History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 32

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 32

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

wishes of each person in all matters which had not a distinct and essential religious character.

We are bronght in our survey to the days of the Rev- olution. As early as 1765 the people of the town had formally instructed their representatives to give no aid to the operation of the Stamp Act, but to do all they could for its repeal. They ordered that their action should be recorded in the town-books, " that the children yet unborn may see the desire that their ancestors had for their freedom and happiness." The part which Cambridge had in the events of the weary, costly, glorious years which followed is not to be told here. Cambridge was long the headquarters of the American army, and the meeting-house stood in the midst of stirring scenes. It opened its doors and extended its kind offices to the soldiers who mustered around it. There Washington and his companions in arms came to worship. There the delegates from the towns of the States met in 1779 and framed the Constitution of the Commonwealth, which the next year was ratified by the people. The preaching of the pastor, his prayers, those of his church, glowed with patriotic fire. We know the men. Here in 1774, when public and private affairs wear a gloomy aspect, they are found keeping a day of humiliation and prayer, as in other places. Yet they kept up the work of the church, for on this very Fast Day they chose two deacons.

There is a glimpse at the times in the simple receipts which are in the church-book, signed by the minister in acknowledgement of his salary. There is one when he received £3. 2s. in Continental bills, which, " although they are exceedingly depreciated yet, considering the contributions and subscriptions they have afforded for my relief, and considering the additional grant they have made to my salary for 1778, I accept of this in full for my salary for the year 1777." His salary had been £100, and could not have been greatly increased, yet the next year he gave a receipt for £600, and the next for £750, and in 1783 for £2000 paper currency, and £25 silver cur- rency. There is a touching pathos in the statement by the good man as he took his bills and called them money, "although they are greatly depreciated."

He was close upon ninety years of age. We find the fact of his advanced years creeping quietly into the records. 1777, April 25: " Whereas our Rev. and very aged pastor is at present under such bodily in- firmities as to render it doubtful whether he will be able to administer the sacrament on the approaching Sabbath, voted, in such case, it is agreeable and is the desire of this church that the Hon. and Rev. Presi- dent Langdon should administer the same, and at any other time when necessary occasion calls for it." The following Thursday was to have heen a day of " Public Fasting and Prayer," but "the aged pastor;f through bodily disorders was unable to carry on the services of the Fast, neither could help be obtained, so that there was no public service on the Fast." By 1782 the peo-

ple had come to talk seriously of the need of "a more fixed and settled provision for the preaching and ad- ministering the gospel ordinances among them," and it was decided by the church that it was desirable to settle another minister if the right man could be procured, and the parish committee was desired to consult the parish in regard to the matter. We have Mr. Appleton's record of July 30, 1783, which " was observed as a day of Fasting and Prayer by the church and congregation to seek of God divine direc- tion and assistance in the important affair of procur- ing a more fixed and settled preaching and adminis- tration of the word and ordinances among us, con- sidering the very advanced age and growing infirmi- ties of their aged pastor. The Rev. Mr. Eliot began with prayer ; Rev. Mr. Cushing preached A.M .; Rev Mr. Jackson began with prayer; Rev. Mr. Clarke preached P. M." As the general desire of the brethren of the church, "as well as in compliance with his own inclination and earnest wishes," the pastor called a meeting of the church for the purpose of choosing one to be his colleague in the ministerial office, if the church should see fit. When the meeting was held the pastor was unable to attend and Deacon Aaron Hill was moderator. A committee was ap- pointed "to wait on the President of the University and request him to pray with the brethren on the present occasion." The president complied with the request, and received the thanks of the brethren. It was voted by a large majority to proceed to the choice of an associate pastor, and the Rev. Timothy Hilliard was chosen to that office. The parish con- curred in this action and Mr. Hilliard accepted the invitation. A council of the churches of the vicinage was called, and on the 27th of October, 1783, Mr. Hilliard was installed. He preached on the occasion from Titus ii. 15: " Let no man despise thee." The Rev. Mr. Clarke, of Lexington, prayed before the charge, which was given by the Rev. Dr. Cooper, of Boston. The Rev. Mr. Cushing, of Waltham, gave the right hand of fellowship. "The greatest order, decency and sobriety were observable through the whole. Soli Deo Gloria."

