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chosen one of the Assistants in 1684, '5, and '6, when the Colony charter was annulled, and the ancient government was superseded by a President and Council.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 But on his return, in 1689, Sir Edmund having withdrawn from the country, and the old Charter government having been revived, he resumed his seat at the Board of Assistants.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.