The life and times of Edward Bass, first Bishop of Massachusetts

Preface

Edward Bass was consecrated Bishop of Massachusetts on the seventh of May, 1797. The centennial year of this event is chosen as an appropriate time for the publication of his biography, both as an honor to his memory and an attempt to make known more fully his character and work.

It is singular that the first bishops of other Dioceses — men like Bishop Seabury of Connecticut, Bishop White of Pennsylvania, and Bishop Provoost of New York — should be so well known, and that the first bishop in Puritan Massachusetts, where the fight against the introduction of the Episcopate was the fiercest, should not be better known. Yet in some respects the consecration of a bishop for Massachusetts was an event more historically significant than the making of a prelate elsewhere. The vagueness that has hung about the life of Bishop Bass is due for the most part to the failure of the men of the colonial and revolutionary periods of the Episcopal Church in the Commonwealth to preserve the permanent records of their faithful ministers. But, when one makes diligent search for the facts, it is a surprise to see how much material there is still in existence about the first bishop of Massachusetts, and how quickly he emerges vi PREFACE.

from obscurity as a strong and lovable personality, one who occupied a foremost place in the deliberations of the Colonial Church, and was an important factor in the organization of the American Episcopal Church.

The life of Bishop Bass, from the beginning to the end, as rector of St. Paul's Church, Newburyport, for fifty-one years, and as bishop from 1797 to 1803, is the record of an earnest and wise minister of Christ. Entering into the discussion of all the leading ecclesiastical questions of his day, and faithfully performing his duties, he presents to the student a career of unusual picturesque interest : there are letters and documents that show his attitude toward the controversy between Jonathan Mayhew and Archbishop Seeker ; he was a prominent figure in the conventions of his Church before the Eevolution, and first among those who petitioned for a bishop to be sent out to the Colonies from England; and during the Revolution his course was as unusual as it was dignified, for amid many hardships he remained as rector of his parish during the whole period of the struggle for Independence. As bishop he was faithful to his trust, performing many acts of importance, the full record of which has not been preserved except as it is hid in historical collections, church record-books, and Norton's slight biography. As to his character, he was amiable and affectionate, a friend of all and judicious in dealing with opponents ; full of humor, he was a charming companion, and greatly respected in the community where he lived. As a preacher he was strong and practical ; and his manuscript sermons reveal a style of preaching

PREFACE. vii

not frequent in his day, — temperate, logical, and spiritual, often epigrammatic and sometimes forcible in passages of eloquence. A study of his life shows that Edward Bass was in every way worthy to head the list of Massachusetts bishops, which includes Samuel Parker, Alexander Viets Griswold, Manton Eastburn, Benjamin Henry Paddock, Phillips Brooks, and William Lawrence.

This book, however, is something more than a biography of Edward Bass, for it has been necessary, in illustrating his life, to deal with subjects of more general historical interest. It therefore gives glimpses of the history of the Church of England, and the Episcopal Church in Massachusetts. It deals also at some length with the formative period of the Church of England parishes ; the persecutions they suffered ; the controversies they engaged in ; the ecclesiastical causes that led to the Revolution ; the history of the parishes during the Revolution ; the organization of the American Episcopal Church, and the final perfecting of the system by the election and consecration of a bishop. There are many points where the Church of England parishes touched the larger life of the Colony ; and, being associated with the English government, their history is a part of the history of the relations that existed between England and the American Colonies before the Revolution.

There is much material in the book that has never been printed before. The author has had access to the records of certain of the pre-revolutionary parishes, the archives of which have yielded important documents, viii PREFACE.

notably St. Paul's Church, Newburyport ; St. Michael's Church, Marblehead ; St. Peter's Church, Salem ; and Trinity Church, Boston.

The striking series of letters written by Edward Bass to the " Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts " has been copied direct from the archives of the Society in England, together with full extracts from the Journal of the Society, sent to America specially for this book. The letters relating to the consecration of Bishop Bass have been received from the Rev. Samuel Hart, D. D., Secretary of the House of Bishops.

