COLLECTIONS
OF THE
Electronic
Version Prepared by
Dr. Ted Hildebrandt 6/5/2002
Committee
of Publication
GEORGE E. ELLIS.
WILLIAM H. WHITMORE.
HENRY WARREN TORREY.
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.
COLLECTIONS
OF THE
VOL.
VII. FIFTH SERIES.
PUBLISHED
BY THE SOCIETY.
M.DCCC.LXXXII.
UNIVERSITY PRESS:
JOHN WILSON AND SON,
SECOND
EDITION.
PREFATORY NOTE
This volume, the third of the series of the
SEWALL PAPERS,
completes
the publication from the manuscript diary of Judge
Sewall, in
the Cabinet of the Society.
The most important of his other papers in
our possession
is a very
large volume, much of it closely written, contain-
ing his
correspondence, with miscellaneous matter.
It is
intended
that the contents of this volume, also, shall be
transcribed;
but it has not as yet been decided whether the
whole of its
contents, which would fill at least two volumes
of our
series, shall be published, or only such a selection of
its more
important papers as might be gathered into one
volume.
DIARY OF SAMUEL SEWALL.
[Judge Sewall having gone from home to
hold court, the following ex-
tracts,
enclosed between asterisks, are from entries in the small volume
which he
carried with him, labelled "Magunkaquog," See Vol. II., p.
425.]
* May 10. 1714. To Sarah, the Wife of John Ballard, Ship Car-
penter, in
said Ballard
for keeping of him from Friday last, 3s Five in all.
£0. 5. O.
May 10.
Went Towards
Gerrish's at
Wenham.
May
11. Visited Sister Northend. Mrs. Phillips, Mr. Payson.
Din'd at
Cousirr Woodbridge's, at Newbury, went on to
to Capt
Wingat's. The Rev. Seaborn Cotton,
Pastor of the Church
at
Doctr
Benjamin Dole, aged about 27 years, departed, May 8. 1707.
Robert
Smith, aged 95, died Augt. 30. 1706.
May 12.
In a piece of a Gazett, mentioned, A large Dromedary
seven foot
high, and 12 foot long, taken from the Turks at the Siege
of
Midweek, May 12. Went to Brewster, the Anchor in the Plain:
got thither
about 11: staid there for Mr. Justice
Thomas and Lynde.
We din'd
together there. Took Joseph Brewster for
our guide, and
went to
Town. Essay'd to be quarter'd at Mr.
Knight's, but he not
being at
home, his Wife refused us. I accepted
Mr. Penhallow's
Invitation
by his Maid. Not being able to get Hay,
sent our Horses
to Pasture
on
ker's, who seemed
to receive us with passionat Respect.
Went to
our
Lodgings, I to Mr. Penhallow's, Col. Thomas to Capt. Went-
worth's, Mr.
Lynde to Capt. Plaisteed.
1714. Publick Fast.*
VOL. III.
1
2 DIARY OF
SAMUEL SEWALL. [1714.
*[Judge Sewall h.as notes of the sermons
on both parts of the day from
the same
text, Matt. vi. 11., the subject being continued.]
Hic jacet sepultus Thomas Daniel1
Armig. qui hanc fragilem pro
imutabili,
vitam commutavit, 13 Novs. Ano Salutis Nostrae 1683,
Anoq. Aetatis suae, 49.
Superior Court Held at the house of Mr.
Curtis at Spruce Click
in
1714. per Three Justices; viz, Sewall, Thomas,
Lynde. Grand Jury
18, Mr.
Joseph Hill, Foreman. Jury of Trials,
Mr. Richard Cutt,
Foreman. Raine against Woodman, Apeal, Demur on Title
of Land.
Hubbard
against Hambleton. Demur. on Title of
Land.
I paid at Curtis's £1.8.
Twenty-Eight
pounds in full of all Demands and took his Receipt,
28. 0. 0.
Mr. Tapin, May 16. 1714. a. m.
[Notes of the sermons on both parts of
the day are entered. We copy
only the
improvement of the afternoon discourse.]
Christians of the greatest excellency are
compar'd to Vessels
of
Gold. Are pure, precious, will endure
the Fire. Are fill'd with
all the
Graces of God's Spirit. Christians that
do not excell are
compar'd to
Silver; persons of Lesser piety, though truly piety.
Use. Labour to be Vessels of Gold, or at least of
Silyer.
