USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Old South church (Third church) Boston, 1669-1884, Vol. III > Part 62
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557
THE VARIOUS "TESTIMONIES."
out of faults of which he had been guilty, so that he was, in an im- portant sense, "the blamable cause " of their occurrence ; and that, as he intended to continue the practice of the same faults, his labors would promote the same evils.
On the 15th of January, the " Sentiments and Resolution " of an association at Weymouth were ordered to be printed. The Rev. Mr. Eells, of Scituate, was a member of this body. Its utterance was in "a better spirit, or at least in a better style," than that of some of the other bodies. The signers said in reference to Mr. Whitefield's itinerancy : "Whatever charity may prompt us to think of the honesty of his design, yet we cannot but disapprove of him as an itinerant preacher. We know not any such officer appointed by Christ, the Head of the church, nor what warrant Mr. Whitefield can plead, besides his own impulses and impressions, for his acting in that capacity." They were surprised and grieved, also, that he, a priest of the Church of England, should administer the Lord's Supper in Congregational churches.
Late in the same month, a pamphlet appeared, containing the Testimony of an association convened at Marlborough, and that of a number of ministers in the county of Bristol. These were in a worse spirit than any that had been previously published. We need not quote from them, but no proof has been found that any of those who signed them had ever been friends of the revival. The total number of pastors who signed the various testimonies to which we have referred was sixty-three. " Of these, nine are known to have been early friends and promoters of the revival, and it is probable that others were on the same side ; but concerning the early sentiments of the greater part of the sixty-three there is no proof, while it is certain that some of them were opposers from the beginning."
In the mean time, Mr. Whitefield's friends among the Boston ministers did not waver. Mr. Prince, Mr. Webb, Mr. Foxcroft, and Mr. Gee were his constant advisers. Mr. Foxcroft and his colleague, Dr. Chauncy, were on opposite sides in the contro- versy, but their personal relations do not seem to have been disturbed in consequence.1 The former was in an enfeebled
1 When Mr. Foxcroft died in 1769, Dr. Chauncy said of him in his funeral sermon : " He was a real good Christian ; a partaker of the Holy Ghost; uniform in his walk with God in the way of his commandments, though, instead of trust-
ing that he was righteous in the eye of a strict law, he accounted himself an un- profitable servant ; fixing his dependence, not on his own worthiness, not on any works of righteousness which he had done, but on the mercy of God and the
558
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
state of health, as the result of an attack of paralysis nine years before, and although he continued to preach to the time of his death, his more sturdy associate must have been able to exer- cise a predominating influence in the affairs of their parish. The latter succeeded in keeping Mr. Whitefield out of his pulpit, when it was proposed to ask him to preach the Thursday Lecture. Mr. Prince wrote to Dr. Chauncy on Wednesday, January 30, 1744-5 : -
I desire to know whether you judge there is any need of my asking your consent to my inviting a minister to preach my Lecture at the Old Brick. In answering which you will oblige
Your humble servant.
Dr. Chauncy replied on the same day : -
Rev. Sir,
In answer to your question, I would ask you another, viz. whether you would express a suitable regard to me, and some others who statedly attend the Thursday lecture, and are united with you in carry- ing it on, to ask a gentleman to preach it, whose conduct has been such (in our apprehentions) that, if he preaches, you know we cannot be present, but must be obliged to tarry at home ?
Your humble servant.
In answer to which, Mr. Prince immediately wrote : - Rev. Sir,
I perceive the purport of your letter is, that if I got Mr. Whitefield to preach, that you and some others are of such a separating spirit that you will not attend the public Lecture : which I am sorry to see. In such a Season as this, should you not rather set a contrary ex- ample, while you are publickly condemning such a spirit in others? Mr. Whitefield will hear you, but you will not hear him. Pray who appears most for separation or union ? Methinks you should be glad of an occasion to show as good a spirit as he.1
Dr. Chauncy was the leader of the opposition in Eastern Massachusetts. He was an able, energetic, and strong-willed man, but he was also cold and unimpressionable ; and it is not strange, perhaps, that he could neither appreciate nor under- stand the burning zeal and sacred enthusiasm which marked the
atoning blood and perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. His writings evince a clearness of perception, copiousness of invention, liveliness of imagination, and soundness of judgment. They bear tes- timony also to his unfeigned piety."
