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HERALDS OF A LIBERAL FAITH 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://archive.org/details/cu31924092458466 
 
HERALDS OF A LIBERAL 
 FAITH 
 
 EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 SAMUEL A. ELIOT 
 
 C^e $roptjet!8 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION 
 
 1910 
 
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INTRODUCTION 
 
 Phillips Brooks once said that the power of a 
 life — and he meant the life of an institution as 
 well as that of an individual — can be justly meas- 
 ured by the union and proportion of its sense of 
 continuity and its sense of new beginning. The 
 life of a movement of religious thought and expe- 
 rience should find inspiration in its honorable 
 traditions, and at the same time it ought to be 
 always capable of new adventures. 
 
 If I may borrow a figure, let it be that of a 
 mountain stream or torrent. It is one and the 
 same stream from its highland source to its ex- 
 panded power in the sea, and yet it is different 
 in every mile of its flow from what it is in every 
 other mile. It turns sharp corners in unexpected 
 ways. Now it is calm and sluggish, and again 
 it is vexed with rapids. Now it gathers itself 
 into a pool so still that all movement seems to 
 have ceased, and then with a new cascade is re- 
 created. It knows the exhilaration of mingled 
 continuity and new beginning. 
 
 A significant religious movement must thus 
 cherish the good that the past has had, and at 
 the same time welcome the infusion of new meth- 
 ods and measures. It must blend the new and 
 the old in just proportion, and join to the stead- 
 fastness of good habit the joy of fresh experi- 
 ment. It must unite the maturity of age with 
 the elasticity of youth. It must at once conserve 
 and create. 
 
 Unless we know something about the beginning 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 and direction of any movement of human thought 
 or life, we cannot have any true vision of its fut- 
 ure. The serviceable man knows how to use 
 acquired momentum and how to safeguard the 
 gains of the patient generations. He under- 
 stands that the vitality of an institution is not to 
 be sustained by detachment from its past. The 
 master architects are gone, but they have left 
 their incomplete designs on the draughting board, 
 and we must study them if we are to rightly build 
 the temples of religious freedom. 
 
 The great movements of men almost invariably 
 begin with an individual. Even when a form of 
 thought is held by a considerable number of 
 people, it is necessary for an individual to give 
 the common sentiment public utterance and to 
 transform feeling into action. Of scientific 
 knowledge we may perhaps affirm that truth is 
 independent of the character of its messengers, 
 but in moral and spiritual concerns such detach- 
 ment is impossible. The truth is inseparable 
 from the person. The truth that makes men free 
 is the truth proclaimed by free men. Personal- 
 ity is thus the impulse and the interpretation of 
 religious history. 
 
 To study biography is, therefore, "to read his- 
 tory from the vital point of view." It is to see 
 historical movements through the eyes of the 
 men who originated and conducted these move- 
 ments. "There is properly no history," said 
 Emerson, "only biography." Each separate field 
 of human effort becomes vivid as we see it 
 through the experience of men who have there 
 suffered and won. Thus history becomes living 
 to many who find no interest in the abstract 
 annals. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 It is further good for us in these days, when 
 the emphasis is laid upon the power of organiz- 
 ation, to recall the important contributions to 
 human progress made by individual leaders. 
 It gives us increased self-respect and helps 
 us to believe that we may, in our turn and 
 in the measure of our strength, have some genuine 
 service to perform for our fellow-men. We find 
 our own resolutions and ideals reinvigorated, our 
 horizons broadened, our intentions realized. It is 
 power and patience to us to remember that our 
 efforts for the spread of truth and freedom take 
 place in no lonely arena. There is good back- 
 ground for our endeavor. Behind us and about 
 us stretches the cloud of noble witnesses. 
 
 These are the motives which, in addition to my 
 inborn interest in the work and life of the men who 
 in all generations have wrought for truth and 
 freedom, have impelled me to devote the rare 
 pauses in an experience crowded with a great va- 
 riety of cares and obligations to the compilation 
 of the biographical sketches contained in these 
 volumes. I have felt that I could not better tes- 
 tify to my devotion to my own calling and to the 
 traditions of the Christian fellowship which I hap- 
 pily serve than by planning and carrying through 
 such a work. The task of gathering, sifting, and 
 arranging for publication the over-abundant mate- 
 rial has been the avocation of ten years. It has 
 involved the pursuit of many devious and over- 
 grown trails, the joy of unexpected discoveries, and 
 the co-operation of many friends whose tastes and 
 employments have qualified them for expert knowl- 
 edge in historical, genealogical, and bibliographical 
 researches. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 I cannot claim to be a pioneer in these fields of 
 delightful study. The majority of the subjects of 
 these sketches were men of marked distinction in 
 their generation. In many instances, therefore, 
 their lives have been adequately written, and their 
 careers described in enduring form. They were, 
 too, men who built their lives into the most in- 
 destructible of human institutions, — the Christian 
 Church, — and the story of their experiences is 
 thus interwoven with the history of the churches 
 they honorably served. Further, they were pio- 
 neers of freedom, and it is to be observed that the 
 people whose names are longest remembered in 
 this world are those who have done something to 
 promote freedom. 
 
 Besides the separate and often noteworthy 
 biographies of many of these heralds of a liberal 
 faith, there have been published several excellent 
 books, which by bringing a number of biographies 
 together in a single volume have served to show 
 the common relation of these men to the move- 
 ments of religious thought and energy which en- 
 listed their allegiance and endeavors. In 1850 
 the Rev. William Ware published in two volumes, 
 under the title "American Unitarian Biography," 
 accounts by different writers of twenty-four pio- 
 neers of religious liberalism in America. In 1868 
 Dr. Joseph Allen, the patriarch of the Ministerial 
 Association in Worcester County and for fifty- 
 seven years the minister of the Northboro parish, 
 published, under the title "The History of the 
 Worcester Association," the biographical sketches 
 of the past and present members of that Associa- 
 tion. Both of these compilations have been of 
 great assistance in the preparation of these vol- 
 umes. The catalogue of the graduates of the 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Harvard Divinity School, with a brief record of 
 their careers, compiled by the Rev. Robert S. Mor- 
 ison, has been invaluable, and a similar catalogue 
 of the Meadville Theological School, though un- 
 fortunately still incomplete, has been of service. 
 In Dr. Andrew P. Peabody's "Harvard Reminis- 
 cences" (1888) and "Harvard Graduates that I 
 have Known" (1890) I have found a number of 
 charming accounts of Dr. Peabody's ministerial 
 teachers, contemporaries, and friends; while the 
 Rev. O. B. Frothingham's "Boston Unitarianism" 
 
 (1890) and "Recollections and Impressions'.' 
 
 (1891) abound in graphic pictures of the ministers 
 of his own and his father's generations. The bio- 
 graphical sketches in Dr. A. P. Putnam's "Singers 
 and Songs of a Liberal Faith" (1875) have been 
 helpful, and the obituary notices in the Christian 
 Register, the Monthly Journal of the American Uni- 
 tarian Association, and the Christian Examiner 
 have sometimes revealed forgotten facts or verified 
 obscure details. 
 
 The most famous and important of the bio- 
 graphical compilations is "The Annals of the 
 Unitarian Pulpit," collected by Dr. William B. 
 Sprague and published in 1864. This noteworthy 
 book, now long out of print, but still to be found 
 in many public and private libraries, was the 
 eighth volume of Dr. Sprague's monumental 
 series of similar biographical studies. This series 
 began in 1857, and consisted of "commemorative 
 notices of distinguished American clergymen from 
 the settlement of the country to the close of the 
 year 1855." Ten different denominations were 
 represented in the series, and many eminent 
 people contributed the biographical sketches. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Dr. Sprague was a man of mark in his genera- 
 tion. He was born in Andover, Conn., October 16, 
 1795, the son of Benjamin Sprague, a farmer. 
 After graduating at Yale in 1815, he studied two 
 years at Princeton Theological Seminary, and in 
 1 8 19 was ordained pastor of the First Congrega- 
 tional Church in West Springfield, Mass., as a 
 colleague of the Rev. Joseph Lathrop, D.D. He 
 remained there until 1829, when he was installed 
 as pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in 
 Albany, N.Y. He held this charge till 1869, 
 when he resigned and moved to Flushing, where 
 he died May 7, 1876. He received the degree of 
 S.T.D. from Columbia in 1828 and from Har- 
 vard in 1848, and the degree of LL.D. from Prince- 
 ton in 1869. He was the author of a score of 
 books and more than a hundred published ser- 
 mons, memoirs, and addresses, and his collection 
 of autographs was probably the largest in the 
 world. 
 
 Dr. Sprague brought to the compilation of the 
 Annals not only his antiquarian taste and literary 
 facility, but also a singularly impartial spirit, a 
 magnanimous temper, and unwearied patience and 
 perseverance. The Annals are a rich storehouse 
 of fact and anecdote and a monument to the 
 industry, discriminating taste, and genuine cath- 
 olicity of their editor. 
 
 The heirs of Dr. Sprague have been kind enough 
 to give me permission to use any or all of the 
 material in the Annals, and the first volume of the 
 present series may be regarded, in no small degree, 
 as a new edition of Dr. Sprague's invaluable book. 
 I have followed his general plan, incorporated the 
 results of his prolonged researches, and endeavored 
 to carry on his general method through another 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 generation. The Annals closed with the year 
 1855. The present volumes set forth anew all 
 that is most significant in the earlier book, fill out 
 the incomplete accounts, and bring the record 
 down to the year 1900. 
 
 My first volume commemorates the "Prophets" 
 of Unitarianism in America, and contains biogra- 
 phies of sixty-nine ministers, whose period of ac- 
 tivity was, in general terms, from 1750 to 1825. 
 Of these sixty-nine sketches, forty-five are based 
 upon the biographies in the Annals and ten upon 
 Dr. Sprague's Notes, while fourteen are biogra- 
 phies of men not mentioned in the Annals either 
 because they were still living at the time Dr. 
 Sprague concluded his labors or because their real 
 significance had not then been realized. The 
 second volume contains sketches of ninety-eight 
 ministers, whose period of activity was the first 
 half of the Nineteenth Century, and who are thus 
 fitly described as the " Pioneers." Of these ninety- 
 eight sketches, thirty-six are based upon the 
 biographies in the Annals and thirteen upon the 
 notes in that book, while forty-nine are new. 
 The third volume contains sketches of one hun- 
 dred and thirty-four "Preachers," whose period 
 of activity was the last half of the Nineteenth Cen- 
 tury. Some of these sketches have been adapted 
 by the editor from published memoirs, but most 
 of them have been written for this volume by 
 friends and comrades who have honored me with 
 their co-operation and whose contributions are 
 often as pleasantly characteristic of the writers 
 as of the subjects. These co-operating friends, 
 whose names will be found in the Table of Con- 
 tents, have, as a rule, accompanied their articles 
 with the suggestion that I make such modifica- 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 tions as would fit their contributions to the places 
 which they were designed to fill. In several 
 instances I have availed myself of this kind per- 
 mission by omitting facts elsewhere sufficiently 
 recorded and avoiding repetition. 
 
 In the three volumes of the present series there 
 are thus three hundred and one sketches, of which 
 eighty-one are primarily derived from the Annals, 
 twenty-three from Dr. Sprague's Notes, and one 
 hundred and ninety-four from more recent and 
 independent sources. To each biographical 
 sketch there is appended a bibliographical list. 
 These lists cannot be regarded as complete or 
 exhaustive, but they are, at least, indicative of 
 the remarkable variety and extent of the intel- 
 lectual interests of these broad-minded ministers, 
 and they reveal the close connection of the Uni- 
 tarian movement with the development of Ameri- 
 can literature. A subject index to all three volumes 
 will be found in Volume I. 
 
 It is to be regretted that the limitations of 
 space have required me to give such brief accounts 
 of men whose thoughts and characters deeply 
 influenced their own and succeeding generations. 
 It has sometimes been necessary to abridge the 
 original sketches in the Annals. I trust, how- 
 ever, that the peculiar flavor of the older book has 
 not been lost in the condensation. The Annals 
 are distinguished by the leisurely and dignified 
 literary style characteristic of the first half of the 
 last century. They have a charm of detail, an 
 anecdotal quality, and a naive assumption of the 
 pre-eminence of the ministerial calling which I 
 have endeavored to preserve. 
 
 I have also tried to follow Dr. Sprague's ex- 
 ample and, while making the plan and method 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 of the books my own, to refrain from coloring 
 events or judgments with my own opinions or 
 prejudices. The only trace of my personal pref- 
 erences that I discover in the successive memoirs 
 is a tendency to emphasize the practical rather 
 than the speculative aspects of a man's career. 
 I appreciate that the watchful eyes and sensitive 
 hearts of descendants and friends will study these 
 memorials. I have, therefore, striven for accuracy 
 even at the cost of picturesqueness, and I have 
 tried to avoid excessive eulogies and injudicious 
 comparisons. By closing the record with the 
 year 1900, I have endeavored to escape the con- 
 tagion of contemporaneous praise. 
 
 It has not seemed desirable to give to these 
 volumes the character of a mere biographical 
 dictionary. Many honored names which might 
 have found place in this record have been omitted 
 because my purpose has been not only to call to 
 remembrance the half-forgotten careers of not- 
 able men, but also to illustrate by personal 
 memoirs the origin and development of the move- 
 ment in the Christian Church toward the more 
 spiritual interpretation of Christian truth and the 
 closer application of truth to life. I have tried 
 to select types more than to present a complete 
 survey. From the character of these selected 
 standard-bearers, the motives and "purposes of the 
 movement they led may be rightly judged. 
 
 I have not been unaware of the fact that there 
 have been and are many heralds of liberalism 
 outside of the body of Christians known as Uni- 
 tarians. It has, however, seemed to me wise to 
 confine my present endeavor to the limits of the 
 Unitarian fellowship. The title indicates that the 
 books describe the Heralds of a Liberal Faith, 
 
 * 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 and not of the Liberal Faith. I have adopted this 
 course with greater confidence because in 1900 
 I edited a volume of biographical lectures under 
 the title of "Pioneers of Religious Liberty," 
 which bears testimony to the separate origins 
 of liberalism in America and to my apprecia- 
 tion of the work of pioneers like Roger Williams, 
 Thomas Hooker, William Penn, Horace Bushnell, 
 Hosea Ballou, and Phillips Brooks. 
 
 It may also perhaps be asked why I have in- 
 cluded only the names of ministers. The Unitarian 
 movement has owed quite as much to the dis- 
 tinguished laymen who have given it their support 
 and allegiance as to its clerical advocates. I can 
 only reply that I hope, in the course of time, to 
 supply this omission and to prepare a similar 
 series describing the character and careers of 
 typical men and women who, in secular life, have 
 illustrated the worth of liberal principles in re- 
 ligion. A book compiled and published in 1908 
 entitled "Sons of the Puritans" is an earnest 
 of this cherished purpose. 
 
 Many judicial minds, unforgetting hearts, and 
 willing hands have contributed to the making of 
 these volumes. In the acknowledgments con- 
 tained in his preface, written in 1864, Dr. Sprague 
 made special mention of his obligations to Dr. 
 Andrew P. Peabody "not only for numerous 
 letters of personal recollections, but for a multitude 
 of facts and dates pertaining to the history of many 
 of my subjects," to Dr. Abiel Abbot, who had 
 been Dr. Sprague's tutor at Coventry, "my early 
 and revered instructor," to Dr. John Pierce, 
 "whose memory was a vast depository of bio- 
 graphical material," to Dr. Charles Lowell, and 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 to Dr. Samuel Gilman, from whom his applications 
 for aid "always met a cordial and satisfactory 
 response." Dr. Peabody contributed to the Uni- 
 tarian volume of the Annals no less than nine ar- 
 ticles and letters, Dr. Pierce wrote eight, and Dr. 
 Lowell and Dr. Abbot each five. Among the other 
 frequent contributors to the Annals were Miss 
 Elizabeth P. Peabody with seven articles, Dr. Sam- 
 uel Willard with five, the Rev. Joseph Allen with 
 four, the Rev. Nathaniel Whitman, the Rev. Eph- 
 raim Abbot, and Miss Margaret T. Emery. A 
 number of distinguished laymen responded to Dr. 
 Sprague's requests for assistance, and their contri- 
 butions are availed of in the present volumes. Hon. 
 Josiah Quincy, Hon. Solomon Lincoln, and Ralph 
 Waldo Emerson were represented by two letters 
 each, and other contributors were Hon. George 
 Bancroft, Hon. Edward Everett, Hon. George S. 
 Boutwell, Dr. George B. Emerson, Thomas Bul- 
 finch, Esq., Hugh Bellas, Esq., William Wells, 
 Esq., Henry T. Tuckerman, Esq., Hon. Levi 
 Lincoln, Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, and Dr. 
 John C. Warren. Among the ministers who wrote 
 for the Annals besides those already mentioned 
 were Dr. Cyrus A. Bartol, Dr. Henry W. Bellows, 
 Rev. Charles H. Brigham, Dr. James Freeman 
 Clarke, Dr. Jaazaniah Crosby, Dr. Orville Dewey, 
 Dr. Frederick A. Farley, Dr. Convers Francis, 
 Dr. Nathaniel L. Frothingham, Dr. Edward B. 
 Hall, Rev. Nathaniel Hall, Dr. Frederic H. 
 Hedge, Dr. George W. Hosmer, Dr. James Kendall, 
 Dr. Alvan Lamson, Dr. Levi W. Leonard, Rev. 
 Calvin Lincoln, Rev. Samuel J. May, Dr. John H. 
 Morison, Professor Andrews Norton, Dr. Samuel 
 Osgood, Dr. Ephraim Peabody, Dr. George Put- 
 nam, Rev. Charles W. Upham, Dr. James Walker, 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Dr. Alexander Young. All of the ministers who 
 wrote articles for the Annals are in turn commem- 
 orated in the present volumes, the new generation 
 rendering to the "Preachers" the tribute which 
 the "Preachers" had given to the "Prophets" 
 and "Pioneers." Without unduly straining the 
 imagination, one may foresee that the completion 
 of each new half-century may hereafter witness 
 successive volumes bearing similar testimony to 
 the character and achievements of each new gen- 
 eration. 
 
 In my own editorial work I have enjoyed the 
 counsel and co-operation of honored veterans and 
 colleagues of the Unitarian ministry whose ac- 
 quaintance with the older generation was both 
 extensive and discriminating. Dr. Edward Ev- 
 erett Hale scrutinized the proposed table of 
 contents many times, made innumerable sugges- 
 tions, pointed out the way in many difficult re- 
 searches, and refreshed the antiquarian labors of 
 the editor with racy anecdotes or with reminis- 
 cences which sometimes defied verification. My 
 dear friend, the Rev. John White Chadwick, cheer- 
 fully rendered a similar service, and from his wide 
 reading and inexhaustible stores of biographical 
 knowledge contributed much useful information. 
 To Dr. Alfred P. Putnam, Dr. Joshua Young, and 
 the Rev. Thomas Dawes I am indebted for care- 
 ful revision of my plans. Their unique knowledge 
 of the ministers of their own and the earlier gen- 
 erations was always generously at my disposal. 
 Dr. Robert Collyer and the Rev. Rush R. Shippen 
 have aided me with fertile comments, and have 
 been able, when I was blindly searching for for- 
 gotten facts, to show "the way where the light 
 dwelleth." For the indexing and proof-reading, 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 and for many suggestions arising from these 
 labors, I am indebted to the Rev. Arthur A. Brooks, 
 to Miss Helen F. Pettes, and to my colleagues 
 in the Publication Department of the American 
 Unitarian Association. 
 
 There are various ways, besides the study of 
 individual careers and the revival of noble mem- 
 ories, in which these volumes can be used. One 
 might, for instance, through these memoirs trace 
 the indebtedness of American liberalism to Eng- 
 lish dissent through Priestley and his followers 
 or through the correspondence of the early Boston 
 liberals with the English Unitarians. The prin- 
 ciples now called Unitarian had gained strong 
 hold among the English Presbyterians during the 
 first half of the Eighteenth Century. These 
 principles appeared both within and without 
 the Church of England, and the books of Thomas 
 Emlyn, Samuel Clarke, and John Taylor were 
 widely diffused and read. They found peculiar 
 welcome in Eastern Massachusetts because that 
 region, owing to the business connections of its 
 merchants and the acquaintance of its leading 
 ministers, by correspondence at least, with the 
 descendants of the Puritans in the old home, was 
 more susceptible to English thought than South- 
 ern and Western New England. Or one might fol- 
 low the Dutch influences which contributed to the 
 movement, through the associations of the Pil- 
 grim Fathers of Plymouth with Leyden, through 
 the group of Dutch emigrants which at Trenton 
 founded the first Unitarian church in the State 
 of New York, and through the activity of the 
 Huidekoper family in the founding of the Mead- 
 ville Theological School. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The diverse origins of New England liberalism 
 itself present a field of fascinating study. There 
 was the reaction from the extravagances of the 
 "Great Awakening," which profoundly moved 
 men like Gay and Chauncy. The excesses ofthe 
 revival brought their own intellectual retribu- 
 tion. The real awakening was yet to come. 
 There was the influence of the democratic ideals 
 which dominated the convictions of Jonathan 
 Mayhew, and the associations with Asiatic relig- 
 ious thought and the broadening ideas brought 
 in with the precious merchandise of foreign 
 commerce which are noteworthy in the history 
 of the Salem churches and which account in no 
 small degree for the liberalism of the Salem min- 
 isters. Each of these varied influences, and their 
 combinations, present challenging opportunities 
 of separate research. 
 
 Again, it might be interesting to study the eddies 
 of the Unitarian movement, such as the quickly 
 suppressed beginnings of liberalism in Connecti- 
 cut under Abbot, Sherman, and Willson; or its 
 spontaneous appearances, as in the independent 
 work of Theodore Clapp at New Orleans and 
 Anthony Forster at Charleston; or its diffusion 
 from its New England home in the successful mis- 
 sionary endeavors of May in Syracuse, Hosmer in 
 Buffalo, Peabody in Cincinnati, Clarke in Louis- 
 ville, Harrington in Chicago, Eliot in St. Louis, 
 Nute at Lawrence, and King and Stebbins in 
 San Francisco. Or one might review the history 
 of some of the historic churches connected with the 
 Unitarian movement. The lives of the succes- 
 sive ministers of such parishes as King's Chapel, 
 the First and Second Churches in Boston, Arling- 
 ton Street Church, the West Church, the churches 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 in Salem, Providence, Portland, Bangor, New 
 Bedford, Baltimore, Charleston, San Francisco, 
 and many others, illustrate the growth and diffu- 
 sion of liberal principles in separate localities. 
 Again, it might be interesting to trace the in- 
 fluence of certain family stocks and to note how 
 frequently such family names as Abbot, Adams, 
 Allen, Bellows, Brooks, Channing, Eliot, Emerson, 
 Everett, Frothingham, Hall, Howard, Lincoln, 
 Livermore, May, Parkman, Peabody, Ripley, 
 Stebbins, Thayer, Ware, Whitman, Whitney, and 
 Willard recur in these pages. 
 
 The great diversity of the gifts which the men 
 who are commemorated in these volumes rep- 
 resent, itself illustrates the variety of influences 
 which the liberal movement received and in turn 
 brought to bear upon American thought and life. 
 These men, and those they inspired, were leaders 
 in literature, education, statesmanship, and re- 
 ligion. America has known no such succession of 
 great preachers as that which includes the names 
 of Mayhew, Channing, Buckminster, Dewey, 
 Parker, Putnam, and King. The foremost stand- 
 ards of theological scholarship have been borne 
 by Norton, Walker, Hedge, and Carroll Everett. 
 Science has acknowledged the priceless contribu- 
 tions of Priestley and Prince. American letters 
 would be impoverished without the sermon-essays 
 of Emerson and Bartol, the histories of Belknap, 
 Palfrey, Young, Lamson, Sparks, Ellis, and Allen, 
 the romances of William Ware and Sylvester Judd, 
 the biographical studies of John Eliot, Sparks, 
 Frothingham, and Upham, the editorial labors of 
 Noah Worcester and George Ripley, and the 
 poems and hymns of Emerson, Sears, Pierpont, 
 Norton, Peabody, Frothingham, Bulfinch, Lunt, 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Livermore, Wasson, Samuel Longfellow, and 
 Samuel Johnson. Philanthropy and the cause 
 of human brotherhood have known no more 
 creative reformers than Channing, Tuckerman, 
 Barnard, and Ballou. The Revolutionary pa- 
 triotism of Mayhew, Lathrop, and Amos Adams 
 found its legitimate succession in the statesman- 
 ship of Edward Everett, the anti-slavery leader- 
 ship of Parker, Furness, Clarke, and the Mays, 
 the remarkable labors of Bellows, Knapp, and 
 William G. Eliot in the Sanitary Commission, 
 the sacrifices of the army chaplains in the Civil 
 War, and the kindling oratory of John Pierpont 
 and Starr King. 
 
 The influence of the scholarly and high-minded 
 men who ruled the old country parishes of New 
 England has never been adequately recognized. 
 Not only did these men stamp their convictions, 
 their habit of mind, their ideals of public service, 
 upon the communities in which they lived, but 
 by the dispersal of the sons of New England all 
 over the Northern States their principles were 
 carried far and wide. Those long and faithful 
 ministries in the New England towns deeply 
 and permanently, though perhaps unconsciously, 
 affected many a community in the Mississippi 
 Valley, among the Rocky Mountains, or on the 
 Pacific Slope. 
 
 What an abiding and widely diffused influence 
 was that of Ebenezer Gay and his sixty-eight 
 years of ministry at Hingham, or the forty-five 
 years of John Allyn at Duxbury, the sixty years of 
 Henry Cummings at Billerica, the fifty-two years 
 of John Pierce at Brookline, or the forty-six years 
 of Joseph Osgood at Cohasset! What would have 
 been the life and development of a town like Bel- 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 fast without the liberalizing ascendancy of Will- 
 iam Frothingham, or of Deerfield without the 
 humanizing labors of Samuel Willard? Why have 
 towns like Concord and Lancaster still a dis- 
 tinctive life of their own ? Is it not largely because 
 of the direction given to the thought and habit of 
 the community through the long pastorates of 
 Ezra Ripley and Nathaniel Thayer and their 
 successors? How can we compute the widening 
 circles which carry from a small provincial centre 
 into new generations and fresh localities the in- 
 tellectual and moral power of men like Dr. Leon- 
 ard of Dublin, or Dr. Crosby of Charlestown, or 
 Dr. Thompson of Barre, or Dr. Nichols of Saco, or 
 Dr. Babbidge of Pepperell? In the larger places, 
 the New England county seats and industrial 
 centres, how profound and lasting was the impres- 
 sion made by men like Dr. Nichols at Portland, 
 Dr. Parker and Dr. Peabody at Portsmouth, Dr. 
 Abbot at Beverly, Dr. Bancroft and Dr. Hill 
 at Worcester, Dr. Kendall at Plymouth, Mr. 
 Potter at New Bedford, and Dr. Hall at Provi- 
 dence! And in a still wider field how remark- 
 ably the same kind of enlightening and uplifting 
 influence was exerted by Dr. Cordner at Montreal, 
 Dr. Bellows at New York, Dr. Furness at Phila- 
 delphia, Dr. Burnap at Baltimore, Dr. Gilman 
 at Charleston, Dr. Eliot at St. Louis, and Dr. 
 Stebbins at San Francisco! 
 
 But, however alluring may be the study of these 
 separate aspects of the liberal movement, the 
 chief interest must still be in the sweep and prog- 
 ress of the main current. The diversities of tem- 
 perament and experience among the ministers 
 commemorated in these volumes are great and 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 significant, but they are like the depths and 
 shallows, the rapids and eddies, that diversify 
 the surface of a stream whose underlying flow 
 is strong and sure. Beneath the extraordinary 
 variety of mental and spiritual gifts which char- 
 acterizes the leaders of the Unitarian movement 
 there is a definite unity. Under the sometimes 
 discordant notes there is a harmony which is 
 almost a monotone of thought and speech. With 
 constantly changing form and phrase these men 
 were all reiterating, illustrating, and applying a 
 single theme. They were all heralds of the un- 
 ceasing revelation, the present life of God in the 
 present life of men. 
 
 In order that the origins and growth of the 
 movement may be clearly recognized, I have set 
 the typographical sketches in the first two vol- 
 umes in a rough chronological order, and have thus 
 sought to reveal the gradual development of new 
 convictions and ideals. Each volume deals, too, 
 with a reasonably distinct period and describes 
 certain characteristic tendencies and achieve- 
 ments. It is, of course, difficult to set up definite 
 boundaries. The periods overlap, and each con- 
 tains some of the elements and forces which seem 
 more peculiarly to belong to the others. We are, 
 that is, following a moving stream of thought and 
 life, and not merely measuring the bounds of 
 a "deposit of faith." Moreover, Unitarianism 
 is so essentially a habit of mind and principle of 
 conduct that it cannot be analyzed and defined 
 like a more logical and compact system. Never- 
 theless, it is not unjustifiable to say that the first 
 volume describes the Period of Protest, which 
 may in general be said to begin with the ordina- 
 tion of Jonathan Mayhew in 1747 and to last 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 until the election of Henry Ware to the Hollis 
 Professorship of Divinity at Harvard in 1805. 
 The second volume deals with the Period of Con- 
 troversy and Organization. This period, wherein 
 the progressive leaders are fitly described as 
 Pioneers, may be said to extend from the elec- 
 tion of Henry Ware to the organization of the 
 National Unitarian Conference in 1865. The 
 third period I call that of Spiritual Affirmation 
 and Church Extension, and it extends from the 
 organization of the National Conference to the 
 end of the Nineteenth Century. 
 
 The first volume covers what I have called the 
 Period of Protest, which roughly coincides with 
 the last half of the Eighteenth Century. The 
 eloquent voice of Jonathan Mayhew and the 
 scholarly writings of Charles Chauncy and the 
 pungent wit of William Bentley assailed tradi- 
 tional errors and evils in right manly and pro- 
 phetic fashion. They and their contemporaries 
 were true prophets not only of theological change 
 and advance, but also of the new ideals of patriot- 
 ism, of education, of scholarship, of public spirit. 
 They were forerunners, heralds of new things, 
 stanch adherents of American independency alike 
 in Church and State, originators in many useful 
 institutions which perpetuate their memories. 
 Jeremy Belknap founded the Massachusetts 
 Historical Society, Abiel Abbot started the first 
 Sunday-school, William Bentley first introduced 
 good music into the services of public worship 
 in New England. Dr. Priestley is chiefly re- 
 membered as a pioneer of scientific investigation 
 and the discoverer of oxygen. Dr. Prince in- 
 vented the air-pump and other ingenious mechani- 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 cal devices. William Wells was an heroic pioneer 
 in the practice of inoculating for smallpox. 
 Henry Colman was the first expert in the modern 
 science of rural economy. Jeremy Belknap drew 
 the first petition for the abolition of the slave trade. 
 Especially in the field of education were these 
 men prophets. Dr. Allyn first practised what 
 we now call "modern" educational methods. 
 The Sangers began our normal -school system. 
 Dr. Sanders was the first president of the Uni- 
 versity of Vermont, while Drs. Lathrop, Howard, 
 Eliot, Porter, Lowell, Pierce, Parkman, Belknap, 
 Brazer, Popkin, Harris, and many others served 
 on the governing and teaching boards of Harvard 
 College during a period of transformation. In- 
 deed, their theological innovations were the 
 least of the evidences of their progressive spirit. 
 They were not timid about pointing out the errors 
 of revivalism or of the traditional Calvinism, but 
 they loved to emphasize the points of agreement 
 rather than the points of difference. They were 
 willing to make concessions for the sake of the 
 peace of the churches. Jonathan Mayhew was 
 indeed a thorough-going heretic, a modern-minded 
 man, an aggressive Unitarian, but of many of his 
 contemporaries it was characteristic that they pro- 
 tested against a hard and cruel theology more by 
 what they omitted to preach than by what they 
 positively affirmed. They simply ceased to talk 
 about the dogmas that no longer expressed the 
 truth as they had come to apprehend it. What 
 they believed they preached, and what they did 
 not believe they let alone. Thus we read of 
 Dr. Gay that "his discourses will be searched in 
 vain for any discussion of controversial theology," 
 and of his neighbor, Dr. Shute, that his preaching 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 "was marked by the absence of all controversial 
 topics." Of Dr. John Lathrop we read that the 
 change in his thinking from Calvinism to Unita- 
 rianism was so gradual that nobody could say 
 just when it took place. His preaching, too, was 
 "practical rather than doctrinal," and of matters 
 of theological debate he said "little in private 
 and nothing at all in public." Of Dr. Thomas 
 Barnard, of Salem, it was said that "he was 
 catholic in his principles. Though zealous, as far 
 as zeal was useful, in inculcating his own senti- 
 ments, he did not wish to impose them on any 
 man. He left others to think for themselves, and 
 entertained none of the peculiarities which poison 
 the sweets of charity." When one said, "Dr. Bar- 
 nard, I have never heard you preach a sermon on 
 the Trinity," the answer was, "And you never 
 will." When the daughter of Dr. Kendal, of 
 Weston, was asked whether her father was a 
 Calvinist or an Arian, she could not answer. 
 When she expressed her shame at her ignorance 
 to her father, he said: "I am glad that you did 
 not know. I do not want to wear any party 
 label." No more characteristic attitude could 
 be adduced than that of Dr. Harris, of Dorchester, 
 of whom we read that "his course was liberal and 
 pacific. He sought not to make his people learned 
 in the polemics of sects, but rather to present and 
 urge upon them what he believed to be pure and 
 undefiled religion. He had no love of disputa- 
 tion. He studied the things that made for peace. 
 He desired to lead his flock beside the still waters." 
 Prophets and protestants these men were, but 
 never iconoclasts. Their ideals were construc- 
 tive. They were self-controlled, and avoided vio- 
 lent speech because they knew that exaggera- 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 tion is an indication of weakness. They dwelt 
 in temperate zones. They did not deal in criti- 
 cism or invective. They did not scold or re- 
 proach their more conservative brethren. They 
 broadened slowly from precedent to precedent. 
 They fulfilled Goethe's saying: "He who wishes 
 to have a useful influence on his time should in- 
 sult nothing. Let him not trouble himself about 
 what is absurd, let him concentrate his energy 
 on this, — the bringing to light of good things." 
 Their listeners were treated not as adversaries, 
 not as unsympathetic jurymen who must be 
 persuaded and converted, but as co-operative, 
 friends. They did not threaten or try to humiliate 
 their congregations. They conceived that their 
 mission was not to antagonize older forms of 
 faith, but to satisfy in a new way the ineffable 
 longings which those older faiths once satisfied. 
 Instead of directly attacking outgrown ideas, 
 usages, or institutions, they tried to expel error 
 by teaching truth. They desired not to destroy, 
 but to fulfil. The method of destruction fastens 
 instinctively upon the evils in existing conditions, 
 and tries to abolish them by external assault. 
 The method of fulfilment discovers and emphasizes 
 the good in existing conditions, and tries to com- 
 plete imperfect thought and conduct. We may 
 be sure that the latter is the nobler method be- 
 cause of the nobler powers it employs. It is 
 easy to criticize and denounce, it is easy to abuse 
 society for its superstitions, its conservatism, or 
 its provinciality; but to take the latent generosity 
 of a community or an individual's half-conscious 
 hope of better things and encourage it, to find the 
 elements of good in the meanest emergencies and 
 develop them, to catch the indefinite desires and 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 ideals of a man or a nation and direct and uplift 
 them, — that is hard and slow. The method of 
 destruction requires a spirit intolerant toward 
 error or falsehood, a keen sense of justice, and a 
 vehement vigor. The method of fulfilment re- 
 quires sympathy, patience, and hopeful per- 
 sistence. 
 
 The influences and conditions under which the 
 liberal movement developed account for the fact 
 that it was not sudden in its origin or unconnected 
 in its evolution. It grew naturally and inevitably 
 from the seeds of freedom planted by the founders 
 of New England. It was not a secession, but a 
 legitimate growth from the old Puritan stock. 
 The basis of fellowship in the original Massachu- 
 setts churches was not static, but progressive. 
 The Pilgrim and Puritan churches in New England 
 were, as a rule, organized without requiring assent 
 to any creed. They were founded on the basis 
 of Covenants in which all that is temporary in 
 religion was omitted and all that is permanent 
 is expressed. These Covenants were written in 
 such a broad spirit that, when the churches 
 became Unitarian in thought and fellowship, they 
 could be retained unchanged. The Pilgrims at 
 Plymouth, in 1620, "as the Lord's Free People 
 joyned themselves into a church estate, in the 
 fellowship of the Gospell, to walke together in all 
 Gods wayes made known or to be made to them, 
 according to their best endeavor, whatever it 
 should cost them." The Covenant of the First 
 Church in Salem (1629) reads: "We covenant 
 with the Lord and with one another, and doe 
 bynd our selves in ye presence of God, to walke 
 together in all his waies, according as he is pleased 
 to reveale himself unto us in his Blessed word of 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 truth." In the additions of 1636, which follow, 
 the "waies" of practical piety are defined at some 
 length, without the insertion of a single point 
 of controverted doctrine. The First Church in 
 Boston, in 1630, declared, after a brief preamble, 
 as follows: "We ... do hereby solemnly and 
 religiously promise and bind ourselves to walk 
 in all our ways according to the rule of the gospel, 
 and in all sincere conformity to (Christ's) holy 
 ordinances, and in mutual love and respect each 
 to other, so near as God shall give us grace." 
 It was inevitable that churches thus organized 
 should develop in doctrinal freedom, in spiritual 
 vitality, and in public serviceableness, and that 
 many of them should pass without any conscious 
 change and quite without internal strife or divi- 
 sion from orthodoxy to Unitarianism. In follow- 
 ing what the historians call the "Unitarian Con- 
 troversy" we too often receive the impression that 
 the New England parishes were rent with angry 
 discussion and schism, but the truth is that a 
 very large majority of the churches that ulti- 
 mately found themselves in Unitarian fellowship 
 crossed the boundary without knowing it. In 
 the cases where the minister was orthodox and the 
 parish liberal, as in the First Church in Cambridge, 
 or where the minister and parish were liberal and 
 the "Church" was orthodox, as at Dedham, there 
 was division sometimes embittered by legal con- 
 tests; but in such churches as the First Parishes 
 of Portland, Brookline, Hingham, Weston, and 
 Concord, and the First Churches of Boston, 
 Salem, and Dorchester, the West Church in 
 Boston and the South Church in Portsmouth, 
 there was not even any debate over theological 
 changes. It was a natural, peaceful evolution. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 But, besides the open way thus set before the 
 churches, certain positive influences promoted 
 theological change and progress. Harvard Col- 
 lege in the Eighteenth Century was to both political 
 and theological conservatives "a nest of sedition," 
 and it is not a surprise to discover that a very large 
 majority of the prophets and pioneers of the lib- 
 eral cause were Harvard graduates. The college 
 maintained the wholesome Puritan traditions, 
 but evidently, even under the narrow conditions 
 of academic life in the Eighteenth Century, a cer- 
 tain habit of mind was encouraged there which 
 nourished intellectual freedom. The little New 
 England seminary taught men to think for 
 themselves and to trust their own reverent 
 conclusions. It bade them prove all things, and 
 hold fast only what was good. Its lamp of truth 
 guided many a mind, imprisoned in harsh beliefs 
 and formal observances, to spiritual enfranchise- 
 ment. 
 
 Again, the political agitations of the time were 
 inevitably reflected more or less clearly in its 
 theology. The religious life of any age takes form 
 and color from its secular life. There is action 
 and reaction between them. If Christianity made 
 democracy possible, so the ideals of democracy 
 have profoundly affected Christianity. The agi- 
 tation for civil liberty in New England often 
 revolutionized not only men's conceptions of 
 government, but their theological convictions as 
 well. The leaven of the political ideas that pre- 
 vailed in Massachusetts modified the prevailing 
 Calvinism. The democratic spirit breaks down 
 old boundaries. It trusts the intelligence and 
 moral feeling of the masses. It refuses to accept 
 arbitrary decrees as final. The liberalism of the 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Massachusetts ministers was just the translation 
 into the language of theology of the political ideals 
 of the heroes of the Revolution. As Samuel 
 Adams and James Otis challenged the right of a 
 despotic king to do what he willed with his own, 
 Jonathan Mayhew challenged the right of a des- 
 potic God. Channing's doctrine of the dignity of 
 human nature was simply the theological ex- 
 pression of the doctrine of the Rights of Man. 
 / Between a theology teaching total depravity ancP\ 
 ( a democracy upholding self-government thereJ 
 f^could be no peace. It is therefore to be expected 
 when we find that the prophets of religious liberty 
 were also stanch adherents of the patriot cause 
 in Massachusetts. Mayhew was its ardent young 
 apostle. Thaxter, Packard, and Worcester fought 
 at Bunker Hill. Lathrop, Hitchcock, and Barnard 
 were conspicuous in dramatic episodes of the 
 great contest. West, Shute, Thacher, and many 
 more were in the Constitutional Convention. 
 All were prophets and champions of freedom, 
 and we may be sure that the streams of their 
 political and religious activities did not flow side 
 by side without often mingling. Like all fore- 
 runners of a great movement of thought and life, 
 these prophets of liberalism conspired with the 
 moral forces of their generation. They revealed 
 the hopes that were latent in many hearts. Their 
 influence was like a change of climate or the com- 
 ing of spring after a winter of austere theology. 
 
 The second volume, which describes the careers 
 of the liberal leaders of the first half of the Nine- 
 teenth Century, covers the Period of Controversy 
 and Organization. The division of the Congre- 
 gational churches into conservative and pro- 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 gressive wings could not take place without 
 debate, Yet, while reluctantly obliged to sepa- 
 rate from cherished fellowships and to break old 
 ties, it is clear that the "Pioneers" of a liberal 
 faith did not aim or desire to create another 
 little denomination. They simply wanted to pro- 
 mote certain principles of thought and conduct 
 which they believed in, such as the right of free 
 inquiry, the authority of reason and conscience in 
 matters of religion, and the placing of character 
 above doctrinal accuracy as a test of religious 
 vitality. They strove to rationalize and simplify 
 theology, to reaffirm the fundamental teaching 
 of the Gospels, and to turn from outward authori- 
 ties in matters of faith to the inward witnesses. 
 They argued the spirit of the Bible against the 
 letter, the Unity of God against the Trinity, and 
 the impulse of love and good-will against the 
 compulsions of fear. They appealed to men to 
 be religious not with the old arguments of self- 
 reproach, but with the arguments of self-respect. 
 They found in human nature, in the imperatives 
 of conscience, in the revelations of reason, in the 
 sentiments of reverence and awe, the witnesses of 
 a divine origin and an open way to an immortal 
 fellowship. They joined together Christian faith 
 and broad philanthropy, close fellowship with 
 God and neighborly service, the. life that now is 
 and the life eternal. 
 
 No single personality dominated the Unita- 
 rian movement. It did not bear the intellectual 
 stamp of any one leader. We sometimes say that 
 the New England ministers of the Nineteenth 
 Century all "preached Channing." In a measure 
 that is true, and yet it is equally true that no one 
 mind or reputation became tyrannous. Each 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 man did his independent thinking and carried his 
 sovereignty under his own hat. Channing's own 
 counsel taught his comrades just estimates. The 
 true view of leaders, he said, is that "they are 
 only examples and manifestations of our common 
 nature, showing what belongs to all souls, though 
 unfolded as yet only in a few. The light which 
 shines from them is, after all, but a faint revela- 
 tion of the power which is treasured in every 
 human being. They are, indeed, as men among 
 children; but the children have a principle of 
 growth which leads to manhood." 
 
 Many were the high-minded young men who 
 poured their powers into the pioneer work of the 
 liberal movement. The best scholars at Harvard 
 found there the widest field for the exercise of 
 their gifts, and the intelligent communities of 
 Eastern Massachusetts were ready to give them 
 cordial welcome, recognition, and support. Their 
 message delivered from the pulpit, and through 
 multitudinous pamphlets and volumes, was re- 
 ceived with fostering sympathy. The old tone 
 of respect for the minister's office and for the 
 usages of religion provided a congenial atmos- 
 phere, while the style of preaching was generally 
 sober, reverential, and as fervent in tone as was 
 consistent with a rather strict sense of professional 
 propriety. Insight, sagacity, and fearlessness 
 marked their philosophy of life and their ethical 
 idealism. 
 
 A unity of spirit and purpose, combined with 
 diversity of gifts and service, distinguished these 
 Pioneers just as it did the Prophets of the new 
 interpretations of religion. There is the same 
 enlightened interest in education. Kirkland, 
 Everett, Sparks, and Walker passed successively 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 from the pulpit to the presidency of Harvard. 
 Palfrey, Norton, Follen, and the two Henry Wares 
 were famous teachers in the same university. 
 There is the same high standard of productive 
 scholarship. The results of the reverent but dis- 
 criminating Biblical studies of Norton and Nichols, 
 though long ago accepted by the most conserva- 
 tive scholars, were in their day thoroughly revo- 
 lutionary and pointed the way to the develop- 
 ment of the progressive science known as the 
 Higher Criticism of the Bible. Dr. Lamson's 
 authoritative studies of the early Christian times, 
 Alexander Young's invaluable books revealing the 
 sources of American history, Palfrey's standard 
 History of New England, Sparks's remarkable 
 series of biographies, illustrate the activity of 
 these pioneers in the fields of historical research. 
 It is not a surprise when we discover that three of 
 the remaining leading American historians, Park- 
 man, Bancroft, and Hildreth, were sons of these 
 pioneer ministers. The orations of Edward 
 Everett, though phrased in a majestic style that 
 is no longer convincing, were the marvel and 
 delight of an older generation; the romances of 
 William Ware and Sylvester Judd belong with the 
 best American fiction; and nowhere and at no 
 time has Christian preaching risen to higher 
 levels of insight and inspiration than in the ser- 
 mons of Channing and Buckminster. 
 
 It was just the same in the field of practical 
 reforms. Noah Worcester was the great apostle 
 of peace, John Pierpont and Hosea Hildreth were 
 the fervent advocates of temperance, and Dr. 
 Follen was the forerunner of the heroes of the 
 anti-slavery struggle. Joseph Tuckerman was a 
 most remarkable and efficient pioneer in the wise 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 administration of charity, and his methods and 
 ideals are still guiding and inspiring philanthropy 
 all over the world. 
 
 In less conspicuous places and in ways now 
 almost forgotten these pioneers served their own 
 and the coming generations. Men like Freeman, 
 Lamson, Allen, and Thompson by long and far- 
 sighted service on school committees laid broad 
 and deep foundations for the public-school system 
 in America. Samuel Willard and Levi Leonard 
 wrote the school books from which thousands of 
 American children derived their elementary train- 
 ing, and Dr. Willard was a pioneer, too, in the 
 use of music as an essential element in education. 
 John Bartlett was one of the pioneers of progress 
 in the practice of medicine, and Greenwood and 
 W. B. O. Peabody were foremost of their genera- 
 tion in encouraging the study of nature, and 
 started impulses which have developed in ever- 
 widening circles. 
 
 And these men were pioneers of an organized 
 religious life. Forced unwillingly into contro- 
 versy, they defended their positions with un- 
 equalled skill and patience. Often obliged to 
 separate themselves from the institutions in which, 
 because of their opinions, they were no longer 
 welcome, they established their own organiza- 
 tions and maintained them, if not generously, 
 at least courageously. Thus Bancroft, Willard, 
 Clapp, and William Ware were typical pioneers 
 of the new thought of God and man as embodied 
 in fruitful churches. They did not merely in- 
 herit the charge of churches already liberal, but, 
 bravely facing and conquering hostile environ- 
 ments, they built from the foundation up. Ken- 
 dall and Lamson, Abbot, Sherman, and Willson, 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 "were at the centre of noteworthy parish con- 
 troversies, the first two on the winning and the 
 last three on the losing side. Noah Worcester, 
 Jared Sparks, and David Reed were pioneer edi- 
 tors, diffusing liberal principles through the printed 
 page, and Samuel Thacher, the Whitmans, and 
 the senior Henry Ware rendered similar service 
 with tracts and pamphlets in which they upheld 
 the liberal positions. James Walker and Henry 
 Ware, Jr., with their still younger comrade, Ezra 
 Stiles Gannett, before they were thirty years of 
 age were the leading spirits in the organization 
 of the American Unitarian Association, which first 
 brought the liberal churches and ministers into 
 a loosely compacted fellowship, opened for them 
 a door of utterance, and gave them an agency 
 for co-operative work. 
 
 The t-hird volume covers the Period of Spiritual 
 Affirmation and Church Extension. The great 
 traditions of preaching were transmitted through 
 the many-sided genius of Theodore Parker, the 
 logical arguments and far-sighted wisdom of 
 Orville Dewey, the fervent eloquence of Starr 
 King and William H. Channing, the persuasive 
 reasonableness of James Freeman Clarke, the im- 
 pressive personality and vivid style of George 
 Putnam, the majestic voice and presence of 
 Horatio Stebbins. Scholarship suffered no de- 
 cline. Hedge and Everett were profound theolo- 
 gians and enlightening teachers. Noyes, Furness, 
 Morison, and Livermore enriched the literature 
 about the Bible with original translations, 
 interpretations, and commentaries. Allen was 
 equally a master in the classics and in church 
 history. Samuel Johnson and James Freeman 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Clarke were the first to reveal to Western minds 
 the wonders of the Oriental religions. The higher 
 education continued to claim allegiance and ser- 
 vice. Thomas Hill, Andrew Peabody, Hedge, 
 Stearns, Emerson, Clarke, Putnam, Allen, Ellis, 
 Everett, Noyes, and Francis built their lives not 
 only into the minds and hearts of the people of 
 the parishes they ministered to, but also into 
 Harvard University, which they served as Presi- 
 dent, as Fellows, as Deans of the Faculty of 
 Divinity, and as honored teachers. William G. 
 Eliot was the founder and first chancellor of 
 Washington University in St. Louis. Frederic 
 Huidekoper, Rufus Stebbins, Stearns, and Liver- 
 more upbuilt the usefulness of the Meadville 
 Theological School in Pennsylvania. Hosmer and 
 Hill were presidents of Antioch College in Ohio. 
 Horatio Stebbins was the most potent influence 
 in establishing upon a broad foundation the State 
 University and the Leland Stanford, Jr., Univer- 
 sity in California. 
 
 Historical research and administration engaged 
 the well-stored and fertile minds of Dr. Burnap in 
 Baltimore and of Dr. Ellis in the Massachusetts 
 Historical Society, while William Barry founded 
 the Historical Society in Chicago. Drs. Babbidge, 
 Moors, and Woodbury wrote army or regimental 
 histories, Leonard, Clark, and Barry the histories 
 of New England towns, and Robbins and Foote 
 the annals of their churches, and all are models of 
 their kind. Upham, Longfellow, and Frothingham 
 wrote the standard biographies of great Americans, 
 and Ripley, Brooks, Hedge, Parker, Furness, 
 Clarke, Weiss, and Dwight opened to American 
 readers the rich stores of German poetry, music, 
 and philosophy. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The extraordinary activity of the Unitarians in 
 all forms of public-spirited service is illustrated by 
 the anti-slavery work of Parker and the Mays, of 
 Furness, Clarke, Stearns, and many others, and by 
 the splendid initiative and energy of Bellows, 
 King, Heywood, Eliot, Lowe, and Knapp in the 
 United States Sanitary Commission. Ephraim 
 Peabody was a wise pioneer in charity organiza- 
 tion, Brigham in the conservation of the public 
 health, Bellows in the reform of the civil service, 
 John Ware and Henry Foote in providing for the 
 education of the colored people. Charles Dall 
 practised some original ideas in foreign missionary 
 work, and Lowell and Foote pointed out the practi- 
 cal ways of Christian unity, and showed the war- 
 ring sects how to walk in them. Abbot, Willson, 
 Whitney, and Brooks diffused intelligence and 
 civic righteousness through the founding and main- 
 tenance of public libraries, Leonard Livermore 
 through the improvement of Sunday-school meth- 
 ods, Samuel J. May through the advocacy and 
 adoption of modern ideas in the training of 
 teachers, Brigham through the channels of social 
 and religious influence at a great State university, 
 while men like Dr. Heywood in Louisville, Dr. 
 Hill at Worcester, Dr. Woodbury at Providence, 
 Dr. Reynolds at Concord, Dr. Moors at Green- 
 field, Mr. Ware at Burlington, and Mr. Wheeler 
 at Winchendon gave themselves with unremitting 
 devotion to the development of the public-school 
 system. 
 
 Yet, in spite of these manifold activities, the 
 words "Spiritual Affirmation and Church Exten- 
 sion" best define the characteristics of this period. 
 The dominant influence in the work of church 
 extension was that of Henry W. Bellows. It was 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 he who gave direction to the effort to organize 
 the free churches into an efficient fellowship 
 and to perpetuate the Unitarian habit of mind. 
 He showed the Unitarian churches that freedom is 
 consistent with co-operative effort, and that per- 
 sonal liberty is not more essential than co-ordinated 
 action. Had the Unitarian body been more flex- 
 ible to his guidance, it would have developed more 
 rapidly and extensively. Dr. Bellows possessed 
 an administrative capacity that has never been 
 surpassed in the history of religion and philan- 
 thropy in this country. Sometimes autocratic 
 in word or action, his motives were always catho- 
 lic, and his sympathies were broad and generous. 
 Sometimes apparently reactionary, he was more 
 often boldly adventurous. The cause of this 
 seeming inconsistency was to be found in the 
 gifts of imagination and emotion that made him 
 a great preacher as well as a great administrator. 
 The results of his endeavors and of the work of 
 others who followed in his footsteps are seen in the 
 organization of the National Conference (1865), 
 the Ministers' Institute (1876), the State and 
 Local Conferences, the Women's Alliance (1890), 
 the Young People's Religious Union (1896), and 
 finally the International Council of Unitarian and 
 Other Liberal Religious Thinkers and Workers 
 (1900), pledged to the task of bringing into fellow- 
 ship those who, in all parts of the world, are striv- 
 ing to unite pure religion and perfect liberty. 
 
 But even more conspicuously was the last half 
 of the Nineteenth Century for the Unitarians 
 a Period of Spiritual Affirmation. The Unitarian 
 preachers conceived that only as truth takes 
 spiritual form can it come with persuasive and 
 uplifting power into the hearts of men. Their 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 constant endeavor was, therefore, to set forth the 
 spiritual meaning and interpretation of observed 
 facts. Their most characteristic men were those 
 who, like Longfellow, Johnson, Sears and Wasson, 
 Lunt and Livermore, Furness and Frothingham, 
 Bulfinch and Hedge, interpreted religion in terms 
 of poetry. The Unitarian preachers accom- 
 plished much for the rationalizing of theology, 
 they contributed new interpretations of Biblical 
 literature, they upbuilt the institutions of edu- 
 cation and philanthropy, they did their part in 
 establishing the rule of righteousness, but the 
 fundamental spirit of their teaching was that of an 
 unobscured and uninterrupted relation of the soul 
 of Man with the life of God. In the midst of 
 that which is changing they bore witness to that 
 which is changeless. 
 
 It is desirable that this distinctive function of 
 the preachers of the liberal faith should be more 
 clearly recognized. Men have thought of Uni- 
 tarianism as a form of theological dissent, or as a 
 protest against prevailing doctrinal error, or as 
 a philosophical rationalism, or as a proclamation 
 of reason and common sense in religion. In all 
 these varied forms of thought and activity Uni- 
 tarianism has had its place and its necessary 
 work, but fundamentally it is none of these things. 
 It is primarily a declaration of the present life of 
 God in the present life of men. Its inner spirit 
 is best expressed in its lyric utterances. Unitari- 
 anism is not merely an intellectual revolt: it is 
 fundamentally a revival of spiritual life. The 
 Unitarians of the closing decades of the Nineteenth 
 Century continued, indeed, to contend for liberty 
 of opinion, for the unfettered speech which deals 
 in no ambiguity and which shelters no mental 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 reservations, for democracy in organization, 
 and for righteousness in public and private life. 
 They continued, that is, to be protestants and 
 dissenters, and for such end were content to 
 remain a pioneer minority; but their distinctive 
 privilege was to transmit the witness of the spirit 
 of truth and good-will, and it is through a clear 
 relation of cause and effect that their faith ex- 
 pressed itself most characteristically in poetry. 
 "It is not by accident that the lyrics of Long- 
 fellow, Lowell, Holmes, Bryant, and Emerson 
 proceeded from lives bred in the rational piety of 
 the Unitarians, or that Whittier, who must be 
 joined with them in character of his verse, was 
 joined with them also in the fellowship of the 
 'Inner Light.' And, when we pass from the great 
 masters, what does it mean that from a group of 
 minor poets of the same tradition — from Samuel 
 Longfellow and Furness and Hedge and many 
 others among the elders, from Hosmer, Gannett, 
 and Chadwick, and many others of the present 
 generation — there has proceeded a strain of lyric 
 theism whose music penetrates many a church 
 whose doors are closed against the poets? It 
 means that beneath the vigorous rationalism and 
 sincere dissent of the Unitarians there is a deeper 
 movement of religious life, a consciousness of 
 God which none but a poet can utter, a spiritual 
 lineage which unites these modern minds to the 
 great company of witnesses of the real presence, — 
 the fellowship of the Church of the Spirit." 
 
 The Unitarian movement has thus passed from 
 negative to grandly positive affirmations, from 
 protest against wrong to service of the right. It 
 has survived many perils, — external hostility, 
 internal dissension, rash experiment, and tern- 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 porary reaction. It has outlived misrepresenta- 
 tion alike from friends and foes, the timidity 
 or indifference of nominal adherents, the calum- 
 nies of ignorant or bigoted opponents, and even 
 the imitation of men who have tried to come near 
 as possible to the Unitarian positions without 
 actually adopting them. It is now entering upon 
 a new period wherein the emphasis is to be not 
 so much upon the discovery of truth as upon the 
 application of truth, not so much upon freedom 
 as upon the uses of freedom, — a period wherein 
 the dominant impulse will be that of social and 
 public service, and which, while retaining all that 
 the past has won and continuing the necessary 
 work of protest against error and evil, of organi- 
 zation and church extension, and of spiritual 
 affirmation, may be called the Period of the Appli- 
 cation of Truth to Life. 
 
 It has been good for me to live in the companion- 
 ship of these heralds of truth and freedom, and I 
 rejoice that the good-will of friends too numerous 
 to mention now enables me to give the results of 
 my studies to those who share my enthusiasms 
 or who cherish the memory of one or another of the 
 men whose personal characteristics and religious 
 convictions are here recalled. Whatever may be 
 the final influence of these prophets, pioneers, and 
 preachers, it is certain that men of purer lives or 
 nobler spirit never transmitted religious inspira- 
 tion from one generation to another. 
 
 Samuel A. Eliot. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Ebenezer Gay, 1696-1787 1 
 
 Lemuel Briant 
 Daniel Shute 
 John Brown 
 David Barnes 
 Gad Hitchcock 
 Joseph Thaxter 
 
 Charles Chauncy, 1705-1787 20 
 
 John Clarke 
 William Emerson 
 John Lovejoy Abbot 
 Nathaniel Langdon Frothingham 
 
 Jonathan Mayhew, 1 720-1 766 34 
 
 Experience Mayhew 
 Simeon Howard 
 Charles Lowell 
 
 Samuel West (of New Bedford), 1 730-1807 49 
 
 Joseph Priestley, 1733-1805 60 
 
 William Wells 
 
 Henry Cummings, 1737-1823 73 
 
 Daniel Emerson 
 Nathaniel Whitman 
 Wilkes Allen 
 Ebenezer Bridge 
 Peter Eaton 
 Hezekiah Packard 
 Joseph Mottey 
 William Symmes 
 
 Samuel West (of Boston), 1 738-1 808 86 
 
 Thomas Thacher 
 Horace Holley 
 
 John Lathrop, 1740-1816 
 
 93 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PACE 
 
 Jeremy Belknap, 1 744-1 798 98 
 
 Jonathan Cushing 
 John Snelling Popkin 
 
 John Eliot, 1754-1813 109 
 
 Francis Parkman 
 Amos Smith 
 Joshua Young 
 
 Zedekiah Sanger, 1 748-1 820 122 
 
 Ralph Sanger 
 John Reed 
 
 Thomas Barnard, 1748-1814 131 
 
 Thomas Barnard, Sr. 
 Henry Colman 
 John Emery Abbot 
 John Brazer 
 
 John Prince, 1751-1836 jaj 
 
 Charles Wentworth Upham 
 
 William Bentley, 1 759-1819 tjq 
 
 James Flint 
 Dexter Clapp 
 
 ~zra Ripley, 1751-1841 l6o 
 
 Charles Stearns 
 
 Hersey Bradford Goodwin 
 
 Barzillai Frost 
 
 Samuel Kendal, 1753-1814 17 c 
 
 Eliphalet Porter, 1758-1833 jg t 
 
 Amos Adams 
 
 Simeon Doggett, 1765-1852 t gg 
 
 John Allyn, 1767-1833 Ig4 
 
 Daniel Clarke Sanders, 1768-1850 , 00 
 
 Thomas Prentiss 
 
 Thaddeus Mason Harris, 1768-1842 20? 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Abiel Abbot (of Beverly), 1770-1828 213 
 
 Christopher Toppan Thayer 
 
 John Pierce, 1773-1849 223 
 
 Frederick Newman Knapp 
 
 Preserved Smith, 1759-1834 239 
 
 INDEX ... 
 
 2 43 
 
HERALDS OF A LIBERAL FAITH 
 
 EBENEZER GAY 
 
 i 696-1 787 
 
 AND THE MINISTERS OF THE BAY ASSOCIATION 
 
 Ebenezer Gay was the youngest son of Nathaniel 
 and Lydia Gay, and was born in Dedham, Mass., 
 August 15, 1696. He was prepared for college at 
 the town school of Dedham, and graduated at Har- 
 vard in 1 714, then taught the grammar schools in 
 Hadley and Ipswich successively, and in connection 
 with his work as a teacher studied theology. He began 
 preaching in September, 171 7, as a candidate for the 
 church in Hingham, where the pulpit had been left 
 vacant by the death of the Rev. John Norton. The 
 result was that on the 30th of December following 
 he received a call to become pastor of the church; and 
 on the nth of June, 1718, he was ordained and in- 
 stalled. The ordination sermon was preached by 
 the Rev. Joseph Belcher, of Dedham. 
 
 Mr. Gay brought with him to the ministry a high 
 reputation for scholarship, and, while yet a young 
 man, attracted the particular notice of Governor Bur- 
 net, who is said to have remarked that he and Mr. 
 Bradstreet, of Charlestown, were the most learned of 
 the clergy of New England. In the course of his long 
 
2 EBENEZER GAY 
 
 life he received many testimonies of public respect. 
 He preached the Artillery Election Sermon in 1728, 
 the General Election Sermon in 1745, the Sermon 
 before the Convention of Congregational Ministers 
 in 1746, and gave the Dudleian Lecture at Harvard in 
 1750. In 1785 he received the degree of Doctor of 
 Divinity from Harvard College. 
 
 Mr. Gay was married on November 3, 1719, to 
 Jerusha, daughter of Samuel Bradford, of Duxbury, 
 who was the grandson of Governor Bradford. Mrs. 
 Gay died August 19, 1783, aged eighty-five years. 
 She was the mother of eleven children, five sons and 
 six daughters. Dr. Gay lived to be ninety-one, and 
 retained his faculties in remarkable vigor till the close 
 of his life. On Sunday morning, the 8th of March, 
 1787, when he was preparing for the regular service, 
 he was attacked with sudden illness, and died almost 
 instantly. The length of his ministry was sixty-eight 
 years, nine months, and seven days. The funeral 
 sermon was preached by Dr. Shute, of the Second 
 Parish in Hingham. 
 
 Dr. Gay has often been called the father of Amer- 
 ican Unitarianism. President John Adams, in a let- 
 ter to Dr. Morse, dated May 15, 1815, wrote, "Sixty 
 years ago my own minister, Rev. Lemuel Briant, 1 
 Dr. Jonathan Mayhew, 2 of the West Church in 
 Boston, Rev. Mr. Shute, 3 of Hingham, Rev. John 
 Brown, 4 of Cohasset, and, perhaps equal to all, if not 
 above all, Rev. Dr. Gay, of Hingham, were Unitarians." 
 Like most of his contemporaries, Dr. Gay was not given 
 to accurately defining his doctrinal position; but it 
 is recorded that "his discourses will be searched in 
 vain for any discussions of controversial theology, in 
 advocacy of the peculiar doctrines known as ortho- 
 dox, or the expression of any opinions at variance 
 
EBENEZER GAY 3 
 
 with those of his distinguished successor in the same 
 pulpit, Rev. Dr. Ware." The liberalizing influence of 
 Dr. Gay was exercised chiefly through personal inter- 
 course; in his own parish, over the pupils who resorted 
 to him, and with his ministerial associates. 
 
 Dr. Gay's name is signed to a paper entitled "The 
 Sentiments and Resolutions of an Association of Min- 
 isters convened at Weymouth, January 15, 1743," in 
 which they bear testimony against Whitefield's preach- 
 ing as "having a tendency to promote a spirit of 
 bitterness." They further declare that they will not 
 encourage him to preach, either publicly or privately, 
 in their respective parishes. This association of min- 
 isters, in which Dr. Gay was apparently the leading 
 spirit, included a number of neighboring ministers, 
 all of whom were recognized as "liberal," and who 
 were forerunners of the Unitarian movement. Be- 
 sides the ministers named by John Adams, this group 
 contained Dr. Barnes, 5 of Scituate, Dr. Hitch- 
 cock, 6 of Pembroke, and later Dr. Gay's parishioner 
 and pupil, Joseph Thaxter. 7 These neighbors and 
 friends enjoyed entire harmony in their religious opin- 
 ions, and formed what seems to have been the first 
 ministerial association in New England to hold the 
 convictions which later became known as Unitarian. 
 They were, however, much averse to controversy. 
 They did not conceal their opinions when challenged, 
 but they declined argument. 
 
 Besides his intimacy with his neighbors, Dr. Gay 
 was a warm friend of Jonathan Mayhew, whose biog- 
 rapher declares that Mayhew was indebted to Dr. 
 Gay for the adoption or confirmation of the "liberal 
 and rational views" which he embraced. Others are 
 of the opinion that Dr. Gay acquired his liberal views 
 from his more aggressive friend and pupil. Dr. 
 Gay preached the sermon at Mayhew's ordination 
 
4 EBENEZER GAY 
 
 in 1747, and another on his death in 1766. Dr. Gay's 
 daughter married Mayhew's successor, Simeon Howard. 
 
 A close intimacy also existed between three of the 
 patriarchs of the Massachusetts churches, — Dr. Gay, 
 Dr. Chauncy, of the First Church in Boston, and Dr. 
 Appleton, of the First Church in Cambridge. Hon. 
 Alden Bradford, in his historical sketch of Harvard 
 College, written in 1787, speaks of his recollection of 
 seeing these three venerable men walking to the col- 
 lege chapel together, two being nearly ninety years 
 old, and the other, Dr. Chauncy, about eighty-three. 
 Chauncy and Gay died in the same year, Appleton 
 three years earlier. At the ordination of Simeon 
 Howard as pastor of the West Church in Boston in 
 succession to Jonathan Mayhew, Dr. Chauncy preached 
 the sermon, Dr. Gay gave the charge, and Dr. Apple- 
 ton gave the right hand of fellowship. 
 
 In the Revolutionary period Dr. Gay adhered to 
 Tory sentiments, and continued for years to pray for 
 the king and all the royal family, yet such was his dis- 
 cretion that he maintained his position at the head of 
 a parish largely composed of supporters of the Decla- 
 ration of Independence without seriously impairing his 
 usefulness. Mr. Solomon Lincoln has recorded this an- 
 ecdote of these times : " It was a part of the duty of the 
 Committee of Correspondence, Inspection, and Safety 
 to call upon suspected citizens, and those known to be 
 Loyalists, to demand a search for arms. It was pro- 
 posed that the committee should call upon Dr. Gay, 
 and demand his arms, probably not because they sup- 
 posed he had any of which he would make improper use 
 against the new government, but because the opportu- 
 nity was a good one to give him a sort of official admon- 
 ition that he held obnoxious sentiments, in which some 
 of the most influential of his people did not share. That 
 the thing to be done was a little aggravating did not 
 
EBENEZER GAY 5 
 
 take away the zest of doing it. It would have been 
 ungenerous, also, had there not been a very perfect 
 accord between Dr. Gay and his parish, as pastor and 
 people, on all subjects save politics. The commit- 
 tee presented themselves before the doctor, who re- 
 ceived them in his study, standing, and with entire 
 calmness and dignity, when he inquired of them, 
 'What do you wish with me, gentlemen ?' 'We have 
 come, sir, in accordance with our duty, as the Com- 
 mittee of Safety, to ask you what arms you have in 
 the house.' He looked at them kindly, perhaps a 
 little reproachfully, for a moment or two before an- 
 swering, and then said, laying his hand upon a large 
 Bible on the table by which he stood, 'There, my 
 friends, are my arms; and I trust to find them ever 
 sufficient for me.' The committee retired with some 
 precipitation, discomfited by the dignified manner 
 and implied rebuke of Dr. Gay; and the chairman 
 was heard to say to his associates as they passed out 
 of the yard, 'The old gentleman is always ready.' " 
 
 Notwithstanding the political opinions entertained 
 by Dr. Gay, he continued to find among the minis- 
 ters who held opposite views his most ardent friends. 
 The intercourse between him and Dr. Shute, of the 
 Second Parish, who was a zealous Whig, remained of 
 the most friendly character; and he was on most ex- 
 cellent terms with Mr. Smith, of Weymouth (the father 
 of Mrs. John Adams), and Mr. Brown, of Cohasset, 
 who at one time was a chaplain to the troops in Nova 
 Scotia before the Revolution. Dr. Gay's son, Jotham 
 Gay, was a captain in another regiment. The doc- 
 tor, in writing to Mr. Brown, says, "I wish you may 
 visit Jotham, and minister good instruction to him and 
 his company, and furnish him with suitable sermons 
 in print, or in your own legible if not very intelligible 
 manuscripts, to read to his men, who are without a 
 
6 EBENEZER GAY 
 
 preacher, — in the room of one, constitute Jotham 
 curate." 
 
 The earliest sermon of Dr. Gay's which was printed 
 was delivered at the ordination of the Rev. Joseph 
 Green at Barnstable. Toward the close of this dis- 
 course we find the following passage in Dr. Gay's 
 peculiar vein. He was speaking of the candidate for 
 ordination, Joseph Green, and he said: "We trust 
 that he will be a Joseph unto his brethren whom he 
 is to feed with the bread of life, and that God sendeth 
 him here to preserve their souls from perishing. The 
 Lord make him a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough 
 by a well, grafted into the tree of life, and always green 
 and flourishing in the courts of our God." 
 
 Dr. Gay was remarkable in the selection and appli- 
 cation of his texts. Having for a long time been un- 
 successful in procuring a well of water for his home- 
 stead, he introduced the subject into his prayers and 
 also preached a sermon on Numbers xxi. 17, — "Then 
 Isjrael sang this song: Spring up, O well, sing ye unto 
 it." The text of his sermon preached at the installation 
 of the Rev. Ezra Carpenter at Keene, in 1750, was 
 Zachariah ii. 1 : " I lift up mine eyes again and look, 
 and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand." 
 His feeling in regard to written articles of faith was 
 expressed in 1 751, in a sermon at the ordination of 
 the Rev. Jonathan Dorby at Scituate: "And 'tis a pity 
 any man, at his entrance into the ministry, should, in 
 his ordination vows, get a snare to his soul by sub- 
 scribing or any way engaging to preach according to 
 another's rule of faith, creed, or confession, which is 
 merely of human prescription and imposition." 
 
 In 1 78 1 Dr. Gay delivered a sermon on his eighty- 
 fifth birthday, which was published under the title 
 of "The Old Man's Calendar." It passed through 
 several editions in this country, was reprinted in Eng- 
 
EBENEZER GAY 7 
 
 land, and translated into the Dutch language, and 
 published in Holland. The text of the sermon is, " I 
 am this day fourscore and five years old." The fol- 
 lowing paragraph forms the conclusion of the dis- 
 course, and is an extract characteristic of the preach- 
 ing of Dr. Gay's generation: — 
 
 Lo, now, my brethren, I am this day fourscore and five years old, — 
 a wonder of God's sparing mercy. Sixty-three of these years have 
 I spent in the work of the ministry among you. One hundred and 
 forty-six years ago your fathers came with their Pastor, and settled 
 in this place. I am the third in the pastorate of this church, which 
 hath not been two years vacant. Scarce any parish but hath had 
 more in that office in so long a space of time. The people of this 
 have been steady to their own ministers, living to old age; have not 
 been given to change, nor with itching ears have heaped to them- 
 selves teachers. I bless God, who disposed my lot among a people 
 with whom I have lived here in great peace eleven years longer than 
 either of my worthy predecessors. I have only to wish that my 
 labours had been as profitable as they have been acceptable to them. 
 
 I retain a grateful sense of the kindnesses (injuries I remember none) 
 which I received from them. While I have reaped of their carnal 
 things to my comfortable subsistence, it hath been my great concern 
 and pleasure to sow unto them spiritual things, which might spring 
 up in a harvest of eternal blessings. That their affections to me as 
 their Pastor have continued from fathers to children, and children's 
 children, hath been thankfully observed by me, and should have 
 been improved as an advantage and incentive to do them (in returns 
 of love for love) all possible good. It is but little that I can now 
 do in the work to which I am kept up so late in the evening of my 
 days, and my people may feel their great need of one more able in 
 body and mind to serve them in the Gospel ministry. In this case, 
 my brethren, I hope that no partial regard to me, or parsimonious 
 view to your worldly interest, will hinder your timely providing 
 yourselves with such an one. As much as I dread and deprecate 
 the being cut down as a cumberer of the ground in this part of the 
 Lord's vineyard, I would not, with my useless old age, fill up the place, 
 and deprive you of the help of a profitable labourer in it. I submit 
 to the wisdom and will of God my own desire to finish my course of 
 life and the ministry I have received of Him together; while I make 
 the humble acknowledgment and prayer to Him in Psalm lxxi.: 
 "O God, thou hast taught me from my youth, and hitherto have 
 
8 EBENEZER GAY 
 
 I declared thy wondrous works; now, also, when I am old and gray- 
 headed, O God, forsake me not, until I have showed thy strength 
 unto this generation." Caleb, when he was as old as I am, could 
 say, "As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses 
 sent me"; that is, when he was forty years old. "As my strength 
 was then, even so my strength is now, for war, both to go out and to 
 come in." It is far otherwise with me; yet what remaineth of the 
 little strength I ever had for the ministerial warfare I would as gladly 
 spend in the service of your souls, and assist you all I can in your 
 Christian combat against the enemies which oppose your salvation. 
 This would I do, God enabling me, as long as I am in this tabernacle 
 of frail flesh, knowing that I must shortly put it off, and exchange 
 the sacred desk for the silent grave. But, O my soul, how awful the 
 long, the very long and strict account to be given to God of thyself 
 and of thousands more committed to thy charge, to watch also for 
 their safety and everlasting happiness! Brethren, pray for me, that 
 I may find mercy of the Lord in that day, which, if I should fail of, 
 it had been good for me, and perhaps for you also, perishing by my 
 neglect, that I had never been born, the consideration of which 
 should excite my utmost care and diligence to make full proof of 
 my ministry, and engage your attendance upon it in such a manner 
 as will show you are not grown into a weariness of it, which would 
 render it unprofitable to you. I have been young and now am old. 
 Your fathers despised not my youth for its weakness, nor have you 
 my old age for the infirmities that attend it, which giveth some en- 
 couragement to hope that my long continuance with you is not so 
 much to the hindrance of the Gospel of Christ and detriment to 
 your spiritual interests as I am often ready to fear. After some 
 decay or interruption of the Philippians' liberality to Paul, he thus 
 writeth unto them (Phil. iv. 10), "I rejoice in the Lord greatly that 
 now, at the last, your care of me hath flourished again." So hath 
 yours of me. I may add as he doth, "Not that I speak in respect 
 of want," which you have let me suffer in these difficult times. You 
 lay fresh engagements upon me to exert myself in the service of your 
 souls; and, if the God of my life and health prolong the same any 
 farther, I would go on in the strength of the Lord God to labour for 
 your salvation, ardently labouring for the gracious commendation 
 which the minister of the church in Thyatira received from Christ 
 (Rev. ii. 19), "I know thy works and the last to be more than the 
 first." That mine may be more faithful and more successful, God, 
 of his mercy to me and you, grant for Christ's sake. And now, 
 brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which 
 is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all 
 them that are sanctified. 
 
EBENEZER GAY 
 
 MINISTERS OF THE BAY ASSOCIATION. 
 
 ' Lemuel Briant was a native of Scituate, and graduated at Har- 
 vard College in 1739. He was ordained at what is now Quincy, 
 Mass., then a part of Braintree, December 4, 1745, resigned on ac- 
 count of ill-health in 1753, and died at Scituate, October I, 1754, 
 aged thirty-two. In 1749, when he was only twenty-seven years 
 old, he preached a sermon at the West Church in Boston, which 
 is usually considered the first gun in the controversy that later de- 
 veloped. The sermon was on "The Absurdity and Blasphemy 
 of Depreciating Moral Virtue." In this sermon he affirmed that 
 "the great rule the Scriptures lay down for men to go by in passing 
 judgment on their spiritual state is the sincere, upright, steady, 
 and universal practice of virtue." Some might object, he declared, 
 that this was not preaching Christ; but he answered, "To preach 
 up chiefly what Christ himself laid the chiefest Stress upon 
 (and whether this was not moral Vertue, let every One judge 
 from his Discourses) must certainly, in the Opinion of all sober 
 Men, be called truly and properly, and in the best Sense, preaching 
 of Christ." For Briant's work see Williston Walker's History of the 
 Congregational Churches, pp. 271 to 273; Cooke's Unitarianism in 
 America, p. 50; D. M. Wilson's "Where American Independence 
 began"; and the town histories of Quincy. 
 
 1 Jonathan Mayhew. See article on page 34. 
 
 1 Daniel Shute, a son of John and Mary (Wayte) Shute, was 
 born in Maiden on the 19th of July, 1722. He graduated at 
 Harvard in 1743. In June, 1746, he was invited to preach as a 
 candidate in the recently formed Third Parish in Hingham. This 
 parish was set off from the First Parish (Dr. Gay's) March 25, 1745, 
 and at that time was designated the Third, as Cohasset, which was 
 the Second Precinct, had not then been incorporated as a separate 
 town. This was done in 1770, and the Third Parish of Hingham 
 has since been known as the Second Parish. The people living in 
 the southern part of the town had contended for nearly twenty years 
 for separate parochial privileges, and some hard feeling had naturally 
 grown out of the long controversy. 
 
 Mr. Shute accepted the call to Hingham. In the following No- 
 vember a church was embodied, and Mr. Shute was ordained pastor 
 December 10, 1746. Dr. Gay was invited to be present with dele- 
 gates; but he declined the invitation in behalf of his church, and 
 did not himself attend. In a short time, however, the most friendly 
 relations were established between the two parishes and their pastors. 
 
io EBENEZER GAY 
 
 In May following the settlement of Mr. Shute he exchanged pulpit 
 services with Dr. Gay, and continued to do so until the death of the 
 latter. The first marriage of Mr. Shute was solemnized by Dr. Gay, 
 and Mr. Shute conducted the funeral of Dr. Gay. 
 
 The ministry of Dr. Shute covered more than half a century. 
 During that period pastor and people were severely tried by the 
 French and Revolutionary Wars. In both Mr. Shute entered warmly 
 into the feelings of the great body of the people, and used an active 
 influence in forming and guiding public opinion. In 1767 he deliv- 
 ered the annual sermon before the Ancient and Honorable Artillery 
 Company from the text (Ecclesiastes ix. 18), "Wisdom is better than 
 weapons of war." In 1768 he preached the Election Sermon from 
 the text (Ezra x. 4), "Arise, for this matter belongeth unto thee; 
 he will also be with thee; be of good courage, and do it." Both 
 these discourses were printed, and bear marks of careful composi- 
 tion and strong common sense. His sermon at the funeral of Dr. 
 Gay, an impressive and affectionate tribute, was also published. 
 
 Tradition informs us that Dr. Shute's preaching was marked for 
 the absence of all controversial topics; yet it is well understood that 
 he sympathized with those who entertained what were termed "more 
 liberal views " than those held by the great body of the clergy. In 
 this respect there was great harmony of opinion in the whole town 
 and in all the parishes which it then contained. His salary was 
 a moderate one. His parish was not large, and was composed chiefly 
 of substantial farmers and mechanics. To procure the means of 
 a more independent support, he took scholars to prepare them for 
 college and the pursuits of business. Among his scholars are recol- 
 lected the Hon. Thomas H. Perkins and the Hon. John Welles, of 
 Boston, and sons of General Lincoln and Governor Hancock. 
 
 In 1780 he was chosen by his townsmen a delegate to the Conven- 
 tion to frame a Constitution for the State. In 1788 he was associated 
 with General Lincoln to represent the town in the Convention of 
 Massachusetts which ratified the Constitution of the United States, 
 and on this occasion voted and took an active part in favor of adopting 
 the Constitution. In the brief sketches of the debates which have 
 been preserved there is the substance of a speech which he delivered 
 on the subject of a Religious Test, which strikingly illustrates his 
 liberality and good sense. It is characterized by a vigorous and 
 manly tone, taking the ground that to establish such a test as a quali- 
 fication for offices in the proposed Constitution would injure individ- 
 uals, abridge liberty, and be of no advantage to the community at 
 large. In 1790 he was honored with the degree of Doctor of Divin- 
 ity from Harvard College. 
 
EBENEZER GAY h 
 
 Dr. Shute possessed an excellent constitution, and lived to the age 
 of fourscore years in the enjoyment of an uncommon degree of health 
 until near the close of his life. He was twice married. His first 
 wife was Mary Cushing, daughter of Abel and Mary (Jacob) Cush- 
 ing, of Hingham, to whom he was married March 25, 1753- "Y 
 her he had two children. After her death, on February 12, 1756, 
 he married Deborah, daughter of Elijah and Elizabeth Cushing, 
 of Pembroke, January 6, 1763. She died October 26, 1 823, aged 
 eighty-five. Dr. Shute died August 30, 1802, in the eighty-first year 
 of his age and in the fifty-sixth of his ministry. At his funeral a 
 sermon was delivered by the Rev. Henry Ware (senior), the succes- 
 sor of Dr. Gay as pastor of the First Parish. 
 
 4 John Brown was born at Haverhill, Mass., and graduated at 
 Harvard College in 1 741. He was ordained "bishop over the Second 
 Church in Hingham," September 2, 1747, and remained minister 
 until his death, August 22, 1 791 . During his ministry his parish 
 was set off from Hingham, and incorporated as the town of Cohas- 
 set. One of his successors, Rev. Jacob Flint, in his historical dis- 
 courses delivered at the centennial anniversary of the establishment 
 of the church, December 16, 1821, said: "The talents of the Rev. 
 John Brown were considerably more than ordinary. In a stately 
 person he possessed a mind whose perceptions were quick and clear, 
 and his sentiments were generally the result of just reflection. He 
 thought for himself, and, when he had confirmed his opinions, uttered 
 them with fearless freedom. He would sometimes, it is said, descend 
 to that jesting which, an apostle has told us, is not convenient. He 
 was never prone to labor much with his hands nor to intense appli- 
 cation of mind. A warm friend to the interests of his country, he 
 zealously advocated its civil and religious freedom. Taking a lively 
 interest in the American Revolution, he encouraged by example and 
 preaching his fellow-citizens at home and abroad patiently to make 
 those sacrifices which were demanded by the times, predicting at the 
 same time, with the foresight of a prophet, the present unrivalled pros- 
 perity of his country." 
 
 5 David Barnes was born in Marlboro, Mass., on the 24th of 
 March, 1 73 1. He was a son of Daniel Barnes, a substantial 
 farmer, having twelve children, of whom David was the fifth. He 
 was graduated at Harvard College in 1752, and must have begun 
 preaching shortly after, as he received an invitation to settle in Quincy 
 in 1753. This invitation he declined. He preached to the Second 
 Church in Scituate in June, 1754, and on the 15th of August follow- 
 ing was unanimously invited to become pastor. He accepted the invi- 
 
12 EBENEZER GAY 
 
 tation, and was ordained and installed on the 4th of the ensuing 
 December. 
 
 His ministry opened with fair prospects, and his people were united 
 and prosperous; but before many years he had to encounter serious 
 difficulties, growing chiefly out of the distracted state of the country. 
 Throughout the War of the Revolution his salary was paid in the 
 depreciated Continental currency, and he was obliged to depend 
 almost entirely for the support of his family on the small property 
 of his wife. When the controversy which resulted in the division of the 
 Congregational Church of Massachusetts began, it was well under- 
 stood that his sympathies were on the "liberal" side; but his death 
 occurred before the line between the two parties was finally drawn. 
 In the year 1780 he delivered the Dudleian Lecture at Harvard Uni- 
 versity, and in 1799 received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from 
 the same institution. In 1809 a colleague was settled, and fifteen 
 months afterward Dr. Barnes died, on the 26th of April, 1811, hav- 
 ing completed eighty years, fifty-seven of which he had spent in the 
 ministry. He was married in 1 756 to Rachel, daughter of the Hon. 
 George Leonard, of Norton. They had three children, one son 
 and two daughters. 
 
 Dr. James Kendall, of Plymouth, in the course of an appreciative 
 and entertaining description of Dr. Barnes, wrote: — 
 
 "The report of many of his sayings would seem to indicate a 
 levity of mind, — an irreverent, not to say frivolous way of speaking 
 of things of a serious nature. This arose partly from a quaint, la- 
 conic, pithy manner of giving utterance to his thoughts. He was 
 accustomed to condense everything that he said in the highest possi- 
 ble degree. One of his contemporaries used to say, ' Every sentence 
 Dr. Barnes writes or speaks is as full as an egg.' In his advanced 
 age he became very deaf, and of course unable to regulate his own 
 voice. This added to the peculiarity of his manner, of which he 
 seemed conscious. On one occasion, being called to deliver an 
 address before the trustees and pupils of the Derby Academy in 
 Hingham, discoursing on eloquence, he stopped short, and at the 
 top of his voice exclaimed: 'Methinks I hear some of you say, "Phy- 
 sician, heal thyself." But, my friends, a physician can sometimes 
 help others when he can't help himself.' 
 
 "Dr. Bames as a preacher may be said to have been unique. His 
 voice was by no means remarkable for its melody, nor could he be 
 said to manage it with any uncommon skill, and yet there was that 
 about his manner, especially in his sudden transitions from a high 
 to a low note, that was well fitted to hold the attention. The matter 
 of his discourses was characterized by an almost endless variety. 
 
EBENEZER GAY 13 
 
 He would find lessons of truth or wisdom in everything; and, though 
 some of his subjects might at first provoke a smile, yet he would al- 
 ways draw something from them that was fitted to make men better 
 in their various relations. I remember one of his pointed sayings, 
 which he uttered in his own emphatic manner and with great effect 
 in the charge which he delivered at the ordination of his colleague, 
 the Rev. Mr. Deane. ' In attempting,' said he, 'to instruct your people, 
 be careful not to preach what they cannot understand, and espe- 
 cally be careful not to preach what you do not understand yourself.' 
 
