USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Old South church (Third church) Boston, 1669-1884, Vol. III > Part 45
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1 [Sewall's Commonplace Book, MS. in the Prince Library belonging to the Old South Church.]
395
MR. PRINCE'S ORDINATION.
account ; that they may do it with joy, and not with grief : for that is unprofitable for you." 1] Mr. Sewall pray'd. Dr. Incr. Mather ask'd if any had to object : ask'd the Church Vote who were in the Gallery fronting the Pulpit. Ask'd Mr. Prince's Acceptance of the Call. Dr. Increase Mather, Dr. Cotton Mather, Mr. Wadsworth, Colman, Sewall lay their Hands on his head. Dr. Incr. Mather Prays: Gives the Charge, Prays agen. Dr. Cotton Mather gives the Right Hand of Fellowship. Dr. Incr. Mather, when he declared whom the elders and Messengers had appointed to do it, [said] that it was a good Prac- tice. Sung Psal. 68. 17-20. [" The chariots of God are twenty thou- sand," etc.] Mr. Prince gave the Blessing. Govr. Dudley and his Lady came in about the beginning of Sermon. Entertainment was at Mr. Sewall's, which was very plentifull and splendid.2 (Sewall.)
More than forty years were to pass before there would be another ordination at the Old South, and they were to be years of great religious prosperity. Mr. Prince had been supplying the pulpit with more or less regularity ever since his return from England, so that the transition to the full pastoral relation was an easy and natural one. He preached his first sermon after his ordination, Sunday afternoon, October 12, from Psalm Ixxi. 14-17: "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 de- clared thy wondrous works." On Sunday, October 19, he ad- ministered the ordinance of baptism for the first time.
The Rev. Samuel Fisk, who was the first choice of a minority of the members of the South Church, had previously received a call to the New South, but had declined it. He was afterward settled at Salem. The new church in Summer Street now came to its older namesake for a minister, in the person of Mr. Samuel Checkley, son of Deacon Samuel Checkley, and grandson of Joshua Scottow. Mr. Checkley graduated at Harvard College in 1715 ; he served as minister of the New South for fifty years, and was a very excellent man. His daughter, Elizabeth, mar- ried Samuel Adams, the patriot, who wrote of her in the family Bible, at the time of her death in 1757: " She ran her Christian race with a remarkable steadiness and finished it in triumph."
1 [Of this ordination sermon the Rev. 2 [The charge on the deacons' books for wine used on this occasion was &5. 17. 3.]
Charles Chauncy said that no ordinary man could have written it.]
396
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
April 15. Mr. Samuel Checkley was Ordain'd ; Five Churches in Town, and Cambridge were sent to. Dr. Increase Mather gave the Members of the church the Covenant, and then Ordain'd ; Dr. Cotton Mather gave the Right Hand of Fellowship. Mr. Wadsworth began with Prayer, Mr. Checkley preached, Mr. Colman prayed. After the Ordination the first and last Staves of 122. Psalm were Sung. Mr. Boon set Windsor Tune, and read it well. Dr. Incr. Mather, Dr. C. Mather, Mr. Wadsworth, Colman, and Sewall, laid on Hands. (Sewall.)
This was the sixth Congregational church in the town; it began with forty-four members, of whom Samuel Adams, Thomas Peck, John Clough, and perhaps others came from the Old South.
April 17. South Church Meeting p. m. Choose two Deacons ; Mr. Barthol. Green, Mr. Danl Henchman. Voters 41. Mr. Green had 37. Mr. Henchman 19. Mr. Franklin Io. I was afraid we should have been hindered by Lethered's Arrival, 5. weeks passage ; but it prov'd otherwise. Laus Deo. Mr. Sewall began, and Mr. Prince concluded with Prayer. (Sewall.)
Mr. Green was the principal printer of the town and country for forty years. He married, as his second wife, in 1710, Jane Tappan, a niece of Judge Sewall. It was said of him at the time of his death in 1732: "He was a person generally known and esteemed among us, as a very humble and exemplary Chris- tian, one who had much of that primitive Christianity in him, which has always been the distinguishing glory of New Eng- land." Mr. Henchman was a grandson of Daniel Henchman, one of the early members of the church. He was the enter- prising bookseller who caused the first edition in America of the English Bible to be printed. His daughter Lydia married Thomas Hancock, and gave the land in Court Street on which the parsonage of Brattle Street Church stood for many years.1
On the evening of Thanksgiving Day, October 29, Judge Sewall was married to Abigail, widow of William Tilly. On the following evening, Mr. Prince was married at the house of Mr. Daniel Oliver, to Deborah Denny, who had been a member of his congregation at Coombs, in England, and who, with her
1 Daniel Henchman's name does not appear at all on the register of member- ship ; and Bartholomew Green's appears under date of June 21, 1719, two months after his election to the office of deacon. We suppose that the omission of the latter name was discovered and the entry
made at this date, but the omission in the case of Mr. Henchman does not seem to have been noticed. Bartholomew Green, Jr., was baptized September I, 1700, and owned the covenant January 2, 1725. Lydia Henchman was baptized October 10, 1714.
