USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Metropolitan Boston; a modern history; Volume I > Part 11
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Old South Church-The Third Church, better known as Old South, dates from May 12, 1650, and was the first break in the peaceful reign, until then, of the Puritan theocracy. Says the Reverend Doctor Wisner : "Like too many other churches of Christ, it originated in bitter conten- tions among those who are bound by their profession, as well as by the precept of Heaven, to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." These "contentions" were not local or of sudden production, but originated in the first ecclesiastical institutions of the country, and were spread through the whole of New England. The limitation of the politi-
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cal franchise to those who were church members continued in effect until the provincial period, a certificate being required from ministers to the "orthodox principles" and good lives of the candidates for freedom. An ever-increasing number of citizens were disfranchised by this test; many of the children of the first settlers could not satisfy the tests for admis- sion to the church; and, as baptism could not be had for children of those who were not church members, a generation arose who were largely excluded from both religious, political and civil privileges. An effort was made in 1646 by Robert Child and others by a petition to the General Court "that civil liberty and freedom might forthwith be granted to all English; and that all members of the Church of England or Scot- land, not scandalous, might be admitted to the privileges of the churches of New England." The petitioners, who represented a widespread dis- content which blossomed later into distinct denominations, were denied what they asked, their papers seized, and a fine imposed.
The grievances could not be repressed. The growing sentiment was that "all baptized persons, not scandalous in life and formally excommu- nicated, ought to be considered members of the church in all respects except the right of partaking of the Lord's Supper." It would seem but a logical stand for the Puritan church-state to accede to such a position, but the opposition to any letting down of the bars was very great. A General Council of the Churches was called by the court in 1657, which met in Boston, at which the decision was that those baptized in infancy were therefore to be regarded as members of the church and entitled to the privileges, with the exception of the Lord's Supper, including bap- tism of their own children. The innovation aroused even more bitter oppo- sition. A second Synod was held, 1662, at which the decision of the first was practically reaffirmed. The churches of the colony knew not what to do about the conclusions of the synods and were divided among them- selves. The pastor of the First Church. the venerated Wilson, died August 7, 1667, and Reverend John Davenport, of New Haven, was called to the vacant pulpit. He was an advocate of the stricter side in the controversy, whose call had been opposed by a minority in the First Church. This dissatisfied minority withdrew shortly after his installa- tion, and twenty-eight of them with one from the Charlestown Church, met in the latter place, and asked for formal permission to form the Third Church. This was, of course, refused, but a church was formed, never- theless, and Thomas Thatcher became its first minister in February, 1670. Some of the members of the new church were imprisoned; an attempt was made to prevent the construction of a new meeting-house in Boston. But the edifice was built on what is now the corner of Washington and Milk streets, the land being given by Madame Norton, whose later bene-
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factions still serve the church and its ministry. Only the high lights have been here mentioned of the bitter strife occasioned by the founding of the Old South Church. The covenant under which the church organized was but a slight expansion of the solemn covenant entered into by Winthrop, Dudley, Johnson and Wilson at the establishment of the First Church, although of somewhat broader and militant wording. The members bound themselves: "To walk together as a Church of Christ according to the holy rules of God's word . ... so far as we already know them, or they shall hereafter further be made known to us . . , we do like- wise promise to endeavor to establish among ourselves, and convey down to our posterity, all the holy truths and ordinances of the Gospel, commit- ted to the churches, in faith and observance, opposing to the uttermost of our church power whatsoever is diverse therefrom or contrary thereunto." The sentences are significant when read in connection with the stormy events which led to the establishment of the church and the even more stormy events later connected with its history.
The Church at Dorchester-The churches so far named have all been those within the limits of the Boston of that day. There were, of course, others in the territory that later was annexed by Boston, and one of these was founded prior to the First Boston. Dorchester was not only settled some few weeks before the place of which it is now but a part, but the establishment of a church was coincident with its settlement, its organization having been perfected in England prior to the departure of the "Mary and John," the vessel that carried the pioneers to this country. The name of the settlement was given to honor Rev. John White, the promoter of the settlement and organizer of its church. Dorchester also had the first meeting-house in the bay, built in 1631, near the corner of Cottage and Pleasant streets. The building was palisaded and guarded against the Indians, and was used as a depot for military stores. This first meeting-house stood for fourteen years, providing for a year a place of worship for the people of Roxbury. In 1643 it was agreed, "for peace and love's sake, there should be a new meeting-house"; two hundred and fifty pounds were appropriated for this purpose. In 1670 this building was removed to Meeting-house Hill, the site of the churches that fol- lowed for two centuries and a half. The first ministers were John Mave- rick and John Warham, the latter of whom remained as pastor for thirty- four years. Mr. Maverick did not live long, a large contingent of the church went to Connecticut, and the arrival of another group of settlers all led to the reorganization of the society in 1636. Richard Mather suc- ceeded Mr. Maverick, being the first of that famous family. The record of the Mather influence and leadership in Boston and the colony is too well known and covers too lengthy a period to be told here. Richard
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Mather "labored hard in thee, O Dorchester!" for more than thirty years ; his death occurred on April 6, 1669. His rare scholarship and ability were promptly recognized in the colony; after his settlement in Dor- chester he became a prominent leader in all ecclesiastical affairs. He was one of the committee which drafted the Cambridge platform, 1646, which was the model of church discipline and polity thereafter, and this was but one of his many services to the Puritan church.
