USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Dedham > History of the Clapboard Trees or Third Parish, Dedham, Mass. : now the Unitarian Parish, West Dedham, 1736-1886 > Part 9
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These anecdotes, with others of a similar character, have been repeated in the parish until they have become familiar to every one. All who knew him delighted to repeat them, and to describe his manner of life at his own home and in the parish. Even now, he is familiarly spoken of as " Parson Thacher"; and his influence is yet strongly felt throughout the parish.
It would not be just to Mr. Thacher, however, to judge him by such anecdotes as these; for they do not represent him at his best. The most they do is to give us a hint of his every-day character, as he often appeared to his parish- ioners during the week. He seems never to have had that strained dignity and that forced seriousness which some ministers cultivated in the olden times, and he did not pretend to a solemnity which was not natural to him.
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Mr. Thacher was a fine classical scholar, and well trained in the knowledge of his day. He was familiar with the Greek and Latin classics, and often drew his illustrations from the best ancient authors and from the history of Greece and Rome. In his day, the classical authors were as familiar as the Bible to educated men ; and his sermons testify that he had read them with interest and zeal. A quotation from Shakspere and one from Montesquieu, as well as from other modern poets and essayists, indicate that he read outside the subjects of the mere student. He was well read in history, and he was familiar with the political science of his day. His scholarship was such that he was made a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. It is also said that "his writings and his conver- sation were much valued by learned men." In the year 1805 he delivered the Dudleian lecture in Cambridge, and in 1807 he gave the address at the dedication of the Milton Academy. These are indications that he was respected for his scholarship on the part of his friends. During the greater part of his residence in the parish, he was in the habit of taking boys into his house, who were prepared by him for entering Harvard College. In this work of teaching, he was successful, being "an able and useful instructor." He also prepared young men for the ministry, and with un- usual success. Among the men he trained in theology was Joseph Tuckerman, whose ordination sermon he preached at Chelsea in 1801, and who became widely known as the founder of the ministry at large in Boston.
No subject interested Mr. Thacher more than the welfare of his country. In 1788, he was chosen a member of the State convention, which was called for the purpose of ratify- ing the national Constitution. His colleague from Dedham was Fisher Ames, a young man of his own age, who first gained his reputation at this time. Mr. Ames spoke on biennial elections, and Mr. Thacher also addressed the con- vention in a speech in favor of adopting the Federal Con- stitution. In his Thanksgiving sermon of 1795, his Fast Day sermons of 1808 and 1812, his eulogy of Washington
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in 1800, his sermon on the death of Samuel Adams in 1803, and his general election sermon of 1811, given before the governor, his council, and the two houses of the legislature, his patriotism and his anxious desire for the welfare of the Republic are fully made manifest. He thoroughly believed in American ideas and institutions, and he deprecated the great political discords then so common and so threatening.
The following is a list of the sermons, lectures, and ad- dresses delivered by Mr. Thacher, and afterwards published, as contained in an appendix to the funeral sermon by the Rev. Stephen Palmer. It is believed that everything he published is here enumerated.
I .- A Sermon upon Coloss. 3, 12, February 23, 1784.
2 .- Speech in Convention, in favour of adopting the Federal Consti- tution, A. D. 1788.
3 .- A Thanksgiving Sermon, February 19, 1795.
4 .- A Sermon on the death of the Rev. Nathaniel Robbins of Mil- ton, May 24, 1795.
5 .- A Sermon delivered in the Episcopal Church, in Dedham, on the festival of Christmas, December 25, 1797.
6 .- A Sermon at the Ordination of the Rev. Elijah Dunbar, at Peterborough, (N. H.) October 23, 1799.
7 .- A Sermon upon Ephesians ii. 8, delivered at Peterborough, the Lord's day after Mr. Dunbar's Ordination, October 27, 1799.
8. - Eulogy on Gen. Washington, delivered in Dedham, February 22, 1800.
9 .- A Discourse before the Humane Society, June 18, 1800.
10 .- A Sermon upon Psalm lxxviii. 4, giving an historical sketch of the third Parish in Dedham, January 1I, 1801.
II .- A Sermon upon the danger of despising the divine counsel, de- livered at Dedham, third Parish, the Lord's day after the execution of Jason Fairbanks, September 13, 1801.
