USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Second Church, or Old North, in Boston : to which is added a History of the New Brick Church > Part 25
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MR. GEE'S ORDINATION.
" On Wednesday last, the ordination of Mr. Gee was proceeded in. The affair was carried on with so much seriousness and awful reverence, that, if I had been wavering about the validity of our ordination before, I should have been then fixed and established by the solemnity and religious
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APPENDIX.
devotion visible in all parties at the sacred action. Every man's soul seemed to be in it."
CHRIST CHURCH.
" Yesterday (December 30, 1723), the new church at this end of the town was met in, though very much unfinished. People flocked to it in abundance. What made them so hasty to improve it, as I am informed, was because Dr. Culter's salary was not to begin till he began to preach there. There seems to be a considerable strangeness between Harris and Culter, as well as a great dislike of one another ; and there seems to be a breach among their people."
REV. MR. ROGERS, OF PORTSMOUTH.
"I know not how to begin to condole the sad state of poor Ports- mouth, in the awful breach made upon them in the death of the renowned Rogers, - so every way valuable and worthy. You hardly yet begin to feel his loss. I think no man would have been missed so much as he in all your province. The ministry, in his death, have a breach made upon them, wide like the sea. He was their head. But, alas! their crown is fallen. I seem to feel a heavy share in his loss. The news of his death was as sadly affecting as any I have heard. What shall I say of him? My father, my father ! may Heaven furnish a successor for you that may inherit much of his spirit! Please to let me have an account of his funeral. He deserved to be buried in the city of David, among the kings. When he died, a great man fell in Israel."
MR. WIGGLESWORTH'S "SOBER REMARKS."
" Here are some sober remarks published upon a book called 'A Modest Proof of the Order and Government settled by Christ and his Apostles in his Church.' The answerer is Master Wigglesworth, - though it is a secret, and must be concealed. Notwithstanding, you must not think them all made by the same hand. Where there is any bitterness shown in them, - where there are any ungentlemanly jeers, -that excel- lent man utterly disclaims them. But the most ingenious and argumenta- tive part of the book is his. But I really entreat you not to mention this on any account ; for he is greatly solicitous of having the matter remain a secret. He industriously conceals himself; and there are but three or four, at most, who know any thing about it."
SALUTE ON SUNDAY.
" The man-of-war fired her guns yesterday (October 19, 1723). It was the Lord's day, and the king's coronation-day. Methinks we had better spare an empty compliment to an earthly prince, than to affront the King of kings, and bellow out our profanations of his holy day."
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I. - PAGE 189.
In 1736, the society were desirous of settling a colleague with Mr. Welsteed. There had recently arrived in Boston, Mr. William Hooper, a native of Scotland; "a man of more than ordinary powers of mind, of a noble aspect, an eloquent, popular preacher."* The society were much attracted by his gifts ; and, contrary to the advice of Mr. Welsteed, extended to him an invi- , tation to settle with them. His reply is preserved amongst our church-papers.
Mr. Hooper was afterwards ordained over the West Church, on the 18th of May, 1737. That church was formed on his account. He continued its pastor for nine years, when "he abdicated without a formal resignation, and went to England to receive Episcopal ordination." He afterwards returned to Boston, and became pastor of Trinity Church.
Mr. Gray was ordained, Sept. 27, 1738. The services com- menced with prayer by Mr. Welsteed, Dr. Cooper " being provi- dentially hindered." Mr. Gray preached from Isaiah, vi. 5-8 ; Mr. Webb made the prayer after the sermon ; Dr. Colman gave the charge, and Dr. Sewall the right hand of fellowship. The Rev. Nehemiah Walter joined in the imposition of hands.
Edward Gray, the father of Ellis, came to this country from England at the age of thirteen. He served his time with Mr. Barton, at Barton's Point (so called after him), as a rope-maker. Dr. Chauncy preached a sermon on the occasion of his death, which took place July 2, 1757, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. He speaks of him in the highest terms of eulogy, which, he says, " cannot, as is usual, disgust any one, as being esteemed a compliment to the dead, but rather as his just character, since he was a person so unexceptionable, so unenvied, unless for his goodness, and so universally well spoken of, both while living, and now he is dead." He married twice. His first wife was .
* Dr. Lowell's Historical Discourse.
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named Harrison, by whom he had six children ; one of whom, named Harrison, was treasurer of the Province, and left Boston with the British troops, March 17, 1776, as did also his son. His daughter married Samuel A. Otis, father of the present Harrison Gray Otis.
