USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Leicester > History of the Second Congregational church and society in Leicester, Massachusetts > Part 3
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Emotional and easily communicated physical manifestations of religious excitement were a feature of the time, and a note of weariness is suggested in an entry in his journal by sturdy Dr. Hall, of Sutton, after a sermon preached in Leicester in 1742.
"A very serious much moved auditory I had. A woman was some troublesome, who was in prayer, singing and sermon time, frequent in fainting fits; a thing at this time common to many."
The pastorate of the Rev. Joseph Roberts, third in the succession of ministers of the first Church in Leicester, continued through a period of eight years: from October 23, 1754, to December 14, 1762. But the very letter in which
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he accepted the charge sounded an unheeded note of warn- ing. Mr. Roberts, though a man of undoubted ability, duly graduated from Cambridge, had evidently mistaken his calling in life when he entered upon a profession so exacting and exalted as that of the Christian ministry.
When his sordid and avaricious spirit had wearied his Leicester parishioners into a dissolution of the connection between them, he removed to Weston where he threw him- self, with ardent zeal, into political life. He arose to genuinely good public service during the tumultuous years of the Revolution; was a member of the convention which framed the State Constitution, in 1789, and frequently afterward sat for the town of Weston as Representative in the General Court. Though Mr. Roberts was never again a settled minister, he occasionally preached, and died in 1811, at the age of ninety-one years in apparently abject poverty, with bags of hoarded gold within his reach.
The Rev. Benjamin Conklin, born in Southhold, L. I., in 1732, and graduated from Princeton, N. J., in 1755, succeeded Mr. Roberts, and continued as pastor of the first Church for a period of thirty years. His fervid patriotism, and buoyant spirit, were of signal service to the town through the anxious years of the War for Independence.
When the minute men mustered on the old training field, on the afternoon of Wednesday, the 19th of April, 1775, and there paused to give their families, themselves, and their holy cause to God, before hastening to the scene of conflict, it was Mr. Conklin who spoke the uplifting words which mitigated the pain of separation, and sent their beloved ones back to their darkened homes hopeful and comforted.
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The personal services of Mr. Conklin as a member of the Committee of Correspondence were of a nature to entitle his descendants to membership in the Societies of the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution, upon the strength of that claim. In view of the chronic illness which eventually necessitated relief from parochial labor, the town of Leices- ter presented Mr. Conklin with a purse of one hundred and seventy pounds, exempted his property from taxation, and tendered him, by vote, an expression of gratitude for his long and faithful service, and of sympathy for his broken health.
Rev. Dr. Sumner, of Shrewsbury, and Drs. Bancroft and Austin, of Worcester, constituted the Council which met in June, 1794, to dismiss Mr. Conklin.
Following an interregnum of four years in which there was no settled minister, came, in 1798, the noteworthy pastorate of the Rev. Zephaniah Swift Moore, D. D., later a Professor in Dartmouth College, and successively President of Williams College and of Amherst.
Dr. Moore was succeeded, in 1812, by the Rev. John Nelson, D. D., whose remarkably long and useful pastorate extending to the day of his death, in 1871, brings him within the memory of a majority of the leading citizens of Leicester living in this year of grace 1908.
His colleague and successor, the Rev. A. H. Coolidge, 1857,-1894, was in turn succeeded by the Rev. David C. Reid, who after ten years service yielded place in 1904 to the Rev. J. Brainerd Thrall, the present minister of the First Congregational Church, in Leicester, now worshipping in the handsome and substantial edifice which replaced the
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one destroyed by fire during a violent electrical storm upon the night of February 25, 1901, and called The John Nelson Memorial Church, in affectionate remembrance.
The exigencies of time, and increase of population had their legitimate effect. Other religious denominations began to be represented in Leicester, withdrawing of their kind from the main body.
The Friends came first, and Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal, Unitarian and Roman Catholic followed.
The Rev. A. H. Coolidge in his beautiful historical ser- mon delivered April 24, 1887, the same being the thirtieth anniversary of his installation as pastor of the First Congre- gational Church, thus touches upon the departure of those members who were to constitute the nucleus of the Second Congregational Church and Society.
"The division which soon followed the great revival, 1831-1832, was an occasion of special trial. No charge of extreme doctrinal faith or preaching, so far as appears, was brought against the pastor. As we have seen, he was from the first a representative of the new school of New England theology.
