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A 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHURCH IN BRATTLE STREET, 
 
 BOSTON. 
 
 BY ITS PASTOR, 
 
 SAMUEL KIRKLAND LOTHROP. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 WM. CROSBY AND H. P. NICHOLS, 
 111 Washington Street. 
 
 1851. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by 
 
 Wm. Crosby and H. P. Nichols, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE: 
 
 METCALF AND COMPANY, 
 
 PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY. 
 
TO 
 
 THE MEMBERS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN BRATTLE SQUARE, 
 
 THIS HISTORY 
 
 IS GRATEFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED, 
 
 BY 
 
 THEIR FRIEND AND PASTOR, 
 
 S. K. LOTHROP. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Some alterations and considerable additions 
 have been made to the following discourses 
 since the substance of them was preached in 
 Brattle Street Church, in the course of the 
 year 1850. Notwithstanding the introduction 
 of some new matter, I have retained, in pub- 
 lishing them, the name and style and direct 
 address of sermons, because this was more 
 convenient than to alter the whole structure 
 of the manuscripts. This is my apology, or 
 explanation, for whatever may be thought in- 
 appropriate, or in violation of good taste, in a 
 sermon, or a volume of sermons. I have pre- 
 ferred to subject myself to this charge rather 
 than omit from the text or the notes any thing, 
 whether a dull detail or an amusing anecdote, 
 
yi PREFACE. 
 
 which would help to illustrate the events or 
 the characters of which I was writing. 
 
 I have ventured to publish the following 
 pages because, invited to do so by the Stand- 
 ins Committee, I felt some assurance that 
 the members of the Society worshipping in 
 Brattle Square would be interested in them, 
 and because I hoped that they might prove 
 some contribution, however small, toward that 
 which is so much needed, an ecclesiastical 
 history of New England. 
 
 The researches of my predecessor had made 
 much of the work of investigation easy to my 
 hands, and while I have in every case consulted 
 for myself original documents and records, I 
 desire to make this general acknowledgment 
 of the use I have made of the very full and 
 valuable notes appended to his historical ser- 
 mon. 
 
 S. K.. Lt. 
 
 Boston, June 2d, 1851. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 — ♦ — 
 
 Pagr 
 
 Sermon I. 1 
 
 Sermon II 54 
 
 Sermon III 85 
 
 Sermon IV. 125 
 
 Sermon V. 159 
 
 Sermon VI 182 
 
SERMON I. 
 
 WE HAVE HEARD WITH OUR EARS, O GOD, OUR FATHERS 
 HAVE TOLD US, WHAT WORK THOU DIDST IN THEIR 
 DAYS, IN THE TIMES OF OLD. — Psalm xliv. 1. 
 
 RETURN, AVE BESEECH THEE, O GOD OF HOSTS ! LOOK 
 DOWN FROM HEAVEN, AND BEHOLD, AND VISIT THIS VINE, 
 AND THE VINEYARD WHICH THY RIGHT HAND HATH 
 
 planted. — Psalm lxxx. 14, 15. 
 
 These passages of Scripture direct our 
 thoughts to the past, the present, and the fu- 
 ture. They remind us of the goodness of God, 
 displayed in guidance and blessing to our fathers. 
 They enforce attention to our own condition, 
 duties, and obligations as a Christian church, and 
 to our need of Divine help, of the quickening in- 
 fluences of God's holy spirit, that we may be 
 made strong for the work of the future. They 
 have been suggested to me by investigations 
 which, for some weeks past, have occupied a 
 large share of my time, and their appropriateness 
 as a Scriptural introduction to what I have now 
 to offer will appear as I proceed. 
 
 1 
 
2 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 The passing season completes the third half- 
 century of the existence of the church and so- 
 ciety in Brattle Square. The first date in our 
 church records is " December 12th, 1699 " ; the 
 third date is " Lord's day, Dec. 24th," of the 
 same year. Under this latter date, we are in- 
 formed that on that day the society, for the first 
 time, " met for public worship in their pleasant 
 new-built house " ; and that Dr. Colman, its first 
 minister, " preached from 2 Chronicles vi. chap. 
 18 verse : But will God in very deed dwell with 
 men on the earth ? behold, heaven, and the heav- 
 en of heavens, cannot contain thee ; how much 
 less this house which I have built." 
 
 Making due allowance for the change of style, 
 the present Sunday is the nearest Lord's day we 
 can get to the anniversary of December 24th, 
 1699. For one hundred and fifty years, there- 
 fore, the spot on which w r e are assembled has 
 been consecrated to the worship of Almighty 
 God, — a period longer by several years than 
 any other spot in the city has ever been held to 
 the same sacred uses, with the exception of those 
 on which the " Old South Church " and the 
 King's Chapel now stand. For a century and a 
 half, the Christian church and society whose foun- 
 dations were here laid by sober, thoughtful, godly 
 men, in the purpose of an earnest piety and an 
 enlarged, catholic spirit, have continued to flourish, 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 3 
 
 — a fountain whose living waters have done some- 
 thing in every generation, we trust, to make glad 
 this city of our God. It is not meet that the oc- 
 casion should pass without some notice. I pro- 
 pose to make use of it by briefly reviewing some 
 of the more prominent points in our history, and by 
 the presentation of such thoughts on ecclesiastical 
 changes, the progress of religious opinion, and the 
 present condition and aspect of our religious af- 
 fairs, as this review may suggest. 
 
 I am well aware, as are many who hear me, 
 that in 1824, when the congregation, after an 
 absence of some months, occasioned bv an exten- 
 sive and thorough repair of the house, reassem- 
 bled here for public worship, Dr. Palfrey, then 
 minister of the society, presented, in two sermons 
 which were subsequently published, a history of 
 this church, marked by that thorough and patient 
 research, that accurate statement and nice dis- 
 crimination, for which he is distinguished. I 
 know that a work of this kind which he has once 
 done well needs not to be done again. The hope 
 of doing it better would be vain. But to most of 
 those who hear me those sermons are not proba- 
 bly familiar, even if they are known. A quarter 
 of a century, also, embracing a period of our 
 history not altogether devoid of interest, has 
 elapsed since they were written ; and although I 
 may not hope to glean any new or important facts 
 
THE HISTORY OF 
 
 in a field so thoroughly explored by my prede- 
 cessor, yet, as our stand-points are twenty-five 
 years apart, old facts may present themselves 
 under such different aspects as to make the re- 
 view of them now and by us not uninteresting and 
 uninstructive. I invite your attention, therefore, 
 to a subject to which we cannot be wholly indif- 
 ferent, and of which we ought not to be entirely 
 ignorant, — the history of this church, the prin- 
 ciples embodied and the ends aimed at in its 
 organization. 
 
 The first movements towards the formation of 
 this society seem to have been made as early as 
 1697. The deed by which Thomas Brattle con- 
 veyed to Thomas Clarke and his associates a 
 piece of land called Brattle Close, for the 
 erection of a house of worship, bears date Jan- 
 uary 10, 1698, which clearly indicates that some 
 preliminary steps had been taken in the matter. 
 At this period, there were three other Congre- 
 gational churches in the town ; viz. the First 
 Church, which then worshipped on the spot now 
 occupied by Joy's Building, and was under the 
 pastoral care of Messrs. Allen and Wadsworth ; 
 the Second Church, whose place of worship was 
 at the head of North Square, where officiated 
 those men so celebrated in the annals of the New 
 England churches, Drs. Increase and Cotton 
 Mather ; and the Old South Church, which, 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 5 
 
 amid some difficulties and against public procla- 
 mation on the part of the civil authorities, had 
 been founded about thirty years previous, and 
 had erected a house of worship on the spot where 
 the present Old South stands, and where preached 
 at this period the Rev. Samuel Willard. 
 
 In addition to these three Congregational 
 churches, there were three other religious socie- 
 ties in the town ; viz. the First Baptist Church, 
 which, after various fortunes and severe persecu- 
 tions, had at length succeeded, in 1679, ten 
 years after its organization, in building a church, 
 situated by the side of the old Mill Pond, near 
 what is now called Stillman Street, and whose 
 minister was at this period the Rev. John Em- 
 blen ; the King's Chapel Church, whose early 
 history is deeply interesting, as that of the first 
 successful attempt, marked by some things not 
 very creditable to either party, to introduce the 
 Episcopacy of Old England among the Congre- 
 gationalists of New England, who disliked it, and 
 had fled from it. This church was organized in 
 1686, had erected a wooden building on the site 
 of the present Stone Chapel, and enjoyed at this 
 period the services of the Rev. Samuel Myles 
 and the Rev. Christopher Bridge. 
 
 After 16S0, the persecution of the Quakers, 
 or Friends, in a great measure ceased, and from 
 that time to 1808 they had regular meetings in 
 
6 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 Boston. At the period to which we are directing 
 our attention, 1699, they had a flourishing soci- 
 ety, had built the first brick meeting-house in the 
 town, which was situated somewhere in the neigh- 
 borhood of this spot, from which the society 
 shortly after, in 1708, removed to Congress 
 Street. 
 
 These six churches were, at this period, in a 
 prosperous and peaceful condition ; at least, it 
 does not appear that there were any violent con- 
 tentions among them, or that our church origi- 
 nated in any particular dissension or stormy seces- 
 sion from any one of them. The causes which 
 led to the formation of this society were of a 
 more honorable character. To understand them, 
 it is necessary to give a brief glance back from 
 1699, at some of the ecclesiastical questions that 
 had arisen in the New England churches during 
 the seventy years in which they had now been 
 gathering and growing on this free American soil. 
 Most of these questions related to church order 
 and discipline, and were only indirectly connect- 
 ed with theological doctrine. The first of them 
 which it is important for us to notice is that in 
 regard to the proper subjects of baptism. Origi- 
 nally the administration of this rite was restricted 
 to the children of those who were members of 
 churches in full communion. How early a more 
 liberal opinion was expressed, and a more liberal 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 7 
 
 practice aimed at or attempted, on the part of any 
 of the fathers of New England, it is difficult pre- 
 cisely to determine. Probably, however, this 
 occurred at a very early period ; for we know 
 that the New England emigrants, in the exercise 
 of the large liberty and independence which they 
 had here secured, gave free scope to thought and 
 inquiry, and soon began to lose a little of their 
 reverence for some things which were important 
 only because they had been made matters of con- 
 troversy, or were incidentally connected with 
 great principles in whose defence they had en- 
 dured persecution and exile. 
 
 To such an extent, indeed, had this freedom 
 been exercised, that, in less than twenty years 
 after the settlement of Plymouth, great anxiety 
 was awakened among the Non-conformists in Eng- 
 land at the reports which reached that country of 
 the departure of the American churches from 
 some of the customs, opinions, and practices 
 which they had carried with them from the 
 father-land. Letters of inquiry, remonstrance, 
 entreaty, were frequently addressed to them, es- 
 pecially one bearing the early date of 1637,* 
 signed by a number of eminent Non-conformist 
 divines, asking their opinion upon nine points of 
 ecclesiastical discipline and order. In the answer 
 
 * Lamson's History of the First Church in Dedham, 
 p. 21. 
 
8 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 returned, it is admitted, on the part of the New 
 England churches, that, while they had not de- 
 parted so far as was reported and charged, u the 
 free air of the wilderness " had wrought some 
 changes, for which they saw good reason ; and it 
 is contended that churches should be seekers 
 after truth, and cc had still need to grow from 
 defects to purity, and from reformation to refor- 
 mation, age after age." 
 
 It is probable, therefore, that this question 
 about the proper subjects of baptism was early 
 agitated, and perhaps the more liberal opinion 
 and practice in reference to it did at first, to 
 some extent, prevail. 
 
 There was no general discussion of the subject 
 till 1662. The synod which met that year adopt- 
 ed the more liberal ground, approved of what was 
 called the half-way, or baptismal covenant, and 
 sanctioned the administration of baptism to chil- 
 dren whose parents were not members of the 
 church in full communion. This decision of the 
 synod gave rise to a controversy, conducted on 
 the one hand by President Chauncy of Harvard 
 College, and the Rev. John Davenport, then of 
 New Haven, against the decision, and by the 
 Rev. Mr. Allin of Dedham, and the Rev. 
 Richard Mather of Dorchester, in support of it. 
 
 Cotton Mather, in his Magnalia, maintains 
 that the propositions of the synod of 1662 would 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 
 
 have been inserted in the celebrated Cambridge 
 Platform, put forth by the synod of 1648, but 
 " for the opposition of one eminent person"; 
 that the Rev. John Norton was in favor of their 
 introduction, but being of u a peaceable temper," 
 he forbore urging them against this opposition, 
 so that when they were asserted by the synod 
 u which met more than twice seven years after, 
 many people did count them novelties," while, in 
 fact, they were old verities, in harmony with the 
 first principles and practices of the New England 
 churches. However this may be, the decision of 
 the synod of 1662 excited a controversy, a dif- 
 ference of opinion and practice in the Congrega- 
 tional churches, which had not subsided when 
 our fathers contemplated the formation of this 
 society. 
 
 Another question agitated during this period 
 was that of the relative right of the church and 
 the congregation in the choice of a pastor and the 
 direction of parish affairs. So far as the Puri- 
 tans, who sought freedom and refuge in this West- 
 ern wilderness, had any definite plan or policy, 
 it seems to have been that of a spiritual common- 
 wealth, in which religion should be the controlling 
 power of the state. They aimed not at an alli- 
 ance of church and state, but they made the 
 church the state. Spiritual regeneration and civil 
 right were conjoined. Unless a man was a mem- 
 
10 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 ber of the church, he was not a free citizen of 
 the state, had no right to vote in civil matters, 
 and of course none in religious matters. The 
 church, through its members, was to be the head 
 of the state, and through connection with the 
 church the individual was to secure civil privi- 
 lege and power as a citizen. During the lives of 
 the original emigrants, who were to a man almost 
 members of the church, moved to voluntary exile 
 by religious motive and principle, little objection 
 to this course existed, or was made manifest. 
 But when the second generation came upon the 
 stage, and the number of those who were not 
 members of the church began to increase, and 
 ultimately form the majority in every town and 
 in every congregation, the arbitrary and unequal 
 character of the rule became more and more 
 apparent, and opposition to it was excited. So 
 far as any civil disabilities accompanied non- 
 church-membership they were soon removed, and 
 as early as 1662, in all the Massachusetts planta- 
 tions, every freeholder, whether church-member 
 or not, was a citizen entitled to vote in the elec- 
 tion of magistrates, and to have a voice in all 
 civil affairs. But in ecclesiastical matters, — in 
 the choice of pastors and the direction of parish 
 affairs, — the church struggled for, and for some 
 time retained, first exclusive control, and then the 
 right of taking the initiatory steps, giving its direc- 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 11 
 
 tion to the action of the congregation. This 
 right of the church was sometimes contested, and 
 sometimes yielded apparently without a struggle ; 
 — as in the case of the Rev. Mr. Bowles, who 
 received a call from the church in Dedham, in 
 January, 16S5, "the inhabitants voting together 
 without distinction of communicants and non- 
 communicants, it being decided in a general 
 meeting, that ' the church and town will act to- 
 gether as one,' the church taking no separate 
 vote." Another instance of this occurred thir- 
 teen years earlier, in 1672, when the Rev. 
 Charles Nicholet was invited to settle over the 
 First Church in Salem, the church and the con- 
 gregation acting as one in extending the invita- 
 tion. Another example of the kind is afforded, 
 also, by the First Church in Charlestown, in 
 1697.* We learn from Cotton Mather, that ar- 
 tifice was sometimes resorted to on the part of 
 the church in order to retain the semblance of 
 power, and of having taken the lead in ecclesiasti- 
 cal measures. Thus, in case of vacancy in the 
 pastoral office, the church would elect three or 
 four of the most popular candidates, so that, on 
 whichsoever of them the choice of the congrega- 
 tion might fall, it could still be said, " The church 
 has chosen him." As the parish, the congrega- 
 
 * Lamson's History of the First Church in Dedham, 
 p. 90. 
 
12 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 tion, was the party bound to support the clergy- 
 man, and every man, whether a church-member 
 or not, had to contribute towards this object, 
 it seems somewhat strange to us now that this 
 question, when all the right and justice seem so 
 manifestly on one side, should have arisen. Yet 
 so it was, and the question was somewhat largely 
 agitated at the time our fathers contemplated the 
 formation of this society. 
 
 Another matter which was occasionally agitated 
 during this period, and in respect to which the pub- 
 lic mind had undergone some changes, was that of 
 " the public relation of their experience n on the 
 part of those who offered themselves for admission 
 to the church. By many this was thought to be of 
 great importance, and was insisted upon by some 
 churches with inflexible perseverance. Others 
 objected to it, and were disposed to discontinue 
 it, or to leave it optional with the individual. 
 The number of communicants was gradually, but 
 surely, growing smaller in proportion to the con- 
 gregation ; and it was justly thought that the cus- 
 tom of requiring a public relation of experience 
 tended to keep from the church and communion- 
 table many timid, modest, and worthy persons. 
 In many minds, also, the argument against it was 
 one not only of expediency, but of right. They 
 regarded it as an unjustifiable assumption on the 
 part of the church, to impose this public relation 
 of religious experience. 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 13 
 
 The most appropriate mode of conducting the 
 services of public worship began at this period to 
 attract some attention. Indications were mani- 
 fested of a readiness to adopt some changes that 
 should give to these services more variety and 
 interest. 
 
 As is usual in all cases of contest and separa- 
 tion, the Puritan Non-conformists, in leaving the 
 Church of England, swung far to the other 
 extreme, and in matters insignificant, as well as 
 in those of moment, aimed to mark their separa- 
 tion by as wide a difference as possible. In the 
 English Church service the Scriptures were 
 largely read. Nearly all the Psalms were re- 
 peated once a month, and lessons from the Old 
 and New Testament marked out for every Sun- 
 day in the year. The Puritans would have none 
 of this. They discarded altogether the reading 
 of the Scriptures in public worship. These 
 Scriptures could be read by each individual at 
 home, in such portions as his taste, judgment, or 
 spiritual wants might dictate. In the English 
 Church service, also, there were various, and, as 
 they thought, unnecessarily multiplied prayers, 
 together with the frequent repetition of the 
 Lord's Prayer, and, interspersed with these, a 
 large amount of singing and chanting. The 
 Puritans disliked all this ; they would have their 
 mode of public worship as distinct as possible. 
 
14 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 They would not use the Lord's Prayer at all in 
 public worship, and to do so soon came in their 
 judgment to savor of prelacy. They would 
 have but one prayer and one singing, and as for 
 the rest, they would have the services of public 
 worship what they ought to be, — not " vain 
 repetitions " before God, who was " not to be 
 worshipped with men's hands as though he needed 
 any thing," but the instruction of the people in 
 truth and righteousness. The sermon, the dis- 
 cussion and enforcement of sound doctrine and 
 godly living, — this was the prominent point with 
 the Puritans in the religious services of the Lord's 
 day. 
 
 The facts to which I have just alluded may 
 help to throw some light upon a matter that has 
 often excited surprise, and filled some hearts with 
 the apprehension that the piety of these modern 
 days has grown cold, has little internal heat, 
 namely, the patience with which our fathers lis- 
 tened to sermons which not infrequently w T ent far 
 into the second hour. But when we consider 
 that there was no reading of the Scriptures in 
 public worship, and commonly but one prayer 
 and one singing, it may be that the whole time 
 occupied did not very much exceed what is now 
 devoted to these services. 
 
 Be this as it may, when the second generation 
 came upon the stage, who had received only by in- 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 15 
 
 heritance, and not by actual contact, the prejudices 
 which their fathers entertained towards any thing 
 resembling what was termed " prelatic modes of 
 worship," the dryness and monotony of the 
 strictly Puritan mode began to be felt. Some 
 changes suggested themselves as desirable. It 
 was thought that the reading of a portion of 
 Scripture, w 7 ith brief occasional expositions by 
 the pastor, would tend to increase the interest 
 and the edification of the public religious services 
 of the Lord's day. It was found that music had 
 its power and its place as an instrument of relig- 
 ious impression and spiritual growth, and that 
 some improvement and more use might wisely be 
 made of this instrument. It does not appear that 
 there was any discussion of these matters, nor 
 can I ascertain that any changes in this respect 
 were introduced before the establishment of this 
 society ; but there are indications of a disposi- 
 tion, a readiness, to make some changes. 
 
 I have been thus particular in the view I have 
 presented, because it seemed to me to be neces- 
 sary in order to a complete understanding of the 
 circumstances under which this church originated, 
 and a just appreciation of the credit due to those 
 who undertook the enterprise, and carried it 
 forward to a successful accomplishment. This 
 object clearly was to found a religious society in 
 which the liberal side on all the questions which 
 
16 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 have been considered should be established and 
 maintained. But they were not the first to assert, 
 and to some extent act upon, these liberal opin- 
 ions and principles. I had all along supposed, 
 before studying the subject with some care, that 
 the founders of this church were the first to assert 
 in ecclesiastical matters the principle which is 
 now held so sacred both in civil and ecclesiasti- 
 cal affairs, that all who were taxed should vote ; 
 that all who contributed to the support of the pas- 
 tor should have a voice in his election, and in the 
 direction of parish affairs. But this was clearly 
 not the case, as, in three several instances during 
 the fifteen years previous to the formation of this 
 society, this principle had been asserted and 
 acted upon. And perhaps, were all the records 
 of the early New England churches examined, 
 several other instances might be found. The 
 same may be said of the other points. The 
 liberal side of these had been advocated, if not 
 adopted and acted upon. There had been a 
 gradual progress of liberal sentiment. The rigor 
 of Calvinistic Puritanism had somewhat abated 
 after the death of the generation to whom it was 
 precious through persecutions endured in its be- 
 half, and into whose souls it had, as it were, 
 been branded with a red-hot iron. " The free air 
 of the wilderness " had had its effect upon those 
 who had breathed it from infancy or early youth. 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 17 
 
 Their minds, untrammelled by the prejudices 
 and no longer restrained by the presence and 
 influence of those who came over in the May- 
 flower in 1620, or with Higginson and Skelton 
 in 1629, or with Winthrop in 1630, were free to 
 adopt what seemed to them good in the forms and 
 institutions of religion. Through the gradual prog- 
 ress of public opinion, the way was prepared for 
 the adoption of some changes and improvements 
 in these things ; and the merit of our fathers 
 in this matter, I conceive, is this, — that they 
 seized the right moment and the right way to 
 make these changes. They sought not to breed 
 dissension and disunion in any existing society, to 
 interfere with and overthrow its established order 
 and customs. They sought not to introduce too 
 extensive and radical changes, not to be in ad- 
 vance of their age, but to be up with it, to lead 
 it wisely to principles and measures just and 
 reasonable in themselves, and which it was not 
 indisposed or unprepared to adopt. Their high 
 object was to found a new Christian Congrega- 
 tional church, upon the broad, catholic, but con- 
 servative principles of Congregationalism, — a 
 church in which a just liberty and privilege should 
 be allowed to all, and nothing imposed upon any 
 individual, beyond what was necessary to the con- 
 stitution of any social religious institution, and the 
 public administration of the Christian ordinances. 
 
 2 
 
18 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 They aimed not, as is sometimes the case in the 
 formation of new societies at the present day, to 
 hold out the idea that there was something very 
 peculiar in the character of their society, some- 
 thing in the principles of its organization and con- 
 templated modes of action making it altogether dis- 
 tinct and different from others, but rather to show 
 the extent of their union and harmony with others, 
 and that, in the particulars in which they saw 
 "cause to depart from what is ordinarily pro- 
 fessed and practised by the churches of Christ 
 here in New England," there was no just ground 
 for suspicion and jealousy towards them. 
 
 This suspicion and jealousy were indeed enter- 
 tained. They met with distrust, if not with strong 
 opposition. Though the "undertakers," as they 
 style themselves, were men of high standing and 
 character, men of substance and influence, some of 
 them holding important official station, — though 
 it is probable, from a comparison of names, that 
 portions of them had previously been connected 
 with one or another of the three societies then ex- 
 isting in the town, — it does not appear that their 
 enterprise met with any encouragement or sympa- 
 thy from either of the ministers of these societies. 
 So much ignorance and prejudice prevailed in 
 relation to the movement, that in November, 
 1699, a few weeks before their church was dedi- 
 cated, the " undertakers n published u A Mani- 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. ]9 
 
 festo or Declaration," setting forth their aims 
 and designs, together with the principles and rules 
 they intended by God's grace to adhere unto. 
 The original of this important document is not on 
 the files, nor in the records, of the church. It 
 was printed on " a half folio sheet," in a con- 
 venient form for circulation, and in this way dis- 
 tributed to the churches. Dr. Palfrey, in a note 
 to his sermon, says, he had " not been able to 
 find an original copy of it," but used a manuscript 
 copy made by the late Judge Thacher in 1S07. 
 Since that time a copy of the original publication 
 has been discovered, and is now in my hands. 
 As it was found among the papers of a clergyman 
 long since deceased, formerly pastor of one of 
 the Congregational churches at the North End, it 
 is not impossible that it may have found its way 
 into his possession from the files of the Second 
 Church, and be, therefore, the original copy sent 
 by the undertakers to the pastor of that church, 
 then worshipping at the head of North Square. 
 As this document, of no little interest and impor- 
 tance in the history of this church, is known to 
 but few of my hearers, I shall read it from the 
 original copy to which I have just referred. 
 Thus it begins : — 
 
20 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 A 
 
 MANIFESTO 
 
 O R 
 
 Declaration, 
 
 Set forth by the Undertakers of the 
 
 New Church 
 
 Now Erected in Boston in New- England, November 17th. 1699. 
 
 INJ2SMVCH as GOD hath put it into our 
 hearts to undertake the Building a New 
 Meeting-House in this Town for His Publick 
 Worship ; And whereas through the gracious 
 Smiles of Divine Providence on this our Vnder- 
 taking, We now see the same Erected, and near 
 Finished : We think it Convenient, for prevent- 
 ing all Misapprehensions and Jealousies, to pub- 
 lish our Aims and Designs herein, together with 
 those Principles and Rules we intend by G O D S 
 Grace to adhere unto. 
 
 We do therefore as in the Presence of G OD 
 our Judge, and with all the Sincerity and Serious- 
 ness, which the nature of our present Engagement 
 Commands from us, Profess and Declare both to 
 one another, and to all the World, as follows. 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 21 
 
 First of all, We approve and subscribe the 
 Confession of Faith put forth by the Assembly 
 of Divines at Westmirisler. 
 
 in.] 
 
 We design only the true and pure Worship of 
 GOD, according to the Rules appearing plainly 
 to us in His Word ; Conformably to the known 
 practice of many of the Churches of the UNIT- 
 ED BRETHREN in London, and through- 
 out all England. 
 
 We judge it therefore most suitable and con- 
 venient, that in our Publick Worship some part of 
 the Holy Scripture be read by the Minister at his 
 discretion. 
 
 In all other parts of Divine Worship as 
 (Prayer, Singing, Preaching, Blessing the Peo- 
 ple, and Administring the Sacraments ;) We 
 conform to the ordinary practice of the Churches 
 of Christ in this Country. 
 
 It is our sincere desire and intention to hold 
 Communion with the Churches here, as true 
 Churches ; and we openly protest against all 
 Suspicion and Jealousie to the contrary, as most 
 Injurious to us. 
 
22 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 [IF.] 
 
 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. 
 
 [F".] 
 
 In pursuance whereof we further Declare, that 
 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 Edu- 
 cated, if God give life and ability, in the Chris- 
 tian Religion. 
 
 But this being a Ministerial Act, We think it 
 the Pastors Province to receive such Professions 
 and Engagements ; in whose prudence and con- 
 science we acquiesce. 
 
 [VI.] 
 
 As to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, 
 we believe that as the Ordinance is Holy, so the 
 Partakers in it (that it may not be visibly pro- 
 faned) must be persons of visible Sanctity. 
 
 [FIL] 
 
 We judge it therefore fitting and expedient, 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 23 
 
 that whoever would be admitted to partake with 
 us in this Holy Sacrament, be accountable to the 
 Pastor to whom it belongs to inquire into their 
 knowledge and Spiritual State, and to require the 
 Renewal of their Baptismal Covenant. 
 
 [VIII.] 
 
 But we assume not to our selves to impose 
 upon any a Publick Relation of their Experi- 
 ences ; however if any one think himself bound 
 in Conscience to make such a Relation, 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 Pro- 
 pound him. 
 
 [IX.] 
 
 We also think our selves obliged in faithfulness 
 to God, our own Souls, and theirs who seek our 
 Communion, to inquire into the life and conversa- 
 tion of those who are so propounded ; and if we 
 have just matter of objection to prefer it against 
 them. 
 
 [X.] 
 
 But if no objection be made, before the time 
 of their standing propounded is expired, it shall 
 be esteemed a sufficient Consent and Concur- 
 
24 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 rence of the Brethren, and the person propounded 
 shall be received to our Communion. 
 
 [XL] 
 
 If ever any of our Communion should be so 
 unhappy as to fall into any scandalous Sin (which 
 God by his Grace prevent) we profess all dutiful 
 submission to those Censures, which the Scrip- 
 ture directs, and the Churches here practice. 
 
 [XII.] 
 
 Forasmuch as the same power that Admits, 
 should also Exclude, We judge it reasonable, that 
 the Pastor in Suspending or Excommunicating 
 an Offender, have the consent and concurrence of 
 the Brethren. 
 
 [XIIL] 
 
 We apprehend that a particular Church, as 
 such, is a Society of Christians by mutual agree- 
 ment, usually meeting together for Publick Wor- 
 ship in the same place, and under the same Min- 
 istry, attending on the Ordinances of God there. 
 
 [XIV.-] 
 
 In every such Society, the Law of nature 
 dictates to us, that there is implied a mutual 
 promise and engagement of being faithful to the 
 Relations they bear to each other, whither as 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 25 
 
 private Christians, or as Pastor and Flock, so 
 long as the Providence of God continues them in 
 those Relations. 
 
 [xr.] 
 
 We moreover Declare our selves for Com- 
 munion of Churches, freely allowing our Mem- 
 bers occasionally to Communicate with other 
 Churches of Christ, and receiving theirs occa- 
 sionallv to the Table of the Lord with us. And 
 in extraordinary cases, when the Providence of 
 God makes it needful, we conceive that any 
 Authorized Minister of Christ, may upon our 
 Request, Administer the Sacraments unto us. 
 
 [XVL] 
 
 Finally, We cannot confine the right of chus- 
 ing a Minister to the Male Communicants alone, 
 but we think that every Baptized Adult Person 
 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 Endowments, should be leading and Influ- 
 ential to the Society in that Affair. 
 
 THESE are the Principles we Profess, and 
 the Rules we purpose through the Grace 
 of GOD, to govern our selves by ; and in some 
 
26 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 of these particulars only, and in no other, do we 
 see cause to depart from what is ordinarily Profess- 
 ed and Practised by the Churches of CHRIST 
 here in New-England. 
 
 There is nothing that determines the author- 
 ship of this Manifesto or Declaration ; the infer- 
 ence that its publication was suggested by Dr. 
 Colman, and that it was prepared by him, seems 
 to be sustained by the circumstances of the case. 
 The association of " Undertakers," who were 
 to carry forward the enterprise of building a 
 church and forming a new religious society in the 
 town, had now been in existence nearly two, 
 years. From the beginning, the movement had 
 been regarded with coldness and distrust ; but so 
 far as we can learn, no public declaration had been 
 made to satisfy public curiosity as to its charac- 
 ter and purpose, or remove the ignorance that 
 existed or the prejudice that had been awakened 
 against it. Dr. Colman had been invited to 
 become the pastor of the society, and arrived in 
 this country from England on the 1st of Novem- 
 ber. On the 19th of that month, the Manifesto 
 was published. As it had not been done before, 
 when there was equal occasion for it, and was 
 done so soon after his arrival, it seems to be a 
 natural inference to trace the doing of it now to 
 his mind. A man of great practical w T isdom, 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 27 
 
 of large discernment, he saw at once the neces- 
 sity of such a public declaration, both for his own 
 reputation and standing among the New England 
 clergy, and for the prosperity and the just appre- 
 ciation of the church of which he was to be pas- 
 tor and the society whose temporal and spiritual 
 prosperity he was to labor to promote. The 
 result justified the correctness of his judgment. 
 The Manifesto, so full and explicit upon the most 
 important points both of theology and of church 
 order and discipline, at once enlightened the pub- 
 lic mind as to the character and principles of 
 the new society. It led to a sharp controversy, 
 indeed, in which several interesting tracts or 
 pamphlets were published. Of the two most im- 
 portant of them, one was entitled, " The Order 
 of the Gospel " ; the other, a reply to it, was 
 entitled, " Gospel Order Revived." The former 
 was prepared by Dr. Increase Mather, and made 
 its appearance early in January, 1700, about two 
 months after the Manifesto was published, the 
 principles of which are stated in the Dedicatory 
 Epistle, and, together with some others, elaborate- 
 ly controverted in the work. The other, "Gos- 
 pel Order Revived," was published in the course 
 of the following spring or summer, and purports 
 to have been prepared " by sundry Ministers of 
 the Gospel in New England." It is presumed to 
 have been principally from the pen of Colman, 
 
28 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 aided by the Rev. Messrs. Bradstreet of Charles- 
 town and Woodbridge of Hartford. Several other 
 similar publications followed these, in the course 
 of the next two or three years, all of them making 
 reference, more or less direct, to the Mani- 
 festo, and the principles adopted and practised 
 upon by this church. In a manuscript volume 
 entitled " Colman Papers," preserved in the 
 library of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 
 may be found, among other interesting documents, 
 a letter of admonition and rebuke, addressed to 
 the "Undertakers" by the Salem ministers, 
 Higginson and Noyes. This letter, which ought 
 to have been preserved on the files of this 
 church, with whose early history it is so inti- 
 mately connected, serves also to illustrate the 
 character of the times and the relative position of 
 the clergy. I have, therefore, obtained leave of 
 the Historical Society to publish the following 
 copy of it : — 
 
 " To the Gentlemen, the authors and owners 
 of the Declaration, set forth by those who call 
 themselves the Undertakers of the new church 
 now erected in Boston, in New England, No- 
 vember 19th, 1699. We, the ministers of Salem, 
 having received the said declaration from Cap- 
 tain Benjamin Davis, think it our duty to offer 
 our advice ; and do humbly offer it in the follow- 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 29 
 
 ing particulars, praying that it may be consid- 
 ered in the fear of God. 
 
 " 1. We advise you that the word Manifesto in 
 the frontispiece is offensive, it being a sovereign, 
 imperious word, and whatever it signify in its na- 
 tive etymology, yet in its common use it signifies 
 the declaration of a prince or state about public 
 affairs, and often for showing the reason of their 
 taking up arms. Though we believe you in- 
 tended it not so, yet it is too much that it looks 
 like it, and needs to be removed. It is an hum- 
 bling consideration in such an undertaking to 
 stumble at the threshold. 
 
