USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 1630-1880, Vol. II > Part 30
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Such are the reasons for warning those who wish to make historical romances from early Boston history, that they will be rash if they intro- duce on the scene retired buccaneers "living in splendor" on their ill-gotten booty.
Edward & Hale
CHAPTER VI.
THE RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF THE PROVINCIAL PERIOD.
BY THE REV. ALEXANDER MCKENZIE, D.D., Pastor of the First Church in Cambridge.
T "HERE were in Boston at the beginning of this period three Congrega- tional churches. They were the churches of the founders of Boston and the colony. In faith and order they were "to the manner born." They expressed the purpose and the genius of the Puritan pilgrims to this open land. But there was among the people less unanimity of feeling than in earlier years. Public morality and simplicity were less conspicuous. Half a century had been long enough to revive class distinctions and class interests, which in more perilous days had been suffered to slumber. There had come to be a local aristocracy which asserted itself and was acknowl- edged. This party was most in sympathy with the king and his friends, and most submissive to their new measures which had created the province. With this party the clergymen, to a considerable extent, were allied. They were largely dependent upon the good-will of the leading men, especially in Boston, where they were sustained by voluntary offerings. But beyond this consideration they were most connected in their social and domestic relations with the families which held the highest position, while they nat- urally favored a policy which promised to promote a quiet and settled order of things. The spirit which had from the first characterized the clergy of Massachusetts had not passed away. Far from it. But it had less vigor and more distrust than in the days which were gone. New trials were to come to Church and State. How would they be met and borne? What fresh tidings would come in the tardy ship which brought the old news to the new country? For her coming Religion waited as one to be soon and deeply affected.
The churches were under a two-fold charter of Puritan and colonial origin. In matters of ecclesiastical government they consented to the Cam- bridge platform of church discipline, gathered out of the Word of God, and agreed upon by the elders and messengers of the churches assembled in Synod, 1648. In regard to doctrine, this Synod gave its assent to the Con- fession recently framed by the divines at Westminster.
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
In process of time it became necessary for the New England churches to present their own confession of doctrine. They believed that such con- fessions were of great value. Moreover, it was charged upon them that their principles were unknown ; "whereas it is well known that as to mat- ters of doctrine we agree with other reformed churches; nor was it that, but what concerns worship and discipline, that caused our fathers to come into this wilderness." The elders and messengers of the churches of Massa- chusetts, "by the call and encouragement of the honored General Court," came together in 1679, and held a second session in 1680. They gave their assent to the Savoy Confession, and renewed the assent of the Cambridge Synod to the Westminster Confession, " for the substance thereof." They confirmed the Cambridge platform for matters of discipline, and prepared their own assertion of doctrine, mainly in the language of the previous assemblies. The result was " a Confession of Faith, owned and consented unto by the Elders and Messengers of the Churches assembled at Boston, in New England, May 12, 1680, being the second session of that Synod." In this platform and confession is the basis of the religious history of Boston in the provincial period. They are, indeed, in substance the constitution of the Congregational churches of the country to this day.
At the opening of the period we are reviewing the Rev. James Allen was the minister of the First Church, having been installed in 1668. In 1684, the Rev. Joshua Moody was installed as assistant minister. While preach- ing at Portsmouth he had been illegally imprisoned upon a sentence of six months for refusing to administer the Lord's Supper to Governor Cranfield and to two of his friends, according to the rites of the Church of England. After thirteen weeks he was released and commanded to preach no more in that province. He came to Boston and entered the service of the First Church. He continued in that office until 1692, when he returned to Ports- mouth.1 The meeting-house was of wood, and stood on what is now Wash- ington Street, a little south of Court Street, on the spot now occupied by Joy's Building. The church preserved its original covenant, under which it abides to this day.2
The second minister of the Second Church was the Rev. Increase Mather, who attained the office of teacher in this church in 1664, as the associate of the Rev. John Mayo, who retired from active service in a few years. At the beginning of the provincial period the minister of the Second Church 3 was also the President of Harvard College. Sixth in the list of Presidents stands his name: "CRESCENTIUS MATHER, accessus Junii 11º, 1685, ex off. decessit, Sept. 6°, 1701." The .Rev. Cotton Mather was now colleague with his father in the pastoral care of this Second Church, having been ordained to that office in 1685, although he had assisted his father before that time.
