USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Annals of King's Chapel from the Puritan age of New England to the present day > Part 9
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CHAPTER XXII.
THE MINISTRY OF SAMUEL CARY.
S AMUEL CARY, the youngest son of Rev. Thomas Cary, of Newburyport, was born in that town, No- vember 24, 1785. He graduated at Harvard College in 1804. Mr. Freeman probably knew him previ- ously, or at least was interested in him on his father's account. However this may have been, he was greatly impressed by Cary's Commencement performance, and said to Dr. Pierce, who chroni- cled his words on that very day: "I never knew a better speaker. I have heard my classmate Rufus King, and all the eminent speakers since his time. But this young man, in my estimation, exceeds them all. I should rejoice to have him for my colleague." This impression was deepened by Mr. Cary's part as an orator at the inauguration of President Webber in 1806, of which, though not accustomed to the free use of super- latives, Mr. Freeman wrote: " His oration on that occasion has rarely been equalled, never exceeded."
Mr. Cary studied divinity for three years at Cambridge. We have no record of his having occupied any other pulpit, when in November, 1807, he was invited to assist Mr. Freeman during some temporary period of illness or infirmity. At the close of this engagement, Messrs. Ebenezer Oliver and Joseph May, the Wardens, addressed to him the following letter, dated June 20, 1808 : ----
" The Wardens of King's Chapel, in behalf of the Vestry and Congre- gation, present their grateful compliments to Mr. Cary, & enclose him four hundred dollars, for the assistance he has afforded the Revd Mr. Free- man in preaching to us during the seven months last past.
" The Wardens would be wanting in justice to Mr. Cary, as well as to themselves, if they should omit to express to him the great satisfaction they have enjoyed under his ministry, and the peculiar gratification which they derive from observing a young Gentleman of Mr. Cary's ex- cellent character and sterling talents engaging himself so generously as the advocate for the Christian Religion in its purity and simple dignity.
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"Wherever Mr. Cary may be called, or however occupied in this de- lightful & honourable calling, he may be assured of the good wishes and affectionate regards of the Wardens of King's Chapel."
To this letter Mr. Cary replied as follows : -
CAMBRIDGE, June 23rd, 1808.
GENTLEMEN, - I take ye earliest opportunity of acknowledging y" re- ceipt of your most obliging note, wch was handed to me yesterday. It affects me more sensibly than I can describe to you that my services should have been followed by this warm testimony of your satisfaction, & that your kindness to me should have suggested terms of approba- tion more strong than I could have expected or than I deserve. You have given me a pleasure most grateful & most animating, in allowing me to believe that these first efforts in discharging ye duties of my pro- fession have not been wholly without interest & without use.
You will permit me, gentlemen, in return, to thank you & ye society for ye civilities wh have been shown me, & for ye candor with wch my public services have been received. These marks of regard have excited feelings of gratitude wch I am certain will never be effaced. What is to be my future situation in life I know not ; but whatever it be, I shall always look back upon this period, during wch I have been connected with you & your minister, as one of ye happiest of my life.
I am, gentlemen, Your most obed. Serve,
S. CARY.
In the autumn of 1808 Mr. Cary received an invitation to become Mr. Freeman's colleague. His answer, dated Novem- ber, 1808, is addressed to the " Wardens of King's Chapel."
GENTLEMEN, - I have considered the proposition made me through you by the Society at the Chapel that I should become their Minister. I have determined to accept this call ; and I have now to request you to communicate this answer to the Vestry & Congregation, with my best wishes that my ministry among them may be as successful as I believe it will be a happy one.
I am, Gentlemen, Your humble servant, Sam Gary.
Mr. Cary's ordination took place on Sunday, January Ist, 1809, at the evening (or afternoon) service. The order of service was substantially the same as at Mr. Freeman's ordination, the senior minister performing the part which had then devolved on the Senior Warden. The ordaining vote varies from that on the former occasion only in the omission of the word "Rector," the
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substitution of " ordinances " for " sacraments," and the addition of the following clause: "And if at any time hereafter ordi- nation by the hands of a bishop, in the common and usual form, can be procured for the Rev. Mr. Cary, without sacrificing our religious sentiments to those of others, we will adopt that me- thod in addition to the present mode of ordination."1 Mr. Freeman also " gave Mr. Cary his right hand, in token of broth- erly love and of the affection of this church, addressed him, and then the congregation, and closed with a prayer for the members of this church, and a benediction." Mr. Cary then preached a sermon, which, with the other services of the day, was printed by vote of "the proprietors and occupants of pews."
