PRINCE, THOMAS
(15 May 1687, Sandwich, MA-22 October 1758, Boston, MA). Education: B.A., Harvard, 1707. Career: Teacher, Sandwich, MA, 1707-08; preacher, Coombs, Suffolk, England, and elsewhere in England, and traveled in England and Europe, 1709-1717; minister, Old South Church, Boston, 1718-1758.
Thomas Prince is the sort of urbane cleric that one might expect to oppose the Great Awakening and be in the forefront of the movement in Congregationalism towards Arminianism. He spent almost a decade in Europe between graduating from Harvard and settling in New England He occupied one of the most distinguished pulpits in Boston, Old South Church. And he was a noted scholar, who spent much time and money gathering books and manuscripts illustrating New England's early history. But he also had an appreciation for the mystery of God's spirit and allied himself with the supporters of the revival.
Prince began his historical collection in 1703, while at college. He later recalled that he had developed " a zeal of laying hold on every book, pamphlet, and paper, both in print and manuscript" that would illuminate the history of New England After graduating from Harvard, Prince taught for a short time in Sandwich, Massachusetts, and then began a journey to Barbados and England. This was an age in which Puritans had "rediscovered" England, and they were not certain whether to think of themselves as the vanguard of a reformed society, or a provincial backwater of history. Consequently Prince was gratified when Londoners "wondered as much at my carriage and deportment, as at the fairness and accuracy of my language." While in Europe, Prince was impressed with the fact that there was no authoritative account of the history of his home country.
After seven years abroad Prince's thoughts turned back to America, and he left England. He had been preaching regularly in the town of Coombs, and was so well liked that thirty of his parishioners decided to follow him to America, including a young woman who would be his bride. Providence seemed to smile on Prince's voyages both ways across the Atlantic-if not on other vessels. On each journey Prince just missed boarding a ship which later sank, drowning all aboard.
Prince was immediately popular upon his return to Boston, somewhat to his own surprise. He must have been a striking figure in his English russet coat and wig. People undoubtedly admired him for having spent time in England and for returning home: his early career was consistent with their own longings for contact with the wider world, and his return home confirmed in them their belief that New England was, after all, the best place in the world. He was invited to preach in several pulpits, choosing finally Boston's prestigious Old South Church. Prince was an avid reader of history, theology, and science, and accumulated a library of fifteen hundred books, a large number for that time. His interest in science led him to write a report on the aurora borealis he had seen in England and to support inoculation for smallpox during the Boston epidemic of 1721-22. He was a close friend of Cotton Mather*, with whom he was often compared for intellectual stature. Like Mather, Prince could appreciate science and still be faithful to New England's Calvinistic faith. For example he told young children that they were born full of sin and warned their elders about God's judgments on the wicked.
During the Great Awakening Prince was one of the revival's most regular and respected supporters. He condemned fanatics like James Davenport·, but he continued to insist that the revival was, on the whole, the will of God. To support that view he published a newsletter called the Christian History, which carried reports of the revival's successes. It was America's first religious periodical.
The idea of writing a history of New England intrigued him, and in 1728 he published the first volume of his Chronological History of New England. He had hoped to bring the story up to the eighteenth century, but he was so painstaking in collecting sources and recording every detail of the early history, that his two volumes took the story only to the year 1633. In this history as well as in life, Prince was fascinated with the course of God's providence, an interest he shared with other Puritans. Their God dealt not only with individuals, but with the nation as a whole. Just as Puritans enjoyed stories of God's intervention in private lives, they also relished stories of God's dealings with the commonwealths of New England.
Prince's own career furnished one such story. In 1746 England and France were at war, and a great fleet of forty ships set sail from Nova Scotia under the command of the Duke D'Anville to attack New England. A day of fasting and prayer was set aside in Boston, and Prince was leading services in Old South Church. The day was calm when the service began, but as Prince was praying a violent storm arose and rattled the windows of his church. Prince paused and looked around his congregation "with a countenance illuminated with hope," and prayed that the wind would frustrate the enemy fleet. In a storm that followed, much of the French fleet was wrecked on the coast of Nova Scotia.
Prince must have been gratified by this news, but one doubts that he was surprised. He was sure God looked after New England.
Bibliography
A: The Great and Solemn Obligations to Early Piety (Boston, 1721); Earthquakes the Works of God (Boston. 1727); Civil Rulers Raised up by God (Boston, 1728); The People of New England (Boston. 1730); A Chronological History of New England. 2 vols. (Boston, 1736-1755); The Salvations of God in 1746 (Boston. 1746; and subsequent editions); The Natural and Moral Government and Agency of God in Causing Droughts and Rains (Boston. 1749); An Improvement of the Doctrine of Earthquakes (Boston, 1755); The Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs of the Old and New Testament (Boston, 1758).
