USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Old South church (Third church) Boston, 1669-1884, Vol. III > Part 61
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JOSEPH SEWALL.
Anniversary Thanksgiving Novr. 22 1744
Collected. Unappropriated 114. 2. 2
Appropriated to the pious and charit. Fund 5. O. O
To buy Necessaries for the Poor 24. o. O
To widow Mary Alden 1 .
4. 0. 0
147. 2. 2
We have quoted freely from Mr. Prince's narrative of these times. It will be interesting, we think, to insert here part of a letter written by his gifted daughter Deborah to her English relatives, under date of March 4, 1743. In it she gives an intelligent account of the extent and power of the revival, and of the opposition which it encountered.2
In my last letter to my grandmother, which was above two years ago, I gave some account of the revival of religion in this town. Since which it has spread from one end of the land unto the other; and that cry, What must we do to be saved? has been made almost uni- versally in many places.
Without doubt you have heard various reports concerning this glorious appearance, some perhaps greatly to its disadvantage. For it is represented in the most odious colours by its enemies, from the pulpit and press. Some call it the work of the Devil; others, who deny revelation, call it Distraction ; and others represent it as mere Mechanism. And they spare neither cost nor pains to bring others to their various opinions. But He that sits in the heavens laughs at their vain attempts, and often discovers their deep laid plots, and makes them turn out to the advancement of that cause which they so violently oppose.
But how much soever you have heard of the errors and disorders, I believe the one half of the glory appearing in this land has not been told you. Indeed it is inexpressible; so great, that it is the opinion of many eminent divines, that it is the dawning of that glorious day,
1 [Mary Alden was the wife of Wil- liam, son of the second John Alden, who died in 1702.]
2 Deborah Prince became a member of the South Church August 19, 1739, and died July 20, 1744, in her twenty- first year. Her father obtained the above letter from England after her death. It is printed in the Appendix to
Dr. Wisner's History, p. III. Mr. Prince's other daughters were, Mercy, who joined the church November 6, 1743, and died December 18, 1752, aged twenty-seven; Sarah, who joined the church April 21, 1745, married Moses Gill in 1759, and died August 5, 1771, aged forty-three; and Grace, who died in 1743, in infancy.
548
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
when the whole earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. It seems as if the Lord was hastily calling in his elect. Sometimes a new face of things spreads over a whole town in a week or two's time. Sometimes there has been an hundred struck with convictions together in one sermon. Yea, at Portsmouth, it was reckoned there was a thousand awakened to a deep concern about their souls, in about three days time. And great num- bers have come out of their distress, lively, zealous, meek and humble Christians.
It has been very remarkable at Middleborough, where my uncle Thacher 1 lives ; who, before this, was so discouraged with his un- successfulness that he was upon the point of leaving his people. Sometimes there would not be above two or three in a year join to the church : and now, in a little more than half a year, he has taken in an hundred and fifty ; the most of whom give a very satisfactory account of the work of God upon their souls. It has been as remark- able in many other places. One minister in the country told my father, that there was not one family in his parts but had one or more in it awakened. Another writes him word that, in another town, there were two hundred hopefully converted in two months time. Vast numbers of Indians have, to all appearance, been called out of dark- ness into his marvellous light.
In this day of great grace, in one place, where great numbers of them live, who would hear nothing of the Gospel, but were most obsti- nately bent against it, and zealous for the worship of their false gods, when one of our zealous ministers went to preach, at first they were very surly and would hear nothing, but told the minister they did not want him there. But he, inspired with a divine courage and a most ardent love to Christ and their perishing souls, would not leave them
1 [The Rev. Peter Thacher, of Middle- borough, was a son of the Rev. Peter Thacher, of Milton, cousin of the Rev. Peter Thacher, of Weymouth and Bos- ton, and grandson of the Rev. Thomas Thacher, first minister of the South Church. He married Mary, daughter of Samuel Prince, and sister of the Rev. Thomas Prince. He was ordained at the age of twenty-one, the church at that time having only twenty members. He did not long survive the great revival of 1741 and 1742. "In his own spirit, the revival never suffered any abatement, but rather grew brighter, till its light was lost among the glories of the heavenly world. During the first week in April, 1744, he preached to his own people and at Plym- outh eight times ; closing his last dis-
course, which was on the 8th of the month, by telling his people that he did not know whether he should ever see or speak to them again. Returning home, he told his wife he did not know but his work was done. He was restless that night, and rapidly declined till his death, which was on the Sabbath, April 22d. 'On Wednesday afternoon,' says the Rev. Mr. Prince, 'was such an extraor- dinary confluence from the neighbour- ing towns, as was never seen in the place before, to attend the funeral. When the coffin was carried out, there was great weeping. - When set on the edge of the grave, it lay there some time, and they seemed to be loath to let him down ; nor did I ever see so many weepers before.'" - The Great Awakening, pp. 175, 176.]
