USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > Lectures on the history of the First Church in Cambridge > Part 10
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In our old records I find this entry : "Mr. Nathaniel Gookin, our pastor, departed this life 7th day of August, 1692, being the Sabbath day at night, about nine or ten o'clock at night. Elder Clark departed this life 14th January 1699 or 1700, being the Sabbath day. Our Pastor Mr. Nathaniel Gookin's wife, Hannah, died 14th day of May, 1702, and was buried 16th day of May at the town's charge." Mrs. Gookin was the daughter of Captain Habijah Savage, who was the grandson of the noted Ann Hutchinson. Her grave is in our old bury- ing-ground, and is plainly marked ; the grave of Mr. Gookin is not now marked, but a monument by the side of hers, whose inscription has crumbled away, is sup- posed to cover the spot where our fourth minister was buried. In the November following his death, at a public meeting of the inhabitants of the town, it was voted that " the selectmen should make a money-rate to pay the expense and defray the charges, which amounted to about £ 18 in money, of our Pastor Gookin's funeral charges." Thus the written record of his life closes.
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Nothing of special importance seems to have been done in the town during the ten years of his ministry. It is pleasant to see that Mr. Mitchel was still kindly remembered, for there is an entry in 1687 of a grant of £ 10 to " Mistress Mitchel." The College records have an entry under date of December 24, 1691, as follows : " At a corporation meeting of Harvard College. It is ordered, 1., That £ 5 be allowed towards the repairing of the meeting-house in Cambridge. Provided that this present allowance shall not be drawn into a precedent for the future, and that the selectmen shall renounce all expectation of such a thing for the future."
In 1682 the residents of " Cambridge Farms," now Lexington, petitioned to be set off from Cambridge, but the people here opposed the measure and it was defeated. In 1684 it was renewed, and one reason given for press- ing it was that they were five miles from the meeting- house here, where they had worshipped. The request was again denied. In 1691 the petition was once more presented, and was granted by the General Court so far as to constitute the " The Farms " a separate Precinct, with the right to conduct their own parochial concerns. The church at Lexington was gathered from this church in 1696. In 1712 a full act of incorporation was bestowed. A satisfactory arrangement was made of the affairs in which the new parish and the old had a common interest.
We know some things upon which those who were before us here must have conversed in this period. For in this time James II. ascended the throne of England, and entered on his troubled and bloody reign, to be thrust down and driven out when William of Orange and Mary assumed the crown at the hands of
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the willing people, and brought in a new era with new liberties for these colonies. The " Glorious Revolution " must have stirred the subjects of the English throne whose home was beyond the seas, and entered into the talking and praying heard along these streets and in the homes of the people and the house of God. In 1689 William and Mary were proclaimed in Boston with great ceremony. Then followed the war with the French and the Indians, with its evils and perils, in which the people here bore their part. In Massachusetts, in connection with the expedition against Canada in 1690, the first paper money was issued by the colonies.
After the death of Mr. Gookin the pulpit was filled by various preachers. We have a long list of their names and the sums paid to each. Among the names are Mr. Mather and Mr. Brattle. The amount paid for a single sermon was 10 s .; for a whole day's service £ 1 was the regular stipend. This sum seems, however, to have been increased by the gifts of the students. There is a pleasant record which tells us that during this inter- val Mr. Increase Mather preached much, and gave his pay to Mrs. Hannah Gookin, widow, and it was paid her. She was also paid for entertaining the ministers who preached at this time. The Rev. Increase Mather was unanimously invited to assume the pastoral charge of the church ; but the people among whom he had labored for thirty-six years were not willing to release him, and this, with other obstacles to his removal, led him to decline the proposal.
