USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Old South church (Third church) Boston, 1669-1884, Vol. III > Part 28
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1 A manual was printed in 1841 (and another edition in 1855), entitled The Confession of Faith and Form of Cov- enant of the Old South Church, etc., in which the Confession of 1680 was given in full and was declared to be that of the Old South Church. This was correct
only in a qualified sense, as explained in the text. Manuals had previously been prepared, in 1826 and 1833, in which the same statement about the Confession of 1680 was made, but only the Form of Covenant adopted by the Church in 1769 was printed.
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HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
nah (Walker),1 Mehetabel (Lilly), and Abigail (Arnold) ; Joseph, son of Deacon Eliot ; 2 Mary, daughter of Thomas Savage, wife of Thomas Thacher, Jr., and mother of the Rev. Peter Thacher, of Weymouth, afterward of Boston ; Elizabeth, daugh- ter of John Alden, who married first John Walley (not the Hon. John Walley), and then Simon Willard ; four children of William Davis, Benjamin, one of the founders and first deacons of Brattle Street Church, Mary (Frost), Huldah (Raynsford), and Ruth (Royce) ; three children of William Dawes, Jonathan, Mary (Webster), and Rebecca (Marshall) ; two daughters of John Morse, Elizabeth (Eustis) and Hannah (Dawes); three sons of Edward Rawson, Grindall (the Rev. Grindall Rawson, of Mendham), William, and John ; two daughters of Mrs. Joanna Mason, Joanna (Breck) and Abigail (Gillam) ;3 three sons of Peter Oliver, Daniel, Nathaniel, and James ; two sons of Josiah Belcher, John and Jonathan ; Hannah, daughter of John Hull, and wife of Samuel Sewall ; 4 four children of Thomas Brattle, Thomas, afterward treasurer of Harvard College, William, afterward the Rev. William of Cambridge, Elizabeth, wife of Nathaniel Oliver, and Katharine, who married first John Eyre, and then Wait Winthrop ; three children of James Pemberton, Mary (Breame), Joseph, and Benjamin ; Abigail, daughter of the Rev. Samuel Willard, who married first the Rev. Benjamin Estabrook, and secondly the Rev. Samuel Treat ; Mehetabel, daughter of Benjamin Thurston; Daniel Quincy ; John Eyre ; and Joseph, son of Joseph Belknap.
The Charlestown church had been twice bereaved since its kindly dismission of Mr. Thacher to the membership of the Third Church, with a view to his becoming its minister. Mr. Symmes died in 1671, having passed the limit of threescore years and ten, and Mr. Shepard in 1677, in the prime of life. The latter had borne the name of an honored father, the minis- ter of Cambridge, and had given it to a son who was destined
1 Hannah Frary married first Isaac Walker, and secondly Andrew Belcher, father of Jonathan Belcher, governor of Massachusetts, and afterward of New Jersey.
2 Asaph Eliot, another son of Deacon Eliot, owned the covenant two months before, on the 22d of February. He died September 3, 1685. Sewall speaks of his sickness, death, and funeral, in his Diary, vol. i. p. 94.
3 Arthur Mason did not join the Third Church until 1704, about four years be- fore he died. His daughter, Joanna, called by John Dunton " the very Flower of Boston," married first Robert Breck, and then Michael Perry. She became a member of the First Church.
4 Mrs. Sewall became a member of the church in full communion, I January, 1688-9. It was during her husband's absence in England.
237
AN ANCIENT LETTER-MISSIVE.
to succeed him in the pastorate. This young man graduated at Harvard College in 1676, - his only classmates being Thomas Brattle and Jeremiah Cushing, - and while he was yet little more than twenty years of age, says Cotton Mather, he preached his first sermon at Charlestown, "with a very charming, solid, and serious gravity," from the text Exod. xv. 2, "He is . .. my father's God, and I will exalt him." The hearts of the people were drawn towards him, and in due time they called him into the sacred succession. Their letter-missive to the Third Church, inviting it to the ordination, is the oldest document of the kind upon its files, and is worthy of careful perusal, both for the quaint and beautiful simplicity of its language, and for the light which it throws upon the fellowship of the churches at this time, as exhibited among them mutually in the settlement of their pastors. "The calling together of pastors and delegates from other churches " had grown "into a custom, though the inherent right of each church to ordain their own officers was constantly affirmed." "The calling in of councils to perform the ordination services was understood to be, in theory, nothing more nor less than the church itself performing them by proxy, on the principle qui facit per alium facit per se. In their rea- sonings on the subject, to leave the ultimate decision of the question to other churches, whether a company of believers should be a church and have a pastor, would be to adopt the Presbyterian rule, which they had no thought of adopting ; to leave it to the good pleasure of neighboring ministers would be to resume the yoke of prelacy, which they had just thrown off." 1
Honoured Reverend and Beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ.
