USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Old South church (Third church) Boston, 1669-1884, Vol. II > Part 3
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5th December 1753
To the Honble Ezekiel Lewis, and the Gentlemen Seaters of the South Brick Church in Boston :
SIRS, - By a Vote of the Vestry of Kings Chappel, we are desired to Ask the favour of the use of your Church for our Congregation to Assemble in for Divine Service, on Tuseday, the 25th of this Instant December, being Christmass Day.
Your Compliance with which Request will greatly Oblidge the Mem- bers of said Community, as also,
Gentlemen
Your most humble Servants
JOHN BOX JAMES FORBES
Wardens
To the above letter We Received on the 14th a Verbal Answer, that our Request was Granted, and their Church was at our Service for the time desired ; only they Expected that wee would not decorate it with Spruce etc.1
1 [We are indebted also to Mr. Foote for the following, in advance of the pub- lication of the second volume of his Annals : -
Mr. Prince wrote to Dr. Avery 31 Dec. 1753: " When, two or three years ago, the people of their Chappel again wanted to rebuild and enlarge their said Chappel in a grand manner, all of hewn stone, at their desire, our people, at a Pub- lick Town Meeting warn'd on purpose, gave them even several Graves of their
sleeping friends to make room for the said enlargement. ... And no longer than last Tuesday, Decr 25th, while their said Chappel is a building, and tho' they now have two other Commodious Churches in the Town, yet desiring the use of our own large South Brick Church, of near one hundred feet long and near seventy feet broad, on that day to keep their Christmas, as being more spacious and commodious, our Congregation al- most universally and freely let them use
16
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
The two pastors of the New Brick Church died suddenly early in 1753, of the same disease, palsy, both on the Sabbath, and both on the communion Sabbath, - Mr. Gray on the 7th of January, and Mr. Welsteed on the 29th of April.1 On the last day of the year, the church, by an unanimous vote, called the Rev. Ebenezer Pemberton, of New York, to its vacant pulpit, and he soon after accepted the call. Mr. Pemberton was a bap- tized child of the South Church,2 and a son of its third minis- ter, who did not live to see him complete his college course and enter upon the work of the ministry. He graduated in 1721, in the same class with Charles Chauncy, Ebenezer Turell, Thomas Hubbard, John Lowell, Ebenezer Parkman, and Oliver Peabody. He became a member of the South Church in 1725, and for a time was chaplain at Castle William. In 1727 he received an invitation from the First Presbyterian Church, New York, to settle as its minister, with the request that he should be ordained in Boston. On the 9th of August of that year his ordination took place in his father's meeting-house, his father's old college friend, Mr. Colman, preaching the sermon. " He was a man of polite breeding, pure morals, and warm devotion," and his ministry in New York was exceptionally successful for a course of years ; but at length, "on account of trifling con- tentions, kindled by the bigotry and ignorance of the lower sort of people," he requested his dismission. He was one of the founders of the College of New Jersey, and was a member of its Board of Trustees from 1748 to 1754.3 The Boston church
it. And one of our Churches nearest the Chappel has been all last Summer and Fall and this winter freely open on every Wednesday and Friday for their reading Prayers : Tho' Mr. Brockwell, one of their clergymen, will not put his head into it, tho' with his own People and Col- league, because unconsecrated."]
1 Robbins's History of the Second Church, p. 185. Dr. Robbins adds that each preached his last sermon on the text, " Redeeming the time, because the days are evil."
2 See ante, vol. i. p. 328, for the men- tion of his baptism, and of his father's sermon on that occasion.
3 Mr. Edwards, in a letter to the Rev. John Erskine, dated Stockbridge, July 7, 1752, writes: "I suppose there has been a trial before now, whether a na-
tional collection can be obtained in Scot- land, for New Jersey College : unless it has been thought prudent, by such as are friends of the affair, to put it off a year longer; as some things I have seen, seem to argue. There was a design of Mr. Pemberton's going to England and Scotland. He was desired by the Trus- tees, and it was his settled purpose to have gone the last year ; but his people, and his colleague, Mr. Cumming, hin- dered it. His intention of going occa- sioned great uneasiness among his peo- ple, and created some dissatisfaction towards him, in the minds of some of them."
