USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Old South church (Third church) Boston, 1669-1884, Vol. II > Part 5
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
1139041 PSALM C.
I Shout to Jehovah all the earth :
2 With joyfulness the Lord serve ye : Before his presence come with mirth, And with exulting melody.
3 Know ye, the Lord is God alone ; Without our aid He did us make ; We are the people He does own, And for his pasture-sheep does take.
4 O enter then his gates with praise ; And in his courts aloud proclaim, Your thankfulness to Him always, And ever bless his holy name.
5 Because the Lord is ever good ; His mercy is for ever sure ;
36
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
His truth has through all ages stood, And will eternally endure.
There were added a few paraphrases of passages from the Song of Songs,1 Isaiah, the Minor Prophets, and the New Tes- tament, and about fifty Hymns, " which are not versions of the Scriptures, but pious songs derived from them," by Dr. Watts and others. We give one example of the paraphrases : -
ISAI. LV.
[The Call of God in Christ to perishing Sinners.]
I Ho! ev'ry thirsty, longing soul ! Come where the living waters flow ; Come, buy, eat, drink my wine and milk ; Tho' nothing ye, of worth, can show.
2 Why do ye spend your cost and toil, For what cannot content the soul ? Hear Me, and feed on solid good, Your souls with fatness shall be full.
3 Incline your ear and come to Me, Hear, and your soul shall ever live ; I'll an eternal covenant And David's certain mercies give.
4 Lo ! I have Him a witness giv'n, For all the people to observe ; A leader and commander made, That all the people should him serve.2
5 The gentile nations Thou shalt call ; And they shall run to Thee with joy ; The Lord thy God, the Holy One Of Isr'el, Thee will glorify.
6 O seek ye for the Lord, while ye To your great joy may find him here ; And call upon Him earnestly, While in his mercy He is near.
7 Let wicked men forsake their ways, Their tho'ts let the unrighteous leave ;
A metrical version of the Song of hundred years, tis plain that Christ the Songs was appended to the revision of promised Seed of David must be here Henry Dunster and Richard Lyon. intended : so Christ is called David, Jer. 2 " David being now dead about three xxx. 9. Ezek. xxiv 23. 24. Hos. iii. 5."
37
DANIEL HENCHMAN.
And to the Lord let them return ;
And mercy on them He will have. Let them remember He's our God, So wondrous for benignity ; O let them then return to Him, And He'll forgive abundantly.
At a Meeting of the Brethren of the South Church and Congrega- tion in Boston, Octr 31, 1757, Voted,
I. That the thanks of the Brethren be given to our Pastor, the Rev'd Mr. Prince, for the Pains he has taken in revising the N. Eng- land Version of the Psalms.
2. That the printing of said revisal be encourag'd by a subscrip- tion.
3. That there be a Committee to confer with Mr. Prince, and some suitable Persons about undertaking the Printing of said revisal, and make report at the Adjourment of this Meeting.
4. That the Hon. Andrew Oliver, Esq., Mr. Isaac Walker and Mr. Thomas Cushing be of this Committee.
And then the meeting was adjourn'd to next Monday half after nine o'clock A. M. JOSEPH SEWALL.
Novr. 6. 1757 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. 17. Instant : And that the rest of the Congregation be notified next Lord's Day, and desir'd to assist in said Collection.
JOSEPH SEWALL.
The Meeting of Octr. 31. 1757, was adjourned to this day, Novr. 7. Then met and Voted ;
I. That there be an addition to the Committee then voted.
2. That Messrs. David Jeffries, William Phillips and Oxenbridge Thacher be added to said Committee: And that they confer with our Rev'd Pastors, with respect to the Appendix.
3. That there be a Committee to ask Subscriptions of the absent Brethren.
4. That Messrs. William Whitwell, Joseph Belknap, John Comrin, William Homes and Jonathan Mason be of this Committee.
5. That Mr. John Kneeland be desir'd to collect the sums assign'd to the Pews of such as have been deficient in their contributions.
