USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the church in Brattle street, Boston > Part 3
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the Wonderful Counsellor would direct you in these things to do what is well pleasing in his sight. So we remain your friends and servants in what we may, according to the Gospel,
" JOHN HIGGINSON, NICHOLAS NOYES. " Salem, December 30th, 1699."
Dr. Palfrey, in alluding to the letter in his notes, speaks of it as " severe, without being unkind or disrespectful." This will be admitted to be a correct criticism, though one cannot but remark, as an evidence of the change of manners and relations, that if any body of men, " under- taking," at the present day, in any of our towns or villages, to form a new religious society, were to receive such a letter from the clergymen in their neighborhood, it would be regarded as a most improper, not to say impertinent, interfer- ence. The rebuke of the " undertakers" for their use of the word " Manifesto " would seem to be rather hypercritical. Then, as now, this was a commercial rather than a "royal" word, and innumerable quotations might be made to show that there was no assumption in the use of it. The charge of a want of humility also comes with a bad grace from individual clergy- men, who had voluntarily assumed the task of rebuking a large and respectable body of men,
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who were earnestly, but as far as possible peace- ably, engaged in establishing a religious society for the worship of God according to the dictates of their consciences. So far as we feel any interest in the characters of the founders of this church, we may safely leave this charge of a want of humility to be determined by the question, Which indicates the greatest absence of this crowning Christian grace, the Manifesto or the Salem letter ? I candidly admit that, as mem- bers of this society, bound to it many of us by tender associations and strong ties of sympathy, we are not the most fair and unprejudiced judges of this or any other point affecting its reputation ; but I apprehend that any one, looking back at this distance of time to the Manifesto and the publi- cations it called forth, will admit, whatever be his opinion as to the strength of the argument, that the best exhibition of a Christian spirit and temper lies with those who put forth the Manifesto or wrote in its defence .*
* The following remarks and " doggerel verses" were fur- nished me by Isaac P. Davis, Esq., from a private journal kept at the time by Josiah Cotton in Marblehead. The wit is poor, and the poetry is poorer than the wit ; but almost any similar scrap of manuscript, one hundred and fifty years old, is so far an illustration of the times, as to be worth preserving.
"During my abode at Marblehead, there happened an unhappy difference, between some of the Ministers and Peo- ple in Boston upon the building Mr. Colman's Meeting House, which was for a while (in contempt) called the Manifesto
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While the general controversy, of which I have given this brief account, was excited by the Manifesto, its immediate effect upon the
Church, because they put forth an account of their designed variations from some things practised in the New England Churches, which they themselves call a Manifesto. And afterwards there came forth a Book entitled, Gospel Order Revived, written by several Ministers of the Gospel, supposed to be Mr. Woodbridge, Mr. Bradstreet, and Mr. Colman. Upon which there were some very harsh passages, and several cantering Rhythms came forth. Some of which, for their odd- ness and archness, I shall insert. One parcel of verses upon the aforesaid Book, the author calls ' A Simple Poem upon the Authors and their Design,' and runs thus.
Begging Manifesto, proves but a great Pesto Blackman1 is Synodalian.
Pray stay there and stop, lest next hop and hop Ben't Peter's Chair Italian.
The old Strait Gate is now out of date, The street it must be Broad 2
And the Bridge3 must be Wood, tho' not half so good As firm stone in the road.
Relations are Rattles with Brattle and Brattle, Lord Bro'r mayn't command,
But Mather and Mather had rather had rather The good old way should stand.
Saints Cotton and Hooker, Oh look down and look here Where's Platform, Way and the Keys?
Oh Torrey with Story of Brattle Church Tatele To have things as they please.
Our Merchants cum Mico do stand sacro vico Our Churches turn genteel
Our Parsons grow trim and trig with Wealth, Wine and Wig And their heads are covered with meal.
1 Colman. 2 Bradstreet. 3 Woodbridge.
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ministers and societies in the town seems to have been favorable. Hitherto on the part of . these societies no sympathy or interest had been
" Upon which there came out the following answer : - And now my friend Thomas, according to promise Im'e come and hope shall be welcome,
For I know you use to desire all the news, And now I think I can tell some.