 "2. We cannot but think you might have en- 
 tered upon your declaration with more reverence 
 and humility than so solemnly to appeal to God, 
 your judge, that you do it with all the sincerity 
 and seriousness the nature of your engagement 
 commands from you ; seeing you were most of 
 you much unstudied in the controversial points 
 of church order and discipline, and yet did not 
 advise with the neighboring churches or elders ; 
 but with a great deal of confidence and freedom, 
 set up by yourselves. Sirs ! how could you for- 
 sake the dear churches some of you belonged to, 
 whose breasts you had sucked, and on whose 
 knees you had been dandled, without dropping 
 one tear for it in your declaration ? How could 
 you forsake the footsteps of the flock, the prac- 
 
30 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 tice of the churches in New England in such and 
 so many instances, yea, and the principles of the 
 united ministers in Old England also ? Truly, 
 Sirs, if you did it without much seeking of God 
 by fasting and prayer, without much fear and 
 trembling, without the most mature deliberation 
 of your own, and without much advising with 
 others that were at least as likely to know the 
 mind of God as yourselves, you were not so 
 serious and sincere as they had need to be who 
 appeal to the heart-searching God as their judge. 
 " 3. We cannot conceal from you how we re- 
 sent your making a church and church-members 
 without so much as making a public and personal 
 profession of your repentance toward God and 
 your faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 without a public and personal giving up your- 
 selves to God in Christ, according to the cove- 
 nant of his grace. If any such thing had been, 
 we should surely have found something of it in 
 the 4th, 8th, 12th, or 13th article ; but there is 
 nothing of this public and personal profession 
 and covenanting so much as hinted, but rather the 
 needlessness of it implied : if we understand those 
 articles, Sirs, how is it you did not consider that 
 the followers of the Lamb on Mount Zion have 
 his Father's name written in their foreheads ? 
 (Rev. xiv. 1.) Hath God promised to bring 
 any to his holy mountain and to make them 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 31 
 
 joyful in bis house of prayer unless they take 
 hold of his covenant ? See Isaiah vi. 4, 5, 6. 
 See also Jeremiah 1. 5, < They shall go the way 
 to Zion, with their faces thitherward, saying, 
 Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in an 
 everlasting covenant, never to be forgotten,' 
 compared with Deut. xxvi. 17, 18, l Thou hast 
 avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, and 
 to walk in his ways, and the Lord hath avouched 
 thee this day to be his peculiar people,' &c. See 
 also Deut. xxix. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, ' You stand 
 this day all of you before the Lord your God, 
 that thou shouldest enter into covenant with the 
 Lord thy God, that he may establish thee to-day 
 for a people unto himself,' &c. See also 2 Cor. 
 xi. 2. Doth not espousing the church of Cor- 
 inth to Christ plainly imply a covenant and con- 
 tract ? Is not the Church subsequently called 
 the bride, the spouse, the wife of Christ ? Sure- 
 ly explicitly covenanting is ordinarily necessary to 
 the well-being, not the being, of the Church. 
 
 " 4. It seemeth by your 5th article, you allow 
 baptism to parents and their children on lighter 
 terms than the public personal profession and 
 covenanting before spoken of ; which we appre- 
 hend to be contrary to the foregoing texts and 
 many others. 
 
 11 5. For aught we can see to the contrary, 
 you do, in the 5th article, contradict yourselves, 
 
32 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 as well as us, for after you have expressed you 
 allow baptism only to such and such, you say 
 you do not deny it to others also, and that in 
 such words as will admit of godfathers and god- 
 mothers in the utmost latitude, and so at length 
 all will be promiscuously baptized. 
 
 "6. After lax, and as we judge too lax, ad- 
 mission to sacraments, the discipline you expound 
 seemeth to us too slender and remiss, seeing you 
 allow the brethren no more in suspending and 
 excommunicating than you had before in admit- 
 ting, and yet have no consistory of elders among 
 yourselves, nor say any thing of any help you 
 expect from neighboring elders or churches, in 
 the most difficult cases. You seem to us to put 
 more confidence in your pastor than is meet to 
 be put in any one man living. 
 
 "7. Though you speak of communion of 
 churches, you seem to take it in a very re- 
 strained sense, as if communion of churches ex- 
 tended no farther than communion of members 
 at the Lord's table and of ministers in sacramental 
 administration, having omitted in your declaration, 
 and in your practice (as we are informed), the 
 seeking the right hand of fellowship of neighbor 
 churches to your church and of neighboring elders 
 to your pastor, which to us seemeth very unac- 
 countable, and that neither yourselves nor your 
 minister have sufficiently considered the danger 
 of being alone. Eccl. iv. 9, 10, 11, 12. 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 33 
 
 " 8. Seeing the Lord Jesus was faithful in his 
 house as a son, and we have the mind of Christ 
 in the Holy Scriptures, you might have found 
 some other direction and obligation to relative 
 duties between pastor and flock, and brother and 
 brother, besides the dictates of the law of nature ; 
 and yet, when the law of nature was dictating, we 
 see no reason why it should not dictate that an 
 explicit mutual promise and agreement about rela- 
 tive duties would be more effectual to obtain the 
 end. There is a little book (called * Spiritual 
 Milk for Boston Babes, drawn out of the Breasts 
 of both Testaments'), which had a great au- 
 thor, and many of you had special reason to re- 
 gard ; that, with the Scriptures annexed in the 
 margin, might have been very helpful to you in 
 denning a particular church, and about the obliga- 
 tions to relative duties ; to which we refer you, 
 praying you to consider the questions with their 
 answers, and the Scriptures produced for proof 
 annexed in the margin, — beginning at that ques- 
 tion, ' What is the church ? ' and so forward. 
 
 "9. It seemeth to us by your 13th and 14th 
 articles, that if a member of your society should 
 be so unholy, as well as unhappy, as to fall into 
 any scandalous sin, and should then forsake the 
 town, or forsake attending the public worship of 
 God in your assembly, he would no longer be 
 subject to the discipline of Christ in your church ; 
 
 3 
 
34 THE HISTOKY OF 
 
 for by his withdrawing, he ceaseth to be a mem- 
 ber of your church ; and consequently not subject 
 to any censure by your pastor. The consequence 
 seemeth to us as intolerable as unavoidable. 
 
 " 10. Your last article must needs be offensive, 
 seeing it has a direct tendency to subvert the 
 ministry and grace and order and liberty of all 
 the churches in the land, and that whether the 
 word male be in or out. If it be in, the females 
 are certainly more than the males, and conse- 
 quently the choice of ministers is put into their 
 hands ; nor doth the blotting out of the word 
 male wholly remove the objection ; for a fe- 
 male is a person, as well as a male ; but sup- 
 posing nothing of that be insisted upon, yet it is 
 certain the baptized adult non-communicants, in 
 most if not all the assemblies in the land, are 
 more than the communicants, and consequently, 
 if they should take their rule and manners from 
 this article, they might make worse work in all 
 the churches than we are willing to say. But 
 we hope better things. 
 
 "11. Was it fair to give notice to the w T orld, 
 that you see cause to depart from some things 
 that are ordinarily professed and practised in the 
 churches of New England, before you had inform- 
 ed the churches of what was offensive to you, and 
 offered conviction to them by the word of God 
 that there was cause so to do ? How did you know 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 35 
 
 but by that means you might have let in such light 
 into their souls, as might have persuaded them to 
 have forsaken their own principles and practices 
 as well as you do ? If you could have convinced 
 them that they were evil, they would certainly 
 have done so, for they do not pretend for perfec- 
 tion in knowledge. However you had endeav- 
 ored it, you would have been more excusable in 
 departing from them ; or had you used such 
 means, they might possibly and more probably 
 have convinced you that the way you were going 
 in was not safe and good, and if so, that surely 
 had been better than to rush on in an evil way. 
 The word of God requires us, if it be possible, to 
 live peaceably with all men, and surely then to 
 live peaceably with all the churches, if it be pos- 
 sible. Did you well consider whether emitting 
 the Manifesto was the most likely way to live 
 peaceably with all the churches ? Can you in 
 cool blood think that nothing else could possibly 
 have been done more likely to have made or 
 maintained peace between the churches and your- 
 selves, and if so, have you not cause to regret 
 that you did any thing or omitted any thing, that 
 having been done or omitted, peace might have 
 been maintained ? 
 
 " 12. We might also inquire why you did not 
 give notice to the world that you departed from 
 the principles of the United Ministers in Old 
 
36 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 England, seeing it is certain you do, as who- 
 ever is impartial shall find, if he compare your 
 declaration with the Heads of Agreement as- 
 sented to by the United Ministers formerly called 
 Presbyterian and Congregational ; particularly let 
 it be compared with the 3d, 4th, and 5th articles 
 in the chapter of the Ministry, and with the 1st, 
 4th, 5th, and 6th in the chapter of Communion 
 of Churches, and with the 1st article of Occa- 
 sional Meetings of Ministers. Sirs, had you but 
 contained yourselves within the limits of the Heads 
 of Agreement assented to by the United Min- 
 isters, you might have assured yourselves of the 
 right hand of fellowship between your pastor and 
 other pastors, and your church and other churches, 
 and how easily might you so have done ; and 
 thereby one instance might have been given that, 
 notwithstanding lesser differences, brethren may 
 dwell together in unity, and that it is good and 
 meet to do so. This would have been like 
 precious ointment on the head of Aaron, that 
 ran down on his beard, and so to his pectoral, 
 that perfumed and influenced all the tribes whose 
 names were therein. This would have been as 
 the dew on Hermon, yea, as the dew on Zion, 
 where God commanded the blessing, even life 
 for ever more. But alas ! we cannot now but 
 fear it will be far otherwise, unless God shall 
 persuade you to revoke your Manifesto, or ex- 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 37 
 
 plain it to satisfaction, by adjusting matters be- 
 tween yourselves and neighboring elders and 
 churches, by free consultation and conference 
 with them, to such a temper, at least, as may 
 conform to the Heads of Agreement above men- 
 tioned ; — that so the right hand of fellowship may 
 be given to your pastor by other pastors, and 
 to your church by other churches, and that you 
 may not be the beginning of a schism that will 
 dishonor God, grieve the good people, and be 
 a matter of triumph to the bad. So we pray 
 you take in good part what we have pre sented 
 and freely offered to you as the best advice that 
 is with us. We assure you we have not done 
 this out of any design or desire to grieve you, 
 but out of a design and desire to benefit you, and 
 to keep our consciences void of offence toward 
 God and toward man ; and we beseech you, out 
 of regard to the name of God and the purity of 
 his worship, and the peace of his churches, and 
 your own souls, that you lay to heart what hath 
 been offered to your consideration by ourselves, 
 or may have been offered by any of our breth- 
 ren in the ministry, especially your neighboring 
 elders, that, being on the spot, may be capable 
 of giving you better advice than we can ; and may 
 personally confer with you about these things, 
 which we cannot. We have nothing further to 
 add at present, but shall not cease to pray that 
 
38 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 the Wonderful Counsellor would direct you in 
 these things to do what is well pleasing in his 
 sight. So w T e remain your friends and servants in 
 what we may, according to the Gospel, 
 
 u John Higginson, 
 Nicholas Noyes. 
 " Salem, December 30th, 1699." 
 
 Dr. Palfrey, in alluding to the letter in his 
 notes, speaks of it as " severe, without being 
 unkind or disrespectful." This will be admitted 
 to be a correct criticism, though one cannot but 
 remark, as an evidence of the change of manners 
 and relations, that if any body of men, " under- 
 taking," at the present day, in any of our towns 
 or villages, to form a new religious society, were 
 to receive such a letter from the clergymen in 
 their neighborhood, it would be regarded as a 
 most improper, not to say impertinent, interfer- 
 ence. The rebuke of the " undertakers" for 
 their use of the word " Manifesto " would seem 
 to be rather hypercritical. Then, as now, this 
 was a commercial rather than a " royal" word, 
 and innumerable quotations might be made to 
 show that there was no assumption in the use 
 of it. The charge of a want of humility also 
 comes with a bad grace from individual clergy- 
 men, who had voluntarily assumed the task of 
 rebuking a large and respectable body of men, 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 39 
 
 who were earnestly, but as far as possible peace- 
 ably, engaged in establishing a religious society for 
 the worship of God according to the dictates of 
 their consciences. So far as we feel any interest 
 in the characters of the founders of this church, 
 we may safely leave this charge of a want of 
 humility to be determined by the question, 
 Which indicates the greatest absence of this 
 crowning Christian grace, the Manifesto or the 
 Salem letter ? I candidly admit that, as mem- 
 bers of this society, bound to it many of us by 
 tender associations and strong ties of sympathy, 
 we are not the most fair and unprejudiced judges 
 of this or any other point affecting its reputation ; 
 but I apprehend that any one, looking back at this 
 distance of time to the Manifesto and the publi- 
 cations it called forth, will admit, whatever be his 
 opinion as to the strength of the argument, that 
 the best exhibition of a Christian spirit and temper 
 lies with those who put forth the Manifesto or 
 wrote in its defence.* 
 
 * The following remarks and " doggerel verses" were fur- 
 nished me by Isaac P. Davis, Esq., from a private journal kept 
 at the time by Josiah Cotton in Marblehead. The wit is 
 poor, and the poetry is poorer than the wit ; but almost any 
 similar scrap of manuscript, one hundred and fifty years old, is 
 so far an illustration of the times, as to be worth preserving. 
 
 " During my abode at Marblehead, there happened an 
 unhappy difference, between some of the Ministers and Peo- 
 ple in Boston upon the building Mr. Colman's Meeting House, 
 which was for a while (in contempt) called the Manifesto 
 
40 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 While the general controversy, of which I 
 have given this brief account, was excited by 
 the Manifesto, its immediate effect upon the 
 
 Church, because they put forth an account of their designed 
 variations from some things practised in the New England 
 Churches, which they themselves call a Manifesto. And 
 afterwards there came forth a Book entitled, Gospel Order 
 Revived, written by several Ministers of the Gospel, supposed 
 to be Mr. Woodbridge, Mr. Bradstreet, and Mr. Colman. 
 Upon which there were some very harsh passages, and several 
 cantering Rhythms came forth. Some of which, for their odd- 
 ness and archness, I shall insert. One parcel of verses upon 
 the aforesaid Book, the author calls 'A Simple Poem upon the 
 Authors and their Design,' and runs thus. 
 
 Begging Manifesto, proves but a great Peslo 
 
 Blackman 1 is Synodalian. 
 Pray stay there and stop, lest next hop and hop 
 
 Ben't Peter's Chair Italian. 
 The old Strait Gate is now out of date, 
 
 The street it must be Broad 2 
 And the Bridge* must be Wood, tho' not half so good 
 
 As firm stone in the road. 
 Relations are Rattles with Brattle and Brattle, 
 
 Lord Bro'r mayn't command, 
 But Mather and Mather had rather had rather 
 
 The good old way should stand. 
 Saints Cotton and Hooker, Oh look down and look here 
 
 Where 's Platform, Way and the Keys? 
 Oh Torrey with Story of Brattle Church Tatele 
 
 To have things as they please. 
 Our Merchants cum Mico do stand sacro vico 
 
 Our Churches turn genteel 
 Our Parsons grow trim and trig with Wealth, Wine and Wig 
 
 And their heads are covered with meal. 
 
 1 Colman. 2 Bradstreet. 3 Woodbridge. 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 41 
 
 ministers and societies in the town seems to 
 have been favorable. Hitherto on the part of 
 these societies no sympathy or interest had been 
 
 " Upon which there came out the following answer: — 
 
 And now my friend Thomas, according to promise 
 
 Im'e come and hope shall be welcome, 
 For I know you use to desire all the news, 
 
 And now I think I can tell some. 
 There 's lately come in here, a whip for the sinner 
 
 That doth leave the old way, or despise it ; 
 The Author, if you know him, says, 'tis a simple Poem, 
 
 And in good truth I don't think he belies it. 
 
 Having heated his Noddle, with a dram of the Bottle 
 
 Then hey for the top of Parnassus. 
 He 's so set on rhyming, bell ringing and chiming 
 
 The which for a grace to his rhymes take 
 That saints Hooker and Cotton, tho' both dead and rotten, 
 
 Must out from their graves for the rhymes sake. 
 
 ■ • • • • 
 
 His designs to be arch in 't, appears in the Margent 
 
 On which the kind Reader must look, 
 Or else he 'd be witty, and that would be a pity, 
 
 And no body find out the Joke. 
 And thus our Lord Broth 1 " doth fully discover 
 
 The authors and all their design, 
 For which I suppose the thanks of the House 
 
 Will be sent, when they meet the next time." 
 
 If they illustrate nothing else, the foregoing lines will show 
 what could get printed as poetry one hundred and fifty years 
 ago. The journalist adds, — " Thus the quarrels about Relig- 
 ion give occasion to scoffing wits. And therefore a small 
 matter should not set us together by the Ears ; for a victory 
 wont countervail the Damage; and it is well that that con- 
 troversy is since comfortably settled." 
 
42 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 expressed in the new society, and none of their 
 ministers came forward to welcome Dr. Colman 
 to his field of labor, or participate with him 
 in the dedication and opening services at his 
 church. But we find that, not many weeks after 
 the publication of the " Manifesto," they all 
 united at the request of this church in " keeping 
 a day of prayer." u Wednesday, the 31st of 
 January," say the Records, " was separated by 
 us for public imploring the presence of God with 
 us, his pardon and blessing." On this occasion 
 the ministers of the Congregational churches in 
 the town took some part in the services, Dr. 
 Colman preaching in the morning and Dr. In- 
 crease Mather in the afternoon. Whether their 
 union in keeping this day of prayer was the effect 
 of the Manifesto, or the result of the better feel- 
 ings of the ministers, and their conviction that 
 the success of the enterprise could no longer be 
 prevented by any coldness or opposition on their 
 part, or whether it was brought about by the in- 
 terposition of friends, cannot be clearly deter- 
 mined. Probably each of these causes had its 
 influence, though the result is chiefly to be at- 
 tributed, I apprehend, to the mediation of friends ; 
 — since it is clearly shown by a letter, in the 
 manuscript volume of " Colman Papers," to 
 which reference has been made, (which letter 
 ought also to be on the files of our church,) that 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 43 
 
 the invitation to unite in a day of prayer was at 
 first refused, unless this church would with- 
 draw its Manifesto, and adopt the Platform of the 
 United Brethren of London ; — and in a passage 
 in the records, immediately preceding the account 
 of the day of " public prayer," Dr. Colman says, 
 u I omit on purpose the differences and troubles 
 we had with our neighbors about our providings, 
 only am obliged to leave this acknowledgment of 
 our great obligation to the Hon. William Stough- 
 ton, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, 
 the Rev. William Brattle of Cambridge, the Rev. 
 Mr. Clarke of Chelmsford, and Mr. Danforth of 
 Dorchester, for their good and kind endeavors for 
 our peaceable settlement." 
 
 Some time elapsed, however, before Dr. Col- 
 man was on terms of intimate communion and 
 fellowship with the other churches of the town, 
 and for several years the church was designated, 
 in scorn and derision, by a title of which neither 
 then nor now has it any cause to be ashamed, — 
 " the Manifesto Church." 
 
 In giving this account of the u Manifesto " and 
 its results, I have anticipated some things in rela- 
 tion to the call of Rev. Benjamin Colman to 
 become the pastor of the society. The germ of 
 the society, as has been intimated, was formed 
 as early as January, 1698, at which time Thomas 
 Clarke and his associates became possessed of a 
 piece of land with a view to erect thereupon a 
 
44 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 house of worship. At what time this work was 
 commenced cannot be ascertained, but early in 
 the summer of 1699, in prospect of the comple- 
 tion of the house in the autumn, those interested 
 in the enterprise, who had hitherto, as seems 
 probable, worshipped at the churches to which 
 they severally belonged, made arrangements for 
 the establishment of a permanent ministry, by 
 inviting the Rev. Benjamin Colman, then in Eng- 
 land, to become their pastor. Mr. Colman was 
 a native of this town. His parents were mem- 
 bers of the Second Church, and he himself had 
 there made his early Christian vows. Of himself 
 and his call to be the pastor of this church, he 
 gives the following account in the opening para- 
 graph of our records : — "I had been absent from 
 this my native country upwards of four years, 
 employed as a candidate for the evangelical min- 
 istry, to which my parents and my own choice 
 devoted me ; occasionally preaching in the city 
 of London, the University of Cambridge, and 
 the town of Ipswich, in England, for about the 
 space of two years, and then more statedly had 
 been appointed by the Presbyterian board at 
 London, to be the minister of the Dissenting Con- 
 gregation in the city of Bath, Somersetshire ; 
 when, on the 19th day of July, 1699, I received 
 an invitation * from the gentlemen, the under- 
 
 * No copy of this letter of invitation is to be found in the 
 records or on the files of this church. Hearing that a copy of 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 45 
 
 takers of this church, subscribed by Mr. Thomas 
 Braitle, Captain Benjamin Davis, Mr. John 
 Mico, Mr. Thomas Cooper, and Mr. John 
 Colman, in the name of the rest, to come over 
 to be their minister, only proposing to me, that 
 
 it was in the possession of the Rev. Alexander McClure of 
 Maiden, I applied and readily obtained from him permission 
 to use it in this publication. It is as follows : — 
 
 " Boston, May 10, 1G99. 
 "Mr. Benjamin Colman: — 
 
 "Much respected Sir, — Before writing the following votes, 
 which will satisfy you both of the nature and design of them, 
 and how we came to be concerned therein, we judge it may 
 not be amiss to give you an account of the first rise and 
 progress of our undertaking, until we came unto this result. 
 These few lines may therefore acquaint you, that about 
 twenty of us, considering the great need there was of another 
 meeting-house in the town, did, in October last, undertake, 
 with God's help, to build one in Brattle Close, so called, near 
 the town dock, where most of us lived. We imparted our 
 design first to the Lieutenant-Governor and ministers, and 
 then petitioned both the townsmen and justices, and the 
 Lieutenant-Governor and Council, for leave to build with 
 timber, which they readily granted us. At the first meeting 
 it was resolved the relations should be laid aside, and the 
 Holy Scriptures publicly read in the church, and on the 29th 
 of October, Mr. John Colman, understanding we had thought 
 of yourself for our minister, did join with us, on condition 
 we gave you a call thereunto. Soon after this we agreed 
 for the building of said meeting-house, which is to be raised 
 by the first of August, and finished by the first of October 
 next. The last month the timber was brought to town and 
 begun to be framed ; and now, thinking it high time to con- 
 clude on a minister, on the 2d instant there was a general 
 meeting of the undertakers, where, after we had every one 
 
46 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 the Holy Scriptures might be publicly read every 
 Sabbath in the worship of God, and that they might 
 lay aside the relation of experiences, which were 
 imposed in the other churches in the town, in order 
 to the admission of persons to the Lord's Table. 
 
 of us subscribed a paper, wherein it is declared we have no 
 design to depart from the doctrine and order of the Gospel, or 
 from the practice of the churches of Christ in New England, 
 only leaving the matter of relations indifferent, as we, with 
 several churches in New England, do apprehend them to be, 
 it was, after mature deliberation, unanimously voted, — 1. 
 That Mr. Benjamin Colman be addressed with an invitation 
 to come over hither in order to be the minister of the church 
 which we are now erecting; and 2. That in case Mr. Benjamin 
 Colman, complying with our principles which shall be sent 
 him, shall come over upon the invitation, and we shall not 
 agree to settle him among us, we will then satisfy him for all 
 the loss and damage he shall sustain by his answering our 
 invitation to his full content. 3. That Mr. John Mico, Mr. 
 John Colman, Mr. Benjamin Davis, Mr. Thomas Cooper, and 
 Mr. T. Brattle do write to Mr. Benjamin Colman by the first 
 opportunity, in behalf of the undertakers ; and 4. That Mr. 
 Benjamin Colman be desired to use his utmost endeavors to 
 be ordained a minister of the Gospel by some Non-conformist 
 ministers in England. Accordingly, Sir, we do hereby sig- 
 nify to you the desire of the undertakers, and in their name 
 we do heartily invite you hither to be the minister of our 
 church, promising and obligating ourselves, in case of your 
 compliance with our call, if we do not settle you among us, 
 which there is no doubt upon, that we will satisfy you for 
 all the damage you shall receive thereby. We are all of us 
 very desirous that you be ordained before you come over by 
 some Non-conformist ministers in England, the more eminent 
 they are, the better it may be. The great character which 
 every one gives of your good temper, principles, and abilities 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 47 
 
 u The invitation was accepted by me ; and the 
 more acceptable it was by reason of the kind and 
 encouraging letters which accompanied it from 
 mv excellent friends, the Hon. Mr. John Lev- 
 erett, the Rev. William Brattle, Ebenezer Pem- 
 berton, Simon Bradstreet, and others.* 
 
 doth abundantly satisfy us in our choice, and make us the 
 more earnestly to address you with this invitation, which we 
 pray you will favor us with your acceptance of, and coming to 
 us so soon as ever your affairs will permit. You may be assured 
 of all due respect and encouragement from us becoming your 
 place and merit ; for although our votes may seem too short 
 in some particulars, we intend nothing but what is not only 
 just but honorable. God, who has inclined our hearts to so 
 great an undertaking, and to make choice of yourself for our 
 minister, and has therein graciously smiled on us hitherto, 
 seems in his providence to have designed you for his service 
 among us, and will, as we trust in his goodness, by inclining 
 your heart to accept of this our invitation, perfect what he has 
 thus far so wonderfully brought about, to his glory and our 
 mutual happiness and comfort. In the hopes and persuasion 
 thereof we shall add no more, but our prayers that God Al- 
 mighty will bless you and make your way to us prosperous 
 in his good time. We salute you in behalf of the undertak- 
 ers, and subscribe ourselves, Sir, your assured friends and 
 
 servants, 
 
 "T. Brattle, 
 
 Benjamin Davis, 
 
 John Mico, 
 
 Thomas Cooper, 
 
 John Colman." 
 
 * The following extracts from some of these letters will 
 show the high estimation in which Mr. Colman was held, and 
 the strong desire felt by some of the most eminent men of 
 that day that he should accept the invitation of the " Under- 
 
48 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 l< Being arrived at London, August 1st, 1699, 
 I asked ordination of the Presbytery there, and 
 on the fourth day of said month the solemnity 
 
 takers" of Brattle Street Church. Rev. Ebenezer Pember- 
 ton writes : — 
 
 " With this you will receive a kind invitation to return to 
 your own country, which you cannot but have a great tender- 
 ness for, and your affection I trust will constrain you to com- 
 ply, and hope it will not be to your disadvantage. The gentle- 
 men who solicit your return are mostly known to you, — 
 men of repute and figure, from whom you may expect gen- 
 erous treatment; and among them I doubt not but you may 
 be peculiarly serviceable to the Lord Jesus Christ, which is 
 the height of your ambition. I believe your return will be 
 pleasing to all friends of religion. I am sure it will be inex- 
 pressibly so to your unfeigned friend and servant." 
 
 Rev. William Brattle writes : — 
 
 " This waits upon you with my desires and hopes that 
 your circumstances will allow you to entertain and accept 
 the invitation. The good respect the Boston ministers have 
 for you (as well as others) should, methinks, encourage your 
 embracing the motion now made to you. As for my own part' 
 I shall account it a smile from Heaven upon the good design 
 of these gentlemen, if you can send them answer of peace, 
 and would hope that your so doing will result to your mutual 
 rejoicing. May God direct you in the matter. Your real 
 friend and servant." 
 
 President Leverett writes thus at the close of his letter : — 
 
 " I shall exceedingly rejoice at your return unto your coun- 
 try. We want persons of your character. The affair offered 
 to your consideration is of the greatest moment. I pray Al- 
 mighty God to be your director in it. Your return is heartily 
 desired by all that I have heard speak of it, but it cannot be 
 more agreeable to any body than it is to, Sir, your sincere 
 friend and humble servant." 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 49 
 
 was attended, after a public lecture, at the meet- 
 ing-house of the Rev. Mr. Christopher Taylor, 
 to whom I succeeded in Bath. I was ordained 
 by prayer with the imposition of the hands of 
 the Rev. Richard Stratton, John Spademan, 
 Robert Fleming, and Christopher Taylor. Mr. 
 Stratton prayed, Mr. Spademan made the exhor- 
 tation. From many other reverend ministers I 
 received testimonials of my good conversation 
 while in England 
 
 " On Wednesday, the 1st of November, 1699, 
 I arrived at Boston, through the favor of God. 
 The next day the undertakers invited me to a 
 full meeting at my brother's house. A (exv days 
 after, Mr. Brattle presented me with fifty pounds 
 in money in the name of the undertakers. Soon 
 after, we kept a day of thanksgiving in private to 
 Almighty God for the many smiles of his provi- 
 dence on our undertaking unto that day. I 
 preached from 1 Chron. xxix. 13, 14, * Now, 
 therefore, our God, we thank thee and praise thy 
 glorious name. But who am I, and what is my 
 people, that we should be able to offer so will- 
 ingly after this sort ? For all things come of thee, 
 and of thine own have we given thee.' " 
 
 This, then, was the first religious service of 
 this society, this the first sermon preached before 
 it. Mr. Colman, having been ordained for this 
 work in London, was now the minister of the 
 
 4 
 
50 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 I 
 
 society in Brattle Square, which three weeks sub- 
 sequently occupied its pleasant new-built church, 
 and became one of the established, and soon one 
 of the most flourishing, societies of the town. 
 
 I have thus presented to my hearers a full view 
 of the circumstances under which this church 
 originated, and the principles upon which it was 
 founded. We perceive that, as regards theo- 
 logical doctrine, no departure was made by this 
 church from the system of religious belief then 
 commonly received. The society adopted at 
 the beginning the confession of faith put forth by 
 the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, which, 
 with the Catechism prepared by the Assembly, 
 w r as then universally, as it is now by a large major- 
 ity of the Congregational churches of New Eng- 
 land, regarded as the embodiment and concentra- 
 tion of the great doctrines of the Bible. The 
 points in respect to which this church departed 
 from others related entirely to order and worship, 
 and of these but four w T ere of any great mo- 
 ment ; — 1st. The reading of some portion of 
 Holy Scripture in public worship at the discre- 
 tion of the minister ; 2d. The administration of 
 baptism to the children of any parents who would 
 make a genuine profession of their Christian faith 
 and their desire and purpose to educate their chil- 
 dren therein ; 3d. The relinquishment of the re- 
 lation of experiences ; and 4th. The permission of 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 51 
 
 all the members of the congregation, without dis- 
 tinction of communicants and non-communicants, 
 to act and vote in parish affairs. I have also 
 received it by tradition from my predecessor, that 
 the minister of this church was expected or re- 
 quired to repeat the Lord's Prayer once in some 
 part of the service every Sunday. And accord- 
 ingly I have always observed this rule, though I 
 have not found any authority for it but tradition, 
 which, as it came to me so, I suppose has been 
 handed down from pastor to pastor. The forms 
 of religious worship are in one aspect of no im- 
 portance. They are but the drapery of religion, 
 and if the drapery be decent and proper, it mat- 
 ters not what may be its texture and pattern. 
 God cares not in what language the prayer be 
 offered, nor what posture the body assumes. 
 He lookcth to the heart, and if there be sincerity, 
 devotion, an earnest and quickened spirit there, 
 they make the form, whatever it may be, accep- 
 table in his sight. But in another aspect, the 
 forms adopted or established for the administra- 
 tion of religion are important, in so far as they 
 may affect or involve the rights of individual 
 Christians. This was the case with some of the 
 forms objected to and laid aside by the founders of 
 this society ; as, for example, the requisition of 
 the relation of experiences before admission to the 
 church, the refusal of baptism to children whose 
 
52 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 parents were not communicants, and the exclusion 
 of non-communicants from vote or voice in the di- 
 rection of parish affairs, except as they might act 
 in confirmation of what the church had done. In 
 these cases important personal Christian rights and 
 privileges were involved in matters of form and or- 
 der, and we have reason to honor our fathers, that 
 they stood firm " for the liberty wherewith Christ 
 hath made men free," and established here a 
 church, liberal, yet conservative, uniting freedom 
 and order, a wide privilege of the individual with 
 the rights and progress of the whole body. It is 
 not surprising that a church founded upon these 
 principles should soon become large and flourish- 
 ing, or that it should have enjoyed, as we shall 
 find in tracing its history, a large measure of peace 
 and prosperity. 
 
 Having thus noticed the progress of the society, 
 from the earliest movements in its behalf to its 
 regular establishment in its new house under its 
 first minister, I shall here leave the subject for 
 the present. Let me remind you, in conclusion, 
 that, as we are completing the third half-century 
 of our existence as a society, so we are complet- 
 ing another year of our lives as individuals. We 
 have been reviewing the long gone past as con- 
 nected with the deeds of our fathers ; let us also 
 review it, each for himself, as it presents the 
 events, the deeds and doings, the negligence and 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 53 
 
 the performance, the omission and commission, of 
 the past year. Mingled emotions necessarily rise 
 up in our minds, as we approach any of these an- 
 niversary epochs that mark the progress of time 
 and the flight of years ; and now, as we lookback 
 upon this, which is so fast drawing towards its 
 close, we find much, very much, for which to 
 thank God, and much also for which to reproach 
 ourselves. Another year of privilege and oppor- 
 tunity, another year of discipline and probation, is 
 soon to close up its record to eternity. What 
 one of us does not wish that some passages in 
 that record could be blotted out ? What one of 
 us does not feel the truth of the prophet's declara- 
 tion, " Then shalt thou think of thy ways and be 
 ashamed." May the experience of the past so 
 make us wise and faithful for the future, that the 
 close of the next year may find us, if on earth, 
 better and holier, and if called from earth, holy 
 and happy in heaven. 
 
 December 30th, 1849. 
 
SERMON II. 
 
 THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL BE IN EVERLASTING REMEM- 
 BRANCE. — Ps. cxii. 6. 
 
 In our religious services a few weeks ago, I 
 alluded to the completion of the third half-cen- 
 tury of our existence as a church and society. I 
 gave a brief outline of the changes in opinion and 
 usage which had occurred in the American 
 churches during the seventy years previous, as 
 illustrating the feelings and circumstances under 
 which this church originated. I presented the 
 important principles in regard to ecclesiastical or- 
 ganization and the administration of the Christian 
 religion, which this society aimed to establish, as 
 put forth in its Manifesto of November 19th, 1699, 
 and briefly recited the incidents connected with 
 the call of Mr. Benjamin Colman to become its 
 pastor, and his entrance upon his duties in De- 
 cember of that year. 
 
 The fourth date in our records is " Wednes- 
 day, January 31, 1700," which day, it is stated, 
 
HISTORY OF BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 55 
 
 u was separated by us for public imploring the 
 presence of God with us, his pardon and blessing, 
 and accordingly solemnized." This was an im- 
 portant event in the history of our church, and I 
 make the near approach of its anniversary an oc- 
 casion for again calling your attention to a portion 
 of its history. 
 
 The Manifesto, put forth by the undertakers in 
 November, 1699, seems to have been all that was 
 at first adopted by the society in the shape of 
 creed or covenant. At a private meeting held 
 December 12th, at Mr. Mico's house, a church, 
 or body of communicants, was organized, but, as 
 appears from the records, those entering into it, 
 fourteen in all, whose names are given, simply 
 declared " their consent and agreement to walk 
 together in all the ordinances of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." At this meeting, it was voted, u that 
 Mr. Colman present the desires of the society to 
 the ministers of the town to keep a day of prayer 
 with us." This request was at first peremptorily 
 refused by two of the ministers acting apparent- 
 ly in behalf of the rest. Their letter, preserved 
 in the manuscript volume of Colman Papers, be- 
 longing to the Historical Society, bears date De- 
 cember 28th, 1699, and is as follows. 
 
 " Mr. Colman : — 
 
 " Whereas you have signified to us that your 
 
56 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 Society have desired us to join with them in a 
 public fast, in order to your intended communion, 
 our answer is, that as we have formerly once 
 and again insinuated unto you, that if you would 
 in due manner lay aside what you call your Mani- 
 festo, and resolve and declare that you will keep 
 to the Heads of Agreement on which the United 
 Brethren in London have made their union, and 
 then publicly proceed with the presence, counte- 
 nance, and concurrence of the New England 
 churches, we should be free to give you our fel- 
 lowship and our best assistance, which things you 
 have altogether declined and neglected to do ; 
 thus we must now answer, that, if you will give us 
 the satisfaction which the law of Christ requires 
 for your disorderly proceedings, we shall be hap- 
 py to gratify your desires ; otherwise, we may not 
 do it, lest our joining with you in such an action 
 be interpreted as an approbation of those miscar- 
 riages, which both before and since the publica- 
 tion of the said Manifesto, it seems to us, you 
 have fallen into, and lest we become partakers of 
 the guilt of those irregularities by which you have 
 given just cause of offence, both to us and to all 
 the churches of our Lord Jesus Christ throughout 
 New England. 
 