12 .- A Sermon at the Ordination of the Rev. Joseph Tuckerman, at Chelsea, November 4, 1801.
13 .- A Sermon on the death of Governor Adams, delivered at Ded- ham, third Parish, the next Lord's day after his interment, October, 1803.
14 .- A Sermon at the Dudleian Lecture, May 8, 1805.
15 .- A Discourse at the dedication of Milton Academy, September 9, 1807.
16 .- A Sermon on the Public Fast, April 14, 1808.
17 .- A Biographical Memoir of the Rev. Samuel West, D. D., 1808.
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18 .- A Sermon on taking leave of the old meeting-house in the third Parish in Dedham, February 26, 1809.
19 .-- A Sermon at the Dedication of the new meeting-house in the third Parish in Dedham, March 1, 1809.
20 .- A Sermon at the General Election, May 29, 1811.
21 .- A Sermon at the Funeral of the Rev. Jabez Chickering, March 16, 1812.
22 .- A Sermon on the Public Fast, April 9, 1812.
In theology, Mr. Thacher belonged to that liberal school of preachers which was represented in Boston by the younger Buckminster, William Emerson, and S. C. Thacher. These men had modified and humanized the Calvinism of the Puritans, omitted its rigid doctrine of election, quieted the fires of its hell, and made Jesus subordinate to the Father. They regarded Christianity as a divine and authen- ticated revelation, they took the Bible as their creed, and they made the gospel of Jesus the way of salvation here and hereafter. Their preaching was gentle and moral, and they left all men to search the Bible for themselves. "In his theological sentiments," it was said of Mr. Thacher, "he called no man master. No one was ever more pointedly opposed to uninspired creeds and formularies than he. He took the Bible exclusively for his guide, and examined and thought for himself." This was precisely the attitude of the early Unitarians, and to this party he was affiliated by all his thoughts and tendencies. It will have been seen that he did not in any degree sympathize with infidelity or with any loosening of the old bonds of religion. He believed in the Church, in the Bible, and in Christianity with all the vigor of his earnest nature. His desire was to make relig- ion simple and pure, and to give it the real gospel spirit. He did have, however, a strong dislike of Calvinism. In his memoir of the Rev. Samuel West, who was for many years the minister in Needham, and subsequently settled over the Hollis Street Church in Boston, he spoke of Cal- vinism as "a gloomy, contracted system of divinity." In the ordination sermon of the Rev. Joseph Tuckerman in Chelsea, he said of the Puritans, "We lament that they
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carried intolerance to a very blameable extent, that they were tinctured with bigotry, and that they were too fond of the dogmas of Calvin." In his will, he also gave expression in very strong terms to his dislike and his distrust of all who teach religion in a gloomy and bigoted spirit.
Where Mr. Thacher first lived when he came to the parish is not known, but possibly it may have been in the house which the parish gave to Mr. Tyler. After he had been settled four years, in the spring of 1784 he purchased of Joseph Onion the house now owned by the Rev. Calvin S. Locke, and situated about twenty rods directly east of the ยท meeting-house. On the 14th of April in that year, the par- ish voted to give him the liberty of cutting timber on the parish lands for sills for his house, which would indicate that the house was enlarged by him when he took posses- sion of it. In connection with the house, Mr. Thacher pur- chased a small farm; and his varied duties included those of a farmer as well as those of a teacher and a minister.
On the 19th of October, 1812, Mr. Thacher died. He was only fifty-six years of age, and he had always been in vigorous health until within a few months of his death. During the summer of that year, he was not able to preach ; and his pulpit was supplied by his friends, the ministers of the neighboring churches.
The loss of two of his intimate friends, as well as a fatal accident happening to one of his pupils, are said to have helped on that depression of spirit which joined with disease to take him away at so early an age. His funeral discourse was preached by his friend, the Rev. Stephen Palmer, of Needham, who paid a worthy tribute to his memory. "He was a burning and a shining light," said his eulogist ; "and you were willing to rejoice in his light for a season, and ought still to rejoice that it shone so long. To you, he was an affectionate minister. He took a lively interest in your feelings, and was devoted to your prosperity and welfare. It was the unfeigned desire of his heart to build you up in temporal as well as in spiritual things. You have been much honored, and, I will hope, equally profited, by his
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labors. It now remains that you profit by his death. He expressed an anxious concern for your peace and religious welfare, when he should be gone."