There 's lately come in here, a whip for the sinner That doth leave the old way, or despise it ; The Author, if you know him, says, 't is a simple Poem, And in good truth I don't think he belies it.
·
Having heated his Noddle, with a dram of the Bottle Then hey for the top of Parnassus.
He's so set on rhyming, bell ringing and chiming The which for a grace to his rhymes take
That saints Hooker and Cotton, tho' both dead and rotten, Must out from their graves for the rhymes sake.
His designs to be arch in 't, appears in the Margent On which the kind Reader must look,
Or else he'd be witty, and that would be a pity, And no body find out the Joke.
And thus our Lord Broth" doth fully discover The authors and all their design,
For which I suppose the thanks of the House Will be sent, when they meet the next time."
If they illustrate nothing else, the foregoing lines will show what could get printed as poetry one hundred and fifty years ago. The journalist adds, - " Thus the quarrels about Relig- ion give occasion to scoffing wits. And therefore a small matter should not set us together by the Ears ; for a victory wont countervail the Damage; and it is well that that con- troversy is since comfortably settled."
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expressed in the new society, and none of their ministers came forward to welcome Dr. Colman to his field of labor, or participate with him in the dedication and opening services at his church. But we find that, not many weeks after the publication of the "Manifesto," they all united at the request of this church in " keeping a day of prayer." "Wednesday, the 31st of January," say the Records, " was separated by us for public imploring the presence of God with us, his pardon and blessing." On this occasion the ministers of the Congregational churches in the town took some part in the services, Dr. Colman preaching in the morning and Dr. In- crease Mather in the afternoon. Whether their union in keeping this day of prayer was the effect of the Manifesto, or the result of the better feel- ings of the ministers, and their conviction that the success of the enterprise could no longer be prevented by any coldness or opposition on their part, or whether it was brought about by the in- terposition of friends, cannot be clearly deter- mined. Probably each of these causes had its influence, though the result is chiefly to be at- tributed, I apprehend, to the mediation of friends ; - since it is clearly shown by a letter, in the manuscript volume of "Colman Papers," to which reference has been made, (which letter ought also to be on the files of our church,) that
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the invitation to unite in a day of prayer was at first refused, unless this church would with- draw its Manifesto, and adopt the Platform of the United Brethren of London ; - and in a passage in the records, immediately preceding the account of the day of " public prayer," Dr. Colman says, " I omit on purpose the differences and troubles we had with our neighbors about our providings, only am obliged to leave this acknowledgment of our great obligation to the Hon. William Stough- ton, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, the Rev. William Brattle of Cambridge, the Rev. Mr. Clarke of Chelmsford, and Mr. Danforth of Dorchester, for their good and kind endeavors for our peaceable settlement."
Some time elapsed, however, before Dr. Col- man was on terms of intimate communion and fellowship with the other churches of the town, and for several years the church was designated, in scorn and derision, by a title of which neither then nor now has it any cause to be ashamed, - " the Manifesto Church."
In giving this account of the " Manifesto " and its results, I have anticipated some things in rela- tion to the call of Rev. Benjamin Colman to become the pastor of the society. The germ of the society, as has been intimated, was formed as early as January, 1698, at which time Thomas Clarke and his associates became possessed of a piece of land with a view to erect thereupon a
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house of worship. At what time this work was commenced cannot be ascertained, but early in the summer of 1699, in prospect of the comple- tion of the house in the autumn, those interested in the enterprise, who had hitherto, as seems probable, worshipped at the churches to which they severally belonged, made arrangements for the establishment of a permanent ministry, by inviting the Rev. Benjamin Colman, then in Eng- land, to become their pastor. Mr. Colman was a native of this town. His parents were mem- bers of the Second Church, and he himself had there made his early Christian vows. Of himself and his call to be the pastor of this church, he gives the following account in the opening para- graph of our records : - " I had been absent from this my native country upwards of four years, employed as a candidate for the evangelical min- istry, to which my parents and my own choice devoted me ; occasionally preaching in the city of London, the University of Cambridge, and the town of Ipswich, in England, for about the space of two years, and then more statedly had been appointed by the Presbyterian board at London, to be the minister of the Dissenting Con- gregation in the city of Bath, Somersetshire ; when, on the 19th day of July, 1699, I received an invitation * from the gentlemen, the under-
. No copy of this letter of invitation is to be found in the records or on the files of this church. Hearing that a copy of
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BRATTLE STREET CHURCH.
