USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Old South church (Third church) Boston, 1669-1884, Vol. III > Part 39
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He took his Farewell of us at the Table of the Lord ; and we shall enjoy no more such fellowship with him, till we come to eat bread and drink new wine with him ; in our father's presence.1
Mr. Willard died in the sixty-eighth year of his age, and the thirtieth of his ministry at the South Church. In a portrait before us, engraved, as we suppose, after his death, we see a noble head, a strong but kindly face, a firm and dignified bear- ing.2 It is an ideal representation of a Puritan leader of the seventeenth century. It bears the legend, QUANTÆ PIETA- TIS IMAGO.3 In the bibliography appended to this history the long list of Mr. Willard's printed works will be found. Among these, his Complete Body of Divinity, which was not published until nearly twenty years after his death, stands preeminent. It contains the substance of two hundred and twenty lectures delivered by him, and of twenty-five more which he had pre- pared. He had come to the consideration of the Lord's Prayer
1 [Mr. Pemberton said in the course of his sermon : -
" We had scarce dry'd our eyes for the loss of one Samuel, but providence opens anew the fountain of our tears by afflicting us with the death of another. It is well if the conjunction of their fu- nerals be not portentous of further, and greater calamities ; I am sure it will be so if it be not laid to heart."
This was a reference to the Rev. Sam- uel Torrey, who died April 21, 1707. He was the successor at Weymouth of the Rev. Thomas Thacher, and preached there more than forty years. He was a man of broad and generous sympathies, and his spirit was eminently catholic. He was a warm and active friend of the Third Church during all the period of its controversy with the First Church. He was also friendly to Mr. Colman and the Brattle Street Church, when others were bitterly opposing them. He is said to have possessed all those mental, per- sonal, and social qualifications which
place a man at the head of his profes- sion and constitute him a leader in the community. Sewall speaks of him as "a laborious faithful divine, excellent in prayer." He was succeeded in Wey- mouth by the Rev. Peter Thacher (son of Thomas Thacher, Jr., and his wife Mary, daughter of Thomas Savage), whose grandfather he had succeeded.]
2 Mr. Willard was inflexible in the maintenance of his opinions and thor- oughly independent in action. With this independence, however, there was, as we judge, no want of proper consider- ation for the opinions of others. Edward Randolph wrote of him in 1682: "He is a moderate man, and baptiseth those who are refused by the other churches, for which he is hated." John Dunton said of him in 1686, he " can say what he pleases."
3 This recalls the inscription on the tomb of Machiavelli in the Church of Santa Croce, in Florence : TANTO NOM- INI NULLUM PAR EULOGIUM.
-
339
MR. WILLARD'S "BODY OF DIVINITY."
when the course was cut short by his death. Of these lectures an accomplished critic, Professor Tyler, has said : -
Nineteen years before his death, he began to give at his own church, on Tuesday afternoons, once a month, an elaborate lecture on theol- ogy. His was a mind formed for theological method. He did not desire to impose upon himself or upon any one a slavish submission to a theological system ; he only wished to get for himself and others the clearness and vigor and practical utility that come from putting one's most careful ideas into orderly combination. He was a theo- logical drill-sergeant. He was also a truly great divine. In the lec- tures upon systematic theology, which he thus began in 1688, and continued unflinchingly till he died, his object was to move step by step around "the whole circle of religion." The fame of his lucid talks on those great themes soon flew abroad, and drew to him a large permanent audience of the learned and the unlearned ; and after his death, theological students and others kept clamoring for the publica- tion of those talks. In 1726 all such persons were gratified.
"A Complete Body of Divinity " is a vast book in all senses; by no one to be trifled with. Let us salute it with uncovered heads. The attempted perusal of all these nine hundred and fourteen double- columned pages was, for many a theological scholar of the last cen- tury, a liberal education, and a training in every heroic and heavenly virtue. . . .
