USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the church in Brattle street, Boston > Part 4
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The fourth date in our records is " Wednes- day, January 31, 1700," which day, it is stated,
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HISTORY OF BRATTLE STREET CHURCH.
"was separated by us for public imploring the presence of God with us, his pardon and blessing, and accordingly solemnized." This was an im- portant event in the history of our church, and I make the near approach of its anniversary an oc- casion for again calling your attention to a portion of its history.
The Manifesto, put forth by the undertakers in November, 1699, seems to have been all that was at first adopted by the society in the shape of creed or covenant. At a private meeting held December 12th, at Mr. Mico's house, a church, or body of communicants, was organized, but, as appears from the records, those entering into it, fourteen in all, whose names are given, simply declared " their consent and agreement to walk together in all the ordinances of our Lord Jesus Christ." At this meeting, it was voted, "that Mr. Colman present the desires of the society to the ministers of the town to keep a day of prayer with us." This request was at first peremptorily refused by two of the ministers acting apparent- ly in behalf of the rest. Their letter, preserved in the manuscript volume of Colman Papers, be- longing to the Historical Society, bears date De- cember 28th, 1699, and is as follows.
"MR. COLMAN : -
" Whereas you have signified to us that your
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Society have desired us to join with them in a public fast, in order to your intended communion, our answer is, that as we have formerly once and again insinuated unto you, that if you would in due manner lay aside what you call your Mani- festo, and resolve and declare that you will keep to the Heads of Agreement on which the United Brethren in London have made their union, and then publicly proceed with the presence, counte- nance, and concurrence of the New England churches, we should be free to give you our fel- lowship and our best assistance, which things you have altogether declined and neglected to do ; thus we must now answer, that, if you will give us the satisfaction which the law of Christ requires for your disorderly proceedings, we shall be hap- py to gratify your desires ; otherwise, we may not do it, lest our joining with you in such an action be interpreted as an approbation of those miscar- riages, which both before and since the publica- tion of the said Manifesto, it seems to us, you have fallen into, and lest we become partakers of the guilt of those irregularities by which you have given just cause of offence, both to us and to all the churches of our Lord Jesus Christ throughout New England.
" INCREASE MATHER, JAMES ALLEN."
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This note is curious, as indicating the state of feeling and manners towards the new clergyman. The common courtesies of correspondence are all disregarded. Here is no address of " Sir," or ' Dear Sir," or " Rev. Sir." They do not even recognize him as invested with the clerical office. The address is short and direct, " Mr. Colman," and it is signed, without any expressions of interest, sympathy, respect, or kind feeling, " Increase Mather, James Allen." This crusty letter, in the handwriting of Increase Mather, was doubtless written by him, and breathes his spirit. What answer Mr. Colman returned to it, or whether he returned any answer in writing, can- not now be ascertained. If there was any further correspondence upon the subject, it would be deeply interesting, as throwing light upon this early period of our history ; yet, if it was all con- ducted in the spirit of the letter just given, it is not to be regretted that the correspondence can- not now be found. I was wrong, perhaps, in describing the letter as a peremptory refusal. It alludes to a previous peremptory refusal, unless the Manifesto was withdrawn, and the principles of union of the London churches adopted, but it does not now insist upon this. That demand is abated. " If you will give us the satisfaction which the law of Christ requires for your disor- derly proceedings, we will gratify your desires."
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What satisfaction was given, what explanations were made, cannot now be ascertained. These explanations, however, aided by the influence which Mr. Colman's eminent talents and strong character began to exert from the moment of his ar- rival in the country, were sufficient, and five weeks after the date of this extraordinary note, these very men, Increase Mather and James Allen, to- gether with Wadsworth, Cotton Mather, and Samuel Willard, all the ministers of the three Congregational churches of the town, did unite with this church in keeping a day of public prayer.