The text of the sermon is : " He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully." We quote a few passages from it, to show the spirit in which Mr. Cary entered on his ministry.
" It is the duty of a faithful preacher, having made himself master of the word of God, to preach it in its purity, or to deliver no doctrines on the authority of the Supreme Being but such as He has thought proper to reveal explicitly.
" A preacher should beware of the danger of preaching with too much earnestness the peculiarities of human systems, even though the object of these systems should be, as is sometimes alleged, to make the word of God plain, or consistent with itself.
" There is so much labor requisite to a right understanding of the word of God that a Christian minister has really no time to become an expert sectarian. There is in the world so much immorality, against which it is our duty to contend earnestly, that we really ought to suffer our learned and pious brethren to amuse themselves with their harmless speculations, without pouring curses upon their heads, or thinking our- selves bound to injure their reputation and ruin their influence. . . .
" I hold it a crime, my friends, to pledge myself at this period of my life to defend the dogmas of any human theological system. I acknowl- edge the infallibility of no being but Almighty God ; the divine authority of no book but the Bible ; the necessity of no other language to express articles of faith and rules of duty than that which the Spirit dictated to Christ and his apostles. I will be the slave of no man's creed, because
1 This is by no incans so strange as it seems. In a former chapter it has been shown how loosely the lines were drawn between the Episcopal and Con- gregational clergy. It was later than this that a Unitarian minister officiated at the dedication of an Episcopal church in Portsmouth, and several years later that three Unitarian clergymen preached at St. Peter's Church in Salem. Mas-
sachusetts then had no bishop, the East- ern Diocese was not then organized, and it might have appeared not beyond a reasonable probability that the compre- hensive policy into which the Episcopal Church had unwittingly drifted might become its rule and method in the States afterward embraced in the Eastern Diocese.
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among all that endless variety of opinions which have rent the Church asunder, there is not one which is supported by better authority than the name of some human, and therefore erring, teacher. . . .
" You will ... expect from me no detail of my speculative opinions. They are really of too little consequence to be brought forward at a period so interesting as the present. You know that I am a Christian. I have preached to you, and shall continue to preach, JESUS CHRIST and his gospel. My aim as your minister will be to lead you to heaven, and not into the fields of religious war ; to urge you to be followers of JESUS, and not of Arminius, or Calvin, or Hopkins."
Mr. Cary won, retained, and merited the undivided and un- qualified confidence, respect, and affection of his parishioners, and gave promise of a foremost place and distinguished reputa- tion among the clergy of his time. He stood to his senior as- sociate in a relation hardly less close than had he been his son. They were of one mind and one heart, the younger never acting without the counsel of the elder; the elder gladly welcoming whatever new light or life the younger might bring to their com- mon work, and seeming to rejoice more in his colleague's success than ever in his own.
In general society Mr. Cary was somewhat reserved ; but among those under his charge and his personal friends he bore his full part in social intercourse, and manifested a warm inter- est in whatever interested them. He took strong hold on the affection of the children and youth of the parish, held the cate- chisings of the early time, which, when skilfully and lovingly conducted, were by far the best mode of public religious instruc- tion for children, and by his influence largely increased the number of young communicants. As a preacher he was simple and direct in style, always impressive, often eloquent. His sermons were addressed to the reason, understanding, and con- science of his hearers, on the great themes of religious belief and obligation. He by no means refrained, as it might have been inferred from his ordination sermon that he would, from the subjects of theological controversy then rife; but he never failed to do full justice to his opponents. In his position as to Christian doctrine there is reason to believe that he was in closer sympathy with his colleague than with the (so-called) Arians of his time.
