USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Metropolitan Boston; a modern history; Volume I > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37
99
REVIEW OF EARLY RELIGIOUS HISTORY
to reside in Boston and to give the larger share of his time to preaching and ministerial work. As he stated his position in a letter of December 16, 1698, to Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton: "If I comply with what is desired I shall be taken off, in a great measure at least, from my public Ministry. Should I leave off preaching to 1500 souls .... only to expound to forty or fifty Children, a few of them capable of Edification by such Exercises, I doubt I should do well." By a compromise pleasing to none, Mather moved to Cambridge and continued his connection with the Second Church. He soon moved back and resigned. Samuel Wil- lard, pastor of the Third, or South Church, then took charge of the col- lege, but since he also remained in Boston, the title of vice-president was given him to evade the decision of the court as to residency. The inti- mate connection of Boston ministers with the presidency of Harvard gradually weakened from this time on.
Rise of the "Manifesto Church"-The formation of a fourth Congre- gational Church, known in the older histories as the "Manifesto Church," but whose name as chosen by itself was The Brattle Street Church, was event of considerable significance in the religious history of Boston. It was born of a desire to break away from the religious authorities of the day, and was also the result of a movement in favor of a more liberal policy in the worship and administration of a religious body. Several things were involved in the movement. Baptism was one, this being con- fined by the Boston Confession of 1680 to members and members' chil- dren, "and these only." Those who had been baptized as children, if they failed to join one of the Puritan churches, could not have their children baptized and, therefore, these sons and daughters could not become mem- bers of any established church. Again, candidates for full admission to a church had to give a public relation of their religious experience before the whole congregation. This, while logical, found many who did not care to describe their spiritual life before friends and enemies; some could not or would not. Third, parish government rested with the mem- bers of the church as distinct from the congregation. This distinction had passed away in civil affairs; why then retain it in religious matters? And lastly, public worship as carried on by the Puritans desiring to abol- ish all forms which had held in the English Church, lacked variety, beauty and effectiveness. The usual meeting consisted of "one praying, one singing, and one preaching." The Bible could not be read without the addition of comments. The Lord's Prayer was not allowed to be repeated.
The new church did not intend to subscribe to anything differing in doctrine, but it did desire a greater liberality in interpretation, more breadth of administration, and additional attractiveness to the manner of
100
METROPOLITAN BOSTON
worship. "It was to be governed by a more liberal policy and to do its common work upon a broader plan." The first steps in this movement seem to have been taken in 1697. In January of the next year a piece of land was deeded by Thomas Brattle, upon which a wooden meeting- house was erected in 1699. Benjamin Coleman, a native of Boston and member of the Second Church in Boston, was called to be the first pastor. His theological training had been gained both in this country and abroad ; he had preached in many parts of England, and had been ordained in London. He began to preach in the new meeting-house almost imme- diately after his arrival in Boston, November 1, 1699. A church organi- zation had yet to be formed, and the declaration of the principles upon which the new church was to be established was written (apparently by Coleman) and issued. The title to the paper gave the name to the church. In brief it was as follows :
"A MANIFESTO or Declaration, set forth by the Undertakers of the New Church, Now Erected in Boston in New England, Nov. 17, 1699." "We think it Convenient," so it runs in the preamble, "for preventing all Misapprehensions and Jealousies, to publish our Aims and Designs herein, together with those Principles and Rules we intend by God's grace to adhere unto." There was no change of doctrine from that which had been held and taught from the beginning. "First of all, We approve and subscribe the Confession of Faith put forth by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster." They wished to pre- serve close and friendly relations with the other churches. "It is our sincere desire and intention to hold Communion with the other Churches here as true Churches; and we openly protest against all Suspicion and Jealousie to the contrary, as most Injurious to us. And although in some Circumstances we may vary from many of them, yet we joyntly profess to maintain such Order and Rules of Discipline as may preserve, as far as in us lies, Evangelical Purity and Holiness in our Communion." They stated clearly their points of divergence from the accustomed ways of the churches. They would "conform to the ordinary practice of the churches of Christ in this Country" in the other parts of divine worship. But, "we judge it therefore most suitable and convenient, that in our Publick Worship some part of the Holy Scripture be read by the Minister at his discretion." Nothing is said of prayer; but it is the trustworthy tradition that the Lord's Prayer was to be once repeated by the minister in the service of every Sabbath. In regard to baptism they affirmed: "We allow of Baptism to those only who profess their Faith in Christ and Obedience to him, and to the Children of such; yet we dare not refuse it to any Child offered to us by any professed Christian, upon his engagement to see it educated, if God give life and ability, in the Christian Religion." They thought that such "Professions and Engagements" should be received by the pastor. They still further said: "We assume not to ourselves to impose upon a Publick Relation of their experience ; however, if anyone thinks himself bound in Conscience to make such a Rela- tion, let him do it. For we conceive it sufficient if the Pastor publickly declare himself satisfied in the person offered to our Communion, and seasonably propound him." There was one other point of difference. "Finally, We cannot confine the right of chusing a Minister to the Male Communicants alone, but we think that every Baptized Adult Per- son who contributes to the Maintenance should have a Vote in Electing. Yet it seems but just that persons of the greatest Piety, Gravity, Wisdom, Authority, or other Endow- ments should be leading and Influential to the Society in that Affair."