6. That the thanks of the Brethren be given to Mr. Samuel Bass for the pains he has taken in said affair. JOSEPH SEWALL.
The printing and publication of the new Psalm Book was un- dertaken by Daniel Henchman and Samuel Kneeland, both of
38
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
the South Church. Deacon Henchman was a bookseller, and his place of business was on the corner of Cornhill and King Street, now Washington and State streets.1 He is called by Thomas the most eminent and enterprising bookseller that appeared in Boston, or indeed in all British North America, before 1775. Books were printed for him in London as well as in Boston ; and it is alleged that the first Bible in the Eng- lish language printed in America was printed for him. Sam- uel Kneeland, "the ancient and respectable printer," was an apprentice of Bartholomew Green. He was for a long time printer to the governor and council; and he was interested in the publication of two or three newspapers, one after the other. He died December 14, 1769, aged seventy-three, " sustaining to the end the character of an upright man and a good Christian." He brought up four sons to his own craft.
Thursday Nov. 17 1757 Being a day of Public Thanksgiving in the morning Dr. Sewall preached from Gen. Chap 32, verse 10. ["I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou has shewed unto thy servant : for with my staff I passed over this Jordan ; and now I am become two bands."] (Fleet.)
Thanksgiving Novr. 17. 1757
Collected ; Appropriated, To the pious Fund
O. Tenor
IO. 0. 0
To the Revd Mr. Othniel Campbell
15. 18. 4
Mr. Brett .
19. 10. 0
Mr. Crocker .
3. o.
0
To the Prisoners
3. o. 0
To two Widows
6. 15. .0
To the Ministers
IO, IO. O
68. 13.
4
At large
. 212. IO. 7
28I. 3. II
Novr. 27. 1757 The Brethren of the Church and Congregation were stayed ; and Voted
That the unappropriated Collection be distributed to Charitable and pious uses, by the Pastors and Deacons, according to their best Discretion. JOSEPH SEWALL.
1 Thomas Hancock served his ap- prenticeship with him, and afterward married his daughter and heiress, Lydia. Henry Knox also was an apprentice of Daniel Henchman. In 1728 Daniel
Henchman, Gillam Phillips, Thomas Hancock, and others received a patent from the General Court, under which they erected, at Milton Lower Falls, the first paper-mill in New England.
39
THE NEW PSALM BOOK ACCEPTED.
Lord's Day Decr 25. 1757 The Brethren of the Church were stayed, and Voted,
That the Hon Thomas Hubbard Esq. Capt Joseph Jackson, Mr. John Scollay, Mr. David Jeffries, and Mr. William Phillips, be the Church-Committee for this year. JOSEPH SEWALL.
The preface of Mr. Prince's Psalm Book is dated May 26, 1758, and the time soon came for the church to take formal and final action upon the substitution of the new version for the old.
The Brethren of the Church and Congregation met Septr. 11, 1758, And the Meeting was adjourned to Octr. 9. 1758.
At a Meeting of the Brethren of the South Church and Congrega- tion Octr. 9. 1758.
Voted, I. That the Revisal and Improvement of the New England Version of the Psalms by our Pastor the Rev'd Mr. Prince ; together with the Hymns annexed be used in this church and Congregation as our Psalm-Book.
2. That these Psalms be sung without reading line by line, as has been usual ; except on evening Lectures, and on extraordinary occa- sions when the Assembly can't be generally furnished with Books.1
3. That we begin to sing the said Version of the Psalms, on the last Lord's Day in this month.
4. That the Subscribers and others be desir'd to furnish themselves with the Psalm-Books, as soon as may be.
5. That the Subscribers be desir'd to send in the Books they doe not need for their Families to our Pastor Dr. Sewall, to be disposed of to such of the Congregation as are not able to purchase them.
Bishop Ken is said to have made the remark that he believed it would add to his joy in heaven could he know that his Morning and Evening Hymns were still sung upon the earth. Mr. Prince did not have the happiness of seeing his new version introduced into the worship of the South Church, for on the day of its intro- duction there his own funeral sermon was preached by his col- league. We cannot help thinking, however, that he may have known something of the joy which the good Bishop of Bath and Wells longed for, and that while himself singing "the new song" before the throne, he may have felt himself to be holding communion with his brethren on the earth, who with faltering voices, it may be, were worshipping God in words and para-
1 [Dr. Ware says that the reading of after the ordination of Mr. Welsteed. At the Old North this custom continued until 1771.]
the psalms, line by line, was dropped at the New Brick Church in 1729, the year
40
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
phrases which he had arranged for their use.1 A day of prayer to God in his behalf, in view of his serious illness, was observed by the congregation on Wednesday, September 27; but the Head of the Church had other purposes with reference both to him and the people of his pastoral love.