The author desires to express his indebtedness to those who have helped him in his work, and specially to the Rt. Rev. William Lawrence, D. D., Bishop of Massachusetts, for his active assistance and counsel in the preparation of these pages.

Daniel Dulany Addison.

Brookline, Mass., October 4, 1897.

Contents

Chapter Page

I. Early Life and Ordination 1

II. Origin of the Church in Newburyport ... 25

Chapter I. Early Life

It is a matter of interest to know that the best blood of Massachusetts flowed in the veins of Edward Bass. He was a direct descendant of John Alden, whom tradition honors as the first passenger of the Mayflower to set foot on Plymouth Rock, and Priscilla Mullens, the fair maiden who was bold enough to intimate to John that he ought to speak for himself when he came to press the suit of Miles Standish, brave in war, but timid in love. The connection between the first bishop of Massachusetts and these Pilgrim worthies is established by an item preserved in the old Town Records of Braintree, which tells the story that " on the 12 month, 3, 1657, John Bass and Ruth Aulden were married by John Aulden of Duxbury." This Ruth Alden, daughter of John Alden and Priscilla, was the great-grandmother of Edward Bass ; and Ruth's husband, John Bass, had also an illustrious parentage, being the son of the sturdy Deacon Samuel Bass, who came to New England, and settled in Roxbury near Hog Bridge, in the year of our Lord 1630. This first American ancestor of the Bass family, Samuel, soon removed from Roxbury to Braintree, where he was chosen first deacon of the church, and known as " a man of strong and vigorous mind, and was one of the leading men of the town for many years." ^ When the deacon died, at the age of ninety-four years, the Town Records referred to his longevity and the remarkable number of his progeny that had risen to call him blessed, by spreading upon its pages the fact that " Deacon Samuel Bass, aged 94, departed this life upon the 30*^ day of Dec. 1694 ; who had been a deacon of the church of Braintree for the space of above 50 years, and the first deacon of that church ; and was the father and grandfather and great-grandfather of a hundred and sixty-two children before he died, the youngest whereof was . . . born eleven days before his death."

One cannot help noting the significance of the fact that the descendant of these fathers of New England Puritanism became in due course of time the man selected to be the first bishop in the very territory which they supposed would be ever free from such intrusion. What would John Alden have thought of such logic of history? If we may judge of his possible opinions on this subject by a reference to those of his fellow-immigrant and townsman, William Bradford, Governor, we may be sure that he would not have taken the matter so seriously to heart. For Bradford in his quaint " Dialogue betweene some Young-men borne in New England; and some Ancient-men which came out of Holand, and old England concerning the church

1 Elisha Thayer, Family Memorial, Part I. p. 52.

and the government therof," makes the " Ancient-men " speak thus of " Episcopacie : " "It will be needful before we speake to this poynte that some thing be premised to prevent mistakes. And first we accknowledg that bishops, such as are mentioned in the holy Scriptures, are of divine institution and ordinance of God. 2^^ But lord bishops, invested with sole spiritual power and government and exercising sole authority and power and government over the churches, without their choyse or consent is Strang from Scripture, no institution of Christ, but a humane devise and intrusion." ^ The principal reason for the antagonism to bishops on the part of the Puritans is here distinctly stated at the very beginning of the Plymouth Colony, in this contrast between the bishops that " are mentioned in Scripture" and "my lord bishops." These last were ministers of the state, heads of " the establishment," princes of the realm, who knew how to call in aid the secular arm. The opposition of William Bradford and John Alden to these prelates, active in scenting heresy, is no indication that they would have been disturbed by the saintly life of the humble-minded Edward Bass, who was first bishop, after apostohc fashion, in the Commonwealth.

Edward, the son of Joseph and Elizabeth Bass, being directly connected with the Aldens, was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, November 23, 1726, and was baptized four days thereafter in the old First Church. Two affidavits make this plain, being the ones he doubtless took to England with him when he applied for

1 Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings, voL xi. p. 428.

ordination in 1752. They have both been preserved, and are good evidence of the truth of the above assertions : —

" Edward, the son of Joseph Bass and Elizabeth his wife was Born Nov. 23, 1726.