It having pleased God, after His afflicting hand upon us, by the death of our faithfull Shepard and frustration of other endeavours for supply, to Give us Some revivall by raising up the Son of our Blessed Shepard ; whom Judging by the observation and experience we have had of him not only to have drunk in the principles, but also to be very Considerably endued with the Amiable and Christian spirit of his father ; We have unanimously Called and prevailed with to under- take, with the help of God, the office of a Pastour among us.
1 Joseph S. Clark's Historical Sketch, pp. 23, 24. The author says further : "Every step taken towards uniformity and affiliation during this period [1630 to 1640] was taken with the utmost cau- tion, and not till it was clearly seen that the fundamental principle of their eccle-
siastical organism - independency or self-government - was not endangered thereby. So that these seeming re- straints, which the usages of the times were throwing upon their liberty, they re- garded as merely the bonds of fellowship, which did not trammel their freedom."
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HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
In order to the execution of that office we doe, according to the Custome of the Churches in these parts, by these our Letters entreat you to afford us the presence of your Teaching Officer with such other Messengers as shall seeme Good to you upon may the fifth next com- ing at nine in the morning, to joyn with the Elders and messengers of other Churches we have sent unto, in the Ordination of the Rever- end Mr. Thomas Shepard ; that so by the Laying on of the hands of the Presbytery, he may be lawfully authorized to discharge the worke of a Pastour in this part of God's flock.
So craving your prayers to the great Shipheard for such an Influ- ence upon the Labours of our Shepard as may cause an Increase of his flock and the spirituall growth of each member therein, we com- mend you also to the same God and the word of his grace, and Rest
Your Bretheren and Servants in Christ Jesus,
Signed in the Name and by the Order of the Church of Christ in Charlestowne
LAUR. HAMMOND JOHN CUTLER JOSEPH LYNDE JOHN PHILLIPS THO : GREAVES
CHARLESTOWNE April 4 1680
We have a brief account o. this ordination in Sewall's diary : -
The reverend Mr. Thomas Shepard was ordained May 5, 1680 by Mr. Sherman, Mr. Oakes Giving the Right Hand of Fellowship. Mr. Sh.'s Text Heb. 13. 20 - That great Shepherd of the Sheep.1
Five years later this promising young pastor was gathered to his fathers.
Simon Bradstreet, who was chosen governor of the colony on the death of John Leverett, joined the church, together with his wife,2 May 22, 1680. He was the son of a Non-conformist cler-
1 [Sewall's Diary, vol. i. p. 82. The letters-missive. Peter Bulkely wrote on text given above may have been that of the death of the first Thomas Shepard : Fitly his name and office were the same : Shepherd by office - Shepard too by name.] Mr. Sherman's charge. Cotton Mather says that the pastor elect preached from Ezek. xxxiii. 7, " O Son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Is- rael." At Mr. Shepard's funeral, June 9, 1685, the bearers were Mr. Mather, Mr. Symmes, Mr. Willard, Mr. Hubbard, of Cambridge, Mr. Nathaniel Gookin, Mr. Cotton Mather. We see above how much play upon the name there was in the
2 Anne, second wife of Simon Brad- street, was a daughter of Emanuel Down- ing, and widow of Joseph Gardner, who was killed in King Philip's War. She was the junior by nearly forty years of her second husband. They were mar- ried June 6, 1676. He died in 1697, she in 1713.
239
SIMON BRADSTREET.
gyman, was born at Horbling, Lincolnshire, in 1603, was edu- cated at Emanuel College, Cambridge, and came to New Eng- land with Governor Winthrop in 1630. He was assistant forty- eight years, by annual election, deputy governor in 1678, and governor from 1679 to 1686. He was one of the first settlers of Andover, and lived there for many years, but after the death of his' first wife, Anne Dudley, a highly gifted woman, in 1672, he moved to Salem, and thence to Boston. He brought to the Third Church a letter from the First or North Church of Ando- ver, of which we give a reproduction slightly reduced in size : -
The EDder , and Besthron of the Church at Andousa , unto fix EiDERS, and Besthron of the third Church of Christ at Doston, Grasting.
