The South Church was invited at this time to the formation of a church at Lexington, then called Cambridge North-Farms. The pastor-designate, the Rev. Benjamin Estabrook, was Mr. Willard's son-in-law.

October 21. A church is gathered at Cambridge North-farms: No Relations made, but a Covenant sign'd and voted by ten brethren dismiss'd from the churches of Cambridge, Watertown, Woburn, Concord for this work. Being declar'd to be a church, they chose Mr. Benj. Estabrooks their Pastor, who had made a good Sermon from Jer. 3. 15. Mr. Estabrooks, the father, managed this, having pray'd excellently Mr. Willard gave the charge; Mr. Fox the Right Hand of Fellowship. Sung part of the 4 Ps. From the 9th verse to the end, O God, our Thoughts. Mr. Stone and Fisk thanked me for my Assistance. Cambridge was sent to though had no Teaching officer; they sent Elder Clark, Hasting Remmington.

:

Nov. 25. Mr. Wm. Brattle was Ordained at Cambridge. He and Mr. Mather, the President, preached. Twas first order'd that Mr. Brattle should not preach, but many being troubled at it, twas afterward altered. Mr. Brattle also procured the Church to order that Elder Clark [the ruling elder] should not lay his hand on's head when he was ordain'd; and he refrain'd accordingly. So that Deacon Gill coming home, said he liked all very well except the Bill of Exclusion.1 (Sewall.)

1 [Mr. Brattle owned the covenant at the Third Church in 1680, the year of his graduation, became a communicant in 1684, and took dismission to Cambridge.

A new meeting-house was built in 1706, and Mr. Brattle's first sermon in it (October 13) was from the text: "Holiness becometh thy house, O Lord, forever."]

CHAPTER VI.

1696-1707.

Λ PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT.

THE PRESIDENCY OF HARVARD

M'

COLLEGE.

R. WILLARD had been minister of the church twenty years; the duties of the pastorate were various and exacting, and the time seemed to have come for the settlement of a colleague. The matter had been under consideration several months, and Mr. Willard had proposed the name of a young man, a recent graduate of Harvard College and a son of James Pemberton, one of the founders of the church. Some of the congregation would have liked to give a call to the Rev. John Bailey, who, having resigned his charge at Watertown, was preaching with Mr. Allen and Mr. Wadsworth at the First Church. He had preached as an assistant to Mr. Willard a few years before, and was much beloved by the people. It was well, however, that the choice of the South Church did not fall upon him at this time, for he died on the 12th of December, 1697. He breathed his last on a Sunday afternoon on which he was to have occupied Mr. Willard's pulpit. He had begun a sermon from the text, Ps. xxxi. 5: "Into thy hand I commit my spirit," but did not live to complete it. Cotton Mather took the words for the subject of his funeral discourse, preached a few days later to a "great assembly, though a very cold day."

The Rev. Simon Bradstreet had also been thought of as a colleague for Mr. Willard. He was a grandson of the governor of the same name, and a graduate of Harvard College in the class of 1693. He was called to Charlestown, as the successor of Mr. Morton, and was ordained there October 26, 1698.1

1 "He was a man of great learning, strong mind, and lively imagination; but in the latter part of his life became so hypochondriacal that he was afraid to preach in the pulpit, from an impression that he should die there. In consequence of this he delivered his sermons in the deacons' seat; they were generally

extempore, and pervaded with the melancholy which attached so morbidly to his own mind. His style of preaching was rather practical than doctrinal - for the most part upon the state of man and the vanity of the world; and this, together with his fondness for Tillotson's sermons, exposed him to the charge of Arminian

Mr. Willard's mind seems to have been set upon Mr. l'emberton, and he was unable, perhaps, to do justice to the qualifications of any one else. As it was a colleague and not a successor who was to be settled, he was entitled to consideration in the matter, and some earnestness on his part may well be excused. Judge Sewall's diary gives us the private history of what was said and done at this juncture: 1