" True extract from the Records of Births in Dorchester.

Attest, Noah Clap

Town Clerk of Dorchester "

Also this certificate of baptism : —

" This may certify that Mr. Edward Bass was baptized in the Church of Dorchester Nov. 27, 1726. As attest, Jonathan Bowman

Pastor "

Dorchester, 11, 1751.

Of the boyhood life of Edward we know nothing until he emerges into the full light of his college course. Being a member of a large family, the fourth of eleven children, he must have received the training that comes from the daily intercourse of many brothers and sisters, and especially so in his case, when others of the children were being prepared with him, at home and in the schools, for professional careers. He entered Harvard College in 1740, when he was thirteen years of age, his class being the one of 1744.^ The first reference to him in the college records is made when the freshmen of his year were " Plac'd," — arranged according to their standing : " At a meeting of the President & Tuf May V' 1741 The Freshmen were Plac'd

1 Catalogus Harvardianus, 1809.

in the following order ; " ^ then follow the names of the thirty-three members of the class, with Bass as twentyfirst. The class was a notable one, for it had among its number Thomas Gushing, who was afterwards Speaker of the House in Massachusetts for ten years ; Jonathan Mayhew, whose sermons stirred up the flames of revolution, and whose polemical tracts caused the churchmen much annoyance ; and Samuel Bird, who defied the overseers of the college, and was expelled. It was a fortunate youth in those days whose name was not mentioned in the Faculty records. If he was a good student and not guilty of offenses against discipline, there was no reference to him throughout his whole course, but if he offended, he found a place in recorded history. Bass seems to have passed successfully through the temptations which assailed with disastrous results certain of his classmates, viz. : " Fetching Rum ; " " firing squibs ; " " steaHng fowls ; " " lying in examination ; " and profanity. He, however, did not escape mention, though for a very mild form of offense. It was the custom to fine the students who did not return on time after vacation was over, or, as it was then expressed, "after the vacancy was up." The college revenue was substantially increased by the levying of this fine, at one time forty-seven students being fined a total of .£23 0 8. Owing to this custom, we have two references to Bass, who otherwise might have escaped all notice in the official documents of his college. Such silence would have been a proof of his virtue, but less picturesque. In accordance with the

^ Harvard, MSS. Records, vol. i. p. 149.

" Punishment of such as were absent from college after the vacancy, according to the Law provided," Bass was fined at one time five shillings, and at another thirteen shillings, four pence.'

Bass studied the usual subjects required by the college at this period, the classics, the Greek Testament, and Hebrew. He also enjoyed a wider range of reading, for the curriculum was enlarged in 1742, taking in text-books which gave a much more extended scope to the studies. On March 2, 1742, the faculty " agreed that besides the classics and Greek Testament usually recited at College the books here following shall also be henceforth recited here, viz. : Compendium Logica extracted from Le Grand ; Locke on Humane Understanding ; Gordon's Geographical Grammar ; Euclides Elements ; Gravesande's Natural Philosophy ; D'. Watts' Astronomy." ^ This collection of books indicates a decided step forward in the educational development of the college ; and Bass was fortunate in being a student when the change was made. The influence of these authors can be traced in his sermons years after.

When he received his first degree, at the time of the graduation of his class in 1744, he decided to continue his studies and remain at the institution for three more years in order to obtain his Master's Degree. This he accomplished in 1747, teaching meanwhile in the schools near by. The subject that he took for his thesis strongly reflects the spirit of the time, and shows that his mind

