USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Old South church (Third church) Boston, 1669-1884, Vol. III > Part 50
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441
THE REV. OLIVER PEABODY.
given to Anthony Stoddard Esq. Deacon Henchman and Mr. James Pemberton, who were appointed a committee to receive the Legacy bequeathed to this church by Mrs. Anne Mills ; for their care and pains taken in that Affair.
JOSEPH SEWALL.1
" In consideration of the danger the town and country " were "in from the small pox," the "Friday lecture [October 31] at Mr. Colman's was turned into a day of prayer." Mr. Webb preached in the morning, from the words, " Prepare to meet thy God;" and Mr. Colman, in the afternoon, from the text, "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim ?"
Dec. 17. Mr. Peabody was Ordain'd to the Pastoral Office over the Church in Natick - consisting of 4 English and 3 Indians. Mr. Appleton began with Prayr. Mr. Coleman being Confined by Illness, I preach'd from Jer. 3. 15. I will give you Pastors. Mr. Baxter gave the Charge. Mr. Williams (westown) the right Hand of Fellowship and Concluded with Prayr. O Lord Bless this little Flock, and let there be added to them many of such as shall be Saved. Pour out thy Spirit on thy Servant, that he may approve himself a Pastor after thine Heart. Turn the poor Indians from darkness to light. O when shall the time to Favour them come ! (J. Sewall.)
At a church Meeting Decr 30. 1729.
Voted ; - I. That the last Possessors who had a right to Pews in the Old Meeting House, and desire a consideration in the New Meet- ing House, shall bring in their claims and desires in writing to Deacon Henchman on or before the 20th of Janry next ; that there may be such allowance made to them as the church shall determine.
II. That the Honble. Coll. Fitch, and Anthony Stoddard Esq., with the committee for building, be a committee to consider and propose to the church, the tenure and conditions by which persons are to hold their Pews, and such Rules and Orders as are needfull about them ; To number and value the Pews below and in the Galleries, and to propose the way and method for the Disposition of them.
III. That no person be allowed to enter and take possession of any pew before he produce to the above said committee a certificate or Receipt under the Treasurer's hand, that he hath paid the price of it. JOSEPH SEWALL.
The new meeting-house was nearly ready for occupancy, but Judge Sewall did not live to take possession of it with his brethren. How he felt after the work of demolition and of re- construction had been fairly entered upon, we do not know ; but
1 [Oct 29. " We had a Church Meet- Difficulties ! Let the Building be speedily ing. O Lord pity us under our present finish'd may it be thy Will." (J. Sewall.)]
442
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
perhaps it was well that he should not long survive the hallowed walls within which he had worshipped for more than fifty years.
He "had served his own gen- eration by the will of God;" and another generation had now come forward, which, with the new house of worship, would desire other new things to which he might be unable to give his approval. With a different administration, there was to be the same spirit ; the inner life of the church was to be as it had been from the be- ginning, although some of the outer conditions and accesso- ries would be changed. But all this Judge Sewall, if he had lived much longer, might not have been able to understand ; and like Simon Bradstreet and Joshua Scottow,1 both of whom he had helped to lay in their peaceful graves many years before, he might have shed "old men's tears " over the degener- acy of the times. As it was, he had attained to a venerable age; he was seventeen years old when the South Church was founded, and he had sat under the preaching of its first five ministers ;2 he took his bachelor's degree at college under Presi- 2
1 Joshua Scottow died January 20, 1698. In 1691 he wrote a pamphlet, enti- tled " Old Men's Tears for their own De- clensions, mingled with Fears of their and Posterities further falling off from New England's Primitive Constitution. Pub- lished by some of Boston's Old Planters and some others." In 1694 he printed a larger work, " A Narrative of the plant- ing of the Massachusetts Colony, Anno 1628," and dedicated it to Simon Brad- street. Both publications are full of lamentations over the prevailing degen- eracy from the principles and practices of the fathers.
2 In the communion service of the Old South, there is a flagon, represented
above, on which the Sewall arms and the date 1730 are engraved, and which was given, no doubt, to commemorate Judge Sewall's membership in the church. The late Rev. Samuel Sewall, of Bur- lington, Mass., in a memoir of his ances- tor printed in 1841, in the American Quarterly Review, said : " The arms of John Seawale, Sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire, 1380, are thus described by Fuller : 'S. (sable) cheveron betwixt three gadd-bees argent,' which are pre- cisely the same with those handed down by painting, tradition, or otherwise among all the Sewalls now known to reside in New England and Lower Can- ada, as their family arms."