Mr. Appleton soon gave over the church-book into the care of his colleague, which was virtually the re- linquishment of the staff of office, which his decrepit hand could no longer hold. In the following Febru- ary "he departed this life, in the ninety-first year of his age and sixty-seventh of his ministry."

" 1784, February 15. This day his funeral solem- nity was attended. The body was carried to the meeting-house. Rev. Mr. Cushing of Waltham, prayed. The surviving pastor of this church delivered a fun- eral address. A 'funeral anthem was sung, after which the procession advanced to the burying-place, and the body was admitted to the tomb."

A long Latin epitaph covers the stone upon his grave. After the Latin arc two lines in his own tongue: " They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the

CAMBRIDGE.

firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever."

We have had many indications of the character of the sixth minister of the First Church in Cambridge, and of the esteem in which he was held. Testimony to the man is abundant-in his work, in his published discourses, and in the tributes of those who knew him. The words of Dr. Holmes, one of his successors, are plain and strong : "Dr. Appleton, if venerable for his age, was more venerable for his piety. His relig- ion, like his whole character, was patriarchal. Born in the last century, aud living till near the close of this, he brought down with him the habits of 'other times.' In his dress, in his manners, in his conversa- tion, in his ministry, he may be classed with the Puri- tan ministers of revered memory, who first came to New England. His natural temper was cheerful ; but his habitual deportment was grave. Early conse- crated to God, and having a fixed predilection for the ministry, he was happily formed by the union of good sense, with deep seriousness, of enlightened zeal with consummate prudence, for the pastoral office. He preached the gospel with great plainness of speech, and with primitive simplicity. Less concerned to please than to instruct and edify, he studiously accommoda- ted his discourse to the meanest capacity. To this end, he frequently borrowed similitudes from familiar, some- times from vulgar objects ; but his application of them was so pertinent, and his utterance and his air were so solemn, as to suppress levity and silence criticism. . . So great was the ascendency which he gained over his people, by his discretion and moderation, by his condescension and benevolence, by his fidelity and piety that, while he lived, they regarded his counsels as oracular ; and, since his death, they mention not his name, but with profound regard and veneration."

Dr. Appleton was esteemed a wise man by the neighboring churches, and his advice was sought. His own church was " respectable for wealth, influ- ence and numbers," but his influence was felt through- out the province. His portrait by Copley hangs among those of other worthies, on the college wall, and fit- tingly represents him holding in his hand a volume of Dr. Watts, entitled, "Orthodoxy and Charity." His manuscripts were burned in Boston in the fire of 1794. But a goodly number of his sermons are in print, with a work published in 1728 with the title, "The Wisdom of God in the Redemption of Man." He left a legacy of forty pounds for the benefit of the poor of the church; and one of twenty-six pounds Massachusetts currency, to the college for a scholarship, in addition to thirty pounds previously given by him.

Mr. Appleton was married, in 1720, to Margaret daughter of the Rev. Henry Gibbs, of Watertown. The tradition of the manner in which he obtained his wife, by a device which sent his rival in pursuit of his runaway horse, indicates that while his prudence was " consummate," his deportment in his youth was not always severely grave. Twelve children were born

to him. One son was a merchant in Boston and a zealous patriot during the Revolution, and for many years was commissioner of loans. Two daughters married clergymen.

Before we pass to the next ministry there are a few others events which should be mentioned. After Mr. Appleton had been invited to the church, a committee was appointed by the towu to consider the expediency of raising the meeting-house, so that an upper tier of galleries could be put in. The college agreed to bear one-seventh part of the expense of this alteration, on condition that. certain parts of the house should be reserved for the use of the scholars. The project seems to have been abandoned. In 1746 the parish proposed to repair the meeting-house, and the college agreed to pay a portion of the cost. There was a difference of opinion regarding the work which should be done, and the extensive repairs were given up; but it would appear that the immediate necessity was met by mak- ing the roof tight, and mending the windows, doors and seats.

