USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Old South church (Third church) Boston, 1669-1884, Vol. II > Part 4
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1 Edward Bromfield, third of the name graduation. See ante, vol. i. p. 581. For in the annals of the South Church, died his portrait see Mem. Hist. of Boston, August 18, 1746, four years after his vol. iv. p. 509.
25
MENTAL STRUGGLES.
amazement on a sudden opened into glorious light and holiness, and liberty, and joy and blessedness.1
The reader will be reminded of Cowper in this account of Mr. Bromfield's mental and spiritual sufferings, and of his won- derful faith in a similar experience. Only a few years after this, the poet sang of himself : -
But I am silent, seeing what I see - And fear, with cause, that I am self-deceived ; Not e'en my faith is from suspicion free, And, that I love, seems not to be believed.
Live thou, and reign forever, glorious Lord ! My last, least offering, I present thee now -
Renounce me, leave me, and be still adored ! Slay me, my God, and I applaud the blow.
April 18. 1756. The Brethren of the Church and Congregation were stayed, and Voted
I. That thirty pounds be given out of the late collection, in Bibles and other Books of piety to proper objects at the Discretion of the Pastors.
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. JOSEPH SEWALL.
[There is no record of the Fast Day Collection this season.]
May 18. 1756 The Brethren of the Church and Congregation met, and Voted
I. That there be seven Seaters chosen, to stand for one year, or till farther order.
The following Persons were chosen by written votes ; viz.
The Hon. Thomas Hubbard, Francis Borland, Joshua Winslow Esqrs. Mr. David Jeffries. the Hon. Andrew Oliver Esq. Mr. Isaac Walker, and Mr. Joseph Jackson.
2. That there be a public Collection for the raising of eighty pounds L. M. to defray the necessary expences of this Society.
3. That there be a Committee chosen to audit the Deacons ac- counts, and that they make their report at the next Meeting.
Messrs. Thomas Cushing, David Jeffries and William Phillips were chosen of said Committee. JOSEPH SEWALL.
1 [Mr. Bromfield left a widow, Abigail, daughter of John Coney, goldsmith, and two sons, Thomas and John. The latter married Ann Roberts, and had son John, a prominent merchant in Boston, who died in 1849, and made large bequests to
the Boston Athenaum and for various charitable purposes. Edward Bromfield also left three daughters, one of whom, Abigail, married the first Deacon Wil- liam Phillips. Mrs. Bromfield died Octo- ber 5, 1777, in her seventy-seventh year.]
26
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
1756. July 1. At the desire of our ministers was kept as a day of humiliation for our Brethren who have gone against Crown Point. Present the Rev. Mr. Prince and the Rev. Mr. Pemberton. (Fleet.)
July 17. Early to Boston about 10 o'clock; with wife at Mr. Oliver's : P. M. to Judge Sewall's, and at Paddock's about pole for carriage.
July 18. Mr. Prince ; Sacrament. Dr. Sewall. Talked of Gov- ernor Pownall. (Lynde.)
Thursday July 22. Being a day of Public fasting and prayer for the soldiers who have gone against Crown Point, Mr. Prince preached from those words in Psalm 50, verse 15. And call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me.1 (Fleet.)
The great powers in Europe had just entered upon the long struggle known in history as the Seven Years' War. The American provinces were also engaged in the last of the French and Indian wars which, for more than three quarters of a century, had kept them in almost perpetual turmoil. The earlier campaigns in this war were disastrous. Braddock suf- fered a humiliating defeat on the banks of the Ohio, and Mont- calm for a time carried all before him on the shores of Lake George. In the spring of 1755, an expedition under John Wins- low, a general of militia,2 had sailed from Boston harbor for the Bay of Fundy, and in cooperation with some regular troops under Colonel Monckton, had taken some forts recently erected by the French; but elsewhere than in Acadia the English cause had met with almost no success. The distress and gloom were the greatest in the winter of 1756-57. In January the Earl of Loudoun, who had been sent from England as com- mander-in-chief, arrived in Boston to confer with the authorities, and on the 15th, we are told, he was at the South Church, and heard Dr. Sewall preach.3 The commissioners appointed to confer with him were, Thomas Hutchinson and William Brattle, on the part of the council, and Samuel Welles, Thomas Hub- bard, and James Otis, on the part of the representatives. When at length the tide turned, victory followed victory in brilliant
1 [Judge Lynde was holding court at Plymouth during a part of this week, and says of the Fast Day : "22d. Fast on ac- count of Expeditions; three deacons prayed in the afternoon."]
