USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Essex > History of the town of Essex : from 1634 to 1868 > Part 12
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1721. This year is memorable for the extensive spread, and great mortality of the small pox in Boston, and other towns; and also for the introduction of inoculation to modify the disease, and render it less fatal. Dr. Cotton Mather, one of the principal ministers of Boston, becom- ing acquainted with the good effects of inoculation in some parts of the old world, earnestly recommended to the physicians of Boston, to make trial of it. They all refused, except Dr. Boylston, who, to show the confidence he had of success, began with his own children. This brought upon him great obloquy. The minds of most people were struck with horror at the thought of taking active measures to bring the disease upon any. The pas- tor of the church here, Mr. Wise, was among the very few who stood boldly forward, amidst strong prejudice and violent opposition, to advocate, and urge on, the rem- edy of inoculation. In this he showed his wonted inde- pendence of mind, and benevolence of heart.
1722. Great difficulty and distress were experienced about this time, and onward, from the great quantity of Province Bills issued by our General Court. This reduced
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the value of currency, and consequently raised the price of labor and of all articles of consumption. The deprecia- tion of the Province bills, however, arose, not only from their quantity, but from the want of confidence on the part of the people that they would ever be redeemed, ex- cept at a very great discount. The reasons for issuing these bills to so great an extent, were the great depres- sion of trade, and the heavy debts incurred by the French and Indian war. But instead of being a remedy, or any relief, they only increased the difficulties already existing, and a flood of evils was brought by them upon the whole community. It fell with more weight upon those who were living upon a stipulated sum for their services. The parish here had from time to time increased Mr. Wise's salary, but had not come up to the original value even when they had added forty pounds. On the motion to make up the full value, the vote was in the negative. Mr. Wise, therefore, entered a complaint against them, September 25, 1722, at the Court of the General Sessions of the peace, held in Newbury. The result was that the parish added fifty-five pounds to the original sum, thus increasing the salary to one hundred and fifteen pounds. This civil suit does not seem to have interrupted the good- will and harmony existing between pastor and people.
WORSHIP IN THE NEW MEETING-HOUSE.
Let us attend church on Sabbath morning with our an- cestors in their new house. As we stand in front of it, we see it to be a very plain edifice, without the ornament of paint or blinds, though having the advantage of being new and comparing well with the public buildings of that day in other places. The common has but few trees on it. A shrub oak is near the school-house. A tall and flourishing one spreads its lofty arms behind the church. The hills in the rear are covered with forest trees of an ancient growth. Only two or three houses are in sight, with small cultivated fields around them bordering upon
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thick woods. On our right, in the rear of the school- house, is the dwelling of the teacher, Moses Rust. On the opposite side of the road, is the barn of Capt. Adam Cogswell, and a little north of that, his house-the ancient dwelling of his father, William Cogswell, one of the primi- tive settlers. On our left, in an elevated position, stands the house of the widow Rust, and just south of that we see the cleared spot, which had been leveled and prepared for the meeting-house, but which our fathers abandoned for the more convenient location before us. Before enter- ing the church, sad news is spread from neighbor to neigh- bor which occasions many a sorrowful countenance. On the evening before, a fishing boat arrived, which had a narrow escape from pirates in the Bay; and which saw them capture a Chebacco boat, and put several of their piratical crew on board to convey her with our captured men to a distant port. This is especially distressing to those who have fathers or husbands, sons or brothers at sea. The bell which calls us into the church, though new and larger than the one upon the old house, is yet small and shrill in its tones. As we enter the front door, the pulpit is opposite to us, and a body of long seats before us on each side of the broad aisle, while a tier of pews line the walls on each side. The galleries are spacious and well-filled. The view of so many aged men sitting together, whose heads are covered with red caps, some of worsted and some of velvet, attracts our attention. We know the Squire of the place from his sitting at the head of the most dignified seat. In the same seat with him are those who bear the various military titles. In the seats next to the pulpit are the children, that they may be the more easily watched and cared for. While the men with their sons are thus seated on the right of the broad aisle, according to their various dignities, their wives and daughters sit on the left side. The pulpit is lofty, with a high sounding-board. In front of it and joined to it is the elders' pew, and before that the deacons' seat.