IOI
REVIEW OF EARLY RELIGIOUS HISTORY
These were the most notable points in the constitution of the "Mani- festo Church." Official recognition was withheld for some time, but the Boston ministers were not long in consenting to fellowship with the new church and its members and pastor. The principles laid down in the manifesto are practically those now held by Congregational societies everywhere except as regards baptism. The Brattle Street Church had wealth and influence from the start, and its membership grew rapidly. When the First Church meeting-house burned in 1711, both the Brattle Street and South churches were used by the homeless congregation, a condition that quickly cemented the fellowship of the members of all the Boston Puritan societies.
The "New North" and the "New South" Churches Built-On May 5, 1714, the New North Church in Boston was organized; "seventeen sub- stantial mechanics formed the nucleus" of this society. A wood building was erected, and Reverend John Webb, of Harvard, 1708, ordained as pastor, October 20, 1714. The congregation so increased that in 1730 the house had to be enlarged, and in 1808 a more substantial edifice took its place.
In 1715 the town had made a grant to various petitioners, among whom was Samuel Adams, of "a Piece of Land comonly called Church Green, nigh Summer Street in Boston, of sixty-five feet in Length and forty-five feet in Breadth (with convenient High Wayes Round the same), for the erecting thereon an Edifice for a Meeting-House for Pub- lick Worship of God." On this plot the New South Church, formed on November 22, 1719, erected "a convenient wooden building, with a hand- some steeple, finished after the Ionick order, in which is a bell." On November 22, 1719, Mr. Samuel Checkley, Harvard College, 1715, was ordained as the first minister.
In 1720 Reverend Peter Thatcher was installed pastor of the New North Church, having been called from another church, a practice that was new and frowned upon. The upshot of a disagreement was the building of a brick church by the minority members of the old, with Mr. William Waldron as minister. In 1777, this church was incorporated with the one from whence it had come.
The Irish Presbyterians Organize-On November 15, 1727, a colony of Irish Presbyterians organized a church which met for some time in a building which had formerly been a barn. The Reverend John Moorhead was their minister for a long period. The location of the first and later erected edifice, 1744, was on Long Lane, now Federal Street, from which it derived its name. The Long Lane Church later became Congrega- tional, and the second building was memorable as the meeting place in
102
METROPOLITAN BOSTON
1788 of the convention which was called to consider the adoption of the Federal Constitution. After that it was known as the Federal Street Church.
In 1732, November 14, another church was established in Hollis Street, in the formation of which Governor Belcher was prominent, and gave the land upon which the meeting-house was erected. A nephew of Thomas Hollis gave a great bell weighing eight hundred pounds. Both street and church bore the Hollis name. The first minister was Reverend Mather Byles, a native of Boston, ordained at the Hollis Street Church, December 20, 1733. He was compelled to give up his office in 1776 because of the boldness of his opposition to the Revolutionary party.