Mr. Pemberton received the degree of D. D. from the College of New Jersey in 1770. His son, Ebenezer Pemberton, graduated there in 1765, and received a
17
THE REV. E. PEMBERTON.
eagerly sought his services as soon as it was known that he was to leave New York. He received honorable dismission from his Presbytery, of which the Rev. Aaron Burr was moderator, and was recommended as "a regular minister, of an exemplary, pious conversation, who has to an uncommon degree maintained the dignity of the ministerial character ; - eminently endowed with ministerial abilities, whose labours have been acceptable and highly esteemed throughout these churches." The installa- tion took place at the New Brick March 6, 1754; the First, Third or South, and the New North churches assisted in the services, but, says Dr. Ware, by whom the several parts were performed is not known.
Lord's Day June 23. 1754.
A Letter was read again from several Brethren of the West Church in Sudbury, desiring our Assistance in Council under their present Difficulties. Voted by the Brethren. Messengers, Messrs. David Jef- fries, John Scollay and Samuel Bass. JOSEPH SEWALL.
Lord's Day Novr. 17. 1754.
The Brethren of the Church and Congregation were stayed, and
Voted, That there be a collection for Charitable and pious uses on the Anniversary Thanksgiving Novr. 28. Instant: And that the rest of the Congregation be notified of this Vote next Lord's Day, and be desir'd to assist in said Collection. JOSEPH SEWALL.
Lord's Day, Nov. 24. 1754
The Brethren stay'd, and Voted, that Deacon Henchman, Capt. Jackson, Mr. John Scollay, Mr. David Jeffries and Capt. John Symmes be the Church-Committee for this year. JOSEPH SEWALL.
Thanksgiving Novr. 28. 1754. Collected as follows - O Tenor
Appropriated,
To Rev. Mr. Campbell 22. 18. II
Mr. Brett
IO. 7. 9
Mr. Crocker
IO. IO. O
To two Widows . 18. 0. 0
To the pious Fund .
4. 10. 0
66. 6. 8
At large
131. 4. I
197. 10. 9
Master's degree from Harvard College in 1787.
In 1754 Mr. Tennent and Mr. Davies (afterward President Davies) went to
England and Scotland in behalf of the young college, and a collection in its be- half, in the Presbyterian churches, was appointed by the General Assembly.
18
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
Lord's Day Jany 26. 1755
The Church stay'd. A Letter was read from the first Church in Braintree desiring our Assistance at the Ordination of Mr. A. Wibird. Voted. Messengers, One or more of the Deacons, and Mr. Samuel Bass.
Mr. Anthony Wibird graduated at Harvard College in 1747, and was settled as the successor of Mr. Bryant at Braintree February 5, 1755. Neither Dr. Sewall nor Mr. Prince took part in the service. Mr. Appleton, of Cambridge, preached the ser- mon ; Mr. Gay, of Hingham, gave the charge ; and Mr. Dunbar, of Stoughton, gave the right hand of followship.1 (Mr. Bass, one of the messengers of the South Church, belonged, as we suppose, to the Braintree family of that name.)
Mrs. Hannah Fayerweather died January 27, and Mr. Prince preached her funeral sermon on the Sunday following, from Hebrews vi. 12.2 She was the widow of Thomas Fayerweather, who died in 1733.3 Her name does not appear on the list of members of the South Church, but she and her family were members of the congregation, and her daughter Ann joined the church a few months later. Mrs. Fayerweather was a daughter of Jonathan and Hannah Waldo, and joined the Second Church (probably) in her youth. Her husband's mother, Han- nah Eliot, was a daughter of one of the founders and first deacons of the South Church, and became a member of it in 1688.4
Lord's Day Feby. 2. 1755
The Brethren of the Church and Congregation were stay'd, and Voted,
I. That fifty pounds O. T. of the late Collection be equally divided between the Rev. Othniel Cambell and Silas Brett.
2. That the remainder of said collection be dispos'd of to charitable and pious uses by the Pastors and Deacons of this Church, according to their best Discretion.