RENT and BelowisThe good hand of providence having vermoord from us, aux. Honoured Jon": " Simon Bradstreet a Member and Brother Beloved of this Congregation. Two at his DEfire! according to Order Dor Difmifso him to Communion with you in your koly fellowship, DEfirmy you to receive him as is marts in it for, and to honour Puch Praying for years guidance, On Confolation in Christ, and requesting your prayers for us .
Andovery this 23 of 2 month 1680.
Mang larung Brathen in Christ Francis Dane. John fric DEton
qwith y Confort of the Church.
One of the recommendations of the Reforming Synod had been the observance of seasons of special humiliation and prayer, accompanied by a public and solemn renewal of church covenants. The Third Church responded heartily to this rec- ommendation, and held a fast with great solemnity on the 29th of June, 1680, "publicly acknowledging their sins and the sins of the people at large, binding them to a faithful reformation, and consecrating themselves and their offspring anew to the
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HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
service of God." The form of covenant used on this occasion was entered upon the records by Mr. Willard, and was as fol- lows : -
June 29 1680 The Church renewed Covenant as followeth
Wee who, through the exceeding riches of the grace and providence of God, do continue to be a church of Christ, being now assembled in the holy presence of God, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, after humble confession of our manifold breaches of the Covenant be- fore the Lord our God, and earnest supplication for pardoning mercy through the blood of Christ, and deep acknowledgment of our. great unworthinesse to be owned to be the Lord's covenant people ; also ac- knowledging our own inability to keep covenant with God, or to per- forme any spirituall dutye, unlesse the Lord Jesus do enable us therto by his Spirit dwelling in us ; and being awfully sensible that it is a dreadfull thing for sinfull dust and ashes personally to transact with the infinitelye glorious majesty of heaven and earth : we do, in humble confidence of his gracious assistance and acceptance through Christ, each one of us for ourselves, and joyntly as a Church of the Living God, explicitly renew our covenant with God and one with another, in manner and forme following, i. e.
We do give up ourselves to that God whose name alone is Jehovah, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the one only true and living God, and to our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, as our only blessed Saviour, Prophet, Priest, and King over our soules, and only Mediator of the Covenant of Grace, promising (by the helpe of his Spirit and grace) to cleave unto God as our chiefe good, and to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and Gospel-Obedience, as becometh his Covenant people, forever.
We do also give up our offspring to God in Jesus Christ, avouching the Lord to be our God and the God of our children, and ourselves with our children to be his people : humbly adoring the grace of God, that we and our offspring with us may be looked upon to be the Lord's.
We do also give up ourselves one to another in the Lord, and accord- ing to the will of God ; freely covenanting and binding ourselves to walke together as a right ordered congregation and Church of Christ, in all the wayes of his worship, according to the holy rules of the word of God, promising, in brotherlye love to watch over one another's soules faithfully, and to submit ourselves to the discipline and govern- ment of Christ in his Church, and duly to attend all those ordinances which Christ hath instituted in his Church, and commanded to be attended by his people, according to the order of the Gospel, and de- grees of Communion unto which we have attained, not resting in measures attained, but pressing after all.
And whereas the Messengers of these churches who have met to- gether in the name of Christ, to enquire into the Reason of God's con-
241
RENEWING THE COVENANT.
troversye with this people, have taken notice of many provoking evils and procuring causes of the judgments of God upon New England ; so farre as we, or any one of us, have bin guilty of provoking God by any sin therein discovered to us, we desire from our hearts to bewaile it before the Lord, and humbly to entreat for pardoning mercy for the sake of the blood of the everlasting Covenant, and, as an expedient to Reformation of these evils, or whatsoever else have provoked the eyes of Gods glory among us, we do freely engage and promise as in the presence of God,
First, that wee will (Christ helping) endeavour, every one of us, to reforme our heart and life, by seeking to mortifye all our sins, and labor- ing to walke more closelye with God than ever yet we have done: and will continue to worship God, in publick, private, secret, and this without formality or hypocrisye : and more fully and faithfully than heretofore to discharge all Covenant dutyes one to another in Church Communion.