The thought and expression of this literary mammoth are lucid, firm, close. The author moves over the great spaces of his subject with a calm and commanding tread, as of one well assured both of himself and of the ground he walked on. His object seemed to be, not merely to enlighten the mind, but to elevate the character and the life ; and whenever, in the discussion of a topic, he has finished the merely logical process, he advances at once to the practical bearings of it, and urges upon his hearers" the deductions of a moral logic, always doing this earnestly, persuasively, and in a kingly way. The whole effect is nutritious to brain and to moral sense ; and the book might still serve to make men good Christians as well as good theo- logians, if only there were still left upon the earth the men capable of reading it.1
The work was published with an introduction by the Rev. Joseph Sewall and the Rev. Thomas Prince, who, evidently, were in full sympathy with their learned predecessor's method of studying theology, not dogmatically or slavishly, but intelli- gently and independently, subordinating the sign to the sense, the letter to the spirit, and distinguishing between the tradi- tions of men and the revealed truth of God. They said : -
1 [Tyler's History of American Literature, vol. ii. pp. 167-169.]
340
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
If by Systematical Divinity be meant a mere slavish Subjection or Confinement to any Schemes thereof what ever, conceiv'd or pub- lish'd by the mere Wit of men, tho founded in their own apprehen- sions on divine Revelation, without a Liberty reserv'd of varying from them upon further Discoveries ; our Author was of too generous and great a Soul, and had too deep an Insight into the present Imperfec- tion and Fallibility of Humane Nature, than to be capable of such a Slavery. He was indeed a Recommender of Divinity-Systems even to all sorts of Persons, and especially Young Students, in order to Methodize their Enquiries and Conceptions, to keep their minds from wandering and Inconsistency, and help them to see the Connection and Harmony of divine Truths ; but without obliging them to an im- plicit servile Subjection to any mere humane Compositions. And whatever System he fell into, it arose from a careful Scrutiny into the genuine meaning of the Holy Scriptures, with a deep Penetration into the Nature and Relations of the things they reveal ; and not from any mere previous Veneration of the Systems themselves or their renown'd Compilers or Abettors, tho' worthy of ever so much esteem : making use of their Fame and Worth as Inducements only to peruse their Systems, as the special Fruits of their laborious Searches and Discoveries, and their most mature and accurate Ex- pressions of them ; and making use of their Systems only as the best Assistances to form a perfect notion of their most elaborate Ideas, that he might more clearly see and judge of their Agreement with the Holy Writings, the first Foundation, the sovereign Rule and the der- nier Resort of all.
CHAPTER VII.
1707-1717.
CHURCH WORK AND GROWTH.
S HORTLY after Mr. Willard's death, a day of fasting and humiliation was observed by the church, the sister churches participating with it, in accordance with the custom of those days. Death was regarded not as a servant sent by the Re- deemer to bring his children home to their rest and reward, so much as an avenging angel commissioned to punish a commu- nity, or a church, or a family, by the removal of prominent or beloved members from their sight. Mr. Willard's sermon on the death of Major Savage, in 1681, to which we have already referred, was entitled The Righteous Man's Death a Presaging of Evil Approaching ; and a reference in it to several recent bereavements was in these words: "Since the time wherein God by [or through] his servants began to treat us with these warnings, his hand hath bin awfully out upon us in taking away eminent, useful, publique and pious men." When the Hon. John Walley died in 1712, Mr. Pemberton said in his funeral sermon : "It becomes the whole land to resent his removal, and this church in particular : for God hereby has made a breach upon us, and taken away one of our main and most an- cient pillars. And if we do not resent and improve the hand of God, we shall have reason to fear lest God smite us with breach upon breach, and remove more of those ancient and hon- ourable senators, which are now no small part of our strength and glory." 1
Thursday, Oct. 2, 1707. Fast at the South church. Mr. Wads- worth prays, Mr. Pemberton preaches : Mr. Bridge prays and gives
1 Mr. Willard's Thursday Lecture, July 17, 1701, on the death of William Stoughton, was entitled Prognostics of Impending Calamities.