 "Although Dr. Barnes's constitution was naturally delicate, yet 
 his health was preserved to a good old age. He was a farmer both in 
 theory and in practice, and was particularly versed in the curious 
 economy of bees and successful in their management. He exer- 
 cised a great deal, and was accustomed to walk, even in old age, to 
 distant parts of his parish. His friends remonstrated with him 
 for making the effort, and inquired why he did not have his horse 
 harnessed, and ride in his chaise. His answer was, and it became 
 quite a proverbial saying among his people, 'If an old man means 
 to have any benefit from his legs, he must keep them going.' 
 Dr. Barnes's extreme deafness led him to talk the more with- 
 out listening to others; and it was often both amusing and 
 instructive to hear the dialogues which he would carry on with 
 himself in the midst of company, for he would not, like the gener- 
 ality of people, ever sit silent or speak only in monosyllables. 
 
 "It was Dr. Barnes's practice, whether at a marriage or a funeral, 
 to describe the character of the parties. If at a funeral, for instance, 
 supposing the deceased were of a mixed character, partly good and 
 partly otherwise, it would be known by the service. One of the 
 anecdotes that yet remain concerning the doctor is that at the funeral 
 of a respectable parishioner who had many virtues, and whose gen- 
 eral character was praiseworthy, but who at an earlier period of life 
 had fallen into some immorality, of which, however, it was generally 
 believed he had repented, having dwelt upon the good traits in the 
 character of his parishioner, Dr. Barnes, after a sudden pause, pro- 
 ceeded, 'In short, we know nothing against the character of our 
 deceased friend, save in the matter of Uriah; and for this everybody 
 forgave him, but he could never forgive himself.'" 
 
 The following is a list of Dr. Barnes's publications: — 
 
 An Ordination Sermon, 1756; A Sermon on the Love of Life and 
 Fear of Death, 1795; A Discourse on Education before the Trustees 
 of the Derby Academy, 1796; A Sermon on the Death of Washington, 
 1800; A Sermon on the Death of the Rev. James Hawley, 1801; A 
 Sermon at the Ordination of Jotham Waterman, 1802. In 1815 a 
 
i 4 EBENEZER GAY 
 
 small posthumous volume of Dr. Barnes's sermons was published, 
 with a notice of his character, by the Rev. Dr. Allyn, of Duxbury. 
 
 6 Gad Hitchcock (1718-1803) was born in Springfield, Mass., 
 February 12, 1 718-19. He was a son of Ebenezer and Mary (Sheldon) 
 Hitchcock, and on the mother's side was a descendant, in the fifth 
 generation, from the Hon. William Pynchon, the founder of the 
 town of Springfield. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1743, 
 and was ordained and installed over the Second Parish in Pembroke 
 (now Hanson), Mass., in October, 1748. There is a tradition that 
 a portion of the council that ordained him were dissatisfied with some 
 of the views of Christian doctrine which he expressed on his exami- 
 nation, and that in consequence of this the ordination services were 
 postponed for one day. 
 
 During the Revolutionary War he was a warm friend to the Amer- 
 ican cause, and in several instances officiated as chaplain. At a sub- 
 sequent period he was a member of the convention that framed the 
 constitution of Massachusetts. In 1787 he was honored with the 
 degree of Doctor of Divinity from Harvard College. 
 
 Dr. Hitchcock was blessed with a good constitution, and generally 
 with vigorous health, and was able to continue his professional 
 labors without interruption till he was far advanced in life. In July, 
 1799, he was attacked with paralysis while he was preaching, and 
 never entered the pulpit afterwards. He lingered nearly four years, 
 and died on the 8th of August, 1803, at the age of eighty-five. The 
 funeral service, consisting of only a prayer, according to his own di- 
 rection, was conducted by the Rev. Dr. Barnes, of Scituate. 
 
 He was married in early life to Dorothy Angier, of Cambridge, 
 who died August 6, 1792, aged seventy-nine. They had a son 
 bearing his father's name. 
 
 "Dr. Hitchcock," wrote Rev. Morrill Allen, of Pembroke, "was 
 a rather tall but well-proportioned man, and with a large wig — an 
 indispensable article of dress in his day — must have made a very 
 respectable and even dignified appearance in the pulpit. He had 
 undoubtedly a high reputation as a preacher. He would not be 
 considered, perhaps, at this day a graceful and accomplished writer; 
 but his discourses were characterized by great energy of thought and 
 perspicuity of style, and he had a corresponding boldness and hon- 
 esty of manner that was well fitted to gain and hold the attention. 
 Of the character of his sermons I judge only from tradition and from 
 the very few specimens that are in print, as his son-in-law informed 
 me that, soon after his father's death, he had, according to direction, 
 performed the painful task of committing all his manuscript sermons 
 to the flames. 
 
EBENEZER GAY 15 
 
 "Dr. Hitchcock was remarkable both for courage and for patri- 
 otism. The first sermon which he published, addressed to a mili- 
 tary company when the French were making inroads on our northern 
 frontier, urges the most vigorous means of defence, and evinces a 
 spirit that would be little likely to falter in the hour of danger. His 
 Election Sermon, which was preached only the year before the break- 
 ing out of the Revolutionary War, filled Governor Gage, who was 
 present, with great wrath on account of the boldness of its positions, 
 not to say the air of defiance that pervaded it. Tradition says that 
 the sermon was prepared under the expectation that the governor 
 would not be present to hear it; and, after his arrival was announced, 
 some friends earnestly advised the doctor to be very guarded in his 
 expressions before him. But the prompt answer was, 'My sermon 
 is written, and it will not be altered.' 
 
 "In private life Dr. Hitchcock was eminently agreeable, though 
 he had some strongly marked peculiarities. He was mirthful, and 
 imparted great animation to almost every social circle in which he 
 appeared. He could encourage virtue and reprove vice without any 
 external signs of austerity. 'Be merry and wise' was his habitual 
 advice to the young on occasions of joy. The doctor, as was not 
 unusual at the period when he lived, was very formal in his devotional 
 services, repeating, Sabbath after Sabbath, precisely the same ex- 
 pressions. One of his parishioners ventured to suggest to him the 
 desirableness of a change in this respect, and told him that even the 
 boys were repeating his prayers in the street. The prompt reply was, 
 'Then they will know how to pray for themselves.' 
 
 "There was a familiarity in the manners and conversation of Dr. 
 Hitchcock not common among clergymen at that day. He was 
 likely to enter into conversation with any person he met in journey- 
 ing, and would amuse himself in giving and receiving jokes. On 
 his way to Boston he once fell in company with a sailor, and ques- 
 tioned him pretty freely concerning his name, residence, business, 
 etc. The sailor, having answered the questions, proposed, in his 
 turn, similar questions to the doctor; and the reply was, 'My name 
 is Gad Hitchcock, and I belong to Tunk — ' (by this name his parish 
 was distinguished, when it was part of Pembroke). The sailor re- 
 peated the three names, and cried out, 'Three of the names 
 
 I ever heard.' This retort cheered the old man during the rest of 
 his journey. When the doctor was in Boston, at a certain time, 
 he met a sailor, and asked him if he could box the compass. The 
 answer was, 'Yes.' 'Let me hear you.' The sailor performed 
 correctly. 'Now,' said the doctor, 'reverse it.' This, too, was 
 done with equal promptness. The sailor then asked what his oc- 
 
16 EBENEZER GAY 
 
 cupation was, and, on being informed that he was a minister, asked 
 him if he could repeat certain portions of Scripture, and, when the 
 doctor had repeated them, 'Now,' said the sailor, 'reverse them.' 
 Such a joke Dr. Hitchcock would enjoy, and repeat with great 
 satisfaction. 
 
 "He was a prominent and valued member of the Association of 
 Ministers, to which he belonged. Sometimes his jokes upon certain 
 individuals were rather severe, but he imparted great animation to 
 their social meetings. On one occasion, when he had made some 
 remark that produced a general laugh, one of the members observed 
 that the brethren would laugh at anything Dr. Hitchcock might say, 
 but that he might have said the same thing, and it would have passed 
 unnoticed. 'Try,' said the doctor. 
 
 "In these several instances we see the man in the hours of relaxa- 
 tion from laborious pursuit; but it would be wrong to infer that the 
 energies of his mind were not habitually applied to more important 
 objects. His protracted ministry was, in every period of it, peaceful 
 and apparently prosperous." 
 
 The following is a list of Dr. Hitchcock's publications: — 
 
 A Sermon preached before a Military Company, 1757; A Sermon 
 preached at the Ordination of Enos Hitchcock, Beverly, 1771 ; A 
 Sermon preached at Boston on Occasion of the General Election, 
 1774; A Sermon preached at Plymouth in Commemoration of the 
 First Landing of our Ancestors, 1774; Dudleian Lecture at Har- 
 vard College, 1779. 
 
 7 Joseph Thaxter (1742-1827), the eldest son of Deacon Joseph 
 and Mary (Leavitt) Thaxter, was born in Hingham, April 23, 1742. 
 His father was a farmer in comfortable circumstances, but was not able 
 to gratify his son's desire for a liberal education. The son, however, 
 succeeded, in a somewhat singular way, in accomplishing the object 
 for himself. By the strictest economy he was enabled to lay by the 
 sum of $5, and with this purchased a ticket in a lottery, which drew 
 a prize of $500. He then began a course of study preparatory for 
 college, and in due time entered Harvard; and by the most care- 
 ful management, in connection with teaching a school at Hingham 
 and one or two other places, he was enabled to pass through the whole 
 course without any material interruption, and graduated in 1768. 
 
 He prosecuted his theological studies for some time under the 
 direction of Dr. Gay, and was licensed to preach in the year 1771. 
 In spite of the Toryism of his pastor and teacher he took a deep in- 
 terest in the cause of his country's independence, and was ready to 
 labor for it, in the pulpit or out of it, as he found opportunity. He 
 was present at the battle of Bunker Hill and at Concord Bridge, and 
 
EBENEZER GAY 17 
 
 retained a vivid remembrance of those stirring scenes till the close 
 of life. On the 23d of January, 1776, he received a commission as 
 chaplain in the army, and served in that capacity at Cambridge, 
 in different parts of New Jersey, at the battle of White Plains, and 
 in various other places. The exact time of his holding the chaplaincy 
 is not ascertained, but it is supposed to have been for two or three 
 years. Previous to his settlement he preached as a candidate in 
 a rich farming town on the Connecticut River. The committee of 
 the church or parish informed him that he was invited, by a unani- 
 mous vote, to become their pastor. He afterward learned, how- 
 ever, that this statement was not strictly correct, there having been 
 one or two adverse votes, and so much was he displeased with what 
 he deemed a deceptive representation that he wrote a sermon on 
 the text, "I hear that there be divisions among you, and I partly be- 
 lieve it"; and, having preached the sermon, he unceremoniously 
 took leave of the people. He accepted a call from the church in 
 Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, and was ordained and installed there 
 in the year 1780. His salary was originally a hundred pounds an- 
 nually; but in the latter part of his life it was reduced to two hun- 
 red and seventy-five dollars. Small as it was, however, he not only 
 supported his family upon it, but educated five orphan children. 
 
 Mr. Thaxter, some time previous to his settlement, had become 
 strongly attached to a young lady in Hingham, who he had expected 
 would become his wife; but she died shortly after, to his great grief 
 and disappointment. At his ordination his father and some other 
 relatives from Hingham were present; and, after the services were 
 over, he accompanied them to the wharf, saw them safely on board 
 the packet, and then returned to his boarding-house, oppressed with 
 a sense, not only of responsibility, but of isolation and loneliness. 
 A young lady who was visiting in the family in which he boarded 
 (Molly, daughter of Robert Allen, of Chilmark) met him with great 
 kindness, and proffered to him her sympathy in view of his mani- 
 fest feeling of desolation, and thus began a friendship which resulted 
 in their being married within about a year, — October 12, 1781. They 
 had seven children. Mrs. Thaxter died in 1802, at the age of forty- 
 four. On the 23d of July, 1803, Mr. Thaxter was married to Ann, 
 daughter of Samuel Smith, who became the mother of one daugh- 
 ter, and died in 1821, aged fifty-nine years. 
 
 Mr. Thaxter lived in great seclusion, and scarcely ever engaged 
 in any service that took him beyond his immediate neighborhood. 
 Toward the close of his life, however, an event occurred of great 
 historical interest, in his being called upon on the 17th of June, 
 1825, t0 officiate as chaplain at the laying of the corner-stone of the 
 
1 8 EBENEZER GAY 
 
 Bunker Hill Monument. This was the last time that he ever left 
 the island. The prayer which he offered on that occasion derived 
 additional impressiveness from the fact that he had then passed his 
 eightieth year. 
 
 Mr. Thaxter continued to enjoy his usual health until within about 
 a year of his death. The last Sabbath that he preached he admin- 
 istered the sacrament of the Lord's Supper; and in the afternoon, 
 during the first prayer, he fell in the pulpit. From this time he de- 
 clined rapidly, until he died on the 18th of July, 1827, aged eighty- 
 three years. 
 
 The Rev. Calvin Lincoln, of Hingham, described him in his old 
 age thus: "His head was white with age, his step was quick and ner- 
 vous, but irregular from a wound received when he served as chap- 
 lain or surgeon — for he held both offices — in the army of the Revo- 
 lution; and his apparel was fashioned after the style adopted by the 
 clergymen of a preceding generation. Thus he presented to my 
 mind a striking resemblance to portraits which I had seen of Gay 
 and Watts and Chauncy, men who wore large white whigs and 
 three-cornered hats." Mr. Thaxter was a man of quick sensibility, 
 ready sympathy, and of a strong emotional nature. Kindness melted 
 his heart and won his love, and injustice at once aroused his indigna- 
 tion. For the inhabitants of his island home and his native town 
 he ever cherished an affectionate regard. He would walk miles to 
 call on one who had been a parishioner at Edgartown; and every 
 person from his birthplace — whether visiting the Vineyard in pur- 
 suit of pleasure or employment — was sure of a cordial welcome to 
 the comforts of his home and the hospitalities of his table. 
 
 He was a man of active habits and persevering industry. "I per- 
 formed," he one day remarked, "one-fifth part of the labor in build- 
 ing my house from the bottom of the cellar to the top of the chimney; 
 and for several years I was the only minister and the only physician 
 on the Island, and I never refused a call to visit the sick or to attend 
 a funeral in either of the three parishes." 
 
 Although his situation required a great diversity of cares and labors, 
 he always maintained scholarly habits. He loved books, and enjoyed 
 taxing his mind with close and earnest thinking. His sermons were 
 composed with care. His style was sententious, and his delivery 
 marked by great earnestness. 
 
 Simple in his tastes and cautious in his expenditures, with a salary 
 which in these days would be pronounced wholly unequal to the 
 support of a family in any section of New England, Mr. Thaxter 
 managed his affairs so skilfully that he closed his ministry in posses- 
 sion of a moderate competency. Indeed, through life he was free from 
 
EBENEZER GAY 19 
 
 those pecuniary embarrassments which not (infrequently depress 
 the spirits, disturb the thoughts, and materially impair the usefulness 
 of the Christian minister. While thus strict as an economist, his 
 spirit was untainted by meanness or avarice. He considered the 
 poor, and cheerfully gave his time and labor for the relief of the suf- 
 fering. 
 
 During the earlier years of his ministry his parish was compara- 
 tively large and wealthy. In later life he suffered severely from that 
 variety of opinion which so frequently broke the integrity of the 
 Congregational churches. He looked upon his flock as his family, 
 and the alienation of a member of his congregation he compared 
 to the loss of a child. Efforts had been made to establish a society 
 of another denomination, and a distinguished clergyman went to 
 the island to co-operate in executing the design. Mr. Thaxter was 
 invited to call on this gentleman at the house of a parishioner. After 
 the customary salutations and inquiries he thus addressed the stranger: 
 "Doctor, around me are the parents whom I joined in marriage and 
 the children whom I baptized, for whom I have watched and prayed 
 with the solicitude of a father; and now, sir, if you have come here 
 to embitter the last days of an old man by alienating the affection 
 of his people, I cannot find words strong enough to express my in- 
 dignation at your purpose." 
 
 The following is a list of Dr. Gay's publications: — 
 
 A Sermon at the Ordination of Joseph Green, of Barnstable, 1725; Two Lecture 
 Sermons in Hingham, 1728; Artillery Election Sermon, 1728; A Lecture in Hingham 
 on Occasion of the Arrival of Governor Belcher, 1730; A Sermon before several Mil- 
 itary Companies in Hingham, 1738; A Sermon at the Ordination of Ebenezer Gay, 
 Jr., Suffield, 1742; A Sermon at the Funeral of the Rev. John Hancock, Braintree, 
 1744; The Massachusetts Election Sermon, 1745; A Sermon before the Convention 
 of Congregational Ministers in Massachusetts, 1746; A Sermon at the Ordination of 
 Jonathan Mayhew, Boston, 1747; A Sermon at the Ordination of Jonathan Dorby, 
 Scituate, 1751; A Sermon at the Instalment of the Rev. Ezra Carpenter, Keene, 
 1753; A Sermon at the Instalment of the Rev. Grindall Rawson, Yarmouth, 1755; 
 Dudleian Lecture at Harvard College, 1759; A Sermon on the Death of Dr. Mayhew, 
 1766; A Sermon at the Ordination, at Hingham, of Caleb Gannett over a Church in 
 Nova Scotia, 1768; Thanksgiving Sermon, 1770; The Old Man's Calendar, 1781. 
 
 The foregoing sketch of Dr. Gay is condensed from the account written by Dr. 
 Sprague, and derived chiefly from the funeral sermon preached by Dr. Shute, the 
 appendix to the Old Man's Calendar, and Lincoln's History of Hingham. 
 
 The note on Dr. Shute is condensed from a letter to Dr. Sprague from the Hon. 
 Solomon Lincoln; the note on Dr. Barnes from a manuscript from the Rev. Caleb 
 Stetson; the note on Dr. Hitchcock from a manuscript from Rev. John Pierce; the 
 note on Mr. Thaxter from material furnished to Dr. Sprague by his daughter, 
 Mrs. Ahearn. See also Deane's History of Scituate; Dr. Flint's History of the First 
 Parish of Cohasset; and the histories of the First Church in Hingham. 
 
20 CHARLES CHAUNCY 
 
 CHARLES CHAUNCY 
 
 i 705-1 787 
 
 AND THE MINISTERS OF THE FIRST CHURCH OF BOSTON 
 
 Charles Chauncy was a great-grandson of the Rev. 
 Charles Chauncy, who was the second president of 
 Harvard College, and a grandson of the Rev. Isaac 
 Chauncy, who was the minister of Berry Street Meet- 
 ing-house in London. His father was Charles Chauncy, 
 a prosperous merchant in Boston. His mother was 
 Sarah Walley, daughter of Judge Walley, of the Su- 
 preme Court of Massachusetts. His inheritances and 
 his social position were therefore of the best. He was 
 born in Boston, January 1, 1705. At the age of seven 
 years he lost his father, but did not want for friends 
 who were disposed to give him the best advantages. 
 He entered Harvard College when he was twelve years 
 old, and graduated in the year 1721. 
 
 He soon commenced the study of theology, and in 
 due time received approbation to preach. After the 
 removal of Mr. Wadsworth from the First Church in 
 Boston to the presidency of Harvard College, the at- 
 tention of that congregation was directed to Mr. 
 Chauncy as a suitable person to be his successor. On 
 the 12th of June, 1727, they voted him a call to settle 
 among them, and on the 25th of October following 
 he was ordained and installed as co-pastor with the 
 Rev. Thomas Foxcroft, the sermon on the occasion, 
 according to the usage of that day, being preached by 
 himself. 
 
 The history of the First Church in Boston is the 
 spiritual history of New England and the record of in- 
 tellectual and religious growth. Its significant de- 
 
CHARLES CHAUNCY 21 
 
 velopment in religious opinion began with Chauncy. 
 In all the history of the church there was no dissen- 
 sion about theological beliefs. Change in opinion 
 came gradually and almost imperceptibly. There 
 was simply a more and more generous interpretation 
 of the ancient formulas. There is no record of any 
 theological disaffection or schism during the years of 
 change. The original covenant of the church has 
 never been altered or disavowed, and is still in use. 
 
 Chauncy's early ministry attracted little notice, 
 both because he was the young colleague of a famous 
 preacher and also because his sermons were marked 
 by a studious simplicity of speech that was at first 
 unattractive. He appeared to believe that rhetorical 
 adornment was a kind of intellectual dishonesty. The 
 very simplicity and directness of his style, however, 
 made his sermons easy reading, and gave them wide 
 diffusion in the printed form. His meaning was al- 
 ways clear, and the thought stood out the more by 
 reason of the plainness of the verbal garb. 
 
 It was, therefore, chiefly as a writer of books and 
 pamphlets that Chauncy influenced the thought of 
 his time. His controversial writing took, in the main, 
 three directions: first, his antagonism to the extrava- 
 gancies of the "Great Awakening"; then his defence 
 of congregational forms of church government; and, 
 finally, his affirmation of certain theological convic- 
 tions which were distinctly unorthodox. Through his 
 publications on these themes Dr. Chauncy became the 
 best known of the liberal leaders in the Massachusetts 
 churches before Channing. He was the representa- 
 tive scholar of the earlier liberal movement, as Jona- 
 than Mayhew was the representative orator. 
 
 In 1742 he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity 
 from the University of Edinburgh. 
 
 Dr. Chauncy first came prominently into public 
 
22 CHARLES CHAUNCY 
 
 notice as a stern opposer of the religious excitement 
 that prevailed in New England and elsewhere in con- 
 nection with the labors of Whitefield and his coad- 
 jutors. His first publication bearing directly on the 
 subject was a sermon on Enthusiasm, in the year 
 1742. The next year he published an elaborate 
 work, entitled "Seasonable Thoughts on the State of 
 Religion in New England." In 1744 he published an 
 Ordination Sermon and a Convention Sermon, both 
 of which he designed as Tracts for the Times. The 
 same year he published a Letter to the Rev. George 
 Whitefield, calling on him to defend his conduct or 
 confess his faults; and the next year he addressed a 
 second Letter to him, in the same spirit and of the 
 same decided character. Dr. Chauncy, though he did 
 not by any means stand alone in his views of the then 
 existing state of things, differed from the majority of 
 his brethren in contemplating the case as one of un- 
 mixed evil. The other Boston ministers saw very 
 much to disapprove and deplore, while yet they seem to 
 have admitted the substantial genuineness of the work; 
 but Dr. Chauncy regarded it as essentially evil, and 
 opposed it with all the energy which he could com- 
 mand. 
 
 In 1747 Dr. Chauncy preached the Annual Sermon 
 before the legislature of Massachusetts. In this ser- 
 mon he expatiated, with great plainness and force, on 
 some of the evils of the day, and particularly on the in- 
 justice which had been done to his professional brethren, 
 in their having been allowed to suffer so severely from 
 the fluctuations of the circulating medium. His re- 
 marks were received with little favor by a portion at 
 least of the legislature, and they even debated whether, 
 according to custom, they should print the sermon. 
 The doctor, being informed of this, sharply replied, 
 "It shall be printed, whether the General Court print 
 
CHARLES CHAUNCY 23 
 
 it or not. And do you, sir" (addressing himself to his 
 informant), "say from me that, if I wanted to initiate 
 and instruct a person into all kinds of iniquity and 
 double dealing, I would send him to our General 
 Court." 
 
 In May, 1762, he delivered the Dudleian Lecture at 
 Harvard College on "The Validity of Presbyterian 
 Ordination Asserted and Maintained." This discourse 
 attracted great attention, and was the cause of a con- 
 troversy in which Dr. Chauncy successfully cham- 
 pioned the freedom of the churches. In 1767 he 
 published "Remarks upon a Sermon of the Bishop 
 of LandafF," in which he expressed his fears that the 
 appointment of bishops for America, as was then 
 proposed, would be followed by attempts to promote 
 Episcopacy by force. He then adds, "It may be re- 
 lied on, our people would not be easy, if restrained in 
 the exercise of that liberty wherewith Christ hath made 
 them free; yea, they would hazard everything dear to 
 them — their estates, their very lives — rather than to 
 suffer their necks to be put under that yoke of bondage 
 which was so sadly galling to their fathers, and occa- 
 sioned their retreat into this distant land, that they 
 might enjoy the freedom of men and Christians." His 
 book on church polity, entitled "A Complete View of 
 Episcopacy, " was published in 1 77 1. 
 
 Dr. Chauncy was an active patriot during the ex- 
 citing scenes of the Revolution. In 1774 he published 
 a Letter to a Friend, detailing the privations and hard- 
 ships to which the people of Boston had been, or were 
 likely to be, subjected by the oppressive policy of the 
 British Parliament; and this pamphlet was but an index 
 to the spirit which animated him during the whole 
 Revolutionary struggle. 
 
 In a sermon entitled "All Nations Blessed in Christ," 
 preached at the ordination of the Rev. Joseph Bow- 
 
24 CHARLES CHAUNCY 
 
 man, in 1 762, he first shadowed forth the doctrine, which 
 he afterwards more openly defended, of the final sal- 
 vation of all men. It is said that this had been with 
 him a subject of severe and earnest thought during 
 the greater part of his ministry; but it was not until 
 the year 1784 that he finally published the results of 
 his inquiry in a work entitled "The Mystery hid from 
 Ages, or the Salvation of All Men." He published 
 one or two other books, about the same time, bearing 
 upon the same subject. 
 
 In these works he affirmed the restoration of all 
 souls, denied the Calvinistic doctrines about future 
 punishment, and questioned the doctrine of the Trin- 
 ity. Though he knew himself to be unorthodox on 
 these points, he, nevertheless, felt himself in sympa- 
 thy with the prevalent theology of his own age and 
 neighborhood. Theologically, he was always a diffi- 
 cult man to classify. Academic in style and moder- 
 ate in expression, he was never an extremist. His un- 
 consciousness of the inevitable consequences of his 
 convictions was typical of the early stages of the move- 
 ment that ultimately became known as Unitarian. 
 
 In July, 1778, Dr. Chauncy received the Rev. John 
 Clarke* as his colleague, and was thereby relieved in 
 
 ♦John Clarke (1755-98), a son of John and Sarah Clarke, was 
 born at Portsmouth, N.H., April 13, 1755. The father was a sea- 
 captain, the mother was a daughter of Deacon Timothy Pickering 
 and sister of Colonel Timothy Pickering. He graduated at Harvard 
 in 1774 at the age of nineteen, and after leaving college taught for 
 some time, devoting his leisure hours to the study of theology. From 
 his first appearance in the pulpit he took his place among the more 
 popular preachers of the day. He was ordained and installed as 
 colleague with Dr. Chauncy on the 8th of July, 1778. With Dr. 
 Chauncy he lived, as a son with a father, in the most respecful and 
 affectionate intimacy, for nine years, when he became sole pastor 
 of the church, and he continued his labors with undiminished ac- 
 ceptance until his death. On the last day of March, 1798, in the 
 midst of his afternoon service, he fell in his pulpit in a fit of apo- 
 
CHARLES CHAUNCY 25 
 
 a measure from public labor. He, however, continued 
 to occupy the pulpit, a part of the time, almost to the 
 close of his life. He died February 10, 1787, in the 
 eighty-third year of his age and the sixtieth of his min- 
 istry. The sermon at his interment was delivered by 
 his colleague, the Rev. Mr. Clarke. 
 
 Dr. Chauncy was three times married. His first 
 
 plexy, was bome to his dwelling, and died at three o'clock the next 
 morning, having nearly completed the forty-third year of his age 
 and the twentieth of his ministry. His funeral was attended on the 
 Friday following (April 6), and a sermon preached on the occasion 
 by Dr. Thacher, of Brattle Street Church. On the Sabbath follow- 
 ing Dr. Willard, president of Harvard College, preached to the 
 bereaved congregation. 
 
 Dr. Clarke was an active friend and patron of most of the excellent 
 institutions, both literary and religious, which existed in Boston in 
 his day. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and 
 Sciences from its commencement, a member of the Massachusetts 
 Historical Society, a trustee of the Humane Society, one of the origi- 
 nal founders of the Boston Library, a corresponding member of the 
 Board of Commissioners in Scotland for Propagating the Gospel 
 among the Indians of North America, etc. 
 
 Probably the most important work which Dr. Clarke published 
 was his "Answer to the Question, 'Why are you a Christian?'" 
 It is a condensed and powerful argument for the truth of Christianity, 
 and passed through several editions in Great Britain, as well as in 
 this country. His "Letters to a Student at the University of Cam- 
 bridge" (understood to be his cousin, the Hon. John Pickering) 
 was designed for a manual for a young man during his college course. 
 His other works published during his lifetime consist of four ser- 
 mons, — one at the interment of the Rev. Samuel Cooper, D.D., 
 1783; one at the interment of the Rev. Charles Chauncy, D.D., 
 1787; one at the interment of Nathaniel W. Appleton, M.D., 1795; 
 and one before the Humane Society, 1793. Two volumes of his 
 Sermons were published after his death: the first, of a miscellaneous 
 character, in 1799; the second, addressed particularly to the young, 
 in 1814. 
 
 Dr. Clarke was married to Esther, daughter of Timothy Orne, 
 of Salem. They had four children, two sons and two daughters. 
 
 Dr. Francis Parkman, who in his boyhood attended the First Church 
 under Dr. Clarke's ministry, wrote of him: — 
 
26 CHARLES CHAUNCY 
 
 wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Judge Grove Hirst 
 and grand-daughter of the first Chief Justice Sewall, 
 by whom he had three children, — one son and two 
 daughters. His second marriage was on the 8th of 
 January, 1738, to Elizabeth Townsend; and his third 
 was on the 15th of January, 1760, to Mary, daughter of 
 David Stoddard. There were no children by either of 
 the two last marriages. 
 
 "Dr. Clarke was distinguished beyond most of the clergy of his 
 day by the frequency, freedom, and friendliness of his intercourse 
 with his people. He was a great favorite with society at large; but 
 his own parishioners he visited not only as a pastor, but as a neigh- 
 bor, brother, and friend. Never losing sight of the decorum and 
 meek dignity becoming his profession, ever ready to avail himself 
 of opportunities as they naturally arose of spiritual counsel, which 
 he preferred to suggest rather than enforce, and happy to listen as 
 well as to speak, his visits were divested of a merely official character, 
 and hence were most cordially welcomed by the young as well as the 
 old. There were those who silently contrasted them with the inflic- 
 tions of some of his elder brethren, whose approach to the house was 
 regarded as a signal for the dispersion for all the younger members of 
 the family. 
 
 "I can easily imagine that something like this would have been the 
 experience of that far-famed divine, Dr. Chauncy, who, as tradition 
 informs us, was accustomed to make his pastoral visits, which were 
 short and far between, in an ancient chaise, driven by a negro servant 
 quite as ancient, sitting on a leathern seat in front, and concerning 
 whom divers memorable anecdotes are related. Now it seems to 
 us of these days highly probable that, with all possible respect for 
 that 'famous divine,' such visitations, especially if made, as was his 
 wont, on a Monday morning, to the humbler families of the flock, 
 interrupting the domestic engagements of that peculiar season, 
 would minister to constraint rather than to delight; and yet the more, 
 if this thoughtful theologian, whose mind was apt to be with his books, 
 even when present bodily with his friends, should happen to be in 
 one of his seasons of abstraction, or, yet worse, in one of those turns 
 of testy humor incident to mortal man amidst pressing engagements, 
 and from which faithful biographers have told us that even Dr. 
 Chauncy was not wholly exempt. 
 
 "The announcement of a visit from Dr. Clarke to a family of his 
 flock diffused joy through the whole house, especially if the hour 
 
CHARLES CHAUNCY 27 
 
 Dr. John Eliot, who in the early part of his life was 
 contemporary with Dr. Chauncy, wrote thus concern- 
 ing him: — 
 
 "Dr. Chauncy was one of the greatest divines in 
 New England. No one, except President Edwards 
 and the late Dr. Mayhew, has been so much known 
 among the literati of Europe or printed more books 
 upon theological subjects. He took great delight in 
 
 was such as to encourage the hope that he would remain to tea. The 
 elders greeted him as a son, the daughters sat looking with compla- 
 cency upon his undeniably plain but most benignant countenance, lis- 
 tening lovingly, though reverently, to the gentle and cheerful wisdom 
 of his lips, while the young children were too happy to be taken 
 upon his knees; and, when he was gone, they all talked together, the 
 young and the old, of the delightful visit, of the kindness of his looks, 
 of his pleasant and instructive words, and began to count up the weeks 
 that must pass before he would come again. 
 
 "Dr. Clarke's published sermons do not by any means account for 
 all the popularity he had as a preacher. In order fully to understand 
 this, we must take into view the times in which he lived, when the 
 general strain of the pulpit differed widely from the present; his own 
 time of life, which even at its close had scarcely reached its meridian; 
 the tones of his voice, melodious even to a certain warbling; his pure, 
 condensed, and classic style, then attained by few, not even sought 
 by many; and perhaps, above them all, the loving hearts of his hearers, 
 assuring for him a welcome wherever he appeared and a delighted 
 acceptance of all he uttered. In addition to this, it is to be remem- 
 bered that, when he was ordained in 1778, in the twenty-third year 
 of his age, he was among the very few young men then in the Boston 
 Association. The pulpits of both the city and vicinity were occu- 
 pied for the most part by elderly clergymen, whose voices had be- 
 come familiar, whose divisions of their discourses were many and 
 formal, and whose lives — surely not to their dishonor, may it be said 
 — were more eloquent than their lips. Dr. Chauncy, the senior pastor 
 of the church, had almost reached his threescore years and ten when 
 he received a colleague, and with gifts and learning that gave him 
 renown in all the churches could hardly have been attractive to the 
 young. 
 
 "The spirit of a man, or his prevailing turn, may sometimes be 
 discovered by trivial circumstances, especially in the conduct of his 
 profession. In a clergyman it may be not obscurely exhibited by 
 
28 CHARLES CHAUNCY 
 
 studying the Scriptures. Feeling the sacred obliga- 
 tions of morality, he impressed them upon the minds 
 of others in the most rational and evangelical manner. 
 When he preached upon the faith of the gospel, he 
 reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment 
 to come. It was said that he wanted the graces of de- 
 livery and taste in composition. But it was his object 
 to deliver the most sublime truths in simplicity of 
 
 his choice of texts on particular occasions. This was signally exem- 
 plified in one instance by Dr. Chauncy and his youthful colleague. 
 The workhouse in Boston was the abode of subjects, both male and 
 female, who were sentenced to imprisonment and labor. Now to 
 the inmates of this dwelling it was customary for the clergy of the 
 town to preach in turn on Sunday evenings. Accordingly, the two 
 colleagues, Dr. Chauncy and Mr. Clarke, officiated with other breth- 
 ren; and the texts selected by these gentlemen were highly charac- 
 teristic. Mr. Clarke, addressing himself chiefly to the frailer por- 
 tion of his hearers, exhibited for his text and their instruction a part 
 of Solomon's well-known description of a virtuous woman, 'She lay- 
 eth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff (Prov- 
 erbs xxxi. 19). When Dr. Chauncy came, fixing his regards chiefly 
 upon the male portion of his audience, and not suffering from any 
 excess of sympathy with the other, he preached from the words of 
 the apostle to the Thessalonians, 'If any would not work, neither 
 should he eat.'" 
 
 The succession in the ministry of the First Church was a highly 
 honorable one. Without conscious change the church grew more 
 and more liberal, and, while never claiming any particular denomi- 
 national allegiance, was inevitably classed as Unitarian. After Dr. 
 Clarke came: — 
 
 (1) William Emerson (1769-1811) was the only son of the Rev. 
 William Emerson, of Concord, and grandson of the Rev. Joseph 
 Emerson, of Maiden. He was born at Concord on the 6th of May, 
 1769. From early life he was intended for the ministry; and, when 
 his mother married the Rev. Ezra Ripley, successor to his father, 
 his mind was easily led in that direction. He entered Harvard Col- 
 lege when he was in his seventeenth year. He graduated in 1789, 
 and in the same year delivered an oration before the Society of Phi 
 Beta Kappa, which procured for him no little applause. 
 
 Immediately after leaving the university he engaged in teaching a 
 school in Roxbury, where he remained two years, and then went to 
 
CHARLES CHAUNCY 29 
 
 speech, and he never therefore studied to have his 
 periods polished with rhetorical figures. His favorite 
 authors were Tillotson of the Episcopal Church and 
 Baxter among the Puritans. For he preferred the rich 
 vein of sentiment in the sermons of the English divines 
 to that tinsel of French declamation so fashionable 
 in our modern way of preaching. Upon some occa- 
 sions, however, Dr. Chauncy could raise his feeble 
 
 Cambridge as a theological student; but he had been there but a 
 few months before he began preaching, and, after having for a short 
 time preached as a candidate at Harvard, Mass., he received a call 
 to the church there. This call he accepted, and was ordained May 
 23, 1792. 
 
 In 1799 he was invited to Boston to preach the Artillery Election 
 Sermon. This service he performed to very great acceptance, and 
 the congregation of the First Church almost immediately extended 
 to him a unanimous call. He accepted, and was installed pastor 
 October 16, 1799. The sermon on the occasion was preached by 
 his friend and college classmate, the Rev. Nathaniel Thayer, of Lan- 
 caster. 
 
 In May, 1808, he was seized with a violent hemorrhage of the lungs, 
 from which for a time he recovered, and was able to perform nearly 
 his accustomed amount of labor. A malady of a different kind seized 
 upon him in the winter of 1810-11, and he died on Sunday, the 12th 
 of May, 181 1. His funeral took place on the 16th, and the sermon 
 on the occasion was preached by the Rev. J. S. Buckminster. 
 
 Mr. Emerson was married to Ruth Haskins, of Boston, who sur- 
 vived him. They had eight children, six of whom survived him. 
 
 In his personal appearance Mr. Emerson was much more than ordi- 
 narily attractive. He had a melodious voice, his utterance was dis- 
 tinct, and his whole manner in the pulpit agreeable. In his devotional 
 exercises he was fluent and appropriate. His public discourses had 
 the appearance of considerable elaboration, but they were never 
 elaborated into obscurity. He could not endure a careless and des- 
 ultory manner of writing. 
 
 In his theological views it was supposed that he went farther on 
 the liberal side than most of his brethren with whom he was associ- 
 ated. His son, Ralph Waldo Emerson, made, however, in 1849 
 a study of his father's sermons, and wrote: "I did not find in any 
 manuscript or printed sermon any very explicit statement of opinion 
 on the question between Calvinists and Socinians. He inclines ob- 
 
30 CHARLES CHAUNCY 
 
 voice, and manifest a vigor and animation which 
 would arrest the attention of the most careless hearer, 
 and have a deeper effect than the oratory which is 
 thought by many to be irresistibly persuasive. At 
 all times he was argumentative and perspicuous, and 
 made an admirable practical use of the sentiments he 
 delivered." 
 
 The following sketch of Dr. Chauncy is from an 
 
 viously to what is ethical and universal in Christianity, very little to 
 the personal and historical." 
 
 The Rev. Charles Lowell wrote of him : — 
 
 "Mr. Emerson was a handsome man, rather tall, with a fair com- 
 plexion, his cheeks slightly tinted, his motions easy, graceful, and 
 gentlemanlike, his manners bland and pleasant. He was an honest 
 man, and expressed himself decidedly and emphatically, but never 
 bluntly or vulgarly. He had the organ of order very fully developed, 
 — he was one of those who have ' a place for everything, and every- 
 thing in its place.' In that respect he differed from that admirable 
 man, who was his classmate and friend, John Thornton Kirkland, 
 who never had anything in order, but always found what was wanted, 
 whose manuscript sermons in the pulpit were in separate pieces, but 
 he always found the right piece, and that was better than almost any 
 of his brethren could have found in what they had written with twice 
 the labor." 
 
 The following is a list of Mr. Emerson's publications: — 
 
 A Sermon preached at Harvard on the 4th of July, 1794; A Ser- 
 mon at the Artillery Election, Boston, 1799; A Sermon before the 
 Roxbury Charitable Society, 1800; A Sermon at the Ordination of 
 Robinson Smiley at Springfield, Vt., 1801; An Oration pronounced at 
 Boston on the 4th of July, 1802; A Sermon on the Death of the Rev. 
 Peter Thacher, D.D., 1802; A Sermon at the Ordination of Thomas 
 Bedee, 1803; A Sermon on the Death of Madam Bowdoin, 1803; 
 A Sermon before the Boston Female Asylum, 1805; A Sermon on 
 the Death of Charles Austin, 1806; A Discourse before the Humane 
 Society, 1807; The First, Second, Third, and Seventh Discourses 
 in the Fourth Number of the Christian Monitor, with Prayers an- 
 nexed to each Discourse, 1808; A Selection of Psalms and Hymns, 
 embracing all the Varieties of Subject and Metre Suitable for Pri- 
 vate Devotion and the Worship of the Churches, 1808; A Sermon 
 at the Ordination of Samuel Clark, 1810; History of the First Church 
 in Boston (posthumous). 
 
CHARLES CHAUNCY 31 
 
 " Historical Sketch of the First Church in Boston" by 
 Rev. William Emerson, one of Dr. Chauncy's succes- 
 sors : — 
 
 "He had no taste for rhetorical studies. So little 
 versed in poetry was he that he is said to have wished 
 that somebody would translate the 'Paradise Lost' of 
 Milton into prose that he might understand it. He 
 loved nature, simplicity, and truth, and looked upon 
 
 (2) John Lovejov Abbot (1783-1814), the eldest son of John 
 Lovejoy and Phoebe Abbot, was born in Andover, Mass., on the 
 29th of November, 1783. His father was a farmer, and was desir- 
 ous that the son should be a farmer also; but he yielded to the son's 
 wishes, which were decidedly in favor of a liberal education. Accord- 
 ingly, he was fitted for college at Phillips Academy, Andover, entered 
 at Harvard in the year 1801, and graduated with honor in 1805. He 
 then returned to his father's, and studied under the direction of the 
 Rev. Jonathan French, who was at that time the minister of the 
 congregation to which his parents belonged. After a short time, 
 however, he went back to Cambridge, and was employed as a proctor, 
 while at the same time he pursued his theological studies under 
 Dr. Henry Ware. In 1811 he was appointed librarian of the college, 
 and held the office about two years. 
 
 He was licensed to preach (it is believed by the Boston Association) 
 and was ordained and installed minister of the First Church on the 
 14th of July, 1813, the sermon on the occasion being preached by 
 the Rev. Dr. Ware, from Acts xxvi. 17, 18. On the 24th of October 
 following he was married to Elizabeth Bell, daughter of Thomas 
 and Elizabeth (Bell) Warland, of Cambridge. 
 
 He had preached but two or three Sabbaths after his ordination 
 when he was attacked by pulmonary disease, and never preached 
 again. 
 
 He sailed from New Bedford for Lisbon on the 29th of November, 
 and returned about the 10th of June following (1814). His homeward 
 passage, besides being very long (fifty-seven days), was very tempestu- 
 ous, so that, when he reached home, he had lost all the strength 
 which he had gained during his six months' absence. 
 
 He died at Andover, October 17, 1814. His funeral was held 
 at the church in Chauncy Place on the 20th, on which occasion 
 an address was delivered by the Rev. Edward Everett, then of the 
 Brattle Street Church, which was afterwards published. Another 
 tribute to his memory in the form of a "Monody," by John Lathrop, 
 
32 CHARLES CHAUNCY 
 
 the art of rhetoric rather as an inflamer of the passions 
 and a perverter of reason than as an instrument of 
 good to mankind. His aversion, indeed, was so rooted 
 towards the noisy and foaming fanatics of his time, 
 and his attachment so strong to Taylor, Tillotson, and 
 writers of that stamp, that in the company of friends, 
 as is reported of him, he would sometimes beseech God 
 never to make him an orator. One of his acquaint- 
 ances, hearing this report, remarked that his prayer 
 
 Jr., appeared about the same time. The widow of Mr. Abbot was 
 subsequently married to Dr. Manning, of Cambridge. 
 
 (3) Nathaniel Langdon Frothingham (1 793-1870) was born 
 in Boston, July 23, 1793. He graduated with honor at Harvard 
 College in 181 1 in the class with Edward Everett and Samuel Gilman 
 and others of subsequent fame. After teaching awhile in the Boston 
 Latin School, he became, when only nineteen years of age, instructor in 
 rhetoric and oratory in Harvard College. Besides this teaching he 
 studied theology, and in 1815 was ordained minister of the First 
 Church in Boston, where he remained for thirty-five years, resign- 
 ing in consequence of ill-health in 1850. He married Ann Gorham, 
 daughter of Peter C. Brooks, of Boston. The degree of Doctor of 
 Divinity was given him by Harvard College in 1836. He was a mem- 
 ber of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Academy of Arts and 
 Sciences, and many other learned societies. He died in Boston in 
 1870. 
 
 Dr. Frothingham was the author of many published sermons 
 and of articles in the Christian Examiner, the North American 
 Review, and other periodicals. He was also a noteworthy writer of 
 hymns and other metrical pieces, and his hymns have found their 
 way into the collections of every Christian denomination. "All 
 who knew Dr. Frothingham," it was written of him just after his 
 death, "recognized in him the most courteous gentleman, the finished 
 scholar, the man of exquisite tastes, the refined, instructive, pleasing, 
 and able preacher, the sweet poet, his lips moist with the dew now of 
 Parnassus and now of Hermon, as he followed his charming muse 
 from classical to holy land, himself equally at home in both." His 
 biography, together with a graphic and accurate picture of the life 
 of the churches and ministers of his time, is contained in the vol- 
 ume entitled "Boston Unitarianism," written by his son, Rev. O. B. 
 Frothingham. 
 "(4) Rufus Ellis. See Vol. III. p. 103. 
 
CHARLES CHAUNCY 33 
 
 was unequivocally granted. Yet I have been informed 
 by one of his hearers, who is an excellent judge of ser- 
 mons, that Dr. Chauncy was by no means an indifferent 
 speaker, that his emphases were always laid with pro- 
 priety, often with happy effect, and that his general 
 manner was that of a plain, earnest preacher, solici- 
 tous for the success of his labors. He ordinarily en- 
 tered on his task, whether of composing or of delivery, 
 apparently without much nerve, as a laborer commences 
 his daily toil, uttering a deal of common truths in a 
 common way. But he had always a design, which he 
 kept clearly and steadily in view, until it was prudently 
 and thoroughly executed." 
 
 Of Dr. Chauncy's personal characteristics Dr. How- 
 ard, of Springfield, wrote: — 
 
 "He was, like Zaccheus, little of stature, and, like 
 Saint Paul, his letters were powerful. God gave him a 
 slender, feeble body, a very powerful, vigorous mind, 
 and strong passions, and he managed them all exceed- 
 ingly well. His manners were plain and downright, 
 dignified, bold, and imposing. In conversation with 
 his friends he was pleasant, social and very instructive. 
 Bigotry and superstition found no quarter with him. 
 In whatever garb they approached, they were sure to 
 be detected and rebuked. His attitude and tone of 
 voice in the desk were dignified, solemn, impressive, 
 and positive. They seemed to say, ' I know that what 
 I am delivering is true and highly important to your 
 souls.' The doctor was remarkably temperate in his 
 diet and exercise. At twelve o'clock he took one pinch 
 of snuff, and only one in twenty-four hours. At one 
 o'clock he dined on one dish of plain, wholesome food, 
 and after dinner took one glass of wine and one pipe 
 of tobacco, and only one in twenty-four hours. And 
 he was equally methodical in his exercise, which con- 
 sisted chiefly or wholly in walking. I said, 'Doctor, 
 
34 JONATHAN MAYHEW 
 
 you live by rule/ 'If I did not,' he replied, 'I should 
 not live at all.' " 
 
 The list of Dr. Chauncy's publications can be found in the Bibliotheca Chaunciana, 
 compiled by Paul Leicester Ford, and enumerating the titles of sixty-one books and 
 pamphlets written by him and of eighty-eight about him or in reply to him. 
 
 See also, for accounts of his life and work, Dr. Clarke's Discourse at the Interment 
 of the Rev. Charles Chauncy, February 15, 1787; Mr. Emerson's Historical Sketch 
 of the First Church in Boston, pp. 173-214; S. Osgood on Edwards and Chauncy in 
 the Christian Examiner, May, 1S48; William Chauncey Fowler's sketch in the New 
 England Historical and Genealogical Register, Boston, October, 1856, vol. x. pp. 324- 
 336; M. C. Tyler's History of American Literature, vol. ii. pp. 199-203; A. B. Ellis's 
 History of the First Church in Boston, pp. 187-208; Williston Walker's Ten New Eng- 
 land Leaders, pp. 267-310; William H. Lyon's Charles Chauncy, Boston, 1903; Uni- 
 tarian Origin and History, p. 159; and Cooke's Unitarianism in America, pp. 66-69. 
 
 The account of Dr. Chauncy in this volume is abridged from Dr. Sprague's sketch, 
 which was derived chiefly from Dr. Clarke's Funeral Sermon. Dr. Sprague's account 
 of Dr. Clarke was based on Dr. Thacher's Funeral Sermon. The sketch of Mr, Em- 
 erson is abridged from a manuscript furnished by Dr. John Pierce, and that of Mr. 
 Abbot from manuscripts sent to Dr. Sprague by various friends. 
 
 JONATHAN MAYHEW 
 
 '. 1 720-1 766 
 
 AND THE MINISTERS OF THE WEST CHURCH IN BOSTON 
 
 Jonathan Mayhew was a son of the Rev. Experi- 
 ence Mayhew,* of Martha's Vineyard, where he was 
 born, October 8, 1720. He was a descendant, in the 
 fourth generation, from Thomas Mayhew, the first 
 
 * Experience Mayhew was born on Martha's Vineyard, Jan- 
 uary 27, 1673. His father, John Mayhew, his grandfather, Thomas 
 Mayhew, and his great-grandfather, the first Thomas Mayhew, 
 had been missionaries to the Indians on the island. In 1694 he 
 succeeded to their labors in charge of some six or eight Indian con- 
 gregations, continuing for sixty-four years, until his death on Novem- 
 ber 29, 1758, when he in turn was succeeded by his son Zachariah, 
 who served until his death in 1806, making five generations of May- 
 hews engaged for one hundred and sixty years in the same task. 
 Experience Mayhew was the most widely known of this notable 
 
JONATHAN MAYHEW 35 
 
 English settler and proprietor of that island. In early 
 life he gave indications of great vigor of mind and an 
 unyielding firmness of purpose, and under the influ- 
 ence of a Christian education imbibed a deep rever- 
 ence for religion, without, however, as it would seem, 
 at any time receiving the doctrines of the accredited 
 orthodox creed. Of the particulars of his childhood 
 and early youth no record now remains; but it seems 
 probable that he fitted for college under the instruction 
 of his father. While young Mayhew was an under- 
 graduate at Cambridge, he made a visit to York, in 
 Maine, at the time of a great revival in that place; and 
 it would seem that the observations which he made 
 then had much to do in giving direction to his feeling 
 and speech about the irrational extravagance in relig- 
 ion ever afterwards. He graduated with honor in 
 1 744, being then twenty-four years of age. 
 
 During the three years immediately subsequent to 
 his leaving college, he seems to have been engaged part 
 of the time in teaching, part of the time in the study of 
 theology at Cambridge, and it is thought that he spent 
 a short time also in the family of Dr. Gay, of Hingham. 
 
 His earliest efforts in the pulpit excited no incon- 
 siderable attention. The church in Cohasset soon 
 gave him a call to settle among them, but he declined 
 
 family until the short and brilliant career of his son Jonathan. As 
 early as 1698 Cotton Mather spoke of Mayhew as ministering to 
 some three thousand Christian Indians, adding that in this work 
 "there is no man that exceeds this Mr. Mayhew, if there be any that 
 equals him." His famous book on "Indian Converts" was pub- 
 lished in 1727. Though not a college-bred man, he had a high repu- 
 tation for learning, and was much resorted to by young men study- 
 ing for the ministry. Harvard gave him an honorary degree in 1723. 
 The breadth of his theological views may be discovered in the fact 
 that his sons and many of his pupils were later found on the liberal 
 side, and also in the opinions expressed in a book, "Grace Defended," 
 published in 1743, in opposition to the teachings of Whitefield. 
 
36 JONATHAN MAYHEW 
 
 it. On the 6th of March, 1747, the West Church in 
 Boston invited him to become their pastor. From 
 its origin in 1737 the West Church had been suspected 
 of liberal tendencies by the stricter Puritans of the 
 neighboring churches. Its first minister, William 
 Hooper, for whom or by whom the church was gath- 
 ered, was certainly not a Calvinist in his theology. 
 In one of his Thursday Lectures he gave great offence 
 to his brother ministers, who subjected him to intol- 
 erant criticism on account of what they deemed his 
 heresies concerning the divine nature. Stung by their 
 arbitrary indictment, he withdrew to the fellowship 
 of the Church of England, and was afterwards the 
 rector of Trinity Church in Boston. His son, a Har- 
 vard graduate, was one of the signers of the Declara- 
 tion of Independence. Hooper had not failed to 
 communicate his own instinctive independence of 
 mind and breadth of vision to his people of the West 
 Church; and, in their choice of Mayhew to be his 
 successor, they virtually challenged the stricter churches 
 to the controversy which soon ensued. 
 
 On the day first appointed for the ordination only 
 two of the clergymen invited were in attendance, 
 owing, as it was understood, to rumors about the the- 
 ological unsoundness of the candidate. Those two 
 did not think proper to proceed, but advised the call- 
 ing of another and a larger council. This advice was 
 complied with. A council consisting of fourteen 
 ministers, not one of whom, however, was from Bos- 
 ton, was convoked; and ten of these assembled on 
 the 17th of June, and harmoniously inducted the can- 
 didate into office. Most of the members of the coun- 
 cil who were present were reckoned among the "lib- 
 eral" men of that day, though there must have been 
 considerable difference in their religious views; and 
 Dr. Appleton (of Cambridge) at least was understood 
 
JONATHAN MAYHEW 37 
 
 to sympathize doctrinally with the stricter school. 
 The sermon on the occasion was preached by Dr. 
 Gay, of Hingham, and the charge was given by the 
 father of Mr. Mayhew. 
 
 That Mayhew's liberal opinions were already con- 
 sidered heretical may be inferred not only from the 
 fact that no Boston minister took part in his ordina- 
 tion, but from another equally significant circumstance; 
 namely, that he never became a member of the Boston 
 Association of Congregational Ministers. It was cus- 
 tomary to apply for admission; but it is presumed that 
 he never applied, as no record of any such application 
 appears in the minutes. In consequence of this he did 
 not join with the other ministers of Boston in main- 
 taining the Thursday Lecture, though he soon set up 
 a Weekly Lecture in his own church which excited 
 great attention, and attracted many people from other 
 churches in the town. Most of the discourses which 
 were preached on these occasions were subsequently 
 published. In a letter which he wrote to his father, 
 not long after his settlement, he says, "The clergy of 
 the town stand aloof from me, and I have to study hard, 
 so that I cannot soon visit you as I intended and de- 
 sired." This practical exclusion from orthodox fellow- 
 ship was not without justification, for Mayhew's opin- 
 ions were certainly alien to the prevailing theology of 
 New England. He was a thorough radical, a redoubt- 
 able pioneer. From his pulpit, two years after his 
 settlement, his friend, young Lemuel Briant, of Brain- 
 tree (Quincy), preached the sermon that John Adams 
 called the first gun of the Unitarian controversy. If 
 that sermon was the signal gun, Mayhew's discourses 
 in the succeeding years were a whole battery of heavy 
 artillery. He did not practise the reticence which 
 marked so many of his contemporaries who really 
 shared many of his convictions. He spoke out with 
 
38 JONATHAN MAYHEW 
 
 fearless candor and tremendous force. He was, as 
 described by one of his successors, the "first preacher 
 in Boston of an untrinitarian God, most potent cleri- 
 cal asserter in America of civil and religious freedom, 
 ... a master-workman, Christ-like, who broke down 
 the partition wall between secular and religious affairs, 
 peerless in intellect, ... a communicant who, fresh 
 from the table of the Lord's Supper, wrote to James 
 Otis: " Communion of churches ! Why not commun- 
 ion of the colonies ?" 
 
 If Dr. Gay diffused liberal sentiments by personal 
 intercourse and Dr. Chauncy by his voluminous pub- 
 lications, Dr. Mayhew was the orator of the move- 
 ment towards the reaffirmation of pure Christianity. 
 When Dr. John G. Palfrey, the historian of New Eng- 
 land, was asked to name the representative American 
 orator whose statue should stand with those of Demos- 
 thenes, Cicero, and Chatham in the decoration of a 
 public building, he answered, "Jonathan Mayhew." 
 Robert Treat Paine declared him the father of civil 
 and religious liberty in America. Dr. Bartol called 
 him "the great American divine. Others have 
 doubtless excelled him in particular points, as Ed- 
 wards in metaphysical talent and Hopkins in applica- 
 tion to theological studies, Channing in extent of 
 moral reflection, Buckminster in peculiar charms of 
 speech; but, in broad relation to the public welfare, 
 in power to unseal the fountains of influence into 
 rivers which, like mountain streams, determine the 
 very shape and fashion of a country, he conspicu- 
 ously transcended them all. . . . For grandeur of 
 aim and mighty will to bring to pass his purposes put 
 him in the first rank of human spirits." 
 
 But, while Mayhew by temperament and by oppor- 
 tunity was chiefly influential as an orator, yet he was 
 also a reformer, a scholar, and a trenchant writer on 
 
JONATHAN MAYHEW 39 
 
 themes both theological and political. It is by his 
 books and his controversial pamphlets that the gener- 
 ations that know not the charm of his personality 
 and the power of his speech must chiefly discover his 
 quality. His writings clearly indicate the extent of his 
 departure from the prevalent theology of his time. 
 
 In 1755 he published a volume of sermons on the 
 " Doctrines of Grace." At the end of the volume is a 
 sermon on the shortness of life, in which there is a 
 note on the doctrine of the Trinity, which_betrayed 
 the fact that he had become a Unitarian, f Dr. May- 
 hew was, at this time, scribe of the Massachusetts 
 Convention of Congregational Ministers. When the 
 scribe was to be appointed the next year, some member 
 of the body rose, and objected to the re-election of 
 Dr. Mayhew. Said another member, "There is no 
 danger of his getting any Arianism into the minutes 
 of the convention." "Not into the text, but he will 
 foist it into some note," was the reply ._\ 
 
 In 1762 Dr. Mayhew published two sermons deliv- 
 ered on the day of public Thanksgiving, on "The Ex- 
 tent of the Divine Goodness," in which he put forth 
 views startlingly modern in scope and tone. The Rev. 
 John Cleaveland, of Ipswich, the next year published 
 "Strictures" on these discourses, which Mayhew and 
 his friends pronounced to be destitute alike of truth 
 and candor. Mayhew wrote a pamphlet of consid- 
 erable length in reply, in which he pours upon his 
 unfortunate adversary such a torrent of invective as is 
 rarely to be met with in the records of theological con- 
 troversy. 
 
 The next year the Rev. East Apthorp published a 
 pamphlet entitled "Considerations on the Institution 
 and Conduct of the Society for Propagating the Gos- 
 pel," which occasioned a violent controversy, in which 
 Mayhew bore a prominent part. He wrote a pamphlet 
 
4 o JONATHAN MAYHEW 
 
 entitled "Observations on the Character and Conduct 
 of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign 
 Parts," etc. This was answered by several members 
 of the society in America and by Dr. Seeker, Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury. Mayhew replied to a pam- 
 phlet entitled "A Candid Examination of Observa- 
 tions," etc. This was again answered in an anony- 
 mous tract, and this again drew from Mayhew a sec- 
 ond defence of his "Observations," which, though 
 sufficiently pungent, was less scathing than the pre- 
 ceding one. 
 
 In these writings are to be discovered almost all 
 the fundamental principles of modern liberalism, an 
 ardent passion for liberty of conscience and of speech, 
 a vindication of the right of private judgment, an 
 affirmation of character as the only test of faith. Of 
 Calvinism there is practically none, but in its place 
 a free, generous treatment of Scripture, a reaffirma- 
 tion of the teaching of Jesus, an almost transcendental 
 idea of God, which is a constant surprise to readers 
 who belong to a generation prone to believe that its 
 cherished liberalism is of modern origin. Dr. James 
 Freeman, thirty years afterwards the minister of the 
 first avowedly Unitarian church in Boston, stated 
 that Mayhew had anticipated him in all his theologi- 
 cal conclusions. His daughter testified that "there 
 is no doubt ... of his having asserted the Unity of 
 God, in the most unequivocal manner, as early as 
 the year 1753"; and she quotes passages from un- 
 published sermons which declare this belief explicitly. 
 
 But Jonathan Mayhew was not only the foremost 
 pulpit orator of New England and a pioneer of relig- 
 ious freedom, he was also the fervent patriot, the torch- 
 bearer who lighted the fires of his country's liberties. 
 He was not only the associate, but the inspirer of the 
 leaders of the patriot cause in the days before the 
 
JONATHAN MAYHEW 41 
 
 Revolution. James Otis, John and Samuel Adams, 
 James Bowdoin, John Hancock, and Robert Treat 
 Paine were among his intimate friends. He was also 
 the best known of the American Whigs in England, 
 and through an extensive correspondence did much 
 to influence the opinions and actions of the enlight- 
 ened Englishmen who opposed the arbitrary course 
 of the British government. 
 
 In June, 1766, Dr. Mayhew addressed a letter to 
 James Otis, showing the deep interest which he took 
 in the political state of the country, and how impor- 
 tant he considered it that a good understanding should 
 be maintained among the different colonies. In this 
 letter he states incidentally his intention to set out 
 for Rutland the next morning, to assist at an ecclesi- 
 astical council. The meeting of the council was on 
 the 10th of June, and he attended and officiated as 
 scribe. The matters referred to the adjudication of 
 the council were of a perplexing nature, tasking in 
 a high degree the feelings as well as the wisdom of 
 its members. Dr. Mayhew returned home in wet 
 weather and on horseback, fatigued in body and 
 mind, and was almost immediately seized with a vio- 
 lent fever. He died on the 9th of July, in the forty- 
 sixth year of his age. Dr. Lowell states the following 
 circumstance: "When all hope of his recovery was 
 gone, Dr. Cooper, an orthodox neighbor, said to him, 
 ' Tell me, dear sir, if you retain the sentiments which 
 you have taught, and what are your views ? ' With 
 firmness, though with difficulty, he said, taking him 
 affectionately by the hand, ' I hold fast mine integrity, 
 and it shall not depart from me." Dr. Chauncy 
 prayed at his funeral, and it is said to have been the 
 first prayer ever offered at a funeral in Boston, so 
 scrupulous were our fathers to avoid what might 
 seem the least approach to the practice of praying 
 
42 JONATHAN MAYHEW 
 
 for the dead. Dr. Chauncy preached a funeral ser- 
 mon on the following Sabbath, and in a fortnight from 
 that time another was preached by the Rev. Dr. Gay. 
 
 In 1756 Dr. Mayhew, at the age of thirty-five, was 
 married to Elizabeth, daughter of John Clark, Esq., of 
 Boston, a lady remarkable for her beauty and accom- 
 plishments. After he paid his addresses to her, an 
 attempt was made to prevent the wedding by means 
 of representations to her parents of his being un- 
 sound in the faith, but the marriage proved an ex- 
 ceedingly happy one. Dr. Mayhew left two children. 
 His widow was afterwards married to his successor, 
 the Rev. Dr. Howard.* 
 
 The following is an extract from the funeral sermon 
 preached by Dr. Chauncy: — 
 
 The Father of spirits was pleased in his distinguishing goodness 
 to favor Dr. Mayhew with superior mental powers. Few surpassed 
 him, either in the quickness of his apprehension, the clearness of his 
 perception, the readiness of his invention, the brightness of his im- 
 agination, the comprehension of his understanding, or the soundness 
 of his judgment. And, together with these gifts of God, he was 
 endowed with a singular greatness of mind, fortitude of spirit, and 
 yet softness and benevolence of temper, all which, being enlarged 
 and strengthened by a good education and the opportunity of free 
 converse with men and books, soon qualified him to make a consid- 
 erable figure in the world, as he was hereby enabled to speak and 
 write with that freedom of thought, that justness of method, that 
 strength of argument, that facility of expression, that liveliness of 
 fancy, that purity of diction, and that apparent concern for the good 
 of mankind which procured him a name both here and abroad which 
 will be remembered with honor long after his body is crumbled into 
 dust. It was this that made way for his correspondence beyond the 
 
 ♦Simeon Howard (1 733-1 804) was a native of Bridgewater, 
 and was bom April 29 (OS.), 1733. He entered Harvard College 
 in 1754, and, having maintained through his whole course a high 
 standing for scholarship, graduated with distinguished honor in 1758. 
 Having received approbation to preach, he was invited to labor 
 for a time in Cumberland, N.S. Here he made many friends, and 
 
JONATHAN MAYHEW 43 
 
 great waters, which was daily increasing; and, had the wisdom of God 
 seen fit to have continued him in life, it might have been of great ser- 
 vice to his country as well as himself, if we may judge from what 
 it has already been. 
 
 He was eminently a friend to liberty, both civil and religious, 
 and, if his zeal at any time betrayed him into too great a severity of 
 expression, it was against the attempts of those who would make 
 slaves either of men's souls or bodies. He nobly claimed that which 
 he esteemed equally the right of others, — the liberty of thinking for 
 himself; and he made use of all proper helps in order to his thinking 
 right. He was an avowed enemy to all human establishments in relig- 
 ion, especially the establishment of mere ceremonial rights as neces- 
 sary to Christian communion. And, as he esteemed this a direct 
 usurpation of that right which is proper only to Jesus Christ, the only 
 supreme Head of the Christian Church, it may be an excuse for him 
 if he has ever expressed himself with too great a degree of asperity 
 upon this head. 
 
 Besides what has been said, those acquainted with the doctor 
 must have observed that manliness of spirit, that friendliness of dis- 
 position, that freedom and cheerfulness of temper, which rendered 
 him agreeable to those who had the opportunity of conversing with 
 him. They must also have seen his amiable behavior in the several 
 relations of life. As a husband, how faithful and kind ! As a father, 
 how tender and affectionate! As a master, how just and equal! 
 knowing that he had a Master in heaven. As a friend, how true 
 to his professions! with what confidence to be trusted in! As a 
 neighbor, how ready to all the offices of love and goodness! Instead 
 of being deficient, he rather exceeded in the acts of his liberality and 
 charity. As a minister, how diligent, how laborious, how skilful! 
 making it his care to contrive his discourses so as to inform the mind 
 and touch the heart, so as at once to entertain and profit both the 
 learned and the illiterate, the polite and less cultivated hearer. Few 
 were able to compose their sermons with so much ease and yet so 
 much pertinence; and few preached with greater constancy, or took 
 occasion more frequently from occurrences in the conduct of Provi- 
 dence to make what they said seasonable and profitable to their hearers. 
 
 they would gladly have detained him permanently among them, but in 
 1765 he returned to Cambridge to prosecute his studies as a resident 
 graduate. In February, 1767, he was unanimously invited to be- 
 come the pastor of the West Church. He was ordained on the 6th of 
 May following, and the sermon on the occasion was preached by 
 Dr. Chauncy. 
 
44 JONATHAN MAYHEW 
 
 The ministry of Dr. Howard in Boston was painfully interrupted 
 by the Revolution. While the British troops were in possession 
 of the town, the house in which he preached was turned into a bar- 
 rack, and his congregation scattered in every direction. Having 
 many friends in Nova Scotia, and having been once or twice applied 
 to to send them a minister, he proposed to some of his parishioners, 
 who seemed disheartened by a view of the sad state of things, to 
 retire with him thither for a refuge; and, though he was scarcely 
 serious at the moment in making the proposal, they in their despond- 
 ency instantly fell in with it, and the arrangements were quickly made 
 for their departure. As Dr. Howard was known to be a decided 
 Whig, it was not without some difficulty that he obtained permis- 
 sion to leave the country. He, however, at length succeeded, and 
 after a tedious voyage of a month arrived with his friends at Annapolis 
 Royal. They found the inhabitants in a state of want, almost ap- 
 proaching starvation; and yet they were received with great kindness, 
 and as much hospitality as the distressing pressure of the time would 
 permit. They soon passed on to the place of their destination, 
 which was eighteen miles up the river, where also the people, though 
 greatly straitened for the necessaries of life, met them with every 
 expression of good will, and provided them with the best accommoda- 
 tions they could furnish. 
 
 Shortly after his arrival he was arrested, and carried to Halifax, 
 in consequence, as was supposed, of a letter written by General Gage 
 to the governor of the province after Mr. Howard's application to go 
 to Nova Scotia had been refused, and from an apprehension that he 
 might make his escape privately. After his request was granted, 
 the governor wrote a second letter, which, though it did not arrive 
 in season to prevent his arrest, was the occasion of his being imme- 
 diately liberated. 
 
 On his return to Boston, after an absence of nearly a year and a 
 half, he found his society so far reduced in numbers from death, 
 emigration, and other causes that they were seriously apprehensive 
 that they should be obliged to disband from their inability to support 
 the ministry. He refused, however, to listen to such a suggestion, 
 assuring them that he would receive whatever compensation they 
 could give him, and would continue with them while three families 
 remained. He further agreed "to accept the contribution that should 
 from time to time be collected and paid him during his ministry 
 as a full compensation, any agreement with the society previously 
 made notwithstanding." The society, as they recovered their strength, 
 did not forget the generous sacrifices which he had made in their 
 behalf. 
 
JONATHAN MAYHEW 45 
 
 He died after an illness of a week on the 13th of August, 1804, in 
 the seventy-second year of his age. His funeral was attended on 
 Wednesday, the 15th, and a sermon preached on the occasion by his 
 particular friend, President Willard, from Rev. ii. 10. 
 
 The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by 
 the University of Edinburgh. He was an overseer and a fellow 
 of Harvard College, and was a member of most of the local societies 
 for the promotion of literary, charitable, and religious objects, and 
 an officer of several of them. 
 
 Dr. Howard was first married in December, 1 771, to the widow of 
 Dr. Mayhew, his predecessor. She died in April, 1777, at the age 
 of forty-four. His second wife was the daughter of his early friend, 
 Dr. Gay, of Hingham. He left one son, Dr. John Clarke Howard. 
 
 During the earlier part of his ministry he did not belong to the 
 Boston Association, as his predecessor had not done. It appears 
 from the records of the Association that in August, 1784, a commit- 
 tee, appointed at a former meeting, "to wait on him, and know whether 
 he wished to join the Association, reported that they had attended 
 to that service, and the Rev. Mr. Howard would take the matter 
 into consideration." It appears, further, that in July, 1790, Dr. 
 Howard signified his desire to become a member, and was admitted 
 accordingly, and preached the Thursday Lecture. 
 
 As a preacher, Dr. Howard was far from being, in the common 
 acceptation of the word, eloquent. He seldom took his eyes from 
 his manuscript during the delivery of a sermon. His sermons were 
 generally on practical subjects, though he was undoubtedly more 
 free in the statement of his liberal views than most of his con- 
 temporaries. His prayers were uttered with great solemnity, and 
 occasionally with considerable pathos. 
 
 Dr. Howard was distinguished for a truly patriarchal simplicity 
 of character. No one ever suspected him of seeming to aim at one 
 object when he was really aiming at another. He evidently had a 
 humble opinion of himself, though he had nothing of that spurious 
 humility that leads some men to be forever ostentatiously acknowl- 
 edging their own imperfections. He was charitable in his estimate 
 of character, and never imputed evil motives when any other could 
 possibly be supposed. He was bland and gentle in his manners, 
 calm and equable in his temper. He was cheerful without levity, and 
 serious without gloom. He was more inclined to listen than to speak; 
 and, when he did speak, he rarely, if ever, said anything which either 
 he or his friends had occasion to regret. His parishioners loved him 
 as a brother and honored him as a father, his brethren in the ministry 
 always met him with a grateful and cordial welcome, and the commu- 
 
46 JONATHAN MAYHEW 
 
 nity at large reverenced him for his simplicity, integrity, and benev- 
 olence. 
 The following is a list of Dr. Howard's publications: — 
 A Sermon preached at the Artillery Election, 1773; A Sermon 
 occasioned by the Death of his Wife, 1777; A Sermon preached before 
 a Lodge of Free Masons, 1778; Christians have no cause to be ashamed 
 of their Religion: A Sermon, 1779; A Sermon preached on the Day 
 of the General Election, 1 780; A Sermon preached at the Ordination 
 of Thomas Adams, 1791. 
 
 Dr. Howard was succeeded by Charles Lowell (1782-1861), a son 
 of Hon. John and Rebecca (Russell) Lowell, who was born in Boston, 
 August 15, 1782. His father was an eminent lawyer, a member 
 of the Convention which framed the Constitution of Massachusetts, 
 and was appointed by Washington judge of the district court of 
 that State. He (the son)was a student at Phillips Academy, Andover, 
 under Abiel Abbot and Mark Newman, three or four years, and was 
 afterwards placed under the instruction of the Rev. Zedekiah Sanger, 
 in South Bridgewater, where he completed his preparatory studies, 
 and entered the Sophomore Class in Harvard College in 1797. After 
 graduating in 1800, he studied law one year with his elder brother, 
 John Lowell, Jr. , and then relinquished it for the study of theology. 
 In the autumn of 1802 he went to Scotland, and entered the Divinity 
 School of the University of Edinburgh, where he remained till the 
 spring of 1804, when he proceeded to London, having in the mean 
 time attended the lectures of Dugald Stewart and been on terms of in- 
 timacy with Thomas Brown, the philosopher, and several others, who 
 afterwards rose to great eminence. After staying awhile in London 
 and making the acquaintance of William Wilberforce, Bishop Porteus, 
 and other persons of illustrious name, he went to Paris, and there 
 had frequent opportunities of seeing Napoleon Buonaparte, just 
 after he had been proclaimed emperor. Having made a tour through 
 Holland and Switzerland, he returned to Scotland, and spent another 
 winter in Edinburgh. In the spring of 1805 he left Edinburgh, 
 passed a little time with a maternal uncle at Clifton, near Bristol, 
 England, preached at Bristol and Hackney, and in the course of the 
 summer returned to his native country. He studied divinity for a 
 while under the Rev. Zedekiah Sanger, of South Bridgewater, and 
 Dr. Tappan, professor of divinity in Harvard College. He was or- 
 dained and installed pastor of the West Church, Boston, on the 1st 
 of January, 1806. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity 
 from Harvard College in 1823. He continued sole pastor of the 
 church with which he became connected for more than thirty-seven 
 
JONATHAN MAYHEW 47 
 
 years. His health having become feeble, Mr. Cyrus Augustus Bartol 
 was set apart as his colleague in March, 1837; but Dr. Lowell contin- 
 ued his pastoral relation — officiating, however, very rarely — as long as 
 he lived. Soon after the ordination of his colleague he revisited 
 Europe, and travelled extensively, not only on the Continent, but in 
 the East, and after a protracted and most interesting tour returned 
 in the summer of 1840. His last years were years of great feebleness 
 and considerable suffering, but he was able to see his friends and occa- 
 sionally to visit some of them until near the close of life. He died 
 suddenly at Cambridge on the 20th of January, 1861, aged seventy- 
 eight years. He was married in October, 1806, to Harriet B. Spencer, 
 of Portsmouth, N.H., and had six children, one of whom was James 
 Russell Lowell. 
 
 At the height of his power Dr. Lowell preached to the largest 
 congregation in Boston, and the West Church was the home of three 
 or four hundred of the leading families of the community. His 
 sermons were earnest and direct appeals to the conscience and the 
 emotional nature. He wrote with faultless taste and simple ele- 
 gance. In his personal appearance there was a rare blending of 
 majesty and grace. He had a clear, penetrating voice, a handsome 
 face and figure, a natural earnestness of manner which made him 
 a master of the orator's art. He knew every man, woman, and 
 child in his large parish, and was assiduous in giving to them counsel, 
 encouragement, and comfort. No minister in Boston was more 
 beloved and honored. Theologically, he was undoubtedly a Uni- 
 tarian; but he resolutely refused to attach himself to any denomi- 
 nation or to call himself by any name other than Christian. 
 The following is a list of Dr. Lowell's publications: — 
 A Sermon on the Annual Artillery Election, Boston, 1810; A Sermon 
 preached at the State Prison in Massachusetts, 1812; A Discourse de- 
 livered the Sabbath after the Execution of H. P. S. Davis for the Murder 
 of Gaspard Denegri, 1817; A Discourse delivered before the Society 
 for Propagating the Gospel among the Indians and Others in North 
 America, 1820; An Historical Discourse delivered in the West Church 
 in Boston, 182O; A Sermon preached at the Ordination of Richard 
 Manning Hodges in the South Parish in Bridgewater, 1821; A Ser- 
 mon preached at the Ordination of Samuel Barrett as Minister of 
 the Twelfth Congregational Church in Boston, 1825; A Sermon 
 preached at the Ordination of George Wadsworth Wells at Kenne- 
 bunk, Me., 1827; The Trinitarian Controversy, a discourse deliv- 
 ered at the ordination of Daniel M. Stearns to the Pastoral Charge 
 of the First Church in Dennis, 1828; Union of Sentiment among 
 Christians not Essential to Peace, a sermon preached at the dedica- 
 
48 JONATHAN MAYHEW 
 
 tion of the South Congregational Church in Natick, 1828; Theology, 
 and not Religion, the Source of Division and Strife in the Christian 
 Church, a sermon preached at the Ordination of John Langdon 
 Sibley as Minister of the Church in Stow, 1829; A Sermon preached 
 at the Dedication of the Second Congregational Church in Milton, 
 1829; The Wisdom and Goodness of God in the Appointment of 
 Men, and not Angels, to the Christian Ministry, a sermon preached 
 in Berlin at the Ordination of Robert Folger Wallcut, 1830; Men 
 Accountable only to God for their Religious Opinions, a sermon 
 preached at the ordination of William Barry, Jr., to the pastoral 
 care of the South Congregational Church in Lowell, 1830; A Sermon 
 preached in the West Church, Boston, a Quarter of a Century from 
 the Time of the Author's Settlement, 1831; Gospel Preaching, a 
 sermon preached at the ordination of Thomas B. Fox as pastor 
 of the First Church and Religious Society in Newburyport, 1831; 
 A Discourse (Historical) delivered in the West Church in Boston, 
 1845; Sermons Chiefly Practical, one vol., l2mo, 1855; Sermons 
 Chiefly Occasional, one vol., i2mo, 1855. The last-mentioned 
 volume is mainly a reprint of those which had been previously pub- 
 lished in pamphlet form. 
 
 The following is a list of Dr. Mayhew's publications: Seven Sermons delivered at 
 the Boston Lecture (an octavo volume), 1749; A Discourse on the Anniversary of the 
 Death of Charles I.,(T7^o; A Sermon on the Death of the Prince of Wales, 1751; Mas- 
 sachusetts Election Sermon/17 c^ Sixteen Sermons on Various Subjects (an octavo 
 volume)! 1755A A Discourse occasioned by the Earthquakes, ( 1 755} Two Discourses 
 on the same suT>ject/i755^vrwo Thanksgiving Sermons for the Success of His Majesty's 
 Arms, 1758; Two SeTmons"fcn the Reduction of Quebec, 1759; A Sermon on the Death 
 of Stephen Sewall, 1760; A Sermon occasioned by the Great Fire, 1760I A Sermon on 
 the Death of George DT. and the Accession of George HI., 1761 ;Two Sermons on Striv- 
 ing to enter in at the Strait Gate,(ij6i) Two Thanksgiving Sermons on the Divine Good- 
 ness, 1761; Eight Sermons to Young Men on Christian Sobriety (an octavo volume), 
 £vi§& Observations on the Charter and Conduct of the Society for Propagating the 
 Gospel in Foreign Parts,(T763l Defence of the Preceding against an Anonymous Pam- 
 phlet, 1764; A Second Defence of the Same, 1765; Letter of Reproof to John Cleave- 
 land, of Ipswich, 1764; Dudleian Lecture on Popish Idolatry, delivered^ Harvard 
 College, 1765; A Thanksgiving Sermon on the Repeal of the Stamp Act,u766,, 
 
 For the career of Mayhew and his successors see Alden Bradford's Memoir of the 
 Life and Writings of Rev. Jonathan Mayhew; C. A.Bartol's The West Church and its 
 Minister; C.A. Bartol's The West Church, Boston, Commemorative Services, pp. 16-19, 
 with portrait; and Dr. Lowell's Historical Discourses. 
 
SAMUEL WEST 49 
 
 SAMUEL WEST (of New Bedford) 
 
 i 730-1807 
 
 Samuel West, the fourth minister of that part of 
 Dartmouth which now makes the city of New Bedford 
 and town of Fair Haven, was born at Yarmouth, Cape 
 Cod, March 3, 1730 (O.S.); was graduated at Har- 
 vard College in 1754; was ordained June 3, 1761; was 
 honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity from 
 his Alma Mater in 1793; withdrew from his ministerial 
 labors in June, 1803, and died at the house of his son 
 in Tiverton, R.I., September 24, 1807. 
 
 His father, Sackfield West, who was a physician, re- 
 moved, soon after Samuel was born, to Barnstable. 
 Here the son labored as a farmer till he had reached 
 his twentieth year. He was fitted for college in six 
 months under the care of the Rev. Mr. Green of Barn- 
 stable. He went to college in 1750, bare-footed, car- 
 rying his shoes and stockings in his hand, and at the 
 examination had a dispute with one of the examiners 
 as to a Greek reading, in which he is said to have car- 
 ried his point. 
 
 After leaving college, he devoted himself to almost 
 every branch of science, though theology was his prin- 
 cipal study. History and politics, the physical sci- 
 ences and metaphysics, medicine and law, were all 
 subjects on which he was glad to improve every oppor- 
 tunity of gaining information; and the consequence was 
 that, though living in an obscure place, with few appli- 
 ances of learning within his reach and none to sym- 
 pathize with him in his pursuits, he proved himself, in 
 vigor and exactness of thought and in the variety and 
 
50 SAMUEL WEST 
 
 extent of the subjects which he mastered, inferior to 
 very few men of his time. 
 
 He was settled in 1761, on a salary of sixty-six 
 pounds, thirteen shillings, and sixpence. Besides this 
 seventeen members of the precinct bound themselves 
 to provide "the keeping one horse and two cows, win- 
 ters and summers, as they ought to be kept." But 
 the salary was not paid. In 1779 his circumstances 
 were "so deplorable as to demand immediate relief," 
 and a committee was appointed by the precinct to 
 procure firewood and corn for his family. In 1788 
 he represents the society as owing him seven hundred 
 and sixty-nine pounds, twelve shillings, and eleven pence, 
 and urges the payment of it. "My reasons for this 
 request," he says, "are, first, I owe money upon in- 
 terest which I cannot pay until the money due to me 
 be collected in. Secondly, I have suffered greatly for 
 the necessaries of life, especially in the article of cloth- 
 ing, for which I have been beholden to money obtained 
 from another quarter." These embarrassments were 
 somewhat relieved by a small patrimony and by the 
 kindness of his friends abroad. Among his own so- 
 ciety he found little intellectual sympathy. They were 
 a plain, industrious, uneducated people. A good 
 woman, who lived to be nearly a hundred years old, 
 told how he visited at the house where she was when 
 she was quite young. For tea baked apples and bread 
 were crumbled into a large pan of milk at the centre 
 of the table, and Dr. West and the grown-up members 
 of the household all ate together from the same bowl, 
 the doctor exhibiting no squeamishness at the mode 
 of procedure, but, as a faithful pastor should, setting 
 an edifying example of active diligence. 
 
 Dr. West was twice married: first, on the 7th of 
 March, 1768, to Experience, daughter of Consider 
 Howland, who became the mother of six children, and 
 
SAMUEL WEST 51 
 
 died March 6, 1789; and again, on the 20th of January, 
 1 790, to Louisa, widow of Benjamin Jenne, and daugh- 
 ter of Jacob Hathaway, of Dartmouth, who died March 
 18, 1797. There were no children by the second mar- 
 riage. Both Dr. West's wives were women of uncom- 
 mon excellence; and, if they knew little of the subjects 
 that most engaged his thoughts, they knew better than 
 he how to lengthen out the shortcomings of his income 
 into the means of a comfortable support. His first 
 wife was a tall woman, and in reference to that and 
 in connection with her Christian name he used to say 
 that he had "learned from long Experience that it was 
 a good thing to be married." 
 
 Dr. West was an ardent patriot. He could keep no 
 terms with those who were hesitating or lukewarm, but 
 blazed out against them. After the battle at Bunker 
 Hill he set out to join the American Army, and do 
 what he might as a minister of God to keep up their 
 courage. It was while in the army, serving as a chap- 
 lain, that he gained great notoriety by deciphering for 
 General Washington a treasonable letter from Dr. 
 Church to an officer in the British army, of which a full 
 account may be found in the third volume of Sparks's 
 Writings of Washington, pp. 502-506. In 1776 he de- 
 livered a discourse (afterwards printed) before the Pro- 
 vincial Convention at Watertown, and in December, 
 1777, he delivered the anniversary sermon at Plymouth. 
 All his learning, which was great, and his religious en- 
 thusiasm, were employed in behalf of his country. In 
 times of the greatest darkness he roused the spirits of 
 the people by showing that in the very events which 
 threw such a gloom over the country was the beginning 
 of the fulfilment of ancient prophecies, which must 
 eventually lead on to their deliverance. Before the 
 war began, he, from the Scriptures, predicted these 
 more trying times, and from the faithful accomplish- 
 
52 SAMUEL WEST 
 
 ment of those predictions in the darkest hour he looked 
 forward almost with exultation to the glorious fulfil- 
 ment of what yet remained, when this country, then 
 so harassed by war, should, to use his own words, "be 
 the place to which the persecuted in other nations shall 
 flee from the tyranny of their oppressors, and our Zion 
 shall become the delight and praise of the whole earth." 
 
 Father West, as he was always called at that time, 
 was an influential member of the Convention that 
 formed the Constitution of the State of Massachusetts, 
 and also of the Convention for the adoption of the 
 Constitution of the United States; and in this latter 
 Convention it was in no small measure through his 
 personal influence with Governor Hancock that that 
 distinguished man was persuaded to give his assent 
 to the adoption of the Federal Constitution. An in- 
 teresting account of this matter is contained in a letter 
 from the Hon. Francis Baylies, the historian of the 
 Plymouth Colony, to the Hon. John H. Clifford, of 
 New Bedford, from which the following account, 
 slightly condensed, is taken: — 
 
 "The fate of the Constitution in the convention was 
 doubtful, when Governor Hancock, without whose aid 
 it certainly could not be adopted, was seized with his 
 constitutional disorder, the gout, and, withdrawing 
 from the chair, took to his bed. The friends of the 
 Constitution were convinced of the necessity of getting 
 him out. Dr. West (who was Hancock's classmate at 
 Harvard) was selected as the person most likely to in- 
 fluence him. He repaired to his house, and after a 
 long condolence on the subject of his bodily complaints 
 he expressed his deep regrets that this affliction should 
 have come upon him at a moment when his presence 
 in the Convention seemed almost indispensable. He 
 enlarged upon his vast influence, his many acts of pa- 
 triotism, his coming forth in former days, at critical 
 
SAMUEL WEST 53 
 
 periods, to give new energy to the slumbering patriotism 
 of his countrymen, and on the prodigious effect of his 
 name. Heaven, he said, had given him another glorious 
 opportunity, by saving his country, to win imperishable 
 honor to himself. The whole people would follow his 
 footsteps with blessings. The governor, who knew 
 that Dr. West had always been his sincere and disin- 
 terested friend, listened to his suggestions, and made 
 up his mind to appear again in the Convention. 
 Wrapped in his flannels, he took the chair, addressed 
 the Convention, proposed the conciliatory plan sug- 
 gested by his friend, and the result is known. There 
 is little doubt that Hancock turned the scale in this 
 State in favor of the Constitution, and in my mind 
 there is little doubt that Dr. West induced him to do it. 
 