In ISII appeared the second edition of the Prayer-Book, of which it is believed that Mr. Cary was virtually the editor. In this edition the omissions and changes are few, the ad- ditions many. The Te Deum is changed for the worse, and
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THE MINISTRY OF SAMUEL CARY.
in later editions the form adopted in the original revision is re- stored. The Apostles' Creed is omitted. In the Litany prayer is offered not only, as in the first edition, for the illumination of " all Bishops, Priests, and Deacons," but also of " other Minis- ters of the Gospel of all denominations." Among the Occasional Prayers is one "for malefactors after condemnation." The Collects, Gospels, and Epistles for Saints' Days are omitted. The Communion service is so shortened and simplified that it has since required no change, and could hardly admit of im- provement. There are nine Collects "to be said after the Communion," and nineteen " before and after sermon." Of these, several are from the English Book of Common Prayer. These and two or three others are still in use in the Chapel ; but the greater number of these Collects, while admirable as forms of prayer, are too long for the place assigned to them in the regular church service. In an Appendix are four additional Services, "taken from the Liverpool and Salisbury Liturgies," Collects for the Annual Fast and Thanksgiving, and forms of Family Prayer.
Mr. Cary was married on the 26th of September, 1811, to Mary Ann, daughter of John Atkinson, of New York. They had two sons, of whom the elder died in infancy. The younger, crippled when two years old by a fall, -- a boy of rare beauty of character and richness of promise, - lived but eleven years.
Early in the spring of 1815 Mr. Cary became an invalid ; and on his being advised to seek restored health by a foreign voyage and sojourn, the proprietors of King's Chapel passed the following votes : -
" 1815, Aug 6.
" Voted, That the proprietors of this church hear with much concern of Rev. Mr. Cary's continued indisposition, and that he considers it expedient to leave the country for a milder climate, in order thereby to regain his health.
" Voted, That the Wardens be requested to facilitate the departure of Rev. Mr. Cary by pecuniary advances, and all other manifestations of the kindness, respect, and affection of the members of this society.
" Voted, That the Wardens be specially requested to assure Rev. Mr. Cary of our increasing attachment to his person and character, our entire satisfaction with his labors as our minister, our wishes that his voyage may be pleasant and propitious, and our earnest prayers for the speedy restoration of his health, and for his early return to his honorable and important duties among us.
"Voted, That the proprietors duly appreciate the delicate generosity of Rev. Mr. Cary's offer to relinquish all compensation during his absence ;
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that they feel themselves unable to meet his wishes in this respect, and do hereby direct the Wardens to continue paying Rev. Mr. Cary his salary as usual, advancing to him $750 on that account."
Mr. Cary sailed for Europe on the 3d of September. The voyage was unusually short, and there seems to have been some hope of improvement during his first days in England ; but on the 22d of October he was suddenly seized on the road with symptoms that threatened immediate dissolution, and his death occurred within two hours of his arrival at the nearest town. In accordance with his request, his body was taken to London, and the funeral service was performed by Rev. Thomas Belsham, minister of the Essex Street Chapel. The following extract from Mr. Belsham's sermon on the succeeding Sunday is the most complete account that we have of the last weeks of Mr. Cary's life, the details having been undoubtedly derived from Mrs. Cary : -
"Endued with a vigor of constitution which promised length of days, and which perhaps occasioned the neglect of prudent caution, he was seized in March last with an accidental cold, which, not exciting imme- diate alarm, was not treated with sufficient attention, and which of con- sequence went on increasing in violence, and gradually sapping his excellent constitution, till in the month of July he found himself incapable of continuing his public services, and retired for a few weeks to what was conceived to be a more salubrious climate. He returned somewhat re- lieved, but without any radical improvement. Some of his friends then suggested, and he was himself inclined to hope, that a voyage across the Atlantic might be of service to his health, and that a winter spent in the mild climate of England might perfect his recovery. He accordingly left Boston in the month of September. His passage was remarkably expeditious ; but the weather, being uncommonly wet, was unfavorable to an invalid. About three weeks ago he landed at Liverpool, and pro- ceeded to Yorkshire, where he passed a few days in the house of a friend. But finding himself a little revived, he was anxious to continue his pro- gress towards the South, being desirous, after passing a few weeks near the metropolis, to spend the winter in the West of England. He travelled slowly and by short stages, as he was able to bear it, accompanied by Mrs. Cary, whose tender solicitude for his health and comfort ani- mated her to endure the fatigues of a long voyage, and of a residence in a land of strangers, - together with another friend. Being refreshed. by gentle exercise and change of air, he pleased himself with the hope that upon some early day, perhaps at this very hour, he should be able to assist in divine worship in the Chapel which Mr. Lindsey had founded, in which that great and good man had statedly officiated, and where the doctrine which he himself regarded as of the first importance, - that of
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the sole, unrivalled majesty and worship of the one God and Father of all, - was still publicly taught. But this favor was denied. Last Lord's Day (October 22) he was at Cambridge, in better spirits than usual, and expressed his delight in the transient view which he enjoyed of the vener- able and majestic buildings of that ancient seat of learning. In the even- ing he pursued his journey ; but a mile before he came to Royston, he was seized with a difficulty of breathing, and an acute pain across the chest. With much difficulty he was taken forward to the end of the stage, and notwithstanding all the assistance which could be given, and the humane attention which he experienced, not only from the few friends who accompanied him, but from the strangers who surrounded him, Mr. Cary expired within two hours after his arrival.