J. SEWALL.
March 4, 1755. The Brethren met and adjourned to the 7th Instant.
1 Mr. Wibird's salary was fixed at £100. lawful money and no sum at settlement.
2 The MS. of this sermon is before us. It bears this note : "Funeral Sermon on my Dear Mother who Deceas'd at Mid- dleboro Apr. 25. 1736." It was repeated on several occasions, and after having been preached for Mrs. Fayerweather was printed.
3 On the 26th [November, 1733] Mr.
Fayrweather was buried (age about 41), my next Neighbour. (J. Sewall.)
4 Hannah (Eliot) Fayerweather was married the second time, June 23, 1698, by Mr. Willard, to Samuel Clark, a neighbor of Judge Sewall, by whom he is frequently mentioned. She died in February, 1716-17, and among the bear- ers at her funeral were Wait Winthrop, Samuel Sewall, Thomas Fitch, and Daniel Oliver.
19
THE BAY PSALM BOOK.
March 7. 1755. The Brethren of the Church and Congregation met and voted,
That a Committee be chosen to consider a motion made by several of the Brethren for the alteration or change of the version of the Psalms at present in use among us, and give their Report to the Church and Congregation the first Tuesday in May next.
Voted, That Twenty-five of the church and congregation be chosen to be of this Committee including our Rev'd Pastors.
The persons chosen are as follows, viz. The Hon. John Osborne, Josiah Willard, Thomas Hubbard, Andrew Oliver, Esqrs. Deacon Henchman, Capt. Greenwood, Mr. Isaac Walker, Mr. Joshua Wins- low, Mr. Bromfield, Mr. Fitch, Mr. Benjamin Hallowel, Francis Bor- land Esq. Mr. Cushing, Capt. Jackson, Mr. David Jeffries, Mr. John Scollay, Mr. William Phillips, Mr. Thacher, Mr. Dolbear, Mr. An- drew Oliver junr. Mr. Tyng, Mr. Arnold Welles, and Mr. Holbrook.
The Bay Psalm Book is believed to have been the first book in English that issued from a printing-press in this part of America. It was the work of " the chief divines of the coun- try," particularly of Thomas Weld, John Eliot, and Richard Mather, and it was printed at Cambridge in 1640. A. second edition, somewhat amended, was published in 1647, after which the work was revised by President Dunster and Richard Lyon. This revision was first published in 1650, with the addition of some Spiritual Songs by Mr. Lyon, who was an English univer- sity man, and it went through numerous editions in America. It was reprinted in England and Scotland, and came into use in many of the Nonconformist churches in the former country, and of the Presbyterian churches in the latter.1 To a critic of our day, the Bay Psalm Book appears "a sort of prodigy in that kind, - a poetic phenomenon, happily unique, we may hope, in all the literature of English speech ; " but it was dear to the early generations of New England, and to many, even in the middle of the eighteenth century, it seemed almost sacrilegious to attempt to revise it, and altogether irreligious to propose to supersede it. A strong desire for a change, however, was manifesting itself in many of the congregations. At the West Church, Tate and Brady's version of the Psalms had been in use from the beginning. Watts's Psalms and Hymns were in- troduced at the New Brick in 1751 ;2 and at the New North a proposition was at this time under consideration for substituting
1 See the catalogue of the Prince valuable information used in the prepa- Library published by the Boston Public ration of this and other chapters. Library, to which we are indebted for
2 Tate and Brady's version seems to .
20
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
either Tate and Brady or Watts for the New England version, which was decided in favor of the former.1 At the South Church, as the brethren were not agreed among themselves, they wisely postponed the matter for the present. Mr. Prince entered upon the work of revising the accepted version, but whether by formal request of the church does not appear from the records.2
May 6. 1755. The Brethren met and accepted the Report of said Committee, viz: That considering the Diversity of Opinions, it will best subserve the Peace of the Society to suspend their determination a few months ; and in the mean time to continue in the use of the present version.