 "During the session of the Convention Dr. West 
 spent many of his evenings abroad. He generally re- 
 turned with his pockets filled with fine handkerchiefs, 
 silk stockings, silk gloves, small pieces of cambric, 
 and many other articles which could, without attract- 
 ing attention, be slipped into his pocket. His distress, 
 on discovering them, was ludicrous; for, aware of his 
 absence of mind, he supposed that he might have taken 
 these articles unconsciously and without the consent 
 of the owners, but his fellow-boarders generally con- 
 trived to convince him that they were designed as 
 presents, — which was the truth." 
 
 "I well remember," continues Mr. Baylies, "the 
 effect which the oddity of his manners produced; but 
 I was too young to appreciate the force and originality 
 of his conversation. Separate from metaphysics and 
 theology, he was a great man, and his great and uni- 
 versal knowledge, notwithstanding his eccentricity and 
 roughness, rendered his conversation always agreeable, 
 and sometimes delightful." 
 
 Dr. West's sympathies with humanity were too 
 
54 SAMUEL WEST 
 
 quick to make him a good Calvinist. His sermons 
 were largely of the old Biblical and textual type, but 
 theologically they were Unitarian in thought and tem- 
 per. He asserted free will for man in opposition 
 to the Calvinistic doctrine of preordination and elec- 
 tion, and he believed in man's ability of moral choice 
 in opposition to the doctrine of total depravity. In his 
 election sermon of 1776 he said, "A revelation pre- 
 tending to be from God that contradicts any part of 
 natural laws ought immediately to be rejected as an im- 
 posture, for the Deity cannot make a law contrary 
 to the law of nature without acting contrary to him- 
 self." In his Forefathers' Day sermon he said: "Love 
 and unity are the essential marks of a true Christian. 
 Were we possessed of true Christian candor, by a fair 
 and impartial comparison we should find that many 
 differences in explaining matters of faith are only 
 mere verbal differences, and entirely vanish when 
 we come to define our terms." It was natural that 
 under such a minister, broad and tolerant in spirit, 
 robust in thought, fervid in patriotism, incisive in logic, 
 inclusive in fellowship, that the society should pass 
 without break or discussion into the liberal ranks. 
 
 The great work of Jonathan Edwards on the Freedom 
 of the Will had been published some years when Dr. 
 West was ordained, and had an influence on the theol- 
 ogy of New England such as can be attributed to no 
 other work of the time. To the doctrines of this work 
 Dr. West never could assent. He believed that there 
 was a self-determining power in man. In opposition 
 to Edwards he wrote two remarkable pamphlets, in 
 which he argues the character of God from the Scrip- 
 tures, from reason itself and the moral accountability of 
 man. The first pamphlet was published in 1793, the 
 substance of the first part of it having been "penned 
 about twenty years." This being soon out of print, 
 
SAMUEL WEST 55 
 
 he republished it in 1795, together with a second part 
 containing four additional essays. 
 
 These studies must have had great influence on Dr. 
 West's preaching. His metaphysical investigations 
 must have colored all his thoughts. He usually 
 preached without notes, and was always prepared. 
 Once, when in Boston, during the latter part of his 
 life, he was invited by Dr. Clarke, of the First Church, 
 to preach for him. About an hour before the services 
 were to commence, Father West requested his friend 
 to give him a text. At this Dr. Clarke was alarmed, 
 and asked if it were possible that he was going to 
 preach without notes, and with no other preparation. 
 "Come, come," said Father West, "it is my way, give 
 me a text." Dr. Clarke selected Romans ix. 22. 
 ' 'What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make 
 his power known, endured with much long-suffering 
 the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction." Dr. West 
 looked over the Bible a few minutes, turning down 
 leaves here and there, and then went into the church, 
 where he preached a cogent, logical discourse, an hour 
 and twenty minutes long, on that perplexing subject. 
 The strong men of the congregation were intensely in- 
 terested, and Dr. Clarke, on coming from the pulpit, ex- 
 claimed, "Why, Father West, it would have taken me 
 three months to prepare such a discourse." "Ha, ha," 
 was the reply, "and I have been studying it twenty 
 years." 
 
 Many anecdotes of Dr. West have come down to us. 
 His friends would often meet him on his horse which 
 had stopped to feed by the roadside, the doctor with 
 his hands folded on his breast, and taking no notice 
 of them. He would sometimes follow the young men 
 who were studying theology with him to their bed- 
 chamber, and remain discoursing to them nearly the 
 whole night. He once met a friend, and told him that 
 
56 SAMUEL WEST 
 
 he and his wife were on their way to pay him a visit. 
 "Your wife," said his friend, "where is she ?" "Why," 
 replied the doctor, "I thought she was on the pillion 
 behind me." She had got ready to accompany him, 
 but was left behind. He would sometimes, at the 
 meeting-house, stop at the horse-block for his wife to 
 dismount, when she had been forgotten and was still 
 at home. • Once he went to mill, leading his horse, 
 and carrying the grist on his own shoulder. On being 
 asked by a friend in Boston if this were true, he said 
 with a laugh that it was too good a story to be spoiled, 
 and so he should not contradict it. 
 
 One Sunday there had been difficulty with the 
 singers, and they had given out that they should not 
 sing on the next Sunday. This was told to Dr. West. 
 "Well, well, we will see," he said, and on Sunday 
 morning gave out his hymn. After reading it, he said 
 very emphatically, "You will begin with the second 
 verse, — 
 
 'Let those refuse to sing 
 Who never knew our God.' " 
 
 Dr. Charles Lowell narrates these anecdotes of Dr. 
 West: "In those days it was the custom for ministers, 
 when travelling, to refresh themselves and their beasts 
 at the residences of such of their brethren as lived on 
 their route. One day, while I was living with Dr. 
 Sanger, a horse, saddled and bridled, came running 
 into the yard, and one of the family exclaimed: 'That 
 is Dr. West's horse. The doctor must be on the road, 
 and we must go back, and look for him.' One or two 
 of the boys, accordingly, mounted the horse, and rode 
 towards New Bedford. After a while they saw a dark 
 object in the middle of the sandy road, at some distance 
 beyond them. On arriving at the spot, they found it 
 was Dr. West, sitting in the middle of the road, appar- 
 
SAMUEL WEST $7 
 
 ently in deep thought, and taking no notice of any- 
 thing about him. 'Why, Dr. West, is this you?' was 
 the inquiry. 'How came you here in the road?' 
 'Yes, I suppose it is I, and I believe the beast has 
 thrown me,' was the reply. He was assisted on to 
 the horse, and conveyed to Dr. Sanger's, where he 
 stayed, as was his wont on his calls, a good many days, 
 exhibiting every now and then his fits of absence of 
 mind, to the no small amusement of us lads, and in- 
 deed of all who witnessed them. 
 
 "It might have been on this visit to Boston that a 
 circumstance occurred that was related to me by Dr. 
 Porter, of Roxbury. On a very rainy day one of Dr. 
 Porter's parishioners came in, and told him that there 
 was an elderly gentleman, apparently a clergyman, 
 sitting on the steps of the meeting-house; and he 
 thought it was proper for him to inform the doctor of 
 it, that, if he saw fit, he might ascertain who he was. 
 Dr. Porter, on arriving at the meeting-house, recog- 
 nized Dr. West as the minister who had seated himself 
 there, and expressed no small surprise at finding him 
 in such circumstances. 'Why,' said Dr. West, 'I 
 have a controversy, as I suppose you know, with 
 another man of my name in Stockbridge, who has 
 lately sent out a new pamphlet, and I have come down 
 here to consult some books; and, having got as far as 
 here, I remembered that my people had not had any 
 preaching for three weeks, and I sat down here to 
 think the matter over, whether I had better go on to 
 consult the library at Cambridge or go home to New 
 Bedford.' 'You can just as well think about that 
 by my fireside,' said Dr. Porter, 'and had better go 
 into my house and determine it there.' 'Well, well, 
 so I had, I believe.' So in he went, stayed there some 
 days, determined to go to Cambridge, notwithstanding 
 his people had been without preaching for three Sab- 
 
58 SAMUEL WEST 
 
 baths; and when he got back to resume his labors 
 among them I never learned." 
 
 In his old age reverses fell heavily on Dr. West. 
 He was a man of uncommon physical powers, six feet 
 high, and weighing two hundred pounds, but he had 
 absolutely neglected all concern for his bodily health. 
 He suffered nothing from this neglect until about his 
 seventieth year, when both mind and body fell into 
 quick decay. In 1787 he had lost a daughter, and the 
 impression made upon him by her death was never 
 effaced. He had buried two wives, and in the be- 
 reavement of his home had not near him the society 
 of men who could understand or sympathize with him 
 in the subjects that most engaged his thoughts. He 
 was imposed upon by a worthless man who contrived, 
 by actual experiment, to make him believe that he had 
 succeeded in turning salt water into fresh. He took 
 great pains to interest his friends in Boston in this 
 matter, and it was a heavy blow to his spirits when he 
 found that he had been deceived. He tried to pass it 
 off with a joke. " It requires," he said, " a great mind 
 to make a great mistake." A parishioner, taking ad- 
 vantage of his absence of mind, imposed upon him still 
 more seriously. He had nearly prepared for the press 
 a rejoinder to the work which President Edwards had 
 written in reply to his own, but the public interest was 
 gone, and his friends gave him no encouragement. 
 "These things," he said, "have disheartened and de- 
 stroyed me. I am now to be laid aside as useless. 
 My faculties will go." And it was so. He was more 
 than ever absent-minded. His memory failed, though 
 his intellect, when excited, retained much of its vigor. 
 He had preached the same sermon to his own people 
 three Sabbaths in succession, but no member of his 
 family was willing to distress him by telling him what 
 he had done. The fourth Sabbath his daughter saw, 
 
SAMUEL WEST 59 
 
 with a heavy heart, that he had his Bible open at the 
 same place, — the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. 
 Fortunately, he left the room for a minute. She opened 
 the Bible at another place, and put it back. When he 
 took up the book on his return, he seemed for a moment 
 lost, then fixed himself upon the passage to which she 
 had opened, and from that preached a discourse which, 
 to some of his people, seemed the ablest that he had 
 given for years. 
 
 But the time had come when he was to be released 
 from his parish labors. The terms of a friendly sepa- 
 ration were agreed upon, and he withdrew from his 
 labors in June, 1803. His last days were spent with 
 his son in Tiverton, and there on September 24, 1807, 
 the aged servant of God breathed his last. 
 
 The following is the list of Dr. West's publications: A Sermon preached at the Ordi- 
 nation of Samuel West at Needham, 1764; A Sermon preached before the Provincial 
 Convention at Watertown, 1776; A Sermon preached on the Day of the General Election, 
 1776; A Sermon preached on the Anniversary of the Landing of the Fathers at Plym- 
 outh, 1777; A Sermon at the Ordination of John Allyn at Duxbury, 1788; Essays on 
 Liberty and Necessity, in which the True Nature of Liberty is stated and defended, 
 and the Principal Arguments used by Mr. Edwards and Others for Necessity are con- 
 sidered, in Two Parts, the first printed in 1793, t ' le secon d in 1795; A Tract on Infant 
 Baptism. 
 
 For Dr. West's career consult D. Ricketson's History of New Bedford, pp. 275, 276, 
 and 318-320; William J. Potter's The First Congregational Society in New Bedford, 
 Mass.; L. B. Ellis's History of New Bedford and its Vicinity, 1602-1892, various 
 allusions in index; Cooke's Unitarianism in America, pp. 69, 70. 
 
 The foregoing sketch is condensed from a letter written to Dr. Sprague by the Rev. 
 John H. Morison. 
 
 After Dr. West's death the First Congregational Society in New Bedford had no 
 settled minister for ten years. Then followed two short ministries, and then in suc- 
 cession: Orville Dewey, 1825-34 (see Vol. III. p. 84); Joseph Angier, 1835-37 (see 
 Vol. IH. p. 256) ; Ephraim Peabody, 1838-45 (see Vol. in. p. 297) ; John H. Morison, 
 colleague, 1838-44 (see Vol. IH. p. 256); John Weiss, 1847-59 (see Vol. III. p. 376) ; 
 Charles Lowe, colleague, 1852-53 (see Vol. HI. p. 228); William J. Potter, 1859-93 
 (see Vol. IH. p. 303). 
 
6o JOSEPH PRIESTLEY 
 
 JOSEPH PRIESTLEY 
 i733-!8o5 
 
 Joseph Priestley was born at Fieldhead, about six 
 miles south-west of Leeds, Yorkshire, England, on the 
 13th of March (O.S.), 1733. His father was Jonas 
 Priestley, who followed the trade of a clothier. In his 
 early childhood he was committed to the care of his 
 maternal grandfather, with whom he continued, with 
 little interruption, till his mother's death, which oc- 
 curred when he was about seven years old. As his 
 father was encumbered with a large family, his father's 
 sister, who had no children, took him to live with her, 
 and adopted him as her own. She continued to treat 
 him as her child till her death, in 1764. 
 
 By this benevolent and excellent lady, who was in 
 easy circumstances, he was sent to several schools in 
 the neighborhood, and at the same time he was de- 
 voting such leisure as he could command to the study 
 of Hebrew, under the dissenting minister of the place, 
 Mr. Kirkby, who subsequently became his instructor 
 also in other branches. With these advantages he 
 had acquired a good knowledge of the languages at 
 the age of sixteen. As his health was poor, and it was 
 apprehended that he was of a consumptive habit, his 
 thoughts were directed to commercial life; and, with a 
 view to this, he learned French, Italian, and German 
 without a teacher. A plan had been formed for placing 
 him in the counting-house of an uncle who lived in 
 Lisbon, and everything was ready for the voyage, when 
 it was found that his health had so far improved that 
 it would be safe for him to return to his studies. He 
 was, accordingly, sent to Daventry Academy, to study 
 
JOSEPH PRIESTLEY 61 
 
 under the Rev. Caleb Ashworth. Here he spent three 
 years; and, though he had been educated in the Cal- 
 vinistic faith, he left the academy a thorough convert 
 to Arianism. 
 
 He entered the ministry at a great disadvantage in 
 consequence of a natural impediment in his speech, 
 and this, notwithstanding various efforts to effect a 
 cure, always continued, in a degree at least, till the 
 close of his life. On leaving the academy in 1 755, he 
 settled at Needham Market, in Suffolk, over a very 
 small congregation; but the fact that he was not ortho- 
 dox, when it came to be discovered, was offensive to 
 some of his people, while the impediment in his speech, 
 and his general lack of popular talents, rendered him 
 scarcely an acceptable preacher to the community at 
 large. Here he pursued his theological studies, and 
 quickly became satisfied "that the doctrine of atone- 
 ment, even in its most qualified sense, had no counte- 
 nance either from Scripture or reason"; and, in prose- 
 cuting his inquiries on this subject, he also reached the 
 conclusion that the apostle Paul's "reasoning was, in 
 many places, far from being conclusive." After being 
 at Needham just three years, he was invited to preach 
 to a congregation at Nantwich, in Cheshire; and he, 
 accordingly, removed thither in 1758. 
 
 At Nantwich he passed three years much to his 
 satisfaction. Besides performing the duties of a min- 
 ister, he engaged in teaching a school, and to the 
 more common branches of instruction he added ex- 
 periments in natural philosophy, to which he had 
 already become attached. 
 
 In 1 76 1 he was invited to become a tutor in languages 
 in the academy at Warrington, and here he first began 
 to acquire reputation as a writer in various branches 
 of literature. On a visit to London he became ac- 
 quainted with Dr. Franklin and several other persons 
 
6a JOSEPH PRIESTLEY 
 
 eminent in the scientific world, who encouraged him 
 to execute a plan he had already projected, of writing 
 his History of Electricity, which appeared in 1767. 
 This work passed through several editions. He had 
 the year before been elected a fellow of the Royal 
 Society, and about the same time the University of 
 Edinburgh conferred on him the degree of Doctor of 
 Laws. Though it was no part of his duty to preach, 
 while at Warrington, he chose to continue the prac- 
 tice. 
 
 In September, 1767, he left Warrington, and took 
 charge of the congregation of Mill Hill Chapel at 
 Leeds. Here he resumed his application to specula- 
 tive theology which had occupied him at Needham, 
 and which had been interrupted by the business of 
 teaching at Nantwich and Warrington. Soon after his 
 settlement here, he says in his memoir, "I became 
 what is called a Socinian, and, after giving the closest 
 attention to the subject, I have seen more and more 
 reason to be satisfied with that opinion to this day, 
 and likewise to be more impressed with the idea of its 
 importance." Here he announced the change in his 
 theological views in several different publications, and 
 also wrote a pamphlet or two designed to vindicate the 
 principles and conduct of dissenters. It was during 
 his residence at Leeds that his attention was directed 
 more particularly to the properties of fixed air. He 
 had begun his experiments on this subject in the year 
 1768, but his first publication appeared in 1772. Here 
 also he composed his "History and Present State of 
 Discoveries relating to Vision, Light, and Colors." 
 
 After a residence at Leeds of six years he accepted 
 an invitation from the Earl of Shelburne, afterwards 
 Marquis of Lansdowne, to reside with him, nominally 
 as a librarian, but really as a companion. Here he 
 was occupied chiefly in scientific pursuits, and in 1773 
 
JOSEPH PRIESTLEY 63 
 
 read a paper to the Royal Society on the different kinds 
 of air, which obtained the Copley medal. In 1774 Dr. 
 Priestley accompanied the earl on a tour to the Conti- 
 nent. They visited Flanders, Holland, and Germany, 
 and, after spending a month in Paris, returned to Eng- 
 land. This tour he highly valued as a means of both 
 gratification and improvement. 
 
 Dr. Priestley's publications during the next three or 
 four years brought out his peculiar views — especially 
 the doctrine of philosophical necessity — with great dis- 
 tinctness, and brought upon him a degree of obloquy 
 which evidently diminished the kind regard of his lord- 
 ship towards him. The result was that the connection 
 between them was, after seven years together, dis- 
 solved, the doctor retaining an annuity of a hundred 
 and fifty pounds, according to the original agreement. 
 
 Dr. Priestley removed to Birmingham, where he be- 
 came the minister of a Unitarian congregation. Here 
 he wrote his "History of the Corruptions of Christi- 
 anity" and his " History of the Early Opinions concern- 
 ing Jesus Christ." He published also "Familiar Let- 
 ters to the Inhabitants of Birmingham," designed to 
 support the claims of the dissenters for a repeal of the 
 Test Acts. These letters gave great offence, and on 
 the occasion of the celebration at Birmingham of the 
 anniversary of the French Revolution, on the 14th of 
 July, 1 791, a mob first burned the meeting-house in 
 which he preached, and afterwards his dwelling- 
 house, destroying his library, philosophical apparatus, 
 and, so far as they could, everything that belonged to 
 him. One hundred years afterwards Birmingham 
 erected a monument to him at the place of this riot, 
 and a statue of him was set up by the University of 
 Oxford, once his relentless foe. 
 
 Dr. Priestley repaired to London, where he found 
 friends ready to welcome him. In a short time he was 
 
64 JOSEPH PRIESTLEY 
 
 invited to succeed Dr. Price as minister at the Gravel 
 Pit Meeting-house at Hackney. In this situation he 
 found himself, in many respects, easy and comfortable; 
 and he not only had every advantage for pursuing his 
 philosophical and theological inquiries, but was par- 
 ticularly happy in an intimacy with Mr. Lindsey and 
 Mr. Belsham, two of the most eminent Unitarian min- 
 isters of the day. He was, however, still, to a great 
 extent, an object of public odium, and the feeling of 
 opposition was not allayed, but intensified, by several 
 of his publications at this period, and he finally made 
 up his mind to cross the ocean, and spend the rest of 
 his days in America. At the time of his leaving Eng- 
 land, in April, 1794, several English emigrants had 
 formed a project for a large settlement for the friends 
 of liberty near the head of the Susquehanna, in Penn- 
 sylvania. Presuming that this scheme was to go into 
 effect, after landing at New York, on the 4th of June, 
 he proceeded immediately to Philadelphia, and thence 
 to Northumberland, the town nearest to the proposed 
 settlement, intending to reside there until some prog- 
 ress should be made in it. The settlement was given 
 up; but, as he liked the place, he determined to take 
 up his residence there, and there he remained during 
 the residue of his life.* 
 
 * The Birmingham riots and the example of Dr. Priestley led to 
 the coming to America of several English liberals. Prominent 
 among them was William Wells, who was bom at Biggleswade, 
 Bedfordshire, England, in the year 1744. His father died while he 
 was yet an infant, and his mother when he was in his ninth year. 
 The Christian ministry was his early choice, and in the year 1766 
 he went to the academy at Daventry, then under the care of the Rev. 
 Mr. Caleb Ashworth, the immediate successor of Dr. Doddridge. 
 This academy was then in high repute among the dissenters. The 
 students were numerous, and many of them subsequently much dis- 
 tinguished. Drs. Kippis, Enfield, and Priestley had been students, 
 and Thomas Belsham and Samuel Palmer were fellow-students 
 with Wells. 
 
JOSEPH PRIESTLEY 65 
 
 Though Dr. Priestley was highly esteemed by the 
 people of Northumberland, not only for his great in- 
 telligence, but for his many private virtues, yet his 
 theological views differed so essentially from theirs that 
 it was impossible for him to exercise his ministry there 
 except on a very small scale. About a dozen English- 
 men who resided there at the time were accustomed 
 to meet on Sunday, at his house or the house of his 
 son; and, as the number increased, he made use of a 
 school-room in the neighborhood, and so many ulti- 
 mately attended that he administered to them the 
 Lord's Supper. 
 
 In the spring of 1796 he spent three months at Phila- 
 delphia, and delivered there a series of discourses on 
 the Evidences of Divine Revelation, which were at- 
 tended by crowded audiences, including most of the 
 members of Congress and of the executive officers of 
 the government. This visit resulted in the organization 
 of the First Unitarian Society of Philadelphia, which 
 after many years of isolation, prospered under the min- 
 istry of Dr. Furness and his successors. The next 
 spring he repeated his visit to Philadelphia, and deliv- 
 ered a second series of discourses. 
 
 In the spring of 1801 he again spent some time in 
 Philadelphia, and during his stay there had a violent 
 
 He was settled at Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, in the year 1770. 
 In January following he married Jane, a daughter of the Rev. James 
 Hancox, of Dudley. Her cheerful and steady temper was of the 
 greatest advantage to her husband, who, like all men of ardent tem- 
 perament, though habitually cheerful, had occasionally intervals of 
 depression. 
 
 During the events which preceded the American Revolution he 
 took a strong interest in favor of the colonies. He was never an agi- 
 tator, but expressed his opinions with freedom. He exerted himself 
 in collecting subscriptions for the relief of the American prisoners. 
 When Mr. Laurens, upon his liberation from the Tower, passed 
 through Bromsgrove on his way to Bristol, he inquired for Mr. 
 Wells, stating that he wished to return his own and his country's 
 
66 JOSEPH PRIESTLEY 
 
 attack of fever, from the effects of which he never 
 afterwards fully recovered. He subsequently suffered, 
 also, at different times from the fever and ague; but, 
 notwithstanding these inroads upon his constitution, 
 his spirits continued good, and he pursued his various 
 studies with nearly his accustomed vigor. On Febru- 
 ary 6, 1804, he passed away so gently that the moment 
 of his departure could not be exactly ascertained. 
 
 Dr. Priestley was married in 1 763 to Mary, daughter 
 of Isaac Wilkinson, an iron-master near Wrexham, in 
 Wales, with whose family he became acquainted in 
 consequence of having the youngest son at his school 
 at Nantwich. They had four children, — three sons and 
 one daughter. 
 
 Priestley is chiefly remembered as the man of sci- 
 ence, who discovered the most abundant and most 
 potent element in the world, oxygen. Though un- 
 trained in the processes of chemical investigation, 
 he had a natural aptitude for delicate experiments, 
 and he directed his inquiries by a quick and keen im- 
 agination and with rare logical ability. With very 
 simple apparatus he discovered and described for the first 
 time nine gases, and made known many of the prop- 
 erties of nitrogen and hydrogen. He was the first to 
 draw attention to the acid compound formed by the 
 
 thanks to him for this service. Mr. Wells was then absent, but Mr. 
 Laurens sent a message to this purport to Mrs. Wells. 
 
 Besides the care of his parish and the cultivation of a small farm, 
 Mr. Wells taught in his house several boys from dissenting fam- 
 ilies, some of whom became attached friends. He commonly rose 
 at four o'clock, and in the tardy mornings of an English winter his 
 candle might be seen three hours before daylight. At the academy 
 and in early life he was a hard student, and, though he never claimed 
 the reputation of a learned man, he had read much and carefully. 
 It is not too much' to say that at that time the education of the 
 dissenting ministers under Dr. Doddridge and his contemporaries 
 and successors was far superior to that commonly acquired at the 
 universities. 
 
JOSEPH PRIESTLEY 67 
 
 electric discharge through enclosed air, and he was 
 the first to catch a glimpse of that wonder-circle of 
 life by which animals and plants nourish one another 
 in the simple act of living. A greater distinction of 
 Priestley is, however, to be found in the fact that 
 he solved the great questions of science as they pre- 
 sented themselves to him without losing his Christian 
 faith. Men of science often find their occupation 
 so absorbing that they fail to reap the happiness that 
 comes of cultivating the life of the spirit. Priestley 
 thought for himself in religion as in science, believed 
 in immortality, and was very sure of God. He valued, 
 as he tells us, his success in the field of science chiefly 
 because it won for him a wider hearing as a Christian 
 teacher. 
 
 "The mind of Priestley," said Dr. C. C. Everett, 
 "was active, sincere, and transparent. He was happy 
 in the time when he lived. It was a time when men 
 were just beginning to feel the special intellectual life 
 which marked the progress of the nineteenth century. 
 The intellectual field was, however, as yet so narrow 
 that one mind could be reasonably familiar with it all." 
 In science, in political economy, in history, in Bibli- 
 cal study, in theology, he made his power felt. Dr. 
 Martineau has said that the list of his works reads 
 
 While at Bromsgrove Mr. Wells saw with concern the calamities 
 of the poor arising from the small-pox. His own relatives had suffered 
 severely from this dreadful scourge. At that period inoculation 
 was little known or practised in the middle parts of England. He 
 was so sensible of its value that he inoculated his own children, — 
 a proceeding which occasioned much surprise and some disappro- 
 bation. Success, however, produced applications for help; and for 
 two years his time was much occupied with riding about the country, 
 inoculating, supplying the necessary medicines and advice to the sick. 
 
 In 1 791 the Birmingham riots happened. Mr. Wells's house was 
 threatened, and his meeting-house escaped destruction only by an 
 accident. All sorts of absurd calumnies were circulated about the 
 dissenters, and men of the most blameless and retired lives were 
 
68 JOSEPH PRIESTLEY 
 
 like the prospectus of an encyclopaedia. His literary 
 work was immense. At the time of the destruction 
 of his house it is said that the mob waded knee-deep 
 in the fragments of torn manuscripts. Every cir- 
 cumstance of his life set him to some new task. If 
 he was teaching, forthwith treatises on grammar and 
 history flowed from his pen. If he lived by the side 
 of a brewery, he investigated gases. An acquaint- 
 ance with Franklin moved him to undertake the his- 
 tory of electrical discovery. In all his work he was 
 guided by simple love of truth. It never occurred 
 to him to conceal any convictions that he had. He 
 boldly proclaimed himself a Unitarian, though a less 
 objectionable word would probably have defined his 
 theological position just as well. It is his privilege 
 to be remembered in two widely different capacities, 
 as the scientist who helped to prepare the way for the 
 new chemistry and as the theologian who was largely 
 instrumental in the establishment of Unitarianism 
 in England and America." 
 
 The following description of him in his American 
 home was written by one of his Pennsylvania neigh- 
 bors, Hugh Bellas, Esq.: "The personal appearance 
 of Dr. Priestley, when I first saw him, was that of an 
 aged gentleman, of about five feet nine inches, dressed 
 
 accused of forming wicked conspiracies. From early life Mr. Wells 
 had taken great interest in the history of New England, and twelve 
 years before he emigrated had visited Bristol to make inquiries. This 
 crisis of outrage and persecution clinched his decision to follow Dr. 
 Priestley to America. 
 
 He arrived at Boston with his wife and eight children, June 12, 
 1793. The next year he bought a farm at Brattleboro, Vt., where 
 he lived until his death, December 27, 1827. It is remarkable that 
 fifty-one years after their arrival in America all his children were alive 
 and in health. His son, William Wells, graduated at Harvard, was 
 a teacher and bookseller in Boston, and for thirty years the head 
 of a classical school for boys at Cambridge. 
 
 Mr. Wells was invited, after some time, to become the pastor of the 
 
JOSEPH PRIESTLEY 69 
 
 in black, with a white stock, walking perfectly erect. 
 He usually moved rapidly and acted earnestly when 
 he was engaged in business, whether in his house or 
 in the street; but he often took a deliberate evening's 
 walk for recreation in the summer. He has been an 
 active pedestrian in England, for he told me he had 
 walked there, in a morning, twenty miles before break- 
 fast. He rode very well on horseback, though not 
 frequently, and I was informed that he had been ac- 
 customed to that kind of exercise with the fine horses 
 of the Earl of Shelburne while he lived with him. He 
 usually spoke somewhat rapidly in a tenor tone of voice, 
 without marked impediment, unless under excitement, 
 and then his utterance was but slightly affected. 
 
 "Near and in front of Dr. Priestley, as he sat in his 
 library, hung the portraits of his friends, Dr. Price 
 and the Rev. Theophilus Lindsey. Some of his meta- 
 physical arguments against the speculations of the 
 former were written in the same apartment, and in 
 perfect friendship they submitted to each other their 
 opposing manuscripts before they sent them off to the 
 press. It was of Mr. Lindsey that, on leaving Eng- 
 land, Dr. Priestley wrote that 'without his society the 
 world would seem to him, for some time at least, almost 
 a blank.' 
 
 society in Brattleboro, but declined. He foresaw that his farm and his 
 large family would occupy much of his time, and felt that he should 
 be more independent in action, and perhaps not less useful, than if 
 he became the pastor. He agreed, however, to perform the functions 
 of that office, and accepted what remuneration the town might vote. 
 He was annually chosen for about twenty years. Few ministers 
 devoted themselves more to the improvement of their people. 
 
 As a preacher, he laid little stress upon the differences of Protes- 
 tants. He had his own opinions, but he thought real religion — the 
 religion of the heart and of the life — the one thing needful. He was 
 ardent and unshaken in his zeal for the right of private judgment, 
 and would never subject himself to or aid in imposing upon others 
 any creed or article of faith. 
 
7° JOSEPH PRIESTLEY 
 
 "To all with whom he had intercourse, and especially 
 to young persons, whatever might be their standing in 
 society, he showed much kindness. I went into an old 
 shoemaker's shop one morning, about two years after 
 the doctor came to this country, and saw upon his 
 bench a small volume, which I took up, and found to 
 be the first volume of Dr. Priestley's 'Institutes of 
 Natural and Revealed Religion.' The old man said 
 the doctor had given it to him as a present, and both 
 he and his wife spoke warmly of his friendly and 
 benevolent disposition, and reprobated, in no very 
 moderate terms, those who condemned him, without, 
 as they supposed, knowing his opinions. 
 
 "Dr. Priestley's uncommon urbanity and graceful- 
 ness of manners, as well as his intellectual qualities, 
 made him welcome to the most refined and cultivated 
 society. He was always cheerful and courteous, his 
 fair and expressive countenance beaming with benevo- 
 lent excitement, and his full blue eyes frequently 
 moistened from sensibility. One morning a venerable 
 and strict Presbyterian, old Mr. Montgomery, described 
 in my hearing the various persons who had been with 
 him the preceding evening at a little social party, in 
 some friend's house, and, after mentioning others, said, 
 'And we had the old doctor among us, with all the be- 
 nevolence of a primitive apostle.' 
 
 At the age of seventy-four he made a voyage to England, being 
 especially desirous to see his eldest daughter, who had been long 
 married and settled in her native country. He passed somewhat 
 more than a year abroad, visiting the scenes of his youth and former 
 life, and renewing such intimacies as time had spared. Every one 
 was surprised at the accuracy of his memory and at the activity, 
 energy, and vivacity of his manners and inquiries. His account of 
 these observations was an amusement to himself, and highly inter- 
 ested his family and friends during the remainder of his life. While 
 abroad, he received, very unexpectedly, the degree of Doctor of 
 Divinity from Harvard University. 
 
JOSEPH PRIESTLEY 71 
 
 "The doctor conducted family worship in the morn- 
 ing in his library, reading the prayers in a standing 
 posture. About the year 1799 he commenced preach- 
 ing in a school-house, an humble log building near his 
 dwelling, to an audience of fifteen, twenty, or more. 
 There he administered the Lord's Supper, handing the 
 bread and wine to his little grandchildren as well as 
 to any other who chose to partake. A person to whom 
 he gave the elements carried them round to those 
 present who were seated. On at least some of these 
 occasions he was much moved, — the tears ran down 
 his cheeks, and his voice struggled for utterance. Dur- 
 ing public worship he wore the black silk gown, and, 
 after reading the hymn, joined in singing, keeping 
 before him the notes of the tune in his music book. 
 
 "He was disposed to place full confidence in those 
 with whom he transacted business. As he never took 
 the trouble of learning to count our currency, he handed 
 his money, when he made his little purchases in the 
 stores, saying, 'There, Mr. C, you will give me the 
 proper change, for I do not know it.' 
 
 "In the year 1802. a young gentleman from New 
 England, making a tour for health or pleasure, called 
 upon the doctor, and I soon after inquired who his 
 visitor was. He told me, but I cannot recollect his 
 name, and added, with no little confidence and ani- 
 mation : ' A great change is about to take place in New 
 England in favor of Unitarianism. I shall not live 
 to see it, but you may.'" 
 
 The list of Dr. Priestley's writings would cover pages. Beginning in 1761, and in- 
 cluding his posthumous works, he published nearly two hundred books, pamphlets, 
 tracts, and articles in periodicals. The list of these works, arranged chronologically, 
 can be found in Volume II. of Rutt's Life and Correspondence of Joseph Priestley 
 and, arranged by subjects, in Volume II. of Cooper's Memoirs of Dr. Priestley. Avery 
 complete list is given in the original volume of Sprague's Annals. The following is 
 a fairly complete list of books and articles about Priestley and his work: William 
 Cobbett's Observations on the Emigration of Joseph Priestley, etc., 1794; William 
 Christie's Speech at the Grave of Rev. Joseph Priestley, 1804; Thomai Belsham's 
 
7^ JOSEPH PRIESTLEY 
 
 Discourse on the Death of Rev. Joseph Priestley, 1804; John Edwards's Sermon oa 
 the Death of Joseph Priestley, 1804; John Corry's Life of Joseph Priestley, 1804; 
 Memoirs of Dr. Joseph Priestley to the Year 1805, written by himself, with a Con- 
 tinuation to the Time of his Decease, by his Son, 1806; J. Allan's Memoir of Joseph 
 Priestley, in Lucy Aikin's Memoir of John Aikin, M.D., 1823, vol. i. pp. 366-394; 
 William Jones's A Small Whole-length of Dr. Priestley, in his Theological and Mis- 
 cellaneous Works, 1826, vol. vi. pp. 297-343; Baron Cuvier's Biographical Memoir 
 of Dr. Joseph Priestley, in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, July-Septem- 
 ber, 1827, vol. iii. pp. 209-231 ; J. T. Rutt's Life and Correspondence of Joseph Priest- 
 ley, two volumes, 1831; E. B. Hall's Review of Rutt's Life, in the Christian Exami- 
 ner, May, 1832, and May, 1834, vol. xii. pp. 257-276, and vol. xvi. pp. 137-168; An 
 Estimate of the Philosophical Character of Dr. Priestley, by William Henry, in the 
 American Journal of Science and Arts (Silliman's), 1833, vol. xxiv. pp. 28-39; Henry 
 Ware, Jr.'s, Memoir, prefixed to Dr. Priestley's View of Christian Truth, etc., 1834, 
 pp. vii-lxxx; William Turner, Jr.'s, Lives of Eminent Unitarians, 1843, vol. ii. pp. 
 438-452; Henry, Lord Brougham's Priestley, in his Lives of Philosophers of the 
 Time of George HI., 1855, pp. 68-90; F. Jeffrey's Review of the Memoirs of Dr. 
 Joseph Priestley, in his Contributions to the Edinburgh Review, 1856, pp. 492-496; 
 Joseph Priestley and Unitarianism in England, in the Monthly Religious Magazine, 
 November, 1864, and January, 1865, vol. xxxii. pp. 318-326, and vol. xxxiii. pp. 33- 
 42; H. D. Catlin's Notes of Dr. Priestley, in the Unitarian Review, September, 1874, 
 vol. ii. pp. 182-191; T. H. Huxley's Essay on Joseph Priestley, in his Science and 
 Culture, 1881, pp. 94-127, also in his Science and Education, 1893, pp. 1-37; The 
 Priestley Memorial at Birmingham, 1874; H. D. Catlin, Joseph Priestley, in the 
 Unitarian Review, January, 1881, vol. xv. pp. 1-19; Francis Hitchman's Joseph 
 Priestley, in his Eighteenth Century Studies, 1881, pp. 304-333; George Dawson's Life 
 of Dr. Priestley, in his Biographical Lectures, 1886; Joseph May's Joseph Priestley, 
 a discourse, 1888; James Martineau's Essays, Reviews, and Addresses, 1890, pp. 
 1-42; Scientific Correspondence of Joseph Priestley, with copious biographical, etc., 
 notes (edited by H. C. Bolton), 1892, p. 240; review of Bolton's Scientific Cor- 
 respondence of Joseph Priestley, in The Nation, April 27, 1893, vol. lvi. pp. 318, 
 319; Alex. Gordon's Lecture on Priestley, in his Heads of English Unitarian History, 
 1895, pp. 102-134; B. R. Belloc's Joseph Priestley in Domestic Life, in her In a 
 Walled Garden, 1896, pp. 25-63; Leon H. Vincent's The Autobiography of a Fair- 
 minded Man, in The Bibliotaph, 1898, pp. 165-191; B. W. Richardson's Joseph 
 Priestley, etc., in his Disciples of jEsculapius, iqoi.pp. 344-361; C.C.Everett's 
 Joseph Priestley: The Old Unitarian and the New, in his Immortality, and Other 
 Essays, 1902, pp. 97-137. 
 
 The foregoing sketch of Dr. Priestley was derived by Dr. Sprague chiefly from 
 the Memoir by himself and his son and from the article in Chalmer's Biographical 
 Dictionary. The note on Dr. Wells is abridged from the letter sent to Dr. Sprague 
 by Williams Wells, Esq., of Cambridge. 
 
HENRY CUMMINGS n 
 
 HENRY CUMMINGS 
 
 i737" l8 23 
 
 AND HIS NEIGHBORS 
 
 Henry Cummings was born in Tyngsboro, Mass., 
 September 25, 1737. While he was yet in his infancy, 
 his parents removed to Hollis, N.H. His father, who 
 was in moderate circumstances and of excellent char- 
 acter, died when this son was about eight years old, 
 leaving a family of several children, of whom Henry 
 was the eldest. His mother was distinguished for 
 earnest, active piety and remarkable strength of char- 
 acter. 
 
 Henry gave early indications of an uncommonly 
 vigorous mind, and attracted the attention of his min- 
 ister, the Rev. Daniel Emerson,* as a youth of so much 
 promise as to justify some extraordinary efforts to give 
 him a college education. Accordingly, he volunteered 
 to superintend his course of study preparatory to en- 
 tering college. In 1756 he entered at Cambridge, and, 
 having maintained through his whole course a high 
 standing for both scholarship and moral conduct, grad- 
 uated in 1760. 
 
 He then accepted an invitation from a gentleman 
 in Boston to live in his family and prosecute his theo- 
 logical studies. In the autumn of 1762 Mr. Cum- 
 mings was employed to preach as a candidate at Bille- 
 
 * Daniel Emerson was born in Reading, Mass., May 17, 1716; was 
 graduated at Harvard College in 1739; was ordained at Hollis, N.H., 
 April 20, 1743; received Eli Smith as his colleague November 27, 
 1793; and died on the 30th of September, 1801, aged eighty-five years, 
 greatly beloved and honored. 
 
74 HENRY CUMMINGS 
 
 rica, Mass., and on the 18th of November received a 
 united call from the church and the town to become 
 their pastor. He accepted the call, and was ordained 
 and installed January 26, 1763. The sermon on the 
 occasion was preached by his friend and benefactor, 
 the Rev. Daniel Emerson, from Hebrews xiii. 17. 
 Even at the time of his settlement he regarded his 
 preparation for the ministry as altogether inadequate, 
 and he was often heard to say that he entered on his 
 profession, and then fitted for it. He devoted himself 
 to his studies with great assiduity, and became espe- 
 cially proficient in the Hebrew language, which he 
 could not only read with fluency, but write with con- 
 siderable ease. 
 
 During the Revolution Mr. Cummings showed him- 
 self an earnest friend of his country's independence. 
 He labored, both in the pulpit and out of it, to diffuse 
 the patriotic spirit, and strengthen the hands of those 
 on whom the direction of the public concerns more 
 immediately devolved. In 1783 he preached the an- 
 nual sermon before the legislature, — a sermon charac- 
 terized by the most enlightened views of civil govern- 
 ment. The people of Billerica testified their appre- 
 ciation of his knowledge and good judgment in civil 
 matters by electing him a delegate to the Convention 
 which framed the Constitution of Massachusetts. 
 
 In the year 1795 he preached the annual sermon 
 before the Convention of Ministers in Massachusetts, 
 and the same year delivered the Dudleian Lecture in 
 Harvard College. In 1800 his Alma Mater conferred 
 upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. 
 
 In February, 1813, on the completion of half a cen- 
 tury from the time of his settlement, he preached a 
 sermon in which he briefly reviewed his ministry, and 
 intimated a wish to retire from the active duties of his 
 office. In January, 1814, the Rev. Nathaniel Whit- 
 
HENRY CUMMINGS 75 
 
 man * was ordained and installed as colleague pastor 
 of the church. Though Dr. Cummings occasionally 
 preached after this, yet he preferred, for the most part, 
 to be a silent worshipper. He had naturally an ath- 
 letic and vigorous constitution, but old age gradually 
 made its inroads upon him. He died, in the utmost 
 calmness, on the 5th of September, 1823. A sermon 
 was preached at his funeral by the Rev. Wilkes Allen, t 
 of Chelmsford, from 2 Samuel iii. 38, — "A great man 
 is fallen this day in Israel." 
 
 Dr. Cummings was married May 19, 1763, to Ann 
 Lambert, of South Reading. She died January 5, 
 1784. He was married November 14, 1788, to Mar- 
 garet Briggs, who died June 2, 1790. He was married 
 September 20, 1791, to Sarah, daughter of the Rev. 
 Ebenezer Bridge,^ of Chelmsford, and the eldest of 
 thirteen children. She died February 25, 1812. He 
 had five children, all by the first marriage. 
 
 Dr. Cummings may be regarded as the Unitarian 
 
 * Nathaniel Whitman was born at East Bridgewater, Mass., 
 December 25, 1785, one of the fourteen children of Deacon John 
 Whitman. He graduated at Harvard in 1809, studied theology, 
 and taught for two years at Bowdoin College, and was ordained at 
 Billerica, a colleague to Dr. Cummings, January 26, 1814. He 
 resigned in 1835, having been sole pastor for twelve years. He was 
 afterwards minister for five years at Wilton, N.H., for three years 
 at Calais, Me., and for eight years (1844-52) at East Bridgewater, 
 his native town. He died at Deerfield, Mass., October 29, 1869. 
 
 f Wilkes Allen was born in Sterling, Mass.; was graduated at Har- 
 vard College in 1801 ; was ordained pastor of the church in Chelmsford, 
 November 16, 1803; and died in 1845. He published a Thanksgiving 
 discourse entitled "Divine Favors gratefully Recollected," 1810, 
 and a History of Chelmsford, Mass., to which is added a Memoir of 
 the Pawtucket Tribe of Indians, 1820. 
 
 t Ebenezer Bridge was bom in Boston; was graduated at Harvard 
 College in 1736; was ordained minister of Chelmsford, May 20, 1741; 
 and died October, 1792, aged seventy-eight. He published the 
 Massachusetts Artillery Election Sermon, 1752, and the Massachu- 
 setts Election Sermon, 1767. 
 
76 HENRY CUMMINGS 
 
 pioneer in the country towns of Middlesex County and 
 Essex County. He was the leader of a group of liberal 
 ministers, which included such well-known ministers 
 as Dr. Eaton, 1 of Boxford, Dr. Packard, 2 of Chelms- 
 ford, Mr. Mottey, 3 of Lynnfield, and Dr. Symmes, 4 
 of North Andover. 
 
 "Dr. Cummings," wrote the Rev. Joseph Richard- 
 son, of Hingham, "was a fine specimen of physical, 
 mental, and moral nobility. His frame was large and 
 well proportioned. His countenance evinced a high 
 order of intelligence and dignity. His air and manner 
 assured you that you were in the company of no ordi- 
 nary man. His fine social qualities rendered him a 
 most agreeable companion. His sympathy and kind- 
 ness he did not withhold even from the most unworthy. 
 His public discourses were characterized by great bold- 
 ness of style, and were delivered with a voice of very 
 considerable power. My impression is that he had 
 not a correct ear for music; but he delighted in the in- 
 spiring thoughts of the best poets, ancient and modern. 
 No matter what subject might engage his attention, 
 the movements of his mind were always sure, strong, 
 and every way well adapted. 
 
 " Of the extent of his influence in the Church at large 
 some idea may be formed from the fact that he was 
 a member and moderator of a greater number of eccle- 
 siastical councils than perhaps any other minister of 
 his day. He was an earnest patriot, and zealously 
 devoted to the cause of the American Revolution and 
 of our National Independence and Union. It may be 
 mentioned, as an evidence of the high attainments 
 and character of Dr. Cummings, that, previous to 
 the election of Dr. Willard to the presidency of Har- 
 vard College, he had been named by a number of 
 influential individuals as a candidate for that office; 
 but he declined the nomination." 
 
HENRY CUMMINGS 77 
 
 His colleague, the Rev. Nathaniel Whitman, wrote: — 
 " One of the most prominent traits of Dr. Cummings's 
 character was his inflexible adherence to general rules. 
 He used often to say to me that one of the great de- 
 ficiencies among Christians was their making excep- 
 tions to general rules too easily, and without a wise 
 consideration of consequences. 
 
 "Let me illustrate: To accommodate the aged mem- 
 bers of the church, he proposed, soon after his ordi- 
 nation, to omit the communion service in the winter 
 season, and to increase the number of communion 
 occasions in the pleasanter parts of the year. But the 
 aged members said, 'No, we want the communion in 
 the winter as well as the summer.' A short time after 
 this the communion happened on a Sabbath which 
 was extremely stormy and uncomfortable. The deacon 
 called upon him in the morning, and said: 'You will, 
 of course, sir, postpone the communion. Nobody can 
 get to meeting to-day.' His answer was : 'No, the com- 
 munion will not be postponed. They have deliberately 
 decided that they will have the communion during the 
 winter season. That is our rule, and I shall conform 
 to it.' He would sometimes be requested to shorten 
 the afternoon exercises on the Sabbath on account of 
 a funeral which was to succeed them; but his answer 
 would be, unless special reasons forbade: 'No, I shall 
 not subordinate the established worship of God to 
 such arrangements. You will soon want me to dis- 
 pense with the afternoon service altogether on such 
 occasions. I see no reason in such a request. We 
 must maintain the regular worship. I will be at the 
 funeral in good season.' A few days before his death 
 he said to his grand-daughters who had the care of 
 him: 'Is the house ready ? I wish everything to be ar- 
 ranged, so that, when the solemn scene shall come, 
 you may be able to be still and meditate.' 
 
78 HENRY CUMMINGS 
 
 " Dr. Cummings was remarkable for the impartiality 
 of his friendship towards all his people, as well as for 
 the dexterous manner in which he sometimes mani- 
 fested it. It was customary, at an early period in the 
 history of the town, to hold the town meeting during 
 the whole day. They would organize in the forenoon, 
 and those living in the middle of the large town (as 
 its boundaries then were) were accustomed to invite 
 to dinner those who lived at a distance, and the min- 
 ister used to practise the same civility in this respect 
 as his neighbors. On one of these occasions, when 
 he had a number of his parishioners sitting around his 
 table, one of them, evidently with a view to exalt him- 
 self in the estimation of his minister, began to speak 
 in a sort of confidential manner to him, to the dis- 
 paragement of certain of his parishioners who were 
 not present. The doctor turned round, with great 
 dignity and sternness, and thus addressed his mistaken 
 guest: T invited you to dine with me to-day as a friend 
 to me, and not as a slanderer of any of my people, 
 all of whom I consider my friends.' The reproof had 
 the desired effect." 
 
 ' Peter Eaton (1765-1848), a son of Joseph and Sarah (Webster) 
 Eaton, was born at Haverhill, Mass., March 25, 1765. His ancestors 
 for several generations had cultivated the same farm on which he was 
 born; and his great-grandfather was killed by the Indians, near his 
 own dwelling, in 1697. He commenced his preparation for college 
 under the Rev. Phineas Adams, but finished it at Phillips Academy, 
 Andover, of which he was among the earliest pupils; and he is said 
 to have enjoyed in a high degree the confidence and good will of its 
 first principal, Eliphalet Pearson. In 1783 he entered Harvard 
 College, where he held a high rank as a scholar during his whole 
 course, and was graduated in 1787. The year before he graduated 
 Dr. Pearson accepted a professorship at Cambridge, and it was a 
 source of high gratification to young Eaton that his relation to him 
 as a pupil was thereby renewed. 
 
 On leaving college, he taught a school for one year in Woburn, 
 and then passed some time in the study of theology under the direction 
 
HENRY CUMMINGS 79 
 
 of the Rev. Mr. Adams. Having received license to preach, he 
 preached his first sermon in Boxford on the loth of January, 1789; 
 and he was ordained to the work of the ministry and installed as 
 the pastor of that church on the 7th of October following. The 
 sermon on the occasion was preached by the Rev. Phineas Adams 
 from Philippians ii. 29. 
 
 Mr. Eaton, according to the custom of the time, was settled upon 
 a small salary (eighty pounds), with the additional consideration of 
 a hundred and eighty pounds, which he received as a "settlement." 
 Finding his salary inadequate to meet the necessities of his family, 
 he made a formal request in 1805 that he might be employed as a 
 teacher in one of the district schools within the limits of his parish, 
 whereupon his people, waking up to the urgency of the case, voted 
 an addition to his salary of one hundred dollars; and this they con- 
 tinued to do nearly every year until his relation to them as pastor 
 was dissolved. 
 
 In 1819 Mr. Eaton preached the annual sermon before the legis- 
 lature of Massachusetts, and in 1820 was honored with the degree of 
 Doctor of Divinity from Harvard College. 
 
 Dr. Eaton continued in the diligent discharge of his duties as 
 pastor until the year 1845, when he resigned his pastoral charge, 
 though he retained a nominal connection with his people till the close 
 of life. This measure was not the result of any diminution of at- 
 tachment on either side; for, while he cherished a warm affection for 
 them till the close of life, they followed him with their demonstra- 
 tions of tender regard. He removed with his family to the South 
 Parish in Andover, where he remained till the close of his life. He 
 died of lung fever on the 14th of April, 1848, aged eighty-three 
 years. 
 
 He was married on the 12th of September, 1792, to Sally, daugh- 
 ter of the Rev. Eliab Stone, of Reading. She died on the 12th of 
 January, 1824. He was subsequently married to a widow lady, 
 formerly of Salem, who survived him. He had six children, — four 
 sons and two daughters, — all by the first marriage. 
 The Rev. Nathaniel Whitman wrote in 1864: — 
 
 "My venerated father and friend, Dr. Cummings, of Billerica, 
 held Dr. Eaton in the very highest esteem as a man of sound and 
 highly respectable talents, as a most worthy minister of the gospel of 
 Christ, and as maintaining a character of marked independence, 
 amiableness, peaceableness, seriousness, and exemplariness. He 
 used to love to expatiate upon his excellences and testify his admira- 
 tion for his character; and I think I have good reason for saying 
 that Dr. Eaton fully reciprocated his high regard and esteem. 
 
80 HENRY CUMMINGS 
 
 "Being on a visit at a certain time to Brother Loring, of North 
 Andover, he invited me to take a ride to Boxford to see Dr. Eaton. 
 I accepted his invitation. We found the Doctor, then very old, but 
 hale and cheery, out in his field making hay. After a little miscella- 
 neous chat, we got upon the subject of his continuing to preach at 
 so advanced a period. He said that he was too old to perform the 
 services of a pastor, and had several times made advances toward 
 the resignation of his charge, but that he was always told that he must 
 not quit yet, that he could not yet be spared; 'and so,' said he, 'I 
 continue doing as well as I can, and living along peaceably and pleas- 
 antly with an affectionate and devoted people.' 
 
 "Dr. Eaton's manners were plain and simple, and showed little 
 familiarity with the usages of polished society; but there was a gen- 
 erous frankness and honesty expressed by them much more attrac- 
 tive, as well as more effective, than any mere artificial culture. He 
 had a sound judgment and good logical powers, and always moved 
 forward to his conclusions with great care and thoughtfulness. His 
 sermons were the product of his own independent reflection rather 
 than of reading; and this often gave them an air of marked original- 
 ity. His delivery was characterized by great fervor and earnestness 
 and uncommon distinctness of enunciation, so that he may, on the 
 whole, be said to have been a popular speaker. In his theological 
 speculations I suppose him to have harmonized very nearly with 
 Dr. Cummings, of Billerica, Dr. Lathrop, of Boston, Dr. Barnard, 
 of Salem, Dr. Symmes, of Andover, and other of the earlier minis- 
 ters of the Unitarian school. Though he was decided in his religious 
 views, and did not hesitate to avow them on what he deemed suitable 
 occasions, he was always most considerate in this respect of the feel- 
 ings of others. So far from being a controversial preacher, he pur- 
 posely avoided preaching much upon those doctrines which were in 
 dispute; and some of his hearers, who were Calvinists, steadily main- 
 tained to the last that his creed did not differ materially from their 
 own. 
 
 1 Hezekiah Packard (1761-1849), a son of Jacob and Dorothy 
 Packard, was born at North Bridgewater, Mass., on the 6th of De- 
 cember, 1761. He was the youngest of ten children. His father, 
 who was a farmer in moderate circumstances, died while this son 
 was yet in his childhood ; but his mother lived to the age of ninety- 
 three, and was remarkable for her vigorous sense, her strength of 
 character, and her piety. At the commencement ef the Revolution- 
 ary War, in 1775, though he was a mere stripling, he enlisted as a 
 soldier in the army. At different times he was stationed at Cam- 
 
HENRY CUMMINGS 81 
 
 bridge, Bunker Hill, Castle William (now Fort Independence), New 
 York, Providence, Newport, etc. His connection with the army 
 closed about the end of the year 1776; and at that time he had no other 
 expectation than to settle down for life as a farmer. 
 
 In 1782, however, he began to prepare for college under the in- 
 struction of the Rev. John Reed, of the West Parish of Bridgewater, 
 and in one year he had gone through the requisite course of study. 
 He joined the Freshman Class at Cambridge in 1783, and was grad- 
 uated in 1787. As he had little or no patrimony, he was obliged to 
 avail himself of certain privileges which were granted to indigent 
 students, and to teach a school during a part of each winter; but he 
 still maintained a high standing in his class. 
 
 The first year after his graduation he taught the grammar school 
 in Cambridge, and the next was an assistant librarian in the college. 
 He entered the tutorship in the mathematical department in 1789, 
 and continued to hold it four years. During this period his studies 
 were directed with reference to the ministry; and in the latter part 
 of the time he derived great advantage from the instructions 
 of Dr. Tappan, who in 1792 became Hollis Professor of Theol- 
 
 In October, 1793, he was ordained to the work of the ministry, 
 and installed as pastor of the church in Chelmsford, Mass. The 
 next year he was married to Mary, daughter of the Rev. Alpheus 
 Spring, of Kittety, West Parish (now Eliot), Me. 
 
 Mr. Packard remained at Chelmsford between eight and nine years, 
 and in September, 1802, was installed at Wiscasset, Me., the sermon on 
 the occasion being preached by Professor Tappan, of Harvard Col- 
 lege. 
 
 After having been at Wiscasset three or four years, he yielded to 
 the solicitation of several of his friends to take charge of a private 
 school; and in the course of a short time that gave place to an acad- 
 emy, of which he was principal for several years. The double labor 
 devolved upon him by his school and his parish was too severe a tax 
 upon his constitution, and brought upon him some complaints from 
 which he never fully recovered. After he withdrew from the acad- 
 emy he opened a private school in his own house, and fitted a large 
 number of young men for college. 
 
 In the year 1818 he was honored with the degree of Doctor of Divin- 
 ity from Harvard College. 
 
 In the spring of 1830 he resigned his charge at Wiscasset, and re- 
 moved to Middlesex Village, a part of his former parish at Chelms- 
 ford, where he took charge of a small church, consisting partly of 
 those who had formerly been under his pastoral care. Here he re- 
 
82 HENRY CUMMINGS 
 
 mained in much comfort until the autumn of 1836, when he retired 
 from active labor altogether. He died at Salem, April 25, 1849.* 
 
 3 Joseph Mottey (1756-1821), a son of Joseph and Hannah 
 (Ingals) Mottey, was born in Salem, Mass., May 14, 1756. His 
 father was a native of the Isle of Jersey and of French extraction, 
 but migrated to this country at an early period of life. During the 
 War of the Revolution he removed from Salem to Chelmsford, where 
 he died in June, 1777, aged fifty-two years. He was a shipmaster 
 and owner, and his son Joseph, at about the age of fifteen, twice sailed 
 with him to the West Indies. Joseph was fitted for college at Dum- 
 mer Academy, Byfield, and at the age of about eighteen entered 
 Dartmouth College, where he graduated in August, 1778. 
 
 Immediately after his graduation he was employed in Phillips Acad- 
 emy, Andover, then recently opened, and was the first assistant of 
 its first preceptor, the Rev. Eliphalet Pearson. He was afterwards 
 employed, either as assistant or principal, in Dummer Academy. 
 The exact time when he began to preach cannot now be ascertained, 
 though it is believed to have been soon after he left college. He sup- 
 plied the pulpit at Lynnfield for three years, meanwhile declining all 
 overtures of the people toward a permanent settlement; but he finally 
 yielded to their wishes, and was ordained on the 24th of September, 
 1783. Here, within the limits of a small parish and in circumstances 
 of great seclusion, he passed the remainder of his days. 
 
 He died on Monday, the 9th of July, 1821, after an illness of five 
 days. Mr. Mottey was married to Eliza Moody, of York, Me., 
 at Byfield, Mass., April 12, 1780. They had five children, three 
 sons and two daughters. Mrs. Mottey died on the 27th of August, 
 1789, at the age of thirty-two, and Mr. Mottey lived a widower thirty- 
 two years. 
 
 The Rev. Allen Gannett wrote of him: "Mr. Mottey was of medium 
 size, erect figure, quick movements, and commanding presence. His 
 complexion was light, his features regular, and his face altogether 
 might be said to be handsome. His hair, which hung in ringlets about 
 
 * The following is a list of Dr. Packard's publications: The Plea of Patriotism, a 
 Thanksgiving sermon preached at Chelmsford, 1795; A Sermon preached at the Ordi- 
 nation of Andrew Beattie (who was a native of Chelmsford, was graduated at Har- 
 vard College in 1795, was ordained and installed pastor of the church in Salisbury 
 June 28, 1797, and died March 16, 1801); Federal Republicanism, two Fast sermons 
 preached at Chelmsford, 1799; The Christian's Manual, nmo, 1801; A Sermon 
 preached at the Interment of Mrs. Betsey Wood, 1802; A Sermon preached in Cam- 
 den, Me., at the Ordination of Thomas Cochran, 1805; Two Sermons on Infant Bap- 
 tism, preached at Wiscasset about 1815; Dedicatory Address at the Opening of the 
 Female Academy in Augusta, 1816. 
 
HENRY CUMMINGS 83 
 
 his shoulders, had fallen off considerably some years before his death. 
 He wore small-clothes until the last, and was very neat in personal 
 appearance and in all his habits. One extremely cold winter's night, 
 after going to bed, he came to the conclusion that he should cer- 
 tainly die before morning. While reflecting upon it, and on being 
 found dead in his bed, he bethought him that his appearance, as he 
 then was, would not be just what he should like. So, getting up, 
 he put on clean linen, and jumped into bed again. Very soon he 
 fell asleep, slept sound till morning, and on awaking was quite 
 astonished to find that he was not dead. On the day of his funeral 
 many went to see his garden, which he always took care of himself; 
 and it was a common remark that there was not a weed to be found 
 in it. 
 
 "In his temperament Mr. Mottey was nervous and sensitive. 
 Naturally, also, he was very modest and diffident. He rarely ap- 
 peared in any pulpit other than his own. Though only nine miles 
 from Salem, his native place, he could not be persuaded to preach 
 there. He used to say that he would rather preach three Sabbaths 
 at home than one away. Even at home, it seems to have been some- 
 times a trial to him. His daughter has told me that he many times 
 said to the family of a Sabbath morning that he should not live through 
 the day. After the labors of the day were over, he would tell them 
 that he felt very well, though he really thought in the morning he 
 should not live till night. Yet he seems never to have been troubled 
 with religious despondency or gloom. 
 
 "His peculiarities were marked and striking, amounting, perhaps, 
 to eccentricity. A parishioner said to him one day, 'Mr. Mottey, 
 you are a very odd man.' 'Yes,' said he, T set out to be a very good 
 man, and soon found that I could not without being very odd.' 
 
 "His habits of intercourse with his people were free and familiar. 
 He had great command of Scripture language, and was accustomed 
 to blend it aptly in his conversation. Though seldom going abroad, 
 he knew much better than many who were less recluse what was going 
 on in the world. In his observance of the Sabbath he was always 
 very strict. He said he did not wish to make it a distinctly Jewish 
 Sabbath, but to keep it in a proper manner. With him it began on 
 Saturday at sunset, and he would allow of no outdoor recreation or 
 work in the house that could be put off till after the same time next day. 
 
 "Some time after his settlement his religious opinions underwent 
 a change. The Rev. Mr. Damon, who knew him well, says it was 
 ' at a period when his greatest afflictions were fresh upon him.' That 
 was in 1789. In 1803 he published a sermon in which he discarded 
 the view that 'the incarnation, obedience, and sufferings of Christ 
 
84 HENRY CUMMINGS 
 
 were necessary to persuade the Deity to a placable disposition to- 
 ward men,' or 'to satisfy Divine Justice." He was particularly 
 hostile to the doctrine of original sin, regarding it as lying at the 
 foundation of what is called the Orthodox Scheme. Having heard 
 that one of his nearest neighbors in the ministry, who was among 
 the high Hopkinsians, had a daughter born to him, meeting him 
 one day, he asked what he called her. "Angelina," was the answer. 
 "Angelina!" said Mr. Mottey. "I should think that with your 
 notions you would call her Beelzebuba." 
 
 4 William Symmes (1731-1807) was a descendant of the Rev. 
 Zacharias Symmes, who came to this country in 1635, and settled 
 in Charlestown, Mass. He was born in Charlestown in the year 1 731, 
 and was graduated at Harvard College in 1750, where he was a tutor 
 from 1755 to 1758. On the 5th of December, 1757, he was invited to 
 settle in the North Parish of Andover, and the third Wednesday of 
 March following was appointed for his ordination; but, on account 
 of his being visited by a severe illness, his ordination did not take 
 place till the 1st of November, 1758. Here he continued his labors 
 with great acceptance and usefulness nearly half a century. He re- 
 ceived the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Harvard College in 
 1803. He died on the 3d of May, 1807, aged seventy-six. 
 
 The ministry of Dr. Symmes covered a very difficult and event- 
 ful period. He was settled during the French War. Soon after the 
 Peace of 1763 the troubles between Great Britain and the Colonies 
 commenced, which brought on the War of the Revolution. During 
 this war the depreciation of the currency and the pressure on the 
 people rendered it difficult for clergymen to support their families. 
 
 Dr. Symmes was a good scholar, of extensive reading, and an 
 able divine. He devoted himself exclusively to his profession, and 
 was occupied through life in theological pursuits. His sermons were 
 written with great care and in a style remarkably neat, perspicuous, 
 and correct. His preaching was plain and practical. Subjects of 
 controversy he rarely brought into the pulpit. His discourses were 
 not delivered with such fluency and grace as to charm and capti- 
 vate the multitude; but they were highly valued by men of culti- 
 vated minds. Though he was constituted with much more than 
 ordinary excitability, his self-control rarely failed him. He was 
 called to experience many severe afflictions, but he bore them with 
 exemplary fortitude and resignation. He was a strict observer 
 of order and propriety. He was of about the middle height and some- 
 what corpulent, and he wore a white bush-wig in accordance with 
 the fashion of his early days. His manners were dignified, but easy. 
 
HENRY CUMMINGS 85 
 
 He was hospitable and benevolent, and by his urbanity rendered 
 himself especially agreeable to strangers. He was distinguished 
 for his prudence, his sound moral principles, his unshaken integrity 
 and irreproachable conduct. It is a matter of regret that he gave 
 a strict injunction that his manuscripts should be burned immediately 
 after his death, which injunction was faithfully complied with. No 
 other man in the town was probably so well acquainted as himself 
 with the history of the settlement, and of the early settlers. 
 
 Dr. Symmes's publications were: A Thanksgiving Sermon, 1768; 
 A Discourse on the Duty and Advantages of Singing Praises to God, 
 1779; and the Sermon at the General Election, 1785. He delivered 
 the Dudleian Lecture in 1786, but it was not published. 
 
 He was married in 1750 to Anna, daughter of the Rev. Joshua Gee, 
 of Boston. She died June 28, 1772. They had five sons and four 
 daughters. His second wife was Susannah Powell, who died July, 
 1807, aged seventy-nine years. 
 
 The following is a list of Dr. Cummings's publications : A Sermon preached on the 
 Day of Public Thanksgiving, 1766; A Sermon preached on the Day of Public Thanks- 
 giving, 1775; A Sermon preached at Lexington on the Anniversary of the Commence- 
 ment of Hostilities, 1781; A Sermon preached at the General Election, 1783; A Ser- 
 mon preached on the Day of National Thanksgiving, 1783; A Sermon preached at the 
 Ordination of Phineas Wright, 1785; A Discourse on Natural Religion, 1795; A Sermon 
 preached on Thanksgiving Day, 1796; A Sermon preached on Thanksgiving Day, 
 1798; Right Hand of Fellowship to Elijah Dunbar, 1799; A Sermon delivered at 
 Falmouth at the Ordination of Caleb Bradley, 1799; Eulogy on the late Patriot, 
 George Washington, 1800; A Sermon preached on the Public Fast, 1801; A Charity 
 Sermon preached at Roibury, 1802; Charge given to Wilkes Allen, 1803; A Half- 
 century Sermon preached at Billerica, 1813; Charge given to Nathaniel Whitman, 1814. 
 
 The above sketch of Dr. Cummings was derived by Dr. Sprague from Dr. Cum- 
 mings's own Half-century Sermon and from Rev. Wilkes Allen's Funeral Sermon. 
 The sketch of Dr. [Symmes is condensed from the communication from Dr. Abiel 
 Abbot, that of Mr. Mottey from an article by the Rev. David Damon, that of Dr. Eaton 
 from various obituaries, and that of Dr. Packard from the memoir by his son, Pro- 
 fessor A. S. Packard, of Bowdoin College. 
 
86 SAMUEL WEST 
 
 SAMUEL WEST (of Boston) 
 i 738-1808 
 
 Samuel West was descended from Francis West, 
 who was sent to America by the British government, 
 with a commission as Vice-Admiral, shortly after the 
 settlement at Plymouth, and took up a large tract of 
 land in what is now Duxbury. He returned to Eng- 
 land, but his son came over and took possession of 
 the land; and from him all the Wests in New Eng- 
 land are descended. One branch of the family set- 
 tled in Martha's Vineyard. Thomas West, of the 
 fifth generation, entered Harvard College in 1726, but 
 in consequence of his early marriage left college at 
 the end of two years, and did not receive his degree 
 until 1759, twenty-nine years after the graduation 
 of his class. At the age of about thirty-five he began 
 to study divinity, under the direction of the Rev. Ex- 
 perience Mayhew, the well-known missionary among 
 the Indians on Martha's Vineyard. Soon after he 
 began to preach, he was settled as colleague of Mr. 
 Mayhew, in which situation he continued five or six 
 years, and then accepted an invitation to take charge 
 of a small parish, known as the third parish in Roches- 
 ter. Here he died in the year 1790. 
 
 Samuel West, the son of Thomas, was born at 
 Martha's Vineyard, November 19 (O.S.), 1738, and 
 spent his early years in hard labor. As his father was 
 poor and found it difficult to support the family, it 
 was not originally designed to give him a collegiate 
 education; but such was his thirst for knowledge, 
 and his ability to acquire it, that his father finally 
 yielded to his wish to go to college. After encoun- 
 tering many obstacles during a preparatory course 
 
SAMUEL WEST 87 
 
 of about two years, he was well fitted to enter; and 
 he was accordingly admitted a member of Harvard 
 University, at an advanced standing, in 1758, when 
 he was in his twentieth year. With the aid that he 
 received from his father, in connection with some 
 favors granted him by President Holyoke and the 
 avails of teaching during some of his vacations, he 
 was enabled to pass through college without much 
 embarrassment; and he graduated with high honor 
 in 1761. 
 
 Mr. West had his eye upon the ministry from the 
 time that he began to prepare for college, and began 
 preaching very soon after he graduated. Through 
 the influence of the Hon. Thomas Hubbard, com- 
 missary of the province, he was appointed chaplain 
 at Fort Pownal on the Penobscot. Though he felt 
 that his preparation for the ministry was very inade- 
 quate, yet, as he had a few sermons written and as Dr. 
 Mayhew lent him a number of books and Mr. Hubbard 
 promised him others, and as he had really been, in 
 some sense, a student of divinity from very early life, 
 he accepted the appointment. His engagement was for 
 one year; and his pay was four pounds a month, with 
 rations. He accordingly went to Maine in November, 
 1 76 1, and found himself very agreeably situated in the 
 family of Brigadier-General Preble. He passed the 
 year very pleasantly and profitably. 
 
 In June, 1763, he was invited to preach as a candi- 
 date at Needham; and he accepted an invitation to 
 settle, partly out of respect to his father's advice and 
 partly in the hope of being able to assist a brother in 
 obtaining an education. His salary was a little less 
 than seventy-five pounds a year. He was ordained 
 on the 25th of April, 1764, in the twenty-sixth year 
 of his age, the ceremony being performed in the open 
 air on account of the church being too small to 
 
88 SAMUEL WEST 
 
 accommodate the congregation. The sermon was 
 preached by the Rev. Samuel West, of New Bedford; 
 and the charge was delivered by his father. 
 
 On the 23d of February, 1769, Mr. West was mar- 
 ried to a Miss Plimpton, of Medfield. They had four 
 children. 
 
 In the year 1786 his people were induced to come 
 to some settlement with him for arrearages of salary 
 due to the Revolutionary War; and, in order to pro- 
 vide for the future, he proposed to them that he would 
 relinquish the whole amount on condition that they 
 would consent to his leaving them if he should at any 
 time desire it. They agreed to the proposal, he making 
 a sacrifice of one hundred pounds. The state of things 
 in his parish did not, however, become better, and he 
 was subjected to continual suspense and vexation. 
 While he was in this state of extreme embarrass- 
 ment, he received a call from the Hollis Street Church, 
 Boston, as successor to the Rev. Mr. Wight. On 
 mature reflection, and in accordance with the ad- 
 vice of his father, he accepted the call (November 16, 
 1788). When he returned to Needham for his fam- 
 ily, he was received with great coldness. He dis- 
 pensed with the usual formality of having a council 
 to dissolve the relation between him and his people, on 
 the ground that he considered it a contract not more 
 sacred than any other. This was regarded by some 
 of his brethren as a censurable irregularity. After 
 his settlement in Boston the unkind feelings which 
 had existed among his former charge gradually died 
 away; and, as he met individuals among them from 
 time to time, he manifested nothing toward them but 
 good will, and thus at no distant period succeeded in 
 recovering his place in their affections. 
 
 His installation at Boston took place on the 12th 
 of March, 1789, the sermon on the occasion being 
 
SAMUEL WEST 89 
 
 preached by himself, from 2 Corinthians iv. 1. In 
 this new field of labor, being exempt from all pecuni- 
 ary embarrassments, he labored with great diligence, 
 and quickly won the confidence of his people. With- 
 out division or debate of any kind the society and its 
 minister became more and more liberal in theology. 
 Dr. West's preaching was practical, and a large part 
 of his time he spent in visiting in the houses of his 
 people. He was honored with the degree of Doctor of 
 Divinity from Dartmouth College in 1798. 
 
 In September, 1803, he intimated to his people a 
 wish for assistance in his public services, leaving it 
 to them to decide in respect to his support. They 
 acted in accordance with his suggestion; and from 
 that time he preached but seldom. After he was 
 confined to his bed, he dictated to an amanuensis 
 an autobiography of great interest, and also furnished 
 to the Boston Centinel a series of articles, over the 
 signature of "The Old Man," which attracted con- 
 siderable attention. At length, after a confinement 
 to his bed of twenty-six weeks, he expired on the 
 10th of April, 1808. His funeral sermon was preached 
 by his friend, Dr. John Lathrop, from 2 Timothy 
 i. 12. It was afterward published in connection with 
 a biographical sketch written by Rev. Thomas 
 Thacher,* of Dedham, from which this sketch is derived. 
 
 *Thomas Thacher (1756-1812) was a descendant, in the fourth 
 generation, from the Rev. Thomas Thacher, the first minister of 
 the Old South Church in Boston. He was a son of Oxenbridge 
 Thacher, Esq., a lawyer of Boston, and was born on the 24th of 
 October, 1756. At the age of fifteen he entered Harvard College, 
 where he was a vigorous and successful student, and graduated in 
 1775. How or where he spent the five years immediately succeed- 
 ing his graduation does not appear, but on the 7th of June, 1780, 
 he was ordained and installed pastor of the Third Church in Ded- 
 ham. Certain indiscretions of his youth had awakened prejudices 
 against him, so that his ministry did not commence under the fairest 
 
90 SAMUEL WEST 
 
 The Rev. John Pierce, of Brookline, wrote of him: — 
 " Dr. West's habit of preaching differed, in his latter 
 years, from that of most of his brethren around him. 
 In the former part of his ministry he was accustomed 
 to write his sermons fully out, and read them from 
 the pulpit; but about 1775 his circumstances be- 
 came so much straitened as to forbid his taking the time 
 for such mature preparation, and he commenced preach- 
 
 auspices; and his peculiarities of temper and manner were such 
 that those early prejudices probably never entirely died out. 
 
 Mr. Thacher took a deep interest in the politics of his day. In 
 1788 he was chosen a delegate to the Convention for ratifying the 
 Federal Constitution, and made an earnest speech in behalf of its 
 ratification. More than most of the ministers of that period he 
 carried political subjects into the pulpit, and discussed them with 
 a freedom and boldness that gave him no enviable distinction with 
 at least a portion of his hearers. 
 
 Mr. Thacher's social habits were modified by the fact that he lived 
 till the close of life a bachelor. There is a tradition that in the early 
 part of his ministry he made an unsuccessful effort to cast off that 
 character, and that he resolved he would not expose himself to a 
 second disappointment. But, though he had no wife to direct his 
 domestic concerns, he was one of the most hospitable of men, and 
 would sometimes carry his attentions to his guests to such a length 
 that they even became burdensome. His attachment to his people 
 was of the most devoted kind; and one of the sorest afflictions of 
 his life was that nearly a third part of his little flock left him, and 
 joined a Baptist society, on account of being dissatisfied with the 
 location of a new meeting-house. 
 
 Mr. Thacher died on the 19th of October, 1812, in the fifty-sixth 
 year of his age and the thirty-third of his ministry. His funeral ser- 
 mon was preached by the Rev. Stephen Palmer, Dr. West's succes- 
 sor at Needham, from John xvii. 4. 
 
 There was something significant in the manner in which he dis- 
 posed of his property. After making legacies to a few friends, he 
 bequeathed the whole to his parish on condition that they should 
 settle a minister within five years from his death, and that he and 
 all his successors should be graduates of Harvard College, and should 
 have received no part of their education at the Theological Seminary 
 at Andover. 
 
SAMUEL WEST 91 
 
 ing without notes. His people very soon expressed 
 their preference for that mode of preaching, and on 
 that account he continued it. After he removed to 
 Boston, it was his invariable custom to compose his 
 sermons, even to the whole of the language, and, with- 
 out committing one word to writing, to deliver them 
 memonter. His preaching was characterized by good 
 sense and felicitous arrangement of thought; but he 
 
 The Rev. Samuel Osgood wrote of him : — 
 
 "Mr. Thacher was a man of portly and commanding figure, and 
 had a face expressive of much more than common intellectual power. 
 His manners were sufficiently free and cordial, but somewhat blunt, 
 and indicative of what he really possessed, — great independence of 
 character. You could not meet him in the most casual interview 
 without perceiving that he had not the fear of men before his eyes. 
 He had great power of sarcasm, and he indulged it sometimes per- 
 haps without the most delicate regard to circumstances. But there 
 was a manifest openness and honesty of purpose that all recognized 
 as a redeeming feature, and as rendering less objectionable that 
 unceremonious bluntness, and even severity which could hardly 
 fail sometimes to give offence. 
 
 "I believe it was generally considered that Mr. Thacher's very 
 decided fondness, amounting almost to a passion, for witticism, 
 abated somewhat from both the dignity and the efficiency of his 
 ministerial character. He was observed on a Sabbath afternoon 
 repeatedly to smile in the pulpit; and when some person, at the close 
 of the service, asked him what was the cause of it, he replied, "Why, 
 I was preaching the very same sermon, word for word, this afternoon 
 that I had preached in the morning; and I was laughing to see how 
 gravely you took it, — just as if you had never heard it before." On 
 one occasion he exchanged with Mr. Buckminster, of Boston. There 
 were a number of young men who were attracted to the Brattle Street 
 Church by Mr. Buckminster's eloquence; and, if they found any 
 other minister in the pulpit, they were accustomed abruptly to leave 
 the house. When they saw Mr. Thacher there, probably without 
 knowing who he was, they, as usual, rose and moved out. Mr. 
 Thacher observed the indecorum, and alluded to it at his nephew's 
 during the intermission, remarking at the same time, "I have at 
 least shown myself possessed of one apostolical gift to-day, — that 
 of casting out devils." 
 
9a SAMUEL WEST 
 
 had little animation or pathos, and of course was 
 not distinguished for awakening emotion in others."* 
 
 * Dr. West was succeeded at Hoilis Street Church by: — 
 (i) Horace Holley, a son of Luther Holley, was born in Salis- 
 bury, Conn., February 13, 1781, and was fitted for college at an acad- 
 emy at Williamstown, Mass. He graduated at Yale in 1803, stud- 
 ied law for a few months, and then began the study of theology with 
 President Dwight. He was licensed to preach in September, 1804, 
 and was ordained minister of the church in Greenfield, of which 
 Dr. Dwight had been the minister, September 18, 1805. Three 
 years later he was called to succeed Dr. West in Hoilis Street Church, 
 and was installed on the 8th of March, 1809. Though of the most 
 rigid orthodox training and in the early days of his ministry a Trini- 
 tarian, Holley rapidly became, after the manner of converts, one of 
 the foremost liberals of his generation. His mind was clear and 
 logical, quick and accurate. Nature made him a leader before 
 men chose him for that service. He was a man of fine personal ap- 
 pearance, with a head of classic beauty, a master of the art of public 
 speech. Throughout his ministry at Hoilis Street he was the most 
 popular preacher of the city, and his church was thronged with wor- 
 shippers. Two years after his installation an enlarged and beautiful 
 meeting-house was built for him, and Hoilis Street Church sheltered 
 the most influential of all the Boston congregations. Yet, in spite 
 of his abundant success, Mr. Holley apparently became restive under 
 the toil of parish life, and was persuaded in 1818 to accept an invi- 
 tation to the presidency of Transylvania University in Lexington, 
 Ky., — an enterprise that went down in failure. He then undertook 
 an equally difficult task of restoring a college in New Orleans, where 
 he was attacked by yellow fever, and died at sea, July 31, 1827. 
 
 (2) John Pierpont. See Vol. II. p. 185. 
 
 (3) Thomas Starr King. See Vol. III. p. 191. 
 
 The following is a list of Dr. West's printed discourses: A Sermon preached at the 
 Ordination of Jonathan Newell, 1774; A Sermon delivered in the Second Church, 
 Dedham, on Occasion of the Death of Two Young Men, 1785; Two Discourses de- 
 livered on the Day of the Public Fast, 1785; A Sermon delivered on the Day of the 
 General Election, 1786; A Sermon preached at his Instalment in Boston, 1789; A 
 Sermon preached on Occasion of the Artillery Election, 1794; A Sermon preached on 
 Occasion of the National Thanksgiving, 1795; A Sermon occasioned by the Death 
 of George Washington, 1799. 
 
 The foregoing sketch is condensed from the article which Dr. Sprague derived 
 from Dr. West's autobiography and Mr. Thacher's article noted above. The account 
 of Mr. Thacher is derived from a manuscript sent by Dr. John Pierce to Dr. 
 Sprague and from Worthington's History of Dedham. The note on Mr. Holley is 
 derived from Rev. George L. Chaney's Historical Discourses in Hoilis Street Church. 
 
JOHN LATHROP 93 
 
 JOHN LATHROP 
 
 1 740-1816 
 
 John Lathrop was born in Norwich, Conn., May 17, 
 1740, and was the youngest but one of ten brothers. 
 Resolved to become a minister, he in due time entered 
 Princeton College, where he received his Bachelor's 
 degree in 1763. 
 
 For some months after his graduation he was engaged 
 as an assistant teacher with the Rev. Dr. Wheelock in 
 Moor's Indian Charity School at Lebanon, Conn., and 
 at the same time availed himself of Dr. Wheelock's 
 instruction in theology. After he received appro- 
 bation to preach, he worked for a short time as a mis- 
 sionary among the Indians, and in 1767 was invited 
 to settle at Taunton and Reading, both of which invita- 
 tions, however, he declined. Shortly after, he preached 
 as a candidate at the Second or Old North Church in 
 Boston, from which he received a unanimous call, and 
 was ordained May 18, 1768. In 1775, when Boston 
 was in possession of the British army, he set out to find 
 a refuge in his native place; but, as he was passing 
 through Providence on his way to Norwich, proposals 
 were made to him to supply a destitute congregation 
 there, to which he consented. Upon the evacuation 
 of Boston he returned, to find that the ancient house in 
 which he had been accustomed to preach had been 
 demolished, and used for fuel by the British troops. 
 It was ninety-eight years old, but was still considered 
 "a model of the first architecture in New England." 
 Mr. Lathrop's society accepted an invitation to occupy 
 the New Brick Church; and after the death of Dr. 
 Pemberton, minister of the New Brick, in the follow- 
 
94 JOHN LATHROP 
 
 ing year, the two societies united. On the 27th of 
 June, 1779, Mr. Lathrop became their joint pastor; 
 and in this relation he continued during the re- 
 mainder of his life. He received the degree of Doctor 
 of Divinity from the University of Edinburgh in 1784. 
 
 Dr. Lathrop was born and received his early edu- 
 cation in Connecticut, where scarcely any other form 
 of doctrine than Calvinism was then known. At 
 what period in his ministry the change in his views 
 took place no one is able to say, but that he actually 
 did become a Unitarian is beyond all doubt. He said 
 little on these subjects in private, and nothing at all 
 in public. His settlement in Boston brought him 
 in contact with such men as Drs. Chauncy, Howard, 
 Eliot, Belknap, Clarke, and others of a similar stamp; 
 and, as he was on terms of the most intimate inter- 
 course with them, his opinions, perhaps insensibly 
 to himself, came into essential harmony with theirs. 
 His church followed him in his advance, and without 
 hesitation settled an avowed Unitarian, Henry Ware, 
 Jr., as his successor. 
 
 Dr. Lathrop's preaching was practical rather than 
 doctrinal, sensible rather than ornate, instructive, 
 but not moving. His sermons were short, according 
 to the standards of his time, not ordinarily exceeding 
 twenty-five minutes in the delivery. His manner of 
 speaking in the pulpit was deliberate. The thoughts 
 which he expressed were generally somewhat obvious, 
 and partook, like the character of his own mind, more 
 of correctness than originality. Without any extraor- 
 dinary gifts, he was much respected for the sober- 
 ness of his judgment, and for a multitude of useful 
 labors for the public good. His long ministry of fifty 
 years brought forth rich fruits. 
 
 He was an ardent patriot. His sermons strength- 
 ened the people to resist oppression, and his church 
 
JOHN LATHROP 95 
 
 was called by the British a "nest of hornets." He 
 mingled with the Revolutionary leaders in Boston, 
 and had part in their counsels. From the time of 
 the formation of the Constitution he was a uniform 
 and ardent Federalist. During the War of 1812 he 
 was, like most of his brethren, convinced that the 
 government was greatly in fault, and did not hesitate to 
 speak out his convictions, both in public and in private. 
 
 Dr. Lathrop exerted no inconsiderable influence 
 in his day, but he was indebted for it rather to his 
 uniformly judicious course than to any remarkable 
 intellectual endowments or acquirements. In his in- 
 tercourse with society at large he was generous and 
 public-spirited. With his ministerial brethren he main- 
 tained the most affectionate familiarity, and even 
 the youngest of them felt attracted to his kind and 
 open heart. In his family he was a model of what- 
 ever is fitted to render happy and useful the most 
 endearing relations. 
 
 Dr. Lathrop was connected with almost all the 
 benevolent societies of the community; but his most 
 conspicuous service, outside of his church, was ren- 
 dered from 1778 until his death, as a Fellow of the 
 Corporation of Harvard College. He was one of 
 the majority of the board which in 1805 chose Henry 
 Ware, Sr., to be Hollis Professor of Divinity, and by 
 that vote brought on the active phase of the "Uni- 
 tarian Controversy." 
 
 Dr. Charles Lowell, writing in 1853, described him 
 as follows: — 
 
 "Dr. Lathrop was, in many respects, an uncom- 
 monly interesting man, — interesting, not from the 
 fluency or wit or brilliancy of his conversation, al- 
 though his words were always wise and pleasant, 
 but from the sweetness of his disposition, the gentle- 
 ness of his manners, and the simplicity and purity 
 
96 JOHN LATHROP 
 
 of his mind and heart. Whilst his age and the ven- 
 erableness of his appearance inspired respect and 
 reverence, his benignant countenance and gentle, 
 winning address conciliated confidence and affection. 
 There was a childlike simplicity about him, without 
 anything of childishness, and a remarkable cheerful- 
 ness without anything of levity. I have often been 
 with him alone and in company, and I feel assured 
 that I never heard a word or witnessed an action 
 from him that I could wish unsaid or undone. In 
 his old age he retained his youthful feelings, and 
 adapted himself wonderfully to circumstances in his 
 intercourse with his younger brethren. He used 
 often to say that, though he had lost all the associ- 
 ates and friends of earlier life, he did not feel alone. 
 His younger brethren supplied the places of those 
 who were gone, and he was hardly sensible of any 
 difference. The truth is, his own disposition, in a 
 good measure, brought about this result. He made 
 others easy and happy by his intercourse with them, 
 and there was a reflex influence on himself. His 
 junior brethren, to the close of life, sustained and 
 cheered him, under God, as Aaron and Hur held up 
 the arms of Moses till the going down of the sun. 
 