 " Increase Mather, 
 James Allen." 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 57 
 
 This note is curious, as indicating the state of 
 feeling and manners towards the new clergyman. 
 The common courtesies of correspondence are 
 all disregarded. Here is no address of " Sir," 
 or cc Dear Sir," or " Rev. Sir." They do not 
 even recognize him as invested with the clerical 
 office. The address is short and direct, " Mr. 
 Colman," and it is signed, without any expressions 
 of interest, sympathy, respect, or kind feeling, 
 " Increase Mather, James Allen." This crusty 
 letter, in the handwriting of Increase Mather, 
 was doubtless written by him, and breathes his 
 spirit. What answer Mr. Colman returned to it, 
 or whether he returned any answer in writing, can- 
 not now be ascertained. If there was any further 
 correspondence upon the subject, it would be 
 deeply interesting, as throwing light upon this 
 early period of our history ; yet, if it was all con- 
 ducted in the spirit of the letter just given, it is 
 not to be regretted that the correspondence can- 
 not now be found. I was wrong, perhaps, in 
 describing the letter as a peremptory refusal. It 
 alludes to a previous peremptory refusal, unless 
 the Manifesto was withdrawn, and the principles 
 of union of the London churches adopted, but 
 it does not now insist upon this. That demand is 
 abated. u If you will give us the satisfaction 
 which the law of Christ requires for your disor- 
 derly proceedings, we will gratify your desires." 
 
58 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 What satisfaction was given, what explanations 
 were made, cannot now be ascertained. These 
 explanations, however, aided by the influence 
 which Mr. Cohnan's eminent talents and strong 
 character began to exert from the moment of his ar- 
 rival in the country, were sufficient, and five weeks 
 after the date of this extraordinary note, these 
 very men, Increase Mather and James Allen, to- 
 gether with Wadsworth, Cotton Mather, and 
 Samuel Willard, all the ministers of the three 
 Congregational churches of the town, did unite 
 with this church in keeping a day of public 
 prayer. 
 
 Our own records are silent in regard to the 
 particulars of this occasion. From the Diary of 
 Chief Justice Sewall, we learn that it "was a 
 close, dark day." At the opening of the service 
 in the morning, Mr. Colman read a paper, or 
 writing, that had been agreed upon and signed by 
 all the ministers. It is a matter of regret that no 
 copy of this paper is upon our records or files, 
 or can now be found anywhere. We learn from 
 the authority I have just quoted, Judge Sewall's 
 Diary, that it was drawn up, out of two which had 
 been rejected, by Rev. Wm. Brattle, at a meet- 
 ing of the ministers held at Mr. Willard's, Janu- 
 ary 24th, at which himself and the Lieutenant- 
 Governor were present. At this meeting, says 
 the Diary, " Mr. Colman got his brethren to 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 59 
 
 subscribe it." It was read to tbe audience as 
 explaining tbe basis or grounds on which the min- 
 isters united in the services of that day, and were 
 to govern their future intercourse. The morning 
 services were conducted chiefly by Mr. Colman ; 
 the afternoon services entirely by the other minis- 
 ters. Dr. Increase Mather preached, and in his 
 sermon took care to make a qualification or ex- 
 planation of his text, and inculcate from it a doc- 
 trine which left him ample liberty to make any 
 attack upon the new church which he might 
 subsequently feel inclined to direct against it. 
 His text was, " Follow peace with all men and 
 holiness." The doctrine enforced was, we must 
 follow peace so far as it consists with holiness.* 
 Although there was, thus early, this public 
 recognition of our church, and this public expres- 
 sion of sympathy and fellowship on the part of 
 the ministers, yet it was but a lull in the storm of 
 opposition to the Manifesto Church, which con- 
 tinued to rage for some time. Several years 
 passed before Mr. Colman was on terms of inti- 
 mate communion and regular exchanges with the 
 other ministers of Boston and the neighborhood, 
 though it is impossible to ascertain any reliable 
 facts by which to determine at what precise period 
 the other ministers ceased to regard him as an 
 
 * J\ew England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 
 III. p. 121. 
 
60 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 innovator, and to exchange with him as often as 
 with each other. This is of little consequence 
 now, and was at the time of little consequence. 
 Mr. Colman's talents and fidelity, the charac- 
 ter and standing of most of his congregation, 
 and the just, enlarged, catholic principles upon 
 which the church was established, soon rendered 
 all opposition insignificant and powerless. The 
 church flourished, increasing rapidly in numbers 
 and in influence. Satisfactory evidence of this 
 is afforded by the fact, that at the close of the 
 first year of Mr. Colman's ministry considerable 
 augmentation of his salary was voted, and before 
 the close of the second year, in June, 1701, it 
 was thought desirable to furnish him with a per- 
 manent assistant in his work ; and the young so- 
 ciety had the pecuniary ability which enabled it to 
 do this, and the religious zeal which prompted to it. 
 Such an assistant was found in the person of Mr. 
 Eliphalet Adams, a graduate of Harvard College, 
 of the class of 1694. Mr. Adams was not or- 
 dained as colleague pastor, but continued to serve 
 the society in this capacity of assistant for two 
 years and a half, called thereto by an annual 
 election on the part of the congregation. 
 
 And here it is worthy of remark, that, so far as 
 the records show, the only internal quarrel or 
 contention of any kind that has occurred in this 
 church, during its century and a half of existence, 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 61 
 
 is connected with this Mr. Adams. What was 
 the nature or point of this contention cannot now 
 be determined, as Dr. Colman, in the records 
 under date of August 2, 1703, simply says, — 
 " At the end of the half-year, Mr. Adams left 
 preaching statedly with us, and I willingly omit 
 the mention of the divisions and angers among us 
 upon his departure." Let us hope that another 
 hundred and fifty years may pass without any 
 further record of a divisions and angers." After 
 the departure of Mr. Adams, who was settled in 
 1709 at New London, no church-meetings were 
 held for several years, the records describing 
 those which had just been held as very " uncom- 
 fortable." In October, 1711, the old meeting- 
 house of the First Church, situated in State Street, 
 was destroyed by fire. u Our church," writes 
 Colman in the records, u invited the pastors of 
 the First Church to preach with us in turns every 
 Sabbath, and to join in the administration of or- 
 dinances. To which they, with their church, 
 consented, and continued with us till May the 
 4th, 1713, when they took their leave of us with 
 a very grateful letter, read publicly by me to our 
 congregation, and went into their own house." 
 
 As an evidence that the members of this society, 
 though denounced as radical innovators, retained 
 still no small share of Puritan prejudice, it may 
 be stated that Thomas Brattle, who died in 1713, 
 
62 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 left by his will a legacy to the church, viz. as 
 stated in the records, u A pair of organs, which 
 he dedicated and devoted to the praise and glory 
 of God with us, if we would accept thereof, and 
 within the year after his decease, procure a sober 
 person, skilful to play thereon. The church, 
 with all possible respect to the memory of our 
 devoted friend and benefactor, voted, that they did 
 not think it proper to use the same in the public 
 worship of God." 
 
 After the departure of Mr. Adams, in 1703, 
 Mr. Colman had the sole charge of the large and 
 flourishing parish for twelve years. They were 
 years of peace and prosperity, of growth in 
 things temporal and spiritual. At the expiration 
 of this period, the " divisions and angers," what- 
 ever they were, occasioned by the departure of 
 Mr. Adams, having died out and been forgotten, 
 the society determined to have a colleague pastor. 
 As the whole proceedings had on this occasion 
 were in singular contrast with the manner in 
 which similar affairs are conducted at the present 
 clay, it may be interesting to you to hear Dr. 
 Colman's account of it from the records. 
 
 "July 4th, 1715," he writes, " was our first 
 public meeting of the whole congregation, when 
 the following votes passed : — 
 
 u 1st. That they did apprehend and judge 
 it to be for the glory of God and the good of 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 6° 
 
 u 
 
 this church and congregation, that another per- 
 son be chosen to the pastoral office among us. 
 2d. That in order thereunto, the first Tuesday 
 in August be kept as a day of prayer, to im- 
 plore the Divine direction and guidance in the 
 said election. Accordingly, Tuesday, the 2d of 
 August, was observed by us with prayer and fast- 
 ing, the ministers of the town assisting at it. On 
 August the 16th, the congregation met for the elec- 
 tion of a second pastor, and after the opening of 
 the meeting by prayer, as usual, and a discourse 
 had agreeably to the occasion, the question was 
 put, whether the brethren were ready to proceed 
 and write their votes for the election of some 
 other person into the pastoral cffice with me ; 
 and if they were, that they should signify it by 
 lifting up their hands, whereupon all the hands 
 were lifted up. The brethren then wrote their 
 votes, and put them into the box on the table 
 before me, which were counted and opened, and 
 out of sixty-six votes there were sixty for Mr. 
 William Cooper. It is to be noted, that no per- 
 son was nominated, nor Mr. Cooper's name once 
 mentioned, either now or in the former meetings, 
 until the votes were counted, and I had declared 
 his election by this great majority." 
 
 Mr. Cooper accepted this invitation, upon con- 
 dition that he should be excused " from engaging 
 presently in a constant course of preaching, it 
 
64 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 beins; a verv earlv day with him." It was deter- 
 mined, therefore, that he should preach but once 
 a fortnight, and that his ordination should be post- 
 poned at least one year. He was ordained on 
 the 23d day of May, 1716. 
 
 The spirit of innovation, or rather, I would 
 say, a readiness to make such changes in ecclesi- 
 astical matters as a wise judgment would approve, 
 still existed in our church, and at the ordination 
 of Mr. Cooper, two changes were made in what 
 was then the usual course of these services. 
 The sermon was preached by Mr. Colman. Pre- 
 viously, it had been the usual, and I believe the 
 universal custom, in New England, for the person 
 who was to be ordained to preach himself. But, 
 says Colman in the preface to his sermon, which 
 was printed, " This practice has, of late years, 
 been much complained of by our young minis- 
 ters as a great impropriety imposed upon them. 
 In which opinion I concur, and was, therefore, 
 willing to relieve Mr. Cooper, and assign him a 
 more proper part and service, which he also 
 chose." This more proper part and service, 
 which Mr. Cooper performed, was to read a pa- 
 per, in which he gave a general view of the Chris- 
 tian doctrines and the pastoral office. This was 
 read after the sermon and before the consecrating 
 prayer. These two customs, introduced here, I 
 believe, for the first time, became afterwards 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 65 
 
 common at a New England Congregational ordi- 
 nation. One of them is retained at the present 
 day, and the other has been of late years discon- 
 tinued. It would not be unwise to revive it.* 
 
 * This custom probably never became absolutely univer- 
 sal. I had supposed, that it was only within the present cen- 
 tury, some thirty or forty years ago, that this custom, and also 
 that of the examination of the candidate by the ordaining 
 council, had been much disregarded or discontinued. The 
 contrary would seem to be the fact. Evidence can be found 
 that this examination was often opposed in ordaining councils, 
 and sometimes neglected by them. In a sermon entitled, 
 "The Importance and Necessity of Christians considering 
 Jesus Christ in the Extent of his high and glorious Character ; 
 a Sermon preached at the South Church in Boston. By 
 Samuel Hopkins, A. M., Minister of the Gospel in Great Bar- 
 rington. Boston, N. E. Printed and sold by Kneeland and 
 Adams, next to the Treasurer's Office, in Milk Street. 1768," 
 I find a note, from which the following extracts are made : — 
 
 "I desire it may be considered, whether the ordaining 
 councils who neglect to examine candidates for the ministry, 
 with respect to their religious sentiments, and they who zeal- 
 ously oppose such examinations, do not, by this conduct, 
 openly declare, that it is with them no matter of importance 
 what men believe, what their sentiments are, and what doc- 
 trines they hold with respect to Jesus Christ ; or what 
 
 thoughts they have of his character and religion The 
 
 conduct of these gentlemen is really surprising, and none 
 need be at a loss what will be the fate of Christianity, so far 
 as their influence reaches. All the distinguishing, important 
 doctrines of it will be neglected; and instead of preaching 
 the Gospel, sermons will be either insipid dissertations upon 
 something else, or filled with stupid inconsistencies ; else be 
 only flond [florid ?] harangues, without any meaning. Un- 
 less, perhaps, when times and circumstances will bear it, 
 
 5 
 
66 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 The settlement of a new minister or a colleague 
 minister commonly gives an impulse to the re- 
 ligious affairs of a parish, and within a few years 
 after Mr. Cooper's ordination, although at what 
 precise time the records do not show, it was found 
 necessary to enlarge the church, which was done 
 by an addition to the building in the rear of the 
 pulpit, with pews on the floor and a gallery. On 
 Friday, the 4th of March, 1720, was begun and 
 established, Dr. Colman preaching the first ser- 
 mon, the monthly Ante-Communion or Prepara- 
 tory Lecture. In this lecture the First Church 
 and the Brattle Street Church were associated, the 
 ministers preaching it alternately, on Friday after- 
 noon. The lecture was continued in this form 
 for nearly a century. Then other churches united 
 in it, and when the present pastor of this church 
 entered upon his duties, the ministers of the Fed- 
 
 another system of doctrines will be preached up, which at 
 present are somewhat unpopular ; therefore cannot be with 
 safety expressly and openly espoused. For the sake of 
 which, that they may be privily introduced, and from a desire 
 and design to extirpate the more commonly received, popular 
 doctrines, many think they have good reason to conclude 
 this method with respect to candidates is gone into." When 
 it is considered that this was written in 1768, one is reminded 
 of Solomon's declaration, " There is nothing new under 
 the sun." The modern charge of concealment, "privily" is 
 an old affair, and the neglect of councils to examine candi- 
 dates had its advocates and abetters a century ago in the 
 Congregational churches of New England. 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 67 
 
 eral Street, the New South, and the Purchase 
 Street Churches were united with those of the 
 First and the Brattle Street Churches in preaching 
 a monthly Ante- Communion Lecture at Federal 
 Street, on Thursday evening. It was, however, 
 I am sorry to say, but thinly attended ; the united 
 representation from the five congregations asso- 
 ciated in the service seldom making an audience 
 so large as to be very inspiring to the preacher. 
 During the summer of 1837, the lecture was dis- 
 continued, with the intention of renewing it in the 
 autumn. But it was never resumed, the minis- 
 ters thinking that in some other way, by other 
 modes and forms of instruction, each could more 
 effectually benefit his own people. No notice of 
 this discontinuance, at least none that I ever 
 heard of, was taken, and no objection made to it, 
 by any of the churches associated in it. I have 
 long regretted that this lecture was discontinued ; 
 and were it not that all the signs and tendencies 
 of the times are against it, I should still hope to 
 see the First Church and Brattle Street, for so 
 many years sister churches, again united in some 
 common service of the kind. 
 
 Dr. Colman and Mr. Cooper were associate 
 pastors of the church for more than twenty-seven 
 years. They worked together with extraordinary 
 efficiency, and, considering the religious agitation 
 of a portion of this period, and the strong con- 
 
68 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 trasts in their characters, with extraordinary har- 
 mony ; indeed, so far as the records show, with 
 entire and perfect harmony. To those who are at 
 all acquainted with the ecclesiastical annals of New 
 England, it is well known that the year 1740 
 is called the year of the Great A wakening, occa- 
 sioned by the advent or mission of the celebrated 
 Whitefield to this country. As it is a well-estab- 
 lished fact that Colman and Cooper ultimately 
 differed somewhat in their estimate of this person, 
 and of the line of conduct they were disposed to 
 pursue in relation to him, and the excitement of 
 the times, I expected to find in the records some 
 evidences of this, — at least, some notices of 
 Whitefield that would help to throw light upon 
 the matter of his preaching in this pulpit, and the 
 opposition of interests and feelings, if any were 
 occasioned or excited thereby. But the records 
 are silent upon the whole subject. I have made 
 researches in various directions for satisfactory 
 information upon this matter, but without suc- 
 cess. It is generally understood that Whitefield 
 preached his first sermon in the pulpit of Brattle 
 Street Church. The only authority for this is 
 the assertion to that effect of an anonymous writer 
 of that day. Whitefield himself, in one of his let- 
 ters, in describing his first visit to Boston, says, 
 " On the first Lord's day I heard Dr. Colman, 
 in the forenoon, notwithstanding he asked me to 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 69 
 
 preach after he was up in the pulpit and had fin- 
 ished the first prayer." In the afternoon, he 
 certainly preached for Mr. Foxcroft, of the First 
 Church. If his first sermon was preached in our 
 pulpit, then it must have been preached at a lec- 
 ture. But whether Whitefield's first sermon was 
 preached here or not, he certainly preached in 
 our pulpit, and Mr. Cooper entered largely into 
 the excitement he awakened, and the congrega- 
 tion was largely affected by it also. In 1741, 
 eighty-five persons were added to the church ; 
 and in the following year, forty-two were added. 
 From all that can be ascertained upon the sub- 
 ject, it is evident that, in relation to the Great 
 Awakening, as it is called, Dr. Colman and his 
 colleague, Mr. Cooper, entertained widely differ- 
 ent views,* and that this difference of opinion 
 
 * The following passage in one of Dr. Palfrey's notes 
 places this point beyond dispute. 
 
 "Dr. Colman wrote, in a letter to Mr. Williams of Leba- 
 non, 'It is at this day enough to make the heart of a sober 
 and considerate Christian bleed within him to hear of the 
 sore rents and divisions made by Mr. Davenport and others 
 in a great number of towns and churches throughout our 
 provinces. Almost all on Long Island are thus broken to 
 pieces, and so are many in Connecticut, and with us of the 
 Massachusetts to a sorrowful degree.' And in his sermon at 
 the ordination of S. Cooper, he expresses his ' wish before 
 God, and in his fear, that those among ourselves who have of 
 late years taken upon themselves to go about exhorting and 
 preaching, grossly unfurnished with ministerial gifts and 
 
70 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 extended to the congregation also ; and it is to 
 the credit of all the parties concerned, that no 
 schism took place, — that the harmony of the par- 
 ish and of the pastors was unbroken. 
 
 After a brief illness, Mr. Cooper died of apo- 
 plexy, December 14th, 1743. The day previous 
 had been spent by the congregation in fasting and 
 prayer for his recovery, a public service being 
 held in the church morning and afternoon, the min- 
 
 knovvledge, would suffer those words of the Lord [Jeremiah 
 xxiii. 31, 32] to sink deep into their hearts, to check them in 
 their bold career, and blind censures of many faithful pastors, 
 into whose folds they are daily breaking, and because of the 
 mildness of our spirits towards them, seem to grow the more 
 bold and fierce. And it were greatly to be wished that peo- 
 ple would beware of such straggling, illiterate teachers, and 
 avoid them, in whatever appearance of sheep's clothing they 
 may come.' Cooper's feeling on the subject appears from the 
 following extract of a preface written by him for a sermon by 
 Jonathan Edwards, about a year after the revival began. ' If 
 any are resolutely set to disbelieve this work, to reproach 
 and oppose it, they must be left to the free, sovereign power 
 and mercy of God to enlighten and rescue them. These, if 
 they have had opportunity to be rightly informed, I am ready 
 to think, would have been disbelievers and opposers of the 
 miracles and mission of our Saviour, had they lived in his 
 days. The malignity which some of them have discovered 
 to me approaches near to the unpardonable sin; and they had 
 need beware lest they sin the sin which is unto death.' ' 
 " That Dr. Colman at first entertained a most favorable opin- 
 ion of Whitefield is evident from his inviting him to preach, 
 and from lavish praise bestowed upon him in a sermon which 
 Colman delivered at a Tuesday Evening Lecture, October 21, 
 1740. " — Palfrey's Sermon, pp. 49, 54. 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 71 
 
 isters of the town assisting therein. He expired 
 at six o'clock in the morning. " The congrega- 
 tion," writes Dr. Colman in the records, " met 
 that afternoon, and voted to bury him by a sub- 
 scription, which presently rose to nine hundred 
 pounds. They put his whole family and me into 
 mourning, and gave rings to all the ministers of 
 the association. On Thursday the funeral was 
 attended, with great solemnity. The church and 
 congregation walked before the hearse, two and 
 two, and never was there a greater mourning 
 through the town and county. The ministers 
 that bore the pall and the deacons of the church 
 had mourning gloves and hatbands, which was 
 new to us, but very decent. The salary was 
 voted to be continued to the family till further 
 order." This extract from the records shows 
 that Mr. Cooper had the respect, the confidence, 
 and the strong attachment of his people. 
 
 He does not hold that prominent place among 
 the worthies of our church, or in the annals of the 
 New England clergy, which his talents and ser- 
 vices might claim for him. This is attributable, 
 I think, to the fact that he was a junior pastor, 
 dying before he came into the sole charge of the 
 pulpit, and also to the circumstance that his pulpit 
 was so soon filled by another person of the same 
 name, his own son, whose more popular talents 
 and showy qualities and longer ministry tended to 
 
72 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 obscure the father's fame. Mr. Cooper was, in 
 reality, a man of uncommon talents, of large and 
 accurate learning, and possessing some sterling 
 qualities of character. He was chosen President 
 of Harvard College, and his election would have 
 been unanimously confirmed by the Board of 
 Overseers, but that, just before the vote was 
 to be taken, a letter from him was read, in 
 which he u wholly excused himself from that 
 honor and trust," being unwilling to be separated 
 from the people of his charge. To this charge 
 he devoted himself with entire fidelity and una- 
 bating zeal. 
 
 Unlike Dr. Colman, he concerned himself 
 little with those interests of the community 
 that lie outside the immediate duties and walk 
 of the clerical profession, and to this is it owing, 
 perhaps, that his name is now so much less 
 known among us. He was a strenuous advo- 
 cate, however, for Congregational liberty and 
 independence. One of the most important inci- 
 dents of his life, and on that served admirably 
 for the display of the sterling qualities of his char- 
 acter, was his connection with the troubles that 
 occurred in the church at Springfield, at the or- 
 dination of the Rev. Robert Breck, in 17o6. 
 These troubles originated in the supposed heresy 
 of Mr. Breck, who was not thought to be quite 
 sound upon the doctrines of Atonement, Election, 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 73 
 
 and some other points. He was charged with 
 holding the opinion, that God could forgive sin 
 upon simple repentance, without any satisfaction 
 being made to his justice ; and with maintaining, 
 that, if the decrees of God in regard to election 
 were absolute and unchangeable, so that naught 
 men could perform or neglect could alter their 
 condition, all encouragement to duty and moral 
 effort was removed. He was accused, also, of 
 regarding the important passage, 1 John v. 7, as 
 no part of holy writ, and with receiving the 
 Apostles' declaration, u In every nation, he that 
 feareth God and worketh righteousness is ac- 
 cepted of him," in an unqualified sense, and 
 believing that the heathen who acted up to their 
 light would not be damned hereafter for want of 
 faith in Christ. But though obnoxious to several 
 ministers of the Hampshire Association, in conse- 
 quence of his supposed opinions upon the above 
 points, he was regularly invited to become the 
 pastor of the church in Springfield, and the coun- 
 cil called to ordain him met there on the 7th of 
 October, 1735. Mr. Cooper was moderator of 
 this council, which was composed of two other 
 Boston ministers, Messrs. Welsteed and Samuel 
 Mather, Mr. Cooke of Sudbury, and three cler- 
 gymen of the Hampshire Association. The coun- 
 cil entered upon the examination of the charges 
 against Mr. Breck ; but its proceedings were 
 
74 
 
 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 interrupted. Mr. Breck was arrested and carried 
 into Connecticut. An attempt was made even to 
 arrest those members of the council who were 
 not citizens of the county of Hampshire. A 
 warrant for this purpose was issued, but not 
 served. The council, after coming to a result 
 in which they advised the church in Springfield 
 to abide by their invitation to Mr. Breck, and 
 continue their favorable regards towards him, ad- 
 journed for a few days, to meet in Boston. The 
 parish brought the matter before the General 
 Court, where it was decided, after a full and 
 patient hearing, that the proceedings of the ma- 
 jority of the parish in reference to the call of 
 Mr. Breck were regular, and within their legiti- 
 mate rights ; that the council was regularly consti- 
 tuted, and the matter must be allowed to proceed. 
 After this decision, the council met again in Jan- 
 uary, and Mr. Breck was ordained on the 26th 
 of that month, 1736, Mr. Cooper preaching the 
 sermon. 
 
 The real question at issue in this difficulty was, 
 whether the church at Springfield should be al- 
 lowed to choose its own minister, itself judging 
 of his soundness or heresy, or whether it should 
 be controlled in that choice by the Hampshire 
 Association and other foreign influences. In the 
 proceedings of the council, as its moderator, and 
 in the pamphlet controversy that ensued, Mr. 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 75 
 
 Cooper took an active and prominent part, and 
 always in behalf of Congregational liberty and 
 independence. A pamphlet of a hundred pages, 
 examining and answering a document put forth 
 by the Hampshire ministers, is presumed to 
 have been written by him. This pamphlet was 
 anonymous, but it was attributed to him at the 
 time, and there can be little doubt that it was 
 the production of his pen. Of this, Dr. Palfrey 
 very justly observes : u He did (evj things more 
 honorable to him. It well expounds the true 
 doctrine concerning the rights of churches, the 
 constitution of councils, and the impropriety of 
 interference on the part of associations." Aside 
 from the sphere of his immediate duties as the 
 pastor of this church, this was the most impor- 
 tant public event in which Mr. Cooper took a 
 prominent part, and his conduct on this occasion 
 illustrates the practical wisdom and the firmness 
 and independence of his character. 
 
 From such examination as I have been able to 
 give to his writings, and from all that I can gather 
 of his history, he seems to me to have been a man 
 to be profoundly respected and revered, rather 
 than strongly and tenderly beloved ; — a man of 
 independence, firmness, courage, zeal, sincerity, 
 but not a man in whom any winning graces of 
 manner or of disposition abounded ; — in short, a 
 man in whom the rigid Calvinism of that day, in 
 
76 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 its austerity, its repulsiveness, and its strength, 
 was fitly represented.* 
 
 After his death, Dr. Colrnan, with occasional 
 help from President Holyoke and Professor Ap- 
 pleton from Cambridge, took the sole charge of 
 the pulpit, thanking God, as he says in the rec- 
 ords, "that I have found strength renewed for 
 the double work and care which this bereavement 
 hath called me to." Already sinking beneath the 
 burden of threescore years and ten, his great de- 
 sire now was to see the flock which he had gath- 
 ered, and to which for so many years he had min- 
 istered, provided with a faithful shepherd before 
 his death. In this desire he was not disappointed. 
 After hearing several candidates, the society, in 
 
 * Among the writings of Mr. Cooper that are extant, the 
 most important and elaborate that I have met with is a little 
 volume, published by " J. Edwards and H. Foster, Cornhil, 
 1740," entitled, " The Doctrine of Predestination unto Life, 
 Explained and Vindicated : In Four Sermons, preached to 
 the Church of Christ in Brattle Street, and published at their 
 general Desire : With some additional Passages and Quota- 
 tions.'" This volume is preceded by a Preface, signed by 
 Benjamin Colman, Joseph Sewall, Thomas Prince, Andrew 
 Le Mercier, John Webb, in which they say, " We willingly 
 take this opportunity to testify our concurrence with the 
 Author in the verity and importance of this Doctrine, and our 
 satisfaction in his having preached and published these Dis- 
 courses." I have by me a copy of the first edition of this 
 work. It was published in London about twenty-five years 
 after its publication here, and was reprinted in Boston in 
 1804. 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 77 
 
 December, 1745, made choice of Mr. Samuel 
 Cooper, the son of their late junior pastor, and 
 he was ordained May 22d, 1746. Fifteen months 
 afterwards, August 29th, 1747, Dr. Colman 
 closed a long and useful life, and with a few re- 
 marks upon his character and ministry* I shall 
 close this discourse. 
 
 Among the distinguished men of the clergy of 
 Massachusetts, there have been few, if any, 
 whose talents, character, and usefulness make 
 them more worthy our thorough esteem and grate- 
 ful remembrance than Benjamin Colman. Like 
 his two associates in office, he was a native of 
 this town, his father having come from London 
 and settled in Boston about two years before his 
 birth, which occurred on the 19th of October, 
 1673. He was, therefore, twenty-six years of 
 age when called to the pastoral office in this 
 church. He was prepared for college by that 
 celebrated grammar-master, Ezekiel Cheever, and 
 took his Bachelor's degree in 1692. u Being de- 
 voted to the work of the evangelical ministry by 
 his parents, and inclining to it from his child- 
 hood," he immediately commenced the study of 
 theology, and began to preach occasionally about 
 a year after leaving college. There being a va- 
 cancy in the pulpit at Medford, he preached there 
 for some months, but declined an invitation to 
 settle in that town. His health at this time was 
 
78 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 delicate. When he pronounced the Master's ora- 
 tion on taking his second degree, " his thin and 
 slender appearance, his soft and delicate voice, and 
 the red spots on his cheeks, caused the audience 
 to conclude him bordering on consumption, and 
 to be designed but for a few weeks of life." 
 But Providence had an important work for him 
 to do on earth. Within three weeks after his 
 Master's oration, he sailed for England, to make 
 improvement by what he could see and learn 
 there. The vessel in which he sailed was taken 
 by a French privateer, and he was carried into 
 Nantes. After various fortunes he was set at lib- 
 erty, and made his way to London. He was four 
 years in England, where he preached with great ac- 
 ceptance in various places, and made the acquaint- 
 ance and secured the friendship of some of the 
 most distinguished of the Dissenting clergy of that 
 day, and also of several divines of the Established 
 Church, particularly of Dr. Hough, Bishop of 
 Oxford, celebrated for his opposition to the arbi- 
 trary measures of James the Spcond, for the 
 wisdom and humility which led him to decline the 
 primacy of England, and for the green old age 
 which he enjoyed to his ninety-third year. This 
 visit of four years to England was of essential 
 service to Colman, in enlarging his knowledge of 
 men and things, and confirming his liberal views 
 and principles. But for the invitation which he 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 79 
 
 received from this church, he would probably have 
 settled in the ministry in England, and passed the 
 greater portion, if not the whole, of his life there. 
 Under the circumstances, the selection of Col- 
 man to be the first minister of this church was 
 the most fortunate that could have been made. 
 At least among his contemporaries we find none 
 better fitted for the difficult post. Firm without 
 obstinacy, conciliatory without compromise, dig- 
 nified without pride or pretension, a polished gen- 
 tleman in his manners, a patient student and 
 thorough scholar in his learning, enlarged, pene- 
 trating, comprehensive in his views and princi- 
 ples as a man, sincere, benevolent, devout in his 
 faith and feelings as a Christian and a pastor, he 
 was admirably fitted to take charge of the new 
 church, and carry out with mingled wisdom, firm- 
 ness, and gentleness the customs and principles 
 which it had adopted, and to him do we greatly 
 owe it, that the most important of these customs 
 and principles received at last the approval and 
 adoption of most of the New England Congrega- 
 tional churches. But though ever faithful as the 
 pastor of this church, his influence and his labors 
 were by no means confined to it. Though gifted 
 with every quality to attract admiration and ap- 
 plause, he seems to have had little love of mere 
 popular notoriety. His great ambition was to be 
 useful ; he therefore gave himself to many labors 
 
SO THE HISTORY" OF 
 
 that are eminently serviceable to the community, 
 but bring in little fame. His services to the Col- 
 lege, direct and indirect, are sufficient to make 
 him rank among its first benefactors. By his 
 large correspondence abroad, he attracted to it the 
 attention of eminent persons in England, and pro- 
 cured for it important donations in books and 
 money. He was for many years an active mem- 
 ber of the Corporation, and would have accepted 
 the presidency, to which he was chosen and con- 
 firmed by the Board of Overseers, but the House 
 of Representatives, with whom the matter then 
 rested, would make no provision for his support.* 
 
 * "Upon the death of President Leverett, in 1724, and the 
 refusal of Rev. Joseph Sewall to accept the vacant chair, 
 Colman was chosen by the Corporation, on the 18th of No- 
 vember, to succeed his former tutor and constant friend as 
 head of the institution whose interests it had been the study 
 and delight of both to promote ; a sufficient evidence, if we 
 had no other, of the confidence reposed in his abilities by the 
 friends of the College. His election was approved by the 
 Overseers on the 24th of the same month, and a committee 
 of that body was appointed to inform Mr. Colman of their 
 approbation of his election, and to desire his acceptance, and 
 to apply to his church for his discharge from the pastoral of- 
 fice ; and also to ' wait on the Honorable Gen' Court to in- 
 form them of the Choice that is made of a President and to 
 move for a proper Salary for his Incouragement.' But, un- 
 fortunately, Colman was peculiarly obnoxious to a majority 
 of the House of Representatives, where sectarian prejudices 
 and political animosities now raged hand in hand ; and con- 
 sequently, when the memorial of the committee of the Over- 
 seers was laid before them, praying that they would 'appoint 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 81 
 
 Of many measures for the benefit of the town of 
 Boston he was the originator, and in every enter- 
 
 a larger salary than has been usually allowed, for the honor- 
 able maintenance of the President,' it was voted that, ' foras- 
 much as at present it is uncertain whether the Church, of 
 which the Rev. Mr. Colman is Pastor, can be persuaded to 
 part from him, or whether Mr. Colman is inclinable to leave 
 his Church and undertake the office of President of Harvard 
 College, and this being a matter of great weight and impor- 
 tance, especially to the establishment of the Churches in the 
 Province, as well as to the said College, the further consider- 
 ation of this memorial be therefore referred until the said Mr. 
 Colman's mind, as well as [that] of the Church of which he 
 is pastor, be communicated to this Court, and made certain, 
 whether, he and they are willing he should accept of the 
 choice and undertake the office of a President of Harvard 
 College, to which he is chosen as aforesaid.' This vote, al- 
 though not concurred in by the Council, indicated with suffi- 
 cient clearness the disposition of the popular branch of the 
 General Court towards Mr. Colman, and convinced him that 
 it was useless to expect from them a permanent provision for 
 his support, should he accept the Presidency ; and the melan- 
 choly experience of his predecessors in that office was a 
 warning to him of what he himself might expect, should he 
 trust his fortunes to the tender mercies of the Provincial 
 government. He was also well acquainted with the feelings 
 of the General Court towards him, as is evident from a letter 
 on this subject to White Kennett, Bishop of Peterborough, in 
 which he says, ' I am not well in the opinion of our House 
 of Representatives of late years, on whom the President de- 
 pends for his subsistence, and they could not have pinched 
 me without the Chair's suffering with me, which I could by 
 no means consent it should do for my sake.' Determined 
 therefore, to bring the question of his support to a speedy de- 
 cision, and having privately seen a copy of the vote passed 
 
82 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 prise that concerned the improvement of the com- 
 munity he took a prominent part. In short, his 
 life forms a chapter in the history of New Eng- 
 land. His influence was felt in every quarter, his 
 advice was sought upon all occasions, and in 
 
 on the 3d instant by the House of Representatives, and been 
 informed of its nonconcurrence by the Council, Mr. Colman 
 addressed a letter, on the 10th of December, to Hon. Samuel 
 Sewall, chairman of the committee of the Overseers, in 
 which, after stating that, although he had always served the 
 College to the extent of his abilities, he not only had never 
 sought the office of President, but had rather shunned it, and 
 expressing his disinclination to leave his church, he declares 
 that, 'as I wish the President in all times to come may espe- 
 cially give himself unto sacred studies and exercises, so I 
 would humbly supplicate the General Court for any one who 
 shall do so, to grant him a very sufficient and honorable sup- 
 port ; but for the honorable Court to insist on their vote of 
 knowing my mind, whether I am willing to accept of the 
 choice, and to undertake the office of President, to which I 
 am chosen, and also of knowing my Church's mind, whether 
 they can part from me, before they will fix any salary for me 
 in the said office, must determine me to give my answer in 
 the negative to the Honorable and Reverend the Overseers 
 of Harvard College, which in that case I now do.' This 
 letter being read at a meeting of the Overseers, on the 17th 
 of December, the committee was directed to ' wait again on 
 the honorable General Court, with Mr. Colman's answer and 
 with this vote, praying that the matter of a salary may be 
 considered by them, and so acted upon as may be most for 
 the speedy settlement of a President in the said College, and 
 therein for the good of the whole Province.' The proceed- 
 ings of the Representatives, upon the reception of this ap- 
 plication, were as follows, as stated in the Records of the 
 Overseers (Book I. pp 72-74) : — 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 83 
 
 matters civil and ecclesiastical bis opinions had 
 weight. Perhaps the best summary of Dr. Col- 
 man's character that has been given is that of 
 Dr. Barnard, who describes him " as a most 
 gentlemanly man, of polite aspect and conversa- 
 
 " ' The Overseers met according to adjournment aforesaid 
 Dec. 18, 1724, In the Council-Chamber in Boston. 
 
