which, perhaps, belongs to this controversy, but which I have not been able to find. In a sermon printed in that year, called Ichabod, or a Discourse shewing what Cause there is to fear that the Glory of the Lord is departing from New England, the President recurs to the subject, though incidentally, and more covertly. Some scandalous practices,' he says, which not only the Waldenses, but the reformed churches in France and in Holland have, in their discipline, declared to be censurable evils, are now indulged in some churches in New England;' which hint is explained, when he comes to speak of 'ministers, not like their predecessors, not principled, nor spirited as they were,' who have in print mocked and scoffed at, holy practices, which have been the glory of these churches of the Lord;' who 'despise that glory, which their fathers had such a value for,' and 'will part with truth and holiness; and yet, at the same time, by new notions and practices, make divisions.'

In their Testimony to the Order of the Gospel in the Churches of New England, left in the Hands of the Churches by the two most aged Ministers of the Gospel yet surviving in the Country, Higginson and Hubbard allude to this controversy in terms expressive of a lively concern. The former had also, in 1699, written, jointly with Mr. Noyes, the other Salem minister, a letter of admonition and reproof to the Undertakers, which is preserved in MS. Vol. Ha. 19 of the Historical Society's library. It is severe, without being unkind or disrespectful; and while, in point of argument, it does not compare favourably with the writings of the Mathers, has greatly the advantage of them in its spirit.

Some of the points in this dispute are touched in 'famous Solomon Stoddard's' Doctrine of Instituted Churches, published in London, in 1700. A soft Answer to this work was furnished by President Mather, but I have searched for it ineffectually. Stoddard rejoined in his Appeal to the Learned, in 1709.

From a private journal kept at this time, in Marblehead, by Josiah Cotton, an extract from which has been furnished me by Judge Davis, it appears, that the Church was for a while, in contempt, called the Manifesto Church,' and that Gospel Order Revived was commonly reputed to be the joint work of the ministers Colman, Bradstreet of Charlestown, and Woodbridge. Mr. Cotton inserts two pieces of doggerel verse, written, one by an assailant, and the other by a champion of the Church, which contain some wretched puns upon the names of those gentlemen. The lines are too insipid to print. I gather from them only that the Church was thought to affect gentility, and that Dr. Colman wore powder. The journalist well subjoins, Thus the quarrels about religion give occasion to scoffing wits; and therefore a small matter should not set us together by the ears; for a victory won't countervail the damage, and it is well that that controversy is since comfortably composed.'

(5.) p. 9. 'MORE acceptable it was,' writes Dr. Colman, in the record of his call, by reason of the kind and encouraging letters, which accompanied it, from my excellent friends, the Hon. Mr. John Leverett, the Rev. William Brattle, Ebenezer Pemberton, Simon Bradstreet, and others. Being arrived at London, August 1, 1699, I asked ordination of the presbytery there, and on the 4th day of said month the solemnity was attended, after a publick lecture, at the meeting-house of the Rev. Mr. Christopher Taylor, to whom I succeeded at 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 exhortation.'

The letters of encouragement above referred to are preserved in the MS. volume of the Historical Society's library, to which I have before referred. I copy that of Leverett, as an agreeable specimen of the courtesy of the time :

'Rev. Sr,

'CAMBRIDGE, May 25th, 1699.

'I HAVE wrote several letters to you, but have not been sure of your receiving any more than One of them; However, I hope they have been so happy as to kiss your hands, and to testify to you my regards. This I trust will get safe to you, since it waits upon those that send their Invitations to you to come over to do service in your Own Country. The Gent. that solicit your return Informe me of their doing so, and I hope their hopes of obtaining what they send for will not be frustrate, nor long deferred. I believe, Sr, you have as Advantageous a prospect, as any our countrey can offer. The Gent. Engaged in that affair are Able, Vigourous and Sincere. They are men of honour, and can't, in an Ordinary way, fail a Reasonable Expectation. The Work they have begun had its Rise from a Zeal that is not Common, and the progress of it is Orderly and Steady. I am heartyly pleased with the motion they have made towards yourself, because I shal Exceedingly rejoyce at your return into your Countrey. We want Psons of your Character. You will, I doubt not, let the Name of your Countrey have a Weight in the ballance of your Consideration. The Affaire offered to you is great, and of Great moment. I pray Almighty God to be your director in it. It is he that thrusts Labo'rs into his harvest, and bounds the habitations of the Sons of Adam. that yours (if it may be for your advantage) may be where you have this Invitation, is heartily desired by all that I have heard speak of it; but it can't be more Agreeable to any body than it is to,

