USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Old South church (Third church) Boston, 1669-1884, Vol. III > Part 37
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As related to the presidency, also, we have it on the same high authority that he "was well qualified for the office, and had conducted himself in it faithfully and laboriously ; " but we have just seen how he sought to crush out the spirit of free in- quiry at Cambridge, and to prevent the formation of another church in Boston. Nor was he content to let the new church and its young minister alone, even after they had been recognized as within the fellowship of the churches. It could not be shown that they were not following the Master in the work they were beginning to do ; but, worse than that, as the partisan leader would be disposed to think, they were not following " us." 2
1 " By his wisdom and firmness in ac- of the character of Increase Mather, as ceding to the new charter, and thus as- well as of his son, Cotton Mather, see the History of the Second Church, by the Rev. Chandler Robbins, D. D. suming a responsibility of the weightiest kind, in opposition to his colleagues in the agency; he saved his country, ap- 2 "Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us, and we forbade him, because he fol- loweth not us." - Mark ix. 38. parently, from a rebellion or a revolution, or from having a constitution imposed by the will of the transatlantic sover- eign, possibly at the point of the bay- onet."- Quincy's Hist. of Harv. Univ., vol. i. p. 123.
For a very discriminating estimate
The disciples had this as a plea for their exclusiveness, that in their case " us " included the Divine Master him- self.
.
321
THE MATHER CONTROVERSY.
President Mather published a pamphlet on The Order of the Gospel, which called forth a reply soon after, The Gospel Order Revived, by Sundry Ministers of the Gospel in New England. This was the work of Mr. Colman, assisted by Mr. Bradstreet, of Charlestown, and, perhaps, Mr. John Woodbridge. In 1701 a rejoinder was issued anonymously, supposed to have come from the pen of Cotton Mather, with a preface to which the initials of his father were suffixed. Of this last publication Quincy says : " In the whole scope of theological and political controversy there is scarcely an example extant of more select, concentrated, and unmixed personal abuse than is exhibited in this pamphlet and its preface." And Palfrey says : " The vo- cabulary so long consecrated to assaults upon reformers, of 'gross immorality,' 'impudence,' 'deep apostasy,' 'open im- piety,' ' profaneness,' and, finally, ' tendency to atheism,' is most liberally used." Mr. Colman was called "a little thing," "a raw and unstudied youth, but also of a very unsanctified temper and spirit." That he had once been a member of the president's own church, "in good and regular standing," did not mitigate the severity of his condemnation now. Of Thomas Brattle it was said, "A moral heathen would not have done as he has done."
The time was come, at length, for the enemies which the president had been making in his political career and in his theological controversies to deprive him of a part of the power which he had wielded as with a mailed hand. He was strong in the confidence of the church of which he had been a minis- ter for nearly forty years, but his seat at Cambridge was less secure. He had been administering the affairs of the college, as has been said, faithfully and well, but he had continued to live in Boston. On the 2d of December, 1693, the General Court voted that "the president of Harvard College, for the time being, shall reside there, as hath been accustomed in time past." No notice being taken of this action, the House of Rep- resentatives passed a more emphatic vote to the same effect, June 5, 1695, but this also proved in vain. On the 10th of July, 1700,1 the General Court expressed its determination that the
1 July 10. 1700. " Waited on Mr. Mather this day, at three in the after- noon. I told him the Honor of Athana- sius, Maluit sedem quam Fidei Syllabam mutare : Worthies of N. E. left their Houses in England, and came hither
where there were none to preserve Reli- gion in its Purity. Put him in mind how often God had renewed his Call to this work which was to be considered. That were nineteen in the Council ; and had every vote." (Sewall.)
322
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
president should live in Cambridge with so much peremptori- ness that he obtained the consent of his church, and went into residence there, but from the nature of the case this arrange- ment could be only temporary. As his son says : " The leaders in this vote knew very well that the doctor would not remove his habitation from a loving people at Boston, to reside at Cam- bridge, while the college was, -as it thus was." The General Court also, at this session, gave to Increase Mather as presi- dent, to Samuel Willard as vice-president, and to the other persons named in the new charter, the general care and superin- tendence of the college.