549
DEBORAH PRINCE'S LETTER.
so ; but, when night came on, laid him down to sleep upon the ground in one of their wigwams. And though he was in danger of being mur- der'd, and only one Englishman with him, such was his confidence in God, that he slept very securely ; and when waked in the middle of the night, by the Indians getting up and coming into the wigwam with their large sticks, only said to his companion, "Brother, if the Lord has any work for us to do, we are immortal till it is done, and if he has not, they will only give us a sweet push into eternal rest." But the Lord suffered them not to hurt them. And in the morning, the minister fell to exhorting and pleading with them, with so much earnestness and affection as something moved them ; and they told him, if he would go on the side of a hill where there was no snow (it being winter) they would hear him. So he did; and they sent and gathered a great number together. And while he was saying the cxv Psalm, of the vanity of the idols of the heathen, they were convinced that the idols which they and their fathers had worshipped from time immemorial, were no gods, and asked the minister what they must do with them. He told them they must burn them immediately. Some of them ran and fetched four images, which they said they and their fathers had worshipped, and burnt them, with indignation at their own stupidity. By this they were prepared to receive the Gospel ; at the preaching of which great numbers were brought under deep conviction of their lost condition by nature, and of their absolute need of Christ. And numbers have attained to a joyful discovery of his all-sufficiency and readiness to save even them, and give a clear and satisfying account of their closing with him by faith : They discover a great dis- trust of themselves ; and, sensible of their own ignorance, are glad of instruction, and very earnest to learn to read, that they may know the will of God in his word. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. I could not forbear giving you a particular account of this remarkable occurrence, it was so pleasing. But I must conclude. So numerous are the triumphs of our glorious Redeemer over his enemies in this day of his power and grace, it would fill volumes to be particular.
On the 29th of May, 1744, Deborah Prince was " seized on a sudden with a slow fever, and upon going up to her chamber drop'd a word, as if she should never come down alive." She died on the 20th of July, and on the Lord's day after her funeral, her father preached a most affecting sermon, which was printed, with the title, " The Sovereign God Acknowledged and Blessed, both in Giving and Taking away."
CHAPTER XI.
1744-1749.
MR. WHITEFIELD'S SECOND VISIT. - THE FRENCH WARS. - THE SEPARATISTS.
M R. WHITEFIELD, on his second arrival in New Eng- land, landed at York, Maine, October 19, 1744. He was accompanied by his wife. Mr. Moody called upon him, and said, " Sir, you are, first, welcome to America ; secondly, to New England ; thirdly, to all faithful ministers in New England ; fourthly, to all the good people in New England ; fifthly, to all the good people of York ; and sixthly, and lastly, to me, dear sir, less than the least of all." The Christian History announced his arrival, and added "that his intention was, to pass on to Georgia ; and, as he goes on, to meddle with no controversies, but only to preach up the parts of vital piety and the pure truths of the gospel, to all that are willing to hear them." He preached at York and at Portsmouth ; at the latter place he was taken very ill, and both he and his friends thought he was going to die. As he was getting ready for his journey to Boston, the
55I
MR. WHITEFIELD'S ARRIVAL.
Rev. William Shurtleff, a classmate of Dr. Sewall and Mr. Prince, and one of those whose names had been appended to the Testimony of July 7, 1743, wrote : "The prejudices of most that set themselves against him before his coming, seem to be in a great measure abated, and in some, to be wholly removed ; and there is no open opposition made to him. I have frequent op- portunities of being with him, and there always appears in him such a concern for the advancement of the Redeemer's King- dom and the good of souls, such a care to employ his whole time to these purposes, such sweetness of disposition, and so much of the temper of his great Lord and Master, that every time I see him, I find my heart further drawn out towards him."