takers of this church, subscribed by Mr. Thomas Brattle, Captain Benjamin Davis, Mr. John Mico, Mr. Thomas Cooper, and Mr. John Colman, in the name of the rest, to come over to be their minister, only proposing to me, that
it was in the possession of the Rev. Alexander McClure of Malden, I applied and readily obtained from him permission to use it in this publication. It is as follows : -
" Boston, May 10, 1699. " MR. BENJAMIN COLMAN : -
"Much respected Sir, - Before writing the following votes, which will satisfy you both of the nature and design of them, and how we came to be concerned therein, we judge it may not be amiss to give you an account of the first rise and progress of our undertaking, until we came unto this result. These few lines may therefore acquaint you, that about twenty of us, considering the great need there was of another meeting-house in the town, did, in October last, undertake, with God's help, to build one in Brattle Close, so called, near the town dock, where most of us lived. We imparted our design first to the Lieutenant-Governor and ministers, and then petitioned both the townsmen and justices, and the Lieutenant-Governor and Council, for leave to build with timber, which they readily granted us. At the first meeting it was resolved the relations should be laid aside, and the Holy Scriptures publicly read in the church, and on the 29th of October, Mr. John Colman, understanding we had thought of yourself for our minister, did join with us, on condition we gave you a call thereunto. Soon after this we agreed for the building of said meeting-house, which is to be raised by the first of August, and finished by the first of October next. The last month the timber was brought to town and begun to be framed; and now, thinking it high time to con- clude on a minister, on the 2d instant there was a general meeting of the undertakers, where, after we had every one
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the Holy Scriptures might be publicly read every Sabbath in the worship of God, and that they might lay aside the relation of experiences, which were imposed in the other churches in the town, in order to the admission of persons to the Lord's Table.
of us subscribed a paper, wherein it is declared we have no design to depart from the doctrine and order of the Gospel, or from the practice of the churches of Christ in New England, only leaving the matter of relations indifferent, as we, with several churches in New England, do apprehend them to be, it was, after mature deliberation, unanimously voted, - 1. That Mr. Benjamin Colman be addressed with an invitation to come over hither in order to be the minister of the church which we are now erecting ; and 2. That in case Mr. Benjamin Colman, complying with our principles which shall be sent hin, shall come over upon the invitation, and we shall not agree to settle him among us, we will then satisfy him for all the loss and damage he shall sustain by his answering our invitation to his full content. 3. That Mr. John Mico, Mr. John Colman, Mr. Benjamin Davis, Mr. Thomas Cooper, and Mr. T. Brattle do write to Mr. Benjamin Colman by the first opportunity, in behalf of the undertakers; and 4. That Mr. Benjamin Cohnan be desired to use his utmost endeavors to be ordained a minister of the Gospel by some Non-conformist ministers in England. Accordingly, Sir, we do hereby sig- nify to you the desire of the undertakers, and in their name we do heartily invite you hither to be the minister of our church, promising and obligating ourselves, in case of your compliance with our call, if we do not settle you among us, which there is no doubt upon, that we will satisfy you for all the damage you shall receive thereby. We are all of us very desirous that you be ordained before you come over by some Non-conformist ministers in England, the more eminent they are, the better it may be. The great character which every one gives of your good temper, principles, and abilities
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" The invitation was accepted by me ; and the more acceptable it was by reason of the kind and encouraging letters which accompanied it from my excellent friends, the Hon. Mr. John Lev- erett, the Rev. William Brattle, Ebenezer Pem- berton, Simon Bradstreet, and others .*
doth abundantly satisfy us in our choice, and make us the more earnestly to address you with this invitation, which we pray you will favor us with your acceptance of, and coming to us so soon as ever your affairs will permit. You may be assured of all due respect and encouragement from us becoming your place and merit ; for although our votes may seem too short in some particulars, we intend nothing but what is not only just but honorable. God, who has inclined our hearts to so great an undertaking, and to make choice of yourself for our minister, and has therein graciously smiled on us hitherto, seems in his providence to have designed you for his service among us, and will, as we trust in his goodness, by inclining your heart to accept of this our invitation, perfect what he has thus far so wonderfully brought about, to his glory and our mutual happiness and comfort. In the hopes and persuasion thereof we shall add no more, but our prayers that God Al- mighty will bless you and make your way to us prosperous in his good time. We salute you in behalf of the undertak- ers, and subscribe ourselves, Sir, your assured friends and servants,
" T. BRATTLE, BENJAMIN DAVIS, JOHN MICO, THOMAS COOPER, JOHN COLMAN."
