utter stranger ; but "the wisdom that is from above, which is pure, peaceable, gentle, easie to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisie." I know of no man that discovered more prudent caution, through his whole behavior in life. He ever acted, especially in affairs of importance, with deliber- ation, and upon having viewed them in their circumstances, and prob- able consequences. No one, I believe, can mention an instance wherein he conducted with precipitant rashness. . . . It would be a great omission, if I did not make mention of him as one of those "good men, for whom one would even dare to die." He was, in his temper, pitiful, tender-hearted, courteous, kindly affectioned; and, from principle as a christian, he " forgat not to do good, and commu- nicate," as he had opportunity, and according to his ability. It was his practice to lay by one full tenth of his income for the uses of piety and charity. And sometimes, as occasions in providence called for it, he went even beyond this. . . .
On the evening of the 26th of last August [new style], the day on which he completed fourscore years, he spake to you from this desk, with affectionate gratitude to God upon such an extraordinary occa- sion, and so as to endeavour your spiritual edification. He was not permitted, after this, to preach to you more than three or four times. It seemed good to the wisdom of God to confine him several months to his chamber ; in which time he had opportunity to dispense, to the many who went to visit him, those counsels and instructions of piety, which, if it be not their own fault, may be of lasting spiritual advan- tage to them. And occasion also was now offered him, in the provi-
IOI
DR. SEWALL'S CHARACTER.
dence of God, by the repeated attacks that were made upon his naturally firm, but now breaking, constitution, for the exemplary ex- ercise of faith, patience, and those other virtues, which adorned his character as a Christian, and gospel-minister, and reflected honor on his master and Lord, whose grace, bestowed on him, now shone with conspicuous lustre. It was pleasant to behold the peaceful, placid, resigned, praying frame he was in. He could, while life remained in any considerable degree of strength, speak of dying with a cheerful countenance, and as one that had a desire "to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better than to abide in the flesh."
In Dr. Chauncy's sermon we have the testimony of a friend who had known Dr. Sewall intimately for fifty years. The following statement by the Rev. John Eliot is interesting as giving the impressions of one who was a youth in college when Dr. Sewall died : -
He was a man who seemed to breathe the air of Heaven, while he was here upon earth ; he delighted in the work of the ministry ; and when he grew venerable for his age as well as for his piety, he was regarded as the father of the clergy. The rising generation looked upon him with reverence, and all classes of people felt a respect for his name. He was a genuine disciple of the famous John Calvin. He dwelt upon the great articles of the Christian faith in preaching and conversation ; and dreaded the propagation of any opinions in this country, which were contrary to the principles of our fathers. Hence he was no friend to free inquiries, or to any discussion of theo- logical opinions, which were held true by the first Reformers.1 His advice to students in Divinity was to read the Bible, always with a comment such as Mr. Henry's or Archbishop Usher's, and to make themselves acquainted with the work of his great predecessor, Mr. Willard, whose Body of Divinity was then in great repute. Though he so often preached the doctrines of the Gospel, yet he never entered into any curious speculations ; his object was to impress upon people what they should believe, and how they must live to be eternally happy. His sermons were pathetic; and the pious strains of his prayers, as well as preaching, excited serious attention, and made a devout assembly. His character was uniform; and the observation has often been made, if he entered into company, something serious
1 [" He was in principle a Calvinist, and made the doctrines, which are usu- ally called the doctrines of Grace, the foundation, and the chief subjects of his preaching ; but he was far from the dan- gerous extremes to which some have carried these doctrines. While he was solicitous to secure the honor of divine
grace, he was equally careful to show the necessity of holy obedience, and ear- nestly pressed on unrenewed sinners the importance of their improving the means of grace, if they had any desire to obtain an interest in Christ, and to become his sincere disciples." - Boston Gazette, July 3, 1769.]
IO2
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
or good dropped from his lips. His very presence banished away everything of levity, and solemnized the minds of all those who were with him.1
But the most touching tribute to the memory of Dr. Sewall came from the heart and pen of Phillis Wheatley, a poor African slave girl, who had been an attendant upon his ministry, and who, two years later, was received into the fellowship of the church.2 Phillis bore the name of the family by whom she was purchased when she was brought to Boston in 1761, and who always treated her with the greatest kindness and consideration. She was taught to read and write by one of the daughters, after- ward wife of the Rev. John Lathrop, and before long she not only made herself familiar with English literature, but became pro- ficient in the Latin language. She was probably about fifteen years of age when Dr. Sewall died, and these are some of the lines she wrote, - the epitaph, she said, which she composed for his tomb : -
Lo, here, a man redeemed by Jesus' blood, A sinner once, but now a saint with God. Behold, ye rich, ye poor, ye fools, ye wise, Nor let his monument your heart surprise ; 'T will tell you what this holy man has done, Which gives him brighter lustre than the sun.
Listen, ye happy, from your seats above ; I speak sincerely, while I speak and love. He sought the paths of piety and truth, By these made happy from his early youth. In blooming years that grace divine he felt, . Which rescues sinners from the chains of guilt. Mourn him, ye indigent, whom he has fed, And henceforth seek, like him, for living bread ; Ev'n Christ, the bread descending from above,
1 [Sprague's Annals, vol. i. pp. 279, poet" on her departure, and "the ex- 280.]