2 [It will be found in Vol. I., in the chapters by Mr. Winthrop and Mr. Whitmore. - ED.]
1 [See Mr. Foote's chapter in Vol. I. - ED.] list of the Communion Service of the Second Church, the vessels showing the armorial bear- ings of their givers, mostly of the provincial 3 ['There is in the Heraldic Journal, i. 58, a period. - ED.]
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RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF THE PROVINCIAL PERIOD.
The Third Congregational Church in Boston had, as was told in the first volume,1 a less peaceful origin than those which preceded it. The covenant was much longer than that of the First Church, but resembled it closely in character and spirit. The members bound themselves -
" To walk together as a Church of Christ, according to all those holy rules of God's word given to a church body rightly established, so far as we already know them, or they shall be hereafter further made known unto us. . .. And for the furtherance of this blessed fellowship we do likewise promise to endeavor to establish among our- selves, and convey down to our posterity, all the holy truths and ordinances of the Gospel, committed to the churches, in faith and observance, opposing to the utmost of our church power whatsoever is diverse therefrom or contrary thereunto."
These sentences are significant when read in connection with the events which had led to the formation of the church, and the events with which it was afterwards to be connected.
To a gift of land for the erection of a meeting-house, as already related, Madam Norton subsequently made additions; and her gifts, largely in- creased during the lapse of years, still serve the church and ministry for which she gave them, although in a place where her prophetic eye could hardly see the land and the house which were to be. When this period opened, Samuel Willard, the second pastor of the Third Church, had been eight years in that office. The new church and the house in which it worshipped early received the designation of the South Church, changed afterward, when a church had been erected in Summer Street, to the Old South Church.
In addition to these Congregational churches there was also the First Baptist Church, which had been organized in 1665, as already explained in the first volume. The minister at the opening of this period was Elder John Emblen, who had come from England in 1684 that he might assume this charge.
The change which was involved in passing from the colonial to the pro- vincial estate was marked by one bold feature, which was hardly less signifi- cant and important than the alteration in the form of government. During the half-century in which the colonial charter was retained the churches of Massachusetts had been of one faith and one order, with very slight excep- tions. The principles of the first settlers had been preserved. There were a very few Baptists when the charter was withdrawn, and the Quakers were at no time numerous, but were made conspicuous on the one side by their exceptional behavior, and on the other by the severe measures which were resorted to for their removal. But this contest was over. The Puritans and the Puritan church held the ground, and made the religious history. To their ecclesiastical polity, and the methods of worship attached to it, they were naturally the more firmly and persistently devoted for all which it had cost to establish themselves and their institutions in this wilderness. What-
1 [In Mr. Foote's chapter. - ED.]
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
ever affection for the Church of England may have survived in any breast, their presence here was a protest against that church, and a witness to the exile and sacrifice which had been forced upon them by its authority. If it is difficult for us in our liberal day to revive or justify their rigid opposition to such as differed from them in matters of religion, so is it difficult to stand in their place, to surround ourselves with the experiences which environed them on both sides of the sea, and to reproduce the causes of the effects which are now too rudely censured. For them religion comprehended all things. Church and State, home and school, virtue and piety, liberty and order, were involved in it. Religion to them meant the Puritan Church.
The narrative which is given by Mr. Foote in the previous volume,1 regarding the introduction of Episcopacy, has brought the reader to a marked and important change in the ecclesiastical affairs of Boston and Massachusetts in this single innovation upon the established order here, in this bringing in of the very institutions which had been renounced. Hence- forth a new order of things must prevail. The old would still be the more prominent and popular, but it would be modified by the new. In regard to the general state of church affairs, we may cite the judgment of a modern historian2 devoted to the ancient church system of New England, that " under the provincial charter ecclesiastical affairs were conducted in a somewhat different, and on the whole in a decidedly better manner than under the colonial charter. The temptation to join the church for worldly advantage was greatly diminished by extending the right of voting to all persons alike of a certain estate, whether members of a 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 been partially taken away."