When the Hon. Thomas Cushing died in 1746, Mr. Prince preached his funeral sermon from Psal. xii. 1, " Help, Lord ;
for the godly man ceaseth, etc. ; " he said : " Hence we may also see the awful frowns of God upon this town and land in the ceasing and failing of such ; what abundant reason we have to be deeply affected therewith, and earnestly cry to the Lord for help."
342
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
the Blessing. Capt. Atwood, Bernard, Gooding, Atkins go home with me at Noon. I give each of them one of Mr. W. Williams's Sermons. p. m. Mr. Cotton Mather Prays, Dr. Mather Preaches, prays, gives the Blessing. Was a great Assembly.1
Octr. 3. had a Meeting of the Church and Congregation : But very thin, Several came not because Mr. Pemberton said [in giving the notice for the meeting,] Gentlemen of the church and Congregation ; affirmed they were not Gentlemen and therefore they were not warned to come. Mr. Pemberton prayed, upon debate appointed this day sennight for the meeting. (Sewall.)
This last passage illustrates the sharply defined social dis- tinctions which were then recognized and accepted. The church evidently had under consideration the question of set- tling a colleague pastor, or at least of giving Mr. Pemberton assistance in his pulpit work, for he was not a strong man physi- cally. On the Ioth of the following February, Judge Sewall kept "a private day of prayer with fasting," as was his habit from time to time, and in the record of the "general heads " of his meditations and prayers we find these words: "Bless the South Church in preserving and spiriting our Pastor ; in direct- ing unto suitable Supply, and making the Church unanimous." Six years passed, however, before a colleague pastor was settled.
On the arrival in Boston harbor of several overdue ships from London, Sewall says, Friday, October 24, 1707 : "Thanks were given on this account at Mr. Willard's Meeting, which was kept at his widows House this Afternoon ; began between I and 2. Mr. Wadsworth, Colman pray'd, Mr. Pemberton preach'd and pray'd excellently." We suppose this to have been a private meeting held by the ministers of the town, perhaps monthly, and that it would have been Mr. Willard's turn to have it at his house had he lived.
Nov. 23. 1707 Mr. Pemberton preaches more fully and vehe- mently against being cover'd in Sermon time. p. m. Simeon Stod- dard, the Son of A[nthony] Stoddard, is baptised.2 David Stoddard and others taken into Church. (Sewall.)
1 [Mr. Joseph Sewall says : " Private Fast. South Church. A. M. Mr. Wads- worth prayed, Mr. Pemberton preached from Eccles. 7. 14- In the Day of ad- versity consider. Mr. Bridge concluded. P. M. Mr. C. Mather pray'd. Dr. Mather preachd from I Samuel 25. I. And Samuel died and all the Israelites
were gathered together and lamented him. He said would not make a Fu- neral Sermon, yet would speak some things which he knew to be true. He spoke of Mr. Willard's Strictness, Ortho- doxy in the matter of Justification."] 2 [Simeon, son of Anthony and Martha (Belcher) Stoddard : Harv. Coll., 1726.]
343
THE REV. JOHN LEVERETT.
We have been unable to satisfy ourselves in relation to "being cover'd in Sermon time," against which Mr. Pemberton preached on this occasion, and to which Mr. Gookin is supposed to have referred, in a sermon at the South meeting-house several months later. It looks very much as though the men were in the habit of putting on their hats after the devotional exercises were concluded, and during the delivery of the sermon.
Governor Fitz John Winthrop, of Connecticut, was buried from the Council Chamber, December 4.