443
DEATH OF SAMUEL SEWALL.
dent Chauncy, and his master's degree under President Hoar, and he had seen six later presidents ; he had lived under twelve governors and acting governors, and had served under nine of them. He had been a member of the judiciary forty-four years, and for ten years chief justice of the province. He had seen his son installed as one of the pastors of the church in which he had labored and prayed so long, and which he loved so well. How important and how lasting a work he had done for this church, in committing so much of its early history to paper, he could not have had the faintest conception, nor have his succes- sors in the membership understood until very recently. Had he foreseen this, he certainly would have said, in the words of Israel, what indeed he might well have said as it was, "It is enough." After " about a month's languishment," he died, on the Ist of January, 1729-30, in the seventy-eighth year of his age.
Dec 26. My Father seems to grow weaker. At different times He repeated to me the Creed and the Lord's prayr. Mention'd that text, If any man Sin, we have an advocate with the Father. When ask'd what wee should Pray for- Answer, to this Effect, that he might follow the Captain of his salvation. In general, He speaks but little.
Dec 29. I read to him 11 John 23-27 &c. My Father took notice and spake of what was read - that we were beholden to Martha. Spake of the brazen Serpent- of Looking to Jesus- He the only remedy.
Jan I. I was call'd up about 4 cl. (or something before) found my Father dying. He seem'd to enjoy the use of his reason. I pray'd with him, then Mr. Cooper. C[ousin] Chauncy came in and Pray'd. My Honoured and dear Father Expir'd about 35 minutes after 5 A. M. Near the time in which 29 years agoe, He was so affected upon the Beginning of this Century, when he made those Verses to usher in the New Year, Once more our God vouchsafe to Shine. (J. Sewall.)
On the following Lord's day, at the Old Brick, where the con- gregations of the First and Third Churches were worshipping together, Mr. Chauncy preached in the morning, from John xi. 25 : "He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live ;" and, says Mr. Sewall, " made an honorable mention of my father." Mr. Prince preached in the afternoon, from Isaiah lvii. I : " The righteous perisheth." The funeral took place on Wednesday the 7th. " Bearers, the Honble Coll. Tailor, Simeon Stoddard, Judge Davenport, Coll. Fitch, Daniel Oliver. Mr. Bromfield was appointed ; but being ill, Mr. Secretary Willard
444
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
stood in his Room. A fair cold Day." On Thursday, Mr. Prince preached the Lecture in Mr. Sewall's turn, and took for his text, I Sam. vii. 15-17: " And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all those places. And his return was to Ramah; for there was his house : and there he judged Israel, and there he built an altar unto the Lord." "Gave my Father a modest and true Char- acter."1 On Sunday the 11th, Mr. Sewall preached to the same congregations as above, from Psalm xxvii. 10: "When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up."
In recognition of the long and eminent services of Samuel Sewall in church and state, the members of the Old South, in 1884, placed a memorial tablet upon the walls of their present meeting-house ; other commemorative tablets were erected at the same time, and appropriate addresses were made Sunday evening, October 26, which were printed.2
Stately and slow, with thoughtful air, His black cap hiding his whitened hair, Walks the Judge of the great Assize, Samuel Sewall the good and wise. His face with lines of firmness wrought, He wears the look of a man unbought,
1 The News-Letter which contains the notice of his death gives the following epitome of his character : -
" He was universally and greatly rev- erenc'd, esteemed and beloved among us for his eminent Piety, Learning and Wis- dom; his grave and venerable Aspect and Carriage ; his instructive, affable and cheerful Conversation ; his strict Integ- rity and regard to Justice ; his extraor- dinary tender and compassionate Heart ; his neglect of the World ; his abundant Liberality ; his catholick and publick Spirit ; his critical Acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures in their inspir'd origi- nals; his Zeal for the purity of instituted Worship; his constant, diligent and rev- erent Attendance on it, both in the Church and Family; his Love for the Churches, People and Ministers, the civil and religious Interests of this Coun- try ; his tender Concern for the aboriginal Natives ; and as the Crown of all, His Moderation, Peaceableness and Humil- ity ; which being all united in the same
Person, and in an high Degree and Station, rendered Him one of the most shining Lights and Honours of the Age and Land wherein He lived ; and worthy of a very distinguishing regard in the New English Histories."