 "In stature Dr. Lathrop was rather tall, his feat- 
 ures were large, his eyes and eyebrows dark, if not 
 black. When I first knew him, he wore the full- 
 bottomed white wig, such as was usually worn by the 
 elderly ministers of that time; but some years before 
 his death he wore his own hair, silvered by age, ex- 
 tending over his neck behind, but not flowing. His 
 countenance had the floridness of a temperate and 
 healthy old age." 
 
 Dr. Lathrop discharged his various duties regu- 
 larly and acceptably until a very short time before 
 his death. He died on the 4th of January, 18 16, 
 
JOHN LATHROP 97 
 
 in the seventy-sixth year of his age and forty-eighth 
 of his ministry. His funeral sermon was preached 
 by the Rev. Francis Parkman, from Zechariah i. 5, 
 — "Your fathers, where are they?" It describes "his 
 unfeigned piety, his amiable temper, his serene dig- 
 nity, his public spirit, his devoted attachment to lib- 
 erty, his unyielding defence of the rights of conscience." 
 The burial was in the Granary Burying-ground. 
 
 He was one of the counsellors of the American 
 Academy of Arts and Sciences; president of the Mas- 
 sachusetts Congregational Charitable Society and of 
 the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; vice- 
 president of the Massachusetts Bible Society and of 
 the Society for Propagating the Gospel in North 
 America; member of the Scotch Board of Commis- 
 sioners and of the American Antiquarian Society. 
 
 The following is a list of Dr. Lathrop's publications: A Sermon occasioned by the 
 Boston Massacre, 1770; A Sermon to a Religious Society of Young Men at Medford, 
 1771; An Artillery Election Sermon, 1774; A Thanksgiving Sermon, 1774; A Sermon 
 on the Fifth of March, 1778; A Sermon on the Death of his Wife, 1778; A Sermon 
 at the Ordination of William Bentley, 1783; A Discourse occasioned by the Return 
 of Peace, 1783; A Discourse before the Humane Society of Massachusetts, 1787; 
 A Catechism for the Use of Children (two editions), 1791 and 1813; The Dudleian 
 Lecture at Harvard College, 1793; A Discourse addressed to the Charitable Fire 
 Society, 1796; A Sermon on Fires in Boston, 1797; A Fast Sermon occasioned by the 
 Yellow Fever, 1798; A Sermon on the National Fast, 1799; A Sermon on the Com- 
 mencement of the Nineteenth Century (in two parts), 1 801; A Sermon before the So- 
 ciety for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, 1804; A Sermon before the Boston 
 Female Asylum, 1804; A Sermon at the Dismission of the Rev. Joseph McKean at 
 Milton, 1804; A Sermon at the Interment of the Rev. Samuel West, D.D., 1808; 
 Thanksgiving Sermon, 1808; A Sermon on the Death of his Wife, Mrs. Elizabeth 
 Lathrop, 1809; A Sermon at the Interment of the Rev. Dr. Eckley, 1811; A Thanks- 
 giving Sermon, 1811; A Discourse delivered on the Author's Birthday, 1812; Two 
 Fast Sermons occasioned by the War of 1812-15, 1812; A Sermon on the Death of 
 the Rev. John Eliot, D.D., 1813; Biographical Memoir of the Rev. John Lothrop, 
 1 81 3; A Sermon at the Dedication of a Church in Dorchester, 18 13; A Sermon on 
 the Law of Retaliation, 1814; A Sermon preached at Weymouth, at the Interment 
 of Miss Mary P. Bicknell, 1814; A Thanksgiving Sermon on the Return of Peace, 
 1815; A Compendious History of the Late War, 1815. 
 
 The facts of this sketch of Dr. Lathrop are derived from Dr. Parkman's Funeral 
 Sermon, and from a manuscript sent to Dr. Sprague by Dr. John Pierce, of Brook- 
 line. See also Chandler Robbins's History of the Second Church (with a portrait) 
 and the Proceedings at the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Second 
 Church. 
 
98 JEREMY BELKNAP 
 
 JEREMY BELKNAP 
 
 i 744-1 798 
 
 Jeremy Belknap, the eldest child of Joseph and 
 Sarah (Byles) Belknap, was born in Boston, June 4, 1744. 
 His mother was a niece of the celebrated Dr. Mather 
 Byles. His father was a leather-dresser and dealer 
 in furs and skins. Both his parents were members 
 of the Old South Church. After having been for 
 some time under the instruction of that celebrated 
 teacher, Master Lovell, young Belknap entered Har- 
 vard College at the close of 1758, when he was in his 
 fifteenth year. He graduated in July, 1762, and 
 immediately after took charge of the grammar school 
 at Milton. Here he continued, with the exception 
 of a brief interval during the next winter, until March, 
 1764. One of his pupils was Peter Thacher, after- 
 ward the Rev. Dr. Thacher of Brattle Street Church, 
 Boston; and there grew up between them an affec- 
 tionate and enduring intimacy. 
 
 About the close of the year 1764 he took charge of 
 a school at Portsmouth, N.H., and became a boarder 
 in the family of the Rev. (afterward Dr.) Samuel 
 Haven. The next summer he accepted an invitation 
 to take charge of a school at Greenfield, a few miles 
 from Portsmouth; and here he continued till he en- 
 tered on the work of the ministry. 
 
 His first sermon was preached at Portsmouth in 
 the pulpit of his friend Mr. Haven; and for several 
 succeeding months he was engaged in preaching in 
 different parishes in that neighborhood. His services 
 met with uncommon acceptance; and in July, 1766, 
 he was invited to preach at Dover, as an assistant 
 
JEREMY BELKNAP 99 
 
 of the Rev. Mr. Cushing,* who was disabled by bod- 
 ily infirmity. He accepted the invitation, and before 
 the close of the following winter received a formal 
 call to settle as Mr. Cushing's colleague, which he 
 accepted. There was, however, one difficulty in the 
 way of his acceptance of the call, which, but for the 
 strong attachment to him, would probably have been 
 insurmountable. The church had been accustomed 
 to receive members on the plan of the Half-way Cov- 
 enant, which he was fully persuaded was unscript- 
 ural and of evil tendency. He announced that he 
 could never recognize that principle. The church 
 yielded to his wishes, and from that time the Half-way 
 Covenant had no existence among them. His ordi- 
 nation took place on the 18th of February, 1767, and 
 the sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr. Haven, of 
 Portsmouth. In June succeeding his ordination he 
 was married to Ruth, daughter of Samuel Eliot, of 
 Boston. 
 
 Mr. Belknap had the spirit of an earnest patriot, 
 and was awake to every movement that betokened 
 good or ill to his country. Both voice and pen were 
 put in requisition in the cause of freedom. During 
 the excitement and distress occasioned by the Boston 
 Port Act, he made a most impressive appeal to the 
 sympathies of the people of New Hampshire, in aid 
 of their afflicted friends; and about the same time 
 he wrote a scathing address "To the Gentlemen of 
 the Army, now encamped on Boston Common." 
 While Boston was occupied by the British troops, 
 he went thither in great haste to effect the removal 
 of his parents; and, after a detention of some time 
 in the neighborhood, he finally succeeded in accom- 
 
 * Jonathan Cushing was a native of Hingham; was graduated at Harvard 
 College in 1712; was ordained at Dover, N.H., September 18, 1717; and died March 
 25, 1 769, aged seventy-nine. 
 
ioo JEREMY BELKNAP 
 
 plishing his object. They both subsequently lived 
 with him at Dover. His mother died in 1784, aged 
 sixty-nine; his father, in 1797, aged eighty-one. 
 
 In July, 1775, he was chosen by the New Hamp- 
 shire Committee of Safety to be chaplain to their 
 troops at Cambridge; but, owing to his precarious 
 health, he felt constrained to decline. In October fol- 
 lowing he visited the camp at Cambridge, where he 
 became acquainted with several of the most distin- 
 guished officers of the army, and had the honor of 
 dining with Dr. Franklin, who was there on public 
 business as one of a Committee from the Continental 
 Congress. 
 
 In Julv, 1784, he made a tour to the White Moun- 
 tains, in company with six other gentlemen. A record 
 of this journey, in considerable detail, is preserved 
 in the third volume of his History of New Hamp- 
 shire, though he makes no allusion to his having him- 
 self been one of the party. In June, 1785, he preached 
 the Annual Election Sermon before the General Court 
 of New Hampshire, on "The True Interest of the 
 State, and the Best Means of Promoting its Pros- 
 perity." This patriotic and well-reasoned produc- 
 tion was published and widely read. 
 
 From the beginning of his ministry at Dover he 
 had been subjected to no little embarrassment bv 
 reason of the failure of his congregation to fulfil their 
 financial engagements with him. At length the evil 
 became so great that both his duty and his interest 
 forbade farther endurance of it. Accordingly, in 
 September, 1786, he resigned, although he had at 
 the time no other place of settlement in view, and a fam- 
 ily dependent upon him. 
 
 In 1 784 his first volume of the History of New Hamp- 
 shire was published by the aid of his friend, Eben- 
 ezer Hazard, of Philadelphia. The second and third 
 
JEREMY BELKNAP 101 
 
 volumes were published at Boston in 1791 and 1792. 
 The idea of such a work seems to have occurred to 
 him as early as 1772; and it occupied his attention, 
 in a greater or less degree, from that time till its com- 
 pletion. The project at an early period found favor 
 with his friend Governor Wentworth, who cheer- 
 fully gave him access to his papers, and lent him 
 whatever aid was in his power. It is unnecessary to 
 add anything in commendation of a work that at once 
 took its place among the standard histories. 
 
 After resigning his charge at Dover, he preached 
 successively, for some time, at Exeter, Concord, Bev- 
 erly, and some other places. While he was at Exeter, 
 an insurrection occurred there, which is somewhat 
 memorable in the annals of New Hampshire, and 
 of which his History of the State contains a minute 
 and interesting account. The church in Long Lane 
 (now Federal Street), Boston, having exchanged the 
 Presbyterian for the Congregational form of govern- 
 ment, and being at that time vacant, in consequence 
 of the resignation of the Rev. Robert Annan, Mr. 
 Belknap was called in January, 1787, to take the 
 pastoral charge of it. The engagement of the society 
 was as follows: — 
 
 "We promise to pay him for his support, from the 
 time he commences his charge, the sum of two pounds, 
 eight shillings, lawful money, per week, or quarterly, 
 if he chooses it, during the whole time of his ministry 
 among us; and, in case our society shall increase, 
 and the pews be all occupied, the salary shall then 
 be increased to a comfortable support." 
 
 Mr. Belknap had for many years been deeply 
 interested for the freedom of the blacks. The sub- 
 ject had occupied both his mind and his pen during 
 the Revolutionary War; but in the year 1788 he 
 drew up a petition to the General Court for the abo- 
 
102 JEREMY BELKNAP 
 
 lition of the slave trade, which, being seconded by 
 his brethren in the ministry of various denominations, 
 as well as by a large number of other citizens, actu- 
 ally prevailed to the passage of the desired act. He 
 afterward corresponded on this subject with Moses 
 Brown, the well-known philanthropist of Providence, 
 and was elected a member of the Society for Abolish- 
 ing the Slave Trade in Rhode Island. 
 
 In 1792 he was honored with the degree of Doctor 
 of Divinity from Harvard College. 
 
 Dr. Belknap's taste for historical research gave 
 rise to that noble institution, — the Massachusetts 
 Historical Society. He formed the plan of it as early 
 as 1790, and in 1791 it was actually organized. It 
 was incorporated in 1794, with the Hon. James Sulli- 
 van president, the Rev. James Freeman recording 
 secretary, and Dr. Belknap corresponding secre- 
 tary. In 1 792 he delivered, by request of this society, 
 a discourse to commemorate the discovery of Amer- 
 ica by Columbus. In 1794 he published the first 
 volume of American biography, entitled "An His- 
 torical Account of those Persons who have been dis- 
 tinguished in America as Adventurers, Statesmen, 
 Philosophers, Divines, Warriors, Authors, and Other 
 Remarkable Characters." He lived to complete the 
 second volume, but not to see it from the press, as the 
 printing was in progress at the time of his death. 
 He seems to have planned this work at least as early 
 as 1779, and he must have been carrying forward this 
 and his History at the same time. 
 
 In an address in 1854, before the New York His- 
 torical Society, William Cullen Bryant said that Jer- 
 emy Belknap had the "high merit of being the first 
 to make American history attractive." It may be 
 added that he was also the first to bring to the search 
 for the materials of history a thoroughly historical 
 
JEREMY BELKNAP 103 
 
 taste and an impartial judgment. He was not only 
 the founder of the Massachusetts Historical Society, but 
 its most efficient member and the master spirit in 
 its counsels and works. This society, as part of 
 the celebration of its one hundredth anniversary, 
 published three handsome and well-edited volumes 
 of the "Belknap Papers." The first two volumes 
 contained the correspondence between Dr. Belknap 
 and Ebenezer Hazard, Postmaster-General of the 
 United States; and these letters are a mine of curious 
 and valuable information concerning the struggles 
 and aspirations of American authors and about the 
 quickened intellectual activities of the times. The 
 last volume contains the letters of many distinguished 
 Americans addressed to Dr. Belknap. Among the 
 writers are: John and Abigail Adams; Noah Web- 
 ster; Morse, the geographer; Rush, the philanthro- 
 pist; Walton, the naturalist; Ramsay and Gordon, 
 the historians; General Lincoln; Rev. Joseph Buck- 
 minster; Sir John Wentworth; and, most frequently, 
 Dr. John Eliot. 
 
 In 1795 he published "Dissertations on the Char- 
 acter, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and 
 the Evidence of his Gospel"; and in the same year 
 his famous Hymn-book, concerning which he says 
 in his preface: "In this selection those Christians, 
 who do not scruple to sing praises to their Redeemer 
 and Sanctifier, will find materials for such a sublime 
 employment; whilst others, whose tenderness of con- 
 science may oblige them to confine their addresses 
 to the Father only, will find no deficiency of matter 
 suited to their idea of the chaste and awful spirit of 
 devotion." For many years this collection was ex- 
 tensively used in the New England churches. 
 
 In 1796 he preached the Annual Convention Ser- 
 mon before the Congregational clergy of Massachu- 
 
io 4 JEREMY BELKNAP 
 
 setts. In it he illustrates with great felicity the pe- 
 culiar trials of ministers, and shows that, with all the 
 prudence that marked his character, he was far from 
 lacking in independence. 
 
 In the same year he went, in company with Dr. 
 Morse, in behalf of the Society for Propagating Chris- 
 tian Knowledge, to visit the Indians at Oneida and 
 Stockbridge in the State of New York. Notwith- 
 standing his journey was a very pleasant one, the 
 result of his visit to the Indians was a conviction that 
 little was to be hoped for in respect to civilizing or 
 Christianizing them. He withdrew from the society 
 shortly afterward. 
 
 On the 20th of June, 1798, at four o'clock in the 
 morning, Dr. Belknap died suddenly of apoplexy. 
 His funeral was attended on the 22d, and the ser- 
 mon on the occasion was preached by the Rev. Dr. 
 Kirkland. He left a widow and five children. Mrs. 
 Belknap, a lady of high intellectual and moral qual- 
 ities, and loved by a large circle of friends, died Jan- 
 uary 20, 1809.* 
 
 Dr. Belknap was an overseer of Harvard College, 
 a member of the American Academy of Arts and 
 Sciences, an honorary member of the American Philo- 
 sophical Society at Philadelphia, a member of the 
 
 * Dr. Belknap was succeeded at Federal Street Church by 
 
 (1) John Snelling Popkin, who retained the charge only three 
 years, and then resigned against the wishes of the parish on account 
 of his own modest estimate of his ability to maintain so important 
 a post. He served as minister of the First Church in Newbury 
 until 1815, when he became professor of Greek at Harvard, continu- 
 ing in this congenial occupation until his resignation in 1833. He 
 died in 1852. For an accurate and entertaining account of his career 
 and peculiarities see Dr. Peabody's Harvard Reminiscences, p. 40. 
 
 (2) William Ellery Channing. See Vol. II. p. 118. 
 
 (3) Ezra Stiles Gannett. See Vol. III. p. 138. 
 
 (4) John F. W. Ware. See Vol. III. p. 365. 
 
JEREMY BELKNAP 105 
 
 Humane Society, etc. It was matter of conscience 
 with him to discharge the duties belonging to these 
 various relations with the utmost punctuality and 
 fidelity. 
 
 The following estimate of Dr. Belknap's charac- 
 ter as a minister is from Dr. Kirkland's sermon at his 
 funeral : — 
 
 "If a judicious and seasonable choice of subjects, 
 pertinency of thoughts, clearness of method, and 
 warmth of application; if language plain and per- 
 spicuous, polished and nervous; if striking illustra- 
 tions; if evangelical doctrines and motives; if a seri- 
 ousness and fervor evincing that the preacher's own 
 mind was affected; if a pronunciation free and nat- 
 ural, distinct and emphatical, be excellences in public 
 teaching, — you, my brethren of this society, have pos- 
 sessed them in your deceased pastor. Your atten- 
 tion was never drawn from the great practical views 
 of the gospel by the needless introduction of con- 
 troversial subjects, and your minds perplexed, nor 
 your devotional feelings damped by the cold subtle- 
 ties of metaphysic. His preaching was designed to 
 make you good and happy, and not to gain your ap- 
 plause; whilst the manner, as well as matter, was 
 suited to affect the heart, no attempt was made to 
 overbear your imaginations, and excite your passions 
 by clamorous and affected tones. 
 
 "You are witnesses to what is lost no less in private 
 conduct and example than in public ministrations, 
 how well his life became his doctrine; how the divine, 
 moral, and social virtues appeared in him in the vari- 
 ous scenes of life, in the hours of adversity, and in 
 his intercourse with his people. You are witnesses 
 how kind and inoffensive, yet plain and sincere, was 
 his demeanor towards you; how tender and sympa- 
 thetic were his feelings; for he could say, 'Who is 
 
io6 JEREMY BELKNAP 
 
 weak and I am not weak ? Who is offended and I 
 burn not ? Have I not wept with him who was in 
 trouble?' You are witnesses how useful was his 
 conversation, how simple and unaffected were his 
 manners. The sick are witnesses of his attention, 
 his fidelity, and tenderness, in comforting the believ- 
 ing, in warning the sinner, and confirming the doubt- 
 ful. The unreasonable and censorious are witnesses 
 of his patience and indulgence; the unbelieving of 
 his desire to convince them; the afflicted and despond- 
 ent of the sweetness of his consolations and his gentle 
 encouragement; the poor of his ready advice and as- 
 sistance, and, to the extent of his abilities, his alms; 
 the rich of his Christian independence united with 
 a becoming complaisance; and the profligate of his 
 grief for their depravity, of his utter disapprobation 
 of their characters." 
 
 The Hon. Josiah Quincy, president of Harvard 
 College, wrote of Dr. Belknap : — 
 
 "The habit of his body was plethoric, and indi- 
 cated a tendency to apoplexy, of which he died. His 
 general aspect was heavy, and of that mixed impres- 
 sion conveyed by an acquaintance with mankind, 
 superinduced on a studious and retired life. There 
 was a suavity in his manner, which won an interest 
 for what he said, combined with a simplicity both of 
 language and bearing, the effect of which I cannot 
 better express than by calling it taking. 
 
 "In conversation he was unobtrusive, never assum- 
 ing to lead; and his partaking in it seemed rather 
 a deference to the apparent expectation, or expressed 
 wish, of others than any particular desire of his own. 
 When he did speak, he never failed to satisfy, for it 
 was always to the point, often pithy; and, if the sub- 
 ject admitted, a flash of wit would enliven his thought, 
 and show that an electric power resided under that 
 
JEREMY BELKNAP 107 
 
 heavy and clouded brow. Kindness and good humor 
 predominated both in his look and address. He 
 possessed a natural vein of humor, of which some- 
 thing is shown in his tale of 'The Foresters,' and 
 which, when touched by the occasion, gave a quiet, 
 yet stimulating, raciness to his remarks. 
 
 "Undoubtedly, he was a man greatly respected and 
 beloved by his contemporaries. He filled a wide space 
 in the history of his own time, which the events of the 
 future, however crowded may be the canvas with 
 distinguished men, cannot wholly obliterate from 
 memory." 
 
 The Rev. John Pierce, D.D., wrote: — 
 
 "His features were small, and his face much pitted 
 with the small-pox. His talents and acquirements 
 were universally acknowledged to be of a high order, 
 and few of his contemporaries in the ministry shared 
 more largely than he in public favor. His prayers 
 in public were but little varied, and he was almost 
 motionless in the pulpit. Scarcely did he appear even 
 to move his lips. Still he was always listened to 
 with attention, on account of the vigorous tone of 
 thought and perspicuity of expression which pervaded 
 all his public performances. As a striking instance of 
 both his reserve in speaking and his facility in writing, 
 Dr. Freeman, who knew him intimately, told me that 
 in 'society meetings' he would often choose to ex- 
 press what he had to say to a neighbor by writing 
 rather than by speaking. 
 
 "One of Dr. Belknap's most intimate friends was 
 Dr. Clarke, whom he survived only about twelve weeks. 
 Never shall I lose the impression of the touching and 
 beautiful tribute which Dr. Belknap paid to the mem- 
 ory of his friend at the next Thursday lecture after 
 their separation took place, when he took for his text 
 that tender and beautiful expression of our Saviour 
 
108 JEREMY BELKNAP 
 
 concerning Lazarus, — 'Our friend sleepeth.' His 
 whole heart was in his utterances, and the whole audi- 
 ence seemed moved by a common sympathy." 
 
 In addition to the several works of Dr. Belknap already referred to, he published 
 An Elegy on the Rev. Alexander Cumming, 1763; A Serious Address to a Parishioner 
 on the Neglect of Public Worship; A Sermon on Jesus Christ, the only Foundation, 
 preached before an association of ministers in New Hampshire; A Sermon at the 
 Ordination of Jedediah Morse, 1789; The Foresters, An American Tale, 1792; A 
 Sermon on the National Fast, 1793. Two of his Sermons on the Institution and Ob- 
 servation of the Sabbath were published after his death, 1801. In addition to the 
 above he contributed extensively to various periodicals. 
 
 For Dr. Belknap's life and work see J. T. Kirkland's Funeral Sermon, 1798; J. 
 Eliot's Character of J. Belknap, in the Massachusetts Mercury of June 26, 1798; 
 Sketch of the Life and Character of Rev. Dr. Belknap, in the Collections of the Massa- 
 chusetts Historical Society, Series 1 , vol. vi. (1 800), pp. x-xviii; Life of Jeremy Belknap, 
 with Selections from his Correspondence, etc., collected and arranged by his grand- 
 daughter (Mrs. J. B. Marcou), New York, 1847; Francis Parkman's review of the 
 Life of Jeremy Belknap, in the Christian Examiner, January, 1848, vol. xliv. pp. 
 78-86; C. Deane's Report on the Belknap Donation, in the Proceedings of the Massa- 
 chusetts Historical Society, 1855-58, vol. iii. pp. 286-328; B. J. Lossing, in his 
 Lives of Celebrated Ameiicans, Hartford, 1869, p. 104; Proceedings of the Massa- 
 chusetts Historical Society, 1875-76, vol. xiv., extracts from his note-books, pp. 91-98 
 (other references in index); George B. Spalding's The Dover Pulpit during the Rev- 
 olutionary War, Dover, N.H., 1876; C. C. Smith's review of the Belknap Papers, 
 Parts I. and n., in the Unitarian Review, June, 1877, Boston, vol. vii. pp. 604-623; 
 Charles F. Richardson's American Literature, New York, 1887, vol. i. pp. 450-452; 
 George E. Ellis, in the Atlantic Monthly, May, 1891, vol. lxvii. pp. 643-657; A. A. Cod- 
 man, in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, January, 1895, vol. 
 xlix. pp. 68, 69. See also the Belknap Papers, printed by the Massachusetts Historical 
 Society, and the reviews of the same in Nation of May 9, 1878, and April 9, 1891. 
 
 Dr. Sprague's account of Dr. Belknap, from which this sketch is derived, was based 
 on the memoir by his grand-daughter, on Dr. Kirkland's Funeral Sermon, and on the 
 biography in Massachusetts Historical Collections, vol. vi. 
 
JOHN ELIOT 109 
 
 JOHN ELIOT 
 
 1 754-1 8 13 
 
 AND THE MINISTERS OF THE NEW NORTH CHURCH 
 
 John Eliot was born in Boston, May 31, 1754. He 
 was the fourth son and seventh child of the Rev. 
 Andrew Eliot, D.D., and Elizabeth (Langdon), his 
 wife. At the age of seven years he was placed at 
 the North Grammar School in Boston, where in due 
 time he was fitted for college. He was admitted a 
 member of Harvard College in 1768, at the early age of 
 fourteen, and graduated with the highest honor in 1772. 
 
 Soon after his graduation he took charge of a school 
 in Roxbury, where he remained one year, and for 
 several months of the succeeding winter he was em- 
 ployed in a similar way at Dedham. Some time dur- 
 ing the second year after he graduated he returned 
 to Cambridge to study theology, and continued there 
 until the army took possession of the students' rooms 
 in the spring vacation of 1775. In consequence of 
 some efforts that he made to recover the property in 
 his room he was suspected of being a Tory. The 
 fact that a considerable number of his friends were 
 strongly in the royal interest, and that he was unwill- 
 ing to abjure his social relations with them, was prob- 
 ably the real cause of his offending. 
 
 After being dislodged at Cambridge, he seems for 
 nearly a year to have had no fixed residence. Part 
 of the time he passed at Milton, and part at Brain- 
 tree in the family of the Hon. Richard Cranch, for 
 whom he always kept the most profound regard. He 
 also paid several visists to Dr. Jeremy Belknap, then 
 
no JOHN ELIOT 
 
 of Dover, N.H., afterward of Boston, with whom 
 he contracted an affectionate intimacy, that was broken 
 only by death. The two possessed similar tastes, 
 and were afterward fellow-workers in the then com- 
 paratively new field of historical and biographical 
 research. He officiated for a short time as chap- 
 lain to the recruits of Colonel Marshal's regiment, 
 then being raised in Boston, for the expedition to 
 Canada. After this he passed several months at 
 Littleton, as the assistant of the Rev. Daniel Rogers, 
 and during the winter of 1778-79 supplied the 
 First Church in Salem. Here his preaching met 
 with great acceptance; but, before there was any 
 decisive action in reference to calling him, the death 
 of his venerable father occurred, by reason of which 
 he was introduced to a field of service as grateful as 
 it was responsible and unexpected. 
 
 The church of which his father had been pastor 
 (the New North) immediately invited him to preach, 
 with a view to his becoming his father's successor. 
 That a fair expression of the wishes of the society 
 might be obtained, they voted to hear three others 
 in connection with him; and the result was a very 
 unanimous and cordial concurrence in his favor. 
 Accordingly, he was ordained and installed their 
 pastor on the 3d of November, 1779. 
 
 In the fourth year after his settlement he was hap- 
 pily married to a Miss Treadwell, of Portsmouth, 
 N.H., who survived him. They had six children, 
 three sons and three daughters, all of whom continued 
 to live with their father till the time of his death. 
 
 In the year 1797 he received the degree of Doctor 
 of Divinity from the University of Edinburgh. In 
 1804 he was chosen a member of the Corporation 
 of Harvard College, in place of the Rev. Dr. Howard, 
 then lately deceased, and in this capacity took part 
 
JOHN ELIOT in 
 
 in the momentous election of Henry Ware to the 
 Hollis Professorship. He was also a member of most 
 of the literary and charitable societies in Boston 
 and the vicinity, and in several of them he held im- 
 portant offices. He steadily broadened in his theolog- 
 ical opinions, so that after his death it was inevitable 
 that his society should, without any division, call an 
 avowed Unitarian, Francis Parkman,* to be his suc- 
 cessor. 
 
 Dr. Eliot was intimately associated with Dr. Belk- 
 nap in establishing the Massachusetts Historical So- 
 ciety, and to the close of life he manifested the 
 
 * Francis Parkman, 1788-1852, was bom in Boston, June 4, 
 1788. He was a son of Samuel Parkman, an eminent merchant, 
 and a grandson of the Rev. Ebenezer Parkman, who was for many 
 years minister in Westboro, Mass. Francis Parkman was fitted 
 for college in his native town, chiefly by Mr. William Wells, and 
 graduated at Harvard in 1807. After leaving college, he studied 
 theology for some three years, under the direction of the Rev. W. E. 
 Channing, and during this time contributed to one of the Boston 
 papers a series of articles on moral and religious subjects, which 
 were considered as highly creditable. 
 
 In the spring of 1810 he went to Edinburgh, where he passed the 
 winter following. Here he entered his name in the Divinity School, 
 and also attended some of the medical lectures. 
 
 In 181 1 he travelled in Europe, and after his return to America 
 he preached in various places. On the 8th of December, 1813, he 
 was ordained and installed pastor of the New North Church. The 
 sermon on the occasion was preached by his former theological in- 
 structor, the Rev. William E. Channing. In connection with this 
 church Mr. Parkman passed the whole period of his ministry. In 
 1834 he was honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity from 
 Harvard College. 
 
 In 1839 he delivered and published a discourse on the completion 
 of the twenty-fifth year of his ministry, in which he reviewed the his- 
 tory of the church of which he was pastor. 
 
 On the 7th of December, 1842, Mr. Amos Smith 1 was associated 
 with Dr. Parkman as colleague pastor. After Mr. Smith's resigna- 
 tion, which took place in June, 1848, Dr. Parkman requested that, 
 after the settlement of a new pastor, his own relations and duties 
 
ii2 JOHN ELIOT 
 
 warmest devotion to its interests. It was through his 
 instrumentality that many of its richest treasures 
 were obtained, both at home and abroad. He was 
 also a liberal contributor to the different volumes of 
 the society's Collections. For many years he gave 
 his leisure to researches into the history of New Eng- 
 land, and particularly of the churches. He was con- 
 stantly collecting facts about the earlier New Eng- 
 land worthies; and his Biographical Dictionary, pub- 
 lished in 1809, is a monument of patient and accurate 
 historical scholarship, and constitutes his chief title 
 to fame. 
 
 as senior pastor should cease. Mr. Joshua Young 1 was ordained 
 and installed in February, 1849, at which time Dr. Parkman's con- 
 nection with the congregation was virtually dissolved. He preached 
 his farewell sermon on the 28th of January, from Acts xx. 32, — "And 
 now, brethren, I commend you to God," etc. The resolutions 
 adopted by the society, on his leaving them, express "an unfeigned 
 and undiminished affection and respect" for him, as having been 
 through his long ministry "a truly Christian Pastor," and as "en- 
 titled to their lasting gratitude." 
 
 From the time of his first having a colleague he was always ready, 
 when he did not supply his own pulpit, to aid his brethren. After 
 he resigned his charge, this fraternal assistance was still widely ren- 
 dered. If any one was sick or in trouble, he was always ready to 
 help, often going to places at a considerable distance. He preached 
 nearly every Sunday, and never, it is said, with more acceptance 
 than in the closing part of his life. And he rarely preached with- 
 out writing a new sermon or rewriting an old one. 
 
 In the autumn of 1852 Dr. Parkman went to Baltimore, Md., 
 to attend a convention of Unitarian ministers, — the last meeting of 
 any public body that he ever attended. He was appointed presi- 
 dent of the convention, — an office for which his quick discernment and 
 prompt and graceful utterance, and familiarity with the forms of 
 public business, eminently qualified him. He had but just returned 
 from his journey when his friends and the community at large were 
 astounded by the tidings of his sudden death, on the 12th of No- 
 vember, 1852, aged sixty-six years. 
 
 Dr. Parkman was largely connected with associations of a relig- 
 ious, benevolent, and educational kind, such as the Massachusetts 
 
JOHN ELIOT 113 
 
 He died on the 14th of February, 1813, at the age 
 of fifty-nine. It was on Sunday, during the time of 
 public worship. It was communion day in his 
 church; and in the interval between the usual service 
 and the communion the tidings of his death were car- 
 ried to his people. Dr. Lowell, who was officiating 
 on the occasion, addressed the people in a strain of 
 great tenderness and fervor. The funeral was at- 
 tended on the 1 8th of February, Dr. Lathrop praying 
 with the family and most intimate friends, and Mr. 
 Channing performing a similar service in the meet- 
 ing-house, where there was a large assembly. Dr. 
 
 Bible Society, the Society for Propagating the Gospel, the Humane 
 Society, and the Congregational Charitable Society, and held offices 
 of high responsibility in a number of them. In 1829 he founded the 
 Professorship of Pulpit Eloquence and the Pastoral Care in the 
 Theological Department of Harvard College, of which his friend 
 the Rev. Henry Ware, Jr., was the first incumbent. When the So- 
 ciety for the Relief of Aged and Indigent Unitarian Clergymen was 
 formed in 1849, he took an active part in its concerns, bestowed 
 upon it his bounty, and accepted the office of its first vice-presi- 
 dent, which he held till his death. A considerable part of his library 
 he bequeathed to Harvard College, — an institution which he ardently 
 loved, and long served as an overseer and as a visitor. 
 
 He was married in 1817 to Sarah, daughter of Samuel Cabot of 
 Boston, who died the next year, leaving a daughter. In 1822 he 
 was married to Caroline Hall, of Medford, who became the mother 
 of several children, and survived him. He had six children living 
 at the time of his death, and among them was Francis Parkman, the 
 distinguished historian of New France and New England. 
 
 The Rev. Frederick Dan Huntington, late Bishop of Central New 
 York, wrote of Dr. Parkman: — 
 
 "His pleasant familiarity never transgressed the bounds of perfect 
 courtesy; and even in the less restrained hours of intimate fellow- 
 ship something was always present in his deportment to betoken 
 his excellent professional breeding. It was his custom, indeed, 
 to insist, with considerable scrupulousness, on those clerical pro- 
 prieties and formalities that formerly, more than now, distinguished 
 the ministerial vocation; and those whose taste in these respects was 
 less exacting than his own will long remember the good-natured 
 
ii4 JOHN ELIOT 
 
 Lathrop preached a funeral sermon on the succeed- 
 ing Sunday from i Thessalonians v. 9-1 1 . 
 
 The following account of Dr. Eliot, written in 1861 
 by the Hon. Josiah Quincy, is characteristic of both 
 subject and writer: — 
 
 "Dr. Eliot was my friend in my earliest manhood. 
 Before I was of age, and while yet a student at law, 
 as early as 1792, my acquaintance was formed with 
 him, and continued until his death. He was one of 
 three others (George Richards Minot, Rev. James 
 Freeman, and Dr. Jeremy Belknap) who honored 
 me, at that early period, with their countenance and 
 
 rebukes with which he pursued their departures from the ancient 
 rule. At this date I may justly speak of him as a representative 
 of the older school of gentlemen, and of the distinctive pulpit char- 
 acter of the last generation. 
 
 "In his relations to his brethren Dr. Parkman was singularly urbane 
 and conciliatory. With an eye naturally quick to detect faults, 
 as his friends could not but know, trained, too, by extensive observa- 
 tion and travel, with a constitutional relish of ludicrous incongrui- 
 ties, and with an honorable frankness in disapproving what he thought 
 to be wrong, he yet rarely gave offence by harsh judgments or 
 inconsiderate criticisms. An added effect was often given to the 
 native humor of his conversation by certain genial peculiarities in 
 his physiognomy and person. But he thoroughly understood the 
 decorum of all occasions, and a kind of refined dignity was not absent 
 even from his more careless moods. He possessed as consummate 
 a skill in making language reflect the play of his own thought and 
 feeling, in ordinary social intercourse, as is often found in any man. 
 There was no rancor in his sarcasm, and no malice in his playful- 
 ness. He knew how to choose fit and delicate terms. He loved 
 Scriptural quotations in all conjunctures, and was sometimes tempted 
 to use them rather by the appositeness than by the solemnity of the 
 circumstances. He kept the attention of the company always awake 
 by piquant terms of expression and quaint phrases. Nor was his 
 wit or eloquence wanting when the tone of the talk was raised. He 
 had an admirable faculty of describing the peculiarities of public 
 men, and the former events with which he had been conversant. 
 Of personal anecdotes he held at command a large fund. 
 
 "As a preacher, Dr. Parkman was uniformly serious and practical. 
 
JOHN ELIOT 115 
 
 kindness; introduced me, as soon as I was of age, 
 into their society, and were among the causes of my 
 early introduction into the membership of the His- 
 torical Society, and to many other societies. My 
 sense of gratitude was then deeply engraven on my 
 heart, and has never been obliterated. Among these 
 my early friends and patrons, Dr. Eliot was not the 
 least kind and efficient. In manners he was gentle 
 and amiable, in conversation ready and instructive. 
 He, as well as the other three, was the most direct and 
 truthful of men. There was an open-hearted famil- 
 iarity in his mind and manner singularly interesting 
 
 In his long ministry at the New North his fidelity and devotion were 
 untiring. There was great method in his habits. He was a gen- 
 uine respecter of humble virtue. He honored the poor saints. He 
 blessed the widow and the fatherless. He was prompt in all the 
 offices of consolation and charity. Family wealth never weakened 
 his work, nor enticed him to forget the claims of the least conspicu- 
 ous in his flock, — and that is no light honor to his Christian con- 
 science; but it did make him the constant and munificent guard- 
 ian of penury and distress. He was exceedingly careful to search 
 out the needy, not only in his own congregation, but in the whole 
 circle of his acquaintance, and especially among those of his own 
 profession and their families, and to bestow upon them kindly at- 
 tentions. Every aspect of suffering touched him tenderly. His 
 house was the centre of countless mercies to the various forms of 
 want; and there were few solicitors of alms, local or itinerant, and 
 whether for private necessity or public benefactions, that his doors 
 did not welcome and send away satisfied. 
 
 "Though subject to occasional attacks of nervous illness, Dr. Park- 
 man accomplished large labors. In the Trinitarian controversy he 
 did his share on the Unitarian side. For nearly half a century 
 he contributed more or less to the principal religious and theological 
 publications of his denomination. The processes of his mind were 
 practical, however, rather than speculative. His style was not 
 wanting in force, but distinguished rather for clearness and ease. 
 Many of his papers were biographical, narrative, or commemorative. 
 He looked at the vexed questions of theology, and at ideas of prin- 
 ciples, very much in their relation to persons. Throughout he was 
 a zealous and consistent friend of the Unitarian movement, but 
 
n6 JOHN ELIOT 
 
 and attractive. They were probably formed by his 
 habitual and affectionate intercourse with his parish- 
 ioners, toward whom he stood in a very peculiar re- 
 lation, — he was both pastor and comrade. He was 
 settled in the same church and over the same society 
 of which his father had been pastor for a long life. 
 He had been educated with the members of his parish 
 from his boyhood. They felt for him not only the re- 
 spect due to his office, but the intimacy resulting from 
 the association of childhood and youth. The old people 
 spoke of him with the familiarity with which they 
 were accustomed to address him when a boy and youth, 
 
 was too catholic in his feelings to favor an exclusive policy toward 
 any Christian sect." 
 
 Edwin P. Whipple, Esq., wrote of him: — 
 
 "He possessed, in a pre-eminent degree, one quality which does 
 not appear in his writings, but was confined to his conversation. 
 This quality was humor, and humor not merely as a power of his 
 mind, but as an element of his character and an instinct of his nat- 
 ure. In him it seemed made up of feeling and insight in equal pro- 
 portions. In its most intellectual manifestations it evinced that its 
 source was in a kindly, tolerant, and beneficent disposition, — that 
 it loved while it laughed. Whether he conversed on theology or 
 politics, or manners or individual character or recorded some sad 
 or pleasant experience of his own, the wise and genial humorist was 
 always observable, softening, enlivening, enriching everything he 
 touched. His practical discernment was so sure and keen, his 
 knowledge of the world was so extensive, and his perception of char- 
 acter and motives was so quick and deep that it was impossible to 
 impose on him by any pretence or deception. With all his subtilty, 
 however, in detecting the weaknesses of men, there was nothing of 
 the satirist in his disposition; and those who were the objects of 
 his shrewd but kindly humor seemed to enjoy it as much as others. 
 He so softly let a man down from the stilts of his rhetoric, or pierced 
 the bubbles of his declamation with such smiling tact, that the per- 
 son felt the mists of his self-delusion scattered as by sunlight. 
 
 "It was impossible to meet Dr. Parkman in the street, and stop a 
 minute to exchange words with him, without carrying away with 
 you some phrase, or turn of thought, so exquisite in its mingled sagac- 
 ity and humor that it touched the inmost sense of the ludicrous, and 
 
JOHN ELIOT 117 
 
 in language of respect and kindness, which he recip- 
 rocated. There was something antique in his lan- 
 guage and style, both in conversation and in the pulpit, 
 arising probably from his familiarity with the old 
 ecclesiastical writers. And from the nature of his 
 identity with his congregation he retained much of 
 that freedom, both in illustration and expression, 
 which characterized the clergy of olden times, but 
 which the fashion of his time repressed and soon 
 obliterated. His discourses were, in general, suited 
 to the audience to which they were addressed, full of 
 simplicity and directness. The Society of the North 
 
 made the heart smile as well as the lips. Indeed, in this respect 
 he continually reminded me of some of the greatest and most genial 
 humorists in literature, — of Addison and Goldsmith, of Lamb and 
 Irving. In the commonest conversation his mastery of the felici- 
 ties of humorous expression was quite a marvel. Without the slight- 
 est hesitation, sentence after sentence would glide from his tongue, 
 indicating the most consummate command of the resources of lan- 
 guage, and every word moistened with the richest humor and edged 
 with the most refined wit. His voice, in its sweet, mild, unctuous 
 smoothness, aided the effect of his expression. His style in conver- 
 sation, unlike his style in his writings, evinced a creative mind. It 
 was individual, original, teeming with felicities of verbal combina- 
 tion, and flexible to the most delicate variations of his thought. 
 Though it owed no small portion of its charm to his inimitable man- 
 ner, it still, if literally reported, would have possessed sufficient vi- 
 tality and richness to indicate, better than any printed memorials 
 of his powers, his real wealth of thought, observation, experience, 
 and knowledge." 
 
 The following is the list of Dr. Parkman's publications: A Sur- 
 vey of God's Providence in the Establishment of the Churches of 
 New England, a sermon delivered in Boston on the completion of 
 a century since the settlement of the New North Church, 1814; 
 A Sermon delivered at the Interment of the Rev. John Lathrop, 
 D.D., Pastor of the Second Church in Boston, 1816; The Provi- 
 dence of God displayed in the Revolutions of the World, a sermon 
 preached in the New North Church, Boston, on occasion of the 
 recent revolutions in the government of France, 1830; The Spirit 
 of the Christian Ministry, a sermon delivered at the ordination of 
 
n8 JOHN ELIOT 
 
 End of Boston was at that day composed of an in- 
 telligent, active, laborious class of men, who required 
 for their edification plain truths, plainly spoken. 
 Elaborate arguments were not suited either to their 
 taste or habits of thought; and the sermons of Dr. 
 Eliot were useful, practical, affectionate, without dis- 
 play, seeking only right words in proper places, and 
 appropriate truths and influences. His historical writ- 
 ings were rather his amusements than his studies. 
 They were the incidental rather than the direct object 
 of his life. He was curious in researches among old 
 manuscripts. He availed himself of the assistance 
 
 the Rev. John Parkman to the pastoral care of the Third Congre- 
 gational Church in Greenfield, Mass., 1837; Enquiring of the Fathers, 
 or Seeking Wisdom from the Past, a discourse preached in the New 
 North Church on the completion of the one hundred and twenty- 
 fourth year from the establishment of the church and of the twenty- 
 fifth year since the settlement of the present pastor, 1839; A Dis- 
 course delivered in the Church in Brattle Square on Occasion of the 
 Death of the Rev. John T. Kirkland, D.D., LL.D., Late President 
 of Harvard University, 1840; A Sermon preached at the Ordination 
 of the Rev. Amos Smith as Colleague Pastor of the New North 
 Church in Boston, 1842; Extracts from a Discourse on the late 
 Rev. Professor Ware, 1843; A Sermon delivered in the New North 
 Church, Boston, on the Author's resigning his Pastoral Charge, 
 1849; An Offering of Sympathy to Parents bereaved of their Chil- 
 dren, and to Others under Affliction; being a Collection from Manu- 
 scripts and Letters not before published, with an Appendix of Se- 
 lections. This was first published in 1830, and reached a fourth 
 edition in 1854. 
 
 I. Amos Smith was bom in Boston, November 29, 1816. He grad- 
 uated at Harvard College in the class of 1838, and from the Divinity 
 School in 1842. He was ordained the same year as the colleague 
 of Dr. Parkman. Six years later he was called to the pastorate 
 of the Unitarian church in Leominster, Mass., where he remained 
 eight years. He then accepted a call to a newly organized Unitarian 
 society at Belmont, in April, 1857, and continued pastor of the par- 
 ish there until his withdrawal from the active work of the ministry. 
 He died quite suddenly on September 12, 1887. 
 
JOHN ELIOT 119 
 
 of friends, as he acknowledges in his Preface to the 
 New England Biographical Dictionary. His histori- 
 cal researches were of a character of all his intellect- 
 ual efforts for their truth and usefulness, without dis- 
 play, without any catering for fame or hope of it." 
 Dr. Pierce, of Brookline, wrote of him: — 
 "Dr. Eliot was distinguished rather for sober than 
 for brilliant intellectual qualities. He was fond of 
 the classics, but was more especially devoted to his- 
 tory and biography. In matters of fact he might be 
 appealed to almost as an oracle. He was a prodigious 
 reader, and had a memory unusually tenacious and 
 
 Mr. Smith was genial, quick-witted, and tender-hearted. He 
 never consulted his own ease or comfort. He was not of those who 
 push themselves to the front and hustle for the prominent place. 
 Those who knew him best say that he set too low an estimate on his 
 abilities, and shrank too much from the active and commanding 
 positions which his wisdom and eloquence qualified him to fill. 
 A tablet to his memory in the church at Belmont describes him as 
 "pure in heart, simple in character, a devoted pastor, a loyal friend. 
 Earnest, manly, and tender, he illustrated the beauty of a Christian 
 life." 
 
 2. Joshua Young was born in East Pittston, Me., September 29, 
 1823, and was graduated at Bowdoin College in 1845. From his 
 Alma Mater he received in 1890 the honorary degree of Doctor of 
 Divinity. He was a graduate of the class of 1848 in the Harvard 
 Divinity School, and in February, 1849, was ordained as pastor of the 
 New North Church. His other pastorates during his long ministry 
 were in Burlington, Vt., 1852-63; Hingham, Mass. (Third Congrega- 
 tional Society), 1864-68; Fall River, Mass., 1868-75; ar >d Groton, 
 Mass., 1875-1904. At the time of his death, February 10, 1904, 
 he was residing in Winchester, Mass., but was still pastor emeritus 
 of the Groton Church. 
 
 In December, 1859, Dr. Young made his memorable journey from 
 Burlington, Vt., to North Elba, N.Y., and officiated, by an invita- 
 tion given him after his arrival, at the funeral of John Brown. Little 
 could he have foreseen at the time the thorny road to which that 
 journey was to lead him, and which for long years he walked with 
 bleeding feet. As little did he then anticipate the immortality of 
 fame which that day's performance of a simple duty was to bring 
 
120 JOHN ELIOT 
 
 accurate. His public discourses had not unfrequenthy 
 the appearance of being written in haste. He would 
 pass rapidly from one topic to another, in a manner 
 which sometimes left the hearer at loss to account 
 for the transition. Occasionally, however, there would 
 be passages of beauty and power, to give interest to 
 what might otherwise have been an ordinary sermon. 
 
 " In respect to his views of theology the following 
 statement, contained in Dr. Freeman's sermon after 
 his death, may be relied on as correct: — 
 
 '"In general, it maybe said that he agreed in opin- 
 ion with those who are denominated Liberal Christians. 
 Respecting his notions of the distinction which is to 
 be made between the rank of the Father and the 
 Son, though he rejected the creed of the Athanasians, 
 yet he did not go as far as many have proceeded in the 
 present age. He adopted, in his youth, the system 
 of Dr. Thomas Burnet, commonly called the " Indwell- 
 ing Scheme," and I believe adhered to it to the last.' 
 
 him. Dr. Young's anti-slavery convictions were a vital part of his 
 religion, and he had always the courage of his convictions. 
 
 As a preacher, he was in the front rank of the pulpit orators who 
 have proclaimed and defended the liberal faith. He spoke to men 
 as one having authority, — an authority derived from the personal 
 power of his strong character, and proceeding also from his far- 
 reaching human sympathies. He had rare native endowments; 
 and these, combined with his wide culture, enabled him to give to 
 his congregations the clear, forcible, well-reasoned, and spiritually- 
 keyed discourses which made him the helper of their faith and their 
 
 joy- 
 But Dr. Young was more than the eloquent preacher: he was a 
 
 "shepherd of the people," the tender-hearted friend, the compas- 
 sionate and considerate benefactor, the wise counsellor, the devoted 
 and public-spirited citizen. Above all else, men saw in him that type 
 of the true Christian gentlemen which is made up of "high-erected 
 thoughts seated in the heart of courtesy." The closed sense of 
 hearing never led him to put upon those whom he met any part of 
 his own heavy burden, and his thoughtfulness toward others was 
 rewarded by a like consideration on their part toward himself. 
 
JOHN ELIOT 121 
 
 " He rarely, if ever, introduced controversy in the 
 pulpit, and on disputed points, especially on the 
 character of the Saviour, generally confined himself 
 nearly or entirely to the use of Scripture language. 
 Indeed, he was so averse to religious controversy, 
 even in private, that I have known him sometimes 
 abruptly leave a circle in which it had been introduced. 
 Nevertheless, he formed his opinions independently, 
 and, when he thought the occasion required it, ex- 
 pressed them without any undue reserve. 
 
 " In his domestic and social relations Dr. Eliot shone 
 pre-eminently. In his family he was a model of gen- 
 tleness and affection. Often have I remarked the 
 delightful familiarity that subsisted between the father 
 and his children. And into whatever family or circle 
 he went, he always received a hearty welcome. Though 
 his brow would now and then bear the appearance 
 of deep solicitude, yet he was commonly cheerful, and 
 sometimes appeared in an exuberance of good spirits. 
 He possessed an integrity, a simplicity, a transparency 
 of character, that secured to him the affection and 
 confidence of all with whom he associated." 
 
 Besides his various contributions to the Massachusetts Historical Society's Collec- 
 tions, Dr. Eliot published : A Sermon delivered before the Free Masons on the Anni- 
 versary of St. John, 1782; A Charge to Free Masons, 1783; A Sermon on the Day 
 of Annual Thanksgiving, 1794; A Sermon at the Ordination of Joseph McKean at 
 Milton, 1797; A Sermon on Public Worship, 1800; A Sermon on the Completion of 
 the House of Worship for the New North Religious Society, 1804; A Sermon at the 
 Ordination of Henry Edes, 1809; A Biographical Dictionary, containing a Brief 
 Account of the First Settlers and other Eminent Characters in New England, 8vo, 
 1809. 
 
 The above sketch of Dr. Eliot is condensed from the biography which Dr. Sprague 
 compiled from Dr. Lathrop's and Dr. Freeman's funeral sermons, from the published 
 memoir of Dr. Eliot, and from the sketch in Massachusetts Historical Collections, 
 vol. i., Second Series. The sketch of Dr. Parkman was derived by Dr. Sprague from 
 manuscripts sent him by Dr. Ephraim Peabody and by Francis Parkman, the his- 
 torian. See also the charming account of Dr. Parkman in Frothingham's Boston 
 Unitarianism, p. 160. The note on Mr. Smith is contributed by the Rev. H. Bygrave, 
 and the note on Dr. Young by the Rev. H. G. Spaulding. 
 
i22 ZEDEKIAH SANGER 
 
 ZEDEKIAH SANGER 
 
 i 748-1 820 
 
 Zedekiah Sanger was a son of Richard and Deborah 
 (Rider) Sanger and a grandson of Richard Sanger, 
 of Watertown. He was born at Sherborn, Mass., 
 October 4, 1748, and was fitted for college by his 
 pastor, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Locke, afterward presi- 
 dent of Harvard College. He entered at Cambridge 
 in July, 1767, and graduated with high honor in 1771. 
 His theological studies were pursued under the direc- 
 tion of the Rev. Jason Haven, of Dedham. 
 
 On the 3d of July, 1776, he was ordained and in- 
 stalled pastor of the church in Duxbury. His first 
 sermon after his ordination was from Leviticus xxv. 
 10, " Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto 
 all the inhabitants thereof," having reference to the 
 new Declaration of Independence. 
 
 Mr. Sanger began his ministry in troublous times. 
 Though his people were much attached to him, and 
 showed their attachment by numerous acts of kind- 
 ness, yet, in consequence of the depreciation of the 
 Continental currency, his salary proved entirely un- 
 equal to his support. To supply the deficiency, he 
 worked on his farm during the day, and devoted a large 
 part of the night to study; and, in consequence of 
 thus severely taxing his eyes, his sight became so much 
 impaired that he felt constrained, after a few years, 
 to ask a dismission from his charge. His parish im- 
 mediately voted to increase his salary, and requested 
 him not to use his eyes in writing sermons for one year, 
 presuming that in that time they would recover their 
 usual strength. But at the close of the year his 
 
ZEDEKIAH SANGER 123 
 
 sight had not improved, and he renewed his request 
 for a dismission. This was granted in April, 1786. 
 In the year 1 788 he received an invitation to become 
 the junior pastor of the church in the south precinct 
 of Bridgewater. When the vote for giving him a 
 call was taken, one hand was raised in the negative. 
 When the man who thus raised his hand was asked 
 what he had to object against Mr. Sanger, his reply 
 was: "Nothing at all. I voted against him to take 
 ofF the curse; for the Scripture says, 'Woe unto you 
 when all men shall speak well of you!" Mr. Sanger 
 accepted the call, and was installed as colleague of 
 the Rev. John Shaw on the 17th of December, 1788. 
 Here he spent the remainder of his days. Though 
 educated as a Trinitarian, his theological opinions 
 underwent a progressive change. By middle life 
 he had outgrown all Calvinism. His son, Ralph 
 Sanger,* and several of his pupils became distinguished 
 Unitarian ministers. Dr. Sanger was married in 
 
 * Ralph Sanger was born in Duxbury in 1786. He graduated 
 at Harvard as the first scholar, in 1808, was tutor in mathematics 
 for three years, and was ordained and installed minister of the church 
 in Dover, Mass., on September 16, 1812. Dr. Zedekiah Sanger 
 preached the sermon; and other parts were taken by President Kirk- 
 land, Dr. Henry Ware, Rev. James Flint, and Rev. Stephen Palmer, 
 indicating that the new minister clearly belonged in the liberal wing 
 of the Congregational churches. The church unanimously followed 
 him in the adoption of Unitarian principles. Dr. Sanger, through 
 a pastorate of forty-eight years, illustrated all the virtues of the useful 
 country minister of the old-fashioned New England type. He began 
 at once on the work of fitting boys for college. He established the 
 common schools of the town, increased a hundred-fold the appro- 
 priation for education, and raised the educational standards of the 
 whole neighborhood. He led in the organization of the State Board 
 of Education, and labored for the establishment of State normal 
 schools, one of which was planted at Bridgewater, the home of his 
 youth and his father's parish. As his parish consisted almost en- 
 tirely of farmers, he devoted much attention to the improvement of 
 
i2 4 ZEDEKIAH SANGER 
 
 1771 to Irene Freeman, a member of his Duxbury 
 parish; and they had fourteen children. 
 
 Mr. Sanger preached the annual sermon before 
 the Convention of Congregational Ministers in Massa- 
 chusetts in 1805. He received the degree of Doctor 
 of Divinity from Brown University in 1807. He was 
 one of the original members of the American Acad- 
 emy of Arts and Sciences. He was noted both as 
 a classical scholar and as a mathematician, and his 
 parsonage became one of the most famous prepara- 
 tory schools in New England. 
 
 Dr. Sanger is understood to have limited his term 
 of service as a preacher to the age of seventy. When 
 he arrived at that age, he felt that some of his facul- 
 ties, especially his memory, had begun to fail; and 
 he, accordingly, asked for a colleague, and practi- 
 cally withdrew from public service. He had a good 
 constitution, and enjoyed vigorous health till within 
 a few years of his death. His last illness was a slightly 
 
 agriculture, serving as the active officer of the Norfolk Agricultural 
 Society and successfully working for the establishment of the Massa- 
 chusetts Agricultural College. He started a public library, kept the 
 books in his own house for many years, and selected them for the 
 reading of his people. He introduced Lyceum Lectures, and ac- 
 tively promoted temperance, both by personal example and by co- 
 operation in the work of the temperance societies. Five times 
 his district sent him to the State legislature, where he served on the 
 Committees on Education and Public Charities, and worked for 
 the charter which gave railroad connection to Dover. As a remark- 
 able testimony to the respect of the community he served so well, 
 it should be noted that, though his people were poor, they never 
 failed to pay his salary fully and promptly. In 1857 Harvard gave 
 him the Doctor's degree. Dr. Sanger was married in July, 1817, 
 to Charlotte Kingman, of East Bridgewater; and they had six chil- 
 dren. He died at the house of his son-in-law, Mr. William Gan- 
 nett, in Cambridge, on May 6, 1 860. Among his printed sermons 
 should be mentioned his Thirty Years' Ministry, 1842, and the 
 Sermon on the Fortieth Anniversary of his Ordination, 1853. 
 
ZEDEKIAH SANGER 125 
 
 paralytic affection, which, however, did not deprive 
 him of the use of either his limbs or his reason. He 
 died on the 17th of November, 1820, in the seventy- 
 third year of his age. His funeral sermon was preached 
 by his neighbor and intimate friend, the Rev. Dr. 
 Reed,* of West Bridgewater. 
 
 An admirable description of Dr. Sanger was writ- 
 ten by the Rev. Levi W. Leonard, of Dublin, N.H., 
 who was brought up in Dr. Sanger's parish, and pre- 
 pared by him for college: — 
 
 "The personal appearance of Dr. Sanger was 
 striking, and not easily to be forgotten. On his head 
 he wore what was called, in those days, a cocked hat, 
 or a hat with the brim turned up on three sides. On 
 
 * John Reed (1751-1831) was born in Framingham, on the nth of 
 November, 1751, the son of the Rev. Solomon Reed; but in con- 
 sequence of the removal of his father, a short time after, most of his 
 early years were spent in Middleborough. Having gone through 
 his preparatory studies, under the instruction of his father, he 
 entered Yale College in 1768, that institution being preferred to 
 Harvard, chiefly on the ground of its being more favorable to the 
 Calvinistic system of doctrine, of which his father was an earnest 
 supporter. 
 
 After his graduation, in 1772, he remained at New Haven, 
 and pursued his theological studies, probably under the direction 
 of President Daggett. During this period his mind underwent 
 a great change in respect to Christian doctrine; and instead of 
 settling down in the Calvinistic creed, to which he had been educated, 
 he became a thorough convert to the Arminian system, and always 
 held to it with great tenacity during the rest of his life. After becom- 
 ing a candidate for settlement, he was invited to preach in a parish 
 in Bridgewater, which now forms the separate town of West Bridge- 
 water. He accepted their call, and was ordained and installed on 
 the 7th of January, 1780, the sermon on the occasion being preached 
 by his father. 
 
 In 1794 Dr. Reed was elected a member of Congress, and he 
 continued a member six years. He was a Federalist of the Wash- 
 ington and John Adams school, and enjoyed the friendship and con- 
 fidence of those illustrious men. In 1803 he received the degree of 
 
126 ZEDEKIAH SANGER 
 
 the Sabbath he always appeared with small-clothes, 
 black silk or black worsted stockings, and shoes with 
 silver buckles. Among the boys his appearance, 
 as he approached the church, excited much attention; 
 and we used to watch for him to turn from the road 
 into the common in front of the meeting-house. He 
 advanced with a slow step and dignified air, suffering 
 no one to pass without respectful recognition, and 
 taking off his three-cornered hat as the persons about 
 the door stood back that he might enter. 
 
 "The manner of Dr. Sanger in the pulpit was grave 
 without affectation. His utterance was distinct, but 
 the intonations of his voice were peculiar. In his 
 devotional exercises there was occasionally a quick 
 
 Doctor of Divinity from Brown University. In 1812 he delivered 
 the Dudleian Lecture at Harvard College. 
 
 Dr. Reed spent the last ten years of his life in total darkness, hav- 
 ing irrecoverably lost his sight by means of cataracts. The last 
 time that he could avail himself of the aid of a manuscript in preach- 
 ing was at the funeral of Dr. Sanger. He, however, continued to 
 preach regularly until a short time before his death. The portions 
 of Scripture and the hymns which he had occasion to use he com- 
 mitted to memory by hearing them read. 
 
 He was married in November, 1780, to Hannah, daughter of Uriah 
 Sampson, of Middleborough. She was a descendant of the two 
 famous Pilgrims, John Alden and Miles Standish. They had eight 
 children, five sons and three daughters. Mrs. Reed died in Novem- 
 ber, 1815; and he was married in 1823 t0 Mrs. Phoebe Paddock, 
 the sister of his first wife. 
 
 Dr. Reed published: A Sermon at the Installation of Kilbom 
 Whitman, 1787; A Sermon at the Ordination of Jonas Hartwell, 
 1792; The Right Hand of Fellowship at the Ordination of James 
 Wilson, in Providence, 1793; The Right Hand of Fellowship at the 
 Ordination of James Flint, in East Bridgewater, 1806; An Apology 
 for the Rite of Infant Baptism, 1806; A Sermon before the Conven- 
 tion of Congregational Ministers in Massachusetts, 1807; A Sermon 
 at the Ordination of Daniel Johnson, Orleans, Mass., 1808; A Ser- 
 mon before the Plymouth Association of Ministers, preached in 
 Middleborough, 1810; A Sermon before the Society for Promoting 
 Christian Knowledge, Piety, and Charity, 1814. 
 
ZEDEKIAH SANGER 127 
 
 shaking of the head from side to side, which many 
 persons remember with interest, as it was apt to occur 
 in the most earnest part of his prayers, and seemed 
 to render the words uttered more impressive. 
 
 "In his pastoral visits Dr. Sanger was distinguished 
 for his entertaining and instructive conversations. He 
 had a large fund of anecdotes, which he knew how 
 to introduce without obtruding them. He was in- 
 teresting to the young as well as to older persons. 
 When I was but a boy, it was a source of high grati- 
 fication to me to be permitted to sit in the room dur- 
 ing a visit or a call from him. I never saw in him 
 the least approach to levity of manner. He was care- 
 ful of the reputation of others. When persons were 
 traduced in his presence, he remained silent. 
 
 "Bridgewater Academy was opened for pupils 
 about 1799, and Dr. Sanger was appointed the pre- 
 ceptor. I became a member of his school when nine 
 years of age. He was strict in discipline and thor- 
 ough in instruction. Offences against the regula- 
 tions of the school seldom escaped his notice, and 
 occasionally he was severe in his reprimands. His 
 general manner indicated kindness of heart, and an 
 earnest desire for the good conduct and progress of 
 his pupils. His commendations were bestowed with 
 just discrimination, and were regarded, therefore, 
 as worth receiving. I remember, as it were but yes- 
 terday, the first time he prescribed for me a lesson 
 in Barr's English Grammar. He called me to his 
 desk, opened the book, marked the paragraphs to 
 be committed to memory, and then went over them 
 with a running commentary, thus explaining their 
 meaning, and exciting an interest in the subject. There 
 was a department for female pupils; and, morning 
 and evening, both sexes assembled in the hall, where 
 the Scriptures were read and prayers offered. It 
 
iz8 ZEDEKIAH SANGER 
 
 was customary, after evening prayers, to have an 
 exercise in spelling. The pupils had been in the 
 habit of spelling words without first pronouncing 
 them after the teacher. I had been trained to pro- 
 nounce words before spelling them, and, when called 
 upon to spell, I repeated the word before naming the 
 letters and syllables. To my surprise and chagrin 
 there was a restrained laugh and a smile of derision 
 on the part of many of the pupils. For a moment, 
 I remember, Dr.. Sanger looked offended, but imme- 
 diately he said, in a decided tone, 'That is a good 
 method: it shows whether the pupil understands the 
 word he is required to spell, and I desire that all of 
 you hereafter pronounce the words before you spell 
 them.' This, of course, relieved me from all embar- 
 rassment; and it is one of the first things that I recol- 
 lect when I hear the name of Dr. Sanger mentioned. 
 
 "During Dr. Sanger's ministry there was no stove 
 in his church. Two of the entrances opened directly 
 into the open air outside. The doors to these were 
 not always shut by those who entered, and thus the 
 house was rendered more than usually uncomfortable. 
 When a door was left open, Dr. Sanger was accus- 
 tomed, at times, to request that it might be closed. 
 At the beginning of one winter, having made the re- 
 quest several times on different Sabbaths, it happened, 
 on a succeeding Sabbath, that the door was left open; 
 and no one moved to shut it. After waiting awhile, 
 he rose, came down the pulpit stairs, — the eyes of 
 the whole congregation being turned toward him, — 
 walked deliberately through the side aisle, and gently 
 closed the door, then, with the same deliberate step, 
 returned to the pulpit, and continued the service as 
 if nothing had happened to disturb his equanimity. 
 I believe the doors were not left open again during 
 the winter. 
 
ZEDEKIAH SANGER 129 
 
 "I was occasionally sent, when a boy, to procure 
 books from the Social Library. Dr. Sanger was libra- 
 rian, and attended personally to the delivery of books. 
 His conversation at these meetings was about the 
 books, giving frequently some sketch of their contents, 
 and recommending to one and another the kind of 
 books in which he supposed they would take an in- 
 terest. 
 
 "The doctor's excellent wife was discreet, shrewd, 
 intelligent, and such a manager of a household as 
 falls to the lot of few husbands of any profession. 
 With a numerous family, and a number of pupils be- 
 sides, her domestic duties must have been of no trifling 
 weight. But everything was done by her with prompt 
 decision, and with a careful yet not unduly rigid 
 economy. Her children were distinguished for their 
 good conduct and civil manners, and were often re- 
 ferred to by the mothers of the parish as patterns to 
 be imitated. Mrs. Sanger was distinguished for her 
 conversational ability. In consequence of having a 
 large circle of friends and acquaintances, much com- 
 pany was entertained; and when Dr. Sanger was 
 wearied with the labors of the day, or unwell, or par- 
 ticularly engaged in his study, his wife was never found 
 unequal to the task of interesting visitors, whether 
 young or old. She seemed to know just what should 
 be said on all occasions; and, when some perverse 
 or conceited parishioner was trying to catch his min- 
 ister in his talk, she quickly perceived it, and with 
 wonderful tact, and without seeming intrusiveness, 
 took up the subject and the conversation, and caused 
 the person to forget his purpose. She was often some- 
 what satirical in expressing disapprobation of opinions 
 or conduct, but her satire was free from sarcasm." 
 
 The Rev. Charles Lowell, another pupil of Dr. 
 Sanger's, wrote: — 
 
J30 ZEDEKIAH SANGER 
 
 "That he had the reputation of being a good scholar 
 may, I think, be inferred from his having been in- 
 trusted with the care of so many lads in their prepara- 
 tory education for college, and that he had a highly 
 respectable rank among his brethren appears from his 
 having been one of the few teachers in that day of a 
 'School of the Prophets.' 
 
 "I remember him as a man of much simplicity of 
 character, of great sensibility, of an ardent tempera- 
 ment, perhaps somewhat excitable, but habitually 
 gentle and kind. He had nothing austere about him 
 but his eyebrows, which were unusually long. As 
 a preacher, he was more than ordinarily popular. 
 His style of composition was lively, and his elocution 
 animated, though not graceful. His manner was his 
 own. There was no affectation about it. He felt 
 what he uttered, and was mainly anxious that the 
 flock he fed should feel it, too." 
 
 The following is a list of Dr. Sanger's publications: A Sermon at the Ordination 
 of Ebenezer Lazell, Artleborough, 1792; A Sermon at the Ordination of James Wil- 
 son, Providence, 1793; A Sermon at the Ordination of Hezekiah Hooper, Boylston, 
 1794; A Sermon at the Ordination of Samuel Watson, Barrington, R.I., 1798; A 
 Sermon at the Ordination of Ralph Sanger, Dover, 1812. 
 
 This sketch of Dr. Sanger is condensed from a manuscript furnished to Dr. Sprague 
 by the Rev. Ralph Sanger. The note on Ralph Sanger is chiefly derived from Smith's 
 History of Dover. The note on Dr. Reed is taken from Dr. Sprague's article based 
 on the Funeral Sermon preached by Rev. R. M. Hodges, Dr. Sanger's successor at 
 Bridgewater, and on a manuscript sent him by Dr. Reed's son, Mr. Sampson Reed. 
 
THOMAS BARNARD 131 
 
 THOMAS BARNARD 
 
 1 748-1814 
 
 AND THE MINISTERS OF THE NORTH CHURCH IN SALEM 
 
 Thomas Barnard, Jr., a son of the Rev. Thomas 
 Barnard,* was born in Newbury, February 5, 1748. 
 He graduated at Harvard College in 1766, and stud- 
 ied theology under the direction of the Rev. Samuel 
 Williams, of Bradford. In the year 1771, when his 
 father had become so feeble as to require the assist- 
 ance of a colleague in the care of the First Church in 
 Salem, the son was invited to preach as a candidate 
 for the place; but, as the congregation were divided 
 in their partialities between him and another candi- 
 date, the party favorable to his settlement withdrew, 
 and formed a new church. He was ordained and 
 installed pastor of the North Church and Society in 
 Salem January 13, 1773. Here he continued in the 
 active discharge of the duties of his office forty-one 
 years. On the morning of the first day of October, 
 
 * Thomas Barnard, 1716-1776, a son of the Rev. John Barnard, 
 of Andover, was born August 17, 1 71 6. He was graduated at Har- 
 vard College in 1732, and was ordained and installed pastor of the 
 First Church in Newbury, January 31, 1739. After a few years the 
 peace of his congregation was disturbed, and his situation at length 
 became so unpleasant that he was, by his own request, dismissed 
 on the 1 8th of January, 1751. 
 
 After leaving his charge, he removed to that part of the town which 
 is now Newburyport, studied law, became a practitioner at the bar, 
 and was a representative of the town to the General Court. Though 
 his talents were such as would have insured him success in civil 
 life, he found that he had little taste for such pursuits. The First 
 Church in Salem having been rendered vacant by the death of the 
 Rev. John Sparhawk, Mr. Barnard was called to be his successor. 
 
132 THOMAS BARNARD 
 
 1 8 14, he was seized with a fit of apoplexy, and in 
 the course of the following night died, in the sixty- 
 seventh year of his age. His funeral sermon was 
 preached by his neighbor and friend, the Rev. Dr. 
 Prince, of the First Church. 
 
 He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from 
 both the University of Edinburgh and Brown Univer- 
 sity in 1794. 
 
 Dr. Barnard was married in May, 1775, to Lois, 
 daughter of Samuel Gardner, a merchant of Salem. 
 He had two children, a son and a daughter, but sur- 
 vived them both. 
 
 Dr. Barnard is best remembered as, at the age of 
 twenty-seven, on the afternoon of Sunday, February 
 26, 1775, in full clerical costume, he stood at the open 
 draw of the North Bridge, mediating between a band 
 of armed militia under Colonel Timothy Pickering, 
 and Colonel Leslie, who with a detachment of British 
 regulars had come to seize the stores and cannon of 
 the Province. With self-possession and persuasive 
 remonstrance he successfully urged counsels of for- 
 bearance. The draw was finally lowered, and by 
 
 He accepted the invitation, and was installed September 18, 1755. 
 Here Mr. Barnard continued till the close of his life. He suffered 
 much in his latter years from a paralytic affection. His memory 
 failed; and, though he continued to preach till within a few weeks 
 of his death, it was only by the closest attention to his manuscript 
 that he could read his sermon. Mr. Barnard died August 15, 1776, 
 aged sixty years. Dr. Andrew Eliot, of Boston, who had long been 
 his intimate friend, preached his funeral sermon. 
 
 The publications of Mr. Barnard were: A Sermon at the Ordi- 
 nation of Edward Barnard, Haverhill, 1743; A Letter to Mr. Joseph 
 Adams; A Sermon at the Ordination of Josiah Bayley, 1757; A 
 Sermon before the Society for Promoting Industry, 1757; Artillery 
 Election Sermon, 1758; A Sermon at the Ordination of William 
 Whitwell, Marblehead, 1762; A Sermon at the General Election, 
 1763; Dudleian Lecture at Harvard College, 1768; A Sermon at 
 the Funeral of the Rev. Peter Clark, Danvers, 1768. 
 
THOMAS BARNARD 133 
 
 agreement the British marched one rod beyond it 
 and then returned peaceably to Boston without the 
 booty they had come to take. The incident fitly 
 symbolizes the personal and public influence of 
 Dr. Barnard. By temperament and conviction he was 
 a reconciler, not by studied compromise, but by native 
 courtesy and magnanimity. His own generosity of 
 mind put generous constructions on other men's 
 motives, and by the inbred honor of his character he 
 held the confidence he had gained. It is a testimony 
 to his catholicity that, while counted as rather con- 
 servative, he was invited to preach the ordination 
 sermons at the settlement of two redoubtable liberal 
 pioneers, — Aaron Bancroft in Worcester in 1786 and 
 Ichabod Nichols in Portland in 1809. 
 
 Dr. Barnard practised a uniform hospitality to 
 various opinions, and was disposed to judge men by 
 the standards of character rather than of creed. He 
 demanded freedom for all. His sermon at the ordi- 
 nation of Mr. Bancroft, of Worcester, was a protest 
 against the attempt to bring free minds, earnest in 
 the pursuit of truth, to an enforced uniformity. Fre- 
 quently, on other occasions, he rebuked the assump- 
 tion which makes of one's own opinion a standard 
 for the conviction of others. When he died, Dr. 
 Channing called him a Unitarian. Mr. Worcester 
 denied the statement. The fact remains that at his 
 death the parish, unanimously called John Emery 
 Abbot, 1 who had been educated for the ministry by 
 Dr. Channing. We may conclude that the society, 
 under Dr. Barnard, had quietly moved together 
 toward the liberal position openly assumed in 1815. 
 
 The origins of Unitarianism in Salem are peculiarly 
 interesting; and the way in which three of the Con- 
 gregational churches of the town — the First, the East, 
 and the North Churches — grew liberal, while the 
 
i34 THOMAS BARNARD 
 
 others remained conservative, is instructive. This 
 curious development and divergence has been traced 
 by the Rev. George Batchelor in an admirable essay. 
 
 "The great majority of the men of influence in 
 these three parishes were foreign merchants and ship- 
 masters; and these parishes were almost wholly made 
 up of these men, their families, and those who were 
 naturally associated with them in trade, either as as- 
 sistants or dependants. With them were also nat- 
 urally found the professional men whose patients and 
 clients they were, and to whom the enterprise and 
 intelligence of the men who pushed the commerce of 
 Salem into every sea was attractive. To any one who 
 scans the names in the old archives, it is evident that, 
 in the social life of Salem and the constitution of these 
 three churches, no element was so powerful as the 
 commercial." 
 
 In the Historical Sketch of Salem, published by 
 the Essex Institute, we read, "The three most promi- 
 nent merchants of that period were Elias Hasket Derby, 
 William Gray, and Joseph Peabody." These mer- 
 chants were, the first two in the East Church, and the 
 third in the North. Lists are given of the Salem mer- 
 chants and ship-masters engaged in commerce with 
 India, China, Batavia, Sumatra, Manila, Isle of 
 France, Mocha, and other Oriental ports in Asia and 
 Africa. Slight investigation shows that the great 
 majority of these merchants were in the churches 
 now called Unitarian. When we remember that 
 there were three other Congregational churches in 
 the city, dating respectively from 1735, 1774, and 
 1803, it is clear that this was not for lack of churches 
 of a different theological complexion which they might 
 have attended. 
 
 "When," says Mr. Batchelor, "in 1824, the Barton 
 Square Church was founded, five men met, subscribed 
 
THOMAS BARNARD 135 
 
 $13,000 to build a church, and determined to call Rev. 
 Henry Colman * to be their minister. They were all 
 foreign merchants. Had they not been, the church 
 they founded would not have been 'Independent 
 Congregational.' In order to test this statement 
 since writing the foregoing sentence, the list has been 
 examined of the laymen who in 1803 formed the How- 
 ard Street Church, afterward famous for the belli- 
 gerent pastorate of Dr. George B. Cheever. The 
 
 * Henry Colman was born in Boston, September 12, 1785; grad- 
 uated at Dartmouth College in 1805; was ordained and installed 
 minister of the Second Congregational Church in Hingham, Mass. 
 in 1807, and remained there until 1820. From 1825 to 1831 he was 
 pastor of a new Barton Square Society in Salem, and afterward re- 
 moved to Deerfield, Mass. He was appointed Agricultural Com- 
 missioner of the State of Massachusetts; and, after passing consid- 
 erable time in making a tour of inspection in that State and in pre- 
 paring several reports, he spent sixyears, from 1842 to 1848, in Europe. 
 The results of his observations, during this time were published, 
 after his return, in his "Agricultural and Rural Economy of France, 
 Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland," "European Agriculture and 
 Rural Economy," and "European Life and Manners, in Letters to 
 Friends." He died in London, soon after his arrival there, August 
 14, 1849. In addition to the works already mentioned he published 
 the following: A Fast Sermon preached at Quincy, Mass., 1812; 
 A Fast Sermon delivered at Hingham and Quincy, 1812; A Sermon 
 preached before the Massachusetts Humane Society, 1812; A Dis- 
 course delivered at Hanover, Mass., before the Plymouth and Nor- 
 folk Bible Society, 1816; Catechisms for Children, 1817; A Sermon 
 delivered at Hingham, at the Ordination of Daniel Kimball, 1817; 
 The Massachusetts Artillery Election Sermon, 1818; Sermons, I 
 vol., 8vo, 1820; A Discourse on Pastoral Duty, addressed to the Min- 
 isters of the Bay Association, 1822; A Discourse on the Character 
 Proper to a Christian Society, delivered at the Opening of the Sec- 
 ond Congregational Church in Lynn, 1823; Proper Test of the Chris- 
 tian Church, a sermon preached at Boston, 1824; A Discourse on 
 the Proper Character of Religious Institutions, delivered at the Open- 
 ing of the Independent Congregational Church in Barton Square, 
 Salem, 1824; Reply to a Review of the Foregoing, 1825; Agricult- 
 ural Address delivered at Greenfield, Mass., 1833. 
 
136 THOMAS BARNARD 
 
 result is that no foreign merchants were found in the 
 list of original members, or of those who first joined 
 the church after its formation. 
 
 "Puritanism, then, it appears, grew into Unita- 
 rianism in Salem only under the influence of foreign 
 commerce. It kept the hardening shell of orthodoxy in 
 the churches where this influence was weak or wanting. 
 Foreign commerce, the great civilizer, was here at work 
 on the choicest materials ever exposed to its influence. 
 Puritan independence, vigor of thought, moral sturdi- 
 ness, and general intelligence, enlightened and warmed 
 by contact with foreign nations, and especially by 
 contact with the Oriental religions seen at their best, 
 could not fail to supplant a theology which grows best 
 in seclusion and by the repression of vigorous human 
 instincts. With the wealth of the Indies, the men of 
 Salem brought into New England the seeds of that 
 toleration which they had unconsciously harvested among 
 the spices and other rare products of the Eastern world." 
 
 The following delineation of Dr. Barnard's char- 
 acter is extracted from Dr. Prince's sermon preached 
 on the occasion of his death : — 
 
 As a minister, he was highly respected and esteemed, and useful 
 in the churches, being often called to assist at councils in the ordina- 
 tion of ministers or settling differences among brethren. He was 
 often consulted, and his knowledge and judgment had weight and 
 influence on such occasions. He was catholic in his principles and 
 candid toward those who differed from him. Though zealous, as 
 far as zeal was useful, in inculcating his own sentiments, he did not 
 wish to impose them on any man. He left others to think for them- 
 selves, and entertained none of those peculiarities which poison the 
 sweets of charity. He esteemed the honest man, however differing 
 from him in speculative opinions, and embraced him in his charity. 
 
 As the Lord had declared that the poor had the gospel preached 
 to them, he believed that all its doctrines necessary to salvation were 
 within the compass of their understanding for faith and practice, 
 and that the final salvation of no man depended upon the belief or 
 disbelief of those speculative opinions about which men equally 
 
THOMAS BARNARD 137 
 
 learned and pious differ, and some perplex their minds without 
 adding anything to their knowledge. His preaching, therefore, was 
 more practical than metaphysical, though he did not neglect to dis- 
 cuss any religious subject in his discourses which he thought would 
 throw light on the Scriptures, inform the minds of his hearers, and 
 lay open the views and designs of God in the gospel dispensation, and 
 the character and office of Christ, as the messenger of his grace, 
 and the Redeemer of mankind, — such views as would impress the 
 mind with reverence, esteem, and love, confirm faith, and excite 
 obedience. With what honesty, openness, and sincerity, in what a 
 fervent and pious manner, he preached these things, you, my hearers, 
 are his witnesses, who have so long sat under his ministry. I have 
 been informed that his choice of subjects, in the latter part of his 
 life, was more upon the frailties of our nature, its infirmities and 
 mortality, than in former days. As he advanced in life, and felt 
 a nearer approach to the end of it, he might naturally be led to the 
 contemplation of these subjects. In confirmation of this I found 
 upon his table, after his death, a part of a sermon which he had 
 begun to write from these words: "My flesh and my heart faileth, 
 but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (Psalm 
 lxxiii. 26), — a striking coincidence between the subject which en- 
 gaged his mind, at that time, and his death. Probably the very 
 last day he spent on earth he was employed writing on this subject. 
 When he visited you in affliction, how did he pour the balm of con- 
 solation into your minds, sympathize with you, share in your sor- 
 rows, and encourage and comfort you by the hopes and promises of 
 the gospel! How did he counsel and advise you when in difficul- 
 ties, and participate in your joys when prosperity smiled upon youl 
 You can recollect these scenes better than I can describe them. I 
 mention them only as a part of his character and conduct as a Chris- 
 tian minister. 
 
 Dr. Barnard was succeeded at the North Church by 
 
 (1) John Emery Abbot, i793-i8io,was a son of Benjamin Abbot, 
 LL.D., who for more than half a century was principal of Phil- 
 lips Academy, Exeter, N.H. His mother, whom he is said to have 
 greatly resembled, and who lived but a few months after his birth, 
 solemnly dedicated him to the care and grace of God; and his 
 knowledge of this fact is said to have had much to do in giving a 
 serious direction to his earliest thoughts and feelings. He graduated 
 at Bowdoin in 1810, at the early age of seventeen, and then pursued 
 his theological studies, partly at Harvard, and partly under the 
 direction of Dr. Channing in Boston. 
 
138 THOMAS BARNARD 
 
 His first appearance in the pulpit excited great interest. There 
 was a simplicity, a solemnity, an earnestness about him, that rendered 
 his ministrations deeply impressive. When the pulpit in the North 
 Church in Salem was vacated by the death of Dr. Barnard, Mr. 
 Abbot received and accepted a call, and was ordained and installed 
 on the 20th of April, 1815. He was a Unitarian by inheritance and 
 upon principle, and quickly won the confidence and affection of his 
 people. He was a youth of deep religious sensibility and stainless 
 purity, who bore himself with such modest dignity and preached with 
 such matured wisdom and moving earnestness that his brief min- 
 istry made a distinct and permanent impression. With a consti- 
 tution naturally fragile, it soon became apparent that his health was 
 inadequate to the labor which he had undertaken; and in the spring 
 of 1817 his friends began to discover symptoms of pulmonary disease. 
 In October he made a short journey to the South, from which he 
 received injury rather than benefit. On the day after he reached 
 home, he preached to his people in the morning, and administered 
 the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, — the last time, as it proved, that 
 he ever officiated. He spent the winter in Cuba and in South Caro- 
 lina, and reached Exeter in June, and remained there in the enjoy- 
 ment of the most affectionate attentions till his death, which occurred 
 October 6, 1819. His funeral sermon was preached at Salem by the 
 Rev. Dr. Channing. 
 
 Several years after Mr. Abbot's death a volume of his Sermons 
 was published, together with a Memoir of his life, by Dr. Henry 
 Ware, Jr. 
 
 (2) John Brazer (1787-1 846) was born in Worcester, Mass., about 
 the year 1787. He was the son of a baker who had removed to 
 Worcester after the burning of his place in Charlestown at the battle 
 of Bunker Hill. The circumstances of his family not permitting 
 to him the advantages of a liberal education, he was compelled to 
 work in a store in Boston until he was twenty-one. Then, with 
 scarcely any resources, he indulged the bent of his inclination, pre- 
 pared for Harvard in an incredibly short time, led the van of schol- 
 arship, and graduated with the first honor in 1813, and was at once 
 appointed tutor in the university. In 1817 Mr. Brazer became 
 the successor of Professor Frisbie in the Latin professorship. 
 
 Mr. Brazer's earlier determination was for the law; but, induced 
 principally by the advice of President Kirkland, he resolved to study 
 theology. Every circumstance concurred to admit of a leisurely 
 prosecution of his chosen pursuit. He had just entered on a some- 
 what kindred situation; and his abilities and reputation seemed to 
 secure him, in advance, the choice of any eligible vacancies that 
 
THOMAS BARNARD 139 
 
 might occur in the neighboring pulpits. The libraries of the uni- 
 versity presented large opportunities for the indulgence of his lit- 
 erary tastes, while society, both in Cambridge and in Boston, lent 
 its attractions to his genial disposition. He threw himself with ardor 
 on this stream of advantages, and grasped ambitiously at a very wide 
 extent of mental cultivation. Classical literature, philology, his- 
 tory, poetry, and philosophy divided, but not distracted, the atten- 
 tion which he paid to theology. If the old records of the University 
 Library are still in existence, the books detained at any given time 
 in his name would be found unprecedented in number and variety, 
 indicating the multifarious nature of his pursuits. 
 
 In 1820 he accepted an invitation to the pastorship of the North 
 Church in Salem, Mass., and here Dr. Brazer (for he received the 
 degree of Doctor of Divinity from Harvard College in 1836) labored 
 with assiduity till the close of his life. His predominant object and 
 aim were to conduct with acceptance and spiritual profit the imme- 
 diate offices of his church. His highest literary ambition was the 
 reputation of a profound, accomplished, and impressive sermon- 
 izer, — an object which he achieved and sustained to the last. "His 
 spirit," said one of his contemporaries, "brooded over a subject 
 with a kind of plastic power, moulded it into shape, gave it, as it 
 were, an organic life, called out its interior essence, and brought its 
 relations and proportions into full yet compact view." 
 