Mr. C. Mather preached a funeral Sermon for G[overnor] Winthrop. Gen : 5. II. - And He (Enoch) died. One reason He gave for his taking this text was Enoch being Son to Shem, grandson to Adam : then He instanct in the Shephards, [see ante, pp. 236-238] after said that the Family of the Winthrops had something peculiar : Three John Winthrops (when this is buried) will lay in the same Tomb. Two by a peculiar providence came to die here. Said twas nothing inconsistant to Speak of a Man's good actions and yet disapprove his evil ones. The funeral was perform'd with great solemnity. (Joseph Sewall.)
The long dispute between the Mathers and the party repre- sented by Thomas Brattle came to a head when the Rev. John Leverett was chosen president of Harvard College, to fill the vacancy created by the resignation and death of Mr. Willard. This choice was a triumph for the liberal party, to which Gov- ernor Dudley had attached himself.1 Dr. Mather, Mr. Cotton Mather, Mr. Bridge, and Mr. Allen absented themselves from the exercises of inauguration, and so did some prominent laymen, Wait Still Winthrop, Elisha Hutchinson, John Foster, and Peter Sergeant. Among those who went to Cambridge on the occa- sion were Mr. Pemberton, Mr. Wadsworth, one of the ministers of the First Church, and Mr. Colman ; and, among the laymen, Penn Townsend, Edward Bromfield, Simeon Stoddard, Eliakim
1 John Leverett, born in 1662, was a grandson of Governor Leverett. After completing his studies he preached for a time, then practised as a lawyer, and became speaker of the House of Rep- resentatives and a judge of the superior court. In appointing him president of the college, the Fellows expressed the hope that he would "lay aside and de- cline all interfering offices and employ- ments, and devote himself to said work, and be a very able and faithful instru-
ment to promote the holy religion here practiced and established, by instructing and fitting for our pulpits and churches, and other public and useful service, such as shall in this School of the Prophets be committed to his care and charge." Thirty-nine ministers signed an address to Governor Dudley, expressing their " great joy " at the appointment. The altogether inadequate salary of £150 per annum was voted, payable from the public treasury.
344
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
Hutchinson, and Andrew Belcher. From the names on the two sides we judge that the lines were drawn not altogether by churches. A few days after the inauguration, virulent letters were addressed to the governor by Increase and Cotton Mather, and these naturally widened the breach.1 On the 31st of Jan- uary, Judge Sewall met Mr. Pemberton, who, says the former, " talk'd to me very warmly about Mr. Cotton Mather's Letter to the Governor, seem'd to resent it, and expect the Governor should animadvert upon him. Said if he were as the Governor he would humble him though it cost him his head; Speaking with great vehemency just as I parted with him at his Gate." The Thursday Lecture gave opportunity for the expression of the indignation which others felt in common with Mr. Pemberton.
Febr. 5. Mr. Colman preaches the Lecture in Mr. Wadsworth's Turn, from Gal. 5. 25. If we live in the Spirit, let we also Walk in the Spirit. Spake of Envy and Revenge as the Complexion and Con- demnation of the Devil ; Spake of other walking: it blôted our ser- mons, blôted our Prayers, blôted our Admonitions and Exhortations. It might justly put us upon asking our selves whether we did live in the Spirit, whether we were ever truly regenerated, or no. 'Tis reckon'd he lash'd Dr. Mather and Mr. Cotton Mather and Mr. Bridge for what they have written, preach'd and pray'd about the present Contest with the Governor. I heard not of it before, but yesterday Col. Townsend told me of Dr. Mather's Prayer Jany. 25, Wherein he made mention of One in Twenty-Eight being faithfull ; which makes