In the Christian History we have the following announcement of his arrival in Boston : -
Saturday, November 24, the Rev. Mr. Whitefield was so far revived as to be able to take coach, with his Consort, and set out from Ports- mouth to Boston ; Whither he came, in a very feeble state, the Mon- day Evening after : since which he has been able to preach in several of our largest houses of public Worship, particularly the Rev. Dr. Colman's, Dr. Sewall's, Mr. Webb's, and Mr. Gee's, to crowded as- semblies of people, and to great and growing acceptance. At Dr. Colman's desire, and the consent of the Church, on the Lord's day after his arrival, he administred to them the Holy Communion.1 And last Lord's day he preached for the venerable Mr. Cheever, of Chelsea, and administred the Holy Supper there. The next day preached for the Rev. Mr. Emerson of Malden. Yesterday he set out to preach at some towns to the Northward ; proposes to return hither the next Wednesday Evening, and, after a few days, to comply with the earnest invitations of several ministers, to go and preach to their congregations, in the southern parts of the Province.
1 [As this communion service was af- terward the occasion of severe criticism, the following explanation of the circum- stances was printed in the Christian His- tory (vol. ii. p. 376) : " The Doctor having such an Opinion of the Catholick Spirit of his Church, like his own, had desir'd Mr. Whitefield to administer for him : and comformable to a common Practice of getting other Ministers to join in the Administration, he thought it unneces- sary in a formal Manner to ask the Con- sent of the Church, and having plainly intimated his Intention in his Prayer
after Sermon, on their coming to the Communion Table, only address'd them in such Terms as these - The Rev. Mr. Whitefield being providentially with us, I have ask'd him to administer the Or- dinance. And the Doctor says, that by the Countenances of the People, it seem'd to him to be universally agreea- ble to them. And no Objection being made, it was constructed by our Inform- ers that the Church consented to it, and which we think was constructed justly. However this we leave to every Reader's Judgment."]
552
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
He comes with the same extraordinary spirit of meekness, sweetness, and universal benevolence as before : in opposition to the spirit of sep- aration and biggotry, is still for holding communion with all Protestant Churches. In opposition to enthusiasm, he preaches a close adher- ence to the Scriptures, the necessity of trying all impressions by them, and of rejecting whatever is not agreeable to them, as delusions. In opposition to Antimonianism, he preaches up all kinds of relative and religious duties, though to be performed in the strength of Christ ; and, in short, the doctrines of the Church of England, and the first Fathers of this Country. As before, he first applies himself to the understandings of his hearers, and then to the affections: and the more he preaches, the more he convinces people of their mistakes about him, and increases their satisfaction.
We attach great importance to this testimony, coming from such a man as Mr. Prince, so learned, so judicious, so thoroughly - in the best sense - a man of the world, and so free from any tendency to fanaticism. The popular enthusiasm was perhaps nearly as great as it had been four years before ; yet the atmos- phere into which Mr. Whitefield had now come was very differ- ent from that which he breathed during his earlier visit. Death had made some changes. At Brattle Street he must have missed the excellent William Cooper, who had been one of his first and most faithful friends ; 1 and, in the older of the South Church parsonages, the chair of Deborah Prince had recently been made vacant. Political changes, also, had taken place. Jonathan Belcher was not now in the Province House, and his powerful influence was no longer available to give to the visitor the highest social recognition and support. How valuable this
1 " On Tuesday Morning the 13th In- stant, [December 1743,] died in the 50th Year of his Age, after a few Days Illness of an Apoplectick Paralytick Disorder, the Rev. Mr. William Cooper, one of the Pastors of the Town, to the inex- pressible Grief of his venerable Col- league, the Rev. Dr. Colman, those of his immediate Charge, and indeed of all thro' the Town and Land, who liave a Savour for experimental Religion, and know how to prize the godly Man, and the faithful Minister." - Christian His- tory, vol. i. p. 337.
Mr. Prince was one of the bearers at Mr. Cooper's funeral. Dr. Sewall, his brother-in-law, preached at Brattle Street on the following Sunday morning, from
I Thess. iv. 14, and Dr. Colman in the afternoon. Mr. Prince preached on the next Lord's Day, from 2 Timo. iv. 7; and "the rest of the ministers followed, in their course, preaching with great affection."
We have before us a sermon by Mr. Cooper, the title of which is "One shall be taken and another left," and which, the title-page tells us, was preached " to the Old South Church in Boston, March 22, 1740-I, A Season wherein there was a remarkable Display of the sovereign Grace of God in the Work of Conver- sion, Publish'd by the Request, and at the Expence of an Honourable Person belonging to that Church." This person, as we suppose, was the governor.
