USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Roxbury > Eliot memorial : sketches historical and biographical of the Eliot Church and Society > Part 28
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19. MRS. SARAH COLLINS PORTER.
Mrs. Porter, a daughter of Rev. Daniel Collins, was born in Lanesborough, December 26, 1767. Her father
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after being pastor- and the first pastor of the church in that place-for nearly sixty years, died in his eighty-fifth year. During the latter part of his ministry he had the assistance of colleagues; and Dr. Henry B. Hooker was one of his successors in the pastorate of the church.
Mrs. Porter, upon the decease of her husband, Dr. David Porter of Catskill, came to the home of Mrs. Henry Hill in Roxbury, who was then her only surviving child. At length a sudden and fatal stroke of apoplexy removed this devoted daughter. Mrs. Dr. Anderson, the sister of Mr. Hill, then gladly received Mrs. Porter, and it was a gratifying providence that gave her the oppor- tunity once more to take the place of daughter to one who had been a mother to her in early semi-orphanage. Mrs. Porter had become blind and bedridden. In the days of former health and strength she was a woman of commanding dignity and of winning gentleness. It was
only in the closing years that I had the pleasure of per- sonal acquaintance with her, and largely profitable was that acquaintance. No allusion to infirmities or other trials brought out any response except that of perfect Christian resignation and of thankfulness for mercies. One favorite utterance was, "God's government is a good government to live under." Speak of accidents in the outside world, and she would say: "How many are the mercies I have! I am kept in great safety. I receive no injuries." When the Sunday morning bell rang she would invariably draw a handkerchief over her sightless
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eyes, with the remark, "I am now going to meeting," and in the silence of her chamber she would reverently accom- pany worshipers in the sanctuary through the several parts of divine service. Speak of the Sabbath on high, and she would reply, "Oh, yes! it is heaven to be where Christ is, and where no sin is." It always seemed to me on retiring from her room that I was leaving the confines of heaven, an atmosphere of holy calm, of saintly cheerful- ness. The bright and blissful presence of unseen angels seemed to gather in quiet ministry around one who was awed, penetrated, and transformed by their presence.
CHAPTER XXX.
CHILDREN.
I. CARING FOR THE YOUNG.
" THE care of the lambs," said John Eliot, "is one- third part of the charge over the Church of God." The ratio of thoughtful interest in children and of gratifying results has not been less in the Eliot Church than that esti- mate of Eliot. Very suggestive is the fact that our Lord at his incarnation took the humblest level as to age; that as to condition there was no room for him in the inn; that a special invitation from him should be addressed, not to the aged, but to little children; that he was pecu- liarly gratified to hear children in the temple saying, " Hosanna to the Son of David," and that after his resur- rection and on the eve of ascension to glory, the Great Shepherd gave a parting order, " Feed my lambs." By
personal experience Jesus Christ knows the heart of child- hood. Never by word or example did he discredit the sacred precincts of home, or a father's household pastor- ship. In the domestic circle there are duties which can neither be suitably remitted nor transferred. Its claims are prior, special, and paramount. Of my own publications the one most widely used by parents and others is the little catechism, entitled "Lambs Fed." Many thousands have been called for in this country; and Dr. Henry Bal-
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lantine of Ahmednagar informed me (1854) that two translations had been made into Marathi, one of which was extensively used in the Bombay presidency.
2. EARLY PIETY.
There has been a thought, not infrequent, that early piety betokens early death. Decided conscientiousness and a devotional habit on the part of a child have often called forth the remark, " Not long for this world." But Moses, and Samuel, and Timothy did not die young. What period of church history has there been without furnishing proof that godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is, from its first years onward to a high longevity? Memorable was the case of Polycarp, who in the first Christian century suffered martyrdom at ninety-five years of age, declaring that he had served Christ for eighty-six years. John Wesley, who was a communicant at the age of eight, said toward the close of his career, "Eighty-seven years I have so- journed on the earth, endeavoring to do good." Lady Huntingdon, so well known for her high rank and Christian excellence, became deeply anxious regarding her spiritual welfare at nine years of age, and thence on- ward led a decidedly religious life till over four-score. Phebe Bartlett, of whom President Edwards gives a de- tailed sketch, was a convert at four years of age, during the revival of 1735 in Northampton, and she lived be- yond three-score and ten. Her heavenly conversation,
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her calm trust in the Saviour, led to the conversion of her grandson, then a youth, the late Dr. Justin Edwards. But what need is there of multiplying examples here, while every day's observation furnishes them ?