In the month of October following, Dr. Mather returned to Boston, and addressed a letter to Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton, setting forth his reasons for removing from Cambridge, "as not having his health there, and desiring that another president may be thought of." This letter was laid before the General Court in February, 1701, and on the 14th of the next month a resolution was passed to the effect that "as the Constitution requires that the president reside in Cambridge, which is now altered by his removal from thence, and to the intent that a present necessary oversight be taken of the college, . . . in case of Mr. Mather's refusal, absence, sickness or death, Mr. Samuel Willard is nominated to be vice-president, and with the others before named, invested with like powers and authority in all respects." Dr. Mather does not seem to have really intended to lay down the presidency, for he informed the court, after explaining his return to Boston, that if it "thought fit to desire he should continue his care of the college as formerly, he would do so." But the court had other views, and negotiations were at once opened with Mr. Willard and with his church, looking to his accession to the vacant office, and to his removal to Cambridge. There were at least two applications to the church to this end,1 but it does not appear that it was directly proposed by any one that Mr. Willard should give up the pastorate. Mr. Willard was willing to take the presidency, but he was not will- ing to remove from Boston, and- what this involved - to leave the South Church. After repeated conferences, he at length " declared his readiness to do the best service he could for the college, and that he would visit once or twice every week, and
1 Elisha Cooke and Penn Townsend Mr. Willard's church, and desire their were appointed a special committee by consent that he might go and reside at the Council, "to attend the meeting of Cambridge, to take care of the College."
323
MR. WILLARD AND THE PRESIDENCY.
continue there a night or two, and perform the services there which had been done by former presidents." This was on the 5th of September; on the next day, after a vain attempt by the friends of Dr. Mather to retain him in office, a resolution was passed "that the Rev. Samuel Willard, nominated vice-presi- dent of the college, be desired to take the oversight of the col- lege and the students there, according to the late establishment made by the court, and to manage the affairs thereof, as he has proposed in his answer to this court, viz. to reside there for one or two days and nights in a week and to perform prayers and expositions in the Hall, and to bring forward the exercise of analysing." His salary was fixed at fifty pounds, with ten pounds in addition "for his more than ordinary expenses in his attending the same services." 1
1 Judge Sewall, as a member both of the Council and of Mr. Willard's church, found it difficult to maintain friendly relations with the Mathers, during these uncomfortable times; but he seems to have been able to keep his temper ad- mirably, under a good deal of provoca- tion. He writes : --
" Octr. 18, or thereabouts, Mr. Foster and Cooke had a hot discourse about Mr. Mather; Capt. Foster moving for a Quarter's Salary. I spake that he might have it."
" Octr. 20. Mr. Cotton Mather came to Mr. Wilkins's shop, and there talked very sharply against me as if I had used his father worse than a Neger; spake so loud that people in the street might hear him. Then went and told Sam, That one pleaded much for Negros, and - Christ's Rule: He said, having spoken he had used his father worse than a Negro, and told him that was his Father. . . . Octr. 9. I sent Mr. Increase Mather a Hanch of very good Venison ; I hope in that I did not treat him as a Negro."
October 21, Sewall wrote to Cotton Mather : -
" By what I am told you should say of me yesterday at Mr. Wilkins's and my Son's [Samuel Gerrish's] Shop, I per- ceive you are much offended with me ; which is matter of Surprise and Grief unto me; the cause whereof I would willingly remove. I have desired Major Walley, and Capt. Samuel Checkley, your and my friends, to be at Mr. Wil-
kins's tomorrow half an hour past Nine in the morning ; And do desire you to meet me and them there, at that time, And bring with you one or two Christian friends, if you please; that 'so we may try to give an Instance of the Truth of that old Proverb ; Amantium Ira Amoris Redintegratio est."