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 condi- tion. 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 services of the church. The Sabbath was, of course, observed with great strictness, but the law of the Lord was upon all time.3 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.4 The
1 Vol. I. p. 191, etc. 8 [See Mr. Scudder's chapter in this vol .- ED.]
2 Clark, A Historical Sketch of the Congrega- tional Churches of Massachusetts from 1620 to 1858, p. 108.
4 [See Dr. Dexter's chapter on " Later New England Congregationalism," in his Congrega- tionalism as seen in its Literature, 1880. - ED.]
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RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF THE PROVINCIAL PERIOD.
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 unscriptural 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 captain: "I read the Oath myself, holding the book in my Left hand, and holding up my 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, drawn out of the Quiver of the Scriptures. By the Ministers of Christ at Boston, in New England. In the following year "the Ministers of this Town Come to the Court and complain against a Dancing Master who seeks to set up here and hath mixt Dances, and his time of Meeting is Lecture-Day; and 't is reported he should say that by one Play he could teach more Divinity than Mr. Willard or the Old Testament. Mr. Moodey said 'twas not a time for N. E. to dance. Mr. Mather struck at the Root, speaking against mixt Dances." The unseemly custom prevailed of taking a condemned criminal to the meeting-house before his execution, that he might hear a discourse suited to his condition.1
With all these 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; discipline 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 acces- sions, 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 influence 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
1 [These traits are noticed more at length in Mr. Scudder's chapter. - ED.]
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
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.
In 1687 a number of Huguenots who had come from France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes received permission to occupy the town's school-house in School Street for their worship; but the reader is referred for their story to another chapter of the present volume. An interesting tract is preserved, written by a nameless author, a French Protestant refugee, who had come to America to gather information which would be of service to his brethren in their proposed plan to settle here. He writes: "The English who inhabit these countries are, as elsewhere, good and bad; but one sees more of the latter than the former, and, to state the case to you in a few words, there are here of all kinds, and consequently of every kind of life and manners." It is clear that these colonies were still in the world and a part of it.
The Declaration of Indulgence issued by the king in 1687, which was made the occasion of a public Thanksgiving by the Governor, was regarded in various ways by the people. "In New England, as in the parent country, the sanguine portion of dissenters from the church received the Declaration with joy; the sagacious, with distrust and apprehension." The Second Church in Boston, on the 30th of October, 1687, voted that its officers might " draw up an address of thanks to the king for his declaration, wherein he does promise us the free exercise of our religion, and that he will main- tain us in the enjoyment of our rights and possessions." "I told the breth- ren," writes the pastor, that "I would take their silence for consent. All were silent, - nemine contradicente." But others, with more shrewdness, anticipated different results from those on which Mr. Mather congratulated himself and his people.
With the troubles in which the province was involved under the admin- istration of Andros this is not the place to deal. When it was deemed wise to make a representation before the Court of England of the condition of things here, and that some one should be sent over to present to the king the loyal thanks of the people for his Declaration, and to beg for relief at his hands, it was resolved that Mr. Increase Mather should be the messen- ger. He was forty-eight years old, and "the most eminent among the clergy of Massachusetts." The new Government made strenuous efforts to prevent his going upon this errand. At length, by night, and in dis- guise, he contrived to embark on the ship "President," and sailed on April 7, 1688. On the sixth of the following month he landed at Wey- mouth, in England. The character of this conspicuous man and his efforts in England fall into another portion of this history. Yet, because he was a minister, his work should be noted here. He was diligent in his business, and he stood before kings. Did he not also stand before mean men? He was abroad at an eventful time. England was disturbed. The bishops were imprisoned and released. The king became a prisoner and a fugitive. The
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RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF THE PROVINCIAL PERIOD.