By his will, Mr. Thacher left the larger part of his prop- erty to the parish with which he had been connected for more than thirty-two years. His gift included his farm of twenty acres and about three hundred and fifty dollars of personal property, in all amounting to three thousand dol- lars. He had already contributed liberally towards the building of the meeting-house, to the establishment of a min- isterial fund, and to other objects calculated to promote the welfare of the parish. He had a strong affection for his people, and he had. no stronger desire than to secure their prosperity. The conditions on which he left his property to the parish indicate how keenly he had felt the secession of a part of his parishioners, and how warmly he was op- posed to the more rigid forms of religion taught in the New England churches. There follows, word for word, the text of his will, in full :-
In the name of the Eternal God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, the first born of every creature, and the Savior of mankind ; Amen.
I, Thomas Thacher, of Dedham, in the county of Norfolk and Com- monwealth of Massachusetts, clerk, being through divine goodness of sound mind and health, and considering the uncertainty of life, do con- stitute and ordain this to be my last will and testament.
Imprimis. I commend my spirit unto the hands of God who gave it, not doubting but that I shall be judged by a being of infinite wisdom and boundless benevolence, who will require no more of me than what he doth enable me to perform, and will measure his final judgment, not by the faith of gloomy and perverse bigots (who sacrilegiously as- sume the prerogatives of heaven, and with an equal degree of folly and presumption, decide on the future fates of mankind,) but by the everlasting principles of truth and goodness, by the rank which I have held in his creation and by the relation which I bear to him and his offspring.
My body I commend to the dust in sure and certain hope of the resurrection and a future life. And as the desire of preserving some frail memorial of our name and actions is common to humanity, it is my will and request, that a plain monument be erected over my grave, with a Latin inscription which I shall enclose in this instrument. Fur- thermore, it is my will that, after my just debts and funeral charges shall
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have been defrayed, the remaining property shall be disposed of in the following manner :
Item. I give and bequeath to my nephew, P. O. Thacher, Esq., of Boston in the county of Suffolk, the sum of one thousand dollars. I also give and commit to his care all my manuscripts which I shall leave at my decease ; and it is my request that he burn or destroy all such as are unfinished or imperfect. I also will and direct that if my nephew, P. O. Thacher, wishes for any part of my library or household furniture as a part of the legacy aforesaid, that he have liberty to take it at a fair appraisement.
Item. I give and bequeath to my friend, Nathan P. West, of Boston, the sum of fifty dollars, to be laid out in silver plate in such way and manner as he may direct ; and to his brother, Benjamin West, of Boston, I give and bequeath a gold ring and breast-pin bequeathed to me by the Hon. S. Dexter, Esq.
Item. I give and bequeath to the third parish in Dedham, usually called Clapboard trees, all my real estate which shall remain after the pay- ment of my just debts and the legacies mentioned in this instrument, provided they comply with the following conditions ; first, that they pay in trust to P. O. Thacher, Esq., of Boston, the sum of thirty dollars annually during the space of ten years towards the support of my sister Judith Thacher, provided she so long survive after my decease. Should the said P. O. Thacher die before the said term of ten years expires, it may be paid to his executors or any person whom he may assign for the above mentioned purpose. Second, that all such real estate as they shall recieve of me shall forever be kept for the use of a parsonage and shall never be alienated or sold, it being my intention that it should remain forever for the support and maintenance of a Congregational minister. Also, that the net proceeds of any personal estate which they may recieve from me shall be added and appropriated to the parish min- isterial fund, so-called, in said third parish in Dedham. Third, that within five years of my decease they settle a minister educated at Har- vard College in Cambridge, and one who is not of high Calvinistic or Hopkinsian sentiments, and who has recieved no part of his education at the theological institution in Andover in Massachusetts ; also, that it be a condition of his settlement and continuance among them that he shall never preach or promote such sentiments.
Item. I give and bequeath to Lieut. W. B. Shubrick the sum of twenty dollars, in testimony of my respect for him and his family, to be appropriated as he shall think proper.