Judge Sewall left no will. His sons, Samuel and Joseph, and his son-in-law, the Rev. Mr. Cooper, administered on his estate. Samuel inherited the man- sion house and occupied it. He and his wife, Rebecca, had joined the South Church, May 12, 1728.
2 For an appreciative and affectionate estimate of Judge Sewall's character, see the address on this occasion by the Rev. George E. Ellis, D. D., LL. D., now president of the Mass. Hist. Society. The members of the Old South are under lasting obligation to Dr. Ellis, and the other editors of the Sewall Papers and Letters, for the labor performed by them in preparing the five volumes for publi- cation and in carrying them through the press.
445
IN MEMORY OF SAMUEL SEWALL.
Who swears to his hurt, and changes not ; Yet, touched and softened nevertheless With the grace of Christian gentleness, The face that a child would climb to kiss ! True and tender and brave and just, That man might honor and woman trust. (Whittier.)
SAMUEL SEWALE COUNCILLOR JUDGE CHIEF JUSTICE
FORPIPTY THREE YEARS A MEMBER WAR THIS CHURCH BORN MARCH 28 1652 DIED JANUARY 11730
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S
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CHAPTER IX.
1730-1740.
THE NEW MEETING-HOUSE. COLLECTIONS FOR CHARITA- BLE USES.
T HE new meeting-house was not finished as soon as had been expected, but twelve or thirteen months does not seem a very long time in which to remove an old building and erect a new one, such as this was, in its place. The various questions relating to the pews, old and new, re- quired much thought and care, but they were at length satisfac-
447
TENURE OF PEW PROPERTY.
torily adjusted, and principles were agreed upon to regulate the tenure and transfer of pew property.1
At a church Meeting [at Mr. Sewall's house] Febr. 3. 1729-30.
Voted - That the committee for disposing of the collection for pious and charitable uses, are desired to expend such a part of the stock as they shall judge proper for the supply of the present necessi- ties of the poor of this church and congregation.
JOSEPH SEWALL.
Feb. 3. We have the joy full News that Mr. Belcher is appointed our Governor. O Lord ! Pour thy Spirit on thy Servant, and bring him in safety and make him a great Blessing to us. (J. Sewall.)
At a church Meeting Febr. 9. 1729-30.
Pursuant to a vote of Febr. 27. 1727-8, There was an allowance made to such possessors of Pews in the Old Meeting-House as did not see cause to resign their claims. JOSEPH SEWALL.
[No date.]
Voted - That the two Pews at the right and left hand of the Dea- cons' Seat, fronting on the broad Alley, be set apart for the use of the Ministry.
[No date.]
These proposalls were offer'd to the church by the committee ap- pointed to consider the tenure and conditions upon which Persons are to hold their Pews &c: And after they had been distinctly read and considered, were voted as follows.
Voted -. I. That a committee be appointed, and from time to time continued, to order and regulate the Pews and Seats in the Meeting- House, and other matters relating to said House.
II. That all persons keep the seats and places assigned them by the said committee, and remove not to any other seat or place, without their appointment or approbation ; that so good order and decency may be observed.
III. That no Pew shall be appropriated to any particular Person or
1 The following receipt shows the conditions upon which pew property was owned in Brattle Street Church when it was founded : -
BOSTON 30 April 1700
Received then of Mr. John Pitts the summe of fifteen pound for a pew in the New Church in Brattle Street, No 22, being that next the West dore on the left hand as one enters said Church ; To have and enjoy the said pew to him and his heirs, so long as he or they shall con-
stantly come to said Church, and con- tribute thereto ; in default thereof, to re- sign up said pew unto the Committee for said Church for the time being, they al- lowing said Pitts or his heirs what he now gives for the same, I say received for the use and behoof of said Church
p THO. BRATTLE Treasurer of said Church.
See Pitts MISS. in the possession of Mr. Daniel Goodwin, Jr., of Chicago.
448
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
Family, but such as at present are, or hereafter shall be of the con- stant Auditory, and Contributors to the support of the Ministry.
IV. That every Person to whom a Pew or part of a pew is or shall be assigned, shall be obliged in proportion to the Privilege they enjoy, to contribute for the Honourable support of the worship of God, as well as other necessary charges.