After the office had been vacant for some four years, the Rev. William Brattle was invited to the pastorate, and he accepted the call. He was of a wealthy family, prominent in colonial days, whose name will always be
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associated with Cambridge. Mr. Brattle was born in Boston, November 22, 1662, and graduated here in 1680. He was soon chosen Tutor in the College. Dr. Colman, who was an undergraduate at that time, says, " He was an able and faithful tutor. He countenanced virtue and proficiency in us, and every good disposition he discerned with the most fatherly goodness, and searched out and punished vice with the authority of a master. He did his utmost to form us to virtue and the fear of God, and to do well in the world ; and dis- missed his pupils, when he took leave of them, with pious charges and with tears." We have one instance of his heroism and devotion. When the small-pox prevailed in the College, although he had not had that fearful malady, and inoculation was unknown, he stood at his post, visited the sick scholars, ministering to their bodies and their souls, venturing his life for them. He was himself taken ill, but his sickness was of a mild type, and he soon recovered. He received the degree of Bachelor of Divinity in 1692, when this was conferred for the first time. He was a Fellow of the Corporation from 1696 to 1700, when he was removed, to be re- instated in 1703 to hold the office until his death. At the decease of his brother Thomas, in 1713, he assumed the duties of the Treasurer of the College, and dis- charged them for two years with intelligence and fidelity. When he retired from this position, the College stock amounted to £ 3,767, and its revenue from rents and annuities to £ 114. The only publication of Mr. Brattle now known is a system of Logic, which was long used as a text-book in college, and is even now of value, although rarely to be found. He was a generous patron of learning, and a warm friend to the College
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while he lived, and at his death bequeathed to it £ 250, the income of which was to be used for the benefit of some student or students. It is evidence of his scientific attainments that he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of London.
Mr. Brattle was ordained on the 25th of November, 1696. We have the old record of the services. Mr. Brattle preached his own ordination sermon from 1 Cor- inthians iii. 6 : "I have planted, Apollos watered ; but God gave the increase." The charge was by Rev. Increase Mather, who had become president of the College, and the right hand of fellowship by Rev. Samuel Willard, of the Third Church in Boston ; Mr. Morton of Charles- town and Mr. Allen of Boston also took part in the exercises. A sermon was preached on the same occasion by Mr. Mather, from Revelation i. 16: " And he had in his right hand seven stars." Mr. Brattle's indepen- dence is shown in his refusal to have an elder, who was a layman, join in the laying on of hands at his ordination. The charges of his ordination are entered as about £ 20. There was "laid out about the repairing of the ministerial house for Mr. Brattle £ 10 18 s. 8d."
From the beginning of this pastorate we have com- plete church records. These give us "a form for the or- daining of a minister of the gospel, used by the Reverend President when Mr. Brattle was ordained at Cambridge." It is as follows. " Whereas you on whom we impose our hands are this day separated to the gospel of God and to the office of a pastor to the Church of Christ in this place, we do in his name ordain you thereunto. And we charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels, that you do the work of a minister of Christ : that you take the oversight of this
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flock of God, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind ; that you feed all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you an overseer; in doctrine showing uncor- ruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech, which cannot be condemned. That you give yourself to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine, that you be an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in faith, in purity. And if you keep this charge, it will not be long before God shall give you a place in heaven among his angels who stand by, and are witnesses of the solemnity. And when Jesus Christ, the Chief Shepherd, shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory which fadeth not away, and shall then shine as the stars for ever and ever."
This is the covenant to which those assented who desired baptism for themselves. "You, and each of you for yourselves respectively, do now give up your- selves to God in Jesus Christ, in an everlasting cov- enant never to be broken. You do humbly and pen- itently ask of God forgiveness for your original sin, as also for all your actual transgressions, and you desire with all your hearts to accept of Jesus Christ for your alone Redeemer and Saviour. Solemnly promising that by the help of God's holy spirit you will endeavor to live henceforward more to his honor and glory than heretofore you have done; abstaining from the vain delights and pleasures of this evil world ; keeping under the passions and evil lustings which are within you ; doing what in you lies at all times to carry it both towards God and towards man as becomes the dis- ciples of Jesus Christ. And particularly you all prom- ise to submit yourselves to the government which Jesus Christ hath instituted and appointed in and over his church."
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This is the covenant to which certain persons agreed " in order to their children's being baptized." " You do each of you now acknowledge the God of your fathers to be your God ; you do humbly beg of God, through Jesus Christ, forgiveness for your sins original and actual. You do solemnly promise, by the help of the Divine Spirit, to walk with God according to the rules of his holy Word, and to submit yourselves to all the institutions and appointments of Jesus Christ in his gospel, and to bring up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."