It is one of the gratifying features of the nineteenth century that it has witnessed increasing attention to the religious welfare of the young, and an increasing hopeful- ness in regard to early conversions. True, the previous century showed more or less of the same interest. Presi- dent Edwards, in his Thoughts on the Revival of Religion in 1740, remarks, " Very many little children have been re- markably enlightened, and their hearts wonderfully affected," etc. Still farther back, in the "Narrative of Conversions," during the revival of 1735, he remarks: "It has hereto- fore been looked on as a strange thing when any have seemed to be savingly wrought upon and remarkably changed in their childhood. But now I suppose that in Northampton near thirty were, to appearance, savingly wrought upon between ten and fourteen years of age; two between nine and ten, and one of about four years of age." David Brainerd tells us that among the Indians where he labored, children not more than six or seven years old were deeply affected by evangelical truth. Dr. Porter of Andover, in a Letter on Revivals of Religion about the commencement of the present century, says, " Very young children were often deeply impressed, and in many instances continued to give evidence of a saving change of heart." If there were more familiarity with
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such facts in the annals of the past, there would be less occasion to make such citations here.
The practice of preaching specially to the young has grown greatly in late years. Such discourses, when of the right stamp, are usually profitable to adults. I have never known of a sermon designed particularly for children being blessed to the conversion of any of them. Sermons in the right key and style, delivered without having them distinctly in mind, often impress them. Not a few in- stances of that kind have become known in my own min- istry. Religious biography abounds in the same. Matthew Henry, the excellent pastor and commentator, at ten years of age heard a sermon, "that," says he, "melted me." At about the same age the celebrated Dr. Gill was thoroughly convinced of his great sinfulness and need of a Saviour by a discourse from the words, "Where art thou?" Dr. Edward Payson, when only three years old, was known to weep under the preaching of the gospel. What faithful and wise pastor has not taken note of the same thing?
Early piety will be the piety of childhood - children's penitence, faith, and love. When due evidence exists, ad- mission to church ordinances is their privilege. It is not affirmed that no caution should be exercised, but surely little ones may now, with the spirit and with the under- standing, sing hosannas to the Son of David in his tem- ple, and also partake of the paschal supper. Only there is praise perfected. Highest symmetry and vigor of Christian character are to be expected only when, other
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things equal, conversion takes place in childhood. The glaring defects and deformities of Christian character often witnessed among religious people would be less frequent if young feet were oftener turned unto Wisdom's ways. Upon a review of the cases of early membership in the Eliot Church prior to 1871, I am satisfied that the aver- age of later developments was, to say the least, as satis- factory as that of adults.
Mrs. Susan Huntington, a descendant of John Eliot, and wife of a former pastor of the Old South Church, Boston, chose God for her portion at five. There have apparently been such instances here. Harriet Newell, the missionary, was a convert at nine, and a glorified saint at nineteen; and some of our young women remind us of her.
3. EARLY DEATHS.
Fully one-half of those born into this world die in infancy. I know of nothing so pathetic and so mysterious as the remains of a little one, beautiful yet cold, lying in its casket ready for interment. The dainty little shroud envelops something that seemed designed for life, for growth, for great and prolonged activities here below. There is a strange suggestiveness about the little toys and little shoes that are laid away so carefully. " Not dead but sleepeth." A rose of Sharon once opened in a tiny hand as it lay on the bosom in the coffin. It was a specimen and a symbol of beautiful development. That which escaped from such precious remains is no less truly
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immortal than if there had been an earthly career of three-score and ten years. The third funeral which I had occasion to attend as pastor was that of a young child, and such continued to be the proportion for thirty years. Over one hundred and fifty times were the fountains of tears opened on beholding the closed eyes of young sleepers who had not lived more than four years, and a majority of them only a briefer period. The sensibili- ties of a pastor will be all the more lively if he has had personal experience of such bereavement. It was early in my ministry that an infant of eleven months died in my arms, and it seemed as if I placed her immediately in the hands of Him who saith " Suffer the little children to come unto me." Up to that moment heaven had never seemed so near, nor its gate of pearl so plainly open. Those tiny feet will never go astray there, nor will those lips utter an untruth.
