USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the church in Brattle street, Boston > Part 9
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* " For the Centinel.
" MESSRS. PRINTERS, -
" Please give the following a place in the Centinel, and you will oblige a customer : -
" Christ's wealthy Church in Br-tt-e St-t, His poorer flock in M-Id-n greet,
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committee to Dr. Thacher is well hit off ; but no wrong done by any party can be pointed out.
With hearts brim full of Christian love, They wish them blessings from above. Dear Sirs, of late we lost our Pastor, And mourn sincere the sore disaster ; Because we clearly can foresee Our sheep much scattered will be, Unless we should of God's free grace A shepherd get to fill his place.
" Now having sought Divine direction, We thought it fit, on due reflection, 'To tempt the parson of your church To leave his people in the lurch ; Though few have heard him scarcely thrice, Yet most believe he preaches nice, And is a man that's fitted quite To make us all in him unite. On trial fair, we plainly find Our pious scheme well suits his mind ; Then what remains for us to do But settle matters right with you ? Sure if you cannot him maintain, Of us you ought not to complain ; Now therefore send him off to us, And we will fill his mouth and purse. The cash you owe him, as 't is said, Shall very cheerfully be paid ; Another preacher, should you want, A settlement for him we'll grant; Thus to the world we 'll fully show That naught but honor we've in view. Yet stronger arguments than these We can produce with greater ease, And make it clear that we are right, And act by help of Gospel light.
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The preliminary proceedings of this parish, in expressing a favorable opinion of Mr. Thacher,
" From best of men we often hear, That you've no souls to save (they fear), That parts like his in napkin lay, So long as he shall with you stay, Much time among you he has taught, And labored all that while for naught, To church no single soul could add, To make his pious heart ' full glad.' But, in this place, his talents five To occupy would make us thrive ; From day to day our church would grow And make at last a goodly show. These weighty reasons, as we trust, You'll plainly see are good and just, And freely grant us our request, - Because we think it for the best.
" And now we all, with one accord, Subscribe your brethren in the Lord." Massachusetts Centinel, Dec. 11, 1784.
" For the Centinel.
" MESSRS. EDITORS, -
"The following, it is requested, may be communicated to the public, through the channel of the Centinel. Æ.
" I was called to preach about fifteen years ago in a neigh- boring town ; in a short time after, they persuaded me to be- come their pastor. I am now called the shepherd of their flock ; they look upon me as their guardian ; I am beloved by them with a tenderness that cannot be expressed ; they discover, also, such a regard for my family and contribute all in their power towards its support ; in short, there seems to be such an exertion for my welfare and happiness, that I
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and a desire to obtain him as their minister, could the matter be arranged to the mutual satisfaction
have felt till lately the greatest satisfaction possible. But I have lately had an offer from a congregation (not far distant) of more than double what I now get, for the support of my family, if I will leave my flock and become their shepherd. Although I am certain of living in affluence, yet there seems to be a check, for when I first began to preach, I admonished against all thie allurements of this world. And although there is a probability of laying up something handsome every year, yet I frankly confess that before I was tempted I rested satisfied.
" But I have other difficulties, which often arise in my mind. One is, whether it will be acting upon the true prin- ciples of religion to leave them because they are poor (for this is the only reason), and it is evident that they cannot go to the charge of settling another minister. Another difficulty is, whether I ought not to comfort them by setting an exam- ple to bear up under their poverty, as I expected from the beginning to share with them the troubles as well as the pleasures of life.
" A COUNTRY MINISTER.
" Quere. Whether if I leave them the fault will not be extenuated by the tempters taking part with the tempted? " Massachusetts Centinel, Jan. 12, 1785.
" For the Centinel.