397
MR. PRINCE'S MARRIAGE.
brother and some friends, had sailed with him in the same ship on his return to New England.1 She was about twenty-one years of age at the time of her marriage, and ten years younger than her husband. In anticipation of this marriage the church had recently taken action, asking Mrs. Pemberton to vacate the new parsonage, and placing it at the disposal of Mr. Sewall, and assigning the old one to Mr. Prince. From this time forward, the church records are more full, for which we are indebted to Mr. Sewall, who seems to have had the methodical habits of his father.
At a chh. meeting Octr. 2. 1719.
Voted-That our Pastor Joseph Sewall be desired to Remove into the new Ministerial House, as soon as he conveniently may, and shall see meet so to doe.
Voted - That the Gentlemen of the Fore Seats with the Deacons, be a Committee to Notify Mrs. Pemberton of the above mention'd Vote, and to desire her to Comply with it as soon as she can with convenience.
Voted - That the Deacons, or any two of them be empowered to receive the Legacy given this church, by the Honorable Andrew Belcher Esqr deceased, for the use of the Church, and give a Dis- charge to the Executor accordingly.
Voted - That the Summ of forty Pounds be given out of the Church Stock, to Mrs. Mary Pemberton, in consideration of her being the Relict of the Rev'd Mr. Ebenezer Pemberton, our late Pastor ; And that this summ be Presented to her by the above mention'd Com- mittee.
Voted - That the Summ of twenty Pounds be given by the Deacons to Mrs. Eunice Willard out of the Church Stock, in consideration of her being the Relict of the Revd. Mr. Samuel Willard, formerly our Pastor.
Voted - That three Pounds, five Shillings pr. Week, be allow'd and by the Deacons paid, to Mr. Joseph Sewall, our Reverend Pastor.
1 The Martha and Hannah brought as cabin passengers, besides Mr. Prince, Stephen Barford and William Argent, from Cambridgeshire; James Southgate, his wife and three daughters, Richard Southgate, his wife, two sons, and three daughters, Dorcas and Margaret South- gate, Rebecca Harvey, Samuel Denny and Deborah Denny, all, as we suppose, from Suffolk. There were also four steerage passengers and twelve men- servants. The Southgates and Dennys seem to have been peculiarly attached to
Mr. Prince, and according to Dr. Sewall they were influenced to migrate to this country by a desire to remain under his ministry. Elizabeth Southgate, a mem- ber of one of these families, joined the South Church April 2, 1721. Samuel Denny went to Maine, and became Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Lin- coln County. His brother Daniel after- ward settled in Leicester, Mass., where some of the Southgates had gone to live. Judge Sewall speaks of visiting a Mr. Southgate at Leicester in 1718.
398
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
Voted - That three Pounds, five Shillings pr. Week, be allow'd and paid to Mr. Thomas Prince, our Revd Pastor from the time of his marriage ; And that he be desir'd by the Committee afore mention'd, to remove into one of the ministerial houses of this Church, as soon as may be.1
Voted - That the Honble Jonathan Belcher Esqr. be joyn'd with the Seaters.
Voted - That a Committee be annually chosen to Audit the Dea- cons' accounts ; And that they annually make a Report to the church.
Voted - That the Honble Thomas Fitch, Jonathan Belcher, and Daniel Oliver Esqrs. be appointed a Committee for Auditing the Dea- cons' accounts for the ensuing year.
Voted
I. It is just and reasonable that such Persons as enjoy the Privi- lege of the Pews and best Seats in the Meeting House, doe contribute agreeably to Support the Worship of God there.
2. That such as claim or pretend to any right in such Pews or Seats, and doe not constantly or usually attend on the Worship of God there, or doe neglect their duty in Contributing as aforesaid, may not expect the continuance of such a Privilege : but ought to give way to such as doe constantly attend, and support the Worship of God there.
3. That when any persons are remov'd from their Pews or Seats, and others placed therein, they are to be reimbursed their first cost or charge, according to our former Settlement.