"The immediate occasion was the fact that he declined, as did other pastors of the time, to exchange with ministers who held opinions widely differing from his own.
"But the real causes were much deeper. It was a part of a larger and far reaching movement, which for many years had been taking form, and which had its source in divergent opinions respecting the leading truths of the Christian religion, especially the being of Christ, and the nature and necessity of His redeeming work.
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"In periods of revival, in which the sin, the peril, the need of man, and the gospel of salvation in regeneration, and through the atoning work of the divine Redeemer are made practically prominent, the divergency naturally becomes more distinct, and the differences come to be recognized on either side as radical.
"But while the revival may have precipitated the division, it was not its cause. It was the result, rather, of differing tendencies of thought and experience.
"Those who dissented from the faith of the ancient Church withdrew, and April 13, 1833, organized a Second Congre- gational Church and Society, leaving the original Church in the possession of the house of worship and the records and other appointments.
"Time has vindicated the wisdom of this separation, how- ever trying then. There has doubtless been greater free- dom of religious instruction and activities on either side. Whatever accompanying infelicities there may have been be- long to the past. In few communities are persons of differ- ent faiths more harmonious in all the relations of society."
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CHAPTER III. DIARY OF THE REV. SAMUEL MAY.
EXCERPTS FROM. PART I.
The "Ephemeris" of the ancient Greeks, literally 'of the day,' down to the Diaries of our English and American for- bears, more or less modelled thereupon, with all similar ma- terial that comes between, are among the most trustworthy and valuable of the sources of History, abounding in minute and interesting details which will be sought for in vain elsewhere.
Diaries written in an abandonment of confidence, deeply introspective and self-centred, however valuable to the biographer, render slight service to the writer of local history, who would fain add the sparkle and flow of life and color to the meagre and attenuated data of the records.
But the diary of the man of letters is a mine of wealth. It teems with references to current events, to men and manners, to his own comings and goings, and the means by which these are accomplished, and to the books he reads, with special or general criticism thereupon. Rich is it in the psychological element, without which all history is inert and inoperative.
Of this character is the diary of the Rev. Samuel May, in which he gives, as only an actual participant can, the early story of the Second Congregational Church in Leicester.
2 Jand May
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The young minister chronicles his departure from the Theological School in Cambridge, and steps forth into the world to do with his might such work as he shall find to do ; fortunate in his birth, training, environment and friends ; and fortunate above all his own natural endowments, aspira- tions, devotion to principle, and the conscientious use al- ready made of his exceptional opportunities. These pages, in script almost as plain as print, are instinct with the thrill of life, a vehicle for things temporal and spiritual in a large, impersonal fashion, and reproduce with wonderful fidelity the time for which they stand.
Only such excerpts are made from Mr. May's private records as relate, in some degree, to the subject of these brief annals; mutilated, disjointed fragments, but the book would be barren indeed without them.
Many of the persons herein mentioned as having taken some part in the Church activities, are met with elsewhere in broader fields of action; notably Mr. May himself, in his widely reaching philanthropic work.
The comfortable dwellings of those townspeople whose names are of frequent recurrence in the diary : Flint, Clapp, Bisco, Sargent, Knight, Whittemore, Southgate, Warren, McFarland, and other citizens, still stand; but in several instances not a representative of their race remains in Leices- ter. The residence of Joshua Clapp, Esq., said at that day to be the handsomest country house in the County, and may be yet for aught that appears to the contrary, is now owned and occupied by Samuel E. Winslow, Esq., and the substan- tial brick dwelling of Capt. Isaac Southgate, bequeathed by him to the Second Congregational Church for a parsonage,
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but found too expensive to maintain for this purpose, passed on to the James Whittemores and H. O. Smiths, kinsmen of the generous donor, in liberal thought and all good things, though not by tie of blood.
The several hospitable homes of the Flints: Dr. Austin Flint, Dr. Edward Flint, Waldo Flint, Esq., and Miss Laura Flint, long since ceased to know them, and no scion of that brilliant family remains. But the tomb of Dr. Austin Flint, whose services in the War for Independence are matter of history, receives the due laurel wreath in the fullness of each recurring Spring. Leicester most honorably pays to her patriot sons the reverence due to heroes. The extracts from Mr. May's diary date from July 17, 1833, when the Second Congregational Church and Society in Leicester was in process of formation, to May 25, 1835, when the Church edifice was completed, and the parish work moving sys- tematically forward. Mr. May preached his first sermon in Leicester, at the Town Hall, September 15, 1833.