1 [Mass, Hist. Collections, vol. xxxii. pp. 238, 239. Mr. Prince's notes are preserved in copies made by him upon the sheet on which Dr. Chauncy's note was written. Many of the words are in an abbreviated form.]
559
CHAUNCY AND WHITEFIELD.
labors of Whitefield. He had published, several months before, "Seasonable Thoughts on the State of Religion," in which there was no single word of satisfaction at or sympathy with the deep work of grace which had pervaded the land, which had quickened the religious sense of the people, and which had gathered tens of thousands into the membership of the churches. In all that had taken place, he could discern nothing to com- mend, but everything to criticise. He did not discriminate between the general impressiveness and solemnity of the re- vival and the sporadic cases of extravagance which appeared upon its surface.1 He was unable to recognize in Whitefield an exceptional man, raised up and endowed by Divine Provi- dence, as almost everybody now admits, to do an exceptional work ; but he was quick to detect and to expose his limitations, and to magnify the mistakes which were chargeable to his youth and temperament.2 For him, the few crude generalizations of the journals more than counterbalanced the marvellous pulpit eloquence which in England moved such men as Garrick, Ches- terfield, Lyttelton, and Pitt.3 Not that Whitefield was above criticism ; but surely there was something in him to admire and to commend. Holyoke, Appleton, Eells, and others had criticised him, but they had done so with a certain degree of discrimination and appreciation. Chauncy alone, among the leading men on that side in and about Boston, seems to have conceded no qualifying conditions and to have refused all praise.4
1 Dr. Colman said : "We have seen little of those Extreams or supposed Blemishes of this work in Boston, but much of the blessed Fruits of it have fallen to our Share. God has spoken to us in a more soft and calm Wind; and we have neither had those Outcries and Faintings in our Assemblies, which have disturbed the Worship in many Places ; nor yet those Manifestations of Joy in- expressible which now fill some of our Eastern Parts." - Christian History, vol. ii. p. 386.
2 Whitefield said of himself, in a letter dated February 19: "Some unguarded expressions, in the heat of less experi- enced youth, I certainly did drop. I was too precipitate in hearkening to and pub- lishing private information, and, Peter- like, cut off too many ears." We think that Mr. Tennent was largely responsible
for the strictures upon the colleges and the ministers generally.
- 3 " Whitefield's preaching was such as England had never heard before, theatri- cal, extravagant, often commonplace, but hushing all criticism by its intense reality, its earnestness of belief, its deep, trem- ulous sympathy with the sin and sor- row of mankind. It was no common enthusiast who could wring gold from the close-fisted Franklin and admiration from the fastidious Horace Walpole, or who could look down from the top of a green knoll at Kingswood on twenty thousand colliers, grimy from the Bristol coal-pits, and see as he preached the tears ' making white channels down their black- ened cheeks.' " - Green's Short History, p. 718.
4 Of Dr. Chauncy, Professor Tyler says, " He was a man of leonine heart,
560
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
Mr. Whitefield could not but take notice of charges brought against him by men so high in position and influence. His reply to Dr. Chauncy, written while he was ill at Portsmouth, now ap- peared, with a "preface to the reader," dated January 18, and five days later he finished his reply to the faculty of Harvard College. He wrote in a frank and manly way, and evinced a most excellent spirit towards those who had criticised him. He made explanations and concessions on certain points, and de- fended himself against such charges as he felt to be unjust or untrue.1 He did not, however, satisfy his critics; and it was hardly to be expected that he should do so, for they had not formed their opinions hastily or without due deliberation. Dr. Chauncy answered for himself, and Professor Wigglesworth for the college. In February the faculty of Yale College published a " Declaration," sustaining the positions taken by the associa- tions in Massachusetts and at Harvard College, and especially finding fault with an intention, avowed to Mr. Edwards, of bring- ing over "a number of young men from England to be ordained
of strong, cool brain, of uncommon moral strength. He bore a great part in the intellectual strife of the Revolution ; but before that strife was opened he had moulded deeply the thought of his time, both by his living speech and by his pub- lications. These were mostly sermons; but as sermons they had an extraordinary sweep of topics, from early piety and the lessons of affliction to earthquakes in Spain, murder, religious compulsion, Presbyterian ordination, legislative knav- ery, the encouragement of industry, and the capture of Cape Breton.