 Dr. Brazer's manner in the pulpit was the extreme of simplicity, 
 avoiding, generally, even the aid of a gesture, and depending chiefly 
 for its efFect on the weight and pertinence of his matter and the 
 power of his fine and impressive enunciation. Abundant testi- 
 mony is borne to his careful scholarship, to the deep seriousness 
 of his bearing, the clearness of his style, the closeness of his reasoning. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1846, after having contended long 
 with an inveterate disease, he visited South Carolina, in company 
 with one of his sons, who was then a student in Harvard College. 
 One of his early friends and classmates, Dr. Benjamin Huger, offered 
 him the hospitality of his plantation on Cooper River; and there he 
 died on February 26, 1846. 
 
 Dr. Brazer was married in April, 1821, to Anne Warren, a daugh- 
 ter of William and Mary (Chandler) Sever, of Worcester. They 
 had five children, all of whom survived their father. Mrs. Brazer 
 died on the 30th of January, 1843. 
 
 The following is a list of Dr. Brazer's publications: A Discourse 
 before the Society for the Promotion of Christian Education in Har- 
 vard University, 1825; A Discourse at the Interment of Edward 
 Augustus Holyoke, M.D., LL.D., 1829; Power of Unitarianism 
 
140 THOMAS BARNARD 
 
 over the Affections (a tract of the American Unitarian Association, 
 First Series, No. 27), 1829; A Discourse at the Ordination of the Rev. 
 Jonathan Cole, at Kingston, 1829; Biographical Memoir of Edward 
 Augustus Holyoke (appended to a collection of his writings), 1830; 
 A Sermon on the Value of the Public Exercises of our Religion (Liberal 
 Preacher, New Series, vol. i., No. 2), 1832; The Efficacy of Prayer 
 (in the Unitarian Advocate), 1832; A Discourse at the Installation of 
 the Rev. Andrew Bigelow, 1833; A Review of the Argument in Sup- 
 port of Natural Religion (Dudleian Lecture), 1835; Duty and Privi- 
 lege of an Active Benevolence (address before the Seamen's Widow 
 and Orphan Association), 1835; Essay on the Doctrine of Divine 
 Influence on the Human Soul, 1835; Lesson of the Past (a sermon 
 on the anniversary of his ordination), 1837; Introduction to "A 
 Good Life," by Thomas Wright, 1837; The Present Darkness of God's 
 Providence (a sermon), 1 841; A Discourse on the Death of the 
 Hon. Benjamin Pickman, 1843; Notice of a "Collection of Hymns 
 for the Christian Church and Home," by the Rev. James Flint (in 
 the Monthly Miscellany), 1843; A Discourse on the Life and Char- 
 acter of the Hon. Leverett Saltonstall, with Biographical Notices, 
 1845; A Volume of Sermons, with a Memoir, published after his 
 death, 1849. Besides, Dr. Brazer was a frequent contributor to 
 the North American Review and the Christian Examiner. 
 
 (3) Octavius B. Frothingham, see Vol. III. p. 120. 
 
 (4) Charles Lowe, see Vol. III. p. 228. 
 
 (5) Edmund B. Willson, see Vol. III. p. 384. 
 
 The following is a list of Dr. Barnard's publications: A Sermon at the Ordination 
 of Aaron Bancroft, Worcester, 1786; A Sermon at the Artillery Election, 1789; A 
 Sermon before the Massachusetts Convention of Congregational Ministers, 1793; 
 A Discourse before the Humane Society of Massachusetts, 1794; A Sermon on the 
 National Thanksgiving, 1795; Dudleian Lecture at Harvard College, 1795; A Fast 
 Sermon, 1796; A Thanksgiving Sermon, 1796; A Sermon on the Death of Washing- 
 ton, 1799; A Sermon before the Salem Female Charitable Society, 1803; A Sermon 
 before the Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Indians, 1806; Sermon at 
 the Ordination of Rev. Ichabod Nichols in Portland, 1809; A Sermon before the 
 Bible Society of Salem and Vicinity, 18 14. 
 
 The account of Dr. Barnard is condensed from the sketch which Dr. Sprague de- 
 rived chiefly from Dr. Prince's funeral sermon. The note on Thomas Barnard, Sr., 
 is derived from the obituary in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 
 volume vi. The note on Mr. Abbot is abridged from the Memoir by Henry Ware, 
 Jr., and the note on Dr. Brazer from a communication sent to Dr. Sprague by the 
 Rev. Samuel Gilman, of Charleston, S.C. 
 
JOHN PRINCE Hi 
 
 JOHN PRINCE 
 
 1751-1836 
 
 John Prince, a son of John Prince, was horn in 
 Boston, July 22, 1751. His father was a mechanic, 
 and designed that the son should be one also; and, 
 accordingly, he was bound out as an apprentice to 
 a pewterer and tinman, and continued in this employ- 
 ment until his indentures had expired. 
 
 But his heart, during all this time, had been in his 
 books rather than in his trade. He seemed to have no 
 interest in the usual sports of boyhood; and his hours 
 of leisure, during his apprenticeship, were devoted 
 to study. As soon as he was at liberty, he decided 
 to enter college, and in a very short time was ready 
 to be admitted. He entered Harvard College in 1772, 
 and about the same time was admitted to the com- 
 munion of the New North Church, then under the 
 pastoral care of the Rev. Dr. Andrew Eliot. After leav- 
 ing college, in 1776, he was engaged for some time in 
 teaching a school. He pursued his theological stud- 
 ies under the direction of the Rev. Samuel Williams, 
 of Bradford, Mass., afterward professor of mathe- 
 matics and natural philosophy in Harvard University. 
 Receiving an invitation to preach to the First Church 
 in Salem, in due time a call from that church was 
 given him, and he was regularly constituted its pastor 
 on the 10th of November, 1779, the sermon on the 
 occasion being preached by his theological instructor, 
 the Rev. Samuel Williams. 
 
 Dr. Barnard and Dr. Prince were men of one mind 
 and one heart. The same influences shaped them, 
 
H2 JOHN PRINCE 
 
 and some curious coincidences show how nearly par- 
 allel their courses ran. Both graduated at Harvard 
 College. Both taught school in the same town. Both 
 studied divinity with the Rev. Samuel Williams, of 
 Bradford, who preached both their ordination sermons. 
 Both received doctor's degrees from the same college. 
 Both were ordained and died in Salem. The same 
 text was, without design, selected for their funeral 
 sermons; and, by a singular error, the remains of Dr. 
 Prince were carried into the wrong tomb and laid 
 beside those of Dr. Barnard. Their intercourse in 
 Salem lasted thirty-five years, during which they were 
 quietly working together to secure the practical bless- 
 ings of religion to their people, without becoming en- 
 tangled in ecclesiastical controversy. They were men 
 of peace, who believed that the dogmatic differences 
 over which many of their time were agitated were not 
 worth the time spent upon them. 
 
 These two men were sometimes charged with deceit, 
 because they declined to declare themselves. Their 
 neighbor, Dr. Bentley, pursued a different course, which 
 better suited his more aggressive nature. Mr. Willson 
 quotes a remark which indicates the position of the 
 more conservative liberals. When a parishioner said, 
 "Dr. Barnard, I never heard you preach a sermon 
 upon the Trinity," he replied, "And you never will." 
 What they believed, they preached. What they did not 
 believe, they let alone. They maintained the right of 
 every other minister to do the same, and of each church 
 to maintain the preaching which best ministered to its 
 spiritual wants, without question or interference from 
 other churches. 
 
 Dr. Prince's scientific tastes were early developed, 
 and continued to be his most marked characteristic 
 throughout his life. He noticed every occurrence, and 
 studied every object within the reach of his curious 
 
JOHN PRINCE 143 
 
 observation. His appetite for knowledge was insati- 
 able, and he accumulated and held at ready com- 
 mand vast stores of information. He was thoroughly 
 familiar with the knowledge of his day in astronomy, 
 mineralogy, chemistry, botany, and entomology, and 
 delighted in experiments and explorations in all these 
 fields. At the same time he was ever a religious man 
 of science. If he penetrated into the mysteries of 
 nature, it was to discern traces of the wisdom and power 
 of the Creator. Wherever he walked with science, 
 there he walked with God. 
 
 The discoveries which made him famous were 
 chiefly in the line of the improvement of scientific in- 
 struments. The invention of the air pump in No- 
 vember, 1783, gave him enduring place among the 
 learned men of his day. His letter to President Wil- 
 lard of Harvard College, giving an account of it, is 
 preserved in the first volume of the Memoirs of the 
 American Academy. Later he devised marked im- 
 provements in the microscope, and constructed a 
 stand for a telescope combining perfect firmness with 
 ability to easily move the instrument in any direction. 
 Of this ingenious invention, he said, "I made the brass 
 work myself, and finished it on my birthday, eighty 
 years old." Dr. Prince's scientific and literary let- 
 ters, a vast correspondence containing long discus- 
 sions of scientific questions and often elaborate pen 
 drawings, have been preserved, and are the best rec- 
 ords that were made of the scientific attainments and 
 limitations of his time. 
 
 In spite of the attention which he gave to these 
 pursuits, Dr. Prince was also a very learned theolo- 
 gian. For a half-century he was in constant corre- 
 spondence with the principal London booksellers, 
 and he accumulated a large collection of rare and 
 valuable theological works. He read them all, and 
 
144 JOHN PRINCE 
 
 his memory of what he read was capacious and retentive. 
 In 1795 he received the degree of Doctor of Laws from 
 Brown University. 
 
 Dr. Prince continued the sole pastor of the church 
 until December 8, 1824, when the Rev. Charles W. 
 Upham * was installed as his colleague. He, how- 
 ever, subsequently shared the services of the Sabbath, 
 until the infirmities of age obliged him partially, and 
 at length entirely, to withdraw. He preached his last 
 sermon on the 17th of April, 1836, less than seven weeks 
 before his death. On the 4th of June, he bequeathed 
 nearly four hundred and fifty volumes, of great value, 
 as a theological library for the perpetual use of the 
 ministers of the First Church. He dictated to his 
 colleague the following words, which were written 
 by his direction, on the catalogue of the books over 
 his signature: "Sensible of the kindness of my people 
 through my long ministry and life, I bequeath these 
 books as a lasting memorial of my afFectionate grati- 
 tude." He died on the 7th of June, 1836, aged nearly 
 eighty-five years. His funeral sermon was preached 
 by his colleague, Mr. Upham. 
 
 * Charles Wentworth Upham (1802-1875) was bom on May 
 4, 1802, in what is now the parish of Upham, on the St. John River 
 in New Brunswick. His father, Joshua Upham, was a native of 
 Brookfield, Mass., and a graduate of Harvard College in 1763. He 
 had won distinction as a public leader in his native town and county; 
 but at the crisis of the Revolution he adhered to the Loyalist party, 
 and went into exile in New Brunswick. In 1784 he became a jus- 
 tice of the Supreme Court of the Province. In 1813 Mr. Phineas 
 Upham, a merchant of Boston and a nephew of Judge Upham, 
 visited St. John, and offered to take his young kinsman Charles into 
 his store, and to give him an education. In the next year, there- 
 fore, Charles Upham went to Boston, and entered the counting- 
 house of his kindly relative. Soon, however, his evident talents and 
 tastes indicated that he ought to enjoy a higher education; and he 
 was fitted for Harvard College, where he graduated in 1821, as the 
 second scholar in his class, and immediately entered the Divinity 
 
JOHN PRINCE 145 
 
 Dr. Prince was married in March, 1780, to Mary 
 Bailey, of Boston, by whom he had four children, all 
 of them sons. She died December 4, 1806, aged 
 fifty-two. On the 27th of November, 1816, he was 
 married to Mrs. Mille Waldo, widow of Dr. Jonathan 
 Waldo, of Salem. 
 
 The following account of Dr. Prince was written 
 by the Hon. Joseph E. Sprague: — 
 
 " In person Dr. Prince was large and well formed, 
 and had a face expressive of a thoughtful and earnest 
 mind and a kindly and generous spirit. His man- 
 ners were simple and agreeable, but yet dignified 
 and commanding. His mind was uncommonly in- 
 quisitive, and no field of knowledge could be open 
 to him which he was not intent upon exploring. His 
 memory seemed like an inexhaustible treasury. Every- 
 thing that he had read and heard was deposited there, 
 and his knowledge was so systematized as always 
 to be at command. He had fine powers of conver- 
 sation; and, as his life had been an eventful one, he 
 could make himself most agreeable and entertaining to 
 any company, gathering his materials altogether from 
 
 School. On December 8, 1834, he was ordained as colleague pastor 
 with Dr. Prince. On March 29 he was married to Ann Susan Holmes, 
 daughter of the Rev. Dr. Holmes, of Cambridge, and sister of Oliver 
 Wendell Holmes. Salem was thereafter his home; and among 
 all its eminent citizens there has not been one who was more thor- 
 oughly informed in the history of the place, who had made a closer 
 study of its traditions, or who more fondly loved the memories of 
 the men and women of former generations who were identified with 
 it. He had a genius for historical investigation and for biographi- 
 cal description. For twenty years he served the First Church, and 
 resigned December 8, 1844, because an obstinate throat trouble 
 had diminished his power of public speaking. For the next year 
 he was editor of the Christian Register, and then for a time was an 
 agent of the Board of Education in Massachusetts. In 1849, 1859, 
 and i860 Mr. Upham represented Salem in the Massachusetts 
 legislature. In 1850, 1857, and 1858 he was a member of the State 
 
146 JOHN PRINCE 
 
 within the circle of his own experience and observa- 
 tion. He was full of the milk of human kindness, and 
 his house was a perfect museum of curiosities. 
 
 "With high intellectual qualities he combined great 
 manliness of spirit, prudence, and, generosity. He 
 seemed always inclined to look on the bright side of 
 men's characters; and, even when he knew there 
 were great defects, he was disposed to pass them over 
 in silence. I do not suppose that a case ever occurred, 
 during his whole ministry, in which he was even sus- 
 pected of having done anything needlessly to injure 
 the reputation or wound the feelings of a single in- 
 dividual in the community. He had a quick sense 
 both of justice and of honor that was apparent in all 
 his conduct. 
 
 "As a preacher, Dr. Prince could not, certainly 
 within my day, have been considered popular. Though 
 his appearance in the pulpit was venerable, and his 
 tones of voice melodious and impressive, he lacked 
 animation, and often failed to interest, from the fact 
 that he seemed so little interested himself. In his 
 theological views I have always understood that he was 
 
 Senate, in the last two years being chosen president of the Senate 
 by unanimous vote. In 1852 he was elected mayor of Salem, in 
 1853 a member of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention, 
 and in the same year a representative in Congress. His public ser- 
 vice was of the highest quality, and his published speeches and ad- 
 dresses indicate why his influence was strong and pervasive. Strength 
 of character, elevation of aim, courtesy in all relations, a well-trained 
 mind, and a practised power of speech gave him the respect and con- 
 sideration of his colleagues. 
 
 For the last fifteen years of his life Mr. Upham gave himself al- 
 most entirely to literary and historical work. His means were ample 
 for his simple needs, and his books and his writings gave him occu- 
 pation and solace. He prepared lives of Roger Williams, Hugh 
 Peters, Sir George Downing, and Colonel Timothy Pickering. The 
 publications of the Essex Institute and the Massachusetts Historical 
 Society were enriched by many of his contributions. His substan- 
 
JOHN PRINCE 147 
 
 an Arminian and an Arian, but I do not think that he 
 ever preached distinctively upon any of the points of 
 controversy which in his day agitated the New Eng- 
 land churches. 
 
 "It is hardly necessary to say that, in the depart- 
 ment of Natural Philosophy, especially in the fram- 
 ing of instruments, Dr. Prince has had few, if any, 
 superiors. In this respect he had a European as 
 well as an American reputation. He corresponded 
 extensively with several distinguished philosophers 
 in Great Britain; and his labors were referred to, in 
 terms of the highest respect, in several of their most 
 valuable publications. In an edition of 'The Celes- 
 tial Globe,' published in London, by one of Dr. 
 Prince's correspondents (Mr. Adams), the constel- 
 lation of the air pump was marked 'Prismatica Prin- 
 cianna,' which led some one to say that Dr. Prince's 
 name was written in heaven. 
 
 "He had more interesting anecdotes of the incipient 
 stages of the Revolution than any man I ever knew. 
 At the time of the Boston Massacre he was in State 
 Street, and saw the whole; and, if I mistake not, he 
 was a witness at the trial of Captain Preston and his 
 soldiers. He was at Governor Hutchinson's house 
 
 tial volumes on the Salem Witchcraft and on the history of Salem 
 were scholarly and accurate, and he wrote many memorial sketches 
 and addresses of the friends and contemporaries with whom he had 
 worked. He maintained a very extensive correspondence all over 
 the world, and was closely associated with many distinguished men. 
 His death occurred on June 15, 1875. As minister, citizen, states- 
 man, and man of letters, he took high rank. 
 
 Mr. Upham was succeeded at the First Church by 
 
 (1) Thomas T. Stone, see Vol. III. p. 358. 
 
 (2) George W. Briggs, see Vol. III. p. 37. 
 
 (3) James T. Hewes, see Vol. III. p. 38. 
 
 (4) Fielder Israel, see Vol. III. p. 38. 
 
1 48 JOHN PRINCE 
 
 at North End when it was visited by the mob. He 
 was at the town meeting preliminary to the destruc- 
 tion of the tea-ships. He was afterward at the 
 conference at Dr. Church's, where the measure was 
 concerted for destroying the tea, and was on board 
 the ships when it was actually destroyed. He was the 
 first to carry the news to General Warren that the 
 British troops had left Boston for Lexington. Before 
 he returned, he was standing at the head of Milk Row 
 in Charlestown, with two or three other persons at 
 his side, armed with muskets. He saw a person rid- 
 ing rapidly on horseback, and, as he passed them, his 
 cloak blew open, and disclosed a British uniform. 
 One or more of them levelled their pieces at the horse- 
 man, and were nearly in the act of firing, when Dr. 
 Prince struck the guns up with his cane, saying, as 
 he did it, 'Don't kill him,' or 'Don't hurt him/ or 
 'Don't fire.' This horseman was Colonel Small, of 
 the British army, hurrying into Boston to inform 
 the commander of the straits into which the troops 
 at Lexington and Concord had fallen. But for this 
 Lord Percy would not have gone out with his re-en- 
 forcements; and the British troops would all have 
 been intercepted and captured." 
 
 The following is a list of Dr. Prince's publications: A Discourse delivered at Salem 
 on the day of the National Fast, appointed by President Adams, on Account of the Diffi- 
 culties existing between the United States and France, 1798; A Discourse upon the 
 Close of the Year, recommending the Improvement of Time, 1799; A Discourse 
 delivered before the Salem Female Charitable Society, 1806; A Discourse occasioned 
 by the Death of the Rev. Thomas Barnard, D.D., 1814; A Charge to John Emery 
 Abbot at his Ordination in Salem, 181 5; A Discourse delivered in Salem before the 
 Bible Society of Salem and its Vicinity, 1816; A Charge to Richard Manning Hodges 
 at his Ordination in Bridgewater, 1824; Description of a New Stand for a Reflecting 
 Telescope. 
 
 Dr. Sprague derived his information about Dr. Prince chiefly from Mr. Dpham's 
 funeral sermon, from a manuscript sent him by Hon. D. A. White, and from the obit- 
 uary in the Salem Register. The note on Mr. Upham has been taken from the Memoir 
 by Rev. George E. Ellis. 
 
WILLIAM BENTLEY 149 
 
 WILLIAM BENTLEY 
 
 1759-1819 
 
 William Bentley was a son of Joshua Bentley, a 
 ship carpenter, and was born in Boston, June 22, 
 1759. His great-grandfather came from England 
 in the expedition against Quebec, in which he per- 
 ished, leaving his orphan child, the grandfather of 
 William Bentley, in Boston. He took his Christian 
 name from his maternal grandfather, William Paine, 
 who, being a man of property, and much attached 
 to this grandson, was at the principal expense of his 
 education. He graduated at Harvard College in 
 1777, and was immediately employed as an assistant 
 in the Boston Latin School, in which he had been 
 fitted for college. In 1779 he was preceptor of the 
 North Grammar School in Boston. In 1780 he was 
 appointed Latin and Greek tutor in Harvard College, 
 and held the office until 1783, devoting a portion of 
 his time to the study of theology. At this time he 
 formed an intimate friendship with Albert Gallatin, 
 who was instructor in French in the university. 
 
 In September, 1783, Mr. Bentley was ordained 
 as colleague pastor, with the Rev. James Diman, over 
 the East, or Second, Church in Salem. The ordina- 
 tion sermon was preached by Dr. Lathrop, of Bos- 
 ton, and Dr. Barnard and Dr. Prince, of Salem, had 
 part in the services. Mr. Bentley's first sermon was 
 characteristically direct, practical, and unconven- 
 tional. It was from the text (Acts x. 29), " I ask, there- 
 fore, for what intent ye have sent for me." On the 
 death of his colleague, in 1788, he became sole pastor, 
 and continued so as long as he lived. In the early 
 
150 WILLIAM BENTLEY 
 
 part of his life he is said to have been a decided Cal- 
 vinist, and while he was in college was associated 
 with a number of friends in holding private religious 
 meetings, which drew upon him the imputation from 
 many of his fellow-students of being righteous over- 
 much. Soon after his settlement, however, he re- 
 nounced Calvinism; and both he and his college 
 classmate, James Freeman, of Boston, became avowed 
 Unitarians. 
 
 In the voluminous diary and notes, filling fifty 
 manuscript volumes, left by Dr. Bentley to the An- 
 tiquarian Society of Worcester, are to be found many 
 definite statements, which indicate beyond a doubt 
 that his attitude was from the beginning of his min- 
 istry one of sympathy with progressive liberalism. 
 One volume of this diary, which entitles Dr. Bentley 
 to be called "the New England Pepys," has been 
 published by the Essex Institute, and presents an en- 
 cyclopaedia of the learning and events of his day. 
 Whatever Dr. Bentley saw or heard, he wrote down, 
 whether it related to astrology, astronomy, mathe- 
 matics, languages, to the literature of the East, to 
 politics, art, natural science, or the trivial events of 
 every-day life. His theological development was syn- 
 chronous with his increasing knowledge in many de- 
 partments of research. 
 
 In 1786 he was reading with approval Dr. Priest- 
 ley's arguments against the Trinity; and in 1788 he 
 wrote to Captain B. Hodges, who was going to sea, 
 some directions as to the selection of a library. Among 
 other things he said: "In religion Priestley's smaller 
 tracts are all you may want to know of the simple doc- 
 trines of Christianity. Your own good heart will sup- 
 ply the rules for practice. Priestley, on inquiry, will 
 recommend the liberty of thinking for yourself." 
 
 In 1 79 1 he began a series of extemporaneous com- 
 
WILLIAM BENTLEY 151 
 
 merits on the Scripture read before the sermon. In 
 a book kept for that purpose he made notes of these 
 addresses. They begin significantly January 9, 1791, 
 with an examination of the first chapter of the Fourth 
 Gospel. He considered successively the Athanasian, 
 the Arian, and the Unitarian hypotheses. "Admitted 
 the Unitarian attitude." It must be remembered 
 that "Unitarian" at this time was used always in 
 the English sense, and meant "Humanitarian." Jan- 
 uary 16 he took up Acts xx. 28, "The church of God, 
 which he hath purchased with his own blood." He 
 makes a summary of arguments to show that Jesus 
 cannot be God, and closes with "the presumption 
 that this is not a true reading." In regard to true 
 and false religions he says, in his remarks upon Paul's 
 address at Mars Hill: "Religion is true or false in 
 regard to its end. The question is not so much of 
 a true or false religion as of a false end in religion." 
 In 1792 he says, "I took the liberty in the most ex- 
 ceptional manner to . deliver my sentiments against 
 total depravity as preached at a late lecture." 
 
 When we remember that these are notes of addresses 
 made in public from Sunday to Sunday, it is clear 
 that he had broken with the Calvinistic traditions 
 long before the days of Channing. When the lines 
 were drawn, he was found holding the position he 
 had maintained for more than a quarter of a century. 
 Probably on this account he took little interest in the 
 Unitarian controversy, for the questions in debate 
 were such as he and his people had long before settled 
 for themselves. 
 
 Dr. Bentley was a pioneer in other departments 
 than theology. He was not afraid of novelties. "Su- 
 perstition," he said, "has its cause in ignorance of 
 natural laws; bigotry, in ignorance of mankind." He 
 was much interested in church music, — an utterly 
 
152 WILLIAM BENTLEY 
 
 neglected art in his day, — started a singing school, 
 trained his congregation, introduced instrumental 
 music into the service, and in 1788 published a hymn- 
 book which replaced the old Calvinistic hymns with 
 verses more in the spirit of the liberal thought. As 
 early as 1795 he startled the Puritan conservatism of 
 the town by holding services on Christmas Day. As 
 an instance alike of his disregard of ecclesiastical 
 conventions and of his love of music, he records that 
 there were four anthems at the morning and three 
 at the evening service. In 1790 he exchanged with 
 James Freeman, of King's Chapel, the first minister 
 of the neighborhood who ventured to recognize the 
 avowed Unitarian. The sermon was published at 
 the request of the people of the chapel, and is a land- 
 mark of the advancing liberalism of the time. When 
 the Catholics first organized in Salem, it was Dr. 
 Bentley who bade them welcome, and who entertained 
 the priest in his own house. He was a pioneer in the 
 religious education of the young. Teaching came 
 naturally to him; and, in the days before Sunday- 
 schools existed, he was the faithful pastor who really 
 did for the children of his flock what the Sunday- 
 school, with all its admirable machinery, sometimes 
 fails to do. 
 
 Dr. Bentley was an exceeding learned man, pro- 
 ficient in twenty languages, and, through the ship- 
 masters in his congregation, carrying on a correspond- 
 ence with scholars in all parts of the world. There 
 were in his church twenty-one captains of vessels in 
 the foreign trade. Some of them had been several 
 times round the world, but had never been as far as 
 Boston in their native State. Dr. Bentley was greatly 
 interested in what the captains had to tell him of the 
 thoughts and customs of the Far East, and his relig- 
 ious sympathies were large enough to recognize Arab, 
 
WILLIAM BENTLEY 153 
 
 Hindoo, and Chinaman as children of a common 
 Father. 
 
 Mr. Bentley was once elected Chaplain of Congress, 
 but he declined the honor. In 1805 he was virtually, 
 if not actually, appointed to the presidency of the 
 University of Virginia; but he declined the appoint- 
 ment, observing that his people were his wife (they 
 were the only wife he ever had), that he could not 
 take them with him, and would not consent to a di- 
 vorce. He was one of the earliest members of the 
 Massachusetts Historical Society, and collected the 
 materials for the History of Salem, but was prevented 
 from completing it on account of some dissatisfaction 
 with the publishing committee. In 18 19 he received 
 the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Harvard College. 
 
 Dr. Bentley's seafaring parishioners, trading in 
 all parts of the globe, brought home to him various 
 curiosities from different countries, which formed 
 a very interesting cabinet. This he gave to the East 
 India Marine Society's Museum in Salem, — a society 
 in which he took an early and deep interest. His 
 library, which was one of the largest private libraries 
 in the country, he bequeathed to Allegheny College 
 in Meadville, Pa., and to the American Antiquarian 
 Society at Worcester. 
 
 Dr. Bentley suffered for many years from an organic 
 disease of the heart. Having been out one night very 
 late, on a visit to a parishioner, who had just returned 
 from a voyage, he hurried home; and, as the weather 
 was intensely cold, he stood warming himself with 
 his back to the fire. The sudden transition from 
 cold to heat caused the blood to flow to his head; 
 and he fell dead on the 29th of December, 1819, aged 
 sixty-one years. His funeral took place January 3, 
 1820. President Kirkland and Dr. Prince prayed, 
 and Edward Everett, then professor in Harvard Col- 
 
1 54 WILLIAM BENTLEY 
 
 lege, delivered a funeral oration. He had been a 
 zealous Free Mason, and was buried with Masonic 
 honors. 
 
 The following description was written by the Hon. 
 Joseph E. Sprague, of Salem, in 1851: — 
 
 " In stature Dr. Bentley was below the middle size, — 
 thickly set, weighing, at the age of fifty-two, two hun- 
 dred and fourteen pounds. He took a great deal of 
 exercise, walking several miles daily, without regard 
 to the weather. There was a pile of stones on the 
 Salem Neck which was one of the limits of his walks, 
 and was hence called 'The Bentley Monument.' 
 He retired early, and uniformly rose an hour or two 
 before the sun. He never guarded his feet against 
 the wet, but perforated the sides of his shoes, as the 
 most effectual security against taking cold. He had 
 no chair in his study, but always wrote in a standing 
 posture. His food, when he was at home, was uni- 
 form and very simple. 
 
 "That Dr. Bentley was a man of extensive and 
 varied learning and of immense industry, no one 
 who knew him ever doubted. He is said to have 
 written thirty-three hundred sermons, and fifty-six 
 volumes of other manuscripts, many of them of large 
 size. In his diary he noted everything that came 
 to his knowledge, including his observations on philos- 
 ophy, theology, astronomy, meteorology, and other 
 branches of science, which were then quite in their 
 infancy. He was reputed to have understood twenty- 
 one languages. He corresponded in Arabic, through 
 the shipmasters in his parish, with some of the petty 
 chiefs in Arabia and Eastern Africa. The govern- 
 ment, in one or two instances, put in requisition his 
 knowledge of the Oriental languages, for translating 
 the credentials of an Eastern ambassador. 
 
 "As a preacher, Dr. Bentley may be said to have 
 
WILLIAM BENTLEY 155 
 
 been unique. He delighted in preaching upon odd 
 texts and upon special occasions; and no event could 
 occur of the least moment, private or public, but that 
 he was sure to make it the subject of a discourse, and he 
 would generally find a text that seemed exactly suited 
 to it. When the news came that the embargo was 
 raised, previous to our last war with Great Britain, 
 he arose and looked round upon his audience, and 
 announced his text thus, — ' There go the ships.' It 
 is but fair to say that his preaching was generally 
 considered as less serious and Scriptural than could 
 have been desired. In his religious opinions he was 
 generally regarded as a humanitarian. After his suc- 
 cessor, Dr. Flint,' was settled in his place, he preached 
 a sermon on the importance of family prayer; and 
 I remember to have been amused at hearing a person 
 who had been trained under Dr. Bentley's more lib- 
 eral ministrations denounce it as Calvinism. 
 
 "In his politics Dr. Bentley was an ardent Repub- 
 lican, of the Jefferson and Madison school. During 
 the war he, with the Universalist clergyman and 
 three lawyers, joined a voluntary company, all the 
 other members of which were sailors. In the summer 
 of 1 8 14 the 'Constitution' was chased into Marble- 
 head by a British squadron on Sunday afternoon. 
 It was just at the commencement of the afternoon 
 service. Observing a movement amongst his people 
 and learning what was taking place, he announced 
 the fact from the pulpit, and said that the best service 
 for the afternoon was to defend the 'Constitution,' 
 and immediately dismissed his people, joined his 
 company, and marched to Marblehead. 
 
 " Dr. Bentley was exceedingly talkative, full of amus- 
 ing anecdote, and impatient of opposition in anything. 
 He was chairman of the school committee; and there 
 was no getting on with business without interrupting 
 
156 WILLIAM BENTLEY 
 
 him, sometimes almost rudely, as his anecdotes about 
 the Boston schools would have otherwise engrossed 
 the whole time. On the Fourth of July, 1810, both 
 political parties having engaged the same band of 
 music, the committee, to meet this contingency, wished 
 to hasten some of their exercises, and requested Dr. 
 Bentley to offer a short prayer. He was so offended 
 at what he deemed an impertinent interference that 
 he prayed nearly an hour, the consequence of which 
 was that the band was obliged to leave the house be- 
 fore the oration was finished. 
 
 "Dr. Bentley, though eccentric and, as a minister, 
 not without faults, had some fine social and moral 
 qualities which it is pleasant to contemplate. He 
 was distinguished for his benevolence. He had an 
 eye to the temporal wants of his people, a heart that 
 was quick to feel, and a hand that was ready to move 
 for the bestowment of generous benefactions. He 
 had great influence with his congregation; and, as 
 it cost him no effort to express his wishes, it seemed 
 to cost them no sacrifice to comply with them. His 
 zeal in politics, connected perhaps with some other 
 circumstances, had pretty nearly put an end to ex- 
 change between him and the other ministers of the 
 town some time before his death. Still, I believe his 
 brethren were always ready to acknowledge his good 
 qualities; and the whole community regarded him as 
 an extraordinary man." 
 
 Dr. Bentley was succeeded in the pastorate of the Second Church by 
 
 (1) James Flint, a son of James and Mary Flint, who 
 was born in Reading, Mass., on the 10th of December, 1779. His 
 parents were plain but worthy people, who educated their children 
 to habits of industry and virtue. He was fitted for college "under the 
 instruction of the Rev. Eliab Stone, pastor of the Congregational 
 church in his native place. At the age of eighteen he entered Har- 
 vard College, and was graduated with honor in the class of 1802. 
 
WILLIAM BENTLEY 157 
 
 His genial disposition, ready wit, and fine powers of conversation 
 rendered him a favorite in college, and secured to him many valu- 
 able and enduring friendships. 
 
 On leaving college, he was engaged for a year or two as principal 
 of an academy at Andover, his studies, meanwhile, taking the direc- 
 tion of his subsequent calling. After this he became a student of 
 theology, under the Rev. Joshua Bates, of Dedham. He was very 
 soon called to the pastoral care of the Congregational Society in East 
 Bridgewater, and was ordained on the 29th of October, 1806, the 
 sermon being preached by his brother, the Rev. Jacob Flint, of 
 Cohasset. Though he had been educated in the orthodox faith, 
 he had, in the progress of his studies, become a decided Unitarian; 
 and, though his new views were acceptable to much the larger part 
 of his parish, there was a minority which ultimately withdrew and 
 formed a new orthodox society. 
 
 Mr. Flint remained in happy relations with his people at East 
 Bridgewater until the spring of the year 1821, when on account of 
 the inadequacy of his salary to meet the wants of a large family 
 he felt constrained to resign. Shortly after this he accepted the in- 
 vitation of the Second Church in Salem, Mass., and was installed 
 on the 19th of September, 1821. He received the degree of Doctor 
 of Divinity from Harvard College in 1825. He died on the 4th of 
 March, 1855, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. His funeral ser- 
 mon was preached by his colleague and successor, Rev. Dexter Clapp. 
 
 Dr. Flint was married to Lydia, daughter of George and Sarah 
 Dublois, of Halifax, N.S., who with several children survived him. 
 
 The following is a list of Dr. Flint's publications: The Chris- 
 tian Ministry, the Qualifications Requisite for it, its Duties, Difficul- 
 ties, Discouragements, etc., two sermons delivered before the 
 Church in the East Parish of Bridgewater the second Sabbath after 
 the author's ordination, 1806; A Sermon preached at the Ordina- 
 tion of the Rev. Nathaniel Whitman, Billerica, 1814; God a Refuge 
 and an Habitation in Times of Calamity and Danger, a discourse 
 delivered at the request of the officers and soldiers of the Bridge- 
 water Light Infantry, 1814; The Anniversary Election Sermon, 1815; 
 A Discourse delivered at Plymouth, 1816; A Discourse delivered 
 at the Ordination of Seth Alden, Marlborough, 1819; A Sermon 
 delivered in Beverly on the Occasion of the Death of the Rev. Abiel 
 Abbot, D.D., 1828; A Sermon on the Authority and Duties of the 
 Sabbath, 1828; A Sermon on Indolence, 1829; Change, a poem 
 delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard Univer- 
 sity, 1839; A Collection of Hymns for the Christian Church and 
 Home, 1843; The Vanity and Unsatisfactory Nature of Earthly 
 
158 WILLIAM BENTLEY 
 
 Possessions, Salem, 1844; Two Discourses on Taking Leave of the 
 Old Church of the East Society in Salem, 1845; The Deceased 
 Pastor still speaking to his Flock, a discourse delivered in the North 
 Church in Salem the first Sabbath on which the church was opened 
 after the decease of the Rev. John Brazer, 1846; A Sermon deliv- 
 ered in Marblehead the Sabbath after the Death of the Rev. John 
 Bartlett, 1849; Times of Birth and Death the Appointment and 
 Ordering of God, a sermon preached in the East Church in Salem 
 on occasion of the death of President Taylor and of the death of the 
 Hon. Nathaniel Silsbee, 1850; Sermons (a volume, l2mo), 1852; 
 Verses on Many Occasions, with others for which it may be thought 
 there was no occasion, collected and printed for his grandchildren, 
 one volume, 8vo. Dr. Flint was a hymn-writer of distinction. Some 
 of the best of his poetic productions may be found, together with 
 a brief memoir, in Putnam's Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith. 
 
 (2) Dexter Clapp who was born at West Hampton, Mass., July 15, 
 1816, graduated at Amherst College, 1839, and from the Harvard 
 Divinity School in 1842. He served as minister at Savannah, Ga., 
 1843 to 1846, at West Roxbury, where he succeeded Theodore Parker, 
 1846 to i85i,and at Salem, 1851 to 1864. His wife was a sister of 
 Dr. Convers Francis and Mrs. Lydia Maria Child. He died at 
 Salem, July 27, 1868. 
 
 Mr. Clapp was a born minister. He did not choose his profes- 
 sion: the profession chose him. He could not have been anything 
 but a minister. His was the life of a diligent, constant, and devoted 
 pastor, an affectionate husband, a faithful friend, rich rather in 
 human love than in those incidents which outwardly signal a suc- 
 cessful career. His power as a preacher lay not so much in what 
 he thought and said as in what he was. He loved the great themes 
 of the gospel, and gave to his hearers not what others had thought 
 or felt, but his own daily and hourly experience. He was by nature 
 a man of refinement and gentleness. He was singularly blessed 
 in the capacity of loving and expressing love. A childless man, his 
 heart went out toward the young. He was everywhere welcomed; 
 and, in spite of his contemplative spirit, he had none of the conven- 
 tionalities and mannerisms of the ecclesiastic. 
 
 The following is a list of Dr. Bentley's publications: A Sermon preached at the 
 Stone Chapel, Boston, 1790; A Sermon delivered at Salem on the Death of Jonathan 
 Gardiner, 1791; A Collection of Psalms and Hymns, 1795; A Masonic Discourse 
 delivered at Roxbury, 1796; The Artillery Election Sermon, 1796; A Sermon deliv- 
 ered at Salem on the Death of General John Fiske, 1797; A Masonic Discourse de- 
 livered at Amherst, N.H., 1797; A Masonic Charge delivered at Worcester, 1798; 
 An Address before the Essex Lodge, delivered at Salem, 1798; Description and His- 
 tory of Salem, published in the sixth volume of the Massachusetts Historical Col- 
 
WILLIAM BENTLEY 159 
 
 lections, 1800; A Sermon delivered at the Funeral of B. Hodges, 1804; A Sermon 
 delivered at the Ordination of Joseph Richardson at Hingham, 1806; A Sermon de- 
 livered before the Salem Female Charitable Society, 1807; A Sermon delivered before 
 the Legislature of Massachusetts on the Occasion of the General Election, 1807. 
 
 The account of Dr. Bentley is condensed from the article by Dr. Sprague derived 
 from manuscripts sent him by Mr. J. £. Sprague and Mr. William Ropes, and from 
 the obituary in the Salem Gazette. The note on Dr. Flint is taken from an article 
 in the Christian Examiner, 1855. The note on Mr. Clapp is derived from an article 
 in the Monthly Religious Magazine, 1868. 
 
i6o EZRA RIPLEY 
 
 EZRA RIPLEY 
 1751-1841 
 
 Ezra Ripley, a son of Noah and Lydia (Kent) 
 Ripley, was born at Woodstock, Conn., May 1, 1751, 
 though the family removed to Barre, Mass., in 1762. 
 He was th , fifth of nineteen children. He worked on 
 the farm until he was sixteen years of age, and then, 
 by the aid of the Rev. Dr. Forbes, of Gloucester, was 
 prepared for Harvard College, and was admitted in 
 July, 1772. 
 
 After his graduation he was for some time engaged 
 in teaching a school in Plymouth, and subsequently 
 studied theology for about a year, under the direc- 
 tion of the Rev. Jason Haven, of Dedham. Shortly 
 after he was licensed to preach, the church and society 
 in Concord, Mass., invited him, with great unanimity, 
 to become their minister; and he was ordained on 
 the 7th of November, 1778. During several of the 
 first years of his ministry he, in common with many 
 other clergymen of the day, suffered not a little from 
 the depreciated currency and other circumstances 
 connected with the Revolution; but his early train- 
 ing had been favorable to physical effort, and he ad- 
 dressed himself to farming with much success. He, 
 however, felt it as a great evil that his attention was 
 so much diverted from his appropriate work, and was 
 often heard to say that he would have cheerfully lived 
 on bread and water if, by so doing, he could have 
 had his whole time for the studies and duties of his 
 office. 
 
 At the time of his settlement there were divisions 
 in town and church which had come down from the 
 
EZRA RIPLEY 161 
 
 ministry of his predecessors; but he quickly succeeded 
 in healing them, and for forty years the whole town 
 remained firmly united under his ministry. "He 
 was educated," as the sermon preached at his funeral 
 informs us, "in the Trinitarian and Calvinistic doc- 
 trines"; but his views seem to have undergone a grad- 
 ual change, — so gradual that perhaps he was himself 
 scarcely aware of the extent of it. There was little 
 of incident in his history above what belongs to the 
 history of almost every parish minister. He held on 
 the even tenor of his way, greatly respected and re- 
 vered by the community in which he lived, until sixty- 
 three years from the time of his ordination and ninety 
 from the time of his birth had passed away. Har- 
 vard gave him the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 
 1816. In 1830 Rev. Hersey B. Goodwin 1 was set- 
 tled as colleague pastor; and, after Mr. Goodwin's 
 untimely death, Rev. Barzillai Frost 2 was colleague 
 for four years and sole pastor for twenty years. In 
 his Half-century Discourse, preached in 1828, Dr. 
 Ripley expresses the opinion that he had written, 
 in the course of his ministry, not less than twenty- 
 five hundred sermons, many of which he had repeated, 
 and not a few had rewritten. Within the last three 
 or four years of his life, on account of the loss of his 
 sight, he preached extempore; and, contrary to all 
 that might have been anticipated from his long con- 
 tinued habit of writing, he uttered himself with as 
 much fluency and propriety as if he had been accus- 
 tomed to this mode of preaching during his whole 
 ministry. His last sermon, preached the day after 
 he was ninety years old, on the last two verses of the 
 Book of Ecclesiastes, is said to have been, for vigor 
 of thought and expression, worthy of his best days. 
 
 His death was sudden. On Friday evening, Sep- 
 tember 18, 1 84 1, a friend from a distance visited him, 
 
i6 2 EZRA RIPLEY 
 
 and they passed the evening in delightful intercourse; 
 and at the close of it Dr. Ripley led in the family 
 devotions with unusual fervor. He retired in perfect 
 health, and in the course of the night was seized 
 with paralysis. He lingered till the next Tuesday 
 morning, when the spirit took its flight. His funeral 
 took place September 23, on which occasion there 
 was every demonstration of respect for his memory. 
 The sermon was by his colleague, Mr. Frost, from 
 John xvii. 4. Another sermon, with reference to the 
 event, was delivered by the Rev. Dr. Francis, of Water- 
 town (afterward Professor Francis of Harvard Col- 
 lege), from Genesis xxv. 8. 
 
 Dr. Ripley was married on the 16th of November, 
 1780, to Mrs. Phoebe Emerson, widow of the Rev. 
 William Emerson. They had three children. The 
 life of their son, Rev. Samuel Ripley, appears in this 
 book. Mrs. Ripley died on the 16th of February, 
 1825. 
 
 Dr. Ripley was through life a zealous friend of 
 Harvard College. The following entry in his diary 
 may illustrate it: — 
 
 "August 27, 1824. — Attended Commencement at 
 Cambridge, probably for the last time. My feelings 
 and determination united in taking leave of Com- 
 mencement, which has long been a day of enjoyment 
 and delight to me. I find myself too old for the fatigue 
 and long services of the day. I did not meet one class- 
 mate. I felt myself out of date, and, though not 
 treated with neglect, yet I am satisfied with scenes 
 of the kind. I was highly gratified with the perform- 
 ances of the day, and by the manifest increase of learn- 
 ing and intellect in the college. The performances 
 of the next day were excellent and very animating. 
 This and the preceding day were rendered more 
 highly joyous by the presence of General Lafayette. 
 
EZRA RIPLEY 163 
 
 I know not that I ever enjoyed a Commencement 
 with a higher relish or less alloy, and I never was more 
 gratified by evidence of the improvements made in 
 the university. It is a matter of rejoicing and grati- 
 tude that I can bid adieu to Commencements with 
 such high and well-grounded hopes of the future 
 splendor and usefulness of Harvard University. Will 
 God multiply blessings on my venerated Alma Mater 
 to the latest generations !" 
 
 He did, however, attend Commencement after 
 this. The last time was in 1836, at the second Cen- 
 tennial Anniversary, at which he offered prayer. 
 
 Dr. Ripley was frequently called upon for service 
 at ordinations and installations in neighboring par- 
 ishes, and most of his published sermons were preached 
 on such occasions. His relations with his colleagues 
 in the ministry were, in his later years, like those of 
 a patriarch with a band of younger disciples. Par- 
 ticularly intimate were his associations with his near- 
 est neighbor, Dr. Charles Stearns,* of Lincoln, a man 
 of similar tastes, occupations, and convictions. 
 
 The following description of Dr. Ripley was writ- 
 ten in 1848 by his step-son, Ralph Waldo Emerson: — 
 
 "He was a man so kind and sympathetic, his char- 
 
 * Charles Stearns, a son of Thomas and Lydia (Mansfield) 
 Stearns, was born at Leominster, July 19, 1753. He entered Har- 
 vard University in 1769, and graduated in 1773. Immediately 
 after his graduation he engaged in teaching; and during the years 
 1780 and 1 781 he was tutor at Cambridge. He was a fine classi- 
 cal scholar; and, in the course of his ministry, upward of forty young 
 men were prepared by him for admission to college. 
 
 Mr. Stearns was first employed to preach at Lincoln in October, 
 1780. On the 15th of January, 1 78 1, the church voted unanimously 
 (twenty-nine votes) to give him a call to settle with them in the min- 
 istry. On the 5th of February the town concurred (sixty-five to 
 five), and voted him "£220 in hard money or its equivalent" (to 
 which £70 was subsequently added) as a settlement, and £80 and 
 
1 64 EZRA RIPLEY 
 
 acter was so transparent, and his merits so intelligible 
 to all observers that he was very justly appreciated 
 in this community. He was a natural gentleman; 
 no dandy, but courtly, hospitable, manly, and public- 
 spirited; his nature social, his house open to all men. 
 I remember the remark made by an old farmer, who 
 used to travel hither from Maine, that 'no horse 
 from the Eastern country would go by the Doctor's 
 gate.' Travellers from the West and North and 
 South could bear the like testimony. His brow was 
 serene and open to his visitor, for he loved men; and 
 he had no studies, no occupations, which company 
 could interrupt. His friends were his study, and 
 to see them loosened his talents and his tongue. In 
 his house dwelt order and prudence and plenty. There 
 was no waste and no stint. He was open-handed 
 and just and generous. Ingratitude and meanness 
 in his beneficiaries did not wear out his compassion. 
 He bore the insult; and the next day his basket for 
 the beggar, his horse and chaise for the cripple, were 
 at their door. Though he knew the value of a dollar 
 as well as another man, yet he loved to buy dearer 
 and sell cheaper than others. He subscribed to all 
 charities, and it is no reflection on others to say that 
 
 15 cords of wood a year. In 1797 the town voted "that the Rev. 
 Mr. Stearns's salary should be £80 per year, at all times when the 
 current price of Indian corn is 3*. and rye \s. per bushel, and beef 
 20j. and pork 33.5. per hundred, and to be increased or diminished 
 according as the prices of those articles vary." Mr. Stearns was 
 accordingly ordained and installed on the 7th of November, 1 78 1, 
 the sermon on the occasion being preached by the Rev. Zabdiel 
 Adams, of Lunenburg. 
 
 In 1792 some of the principal citizens of Lincoln joined in estab- 
 lishing a school of a high order, of which Mr. Stearns became the 
 principal. This school continued about ten years, and was eminently 
 successful. Six quarto volumes, containing his lectures and addresses 
 to the pupils, and records of their attendance and acquirements, are 
 still in existence. 
 
EZRA RIPLEY 165 
 
 lie was the most public-spirited man in the town. 
 The late Dr. Gardiner, in a funeral sermon on some 
 parishioner whose virtues did not readily come to 
 mind, honestly said, 'He was good at fires.' Dr. 
 Ripley had many virtues; and yet all will remember 
 that, even in his old age, if the fire bell was rung, he 
 was instantly on horseback with his buckets and bag. 
 
 "He was never distinguished in the pulpit as a 
 writer of sermons, but in his house his speech was 
 form and pertinence itself. You felt, in his presence, 
 that he belonged by nature to the clerical class. He 
 had a foresight, when he opened his mouth, of all 
 that he would say; and he marched straight to the 
 conclusion. In private discourse or in debate, in 
 the vestry or the lyceum, the structure of his sentences 
 was admirable, — so neat, so natural, so terse, his 
 words fell like stones; and often, though quite un- 
 conscious of it, his speech was a satire on the loose, 
 voluminous patchwork periods of other speakers. 
 He sat down when he had done. A man of anecdote, 
 his talk in the parlor was chiefly narrative. I re- 
 member the remark of a gentleman, who listened 
 with much delight to his conversation, at the time when 
 the Doctor was preparing to go to Baltimore and 
 
 In 1810 he was honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity 
 from Harvard College. He was also Fellow of the American Acad- 
 emy of Arts and Sciences. 
 
 Dr. Stearns retained both his bodily and mental faculties in a 
 remarkable degree. He preached his last sermon on the first Sab- 
 bath in July, 1826. He died on the 26th of that month, at the age 
 of seventy-three. His funeral was attended on the 29th, and a ser- 
 mon preached on the occasion by Dr. Ripley. The town erected 
 a monument to his memory, with an inscription of which the fol- 
 lowing is a part: — 
 
 "He was distinguished for his high attainments in various branches 
 of science; for strength and soundness of mind; for method and 
 accuracy of reasoning, and facility in communicating knowledge. 
 
166 EZRA RIPLEY 
 
 Washington, that a man who could tell a story so 
 well was company for kings and John Quincy Adams. 
 With a very limited acquaintance with books, his 
 knowledge was an external experience, an Indian 
 wisdom, the observation of such facts as country life, 
 for nearly a century, could supply. He watched with 
 interest the garden, the field, the orchard, the house 
 and the barn, horse, cow, sheep, and dog, and all 
 the common objects that engage the thought of the 
 farmer. He kept his eye on the horizon, and knew 
 the weather like a sea captain. The usual experi- 
 ences of men, — birth, marriage, sickness, death, burial, 
 the common temptations, the common ambitions, — 
 he studied them all, and sympathized so well in these 
 that he was excellent company and counsel to all, 
 even the most humble and ignorant. With extraor- 
 dinary states of mind, with states of enthusiasm or 
 enlarged speculation, he had no sympathy, and pre- 
 tended to none. He was very sincere, and kept to 
 his point; and his mark was never remote. His 
 conversation was strictly personal, and apt to the 
 person and the occasion. An eminent skill he had 
 in saying difficult and unspeakable things; in deliv- 
 ering to a man or a woman that which all their other 
 
 By his piety, benevolence, and learning he gained the affection and 
 respect of his beloved people, the esteem and confidence of his nu- 
 merous friends, and the well-deserved honors of literary societies. 
 His life Was full of practical goodness, the genuine fruit of deep-felt 
 piety, and his death of religious hope and peace. By the habitual 
 exercise of faith, humility, patience, and charity he exhibited Chris- 
 tianity in a strong and prominent light, and is gone, it is believed, 
 to enjoy the rewards of a good and faithful servant of Jesus Christ." 
 Mr. Stearns was married, January 7, 1782, to Susannah, daugh- 
 ter of Jonathan and Susannah Cowdry, of Reading. They had six 
 sons and five daughters. Two of the sons entered the ministry. 
 Mrs. Stearns died on the 24th of July, 1832, aged seventy-seven 
 years. 
 
EZRA RIPLEY 167 
 
 friends had abstained from saying; in uncovering 
 the bandage from a sore place, and applying the 
 surgeon's knife with a truly surgical spirit. Was 
 a man a sot or a spendthrift or too long time a bach- 
 elor or suspected of some hidden crime, or had he 
 quarrelled with his wife or collared his father, or was 
 there any cloud or suspicious circumstance in his 
 behavior, the good pastor knew his way straight to 
 that point, believing himself entitled to a full explana- 
 tion, and whatever relief to the conscience of both 
 parties plain speech could effect was sure to be pro- 
 cured. In all such passages he justified himself to 
 the conscience, and commonly to the love, of the per- 
 sons concerned. Many instances, in which he played 
 a right manly part, and acquitted himself as a brave 
 and wise man, will be long remembered. He was 
 the more competent to these searching discourses 
 from his knowledge of family history. He knew 
 everybody's grandfather, and seemed to talk with 
 each person rather as the representative of his house 
 and name than as an individual. In him has perished 
 more local and personal anecdote of this village and 
 vicinity than is possessed by any survivor. This inti- 
 mate knowledge of families, and this skill of speech, 
 and still more his sympathy made him incomparable in 
 his parochial visits and in his exhortations and prayers 
 with sick and suffering persons. He gave himself up 
 
 The following is a list of Dr. Stearns's publications : A Sermon at 
 an Exhibition of Sacred Music in Lincoln, 1792; The Ladies' Philos- 
 ophy of Love, a Poem in Four Cantos, written in 1774, published 
 in 1797; Dramatic Dialogues for the Use of Schools, 1798; Princi- 
 ples of Religion and Morality, 1798 (2d edition, 1 807); A Sermon 
 preached at the Interment of Hon. Eleazar Brooks, 1806; A Sermon 
 delivered at Concord before the Middlesex Bible Society, 1815; A 
 Sermon before the Convention of Congregational Ministers, Boston, 
 1815; A Sermon at the Interment of Mrs. Phoebe Foster, Wife of 
 the Rev. Edmond Foster at Littleton. 
 
168 EZRA RIPLEY 
 
 to his feeling, and said on the instant the best things 
 in the world. Many and many a felicity he had in his 
 prayer, now forever lost, which defied all the rules of 
 the rhetoricians. He did not know when he was good 
 in prayer or sermon, for he had no literature and no 
 art; but he believed, and therefore spoke." 
 
 Senator George F. Hoar said of Dr. Ripley: — 
 
 "I suppose there never was priestly authority more 
 despotic or more gentle than that which Dr. Ripley 
 ruled this town for the sixty-three years of his min- 
 istry. I remember very well the figure of the doctor 
 in the streets of Concord, or as he stood in the pulpit 
 of the old meeting-house, under the lofty sounding- 
 board, with the deacons' pew below, the galleries 
 running round three sides of the building, the square, 
 high-backed pews, the dim light through the small 
 panes of the windows, the congregation adorned by 
 the hoary heads of the survivors of the Revolution as 
 with crowns of glory. 
 
 "The doctor's dress, with his cue and his tight 
 breeches and his polished shoes and buckles, was 
 that of the generation of which he was almost the 
 last survivor. He was small in stature, but of a dig- 
 nified presence. He was always a gentleman. His 
 greeting in the street was a stately ceremonial. There 
 was no hand-shaking or clapping on the shoulder 
 or familiarity of speech. It was an event in one's 
 life to have met him. He addressed the Deity as a 
 believer in an immediate answer to prayer, and with 
 a certain sense of responsibility as a petitioner, con- 
 scious that he was himself a person to whom God 
 had long been wont to listen, and that he must not use 
 his great influence lightly." 
 
 Another son of the Concord parish, the Rev. G. W. 
 Hosmer, wrote: — 
 
 "Dr. Ripley filled the town to which he ministered. 
 
EZRA RIPLEY 169 
 
 Nearly fifty years he was the only minister in Con- 
 cord, with a parish of about two thousand souls; 
 and to me and my contemporaries he seemed as much 
 a part of the town as its hills and rivers. He was 
 settled in the days of my great-grandfather, and five 
 generations of my family were partakers in the benefits 
 of his ministry. 
 
 " It was not true of Dr. Ripley that his pulpit was 
 his throne. As a preacher, he was sensible and seri- 
 ous, always moving in the ranges of common thought 
 and practical life. He kept up his scholarly habits 
 better than most country clergymen of his time, but 
 he had no genius. His mind was hard, and the fires 
 of his feeling did not make it fluent in the pulpit; 
 and his manner was not graceful nor winning. His 
 throne was his character; and he sat upon it, a born 
 king. Some might say he was arbitrary and imperi- 
 ous; but all knew he was a man, fearless in his duty, 
 and determined to walk in the ordinances of his God 
 and Saviour, blameless. 
 
 "In parochial service Dr. Ripley was a pattern of 
 fidelity. Every corner of the town, every house, 
 knew his friendly greeting. He knew all about every 
 family, and their ancestors, often better than they 
 themselves knew. Before Sunday-schools were or- 
 ganized, he met all the children at their school-houses 
 twice a year, for catechising; and those who did not 
 know their catechism were made to feel that they 
 must know it before the next parochial round. It 
 was a great moment when we stood up for the first 
 time, at the call of our name, before Dr. Ripley. Then 
 he was the main stay of the common schools and all 
 the benevolent and social organizations of the town. 
 The courts of Middlesex, one-half of them, were 
 held at Concord; and Dr. Ripley, by his dig- 
 nified and venerable bearing and highly appropri- 
 
170 EZRA RIPLEY 
 
 ate services, won the deep respect of the judges and 
 the bar." 
 
 Dr. Edward Jarvis, another son of Concord, adds 
 this description: — 
 
 "During all my knowledge of Dr. Ripley from my 
 earliest childhood to 1839, two years before his death, 
 his personal appearance seemed to have hardly changed. 
 When I first knew him, he was near sixty years old; 
 and then he seemed to be an old man. And yet he 
 bore none of the marks of old age, save that he wore 
 a gray wig. He was vigorous, very active, bright and 
 cheerful, and so he continued for many years afterwards. 
 
 "He wore the same style of dress from my first to 
 last acquaintance. Indeed, he said, a few years be- 
 fore his death, that he had never worn pantaloons, 
 or straight coat, or short vest, or cravat, or narrow- 
 rimmed hat; nor did he afterwards. But he always 
 wore small-clothes, long stockings, knee-buckles, a 
 very long round coat, the folds reaching to the calf 
 of the leg, a long waistcoat open at bottom with bands 
 over the pockets, white neck stock buckled behind, 
 and a wide-rimmed, low-crowned hat. His dress 
 gave him great personal dignity; and, though his 
 frame was short below the average, yet I never heard 
 him spoken of as a short man. 
 
 "His manner was highly dignified, rather stately, 
 but very courteous. These qualities he always re- 
 tained; and, though cheerful and very social, he 
 ever manifested his self-respect, and commanded the 
 respect of others. To some, the timid, those who 
 knew him but little, this stateliness was forbidding; 
 and they were afraid of him. But to most people 
 he was very approachable and agreeable. 
 
 "Dr. Ripley was by no means distinguished as a 
 scholar; but his great gift was his knowledge of men 
 and the affairs of the world, his appreciation of its 
 
EZRA RIPLEY 171 
 
 interests and sympathy with its wants. He would 
 have been an excellent man of affairs and business 
 manager in any way he might have been trained. He 
 was very punctilious in all his business arrangements, 
 exact in his accounts, and methodical in all his pri- 
 vate, social, and public matters." 
 
 ' Hersey Bradford Goodwin, 1 805-1 836, was born at Plym- 
 outh, Mass., August 18, 1805. His father, William Goodwin, was 
 a highly respected citizen, and for many years cashier of the Plym- 
 outh Bank. His mother and step-mother were daughters of Captain 
 Simeon Sampson, distinguished as a naval officer during the war 
 of the Revolution. He was prepared for college at the Sandwich 
 Academy, under the instruction of Mr. Bernard Whitman, after- 
 wards minister of Waltham, and graduated at Harvard with high 
 honor in 1826. 
 
 Immediately after his graduation Mr. Goodwin, in fulfilment of 
 an early formed purpose, entered the Divinity School at Cambridge. 
 He was ordained and installed at Concord as colleague to Dr. Rip- 
 ley February 17, 1830. The sermon on the occasion was preached 
 by his own pastor, the Rev. Dr. Kendall, of Plymouth. He was 
 received by the people with great cordiality. His venerable colleague 
 also heartily welcomed him to share his labors; and, as long as he 
 lived, their intercourse was characterized by parental affection and 
 solicitude, on the one hand, and a lively filial consideration, on the 
 other. 
 
 In June, 1830, Mr. Goodwin was married to Lucretia Ann Watson, 
 of Plymouth. The union, however, was destined to be brief, as 
 she died suddenly, on the nth of November, 1831. He felt the 
 shock most deeply, and yet he met it with great composure of spirit. 
 
 In the spring of 1833 Mr. Goodwin travelled west and south-west 
 for the benefit of his health, extending his journey as far as St. Louis. 
 During his absence he wrote several interesting letters, which were 
 first published in the Old Colony Memorial and some of them after- 
 wards copied into the Christian Register. After an absence of five 
 months he returned to his people in September, with his health ap- 
 parently quite re-established, and resumed his pastoral labors with 
 his accustomed zeal. In June, 1834, he was married to Amelia 
 Mackay, of Boston, who cheered the brief remainder of his life by 
 her affection. On Thursday, July 7, 1836, after having spent the 
 day at Plymouth in riding, walking, and conversing, he retired ap- 
 parently as well as usual, but during the night was seized with paral- 
 
172 EZRA RIPLEY 
 
 ysis, and never afterwards spoke or opened his eyes. He died early 
 on the morning of Saturday, the 9th. 
 
 Dr. Kendall, who had known him from his birth, spoke of him, 
 in a funeral sermon, in these terms: "His sober, thoughtful counte- 
 nance, even in childhood, we well remember. His eye and his heart 
 already pointed upwards, and seemed to indicate the profession that 
 would be his choice and the holy vocation he was purposed to pur- 
 sue. From the cradle to the grave we have seen his course marked 
 by the same purity of principle, the same integrity of purpose, the 
 same devout aspirations, the same consistency of Christian character." 
 
 Dr. Hosmer said of him: "My first knowledge of Mr. Goodwin 
 was in 1822, when we met as classmates in Harvard College. The 
 little child and the mature man were finely blended in his talk and 
 bearing, — so simple, yet so intelligent, amiable, and easy, yet never 
 losing a dignified propriety. He soon became, without seeming 
 to think of it, a great favorite in the class. I think no one among us 
 was so universally known, and none more deeply loved. I do not 
 remember that his friendships had any clouds. His goodness of 
 heart was constant and unbounded, and kept perpetual sunshine 
 wherever he was. 
 
 "Mr. Goodwin was a superior scholar. Though not keenly am- 
 bitious enough to be among the very first in the class, he was very 
 good in all departments. His mind was well balanced, and became 
 mature at an early age. But the crowning beauty of his college life 
 was the singular union of purity, freedom, and love by which it was 
 characterized. 'He did not need the smart of folly to make him 
 wise, nor the sting of guilt to make him virtuous.' And the same 
 qualities which made us so fond of him in college touched the hearts 
 of all who were brought into intimate relations with him in subse- 
 quent life. 
 
 "Mr. Goodwin was not a commanding pulpit orator. His pres- 
 ence was gentle and unimposing; but his benignant face, sweet 
 musical voice, and a certain loving earnestness drew his hearers 
 to him; and his fine serious thought and glowing emotion, expressed 
 in a style always chaste and appropriate and sometimes beautifully 
 eloquent, made him a favorite and effective preacher. 
 
 "As a pastor, Mr. Goodwin possessed remarkable qualities. There 
 was a beauty in his life and bearing that opened a way for him to 
 all hearts. He had a nice tact. He could touch the wounded spirit, 
 and tenderly soothe its distress. He could let in light upon a dark- 
 ened soul without a bit of cant. The young were not afraid of him, 
 because they felt the genial warmth of his love." 
 
 The following is from a letter written by the Rev. Cazneau Palfrey ; - 
 
EZRA RIPLEY 173 
 
 "His whole appearance indicated a deficiency of muscular force. 
 Yet he possessed great nervous energy and sensibility. Fine silken 
 hair testified to the delicacy of his organization. His eye was clear, 
 dark, and penetrating. His step was quick, all his motions alert, 
 his manner vivacious. Except when depressed by illness, he was 
 uniformly cheerful and hopeful, much disposed to drollery and 
 jocularity, and a keen appreciator of similar traits in others. The 
 sweetness of his temper and the kindliness of his disposition were 
 imperturbable; but he had a very quick and strong indignation against 
 moral wrong. His sympathy was always ready for every one. He 
 entered instantly and heartily into the case of either friend or stranger 
 who required his services, and he was disinterested and indefatiga- 
 ble in rendering the needed help. A nature so singularly communi- 
 cative as his could not fail to make him a great favorite in college 
 society. If I were to say that he was the most popular member of 
 our class, I should hardly do justice to the feeling entertained for 
 him. That feeling was something more than what was meant by 
 college popularity. No one was more truly loved, and no one was 
 consulted and confided in by so many as he. The same trait after- 
 ward made him eminent in the pastoral office. 
 
 "As a preacher, Mr. Goodwin was eminently plain and practical. 
 It was not his habit to discuss deep subjects in the pulpit or to rise 
 into the highest regions of thought and imagination. He aimed 
 at bringing home the truths he taught to the hearts and consciences 
 of his hearers by familiar illustrations drawn from the common 
 affairs of life. His manner was earnest and persuasive. The famil- 
 iar tones of his voice and the ease and freedom of his manner gave 
 to his discourses the effect of extemporaneous speaking. He was 
 a popular preacher in his own and the neighboring pulpits." 
 
 2 Barzillai Frost was born in Effingham, N.H., June 18, 1904. 
 He was fitted for college at Exeter, and graduated at Harvard in 
 1830. For two years he taught at the Framingham Academy, and 
 then for a time took the place of Professor Farrar as professor of 
 mathematics at Harvard. In 1835 he graduated at the Harvard 
 Divinity School; and on February I, 1837, he was ordained at Con- 
 cord as colleague with Dr. Ripley. After twenty years of service, 
 ill-health overtook him; and he resigned his charge October 3, 1857, 
 and died at Concord, December 8, 1858. Mr. Frost entered into 
 the work of Dr. Ripley with remarkable sympathy and adaptation. 
 He contributed the sketch of Dr. Ripley to Ware's Unitarian Biog- 
 raphy. As a preacher, he was not imaginative or emotional, but 
 sound and judicious. He spoke as one having authority, and gave 
 no uncertain sound. He was eager in the service of the schools, 
 
174 EZRA RIPLEY 
 
 zealous against intemperance and slavery, and active in all kinds of 
 public service. Though of frail body, his cheerfulness was unfail- 
 ing, and his intercourse with men was marked by healthiness of mind 
 and kindliness of temper. 
 
 Senator George F. Hoar wrote of him: — 
 
 "Mr. Frost had an intellect which would have made him famous 
 as a mathematician or a man of science. He sometimes rose in his 
 preaching to a very lofty strain of eloquence. He was a man of 
 saintly character; and, although he was lacking in humor and in 
 the sense of congruity, his influence was a powerful one upon the 
 character of the town. I suppose he was the original of Lowell's 
 ' Parson Wilbur.' 
 
 " He was exceedingly conscientious. His sense of absolute veracity 
 compelled him to utter a tame and homely fact in the midst of the 
 loftiest imagery, sometimes reminding you of the Old Testament. 
 The absolute veracity of the man came in with the tame and homely 
 fact, and mingled the two together in a way which made it hard for 
 the congregation to keep its countenance. I heard him say in a 
 Thanksgiving sermon: 'The Lord hath dealt graciously with this 
 people this year. He hath spared us from the pestilence that walk- 
 eth in the darkness and the destruction that cometh at noon-day. 
 True, we have had some chicken-pox and some measles.' 
 
 " But let no man undervalue Barzillai Frost. He was a great 
 power and influence in the town for righteousness and good learning, 
 an influence which lasted, in the characters of the men and women who 
 were brought up under his teaching, long after he went to his reward." 
 
 The following is a list of Dr. Ripley's publications: A Sermon delivered at the Ordi- 
 nation of William Emerson at Harvard, 1791; A Sermon delivered on the Comple- 
 tion of a General Repair of the Meeting-house in Concord, 1792; A Sermon delivered 
 at the Ordination of Rosewell Messenger, 1798; A Sermon delivered on Occasion 
 of the Execution of Samuel Smith for Burglary, 1799; A Masonic Discourse 
 delivered at Haverhill, Mass.; A Sermon preached at the Ordination of his Son, Sam- 
 uel Ripley, 1809; A Sermon delivered at Acton, at the Interment of Mrs. Abigail 
 Adams, Wife of the Rev. Moses Adams, 1812; A Sermon delivered at the Ordination 
 of John White, 1814; A Sermon delivered at the Installation of the Rev. William 
 Frothingham, 1819; A Sermon delivered at the Ordination of E. Q. Sewall, 1819; 
 A Discourse on Education, delivered at the Opening of several new School-houses, 
 1820; Several Charges and Right Hands of Fellowship at Ordinations and Installations; 
 History of the Concord Fight on the 19th of April, 1775, 1827; A Sermon inthe Liberal 
 /VearZiCT , ,i827;AHalf-centurySennon,i828; A Sermonin the Liberal Preacher, 1829. 
 
 Dr. Sprague's account of Dr. Ripley, from which this sketch is derived, was based 
 on Dr. Ripley's Half-century Sermon and the various sermons occasioned by his 
 death. The note on Mr. Goodwin is taken from Dr. Sprague's sketch, based on an 
 article in the Christian Examiner, 1837. The note on Mr. Frost is derived from Dr. 
 Miles's Funeral Sermon and the History of Concord. The note on Dr. Steams it 
 derived from information sent to Dr. Sprague by Dr. A. P. Peabody, Rev. J. L. Sewall, 
 and Mr. J. L. Sibley. 
 
SAMUEL KENDAL 175 
 
 SAMUEL KENDAL 
 1753-1814 
 
 Samuel Kendal was a son of Elisha and Ruth Ken- 
 dal, and was born in Sherborn, Mass., on the nth of 
 July, 1753. His father was a blacksmith, and the son 
 spent his early years at home, working for the farmers 
 in the neighborhood and attending school a few weeks 
 only in the winter. When he was about fourteen or 
 fifteen years of age, his father, in the hope of better 
 providing for a large family, moved to Annapolis, N.S. 
 Here the son continued to work on farms till he was nine- 
 teen years of age, when he had earned enough to pur- 
 chase of his father the remaining two years of his minor- 
 ity. From early childhood he had formed the purpose 
 of acquiring an education and becoming a minister. 
 With this object always before him, he surmounted 
 obstacles that to a less determined and energetic spirit 
 would have been insuperable. He was so delighted 
 with the idea of returning to New England that he 
 crossed the Bay of Fundy at great risk with one other 
 person in a row-boat so small that they could carry it 
 ashore themselves. He went immediately to his native 
 town, and there studied under the instruction of the 
 Rev. Elijah Brown, supporting himself meanwhile 
 by working on Mr. Brown's farm. Just as he was pre- 
 pared for college, he found himself amidst the perils 
 and excitements of the Revolution, and he felt it his 
 duty to enter the army, though, as a preliminary step, 
 and with characteristic foresight, he went into the 
 hospital and had the small-pox. Owing to these vari- 
 ous embarrassments and detentions, he did not enter 
 
176 SAMUEL KENDAL 
 
 Harvard until he was twenty-five years of age. As he 
 was obliged to rely entirely on his own exertions for 
 paying his college expenses, he devoted his vacations 
 to teaching school, besides fitting several young men 
 for college, two or three of whom afterwards acquired 
 distinction. By his uncommon industry and prudence 
 he not only met all his current expenses, but was forty 
 pounds richer when he left college than when he en- 
 tered. He graduated in 1782, with an excellent repu- 
 tation as a scholar. 
 
 After his graduation it is believed that he spent most 
 of his time at Cambridge in the study of theology until 
 he was licensed to preach by the Cambridge Associa- 
 tion. He had scarcely begun to preach before he re- 
 ceived a call to settle over the church in Weston as 
 successor to the Rev. Samuel Woodward, who had died 
 the preceding year. He accepted the call, and was or- 
 dained on the 5th of November, 1783, the Rev. Dr. 
 Willard, president of Harvard College, preaching the 
 ordination sermon. 
 
 Mr. Kendal during the early period of his ministry 
 was visited with sore trials. Before he had a home 
 in Weston, his father returned from Nova Scotia, being 
 threatened with imprisonment for his refusal to take the 
 oath of allegiance to George III. He worked at his 
 trade in Roxbury until his son became a housekeeper, 
 and was able to give him a home with his own family. 
 He left behind him in Nova Scotia six daughters, three 
 of whom were married. When they heard that their 
 brother was settled in Weston and had a home for their 
 father, the married sisters placed the three girls who 
 were unmarried on board a vessel for Boston; and the 
 first he knew of their having left Nova Scotia was that 
 they arrived at his own door in a state of destitution, 
 having walked from Boston. By the assistance of 
 some friends of his he quickly succeeded in providing 
 
SAMUEL KENDAL 177 
 
 them with homes where they could prepare themselves 
 for usefulness. Scarcely had this perplexity been sur- 
 mounted, and the prospect of being able to support his 
 family and pay off a debt necessarily incurred begun 
 to open upon him, when his house took fire in the night 
 of the 19th of February, 1791. A deep snow had fallen 
 a few days before, and not a single neighbor knew of the 
 fire till just as the house and contents fell together 
 into the cellar. Fortunately, Mr. Kendal had a small 
 study near his house, in which the family were able to 
 find a shelter till daylight. When the disaster came to 
 be known, there was no lack of friends to proffer their 
 hospitalities, and in due time a new house was built on 
 the site of the old one. As Mr. Kendal saw his manu- 
 scripts burning, he remarked that for once his sermons 
 were able to give light. 
 
 Mr. Kendal, more especially in the early part of his 
 ministry, received a considerable number of young 
 men into his house to prepare them for college, — a 
 measure which a small salary rendered necessary to the 
 support of his family. But his time was devoted almost 
 exclusively to his professional duties. He was fre- 
 quently called upon for public services abroad, and it 
 is believed never failed to meet the demands of the 
 occasion. In the year 1806 the degree of Doctor of 
 Divinity was conferred upon him by Yale College, — 
 an evidence that his character was known and appre- 
 ciated beyond the limits of his own State, and that his 
 orthodoxy was not seriously suspected. 
 
 It is not easy to decide just where Dr. Kendal be- 
 longed theologically. The statement of doctrine in 
 his printed sermons lacks definiteness. Dr. Lamson, 
 who was brought up in his church, says: "I remember 
 that when I went to Andover to complete my prepara- 
 tion for college, and heard Dr. Griffith, Drs. Woods 
 and Stewart and others preach, the views were abso- 
 
178 SAMUEL KENDAL 
 
 lutely new to me. I have never heard anything of the 
 kind from Dr. Kendal or from those who occupied 
 his pulpit by exchange." Dr. Kendal's own children 
 did not know his theological position. When his 
 daughter Abigail visited Hartford, and was asked 
 whether her father was an Arian or a Calvinist, she 
 was unable to answer. On her return, when she told 
 her father how ashamed she was not to know which 
 of these titles belonged to him, he said : " My daughter, 
 I am glad you did not know. I do not want to wear 
 any party label." The probable fact is that Dr. Kendal 
 moved into new realms of thought and feeling, like 
 many of his fellow-ministers, without realizing the 
 movement or the distance traversed. Suffice it that 
 the First Parish of Weston under his ministration, 
 and without any division, became Unitarian in its 
 thought and principles. As early as 1800 we have 
 indication of this change in the vote of the parish to 
 adopt Dr. Belknap's collection of hymns in place of 
 Tate and Brady. Dr. Belknap's collection, as we 
 have seen, was the first collection of hymns published 
 in this country which was of a declared Unitarian char- 
 acter. About the same time an amendment was intro- 
 duced into the church covenant, putting the conduct 
 of life above doctrinal belief. While, therefore, Dr. 
 Kendal was in no wise obnoxious to the more conserva- 
 tive Congregationalists, his general sympathies were 
 with the progressive party, and under his leadership 
 his church was prepared for the more pronounced posi- 
 tion which it assumed under his successor, Dr. Field.* 
 Dr. Kendal experienced very little interruption of 
 his labors from sickness. In an historical discourse 
 that he delivered the year before his death he stated 
 that he had been detained from public worship but one 
 Sabbath, either by sickness or inclemency of weather, 
 
 ♦ See Vol. m. p. 341. 
 
SAMUEL KENDAL 179 
 
 for thirty years, and that he had left the pulpit without 
 a supply on his own private business for two Sabbaths 
 only within that period. He continued to supply his 
 pulpit regularly until the Sunday preceding his death, 
 which occurred on Tuesday morning, February 15, in 
 the sixty-first year of his age and the thirty-first of his 
 ministry. The first intimation to the parish of his 
 being ill was the solemn tolling of the bell at sunrise. 
 His funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. 
 Osgood, of Medford. 
 
 Dr. Kendal was married, about the time that he 
 began his ministry, to Mary Austin, of Cambridge, 
 who died within two years. On the 12th of October, 
 1786, he was married to Abigail, the eldest daughter 
 of his predecessor, the Rev. Samuel Woodward. She 
 became the mother of four children, the youngest of 
 whom she left an infant two hours old. In 1794 he 
 married Miranda Woodward, another daughter of his 
 predecessor, who also became the mother of four chil- 
 dren. She survived him seventeen years, and died in 
 1832. Dr. Kendal's father survived him nine years, 
 and had his home in the family till his death, in 1824, 
 when he lacked but a few days of ninety-nine years. 
 The Rev. James Kendall wrote of him in 1856: — 
 "Dr. Kendal had a large, firmly built frame, was well 
 proportioned, and had a commanding and dignified 
 presence. His mind was vigorous, comprehensive, 
 and well stored; but he was much more at home in 
 the regions of sound common sense and practical 
 thought than of philosophical speculation. His man- 
 ners were those of a gentleman of the old school, — bland 
 and courteous without much of artificial polish. His 
 whole life was an exhibition of the most unbending 
 integrity. The resolution of the patriarch seemed to 
 have been his motto: 'Till I die, I will not remove 
 my integrity from me; my righteousness shall stand 
 
180 SAMUEL KENDAL 
 
 forth, and I will not let it go; my heart shall not reproach 
 me so long as I live.'" 
 The Rev. Dr. Lamson wrote of him: — 
 " I regarded Dr. Kendal with a sort of awe, and never 
 thought of criticising any of his performances. He 
 possessed a remarkably vigorous intellect. He was 
 a clear-headed man, and always thought for himself, — 
 a man of decision and energy. His appearance, voice, 
 tone, and manner, all carried authority with them. 
 Yet he was far from what would be called a dogmatist. 
 He reasoned out his opinions, and held them firmly, 
 but without one particle of bigotry or uncharitable- 
 ness. His services were plain, practical, earnest, and 
 fitted to make an impression that he felt that he was 
 dealing in momentous realities. I do not think that 
 he ever preached a feeble sermon. He avoided, accord- 
 ing to my recollection, introducing into his pulpit dis- 
 cussions on subjects of polemical theology. He was 
 not in any sense a controversial preacher. He be- 
 longed to the old school of liberal theologians." 
 
 The following is a list of Dr. Kendal's publications: — 
 
 A Sermon at the Ordination of Thaddeus Mason Harris, Dorchester, 1793 ; A Sermon 
 on the Day of the National Thanksgiving, 1795; A Sermon at the Ordination of Isaac 
 Allen, 1804; A Sermon at the General Election, 1804; A Sermon at the Ordination of 
 Avery Williams, 1807; ASermon at the Interment of the Hon. Samuel Dexter, 1810; 
 Seven Sermons to Young People, published in the Christian Monitor, 1810; A Sermon 
 at the Ordination of Peter Nourse, 1812; A Sermon delivered at Weston on the Termi- 
 nation of a Century since the Incorporation of the Town, 1813; A Sermon delivered at 
 the Ordination of Isaac Hurd, 1813; A Sermon on the Love of God (date not ascer- 
 tained). 
 
 Dr. Sprague's article, from which' the above sketch is abridged, was chiefly derived 
 from a manuscript sent him by Dr. Kendal's daughter, Mrs. Marshall. Use has also 
 been made here of the historical sermons by Rev. Charles F. Russell and the ad- 
 dresses at the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the founding of the 
 church in Weston. 
 
ELIPHALET PORTER 181 
 
 ELIPHALET PORTER 
 
 i 758-i 833 
 
 Eliphalet Porter was born in North Bridgewater 
 (now Brockton), Mass., June 11, 1758. He was a 
 son of the Rev. John Porter, a native of Abington, who 
 was graduated at Harvard College in 1736, was or- 
 dained at North Bridgewater in 1740, and died in 1802 
 at the age of eighty-seven. The father was a decided 
 Calvinist, and one or two controversial pamphlets of 
 his remain to show with what tenacity he held that 
 system of doctrine, and with what earnestness he de- 
 fended it. The son graduated at Harvard in 1777, 
 the youngest of three brothers in the same class. His 
 theological studies he prosecuted under the direction 
 of his father. The First Church in Roxbury had been 
 vacant since the death of the Rev. Amos Adams,* in 
 1775, for seven years, and, having heard various can- 
 didates, finally, in 1782, extended a nearly unanimous 
 call to Mr. Porter. He was ordained October 2, 1782, 
 the sermon being preached by his father and the charge 
 delivered by Dr. Samuel Cooper, of Boston. In later 
 years he was wont to say that his lines could not have 
 fallen in pleasanter places. 
 
 *Amos Adams was born at Medfield, September 1, 1728; was 
 graduated at Harvard College in 1752; was ordained and installed 
 pastor of the First Church in Roxbury, September 12, 1753; and died 
 October 5, 1775, aged forty-eight. He published the Massachusetts 
 Election Sermon, 1759; A Thanksgiving Sermon on the Reduction 
 of Quebec, 1759; A Sermon at the Ordination of John Wyeth (who 
 was born at Cambridge; was graduated at Harvard College in 1760; 
 was ordained at Gloucester, February 5, 1766; was dismissed in 
 1768; and died February 2, 181 1, aged sixty-eight); A Sermon 
 preached at Roxbury, 1767; Two Thanksgiving Discourses on 
 Religious Liberty, 1767; Two Fast Discourses, 1769; A Sermon 
 at the Ordination of Caleb Prentiss (who was born at Cam- 
 
i82 ELIPHALET PORTER 
 
 In October, 1801, he was married to Martha, daughter 
 of Major Nathaniel Ruggles, of Roxbury. She died 
 without issue, in December, 18 14. In 1807 he was 
 honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity from 
 Harvard College. 
 
 In 1 810 Dr. Porter preached the Annual Sermon at 
 the Convention of the Congregational Ministers of 
 Massachusetts. The controversy between the two 
 parties, known as the "orthodox" and the "liberal," 
 was by that time no new thing; but, so far as the latter 
 class at least were concerned, it had rarely, if ever, 
 been introduced into the pulpit, especially on any great 
 public occasion. Dr. Porter stepped aside from the 
 course of his predecessors, and brought out a bold 
 and earnest defence of the principles for which the 
 liberal party were contending. The sermon produced 
 great excitement at the time, and it has been acknowl- 
 edged, by those who disliked as well as those who liked 
 it, to be the ablest of Dr. Porter's printed produc- 
 tions. It is important now, chiefly as having marked 
 a sort of epoch in the controversy, and as indicating 
 the then existing state of theological opinion. 
 
 The subject of the discourse was "The Simplicity that 
 is in Christ, and the Danger of its being Corrupted." 
 Its general spirit and character may be sufficiently in- 
 dicated by the following extract: — 
 
 bridge, November 25, 1746; was graduated at Harvard College 
 in 1765; was ordained and installed pastor of the church in Reading, 
 October 25, 1769; and died February 7, 1803, aged fifty-six. He 
 belonged to the class who were called "Moderate Calvinists," differ- 
 ing, however, very little, if at all, from Arminians. In the War of 
 the Revolution he was a most earnest patriot, and in more than one 
 instance shouldered his musket to meet the enemy. He was greatly 
 respected, not only in his own parish, but throughout the region 
 in which he lived. He was married to the eldest daughter of the 
 Rev. John Mellen, of West Lancaster (now Sterling), and had thir- 
 teen children.) 
 
ELIPHALET PORTER 183 
 
 "What are we to think of those articles of faith 
 which have been long received in the Church, and con- 
 sidered, perhaps generally, as fundamentals, and es- 
 sential to be believed ? What are we to think of those 
 disputed articles of faith which have been retained 
 or taught and required in the catechisms and confes- 
 sions of Protestant and Reformed Churches, and, 
 in particular, among ourselves ? Or, to be more ex- 
 plicit still, — for I wish to be understood, — what are we 
 to think of the doctrines of original sin and total de- 
 pravity; of imputation of sin and righteousness; of a 
 trinity in unity; of the mere humanity, superangelic 
 nature, or absolute Deity of Christ; of particular and 
 general redemption; of unconditional decrees of per- 
 sonal election and reprobation; of moral inability and 
 the total passiveness of man in regeneration; of the 
 special and irresistible operation of the Holy Spirit; 
 of perseverance, or the impossibility of the believer's 
 total apostasy; and, to mention no more, the absolute 
 eternity of the torments to which the wicked will be 
 sentenced at the last day ? 
 
 "My individual belief, in respect to the truth or error 
 of these points, can be of but little importance, and 
 my subject no way requires that it should be given. 
 It rather becomes me to follow the example which has 
 been sometimes set by learned judges on the bench, 
 when difficult questions suggested themselves, but 
 whose decision the main subject before them did not 
 require, and prudently say, Neque teneo, neque 
 refello. But it is pertinent to the object of this discourse, 
 and consonant to my serious and deliberate convic- 
 tion, to observe that I cannot place my finger on any 
 one article, in the list of doctrines just mentioned, the 
 belief or the rejection of which I consider as essential 
 to the Christian faith or character. I believe that an 
 innumerable company of Christians who never heard 
 
184 ELIPHALET PORTER 
 
 of these articles, or who were divided in their opinions 
 respecting them, have fallen asleep in Jesus; and that 
 innumerable of the same description are following 
 after." 
 
 With the exception of this sermon Dr. Porter seems 
 to have taken no part in controversy. He was in no 
 sense a sectarian, but always a mild champion of tol- 
 eration and Christian unity. He was willing to be 
 counted among the Unitarians, but he had no interest 
 in ecclesiastical discords and divisions. 
 
 Dr. Porter's life, like that of most parish minis- 
 ters, was marked by little variety. He continued his 
 stated labors without much interruption till he was past 
 seventy, when it became apparent to both himself and 
 others that his strength was inadequate to the full dis- 
 charge of the duties of his office. Accordingly, it was 
 agreed that he should have a colleague; and Mr. George 
 Putnam* was called and settled, with his hearty consent 
 and approbation. Without any controversy or divi- 
 sion the church in Roxbury followed the neighboring 
 churches of Dorchester, Boston, and Cambridge in 
 the Unitarian movement. 
 