" MESSRS. PRINTERS, -
" Please publish the following in answer to your ' Country Minister,' and convince me that 'uninfluenced by party,' etc. : -
" I am a poor fellow, and have been a long time in some difficulty about leaving the man I now live with ; for you must know, that a few years since I engaged to live with a gentleman as a servant at so much a year ; and the Lord
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and concurrence of all the parties concerned, were perfectly fair and Christian ; at least, to say they were not, would be very harsh judgment. Mr. Thacher had an inadequate support at Mal- den. What was promised was not paid. He
knows that my wages were but just sufficient to purchase my clothes. We agreed so well at first, that I positively de- clared that I never would leave him. At last he became very negligent about paying me; I remonstrated with him, and he promised me more punctuality ; and I believe him one of the best men existing as to promises. I lived upon them as long as I could, for money I could not get. At length I was obliged to begin and continue borrowing, until my friends are effectually tired out, and at this time I am over head and ears in debt ; nor do I see any prospect but that I must go to jail very soon.
" Now, Messrs. Printers, here's a gentleman who knows what a faithful servant I have been under all my difficulties, and he has offered me, if I will leave my old master and come and live with him, to add to my wages, and advance me a part to enable me to discharge some of my debts. I have thought seriously of this proposal ; I like my old mas- ter exceeding well, and if I could get any thing but promises from him, I would continue in my present situation. I had concluded to leave him, and should have done it by this time if I had not seen in your last Centinel a piece signed ' A Country Minister.' He raised some doubt in my mind, whether, as I had once engaged to live with him, he paying me so much, I ought not to continue with him after he failed in his part of the contract; and whether I ought not to stay and starve it out, rather than alter my condition, and pro- cure for myself and family a decent living. If your Country Minister will set me right, he will much oblige
" A COUNTY BOOBY."
Massachusetts Centinel, Jan. 15, 1785.
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had for some time contemplated removal, and felt that it was necessary. Unless there are clear reasons to the contrary, any minister is justified in interpreting the non-payment of his salary as an evidence of a want of interest and satisfaction in his services ; an intimation, at least, that no strong objection will be made to his resigning his post. Under these circumstances, the communi- cation from Brattle Street simply induced Mr. Thacher to do at once what he had for some time felt he should ultimately be compelled to do, - ask a dismission from his people. He asked that dismission, and was then invited to settle here. In the subsequent negotiations between this so- ciety and the parish in Malden, looked at in a proper light, there is nothing to censure. What was the pecuniary ability of the society in Mal- den at that period cannot now be ascertained ; but clearly it was not a rich society, or it would not have been in such arrears to its minister. Our society had ample means. The Malden par- ish had sustained a loss, - a loss which it would have had to sustain probably in a few months ; but the time was hastened by the action of this parish. It needed aid, or it would not have asked for it, or accepted it. This society was able to give it, and did give it. The whole thing was merely the expression of sympathy and aid from a strong society to a weaker one, and in the giving and in
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the receiving of it there was nothing unchristian or unworthy. Both societies, and the descend- ants of all the parties concerned, may look back upon this whole transaction with no feelings of shame or mortification.
Notwithstanding these unpleasant circumstances connected with his removal from Malden, Dr. Thacher entered upon his ministry here with the most favorable regard of the whole parish and of the town, and during the seventeen years of its continuance, the society was eminently peaceful and prosperous.
I do not find in the records much that it would be particularly interesting to notice.
In August, 1792, " some proposals were made by members of the church to vary its proceedings as to the mode of admitting to ordinances." It
is not stated what these proposals were. We are left to infer their character from the votes passed at a meeting held four weeks later, to con- sider and act upon them. These votes are as follows : - " That no more explicit confession of sin should be required of any person, as a term of admission to either of the ordinances, than is expressed in the covenant used in this church on admission thereto "; and, " That the admission of members to full communion be in future confined to the church, without their being propounded to the congregation." A proposition that persons
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who had renewed their baptismal covenant, upon standing propounded for one month and no objec- tion being made, should be considered members of the church in full communion, without any further or new profession of their faith, was in- definitely postponed. Thus it would appear that the proposals were in behalf of greater liberty in regard to the administration of the ordinances ; that two of them were granted, and a third was refused.