February 5. 1696-7 This evening Mr. Willard, [Edward] Bromfield, [John] Eyre, [Peter] Sergeant, [Theophilus] Frary, [James] Hill, [Nathaniel] Williams, [Nathaniel] Oliver, [Samuel] Checkly, [Benjamin] Davis, [John] Wally, [Simeon] Stoddard, met at my house. Mr. Willard pray'd. Then discoursed what was best to be done relating to the desires of some for a meeting; whether twere best to call one, or no. Mr. Willard shewed his resentments of the disorderly carriage in striving to bring in Mr. Bradstreet, after only thrice preaching, and that in that way, he should not be settled with us till he Mr. W. was in his Grave. That he had a Negative, and was not only a Moderator. Shew'd his dislike of the Person and his Preaching, inferiour to the ministerial Gifts of others. Before the Meeting broke up, I said his Preaching was very agreeable to me, I thought not of him, had no hand in bringing him to preach, had prejudices against him, was ready to start at first when any spake of fixing on him; yet as often as he preached, he came nearer and nearer to me. Spake this chiefly because all that Mr. Willard had said of Mr. Bradstreet, had been exceedingly undervaluing: and because Mr. Willard said no body had been with him to speak to him about Mr. Bradstreet but Mr. Stoddard. Mr. Oliver said if Mr. Willard were so averse, had rather let it rest. Sometimes said were now ready for a new Meeting-house. Some, Let us call Mr. Bailey. At last agreed to mention the matter to the church after the Afternoon Exercise.

Sunday February 7. Mr. Willard recapitulats how long he had been our Pastor; near 20. years; and near 18. years alone, had to his

ism. He seldom, if ever, appeared with a coat, but always wore a plaid gown, and was commonly seen with a pipe in his mouth. But it was principally for his classical attainments that Mr. Brad street was distinguished; and in illustration of this, an anecdote is told of him, that when introduced to Governor Burnet, who was himself a fine scholar, it was said of him by Lieutenant-Governor Tailer, who introduced him, 'Here is a man who can whistle Greek.'" Budington's History of the First Church, Charlestown, pp. 113, 114.

Mr. Bradstreet died December 31, 1741, aged 72.

Writing to Governor Partridge, at Portsmouth, January 7, 1696-7, Sewall said :

"Tis God who has sent you to the Province of Newhampshire, and there He has given you a Day: how long or how short, He only knows: Our concern is to work the works of Him that sent us while the day lasts. Mr. Willard has on many Lords Days been exorting his Congregation from those words Jno 9. 4, which brought them now to my mind."

THE REV. SIMON BRADSTREET.

303

measure served God faithfully, was desirous of Help, lay not in him, yet had none; if what he propounded more than a year ago had been attended, might have made for the glory of God. Ask'd if now were ready to pitch on any; if were, then must have a Fast. None speaks;

at last Capt. Ephr. Savage desired might meet in som dwelling house, many were there present which were not of us. Mr. Willard assented, and on Mr. Sergeant's motion, appointed to meet at his house 15. Inst. at 2. p m. When at our house, some said Charlestown being before us, to call a Fast after they had call'd Mr. Bradstreet would be evil spoken of the person of their desires being gon. Some said that Fasting now at Charlestown and here was but a Trick; not just so: but tending that way. Mr. Willard said Charlestown would be before us, do what we could; and if they call'd him 'twas not fit for us to meddle till he had given his Answer: som look'd at this as Artifice in the Ministers to prevent the South Church. For when Mr. Willard propounded Mr. Pemberton by name, 1695, No Fast preceded. If Mr. Willard had not so propounded, believe the thing had been issued at that time but many look'd on it as an Imposition and tending to infringe their Liberty of choice. I had been with Mr. Willard the day before, and told him some scruples that I was not just ready to act till had enquired further.