 '"The aforesaid Committee of the Overseers made report 
 that they had waited on the General Court with Mr. Colman's 
 answer and the Votes of the last meeting, which were read 
 and debated in the House, the return thereto being as fol- 
 lows, viz. : 
 
 " ' In the House of Representatives Dec. 18, 1724. 
 
 " 'The question was put, 
 
 " ' Whether the Court would establish a salary or allow- 
 ance for the President of Harvard College for the time being 
 before the person chosen to that office had accepted the duty 
 and trust thereof. 
 
 " ' It passed in the Negative, nemine contradicente. 
 
 " ' Wm. Dudley, Speaker. 
 " ' Sent up for concurrence. 
 
 "' In Council, Dec. 18th, 1724. 
 '"Read and Nonconcurred. 
 
 " ' J. Willard, Secretary.' 
 
 " Notwithstanding the nonconcurrence of the Council, the 
 symptoms of hostility were too strong to be mistaken, and 
 Colman's independence of spirit would not allow him to be 
 dependent for support upon the uncertain favors of party ad- 
 ministration. Accordingly, upon the 26th of this month, in 
 answer to another application from the Overseers, he trans- 
 mitted his final answer to the committee of that board, in the 
 negative, declaring that he ' does not see his way clear to ac- 
 cept of the choice made of him to be the President of the 
 College.' " — New England Historical and Genealogical Reg- 
 ister, Vol. III. pp. 223^-225. 
 
84 THE HISTORY OF BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 
 
 tion, very extensive erudition, great devotion of 
 spirit and behavior, a charming and admired 
 preacher, extensively serviceable to the College 
 and the country, whose works breathe his exalt- 
 ed, oratorical, devout, and benign spirit, an ex- 
 cellent man in spirit, in faith, in holiness, and 
 charity." 
 
 With all his excellences and valuable public 
 services, Colman was not popular, that is, he was 
 not a general favorite with the community. It is 
 a singular circumstance, that, with the exception 
 of the sermon preached by his young colleague, 
 no notice was taken of his death in the pulpits of 
 this town or neighborhood. But in him the text 
 is fulfilled. Though some of his contemporaries 
 failed to do him justice, his name is now held in 
 honored remembrance ; and to us of this church 
 and congregation, this brief review of his minis- 
 try, his life and character, should be an incentive 
 to fidelity in all duty. 
 
 January 27th, 1850. 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL BE IN EVERLASTING REMEM 
 
 brance. — Psalm cxii. 6. 
 
 The Lord's Supper was publicly administered 
 to the church in Brattle Square for the first time 
 on the 14th of February, 1700. I make the 
 proximity of the anniversary of this event an 
 occasion for continuing our review of its history. 
 
 My last sermon closed with the ministry of 
 Dr. Colman, and some brief remarks on his char- 
 acter and services. We enter this morning 
 upon the ministry of one of the most celebrated 
 and distinguished men of his day, Dr. Samuel 
 Cooper, the third pastor of the church, whose 
 name will always be had in remembrance. His 
 ministry covered a very interesting period in the 
 history both of this church and of the country ; 
 and although on the whole it was eminently bril- 
 liant and useful, it was marked by some events, 
 in relation to which the decisions of the parish 
 seem not to have been guided by a practical and 
 
86 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 prospective wisdom, and to have entailed conse- 
 quences which have a somewhat unfavorable influ- 
 ence upon our present position and prospects. 
 
 It was a fortunate circumstance, that before 
 Dr. Colman's death the parish was already pro- 
 vided with a young minister, who, from the mo- 
 ment of his assuming the charge of the pulpit, 
 gained constantly a stronger hold upon their con- 
 fidence, affection, and respect. Mr. Samuel 
 Cooper was settled as colleague pastor about 
 fifteen months before Dr. Colman's decease. 
 Judging from the records, I should think that, 
 notwithstanding his eminent gifts and qualifica- 
 tions, it was owing, in large part, to the influence 
 of Dr. Colman, and the great weight which his 
 opinion and wishes had with his people up to the 
 hour of his death, that the choice of the society 
 fell upon Mr. Cooper. 
 
 At a parish meeting held September 4th, 1744, 
 about nine months after the death of William 
 Cooper, it was voted " to come into a nomina- 
 tion of three persons to preach each his month 
 with us, reserving to our pastor the liberty of 
 asking Mr. Samuel Cooper to preach also, if he 
 find him inclined to begin his evangelical ser- 
 vices." The three persons nominated at this 
 meeting were Messrs. John Whaley, William 
 Vinal, and Samuel Langdon. They preached 
 each his month ; they were followed by Mr. 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 87 
 
 Cooper, who preached the same length of time, 
 " all of them," say the records, "to the great 
 acceptance and esteem, both of the pastor and 
 the congregation." At the end of these four 
 months a parish meeting was held, on December 
 31st; u a very full meeting," says Colman, in 
 the records, " of no less than one hundred and 
 thirty-eight in number, when, having opened the 
 meeting with a prayer suited to the occasion, I 
 spoke to them in the following words." As the 
 address is characteristic of the times and the 
 man, I give it entire. 
 
 "Honored and Beloved, — You will remem- 
 ber that at your last meeting, the fourth day of 
 September past, you nominated and chose four 
 persons to preach each his month with us, who 
 have accordingly done so, every one of them 
 appearing now to you, I suppose, by the grace 
 and gift of Cod in them, very like to prove great 
 blessings in their generation. At the, meeting 
 aforesaid, you w 7 ere pleased to vote your assem- 
 bling again on this day, and I thank Cod for the 
 opportunity of seeing you together, with a happy 
 prospect of unity and concert in the great and 
 important point that we are met upon. The 
 year of our mourning under the holy, bereaving 
 hand of God upon us is now finished. We have 
 from one Lord's day to another, as well as on 
 our set and solemn days of humiliation and pray- 
 
88 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 er, been supplicating the great Head of the 
 Church to repair the breach in his own time and 
 way, and give us another pastor after his own 
 heart, gifted and spirited like the dear deceased ; 
 and I hope the gracious Saviour has such an one 
 in store for you and your children, your families 
 and households. Through the patience of God I 
 continue with you to this day, under the growing 
 infirmities of age. Nevertheless, having obtained 
 help of God, I have not failed, in one administra- 
 tion or other, to minister every Lord's day, and, 
 I thank God, to your kind acceptance. And if 
 I may now live to see you united in your choice 
 of another pastor, as I once saw your worthy 
 predecessors and not a (exv of yourselves here 
 present, I should rejoice and give thanks with 
 you all. Yea, might this be the day, it will be 
 a gladsome one to me. I will now repeat the 
 names of the young gentlemen who have been 
 preaching to you at your request, — Messrs. 
 Whaley, Vinal, Langdon, and Cooper. Show, 
 Lord, which thou hast chosen, and lead us in thy 
 truth, and teach us, Father of righteousness, for 
 thy name's sake, in the determinations of this 
 morning. Amen." 
 
 After this address, the question being put, 
 whether they should now proceed to ballot for the 
 election of one into the pastoral office, " every 
 hand was lift up with appearing great alacrity 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 89 
 
 and gravity." The ballot resulted in the elec- 
 tion of Samuel Cooper, who accepted the invita- 
 tion. The same conditions were granted to him 
 as had been previously granted to his father, 
 namely, that his ordination should be postponed 
 for a year, during which time he should be ex- 
 pected to preach but once a fortnight. His ordi- 
 nation was in fact postponed nearly a year and a 
 half, and then took place apparently amid some 
 diversity of opinion, though upon what points the 
 diversity arose cannot now be ascertained. 
 
 Under date of the 25th of March, 1745, Dr. 
 Colman records, " The congregation met, and 
 the meeting being opened with prayer by the 
 pastor, after more than an hour's debate, it was 
 voted, That the ordination of Mr. Samuel Cooper 
 be in the month of May ensuing, by the will of 
 God, and on Wednesday, the 21st of said month, 
 the reverend pastor desiring Mr. Cooper, in the 
 name of this meeting, on the second or third 
 Lord's day from this date, to give a confession 
 of his faith in the public assembly." Probably 
 it was the latter clause of this vote that gave 
 occasion for the debate. The Great Awakening 
 of 1740 had largely subsided, and a natural reac- 
 tion in religious opinion and feeling had begun. 
 It was feared, perhaps, by many of the friends 
 of his father still remaining in the parish, that 
 young Cooper's creed was not so strict and 
 
90 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 sharply defined as it ought to be. To ascertain 
 this fact, and if possible bring him up to the 
 orthodox standard and confirm him in it, was 
 probably the object of those who insisted upon a 
 confession of faith, while the more liberal part of 
 the parish were satisfied from the general tone 
 and character of his preaching, which they had 
 now heard for more than a year, and did not wish 
 for a more full exposition of his opinions ; or 
 perhaps they regarded the demand for it to be 
 an imposition upon his liberty. The demand 
 was made, however, and answered. "On Lord's 
 day, April 6th," writes Dr. Colman in the rec- 
 ords, " Mr. Cooper gave in a sermon a confession 
 of his faith to the general satisfaction of the audi- 
 ence," and on the 21st of the following month of 
 May he was ordained by a council composed of 
 the churches of Boston, Charlestown, and Cam- 
 bridge. 
 
 In relation to this ordination I find on our rec- 
 ords a vote which, on account of its bearing upon 
 the principles of Congregationalism and the light 
 it throws upon the ecclesiastical usages of our 
 fathers, is of sufficient importance, perhaps, to be 
 noticed. At the present day, in our portion of 
 the Congregational body, an ecclesiastical coun- 
 cil being called to ordain a minister, when the 
 proper stage in the proceedings is reached, some 
 one nominates a particular individual (commonly 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 91 
 
 one whom it is previously understood is prepared 
 for the service), and moves that he be appointed 
 and authorized to present the fellowship of the 
 churches on the occasion. It is then moved that 
 the assignment which has been made of the other 
 parts of the ordination service be approved by the 
 council ; that is, it is understood that the council 
 have no voice, authority, or right to determine 
 who shall perform any of the different ordaining 
 services, other than that which relates exclusively 
 to themselves, namely, the expression of their fel- 
 lowship. On the other hand, it is contended by 
 some that a council, being called for ordination, 
 has the whole matter in its hands, and may make 
 any arrangement or assignment of parts that it 
 chooses ; that it is not a matter of right on the 
 part of the church or the candidate to appoint them 
 beforehand ; that this is done for convenience 
 only, and for convenience the appointment is ap- 
 proved by the council, though it would always be 
 at its discretion and within its power to make any 
 change. In relation to Mr. Cooper's ordination 
 I find that our church voted, " That in case the 
 reverend pastor, Dr. Colman, should find himself 
 disabled by the infirmities of age or bodily weak- 
 ness to preside in the proposed ordination, pray, 
 and give the charge with the imposition of the 
 hands of the Presbytery, then he be desired to 
 request the Rev. Dr. Sewall, in the name of the 
 
92 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 church, to preside and lead in that part of the 
 solemnity." This service Dr. Sewall subse- 
 quently performed. This shows, at least, what 
 our church at that time thought of its rights, and 
 to what a limited extent it considered a discre- 
 tionary power attached to the council. 
 
 Samuel Cooper entered upon his ministry as 
 pastor of Brattle Street Church under as favora- 
 ble circumstances as could well fall to the lot of 
 any one. He was the son of a former minister, 
 not long deceased, of whom the most grateful 
 and honored recollections were cherished in the 
 hearts of many, who stood ready to transfer to the 
 son all the affection and reverence they had felt 
 for the father. He was greatly beloved by the 
 senior pastor, and was his especial favorite and 
 choice among the candidates from among whom 
 an election was to be made. Dr. Colman pretty 
 distinctly intimated this by saying in a sermon, 
 preached near the time the election was to be 
 made, u God forbid that I should cease to pray 
 for you, that another Cooper (I mean one like 
 the deceased) be set over you in the Lord, a 
 man of learning, parts, and powers, such as this 
 place so much wants and calls for." For a year 
 and a half he had the benefit of Dr. Colman's 
 advice, council, and encouragement, in making him 
 fully acquainted with the parish and his duties ; 
 and in addition to substantial learning and parts, he 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 93 
 
 possessed a rare combination of popular gifts and 
 qualities, which secured him an eminently suc- 
 cessful and useful ministry. 
 
 We are compelled, however, to resort to other 
 sources than the records of the church during his 
 pastorship to learn any thing of the condition and 
 progress of our affairs. Twenty lines on one half- 
 page of the records, and about as many more on a 
 loose sheet of paper, comprise all that stands re- 
 corded in his own hand of his ministry of thirty- 
 nine years' duration. The loose sheet is simply 
 an account of three or four meetings of the con- 
 gregation, which resulted in the adoption of a new 
 edition of Tate and Brady, with an appendix 
 composed chiefly of selections from Watts, as 
 the hymn-book to be used in public worship, 
 and all the information given us on the half- 
 page in the records is, that the society wor- 
 shipped for the first time in the new church on 
 the 24th of July, 1773, and that the resignation 
 of Deacon Storer was accepted August 1st of 
 that year, " with the full approbation on the part 
 of the church of his conduct in his office." In 
 the handwriting of Dr. Thacher, who to his 
 other eminent graces added that of method and 
 order, there is a list of the baptisms administered, 
 the marriages solemnized, and the admissions to 
 the church made during Dr. Cooper's ministry. 
 This list purports to have been copied from 
 
94 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 the late pastor's interleaved almanacs. Tt is 
 some apology for Dr. Cooper's neglect of the 
 records, that the above period of his ministry was 
 a time of political trouble, agitation, and excite- 
 ment ; that he was a zealous patriot of his day, 
 and took a lively interest in public affairs. Tt is 
 a further apology, also, and the real excuse, T 
 imagine, with which he quieted his own con- 
 science, that not many years after his settlement, 
 in consequence of a law authorizing the collection 
 of funds for the support of public worship by a 
 tax upon pews, the meetings and doings of the 
 proprietors began to be recorded in a separate 
 volume. From these records, the earlier vol- 
 umes of which, through the kindness of the clerk 
 of the proprietors, I have been permitted to ex- 
 amine, we can gather every thing of interest 
 affecting the temporal affairs and success or pros- 
 perity of the parish, and from this can infer some- 
 thing as to its spiritual state. 
 
 Of the events affecting the interests of the 
 parish which occurred during Dr. Cooper's min- 
 istry, one of the most important, undoubtedly, 
 was the erection of this house of worship, which 
 in itself is a monument honorable to the piety of 
 those who built it, an evidence of their zeal for 
 religion, and of their readiness to contribute of 
 their substance for its support. The old church, 
 originally erected by the undertakers in 1699, 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 95 
 
 was built of wood. It bad a tower and bell on 
 tbe west end, and a door on the south side, op- 
 posite to which was the pulpit. The pews were 
 square, and the house was constructed with two 
 galleries, so that, though a smaller building, its 
 general plan resembled that of the u Old South " 
 of the present day. Its window-frames were of 
 iron. It had never been painted inside or outside. 
 It had been considerably enlarged during the 
 ministry of Mr. William Cooper, and as late 
 as 1766, additional pews were constructed to 
 meet the wants of the society. It had now been 
 built over seventy years, and withal had nothing 
 very pleasing in its external appearance or in- 
 ternal accommodations, and nothing very striking 
 connected with it, unless it were a memorable 
 hour-glass for the pulpit, which is said to have 
 been a foot high, inclosed in a gilded or brass 
 frame. The records say that, at the sale of the 
 old house, this hour-glass " was reserved for the 
 use of the society," but what became of it cannot 
 be ascertained. 
 
 The first distinct movement towards the erec- 
 tion of a new church appears from the records to 
 have been made in 1772, by John Hancock, 
 through a letter to the standing committee, in 
 which he offered to contribute largely towards the 
 object, if the congregation would determine to 
 build. This letter was dated February 6th. On 
 
96 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 the 12th of that month the parish held a meet- 
 ing, and voted unanimously to build a new church, 
 and appointed the requisite committee to decide 
 upon plans, procure subscriptions, make con- 
 tracts, &c. The important question, then, and 
 the only one whose decision affects us at all at 
 the present day, related to the location. Should 
 the new church be erected in Brattle Close, 
 upon the site of the old one ? At that time the 
 society did not own on this spot land sufficient 
 for a church of the dimensions required and con- 
 templated. If erected here, more land must be 
 purchased to enlarge the lot. While the com- 
 mittee were making investigations upon this point, 
 they received the following noble letter from Mr. 
 James Bowdoin : — 
 
 ''''To the Gentlemen of the Committee of the Soci- 
 ety under the Pastoral Care of the Rev. Dr. 
 Cooper : — 
 " Gentlemen, — As many persons of our 
 society, as well as others, appear desirous that 
 the new meeting-house should be erected on the 
 estate belonging to me fronting Tremont Street, 
 and it being desirable that the peace and harmony 
 at present subsisting in the society should not be 
 interrupted or hazarded, I beg leave to make the 
 following proposal ; that for a pew in the new 
 house, and in lieu of my subscription, I would 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 9? 
 
 give the materials of the building now on the said 
 estate, the bricks and stones of which, I imagine, 
 would be worth, for the new house, two hundred 
 pounds sterling ; and with respect to the land, 
 which nothing less than five hundred pounds 
 sterling would purchase, I would make a present 
 of it to the society for building the new house 
 upon. 
 
 14 This proposal, however, as I wish all our 
 proceedings might be with the utmost unanimity, is 
 on condition that the subscribers and the society 
 generally agree to and fully acquiesce with it. 
 Sincerely wishing the happiness of the society, 
 I am, with great regard, Gentlemen, your obedient 
 servant, 
 
 " James Bowdoin. 
 
 " Boston, March 3d, 1772." 
 
 This proposal, with a plan of the land, &c , 
 was immediately laid before the society, " and 
 after considerable debate and a division thereon, 
 it appeared that there was a considerable majority 
 for building on the old spot in Brattle Street.' 1 
 So Mr. Bowdoin's proposal and generous gift 
 were rejected, the society ordering, that his "let- 
 ter be entered upon the church records, where- 
 by the memory of it may be transmitted to pos- 
 terity in honor of so liberal a benefactor," — and, 
 we may now add, in evidence of the misjudgment 
 
 7 
 
98 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 of those who rejected its proposal. In our history 
 of one hundred and fifty years, no vole has been 
 passed so unfortunate, no decision made so un- 
 wise, as this. The site offered for the new church 
 was one of the most eligible that could have been 
 selected in the whole town, the estate in question 
 forming the corner of Tremont and Howard 
 Streets, fronting for a considerable distance upon 
 both of them. A church built there would have 
 been on high ground, with an open space all 
 around it. It would have been upon one of the 
 public streets, yet somewhat back from it, and 
 easily and pleasantly accessible from all quarters. 
 It might have been so placed as to exhibit a front 
 view for some distance down Hanover Street, 
 and architecturally have been a conspicuous or- 
 nament to the city. The value of the land on 
 which the old church stood, and the cost of w 7 hat 
 was needed to enlarge the lot, may be fairly esti- 
 mated at one third or one half the sum of Mr. 
 Bowdoin's estimation of his offer ; so that, in re- 
 jecting that offer, the society rejected a most 
 eligible site for their church, and, at the same 
 time, a diminution of about five thousand dol- 
 lars in the cost of its construction. The decis- 
 ion, therefore, under the circumstances, seems 
 most singular and unaccountable. No further 
 light is thrown upon it from the records. No ac- 
 count is given of the debate, nor of the arguments 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 99 
 
 offered, to lead to the conclusion of the majority. 
 It is a tradition which has come down to me from 
 several sources, that the vote against accepting 
 Mr. Bowdoin's offer was carried by the personal 
 influence of John Hancock, who was in favor of 
 rebuilding upon the old spot, — the spot chosen 
 by their fathers, and now for so many years 
 consecrated to the worship of Almighty God. 
 Whether made by Mr. Hancock, or some other 
 person, it was probably some such appeal to 
 sympathies and associations connected with the 
 old spot, that induced the parish to reject an offer 
 so manifestly favorable as that made by Mr. Bow- 
 doin. It is not surprising that such an appeal 
 should have prevailed. 
 
 But by whatever influence it was done, Mr. 
 Bowdoin's offer was rejected, and the parish de- 
 termined to build upon the old spot. The plan 
 being determined upon, and the contracts made, 
 the society, having been previously invited to 
 worship, while their house was building, with the 
 First Church, assembled for the last time in the 
 old church on the 10th of May, 1772. 
 
 " The building of churches," says Dr. Pal- 
 frey, in his notes, "was a less simple operation 
 in those times than the present. This was en- 
 gaged in as a very serious enterprise." He then 
 gives the following particulars in relation to its 
 erection. 
 
100 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 " The old house was taken down, and the 
 ground cleared, between May 14th and 18th. 
 Mr. Copely and Major Dawes presented plans 
 for the new building. The former was rejected 
 on account of the expense. The latter was 
 adopted. June 23d, the corner stone was laid 
 by Major Thomas Dawes, the architect, in the 
 foundation at the southwest corner of the house, 
 having this inscription, 
 
 " June 23d, 
 1772. 
 S. Cooper, D. D., 
 Minister. 
 The day after laying the corner-stone, some of 
 the committee, taking into consideration what was 
 proper to be done with a stone taken out of the 
 southeast corner of the original building, having 
 the inscription Benjamin Walker thereon, ordered 
 the figures 1699 to be added thereto, being the 
 year that the first meeting-house in Brattle Street 
 was founded, and then the stone was laid in the 
 foundation of the southeast corner of the new 
 house. The name of the Hon. John Hancock, 
 Esq., was inscribed on one of the rustic quoins 
 [of Connecticut stone] at the southwest corner of 
 the new building. 
 
 " While the house was erecting, the building 
 committee had their office in the southeast cham- 
 ber of the house in Brattle Square, then occupied 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 101 
 
 by Mrs. Turell. By the autumn they had ex- 
 hausted their funds, and were largely in debt. A 
 subscription for pews was accordingly opened, 
 each subscriber advancing not less than £ 30. 
 The house cost ,£8,000. The most valuable 
 pews were appraised at £ 50. When it was oc- 
 cupied several remained unsold, and there was 
 still a debt of £750 to the mechanics, which was 
 not paid off till the ministry of Dr. Thacher. 
 There were seventy-five ' free gift ' sub- 
 scribers. The most liberal subscriptions were 
 those of Governor Hancock and Governor Bow- 
 doin. The latter gave £200. The former gave 
 £ 1,000, reserving to himself ' the particular dis- 
 position of the sum and the beginning and com- 
 pleting a mahogany pulpit, with its full furniture, 
 a mahogany deacon's seat and communion table, 
 under his own direction, and the providing for the 
 accommodation of poor widows and others be- 
 longing to the society, who are reputable persons 
 and unable to furnish themselves with seats, &c.' 
 In addition to this he gave a bell. A temporary 
 pine pulpit was first erected, that which was en- 
 gaged by him of Mr. Crafts not being finished 
 when the house was occupied. 
 
 " Some approximation to an estimate of the 
 size of the society, at this period, may be made 
 from the circumstance, that eighty-one voters are 
 recorded by name to have been present at a meet- 
 
102 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 ing in 1773, and it is added that there were sev- 
 eral others." 
 
 The society met for the first time in this build- 
 ing on the 25th of July, 1773. But they were 
 not long permitted to enjoy it unmolested, and 
 worship in it in peace and quietness. The 
 troubles of the Revolution came on. The con- 
 gregational clergy were to a man full of the fire 
 of patriotism, and strenuous supporters of the 
 cause of the Colonies. No class of citizens 
 were more deeply interested or more efficient. 
 By their prayers, their sermons, their conversa- 
 tion, their influence, and their example, they 
 endeavored to the utmost to sustain the courage 
 and firmness of the people, to uphold the cause 
 of liberty, and secure the deliverance of their 
 country. In efforts of this kind Dr. Cooper 
 had been conspicuous, and had thereby rendered 
 himself obnoxious to the Provincial authorities 
 and to the soldiers quartered in the town. 
 
 "On the 16th of April, 1775," writes Dr. 
 Cooper, in a journal, some fragments of which 
 have been preserved and which I have been per- 
 mitted to see, cc the troubles in Boston increas- 
 ing, and having received several menaces and in- 
 sults, particularly at Mrs. Davis's from an officer, 
 I left Boston by the advice of friends, and came 
 with my wife to Mr. Savage's, at Weston, design- 
 ing to ride in the country for the recruiting of my 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 103 
 
 health, and to return to Boston in a few weeks, 
 where I left my dear child, all my plate, books, 
 furniture, and so forth." He made Weston his 
 head-quarters for several days, riding about on 
 horseback to the neighboring towns. He was at 
 Lexington, and dined with the Rev. Mr. Clarke, 
 the minister, in company with Mrs. Hancock, 
 the day before the battle. Immediately after that 
 event, Boston was shut up and besieged by the 
 Colonial troops, and Dr. Cooper did not return 
 till after the evacuation, March 17th, 1776. I 
 have been unable to learn where he passed this 
 period. The minister absent, and most of the 
 congregation dispersed, religious services were 
 not regularly held after the 16th of April, 1775, 
 though they were occasionally held during the 
 summer. 
 
 In a journal of Timothy Newell, deacon of this 
 church, covering the period of the siege, the 
 original, or a copy of which, now in the posses- 
 sion of our fellow-worshipper, Stephen P. Fuller, 
 I have been permitted to examine, we find notices 
 of several events of interest to us, which occur- 
 red at that time. 
 
 On the 15th of September, 1775, General Gage 
 gave leave to a Scotch clergyman, whose char- 
 acter was in no very good repute, to preach in the 
 town on the next Sunday. Application was 
 accordingly made to Deacon Newell for the use 
 
104 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 of Dr. Cooper's church for the service. For 
 the accommodation of the few worshippers of 
 Brattle Street Church remaining in town, ar- 
 rangements had been made for Dr. Eliot to 
 preach there the next Sunday. Deacon New- 
 ell, therefore, declined to accede to the re- 
 quest, or rather the demand, and refused to 
 deliver the keys of the church to the applicants, 
 who had an order from General Gates to that ef- 
 fect. He waited upon the General and expostu- 
 lated with him on the subject. He insisted that 
 the man proposed was of infamous character, 
 and that it was an insult to the society to ask for 
 the church for his use, and urged him to with- 
 draw the order he had given. General Gage prom- 
 ised to reconsider the matter ; but in twenty 
 minutes after Deacon Newell withdrew he was 
 waited upon by the provost, with a peremptory 
 order for him to deliver the key immediately, 
 which he accordingly did.* 
 
 * In the journal alluded to, Deacon Newell gives the follow- 
 ing full account of this matter. 
 
 "14th September, 1775. Messrs. Auchinclosh, Morrison, 
 and another person came to me, as three Scotchmen had been 
 before. They showed me a paper directed to me, setting 
 forth, that the Rev. Mr. was permitted, by his Ex- 
 cellency Gen. Gage, to preach, and desired he may have the 
 use of Dr. Cooper's meeting-house, signed by about thirty 
 
 Scotchmen and others, viz etc. I desired they would 
 
 leave the paper for my consideration. They did not choose 
 I should keep it, and began to urge their having the house. 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 105 
 
 On the 13th of October, the house was in- 
 spected by Colonel Birch, with a view to make it 
 
 For answer, I told them, I looked upon it a high insult to 
 that society, their proposing it, and turned my back upon 
 them and so left them. 
 
 a P. M. Messrs. Black, Dixon, and Hunter came and told 
 me his Excellency the General had consented they should 
 have our meeting-house, and desired I would deliver them 
 the key. I told them, when I see such an order I should 
 know how to proceed. One said to me. So, you refuse to 
 deliver the key? I answered, with an emotion of resent- 
 ment, Yes, I do. 
 
 " 15th. As I was attending a funeral, the provost, Mr. 
 Cunningham, came to me, and told me it was his Excel- 
 lency, the General's command I should immediately deliver 
 him the key of Dr. Cooper's meeting-house; I replied, I 
 must see the Governor. He told me he would not see me 
 till I had delivered the key. He left me in a great rage, and 
 swore he would immediately go and break open the doors. 
 I left the funeral, and proceeded to the Governor's, calling 
 upon Capt. Erving to go with me. He excused himself, 
 and so I went alone. The Governor received me civilly. 
 I addressed myself to him, and most earnestly entreated him, 
 that he would be pleased to withdraw his order, urging that 
 Dr. Eliot, in order to accommodate our people, was to preach 
 in said meeting-house the next Sabbath, or the Sabbath after, 
 and that the person they proposed was a man of infamous 
 character, which had it been otherwise, I should not oppose 
 it, etc., and I desired his Excellency would consider of it. 
 He told me he would, and that I might keep the key, and 
 if he sent for it, he expected that I would deliver it. So 
 left him. I had not been, I believe, twenty minutes from him, 
 before the provost came, with a written order to deliver the 
 key immediately, which I did accordingly. When I first 
 urged the Governor to excuse my delivering the key, for the 
 reasons given, he replied, that a number of creditable persons 
 
106 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 a riding-school for dragoons, but this design was 
 abandoned when it was found that the pillars 
 
 had applied to him, and he saw no reason why that house 
 should not be made use of as well as any other. Gen. 
 Robinson (when I mentioned the preacher being of an in- 
 famous character) said he knew no harm of the man ; but 
 this he knew, that he had left a very bad service, and taken 
 up with a good one. 
 
 " The next day the provost came to my shop. I not being 
 there, he left word, that he came for the apparatus of the 
 pulpit, supposing the curtains and cushions were there. The 
 provost, the same day, came again. I chose not to be there. 
 He left orders to send him the aforesaid, and swore most 
 bitterly, that if I did not send them he would split the door 
 open; and accordingly I hear the same was forced open; 
 and that if Dr. Cooper and Dr Warren were there, he would 
 break their heads, and would drag me in the gutter, etc. 
 
 "This being Saturday afternoon, I chose not to be seen. 
 Spent the evening at Major Phillip's; consulted with a few 
 friends, advised still to be as much out of the way as possible. 
 Dr. Eliot invited me to come very early in the morning, 
 (being Lord's day,) and breakfast with him, and also dine ; 
 which I did and returned home after nine at night; found a 
 6ergeant with a letter had been twice at the house for me. 
 Thus ends a Sabbath, which, exclusive of the insults and 
 perplexities before mentioned, has been a good day to me. 
 
 " P. S. Capt. Erving and myself, being the only persons of 
 the Committee remaining in town, I acquainted him of the 
 demand of the General, who advised me, that, if the Gen- 
 eral insisted on the delivery of the key, to deliver the same. 
 The next week several of our parish thought proper to peti- 
 tion the General. I advised with Foster Hutchinson, Esq., 
 who thought it very proper, and accordingly, at my desire, 
 he drew a petition, but upon further consideration, and hear- 
 ing of the opinion of the General, he thought it best not 
 to present it." 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 107 
 
 could not be removed without letting down the 
 roof. " So the pillars saved us," writes Deacon 
 Newell in his journal. But the escape of the 
 church from desecration was only temporary. 
 On the 27th of October, says the journal just 
 quoted, " the Old South was taken possession 
 of for a riding-school and our church for a bar- 
 racks." Messrs. Gove and Newell, the deacons, 
 were permitted to take down the pews and case 
 up the pulpit and the columns. It was thus 
 occupied as a barrack during the remainder of 
 the siege. This desecration of the churches 
 of Boston was a wanton and unnecessary outrage. 
 It is some evidence of progress even in the con- 
 duct of war, that except on the most compulsory 
 necessity such a thing would not be done now. 
 Had our army, in their recent possession of Mex- 
 ico, pursued the same course in regard to the 
 churches of that city, every newspaper published 
 in the English tongue would have rung with 
 strong condemnation of the sacrilege. General 
 Gage's head-quarters were opposite the church. 
 He told his neighbor and our parishioner, Mr. 
 Turell, that he had no fear for his troops while 
 they were within such walls. The cannon-ball, 
 which is now to be seen over the front door, 
 struck the tower at that point, on the night before 
 the evacuation. It knocked out a (ew bricks 
 and fell to the ground, was picked up by Mr. 
 
108 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 Turell, and preserved by the family. When the 
 church was repaired, in 1825, it was inserted, 
 by order of the Standing Committee, in the spot 
 where it struck. 
 
 The British troops left the church in such 
 a filthy and defaced condition, that the work of 
 cleaning, repairing, and replacing the pews oc- 
 cupied several weeks. Mr. Bowdoin advanced 
 the money for this, and subsequently a special 
 tax of eighteen shillings on each pew was levied 
 to meet the expense. The house was first opened 
 for public worship, after the evacuation, on the 
 19th of May.* The services of that day must 
 
 * The last days of the siege are thus noticed in Deacon 
 Newell's journal. 
 
 "March 12th. This day and night quiet. The soldiers 
 shut up in their barracks, except some who are about plunder- 
 ing. The wind high at northwest ; the inhabitants greatly 
 distressed through fear that the town would be set on fire by 
 the soldiers. 
 
 "13th. Wednesday. The inhabitants in the utmost dis- 
 tress thro' fear of the town being destroyed by the soldiery. 
 A party of New York carpenters with their axes going through 
 the town breaking open houses, etc. Soldiers and sailors 
 plundering houses, ships, warehouses, etc. One person suf- 
 fered four thousand pounds sterling by his shipping being 
 cut to pieces, etc. Another five thousand do., by salt wan- 
 tonly thrown into the river. 
 
 " 14th. Thursday. The same as above, except somewhat 
 restrained by the General. 
 