Samuel Mather, son of Cotton Mather, was called in 1732, to be the colleague of Mr. Gee, of the Second Church. Nine years later difficul- ties arose between the two which led Mather to ask for his dismissal. After an effort to heal the breach, his request was granted, and with ninety-three members of the church, he set up one which bore his name, May 29, 1742. A meeting-house was built on Hanover Street, where Mather preached until his death in 1785. In accordance with an expressed wish of his, the majority of the members of his congregation returned to the church from whence they had come. The residue became the nucleus of the Tenth Congregational Church in Boston; the building was later sold to the Universalists.
Back in 1737 the only church in the west part of Boston was formed as the West (Lynde Street) Church. Reverend William Hooper was the first minister who, after being pastor of this society for nine years, went abroad, was ordained as an Episcopal clergyman, and became minister of the Trinity Church, the third of that denomination. The School Street Church was formed February 17, 1748, the last of the Congregational churches to be established before 1809.
Second and Third Episcopal Churches-In 1723 the Second Episcopal Church in Boston was built for the new society, which bore the name Christ Church, and was to be under the care of Reverend Timothy Cut- ler. It was much admired for its architecture, and for the chime of bells installed in 1744. It is now the oldest church building in Boston, and one of the historical landmarks dear to the hearts of all true Americans, for from its steeple was shown the lanterns as a signal to Paul Revere that the British were about to make the move which precipitated the Revolution. From the original steeple (the first spire was blown down and a replica built in 1805) General Gage witnessed the Battle of Bunker Hill and the burning of Charlestown. The interior of the church is much as it was in the beginning. The clock below the rail has been there since 1746. The silver communion set includes several pieces, the gift of
103
REVIEW OF EARLY RELIGIOUS HISTORY
George II in 1733; the brass chandeliers were taken from a French ship and presented in 1758. The earliest monument to Washington, a bust by Houdon, is another of its prized possessions.
The Third Episcopal Church in Boston, Trinity, was founded in April, 1728, "by reason that the Chapel (King's Chapel) is full and no pews are to be bought by newcomers." Land was purchased, corner of Hawley and Summer streets, and plans made for a church thereon, "Most conducing to the decent and regular performance of divine service according to the rubrick of the Book of Common Prayer used by the Church of England." It was six years before the corner-stone was laid, although the society had been organized under the name of Trinity Church and services begun. On August 15, 1745, the building was com- pleted and dedicated. It was a plain wooden structure, ninety feet by sixty, without steeple or tower. Reverend Addington Davenport, who for three years had been the assistant rector at King's Chapel, was the first to have charge of the new church. In 1828 the building was taken down, and a solid Gothic structure took its place. This was destroyed in the "Great Fire of 1872" and replaced by the present splendid edifice at Huntington Avenue and Boylston Street.
In 1743 the Second Baptist Church was established, the congrega- tion of which worshipped for some time in a private house with Ephraim Bownd, as pastor, from 1743 to 1765. In 1746, a meeting-house was erected on Salem Street; the church was known in later years as the Baldwin Place and the Warren Avenue Church. Never strong, its membership, after forty years, was only forty-three. It is said that among the British soldiers, in 1768, there were Methodists who held services. About 1771 or 1772, a small society was formed, which failed to last long. Method- ism made its great advance after the Revolution, but of this there is somewhat yet to be written.
The Revolution and Religion-The closing years of the Provincial period are notable for several changes of religious thought and practice. The Revolution brought a separation of the "wheat from the tares" as regarding the government of the New World ; there was a strong drift in the Puritan Church towards Unitarianism; and the Methodist Episcopal had become established through the preaching of Jesse Lee, Whitefield and others. All churches stood for good government, and were loyal to it; but the question of what was the right government divided public opinion, and wrought havoc with the congregations of several churches. So too, the spirit of inquiry had invaded the Congregational churches, and there had been a great breaking away from accustomed doctrines, meth- ods of belief and teaching. The unsettled faith of the orthodox congre-
104
METROPOLITAN BOSTON
gations opened the door to new and more interesting modes of worship, such as were presented by Methodism.