1 Harvard, MSS. Records, vol. i. pp. 171; 191.

was turning to the discussion of theological questions. Like most of the subjects selected by the students for their Master's Degree, it was of a purely speculative character. The men seemed to get as far away from anything scientific or normal as was possible. Josiah Quincy had discoursed learnedly in the negative the question that " When Balaam's ass spoke, was there any change in its organs ? " Another youth inquired whether a shadow moves, while another enterprising investigator determined to learn if Samson was guilty of suicide. Bass was moved to ask, " Will the blessed in the future world, after the last Judgment, make use of articulate speech and will that be Hebrew? " ^ His decision in the affirmative, that the blessed will speak Hebrew in the communion of the saints, would have delighted the soul of Cotton Mather, who argued that the Hebrew points were of divine origin, and would have given joy to poor old Michael Wigglesworth, who taught in the college in 1653, and made his lament that the pupils did not care for Hebrew, in the following pathetic words : —

" Aug 29 : My pupills all came to me y^ day to desire yy might ceas learning Hebrew : I w*^stood it w*^ all ye reaso I could, yet all will not satisfy y™ thus am I requited for my love ; & thus little fruit of all my prayers & tears for y' good." ^

It is difficult to say how much this decision of young Bass concerning the importance of Hebrew influenced him to become a preacher, but after receiving his degree,

* Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings, vol. xviii. p. 150.

* Ibid., vol. xviii. p. 122.

this was his determination. Not wishing to sever his connection with the college, he continued to Hve in Cambridge, studying and preparing himself for his future work. His first idea was to become a Congregational minister ; indeed, he received a license to preach, and frequently suppHed vacant pulpits in the neighborhood. It is known that he preached in Boxford, when the Rev. John Rogers of that place was having such difficulty with his parish that the pastor's services were not acceptable. The disagreement arose because of the building of a new church and the desire of the people to have a new minister. The Rev. Mr. Rogers was equal to the emergency, and refused to give up the title to the parsonage and land until " the parish paid the balance of his salary, and the parish was contrary the other way." What the parish clerk calls " our long perplexed and distressed circumstances " continued for some time, and "the parish hired miscellaneous ministers to preach for a few Sundays only, though some of them continued here a number of months. Prominent among them were Rev. Jacob Bacon, Rev. Aaron Putnam . . . Rev. Moses Hale of Byfield . . . Rev. Mr. Bass."^ It is said that Bass was called to be permanent minister in Boxford, but this he declined. This refusal is an indication that he was beginning to change his views on the subject of the church which he intended to serve, for, when preaching in Maiden, he received overtures from the Wardens of St. Paul's Church, Newburyport, — the offer which he finally accepted.

1 Sidney Perley, History of Boxford, p. 190.

It is difficult at this late date to assign reasons for his change from the Puritanism of his fathers to the Church of England, which had unceremoniously intruded itself into the colony. No hope of preferment could have attracted him, for the church was very weak in the places where it had become established. Its ministers in the colony were almost all, with the exception of those at King's Chapel, Boston, missionaries of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Such a change made necessary a dangerous and expensive journey to London for ordination, there being no bishop in America ; and his career was sure to be beset after his return by prejudice and uncalled-for attacks. His change must, therefore, have been due to conscientious convictions, to some realization of the true meaning of the English Church, and to a moral bravery that was in every way admirable.

There are, however, some side lights which may be shed on the matter. Defections from Puritanism to the English Church had by no means been unknown ; and illustrious examples had occurred in the American colleges. Timothy Cutler, President of Yale College, and his friends, Mr. Daniel Browne and Rev. Samuel Johnson, the pastor at Westhaven, Conn., had astonished New England by their apostasy from Congregationalism. Concerning it Samuel Sewall, the judge, who always kept his diary and letter-book, wrote to Governor Saltonstall in 1722 that " the noise of Yale College came to us gradually ; at first we heard some uncertain Rumbhngs ; at last the plain and loud Thunder Claps astonished us. It quickly brought to my mind

Rev. xvi. 15/ Methinks he could not easily have lit upon a Subject so indefensible as that of English Episcopacy which seems to be absolutely drdpaTtivyj xtlaLc,? I am fully aware that Episcopacy is that upon which the Fifth Vial is poured out & he will have hard work that shall endeavor to controll that Angel. The Bishops drove the renowned Planters out of England, I hope God will not suffer the Bishops to drive their children out of New England." ^