Roxbury and John Eliot-Roxbury was the sixth of the towns in New England to found a church, Plymouth (1620), Salem (1629), Dorchester (1630), Boston and Watertown (1632), having alone preceded it. The founders were William Pynchon-a leader in the establishment of the town and church, but who later became unorthodox and left the colony with a deferred judgment against his heresy hanging over him-George Alcock, William Parke, John Johnson, Thomas Lamb, William Denison, Thomas Rawlings, Robert Cole, William Chase, Thomas Welde, Rob- ert Gamlin, Richard Lyman, Richard Bugby, Jehu Burr, Gregorie Bax- ter, Francis Smith, John Perrie, John Leavens and Samuel Wakeman. In the summer of 1632, the first meeting-house was built on Meeting- house Hill, it being, as was usual, the place where the town meetings were held, as well as religious services. John Eliot, "Apostle to the Indians," was the first pastor and preached in the "rude and unbeautified" edifice for nearly sixty years. Reverend Thomas Welde was the first "Teacher" and is usually written of as the first pastor; he was one of those most active in the persecution of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. "He that would write of Eliot," says Cotton Mather, "must write of charity or say nothing." He was a protector and friend of the Indian, his great efforts on their behalf leading to the founding of the Indian town of Natick and the translation of the Bible into the aborigine tongue, com- pleted in 1663. Eliot was the founder of the grammar schools of Roxbury and other places in the colony. The death of this great man, one of the most Christ-like of the Puritan ministers, occurred May 20, 1690, at the age of eighty-six.
The First Church of Charlestown-As has been shown, the First Church of Boston was formed in Charlestown, although moved imme- diately to the former settlement. In 1632, just after the establishment of the Lynn church, which followed the organization of the Roxbury congregation, the First Church of Charlestown was founded, October 14, 1632. Thirty-five members "were dismissed from the congregation of Boston" at their own request and covenanted together as a separate body, with Thomas James, recent arrival from England, as their pastor. The "Great House" was used, at first as the meeting place, but in 1636
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another location, vaguely defined as "between the town and the neck" was chosen. This was sold three years later and the money received used to help in the building of "the new meeting-house on the South side of the Town Hill." This was the last of the houses of worship built dur- ing the colonial period. John Harvard was admitted as an inhabi- tant August 1, 1637, and "was sometime minister of God's Word" in the town, although there is no record of his ordination. Although esteemed for his scholarship and piety, his name has come down to us because of his giving to the proposed college a half of his estate, together with his library.
This concludes the list of the churches founded in Boston of today by the Puritans during the colonial period. Although not numerous, they represented the power, the genius and the purpose of the founders of the colony. There had been a gradual loosening of the bonds which held them together; a half century had been ample time for a new class, and classes, of citizens to arise. The union of church and State was breaking, the charter under which this had been possible was taken from the colony, and difficulties more serious than heresy were to be confronted. The vigor and spirit of the clergy had not weakened, although their position was less firmly established as virtual rulers of a religious Commonwealth. The various synods and "confessions" had cleared the questions of doctrines and discipline from some of the fog which had surrounded them, and had created what was to be the basis of the polity of the Congregational Church in America. Hereafter, the Pur- itan Church may rightly be written of as the Congregational.
The Era of Reaction-Since, in this chapter, a political period has been chosen to mark a religious one, so the second section of the early religious history of Boston may be treated as paralleling the "Provincial Era." This extended from 1692 to 1774, but to it will be added the Inter- Charter Period, 1686-92, and the Revolutionary Period, 1775-80. The first section is important and has been included, in part, already; the latter division is relatively unimportant in church history, since it was a time of no new developments in religion. One is tempted to call this second epoch, of which we are to deal, one of reaction, for while churches increased in numbers and in membership, that membership failed to increase in proportion to the growth in population. Somehow, when the provincial charter gave the freedom to worship God as one pleased, too many chose to not do so at all. War, politics, and the accumulation of wealth absorbed the minds of men to the exclusion of religion. That whole series of wars which had their culmination in the Revolution left little time, or inclination, for men to walk in the ways of truth and peace. The contact with soldiers and peoples of other races, particularly the
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French, introduced ideas and ways quite at variance with those of the none too attractive Puritan faith. Money and politics were inextricably intertangled, and both required so much intensive attention that religion was neglected. This was very greatly so during the last four decades preceding the birth of the republic. Only one new church was estab- lished during these forty years, and two of the older ones dropped out in these same years. However disheartening the years up to 1783 may have been to those who had the Faith in their keeping, as one looks back upon it, the season was but the winter before the spring, or the dark before the dawn. The remarkable advance made by the churches of Boston during the nineteenth century made up for the depressing half century it followed.