Our own records are silent in regard to the particulars of this occasion. From the Diary of Chief Justice Sewall, we learn that it "was a close, dark day." At the opening of the service in the morning, Mr. Colman read a paper, or writing, that had been agreed upon and signed by all the ministers. It is a matter of regret that no copy of this paper is upon our records or files, or can now be found anywhere. We learn from the authority I have just quoted, Judge Sewall's Diary, that it was drawn up, out of two which had been rejected, by Rev. Wm. Brattle, at a meet- ing of the ministers held at Mr. Willard's, Janu- ary 24th, at which himself and the Lieutenant- Governor were present. At this meeting, says the Diary, " Mr. Colman got his brethren to
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subscribe it." It was read to the audience as explaining the basis or grounds on which the min- isters united in the services of that day, and were to govern their future intercourse. The morning services were conducted chiefly by Mr. Colman ; the afternoon services entirely by the other minis- ters. Dr. Increase Mather preached, and in his sermon took care to make a qualification or ex- planation of his text, and inculcate from it a doc- trine which left him ample liberty to make any attack upon the new church which he might subsequently feel inclined to direct against it. His text was, "Follow peace with all men and holiness." The doctrine enforced was, we must follow peace so far as it consists with holiness .*
Although there was, thus early, this public recognition of our church, and this public expres- sion of sympathy and fellowship on the part of the ministers, yet it was but a lull in the storm of opposition to the Manifesto Church, which con- tinued to rage for some time. Several years passed before Mr. Colman was on terms of inti- mate communion and regular exchanges with the other ministers of Boston and the neighborhood, though it is impossible to ascertain any reliable facts by which to determine at what precise period the other ministers ceased to regard him as an
* New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. III. p. 121.
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innovator, and to exchange with him as often as with each other. This is of little consequence now, and was at the time of little consequence. Mr. Colman's talents and fidelity, the charac- ter and standing of most of his congregation, and the just, enlarged, catholic principles upon which the church was established, soon rendered all opposition insignificant and powerless. The church flourished, increasing rapidly in numbers and in influence. Satisfactory evidence of this is afforded by the fact, that at the close of the first year of Mr. Colman's ministry considerable augmentation of his salary was voted, and before the close of the second year, in June, 1701, it was thought desirable to furnish him with a per- manent assistant in his work ; and the young so- ciety had the pecuniary ability which enabled it to do this, and the religious zeal which prompted to it. Such an assistant was found in the person of Mr. Eliphalet Adams, a graduate of Harvard College, of the class of 1694. Mr. Adams was not or- dained as colleague pastor, but continued to serve the society in this capacity of assistant for two years and a half, called thereto by an annual election on the part of the congregation.
And here it is worthy of remark, that, so far as the records show, the only internal quarrel or contention of any kind that has occurred in this church, during its century and a half of existence,
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is connected with this Mr. Adams. What was the nature or point of this contention cannot now. be uetermined, as Dr. Colman, in the records under date of August 2, 1703, simply says, - " At the end of the half-year, Mr. Adams left preaching statedly with us, and I willingly omit the mention of the divisions and angers among us upon his departure." Let us hope that another hundred and fifty years may pass without any further record of "divisions and angers." After the departure of Mr. Adams, who was settled in 1709 at New London, no church-meetings were held for several years, the records describing those which had just been held as very "uncom- fortable." In October, 1711, the old meeting- house of the First Church, situated in State Street, was destroyed by fire. " Our church," writes Colman in the records, "invited the pastors of the First Church to preach with us in turns every Sabbath, and to join in the administration of or- dinances. To which they, with their church, consented, and continued with us till May the 4th, 1713, when they took their leave of us with a very grateful letter, read publicly by me to our congregation, and went into their own house."
As an evidence that the members of this society, though denounced as radical innovators, retained still no small share of Puritan prejudice, it may be stated that Thomas Brattle, who died in 1713,
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left by his will a legacy to the church, viz. as stated in the records, " A pair of organs, which he dedicated and devoted to the praise and glory of God with us, if we would accept thereof, and within the year after his decease, procure a sober person, skilful to play thereon. The church, with all possible respect to the memory of our devoted friend and benefactor, voted, that they did not think it proper to use the same in the public worship of God."