Secondly, to walke before God in our houses with a perfect heart ; and that we will uphold the worship of God therein continually, accord- ing. as he in his word doth require, both in respect of prayer and reading the Scriptures, that so the word of God may dwell richly in us : and will do what in us lyes to bring up our children for Christ, that they may become such as they that have the Lord's name put upon them by a solemn dedication to God in Christ ought to be, and will therefore, (as need shall be) Catechise, exhort and charge them, to fear the Lord, and endeavour to set an holy example before them, and be much in prayer for their conversion and salvation.
Thirdly, to endeavour to be pure from the sins of the times, especially those sins which have bin by the late Synod solemnly declared and evi- denced to be the evils that have brought the judgments of God upon New England ; and in our place to endeavour the suppression thereof, and be carefull so to walke as that wee may not give occasion to others to sin or speake evill of our holy profession.
Now, that wee may observe and keep this sacred covenant, and all the branches of it, inviolable forever, we desire to deny ourselves, and depend wholly upon the power of the eternall Spirit of grace, on the free mercy of God, and merit of Christ Jesus : and where wee shall faile, there to waite upon the Lord Jesus for pardon, acceptance and healing, for his names sake.
This Covenant was solemnly acknowledged and engaged in by the whole church, June 29, 1680.
Not long after this solemn service, on the 16th of August, Ed- ward Raynsford died, " being old and full of days." He was ordained ruling elder in 1670, on the day of Mr. Thacher's in- stallation, and he is the only member of the Old South Church
242.
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
who ever served that office. The question of filling the vacancy was considered from time to time, but no action was taken. The First Church advanced two of its deacons to the ruling-elder- ship as late as 1701.
Another founder, and an eminent man in church and state, Thomas Savage, died February 14, 1682.1 On the next Lord's Day, Mr. Willard preached a funeral sermon, which was printed with the title "The Righteous Man's Death a Presage of Evil Approaching." We quote a few sentences from it : -
God hath now for a long time been pleading with New England in this kind ; how many precious names are there registred in the black bill of a few years? nor is his anger turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. And now God calls us again to a further occasion of deep consideration, by that awful hand of his in the sudden and unexpected departure of that precious one from us, and that at such a time as this. I know he was gathered to his People in a good old age and full of dayes. He lived long enough for himself, but dyed too soon for us : I will not be curious in noting the day of his removal, though I believe that it deserves its remark : nor need I give light to his personal worth, which challengeth a sorrowful remembrance of us ; his own works shall praise him in the gates : And though some evil tongues (which evermore account much deserving a fault) have sought to blemish him, yet his name shall live in despite of envy itself. His long service in publick imployment ; and his skilfulness in that ser- vice ; his great dexterity in military Discipline (a thing now little valued by degenerate spirits) and his great industry in propagating it to those under his guidance ; his love to his Country, testified, not in a few empty words, but real deeds ; his adventuring of himself in the highest places of the field, in the greatest difficultyes and hazards, and that once and again, at such time as eminentest dangers threatned us, and enemies flushed with success were most insolent ; yea, and then when for his years he might have received his white wand, and been acknowledged to be Miles emeritus ; his tender care for the wel- fare of this people (under the weight whereof, there is good ground to think, that he sunk and dyed) these things I say, besides his upright- ness towards God as a private Christian, his tenderness and love to his brethren as a member of the Church, his affability and sweet deportment towards all men in his ordinary converse, speak eminently his worth, and our loss. He is now gone from an unthankful world, to receive his reward with God. But that which most of all should
1 The Rev. Peter Thacher says, in his death this morning before break of day." diary, February 14, 1681- 2: "This February 20. " Went to Major Savages funeral." night I heard of Major Savages sudden
243
RECONCILIATION.
affect us, is, that by his removal, the gap is wider, and we left the more naked.
The time for reconciliation between the First and Third churches was now come. The members of both must have been drawn somewhat nearer together during the revival of religious interest of which we have been speaking ; and as the Anglican hierarchy was threatening the peace and liberty of the colony, they may have determined to forget their differences, and to unite their forces in the presence of the common enemy.1 Years before this, President Oakes told the people, in a sermon from which we have already quoted, that they were endangering their religious liberties by their uncalled-for controversies. He reminded them that God had brought them into this wilderness, that they might here set up his way and worship in the purity and gospel glory of it; that here they had seen the orderly administration of the ordinances, and church officers duly quali- fied and ruling authoritatively in the Lord, according to the gospel, using their power to edification, and not destruction ; and that here they had to a considerable degree been enlighten- ing the world as to the pattern of God's house. He expressed the conviction that God had been doing for them that which shall be done more universally and gloriously hereafter ; and then he solemnly warned them that their differences were pre- paring the way for those who would "make no difference be- tween synodists and anti-synodists, old or new church-men," but would oppress them all alike.