Prince and Princess of Orange became the sovereigns of the realm. That was in 1689. In the same year Andros was deposed and imprisoned, and a provisional government was set up in Massachusetts. William and Mary were solemnly proclaimed, and a day appointed for thanksgiving. “Again Englishmen were free and self-governed in the settlements of New England." That meant liberty and prosperity for the churches. The Puritan, with his preferences and determinations, was again in the ascendant here. The new Government received the royal sanction for the time. Finally, a new charter was granted, and the Province of Massachusetts Bay was created. The charter was far from pleasing to Mr. Mather and to those with whom he was associated. But he consented to that which he was not able to supplant or substantially improve. To him was granted the privilege of nominating many of the persons whom the king was to place in office here, and those whom he named were appointed. " He was probably understood by the courtiers to be the most considerable man in Massachusetts, and the most important to be gratified." But his highest offices were religious. It was the minister who was made the ambassador of the people, and the counsellor of the king. When his business in England was discharged, Mr. Mather returned home in company with the new governor, Sir William Phips. Judge Sewall makes a record of their arrival. "May 14th, 1692, Sir William arrives in the Nonsuch Frigat: Candles are lighted before He gets into Town-house. Eight Companies wait on Him to his house, and then on Mr. Mather to his. Made no volleys because 'twas Satterday night." A day of thanksgiving was appointed for the safe arrival of the governor and the minister, "who have industriously endeavored the service of this people." One1 who has used no friendly pen in writing of Mr. Mather has frankly declared that " he returned to New England with a well-earned consciousness that he had ful- filled, during his residence abroad, his entire duty to the colony, and that in the charter he had brought home he had conferred on it a blessing. . . . His conduct in this great crisis of his country entitles him to unqualified approbation." Such was not the popular verdict of a disappointed people. " The event, though prosperous for his country, was to him an abundant source of calumny and animosity, and ended in his loss of political influ- ence, and his severance from all subsequent public employment." " One thing was certain," remarks Dr. Palfrey ; " that, in a sense different from that of earlier times, Massachusetts was now a dependency of the British crown."
The Second Church in Boston had received back its senior minister after an absence of four years, during which his son was holding the pastoral office. The ministers and churches of Boston and of the colony were called to sad experiences in this year, 1692, which brought the new charter and the new governor. The story is not to be told here in detail, yet it forms a dismal chapter in the religious history of the period. It was not altogether a new matter. Witches were believed to have made their appearance in New England before this. Several years earlier President Mather had told
1 Quincy, History of Harvard University, pp. 78, 123.
VOL. 11. - 25.
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
numerous stories of persons possessed with evil spirits, in his Illustrious Providences. Cotton Mather had written a treatise on the subject, with ac- counts of the cases of possessed persons, and this had been circulated here and in England, where it had the commendation of Richard Baxter. When Governor Phips arrived in the province there were about a hundred persons lying in jail charged with witchcraft. He organized a commission of seven magistrates for the trial of the accused. The result is but too well known. There is no need to paint the transactions in colors deeper than belong to them. Viewed by themselves, there would be small danger of doing it. Let the time, the place, the surroundings be remembered. The belief in witchcraft was not a product of New England, nor the offspring of Puritan thought. "The estimation of witchcraft as a crime equally 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 Protestant Reformation." Belief in it was profound in this prov- ince and seemed to be well sustained. What part had the churches and the ministers of Boston in the fearful events connected with it? According to an old practice, the magistrates asked the advice of the clergy of Boston. They made answer in a paper drawn up by Cotton Mather. They advised " a very critical and exquisite caution ; " that the accused should be tenderly treated, and that no tests of a doubtful character should be used. They recommended " the speedy and vigorous prosecutions of such as have ren- dered themselves obnoxious, according to the directions given in the laws of God, and the wholesome statutes of the English nation." Their counsel was but partially followed; and it was the harshest part which was followed. We know but little of what was said and done in the churches. But we may be certain that during the brief period in which this sad excitement pre- vailed here the sufferers were regarded with the deepest sorrow. Fervent were the prayers, prolonged the fasts, which sought their deliverance. In church and home they were kept in remembrance day and night. Of this we need no proof. The feeling must have been intense when there came to be insinuations against Lady Phips, and against Mr. Willard, the minister of the South Church. No one could tell who would be next accused, or what friend would be haled away to prison and death. We have in the mere suggestion a vivid glimpse of the religious history of the town in these painful weeks, even though the most of the active trouble was at a distance. The evil ran its course and ended. The danger was over. The prisons were emptied of their victims. Some who had served on the juries acknowledged the injustice of their verdicts and begged forgiveness, with strong promises. A day of general fasting was proclaimed, that in deep humility the par- don of God might be sought. It was in 1697, January 14, and Judge Sew- all handed to the minister of the South Church his memorable confession of his part in these mournful transactions, and stood to hear it read, bowing when it was finished. There is a common tradition that on one day in every year to the end of his long life the good man and magistrate kept a
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