 "15th. Friday. The General sent to the selectmen and 
 desired their immediate attendance, which we did accord- 
 ingly. It was to acquaint us that, as he was about retreating 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 109 
 
 have been deeply interesting to the regathered 
 flock and pastor, and it is a matter of regret that 
 we have no account of it in the records. 
 
 from the town, his advice was for all the inhabitants to keep 
 in their houses, and tho' his orders were to injure no one, he 
 could not be answerable for the irregularities of his troops. 
 The General told us that the Fury man-of-war would con- 
 tinue in the harbor till the fleet sailed, loaded with carcases 
 and combustibles, that in case the king's troops met with any 
 obstruction in their retreat, he should set fire to the town, 
 which he wished to avoid. That he thought it his duty to 
 destroy much of the property in the town, to prevent its 
 being useful to the support of the rebel army. The General 
 further said to us, that whoever had suffered in this respect 
 (who were not rebels) it was probable that on application to 
 the government they would be considered. That letters had 
 passed between him and Mr. Washington. That however 
 insignificant the character" (title ?) " of his Excellency, 
 which to him was very trifling, it ought not to be given to 
 any but by the authority of the king. He observed the direc- 
 tion of our letter to him was His Excellency, General Wash- 
 ington, which he did not approve ; nor of whatever intelli- 
 gence had been given to the rebels, though in his letters to 
 him he did not charge him with being a rebel. He further 
 said, he had nothing against the selectmen, which if he had, 
 he should certainly have taken notice of it. The General 
 told us that the troops would embark this day, — was told by 
 General Robinson it would be about three o'clock. The regi- 
 ments all mustered, some of them marched down the wharf. 
 Guards and chevauz-de-frisc were placed in the main streets 
 and wharves, in order to secure the retreat of the out sentries. 
 Several of the principal streets through which they were to 
 pass were filled with hogsheads, etc., large limbs of trees from 
 the Mall, to prevent a pursuit of the Continental army. They 
 manifestly appeared to be fearful of an attack. The wind 
 proved unfavorable and prevented their embarking. They 
 
110 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 Not long after this, in November, 1778, by the 
 will of Lydia Hancock, the society came into 
 possession of the house in Court Street, which 
 has since been occupied as a parsonage by their 
 successive ministers. As the conditions of this 
 bequest are often asked about, and are likely to 
 be more and more canvassed, as the unsuitable- 
 ness of the spot for a clerical residence becomes 
 more and more manifest, I give them in the words 
 of the will, which are, — "I give and bequeathe 
 unto Messrs. Timothy Newell, Isaac Smith, and 
 Ebenezer Storer, present deacons of the church 
 in Brattle Street in Boston, whereof the Rev. 
 Mr. Samuel Cooper is minister, and to their suc- 
 cessors in that office, all that brick dwelling-house 
 and land situated in Queen Street, lately im- 
 proved by my honored father, Daniel Henchman, 
 Esq., as his mansion-house, to hold the same at 
 and immediately upon the decease of my said 
 mother, unto the said Timothy Newell, Isaac 
 Smith, and Ebenezer Storer, and to the deacons 
 
 returned to their quarters. Soon after, several houses were on 
 fire. The night passed off tolerably quiet. 
 
 " 16th. Saturday. Rain; great distress, plundering, etc., etc. 
 
 " 17th. Lord's day. This morning at three o'clock, the troops 
 began to move. Guards, chevaux-de-frise, crow feet, strewed 
 in the streets to prevent being pursued. They were all em- 
 barked about nine o'clock, and the whole fleet came to sail. 
 Every vessel they did not carry off, they rendered unfit for 
 use. Not even a boat left." 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. Ill 
 
 of the said church for the time being, for ever, 
 upon this express condition and limitation, that is 
 to say, that the minister or eldest minister of said 
 church shall constantly reside and dwell in said 
 house, during such time as he is minister of said 
 church ; and in case the same is not improved 
 for this use only, I then declare this bequest to be 
 void, and of no force, and order that said house 
 and land then revert to my estate, and I give the 
 same to my nephew, John Hancock, Esq., and 
 to his heirs for ever." By the same will the 
 church also received a bequest of one hundred 
 pounds, the income to be annually appropriated 
 to the relief of the poor. The church voted, 
 u That this society receives these pious, charita- 
 ble, and generous bequests with great respect 
 and gratitude to the memory of that excellent 
 woman, Madam Lydia Hancock, who was for 
 many years a member of the church in Brattle 
 Street, an ornament to the Christian profession, 
 and an amiable pattern of piety and virtue." 
 
 Worthy was she, undoubtedly, to have this 
 said of her, and her memory should be cherished 
 by us with reverence and gratitude. Her inten- 
 tions, so far as we and all who have preceded 
 and all who may come after us, since her time, 
 are concerned, was generous and noble. The 
 estate in Court Street was a splendid gift for the 
 use of the pastor of the church, and no clergy- 
 
112 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 man of the town was housed in such comfort and 
 style as Dr. Cooper, when he first moved into it. 
 It is, however, to be regretted, that her lawyer 
 was not wise enough to remind her, that a per- 
 petual entail of real estate for special uses, in a 
 town destined to grow and expand, was likely in 
 the end to become a public nuisance, and convert 
 what was meant for a charity into an inconven- 
 
 m 
 
 ience, if not an imposition. The intention of Lydia 
 Hancock is clear. She meant that the deacons 
 of Brattle Street Church should always have and 
 hold in their possession for ever, in trust for the 
 use of the minister, a suitable, convenient, agree- 
 able, and proper place of residence. She meant 
 to deprive them of the power to convert this 
 residence to other uses, or to turn it over to the 
 parish for them to make it a source of income ; 
 and for this purpose, and, so far as can be ascer- 
 tained, this purpose only, attached the penalty of 
 forfeiture to the condition, that the minister should 
 reside in the house. Through no fault of the 
 trustees of the parish, or of the occupant of the 
 house, her intention has wellnigh failed, and will 
 fail more and more as time rolls on and the city- 
 changes. I cannot but think that there is, I am 
 sure that there ought to be, somewhere in the 
 community, some remedy, — some power that can 
 so interpret the instrument, the will, as to prevent 
 a forfeiture, which was never expected nor de- 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 113 
 
 sired, from causes which were never anticipated, 
 and therefore not guarded against ; and so inter- 
 pret it also, without injustice to any parties living, 
 and with great justice to the memory of the dead, 
 as to permit an intention clear, manifest, and per- 
 petually charitable, to be carried out fully, faith- 
 fully, and for ever. 
 
 These are all the events of moment directly af- 
 fecting the external interests of the parish, that 
 occurred during Dr. Cooper's ministry. Tt is 
 common to represent the period embraced by his 
 ministry, and extending somewhat beyond it, — the 
 last half of the last century, — as a lime of spiritual 
 declension throughout the country. I find it so 
 spoken of in nearly all the pamphlets and docu- 
 ments that I have had occasion or opportunity to 
 examine. ; Complaints are made of the decay of 
 vital piety, of a want of zealous personal interest 
 in religion, of the creeping in among ministers and 
 congregations of Arian and Arminian sentiments, 
 of a general laxity of faith and practice. So 
 general are these complaints, that I suppose we 
 must admit that there was some foundation for 
 them. The old French war, the war of the 
 Revolution, and all the political excitements, 
 troubles, and momentous events of the times, 
 undoubtedly had a tendency to engross the minds 
 of men, and withdraw their attention, if not from 
 religion as the controlling rule of life, at least 
 
 8 
 
114 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 from much interest in its administration, and the 
 questions about its forms and the disputes about 
 doctrines, which the clergy might agitate. I can- 
 not but think, however, that there was something 
 of the power of religion, — a large measure of 
 religious faith and principle, of the spirit of self- 
 sacrifice and of obedience to high convictions of 
 duty, in the generation that carried the country 
 through the struggles of the Revolution. I am 
 not disposed to admit that that struggle was suc- 
 cessfully achieved by a generation of men, spirit- 
 ually dead, whose hearts were destitute of the 
 higher incentives of religious faith. 
 
 So far as our own society is concerned, I in- 
 cline to the opinion, that, with the exception of 
 the period when it was scattered abroad during 
 the siege, it was generally in a good spiritual con- 
 dition. There was no unusual deadness. The 
 list of baptisms and of additions to the church, 
 imperfect as it probably is, shows that the ordi- 
 nances were by no means disregarded. This 
 edifice, this splendid temple, erected for the 
 worship of Almighty God, which, if it have 
 rivals, has not been surpassed by any thing that 
 has since been built in the town, — this costly, 
 solemn, and substantial church, which, if it be left 
 untouched by the hand of man, will bid defiance 
 for centuries to the hand of time, — this could not 
 have been built by a society spiritually dead, un- 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 115 
 
 der a ministry cold, lax, lifeless, inefficient. It 
 may be true, that the men who gathered here Sun- 
 day after Sunday, with the pastor who led in their 
 devotions, were all men deeply interested and 
 largely concerned in public affairs, taking a zeal- 
 ous and active part as patriots in the great con- 
 test in which their country was engaged ; but it is 
 also true, that /iere, in this house and these ser- 
 vices, their patriotism gathered inspiration, and 
 received the spirit and principles that guided its 
 action. This temple, which is a conclusive and 
 satisfactory evidence of the strength, the wealth, 
 and resources of the parish, is also an evidence, 
 equally conclusive and satisfactory, of the spirit 
 and power of the faith which could direct that 
 wealth and strength to noble and godly uses. 
 
 Dr. Cooper, who had been for some time in 
 feeble health, died suddenly, on the 29th of De- 
 cember, 1783, at the age of fifty-eight. His 
 funeral was attended with every show of solemni- 
 ty and sorrow that the times authorized, and both 
 by the parish and by the public generally many 
 marks of affection and respect were manifested to 
 his memory. The funeral sermon, preached by 
 Dr. Clarke of the First Church, was published, 
 together with several obituary notices which ap- 
 peared in the newspapers of the day. These 
 speak in the strongest terms of his public services 
 and his private virtues, of his rare gifts and graces 
 
116 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 as a patriot, a gentleman, a scholar, and a Chris- 
 tian divine. One or two passages from Dr. 
 Clarke's sermon will give some idea of the esti- 
 mation in which he w 7 as held by his contempo- 
 raries. 
 
 "Justly," he says, "should I incur the cen- 
 sure of his friends, and greatly should I injure the 
 memory of Dr. Cooper, should I not say, he 
 was a peculiar ornament to this religious society. 
 His talents as a minister were conspicuous to all ; 
 and they have met with universal applause. You 
 know with what plainness, and at the same time 
 with what elegance, he displayed the grace of the 
 Gospel. You know with what brilliancy of style 
 he adorned the moral virtues, and how power- 
 fully he recommended them to universal practice. 
 When the joys of a better world employed his 
 discourse, can you ever forget the elevated strains 
 in which he described them ? And his prayers, 
 — surely they must be remembered, when his 
 qualifications for the other duties of his office and 
 his many shining accomplishments are forgotten. 
 If those who constantly attended upon his mints- 
 try are not warmed with the love of virtue ; if 
 they are not charmed with the beauty of holiness, 
 if they are not transported with the free grace of 
 the Gospel, must they not blame their own insen- 
 sibility ? Remember, therefore, how you have 
 seen, and heard, and hold fast, and repent." 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 117 
 
 Again he says, — " The people of his charge 
 are not the only persons who mourn this event. 
 The death of their honorable pastor is a general 
 calamity. It is severely felt by all our societies ; 
 and by that, in a particular manner, which has 
 been so long united with this church in a stated 
 lecture. It is felt by this town, which gloried in 
 him no less as a citizen than a minister of the 
 Gospel. It is felt by the University to whose 
 honor and interests he was passionately devoted. 
 His death will be lamented by this Com- 
 monwealth, and most sincerely by some of the 
 first characters in it ; for with them he was inti- 
 mately connected, and they distinguished him by 
 every public token of respect. In one word, his 
 death will be a common loss to these American 
 States ; for as a patriot he was no less cele- 
 brated than as a divine.'' 
 
 An obituary notice, written probably by Gov- 
 ernor Sullivan, speaks of his character and ser- 
 vices in equally strong terms of eulogy. From 
 this obituary we learn that his illness was of 
 a nature which precluded much conversation. 
 When he could speak, he expressed his perfect 
 submission to the will of God, said "that his 
 hopes and consolations sprang from a belief of 
 those evangelical truths which he had preached to 
 others," and u declared his great satisfaction in 
 seeing his country in peace, and possessed of 
 freedom and independence." 
 
118 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 Unquestionably, it would seem, from all that can 
 be learned of Dr. Cooper, that he possessed in a 
 high degree a rare combination of those qualities 
 which make a man eminently popular and useful 
 in his day. In personal appearance he was un- 
 commonly dignified and pleasing. He had " a 
 most melodious voice," and a natural ease, grace, 
 and fluency both in speaking and writing. To 
 great acuteness and versatility of mind, he added 
 a capacity of severe and patient application. 
 Coming upon the stage at a time when it had not 
 ceased to be admitted that the clerical office gave 
 a right and an opportunity to its incumbent to 
 mingle largely in public affairs, and exert what 
 influence he could in their direction, and at a 
 time, also, when the emergencies of these affairs 
 naturally called forth all the energies and awa- 
 kened all the interest that any one could put into 
 them, or feel in them, he became one of the most 
 prominent public men of his day, and, as the inti- 
 mate and confidential friend of some of the lead- 
 ing patriots of the Revolution, exerted an influ- 
 ence which can now hardly be estimated or un- 
 derstood. " It was to him," says Dr. Pal- 
 frey, "that the famous letters of Hutchinson 
 were transmitted, which kindled such a flame 
 against the English ministry and their govern- 
 ment ; and among the writings that alternately 
 stimulated and checked the public mind, in that 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 119 
 
 season of stormy excitement, there were perhaps 
 none of greater efficiency than those of Dr. 
 Cooper. If other hands launched the lightning, 
 his guided the cloud." As had been the case 
 with his two predecessors, Dr. Cooper was 
 chosen President of the College, and his election 
 was approved by the Board of Overseers, at a 
 meeting held February 10th, 1774. Before the 
 meeting was dissolved, a note was received from 
 him, declining to engage in the duties of the sta- 
 tion to which he had been invited. 
 
 But though thus prominent and active as a public 
 man, he was not negligent or faithless as a Christian 
 minister ; at least I can find no trace of any re- 
 proach of this sort.* In the eyes of his contem- 
 
 * All that I have ever seen which by implication could be 
 construed as sustaining the contrary of what is here ex- 
 pressed, is the following amusing anecdote, which may be 
 found in Tudor's Life of James Otis. 
 
 " Dr. Cooper, who was a man of accomplished manners 
 and fond of society, was able, by the aid of his fine talents, to 
 dispense with some of the severe study that others engaged 
 in. This, however, did not escape the envy and malice of 
 the world, and it was said, in a kind of petulant and absurd 
 exaggeration, that he used to walk to the South End of a 
 Saturday, and, if he saw a man riding into town in a black 
 coat, would stop and ask him to preach the next day. Dr. 
 Chauncy was a close student, very absent, and very irritable. 
 On these traits in the character of the two clergymen, a ser- 
 vant of Dr. Chauncy laid a scheme for obtaining a particular 
 object of his master. Scipio went into his master's study 
 one morning to receive some directions, which the Doctor 
 
120 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 poraries, and in all the obituary notices that were 
 written of him, the halo of patriotism that encircles 
 
 having given, resumed his writing, but the servant still re- 
 mained. The master looking up a few minutes afterwards, 
 and supposing he had just come in, said, ' Scipio, what do 
 you want ? ' 'I want a new coat, Massa.' ' Well, go to 
 Mrs. Chauncy and tell her to give you one of my old coats' ; 
 and was again absorbed in his studies. The servant remained 
 fixed. After several repetitions of this question and answer, 
 the negro says he is afraid to wear another black coat, and 
 when pressed for the reason of his fear, and threatened with 
 punishment if he does not instantly disclose it, he answers, 
 ' Well, Massa, you make me tell, but I know you be angry. 
 I 'fraid, Massa, if I wear another black coat, Dr. Cooper ask 
 me to preach for him.' This unexpected termination realized 
 the servant's calculation; his irritated master burst into a 
 laugh. ' Go, you rascal, get my hat and cane, and tell Mrs. 
 Chauncy she may give you a coat of any color, a red one if 
 you choose.' Away went the negro to his mistress, and the 
 Doctor to tell the story to his friend, Dr. Cooper." 
 
 This anecdote has very much the appearance of being the in- 
 vention of some good story-teller of the day ; even if true, and 
 fairly illustrative of character, it only intimates that Dr. Cooper 
 sought what occasional aid he could obtain in services which 
 unaided he never neglected. The number of his published 
 occasional sermons shows that he was accustomed to look at 
 every public event in its connection with the pulpit, and to 
 use it to give interest and efficacy to the services of Sunday. 
 That he gave as much attention and laid out the whole 
 strength and power of his mind in preparations for the pulpit 
 to the extent he would have done had he been less of a public 
 character, may well be doubted; but there is no authentic 
 evidence that he was negligent in these preparations, or in 
 any of the immediate and appropriate duties of his profes- 
 sion. 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 121 
 
 his name is always embalmed in the odor of sanc- 
 tity, and the same pen that eulogizes in strongest 
 terms his character and services as a patriot and 
 statesman, does equal honor to his fidelity and 
 devotedness as a Christian teacher and pastor. 
 Certain it is that his society was prosperous, and 
 his preaching attended with interest and edifica- 
 tion by as large a number of the distinguished 
 citizens of the town as worshipped at any other 
 church ; and my predecessor, whose competency 
 to judge in the matter will not be questioned, 
 says that u his published sermons, methodical, 
 elaborate, animated, and impressive, would cer- 
 tainly be ranked, in this better day of pulpit elo- 
 quence, as productions of unusual merit." After 
 his death, the society appointed a committee 
 to select and publish a volume from his ser- 
 mons. But the manuscripts were found to be 
 in a condition which would not permit of pos- 
 thumous publication without great injustice to 
 his memory. In Governor Sullivan's obituary 
 notice, already quoted, his religious sentiments 
 are described as "rational and catholic, being 
 drawn from the Gospel of Christ," and his ser- 
 mons as avoiding " those nice and needless dis- 
 tinctions which had too often proved detrimental 
 to Christian love and union." In theology, Dr. 
 Cooper was undoubtedly one of the moderately 
 liberal men of his day. A monody published in 
 
122 
 
 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 the Independent Chronicle, a few days after his 
 death, thus closes its description of his char- 
 acter: — 
 
 " Formed to excel in each ennobled part 
 That burnished life, or humanized the heart, 
 How did thy bright example recommend 
 The parent, partner, citizen, and friend ! 
 Warm in aifection, wise with finished ease, 
 ' Intent to reason, or polite to please,' 
 In private paths, in every public line, 
 The best associate, statesman, and divine 
 
 >' * 
 
 Brattle Street, February 17th, 1850. 
 
 " MONODY OCCASIONED BY THE DEATH OF SAMUEL COOPER, 
 D. D., PASTOR OF BRATTLE STREET CHURCH, WHO 
 DIED DECEMBER 29tH, 1783. 
 
 u 'T is done ! from earth the illustrious prophet flies, 
 Cooper, the all-accomplished Cooper, dies ! 
 That bosom, where benevolence abode ; 
 That form, where nature every grace bestowed ; 
 That eye, where soft persuasion sweetly smiled, 
 Illumed the heart, and every care beguiled ; 
 That tongue, which long, in virtue's cause, combined 
 Reason and truth, and eloquence refined, 
 Finished and fraught with all the sacred lore, 
 Is cold, — is lifeless, — and must charm no more ! 
 While the pure spirit which the whole informed, 
 Glowed in the bosom, and the features warmed, 
 Flown upward, free of elemental clay, 
 Explores new mansions in the fields of day. 
 From whence sure, Cooper, on thy natal hour, 
 Immortal Genius shed his heavenly power, 
 Thy tender mind by intuition taught, 
 And bathed it in the lucid stream of thought, 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 123 
 
 Adorned thy heart with every social grace, 
 
 And sketched his beauteous image in thy face. 
 
 Enlightened wisdom crowned thy youthful head, 
 
 Fair Science nursed thee, and the Muses bred; 
 
 And Taste, enamored, wooed to vernal bowers, 
 
 And wreathed a favorite with her choicest flowers; 
 
 While, pleased, Religion to thy care consigned 
 
 Her noblest aim, the bliss of human kind. 
 
 Yon hallowed temple and thy flock forlorn 
 
 Now vainly seek thee on the accustomed morn ; 
 
 The sacred morn, that ushered holy days 
 
 All dedicate to pious prayer and praise. 
 
 When on those lips whole auditories hung, 
 
 And truths divine came brilliant from thy tongue, 
 
 Then did devotion beautifully climb, 
 
 In glowing pathos, and the truth sublime ; 
 
 Extend to future worlds our wondering sight, 
 
 And ravish with ineffable delight. 
 
 Formed to excel in each ennobled part 
 
 That burnished life, or humanized the heart, 
 
 How did thy bright example recommend 
 
 The parent, partner, citizen, and friend ! 
 
 Warm in affection, wise with finished ease, 
 
 ' Intent to reason, or polite to please,' 
 
 In private paths, in every public line, 
 
 The best associate, statesman, and divine ! 
 
 And Heaven, that saw thy matchless talents rise, 
 
 Embellish earth and ripen for the skies, 
 
 Approving saw, — and summoned hence in love, 
 
 To gain perfection in the courts above. 
 
 Now to those realms, with thee, sweet hope ascends 
 
 Where smiling cherubs gratulate their friends, 
 
 And all the virtuous, since the world began, 
 
 Compose the illustrious choir of angel man. 
 
 No sorrow there, no hapless ills molest, 
 
 No envy sickens, and no cares infest, 
 
 Perpetual gladness and delight sincere 
 
 Forbid a pain, a trouble, or a tear, 
 
124 HISTORY OF BRATTLE STREET CHURCH, 
 
 Celestial, rosy wreaths of glory twine, 
 
 And round thy temples weave a crown divine ; 
 
 Increase, renewed, thy energetic sight, 
 
 To drink intense, unmitigated light, 
 
 Breathe on thy lips, of praise, the sweet perfume, 
 
 And flush each feature with immortal bloom, 
 
 Conduct with acclamations to the throne 
 
 Thy spotless spirit, perfect as their own, 
 
 There where the crystal streams of pleasure flow, 
 
 The beryls sparkle, and the rubies glow, 
 
 On golden harps their raptured notes employ, 
 
 And turn thy soul to ecstasies of joy. 
 
 Yet, O thrice happy shade! if, where thou art, 
 
 Our softest feelings touch a seraph's heart, 
 
 If spirits, severed from their mortal birth, 
 
 Indulge some gentle sympathies of earth, 
 
 If in their breasts those sweet emotions move, 
 
 Compassion, friendship, lenity, and love, 
 
 Ah, view thy sad associates weeping here, 
 
 Console the sorrow, and dispel the tear ; 
 
 Teach them like thee t' adorn each post assigned, 
 
 T' instruct, improve, and elevate mankind ; 
 
 Point to their view the path thou still hast trod, 
 
 Glorious to thee and pleasing to thy God ; — 
 
 But pity grief to human frailty known, 
 
 The throbbing sigh, the melancholy moan, 
 
 This fond regret for those beloved before, 
 
 This tender melting for a friend no more ; 
 
 Forgive the tide of undissembled woes 
 
 Which for ourselves and for our country flows. 
 
 We mourn the loss, — we mourn the virtues fled, 
 
 We mourn a brother and a patriot dead." 
 
 Independent Chronicle, Jan. 8th, 1784. 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 A WISE MAN S HEART DISCERNETH BOTH TIME AND JUDG- 
 MENT. — Eccl. viii. 5. 
 
 I propose, this morning, to continue our re- 
 view of the history of this church, and have 
 selected the words of the text because they seem 
 an appropriate description of the character of its 
 fourth pastor, Rev. Peter Thacher, D. D. 
 
 After the death of Dr. Cooper, December 
 12th, 1783, the pulpit was supplied for some 
 weeks by the ministers of the association and 
 neighborhood, who, in turn, preached to the 
 bereaved flock. What arrangements were then 
 made for the supply of the pulpit, I cannot ascer- 
 tain. In the following spring, Wednesday, the 
 12th of May, was set apart to be observed, say 
 the records, "as a day of solemn humiliation 
 and prayer, to implore the blessing of God upon 
 this society, and the influences of his Holy Spirit 
 to direct us to the choice of such a minister as 
 shall adorn the Christian character, promote the 
 
126 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 honor and interest of his Divine Master, and be 
 of the most important advantage to us and to our 
 children." The deacons were appointed a com- 
 mittee " to ask the favor of the pastors of the 
 associated churches, and the Rev. Mr. Howard 
 of this town to lead in the solemn exercises of 
 the day." It does not appear, however, that this 
 observance was followed by any immediate steps 
 towards the choice of a pastor. Indeed, so far as 
 the records show, nothing more was done in re- 
 lation to this subject till the following October, 
 when a movement was made to obtain the ser- 
 vices of the Rev. Peter Thacher, then settled in 
 the neighboring town of Maiden. 
 
 Dr. Palfrey, in alluding to the circumstances 
 attending this call, says in a note to his sermon, 
 " As this transaction is recent, and many of those 
 whose judgments differed upon it survive, I do not 
 give a detailed account of it." These survivors 
 must have been far advanced in life when Dr. Pal- 
 frey prepared his sermon. In the twenty-five 
 years that have since elapsed, they have all prob- 
 ably passed to their account ; and as the " trans- 
 action " led to some discussion in the newspapers 
 of the day, and involves the character both of 
 the society and one of its most beloved and hon- 
 ored ministers, it would seem to be just to all the 
 parties concerned that the details of the proceed- 
 ings should now be briefly stated. These details, 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 127 
 
 indeed, seem to me to be honorable to all con- 
 nected with them ; at least, looked at calmly at 
 this period, they present nothing to the discredit 
 of either party, — nothing unworthy or unbecom- 
 ing Christian men, in a matter of such grave im- 
 portance. 
 
 It is due to the memory of Dr. Thacher, that 
 it should be understood at the outset, that there 
 is no evidence to be gathered from our records, 
 or from any other quarter, that he in any way 
 sought the place, or made any efforts to obtain it. 
 There is no evidence even that he ever preached 
 in this church previous to his invitation to become 
 the pastor. The attention of the society seems 
 to have been directed to him from his general 
 reputation and character as a man, a patriot, and 
 a divine, eminent in pulpit gifts and graces, dis- 
 tinguished for his growing ability, fidelity, and 
 devotedness as a Christian minister. As the 
 great body of this parish at that time, together 
 with its late minister and all its prominent mem- 
 bers, had been zealous advocates and actors in 
 the cause of American liberty, and as Mr. 
 Thacher had taken a very decided and earnest 
 part in the Revolutionary struggle, it may be that 
 this circumstance had some influence in develop- 
 ing an affinity between him and this vacant parish. 
 The political influence of a minister was still 
 great, and his political position and opinions im- 
 
128 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 portant. Liberty and independence had just been 
 secured by a triumph over foreign aggression, but 
 wisdom and patriotism had yet a difficult task to 
 consolidate and secure them from domestic dissen- 
 sion. The society doubtless felt assured, from 
 Mr. Thacher's previous career and known princi- 
 ples, that in him they should secure a minister 
 whose political influence would be directed and 
 exerted in harmony with their own. 
 
 The movement in relation to Mr. Thacher 
 was thus commenced and conducted. On the 
 9th of October, 1784, the following letter was 
 sent to the Standing Committee, requesting them 
 to call a meeting of the society : — 
 
 " Brethren, — It having pleased Almighty God 
 to remove by death our late worthy, learned, 
 and amiable pastor, under whom we sat with so 
 much pleasure and delight, and although near 
 twelve months have elapsed since his decease, we 
 are still as sheep having no proper shepherd. 
 Under these circumstances we are liable to scat- 
 ter and fall into divisions and lessen our numbers. 
 These reflections have discovered to us the im- 
 portance of having the breach (which God in his 
 providence has made upon us) repaired as soon 
 as possible. It is the opinion of the subscribers, 
 members of the church and congregation, that the 
 Rev. Mr. Peter Thacher, of Maiden, if he could 
 be honorably obtained by the mutual consent of 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 129 
 
 both societies (for upon any other terms we could 
 not wish it), would be the most likely person to 
 unite us, and restore us to that harmony and 
 brotherly love which we ever enjoyed under our 
 late worthy pastor. We therefore wish and de- 
 sire that the committee would call a meeting of 
 the church and congregation for the purpose of 
 knowing their minds upon this subject, and if the 
 church and congregation should be happily united 
 in their opinion of Mr. Thacher, then to consider 
 what further prudent steps may be taken in order 
 to obtain so good a purpose." 
 
 This letter was signed by ninety-three persons, 
 and was accompanied by a note stating that twen- 
 ty-eight others, whose names were given, and 
 who, for particular reasons, thought it not proper 
 to sign the paper, u were yet as heartily for Mr. 
 Thacher as any persons who had signed it." Tt 
 was laid before the society at a meeting held the 
 next day, and at an adjourned meeting, held Octo- 
 ber 24th, after mature deliberation, the following 
 votes were passed : — 
 
 " Voted, That Rev. Peter Thacher, of Mai- 
 den, is a gentleman whose sentiments and char- 
 acter are so agreeable to us, that we could wish 
 him to settle with us in the Gospel ministry, if by 
 honorable means he could be obtained. 
 
 u Tt having pleased the Sovereign Director of 
 events in his holy providence to remove from us 
 9 
 
130 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 by death our late excellent pastor, the Rev. Dr. 
 Cooper, and a great number of the brethren of this 
 church and congregation having, by their written 
 application for calling this meeting, expressed their 
 opinion that the Rev. Mr. Peter Thacher, minis- 
 ter of a parish in Maiden, if in an honorable 
 way, and with the consent of our worthy brethren 
 of Maiden, he could be obtained to succeed to 
 the pastoral office in this society, would be the 
 most likely person to keep us united, and thereby 
 continue that harmony and brotherly love we ever 
 enjoyed under our late worthy pastor, and it being 
 probable that our brethren in Maiden, from a con- 
 sideration of Mr. Thacher's more extensive use- 
 fulness, would consent to his removal to Boston, 
 therefore Voted, That this society do concur 
 with our brethren in the above-mentioned opinion, 
 and we do hereby express our intention to invite 
 the Rev. Mr. Thacher to settle with us in the 
 pastoral character, provided our brethren of Mai- 
 den shall consent thereto. Without whose con- 
 sent, considering their present relation to Mr. 
 Thacher, we do not mean to give the invitation. " 
 A committee was then appointed, of which 
 Stephen Higginson was chairman, to communi- 
 cate these votes to Mr. Thacher, and to the 
 deacons of the church at Maiden, and to confer 
 with any committee that might be appointed on 
 the part of that church. This committee dis- 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 131 
 
 charged its duty by transmitting a copy of the 
 votes, and addressing the following letters to the 
 parties interested. 
 
 "To the Rev. Peter Thacher : — 
 
 u Dear Sir, — The inclosed copies of votes 
 passed by the society who statedly worship in 
 Brattle Square are of themselves fully sufficient 
 to communicate the business of our commission. 
 According to the direction therein contained, we 
 have transmitted like copies to the deacons of 
 your church and parish. As the idea of the re- 
 moval of a minister from one parish to another, 
 on an expectation of his usefulness being rendered 
 more extensive, is not new either in the opinion 
 or practice of this country, we hope your parish 
 will cordially comply with the almost unanimous 
 wish of our society ; for to them it appears evi- 
 dent that your being placed in this town, as min- 
 ister of so large a congregation, will render those 
 talents with which the wise Disposer of all things 
 has seen fit to bless you a much greater blessing 
 to mankind, than they can be where you are now 
 placed. We are, with sentiments of respect, 
 your humble servants, &c." 
 
 " To the Deacons of the Church in Mal- 
 den : — 
 "Brethren, — In compliance with the direc- 
 
132 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 tion of the society statedly worshipping in Brat- 
 tle Street in the town of Boston, we transmit 
 you the inclosed votes. They were passed with 
 two dissentients only. The subject of them is 
 delicate as well as important, and we trust that 
 the spirit of them breathes nothing inconsistent 
 with that charity and benevolence which ought at 
 all times to be exercised by one religious society 
 towards another. The idea of removing a minis- 
 ter from one church to another, when his useful- 
 ness will thereby be rendered more extensive, is 
 not new. This consideration has prevailed in 
 other cases, and we trust your candor, aided by 
 your inclination to render the Church Universal 
 more enlightened, and to make mankind more 
 happy, will give it weight in your minds. It is 
 not our duty, nor within our commission, to say 
 more upon the subject ; but should you appoint a 
 committee to meet with us, we will then confer 
 freely with them on the matter. Your humble 
 servants, &c." 
 
 These letters, signed by Stephen Higginson, 
 in behalf of the committee, were sent October 
 25, 1784. No reply was made by the society in 
 Maiden till December 9th. In the mean time, 
 Mr. Thacher himself, after receiving the com- 
 munication from this society, determined to ask a 
 dismission from his parish at Maiden, and his let- 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 133 
 
 ter to that effect was laid before the meeting 
 called to consider the communication from this 
 society. Through the kindness of that branch of 
 Dr. Thacher's family who still worship with us, 
 I have in my possession the original draft of this 
 letter, with the corrections and erasures. It is 
 due to the memory of Dr. Thacher, that the 
 principal portions of it should be presented to 
 you. It is as follows. 
 
 u To the First Church of Christ in Mal- 
 den : — 
 
 e< Brethren, — More than fourteen years have 
 elapsed since I entered upon the work of the 
 ministry among you. During this period, I have 
 often addressed you upon occasions the most 
 melancholy and interesting, but in none of them 
 did I ever feel the pain which is excited by my 
 present application. 
 
 " The votes of the church and society in Brat- 
 tle Street, Boston, with respect to my removal 
 thither, will be laid before you at your present 
 meeting. They will inform you that removals 
 are known in the constitutions of these churches, 
 and were frequently practised by our forefathers. 
 They will inform you, (and your own knowledge 
 must convince you of the truth of the observa- 
 tion,) that there is a prospect of my being much 
 more useful to the Church of God there, than I 
 can be here. 
 
134 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 " Of this truth I am fully and firmly convinced, 
 and under the influence of this conviction, I must 
 entreat and request of you, that you would con- 
 sent to my dismissal from the pastoral charge over 
 you. There is not a single hesitation in my mind 
 but that it is my duty to ask such a dismissal, and 
 yours to consent to it ; and from the same princi- 
 ples of regard to the interests of religion and our 
 mutual edification and comfort, which I trust led 
 us first to form and so long continue the connec- 
 tion between us, I would desire you to grant this 
 consent, and request my friends, as a token of 
 their regard for me, to vote for such dismission. 
 I do not wish you to be losers by my de- 
 parture from you ; I am, therefore, ready to give 
 up to you, not only the sixty pounds which you 
 gave me at my settlement, but also the whole sum 
 which is due me from the parish when they shall 
 consent to my removal to Boston ; but should I 
 be refused this consent, and be obliged to call a 
 council to determine upon the matter, I should 
 not hold myself bound by this offer, as this meas- 
 ure would be attended with expense, and might 
 put you and me to difficulties totally needless, be- 
 cause they might be prevented by consenting to 
 such a removal. You may be assured that I do 
 not mean lo reflect upon you, or to say any thing 
 
 which may give you pain, but I would thank 
 
 God and you for the union that hath so happily 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 135 
 
 subsisted between us. I know not that I ever had 
 a personal difference with any one among you. I 
 could wish that we might part in the same love 
 in which we have lived together. I can appeal 
 to your memories, and your records, and your 
 feelings, that I have never discovered a disposi- 
 tion to encroach upon you, or to make a gain of 
 godliness among you. You may be assured that 
 I shall in any future period of my life feel myself 
 happy in serving you, or any individual among 
 you, to the utmost of my poor ability. May the 
 Almighty overrule your proceedings and my con- 
 duct to his glory and the good of his Church. I 
 subscribe myself, your affectionate friend and 
 pastor, 
 
 M Peter Teacher." 
 