2 John Winslow was a grandson of Governor Josiah Winslow, and great- grandson of Governor Edward Winslow,
of Plymouth. He joined the South Church in 1742. .
3 Lord Loudoun was accompanied by Christopher Kilby, resident agent of the province in London, whose father, John Kilby, had been a member of the South Church, and some of whose near friends were now connected with it.
27
TRIUMPHS OF THE BRITISH ARMS.
succession, the crowning triumphs being at Quebee in 1759 and Montreal in 1760.1
Novr. 14. 1756 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. 25. Instant : And that the rest of the Congregation be notified next Lord's Day, and desir'd to assist in said Collection.
JOSEPH SEWALL.
Thanksgiving Novr. 25. 1756 Collected
Appropriated
Old Tenor
To the Rev. Mr. Cambell .
16. 16. 0
Mr. Brett
15. II. O
To the pious Fund
IO. O. O
Rev. Mr. Crocker
2. 5.
Rev. Mr. Carpenter
IO. IO. o
For the Prisoners .
IO. 2. 6
For two Widows
15. 15. 0
· Wood for two Widows
5. IO.
£86. 9. 6
Collected at large
· 135. 5. IO
Since received .
4. 2. 6
139. 8. 4
Total
. 225. 17. IO
JOSEPH SEWALL.
Dec. 5. 1756 The Brethren of the Church and Congregation were stay'd : and Voted,
I. That twenty pounds be given out of the late collection in Bibles and other Books of piety to proper objects of such a charity.
2. That the remainder of said Collection be distributed by the Dea- cons to the poor of this Church and Congregation in Wood and other Necessaries of life, according to their best Discretion.
JOSEPH SEWALL.
1 Referring to the year 1759, Mr. Green remarks : "It is no exaggeration to say that three of its many victories deter- mined for ages to come the destinies of the world. With that of Rossbach began the recreation of Germany, its intellectual supremacy over Europe, its political union under the leadership of Prussia and its kings. With that of Plassey the influence of Europe told. for the first
time since the days of Alexander on the nations of the East. The world, in Burke's gorgeous phrase, saw 'one of the races of the northeast cast into the heart of Asia new manners, new doctrines, new institutions.' With the triumph of Wolfe on the Heights of Abraham began the history of the United States of America." - Short History of the English People, pp. 737, 738.
28
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
On the day following, one of the most distinguished and ven- erated members of the church, Josiah Willard, was taken to his rest. Seventy-five years before, he was baptized by his father in the old meeting-house, and fifty-five years before, he was received, also by his father, into the fellowship of the church. He was a man of majestic presence, and of rare mental endow- ments. He was secretary of the province from 1717 until his death, judge of probate from 1731 to 1745, and a member of the honorable council, from 1734 to May, 1756.1 " He discharged the duties of these important offices," said Dr. Sewall, "with a laudable capacity, great diligence and integrity, as a good and faithful servant of God, his King and country ;" and he added : "This flock of Christ, of which his excellent father was an able and faithful pastor, is bereaved of an exemplary and faithful Christian, who walk'd humbly and closely with God, in a firm adherance to the doctrines and precepts of the Gospel: One that was zealous for the day and house of the Lord, and constant in his attendance on the public worship, even when his bodily infirmities might urge him to spare himself." Both his min- isters preached upon his death. From Dr. Sewall we have already quoted. Mr. Prince took the character of Caleb as an illustration of that of Mr. Willard, and said of the latter : -
But it was his distinguishing, unaffected and yet shining piety, which spread a pleasing lustre on all his other endowments, and rendered him so exceedingly amiable and delightful to us. And without pre- ferring him to many others, I may freely say that among his brethren and fathers, in place of civil dignity, I dont remember that I ever saw any man, in whom so many accomplishments, with the unaffected gen- tleman and the eminent Christian, were more happily united.
Lords Day Decr. 12. 1756 The Brethren of the Church stayed, and Voted,
That Deacon Hubbard, Capt. Jackson, Mr. David Jeffries, Mr. John Scollay and Capt. Symmes be the Church-Committee for this year. JOSEPH SEWALL.
The admissions to the church in 1756 were forty-four ; in- cluding eight on the 28th of December, 1755, we may call them fifty-two. This was a larger number than had been added in any year since the great revival, and it was not to be equalled
a counsellor. Secretary Willard resigned his seat at the Board, and Colo. Pickard
1 1756. " May 26th. Election. I chose chose a counsellor." 1757. "Secretary Willard died, and Andrew Oliver Esq. secretary." - Lynde Diaries.
