MENTAL STRUGGLES.

25

amazement on a sudden opened into glorious light and holiness, and liberty, and joy and blessedness.1

The reader will be reminded of Cowper in this account of Mr. Bromfield's mental and spiritual sufferings, and of his wonderful faith in a similar experience. Only a few years after this, the poet sang of himself:

But I am silent, seeing what I see

And fear, with cause, that I am self-deceived;
Not e'en my faith is from suspicion free,

And, that I love, seems not to be believed.

Live thou, and reign forever, glorious Lord!
My last, least offering, I present thee now
Renounce me, leave me, and be still adored!

Slay me, my God, and I applaud the blow.

April 18. 1756. The Brethren of the Church and Congregation were stayed, and Voted

1. That thirty pounds be given out of the late collection, in Bibles and other Books of piety to proper objects at the Discretion of the Pastors.

2. That the remainder of said Collection be dispos'd of to charitable and pious uses, by the Pastors and Deacons of this Church, according to their best Discretion. JOSEPH SEWAll.

[There is no record of the Fast Day Collection this season.]

May 18. 1756 The Brethren of the Church and Congregation met, and Voted

1. That there be seven Seaters chosen, to stand for one year, or till farther order.

The following Persons were chosen by written votes; viz.

The Hon. Thomas Hubbard, Francis Borland, Joshua Winslow Esqrs. Mr. David Jeffries, the Hon. Andrew Oliver Esq. Mr. Isaac Walker, and Mr. Joseph Jackson.

2. That there be a public Collection for the raising of eighty pounds L. M. to defray the necessary expences of this Society.

3. That there be a Committee chosen to audit the Deacons accounts, and that they make their report at the next Meeting. Messrs. Thomas Cushing, David Jeffries and William Phillips were chosen of said Committee. JOSEPH SEWAll.

1 [Mr. Bromfield left a widow, Abigail, daughter of John Coney, goldsmith, and two sons, Thomas and John. The latter married Ann Roberts, and had son John, a prominent merchant in Boston, who died in 1849, and made large bequests to

the Boston Athenæum and for various charitable purposes. Edward Bromfield also left three daughters, one of whom, Abigail, married the first Deacon William Phillips. Mrs. Bromfield died October 5, 1777, in her seventy-seventh year.]

1756. July 1. At the desire of our ministers was kept as a day of humiliation for our Brethren who have gone against Crown Point. Present the Rev. Mr. Prince and the Rev. Mr. Pemberton. (Fleet.)

July 17. Early to Boston about 10 o'clock; with wife at Mr. Oliver's: P. M. to Judge Sewall's, and at Paddock's about pole for carriage.

July 18. Mr. Prince; Sacrament. Dr. Sewall. Talked of Governor Pownall. (Lynde.)

Thursday July 22. Being a day of Public fasting and prayer for the soldiers who have gone against Crown Point, Mr. Prince preached from those words in Psalm 50, verse 15. And call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me.1 (Fleet.)

The great powers in Europe had just entered upon the long struggle known in history as the Seven Years' War. The American provinces were also engaged in the last of the French and Indian wars which, for more than three quarters of a century, had kept them in almost perpetual turmoil. The earlier campaigns in this war were disastrous. Braddock suffered a humiliating defeat on the banks of the Ohio, and Montcalm for a time carried all before him on the shores of Lake George. In the spring of 1755, an expedition under John Winslow, a general of militia,2 had sailed from Boston harbor for the Bay of Fundy, and in coöperation with some regular troops under Colonel Monckton, had taken some forts recently erected by the French; but elsewhere than in Acadia the English cause had met with almost no success. The distress and gloom were the greatest in the winter of 1756-57. In January the Earl of Loudoun, who had been sent from England as commander-in-chief, arrived in Boston to confer with the authorities, and on the 15th, we are told, he was at the South Church, and heard Dr. Sewall preach. The commissioners appointed to confer with him were, Thomas Hutchinson and William Brattle, on the part of the council, and Samuel Welles, Thomas Hubbard, and James Otis, on the part of the representatives. When at length the tide turned, victory followed victory in brilliant of Plymouth. He joined the South Church in 1742.

1 [Judge Lynde was holding court at Plymouth during a part of this week, and says of the Fast Day: "22d. Fast on account of Expeditions; three deacons prayed in the afternoon."]

2 John Winslow was a grandson of Governor Josiah Winslow, and greatgrandson of Governor Edward Winslow,

3 Lord Loudoun was accompanied by Christopher Kilby, resident agent of the province in London, whose father, John Kilby, had been a member of the South Church, and some of whose near friends were now connected with it.

TRIUMPHS OF THE BritisH ARMS.

27

succession, the crowning triumphs being at Quebee in 1759 and Montreal in 1760.1

Novr. 14. 1756 The Brethren of the Church and Congregation were stayed, and Voted,

That there be a Collection for Charitable and pious uses on the Anniversary Thanksgiving Novr. 25. Instant: And that the rest of the Congregation be notified next Lord's Day, and desir'd to assist in said Collection. JOSEPH SEWALL.

Dec. 5. 1756 The Brethren of the Church and Congregation were stay'd and Voted,

1. That twenty pounds be given out of the late collection in Bibles and other Books of piety to proper objects of such a charity.

2. That the remainder of said Collection be distributed by the Deacons to the poor of this Church and Congregation in Wood and other Necessaries of life, according to their best Discretion.