The proposed interview took place, and is thus described : -
" Octobr. 22. 1701. I, with Major Walley and Capt. Saml. Checkly, speak with Mr. Cotton Mather at Mr. Wilkins's. I expostulated with him from I Tim. 5. I. Rebuke not an elder. He said he had consider'd that : I told him of his book of the Law of Kindness for the Tongue, whether this were correspondent with that. Whether correspondent with to me before there was no need to speak to me again ; and so justified his reviling me behind my back. Charg'd the Coun- cil with Lying, Hypocrisy, Tricks, and I know not what all. I ask'd him if it were done with that Meekness as it should; answer'd, yes. Charg'd the Council in general, and then shew'd my share, which was my speech in Council ; viz. If Mr. Mather should goe to Cam- bridge again to reside there with a Reso- lution not to read the Scriptures, and expound in the Hall: I fear the ex- ample of it will do more hurt than his going thither will do good. This speech I owned. Said Mr. Corwin at Reading,
324
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
It is not strange that Dr. Mather and his friends felt ag- grieved at this arrangement. What had been refused to the one had in fact been conceded to the other. Mr. Willard, with the title of vice-president, was really to be president, and he was to live in Boston. The General Court had maintained a technical consistency throughout in its action, but no one could be deceived as to its real purpose. As Quincy says, after per- tinaciously insisting for years upon the question of residence in the case of Mather, the court could not rescind the rule in favor of Mr. Willard ; but, he adds, "Willard being as unwilling as Mather to accept the office on condition of residence, and as they could not agree on a third person, they resorted to the subterfuge of continuing Willard in the office he then held of vice-president, and vesting him with the powers and duties of president." 1 The plea in justification of the "subterfuge " was, of course, that the best interests of the college, and of the churches as related to it, required an immediate change in the presidency, and that Mr. Willard was the best man at the time for the succession. There had been too much wrangling of late, and Mr. Willard was a man of peace; he was as much
upbraided him, saying, This is the man you dedicat your books to! I ask'd him If I should suppose he had done som- thing amiss in his Church as an Officer ; whether it would be well for me to ex- claim against him in the street for it. (Mr. Wilkin would fain have had him gon into the inner room, but he would not.) I told him I conceiv'd he had done much unbecoming a Minister of the Gospel, and being call'd by Maxwell to the Council, Major Wally and I went thither, leaving Capt. Checkly there. 2 Tim. 2. 24. 25. ["The servant of the Lord must not strive ; but be gentle un- to all," etc.] Went to the Council, Sign'd Mr. Mather's order for {25."
" Octr. 23. Mr. Increase Mather said at Mr. Wilkins's, If I am a Servant of Jesus Christ, some great Judgment will fall on Capt. Sewall, or his family."
"Octr. 25. ' I got Mr. Moody to copy out my Speech, and gave it to Mr. Wil- kins that all might see what was the ground of Mr. Mather's anger. Writ out another and gave it to Joshua Gee. I perceive Mr. Wilkins carried his to Mr. Mathers; They seem to grow calm.
(On Friday received Mr. Fitch's Letter and Blessing.) "
On the 30th of October Cotton Mather wrote a letter, the character of which we can imagine, to Judge Sewall, who de- layed answering it until the 31st of De- cember, and then, not willing that the declining sun of the last day of the year should go down upon his wrath, if he had been cherishing anything of the kind, he sent the following pacific answer : -
"I once intended an Answer to yours of the 30th of October last, principally as to some matters of fact therein recited. But since you were pleasd to sit with me last Tuesday was fortnight, and to honour my Pue, with publishing there the very acceptable News of Liberty again granted to our dear brethren of the Palatinat, I do now Remise, Release, and forever quitclaim, as to any personal Controversy we were lately managing at Mr. Wilkins's. It has been in my thought ever since, and the consideration of this being the last day of the year, suffers me to delay it no longer."
1 See Quincy's Hist. of Harvard Univ., vol. i. pp. 109-116, 146.
325
MR. WILLARD'S INFLUENCE.
attached as any of his contemporaries to the doctrines of his faith, but he cared little for controversy about them.1 He was recognized also as a wise and safe leader. During the witch- craft excitement, the public had seen how bravely he stemmed the tide of feeling and frenzy ; and although it had been angry and indignant with him for the moment, when the reaction came, "his circumspection and boldness in that trying season were remembered and honoured, and he derived thence a weight of popularity which President Mather had lost by his conduct during the excitement. The resulting general impressions con- cerning the character of each were undoubtedly among the causes of that preference which the exclusion of Mather and the appointment of Willard by the legislature indicate."
There was another consideration, also, which had its influence with the General Court. Mr. Willard was a man of high family connections, and a brother-in-law of Joseph Dudley,2 who, in the following year, was made governor in succession to Lord Bellomont. "The appointment of Dudley was anticipated ; and the friends of the college could not deem it indifferent to its interest with the new governor, whether he should find the president's chair filled by Mather, an active leader of that politi- cal and religious party which had imprisoned him and Andros, with whom his name and character had been an unvaried theme of abuse, or by Willard, a brother-in-law, who enjoyed at once his private confidence and personal respect."