J. SEWALL.
have been used at the New Brick at the first. Soon after its organization and the ordination of Mr. Waldron, there was a service of which we have the following account in Bumstead's journal, September 21, 1722 : " A sing lecture att the north Brick. Mr. Coleman preached from those words 'They sung a new Song.' Revelations 5 and 9. Sung Tate and Brady four Psalms, namely 108 first, 147 next, 89 next, 98 last, noted by titles in that psalm book."
1 New North Church : "A proposal was made at a meeting on the 14th of April, 1755, to exchange the New Eng- land version of Psalms, which had always been used in singing, for one more mod- ern. It was opposed at several meet- ings, and caused much debate before the church would consent to it. But on the 27th of May, it was voted to exchange ; and on counting the votes, there were forty-six for Tate and Brady's version, and eight for that of Dr. Watts." - Hist. Notes of the New North Religious Society, by Ephraim Eliot, p. 22.
First Church, Roxbury : "In a letter to the Rev. Amos Adams, dated Septem- ber II, 1757, and signed by James Bow- doin and other influential parishioners, it was said that the New England version of the Psalms, however useful it may formerly have been, 'is now become, through the natural variableness of lan- guage, not only very uncouth but in many places unintelligible,' and it rec- ommended that the version of Tate and Brady be substituted. The change was
made July 9, 1758 ; 'some people,' says the church record, being 'much offended at the same.' " -- Mem. Hist. of Boston, vol. ii. pp. 347, 348.
First Church, Boston : " August 9, 1761, it was voted to introduce the version of the Psalms called Tate and Brady, with such supplement of Dr. Watts' hymns as our pastors shall think proper."- Ellis's History, p. 205.
2 Mr. Prince says in his preface to the new version : -
"Having begun this work on April 29, 1755, and being encouraged to pro- ceed by the Respectable Brethren of the Congregation I belong to, I desire to Praise the Most High for carrying me on, thro' Multitudes of Avocations, In- terruptions and Infirmities, to the End of the Psalms by the Last of August 1756, and to the End of the other Scrip- ture-Songs by the 20th of March 1757: And to His Glory and Blessing, and the Edification of his People, I humbly re- sign it. Rendering my hearty Thanks to the ingenious Gentlemen, who gen- erously helped me with their acute Cor- rections ; I close with my earnest Prayers in the Terms of the Final Clause of the Authors of the ancient Preface to the New England version, expressed in their usual beautiful Simplicity of Language ; 'That we may sing in Zion the Lord's Songs of Praise according to his own Will, until he take us hence, and wipe away all our Tears, and bid us enter into our Master's Joy, to sing eternal Halle- lujahs there !'"
21
THE EARTHQUAKE OF 1755.
Lord's Day Octr. 5. 1755.
The above nam'd church-committee [see November 24. 1754] were again chosen by the Brethren for this year JOSEPH SEWALL.
Lords Day Novr. 9, 1755 The church stay'd. A Letter was read from the Church in Brookline, desiring our Assistance at the Ordain- tion of Mr. Nathl. Potter. Voted. Messengers - The Deacons, The Hon. Saml. Welles and Andrew Oliver Esqrs. J. SEWALL.
The Rev. Robert Rogerson had been called to the Brookline church and had accepted, but there was a division in the parish in reference to his coming, and the arrangement was cancelled, the town voting to pay him £20 lawful money. Mr. Potter was ordained November 19. He came from Elizabeth Town, and graduated at the College of New Jersey in 1753. Dr. Pierce intimates that he was called and settled on a brief and imperfect acquaintance ; at all events, his pastorate lasted only four years. He was only in his twenty-third year when he was ordained, and this may have had something to do with his want of success.