29
TRINITARIAN CONTROVERSY.
in the time to come until far into the nineteenth century. Most of these admissions were in the first three months of the year. On the 28th of December, as we have said, there were eight ; on the 25th of January, there were nine ; on the 22d of February, there were fourteen ; on the 29th of February, there were two ; and on the 21st of March, there were seven : in all forty. Among these were members of the Belknap, Prout, Wiswall, Fleet, Welles, Salisbury,1 Oliver, Hubbard, and Bromfield fami- lies. William Phillips,2 afterward deacon, and his wife Abigail (Bromfield) made a profession of their faith February 29. A larger number than usual also owned the covenant in 1756, - eleven, -among whom were James Otis, the great orator, advo- cate, and patriot, and his wife Ruth (Cunningham). Mrs. Otis became a communicant in 1764.
We have no means of knowing what circumstances especially led to the revival of religious interest in the congregation at this time, but we may suppose that the earthquake shocks of November, 1755, as similar visitations had done before, deepened religious impressions already made, and brought men and women to a decision. Under the solemn admonitions of their faithful ministers, they came to estimate at their proportionate value "those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made," and "those things which are not shaken," and which are to remain.
Dr. Mayhew had recently published a book in which he at- tacked the doctrine of the Trinity, and an English work on the same side of the controversy, Emlyn's Inquiry, had been re- printed here, with a preface by an anonymous writer calling himself a layman. These publications caused much uneasiness among conservative men, and Mr. Edwards wrote a letter from Stockbridge, February II, 1757, to Dr. Wigglesworth, professor of divinity in Harvard College,2 in which he said : -
1 Rebecca Salisbury, who joined Feb- ruary 22, 1756, was a daughter of Nicholas and Martha Salisbury. She married, May 3, 1757, Daniel Waldo, a merchant of Boston. Griselda, daughter of Andrew and Mary Oliver, who joined on the same day, married Samuel Waldo, and died soon after at Casco Bay.
2 William Phillips owned the covenant at his father's church in Andover, De- cember 5, 1736, before leaving home for Boston. He was then in his fifteenth year.
3 The Rev. Edward Wigglesworth was a son of the Rev. Michael Wiggles- worth, of Malden. After leaving college, in 1710, he taught for a time in Boston, and was then a member of the South Church. In 1722, he was elected as the first professor of theology at Cambridge, on the Hollis foundation ; and at his in- stallation the oaths were administered to him by Judge Sewall and Colonel Penn Townsend. He received the degree of D. D. from Edinburgh in 1730.
30
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
I only write as a subject and friend of the same Lord, and a follower and fellow-disciple of the same Jesus. A regard to his interests has made me uneasy ever since I read Dr. Mayhew's late book, some time the last year, and saw that marginal note of his, wherein he ridicules the doctrine of the Trinity. And my uneasiness was increased after I had wrote to Mr. Foxcroft upon it, and fully expressed my sentiments to him concerning the call of God to ministers that way, or others whose business it was to teach the doctrines of Christianity, to appear publicly on this occasion in defence of this doctrine ; and he, in reply, informed me that the same affair had been proposed and considered at the board of overseers ; and in the issue nothing concluded to be done. Very lately, Mr. Emlyn's book has fallen into my hands, pub- lished in New England by one that calls himself a layman ; who, in his dedication to the ministers of the country, gives them an open and bold (though a very subtle and artful) challenge to answer that book, and defend the proper deity of Christ, if they can. Since I have read this book I am abundantly confirmed that my opinion, signified to Mr. Foxcroft, was right ; and that the call of God that some one should appear in open defence of this doctrine, is very loud and plain ; and that an universal neglect of it in the churches of New England on this occasion, will be imputed by the Head of the church, whose glory is so struck at, as a lukewarmness that will be very displeasing.
Mr. Edwards then urged Professor Wigglesworth, as one "set for the instruction of our youth in divinity in the principal seminary of learning," to engage in this cause. Professor Wig- glesworth replied at length, and said : -
Among many things exceptionable in the marginal notes [of Dr. Mayhew's book] I at length met one which seemed to insinuate that the canon of the Old Testament was compiled according to the humor and caprice of the people ; that some books were admitted and others left out of the canon, according as the people relished or disrelished the contents of them. I immediately thought that this was the first thing which demanded my attention. For if the divine authority of the books of the Old Testament be once shaken, besides all the other mischiefs (too many to be mentioned) we shall be deprived of the weight of that evidence which might be drawn from them for the true and proper Godhead of our Saviour. I, therefore, at my very next lecture, delivered the inclosed discourse, which I ask your candid acceptance of, [published at the] request of almost every student in the college.1
Dr. Wigglesworth added that, at the lectures in Boston during
1 [" Some Evidences of the Divine In- spiration of the Scriptures of the Old Testament, From the testimony of Jesus
Christ and his Apostles in the New : Briefly considered at the Lecture in Harvard-College, June 24th. 1755."]