Dr. Mather and Mr. Willard had not been fully agreed on questions of administration at Cambridge. Sewall remarks in his diary, November 20, 1697 : " Mr. Willard told me of a falling out between the president and him, about choosing fellows last Monday. Mr. Mather has sent him word, he will never come to his house more till he give him satisfaction." The speedy reinstatement of certain gentlemen as fellows who had been removed under the previous presidency, and the appointment of the Rev. Josiah Willard as tutor, showed that the Mather as- cendency was at an end. The new governor was in full accord with Mr. Willard ; but as between him and the ex-president,
1 Dr. Palfrey says of Mr. Willard's relations to the Cambridge movement of the time : "In matters of church doc- trine and discipline, he sympathized with the Mathers; but their arrogance offended and repelled him, and in per- sonal relations he was constantly drawn closer to the party of Leverett, Colman,
and the Brattles."- Hist. of N. Eng., vol. iv. p. 317, note.
2 Mr. Willard's second wife was Eunice, daughter of Edward Tyng. Her sister Rebecca married Joseph Dudley, and their daughter Rebecca married, September 15, 1702, the eldest son of Judge Sewall.
!
326
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
while there was, for a time, a show of courtesy and respect in their mutual relations, there was little confidence on either side, and at length the sharp controversies over the management of the college led to a breach which " seems never to have been closed by concession or explanation."
It is recorded of Mr. Willard's performance of his college duties that it was "punctual, laborious, and successful." The mere passing back and forth between Boston and Cambridge in those days was a serious matter. To ride or drive involved a long détour through Roxbury and Brookline; and the more direct way, by the ferry, was not without its perils.1 Affairs now moved on at Cambridge not only peacefully but prosper- ously, while at the South Church, with Mr. Pemberton to share the duties and responsibilities of the pastorate, there was well- sustained life and growth.
The Rev. Eliphalet Adams (Harvard College, 1694) had been settled as permanent assistant at Brattle Street, and Judge Sewall desired to hear him preach, and at the same time to show his continued good will to the new church. He there- fore spent a Sabbath with it, and has left us the following account :- -
Sabbath, Novr. 30. I went to the Manifesto church to hear Mr. Adams ; Mr. Coleman was praying when I went in, so that I thought myself disappointed. But his Prayer was short; When ended, he read distinctly the 137, and 138th Psalms, and the seventh of Joshua, concerning the conviction, sentence and execution of Achon. Then sung the second part of the Sixty ninth Psalm. Mr. Brattle set it to Windsor Tune. Then Mr. Adams pray'd very well, and more largely ; And gave us a very good Sermon from Gal. 4. 18. Doct. It is just and commendable &c. Mr. Adams gave the Blessing.
In the Afternoon Mr. Adams made a short Prayer, read the 139th Psalm, and the six and twentieth chapters of the Acts : Then Agrippa
1 The death of the Rev. John Cotton in 1652 is said to have been caused by exposure to the wet in crossing the ferry from Cambridge, after preaching to the students.
Feb. 22, 1702-3. " Mrs. Willard and several of her children had like to have been cast away coming from Cambridge by Water, wind was so very high ; put ashore at last on Muddy River Marsh : Got to the Governors by that time twas dark." (Sewall.)
In 1729 Governor Burnet died in
consequence of an accident received on his way home from Cambridge. As he came towards the ferry, his carriage was overset, and he was thrown into the water. A fever followed, and he died at the end of a week. He had been in Boston only fourteen months.
Another route to Cambridge was by ferry to Charlestown, and thence by the road. Joseph Sewall, the future pastor of the South Church, when in college, used to go between Cambridge and Charlestown on foot.
327
A SABBATH AT BRATTLE STREET.
said - Sung. Mr. Coleman made a very good sermon from Jer. 31. 33. - and will be their God, and they shall be my people. Pray'd, sung - Contribution. Gave the Blessing.
I spent this Sabbath at Mr. Colman's partly out of dislike to Mr. Josiah Willard's cutting off his Hair, and wearing a Wigg: He preach'd for Mr. Pemberton in the morning; He that contemn's the Law of Nature, is not fit to be a publisher of the Law of Grace : Partly to give an Example of my holding Communion with that Church who renounce the Cross in Baptisme, Humane Holidays &c. as other New-english Churches doe. And I had spent a Sabbath at the Old Church, and at Mr. Mathers. And I thought if I should have absented my self in the forenoon only, it might have been more gravam- inous to Mr. Willards friends than keeping there all day. I perceive by several, that Mr. Coleman's people were much gratified by my giving them my Company, Several considerable persons express'd them- selves so.