553
DISCUSSIONS AND DIVISIONS.
influence had been previously we infer from a paragraph in one of his letters : -
He honoured me with great honour, and the clergy paid the nod, and obeyed. In many, I then perceived, it was quite forced ; and, I think, when at his table, I whispered to some one and said, " If ever I come again, many of those who now seem extremely civil will turn out my open enemies." The event has proved that in this respect, I have been no false prophet. You know where it is written, "There arose a king who knew not Joseph." But, many or all, my poor labours are yet attended with the usual blessings.
It was inevitable that Mr. Whitefield's reappearance in New England should prove to be the occasion of warm discussions and sharp divisions among the clergy. The leading men had already taken sides for or against him and the measures which he was supposed to represent. Testimonies and counter-testi- monies had been signed and published ; and now that. he was come hither again, the practical question presented itself to every minister of a parish as to the kind of reception that should be accorded to him. Should he, or should he not, be in- vited to the pulpit ? This question was promptly answered in the affirmative by several of the Boston pastors, and some of the largest meeting-houses in the town were opened to him. The Boston pastors were not unanimous ; but there was such a de- cided majority of them in his favor that the influence of the town, as a whole, was felt to be on his side. Hence a remon- strance was addressed to the associated ministers of Boston and Charlestown by two " neighboring associations of ministers in the country." It was dated December 26, 1744, and the first signatures, representing the two bodies, were those of Caleb Cushing, of Salisbury, and John Barnard, of Andover.1 The signers disclaimed all desire to dictate to the Boston ministers
1 The members of the first of these associations were : Caleb Cushing (1692), of Salisbury ; Joseph Whipple (1720), of Hampton Falls ; John Lowell (1721), of Newbury; Paine Wingate (1723), of Amesbury ; Jeremiah Fogg (1730), of Kensington; Nathaniel Gookin (1731), of North Hampton, N. H .; Elisha Od- lin (1731), of Amesbury ; Peter Coffin (1733), of Kingston; William Parsons (1735), of South Hampton, N. H .; and Samuel Webster (1737), of Salisbury.
The members of the second were : John Barnard (1709), of Andover ; Joseph Par- sons (1720) and William Balch (1724), of Bradford; James Cushing (1725), of Haverhill; Christopher Sargeant (1725), of Methuen; William Johnson ( 1727), of Newbury; John Cushing (1729), of Boxford; Thomas Barnard (1732), of Newbury; and Edward Barnard (1736), of Haverhill. We give the years of their graduation at Cambridge, to show approximately their age at this period.
554
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
as to what preachers they should receive or refuse, but justified their public remonstrance in this instance by saying that the consequences of Mr. Whitefield's reception would not be con- fined to the congregations which he might address, but would be general and far reaching, affecting the interests of many other ministers and churches. They assumed, as an undisputed truth, that great and grievous disorders had prevailed among the churches, through the influence of itinerant preachers, and they asked whether Mr. Whitefield approved of these disorders, whether he were against separations, whether he were an enemy to enthusiasm. Further, they avowed their belief that his former visit had done more harm than good. In the expression of this opinion they were consistent with themselves, for several of them had been opposers of the revival in all its stages, and the name of no one of them had appeared among its friends.
On the 28th of December, the faculty of Harvard College issued a Testimony against Mr. Whitefield. In this paper he was charged with being an enthusiast; that is, "one that acts either according to dreams, or some sudden impulses and im- pressions upon his mind, which he fondly imagines to be from the Spirit of God, persuading and inclining him thereby to such and such actions." He was criticised for the harshness of his judgments, as expressed in his published journals, for example, - that " the generality of preachers " talked of " an unknown and unfelt Christ," and that " as for the universities " at Cambridge and New Haven, "their light is now become darkness, darkness that may be felt ;" his extempore manner of preaching was pronounced " by no means proper ; " and, lastly, the faculty said, "We think it our duty to bear our strongest testimony against that itinerant way of preaching, which this gentleman was the first promoter of amongst us, and still delights to continue in," and they quoted against him his own remark : "God seems to show me it is my duty to evangelize, and not to fix in any par- ticular place." Pastors were recommended, therefore, to advise with each other in their several associations, and to consider whether it were not high time to make a stand against the mis- chiefs which seemed to be threatening the churches.
Two, at least, of the faculty of Harvard College - President Holyoke and Professor Wigglesworth - had been favorable to the revival, and we may fairly assume that they did not intend, in this Testimony, to place themselves in hostility to it. Nor need their action and that of their colleagues be attributed
555
ACTION AT CAMBRIDGE.
altogether to Mr. Whitefield's injudicious strictures upon the colleges and the clergy ; for President Holyoke, in defending his own college against these strictures, after their first publica- tion, had courteously said that he doubted not those who had given out a disadvantageous report had done it "in a godly jealousy for the churches of Christ," which were to be supplied from the colleges with their future ministers.