Reacting benefits to parents similarly situated have been noticed. The loss of a child has often proved the gain of a parent. Sending an envoy forward has drawn thought and heart upward. While tears have rained upon a hallowed spot in the cemetery, the bow of promise has stood forth brightly. It is not Rachel's weeping but her refusal to be comforted that merits chiding. She fails to consider what an honor it is to be thus repre- sented on high, what a favor it is to have one's children trained in a family so superior, so much safer than any household here; how much faster the advance in knowl-
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edge and holiness there than under the most favorable conditions on earth! In the Loyalty Islands it has been a custom to kill the mother or some near relative of a deceased child, that it may not be a forsaken wan- derer in another world. We long to send word to such pagans how ample and tender is the care of little ones in heaven ; how the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ secure them a place there, as we believe ; how our Lord delights to have them around him, otherwise more than half the inhabitants of that world would not be fruits of early dying.
" Weep not when ye tell the story Of the dead ; 'Tis a sunbeam joined the glory Overhead ! ' For of such sweet babes is heaven,' Jesus said."
Regarding such as died before reaching their twelfth year, and without joining the visible church, limitations of space will admit of only two or three examples.
4. OUR YOUNG SAINTS.
(a) John Eliot Bowles was a conscientious boy, fond of his Bible, regular in his devotions, and ready to make confession when he had done wrong. The twenty-third Psalm was a favorite with him, and also the hymn,
" Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee."
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One day in February, 1853, when the dinner gong struck, he started a little in advance of the family, and in sliding down on the balustrade lost his balance and fell, his head striking on the marble floor. In the fall one scream was heard, but he did not breathe again. One minute in the land of the living, the next in the world of spirits. When this was announced to the Sunday School, all hearts stood still for a moment.
(6) Guy Richards was another lad of the same age, ten years, as John E. Bowles, but the circumstances of departure were different. It was after six months of suf- fering, months, however, of uncomplaining, quiet endurance. For several weeks he had not been able to recline even for a moment, and kept a sitting posture all the while. For a time he was much troubled with a sense of sinful- ness, but an intelligent trust in the Saviour brought peace at length. "Christ comforts me," he would say. In reply to words of affection, and grief at parting with him, he replied, " But you have Jesus." Heaven seemed attractive to him chiefly because Christ was there. When the hymn, " There is a fountain," was sung, and the stanza,
" Dear, dying Lamb, thy precious blood "
was commenced, a sweet smile came over his face, and so he left us. That was in November, 1858.
(c) Frances Elizabeth Murke. It was in the autumn of 1857 that this dear child of only five summers was
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taken from us. Her parents were both of foreign nativity, one coming from Norway, the other from Scotland.
Fanny was a noticeably dutiful girl, a member of the infant class in the Sunday School, prompt to learn texts of Scripture, and verses of sacred poetry. She was re- markably conscientious, and seemed to have habitually a glad sense of God's presence. In her last sickness she sang favorite hymns, so far as labored breathing would allow. Before sickness came on she often spoke of heaven, and of going to be with Jesus, and would ask questions like this, " What do they do there?" Her thoughts ran on this line, " Jesus took little children in his arms; he will take me, too." Shortly before breathing her last she sang :
" Mighty God, while angels bless thee, May an infant sing thy praise? Lord of all in earth and heaven, Let us now our voices raise, Hallelujah ! Hallelujah ! Praise the Lord !"
As her father stood weeping over her, she said, " Don't cry, papa; Fanny is going to heaven; Fanny is going to Jesus." And so she went, we believe, just at early dawn of a Lord's Day morning.