1
2 Phillis was baptized and received into the church August 18, 1771, by the Rev. Dr. Cooper, the Old South being at that time without a pastor. In 1773 she was in ill health and went to Eng- land, and an edition of her poems was brought out there, inscribed to the Countess of Huntingdon, who had re- ceived her kindly, as had also Lord Dartmouth. She went in May and re- turned in September, in the ship London, Captain Robert Calef, which belonged to Mr. Wheatley. She is spoken of in the papers, as " the extraordinary Negro
traordinary poetical genius," on her re- turn. She afterward married a man named Peters, who was utterly unworthy of her. He was "not only a very re- markable looking man, but a man of talents and information ; " he was dis- agreeable, however, in his manners, and because of his improper conduct, Phillis became entirely estranged from her old friends. Mr. and Mrs. Wheatley had died. Other friends were scattered during the stormy period of the Revo- lutionary struggle, and her last years were passed in obscurity and poverty. She died December 5, 1784.
IO3
MR. BLAIR'S RESIGNATION.
And ask an int'rest in his saving love. Mourn him, ye youth, to whom he oft has told God's gracious wonders, from the times of old. I, too, have cause, this mighty loss to mourn, For he, my monitor, will not return. Oh, when shall we to his blest state arrive ? When the same graces in our bosoms thrive.1
Dr. Chauncy made the following reference in his funeral ser- mon to the absent pastor, Mr. Blair : --
It may be esteemed a frown in Providence, that the Elisha of this christian Society should not be present to see their Elijah taken away, and to assist them in making a sanctified improvement of such a visi- tation. Had he been here, he might with propriety have "cried, my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof " ! Nor could he have made a better adapted prayer for himself than that, " let a double portion of thy spirit rest upon me "! May it please the Savior of his people to help him under his infirmities, to prosper his long journey for the removal of them, and to return him to his flock with a restored, confirmed state of health, and to continue him for many years yet to come an eminently pious, diligent, faithful, and use- ful servant of Jesus Christ, after the example of his departed father, and associate in the Gospel-ministry ! We cannot wish for him a greater blessing.
This prayer was not to be answered. Mr. Blair did not re- turn to his pastoral duties in Boston, but, at the end of the summer, asked for a dismission, which was granted. He had probably never been in sympathy with the polity of the Massa- chusetts churches. He had become a minister of a Congrega- tional church, without giving up his Presbyterianism ; and more than this, he had sought to Presbyterianize a church that was intensely Congregational in its convictions as well as in its tra- ditions. Under such circumstances, it is not strange that he was not happy here. His letter of resignation is long, but very interesting, and shows him to have been a man of fine sensi- bilities and extreme conscientiousness. We gather from it, that he had asked the church to abandon the Half-Way Covenant, so called, and that it had declined to do so; but this does not appear on the records. There was a divergence of opinion also, between the young pastor and the church, in reference to the proper qualifications for admission to full membership.
1 [Phillis wrote lines on the death of Mr. Whitefield, of Mr. Hubbard's
Leonard, and of Mary (Sanford), the wife of Andrew Oliver, then lieutenant- daughter Thankful, wife of Dr. Thomas governor.]
104
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
Lord's Day Sept. 24th : 1769
The Brethren of the Church and congregation were stayed when a Letter from the pastor the Revd. Mr. Blair dated Philadelphia Sept. 7th 1769 to the Church was Read in which he requests a Dismission from the Church.
PHILADELPHIA Sept 7th. 1769
To the Brethren of the South Church Hond and Beloved
I take this opportunity of Expressing my sincere condolance on Occasion of the death of my very worthy and venerable colleague the Revd Doctor Sewall. Your high Esteem of his ministerial qualifyca- tions and services while he was able to attend on the Duties of his function, and the tender concern and sense of loss you manifested during his illness, serve to give me some idea of the heart felt grief with which you finally parted with him. In all this I most heartily sympathise with you, while at the same time I feel my own peculiar affliction, considering him as my once Fellow helper in the Gospell ministry.
I should have written to you my dear brethren before now, had my deliberations on the difficulties subsisting between us been so mature as to enable me to form a satisfactory resolution with respect to the course I ought to take. In a matter so important and interesting, I considered my self as standing in need of every possible security against any future reflections which I might blame my self for too hasty a conclusion.
When I took my leave of you in the spring, I informed you that itt was not in my power to Comply with your vote relating to the admin- istration of Baptism, yet that I should still make itt a subject of serious enquiry and attention, as my health and other circumstances in my absence would permitt ; and in like manner earnestly desired you would do as a Church ; either to act up to my request or not you were doubtless at Liberty ; but I meant not to be wanting on my part, and be assured that nothing could have given me greater pleasure than to find that I had been mistaken in a point that so nearly concerned us both. But I have not been so happy. Still I am oblidged to say that I cannot consistently with a sense of Duty, administer the aforesaid ordinance agreeable to your Vote. But as I have been all along per- suaded that your generosity would not permitt you to insist upon my Active compliance ; and moreover, that you would endeavour as soon as possible, to procure another pastor as colleague to me, whose senti- ments would allow him to act in Cases wherein I should be oblidged to decline, it has been my principal business to enquire into the ex- pediency of this plan of relief, which indeed is the only one probable or seemingly practicable.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.