4. That the Overseers or Seaters (who have power to dispose and regulate these affairs), are desired and directed, to pursue these and the former Votes of the Church relating to these Affairs, and it is ex- pected that all Persons concern'd, do conform thereunto, for the good and peace of the Church.2
JOSEPH SEWALL THOMAS PRINCE.
1 [A scrap of paper has been pre- served, and now belongs to Mr. David Pulsifer, which shows us how Mr. Prince divided his time, day by day : --
"1719 Oct. 30. I marry.
Nov. 10 we begin to keep House. My Proposed Order.
I. At 5 a Get up and go into my Study
2. Pray and read in the orig. Bible till 6 and then call up the Family.
3. At 6} Go to Family Prayers and only the Porringer of Chocolat for Breakfast till 7
4. At 7 go into my study till 12} and then do something about House till I, to Dinner ; except on Thurs-
day, study till 103, then Dress and at II to Lecture.
5. Dine at I.
6. at 2 Dress and go abroad till candle- Light. Except Wednesday, after Dinner, Do something about House ; Saturday, after Dinner, visit at Dr. Sewall's till 2} and then Home to study.
7. at candle Light and Study to 93. at 9} go to Family Prayers and so to Bed
N B. I eat no supper."]
2 [There was a sharp controversy be- tween Sampson Sheaffe and the widow of Robert Gibbs, about the ownership
399
THE OVERSEERS OF SEATS.
Whether this last vote, in four sections, refers to the action taken by the church in 1685,1 or to anything later and un- recorded, we not know. It is evident, however, that under the ministrations of the two young men, whose joint pastorate was to constitute perhaps the most brilliant epoch in the history of the church, the congregation had already increased to such an extent that every sitting counted, and in justice to those who desired accommodation it became necessary that perma-
of a pew which had been fitted up for Richard Wharton in 1686, and which was one of the most eligible in the meeting- house. The following document, some- thing like a brief, has been preserved; it was submitted to the overseers of seats in the spring of 1719, and was prepared, as we suppose, by Jacob Sheaffe : -
" An Account of Sundry Persons that is ready to give Evidence Concerning Mr Sheafs Right to his pew, in Controversy with Mrs Gibbs.
" I. Madam Winthrop Widdow Saith She Knows the pew to be Mr Sheafs Right.
" 2 Mr Benja : Emmons Saith the Same.
"3 Mr Jno Kilby Shopkeepers Wife Saith that Mr Robert Gibbs Deceased in his Life time hath often told her that it was his Uncill Mr Sheafs Pew and that he Sat there only during his Pleasure.
"4 Mrs Mary Alden widdow saith She was pressent at Mr Nathaniel Williams's when Mrs Sheafe gave Mrs Gibbs Leave to Sett in Said Pew.
" 5 Mrs Cook Sayes She has often Satt at Said Pew Dore in the Heat of Sum- mer and that Mrs Gibbs hath often handed her out of said Pew a Stool to sett on, and would often say to her she made bould to hand her a Stool, but it was her Aunts Pew and Stools.
"6 Deacon Draper Sayes he Remem- bers the fitting up said Pew for Mr Wharton.
" 7 Mrs Sherrer Sayes She Heard her Father Wharton bid the Carpenters (that fitted up Said Pew) when they Came for a Lock for it) that they must go to Mr Sheafe for a Lock, for it was his Pew.
"8 Mr Sampson Sheafe has often ten- dered to You to give his Oath to his Right to said Pew, and that he bought it
as Lawfully as any was bought in the Church and that He Had the Consent of Mr Willard, the Deacons and others Immediately concerned in that Affaire.
"9 That the Plaïne Record ta-k-en about Thirty four Years Past by Judge Sewall Esqr one [own] Hand writing (which was Long before any of the Gibbs'es ever had Leave to Sett in said Pew) Plainly Show's it to be Mr Sheafs Pew.
" So Gentlemen, I think Every Circum- stance with the Plaine Record And Mr Sampson Sheafs Carrector and Reputa- tion (who Tenders to give his Oath to his Right to said Pew) considered will I hope be a plain and Sufficient Evidence to Shew the Pew to be his, and that you will Accordingly use Some Speedy Methods that He and his Wife and children may sett Quietly and Peaceably therein for the future."
Other loose papers have been pre- served, with notes of the proceedings at the overseers' meetings, at this time. On one of them we find, " A List of such as want Seats, Mr. George Bethune, Mr. Oxenbridge Thatcher, Mr. John Walley, Brasier, Mr. Nicholas Davis, Mr. Francis Willoughby." On another : " To be In- vited to sit in the Front Gallery, Mr. Francis Willoughby, Capt. John Gerrish, Mr. Saml Gerrish, with Mr. Borland, Mr. Bethune, Mr. Ox. Thatcher, Mr. Wigglesworth, Capt. Nichs, Davis."}
1 See ante, pp. 253, 254. It is evi- dent from the record that the church recognized an ownership in pews as prop- erty, with certain limitations obviously necessary to the perpetuity and best prosperity of the church itself. The rules of the Old South society to-day, in this regard, vary little from those adopted two hundred years ago.