" Almost with his latest breath he expressed a wish that his remains might be taken to London, and that his funeral service might be per- formed by the officiating minister of Essex Street Chapel, to whom he had brought a letter of introduction, and with whom he had expressed a desire to become acquainted, and who on his part would have been truly gratified had an interview, however short, been permitted with a charac- ter so interesting. All that Divine Providence in fact allowed was, that he should fulfil the dying request of his unknown friend by officiating at his funeral. " 1
Mrs. Cary wrote for her only surviving child a memoir of his father, prepared for the contingency of her death before he could hear the story from her own lips. From this we extract a por- tion of the narrative of her husband's last years and last hours : -
" He was indeed truly good, . . . generous, upright, and sincere, a true Christian both in principle and practice. . . . I lived with him but four years. We seemed to have everything to enjoy, - health, friends, and competence. The world smiled upon us. I do not remember anything that interrupted our felicity till we lost our first child, - a most lovely boy of eleven months. His name was James Freeman, after Dr. Freeman, to whom we were much attached. It was a stroke that filled our hearts with grief. I do not think your father ever recovered from it. Although he was perfectly resigned to the Will of Heaven, yet he felt an aversion to mix in society, remained more at home than was good for his health, and applied himself to study, which gradually undermined his constitution.
" In November, 1814, his second child was born ; but still he could not forget his grief.
" In March, 1815, he was attacked with a violent cold, which con- fined him for six weeks, then journeyed to l'hiladelphia, came home better, but not cured.
1 Greenwood's History, pp. 202-4.
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" A voyage across the Atlantic was then suggested. There was no good vessel going till September. The summer was very hot, and un- favorable to his complaint, and he gave up hope of himself. Still we sailed in the new packet, Sept. 3, 1815. . . .
" He begged to be left alone with me. I had just shut the door, and had given him a pillow, when I perceived a rattling in his throat. Thinking it was phlegm, I begged him to throw it off. He replied, ' My dear, do not be surprised, I believe it is death. . . . ' I held him till the arrival of a physician, who pronounced that all was over. Words cannot express what I felt at that moment. . .. We had been conver- sing upon a future state ; and fearing that our separation could not be very distant, we talked of the delight we should experience at meeting again. But I little thought that our separation was so near. I was in a strange country, surrounded by strangers. O God, what hand but thine could have sustained me? I bless Thee for the support and con- solation Thou didst afford me. Thou wast better to me than many friends. . . . Thou art the God of the widow, and my fatherless child will still be the object of Thy care. Thou wilt never forsake us while we trust in Thee. May my child live to be an instrument of Thy glory, and may his whole life be consecrated to Thy service ! . . .
"I remained four months in England, where I received great kind- ness from many who were interested in my situation. I had seventy- three days' passage to this country, - a very long and rough one."