These hosannas to Christ on earth are preparatory, no doubt, to hosannas in heaven. When the golden bowl of young life here is broken, and the silver cord loosed, then comes the harp of gold never to be unstrung. Ran- somed children form a large part of the choir of heaven.
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It is not designed to make the impression that our children were all sweet little cherubs, even when expect- ing immediate departure. A girl of ten summers, sick beyond any thought of recovery, continued petulant. In the midst of excruciating pain she exclaimed, " Mother, I am dying, good-by !" " O, my dear," said the mother, "I can hardly think you are dying." "Well, I am dying, and I think it is real ugly in you not to bid me good-by." She recovered, and retained more or less of the por- cupine. But it was a beautiful good-by that a dear German boy, who had been long wasting with consump- tion, gave just as articulation failed. "I am not dying," said he to his father; " I am going to Jesus." In her last moments little Caroline was trying to explain to her deaf-mute father that she was going to a better home; but in spelling out " beautiful home " with her fingers, her hand fell pulseless on the pillow. The aunt of a young girl, who had only a minute or two remaining, began to repeat to the child, " Jesus said, suffer the little children to come unto me " - but choking with emotion, could go no farther. The young sufferer then added, " For of such "- and with that her breath and life were gone.
Intensely pathetic scenes and utterances crowd upon recollection. At the funeral of a precious lad (1869) thirty of his schoolmates stood round the casket, all of them in tears. At the funeral of a young lady, whose features were peculiarly pleasing, her little cousin, who had never
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before seen a corpse, after gazing a few minutes, said aloud, " Mama, are all angels so beautiful ?" Very touch- ing it was to see an affectionate German child, not yet two years old, trying to find her deceased father. She pulled away a pillow; then looked under the bed, and could be pacified only when taken to the casket, where, kissing the cold lips, she shrank back and cried aloud.
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CHAPTER XXXI.
EPILOGUE.
I. HARMONY AMIDST DIVERSITY will impress any one upon a glance at the period which has been under review. There were elements in the church suggestive of anything but homogeniousness. At one point in the pastorate-it was in the twenty-first year-the writer found that Hindustan, Africa, the West Indies, Nor- way, Sweden, and Wales, had each sent us two mem- bers; the Sandwich Islands, three members; Germany, eight; Ireland, eleven; England, twelve; the British Provinces, twenty; and Scotland, twenty-four. More than a hundred, or one in six of the whole number (637) were born elsewhere than in the United States. These and other differences could hardly fail to be noticed on occasions when groups of converts were welcomed to our fellowship. In one instance the four had their birth respectively in Massachusetts, Scotland, Germany, and Syria. In another instance, out of five, three were from as many different states of our Union, one from India, and one from Hawaii. Previous eccle- siastical affinities of those coming by letter, or on first confession of faith, were various - Baptist, Freewill Baptist, Methodist, German Methodist, English Inde- pendents, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Dutch
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Reformed, and Associate Reformed. On the score of age there were wide differences. Limiting our view to converts who presented themselves for public assent to the Articles of Faith and the Church Covenant, fully one-half were minors- one being ten years of age; two, twelve years of age; four, thirteen; ten, four- teen; fifteen were fifteen; while nineteen had reached their seventeenth year. Of those young friends eighteen had been baptized in infancy by myself. For the remaining period till 1871, these various proportions appear to have been substantially the same, though the ratio of native-American birth and other points of coincidence were steadily increasing.
Upon first thought it might seem that a body thus formed would be only a loose aggregation; that elective affinity must surely run lines of separation, resolving the constituents into groups according to nationality, political affinity, grade of culture, valuation in the assessors' books; that cabals, coteries, cliques were inevitable, and inevitably accompanied by jealousies and grudges. Whereas nothing of the kind appeared. Three or four crotchety individuals have been referred to; but being at most only one in a hundred, their idiosyncrasies reacted favorably, even to binding together the brotherhood in closer bonds.