During Dr. Thacher's ministry two important changes were made in the administration of the musical part of the services of public worship, namely, the introduction of the organ and the appropriation of money to encourage and secure good singing. The former was done by a vote of the parish, passed December 19th, 1790 ; the latter, by a vote passed in 1802. The intro- duction of the organ was not effected without considerable opposition and difficulty. The rec- ords state that the following vote was passed " nemine contradicente "; namely, " That an or- gan be introduced into this society as an assistant to the vocal music of psalmody, which is es- teemed an important part of public worship, pro- vided it can be obtained by voluntary subscrip- tion, and without laying a tax upon the proprietors or occupiers of pews for the purpose." But notwithstanding no vote stands recorded against
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it, it is well known that many were opposed to it, and that for several years it was never played but as an accompaniment to the singing ; no interludes were allowed between the verses of the hymn, and no symphonies at the opening and close of worship. I heard it related, also, shortly after my induction to the pastoral office here, by one whose great age, and at that time retentive memory, gave authority to the story, that, when the vessel containing the organ arrived below in the harbor, and was waiting for a fair wind to come up, a wealthy gentleman of the parish, who had refused to subscribe toward it, waited upon Dr. Thacher, and offered to pay into the treasury of the church, for the benefit of the poor, the whole cost of the organ and the freight, if he would have it thrown overboard below the light- house. The organ cost five hundred pounds, and the expense of altering the gallery to put it up amounted to about one hundred and twenty-eight pounds. The upper gallery, formerly appropri- ated to colored persons, and which then projected as far as the present organ loft, was carried back ; two pillars corresponding to those on the sides of the church were removed, and the two smaller columns that now support the front gallery, or organ loft, were erected. At this time, also, the pedestals of all the columns were abridged. To prevent this being done by individuals, the follow-
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ing vote had been passed seventeen years before, in July, 1773 : - " It having been suggested that the pedestals of those pillars that incommode pews might be liable to alteration by the proprie- tors of such pews, unless the society pass some vote to prevent it, and whereas such pews have been set at a less rate on account of said incon- venience, Voted, That no alteration be made in those pillars or pedestals, nor in any other of the pillars and pedestals of the meeting-house on any pretence whatever."
Dr. Thacher's ministry lasted nearly eighteen years. Though he made his flock his first charge, and failed in no duty which he owed to them, he was, as has been the case with all the ministers of this church, much of a public man, taking a hearty interest and an active part in all efforts and enterprises for the public good. Under the accumulated labors which these involved, his health began to fail at the opening of the present century. Having suffered much for some months previous, and finding no relief from repeated short respites from labor and excursions into the coun- try, he embarked at this port on the 15th of November, 1802, for Savannah, Georgia, in the hope that a winter spent in the genial climate of a Southern State would give ultimate relief to his disease, - pulmonary consumption. This hope, however, was destined to speedy extinction. He
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arrived at Savannah on the 3d of December, and on Thursday, the 16th of that month, he expired. He was accompanied to Savannah by his son, the late Judge Thacher, whose name and memory are still honored among us. I have in my pos- session a very interesting manuscript account, written by Judge Thacher at the time, of the voyage from Boston, and of the last hours of his father. From this it appears that he was re- ceived into the house of Samuel Howard, Esq., and treated with the utmost kindness and care. He was attended by Dr. Kollock, the most skil- ful physician of the place, and visited by the Rev. Robert Smith, pastor of the Presbyterian church at Savannah, who prayed with him a few hours before his death, and preached an eloquent sermon on the next Sunday, when his funeral obsequies were attended. One incident is re- lated, which I notice, not because it is peculiar or important in itself, but because it illustrates the influence and confirms the importance of early religious culture. On laying down for the last time, in the early part of the evening, a few hours before his death, he repeated the nursery prayer, -
" Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep ; If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take "; and turning to his son, said, " My son, this little
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prayer I have not omitted to repeat on going to bed for forty years. This may be the last time. I charge you never to omit it." There is noth- ing peculiar in this incident. It is related of a great many persons, and it has occurred probably innumerable times when it has not been related. I notice it merely because it shows that this brief, comprehensive nursery prayer, which a child's lips can utter and a child's mind understand, has been the stay and help of the most mature and advanced piety, and has kept alive some feeble spark of religion in many a seared and worldly heart.