* The following extracts from some of these letters will show the high estimation in which Mr. Colman was held, and the strong desire felt by some of the most eminent men of that day that he should accept the invitation of the " Under-
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" Being arrived at London, August 1st, 1699, I asked ordination of the Presbytery there, and on the fourth day of said month the solemnity
takers " of Brattle Street Church. Rev. Ebenezer Pember- ton writes : -
" With this you will receive a kind invitation to return to your own country, which you cannot but have a great tender- ness for, and your affection I trust will constrain you to com- ply, and hope it will not be to your disadvantage. The gentle- men who solicit your return are mostly known to you, - men of repute and figure, from whom you may expect gen- erous treatment ; and among them I doubt not but you may be peculiarly serviceable to the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the height of your ambition. I believe your return will be pleasing to all friends of religion. I am sure it will be inex- pressibly so to your unfeigned friend and servant."
Rev. William Brattle writes : -
" This waits upon you with my desires and hopes that your circumstances will allow you to entertain and accept the invitation. The good respect the Boston ministers have for you (as well as others) should, methinks, encourage your embracing the motion now made to you. As for my own part, I shall account it a smile from Heaven upon the good design of these gentlemen, if you can send them answer of peace, and would hope that your so doing will result to your mutual rejoicing. May God direct you in the matter. Your real friend and servant."
President Leverett writes thus at the close of his letter : -
" I shall exceedingly rejoice at your return unto your coun- try. We want persons of your character. The affair offered to your consideration is of the greatest moment. I pray Al- mighty God to be your director in it. Your return is heartily desired by all that I have heard speak of it, but it cannot be more agreeable to any body than it is to, Sir, your sincere friend and humble servant."
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was attended, after a public lecture, at the meet- ing-house of the Rev. Mr. Christopher Taylor, to whom I succeeded in Bath. I was ordained by prayer with the imposition of the hands of the Rev. Richard Stratton, John Spademan, Robert Fleming, and Christopher Taylor. Mr. Stratton prayed, Mr. Spademan made the exhor- tation. From many other reverend ministers I received testimonials of my good conversation while in England. .
" On Wednesday, the 1st of November, 1699, I arrived at Boston, through the favor of God. The next day the undertakers invited me to a full meeting at my brother's house. A few days after, Mr. Brattle presented me with fifty pounds in money in the name of the undertakers. Soon after, we kept a day of thanksgiving in private to Almighty God for the many smiles of his provi- dence on our undertaking unto that day. I preached from 1 Chron. xxix. 13, 14, ' Now, therefore, our God, we thank thee and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so will- ingly after this sort ? For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.' "
This, then, was the first religious service of this society, this the first sermon preached before it. Mr. Colman, having been ordained for this work in London, was now the minister of the 4
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society in Brattle Square, which three weeks sub- sequently occupied its pleasant new-built church, and became one of the established, and soon one of the most flourishing, societies of the town.
