Puritan "Third Church" - Old South Meeting House

310 Washington St

Meeting houses were used as churches. This one was used as a Puritan church and was the biggest building in Boston at the time and an overflow meeting place when Faneuil Hall (half its current size) was too crowded. It became known as Third Church.

There were four important meetings here, the last being with 5,000 people. This is where the Sons of Liberty departed from a meeting on Dec 16, 1773 and dumped 342 chests of tea into the Boston Harbor at Griffin’s Wharf. The clock tower was restored in 2009 and is the oldest American-made clock in the US which is still in operation (1766) in its original location. The bell tower houses a bell cast by Paul Revere in 1801. It is one of only 46 surviving bells he made. The bell resided at several locations around Boston and was placed at the Old South Meeting House Bell Tower in 2011.

The British ruling to impose Anglican bishops in the colonies aroused atavistic fears that Americans would be persecuted for their religious convictions and further poisoned relations between Britain and the colonies. In this cartoon an indignant New England mob pushes a bishop's boat back towards England, frightening the prelate into praying, "Lord, now lettest thou thy Servant depart in Peace." The mob flings a volume of Calvin's Works at the bishop, while brandishing copies of John Locke and Algernon Sydney on government. The crowd shouts slogans: "Liberty & Freedom of Conscience"; "No Lords Spiritual or Temporal in New England"; and "shall they be obliged to maintain bishops that cannot maintain themselves."

The second picture is called “An Attempt to Land a Bishop in America” is from the Political Register. London. September 1769. Located at the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, Providence RI (First link)

What fruitage did these spiritual leaders produce? Mt 7:15-20. Consider John 17:16 vs Acts 20:29, 30. What would Jesus have said seeing this?

-Source Links-

https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel03.html#obj086 Engraving

https://www.bostonteapartyship.com/old-south-meeting-house-history

https://www.trolleytours.com/boston/old-south-meeting-house