 On the 7th of October, 1832, on the completion of 
 fifty years of his ministry, Dr. Porter preached a ser- 
 mon containing some historical sketches of his parish, 
 and particularly a review of his own ministerial labors. 
 Having referred to his ordination, he says: — 
 
 "The solemn transactions of that day were adapted 
 to excite reflection, lead to resolutions, and make im- 
 pressions on the mind which half a century ought not, 
 and, as the speaker trusts, has not, wholly effaced from 
 his mind. But he laments that they have not had a 
 more constant, powerful, and salutary effect on his life 
 and labors. He laments that he has not better fulfilled 
 the ministry he received of the Lord, and better per- 
 
 * See Vol. m. p. 308. 
 
ELIPHALET PORTER 185 
 
 formed his vows. A sense of his many neglects and 
 defects in duty he can truly say is the greatest burden 
 of his life; and he would this day humble himself before 
 God, and in the presence of the great congregation, 
 for his want of greater diligence and activity, constancy, 
 faithfulness, and zeal in the discharge of the work given 
 him to do." 
 
 Dr. Putnam said of Dr. Porter: "He was not endowed 
 with that ardor of mind, with that freedom, fulness, 
 and glowing facility of thought or speech, which fit a 
 preacher for distinction. In the prime of his life he 
 held a most respectable rank among his contempora- 
 ries as a sound, instructive, practical preacher, rightly 
 dividing the word of the law. As a pastor, though he 
 was a man of few words, and felt that indiscriminate 
 social intercourse was not his fittest element, yet few 
 men ever spoke with more meaning or to so good a 
 purpose. He did not dazzle, but he enlightened." 
 
 His death occurred on Saturday, 7th of December, 
 1833, and his funeral was attended on the succeeding 
 Wednesday by a large concourse. The sermon, by 
 his colleague, was from Genesis xxv. 8. 
 
 Dr. Porter held several important public trusts. 
 He was a member of the Board of Overseers of Har- 
 vard University, and from 1818 till his death a member 
 of the Corporation. He was treasurer for many years 
 of the Massachusetts Congregational Charitable So- 
 ciety, was an original trustee of the Massachusetts 
 Bible Society, and was among the founders of the So- 
 ciety for the Suppression of Intemperance. 
 
 The Rev. John Pierce, of Brookline, described Dr. 
 Porter as follows: — 
 
 "As to his person, he was not above the common 
 stature, and in his figure was erect and well propor- 
 tioned. His hair, which was of chestnut color, scarcely 
 underwent any perceptible change till the time of his 
 
1 86 ELIPHALET PORTER 
 
 death. He was a remarkable instance of unfailing 
 eyesight. Neither he nor his father before him ever 
 used glasses. 
 
 "The predominating characteristic of his mind was 
 a sound judgment. He always came to his conclusions 
 cautiously, and seldom had occasion subsequently to 
 alter them. He had what is usually called a discrimi- 
 nating mind. He readily discussed minute points of 
 difference, and sometimes evinced no inconsiderable 
 skill in the management of subtle and knotty questions. 
 He had little or no imagination, and pretended to 
 none. But he was distinguished for his sober and cor- 
 rect estimate of things, generally saying the right thing 
 in the right manner and at the right time. So remark- 
 able was he for discretion in his social intercourse 
 that it has been said of him that, if his most intimate 
 associates were to become his bitterest enemies, they 
 would find it difficult to use even his most confidential 
 communications to his disadvantage. In mixed com- 
 pany he was generally very taciturn; but, among his 
 intimate friends, he was a cheerful and agreeable com- 
 panion. 
 
 "Dr. Porter could by no means be ranked among 
 the popular preachers of his day. His manner was 
 entirely simple and unadorned, and his matter, though 
 well digested and always indicating thought and study, 
 was destitute of those striking qualities that usually 
 render a preacher attractive. His discourses were 
 the product of labor rather than excitement, and they 
 were addressed rather to the understanding than the 
 affections. 
 
 "The late Judge Lowell, who was long one of Dr. 
 Porter's constant hearers, is said to have remarked 
 that of all the preachers whom he was accustomed to 
 hear there was no one who furnished more food to his 
 intellect than his own pastor. But, as I have already 
 
ELIPHALET PORTER 187 
 
 remarked, with the mass of hearers he could not be 
 regarded as a favorite. 
 
 " Being naturally of a reserved habit, his intercourse 
 with his people was less frequent and less free than 
 some of them would have wished; but I believe he was 
 never lacking in due attention to the sick and afflicted. 
 His general gravity and dignity of deportment always 
 secured the respect, not only of his own people, but of 
 the community at large. 
 
 "Dr. Porter evinced great wisdom in the manage- 
 ment of his worldly concerns. Indeed, so exact was 
 he that he did not always escape the suspicion of an 
 undue regard to his own interest. But it was not true 
 that he was a selfish man. On the contrary, he was 
 distinguished for his generosity to the poor, and his hand 
 was always open to every object that he considered 
 a deserving one. 
 
 "I must not omit to say that Dr. Porter felt a deep 
 interest in the affairs of the State and the nation, and 
 sometimes spoke out his political sentiments with con- 
 siderable freedom. Several times he showed that his 
 prudence was not timidity by expressing views in the 
 pulpit which brought him in conflict with some lead- 
 ing individuals of his parish. Some temporary cool- 
 ness, if not alienation, grew out of his fearlessness in 
 this respect; but I believe that it had nearly all ceased 
 before those in whom it had appeared went to their 
 graves." 
 
 The following is a list of Dr. Porter's publications: A Thanksgiving Sermon, 
 preached at Roxbury, 1783; A Discourse delivered before the Roxbury Charitable 
 Society, 1794; A Discourse delivered at Brookline and Roxbury on the National Fast, 
 1798; A Sermon on the Death of Governor Sumner, 1799; A Eulogy on George Wash- 
 ington, 1800; A Discourse before the Humane Society, Boston, 1802; A Sermon at the 
 Ordination of Charles Lowell, 1806; A Sermon before the Society for Propagating the 
 Gospel among the Indians and Others in North America, 1807; A Sermon before the 
 Massachusetts Convention of Ministers, 1810; An Artillery Election Sermon, i8iz- 
 A Sermon at the Ordination of John G. Palfrey. 
 
 Dr. Sprague based his sketch of Dr. Porter on Dr. Putnam's Funeral Sermon. Use 
 has also been made here of the article from the same hand in Ware's Unitarian Biography. 
 
188 SIMEON DOGGETT 
 
 SIMEON DOGGETT 
 i 765-1 852 
 
 Simeon Doggett was born in Middleboro, Mass., 
 on the 6th of March, 1765. His mother was a native 
 of North Carolina, and had brought with her from 
 her Southern birthplace the prepossessions of an Epis- 
 copal training. She took care early to indoctrinate 
 the mind of her son with the tenets of the Church of 
 England, and he retained an attachment to the Eng- 
 lish ritual till the close of life. 
 
 At an early age he showed a decided taste for study, 
 and his father, though not a rich man, was able and 
 willing to give him the advantages of a collegiate edu- 
 cation. Accordingly, he was entered at Brown Uni- 
 versity, and graduated in 1788, at the age of twenty- 
 three. Both before and during his college course he 
 was engaged for some time in teaching, and acquired 
 a strong relish for that kind of employment. 
 
 While he was in college, he was led to examine for 
 himself the various systems of church government, and 
 the result of his inquiry was that the Congregational, 
 and not the Episcopal, order seemed to him the original 
 form of church polity. An inquiry concerning Script- 
 ural doctrine satisfied him that the Christian view of 
 nature and of grace was that of Arminius, and not that 
 of Calvin. Mr. Barker, the pastor of the church in 
 Middleboro, was willing to admit him to commun- 
 ion; but one of his deacons, who was a very earnest 
 Calvinist, could not feel satisfied that Doggett possessed 
 the requisite qualifications, and his objections prevailed 
 against the candidate. He, however, was soon after 
 
SIMEON DOGGETT 189 
 
 received into the church in Providence, and before 
 leaving college he had probably become a Unitarian. 
 
 On graduating Mr. Doggett returned to his father's 
 house, and commenced the study of theology. In 1790 
 he went to live with Dr. Samuel West, of New Bedford, 
 and prosecuted vigorously the study of his profession 
 under the direction of that eccentric and able divine. 
 
 In the summer of 1791 he was chosen to be a tutor 
 in Brown University, and held the office with great 
 credit to himself and high advantage to the institution 
 for five years. In July, 1796, Bristol Academy in 
 Taunton was opened, with Mr. Doggett as its first 
 preceptor. For seventeen years he served in this office 
 with marked ability and fidelity, and with no ordinary 
 success. Though his school was large and his labors 
 in connection with it were arduous, yet he was enabled, 
 in addition to his duties as a teacher, to preach quite 
 regularly on the Sabbath. 
 
 In April, 1 8 13, Mr. Doggett, much to the regret of 
 the trustees of the institution, tendered his resignation 
 as principal, and determined to enter on the duties of 
 a parish minister, and realize the pleasure and honor 
 which he had so long coveted. In the town of Mendon, 
 at that time the second town in size in Worcester 
 County, a number of his pupils were established in 
 business, and he was solicited by them to come there 
 and preach. The society at Mendon was large, 
 influential, and supposed to be orthodox. Yet they 
 called Mr. Doggett unanimously, and did not rescind 
 their call when he, at a special meeting, stated his 
 belief, and required, if he accepted the post, that the 
 church creed and covenant, which he neither believed 
 nor understood, should be altered. The neighboring 
 clergy, notwithstanding his avowed dissent from their 
 religious views, assisted at his ordination, and contin- 
 ued to exchange with him for several years. 
 
190 SIMEON DOGGETT 
 
 Mr. Doggett remained in the ministry at Mendon 
 until January, 1831, and though not a controversial 
 preacher, and not disposed to place himself in an 
 antagonistic attitude towards his brethren who differed 
 from him, he was yet perfectly frank in the avowal of 
 his opinions, and undoubtedly did much, in a quiet 
 way, to modify the prevailing creed of the neighbor- 
 hood. He was the pioneer liberal preacher of what 
 is now the southern part of Worcester County, and 
 the Mendon parish became the mother church of a 
 number of sturdy children. As years increased upon 
 him, he became sensible that a change of his field of 
 labor would be better for him and better for the people 
 of his charge. A small Unitarian society had been 
 organized about this time in the town of Raynham, 
 Bristol County, where some of his former friends and 
 pupils resided, and he was cordially invited to become 
 their pastor. Many circumstances concurred to ren- 
 der this a peculiarly attractive place to him, and hence 
 he accepted the call, and commenced his ministry 
 there in April, 183 1. 
 
 Here, as in his preceding fields of labor, he was emi- 
 nently conscientious, and diligent withal, so far as his 
 increasing infirmities would permit. In the seminary 
 where he had taught so long he was now an honored 
 overseer. His pecuniary means were adequate to his 
 desires, and placed him quite above the fear of want. 
 He had a choice library, gathered and inherited, of 
 the old standard theological works, and he had leisure 
 to read them. The success of his children could bring 
 joy to his heart, and, though they were widely sepa- 
 rated from his home, their frequent letters kept the 
 family union unbroken. 
 
 An interesting episode in his life at this period was 
 his visit to the South, in the winter of 1834-35, where 
 two of his sons were established. In the cities of 
 
SIMEON DOGGETT 191 
 
 Charleston, St. Augustine, Jacksonville, and Savannah 
 he was treated with marked attention, and invited in 
 the last-mentioned city to preach at the dedication of 
 the new Unitarian church, which service he very ac- 
 ceptably performed. 
 
 On the first day of his seventy-third year Mr. 
 Doggett commenced a daily journal, which he continued 
 for many years, until his hand had become too tremu- 
 lous to write with ease. In this journal there are many 
 things remarkable. It is rather a record of thoughts 
 than of facts. It is a book of spiritual meditations, 
 a continued self-examination and prayer. Two wishes 
 are nearest the writer's heart, and are repeated on 
 almost every page, — that no day may pass without 
 some useful work, and that every day may carry him 
 forward in the divine life. The confessions of Augus- 
 tine do not show a more earnest self-renunciation, a 
 more living and quick longing after holiness, than the 
 journal of this old New England minister. This per- 
 vading religious tone dignifies the necessary monotony of 
 the details of the weeks and the months. Every smallest 
 event is made the theme of some spiritual reflection. 
 The presents which friends send into the house come 
 as special gifts from God. The common changes in 
 nature, in social life, storm, and sunshine, health and 
 sickness, old age and frequent death, all seem to him 
 providential. Indeed, he seems always to write with 
 a sense of God above, around, with, and within him. 
 
 The ministry of Mr. Doggett at Raynham continued 
 until the year 1845, when, having reached the full 
 term of fourscore years, he felt that it was time for him 
 to give up the work so dear to his heart. The closing 
 years of his life were serene and beautiful, disturbed 
 by no calamity and clouded by no mental decay. On 
 Sunday he was a wakeful and earnest listener to the 
 word of younger friends, and, when his own church 
 
192 SIMEON DOGGETT 
 
 closed, he worshipped cheerfully with brethren of a 
 different faith, and found no fault with a manly utter- 
 ance of views which he might not approve. 
 
 Mr. Doggett died in 1852, living to be the only 
 survivor of his college class, the oldest graduate of 
 Brown University with a single exception, and the oldest 
 teacher of any public institution in Massachusetts. 
 Though not a brilliant preacher, he was earnest in 
 manner, clear and close in argument, concise in ex- 
 pression, and eminently serious. He was not tried, 
 like many preachers, to find matter for religious in- 
 struction, nor did he catch at every chance of the day, 
 every political movement, every novel occurrence, for 
 a striking theme of discourse. His Bible gave him his 
 texts and themes, and its store was exhaustless. 
 
 He was candid and deliberate in the formation of 
 his judgments, hearing all sides and dismissing preju- 
 dice. But he rarely changed his opinions. If he dis- 
 tinctly stated any sentiment or any order, whether in 
 the house, the school-room, or the church, it was 
 known to be irrevocable. His word was law to his 
 children and pupils. His parishioners were sure that 
 nothing crude or doubtful would find through him an 
 open utterance. He preferred, indeed, to speak com- 
 monplaces rather than strange and fantastic ideas. 
 For transcendentalism of any kind, whether as a sys- 
 tem of philosophy, a style of preaching, or a tone of 
 conversation, he had no relish. 
 
 He was a most orderly and methodical man. He 
 had a time for everything and a place for everything. 
 He was happiest when his regular routine of life could 
 go on unbroken, and did not tire of the monotony of 
 his occupation. He gave a fair measure of time to 
 domestic and manual labor, and often overtaxed a 
 feeble frame to sustain this system of joining physical 
 to intellectual toil. He was temperate even to abste- 
 miousness, and frugal from principle. He had a space 
 
SIMEON DOGGETT 193 
 
 in every day for worship, for work, for study, for social 
 converse, and for meditation, and he rarely omitted 
 any part of his daily purpose. And it was a surprise 
 to his friends when, at any time, this regular order 
 chanced to be varied. He wore small-clothes as long 
 as he could find anybody to make them to suit him, 
 and then reluctantly yielded to the tide of custom, and 
 went into trousers. 
 
 He was a fine example of charity. He could not 
 join in the scandals with which ordinary intercourse 
 abounds. In conversation he indulged in no strong 
 expressions in regard to the opinions or characters of 
 others. There was a kindness, a gentleness, a dignified 
 reserve in his manner that more effectually rebuked 
 the utterance of severe and uncharitable words. He 
 died, in the utmost tranquillity, on the 19th of March, 
 1852. On his study table was found, evidently left by 
 design, the Cyropaedia of Xenophon, with the leaf 
 turned in at a passage which a Christian father might 
 well adopt as advice to his children, and a manuscript 
 sermon from the text, "Brethren, the time is short." 
 
 Mr. Doggett was married on the 29th of October, 
 1797, to Nancy, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Perez Fobes, 
 of Raynham. They had eight children. 
 
 The following is a list of Mr. Doggert's printed productions: A Discourse on the 
 Way of Eternal Life, preached at Norton and Providence, 1796; A Discourse on Edu- 
 cation at the Opening of Bristol Academy, 1796; An Oration at Taunton on the 
 4th of July, 1799; A Discourse in Mendon at the Funeral of Richard George, 1827; 
 A Sermon in Mendon on the Death of Captain Joseph Prince, 1828; A Sermon in 
 Bridgewater at the Ordination of his Son, T. P. Doggett, 1833; Two Discourses on 
 Slavery, 1835; National Union, a Fast Day sermon, 1839; A Sermon on Transcenden- 
 talism, preached on Fast Day, 1843. 
 
 The sketch of Mr. Doggett is condensed from the account of him written in 1861 
 by the Rev. Charles H. Brigham, of Taunton. 
 
194 JOHN ALLYN 
 
 JOHN ALLYN 
 1/67-1833 
 
 John Allyn, a son of James Allyn, a chair-maker, 
 was born in Barnstable, Mass., on the 21st of March, 
 1767. He was fitted for college by the Rev. Mr. Hill- 
 iard, then minister of Barnstable, but afterwards the 
 colleague and successor of Dr. Appleton, of Cambridge, 
 and graduated at Harvard in 1785 at the early age of 
 eighteen. 
 
 On leaving college, he returned to Barnstable, where 
 he was engaged for a while in teaching. Having de- 
 termined to devote himself to the work of the ministry, 
 he studied theology under the direction of the learned 
 and eccentric Dr. Samuel West, of New Bedford. 
 
 In September, 1788, he received an invitation from 
 the church in Duxbury to become their pastor, and on 
 the 3d of December the pastoral relation was consti- 
 tuted by the usual solemnities. The sermon on the 
 occasion was preached by Dr. West, from i Timothy 
 ii. 15, and was published in connection with the charge 
 by Dr. Hitchcock of Pembroke, and the Right Hand 
 of Fellowship, by the Rev. David Barnes, of Scituate. 
 
 In 1804 Mr. Allyn delivered the anniversary oration 
 before the Phi Beta Kappa Society in Harvard College. 
 In the summer of 1807 he was employed on a mission- 
 ary tour in Maine by the Society for Propagating the 
 Gospel among the Indians and Others in North America. 
 In 1808 he was elected a Fellow of the American Acad- 
 emy of Arts and Sciences. In 1809 he delivered the 
 Dudleian Lecture in Harvard College, on Supremacy 
 and Infallibility. In 18 13 he was honored by his Alma 
 Mater with the degree of Doctor of Divinity. In 1 820 
 
JOHN ALLYN 195 
 
 he was sent by the town of Duxbury as a delegate to 
 the Convention for revising the Constitution of 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 Dr. Allyn continued sole pastor of his church till 
 June 7, 1826, when the Rev. Benjamin Kent was 
 settled as his colleague. After that time he seldom 
 engaged in any public services, and it was manifest 
 that both his strength and his spirits were gradually 
 declining. He died on Friday, July 19, 1833, and his 
 funeral was attended on the Monday following, when 
 an appropriate discourse was delivered by his friend 
 and college classmate, the elder Professor Ware, of 
 Harvard University, from Luke xx. 36. 
 
 The following sketch was written by his son-in-law, 
 the Rev. Convers Francis: "When I first knew Dr. 
 Allyn personally, he had passed the period when his 
 powers were most full and fresh, and something of 
 decay might be observed in him. Still, however, there 
 was a remarkable brightness in his best hours, and his 
 genius gleamed out frequently in a way which would 
 have induced any observer, I think, to infer that he 
 was really an extraordinary man. The wisdom of a 
 sage seemed to be invested with the naturalness, and 
 frequently with the frolic-heartiness of a child. I al- 
 ways found that his quaint truthfulness and his exceed- 
 ingly apt and amusing illustrations made a deep im- 
 pression, especially upon young people. He seemed 
 to be a revelation of a new sort of character to them; 
 and they listened to him and looked at him with de- 
 lighted wonder. I have heard that when, to enlarge 
 a very scanty income, he took boys into his family as 
 pupils, his influence upon them was of a very remark- 
 able kind. He had his own peculiar way of manag- 
 ing them, and they loved and venerated him, notwith- 
 standing occasional eccentricities. He used to say: 
 'I do with my boys as with my sheep. I take the 
 
196 JOHN ALLYN 
 
 basket of corn and go before them, and they follow 
 me.' He would often place his arm-chair under a 
 tree in his orchard, and there amidst the greenness and 
 the beauty of nature and the wholesome sweet air of 
 the fields he would call the boys around him and hear 
 their lessons, interspersing the exercises with amusing 
 and wise remarks. These scenes, I am told, some of 
 them still remember as bright and happy hours. Some- 
 times when a boy came to him who said he did not 
 want to study, the doctor would reply: 'Well, you need 
 not. You may go and run about the farm.' The con- 
 sequence was that the boy soon grew weary of being 
 alone and idle, especially as he saw the other boys 
 studious and happy, and would come and ask to have 
 his lesson set, and go to work as busily as the rest. 
 
 "When he was in good spirits, I think I never knew 
 anything of the kind that equalled his genial vivacity 
 and keen vigor of remark. It was surprising to see 
 out of how trifling an incident, out of how casual a 
 suggestion, he would create a rich fund of conversation, 
 going on from one thing to another in the most delight- 
 ful way till the company wondered to see whither they 
 had come from so small a beginning. In the midst of 
 playfulness he frequently suggested great principles 
 with singular power. 
 
 "In theology Dr. Allyn never was a man to dis- 
 guise or undervalue his faith, but I have seldom 
 known one who had so strong an aversion to contro- 
 versy. Not unfrequently he spoke of it in terms 
 expressive even of thorough contempt. I remember 
 the surprise and regret he expressed when his old and 
 beloved friend, Dr. Ware, engaged in the controversy 
 with Dr. Woods. In this as in some other matters he 
 was wont to push a favorite notion to such an extreme 
 that it became as one-sided as the error to which it 
 was opposed. The odd expressions he frequently 
 
JOHN ALLYN 197 
 
 used on religious subjects sometimes startled and 
 offended those who require everything of this 
 kind to be measured by a conventional standard of 
 gravity. But no one could know Dr. Allyn without 
 perceiving that he had the deepest reverence for sacred 
 things. Tokens and evidences of this, which broke 
 out spontaneously and often, I call to mind with 
 pleasant recollection from his habitual feelings and 
 conduct. . . . 
 
 " He had a way of conveying a rebuke or giving advice 
 that sometimes was the more effective for the humor 
 with which it was spiced. He once asked a fanatical 
 itinerant, who had raised some excitement in Duxbury, 
 why he came there to disturb the religious peace of the 
 village. 'Because,' said the man, 'Christ has com- 
 manded us to preach the gospel to every creature.' 
 'Yes,' replied Dr. Allyn, 'but he has not commanded 
 every creature to preach the gospel.' Sometimes, by 
 a deeply serious turn, quite unexpected, he would pro- 
 duce a very solemn effect. On occasion of a family 
 baptism one of the children was, as he knew, a very 
 profane boy. When the doctor baptized him in the 
 usual form, as he placed his hand on the youth's head, 
 he added these words: 'Thou shalt not take the name 
 of the Lord thy God in vain.' The effect, it is said, 
 was very impressive and very salutary. 
 
 " His benevolence was proverbial. I recollect that he 
 used often to go to the cottages in the woods in distant 
 parts of his parish, and carry a load of good things in 
 his sleigh or chaise for the poor, especially for the old 
 and sick. He would call several of these families to- 
 gether at one of their houses, hold with them a religious 
 service of a very impressive, plain, practical character, 
 and then distribute among them what he had brought 
 for their comfort. He delighted to do such things as 
 these, and his name was hallowed in the gratitude of 
 the poor and friendless." 
 
198 JOHN ALLYN 
 
 Another member of the family gives the following 
 record of familiar impressions : — 
 
 "Dr. Allyn had always the zeal and the ardor that 
 belong to genius, without ever concentrating it upon 
 any particular subject. Had he turned his whole soul 
 on any one object, had he been a scholar or an artist, 
 he would have been great. He had the spirit of a re- 
 former, and would have had the courage of Martin 
 Luther if he had lived in his time. He began life with 
 high aims and a pure love of his profession in all its 
 various objects. From his later life it might be in- 
 ferred that in his earlier days he was precocious, and 
 even prematurely old. In his childhood and youth he 
 was said by those who knew him at that period to have 
 been much beloved by his companions, and yet to have 
 been often in the habit of doing little things to make 
 them uncomfortable, by way, as it would seem, of trial 
 to their affection or else from some unaccountable way- 
 wardness of feeling. This trait might not be thought 
 worth mentioning but for the fact that the habit, in 
 some degree, followed him through life. The workings 
 of his mind and heart were ever spontaneous and fresh. 
 His best and brightest things were ever on the surface. 
 He had ready sympathies for all, and none ever sought 
 his forgiveness in vain. He delighted in the young, 
 and was truly never so happy as when aiding in the de- 
 velopment of the mind and heart and watching the 
 simple growth of the young spirit. He loved nature 
 in all its aspects and connections, and was often seen, 
 in all the periods of his life, out of doors in some shady 
 place, or by the running brook, attending to the lessons 
 or the reading of his various pupils. In their recita- 
 tions he was not only the book teacher, but he delighted 
 to dwell on the spirit and beauty of the author, and 
 thus wrought on the minds of his pupils with triple 
 cords of love, duty, and justice. He suffered no oppor- 
 
JOHN ALLYN 199 
 
 tunity to pass unimproved to awaken in others a zeal 
 for improvement and a love of virtue. In his religion 
 he was by no means regardless of forms, though he 
 did not rest in them. He loved the Fathers, as he 
 called them, — the strong pillars of the ancient Church. 
 He read them with great interest, as also the old 
 eminent English divines. Though decided in his own 
 opinions, he was never a bigot or sectarian, but allowed 
 and respected all honest convictions, however widely 
 different from his own. Truly catholic in his temper, 
 he loved all that was good in humanity, and had a 
 ready eye to discover it." 
 
 In 1 791 or 1792 he was married to Abigail Bradford, 
 a daughter of Job and Elizabeth Bradford and a 
 lineal descendant from William Bradford, the ancient 
 Plymouth governor. They had five children. Mrs. 
 Allyn died at the house of her son-in-law, Dr. 
 Francis, in Watertown, in November, 1838, aged 
 seventy-five years. 
 
 The following is a list of Dr. Allyn's published writings: — 
 
 A Sermon preached at the Ordination of Alden Bradford in the East Parish of Pow- 
 nalborough, 1793; A Sermon preached on the Day of Public Thanksgiving, 1798; A 
 Sermon preached at Hanover, entitled "The Flesh and the Spirit," 1799; A Sermon 
 delivered at Plymouth on the Anniversary of the Landing of the Pilgrims, 1801; A 
 Sermon preached on Occasion of the General Election, 1805; A New Year's Sermon 
 delivered at Duxbury, 1806, Christian Monitor, No. 1, 1806; A Sermon preached 
 before the Academy at Sandwich, 1808; A Charge at the Ordination of Henry Ware, 
 Jr., 1817; A Charge at the Ordination of Benjamin Kent as Associate Pastor with 
 Dr. Allyn, in Duxbury, 1826. Dr. Allyn likewise published two very characteristic and 
 striking obituary notices,— one of Dr. West, of New Bedford, and the other of Dr. 
 Barnes, of Scituate. 
 
 Dr. Sprague derived his information about Dr. Allyn from the Rev. Convers 
 Francis and from the article in Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, vol. v., 
 Third Series. 
 
200 DANIEL CLARKE SANDERS 
 
 DANIEL CLARKE SANDERS 
 
 i 768-1 850 
 
 Daniel Clarke Sanders, a son of Micah and Azubah 
 (Clarke) Sanders, was born in Sturbridge, Mass., on 
 the 3d of May, 1768. Both of his parents, as well 
 as his grandparents, were natives of Medfield. His 
 father having died in 1773, and his mother having 
 married Captain Ebenezer Fisher, of Needham, he 
 went thither to live in May, 1775, being then about 
 seven years of age. He was prepared for college by 
 the Rev. Samuel West, then pastor of the church in 
 Needham, and afterwards of the Hollis Street Church, 
 Boston. He graduated at Harvard in 1788, having 
 assigned to him for his Commencement exercise the 
 first Forensic Disputation. In his Autobiography, 
 from which this sketch is chiefly derived, he has left 
 the following record: "I recollect my father the even- 
 ing before he died expressed a strong wish that I, his 
 only son, might, if practicable, have a college educa- 
 tion. This I never forgot. This intimation deter- 
 mined my literary course. There were not a few ob- 
 stacles to overcome. I inherited want, and had not 
 a friend to help me. When I left college, I owed a 
 hundred dollars." 
 
 Immediately after his graduation he commenced 
 teaching school in Watertown, but relinquished it after 
 a few months to take charge of the grammar school in 
 Cambridge, where he fitted nearly twenty boys fcr 
 college. He occupied a room during this time in Hollis 
 Hall, and devoted his leisure to the study of theology, 
 being directed in his studies, partly at least, by the Rev. 
 
DANIEL CLARKE SANDERS 201 
 
 Dr. Prentiss,* of Medfield, by whom also he was bap- 
 tized and admitted to the communion in September, 
 1 789. He was licensed to preach by the Dedham Asso- 
 ciation in 1790, and preached his first sermon in the 
 pulpit at Medfield, of which he afterwards became the 
 regular occupant. After leaving his school at Cam- 
 bridge, and preaching for some time there, and occa- 
 sionally at other places in the neighborhood, he accepted 
 an invitation to preach to the Congregational church 
 in Vergennes, Vt., the result of which was that on the 
 1 2th of June, 1794, he was ordained and installed as 
 its pastor. Some time previous to this he was married 
 to Nancy, daughter of Dr. Jabez Fitch, who had re- 
 moved to Vergennes a short time before from Canter- 
 bury, Conn. 
 
 He continued in this charge about six years. Hav- 
 ing taken a deep interest and had an important agency 
 in the establishment of the then new institution, the 
 University of Vermont, he was elected its first presi- 
 dent, and entered into this service at Burlington in 
 October, 1800. This responsible position he held dur- 
 ing a period of fourteen years. In 1809 the degree of 
 Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by Harvard 
 College. 
 
 * Thomas Prentiss was the son of the Rev. Joshua Prentiss, of 
 Holliston. He was born in 1747. He graduated at Harvard in 1766, 
 and studied theology with his father. He was ordained minister at 
 Medfield October 31, 1770, and was married the same day to Abigail 
 Bigelow, of Weston. His wife died in 1786, and in 1789 he married 
 Mercy, daughter of Dr. John Scollay, of Boston. He was a man of 
 marked influence in the Congregational churches of his region, and 
 served through a long and fruitful ministry of forty-four years, dying 
 in 1814. It was during his ministry that his church, though remain- 
 ing orthodox in fellowship, by insensible degrees became more and 
 more liberal in spirit and convictions. Several of his pupils became 
 Unitarian ministers, and his son Thomas, born in 1793 and gradu- 
 ating at Harvard in 181 1, was the first settled minister of the Harvard 
 Church in Charlestown, where he died in 1817. 
 
202 DANIEL CLARKE SANDERS 
 
 In March, 1814, the exercises of the college were 
 broken up by the war and the occupation of its build- 
 ings by the American troops. In this uncertain and 
 perilous state of things Dr. Sanders and his family left 
 Burlington, while the British flotilla were lying in the 
 bay, ready, as was supposed, to make an attack on the 
 town; and he spent the following summer in the city 
 of New York. 
 
 In September following he went to Medfield, and was 
 invited to occupy the pulpit in that town which had 
 been vacated a few months before by the death of Dr. 
 Prentiss. In due time he received and accepted a 
 call, and was installed on the 24th of May, 18 15, the 
 sermon on the occasion being preached by himself 
 from Romans xv. 29. 
 
 Dr. Sanders was elected for Medfield and Dover a 
 member of the convention that revised the Constitu- 
 tion of Massachusetts, whose session continued from 
 the 15th of November, 1820, to the 9th of January, 
 1821. 
 
 The relation between Dr. Sanders and his society 
 was never materially disturbed until 1827, when some 
 agitating questions between himself and his people 
 produced a state of things which led him to propose 
 a resignation of his charge. The parish acceded to his 
 proposal in March, 1829, and on the 24th of May fol- 
 lowing the arrangement for his dismission, thus mu- 
 tually entered into, was sanctioned by an ecclesiastical 
 council. He continued however, to live at Medfield, 
 and occasionally preached as a supply to vacant 
 churches in the neighborhood. He was frequently 
 chosen to represent the town in the General Court, and 
 for many years served as chairman of the Board of 
 Selectmen and of the School Committee. 
 
 Dr. Sanders died at Medfield, very suddenly, on the 
 1 8th of October, 1850, in the eighty-third year of his 
 
DANIEL CLARKE SANDERS 203 
 
 age. His wife died just ten weeks before him. They 
 had eight children, — two sons and six daughters. 
 
 The following account of Dr. Sanders is contained 
 in a letter from the Rev. Eleazer Williams: — 
 
 " His personal appearance was decidedly prepossess- 
 ing. He was rather above middling stature, with a 
 well-formed and symmetrical person and a pleasing 
 countenance. He was affable and courteous in his 
 manners, conversed readily and fluently on every sub- 
 ject that came up, and seemed to be an accurate ob- 
 server of passing events, in their bearings especially 
 upon the great cause of civilization and humanity. He 
 appeared to have a very thorough knowledge of his- 
 tory, and could refer to the past either of our own or 
 other countries with great freedom and pertinence. I 
 never heard him spoken of as a very thorough or pro- 
 found scholar, though I think his attainments in all 
 those branches that enter into a liberal education were 
 at least highly respectable. 
 
 "Dr. Sanders was, I believe, naturally an impulsive 
 man, and subject to frequent and great variations of 
 feeling. In all my intercourse with him, so far as I 
 remember, I never saw him otherwise than in good 
 spirits; and yet I have heard that he was subject to 
 occasional fits of deep depression. Indeed, if I mis- 
 take not, this latter tendency developed itself so much 
 during the closing period of his life as to form one of 
 his most distinctive characteristics. 
 
 "As a preacher, Dr. Sanders was decidedly among 
 the most popular in the region in which he lived, and 
 I may say in the State of Vermont. His fine person, 
 his manly and agreeable voice and graceful gestures, 
 gave great impressiveness to his utterances in the pul- 
 pit. His theology never seemed to me to have any very 
 distinctive cast. The sermons which I heard him 
 preach, so far as I remember, might have come from 
 
204 DANIEL CLARKE SANDERS 
 
 a moderate orthodox man or a moderate Unitarian. 
 But the prevailing impression was at that time, and I 
 believe it was still stronger afterwards, that he adopted 
 substantially the Arian creed." 
 
 The following is a list of Dr. Sanders's acknowledged publications: — 
 A Sermon before the Dorchester Lodge, 1792; A Sermon before the Dorchester 
 Lodge, 1794; A Sermon on the Death of the Wife of Dr. Hoyt, New Haven, Vt., 1795; 
 A Sermon on the Death of Martin Harmon, A.B., 1798; A Sermon before the Legis- 
 lature of Vermont at the Annual Election, 1798; A Sermon occasioned by the Death 
 of George Washington, 1799; A Sermon before the Washington Lodge, 1800; A Ser- 
 mon on Slander, 1801; A Sermon on the Death of William Coit, Esq., 1802; A Sermon 
 on the Death of Eldridge Packer, 1802; A Sermon on the Death of Mary Russell, Wife 
 of David Russell, Esq., 1805; A Sermon on the Death of William H. Coit, Member of 
 the Sophomore Class in the University of Vermont, 1807; A Charge to the Graduates 
 of the University of Vermont, 1807; A Sermon on the Death of Mrs. Emily Jewett, 
 1809; A Sermon on the Death of Mr. Henry Lyman, Merchant of Montreal, 1809; 
 A Sermon before the Washington Lodge, 1811; History of the Indians (anonymous), 
 320 pp., i2mo, 1812; A Sermon on the Death of Dr. Cassius Pomeroy and A. M. 
 and E. Gilbert, Members of the Sophomore Class in the University of Vermont, 1813; 
 An Address delivered in Sherburne, Mass., on the Return of Peace, 1815; A Sermon 
 before the Auxiliary Society for Promoting Temperance, Wrentham, 1815; A Sermon 
 before the Norfolk County Convention, Dedham, 1816; An Address on the Fourth of 
 July, 1816; Charge at the Ordination of Joseph Allen, Northborough, 1816; A Ser- 
 mon at the Artillery Election, Boston, 1817; A Sermon before the Washington Lodge 
 in Roxbury, 1817; A Sermon at the Dedication of the Meeting-house in Medway, 1817; 
 A Sermon on the History of Medfield, 1817; An Address on the Fourth of July at Wal- 
 pole, — ; An Address before the Norfolk County Bible Society, 1829; A Sermon at 
 the Interment of the Rev. George Morey (who was born at Norton, December 29, 
 1749, graduated at Harvard in 1776, was settled as pastor of the church in Walpole, 
 Mass,, November 19, 1783, resigned on the 21st of May, 1826, and died July 26, 1829.) 
 
 Dr. Sprague's article was derived from Dr. Sanders's autobiography, which he left 
 in manuscript, and from a communication from Mr. Robert Roberts. 
 
THADDEUS MASON HARRIS 205 
 
 THADDEUS MASON HARRIS 
 
 1 768-1 842 
 
 Thaddeus Mason Harris was a descendant, of the 
 sixth generation, from William Harris, a barrister who 
 came to this country at an early period, accompanied 
 Roger Williams to Providence, was taken captive by 
 the Algerines on his return to England, was redeemed 
 for two hundred dollars, and died in London in 1680. 
 His father, William Harris, born in 1744, was teacher 
 of a school in Charlestown, where he built a small 
 house, and married Rebeckah Mason, a daughter of 
 Thaddeus Mason, of Cambridge, for many years clerk 
 of the courts for Middlesex County. Here Thaddeus 
 Mason Harris was born on the 7th of July, 1768. 
 
 Just before the battle of Bunker Hill Wm. Harris 
 fled from Charlestown with his family, in the hope that 
 they might somewhere find a refuge from the threaten- 
 ing danger. With a few necessary articles of clothing, 
 such as they could carry in their hands, they set out 
 on foot, Thaddeus, then not quite seven years old, 
 leading his twin sisters next in age to himself, the father 
 and mother each carrying a child, and an aged grand- 
 mother also making one of the company. They spent 
 the first night at Lexington with a relative; and found 
 there an empty wagon about leaving, in which they 
 bespoke a passage to any place to which the owner 
 was bound. Accordingly, they were carried to Chook- 
 set, a part of Sterling, where Mr. Harris took a small 
 house, and supported his family by keeping a district 
 school. During the battle of Bunker Hill Charles- 
 town was laid in ashes, and the Harris house, with 
 
206 THADDEUS MASON HARRIS 
 
 whatever of its contents remained, went with the rest. 
 Shortly after this Mr. Harris joined the army as 
 captain and paymaster, and on a visit to his family 
 died of a fever, October 30, 1778, aged thirty-four 
 years. 
 
 Thaddeus then went to live with a farmer by the 
 name of Haughton. Here he went to school with the 
 farmer's children; and, as they lived at some distance 
 from school, he used to be furnished with dinner to 
 stay at noon, which he invariably carried to his mother, 
 depending on his schoolmates to supply his own wants. 
 As soon as the family with which he lived discovered 
 this, they generously made such provision for the 
 Harrises as kept them from want. After having re- 
 sided a short time at Westminster, and afterwards at 
 Templeton, he went back in the latter part of the year 
 1779 to Chookset, and was soon introduced into the 
 family of Dr. Ebenezer Morse, of Boylston, who had 
 been obliged to leave the ministry on suspicion of 
 Toryism, and was supporting his family by the practice 
 of medicine and by fitting young men for college. This 
 good man kindly assisted him to go through the pre- 
 paratory course for college with his own son. While 
 here, young Harris did something for his own support 
 by different kinds of manual labor. 
 
 In July, 1782, he went to visit his mother, who in 
 the mean time had married Samuel Wait, of Maiden, 
 and informed her that he was fitted for college by Dr. 
 Morse, who had advised him to enter at Cambridge, 
 trusting to his working his way through college. She, 
 however, disapproved of such a course, and at once 
 put him to learn a mechanical trade; but, in conse- 
 quence of an accident that happened to him, he was 
 obliged to leave the place, and went to work in his 
 grandfather Mason's office with the intention of be- 
 coming a merchant. With a view to qualify himself 
 
THADDEUS MASON HARRIS 207 
 
 for this occupation, he contracted with his grandfather 
 to pay for his board by writing, and went to a school in 
 Cambridge kept by Samuel Kendal, afterwards the Rev. 
 Dr. Kendal, of Weston. Finding him an apt scholar, 
 his teacher strongly urged his taking a collegiate course, 
 and he entered Harvard in July, 1783. 
 
 In March, 1786, his Junior year, his mother came 
 to his room in college to examine his wardrobe. Find- 
 ing it very destitute, she proposed to take the money 
 which he had earned by writing for his grandfather, 
 and purchase some necessary articles of clothing. Ar- 
 rangements were accordingly made that he should 
 obtain his dues from his grandfather, meet his mother 
 on a certain day at Charlestown, and accompany her 
 to Boston. But he neglected to call on his grandfather 
 for the money till the morning of the appointed day, 
 when he found he was out of town. He tried in vain 
 to borrow what he needed, and started for Charlestown 
 with a heavy heart. On his way he cut a stick for a 
 cane, and, as he was passing Charlestown Neck, he 
 perceived something at the end of his stick, which 
 he in vain attempted to shake off. On examining it, 
 he found that it was some kind of metal. Without 
 much thought he put it into his pocket. On crossing 
 the ferry, as he was leaning on the side of the boat, 
 the thing in his pocket hurt him. He took it out, and 
 found that it had become bright by friction. He 
 carried it to a goldsmith, who, cutting it open, pro- 
 nounced it to be gold, and showed him the motto, 
 which was, "God speed thee, friend," and added, 
 " Here are two dollars for you, sir, which is the worth 
 of the ring." This affected the young man to tears; 
 for he felt that Providence was rebuking him for his 
 despondence and fretfulness, and was providing for 
 him in a way which ought to excite his warmest grati- 
 tude. The goldsmith, finding him so much affected, 
 
208 THADDEUS MASON HARRIS 
 
 added another dollar. Mr. Harris then hastened to 
 his mother with the joyful news; and she at once re- 
 solved to call upon the goldsmith and inspect the ring. 
 On seeing it, she also wept, whereupon the goldsmith 
 added three dollars more, making six dollars in all. 
 This was amply sufficient for the present supply of his 
 necessities. 
 
 He graduated in July, 1787, at the age of nineteen, 
 and delivered a poem at Commencement, which at- 
 tracted no small attention, insomuch that Dr. Belknap 
 and Dr. Thacher unitedly solicited a copy for publi- 
 cation in the Columbian Magazine at Philadelphia. 
 This request, however, he declined. On leaving col- 
 lege, he taught school for a year at Worcester, and at 
 the end of that time was applied to to become General 
 Washington's private secretary. He had consented to 
 serve; but, in consequence of taking the small-pox, he 
 was prevented from entering at once on the duties of 
 the place, and it was filled by Tobias Lear. 
 
 After studying theology awhile with the Rev. Samuel 
 Kendal, of Weston, he went, by advice of President 
 Willard, to Cambridge, to continue his studies there. 
 He was soon appointed sub-librarian, and in 1791, 
 librarian, of the University. He received approbation 
 to preach from the Cambridge Association in June, 
 1789, a little before he was twenty-one years of age. 
 After preaching in several of the neighboring parishes, 
 he accepted a call from the church in Dorchester, 
 where he was ordained, October 23, 1793. 
 
 Mr. Harris was married on the 28th of January, 
 1795, to Mary, only daughter of Dr. Elijah and Dor- 
 othy (Lynde) Dix, of Worcester, Mass. They had 
 eight children, — five sons and three daughters. 
 
 Being appointed one of the administrators of the es- 
 tate of his wife's father, he was obliged to make a voyage 
 to England on business relating to the settlement of 
 
THADDEUS MASON HARRIS 209 
 
 this estate. He improved the opportunity to visit va- 
 rious parts of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, 
 leaving New York for the voyage, August 7, 18 10, and 
 returning there again, May 13, 181 1, after an absence 
 of about nine months. 
 
 Until 1804 Mr. Harris's pastoral charge included 
 the entire town, which then comprehended the whole 
 of what is now called South Boston. He was truly 
 "in labors more abundant," writing more sermons 
 than almost any of his brethren; more prolific in pub- 
 lications of various kinds than almost any contem- 
 porary divine; making frequent visits to the Univer- 
 sity, of which during his whole pastorate he was an 
 overseer; arranging its library, and presenting nearly 
 every year an elaborate report. He spent much time 
 also in superintending the common schools, and per- 
 formed the laborious task of arranging Washington's 
 papers, in one hundred and thirty-two volumes, and 
 aiding Mr. Sparks, by copious indexes and notes, in 
 preparing them for publication. 
 
 The secret of his accomplishing so much was his 
 untiring industry, and a perfectly methodical arrange- 
 ment of his time. He was an early riser, and had a 
 time for everything and took care that everything was 
 done in its time. He was so remarkable for punctu- 
 ality to his engagements that no instance can be recol- 
 lected in which he was at any place of meeting, where 
 his duty required him to be, one moment after the 
 appointed hour. 
 
 An alarming attack of illness in the winter of 1832- 
 33 made it necessary for him to seek the influence of 
 a Southern climate during the following winter. He 
 embarked at Boston for South Carolina, December, 
 1833, arrived at Charleston, passed some time there 
 and at Savannah and Augusta, where he occasionally 
 preached, and returned from Charleston, and reached 
 
210 THADDEUS MASON HARRIS 
 
 home May 31, 1834. During his visit to Savannah 
 he became interested in the life and labors of General 
 Oglethorpe, and collected some materials for a bio- 
 graphical and historical account, which was published 
 at Boston in May, 1841. 
 
 Mr. Nathaniel Hall * was ordained his colleague on 
 the 1 6th of July, 1835, when Dr. Harris was sixty- 
 seven years of age. But this measure was altogether 
 of his own choice, not a single member of his parish 
 having so much as intimated even the expediency of 
 it. So also, when he sought the dissolution of his pas- 
 toral relation, it was not only without the desire, but 
 in spite of the remonstrances, of all who took an active 
 part in the concerns of the parish. A dismission was 
 granted him, at his own earnest request, in October, 
 1836, when he had been settled just forty-three 
 years. 
 
 Dr. Harris died at Dorchester in 1842. His funeral 
 was attended in the meeting-house on the afternoon of 
 the 7th of April, 1 842, the day of the annual fast. 
 
 Dr. Harris was an early member of the Massachu- 
 setts Historical Society, and, after the close of his min- 
 istry became its librarian. He was a member of the 
 Humane Society, of the American Academy of Arts 
 and Sciences, of the Massachusetts Bible Society, of 
 the Society for Propagating the Gospel, of the American 
 Antiquarian Society, of the American Peace Society, 
 vice-president of the Congregational Charitable Society, 
 overseer of Harvard University during his ministry, 
 member of the Horticultural Society, corresponding 
 member of the Georgia Historical Society, and of the 
 Archaeological Society in Athens, Greece. 
 
 Of his personality and his theology his successor, 
 Dr. Hall, wrote: — 
 
 " His feelings, I believe, always, and towards all men, 
 
 * See Vol. III. p. 154. 
 
THADDEUS MASON HARRIS 211 
 
 were compassionate and kind; his dispositions pre- 
 vailingly benevolent. Nature, in this respect, had 
 done much for him; but grace had heightened and 
 crowned her earlier work. He cherished no enmities. 
 He seemed not to harbor a particle of ill-will to a single 
 soul. He wished to make every one happy. These 
 dispositions entered into and characterized his public 
 services. In them he did not 'strive,' but was 'gentle 
 towards all men.' His instructions were tender and 
 affectionate rather than bold and discriminating. He 
 was inclined, not only by nature, but, doubtless, also, 
 by what he deemed a wise expediency, to draw men 
 rather than to drive, to beseech them by the mercies 
 of God rather than to affright them by his terrors. 
 
 " His preaching was simple and practical rather than 
 speculative and metaphysical, that spirit of inquiry 
 and investigation, now so prevalent, which passes be- 
 yond the letter of Revelation, and would know of the 
 principles and philosophy of things, not having arisen 
 within the term of his active ministry, and not putting 
 upon him, therefore, its requirements. Amidst the 
 fierce controversy concerning the doctrines of Scripture 
 which sprang up in our churches during the latter half 
 of his ministry, his course was liberal and pacific. He 
 sought not to make his people learned or skilful in 
 the polemics of sects, but rather to present and urge 
 upon them what he believed to be 'pure and undefiled 
 religion.' He had no love of disputation. He could 
 not bandy contentious words. His heart was strung 
 to a gentle harmony, and there could never be stricken 
 from it the harsh tones of a sectarian zeal. He studied 
 'the things that make for peace.' He desired to lead 
 his flock 'beside the still waters,' and to guard it from 
 the strifes and dissensions which have torn and weak- 
 ened so many churches. He sought to keep it a 
 united flock; and it was such. He was free from all 
 
212 THADDEUS MASON HARRIS 
 
 unworthy narrowness and exclusiveness. He cared but 
 little for names and parties and creeds." 
 
 Under such guidance the Dorchester parish suffered 
 no divisions, but almost insensibly found itself in the 
 liberal wing of the Congregational body. 
 
 Besides the works already referred to, Dr. Harris published the following: A New 
 Year's Sermon, 1796; A Sermon at the Ordination of John Pierce, 1797; A Sermon 
 on Occasion of the National Fast, 1798; A Century Sermon addressed particularly 
 to a Religious Society of Young Men, 1798; A Sermon on the Death of Washington, 
 1799; A Sermon on the Death of the Author's Mother, 1801; A Sermon preached 
 at Dedham on the day after the Execution of Jason Fairbanks, 1801; Twelve Ma- 
 sonic Discourses, with Several Charges, etc., 1801, 8vo; A Sermon at the Installa- 
 tion of the Rev. Abiel Abbot, Beverly, 1803; A Sermon on the Death of Deacon Abi- 
 jah White, 1804; The Artillery Election Sermon, 1805; A Sermon before the Mas- 
 sachusetts Humane Society, 1806; A Sermon at the Dedication of the South Meet- 
 ing-house, Dorchester, 1806; A Sermon at the Ordination of C. H. Shearman, 1807; 
 A Sermon before the Union Lodge, Dorchester, 1807; A Sermon at the Ordination 
 of Enoch Pratt, 1807J A Thanksgiving Sermon, 1807; Three Sermons addressed to 
 the Second Church in Dorchester, 1807; A Sermon preached at Plymouth on the 
 Anniversary of the Landing of the Fathers, 1808; A Sermon preached at the Ordi- 
 nation of Samuel Osgood at Springfield, 1809; Tribute of Respect to the Memory 
 of the Hon. James Bowdoin, 1811; A Sermon against Suicide, 1812; A Sermon on 
 Sensibility, 1812; A Sermon on the Death of Ebenezer Wales, Esq., 1813; A Dis- 
 course at the Funeral of Moses Everett, Esq., 1813; A Sermon before the Boston 
 Female Asylum, 1813; A Sermon at the Ordination of Ephraim Randall, 1814; A 
 Sermon at the Ordination of Lemuel Capen, 1815; Pray for the Jews: Thursday 
 Lecture at Boston, 1816; Two Sermons, one on Leaving the Old Church, the other 
 on Entering the New One at Dorchester, 1816; A Sermon on the Death of Nathaniel 
 Toplifl, 1819; A Sermon before the Society for Propagating the Gospel, 1823; A 
 Centennial Discourse, 1830; A Farewell Sermon, 1836. Among his miscellaneous 
 publications were: Triumphs of Superstition: An Elegy, 1790; A System of Punctu- 
 ation, 1797; An Address on Occasion of the Drowning of Three Persons, 1803; His- 
 tory of Dorchester, 1804; An Address before the Washington Benevolent Society, 
 1813; Happy Death of a Child, 18 1 5; A Testuary for Preachers, 1818; Serious Solilo- 
 quies, 1819; Biography of Father Rasles (Mass. Hist. Coll.); An Address at the In- 
 stallation of the Union Lodge, Dorchester, 1824; An Account of the Old Book of 
 Records, 1834. Of compilations and abridgments be printed Constitution of the 
 Masons, 1792, 1798; Massachusetts Magazine, edited by him, 1795, J 79^J Beauties 
 of Nature, by Sturm, 1800, 1801; Hymns for the Lord's Supper, 1801-1820; Zol- 
 likoffer's Exercises of Piety, 1803, 1807; Minor Encyclopaedia, 4 volumes, 1803; 
 Sephora, a Hebrew Tale, 1835. 
 
 This sketch of Dr. Harris is chiefly derived from a letter sent to Dr. Sprague by 
 Dr. John Pierce, of Brookline. 
 
ABIEL ABBOT 213 
 
 ABIEL ABBOT (of Beverly) 
 
 1770-1828 
 
 Abiel Abbot was born in Andover, Mass., August 
 17, 1770. He was a son of John and Abigail Abbot, 
 and, with the exception of one who died in infancy, 
 the youngest of their children. His parents were per- 
 sons of excellent character, and his mother especially 
 is said to have been remarkable alike for good sense 
 and piety. At the age of fourteen he had a severe ill- 
 ness, which left him with the vigor of his constitution 
 considerably impaired; and this was one of the cir- 
 cumstances which led his parents to gratify his wish 
 for a liberal education. Accordingly, he became a 
 member of Phillips Academy at Andover, where he at 
 once took a high stand among his fellow-students, and 
 where, as in after life, he was particularly distinguished 
 for a popular and graceful style of elocution. 
 
 He graduated at Harvard in 1792. Soon after he 
 graduated he became an assistant teacher at Phillips 
 Academy, Exeter, where he continued till August, 
 1793. He subsequently occupied the place of princi- 
 pal of Phillips Academy, Andover, and at the same 
 time, pursued his theological studies under the direc- 
 tion of the Rev. Jonathan French. He began preach- 
 ing in Haverhill in November, 1794, and in February 
 following received a unanimous invitation to become 
 their pastor. He was ordained on the 3d of June, 
 1795, his pastor and theological teacher, Mr. French, 
 preaching the sermon. In 1796 he was married to 
 Eunice, eldest daughter of Ebenezer Wales, Esq., of 
 Dorchester, a lady of great sweetness and excellence 
 of character. 
 
2i 4 ABIEL ABBOT 
 
 In May, 1803, he resigned his pastoral charge at 
 Haverhill, and in the summer of this year he received 
 a call from the First Parish in Beverly, then recently 
 rendered vacant by the election of Dr. McKeen to the 
 presidency of Bowdoin College. He accepted the call, 
 and was installed the following winter (December 13, 
 1803), the sermon on the occasion being preached by 
 his friend, the Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris, of Dor- 
 chester. His health at this period was so much en- 
 feebled that, when he preached his first sermon, he did 
 it under the impression that it might prove to be his 
 last. His text on the occasion was, "We all do fade 
 as a leaf." 
 
 In August, 1804, he wrote: "My labors have been 
 apparently blessed more than in any former period. 
 The serious of the society have expressed to me their 
 joy and gratulation : the whole assembly appears more 
 solemn and attentive and full than formerly." In 
 February, 1805, he wrote, "The additions to the 
 church in less than a year have been nearly fifty; and 
 they seem to adorn their profession." 
 
 The demand for extra services in his congregation 
 at this period seemed to impose upon him the necessity 
 of speaking more or less without writing; and he had 
 a natural talent at this, which rendered it alike easy 
 to himself and agreeable to his hearers. In March, 
 1806, he began a course of unwritten lectures in the 
 town hall, "designed," to use his own language, "to 
 show the history and doctrines of Christ in connection, 
 and to enforce them in a practical and pathetic rather 
 than in a learned and theoretical, manner." These 
 services attracted very large audiences. At this period 
 he was in the habit of exchanging with ministers de- 
 nominated "Orthodox," who, though they were aware 
 that his religious views were not all in accordance with 
 their own, yet considered him as holding so many 
 
ABIEL ABBOT 215 
 
 doctrines in common with themselves as to justify fel- 
 lowship. Subsequently, however, a change in this re- 
 spect gradually took place, and he became more and 
 more identified with the liberal wing. 
 
 Early in the year 1818 his health sensibly declined. 
 He was advised by his physicians to resort to a milder 
 climate; and, he sailed from Boston for Charleston, 
 S.C., on the 28th of October. At Charleston he sup- 
 plied the pulpits of several churches of different de- 
 nominational connections. Having remained there 
 about two months, he accepted an invitation to pass 
 some time in the family of James Legare, Esq., on 
 John's Island. On his return he engaged in his pro- 
 fessional labors with as much earnestness, and appar- 
 ently as much physical energy, as at any preceding 
 period of his life. 
 
 His services were often put in requisition on impor- 
 tant public occasions. In 1802 he delivered the Ar- 
 tillery Election Sermon at Boston, and in 1809 he 
 preached the anniversary discourse at Plymouth on 
 the landing of the Pilgrims, — an occasion congenial 
 with both his taste and his talents, as the sermon itself 
 proved. In 1818 he gave the Dudleian Lecture at Cam- 
 bridge; in 1823, trie annual sermon before the Society 
 for Promoting Theological Education in Harvard Uni- 
 versity; and, in 1827, the annual sermon before the 
 Convention of Congregational Ministers in Massachu- 
 setts. In 1 82 1 he was honored with the degree of Doc- 
 tor of Divinity from Harvard College. 
 
 In the autumn of 1827 his former disease returned 
 upon him, and with still more threatening aspect. He, 
 however, retained his accustomed equanimity of spirit, 
 and in a letter of September 21 he writes thus: "For 
 one thing I cannot be sufficiently thankful, — my bad 
 nerves inspire no gloom. In no period of my life have 
 I enjoyed so much tranquillity, peace, nay, let me say 
 
216 ABIEL ABBOT 
 
 it, joy, religious joy, as in the last two or three months. 
 In the review of my life the goodness of God appears 
 wonderful to me. My course, as far as Providence is 
 concerned, from childhood seems a path of light, with- 
 out a cloud of darkness, — an unvaried scene of mercy." 
 It became apparent that he could not with safety en- 
 counter the severity of a northern winter, and accord- 
 ingly, on the 28th of October, he again embarked for 
 Charleston, S.C. Having remained there a few weeks, 
 he went again to visit the family on John's Island, 
 where he had previously met so hospitable a welcome, 
 and in this delightful retreat he passed a month, when, 
 in consequence of a change in the season, he determined 
 to go to Cuba. He spent a few weeks in Matanzas 
 and its vicinity, and embarked from Havana on the 
 26th of May for Charleston. He arrived on Saturday, 
 the 31st of May; and, finding that a packet was to sail 
 for New York on Monday following, he immediately 
 resolved to take passage in it. On Sunday morning 
 he attended the Archdale Street Church, and heard 
 the Rev. Mr. Gilman preach, and in the afternoon 
 delivered an extemporaneous discourse himself, with 
 great animation and interest, from the words, "God 
 said, Let there be light," the design of which was to 
 contrast the spiritual darkness of the region he had 
 just left behind with the glorious light with which 
 our own country is favored. On Monday he em- 
 barked in the " Othello " for New York; and on the 
 second day of the passage he was taken ill. Being 
 asked by one of the passengers if he felt alarmed, he 
 replied, "No, I am in the hands of God, and I trust 
 he will take care of me." But scarcely had these 
 words passed from his lips before it was perceived that 
 death had done its work. His remains were interred 
 on Staten Island, the funeral service being performed 
 by the Rev. Mr. Miller, of the Reformed Dutch Church. 
 
ABIEL ABBOT 217 
 
 The tidings of his death produced the deepest sensa- 
 tion at Beverly, where a funeral discourse was deliv- 
 ered by the Rev. Dr. Flint, of Salem, which was after- 
 wards published. 
 
 The Rev. Andrew P. Peabody, who was brought up 
 in the Beverly parish, wrote: — 
 
 " I always think of Dr. Abbot as pre-eminently dis- 
 tinguished by his native and acquired endowments for 
 the office of a parish minister. His peculiar felicities 
 of manner, mind, and character, were all such as came 
 into constant exercise in his profession, while his de- 
 ficiencies were such as could not interfere with his 
 acceptance and usefulness in his own appropriate 
 sphere. An utter stranger could not have been five 
 minutes in his society without being impressed with the 
 blended dignity and suavity of his countenance and 
 manner. His face seemed incapable of austerity or 
 sternness, yet the smile which never left his features, 
 never settled upon them, but by its incessant and lumi- 
 nous play, indicated the constant activity of the kindest 
 sentiments and emotions. At the same time there 
 was a sort of solemnity pervading his every look and 
 utterance, which checked the remotest approach to 
 levity in his presence, and made one feel that he never 
 laid aside the consciousness of his sacred calling. His 
 conversational powers were singularly rich and attrac- 
 tive. In a social circle, without exacting, he always 
 engrossed attention. In a well-filled parlor, when he 
 was present, the separate groups would gradually dis- 
 solve themselves, and the tete-a-tete conversations 
 would cease, and the whole company would remain 
 delighted listeners. On such occasions, though re- 
 ligious subjects were never obtruded, yet it was im- 
 possible for him to tell an anecdote, describe an ad- 
 venture, or discourse on a topic of history or science, 
 without dropping some hint, suggestive of Providence, 
 
218 ABIEL ABBOT 
 
 duty, or accountableness. Had I his skill, or, more 
 properly speaking, his unartificial tact, of communi- 
 cating religious thought and impulse indirectly, I should 
 deem it the part of wisdom in me almost never to 
 assume in private the form of direct address on religious 
 themes. He had travelled much, and with open eyes 
 and heart; and, as I have since viewed many of the 
 scenes which I have heard him describe, my sentiments 
 of beauty, awe, and adoration have hardly been more 
 vivid than when his description made me familiar with 
 them in my boyhood. 
 
 "His social sympathies were quick and tender. 
 Though in a parish three times as large as most of our 
 large New England parishes are now, he could, by the 
 most assiduous pastoral visiting, spend but little time 
 with the individual members of his flock, they all felt 
 that they were borne on his heart in all their joys and 
 sorrows, nor was there a single family which did not 
 deem him virtually one of themselves. The sick and 
 dying, the afflicted, poor, solitary, and aged, occupied 
 the greater part of his time; but those in health and 
 prosperity, though they seldom saw him except by their 
 express invitation, never felt themselves neglected. 
 
 "The children of his flock were peculiarly dear to him. 
 He knew them all by name, and never passed one of 
 them without a kind word. He took great interest in 
 the public schools, attended all their examinations as 
 chairman of the School Committee, almost uniformly 
 addressed them, and sore was the disappointment 
 when, from courtesy, he devolved that office upon an- 
 other. I well remember his public ' catechizings ' be- 
 fore the formation of our parish Sunday-school, and 
 (contrary to the usual testimony with regard to these 
 exercises) they were gladly and eagerly thronged, and 
 I doubt whether parental authority was ever employed 
 to coerce attendance. 
 
ABIEL ABBOT 219 
 
 " His home was happy. His house proffered unstinted 
 hospitality, and seldom was without guests from abroad, 
 while all classes of his parishioners found an open and 
 cordial welcome there. My intimacy with his younger 
 children led me to resort thither in season and out of 
 season, yet never out of season; for I was never hap- 
 pier than when a call a little too early in the morning 
 brought me into the circle at the hour of family prayer. 
 At this season the fine parlor organ was always put in 
 requisition, and a hymn appropriate either to the season 
 or to the Scripture lesson of the morning was read and 
 sung, he himself taking the lead in a voice of great 
 compass and power, and joined by at least five or six 
 voices from his own domestic choir; then followed the 
 prayer, which always seemed the outpouring of a heart 
 so full of gratitude for the blessings and joys of a 
 Christian home as hardly to find scope for petition. 
 And the spirit of the morning prayer seemed to rest 
 on the whole family through the day, in contentment, 
 cheerful activity, unruffled harmony, and overflowing 
 kindness, rendering a day's life under their roof a beau- 
 tiful commentary on that precious text of Saint Paul, 
 'The church that is in thy house.' 
 
 "As a preacher, Dr. Abbot was at once calm and 
 fervent, never dull, seldom impassioned. His utter- 
 ance was distinct and deliberate, and the modulations 
 of his voice natural and graceful. His subjects were 
 almost always of the class denominated evangelical, 
 but his texts were full as often from the Old Testament 
 as from the New; and he was peculiarly fond both of 
 tracing the gospel in its types and foreshadowings, 
 and of engrafting gospel lessons on striking passages 
 of Jewish biography and history. He preached a great 
 many expository sermons, to the composition of which 
 he brought the best scholarship of his day, together 
 with the workings of a mind ready to find gold and 
 
220 ABIEL ABBOT 
 
 diamonds beneath the surface of all Scripture. Per- 
 haps his greatest merit as a preacher was the uniform 
 adaptation of his sermons to time, place, and circum- 
 stances. There always seemed some reason why each 
 sermon should be preached then and there. 
 
 "His devotional services were peculiarly interesting 
 and impressive. In them he took distinct cognizance 
 of all events of public and general interest, and of 
 whatever events in the town or parish could, by any 
 possibility, find place in an exercise of social devotion, 
 and all this without ever offering what has been termed 
 a gossiping prayer. So far from letting down the dig- 
 nity of the service by this minuteness, he, on the other 
 hand, elevated and sanctified even trivial incidents by 
 the sustained dignity and fervor with which he spread 
 out before the Most High in thanksgiving or supplica- 
 tion the blessings, sorrows, and needs of individuals or 
 the community. During his whole lifetime, and no doubt 
 in great part on account of the unfailing edification 
 derived from his style of public prayer, his people 
 retained the habit of sending in notes, not only on the 
 death of friends, but in sickness, on the birth of chil- 
 dren, when bound to sea, or on their return from voy- 
 ages, however brief. I counted on one occasion seven- 
 teen of these notes. He seldom grouped them, and, 
 when he did, he always individualized cases of special 
 interest. On most occasions he referred to each case 
 by itself, generally from memory, though he some- 
 times placed the entire pile of notes on the pulpit 
 cushion, and glanced his eye at them successively. 
 And such was the copiousness and unstudied variety 
 of his devotional language that he never seemed to 
 repeat himself, and these numerous details only added 
 to the richness, beauty, and fervor of his prayers. 
 
 "I have heard it said that Dr. Abbot concealed his 
 theological opinions, and practised a temporizing policy 
 
ABIEL ABBOT 221 
 
 with regard to the points at issue between the two 
 great parties into which the Congregational body was 
 divided. I am able to say, from very distinct remem- 
 brance, that there was no ground for this charge. In- 
 deed, I had no more doubt of the views of Christian 
 doctrine which he entertained than I have of those 
 which I have been accustomed to recognize in my own 
 preaching. He was a high Arian; and when, after his 
 death, I first read Dr. Price's 'Sermons on Christian 
 Doctrine,' I thought that I could recognize almost pre- 
 cisely the form of belief which I had been accustomed 
 to hear set forth by our pastor. 
 
 "There were no doubt several circumstances that 
 served to give color to the charge of concealment to 
 which I have referred. Among them was the fact that 
 nearly half his congregation consisted of Trinitarian 
 Calvinists, who left the parish before or shortly after 
 the settlement of his successor.* I think that all, and 
 know that many, of these were fully aware how far 
 his theological opinions differed from theirs; but I 
 know also how strong and intimate was their attach- 
 ment to his person and character, so as to render the 
 disruption of the parish absolutely impossible while 
 he lived, though it had long been regarded as inevitable 
 whenever he should be removed. 
 
 "Then, too, there was an important point in which 
 his sympathies were sincerely enlisted with the Cal- 
 vinistic portion of the church. He had great confidence 
 
 * Dr. Abbot was succeeded by Christopher Toppan Thayer, 
 who was born at Lancaster, a son of the Rev. Nathaniel Thayer, June 
 5, 1805. He graduated from Harvard College in 1824, and from the 
 Divinity School in 1827. Three years later he was settled as the 
 minister of the First Parish in Beverly, where he served for twenty- 
 eight years. He was much interested in town affairs, was chairman 
 of the School Committee for many years, and delivered the oration 
 at the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the founding 
 of the town. He died in Boston, June 23, 1880. 
 
222 ABIEL ABBOT 
 
 in 'revival measures,' and at two, if not three, different 
 periods of his ministry employed the usual means of 
 extra services and inquiry meetings; and these meas- 
 ures, though he regarded and represented them as the 
 result of his own independent judgment and deliberate 
 choice, may have subjected him to the imputation of 
 seeking to identify himself with a portion of the church 
 other than that to which he belonged by his theological 
 sympathies. 
 
 " He was also earnestly solicitous to unite the divided 
 portions of the Christian body. He loved to dwell on 
 points of agreement rather than difference. He made 
 every possible concession for the sake of peace. He 
 sincerely loved good men of every name, and was de- 
 sirous of conciliating their reciprocal esteem and affec- 
 tion. Those not of his flock might easily have sup- 
 posed that these pacific expressions and overtures were 
 made at the expense of entire frankness and explicit- 
 ness as to his own views; but, with those who statedly 
 listened to his preaching, he left no room for this sus- 
 picion." 
 
 The following is a list of Dr. Abbot's publications: Memorial of Divine Benefits, 
 1798; Traits of Resemblance in the People of the United States of America to Ancient 
 Israel, Haverhill. 1799; Eulogy on the Life and Character of Washington, 1800; The 
 Duty of Youth, a sermon occasioned by the death of Mrs. Sarah Ayer, of Haverhill, 
 1802; Self-preservation, a sermon preached before the Ancient and Honorable Artil- 
 lery Company in Boston, 1802; The Mariner's Manual, Beverly, 1804; Introductory 
 Address at the Ordination of the Rev. David T. Kimball, in Ipswich, 1806; A Dis- 
 course delivered before the Portsmouth Female Asylum, 1807; A Discourse delivered 
 at Plymouth at the Celebration of the 188th Anniversary of the Landing of our Fore- 
 fathers, 1809; A Father's Reasons for Baptizing his Infant Child, Beverly, 1812; Ser- 
 mons to Mariners (a duodecimo volume), 1812; An Address before the Massachusetts 
 Society for the Suppression of Intemperance, 18 15; A Discourse before the Missionary 
 Society of Salem, 1816; A Discourse delivered before the Bible Society of Salem, 1817; 
 The Parent's Assistant and Sunday-school Book, 1822; Charge at the Ordination of 
 the Rev. B. Whitman, 1826; Address before the Berry Street Conference, 1826; Eccle- 
 siastical Peace Recommended, a discourse before the Convention of Congregational 
 Ministers of Massachusetts, 1827; The Example of the First Preachers of the Gospel 
 Considered, a sermon at the installation of the Rev. Abiel Abbot in the Congrega- 
 tional Church in Peterborough, N.H., 1827; Letters Written in the Interior of Cuba, 
 1828 (an octavo volume); A Second Volume of Sermons, edited, with a memoir, from 
 which this sketch is derived, by his son-in-law, Rev. S. Everett, in 1831. 
 
JOHN PIERCE 223 
 
 JOHN PIERCE 
 
 i773~ l8 49 
 
 John Pierce, a son of John and Sarah (Blake) Pierce, 
 was born in Dorchester, Mass., July 14, 1773, being 
 the eldest of ten children. His father, who was a 
 shoemaker and an intelligent, excellent man, died in 
 December, 1833, at the age of ninety-one. From his 
 earliest years he had a strong desire to go to college 
 and to become a minister. He graduated at Harvard 
 in 1 793» having sustained during his whole course an 
 excellent reputation as a scholar. He received at his 
 graduation one of the highest honors in his class, — 
 the second English oration, the first being assigned to 
 Charles Jackson, afterwards judge of the Supreme 
 Court of Massachusetts; and on taking his second de- 
 gree, in 1796, he pronounced the Latin valedictory 
 oration. 
 
 After leaving college, he was for two years assistant 
 preceptor of the academy in Leicester, Mass. In the 
 summer of 1795 he began the study of theology with 
 the Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris, then recently settled 
 in Dorchester. He was examined and approved by 
 the Boston Association February 22, 1796, and preached 
 for the first time in his native town on the 6th of March 
 following. For four months he held a tutorship in 
 Harvard College, and then received a call from the 
 First Church and Society in Brookline, as the successor 
 of the Rev. Joseph Jackson. This call he accepted, 
 and was ordained and installed March 15, 1797, the 
 sermon on the occasion being preached by Mr. 
 Harris. 
 
224 JOHN PIERCE 
 
 On the 31st of October, 1798, Mr. Pierce was married 
 to Abigail Lovell, of Medway, who had been one of his 
 pupils at the Leicester Academy. She died on the 
 2d of July, 1800, leaving an infant son, who died at the 
 age of about two years. He was married a second 
 time on the 6th of May, 1802, to Lucy, daughter of 
 Benjamin Tappan, of Northampton, and niece of the 
 Rev. Dr. Tappan, at that time Professor of Divinity 
 in Harvard College. They had ten children, all but 
 one of whom, with their mother, survived their father. 
 Mrs. Pierce died February 12, 1858. 
 
 In 1822 the degree of Doctor of Divinity was con- 
 ferred upon him by Harvard College. 
 
 Doctor Pierce continued sole pastor of the church for 
 half a century. The 15th of March, 1847, being the 
 semi-centennial anniversary of his ordination, was ob- 
 served as a jubilee commemorative of that event, — an 
 occasion which drew together large numbers of various 
 denominations. In October of the same year Mr. 
 Frederick N. Knapp * was ordained as his colleague. 
 
 * Frederick Newman Knapp was born in Jamaica Plain, Novem- 
 ber 19, 1821. The family soon moved to Walpole, N.H., which be- 
 came the family home. Mr. Knapp graduated at Harvard in 1843 an< * 
 at the Divinity School in 1847, and was at once settled as Dr. Pierce's 
 colleague and successor. A severe accident which confined him for 
 many months to his father's house in Walpole, obliged him to with- 
 draw in 1855 from that happy service. At the breaking out of the 
 Civil War he was summoned by Dr. Bellows into the work of the 
 Sanitary Commission, and there rendered a very remarkable service. 
 He was second to none in upbuilding the efficiency of the commission, 
 and is remembered to-day by thousands of survivors from the battle- 
 fields and hospitals as their most cherished friend and helper. After 
 the war he preached for a time at Yonkers, N.Y., and for five years 
 was minister of the First Parish in Plymouth, Mass., where he en- 
 gaged in keeping a home school for boys, which was very successful. 
 He also acted as chairman of the School Committee of the town, and 
 he was the only honorary member of the Grand Army of the Republic. 
 He died suddenly at Plymouth, January 12, 1889. 
 
JOHN PIERCE 225 
 
 Dr. Pierce at first admitted the idea of receiving a col- 
 league with some reluctance, yet, when brought to be- 
 lieve that the interests of his parish would be promoted 
 by such a measure, he cheerfully acquiesced in it, and 
 Mr. Knapp was in every respect the person of his 
 choice. From this period, though relieved in a great 
 measure from the care of his own pulpit, his services 
 were often offered to his brethren in the neighborhood, 
 and his attendance at all public meetings was as regular 
 and prompt as ever. 
 
 About the beginning of March, 1849, ms physical 
 energies seemed suddenly to fail, and from that time 
 his decline was gradual, but constant. Just six days 
 before his death an organ was placed in the new church 
 at Brookline. The doctor, being too feeble either to 
 walk or ride, was carried to the church in a chair by 
 some of his young friends, that he might share the 
 pleasure of the occasion. He was able to read pas- 
 sages from the Scriptures and to join with much of 
 his accustomed animation in singing his favorite "Old 
 Hundred." When the hymn was sung, all the assembly 
 rose, except the doctor, who remarked with his usually 
 cheerful air that he no longer belonged to the rising 
 generation. He died on August 24, 1849. The funeral 
 sermon was preached by his colleague, Mr. Knapp. 
 
 In his theological connections Dr. Pierce refused to 
 be classed with any sect or party. He would bear no 
 names save "Christian" and " Congregationalism" If 
 he stated his belief, it was always in Bible phraseology. 
 He never preached controversial and seldom doctrinal 
 sermons, yet his church became decidedly Unitarian, 
 and he, against his will, was more and more forced to 
 consort chiefly with the liberal preachers. 
 
 Dr. Pierce was identified with many of the philan- 
 thropic and useful enterprises of his day. He was for 
 fifty-two years a member of the Massachusetts Con- 
 
226 JOHN PIERCE 
 
 vention of Congregational Ministers, and for ten years 
 its scribe. For thirty years he belonged to the Massa- 
 chusetts Congregational Society. For thirty-three years 
 he was secretary to the Board of Overseers of Harvard 
 College. He was for several years president of the 
 Massachusetts Bible Society. To the interests of the 
 Massachusetts Historical Society he was enthusiasti- 
 cally devoted, and bequeathed to it a series of eighteen 
 quarto manuscript volumes of six hundred pages each, 
 containing his journal, reaching back almost to the 
 beginning of the century, in which he recorded all the 
 principal facts that came within his observation. These 
 volumes he calls "Memoirs and Memorabilia," and 
 they contain a vast amount of information, especially 
 concerning distinguished individuals, that must other- 
 wise have perished. Besides these he gave to the 
 Historical Society what approaches more nearly to a 
 complete set of the Massachusetts Election Sermons 
 than is elsewhere to be found. He was a zealous 
 friend of the temperance cause, and endeavored by 
 both precept and example, in public and in private, 
 to help it forward to the extent of his ability. He de- 
 livered the Artillery Election Sermon in 1813, the Dud- 
 leian Lecture at Harvard College in 1821, the sermon 
 before the Massachusetts Convention of Congregational 
 Ministers in 1825, and the annual sermon before the 
 legislature of Massachusetts in 1849. 
 
 Dr. Pierce enjoyed, almost uniformly, through life 
 remarkable health, as was evidenced by the fact that 
 during his long ministry he was kept from his pulpit 
 only thirteen Sabbaths. In the spring of 1805 he was 
 confined by a rheumatic fever for several weeks, and 
 it was a somewhat singular coincidence that his friend, 
 the celebrated Joseph Stevens Buckminster, was ill at 
 the time, both returned to their pulpits the same day, 
 and both preached from the same text, — Psalm cxix. 71. 
 
JOHN PIERCE 227 
 
 He was habitually an early riser, and he occupied him- 
 self in the summer, for an hour or two before break- 
 fast, in his garden, and in the winter, for about the 
 same length of time, in sawing and splitting wood. 
 He was accustomed to walk long distances, and not 
 unfrequently made his exchanges, six or seven miles 
 distant, on foot, going and returning, and preaching 
 all the same day. He was frugal in his style of living, 
 and yet always hospitable; and though his salary was 
 originally small, and was never large, he not only con- 
 trived to keep out of debt, but to acquire considerable 
 property. It was evident, however, that he did not 
 covet a large estate; and when, in one instance, by an 
 unfortunate investment he was well-nigh reduced to 
 bankruptcy, his wonted cheerfulness never forsook him 
 for an hour. He was passionately fond of music, and 
 on various public occasions, such as the Thursday 
 Lecture, the Commencement dinner at Cambridge, and 
 the Annual Convention of Ministers, his fine, mellow 
 voice was sure to be heard. During his last illness 
 scarcely anything gratified him more than the weekly 
 visits to the parsonage, on Saturday evenings, of the 
 choir of his church, whom he used to call his " Sweet 
 Psalmists of Israel." 
 
 Dr. Pierce was a most devoted friend to Harvard Col- 
 lege. He used to say that, when he was a school-boy, 
 he used sometimes to take Cambridge on his way from 
 Boston to Dorchester, thus nearly tripling the distance, 
 for the sake of looking at the college buildings. He 
 attended sixty-three successive Commencements, with 
 the exception of one, which occurred on the day of the 
 funeral of his mother, and for fifty-four successive 
 years he "set the tune" of "St. Martin's" for the hymn 
 sung at the Commencement dinner. For fifty years he 
 served as an overseer, was never absent from a meeting. 
 For thirty-three years he kept the records of the board 
 
228 JOHN PIERCE 
 
 with the most perfect neatness and accuracy, and was 
 a model of punctuality and fidelity in the discharge 
 of all his official duties. 
 
 As a matter-of-fact man, it may be doubted whether 
 Dr. Pierce had any equal among his contemporaries. 
 There was scarcely anybody's father or grandfather, of 
 the least notoriety, of whose history he could not tell 
 something, including particularly the dates of his birth, 
 graduation (if graduated), and death. The whole Har- 
 vard catalogue he seemed to carry in his mind, and he 
 could tell instantly who was the valedictory orator, 
 and what was his subject, in every class that had grad- 
 uated since he began to attend Commencement. When 
 on a certain occasion it was very desirable to ascertain 
 the date of the birth of an individual, and Dr. Pierce 
 was appealed to as a last resort, and appealed to in 
 vain, Judge Davis shrewdly remarked, "There is no 
 use in making any further inquiries, for, if the doctor 
 does not know when the man was born, he was not born 
 at all." 
 
 Dr. A. P. Peabody speaks of Dr. Pierce's habit of 
 counting everything and timing everything: "He always 
 knew on Sunday how many people were at church. 
 He could tell how many houses there were on every 
 street and road in Brookline, and how many dwellers 
 there were in every house. He kept note of the length 
 of every sermon, address, Commencement part, or other 
 public performance that he heard. He was easily 
 moved to tears, and did not hide them; but, while they 
 were raining down his cheeks at the moving close of 
 an eloquent discourse, he would take out his great 
 silver watch, and say in broken accents to the person 
 sitting nearest to him, 'Just fifty minutes' or 'Ten 
 minutes over the hour.' 
 
 "Dr. Pierce's memory was amazing. Few old men 
 have forgotten as many things as he remembered to 
 
JOHN PIERCE 229 
 
 the last. It is related of Hortensius, Cicero's rival, that 
 he once, on a wager, attended for a whole day an auc- 
 tion sale of miscellaneous articles, and rehearsed at 
 the close, in their order, the articles sold, the prices 
 paid, and the names of the purchasers. I think that 
 Dr. Pierce would have attended such a sale for six suc- 
 cessive days, and have made an accurate report of 
 every transaction. He remembered things of impor- 
 tance, everything that he had ever read or heard, and 
 where; and, as for the Bible, the chapters of names are 
 probably the only parts which he could not have re- 
 peated word for word. He knew the ancestry, age, 
 and birthdays of all his friends; the professional his- 
 tory, with its dates and details, of every clergyman of 
 any denomination whatsoever within the large range 
 of his acquaintance; and the life record of every Har- 
 vard graduate, from his own time downward, who was 
 not too insignificant to have a history." 
 
 The following letter from the Rev. George Putnam 
 gives an excellent description of his mind and char- 
 acter: — 
 
 "Any person attending the funeral of Dr. Pierce 
 must have seen that he was a man of mark whom they 
 were burying. There was a great concourse of people 
 thronging with reverent and tender emotions around 
 his coffin, and among them many men of eminent char- 
 acter and station. It was evident from many signs 
 that those were not the obsequies of an ordinary man 
 or a mere official man. And those signs were not falla- 
 cious. He was a distinguished man. I suppose that 
 there was hardly a man in Massachusetts whose person 
 was known to so many individuals in the State. It is 
 seldom that so many and hearty expressions of affec- 
 tionate respect, from so many quarters, follow an old 
 man to his grave. 
 
 "And how came he to be thus distinguished? It 
 
230 JOHN PIERCE 
 
 may seem a question of some difficulty, but I will try 
 to answer it. 
 
 " Born in Dorchester, he just moved over to that 
 pleasant parsonage, — only going round by Cambridge 
 for purposes of education; and there he dwelt for more 
 than fifty years, and there he died. During that period 
 I doubt if he has ever been accused of neglecting a 
 duty, or forgetting an appointment, or committing 
 a mean, unjust, or immoral action, or speaking a false 
 or irreverent, or unkind or insincere word. 
 
 " But it would be unfair to describe him only by nega- 
 tives. His was a positive character, and had great 
 positive traits of excellence. He appears to have obeyed 
 and carried out the two parts of the great command- 
 ment, to love God and love man, with unusual earnest- 
 ness and thoroughness. 
 
 "His theological opinions, as to disputed points, 
 were not, I suppose, very clearly defined in his own 
 mind. As far as possible, he avoided taking sides in 
 the great controversy between the liberal and ortho- 
 dox parties, disclaiming all party names and relations 
 to the last. His views of theology, I am inclined to 
 think, never underwent any material change from his 
 early youth to the day of his death, — none, that is, 
 which he was distinctly conscious of. If he was carried 
 along at all by the progress of opinion around him, he 
 was hardly aware of any change of position in himself. 
 His mind was not of a character to discriminate sharply 
 between shades of doctrinal differences, and, being 
 himself where he always was, he could see no more 
 reason for a division of the Congregational body in 
 1 8 15 than in 1790. He was strictly conservative in 
 theology. He entertained none of the speculations of 
 the time, accepted no novelties, would give no hearing 
 to those who promised to show a better way of truth 
 than that which he had long walked in. He thought 
 
JOHN PIERCE 231 
 
 that the important truths of Christianity were as plain 
 to the spiritual understanding as they were ever likely 
 to be made by human learning, and he did not want 
 any young man to give him his spiritual intuitions as 
 substitutes for the old texts about righteousness and 
 love, grace and peace, joy in the Holy Ghost, and the 
 resurrection of the just to eternal life. His faith grew 
 up with him, and grew old with him, and it seems 
 never to have suffered any distractions or perplexities. 
 
 " But the most striking part of Dr. Pierce's character 
 lay in his benevolence. He had the kindliest of nat- 
 ures. His heart seemed a fountain of loving kind- 
 ness, always gushing up and running over. Time and 
 experience of the world's coldness never checked its 
 stream or dried up a drop of it. What a cordial greet- 
 ing was his! What a beaming friendliness on his face! 
 I never knew the person who took so hearty an interest 
 in so many people, and showed it by such unequivocal 
 signs. He seemed to know almost everybody and all 
 about him. And it was not an idle curiosity. If it 
 had been, it would have run into scandal, as it usually 
 does in those who make it a business to know and 
 report everybody's affairs. He had no scandal. His 
 love saved him from that. He said pleasant and kind 
 things. There was no venom under his tongue, no 
 acid in his breast. He probably never made an enemy 
 nor lost a friend. His affections were warm, his sym- 
 pathies were quick. He was generous according to 
 his means. He loved young men. For more than 
 fifty years, without interruption, I have been told, he 
 travelled to Cambridge several times a year to attend 
 the public exercises, and listened to every student with 
 fond eagerness, as to a son of his own, and forever after 
 remembered him, and in most cases knew all about 
 him. 
 
 "Age did not blunt these kind feelings or quench 
 
232 JOHN PIERCE 
 
 one ray of their youthful vigor. Here he was remark- 
 able. Age did not tend in the least to make him shrink 
 into himself or to narrow the circle of his sympathies. 
 After seventy he would start off with the ardor of a 
 school-boy, and walk miles just to see an old friend, 
 and would live for months after on the pleasure of the 
 interview. And he not only loved other people, but 
 he loved to be loved. He seemed to value nothing in 
 this world so much as kind attention, affection, good 
 fellowship. 
 
 "He was welcomed in all pulpits to which he had 
 access, not so much on account of his preaching as on 
 his own account. People liked to see him and hear 
 his voice, especially in singing, because his soul was 
 in it. They liked to see him, he seemed such a personal 
 friend. His bare presence was as acceptable to many, 
 and perhaps as profitable, as the sermons of some much 
 greater men, he was so sincere, so hearty, so kind. 
 A word from him, with his great, cordial, friendly 
 voice, at the church door or in the aisle, would for 
 multitudes make ample amends for any dryness in the 
 regular discourse. 
 