Up to, and through the Revolution, the strength of Boston's religion was Puritan, there being but a small admixture of other faiths. Church development was chiefly Congregational. Two other Episcopal churches were established in addition to the King's Chapel Society, Christ Church in 1723, and Trinity in 1728. The Baptists added one, The Second (Warren Avenue), in 1743. Then there is to be included a Methodist Church, of 1771, the first of many which were to come after the close of the Revolution. Numbered among the Congregational churches founded before 1780, with the dates of their founding, were: Brattle Street, December 12, 1699; New North, May 5, 1714; New South, November 22, 1719; Federal Street (originally Presbyterian), November 15, 1727; Hollis Street, November 14, 1732; West (Lynde Street), January 3, 1737 ; Samuel Mather, May 29, 1742 (this suspended in 1785); and School Street, February 17, 1748; for the next half century there were no more churches established. In the suburban districts now parts of the city, there was a Second Church founded in Roxbury (West Roxbury) on November 2, 1712, and the Third Church, in Roxbury (Jamaica Plain), on December 11, 1770. The First Church in Brighton seems properly to be dated from 1783, although some consider it to have been born in 1730. Altogether, including all denominations, there were seventeen church organizations in the Boston District, which then had an estimated popu- lation of 21,000 inhabitants.
The Churches in 1692-At the opening of the period we are reviewing, there were only three Puritan churches in Boston proper. Of these, Rev- erend James Allen was then the minister of the First Church, having been installed in 1668. In 1684, the Reverend Joshua Moody was chosen as assistant pastor and continued as such until his removal to Ports- mouth in 1692. The minister of the Second Church was the Reverend Increase Mather, who had been made the teacher in this church in 1664 as an associate of John Mayo, who retired within a few years. Cotton Mather
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had been ordained in 1685 as the appointed assistant to his father. Increase Mather was also president of Harvard College at the close of the Colonial Period. The Third Church had as its second pastor, Samuel Wil- lard having so served for eight years. Elder John Emblen, who came from England, in 1684, for the purpose, had charge of the Baptist Church.
The bold feature of the change from the Colonial to the Provincial Period was, as indicated, the freedom of other than Puritan faiths to establish their religions. The Puritan Church still held the ground and was to make the religious history for the next century and more. But it was to be greatly modified by the new order of things. In regard to the general state of church affairs, a modern historian of the ancient church system of New England wrote: "Under the provincial charter ecclesi- astical affairs were conducted in a somewhat different, and on the whole, in a decidedly better manner than under the colonial charter. The temp- tation to join the church for worldly advantage was greatly diminished by extending the right to vote to all persons alike of a certain estate, whether members of the church or not. And by cutting off appeals to the General Court in all matters strictly ecclesiastical the churches were restored to their original independence, which had partially had been taken away."
At the Beginning of the Provincial Period-Reverend Alexander Mckenzie, D. D., has written of the beginning of the Provincial Period:
There are various matters of less importance which throw light upon the religious condition of Boston at this time. Besides the regular services in the churches, there were lectures and private meetings and catechisings, by which the Word was divided to the people according to their age and condition. The "Thursday Lecture" has come down to our own day. Religious exercises were connected with the various events of the people's life,-with town-meetings, the framing of houses, the gathering of the militia, the opening of the court, and the like occasions. The artillery election was dignified by a sermon. The people were required to support the ministry, and expected to attend upon the serv- ices of the church. The Sabbath was, of course, observed with great strictness, but the law of the Lord was upon all time. Judge Sewall records a strong effort of his own to have the days of the week numbered, as they had formerly been, in place of their usual names, but he could get little support in the project. Synods and councils were held for the orderly self-government of the churches. The distinction between pastor and teacher had become very rare, and the office of ruling elder nearly obsolete.
Days for public thanksgiving and fasting were appointed from time to time as the affairs of the community made them appropriate and desirable. The rite of marriage was now performed by clergymen, as well as by magistrates, although still regarded as a civil ordinance. Funerals were observed in a very simple way, that no superstitious or unscrip- tural notions might be fostered by them. A variation from the English mode of taking an oath by holding the Bible or by kissing it is found at this time, and this became one of the questions which divided the colonists from the Andros party. Sewall has an entry in June, 1686, when he took the oath of allegiance and received his new commission as cap- tain : "I read the Oath myself, holding the book in my left hand, and holding up my
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VIEW OF BOSTON, 1743
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right hand to Heaven." The strong disapproval of frivolous amusements is to be noticed. In 1684 there had been published in Boston An Arrow Against Profane and Promiscuous Dancing, drazen out of the Quiver of the Scriptures. By the Ministers of Christ at Bos- ton, in New England. .... The unseemly custom prevailed of taking a condemned crim- inal to the meeting-house before his execution, that he might hear a discourse suited to his condition.