Sunday, between 5 and 6 o'clock in the afternoon, the Rev'd Mr. Prince departed this life after a month's languishment to the in- expressible sorrow of his Church and Congregation over whom he had been ordained Pastor forty years the first day the month on which he died, which was Oct. 22. 1758, his Funeral was attended the Saturday following at the expense of his Church, who have a just sense of his worth and of their own irreparable loss in his death. (Fleet.)
Forty years before, when entering upon his ministry in Bos- ton, Mr. Prince preached from the words of the Psalmist : " But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more. My mouth shall show forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day, for I know not the numbers thereof. I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. O God, thou hast taught me from my youth : and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works."2 He was in the strength of his early manhood, just installed in a position of commanding influence, and with a career of honor and usefulness, bright with promise, yet of course all uncertain, lying before him. Could he have preached a sermon to his people in his declining years in anticipation of the close at no distant day of his pastoral work among them, he might well have made reference to that first sermon, and then have taken for his text the remainder of the passage, which would have been inappropriate in 1718, but most appropriate in 1758: "Now also, when I am old and greyheaded, O God, for-
1 In his ordination sermon, speaking of the account rendered by a faithful pastor at the close of his ministry, he seems to have anticipated something of the joy referred to in the text. " The Fruit of our Labours," he said, "indeed may follow Us, and by Angelick Mes- sengers may bring Us every Day a sur-
prizing and fresh Revenue and Increase of Joy and Happiness in the Separate State : which seems to Me to be the Meaning of that Expression in Rev. 14. 13, Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord ; From henceforth, Yea, saith the
Spirit, that They may rest from Their La- bours, and their Works do follow [with] Them. But our Watching for Your Souls is at an End, when we leave the present Life, and We then resign our Commission and Charge to Christ from Whom we deriv'd it." It will be ob- served that in his use of the passage quoted from the Book of Revelation Mr. Prince anticipated, almost exactly, the words of the Revised Version of 1881.
2 Psalm Ixxi. 14-17. See ante, vol. i. p. 395. The sermon was preached October 12, 1718.
4I
MR. PRINCE'S DEATH.
sake me not, until I have showed thy strength unto this genera- tion, and thy power to every one that is to come."
On Sunday, the 29th of October, Dr. Sewall preached an appropriate discourse from Rom. xiv. 8 : "For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord : whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." The following sentences will show the tender and appreciative and affectionate spirit in which it was written : -
I confess, my talent doth not lie in drawing characters, and giving personal encomiums : However, seeing it hath pleas'd a sovereign God to take from our head your late pious and excellent pastor, who was also my classmate and the pleasant companion of my youth, and since my fellow-helper in the gospel for forty years ; I would ask leave to mention a few things, that we may give glory to the God of all grace, who bestows such gifts upon men; and that sensible of the publick loss, and our peculiar share therein, we may humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, and cry to him for help ; and that he would be the repairer of the breach. Help Lord, for the godly man ceaseth ; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
The relations of these two men in their joint pastoral work had been most fraternal. Each was in many respects the com- plement of the other ; and their united ministry had been the means of maintaining for the church a place in the very front rank of influence and spiritual power.1
Mr. Prince's character, personal and ministerial, and his opinions have been set forth and illustrated in the record we have endeavored to give in these volumes of his life and labors
1 " Forty years," says Dr. Wisner, " were these excellent men, Sewall and Prince, associated in the responsibilities and labors of the pastoral office in this congregation ; furnishing an example of mutual affection and union of purpose and pursuit, to which the annals of col- legiate charges will be searched for a parallel, I fear, almost in vain. The journals and other documents that have come down to us lay open before us the most secret history of these men; and not a solitary instance appears of un- pleasant difference of opinion, or of the slightest interruption, in any form, of confidence and affection. Is the cause of this uninterrupted and delightful har- mony, in a situation so peculiarly liable to beget jealousy and contention, in-
quired for? Something is, doubtless, due to their remarkably amiable natural temper and their early and intimate friendship; still more to their ardent piety ; but most of all to a fact which thus presents itself in the journal of the excellent Sewall. '1721, 2, January 5, Mr. Prince and I prayed together, as is usual before the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Lord, hear our prayers !' ' 1722, Nov. 2, Mr. Prince and I met together, and prayed to God for direction and as- sistance relating to the fast to be kept by the church we stand related to.' '1728, 9, January 13. The Church being to meet relating to the affairs of the new build- ing, Mr. Prince and I prayed together. O Lord, hear ; guide and govern our affairs in mercy !' A portion of Friday
42
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
in Boston, and no close analysis of them need be attempted. In the Dedication of his Chronological History, he thus speaks of himself, in words to which, we feel sure, the church to which he ministered will, through all the generations, delight to recur : -
For myself, I own I am on the side of pure Christianity ; as also of civil and religious liberty, and this for the low as well as high, for the laity as well as the clergy ; I am for leaving every one to the freedom of worshipping according to the light of his conscience ; and for ex- tending charity to every one who receives the gospel as the rule of his faith and life ; I am on the side of meekness, patience, gentleness and innocence.