In 1722, " Mr. Judah Monis, a Jew by birth and edu- cation, being converted to the Christian faith, owned the covenant, and was baptized and declared a member in full communion with the church of Christ, after a prayer and discourse made by Mr. Colman from John v. 46, and a discourse of his own from Psalm cxvi. 10, answering the common objections of the Jews against Christ's being already come, and giving a confession of his faith in the close. Sang part of the 110th Psalm, which solemnity was performed in the College Hall. Soli Deo Gloria."
Mr. Monis was a useful member of the church, and a fund left by him is still used for the benefit of the widows and children of Congregational ministers. He was instructor in Hebrew in the College from 1722 to 1760.
In 1696-97 there was important action concerning the reception of members to the church. It is evident that the matter was the subject of much discussion. The result was, in brief, that persons desiring to unite with the church should privately give satisfaction unto the elders regarding their religious character, and should be
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excused, if they so desired, from giving a public rela- tion of their religious experience. The minister was to state to the church the grounds of his satisfaction with the candidates some time before they were ad- mitted, and they were to be propounded publicly, that if any one knew any reason which should justly bar them from communion, he could privately inform the elders. The vote of the church upon receiving persons thus propounded was to be taken by " handy vote, or silence, or any other indifferent sign," at the discretion of the elders. Those who were accepted by the church were publicly to make "profession of their faith and repentance in their covenanting with God." This is essentially the method still pursued in the church. The consent to dispense with the formal, public relation of experience marked a change from the ways of the past which certainly commends itself to our judgment. The church has a right to know whom it is receiving to its fellowship, both for their sake and its own. Having learned this to its satisfaction, in some simple and pleasant manner, the entrance to the church should be as plain as the nature of the act will allow. To confess Christ before men and make covenant with his people, and to receive those who come confessing their faith and love, should enlist the best feelings of all hearts, and be the occasion of sincere, sacred joy.
The church-book gives the account of the provision made for Mr. Brattle's support. He writes, " My salary from the town is ninety pounds per annum, and the overplus money." For a few years before his death he received £ 100. The salary seems to have been raised chiefly by a collection every Sabbath. From his receipts I do not find that he received any overplus in
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money. But there are long lists of the donors of wood. In 1697 he received twenty-two loads. He usually received more than that number till 1712, when the custom seems to have been discontinued for a few years. As this discontinuance of the wood comes at the same time as the advance in his salary, I presume that the two events were connected. We have also
accounts of wood which he paid for from time to time. There is a long list in 1697 headed, "Sent in since Nov. 3, the day that I was married. From my good neighbors in town." The list extends through more than a year, and is composed of articles for his table, with the names of the givers and the value of their gifts. The beginning of the list is as follows :-
. "Goody Gove, 1 pd. Fresh Butter, 8d. ; Mrs. Bord- man, 1 pd. Fr. Butter, 8 d .; Doct". Oliver, a line Pork, 2 s. ; Sarah Ferguson, 1 pig, 1 s. 9 d." There are accounts of similar donations afterwards. His private affairs were blended in his mind with his office, for another account in the church-book is headed, " Housekeeping, Dr. since we were married, Nov. 3, '97." The list be- gins with "2 powthering Tubs, 9 s. ; 1 Tub of Beef 154 pds. salted Oct. 29, £1 18 s. 6 d. ; Wine w" married and since to ys day, £ 3 ; Bear, 19 s. 6 d."; and the list con- tinues after this sort.
At the end of the church-book of this period are various statements regarding Mr. Brattle's gardening, the weather, etc. Of 1697 we read : " The winter this year was a very severe winter for cold and snow. The ground was covered with snow from the beginning of December to the middle of March ; many snows, one upon another; in February it was judged to be three foot and a half deep on a level." " Charlestown ferry
·
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was frozen up, so that the boat did not go over once from January 17 to February 28, in which time I rode over upon the ice." The summer following this hard winter was a very fruitful summer. In February and March, 1700, he was planting his garden. On Sabbath day, February 11, 1700, he was "taken sick of a feaver; he was " very ill, near to death." In about a fortnight he was able to go out. " Deo sit gloria. Amen." He was often interrupted during his ministry by " pains and languishments."