Thouo^h Cutler and his friends knew that such criticisms would be made against them, they had arguments to fortify themselves, for they had read the books sent over to Yale by the Venerable Society, — a collection that included Barrows, Lowth, Sharp, Scott, Whitby, and Sherlock.* By reading similar books, we may be sure, Bass came to change his views. This is not a mere supposition, for it happened during his college course that Bishop Berkeley, who, when Dean, had made his visit to America, hoping to aid the church, and remembering the needs of the colleges, had made a donation of books to the library of Harvard College. In 1747, the Bishop of Cloyne wrote a significant letter to Dr. Bearcroft, secretary of the society, in which he said, " If the Society thinks fit I believe fifty pound of it [of two hundred pounds he was contributing] might be usefully employed in purchasing the most approved writings of the divines of the Church of England, to

1 " Behold I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." ^ A human creation.

^ Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings, vol. xii. p. 378. * Hawkins, Missions of the Church of England, p. 175.

which I would have added the Earl of Clarendon's History of the Civil Wars, and the whole sent as a benefaction to Harvard College, at Cambridge, near Boston, New England, as a proper means to inform their judgment and dispose them to think better of our church." ^ Appended to another letter, the bishop gives the titles of the books to be sent, which included : " Hooker, Chillingsworth, the Sermons of Barrows, Tillotson, Sharp and Clarke, Scott's Christian Life, Pearson on the Creed, Burnett on the Thirty-nine Articles, Burnet's History of the Reformation, Abp. Spot wood's History of the Church of Scotland, Clarendon's History, Prideaux's Connections, Cave's Historia Literaria Ecclesiae, Hammond's Annotations, Pole's Synopsis Critic, the Patres Apostolici published by Le Clerc." ^ That these books were sent appears from the list of the volumes destroyed by the fire, January 24, 1764, that consumed the Harvard Library : " Tracts upon all the branches of polemical divinity : — The donation of the Venerable Society for propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts." ^ When it is recalled that Bass resided at the college as a student for over ten years, it is not difficult to imagine that this literature guided his thought, and prepared him for the radical change he was about to make.

The coming of Whitefield, and the consequent disturbances in the New England churches, was the occasion for many to leave the old Congregational way and seek a refuge in the English Church. The effect of

^ Hawkins, Missions of the Church of England, p. 173.

' Quincy's History of Harvard University, vol. ii. p. 481.

" the great awakening " lasted for many years ; and the people were kept awake by the powerful preaching of Whitefield and his followers. Granting that good resulted from this preaching in its permanent effect, yet one cannot be sure of the value of the methods which produced such frenzy " that children from 8 years old to 12 or 13 assembled in bodies to vent the imaginary profusions of the Holy Spirit in disorderly praying and preaching ; " " nay," writes the Rev. Mr. Brockwell from Salem, " the very Servants and Slaves pretend to extraordinary inspiration, and under the veil thereof cherish their idle dispositions, and in lieu of dutifully minding their respective businesses, run rambling about to utter their enthusiastic nonsense." ^ When the excitement caused by Whitefield's methods was increased by a natural phenomenon like an earthquake, the violence of the converts was unbounded ; they kissed crosses that they had made in the dust, and then licked up the dust in token of humility, and as " a badge of their esteem for the Holy Trinity," drank a health to it in cold water.^ In consequence of these disorders, the Rev. Timothy Cutler wrote the secretary of the Venerable Society that many dissenters attended Christ Church in Boston, "who generally think the better of our church under Mr. Whitefield's Invectives against it, and many of them take it as a Refuge from those corrupt principles and those disorders he has spread among them." ^ The churchwardens of St. Paul's Church, Newburyport, add their testimony to

* Historical Collections of Colonial Ch. Mass., p. 357. 2 Ibid., p. 383. 3 jiid,^ p. 404.

