Ebenezer Pemberton (minister)


Ebenezer Pemberton was a colonial American Congregational clergyman, bibliophile, and minister of the Old South Church in Boston from 1700 to 1717. Under his ministry, the church broadened the scope of its worship and increased the privileges of its pupils, but also turned back to Puritan tradition.

Career

Pemberton was born in Boston to James Pemberton and Sarah Marshall. He was the youngest of eleven children. He attended Harvard College and graduated in 1691 with an A.M. degree. He was well regarded as a student, keeping himself out of trouble. President of the college Increase Mather noted Pemberton "had a Pregnant Wit, and Strong Memory, and was a hard Student". His classmate Benjamin Colman said, "he excell'd both at the grammar-school and college." He would remain associated with the college during his career in the ministry. He was the librarian from 1693 to 1697 and in 1697 chosen to be a tutor. He held both positions again from 1707 to 1717 and was also elected a fellow in 1707. He was a member of the Cambridge Association, a group of clergymen that met in the Harvard College library.

Ministry

Pemberton was encouraged to join the ministry very soon after graduating from Harvard. He received an offer from Charles Morton on November 23, 1694 to serve as minister at a church in Charlestown, but he declined, likely because he found himself too young. He was given the offer again three years later but declined once more. The position was taken by Simon Bradstreet. Around the same time, Samuel Willard, then minister of the Old South Church, identified Pemberton as his potential successor. By September 30, 1698, the church had two candidates to assist Willard: Pemberton and Jabez Fitch. Eventually, on February 21, 1699/1700, they decided to invite Pemberton. He was ordained, in "a very great Assembly", assistant minister of the Old South Church on August 28, 1700, as it was the policy of the church to have two ministers of relatively equal standing. Pemberton's father James was one of the founders of the church.
After the death of Willard in 1707, Pemberton became the sole minister. He was well-liked by the church, but sometimes angered his pupils for his liberal political views, which compelled him to prematurely readmit sinners to the covenant. In protest, churchgoers would wear hats during his services, which was not allowed. While minister he fought against the suspension of a law requiring the Church of England to provide funds to Congregational churches in British America. In opposition to Increase Mather, Pemberton along with John Leverett and Thomas Brattle proposed changes in the church that aimed to broaden the church's membership and scope. They believed that people should not have to provide anecdotal evidence of "religious experiences" to gain membership to the church, that all baptized adults should have the right to vote in ministerial elections, and that all children should be baptized so long as they have a Christian sponsor. Furthermore, they believed the Scriptures should be read without comments from the reader, as is Puritan custom.
On September 16, 1713, he ordained his new colleague, Reverend Joseph Sewall. Pemberton was known to have a short temper and previously had disagreements with Sewall's father Judge Samuel Sewall, but overall the two were "generally happy and kindly".

Later life

Pemberton grew sick later in life and his temper grew only more erratic. He was already in poor health upon the ordination of Sewall. In late September 1715, he suffered from hemorrhoids and had to be replaced temporarily by another minister. Benjamin Franklin, one of his subjects, recalled his absence and Sewall recorded his sickness on the 29th.
During the unusually harsh winter of 1716–1717, he died on February 13, 1717 at about 3:45PM, in Boston with both Joseph Sewall and Sewall's father by his side. Cotton Mather, reflecting on Pemberton, said he was "a man of greater Abilities than many others: and, no doubt, a pious man: but a man of a strangely choleric and envious Temper, and one who had Created unto me more Trials of my Patience, and more Clogs upon my Opportunities to do good, than almost any other Man in the World."
His works, many of which were published individually during his lifetime, were gathered and published posthumously in a single volume in 1727. Pemberton amassed a large collection of books over his lifetime, which was sold at auction after his death. It included a total of 1000 volumes: 159 folios, 163 quartos, and 678 octavos.

Publications

Pemberton's works consist primarily of sermons while minister of the South Church. The following is a complete list. Note that the year of publication may not coincide with the year of delivery. Footnotes to external links to texts are provided when available.
Pemberton married Mary Clark on June 12, 1701. Clark was born in Boston and was the daughter of Captain John Clark and Mary Atwater. They had seven children:
  1. Ebenezer died young. He was baptized on April 19.
  2. Mary married Hugh Vans on August 17, 1726. They had one child together. Her death date has been estimated by the World Family Tree to be between 1731 and 1799.
  3. Ebenezer was a minister. He attended Harvard College on scholarships, graduating in 1721. He was appointed by Lieutenant Governor William Dummer as the chaplain of Castle William, known today as Fort Independence. In 1727, he was ordained minister of the First Presbyterian Church, then known as the Wall Street Church, in New York and served until 1753. He then moved in 1754 to the New Brick Church in Boston. Although he was associated with the New Brick Church until his death, he was a Tory and was alienated by his pupils in the years prior to the American Revolution. He chose to reside in Andover, Massachusetts later in his life. He was a founder of the College of New Jersey, known today as Princeton University, and earned a Doctorate of Divinity there in 1770. He married three times, first to Catherine Smith, who died June 13, 1751, second to Rebecca Smith on September 1, 1757, and third to Ann Powell, daughter of John Powell, on June 13, 1768.
  4. Jane
  5. John was a bookseller.
  6. Samuel was born in Boston and died in Newport, Rhode Island. He is recorded to have lived in Newport in 1741. His first wife is unknown. They had two unidentified children. He had four children with his second wife, Mary Frye Leach, including Ebenezer Pemberton, American educator and 2nd Principal of Phillips Academy.
  7. A seventh child who died in infancy at an unknown date.
After Pemberton's death in 1718, Clark remarried to John Campbell, Postmaster of Boston and founder of the first regularly published newspaper in British America, The Boston News-Letter, on April 11, 1723. When he died on March 4, 1728, Clark remarried again to Henry Lloyd of Long Island. She is buried in Huntington Rural Cemetery in Huntington, New York.