After the departure of Mr. Adams, in 1703, Mr. Colman had the sole charge of the large and flourishing parish for twelve years. They were years of peace and prosperity, of growth in things temporal and spiritual. At the expiration of this period, the " divisions and angers," what- ever they were, occasioned by the departure of Mr. Adams, having died out and been forgotten, the society determined to have a colleague pastor. As the whole proceedings had on this occasion were in singular contrast with the manner in which similar affairs are conducted at the present day, it may be interesting to you to hear Dr. Colman's account of it from the records.
" July 4th, 1715," he writes, " was our first public meeting of the whole congregation, when the following votes passed : -
" Ist. That they did apprehend and judge it to be for the glory of God and the good of
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this church and congregation, that another per- son b~ chosen to the pastoral office among us. 2d. That in order thereunto, the first Tuesday in August be kept as a day of prayer, to im- plore the Divine direction and guidance in the said election. Accordingly, Tuesday, the 2d of August, was observed by us with prayer and fast- ing, the ministers of the town assisting at it. On August the 16th, the congregation met for the elec- tion of a second pastor, and after the opening of the meeting by prayer, as usual, and a discourse had agreeably to the occasion, the question was put, whether the brethren were ready to proceed and write their votes for the election of some other person into the pastoral office with me ; and if they were, that they should signify it by lifting up their hands, whereupon all the hands were lifted up. The brethren then wrote their votes, and put them into the box on the table before me, which were counted and opened, and out of sixty-six votes there were sixty for Mr. William Cooper. It is to be noted, that no per- son was nominated, nor Mr. Cooper's name once mentioned, either now or in the former meetings, until the votes were counted, and I had declared his election by this great majority."
Mr. Cooper accepted this invitation, upon con- dition that he should be excused " from engaging presently in a constant course of preaching, it
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being a very early day with him." It was deter- mined, therefore, that he should preach but once a fortnight, and that his ordination should be post- poned at least one year. He was ordained on the 23d day of May, 1716.
The spirit of innovation, or rather, I would say, a readiness to make such changes in ecclesi- astical matters as a wise judgment would approve, still existed in our church, and at the ordination of Mr. Cooper, two changes were made in what was then the usual course of these services. The sermon was preached by Mr. Colman. Pre- viously, it had been the usual, and I believe the universal custom, in New England, for the person who was to be ordained to preach himself. But, says Colman in the preface to his sermon, which was printed, " This practice has, of late years, been much complained of by our young minis- ters as a great impropriety imposed upon them. In which opinion I concur, and was, therefore, willing to relieve Mr. Cooper, and assign him a more proper part and service, which he also chose." This more proper part and service, which Mr. Cooper performed, was to read a pa- per, in which he gave a general view of the Chris- tian doctrines and the pastoral office. This was read after the sermon and before the consecrating prayer. These two customs, introduced here, I believe, for the first time, became afterwards
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common at a New England Congregational ordi- nation. One of them is retained at the present day, and the other has been of late years discon- tinued. It would not be unwise to revive it .*
* This custom probably never became absolutely univer- sal. I had supposed, that it was only within the present cen- tury, some thirty or forty years ago, that this custom, and also that of the examination of the candidate by the ordaining council, had been much disregarded or discontinued. The contrary would seem to be the fact. Evidence can be found that this examination was often opposed in ordaining councils, and sometimes neglected by them. In a sermon entitled, " The Importance and Necessity of Christians considering Jesus Christ in the Extent of his high and glorious Character ; a Sermon preached at the South Church in Boston. By Samuel Hopkins, A. M., Minister of the Gospel in Great Bar- rington. Boston, N. E. Printed and sold by Kneeland and Adams, next to the Treasurer's Office, in Milk Street. 1768," I find a note, from which the following extracts are made : -
" I desire it may be considered, whether the ordaining councils who neglect to examine candidates for the ministry, with respect to their religious sentiments, and they who zeal- ously oppose such examinations, do not, by this conduct, openly declare, that it is with them no matter of importance what men believe, what their sentiments are, and what doc- trines they hold with respect to Jesus Christ; or what thoughts they have of his character and religion. . .... The conduct of these gentlemen is really surprising, and none need be at a loss what will be the fate of Christianity, so far as their influence reaches. All the distinguishing, important doctrines of it will be neglected ; and instead of preaching the Gospel, sermons will be either insipid dissertations upon something else, or filled with stupid inconsistencies ; else be only flond [florid ?] harangues, without any meaning. Un- less, perhaps, when times and circumstances will bear it,