 In the discussion which was had of this matter 
 at the time, Dr. Thacher was censured by some 
 at this point in the proceedings. It was thought 
 by some, that this letter ought not to have been 
 sent at this precise moment ; that the parish 
 should have been left free to act as they might 
 deem best on the communication which had been 
 received from the church in Brattle Street. But 
 the question arises, How could the parish act ? 
 They could not reply to the society in Brattle 
 Street, "You shall not have our minister; we 
 will not release him" ; because, if he had wished 
 
136 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 to go, they could not, with proper self-respect, 
 wish to retain him. They could not reply, 
 u lou may have our minister if you want him ; 
 we are willing to release him if he desires to 
 go " ; for this would be interpreted into an undue 
 readiness, if not a desire, to have him leave them. 
 The society could have done nothing, therefore, 
 but refer the matter to their pastor for his decis- 
 ion. It was virtually referred to him, by the 
 votes of this church, copies of which were sent 
 to him and to the deacons of his society. He 
 was the proper person to take the next step in 
 the proceedings, by signifying to his parish his 
 wish and purpose in regard to the communication 
 from Brattle Street. He took that step by ask- 
 ing a dismission, and in so doing brought the mat- 
 ter before his parish in the only form in which 
 they could act upon it. How the parish acted 
 upon it may be learned from their letter to this 
 church, bearing date December 9th, 1784. 
 
 u To the Church and Congregation in 
 Brattle Street, Boston : — 
 " Brethren, — Your letter of the 25th of Octo- 
 ber last occasioned great surprise and concern 
 to us. It was upon a subject important and deli- 
 cate to the highest degree. Were we to say 
 that we were satisfied with the principles or prac- 
 tice of removals, we should tell you that which 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 137 
 
 was not true ; were we to express an approbation 
 of the steps you have taken, or to say we be- 
 lieved you to have done to us as you would be 
 done by, in this case, we should equally violate 
 the truth. For though we mean not to reproach 
 or censure you, yet we cannot but suppose that 
 you have done that, the lawfulness of which may 
 at least admit of much doubt. We can assure 
 you that your application alone, let it have been 
 attended with any circumstances whatsoever, 
 would never have induced us to part with our 
 minister. We were at peace with him and among 
 ourselves ; we had no desire nor inclination to 
 dissolve the connection between us. We wished 
 it to continue till death should have parted us. 
 But Mr. Thacher himself hath applied for a dis- 
 mission from us ; that which we should never 
 have granted to your desires alone, we have given 
 to his. The connection between us is dissolved, 
 and he is dismissed from his pastoral relation 
 to us. 
 
 " This event has involved us in a situation very 
 unhappy. We are as sheep without a shepherd, 
 and we know not when, nor how, our loss may be 
 supplied. Very great damage upon temporal as 
 well as spiritual accounts will accrue to us in con- 
 sequence of it. We despise the idea of bargain- 
 ing for a minister. Poor as we may be in com- 
 parison of many others, we are not yet reduced 
 
138 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 to the necessity of asking an alms ; but we sub- 
 mit it to your justice and generosity, and to your 
 own principles of the propriety of removals, 
 whether it is not suitable and proper for you to 
 make us such a compensation upon pecuniary ac- 
 counts, as may in some measure prevent us from 
 feeling many distressing consequences which 
 might otherwise take place from this measure, 
 for we cannot doubt that your application had its 
 influence in urging Mr. Thacher to ask a dismis- 
 sion from us. 
 
 " We have, therefore, appointed Mr. Joseph 
 Perkins, Thomas Hill, James Kettell, Samuel 
 Sprague, and Hymond Bradbury, a committee to 
 confer with you upon the subject, if you should 
 think it proper. And although we feel aggrieved 
 and distressed, yet Christian charity obliges us to 
 wish that the Gospel may flourish among you, 
 and that Mr. Thacher may be a blessing to you 
 and to your children after you. We are in the 
 name and by order of the First Church and 
 Parish in Maiden, your brethren and friends. " 
 
 This letter, signed by the committee named in 
 it, was laid before this society at a meeting held 
 December 12th. It was immediately voted, 
 " That the committee that had already acted in 
 the matter be authorized to confer with the com- 
 mittee of the parish in Maiden, and to remove all 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 139 
 
 cause of grievance." This committee subse- 
 quently reported a recommendation, that three 
 hundred pounds be raised by subscription, and 
 paid to the society in Maiden, " to satisfy their 
 extra expenses " in settling another minister, on 
 condition that the arrears of salary due to Dr. 
 Thacher should previously be paid. This was ac- 
 cordingly done ; the money was paid on the 7th of 
 June, 1785, and the receipt of the committee of 
 the society in Maiden stands on our books of that 
 date in the following words : — 
 
 " We, the subscribers, in the name and by the 
 order of the First Parish in Maiden, do hereby 
 acknowledge to have received of Timothy Newell 
 and others, a committee of the church and con- 
 gregation in Brattle Street, Boston, the sum of 
 three hundred pounds, lawful money, to and for 
 the use of said parish in Maiden, which sum was 
 voted and generously given by said congregation 
 in Brattle Street, in order to defray the extra ex- 
 penses to which we may be exposed in con- 
 sequence of the removal of the Rev. Peter 
 Thacher from Maiden to Boston ; and we do 
 acknowledge that, while Mr. Thacher continued 
 with us, he had just cause to complain of the 
 want of punctuality in our payments to him, there 
 being the sum of two hundred and nine pounds 
 fourteen shillings and eight pence due to him 
 
140 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 when he left us. We do hereby likewise de- 
 clare, that we do not charge the said church 
 and congregation in Brattle Street with any un- 
 christian or unfair conduct in their application 
 respecting Mr. Thacher's removal from us to 
 that society. 
 
 (Signed,) Joseph Perkins, 
 
 Thomas Hill, 
 James Kettell." 
 
 Mr. Thacher, meantime, was invited, at the 
 meeting held December 12th, to become the 
 pastor of the church. He accepted the invita- 
 tion, and was installed on the 12th of January, 
 1784, Dr. Osgood of Medford preaching the 
 sermon. 
 
 In reviewing all the circumstances connected 
 with " this transaction" there does not appear 
 to be any thing to condemn in either party. 
 Several newspaper articles appeared at the time, 
 and some poetical wit of the day made the matter 
 the theme of some verses, published in the Co- 
 lumbian Centinel,* in which the letter of our 
 
 * " For the Centinel. 
 
 " Messrs. Printers, — 
 
 " Please give the following a place in the Centinel, and 
 you will oblige a customer : — 
 
 " Christ's wealthy Church in Br-tt-e St — t, 
 His poorer flock in M-ld-n greet, 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 141 
 
 committee to Dr. Thacher is well hit off ; but no 
 wrong done by any party can be pointed out. 
 
 With hearts brim full of Christian love, 
 They wish them blessings from above. 
 Dear Sirs, of late we lost our Pastor, 
 And mourn sincere the sore disaster; 
 Because we clearly can foresee 
 Our sheep much scattered will be, 
 Unless we should of God's free grace 
 A shepherd get to fill his place. 
 
 " Now having sought Divine direction, 
 We thought it fit, on due reflection, 
 To tempt the parson of your church 
 To leave his people in the lurch ; 
 Though few have heard him scarcely thrice, 
 Yet most believe he preaches nice, 
 And is a man that 's fitted quite 
 To make us all in him unite. 
 On trial fair, we plainly find 
 Our pious scheme well suits his mind ; 
 Then what remains for us to do 
 But settle matters right with you ? 
 Sure if you cannot him maintain, 
 Of us you ought not to complain ; 
 Now therefore send him off to us, 
 And we will fill his mouth and purse. 
 The cash you owe him, as 't is said, 
 Shall very cheerfully be paid; 
 Another preacher, should you want, 
 A settlement for him we '11 grant ; 
 Thus to the world we '11 fully show 
 That naught but honor we 've in view. 
 Yet stronger arguments than these 
 We can produce with greater ease, 
 And make it clear that we are right, 
 And act by help of Gospel light. 
 
142 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 The preliminary proceedings of this parish, in 
 expressing a favorable opinion of Mr. Thacher, 
 
 " From best of men we often hear, 
 That you 've no souls to save (they fear), 
 That parts like his in napkin lay, 
 So long as he shall with you stay, 
 Much time among you he has taught, 
 And labored all that while for naught, 
 To church no single soul could add, 
 To make his pious heart ' full glad.' 
 But, in this place, his talents Jive 
 To occupy would make us thrive ; 
 From day to day our church would grow 
 And make at last a goodly show. 
 These weighty reasons, as we trust, 
 You '11 plainly see are good and just, 
 And freely grant us our request, — 
 Because we think it for the best. 
 
 " And now we all, with one accord, 
 Subscribe your brethren in the Lord." 
 
 Massachusetts Centinel, Dec. 11, 1784. 
 
 " For the Centinel. 
 " Messrs. Editors, — 
 
 "The following, it is requested, maybe communicated to 
 the public, through the channel of the Centinel. 
 
 JE. 
 
 " I was called to preach about fifteen years ago in a neigh- 
 boring town ; in a short time after, they persuaded me to be- 
 come their pastor. I am now called the shepherd of their 
 flock ; they look upon me as their guardian ; I am beloved 
 by them with a tenderness that cannot be expressed ; they 
 discover, also, such a regard for my family and contribute all 
 in their power towards its support ; in short, there seems to 
 be such an exertion for my welfare and happiness, that I 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 143 
 
 and a desire to obtain him as their minister, could 
 the matter be arranged to the mutual satisfaction 
 
 have felt till lately the greatest satisfaction possible. But I 
 have lately had an offer from a congregation (not far distant) 
 of more than double what I now get, for the support of my 
 family, if I will leave my flock and become their shepherd. 
 Although I am certain of living in affluence, yet there seems 
 to be a check, for when I first began to preach, I admonished 
 against all the allurements of this world. And although 
 there is a probability of laying up something handsome 
 every year, yet I frankly confess that before I was tempted I 
 rested satisfied. 
 
 " But I have other difficulties, which often arise in my 
 mind. One is, whether it will be acting upon the true prin- 
 ciples of religion to leave them because they are poor (for 
 this is the only reason), and it is evident that they cannot go 
 to the charge of settling another minister. Another difficulty 
 is, whether I ought not to comfort them by setting an exam- 
 ple to bear up under their poverty, as I expected from the 
 beginning to share with them the troubles as well as the 
 pleasures of life. 
 
 " A Country Minister. 
 
 " Quere. Whether if I leave them the fault will not be 
 extenuated by the tempters taking part with the tempted? " 
 
 Massachusetts Centinel, Jan. 12, 1785. 
 
 " For the Centinel. 
 
 "Messrs. Printers, — 
 
 " Please publish the following in answer to your • Country 
 Minister,' and convince me that ' uninfluenced by party,' 
 etc. : — 
 
 " I am a poor fellow, and have been a long time in some 
 difficulty about leaving the man I now live with ; for you 
 must know, that a few years since I engaged to live with a 
 gentleman as a servant at so much a year ; and the Lord 
 
144 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 and concurrence of all the parties concerned, 
 were perfectly fair and Christian ; at least, to say 
 they were not, would be very harsh judgment. 
 Mr. Thacher had an inadequate support at Mai- 
 den. What was promised was not paid. He 
 
 knows that my wages were but just sufficient to purchase my 
 clothes. We agreed so well at first, that I positively de- 
 clared that I never would leave him. At last he became 
 very negligent about paying me; I remonstrated with him, 
 and he promised me more punctuality ; and I believe him one 
 of the best men existing as to promises. I lived upon them 
 as long as I could, for money I could not get. At length I 
 was obliged to begin and continue borrowing, until my 
 friends are effectually tired out, and at this time I am over 
 head and ears in debt ; nor do I see any prospect but that I 
 must go to jail very soon. 
 
 "Now, Messrs. Printers, here's a gentleman who knows 
 what a faithful servant I have been under all my difficulties, 
 and he has offered me, if I will leave my old master and 
 come and live with him, to add to my wages, and advance 
 me a part to enable me to discharge some of my debts. I 
 have thought seriously of this proposal ; I like my old mas- 
 ter exceeding well, and if I could get any thing but promises 
 from him, I would continue in my present situation. I had 
 concluded to leave him, and should have done it by this 
 time if I had not seen in your last Centinel a piece signed 
 'A Country Minister.' He raised some doubt in my mind, 
 whether, as I had once engaged to live with him, he paying 
 me so much, I ought not to continue with him after he failed 
 in his part of the contract; and whether I ought not to 
 stay and starve it out, rather than alter my condition, and pro- 
 cure fur myself and family a decent living. If your Country 
 Minister will set me right, he will much oblige 
 
 " A County Booby." 
 Massachusetts Centinel, Jan. 15, 1785. 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 145 
 
 had for some time contemplated removal, and felt 
 that it was necessary. Unless there are clear 
 reasons to the contrary, any minister is justified 
 in interpreting the non-payment of his salary as 
 an evidence of a want of interest and satisfaction 
 in his services ; an intimation, at least, that no 
 strong objection will be made to his resigning his 
 post. Under these circumstances, the communi- 
 cation from Brattle Street simply induced Mr. 
 Thacher to do at once what he had for some time 
 felt he should ultimately be compelled to do, — 
 ask a dismission from his people. He asked that 
 dismission, and was then invited to settle here. 
 In the subsequent negotiations between this so- 
 ciety and the parish in Maiden, looked at in a 
 proper light, there is nothing to censure. What 
 was the pecuniary ability of the society in Mai- 
 den at that period cannot now be ascertained ; 
 but clearly it was not a rich society, or it would 
 not have been in such arrears to its minister. 
 Our society had ample means. The Maiden par- 
 ish had sustained a loss, — a loss which it would 
 have had to sustain probably in a few months ; but 
 the time was hastened by the action of this parish. 
 It needed aid, or it would not have asked for it, 
 or accepted it. This society was able to give it, 
 and did give it. The whole thing was merely 
 the expression of sympathy and aid from a strong 
 society to a weaker one, and in the giving and in 
 
 10 
 
146 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 the receiving of it there was nothing unchristian 
 or unworthy. Both societies, and the descend- 
 ants of all the parties concerned, may look back 
 upon this whole transaction with no feelings of 
 shame or mortification. 
 
 Notwithstanding these unpleasant circumstances 
 connected with his removal from Maiden, Dr. 
 Thacher entered upon his ministry here with the 
 most favorable regard of the whole parish and of 
 the town, and during the seventeen years of its 
 continuance, the society was eminently peaceful 
 and prosperous. 
 
 I do not find in the records much that it would 
 be particularly interesting to notice. 
 
 In August, 1792, "some proposals were made 
 by members of the church to vary its proceedings 
 as to the mode of admitting to ordinances." It 
 is not stated what these proposals were. We 
 are left to infer their character from the votes 
 passed at a meeting held four weeks later, to con- 
 sider and act upon them. These votes are as 
 follows: — "That no more explicit confession 
 of sin should be required of any person, as a term 
 of admission to either of the ordinances, than is 
 expressed in the covenant used in this church on 
 admission thereto " ; and, u That the admission of 
 members to full communion be in future confined 
 to the church, without their being propounded to 
 the congregation." A proposition that persons 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 147 
 
 who had renewed their baptismal covenant, upon 
 standing propounded for one month and no objec- 
 tion being made, should be considered members 
 of the church in full communion, without any 
 further or new profession of their faith, was in- 
 definitely postponed. Thus it would appear that 
 the proposals were in behalf of greater liberty in 
 regard to the administration of the ordinances ; 
 that two of them were granted, and a third was 
 refused. 
 
 During Dr. Thacher's ministry two important 
 changes were made in the administration of the 
 musical part of the services of public worship, 
 namely, the introduction of the organ and the 
 appropriation of money to encourage and secure 
 good singing. The former was done by a vote 
 of the parish, passed December 19th, 1790 ; 
 the latter, by a vote passed in 1802. The intro- 
 duction of the organ was not effected without 
 considerable opposition and difficulty. The rec- 
 ords state that the following vote was passed 
 u nemine contradicente "; namely, " That an or- 
 gan be introduced into this society as an assistant 
 to the vocal music of psalmody, which is es- 
 teemed an important part of public worship, pro- 
 vided it can be obtained by voluntary subscrip- 
 tion, and without laying a tax upon the proprietors 
 or occupiers of pews for the purpose." But 
 notwithstanding no vote stands recorded against 
 
148 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 it, it is well known that many were opposed to 
 it, and that for several years it was never played 
 but as an accompaniment to the singing ; no 
 interludes were allowed between the verses of 
 the hymn, and no symphonies at the opening and 
 close of worship. I heard it related, also, shortly 
 after my induction to the pastoral office here, by 
 one whose great age, and at that time retentive 
 memory, gave authority to the story, that, when 
 the vessel containing the organ arrived below in 
 the harbor, and was waiting for a fair wind to 
 come up, a wealthy gentleman of the parish, who 
 had refused to subscribe toward it, waited upon 
 Dr. Thacher, and offered to pay into the treasury 
 of the church, for the benefit of the poor, the 
 whole cost of the organ and the freight, if he 
 would have it thrown overboard below the light- 
 house. The organ cost five hundred pounds, and 
 the expense of altering the gallery to put it up 
 amounted to about one hundred and twenty-eight 
 pounds. The upper gallery, formerly appropri- 
 ated to colored persons, and which then projected 
 as far as the present organ loft, was carried back ; 
 two pillars corresponding to those on the sides of 
 the church were removed, and the two smaller 
 columns that now support the front gallery, or 
 organ loft, were erected. At this time, also, the 
 pedestals of all the columns were abridged. To 
 prevent this being done by individuals, the follow- 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 149 
 
 ing vote had been passed seventeen years before, 
 in July, 1773 : — "It having been suggested 
 that the pedestals of those pillars that incommode 
 pews might be liable to alteration by the proprie- 
 tors of such pews, unless the society pass some 
 vote to prevent it, and whereas such pews have 
 been set at a less rate on account of said incon- 
 venience, Voted, That no alteration be made in 
 those pillars or pedestals, nor in any other of the 
 pillars and pedestals of the meeting-house on any 
 pretence whatever." 
 
 Dr. Thacher's ministry lasted nearly eighteen 
 years. Though he made his flock his first charge, 
 and failed in no duty which he owed to them, he 
 was, as has been the case with all the ministers 
 of this church, much of a public man, taking a 
 hearty interest and an active part in all efforts 
 and enterprises for the public good. Under the 
 accumulated labors which these involved, his 
 health began to fail at the opening of the present 
 century. Having suffered much for some months 
 previous, and finding no relief from repeated short 
 respites from labor and excursions into the coun- 
 try, he embarked at this port on the 15th of 
 November, 1802, for Savannah, Georgia, in the 
 hope that a winter spent in the genial climate of a 
 Southern State would give ultimate relief to his 
 disease, — pulmonary consumption. This hope, 
 however, was destined to speedy extinction. He 
 
150 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 arrived at Savannah on the 3d of December, and 
 on Thursday, the 16th of that month, he expired. 
 He was accompanied to Savannah by his son, the 
 late Judge Thacher, whose name and memory 
 are still honored among us. I have in my pos- 
 session a very interesting manuscript account, 
 written by Judge Thacher at the time, of the 
 voyage from Boston, and of the last hours of his 
 father. From this it appears that he was re- 
 ceived into the house of Samuel Howard, Esq., 
 and treated with the utmost kindness and care. 
 He was attended by Dr. Kollock, the most skil- 
 ful physician of the place, and visited by the 
 Rev. Robert Smith, pastor of the Presbyterian 
 church at Savannah, who prayed with him a few 
 hours before his death, and preached an eloquent 
 sermon on the next Sunday, when his funeral 
 obsequies were attended. One incident is re- 
 lated, which I notice, not because it is peculiar 
 or important in itself, but because it illustrates 
 the influence and confirms the importance of 
 early religious culture. On laying down for the 
 last time, in the early part of the evening, a (ew 
 hours before his death, he repeated the nursery 
 
 prayer, — 
 
 " Now I lay me down to sleep, 
 I pray the Lord my soul to keep ; 
 If I should die before I wake, 
 I pray the Lord my soul to take " ; 
 
 and turning to his son, said, u My son, this little 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 151 
 
 prayer I have not omitted to repeat on going to 
 bed for forty years. This may be the last time. 
 I charge you never to omit it." There is noth- 
 ing peculiar in this incident. It is related of a 
 great many persons, and it has occurred probably 
 innumerable times when it has not been related. 
 I notice it merely because it shows that this brief, 
 comprehensive nursery prayer, which a child's 
 lips can utter and a child's mind understand, has 
 been the stay and help of the mos ; mature and 
 advanced piety, and has kept alive some feeble 
 spark of religion in many a seared and worldly 
 heart. 
 
 Dr. Thacher's remains were brorght to Bos- 
 ton, but did not arrive until after the funeral ser- 
 vices, which, like those of his predecessor, were 
 held by the parish at the lecture preceding the 
 first communion of the year. The sermon was 
 preached by Rev. Mr. Emerson of the First 
 Church, and the scene and the service are prob- 
 ably distinctly remembered by several who are 
 here present to-day. 
 
 Dr. Thacher was born in Milton, March 21st, 
 1752. His parents resided usually in this town, 
 and at the time of his birth were only stopping 
 temporarily in Milton, because of the small-pox 
 which was raging here ; so that the first four min- 
 isters of this church were natives of this town, 
 and two of them were raised up by Providence 
 
152 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 from among the youth of the congregation itself. 
 Dr. Thacher took his degree at Cambridge in 
 1769, and in September of the following year he 
 was settled at Maiden. In the vigor of early 
 manhood, of an ardent temperament, with high- 
 toned principles of liberty, he took an active part 
 in all the measures that preceded and accom- 
 panied our Revolutionary struggle. He was a 
 delegate from the town of Maiden to the conven- 
 tion that formed the State Constitution, and he 
 closed the session of that convention with prayer. 
 After his removal to this parish, he soon became 
 an active member of the various literary and char- 
 itable institutions of the town ; and for fifteen out 
 of the seventeen years of his ministry here, he 
 was chaplain to one or both branches of the Leg- 
 islature. He received his degree of Doctor in 
 Divinity from Edinburgh in 1791. The memory 
 of Dr. Thacher is still fresh in the minds of some 
 living, and we are aided in forming an estimate of 
 his character and talents by the large number of 
 his published sermons that have been preserved. 
 The style of these sermons, so far as I have had 
 opportunity to examine them, is fresh, vigorous, 
 clear, giving evidence of a frank, decided, inde- 
 pendent mind, that had no object but truth, and 
 no purpose but to express it honestly and strong- 
 ly. From his first settlement in Maiden, which 
 occurred in his nineteenth year, and through life, 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 153 
 
 he sustained a high reputation as a preacher. In 
 a memoir of him, which appeared in the eighth 
 volume of the Collections of the Massachusetts 
 Historical Society, the first volume published after 
 his death, it is said, that " no young man ever 
 preached to such crowded assemblies," and that 
 " Whitefield called him the young Elijah." The 
 following passages from this memoir may help us 
 to form some further idea of his character : — 
 
 u There were manifested indications of a seri- 
 ous mind when he was very young, so that it 
 was observed concerning him, that he never 
 was a child. He certainly preferred books of 
 piety and the conversation of persons older than 
 himself to the diversions of the childish age. 
 An uncommon gravity of deportment, and meas- 
 ured periods of discourse, in which it is said he 
 imitated his father's manner, drew the attention of 
 others, and became the subject of their remark. 
 It was then predicted that he would be a preach- 
 er, and add another of the name to the list of 
 
 worthies whose praise was in the churches 
 
 He early composed sermons and essays. Di- 
 vinity was his favorite study. He was more 
 fond of visiting the schools of the prophets than 
 walking in academic groves, and eagerly looked 
 forward to the time when he should display his 
 eloquence and evangelical zeal in the pulpit. He 
 was more qualified to appear as a divine when he 
 
154 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 received his degree of Bachelor of Arts, than 
 many who have studied theology through a long 
 
 course of years 
 
 11 It would be wrong to omit certain traits in 
 the character of Dr. Thacher which show his 
 moral worth. He was a man of singular integ- 
 rity. A stranger to artifice and deceit, he could 
 not disguise his feelings, but expressed often his 
 disapprobation of them in others. He preferred 
 to have his manners styled rough and his plainness 
 of speech censured by his acquaintance, rather 
 than be thought capable of duplicity in his words 
 and actions, — a polite address, an unassuming 
 air, a winning manner, have their attractions, but 
 
 nothing can make up for want of honesty 
 
 As a friend, he had the confidence of those 
 who knew him ; those who were most intimate 
 will preserve in their memories the tokens of his 
 affection and kindness. If, in the exuberance of 
 unguarded familiarity, he said any thing to hurt 
 their feelings, it gave him pain, for he meant not 
 to be uncourteous. His talents for conversation 
 were remarkable. Some have thought he exerted 
 these too often, and in public speaking took too 
 large a share of the debate ; but when he had been 
 too slow to hear and quick to speak, he was sen- 
 sible of his error, and disposed to make either a 
 serious or facetious apology. He was fond of 
 anecdotes, especially such as illustrated the man- 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 155 
 
 ners of New England. In the history of Massa- 
 chusetts, civil and ecclesiastical, he was more 
 than commonly versed, having read it from his 
 childhood, and also that part of the history of 
 England which exhibits the folly and tyranny of 
 the Stuarts, the usurpation of Cromwell, and the 
 brief authority of the Commonwealth. The es- 
 says, sermons, and memoirs of those times, he 
 could quote, from the manly testimonies of Lud- 
 low to the crude excrescences of Goodwin and 
 Hugh Peters." 
 
 In early life, Dr. Thacher's religious opinions 
 were rigidly Calvinistic, but gradually became 
 more and more Arminian.? During his latter 
 years he was ranked among the conservative, but 
 liberal clergy of his day, and "stood," says Dr. 
 Palfrey, " on ground like that of the late Dr. 
 Osgood and Dr. Lathrop," of the former of 
 whom I have heard it related, that he described 
 his position by saying that his pulpit was five 
 miles from Cambridge and fifteen from Andover, 
 and that, theologically, he held about the same 
 relation to the Divinity Schools of the two places. 
 
 Mr. Emerson, in the sermon preached at his 
 funeral obsequies, a kw passages from which will 
 give us some idea of the estimation in which he 
 was held by his contemporaries, says of him, 
 " He was illustrious for his natural powers. ^His 
 soul was lodged in a person possessing the ad- 
 
156 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 vantages of a noble stature, a commanding mien, 
 a full and steady eye, a countenance pleasing and 
 expressive, a mouth formed for ready utterance, 
 and a voice of wonderful sweetness, variety, and 
 strength. With these qualities of body, so emi- 
 nently useful to a public speaker, the Father of 
 Lights had united a sound understanding, a fancy 
 of uncommon sprightliness, a tenacious memory, 
 and a correct judgment. He was illustrious for 
 his gift of extempore prayer. It seemed as if 
 the melody of his tones awoke his own devotion, 
 and imparted life to all who joined him in the 
 sacred service. No concourse was so numerous, 
 no case so intricate, no occasion so sudden, as to 
 produce apparent confusion in his thoughts, or the 
 smallest hesitation in utterance. He had a fac- 
 ulty of waiving and resuming at pleasure the sub- 
 ject of petition, and of waiting, so to speak, for 
 the moment of inspiration to amplify and entreat. 
 u He was illustrious for his success. In the 
 course of his ministry, and especially since his 
 residence in the metropolis, his labors have been 
 greatly blessed. This is evidenced by the num- 
 ber of communicants in this church, by his very 
 acceptable visits in the chambers of the sick and 
 the dying, and by his praise which is in the Gos- 
 pel throughout all our churches. His useful ser- 
 vices were not confined to the church. Nothing 
 patriotic, nothing humane, was foreign to his feel- 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 157 
 
 ings. He successfully pleaded the cause of the 
 poor in the ear of the rich, as well as before the 
 throne of Almighty compassion. He interested 
 himself in schemes of private beneficence and 
 public utility, which his acquaintance with the 
 wise and powerful enabled him essentially to 
 serve. In the state he was the uniform and 
 influential supporter of rational liberty. Equally 
 the foe of licentiousness and oppression, he em- 
 ployed his talents as opportunity presented in de- 
 feating the machinations of wicked, and supporting 
 the measures of upright and consistent rulers. In 
 short," says Mr. Emerson, "his activity, punc- 
 tuality, and faithfulness in discharging his pastoral 
 duties, his reverence for the Lord's day and the 
 Lord's house, his labors in the cause of human 
 institutions, his concern ana 1 endeavors for the 
 propagation of our holy religion, the interest he 
 took in the increasing usefulness and reputation of 
 our University, his aids in furthering the progress 
 of the arts and sciences generally, and his wishes, 
 his writings, and his prayers in behalf of the inde- 
 pendence, liberty, peace, and glory of our beloved 
 America, are so many proofs of the worth and 
 brilliancy of his example." 
 
 The man of whom his contemporaries spoke 
 thus, must have had intellectual and moral attri- 
 butes of no ordinary stamp, and when we remem- 
 ber that the ministry of Dr. Thacher covered 
 
158 HISTORY OF BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 
 
 " the most depressed and perilous period which 
 religion has ever witnessed in New England, — 
 the period of the French Revolution," and con- 
 sider that during this period this church was 
 peaceful and prosperous, spiritually alive and ear- 
 nest, that the strong minds and warm hearts that 
 gathered here were baptized into the spirit of the 
 Gospel, kept within the fold of Christ by the 
 faithful labors and quickening powers of the pas- 
 tor, we shall readily come to the conclusion, that 
 among the w 7 ise and good and devoted men who 
 have stood in this desk, not least to be honored 
 and cherished stands the name and the memory 
 of Peter Thacher. 
 
 Brattle Street, March 24th, 1850. 
 
SERMON V. 
 
 HE WAS A BURNING AND A SHINING LIGHT. John V. 35. 
 
 In our review of the history of this church, we 
 have now reached a period distinctly within the 
 personal recollections of many who hear me. 
 Dr. Thacher died December 16th, 1802. Early 
 in the following year, the society invited the Rev. 
 William Ellery Channing " to preach with them 
 on probation, with a view to settle with them as 
 their pastor." He declined the invitation, on the 
 ground that his health would not permit him to 
 take charge of so large a parish, or preach in so 
 large a church. He subsequently accepted the 
 invitation of the society in Federal Street, which 
 at that time was a less numerous congregation, 
 with a small church. The growth and prosperity 
 of that society under the distinguished ministry of 
 Dr. Channing are facts within the memory of 
 many present. Early in the autumn of 1803, the 
 society invited the Rev. Abiel Abbott, who had 
 recently been dismissed from the pastoral charge 
 
160 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 of the First Church in Haverhill, to preach here 
 four Sabbaths as a candidate for settlement. 
 This invitation was declined, Dr. Abbott having 
 previously accepted an invitation to settle in Bev- 
 erly, where he had a long, harmonious, and emi- 
 nently useful ministry. 
 
 The pulpit was supplied by various temporary 
 arrangements, till November, 1804, when Joseph 
 Stevens Buckminster was engaged to preach four 
 Sabbaths as a candidate, at the expiration of 
 which, on the 9th of December, he was invited 
 to take charge of the parish as its pastor. This 
 invitation was accepted in a letter dated Decem- 
 ber 23d, which some of you may like to hear. 
 In directness, simplicity, and comprehensiveness, 
 it might serve as a model for letters of the kind. 
 
 " To the Committee of the Society in 
 Brattle Street: — 
 
 u Gentlemen, — No rule of propriety or del- 
 icacy requires me to forbear all expression of 
 pleasure at testimonies of approbation and good- 
 will which have marked the proceedings of your 
 society ; neither am I sensible of any advantages 
 which would result from a longer delay of an 
 answer to an invitation adopted with such unanim- 
 ity and recommended by such encouragements. 
 
 " But while I give you this early intimation 
 that I have concluded to accept your proposals, 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 161 
 
 I should be unfaithful to myself and to you if I 
 did not express my apprehension that you will be 
 called to overlook many deficiencies and excuse 
 many mistakes in one whom youth and consequent 
 inexperience, united with precarious health, will 
 ask for all the indulgence which his past inter- 
 course with you encourages him to expect. 
 
 u If, in the course of events, a favorable oppor- 
 tunity should occur of associating with me another 
 pastor, much of our mutual anxiety might be re- 
 lieved, and the interests of a numerous societv 
 judiciously consulted. But if the cause of Christ 
 here should not be found to suffer from the insuffi- 
 ciency of my single efforts, I trust T shall be dis- 
 posed to thank God, in whose strength alone the 
 weak are strong, in whose wisdom the inexperi- 
 enced are wise, and with whose blessing the most 
 feeble labors will not prove unsuccessful. If 
 God should spare my life, I hope some of its most 
 cheering and permanent consolations will be found 
 in the uninterrupted harmony, the increasing affec- 
 tion, and the spiritual improvement of this large 
 society. To instruct the ignorant, to reclaim the 
 wandering, to impress the insensible, to console 
 the afflicted, to reconcile the alienated, to declare 
 the whole counsel of God, and at the same time 
 to give no offence in any thing that the ministry 
 be not blamed, are duties which no pastor can 
 even partially perform, unless encouraged by your 
 
 11 
 
162 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 utmost charity, and aided by your public and pri- 
 vate prayers. For these, then, I ask ; and may 
 that God who has hitherto blessed the religious 
 interests of your society in granting you a succes- 
 sion of luminaries, whose light has not yet de- 
 parted, though their orbs have set, continue to 
 build you up in faith, charity, purity, and peace, 
 and give you at last an inheritance among them 
 that are sanctified. 
 
 " J. S. BUCKMINSTER." 
 
 Mr. Buckminster was ordained on Wednesday, 
 the 30th of January, 1805, his father, Rev. Dr. 
 Buckminster of Portsmouth, preaching the ser- 
 mon. But the hopes of that day were destined 
 to a sudden temporary disappointment. The 
 fatigue and agitation of the Ordination were more 
 than his delicate health and easily excited sensi- 
 bilities could bear. The following Sunday found 
 him prostrate on a bed of sickness, and for sev- 
 eral weeks he was too ill to preach. On com- 
 mencing his labors in the pulpit, towards the end 
 of March, instead of those appropriate discourses 
 usually expected from a pastor newly inducted, 
 he preached that sermon on the advantages of 
 sickness, which subsequently appeared in the first 
 volume of his printed sermons, and which has 
 probably been read with as much profit, and given 
 as much instruction and consolation, as any one of 
 his discourses. 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 163 
 
 The events and proceedings of the parish of 
 any historical interest during Mr. Buckminster's 
 ministry were few and simple, and may be brief- 
 ly stated. About the time of his settlement, 
 the practice of carrying round boxes in church to 
 collect the taxes was discontinued, and the pres- 
 ent mode of collecting them adopted. In con- 
 formity with the principle of the original Mani- 
 festo of 1699, which principle perhaps had fallen 
 into disuse or been violated, it was voted, 
 "That, in the settlement of a minister, all who 
 statedly attend public worship and contribute to 
 the support of a minister, in the parish in Brat- 
 tle Street, have a right to vote." In 1805, the 
 congregation of the Old South Church, upon 
 invitation of this society, worshipped here during 
 repairs made upon their church. In 1806, the 
 church established the rule, u that, for any one 
 wishing to come to the communion, it was suffi- 
 cient if his name stood mentioned or propounded 
 from one meeting of the church to another." In 
 1807, the question of a new hymn-book was agi- 
 tated, and resulted in continuing Tate and Brady, 
 with an addition prepared by Mr. Buckminster. 
 This addition, exactly as prepared by him, consti- 
 tutes the second part of the hymn-book now in use. 
 In 1 809, a new bell, weighing three thousand four 
 hundred and sixty-nine pounds, was imported from 
 London for the society's use, at an expense of 
 
164 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 over two thousand dollars, which was defrayed 
 by subscription. The clock on the west gallery 
 was put up in 1811, and was the gift of the Hon. 
 Mr. Bowdoin. In 1811, Mr. Buckminster, on his 
 own authority, resumed the primitive practice of 
 giving certificates of regular standing and recom- 
 mendation to those who wished to connect them- 
 selves with other churches, without calling the 
 church together to vote such certificate. In 
 relation to this Mr. Buckminster makes the fol- 
 lowing entry in the records: — " In giving Mr. 
 Samuel Cooper Thacher his recommendation to 
 the fellowship of the church with which he was 
 to be connected, I did not think it necessary to 
 call the church together, as this is directly con- 
 trary to the practice vindicated by the founders of 
 our church, and is entirely unnecessary. In the 
 present case I was the more willing to establish 
 this precedent, as there could be no doubt of the 
 great affection and esteem borne to Mr. Thacher, 
 in whose settlement among us I most cordially 
 rejoice." In the spring of 1806, Mr. Buckmin- 
 ster, being worn down by his labors, the terrible 
 malady to which he was subject sensibly increas- 
 ing in the frequency and violence of its attacks, 
 the society, never wanting in generous kindness 
 to their ministers, sent him abroad for relaxation 
 and travel. He was absent more than fifteen 
 months, visiting all parts of Great Britain and the 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 165 
 
 most interesting places on the continent of Eu- 
 rope. He returned in September, 1807, with 
 improved health, though still subject to attacks of 
 his disease. Resuming his labors, he devoted 
 himself with unwearied diligence and fidelity to 
 the duties of his office, to the cause of sound 
 learning, of pure piety, and all the best interests, 
 not only of his society, but of the whole com- 
 munity, till June, 1812, when, on the 9th of 
 that month, after a brief illness, he died, to 
 the deep sorrow of many hearts, who have not 
 yet ceased to cherish his memory and regret his 
 loss. It will be seen from this brief statement of 
 facts, that no public changes or events of impor- 
 tance occurred in our history during this period, 
 and that its chief interest is connected with the 
 personal fortunes, life, character, and ministry of 
 Mr. Buckminster. Upon these I would now 
 offer a few remarks for our instruction and im- 
 provement. 
 