The first step formally taken was a vote adopted by the old church, in kindly and courteous terms, and sent to Mr. Willard by the hands of its minister, Mr. Allen,2 and Mr. Samuel Nowell,
1 " An effort was made in that year to -don, May 29, 1682, he said, in refer- establish an Episcopal church in Boston. Both societies regarded such a church as a common enemy, and so both came to- gether and united their energies to pre- vent its establishment." - Ellis's History of the First Church, pp. 134, 135.
The forms of the English Church were not introduced into Boston until 1686, but Edward Randolph had been schem- ing and plotting for several years, and Edward Rawson had been one of the most prominent and persistent in resist- ing him. Writing to the Bishop of Lon-
ence to the First and Third churches : " But now, heering of my proposals for ministers to be sent over, (for they have very good correspondancy with some of the clarks of the Council), they are joyned together, about a fortnight ago and pray to God, to confound the devices of all who disturbe their peace and lib- erties."
2 The Rev. John Oxenbridge died December 28, 1674, after a brief pastor- ate, and Mr. Allen had sole charge for several years.
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HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
an eminent magistrate; the original document has been pre- served, and we present a fac-simile somewhat reduced in size : -
At a Meeting of the First Church in Boston April 25. 1682.
2. Whither you be willing (keeping the Rule in its ~ Intiveness, and not revokeing your Testimony thereanto, viz That Rule of Church Order, which we have professed Brent unto, and is published as the Judgment of y Churches of New England, Half of Discipl chap xuy throughout) To Forgive and Forget all offences respecting our folves, that we Judge have justly been taken at our difienting Brethren. Juppofing this page in the its Church.
IWill it not be expedient that it to loveingly presented to the difienting Brethren, and that Society, by a meet Perfon , or Serfor, and that they be defined to Signifie by writing, their approbation of that Rule , and Judgeing any deviation from it to be Irregular. And if then Returne be acceptable, that it may to Recorder by Both, in memory of an happy Issue of that uncomfortable & long Breach, and the begining of our defined Peace; wh the ford grant.
Voted in the Affirmative together! !
James Klin
9 - jamost foul 35. 1632:00
Swat. ;- Li
The reply of the Third Church, agreed upon at a meeting held on the 3d of May, was equally courteous, and was commu- nicated personally through Mr. Willard and Mr. John Hull : -
Worshigfull. Reverend, and Beloved :
As wee cannot but with griefe acknowledge the great evil that there is in Divisions, from the sad experience which we have had of the dangerous influence which the distance that hath bin between you and us hath had in this land ; so wee desire heartily to acknowledge the
245
THE OLIVE BRANCH ACCEPTED.
goodnesse of God, in moving of your hearts to looke towards a pacifi- cation ; and with great thankfulnesse to accept at your hands the kind tender of reconciliation made unto us ; to the furthering whereof, God forbid that wee should wilfully put any obstruction, who rather desire to put all the hands we have to the promoting of it; as being sensible of the truth of what he intimated, 2. Sam. 2. 26. that if the sword devoure for ever, it will be bitterness in the end.
As for the condition of accommodation which hath bin presented to us from yourselves by the worshipfull Samuel Nowell esqr. and the reverend Mr. James Allen, wee are fully and freely ready to subscribe it. As wee have publickly (and particularly in the last Synod) ac- knowledged the platforme of Church Discipline which was agreed upon by the Elders and messengers of these churches, to bee for the substance of it Orthodox, soe wee do now in particular professe, that we do believe Chap. 13th of that Booke, throughout, to be according to rule, and the mind of God in his word, respecting that case therin treated of ; and that any deviation therfrom is Irregular. and wherin any of our sinfull infirmityes have been grievous to any or all of your Church, wee aske forgivenesse both of God and of yourselves ; and desire dayly to pray, what we know not teach thou us, and if we have done amisse wee will do so no more. For ourselves wee are heartily content, that all things wherin we judge ourselves to have bin ag- grieved may be buried in oblivion.
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