Samuel Sewall, son of Henry and Jane Sewall, was born at Bishop Stoke,
in Hampshire, England, March 28, 1652. The family to which he belonged
was ancient and respectable. His great-grandfather was a linen-draper
of the city of Coventry, "a prudent man, who acquired a great estate,"
and was more "than once chosen mayor of the city." His grandfather,
Henry Sewall, born in 1576, came to New England, lived in Newbury
and Rowley, Ms., and died about 1655. Samuel, the subject of this
memoir, was taught to read at Baddesly; and was afterwards sent to a
grammar-school at Rumsey, of which a Mr. Figes was master. In 1661, he
came to New England with his mother, his father having removed here
previously. He was immediately put under the instruction of Rev. Thomas
Parker of Newbury, with whom he continued six years, till his entrance
into Harvard College, in 1667. His first degree he received under
President Chauncy, in 1671.
It was his original intention to enter the Christian ministry; and with
a view to it, he studied divinity, commenced preaching, and received
encouragement to go to Woodbridge, N. J., and settle as a minister
among that people, who went from Newbury, where his father lived. But
his thoughts were probably diverted from the sacred profession by his
marriage connection, in consequence of which he came into possession of
great wealth, and the means of influence and usefulness in public life.
He was married, Feb. 28, 1676, by Gov. Bradstreet, to Hannah Hull,
daughter and sole heir of John Hull, Esq., a goldsmith and highly
respectable merchant in Boston, master of the mint for many years, and
one of the Assistants in 1683, the year in which he died.
Mr. Sewall was chosen one of the Assistants in 1684, '5, and '6,
when the Colony charter was annulled, and the ancient government was
superseded by a President and Council. In 1688, during the oppressive
administration of Sir Edmund Andros, when the titles of many to their
lands, and of his among others, were questioned and in danger of being
forfeited, he made a voyage to England. But on his return, in 1689,
Sir Edmund having withdrawn from the country, and the old Charter
government having been revived, he resumed his seat at the Board
of Assistants. In the Provincial charter, granted in 1692, he was
nominated to be of the Council; and afterwards, without interruption,
was annually chosen and sat at the Board until 1725, when being
elected, he declined serving; having survived more than seven years all
who were appointed with him to that office in the charter.
As one of the Assistants under the Colonial charter, Mr. Sewall was
also _ex officio_ a Judge of the Supreme Court. Soon after the arrival
of the Provincial charter in May, 1692, but before any courts of
justice had been established and organized under it, he was appointed
one of the Judges of a Special Court of Oyer and Terminer for the
trial of persons charged with witchcraft, William Stoughton, Esq.,
being Chief-Justice. It is well known, that at that time there was a
general persuasion, not only in New England, but in the mother country,
and throughout Europe, of the reality of those impious compacts with
Satan, into which persons guilty of witchcraft were supposed to have
entered, and of that diabolical power or influence, by which they were
believed to act.[A] This court especially was under the delusion; and
consequently _nineteen_ persons of the many who were indicted and
arraigned before it at Salem for this crime, were, at different times,
tried, condemned, and, in pursuance of its sentence, executed. In this
unhappy affair, the Judges proceeded with great caution, asking advice
of some of the wisest and best men in the community, and having the
countenance of rulers, ministers, and in general of all classes of men.
But the delusion was soon made manifest. Judge Sewall in particular was
convinced of his error, in the part which he had taken in the court of
trials; and often discovered deep regret and humiliation on account of
it. He notes particularly in his Journal of Dec. 24, 1696, on occasion
of his son Samuel's reciting to him in Latin a portion of Matthew xii,
"the 7th verse did awfully bring to mind the Salem Tragedie." And at
a public Fast, Jan. 14, 1697, in the order for which there was some
reference to the doings of that court of Oyer and Terminer, and when he
was under much affliction on account of the death of an infant daughter
and other troubles and crosses, he presented to Rev. Samuel Willard,
his minister, a "bill," which was read in the worshipping assembly; (he
standing up while Mr. Willard read it, and bowing in token of assent
when he had done;) in which, while with much delicacy he appears to
have studiously avoided saying any thing that might seem to implicate
the other judges, he acknowledged his own guilt in the decisions of
that court, asked the pardon of it both of God and man, and deprecated
the Divine judgments on account of his sin or the sin of any other
person, upon himself, his family, or the land.