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The settlement of a new minister or a colleague minister commonly gives an impulse to the re- ligious affairs of a parish, and within a few years after Mr. Cooper's ordination, although at what precise time the records do not show, it was found necessary to enlarge the church, which was done by an addition to the building in the rear of the pulpit, with pews on the floor and a gallery. On Friday, the 4th of March, 1720, was begun and established, Dr. Colman preaching the first ser- mon, the monthly Ante-Communion or Prepara- tory Lecture. In this lecture the First Church and the Brattle Street Church were associated, the ministers preaching it alternately, on Friday after- noon. The lecture was continued in this form for nearly a century. Then other churches united in it, and when the present pastor of this church entered upon his duties, the ministers of the Fed-
another system of doctrines will be preached up, which at present are somewhat unpopular ; therefore cannot be with safety expressly and openly espoused. For the sake of which, that they may be privily introduced, and from a desire and design to extirpate the more commonly received, popular doctrines, many think they have good reason to conclude this method with respect to candidates is gone into." When it is considered that this was written in 1768, one is reminded of Solomon's declaration, " There is nothing new under the sun." The modern charge of concealment, "privily," is an old affair, and the neglect of councils to examine candi- dates had its advocates and abetters a century ago in the Congregational churches of New England.
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eral Street, the New South, and the Purchase Street Churches were united with those of the First and the Brattle Street Churches in preaching a monthly Ante-Communion Lecture at Federal Street, on Thursday evening. It was, however, I am sorry to say, but thinly attended ; the united representation from the five congregations asso- ciated in the service seldom making an audience so large as to be very inspiring to the preacher. During the summer of 1837, the lecture was dis- continued, with the intention of renewing it in the autumn. But it was never resumed, the minis- ters thinking that in some other way, by other modes and forms of instruction, each could more effectually benefit his own people. No notice of this discontinuance, at least none that I ever heard of, was taken, and no objection made to it, by any of the churches associated in it. I have long regretted that this lecture was discontinued ; and were it not that all the signs and tendencies of the times are against it, I should still hope to see the First Church and Brattle Street, for so many years sister churches, again united in some common service of the kind.
Dr. Colman and Mr. Cooper were associate pastors of the church for more than twenty-seven years. They worked together with extraordinary efficiency, and, considering the religious agitation of a portion of this period, and the strong con-
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trasts in their characters, with extraordinary har- mony ; indeed, so far as the records show, with entire and perfect harmony. To those who are at all acquainted with the ecclesiastical annals of New England, it is well known that the year 1740 is called the year of the Great Awakening, occa- sioned by the advent or mission of the celebrated Whitefield to this country. As it is a well-estab- lished fact that Colman and Cooper ultimately differed somewhat in their estimate of this person, and of the line of conduct they were disposed to pursue in relation to him, and the excitement of the times, I expected to find in the records some evidences of this, - at least, some notices of Whitefield that would help to throw light upon the matter of his preaching in this pulpit, and the opposition of interests and feelings, if any were occasioned or excited thereby. But the records are silent upon the whole subject. researches in various directions for satisfactory information upon this matter, but without suc- cess. It is generally understood that Whitefield preached his first sermon in the pulpit of Brattle Street Church. The only authority for this is the assertion to that effect of an anonymous writer of that day. Whitefield himself, in one of his let- ters, in describing his first visit to Boston, says, " On the first Lord's day I heard Dr. Colman, in the forenoon, notwithstanding he asked me to
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preach after he was up in the pulpit and had fin- ished the first prayer." In the afternoon, he certainly preached for Mr. Foxcroft, of the First Church. If his first sermon was preached in our pulpit, then it must have been preached at a lec- ture. But whether Whitefield's first sermon was preached here or not, he certainly preached in our pulpit, and Mr. Cooper entered largely into the excitement he awakened, and the congrega- tion was largely affected by it also. In 1741, eighty-five persons were added to the church ; and in the following year, forty-two were added. From all that can be ascertained upon the sub- ject, it is evident that, in relation to the Great Awakening, as it is called, Dr. Colman and his colleague, Mr. Cooper, entertained widely differ- ent views,* and that this difference of opinion
* The following passage in one of Dr. Palfrey's notes places this point beyond dispute.