It is very probable that some thought the time was not remote when a new house would be required, and that it would not be good economy to spend much money on the old building. In 1753 the inhabitants voted, to build a new meeting-house upon some part of the hill, on which their house was then standing. The college agreed to pay one-seventh part of the cost upon certain conditions, and with proper care that their action should not be taken as a precedent. The students were to have the improvement of the whole front gallery, and one of the best pews was to be set apart for the president. A petition was sent to the General Court, asking snch help in the affair as should seem meet to the legislative wisdom and generosity. The college afterward agreed to add twenty pounds to its previous subscription. There was a protracted negotiation with the college, but at last, November 17, 1756, the house was raised. Divine service was first performed in it July 24, 1757. This, the fourth meet- ing-house, remained until 1833. President Quincy has said of it, " In this edifice all the public commence- ments and solemn inaugurations during more than seventy years were celebrated, and no building in Massachusetts can compare with it in the number of distinguished men who at different times have been assembled within its walls." There Washington and his officers worshipped. There the Constitution of Massachusetts was framed. There Lafayette received the address of welcome in 1824. A large stone from the foundation, one which had very likely served the preceding houses, has been built into the walls of the Shepard Memorial Church, inscribed with the date 1756.

In 1749-50 a committee was appointed by the par- ish "to treat with the governors of the college, in order to their assisting of said precinct in the support of Mr. Appleton."

A law was passed that if any dog was found in the

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

meeting-house on the Lord's Day, in time of public worship, the owner should be fined.

Provision was made for the care of the "French neutrals."

The court-house was to be rebuilt, as far as possi- ble, from the materials of the meeting-house about to be taken down.

In 1761 an Episcopal Church was opened here, at the desire " of five or six gentlemen, each of whose incomes was judged to be adequate to the mainten- ance of a domestic chaplain. A missionary was ap- pointed to the care of the church by the English So- ciety for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts."

In 1764 the college suffered a severe loss by the burn- ing of Harvard Hall, which contained the library, the philosophical apparatus and other things of value. This was of great interest to the church.

In 1747 the inhabitants on the south side of the river had made known their desire to be formed iuto a separate religious precinct. There was opposition to this, and the proposal was defeated. It was re- newed with much pertinacity in 1748, 1749, 1758, 1774. Religious services were held there, and a meeting-house erected, and in 1779 the people on the south side were incorporated "as a separate precinct, with authority to settle a minister, and to provide for his support by a parish tax." Certain persons were by name exempted from the taxing, so long as they preferred not to be reckoned in the new precinct.

In 1780 the church members on the south side of Charles River in Cambridge presented a petition to the church, signifying their desire to be dismissed and incorporated into a distinct church, for enjoying the special ordinances of the gospel more conven- iently by themselves." The church complied with the request, and, on the 23d of February, 1783, the church was organized. The Rev. John Foster was ordained to the pastoral care of the church November 4, 1784.

It was during Dr. Appleton's ministry that George Whitefield was arousing and exciting the country by his marvelous preaching. In 1740 he came to Cam- bridge to see and to preach, and he made a sad report of what he saw.

He found the college with the president, five tutors and about a hundred students. As he viewed mat- ters, the college was " not far superior to our univer- sities in piety and true Godliness. Discipline is at too low an ebb. Bad books are become fashionable amongst them. Tillotson and Clarke are read in- stead of Shepard and Stoddard and such like evan- gelical writers; and, therefore, I chose to preach on these words : 'We are not as many, who corrupt the Word of God ;' and God gave me great freedom and boldness of speech. A great number of neighboring ministers attended, as, indeed, they do at all other times. The president of the college and ministers of the parish treated me very civilly. In the afternoon I preached again, in the court. I believe there were

about seven thousand hearers. The Holy Spirit melted many hearts." President Quincy intimates that Whitefield had been misinformed about the col- lege by some disaffected persons. His preaching here seems to have had results which were approved. The visiting committee of the overseers, in 1741, reported that " they find, of late, extraordinary and happy im- pressions of a religious nature had been made on the minds of a great number of students, by which means the college is in a better order than usual, and the exercises of the professors and tutors better attended."