B: DAB 15. 232-33; NCAB 7. 144; SHG 5. 341-68; Joseph Sewall. The Duty, Character, and Reward of Christ's Faithful Servants; A Sermon Preached after the Funeral of Thomas Prince (Boston, 1758); S. G. Drake. Some Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Rev. Thomas Prince (Boston, 1851).
Thomas Prince is the sort of urbane cleric that one might expect to oppose the Great Awakening and be in the forefront of the movement in Congregationalism towards Arminianism. He spent almost a decade in Europe between graduating from Harvard and settling in New England He occupied one of the most distinguished pulpits in Boston, Old South Church. And he was a noted scholar, who spent much time and money gathering books and manuscripts illustrating New England's early history. But he also had an appreciation for the mystery of God's spirit and allied himself with the supporters of the revival.
Prince began his historical collection in 1703, while at college. He later recalled that he had developed " a zeal of laying hold on every book, pamphlet, and paper, both in print and manuscript" that would illuminate the history of New England After graduating from Harvard, Prince taught for a short time in Sandwich, Massachusetts, and then began a journey to Barbados and England. This was an age in which Puritans had "rediscovered" England, and they were not certain whether to think of themselves as the vanguard of a reformed society, or a provincial backwater of history. Consequently Prince was gratified when Londoners "wondered as much at my carriage and deportment, as at the fairness and accuracy of my language." While in Europe, Prince was impressed with the fact that there was no authoritative account of the history of his home country.
After seven years abroad Prince's thoughts turned back to America, and he left England. He had been preaching regularly in the town of Coombs, and was so well liked that thirty of his parishioners decided to follow him to America, including a young woman who would be his bride. Providence seemed to smile on Prince's voyages both ways across the Atlantic-if not on other vessels. On each journey Prince just missed boarding a ship which later sank, drowning all aboard.
Prince was immediately popular upon his return to Boston, somewhat to his own surprise. He must have been a striking figure in his English russet coat and wig. People undoubtedly admired him for having spent time in England and for returning home: his early career was consistent with their own longings for contact with the wider world, and his return home confirmed in them their belief that New England was, after all, the best place in the world. He was invited to preach in several pulpits, choosing finally Boston's prestigious Old South Church. Prince was an avid reader of history, theology, and science, and accumulated a library of fifteen hundred books, a large number for that time. His interest in science led him to write a report on the aurora borealis he had seen in England and to support inoculation for smallpox during the Boston epidemic of 1721-22. He was a close friend of Cotton Mather*, with whom he was often compared for intellectual stature. Like Mather, Prince could appreciate science and still be faithful to New England's Calvinistic faith. For example he told young children that they were born full of sin and warned their elders about God's judgments on the wicked.
During the Great Awakening Prince was one of the revival's most regular and respected supporters. He condemned fanatics like James Davenport·, but he continued to insist that the revival was, on the whole, the will of God. To support that view he published a newsletter called the Christian History, which carried reports of the revival's successes. It was America's first religious periodical.
The idea of writing a history of New England intrigued him, and in 1728 he published the first volume of his Chronological History of New England. He had hoped to bring the story up to the eighteenth century, but he was so painstaking in collecting sources and recording every detail of the early history, that his two volumes took the story only to the year 1633. In this history as well as in life, Prince was fascinated with the course of God's providence, an interest he shared with other Puritans. Their God dealt not only with individuals, but with the nation as a whole. Just as Puritans enjoyed stories of God's intervention in private lives, they also relished stories of God's dealings with the commonwealths of New England.
Prince's own career furnished one such story. In 1746 England and France were at war, and a great fleet of forty ships set sail from Nova Scotia under the command of the Duke D'Anville to attack New England. A day of fasting and prayer was set aside in Boston, and Prince was leading services in Old South Church. The day was calm when the service began, but as Prince was praying a violent storm arose and rattled the windows of his church. Prince paused and looked around his congregation "with a countenance illuminated with hope," and prayed that the wind would frustrate the enemy fleet. In a storm that followed, much of the French fleet was wrecked on the coast of Nova Scotia.
Prince must have been gratified by this news, but one doubts that he was surprised. He was sure God looked after New England.
Bibliography
A: The Great and Solemn Obligations to Early Piety (Boston, 1721); Earthquakes the Works of God (Boston. 1727); Civil Rulers Raised up by God (Boston, 1728); The People of New England (Boston. 1730); A Chronological History of New England. 2 vols. (Boston, 1736-1755); The Salvations of God in 1746 (Boston. 1746; and subsequent editions); The Natural and Moral Government and Agency of God in Causing Droughts and Rains (Boston. 1749); An Improvement of the Doctrine of Earthquakes (Boston, 1755); The Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs of the Old and New Testament (Boston, 1758).
B: DAB 15. 232-33; NCAB 7. 144; SHG 5. 341-68; Joseph Sewall. The Duty, Character, and Reward of Christ's Faithful Servants; A Sermon Preached after the Funeral of Thomas Prince (Boston, 1758); S. G. Drake. Some Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Rev. Thomas Prince (Boston, 1851).