February 9. I visit Mr. Willard: spake with him after he began, about our conference last sixth day, told him the reason of my speaking as I did; because had heard he should say, I forc'd the Church Meeting: whereas I intended not so; but as we had engaged silence, I told him my heart; as I said I always did when he confer'd with me and enquired of me in such cases. He said was sorry he propounded Mr. Pemberton as he did. Seem'd to resent my saying; That the Negative was a high point, and better not to talk of it then (which at the conference) term'd it a check, I think parted good friends. Much vilified Mr. Bradstreet; hardly allowed him any thing but a Memory, and the Greek Tongue, with a Little poesy. I said what shall Charlestown doe? Answer was, Let them do as they please. (Sewall.)

Here the journal fails us for a time, and we know of no further action until a year and a half later.1

Sixth-day, October 14. 1698. Church Meeting at the South church. Put in votes for election of a minister Mr. Ebenezer Pemberton

had Thirty seven votes, and Mr. Jabez Fitch, Twenty three. I think

1 Not to break the course of the narrative, we quote here from Sewall's Diary as follows:

Sept. 17. 1697. "I view Mr. Baxters House and the Orchard Capt Frary hath given to the Ministry, which lies

very convenient; A living Brook running by it; and throw Mr. Baxters."

This was in Medfield, and had been the homestead of Capt. Frary's father. Mr. Baxter had been ordained five months before. — Hist. of Medfield, pp. 105-108.

Mr. Oliver and Davis did not vote. In the Nomination September, 30, Mr. Fitch had Thirty six, and Mr. Pemberton Twenty one. (Sewall.)

During the fortnight which succeeded the nomination, a good deal of work had been done among the brethren, as we judge, in the interest of Mr. Pemberton. Mr. Fitch, who had won the hearts of so many, was son of the Rev. James Fitch, of Norwich, Connecticut, a graduate at Cambridge in the class of 1694, and on the resignation of Mr. Hubbard, at Ipswich, he accepted an invitation to settle there. Mr. Pemberton received at length a hearty call from the Third Church, but not until another year and more had passed.2 There was no imperative need for immediate action, and it was better to wait than to force an issue while the church was so divided in its preferences.

A party of progress was at this time coming into prominence in the churches of Eastern Massachusetts, of which we shall speak presently. It is worthy of notice that the three young men who had been especially thought of in connection with the colleagueship at the Third Church, Mr. Pemberton, Mr. Bradstreet, and Mr. Fitch, were all identified with it.

We have already had evidence that the church maintained the purity of its membership and the orderly administration of its affairs by the exercise of a vigorous discipline, and by the enforcement of the ecclesiastical penalties authorized by the Cambridge Platform. The first record which details the various steps taken in dealing with a refractory member relates to Roger Judd, who had withdrawn in an irregular way from the

1 He was ordained at Ipswich, as colleague with the Rev. John Rogers, October 24, 1703, but as he did not receive a sufficient support, he moved to Portsmouth, N. II., and was installed there in 1724. He died November 22, 1746, in his seventy-fifth year. Felt says of him: "His mind was strong and richly stored with learning. His heart was swayed by benevolent affections, and eminently sanctified by the Spirit of grace. His life was long, not only as to years, but also as to usefulness."

2 The church in Charlestown had been very desirous to settle Mr. Pemberton as colleague pastor with Mr. Morton. It gave him a call in November, 1694, but he was then very young, only twenty-two, and he preferred to remain in residence

at Cambridge. In a record left by Mr. Morton, it is said: "On this day, Feb. 11. 1697, we had a public fast; Mr. Willard and myself preaching and other ministers assisting in prayer." At this service, a committee representing both the church and the inhabitants was chosen, and Mr. Pemberton would probably have received a second call, if it had not been understood that he would decline it, if given. "Major part of the Boston ministers advised to the choice of Mr. Pemberton;" but Mr. Willard, no doubt, was still hoping to bring him to the South Church. Mr. Bradstreet was ordained as the eighth minister of the Charlestown church, October 26, 1698.

3 Roger Judd seems to have been employed in some dependent position by