Boston, Mass. 1833.
Wednesday, July 17th, was the day of the visitation of the Theological School, and of the graduation of our class.
The day was a pleasant one, and the audience quite large and very respectable.
There were twelve in our class. Their names are as follow: William E. Abbot, son of the late Dr. Abiel Abbot, of Beverly; William Andrews, of Salem; William Henry Channing, son of Francis Channing, Esq., long since deceased and a nephew of the late Rev. Dr. Wm. E. Chan- ning; James Freeman Clarke, of Boston, son of Dr. S. Clarke, grandson of Rev. Dr. Freeman; Samuel A. Devens, of
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Charlestown; Theophilus P. Doggett, son of Rev. Mr. Doggett, now of Raynham; Samuel May; Albert C. Patterson, of Boston; Chandler and Samuel D. Robbins, of Roxbury; Linus H. Shaw, of Raynham; Henry A. Walker, of Charlestown, son of Timothy Walker, Esq.
As a class they have received repeated testimonials of approbation and regard from the Theological Faculty and their Dissertations read on this occasion were received with expressions of entire satisfaction, which were accompanied with some marks that the satisfaction was sincere.
In the afternoon the 2nd Annual Meeting of the "Philan- thropic Society" was held in the University Chapel.
After the morning services a party assembled at my rooms to discuss a collation, among whom were Judge and Mrs. Cranch, of Washington; 1Mr. Russell and Misses Adeline and Harriet Russell; Stephen C. Phillips of Salem; Miss Leslie of Philadelphia &c. &c.
It was also first generally known this day that Sarah Russell and I are engaged. Sarah had resolved not to come to Cambridge on this day, but her Father's persuasion induced her to be present at the afternoon services.
The following day, Thursday, I left Cambridge, expecting to be absent about five weeks.
Friday, July 19. I accompanied Miss Russell to Nahant, where the family are passing the summer; and returned with her the next day to Boston, by way of Medford, where we
] Nathaniel P. Russell, Esq., of Boston, father of Mrs. Sarah Russell May.
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called on her 1Grandmother Tidd; and of Cambridge, calling at the Deanery.
Sunday evening, 21. Attended at the Second Church, the ordination of James Freeman Clarke as an Evangelist. The sermon was a noble one by Rev. Mr. Greenwood, and the whole service affected me more, far more, than anything of the kind ever did before.
1 Mrs. Ruth Dawes Tidd, widow of Jacob Tidd, Esq., lived at what is known as the old Royall House, in Medford; this historic estate having been owned and occupied by the grandparents of Mrs. Samuel May, Jr., for a period of more than fifty years; a most hospitable home, to which the divinity students at Cambridge loved to extend their walks, sure always of a royal welcome. Mrs. Ruth Dawes Tidd, who long out-lived her husband, died in 1861, at the age of 95 years.
" The Royall place is celebrated as a most important and interesting example of fine old colonial country residences in the metropolitan district. Besides its interest as the home of a gentleman of wealth in the period preceding the Revolution, the house has an exceptional importance as having been the country-seat of Governor Winthrop at his Ten Hills farm. This fact is little known, but the lines of the original farmhouse may be distinctly traced in the brick wall on the south side. When purchased by Colonel Royall, the old house was retained, but greatly enlarged. So it is just as much a relic of Governor Winthrop and his days as Faneuil Hall is of the Revolutionary period.
"But this estate is more than a relic of Governor Winthrop: it was subsequently owned by Colonel Charles Lidgett and Lieutenant- Governor John Usher, both provincial officers under Governor Andros. The house was enlarged and embellished by Colonel Isaac Royall, senior, and it was the seat of his son, Colonel Isaac Royall, for many years a councillor of the Province, from 1739 to 1775. During the siege of Boston this house was the headquarters of General Stark. The house and slave quarters are in a fair state of preservation, and have been pronounced by architects one of our finest speciment of colonial archi- tecture.
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James left Boston the very next day, I believe, to station himself as a servant of Christ, and a preacher of righteous- ness, at Louisville, Kentucky. * * * *
Tuesday following I went to Brighton to make a farewell call on the Rev. Doctor Worcester, with whose friendship I have been honored, and whose society I have enjoyed so much at different times, during the last six months.