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In looking up, our eye meets the ridge-pole, and naked beams and rafters. Swallows have already begun to make their nests there. A basin of water is in its accustomed place before the pulpit. Nearly all the children born in the place,-five and twenty or thirty annually-are brought in their infancy for baptism. Mr. Wise enters and takes his seat in the pulpit, and the bell stops tolling. His appearance is quite changed since we first saw him in the pulpit forty years since. His white locks indicate ad- vancing years. But though three-score and ten, his voice is yet firm and distinct. He commences the services of divine worship by reading a psalm from the old collection of Tate and Brady. This, one of the deacons repeats line by line, and pitches the tune, that it may be sung by the whole congregation. Mr. Wise in his prayer is solemn and fervent. In words of adoration, thanksgiving, confes- sion and supplication he expresses the devotion and the desires of the worshiping assembly. He intercedes also for others, not forgetting the rulers of the land, the gov- ernor and council, and the representatives of the people, the king in the father-land, with the Parliament and all in authority. He remembers all that are in danger, in perils by land, in perils by sea, and prays especially for the deliv- erance of those neighbors and friends, that had fallen into the hands of pirates. "Great God," he fervently cries, " if there is no other way, may they rise and butcher their enemies ; "-an expression long remembered, because the event showed that on that morning they rose upon the pirates and slew them, and thereby safely reached home. After another singing the sermon is delivered. Though not written, it has been well studied, for it is connected, instructive and impressive. As he occasionally holds up his notes, we see that they are written on a mere scrap of paper, a few inches square, containing in brief only the heads of the discourse, and a few leading thoughts. After sermon, an infant is brought forward for baptism. Its name is Aaron Foster. We look with deep interest upon
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this infant face, for as we are spirits from a later age, we can tell, without the gift of prophecy, what manner of child this shall be. We can follow him through his child- hood and youth, and see him rise into manhood. We see him a young soldier in the combined army at the taking of Louisburg. We behold him traversing the ocean, as the captain of a vessel. We follow him into the Revolution- ary army, fighting the battles of his country for liberty. We see him after the war at the head of a numerous fam- ily, and find him still living in the nineteenth century. And after his departure from life, we see at his funeral, not only children, but a retinue of grandchildren, growing up to respectability and usefulness, among whom we recog- nize Moses Foster of Wenham, Thomas Foster, and David Choate of this place, and Rufus Choate of Boston. But our thoughts have suddenly run down to a late day. We recall them to witness the baptismal service; after which a prayer is offered, and the assembly dismissed by the apostolic benediction. As we retire we almost uncon- sciously reflect on the vanishing nature of earthly scenes. How changed the congregation to-day, from that which we saw in the old house forty years before, almost a whole generation having passed away. The pastor remains, but the deacons have gone, and with them all that were then aged; and the young then that have escaped the stroke of death, are now in the seats of the old.