I have thus presented to my hearers a full view of the circumstances under which this church originated, and the principles upon which it was founded. We perceive that, as regards theo- logical doctrine, no departure was made by this church from the system of religious belief then commonly received. The society adopted at the beginning the confession of faith put forth by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, which, with the Catechism prepared by the Assembly, was then universally, as it is now by a large major- ity of the Congregational churches of New Eng- land, regarded as the embodiment and concentra- tion of the great doctrines of the Bible. The points in respect to which this church departed from others related entirely to order and worship, and of these but four were of any great mo- ment ; - Ist. The reading of some portion of Holy Scripture in public worship at the discre- tion of the minister ; 2d. The administration of baptism to the children of any parents who would make a genuine profession of their Christian faith and their desire and purpose to educate their chil- dren therein ; 3d. The relinquishment of the re- lation of experiences ; and 4th. The permission of
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all the members of the congregation, without dis- tinction of communicants and non-communicants, to act and vote in parish affairs. I have also received it by tradition from my predecessor, that the minister of this church was expected or re- quired to repeat the Lord's Prayer once in some part of the service every Sunday. And accord- ingly I have always observed this rule, though I have not found any authority for it but tradition, which, as it came to me so, I suppose has been handed down from pastor to pastor. The forms of religious worship are in one aspect of no im- portance. They are but the drapery of religion, and if the drapery be decent and proper, it mat- ters not what may be its texture and pattern. God cares not in what language the prayer be offered, nor what posture the body assumes. He looketh to the heart, and if there be sincerity, devotion, an earnest and quickened spirit there, they make the form, whatever it may be, accep- table in his sight. But in another aspect, the forms adopted or established for the administra- tion of religion are important, in so far as they may affect or involve the rights of individual Christians. This was the case with some of the forms objected to and laid aside by the founders of this society ; as, for example, the requisition of the relation of experiences before admission to the church, the refusal of baptism to children whose
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parents were not communicants, and the exclusion of non-communicants from vote or voice in the di- rection of parish affairs, except as they might act in confirmation of what the church had done. In these cases important personal Christian rights and privileges were involved in matters of form and or- der, and we have reason to honor our fathers, that they stood firm " for the liberty wherewith Christ hath made men free," and established here a church, liberal, yet conservative, uniting freedom and order, a wide privilege of the individual with the rights and progress of the whole body. It is not surprising that a church founded upon these principles should soon become large and flourish- ing, or that it should have enjoyed, as we shall find in tracing its history, a large measure of peace and prosperity.
Having thus noticed the progress of the society, from the earliest movements in its behalf to its regular establishment in its new house under its first minister, I shall here leave the subject for the present. Let me remind you, in conclusion, that, as we are completing the third half-century of our existence as a society, so we are complet- ing another year of our lives as individuals. We have been reviewing the long gone past as con- nected with the deeds of our fathers ; let us also review it, each for himself, as it presents the events, the deeds and doings, the negligence and
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the performance, the omission and commission, of the past year. Mingled emotions necessarily rise up in our minds, as we approach any of these an- niversary epochs that mark the progress of time and the flight of years ; and now, as we look back upon this, which is so fast drawing towards its close, we find much, very much, for which to thank God, and much also for which to reproach ourselves. Another year of privilege and oppor- tunity, another year of discipline and probation, is soon to close up its record to eternity. What one of us does not wish that some passages in that record could be blotted out ? What one of us does not feel the truth of the prophet's declara- tion, " Then shalt thou think of thy ways and be ashamed." May the experience of the past so make us wise and faithful for the future, that the close of the next year may find us, if on earth, better and holier, and if called from earth, holy and happy in heaven.
December 30th, 1849.
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SERMON II.
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THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL BE IN EVERLASTING REMEM- BRANCE. - Ps. cxii. 6.
IN our religious services a few weeks ago, I alluded to the completion of the third half-cen- tury of our existence as a church and society. I gave a brief outline of the changes in opinion and usage which had occurred in the American churches during the seventy years previous, as illustrating the feelings and circumstances under which this church originated. I presented the important principles in regard to ecclesiastical or- ganization and the administration of the Christian religion, which this society aimed to establish, as put forth in its Manifesto of November 19th, 1699, and briefly recited the incidents connected with the call of Mr. Benjamin Colman to become its pastor, and his entrance upon his duties in De- cember of that year.
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