Early in the morning of Tuesday, November 18, the town was shaken by an earthquake, the most violent ever known in New England. Many buildings were injured, chimneys tot- tered and fell, clocks stopped, and the vane of the market-house fell into the street. Had it continued a minute longer, hardly a building would have been left standing. People "shrieked with the apprehension of its being the Day of Judgment ; some thought they heard the last trump sounding, and cried out for mercy ; others fainted away with the fright, and those of the most composed temper, that were sensible of these tremendous shakings, expected instantly to be swallowed up and buried in the ruins." Mr. Byles, in a sermon preached on the following Lord's Day, said : " It was a terrible night, the most so, perhaps, that ever New England saw. When we remember it, we are afraid, and trembling taketh hold of our flesh."
Nov. 1755. At a quarter after four in the morning of the 18th day there was a terrible earthquake which shattered the whole Town very much and threw down a great many chimneys and parts of many houses. Another small shock took place about six the same morning. Dr. Sewall preached at II o'clock in the forenoon to a very crowded audience from the words in Mark, chap. 13. verse 36. Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
Thursday was kept as a day of Fast. (Fleet.1)
1 [Mary Fleet, daughter of Thomas journal, extracts from which 'vere printed and Elizabeth (Goose) Fleet, kept a in the N. E. Hist. Gen. Register (1865),
22
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
Mr. Prince republished his discourse on Earthquakes the Works of God, and Tokens of his Just Displeasure, which he preached and printed in 1727, with an appendix, in which he says that since the sermon was first published, "the sagacious Mr. Franklin, born and brought up in Boston, but now living in Philadelphia, has greatly surpriz'd and oblig'd the world with his discoveries of the electrical substance as one great and main instrument of lightning and thunder." Mr. Prince also pub- lished a tract, entitled An Improvement of the Doctrine of Earthquakes, in which he gave an historical summary of the most remarkable earthquakes known in New England and in other parts of the world since 1666. Like all his printed papers and discourses, it shows painstaking research and careful com- position, and illustrates the great variety and exactness of his knowledge.
Nov 23. 1755
The Brethren of the Church and Congregation were stay'd, and
Voted, That there be a collection for Charitable and pious uses on the Anniversary Thanksgiving Decr 4. next : And that the rest of the Congregation be notified of this Vote next Lord's Day, and desir'd to assist in said collection.
JOSEPH SEWALL.
Dec 4. Being Thanksgiving day Mr. Prince preached from Psalm the 2. verse 2. Rejoice with trembling. (Fleet.)
Thanksgiving Decr. 4. 1755.
Collected
Appropriated
To the Rev. Mr. Cambell old Tenor 28. 5. 5
Mr. Brett 14. 4. 5
To the Pious Fund
7. 10. 0
Mr. Wheelock
IO. IO.
To the prisoners in Goal
IO. IO. 0
To three Widows
24. O. 0
94. 19. 10
At large
158. 5. 5 .
253. 5. 3
JOSEPH SEWALL.1
vol. xix. pp. 59-61. She joined the South Church, of which her grandmother and mother were members before her, January 25, 1756.]
1 [We suppose that Mr. Wheelock, to
whom an appropriation of ten guineas was made at this time, was the Rev. Eleazar Wheelock, founder and first president of Dartmouth College. See ante, vol. i. p. 525.]
23
DEATH OF EDWARD BROMFIELD.