Professor Tyler says of him : -
He had prepared himself for the public service by diligent study at home, and by eight years of observation abroad ; he was a man of most tolerant and brotherly spirit ; his days were filled by gentle and gracious and laborious deeds ; he was a great scholar ; he magnified his office and edified the brethren by publishing a large number of judicious and nutritious sermons ; . . . he took a special interest in physical science, and formed quite definite opinions about earthquakes, comets, "the electrical substance," and so forth. For all these things he was deeply honored in his own time, and would have been deeply forgotten in ours had he not added to them very unique performances as an historian. No American writer before Thomas Prince qualified. himself for the service of history by so much conscious and specific preparation ; and though others did more work in that service, none did better work than he.1
We are indebted to Mr. Prince not only for his historical writings, which furnish the basis for much of our local history in New England, but also for the invaluable collection of books, pamphlets, and MSS. which he bequeathed to the South
afternoon before every communion, and a season preceding the transaction of any important business in the church, was habitually spent in this manner by these faithful servants of Christ; and occasionally, they spent portions of a day, mutually devoted to private humili- ation, in united prayer. Men who live together thus will, of course, maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." - Wisner's History of the Old South Church, pp. 24, 25.
1 [Hist. of Am. Literature, vol. ii. p. 144. Of the value of Mr. Prince's his- torical labors we have this estimate by
another writer, whose attainments and sympathies made him a competent judge : " The 22d of October {1758] will be re- membered as a remarkable day in the history of the town, and not only of Boston, but of New England; for on that day died the Rev. Mr. Thomas Prince, a benefactor to his country ; leav- ing a name which will be venerated to the remotest ages, if literature shall then be valued ; a name which may with pride be emulated by the inquirers after historical knowledge, and the admirers of precision and accuracy in the paths of history." - Drake's Hist. and Antiq., p. 646.]
--
43
THE PRINCE LIBRARY.
Church, and which will stand for all time as a monument to his name and scholarship. This collection he began to form even in his boyhood. One book shows that it was given to him by his mother in 1697, when he was ten years old ; another bears date of possession, Harwich, 1701. The purpose to collect seems to have become a settled one with him upon his entering college in 1703, his object being the illustration of the history of New England.
It was, therefore, at the time of his matriculation, in the sixteenth year of his age, that Prince systematically laid the foundation of a col- lection of books and manuscripts, a large share of which relate to the civil and religious history of New England, and which, with unfailing zeal and under the most favorable circumstances, in this country and in Europe, he cherished and enriched during his long life. At the time of his death, the New England Library [as he called it], we may well believe, was the most extensive of its kind that had ever been formed. . .. During the period of our colonial history, the Mather family and Governor Hutchinson are alone to be compared with Prince as collectors of books and manuscripts. Their labors in this direction avail us little now, for the governor's collection was scattered by a mob, while the Mathers' has been gradually dispersed.1
Lord's Day, Nov 12. 1758. The Church stay'd, and Voted,
That the Pastor and Deacons with the Hon Andrew Oliver Esq. [then secretary of the province,] be a committee to receive the Books &c. bequeathed to this Church by our late Pastor, the Rev'd Mr. Thomas Prince, in his last Will.
JOSEPH SEWALL.
This instrument was dated October 2, twenty days before his death. He provides for the manufacture of a sacramental cup for the church,2 and he gives his Hebrew Bible in two volumes, and his Greek Testament to his colleague. He then disposes of his library in two parts, - his books in Latin, Greek, and the Oriental languages, to be kept for the use of the ministers of the church ; and the collection which he designates as the New England Library, to be preserved apart and intact, as a refer- ence library, under the control of the pastors and deacons of the church.3 This collection was in the " steeple chamber," which
1 [From the Introduction to the Cata- logue of the Prince Library, published by the City of Boston in 1870, upon the de- posit of the library with the city for safe- keeping and convenient reference. To this Introduction we refer the reader for much valuable information.]