Tutor Flynt wrote of Whitefield: "He appears to be a good man, and sincerely desirous to do good to the soul of sinners ; is very apt to judge harshly and censure in the severest terms those that differ from his scheme .... I think he is a composition of a great deal of good and some bad, and I pray God to grant success to what is well designed and acted by him."

The college faculty retaliated the charges brought against the college in the hot discussions of the time by publishing their testimony against Whitefield, call- ing him very hard names. He replied, and the con- troversy went on. " Whitefield was sore beset. In letters to various friends he expressed more diffidence than might have been expected from a young man who had drunk so deeply into the intoxication of popular applause." He saw something of his error. " I certainly did drop some unguarded expressions in the heat of less experienced youth, and was too pre- cipitate in hearkening to and publishing private in- formation." He assured the faculty of his "sorrow that he had published his private information ... to the world." Twenty years later, when the library had been burned, he gave to the college his "journal and a collection of books; and also by his influence he procured a large number of valuable books from several parts of Great Britain."

In all these events the church in Cambridge was most deeply concerned. The times required all the discretion of the ministers. At a meeting of the As- sociation of Cambridge and the neighboring towns, in January, 1744-45, "the Rev. Mr. Appleton, having applied to his brethren " for advice, after prayer and discussion, "it was unanimously voted that it is not advisable, under the present situation of things, that the Rev. Mr. Appleton should invite the Rev. Mr. Whitefield to preach in Cambridge. And they ac- cordingly declared, each for themselves respectively, that they could not invite the said gentleman into their pulpit."

June 27, 1745, there appeared this notice in the Boston Weekly News Letter: "WHEREAS, it is reported in the Gazette or Journal, of this week, that the Rev. Mr. Whitefield preached last Saturday at Cambridge, to prevent misapprehension and some ill consequences which may arise from thence, you are desired to give your readers notice that he preached on the Common, and not in the Pulpit; and that he did it, not only

CAMBRIDGE.

without the consent, but contrary to the mind of the Rev. Mr. Appleton, the minister of the place."

But the church here felt "The Great Awakening" which had begun at Northampton in 1734, under the powerful preaching of Jonathan Edwards, and had spread to the surrounding towns and quickened the Boston churches. The visits of Whitefield and Ten- nent enlarged the interest which the churches liere were feeling. We have the testimony of Tutor Flynt's diary : "Many students appeared to be in a great concern as to their souls, first moved by Mr. Whitefield's preaching, and after by Mr. Tennent's and others, and by Mr. Appleton, who was more close and affecting in his preaching after Mr. Whitefield's being here."

With this we close our account of Mr. Appleton's ministry and pass to that of his associate and succes- sor. The death of Dr. Appleton left his colleague the sole pastor of the church. This had doubtless been foreseen in his settlement. The Rev. Timothy Hilliard was the son of a worthy farmer and deacon, and was born in Kensington, N. H., in 1746. In his youth he showed an unusual facility in acquiring knowledge, and manifested an amiable and cheerful disposition. President Willard, who was his contem- porary in college, bore witness that " while he was a student he made such advances in the various branches of useful learning as laid the foundation for that eminence in his profession to which he afterward attained. . .. His pulpit performances from the first were very acceptable," whereon he was called to preach. He graduated with high honor in 1764. In 1768 he was appointed chaplain of Castle William. After a few months in that service he was appointed a tutor in Harvard College. He discharged his du- ties with fidelity and success for about two years and a half, when he was invited to become the minister of Barnstable, where he was ordained, April 10, 1771. He remained in that position about twelve years, dis- charging its duties with his usual diligence. He was highly esteemed as a preacher and a pastor, not only in his own parish, but through that part of the coun- try. The chill, damp air of the sea had an unfavor- able effect upon his health, and he was obliged to resign his charge. He was soon invited to Cam- bridge, and was installed here, as we have already seen. He continued in the ministry here until his death, which occurred on the Lord's Day morning, May 9, 1790, when he was in the seventh year of his ministry here, and the forty-fourth year of his age. The records of his pastorate are made up of the usual parochial events. There were one hundred and forty- five baptisms, and twenty-three persons were received to the church. The " Committee to inspect the man- ners of professing Christians " seems to have been discontinued after Dr. Appleton's death. Care was taken of the funds belonging to the church, provision was made for the poor, and the legacy of the late pas- tor was applied according to his directions. The years