1 For these letters, see Collections of Mass. Hist. Soc., Ist series, vol. iii. pp. 126-134.
" The letters of the Mathers, father and son, to Governor Dudley, and Dudley's. single reply to both of them, -always excepting some of the documents re- lating to the troubles with the Quakers -are the most embittered in their per- sonalities and invectives of the whole mass of highly seasoned papers which have been preserved in our cabinets. The Mather letters are dated on the same day, January 20, 1707-8. The father contented himself with what cov- ers, in print, two pages of octavo; the son wrote at three times that length. Perfidy, hypocrisy, bribery, cruelty, and corrupt dealing in divers forms are the burden of the charges against the gov- ernor. The reply is to a degree dignified
and moderate, with something of caustic sarcasm in its tone and tenor, especially in its galling reminder to the Mathers that their conceit and assumption of clerical power were well observed by their brethren and by the people gen- erally, and that their glory was for the future to fade. The governor allowed a fortnight to pass before he sent this let- ter, and thus gave his wrath a space for cooling, while he had the advantage of deliberation. During this interval, the fact that the Mathers had written to Dudley in a somewhat pointed way had become noised abroad by one or another of the parties having divulged it, and those most concerned, especially Cotton Mather, were waiting the result." - The Rev. Dr. Geo. E. Ellis, in the Memorial History of Boston, vol. ii. p. 45. (Chapter on the Royal Governors of Mass.)
345
JAMES OR ST. JAMES?
many look on me with an evil eye : supposing Dr. Mather ment my withdrawing my vote of the first of Novr. (Sewall.)
In the autumn following, the state of Mr. Pemberton's health was the cause of anxiety among his people.
Sept. 9. I speak to Mr. Pemberton that a Day of Prayer may be kept respecting his Health. It was mov'd last night at Mr. Josiah SofiaR - frankPm Franklin's at our Meeting, where I read the Eleventh Sermon on the Barren Fig-Tree. Tis the first time of Meeting at his House since he join'd [the meeting].
Decr. 5, 1708. Mr. Nathanael Gookin preaches in the forenoon ; I think every time he mention'd James, twas with prefixing Saint : about 4 or 5 times that I took notice of. I suppose he did it to con- front me, and to assert his own Liberty. Probably he had seen the Letter I writt to Mr. Flint.1 Spake also of Reverence in Gods Wor- ship ; he may partly intend being Cover'd in Sermon-Time : It had better becom'd a person of some Age and Authority to have inter- meddled in things of such a nature. Quadam Confidentia non est vir- tus, at audacia.
Apr. 29. 1709. about 4. post m. the Dragon Frigat arrives at Nan- tasket, in whom come Col. Nicholson, Col. Vetch, Mr. Jonathan Belchar, Mr. Giles Dyer, Mr. Bill, Mr. Walley, Capt. John Alden and others.
Novr. 6th Lord's day ; Mr. Rowland Cotton preach'd in the fore- noon ; Mr. Corwin in the Afternoon. Mr. Pemberton had propounded Hannah Butler to renew her Baptismal Covenant; and now mention'd it, and said she had sin'd scandulously against the 7th Command- ment ; read her Confession immediately, and by the silential vote restored her. I think it is inconvenient, when persons have so fallen, not to give the Church some previous notice of it; that the Brethren may have Opportunity to enquire into the Repentance. An ignorant
1 [Sewall wrote to Henry Flint August 23, 1708, as follows : -
" Sir, I thank you for your good Ser- mon yesterday. The subject is excel- lent, and always seasonable; and now peculiarly so. Continue to pray, that I may have the Integrity and Upright- ness exhorted to; and that I may grow therein.
"Upon this occasion, you will allow me the freedom of speaking what I have lately been often thinking.
" According to the Simplicity of the Gospel, the saying Saint Luke, and
Saint James &c. has been disused in New-England. And to take it up again, is distastefull to me; because it is a Change for the Worse. I have heard it from several ; but to hear it from the Senior Fellow of Harvard College is more surprising ; lest by his Example he should seem to countenance and Au- thorize Inconvenient Innovations. Thus I reckon ; but if reckoning without my Host, I reckon wrong; your Adjusting the Account, will gratify
Sir, your humble Servant
SAMUEL SEWALL."]