 " It is very singular that such warm affection towards 
 both God and man did not impart their unction to 
 his intellect and give a character of rich and glowing 
 sentiment to his composition, but I believe they did 
 not. They did lend animation and force to his delivery, 
 but never gave their fire to his composition. He was 
 not eloquent or poetical or affecting in his writing. 
 Somehow there was a connecting link missing between 
 his heart and his intellect. With feelings fresh and 
 warm and pure enough to have made him a poet, an 
 orator, and a splendid writer, he was not a bit of either. 
 It was a singular instance of disconnection between 
 the two parts of the mind. His great fervent heart is 
 not in his writings. But no matter: he had it, and 
 
JOHN PIERCE 233 
 
 everybody knew he had it, and felt- the influence of 
 it, was warmed by its radiance and gladdened by its 
 benignity." 
 
 The Rev. Frederic H. Hedge, his son-in-law and 
 successor, wrote of him : — 
 
 "He seemed to me, at first, though but entering on 
 the fifties (as I now reckon), the impersonation of ven- 
 erable age, — an impression due to his snow-white hair, 
 which had turned at thirty. Subsequent and nearer 
 observation discovered a fresh though pale complexion, 
 an unwithered look, an elastic carriage, and altogether 
 such an absence of all decrepitude as greatly modified 
 the hasty estimate of his senility. 
 
 '"What a pleasant-looking old man!' we youngsters 
 said, accustomed to read in men of that age a judgment 
 on our own immaturity. 'The atrocious crime' found 
 pardon, and not only pardon, but connivance, nay, ap- 
 proval, in those friendly eyes lit up by a heart which 
 could reach its sympathies into our green years. 
 
 "His countenance was one of those which are always 
 in full light, and admit no shadow and contract no 
 frown. The word 'pleasant' but faintly expresses its 
 radiant, kindly cheer. A face where no deep sorrow 
 and no strong passions had set their seal. No jollity, 
 or fun, or even humor, was legible there: the light on 
 those features was simply the pure joy of life, a de- 
 light in being such as is possible only to holy and be- 
 lieving minds. The world of his experience reflected 
 the sunshine of his own peace, and was full of blessing. 
 He heartily rejoiced in all good gifts with devout grati- 
 tude to God for all. He had great pleasure in 'times 
 and seasons,' in college and State holidays with all 
 their belongings, in election and convention sermons, 
 Dudleian lectures, Thursday lectures, ordinations and 
 dedications, all of which he failed not to attend. Above 
 all, an incredible and insatiable pleasure he had in 
 
234 JOHN PIERCE 
 
 facts, especially statistical facts relating to the college 
 and the ministry. These he hugged and treasured 
 and chuckled over, as a miser over his gold, but with 
 very unmiserly communicativeness loved to share with 
 all his friends, and was ready to bestow even on the in- 
 different and unthankful. 
 
 "His looks betokened the entire presence of the 
 man in every place and company in which you saw him. 
 There was no introversion, no preoccupation, no wan- 
 dering but the outward wandering of the eye for a few 
 moments at public meetings, when he set himself to 
 count or compute the numbers present, and to register 
 and classify such as were known to him, — so many 
 ministers, so many older, so many younger, than him- 
 self, so many before, so many after him on the college 
 catalogue. Then there were occasional glances, not of 
 impatience, but of curiosity, at the old-fashioned silver 
 watch which he never forgot to set by the clock of the 
 Old South Church every Thursday when he went into 
 town to assist at the weekly lecture in Chauncy Street. 
 With this he timed all public speech, and kept the log 
 of sermons and prayers. 
 
 "Soon after my graduation I came into family rela- 
 tions with Dr. Pierce, and was often a guest at his house, 
 where I had abundant opportunity of studying his 
 character as it manifested itself in private life. There, 
 too, the joyfulness which beamed from him in public 
 was a prominent trait. A happier man I never knew, 
 nor certainly one who had a better right to be happy, 
 so far as moral qualities avail to secure that state. The 
 absence of all worldliness, of all solicitude about the 
 future (notwithstanding his large family and small 
 means), of all rivalry and ambition, of all pride of ap- 
 pearance, of all self-seeking; his entire humility, his 
 perfect trust in Divine Providence for that which is 
 least as well as for the greatest, his ready acquiescence 
 
JOHN PIERCE " 235 
 
 in the Divine will, — all this resulted in a calm of soul 
 not often witnessed in otherwise good and religious 
 men. 
 
 " Something, no doubt, of this uniform cheerfulness 
 is to be ascribed to vigorous health. But health has 
 also its moral side, and, if in his case it was partly due 
 to a naturally sound constitution, it was also fairly 
 earned by temperance and by bodily exercise, of which 
 it cannot be said that in this matter it 'profiteth noth- 
 ing.' This last he carried to what seemed to me a need- 
 less excess. At three o'clock a.m., in summer, he was 
 in his garden, where he did a day's work before break- 
 fast. In the winter, long before light, the strokes of 
 his axe resounded from the woodshed, where all the 
 fire-wood was prepared by him for family use. In his 
 visits to the city and to Cambridge, and in his exchanges 
 with neighboring ministers, he oftener walked than 
 rode. By this means he kept his athletic frame — full 
 six feet in height and proportionally broad — at the 
 uttermost mark of manly vigor. Though not what is 
 called ' a heavy feeder,' he brought to his meals the keen 
 relish of perfect health. The food was always of the 
 simplest, but he insisted that he had dined royally, 
 and doubted if her Majesty, the Queen of England, 
 fared so well. 
 
 " Intellectually, it always seemed to me that he never 
 did full justice to his powers. His preaching, though 
 acceptable, and marked by accuracy of statement and 
 a diction severely correct, wanted the force which 
 might have been expected from a nature so large and 
 capable. An excessive caution and certain homiletic 
 traditions derived from the standards of his youth — 
 the dryest period in the history of the American pulpit 
 — seemed to hamper the action of his mind in that 
 function. He never poured himself freely forth in his 
 discourses, but found a speedy limit to his thought in 
 
236 JOHN PIERCE 
 
 some inward or outward restraint, — some self-distrust 
 or critical bugbear that ruled him. Whatever success 
 he had as a preacher was due to the reverend and loved 
 person rather than his thought or illustration. The 
 best thing he did in the pulpit was his singing. Into 
 that he put his whole heart: it was eminently effective. 
 Those whom the sermon had left cold could not fail 
 to be moved by the fervor and unction of his 
 psalmody. 
 
 "He could hardly be called, in the years in which I 
 knew him, a student, although a good theological and 
 miscellaneous scholar after the standard of his own 
 time. He read no Greek but the New Testament, 
 but in that he was thoroughly at home, reading it as 
 fluently as the English version, and using it always in 
 the family devotions. I am not aware of having de- 
 rived intellectual stimulus from his conversation, al- 
 though so largely indebted to him for wise counsel 
 and the precious lessons of his life. Our intellectual 
 tendencies were widely dissimilar. I was apt to assume 
 an ideal position : he planted himself firmly upon facts. 
 'Facts,' he would say triumphantly, after battering me 
 with his statistics, 'are stubborn things,' — a characteri- 
 zation which did not much recommend them in my 
 estimation. He judged all questions statistically, nu- 
 merically, reasoning in numbers, 'for the numbers 
 came.' He even went so far as to reckon up the texts 
 in the New Testament which seemed to favor the 
 Trinitarian doctrine, on the one hand, and those which 
 tallied with the Unitarian view, on the other. He made 
 out a tie between them, and therewith justified his posi- 
 tion of uncompromising neutrality between the two 
 parties, — a position resulting from his natural conserva- 
 tism. His theology retained to the last the moderate 
 Arian-Arminian type, which had been the prevailing 
 doctrine of his vicinity at the time of his entrance on 
 
JOHN PIERCE 237 
 
 the ministry. He steadfastly refused to take the name 
 of Unitarian, though forced in his latter years by 
 orthodox exclusiveness to associate chiefly with the 
 clergy of that communion. Nor was he more ready 
 to embrace the Connecticut doctrine, when in 1826 
 and 1827 Dr. Lyman Beecher and his associates at- 
 tempted to reform the theology of Boston. Rationalism, 
 on the one hand, and Calvinism, on the other, were 
 equally distasteful to him. He regarded both as at- 
 tempts to be 'wise above what was written,' — a species 
 of presumption against which he seriously cautioned 
 his young friends. 
 
 "Whatever sectaries might think of his theology, 
 bigotry itself would not deny to him the Christian 
 name, nor venture to impugn his Christian worth. 
 Those who came nearest to him best know with what 
 harmony and completeness the Christian graces com- 
 bined in his person. Faith, hope, charity, humility, 
 patience, godliness, — it was impossible to say which 
 of these traits was most conspicuous in a life which 
 exhibited them all. What impressed me as much as 
 anything in his character was its unworldliness. It 
 happened to him in advanced years to lose his entire 
 property, the savings of his whole professional life, 
 by a bad investment. This misfortune elicited no 
 complaint, it never for an instant disturbed his seren- 
 ity. I doubt if it cost him a pang. No allusion to 
 the subject was permitted in the family. I discovered 
 it by accident long after the event. Frugal in the ex- 
 treme in his personal expenditures, because so simple 
 in his tastes, there was no pinching in his economy, 
 nothing penurious in his habits, nothing contracted in 
 his views. He was open-handed, and gave in pro- 
 portion to his means as liberally as any I have known. 
 It was remarked that, with all his retentiveness of facts 
 and figures, he never could remember sums of money. 
 
238 JOHN PIERCE 
 
 They were the one piece of statistics that did not 
 interest him. 
 
 "The good old man had all that should accompany 
 old age, and especially the appropriate 'troop of 
 friends.' Young and old rejoiced in his fellowship. 
 Even little children were attracted by the sunshine of 
 his countenance. In his last sickness the sympathy of 
 a wide community flowed to his door. Men resorted 
 to his house as to a shrine, and none left it without 
 a benediction." 
 
 The following is a list of Dr. Pierce's publications: On the Mystery of Godliness, 
 a discourse delivered at Medfield, 1797; A Eulogy on Washington, 1800; A Sermon 
 preached at Newbury at the Installation of the Rev. John Snelling Popkin, 1804; A 
 Discourse delivered at Brookline on the Day that completed a Century from the In- 
 corporation of the Town, 1805; A Valedictory Sermon preached on Leaving the Old 
 Meeting-house at Brookline, and a Dedicatory Sermon on Entering the New House 
 of Worship, 1806; A Sermon preached at the Gathering of the Second Congregational 
 Church in Dorchester, 1808; A Discourse delivered at the Installation of the Rev. 
 Samuel Clarke at Princeton, 1817; A Discourse delivered on the Lord's Day after the 
 completion of a Century from the Organization of the Church in Brookline, 1817; The 
 Dudleian Lecture, delivered before Harvard College, 1821; A Discourse delivered at 
 Canton at the Ordination of the Rev. Benjamin Huntoon, 1822; The Charge delivered 
 to the Rev. T. B. Fox at Newburyport, 1831; A Sermon in the Liberal Preacher 
 on the Maternal Relation, 1835; A Sermon entitled "Reminiscences of Forty Years," 
 1837; An Address delivered at the Funeral of the Hon. Thomas A. Davis, 1845; A 
 Sermon preached at the Brookline Jubilee, 1847; A Sermon entitled "Christians the 
 only Proper Name for the Disciples of Christ **; A Sermon delivered before the Leg- 
 islature of Massachusetts at the Annual Election, 1849. 
 
 The sketch above is taken chiefly from Dr. Pierce's manuscript autobiography and 
 Mr. Knapp's funeral sermon, which were also used by Rev. T. B. Fox, who, like Dr. 
 Hedge, was a son-in-law, in preparing the memoir in Ware's Unitarian Biography. 
 See also Dr. A. P. Peabody's Harvard Graduates and Dr. Lyon's History of the 
 Brookline Parish. 
 
PRESERVED SMITH 239 
 
 PRESERVED SMITH 
 
 i759" l8 34 
 
 Preserved Smith was born in Ashfield, Mass., 
 June 25, 1759, the son of a Baptist clergyman and 
 a descendant of the Rev. Henry Smith who came 
 from England and settled in Wethersfield, Conn., in 
 1641. His early education was limited, but he dis- 
 played a thirst for knowledge and read whatever 
 came in his way. 
 
 When the Revolutionary War began, he was six- 
 teen years of age, and entering the army, served 
 five campaigns. Leaving the army, at the age of 
 nineteen, he bought his time, as it is called, of his 
 father, and set out in the world for himself. In spite 
 of great obstacles and discouragement he fitted him- 
 self for college at his own expense, and entered the 
 Freshman Class of Dartmouth with permission to 
 spend the first year under private instruction. He 
 subsequently connected himself with Brown Univer- 
 sity, from which he graduated in 1786. 
 
 After graduation he began the study of divin- 
 ity with the Rev. Mr. Emerson, of Conway, Mass. 
 In the spring of 1787 he was appointed by the 
 Hampshire Association, and in November of that 
 year was settled in the ministry at Rowe. In Janu- 
 ary, 1788, he married Eunice, daughter of Colonel 
 David Wells, of Shelburne. 
 
 In those days the town of Rowe was a new 
 settlement, and many of the people lived in log 
 houses. They could pay their pastor but a very 
 small salary, which had to be supplemented by 
 labor on the farm. The early part of his ministry 
 
240 PRESERVED SMITH 
 
 was much tried by the bigotry and superstition of 
 the people among whom his lot was cast. He estab- 
 lished himself, however, in the respect and affection 
 of the people, and continued to live peacefully with 
 them till he decided to sever his relation with them 
 in May, 1804. In the autumn of 1805 he was in- 
 stalled pastor over the first and second parishes in 
 Mendon, Mass., dividing his labors between them. 
 Here he enjoyed and profited by the advantages this 
 residence gave of closer contact with books and men, 
 and here he remained till 18 12, when the people of 
 Rowe asked him to return and settle again among 
 them. He did not regret his return, for, though 
 rough and remote, this field was dear to him. 
 
 Not long afterward the Unitarian controversy 
 commenced. Mr. Smith was at that time a member 
 of the Franklin Association (orthodox), and held 
 what were known as Arminian views. By a faith- 
 ful study of the Scriptures he was led about the 
 year 1820 to modify his doctrinal position. Though 
 he respected the Trinitarian dogma, he did not 
 adopt the name Unitarian, preferring that of Chris- 
 tian simply. He now sought dismissal from the 
 ministerial association with which he had been in 
 fellowship, and connected himself with another with 
 whose members he could feel a closer sympathy. 
 
 Twenty years passed in his second pastorate in 
 Rowe, during which he faithfully performed his pas- 
 toral duties, interested himself in the cause of educa- 
 tion, and endeared himself to the people of his town. 
 On August 15, 1834, he passed away at the age of 
 seventy-five. 
 
 Mr. Smith left strong traces of his usefulness in 
 his remote and circumscribed field. He was not a 
 lover of controversy, but one who by love of birth 
 and freedom, by strong independence and individ- 
 
PRESERVED SMITH 241 
 
 ualism, impressed himself and his thought upon the 
 community. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Willard wrote of him: — 
 
 "One of the strongest features in Mr. Smith's 
 character was the love of truth. So strong was it 
 that he seemed instinctively to revolt from anything 
 like hypocrisy or cant. ... In his mental and 
 moral craving he seemed to have a remarkable 
 tact in distinguishing reality from mere show, — a 
 ready insight into character, which gave him great 
 advantage for accommodating himself to the differ- 
 ent characters with whom he met." 
 
 Tbe account of Mr. Smith is taken from "A Biographical Sketch of Rev. 
 Preserved Smith," published at Greenfield, Mass., 1852. 
 
INDEX. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abbot, Abiel (of Beverly), i. 
 
 213-222; i. 46, 157, 212; ii. 
 
 50,SI,SS»246; iii. 292. 
 Abbot, Abiel (of Coventry), ii. 
 
 50-58; i. 222; ii. 59, 62, 203. 
 Abbot, Abigail, i. 213; ii. 53. 
 Abbot, Benjamin, i. 137; ii. 134, 
 
 203, 219, 224, 243, 260; iii. 
 
 297. 
 Abbot, Elizabeth, ii. 53. 
 Abbot, Ezra, iii. 182. 
 Abbot family, ii. 50, 58. 
 Abbot, Francis E., iii. 305, 308, 
 
 378. 
 Abbot, Jacob, ii. 50, 51, 113. 
 Abbot, John, 1. 31, 213. 
 Abbot, John, ii. 53. 
 Abbot, John Emery, i. 137, 138; 
 
 i. 133, 148. 
 Abbot, John Lovejoy, i. 31, 32. 
 Abbot, Joseph Hale, ii. 240. 
 Abbot, Phcebe, i. 31. 
 Abbot, Ruth, iii. 297. 
 Abbott, Lyman, quoted, iii. 377. 
 Abington, Mass., i. 181. 
 Acton, West, Mass., iii. 362. 
 Adams, Abigail, i. 5, 103. 
 Adams, Amos, i. 181, 182. 
 Adams, Cornelius, ii. 58. 
 Adams, Edwin Goodhue, iii. 361 . 
 Adams, John, i. 41, 103; ii. 23, 
 
 30, 49, 263; quoted, i. 2, 37. 
 Adams, John Quincy, i. 166; 
 
 iii. 178,234. 
 Adams, Joseph, i. 132. 
 Adams, Moses, i. 174. 
 Adams, Phineas, i. 78, 79. 
 Adams, Samuel, i. 41; iii. 60. 
 Adams, Thomas, i. 46. 
 Adams, Zabdiel, i. 164. 
 
 Adler, Felix, iii. 127. 
 Adrian, Mich., iii. 277. 
 Agassiz, Louis, iii. 14. 
 Akabah, Arabia, iii. 233. 
 Albany, N.Y., ii. 174; iii. 385. 
 Alcott, Amos Bronson, iii. 22, 
 
 248, 330. _ 
 Alcott, Louisa M., iii. 22. 
 Alden, Bethiah C, ii. 175. 
 Alden, John, i. 126; ii. 175; iii. 
 
 216. 
 Alden, Joseph, ii. 175. 
 Alden, Priscilla, iii. 216. 
 Alden, Seth, ii. 175. 
 Alger, William R., iii. 7, 193, 
 
 324- 
 
 Allan, Molly, i. 17. 
 
 Allegheny College, i. 153. 
 
 Allen, Anna, iii. 1. 
 
 Allen, Isaac, ii. 66; i. 180; ii.65; 
 iii. 343. 
 
 Allen, James, iii. I. 
 
 Allen, Joseph, ii. 212-214; '• 
 204; ii. 49, 65; iii. 1, 17, 165, 
 170, 209, 353; quoted on 
 Alexander Young, ii. 83 ; on 
 Bernard Whitman, ii. 247- 
 249. 
 
 Allen, Joseph Henry, iii. 1-7; 
 ii.213; iii. 33, 41, 75, 120, 127, 
 167, 174, 201, 223, 274, 380, 
 387; quoted on Octavius B. 
 Frothingham, iii. 126. 
 
 Allen, Morrill, quoted on Gad 
 Hitchcock, i. 14. 
 
 Allen, Thomas Prentiss, ii. 213. 
 
 Allen, Wilkes, i. 75, 85. 
 
 Allen, William Francis, ii. 213. 
 
 Allston, Washington, iii. 59. 
 
 Allston, William, ii. 186. 
 
246 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Allyn, Abby Bradford, iii. 118. 
 
 Allyn, James, i. 194. 
 
 Allyn, John, i. 194-199; i. 14, 
 
 59; ii. 96, 223, 250. 
 Alton, 111., ii. 203; iii. 197, 358. 
 American Antiquarian Society, 
 
 i. 150, 153; ii. 25; iii. 16, 101, 
 
 102, 116, 168, 328. 
 American Anti-slavery Society, 
 
 iii. 242. See also Anti-slavery. 
 American Education Society, iii. 
 
 85- 
 
 American Unitarian Association, 
 ii. 24, 25, 102, 105, 187, 219, 
 226; iii. 14, 16, 17, 28, 33, 40, 
 42, SO, 76, 77, 82, 83, 109, 129, 
 140, 144, 153, 157, 159, 181, 
 184, 198, 207, 208, 215, 225, 
 230, 247, 253, 255, 260, 274, 
 27S, 302, 327, 328, 329, 335, 
 339, 340, 343, 354, 3SS, 357, 
 370, 390. 
 
 Ames, Charles G., iii. 135, 136, 
 138, 223. 
 
 Ames, Fisher, ii. 87, 89. 
 
 Amesbury, Mass., ii. 200. 
 
 Amherst College, 1. 158; ii. 189; 
 iii. 171, 353. 
 
 Andover, Me., iii. 358. 
 
 Andover, Mass., i. 31, 177, 213; 
 ii. 58, 67; iii. 139. 
 North Parish, i. 84; 11. 55. 
 Phillips Academy, i. 31, 46, 
 78, 82, 213; ii. 50, 51, 71, 
 75, 76, 103, 199, 206, 223; 
 iii. 78. 
 South Parish, i. 79. 
 
 Andover, North, Mass., iii. 185, 
 
 364- 
 Andover Theological Seminary, 
 
 i. 90; ii. 77, 181, 189, 272; 
 
 iii. 85. 
 Andrew, John Albion, iii. 70, 
 
 80, 345, 347, 358, 369- 
 Andrews, Elizabeth, iii. 207. 
 Angier, Dorothy, i. 14. 
 Angier, Joseph, iii. 256, 257; i. 
 
 59; iii. 339. 
 
 Annan, Robert, i. 101. 
 Annapolis, N.S., i. 44, 175; ii. 
 
 21. 
 Ann Arbor, Mich., iii. 6, 41-43, 
 
 45, 277- 
 
 Anthology Club, ii. 137. 
 
 Antioch College, iii. 153, 171, 
 173, 174, 176, 177, 206. 
 
 Anti-slavery, ii. 122, 123, 152, 
 173, 174, 188, 191; iii. 2, 3, 
 62, 122, 129, 137, 144, 163, 
 218, 220, 236-238, 242, 245, 
 246,247, 249, 317,358. 
 
 Anti-slavery Standard, iii. 190. 
 
 Appleton, Jesse, ii. 156. 
 
 Appleton, Nathaniel, i. 4, 36, 
 194. 
 
 Appleton, Nathaniel W., i. 25. 
 
 Appleton, Samuel, iii. 303. 
 
 Appleton, William, iii. 339. 
 
 Applin, Benjamin F., ii. 190. 
 
 Applin, Mary Jane, ii. 190. 
 
 Apthorp, East, i. 39. 
 
 Arlington, Mass., ii. 56, 200, 
 251; iii. 117, 158. 
 
 Arlington Street Church, Bos- 
 ton, iii. 144, 166, 367, 370. 
 See Federal Street Church. 
 
 Arnold, Edwin, iii. 63. 
 
 Ashby, Mass., iii. 276, 361, 362. 
 
 Ashfield, Mass., i. 239. 
 
 Ashworth, Caleb, i. 64. 
 
 Athol, Mass., iii. 171, 209. 
 
 Atkinson, N.H., ii. 263. 
 
 Atkinson, John, ii. 11. 
 
 Atkinson, Mary Ann, ii. 11. 
 
 Audubon, John J., ii. 265. 
 
 Augusta, Ga., i. 209; ii. 276; 
 iii. 49. 
 
 Augusta, Me., ii. 73, 193, 200, 
 305; iii. 131, 370. 
 
 Austin, Charles, i. 30. 
 
 Austin, Daniel, ii. 37. 
 
 Austin, David, ii. 59. 
 
 Austin, Mary, i. 179. 
 
 Ayer, Mass.,ii. 190, 217; iii. ill. 
 
 Ayer, Adams, iii. 33. 
 
 Ayer, Sarah, i. 222. 
 
INDEX 
 
 247 
 
 Babbidge, Charles, iii. 8-10, 132. 
 Babbidge, John, iii. 8. 
 Babbidge, Sarah, iii. 8. 
 Babcock, Elizabeth C, iii. 305. 
 Bacon, Ellen, iii. 340. 
 Badger, Joseph, iii. 343. 
 Bailey, Benjamin H., ii. 100. 
 Bailey, Mary, i. 145. 
 Bailey, Winthrop, ii. 70, 94. 
 Baldwin, Thomas, ii. 39. 
 Ball, George Sumner, ii. 71, 72; 
 
 iii. 132. 
 Ball, Thomas, ii. 113. 
 Ballou, Adin, ii. 297-300; ii. 
 
 249. 
 Ballou, Adin Augustus, ii. 300. 
 Ballou, Hosea, iii. 192, 193. 
 Ballou, Maturin, ii. 297. 
 Baltimore, Md., i. 112; ii. 12, 
 
 121, 172, 186, 191, 204, 225, 
 
 279; iii. 38, 41, 52, 81, 82, 
 
 134, 149, 168, 216, 292, 365, 
 
 366, 369. 
 Bancroft, Aaron, ii. 20-30; i. 
 
 133, 140; ii. 62, 65, 159, 160; 
 
 iii. 52, 135, 168. 
 Bancroft, Eliza Ann, iii. 9. 
 Bancroft, George, ii. 153; iii. 
 
 24,158,239; quoted on Aaron 
 
 Bancroft, ii. 25-29. 
 Bancroft, Samuel, ii. 20. 
 Bangor, Me., ii. 181; iii. 3, 7, 
 
 105, 158. 
 Bangor Theological Seminary, 
 
 '"• 374- 
 Barker, Henrietta, iii. 170. 
 Barker, Stephen, iii. 33, 132. 
 Barker, Susan, ii. 91. 
 Barnard, Charles F., iii. 10-14; 
 
 ii. 117. 
 Barnard, Edward, i. 132. 
 Barnard Memorial, Boston, iii. 
 
 12-14. 
 Barnard, Mr. and Mrs. R. M., 
 
 iii. 81. 
 Barnard, Stephen A., ii. 249. 
 Barnard, Thomas, i. 131, 132; 
 
 i. 80. 
 
 Barnard, Thomas, Jr., i. 131— 
 
 140, 141, 142, 148, 149; ii. 21, 
 
 100. 
 Barnes, Daniel, i. II. 
 Barnes, David, i. 11-14; i- 3, 
 
 194, 199. 
 Barneveld, N.Y., ii. 62, 63. 
 Barnstable, Mass., i. 49, 194; 
 
 ii. 97; iii. 16, 149, 340. 
 Barre, Mass., i. 160; ii. 154; 
 
 iii. 215, 325. 
 Barre, N.Y., iii. 277. 
 Barrett, Lois, ii. 95. 
 Barrett, Samuel, ii. 239-241; i. 
 
 47; ii. 208; iii. 97. 
 Barrows, Samuel J., iii. 75. 
 Barry, Esther Stetson, iii. 15. 
 Barry, William, iii. 15. 
 Barry, William, iii. 15-17; i. 48. 
 Bartlett, George, ii. 221. 
 Bartlett, George Washington, 
 
 iii. 131. 
 Bartlett, Ichabod, iii. 293. 
 Bartlett, John, ii. 179-184; i. 
 
 158. 
 Bartlett, Lucretia A., iii. 38. 
 Bartol, Cyrus Augustus, iii. 17- 
 
 22; i. 47; ii. 216, 237; iii. 33, 
 
 75, 167, 193, 201, 305, 380; 
 
 quoted on Jonathan Mayhew, 
 
 i. 38. 
 Bartol, George M., iii. 17, 22, 
 
 324- 
 Barton Square Church, Salem, 
 
 i- 134 I3S; »• 16; iii. 325, 
 
 385- 
 Bassett, Amos, ii. 55. 
 Batchelor, George, quoted, i. 
 
 134-136. 
 Bates, Joshua, i. 157; quoted on 
 
 Joseph Buckminster, ii. 141- 
 
 145. 
 Bates, Reuben, iii. 362. 
 Bath, Me., iii. 251. 
 Bayley, Josiah, i. 132. 
 Baylies, Francis, quoted on 
 
 Samuel West, i. 52, 53. 
 Beattie, Andrew, i. 82. 
 
248 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Beck, Charles, iii. 269. 
 Bedford, Mass., iii. 326. 
 Beecher, Lyman, i. 237; ii. 186. 
 Beede, Thomas, ii. 239, 240; i. 
 
 30; iii. 361. 
 Belcher, Jonathan, i. 19. 
 Belcher, Joseph, i. 1. 
 Belfast, Me., ii. 95^-97; iii. 374. 
 Belknap, Jeremy, i. 98-108; i. 
 
 94, 109, 114, 208; ii. 89. 
 Belknap, Joseph, i. 98. 
 Belknap, Sarah, i. 98. 
 Bellas, Hugh, quoted on Joseph 
 
 Priestley, i. 68-71. 
 Bellows, Anna Langdon, iii. 32, 
 
 33- 
 
 Bellows, Benjamin, iii. 33. 
 
 Bellows, Edward Sears, iii. 23. 
 
 Bellows, Ellen Derby, iii. 32. 
 
 Bellows Falls, Vt., iii. 23. 
 
 Bellows, Henry Whitney, iii. 
 23-34; i- 224; ii. 173; iii. 4, 
 7, 20, 87, 177, 192, 201, 
 210, 230, 302, 350; quoted 
 on William Ware, ii. 252-256; 
 on Orville Dewey, iii. 87, 
 88. 
 
 Bellows, Henry Whitney, iii. 32. 
 
 Bellows, Mary, iii. 34. 
 
 Bellows, Robert Peabody, iii. 32. 
 
 Bellows, Russell A., iii. 34. 
 
 Bellows, Russell Nevins, iii. 32. 
 
 Belmont, Mass., i. 118, 119; iii. 
 
 33 6 - 
 Belsham, Thomas, i. 64; ii. 
 
 10, 13- 
 Belvidere, 111., iii. 128. 
 Benevolent Fraternity of 
 
 Churches, ii. 105-107, ill, 
 
 117; iii. 140, 144, 284. 
 Bennington, Vt., ii. 31, 123. 
 Bentley, Joshua, i. 149. 
 Bentley, William, i. 149-159; i. 
 
 97, 142; ii. 13, 190, 211; iii. 
 
 292. 
 Bernardston, Mass., iii. 206. 
 Berry Street Conference, iii. 7. 
 Bertram, John, iii. 22. 
 
 Bethlehem, Conn., ii. 185. 
 Beverly, Mass., i. 101, 214, 217, 
 221, 222; ii. 246; iii. 288, 290, 
 387, 39°. 
 Bicknell, Mary P., i. 97. 
 Bigelow, Abigail, i. 201. 
 Bigelow, Abijah, iii. 384. 
 Bigelow, Andrew, ii. 105, 106; 
 
 i. 140; ii. 30. 
 Bigelow, Jacob, iii. 102. 
 Bigelow, Timothy, ii. 105. 
 Billerica, Mass., i. 73-75, 157; 
 
 ii. 41, 5°. 242. 
 Billings, Robert C, iii. 324. 
 Bingham, Jerusha, ii. 75. 
 Biographical Dictionary, Eliot's, 
 
 i. 112, 121. 
 Biography, American, Bel- 
 knap's, i. 102. 
 Birmingham, England, i. 63, 
 
 64, 67. 
 Blagden, George W., quoted on 
 
 Noah Worcester, ii. 37, 38. 
 Bliss, Daniel, ii. 172. 
 Blodgett, James, ii. 94. 
 Bolton, Mass., ii. 65, 66, 280; 
 
 iii. 209, 270, 359. 
 Bonaparte, Napoleon, ii. 18, 121. 
 Booth, Edwin, iii. 124. 
 Boscawen, N.H., ii. 33. 
 Boston, Mass., iii. 10, 13, 15, 
 16/41, 49, 69,99, 109, 113, 
 120, 133, 149,197,235,275, 
 365, 370, 376. 
 Association of Ministers, iii. 
 
 15, 35, 284, 338. 
 Bowdoin School, iii. 41. 
 Boylston Grammar School, 
 
 iii. 324. 
 Bumstead Place, iii. 141, 143. 
 Bunker Hill Grammar School 
 
 (Charlestown), iii. 191. 
 Chauncy Hall School, iii. 
 
 103. 
 Churches : 
 Arlington Street Church, 
 iii. 144, 166, 367, 370. See 
 Federal Street Church. 
 
INDEX 
 
 249 
 
 Churches: 
 
 Barnard Memorial, iii. 12- 
 14. 
 
 Benevolent Fraternity of 
 Churches, ii. 105, 107, 
 ill, 117; iii. 140, 144, 
 215, 284. 
 
 Brattle Street Church, i. 31, 
 91, 98, 118; ii. 77, 120, 
 137, 140, 146, 149, 186; 
 iii. 225, 228. 
 
 Bulfinch Place Chapel, ii. 
 108. 
 
 Christ Church of Dorches- 
 ter, iii. 16. 
 
 Christian Unity Society, 
 iii. 36. 
 
 Church of the Disciples, iii. 
 
 69, 70, 75- 
 Church of Our Father 
 
 (East Boston), iii. 35, 
 
 79, 213. 
 Church of the Redeemer, 
 
 iii. 35. 
 Church of the Saviour, ii. 
 
 112. 
 Church of the Unity (Ne- 
 
 ponset), iii. 109. 
 Federal Street Church, i. 
 
 101, 104; ii. 120; iii. 91, 
 
 139, 144, 198, 299. See 
 
 Arlington Street Church. 
 First Church, i. 4, 20-34; 
 
 ii. 66, 215; iii. 103, 241, 
 
 284. 
 First Congregational So- 
 ciety of Jamaica Plain, 
 
 iii. 2, 7..32S- 
 First Parish of Brighton, 
 
 iii. 382. 
 First Parish in Dorchester, 
 
 i. 208; iii. I54-I57- 
 First Parish, West Rox- 
 
 bury, iii. 2, 280, 283, 284, 
 
 3 8 5- „ . . 
 
 First Religious Society in 
 
 Roxbury, i. 181; iii. 310, 
 
 315,317,320. 
 
 Churches'. 
 
 Friend Street Chapel, ii. 
 108; iii. 12. 
 
 Hanover Street Bethel, ii. 
 109. 
 
 Harrison Square Church, 
 iii. 36, 49, 187. 
 
 Harvard Church (Charles- 
 town), iii. 100, 102. 
 
 Hawes Society, ii. 67; iii. 
 16, 38. 
 
 Hollis Street Church, i. 88, 
 92, 200; ii. 187-189; iii. 
 
 34, 35- 81, 192, 193. 196, 
 
 197, 199, 201, 282, 355. 
 King's Chapel, ii. 2, 3, 5, 8, 
 
 10, 16-19; iii. 92, 1 13— 
 
 116, 239, 248, 296, 299, 
 
 300, 3 14. 
 Maverick Church (East 
 
 Boston), iii. 81. 
 New North Church, i. 109, 
 
 115; 117-119, 121; iii. 
 
 129. 
 New South Church, ii. 12, 
 
 66, 76, 81, 145; iii. 88, 
 
 103. 
 New South Free Church, ii. 
 
 in. 
 Norfolk Street Church 
 
 (Dorchester), iii. 36. 
 Old South Church, i. 98; 
 
 .ii- 3, 17, 77, 90. 
 Pitts Street Chapel, ii. 106, 
 
 108, 112. 
 Purchase Street Church, 
 
 iii. 330, 331, 335. 
 Second Church, i. 93 ; ii. 224, 
 
 227-233; iii. 335-339- 
 South Congregational 
 
 Church, ii. 211; iii. 259- 
 
 261, 371. 
 Suffolk Chapel, ii. 107, 109. 
 Third Religious Society in 
 
 Dorchester, iii. 265. 
 Thirteenth Congregational 
 
 Society. See Purchase 
 
 Street Church. 
 
2 SO 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Churches: 
 
 Trinity Church, i. 36. 
 
 Twelfth Congregational 
 Church, ii. 81, 240. 
 
 Twenty-eighth Congrega- 
 tional Society, iii. 284, 
 
 374, 375- . 
 
 Universalist Church 
 (Charlestown), iii. 191. 
 
 West Church, i. 2, 4, 9, 
 
 34-48; ii. 200; iii. 18, 21, 
 
 22. 
 
 English High School, iii. 324. 
 
 Freeman Place, iii. 70. 
 
 Latin School, i. 32, 149; ii. I, 
 
 77,81,97, 173,215; iii. 41, 
 
 61, 81, 120, 133, 236, 266, 
 
 336,370. 
 Lowell Institute, iii. 361. 
 Masonic Temple, iii. 283. 
 Melodeon, iii. 284. 
 Ministry-at-large, ii. 17, 104- 
 
 117, 179, 225, 240; iii. 14, 
 
 21, 140. 
 Music Hall, iii. 190, 284, 
 
 385. 
 North Grammar School, i. 
 
 109, 149. 
 Provident Institution for Sav- 
 ings, iii. 300. 
 Public Library, iii. 18. 
 Thursday Lecture, i. 36, 37, 
 
 45, 227; iii. 284. 
 
 Bowditch, Nathaniel, ii. 82. 
 
 Bowdoin College, i. 75, 119, 137, 
 
 214; ii. 52, 91, IOO, 102, 159, 
 
 193,207; iii. 17,38, 105, 131, 
 
 174, 265, 297, 301, 358, 373, 
 
 3 8 °- 
 Bowdoin, James, i. 41, 212; ii. 
 
 140. 
 Bowen, Charles James, ii. 279; 
 
 iii. 132. 
 Bowers, Samuel, ii. 246. 
 Bowers, Sarah, ii. 246. 
 Bowes, Elizabeth, ii. 44. 
 Bowes, Nicholas, ii. 44. 
 Bowman, Joseph, i. 23, 24. 
 
 Boxboro, Mass., ii. 159. 
 Boxford, Mass., i. 79, 80; iii. 
 
 270. 
 Boylston, Mass., i. 206. 
 Bradford, Mass., i. 131, 141, 
 
 142. 
 Bradford, Abigail, i. 199. 
 Bradford Academy, ii. 189. 
 Bradford, Alden, i. 4. 
 Bradford, Alden, i. 199. 
 Bradford, Elizabeth, i. 199. 
 Bradford, Gamaliel, ii. 175. 
 Bradford, Jerusha, i. 2. 
 Bradford, Job, i. 199. 
 Bradford, Samuel, i. 2. 
 Bradford, Sarah Alden, ii. 175. 
 Bradford, William, i. 2, 199. 
 Bradlee, Caleb Davis, iii. 34-36, 
 
 80, 201. 
 Bradlee, Samuel, iii. 35. 
 Bradley, Caleb, i. 85. 
 Bradley, William C, iii. 258. 
 Bradstreet, Simon, i. 1. 
 Braintree, Mass., i. 9, 37, 109. 
 Brandon, Vt., iii. 128. 
 Brattle Street Church, Boston, 
 i. 31, 91, 98, 118; ii. 77, 120, 
 137, 140, 146, 149, 186; iii. 
 225, 228. 
 Brattleboro, Vt., i. 68; ii. 260; 
 
 iii- 33, 55,258,259,340. 
 Brazer, John, i. 138-140. 
 Breck, Robert, ii. 264. 
 Briant, Lemuel, i. 9; i. 2, 37. 
 Bridge, Asarelah Morse, iii. 206. 
 Bridge, Ebenezer, i. 75. 
 Bridge, Sarah, i. 75. 
 Bridge, William Frederick, iii. 
 
 206. 
 Bridgewater, Mass., i. 46, 81, 
 123; ii. 175,210, 242; iii. ill, 
 202, 303, 363. 
 Bridgewater Academy, i. 127; 
 
 ii. 242; iii. 202. 
 Bridgewater, East, Mass., i. 75, 
 
 126, 157; ii. 242. 
 Bridgewater, North, Mass., i. 
 80, 181. See Brockton. 
 
INDEX 
 
 2 S I 
 
 Bridgewater, West, Mass., i. 125; 
 
 iii. 171. 
 Bridgton Academy, iii. 358. 
 Briggs, Charles, iii. 215; iii. 52. 
 Briggs, George Ware, iii. 37-40; 
 
 ii. 71, 72. 
 Briggs, Margaret, i. 7J ; _ 
 Briggs, Sally Palmer, iii. 37. 
 Briggs, William, iii. 37. 
 Brigham, Charles Henry, iii. 
 
 4 I- 45' 
 
 Brigham, Dennis, iii. 41. 
 Brigham, Roxa Fay, iii. 41. 
 Brighton, Mass., ii. 36, 37, 164. 
 Bristol, R.I., iii. 323. 
 Bristol Academy, i. 189, 193. 
 British and Foreign Unitarian 
 
 Association, iii. 34. 
 Brockton, Mass., i. 181; iii. 
 
 ill. 
 Bromfield, Henry, ii. 70. 
 Bromsgrove, England, i. 65, 67. 
 Brook Farm, iii. 276, 331-335. 
 Brookfield, Mass., i. 144; ii. 170, 
 
 176, 217; iii. 183, 270. 
 Brookline, Mass., i. 223, 238; 
 
 ii. 250; iii. 33, 36, 147, 158, 
 
 1 59. 210. 
 Brooklyn, Conn., ii. 168, 170; 
 
 iii. 236, 237, 241, 359. 
 Brooklyn, N.Y., ii. 280; iii. 41. 
 
 Athenseum, iii. 219. 
 
 First Unitarian Congrega- 
 tional Society, iii. 109-m. 
 
 Second Unitarian Congrega- 
 tional Society, iii. 219, 221- 
 223. 
 
 Third Unitarian Congrega- 
 tional Society, iii. 57. 
 Brooks, Ann Gorham, i. 32; iii. 
 
 120. 
 Brooks, Charles, ii. 49. 
 Brooks, Charles Timothy, iii. 
 
 46-48, 82. 
 Brooks, Edward, iii. 150. 
 Brooks, Eleazar, i. 167. 
 Brooks, Elizabeth, iii. 50. 
 Brooks, Henry, iii. 46. 
 
 Brooks, Joanna Cotton, iii. 150, 
 
 J S4- 
 
 Brooks, John, iii. 50. 
 
 Brooks, Peter Chardon, i. 32; 
 
 iii. 120. 
 Brooks, Phillips, iii. 72, 108, 252. 
 Brooks, Timothy, iii. 46. 
 Brooksville, Me., iii. 373. 
 Brown, Addison, iii. 340. 
 Brown, Clark, ii. 30. 
 Brown, Elijah, i. 175; ii. 40. 
 Brown, Hannah, ii. 31. 
 Brown, Howard N., iii. 167. 
 Brown, James F., iii. 157. 
 Brown, John, i. 2, 5, 11. 
 Brown, John, i. 119, 120; iii. 
 
 145, 220, 286. 
 Brown, John Stillman, iii. 276, 
 
 277. 
 Brown, Joseph T., iii. 37. 
 Brown, Marcia, iii. 277. 
 Brown, Moses, i. 102. 
 Brown University, i. 124, 126, 
 
 132, 144, 188, 189, 192, 239; 
 
 ii. 76, 154, 175,210,279,293; 
 
 111. 15, 16, 37, 55, 153, 215, 
 
 250, 325, 359, 388- 
 Brown, William, iii. 37. 
 Browne, Edwin C. L., ii. 280. 
 Brunswick, Me., iii. 105, 149. 
 Bryant, William Cullen, quoted 
 
 on Jeremy Belknap, i. 102. 
 Buckingham, Edgar, ii. 94. 
 Buckminster, Joseph, ii. 77, 78, 
 
 87, 134, 160, 163; iii. 293. 
 Buckminster, Joseph Stevens, ii. 
 
 I.34-IS3; i- 29, 91, 103, 226; 
 
 iii. 224. 
 Buckminster, Mary L., iii. 224. 
 Bucknell University, iii. 55. 
 Buffalo, N.Y., iii. 174-177, 179, 
 
 258, 276. 
 Bulfinch, Charles, iii. 49. 
 Bulfinch Place Chapel, Boston. 
 
 ii. 108. 
 Bulfinch, Stephen Greenleaf, iii. 
 
 49. 50. 
 Bulfinch, Susan, ii. 11. 
 
252 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Bulfinch, Thomas, ii. 19. 
 Burleigh, Charles C, iii. 246. 
 Burlington, Mass., ii. 219. 
 Burlington, Vt., i. 119, 201, 
 202; ii. 259, 261, 262; iii. 55, 
 
 37 1 - 
 Burnap, George Washington, iii. 
 
 SO-54- 
 Burnap, Jacob, iii. 50. 
 Burnet, Thomas, i. 120. 
 Burnet, William, i. I. 
 Burns, Anthony, iii. 190, 285, 
 
 286,375. 
 Burnside, Ambrose E., iii. 389, 
 
 390. 
 Burr, Rushton Dashwood, ii. 
 
 217. 
 Burt, William S., iii. 349. 
 Burton, Elizabeth J., ii. 217. 
 Burton, Jonathan, ii. 217. 
 Burton, Warren, ii. 106. 
 Bush, Solon Wanton, iii. 55, 56. 
 Bushnell, Horace, iii. 19. 
 Butler, Caleb, ii. 219. 
 Butler, Ellery C, iii. 390. 
 Buttrick, Eliza Wheeler, iii. 274. 
 Buttrick, John, iii. 384. 
 Buttrick, Martha A., iii. 384. 
 Buxton, Warren, ii. 240. 
 Byard, Rachel L., ii. 212. 
 Byfield, Mass., i. 82; ii. 55. 
 Byfield Academy, iii. 297. 
 Byles, Mather, i. 98. 
 
 Cabot, Eliza Lee, ii. 286, 289. 
 Cabot, Elizabeth, ii. 80. 
 Cabot, George, ii. 80, 89. 
 Cabot, Lydia, iii. 280. 
 Cabot, Samuel, i. 113; ii. 386. 
 Cabot, Sarah, i. 1 13; ii. 286. 
 Calais, Me., i. 75. 
 Calcutta, India, iii. 83. 
 Calhoun, William B., quoted on 
 W. B. 0. Peabody, ii. 268-270. 
 California, University of, iii. 
 
 35i,352- _ ... 
 
 Calthrop, Samuel R., 111. 247. 
 Calvert, Leonard, iii. 54. 
 
 Cambridge, Mass., iii. 7, 38, 49, 
 120,128, 129, 138, 139,158, 
 213, 270, 348, 364, 388. 
 Allen Street Church, iii. 35. 
 Craigie House, iii. 24, 216. 
 First Parish, i. 4; ii. 16, 40; iii. 
 
 266, 269. 
 Lee Street Church, iii. 387. 
 Shepard Congregational So- 
 ciety, iii. 267. 
 Third Congregational Society, 
 ii. 16; iii. 38, 365. 
 Cambridge, Mass. See also 
 Harvard College, Harvard 
 Divinity School. 
 Cambridge, East, Mass., ii. 106, 
 
 260; iii. 40, 49, 109. 
 
 Cambridge, North, Mass.,iii. 109. 
 
 Cambridge, West, Mass., ii. 200, 
 
 201, 251; iii. 218. See also 
 
 Arlington. 
 
 Camp, Stephen Henry, iii. 57, 
 
 58, 132. 
 Campton, N.H., ii. 33. 
 Canfield, Charles T., iii. 132. 
 Canterbury, Conn., i. 201. 
 Canton, Mass., ii. 181, 182; iii. 
 
 149, 179- 
 
 Capen, John, ii. 66. 
 
 Capen, Lemuel, ii. 66, 67; i. 
 212; ii. 65. 
 
 Capen, Patience, ii. 66. 
 
 Carlyle, Thomas, quoted on 
 Frederic H. Hedge, iii. 160. 
 
 Carpenter, Ezra, i. 6, 19. 
 
 Carter, James C, iii. 345. 
 
 Carver, John, ii. 175. 
 
 Cary, Samuel, ii. 10, 11. 
 
 Cary, Sarah, ii. 104. 
 
 Castine, Me., ii. 52, 96; iii. 362. 
 
 Cazenovia, N.Y., iii. 355. 
 
 Chadwick, John White, iii. 7, 
 75, 127, 138, 167, 190, 221, 
 223, 287; quoted on Octavius 
 B. Frothingham, iii. 123; on 
 William H. Furness, iii. 13.6; 
 on William J. Potter, iii. 307, 
 308. 
 
INDEX 
 
 253 
 
 Chandler, John, ii. 25. 
 Chandler, Lucretia, ii. 25. 
 Chaney, George L., iii. 201, 
 
 37 °- 
 Charming Centennial, 111. 64. 
 
 Channing, Francis Dana, iii. 
 
 59, 6 °- 
 Channing, George G., iii. ill. 
 Channing, Henry, ii. 62, 118, 
 
 120. 
 
 Channing, Lucy E., ii. 118. 
 Channing, Susan Higginson, iii. 
 
 59- 
 Channing, Walter, iii. 60. 
 
 Channing, William, ii. 118. 
 
 Channing, William Ellery, ii. 
 118-133; i. 21, in, 113, 133, 
 137, 138; ii. 38, 77,_ 8i, 87, 
 115, 169, 180, 290; iii. 20, 21, 
 26, 27, 31, 33, 34, 46, 48, 60, 
 62,65,66,86,91,95,111,129, 
 139, 140, 142, 148, 153, 163, 
 216, 239, 240, 241, 242, 260, 
 264, 292, 314', 331, 341, 361, 
 
 375. 384- 
 Channing, William Ellery, iii. 
 
 60. 
 
 Channing, William Francis, iii. 
 
 60. 
 Channing, William Henry, iii. 
 
 59-66; iii. 34, 68, 125, 127, 
 
 132,331. 
 Chapin, Edwin H., iii. 192, 193. 
 Chaplains in the Civil War, iii. 
 
 130-133- 
 Charlemont, Mass., ii. 93; iii. 
 
 362. 
 Charleston, S.C., i. 191, 209, 
 
 215, 216; ii. 227, 260, 275- 
 
 280; iii. 49, 259. _ 
 Charlestown, Mass., i. 1 , 84, 201 , 
 
 205, 207; ii. 1, 107, 189, 199, 
 
 218-222; iii. 87, 117, 191. 
 Charlestown, N.H., ii. 157, 158. 
 Chase, Salmon P., iii. 64. 
 Chauncy, Charles, i. 20-34; i. 
 
 4, 94; tribute to Jonathan 
 
 Mayhew, i. 42, 43. 
 
 Chauncy, Charles, second pres- 
 ident of Harvard College, i. 
 20; iii. 344. 
 
 Chauncy Hall School, iii. 103. 
 
 Chauncy, Isaac, i. 20. 
 
 Cheever, George B., i. 135. 
 
 Chelmsford, Mass., i. 75, 81, 82; 
 ii. 55, 164. 
 
 Chelsea, Mass., ii. 103; iii. 11, 
 336. 
 
 Chesterfield, N.H., ii. 259. 
 
 Chestnut Hill, Mass., iii. 388. 
 
 Chicago, 111., ii. 287; iii. 16, 129. 
 Athenaeum, ii. 212. 
 First Unitarian Society, iii. 
 
 198. 
 Historical Society, iii. 16, 17. 
 
 Chicopee, Mass., iii. 275. 
 
 Child, Lydia Maria, i. 158; iii. 
 62, 117. 
 
 Choate, Rufus, iii. 60. 
 
 Chookset, Mass., i. 205, 206. 
 
 Christ Church of Dorchester, iii. 
 16. 
 
 Christian Disciple, ii. 141, 225. 
 
 Christian Examiner, ii. 17, 208, 
 
 209, 251; iii. 4, 7, 13, 21, 30, 
 4°, 43, 45, 48, 54, 56, 66, 86, 
 87, 89,98, 102, 127, 138, 141, 
 153, 159, 167, 174, 182, 201, 
 231, 234, 235, 269, 270, 273, 
 274, 296, 303, 339, 343, 347, 
 357,.375, 380, 390. 
 
 Christian Monitor, ii. 30; iii. 
 
 241. 
 Christian Register, i. 145; ii. 
 
 210, 211, 241; iii. 7, 13, 33, 
 43, 50, 55, 56, 66, 75, 81, 
 87, 89, 98, 101, 102, 104, 116, 
 127, 138, 147, 153, 167, 174, 
 201, 209, 212, 223, 228, 232, 
 238, 249, 253, 257, 259, 265, 
 274, 296, 300, 323, 329, 331, 
 337, 339, 347, 352, 354, 357, 
 375, 380, 383, 387, 388. 
 
 Christian Unity Society, Bos- 
 ton, iii. 36. 
 Church, Benjamin, i. 51. 
 
254 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Church, Selden, ii. 32, 33. 
 
 Church of the Disciples, Boston, 
 iii. 69, 70, 75. 
 
 Church of Our Father, East 
 Boston, iii. 35, 79-81, 213. 
 
 Church of the Messiah, St. 
 Louis, iii. 91-93, 95, 96, 179- 
 
 Church of the Redeemer, Bos- 
 ton, iii. 35. 
 
 Church of the Saviour, Boston, 
 ii. 112. 
 
 Church of the Unity, Neponset, 
 iii. 109. 
 
 Church of the Unity, St. Louis, 
 
 .iii-. 97- 
 
 Cincinnati, Ohio, ii. 182; iii. 18, 
 61,91, 114, 151, 210, 298-300. 
 
 Civil Service Reform Associa- 
 tion, iii. 27, 34. 
 
 Civil War, i. 224; iii. 9, 13, 27, 
 64, 68, 69, 80, 93, 97, 98, 116, 
 132, 137, 169, 175, 198, 214, 
 230, 246,254,346,388. 
 
 Clapp, Dexter, i. 158; i. 157. 
 
 Clapp, Elizabeth, iii. 354. 
 
 Clapp, Jerusha, iii. 308. 
 
 Clapp, Maria Elizabeth, iii. 339. 
 
 Clapp, Theodore, ii. 272, 273. 
 
 Clark, Elizabeth, i. 42. 
 
 Clark, George Faber, iii. 362. 
 
 Clark, John, i. 42. 
 
 Clark, Jonas, ii. 43, 52, 223. 
 
 Clark, Mary, ii. 43, 223. 
 
 Clark, Peter, i. 132. 
 
 Clark, Samuel, i. 30. 
 
 Clarke, Edward H., iii. 22, 370. 
 
 Clarke, Frances Mary, iii. 168. 
 
 Clarke, Hugh Hamilton, iii. 168. 
 
 Clarke, James Freeman, iii. 6j- 
 75; ii. 19, 173; iii. 61,66, 91, 
 98, 129, 147, 249, 257, 284, 
 330, 331; quoted on William 
 G. Eliot, iii. 90; on Frederic 
 Huidekoper, iii. 181. 
 
 Clarke, John, i. 24. 
 
 Clarke, John, i. 24-28, 55, 94, 
 107. 
 
 Clarke, Samuel, ii. 9. 
 
 Clarke, Samuel, i. 238; ii. 65; 
 iii. 361, 362. 
 
 Clarke, Samuel, ii. 5, 13. 
 
 Clarke, Sarah, i. 24. 
 
 Cleaveland, John, i. 39, 48. 
 
 Cleveland, Ohio, ii. 212; iii. 179. 
 
 Clinton, Mass., iii. 213. 
 
 Cobbe, Frances Power, iii. 278. 
 
 Cochran, Thomas, i. 82. 
 
 Cockermouth, N.H. See He- 
 bron. 
 
 Codman, John, ii. 131. 
 
 Coffin, Lucretia Flagge, iii. 248. 
 
 Coffin, Peter, iii. 248. 
 
 Coffin, William, ii. 167. 
 
 Cohasset, Mass., i. 2, 5,9, 11,35, 
 157; iii. 209. 
 
 Coit, William, i. 204. 
 
 Colby Academy, iii. 183. 
 
 Cole, Jonathan, i. 140. 
 
 Coleridge, Samuel T., ii. 121. 
 
 Collins, Elizabeth, ii. 185. 
 
 Collyer, Robert, iii. 20. 
 
 Colman, Henry, i. 135; ii. 11. 
 250. 
 
 Columbian College, iii. 90. 
 
 Conant, Augustus Hammond, 
 iii. 128-130. 
 
 Conant, Ebenezer, iii. 128. 
 
 Conant, Fanny Clifford, iii. 128. 
 
 Concord, Mass., i. 160, 167— 
 
 171, 173, 174; ii- 172, 174, 
 179; iii. 109, 128, 175, 325, 
 326, 328, 329,362, 374, 388. 
 
 Concord, N.H., i. 101; ii. in; 
 iii. 265, 387, 388, 390. 
 
 Cone, Salmon, ii. 62. 
 
 Convers, Lydia, iii. 117. 
 
 Conway, Moncure D., iii. 131. 
 
 Cooke, George Willis, iii. 126, 
 
 345- 
 Coolidge, James I. T., iii. 324. 
 Cooper, Samuel, i. 25, 41, 181. 
 Cooperstown, N.Y., iii. 24. 
 Copeland, William E., iii. 133. 
 Cordner, John, iii. 75-77. 
 Cotton, John, ii. 64; iii. 150. 
 Cotton, Sally, ii. 217. 
 
INDEX 
 
 255 
 
 Cotton, Ward, ii. 217. 
 
 Coventry, Conn., ii. 52-56, 58. 
 
 Cowdry, Jonathan, i. 166. 
 
 Cowdry, Susannah, i. 166. 
 
 Craft, Ellen, iii. 285. 
 
 Craft, William, iii. 285. 
 
 Craigie House, iii. 24, 216. 
 
 Cranch, Abby A., iii. 91. 
 
 Cranch, Christopher P., iii. 61, 
 124. 
 
 Cranch, Richard, i. 109. 
 
 Cranch, William, iii. 92. 
 
 Crandall, Prudence, iii. 242. 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, quoted, iii. 3 1 . 
 
 Crosby, Anne, ii. 156. 
 
 Crosby, Elizabeth H., ii. 246. 
 
 Crosby, Jaazaniah, ii. 156— 
 158; quoted on Andrews Nor- 
 ton, ii. 195-197. 
 
 Crosby, Josiah, ii. 246. 
 
 Crosby, Symon, ii. 156. 
 
 Crosby, William, iii. 148. 
 
 Cruft, Samuel Breck, ii. 106, 
 107. 
 
 Cuckson, John, ii. 74. 
 
 Cudworth, Angeline C, iii. 78. 
 
 Cudworth, Angeline M., iii. 78. 
 
 Cudworth, James, iii. 78. 
 
 Cudworth, Warren, iii. 78. 
 
 Cudworth, Warren Handel, iii. 
 78-81; iii. 35. I32- 
 
 Cumberland, N.S., i. 42. 
 
 Cumberland, R.I., ii. 297. 
 
 Cumming, Alexander, i. 108. 
 
 Cummings, Gilbert, iii. 132. 
 
 Cummings, Henry, i. 73—85; ii. 
 
 5 1 - 
 
 Cummins, Maria, iii. 157. 
 
 Curtis, Benjamin R., iii. 339. 
 Curtis, George William, iii. 28, 
 
 123, 163, 245. _ 
 Cushing, Abel, i. II. 
 Cushing, Caleb, iii. 239. 
 Cushing, Charles C, iii. 344. 
 Cushing, Deborah, i. II. 
 Cushing, Elijah, i. II. 
 Cushing, Elizabeth, _i. II. 
 Cushing, Jonathan, i. 99. 
 
 Cushing, Mary, i. II. 
 Cushing, William, iii. 7. 
 Cutler, Manasseh, ii. 279. 
 Cutler, Rufus Putnam, ii. 279, 
 
 280; iii. 198. 
 Cutler, Temple, ii. 279. 
 
 Dabney, Charles W., iii. 217. 
 Daggett, Naphtali, i. 125. 
 Dall, Charles Henry Appleton, 
 
 iii. 81-83; »■ 245. 
 Dall, Sarah, iii. 81. 
 Dall, William, iii. 81. 
 Damon, Aaron, ii. 199. 
 Damon, David, ii. 199-202; i. 
 
 83, 85; ii. 65. 
 Damon, Rachel G., ii. 199. 
 Damon, Thomas, ii. 199. 
 Dana, Charles A., iii. 332. 
 Dana, Daniel, iii. 270. 
 Dana, Richard Henry, iii. 59. 
 Dana, Sophia Willard, iii. 334. 
 Danvers, Mass., i. 132; iii. 213, 
 
 2IS- 
 Dartmouth, Mass., i. 49. 
 Dartmouth College, i. 82, 89, 
 
 I3S; ii- 35. 4i, 181; iii. 276, 
 361. 
 Dartmouth, North, Mass., iii. 
 
 3°3- 
 Darwin, Charles, iii. 172. 
 Darwin, Erasmus, iii. 172. 
 Davenport, la., iii. 184. 
 Daventry Academy, i. 60, 64. 
 Davis, Caleb, iii. 34. 
 Davis, Horace, iii. 352. 
 Davis, John, ii. 73, 89; quoted 
 
 on John Pierce, i. 228. 
 Davis, John, ii. 25. 
 Davis, Thomas A., i. 238. 
 Dedham, Mass., i. I, 89, 109, 
 
 122, 157, 160; ii. 207; iii. 1, 
 
 218, 250. 
 Dedham, West, Mass. Sue 
 
 Westwood. 
 Deerfield, Mass., i. 75, 135; ii. 
 
 91-94, 164; iii. 254. 
 Degerando, Baron, ii. 106, 117. 
 
256 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Denegri, Gaspard, i. 47. 
 
 De Normandie, James, iii. 40. 
 
 Derby Academy, i. 12; ii. 193. 
 
 Derby, Elias Hasket, i. 134. 
 
 Derby, John, ii. 202. 
 
 Derby, Mary Jane, iii. 298. 
 
 Derby, Rebekah, ii. 202. 
 
 Derby, Sarah, ii. 202. 
 
 Deny, N.H., ii. 51. 
 
 Des Moines, la., iii. 184. 
 
 Desor, Edouard, iii. 286. 
 
 Detroit, Mich., ii. 212; iii. 183, 
 251, 265. 
 
 Dewey, Mary E., iii. 89. 
 
 Dewey, Orville, iii. 84-89; i. 59; 
 ii. 117; iii. 22, 25, 38, 192, 193, 
 304, 385; quoted on William 
 E. Channing, ii. 124-128; on 
 William Ware, ii. 257, 258. 
 
 Dewey, Paul, iii. 84. 
 
 Dexter, Catherine, iii. 116. 
 
 Dexter, Samuel, i. 180; ii. 139, 
 194. 
 
 Dial, 111. 46, 65, 282, 334, 335. 
 
 Diman, James, i. 149. 
 
 Dix, Dorothea L., i. 208; iii. 12. 
 
 Dix, Elijah, i. 208. 
 
 Dix, Mary, i. 208. 
 
 Doddridge, Philip, i. 64, 66. 
 
 Doggett, Simeon, i. 188-193; 
 iii. 45. 
 
 Doggett, Theophilus P., i. 193. 
 
 Dorby, Jonathan, i. 6, 19. 
 
 Dorchester, Mass., i. 223; iii. 
 
 13. 353, 354- . 
 Douglass, Frederick, iii. 246. 
 Dover, Mass., i. 123, 202; ii. 
 
 243. 
 Dover, N.H., i. 98, 108, no; 
 
 ii. 94; iii. 224. 
 Dow, Daniel, ii. 62, 63. 
 Dow, Elizabeth, iii. 206. 
 Dow, Jeremiah, iii. 206. 
 Downing, George, i. 146. 
 Dowse, Abba, iii. 336. 
 Dublin, N.H., ii. 56; iii. 97, 
 
 202-206, 362. 
 Dublois, George, i. 157; ii. 181. 
 
 Dublois, Lydia, i. 157. 
 
 Dublois, Rebecca, ii. 181. 
 
 Dublois, Sarah, i. 157; ii. 181. 
 
 Dummer Academy, i. 82; ii. 55. 
 
 Dunbar, Elijah, i. 85. 
 
 Durham, N.H., iii. 256. 
 
 Dutton, Warren, ii. 16. 
 
 Duxbury, Mass., i. 2, 59, 86, 
 122, 123, 194, 195; ii. 217, 
 240; iii. 118, 128, 209, 309. 
 
 Duxbury Academy, iii. 309. 
 
 Dwight, George, iii. 348. 
 
 Dwight, John Sullivan, iii. 100, 
 
 331,335. 344, 345- 
 Dwight, Jonathan, ii. 265. 
 Dwight, Lucinda, ii. 265. 
 Dwight, Timothy, i. 92. 
 
 East Pittston, Me., i. 119. 
 Eastham, Mass., ii. 1. 
 Easthampton, Mass., ii. 272. 
 Easton, Mass., ii. 210. 
 Eastport, Me., ii. 105, 215, 240; 
 
 iii. 197, 359. 
 Eaton, Dorman B., iii. 28. 
 Eaton, Joseph, i. 78. 
 Eaton, Peter, i. 78-80; i. 76. 
 Eaton, Sarah, i. 78. 
 Eckley, Joseph, i. 97; ii. 17. 
 Edes, Edward H., ii. 245. 
 Edes, Henry, iii. 151; i. 121. 
 Edes, Henry F., iii. 102. 
 Edes, Henry H., iii. 116. 
 Edes, Richard Sullivan, iii. 359. 
 Edgartown, Mass., i. 17, 18. 
 Edinburgh, University of, i. 21, 
 
 45, 46, 62, 94, no, 132. 
 Edwards, Jonathan, i. 27, 54, 
 
 58, 59; ii. 20. 
 East India Marine Society, i. 
 
 153- 
 
 Effingham, N.H., i. 173. 
 
 Eliot, Me., i. 81. 
 
 Eliot, Andrew, i. 109, 132, 141. 
 
 Eliot, Catharine, ii. 195. 
 
 Eliot, Charles, ii. 104. 
 
 Eliot, Charles W., iii. 302, 328. 
 
 Eliot, Charlotte, iii. 98. 
 
INDEX 
 
 257 
 
 Eliot, Eliza, iii. 147. 
 Eliot, Elizabeth Langdon, i. 109. 
 Eliot, Frances A., iii. 114. 
 Eliot, John (Apostle), iii. 288, 
 
 291. 
 Eliot, John, i. 109-121; i. 94, 
 
 97, 103; ii. 13, 18, 19; iii. 
 
 239; quoted on Charles 
 
 Chauncy, i. 27-30. 
 Eliot, Margaret Dawes, iii. 90. 
 Eliot, Ruth, i. 99. 
 Eliot, Samuel, ii. 149, 150, 195. 
 Eliot, Samuel A., iii. 114, 239, 
 
 302. 
 Eliot Seminary, iii. 93. 
 Eliot, William Greenleaf, iii. 90. 
 Eliot, William Greenleaf iii. 90- 
 
 98; iii. 68. 82. 
 Ellery, William, ii. 118. 
 Ellis, Arthur B., iii. 104. 
 Ellis, Calvin, iii. 22. 
 Ellis, George Edward, iii. 99- 
 
 102; ii. 82; iii. 7, 127, 174. 
 Ellis, Rufus, iii. 103, 104; iii. 
 
 35, 339, 34°,. 343- 
 Emerson, Daniel, i. 73, 74; ii. 
 
 Emerson, Ellen, ii. 232, 233. 
 Emerson, George B., ii. 17; iii. 
 
 61, 239, 248. 
 Emerson, Joseph, i. 28. 
 Emerson, Phoebe, i. 162; ii. 172. 
 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, ii. 227- 
 
 233; ii. 147; iii. 20, 21, 22, 
 
 62, 66, 108, 129, 133, 142, 
 160, 161, 162, 185, 186, 196, 
 208, 224, 226, 245, 246, 260, 
 281, 326, 330, 337, 345 ; 
 quoted on William Emerson, 
 i. 29, 30; on Ezra Ripley, i. 
 163-168; on Samuel Ripley, 
 ii. 177, 178. 
 
 Emerson, William, i. 28. 
 
 Emerson, William, i. 28-30, 162, 
 174; ii. 66, 70, 140, 172, 
 173, 239; quoted on Charles 
 Chauncy, i. 31—33. 
 
 Emery, John Abbot, ii. 271. 
 
 Enfield, William, i. 64. 
 English, George Bethune, ii. 
 
 148, 149. 
 Essex Institute, i. 146, 150; iii. 
 
 17, 386. 
 Estabrook, Experience, ii. 32, 
 
 33- 
 Everett, Alexander H., ii. 260. 
 Everett, Charles Carroll, iii. 
 105-108; iii. 6, 167; quoted 
 on Joseph Priestley, i. 67, 
 68. 
 Everett, Edward, ii. 145-150; 
 i. 31, 32, 153; ii. 204, 277; 
 iii. 13, 123, 157, 225; quoted 
 on Joseph Buckminster, ii. 
 145-149. 
 Everett, Moses, i. 212. 
 Everett, Oliver, ii. 145. 
 Everett, Oliver Capen, ii. 107, 
 
 108; iii. 157. 
 Everett, William, iii. 201. 
 Exeter, N.H., i. 101; ii. 215, 
 259, 260, 263, 274; iii. 97, 
 203, 206. 
 Phillips Academy, i. 137, 173, 
 213; ii. 51,64,90,91, 134, 
 135,156, 165,203,215,219, 
 224, 242, 243, 263; iii. 197, 
 210, 228, 256, 276, 297, 349, 
 352,362,387. 
 
 Fairbanks, Jason, i. 212. 
 Fairchild, Edwin M., iii. 132. 
 Fairchild, Helen L., ii. 63. 
 Fairfield, John, ii. 216. 
 Fairfield, John, ii. 244. 
 Fairfield, Lucia G., ii. 216. 
 Fairfield, Martha H., ii. 216. 
 Fairfield, Mary, ii. 244. 
 Fairhaven, Mass., i. 49. 
 Fall River, Mass., i. 119; iii. 
 
 37,38,218,365. 
 Farley, Charles Andrews, iii. 
 
 197; iii. 109. 
 Farley, Eben, iii. 109, 112. 
 Farley, Frederick Augustus, iii. 
 
 109-112; iii. 37. 
 
258 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Farley, Lydia, iii. 109. 
 
 Farmington, Me., ii. 240. 
 
 Farnham, Louisa, iii. 86. 
 
 Farnham, William, iii. 86. 
 
 Faulkner, Charles, iii. 22. 
 
 Fay, Eli, iii. 355. 
 
 Federal Street Church, Boston, 
 i. 101, 104; ii. 120; iii. 91, 
 139, 144, 198, 299. Stt Ar- 
 lington Street Church. 
 
 Felton, Cornelius C, iii. 331. 
 
 Ferry, Benjamin, ii. 216. 
 
 Ferry, Charles Brace, ii. 216. 
 
 Ferry, Hannah S., ii. 216. 
 
 Fessenden, John, ii. 94. 
 
 Field, Joseph, iii. 341; i. 178. 
 
 Fields, James T., iii. 22. 
 
 First Church in Boston, i. 4, 
 20-34; "• 66; iii. 103, 241, 
 284. 
 
 First Church in Portland, Me., 
 ii. 100; iii. 171, 173, 350, 
 
 _352- 
 First Church, Salem, i. no, 131, 
 
 141-148; iii. 38, 39, 359. 
 First Congregational Church, 
 
 Providence, iii. 151—153. 
 First Congregational Society 
 
 of Jamaica Plain, iii. 2, 7, 
 
 First Parish in Brighton, iii. 
 382. 
 
 First Parish in Dorchester, i. 
 208; iii. 154,157- 
 
 First Parish, Cambridge, i. 4; 
 ii. 16, 40; iii. 266, 269. 
 
 First Parish, Hingham, i. 1; 
 ii. 40-42, 223; iii. 357. 
 
 First Parish, West Roxbury, 
 iii. 2, 280-284, 385. 
 
 First Religious Society in Rox- 
 bury, i. 181; iii. 310, 315, 
 317, 320, 323. 
 
 First Unitarian Church (All 
 Souls), New York, ii. 250, 287; 
 iii. 25, 33. 
 
 First Unitarian Church, Phila- 
 delphia, i. 65; iii. 134. *37- 
 
 First Unitarian Church, San 
 Francisco, iii. 196, 197, 350- 
 
 .352- 
 
 First Unitarian Congregational 
 Society, Brooklyn, iii. 109- 
 III. 
 
 First Unitarian Society, Chi- 
 cago, iii. 198. 
 
 First Unitarian Society, Lowell, 
 iii. 15-17. 
 
 Fisher, Ebenezer, i. 200. 
 
 Fiske, Abel, ii. 53. 
 
 Fiske, John, i. 158. 
 
 Fiske Latin School, iii. 113. 
 
 Fiske, Thaddeus, ii. 224. 
 
 Fitch, Jabez, i. 201. 
 
 Fitch, Nancy, i. 201. 
 
 Fitchburg, Mass., ii. in; iii. 
 38, 207,349, 35°- 
 
 FitzGerald, Gerald, iii. 131. 
 
 Fitzwilliam, N.H., iii. 276. 
 
 Flint, Abner, ii. 240. 
 
 Flint, Jacob, i. 157; quoted on 
 John Brown, i. n. 
 
 Flint, James, i. 156. 
 
 Flint, James, i. 156-158; i. 123, 
 126, 140, 155, 217; ii. 190. 
 
 Flint, Mary, i. 156. 
 
 Florence, Italy, iii. 278. 
 
 Fobes, Nancy, i. 193. 
 
 Fobes, Perez, i. 193; ii. 293. 
 
 Follen, Charles Theodore Chris- 
 tian, ii. 281-291. 
 
 Follen, Christopher, ii. 281 
 
 Folsom, Charles, ii. 194. 
 
 Foote, Caleb, iii. 113. 
 
 Foote, Henry Wilder, iii. 113- 
 116; ii. 19. 
 
 Foote, Mary Wilder, iii. 113. 
 
 Forbush, Trowbridge Brigham, 
 ii. 212; iii. 385. 
 
 Ford, Paul Leicester, i. 34. 
 
 Forman, Jacob G., iii. 132. 
 
 Forster, Anthony, ii. 276-278. 
 
 Fosdick, David, ii. 189. 
 
 Fosdick, David, Jr., ii. 189, 216, 
 296; iii. 339. 
 
 Fosdick, Joanna S., ii. 189. 
 
INDEX 
 
 259 
 
 Foster, Ohio, iii. 206. 
 Foster, Daniel, iii. 132. 
 Foster, Edmond, ii. 292-294, 
 
 296; i. 167. 
 Foster, Festus, ii. 170. 
 Foster, Phcebe, i. 167. 
 Foster, Sarah B., ii. 296. 
 Fowler, Harriet L., ii. 192. 
 Fox, Thomas Bayley, iii. 13; i. 
 
 48,238; iii. 4, 7,201. 
 Foxcroft, Thomas, i. 20. 
 Framingham, Mass., i. 125; ii. 
 
 199; iii. 16,17,270,336,387. 
 Framingham Academy, i. 173. 
 Francis, Benjamin, iii. 117. 
 Francis, Convers, iii. 117-120; i. 
 
 158, 162, 199; iii. 150, 269, 
 
 271, 280, 330, 349, _ 363; 
 
 quoted on John Allyn, i. 195; 
 
 on Samuel Ripley, ii. 175. 
 Franconia, N.H., iii. 324. 
 Franklin, Benjamin, i. 61, 68, 
 
 100; Sparks's Life of, ii. 204. 
 Franklin Academy, ii. 199. 
 Free Church, Lowell, ii. 113. 
 Free Church, Lynn, iii. 185, 
 
 187- 
 Free Religious Association, iii. 
 
 125,189,305,308. 
 Freedman's Aid Society, iii. 145. 
 Freeman, Constant, ii. I. 
 Freeman, Irene, i. 124. 
 Freeman, James, ii. 1-19, 40, 
 
 102, 107, 114, 152; ii. 24, 136; 
 
 iii. 67, 239, 241, 292. 
 Freeman, Samuel, ii. I. 
 Freeport, Me., ii. 157; iii. 17. 
 French, Jonathan, i. 31, 213; ii. 
 
 51, 71, 154- 
 Friend Street Chapel, Boston, 
 
 ii. 108; iii. 12. 
 Frisbie, Levi, i. 138; ii. 179, 194; 
 
 iii. 118. 
 Frost, Barzillai, i. 173, 174; i. 
 
 161, 162; quoted on William 
 
 H. White, ii. 296. 
 Frost, Samuel, ii. 30. 
 Frothingham, Eliza, iii. 339. 
 
 Frothingham, Frederick, iii. 257, 
 
 2S8,347>352- 
 Frothingham, Mary, ii. 95. 
 Frothingham, Mary Eliza, iii. 
 
 337- 
 
 Frothingham, Nathaniel Lang- 
 don, i. 32; ii. 153; iii. 103, 
 120,127,232,235; quoted on 
 William Parsons Lunt, iii. 234. 
 
 Frothingham, Octavius Brooks, 
 iii. 120-127; i. 32; iii. 66, 75, 
 87, 102, 156, 157, 186, 189, 
 190, 193, 223, 228, 234, 235, 
 
 305. 333, 335, 376, 378, 380; 
 quoted on Orville Dewey, 
 iii. 88, 89; on Samuel K. 
 Lothrop, iii. 226, 227; on 
 Nahor Augustus Staples, iii. 
 221; on Thomas T. Stone, 
 iii. 358; on David Wasson, 
 
 iii- 375- 
 Frothingham, Richard, iii. 201. 
 Frothingham, Samuel, iii. 337. 
 Frothingham, William, ii. 95. 
 Frothingham, William, ii. 95- 
 
 99; i. 174. 
 Fuller, Arthur Buckminster, iii. 
 
 128-131. 
 Fuller, Margaret. See Ossoli. 
 Fuller, Margaret Crane, iii. 128. 
 Fuller, Richard F., iii. 131. 
 Fuller, Timothy, iii. 128. 
 Furness, William Henry, iii. 
 
 133-138; i. 65; iii. 52, 75, 
 
 139, 150,207, 309, 312. 
 
 Gage, Ellen Gardner, iii. 381. 
 Gage, Minot Gardner, iii. 381. 
 Gage, Nathaniel, ii. 212; iii. 
 
 . 381. 
 
 Gage, Thomas, i. 15, 44. 
 Gales, Altona H., ii. 277. 
 Gales, Joseph, ii. 277. 
 Gallatin, Albert, i. 149. 
 Galvin, Edward I., iii. 133. 
 Gannett, Allen, quoted on Jo- 
 seph Mottey, i. 82-84. 
 Gannett, Caleb, i. 19; iii. 138. 
 
26o 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Gannett, Ezra Stiles, iii. 138- 
 147; ii. Si, 122, 153, 208, 209, 
 267; iii. 133, I3S, 15°. 182. 
 207, 309; quoted on Edward 
 Brooks Hall, iii. 150; on 
 Sylvanus Stanley Hunting, 
 iii. 184. 
 
 Gannett, Thomas B., iii. 370. 
 
 Gardner, Francis, ii. 70. 
 
 Gardner, Jonathan, i. 158. 
 
 Gardner, Lois, i. 132. 
 
 Gardner, Samuel^ i. 132. 
 
 Garfield, James A., iii. 64. 
 
 Garrison Forest, Md., iii. 151. 
 
 Garrison, William Lloyd, iii. 21, 
 27, 163, 242, 246, 248, 369. 
 
 Gay, Caroline, iii. 35. 
 
 Gay, Ebenezer, i. 1-19, 35; ii. 
 41, 42, 264; iii. 207. 
 
 Gay, Ebenezer, Jr., i. 19. 
 
 Gay, Jotham, i. 5. 
 
 Gay, Lydia, i. I. 
 
 Gay, Nathaniel, i. 1. 
 
 Gee, Anna, i. 85. 
 
 Gee, Joshua, i. 85. 
 
 General Repository and Review, 
 ii. 193. 
 
 Geneva, 111., iii. 130. 
 
 George, Richard, i. 193. 
 
 Germantown, Pa., iii. 222. 
 
 Gibbs, Ruth, ii. 121. 
 
 Gibson, Christopher, ii. 228. 
 
 Gillisonville, S.C., iii. 263. 
 
 Gilman, Arthur, ii. 280. 
 
 Gilman, Caroline, ii.275, 280. 
 
 Gilman, Frederick, ii. 274. 
 
 Gilman, John, ii. 274. 
 
 Gilman, Samuel, ii. 274-280; i. 
 32, 216; iii. 49. 
 
 Gloucester, Mass., i. 160; ii. 
 165, 274; iii. 85, 86, 171, 
 
 381- ... e 
 
 Goddard, Mary, 111. 236. 
 
 Goodhue, J., iii. 33. 
 Goodnough, Alfred Everett, iii. 
 
 in. 
 Goodwin, Ellen Watson, ii. 73. 
 Goodwin, Ezra S., ii. 72, 73. 
 
 Goodwin, Hersey Bradford, i. 
 
 I7I-I73; i- 161; ii. 72. 
 Goodwin, Maria, ii. 12. 
 Goodwin, Nathaniel, ii. 72. 
 Goodwin, William, i. 171. 
 Gordon, William, i. 103. 
 Gore, Christopher, ii. 16, 178. 
 Grafton, Mass., ii. 97, no; iii. 
 
 15, 151, 384, 385. 
 Grantville, Mass. See Welles- 
 ley Hills. 
 Graves, Charles, ii. 63. 
 Gray, Frederick Tarrell, ii. 108, 
 
 117; iii. 199,300, 303. 
 Gray, William, i. 134. 
 Greele, Augustus, ii. 240. 
 Greeley, Horace, iii. 45, 62. 
 Green, Joseph, i. 6, 19, 49. 
 Greene, Charles W., iii. 344. 
 Greene, William B., iii. 133. 
 Greenfield, Mass., i. 92, 118; ii. 
 
 93,301; iii. 171,254, 255, 259, 
 
 276, 330. 
 Greenfield, N.H., i. 98. 
 Greenland, N.H., ii. 157. 
 Greenleaf, Mary, iii. III. 
 Greenwood, Francis W. P., ii. 
 
 10-17; »-4, 55 iii. 68, 89, 134, 
 
 232; quoted on Samuel C. 
 
 Thacher, ii. 77, 78. 
 Greenwood, William Pitt, ii. 10. 
 Groton, Mass., i. 119; ii. 105, 
 
 189, 190, 215, 216, 217; iii. 
 
 21, 128, 168, 254. 
 Groton Academy, ii. 219, 259; 
 
 iii. 50, 309. 
 Groveland, Mass., iii. 374. 
 Guild, Benjamin, iii. 147. 
 Guild, Edward Chipman, iii. 
 
 147-149, 174. 
 
 Hacker Grammar School, iii. 113. 
 Hadley, Mass., i. 1; ii. 302. 
 Hale, Edward, iii. 108. 
 Hale, Edward Everett, iii. 41, 
 
 75, 201, 216, 217, 261, 371; 
 
 quoted on Mellish I. Motte, 
 
 iii. 261-263. 
 
INDEX 
 
 261 
 
 Haley, William D., iii. 132. 
 
 Halifax, Mass., ii. 154; iii. 215. 
 
 Halifax, N.S., i. 44; ii. 181. 
 
 Hall, Aaron, ii. 301. 
 
 Hall, Apphia, ii. 301. 
 
 Hall, Caroline, i. 1 13; iii. 150. 
 
 Hall, Edward Brooks, iii. 150- 
 153; iii. 133, 207, 250; quoted 
 on Henry Ware, Jr., ii. 231- 
 
 237- 
 Hall, Edward H., iii. 132, 157, 
 
 253; quoted on Loammi G. 
 
 Ware, iii. 372. 
 Hall, Mary Brooks, iii. 150. 
 Hall, Nathaniel, iii. 150, 154, 
 
 3S3- 
 Hall, Nathaniel, iii. 154-157; i. 
 
 210; iii. 150, 265, 310, 353; 
 
 quoted on Thaddeus Mason 
 
 Harris, i. 210-212. 
 Hall, Peter Chardon, iii. 150. 
 Hallowell, Me., iii. 16. 
 Hamilton, Mass., ii. 279. 
 Hamilton, Luther, ii. 94. 
 Hamlin, Cyrus, iii. 17. 
 Hampden, Mass., iii. 348. 
 Hampton, N.H., ii. 64. 
 Hampton Falls, N.H., ii. 51; iii. 
 
 206. 
 Hampton Institute, iii. 115. 
 Hampton, West, Mass., i. 158. 
 Hancock, John, i. 10, 41, 52; ii. 
 
 103; iii. 239. 
 Hancock, John, i. 19. 
 Hancox, James, i. 65. 
 Hancox, Jane, i. 65. 
 Hanover, N.H., ii. 34. 
 Hanover Street Bethel, Boston, 
 
 ii. 109. 
 Hanson, Mass., iii. 353. 
 Harmon, Martin, i. 204. 
 Harrington, Joseph, Jr., iii. 197- 
 
 199; iii. 130. 
 Harrington, Timothy, ii. 65, 70. 
 Harris, Thaddeus Mason, i. 205- 
 
 212; i. 180, 214, 223; iii. 154, 
 
 157- 
 Harris, William, i. 205. 
 
 Harrison Square Church, Bos- 
 ton, iii. 36, 49, 187. 
 
 Hartford, Conn., ii. 302; iii. 16, 
 19, 198. 
 
 Hartwell, Jonas, i. 126. 
 
 Hartwell, Josiah, ii. 294. 
 
 Harvard, Mass., i. 29; iii. 168. 
 
 Harvard Church, Charlestown, 
 iii. 100, 102. 
 
 Harvard College, i. 1, 4, 9, 10, 
 11, 12, 14, 16, 20, 24, 28, 
 31, 32, 42, 46, 49, 68, 70, 
 73, 75, 76, 78, 79, 81, 82, 84, 
 86, 87, 89, 90, 95, 98, 99, 
 102, 104, 109, no, in, 113, 
 118, 122, 131, 137, 139, 141, 
 
 143, 149, IS3, 156, 157, 160, 
 161, 162, 163, 165, 171, 173, 
 176, 181, 182, 185, 194, 200, 
 201, 207, 208, 213, 215, 221, 
 223, 224, 226, 227, 228; 
 ii. 2, 10, 13, 16, 20, 23, 
 36, 40, 41, 42, 44, 50, 51, 
 55, 56, 64, 66, 67, 71, 72, 75, 
 77, 78, 79, 81, 82, 90, 91, 
 94, 95, 96, 97, 100, 102, 103, 
 105, 106, 107, 108, no, 112, 
 113, 118, 121, 134, 139, 146, 
 149, 150, 152, 154, 156, 157, 
 159, 164, 172, 173, 179, 190, 
 193, 199, 201, 203, 204, 206, 
 209, 212, 213, 215, 219, 220, 
 223, 227, 228, 231, 239, 241, 
 242, 250, 259, 260, 263, 264, 
 265, 266, 274, 275, 279; iii. 
 1, 2, 6, 8, 12, 13, 16, 24, 35, 
 38, 41, 46, 50, 51, 59, 61,65, 
 68,69,72,78,81,87,93,100, 
 101, 103, 109, no, 113, 118, 
 120, 128, 133, 138, 142, 144, 
 148, 151, 153, 158, 159, 161, 
 168, 171, 173, 175, 180, 185, 
 197, 202, 206, 207, 209, 210, 
 211, 213, 215, 216, 224, 226, 
 228, 232, 234, 236, 254, 256, 
 2 57> 2 59, 260, 266, 267, 270, 
 271, 280, 288, 291, 298, 302, 
 303, 309, 3ii, 328, 330, 335, 
 
262 
 
 INDEX 
 
 336, 337, 341, 344, 346, 349 
 355, 362, 363, 364, 365, 370 
 377,381,382,385,387,388. 
 Harvard Divinity School, i. 118 
 158, 171, 173, 221, 224; ii 
 16,43, 56,67,81,94,97, 102 
 105, 106, 107, 108, no, 113 
 150, 173, 176, 186, 190, 194 
 197, 207, 209, 215, 217, 219 
 227, 231, 239, 259, 279, 286 
 293,304;iii. 2, 5, 8, 12, 13,15 
 16, 17, 22, 24, 33, 34, 35, 37 
 38, 41, 46, 49, 51, 55,61, 64 
 68,69,78,81,87,90,97, 100 
 101, 103, 105, 108, 109, 113 
 120, 121, 129, 131, 133, 139 
 
 144, I4S, 148, 151, 154, 159 
 
 161, 168, 171, 173, 175, 183 
 
 186, 197, 202, 206, 207, 209 
 
 210, 215, 216, 224, 228, 232 
 
 234, 236, 240, 250, 254, 256 
 
 257, 265, 266, 270, 271, 275 
 
 280, 281, 292, 298, 302, 304 
 
 309, 310, 324, 325, 330, 336 
 
 340, 344, 347, 349, 353, 359 
 361, 362, 363, 364, 370, 377 
 380, 381, 382, 385, 387, 388 
 
 39°- 
 Haskell, Augustus Mellen, iii. 
 