Sr,

Your sincere ffriend and humble servant,

JOHN LEVERETT.'

(6.) p. 9. THE first record was made December 12.

December 20, the proprietors voted, that the Psalms in our publick worship be sung without reading line by line.' The first day of publick worship was December 24, when Dr. Colman preached from 2 Chron. vi. 18. 'I omit, on purpose,' he writes, under that date, the differences and troubles we had with any neighbours about our proceedings; only am obliged to leave this acknowledgment of our great obligation to the Hon. William Stoughton, Esq. Lieut. Gov. of the Province, the Rev. Mr. William Brattle of Cambridge, the Rev. Mr. Clark of Chelmsford, and Mr. Danforth of Dorchester, for their good and kind endeavours for our peaceable settlement.' The day of prayer' was kept January 31. In the morning Mr. Allen prayed and Dr. Colman preached. In the afternoon, Mr. Willard began with prayer, Increase Mather preached, and Cotton Mather concluded. What led to this accommodation, I have failed to ascertain. In a note from Allen and the Mathers, dated only a month before, they refuse to take part in this solemnity, 'lest,' say they, 'our joining with you in such an action be interpreted as an approbation of the miscarriages, which, both before and since the publication of the said Manifesto, it seems to us that you are fallen into.'

The fourteen brethren who first formed the Church were Brattle, Thomas Clark, Cooper, Walker, Davis, Keen, Draper, Harris, Tuthill, Colman, Allen, and Kilby, of the undertakers, with John and Oliver Noyes. The brethren who joined it on the first communion day were Bannister and Pembroke, of the undertakers, with Nathaniel Oliver, John George, William Pain, John Chip, and John Kilby, sen.; and the sisters, Mary Tuthill, Rebecca Taffin, Mary Mico, Mehitabell Cooper, Lydia George, Sarah Bannister, Jane Pembroke, and Elizabeth Royall. The pastor of the Old South Church, who has kindly searched his books for me, informs me that Davis, Walker, Kilby, Oliver Noyes, Oliver, John and Lydia George, and Mehitabell Cooper, were from that church, and Brattle from that congregation, where he owned the baptismal covenant in 1680. Pembroke was a member of the First Church. Besides these, all the first female communicants, and Draper, Bannister, and Chip, among the male, are marked as having been before church members, but I have not been able to find their names on the register of any church in the town,-a circumstance for which I am at a loss to account. John Colman was probably from the Second Church. The names of Draper, Royall, and Tuthill, occur in the records of the First, and those of Clark, Davenport, Harris, Keen, and Palmer, in those of the Second.'

Clark, whose daughter Dr. Colman married, is called, in the dedication to his sermon preached on a day of prayer in behalf of the children of the Church, its first benefactor.'-In the fifth volume of the Historical Collections is preserved a Full and Candid Account of the Delusion called

Witchcraft, which prevailed in New England; and of the Judicial Trials and Executions at Salem in the County of Essex for that pretended Crime, in 1692. Written by Thomas Brattle, F. R. S.' It is a composition highly honourable to the writer,-manly, sensible, and humane, besides being exceedingly well written. The undertakers are called by Pemberton, in his letter above-mentioned, men of repute and figure.' In a letter of Oliver Noyes to Colman, he says, 'their methods (in my own private thoughts) have been regular, having first applied themselves to the governour and council, and assembly, and selectmen of Boston, with their unanimous approbation, as also acquainting the ministers at their meeting after lecture; and, though they did not apply themselves to any particular minister for advice, as some few have resented harsh—yet, to my thoughts, they had some reason, being about to depart from some customs that some of them pretend to be fond of; and for that reason, perhaps, they denied to join with them in a fast they had appointed to implore peace, love and success in their design.'