400
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
nent absentees should make way for them. But even this re- quirement only met the emergency for the time; and in the course of a year or two it was proposed to enlarge the meeting- house, and the valuation of the pews was very considerably ad- vanced.
Mrs. Willard, whom the church generously remembered twelve years after the death of her husband, died January 14, 1720.1 On the 27th of the same month, the Rev. Peter Thacher, of Weymouth, a grandson of the first minister of the South Church, was installed as colleague pastor with the Rev. John Webb, at the New North Church. There was very decided opposition to this settlement on the part of many in the church, the only avowed reason being that it was not right for a wealth- ier congregation to entice away a minister from a poorer one. " Weymouth," they said, "in God's sight, is as precious as Bos- ton ; and the souls there, of as great worth as the souls here. And to the common objection, that it is a pity that Mr. Thacher, being so bright a light, should smoke out his days in so much obscurity, we answer, first, bright lights shine brightest in the. darkest places ; and, secondly, bright lights are the obscurer for burning in a room where there are more, and as bright."
"No other adequate motive," says Dr. Chandler Robbins, " can be assigned for their opposition or their subsequent doings. Mr. Thacher himself was in all respects such a minister as would be likely to please their taste, to gratify their pride, and to build up the church. There was nothing objectionable in Mr. Webb, to excite their aversion. Nor do I find in any quarter so much as a hint that there were any latent causes of division previ- ously existing between the members of the society themselves." Taking the church and congregation together, the two parties were nearly equal ; and for this reason alone it might have been better if the friends of Mr. Thacher, in the interest of peace and fellowship, had withdrawn his name, or at least had post- poned final action for a time. The vote of the church, after a day spent in fasting and prayer, was thirty-four out of forty- four for Mr. Thacher. A week later, when the congregation came together to vote, six church members and thirty-nine others of the congregation protested, and immediately with- drew, taking their written protest with them. Forty-six persons
1 " Jan. 18 1719-20 Madam Willard Prince. Govr had a scarf, Col. Taylor was buried. Bearers, Dr. Cotton Mather, Wadsworth ; Colman, Williams ; Sewall,
went with him, I and Col. Townsend &c." (Sewall.)
40I
THE NEW NORTH CHURCH.
remained, all of whom voted for Mr. Thacher. A few days before the time fixed for the installation services, the " aggrieved brethren," by the advice of the Boston ministers, proposed that the difficulty should be referred to a mutually called council. The church declined this proposal, on the twofold ground that it came too late, and that it came in a wrong way. "It seems strange," says Dr. Robbins further, "that the New North Church and its pastor should have persisted in their purpose of settling Mr. Thacher against the wishes of so large a portion of the congregation, against the unanimous advice of the clergy of the town, against the general sense of the religious commu- nity, and at the risk of their own dismemberment. There can be no reasonable doubt that, by a more moderate and pacific course on their part, the difficulty might have been healed, and those subsequent disturbances prevented which are a perpetual disgrace to all who were concerned in them. The counsel of such men as the two Mathers, Benjamin Wadsworth, Joseph Sewall, Thomas Prince, and William Cooper - all of them names justly celebrated in the churches of Boston - was pre- cisely such as the spirit of Christianity would have dictated." The substance of this counsel, addressed to the disaffected brethren, but intended for all, was: " A patient waiting may cool and calm spirits that are discomposed and heated. Time, by the help of God, may give more light to us, to you, to Mr. Thacher, Mr. Webb, and the New North, in the present affair, than we have hitherto had." But the majority proceeded to the installation, as undoubtedly they had the right to do. Whether it was expedient for them thus to act is another question.
It seem only Mr. Thacher of Milton and Mr. Chiever of Rumney- Marsh acted in the Installment of Mr. Thacher. For though Mr. Fisk [of Salem] was here with his Delegats ; two of them, Mr. Lynde and Mr. Osgood (three came not; Col. Browne, Daniel Epes esqr., Mr. Timothy Lindal) yet the church had limited them so that they saw not cause to Act. And Mr. Thacher is his Unkle. It seems there was a long and shamefull Tumultuous disturbance in the Meeting-house. Mr. Thacher of Milton pray'd ; Mr. Thacher of Weymouth preach'd from Psal. 57. 2. I will cry - After the church had voted him the Pastor, and Mr. Thacher had accepted ; Mr. Chiever declar'd him to be the Pastor of that church : No Psalm was sung. Col. Taylor, Townsend, Fitch, Secretary [Willard] were there. Mr. Leverett [Pres- ident] acted not because Mr. Appleton the Pastor [of Cambridge] was not present. And none from Charlestown. (Sewall.)