1725, March 29. The parish assemble in the meeting- house at nine o'clock, A. M., to see what measures they will take to procure a preacher ; as Mr. Wise, by reason of sick- ness, is unable to preach. They make choice of Theophi- lus Pickering, a young man recently licensed to preach, to supply the pulpit for four Sabbaths, and choose Capt. Jona- than Cogswell to go to Salem and invite him to come. They also vote that if he come he shall board at Capt. Cogswell's which is near the church. At this meeting, also, they di- rect the trustees of the Parish to build a Pound. This is doubtless the same that is now in use. In compliance with
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their request, Mr. Pickering came and supplied the pulpit. Mr. Wise lived only ten days after this, expiring on the 8th day of April. At the decease of Mr. Wise, the old par- sonage, and the parish land reverted to the use of the par- ish, and they chose a committee to let the same for such rents as they should judge proper. They also voted £30 to defray the expenses of Mr. Wise's funeral. It was the custom at that time, at the funeral of one who had been in public life, or otherwise distinguished, to present gold rings and gloves to the bearers, and other distinguished persons present, besides making a general entertainment, in which alcoholic drinks were freely dispensed according to the cus- tom of the day. This accounts for the fact that a hundred dollars should be expended at the funeral of a minister, in- cluding also, however, the monument for his grave. Mr. Wise was buried from the new meeting-house, where for the last seven years of his life he had preached on the Sab- bath, and on Thursdays, the weekly lecture. How solemn the scene, to behold the venerable form which a Sabbath or two before had appeared in the pulpit in all the vigor and activity of life, now lying in his coffin below, a pale, breathless corpse. The house is filled, and every counte- nance is solemn and sad. The funeral sermon is preached by Rev. John White, pastor of the first church in Glouces- ter, from II. Cor. iv. 7, first clause. Under the "Improve- ment" of the discourse, the preacher remarks :
" Fourth and lastly : Let us be duly affected and humbled when these earthen vessels are broken to pieces, and can hold this treasure no more. 'Tis not to be so much wondered at, as lamented when earthen vessels are dissolved. They are frail and infirm, and liable to many disasters. And the more eapacious and serviceable any such vessel was, the more reason we have, to lay their dissolution to heart. On this sad occasion, God is ealling you in this Precinct to bitter mourning; and to lament with the church of old, (Lam. v. 16., ) ' The crown is fallen from our head : Woe unto us that we have sinned.' And I would heartily mourn with you. The very late de- eease of your reverend, aged, and faithful pastor has made a deep wound, and wide breach. Your loss is great. Infinite Wisdom furnished, and suited him for you ; and Infinite Love gave him to you, and continued him even to old age among you ; and the Sovereign God has taken him from you. I
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FUNERAL SERMON.
1700-1745.]
dare not presume (nor will the time allow me) to attempt to give you the character of the venerable Mr. Wise. He that would do it to the life must have his eloquence. Such as knew him best had the most honorable opinion of him and reverend respect for him. His kind, condescending, and most generous, and obliging carriage has often brought to remembrance, what is said of Titus Vespasianus, the Roman Emperor, viz., that no man ever went out of his presence sorrowful. And some who had viewed him at a distance through a false glass, when they have visited him, and familiarly conversed with him, have been charmed, and even ravished. They have beheld majesty mixed with affability, gravity with facetiousness, charity with severity; charity to the persons, and severity to the opinions of his antagonists. However he might be thought of, or represented by some, he had a high value and vener- ation for men of his character and order : and this was his language, living and dying, which he uttered to those about him on his death-bed, viz., I would have you pay a special veneration to your ministers. They are your great in- terest. Magistrates indeed preserve your lives and estates ; but your ministers' business is to save your souls. Wherefore esteem them highly for their work's sake ; and cultivate this spirit and principle into your children. He was zeal- ously affected towards his country and the civil and sacred liberties and privi- leges of his country ; and was willing to sacrifice anything but a good conscience to secure and defend them. And the thing he had most at heart was the well- being of the churches ; and no risks were too great to run, no pains too great to take, to defend and confirm the order and established Constitution, or promote the purity and peace of the same. And when by reason of bodily infirmities the nearest and dearest relation would not draw him from home, the service of the churches would. And this was his finishing work. The success of these, his travels and labors, was to admiration. And some cases were attended with diffi- culties to an ordinary conduct and courage insuperable. I need not say to you, who were witnesses of these things, how prayer and patience carried him through all. He told me in the beginning of his sickness that he had been a man of contention, but the state of the churches making it necessary, upon the mnost serious review, he could say he had fought a good fight, and had comfort in re- fleeting upon the same. He was conscious to himself of his acting therein sin- cerely. At the same time he expressed his nothingness, and unworthiness : . and as he needed the divine compassion and mercy, so he entirely depended upon, and earnestly prayed for the free grace of God in Christ. Can I do less than say (on this mournful occasion) as the surprised and inspired prophet Elisha, when he beheld the prophet Elijah ascend in a chariot of fire : "My Father, my Father, the Chariot of Israel and the Horsemen thereof."*
*" The Gospel Treasure in Earthen Vessels. A Funeral Sermon on the mournful occasion of the Death of that Faithful Servant of God, the Reverend Mr. John Wise, Pastor of the Second Church in Ipswich. Preached to his Flock on the 11th day of April, 1725. By John White, A. M., Pastor of the First Church in Glouces- ter. Zech. i. 5. Boston. Printed for N. Boone, Cornhill, 1725." A copy of this sermon is now in the library of the Salem Atheneum. 18
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We see in the procession, as it moves in slow and solemn pace from the church to the grave-yard, the bereaved widow and children and grandchildren, with other rela- tives, and the officers and members of the church, and of the parish, with many strangers. The bearers or pall- holders were all ministers, who wore white leather gloves -the badge of mourning common in that day, and pre- sented to them on this occasion by the parish. Mr. Wise's remains were interred near the centre of the grave-yard, and soon afterwards the mound was covered with a slab containing the following inscription :
UNDERNEATH LIES THE BODY OF THE REV. JOHN WISE, A. M. FIRST PASTOR OF THE 2D CHURCH IN IPSWICH.