Item. I give and bequeath to my respected friend, Levi Hedge, professor at Harvard College, the sum of twenty dollars in consideration of many civilities and important acts of friendship.
Item. As to the rest and residue of my estate, both real and per- sonal, if there shall any remain after payment of debts, legacies and
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bequests aforesaid, I give and bequeath it to the third parish aforesaid in Dedham, to be used and appropriated according to the conditions in the above bequest to said parish. And I do hereby constitute and appoint my nephew, P. O. Thacher, Esq., of Boston, to be the sole exec- utor of this my last will and testament.
Codicil. In addition to the above will and testament I, the sub- scriber, do subjoin the following codicil :
Whereas, in that instrument I have given to the third parish in Ded- ham all my real and personal estate, after the payment of my just debts and legacies, to which are affixed certain conditions, for the non-per- formance of which no penalty or forfeiture is mentioned, I further will and ordain that in case the conditions aforesaid are not complied with, that all my estate revert and be given to my nephew, P. O. Thacher, Esq., of Boston, and his heirs forever.
I furthermore constitute and appoint the members of the Supreme judiciary of Massachusetts to be the judges of the conditions mentioned in the above instrument.
Item. I give and bequeath to the Rev. Stephen Palmer, of Need- ham, the sum of ten dollars to purchase a mourning ring.
Item. I give and bequeath to Mr. Benjamin West, of Boston, in addition to the legacy mentioned in the above instrument, all the gold and silver apparel which I shall have at my decease.
The condition of Mr. Thacher's will, that the minister should never preach or promote high Calvinistic or Hopkin- sian beliefs, was a source of much perplexity to the parish. At a meeting held April 13, 1813, a committee of two was appointed to secure the opinions of two eminent counselors on the validity of this condition. Doubts having been ex- pressed as to whether this condition could or ought to be carried into effect, this action was taken. The subject was again brought up in May ; and it was then dismissed, prob- ably because the condition was found to be obligatory.
After the death of Mr. Thacher, the Rev. William Mon- tague preached for a time in supply of the pulpit. In Feb- ruary, 1813, the church invited Isaac Hurd to become its pastor; and in March the parish unanimously concurred. It would seem that Mr. Hurd was a young man, and his place of residence was Charlestown. The people evidently thought well of him, and were anxious to have him for a minister ; but he did not like the theological restrictions placed on the pulpit by the conditions of Mr. Thacher's bequest. In his
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letter declining the call to become the minister of the parish, he said : --
The unanimity you have discovered, the expressions of esteem which I have received during my visits among you, with other agreeable cir- cumstances, have served to create an attachment and to excite a lively interest in your welfare ; and it is not without painful feelings and the sacrifice of many pleasant anticipations that I am obliged from princi- ples of duty to return a negative answer to your call. I have, however, found it impossible, in the event of accepting your invitation, to remove all those doubts, and to possess that satisfaction of mind, which the consciousness of having formed a proper determination would produce, and which would be necessary to a faithful and cheerful discharge of the duties of my office. One reason which has influenced this decision I have made, as it is perhaps the most powerful, it may be necessary to state; and that arises from the conditions on which your late reverend pastor, Mr. Thacher, has made his bequest to the parish. The terms on which his donation must be received as a part of the salary of his suc- cesor are such that I cannot consistently with the dictates of my con- science accede to them. They impose that restraint upon my future opinions to which a regard for truth and the importance of free inquiry forbid me to submit.
It is evident that at the time when he wrote this letter Mr. Hurd could comply with the conditions required of the minister who should settle with the parish ; but he was un- willing to pledge himself for the future, or to settle where such a limitation was placed on his utterance of what he believed to be truth. Before calling another minister, the parish secured a statement of these conditions from a legal authority, which was to be inserted in the call, so that the parish might secure his dismissal at any time if he violated the conditions of the will.
IX.
REV. JOHN WHITE, THE FOURTH MINISTER.