 385; iii. 132. 
 Haskins, Ruth, i. 29. 
 Hassall, Robert, iii. 132. 
 Hathaway, Jacob, i. 51. 
 Haven, Jason, i. 122, 160. 
 Haven, Nathaniel Appleton, iii. 
 
 293- 
 Haven, Samuel, i. 98, 99. 
 Haverhill, Mass., i. 11, 78, 
 
 213, 214; ii. 51, 217; iii. 16, 
 
 381- .. , 
 
 Hawes Society, Boston, 11. 67; 
 
 iii. 16, 38. 
 
 Hawley, James, i. 13. 
 Haywood, Oliver, ii. 72. 
 Hazard, Benjamin, iii. 47. 
 Hazard, Ebenezer, i. 100, 103. 
 Hazard, Harriet Lyman, iii. 47. 
 Hazlitt, William, ii. 4. 
 
 Healey, Caroline, iii. 82. 
 
 Heard, Jared Mann, iii. 343. 
 
 Heath, Mass., ii. 93. 
 
 Hebron, N.H., ii. 156. 
 
 Hedge, Frederic Henry, iii. 158- 
 167; ii. 200; iii. 3, 4, 5, 20, 
 72, 87, 137, 138, 330; quoted 
 on James F. Clarke, iii. 72; 
 onThomas Starr King, iii. 197; 
 on John Pierce, i. 233-238; on 
 George Putnam, iii. 313. 
 
 Hedge, Lemuel, iii. 159. 
 
 Hedge, Levi, iii. 159, 160. 
 
 Hepworth, George H., iii. 132. 
 
 Herford, Brooke, iii. 95. 
 
 Herkimer, N.Y., ii. 75. 
 
 Hewes, James Tracy, ii.38. 
 
 Heywood, John Healy, iii. 69, 
 83,96,98, 
 
 Higginson, Francis, iii. 46. 
 
 Higginson, Stephen, iii. 59. 
 
 Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, 
 iii. 121, 127, 131, 133, 219, 
 220, 223, 324; quoted on Oc- 
 tavius Brooks Frothingham, 
 iii. 123. 
 
 Hildreth, Hannah, ii. 164. 
 
 Hildreth, Hosea, ii. 164-167. 
 
 Hildreth, Richard, ii. 164. 
 
 Hildreth, Richard, ii. 166. 
 
 Hildreth, Timothy, ii. 164. 
 
 Hill, Alonzo, iii. 168-170; ii. 
 24,30,67,70; iii. 362; quoted 
 on Nathaniel Thayer, ii. 66. 
 
 Hill, Mary Goldsmith, iii. 168. 
 
 Hill, Oliver, iii. 168. 
 
 Hill, Thomas, iii. 170. 
 
 Hill, Thomas, iii.' 170-174; ii. 
 100, 174; iii. 158, 324, 347. 
 
 Hilliard, Timothy, i. 194; ii. 40, 
 41, 264. 
 
 Hinckley, Frederic, iii. 16, 34. 
 
 Hingham, Mass., i. 1-19, 99; 
 
 "•93, 193,223,250,264; iii. 
 
 15, 16,207,209. 
 
 Derby Academy, i. 12; ii. 193. 
 
 First Parish, i. 1; ii. 40-42, 
 
 223; iii. 207,357. 
 
INDEX 
 
 263 
 
 Second Parish, i. 2, 5, 135. 
 Third Congregational Society, 
 i. 119; ii. 91; iii. 16, 304, 
 
 34S, 347- 
 Hingham, South, Mass., ii. 106. 
 Hirst, Elizabeth, i. 26. 
 Hirst, Grover, i. 26. 
 Hitchcock, Ebenezer, i. 14. 
 Hitchcock, Enos, i. 16. 
 Hitchcock, Gad, i. 14-16; i. 3, 
 
 194. 
 Hitchcock, Mary, i. 14. 
 Hoar, George F., quoted on 
 
 Barzillai Frost, i. 174; on 
 
 Grindall Reynolds, iii. 328, 
 
 329; on Ezra Ripley, i. 168. 
 Hoar, Rebecca, ii. 292. 
 Hoar, Rockwood, iii. 326. 
 Hoar, Samuel, ii. 292. 
 Hobart, David Kimball, iii. 22. 
 Hobart, Ellen, iii. 232. 
 Hodges, Benjamin, i. 150, 159. 
 Hodges, Richard Manning, iii. 
 
 363, 364; i. 47, 148. 
 Hodges, Sarah, iii. 363. 
 Holcomb, Reuben, ii. 164; ii. 
 
 71, 166. 
 Holland, Frederick West, iii. 109. 
 Holland Land Company, iii. 180. 
 Holley, Horace, i. 92; ii. 89, 
 
 187; iii. 81. 
 Holley, Luther, i. 92. 
 Hollingshead, William, ii. 278. 
 Hollis, N.H., i. 73; ii. 31, 34. 
 Hollis Street Church, Boston, 
 
 i. 88, 92, 200; ii. 187-189; 
 
 iii. 34, 35, 81, 192-197, 199, 
 
 201, 282, 355. 
 Holmes, Abiel, i. 145; ii. 147, 
 
 165, 180. 
 Holmes, Ann Susan, i. 145. 
 Holmes, Caleb, ii. 72. 
 Holmes, Oliver Wendell, i. 145; 
 
 iii. 61, 68, 75, 166, 196. 
 Holyoke, Edward, i. 87; iii. 160. 
 Holyoke, Edward Augustus, i. 
 
 139, 140. 
 Honeoye Falls, N.Y., iii. 355. 
 
 Hooker, Thomas, iii. 292. 
 Hooper, Hezekiah, i. 130. 
 Hooper, William, i. 36. 
 Hopedale Community, ii. 299, 
 
 300. 
 Hopedale Parish, ii. 299. 
 Hopkins Academy, ii. 302. 
 Hopkins, Samuel, ii. 59, 120. 
 Hopkinton Association, ii. 35. 
 Horton, Edward Augustus, iii. 
 
 40, 75, 133- 
 Hosmer, George Herbert, ii. 94. 
 Hosmer, George Washington, 
 
 iii. 174-179; J"- 34. 12°, 181, 
 
 343; quoted on Hersey B. 
 
 Goodwin, i. 172; on Ezra 
 
 Ripley, i. 168-170. 
 Hosmer, James, iii. 175. 
 Hosmer, James K., ii. 94; iii. 
 
 133- 
 Howard, Bezaleel, ii. 264, 265; 
 quoted on Charles Chauncy, i. 
 
 33, 34- 
 Howard, Caroline, ii. 275. 
 Howard, John, iii. 34. 
 Howard, John Clarke, i. 45. 
 Howard, Nathan, ii. 264. 
 Howard, Simeon, i. 42-46; i. 4, 
 
 94, no; ii. 18. 
 Howard Street Church, Salem, 
 
 i- I3S- 
 Howard, Thomas D., iii. 132. 
 Howe, Julia Ward, iii. 75. 
 Howe, Samuel G., iii. 369. 
 Howland, Clark Goodhue, iii. 
 
 277. 
 Howland, Consider, i. 50. 
 Howland, Experience, i. 50. 
 Howland, John, iii. 277. 
 Howland, Jonathan, iii. 153. 
 Hubbard, Thomas, i. 87. 
 Hubbardston, Mass., ii. 280; iii. 
 
 362. 
 Hudson, N.Y., iii. 191. 
 Huger, Benjamin, i. 139. 
 Huidekoper, Anna, iii. 69. 
 Huidekoper, Frederic, iii. 180- 
 
 182; iii. 176, 251, 355. 
 
264 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Huidekoper, Harm Jan, iii. 66, 
 
 69, 75, 180, 182, 298. 
 Humphreys, Charles A., iii. 132. 
 Humphreys, Walter, iii. 157. 
 Hunting, Israel, iii. 183. 
 Hunting, Lucinda Everett, iii. 
 
 183. 
 Hunting, Mary Ann, ii. 67. 
 Hunting, Sylvan Stanley, iii. 
 
 183, 184; iii. 132. 
 Huntington, Frederick Dan, iii. 
 
 35, 261, 343, 357; quoted on 
 
 Francis Parkman, i. 113-116. 
 Huntington, Hannah, ii. 34. 
 Huntington, Joseph, ii. 53. 
 Huntoon, Benjamin, ii. 181. 
 Huntoon, Benjamin, ii. 180-182; 
 
 i. 238. 
 Huntoon, Mehitable P., ii. 181. 
 Hurd, Isaac, i. 180. 
 Hutchinson, Thomas, i. 147, 
 
 148. 
 Hymn-books, ii. 16, 94, 112. 
 
 Barnard's "Chapel Hymn- 
 book," iii. 14. 
 
 Belknap's, i. 103, 178. 
 
 Bentley's, i. 152, 158. 
 
 "Book of Hymns and Tunes," 
 iii. 222, 223. 
 
 Cheshire Collection, iii. 212. 
 
 Emerson's Selection, i. 30. 
 
 Farley and Osgood's, iii. 112. 
 
 Flint's Collection, i. 157. 
 
 Foote's Collection, iii. 115. 
 
 Hall's, iii. 153. 
 
 Hedge's, iii. 167. 
 
 "Hymns for the Church Uni- 
 versal," iii. 115. 
 
 "Hymns of the Spirit," iii. 
 186, 190, 217, 222, 223. 
 
 "Hymn, Tune, and Service 
 Book," Leonard J. Liver- 
 more's, iii. 213. 
 
 Johnson and Longfellow's, iii. 
 186, 190, 217, 22;. 
 
 Lunt's, iii. 235. 
 
 Robbins's, iii. 338, 339. 
 
 Willard's Collection, ii. 94. 
 
 Independent, iii. 30. 
 Inquirer, iii. 30. 
 Ingalls, Henry A., iii. 54. 
 Ingersoll, Caroline H., ii. 261. 
 Ingersoll, George, ii. 259. 
 Ingersoll, George Goldthwait, ii. 
 
 259-262; iii. 118,363. 
 Ingersoll, Martha G., ii. 259. 
 Ipswich, Mass., i. I, 39, 222. 
 Israel, Fielder, iii. 38, 39. 
 Ithaca, N.Y., iii. 6, m, 149, 
 
 348, 3S5, 385- 
 
 Jackson, Abraham W., iii. 174. 
 Jackson, Charles, i. 223. 
 Jackson, Charles, iii. 301. 
 Jackson, Joseph, i. 223. 
 Jacksonville, Fla., i. 191. 
 Jamaica Plain, Mass., i. 224; ii. 
 
 251; iii. 4. 
 James, Caroline, ii. 81. 
 James, Eleazar, ii. 81. 
 James, Rossfair, ii. 81. 
 Jarvis, Edward, quoted on Ezra 
 
 Ripley, i. 170, 171. 
 Jefferson College, ii. 260. 
 Jenckes, Thomas Allen, iii. 28. 
 Jenks, Annis P., iii. 137. 
 Jenne, Benjamin, i. 51. 
 Jenne, Louisa, i. 51. 
 Jersey City, N.J., iii. 121, 122. 
 Jewett, Emily, i. 204. 
 John'sIsland,S.C.,i.2i6; ii.278. 
 Johnson, Daniel, i. 126. 
 Johnson, Samuel, iii. 185-190; 
 
 iii. 60, 121, 216, 219, 222, 223, 
 
 305,378. 
 Jones, Abner D., ii. 70. 
 Jones, Edward P., iii. 9. 
 Jones, Paul, iii. 232. 
 Judd, Jonathan, ii. 301. 
 Judd, Sylvester, ii. 301-308. 
 
 Kalamazoo, Mich., iii. 277. 
 Keene, N.H., ii. 260; iii. 202, 
 
 210. 
 Kendal, Elisha, i. 175. 
 Kendal, Ruth, i. 175. 
 
INDEX 
 
 265 
 
 Kendal, Samuel, i. 175-180, 207, 
 
 208; ii. 66; iii. 341. 
 Kendall, Elizabeth N., ii. 71. 
 Kendall, Hannah, iii. 175. 
 Kendall, James, ii. 71. 
 Kendall, James, ii. 71-74; i. 
 
 171, 172; iii. 38, 40, I7S; 
 
 quoted on David Barnes, i. 
 
 12; on Samuel Kendal, i. 179, 
 
 180. 
 Kendall, James A., ii. 72. 
 Kendall, Paul, ii. 72. 
 Kendall, Sally, ii. 72. 
 Kendall, Stephen M., ii. 190. 
 Kennebunk, Me., ii. 52, 112, 
 
 215,216; iii. 363,364. 
 Kensington, N.H., iii. 209. 
 Kent, Benjamin, iii. 309; i. 195, 
 
 199; iii. 139, 207. 
 Keokuk, la., ii. 280. 
 Kimball, Daniel, i. 135. 
 Kimball, Daniel, ii. 294. 
 Kimball, David T., i. 222. 
 Kimball, John C, iii. 132, 390. 
 King, Rufus, ii. 1 50. 
 King, Thomas Farrington, iii. 
 
 191. 
 King, Thomas Starr, iii. 191- 
 
 201; iii. 13,22,45, 350. 
 King's Chapel, Boston, ii. 2, 3, 
 
 5, 8, 10, 16-19; »i- 92, 113- 
 
 116, 239, 248, 292, 296, 299, 
 
 300, 314. 
 Kingston, Mass., i. 140; ii. 190, 
 
 279, 293. 
 Kippis, Andrew, i. 64. 
 Kirkland, George Whitefield, ii. 
 
 75- 
 
 Kirkland, Jerusha, ii. 75. 
 
 Kirkland, Jerusha, iii. 224. 
 
 Kirkland, John Thornton, ii. 
 75-89; i. 30, 104, 108, 118, 
 138, 153; ii. 13, 16,43,62,66, 
 199, 220; iii. 118, 224, 241, 
 341; quoted on Jeremy Bel- 
 knap, i. 105, 106. 
 
 Kirkland, Samuel, ii. 75; iii. 
 224, 228. 
 
 Kittery, Me., i. 81. 
 Knapp, Arthur M., iii. 133. 
 Knapp, Frederick Newman, i. 
 
 224, 225; iii. 33. 
 Knapp, Jason Newman, iii. 34. 
 Knapp, Louisa Bellows, iii. 34. 
 
 Lafayette, Marquis de, i. 162; 
 ii. 66, 67, 283, 285. 
 
 Lambert, Ann, i. 75. 
 
 Lamson, Alvan, ii. 206-209; ii. 
 49; iii. 218; quoted on Sam- 
 uel Kendal, i. 177, 180. 
 
 Lamson, John, ii. 206. 
 
 Lancaster, Mass., i. 29, 221; ii. 
 6S» 69, 7°, 204, 292, 293; iii. 
 22, 206, 224, 340, 343. 
 
 Lancaster Academy, iii. 61. 
 
 Lancaster Association, ii. 65, 66. 
 
 Lancaster, West, Mass., i. 182. 
 
 Langdon, Mary, ii. 10. 
 
 Lansdowne. See Shelburne, 
 Earl of. 
 
 Lathrop, Elizabeth, i. 97. 
 
 Lathrop, John, i. 93-97; i. 80, 
 89, 113, 117, 149; ii. 89, 228. 
 
 Lathrop, John, Jr., i. 31, 32. 
 
 Latimer, George D., iii. 387. 
 
 Laurens, Henry, i. 65. 
 
 Lawrence, Kan., iii. 275-277. 
 
 Lawrence, Abbott, ii. 190. 
 
 Lawrence Academy, iii. 168. 
 
 Lawrence, Amos, ii. 190. 
 
 Lawrence, William, ii. 217. 
 
 Lawrence, William, ii. 293. 
 
 Lazell, Ebenezer, i. 130. 
 
 Lear, Tobias, i. 208. 
 
 Learned, John Calvin, iii. 97, 206. 
 
 Leary, Joanna, ii. 294. 
 
 Lebanon, Conn., i. 93. 
 
 Lebanon, N.H., iii. 364. 
 
 Lee Street Church, Cambridge- 
 port, iii. 387. 
 
 Lee Street Church, Lowell, iii. 16. 
 
 Leeds, England, i. 60, 62. 
 
 Legare, James, i. 215. 
 
 Leicester, Mass., iii. 16, 235, 
 236, 38S- 
 
266 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Leicester Academy, i. 223, 224; 
 ii. 25, 30, 168, 169; iii. 168, 
 
 173, 3°9- 
 Lenox, Mass., ii. 123. 
 Leominster, Mass., i. 118; ii. 
 
 70,71; iii. 353-355,357,381. 
 Leonard, George, i. 12. 
 Leonard, Jacob, iii. 202. 
 Leonard, Levi Washburn, iii. 
 
 202-206; iii. 97, 362, 363; 
 
 quoted on Zedekiah Sanger, 
 
 i. 125-129. 
 Leonard, Mary Swift, iii. 202. 
 Leonard, Rachel, i. 12. 
 Leverett, Mass., ii. 93. 
 Lewisburg, Pa., iii. 55. 
 Lexington, Ky., i. 92; ii. 272. 
 Lexington, Mass., ii. 94, 1 06, 
 
 191, 244; iii. 213-215, 221, 
 
 243, 270, 278, 387, 388^ 
 Lexington, East, Mass., ii. 231, 
 
 286-288; iii. 206. 
 Liberal Christian, iii. 30. 
 Lincoln, Mass., i. 163, 164; ii. 
 
 .175, 177- 
 Lincoln, Abner, ii. 193. 
 Lincoln, Abraham, iii. 22, 40, 45, 
 
 108, 163, 190, 200, 311, 339, 
 
 .39°- 
 Lincoln, Benjamin, i. 10, 103; 
 
 ."• 75- 
 Lincoln, Benjamin, Jr., ii. 44. 
 Lincoln, Calvin, iii. 207-209; ii. 
 
 41; iii. 133, 139, 150, 309, 
 
 357; quoted on Joseph Thax- 
 
 ter, i. 18. 
 Lincoln, Laurinda, iii. 207. 
 Lincoln, Levi, quoted on Aaron 
 
 Bancroft, ii. 29, 30. 
 Lincoln, Luther Barker, ii. 93. 
 Lincoln, Lydia, iii. 207. 
 Lincoln, Noah, iii. 339. 
 Lincoln, Solomon, i. 19; quoted 
 
 on Ebenezer Gay, i. 4. 
 Lind, Jenny, iii. 14. 
 Lindsey, Theophilus, i. 64, 69; 
 
 ii. 13. 
 Litchfield, Conn.,, ii. 185, 186. 
 
 Litchfield, Me., iii. 131. 
 Little Compton, R.I., iii. 37. 
 Little, Daniel, Jr., ii. 51, 52. 
 Littleton, Mass., i. 1 10, 167; ii. 
 
 292-294; iii. 55, 266, 385. 
 Livermore, Abiel Abbot, iii. 
 
 210-212; iii. 97; quoted on 
 
 Henry Ware, Sr., ii. 48, 49. 
 Livermore, Elizabeth, iii. 370. 
 Livermore, Leonard Jarvis, iii. 
 
 213-215. 
 Livermore, Nathaniel, iii. 370. 
 Locke, Calvin S., iii. 347. 
 Locke, Samuel, i. 122. 
 Londonderry, N.H., iii. 373. 
 Longfellow, Henry W., iii. 22, 
 
 24, 127, 138, 216, 218, 223; 
 
 quoted on Joshua A. Swan, 
 
 iii. 363. 
 Longfellow, Samuel, iii. 216- 
 
 223; iii. 41, 121, 186, 188, 
 
 190, 324, 378. 
 Longwood,Mass., ii. 173; iii. 16. 
 Loomis, Hubbell, ii. 203. 
 Lord, Joseph L., ii. 186. 
 Lord, Mary S., ii. 192. 
 Loring, Charles Greely, iii. 22. 
 Loring, Sarah Perley, iii. 251. 
 Loring, William, i. 80. 
 Los Angeles, Cal., iii. 355. 
 Lothrop, John, i. 97. 
 Lothrop, John Hosmer, iii. 224. 
 Lothrop, Samuel Kirkland, iii. 
 
 224-228; iii. 101; quoted on 
 
 Charles Robinson, ii. 217. 
 Lothrop, Thornton Kirkland, 
 
 iii. 228. 
 Louisville, Ky., ii. 273; iii. 68, 
 
 69, 91, 129. 
 Lovejoy, Elijah P., ii. 123. 
 Lovejoy, Owen, iii. 358. 
 Lovell, Abigail, i. 224. 
 Lovell, John, i. 98; ii. I. 
 Lovering, Joseph F., iii. 132. 
 Low, Seth, Sr.,iii. 112. 
 Lowe, Charles, iii. 228-232; i. 
 
 59; iii- 355- 
 Lowe, Martha P., iii. 323. 
 
INDEX 
 
 267 
 
 Lowell, Mass., iii. 16, 78, 363, 
 387, 390. 
 First Unitarian Society, iii. 
 
 15-17. 
 Free Church, ii. 113. 
 Lee Street Church, iii. 16. 
 
 Lowell, Charles, i. 46-48; i. 113, 
 187; ii. 140,200,215; iii. 15, 
 18, 100; quoted on William 
 Emerson, i. 30; on John La- 
 throp, i. 95, 96; on Jonathan 
 Mayhew, i. 41; on Zedekiah 
 Sanger, i. 129, 130; on Sam- 
 uel West (of New Bedford), i. 
 S&-S8. 
 
 Lowell, Charles Russell, Jr., 
 iii. 22. 
 
 Lowell Institute, iii. 88, 148, 
 339,36i. 
 
 Lowell, James Russell, i. 47; iii. 
 18, 100, 365. 
 
 Lowell, John, i. 46. 
 
 Lowell, John, Jr., i. 46. 
 
 Lowell, John Amory, iii. 116. 
 
 Lowell, Rebecca Russell, i. 46. 
 
 Lunenburg, Mass., i. 164; ii. 65, 
 200, 201; iii. 344. 
 
 Lunt, Henry, iii. 232. 
 
 Lunt, Mary Green, iii. 232. 
 
 Lunt, William Parsons, iii. 232- 
 235; ii. 16; iii. 339, 382. 
 
 Lyman, Henry, i. 204. 
 
 Lyman, Isaac, ii. 136. 
 
 Lyman, Theodore, ii. 136, 152. 
 
 Lyndeborough, N.H., ii. 157. 
 
 Lynn, Mass., ii. 164, 259; iii. 
 
 278, 336. 
 Free Church, iii. 185, 187. 
 Second Congregational So- 
 ciety, i. 135; Hi- 336. 
 Lynnfleld, Mass., i. 82; ii. 202. 
 Lyric Hall, New York, iii. 122, 
 123, 127. 
 
 Maccarty, Thaddeus, ii. 21. 
 Machias, East, Me., iii. 358. 
 Mackay, Amelia, i. 171. 
 Madras, India, iii. 82. 
 
 Maiden, Mass., iii. 215. 
 Manchester, Alfred, iii. 36. 
 Manchester, N.H., ii. 216; iii. 
 
 129, 183, 385. 
 Mann, Horace, iii. 177, 242, 243, 
 
 369,385. 
 Mansfield, Conn., ii. 54, 59-62. 
 Mansfield, Mass., ii. no. 
 Mappa, Col., ii. 62. 
 Marblehead, Mass., i. 132, 155; 
 
 ii. 180, 184; iii. 215. 
 Marietta, Ohio, ii. 217; iii. 149, 
 
 265. 
 Marlboro, Mass., i. n; ii. 52, 
 
 no, 176; iii. 390. 
 Marshall, Abby M., iii. 343. 
 Martha's Vineyard, Mass., i. 17, 
 
 18, 34, 86. 
 Martineau, James, iii. 7, 63, 72, 
 
 95; quoted on Joseph Priest- 
 ley, i. 67. 
 Maryland Historical Society, 
 
 iii- 53- 
 
 Maryland, University of, iii. 
 
 S3- 
 
 Mason, Jeremiah, iii. 293. 
 
 Mason, Mary King, iii. 46. 
 
 Mason, Rebeckah, i. 205. 
 
 Mason, Thaddeus, i. 205, 206. 
 
 Mason, William, ii. 96. 
 
 Masonic Temple, iii. 120, 122, 
 123,283. 
 
 Massachusetts Anti-slavery So- 
 ciety, iii. 237. See also Anti- 
 slavery. 
 
 Massachusetts Historical So- 
 ciety, i. 102, 103, in, 146, 
 153, 226; ii. 113, 178; iii. 
 16,75, IOI, 102, 116, 127, 226, 
 228, 235,269,296,339,343. 
 
 Massachusetts Society of the 
 Cincinnati, ii. 260. 
 
 Mather, Cotton, quoted on Ex- 
 perience Mayhew, i. 35. 
 
 Mather, Increase, ii. 228. 
 
 Mather Papers, iii. 337. 
 
 Matthews, William E., quoted 
 on John F. W. Ware, iii. 369. 
 
268 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Maverick Church, East Boston, 
 
 iii. 81. 
 May, John, iii. 238, 239. 
 May, Joseph, ii. II, 17; iii. 239. 
 May, Joseph, iii. 219, 223, 249. 
 May, Samuel, iii. 235-238; iii. 
 
 75- 
 
 May, Samuel J., iii. 239-249; 
 ii. Ill, 169; iii. 236, 264, 265, 
 317; quoted on James Free- 
 man, ii. 15-19; on Francis 
 W. P. Greenwood, ii. 14, 15. 
 
 Mayhew, Experience, i. 19, 34, 
 35, 86. 
 
 Mayhew, John, i. 34. 
 
 Mayhew, Jonathan, i. 34-48; i. 
 2, 3, 19, 21, 27. 
 
 Mayhew, Thomas, i. 34, 35. 
 
 Mayhew, Zachariah, i. 34. 
 
 Mayo, Amory, iii. 201. 
 
 McDaniel, Benjamin F., iii. 133. 
 
 McDaniel, Samuel W., iii. 132. 
 
 McGill College, iii. 76. 
 
 McKean, Joseph, i. 97, 121. 
 
 McKeen, Joseph, i. 214. 
 
 McLeod, John, ii. 166. 
 
 McLeod, Sarah, ii. 166. 
 
 Meadville, Pa., iii. 69, 148, 153, 
 180-182, 251, 298, 385. 
 
 Meadville Theological School, 
 ii. 71, 109, 212, 216, 280; iii. 
 9,40,42,55,57,111,153, 176, 
 177, 179, 180-182, 211, 221, 
 264, 346, 354, 355, 357. 
 
 Medfield, Mass., i. 88, 181, 200- 
 204,238; ii. 212, 216, 217; iii. 
 
 1, 55- 
 Medford, Mass., ii. 64, 105, 173, 
 190, 191; iii. 16,38, 117, 118, 
 
 ISO, 154- 
 Medford, West, Mass., 111. 191, 
 
 375- 
 Medway, Mass., i. 204, 224. 
 Mellen, John, i. 182. 
 Melodeon, Boston, iii. 284. 
 Memphis, Tenn., ii. 212. 
 Mendon, Mass., i. 189, 190, 240; 
 
 ii. 298, 299; iii. 221, 362. 
 
 Menotomy. See Arlington. 
 Merrill, Samuel, ii. 223. 
 Merrimac, N.H., iii. 50. 
 Messenger, Rosewell, i. 174. 
 Messer, Asa, iii. 37. 
 Metcalf, Joel, iii. 250. 
 Metcalf, Michael, iii. 250. 
 Metcalf, Richard, iii. 250-253. 
 Miami College, ii. 303. 
 Michigan, University of, iii. 42. 
 Middleborough, Mass., i. 125, 
 
 188. 
 Middlesex Village, Mass., i. 81. 
 Miles, Henry A., iii. 15, 16, 78. 
 Miles, Mary D., ii. 176. 
 Miles, William, ii. 176. 
 Milford, Mass., ii. 298, 299. 
 Milford, N.H., iii. 213. 
 Milledgeville, Ga., ii. 276. 
 Miller, Milton J., iii. 132. 
 Miller, William, ii. 293. 
 Milton, Mass., i. 98, 109; ii. 
 
 182, 286, 287; iii. 256-258, 
 
 365. 
 
 Milton Academy, iii. 232. 
 Milwaukee, Wis., ii. 212; iii. 57, 
 
 198, 221. 
 Ministers' Institute, iii. 29. 
 Ministry-at-large, ii. 17, 104- 
 
 117, 179, 225, 240; iii. 14, 21, 
 
 140. 
 Minot, George Richards, i. 114. 
 Mobile, Ala., ii. 173, 174; iii. 24, 
 
 47, 299. 
 Montague, Mass., ii. 170. 
 Montpelier, Vt., iii. ill, 258. 
 Montreal, Canada, iii. 75-77, 
 
 257. 
 Moody, Eliza, i. 82. 
 Moody, Joseph, ii. 52. 
 Moor's Indian Charity School, 
 
 i. 93. 
 Moore, Ellen Eugenia, iii. 253. 
 Moore, Josiah, iii. 209. 
 Moore, Zephaniah S., ii. 168. 
 Moors, John Farwell, iii. 254, 
 
 2SS; ii- 94; "J- 132,324- 
 Morey, George, i. 204. 
 
INDEX 
 
 269 
 
 Morison, John Hopkins, iii. 
 
 256-258; i. 59; iii. 104, 201, 
 
 213,296,299,302; quoted on 
 
 Chandler Robbins, iii. 338. 
 Morse, Ebenezer, i. 2, 206. 
 Morse, James H., iii. 127. 
 Morse, Jedediah, i. 103. 
 Morse, Jedediah, i. 108; ii. 42, 
 
 138. 
 Moscow, N.Y., ii. 216. 
 Motte, Mellish I., iii. 259-263. 
 Mottey, Hannah, i. 82. 
 Mottey, Joseph, i'. 82. 
 Mottey, Joseph, i. 82-84; i- 76; 
 
 ii. 202. 
 Mumford, Thomas James, iii. 
 
 263-265; iii. 248, 249. 
 Murray, John, ii. 32. 
 Music Hall, Boston, iii. 190, 
 
 284, 385. 
 Muzzey, Artemas Bowers, iii. 
 
 387, 388. 
 Muzzey, David P., iii. 133. 
 Myrick, Henry Lewis, ii. 71. 
 
 Nantwich, England, i. 61, 62, 66. 
 
 Nashua, N.H., iii. 49, 87, 381. 
 
 Natick, South, Mass., iii. 325. 
 
 National Conference of Unita- 
 rian and Other Christian 
 Churches, iii. 28, 29, 34, 255, 
 305,327,329,346,352. 
 
 Neal, John, ii. 186. 
 
 Needham, Mass., i. 59, 87, 90, 
 200; iii. 55, 82. 
 
 New Bedford, Mass., i. 49, 194; 
 ii. 227; iii. 86, 90, 228, 256, 
 
 257, 299, 302, 3°4-307, 377- 
 
 New Boston, N.H., iii. 361. 
 
 New Braintree, Mass., ii. 168. 
 
 New Brunswick, i. 144. 
 
 New Brunswick, N.J., iii. 170. 
 
 New England Historic Genea- 
 logical Society, iii. 17, 386. 
 
 New Haven, Conn., ii. 59. 
 
 New Ipswich, N.H., iii. 276, 
 362. 
 
 New Ipswich Academy, iii. 344. 
 
 New London, Conn., ii. 118. 
 New London, N.H., iii. 183. 
 New North Church, Boston, 
 
 i. 109, 115, 117-119, 121; iii. 
 
 129. 
 New Orleans, La., i. 92; ii. 272, 
 
 273; iii- 37,97, in- 
 New South Church, Boston, 
 ii. 12, 76, 81; iii. 88, 103. 
 New South Free Church, Bos- 
 ton, ii. in. 
 New World, iii. 7, 105, 231, 296. 
 New York: 
 Churches : 
 
 First Unitarian Church 
 (All Souls), ii. 250, 287; 
 iii. 25, 33, no. 
 Prince Street Universalist 
 
 Society, ii. 298. 
 Second Congregational Uni- 
 tarian Church (Church 
 of the Messiah), ii. 16; 
 iii. 25, 86-88, 192, 232. 
 Third Unitarian Congrega- 
 tional Church (Indepen- 
 dent Liberal Church), iii. 
 57, 122-125. 
 Civil Service Reform Associ- 
 ation, iii. 27, 34. 
 Lyric Hall, iii. 122, 123, 127. 
 Union League Club, iii. 25, 
 28, 33- 
 Newburg, N.Y., iii. 16, 109. 
 Newbury, Mass., i. 104, 131, 
 
 238. 
 Newburyport, Mass., i. 131, 238; 
 ii. 10, 112, 113, 186, 279; iii. 
 13, 232, 269, 270, 345, 362, 
 
 387- 
 Newell, Jonathan, i. 92. 
 Newell, Jonathan, iii. 266. 
 Newell, William, iii. 266-269; 
 
 ii. 16, 82; iii. 120. 
 Newman, Frederick W., iii. 7. 
 Newman, Mark, i. 46; ii. 223. 
 Newport, R.I., ii. 118, 195; iii. 
 
 46-48, 55, HO, 390- 
 Newry, Ireland, iii. 75. 
 
270 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Newton, Mass., iii. 177, 178, 
 
 355- 
 Newton Centre, Mass., iii. 356. 
 Newton, West, Mass., iii. 4. 
 Nichols, Ichabod, ii. 100. 
 Nichols, Ichabod, ii. 100-102; 
 
 i. 133, 140; ii. 243; iii. 350, 
 
 352. 
 Nichols, John Taylor Gilman, 
 
 ii. 102; quoted on Joshua A. 
 
 Swan, iii. 364. 
 Nichols, Lydia R., ii. 100. 
 Norfolk Street Church, Dor- 
 chester, iii. 36. 
 North American Review, ii. 17, 
 
 151, 204, 260, 267, 270, 271; 
 
 iii. 7, 21, 34, 43, 45, 87, 98, 
 
 102, 127, 296, 390. 
 North Carolina, University of, 
 
 ii. 276. 
 North Elba, N.Y., i. 119. 
 North Meeting-house, Salem, 
 
 i. 131-140; iii. 118, 121, 229, 
 
 38S- 
 North Parish, Andover, i. 84; 
 
 "• 55- 
 
 Northampton, Mass., i. 224; ii. 
 
 20, 190, 216, 226, 227, 237, 
 301, 302, 304; iii. 24, 103, 
 151, 236, 265, 335, 344, 345. 
 
 Northboro, Mass., i. 204; ii. 49, 
 65, 212-214; iii. 1, 4, 353, 
 382. 
 
 Northfield, Mass., ii. 107; iii. 
 
 175- 
 Northumberland, Pa., i. 64, 65. 
 Norton, Mass., i. 12; ii. in; 
 
 iii. 16, 206, 362. 
 Norton, Andrews, ii. 193-198; 
 
 ii. 11, 151, 153, 172, 250; 
 
 iii. 118, 182, 240, 266, 269, 
 
 335- 
 Norton, Jane, ii. 193. 
 Norton, John, ii. 193. 
 Norton, John, i. 1; ii. 193. 
 Norton, Samuel, ii. 193. 
 Norwalk, Conn, iii. 191. 
 Norwell, Mass., ii. 190. 
 
 Norwich, Conn., i. 93; ii. 34; 
 
 iii. 197. 
 Nott, Eliphalet, iii. 340. 
 Nourse, Peter, i. 180. 
 Noyes, Charles, iii. 132. 
 Noyes, George F., iii. 133. 
 Noyes, George Rapall, iii. 269- 
 
 274; ii. 176; iii. 183, 349; 
 
 quoted on James Thompson, 
 
 ii. 155. 
 Noyes, Mary Rapall, iii. 269. 
 Noyes, Nathaniel, iii. 269. 
 Noyes, Nicholas, iii. 269. 
 Nute, Ephraim, iii. 275-277; 
 
 iii. 132. 
 
 Old North Church, Boston. 
 
 See Second Church. 
 Old South Church, Boston, 
 
 i. 98; ii. 3, 17, 77, 90. 
 Oldenbarneveld. See Barne- 
 
 veld. 
 Oliver, Henry K., quoted on 
 
 Charles Babbidge, iii. 8. 
 Olmsted, Frederick Law, iii. 28. 
 Oneida, N.Y., i. 104. 
 Orne, Esther, i. 25. 
 Orne, Samuel, ii. 265. 
 Orne, Timothy, i. 25. 
 Osgood, David, i. 179; ii. 64, 
 
 65, 173- 
 Osgood, Hannah, ii. 67. 
 Osgood, Jonathan, ii. 294. 
 Osgood, Joseph, iii. 209. 
 Osgood, Peter, ii. 67; ii. 65, 189. 
 Osgood, Samuel, iii. 87; i. 212; 
 
 ii. 221; iii. 112, 303, 331; 
 
 quoted on Thomas Thacher, 
 
 i. 91. 
 Osgood, Samuel, i. 91, 212; 
 
 quoted on William B. 0. Pea- 
 body, ii. 270, 271. 
 Ossoli, Margaret Fuller, iii. 62, 
 
 65,66, 128-130, 178,330,331, 
 
 334- 
 Otis, Harrison Gray, ii. 117. 
 Otis, James, i. 41; ii. 44. 
 Otis, Mary, ii. 44. 
 
INDEX 
 
 271 
 
 Packard, Alpheus S., i. 85. 
 Packard, Asa, ii. 176. 
 Packard, Dorothy, i. 80. 
 Packard, Hezekiah, i. 80-82; i. 
 
 76. 
 Packard, Jacob, i. 80. 
 Packer, Eldridge, i. 204. 
 Paddock, Phcebe, i. 126. 
 Paine, Robert Treat, i. 41 ; 
 
 quoted on Jonathan Mayhew, 
 
 i. 38. 
 
 Paine, William, i. 149. 
 
 Palfrey, Cazneau, ii. 97, 98; 
 quoted on Hersey B. Good- 
 win, i. 172, 173. 
 
 Palfrey, John Gorham, ii. 150- 
 153; i. 187; ii. 43>49> 80,81, 
 89, 112; iii. 118, 225, 260, 
 363; quoted on Joseph S. 
 Buckminster, ii. 149-153; on 
 Jonathan Mayhew, i. 38. 
 
 Palmer, Samuel, i. 64. 
 
 Palmer, Stephen, i. 90, 123. 
 
 Pardee, Joseph N., iii. 45. 
 
 Park, Jane, ii. 216. 
 
 Park, Louisa Jane, iii. 151. 
 
 Park, Stuart J., ii. 216. 
 
 Parker, Edmund, ii. 201. 
 
 Parker, John, iii. 278. 
 
 Parker, Nathan, ii. 159-163; ii. 
 30,201,237; iii. 292,293. 
 
 Parker, Theodore, iii. 278- 
 287; i. 158; ii. 178, 209; iii. 
 22, 99, 119, 120, 122, 124, 
 127, 142, 185, 186, 190, 208, 
 216, 217, 218, 226, 243, 245, 
 248, 270, 338, 345, 377, 380, 
 
 3 8 5- 
 Parker, Thomas, iii. 278. 
 Parkhurst, Daniel Bigelow, ii. 
 
 94- 
 
 Parkhurst, Harriet, ii. 260. 
 Parkhurst, Phineas, ii. 260. 
 Parkhurst, Timothy, ii. 240. 
 Parkman, Abigail, ii. 103, 104. 
 Parkman, Ebenezer, i. ill. 
 Parkman, Francis, i. 1 13; ii. 
 19; iii. 127. 
 
 Parkman, Francis, i. m-118; 
 i. 97; ii. 80, 89, 104; iii. 77: 
 quoted on John Clarke, i. 
 25-28. 
 
 Parkman, John, i. 118. 
 
 Parkman, Samuel, i. ill; ii. 
 103, 104. 
 
 Parkman, Sarah, ii. 103, 104. 
 
 Parsons, James Challis, iii. 171. 
 
 Parsons, William, ii. 82. 
 
 Parsonsfield, Me., iii. 16. 
 
 Pasadena, Cal., iii. 355. 
 
 Pass Christian, Miss., iii. 98. 
 
 Peabody, Mass., ii. 105; iii. 381. 
 
 Peabody, Andrew Preston, iii. 
 288-296; ii. 160, 217; iii. 21, 
 75, 104, 114, 149, 154, 174, 
 179, 228, 234, 235, 274, 323, 
 339, 34 2 » 347; quoted on 
 Abiel Abbot, i. 217-222; on 
 John Bartlett, ii. 181-184; 
 on Ichabod Nichols, ii. 101; 
 on Nathan Parker, ii. 160- 
 163; on John Pierce, i. 228, 
 229; on01iverStearns,iii.346. 
 
 Peabody, Anna Huidekoper, iii. 
 32, 302. 
 
 Peabody, Elizabeth P., quoted 
 on Charles T. C. Follen, ii. 
 289-291; on John T. Kirk- 
 land, ii. 88, 89; on Nathaniel 
 Thayer, ii. 68-70; on Joseph 
 Tuckerman, ii. 115-117. 
 
 Peabody, Ellen Derby, iii. 302. 
 
 Peabody, Ephraim, iii. 297. 
 
 Peabody, Ephraim, iii. 297-303 ; 
 i. 59; ii. 240; iii. 22, 32, 91, 97, 
 256,304,314; quotedon Will- 
 iam E. Channing, iii. 128-13 1. 
 
 Peabody, Francis Greenwood, 
 iii. 296, 302. 
 
 Peabody, George, iii. 116. 
 
 Peabody Institute, iii. 53. 
 
 Peabody, Joseph, i. 134. 
 
 Peabody, Oliver William Bourn, 
 ii. 259-262. 
 
 Peabody, Robert Swain, iii. 302. 
 
 Peabody, Stephen, ii. 263. 
 
2^2 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Peabody, William Bourn Oliver, 
 
 ii. 263-271; ii. 49, 259, 262. 
 Pearson, Eliphalet, i. 78, 82; ii. 
 
 42, 5.1. 75- 
 Peel, Sir Robert, ii. 115. 
 Peirce, Benjamin, ii. 101. 
 Pemberton, Ebenezer, i. 93. 
 Pemberton, Ebenezer, ii. 51. 
 Pembroke, Mass., i. 11, 14, 15, 
 
 194; iii. 149. 
 Peoria, 111., ii. 182. 
 Pepperell, Mass., iii. 8-10. 
 Perkins, Abigail, ii. 63. 
 Perkins, Jacob, ii. 63. 
 Perkins, James Handasyd, iii. 
 
 61,65,66, 303. 
 Perkins, Thomas H., i. 10. 
 Perry, Martha, iii. 230. 
 Peterboro, N.Y., iii. 206. 
 Peterborough, N.H., i. 222; ii. 
 
 55> 56, 58, 216; iii. 206, 256. 
 Peters, Hugh, i. 146. 
 Petersham, Mass., ii. 90, 94, 
 
 168, 170; iii. 17, 270, 275, 
 
 382, 384, 385. 
 Phi Beta Kappa Society, i. 157, 
 
 194; iii. 26, 33, 37, 48, 89, 
 
 161, 298. 
 Philadelphia, Pa., i. 64, 65; iii. 
 
 133, 134- 
 First Unitarian Church, i. 65; 
 
 iii. 134, 137. 
 Spring Garden Church, iii. 
 
 359- 
 Phillips, Jonathan, ii. 106, 1 16. 
 Phillips, Samuel, ii. 50. 
 Phillips, Samuel, ii. 75. 
 Phillips, Wendell, iii. 62, 163, 
 
 196, 246. 
 Pickard, Mark, ii. 226. 
 Pickard, Mary L., ii. 226. 
 Pickering, John, i. 25; ii. 160. 
 Pickering, Susan, ii. 160. 
 Pickering, Timothy, i. 24. 
 Pickering, Timothy, i. 24, 132, 
 
 146; ii. 64. 
 Pickman, Benjamin, i. 140. 
 Pierce, John, i. 223. 
 
 Pierce, John, i. 223-238; i. 19, 
 34. 97, 212; iii. 159, 165; 
 quoted on Jeremy Belknap, 
 i. 107, 108; on John Eliot, 
 i. 119-121; on Eliphalet Por- 
 ter, i. 185-187; on Samuel 
 West (of Boston), i. 90-92. 
 
 Pierce, Lucy, iii. 159. 
 
 Pierce, Sarah, i. 223. 
 
 Pierpont, James, ii. 185. 
 
 Pierpont, John, ii. 185-192; ii. 
 49; iii. 21, 35, 132, 157, 282, 
 
 .363- , 
 Pike, Richard, iii. 265; iii. 157. 
 Pipon, John, ii. 89. 
 Pitkin, Thomas E., quoted on 
 
 Sylvester Judd, ii. 307, 308. 
 Pitman, Robert C, quoted on 
 
 George W. Hosmer, iii. 178. 
 Pitts Street Chapel, Boston, ii. 
 
 106, 108, 112. 
 Pittsburg, Pa., iii. 49, 91. 
 Pittsfield, Mass., iii. 149. 
 Plymouth, Mass., i. 51, 59, 86, 
 
 160, 171, 212, 215, 222, 224; 
 
 ii. 1, 71-74; iii. 38,40,78, 175, 
 
 232, 340. 
 Plymouth, N.H., ii. 32. 
 Poland, Me., iii. 385. 
 Pomeroy, Cassius, i. 204. 
 Pomona, Cal., ii. 280. 
 Poor, Daniel, ii. 72. 
 Poor, Laura, iii. 358. 
 Poor, Sarah, ii. 72. 
 Popkin, John Snelling, i. 104, 
 
 238. 
 Porter, Eliphalet, i. 181-187; 
 
 i. 57; iii. 52,315. 
 Porter, John, i. 181. 
 Portland, Me., iii. 17, 216, 258. 
 
 First Church, ii. 100; iii. 171, 
 173. 35°,.352- 
 
 Second Unitarian Church, ii. 
 243, 244, 279; iii. 38, 257, 
 258, 347. 
 Portsmouth, England, ii. 109. 
 Portsmouth, N.H., i. 24, 47, 98, 
 
 99,110; ii. 100,113,134,159, 
 
INDEX 
 
 273 
 
 172; iii. 114, 191, 228, 288, 
 
 291-293. 
 Potter, William James, iii. 303- 
 
 308; i. 59; iii. 132; quoted 
 
 on Joseph Allen, ii. 214. 
 Powell, Michael, ii. 228. 
 Powell, Susannah, i. 85. 
 Pownal, Fort, i. 87. 
 Pownalborough. See Wiscas- 
 
 set. 
 Pratt, Enoch, i. 212. 
 Preble, Edward, ii. 89. 
 Preble, Jedediah, i. 87. 
 Prentiss, Caleb, i. 181, 182; ii. 
 
 97-. 
 Prentiss, Diantha, ii. 216. 
 
 Prentiss, John, ii. 216. 
 
 Prentiss, Joshua, i. 201. 
 
 Prentiss, Lydia, ii. 97. 
 
 Prentiss, Thomas, i. 201 ; ii. 212. 
 
 Prentiss, Thomas, i. 201 ; ii. 237. 
 
 Prescott, Catherine, ii. 83. 
 
 Prescott, Lucy, ii. 105. 
 
 Prescott, William, ii. 82. 
 
 Prescott, William, ii. 105. 
 
 Prescott, William H., ii. 153; iii. 
 
 Price, Richard, i. 64, 69. 
 
 Priestley, Jonas, i. 60. 
 
 Priestley, Joseph, i. 60-72, 150; 
 ii. 13, 237; iii. 134, 172, 292. 
 
 Prince, John, i. 141. 
 
 Prince, John, i. 141-148; i. 132, 
 149, 153; quoted on Thomas 
 Barnard, i. 136, 137. 
 
 Prince, Joseph, i. 193. 
 
 Prince Street Universalist So- 
 ciety, New York, ii. 298. 
 
 Prince, Thomas, ii. I. 
 
 Princeton, Mass., i. 238; ii. 65; 
 iii. 361. 
 
 Princeton College, i. 93; ii. 76, 
 118. 
 
 Prospect Hill School, iii. 171, 
 
 255- 
 Providence, R.I., ii. 279, 297; 
 
 iii. 250, 25;, 276, 303, 359. 
 
 Athenaeum, iii. 388. 
 
 First Congregational Church, 
 
 iii. 151-153- 
 Westminster Congregational 
 Society, iii. 87, 109, 158, 
 388, 390. 
 
 Purchase Street Church, Bos- 
 ton, iii. 330, 331, 335. 
 
 Putnam, Alfred Porter, ii. 19; 
 iii. 48, 50, 75, ill, 127, 137, 
 167, 174, 212, 223, 235, 380. 
 
 Putnam, Andrew, iii. 308. 
 
 Putnam, George, iii. 308-323; 
 i. 184; iii. 198, 299; quoted 
 on William H. Furness, iii. 
 135; on John Pierce, i. 229- 
 233; on Eliphalet Porter, i. 
 185; on Henry Ware, Sr., ii. 
 44-48. 
 
 Putnam, George H., iii. 127. 
 
 Putnam, Samuel, iii. 22. 
 
 Putnam, William L., iii. 22. 
 
 Pynchon, William, i. 14. 
 
 Quebec, ii. 2, 3. 
 
 Quincy, 111., iii. 184. 
 
 Quincy, Mass., i. 9, 11, 27; iii. 
 
 2, 233. 339. 382-... 
 
 Quincy, Dorothy, iii. 239. 
 
 Quincy, Josiah, ii. 222; iii. 239. 
 
 Quincy, Josiah, iii. 260; quoted 
 on Jeremy Belknap, i. 106, 
 I07;on John Eliot, i. 114-119. 
 
 Quincy, Josiah P., iii. 127. 
 
 RadclifFe College, ii. 279. 
 Raleigh, N.C., ii. 277. 
 Rammohun Roy, ii. 106. 
 Ramsay, David, i. 103. 
 Rand, Barrett, iii. 117. 
 Rand, Susannah, iii. 117. 
 Randall, Ephraim, i. 212. 
 Randolph, David Meade, ii. 1 19. 
 Rantoul, Robert, iii. 387. 
 Rawson, Grindall, i. 19. 
 Raynham,Mass.,i. 190, 191,193. 
 Reading, Mass., i. 73, 79, 93, 
 
 156, 166; ii. 20, 159, 201, 
 
 292; iii. 278. 
 
274 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Reed, David, ii. 210, 211, 242. 
 Reed, John, i. 125, 126; i. 81. 
 Reed, Solomon, i. 125. 
 Reed, William, ii. 210. 
 Revolutionary War, i. 93, 147, 
 
 148; ii. 305. 
 Reynolds, Grindall, iii. 323. 
 Reynolds, Grindall, iii. 323-329, 
 
 339; quoted on JohnCordner, 
 
 Rice, Benjamin, ii. 176. 
 Rice, Persis, ii. 176. 
 Rich, Benjamin, ii. 83. 
 Richardson, Joseph, ii. 41, 42; 
 
 i. 159; iii. 15; quoted on 
 
 Henry Cummings, i. 76. 
 Ripley, Ezra, i. 160-174; i. 28; 
 
 ii. 172, 173; iii. 52. 
 Ripley, George, iii. 330-335; ii. 
 
 208; iii. 124, 125, 127, 162. 
 Ripley, Lydia, i. 160. 
 Ripley, Mary, ii. 174; iii. 276. 
 Ripley, Noah, i. 160. 
 Ripley, Samuel, ii. 172-178, 179; 
 
 i. 162, 174; ii. 96, 247, 251. 
 Ripley, Sarah B., ii. 175; iii. 
 
 128. 
 Robbins, Chandler, iii. 335—339; 
 
 ii. 72; iii. 234,235,343. 
 Robbins, Jane, ii. 72. 
 Robbins, Peter Gilman, iii. 336. 
 Robbins, Samuel Dowse, iii. 
 
 336. 
 Robinson, Caleb, ii. 215. 
 Robinson, Charles, ii. 215-217; 
 
 quoted on William H. White, 
 
 ii. 295. 
 Robinson, John, iii. 340. 
 Robinson, Judith, ii. 215. 
 Rochester, Mass., i. 86. 
 Rochester, N.Y., iii. 57, 103, 
 
 109. 
 Rochester, University of, iii. 
 
 288. 
 Rockford, 111., iii. 130, 198. 
 Rockwood, Daniel, ii. 240. 
 Rogers, Daniel, i. no. 
 Rogers, Emily H., iii. 256. 
 
 Roslindale, Mass., iii. 385. 
 Round Hill School, iii. 24, 236. 
 Rowe, Mass., i. 239, 240. 
 Rowley, Mass., ii. 96. 
 Roxbury, Mass., i. 109; ii. 279; 
 
 iii. 197, 198. 215,309. 
 Royalston, Mass., ii. 239. 
 Ruggles, Martha, i. 182. 
 Ruggles, Nathaniel, i. 182. 
 Rush, Benjamin, i. 103. 
 Russell, David, i. 204. 
 Russell, Lucia Jane, iii. 38. 
 Russell, Mary, i. 204. 
 Russell, Sarah, iii. 236. 
 Rutland, Mass., i. 41. 
 
 Sabin, John, ii. 70. 
 Saco, Me., ii. 243; iii. 38, 197. 
 St. Augustine, Fla., i. 191. 
 St. Louis, Mo., iii. 82, 90, 197, 
 206. 
 Church of the Messiah, iii. 91- 
 
 93, 95. 96, 179- 
 Church of the Unity, iii. 97. 
 Salem, Mass., i. 82; ii. 190; iii. 
 8, 46, 113, 185, 380, 384, 
 386. 
 Churches: 
 Barton Square Church, i. 
 134, I3S; »• 16; iii. 325, 
 .385- 
 First Church, i. no, 131, 
 141-148; iii. 38, 39, 359. 
 Howard Street Church, i. 
 
 135- 
 North Meeting-house, i. 
 
 131-140; iii. 118, 121, 
 
 229, 385. 
 Second (East) Church, i. 
 
 H9-.I59- 
 East India Marine Society, i. 
 
 153- 
 Essex Institute, i. 146, 150; 
 
 iii. 17, 386. 
 Fiske Latin School, iii. 113. 
 Hacker Grammar School, iii. 
 
 . "3- 
 
 Salisbury, Conn., i. 92. 
 
INDEX 
 
 275 
 
 Salisbury, England, ii. 31. 
 Salisbury, Mass., i. 82; ii. 31, 
 
 200. 
 Salisbury, N.H., ii. 34, 35, 39, 
 
 181. 
 Saltonstall, Leverett, i. 140. 
 Sampson, Hannah, i. 126. 
 Sampson, Simeon, i. 171. 
 Sampson, Uriah, i. 126. 
 San Diego, Cal., iii. 6, 355. 
 San Francisco, Cal., ii. 108, 279; 
 iii. 109, 196-201. 
 
 First Unitarian Church, iii. 
 
 197, 350-3S2-. 
 Sanders, Azubah, i. 200. 
 Sanders, Daniel Clarke, i. 200- 
 
 204. 
 Sanders, Micah, i. 200. 
 Sandisfield, Mass., iii. 340. 
 Sandwich, Mass., ii. 31, 73; iii. 
 
 55- . 
 Sandwich Academy, i. 171, 199. 
 Sanger, Deborah, i. 122. 
 Sanger, Ralph, i. 123, 124, 130; 
 
 iii. 202. 
 Sanger, Richard, i. 122. 
 Sanger, Zedekiah, i. 122-130; 
 
 i. 46, 56; iii. 202. 
 Sanitary Commission. See 
 
 United States Sanitary Com- 
 mission. 
 Sargent, John Turner, ii. 108, 
 
 109; ii. 17; iii. 284. 
 Sargent, Mrs. John T., iii. 378. 
 Saugus, Mass., ii. 95. 
 Savage, Minot Judson, iii. 378. 
 Savannah, Ga., i. 158, 191, 209, 
 
 210. 
 Savary, John, iii. 133. 
 Savary, William H., iii. 179. 
 Scandlin, Wm. George, ii. 109, 
 
 no; iii. 132. 
 Scituate, Mass., i. 3, 9, II, 194; 
 
 ii. Ill; iii. 78, 275, 364. 
 Scituate, South, Mass., iii. 242, 
 
 248. 
 Scollay, John, i. 201. 
 Scollay, Mercy, i. 201. 
 
 Seabury, Bishop, ii. 5, 6. 
 
 Sears, David, ii. 173. 
 
 Sears, Edmund Hamilton, iii. 
 340-343; "• 238; iii. 339. 
 
 Searsport, Me., iii. 265. 
 
 Seeker, Thomas, i. 40. 
 
 Second Church in Boston, i. 93; 
 ii. 224, 227-233 ; iii. 335-339- 
 
 Second (East) Church, Salem, 
 i. 149-159- 
 
 Second Congregational Society, 
 Lynn, i. 135. 
 
 Second Congregational Unita- 
 rian Church (Church of the 
 Messiah), New York, ii. 16; 
 iii. 25, 86-88, 192, 232. 
 
 Second Parish, Hingham, i. 
 
 2, 5, 135- 
 
 Second Unitarian Church, Port- 
 land, ii. 243, 244, 279; iii. 
 38, 257, 347. _ 
 
 Second Unitarian Congrega- 
 tional Society, ' Brooklyn, iii. 
 219, 221. 
 
 Sever, Anne Warren, i. 139. 
 
 Sever, Mary, i. 139. 
 
 Sever, William, i. 139. 
 
 Sewall, Dorothy, iii. 239. 
 
 Sewall, Edmund Quincy, i. 174. 
 
 Sewall, Samuel, iii. 239. 
 
 Sewall, Stephen, i. 26, 48. 
 
 Shackford, Charles C, iii. 282. 
 
 Shattuck, George C, iii. 22. 
 
 Shaw, John, i. 123; ii. 72. 
 
 Shaw, Lemuel, iii. 15. 
 
 Shays's rebellion, ii. 75. 
 
 Shearman, Caleb H., i. 212. 
 
 Sheffield, England, iii. 355. 
 
 Sheffield, Mass., iii. 84, 85, 88. 
 
 Shelburne, Mass., ii. 93. 
 
 Shelburne, Earl of, i. 62, 63, 69. 
 
 Shepard Congregational So- 
 ciety, Cambridge, iii. 267. 
 
 Sheppard, Moses, iii. 53. 
 
 Sherborn, Mass., i. 122, 175, 
 204; ii. 40. 
 
 Sherman, John, ii. 59. 
 
 Sherman, John, ii. 59-63 ; ii. 54. 
 
276 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Sherman, Rebecca, ii. 59. 
 
 Sherman, Roger, ii. 59. 
 
 Sherwin, Thomas, iii. 324. 
 
 Shippen, Rush R., iii. 327; 
 quoted on Rufus P. Steb- 
 bins, iii. 357. 
 
 Shippen, Sarah, iii. 265. 
 
 Shipton, Quebec, iii. 362. 
 
 Shute, Daniel, i. 9-1 1; i. 2, 5, 
 19; ii. 49. 
 
 Shute, John, i. 9. 
 
 Shute, Mary, i. 9. 
 
 Shuttlesworth, Samuel, ii. 30. 
 
 Sibley, John Langdon, i. 48. 
 
 Sigourney, Charles, iii. III. 
 
 Sigourney, Jane Carter, iii. in. 
 
 Silsbee, Nathaniel, i. 158. 
 
 Silsbee, William, ii. 190. 
 
 Simmons, George Frederick, ii. 
 173, 174; ii. 172; quoted on 
 Charles T. C. Follen, ii. 288, 
 289. 
 
 Simmons, William, ii. 172, 173. 
 
 Simpkins, John, iii. 339. 
 
 Sims, Thomas, iii. 285. 
 
 Simsbury, Conn., ii. 164. 
 
 Sheer, Thomas R., iii. 390. 
 
 Smiley, Robinson, i. 30. 
 
 Smith, Amos, i. 118, 119; i. ill. 
 
 Smith, Ann, i. 17. 
 
 Smith, Benjamin, ii. 277. 
 
 Smith, Charles C, iii. 339. 
 
 Smith, Eli, i. 73. 
 
 Smith, Elizabeth Morison, iii. 
 206. 
 
 Smith, Gerrit, iii. 127, 246, 248. 
 
 Smith, Henry, i. 239. 
 
 Smith, Jeremiah, iii. 256, 258. 
 
 Smith, Preserved, i. 239, 240. 
 
 Smith, Royal, ii. 94. 
 
 Smith, Samuel, i. 17, 174. 
 
 Smith, Samuel, iii. 206. 
 
 Smith, Samuel Abbot, ii. 56, 
 200. 
 
 Smith, Samuel G., iii. 206. 
 
 Smith, William, i. 5. 
 
 Society for Promoting Theo- 
 logical Education, i. 215. 
 
 Society for Propagating the 
 Gospel, ii. 52; iii. 225. 
 
 Somerville, Mass., ii. 108; iii. 
 14, 229, 230, 309, 363. 
 
 Somes, Abigail H., ii. 274. 
 
 Sontag, Henriette, iii. 14. 
 
 Soule, Gideon L., iii. 349. 
 
 South Congregational Church, 
 Boston, ii. 21 1; iii. 259-261, 
 371. 
 
 South Groton. See Ayer. 
 
 South Parish, Andover, i. 79. 
 
 Southampton, Mass., ii. 301. 
 
 Southboro, Mass., ii. 177. 
 
 Sparhawk, John, i. 131. 
 
 Sparks,. Jared, ii. 203-205; i. 
 209; ii. 12, 121, 153; iii. 52, 
 102, 118, 269, 363. 
 
 Spaulding, Isaac, ii. 240. 
 
 Spencer, Harriet B., i. 47. 
 
 Sprague, Edward, iii. 203. 
 
 Sprague, Eliza M., ii. no. 
 
 Sprague, Joseph, quoted on 
 William Bentley, i. 154-156; 
 on John Prince, i. 145-148. 
 
 Sprague, William B., i. 19, 34, 
 59, 71, 72, 85, 92, 97, 108, 121, 
 130, 140, 148, 159, 174, 180, 
 187, 199, 204; ii. 19, 30, 39, 
 49, S§, 63, 70, 74, 89, 99, 102, 
 "7, 133, 153, 167, 198, 217, 
 238, 249, 258, 271, 280, 291, 
 296, 308. 
 
 Spring, Alpheus, i. 81. 
 
 Spring, Mary, i. 81. 
 
 Springfield, Mass., i. 14; ii. 174, 
 263-265, 271; iii. 348. 
 
 Springfield, Vt., i. 30. 
 
 Spring Garden Church, Phila- 
 delphia, iii. 359. 
 
 Spurzheim, Kaspar, ii. 191. 
 
 Standish, Me., iii. 206. 
 
 Standish, Miles, i. 126. 
 
 Staples, Carlton A., iii. 132. 
 
 Staples, Nahor Augustus, iii. 
 221; iii. 57, 215. 
 
 Starr, Susan, iii. 191. 
 
 Stearns, Asahel, iii. 344. 
 
INDEX 
 
 277 
 
 Stearns, 
 
 292. 
 Stearns, 
 Stearns, 
 Stearns, 
 Stearns, 
 Stearns, 
 
 335- 
 Stearns, 
 
 344- 
 Stearns, 
 Stearns, 
 
 John 
 
 Charles, i. 163-167; ii. 
 
 Daniel M., i. 47. 
 Hannah, iii. 278. 
 Isaac, iii. 344. 
 Lydia, i. 163. 
 Oliver, iii. 344-347; iii. 
 
 Priscilla Cushing, iii. 
 
 Thomas, i. 163 ; iii. 344. 
 William A., quoted on 
 T. Kirkland, ii. 87, 
 
 Stearns, William G., iii. 344. 
 Stebbins, Amelia Adams, iii. 
 
 348. 
 Stebbins, Calvin, iii. 17, 348. 
 Stebbins, Horatio, iii. 348-352; 
 
 ii. 100; iii. 167; quoted on 
 
 Rufus P. Stebbins, iii. 356. 
 Stebbins, Rufus Phineas, iii. 
 
 3S3-357; »i- 173, 181, 209. 
 Stedman, Edmund Clarence, iii. 
 
 122, 124, 127. 
 Sterling, Mass., i. 182, 205; ii. 
 
 65, 67, 71, 164, 189; iii. 308. 
 Stetson, Caleb, ii. 190, 191 ; i. 19; 
 
 iii. 52. 
 Stevens, Daniel Waldo, ii. no, 
 
 in; iii. 390. 
 Stevens, Julia M., iii. 183. 
 Stewart, Samuel B., iii. 190. 
 Stiles, Ezra, iii. 138. 
 Stiles, Ruth, iii. 138. 
 Stockbridge, Mass., ii. 75, 76, 
 
 286, 287. 
 Stockbridge, N.Y., i. 104. 
 Stoddard, David, i. 26. 
 Stoddard, Mary, i. 26. 
 Stone, Eliab, i. 79, 156. 
 Stone, Henry, iii. 133. 
 Stone, Sally, i. 79. 
 Stone, Thomas Treadwell, iii. 
 
 358-362. 
 Stoneham, Mass., ii. 199. 
 Storrs, Joshua, ii. 62. 
 .Storrs, Richard Salter, iii. 27. 
 
 Story, Joseph, iii. 216, 269; 
 quoted on Edward Everett, ii. 
 
 i s°- 
 
 Stow, Mass., iii. 362. 
 Stowell, Carrie E., iii. 183. 
 Strafford, Vt., iii. 324. 
 Stratford, Conn., ii. 6. 
 Strauss, David Friedrich, iii. 31. 
 Sturbridge, Mass., i. 200. 
 Sudbury, East. See Wayland. 
 Suffolk Chapel, Boston, ii. 107, 
 
 109. 
 Sullivan, James, i. 102; ii. 140. 
 Sullivan, Thomas Russell, iii. 
 
 210. 
 Sullivan, William, iii. 109. 
 Sumner, Charles, iii. 22, n6, 
 
 157, 190; quoted, iii. 20. 
 Sumner, Edwin V., i. 187. 
 Sumner, Joseph, ii. 30. 
 Swain, William W., iii. 256. 
 Swampscott, Mass., iii. 367. 
 Swan, Joshua, iii. 363. 
 Swan, Joshua Augustus, iii. 363, 
 
 364- 
 Swanzey, N.H., iii. 202. 
 Swett, William Grey, ii. 202. 
 Symmes, William, i. 84, 85 ; i. 76, 
 
 80. 
 Symmes, Zacharias, i. 84. 
 Syracuse, N.Y., ii. 240; iii. 
 
 243,249. 
 
 Tappan, Benjamin, i. 224. 
 Tappan, David, i. 46, 81, 224; ii. 
 41, 42, 53, 64, 71, 72, 76, 120. 
 Tappan, Lucy, i. 224. 
 Taunton, Mass., ii. 105; iii. 39, 
 
 41. 309.3SS-.. 
 Tayloe, John, ii. 172. 
 Taylor, Edward, ii. 109; iii. 19, 
 
 369- 
 Tebbets, Theodore, iii. 16. 
 Templeton, Mass., i. 206; ii. 
 
 303, 304; iii. 361, 385. 
 Thacher, Oxenbridge, i. 89. 
 Thacher, Peter, i. 25, 30, 98; 
 
 ii. 77. 
 
278 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Thacher, Samuel Cooper, ii. 77- 
 
 79; ii. 12, 15, 121, 137, 138, 
 
 141. 
 Thacher, Thomas, i. 89. 
 Thacher, Thomas, i. 89-91, 92, 
 
 208; ii. 77, 103. 
 Thacher, Thomas C, ii. 259. 
 Thaxter, Joseph, i. 16-19; i. 3. 
 Thaxter, Mary, i. 16. 
 Thaxter, Robert, iii. 157. 
 Thayer, Catherine, ii. 51. 
 Thayer, Christopher Toppan, i. 
 
 221; ii. 70. 
 Thayer, Ebenezer, ii. 51, 64. 
 Thayer, George A., iii. 133. 
 Thayer, James B., quoted on ■ 
 
 Samuel Ripley, ii. 176-178. 
 Thayer, Nathaniel, ii. 64-70; i. 
 
 29, 221; ii. 90, 204, 293; iii. 
 
 224, 336. 
 Third Congregational Society, 
 
 Cambridge, ii. 16; iii. 38, 
 
 365- 
 Third Congregational Society, 
 Hingham, i. 119; ii. 91; iii. 
 
 304, 345> 347- 
 
 Third Religious Society in 
 Dorchester, iii. 265. 
 
 Third Unitarian Congrega- 
 tional Church (Independent 
 Liberal Church), New York, 
 iii. 57. 122-125. 
 
 Third Unitarian Congrega- 
 tional Society, Brooklyn, iii. 
 
 57- 
 Thomas, Mary, ii. 30. 
 
 Thompson, James, ii. 154, 155. 
 
 Thompson, James William, iii. 
 
 325; ii. 16, 82, 155. 
 Thornton, N.H., ii. 32, 33. 
 Thorp, Harriet, iii. 182. 
 Thursday Lecture, i. 36, 37, 45, 
 
 212, 227; iii. 284. 
 Ticknor, George, ii. 153, 285; 
 
 iii. 52, 148. 
 Tiffany, Francis, iii. 7, 14, 66, 
 
 75, 182; quoted on Loammi 
 
 G. Ware, iii. 372. 
 
 Tilden, Anna Linzee, iii. 141. 
 Tilden, William Phillips, ii. ill,, 
 
 112; iii. 248. 
 Tiverton, R.I., i. 49, 59. 
 Toledo, Ohio, iii. 57. 
 Topliff, Nathaniel, i. 212. 
 Toppan, Christopher, ii. 67. 
 Toppan, Sarah, ii. 67. 
 Topsham, Me., ii. 73. 
 Toronto, Canada, iii. 82. 
 Townsend, Elizabeth, i. 26. 
 Townshend, Eliza Nevins, iii. 32. 
 Transylvania University, i. 92. 
 Treadwell, Miss., i. no. 
 Tremont, 111., iii. 277. 
 Trenton, N.Y., ii. 94, 190. 
 Trenton Falls, N.Y., ii. 62, 63. 
 Trinity Church, Boston, i. 36. 
 Troy, N.Y., ii. 94, 190; iii. 131, 
 
 257. 
 Tuckerman, Edward, ii. 103. 
 Tuckerman, Elizabeth H., ii. 
 
 103. 
 Tuckerman, Henry T., quoted 
 
 on Joseph Tuckerman, ii. 
 
 108-115. 
 Tuckerman, Joseph, ii. 103-117; 
 
 ii. 225; iii. 11, 12, 140. 
 Tufts College, iii. 388. 
 Tuttle, Nancy, iii. 266. 
 Twelfth Congregational Church, 
 
 Boston, ii. 81, 240. 
 Twenty-eighth Congregational 
 
 Society, Boston, iii. 284, 374, 
 
 375- 
 Tyng, Stephen H., iii. 239. 
 Tyngsboro, Mass., i. 73; ii. 113. 
 
 Union College, iii. 276, 340. 
 
 Union League Club, New York, 
 iii. 25, 28, 33. 
 
 Unitarian Review, iii. 4, 7, 21, 
 33, 43, 66, 75, 89, 98, 104, 
 108, 127, 138, 141, 167, 174, 
 201, 208, 231, 232, 253, 257, 
 323, 329, 357, 380. 
 
 Unitarian Sunday School So- 
 ciety, iii. 213. 
 
INDEX 
 
 279 
 
 United States Sanitary Com- 
 mission, i. 224; iii. 27, 28, 
 33. 69, 145, 200, 230, 247, 
 3 S°. 
 
 Universalism, ii. 53, 298. 
 
 Universalist Church, Charles- 
 town, iii. 191, 192. 
 
 Universalists, iii. 192, 193, 277. 
 
 Upham, Charles Wentworth, i. 
 144-147; quoted on Hosea 
 Hildreth, ii. 166, 167; on 
 John T. Kirkland, ii. 86, 87. 
 
 Upham, Joshua, i. 144. 
 
 Upham, Phineas, i. 144. 
 
 Upton, Mass., ii. 71, 72. 
 
 Utica, N.Y., iii. 224. 
 
 Uxbridge, Mass., ii. 217; iii. 
 362. 
 
 Van der Kemp, Francis A., ii. 
 
 62, 63. 
 Vergennes, Vt., i. 201. 
 Vermont, University of, i. 201, 
 
 202, 204; iii. 371. 
 Vinal, Charles Carroll, iii. 364. 
 Vineyard Haven, Mass., ii. 111 ; 
 
 iii. 390. 
 Virginia, University of, i. 153. 
 Vorse, Albert Buel, iii. 55. 
 
 Wadsworth, Benjamin, i. 20. 
 
 Wait, Samuel, i. 206. 
 
 Wakefield, N.H.,ii. 176. 
 
 Waldo, Jonathan, i. 145. 
 
 Waldo, Mille, i. 145. 
 
 Wales, Ebenezer, i. 212, 213. 
 
 Wales, Eunice, i. 213. 
 
 Walker, Caroline, ii. 221. 
 
 Walker, James, ii. 218-222; ii. 
 215; iii. 52.87, 114, n6, 127, 
 166, 192,311; quoted on An- 
 drews Norton, ii. 197, 198. 
 
 Wallcut, Robert Folger, i. 48. 
 
 Walley, John, i. 20. 
 
 Walley, Sarah, i. 20. 
 
 Walpole, Mass., i. 204. 
 
 Walpole, N.H., i. 224; ii. m, 
 190; iii. 23, 24, 34. 
 
 Waltham, Mass., ii. 106, 136, 
 172-178, 246, 251; iii. 149, 
 
 171. 173- 
 
 Wappetaw, S.C., ii. 277. 
 
 Ward, Artemus, ii. 209. 
 
 Ward, Frances F., ii. 209. 
 
 Ware, Mass., ii. 71. 
 
 Ware, Ashur, ii. 223, 250. 
 
 Ware, Elizabeth Ann, iii. 310. 
 
 Ware, Harriet, iii. 151. 
 
 Ware, Henry, ii. 40-49; i. 3, 11, 
 31, 95, in, 123, 195; ii. 11, 
 112, 199, 200, 213, 223, 250, 
 263; iii. 1, 118, 134, 140, 182, 
 202, 207, 240, 260, 270, 309, 
 
 3io,365- 
 Ware, Henry, Jr., ii. 223-238; i. 
 
 94, 113, 138, 199; ii-49, 163, 
 181, 250; iii. 30, 119, 129, 
 
 293, 337, 338, 339, 365- 
 
 Ware, John, ii. 40. 
 
 Ware, John, ii. 49, 258. 
 
 Ware, John Fothergill Water- 
 house, iii. 365-370; ii. 231. 
 
 Ware, Loammi Goodenow, iii. 
 370-372. 
 
 Ware, Lucy Clark, ii. 213; 
 iii. 1. 
 
 Ware, Martha, ii. 40. 
 
 Ware, Mary L., iii. 153, 339. 
 
 Ware, William, ii. 250-258; ii. 
 19, 49, 200, 226; iii. 52, no, 
 
 134,233- 
 Warland, Elizabeth, i. 31. 
 Warland, Thomas, i. 31. 
 Warren, Elizabeth Goodrich, iii. 
 
 265. 
 Warren, John C, ii. 117. 
 Warren Street Chapel. See 
 
 Barnard Memorial. 
 Warren, Winslow, iii. 116. 
 Warrington, England, i. 61, 62. 
 Warwick, Mass., iii. 159. 
 Warwick, R.I., iii. 215. 
 Washington College, ii. 215. 
 Washington, D.C., ii. 97, 105, 
 
 191; iii. 2, 16, 34, 49, 64, 90, 
 
 168, 259, 327. 
 
28o 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Washington, George, i. 51, 85, 
 92, 140, 187, 204, 208, 209, 
 212, 222, 238; ii. 72, 89; iii. 
 35, 216; Bancroft's Life of, ii. 
 23, 30; Sparks's Life, ii. 204. 
 
 Washington University, iii. 93, 
 
 94- 
 
 Wasson, David Atwood, iii. 
 
 373-376; iii. 127, 305. 
 Waterford, Me., iii. 358. 
 Waterhouse, Benjamin, ii. 225, 
 
 252. 
 Waterhouse, Elizabeth W., ii. 
 
 225. 
 Waterhouse, Mary, ii. 252. 
 Waterloo, N.Y., iii. 263. 
 Waterman, Jotham, i. 13. 
 Waterman, Thomas, iii. 15. 
 Waterston, Robert Cassie, ii. 
 
 112, 113, 238, 307. 
 Watertown, Mass., i. 51, 59, 122, 
 
 200; ii. 1; iii. 118, 129, 134, 
 
 280, 377. 
 Watson, George, ii. 72. 
 Watson, Lucretia Ann, i. 1 71. 
 Watson, Samuel, i. 130. 
 Wayland, Mass., ii. 199; iii. 
 
 336, 340, 343- 
 Webb, Alice Lindsey, iii. 227. 
 Webber, Samuel, ii. 43, 49, 76. 
 Webster, Daniel, iii. 22, 234, 
 
 241, 293. 
 Webster, Ebenezer, ii. 34. 
 Webster, Fletcher, iii. 131. 
 Webster, Harriet F., iii. 269. 
 Webster, Noah, i. 103. 
 Weiss, John, iii. 376-380; i. 59; 
 
 iii. 60, 118, 120, 257, 304. 
 Welch, Moses C, ii. 63. 
 Weld, Anna Minot, iii. 7. 
 Welles, John, i. 10. 
 Wellesley Hills, Mass., iii. 55. 
 Wellfleet, Mass., ii. 245. 
 Wells, Me., ii. 52. 
 Wells, David, i. 239. 
 Wells, Eunice, i. 239. 
 Wells, George Wadsworth, ii. 
 
 215, 216; i. 475 i"- 2I - 
 
 Wells, Hannah D., ii. 215. 
 
 Wells, Seth, ii. 215. 
 
 Wells, William, i. 68, in; iii. 
 
 268. 
 Wells, William, i. 64-70. 
 Wendte, Charles W., iii. 48. 
 Wentworth, Sir John, i. 101, 
 
 103. 
 Wesleyan Academy, iii. 1 3 53. 
 West Church, Boston, i. 2, 4, 
 
 9, 34-48; ii. 200; iii. 18-21. 
 West, Francis, i. 86. 
 West, Sackfield, i. 49. 
 West, Samuel (of Boston), i. 
 
 86-92; i. 59, 97, 200. 
 West, Samuel (of New Bed- 
 ford), i. 49-59, 88, 189, 194, 
 
 199; iii. 304.^ 
 West, Stephen, ii. 76. 
 West, Thomas, i. 86. 
 West Boylston, Mass., ii. 212, 
 
 275. 
 West Point, N.Y., ii. 260. 
 West Roxbury, i. 158; ii. 212; 
 
 iii. 331. 
 Westboro, Mass., i. ill; ii. 166, 
 
 212. 
 Westcott, Henry, iii. 215. 
 Western Conference, iii. 179. 
 Western Messenger, ii. 30; iii. 
 
 61, 129. 
 Western Sanitary Commission, 
 
 iii. 94. 
 Westfield, Mass., iii. 221. 
 Westfield Academy, iii. 340. 
 Westford, Mass., ii. 94, 170; iii. 
 
 128, 385. 
 Westhampton, Mass., ii. 301, 
 
 302. 
 Westminster, Mass., i. 206; ii. 
 
 292. 
 Westminster Congregational So- 
 ciety, Providence, iii. 87, 109, 
 
 158, 388, 390. _ 
 Weston, Mass., i. 176; ii. 66, 
 
 199, 206; iii. 340,341,343. 
 Westwood, Mass., iii. 215, 347. 
 Wethersfield, Conn., i. 239. 
 
INDEX 
 
 281 
 
 Weymouth, Mass., i. 3, 5. 
 Wheaton, Henry, iii. 153. 
 Wheeler, Charles Henry, iii. 3-80, 
 
 381. 
 Wheelock, Edwin M., iii. 132. 
 Wheelock, Eleazar, i. 93; ii. 75. 
 Whipple, Edwin P., iii. 201; 
 
 quoted on Francis Parkman, 
 
 i. 116, 117. 
 Whitcomb, Elihu, ii. 70. 
 White, Abijah,i. 212. 
 White, Andrew D., iii. 249. 
 White, Daniel Appleton, ii. 221 ; 
 
 iii. 40, 113. 
 White, Elizabeth A., ii. 265. 
 White, John, i. 174. 
 White, Joseph, ii. 292. 
 White, Moses, ii. 265. 
 White, Samuel, iii. 343. 
 White, William Hunt, ii. 292- 
 
 296 ; ii. 70. 
 Whitefield, George, i. 3, 22, 35. 
 Whitman, Abigail, ii. 242. 
 Whitman, Bernard, ii. 242-249; 
 
 i. 171,222; ii. 173, 178. 
 Whitman, Jason, ii. 242-245. 
 Whitman, John, i. 75; ii. 242, 
 
 245. 
 Whitman, Kilborn, i. 126. 
 Whitman, Nathaniel, i. 75; i. 
 
 74, 85, 157; ii. 242; quoted 
 
 on Henry Cummings, i. 77, 
 
 78; on Peter Eaton, i. 79, 80. 
 Whitney, Aaron, iii. 382. 
 Whitney, Frederick Augustus, 
 
 iii. 382, 383. 
 Whitney, George, iii. 2, 382. 
 Whitney, Josiah, ii. 168, 169. 
 Whitney, Leonard, iii. 132. 
 Whitney, Peter, iii. 382. 
 Whitney, Peter, iii. 382; ii. 66; 
 
 iii. 233. 
 Whittemore, Philip Augustus, 
 
 ii. 202. 
 Whittier, John G., iii. Ill, 242. 
 Whitwell, William, i. 132. 
 Wiggin, Julia M., iii. 196. 
 Wigglesworth, Sarah, iii. 362. 
 
 Wight, Ebenezer, i. 88. 
 Wilbraham, Mass., iii. 348, 353, 
 
 357- 
 Wilde, Samuel Sumner, iii. 303. 
 Wilkesbarre, Pa., ii. 64. 
 Wilkinson, Isaac, i. 66. 
 Wilkinson, Mary, i. 66. 
 Willard, Catherine, ii. 90. 
 Willard, Elizabeth C, iii. 17. 
 Willard, Joseph, i. 25, 45, 76, 
 
 143, 176, 208; ii. 90. 
 Willard, Joseph, ii. 159. 
 Willard, Samuel, ii. 90-94; 
 
 ii. 70; quoted on Nathaniel 
 
 Thayer, ii. 68. 
 Willard, Samuel, ii. 90. 
 Willard, Sarah Ripley, iii. 337. 
 Willard, Sidney, ii. 199; iii. 118. 
 Willard, Sidney, iii. 22. 
 Willard, William, ii. 90. 
 Williams, Avery, i. 1 80. 
 Williams College, ii. 168; iii. 
 
 84. 
 Williams, Eleazar, quoted on 
 
 Daniel C. Sanders, i. 203, 
 
 204. 
 Williams, Elizabeth Davis, iii. 
 
 ?S- 
 
 Williams, Ezekiel, ii. 265. 
 Williams, Francis C, iii. 132. 
 Williams, Jane E., ii. 305. 
 Williams, Jeremiah, iii. 35. 
 Williams, Mary Ann, ii. 211. 
 Williams, Nancy, iii. 53, 54. 
 Williams, Prudence, ii. 265. 
 Williams, Reuel, ii. 305. 
 Williams, Roger, i. 146, 205; ii. 
 
 297. 
 Williams, Samuel, i. 131, 141, 
 
 142. 
 Williamstown, Mass., i. 92. 
 Willington, Conn., ii. 54, 203. 
 Willis, Martin W., iii. 132. 
 Williston, Seth, ii. 118. 
 Willson, Edmund Burke, iii. 
 
 384-387; ii. 171; iii. 45, 132; 
 
 quoted, i. 142. 
 Willson, Joseph, ii. 168. 
 
282 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Willson, Luther, ii. 168-171; ii. 
 
 30; iii. 384. 
 Willson, Sarah M., ii. 168. 
 Wilmington, Del., ii. 112; iii. 39. 
 Wilson, Alexander, ii. 265. 
 Wilson, James, i. 126, 130. 
 Wilton, N.H., i. 75; ii. 50, 55, 
 
 56, 58, 106, 113, 239, 240; iii. 
 
 210, 211, 297, 302, 361. 
 Winchendon, Mass., iii. 381. 
 Winchester, Mass., i. 119; iii. 
 
 252, 253. 
 Windham, N.H., ii. 51, 
 Windsor, Conn., iii. 57. 
 Windsor, Vt., iii. 16. 
 Winthrop, Robert C, iii. 13, IOO. 
 Wiscasset, Me., i. 81, 82, 199. 
 Wisconsin, University of , ii. 213. 
 Withington, Hiram, iii. 353, 354. 
 Woburn, Mass., i. 78; iii. 15, 46, 
 
 117,192,355. 
 Wolcott, Cornelia F., iii. 339. 
 Wood, Betsey, i. 82. 
 Wood End. See Reading. 
 Wood, Horatio, ii. 113. 
 Woodbury, Augustus, iii. 387— 
 
 390; iii. 132. 
 Woodbury, Sarah Lawrence, ii. 
 
 190. 
 Woods, Leonard, ii. 43, 49; iii. 
 
 108. 
 Woodstock, Conn., i. 160. 
 Woodstock, South, Conn., iii. 
 
 57- 
 Woodward, Abigail,. i. 179. 
 
 Woodward, George W., iii. 132. 
 
 Woodward, Miranda, i. 179. 
 
 Woodward, Samuel, i. 176, 179. 
 
 Worcester, Mass., i. 138, 140, 
 
 208; ii. 31, 106, 159; iii. 69, 
 
 168, 362, 374. 
 
 Worcester Association, ii. 65, 
 214; iii. 17, 375, 382, 387. 
 
 Worcester, Francis, ii. 31. 
 
 Worcester, Noah, ii. 31. 
 
 Worcester, Noah, ii. 31-39, 225; 
 iii. 241. 
 
 Worcester, Samuel, ii. 38, 121, 
 132. 
 
 Worcester, Samuel M., ii. 39. 
 
 Worcester, Thomas, ii. 34-35, 39. 
 
 Worcester, Thomas, quoted, ii. 
 
 Worcester, William, ii. 31. 
 Wordsworth, William, ii. 121. 
 Wrexham, Wales, i. 66. 
 Wright, J. Edward, iii. 133. 
 Wright, Phineas, i. 85. 
 Wyeth, John, i. 181. 
 
 Yale University, i. 92, 125, 177; 
 
 »• S3. 59, 94. 164, 168, 185, 
 
 272, 279, 293, 302; iii. 104, 
 
 138, 173, 224, 385. 
 Yarmouth, Mass., i. 49. 
 Yarmouth, North, Mass., iii. 
 
 150. 
 Yarmouth, N.S., ii. 21. 
 Yellow Springs, Ohio, iii. 171, 
 
 177, 355- 
 Yonkers, N.Y., i. 224; ii. 217; 
 
 iii. 210, 265. 
 York, Me., i. 35, 82; ii. 52, 136. 
 Young, Alexander, ii. 81. 
 Young, Alexander, ii. 81-84, 89, 
 
 III; iii. 103, 133, 207; quoted 
 
 on J. T. Kirkland, ii. 81-86. 
 Young, Edward J., ii. 56, 86; 
 
 iii. 127, 296. 
 Young, Joshua, i. 119, 120; i. 
 
 112. 
 Young, Mary, i. 81. 
 
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