At an association meeting at Cambridge, January 1, 1745, Mr. Appleton asked his ministerial brethren to advise him with reference to a request made to him by a number of his church and congregation that he would invite Mr. Whitefield to his pulpit. Among those present were Mr. Williams, of Weston, Mr. Cotton, of Newton, and Mr. Turell, of Medford, who, as well as Mr. Appleton himself, had not hesitated to declare that a great work of grace had been witnessed in the land. " After supplications to God, and mature consideration of the case pro- posed, and the several pleas made in favor of said request, and the state of the town, as also the many weighty objections which lie against the said Mr. Whitefield with respect to his principles, expressions and conduct," it was voted unanimously that it was not advisable, " under the present situation of things," that Mr. Appleton invite Mr. Whitefield to preach in Cambridge, "and they accordingly declared, each of them for themselves, that they would not invite the said gentleman into their pulpits." 1
For the changed attitude towards Mr. Whitefield of such men as Mr. Holyoke, Mr. Appleton, and Mr. Turell, and of the ven- erable Mr. Walter, of Roxbury, who had been so warm in his commendations at Governor Belcher's table, but who gave in his adhesion to the views of the three associations and of the college faculty, we find an explanation, which seems reason- able, in the following sentences of a careful and conservative writer : 2 -
When Whitefield first arrived at Boston, he came at the invita- tion of several of the leading pastors and others, to labor a few weeks
1 The members of the association who united in this vote were : John Hancock (1689), of Lexington ; William Williams (1705), of Weston ; John. Cotton (1710), of Newton ; Nathaniel Appleton (1712), of Cambridge ; Warham Williams (1719), of Waltham; Seth Storer (1720), of Watertown; Ebenezer Turell (1721), of
Medford ; Nicholas Bowes (1725), of Bedford, Samuel Cooke (1735), of Cam- bridge. We give here also the years of graduation from college.
2 The Rev. Joseph Tracy, author of The Great Awakening, whose narrative, as well as the various " Lives " of White- field, we have followed in the text.
556
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
with them and for them. This kind of "itinerancy," if it might be called by that name, had always been practised and approved in New England. It continued to be practised, without objection, during this revival, by Edwards and others. After Whitefield's return to Eng- land, he published the declaration already quoted from his journal : "God seems to shew me it is my duty to evangelize, and not to fix in any particular place." At first, partiality for its author prevented any unfavorable interpretation of this language ; but experience at length taught the public what it meant. The evangelizing was to be per- formed, not in regions where Christ had not been named, or where there was a destitution of the means of grace, but among old and established churches, even if supplied with able and faithful pastors. A divine command to evangelize in such places, evidently implied a divine command to pastors and people in such places, to welcome his evangelical labors ; so that whenever he should come, none could re- fuse him without being guilty of rebellion against God. Whitefield may not have been fully aware of the import of his claim ; but Daven- port and his associates understood it, and felt equally sure that God had called them also to evangelize in the same style. They went forth accordingly, and demanded admission into churches where they had not been invited. If the pastor refused to welcome them, they appealed at once to his people, denounced him as an enemy of the work of God and a child of the devil, who was leading them blindfold to hell, and called upon them to separate from him. Regard for eccle- siastical order being thus trampled under foot, there was nothing to hinder laymen from receiving and obeying the same "impressions." A swarm of unordained exhorters accompanied and followed the ordained itinerants, and penetrated into still other parishes and neighbourhoods, spreading enthusiasm and confusion wherever they went. And for all this, both the itinerants and exhorters quoted Whitefield's authority. This led to a reconsideration of the whole subject. It was found that Whitefield's language and conduct would bear the construction which his enthusiastic friends had put upon them. His extravagant com- mendations of Davenport were remembered. His regard for dreams and impulses were called to mind. And then, he was a clergyman of the Church of England, and could not be supposed to have any spe- cial regard for Congregational church order. Though he must have been informed of the disorders committed under the sanction of his name, he had never denounced them, or authorized any of his corre- spondents to do it for him ; and since his return, though frequently called upon to speak, he preserved an unbroken silence, and even allowed the Christian History to announce that he intended to take no part in any of these controversies. From all this, many inferred that he approved the disorders that had been committed, and would labor to promote them ; and others believed that they grew naturally
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