(7.) p. 10. MR. ADAMS was first engaged for a year, by an unanimous vote, in June, 1701. He was settled in New London in 1709, and lived till 1753. He published several sermons.

(8.) p. 10. AcCORDING to Allen, that eminent man Dr. Barnard of Marblehead was employed for some time as an assistant to Dr. Colman.' This does not appear from the records.

(9.) p. 11. MR. COOPER was invited to the pastoral care August 16, 1715, preliminary votes having been passed at the first publick meeting of the whole congregation the month before. 66 votes were given, of which 60 were in his favour. Having represented, 'that he feared, if he should immediately engage in a course of constant preaching, it might hinder him too much in his preparatory studies,' he continued to preach but once a fortnight for some months. At his ordination, Dr. Colman preached the sermon, from 2 Tim. ii. 1. 'It has been usual,' he says, ordained himself to preach.

in the preface, for the person who is to be This practice has, of late years, been much complained of by our young, ministers, as a great impropriety imposed on them. In which opinion I concur, and was therefore willing to relieve Mr. Cooper, and to assign him a more proper part and service, which he also chose. This, also, is new with us. But we had the satisfaction to see it highly approved,' &c. This more proper part and service,' which was introduced between the sermon and the consecrating prayer, and afterwards published with the former, was a detailed exposition, by the candidate, of his views of the Christian system

and the pastoral office, in answers to four questions propounded to him by Dr. Colman.

The sermon contains a hint, from which some judgment may be formed concerning the amount of parochial duty, considered reputable in those days. I have already led you through the greatest part of the congregation, but am sensible we have missed many, some of whom we know not where their habitations are, and should be glad to know them, that we may do our duty to them also.' Dr. Colman also extols Cooper, in his funeral sermon, as knowing where to find the poor and sick of the flock, when they sent their notes.' At the present day it would sound strangely for a minister to speak of missing many of his congregation, from not knowing where they lived, or to name it as for the credit of another, that he knew where to find the poor and sick. Cotton Mather is, in like manner, commended by his biographer, for thinking it his duty to visit the families belonging to his church; taking one, and sometimes two afternoons in a week for that purpose.' Nor was it the length of his visits that prevented their greater frequency; for he could seldom despatch more than four or five families in an afternoon, and looked on, this work as laborious as any in all his ministry.' Life, by Samuel Mather, pp. 35, 37.

(10.) p. 11. THE date in the text is an errour. Mr. Cooper died December 12, of apoplexy. He had been unwell a week before, but not alarmingly ill till the second day previous to his decease. The Lord's day after the funeral Dr. Sewall preached in Brattle Square from 1 Thess. iv. 14, and Dr. Colman from John xi. 35. The next Lord's day Mr. Prince preached from 2 Tim. iv. 7, and the rest of the ministers followed, in their course, preaching with great affection.'

(11.) p. 11. SEPTEMBER 4, 1744, three gentlemen were requested to preach as candidates, besides Mr. Cooper, whom the pastor, at his discretion, was permitted to invite by a vote of 52 to 13. At a meeting, held December 31, 'a very full meeting of no less than 138 in number,' Mr. Cooper was chosen to the pastoral office by 116 votes.

(12.) p. 11. DR. COLMAN began to preach the year after he took his bachelor's degree, and resided, for the most part, at Cambridge till he went abroad, two years after, 'having a strong desire to see England, and make improvement by what he could see and learn there."* The vessel, in which he took passage, was taken by a French privateer, and he was carried to France, where, as well as afterwards in England, he met with various adventures, which are narrated at tedious length by his biographer. In

*Turell's Life of Colman.