At 2 o'clock A. M., Wednesday, I took the stage for Brooklyn, Conn. I left it at Pomfret, and procured a con- veyance over to Brooklyn, where I arrived at about 5 P. M. * I staid in Brooklyn nearly a fortnight. I had long since made my cousin, Rev. Samuel J. May, a promise that my first public officiating as a preacher, should be in his pulpit. I preached for him both parts of the day the first Sunday I was there. The second was his Communion Day, and I therefore preached only in the afternoon.
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I also took the whole charge of his newspaper, The Chris- tian Monitor, which was published once while I was there, and again soon after I left. I made a great many visits to old acquaintances, read considerably, and wrote one sermon. My visit to my cousin was peculiarly a pleasant one. I
"It is the purpose of the Royall House Association to restore the house and furnishings, after inventories in its possession, to renew the old- fashioned garden, summer-house, and court-yard, and to open it to the public as a stately relic of colonial times and of our first colonial Governor."
NOTE. - I accompanied Miss Adeline May, Regent of Col. Henshaw Chapter, D. A. R., of Leicester, Mass., to this old homestead of her great-grandparents, where she visited in girlhood, on the occasion of a Revolutionary fete held there in 1901 .- C. van D. C.
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honour and love him more, as my knowledge of his character increases. The Unionist, an anti-slavery paper, was issued for the first time while I was in Brooklyn, and Mrs. Child's "Appeal in behalf of that part of the American People called "Africans," was received by Mr. May to his inexpressible delight.1
On Friday, September 13th, at one o'clock, I took stage for Worcester, and arrived there at seven ; the shortest time in which I ever have passed between Boston and Worcester.
The next morning I took a nine o'clock stage, and was in due time at Leicester, six miles from Worcester.
I went to the house of Dr. Edward Flint, and introduced myself to his wife. The Doctor came home in the afternoon. Here I spent three weeks-four Sundays-very pleasantly indeed to myself. I preached the third and fourth Sundays in September, and the first in October in Leicester. The fifth Sunday in September I exchanged at his request with Rev. Oliver Stearns of Northampton.
I returned to Boston, though kindly urged by the Leices- ter Society to continue with them. The main reason that I did not remain was that I did not feel ready to take long continued charge of a Society. I had taken a room in Cam- bridge, and my wish was to spend the winter there quietly,
1 Dedicated by Mrs. Child to her friend and co-worker.
"To the Rev. S. J. May, of Brooklyn, Conn., this volume is most re- spectfully inscribed as a mark of gratitude for his disinterested efforts in an unpopular but most righteous cause." Mr. May was much af- fected by reading this dedication, and said to his cousin Samuel, "Now, indeed I must go forward. I can never draw back."
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL JOSEPH MAY.
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and in study, principally upon the New Testament. Before leaving Leicester, I promised to return for three Sundays in November.
* * The first Sunday that I was at home I did not preach. I heard Mr. Gannett and in the afternoon, my friend William Channing at Brattle Street. William Chan- ning and Chandler Robbins have been preaching there as candidates. * *
Sunday, October 20. Preached in the morning for Rev. Mr. Pierpont, in my own place of worship, before the Church and Society of which I was a member. It was a great trial to me. Preached at Cambridgeport in the afternoon.
Sunday, October 27. Preached at Jamaica Plain, having in charge the supply of the Hollis Street Pulpit, and making an exchange with the Rev. Dr. Gray.
Sunday, November 3. Preached at Canton.
On Saturday morning (following) at 2 o'clock, I started to Leicester, and arrived at about eleven.
This week Miss Rebecca Dean was married at Charlestown, N. H., to Stephen Salisbury, Esq., of Worcester. I again took up my quarters in the family of Doctor Flint. Nothing could be more agreeable to me than this, for I had become very much attached to them, and their house really seemed to me like a home. I found Mrs. Flint's mother and sister staying with her ; Mrs. Emerson feeble, and in a decline but an intelligent, religious, and very agreeable woman. Miss Mary Ann Emerson, a modest, single-hearted and excellent girl, as all agreed.
Sunday, Nov. 10. Preached at Leicester.