 Mr. Buckminster was born, as is well known, 
 probably, to all of you, in Portsmouth, in May, 
 17S4. Had he been living, he would have been 
 just completing at this time his sixty-sixth year, an 
 age at which many men are in the full vigor of all 
 their powers, and at the height of their usefulness 
 and honor. It is necessary, I think, to consider 
 this to form a just appreciation of the loss which 
 the community sustained in his early death. On 
 
166 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 reading his life, and closing the history of his 
 brief, but glorious career, I have often said to 
 myself, " Had Mr. Buckminster lived the allot- 
 ted age of man, and enjoyed the usual measure of 
 health and strength, with his extraordinary intel- 
 lectual powers, his enlarged and ever-increasing 
 learning, his clear, practical wisdom, his deep- 
 toned and earnest piety, as free from cant and 
 morbid enthusiasm as from coldness and indiffer- 
 ence, his persuasive and commanding eloquence, 
 his peculiar talent at reaching the heart, the con- 
 science, the judgment of others, and giving a direc- 
 tion and guidance to their purposes and efforts, — 
 had he lived with all these intellectual gifts and 
 spiritual graces enlarging and increasing with his 
 years, how much good he would have done, how 
 great, how extensive and beneficial, would have 
 been his influence ! How many erratic minds 
 would have been checked in their wanderings by 
 intercourse with his progressive, yet clear and sta- 
 ble mind ! How many speculations, vain and idle, 
 that have arisen to mislead the simple, the conceit- 
 ed, and the half-educated, would have been crushed 
 by the superior learning and the clear, calm, pene- 
 trating criticism which he would have brought to 
 bear upon them ! How different, probably, would 
 have been the condition and character, the fea- 
 tures and tendency, of the religious denomination 
 with which he was connected ! What an impress 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 167 
 
 of himself would he have left upon the morals and 
 manners, the habits of thought and action, the 
 religion, the learning, and the philanthropy of the 
 last forty years ! " But such speculations are vain, 
 if not sinful. God taketh care of every genera- 
 tion, and meets every emergency of human affairs 
 in his own way. It may be that what we call a 
 loss was in fact a gain, and that through what has 
 been written about him, and what was written by 
 him and has since been published and diffused, the 
 declaration of Scripture concerning Abel, u He, 
 being dead, yet speaketh," has had a fulfilment 
 beyond the reality, beyond all the conceptions 
 we can form of the influence he would have ex- 
 erted and the good he would have done, had his 
 life been prolonged. 
 
 In his case, Providence seems intentionally to 
 have provided a compensation for his sudden, and 
 to our judgment premature death, in the early 
 development and quick maturity of his powers. 
 Scarcely had the earliest years of infancy passed 
 before he gave decided indications of extraordina- 
 ry intellectual gifts, and of moral and religious ele- 
 ments of character, such as to impress even stran- 
 gers with the conviction that he was a remarkable 
 child, and would be a marked and distinguished 
 man. What Dr. Kirkland said of Fisher Ames 
 is particularly true of him, — " He did not need 
 the smart of guilt to make him virtuous, nor the 
 
168 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 regret of folly to make him wise." He was in- 
 stinctively moral and religious ; in his earliest 
 childhood, and all through his childhood, there 
 was a deep current of faith and piety running 
 through all his thoughts and feelings, a constant 
 recognition and sympathy in his mind with the 
 truths and objects of religion. Those evil pas- 
 sions and impulses, those wavering propensities 
 and dispositions, which in most children awaken 
 so much parental anxiety, and demand such con- 
 stant watchfulness and discipline, seem in him to 
 have been at once subdued and controlled by the 
 presence of the strong, decided, mature piety of 
 a man in the heart of a little child. The record 
 of Mr. Buckminster's childhood, always some- 
 what known, has just been most fully laid before 
 us, in the memoir by his sister, Mrs. Lee ; and I 
 know of no record of childhood that authorizes 
 us to apply with more strength and emphasis the 
 declaration of Scripture concerning one of the 
 prophets of old, — " He was sanctified from his 
 youth up." The promise of his early childhood 
 was fulfilled by his career at school and at col- 
 lege. Here he was a striking u example of the 
 possible connection of the most splendid genius 
 with the most regular and persevering industry, of 
 a generous independence of character with a per- 
 fect respect for the governors of the College, and 
 of a keen relish for innocent enjoyment with a 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 169 
 
 fixed dread of every shadow of vice." * He 
 took his degree at Cambridge in 1800, a few- 
 months after his sixteenth birth-day, and thus 
 " left the University with an unspotted fame and 
 its highest literary honors at an age when most are 
 entering upon collegiate duties." After leaving 
 college, he was for two years assistant teacher in 
 Exeter Academy,! and subsequently private tutor 
 
 * Thacher's Memoir. 
 
 t " At this time he had the honor and privilege of being 
 the instructor of Daniel Webster. Mr. Webster, in a manu- 
 script memoir of his early life, says, — ' My first lessons in 
 Latin were recited to Joseph Stevens Buckminster, at that 
 time an assistant at the Academy. I made tolerable progress 
 in all the branches I attended to under his instruction, but 
 there was one thing I could not do, — I could not make a 
 declamation, I could not speak before the school. The kind 
 and excellent Buckminster especially sought to persuade me 
 to perform the exercise of declamation like the other boys, 
 but I could not do it. Many a piece did I commit to memory 
 and rehearse in my own room, over and over again; but 
 when the day came, when the school collected, when my 
 name was called, and I saw all eyes turned upon my seat, I 
 could not raise myself from it. Sometimes the masters 
 frowned, sometimes they smiled. Mr. Buckminster always 
 pressed and entreated, with the most winning kindness, that 
 I would only venture once ; but I could not command suf- 
 ficient resolution, and when the occasion was over I went 
 home and wept bitter tears of mortification.' 
 
 " What interesting thoughts does this description excite, 
 with all the gathered associations of so many years ! The 
 youthful teacher winning the future statesman to exert that 
 unsuspected power which has since had such wide-spread 
 and powerful influence. Did he discern that noble intellect, 
 
170 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 in the family of his uncle, the late Theodore Ly- 
 man, senior, pursuing, at the same time, however, 
 his studies in theology, and preparing himself for 
 that profession which, from his earliest years, had 
 been the profession of his choice. His course of 
 theological study was elaborate and thorough, 
 though pursued chiefly under his own direction. 
 The principle he adopted — that of beginning 
 with what was simple and clear, and gradually pro- 
 ceeding to what was difficult, doubtful, or dark — 
 was one that fostered independence and integrity 
 of mind, and gave permanence and power to 
 whatever opinions he adopted on deliberate con- 
 viction and thorough research. After four years 
 of preparatory theological study, during which he 
 went through an uncommonly wide and extensive 
 field of theological investigation, he accepted the 
 invitation of this society to become its pastor, and 
 
 that exalted genius, then concealed in the bashful reserve of 
 his pupil? The sensibility that made Webster shrink from 
 display would have indicated to a penetrating eye the hidden 
 power ; and the persevering kindness with which the in- 
 structor urged again and again that he would only venture 
 once, proves that he was conscious there was much concealed 
 that only needed encouragement to bring out and make him 
 know his latent power. Mr. Webster was older than Buck- 
 minster. Had the teacher been permitted to live to observe 
 the splendid career of the pupil, with what pride would he 
 have looked back to the moment when his youthful voice 
 soothed and encouraged the diffidence of one afterwards so 
 eminent ! " — Memoirs of Buckminster, by Mrs. Lee, pp. 
 114,115. 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 171 
 
 was inducted into office before the completion of 
 his minority. Of the harmony, the prosperity, 
 the spiritual growth and progress of the society 
 during his ministry, it is unnecessary that I should 
 speak. Much of the fruits of that ministry still 
 abides among us. Continually have I witnessed 
 them, often have I been reminded of them, in my 
 parochial walks. But a few years ago, one who 
 has now gone to his account, and the last years 
 of whose life were checkered by various sore 
 trials, said to me, in tones of mournful earnestness 
 and sincerity, — "I received my strongest and 
 deepest religious impressions from Mr. Buckmin- 
 ster. He was the first person who woke up my 
 soul to a sense of the grandeur and responsibility 
 of its destiny, and made me feel that religion was 
 important, — had a reality. I have had many 
 trials to bear, some sad reverses, some bitter 
 bereavements to meet, and if I have had faith to 
 bear them with tolerable patience and fortitude, 
 — if I have had strength and peace and an im- 
 mortal hope to cheer me, — I owe it all, under 
 God, to him ; and even to this day, Brattle Street 
 Church is more associated with him in my mind 
 than it is with you, or with any other preacher. 
 Scarcely a Sunday passes, that my thoughts do 
 not revert to him, that his image does not rise 
 up before me at some time during the service." 
 Others, doubtless, could make the same declara- 
 
172 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 tion, bear the same testimony. And the min- 
 istry that left this strong and durable impress of 
 itself upon so many hearts lasted but seven years 
 and five months, — the name that is among the 
 most illustrious in the American pulpit belonged 
 to a young man who died before he reached the 
 age at which most eminent men are just beginning 
 to be known. Many years ago, when I was a 
 student in theology myself, I remember asking a 
 contemporary and friend of Mr. Buckminster, — 
 a brother of the same profession, one who knew 
 him well and loved him much, — what was the 
 secret of his success, — of his power. To which 
 he replied, " Have you ever read his sermons ?" 
 I answered, " Yes, and I admit them to be ex- 
 cellent, admirable, very striking, impressive ser- 
 mons ; but they do not seem to me to explain 
 and account for all the enthusiasm with which you 
 and those who knew him speak of him, — the 
 deep reverence and affection with which you all 
 cherish his name and memory." At this distance 
 of time, I cannot recall his precise words, but the 
 substance of what he said at some length, in reply, 
 was as follows : — u To judge of Mr. Buckmin- 
 ster's sermons and properly appreciate them, one 
 must review the preaching of the thirty or forty 
 years previous, and make himself familiar with 
 its general characteristics, both as to the topics 
 selected and mode and style of treatment. He 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 173 
 
 will perceive that, with a kw exceptions, the 
 preaching of that period was dry, technical, for- 
 mal. It was the anatomy of the bones of religion, 
 exhibited in a carefully prepared, but lifeless, 
 skeleton. Mr. Buckminster introduced the living 
 form into the pulpit in all its beauty, freshness, 
 and strength, and showed its practical uses and 
 power. Let any one read a dozen of the ordinary 
 sermons of that period, and then read Mr. Buck- 
 minster, and he will get some idea of the life and 
 freshness and reality which he imparted to the 
 services of the pulpit, and will not be surprised 
 at the impression his preaching produced, — es- 
 pecially when he takes into the account the felici- 
 ty of his manner, the glory of his speaking eye, 
 and the rich pathos of his voice. He will under- 
 stand how it was, and why it was, that the most 
 refined and least cultivated equally hung upon his 
 lips, and that all classes, the young, the mature, 
 the aged, listened with wonder and delight, — 
 were at once charmed, instructed, and improved." 
 ct Still," he continued, cc I am not surprised 
 at your question. It has often been asked me ; 
 and I admit, that Mr. Buckminster's sermons 
 alone do not explain to those who never knew 
 him the impression he made upon the community, 
 and the enthusiastic reverence and affection cher- 
 ished for him by his friends. This is to be ex- 
 plained by the singular beauty and harmony of his 
 
174 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 character, and the extraordinary combination of 
 qualities which he possessed. We have had men 
 of genius and men of industry in the pulpit before 
 his day, — men who were eloquent and impressive 
 as preachers, and men who were distinguished for 
 large and extensive learning, — men of enthusiasm 
 and fervor, and men of prudence, caution, and 
 good practical judgment, — men bold and inde- 
 pendent in their speculations, and men desirous 
 not to give offence, wise and careful in the 
 changes of thought and opinion they endeavored 
 to introduce, — men of dignity and sternness, and 
 men of gentleness and sweetness of disposition, 
 
 — men distinguished for one or other of these 
 qualities ; Mr. Buckminster was remarkable for 
 them all. In him they were singularly combined 
 and harmonized. He was a man of genius, that is, 
 of extraordinary natural gifts and powers ; but he 
 united with them the most patient and untiring 
 industry. He was a man of marvellous eloquence 
 as a speaker and writer, yet he was as remarkable, 
 
 — he was more remarkable, considering his age, 
 for his learning, his profound and accurate theo- 
 logical and general scholarship, than for his elo- 
 quence ; and the impetus and direction he gave 
 to learning, especially to theological investigation, 
 was not less than that which he gave to religion 
 in its practical departments of piety and virtue. 
 He was a man of enthusiasm, fervent and zealous ; 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 175 
 
 yet none of his age and time surpassed him in pro- 
 found, practical wisdom, good sense, and good 
 judgment. He had a bold and independent mind, 
 controlled supremely in its investigation only by a 
 love and reverence for truth ; and yet with such a 
 respect for the prejudices or errors of others, that 
 he never wounded them unnecessarily or purpose- 
 ly. In the dignity and firmness of his character, 
 religion in its highest claims was never compro- 
 mised by unworthy compliances with fashionable 
 follies or popular sins ; while the sweetness of his 
 manners, the instinctive gentleness and kindness 
 of his disposition, won for himself and the religion 
 he preached interest, affection, and respect from 
 all. It was this harmonious combination of ex- 
 traordinary gifts and qualities that caused Mr* 
 Buckminster to be loved, honored, reverenced ; 
 this explains his success, the influence he exert- 
 ed, and the fond regret and enduring remem- 
 brance with which his name is still cherished." 
 
 This, I suppose, is the true explanation to be 
 given of Mr. Buckminster's character and influ- 
 ence. It is confirmed by all that we know of his 
 life and labors, while pastor of this church. While 
 he failed in no duty here, and made this pulpit and 
 the sphere of action immediately connected with 
 it always the first and the most important object 
 of his efforts, his heart took in all the great inter- 
 ests of the community, and no man did more to 
 
176 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 promote them. In all the movements of his day 
 for the advancement of science, literature, educa- 
 tion, philanthropy, he look a prominent part, and 
 of all the societies or institutions formed or exist- 
 ing for the promotion 0/ these objects, he was 
 an active officer or an efficient member. 
 
 In the autumn of 1811, he received the ap- 
 pointment of Lecturer on the Literature and 
 Criticism of the Sacred Scriptures, on the founda- 
 tion established by the late Hon. Samuel Dexter, 
 his friend and parishioner. Of this appointment 
 he was every way worthy, and it gave entire satis- 
 faction to the public. For its duties, which were 
 to be discharged without relinquishing his parish, 
 he was every way qualified. But he thought 
 otherwise. His honorable ambition, his con- 
 scientiousness, his profound sense of the impor- 
 tance and responsibleness of these duties, urged 
 him beyond his strength. He passed the winter 
 of 1812 in the most zealous and indefatigable 
 study, preparing for his lectures, — rising two 
 hours earlier every morning for this purpose, — 
 at the same time relaxing none of his labors for 
 his pulpit, some of the most eloquent and excel- 
 lent of his sermons having been written at this 
 period. To one so frail, already subject to a 
 fearful malady, the result of such intense intel- 
 lectual action and effort was what was dreaded 
 by some, and might have been foreseen by all. 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 177 
 
 The excitement of the anniversary week of 1812, 
 — at which time he preached the last sermon he 
 ever wrote, before the Society for the Promotion 
 of Christian Knowledge, Piety, and Charity, — 
 succeeded, as it was, by the warm and relaxing 
 weather of early June, was too much for him, and 
 overstrained nature gave way. On Wednesday, 
 the 3d of that month, he was seized with a most 
 violent attack of his disorder, which completely 
 prostrated his reason, and made a total wreck of 
 his once glorious intellect. But his fervent prayer, 
 offered in all submission, was granted, — he did 
 not outlive his faculties and his usefulness. u The 
 ruin came all at once ; the shock was instanta- 
 neous." He was struck down in the very height 
 of his fame and of his power, for it is said that 
 u he never appeared more brilliant, more equal 
 to every duty, more animated and efficient, than 
 immediately before his last illness."* The strug- 
 gle between life and death lasted for one week, 
 when he expired, on Tuesday, the 9th of June. 
 The funeral sermon was preached by Dr. Kirk- 
 land, and his remains, amid the tears and fond 
 regrets of many hearts, were deposited in the 
 tomb of his uncle, the late Theodore Lyman, at 
 Waltham. Here they remained for thirty years. 
 On the 12th of June, 1842, they were removed, 
 
 * Thacher's Memoir. 
 12 
 
178 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 and deposited in a beautiful spot at Mount Au- 
 burn, with appropriate services which you all 
 remember, and a chaste monument erected over 
 them, by the subscriptions of his friends and for- 
 mer parishioners. # There, in the beautiful spot 
 
 * This was an occasion of much interest both to the mem- 
 bers of the Brattle Street society and to the friends of Mr. 
 Buckminster generally, who assembled at Mount Auburn on 
 the afternoon of June 12th, 1842, where the remains were 
 then deposited with appropriate services, which were con- 
 ducted by Dr. Palfrey. From a brief memorandum made at 
 the time, the following sketch of Dr. Palfrey's remarks has 
 been prepared : — 
 
 " Dr. Palfrey said, that, since the form which lay before 
 them had moved in the scenes of life, thirty years had come 
 and gone, — a whole generation had passed across the stage. 
 But many were present who remembered it well when it was 
 animated by the sainted spirit of Buckminster, — and many 
 others who know what a space he filled in the view of his 
 own time, and what an influence has descended from him 
 upon the times which have followed. And they think their 
 duty undischarged till his mortal remains have been placed 
 where the step of affection and gratitude may in all coming 
 time visit their resting-place. 
 
 " The time for eulogy, Dr. P. said, had gone by, and the 
 time for sorrow ; but it might not be inappropriate to the oc- 
 casion to recall a few facts. He referred briefly to the par- 
 entage of Mr. Buckminster, to the bright promise of his child- 
 hood, to his pure and studious youth ; and said that in the 
 beautiful example of his college life his mission of usefulness 
 was already in part accomplished. The earnestness, dili- 
 gence, and candor of his theological studies for four years, 
 and the peculiar circumstances under which they were pros- 
 ecuted, involving an abandonment of opinions in which he 
 had been educated, were next noticed ; the state of the 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 179 
 
 where his remains now rest, we may hope that, 
 for long years and for many generations, his 
 
 churches and the character of pulpit services at the time of 
 his entrance upon them ; the interest and admiration excited 
 by his preaching ; his settlement in the church in Brattle 
 Square; the injury sustained by his health in consequence of 
 the assiduity of his devotion to his work ; his absence in 
 Europe, and return; his growth in learning, graces, and in- 
 fluence; and his services to literary and other public objects, 
 — among others, his contributions to the Anthology, his 
 agency in the foundation of the Athenaeum, and his zeal and 
 activity as an Overseer of the College. 
 
 " The singular excellence and efficacy of his private social 
 influence was then dwelt upon. There was a fascination in 
 his presence altogether peculiar; — in his person, his voice, 
 the expression of his countenance, his manners, his conversa- 
 tion. All who approached felt attracted to him. All desired 
 his friendship, and all felt that to be worthy of it they must 
 be good and useful. They who would sympathize with him 
 had to sympathize with all excellent aims and objects. And 
 especially, his elegant attainments, and his enthusiastic love 
 of letters, — communicated to the admiring youth around him 1 , 
 and through them to a now wide circle, — were represented 
 as being, more than any thing else, the remote cause of the 
 rapid progress of learning in New England since his day, and 
 its improved state in the present times. 
 
 " Some of the circumstances of the sudden access of his 
 disease on Wednesday, the 3d of June, and of its progress to 
 the fatal event, were related. Dr. P. said he well remem- 
 bered how the tolling of the bell from the church-tower, 
 announcing his departure, seemed to throw the city into a 
 universal mourning ; he remembered the weeping crowds in 
 the church, and the sobs from manly bosoms, and tears 
 streaming down manly cheeks, among the groups that stood 
 
180 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 name, written in marble, shall speak to the con- 
 science and the heart ; and to all who love learn- 
 ing, piety, and virtue, be an incentive to fidelity 
 
 under a stormy sky around the grave in the Chapel burying- 
 ground, where the body was first deposited. It was present- 
 ly conveyed to the tomb of the late Theodore Lyman in 
 Waltham, whence it was now reclaimed to be committed to 
 its final rest. 
 
 " We have chosen that place of rest, said Dr. P., where 
 we think that our friend and benefactor might have desired 
 to lie. Only a few years will pass, and the silent preacher 
 will be surrounded here by a silent congregation. It will be 
 of those who have loved him, and whom he has loved. 
 There will be those whom, on the morning of the resurrec- 
 tion, his loving spirit will joy to clasp in a reunion never 
 then to be dissolved. There will be those once accustomed 
 to hang on his eloquent lips, and for whom he kindled or 
 quickened that hope full of immortality which to this day 
 glows in their bosoms, and irradiates their lives. We mean 
 that, though dead, he shall yet speak once more. We mean 
 to break the silence of those mute lips. We mean that the 
 mound which is to be heaped on that open grave shall bear 
 a tablet consecrated to profitable memories. Might it be that 
 the glorified spirit, descending from the abodes of bliss, 
 should now be hovering over us, we trust that, witnessing 
 such a purpose in us, — a purpose not merely of satisfying 
 feelings natural and cherished, but of extending the benefi- 
 cent influence we rejoice in, — our affectionate tribute might 
 not be viewed as worthless. We trust that God himself — 
 the Source of all good influences, the Giver of every good 
 and perfect gift — may not disdain our endeavor thus to per- 
 petuate and promote the influence which he himself ordained 
 to go forth from his selected servant." 
 
 The inscription on the monument is as follows : — 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 181 
 
 in duty. God grant this review of his life and 
 ministry may be so to us ! 
 
 Brattle Street, May 12th, 1850. 
 
 Josefh Stevens Buckminster 
 
 was born 
 
 May 26, 1784, 
 
 was ordained pastor 
 
 of the Church in 
 
 Brattle Square, Boston, 
 
 January 30, 1805, 
 
 and departed this life 
 
 June 9, 1812. 
 
 His mortal remains 
 with those of 
 his eldest sister 
 were deposited beneath 
 this stone, 
 by the care of the Church 
 to which he 
 had ministered, 
 June 12, 1842. 
 
SERMON VI. 
 
 THE LORD OUR GOD BE WITH US, AS HE WAS WITH OUR 
 FATHERS : LET 
 
 1 Kings viii. 57. 
 
 FATHERS : LET HIM NOT LEAVE US, NOR FORSAKE US. 
 
 In successive sermons, we have now followed 
 the history of this church from its establishment 
 in 1699 to the close of Mr. Buckminster's minis- 
 try, in June, 1812. This brings us to a period 
 distinctly within the memory of very many who 
 hear me. Mr. Buckminster was succeeded by 
 Mr. Everett ; and his very brief and brilliant 
 ministry was followed by the longer and emi- 
 nently faithful, devoted, and useful ministry of 
 Dr. Palfrey. Propriety does not permit us to 
 speak of the living with the same freedom with 
 which we speak of the dead ; but as long years 
 have passed since these gentlemen were incum- 
 bents of this pulpit, and as both have since been 
 eminent in various and widely different walks of 
 life, it would seem, that, without any violation 
 
HISTORY OF BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 183 
 
 of propriety, we might speak with considerable 
 frankness and freedom of their services and influ- 
 ence in this desk. 1 shall hope not to be guilty of 
 such violation, and yet shall endeavor to give you 
 some just account of their ministries. 
 
 After the death of Mr. Buckminster, the pulpit 
 was supplied for more than a year by temporary 
 engagements with various clergymen, no one of 
 whom preached as a candidate. Early in the 
 autumn of 1813, the attention of the parish was 
 directed to Mr. Everett, who had graduated at 
 Harvard College two years before, with the high- 
 est honors of his class, and an unsurpassed repu- 
 tation for talents and scholarship, and who was 
 at this time pursuing his theological studies at 
 Cambridge. He was invited to preach as a can- 
 didate on the 10th of December, 1813, and, after 
 supplying the pulpit four Sundays, received a 
 unanimous invitation to become the pastor of the 
 society. The invitation was accepted, and he 
 was ordained on the 9th of February, 1814. 
 Mr. Everett's ministry lasted but thirteen months. 
 Early in the year 1815, he accepted the appoint- 
 ment tendered him by the Corporation of Har- 
 vard College, of Eliot Professor of Greek Lit- 
 erature, and his connection with this society was 
 dissolved on the 5th of March of that year. Never 
 did a severer blow fall more unexpectedly upon a 
 parish than this ; never was a dissolution of a pas- 
 
184 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 toral connection more reluctantly acquiesced in. 
 I make no undue claim for the clerical profes- 
 sion ; but I am not disposed to admit that there is 
 any higher stand-point for human effort than the 
 desk of religious instruction, — any sphere in 
 which learning, talent, genius, all the energies of 
 a noble mind and a generous heart, can do 
 more good, exert a wider, more lasting, more 
 important influence, than in the pulpit, especially 
 the free Congregational pulpit of America ; and 
 it must always be matter of regret when a person 
 having these rich gifts and endowments steps aside 
 and steps down from the pulpit to mingle in the 
 dust and strife of secular affairs. In the case of 
 Mr. Everett, however, the regret felt, and which 
 some, who distinctly remember him thirty-seven 
 years ago as the youthful pastor of this church, 
 feel strongly to this day, — the regret that talents 
 so eminent should have been thus early lost to the 
 pulpit, — is somewhat mitigated by the fact, that 
 in every sphere in which they have since been 
 exerted, in every office which they have since 
 honored and adorned, — in the halls of legislation, 
 in the higher walks of diplomacy, in academic 
 retreats, and the various paths of learning and 
 science, — they have been crowned with eminent 
 success and eminent usefulness, have ever been 
 exerted on the side of religion, virtue, truth, — 
 truth in the broad, full meaning of the word. 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 185 
 
 Yet, eminent, honored, and useful as Mr. Everett 
 has been and is, it may be, — a wise prophet 
 might almost venture the prediction, — it may be 
 that he will go down to posterity as connected 
 with the religious rather than the secular history 
 of the country. It may be that, when all else 
 that he has done shall have been forgotten, — its 
 interest passed away in the temporary interest 
 which produced it, — he will be remembered and 
 his name most frequently mentioned and quoted 
 in connection with his " Defence of Christianity, " 
 — a work written before he reached his majority, 
 and published within a few months after his ordi- 
 nation in this desk. This work, presenting, as it 
 does, a very able argument in support of the 
 prophecies of the Old Testament, and their bear- 
 ing upon the truth and divine origin of the Chris- 
 tian religion, was regarded at the time, and may 
 still be considered, as one of the most original 
 and most important theological works that had 
 then been written in America. It was called 
 forth by the state of the times, and completely 
 met the wants of the times. Sceptical tendencies 
 in a portion of this community were at that period 
 strongly manifested, and infidel opinions were 
 openly announced and advocated by some. Par- 
 ticularly, Mr. G. B. English, then recently re- 
 turned from Europe, had attacked Christianity 
 through the Old Testament, particularly through 
 
186 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 the prophecies. His work, eagerly and exten- 
 sively read, had unsettled the faith of many, and, 
 if unanswered, was calculated to do much injury. 
 I have been told that some attempts to answer it 
 in the preaching of that day were not eminently 
 successful.* However this may be, Mr. Ev- 
 erett's work was a triumphant answer and a com- 
 plete vindication. It produced immediately a 
 strong and marked impression upon the public 
 mind. Though written to meet a temporary exi- 
 gency, it is a work of thorough learning and of 
 real, permanent value. Indeed, when we con- 
 sider all the circumstances under which it was 
 written, the extreme youth of the author, the 
 brief period in which it was prepared, the mass 
 of learning it brings together well digested and 
 arranged, the closeness of its reasoning in some 
 passages, the glow and fervor of its eloquence in 
 others, and the effect it produced, it must be 
 acknowledged one of the most extraordinary 
 books in the annals of American religious litera- 
 ture. It is a rare book now, and but little known 
 to the younger generations. Many who hear me, 
 probably, were wholly ignorant of the fact that 
 Mr. Everett had ever written such a work. I 
 have heard that application was made to him a 
 
 * I have heard the late Dr. Pierce, President Kirkland, and 
 Dr. Porter of Roxbury, make this remark. 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 187 
 
 few years ago for permission to publish a new 
 edition, and that the application was not success- 
 ful, because his health and engagements would not 
 admit of his giving the work that thorough re- 
 vision which the publication of a new edition 
 might require. This is to be regretted ; for, 
 without any disparagement of the good he has 
 done and the honors he has attained in other de- 
 partments, I cannot but think that, if there is any 
 one event of his life, any one work or labor, of 
 which, on a just estimate of things, he may well 
 be most proud, it is that at the age of twenty he 
 wrote and published his " Defence of Christian- 
 ity," — a book which silenced the voice of infi- 
 delity, and gave peace, satisfaction, and a firm 
 faith to thousands of minds in a young and grow- 
 ing community. 
 
 While pastor of this church, Mr. Everett made 
 but one other publication under his own name ; 
 viz. a sermon preached at the funeral of the Rev. 
 Mr. Abbot, the predecessor of Dr. Frothingham, 
 at the First Church. I have always understood 
 from those whose memories reach back to that 
 period, that he was faithful and devoted to his 
 work while in this desk, and the records, show- 
 ing fourteen additions to the church, and thirty-six 
 baptisms, during his very brief ministry, are an 
 evidence that the ordinances of religion did not 
 languish under his administration. 
 
188 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 After his resignation, the pulpit was vacant 
 more than three years. During this period, sev- 
 eral persons preached as candidates, and various 
 attempts were made to settle a minister, but with- 
 out success. In March, 1818, Mr. John Gor- 
 ham Palfrey was invited to supply the desk for 
 four Sundays as a candidate. At the close of his 
 engagement, at a meeting held on the 26th of 
 April following, he was unanimously invited to 
 become the pastor and teacher of the flock. 
 The invitation was accepted, and he was or- 
 dained on the 17th of June, 1818. Dr. Palfrey's 
 peaceful, prosperous, devoted, and faithful minis- 
 try is too distinctly remembered by most of those 
 who hear me to need much comment. He brought 
 to the profession a mind most thoroughly disci- 
 plined by early and systematic culture, well stored 
 with professional and general learning, trained to 
 habits of patient and persevering industry, imbued 
 with a devout and earnest interest in the great 
 objects of his profession. Through these quali- 
 ties all his ministry was marked by thoroughness, 
 method, and fidelity in every department. Exter- 
 nally, the most important event in the concerns of 
 the parish during his connection with it was a 
 thorough and extensive repair of the church and 
 of the parsonage-house, made in 1S24. In the 
 spring of that year, the porch on the south side 
 of the church was removed by order of the city 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 189 
 
 government, and the entrance to the galleries and 
 lower floor of the church in that direction closed. 
 This made it necessary to construct a new en- 
 trance to the south gallery, and for this purpose 
 wings of twenty feet were added each side of the 
 front porch, thus making an ample vestibule, and 
 direct entrances in front to the galleries, and to 
 the side aisles of the lower floor. This was a 
 great improvement, giving a uniformity to the 
 church which it wanted before. It was at this 
 time newly painted throughout, and carpeted. 
 This repair of the church, together with its then 
 favorable location in regard to population and the 
 residences of the citizens, and the eminently faith- 
 ful and acceptable services of Dr. Palfrey, con- 
 spired to make the period of his ministry one of 
 great temporal and spiritual prosperity. The 
 ordinances of religion were well attended, and a 
 Sunday school was established, and conducted 
 with systematic thoroughness and ability. An 
 association for benevolent and missionary pur- 
 poses was formed, through which much good was 
 done, and a door opened for the religious activity 
 of the society. It should be remembered, also, 
 that the period of Dr. Palfrey's ministry was a 
 period of strong religious interest and effort 
 throughout the city and State. It was a period 
 of deep and thorough religious discussion, when 
 the questions at issue between the Liberal and 
 
190 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 Orthodox portions of the Congregational body 
 strongly agitated the public mind, and no one 
 could well refrain from some interest in them. 
 
 There has been no period, probably, since the 
 commencement of the present century, when the 
 ministry was so agreeable and so useful, when the 
 religious institutions of the country were so pros- 
 perous and progressive, and religion itself held 
 so much of its rightful place and sway in men's 
 thoughts and interests, as during the twelve years 
 that intervened between ISIS and 1830. It was 
 a period of political quiet comparatively, — "the 
 era of good feelings," as the old politicians re- 
 member and call it. The contention of parties 
 nearly ceased for several years. There was lit- 
 tle of that political strife and struggle and agita- 
 tion that existed during the Embargo and the 
 war, or that have prevailed since 1830. Politics 
 did not absorb and engross men's minds, embit- 
 ter their feelings, and drive religion from their 
 thoughts and its influence from their lives, to the 
 extent they did before, or have done since. It 
 was a period of peace, and of a gradual, healthy, 
 commercial prosperity. There were no wide- 
 spread commercial embarrassments to distract and 
 harass men's minds, like those which occurred 
 during the first fifteen years of the present cen- 
 tury, and none of those gigantic enterprises, and 
 none of that rapid, lightning-like advancement and 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 191 
 
 accumulation of wealth, consequent upon rail- 
 roads, which have since occurred, to seduce and 
 ensnare and render unspiritual and worldly the 
 public mind. Religion, meeting with no draw- 
 backs in the troubles and disasters of society, and 
 having little to contend with in its too great pros- 
 perity and progress, more easily held its place, and 
 exerted more of its rightful sway as the controlling 
 power in society, than it does now. Religion, in 
 its administration and influence, was aided out- 
 wardly by the circumstances of the times. This 
 aid would have availed nothing without fidelity 
 and devotedness in the ministry. Meeting with 
 this fidelity and devotedness in Dr. Palfrey, the 
 outward favorable circumstances tended to make 
 his ministry eminently prosperous in things tem- 
 poral and spiritual. That ministry lasted twelve 
 years. Tn 1830, he was chosen to succeed Mr. 
 Norton as Dexter Professor of Sacred Literature 
 in Harvard College, and his connection with the 
 parish was dissolved in February of the follow- 
 ing year. He carried with him to his new field 
 of duty as large a share of regret, confidence, af- 
 fection, and respect, as ever minister bore from 
 the society he had left. 
 
