Revolutionary Ministry
Rev. Paul Sprecher
Union Service – Old Ship
Second Parish in Hingham, www.secondparish.org
April 25, 2010
Sermon
The founding of the Parish in South Hingham was not without controversy between the members of this congregation, First Parish, and the founders of our what was then Third Parish, Second Parish then being the church in what is now Cohasset, which separated from Hingham in 1770. So bitter were feelings between our two parishes that the minister here, Ebeneezer Gay, was forbidden to participate in the ordination of our first minister, Daniel Shute. As Gay wrote in a letter to the members of our parish,
… You know it has been a day of temptation and provocation in the town. And angry resentments (whether just or unjust) are not wont soon to be quite laid aside after the strife between contending parties is at an end.
It seems, then, that political controversy has a long history in Hingham, sometimes with more heat than light – or lights. Despite the bitterness between the congregations, Daniel Shute and Ebeneezer Gay themselves became lifelong friends, always concerned with each other’s welfare despite sometimes difficult conflicts between their own political views, as when they stood on opposite sides when the Revolutionary War came.
Shute was clear about the division between what was appropriate within his congregation and what was appropriate in his public life. In the pulpit and with his congregation, his task was to instruct, to give spiritual guidance, to give comfort to those in need and to provide a sure compass to those in need of wisdom. In his public life, he contended vigorously to defend the basic rights of his fellow citizens. As early as 1768, in a sermon to the newly elected legislature and the British Governor, he subtly articulated the grounds for separation from Great Britain which were later expressed in the Declaration of Independence eight years later. As he put it:
To secure his own, and to promote the happiness of others, is the part of every one in this great assembly. To this end were we born, and for this cause came we into the world.
Passions rose high as the controversy with Great Britain deepened, and there were those from Hingham who participated in the original Tea Party in protest against taxation without representation. So significant was Shute’s support for the revolution that he was chosen by the residents of this town to represent them at the constitutional convention of our Commonwealth. Later, he and General Benjamin Lincoln were chosen as representatives to the Commonwealth’s convention to approve the Federal Constitution. He contended vigorously for freedom of religion and in particular against any religious test for holding office. He said:
I suppose … that there are worthy characters among men of every denomination – among the Quakers, the Baptists, the Church of England, the Papists, and even among those who have no other guide to virtue and heaven than the dictates of natural religion.
Shute had courage in his religious leadership as well, having been called a Unitarian by John Adams, himself of the liberal tendency in religion.
I want to give credit for this narrative both to Russell Shute, an eighth-generation descendant of the first minister of Second Parish, and to my predecessor, Rev. Don Robinson, author of the definitive history of South Hingham and also of our call to worship this morning.
We can carry forward from the first minister of Second Parish his example of a careful balance between his personal and his public life; the former devoted to the care of souls, the latter to a deep and gracious civil involvement. We might learn from him at the present time of controversy to find a balance between our commitment to our own happiness and to promoting the happiness of others, for indeed we live in a Commonwealth, a place where the common needs of all have equal weight with the pursuit of our own happiness. His life provides as well a wonderful example of amity and friendship despite disagreements which in this day might lead instead to mutual scorn and hatred, a commitment which his life exemplifies both in his parish and in public.
When he had reached the full term of his life and his ministry, Daniel Shute urged the same gracious way of living together on his congregation, telling them
… that in transacting your religious concerns, you may be under the influence of that wisdom which is from above, first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy, that you may secure the continuance of that harmony and peace you have so long enjoyed.
These words are a fitting epitaph for Daniel Shute’s own performance of his ministry as well as his courageous but amicable commitment to the fulfillment of his civic obligations. These are words which apply as much today as they did more than two hundred years ago.
May we, too, find the courage and wisdom to promote both spiritual growth and the pursuit of happiness for all.
May it be so, and Amen.