346
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
Consent is no Consent. And I understood Mr. Pemberton that he would not go in that way again. Once before he did it, saying he knew not of it when the party was propounded.1
Thursday, Nov. 24. Thanksgiving Day, Mr. Pemberton preached forenoon and Afternoon, from Psal. 29. 3 latter part of the verse. [" The Lord is upon many waters."] In the afternoon he express'd his dislike of the Guns fired by the Ships and Castle, as not sutable for a Day of Thanksgiving.
[1709-10.] Lord's-day, Jany 8. My old Friend Mr. John Hubbard dyes, in the forenoon, just before the Exercise began. Mr. Pemberton makes a pathetical mention of it in his Prayer, and that we might fol- low him so far as he followed Christ ; mention'd him as a real Chris- tian. Madam Hubbard put up a Note. Alias Leverett.2 (Sewall.)
After a silence of five years the church records give us the following votes, and then there is an hiatus until 1718 :-
At a church meeting April 19. 1710
Voted - that the thanks of this church be given to the Honourable John Walley Esqr. Andrew Belcher Esqr. Simeon Stoddard Esqr. Col. Samuel Checkly, and Capt. Thomas Fitch, who were appointed a committee to build a ministerial house, for their great care and pains in building the same ; and that their accounts be allowed, and that the Deacons take care to pay to the said committee one hundred thirty pound, nine shillings and fourpence, which remains due to balance, out of the church stock.
Voted - That in honour to the memory of the Revd. Mr. Saml Willard, our late Pastor, this church do allow some sutable assist- ance to the support of his relict ; and that the Honourable Samuel Sewall Esqr. Peter Sergeant Esqr. Capt Ephraim Savage, Mr. Sam- uel Phillips, be appointed a committee to joyn with the Deacons, to advise and determine what allowance shall be made out of the church stock, to Mrs. Eunice Willard, from time to time, as her circumstances shall require, and our's can allow; and that this committee stand for two years.3
Voted - That our Pastor E. Pemberton be desired to remove into the new ministerial house when, and as soon as he shall see it conve- nient so to do. EBENR. PEMBERTON
Pastor.
1 [We do not find the name of Hannah Butler on any of the church lists. There are no entries on the list for those who owned the covenant between 1706 and 1717.]
2 [Mr. Hubbard was a son of the Rev. William Hubbard, of Ipswich; and his wife was Ann, daughter of Governor
Leverett. They evidently belonged to the South congregation, but we do not find their names on the list of members of the church.]
3 [The church gave Mrs. Willard, for her support, £40 per annum for four years, and £10 for entertaining. See ante, p. 228, note.]
347
THE NEW PARSONAGE COMPLETED.
Why it should have taken five years to complete the new par- sonage,1 we cannot say ; perhaps the money was not forthcom- ing, or, there may have been the feeling that it was not needed immediately. We pre- sent a plan of the 2274 ground floor as drawn by Thomas Dawes in r 1770.
[1710.] April, 30. Lord's day : In the Evening be- 42.84. fore the dismission of the Assembly ; Mr. Pem- berton said, The Minis- ters of the Town had ap- pointed next Thorsday to be kept as a Fast for Rain ; to turn the Lec- ture into a Fast; and God's beginning to send Rain would not be a discouragement. (Sewall.)
22f 6in
445 612
Mr. Pemberton preached the Election Sermon on the 31st of May, from the words "I have said, Ye are gods, but ye shall die like men." His subject was: The Divine Original and Dignity of Government Asserted ; and an Advantageous Pros- pect of the Rulers Mortality Recommended. There was a dinner afterward at the Green Dragon. On the 5th of July Joseph Sewall took his Master's degree at Cambridge. In Au- gust he preached his first sermon in the South meeting-house.
Augt. 15. p. m I pray'd with Joseph in Cous. Dummer's Chamber, respecting his being call'd to preach for Mr. Pemberton the next Lord's Day at the South-Meeting-house. Then I read the 13th of Matthew and Joseph concluded with Prayer. I hope God heard us.
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