The Episcopal church was the principal sufferer from changing polit- ical conditions. It had been an intruder ; never a church of the people, but one kept alive by the favor of English Governors. At the outbreak of the Revolution, Reverend Doctor Henry Caner was rector of King's Chapel, and the Reverend Doctor William Walter, rector of Trinity. Both of these clergymen fled to Halifax at the evacuation of Boston in 1776. At Christ Church, Reverend Doctor Mather Byles, Jr., had resigned in 1775. Parts of the liturgy had been changed, but aside from this, little sign had been shown by the Episcopal churches of any willingness to adapt them- selves to the changing patriotic feelings of the day. The denomination was all but wiped out by the events of the Revolution. As summed up in 1778 by Reverend Joshua Wingate, a minister of the Church of Eng- land, the condition of the churches of his faith in Boston was: "Trinity Church is still open, the prayers for the King and Royal Family etc., being ommitted. The King's Chapel is being made use of by a dissenting congregation. The French have received leave of Congress to make use of Christ Church for the purposes of worship; but the proprietors of it, having notice of this, persuaded Mr. Parker to preach in it every Sunday in the afternoon, by which means it remains untouched. . . . In a word, our ecclesiastical affairs wear a very gloomy aspect at present in that part of the world." He might have written this of the whole of the new nation.
Rise of the Episcopal Church of America-The position of the Epis- copal Church, both in Boston and in other parts of the country, at the end of the Revolution was one of needing to struggle for very existence, to separate itself from English influence and throw itself heartily into the interests of the new Nation. In 1784 thirteen clergymen of the church met in New Brunswick to see what could be made of the remnants of the church. And during that same year seven ministers of New England held a meeting in Boston for the same purpose. The next year, at a larger meeting in Philadelphia, September 27, 1785, vital changes of organiza- tion were made, changes which were definitely fixed by the Convention of Philadelphia in 1789. Meanwhile Doctor Samuel Seabury, of Con- necticut, had been consecrated to the episcopate in Scotland in 1784; and in 1787 the Reverend William White and the Reverend Doctor Samuel Provoost, of New York, had been consecrated bishops in the chapel of Lambeth Palace, thus providing the newly organized church with bish- ops, without which there could be no Episcopal church in America. On May 7, 1797, the Reverend Doctor Edward Bass, of Newburyport, was consecrated in Christ Church of Philadelphia, to be Bishop of the Diocese
105
REVIEW OF EARLY RELIGIOUS HISTORY
of Massachusetts; and the churches of Boston became subjects of his Episcopal care.
One of the first difficulties to be settled by the awakened Episcopal organization was what should be done about the status of the King's Chapel Society. A Mr. James Freeman, a man of twenty-three, had been installed as reader in 1782, and as pastor in 1783. Within a few years Mr. Freeman told his congregation that his opinions had undergone a change inconsistent with the faith under which he had been ordained, and that he would like certain parts of the liturgy altered to accord with his new ideas. These alterations were eventually made, consisting prin- cipally in the omission of the doctrine of the Trinity. Thus the oldest Episcopal church in America became the first of the Unitarian churches. The members counted themselves as still Episcopalians, and desired the formal ordination of Mr. Freeman. This was refused after much dis- cussion, and on November 18, 1787, Doctor Thomas Bulfinch, acting for the congregation, ordained Mr. Freeman to be "rector, minister, priest, pastor, teaching elder, and public teacher," of their society.
Arminianism-Unitarianism vs. Congregationalism-This was not only the first, but the only Boston church that was definitely Unitarian in faith and practice, but it is thought that by 1780 nearly all the Congre- gational pulpits in and around Boston were filled with Unitarians. Not that they were known by this title, the term applied to their faith being Arminianism. It was not until the next century that the modern term came into general use, but the dogma designated by the name was openly preached and professed for a half century before it was called Unitarian. The earliest intimation of dissent from Boston Calvinism was in connec- tion with the settlement of Jonathan Mayhew as pastor of the West Church in 1747. He made public profession of his unorthodoxy, and probably had a congregation in sympathy with his ideas. But he was regarded as a heretic by Congregationalists, and none of the Boston pastors were present at his ordination. Mayhew died in 1766.