With all the public and private interests and transactions, the daily life of the people ran on, with its work and worship. There was abundant preaching and teaching; disci- pline was maintained in church and home; children were born, and were baptized if the parents conformed to the rules of the churches; old and young died, and were buried with open and with secret grief. There were days of private, as well as of public, fasting and prayer. Families often came together for religious services. The people carried their joys and griefs to the sanctuary, and by putting up a "Bill" engaged the sympathy of the congregation. Society was receiving accessions, and not always of men like the old stock in character or behavior or affiliation. It could not be long before the strangers whom civil office, or military concerns, or the affairs of war brought over had an influ- ence upon the tone and manners of the community, removing it from the severity of those who were here before them, and quite as notably from their virtues. Men born upon the soil were naturally of a sterner type than those who had received their early nurture in England, with its comfort and indulgence. The wilderness offered a more austere birth and training. But it developed a nobler manhood, which would not be improved but injured by contact with men of easier lives and less commanding virtue. The liberalizing tendency which is manifest during this period is not in all respects a gain. The end of it is not yet.
Two events of quite contrasting nature mark the opening of the Provincial Period. Increase Mather, "the most eminent among the clergy of Massachusetts," returned from his successful mission abroad, accompanied by Sir William Phips, the new Governor, under the new charter. This charter and Governor, while better than Andros and the grant under which he had worried the colony, were only compromises, pleasing to none concerned. Mather had the privilege of appointing the officials whom the King should place in authority, by the colony was reduced to little more than a subject province. Mather's conduct abroad merited approval, he had been of real service to the Commonwealth, but the people were disappointed. So much so, that this truly great man went down before the calumny and opposition which soon followed, losing both political influence and religious standing.
The Witchcraft Delusion-The second event, or series of events, form one of the most dismal pages in the history of the colony. A belief in witchcraft had seized hold on the people. For several years witches had been reported from various parts of Massachusetts. Increase Mather and Cotton Mather had written on the subject, giving many accounts of persons possessed. When Governor Phips landed, in 1692, there were a hundred men and women in jail charged with witchcraft. None could
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hope to be free from a like accusation and a like imprisonment. To such lengths did the delusion go, that insinuations were made against Lady Phips, Mr. Willard, the minister of the South Church, and others equally prominent. The subject of witchcraft has been. gone into with detail in another chapter, and so needs but the mention here. The Boston churches and ministers were, as formerly, the advisers of the magistrates, and as such must bear much of the responsibility for the harsh measures that were taken to stamp out those accused. Neither the church, nor its minis- ters, nor Puritanism can be judged as originating the witchcraft delusion. "The estimation of witchcraft as a crime equally as real as murder, and more heinous, and the practice of punishing it accordingly, were much older than the Puritan occupation of New England. They were much older than the Reformation."
The evil ran its course; the prisons eventually were emptied of their inmates. Some who had served on juries acknowledged the injustice of their verdicts. A day of general fasting was observed, and the pardon of God sought for the error of their deeds. In 1697, Judge Sewall made his memorable confession-there is a tradition that the good man kept a "private day of prayer and humiliation in acknowledgement of his guilt and in supplication for mercy." Perhaps no better ending can be given this brief reference to witchcraft than that made by the historian Pal- frey: "Nor is it possible to avoid considering of what stuff some men and women of that stock were made, when twenty of them went to the gallows rather than soil their consciences by the lie of a confession."
Harvard College Becomes Secularized-The story of the churches in Boston immediately following the witchcraft episode lacks outstanding. features. Sir William Phips was succeeded in the government of the province by Richard Coote, Earl of Bellomont, of the Irish peerage, 1698. The Quakers had built a more permanent meeting-place in 1694. The English Church failed to make the headway expected under the liberal provisions of a new charter. In 1699 John Emblen, minister of the Bap- tist Church, died; it was several years before another was settled over the congregation. Perhaps the most interesting development of the times had to do with Harvard College, which was outgrowing its swad- dling clothes. Increase Mather was at its head, and ministers were most of its teachers and overseers. The college was a church school, and established for the religious well-being of the colony rather than for secular educational purposes. The number of students still remained small, but other than theological branches of learning were being added, and a feeling of importance was creeping into its attitude. One of the difficulties that arose was due to a vote of the General Court that the president of the institution should live in Cambridge. Mather preferred
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