February 15, 1716, "The Revª. Mr. Brattle, Pastor of the Church of Christ in Cambridge, departed this life." He bore his sufferings " with great patience and resignation, and died with peace and an extraordinary serenity of mind." On the 20th of February he was interred in a tomb on the southeast side of the old burying-ground. They laid him down in hope of a blessed resurrection. "He was greatly honored at his interment." It was on the day of " The Great Snow," and the principal magistrates and ministers of Boston were detained here for several days. Mr. Brattle died in the fifty-fifth year of his age, and the twenty-first of his ministry. During his pastorate seven hundred and twenty-four children were baptized, and three hundred and sixty-four persons were admitted to the church.
In regard to the amount of his pastoral work, we are left to such conjecture as we can base upon the charac- ter of the man. We trust he knew all his people and where they lived. Yet we find Dr. Colman saying of his own congregation that he knew not where their habitations were, and should be glad to know them, that he and his associate might do their duty to them. At the funeral of Mr. Cooper, he is extolled for " knowing
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where to find the poor and sick of the flock, when they sent their notes."
Mr. Brattle was a man of marked politeness and courtesy, of compassion and charity. He had a very large estate, and he scattered his gifts with a liberal hand, yet without ostentation. He was patient and pacific in his temper, and "seemed to have equal respect to good men of all denominations." "With humility he united magnanimity ; and was neither bribed by the favor nor overawed by the displeasure of any man." He was of "an austere and mortified life, yet candid and tolerant towards others." He had great learning and ability, and bore a high reputation as a preacher. His manner in the pulpit was "calm and soft and melting." His manuscript sermons show that he was thoroughly of the Puritan school in theology; yet in ecclesiastical usages he was liberal. When the Brattle Street Church was formed by men who sought larger liberties in the ordering of their ecclesiastical offices than the other churches afforded, the movement enlisted his sympathy. The undertakers of the Manifesto Church, as they were called, adhered to the Westminster Confession, but desired to have the Holy Scriptures read in public worship, which was contrary to the New England usage, and also to give a voice in the choice of a minister to every baptized adult person who was to contribute to his maintenance. They somewhat enlarged the range of infant baptism, and made the public relation of religious experience optional with the candidate for church membership. When Mr. Colman, who was then in England, was invited to the pastoral charge of the new church, Mr. Brattle wrote to him, and encouraged his acceptance of the call. "As for my own part," he
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wrote, " I shall account it a smile from Heaven upon the good design of these gentlemen, if you can send them answer of peace." In an old account-book still in existence are some records of his private thoughts. Under date of 1715, it is written : " I can't but look upon myself as a standing instance of the infinite power and infinite goodness of God. While I consider my unexpressible emptiness and insufficiencies, my heart can't but admire and adore the power of God and the goodness of God in helping me through the duties and difficulties which in his Providence He has call'd me to. O Lord, to thy name be the praise ; O Lord, my hope is in thee; Lord, keep me forever humble. Amen, Amen."
Dr. Colman's testimony to his friend is hearty and strong. "They that had the happiness to know Mr. Brattle knew a very religious, good man, an able divine, a laborious, faithful minister, an excellent scholar, a great benefactor, a wise and prudent man, and one of the best of friends. The promotion of religion, learning, virtue, and peace everywhere within reach was his very life and soul ; the great business in which he was con- stantly employed, and in which he principally delighted. Like his great Lord and Master, he went (or sent) about doing good. His principles were sober, sound, moderate, being of a catholic and pacific spirit."
The fifth minister of the church ranks worthily with those who preceded him. He bore the church upon his heart. In his last testament we read, "As a close to this part of my will, it is my desire to consecrate, and with humility I bequeath and present to the church of Christ in Cambridge (my dearly beloved flock) for a Baptismal Basin, my great silver basin, an inscription
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upon which I leave to the prudence of the Reverend President, and the Rev. Mr. Simon Bradstreet." The basin he designed for our use has passed from our hands. But we may gratefully cherish his thought for those who were to inherit his faith and to be baptized into the name of his Divine Lord and Saviour, and honor the memory of the good pastor who so long ago was " translated from his charge to his crown."