But though he thus condemned himself for the part he had acted in the
trials at Salem, yet the public confidence did not appear to have been
shaken, either in him or the other Judges. For on the first appointment
of Judges of the Superior Court, under the Provincial charter, Dec. 6,
1692, Mr. Sewall was chosen one. The others were William Stoughton,
Chief-Justice, Thomas Danforth, John Richards, and Wait-Still Winthrop,
each of whom, excepting Mr. Danforth, had been members of the Court
of Oyer and Terminer. April 16, 1718, he was appointed to succeed
Wait-Still Winthrop as Chief-Justice of the Superior Court. And
although from various causes there were numerous changes in this court
in his day, yet he still retained his seat on the bench until 1728;
when, in consequence of his advanced years and increasing infirmities,
he resigned it; having survived more than ten years all those who had
been members of that court from the beginning, and having officiated in
this capacity under the Colonial and Provincial governments upwards of
forty years. At the same time, he also resigned his office of Judge of
Probate for the county of Suffolk, to which he had been appointed by
Lieut. Gov. Tailer, in 1715.
Chief-Justice Sewall was a man of distinguished piety. He feared God
from his youth, and apparently made it the main end of his life to
glorify the God of his fathers, by walking humbly and unblamably before
him. He was eminently a devout man; constant and exemplary in his
attendance on the worship of God, both in his family, and in the public
assembly. He was a most diligent hearer of the preaching of the gospel.
This is proved by his numerous manuscript volumes which still remain,
containing the texts and general outlines of sermons and lectures,
which he heard both at home and abroad. He would often devote a whole
day to fasting, reading the scriptures, and communion with God in
secret. On such occasions, he would be abundant in prayer not only for
himself, family, and near connections, but would also frequently pour
out his enlarged desires in copious intercessions, (minutely enumerated
in many instances in his Journal,) on behalf of the college; the civil
and religious interests of the town, province, and land in which he
dwelt; the aboriginal inhabitants and African slaves; the destruction
of papal tyranny, superstition, and usurpation; the universal extension
and establishment of Christ's kingdom.
He was a diligent student of the Scriptures, reading them in their
inspired originals; and was prayerfully solicitous not only to
receive and obey their instructions, but also, that the faith,
worship, and practice of the whole church of God should be in exact
conformity with them. The prophetic portions of the sacred volume he
read with an inquisitive mind, and held some opinions respecting the
events predicted in them, which would be considered singular at the
present day. Upon these and kindred topics, he took a deep interest
in conversing and corresponding with the Boston clergy generally,
and with such men abroad as the Rev. Messrs. Higginson and Noyes of
Salem, Wise of Ipswich, Torrey of Weymouth, Walter of Roxbury, and
Stoddard of Northampton; President Wadsworth of Harvard College, and
Rector Williams of Yale College; Gov. Saltonstall of Connecticut
and Gov. Burnet of New York, afterwards of Massachusetts; with most
of whom, remnants of his correspondence on these subjects are still
in existence. In 1697 he published a work which he dedicated to Sir
William Ashurst and Lieut. Gov. Stoughton, called "Phænomena Quædam
Apocalyptica," of which there was a second edition in 1727; and in
1713 another work styled "Proposals touching the Accomplishment of
Prophecies." Both of these productions of his pen were apparently much
read in his time, though they have now become obsolete.
Judge Sewall was warmly attached to that system of faith, and to those
forms of worship and government in the church, which were embraced
and practised by the Puritan settlers of New England. Occasionally
he employed his pen in their illustration and defence. And he was
strongly opposed to any innovations in doctrine, as well as jealous
of any ceremonies or usages in divine service, that savored of human
invention. Still he abhorred persecution, and exercised candor towards
those who differed from him in their modes of worship or discipline.
He possessed an ardent desire for the universal spread and obedient
reception of the gospel among mankind. He became particularly
interested in the spiritual condition of the aboriginal natives,
whom he believed, with the apostle Eliot, to be descendants of the
ten captive tribes of Israel. To encourage the praying Indians at
Natick, he occasionally met with them in their worship, and frequently
gave them pecuniary assistance. To those at Sandwich, he contributed
largely for building a meeting-house. And from Mather's Magnalia it
would seem, that for some Indian congregation he erected a house of
worship entirely at his own expense. Hence those Indians "prayed for
him under this character, 'He loveth our nation for he hath built us a
synagogue.'"
His zeal on behalf of the Indian natives being known, he was chosen
in 1699 one of the Commissioners of the Society in England for the
Propagation of the Gospel in New England and parts adjacent; and
shortly after, their Secretary and Treasurer.