Mr. Cary's publications were -
" 1. A Discourse before the Merrimack Humane Society, 1806. 2. A Discourse at his own Ordination. 3. A Discourse delivered on the Day of the National Fast, Sept. 9, 1813. 4. A Sermon before the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, June 6, 1814. 5. A Discourse on the Ignorance of the true Meaning of the Scriptures, and the Causes of it, 1814. 6. Sermon on the Death of Madam Susan Bulfinch, Feb. 26, 1815. 7. Review of English's 'Grounds of Christianity Examined,' 1813."1
After the funeral service in the Essex Street Chapel, the in- terment took place in the graveyard of the Gravel l'it (Unita- rian) Church in Hackney, where a monument was erected in memory of Mr. Cary, at the charge of his congregation, with the following inscription, furnished by his classmate and friend, Andrews Norton : 2-
I Greenwood's History, p 199.
2 This monument having become de- faced and the inscription partly obliter- ated, in 1871 the Wardens and Vestry of King's Chapel made suitable contracts for the restoration of the monument and the
substitution of a granite slab for the more perishable stone on which the in- scription had been engraved. The work was performed under the kind and care- ful supervision of Rev Mr Whitehead, then minister of the Gravel Pit Church.
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Infra sitæ sunt reliquia Reverendi Samuelis Cary, Novangli ; Procul a patriâ, inter eos quibus tantum laudes ejus innotuerunt, Immatura morte absumpti. Pastoris olim ecclesia, Qua in ÆEde Regis, sic vocata, Bostoniæe Novanglorum convenit, Cum venerando Jacobo Freeman In officiis et amicitia conjuncti. Vir fuit cui ingenium acer, doctrina, eloquentia,
Fides, constantia, nuda veritas, honestas dictorum atque factorum. Inani superstitioni parum devinctus,
Et fallacibus hominum opinionibus minime confisus, Sinceram Christi doctrinam Summâ cum pietate coluit, Summa cum diligentiâ tradidit. In medio vitæ atque honorum cursu, morbo oppressus,
Spe dubiâ convalescendi, patriam reliquit,
Et una cum conjuge hasce ad oras advenit.
Sed paucis tantum diebus post adventum, Dum in itinere paululum commoraretur, Conjugem alloquens, et manu tenens deficiente, Amplexu ejus abreptus est,
Morte iis etiam quibus advena fuit, non sine cura. Natus erat Novembris die vicesimo quarto, A. C., 1785. Excessit Octobris die vicesimo secundo, A. C., 1815.
The news of Mr. Cary's death reached Boston on the 5th of December. On the next day, at a meeting of the surviving minister, the Wardens, and the Vestry, it was voted to drape the Chapel in black, and to request the wearing of suitable badges of mourning by the members of the parish. It was also voted -
"That the Wardens and vestry deeply sympathize with the mother and wife of the deceased pastor. To the mother they offer their affectionate condolence. They acknowledge themselves indebted for so much of the instruction and pleasure which they have derived from him to her, by whose skilful hand his mind was first formed to knowledge, piety, and virtue. They shall long remember with respect and gratitude his talents and excellent qualities,- his learning, his eloquence, his aptness to teach, his strong reasoning powers, his love of truth, his fearless integrity, his honorable principles, his candor, the dignity of his deportment, his dis- interestedness, and generosity ; and, above all, his faithful and pious per-
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formance of the ministerial duties, and his attention to the people of his charge in health, in sickness, and in affliction. Whilst they lament their own great loss, it is an aggravation of their sorrow that his tender mother is deprived of so promising a son, upon whom she leaned as the support and comfort of her declining years.
"To the wife of their deceased pastor they also present their condo- lences, with similar expressions of veneration and love for the character of her excellent husband. They thank her for all the kindness which she has shown to the man whom they so highly esteemed, and in particular for the tender solicitude with which she watched over his last days.
"In behalf both of the mother and wife they fervently pray God that He would be graciously pleased to heal their wounded hearts. They supplicate upon them the blessing of that merciful Being who, though He has destroyed their hope in this world, yet communicates to them by the gospel the hope of immortal felicity in a better world, where the parent will again meet her son, and the wife her husband, where there will be no more separation of friends, no more tears, and no more mourning."
On the 12th of October, 1826, Mrs. Cary became the second wife of Joseph May, and for more than twelve years ministered assiduously to his happiness, and was his diligent and faithful helpmate in his lifework of kindness, beneficence, and philan- thropy. She died on Sunday, the 27th of January, 1839. On the following Sunday Mr. Greenwood thus spoke of her : ---
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