" The prevailing trait of the man was intellectual genuineness in all things, and utter scorn of its opposite in anything. He had a massive, logical, remorseless understanding, hardy in its processes, and unwilling to take either fact or opinion at second hand. On the great themes that were then in debate among men, he put himself to enormous re- search. One of these themes was the Episcopacy. He gave four years of hard reading to it, first in the Scriptures and in the Fathers, then in all modern books on both sides of the controversy. Other themes were the doctrines of human de- pravity, retribution, and the like. He
settled himself down for seven years to the study of these doctrines in the New Testament, especially in the Epistles of St. Paul, and finally in all other books within reach; and he thus worked his way 'into an entirely new set of thoughts ' on those matters. He was an orthodox rationalist; and he stood in the line of that intellectual development among the clergy of New England which at a later day culminated in Unitarianism." - Hist. of Am. Lit., vol. ii. p. 200.
1 His kind and generous spirit was in the end recognized at Cambridge. In 1764 he solicited donations of books for the college library, after the disastrous fire there ; and four years later, President Holyoke being still alive, the following minute was recorded : " At a meeting of the President and Fellows of Harvard College, August 22, 1768, the Rev. G. Whitefield having, in addition to his former kindness to Harvard College, lately presented to the library a new edition of his Journals, and having pro- cured large benefactions from several benevolent and respectable gentlemen ; Voted, that the thanks of the Corporation be given to Mr. Whitefield, for these in- stances of candor and generosity."
561
MR. WHITEFIELD'S POPULARITY.
by the Tennents." This whole painful controversy need not be detailed in these pages. Neither side was wholly right or wholly wrong ; but although on some points the critics were undoubtedly right, we cannot help thinking that Mr. Whitefield had the advantage of them in the spirit which he manifested.1 The popular sympathies were certainly with him ; and while the war of pamphlets was waging among the clergy, he was preach- ing in Boston and in the neighboring towns to immense con- gregations. He was urged to set up a six-o'clock morning lecture, such as he had established in Scotland a few months before. He complied with the request, and a small room was taken for the purpose, as it was supposed that but few would attend. On the first morning, however, when he preached from the words, " And they came early in the morning to hear him," there was so great a crowd that it was found necessary, for the future, to have recourse to one of the largest meeting-houses. " The streets were all astir on those dark February mornings with the eager, punctual hearers who were going to the lectures on Genesis." "One morning the crowd was too dense to be penetrated, and he was obliged to go in at the window. Imme- diately after him came the high sheriff, who had been hostile to the 'new lights,' and the sight of whose face, as it appeared through the window, almost made the astonished people cry out ' Is Saul also among the prophets ? '" 2
It was at this time that Mr. Whitefield's friends in Boston offered to build for him " the largest place of worship ever seen in America," but he wisely declined. He knew that he was not adapted for the steady duties and constant routine of the pas- toral work. Nor would it have been right for him thus to enter into competition with the existing churches, and with the able
1 Cowper has done justice to his spirit in lines which, we think, will aptly illus- trate our account of Whitefield's visits to New England : -
He loved the world that hated him : the tear That dropp'd upon his Bible was sincere ; Assail'd by scandal and the tongue of strife, His only answer was a blameless life ; And he that forged, and he that threw the dart, Had each a brother's interest in his heart. Paul's love of Christ, and steadiness unbribed, Were copied close in him, and well transcribed. He follow'd Paul - his zeal a kindred flame, His apostolic charity the same.
Like him, cross'd cheerfully tempestuous seas, Forsaking country, kindred, friends and ease ;
Like him he labor'd, and like him, content To bear it, suffer'd shame where'er he went.
2 The high sheriff here referred to was Benjamin Pollard. Edward Winslow, who had held this position for many years, was promoted to the bench in 1743. Whitefield wrote to a friend, February 6, that the sheriff, who had been "foremost in persecuting the good Mr. Davenport," was "a little con- vinced." Mr. Pollard discriminated, no doubt, between Mr. Davenport and Mr. Whitefield. The former had retracted his errors six months before.