of the Revolution, and those which immediately fol- lowed it, were a dreary time for the churches. Many persons had been drawn away from the restraints of the law and the influence of the sanctuary and ex- posed to the excitement and temptation of a soldier's life, often among the unprincipled strangers from other lands. With the war uppermost in men's minds, religion suffered a decline. Errors of belief and practice, corruptions of divers kinds, came in like a flood. The Sabbathi lost its sacredness, the Bible its authority, the church its sanctity. The preacher's task was doubled. The minister here felt the force of the conflict and the greatness of the issue. Mr. Hilliard was thoroughly in earnest. Both the learned and the unlearned were profited by his judicious, in- structive, practical teachings. His sermons were of cost to him, and hence were of value to his hearers. The government of the college regarded him as "an excellent model for the youth under their care who were designed for the desk, and considered his intro- duction into this parish a most happy event." He excelled in public prayer, and was "tenderly atten- tive to the sick and afflicted." His temper was ami- able, candid, liberal. While not ranking among what are called popular preachers, he had fine pulpit talent, and his ministrations were highly acceptable to the churches. His reputation was increasing when he died. He had much influence in ecclesias- tical councils and associations, and his brethren paid him a marked respect. He was watchful of the wel- fare of the College of which he was a son and an overseer. In person he was rather spare, of a medium height, with an intellectual and attractive counte- nance. His portrait in the library of the Shepard Memorial Church presents him with a grave face and the aspect of a man thoroughly devoted to his sacred calling. His last illness was very short, and he met death with the calmness which was becoming in such a man. He mentioned his people with affection, and with satisfaction testified " that he had not shunned to declare to them the whole counsel of God, having kept nothing back through fear or any sinister views." His "bereaved, affectionate flock" erected a monu- ment to his memory, and inscribed upon it the vir- tues that adorned his life,-" In private life cheerful, affable, courteous, amiable ; in his ministerial charac- ter, instructive, serious, solemn, faithful."

Dr. Holmes tells us that "all the ministers, since Mr. Mitchel, have resided at the parsonage." The minister's house, which was built in 1670, became di- lapidated in the course of years, and in 1718 the town made a grant " of two hundred and fifty pounds for the building of a new parsonage-house, provided the sum of one hundred and thirty pounds of the said money be procured by the sale of town, proprietary or ministry lands." It would appear, however, that additions were made to the old house. Dr. Holmes states, in 1800, that "the front part of the present house at the parsonage was built in 1720." In 1843 the house was taken down.

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Mr. Hilliard died in 1790. His publications were five sermons, including a Dudleian Lecture.

It was to be nearly two years before the church had another minister, and his ministry was to be most eventful. There were then in Cambridge a few more than two thousand people. In ten years there was a growth of three hundred and thirty persons. The buildings and grounds of the college gave char- acter to the town, and near at hand were the meet- ing-house of the First Church, the Episcopal Church, the county court-house and jail, and the Grammar School-house. In 1800 the historian writes : "West Boston Bridge, connecting Cambridge with Boston, is a magnificent structure. It is very hand- somely constructed; and when lighted by its two rows of lamps, extending a mile and a quarter, pre- sents a vista, which has a fine effect. The bridge was opened for passengers November 23, 1793, seven months and a half from the time of laying the first pile. The bridge cost $76,700. A toll was "granted to the proprietors for seventy years." "The erec- tiou of this bridge has had a very perceivable influ- ence on the trade of Cambridge, which, formerly, was very inconsiderable." There were then in the town " five edifices for public worship, and six school- houses." " The grounds of Thomas Brattle, Esquire, are universally admired, for the justness of their design, and the richness, variety and perfection of their productions. In no part of New England, prob- ably, is horticulture carried to higher perfection than within his enclosure."

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 32

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1034

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034