Superior Court at
tices,
Sewall, Thomas, Lynde. Grand Jury
23. Mr. Saml. Hart, Fore-
man. Jury Trials, Capt Dan'l Rindge, Foreman.
Noyes against Adams, Guardian to Thurlow,
2d Jury Trials, Mr.
William
Moodey, Foreman.
Davison against Silver. Trespass and Ejectment. John Harts-
horn's Deed
to his Son, John Hartshorn, Acknowledg'd, June 30.
1703. Recorded, Nov. 21. 1704. Davison's Writt served and the
house
Attached, Sept. 9. 1704. Execution
served Decr. 12. 1704, by
Nicholas
Davison, Son of the Apellant and his Deputy, and the said
Nicholas
Davison chose the Aprisers.
Mr. George Corwin, May 19. 1714, day of
his Ordination.
[As the notes of the sermon which follow
indicate the standard set for
the ministry
at that time, they are here transcribed.]
2 Cor. 2. 16. And who is sufficient for these Things? How weighty,
how
difficult a work.*
1 Doubtless the Thomas Daniel, of
Cutt. His widow married Thomas Graffort, Dec. 11,
1684. See Brewster's
Rambles
about
1714.] DIARY OF
SAMUEL SEWALL. 3
*Doctrine. The Employment of the Ministry is a work so
difficult
that no man
of himself is sufficient therefor.
Proposition 1. The Employment of the
Ministry is a Work.
They that
charge Ministers with idleness, do it out of gross igno-
ranee. Is constituted a Ruler over God's House. What weightier
Work than
Government? Husbandry a laborious Work 1
Cor 3
6. 7. 8.
9. I have planted. We are Laborers together with God
Tim. A Good Work, for which there is no Respit.
Prop. 2.
Employment of the Ministry is a most difficult Work.
Superior Aid
and Assistance Souls of Men the Object.
The
Salvation of them. Imortal Spirits, they
are the Guardians of
them. Exposed to Lethargy. That may receive forgiveness of Sins
and an
Inheritance among them that are Sanctified.
What more
difficult
than this? Nothing being of equal value
to Men's Souls,
Care must be
Answerable.
From Metaphors whereby their employment
is signified. Hus-
bandry. Builders; Shepherds. Watchmen, Ezek. 3. Must deny
himself, not
sleep, that others may rest the more securely.
Stew-
ards, 1 Cor.
4. 1. Of the Mysteries of God: requires
prudence,
faithfulness. Luke, 12. 42.
Ambassadors for Christ, 2 Cor. 5. 20
very
difficult to be rightly discharg'd; to know rightly to manage
between God
and his Rebellious Subjects.
From the degree of Knowledge requisite for
those that undertake
this
Work. That build not Straw and
Stubble. Resist Gainsayers.
Convince
them. From that vast variety of Work
that lyes upon
their
Hand. Publick Duties. Praying with and for the Congrega-
tion. Suiting each occasion, Dispensing the Word
most profitable
for the
Auditory. Speaking without Fear or
Affection. Seek out
acceptable
Words, and yet not Men-pleasing.
Administring Ordi-
nances. Not cast pearls before Swine, nor keeping any
away to
whom they
are due. Privat, Visit, pray for them,
comfort them in
critical
hours, that, if possible, they may be saved.
That conform
himself as
much as possible to all Humors. 1 Cor.
9. 19. That I might
gain the
more; become all things to all. Lambs to
be led gently, Isa.
23: weak to
be fed with Milk. Rich. Poor.
To accomodat our-
selves to
all these is no easy thing.
In regard of the peculiarly strict an
Exemplary Conversation re-
quir'd of a
Minister. All his Actions ly open to
view. 1 Tim. 4. 12.
Let no man
despise thy youth: but be thou an example.
1 Pet. 5. 1.
Ensamples to
the Flock. Practising before them what
you exhort
them
to. Nothing more disserviceable to
Religion than the loose
conversation
of men in Sacred Orders. Many watch for
their Halt-
ings. Must have a good Report of them that are
without. Ought*
4 DIARY OF
SAMUEL SEWALL. [1714.
*to be able
to refer their people to their own Practise.
Walk so as
you have us
for an Example. Who sufficient.
Prop. 3.
No man is himself sufficient for this great Work. But
our
Sufficiency is of God. No wonder that
some of the most able
have been
difficultly drawn to this work, that the Excellency of
the power
may be of God, not of us.
Use.
Infer. 1. The extream mistake of
those who look upon the
Work of the
Ministry as a light and easy Work.
Infer. 2.