562
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
and faithful men who were serving them in the ministry.1 Under his preaching, during this visit, there were "movings" and "meltings " as before, and there were some interesting cases of conversion ; but there was no revival, in the technical sense of that word. "People heard, and were affected, but there was no spreading among the impenitent, as if by sym- pathy, or by a simultaneous impression upon all, of those views which constitute conviction of sin. Nor ought anything else to have been expected. Both ministers and people were thinking too much about the man, to profit by his preaching." The admissions to the South Church in 1745 were rather below the annual average number, and they were comparatively few during the next nine or ten years.
At a Meeting of the Church and Congregation Feb. 11. 1744-5
Voted, That the Honble E. Lewis, A. Stoddard, Wm Foye T. Cush- ing and Mr. Ox. Thacher, be a Committee to examine the Accounts of the Committee for Repairs ; and make their Report as soon as may be.
Voted, That there be a further Tax on the Pews towards defraying the Charge of repairing the House in which the Rev. Mr. Prince re- sides &c. viz £4. on each floor-Pew, {2. on the front Pews in the Gal- lery, and f1. on the back pews in said Gallery O. Tenour.
Voted, That Messrs. Jer. Belknap, John Symmes, Ephrm. Copeland and David Jeffries be a Committee to collect said money, And that John Hunt Esq be continued the Treasurer. JOSEPH SEWALL.
Lord's Day Febr. 24 1744-5
The Deacons were allowed to spend fifty pounds out of the last Collection for Charitable and pious uses towards the relief of the Poor of this Church and Congregation. JOSEPH SEWALL.
Four days later, on Thursday, February 28, a day of prayer and fasting was observed throughout the province, with refer- ence to the expedition then preparing for the capture of Cape Breton and its fortified city, Louisburg. In 1744, the war be- tween England and France, known as the War of the Austrian Succession, was entered upon; the first knowledge of it came to the people of New England through the capture of the small English garrison at Canso by the French. By the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, the island of Cape Breton had been made over to France. Mr. Prince, who was in England at the time, said of
1 In Philadelphia, he was offered £800
a year, and liberty to travel six months
out of the twelve, if he would become a settled minister there.
563
WILLIAM PEPPERRELL.
this cession : " All true-hearted Britons who knew the circum- stances of the island, most grievously lamented the resigna- tion, as full of teeming mischief to the British trade, wealth and power, and as one of the most fatal acts of that unhappy ministry," - the Tory ministry of Harley and St. John, two men described by Macaulay, the one as a solemn trifler, the other a brilliant knave. Governor Shirley, prompted by "a bold, energetic, and imaginative adventurer," William Vaughan, determined to attempt the recovery of this island, and the re- ligious excitement yielded for the time to the interest of the community in the fitting out of the expedition. Mr. Prince, in his Thanksgiving Day sermon, preached a few months later, names, among the Providential steps "which led us to the ad- venturous enterprize," the abundant crops of the previous year, whereby the provinces were prepared to supply so great an armament, and the remarkably favorable state of the weather. He says : " It was wonderful also to see that during those two usually stormy months of February and March, the only season for our preparation, God was pleased to give us such a constant series of moderate and fair weather, as in that time of the year has scarce ever been known among us: So that there was scarcely any impediment to our officers going about and enlist- ing, or of our soldiers in marching, or our vessels in fitting, or our coasters in bringing us provisions, or our Committee of War in their various preparations, 'till all were ready to sail."
The command of the expedition was entrusted to William Pepperrell. He was a warm friend of Whitefield, and a con- stant attendant upon his ministrations ; 1 and he went to the great preacher for advice, before accepting the responsibilities of the appointment. As has been well said, Whitefield showed a knowledge of the world in dealing with the question, cautioning Pepperrell that, if he should fail, the blood of the slain would be laid to his charge, while, if he should succeed, he would be pursued by the envy of the living.2 He accepted, however, and
1 When Mr. Whitefield landed at York, in October, 1744, Mr. Pepperrell "went with some friends in his own boat," to bring him to his house at Ports- mouth, but he was not well enough to come. It was at the house of Mr. Jo- seph Sherburne, at Portsmouth, also spoken of in the text, that he soon after had the illness which all thought would prove fatal.