Individuality was not sacrificed. The members were not so many peas in a peck. They were so many various instruments harmonizing in a concert. I have
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never known, personally or indirectly, a church in which, for so long a time, there was such absence of alienations, the term aristocracy never being heard, and complaint or grumbling almost unknown. Kind feeling and Christian bearing were manifest. Newcomers and occasional visitors would sometimes say, What a social, genial, loving people you are! The relation of church officers among themselves and to the brotherhood in general, as well as pastoral relations, continued without jar. Meanwhile we had no occasion to call a council of sister churches, while of the eighty or more letters- missive received by us, nine were for advice regarding internal matters, some if not most of which had be- come the occasion of variance. The prevailing charac- teristics and tone of the Eliot Church suggested not unnaturally the final assemblage to which men will come from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Foreigners ceased to feel like foreigners. They had become fellow-citi- zens in a Christian commonwealth. Sometimes, to be sure, I saw the eye moisten as their thoughts reverted to native hill and stream, to the father, mother, and pastor of early days. Here was a motive for kindness the same as was anciently enforced upon Israel, "For ye know the heart of a stranger."
One secret of the social harmony that existed prob- ably lay in the tone of public ministrations. Jehovah
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of hosts, in his immeasurable exaltation as sole crea- tor and supreme ruler; in his amazing condescension and loving-kindness to sinful man, as seen in the Un- speakable Gift -the incarnation of the Eternal Son, his humiliation, his entrancing perfection of character, his atoning sacrifice, his triumphant resurrection and ascension, his adorable headship, his mediation in be- half of the lost, and the absolute assurance of salva- tion to all who humbly and penitently trust in him, and their unutterable blessedness for ever and ever - these are leading truths which the author of our being designed should sway mind and heart. In the light thereof social differences seem slight. A great truth duly apprehended dislodges trifles, and has a signally assimilating power. We of this academy, said an ancient philosopher, have no leisure to mind such things as the affairs of the court. The demands of holy living, of Christ-like beneficence, once heartily accepted, appear infinitely great and dwarf other things to the infinitely little. No change can come over a man so great as the discovery how sinful selfishness is and how transcendently beautiful is holiness. The one epoch of existence is, not separation of soul and body, but eman- cipation from the controlling influence of what is purely personal, local, trivial, and becoming linked loyally to something higher than aught that either begins here or ends here, the realm of celestial goodness and saintship. " What will you now do with your astronomy," said a
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friend to an astronomer who had become a convert to spiritual Christianity." "I am now bound for heaven," said he, "and I take the stars in my way." That is it; instead of God's mere works in the eye, God him- self, and heaven in the heart. It has been the same substantially alike with scientist and peasant.
2. A HAPPY PASTORATE.
In the early days of my pastorate an ex-minister said to me that if he had known what trials were before him he would never have gone into the pulpit. Surprise was awakened. Looking back from the present standpoint, surprise waxes tenfold greater. The three decades of active service were a joyous period. True, it was not without some inconveniences. For example, I had occa- sion to make ten changes in arrangements for boarding or housekeeping. Each change led to a loss virtually of several weeks. In one instance I looked at not less than thirty houses, regarding every one of which there was some insuperable objection. Then, too, the increasing presence of a certain foreign element in the population was not an agreeable circumstance. To find the outcrop- ping of stealthy proselytism and open animosity, was not promotive of neighborhood comfort. In more than one of our families it was found that a child mumbled some- thing at the table, and elsewhere, which proved to be " Hail, Mary." They had been drilled by Roman Cath- olic domestics into a belief that salvation depends on
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repeating Ave Maria. Our Mission Sunday School was denounced from the pulpit by a priest. A neighbor of mine, after discharging a Catholic servant, found his house set on fire four times. A member of our church, whose house was on fire, crossed over the street to where stood a woman, who remarked, " I wish all the houses on your side would burn up and burn the Protestants in them." Denunciation and dense ignorance should awaken pity and kind Christian efforts in behalf of the erring. One of my family, falling in with a girl who was on her way to St. Joseph's Church, entered into pleasant conversation with her, and, among other questions, asked, " Who came into the world to save sinners ? " She answered, " The
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