V. That every Proprietor and their Heirs, shall hold their respec- tive Pews so long as they shall comply with the aforesaid conditions of their Tenure ; and in default thereof, that such Pews revert to the church upon their paying the original cost to said Proprietors, their Executors or Administrators.
VI. That no seat or Pew appropriated to any Person shall be trans- ferr'd or disposed of by such person to another without the approba- tion and allowance of the committee for the time being first had for the same.
VII. Upon the death or removal of any Proprietor, such Pew shall be in the disposition of the committee, upon their paying to such per- sons, his Executor, or Administrators, the first cost and charge by him disbursed for it ; but if the church shall refuse to pay for the same, for the space of two months after an offer thereof made them, the Owner may dispose of it to some other Person that shall be acceptable to the committee.
VIII. Altho' Pews may not be accounted an Estate in Fee, abso- lutely, yet it is but equal that they descend to children ; but if during their minority they are not able to perform what is incumbent upon them, the seaters may place others with them in such Pews, untill such time as they arrive to full age or shall contribute as aforesaid.
IX. That all vacancies in the seats be filled from time to time, by the committee or seaters for the time being.
X. It is justly expected that every Person or family that enjoy a whole Pew below, should not contribute less than five Pounds, four shillings per annum and proportionably for a part; and those in the Gallery, in proportion to the value or cost of them. But withall, it is desired and expected that such as are in superior circumstances, will not confine themselves to that sum ; but will manifest their Liberality agreeable to their condition.
XI. If at any time the right or property of any Pew, or a part of one, should by descent or otherwise, Be vested in, or claimed by any person that enjoys a whole Pew, it shall be in the power of the com- mittee to dispose of it to any other suitable person, paying the cost thereof to him to whom of right it belongs.
JOSEPH SEWALL
THOMAS PRINCE.
449
" REMOVE TO OUR NEW HOUSE."
At a church Meeting March 20 1729-30.
The Valuation of the Pews on the Floor and in the Galleries of the New Meeting House, was accepted and voted.
Severall Articles reported by the committee for seating, relating to the Disposal of the Pews on the Floor and in the Galleries of the New Meeting House were distinctly considered and accepted : And the said committee are impowered to dispose of the Pews accordingly.
The said committee are also desired and impowered to Dispose of the Seats in the New Meeting House.
These particulars were voted.
JOSEPH SEWALL.1
Lord's Day April 19. 1730.
The church voted that they would Assemble for publick Worship in the New Meeting House, God willing, the next Lord's Day.
And the congregation was notified accordingly, P. M.
After the Congregation was dismissed, a letter was read to the church and accepted, in which this church gave their thankful acknowl- edgments to our Brethren of the Old Church, for the Privilege granted us of Assembling in their Meeting-House for the time in which our house was building. JOSEPH SEWALL.
The pastor added in his diary : " Lord bountifully reward the kindness shew'd us by this Church, and be graciously present with us in our Remove to our New House."
There were no special services of dedication for this house of worship, which was to receive its consecration, week by week, for a century and a half to come, from the prayers and praises of God's people within its walls. On the first Sunday of its occu- pancy sermons appropriate to the occasion were preached by the two pastors. Mr. Sewall's text in the morning was Hag- gai ii. 9. "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of Hosts : and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts."2 Mr. Prince's text in
1 [March 20. “ We had a Church- Meeting to determine the way in which the Subscribers are to Choose their Pews. O Lord govern this matter in mercy ; keep us in Peace. Mr. Prince and I had prayd together with an especial regard to this Affair ; And this day I again com- mended it to God."
March 24. 26. 27. 28. "The Difficult and Critical Affair of the Choice of Pews (on the Floor) was manag'd. Con- siderable offence was given about the 3 Divisions in the Choice. However all or the most chose (tho' not without un-
comfortable Expressions of resentment from several) and it is said there is a more general Satisfaction in the Choice than could almost have been expected." (J. Sewall.)]
2 Mr. Sewall preached again from this text on the next Lord's Day, particularly dwelling on the words "And in this place will I give peace." "O Lord," he wrote, " I thank thee for the peace we enjoy." The disturbed feeling attend- ing the choice of seats seems to have subsided very speedily.
Among those who joined the South
450
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
the afternoon was Psalm v. 7 : " But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy ; and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple."
These pastors and their people had been encouraged by the promise : " He shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it," and now one of them, Mr. Sewall, hastened to record the consummation of their work upon the church's book.