2 Whitefield spoke to Pepperrell with his wonted frankness and freedom, when he said "that he did not indeed think the scheme proposed for taking Louis- burg very promising, and that the eyes of all would be upon him. If he did not succeed, the widows and orphans of the slain soldiers would be like lions robbed of their whelps; but if it pleased God to give him success, envy would
564
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
then Mr. Joseph Sherburne, one of the commissaries, came to Mr. Whitefield to say that unless he would favor the expedition, " serious people " would be discouraged from enlisting, and, fur- ther, that he must give a motto for his flag. To this Mr. White- field demurred, but at length yielded, and gave them Nil despe- randum, Christo duce. As soon as it was known what he had done, great numbers enlisted. He was urged to go as a chap- lain, but declined. Before the expedition embarked, the officers asked him to preach to them, and he gave them a sermon on David at the Cave of Adullam. He described the motley band gathered at the cave, and then showed how distressed sinners come to Jesus Christ, the spiritual David ; he exhorted the sol- diers to behave like the soldiers of David, and the officers to act like David's worthies, and added that if they did he doubted not there would be good news from Cape Breton.
"And now," says Mr. Prince, " our army of three thousand land soldiers, with all kinds of stores being ready to sail about the 20th of March, in about a hundred vessels, besides five hun- dred soldiers more sent from Connecticut, and three hundred and fifty from New Hampshire, - we had almost every gloomy pros- pect to make us tremble. For our inland borders were now left bare of a great part of their strength, by the listing of so many of their able men voluntiers in the expedition. And if the en- terprize succeeded, the heavy debt would almost sink us. But if, for our offences, God were carrying forth a great part of the Flower of our Country to be destroy'd, a most dismal scene of ruin seem'd to follow ! . The hearts of many of the wisest ashore now seem'd to fail. Some repented they had voted for it, and others that they had ever promoted it. Some judged it best after all for every man to go home; and the thoughtful among us were in great perplexity. But yet a wonder it was to see, that those who were venturing into the danger, seem'd to be fullest of trust in God and courage. Many fill'd their vessels with prayers ; and asking ours, they threw themselves into the Divine protection, in the name of God they set up their ban- ner, and away they sail'd. Pray for us, and we'll fight for you - was the valiant and endearing language wherewith they left us."
And those who remained at home did pray for those who had
endeavour to eclipse his glory. He had but if Providence really sent him, he need, therefore, if he went, to go with a would find his strength proportioned to the day." single eye, and then there was no doubt,
565
THE ATTACK ON LOUISBURG.
gone. Mr. Prince adds : " As it was very encouraging to think how many pious and prayerful persons were embark'd in the cause, which we accounted the cause of God and his people ; it gave further ground of hope, to see such a spirit of supplica- tion given to many in this town and land on this occasion. For, besides the solemn days of publick and general prayer ap- pointed by these three Governments, there were particular days observed in several congregations. There were also in divers towns religious societies, some of women as well as others of men, who met every week, more privately to pray for the pres- ervation and success of their dear countrymen : And I have been well informed of their extraordinary fervency, faith and wrestlings, as so many Jacobs, in this important season. Psalm . cviii. 10-13, was usually among our petitions." 1
Colonel Pepperrell was a nephew by marriage of Dr. Sewall,2 and several of the officers and men belonged to the, South Church and congregation. Richard Gridley, who distinguished himself as an engineer during the siege ; under whose super- vision the fortifications round Lake George were to be con- structed, a few years later ; who was to be by the side of Wolfe at his death on the Plains of Abraham ; and who, still later, was to render eminent service to his country at Breed's Hill, and in the siege of Boston at Cambridge, - married a daughter of a South Church family, Hannah Deming, and (as we suppose) himself became a member in 1756.
Mr. Whitefield preached a farewell sermon at Mr. Webb's, on the 19th of June, at five o'clock in the afternoon, from Eph. vi. 10-19, and soon after left for New York and the South.3 The
1 " Who will bring me into the strong city ? who will lead me into Edom? Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off ? and wilt not thou, O God, go forth with our hosts ? Give us help from trouble : for vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do valiantly : for he it is that shall tread down our enemies."
May 2. 1745. "The Thursday Lecture was turned into a Fast by the ministers on account of Cape Briton Expedition Mr. Prince began with prayer at ten o'clock. Mr. Webb preached. P. M. Mr. Checkley prayed and Dr. Sewall preached. Mr. Welsteed prayed last, [added later] and this day the Grand Battery at Cape Briton was delivered up to us."- John Phillips, MS. Diary.
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