His sympathy for the enslaved Africans was very great. In 1700 he
published a tract, entitled "The Selling of Joseph," in which he
advocated their rights. In writing to Judge Addington Davenport, just
before he sat on the trial of Samuel Smith of Sandwich, for killing
his negro, he uses the following language: "The poorest boys and girls
in this Province, such as are of the lowest condition, whether they
be English, or Indians, or Ethiopians; they have the same right to
religion and life, that the richest heirs have. And they who go about
to deprive them of this right attempt the bombarding of Heaven; and the
shells they throw will fall down on their own heads."
John Saffin, a judge of the same court with Judge Sewall, and a
slave-holder, printed an answer to "The Selling of Joseph," to which
Judge Sewall alludes in a letter to Rev. John Higginson of Salem, then
the oldest minister in the Province, and one of the most venerated
men in New England. The letter is dated April 13, 1706, and the
allusion is, "Amidst the frowns and hard words I have met with for this
undertaking, it is no small refreshment to me, that I have the learned,
reverend and aged Mr. Higginson for my abettor. By the interposition of
this breast work, I hope to carry on and manage this enterprise with
safety and success." In a letter to Henry Newman at London, afterwards
agent for the Province of New Hampshire, which accompanied a copy of
"The Selling of Joseph," he desires him to do something "towards taking
away this wicked practice of Slavery," expressing the opinion that
there would "be no progress in gospelling" until slavery was abolished.
Judge Sewall was a proficient in classical learning, and a friend of
learning and learned men. Such was the confidence in his wisdom and
discernment by the founders and Trustees of Yale College, that he was
employed by them in 1701, together with Hon. Isaac Addington, to draw
up statutes for the regulation of their infant seminary. And of Harvard
College, of which he was sometimes a Resident Fellow, and afterwards,
as a member of the Council, one of the Board of Overseers for many
years, he was a warm and steady friend and liberal benefactor.
In his judicial capacity, he was a person of distinguished integrity
and uprightness; administering the laws of the land with justice and
impartiality, mingled with clemency; a terror to evil doers, and a
praise to such as did well.
He was also a person of eminent humility and meekness, benevolence and
charity. His house was a seat of hospitality, ever open to all good
men. The learned found him an intelligent companion; the ministers of
the gospel a liberal patron and friend. He visited the fatherless and
widow in their affliction, and gave much alms to the needy, especially
to indigent ministers or their bereaved families. He distributed in
the course of the last year of his life four hundred copies of such
publications as Mitchel on the Glory of Heaven, Walter on the Holiness
of Heaven, Lee's Triumph of Mercy, Mather's Mighty Saviour, Mather's
Glory of Christ, Higginson's Legacy of Peace, Loring on the New
Birth, The Strait Gate, Faith and Fervency in Prayer, Gibbs's Sermon
to Little Children, as is particularly noted in his Almanac for that
year. His last illness was of about a month's continuance. He died in a
triumphant hope of immortal life and glory, on the morning of Jan. 1,
1729-30, in the seventy-eighth year of his age.
Judge Sewall was thrice married; 1. to Hannah Hull, daughter of Hon.
John Hull; 2. to widow Abigail Tilley; and 3. to widow Mary Gibbs, who
survived him. He had children by his first wife only; namely, seven
sons and seven daughters. Of these fourteen children only six lived
to mature age, and only three survived him. We purposely omit in this
article a further account of the family, as we intend to give in some
future No. of this work, a full Genealogical Memoir of the Sewall
Family.
Judge Sewall left numerous volumes of manuscripts, indicative of his
industry and attentive observation. Among them, beside several small
volumes of a miscellaneous character, are,
1. A Journal of occurrences, &c., from Dec., 1673, to July, 1677. This
was destroyed by a fire at Boston, in 1824; but a copy of it had been
previously taken, which yet remains.
2. Three volumes of Journals, from Feb., 1684-5, to Oct., 1729, within
three months of his death. Also, a small volume, being a Journal of his
voyage to England, &c., in 1688.
3. A Letter Book, containing copies of his letters to his
correspondents, and in some instances, of theirs to him; from Feb.,
1685-6, to Sept., 1729.
4. A Common Place Book in quarto, containing extracts from authors in
English and Latin on various subjects which he had read.
5. Five volumes in 12mo, containing sketches of sermons and lectures,
which he heard at home and abroad.
For most of the above facts, we are indebted to the Rev. Samuel Sewall
of Burlington, and the late John Farmer, Esq., of Concord, N. H.