"Dr. Colman wrote, in a letter to Mr. Williams of Leba- non, 'It is at this day enough to make the heart of a sober and considerate Christian bleed within him to hear of the sore rents and divisions made by Mr. Davenport and others in a great number of towns and churches throughout our provinces. Almost all on Long Island are thus broken to pieces, and so are many in Connecticut, and with us of the Massachusetts to a sorrowful degree.' And in his sermon at the ordination of S. Cooper, he expresses his 'wish before God, and in his fear, that those among ourselves who have of late years taken upon themselves to go about exhorting and preaching, grossly unfurnished with ministerial gifts and
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extended to the congregation also ; and it is to the credit of all the parties concerned, that no schism took place, - that the harmony of the par- ish and of the pastors was unbroken.
After a brief illness, Mr. Cooper died of apo- plexy, December 14th, 1743. The day previous had been spent by the congregation in fasting and prayer for his recovery, a public service being held in the church morning and afternoon, the min-
knowledge, would suffer those words of the Lord [Jeremiah xxiii. 31, 32] to sink deep into their hearts, to check them in their bold career, and blind censures of many faithful pastors, into whose folds they are daily breaking, and because of the mildness of our spirits towards them, seem to grow the more bold and fierce. And it were greatly to be wished that peo- ple would beware of such straggling, illiterate teachers, and avoid them, in whatever appearance of sheep's clothing they may come.' Cooper's feeling on the subject appears from the following extract of a preface written by him for a sermon by Jonathan Edwards, about a year after the revival began. 'If any are resolutely set to disbelieve this work, to reproach and oppose it, they must be left to the free, sovereign power and mercy of God to enlighten and rescue them. These, if they have had opportunity to be rightly informed, I am ready to think, would have been disbelievers and opposers of the miracles and mission of our Saviour, had they lived in his days. The malignity which some of them have discovered to me approaches near to the unpardonable sin; and they had need beware lest they sin the sin which is unto death.'" " That Dr. Colman at first entertained a most favorable opin- ion of Whitefield is evident from his inviting him to preach, and from lavish praise bestowed upon him in a sermon which Colman delivered at a Tuesday Evening Lecture, October 21, 1740." - Palfrey's Sermon, pp. 49, 54.
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isters of the town assisting therein. He expired at six o'clock in the morning. " The congrega- tion," writes Dr. Colman in the records, "met that afternoon, and voted to bury him by a sub- scription, which presently rose to nine hundred pounds. They put his whole family and me into mourning, and gave rings to all the ministers of the association. On Thursday the funeral was attended, with great solemnity. The church and congregation walked before the hearse, two and two, and never was there a greater mourning through the town and county. The ministers that bore the pall and the deacons of the church had mourning gloves and hatbands, which was new to us, but very decent. The salary was voted to be continued to the family till further order." This extract from the records shows that Mr. Cooper had the respect, the confidence, and the strong attachment of his people.
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