402
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
The " shamefull tumultuous disturbance " mentioned above was made by the disaffected members of the church, and not by any of the elders and messengers of the churches invited to participate in the service of installation. These latter, with the exception of Mr. Thacher, of Milton, and Mr. Cheever, of Rum- ney Marsh, absented themselves from services in which they could not conscientiously and cordially participate. The settle- ment of the colleague pastor, therefore, can hardly be called a settlement by council; it was, in effect, a settlement by the church itself, and as such, afterward, it was accepted and justi- fied. The controversy brought out a large number of pamphlets and printed documents, among the rest one by Increase Mather on " the usefulness and necessity of councils, in order to pre- serving peace and truth in the churches." On the other side, a " declaration " was published by Mr. Webb and Mr. Thacher, in which it was asserted that " it is an essential right belonging to particular churches to enjoy a free liberty, within themselves, duly and regularly to inquire " into their own affairs, "and to judge upon them as becometh creatures endued with reason and conscience, who are ever to be supposed more nearly con- cerned for their own spiritual interests, than others can be sup- posed to be for them; " at any rate, "they ought to have the privilege reserved unto them of regularly determining when and in what cases to call in the help of their brethren."
That consistent Congregationalist, Dr. Clark, from whom we have quoted several times in these pages, thus refers to these proceedings in his Historical Sketch : -
The fact that the writers on both sides appeal to the Cambridge Platform, as they do with great earnestness, in support of their conflict- ing views, is evidence of at least an apparent discrepancy between its different parts, which we have before had occasion to notice. But the fact that the New North Church was sustained in its proceedings by a strong public sentiment, under which the disaffected party were constrained to withdraw and form a separate church (the New Brick), also shows that in those days the key-note of Congregationalism - its leading idea, to which all other ideas embraced in the system were to be held subordinate and subservient - was the right of a church to manage its own affairs ; that whatever power the Cambridge Platform confers on synods and councils cannot be truly interpreted, nor law- fully exercised, to the prejudice of this right ; "that, according to the constitution of these churches," to quote the words of Messrs. Webb and Thacher, " neither the declaration of ministers nor of councils to any particular church is to be received by it as law only to be under-
403
PRIMITIVE CONGREGATIONALISM.
stood and so obeyed, but as counsel to be advised on, weighed, and determined upon according to the word of God, by the body of Chris- tians to whom it is made ; though we freely confess the affair ought to be managed with the greatest honour and respect to those that give their advice in a solemn way and manner, as well as with a due regard totheir own both Christian liberty and holy edification." In short, the issue to which this controversy came most clearly shows that as late as 1720 it was a prevailing sentiment in Massachusetts that each particular church is the seat and source of whatever ecclesiastical power belongs to Congregationalists ; and that synods, councils, con- sociations, and whatever cther machinery may be found convenient and helpful in the working of our system, or deemed essential to the " well-being of the churches," are to be so used as in no wise to inter- fere with the free exercise of this power.
Whatever different views we may have of the expediency of settling a pastor under the forbidding circumstances which beset the New North Church in settling Mr. Thacher, it must be confessed that, as defenders of a great principle lying at the foundation of our church polity, they were clearly in the right and did a good service; and it was by losing sight of primitive Congregationalism, and looking solely at modern usage as an exponent of Congregational law, that Mr. Ware, in his notice of their proceedings, could have reached the con- clusion that " they were clearly in the wrong "- which Mr. Robbins, in his valuable History of the Second Church, has inadvertently admitted.1
May 25. Election, the Revd Mr. Stone Preach'd from Rom. 13. 3. For Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Lord ever grant thy people such to rule over them. The Ministers met at my House.2
May 26. They Met again this Morning. Voted that a Sermon shou'd be preached annually to the Ministers on the Day following
1 [Clark's Hist. Sketch, pp. 134, 135. Dr. Robbins's remark, quoting the Rev. Henry Ware, Jr., is as follows : "Mr. Ware's opinion seems to me perfectly correct, viz. : ' that the New North peo- ple wrote with most moderation, though they were clearly in the wrong ; while the advocates of the New Brick, though on the right side, lost all command of their temper.' "
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