Extream Rashness and Weakness of those who hurry
precipitately
into the Work of the Ministry.
Infer. 3.
Should quicken Ministers under a deeper sense of their
insufficiency,
to repair to God for Help.
Am call'd this day to preach in a peculiar
mailer to myself. Tis
God's
Business they go about.
Infer. 4.
Should beget in the people a hearty pity and concern
for their
Ministers, and excite their fervent Prayers for them. En-
courage
them. Strengthen their hands. Make their work as easy
to them as
they can. Attend to their Ministry. Profit by it.
When
do thus, may
hope for God's Blessing on their Ministry.*
May, 26
[1714]. Election-day. Three chosen in the
room of
Peter Sergeant esqr, deceased,1 Major Wm Brown,
1 This reference to Peter Sergeant will
serve as a pretext to correct an
error in a
note in Vol. II. p. 174. Mr. H. F.
Waters informs us that Ser-
geant had
four wives, as appears by the following item in his will: "I give
and bequeath
to my much Respected and Kind Brother and Sister-in-Law,
Eliakim
Hutchinson, esqr. and Sarah his wife, and to their
children, viz.
Messrs. William Hutchinson and wife and Thomas Palmer
and wife and
Spencer
Phipps and wife, £10 each, amounting in the whole to £80 to buy
them
mourning." "I give and bequeath to the aforesaid Mrs. Sarah Hutch-
inson and
the two children of Mrs. Abigail Bourne of
Elizabeth my
second wife" . . . £200.
This wife was therefore Elizabeth,
daughter of Henry Shrimpton, and
this
confirms our note (Vol. II. p. 203) in regard to Spencer Phips's wife.
Mr. Waters adds that Sergeant's first wife
was clearly a daughter of Capt.
George
Corwin (see New England Hist. Gen. Register, Vol. XXVIII. p. 200),
as is shown
by a letter of Corwin in the American Antiquarian Society
Library,
dated May, 1683. Mr. Waters suggests
that she was named Eliza-
beth, and is
probably mentioned by Sewall (Vol. II. Preface, p. 13*), as fol-
lows: 1681,
Dec. 23, "two of the chief Gentlewomen in Town dyed, -- viz.
Mrs. Mary
Davis and Mrs Eliza. Sargent."
His third wife was Lady Mary Phips, and
his fourth, Mrs. Mehitable
Cooper. --
EDS.
1714.] DIARY OF
SAMUEL SEWALL. 5
who has not
been here in town this year, or two, Mr.
Daniel Epes.
May, 27.
Govr [Dudley] approves of all but
field whom,
being absent, he leaves to further Considera-
tion p,
m. 25 Sworn.
June,
3. It seems Nathanl Byfield
esqr. is compleatly
Negativ'd,1
which I knew not till was now call'd to a New
Election: Voters 91.
Dr. John Clark has 51. Votes.
At
first
declines serving; Afterwards accepts and is sworn
about the
9th June. On the Eleventh of June, makes
the
Council a
Noble Treat at his house. Lieut Govr
[Tailer],
Genl
Nicholson, Col. Byfield, Col. Brown there.
Dr. C.
Mather
crav'd a Blessing. Great Thunder and
Lighten-
ing while we
were there. Mr. Secretary [Addington]
and I came
away first with borrowed Cloaks. Note.
Govr
and Mr.
Comissary [Belcher] went to Weston this day to
Mr.
Williams's, I supose on account of his daughter's Mar-
riage to Mr.
Wm Dumer.2 So they
not at Dr. Clark's.
1
ralty,
1703-15. "He complained of being injuriously reproved by Mr.
after that
always in the opposition." The
power of the Governor to veto
the election
of members of his Council was often exercised or reasons
purely
personal and arbitrary. -- EDS.
2 William Dummer married, April 26, 1714,
Catherine, the twelfth child
of Governor
Joseph Dudley, and sister of Rebecca Dudley, who was then the
unhappy wife
of Samuel Sewall, Jr. He was the son of
Jeremiah Dummer,
the second
cousin of our journalist. Dummer's
promotion was rapid
after this time;
he was Lieutenant-Governor under Shute, 1716-23, acting
Governor for
nearly five years, 1723-1728, and again at Burnet's death,
He died at
368) speaks
highly of him: "His general aim was
to do public service."
By his will
he founded
ment to his
fame.
From the reference to Weston, we presume
that Dummer's marriage was
celebrated
there. The minister there was Rev.
William Williams, H. C.