the increase of the church from the appearance of " the enthusiasm : " " The present Distraction amongst the Dissenters occasioned by Whitefield and his followers Induces great numbers of the Discreetest amongst them to Declare for the Church." ^

Remembering Bass's well-known dislike of practices dictated by the emotions, and his student life among the books in the university, we are able to trace some of the steps that led him to declare for the church. His final decision was made when St. Paul's Church, Newburyport, asked him to become its assistant minister. This assistance was not needed by the rector, Rev. Matthias Plant, because of the rapid growth of the parish, — one man could have attended to the work: but Mr. Plant was getting old ; and, i£ he should be disabled or die, it was important to have a clergyman ready to take his place. Such contingencies had to be thought of years ahead, for there were no ministers without parishes ready to be called in those days ; and, if there was no one especially prepared, the parish might be vacant for a long period. The need of an assistant minister in this formative stage of the church's life was clearly set forth to the Bishop of London by the wardens of King's Chapel when they sent for an " assistant to Mr. Samuell Miles ; " " for should any sickness or distemper happen to him we should run adventm-e of being dispersed, which would overthrow in an instant what we have been this ten years endeavoring, — the firm establishment of a Church of England congregation in this place." ^

^ Historical Collections of Colonial Ch. Mass., p. 379. 2 Foote's Annals of King^s Chapel, vol. i. p. 132.

The parish conditions in Newburyport were somewhat complicated by the erection of a new church building. The old Queen Anne's Chapel, built in 1711, had served its purpose as a house of worship for many years, but it was situated on " the Plains," some distance from the new centre of the town-life by the " Water-side." The people by the " Water-side " had built a chui'ch called St. Paul's ; and this new edifice was the cause of a long dispute between the rector of Queen Anne's Chapel and the wardens of St. Paul's, — the latter preferring that the new assistant be rector, with full authority, of the new and stronger parish. Mr. Plant objected to the plan proposed by the proprietors of St. Paul's Church, and yielded to their desire for a new minister only on the condition that he himself be inducted into the office of rector, the newcomer being his assistant. When Mr. Plant won the day, and was legally inducted as minister of the new parish, he expressed his willingness to relinquish ,£20 of his salary to the assistant. The choice fell upon young Bass, who had acquired a reputation as a preacher, and whose sentiments toward the Church of England were known. Another reason for his selection may be found in his gentlemanly bearing, which was amusingly described by Mr. Atkins, one of the wardens, who reported, after due inspection of the young man : " Well, gentlemen, he pares an apple and lights a pipe more like a gentleman than any of the other candidates you have brought to me." The following letter from Mr. Plant to Dr. Bearcroft, secretary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, explains the whole situation : —

MR. PLANT TO DR. BEARCROFT.

Rev. Doctor, — In a letter I received from you bearing date October 21^* 1746, sent by Mr. M^Gilchrist and received by me Marcb 25, 1747, I am tbere recommended upon my being the chief minister of the whole Parish of Newbury, to make good my promise of paying annually .£20. sterling to some young candidate when admitted into Holy Orders to be my assistant at St. Paul's Church in Newbury. The proprietors of St. Paul's Church having given me induction into the said church June 24th, I, to comply with the Society's dii-ections, have made choice of Mr. Edward Bass, the bearer hereof, to assist me in the said office, when admitted into orders ; promising to pay said Mr. Bass annually £20. sterling, according to the true purport and meaning of the Society's directions in that affair ; humbly praying the Society to recommend Mr. Bass to my lord bishop to be admitted into orders that he may as soon as possible return to my assistance, who now labor under a weak disposition. Mr. B. came to me so well recommended that I verily believe he will be of service in the church, and especially in Newbury, the place designed for his residence.

This indorsement Bass took with him to London, whither he went in April, 1752, to be ordained. Before proceeding on his journey, he was examined by certain of the clergy, who passed him, but opposed the idea of his preaching in Newbury while waiting to take passage to England. This he did with the consent of Mr. Plant, and earned the title of " the forward young man," bestowed upon him by the Rev. Mr. Brockwell in this interesting letter : —