On the death of his first wife, he married a Miss Ellis, - a niece of Dr. Colman's wife. Dr. Colman sent for her from England, with a view to this marriage. By her he had five children, of whom the oldest was our Ellis Gray. He married a lady by the name of Tyler. Their daughter married Mr. Carey, late of Chelsea, one of whose daughters was the second wife of the late Rev. Dr. Tuckerman. A grand-daughter married Judge Wilson, one of Washington's first District Judges of the United States Court ; another, Joseph Hall, late Judge of Probate for Suffolk County. Dr. Thomas Gray, of Jamaica Plain, was a ne- phew of Ellis Gray.
" Voted, to raise a sum of money in such way as shall be thought most proper, for a present to our reverend ministers."
Votes of this sort occur very frequently.
Mr. Gray died at the age of thirty-seven; Mr. Welsteed at fifty-seven. Their portraits hang in the rooms of the Historical Society. The bills of their funeral expenses have been preserved. For Mr. Gray's funeral were subscribed eight hundred and sixty- eight pounds. The charges were six hundred and fifty-three, and two hundred and fifteen were given to his widow. Some of the items are as follows : " Wine, rum, pipes, tobacco, - ten pounds. Shoes and cloggs. Hose and gloves " to a very large amount. " Necklace for the negro. A large beaver hat for Mr. Welsteed. Three ditto for Mr. Gray's two sons and negro. Fifteen candles. Black shoe-buckles." A great many "gold rings. Handker- chiefs. A light gray bob wig for Mr. Welsteed. Tolling six bells," &c. &c.
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APPENDIX.
" The first bell was hung in 1743, and the same year the meeting- house was for the first time painted. This bell was removed and sold in 1780 ; and the bell of the Old North, which was larger, was hung in its place. It was injured in 1792, and forbidden to be rung, except in case of fire, till it was re-cast, in the same year, and was the first bell from the foundry of the late Paul Revere, Esq., which appears by the following inscription upon it : 'The first bell cast in Boston, 1792, by P. Revere.'" - Note to Mr. Ware's Century Sermon.
K. - PAGE 191.
Dr. Pemberton was chosen Dec. 31, 1753, by a unanimous vote of the church, and by fifty-four votes of the congregation, two persons not voting. The arrangement of services at his ordi- nation has not been recorded.
" July 10, 1759. - Voted, that the Standing Committee be desired to wait on his Honor, the Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, to invite him to sit in the fore seat, and that a cushion be made for his use.
" May 26, 1766. - On a motion made and seconded respecting making our elders' seat and the deacons' seat into one, as it has lately been done at Mr. Cooper's and the Old North Churches, it was voted unanimously, that it be done as soon as may be ; and that some persons go with a car- penter and see how the alteration is at the Old North and Mr. Cooper's, that so ours may be done in the most convenient manner.
"July 14, 1767. - Voted to have electrical points or wires put up on the steeple.
" March 16, 1769. - Last night died Deacon Lee, aged ninety. He was one of the first deacons of this church from the year 1721, and one of the forty proprietors that built the meeting-house. He outlived all his brethren that were the original founders of this church.
" 1763, Aug. 31. - On hearing that the Rev. Mr. Whitefield is soon expected, the committee voted unanimously that our pastor be desired to invite him to preach in our meeting-house as often as may be convenient, as the committee apprehend it will be agreeable to the greater part of the people."
An attempt was several times made to settle a colleague with Dr. Pemberton. In 1763 Mr. Tennant was selected for this office, and some action of the church was taken in regard to him ; but " he went off, and so the matter dropped."
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At the close of the year 1770, Mr. Isaac Story was desired by the church to preach as a candidate, and to settle. Dr. Pember- ton did not approve of this choice.
Mr. Story was afterwards settled at Marblehead, and Dr. Pem- berton preached his ordination-sermon.
L. - PAGE 192.
Dr. Pemberton had three wives: one named Penhallow, of Portsmouth ; another, Powell. It is said there is a portrait of him at E. P. Cady's, at Plainfield, Conn. He died at the age of seventy-two.
M. - PAGE 193.
At the time when Dr. Stillman and Dr. Pemberton preached alternately in the pulpit of the latter, the custom was to take up a contribution for the payment of the minister's salary. Both the ministers received their pay from the same box. The money intended for each was so marked; and all the unmarked money was divided equally between them.
Dr. Pemberton's salary often fell short of the amount agreed upon. He relinquished most of his demands against the parish, and was very liberal to it.