Dr. Thacher's remains were brought to Bos- ton, but did not arrive until after the funeral ser- vices, which, like those of his predecessor, were held by the parish at the lecture preceding the first communion of the year. The sermon was preached by Rev. Mr. Emerson of the First Church, and the scene and the service are prob- ably distinctly remembered by several who are here present to-day.
Dr. Thacher was born in Milton, March 21st, 1752. His parents resided usually in this town, and at the time of his birth were only stopping emporarily in Milton, because of the small-pox which was raging here ; so that the first four min- isters of this church were natives of this town, and two of them were raised up by Providence
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from among the youth of the congregation itself. Dr. Thacher took his degree at Cambridge in 1769, and in September of the following year he was settled at Malden. In the vigor of early manhood, of an ardent temperament, with high- toned principles of liberty, he took an active part in all the measures that preceded and accom- panied our Revolutionary struggle. He was a delegate from the town of Malden to the conven- tion that formed the State Constitution, and he closed the session of that convention with prayer. After his removal to this parish, he soon became an active member of the various literary and char- itable institutions of the town ; and for fifteen out of the seventeen years of his ministry here, he was chaplain to one or both branches of the Leg- islature. He received his degree of Doctor in Divinity from Edinburgh in 1791. The memory of Dr. Thacher is still fresh in the minds of some living, and we are aided in forming an estimate of his character and talents by the large number of his published sermons that have been preserved. The style of these sermons, so far as I have had opportunity to examine them, is fresh, vigorous, clear, giving evidence of a frank, decided, inde- pendent mind, that had no object but truth, and no purpose but to express it honestly and strong- ly. From his first settlement in Malden, which occurred in his nineteenth year, and through life,
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he sustained a high reputation as a preacher. In a memoir of him, which appeared in the eighth volume of the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the first volume published after his death, it is said, that "no young man ever preached to such crowded assemblies," and that " Whitefield called him the young Elijah." The following passages from this memoir may help us to form some further idea of his character : -
" There were manifested indications of a seri- ous mind when he was very young, so that it was observed concerning him, that he never was a child. He certainly preferred books of piety and the conversation of persons older than himself to the diversions of the childish age. An uncommon gravity of deportment, and meas- ured periods of discourse, in which it is said he imitated his father's manner, drew the attention of others, and became the subject of their remark. It was then predicted that he would be a preach- er, and add another of the name to the list of worthies whose praise was in the churches. . . He early composed sermons and essays. Di- vinity was his favorite study. He was more fond of visiting the schools of the prophets than walking in academic groves, and eagerly looked forward to the time when he should display his eloquence and evangelical zeal in the pulpit. He was more qualified to appear as a divine when he
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received his degree of Bachelor of Arts, than many who have studied theology through a long course of years.