Graduated at Harvard College, 1673. Ordained Pastor of said Church, 1681. And died April 8, 1725, Aged 73. FOR TALENTS, PIETY AND LEARNING, HE SHONE AS A STAR OF THE FIRST MAGNITUDE.
In 1815 the slab was elevated upon four granite pillars, and a copy of this inscription cut in slate, inserted in place of the original which had been broken.
By his will it appears that Mr. Wise left a widow and seven children. To three of his sons, Jeremiah, Henry, and Joseph, he had given a collegiate education. To John the youngest, he bequeathed his real estate-a house, barn, and ten acres of land-out of which Mrs. Wise was to have her maintenance. She, however, deceased October 18th of the same year. To the other children he left a thou- sand dollars to be divided equally among them. His library was to be divided between Jeremiah and Henry, with the exception of the following books bequeathed to John: Gurnel's Armor of Light, Dalton's County Justice, and Speed's Chronicles of England.
Three deacons of his church had deceased during Mr. Wise's ministry : John Burnham, November 5th, 1694,
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MR. WISE'S CHAPLAINCY.
1700-1745.]
Thomas Low, April 12th, 1712, aged 80, William Good- hue, 1712. The number of church members at the time of his decease was 91. One of the vessels of the com- munion service purchased during his ministry, is still in the possession and use of the church. It is a cup, marked "C. C." (Chebacco Church,) "1712."
The principal events in the life of Mr. Wise have been already noticed. In addition to these, it is of some inter- est to know that his labors as a minister were not limited wholly to this parish. Before coming to Chebacco, he had preached a year at Northampton, and had a call to settle there. On the 5th of July, 1690, he was appointed by the General Court, chaplain in an expedition which had just been planned against Canada. The occasion of this expedition was the fact that on the breaking out of a war between England and France the previous year, the offer of colonial neutrality had been rejected by England; that parties of French and Indians had attacked and destroyed Schenectady, Salmon Falls, Casco, and other frontier settle- ments, and that French privateers from Nova Scotia were infesting the coasts of New England. The provinces there- fore formed the bold and hazardous design of reducing Canada to subjection to the crown of England, as the only means of securing their own permanent peace and safety. Accordingly, on the 9th of August, a force of thirty ves- sels, and about two thousand troops sailed from Boston, under command of Sir William Phips, and arrived at the Isle of Orleans, four miles below Quebec, on the 5th of October, having been retarded by unavoidable accidents. But the troops from Connecticut and New York, who were to march from Albany on Montreal, and prevent Count Frontenac from re-enforcing Quebec, did not succeed in reaching their destination. The garrison at Quebec was, · therefore, so much increased in numbers, its fortifications so much strengthened, before the arrival of Phips and his little army, that the expedition was entirely unsuccessful. After two attacks upon the town the assailants withdrew,
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and re-embarking, reached Boston November 19th. It is recorded of Mr. Wise that he distinguished himself in this expedition by his heroic spirit and martial skill, as well as by the faithful discharge of the sacred duties that more immediately devolved upon him. His services to his coun- try in the army, as well as his sufferings in prison at an earlier period, show that his zeal for her cause was pure, intense, and unceasing. And from all his public career, we are assured that he was a great and good man. Every good work of every kind, he favored and encouraged .*
His writings furnish abundant proof that he was an original thinker, a close reasoner, a profound scholar, an energetic writer, aiming not to display himself, but to un- fold and inculcate his subject.t As a preacher, he was in- structive, impressive, and persuasive. His ministry was eminently successful. Not less than two hundred hopeful converts, as is inferred from a comparison of facts, were added to the church during his pastorate. Testimony to the excellence of his character is found in the standard works on the lives of our Puritan fathers. The printed copy of the sermon at his funeral, which has been already quoted, also contains what is entitled, "A character of the Reverend Mr. John Wise, by another hand :"