3I
MR. PEMBERTON'S SERMON.
the vacation following the publication of his views, "the worthy ministers of that town were generally vindicating the divinity of Christ ; " and he said further : -
At length came out a catholic and judicious discourse of Mr. Pem- berton 1 upon that subject, prefaced by Dr. Sewall and Mr. Prince, the two oldest ministers of the town. I thought it was now time to have done, and wait in silence till we saw whether anything would be replied to Mr. Pemberton or to me. And I believe (for more than one reason) that if no further stir had been made, we should have met with no more trouble. But the printers, who live very much by dis- putes, observing that the people's passions were up, that anything on that subject would fetch a penny, and that everything was supposed to be pointed at Dr. Mayhew, continued printing little things with pompous advertisements about them in the newspapers, week after week. If it had not been for these repeated and long continued pro- vocations, I don't think we should ever have seen the "Layman's " new edition of "Emlyn's Inquiry."
Dr. Wigglesworth did not think it desirable to " publish a new answer to a book that hath been answered over and over again on the other side of the water;" but if anything of the kind were to be done, he recommended " the reprinting the best answer to Mr. Emlyn which hath been written abroad ; and perhaps some other 'layman ' may usher it on to the stage with as much ad- dress as Mr. Emlyn hath been introduced with before it." 2
April the Ioth. being the Sabbath after the Honble Spencer Phips died, Dr. Sewall preached from Isaiah the 2nd verse 22 ["Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils ; for wherein is he to be accounted of ?"] (Fleet.)
Mr. Phips 3 became acting-governor, on the departure for Eng- land of William Shirley. The council now governed the prov- ince, and the command of the castle was given to Sir William Pepperrell, until the arrival of the next governor, Thomas Pownall.
Augt. 7. 1757. The Church was stayed ;
R. S's confession of the hainous sin of Fornication was read, and Shee was restored to the charity and communion of the Church.
JOSEPH SEWALL.
1 [" All power in Heaven, And in from Dr. Clark's Hist. Sketch, pp. 180- Earth Given unto Christ. A Sermon in 184. Boston, Jan. 29th 1756. With a Preface by the Reverend Dr. Sewall, Mr. Prince, and Mr. Foxcroft. Boston 1756."]
2 We have taken this correspondence
3 Spencer Bennett was a nephew of Lady Phips, and being made her heir he took her name. He died April 4, 1757. aged seventy-three years.
32
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
The Church was stayed Octr 16. 1757.
And a Letter was read from the Church in Chelsea, desiring our Assistance at the Ordination of Mr. Phillips Pason : Voted. Mes- sengers, the Deacons, Hon John Osborne, Andrew Oliver Esq. and Mr. Isaac Walker.
JOSEPH SEWALL.
The Rev. Phillips Payson graduated at Harvard College in 1754, and was ordained at Chelsea, October 26, 1757, in his twenty-second year. He was a scholarly man, and he became very active and influential during the stirring times of the Rev- olution. He participated in the events of April 19, 1775, by leading a party of his parishioners to West Cambridge, against Lord Percy's relief expedition, and was soon after named in a commission to raise a company of minute-men.1
Mr. Prince had been engaged for two years on the work of revising the Psalm Book, or, to speak more exactly, upon a new metrical version of the Psalms. With the various versions then in use before him, and by a careful study of the Hebrew Scrip- tures, the Septuagint, the Chaldee, the ancient Latin, and the Latin versions of the Syriac and Arabic, he had aimed first to gain the precise meaning or nearest sense of the original, and then to paraphrase it as far as possible in Bible language. Restrained by these rigid rules, there could be no poetic free- dom and no spontaneity of expression. As compared with the. 18th Psalm of Sternhold and Hopkins, or the 42d, 103d, and 149th Psalms of Tate and Brady, or the best of Watts's psalmody, Mr. Prince's metrical work is versification rather than poetry ; but, for that very reason, it was just what the majority of wor- shippers in New England at that time preferred.2 The reader