The town records during the period of Mr. Brattle's ministry have some items of more or less interest. Here is a vote that a pew be made and set up on the southwest corner of the meeting-house for the family of the minister. Mr. John Leverett and Dr. John Oliver have convenient places provided for their fami- lies in the meeting-house. Here is a tax ordered, pay- able in money, for repairing the meeting-house, ringing the bell, and sweeping. The little meeting-house bell was given to the Farmers, and a new one was received with thanks from Captain Andrew Belcher. The school- house was ordered to be rebuilt. A public contribution was taken for the relief of sufferers by a late fire. Such charity, it seems, is not all of our day, and even the Puritans had something of kindness. A grant was made to Mrs. Hannah Gookin to pay her house-rent for the year 1701. The selectmen, with the consent of the pastor, were " empowered to rent about five hundred acres of land laid out for the ministry, so that it shall become profitable to the ministry." And here, February 28, 1703, at a town meeting, it is ordered "that the inhabitants apprehend it necessary at this time to pro- ceed to the building a new meeting-house, and in order thereunto there was chosen then" a committee of seven, " to consider of the model and charge of building
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said meeting-house, and report of the same to the inhabitants." In 1706 the third meeting-house was erected on or near the site of the second, and the first service in it was held on the 13th of October in that year. The Corporation of the College voted £ 60 to- wards the building of this house, and instructed Mr. Leverett and the treasurer to " take care for the build- ing of a pew for the president's family," and about the students' seats ; " the charge of the pew to be defrayed close : " 6th February, 1715.
out of the College treasury." Thus we come to the At a meeting of the In- habitants orderly convened, voted, that the charges for wines, scarfs, and gloves for the bearers at the funeral of our late pastor, Rev. Mr. William Brattle, be defrayed by the town under the direction of the deacons and selectmen."
The period we are now reviewing presented many matters of interest to those who were then here. We are able to recall their thoughts in some good measure. Queen Mary died in 1694, and eight years afterwards King William III. 1697 brought the peace of Ryswick, closing the war between England and France. The reign of Queen Anne was chiefly occupied by the " War of the Spanish Succession." Thus even this country was for twenty-five years preceding the peace of Utrecht kept in the commotion of war. A large part of the men were in actual service, while those at home were compelled to guard their houses and families against treacherous foes. It is estimated that during these wars not less than eight thousand of the young men of New England and New York fell by the sword, or by disease contracted in the service. Most of the families mourned for friends dead, or carried into
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cruel captivity. It was a gloomy time ; the resources of the country were greatly reduced, fields were untilled, towns lay in ashes. Truly, through scenes of fire and blood has our inheritance come down to us. In 1693 the second college in the United States was founded in Virginia, taking the name of the new sovereigns ; and. seven years later Yale College came into being. 1702 was a year of great sickness in Boston and New York. In 1704 "The Boston News-Letter" was started, the first newspaper published in America. In 1708 the Saybrook Platform was adopted in Connecticut. The reign of Queen Anne, the last sovereign of the House of Stuart, was marked also by the constitutional union of England and Scotland, which ended the prolonged con- test between those countries. This reign was distin- guished not only for its military and political achieve- ments, but also for its progress in science and literature. It was the time of Addison, Steele, Pope, Swift, Locke, and Newton, and has now the name of " The Augustan Age of England."
But we must return to our own history. After the death of Mr. Brattle, his place was filled by the Rev. Nathaniel Appleton. Mr. Appleton was born at Ips- wich, December 9, 1693, and was the son of the Hon. John Appleton, one of the King's Council, and for twenty years a Judge of Probate in Essex County. His mother was the daughter of the Rev. President Rogers. He graduated in 1712, and, although receiving generous offers to establish him in business, adhered to his previous purpose to prepare himself for the ministry. He preached here for a short time, when, by the con- current vote of the church and the town, he received an invitation to become the pastor of the church. He
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