Sunday, Nov. 17. Was at Grafton on an exchange with
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Rev. R. A. Johnson. His society large and flourishing, attend meeting constantly, and have a new and handsome place of worship. I preached in the evening at the Manu- facturing part of the town called New England village. Mr. John Sargent went with me to Grafton, taking me in his chaise.
Monday, A. M. Returned to Leicester. I attended two parties while at Leicester this time; one at Miss Sprague's, not a large one, the other at Mrs. Isaac Southgate's; large and handsome, and pleasant; and spent a good deal of time, as on my former stay here, in visiting families belonging to the Unitarian Society.
The Society is small, but composed of the best part of the population. The most intelligent and cultivated, and equal to the other Society, nearly, or quite, in point of wealth.
Leicester is a town of more wealth than most towns of its size. The main business of the place has been in past years a remarkably profitable one :- the making of machine and hand cards. I speak not prejudically when I say that the Unitarian Society contains by far the larger part of the intelligent and truly respectable people of the place.
The same has been unequivocally stated to me by an Orthodox gentleman of candid mind. Indeed it is too evident to admit of question. I was called while here to attend the funeral of a laboring man, poor and friendless, who had lived in the town for many years, known by the name of Woodland; and it was never certainly stated whence he came. It was rather a difficult case, there being no particu- lar point on which to hinge the remarks which I found are
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always made here at funerals, previous to the prayer. Mr. Nelson, the Orthodox clergyman, was present.
In the afternoon there was another funeral; that of a young married man named Conklin. The Rev. Mr. Nelson offici- ated, and I attended as a listener.
Sunday, Nov. 24. Preached at Leicester.
Monday, Nov. 25. Left Leicester, for Boston, in the first snow storm of the season. In Worcester while the Stage stopped for dinner, I called upon Mrs. Salisbury, Miss Rebecca Dean that was. Our talk was chiefly upon Elizabeth Bond, who is lying very ill with typhus fever. The last accounts were rather unfavorable, and the fears of her friends are much excited. We had a most tedious ride to Boston in a cold, wet snow and rain storm, and did not arrive until eleven o'clock, P. M. Miss Russell drove with me to Cambridge the following afternoon. Before going I called to inquire after Elizabeth Bond. Her father was in the parlour, and seemed much depressed. He was hoping and was calm. She died that night.
Thursday, Nov. 28. Thanksgiving Day, but a most sober one in our family, for we all felt that Elizabeth Bond was almost one of us. She had always been an acquaintance and an intimate friend of several of the younger members; and her brother George's marriage to Sophie A. May brought her quite within our own circle.
Her praise lives, and will live in the hearts of us all. .
My dear Sarah Russell passed Thanksgiving with us, which was kept this year at my father's house. The following morning we attended the funeral of her whom we were both
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happy to call our friend. Rev. Mr. Palfrey made the prayer, and the body was conveyed to Mt. Auburn.
Sunday, Dec. 1, 1833. In the morning I preached for Rev. Dr. Lowell, and remained to the Communion. In the afternoon I preached for Rev. Mr. Young; both labours of love.
I again returned to Cambridge with the expectation of three months of quiet study, having previously promised the Committee of the Leicester Society that I would return to them in March.
Sunday, Dec'r. 8. Preached for Dr. Pierce of Brookline both parts of the day. This also was a labour of love.
Sunday, Dec'r. 15. Preached at Framingham, George Chapman, pastor of that Society being disabled from preaching by a heavy cold and cough. (The journal here refers to the serious illness of Miss Sarah Russell.) All this I did not know until Saturday noon upon going to Boston, where my mother told me. I at once went up to Beacon Street. Sarah was rather more comfortable, and it was decided between us that I should keep my engagement at Framingham.
I started in a chaise alone, at about 3 o'clock P. M .- the day being very cold -- and reached Framingham twenty-one miles distant, at six. I found Chapman quite ill with his cough. I preached here to a very good audience, in a monstrous great meeting-house. Immediately after service I started for Cambridge, arrived in good season, took an- other horse, and a man to drive me to Boston. Sarah was about as I had left her. With excellent nursing she threw off her illness to the great relief of her many friends. I had expected to preach at Framingham on the following Sunday,
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but received on Friday a note from Rev. H. Ware, Jr., say- ing it was indispensably necessary that I should go that Sunday to Fall River, as the committee had written desiring that I should come.
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