1 Referring to the year 1759, Mr. Green remarks: "It is no exaggeration to say that three of its many victories determined for ages to come the destinies of the world. With that of Rossbach began the recreation of Germany, its intellectual supremacy over Europe, its political union under the leadership of Prussia and its kings. With that of Plassey the influence of Europe told for the first

JOSEPH SEWALL.

time since the days of Alexander on the nations of the East. The world, in Burke's gorgeous phrase, saw 'one of the races of the northeast cast into the heart of Asia new manners, new doctrines, new institutions.' With the triumph of Wolfe on the Heights of Abraham began the history of the United States of America."-Short History of the English People, pp. 737, 738.

On the day following, one of the most distinguished and venerated members of the church, Josiah Willard, was taken to his rest. Seventy-five years before, he was baptized by his father in the old meeting-house, and fifty-five years before, he was received, also by his father, into the fellowship of the church. He was a man of majestic presence, and of rare mental endowments. He was secretary of the province from 1717 until his death, judge of probate from 1731 to 1745, and a member of the honorable council, from 1734 to May, 1756.1 "He discharged the duties of these important offices," said Dr. Sewall, "with a laudable capacity, great diligence and integrity, as a good and faithful servant of God, his King and country;" and he added: "This flock of Christ, of which his excellent father was an able and faithful pastor, is bereaved of an exemplary and faithful Christian, who walk'd humbly and closely with God, in a firm adherance to the doctrines and precepts of the Gospel: One that was zealous for the day and house of the Lord, and constant in his attendance on the public worship, even when his bodily infirmities might urge him to spare himself." Both his ministers preached upon his death. From Dr. Sewall we have already quoted. Mr. Prince took the character of Caleb as an illustration of that of Mr. Willard, and said of the latter:

But it was his distinguishing, unaffected and yet shining piety, which spread a pleasing lustre on all his other endowments, and rendered him so exceedingly amiable and delightful to us. And without preferring him to many others, I may freely say that among his brethren and fathers, in place of civil dignity, I dont remember that I ever saw any man, in whom so many accomplishments, with the unaffected gentleman and the eminent Christian, were more happily united.

Lords Day Decr. 12. 1756 The Brethren of the Church stayed, and Voted,

That Deacon Hubbard, Capt. Jackson, Mr. David Jeffries, Mr. John Scollay and Capt. Symmes be the Church-Committee for this year. JOSEPH SEWALL.

The admissions to the church in 1756 were forty-four; including eight on the 28th of December, 1755, we may call them fifty-two. This was a larger number than had been added in any year since the great revival, and it was not to be equalled

1 1756. "May 26th. Election. I chose a counsellor. Secretary Willard resigned his seat at the Board, and Colo. Pickard

chose a counsellor." 1757. "Secretary Willard died, and Andrew Oliver Esq. secretary." — Lynde Diaries.

TRINITARIAN CONTROVERSY.

29

in the time to come until far into the nineteenth century. Most of these admissions were in the first three months of the year. On the 28th of December, as we have said, there were eight; on the 25th of January, there were nine; on the 22d of February, there were fourteen; on the 29th of February, there were two; and on the 21st of March, there were seven: in all forty. Among these were members of the Belknap, Prout, Wiswall, Fleet, Welles, Salisbury,1 Oliver, Hubbard, and Bromfield families. William Phillips,2 afterward deacon, and his wife Abigail (Bromfield) made a profession of their faith February 29. A larger number than usual also owned the covenant in 1756, eleven, — among whom were James Otis, the great orator, advocate, and patriot, and his wife Ruth (Cunningham). Mrs. Otis became a communicant in 1764.

We have no means of knowing what circumstances especially led to the revival of religious interest in the congregation at this time, but we may suppose that the earthquake shocks of November, 1755, as similar visitations had done before, deepened religious impressions already made, and brought men and women to a decision. Under the solemn admonitions of their faithful ministers, they came to estimate at their proportionate value "those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made," and "those things which are not shaken," and which are to remain.

Dr. Mayhew had recently published a book in which he attacked the doctrine of the Trinity, and an English work on the same side of the controversy, Emlyn's Inquiry, had been reprinted here, with a preface by an anonymous writer calling himself a layman. These publications caused much uneasiness among conservative men, and Mr. Edwards wrote a letter from Stockbridge, February 11, 1757, to Dr. Wigglesworth, professor of divinity in Harvard College,2 in which he said:

1 Rebecca Salisbury, who joined February 22, 1756, was a daughter of Nicholas and Martha Salisbury. She married, May 3, 1757, Daniel Waldo, a merchant of Boston. Griselda, daughter of Andrew and Mary Oliver, who joined on the same day, married Samuel Waldo, and died soon after at Casco Bay.

2 William Phillips owned the covenant at his father's church in Andover, December 5, 1736, before leaving home for Boston. He was then in his fifteenth year.

3 The Rev. Edward Wigglesworth was a son of the Rev. Michael Wigglesworth, of Malden. After leaving college, in 1710, he taught for a time in Boston, and was then a member of the South Church. In 1722, he was elected as the first professor of theology at Cambridge, on the Hollis foundation; and at his installation the oaths were administered to him by Judge Sewall and Colonel Penn Townsend. He received the degree of D.D. from Edinburgh in 1730.