2 Mr. Prince describes the church in his will, as " the old South Church." It does not bear this name in the records until after Dr. Sewall's death, but Jere- miah Bumstead and Mary Fleet in their diaries speak of the Old South Church.
3 Mr. Prince's widow survived until
44
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
he had probably used as his study, and here it remained for many years.
The vicissitudes through which it has passed are too painful to contemplate. It undoubt- edly suffered severely, during the British occupation of the town and desecration of the meeting-house. It afterward suf- fered from neglect, and from a want of appreciation on the part of its custodians of its intrinsic value.1 Many of its treas- ures have drifted away from it, and are now among the chief attractions of other collections ; but despoiled as it has been by time, and by ravagers less impersonal than time, it is a splendid fragment, and as such, under existing arrangements for its care and preservation, it is now safe. As Michael Angelo, in his blind old age, was led to the Torso Belvedere in the Vatican, that he might pass his hands over it, and enjoy through touch the grandeur of its lines, so will scholars come and continue to come from all parts of the land, to what remains of the New England Library, that they may gather knowledge and inspiration from its treasures.
June 1, 1766. He left one child, Sarah, who became the first wife of Moses Gill, lieutenant governor and acting governor of Massachusetts. The town of Prince- ton in this Commonwealth was named for Thomas Prince. He owned lands there. It was then a part of Rutland. See Drake's Hist. and Antiq., p. 646.
1 A fragment of the letter-book of Governor Bradford of Plymouth Colony was found in the latter part of the last century in a grocer's shop in Halifax, N. S., and the contents were printed in 1794, in the third volume of the Collec- tions of the Mass. Hist. Society. It was sent to the Rev. Jeremy Belknap by Mr. James Clarke, of Halifax. Four copies
of the Bay Psalm Book have been lost to the library; of these one, annotated by Mr. Prince, and used by him when he was engaged upon the revision, which Dr. Wisner had before him in 1830, has dis- appeared from view. The manuscript history of Plymouth Colony, written by its governor, William Bradford, was dis- covered, in 1853, in the library of the Bishop of London at Fulham; at Mr. Prince's request the grandson of the gov- ernor had lodged it in the New England Library, on the condition "only that he might have the perusal of it while he lived," and, of course, it will come back to this collection, should it ever be re- stored to New England.
CHAPTER II.
1758-1767.
TWO INSTALLATIONS. - POLITICAL DISTURBANCES.
INDIVIDUALS die, but institutions survive. Ministers and members are promoted from the church militant to the church triumphant and glorified ; but God's work on the earth must be carried forward without pause or hindrance. Love for leaders and associates who have been called up to their heav- enly reward, as well as loyalty to the Lord and Head of the Church, should impel those who remain below to renewed con- secration, and to redoubled effort in the cause still dear to them and evermore dear to Him. The long ministry of Mr. Prince was ended, but the bereaved congregation went on with its work in unbroken routine. Thanksgiving days were observed, collections were taken, and money was disbursed as before. More than this, the vacancy in the pastorate would have to be filled ; and new relations would have to be formed, not so much to supersede as to succeed those which had been dissolved by death.
The Brethren of the Church and Congregation were stay'd Novr. 12. 1758.
Voted, That there be a Collection for Charitable and pious uses on the Anniversary Thanksgiving Novr 23. Instant ; And that the Rest of the Congregation be notified the next Lord's Day and desir'd to assist in said collection.
JOSEPH SEWALL.
Thanksgiving, Novr 23. 1758
Collected, Appropriated
Old Tenor.
To the pious Fund
£15. 0. 0
To the Rev Mr. Campbell
9. 2. 9
Mr. Brett . 6. 3. 0
Mr. Crocker
4. 10. 0
To four Widows .
. 25. 13. 0
60. 8. 9
At large
153. 17. 4
Totall
214. 6. I
+
46
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
Lord's Day Decr 10. 1758
The Brethren of the Church and Congregation stay'd and Voted, That the unappropriated Part of the last Collection be disposed of to charitable and pious uses, by the Pastor and Deacons of this church according to their best Discretion.
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.