N. - PAGE 199.
Deacon John Tudor was a very valuable and efficient officer of the church and proprietors. Amongst other donations, he gave the sum of five hundred dollars for the support of singing. Every matter of interest relating to the affairs of the church and congre- gation was carefully recorded by him. The greater part of the votes and other records which I have copied from the books of the New Brick Church, up to the year 1781, are in his handwriting.
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As an instance of his accuracy and fidelity in relation to the records, I will refer to a single additional entry of his in the church-book in the year 1772. It seems that Deacon Lee, his predecessor in the office of treasurer, had omitted to give an account of the manner in which he had disposed of a certain sum of money collected, and put into his hands. Deacon Tudor ex- plains the transaction, and justifies Deacon Lee by the following records. He writes : -
" There was a collection, I remember, in many of the congregational churches in 1739 to defend a lawsuit unjustly brought against Mr. Torrey, the minister of South Kingston, in order to recover the parsonage estate possessed by Mr. Torrey. The estate was left by a gentleman for the support of an orthodox minister of said Kingston ; and, as I remember, one Doctor M'Sparrow, a church-minister, took it into his head that no minis- ter was orthodox unless he was ordained by a bishop, &c. &c. ; so, by the help of some no better than himself, he brought an action to recover the estate for himself and successors ; but he failed in his unjust prose- cution."
Deacon Tudor also pasted into the church-records a receipt for thirty-five pounds ten shillings from the New Brick Congregation for the use of Mr. Torrey in this suit, from Deacon Lee, signed by Dr. Benjamin Colman.
When Deacon Samuel Parkman left the church, to unite him- self with the New North, under the pastoral care of his son, votes were passed expressive of the high regard entertained for his ser- vices ; and a beautiful and costly silver pitcher was presented to him, with the following inscription : -
Presented May 25, 1824, TO SAMUEL PARKMAN, ESQ.
IN MEMORY OF HIS FAITHFUL SERVICES AND DEVOTED FRIENDSHIP, FOR A LONG SERIES OF YEARS, AND IN VARIOUS OFFICES.
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The following memoranda from the records of the New Brick Church are perhaps worth recording : -
" 1779, August 2. - Received from Mr. Thomas Hitchborn, who had the care of it, a red velvet pulpit-cushion and case. Note. - This cushion was delivered to Brother S. Austin, and sold to the first church in Hing- ham for six cords of wood, which, on November 13th, was brought up and carted to Mr. Lathrop's house.
" 1779, July 29. - The Committee met ; but, by reason of a most ex- traordinary affair that came before the body of the people at their meeting at Faneuil Hall, viz. a great number of prisoners being in town in prison, and on board three or four guard-ships, had laid a plot to break jail, &c., set the town in flames, and run off with some vessels, - therefore the Com- mittee adjourned."
The subjoined notes show the very high price of wood in 1780, and also the great depreciation of the currency : -
" 1780, January. - Note. - The Committee desired me (J. Tudor) to get, if I had any opportunity, a small parcel of wood for Mr. Lathrop, on my wharf, for the present, hoping it will soon be cheaper. They ask three hundred dollars a cord out of a small sloop that lays at my wharf. But the people will not give it, only a few from necessity. But I got half a cord of south-shore wood, as Mr. Lathrop was out.
" 1780, March 28. - Agreed to let Mr. Cunningham have the two old Connecticut stones that lay on the Old North land for half a cord of wood, to be sent to Mr. Lathrop."
In December, 1780, two thousand pounds were raised to pur- chase Dr. Lathrop's winter wood.
" The meeting-house was on fire at the south-east end, and burnt through the roof, from the fire from Hitchborn's, &c. The south part caught when Dr. Clark's great barn was burnt. The steeple caught when the joiner's shop was burnt opposite to it, and the top in danger several times ; after which we put on a turret, and, through the favor of the great Head of the church, it has been preserved to this ; July, 1779."
" 1781. - The tub of the Old North engine, then the largest in Bos- ton, was brought into the meeting in order that a child about ten years old might, at the particular request of the mother, be baptized by immer- sion."
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APPENDIX.
The parsonage-house for Dr. Lathrop was built on the land formerly occupied by the Old North Meeting-house. Subscrip- tions were obtained to assist in the purchase of it.
N.B. - A considerable amount of matter, for which I have not been able to find room here, may be seen in the Appendix to my Historical Sermons, preached March 10, 1844.
The following wood-cut, representing the New Brick Church, has been introduced at the desire of some of the older members of the Society : --
BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 9999 06665 071 2
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