" On the 8th of April, died at Ipswich the Rev. Mr. J. Wise, the worthy Pastor of the church of Chebacco, and on the 11th, was decently buried amidst the honors, and lamentations of his distressed friends, and of his loving and generous flock, and at their expense. Nor would they be satisfied without his Interment with them. Who being their Glory while among the living, even his lifeless body might be an ornament in the Dormitory of the Dead. He was a gentleman of such uncommon merit, that it is no easy task to do justice to his character, and pay a suitable deference to the honor of his mem-
* 1720, Thomas Symmes, having issued his dialogue to promote the revival of singing by note more extensively, remarks in it, " I received a letter from Mr. Wise of Ipswich, wherein he gave it as his judgment that when there were a sufficient number in a congregation to carry away a tune roundly, it was then proper to in- troduce that tune."
+ From the numerous allusions and quotations in his works, it is plain that his library must have contained the best of the Greek and Roman classics, and works upon Greek, Roman, Ecclesiastical, and English History ; and that he must have been as thoroughly conversant with ancient literature and philosophy, as with Christian theology and Biblical science.
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1700-1745.]
ory. He was richly adorned with the beauties of Nature and Grace, and brightly polished with the Ornaments of the best Erudition. The graceful structure of his manly body, majestic aspect, and sweet deportment, were but an emblem of the mighty Genius, and brighter excellencies of his superior soul. He had a strong and elevated Fancy, solid Wisdom, steady Fortitude, great Generosity, Courtesie, and Integrity ; and above all a zealous Piety, and liberal Charity, which nobly furnished him for the great services that Providence designed him for, and employed him in, and were so many gems in the crown of honor, that shone upon his hoary head to the close of his life, and ever commanded the love, and veneration of all about him. He was a great Divine, and an able Minister of the New Testament, and had a pe- culiar Talent for composing Church controversies, and Ecclesiastical difficul- ties, and was happy in a constant success in it. He was a learned scholar, and an eloquent Orator, as his excellent writings and discourses testify. He was of a generous and publick spirit, a great lover of his country, and our happy Constitution ; a studious assertor, and faithful defender of its liberties and interests. He gave singular proof of this at a time when our Liberties, and all things were in danger. And with undaunted courage he withstood the bold invasions that were made upon us. He was next called (in his own order) to accompany our forces in an unhappy expedition, where not only the pious discharge of his sacred office, but his heroic spirit, and martial skill, and wisdom, did greatly distinguish him. A third remarkable was his appear- ing in defense of our Church Constitution both by his valuable writings, and observable actions, and when great dissensions arose in some churches, and difficulties thereupon, (though to others insuperable,) yet his wise counsels, forcible arguments, irresistible eloquence, inimitable zeal, courage, candor, and diligence did so happily succeed, as to accommodate all things, and pro- cure and establish the Peace, and Order of the Churches wherever he was called. And upon the whole, justice and gratitude both oblige us to give him the Title of a Patron of his Country and a Father in Israel, and to join with an eminent minister in his publick mention of him, that he was our Elijah, the Chariot of Israel, and the Horsemen thereof, our Glory and Defense."
The precise time when the church and parish gave a call to Mr. Pickering to become their pastor, cannot now be ascertained. He accepted their invitation, however, on condition that the salary they had proposed to give him should be increased, giving his reasons for this in the following language :
" Whereas our Lord Jesus has required of his people a suitable support for his ministers, as yourselves know and believe, and whereas it nearly concerns every minister upon settlement to see to it that he has a convenient mainte-
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