Mr. Josiah Willard had joined the South Church in the March preceding, and for more than fifty years he was one of its most honored and useful members. He soon relinquished the clerical profession, and he afterward held important positions in the State. As time went on, Judge Sewall and he became warm friends.
In the autumn of 1702, the small-pox, the scourge of those days, was prevalent in Boston, and the South Church suffered among the rest : -
Dec. 8. Mr. Robt. Gibbs dies, one of our Select men, a very good man and much Lamented ; died suddenly of the Small Pocks. His death, and the death of Jno. Adams, the Master, Isaac Loring, and Peybody, is a great stroke to our church and congregation. The Lord vouchsafe to dwell with us, and Not break up Housekeeping among us!1 (Sewall.)
At this period of our history, the records of the church are very imperfect. The only entry made between February, 1700, and May, 1705, is as follows : -
At a church meeting Octob. 17. 1703
Then voted that the Land in Boston, left to this Church by the last will and testament of Richard Taylor shall be sold, and Mr. Simeon Stoddard, together with the Deacons, Captain James Hill, Capt. Nathl
1 [Robert Gibbs, son of Robert, who
which the son inherited. The latter came of a good Warwickshire family, was a noted merchant in Boston, and built a handsome house on Fort Hill,
married Mary Shrimpton, who, in 1722, became the third wife of Judge Sewall. She died in 1739.]
328
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
Williams, and Capt. Saml Checkly, are fully empowered to make sale of it in behalf of this church .:
attested by SAML WILLARD Teacher.
The first issue of the first newspaper printed in North Amer- ica - the Boston News-Letter - appeared April 24, 1704. Its proprietor, John Campbell, and its printer, Bartholomew Green, were members of the South Church, and it was natural that there should be a reference in its columns to one of the ministers of that church : -
The 20th. the Rev. Mr. Pemberton Preach'd an excellent Sermon on Thes. 4. II. And do your own business, which his Excellency [Joseph Dudley] has ordered to be printed.
The same paper mentions the death of Mr. Nathaniel Oliver, " a principal merchant of this place," on the 15th of April, at the age of fifty-three. Mr. Oliver had been a member of the South Church, but went to the church in Brattle Street when this was founded.
April 15. 1704. Mr. Nathanl Oliver dieth between 3 and 4 in the morning. He was born 20 days before me.
April 18. Went to the Funeral of Mr. Nathanl. Oliver : Bearers, Sewall, Walley ; Legg, Dummer ; Cooper, -. Govr. was there. Feb. II. 1704-5. Mr. Pemberton preaches of the undoubted Inter- est children have in the Covenant, and baptiseth his son Ebenezer, who was born February 6th. Mrs. Hannah Savage, Mr. Phillip's daughter, is taken into the Church, though next Sabbath be the usual Season.1 (Sewall.)
The church, having two ministers, needed two parsonages for their use. Mr. Willard had occupied the house in which Gov- ernor Winthrop and after him Mr. and Mrs. Norton had lived and died. Where Mr. Pemberton had been living since his mar- riage, we do not know. In the spring of 1705 it was deter- mined to proceed to the erection of a second parsonage.
[Friday] May 4th 1705
At a Church meeting,
Voted - Scil : That it is convenient that an other house be built for the ministry of the South Church in Boston : And for the forward- ing of the work, the Church do consent and agree, that one hundred
1 [Ebenezer, son of the Rev. Ebenezer Pemberton, Harvard College, 1721, joined the South Church in 1725 sev- eral years after the death of his father.
After preaching in New York for many years, he was settled in 1754 over the New Brick Church, Boston, as its fourth and last minister.]
329
A SECOND PARSONAGE.
pound of their stock be set apart for that use if there be need of it, and the intended voluntary subscription will not amount to a sufficient sum without it : And that a suitable portion of the land adjoining to the meeting house be set apart for the situation of the intended build- ing, with convenient accommodations.
At the same meeting,
John Walley Esqr. Andrew Belcher Esqr Simeon Stoddard Esqr Capt. Saml Checkley, and Mr. Thomas Fitch, were desired to under- take the promoteing the subscriptions, to receive the money, and manage the work: and they were appointed a committee for these ends ; any three of them to have power to act.
Attest SAML WILLARD EBENR PEMBERTON.
The new house was to be of wood, and was to stand in the rear of the meeting-house in Milk Street ; the work upon it seems to have been begun at once. Sewall tells us, on his return from his circuit, on the Ist of October : -
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