" It would be wrong to omit certain traits in the character of Dr. Thacher which show his moral worth. He was a man of singular integ- rity. A stranger to artifice and deceit, he could not disguise his feelings, but expressed often his disapprobation of them in others. He preferred to have his manners styled rough and his plainness of speech censured by his acquaintance, rather than be thought capable of duplicity in his words and actions, - a polite address, an unassuming air, a winning manner, have their attractions, but nothing can make up for want of honesty. As a friend, he had the confidence of those who knew him ; those who were most intimate will preserve in their memories the tokens of his affection and kindness. If, in the exuberance of unguarded familiarity, he said any thing to hurt their feelings, it gave him pain, for he meant not to be uncourteous. His talents for conversation were remarkable. Some have thought he exerted these too often, and in public speaking took too large a share of the debate ; but when he had been too slow to hear and quick to speak, he was sen- sible of his error, and disposed to make either a serious or facetious apology. He was fond of anecdotes, especially such as illustrated the man-
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ners of New England. In the history of Massa- chusetts, civil and ecclesiastical, he was more than commonly versed, having read it from his childhood, and also that part of the history of England which exhibits the folly and tyranny of the Stuarts, the usurpation of Cromwell, and the brief authority of the Commonwealth. The es- says, sermons, and memoirs of those times, he could quote, from the manly testimonies of Lud- low to the crude excrescences of Goodwin and Hugh Peters."
In early life, Dr. Thacher's religious opinions were rigidly Calvinistic, but gradually became more and more Arminian. During his latter years he was ranked among the conservative, but liberal clergy of his day, and " stood," says Dr. Palfrey, " on ground like that of the late Dr. Osgood and Dr. Lathrop," of the former of whom I have heard it related, that he described his position by saying that his pulpit was five miles from Cambridge and fifteen from Andover, and that, theologically, he held about the same relation to the Divinity Schools of the two places.
Mr. Emerson, in the sermon preached at his funeral obsequies, a few passages from which will give us some idea of the estimation in which he was held by his contemporaries, says of him, " He was illustrious for his natural powers. & His soul was lodged in a person possessing the [ad-
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vantages of a noble stature, a commanding mien, a full and steady eye, a countenance pleasing and expressive, a mouth formed for ready utterance, and a voice of wonderful sweetness, variety, and strength. With these qualities of body, so emi- nently useful to a public speaker, the Father of Lights had united a sound understanding, a fancy of uncommon sprightliness, a tenacious memory, and a correct judgment. He was illustrious for his gift of extempore prayer. It seemed as if the melody of his tones awoke his own devotion, and imparted life to all who joined him in the sacred service. No concourse was so numerous, no case so intricate, no occasion so sudden, as to produce apparent confusion in his thoughts, or the smallest hesitation in utterance. He had a fac- ulty of waiving and resuming at pleasure the sub- ject of petition, and of waiting, so to speak, for the moment of inspiration to amplify and entreat.
" He was illustrious for his success. In the course of his ministry, and especially since his residence in the metropolis, his labors have been greatly blessed. This is evidenced by the num- ber of communicants in this church, by his very acceptable visits in the chambers of the sick and the dying, and by his praise which is in the Gos- pel throughout all our churches. His useful ser- vices were not confined to the church. Nothing patriotic, nothing humane, was foreign to his feel-
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ings. He successfully pleaded the cause of the poor in the ear of the rich, as well as before the throne of Almighty compassion. He interested himself in schemes of private beneficence and public utility, which his acquaintance with the wise and powerful enabled him essentially to serve. In the state he was the uniform and influential supporter of rational liberty. Equally the foe of licentiousness and oppression, he em- ployed his talents as opportunity presented in de- feating the machinations of wicked, and supporting the measures of upright and consistent rulers. In short," says Mr. Emerson, " his activity, punc- tuality, and faithfulness in discharging his pastoral duties, his reverence for the Lord's day and the Lord's house, his labors in the cause of human institutions, his concern and endeavors for the propagation of our holy religion, the interest he took in the increasing usefulness and reputation of our University, his aids in furthering the progress of the arts and sciences generally, and his wishes, his writings, and his prayers in behalf of the inde- pendence, liberty, peace, and glory of our beloved America, are so many proofs of the worth and brilliancy of his example."
The man of whom his contemporaries spoke thus, must have had intellectual and moral attri- butes of no ordinary stamp, and when we remem- ber that the ministry of Dr. Thacher covered
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