1 Mem. Hist. of Boston, vol. ii. p. 379.
2 After writing the above sentences, just as they now stand, the author asked his excellent friend, the Rev. I. N. Tar- box, D. D., a man of fine poetic taste, to give him in a few lines a critical judg- ment of Mr. Prince's work, and he re- ceived the following in a note dated De- cember 23, 1885 :-
"For more than a hundred years President Dunster's Revision of what is now technically called the Old Bay Psalm Book had been in use, and was pretty rough. Mr. Prince softened it, - rubbed off the asperities very considera- bly. But Mr. Prince did his work under the bondage of the old idea, that one, in
such labors, should depart as little as possible from the exact words of Scrip- ture. Isaac Watts had finished his great work as a writer of Psalms and Hymns, and had gone to his rest before Mr. Prince revised the New England Psalm Book. Watts died in 1748. Mr. Prince did not copy Watts's style, in this busi- ness, but was simply trying to improve the old New England style.
"But Watts was destined to conquer in New England as he had conquered in Old England. He wrote in the freedom of a poet, and not in bondage to words, which were only such English words as the translators of the Bible had thought would best stand to represent the origi-
33
THE REVISED PSALM BOOK.
can judge of the work as a whole by the following examples, which we quote, not as being the best, but as versions of Psalms with which all are familiar : -
PSALM I.
I O Blessed man who walks not in The counsel of ungodly men, Nor stands within the sinner's way, Nor will the scoffers seat sit in.
2 But in Jehovah's written law He takes exceeding great delight ; And in his law he meditates With pious pleasure day and night.
3 For he is like a goodly tree To streams of waters 1 planted near ; Which in due season yields its fruit, Whose leaf shall ever green appear ; And all he does shall prosper still.
4 But the ungodly are not so : For they are like the chaff which by The wind is driven to and fro.
5 Therefore in judgment shall not stand, Such as ungodly are, as clear ; Nor in th' assembly of the just Shall sinners in that day appear
6 Because the way of righteous men The Lord with approbation knows ; Whereas the way of evil men To their entire destruction goes.
PSALM XXIII.
I The Lord himself my shepherd is, want therefore shall not I :
2 He in the folds 2 of tender grass soft makes me down to lie :
nal Hebrew. Prince, by his culture and grace, might easily have stepped into something like the same liberty. But the time had not then come in New Eng- land to make that way seem natural or even allowable. So, though his revision was a great improvement on Dunster's, it was destined to a much shorter ca- reer."
Dr. Tarbox died suddenly at his home in West Newton, May 3, 1888, and his memory is cherished by all who had the privilege of his friendship.
1 " So it is exactly, and most properly, in the Hebrew." [We give Mr. Prince's foot-notes with these quotations.] 2 " I. e. Enclosures for Flocks of Sheep."
34
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
He leads me to the waters still : 3 Restore my soul does He : In paths of righteousness He will for his namesake lead me.
4 Tho' in death's gloomy vale I walk, yet I will fear no ill ; For Thou art with me ; and thy rod and staff me comfort will.
5 Thou hast for me a table spread in presence of my foes : Thou dost my head with oil anoint, and my cup overflows.
6 Goodness and mercy all my days shall surely follow me ; And in the Lord's house I shall dwell as long as days 1 shall be.
PSALM XLVI.
I God is our refuge, strength and shield, When num'rous evils us surround ; In troubles great a present help, And always ready to be found.
2 Therefore we will not be afraid, Altho' the earth removed be, Altho' the mountains should be hurl'd Into the center of the sea.
3 Nor tho' the seas tempestuous waves Should all disturb'd a roaring make, Nor tho' her waters swelling rage Should make the lofty mountains quake. (Selah.)
4 There is a river whose pure streams The city of our God make glad ; The holy place which the most high Hath happily his dwelling made.
5 For God is in the midst of her ; Therefore be moved shall not she ; As early morning doth appear God will her mighty helper be.
1 " So the Hebrew and all the ancient Versions."
35
MR. PRINCE'S REVISION.
6 The nations make tumultuous noise, The kingdoms greatly moved are ; He utters forth his thund'ring voice, And all the earth dissolves with fear.
7 The Lord of armies is with us, Who firmly upon Him rely ; The God of Jacob is for us A refuge safe and sure ơn high. (Selah.)
8 O come, behold what wondrous works The mighty Lord around hath wrought ; What fearful desolations He Upon the earth hath justly brought.
9 But yet throughout the wearied earth Wars into peace he kindly turns, The spear he cuts, the bow he breaks, In fire the martial chariot burns.
10 Be still and know that I am God ! I will o'er all exalted be ; The nations shall exalt my name, The earth supreamly honour me.
II The Lord of armies is with us, Who firmly upon Him rely ; The God of Jacob is for us A refuge safe and sure on high. (Selah.)
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