 After his dismission, the pulpit was vacant four 
 years, a longer vacancy than had ever before oc- 
 curred since the establishment of the church. 
 Once during this period, after several ineffectual 
 
192 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 attempts to unite upon a candidate, Dr. Palfrey- 
 was invited to resume the pastoral charge of the 
 parish ; but he declined the invitation, and con- 
 tinued at his post at Cambridge from the same 
 considerations of duty which led him to accept it.* 
 In April, 1834, the present incumbent was 
 invited to become the pastor, and was inducted 
 into office on the 18th of June of that year. His 
 ministry is now approaching the completion of its 
 seventeenth year, and is longer by several years 
 than either of the three immediately preceding it. 
 Of what has occurred during it, it is not neces- 
 sary to speak with much detail. Some external 
 changes have been made. Soon after the settle- 
 ment of the present pastor, the vestry was en- 
 larged ; or rather, the two vestry-rooms in each 
 
 * During his ministry, Dr. Palfrey was for a time editor 
 of the Christian Examiner, and also published several oc- 
 casional sermons. After leaving the pastoral charge of the 
 society in Brattle Square, he made three very valuable ad- 
 ditions to the theological literature of the country, viz. : — 
 A volume of sermons " On Duties belonging to some of the 
 Conditions and Relations of Private Life," published in 1834. 
 " Academical Lectures on the Jewish Scriptures and Antiqui- 
 ties," a work to be comprised in four volumes, two of which 
 have been published for some time, and the remaining two 
 are in press, and will shortly be issued. This is a work of 
 great learning and research, although some of its opinions 
 upon the prophecies have not been received with entire ap- 
 probation by the public. Two volumes of Lectures on the 
 Evidences of Christianity, delivered before the Lowell Insti- 
 tute, and published in 1843. 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 193 
 
 wing of the porch were thrown into one, by re- 
 moving a portion of the side-walls of the tower, 
 and thus a commodious room was obtained for 
 the use of the Sunday school and other purposes. 
 Previous to that, the Sunday school was held in 
 the body of the church. At the same time, the 
 north gallery was remodelled, the square pews 
 changed into slips, and thus made to conform to 
 the north gallery. 
 
 In 1S35, on the report of a committee of the 
 church, raised at the suggestion of the pastor, 
 important changes were made in the covenant 
 used in admitting persons to the communion-ta- 
 ble, the baptismal or half-way covenant dispensed 
 with, and the pastor authorized to administer bap- 
 tism to children of all parents who desired it, 
 whether members of the church or not, upon 
 such Christian acknowledgments as he should 
 deem sufficient. The attention of the church 
 was called to this subject by the pastor, because 
 no evidence was furnished by the records that the 
 church had ever adopted or agreed upon any cov- 
 enant or form of admission to the communion. 
 The Manifesto put forth by the undertakers could 
 hardly be regarded in that light, and was never 
 used, probably, for that purpose. It was simply 
 a general declaration of the principles upon which 
 the society was established, and the general views 
 of Christian truth which its members entertained, 
 
 13 
 
194 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 but was not intended to be a church-covenant or 
 creed. Under date of December 12th, 1699, 
 Dr. Colman writes, " After solemn calling upon 
 God, the following brethren declared their con- 
 sent and agreement to walk together in the ordi- 
 nances of our Lord Jesus Christ." And this is 
 all that the records contain in relation to any cov- 
 enant or form of admission to the communion. 
 Probably there was at some time some action of 
 the church upon the subject, but no record is 
 made of it. In the small pulpit Bible were two 
 covenants, one for admission to the church, and 
 the other for the administration of baptism to the 
 children of non-communicants. But when, or 
 by whom, or by whose authority, these covenants 
 were introduced, could not be ascertained. Their 
 use reached back beyond the memory of the old- 
 est members of the society, but no reference to 
 them could be found in the records. 
 
 It was under these circumstances, that, in 1835, 
 as stated above, the matter was brought before the 
 consideration of the church. The covenant adopt- 
 ed on the report of the committee above men- 
 tioned, and now in use, was mainly the covenant 
 still to be found in the small pulpit Bible. With the 
 exception of abridging its length, the most impor- 
 tant change made was the introduction of a clause, 
 found, I believe, in the covenants of several of 
 the earliest Congregational churches of New Eng- 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 195 
 
 land, to the following purport : — " You promise 
 to yield obedience to every truth of God that has 
 been or shall be made known to you as your duly, 
 the Lord assisting you by his spirit and grace." 
 This clause secures individual liberty, and em- 
 braces the idea of change, progress, advancement 
 in the knowledge of divine things, of truth, and 
 duty. It is, therefore, a most important clause in 
 our covenant, truly Christian in its spirit and char- 
 acter, requiring no other and no further surrender 
 of individual freedom and independence than that 
 a person be strictly conscientious, obedient to his 
 honest and sincere convictions of truth and duty. 
 Through this clause many have been brought to 
 the Lord's table, to enjoy all the benefits and hal- 
 lowed influences of that holy rite of commemora- 
 tion, who would otherwise have been restrained 
 through fear of too large a surrender of individual 
 liberty and independence. 
 
 In the outward administration of our affairs, 
 these are the principal changes that have been 
 made since the commencement of the present 
 ministry. During this period, the society has 
 been harmonious, and as prosperous as was to 
 be expected, perhaps, under the great and rapid 
 changes which have taken place in this city during 
 the last sixteen years, — changes greater, more 
 rapid, and affecting to a greater extent the rela- 
 tive position of this church, than any which have 
 
196 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 occurred during the whole of the one hundred 
 and thirty-four previous years of its existence. 
 
 With some minuteness of detail in portions of 
 it, I have now laid before you the history of this 
 venerable church and society, from its first incep- 
 tion. And as we close the retrospect, what is 
 the great thought that rushes to our minds and 
 leaps for utterance to our lips ? Is it not all ex- 
 pressed in that supplication of Solomon breathed 
 at the dedication of the temple ? — " The Lord 
 our God be with us as he was with our fathers. 
 Let him not leave us, nor forsake us." Signal- 
 Iv was the Lord God with our fathers. Rich 
 are the tokens of Divine favor which from the 
 beginning have rested upon this religious society. 
 It has been a church of peace. For one hundred 
 and fifty years, its harmony has never been essen- 
 tially disturbed. No discussions have occurred 
 sufficient to obstruct its prosperity or invade its 
 quiet, — a fact, I believe, which cannot be so 
 strongly asserted of any other of the churches of 
 our city that have been established a century and 
 a half. Here, notwithstanding there have been 
 occasionally differences of opinion, brotherly love 
 has continued, and mutual forbearance and char- 
 ity made it a church of peace, — and of peace, 
 because of liberty. It has been a church faithful 
 to the great Protestant principles of Christian 
 liberty. Our fathers were not disorganizers or 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 197 
 
 radicals. In things spiritual, they reverenced the 
 authority of Christ and his Gospel, but would 
 bow to no other authority. They were noble 
 and independent men, men of a lofty piety and a 
 holy zeal, who, in the calm confidence of a good 
 cause, scrupled not, amid obloquy and opposition, 
 to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ had 
 made them free, and all succeeding generations 
 have had the benefit of their steadfastness. The 
 three wise, just, but at the time obnoxious prin- 
 ciples which they introduced have now become 
 all but universally prevalent in the Congregational 
 churches of New England. 
 
 And because of its liberty, it has been an en- 
 lightened and progressive church. Restraints, 
 legal or conventional, barring the avenues of relig- 
 ious truth to the mind, — these are the things that 
 produce violent changes of religious opinion and 
 make them necessary. Here these restraints have 
 never existed, have never been imposed This 
 church has known no law but liberty, no object 
 but truth. Its ministers have ever been free to 
 ascertain it in their studies, free to utter it in 
 their preaching as their consciences and judg- 
 ments might dictate. Consequently, all changes 
 that have taken place here in the religious opin- 
 ions of the ministers, and of the general body of 
 worshippers, have come on gradually, have been 
 the natural growth of the religious freedom here 
 enjoyed. 
 
198 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 It was my purpose to unfold some of these 
 changes, and the causes which operated to pro- 
 duce them. But I find this no easy task. It 
 is a matter involved in some obscurity. The 
 ecclesiastical history of New England, especially 
 of Massachusetts, as respects changes of religious 
 opinion, is yet to be written. It is thoroughly 
 embraced and treated in no one work. Its mate- 
 rials are to be searched for and gathered from 
 an immense mass of occasional sermons, tracts, 
 and pamphlets of various kinds. Its great outline 
 of independent Congregationalism is distinct and 
 clear, but within that outline much of the picture 
 is vague and indistinct, — the lights and shadows 
 blending so gradually into each other as to give 
 bold and strong prominence to but few points. 
 Thus is it also in the history of this church, as 
 respects the religious opinions of the ministers or 
 worshippers. At the beginning, in its Manifesto, 
 it defined very distinctly its position. So far as 
 that instrument is a declaration of the principles 
 to be here observed in the administration of the 
 Gospel as a religious institution, there has always 
 been a strict adherence to it. In this respect, the 
 Manifesto is still the law of the society. So far 
 as it is a declaration of theological doctrine, there 
 has been on some points a gradual departure from 
 it. No violent changes, however, have occurred. 
 The Manifesto, even so far as it is a recognition 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHUECH. 199 
 
 of theological doctrine, has never been formally 
 revoked, and no action has been had, either by 
 the church or the society, defining and setting 
 forth its theological tenets, or assuming any new 
 denominational name, or any name other than that 
 which it assumed at first, and has always held, 
 derived from its locality, — the Church in Brattle 
 Street. Its ministers have all been independent 
 Congregationalists, and zealous supporters and de- 
 fenders of that form of church organization, and 
 under all the various shades of opinion which they 
 have held and preached, this church has always 
 had that liberal, " catholic air " which Colman 
 says he " breathed in at Cambridge." * 
 
 * Dr. Thacher, in the memoir of him to which reference 
 has already been made, is said to have been in early life 
 somewhat narrow and bigoted, and, in his preaching, some- 
 times harsh and denunciatory towards those who differed from 
 the orthodox standard of faith. He very early, however, out- 
 grew this temper, and was distinguished for his large charity 
 and his catholic spirit. Mr. William Cooper was more strict 
 and stern in his Calvinism than any other of the early ministers 
 of this church ; yet there was much that was generous and cath- 
 olic in his spirit. He was disposed to recognize and maintain 
 the true Gospel liberty both of the church and of the individ- 
 ual Christian, and was severe and denunciatory, not so much 
 against religious error as against religious indifference and 
 sin. In his Confession of Faith, published in connection 
 with Dr. Colman's sermon at his ordination, he says of the 
 books of the Old and New Testament, — " These I believe to 
 be of divine original and authority. These I would make the 
 fountain from whence to draw all my knowledge, the touch- 
 
200 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 In most periods of its history, it has been a 
 church distinguished for zeal, piety, and charity. 
 Here, in all times, the Christian ordinances have 
 been largely observed. It was a well-founded 
 declaration of Dr. Thacher, that " he did not 
 know an unbaptized child among the families of 
 
 stone to which to bring every doctrine ; and whatever does 
 not agree hereunto I will reject, as not having the light of 
 
 truth in it I believe that Christ is the alone King and 
 
 Head of his Church, and that none else has power over our 
 faith or dominion over our consciences." 
 
 The following passage from that part of the Confession in 
 which he presents the " rules and methods of conduct " by 
 which, as a Christian minister, he hoped " in some measure 
 to reach unto the great and worthy ends proposed," gives 
 such a favorable impression of the man that I insert it. 
 
 " I am sensible that the minister implies the Christian, and 
 that the good effects of my ministry upon others does in a 
 great measure depend upon the holiness of my own heart and 
 life : I would therefore take heed, to myself and keep my own 
 vineyard ; and first seek after an experience of the work of 
 Grace in my own soul and to exhibit the power of it in my 
 own life. The word of God I would make the rule of my 
 whole behavior and conversation, that so I may be an exam- 
 ple to the believers, in word, in conversation, in faith, in love, 
 in humility, in purity, in gravity, and may give no offence in 
 any thing, that the ministry be not blamed. 
 
 11 As a minister, I shall endeavor to perform all ministerial 
 duties and labors both public and private. I am sensible 
 (God make me more so !) of my own deficiency in Knowl- 
 edge, as well as Grace: I therefore purpose to give myself to 
 reading, meditation, prayer, and diligent study, especially of 
 the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make the man of God 
 thoroughly furnished. The truths of the Gospel I will en- 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 201 
 
 his charge." The tahle of communion, though 
 formerly, as now, neglected by many, has always 
 witnessed a good attendance, and at some periods 
 a full and large one.* 
 
 It has been a church of philanthropy and benefi- 
 cence. Early in its history, we find that, at the 
 
 deavor faithfully to dispense, and not keep back any part of 
 the counsel of God. 
 
 " The laws of the Gospel I will inculcate and enforce. 
 Against sin in every instance of it I will faithfully witness. 
 To every particular person I will, as I am able, give their 
 portion in due season. 
 
 " The worship and institutions of Christ I shall endeavor to 
 observe in the purity of them, according to his holy word, 
 and to maintain and exercise that holy discipline which he 
 has instituted in his Church, without partiality. 
 
 " But concerning what I shall do, if trouble and persecution 
 should arise because of the word, I would be very jealous 
 over myself; yet I trust that, through the Power of Christ 
 resting upon me, I shall be enabled to suffer for the Truth, 
 yea, to seal it with my blood, rather than betray it. 
 
 " To move and quicken me to all which, I shall endeavor to 
 affect myself with the worth of immortal souls, and the danger 
 of my own ; to get and preserve an awful sense of the bonds 
 of God upon me, and the strictness of that account which I 
 must shortly give up to the chief Shepherd at his appearing. 
 
 "These purposes and resolutions I would make in an hum- 
 ble reliance on the grace of God, in a sense of my own insuf- 
 ficiency ; asking the prayers of ministers and people of God 
 for me, that I may find mercy and grace to be faithful herein 
 unto the death." 
 
 * During one period of twenty-seven years, there were six 
 hundred and sixty-six additions to the church, an average of 
 at least two at every administration of the communion. 
 
202 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 suggestion of its first pastor, it voted to take up a 
 collection twice in each year, to form an " Evan- 
 gelical Treasury for the propagation of religion 
 and piety, and to be held sacred to such uses." 
 The sums thus obtained were expended in efforts 
 to diffuse the knowledge and influence of the 
 Gospel through " the dispersing Bibles, cate- 
 chisms, and other instruments of piety among the 
 poor." In every generation, its members have 
 acknowledged the obligations of Christian benev- 
 olence, and been ready to give, and give largely, 
 of their means for the relief of the poor and for 
 the advancement of the cause of Christ. I know 
 not that a worthy object or enterprise of charity 
 has ever sought the aid of this church, and been 
 refused. 
 
 Such, briefly stated, have been some of the 
 characteristics of this church. Thus has the Lord 
 our God been with it in times past, enriching it 
 with the gifts and graces of his spirit. Thus has 
 it come into our hands, — been given in charge to 
 our fidelity ; and a long array of venerable and 
 holy men will rise up in judgment against us, if 
 we prove faithless to that charge. Under any 
 circumstances, it is a responsible and weighty 
 charge. Of all the interests that come down to 
 us from our predecessors, religion, its institutions 
 and influences, are the most important ; and in 
 our case, the history of our church, and all the 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 203 
 
 associations that gather around it, make an appeal 
 to our honor and conscience which ought not to 
 be unheeded. The interests of this religious so- 
 ciety, its prosperity and permanence, its healthy 
 condition and influences, now devolve upon us. 
 We occupy the places, enjoy the privileges, and 
 hold the power, that once belonged to others. 
 
 There are strong reasons moving some of us 
 to feel a deep interest in the prosperity of this 
 church. We have been long connected with it. 
 Much of the joy and sorrow of our lives is asso- 
 ciated with it. It is, and has been, the scene 
 of our deepest religious experiences. Holy 
 and hallowed memories gather around it in our 
 thoughts. With some of us, the recollections 
 of early childhood cluster thick and fast about 
 it. In unconscious infancy we were baptized 
 at this altar. Hither the hand of parental faith 
 and affection led our early steps to the worship 
 of God, and through all the years of life the 
 path has since been familiar to our feet, though 
 the parents and brethren and sisters with whom 
 we took sweet counsel, and walked to the house 
 of God in company, now sleep in dust. And 
 where recollection goes not back to early child- 
 hood, it reaches with many to the dawn of early 
 manhood, to those days when, stepping on the 
 stage of active life, we rested here the ark of our 
 faith, made this the tabernacle of our worship, 
 
204 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 sought here the instructions that were to guide 
 and the influences that were to protect us through 
 the duties and perils of the world. Amid all these 
 duties and perils, in the hour of our prosperity 
 and in the hour of our sorrow, when our hearts 
 have been full of gladness or heavy with grief, 
 hither we have come with the homage of our grat- 
 itude and submission, with the supplications of 
 our necessity, and found an answer of peace to 
 our prayers ; and if ever the chances and changes 
 of life have carried us long and far from home, 
 this church has risen up to our memories as the 
 home of our holiest hopes, and we have been 
 ready to exclaim, u If I forget thee, O Jerusa- 
 lem, may my right hand forget its cunning." 
 
 And where there are not these strong reasons, 
 founded on pleasant memories and attachments 
 that are the growth of years, there are other con- 
 siderations that enforce the duty of all of us to 
 feel an interest in the prosperity of this society, 
 and strive to promote it. We occupy seats 
 here. We unite here in the public worship of 
 God. This is the religious society with which for 
 the time being we are connected ; and such a 
 connection, wherever it exists, and so long as it 
 exists, involves duties and responsibilities that 
 should not be neglected. It is a benefit to re- 
 ligion and a blessing to the community to have 
 its religious societies prosperous, — peace, piety, 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 205 
 
 and zeal pervading and animating them. It is 
 every one's duty to aid in promoting this prosper- 
 ity ; and this general duty can be best performed, 
 this aid can be most effectually rendered, by any 
 one in the religious society with which he is con- 
 nected, by his doing there, without exclusiveness, 
 bigotry, or uncharitableness, what he can, and all 
 that he can, to make that society prosperous in 
 things temporal and spiritual, — a true and living 
 church of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 It is our duty, then, — a duty to which strong 
 attachments and hallowed memories prompt many 
 of us, — it is every one's duty who statedly wor- 
 ships at this church, — to feel an interest in its 
 prosperity, and to do what he can to promote it. 
 I would not imply that there is any special lack of 
 this interest, or neglect of this duty. But we all 
 need to be reminded of what we know, to be en- 
 couraged in what we are endeavoring to perform. 
 In closing these discourses, therefore, suffer me 
 to say, — 
 
 First, that we shall promote the prosperity of 
 this church by cleaving to those principles of 
 liberty and order which were recognized in its 
 origin, and have ever been regarded in the con- 
 duct of its temporal affairs, and in its administra- 
 tion of the Gospel of Christ. 
 
 These principles are worthy of support and 
 adherence. Indeed, the independent Congrega- 
 
206 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 tionalism of New England should command our 
 respect and attachment, as a form of church or- 
 ganization and religious administration in harmony 
 with the spirit and genius of the Gospel, closely- 
 resembling the organization of the primitive Apos- 
 tolic churches, and eminently adapted to promote 
 civil and religious liberty, the development of 
 individual character, and the progress of society. 
 The principles upon which Christianity is admin- 
 istered in any community are of more importance 
 than the particular doctrines that are taught or 
 believed. Upon the great themes of God, Christ, 
 man, upon the great questions of the trinity, the 
 atonement, human depravity, regeneration, the 
 influence of the Holy Spirit, in short, upon all 
 the important points coming strictly within the 
 department of theology, a majority of the Congre- 
 gational Churches have held, and still hold, es- 
 sentially the same opinions that are held by the 
 Catholic Church. The difference, always mani- 
 fest, between a Catholic and a Congregational 
 community, the difference, for example, between 
 Congregational New England and Catholic Mexi- 
 co, and the influence of religion as an element of 
 social progress in the one country and the other, 
 is to be mainly attributed, not to any difference in 
 strictly theological doctrine, but to the difference 
 in the organization of the two churches, and the 
 spirit and principles upon which the religion of 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 207 
 
 the Gospel is administered by each. It is the 
 tendency of Congregationalism to enlarge and 
 liberalize the mind, to give it freedom and scope, 
 to impart energy, activity, enterprise, to character, 
 to make a man feel that he is not the slave of the 
 Church, but a member of it, with a right to have 
 his own opinions and to express them freely, — to 
 derive them from the Bible through his own read- 
 ing and interpretation of it, and to prove and de- 
 fend them by it against all that the Church and 
 the world may oppose. \ The spirit of Congrega- 
 tionalism breathed into an individual gives him 
 dignity, elevation, energy of character ; breathed 
 into a community, it gives a mental independence, 
 freedom, and activity, produces an application of 
 religion, direct and indirect, to the intellectual, 
 moral, and physical progress of society, which 
 cannot exist where the individual has little power 
 to think and act for himself in religious matters, 
 where the Bible may not be read and interpreted, 
 save as the Church decides, and where the au- 
 thority of the Church is made to absorb or over- 
 shadow the essential substance of religion, i 
 
 That Congregationalism is exempt from all 
 imperfection, no one would contend. No form of 
 civil or religious organization to be administered 
 by human wisdom is thus exempt. In all things 
 in this world, the tares and the wheat grow to- 
 gether. But the evils, the imperfections, that 
 
208 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 attach to Congregationalism, are not to be named 
 with those that come in the train of spiritual des- 
 potism. The intellectual, moral, and religious 
 condition of New England, its various institutions 
 of learning, science, and philanthropy, the general 
 spirit and character of its people, are mainly the 
 result of the form in which religion has been ad- 
 ministered within its borders, and this form has 
 been predominantly Congregational. We are 
 willing to point to them, we have a right to point 
 to them, as evidence and illustration of the effi- 
 cacy and value of this form of ecclesiastical or- 
 ganization. 
 
 Would we promote the prosperity of this 
 church, let us cleave manfully and firmly to 
 those great Congregational principles upon which 
 it was founded, and of which clear and distinct 
 declarations were made in its Manifesto ; * let 
 
 * While these sheets have been passing through the press, 
 I found, in an old volume of miscellaneous pamphlets in the 
 Boston Athenaeum, a copy of the u Manifesto " as originally 
 printed, which is curious for two reasons. Written upon it, 
 in a bold, legible hand, is the name of " Benjamin Walker," 
 who was one of the " undertakers," and is mentioned in the 
 deed conveying the land on which the church now stands. 
 This copy undoubtedly belonged to him. Upon the blank 
 page of the "Manifesto," in the same handwriting with the 
 name above mentioned, are the following memoranda : — 
 
 " December 8th, 1799. 
 " Voted, For the explanation of the 7th article, it is in- 
 tended that the renewal of the baptismal covenant required 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 209 
 
 our hearts cherish an attachment to them ; let our 
 influence go to sustain them. 
 
 Having confirmed our confidence and increased 
 our interest in the form of church organization and 
 the mode of administering religion here estab- 
 lished, we may promote the prosperity of this 
 society, — 
 
 Secondly, by a faithful and punctual attendance 
 upon its services. We cannot expect the society 
 to be prosperous so long as we fail in this duty ; 
 and to whatever extent we neglect it, to that ex- 
 tent our influence goes to impede its prosperity, 
 to dishearten its minister, to extinguish the fire 
 upon its altar, and to impart our own coldness 
 and indifference to others. Punctual attendance 
 upon the church where he claims to be a wor- 
 
 therein shall be in public, before their admission to the Lord's 
 table. 
 
 " Voted, For the explanation of the last article, it is intended, 
 that every baptized adult person, which hath a vote in elect- 
 ing a minister, be a settled inhabitant, of a good conversation, 
 a constant hearer, and contributor to the minister's main- 
 tenance." 
 
 As the records kept by Dr. Colman do not begin till De- 
 cember 12th, 1699, it is impossible to determine whether the 
 foregoing votes were actually passed by the society, or 
 whether they are simply memoranda of votes which Mr. 
 Walker intended to propose. In either case, they are inter- 
 esting, as throwing some light upon the sense in which two 
 important articles of the Manifesto were intended to be 
 received. 
 
 14 
 
210 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 shipper is one of the efficient and direct ways in 
 which a man may promote its prosperity. This 
 attendance is due to his brethren, for the very 
 purpose of their organization as a society is public 
 worship and instruction, and every unnecessary 
 absence, an irregular and negligent attendance, 
 tends to defeat that purpose and cause it to fail. 
 It is due to the pastor, whose best efforts can 
 only be called forth by the encouragement he 
 receives from the zeal and sympathy of the peo- 
 ple. Two live coals brought together soon pro- 
 duce a flame ; let a live coal and a dead one be 
 placed in contact, and the former will soon set on 
 fire the latter, and presently both shall glow with 
 intense heat ; but a live coal left to itself soon 
 expires. The influence of pastor and people is 
 reciprocal, and if no zeal exists or can be awa- 
 kened in the latter, it will not long burn in the 
 breast of the former. No religious society ever 
 yet died out, dwindling first into insignificance, 
 and finally becoming extinct, when the people, 
 the members of it, were faithful to the obligations 
 of membership ; and the highest genius, talent, 
 and piety in the pulpit could not keep it up and 
 keep it alive, if they received little or no help 
 from those who sit in the pews. 
 
 This attendance every man owes to himself. 
 At church, he will be in the way of duty, improve- 
 ment, and holy influences. He cannot fail to get 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 211 
 
 some good, if present from a Christian purpose, 
 with a Christian spirit and temper. He owes it to 
 the community ; for a serious observance of the 
 Lord's day is one of the high towers of defence 
 to the community's peace and virtue. A Chris- 
 tian citizen should not permit his example to tend 
 to undermine and destroy that defence, but rather 
 to deepen its foundations and extend its power. 
 He owes it to God, whose wisdom and provi- 
 dence have set apart and sanctified a day of pub- 
 lic praise and worship, and whose blessing makes 
 it effectual to the prosperity and glory of a nation, 
 to the happiness and salvation of the individual. 
 Let us not fail in this duty. Let us seek to dis- 
 charge it with more and more fidelity, even at the 
 cost of some effort and sacrifice. Let whatever 
 is good in our habits in this particular be pre- 
 served, improved, carried forward to perfection. 
 Great changes have occurred since first this spot 
 was consecrated to religious purposes, and an 
 altar to God's worship and the spread of Christ's 
 Gospel here erected, — changes redounding to 
 the growth, progress, and prosperity of the city, 
 but in some respects unfavorable to us, placing 
 our church, pleasantly and quietly situated in it- 
 self, at an inconvenient distance from the resi- 
 dences of many of the citizens, requiring both of 
 the pastor and the people an earnest and zealous 
 spirit to preserve its prosperity. Let us not fail 
 to manifest this spirit. 
 
212 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 In this connection, another circumstance may 
 be alluded to as not unworthy of consideration. 
 Among the various changes produced of late 
 years by the rapid growth of our city is one 
 which, in its present and prospective influence 
 upon our religious societies, already forces itself 
 upon our attention. I refer to the extent to which 
 the whole social system in Boston is broken up 
 during the summer months, and to the large emi- 
 gration into the country, as a permanent place of 
 residence, constantly occurring. Formerly, it was 
 a rare thing for any man in business to live in the 
 country, and come every day to the city to attend 
 to that business. The number of those who did 
 this could be easily counted. A large majority 
 of the business men lived in the city with their 
 families. The most intimate and important social 
 relations of nearly all were here, and only a few 
 of the more wealthy went into the country for a 
 few months in summer. Now all this is changed. 
 Multitudes of business people of all occupations, 
 of the highest and the humblest fortunes, live in 
 the country, in the neighboring towns and villages, 
 all the year. Their domestic, their social, their 
 religious relations are there, and only their busi- 
 ness relations here ; and of those who may be 
 said to be residents of the city, great numbers 
 find it pleasant, convenient, and as economical as 
 it is pleasant and convenient, to pass weeks and 
 months of the summer in the country. 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 213 
 
 This is not to be complained of, or regretted ; 
 nor do I allude to it for that purpose. I rejoice 
 in it, so far as it is an evidence of our prosperity, 
 and I thank the Divine wisdom and goodness 
 which appoint " the bounds of our habitation," 
 that this little peninsula — destined at an early day 
 to be covered with warehouses, given up to the 
 purposes of trade, — the centre of a vast popula- 
 tion and an extensive inland and foreign com- 
 merce — is bordered by a country of such va- 
 ried and picturesque beauty, — a magnificent 
 panorama of hill and dale, valley and plain, — to 
 which we have multiplied means of cheap and 
 easy access, and where humble industry can rear 
 its quiet habitation, and wealth unite the beauties 
 of nature with the comforts and refinements of art. 
 
 I would fain believe, also, that moral as well 
 as physical good comes from these summer emi- 
 grations ; that while health is promoted and pleas- 
 ure enjoyed, the heart is refreshed and invigo- 
 rated, the silent appeal of nature in its loveliness 
 and grandeur acknowledged, and the conscience 
 permitted to speak with new power amid the 
 occasional stillness of the passions. I would fain 
 hope that many return wiser and better, with a 
 larger conception of God's goodness and man's 
 duty. 
 
 But though the thing is not to be regretted and 
 cannot be changed, though good flows from it in 
 
214 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 various ways, its effects upon our religious socie- 
 ties, upon the relations of the clergy to the people 
 and of the people to each other, and upon that 
 influence which it is the aim and object of the 
 clerical office to exert, are obviously not of the 
 most desirable or beneficial kind. Ultimately, if 
 the city continues to grow and change as it has 
 of late years, the result must be the extinction 
 of some of our religious societies, or their re- 
 moval in their corporate capacity into the neigh- 
 boring country. But u sufficient for the day is 
 the evil thereof," and, without looking anxiously 
 into the distant future, we may observe, as one of 
 the evils already experienced, that the circum- 
 stance we are considering brings much of the 
 work of the clergyman, and nearly all the good he 
 can hope to do, the influence he can hope to 
 exert, into eight or nine months of the year. 
 In summer, he is preaching to a large number of 
 empty pews, looking round upon a feeble remnant 
 of the flock scattered here and there about the 
 church. This has a depressing and chilling in- 
 fluence upon preacher and hearer. We keep up 
 the forms of religious service during the summer, 
 and we must keep them up ; but it is very diffi- 
 cult to give interest and efficiency to them. It 
 seems to be admitted that a minister cannot now 
 do much in his parish in the summer ; that com- 
 paratively little spiritual growth is to be expected 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 215 
 
 and little spiritual progress witnessed then. When 
 autumn returns, the church begins to fill up, and 
 the clergyman looks around on a multitude of 
 faces, some familiar and some new. He feels 
 that now an opportunity for zeal and effort is 
 offered, that a great work is before him, and he 
 sets himself resolutely to perform it. He visits, 
 preaches, has Bible-classes or lectures ; strives 
 in all ways and by various instrumentalities to 
 understand and meet the spiritual wants of his 
 hearers, and do what good he can among them, 
 during the few months they are to be gathered 
 together in the city. He makes some progress in 
 this work ; he does some good undoubtedly ; but 
 just as he is looking for the fruit of his labors, 
 just as he has reestablished those intimate and 
 affectionate relations between himself and his 
 hearers which are necessary to his best influence 
 upon their hearts and consciences, spring returns, 
 summer comes, a large portion of the flock are 
 again scattered, and the work must be com- 
 menced anew the next season, to be broken off 
 again in the same manner. 
 
 But amid all these changes and unfavorable 
 circumstances to which I have alluded, the great 
 condition of our prosperity, temporal and spirit- 
 ual, remains the same, unchanged and unchange- 
 able. God will never leave nor forsake us, unless 
 we first leave and forsake him. He will be with 
 
216 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 us as he was with our fathers, if we seek his pres- 
 ence, if we love the habitation of his house, if we 
 reverence his word, prize his ordinances, wait 
 regularly and habitually upon his worship, search 
 with a lively interest for his will, and do it with a 
 holy zeal. Let those who come up hither come 
 with a devout purpose ; let them be men and 
 women loving God with heart and mind and soul 
 and strength, leading lives of faith and prayer, 
 earnest in duty, patient in trial, abounding in good 
 works ; let the families that meet here be families 
 in which God is worshipped and Christ obeyed 
 and imitated, — families in whose bosom and over 
 whose intercourse devotion and peace and love 
 hold sway ; — then shall God be with us as he 
 was with our fathers. He will not leave nor for- 
 sake us. He shall strengthen the walls of our 
 Zion ; his spirit shall dwell in our hearts, and 
 prepare for our spirits a dwelling near his own 
 excellent glory, in a better world. As members 
 of this ancient church and society, let us all seek 
 to be faithful in our day and generation, patient 
 and persevering amid obstacles that are always in 
 the path of duty. Let the retrospect of the past 
 which we have now taken have its effect in quick- 
 ening our sense of responsibleness, awakening 
 fresh interest and zeal in all our hearts. Short is 
 the time given to any of us in which to be faithful. 
 Let these venerable walls admonish us ; let the 
 
BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 217 
 
 shadows of the past speak to us. Let the succes- 
 sive generations of our fathers, as they here pass 
 before us, exhort us. Let the memory of the 
 departed, once fellow-worshippers here, whom 
 we have known and loved, incite and arouse us. 
 Ah, what changes do even a few brief years make 
 in a congregation ! How many venerable forms, 
 — how many dear, familiar faces, no more to be 
 seen, how many sweet and pleasant voices, no 
 more to be heard on earth, — faces and voices of 
 youth in its prime, of manhood in its vigor, of 
 age in its moral beauty and excellence, — how 
 many of these now rise up before me and before 
 you ! Of those who witnessed the beginning of 
 my ministry among you, which cannot yet be 
 called long, how many have u passed on " ! 
 These speak to us ; all the past history of this 
 church and society appeals to us, and bids us, by 
 our honor and peace, by the mercies of Heaven 
 and the necessities of men, to be steadfast, zeal- 
 ous, faithful, persevering. Let each determine 
 for himself to obey that appeal. So shall the 
 Lord God be with us and with our children, as he 
 was with our fathers. 
 
 Brattle Street, December 7th, 1850. 
 
 15 
 
NOTE. 
 
 In the account given, on pages 72-74, of the Rev. William 
 Cooper's connection with the ordination of the Rev. Robert 
 Breck, in 1736, and the controversy it engendered, I omitted 
 to mention, what Mr. Cooper would wish to have appear in any 
 account of his conduct on that occasion, that, before proceed- 
 ing to the meeting of the council at Springfield, he had fully 
 satisfied himself of the orthodoxy of Mr. Breck. This ap- 
 pears from the pamphlet, " An Examination," &c, of which 
 Cooper was supposed to be the author. On the 87th page 
 of that pamphlet, after allusion to the refusal of the ministers 
 of the Hampshire Association to examine Mr. Breck, is the 
 following statement : — 
 
 " Whereas Robert Breck, M. A., of Harvard College in 
 Cambridge, hath applied himself to us the subscribers, a num- 
 ber of the associated pastors in Boston, earnestly requesting 
 us to inquire into his principles in religion, These may certify, 
 that on the 8th day of May, 1735, we discoursed with him to 
 our good satisfaction concerning his orthodoxy in the great 
 doctrines of Christianity, as believed and professed in the 
 churches of Christ in New England, agreeable to the West- 
 minster Confession of Faith, and so recommend him to the 
 Grace of God and his brethren in Christ. 
 
 "Benjamin Colman, • Thomas Foxcroft, 
 
 Joseph Sewall, Samuel Checkley, 
 
 John Webb, Joshua Gee, 
 
 William Cooper, Mather Byles." 
 
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