There seem to have been many factors in the quiet rise of Unitarian- ism in so strong a Puritan center. One would expect so radical a change in faith to be marked by a series of cataclysms that would rend the very foundations of religion. But somehow the new belief crept in gradually, its very liberality of thought precluding the spirit of propagandism. The clergy were not secretive about their change of ideas, but showed little zeal in forcing them upon others. It was only when a revival of the earlier theology brought out the contrast between Unitarianism and the Trinitarian faith, that lines were drawn, and the two became sharply opposed to each other. Possibly there was a let down in religion as a whole, particularly during the Revolutionary period, when men's minds
106
METROPOLITAN BOSTON
and energies were so engaged in the fight for liberty as to forget the force that had brought the Puritans to this country and had made the idea of liberty possible. But this must be granted, if Boston showed a. wider divergence from the straight line of orthodoxy, at this time, than any other community in the United States, it also "was at least on a level with the best in the observances, sanctities, and moralities of the Chris- tian life."
Reasons for the Growth of Unitarianism-Reverend Alexander P. Peabody, D. D., L. L. D., accounts for the conditions of things leading to the rise of Unitarianism thiswise :
"The Whitefieldian movement, with its extravagance, fanaticism, and intolerance, had been followed by a strong reaction, especially among persons of education and refinement. Equally had the more passive, yet more rigid, type of Orthodoxy encountered a growing repugnancy wher- ever it was not received with implicit and unquestioning faith. Nor had the Revolutionary War and the new political interests and relations been void of influence on religious belief and profession. The same spirit that had spurned civil rule from abroad was slow to detect or suspect the coercive element in creeds and confessions of faith. A more liberal régime, if not logically, yet not unnaturally, postulated a broader theo- logical platform. Then, too, among the English Unitarians were some of the most prominent and active friends of the colonies during the con- flict with the mother country. Meanwhile, in the disturbed condition of the secular affairs, those who else would have been the guardians of Orthodoxy had relaxed their vigilance. The clergy of the Revolution, to whom the country owes eternal gratitude, did not, as has sometimes been alleged, preach politics instead of religion; but in their strenuous efforts to hallow patriotism by sermon, prayer, psalm, and hymn, those of them who held the traditional faith of their fathers laid less emphatic stress upon it, and were the more tolerant of departure from it, than they would have been at an earlier or later period."
Further consideration of the growth of Unitarianism in Boston must be put aside to a later chapter. It is enough to know here, that in 1790 at least one Episcopal, and all but two of the sixteen Congregational churches of Boston, and of the towns which have since become a part of Boston, were led by ministers who were Unitarian in belief. The Old South Church held to the Trinitarian faith, and the pastor, Mr. Wright, of the Hollis Street church may have been a Calvinist. Of the suburban places now included in Boston, Charlestown First Church, with the Rev- erend Doctor Morse as its pastor, was the sole stronghold of Orthodoxy in the region. Doctor Gordon, pastor of the Jamaica Plain Society, was himself a Calvinist, but his congregation had little sympathy for his theo- logical opinions.
107
REVIEW OF EARLY RELIGIOUS HISTORY
Whitefield and Methodism-One other religious movement of the Provincial period requires explanation, the Whitefieldian, or Methodist. Sometimes this is called, in older histories, "The Great Awakening," and its beginnings placed back in 1734 when the powerful preaching of Jon- athan Edwards stirred the consciences of men and churches. This move- ment seems to have affected Boston but little, although it was kept informed concerning it by the pastors of the various congregations. The town was to be touched by the hands of a stranger with amazing results. George Whitefield, a young minister of the Church of England, then preaching in Georgia, was invited to Boston by Doctor Colman of the Brattle Street Church. Whitefield, at this time, was in full accord with the Wesleys, his break with them over Calvinism occurring after his de- parture from Boston. He was, therefore, as a member of the Oxford Methodist entitled to be called a Methodist Episcopalian, and the first minister of that faith to come to Boston. Whitefield arrived in Septem- ber, 1740, and began preaching in several churches and on the Common in Boston, as well as in the neighboring towns. Throngs came to hear him ; when he preached his farewell sermon in October, twenty thousand people are said to have collected to hear him. He revisited the town time after time, and until his death in 1770 at Newburyport, he was an important element of the religious history of Boston. There can be no question of the tremendous power he exerted, nor the great results of his preaching. The converts of the "Great Awakening" in which he was so prominent were numbered by the tens of thousands. "His labors here," says one of him, "as elsewhere, in his grand itinerations, were preparing the way for those heroic successors who have made the planting and growth of the Methodist Episcopal Church a marvel to the students of American church history."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.