At a town meeting held in Faneuil Hall, on Monday, the 8th of March, 1756, the citizens took into consideration the follow- ing article, which had appeared in the warrant : " Whether any more effectual Method than is always prescribed by Law can be taken, for promoting a more general Reformation of Manners." It was voted, " That the Honble Judge [Stephen] Sewall, the Honble Thomas Hubbard Esqr. Abiel Walley Esqr. John Phil- lips Esqr. and Mr. William Cooper, be and they hereby are Appointed a Committee upon this Affair, and they are desired in the most particular manner to Consider of the same, and Report to the Town at their Meeting in May next, what Methods they shall judge best to be taken for a more general Reformation of Manners."
The church and society met with a great loss this spring, in the death of Edward Bromfield, which took place April 10. He was sixty-one years of age, and had been a member of the church since 1729. He was a merchant, had served his fellow- citizens as selectman, overseer of the poor, and representative, and was much respected and beloved for his public spirit and for the general uprightness of his character. He was unfitted by temperament and by the state of his health for public life, so that he declined a reelection, after two or three years, to the house of representatives, and did not desire further political preferment. It was more in accordance with his feelings to serve as one of the overseers of the poor, which he did for twenty-one years, and until his death. Mr. Prince, in preaching his funeral sermon, said : -
You know he was born of godly parents. His father one of the most amiable men, for sweetness innocence and pleasancy of temper and conversation ; sincerity and openess of heart ; beneficence, a publick spirit, activity and delight in doing good, as I ever saw. His pious mother being elder daughter to the Reverend and excellent Mr. Danforth of Roxbury, by a daughter of the Reverend and famous Mr. Wilson, the first minister of Boston. So that by the mother he de- scended from two families eminent for piety in our New English Israel. By the lively instructions and example of his father, mother, and mother's extraordinary pious mother, who all happily lived to- gether, he from his childhood received strong impressions of religion, and by our elderly people, has been observed to have feared the Lord, like Obadiah, from his youth. . .. He early join'd to a society of youths in a private meeting to promote vital piety among them. The eyes of good people were turn'd to him, and as he grew in years, he increased in their esteem and answered their expectations.
24
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
But he was self-distrustful and morbidly conscientious. His fears kept him from the Lord's Table until he was more than thirty years of age, and long after his son Edward was born. " At length he came to be so irresistibly impressed with a sense of his indispensable duty, that he determined to come and there cast himself at the feet of Christ, striving to yield obedience to him, though there he should perish." But for him there was to be but slight experience of joy, in his religious life ; he had to walk by faith, and not at all by sight. Nor could he rise above the depression which was natural to him, and which threw almost the shadow of an eclipse over his pathway, even to the grave. From the death of his son, a young man of promise, he never recovered.1 His mental sufferings are mentioned with great tenderness by Mr. Prince in his funeral sermon, from which we have already quoted, and which was preached from Psalm lxxxviii. 15: " I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted." The preacher began by quoting the remark of Ainsworth, that this is " the most doleful psalm in all the Bible, full of lamentation, mourning and woe," and then considered the character of its author, Heman the Ezrahite, as revealed by it. In the delinea- tion of Mr. Bromfield's character, he said : -
All who intimately knew him, could not but apprehend he main- tained a close walk with God continually. And yet he saw so much deficiency and corruption in himself, and was so dreadfully worried with horrible suggestions and temptations, that though he feared the Lord, yet he almost always walked in darkness and could see no light, - was like Heman, much afflicted with soul-perplexities, even from his youth ; and as he advanc'd in age they seem'd, especially of late, to grow till the terrors of God at times in some degree distracted him. . . . Yet in all his distracting darkness he ever justified the Holy God: He continually express'd his reverential apprehensions of him : and even while his intellectual powers were so greatly clouded and disordered, we could hear no murmurings against him, but earnest cryings to him through Christ for mercy, while he condemned himself as utterly unworthy of it. . . . A few days before he died, he seem'd in a great measure to be relieved of them, [his complaints and fears] and to grow more compos'd and quiet. But as death approached, his intellectuals failed, and hindered us from knowing his final sentiments. Yet we cannot but be fully persuaded that his departing spirit, with
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