IN February, 1814, one year and a half after the death of Mr. Thacher, a call was extended to John White, of Con- cord, to become the minister. He was offered six hundred dollars and ten cords of wood for his salary. The call was given on condition of his complying with the requirements of Mr. Thacher's will. In his letter of acceptance, Mr. White wrote : -
As to the sentiments on religious subjects that I have expressed in public and in private, they are what I now concieve to be agreeable to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, which are the rule of faith and practice, and according to which I expect to be judged at the last day. Still, I would have it understood, that no pledge is given on my part to maintain any system of doctrine, farther than it shall appear at any time to be supported by the oracles of God. And if, in the course of my inquiries after truth, a change take place in my opinions concerning the import of sacred writings, I shall feel myself at liberty to communicate them without reserve.
Mr. White was no more willing than was Mr. Hurd to foreclose his mind to truth. In fact, by this time such a spirit had grown up in the Congregational churches of New England as precluded any arbitrary limitations in regard to free inquiry. Especially among the more liberal party, to which Mr. White belonged, there was entire unwillingness to subscribe to any doctrinal restrictions of any kind what- ever. While they revolted against the doctrines of Calvin, they did not seek for any other doctrinal statement of faith. This attitude of the time, and of Mr. White as one of the liberal party, must be taken into account, in order to under- stand why the parish became distinctly Unitarian under his ministry.
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REV. JOHN WHITE, THE FOURTH MINISTER
The memory of Mr. White is yet so fragrant in the parish it is almost impossible for any one to do full justice to the love and veneration that was and is felt for him. No state- ment of one who did not know him can fill out the picture of him, which is in the minds of all who knew him in the flesh, and in the beautiful spirit of his daily life. He was ordained April 20, 1814, the sermon being preached by his own pastor, the Rev. Ezra Ripley, of Concord. The charge was given by the Rev. George Morey, of Walpole, and the right hand of fellowship by the Rev. Joshua Bates, of the first parish in Dedham. That Mr. Bates took part in this service was an indication that the separation in the Congre- gational churches had not yet come, for he belonged to the stricter party. Near the end of his sermon, Dr. Ripley said to his young friend : -
That mixture of diffidence and fortitude, faith and exertion, which has marked your approach to the solemnities of this day, exhibits your character in a very favorable point of light, and is a fair presage of future reputation and success. It is with no ordinary joy that I wel- come to the stated ministry one so well disposed and qualified - one so dear to my heart and so worthy of my esteem. From the day when you were publicly dedicated to God, we observed with hope and delight your growth in stature and in favor with God and man. Our hearts were gladdened by the discovery of early dispositions to the ways of wisdom ; and our joy was full at seeing you, while a youth, devote yourself to God and enlist under the banner of the cross in the bosom of the church of Christ. Our expectations have not been disappointed ; our hopes are now realized by your taking part with us in the ministry of reconcilia- tion, the power of which, we trust, you have felt upon your own heart. With delightful sensibility we participate in the joy which events of this day must give to your particular friends, and especially to your pious and affectionate father, who witnesses the best fruits of his tender cares for you, and joyous answers to his fervent prayers in your behalf.
At the parish meeting, when Mr. White was voted upon, thirty favored him, and ten were opposed. In his letter of acceptance, he said that he understood the opposition was not with reference to himself, but those who objected wished for more explicit terms of settlement. The committee of arrangements for his ordination consisted of Benjamin
.
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Fisher, Capt. Jeremiah Baker, Moses Richards, Capt. Ben- jamin Fairbanks, Samuel Thwing, Jesse Warren, and Capt. Daniel Covell. Colburn Ellis was paid $5.63 for thir- teen half-pints of spirit and crackers and cheese for the singers on this occasion, according to the treasurer's ac- counts. It cost the parish one hundred dollars for enter- taining the council.
Mr. White was born in Concord, Mass., Dec. 22, 1787. His father was John White, a beloved and venerated citizen of that place, and for many years a deacon of the church there. In early youth, Mr. White manifested the spirit of piety, and he was always pure and upright in his con- duct. His minister there was the Rev. Ezra Ripley, who was the pastor in that church for more than sixty years, and a man of an original and striking cast of mind. He was much such a man as Mr. Thacher, with whom he was contemporary . at Harvard ; and all his excellences, faults, and wit THE REV. JOHN WHITE. have been written of in a tender manner by Emerson and Mr. F. B. Sanborn. Dr. Ripley often preached in the Clapboard Trees parish after Mr. White settled in it, and he is yet well remembered by at least one person at whose father's house he often visited .*
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