Lord's Day April 26. 1730.
We Assembled the first time for religious Worship in the New Meet- ing House.
LAUS DEO.
Mr. Sewall also wrote in his diary at the close of the day : "O Lord I thank thee that thou hast enabled thy people to build such an House, and hast granted us this Opportunity of Meet- ing with so much Peace to offer up our Prayers and Praises, and to hear thy Word. O give us the especial Presence of Jesus Christ with us that we may be built up a Spiritual House. O help thy people to make the Offering to thee, and accept them in thy beloved Son. And let thy people and their off- spring for a long time here worship God in spirit and in truth, and enjoy the fulness of the Blessing of the Gospel of Christ."
We are all familiar with the exterior of this meeting-house, which, except in the color of the walls, looks to-day almost exactly as it did when it was first completed.1 Richard Grant White has left us the following description : -
It is the perfect model of a New England "meeting-house " of the highest style in the olden time. Bare of the beauty of architectural detail, it delights the eye by its fine symmetrical proportion ; and its
Church in 1730 were Henry Gibbs, John Hunt, Jonathan Loring, Thomas Hub- bard, and Joseph Prince, who trans- ferred their membership from the First Church ; Thomas Cushing, from Brat- tle Street ; Daniel Loring and Nathaniel Goodwin, from the North Church ; and John Smibert, the painter, who married a daughter of the Rev. Nathaniel Wil- liams.
Henry Gibbs, Harvard College, 1726, married a daughter of Josiah Willard.
The first person to be admitted to membership in the new meeting-house was Rebecca Walker, May IO.
1 In the southwest corner of the build- ing, just above the sidewalk, there is a stone bearing the letters N. E. and the date March 31, 1729. (See the cut at the end of this chapter.) Dr. Wisner men- tions another stone, in the northwest corner, on the west side, inscribed with the letters S. S .; and another, in the northeast corner, on the east side, in- scribed L. B. 1729. The letters S. S. probably stand for Samuel Sewall (see ante, p. 360, note) ; but we are unable to explain those on the other stones. Robert Twelves is said to have been the builder.
45I
THE NEW MEETING-HOUSE.
octagonal spire, springing from an airy, eight-arched loggia, is one of the finest of its kind, not only in this country, but in the world. Nothing more light and elegant and graceful can be found, unless in the finest Gothic work. Not a "Wren " spire (indeed an architect would scout the notion) it yet suggests Wren to the unprofessional eye ; but I have never seen a spire of Sir Christopher's which equalled it in grace and lightness. A peculiar interest attaches to it because it is of home growth. It is not a copy nor an imitation of anything else. It is the conception of a Yankee architect - the outgrowth and de- velopment of the steeple-belfry of the New-England meeting-house. New England may well be proud of it. ... The interiors of these old meeting-houses, it must be admitted, are devoid of all semblance of beauty. In them the hard, utilitarian, unsentimental spirit of the old New England life and the old New England Puritanism was fully ex- pressed, but intuitively, and without purpose. There no charm of color, there no grace of form, there no monuments of departed nota- bility were allowed to divert the eye and mind from religious business. They were bare, galleried halls, in which mass meetings were held for worship.1
Of the interior, Dr. Wisner said in 1830 : -
It was finished with two galleries as at present ; and the pulpit in the same position as now, but larger and higher than this, with a sounding-board projecting from the wall above the casing of the win- dow ; and with two seats directly in front, one somewhat elevated for the deacons, and one still more elevated for the elders. On each side of the middle aisle, and nearest the pulpit, were a number of long seats for aged people ; and the rest of the floor, except the aisles and several narrow passages, was covered with square pews.
Mr. Prince preached the election sermon May 27, and took occasion to commemorate the landing at Salem and the settle- ment of Boston a hundred years before.2 His subject was : The People of New England Put in Mind of the Righteous Acts of the Lord to Them and their Fathers. He showed how extremely proper it was, " upon the close of the first century of our settlement in this chief part of the land, which will now within a few weeks expire, to look back to the beginning of this remarkable transaction." Mr. Foxcroft and Mr. Sewall preached centennial discourses, at the First Church, three months later.3
1 [ The Century, March, 1884.]
2 His text was I Sam. xii. 6, 7 : “ And Samuel said unto the people, It is the Lord that advanced Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. Now therefore
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